are in many places interrupted by sandy beaches, behind | which the country is low and flat, the high land retiring to a considerable distance. The spaces now occupied by sandy beaches appear at no very remote period to have formed the entrances of bays and arms of the sea. In many places they are even now so partially filled up, that there still exist extensive salt-water lagoons, separated from the ocean only by a bank of sand, through which the sea yet occasionally forces a passage.

An elevated country lies north of the banks of Shoalhaven River, where it runs from west to east. It is formed by a remarkable range of high land, which traverses the whole country between the Blue Mountains and the sea, being connected with the former at the source of the Nattai River, where the summit of Mount Jellore rises. From this summit it extends south-east to the very shores of the sea, between Kiama Head and the mouth of the Shoalhaven River. The highest part is known as the Mittagong Range. The more elevated portion of this tract, which consists of ferruginous sandstone, is almost entirely barren, and only covered with shrubs. Its southern slope is furrowed by deep ravines, which are hardly accessible except from the Shoalhaven River, into which they open, and on | their declivities are only small tracts fit for cultivation, but the soil is poor. North of this unprofitable waste and along the sea-shore is a lofty range of trap-rocks, called Illawarra, possessing a very rich soil, which in its natural state is buried under matted creepers, fern-trees, cedar, cabbage-trees, and a luxuriant tropical vegetation, nourished both by streams from the lofty range and the moist breezes of the sea. The extent of cultivable ground is small, but it yields most abundantly all kinds of grain and other vegetables. The forests constitute the riches of the settlers in this tract, as the trees are high and make excellent timber, especially a kind of cedar, of which a great number of boards go to Sydney, though the transport is very expensive, as the country at the back of the Illawarra Range is covered with offsets from the Mittagong Range, which, by their deep ravines, cause great obstacles to the transport of any heavy article.

From the ravines of the Mittagong Range the country as we proceed northward opens gradually into a kind of plain, the best portion of which is known by the name of the Cow Pastures, which name is derived from a herd of wild cattle which were found pasturing on them when they were discovered. The surface of this plain, which contains upwards of 100,000 acres, consists chiefly of undulating thinly-wooded hills, covered with a sward of fine dry native pasture, with alluvial tracts along the margin of the rivers of the most fertile description, producing wheat equalling in quality and quantity the best in England. Some tracts adjoining the river Nepean, which drains this plain, were originally clear of timber; and as they are intersected with ponds having no ready outlet for their waters, they are always considerably flooded after a heavy fall of rain, and consequently make excellent meadows." Cattle abound on this plain, and also sheep: the wool is considered the best in the colony. In the middle of the Cow Pastures is the Razor-back Range, an isolated mass, which extends about 8 miles in a general direction between westnorth-west and east-south-east: it is very level on some parts of its summit, and so very narrow in others, while the sides also are steep, that the name it has obtained is very appropriate and descriptive.

The Cow Pastures extend over the northern districts of the county of Camden, and the countries contiguous to them on the east and north contain the best portion of Cumberland. In the last-mentioned county the sandstone ridge along the sea extends only a few miles inland south of Botany Bay; but between Botany Bay and Port Jackson it reaches the vicinity of Paramatta and Liverpool. The land immediately bordering upon the coast is of a light, barren, sandy nature, and, in its natural state, thinly besprinkled with stunted bushes. The crops it yields are so scanty, that it would not be cultivated were it not for the vicinity of the capital of the colony. At a distance of from 10 to 15 miles inland the country is somewhat better, and thickly covered with evergreen forest-timber and underwood; but the clayey soil is of indifferent quality, and the labour required for clearing it has been an obstacle to settlements. Beyond this commences the fertile portion of the country, a plain extending from south to north about 40 miles, from Appin on the south to Windsor on the north,

