The following observations, recorded in Mr. Cunningham's _Two Years in
New South Wales_, are as valuable as they are interesting; for hitherto
we have known but little of the natural history of that country:--
_Trees_.--Trees here appear to follow the same laws as other vegetable
substances, regarding the effects they produce upon the soil wherein
they grow. It has long been remarked in America, that on the forests
being cut down, young trees of a different species sprout up in place of
the old ones; and here the same remark, in a great measure, holds
good,--acacias very commonly making their appearance on land that has
been once under cultivation, and afterwards permitted to relapse into a
state of nature. From this circumstance it should seem, that trees, like
other vegetables, extract a particular substance from the ground, which
substance it is necessary should be restored before the same species of
tree can be readily grown a second time,--a restoration to be effected,
perhaps, by such chemical changes in the constituent particles of the
soil as may arise from the cultivation of other species.
_Fruits_.--Of native fruits, we possess raspberries equal in flavour and
not otherwise distinguishable from the English. They grow plentifully
on the alluvial banks of Hunter's river, and supply a yearly Christmas
feast to the birds. Oar native currants are strongly acidulous, like the
cranberry, and make an excellent preserve when mixed with the raspberry.
They grow on low shrubs not higher than the whortleberry bush. Our
cherries are destitute both of pleasant taste and flavour, and have
the stone adhering to their outside. Our native pears are tolerably
tempting to the look, but defy both mastication and digestion, being the
pendulous seed-pods of a tree here, and their outer husks of such a hard
woody consistence, as to put the edge of even a well-tempered knife to
proof of its qualities in slicing them down. The burwan is a nut much
relished by our natives, who prepare it by roasting and immersion in a
running stream, to free it from its poisonous qualities. The jibbong is
another tasteless fruit, as well as the _five-corners_, much relished by
children. The wild potato strongly resembles the species now in use in
Europe, but the stem and leaf are essentially different. It grows on the
loose flooded alluvial margins of the rivers, and at one period of the
year composes the chief sustenance of the natives, having the watery
look and taste of the yam. Of foreign fruits now climatized we possess a
great variety. Here are oranges, lemons, citrons, nectarines, apricots,
peaches, plums, cherries, figs, loquats, grenadillos, quinces, pears,
apples, mulberries, pomegranates, grapes, olives, raspberries,
strawberries, bananas, guavas, pineapples, and English and Cape
gooseberries and currants. Of shell-fruits we have the almond, walnut,
chestnut, and filbert; and of other garden fruits, strawberries, melons,
peppers, &c.
Melons and pumpkins will absolutely overrun you, if you do not give them
most bounteous scope, and you need want neither water nor musk-melons
for six or eight months yearly on an average, if you duly time the
sowings. Nothing can exceed their rich juiciness and flavour, and the
rapidity of their growth is almost miraculous, when a few showers of
rain temper the hot days. The pumpkin makes an excellent substitute for
the apple in a pie, when soured and sweetened to a proper temper by
lemons and sugar. The black children absolutely dance and scream when
they see one, pumpkin and sugar being their delight. To the half of a
shrivelled pumpkin hanging at the door of my tent on my first essay in
settling, one of our sooty satyrs could do nothing for some minutes but
fidget and skip; and with his eyes sparkling, and countenance beaming
with ecstacy, exclaim, "Dam my eye, _pambucan_; dam my eye, _pambucan_!"
such being the nearest point they can attain to the right pronunciation
of their favourite _fruit_.
_Birds_.--We are not moved here with the deep mellow note of the
blackbird, poured out from beneath some low stunted bush; nor thrilled
with the wild warblings of the thrush, perched on the top of some tall
sapling; nor charmed with the blithe carol of the lark as we proceed
early afield; none of our birds at all rivalling these divine songsters
in realising the poetical idea of the "music of the grove;" while
"parrots' chattering" must supply the place of "nightingales' singing"
in the future amorous lays of our sighing Celadons. We have our lark
certainly, but both his appearance and note are a most wretched parody
upon the bird our English poets have made so many fine similes about.
He will mount from the ground, and rise fluttering upward in the same
manner, and with a few of the starting notes of the English lark; but
on reaching the height of thirty feet or so, down he drops suddenly and
mutely, diving into concealment among the long grass, as if ashamed of
his pitiful attempt. For the pert, frisky robin, pattering and pecking
against the windows in the dull days of winter, we have the lively
"superb warbler," with his blue shining plumage and his long tapering
tail, picking up the crumbs at our doors; while the pretty little
redbills, of the size and form of the goldfinch, constitute the sparrow
of our clime, flying in flocks about our houses, and building their soft
downy pigmy nests in the orange, peach, and lemon trees surrounding
them. Nor are we without our rural noters of the time, to call us to
our early task, and warn us of evening's close. The loud and discordant
noise of the _laughing jackass_, (or _settler's clock_, as he is
called,) as he takes up his roost on the withered bough of one of our
tallest trees, acquaints us that the sun has just dipped behind the
hills, and that it is time to trudge homewards; while the plaintive
notes of the curlew, and the wild and dismal screechings of the flying
squirrel, skimming from branch to branch, whisper us to retire to our
bedchambers. In the morning, again, the dull monotonous double note of
the _whee-whee_, (so named from the sound of its calls,) chiming in at
as regular intervals as the tick of a clock, warns us to rub our eyes
and con over the tasks of the impending day, as it is but half an hour
to dawn; till again the loud laughter of the _jackass_ summons us to
turn out, and take a peep at the appearance of the morning, which just
begins to glimmer beyond the dusky outline of the eastern hills.
_Animals_.--Our wild animals are numerous, but few of them carnivorous,
and none of a size to endanger human life. The _native dog_ is generally
believed to be an importation, being deficient of the false uterus or
pouch characterising all our other quadrupeds. He closely resembles the
Chinese dog in form and appearance, being either of a reddish or dark
colour, with shaggy hair, long bushy tail, prick ears, large head, and
slightly tapering nose; in size he reminds one of a shepherd's dog,
running with considerable speed, and snapping in attack or defence. He
does not bark, but howls in melancholy sort, when prowling in quest of
prey, and has a strong and peculiar odour, which makes European dogs shy
at first of attacking him, doubtless intimidated too by his snapping
mode of fighting; for it is observed of poodles, and all which snap,
that few other dogs are fond of engaging them. He is most destructive on
breaking in among a flock of sheep, as he bites a piece out of every one
he seizes; not holding fast and worrying dead like the fox, but snapping
at all he can overtake, till twenty or thirty may be killed by one dog,
there being something so peculiarly venomous in their bite that few
recover from it. Their cross with the tame dog forms a very useful breed
for emu-hunting, and many even of the pure ones are caught young, tamed
by the natives, and bred up to hunt emus and kangaroos. They have as
many pups as the tame dog, littering either in some hollow log, deserted
ant-hill, hole in the ground, or thick brush. They will hunt, kill, and
devour a tame dog also, if a troop of them can catch him alone. A
settler in the interior informed me, that, while out hunting one
morning, he observed his dog running direct towards him at full speed,
with two large native dogs close at his heels; and so eager were they to
seize their prey, that his own dog was actually sheltered between his
legs, and the native dogs within pistol-shot, before they perceived
their danger. Hence he was enabled to shoot one of them. The native cat
is the only other carnivorous animal we possess; but its depredations
extend no farther than the poultry-yard. It is small and long-bodied,
with a long tail, claws like a common cat, a nose like a pig, striped
down the sides with brown and black, and dotted over with white spots.
It climbs trees and preys on birds while they sleep, being a night
animal.
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