Discovery of Australia by de Quiros in the…

Some difficulties that have been urged against the claims of Port Curtis now demand our attention.

1. It has been remarked that some of the products commemorated by De Quiros, when he speaks of the "yams, oranges, limes, papans, almonds, nutmegs, mace, ginger and pepper," are not indigenous to the Queensland coast. We must bear in mind, however, that De Quiros refers to these as pro-ducts of the various islands and other lands which he had discovered, and not as characteristic of the territory around the harbour of Vera Cruz. The pioneers who explored the Port Curtis district in the middle of the last century found abundance of fruits among the natives. Mr. Friend, who was one of those explorers, writes to me that around Port Curtis "in the early days there were yams growing there and many kinds of wild fruits, even bread-fruit and wild bananas." Another expert attests that in the Gladstone district there are three varieties of the citrus, and that there is also a so-called wild plum (solanum) with a fine bloom on the fruit. A gentleman connected with the Department of Agriculture in Brisbane also writes: "As to indigenous fruits, the principal one is the Eugenia Myrtifolia, which bears a quantity of fruit. The Government Botanist here informs me that there are hundreds of these trees, and some settlers make the fruit into jam." All this