Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/47

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I
ABORIGINES OF TASMANIA AND AUSTRALIA
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bottomed at 161 feet 4 inches, of which 2 feet 9 inches was heavy wash. All that can be said as to the leads on this side of the Main Divide is, that they show the same general features as those on the northern side, but that any comparison with the outlets of those old rivers is not possible.

In order to test the conclusions drawn from the data obtained from considering the Deep Leads, I also examined the Admiralty Charts of Bass Strait, and of the coast of Tasmania, and the opposite Australian mainland.

On the accompanying map are shown the 50 and 100 fathom lines of soundings in Bass Strait, extending westward to include the mouth of the Murray River, and eastward as far as Jervis Bay in New South Wales.[1]

A line of soundings is also shown connecting Wilson's Promontory, in Victoria, with Cape Portland, in Tasmania, by way of the islands lying between these points. On this line the greatest depth is 32 fathoms, between Wilson's

  1. Taken from the Admiralty Chart. Mr. Everett, chief draughtsman of the Department of Mines and Water Supply, has directed my attention to a paper read by Dr. Becker before the Philosophical Institute of Victoria, in which he points out the features referred to in this passage (vol. ii. p. 15).