84: NEW HARBOUR ON THE N.E. COAST OF AUSTRALIA. [March 12, 18G0. 



round the coast, and that the interior was a great hollow — taking that to be 

 the true description, he was afraid that the hollow, although there would 

 be plenty of space in it for water, would not have any water in it. He was 

 afraid that the very fact of its being low land would be a total bar to any 

 moisture ever getting into it, and that all the drainage that poured down in 

 that direction from the surrounding high lands would be licked up long before 

 it got into the interior. The only cliance was, that there should be some 

 range of very lofty land running into the interior, and that during winter, 

 or in December, the north-west monsoon, which was greatly laden with 

 moisture, should blow well into it, and should throw down such a quantity 

 of moisture as would fertilise some considerable tracts for the remainder 

 of the year. The time when the north-west monsoon blew was the only 

 time when it rained at Port Essington : during all the rest of the year 

 they never had a shower. About November and December, and from thence 

 on to March, when the north-west wind was blowing, they had thunder- 

 showers almost every day, and a large deposit of moisture. 



Colonel Gawler responded that, in saying that he believed the centre of 

 Australia to be a great crater, he did not mean anything like a volcanic crater, 

 but that there was simply an outer range of hills, with a drainage into this 

 centre. Nor did he mean to say that there might not be considerable ranges 

 in the crater. It appeared to him absolutely necessary that there should be, 

 for he quite agreed with Mr. Jukes, that there could not be a running water 

 without elevations. The facts which Mr. Stuart had elicited X)roved that there 

 must be ranges ; for in penetrating to a distance of nearly 500 miles from the 

 head of Spencer Gulf, he (Mr. Stuart) declared that he never was in want of 

 water. He also describes a broad river flowing towards the east. 



Mr. J. S. Wilson said, he had been exploring the north-west part of Aus- 

 tralia. One great feature of Australia was, that it was a great table-land, with 

 the exception of a few primary ranges of hills which protruded about it. 

 Another great feature was, that at one time it was so depressed that the sea 

 beat into that table-land. The table-land consisted of sandstone on the sur- 

 face and shale underneath. All the valleys had been cut out by the action of 

 the sea, and where the sandstone had by this means been removed, leaving 

 the shaly strata uncovered, the latter by its decomposition became a good soil. 

 But it did not follow that there was also a productive country, for rain was 

 required to nourish vegetation. Now, on the north-west coast, rains fell during 

 the north-west monsoon, and probably that part of the country was as well 

 watered as any part of Australia. The slope of the country might throw con- 

 siderable quantities of water towards the interior, and consequently there 

 might be rivers striking down towards the central depression. It would, 

 therefore, appear that the best season to pass along the country was during 

 the prevalency of the north-west monsoon, which was just the opposite season 

 to the wet season of South Australia. It was during the season of the north- 

 west monsoon that the hot winds of Southern and South-Eastern Australia 

 prevailed, and he believed the latter to be the extension of the former, which 

 expended its moisture and became heated in crossing the continent. With 

 respect to the probability of finding gold in that part of the country, he was of 

 a different opinion. The quartz which had been found there was a silicious 

 sandstone, very like quartz in appearance, only it was not of the same geological 

 age, gold-bearing quartz being a vein-stone filling rents in the primary 

 slate rocks, but the quartz of the Burra Eange, and all other ranges of the 

 interior, is a horizontal rock of the carboniferous period, and extends over very 

 large areas. 



Mr. J. Crawfurd, f.r.g.s., said, if the soil on the north-east coast were 

 good, there was ample room for a profitable colony. Mr. Jukes showed clearly 

 that it was a well-watered country, and wherever within the tro]~)ics there was 

 a well-watered country, there was sure to be fertility. He had no doubt there 



