Page images
PDF
EPUB

found, by a tiny cove (Wolfe's cove), from which a steep footpath led to the summit. It was no place for artillery, and even for infantry the climb was long and exhausting, but the attempt was made. Considered as a way of taking Quebec, it was in the last degree a forlorn hope, but Wolfe, as a true soldier, felt the imperative necessity of preventing his opponent from sending reinforcements to the force opposing Amherst, and staked everything upon achieving this at least. "Happy if our efforts here," as he wrote, can contribute to the success of His Majesty's arms in any other part of America." What with losses in action and by. sickness, and detachments to guard the camps and batteries, only 3600 men could be spared for the attempt. These embarked on the warships on the evening of September 12, and sailed up stream. The watchful Montcalm sent a detachment to observe their movements, but the ships proceeded to a point well above the cove, luring the detachment out of the way. Then at 1 a.m. Wolfe, with half his force, dropped down stream in the boats of the squadron and landed. The path was guarded by a redoubt, but the light infantry which led the advance scarcely attempted to follow it, scrambling up the hillside wherever they could find a foothold. The garrison of the redoubt, startled by the unforeseen attack, abandoned the work, and by daylight Wolfe had assembled his 3600 men on the plains above the city. Montcalm meanwhile had been held in check by a demonstration of part of the fleet under Admiral Saunders on Beauport, but at last, realizing that the real attack was coming from the other flank, he hurried all the troops he could collect over the St Charles and drew them up on the plain, with their backs to the walls of the upper town. He took the offensive at once. He had plenty of militiamen and irregulars, and these rapidly drove the British light infantry on to their main body, which was threatened on both flanks. On so small a battlefield, the troops in Wolfe's line of battle quickly became aware that the enemy was attacking in superior force. But their leader steadied them by his personal example, and when the French came within close range one 'perfect volley" from the whole line decided the battle. Then as the French stopped, with great gaps in their lines, Wolfe led on his men to complete the victory. He received two painful wounds and then a shot through the breast. His last order, one rare indeed in the annals of 18th-century fighting, was to send a force to the St Charles bridge to cut off the retreat of the French. Montcalm too was mortally wounded, and died next day. On the 18th of September Quebec surrendered.

[ocr errors]

QUEBEC ACT, the title usually given to a bill introduced into the House of Lords on May 2, 1774, entitled "An Act for making more Effectual Provision for the Government of the Province of Quebec, in North America." It passed the House of Lords on May 17, was discussed in the Commons from May 26 to June 13, and finally passed with some amendments. These were accepted by the Lords, in spite of the opposition of Lord Chatham, and the bill received the royal assent on June 22. The debates in the House of Commons are not found in the Parliamentary History, but were published separately by J. Wright in 1839. The speech of Lord Chatham is given in the Chatham Correspondence (iv. 351-353).

By this act the boundaries of the Canadian province of Quebec were extended so as to include much of the country between the Ohio and the Mississippi. The French inhabitants of the province were granted the liberty to profess "the religion of the Church of Rome"; the French civil law was established, though in criminal law the English code was introduced. Government was vested in a governor and council, a representative assembly not being granted till the Constitutional Act of 1791.

The granting of part of the Western territory to Quebec, and the recognition of the Roman Catholic religion, greatly angered the American colonies. On the other hand, it did much to keep the French Canadians from joining the Americans in the coming struggle. The act is still looked back to by the French in Canada as their great charter of liberty.

QUEDLINBURG, a town of Germany in the Prussian province of Saxony, situated on the Bode, near the N.W. base of the Harz Mountains, 12 miles S.E. by rail from Halberstadt on the line Magdeburg-Thale. Pop. (1905) 24,798, almost all Protestants. It consists of the old town, which is still partly surrounded by a turreted wall, the new town and four suburbs. On the west it is commanded by the castle, formerly the residence of the abbesses of Quedlinburg, connected with which is the interesting. Schlosskirche, which was dedicated in 1129 and completely restored in 1862-82. The German king, Henry the Fowler, his wife Matilda, and Aurora, countess of Königsmark, the mistress of Augustus the Strong, are buried in the Schlosskirche. There are many interesting articles in the treasury. The Gothic town hall, a 14th-century building, restored and enlarged in 1900, contains a collection of antiquities, and near it stands a stone figure of Roland. The town also possesses a gymnasium founded in 1540 and now containing the abbey library and a municipal museum. It has a fine memorial of the war of 1870-71. Quedlinburg is famous for its nurseries and market gardens, and exports vegetable and flower seeds to all parts of Europe and America. Its chief manufactures are iron goods, machinery and cloth, and it has a trade in grain and cattle. Near the town is the church of St Wipertus, which dates from the 12th century, and has a crypt of the 10th century.

