iiUCALYPTUS TREES. 176 



The close access to harbors facilitates culture, while 

 the expansive extent of geographical latitude on the 

 east coast admits of choosing such spots as in each in- 

 stance present the naost favorable climatic conditions 

 for the success of each special plantation. Beyond the 

 coast ranges the country westward changes with aug- 

 menting dryness generally at once into more open 

 pastoral ground. Basaltic downs and gentle verdant 

 rises of eminent richness of herbage may alternately 

 give way to Brigalow scrubs, or sandstone plateaux, 

 or porphyritic or granitic hills, and with the change of 

 the geological formation a change, often very appa- 

 rent, will take place also in the vegetation. Inland we 

 will lose sight of the glossy, dense, umbrageous foliage, 

 which now only borders a generally low coast in 

 the north, terminating there frequently in mangroves. 

 Strychnos nux vomica occurs among the coast-bushes 

 here, and also an Antiaris ( A. macrophylla ) ; but 

 whether the latter shares the deadly poison of the 

 Upas-tree of Java and Sumatra requires to be ascer- 

 tained. Tamarindus Indica is known from Arnhems- 

 land, and the French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) in a 

 spontaneous state from the north-west coast. Euca- 

 lypts, again, form away from the sea the prevailing 

 timber, but with the exception of the Bed Gum-tree 

 (Eucalyptus rostrata), which lines most of the rivers 

 of the whole of the Australian interior, the southern 

 species are replaced by others, never of gigantic 

 growth, in some instances adorned with brilliant scar- 

 let or crimson blossoms. But neither these nor many 

 distinct kinds of northern Acacias and Melaleucas 

 stamp on the country the expression of peculiarity. 

 Familiar Australian forms usually surround us, though 



