Behind this, where the country is flat, there is usually a narrow belt of dense brush or jungle.

In the valleys, one finds what in the colony of New South Wales would be termed open forest land, characterised by scattered eucalypti and other trees, and a scanty covering of coarse sedge-like grass growing in tufts on a red clayey soil, covered with nodules of ironstone and coarse quartzose sand.

As characteristics of this poor soil, the first objects to attract the attention are the enormous pinnacled anthills of red clay and sand, often with supporting buttresses.

These singular structures, which are sometimes twelve feet in height, are of great strength and toughness--on breaking off a piece, they appear to be honeycombed inside, the numerous galleries being then displayed.

The ants themselves are of a pale brown colour, a quarter of an inch in length.