Sugar is one of the most interesting and valuable of the tropical products of the coast region; but many others are grown, some for the market, others hardly beyond the experimental stage. Let us look at some of these. Here at Woombye are pineapples and bananas 33 growing; and on the Johnstone River huge crates of bananas are 34 being shipped for the markets in the towns further south. At Kuranda, on the Barron River, is a large coffee plantation where 35 we may see the bushes growing and follow the berry as it is dried and husked. Here we notice the pruning of the coffee bush, 36 and here is a fine specimen with the pruning completed. Not far 37 away, in the State Nursery at Kamerunga, we find all kinds of tropical plants growing side by side. The nursery is an official experiment ground, since the Government is anxious to test the possibilities of the region for all kinds of economic plants. We walk down a fine avenue of palms and visit the quarter where they 38 are experimenting with rubber trees. Here is a large plantation 39 of the trees, and here we see the method of tapping. In a corner 40 we come on a curious African rubber tree, in which the juice exudes, not from the bark, but from the fruit. More prosaic, but 41 none the less useful, are the fibre plants, such as sisal hemp, of which we have a fine specimen here. Cotton-growing has also 42 been attempted on a small scale, and the Commonwealth Government provides a bounty for its encouragement. The main difficulty is the high cost of labour for its cultivation. Here we see the picking of the cotton. We may gain some idea from these gardens 43 of the great variety of tropical and sub-tropical plants, all of which will grow well on some part of this northern coast. The only need is labour to clear the scrub and make full use of the fertile alluvial soil and the warm rains.
Clearing is very necessary in this region since the bush grows with great luxuriance. By travelling inland a few miles 44 from Cairns we may find a picture of the bush in its natural state. The coastal plain south of Cairns is very narrow, for in the background, a short distance inland, are various mountain ranges such as the Bellenden Ker range, said to be the highest 45 in Queensland. Only twenty miles from Cairns, in the foothills of one of these ranges, the little Barron River comes tumbling down in rapids and falls, amid some of the finest scenery in 46 Australia. Here is the river a short distance above the falls; 47 and here are the falls themselves from above and below. The 48 railway, following the course of the river, brings us to the 49 little township of Atherton. Here is the main street. We notice 50 here a Chinese joss-house; this may serve to remind us that 51 there are other immigrants besides the Kanakas in this northern region of whom account must be taken by the advocates of a White Australia. The Chinese have already spread all over the Malay region to the north, and might equally occupy tropical Australia if special measures were not adopted to check their immigration.