44 THE RIVER DARLING 



pond, and in dry seasons it is fordable at hundreds of 

 places. Going down the course one frequently notices the 

 extraordinary way in which the bed narrows, yet without 

 causing a current. The river seems about to lose itself in 

 the sands, as so many Australian rivers do. It narrows 

 sometimes to less than fifty yards, then suddenly widens to 

 a lake-like expanse three or four hundred yards across. 



Near the centre of the river — that is, about a thousand 

 miles from its source, and a similar distance from its 

 mouth — there are some ranges of low hills approaching 

 close to the bank, and isolated groups stand out from 

 distant plains. Contrasted with the flat country causes 

 these hills to appear much more lofty than they really are. 

 The appearance of some of them is peculiar : all appear 

 bare, or at most, with stray trees and bushes and tufts of 

 herbage scattered over them. None look green, and none 

 seem to exceed three hundred feet in height ; most of 

 of them range from one to two hundred feet. Some of 

 those that we could trace on a map, and that bear the 

 designation of " Mounts," do not rise a hundred feet above 

 the plain. Hills seen in the extreme distance, but which 

 we had not time to visit, might be higher ; but it is probable 

 that there is not a hill of five hundred feet in the whole 

 quarter of a million square miles of plains which the Darling 

 and its tributaries are supposed to drain. 



The plains are arid in summer, and covered with grass 

 and patches of salt-bush and scrub in winter. Isolated 

 trees are scattered about as in the southern parts of the 

 plain, and near the river these trees form a belt of 

 superior size and growth, some of them being a hundred 

 feet high. The species is mostly the red-gum, and at a 

 greater distance from the river there is often a fringe of 

 the box-laurel. In winter the whole plain is rich with 

 flowering plants. 



About the head-waters of the Darling, and for a con- 

 siderable distance across the plain, small townships and 

 stations are numerous, and along the whole course of the 

 river, outlying stations are established at intervals. These 

 depend for communication on the steamers which regularly 



