May 10, 1858.] WILSON’S JOURNEY IN NORTH-WEST AUSTRALIA. 215 
a pastoral country a country fit for the production of the sheep, and the sheep 
in Australia is especially valuable on account of its fleece. Now, within the 
latitude of 12° and 18°, the fleece of the sheep will not be wool, but some- 
thing very like hair. Therefore we may at once conclude that this country is 
totally unfit for the sheep. Then again the geological formation promises no 
gold, and it is the sheep and the gold which enrich Southern Australia. The 
country is perfectly well fitted as pasture for the ox, the horse, the hog. It 
would produce abundance of oxen, but what would you do with them, with 
nobody to eat them ? It does not altogether follow that a tropical country is 
altogether unfit for an acclimated European. That we are perfectly satisfied 
of, from 300 years’ experience in America. There are to be found on the low 
lands, on the level of the sea, in various parts of America, Europeans pretty 
much what their ancestors were when they left their parent country. I 
especially allude to the Spaniards. Only a night or two ago I saw a whole 
family of descendants of Spaniards who had been 300 years in America, and in 
the ninth degree of latitude, at Panama. One lady was exceedingly beautiful, 
and as fair as her ancestors when they left Toledo, for to that town the family 
traced its origin. Now, when Southern Australia, or such portions of it as 
can be occupied, is peopled to something like the extent of our own islands, 
namely, from 200 to 300 inhabitants to the square mile, its people will 
emigrate to North Australia and settle there. But they will not do so as long 
as they can find an occupation in the south. When that time arrives, which 
may be two or three centuries hence, then North Australia will be occupied, 
and will have its oxen, and its horses, and its hogs, and possibly a little corn. 
I have no great confidence in the assertion of the author of the paper when he 
states that a country of sandstone formation is a fertile country. Strangers 
are very apt to judge erroneously in this matter from mere appearances. The 
author of the paper speaks of having found a little rice in a few spots on the 
marshy sides of rivers. My opinion is that that rice is not a native produc- 
tion. I will tell you how I believe it came there. There are certain Malay 
fisheries carried on in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The fishermen bring their 
rice with them in the husk, commonly called paddy, and I dare say have 
thrown a few handfuls of it to the natives ; and it has propagated itself in 
these marshes. But there can be no hope of raising rice in a country that is 
not well watered. When rice is grown on dry land the production is about 
one-fourth, one-sixth, and sometimes not more than one-tenth of what it is in 
a well-watered country, which North Australia can never be. As to settling 
the country with a Chinese population, that is not very likely to succeed. 
The Chinese never emigrate with the women, and how are they to multiply ? 
So with respeet to the convict Sepoys suggested by our Chairman ; the women 
will not accompany them if they lose caste, which they will do when trans- 
ported as murderers and assassins. Northern Australia then is not very likely 
to be colonised by Sepoys or by Chinese. 
Mr. Lockhart asked how far the navigable stream Victoria extended 
towards the southward ? 
Mr. Saunders.— A bout 160 miles. 
Mr. Lockhart asked what was the distance between the navigable part of 
the Victoria and the stations which had been passed over by Sturt from the 
south ? 
Mr. Galton replied, the paper had no special information about it. 
Mr. Lockhart. — I think in a paper read by yourself, you specified how 
travellers might go into an arid desert by means of relays, bringing supplies 
with them. What do you think is the distance between the extreme limit of 
Sturt’s Ridge in the south of Australia and the navigable bed of the Victoria? 
Dr. Shaw. — About 600 miles. 
Mr. Lockhart. — I would make one remark with reference to the Chines? 
