THE CORDILLERA. 339 



its most remarkable feature, Mount Hinchinbroke, 

 in lat. 18° 22' S., rising to tbe height, according 

 to our observations, of 3500 feet. 



^;^«f^':':'^' 



Mount Hinchinbroke, W.N.W. 35 miles. 



Although a number of fires being once seen 

 is not always a sign in Australia of a densely 

 populated part of the country, yet when they 

 are constantly visible, as in this part of the conti- 

 nent, it is fair to infer, that the inhabitants are 

 numerous, and the soil fertile. I might further 

 remark, that Captain King found the natives well 

 disposed ; and at Goold Island, in this neighbour- 

 hood, they even came on board his vessel uninvited, 

 an evidence of friendship and confidence, rarely 

 characterizing a race of beings so wary as are 

 generally the inhabitants of Australia. 



It is not a little singular that the altitude of 

 Mount Hinchinbroke should be identical with 

 what Strzelecki considers the mean height of the 

 Cordillera, which he traced continually on foot, 

 from 31" to 44° S. lat. giving to the highest point, 

 6500 feet in lat. 36° 20' S., the name of Mount Kosci- 

 usko, for reasons most admirably and feelingly 

 expressed, and which we therefore, in justice to his 

 patriotic sentiments, give below in his own words.* 



* " The particular configuration of this eminence struck me so 

 forcibly, by the similarity it bears to a tumulus elevated in 



z 2 



