NEW SOUTH WALES. 179 



gray gum, flooded gum, iron bark, and stringy bark. The leaves of 

 these gum trees have a powerful aromatic flavour, and a taste ap- 

 proaching to camphor. They are used in the colony for a variety of 

 purposes, according to their quality. Thus, the blue gum, (Eucalyptus 

 piperita,) is employed for ship-building ; the iron gum, (Eucalyptus 

 resinifera,) for fencing ; and the gray gum and black-butted gum, for 

 boards and plank. 



The Norfolk Island pine, (Araucaria excelsa,) is used for cabinet- 

 work ; the swamp oak, (Casuarina torulosa,) for shingles and cabinet- 

 work, as is the cedar (Cedrela australis,) which grows to a very large 

 size ; the turpentine-wood, (Tristania arbicans,) for boat building ; the 

 pear tree, (Xylomelum pyriforme,) the apple, (Angophora lanceolata,) 

 the mountain-ash, sallow, sassafras, and several kinds of wood which 

 they called " Curagong," were also observed in use, but the trees were 

 not seen. 



The grass tree (Xanthorrhcea hastilis) did not equal our expecta- 

 tions, which were probably too highly raised by the descriptions of 

 those who had gone before us ; yet when in flower it must be a con- 

 spicuous object, and in all stages of growth suits well for the fore- 

 ground of a picture. 



Among the most singular of the productions of Australia are the 

 wooden pears, as they are called. These have a close external resem- 

 blance to the fruit whose name they bear, but are ligneous within. 

 Another of the fruits is a cherry, whose stone is external, and would be 

 similar to our fruit of that name were the kernel in its proper place. 

 The pit adheres firmly to the pulp, which is of the size of a pistol- 

 bullet, but the fruit shrinks when ripe to that of a buck-shot. The pear 

 grows on a low shrub, the cherry on a large bush. 



I have before remarked how different the " forest," so called in New 

 South Wales, is from what is understood by the term elsewhere. The 

 want of close growth is not the only remarkable appearance, but the 

 absence of all decayed foliage is also extraordinary. The ground is 

 clear of any fallen leaves, and every thing betokens that perennial 

 verdure is here the order of things. These two features combined, 

 give the forests of Australia the air of a neatly-kept park. Annual 

 plants, (if so they can be called,) abound in the forest, requiring, it is 

 said, more than a single year to bring their seeds to maturity. There 

 were instances we were told of crops of grain remaining three years 

 in the ground. A few plants found in other parts of the world, are, it 

 is well known, only brought into existence after a lapse of years, and 

 others give repeated crops during the same year. That these types, so 

 rare in other countries, should be abundant in Australia, is not remark- 



