GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
XXVU 
lead to the introduction of fresh sources of 
wealth. 
Having taken this hasty review of the commer- 
cial interests of the colony, we may now turn to a 
brief examination of its internal structure and 
principal natural features. 
I have already given a cursory sketch of the 
geographical features of the whole continent. 
Of the vast area which its coasts embrace, the 
east part alone has been fully explored. 
A range of hills runs along the eastern coast, 
from north to south, which, in different quar- 
ters, vary in their distance from the sea ; 
at one place approaching it pretty nearly, at 
another, receding from it to a distance of forty 
miles. It is a singular fact, that there is no 
pass or break in these mountains, by which 
any of the rivers of the interior can escape in an 
easterly direction. Their spine is unbroken. 
The consequence is, that there is a complete di- 
vision of the eastern and western waters, and 
that streams, the heads of which are close to 
each other, flow away in opposite directions ; the 
one to pursue a short course to the sea ; the other 
to fall into a level and depressed interior, the 
