48 FINE TRACT OF COAST. 



containing shells and corals. It was hard, thick- 

 bedded, and quite horizontal. 



The tract of coast between Broad Sound and 

 Whitsunday Passage, or the parallels of 22° 15' and 

 c 20° 20', differs in some respects from any other part 

 of the coast of Australia we visited. Its apparent 

 fertility is greater, it is better supplied with fresh 

 water, and the rise and fall of tide is much greater. 

 A solid range of hills, of a pretty uniform height, 

 cuts off from the interior a lower undulating strip of 

 land, from five to ten miles broad, the whole of 

 which seems to be of a high average fertility for 

 Australia ; the grass was fine, close, and abundant, 

 the timber large-sized and various in kind. The 

 coast is indented by many small bays and inlets, 

 and though these are dry at low water, many places 

 might be found where small vessels could lie then 

 securely in the mud, and be floated again at the 

 return of tide. The great rise and fall of tide is of 

 course admirably adapted for the construction of 

 docks for building and repairing ships, and besides 

 the pines, which in some places are very abundant, 

 there is a probability of other good timber trees 

 being found in the jungles, which are so different in 

 character from the common gum forests of the coun- 

 try. A few miles off the coast are numerous small 

 islands, lofty, rocky, and picturesque in character, 

 and covered with grass and pines, with many small 

 coves and anchorages. Outside these again are 

 coral reefs, all uniting to shelter the coast and ex- 