Quedlinburg was founded as a fortress by Henry the Fowler about 922, its early name being Quitlingen. Soon it became a favourite residence of the Saxon emperors and was the scene of several diets. It afterwards joined the Hanseatic League. The abbey of Quedlinburg was planned by Henry the Fowler, although its actual foundation is due to his son Otto the Great. It was a house for the daughters of noble Saxon families and was richly endowed, owning at one time a territory about 40 sq. m. in area. The abbesses, who were frequently members of the imperial house, the second of them being Otto's daughter Matilda, ranked among the princes of the empire, and had no ecclesiastical superior except the pope. The town at first strove vigorously to maintain its independence of them, and to this end invoked the aid of the bishop of Halberstadt. In 1477, however, the abbess Hedwig, aided by her brothers, Ernest and Albert of Saxony, compelled the bishop to withdraw, and for the next 200 years both town and abbey were under the protection of the elector of Saxony. In 1539 the townsmen accepted the reformed doctrines and the abbey was converted into a Protestant sisterhood. In 1697 the elector of Saxony sold his rights over Quedlinburg to the elector of Brandenburg for 240,000 thalers. The abbesses, however, retained certain rights of jurisdiction, and disputes between them and the Prussian government were frequent until the secularization of the abbey in 1803. The last abbess was Sophia Albertina (d. 1829), sister of King Charles XIII. of Sweden. After forming for a few years part of the kingdom of Westphalia, the abbey lands were incorporated with Prussia in 1815.

(Halle, 1873-82); Ranke and Kugler, Beschreibung und Geschichte See the Urkundenbuch der Stadt Quedlinburg, edited by Janicke der Schlosskirche zu Quedlinburg (Berlin, 1838); Lorenz, Alt-Quedlinburg, 1485-1698 (Halle, 1900); and Huchs, Führer durch Quedlin burg. For the history of the abbey see Fritsch, Geschichte des Reichsstifts und der Stadt Quedlinburg (Quedlinburg, 1828).

QUEEN (O.E. cwen, wife, related to "quean," O.E. cwene, a hussy; cf. Gr. yun: from root gan-, to produce; cf. genus, "kin," &c.), the title of the consort or wife of a king (“queen consort"), or of a woman who is herself the sovereign ruler of a state ("queen regnant"); the widow of a former reigning sovereign is a "queen dowager," and, when the mother of the reigning sovereign, a queen mother."

66

For the position of the queen in English constitutional law see CONSORT, and for her household see HOUSEHOLD, ROYAL.

QUEEN ANNE'S BOUNTY, the name applied to a perpetual fund of first-fruits and tenths granted by a charter of Queen Anne, and confirmed by statute in 1703 (2 & 3 Anne, c. 11), for the augmentation of the livings of the poorer Anglican

clergy. First-fruits (annales) and tenths (decimae) formed originally part of the revenue paid by the clergy to the papal exchequer. The former consist of the first whole year's profit of all spiritual preferments, the latter of one-tenth of their annual profits after the first year. In accordance with the provisions of two acts (5 & 6 Anne, c. 24, and 6 Anne, c. 27) about 3900 poor livings under the annual value of £50 were discharged from first-fruits and tenths. The income derived from first-fruits and tenths was annexed to the revenue of the crown in 1535 (26 Hen. VIII. c. 3), and so continued until 1703. Since that date there has been a large mass of legislation dealing with Queen Anne's Bounty, the effect of which will be found set forth in a Report of a Joint Select Commillee on the Queen Anne's Bounty Board, 1900. The governors consist of the archbishops and bishops, some of the principal officers of the government, and the chief legal and judicial authorities. The augmentation proceeds on the principle of assisting the smallest benefices first. All the cures not exceeding £10 per annum must have received £200 before the governors can proceed to assist those not exceeding £20 per annum. In order to encourage benefactions, the governors may give £200 to cures not exceeding £45 a year, where, apy person will give the same or a greater sum. The average income from first-fruits and tenths is a little more than £16,000 a year. In 1906 the trust funds in the hands of the governors amounted to £7,023,000. The grants in 1905 amounted to £28,607, the benefactions to £29,888. The accounts are laid annually before the king in council and the houses of parliament. The duties of the governors are not confined to the augmentation of benefices. They may in addition lend money for the repair and rebuilding of residences and for the execution of works required by the Ecclesiastical Dilapidations Acts, and may receive and apply compensation money in respect of the enfranchisement of copyholds on any benefice. The governors are unpaid; the treasurer and secretary receives a salary of £1000 a year. He is appointed by patent under the great seal, and holds office during the pleasure of the crown.

QUEENBOROUGH, a municipal borough in the Faversham parliamentary division of Kent, England, in the Isle of Sheppey, close to the junction of the Swale and Medway, 2 m. S. of Sheerness on the South-Eastern & Chatham railway. Pop. (1901) 1544. The prosperity of the town has been revived in modern times by the establishment by the railway company of a branch line from Sittingbourne in connexion with a service of mail and passenger steamers to Flushing (Holland), which run twice daily. The first copperas factory in England was established at Queenborough in 1579, by Matthias Falconer, of Brabant. In 1890 Portland cement works were built, and there is a large trade in timber. The town is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 302 acres.

A fortress, called Sheppey Castle, is said to have existed from an early period for guarding the passage of the Swale river. Queenborough Castle was built about 1361 by Edward III., who named the town after Queen Philippa and made it a free borough, with a governing body of a mayor and two bailiffs. Charters were granted by subsequent sovereigns down to Charles I., who reincorporated the town under the title of the mayor, jurats, bailiffs and burgesses of Queenborough. The castle never had any military history, and having been seized by parliament together with the other royal possessions, and being considered of insufficient importance for repair, was demolished during the Commonwealth. The borough subsequently decreased in importance. The chief part of the population were employed in the oyster fishery. The town was first represented in parliament by two members in 1572; it lost its franchise by the Reform Act of 1832.

QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS, a compact group lying off the northern part of the coast of British Columbia, and forming part of that province of Canada. Geologically the group is composed mainly of Triassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary strata, penetrated by intrusive rocks. It occupies a position similar

[ocr errors]

to that held by Vancouver Island farther to the south, in regard to the mainland coast and its immediately adjacent islands, but is separated by a somewhat wider sea from the coast. It was named by Captain Dixon, who visited the islands in the "Queen Charlotte" in 1787. Although the islands promise to become important, because of their excellent harbours, the discovery of good seams of bituminous coal (beside the anthracite already known), their abundant timber of certain kinds and their prolific fisheries, but little settlement has taken place. The wonderfully productive halibut fisheries of Hecate Strait, which separates these islands from the mainland and its adjacent islands, have attracted the attention of fishing companies, and great quantities of this fish are taken regularly and shipped across the continent in cold storage. The natives, the Haida people, constitute with little doubt the finest race, and that most advanced in the arts, of the entire west coast of North America. They had developed in its highest degree the peculiar conventional art of the north-west coast Indians, which is found in decreasing importance among the Tsimshians on the west, the Tlingit on the north and the Kwakiutl and other tribes farther south on the Pacific coast. The carved totem posts of the Haida, standing in front of the heavily framed houses, or at a little distance from them, represent the coats of arms of the respective families of the tribes and generally exhibit designs treated in a bold and original manner, highly conventionalized but always recognizable in their purport by any one familiar with the distinctive marks of the animal forms portrayed. These primitive monuments are, however, rapidly falling to decay, and the people who erected them are becoming reduced in number and spirit. The native population of the islands is less than 700. (F. D. A.)

QUEENSBERRY, EARLS, MARQUESSES AND DUKES OF. The Queensberry title, one of the many with which the Scottish house of Douglas is associated, originated in the creation of Sir William Douglas (d. 1640) as earl of Queensberry in 1633. He was the eldest son of Sir James Douglas of Drumlanrig (d. 1616). His grandson William, the 3rd earl (1637-1695), was created marquess of Queensberry in 1682 and duke of Queensberry in 1684; he was lord justice general and an extraordinary lord of session. He was also lord high treasurer of Scotland, and served James II. as lord high commissioner to the parliament of 1685, but in 1686 he was deprived of his offices. He had assented to the accession of William and Mary and had again enjoyed the royal favour before he died on the 28th of March 1695. His son James Douglas, the 2nd duke (1662-1711), was born at Sanquhar Castle on the 18th of September 1662, and was educated at the university of Glasgow, afterwards spending some time in foreign travel. At the Revolution of 1688 he sided with William of Orange and was made a privy councillor; after he had become duke of Queensberry in 1695 he was appointed an extraordinary lord of session and keeper of the privy seal. He was the royal commissioner to the famous Scottish parliament which met in 1700, and just after the accession of Anne in 1702 he was made one of the secretaries of state for Scotland. In the latter part of 1703 he came under a temporary cloud through his connexion with the Jacobite intriguer, Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, who had utilized Queensberry's jealousy of the duke of Atholl to obtain a commission from him to get evidence in France which would implicate Atholl. The plot was betrayed by Robert Ferguson, and Queensberry was deprived of his offices. However, in 1705 he was restored and in 1706 he was again commissioner to the Scottish parliament; in this capacity he showed great ability in carrying through the treaty for the union of the two crowns, which, chiefly owing to his influence and skill, was completed in 1707. For this he was very unpopular in Scotland, but he received a pension of £3000 a year. In 1708 he was created duke of Dover and marquess of Beverley, and he obtained a special remainder by which his titles were to pass to his second surviving son Charles, and not to his eldest son James, who was an idiot. In February 1709 he was appointed third secretary of state, and he died on the 6th of July 1711.

Charles Douglas, the 3rd duke (1698-1778), who had been created earl of Solway in 1706, was lord justice general from 1763 until his death in October 1778. In 1720 he married Catherine, daughter of Henry Hyde, 4th earl of Clarendon; this lady, a famous beauty, although very eccentric, was the friend of many of the wits and writers of her day, notably of Gay, Swift and Walpole. She died on the 17th of July 1777. Their two sons predeceased the duke, and when he died his British titles, including the dukedom of Dover, became extinct, but the Scottish titles passed to his cousin, William, 3rd earl of March (1724-1810).

This William Douglas, who now became the 4th duke of Queensberry, is best known by his soubriquet of " Old Q.” On the turf he was one of the most prominent figures of his time, and his escapades and extravagances were notorious. From 1766 to 1776 he was vice-admiral of Scotland, and in 1760 he was made a lord of the bedchamber by George III.; but later he was an associate of the prince of Wales, being removed from his office in the royal household in 1789. A generous patron of the stage and of art, he was to the end of his life a "noble sportsman" of the dissolute type, and his degeneracy was the theme both of Wordsworth and of Burns. He died unmarried, but not without children, in London on the 23rd of December 1810. The dukedom of Queensberry and some of his other titles, together with his fine seat Drumlanrig Castle, now passed to Henry Scott, 3rd duke of Buccleuch, in whose family they still remain; but the marquessate of Queensberry descended to Sir Charles Douglas (1777-1837), the representative of another branch of the Douglas family, who became the 5th marquess.

