96 AUSTRALIA, DR NEW HOLLAND. 



seizing greedily on the parched vegetation, travels with great 

 rapidity, and driven by the wind spreads to the base of the 

 hills, where the conflagration spends its fury. As we proceed 

 further northward, the shores became strewn with enormous 

 masses of rock, extending to some distance from the beach. 

 It is supposed that formerly the land here was considerably 

 more elevated than at present, and that the action of water 

 has levelled it, leaving the more durable masses unremoved. 

 Some eminences, covered with a vegetation richer than that of 

 Brazil or Borneo, with occasional fertile plains, present them- 

 selves in marked contrast with the general aridity of the coast. 



On the northern shores the same level prevails. Flinders 

 sailed 175 leagues without seeing any hill higher than the 

 mast of a sloop. 



Along the Gulf of Carpentaria few elevations occur ; but 

 reaching the eastern coast, the view is no longer monotonous 

 or dreary. New scenes continually unfold themselves forests 

 and open plains, and valleys running up between the hills, 

 and a more numerous population enlivening the country. 

 Passing between the shore and that great barrier-reef which 

 outlies the eastern coast of New Holland for more than six 

 hundred miles, we enter the principal field of British enter- 

 prise, where the coast is marked by a thousand fantastic 

 irregularities. A line of precipitous cliffs extends far towards 

 the south, a huge breach in this natural wall becomes appa- 

 rent ; and while the eye is resting on the grim magnificence of 

 these granite barriers, the vessel glides between the rocks, 

 and reposes in the superb harbor of Port Jackson. The 

 shore, sweeping in gentle slopes toward the hills, is covered 

 with a natural growth of verdure. The sea, blue and brilliant, 

 flows into beautiful bays, where vessels lie safe after their 

 long voyage from Europe. White stone-built villas, with 



