120 



The wbole of tlie soutli side is exposed without protection to 

 the impetuous waves of the vast Southern Ocean. 



In regard to the surface features the only author who has 

 occupied himself with them is Peron. and as his observations in 

 relation to the littoral tracts are the most extensive. I reproduce 

 them here. He says Kangaroo Island ** does not present, despite 

 its great extent, any form of mountains properly so-called ; the 

 entire framework of the country is cx^mposed of hills more or 

 less elevated, but of which the summits are nearly everywhere 

 regular and uniform. All the length of the south coast its 

 cliffs are developed upon a single plan from 200 to 300 feet 

 high, sloping inland, but presenting to the sea a perpendicular 

 front surrounding it as a rampart. Their colours are sombre, 

 and vary from grey to brown, or even blackish ; where least so 

 they are of a yellowish ochre or more or less dirty. From Cape 

 Bedout to the Ravine des Casoars the rocks present the same 

 appearance as those on the south coast, but are higher ; and 

 though they are deprived of all kinds of trees, yet the interior 

 cliffs are seen to be wooded. The north coast is arid and 

 naked as that of the south, and exhibits everywhere a similar 

 constitution. The shores of Bougainville [Xepean] Bav are 

 formed of low cliffs, but the verdure which covers them and the 

 forests which grow on the heights give to this part a more 

 pleasing and agreeable aspect. Such appears to the eyes of 

 the circumnavigator the greatest island of Xew Holland ; 

 however, the view pictured with rigorous exactitude for its 

 shores might have doubtlessly become more interesting and 

 more varied had it been possible to penetrate into the interior 

 of the country."' 



The picture drawn by Peron is not at all exagijerated, and 

 the interior is alike marked by uniformity of a rather cheerless 

 type. The country is undulating, not at all rangr ; the 

 northern half is elevated, rising from the coast in bold cliffs ; 

 the southern half gradually sinks to near sea level, but i^ 

 margined by hills of consolidated sand-dunes, which rise to 

 considerable elevation — Mount Bloomlield and Mount Mary, 

 at Tivonne Bay. are respectively 272 and 224 feet. 



The chief watershed is nearly longitudinal and supra-medial 

 — commencing near Cape Borda. and with a slight southerly 

 curve, changing to north, to terminate in the sea cliffs from 

 Point Morrison to American Eiver. It is continued into 

 Dudley Peniusula, which it traverses in a medial direction. 

 The aspect of this elevated ground is of the most modest type, 

 and is apparently of about the same altitude throughout, pro- 

 bably nowhere exceeding a thousand feet. 



To the north of the main watershed there is a minor one, 

 which follows the trend of the coast from Kingscote to Cape 



