This rocky mass may be considered as the commencement of the Australian Alps, a range of mountains which, for a distance exceeding 70 miles, runs to the west of north, and farther on, for about 100 miles, to the east of north, until it approaches S. lat. From this part of the range, which has a mean elevation of 2500 feet above the level of the sea, several lateral ridges extend to the south-east and west. The acclivities both on the east and west are gentle, and are partially overgrown with forests, containing many timber-trees, mostly blue gum and black butt. Near 37° S. lat. the range rises abovo the snow-line, and this portion of it is called the Ajuk Mountains. The valleys in this district comprise much land no less fit for cultivation than for pasture. That portion of the province which from the eastern declivity of the southern portion of the Australian Alps and the Ajuk range descends to the Pacific, is called Gippsland. It extends along the coast to 148° E. long., and consists of an inclined plane, which however near the mountains appears to descend with great rapidity, as in the middle of the region the plain is only 210 feet above the sea-level. The northern portion of this country is traversed by several ranges of hills, which are of considerable elevation near the principal range, but grow lower as they proceed southward. The valleys exhibit a considerable degree of fertility, and many cattle stations have been established in them. In the centre of Gippsland are plains of considerable extent, which are covered with open forests, and are capable of maintaining numerous herds of cattle. The most southern portion of Gippsland is traversed by several offsets of the Southern Australian Alps, which are covered with forests of blue, green, and black butt, in which numerous timber-trees are found. The whole of Gippsland is abundantly watered by several streams. The country extending north-east of Gippsland to the boundary of New South Wales has been but partially explored.
On the north of Port Phillip the watershed between the rivers falliug into the Southern Sea and the Murray occurs about 45 miles from the northern extremity of the harbour, but farther to the west it is between 80 and 100 miles from the sea-shore. On both sides of the watershed the country is hilly and broken, and between 142° and 143° E. long., it rises into mountains. This hilly tract is in general from 30 to 40 miles across. To the south of it is an extensive plain, which descends gently to the sea-shore. Near the sea it is almost level or slightly undulating ; but farther north it contains a rather large number of hills, rising from 500 to 700 feet above their bases; among them is Mount Buninyoeg, which rises 1570 feet above its base. A great number of lakes are scattered over this plain, one of which, called Carangamito, is about 90 miles in circumference. Its waters are salt, as are those of nearly all the others. The isolated hills which rise on this plain appear, from their formation, to be of volcanic origin. The southern part of this plain contains extensive tracts of the finest land for pasture and tillage. West of the river Hopkins (142° 45' E. long.) the laud along the sea-shore, as far as Port land Bay, is generally poor, and that lying west of Portland Bay, though better, is only indifferent. But that portion of the plain which lies north of 38° S. lat. contains a large portion of good laud. In some parts it is overgrown with thick forests of Eucalyptus trees, Banksia Casuarina, and other trees peculiar to Australia ; at other places it is covered with open forests and abundant grass. The numerous hills are thickly wooded, and the best soil is found at their bases.
Of the western division of the province, which, for its beauty and apparent fertility, was called by Sir Thomas Mitchell, who first explored it, Australia Felix, the best portion is that which lies within the hilly tract on both sides of the watershed. Nearly all the ridges by which this tract is overtopped run nearly at right angles to the watershed. The most western of these ridges rises to the elevation of mountains, and has been called the Grampians. Nearly in the centre of the Grampians stands Mount Tool, or Mount William, which rises to 4500 feet above the sea-level. Mount Abrupt is 1700 feet, and Mount Sturgeon is 1071 feet in height. The Grampians are surrounded with extensive forests of fine tell timber-trees of Eucalypti The country which is drained by the rivers originating in the southern and western portion of the Grampians appears to be the most fertile tract of New South Wales. It is abundantly watered
by the Nangeela, or Glenelg, and its tributaries. The soil is black and rich, several feet deep, and rests on a subsoil of clay. The surface of the higher portion of this plain is strongly undulating, and on it are found many small sandbills.
The hilly tract of the watershed east of the Grampians has its surface diversified by numerous narrow ridges of rocks, several round bills of moderate elevation, and many rather narrow valleys traversed by clear and beautiful streams. In some parts the hills are covered with wood; at other places free from wood, but overgrown with grass to the top. About 30 miles east of the Grampians, some more elevated ridges traverse the watershed. They have been named Pyrenees, but the natives call them Peeriek Hills. They consist wholly of granite, but are all grassy to their summits, and thinly wooded. East of the Pyrenees the country is more broken and the hills are higher. There are forests chiefly composed of box and lofty blue gum. A considerable portion of the hilly country, placed nearly in the centre of it, consists of hills of lava. A very large portion of this billy country affords excellent pasture.
Between the hilly region of the watershed on the south, the moun tain region of the Australian Alps on the south-east, the course of the Murray on the north, and the boundary-line of South Australia on the west, lie the plains of the Murray River. The Murray and its tributary the Bayunga flow in wide bottoms, sometimes 8 or 10 miles across, which bottoms are overgrown by high trees, partly swampy or covered with lakes and ponds, but exhibiting an extraord nary degree of fertility in the vigour of their vegetation. In some places are found salt-lakes in considerable uumbera, but in general the plains are open, grassy, and beautifully diversified with serpentine lines or clomps of wood. Even at a considerable dietaries from the banks of the rivers water is not scarce, as there are numerous hollows in the plains, which generally contain water. The plains of the Murray are tit both for cultivation and roaring of cattle. The river Murray, rising in the Australian Alpe, flours in ft north-westerly direction along the boundary of the province, entering South Australia at 34' S. lab, after a course of above 600 miles. In the lower part of its course along the border it has a channel 350 yards broad, with a depth of from 12 to 20 feet. Its chief tributaries, which drain the northern division of the colony are the Mitta-Mitta, Ovens, Goulburn, Campaspe, and Loddon, most of which are dried up during summer and converted into chains of ponds. The JlittasMitta rises in the Australian Alps, not far from Lake Orneo, the neighbourhood of which forms ono of the gold-fields of Victoria. The Lothlon rises near Mount Alexander, the principal gold-field, and its feeders, after the rainy season, are employed in the process of gold washing. The Avoca, Avon, and Wimmera flow northward from the Pyrenees and Gnunpian chains. The Glenelg, collecting several tribu taries from the western slopes of the Grampians, flows southward along the frontier and enters South Australia just before reaching the ocean. The Itopkins, with its several affluents, waters the country south from the Pyrenees, reaching the ocean a little to the eastward of Port Fairy. The Berwyn, after flowing in a north-easterly direction to the neigh bourhood of Geelong, bends to the south-east, and falls into the sea near the entrance of Port Phillip. The Yarra-Yarra, a considerable stream, which wakes the capital, is subject to heavy floods during the rainy meson. It comes in from the mountalus to the east of Mel bourne and continues in a very circuitous course to the head of Port Phillip. It is navigable to the city for small vessels and steamers of light draught. The Latrobe, rising in the Great Swamp, which is divided from Western Port by a belt of land a few miles broad, inter sects the southern range of the Alps and flows eastward through Gipps land into Lake Wellington. Lake King collects the waters of the Tambo, the Riley, and the M'Arthur, which drain the northern district of Gippsland.