Page:Rambles in Australia (IA ramblesinaustral00grewiala).pdf/201

 We saw the curious sharp-nosed bandicoot, and at last our search was rewarded by a sight of the platypus. All these smaller animals were exhibited under their life conditions, with sandy burrows, or whatever they might be, carefully reproduced.

The picture gallery consists principally of modern paintings, many of them by Australian painters or of Australian scenes.

It seemed to us that the painter has yet to arise who will really capture the spirit of Australian scenery. It is so wholly individual a thing in colour and chiaroscuro. In a photograph it shows not unlike Europe, but the heavy opaque look of the gums seen massed together at a little distance does not resemble anything on this continent, nor does the rather sad, almost dun-coloured effect of the grey eucalyptus, near at hand, nor the translucent atmosphere, the clarity of light, the brilliancy of sun, that makes a London winter seem a thing of abysmal gloom following on those illumined days.

Leaving the picture gallery, a long corridor leads to the free library, and Melbourne is justly proud of its beautiful and luxurious reading-room, in every way worthy of the chief city of a great democratic country. Circular in shape, it is surmounted by a dome so high that it rather