with an average width of about 20 miles, so that it is nearly equal in extent to Surrey. The surface of this extensive tract is gently undulating, and rises only in a few places to moderate and isolated hills with a gentle acclivity. The soil in general is very good, consisting of decomposed trap. A large portion of it is under cultivation, which even extends over the declivities of the hills. Prospect Hill, which is the most conspicuous eminence in the country, is cultivated to the summit. Nearly the whole tract could be cultivated, but it remains for the most part occupied by the original wood. It is however very generally enclosed by substantial fencing, and affords good pasture for cattle. The rich red soil, derived from the subjacent trap rock, produces crops as abundantly now as when it was first tilled, upwards of thirty years ago. The southern districts are stated to have the richest soil, but water is scarce, and where it is found the surface-water possesses a saltness, which renders it at some seasons unfit for use. This tract and those adjacent to it are in general deficient in water, as only a few springs are found; but there are a number of gullies, worn out by the rains, in which deep holes have been excavated, at irregular intervals, by the occasional torrents which pour through them, where water is generally found for a considerable portion and sometimes the whole of the year. This water is ofter brackish, and has a nauseous sweet taste; but in the freshwater holes it is good, and much relished by the cattle. There seems to be a considerable portion of saline matter in most of the lands of this tract, as it is often seen in dry weather lying like hoar-frost upon the ground in the vicinity of ponds.

Along the banks of the Hawkesbury are alluvial lands, which exhibit an extraordinary degree of fertility, having yielded one crop of wheat and one crop of maize in each year for more than 30 years. These lands however are exposed to occasional terrible floods, which take place not at certain periods, but irregularly, often after a lapse of many years, and sometimes when the crops are still on the ground. These excessive floods originate in the peculiar nature of the rivers and of the climate. The rivers of this portion of Australia do not run, as in most other countries, in bottoms, but wind in a tortuous course between high grassy banks covered with heavy timber and brushwood. These banks are very precipitous, rising in most places perpendicularly to 100 and even 200 feet above the common level of the river. There are only a few places at which it is possible to get from the top of these banks to the bed in which the river flows. When by heavy rains of long continuance a volume of water larger than usual falls on the hilly surface of the country in which the upper branches of the Hawkesbury have their origin, the waters are not quickly imbibed by the soil, which consists of indurated clay. They therefore sweep down the deep ravines, with which the country is furrowed, with resistless force, and accumulating in the bed of the river, they make it swell with inconceivable rapidity. Its tortuous course, and the fallen trees which are in some parts very numerous, especially where it forces its way through narrow chasms, check the flow of the waters towards the sea, while the narrow channels and high banks keep them from spreading out, until, overtopping these banks, the waters sweep over the adjacent country. Thus it may be conceived, how it happens that the Hawkesbury sometimes in a few hours rises above its elevated banks. In 1806 it rose 90 feet perpendicular above its ordinary level, and caused great desolation on the alluvial grounds contiguous to its banks. In 1817 it rose nearly as high.

The country lying between Port Jackson and Broken Bay, and extending from the sea to a line drawn from Pa ramatta to Windsor, is one of the most desolate of those districts which lie contiguous to the Pacific. Its surface is an undulating ground, broken by a succession of deep ravines, and its soil is exclusively composed of barren sandstone rocks, over which only stunted trees are thinly spread. These forests are composed of, Banksia and grass trees (xanthorhea), which are usually found in sandy soil where nothing else can vegetate, and these trees always suggest the idea of hopeless sterility. This tract is quite uninhabited, and uninhabitable, even for the aborigines. It is about 25 miles long and 15 wide. It is surrounded on the north-west and north by the Hawkesbury, which flows here in a very deep valley between rocks,

which rise to 600 feet, and are nearly perpendicular; at some places they overhang the river. In this deep chasm the river flows slowly, is smooth as a mirror, and affords access by boats and small vessels to the little sheltered farms which are found on its banks; for there are some small patches of alluvial soil, which occur alternately on each bank, and comprise farms of from thirty to a hundred

acres.

The country north of the Hawkesbury, as far as it is drained by torrents which join that river, is as barren as that south of it, but rather more mountainous, and some of the hills rise to a considerable elevation. It is composed of sandstone, and is only partially covered with vegetation, except a few isolated heights, which generally consist of trap-rock, and are covered with a tolerably good soil and very heavy timber.

