hnstone River, where the yacht or a steam-launch
was to meet us and take us back to Mourillyan Harbour, about eight
miles off. We left it till the morning to decide what we should do,
and went to bed in good time so as to be ready for an early start if I
felt strong enough to attempt it.

[Illustration: The Train in the Bush]

_Saturday, August 13._--Woke just at daybreak. When I looked through
the porthole I found that this harbour of Mourillyan where we were
lying was one of the most picturesque I had ever seen. It is entirely
land-locked, except for the narrow passage through which we entered
last night. Both vegetation and landscape looked thoroughly tropical,
and two or three bungalows were perched amid the dense foliage on the
steep banks of the rising hillsides.

[Illustration: Zamoa Tree]

We were ready before our kind hosts, and it was quite eleven o'clock
before we landed and established ourselves in the steam-tram, ready
for a journey to the Mourillyan sugar-plantation. My long deck-chair
having been placed most comfortably in a sugar-truck, my journey was
luxuriously and easily performed, though, after the perfectly quiet,
smooth movement of the last few days, I rather felt the occasional
jolts and jars. I have travelled through tropical jungles in all parts
of the world, and though the scenery to-day was wanting in the
grandeur of the virgin forests of Brazil, and of the tangled masses of
vegetation of Borneo and the Straits Settlements, it had much special
beauty of its own. The variety of foliage was a striking contrast to
the monotonous verdure often seen in Australia. Some of the palms and
ferns were extremely beautiful, and so well grown that each might have
been a specimen plant in a greenhouse. What I call the umbrella palm,
but what they call here the cabbage palm--a sort of _Zamia
alsophila_--grew abundantly in groups. Wherever there was a clearing
we could see high trees, some with their bare white stems rising to
nearly a hundred feet before they branched out, while others were
completely covered, and almost killed, by masses of creepers whose
leaves, of every kind and shape--some large and broad like the
_Aristolochias_; others quite finely cut like _Logodiums_; others
sharp, pointed, and shiny; others again palmated--and of every shade
of green, gave a fine effect to the different peeps and vistas as we
glided along. Presently the clearings became more numerous, and we
passed a deserted vi