PICTORIAL RAIN MAPS. 365 
This rain map gives the most complete information about the 
average rainfall of a country of any that I have seen, at the same 
time it shows in a conspicuous manner lines of equal rainfall and 
outlines of large areas of heavier rainfall like the shaded rain map, 
but it gives at the same time what the shaded map cannot give, 
viz., the variations in the rainfall of these areas of heavier rain. 
It was specially prepared to meet the wants of the pastoralist and 
agriculturalist, but now that it is made it serves also the wants 
of the student better than any other form of rain map with which 
I am acquainted. 
It will be noted that the amountof rain increases with remarkable 
regularity in each latitude from west to east, save here and there 
a slight irregularity due to differences of elevation, and in one or 
two instances to the records not having extended over a sufficient 
number of years to eliminate the effect of dry periods. There are 
however one or two places where the variation from this regularity 
cannot be explained in this way, notably the head of the Hunter 
River valley, where proximity to the sea and the mountainous 
character of the country would lead us to expect a greater rainfall 
than thatshown. There are ten stations there, and records extend 
over twenty-one years, so that there must be some local condition 
affecting the rainfall of which I am not aware, but hope soon to 
find out. 
It will be observed that the lowest average annual rainfall in 
the whole Colony is found in the extreme west, and is nine and 
a-half inches. Along the valley of the Darling it is from ten to 
eighteen inches, and along the valley of the Murray it is from 
twelve to twenty-six inches, while our heaviest average rainfall 
(seventy-three and three-quarter inches), is found on the Tweed 
River, which runs at the foot of a range of mountains, some of 
which rise to a height of five thousand feet, and cause this heavy 
rainfall by intercepting the east and south-easterly winds. 
This average rainfall map includes all the rainfall records up 
to the end of 1892. It has been published by the Government 
Printer in a convenient form, and will I hope serve the purpose 
for which it was designed. See reduced copy of the map, Plate 21. 