VIII. Basin of the Hunter River.-This basin is the largest which has up to this period been discovered in the countries of Australia bordering on the Pacific. It extends from the sea westward to the Connecting Ridge, a distance of about 140 miles in a straight line. Its average width certainly does not fall short of 60 miles. This gives an area of 8400 square miles, or an extent of country equal to Wales with the addition of Monmouthshire. This large tract seems to contain a greater proportion of available land than any other portion of New South Wales of equal extent, some portions of Australia Felix perhaps excepted. The whole basin may be divided into two portions. The eastern or lower basin, or that which lies east of 150° 40′ E. long., is drained by the Hunter River and several large affluents; and the western or higher basin, west of 150° 40' E. long., by the Goulburn, a tributary of the Hunter and its numerous feeders.

The lower basin of the river consists of two inclined plains, sloping towards the banks of the river, of which that on the northern side is the more extensive, measuring about 40 miles from the banks of the river to the Liverpool Range, whilst the southern is hardly half as wide. The Hunter resembles the rivers of Europe more than the other rivers in the eastern districts of New South Wales, as it flows partly through a bottom which contains extensive tracts of alluvial land. The largest of these alluvial tracts however do not, as in Europe, occur towards the mouth of the river, but at places where the river is joined by some of its larger tributaries. Thus Wallis Plains are found where the river receives the William and Paterson Rivers; the Patrick Plains, where it is joined from the south by the Wollombi, and from the north by the Fall River; and Twickenham Meadows or Plains at its confluence with the Goulburn. The two last-mentioned alluvial plains are of considerable extent, Twickenham Meadows measuring 12 miles and upwards along the banks of the river, with a width varying from half a mile to a mile and a half. Some of the alluvial plains in their natural state were heavily timbered, and required much labour to bring them into cultivation; whilst others, as Twickenham Meadows, were scattered over with trees, singly or in irregular clumps, and required very little preparatory labour. All these alluviums however are of amazing fertility, producing heavy crops of wheat, maize, and whatever else is sown upon them.

The higher grounds rise into high hills only where they approach the outer edges of the basin. The surface at all other places is only undulating, and at some nearly level, to a distance of about 12 miles on the south, and on the north more than 20 miles from the river. In the vicinity of the sea-coast the soil of these higher grounds is barren, and only covered with stunted trees, but in this tract extensive coal-measures are found, from which the whole colony is supplied with coal, and which have greatly increased in value since steam-navigation has been introduced. At a distance of about 12 or 15 miles from the sea the soil improves. The more elevated parts have a soil of inferior quality, but the depressions between them are overgrown with thick underwood, and tolerably fertile, in some places of considerable fertility. Proceeding still farther, the rising grounds are what is called open forest-land, thinly sprinkled with large trees, among which fine herbage grows, which generally affords excellent pasture for sheep. As the alluvial tracts do not constitute a great proportion of the available land, they are only cultivated to maintain the large sheep-farms which have spread over nearly the whole of this lower basin of the river In many parts of P. C., No. 1681.

6

this undulating country the soil presents what is called a ploughing-ground,' where the surface appears to have undergone ploughing, it being furrowed with a regularity which astonishes the observer. Such tracts, which are numerous in many districts of the colony, have a good soil, either of a red or very dark colour, and it is thought that they could be cultivated with great advantage. Along the rivers which join the Hunter from the north and south are also bottoms, but of less extent, though not of less fertility, and the adjacent rising grounds afford pastures for sheep, which are rather better than those in the vicinity of the principal river. The rivers flowing from the Liverpool Range have water all the year round, but those coming from the south dry partly up in the dry season, so that only pools are found in the beds of the rivers. The alluvial tracts along the northern affluents extend to the very base of the Liverpool Range.

