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A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA 77:7). 



THE HUNTER AT MAITLAMX 



far as Solferino, one hundred and thirty miles from 

 the heads, from which point up to the table-land the 

 ascent is steep ; but notwithstanding this a projected 

 line of railway has been surveyed. 



Twenty miles to the north of the Clarence the 



Richmond springs out of Mount Lindsay, and although it also drains an area of rich 

 land, its bar is unfortunately worse than that of the former river. Steamers, however, 

 go in and out, though subject to many delays, making up to Lismore on one branch, 

 and up to Casino on the other. Among the lower reaches of the stream the shores are 

 flat, but on the upper waters there are many charming vistas, the overhanging foliage 

 being of rare luxuriance. The Tweed is the most northerly river of the colony. It 

 rises in Mount Warning and makes a rapid course of thirty miles to the sea. The soil 

 of the district is rich and the vegetation most luxuriant ; and perhaps no greater 

 contrast is possible than the magnificent flora of this well-watered country and the arid 

 districts traversed by the western rivers we have previously described. 



The lakes of New South Wales are neither numerous nor important. A great 

 number of so-called lakes are merely salt-water estuaries formed by the inroads of the 

 sea on the softer portions of the coast. To this class belong Lake Illawarra, Lake 

 Macquarie, Lake Tuggerah and several others. Some of the coast lakes are merely 

 intercepted river outlets, banked up by sand-bars. The fresh-water lakes are for the 

 most part simply depressed surfaces where the storm-water collects into lagoons. The 

 western plains are so level, and are so little drained by continuous creeks, that after 

 heavy rains small shallow lakes of this kind abound. The squatters call them clay-pans, 

 and plough channels into them in order to collect as much water as possible, but they 

 rapidly dry up under the intense heat of the summer sun. Some of the larger natural 

 hollows are more permanent. Of these the most important is Lake George, which has, 

 however, been dry within the last half-century, and cattle have grazed over its bed. 

 Still it is the largest and undoubtedly the finest fresh-water lake in the colony. It 



