Every Traveller In Those Dreary Regions Has Appreciated These, (To Him) Comparatively Speaking, Oasises Of The Desert - For It Is In Them Alone, That He Can Hope To Obtain Any Food For His Jaded Horse; Without, However, Their Affording Under Ordinary Circumstances, The Prospect Of Water For Himself.

Forcing his way through the dense, and apparently interminable scrub, formed by the Eucalyptus dumosa, (which in some situations

Is known to extend for fully 100 miles), the traveller suddenly emerges into an open plain, sprinkled over with a fine silky grass, varying from a few acres to many thousands in extent, but surrounded on all sides by the dreary scrub he has left.

In these plains I have constantly traced the remains of decayed scrub - generally of a larger growth than that surrounding them - and occasionally appearing to have grown very densely together. From this it would appear that the face of the country in those low level regions, occupied by the Eucalyptus dumosa, is gradually undergoing a process which is changing it for the better, and in the course of centuries perhaps those parts of Australia which are now barren and worthless, may become rich and fertile districts, for as soon as the scrub is removed grass appears to spring up spontaneously. The plains found interspersed among the dense scrubs may probably have been occasioned by fires, purposely or accidentally lighted by the natives in their wanderings, but I do not think the same explanation would apply to those richer plains where the timber has been of a large growth and the trees in all probability at some distance apart - here fires might burn down a few trees, but would not totally annihilate them over a whole district, extending for many miles in every direction.

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