two to four hundred feet in height. Mount William (3,600 feet), in the south-west corner of the island, is the highest point in this western range.

3. Besides the outer mountain ranges on the east and west there is an interior range of heights running from north to south, through the centre of the island; but these are rather clusters of hills than great mountain chains. So far as it is known, the greater part of the interior of the country consists of immense sandy plains, or levels, covered with short dense shrubs.

4. As a whole Australia is not a well-watered country. It has numerous rivers round the coast, but with very few exceptions they are of little value. Those on the east coast are perennial, and are, some of them, navigable for small vessels for fifty or sixty miles inland. The rivers on the west coast during the dry season are mere chains of water-holes, or they disappear altogether. During the rains they rush along merrily for a few weeks, and sometimes even overflow their banks. The Swan is the chief river on this coast.

5. The northern rivers are numerous, but not important. The Flinders, flowing into the Gulf of Carpentaria, is the largest. The rivers of the north-west flow through deep gorges, and amidst magnificent scenery. On the south, from King George's Sound to Spencer Gulf, there is a complete absence of rivers. A little farther to the east the one great river of Australia -the Murray-mingles its water with those of the Victoria Lake, and thence into Encounter Bay.

6. The Murray, and its tributaries-the Darling, Lachlan, and Murrumbidgee-drains the whole of the western or inland slopes of the east and south-east mountain regions. The river basin includes an area of not less than half a million square miles. The tributaries are perennial, and the Darling is the most important of all the Australian rivers. The Murray itself is sometimes swollen by floods to enormous proportions, and is navigable for perhaps a thousand miles from its mouth. At other times it dwindles down to a very limited size.

7. The interior boasts of some rivers, at least after

periods of rain; but they either lose themselves in the sandy deserts or flow into the shallow salt lakes, of which there are many.

8. "The rivers of Australia are almost without exception subject to great irregularities of drought and flood. In the eastern half of the continent especially, great floods occur at long intervals, when rivers rise suddenly, overflow their banks, and carry destruction over wide areas. At other times the rain fails for years together, and rivers which are usually deep and rapid streams become totally dried up. The state of the country is then deplorable; not a blade of grass is to be seen, and cattle perish in great numbers. A tract of country may thus be described as a flooded marsh, a fertile plain, or a burnt-up desert, according to what happens to be the character of the seasons at the period when it is visited."

"It

1. Notwithstanding that Australia is such a large country spreading into the torrid and temperate zones, its climate is less variable than might be supposed. may be described as hot and dry, and, on the whole, exceedingly healthy."

2. The great characteristic of the climate is the extreme dryness, and the great heat in summer. The temperature sometimes rises to between 100° and 120° Fahrenheit in the shade, a heat only attained in but very few parts of the world, but yet people do not suffer so much as they would with a less degree of heat, and a greater amount of moisture in the air.

3. The climate of the south-west is very like that of the countries round the Mediterranean. In winter the evenings are cool, and snow lies on the interior mountains. Even on the upland pastures snow falls now and then, but on the coast regions it is almost unknown.

H

The heat and dryness of summer on the east and west coasts are tempered by the breezes from the sea.

4. On the other hand, the hot winds of Australia are the disagreeable feature in its climate. These winds blow from the interior over South Australia, Victoria, and to a less degree over New South Wales. They may be expected from three to seven or eight times during the summer, and they last from a few hours to two or three days. The temperature rises to between 90° to 120° Fahrenheit in the shade, and the breath of the wind feels like the blast of a furnace.

5. These hot winds are very oppressive, and to delicate persons very distressing; but on the whole they are said not to be very injurious to health. Their effect on vegetable life is very marked. Green leaves turn sere and yellow, and shrivel up as if frost-bitten.

Instances

are on record of hundreds of acres of wheat and potatoes being destroyed in a few hours by these winds.

6. In the interior the heat is much greater than on the coast. Captain Sturt, a celebrated Australian explorer, found the mean temperature for three months to be over 100° Fahrenheit in the shade. On one occasion the mercury rose to 127°, probably the highest temperature recorded in any part of the world. The drought during the three months referred to was such that every screw came out of their boxes; the horn handles of instruments and combs split into thin pieces; the lead dropped out of pencils; and the finger nails of the men became hard and brittle as glass.

7. The rainfall in all parts of Australia is very unequal, but is less on the south and west coasts than on the east coast and in the interior. South Australia, having no mountains to intercept and condense the clouds brought by the winds from the Pacific, gets but little rain, and in some years none at all. On the other hand, the mountains of Victoria and New South Wales cause a considerable rainfall. But so variable is the amount of rain which falls even on the eastern watershed, that floods and droughts not infrequently alternate.

8. In North Australia the tropical rains are abun

dant, but the heat and moisture combined make the climate too unhealthy for permanent settlements to be formed. On the southern mountains and table lands frost, hail, and snow, are common throughout the winter, and in the hollows of the higher peaks patches of snow lie all the year.

9. It should be noted that the seasons of Australia are the opposite of ours. September, October, and November, are the genial rainy spring months; December, January, and February, are usually hot and dry, and in February, owing to the burning hot winds, bush fires prevail; March, April, and May, are the pleasant autumn months, and June, July, and August, are the months of winter.

LESSON

X X X V.

AUSTRALIA.- -PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE.

1. Australia has been called a land of contraries. We have seen that this is so, to some extent, in the rainfall and in the rivers; but the vegetable and animal life presents features quite peculiar and distinct from those of other countries.

2. In the first place nearly all the trees are evergreens, whilst most of them shed their bark annually. A mantle of dull olive green perpetually clothes the Australian woodlands : we miss the striking and pleasant contrasts between the vivid yellow-green of the early spring, the softer summer hues, and the glorious autumn tints, which mark the passing seasons elsewhere.

3. The deep ravines and sheltered valleys of the eastern slopes of New South Wales are clothed with forests of wild luxuriance. The many species of gumtrees (Eucalyptus) and wattle-trees (Acacia) are the most numerous of the forest trees, and the leaves of these trees turn their edges, instead of their surfaces, to the earth and sky. Owing to this vertical position of the leaves