Page:Rambles in Australia (IA ramblesinaustral00grewiala).pdf/272



THE BEGINNING OF THE TROPICS

Soon after crossing the Queensland border we entered a stony country in which intrepid settlers had built themselves houses among granite boulders. In spite of this the soil of the surrounding district is very rich, and consists largely of decomposed granite, which stretches for eight hundred miles round the township of Stanthorpe, and is specially good for fruit-growing and vineyards. "There," observes the guide-book poetically, "roses bloom all the year round on the cheek of the young, and vigour characterises the movements of the old."

The line then crossed open country cleared of gums; on the pastures numbers of horses were feeding. Mountain ranges stretched away to the far distance with deep grassy gorges. At one point we passed a large patch of prickly pear, one of the most terrible of Queensland pests which has had to be dealt with by special legislation, both in Queensland and new South Wales. Botanically it is known as a form of Opuntia inermis. It resembles