(of the order Sterculaceae) of New South Wales bursts upon
the eyes of the traveller with a blaze that justifies its name,
and the orange masses of the silky oak of the Clarence
river (Grevillia robusta), though less vivid, have a richness
almost as startling.
In Tasmania the west and great part of the north are occupied by the Silurian formation which is found in the south-east of Australia, while volcanic rocks seam the centre of the island, and carboniferous strata characterize a great part of the west. The smaller area of the island (about 15,000,000 acres) and comparative superiority of its mountain heights furnished permanent streams, and the forest, when first seen by Europeans, asserted sway over almost all the soil which was not covered with water.
The colonists strove early to discover coal-measures which could be profitably worked. They sought for gold also, and found it, though not in the abundance which prevailed on the mainland of Australia. The tin mines which they discovered in later years were a more unmixed good.
The character of the soil, produced from the rocks which form the mountains and hills, promises a long continuance of fertility in a climate favourably modified by the closely-surrounding ocean.
The marsupial order prevailed as in Australia, but animals unknown on the Continent were found in the island. The tiger of the settlers (Thylacynus cynocephalus), the devil (Dasyurus or Sarcophilus ursinus), both carnivorous and savage, were in the island only, and were a problem to naturalists. There were, however, fossil remains of both animals on the mainland; and of a fiercer carnivore, large as a lion, but with feller weapons, which preyed upon gigantic kangaroos, now like itself (Thylacoleo carnifex), long extinct.[1] The kangaroo and wombat were in both countries, as was the platypus,[2] which, with its duck-bill, webbed feet, and mole-like body, once puzzled scientific men in
- ↑ The author would not venture on this assertion except on the authority of Professor Owen, the monarch of comparative anatomy, who gathered the dry bones of antiquity and restored the forms of the past.
- ↑ 1894. The author was in London in 1883 when the first edition of this work was published, and Professor Owen volunteered to look over the proofs relating to the Australian fauna. He made several notes with his own hand besides that relating to the Thylacoleo.
