CLIMATE. Adstralia lies half within the trop ics, and half within the South Temperate Zone; while it has a wide range of tempera ture and rainfall, this is not attributable to the range in latitude, hut to the topography of the continent. The rainfall is heaviest upon the north and east coasts, while upon the south and west coasts, except upon the southwest corner of the continent, and the eastern part of the southern coast, it is light, and throughout the interior it is almost wanting. Thus only a small part of the whole area has sufficient rain for agriculture. The northern part of the east coast enjoys a tropical rainfall amounting to SO inches or more annually; southward it diminishes, being 50 inches at Sydney, and at Melbourne 25 inches. The rainfall diminishes inland along the whole coast. The east coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria has about 40 inches, while the west coast has 50 inches or more. Most of the south and west coasts have less than 20 inches, while most of the interior has less than tell inches. The rainfall is exceedingly irregu lar in all parts of the island, even upon the east coast, and the streams are correspondingly tor rential in character. Most of the moisture brought to the island conies with the trade winds from the southeast, and is of course deposited on the east and north coasts, whose mountain ranges strain nearly all the moisture from the air cur rents, leaving them to flow as dry winds over the plains of the interior. The moisture in the
southwest and in the State of Victoria on the south coast, on the other hand. is brought by the prevailing westerly winds, whose influence ex tends up the west coast only as far north as Perth.
Australia presents also extremes of tempera ture. The east coast has a fairly uniform tem perature, the mean annual temperature ranging from SO° in the north to 55° in the south, and with a range between the monthly means of July and January of only 15° to 20°. On the other hand, in the interior, while the mean an nual temperature ranges with the latitude from 00° to SO°, the contrast between saintlier and winter is great, reaehing 40°. while the mean temperature of the hottest month is 95°. Tn this region very high temperatures are reported, 128° in the shade having been recorded. Sudden and great changes are common. The thermometer has been known to fall 60° or 70° in a few hours.