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the watershed of the interior of Australia, the streams flowing- 

 north on one side and south on the other. The River Finke, with 

 a mainly south-easterly course, together with its tributaries — 

 namely, Rudall-Creek, Ellery-Creek, the Hugh, the Todd, &c. — 

 take their rise here, but not from springs. Though there are a 

 few springs in this range as well as in the southern chain, they 

 do not produce an overflow, but form swamps or ponds. Even 

 when in winter the water does commence to run, the stream, after 

 a course of a few hundred yards, is absorbed in the sand. It re- 

 quires heavy continuous rain to produce a steady flow. Dry 

 sandy water-courses are the prevailing characteristics, studded 

 with Eucalypts or shrubs. The waterholes after a flood ofler a 

 welcome change, but these in time gradually dwindle and dis- 

 appear during long-prevailing droughts. At these localities, how- 

 ever, water may be obtained by digging. The tall Eucalypts fur- 

 nish the clearest indication of a water-course, both as to its 

 channel and overflow ; for this latter may be up to half a mile 

 wide, or over a mile at some places, and is always overgrown 

 with these trees. They are generally at a distance from one an- 

 other, but in a few places form a close forest. 



The southern chain, or Krichauflf Range, here usually called 

 the James Range, and by the natives Ulatnba, is much broken 

 in some localities, like the northern one, the highest point rising 

 to a height of about 1,500 feet. It is crossed by the Finke 

 River and several of its tributaries descending from the AEac- 

 Donnell Ranges to the northward. Its own waters run into the 

 Finke River in larger and smaller river-beds. The largest of 

 these is the Palmer, with its tributaries descending on the 

 southern flank with a south-easterly direction. On the largest 

 of the latter, the Walker, a few miles above its junction, is 

 situated the cattle station Tempe Downs. Where the Finke 

 River enters the range is the Mission station — Herrmannsburg. 

 Some 40 miles east, at the entrance of the Hugh River into the 

 Waterhouse Range, is the Owen Springs Station, and in the 

 eastern part of the MacDonnell Ranges, on the River Todd, are 

 the well-known Alice Springs. 



The scenery in the MacDonnell, as Avell as the KrichauflT 

 Ranges, is at some places most striking and picturesque. The 

 finest of these is along the course of the Palmer River in the 

 Krichauflf Range, about 10 miles from the mission station, Herr- 

 mannsburg, where there are hundreds of Fan-palms, Avhose 

 slender stems, a foot in diameter, rising straight and tall, bear 

 aloft a beautiful, globular crown of leaves, some 30 feet in 

 diameter. Within both Ranges are plains, overgrown with 

 bushes like those of the elevations and outer plains around. 

 After heavy rains good grass grows in places, but most of it is 



