CONNECTED WITH GEOLOGICAL FORMATION, xliii 
earnest attention to the features of the country 
through which I passed, in order to determine 
more accurately the different appearances which, 
as I was led to expect, the rivers would assume. 
In the course of my examination I found, first, 
that the broken country through which I tra- 
velled, was generally covered with a loose, coarse, 
and sandy soil ; and, secondly, that the ranges 
were wholly deficient in that peat formation 
which fills the valleys, or covers the flat summits 
of the hills or mountains, in the northern hemi- 
sphere. The peculiar property of this formation 
is to retain water like a sponge ; and to this pro- 
perty the regular and constant flow of the rivers 
descending from such hills, may, in a great mea- 
sure, be attributed. In NewSoutli Wales, on the 
contrary, the rains that fall upon the mountains 
drain rapidly through a coarse and superficial 
soil, and pour down their sides without a moment’s 
interruption. The consequence is that on such 
occasions the rivers are subject to great and sud- 
den rises, whereas they have scarcely water enough 
to support a current in ordinary seasons. At one 
time the traveller will find it impracticable to ci’oss 
them : at another he may do so with ease ; and 
c 2 
