TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



123 



The rugged nakedness of the hills that form Indian Head is only a little relief, and 

 behind the long scrub-covered flats are lagoons, the entrance to which is the bar-locked 

 inlet of Camden Haven. F"or some distance north there is still the same monotony ; a 



sharply -defined shore 

 of low-lying rocks, with 

 slightly undulating 

 land behind them, 

 covered with a dense 

 unvarying scrub, till 

 passing the broad la- 

 goon called Lake Innes 

 and rounding the low 

 shelving rocks called 

 Tacking Point, the 

 snow-white light-house 

 may be seen, backed 

 by dark purple masses 

 of verdure-covered hills 

 which here and there 

 run down to the water's 

 edge. 



Beyond this lies 

 Port Macquarie, over 

 the broad bar of which 

 the rollers break with 

 ever - recurring roar, 

 leaving a narrow and 



dangerous channel by which the coasting 

 steamers have access to the navigation of the 

 Hastings River. The monotonous scrub- 

 covered flats re-appear ; but there is a varia- 

 tion where the rounded peaks of the Saddle 

 Hills lift their timbered slopes from the very 

 edge of the water. This timber-covered land, 

 fronted by a low and rocky shore, is broken 



by the broad peaks of Smoky Cape. Further on is Trial Bay, where a long sandy spit 

 divides the sea from the Macleay River. This ridge is six or seven miles long, thrown 

 up by the waves and obstructing the entrance to the river, which finds its way into 

 the sea far to the north of its original embouchure. 



Thence scrub-covered plains continue, with occasional ranges such as the Bellinger 

 Peaks and Triple Peaks ; lines of bluffs, and then low sandy shores ; rolling sand-hills 

 and swampy lands succeed each other, till the woody ranges that have so long been 

 faint blue lines in the distance approach the coast and show their bold though not 

 lofty outlines. At Evans Head the cliffs become high, and on the ranges that rise 



STONE CAIRN, MOUNT 

 KOSCIUSKO. 



