Page:Handbook of Western Australia.djvu/51

Rh Forrest found Mt. Hale, under the 26th parallel, composed of magnetic iron ore with brown hæmatite, similar to the peak in consequence named Mt. Magnet by Austin; and several other peaks in this and the Lake district are of the same formation.

The Murchison River is exceptional both in size, position, and character. It is the longest river of the Colony, has its upper basin in the North-West angle of the Lake district, to the Eastward of the Greenough and Gascoigne, and on its banks the first specimens of the fauna and flora of the North coast are apparent. It has a deep channel above its mouth. The river, in its middle and lower courses, winds through an irregular valley, rich in minerals, for more than 100 miles is a direct line without an affluent. The upper valleys of the Murchison have not been mapped, but it has several affluents, the Sanford, Impey, and Roderick, the valleys of which have an extent of from 100 to 200 miles. Forrest found the Eastern watershed under the 120th meridian, after passing over some 100 miles of undulating well-grassed country, traversed by numerous watercourses, the most important lateral valley being that of the Sanford, the waters of those to the North being fresh, and those to the South, for the most part, saline. Mounts Bartle and Russel, at the Eastern source, are in latitude 26° 5' South, and the valley lies to the South of Robinson Range. In ordinary seasons the course of this river is only marked by its bed, either of rock or sand, or by occasional pools; but in times of flood a vast volume of water is poured down to the sea, into which it passes through cliffs of limestone. The plains about the head waters of the Murchison and to the East of the Greenough are being rapidly occupied by sheep farmers, especially those of the