planted? What about sago palms?[1] And what about coco-nut
palms? Granting that the Utingu coco-nut plantation, opposite
Possession Island, may be on exceptionally suitable (cleared) scrub
land (see Chapter XLVII), there are thousands of square miles of
luxuriant scrub (or jungle) in the Peninsula, and a still greater
area of brushwood and " heath," which latter could be inexpensively
cleared. The coco-nut palm, so far as I know, is not fastidious
in its demands for a rich soil. Its well-being seems to depend mainly
on climatic conditions. As a matter of fact, these palms have
been planted with success on many of the northern stations as well
as in the clearings surrounding the stations of the Cape York Telegraph line. A friend who has given much attention to the cultiva-
tion of fodder-stuffs suggests that cleared " wet desert " land might
profitably be sown with lucerne to be baled and exported for the
supply of drought-stricken, or at least less favoured regions.
I have in my mind the instance of the Mallee Scrub, Victoria, which the clearing of the scrub has transmuted into valuable wheat land, although to all appearance the soil is little better than sand. There is, in fact, one difference between the " Mallee Scrub " and what has been popularly named, or nicknamed, the " wet desert," and it is all in favour of the latter. Even where there is not much to choose between the light and sandy soils of the two areas, the northern desert, as its nickname implies, is abundantly watered. It may be that, with the clearing of the present vegetation, some or all of the " permanent " running streams will disappear in dry seasons, but I am confident that even in that case shallow wells would strike water. If so, the conditions in these northern latitudes would be favourable to the close settlement of a white agricultural or arboricultural population. But I should not advocate the initiation of the experiment with day labour. I hope, on the contrary, that it will one day be made by free men, driven by the force behind and the innate impulse to explore new fields, and assured that they or their offspring will be permitted to reap the benefit of their industry and enterprise.
- ↑ See, however, the article by Professor I. Macmillan Brown on " The Curse of Sago," in The Dutch East (London, 1914), in which the author argues convincingly that the ridiculous ease with which a living can be made from sago cultivation makes for the deterioration of the race and the depopulation of the region.