John Sholto Douglas, 8th marquess of Queensberry (1844-1900), son of Archibald William, the 7th marquess (1818-1858), became a well-known patron of sport and particularly of pugilism. He helped to found the Amateur Athletic Club in 1860, and the new rules for prize-fighting, drawn up in 1867, were called after him the " Queensberry Rules." He married the daughter of Alfred Montgomery, and was succeeded by his son, Percy Sholto, 9th marquess (b. 1868).

QUEENSCLIFF, a town of Grant county, Victoria, Australia, 68 m. by land and 32 by sea S.W. by S. of Melbourne. Pop. (1901) 2025. It lies on Shortlands Bluff, a small peninsula connected with the mainland by the Narrows, a contracted strip of land some 400 yds. broad. Queenscliff is a favourite watering-place, having a fine pier and excellent and safe seabathing. It is also a pilot station; and the quarantine station for vessels entering Port Phillip is near the town.

QUEENS'S COUNTY, a county of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, bounded N.W. and N. by King's County, E. by Kildare, S. by Carlow and Kilkenny, and W. by Tipperary; area, 424,723 acres, or about 664 sq. m. The surface is for the most part level or gently undulating, but in the north-west rises into the elevations of the Slieve Bloom Mountains, the highest summit being Arderin, 1733 ft. In the central part of the county there is a large extent of bog. The south-east portion is included in the Leinster coalfield. Nearly the whole of the county is drained either by the Barrow, which has its source in the Slieve Bloom Mountains, and forms at various points the boundary with King's County, Kildare and Carlow, or by the Nore, which enters the county from Tipperary near Borris-in-Ossory, and flows cast and then south till it reaches Kilkenny. The lakes are few and small, the largest being Lough Anaghmore on the north-western boundary. The Grand Canal enters the county at Portarlington, and runs southwards to the Barrow in Kildare, a branch passing westwards 12 miles to Mountmellick.

The limestone plain prevails in this county, but the high coalfield, shared with Kilkenny and Carlow, rises from it in the south; while the Slieve Bloom Mountains, a round-backed Old Red Sandstone mass with Silurian inliers, dominate the lowland west of Maryborough. The limestone itself produces a range of hills near Stradbally, on which the fortress of Dunamase stands conspicuously. Esker-gravels provide sandy soils

in many places. Clay-ironstone was formerly raised in connexion with the anthracite from the coalfield.

The climate is dry and healthy. Originally a great extent of the surface was occupied with bog, but by draining much of it has been converted into good land. For the most part it is very fertile except in the hilly districts towards the north, and there is some remarkably rich land in the south-east. The acreage under pasture is not quite twice that of tillage. Dairyfarming is extensively practised. Agriculture forms the chief occupation, but the manufacture of woollen and cotton goods is carried on to a small extent. The main line of the Great Southern & Western railway traverses the county from N.E. to S.W. by way of Portarlington and Maryborough; from the latter town branches run N. to Mountmellick and S. to Waterford, and from Ballybrophy a line runs W. to Birr (Parsonstown) and to Limerick.

The population (63,855 in 1891; 57,417 in 1901) decreases in excess of the average of the Irish counties, and emigration is considerable. Of the total about 88% are Roman Catholic, and almost the whole is rural. Maryborough (the county town, pop. 2957), Mountmellick (2407) and Mountrath (1304), with Portarlington (1943, partly in King's County), are the principal towns. The county is divided into eleven baronies. Ecclesiastically it is in the Protestant dioceses of Dublin, Killaloe and Ossory, and in the Roman Catholic dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin, Ossory and Killaloe. Assizes are held at Maryborough, and quarter sessions at Abbeyleix, Borris-in-Ossory, Graigue (a suburb of Carlow), Maryborough, Mountmellick and Stradbally. The county is divided into the Leix and Ossory parliamentary divisions. To the Irish parliament two members were returned for the county and two each for the boroughs of Ballinakill, Maryborough and Portarlington. The territory now included in Queen's County covered the districts of Leix, Slewmargy, Irry and part of Glenmaliry, until in 1556 it was made shire ground under the name of Queen's County, in honour of Queen Mary, the place chosen for the county town being named Maryborough. Three miles south of Stradbally is Dun of Clopook, an ancient dun or fort occupying the whole extent of the hill. Aghaboe, where there are the ruins of the abbey, was formerly the seat of the bishopric of Ossory. There are no remains of the abbey of Timahqe founded by St Mochua in the 6th century, but in the neighbourhood there is a fine round tower, 96 ft. high. Abbeyleix, a small market town south of Maryborough, had a famous Cistercian foundation of the 12th century. The church of Killeshin, in the S.E. of the county, exhibits fine carving of the Norman period. Among the principal old castles are the ruined fortress of the O'Mores occupying the precipitous rock of Dunamase, 3 m. E. of Maryborough, Borris-in-Ossory on the Nore, and Lea Castle on the Barrow, near Portarlington, erected by the Fitzgeralds about 1260, burnt by Edward Bruce in 1315, again rebuilt, and in 1650 laid in ruins by the soldiers of Cromwell.

