thirty miles from Perth, and there found some blacks who must have seen Europeans before, for they were not frightened at the sound of a gun.

9. These poor children of the desert treated the wanderers with the greatest kindness; the women were called up, bark baskets of frogs were opened for them, nuts were roasted, and as a special delicacy, Grey was treated to a fresh-water tortoise.--Australia's Heroes.

LESSON 65.-PRODUCTIONS.

1. There is less variety in the climate of Australia than might be expected from its size. It is hot, dry, and healthy. The heat is greatest in the centre and north but frosts, seldom appear in the south except among the mountains. Snow lies all the year on sheltered parts of the Australian Alps; it is common on the high eastern table-lands, but only one instance is known of snow falling and lying on the ground in Sydney (June 28, 1836), and then it disappeared in an hour.

2. The vegetation presents a very monotonous and sombre appearance. The prevailing colour of the foliage is a dull olive-green; the trees and shrubs are mostly evergreens, lacking the varied tints which our forest trees assume with the changing seasons. The leaves too have no difference of upper and under side, and are vertical, not horizontal; hence the sun's rays pass through the largest trees.

3. The forests cover the hill sides; they are open, the trees standing well apart, with little under-wood. The commonest trees are the eucalyptus or "blue gum" family, acacias, grass-trees, tree-ferns, and shea-oaks. Some of the gum-trees are 400 feet in height, being the tallest

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trees known. The shea-oak or beef-wood tree has long drooping threads instead of leaves, and the timber is of the colour of raw beef and very hard.

4. The deep gullies formed by ridges and sand hills, where heavy dews take the place of rain in the dry season, are filled with dense vegetation of ferns and flowers. The ferns are met with of all sizes, from that of the ordinary ferns of our own country to that of the gigantic tree-ferns, having the size and general appearance of palm-trees. Nothing can be more beautiful than these latter, with their graceful feathery leaves waving with the slightest breath of wind.

5. The native fruits and berries are few, and almost useless; among them are wooden pears, small fruit something like European apples, cherries, peaches, and grapes. A king of mistletoe and the evergreen "Christmas bush," with masses of pink blossoms, serve for decorations at Christmas time.

6. The grass pastures become very dry and brown in summer; but even here the salt-shrub flourishes and furnishes food for sheep. Other vegetation in the open plains is known as scrub. After rains when the scrub is bright with flowers, it looks very pleasant, and at all times an agreeable odour pervades the air, for the leaves are commonly aromatic.

7. But generally the appearance is gloomy in the extreme; the plants are of uniform height and of a dull sea-green colour, and when viewed from a distance they look like the rolling waves of the ocean. Their leaves are prickly, and they grow in such dense masses that they are often impassable.

8. The Mallee scrub is an osier-like plant growing to the height of fourteen feet; there are 8000 square miles of it in South-west Australia. The Mulga scrub consists

of prickly acacias, whose strong thorns are greatly dreaded by man and beast. The Spinifex or porcupine-grass is the most common and most dreaded plant of the interior; it is hard coarse grass growing in tufts three or four feet high, with excessively sharp spines which wound and lame horses; it is uneatable by any animal, and water is seldom found in the neighbourhood of it.

9. The animals are as peculiar as the plants. Most of the quadrupeds belong to the marsupial class, or that class of animals which carry their young when very small in a pouch or bag. The kangaroo, opossum, bandicoot, native cat, ant-eater, and the duck-billed platypus or water-mole are among the most common. The lastnamed animal resembles an otter in general appearance, but has a beak similar to that of a duck.

10. The dingo, or native dog, is very destructive to sheep. There are no large beasts of prey or monkeys. Deer, goats, and rabbits have been turned out amongst the forests and scrubs; the rabbits have multiplied exceedingly, and become a nuisance to the colonists. Herds of wild descendants of strayed horses and cattle roam about the plains near the settlements.

11. There are many varieties of birds with gay plumage -parrots, parroquets, cockatoos, lyre-birds, honey-suckers, king-fishers, and bell-birds. Brush-turkeys, which never upon their eggs, are found in the tropics; emus, birds of the ostrich family, wander over the plains. Among water birds may be mentioned the black swan.

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12. English birds, sparrows, larks, thrushes, and finches, have been introduced, though Australia is not wanting in songsters peculiar to itself, such as the piping-crow with its varied whistling notes, and the lyre-bird with its mocking tones.

LESSON 66.-THE ABORIGINALS OR NATIVES.

1. Naturally, Australia would appear to have little, except its healthy climate, to recommend it as an abode of man; yet, in less than half a century, British emigrants have made it a rich and prosperous colony.

2. What it is to uncivilized man may be judged from the condition of the natives, who are thinly spread over the continent. They rank among the lowest of savages.

Their colour is dark, and their hair is frizzy but not woolly. They sleep in the open air, in rude huts or in caves, covering their bodies with kangaroo and opossum skins. They paint themselves with a mixture of red ochre and grease. They wear scarcely any clothing except in the settled districts, where they are obliged to appear clad.

3. For food, nothing comes amiss to them-roots, reptiles, caterpillars, grubs, birds, berries, insects, eggs, fish,