NEW SOUTH WALES. 269 



appears to cover but a small area at any one place, and it has been 

 observed that within short distances of each other, fresh and salt 

 rivulets may be seen, pursuing the same direction, and each retaining 

 its character throughout its whole course. 



The lakes in the eastern section of Australia are also nearly all 

 either salt or brackish. Lake George, situated beyond Goulburn, near 

 the source of the Yass river, which empties into the Morrumbidgee, is 

 the largest of these lakes. It is at present only five or six miles in 

 length, by about four in width, although according to unquestionable 

 authority, it was, within twelve or fourteen years, sixteen miles long by 

 twelve wide. Lake Bathurst, which is not far distant from Lake 

 George, has -also undergone a similar diminution. In the latter lake 

 there are to be seen stumps of trees, which prove, that although within 

 a few years a considerable lake, and at present decreasing in its 

 extent, it had at a former, and that at no remote epoch, been a marsh, 

 if not actually dry land. Should its present diminution continue, which 

 must take place if the seasons of drought are not interrupted, it will in 

 a few years be again dry land.* 



The facts observed at these lakes prove in the most conclusive 

 manner the very great irregularity in the climate of New South Wales. 

 It would appear from them, that, however great the floods now occa- 

 sionally experienced are considered, those that have occurred must 

 have exceeded them, and filled the basins of these lakes, to such a 

 depth, that within the fifty years that they have been known, the 

 excess of evaporation has not been sufficient to restore them to their 

 pristine state. 



In conformity with the condition of these lakes, many places now 

 dry are pointed out, where, within the memory of the settlers, lakes 

 or ponds existed ; and near the course of streams, grass is to be seen 

 attached to the trunks of trees thirty feet above the present level of the 

 water, which must have been lodged there by very great floods. 



The great and important changes that floods of such extent and 

 destructive force must produce on the face of the country, may be 

 imagined, and particularly when like New South Wales it is principally 

 composed of soft sandstone. To such causes may be ascribed the 

 numerous coves of the harbours and bays, and the deep ravines which 

 often break the monotony of the table-land. In relation to the bays 



* In the basins of the salt lakes of the interior, plants which grow on the shores of the 

 ocean are found in abundance ; as for instance the Salsola. These lakes even exceed in 

 saltness the waters of the ocean; those brought by Major Mitchell, and analyzed, contained 

 one hundred and thirteen grains of dry salt in three ounces of water; the specific gravity of 

 the water was from 1*0386 to 1*0553. 

 X2 



