Between these extremes of great dryness and excessive moisture, the intervening country shows a graduated increase or decrease as one approaches or recedes from the eastern coast. As very few water-ways exist to carry off surplus water, the drainage being often imperceptible to the eye, this seems a merciful dispensation of Nature, as under such conditions any great rainfall would place the whole country under a sea of water long enough for all animal life to become extinct. The water that flows down the usually dry channels of the western rivers southwards comes from the Gulf watershed, where the rainfall is much heavier, averaging at Cloncurry 20.80 inches. The amount of rainfall determines largely the nature of the fauna and flora of a country, and causes it to vary, even in the same latitudes. Between the high coastal districts and the vast rolling plains and downs of the interior these differences are so marked and distinct that they seem like two separate countries; climate, timber, herbage, and even animal life are so different in the two regions that it seems extraordinary such contrasts should exist in the same latitude in one country. All along the east coast, where the rainfall is heavy, we find forests of splendid hardwood and scrubs containing cedar and pine of gigantic growth. In the interior, the timber is as a rule dwarfed, hollow, and crooked; the principal timbers being the acacia family, such as the gidya, myall, brigalow, boree, etc. The grasses of the interior adapt themselves to the climate, and are of a far hardier growth than the coast grasses; one season without moisture does not impare their wonderful vitality; the salt bushes are the hardiest of all vegetation in the interior, and are of the greatest value to pastoralists. Birds are found on the coast that never visit the interior districts; while the galas and corellas are never found in a wild state near the coast. During the wet season in the summer months many seabirds migrate to the interior for a few weeks. Accompanying the report of the Hydraulic Engineer is a coloured map showing the sites of artesian bores and tanks and the supposed area of the lower cretaceous or water-bearing strata, as well as the underlying impermeable palæozoic rocks. The whole of Western Queensland may be said to belong to the lower cretaceous formation; here and there, where it has not been denuded by the action of the atmosphere, the desert sandstone may be found overlaying it. The whole of this vast area of water-bearing rocks has been proved by artesian bores, most of which are far below the level of the sea. The knowledge of the area of the water-bearing country in the interior is extending as additional bores are put down. Some of the bores within the known belt of the water area have been abandoned owing to causes that may be generally classified as accidents.