OUTLINE MAP OF AUSTRALIA OX OUTLINE OF THE UNITED STATES, TO SHOW 



RELATIVE SIZES 



If we except the lakes, the land area of the continental United States is 2,973,890 square 

 miles, and of Australia 2,974,581 square miles, a difference in favor of Australia of 691 

 square miles. 



not utilized i:i marking the boundaries of 

 States. 



Except for the low coastal mountains, 

 the obstructions to transcontinental rail- 

 roads from Queensland to Perth or from 

 Port Augusta to Port Darwin are less 

 than those between Pittsburgh and Den- 

 ver (see also page 489). 



The traveler in search of duplicates of 

 the Canadian Rockies, the Yosemite, the 

 Grand Canyon, of Norwegian fiords and 

 Alpine scenery, need not visit Australia. 

 Its mountain scenery is that of the south- 

 ern Appalachians, the White Mountains, 

 and the low ranges of Arizona. Its plains 

 and plateaus are comparable with those 

 of the Rocky Mountain foothills and the 

 arid expanses of Utah, Idaho, and Ore- 

 gon. The blunt granite cap of Alt. Kos- 

 ciusko, 7.328 feet above sea, is the culmi- 

 nating point of land. A half dozen peaks 

 reach the height of Alt. Washington, and 



something like one per cent of the entire 

 land area rises as high as the Catskills. 



Although the mountains are low com- 

 pared with those of other continents, 

 their influence is great, for nowhere is 

 their control of rainfall and consequent 

 distribution of vegetation and people bet- 

 ter exemplified. A bird's-eye view of 

 Australia shows a belt of vegetation ex- 

 tending along its north, east, and south- 

 east edges, with a patch on the extreme 

 southwest corner and another covering 

 most of the island of Tasmania. In these 

 regions the people live. The remainder 

 of the big island presents an enormous 

 expanse of brown and gray soils and 

 rock, dotted with patches of vegetation 

 on dunes and on isolated highlands and 

 strips of green along watercourses. 



The cause is not difficult to find. The 

 trade winds abundantly supply the north- 

 east coast, but carry little water beyond : 



476 



