EUCALYPTUS TEEES. 179 



arundinacea) lines, as far as yet discovered, only the 

 banks of a few of the rivers of Arnhems-land. 



To the pastoral settler, for whom more particularly 

 the generally open Eucalyptus country or the treeless 

 or partly scrubby tracts are eligible, it must be of sig- 

 nificance that the rainfall occurs with frequency during 

 the hottest part of the year. Hence, during the Sum- 

 mer, grass and herbage is pushing forth with extra- 

 ordinary rapidity and exuberance, while a judicious 

 burning at the cooler season, together with the effect 

 of regular dews, is certain to produce fresh forage 

 during the dryer months. An almost endless variety 

 of perennial nutritious grasses, allied to Indian spe- 

 cies, or even identical with them, are known to exist. 

 The basaltic downs of the north and north-west pro- 

 duce almost precisely the same vegetation which has 

 rendered Darling and Peak Downs so famed in the 

 east. This almost absolute identity of plants is a suf- 

 ficient indication of great semblance of climate, for 

 which the rise of the country, though one not very 

 considerable, to some extent may account. On the 

 ranges which divide the waters of the east coast from 

 those of Carpentaria the vine luxuriates; its fruit, 

 indeed, suffers occasionally from frost. 



How far the tract south of the more littoral north- 

 ern country may continue to bear prevailingly the 

 features of fertility cannot be predicated. There can 

 be no greater fallacy than to prejudge an untraversed 

 country — a fallacy to which explorers are prone, and 

 which, in some instances, has retarded advancement 

 of geographical discoveries and of new locations of 

 permanent abodes, while, in other instances, it has 

 led to disastrous consequences. A country should be 



