THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALIA. 259 



almost safe to state that no two authorities agree upon the point at 

 issue. The head of the upper valley of the river is characterized by 

 the presence of a network of tributary streams or feeders, spreading 

 out like the branches of a great tree, through whose sharply sloping 

 and precipitous channels the thawed waters of the snow-capped ranges 

 sweep in mighty torrents to the lower regions of the valley. Chief 

 among these are the Mitta Mitta, Ovens, and Goulburn water courses. 

 The physical aspect of this part of the country is wild and rugged, 

 heavy snowstorms, violent gales, and blinding sleet being the ruling 

 climatic features of this great Alpine chain, whose western and north- 

 ern waters cut deep into the granitic and metamorphic rocks of the 

 range, forming steep and precipitous gorges, yawning chasms, and tor- 

 tuous channels, ever deepening by the erosive action of the troubled 

 waters of many streams. The Murrumbidgee, although one of the 

 tributaries of the Murray, is little inferior to that stream itself. Ema- 

 nating from its source in the elevated table land at the base of Pepper- 

 corn Hill, some 5,000 feet above sea level, it traverses a tract of country 

 possessing some remarkable features of natural beauty, especially in 

 its upper valley, where the mountains are steep and rugged and the 

 lateral valleys deep and precipitous. 1 Below this region the river flows 

 through the celebrated Eiverina district, where its flood waters often 

 spread out over large level areas in the neighborhood of numerous shal- 

 low water courses which act as local distributors. In seasons of severe 

 drought it is nearly dry in some parts of the channel, even as far down 

 as Hay, where the bottom is sandy and consequently highly absorbent. 

 The total length of the Murrumbidgee is 1,350 miles. Its principal 

 affluent is the Lachlan, a stream of about 700 miles in length, rising in 

 the rugged western spurs of the Great Dividing Range, north of Lake 

 George. The highest part of its watershed is about 3,000 feet above 

 sea level, where snow seldom falls in sufficient quantity to materially 

 influence the flow of the river. The lower valley embraces long 

 stretches of level plains, interspersed with belts of stunted gum, 

 mallee, and saltbush, and in dry seasons the channel of the stream is 

 indicated by a mere chain of water holes. 



With outspread arms of unequal length that extend far and away to 

 sources remote from the parent stream, the river Darling drains the 

 western and southern waters of the Great Dividing Eange from the 

 headwaters of the Lachlan to a place slightly north of the twenty-fifth 

 parallel, where it is met by Buckland's table-land. Here the water- 

 shed inclines in a somewhat irregular curve westerly and southwesterly, 

 following the Warrego Bange to a point northeast of Mount Edin- 

 burg, which marks its northwestern limit. Within the periphery 

 of this circumscribed region are included the waters of the Bogan, 



1 About a year's sojourn in this part of the country and on the head waters of the 

 Snowy River gave the writer an excellent opportunity of observing the physical 

 structure of the locality and its climate. — J. P. T. 