QUEENSFERRY, a royal and police burgh of Linlithgowshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 1850. It is situated on the S. side of the Firth of Forth, 9 m. by road N.W. of Edinburgh and about 1 m. from Dalmeny station on the North British railway, and is sometimes called South Queensferry, to distinguish it from the Queensferry on the opposite shore. Of old it was the ferry giving access to Dunfermline and other places on the north side of the firth, its use in this respect by Margaret, the queen of Malcolm Canmore, originating its name; just as Port Edgar, m. W., was named after her brother, Edgar Atheling. The Hawes Inn, which figures in Scott's Antiquary, was the terminus of the run from Edinburgh in the coaching days. Queensferry became a burgh of royalty in 1363, a royal burgh in 1639 and a police burgh in 1882, and belongs to the Stirling district group of parliamentary burghs (with Stirling, Culross, Dunfermline and Inverkeithing). The principal structures include, besides the small parish church of Dalmeny (the best example of pure Norman in Scotland), the Countess of Rosebery Memorial Hall (erected in 1893 by the earl of Rosebery), a library and reading-room, and a public

regarded as metamorphosed Silurian rocks, which had been converted into gneiss, mica-schists and hornblende-schists. Their Silurian age was affirmed owing to their lithological resemblance to rocks in Victoria, which were then regarded as Silurian, but have since been shown to be Archean. The gneisses and schists occupy the Barklay Tableland, the Cloncurry Goldfield and the rocks of the Mackinlay district in the west of the state. The second chief Archean area is around Charters Towers and the Cape Goldfieid; it includes quartzites, conglomerates and slates, striking from north-west to south-east. The third Archean area occupies the Gilbert, Woolgar and Etheridge Goldfields, and is composed of schists trending from west to east, and with dikes of diorite and quartz-porphyry. Smaller Archean outcrops occur south of Bowen in the Clarke Range and on the Peak Downs. To the Archean series doubtless belong some of the many granitic massifs, including those of Charters Towers, Ravenswood and Croydon; but some of the granitic rocks are of Lower Carboniferous age, and some are apparently Mesozoic.

hall which also does duty as a town hall. A Carmelite friary | appear to underlie the whole of the state. They were originally was converted into an Episcopal chapel in 1890. There is a large oil-works in the parish. Dalmeny House, the seat of the earl of Rosebery, lies in beautifully wooded grounds about 2 m. E. of the ferry. In the park, on the seashore facing Drum Sands, stands Barnbougle Castle, a building of unknown age which became the seat of the Mowbrays in the 12th century. After passing into the hands of the earls of Haddington, it was purchased in 1662 by Sir Archibald Primrose, an ancestor of the earl of Rosebery. The castle was thoroughly restored in 1880. Dundas Castle, 1 m. S. of Queensferry, was a seat of the Dundases from 1124 to 1875, was besieged in 1449, received a visit from Cromwell in 1651 and was partly rebuilt about 1850. Hopetoun House, nearly 3 m. W. of the ferry, was begun about 1696 from the plans of Sir William Bruce of Kinross and completed by Robert Adam. It is the seat of the marquess of Linlithgow. Abercorn, a little to the west, gave the title of duke to a branch of the Hamiltons. It was the site of an ancient monastery, and from 681 to 685 the see of the earliest bishopric in Scotland.

The Lower Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks are widely distributed, but owing to the rarity of fossils they are not well known. In the south-west of Queensland there are some Ordovician rocks, the limestones occur in the mining field of Chillagoe and at Mount eastern continuation of those in the Macdonnell Ranges. Silurian Wyatt. The Upper Palaeozoic systems are well developed, even when many of the schists, which have been included in the Devonian, are eliminated. The Middle Devonian is represented by the Burdekin limestones, which contain a rich fossil fauna corresponding to the Bucban and Bindi limestones of Victoria. The Middle Devonian limestones occur on the Marble and Hunter Islands in the Northumberland Archipelago. The Devonian rocks in the Pentland and Gilbert district are estimated by Jack to be over 20,000 ft. in thickness; but they probably include some Lower

Palaeozoic beds.

The Queensland Carboniferous cystem is divided into five seriesthe Gympie, Star and the three divisions of the Bowen beds. The lowest series is the Gympie, which occurs between Brisbane and Maryborough. It consists of shales and sandstones, and is traversed by dikes of diorite, which often contain pyrites and gold. The age of these gold-bearing rocks is proved by the presence of such fossils as Productus cora and Protorelepora ampla. The Gympie Bay and Wide Bay, along the coast from Port Curtis to the south of Cape Palmerston. The Gympie beds are greatly contorted; and those of the Star series are regarded as younger, because they are less disturbed. They are best known in the basins of the Great and Little Star rivers, tributaries of the Upper Burdekin. They are best developed on the Belyando river and in the Drummond Range, where the shales and sandstones yield abundant fossil on the Star river the shales contain Lepidodendron. The Bowen beds are divided into three series which represent the upper part of the Carboniferous. The Lower Bowen series consists of agglomerates and altered rocks exposed in the Toussaint Range; farther south, the Lower Bowen beds consist of grits, sandstones and shales, which have been altered by some granitic intrusions, The Middle Bowen series contains beds with Productus cora and Glossopteris. The Upper Bowen beds contain coal scams, abundant remains of Glossopteris and one marine band. They form the centre of the basin of the Bowen coalfield; while the Middle Bowen beds outcrop in a band around it. The Upper Bowen beds occur also at Townsville and Cooktown in Northern Queensland.

