Page:Rambles in Australia (IA ramblesinaustral00grewiala).pdf/360

 The northern coastal belt is well watered by numerous rivers, many of them navigable for some distance inland; the district is very fertile, especially in the neighbourhood of the rivers. It is described as "luxuriantly grassed" and well adapted for dairying, for intensive farming, which is, however, at present non-existent, and for the growth of many subtropical products.

Farther from the rivers the land is held to be suitable for agriculture and grazing. This tract of country stretches inland to the tablelands, where different conditions prevail, and which form the second climatic zone. The rainfall here is less than half that of the coastal area. The land rises to some fifteen hundred feet above the sea, and the sharp distinction between the wet and dry seasons is less strongly marked. In these tablelands, though there is a poor supply of surface water, subartesian water is available by shallow boring. The conditions here are admirable for stock raising. The third area stretches into the temperate latitudes of the South Australian border, where the rainfall is variable, but on the average low. Here are the McDonell Ranges, including fine tracts of country that compare favourably with any part of Southern Australia. But when all this has been said there remains at present the question of transport. The great