vessels. In Victoria, the Snowy River, the Mitchell, and other smaller streams fall into the Pacific; the other rivers of the colony, and, indeed, of the whole continent, with the exception of those already named, and a few "continental"1 streams in the interior, belong to the basin of the Indian Ocean.

The Australian Section of the River-System of the Indian Ocean comprises the Murray, which enters Encounter Bay through Lake Alexandrina; the Swan, Murchison, Gascoyne, Ashburton, De Grey, Fitzroy, and other rivers of Western Australia; the Victoria and Daly, in the Northern Territory; and the Roper, Flinders, Mitchell, and other streams which fall into the Gulf of Carpentaria.

The MURRAY, which drains a large portion of Queensland, the whole of the interior of New South Wales, the northern half of Victoria, and a part of South Australia, rises on the western slopes of the Australian Alps, about 15 miles south of Mount Kosciusko, and becomes navigable at Albury, about 150 miles from its source. Throughout its upper and middle course, the Murray forms the boundary between the states of Victoria and New South Wales; its lower course, below its junction with the Darling, is within South Australia. From Victoria, the Murray receives the Mitta Mitta, Ovens, Goulburn, Campaspe, and Loddon, the valleys of some of which are highly auriferous. On the north, its two great tributaries-the Murrumbidgee and the Darling-with their subsidiary creeks, drain the whole of New South Wales and a part of Queensland west of the Great Dividing Range. The Murrumbidgee rises near the Murray in the Muniong Range, and is joined, about 50 miles above its junction with the Murray, by the River Lachlan. The Darling is formed by numerous periodical streams, of which the largest are the Macquarie and the Condamine. The length of the Murray is 1,300 miles, the average width of the main stream is about 240 feet, and its depth about 16 feet, but it undergoes great variation according to the season of drought or rain.2

The Murray is regularly navigated, at certain seasons of the year, to ALBURY, 1,000 miles above its mouth; small steamers also ascend the Murrumbidgee for 500 miles to WAGGA WAGGA, and the Darling as far as BOURKE, a distance of 600 miles. The Murray and the Murrumbidgee alone are perennial streams, the rest are, for the most part, mere surface torrents supplied by the rains, and are consequently liable to sudden and violent floods.

Of the numerous streams that traverse the more settled portion of Western Australia, the Swan River alone is navigable to any extent, The Murchison, Gascoyne, Ashburton, De Grey, Fitzroy, and other rivers drain the northern half of Western Australia.

In the Northern Territory of South Australia, the Victoria has long since been proved to be navigable for a considerable distance; while the Roper, which flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria, is known to be a magnificent stream, easily ascended by large steamers and sea-going vessels for 100 miles from its mouth.

The Gregory, Flinders, Norman, and Mitchell are the largest of the many streams that converge into the south-eastern portion of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

1. By a "continental" streata is meant, of course, | stead of being a sickly dried-up stream, was a kind not a stream continental in magnitude, but one which has no direct or indirect outlet to the ocean. 2. The level lands along the banks of the Murray seem particularly well adapted for irrigation, and especially, as in ages now long past, the river, in

of Southern Nile, bearing upon its wide waters the same annual gift of fertilizing mud; and hence on its banks are now stored up the elements of an in exhaustible fertility."

The fine country through which they flow is being rapidly occupied and utilised for both pastoral and mining purposes.

The largest "continental" rivers of Australia are the Diamentina and Cooper's Creek or the Barcoo River.

Both these streams enter South Australia from the south-west of Queensland, but while Cooper's Creek, in the rainy season, when it swells to a breadth of two miles and rises to a depth of 20 feet, carries a vast amount of water into Lake Eyre, the Diamentina dries up and disappears in the stony desert to the north of the Delta of Cooper's Creek. Further north, the Finke River, which rises in the MacDonnell Range in the centre of the continent, also disappears some distance north of the Macumba River, another "continental" stream, but which, when flowing, enters Lake Eyre.