fish;

QUEENSLAND, a state of the Australian commonwealth, Occupying the whole of the north-eastern portion of the Australian continent, and comprising also the islands in Torres -Strait. (For map, see AUSTRALIA.) It lies between 10° and 29° S., and is bounded on the N. by Torres Strait and the Gulf of Carpentaria, on the W. by South Australia and the Northern Territory, on the S. by New South Wales and on the E. by the Pacific Ocean. It has an area of 668,497 sq. m., a coastline of 3000, is 1250 m. long and 950 m. wide at its widest part. With so extensive a seaboard Queensland is well favoured with ports on the Pacific side. Moreton Bay receives the Brisbane river, on whose banks Brisbane, the capital, stands. Maryborough port is on the Mary, which flows into Wide Bay; Bundaberg, on the Burnett; Gladstone, on Port Curtis; Rock-series is well developed in the districts of Burnett, Broad Sound hampton, up the Fitzroy (Keppel Bay); Mackay, on the Pioneer; Bowen, on Port Denison; Townsville, on Cleveland Bay. Cairns and Port Douglas are near Trinity Bay; Cardwell is on Rockingham Bay; Cooktown, on the Endeavour; Thursday Island port, near Cape York; and Normanton and Burketown near the Gulf of Carpentaria. The quiet Inner Passage, between the shore of the Great Barrier Reef, 1200 m. long, favours the north-eastern Queensland ports. Brisbane was founded in 1826, but colonization was restricted until 1842, when the Moreton Bay district of New South Wales was thrown open to settlers. It was named "Queensland" its separation from the mother colony in 1859. A broad plateau, from 2000 to 5000 ft. in height, extends from north to south, at from 20 to 100 m. from the coast, forming the Main Range. The Coast Range is less elevated. A plateau goes westward from the Great Dividing Range, throwing most of its waters northward to the gulf. The Main Range sends numerous but short streams to the Pacific, and a few long ones south-westward, lost in earth or shallow lakes, unless feeding the river Darling. Going northward, the leading rivers, in order, are the Logan, Brisbane, Mary, Burnett, Fitzroy, Burdekin, Herbert, Johnstone and Endeavour. The Fitzroy receives the Mackenzie and Dawson; the Burdekin is supplied by the Cape, Belyando and Suttor. The chief gulf streams are the Mitchell, Flinders, Leichhardt and Albért. The great dry western plains have the Barcoo, Diamantina, Georgina, Warrego, Maranoa and Condamine. (T. A. C.)

on

Geology, Queensland consists geologically of three areas. The eastern division of the state, including all the Cape York Peninsula and the mountainous areas behind the coast, is occupied by the Queensland Highlands, which are built up of a foundation of Archean and contorted Lower Palaeozoic rocks, upon which rest some sheets of comparatively horizontal Upper Palaeozoic and Mesozoic rocks. The rocks of the Highlands sink to the west below the Western Plains, which consist in the main of a sheet of Cretaceous clays, capped by isolated ridges and peaks of Desert Sandstone. In the far west the plains end against the foot of an Archean tableland, which is the north-eastern projection of the Western Plateau of Australia.

The oldest rocks in Queensland are gneisses and schists, which

The rocks of the Mesozoic group may be divided into two divisions, of which the lower includes terrestrial deposits containing coal with a further development of terrestrial deposits. The Lower seams; the upper is mainly a marine formation, but it terminates Mesozoic division includes the Burrum and Ipswich series. The Burrum series occurs along the eastern coast from Laguna Bay, through Wide Bay and Maryborough, to Blackwater Creek; and it extends inland for about 30 m., where it is faulted against the Gympie beds. The western edge of the Burrum beds are de scribed as highly altered in places, by contact with granites. The Ipswich series occupies 12,000 sq. m. in the south-eastern corner of Queensland, and is the northern continuation of the Upper Clarence series of New South Wales. It contains coal seams which have been worked, though the coal is of inferior value to that of the Carboniferous of New South Wales. One seam, on Stewarts Interbedded basalts Creek, near Rockhampton, is 26 ft. thick. occur in the Ipswich beds, forming the scarp of the Toowoomba Range. The Burrum and Ipswich beds have been included in the Trias and the Jurassic, or in both systems as the Trias-Jura, but according to A. C. Seward their characteristic fossil, Taeniopteris daintreet, is of Lower Oolitic age.

