1839.] HARBORS. 225 



indicate the recent origin of the continent, the theory, or ex- 

 planation, of its geological formation, may be this : — The moun- 

 tain ranges and peaks were originally islands, and the spaces 

 or intervals between them have been filled up by the wash of 

 their streams. This process may now be witnessed in the 

 flats of the interior; and, if we may so speak, we must wait 

 for the complete development of the country, until these are 

 covered to a still greater depth, by the decayed vegetable mat- 

 ter, and the deposits of the mountain torrents — and until the 

 latter, as rivers, have established for themselves permanent 

 channels. There is, indeed, much to be done. While Ba- 

 thurst plains, lying on the west of the Blue mountains, are 

 nearly two thousand feet above the level of the sea, the coun- 

 try sinks so rapidly as you advance to the westward, that, at 

 a distance of eighty miles, the altitude is only six hundred 

 feet. Ages may elapse, therefore, before the work will be ac- 

 complished ; but Nature is never idle in her laboratory, and 

 the designs of the Great Architect must, sooner or later, be 

 fulfilled. 



(2.) From what has been said in regard to the coast outline 

 of Australia, it will readily be inferred, that there are few 

 large harbors. It would, perhaps, be improper to place among 

 these the Gulf of Carpentaria and Spencer's Gulf, since ves- 

 sels are as liable to disasters within their headlands as upon the 

 ocean itself, and sometimes even more so. Hervey's Bay on 

 the eastern coast, and Shark's Bay on the western, are ca- 

 pacious natural harbors, being from forty to fifty miles in 

 width and length, and have deep soundings. Van Diemen's 

 Gulf, also on the western coast, and Port Phillip on the south, 

 may likewise be ranked among those of the largest class. En- 

 counter Bay, at the mouth of Murray river, King George's 

 Sound, Western Port, and Corner Inlet, are likewise good har- 

 bors on the southern coast. But the harbors on the north and 

 east are by far the most numerous. On the former coast are 

 Exmouth Gulf, King's Sound, Brunswick Bay, Admiralty 

 Gulf, Cambridge Gulf, Rattle's Bay, and Port Essington. On 

 the east are Twofold Bay, Jervis Bay, Botany Bay, and Port 



10* 



