220 GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. [1839. 



1789, after the mutiny of the crew of the Bounty, Captain 

 Bligh ran for a considerable distance along the north-eastern 

 coast, and made some valuable observations. From 1791 to 

 1793, a series of discoveries on the northern coast were made 

 Dy Edwards, Bligh, Portlock, Bampton, and Alt. In 1798, 

 Flinders and Bass sailed round Van Diemen's Land, and 

 made extensive surveys of the Australian coast, mostly in 

 open boats. Grant, in the following year, explored that por- 

 tion of the southern coast which bears his name. During 

 the five ensuing years, Flinders was actively engaged in pros- 

 ecuting his surveys and examinations along the eastern and 

 southern coasts and the gulf of Carpentaria, till, unfortu- 

 nately coming into collision with Baudin, the commander of 

 the French expedition employed on the same coast and Van 

 Diemen's Land, he was forcibly taken to the island of Mau- 

 ritius and detained there for six years. His discoveries in re- 

 gard to the coast outlines, and general geographical features 

 of the new continent, were of great value, and were made 

 use of by the French authorities without acknowledgment. 

 Since his time, Captain King, and other officers of the British 

 navy, have succeeded in exploring the whole northern coast. 



In its coast outline, particularly on the south and west, 

 Australia is iron-bound, and almost unbroken. It has numer- 

 ous large and small harbors and inlets, on the eastern and 

 northern shores ; Port Phillip on the south, and Van Diemen's 

 gulf on the west, are spacious harbors ; Hervey's bay on the 

 east, and Shark's bay on the west, are from forty to fifty 

 miles in width and depth ; but the only two great indenta- 

 tions are the Gulf of Carpentaria on the north, and Spencer's 

 Gulf on the south. 



From Cape Leeuwin to Spencer's Gulf, a distance of over 

 thirteen hundred miles, the southern coast, generally, is low, 

 sandy and barren, with only here and there an occasional 

 eminence. The northern coast resembles the southern in this 

 respect; but on the east and west coasts, there are parallel 

 ridges or ranges of steep and precipitous mountains, extend- 

 ing northwardly from the southern extremity of the continent. 



