154 MR. Cunningham’s remarks. 
of water is discharged, might reasonably be deemed a con- 
clusion, which has nothing but conjecture for its basis. 
But if an opinion may be permitted to be hazarded from 
actual appearances, mine is decidedly in favour of our being 
in the immediate vicinity of an inland sea, or lake, most 
probably a shoal one, and gradually filling up by numerous 
depositions from the high lands, left by the waters which 
flow into it. It is most singular, that the high lands on this 
continent seem to be confined to the sea-coast, and not to 
extend to any distance from it.” 
In a work published at Sydney, containing an account 
of Mr. Allan Cunningham’s journey towards Moreton Bay, 
in 1828, the following remarks occur, from which it is 
evident Mr. Cunningham entertained Mr. Oxley’s views 
of the character and nature of the Western interior. To- 
wards the conclusion of the narrative, the author thus 
observes : — 
“ Of the probable character of the distant unexplored in- 
terior, into which it has been ascertained all the rivers fall- 
ing westerly from the dividing ranges flow, some inference 
may be drawn from the following data. 
“ Viewing, between the parallels of 34“ and 27®, a vast 
area of depressed interior, subjected in seasons of prolonged 
rains to partial inundation, by a dispersion of the several 
waters that flow upon it from the eastern mountains whence 
they originate ; and bearing in mind at the same time, that the 
declension of the country within the above parallels, as most 
decidedly shewn by the dip of its several rivers, is uniformly 
