of Victoria. The immediate locality which contains them is
known as the Huon District. A walk among these forest giants fills one
with mingled emotions of wonder and delight. Surrounded by beautiful
fern-trees nearly forty feet high, whose plumed caps tremble and vibrate
in the breeze, one's eyes seek the lofty tops of these grand forest
monarchs which are nearly lost in the sky to which they aspire; no
church steeples, no cathedral pinnacle reared by the hand of man, but
only mountain peaks reach so far heavenward. These forests are so
abundant in their yield that local steam saw-mills are constantly
engaged in cutting and preparing the lumber in various dimensions for
the market. All the trees are by no means of the great size of which we
have spoken, and yet all are extraordinary in this respect. The people
of Hobart claim that they can show trees in the Huon forests taller and
larger than any to be found in Victoria. We measured only one in the
former District, which had lately fallen, the dimensions of which we can
vouch for; namely, three hundred and thirty feet in length or height,
and seventy-one feet in circumference. The average reader will not be
able to realize the remarkable figures here given as applying to the
trunk of a tree, except by comparison with some familiar object.

A century ago, before Tasmania was settled by the English, the whole
country was covered with dense forests, remarkable for the size of
individual trees. Even now the western half of the island remains mostly
unchanged and unexplored, traversed by wild mountain ranges, full of
deep, gloomy, and nearly inaccessible ravines shut in by giant
precipices. Many of these districts were untrodden even in the days of
the aborigines. The abundance of land already available to accommodate
the present sparse population, together with the impenetrable nature of
the forest growth of the west coast, have caused that region to remain
unexplored.

Our hotel in Hobart was the Orient, which is situated upon high ground;
and by ascending to its roof at night a grand, awe-inspiring view of the
heavens was obtained,--the blue vault being thickly strewn with stars.
As we stood gazing at them our thoughts wandered back to the period of
the Nativity and the journey of the Wise Men. The surrounding hills
terraced by dwellings which were brilliantly lighted, and which crept up
to the sky line, made it difficult to decide just where the artificial
lights ended