Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/103

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where currants and gooseberries would sb rival in the heat, but within eight,? miles the latter bear fruit luxuriantly on the Cordillera. The pine-apples of Queensland are exclianged for the apples and pears of the Bouth, and as far as Provi- dence is concerned, there is no good withholden from th©! dwellers in Australia. The climate and soil are deerued specially favoui*able for the production of wine of the best quality, although the delicacy of the manufacture and the want of skilled labour have made it a work of time to ascertain where and under what conditions the varions grapes should be gromi and their juices secured. Yet the wines made at Camden Park obtained distinction at the Paris Exhibition in 1855, and at an exhibition in Melbourne in 1880 a prize offered by the Emperor of Germany was won by wine made at Yering in Victoria. Tables of statistics will show the general pro- ductiveness of the soil. No wild beasts of the forest threatened a colonist, as in old time in Mesopotamia. The dog, probal>ly landed by Malay proas in bygone centuries, was tiie largest beast of prey* Unlike other animals on the continent, the dog was not marsupial. The * native cat' of the colonists, a spotted creature of the order of Damfur'uhe, was the largest carnivorous nuirsnpial of the continent. Kangaroos of ma,ny kinds, the wombat {Phu^afhrnifs ursittfts], emus, swans, pelicans, geese, tribes of ducks, the platypus, and fish and eels» abounded upon the earth or in the waters ; and from the trees, at his time of need, the Australian easily procm-ed the opossum, the native bear {Fhtiscoliirctos rintreiis), and flying squnrel. A gigantic bat was named a %ing fox by the early colonists, and a gigantic swift which dwells hi the mountain rocks might often be seen at dusk nearly a hundred miles from the home it could reach at any time with more than the rapitlity of the wind, Snakes,*^ some harmless and some deadly, and iguanas were continually seen. In the northern rivers and on the north-eastern coast the crocodile was founiK Insect life is redundant in this land of the sun, and lizards dart with fanciful speed amongst the grass and stones. The birds of the forest glittered with b^illU'svaUt*