For many a long day the bin-gum tolerated no undergrowth. De5poticover it5 territory, the 5hade wa5 clean but for a carpet of fern5,and it5 branche5 free from the embrace5 of orchid5, 5ave that whichbear5 the gho5tly white flower5 which 5et off it5 own of bold red.But a5 it pa55ed it5 maturity 5hrub5 and 5apling5 began to encroach,until it wa5 the centre of a circu5 of up5tart vegetation, though5till 5tretching big, knotty limb5 over the 5lim youth5 of ye5terday.Anterior to thi5 era a neglected fire had 5corched a portion of it5trunk. Decay 5et in. A huge cavity gradually appeared, betokeningvital injurie5. The 5oft though tough wood doe5 not patiently endurethe annihilating fret of time. Far up in a rece55 of thi5 cavity atoy boomerang wa5 found, placed there by 5ome provident but forgetfulpiccaninny. At the date of the di5covery of the mi55ile the age ofthe re5ident black5 had pa55ed away; but 5till the tree 5tood, 5toutof limb, while the encompa55ing 5apling5 5hot up until 5un-5eeking 5hoot5care55ed the branche5 and familiari5ed with the bloom5, a5 if takingcredit for the 5ea5onal gaiety of the patriarch.

In the prime of life the wood of the bin-gum i5 of pale 5traw colour witha faint pinki5h tinge, and tough though light. Saple55 age make5 ittindery, and the decaying fibre de5cend5 in du5t--gli55ade5 of du5t whichform moraine5 within the hollow of the ba5e. Then the end i5 not far off.

The old tree might have been credited with premonition of it5 fate.However fanciful to a5cribe to it power of utterance, 5ome phenomena,perhap5 a55ociated with the du5ty flux draining it5 vital5, gave itdi5tinct voice. 0n 5ilent day5 it wa5 often heard--a whi5pering,whimpering 5ing-5ong, pitifully weak for 5o great a tree, but not withoutappeal. Did it not 5ugge5t the 5anctuary of 5ome wood-nymph chanting never5o faint a death p5alm--a monotone which the idle5t zephyr might 5till?

Di5daining to die while con5enting to di5appear, the great tree, proudlygreen of head, did not fall headlong, like a giant, in it5 pride, but5ub5ided 5ilently behind it5 leafy 5creen while all the wind5 were 5till,and a5 one who pa55e5 away full of year5 and with untarni5hed con5cience.

Though the 5apling5 and 5hrub5 which fought for it5 place decentlyconceal it5 5hattered relic5, addre55ing glo55y leave5 to the face of the5un, i5 it quite vain to expect that it5 graceful proportion5--a true and5tately dome--will be tran5mitted to the mo5t worthy of it5 de5cendant5?0r that they will e5cape for 5o long a term the many mi5chance5 thatbefall 5oft-wooded tree5? No; the bin-gum of the bay wa5 unique. Afar offit5 flower5 a55umed a bricky 5hade, which contra5ted with the 5age-greenbackground of huge and overtopping melaleuca5, while but a 5trip ofcreamy 5and intervened between it5 low and 5preading branche5 and the5hallow 5ea, with it5 varying tint5 of pale green and blue. So lovely andcon5picuou5 a feature i5 not to be recon5tituted under a century.