ll through the jungle-lands, little tufts of grass here and
there, known readily by their brighter green, furnishing water enough
to meet the wants of a thirsty animal. A calabash full of pure, sweet
water may be expressed from one of these tiny clumps of grassy sponge,
as many a weary traveler has attested while roaming over sterile
regions destitute alike of wells and springs.

But of surprises there is no end in Australia. Flowers fascinating to
the eye have no smell, but uncouth--looking shrubs and bushes often
fill the air with their delicate aroma; crows look like magpies, and
dogs like jackals; four-footed animals hop about on two feet; rivers
seem to turn their backs on the sea and run inland; swans are black,
and eagles white; some of the parrots have webbed feet; and birds
laugh and chatter like human beings, while never a song, or even a
chirrup, can be heard from their nests and perches. So an English lark
or nightingale is at a premium; and many a rough miner, with his
shaggy beard and uncouth ways, his oaths and lawlessness and crimes,
has been known to walk on Sunday evenings to a little English cottage
twelve miles out of the settlement just to hear the sweet song of a
pet lark.

The variety of vegetable productions is so great that above five
thousand species, more than half of which are peculiar to the country,
have been described and classed. Among the most remarkable is the
species of _Eucalyptus_, or gum tree, that forms some of the largest
timber yet discovered, having been seen of the height of one hundred
and fifty feet, and thirty to forty in girth near the root. The
leafless acacias are also found here, as well as the _Nepenthes
distillatoria_ and the _Cephalotus follicularis_, two remarkable
varieties of the monkey-cup or pitcher-plant; while many very
beautiful ferns and flowering vines adorn the coasts and lave their
graceful fringes in the blue ocean waves. The timber of the country is
of gigantic size, and with other varieties may be found cedar,
rosewood, tulip and mahogany.

But the most wonderful products of Australia belong to the animal
kingdom, among them the kangaroo, the wombat, and that strange anomaly
of the animal creation, the _Ornithorynchus_, or "duck-billed
quadruped." Emus, eagles, parrots, white swans and overgrown pelicans
of many varieties, enrich the ornithological kingdom, while among
insects and reptiles are found some less desirable specimens, such as
tarantulas.