VIEW OF THE INTERIOR. 379 



questioning my little guide, allowed us to repose 

 under a fine tamarind- tree, while we eat some re- 

 freshments we had brought with us. A little Chinese 

 youth had also joined us here, and though neither 

 could speak more than one or two words of English, 

 and I none of Malay, I was much amused by their 

 sharpness and apparent intelligence. From the spot 

 where we sat, we looked down into one or two val- 

 leys, and over one or two intermediate rocky ridges, 

 with higher land on either side of us. The view 

 was very beautiful, as the country seemed to im- 

 prove in richness as it receded from the sea, and 

 not only the valleys, but the rocky heights were 

 covered with magnificent woods of lofty umbrageous 

 trees, of all shades of green, out of which, here and 

 there, rose a stately areca-palm, lifting its feathery 

 top high into the clear sunshine. I could not help 

 contrasting the general character and aspect of the 

 vegetation with that of Australia. The difference 

 between the latitude of this place and Port Essing- 

 ton is not more than forty miles. The actual dis- 

 tance between the island of Timor and the coast of 

 Australia is not greater than two hundred and fifty 

 miles, yet the difference in the appearance of all the 

 features and vegetation of the two countries was 

 as great as one would expect between countries 

 lying under different zones of the earth. From the 

 southern shores of Van Diemen's Land, in lat. 4S°, 

 to Cape York and the Cobourg Peninsula, within 

 1 l"of the line, the gum-tree (Eucalyptus of different 



