1*72 [Assembly 



by vessels, and those of 12 feet water for 13 miles. The Gulf 

 was explored by Captain Flinders in 1802. The southern coast 

 rises from the shore to an immense plateau, discovered by Captain 

 Stokes in 1841, and called by him " The Plains of Promise." Dr. 

 Leichardt visited it in 1845. The soil is a light colored mould of 

 great depth. Sir \Yilliam Hooker has declared it to be of a rich 

 quality. Palms, bamboos, gum and acacias grow along the water 

 courses, and in clumps over the plains. Cotton, tobacco, grain, 

 oil, and other vegetable products of those latitudes niay be culti- 

 vated with advantage. The nutmeg grows wild there. On the 

 western side the country is mountainous, iron, Sec, are there. 

 Leichardt dwells much on the value of the country for grazing — 

 that his own beasts, on his journeys there, were kept in capital 

 condition. Sheep have already reached the neighborhood of the 

 Peak Range, within 500 miles of the Gulf. Elevated ranges rise 

 at no great distance from the coast, both to the eastward and 

 westward. The temperature was instrumentally observed both 

 by Captains Flinders and Stokes. The former between November 

 4th and March 6th, the hottest months. The thermometer on 

 shipboard ranged from 81° to 87°. He says it may have been 5° 

 or 10° higher on land. He ascended the river Albert, and dis- 

 covered the " Plains of Promise" in July and August, and found 

 the thermometer at 51°, and usually below 62°, until 7 o'clock 

 A. M., and below it after 6 o'clock P. M. Dr. Leichardt observed 

 this also in 1845. He states the bracing effect of the air — "We 

 were all well." Tlie climate is congenial to health ; for without 

 comforts, without flour or salt, and miserably clothed — we were 

 all in health. 



[From the same.] 



ON THE NEW ZELAND YhX^—Furmium Tenax. 



Experiments show that it has a peculiar quality, besides its great 

 strength, that of hackling out to an almost inconceivable fineness. 

 A comparative analysis of it and Irish flax has been made at the 

 laboratory, Chemico Agricultural Society, at Belfast, in Novem- 

 ber, 1853. One hunnred parts of each contain — 



