THE OEOANIC ENVIRONMENT 21 



prepare the ground for the sheep and the settler. The 

 pampa or savannah, the prairie or steppe, thus becomes 

 the arena of the pastorahst, and ultimately the home of 

 the agriculturist.* 



Only part of this evolution has been witnessed in 

 Australasia. On the coast of Northern Queensland and 

 in the Northern Territory, where many species of grass 

 grow with tropical luxuriance, huge herds of cattle 

 graze, and browse on the salt-bush and other varieties 

 of bushes ; and it may never happen that the time will 

 come when the more lucrative rearing of sheep will be 

 prosecuted. Away in Western Australia, and still 

 more, perhaps, in " the Nor '-west of West," the grass 

 grows tall and rank, and cattle are there bred to eat it 

 down. But in all the cooler colonies, and in the interior 

 of the more tropical, the grass gro\\'S short and sweet, 

 and on all the vast plains sheep or cattle are reared 

 abundantly. 



Yet the first accounts of the vegetation of New 

 South Wales were not encouraging. On the sandy, but 

 very light, soil Sir J. Banks found the grass tall enough, 

 but " thin-set," and the trees, too, were far apart. 

 Such was the general face of the country as you sailed 

 along side of it, and even some little distance inland — 

 as far, namely, as they penetrated. Captain Cook was 

 more cordial. In many parts the plains and valleys 

 were covered with herbage, and among the adjacent 

 woods there were " interspersed some of the finest 

 meadows in the world." Sixty years later the report 

 of a great naturalist was, on the whole, still unfavourable. 

 On the plains of Bathurst Darwin saw " a thin brown 

 pasture," which appeared to his eye to be " wretched," 

 but was " excellent for sheep-grazing." That, he per- 

 ceived, was the secret of the prosperity of Bathurst ; it 

 was, indeed, the secret of the subsequent prosperity of 

 all Australia. A generation earlier another naturahst 

 had discovered the secret of the secret, M. Peron, 



* E. Daieeatjx, Les Orands Pays d'Elevage, Bevue dea Deux 

 Mondea, April 15, 1886, p. 915. 



