VALLEY OF THE MURRAY. 
181 
at times. A country in a state of nature is, however, so 
different from one in a state of cultivation, that it is 
hazardous to give an opinion as to its practical avail- 
ableness, if I may use such a term. I should, un- 
doubtedly, say the marshes of the Macquarie were fre- 
quently covered with water, and that they were wholly 
unfit for any one purpose whatever. It is evident from 
the marks of the reeds upon the banks, that the flood 
covers them occasionally to the depth of three feet, and the 
reeds are so densely embodied and so close to the river side 
that the natives cannot walk along it. The reeds are the 
broad flag-reed (arundo phragmatis), and grow on a stiff 
earthy loam, without any accompanying vegetation ; indeed, 
they form so solid a mass that the sun cannot penetrate to 
the ground to nourish vegetation. On the other hand, the 
valley of the Murray, though covered with reeds in most 
places, is not so in all. There is no mark upon the reeds 
by which to judge as to the haight of inundation, neither 
are they of the same kind as those which cover the marshes 
of the Macquarie. They are the species of round reed of 
which the South-sea islanders make their arrows, and stand 
sufficiently open, not only to allow of a passage through, 
but for the abundant growth of grass among them. Still, 
I have no doubt that parts of the valley are subject to 
flood ; but, as I have already remarked, I do not know 
whether these parts are either deeply or frequently co- 
vered. Rain must fall simultaneously in the S.E. angle 
of the island in the intertropical regions, and at the heads 
