St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-04-26
Queer Things in Australia.

We have been witnessing strange
phenomena in this region. The blue
sun which shone upon us when we were
voyaging between Honolulu and Auck-
land seems to correspond with the green
sun seen about the same time by voya-
gers on the Indian Ocean. Ever since
then, at near intervals, the extraordinary
rose-colored afterglow has followed the
sunsets. The sunsets in Australia are
said to have been always splendid. but
the metereologists here have not
hitherto observed these afterglows any
more than the sea captains have OBJ
served blue and green suns. One night
at st. Kilda. which looks westward
| over the sea, we saw the afterglow as
| sumo the exact form of an aurora, with
shooting and pulsating columns of pink
| light There is little doubt here that
these phenomena are connected with
that tremendous volcanic convulsion in
Java which sank range of mountains
sixty miles long. A stranger in this
region might easily be persuaded that
| the sunsets are normal. SO abnormal
seem some Of the ordinary phenomena.
The moon is seen so clearly that every
mark on it is often visible to the naked
eve. The presence of new armament
| and new consultations is very impress
sive, and even one not much given to
star-gazing is likely to discover that he
had grown more familiar than he had
supposed with the heavens under which
he was born. The Australian earth,
| too, presents strange appearance.
Between Melbourne and Sidney one
travels nearly day amid gum trees.
whose trunks, according to ones mood,
may appear silvery or blanched in
death. Many of them are indeed dead,
| eirdled by the farmers. The bush has
| a desolate look. In the gray morning
| a large ..native bear was seen clasp
ing telegraph pole as our train passed.
| knowing the passion of bears Tor
honey l believed it was cub deluded
by the humming noises into the belief
that swarm of bees was near. My
theory was soon upset by discovering
that the "native bear" is no bear ut all,
but marsupial (Koala); however, it
loves fruit, and possibly honey. This
animal has only rudimentary tail; its
thumb and second finger are opposed
to the other fingers, and the innermost
toe is opposable like thumb.
This way the Australians have of call
ing things by inappropriate names is
| inconvenient. Their .bear" is no bear,
their whiting" Cish) is no whiting.
their "cherry" is no cherry, their 'fy-
ing fox only big bat. 1t used to he
proverbially reported that Australia
is a place where the oysters grow on
trees, the fences are made of mahogany
and cherries grow with their stones out
side" There is no real mahogany in
the country, SO far as l can learn, eN-
ccpt it has been imported: the so-called
cherry is kind of cypress, and the only
truth about the OYSTER is that about some
harbor oysters cover everything close
to the water. including occasionally the
roots and fallen trunks Of trees. (A1iser
able little bits of oysters, of which it
! would take dozen to fill tablespoon
More wonderfulis the little "hand-fish,"
which climbs up on the beach sand,
| props itself on its fin-hands and looks
| at one as pertly as a sparrow. ''Ias-
| manian DEVIL is good deal of hum
bug. too. At Auckland heard him de-
| scribed as fierce, unHmable, danger
| Gus; at Syuney \hls uoHSS ouis 'hS
found in New South Wales) he was
fierce, but not often met with in Tas-
mania: at Melbourne he sank to San
ugly little BEAST" in 1asmania it is dis
covered that the poor little nocturnal
creature is rare and .imid. There is
one creature of whose alleged habits I
had heard with some skepticism-th
ground parrot of NewZealand. On in
quiry l found the wost reports about
| it confirmed. This parrot builds its nest
on the ground, and since the introduce
ton of sheep, has been building it
chiefly of wool. TO obtain this it
perches on the sleeps back. For some
time the worst that was feared from this
parrot was such snail thefts of the
golden fleece, but fer some years now it
has taken to tearingthrough the sleeps
back and dragging cut the liver, which
it devours. 1t has become pest in
New Zealand since tbs rapid evolution
in English civilization. 1t is large
parrot, but do not think it pretty; its
breast is the color # iron rust.--M. ID.
Conway, in PHILADELPHIA Times