The upper basin of the Hunter, or that which is drained by the Goulburn, one of the greatest branches of the Hunter, extends westward to the Connecting Ridge. From the lower basin it is separated by a ridge of high hills, or rather mountains, which separate the upper course of the Hunter, where it runs from north-east to south-west, from that of the Blaxland, an affluent of the Goulburn. This range appears to be higher than any other of those traversing this basin. The Goulburn, running from west to east, divides the upper basin into two unequal sections, its course being much nearer to the Monundilla Range than to the Liverpool Range, which two chains of mountains enclose the basin on the south and north. That portion of the basin which lies south of the Goulburn is mountainous, being filled up with numerous offsets from the Monundilla Range, which are of moderate elevation, but steep, and exhibit that character of sterility which belongs to the sandstone rocks of the Blue Mountains. Even the hilly tract which skirts the banks of the river on the northern side is to be considered as a portion of the Blue Mountains, as it is mostly covered with hills composed of sandstone, and nearly destitute of vegetation, except some stunted trees. This tract however occupies only a narrow space, extending hardly more than four or five miles from the banks of the Goulburn. Between this hilly and sterile tract on the south and the Liverpool Range on the north lies a plain, which extends nearly 30 miles from south to north, and about 40 miles from east to west. It is far from being level, as it is traversed from north to south by numerous swelling grounds, which rise from 200 to 400 feet above the level of the rivers which run between them. The more elevated parts of these swelling grounds are thinly clothed with timber-trees without underwood, whilst their gentle declivities present low grassy hills, and at their base are open levels of moderate extent, quite free from trees or bushes, but producing fine herbage. The soil of the levels is alluvial, fertile, and retentive of moisture, whilst that of the grassy downs, especially towards the south, is a rich loam, well adapted for the formation of artificial meadows for sheep, or for cultivating wheat and other grain. The broad backs of the swelling grounds afford excellent pasture for sheep. Towards the Liverpool Range the country assumes a more uneven surface, but is equally fertile. In the interior of the plain are some rocky tracts, but they are of small extent. In the last ten or twelve years numerous sheep-farms have been established in this plain, and they are rapidly increasing in number.

The country extending along the shores of the Pacific, from the mouth of the Hunter River to Farquhar Inlet, the æstuary of the Manning River, may be considered as belonging to the basin of the Hunter. The shore of this tract is low and sandy from the mouth of the Hunter to Port Stephens, but on the peninsula separating this port from the sea is a series of sandhills of moderate elevation. A similar row of sandhills occupies the narrow strip of land which runs from Port Stephens to Sugarloaf Point, and separates some lagoons from the sea. Sugarloaf Point is formed by a sandy hill of a conic form, rising to a considerable elevation. The sandhills continue north from this cape to some distance beyond Cape Hawke, and here too are large lagoons at the back of the sandhills. A few miles north of Cape Hawke the shores begin to be high and rocky, and continue thus to Farquhar Inlet. Some of the lagoons are connected with the sea, but they are too shallow to admit even small vessels, and that is the reason why the country at the back of them was neglected for some time, and con sidered a sterile unprofitable waste. But since the Austra VOL. XXVII.-C

lian Agricultural Company has acquired the property of this country, it has been ascertained that a considerable portion of it is not much inferior to the country situated in the northern portion of Hunter Basin, the bottoms of the rivers being alluvial, and the higher grounds, which rise only to the elevation of moderate hills, being clothed with thin forests and affording tolerable pasture for sheep. The most southern portion however between Port Stephens and the Hunter is a low tract, covered with sand, and a useless waste. Port Stephens is a bar-harbour, so that small vessels only can enter it: those of larger description are compelled to anchor outside.

IX. Countries contiguous to the western base of the Blue Mountains.-Though all the countries lying on the west of the mountain-range are included within the bounds of location, we are very imperfectly acquainted with the features and productive powers of a considerable part of them. The most southern districts, or those which constitute the counties of King and Georgiana, are almost entirely unknown, as no satisfactory account has been published respecting them. Mr. Bennet, who traversed a portion of them in his Wanderings,' limits his narrative to a few observations, from which we learn that those districts which lie between the road leading from Sydney to Bathurst and the banks of the river Abercromby consist mostly of swampy tracts, which are very little available for the purposes of agriculture or as pasture-grounds. But south of the river he found the country mostly traversed by low ridges, thinly wooded, and at some places more level tracts, affording good pasture for sheep, being what is called open forests.

