CHAPTER IV 



THE NORTH AND THE WEST COAST 



North and South. Characteristic freshwater fish of the north. 

 Bridport. Burning the forest. Black-fish fishing. Huge 

 Crayfish. The seashore. The West Coast. Physical charac- 

 ters. Myrtle and Pine forests. Characteristic animals. 

 The Land Crab. The Mountain tops. Peculiar vegetation. 

 Mountain tarns. The Platypus and Echidna. 



A GLANCE at the geological chart will at once 

 show that the northern half of Tasmania is much 

 more varied in the character of its country than 

 the southern, and certainly, as far as the natural 

 advantage of soil is concerned, the north is far 

 better off than the south. Besides the extensive 

 freshwater deposits, lying between Ben Lomond 

 and the Western Tiers, which afford an excellent 

 red soil, there are patches of basalt, yielding soil 

 of a rich chocolate colour where agricultural 

 operations, such as potato-growing, are carried on 

 at a great profit. On the north-west coast there 

 is still a very large area of altogether uncleared 

 land where the soil is exceptionally good, and 

 there can be little doubt that this district in the 

 future will be among the most prosperous in the 

 island. Another rather extensive agricultural 

 district lies round Scotsdale to the north-east, 

 and in this neighbourhood, where there are large 

 outcrops of granite and porphyry, a certain 



