350 



Br. Neumayer on a Scientific 



[May 14 



Burke, Wills, Howitt, M'Kinla}^, and Gregory. To the south of this region 

 the at one time so much dreaded Stony Desert " seems to extend in the 

 manner indicated on our map ; and it certainly bears every appearance as if 

 this region of sandstone was principally caused by the effects of the inun- 

 dations and floods already referred to. For whereas it is very easy to trace 

 this peculiar phenomenon to the south, it is hardly possible to define it 

 exactly towards the north, which fact accords well with the explanation of 

 its true origin just suggested. The careful researches of Mr. B. Hassen- 

 stein* have tended to throw new light upon this subject, and reduce the 

 Stony Desert to its proper limits. We know now that the arid plains de- 

 scribed by some explorers, which others had found well grassed and covered 

 with an even luxuriant vegetation, are the receptacles of the waters flowing 

 from the north, and form the boundary of the Stony Desert ; we know 

 moreover that extensive tracts of fine country are interspersed with strips 

 of " stony desert " of a very limited extent. Such is the nature of the 

 whole country, as far as we know it, from the meridian of 145° to Burke's 

 track. Of the country between the latter' s course and that of Stuart very 

 little is known ; but it is not unreasonable to suppose that it will prove to 

 be mostly of the same description as that already well known to us, as it 

 forms only the lower part of the interior basin above described, the very 

 bottom of which we have been made tolerably well acquainted with by 

 Stuart's exploration, which bears out that supposition. Further to the 

 west, in the unknown country between Stuart's track and the west coast, 

 the same sandstone tableland probably rises again to the high ranges which 

 have been observed by the various explorers who have penetrated into the 

 interior from the west, attaining in some parts an elevation of from three 

 to four thousand feet above the ocean. Therefore it is not at all unlikely 

 that we shall find in the western half of the central basin in the main the 

 same state of things which we have found to exist in the east, with but such 

 slight modifications as may be determined by the configuration and lay of 

 the country in connexion with the prevailing system of winds and contin- 

 gent meteorological phenomena. 



In order to complete the general description of this portion of the Au- 

 stralian continent, we must call to mind the effect a tropical and subtro- 

 pical sun must naturally exert upon a territory constituted as this interior 

 tableland. During the time the sun is north of the equator, in the winter 

 months of the southern hemisphere, the prevailing winds are from south- 

 east all over the northern continent, with little and only occasional rain ; 

 but on the sun's approach, during October and November, the monsoon 

 shifts to north-west, and brings on the rainy season, gradually advancing 

 from south to north in the middle of December and January. At the end 

 of this season, in February and March, and about the time preceding the 

 shifting back to south-east of the monsoon in April, the heavy falls of rain 

 and the soaked state of the soil cause those immense floods which are 



Petei'maun, Mittheiluiigen, 1867, p. 80. 