LAKES: Lake Alexandrina, through which the Murray passes immediately above its mouth, is the largest fresh-water lake in Australia. It is a shallow expanse of water, difficult to navigate. Most of the other lakes that are marked on the maps of Australia are only salt marshes, or mere surface ponds, with dry beds during the larger portion of the year. Of these, the most extens ve are Lakes Eyre, Torrens, and Gairdner, to the north of Spencer Gulf, and Lakes Amadeus and Macdonald, in the interior, 270 miles north-west of Lake Eyre. Lake Eyre is remarkable for the fact that it lies 26 feet below sea-level.

CLIMATE: Generally speaking, the climate of Australia may be said to be uniformly warm and intensely dry, but exceptionally healthy, and well suited to Europeans.

So vast a continent necessarily exhibits great differences in climate, which, in fict, ranges from the tropical heat of the north to the cooler and more enjoyable climate of the south. The most densely-peopled districts of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia, have a climate resembling, in the main, that of the countries of Southern Europe-genial and delicious in autumn, winter, and spring, and disagreeable only in summer, during the prevalence of the hot winds which now and then blow from the interior, fortun ately only for very brief periods. These hot winds, while they last, are almost "Sometimes they are as unbearable as the simoom of the African deserts. succeeded by a cold south wind of extreme violence (called the Southerly Burster), the thermometer falling 60 or 70 degrees in a few hours. In the desert interior, these hot winds, nearer to their source, are still more severe. On one occasion, Captain Sturt hung a thermometer on a tree, shaded both from the sun and the wind. It was graduated to 127° F., yet the mercury rose till it burst the tube! The heat of the air must have been at least 128° F., probably the highest temperature recorded in any part of the world, and one which, if long continued, would certainly destroy life. The constant heat and drought in the interior, for months together, are often excessive. For three months, Captain Sturt found the mean temperature to be over 101° F. in the shade; and the drought during this period was such that every screw came out of their boxes, the horn handles of instruments and combs split up into fine lamina, the lead dropped out of pencils, their hair ceased to grow, and their finger nails became brittle

as glass."

All the Australian colonies suffer more or less from periodical droughts, bun the total rainfall is, on the whole, greater than in England. The rains fall with

1. I ne mean death-rate in the Australasian colonies

14.11 in Victoria, to 15.12 in Western Australia.

in 1893, varied from 10.23 per thousand in New Zea- In Europe, the average rate is about 25 per thoa

land, 13.44 in South Australia, 13.25 in New South

sind, varying from about 20 in the United Kingdom

Wales, 13.47 in Tasmania, 13-34 in Queensland, and to 25 in Germany, 30 in Austria, and 34 in Hungary.

great violence at particular seasons, more especially during the winter of the Southern Hemisphere, that is, from May to August.' During nine months of the year there is often little or no rain, and the plains in the far interior are sometimes without rain for two or three years consecutively.

But although the climate of Australia is, on the whole, so warm, snow is not unknown. Many of the higher mountains are covered with snow all the winter, and, although the highest peaks fall short of the limit of perpetual snow, patches of snow remain unmelted all the summer in the higher valleys and ravines. The higher sections of the railway between Sydney and Bathurst have been covered with snow, and at Kiandra, a gold mining village in the Australian Alps, at an elevation of 4,640 feet above the sea, the thermometer sometimes registers 1° F. below zero, while the mean annual temperature in the shade is only 46" F., and snow falls from May to November, sometimes for a month together.

PRODUCTIONS: The native flora of Australia is peculiar and unique, and its characteristic animals present no analogy to those of other continents. The mineral wealth of the continent is enor

mous, and apparently inexhaustible.

The native vegetation of Australia is altogether different from that of other parts of the globe. Australia is, in fact, the only one of the continents that has no characteristic food-plants of its own-neither grains, fruits, nor esculent roots of any value-almost all the plants that are indigenous to the soil are valueless as human food. But the soil is capable of producing every variety of the grains, fruits, and vegetables of temperate and even tropical regions in abundance, wherever there is sufficient moisture.

