NATURAL FEATURES OF ISRAELITE BAT. 
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try his luck with another chief. It is a most evil system, and leads to 
great idleness, and tends to hold back the prosperity of the country. 
Bugauda has been so decimated by wars and pestilence, and by the old 
slave-trading, that whole tracts once cultivated are now gone back to 
desolation ; chiefs who were once wealthy and powerful are now 
scarcely more than peasants. It remains to be seen if the British 
Protectorate, by keeping peace, has come soon enough to help the 
people hack to life and prosperity. I trust so. 
I must bring this to a close, with many apologies for its feebleness 
and disconnectedness. If it is thought worth reading, it may excite 
some little interest in God's work here. 
7.— NATURAL FEATURES OF ISRAELITE BAY. 
By J. P. BROOKE. 
Balbinia, 25th July, 1894. 
Baron Sir Ferd. von Mueller. 
Dear Sir, — At Israelite Bay you can see a point where three 
formations meet, which I term the “Old,” the “New,” and the 
“ Recent.” I have, through Miss Brooke, your assurance that this 
spot has special interest to the botanist, and I have my own 
conviction that it must have an equal interest to the geologist, 
the meteorologist, and perhaps the geographer. Pardon me for 
mentioning meteorology first. The feature I take is what I term the 
rainbelt , which commences approximately on a ridge about 30 miles 
west of Esperanee Bay. At the foot of this ridge, going eastward, 
are two lakes teeming at times with wild fowl. On the southern 
bank of one will be noticed the western limit of the Zamia Dyeri , 
peculiar to this district. These lakes are fed by the Daylup and other 
creeks, and beyond them is a last forest of yawl , or “paper-bark 
tea-tree.” Surrounding an old homestead of Messrs. Dempster Bros., 
on the south-western side of the yawls towards the coast hills, is a 
clump of stunted jarrah , with the undergrowth characteristic of 
this species of timber. This is the eastern limit of the jarrah. About 
12 miles before reaching Esperanee Bay the rainfall reaches its 
maximum, and just off the same bay begins the Recherche Archipelago, 
the scattered islands of which, while giving a charm and beauty to the 
scene which I shall not attempt to describe, are a source of danger 
and anxiety to our navigators. The heavy rainfall continues till 
Cape Arid hills are passed, when its volume again decreases ; about 
here is the Rubicon Creek, which is remarkable as being the last 
watercourse met with for several hundreds of miles. Imagine, if you 
can, travelling on the shores of the vast Southern Ocean for many 
weeks, and far on into South Australia, without seeing a single stream 
running into it. On the eastern banks of the Rubicon are growing 
the last specimens of the “ cabbage ” or “ Christmas tree.” A few 
miles further we pass the hill of Cape Paisley, and here the 
rainbelt may be said to terminate, for although Point Malcolm 
and even Israelite Bay receive more rain than any point 
beyond, yet it is so uncertain and limited that they cannot be 
included in the belt. The rainbelt runs therefore east and west in 
full strength about 100 miles, with a lighter fringe of 18 miles in 
length on the west, and a corresponding fringe of about 12 miles on 
the eastern border ; unhappily its extreme width is under 10 miles, 
