aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

54 AROUND THE WOELD.
innumerable number of trees, shrubs, plants, and ornamental
flowers, snowy, crimson, and golden. The palms and ferns
are exceedingly fine ; and the deep emerald of the tropical
on this December day, absolutely magnificent.
foliage is,
The city and suburbs comprise in the aggregate not less
than two thousand five hundred acres. These reserves are
not mere enclosures, but most of them are laid out, planted,
and ornamented in the most approved style.
The eucalyptus is the national tree. There are some
thirty species, the wood being excellent for ship-building
and railroad-ties. The foliage is beautiful, and the leaves
are said to have a therapeutic value. These eucalypts back
in the gullies and mountains rival, if not excel, the renowned
forest-giants of. California. Mr. Klein, measuring a eucalyptus
on the Black Spur, found it four hundred and eighty
feet high. The minster spire of Strasbourg has been pronounced
the highest of any cathedral on the globe, sending
its pinnacle to the height of four hundred and sixty-six feet
the great pyramid of Cheops is four hundred and eighty
feet in height ; and yet these eucalyptus trees would completely
overshadow spire and pyramid.
AMUSEMENTS AND MOEALS.
Cricket, football, racing, shooting, bay-fishing, and boating
on the Yarra, have their daily devotees. Holidays are frequent.
At these seasons, arcades, stores, offices, are closed,
business put aside, and the old become young again.
Pictures necessarily have backgrounds. There is everywhere,
in social life, the sunny and the shady side.
In this
city, sin abounds. Jails push out their forbidding fronts.
Criminals are flogged. This is a blotch upon penal legislation.
Gold is chief among the gods worshiped. Mines and
wines, wool and wheat, are the staple productions of the
country. Few are so poor that they cannot indulge in colonial
wines and tobacco.
Hotels and saloons are tended, with
few exceptions, by young women termed " bar-maids."