RIVERS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 405 



I have endeavoured in tlie foregoing to give a fairly accurate 

 general conception of the nature of the rivers, which How on 

 opposite sides of the Dividing Range. The rivers under these 

 heads, namely, those which Mow to the ocean on the east coast of 

 New South Wales, and those which flow into the Murray and 

 the Darling, include all of any importance, except the Snowy 

 River. At the extreme south of the country of Beresford, a 

 range of mountains leaves the Dividing Range, and extends in a 

 noilh-westerly direction till it meets the south boundary of the 

 county of Buccleuch. Thence it turns south till it crosses the 

 border of A'ictoria ; the part of the range running southwards 

 being termed the Snowy Mountains, and including the highest 

 peaks in Australia. 'J'he Dividing Range and the two parts of 

 the watershed line described, form three sides of a quadrilateral, 

 of Avhich the fourth is the boundary line of Victoria. This 

 figure represents the New South AVales portion of the drainage 

 area of the Snowy River, which, though one of the finest rivers 

 in this colony is the least known on account of being the most 

 inaccessible. 



In the brief description which I have given of our rivers, I 

 have purposely avoided going into the details of any particular 

 project for their utilization, though endeavouring to afford such 

 information as should lead to a sound opinion as to the best uses 

 to which they can be put. I have pointed out that the currents 

 of our coastal rivers are in the main sufficiently strong to keep 

 the channels free from silt, that the scouring out of the channels 

 either is assisted or can be assisted by tidal action, and that the 

 range of the tides generally extends to about the upper boundary 

 of the rich deposits of alluvium. All these conditions are 

 favourable to navigation, and show that the coastal rivers are 

 highly adapted for this purpose. On the other hand the floods in 

 these ri\ers rise suddenly and to great heights, the alluvial flats 

 ai"e in many places divided into islands and intersected by creeks, 

 and in nearly all cases these flats are wanting in uniformity. 

 These conditions are adverse to irrigation works of a large or 

 comprehensive description ; while, owing to the comparatively 

 high I'ate of rainfall, the necessity for irrigation is felt only in a 

 moderate degree. 



In the country west of the Dividing Range, the conditions, as 

 described, are entirely ditt'erent. The courses of the rivers are 

 long, tortuous and constantly changing, silt is accumulating in 

 many places and altering the bed levels ; and though the dura- 

 tion of floods is much greater than on the coastal rivers, the 

 length of the rivers is so great, that steamers can seldom go on a 

 long journey on them without the risk of being grounded and 

 laid up for months. These conditions all tell against the 

 suitability of the western rivers for navigation. But on the 