The country north of 34° 15' S. lat. is much better known. A very hilly and broken tract, connected on the east with the Blue Mountains, stretches westward on both sides of Belubula River. It contains several summits, which rise to the elevation of mountains, among which the most elevated is Mount Lachlan, which probably attains 3000 ft. above the sea-level. This tract at its western extremity (near 149° E. long.) is connected with a lofty range of mountains, which runs nearly south and north from 34° 30' to 33° 30′ S. lat., and separates the affluents of the Macquarie River from those which run westward into the Lachlan or Calare. Though comparatively narrow, it rises in some places to a great elevation. The highest of its summits, Conabolas, which is not far from its southern extremity, attains 4461 feet above the sea-level, and is higher than the most elevated pinnacle of the Blue Mountains. The Coutombals, which are not far from the northern extremity of the range, are also very elevated, and visible to a great distance. Their elevation has not yet been determined. Between the southern portion of this western range and the Blue Mountains are the Plains of Bathurst, which are twelve miles in length and about five in width. They are, more properly speaking, downs, not unlike the South Downs near Brighton, presenting on their surface considerable undulations. The highest parts of these elevations or knolls are generally covered with deep quagmires or bogs, but otherwise these downs have a dry soil, and being entirely destitute of wood, and producing different kinds of nutritive grass, they afford excellent sheep-walks, but there are also tracts fit for cattle; the cheese and butter made here are in great request at Sydney. The Plains of Bathurst are more than 2000 feet above the sea-level.

The remainder of this region, extending northward on both sides of the Macquarie River, and north-eastward over the countries lying on the banks of the Cudgegong to the base of the Connecting Ridge, exhibits great varieties in its surface, soil, and productive powers. In general it may be said that the surface is undulating, though the tracts which are farthest from the banks of the rivers generally rise into hills, which in some places are rather high. There occur also levels, but they are usually of small extent; and some of them are swampy, at least during the greatest part of the year. The hills in many places are rocky, and only overgrown with stunted trees, whilst in others they are covered with grass, and well though not thickly timbered. Between them are some narrow valleys, producing abundant pasture for cattle. At a few places the undulating country is destitute of water, but these tracts are not of great extent. Many of the small streams which drain this country are dry in summer, but well filled after rains. The larger ones have always water, though it is much reduced after ong droughts,

which are frequent in this region. A great portion of this tract appears to be well adapted for sheep, and this is proved by the increasing number of sheep-farms which are spreading over it in all directions. It does not seem that there is much land fit for cultivating wheat or other grains: very little at least has till now been grown, except in Wellington Valley, an extremely fertile tract of alluvial land, watered by the River Bell, one of the principal tributaries of the Macquarie. It lies east of the high summits of the Coutombals, and is six miles in length, and more than a mile across where it is widest. In this valley are some very remarkable caves, in which fossil remains of animals have been found.

At the distance of about 25 miles from the range on which the summits of Canobolas and Coutombals stand, is another range of heights, which runs nearly parallel to it, along 148° 25' E. long. Its southern portion is called Croker Range, and its northern Hervey Range. This range has only been traversed at two or three points by travellers, and is very imperfectly known. On its western declivity are the sources of Bogan River, one of the affluents of the Darling. The country lying east of this range appears, as far as is known, to have an irregular hilly surface, drained by numerous watercourses running northwards into the Macquarie, or southward into the Lachlan, but many of them are dry in times of drought, or contain only stagnant water in the deepest depressions of their beds. Some sheep-farms have of late years been established in this hilly tract, and the range west of them is at present the farthest point to which the settlements of the whites have extended. On the west of Croker and Hervey Range begin the great desolate steppes which extend between the Darling and Lachlan rivers.

