. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 41. From the summit of Mt. Gower, one looks across the Erskine Valley to the precipitous faces of Mt. Lidgbird, and then over the lower lying parts of the island. Nearly 3,000 feet below is the broad lagoon with its surf-capped reefs facing the west, while away to the north is the little/ group of islets known as the Admiralties. Photo—A. R. McCuIloeh. has been aptly described as covered with a "Moss ; Mosses, lichens, and climbing' ferns of many kinds cover the trunks of almost all the trees, w
. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 41. From the summit of Mt. Gower, one looks across the Erskine Valley to the precipitous faces of Mt. Lidgbird, and then over the lower lying parts of the island. Nearly 3,000 feet below is the broad lagoon with its surf-capped reefs facing the west, while away to the north is the little/ group of islets known as the Admiralties. Photo—A. R. McCuIloeh. has been aptly described as covered with a "Moss ; Mosses, lichens, and climbing' ferns of many kinds cover the trunks of almost all the trees, while the ground is completely hidden under a thick growth of siDhagnum, except where it has been cleared by wild pigs. Looking downward over the sloping table-land from a central peak, one sees a forest of tree-ferns covering- many acres, their feathery tops domin- ating all the other vegetation. The whole conjures up a mental picture of a forest of the coal ages, ferns, mosses, and palms, everywhere dripping with moisture direct from the clouds which commonly cover them. From a tree-top, 2840 feet above the sea, one peers over a cliff to see the surf breaking upon Gower Islet, the southernmost portion of the island. The lower portion of this cliff, known as the Big Slope, supports an abundance of palms from which seed is collected in favourable weather, but its greater portion is inaccessible. Out in the ocean, eighteen miles to the southward, and brilliantly illuminated in the morn- ing sun, is a rocky cathedral-like spire known as Ball's Pyramid—a pinnacle risins: eighteen hundred feet into the sky, yet l)ut sixty oliains long at its base. Its upper slopes remain terra incog- nita, none iDut a few surveyors having ever landed upon the rocks around its It is of mysterious origin, its past history being difficult of compre- hension, while mystery veils its present, none knowing what may live upon the higher levels of its wind-swept fast- nesses. We saw it again late
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
