VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN LANDS.
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the chara&eriftics of the preceding, poffeffes a courfe more rapid, and of greater lengthacrofs continents or iflands, and generally unites with ftreams fimilar to itfelf in form-ing large rivers (fleuves) ; thefe not only empty themfelves into the fea, but have a veryconfxderable length of courfe, and roll a broader volume of water.
Torrents, however great, materially differ from ftreamlets and rivers, as theircourfe, dependent on the feafons or atmofpherical viciffitudes, is not continuous butperiodical.
Thefe general notions fettled, we {hall apply them to the peculiar hydrography ofNew Holland, and in this inftance {hall fee new phenomena worthy of profound at-tention, and not lefs remarkable than thofe before prefented relative to the Blue Moun-tains and the north-weft winds.
In fadt, throughout the whole extent of this vaft continent, comprifing more than100,000 fquare leagues * of furface, no river has yet been difcovered equal in fize tothe Marne or the Allier t, allowing that definition affixed in the commencement of thisarticle to the term river.
In vain, every inftant, does the navigator who fails along the coafts of this country,imagine he difcovers in deep inlets, which admit of his penetrating to confiderabie dif-tance, the mouth of fome large river ; the faltnefs of the fancied river diminiffies notas he advances; and foon he diftinguiflies that it has no other motion than what iscommunicated by the tide. Still, the depth of water is fo confiderabie, its breadth fogreat, and he proceeds fo far inland, that the illufion yet continues. The navigationinland is further profecuted ; numerous creeks are feen which refemble the mouths oflarge rivulets; the creeks are examined, but no where is freffi water found. Expect-ation difappointed, is ftill fuftained by the iinpofing appearance of the principal branch,which yet preferves the fimilitude of a great river. - The navigator has now afcendedit fixty or eighty miles, and trufts to proceed much higher. Vain hope ! the majefticriver dwindles to a wretched ftreamlet, incapable of floating the lighteft boat, andwhich at different feafons of the year is but a few inches deep. The aftonilhed travellerhalts; and when he perceives that the ebb and flow of tide is almoft equally percept-ible at the extremity as at the beginning of his navigation, he wonders at the veryflight fall in the nearly level furface of the country.
Such is the general pitfture of the rivers of New Holland,- there is not one but itfuits in the moft literal manner, and without other modification than refults from itsgreater or lefs extent. Thus, King George’s River, Cook’s at Botany Bay , that ofParamatta at Port Jackfon, of Hawkefbury at Broken Bay, the river Hunter, Endea-vour River, all the rivers of the Gulf of Carpentaria, recently explored by CaptainFlinders, the rivers or havens of the Bay of Sharks, the River of Swans, that of theBay of the Geographe, the Port of King George, Bonaparte Gulf, Jofephine Gulf,Philipps’s Port, the Weftern Port, &c.; all of them prefent aferies of phenomena ana-logous to the pi&ure I have given. Even Diemen’s Land, notwithftanding its differentgeological conftitution, in all its rivers exhibits the fame fingularity. The river Huon,Swan Port, the North River J, Dalrymple River, &c., are but fo many gulfs more orlefs narrow, but all effentially l’alt, all affected by the tides, and indebted to them chiefly
* 766,215 fquare miles English of 69,2 to a degree, the French league being that of which there are25 to a degree ; but here M. Peron fpeaks at random, for New Holland comprizes a furface of at lealt2,739,60° fquare ftatute miles, or upwards of 350,000 fquare leagues. Tr.
t t he breadth and volume of the Trent. Tr.
j The Derwent ; this is 3 miftake noticed in Chap, xii., the river, as there obferved, being navigablemuch beyond the mountains where it was l'uppofed by the French geographer's to have its fource, and hav-ing, according to Captain Flinders, from three to four fathoms of frefli water. Tr.
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