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. In the country round Atherton we have all kinds of typical bush scenery. At one spot we pass giant fig-trees overhanging the road; next we enter the denser bush. We find lakes in the bush, 52 of which the chief is Lake Eachem, which we have seen before. Everything suggests warmth and moisture. The rivers, lakes, and natural vegetation of this region, together with the fertile soil in the low-lying strip between the mountains and the sea, give us a picture of the conditions which prevail along the greater part of the Queensland coast. Here is a tropical garden, typical of 53 the coast. Similar conditions extend right across the northern edge of the Australian continent.