THE WARMER TEMPERATE ZONE. 



There are, besides the Mangroves, a few different kinds 

 of Palms, Gum-trees (Eucalyptus] , and a few shrubs; the 

 Palms contrast oddly with the thoroughly English-looking 

 crows we find there ; but the swans, as black as the crows 

 themselves, remind us where we are. The flocks of beau- 

 tiful cockatoos and paroquets seem more in harmony with 

 the gaunt, straggling, unfamiliar shapes of the Gum-trees, 

 which, where the wood has not been cleared, stand thickly 

 together, destitute of leaf or branch to a height of fifty or 

 seventy feet; but where they have room to branch they 

 make a great display of their twisted elbows arid bare arms, 

 which have tufts of leaves only at the very extremity. 

 These trees, whose structure places them in the Myrtle fa- 

 mily, seem generally to have little brush-like blossoms of a 

 deep orange-colour ; which sometimes grow thickly together 

 like a little wreath all along the stem, filling the air with 

 their fragrance, and attracting the bees to their rich stores 

 of honey. 



The Gum-trees (Eucalyptus) and the extraordinary Pro- 

 tea tribe are the two trees most characteristic of Australia. 

 The truest description which can be given of the Proteas 

 is, that, like Proteus himself after whom they are so aptly 

 named, they wear such various forms, that whatever we 



