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ATSTRALIA. 



AfSTRALIA. 



surface i much broken, and there are lofty hills and rapid streams. 

 From the south-western angle of the island a lofty range, called the 

 Darling Mountain*, which terminate* there in I'oinl I > Kntrecosteaux 

 and Cape Leeuwin, run* northward as far as Shark Bay at a distance 

 of from SO to 100 mile* from the coast and ruing from 800 to 3000 

 feet above the sea. Portion! of these connected mountain* are 

 known a* the Ooinlner's, Moresby's, Herschel, and Victoria ranges. 

 The hiprhe.it summit, Tulbanop, is said to attain an elevation of 5000 

 feet. The formations are chiefly of red-eandstone or limestone. 

 They are mostly barren, but at some distance inland near the Black- 

 wood River which falls into the sea at the western angle of Flinders 

 Bay, Mr. Roe found considerable forests of timber-trees fit for naval 

 purposes ; he also discovered good coal in two or three places. East of 

 the mountains towards the interior are sandy deserts. Swan Kivcr 

 has a bar at its mouth, but within it is navigable for some distance. 

 The bed of the river rises rather rapidly from its mouth, and some 

 distance inland the channel is frequently dry. Perth, the capital of 

 Western Australia, is built at the mouth of Swan Ki\ r. 



Along the north-western coast the country differs considerably from 

 any part of the continent hitherto described. Instead of a lofty 

 range of hills rising at a short distance from the shore, the coast 

 from North- West Cape along the Dampier Archipelago, to Roebuck 

 Bay, and thence along Buccaneer Archipelago up to the rocky 

 promontory, near Prince Regent's River, is a low sandy level, covered 

 with salsolaceons plants. Near Prince Regent's River the coast is 

 broken into bold granitic head-lands, some of which are 800 to 1000 feet 

 high. Numerous islands, gome of them basaltic, line the coast, and 

 the scenery is wild and striking. Mounts Trafalgar and Waterloo 

 rise to the height of 900 feet, and numerous streams flow from them. 

 Thence around the coast as far as Cambridge Gulf are low hills. At 

 Cambridge Gulf a river of some importance falls into the sea. It was 

 named the Victoria by its discoverer Captain Stokes, R.N., who traced 

 it upwards for 140 miles to a range of low hills which he called the 

 Fitzroy Range. In its lower course the Victoria flows through low, 

 sandy, mangrove flats, which at its mouth have been cut into 

 numerous islands, covered during floods ; but higher up its banks are 

 hilly and very fertile. The Fitzroy Range rises in one or two places 

 to the height of 840 feet From the Mosquito Flats a connected 

 range, from "00 to 800 feet high, runs off to the north-east Stretching 

 way from the river towards the interior Captain Stokes saw 

 apparently interminable plains. 



North-east from the Victoria and the Fitzmaurice rivers is the 

 Macdonald Range, which consists of hills averaging from 400 to 600 

 feet in height Nearer the shore, between Cambridge Gulf and the 

 ( iulf of Carpentaria, these hills become lower and terminate generally 

 in sandstone cliffs seldom exceeding 50 feet in height. But about 

 Melville Bay granite occurs. At Coburg Peninsula, where was the now 

 abandoned colony of Port Essington and the town of Victoria, the 

 clifls are of red-sandstone ; the interior of the peninsula, the surface 

 of which is broken by low hills, consists of a continuous forest 



The shores of the great Gulf of Carpentaria are almost invariably 

 low and flat and generally covered with mangroves. The banks which 

 are of clay or sand are seldom more than from 10 to 30 feet above the 

 beach. On the eastern sides there are more small trees, but the shore 

 b one wide, low, level, sandy waste. The rivers whieh full into the 

 gulf are few and unimportant. One or two inlets which appear to be 

 the months of rivers have indeed not hitherto been explored, but 

 there i nothing to lead to the belief that they differ from those which 

 have been followed up. The chief of the rivers in the Gulf of Carpen- 

 taria are the Flinders and the Albert, but like the others they consist 

 merely of short and narrow streams opening into wide shallow 

 actuaries. The Albert was ascended by its discoverer Captain Stokes 

 in a boat for about 50 miles from its mouth. He found it bordered by 

 open woodlands of acacias and gum-trees. When unable to ascend 

 the river higher he made a journey for some distance towards the 

 interior of the country, and found it to consist of vast and apparently 

 boundless grassy plain*, relieved by occasional clumps of gum-trees ; 

 he named them the Plains of Promise. Another river wli 

 ascended, and named Disaster River, was bordered by rich alluvi.il 

 flat*, evidently subject to considerable floods. Beyond the river valley 

 wen wide plains as before. It was in endeavouring to explore Cape 

 York Peninsula, which forms the eastern boundary of the Gulf of 

 Carpentaria, and the north-eastern angle of the continent of Australia, 

 that the adventurous Kennedy was murdered by the natives. 



No Europeans are now settled in North Australia, but a considerable 

 number of Malay fishermen have established themselves along the 



The interior of Australia, which displays such peculiar features In 

 !U form and aspect, may be divided into the region of the Terraces 

 and that of the Plains or Lowlands. On the south-east the 1 48th m.n 

 dian may be considered as the mean line of division between these two 

 regions ; observing however that on the south, especially between the 



rers Lachlan and Mumimbidgee, the terraces may extend somewhat 

 rtb r w *. i<l "n the north may fall short of this line of division. 

