160 
MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
French coasts, to tlie miserably small streams on which 
Calais, Boulogne, Dieppe, Eye, Dover, Newhaven, 
Shoreham, Chichester, Littlehampton, &c., are built, 
they will find that their conclusions are erroneous, and 
they will become sensible of the future importance of 
many of the bar-mouthed rivers on the coast of Aus¬ 
tralia, some of which are navigable for many miles. 
Let them, however, travel a little farther in their 
range of enquiry, and ask w hat is the formation of the 
rivers of the Baltic, upon which the great commercial 
towns of Stellin, Wiernar, Dantzic, Filing, Konings- 
burg, Liebau, Der-Windau, Stockholm, &c«, are situ¬ 
ated ? 
These are all bar harbours, with shoal water en¬ 
trances, haring a depth varying from 7 to 14 feet only, 
but having generally tolerably safe, roadsteads. The 
wealth and population of these flourishing sea-port 
towns bear testimony to their convenience for the pur¬ 
poses of trade and commerce. It appears unwise, there¬ 
fore, as well as unreasonable, to depreciate or under¬ 
value the rivers of Australia, because some of them are 
of small dimensions or are bar-mouthed. Many of 
them will bear a comparison with the most important 
rivers in Europe. 
For Instance, the total length of the Murray, from 
its source downwards, is estimated at 2000 miles, of 
which distance 1740 miles are navigable by steam boats 
during at least six months of the year. It will, there¬ 
fore, Scar a comparison with the throe largest rivers in 
Europe, viz-, the Danube, the W'olga, and the Rhine ; 
the length of the first being 1700 miles, of the second 
2100 miles, and of the third 737 miles. 
With the exception, therefore, of the Wolga, the river 
Murray exceeds in length any of tho rivers of Europe ? 
and it may bo obsorved of these, that although Europe 
is beautifully watered by numerous rivers, few of them 
are naturally navigable to any considerable extent, tho 
three rivers above named being tho chief exceptions. 
The Murray carries to the sea a body of fresh water 
exceeding that of many European rivers. The naviga¬ 
tion of tliis river is now an accomplished fact, and it 
continues to be carried on with increased energy and 
success. The steam-boats that navigate it are effecting 
a social revolution along its banks, as well as on those 
of tho Edwards, the Billihong, the Lachlan, and the 
Darling. 
The steamers Leichhardt, Lady Augusta, Albury, 
Moolgewauk, Gemini, Melbourne, and Gundagai, are 
amongst the number now employed in navigating the 
Murray and its tributaries, amounting in all to ten 
steamers, and nine boats, representing a capacity* of 
2373 tons, and 400 horse power. 
The navigable character of the Murray, and the 
amount of commerce already subsisting or likely to 
spring up along its banks, are amongst the questions of 
the day most immediately interesting to New South 
Wales, as well as to the adjacent colonies of feouth 
Australia and Victoria, 
It may, therefore, be well to condense here the re¬ 
sults of some inquiries into this subject. 
Tho distance from tike Goolwa to Albury by water 
may be set down as nearly 1800 miles, and certainly 
not less than 1740 miles, all navigable by steam during 
six months of the year, notwithstandingthe little that 
has yet been effected in clearing the channel. The 
junction of the Darling is distant from the Goolwa 
about 910 miles, that of tho Murrambidgee 900 miles. 
Swan Hill 1080 miles. Maiden’s Pont 1350, and the 
Ovens River 1592 miles. 
From tho Goolwa to Chowilla, near the boundary 
line, the Murray Hows for 486 miles through South 
Australian territory, an«4 above Wellington, and for 
300 miles higher, its waters, both when low and when 
flooded, are bounded by high banks from 50 to 100 feet 
in height, which alternately recede from, and approach 
the true bed of the river, leaving a level space varying 
from 1 mile to several miles in width, the greater part 
of which, being annually flooded, affords good pasturage 
during the dry* season. 
The following table of the distances of several places 
on the Murray from each other, which has been com¬ 
piled with some trouble, is from the South Australian 
Register, 
Comparative Table of Distances of most remarkable 
places along the Murray, from the Goolwa to Albury. 
