150 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



Different kinds of palms were also numerous, and lent their 

 aid to the beauty of the vegetation, and one could almost 

 imagine oneself transported to another country, had not the 

 sight of a Laughing Jackass sitting on the branch of a dead 

 tree near by quickly dispelled the illusion and brought one's 

 thoughts back to Australia. We also passed close by one of the 

 Glass Mountains, about 500 feet high ; and very curious it 

 looked, rising abruptly from the surrounding undulating country. 

 It was too steep to be ascended from the side we viewed it, and 

 was covered with short, dry-looking herbage, but very few 

 shrubs. At Gympie station we noticed a disreputable looking 

 old blackfellow, wearing a brass plate on which was engraved^ 

 " Mr. Boomer, King of Glass Mountains." He seemed very 

 proud of it, and, when begging from the passengers, expected a 

 little more in consequence of his title. There was a camp of 

 .75 blacks close to the town, and we saw many of these g^try 

 going about, accompanied by a numerous following of dogs of 

 all breeds. Blacks and dogs seem to sleep together indis- 

 criminately in their small humpies. Near here were seen the 

 little Peaceful Doves (Geopelia tranquilla), which are not found 

 south ; Leatherheads were also numerous, and their nests, which 

 they build of bark, were seen hanging on the ends of thin 

 branches, making them difficult to obtain. That graceful tree, 

 the Silky Oak (Grevillea rohusta), was plentiful in some places, 

 and is a far prettier tree than those that grow about Melbourne. 



I arrived at Bundaberg after dark, and going along the street 

 saw in the window of a chemist's shop a snake in spirits. I 

 immediately interviewed the proprietor, who showed me a large 

 Death Adder that had been recently killed, as well as some other 

 varieties of snakes found in the locality. Then he took me over 

 to the School of Arts, a fine stone building near the centre of the 

 town, where is the nucleus of a small museum; the few specimens 

 on view appearing to be well looked after. Indeed, the whole 

 building is a credit to the town. The larger kind of frogs here are 

 evidently very useful in destroying cockroaches, and it is amusing 

 to watch the operation. Seeing one of those disagreeable insects 

 the frog crawls slowly towards it until about a foot away, when he 

 springs upon it with apparently open mouth and seems to scoop 

 it in at once. A resident here' kept some small black leeches 

 with the larger striped variety, but hefound that the smaller killed 

 the larger, so had to separate them. 



At daylight the following day I left for Rockhampton, and 

 passing down the river, the banks of which are in places lined 

 with Mangrove bushes, saw a (t\v Pelicans, Curlews, Sandpipers, 

 and Gulls, but as it was the breeding season of these birds it 

 would account for the few about here. We arrived at Rock- 

 hampton next day. The town itself is about forty miles up the 