 The Terrace*, which may be considered as the western declivity of 

 the mountain range, which extend, parallel to the coast, and 

 ha* been noticed before, are composed of more or less extensive plains, 

 separated from one another by low ridge* of hflls. These plains, 



which often extend 1-2 miles and upwards, coi 

 immediate neighbourhood of some nver; sometime- the\ 

 high country between two Hv.t-: il>. 



succession of gently-swelling liilk dear of timber i with 



luxuriant herbage, which affords abundant ! 



ridges which divide them are covered with open forests, through 

 which horsemen may gallop in perfect safety; they are generally 

 considered as excellent grazing tracts. Captain Sturt observes that 

 these ridges decrease in height as they proceed to the west, and adds, 

 as a peculiarity, that every ridge presents a new rock fornun t< n. II. 

 found successively serpentine, quarts in huge white masses, granite, 

 chlorite, micaceous schist, sandstone, chalcedony, quartz, red jasper, 

 and conglomerate rocks. The quantity of sheep and cattle which 

 pasture on these terraces is very large, and by far the greatest part of 

 the wool exported from Sydney is furnished by the sheep of this 

 district Some of the terraces are better adapted for cattle than for 

 sheep, and are noted for their dairies, as Bathurst Plains. 



Nearly all the rivers which drain these terraces rim- in tin' Dh 

 Range, and are full and rapid, though not well adapted to navj. 

 Before they descend into the lowlands which extend further to the 

 west, they join one another and form a few Urge rivers. Such are espe- 

 cially the Murray, the Mumimbidgee, the Lachlan, and the Macquarie. 

 The Murrumbidgee, whieh originates in the mountainous country 

 uniting the Warragong Mountains with the Dividing Range at 

 distance to the south of Lake George, runs in a north-western 1 1 

 until it issues from the mountains and enters the terraces, where it 

 joins the Tass River ; after the junction it drains the terrace region, 

 and enters the lowlands to the west of 148 E. long. It is in this part 

 of its course a rapid and fine river. The Lachlan is formed by the 

 junction of several small streams which have their sources in the 

 mountains north of Lake George. The Lachlan descend > into tli. 

 lowlands to the west of 148% without joining any other considerable 

 rhvr during its course through the terraces. The Macquarie rises near 

 the point where the parallel 84 is cut by the meridian 150. In its 

 upper course it is called the Fish River ; but uniting before it reaches 

 the town of Bathurst with the Cam pin -11 River it takes the name of 

 Macquarie, and continues its course to the north-west through a fine 

 country, till having formed a cataract near 148 of longitude, it enterx 

 the lowlands. Only 240 miles of its whole course, which is above 

 600 miles, belong to the lowlands. 



It is remarkable that the courses of these rivers decline more to the 

 northward in proportion as they are farther from the southern coast 

 This peculiarity is still more visible in the rivers which drain tin- 

 terrace region between 82 and 30 S. lat The country traversed by 

 the rivers Field or Conadilly, and the Torke or Turrabeile, w lii. i 

 by their confluence the Nammoy or Peel, is inclosed by two high 

 ranges, the Dividing Range and another farther to the west running 

 nearly along the meridian 150, the highest known part of v, I 

 called Hardwicke Range. The Peel seems also to change its course 

 to the west, and descend into the lowlands. It is supposed to join 

 the Darling in the wet season by a large creek called the Barwan, 

 which, before its junction with the Darling, receives the narrow 

 channel of the Macquarie. 



The country south of the Mumimbidgee appears likewise to differ 

 from the general character of the terraces. Captain Sturt describes 

 it as a district whose surface is hilly, broken, and irregular, containing 

 deep ravines and precipitous glens : farther to the south, where the 

 Warragong Mountains raise their summits, mountains succeed moun- 

 tains, and are overtopped by lofty and distant peaks. Till- portion 

 of the terraces is still less known than that to the east of llanlwickr 



The Lowlands join the terraces on the west ; their extent in that 

 direction, as well as to the north, is not known. Captain Sturt, who 

 advanced on the north beyond the meridian 145 and on the south 

 beyond the meridian 140, found that the country preserved, as far 

 as he was able to see from some hills, the same uniform appearance 

 of an immense level plain. And similar vast and apparently bound- 

 less plains have been found by those travellers who nave penetrated 

 towards the interior from the western ami northern coasts. This 

 extensive country resembles as little the plains of South America 

 covered with abundant grass, as the African Sahara with its moving 

 sands : it seem* to approach in character to the wide steppes which 

 surround the Lake of Aral ami i -\t.-n.l to the Caspian Sea nml Hi. 

 Ural Mountains. These plains of Australia are in many parts II-M 1 ; 

 in others they arc slightly undulating ; and here and there, but at 

 gn il dl '.,n.-. -. MMttkkM of more thai 100 tnflea, a sandy .-m in-nee 

 rises, which hardly deserves to be called a hill : the loftiest of these 

 eminence* are not above 300 feet higher than the plain on which 

 they stand. 



All over this extent of country the soil presents only two varieties : 

 it is either a red sandy loam, or a white coarse sand. In some places 

 it i* entirely destitute of vegetation, at others it nourislu>H only salso- 

 laoeous plants, without a blade of grass between them. Others again 

 are covered with polygonuin, a gloomy and leafless bramble ; and in a 

 few tracts patches of ground are discovered which appear to be im.ist, 

 and in which the calystemma is abundant Such patches probably 

 form quicksands in the rainy season. Those parts of the plains which 

 seem to have the beat soil produce stunted gum-trees and cypresses. 



