s its manufacture shall
be well understood. Neither can it be doubted but that the vine and the
olive will, in a short time, be abundantly cultivated; and that a
greater knowledge of the climate and soil of the more northern parts of
the colony, will lead to the introduction of fresh sources of wealth.

GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES.

Having taken this hasty review of the commercial interests of the
colony, we may now turn to a brief examination of its internal
structure and principal natural features.

I have already given a cursory sketch of the geographical features of
the whole continent. Of the vast area which its coasts embrace, the
east part alone has been fully explored.

A range of hills runs along the eastern coast, from north to south,
which, in different quarters, vary in their distance from the sea; at
one place approaching it pretty nearly, at another, receding from it to
a distance of forty miles. It is a singular fact, that there is no pass
or break in these mountains, by which any of the rivers of the interior
can escape in an easterly direction. Their spine is unbroken. The
consequence is, that there is a complete division of the eastern and
western waters, and that streams, the heads of which are close to each
other, flow away in opposite directions; the one to pursue a short
course to the sea; the other to fall into a level and depressed
interior, the character of which will be noticed in its proper place.

GREAT PROPORTION OF BAD SOIL.

The proportion of bad soil to that which is good in New South Wales, is
certainly very great: I mean the proportion of inferior soil to such as
is fit for the higher purposes of agriculture. Mr. Dawson, the late
superintendent of the Australian Agricultural Company's possessions,
has observed, as a singular fact, that the best soil generally prevails
on the summits of the hills, more especially where they are at all
level. He accounts for so unusual a circumstance by the fact, that
elevated positions are less subject to the effects of fire or floods
than their valleys or flanks, and attributes the general want of
vegetable mould over the colony chiefly to the ravages of the former
element, whereby the growth of underwood, so favourable in other
countries to the formation of soil, is wholly prevented. Undoubtedly
this is a principal cause for the deficiency in question. There is no
part of the world in which fires create such havoc as in New South
Wales and indeed in A