RIVERS OF AUSTRALIA. 367 



texture of their rocky beds But between the hills and the coast they have no 

 space to develop long courses, and most of them are lost in the ocean as soon as 

 they escape from the mountains. On this slope the largest rivers are the Fitzroy 

 and the Burdekin, which, through openings in the coast-ranges, receive some con- 

 tributions from the opposite side. 



On the western watershed of Queensland the Gulf of Carpentaria is encircled 

 by fluvial basins, such as the Mitchell, Norman, Flinders, Leichhardt, Albert and 

 E,oper, which usually send down very little water, but whose channels excavated 

 to great depths in the rocks bear witness to the great force formerly exercised by 

 their currents. The more arid north-west seaboard has scarcely any streams that 

 can compare in magnitude even with those of the east coast ranges. Amongst 

 the more important in this region are the Victoria, discharging into Queen's 

 Channel, the Fitzroy, a little farther west, and quite on the west side of the 

 continent the Grey, the Ashburton, Gascoyne, and Murchison, nearly all of which 

 watercourses are for the greater part of the year mere chains of half dried-up 

 morasses. 



Still more arid is the great southern bight, which for a space of 1,200 miles 

 between the south-west corner of the continent and Spencer Gulf, is unbroken by 

 a single fluvial estuary. Throughout this vast and almost waterless tract not one 

 of the few rivulets developed in the interior has sufficient force to reach the coast. 

 Temporary freshets are caused by the heavy downpours in most of the desert 

 regions, and on these occasions the sudden appearance of a real current rushing 

 along in a usuall}^ dried-up river bed is hailed with a sort of ecstacy by the few 

 spectators of the rare phenomenon. Long before the arrival of the stream its 

 distant roar is heard as it sweeps down with the shrubs and trees torn from its 

 banks ; then the noise grows louder, presently a thread of water is seen winding 

 through the sinuosities of the ravine, as if in search of an outlet, and this is followed 

 with a tremendous crash by the raging torrent which soon fills to overflowing the 

 winding valley. 



Amongst the watercourses which run out in the depressions of the interior 

 there is one which, at least for the extent of its basin, may be regarded as a true 

 river. This is the Barcoo, or Cooper's Creek, which also bears other names in the 

 various districts through which it flows, and whose headwaters traverse the Queens- 

 land pasturages for a distance of over 350 miles. The upper affluents converge in 

 a common channel, which after running south-westwards parallel with the Darling, 

 wanders in an uncertain course from swamp to swamp, and at last merges in the 

 extensive depression of Lake Eyre together with other watercourses flowing from 

 the solitudes of Central Australia. 



The total length of Cooper's Creek cannot be less than 1,200 miles, but it does 

 not flow continuously throughout the year, and its course is often indicated only 

 by meres and morasses. The lacustrine basins themselves vary in extent and form 

 according to the greater or less abundance of the rainfall and intensity of the 

 evaporation. At one season they present the aspect of extensive inland seas with 

 surf-beaten shores, and stretching beyond the horizon without visible shoals or 



