parties in the far distance; evidently a favourite spot. Our billy was soon boiling, and when tea, which is on these occasions a sort of sacrificial rite, reminiscent of the early settlers, was over, we went up the bank to prospect, and heard for the first time the sound which so many Australians had described to us, "the moaning" of the shea-oak in a rising wind. We had heard it described as "weird" and "depressing," and it is certainly extraordinarily uncanny. The foliage of the shea-oak is like a lot of knotted whip-cord, and when all its strings are swept together by the wind it gives rise to a strange cry that seems to come from far and near, shrill, insistent, and full of foreboding. It is impossible to compare it to any other sound.
Among Queensland products are its precious stones, and Brisbane at first seems to support a quite disproportionate number of jewellers' shops. It is specially famous for its black opals, which are not black, but a sort of peacock blue, with wonderful high green lights. These beautiful stones are of infinite variety in depths of colouring, and their very novelty makes them attractive, but all the same the visitor should only make purchases in the presence of an expert adviser, for, even in the case of jewellers of high repute, he will find that what he pays for his stones in