The native animals of Australia are also unique, and, like the indigenous plants, are of no obvious service to man, but all the domestic animals of Europe have been successfully introduced, and millions of sheep, cattle, and horses are now reared on the vast pasture lands, and some of the imported animals, such as the rabbit and the sparrow, have taken so kindly to their Australian home, and have multiplied so fast, that they have become veritable pests.

As regards the mineral wealth of the continent, the gold mines of Victoria have yielded more of the precious metal than those of any other country; the coal-fields of New South Wales are among the most extensive in the world; the copper mines of South Australia laid the foundation of the commercial prosperity of that colony; the tin mines of Queensland, and the silver mines of New South Wales, are apparently inexhaustible, while there are rich deposits of iron ore in most of the colonies.

VEGETATION: Australian vegetation is of a strange and peculiar character, and is not less noticeable for the large number of distinct species, than for their dissimilarity to those of other countries.

The characteristic trees of Australia are the eucalypti or gum trees, and the acacias or wattles. There are altogether about 150 different kinds of gum trees, most of them found in Australia alone, and many of them of great value for their timber. One of them, the blue gum, is noted all over the world on account of its power of dispelling the miasmatic influences of swampy land and marshy The seasons in Australia are, of course, the re- | Summer, on December 21st (the longest day); verse of those in the Northern Hemisphere. In Autumn, on March 21st; and Winter, on June 21st Australia, Spring cominences on September 23rd: (the shortest day).

districts, and rendering them dry and healthy. Certain varieties of the eucalyptus attain colossal heights in the mountain ravines, and some of the peppermint trees of Victoria overtop even the famous mammoth trees of California. In the Dandenong Range, about 40 miles east of Melbourne, the ravines contain numerous trees over 400 feet high, and one fallen tree was discovered of the enormous length of 480 feet—undoubtedly the highest tree in the world. Several of the acacias are also magnificent woods, and the bark of the black wattle is valuable for tanning. Ferns are numerous, particularly in the mountain gullies -one variety has fronds six feet in length. Timber trees of great value are found in the brush forests along the coast-here the magnificent red cedar often attains a height of 150 feet, with a girth of over 30 feet. Extensive forests of the leafless casuarina or shea oak are found in the south and west, and even in the barren wastes of the interior The Australian "bush" is generally an open forest country, easily traversed, and with large areas of good pasture for sheep and cattle. But the desolate "scrub" country and the "Mulga scrub" are the dread of the explorer, while the spinifex grass regions are most difficult and often impossible to penetrate. The Mallee scrub is a dense growth of stunted eucalypti, growing so close together as to be almost impenetrable, and extending, in some parts, in an unbroken expanse thousands of square miles in extent. The appearance of the mallee scrub regions is gloomy and monotonous in the extreme; nothing can be seen but a dark-brown mass of low bushes, which seem like "a heaving ocean of dark waves, out of which here and there a tree starts up above the brushwood, making a mournful and lonely landmark." The mallee scrub is, however, less dreaded than the Mulga scrub, which consists of acacia bushes armed with strong and sharp spines, and, where matted with other shrubs, are absolutely impenetrable. But "the most terrible production of the Australian interior is the spinifex or porcupine grass, which extends for hundreds of miles over sandy plains, and probably covers a greater amount of surface than any other Australian plant." Fortunately, this hated shrub is mostly confined to the deserts of the west and the centre of the con

tinent.

Except in the luxuriantly wooded ravines and humid valleys of the Pacific slope, Australian forests are not attractive, and the prevalence of the gum trees, with their dull greyish-blue foliage and vertical leaves, gives them a rather monotonous aspect. On the other hand, the flowering plants, of which there are no less than 10,000 distinct species--a greater number than is found in the whole of Europe-display a wealth and vividness of colour that produce the most beautiful and striking effects. The "flame trees" of New South Wales, with their gorgeous bunches of red flowers, render the Illawarra Mountains conspicuous for miles out at sea, and the "fire tree" of Western Australia, with its orange-coloured blossoms, can really be compared to nothing but a tree on fire. The giant rock lily, 30 feet in height, is crowned with a mass of flowers several feet in circumference, and other plants, or rather trees, are, when in bloom, simply masses of crimson flowers, gaudier, but not more beautiful, than the white stars which crown the rugged stems of the grass trees in winter. In fact, scarcely any other part of the world affords a greater variety of aromatic plants and odoriferous flowers of the most graceful forms and brilliant colours than

Australia.

