Page:Descriptive account of the panoramic view, &c. of King George's Sound, and the adjacent country.djvu/13

 13 forests of these trees extend for hundreds of miles on the mountains behind the west coast. The wood is admirably adapted for ship-building, and makes handsome furniture. H.M.S. Success was repaired with it—and the report made to the Admiralty on her arrival in England was so favourable, that a high price was offered for its importation for the use of the navy.

There are not many beautiful varieties of birds. The most ornamental are the parrot and cockatoo tribes, which possess great variety of plumage, and are very enlivening on the wing and amongst the trees. The bronze-winged pigeon resembles the turtle-dove in shape, with a wing adorned with shining and changeful shades of bronze; and the blue bird is rather smaller than the English goldfinch, and covered with a rich and brilliant hue. The whole of the continent seems to be singularly deficient in the feathered tribe; and it is not unusual to travel through the forests and scarcely see an animal of any description to break the almost universal solitude. As the country is not thickly inhabited, and the forests are extensive, it is difficult to account for the scarcity of animation. The fires, which are periodically spread over vast tracts of country for the purpose of driving objects of chase from the fastnesses, must be very destructive at the time that birds and animals are rearing their young. The natives are also quick-sighted bird nesters, and seek after eggs with much eagerness.