NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
55 
Influence of the Geological Conditions of a Country upon 
its Flora.— It is a curious and interesting fact in connection with 
the botany of Northern Queensland, that the country outside of 
what is generally known as the conglomerate is nearly always 
devoid of striking or beautiful plants, trees, or shrubs. Grasses 
abound, and the country is valuable for pastoral purposes. The 
conglomerate, on the contrary, is utterly useless, excepting 
always those portions which are auriferous. Its chief charac¬ 
teristic features consist of stretches of bare rock, dotted here 
and there by a few clumps of dwarfed trees and bushes, and 
occasionally crossed by patches of low, dense jungle. This tract is 
furrowed in every direction by innumerable creeks, which have eroded 
deep gorges through the soft sandstone rock. Many of these creeks 
have their sources underground, and flow through caves for a con¬ 
siderable distance before emerging into the light of day. These caves 
are joined together by innumerable cross passages or caves, the whole 
forming a perfect reticulation. But although the conglomerate is 
useless for pastoral purposes, it affords a marked contrast to the more 
richly grassed country, for we here find that every nook and dell, every 
creek and valley, is transformed into what I may aptly term a natural 
conservatory. Bare and valuable plants meet the gaze in every 
direction ; flowers of most varied hues, from the tiniest of tiny orchids, 
to the dazzling spikes of the grevilleas, which form masses of bright 
scarlet on a dark background of dense scrub, whose walls of the most 
vivid green rise gradually towards the summit of the sloping wall of rock, 
allowing a glimpse here and there of its rich brown sides, and terminating 
in a broad band of shrubs some 5ft. high, which everywhere crown the 
edge of the cliff. The novelty of the many parasitical plants growing 
in the most unexpected places, the beautiful and ever-varying forms 
of countless ferns rearing their graceful fronds over the margins of 
pools, the varying tints of the mosses and lichens, the nodding grasses, 
and the many shades of green, combine to make up a picture which 
cannot be surpassed for loveliness in Australia. Of course this wealth 
of plant-life is entirely owing to the abundance of water, and to the 
great heat generated by the sandstone rock. Every few steps you 
pass the mouth of a cave, sometimes a mere hole, and again a glorious 
arch thirty or forty feet high, leading into a tunnel, where a drink of 
ice-cold water can always be obtained. These cave-openings can be 
seen high up in the sides of the cliffs. Bats, snakes, the rock-wallaby, 
and a host of birds make their homes in the sombre depths of these 
natural chambers. Daylight often struggles in through a rift in the 
ceiling, through which also the water percolates. Now and then you 
pass the mouths of others, and obtain glimpses into the fairy-like 
depths of their botanical treasures. But when you reach the summit 
and step out of the narrow strip of jungle on to a stretch of bare rock, 
you gaze at a scene the sterility and loneliness of which strikes you 
as the very antipodes of the paradise you have left below.—From 
“ The Australasian,” by Capt. W. E. Armit, F.L.S. 
