366 AUSTEALASIA. 



notwithstanding their dangerous reefs, presented, with Torres Strait, the only- 

 route for vessels passing from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean. Here the south- 

 east trades set regularly throughout nearly the whole year, whereas off the south 

 coast of Australia the south and south-west winds blow almost constantly and are 

 often stormy. Within the Great Barrier the surf is seldom dangerous, and here 

 the ordinary roadsteads, sheltered by a rock or an islet, form really safe havens. 

 Seafarers navigating these seas are also aided by the clear atmosphere and the 

 extreme limpidity of the water. At a distance of over a mile the sailor at the 

 mast-head readily detects the existence of shallows 30 feet below the surface, 

 thanks to the contrast presented by their greenish tints with the deep blue of the 

 neighbouring abysses. 



Rivers and Lakes, 



Australia is as inferior to the other continents in the extent and abundance of 

 its watercourses as it is in the elevation of its moimtain ranges. Of all those 

 reaching the coast the Murray or Goolwa, discovered in 1824 by Hume and 

 Hovell, is the only river draining a large extent of country. This great artery 

 receives all the running waters belonging to the inland watersheds of the Gram- 

 pians, the Pyrenees of Victoria, the Alps, and the New South Wales coast ranges. 

 From its furthest headstream, the Condamine, rising in Queensland, to its estuary 

 in South Australia, the distance is at least 1,200 miles, and the whole extent of 

 the catchment basin of the Murray exceeds 400,000 square miles. It is thus 

 larger than those of the united Tigris-Euphrates, of the Danube, and the St. 

 Lawrence ; but what a difference in its volimie ! — the mean annual discharge being 

 only about 12,000 cubic feet per second, or less than that of the Seine. The 

 Murray waters are scarcely deep enough for small steamers to ascend its lower 

 course even during the floods. During the ten years between 1877 and 1886 the 

 Darling was accessible to craft of light draught only for fifty -seven months 

 altogether, while none of its affluents are navigable except for small boats. 



The fluvial basin itself has been rightly named, not from its longest upper 

 branch, but from the headstream which, thanks to the direction of its course 

 parallel with the main axis of the Victoria mountain ranges, receives the largest 

 quantity of water. The Murray rises in the Australian Alps on the frontiers of 

 Victoria and New South Wales, and during its westerly course is gradually 

 increased in volume by the torrents descending from the Victoria uplands to its 

 left bank. Its northern affluents, the Lachlan-Morrumbidgee, and especially the 

 Darling, have a far longer course, but roll down a much smaller quantity of water. 

 Many of the sub-tributaries even lose themselves in meres and swamps before 

 reaching the banks of the main stream. All these running waters expand over 

 the surface in shallow temporary lakes, and, being destitute of regular sandy or 

 gravelly beds, scarcely deserve the name of rivers. 



On the east slope of the New South Wales and Queensland coast-ranges the 

 streams are relatively more copious, thanks to the heavier rainfall and the closer 



