PRINCESS CHARLOTTE BAY RIVERS 643 



line. (SEE MAP E.) Except where it crosses the Cape York 

 Telegraph line, about 6 miles from its source, and at its mouth, it 

 does not appear to have been charted. It was crossed by KENNEDY 

 (his camp of 9th October, 1848) about 143 46' E. long., by WILLIAM 

 HANN (between his Camps 35 and 36) in 1872 about 7 miles lower, 

 and by me in 1879 about 21 miles higher. It is believed to have 

 been named after the wife of Frederick Warner, the surveyor 

 who accompanied Hann. 



At a period by no means remote, geologically speaking, Princess 

 Charlotte Bay must have extended at least 35 miles further south 

 than it does now, and each of the rivers known in their upper 

 reaches as the Normanby, Kennedy, Therrimburi, Hann, Morehead, 

 Saltwater and Annie must have pursued an independent course 

 to the Bay. The silting up of the " head " of the Bay, resulting 

 in the creation of a tract of low land barely, and locally, raised above 

 the level of the ocean by the flood-deposits of the rivers, made it 

 impossible for the rivers to preserve, in their lower reaches, their 

 independence. Their mouths spread out over the low land by 

 various channels, coalescing and anastomosing until they lost their 

 identity and individuality. Analogous phenomena, on a larger 

 scale, have followed the silting up of the head of the Gulf of 

 Carpentaria. 



