Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 81.djvu/434

428 In this region I had my first view of the Australian bushman, and. he is certainly the lowest of all the natives I met during the whole trip. I could admire his boomerang and the way he threw it, and also his almost ape-like agility in climbing trees, but he hardly seems to be reassuring material for civilized citizenship.

Although a year's field study of the cycads about Cairns and north of Cairns would doubtless have proved productive, I had no more time,

and had to hasten to meet my boat sailing from Sydney on December 16, 1911. There are few cycads south of Sydney, and consequently, a steamer stop of three days at Melbourne finished the work in Australia.

Although Melbourne is about 1,500 miles south of the Tropic of Capricorn, the climate is mild, and palms, tree ferns, cycads and araucarias flourish in the botanical gardens. The director, Mr. Cronin, was particularly proud of the tree fern display, which could hardly be