through the grass, he suddenly finds his horse's feet growing moist
and the spongy vegetation getting fuller and fuller of water, till he
discovers that he has entered a lake so wide and deep that his only
safety lies in a quick retreat. This phenomenon is repeated on a small
scale all through the jungle-lands, little tufts of grass here and
there, known readily by their brighter green, furnishing water enough
to meet the wants of a thirsty animal. A calabash full of pure, sweet
water may be expressed from one of these tiny clumps of grassy sponge,
as many a weary traveler has attested while roaming over sterile
regions destitute alike of wells and springs.

But of surprises there is no end in Australia. Flowers fascinating to
the eye have no smell, but uncouth--looking shrubs and bushes often
fill the air with their delicate aroma; crows look like magpies, and
dogs like jackals; four-footed animals hop about on two feet; rivers
seem to turn their backs on the sea and run inland; swans are black,
and eagles white; some of the parrots have webbed feet; and birds
laugh and chatter like human beings, while never a song, or even a
chirrup, can be heard from their nests and perches. So an English lark
or nightingale is at a premium; and many a rough miner, with his
shaggy beard and uncouth ways, his oaths and lawlessness and crimes,
has been known to walk on Sunday evenings to a little English cottage
twelve miles out of the settlement just to hear the sweet song of a
pet lark.

The variety of vegetable productions is so great that above five
thousand species, more than half of which are peculiar to the country,
have been described and classed. Among the most remarkable is the
species of _Eucalyptus_, or gum tree, that forms some of the largest
timber yet discovered, having been seen of the height of one hundred