which it is situated, it receives the fiery heat of the
equator at one extremity, while it enjoys the refreshing coolness of the
temperate zone at the other. On a first view we should be led to expect
that this extensive tract of land possessed more than ordinary advantages;
that its rivers would be in proportion to its size; and that it would
abound in the richest productions of the inter-tropical and temperate
regions. Such, indeed, was the impression of those who first touched upon
its southern shores, but who remained no longer than to be dazzled by the
splendour and variety of its botanical productions, and to enjoy for a
few days the delightful mildness of its climate. But the very spot which
had appeared to Captain Cook and Sir Joseph Banks an earthly paradise, was
abandoned by the early settlers as unfit for occupation; nor has the
country generally been fount to realize the sanguine expectations of those
distinguished individuals, so far as it has hitherto been explored.

CHARACTER OF AUSTRALIAN RIVERS.

Rivers which have the widest mouths or the most practicable entrances,
are, in Europe or America, usually of impetuous current, or else contain
such a body of water as to bear down all opposition to their free course;
whilst on the other hand, rivers whose force is expended ere they reach
the sea, have almost invariably a bar at their embouchure, or where they
mingle their waters with those of the ocean. This last feature
unfortunately appears to characterise all rivers of Australia, or such of
them at least as are sufficiently known to us. Falling rapidly from the
mountains in which they originate into a level and extremely depressed
country; having weak and inconsiderable sources, and being almost wholly
unaided by tributaries of any kind; they naturally fail before they reach
the coast, and exhaust themselves in marshes or lakes or reach it so
weakened as to be unable to preserve clear or navigable months, or to
remove the sand banks that the tides throw up before them. On the other
hand the productions of this singular region seem to be peculiar to it,
and unlike those of any other part of the world; nor have any indigenous
fruits of any value as yet been found either in its forests or on its
plains.

He who has never looked on any other than the well-cultured fields of
England, can have little idea of a country that Nature has covered with an
interminable forest. Still less can he estimate the feelings w