CHAPTER X. 



(1.) Australia. Discovery. Chorography. — (2.) Harbors. Lakes. Rivera. — 

 (3.) Soil. Minerals. Climate. — (4.) Vegetable Productions. Fruits and 

 Trees. — (5.) Birds. Animals. Fish. — (6.) Aborigines. Appearance and 

 Character. — (7.) Native Habitations. Dress. Customs and Superstitions. — 

 (8.) Different Colonies and their Establishment. Government. — (9.) Life and 

 Manners among the Colonists. — (10.) The Convicts. —(11.) Van Diemen's 

 Land. — (12.) Sydney. Other Towns. — (13.) Commerce and Manufactures. 



(1.) New Holland — now more properly called the Con- 

 tinent of Australia* — was facetiously termed by Sydney 

 Smith, " the fifth or pickpocket quarter of the globe." Not- 

 withstanding there is full as much truth as wit, in this des- 

 ignation of the late reverend canon of St. Paul's, the great 

 extent of this portion of the world, the peculiarities of its soil 

 and climate, the riches of its vegetable and botanical king- 

 dom, -and the character of the colonial establishments founded 

 here by Great Britain, surround it, as it were, with a deep 

 and absorbing interest. 



The continent lies between latitude 10° 39' and 39° 11' 

 S., and longitude 113° 5' and 153° 16' E. Its coast line is 

 estimated at 7750 miles, within which is an area of three 

 million square miles. Its greatest length, from east to west, 

 between Sandy Cape and DirkHartog's point, is twenty-four 

 hundred miles ; and its greatest width, from north to south, 

 is a little short of two thousand miles. 



* Avstralia should not be confounded with Australasia. The former name 

 (Terra Austi-alis) was originally given by the early navigators lo wb.it 

 supposed to be the vast Antarctic Continent of which the diffi rent isl inds. and 

 points of land, tlicv had discovered in the southern oce in form ! parts; but it 

 is now applied to the continent heretofore known as N< w Holland — whereas 

 Australasia embraces Australia Tasmania, or Van Diem-n's Land New Cale- 

 donia. New Hebrides Queen Charlotte's Islands Solomon's Archipelago, the 

 Louisiad.es, New Britain, New Guinea, und New Zealand. 