The Cretaceous system is represented by a lower group of marine clays forming the Rolling Downs formation. They are said to rest conformably upon the Ipswich beds, and some of the fossils found in these beds were first described as Upper Oolitic. The affinities of the fauna are in part with Lower Cretaceous and in part with the Cenomanian; so both these series may be represented. The Rolling Downs formation consists in the main of clays, forming the

impermeable cover over the subterranean stores of water, which maintain the flowing wells of central Australia. The Rolling Downs formation underlies the whole of the Western Plains of Queensland, from the foot of the Queensland Highlands, westward to the Barklay Tableland; and it extends from the Gulf of Carpentaria on the north, across the state into South Australia and New South Wales. The Desert Sandstone overlies the Rolling Downs formation. Its age is shown to be Upper Cretaceous by some marine fossils from Maryborough and Croydon, which are said to be from rocks interbedded in it. In the interior, the Desert Sandstone is entirely of terrestrial and lacustrine origin, and the only fossils are obscure plant remains and the silicified trunks of trees. Glossopteris has been collected on Betts Creek from a rock identified as Desert Sandstone, which is said to overlie the Rolling Downs formation; but there is probably some mistake in the stratigraphy, as Glossopteris is only found in Coal Measures which are clearly of Palaeozoic age, If it had survived into the Cretaceous, some specimens of it would doubtless have been obtained from the coal seams of the Lower Mesozoic. The Desert Sandstone once covered nearly threequarters of Queensland, having a wider range than the Rolling Downs formation. It was formed partly on land, partly in freshwater lakes and partly in arms of the sea, as at Croydon and Mary borough. There is no trace of volcanic rocks in this period, and the vitreous surface of the Desert Sandstone is due to the deposition of efflorescent chert. The Desert Sandstone formation has now been weathered into isolated plateaus and tent-shaped hills.

The Cainozoic group includes many volcanic rocks, mainly sheets of basalt, as at Townsville and Hughenden. Near Herberton, between the head of the Burdekin and the Einasleigh River, the basalts occupy 2000 sq. m. of country. Their age appears to be Oligocene, as they probably correspond with the oldest Cainozoic basalts of Victoria. Volcanic rocks of a later period occur north of Cooktown, and in the Einasleigh River, where the eruptive centres are recognizable; and a series of hot springs, some of which are described as geysers, represent the last stage of volcanic activity. The most important Cainozoic sedimentary rocks are the bone breccias, made up of bones of extinct marsupials, such as Diprotodon, Thylacoleo and giant Kangaroos. They appear to have been bogged in the mud by drying water holes, during droughts. The bones also occur in beds of gravel and sand, and they have been found in places covered by 188 ft. of overlying deposits. Caves occur in the limestones, and on their floors there are beds yielding bones of marsupials and extinct birds; but no well authenticated case of the ancient remains of man has yet been established.

The chief mineral product of Queensland is gold, found in veins in Archean, Palaeozoic and Lower Mesozoic rocks. The most famous gold mines are Mount Morgan, now changing into a copper mine, Charters Towers and Gympie. Tin is found in the fields of Herberton, Cooktown and Stannary Hills. Copper occurs near Herberton, Chillagoe and Mungana, coal in southern Queensland in the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Mesozoic deposits.

A fuli account of the geology of Queensland up to 1892 is given in Jack and Etheridge's Geology of Queensland. The tectonic geology of the coast-line has been described by E. C. Andrews, and the general geology is described in the numerous valuable publications of the Geological Survey of Queensland. A summary of the mineral resources was issued by the Queensland government in 1901. Information regarding the artesian water supply is given in the Annual Reports of the Queensland Hydraulic Engineer.

U. W. G.) Flora.-The Queensland flora comprehends most of the forms peculiar to Australia, with the addition of about five hundred species belonging to the Indian and Malayan regions. There are no mountain ranges of sufficient altitude to make any appreciable change in the plant-life. Bellenden Ker, the highest mountain in tropical Australia, has a height of only 5200 ft., and the plants growing upon its summit, as well as on the highest parts of the neighbouring mountains, are for the most part similar to those on the low lands in the southern parts of the state, and the plants which may be considered as peculiar to these heights are few in number of species. They consist of a Leptospermum and a (?) Myrtus, which attain a height of about 30 or 40 ft., and have widespreading, densely leaved heads. The most attractive of the tall shrubs are Dracophyllum Sayeri, of which there are two forms, Rhododendron Lochae and Orites fragrans. A few orchids of small growth are met with, but the only large species known to inhabit these localities is the normal form of Dendrobium speciosum. These high spots have a few ferns peculiar to them, and of others it is the only known Australian habitat; for instance, the pretty whitefronded Java bristle-fern (Trichomanes pallidum) has only so far in Australia been met on the south peak of Bellenden Ker; here also Todea Fraseri may be seen with trunks 2 to 3 ft. high. The sides of these mountains are clothed by a dense forest scrub growth, some of the trees being very tall, but diminishing in height towards the summits. Palms and fern-trees are plentiful, but the greatest variety are met with at about 4000 ft. altitude. So far this is the only known habitat of that beautiful fern-tree Alsophila Rebeccae var. commutala, peculiar for the wig-like growth at the summit of

its stem, which is formed by the metamorphosed lower pinnae and pinnules.