The numerous native grasses are also highly nutritious, and are capable of

resisting great extremes of heat and cold.

The kangaroo grass, especially, can

withstand a long period of drought, while the invaluable salt bush thrives on a dry and saline soil, and affords good pasture to sheep in districts otherwise

utterly useless for stock.

CULTIVATED CROPS: All the grains, fruits, and vegetables, whether European or tropical, planted in the Australian soil, yield abundant crops, wherever there are sufficient moisture and suitable temperature.

Although the Australian States, compared with European countries, have barely emerged from the pastoral stage, the agricultural produce is of considerable value and now amounts to about three-fourths of the animal products. Wheat is the principal crop in all the Australian States, and although the average yield is less than in most other countries, yet the quantity produced suffices, in most years, to supply the home demand and leave a large balance for export, while the quality is such that it invariably realizes high prices in the London market. Maize is the chief crop in Queensland, and is also an important product in New South Wales, but it is not grown to any great extent in any of the other colonies. Oats and barley are most largely grown in Victoria, and of potatoes, which everywhere yield abundantly, Victoria and New South Wales are the largest growers. The vine is extensively cultivated, especially in Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia, and the climate and soil of these colonies are peculiarly adapted to its successful culture on the largest scale. The growth of the sugar-cane and the manufacture of sugar are important industries in Queensland and New South Wales, and tobacco is grown in many of the warmer districts in the Eastern Colonies. The olive is systematically cultivated in South Australia, and all kinds of fruit are grown in all the colonies. There is nowhere else on earth such a climate for fruit," and the oranges of New South Wales, the pine-apples of Queensland, the peaches and apricots of Victoria, the raisins and currants of South Australia, and the apples and strawberries of Western Australia, rival the productions of the most favoured of other fruit-growing countries.

ANIMAL LIFE: The native animals of Australia are even more peculiar and anomalous than the plants, and are of no obvious service to man.1

The characteristic mammals of other continents are entirely wanting in Australia, where there are "no apes or monkeys; no oxen, antelopes, or deer; no elephants, rhinoceros, or pigs; no cats, wolves, or bears; none even of the smaller civets or weasels; no hedgehogs or shrews; no hares, squirrels, porcupines, or dormice." A number of small rats and mice, the great fruit-eating bat or flying fox, and the native dog or dingo, are the only ones which resemble those of other regions; while of the peculiarly Australian mammals—the marsupialia, or pouch-bearing animals-the only representatives elsewhere are the opossoms of America. These animals are distinguished not only by their strange forms and motions, but also by the bag or pouch in which they carry their young for a considerable time after they are born."

The Marsupialia are the characteristic mammals of Australia. The most remarkable marsupials are the kangaroos, the largest of which are about 5 feet

1. Some of the indigenous animals yield commercial products, but they are of small value compared with the damage they do to the pastures, &c. The leather made from the skin of the kangaroo is soft and durable, that of the smaller species resembling kid. The opossum is also ruthlessly pursued for the sake of its skin, of which handsome and comfortable travelling rugs are made The skin of the rabbit, the most obnoxious of all, has also a certain value, but the amount derived from the sale of the skins of all these animals is absolutely

insignificant in comparison with the loss they inflict upon the squatter and the settler.

2. From the Latin, marsupion, a pouch, 3. "The adaptation of the peculiar structure of these creatures to the country in which they live, where long periods of drought are not uncommon, where there are extensive tracts without water, and where there is always more or less difficulty in ob raining that necessary element of life, is worthy of notice."