interesting forms in rapid succession into the azure sky, while the high table-land of New England, presenting summits occasionally covered with snow, afford the voyager some idea of the physical character of the interior. The accompanying sketch, from the Voyages of Captain Flinders, of a portion of the coast in the neighourhood of Cape Byron, the easternmost point of New Holland, will enable the reader to form a pretty accurate idea of the general configuration of this portion of the Australian coast.

Some of the mountain-summits of New England, a tract of table-land situated chiefly to the southward of Cooksland, but supplying many tributary streams for the drainage of that portion of the territory, are stated, by Mr. Ralfe, a resident Government Surveyor, to be not less than 6000 feet above the level of the sea. Mount Sea View, in that part of the territory, was ascertained by Mr. Oxley, formerly Surveyor-General of New South Wales, to be 6000 feet high, and Mount Lindsay, at the southern extremity of Moreton Bay, was ascertained by Mr. Allan Cunningham to be 5700 feet in perpendicular height. The Coast Range, or Australian Andes, which form, as it were, the backbone of the eastern portion of the Australian continent, and divide the waters falling into the Pacific from those flowing towards the western interior, are generally from 3000 to 4000 feet in height. But there are numerous detached mountains of various heights, of the form and character of those I have already described, between the coast-range and the ocean; while towards Wide Bay, in latitude 26° south, the country assumes a volcanic character, and a whole series of cones of that formation, designated by Captain Cook the Glasshouses, form a prominent and useful landmark to the mariner.

Any intelligent person has only to direct his eye along the remarkable outline of this mountainous region, to be strongly impressed with the idea that these mountains are separated from each other by fertile plains and valleys, and that they nourish many peren

nial streams. Nor is this anticipation unfounded; for there is no part of the territory of New South Wales so well supplied with streams of water and navigable rivers as Cooksland. A bare enumeration of these rivers, of some of which a more particular account will be given hereafter, will satisfy the reader that this is no exaggeration. The first, therefore, of the rivers we meet with in Cooksland, in travelling northward, and the largest yet discovered on the east coast of Australia, is the Clarence River, which empties itself into the Pacific at Shoal Bay, in latitude 294° S. This river is navigable for steamboats of 100 tons, for upwards of eighty miles from its mouth, and has various tributaries navigable also for many miles. The second of these rivers is the Richmond, of which the embouchure is in latitude 28° 55′ S. only forty-five miles to the northward of the Clarence. This river is navigable also for fifty miles from its mouth, while its capabilities in other respects are of the highest order. The third of these rivers is the Tweed, which falls into the Pacific at Point Danger, in latitude 28° 8' S. forty-seven miles to the northward of the Richmond, and is navigable also for some distance from its mouth, but how far I have not been able to ascertain, as it has hitherto been resorted to only by coasting vessels from Sydney engaged in the Colonial Cedar trade. In latitude 27° 55' S., in Moreton Bay, we find the fourth of these rivers, called the Kumera-Kumera or Arrowsmith, which is navigable for small vessels fourteen miles from its entrance; the fifth, also within the Bay, and a much larger river, being the Logan, in latitude 27° 45′ S., of which the principal tributaries form the drainage of Mount Lindsay, and the country towards the coast-range. what distance from its mouth this river may be navigable for steamb oats, I have not ascertained, as it is still very much out of the usual track of persons visiting Moreton Bay. The sixth river is the Brisbane, in latitude 27 S.; it is navigable for steamboats, and actually navigated by these vessels for seventy-five miles from its mouth, to the head of the navigation of

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the Bremer River, one of its tributaries, which lies more directly in the course of persons travelling to the interior than the principal stream: the latter is navigable for a considerable distance, at least fifty miles higher up. The seventh is the Pine River, in latitude 27° 10′ S., and is similar to the Arrowsmith. The eighth is the Cabulture or Deception River, towards the northern extremity of the Bay, but whether it is navigable or not, I have not ascertained. The ninth is the Marootchy-Doro or Black Swan River, in latitude 26° 45′ S.-evidently, from the width of its estuary, a considerable stream, and available for steam navigation, but as yet unexplored. The tenth is the Wide Bay River, in latitude 25° 55′ S. It is navigable for fifty miles from its mouth. The eleventh is the Dunkelba River, unvisited as yet by any white man, with the exception of a Scotch convict from Moreton Bay, who had lived for many years among the black natives of that part of the colony. According to that individual, of whom I shall have occasion to speak more particularly hereafter, it is a considerable stream, available for steam navigation, and remarkable for the quantity of cedar on its banks. The twelfth is the Boyne River, which falls into the sea at Port Curtis, or Keppel Bay, in latitude 23° 59′ S. This river was ascertained to be navigable in the lower part of its course, by the late John Oxley, Esq., Surveyor-General of New South Wales, so long ago as the year 1823; but so little interest has been taken since that period by our Colonial authorities in the progress of Geographical discovery along the coasts of Australia, that it remains as yet unexplored. It rises far inland to the southward, and must pursue a course of at least 300 miles.*

It must therefore be evident, beyond all controversy,

There are two other Rivers outside the Bay, near the South Passage, called the Barrow and the Perry, of the same character as the Kumera-Kumera, being both practicable for boats, and abounding with cedar, which is always an indication of good land.