In those days a gentleman with a military title improved
upon the then popular list of contradictions by asserting that in
Australia the compass points to the south, the valleys are cold, the
mountain-tops warm, the eagles are white, and so on. Many accordingly
took their natural science as "Tomlinson" did his God--from a printed
book--and that compiled in England. Until they began to investigate they
were puzzled by contradictions. The first prompt bee-bite--there are many
varieties of Australian bees, some pugnacious and pungent--diverted
attention from the school-book romances. It was discovered that thousands
of square miles of Australian soil never catch glimpses of the sun in
consequence of the impenetrableness of the shade of Australian trees;
that the scent of the wattles, the eucalypts, the boronias, the hoyas,
the gardenias, the lotus, etc., etc., are among the sweetest and
cleanest, most powerful and most varied in the world; that many of the
birds of Australia have songs full of melody; that the so-called
Australian cherry is no more a cherry than an acorn; that the Australian
dog (though "the only true wild dog in the world") is deemed to be a
comparatively recent introduction--a new chum of Asiatic origin who
entered the glorious constellation of the State something before the era
of exclusive legislation--so naturally he does not bark, for barking is an
evidence of civilisation; but he soon learns the universal language of
the dog.
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