30 
According to an estimate we have made, the area of 
the lakes is 143 square miles; and the area embraced 
by the rivers and creeks draining into them 6059 square 
miles. In the summer season, or in seasons in any part 
of the year when there are no great floods, the work 
done by the rivers in conveying sediment into the lakes 
is inconsiderable, but in winter weather, or in any season 
when the rivers run bank high, great quantities of mud 
and silt are cast into the lakes. 
Very remarkable changes have been made in Lake 
King. The Mitchell discharges its waters into this lake; 
and at one time the embouchure was about fifteen chains 
below the punt at Bairnsdale. At the present time the 
delta of the Mitchell may be said to commence there. 
The course of the river from that spot is nearly parallel to 
what must have been at one time the western shore of 
the lake, and the delta, or the river with its levee, is 
altogether ten miles in length. 
From Bairnsdale to Eagle Point the course of the 
delta is south ; thence it is north-east or towards the 
mouth of the River Nicholson, which also falls into Lake 
King. When the delta shall have reached a point within 
the influence of the storm-waters brought down by the 
Nicholson, a bar will be formed and the Mitchell will 
make an outlet towards the east. This will in time 
separate Jones’s Bay from Lake King, and entirely alter 
the features which are now presented. 
Another large river, the Tambo, is rapidly forming a 
delta in a direction towards Raymond Island, and thus, in 
time, there will be four separate lakes where there is now 
but one. 
The work the rivers are doing is accelerated by the 
making of roads and drains, the ploughing of fields, 
