78 Harbors, Rivers, and 



With respect to the internal communication of the colony 

 little need be said. In a general sense there is no difficulty in 

 forming roads : the seaboard side of the country has some 

 extensive plains rising to the interior ; on either side, in the 

 neighborhood of the dividing range, the ground is undulating, 

 the hills being almost always rounded at their top and timbered 

 throughout ; towards the River Murray, from the Goulburn to 

 the western boundary of the colony, the ground is generally 

 flat. With so little rain the natural surface is almost always 

 passable, until the enclosing of the country concentrates the 

 traffic on one line. In the construction of lines of railway less 

 difficulty perhaps exists than in most parts of the world ; here 

 we have a dry soil, no snow or frost; cuttings stand easily, 

 and embankments can only suffer from being badly made ; if 

 the gullies were spanned by timber viaducts, the price of labor 

 and the expense of importation of the material would alone 

 justify any heavy charge in the construction. There is perhaps 

 as little oxidation in this climate as anywhere ; thus, roads well 

 metalled and formed, and railways properly constructed, would 

 last, so far as the operation of natural courses is concerned, as 

 long as in any part of the world. 



The depth into which the rivers and streams are sunk in 

 many places, being as it were scored into the earth, creates the 

 necessity for heavier works than are ordinarily required, and 

 especial provision is needed against the effect of floods. 



Stone well adapted for the railway ballast or road metal is 

 abundant and good. 



