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number of stunted eucalyptus, or gum-trees, and cypresses; though a few highly-favoured spots are covered with good herbage, and trees of better growth.

The scenery in the Blue Mountains is of singular and striking character. These mountains consist principally of a succession of sharp ridges, intersected by remarkably abrupt and narrow ravines, or gulleys, some of which are little less than 2000 feet in depth. Many of these ravines constitute the beds of rivers; and in some parts, numberless small cascades pour down the almost perpendicular sides. A chasm, or ravine, of this description, of great depth, but not more than 300 feet in width, forms the bed of the River Grose, a tributary of the Hawkesbury. Near one of the sources of that river, occurs the cataract, called Govatt's Leap; which, although the body of water is inconsiderable, is remarkable for its great depth, and also for the character of the surrounding scenery. This cataract consists of a succession of cascades, the first of which is precipitated over a perpendicular rock, about 200 feet in height; and the entire fall to the bed of the river is estimated at full 1200 feet.

A remarkable burning mountain, called Mount Wingen, is situated on the eastern declivity of the Liverpool range. It was discovered to be in a state of incandescence in 1818, and the process appears to be still (or was until very lately) maintained in full force. The mountain is composed of a solid mass of sandstone, and the fire extends over an area of about an acre and a half. Throughout this space, several chasms, or fissures occur, from which volumes of smoke, accompanied by brilliant flames, are perpetually issuing. The principal of these fissures was, in the year 1831, about two feet in width, and on looking down this chasm, the sides of the rock are described as having been "of a white heat, like that of a lime kiln; whilst sulphureous and steaming vapours arose from the aperture, amidst sounds which issued from below, like blasts from the forge of Vulcan."

The sides of the chasms were adorned with

efflorescent crystals of sulphur, varying in tint from the deepest orange to a pale straw colour. No lava, or any other volcanic products, were observed in the vicinity of this mountain.

Southern Australia appears, like Eastern Australia, to possess one of the characteristic features of the whole region, that of a ridge of mountains bordering on its shores, with a belt of country, of greater or less extent, and varying in fertility, lying between their base and the ocean. The same remark applies to Western Australia, where we meet with a succession of mountain ranges, running nearly parallel with the coast, and with each other. The Rugged Mountains find their southern termination near St. George's Bay. The granite range of the Darling Mountains commences at Cape Chatham; and the less elevated Roe's range at Cape Lewin, all more or less taking the line of the coast. At the northern extremity of the Darling Mountains, and about thirty miles to the eastward of that range, rises the Victoria range, very recently discovered by Captain Grey, between the base of which and the sea extends a large district of fertile country, to which the name of Victoria Province has been given. Another range has also been observed, branching off in a westerly direction from the Darling Mountains, and forming the northern boundary of a remarkably wellwatered district, immediately to the north of Perth. In some parts of Western Australia, however, the land is poor and sandy, though usually diversified with rich tracts near the principal streams; and in the latter districts, the fruits, both of warm and temperate zones, thrive luxuriantly. The interior of the country, as far as it is known, assumes, generally, a level character, and is covered with excellent pasture, and in some parts with forests, producing valuable timber.

The north-western angle of Australia appears to contain some highly-beautiful and fertile spots. On the coast, the general character is that of rocky sandstone hills, about 300 feet in height, covered with brushwood and

prickly grass, but intersected by beautiful valleys, with a fertile soil and abundant supplies of fresh water. Further in the interior, the country in this part is described as of an unusually rich and fertile character, though generally flat, and traversed by a river of some size, which has been named Glenelg River.

Van Diemen's Land, or Tasmania (so called from its discoverer, Tasman), consists generally of an alternation of hill and dale, almost every part of the island being adapted either for pasture or for cultivation. A mountain range, called the Western Mountains, traverses the interior, in some parts reaching the elevation of 5000 feet. Table Mount, which nearly overhangs Hobart Town, though less than 4000 feet in height, is covered with snow for twothirds of the year. The south-eastern portion of the coast is intersected with lagoons, much resembling the voes of the Zetland Isles, and forming excellent harbours; and the deeply-indented peninsula of Tasman, (at the extreme point of which rises the remarkable basaltic formation of Cape

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