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No doubt the seed whence the single fan palm sprung would be brought hither by a nutmeg pigeon; but there is no bird-carrier for the CYCAD, and the set of the current is opposed to its transport by the sea. In birds and in mammals and in plants, wide-spread Australian groups are unrepresented.
The bird-lizards, all folded in their wings, sat stiff and motionless along the ramparts of red cliff. The only sounds were the hiss of those seething rushes far out on the tide, the sudden droning hum of some great insect darting overhead, or the occasional soft clatter of the long, crisp cycad leaves as a faint puff of hot air lifted them.
Sidey expressed special regret on account of the latest discovery as no woman had ever yet entered it; but the sun was low in the west and the road had some dangerous points that must be passed before dark, so the reeking skirt was removed and without waiting to dry by the great fire kindled for the purpose we hurried off, promising to return if possible, and carrying treasures in specimens, besides an ancient lemon, which may not be called a fossil, since soft substances are said not to fossilize; but however that may be, this is a perfect lemon whose particles have been replaced with the lasting rock in the same way as the numerous Cycad trunks in the same region have been preserved to prove to us conclusively that formerly the region flourished under tropical conditions, and supported an abundant animal life of tropical nature and habits.
Two days were sufficient to leach the poisonous principle; but if the initial process of roasting the nuts was omitted as in some districts the meal was submitted to the purification of water for as long as two months, when it would be tasteless. The intractability of the Cycad is such that if cattle eat the leaves they die or become permanently afflicted with a disease of the nature of rickets.
One day, in spite of the rain, I was rowed over to Ngamia, which is a wonderfully beautiful island, about three hours from Qelani. It was thickly covered with a fine cycad which grows amongst the rocks overhanging the sea. The natives call it "loga-loga," and eat the fruit.
The Cordaites is a very remarkable combination of features that are otherwise scattered among the Cryptogams, Cycads, and Conifers. On the other hand, a very large part of what the geologist had hitherto called "Ferns" have turned out to be seed-bearing plants, half Cycad and half Fern. This earlier stage is lost in those primitive ages from which not a single leaf has survived in the rocks.
The great Cryptogams of the Carboniferous world the giant Club-mosses and their kindred have been slain by the long period of cold and drought. On the other hand, there is as yet apart from the Conifers no trace of the familiar trees and flowers and grasses of the later world. The vast majority of the plants are of the cycad type.
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