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LEFT AUSTRALIA 348 AUSTRALIA whole, or in part, the Great Dividing Range, from forming the great water shed of Australia. A part of it, called the Australian Alps, in the S. E. contains the highest summits in Australia, Mt. Kosciusko (7,175 feet), Mt. Clark (7,256), and Mt. Townshend (7,353). West of the Dividing Range are ex- tensive plains or downs admirably adapted for pastoral purposes. The deserts and scrubs, which occupy large areas of the interior, are a characteristic feature of Australia. Water Courses. — The chief river is the Murray, which, with its affluents, the Murrumbidgee, Lachlan, and Darling, drains a great part of the interior W. of the Dividing Range, and falls into the sea on the S. coast (after entering Lake Alexandrina). Its greatest tributary is the Darling, which may even be regarded as the main stream. On the E. coast are the Hunter, Clarence, Brisbane, Fitzroy, and Burdekin; on the W. the Swan, Mur- chison, Gascoyne, Ashburton, and De Grey; on the N. the Fitzroy, Victoria, Flinders, and Mitchell. The Australian rivers are of little service in facilitating internal communication. A considerable river of the interior is Cooper's Creek, or the Barcoo, which falls into Lake Eyre, one of a group of lakes on the S. side of the continent having no outlet, and, ac- cordingly, salt. The principal of these are Lakes Eyre, Torrens, and Gairdner. Another large salt lake of little depth, Lake Amadeus, lies a little W. of the center of Australia. Climate. — The climate of Australia is generally hot and dry, but very healthy. In the tropical portions there are heavy rains, and in most of the coast districts there is a sufficiency of moisture, but in the interior the heat and drought are ex- treme. Considerable portions now de- voted to pasturage are liable, at times, to suffer from drought. Mineralogy. — Australia is a region containing a vast quantity of mineral wealth. Foremost come its rich and ex- tensive deposits of gold. Australia also possesses silver, copper, tin, lead, zinc, antimony, mercury, plumbago, etc., in abundance, besides coal and iron. Various precious stones are found, as the garnet, ruby, topaz, sapphire, and even the dia- mond. Of building stone there are granite, limestone, marble, and sand- stone. Plant Life. — The Australian flora pre- sents peculiarities which mark it off by itself in a very decided manner. Many of its most striking features have an un- mistakable relation to the general dry- ness of the climate. The trees and bushes have, for the most part, a scanty foliage, presenting little surface for evaporation, or thick leathery leaves well fitted to re- tain moisture. The most widely spread types of Australian vegetation are the various kinds of gum tree {eucalyptus), the shea-oak {casuarina), the acacia or wattle, the grass tree (xanthorrhoea) , many varieties of proteacese, and a great number of ferns and tree ferns. Indi- vidual specimens of the peppermint (E. amygdalina) have been found to meas- ure from 480 to 500 feet in height. As timber trees the most valuable members of this genus are the E. rostrata (or red gum), E. leucoxylon, and E. marginata, the timber of which is hard, dense, and almost indestructible. A number of the gum trees have deciduous bark. The wat- tle or acacia includes about 300 species, some of them of considerable economic value, yielding good timber or bark for tanning. The most beautiful and most useful is that known as the golden wat- tle {A. dealbata), which in spring is adorned with rich masses of fragrant yellow blossoms. Palms — of which there are 24 species, all except the cocoa-palm peculiar to Australia — are confined to the N. and E. coasts. A plant which covers large areas in the arid regions is the spinifex or porcupine grass, a hard, coarse, and excessively spiny plant. Other large tracts are occupied by herbs or bushes of a more valuable kind, frona their affording fodder. Foremost among those stands the salt-bush {atriplex num- mularia, order chenopodiacese). Beauti- ful flowering plants are numerous. Aus- tralia also possesses great numbers of turf-forming grasses, such as the kan- garoo grass {anthistiria australis), which survives even a tolerably pro- tracted drought. The native fruit trees are few and unimportant, and the same may be said of the plants yielding roots used as food; but exotic fruits and vege- tables may now be had in the different colonies in great abundance and of ex- cellent quality. The vine, the olive, and mulberry thrive well, and quantities of wine are now produced. The cereals of Europe and maize are extensively culti- vated, and large tracts of country, par- ticularly in Queensland, are under the sugar-cane. Animal Ldfe. — The Australian fauna is almost unique in its character. Its great feature is the nearly total absence oi all the forms of mammalia which abound in the rest of the world, their place being supplied by a great variety of marsupials — these animals being nowhere else found, except in the opossums of Amer- ica. There are 110 kinds of marsupials (of which the kangaroo, wombat, bandi- coot, and phalangers or opossums, are the