Norwich bulletin., 1917-02-06
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society

awaiting LnS LOuT1SI HUH I1IS
 ern Hemisphere is to find that Austra-
 lia and New Zealand may not be grouped as two islands of like appear ance, differing mainly in size; near neighbors which may be treated as
 unit. New Zealand is nearly twice as far from Australia as Bermuda Is from New York, and is not only east but also south.
 Four days travel across chilly sea is required for the traverse from We'll ington to Sydney, and after exchang- ing the chill midsummer climate or the New Zealand lake region for the heat of Adelaide, one readily accepts the evidence of the map that the southern coast of the Australian malu- land has the latitude of central New Jersey, while the southernmost of the three islands which comprise the Do- minion of New Zealand occupies the position of southern Newfoundland.
 In climate and vegetation the two dominions are as unlike as Norway and South Carolina. New Zealand is a land of mountains, gorges, rivers and fjords. The higher peaks of the South Island are eternally snow-cap- ped and the glaciers of its southern Alps rival those of Switzerland. The seas are too cold for cor a1s. Among the mountains of the North Island volcanic fires are still springs are little less impressive than those of Yellowstone Park. The abor- iginai inhabitants of New Zealand at the time of their discovery by Cap tain Cook were the most advanced of all the South Pacific races, while the aborigineS of Australia are the lowest in intelligence of all human beings.
 Australia is in no sense inferior to but lofty peaks, profound canyons and active volcanoes are lacking; it's riv- CTS are unimpressive and it's perma- nent lakes small and few in number; it is a continent composed of plains by ridges and mountain knobs.
 AdeIaide's unusual p1an-a business section surrounded by zone Of 2,9e0 acres of park lands, beyond which are the residential sections-seems design ed to put business cares, recreation and quiet home life in separate com partments. The organization of city fife to allow for leisure-a feeling more prevalent in Adelaide than in most unknown in American cities-is partly responsible for the universal among visitors that Ado aide ranks high in general culture.
 Both climate and the high quality ,f the South Australian pioneers are also factors which have helped to make Adelaide such a desirable place | ,f residence. Those who are attract sd by the climate, people and manner ,f life of the foothill cities of South |
  loor life and flowers and fruit, and 1 wish to spend week-ends in nearby ] mountains ca at the seashore, would | eel at home in Adelaide.
 Most writers on Australia profess o see differences in types and man | lers in the three leading cities of the | Commonwealth, and the natives feel | ure that differences exist. Melbourne l s "hustling; Sydney is "easy-golng !: )n the basis of short acquaintance hese characterizations seem as unreal | s "dead' Philadelphia or ''provinciaP' Boston would to an Australian trav-
 Ter. In the American sense, no Aus | ralian city is hustling; all are easy | soing and contented; all are doing | much business in an orderly ehcSent | manner. As places for residences, they | ave few competitors among the ci- | ies of the United States.
 One readily understands why the | Australian loves his trees, groves of | siant Eucalyptus form pictures never | orgotten, and the scent of the wat le brings a homesick feeling like the | meH of sage to the Westerner.
 The flora is not only beautiful. it is | lnique, and has no counterpart in oth- 1 r lands. Of the 10000 species of | ralian, and are unknown even in New 1ealand. The general impression one | ,ets of Australian forests is their to- al un1kenneSs to anything seen elsA- | Vnere. The great IOreSIS or T1nDer rees are not damp and shaded and all | f one species, but are well lighted and | filled with other forests of shorter rees; in places the woods consist of | arge widely-spaced trees surrounded + nly by bunch grass, and even in | reas where water is not to be found | n the surface for hundreds Of square | niles through forests of low trees are present..
 Forms which may be recognized as ulip. lily, honeysuckle, and fern take E n a surprising aspect. They are not | arden flowers, but trees and the l. andscape of which they form a part l. emind one of the hypothetical period
 ntedating our own by millions of l. ears.
 The trees are indeed those of bygone |, ge. In America and Europe s11adowy Il orms of fossil leaves of strange plant l- pecies are gathered from the rock |; nd studied with interest; in Austra- h ia many of these ancient trees are +
 wing. The impression that one is Joking at a landscape which has for II yer disappeared from other parts of | he world is so vivid that the elms and + naples and oaks in some of the city |. treets strike jarring note. The |. transition from Jurassic to modern |. ines is painfully abrupt Ii