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into existence there. And it is in the basin on the western side thus discovered, bounded on the east and south by the Blue Mountains and the Australian Alps, and by the unknown interior to the north-west, that that unexampled supply of gold, the ultimate effect of the discovery of which is affording a new problem to the world, has been so recently found.

The Liverpool range stretches to the northward of the Blue Mountains, and is in many places equally rugged. Its summits are from 2,000 to 4,000 feet in elevation. Mount Lindesay, situated further to the north, is, 5,700 feet in altitude, and there are many other points in the neighbourhood of the east coast, which are probably of equal elevation.

There are a large number of rivers on the coast-line of Australia, but, as has been already mentioned, few have yet been discovered which bear anything like a proportion to the size of continent. The most extensive system of rivers at present discovered in the continent belongs to the basin of the Murray, which drains a large tract of the south-eastern portion of the interior. The river Murray rises on the western slope of the Australian Alps, and after flowing for the greater part of its course in a westerly direction, turns to the south, and enters the sea at Encounter Bay, passing through a shallow

marsh, called Lake Alexandrina. This lake or marsh presents to the eye a fine sheet of water, twenty-seven miles long by twenty-three broad, but unfortunately its depth is only from six to nine feet, and the channel by which its waters communicate with the sea is exceedingly narrow and dangerous; in fact, the lake appears to be in gradual process of filling up. During the western part of the course of the river it receives the waters of the Murrumbidgee (with its affluent the Lachlan) and the Darling, the latter of which in its upper portion collects the waters of numerous tributary streams. All of these rivers flow from the western side of the Blue Mountains or other ranges of the east coast, and have their upper courses directed towards the interior of the continent. The length of the Murray exceeds 1,200 miles, and it is navigable for upwards of 700. A premium of two thousand pounds was offered by the Government of South Australia for the first steam vessel placed, under certain conditions, upon its waters, but up to the date of the publication of this work no information had been received in this country that the reward had been claimed. There can be but little doubt, however, that the waters of the Murray will ere long re-echo the sound of the paddles of many steamers.

The Australian continent has been described as the land of anomalies. It is summer there when it is winter in Europe, and day with them when it is night with us; the barometer rises before bad weather, and falls before good; the north is the hot wind, and the south the cold; the humblest house is fitted up with cedar, the fields are fenced with mahogany, and myrtletrees are burnt for fuel; the swans are black, and the eagles white; the kangaroo, an animal between the squirrel and the deer, has five claws on its fore paws, and three talons, like those of a bird, on its hind legs, and yet hops on its tail; the mole (Ornithorhynchus paradoxus) lays eggs, and has a duck's bill; the crabs are of an ultramarine colour; there is a bird with a broom in its mouth, instead of a tongue; there are insects which are called, from their appearance and habits, "the walking leaves," and there are fish which are amphibious, leaping over the ground by the aid of their strong spiny fins. The coal district is the most fertile; the bees are stingless; the beautiful flowers for the most part scentless; and the rich plumaged birds are songless-the one which makes the nearest approach to melody being called "the laughing jackass." Weeds in this country become gigantic trees there; the trees are, with one exception, evergreens

the leaves of most of them are set edgeways, instead of horizontally, and some of them shed their bark instead of their leaves; and, while there is, naturally, a total absence of any vegetable production fit for the ordinary food of man, the soil is capable of producing every variety of corn, fruit, or vegetable, whether European or Tropical, which can be planted upon it.

Upwards of 5,700 different plants are known to exist in Australia, and of these only 270 are common to other countries, so that upwards of 5,400 are altogether peculiar to its extraordinary soil. Ferns, nettles, flowers, and grasses, having the form, bulk, and habits of trees, are abundant; hard timber, with rosewood, sandalwood, and cedar, is plentiful. Some trees yield the purest gums, while the leaves of others are used as tea. The sassafras and castor-oil plant have been discovered. On the northern coasts palms flourish abundantly, and the tropical mangrove exists in those parts nearest the Indian Islands.

With one exception all the trees of Australia are evergreen. No dense woods have been found, and the groves, from a peculiar arrangement of their foliage, present a strange appearance-many of the trees having their leaves hanging with the edge downward. Flowering

plants of excessive beauty are found; and the lily, tulip, and honeysuckle grow to the size of large standard trees. There are many odoriferous shrubs, which scent the air to a considerable distance. In the interior immense numbers of prickly plants cover the ground, binding down the loose soil, and preventing that drift

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which distinguishes the deserts of Arabia and Africa from the Australian wastes. Although

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