AUSTRALIA 129 favorable of all to navigators ; they aje gener- ally destitute of harbors, only a few really use- ful ones being found near the Buccaneer archi- pelago. The N. W. coast is high and rocky, the western low and sandy. The N. coast, made most irregular of all by the two peninsu- las of Arnhem Land and York, and by the gulf of Carpentaria, has in its western part some of the best harbors of the continent, though they are not as well known as the southern ports. The gulf of Carpentaria itself has a sandy, low, and dangerous E. coast, but its western side has numerous sheltered bays and safe navigation. That portion of the Indian ocean which washes this coast, extending between New Guinea and Australia to the Torres strait, is called the Ara- fura sea. The interior has been only partially explored. It seems to have the character of a table land of moderate height studded with groups of small mountains, and hi the interior sometimes sinking into low swampy valleys; while on the general level of the table land itself are vast plains, sometimes fertile, but oftener sandy, or covered with the long stiff grass called spinifex. There are many swamps, but few ponds or useful watercourses. Large desert tracts, covered with stones or low shrub- bery, are frequently found. Near the coasts, however, greater and sometimes luxuriant fer- tility prevails, and here the varied surface of the country displays some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. The south- eastern and eastern portions of Australia are all that have thus far been thoroughly and scien- tifically explored. Along the whole E. side of the continent lie ranges of mountains of con- siderable height, sometimes actually touching the coast, but generally in their southern por- tion lying at an average distance of 40 to 50 m. from it, while in the north they are still more distant. These are often considered as a single range, but are more correctly divided into sev- eral distinct portions. The Australian Pyrenees and the Grampian Hills, which run parallel to the S. coast E. and W. of Melbourne, may be con- sidered a western offshoot from the southern extremity of this system. Their summits are generally low, but in two or three places near their junction with the principal range they at- tain a height of between 5,500 and 6,000 ft. The first of the main chain of the E. coast, be- ginning at Cape Wilson, are the highest moun- tains of the country, the Australian Alps, hav- ing their principal peaks, according to Peter- mann's map of 1872, in Mt. Kosciusko, 7,176 ft. high, the loftiest peak yet discovered in Australia, and Mt. Ilotham, 6,414 ft. In the neighborhood of these mountains lies the grand- est scenery of the continent. Ragged cliffs of great height, crowned with forests, hem in the fertile valley of the Murray river, which has its source in this range. These rugged Al- pine features characterize the entire chain, and the smaller parallel ranges and offshoots are scarcely less picturesque. N. of the Austra- i Alps and W. of Sydne lian Alps j , of Sydney are the Blue moun- tains, the next group in the chain. They no- where reach a greater height than 4,100 ft., but the same wild scenery prevails through their whole extent. N. of these again lies the Liverpool range, trending toward the east, where the somewhat isolated Mt. Sea View rises to the height of 6,000 ft., and lying al- most at right angles to the general direction of the system. W. of the Blue mountains are two other chains, offshoots of the main forma- tion the Honeysuckle range and the Canobo- las group, the latter of greater height than any peaks of the Blue mountains themselves. N. of the Liverpool range the mountains become more scattered, extending E. and W., and no longer preserving the narrow and regular line their principal peaks have heretofore kept. In this irregular mountain region the principal summit is Mt. Lindsay, S. W. of Brisbane, 5,700 ft. high. From this point the same wide and irregular formation extends to the north, at least into York peninsula, and probably even to its extremity. It appears, from such explo- rations as have been made, to attain its greatest height in the S. E. part of the peninsula. Along the S. coast, near the head of Spencer gulf, are low chains of mountains little more than 3,000 ft. high. The Darling, Herschel, and Victoria ranges, which have been discov- ered on the S. W. coast, have seldom a height. of more than 2,000 ft. One peak, however, Mt. Bruce, near King George's sound, is a little more than 3,100 ft. high. No considerable mountains have been discovered in the inte- rior of the continent. Very few of the rivers of Australia are navigable, and in most of them running water is only found during a small portion of the year. The most remark- able peculiarity of these streams is the sudden- ness with which, even when full of water, they disappear into a quicksand or marsh. Thus, although these creeks and rivers are almost innumerable, they fail to irrigate the soil. Only a few exceptions to this rule are found. Among these the chief is the Murray or Goolwa, which rises in the Australian Alps, and flows about W. N. W. for more than 500 m., when, by a sharp turn in its course, called the Great Bend of the Murray, it changes direction to the. S., and empties 100 m. further into Lake Alex- andrina, a basin connected with the sea. The Murray and its tributaries, the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan, are lasting streams; but of its other tributaries there are none which do not become partially dry in the summer. Even the Darling, a river of considerable size flowing into the Murray from the north, shares this peculiarity. The other permanent streams of Australia are short and of comparatively little importance ; the best known are those which flow from the coast ranges directly into the sea. Among them are the Hawkesbury, Hun- ter, Clarence, Brisbane, Fitzroy, and Burdekin, on the eastern coast; the Glenelg, Hopkins, Yarra-Yarra, and others, on the southern ; the Swan, Murchison, Gascoyne, and Fortescue, on