"

"

The Myrtaceous genus Eucalyptus, of which sixty species are found, furnishes the greater part of what is designated "Hardwoods," the kinds being variously termed " Box," "Gum," " Ironbark,' ·་ Bloodwood,' "Tallow-wood," 'Stringy-bark," &c. These are mostly trees of large size. Other large trees of the order which supply hard, durable timber are the broad-leaved teatree (Melaleuca leucadendron and others), "Swamp Mahogany (Tristania suaveolens)," Brisbane Box" (T. conferta), Turpentine (Syncarpia laurifolia), " Peebeen" (S. Hillii), "Penda " (Xanthostemon oppositifolius). These are most generally cut at sawmills. Other orders, however, furnish equally serviceable, large-sized timber, particularly the following: Sour Plum" (Owenia venosa, Meliaceae)," Red Cedar" (Cedrela Toona)," Crow's Ash" (Flindersia australis, Meliaceae), Burdekin Plum Anacardiaceae); " Bean-tree" (Castanospermum australe, Legumin(Pleiogynium Solandri, osae), "Johnstone River Teak" (Afzelia australis, Leguminosae), "Ringy Rosewood" (Acacia glaucescens, Leguminosae), "Black Walnut (Cryptocarya Palmerstoni, Laurineae), Hill's Teak (Dissiliaria baloghioides). Many trees, yield wood particularly adapted for carving and engraving, such as the "Native Pomegranate (Capparis nobilis), the "Native Orange (Citrus australis), "Sour Plum " (Owenia acidula), "Ivorywood" (Siphonodon australe). Coachbuilders and wheelwrights use the wood of many myrtaceous trees and several others, with Flindersias (Meliaceae), whilst tool-handles are also formed from these and other trees. There is also a large variety of woods suited for cabinetmaking and building. A large number furnish tannin barks, gums, &c. The tannin barks are mostly derived from various kinds of acacia. Three spice barks, locally known as sassafras, are employed for flavouring-in the northern parts, Daphnandra aromatica, a Monimiaceous tree, and Cinnamomum Tamala; and in the southern parts Cinnamomum Oliveri. Many indigenous plants are used in domestic medicines, and several are recognized in the Pharmacopaeia, such as Eucalypts, Cinnamomums, Sideroxylons, Alstonias, Duboisias and Pipers.

[ocr errors]

"

With regard to fodder-plants, no country is better furnished; there are many herbs and a large number of salt bushes and other shrubs, which form excellent auxiliaries to the food supply for stock. It is, however, to the grasses that the excellence of the pastures is mainly due. On the extensive plains where the best species abound may be seen a large number of the genus Panicum, of which the following are looked upon with the greatest favour:"Vandyke grass," a form of P. flavidum, "Cockatoo grass (P. semialatum), on the roots of which a species of cockatoo, in some parts of North Queensland, feeds; "Barley grass" (P. decompositum and P. distachyum); "Blue grass (Andropogon sericeus, A. pertusus, A. refractus, and A. erianthoides); Russell River grass" (Paspalum galmarra, nearly allied to the South American species P. paniculatum, P. minutiflorum, and P. brevifolium, Agropyrum scabrum); "Tall Oat grass" (Anthistiria avenacea); "Landsborough grass (Anthistiria membranacea); Danthonia racemosa, D. pilosa, D. pallida, and D. semiannularis; Sporobolus Benthami, an excellent species found near the Diamantina and Georgina rivers, and S. actinocladus; Stipa aristiglumis, Leptochloa chinensis, Microlaena stipoides; "Early spring grass (Eriochloa punctata), with the following "Love grasses": -Eragrostis Brownii, E. chactophylla, E. pilosa and E. ienella. The "Mitchell grasses" (Astrebla pectinata) and its varieties, viz. the Wheat (triticoides), the weeping (elymoides) and the curly (curvifolia), are those that have the most extraordinary vitality, but some stockholders consider that the "Sugar grass or "Brown Top "(Pollinia fulva) surpasses them in its quickness of bursting into leaf with the first showers of rain.

[ocr errors]

Amongst the fruits are Antidesma Bunius, A. Dallachyanum, A. erostre, A. Ghaesembilla, and A. parvifolium, called cherries or currants according to the size of the fruit they bear, the jelly made from the fruit of some species being in nowise inferior to that made from the European red currant. The Kumquat or lime of Southern Downs country (Atalantia glauca) makes a peculiarly nice-flavoured preserve. Of the allied genus Citrus two species are met with in the south, C. australis, which has a round fruit 1 to 2 in. in diameter; the other, C. australasica, with long finger-like fruits 3 or more inches long and about 1 in. in diameter; of this a red variety (C. inodora), which is only met with in the tropics, bears a fruit often 2 in. long by 1 in diameter. All these fruits are juicy, and of an agreeably sharp, acid flavour. "Davidson's Plum " (Davidsonia pruriens) is a fruit with a sharply acid, rich, plum-coloured juice, sometimes attaining the size of a goose's egg. Of the genus Eugenia, over thirty are indigenous, and fully onethird produce more or less useful fruits. One Fig (Ficus gracilipes) produces a fruit used for jam and jelly. Two Garcinias are recorded as indigenous, but of one only (G. Mestoni) is the fruit known. It is of a depressed globular form, sometimes 3 in. in diameter, very juicy, and of a pleasant flavour. Leptomeria acida, one of the very early fruits used by Australian colonists, is met with in some localities. The "Finger Berry" or Native Loquat (Rhodomyrtus macrocarpa) makes a good jam, but is in bad repute for use in the raw state, perhaps owing to a peculiar fungus at

[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »