AUSTRALIA THE LAND OF CONTRARIES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 7172, 16 September 1886, Page 4

AUSTRALIA THE LAND OF CONTRARIES.

The following is from the Commercial Advertiser published in Sydney ia July 1841: — The north breeze is the hot wind, and the ■outh the cool ; the westerley the most unhealthy, and the east the most salubrious; it is summer with the Colonists when it is winter at home, and the barometer is considered to rise before bad wheathe, and to fall before good ; the swans are black and the eagles are white, the mole laya eggs and has a duck's bill ; the kangaroo (an animul between the deer and the squirrel) has five claws on its fore paws, three talons on its hind lege, like a bird, and yet hops on its tail ; there is a bird (Melliphanga) which has a broom in its mouth instead of a tongue , a fish oae half belonging to the geoup Raia, anJ the other that of sqvalus ; tho cod is found in the rivers, und the perch ia the sea ; the valleys are cold and the mountain tops warm ; the nettle is a lofty tree, and the poplar a dwarfish shrub ; the pears are of wood with the stalks at the broad end ; the cherry grows with the stone outside ; the fields are fenced with mahogany ; the humblest house fitted up with cedar ; an.l the myrtle plants are burnt for fuel ; the the trees are without fruit, the ilowers without scent, and the birds without song ; finally, in Naw South Wales honesty is the best policy, and the greatest rogue becomes converted into tho most useful citizen ; such is Terra Auslralis.