196 FoliEsT crtTUJiBi Aliffi 



dium for regulating the climate. May we revert only 

 to the circumstance, as elucidating the great physio- 

 graphic characters of countries and their mutual re- 

 lation, that notwithstanding the close proximity of 

 New Zealand, none of its trees (though very many of 

 its herbs) are positively .identical with any observed 

 in Australia ; and yet, hundreds of ours can in no 

 way be distinguished from Indian trees. Moreover, 

 in a philosophical contemplation of the nature of any 

 country and the history of its creation, our attention 

 is likely to be in the first instance engaged in a survey 

 of the constituents of its pristine forests, and greatly 

 is it to be feared that in ages hence, when much of 

 the woods will have sunk under ruthless axes, the 

 deductions of advanced knowledge thereon wUl have 

 to be based solely on evidence early placed on record. 

 The marvellous height of some of the Australian, 

 and especially Victorian trees, has become the subject 

 of closer investigation since, of late, particularly 

 through the miners' tracks, easier access has been 

 afforded to the back-gullies of our mountain system. 

 Some astounding data, supported by actual measure- 

 ments, are now on record. The highest tree previ- 

 ously known was a Karri - Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus 

 colossea), measured by Mr. Pemberton Walcott, in 

 one of the delightful glens of the Warren River of 

 western Australia, where it rises to approximately 

 four hundred feet high. Into the hollow trunk of 

 this Karri three riders, with an additional pack-horse, 

 could enter and turn in it without dismounting. On 

 the desire of the writer of these pages, Mr. D. Boyle 

 measured a fallen tree of Eucalyptus amygdalina, in 

 the deep recesses of Dandenong, and obtained for it 



