Excerpt from Report on the Work of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia, Vol. 3: Geology and Botany In the consideration of the physical geography of this country the mountain system should first demand our attention, as being of primary importance, for on it not only does the trend of the main valleys depend but also the size, number, and even the very existence of the rivers, by reason of its in uence on the wind and rain. For the above reasons the mcdonnell Ranges form the most important physiographic feature of Central Australia. Were it not for the presence of this chain of comparatively elevated land, with its important in uence on the meteorology of the surrounding country, the greater part of the interior would resemble a sterile desert, which is the actual condition of portions of the stony and sandy plains after a more than usually prolonged drought. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."