Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 2.djvu/594

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

GsoLo6v.] NATURAL HISTORY. of Cape Grafton to Cape Tribulation, precipitous hills, bor* dared by low land, form the coast; but the latter Cape itself consism of a lofty group, with several peaks, the highest of which is visible from the sea at twenty leagues. The heights from thence towards the north decline ira- dually, as the mountainous ranges approach the shore, which the), join at Cape Weymouth, about latitude 12�d from that poiut northward, to Cape York, the land in ?eneral is comparatively low, nor do any detached points of cousio derable elevation appear there. But about midway between Cape Grenville and Cape York, on the mainland south*west of Cairncross Island, a flat summit called Pudding-Pan Hill is conspicuous; and its shape, which differs from that of the hills on the east coast in general, remarkably resembles that of the mountains of the north and west coasts, to which names expressing their form have been applied The line of the coast above described retires at a point which corresponds with the decline of its level; and imme- diately on the north of Cape Melville is thrown back to the west; so that the high land about that Cape stands out like a shoulder, more than forty miles beyond the cout- line between Princess Charlotte's Bay and the north-eastern point of Australia. The land near Cape York is not more than four or five hundred feet high, and the islands off that Point are nearly of the same elevation. ?e bottom of several of the bays, on the eastern coast, not having been explored, it is still probable that rivers, or considerable mountain streams, may exist there. �Jane's Table-La,,d, south-east of Princess Charlotte's Bay, (about lat. 14 �),---and Mount ,4dolpAu:, in one of the islands (abOUt lat. 10 �) off Cape York, imve ?dso ilar summits.- King MSS.