Compiled October, 1856. 
o 
a> 
O 
d 
o 
a 
ft* © 
o 
1 rt 
<y r- 
£ 
cS 
3 
The Goolwa 
Point Sturt 
Pt. Pommonde 
Wellington 
Reedy Creek... 
Moorundee ... 
N. W. Bend.., 
Overland Cor¬ 
ner 
Paringa ( Chap¬ 
man’s) 
Chowilla 
(Boundary) 
Ditto (McKin¬ 
ley's) 
Moorna 
(Lyon's) ... 
The Dari. Riv, 
Mildura 
( Jamieson's, 
Do(M*Grath’s) 
Euston (Punt) 
Meealtnan 
(Ross's) 
Murrambidgee 
Windomal 
(Phelps’s)... 
Wakool River 
Coghill’s 
Swan Hill 
Goun (Capel’s) 
Paracouta (C. 
Bagot’s 
Maidn’s(Punt) 
Goulbum River 
Lake Moira 
Edward River 
(Junction).. 
Yeeliraa 
( McDonald’s 
Cobram (C, 
H ughes’s). 
Mulwavla 
(Punt) . 
Ovens River 
(Junction) 
Coilendina 
( Rbt.Brown* 
Foord’s (nea 
& best route 
Beech worth) 
Owlong 
Jinjindra 
Albury 
S. Aust. 
Distance from 
17 
42 
48 
128 
198 
648 
031 
606 
600 
520 
450 
1358 
1341 
1316 
1310 
1230 
1160 
1654 
1637 
1612 
1600 
1526 
1456 
«■< 
1754 
1737 
1712 
1706 
1626 
1556 
•i 
55 
253 
395|1 
1051 
401 
501 
it 
no 
363 
285 
9951 
291 
391 
“ 
85 
448 
200 
9101 
206 
306 
“ 
45 
493 
155 
8651 
1611 
261 
.s.W. 
70 
5G3 
85 
795 1 
091 l 
191 
.. 
50 
513 
35 
'45 K 
Ml l 
141 
“ 
35 
648 .. 
'10 1C 
061 
06 
rictoria 
50 
698 
50 
360 
>561( 
)59 
* 
46 
744 
96 
614 
110 1 
10 
104 
848 
200 
510 
506 
306 
N.S.1V. 
28 
87G 
228 
4821 
7781 
878 
32 
908 
260 
450 
746 
846 
tl 
25 
933 
285 
425 
721 
821 
»» 
15 
918 
300 
410 
706 
806 
Victoria 
40 
994 
346 
364 
600 
760 
“ 
94 
1088 
440 
270 
5(>6 
666 
N.S W 
74 
1102 
514 
196 
492 
592 
« 
150 
1312 
664 
46 
342 
444 
46 
1358 
710 
296 
396 
Victoria 
20 
1378 
730 
20 
276 
376 
18 
1396 
748 
38 
258 
358 
N.S. W 
IE 
1411 
761 
5C 
245 
313 
Victori 
a 2 
143E 
78 
7" 
219 
319 
tt 
9 
0152, 
87 
7 16 
12< 
229 
. N.S.M 
T. 5 
) 157 
5 92 
7 21 
7 7 
175 
Victor 
a 2 
4159 
9 95 
1 24 
1 5 
155 
)N.S.V 
7. 1 
5161 
4 96 
6 25 
9 4 
0 145 
0 
Victor 
ia 4 
0165 
4100 
G 29 
6 .... 
. 100 
. N.S.A 
7.1 4 
0 161 
4 10-1 
6 3£ 
6 4 
0 60 
. Victor 
ial C 
6 1"S 
0 108 
2 37 
2 7 
f. 24 
. N.S.l 
V.| 
4 175 
4 110 
6 39 
6 10 
». 
An improvement in the back country becomes per¬ 
ceptible beyond the Darling. There the waters of the 
Lachlan, the Wakool, the Murrumbidgee, and the Ed¬ 
ward, connected for a great portion of the year by a 
network of creeks, render a large portion of the New 
