262 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OP AUSTRALIA. 



importance, especially the Victoria and Eoper. The former is a splen- 

 did stream, the Murray of this side of the continent, disemboguing into 

 the Indian Ocean, latitude 14° 40' south; longitude, 129° 21' east. Its 

 mouth is 20 miles wide, the main entrance being Queens Channel, 

 through which it is navigable for the largest ships for fully 50 miles 

 from the sea, and for light draft river vessels some GO miles farther, 

 to a place where our veteran explorer (Hon. A. C. Gregory) at one time 

 camped for several months. The river is easy to navigate, even by 

 strangers, tbe principal channel being wide and deep, with few impedi- 

 ments. The Victoria drains an extensive tract of magnificent pasto- 

 ral country of the richest quality, comprising an area of about 90,000 

 square miles; of this it has been observed by early travelers that 

 there is a greater luxuriance of grass than had been met with in any 

 other part of the world. The whole of the basin is abundantly 

 watered by a copious tropical rainfall, and there are no elements of 

 uncertainty in the climatic features of the region. In comparing this 

 magnificent commercial highway with other famous streams of the 

 world, Captain Carrington, who surveyed it in the Government steamer 

 Palmer ston in 1884, writes that, ''in view" of "its capability as a harbor 

 and its easiness of access," he has "no hesitation in saying that the 

 Victoria is far superior to the Thames, Mersey, or Hooghley." No 

 stream in the northern part of the continent is perhaps more widely and 

 better known to early colonists than the Eoper Eiver; it has been 

 oftener frequented than any of the other streams, especially at the time 

 when the overland telegraph line was being constructed, the stores and 

 material for the northern portion of which were landed there. It is a 

 long river penetrating far into the interior and is navigable for vessels 

 drawing from 10 to 12 feet for over 90 miles from the sea. Its waters 

 are discharged into the southwest part of the Gulf of Carpentaria, in 

 the immediate neighborhood of Maria Island, the coast being at this 

 place very flat, with a wide fringe of mangroves and extensive shallow 

 patches of mud and sand. From the sources of its more distant tribu- 

 taries, in the central portion of the Northern Territory, it flows almost 

 due east to the sea. Besides these there are several other large and 

 important northern streams, especially the Adelaide and Daly rivers. 

 The former flows through a splendid pastoral country, luxuriantly 

 grassed, and is navigable for 80 or 90 miles by vessels of 10 or 12 feet 

 draft. It takes its rise in the neighborhood of Pine Creek Eailway Sta- 

 tion, on the overland telegraph line, and discharges its waters into 

 Adam Bay at Clarence Strait. The latter stream may be navigated by 

 river boats for some 60 miles from the sea, into which its waters are 

 discharged at Anson Bay. It is a long river with several widely expand- 

 ing tributaries, and it traverses an extensive tract of country, including 

 some fine agricultural and pastoral lands, and there are valuable copper 

 mines near the navigable portion of its channel. 



Owing to the absence of high mountain ranges and on account of the 



