Migrations of Salmon^— Geographical Society. 425 



on Tuesday last, another was caught at the Rashbush, a fishing- 

 ground below Inchyra. This fish was in excellent condition, and 

 weighed 21 lb. The label bore as follows : " Lord Glenlyon, Dunkeld, 

 No. 129." — Perth Advertiser. — Ibid. 



Geographical Society. — June 23. — Lord Colchester, President, 

 in the chair. — Six new members were elected. The paper read 

 was ' Considerations against the supposed Existence of a great Sea in 

 the Interior of Australia,' by E. J. Eyre, Esq. — •' An opinion," says 

 Mr. Eyre, " very generally prevails, that the continent of Australia 

 is, comparatively speaking, little more than a narrow crust or barrier 

 intervening between an outer and an inner sea. This opinion origi- 

 nated with Capt. Flinders, and is still entertained by Capt. Sturt, 

 Mr. Windsor Earl and others. Mr. Eyre admits that the non- 

 existence, at least as far as we know, of any large river, with the ex- 

 ception of the Murray, discharging itself into the sea, on the eastern, 

 western, or southern coasts, to the southward of a line drawn from 

 Moreton Bay to Shark's Bay, is the strongest argument in favour of 

 the theory of an inland sea ; nevertheless other and weighty consi- 

 derations militate against this idea ; and Mr. Eyre has come to the 

 conclusion that the interior of New Holland will be found generally 

 to be of a very low level, to consist of arid sands alternating with 

 many basins of dried-up salt lakes or such as are covered only by 

 shallow salt water or mud, as in the case of Lake Torrens ; that 

 there may be many detached and even high ranges, as the Gawler 

 Range, interspersed among the arid wastes, and that in the midst 

 of these ranges there may be rich and fertile spots. As far as Mr. 

 Eyre's own personal observation goes, it supports the suggestion 

 thrown out by Capt. Sturt, that Australia was formerly an archipe- 

 lago of islands, and that their emergence from the sea is a compa- 

 rative modern event. Be this as it may, Mr. Eyre founds his opinion 

 against the existence of an inland sea, upon the following three 

 circumstances : first, the hot winds, which in South Australia blow 

 constantly from the north, or centre of the continent, and which he 

 compares to the fiery and withering blasts from a heated furnace, and 

 the little probability that such winds have been wafted over a large 

 expanse of water ; secondly, the accounts of the natives inhabiting 



