Page:Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies.djvu/84

48 closely hemmed in by scrub and mountains to a great distance. Lime, which is rare in Tasmania, is obtained from the upper part of this river. On the east side is an inlet called Kelleys Bason, and near the northern extremity, is Kings River. The scrub in the gullies and many parts of the forest is extremely thick, and very deep: it comes so close to the water's edge, as generally to render the shores of the harbour and tributary rivers inaccessible.

Sarahs Island has a strikingly verdant appearance. The little paddocks, interspersed among the buildings and lofty-paled fences, that give the whole island the look of a fortified place, vie in verdure with English meadows.—The capacity of the country about Macquarie Harbour, for cultivation, does not however appear to be great. Such lands as are sufficiently clear to admit of being ploughed, are peaty and wet; but probably they might be made to produce grass and vegetables. No attempts have been made to raise any kind of grain; and the humidity of the climate of the western part of V. D. Land, does not promise success to this branch of agriculture. Sheep do not thrive here; and at one time nearly half of the goats kept at the settlement died.

The timber about Macquarie Harbour is very fine. Huon Pine, supposed to be a species of Dacrydium, which is much valued for ship-building and general purposes, abounds on the eastern side: the wood is closer grained and more durable than White American Pine, and has an aromatic smell. This tree attains to about 100 feet in height, and 25 in circumference, and is of a pyramidal form: the branches from the trunk are a little below horizontal, and are clothed with numerous, slender, pendant, scaly branchlets, of lively green, serving the purpose of leaves, as in the Cypress and Arbor-vitae. Celery-topped Pine—Thalamia asplenifolia—so called from the resemblance of a branch clothed with its dilated leaves, to the leaf of Celery, is well calculated for masts. Myrtle, allied to Beech, but with leaves more like Dwarf Birch, is suited for keels. Light-wood—Acacia Melanoxylon—clothed with leaf-like spurious foliage, resembling the leaves of a Willow, is also fine timber, and its roots make beautiful veneering. It derives this name from swimming in water, while the other woods