18 THE PASTORAL AGE IN AUSTRALASIA 



its rivers could never become the vomitories of pro- 

 duction or the highways of commerce. Next, Hke the 

 Rhine, they expire into swamps, or (as Dr. Fitchett has 

 wittily said) into " a landscape of swamps." Lastly, 

 in summer and autumn at least, most of them are of 

 feeble dimensions ; the third-class rivers, as the Lachlan 

 and the Macquarie, are then waterless beds, the hollow 

 mockeries of rivers ; even " the mighty Darling," for 

 many a month of every year, is but a chain of water- 

 holes. Yet it is on these disappointing streams that the 

 pastoralist depends, and along their banks — at first, 

 along them alone — that he settles. 



Ill served by the rivers, the pastoral industry is 



scarce more bounteously enriched by the rainfall. All 



over the Continent, save on the fertile coastal belts, the 



temperate water-supply is insufficient. Heavy enough 



on these, it fades away as soon as the pastoral plateaus 



are reached, and sinks to as small a quantity as six 



inches annually in the central desert. Here the situation 



of the Continent comes to the rescue. Raising both its 



shoulders high into the tropics, it allures the tropical 



rains that make the pastoral industry possible. Twice 



a year, in February and August, or at other adjoining 



months, the monsoonal rains pour down their golden 



drops, like Zeus into the lap of Danae — often too late 



for the farmer, whose crops were long before ripe, but 



perenially useful to the pastoralist. The very scantiness 



of the rainfall is his salvation. Finding it impossible 



successfully to rear the cross-bred sheep that thrives 



in well- watered New Zealand, he has devoted his efforts 



to acclimatizing and perfecting the merino, which can 



live, as it was bred, under comparatively rainless skies. 



Playing a part equal to the situation and structure of 



the Continent, as a factor in its economic history, the 



climate is governed by these. They bestow a sufficient 



rainfall on the plains and plateaus of the eastern and 



southern coasts, where vast flocks of sheep are reared ; 



while the western coasts (save from a point above 



Fremantlc south to Albany) have a light rainfall, with 



