4 
the sea making them look less elevated than they really are. 
Some of the slopes of rock are quite black, exposing an immense 
surface of bare stone, without a trace of vegetation. These, I 
suppose, are trappean. Others, by their texture and colour, can 
be seen to be clearly granitic. Hinchinbrook channel, though 
wide, is very shallow, and there are long mangrove flats upon the 
main land. I looked very carefully for any signs of upheaval, 
but could see none. The channel may be filling up by the 
denudation from the mountains on each side. At Cardwell, 
which is situate on the north end of the channel, the beach and 
the shore are made up entirely of granitic debris. The waters of 
the sea are so muddy as to resemble a river rather than the 
ocean. The main range rises like an abrupt wall at a couple of 
miles distance from Cardwell, so that the creeks from the dividing 
range have only a very short course. 
From Cardwell to Cairns, a distance of 70 miles, I had no 
good opportunity of seeing the coast. We know, however, that 
the range dividing reaches its greatest elevation in this interval 
in the Bellenden Ker Mountains. At a part of the coast called 
Morilyan Harbour, the J ohnston River finds its outlet to the sea. 
My opportunities for observation on this place were very brief. 
A few granite hills of moderate elevation flanked the harbour, 
and the Main Range w T as approached by extensive river flats. 
All the islands of any elevation are granitic with a few coral 
islets interspersed. 
Between Cairns and Port Douglas the land abuts upon the 
sea in lofty ranges which are densely clothed with forest. Here 
it is that the Dividing Range breasts the ocean, and it continues 
so with little interruption as far as the Endeavour River, a 
distance of nearly 100 miles. In this interval there are a few 
sandy beaches of moderate extent, but the great proportion of 
the coast is rocky and precipitous with forests of the most 
dense tropical vegetation crowning every ridge. The greater 
part of the mountains are over 3,000 ft. high, and for nearly all 
the year are clothed with cloud so that their outline can rarely 
be seen. Two peculiarities on the coast range are very con- 
spicuous and picturesque. One is, that the Dividing Range is 
so precipitous and rocky near the sea that a large number of 
cascades can be seen falling over the cliffs. Another is a 
number of yellow strips of grassy land which seem to run to 
the top of the ridges. These are clothed with very luxuriant 
grass. I saw this from the facility with which they blazed up 
when lit by the natives as signal fires. I should imagine they 
must be due to some peculiarity of the soil, or perhaps they are 
too steep or rocky for trees to grow upon them. The line of 
gigantic forest timber on each side is as sharp as if it were cut 
with a knife. 
In some of the recent maps of Queensland the Main 
Range is represented as lying a long way from the coast, and 
giving rise to important rivers with a direct east and west 
course. Hone of these facts are correct. The rivers, if they 
