Page:Rambles in Australia (IA ramblesinaustral00grewiala).pdf/303

 perturbed after this on coming across a large whiskered silver fish among our clothes, when we were packing, but his wicked intentions were frustrated prematurely, and there were no ill-effects from his presence, though we actually brought a silver fish home to London, where he was found between a trunk and its cover, and instantly slaughtered as something exotic and uncanny by the maids who were unpacking. He probably, however, came from Java.

After tea we continued our journey to One Tree Hill, our hostess actually was wearing a stole made of the skin of a platypus. The fur was curiously wiry to the touch. Mount Coot-*tha, like all reserves, is the original untouched gum forest with carriage drives running through it. At one point the trees had been cleared away to give a view of Lake Enoggera, the reservoir of Brisbane, cradled in green hills some miles away.

From the western extremity of the hill the view is very extensive and extremely beautiful. Brisbane is spread out below nestling in greenery, with its winding river, and Moreton Bay far off lying placid in the sunshine. The view is bounded by distant hills.

There is generally some one feature of a town that stands out afterwards more distinctly than the rest. In the mental picture that the name of