River, about seventy miles to the northward of Port Jackson,
disembogues into the sea at the harbour of Newcastle.

There are three branches to the Hunter, called the upper, the lower, and
the middle: the two former are navigable for boats for about 120 miles,
and the latter for about 200 miles; but the branches are all subject to
sudden and terrific inundations owing to the rapid descent of torrents
from the Blue Mountains.

...

MOUTH OF THE GLENELG.

In concluding my remarks on the rivers of the north-west I should state
that Mr. Stokes, the surveyor of the Beagle, after a careful examination
of the coast did not succeed in finding the mouth of the Glenelg; and he
imagines that it has several openings, consisting of large mangrove
creeks, which fall into Stokes Bay; whilst it is my impression that it
will be found to run out somewhere between Camden Sound and Collier's
Bay, and that by some accidental circumstance its mouth was missed. That
it joins the sea in a considerable body I should infer from a shoal of
porpoises having been seen high up the river, and from the rise and fall
of tide, which was twenty feet at the direct distance of thirty miles
from the coast.

VALLEYS.

The valleys in this country are of two kinds: those which are almost
ravines, bordered on each side by nearly inaccessible cliffs; and valleys
of great width, bordered by fertile plains, often extensive, and which
occur where the basaltic rocks are developed; although ravines of this
formation are also of frequent occurrence in the mountainous parts.

CHARACTER OF THE VALLEYS. SOIL.

The soil found in the valleys of the former kind is extremely rich, but
they are all subject to very heavy inundations. As an example of this
kind of valley I may cite the one in which we first encamped. Its mean
width was only 147 feet, and the rocky precipitous cliffs at half a mile
from the sea rose above their base 138 feet. These deep valleys
undoubtedly afford water at all seasons of the year.

The sandstone formation is intersected in all directions by valleys of
this kind, which are seldom more than from two to three miles apart,
while the top of the range between them is a tableland, divided by
lateral valleys and gently rising towards the interior. Seawards they all
terminate in saltwater creeks, having the same narrow, rocky, and
precipitous character as they present themselves.

These tablelands afford good timber, particularly pine. Sheep