Page:Rambles in Australia (IA ramblesinaustral00grewiala).pdf/327

 neighbourhood of Herberton, south-west of Cairns, fruit-growing is carried on, and apples, plums, pears, peaches, and vines are all successfully cultivated. The sugar industry is, besides, a most important factor in the prosperity of Cairns. Not far from the railway station of Redlynch, at the foot of the Barron Range, are the Kamerunga State Nurseries for growing coffee, bread-fruit, coconut, and rubber, and carrying out all kinds of experiments designed to solve the problems of tropical agriculture.

The country is also rich in minerals. Herberton is the principal centre for the production of tin, and the Herberton and Chillagoe districts contain deposits of tin, copper, silver, lead, bismuth, gold, and coal.

Our time, however, did not admit of our penetrating far enough into the interior to inspect the development of all these agricultural and mineral sources of wealth, which have so great a future before them; nor did it admit of our extending our journey far enough for even a glimpse of the curious and beautiful volcanic Lake Eacham. We had to content ourselves with the Barron Falls. We went ashore early, but the boat was late, and the train had got tired of waiting and gone away, so there was a long interval while it was fetched back and put together again. We sat