X. Countries along the Pacific from 32° to 26° S. lat., or from the mouth of Manning River to Double Island Point. The Coast Range, or the high land separating the rivers falling into the Pacific from those running westward into the great plains of the interior, is probably in most places about 100 miles or somewhat less distant from the sea, but as it has only been minutely examined at two or three places, it remains uncertain if that range always runs parallel to the coast, or in some places retreats farther from it. The coast-line of this tract, extending about 400 miles, is mostly low and sandy, being broken only at intervals by rocky points. But in some parts, especially north of Trial Bay (30° 50′ S. lat.) and south of the mouth of Clarence River, are tracts of coast many miles in length, where it is rocky and rises to a considerable elevation, but even here no.indentations occur sufficiently deep to form harbours. The harbours are only found at the mouths of the numerous rivers. The country which lies at the back of this coast is much more mountainous than that portion of the colony which lies south of Manning River along the Pacific. Numerous ranges detach themselves from the coastrange, and traverse the country in several directions. Their sides are mostly steep and overgrown with thick forests, which is one of the reasons that has retarded the exploration of this country, so that the large River Clarence long remained unknown, and was only discovered a few years ago, though some parts of the country have been penal settlements nea for 30 years. There are still some tracts of considerable extent which are blanks on our maps. The imperfect account we have obtained of these countries would suggest the idea that by far the greater part of them is occupied by elevated mountain-ridges. As far as it is known, the valleys along the rivers are only of moderate extent, and occupy probably less than one-fourth of the area. On the ridges are several summits, which attain a great elevation. The Three Brothers (31° 43′), only from 3 to 5 miles from the shore, are visible at a distance of 50 miles at sea. West by north of them is Mount SeaView, which is supposed to rise 6000 feet above the sea-level. Farther to the north are two summits, each supposed to attain more than 4000 feet. Mount Warning, about 12 miles from the shore, near 28° 25' S. lat., is considered by Flinders as the highest summit visible from the Pacific, and its elevation is estimated by him at 3300 feet: to the west of it is Mount Lindesay, rising 5700 feet above the sea. In some parts the high rocky masses seem to cover an extensive tract of country contiguous to the Coast Range, and to be furrowed by narrow clefts, by which the waters collected on the mountains find their passage to the lower level. This is especially the case with the country near 31° S. lat., where the

Plains begins a range of mountains which runs about a hundred miles from south to north, between 31° and 29° 30' S. lat.: it is called Nundawar, or Hardwicke Range. Its southern portion is low; but north of 30° 30' it attains a great elevation, some of the summits rising to 3500 and perhaps 4000 feet above the sea-level. The mountainous portion of this chain occupies only from 10 to 12 miles in width, but it is surrounded by hills and offsets, which extend on each side to a distance of several miles from the ranges. A great number of watercourses originate in this range, and water the country surrounding it on all sides. Thus the tract of country between the river Gwydir on the east and Nammoy or Peel River on the west, according to our scanty information, contains a considerable portion of land fit for cultivation, though it varies much in its soil. Some parts are barren, and their surface is covered with thick bushes and stunted trees, which prevents the springing up of grass; others are overgrown with forests of small timber, and being more open to the action of the atmosphere, produce a considerable growth of grass. Where the country is more hilly the ridges are covered with open forests, and the valleys between them, with occasionally a patch of plain, have a good soil. The best soil however is met with in the vicinity of the larger watercourses. But many of the watercourses dry up in summer, or only a few poo's are found in their beds, which is especially the case after long droughts. The larger rivers always preserve a considerable volume of water, and even after droughts they are many feet deep. The country between the course of the Gwydir and the Coast Range has not been explored; but it is supposed that it must contain also a considerable proportion of land either fit for cultivation or useful as pasture-ground, as several rivers, known to originate on the western declivity of the Coast Range, run through this country, and probably contain water all the year round.

North of 29° S. lat. the country appears to contain very little land fit for colonization. Allan Cunningham, who traversed it obliquely from the northern skirts of Nundawar Range to the mountains at the back of Moreton Bay, describes it as a barren waste, over which a loose sand is spread, which gives it a desert-like aspect. It is a plain densely wooded or covered with brushwood, the monotonous aspect of which is here and there relieved by a brown patch free from trees. A brown kind of iron-bark tree (apparently Eucalyptus resinifera), scarcely 25 feet high, clothes its surface, on which are scattered dense patches of underwood. In travelling more than 100 miles he met with several watercourses, but only with two rivers which contained water. But in approaching the Coast | Range, and when distant from it about 25 miles, he entered some extensive tracts of pastoral country, in which were numerous small rivers and deep pools supplied by streams from the highlands lying to the east. Some of these tracts had an undulating surface, and others were level, but they were mostly destitute of trees and underwood, and their rich black and dry soil was covered with grass and herbage exhibiting an extraordinary luxuriance of growth. The hills separating these tracts from each other were clothed with an underwood of the densest description.

