Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/123

 An inconsiderable stream, or inlet, called Evan's river, joins the sea at a short distance to the northward of the Clarence.

The Richmond river, a little farther along the coast, disembogues near Lennox Head, in 28&deg; 55' south latitude. It very much resembles the MacLeay in its general appearance, and the character of its scenery: mangrove scrubs, tea-tree, and swamp oak thickets, cover the low flats near its mouth; and the alluvial land, higher up the river, is diversified by brush, abounding in cedar and pine, clumps of bangolo palms, reedy swamps, small rich plains, and lightly wooded forest flats of great richness. The rest of the country is very lightly wooded grassy forest, of the greatest fertility; in fact, there are few rivers where so much good available land exists, unbroken by densely wooded ranges and ravines. The bar of the Richmond river has from eight to ten feet of water on it; this river can be ascended by small craft to a distance of about thirty miles from its mouth. Its sources are not yet ascertained; its main stream appears to rise somewhere in the great main range dividing the eastern and western waters, near Wilson's Peak and Coke's Head, it then sweeps to the south of Mount Lindesay, which was ascertained by Mr. Cunningham to be 5,700 feet above the level of the sea. There is some fine cedar on the Richmond, and several cedar dealers and sawyers proceeded thither last year to cut it for the Sydney market, and for exportation to the other Australian colonies.