A BOTANIZING EXPEDITION TO WEST AUSTRALIA. 293 



this State is far more backward than any of the others, but the soil 

 for the most part is good, in spite of its sandy appearance. Besides 

 the great timber industry in Karri and Jarrah, &c., there are two 

 others which are connected with the forestry which are unportant. 

 One is the sandal- w^ood, so much in request in the East, but which 

 seems likely to soon become wiped out ; the other is mallat-bark 

 [Eucalyptus occidentalis), used for tanning. I came across consider- 

 able quantities of this gum-tree growing near Kojonup, especially near 

 Slab Hutt Gully. This gum reafforests itself very quickly, especially 

 after a fire has been through it. I was showm dense masses of it only 

 seven years old, which now is ten to twelve feet in height. There is 

 at present probably little chance of the plant being exterminated, but 

 there is no restriction on the size of the plant stripped and killed, 

 and if it is all stripped before it comes into fruit-bearing it stands 

 to reason that the plant may become wiped out and a useful industry 

 destroyed. 



On the 21st we parted with Mr. Blechynden, our excellent driver 

 and guide, and his team with many regrets. He had a lonely 

 drive of 135 miles back to Bridgetown, while we had a fourteen 

 hours' journey, covering 302 miles, to Perth, where we arrived safely. 

 Dr. A. Morrison very kindly took over all the plant specimens in 

 order to get them thoroughly dry before sending them to England. 

 In our three weeks' tour we got a vast collection of perhaps some 

 500 specimens. Altogether we had a most delightful trip, which was 

 all too short, but long enough to get an insight into the flora of the 

 South- West, where the rainfall is from twenty-five to forty-five inches, 

 and where I am in hopes of being able to get many plants in the 

 future, which could be grown in favoured gardens in the British Isles. 



There is a fine field for research still left for anyone who is an 

 enthusiastic botanist, and who would take up the study of the West 

 Australian flora. The tropical regions especially are practically un- 

 touched, and some one is badly wanted who will work up this most 

 varied and interesting flora, the standard work upon which is still 

 Bentham and Mueller's "Flora Australensis. " So recently as 1902 

 Messrs. Diels and Pritzel visited West Australia and added some 240 

 new species in a comparatively short expedition through the best- 

 known parts of the southern floral area, a fact that will give some idea 

 of what is still to be done in this region. 