XII. The Steppes of the Interior occupy, south of 32° S. lat., all the countries north of the Murrumbidgee and west of 148° E. long., but north of 32° they spread farther eastward, until they appear to approach the Coast Range north of 28° S. lat. The surface of this immense tract is thiefly level, at some places interspersed with low rising ground, and at others, but much more rarely, with undulating tracts. There are indeed a considerable number of isolated hills and short ridges dispersed over the plains, but they are at great distances from one another, and generally occupy a very small space. Nearly all of them are composed of ferruginous sandstone, and the highest do not rise more than 500 or 600 feet above the level of the plain. These hills and short ridges are most numerous on the banks of the Upper Lachlan, east of 146° E. long. The soil consists chiefly of sand, which in many parts is fine and soft, but in other places firm. There are also large tracts whose soil is composed of hard clay. The firmer kinds of soil are after long droughts furrowed by numerous wide and deep cracks. Generally the ground is quite naked, but in a few places it is overgrown with isolated tufts of coarse matted weeds which bind the sand. The more

clayey tracts are overgrown with atriplex, mesembryanthemum æquilaterale, and salsola. Along the margin of large rivers are yarra, or blue gum-trees, and those tracts which are subject to frequent inundations are overgrown with a dwarf kind of box. The higher country is clothed with forests of stunted trees, among which some kinds of acacia and eucalyptus are the most abundant. Grass is only found at isolated places, and frequently it covers only a small surface. Those tracts which are frequently under water produce a kind of monocotyledonous plant or bulrush, which contains a great portion of gluten, which is not inferior to wheat-flour, and constitutes the principal food of the natives inhabiting the banks of the lower course of the Lachlan. Mitchell states that the cakes which are made of this gluten are lighter and sweeter than those prepared from common flour. These plains are badly provided with water, as the sandstone of the hills and the quality of the soil are such as not to favour the collecting of water in springs, which indeed are nowhere met with, and are scarce all over New South Wales, especially in those tracts where the hills are composed of sandstone. After long-continued rains it appears that a considerable portion of the plains is entirely covered with water and constitutes temporary lakes, but when a drought has continued for some time large rivers dry up, and in their bed are only found pools, generally at considerable distances from one another. In such a state the Lachlan was found by Mitchell in 1836, whilst Oxley, in 1817, was obliged to return by the immense swamps which he found spreading on both sides of the Lachlan. He travelled in this region for five weeks, through a country over which the waters of the Lachlan were so abundantly dispersed, that on no one occasion during that period did his party meet with a dry spot on which to encamp at the close of the day. But when Mitchell traversed it, his party was frequently in danger of perishing from thirst, the river being dried up, and the pools in its bed occurring only at great distances from each other. It is however probable that along the banks of this river pasture-ground must exist, at least at certain seasons of the year, as a herd of wild cattle was found as far west as 146° E. long., and they must have wandered to this place from the settled parts of the colony.

In reviewing this rapid survey of the soil of New South Wales, we find that between 36° and 29° S. lat. the country which may be considered as available for cultivation or the rearing of cattle and sheep extends to a distance of about 200 miles from the Pacific in a straight line. When we still add the narrower tract which lies between 29° and 26° S. lat., this country covers a surface of more than 100,000 square miles. There are certainly large tracts which must be considered as useless wastes, as the Blue Mountains, the tract between Port Jackson and Broken Bay, and some more of smaller extent; but all these tracts taken together certainly do not constitute onefourth of its area. Of the remainder probably it will be found that only one-fourth is fit for cultivation, and that half of the country can only be used as pasture-ground for cattle and sheep. If compared with most countries of Europe, it cannot be said that New South Wales is favoured by nature in the fertility of its soil, though the Scandinavian Peninsula and the northern and southern portions of Russia certainly present a less advantageous proportion. But Europe must be considered as the most fertile portion of the globe, with the exception of the southern and south-eastern portion of Asia. If we compare New South Wales with South America, it will hardly be possible to point out in the last-mentioned country a contiguous tract of equal extent which is superior in fertility. That portion of New South Wales which lies south of 36° S. lat., and farther to the west occupies the whole space between the sea and the course of the river Murrumbidgee, is to all appearance much superior to the old colony in productive powers; but as a very large portion of it has not yet been explored, it would be premature to form a decided opinion respecting its value as an agricultural country. It covers an area of more than 130,000 square miles.

Rivers.-The larger rivers which drain the country between the Pacific and the watershed have water all the year round. They generally flow in beds which are deeply depressed below the common level of the country, and between banks which rise perpendicularly, or nearly