THE OLD WORLD HERBIVOBA. 281 



15 or 18 feet high, terminated by a compact and voluminous cluster 

 of great deep-red flowers. There, too, are found the magnificent 

 arborescent ferns, Alsophila Australis and DicJcsonia Antarctica. 

 The trunk of the former aspires to a stature of 25 to 90 feet ; that 

 of the second, to 12 to 28 feet ; and in both the stems are termi- 

 nated by a cluster of immense flowers, which give to these plants a 

 quite distinctive character. 



Nor must we quit the Australian Flora and its marvels without 

 alluding to the Corypha Australis, which begins to make its appear- 

 ance at the mouth of the Snowy River. It is a gigantic palm, grow- 

 ing solitarily, or in thin groups, in low, cool, and even moist places. 

 Its trunk probably attains to 140 feet in height ; and the top of its 

 stem is crowned by a gorgeous crest of fan-shaped leaves, which are 

 employed in the manufacture of straw hats. 



CHAPTER VII. 



ANIMAL LIFE IN THE PRAIRIES OF THE OLD WORLD I- 

 HERBIVOROUS ANIMALS. 



To the prodigal Flora of the Tropics, which we shall soon see dis- 

 playing in the virgin forests its exuberant fecundity, corresponds a 

 Fauna no less rich, and marked by a singular variety. 



This Fauna offers, especially in the Old World, an impressive 

 character of power, strength, superior force I had almost said, 

 majesty. In truth, if we do calmly compare the mammals and the 

 birds of tropical America with those which roam the wild plains of 

 Africa, Hindostan, the Indo-Chinese peninsula, and the great islands 

 of the Indian Ocean, we cannot but recognize the evident superiority 

 of the latter. The anthropoid Ape, the enormous Pachyderms, Ele- 

 phant, Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Giraffe, and, among animals of the 



