SOME NEW BOOKS. 



Australasia. Vol. i., Australia and New Zealand. Stanford's Compendium of 

 Geography and Travel (new issue). By Alfred Kussel Wallace, LL.D., 

 D.C.L. Svo. Pp. xvi., 505, maps, and illustrations. London: Stanford, 1893. 

 Price 15 shillings. 



"In the present volume an attempt has been made to give a compact 

 description of our great Australian Colonies, which should be useful 

 to intending visitors or emigrants; and which will also be interesting 

 to the general reader who may wish to become acquainted with the 

 natural features and social condition of the Britain of the Southern 

 Hemisphere." With the above words the author prefaces his volume, 

 noting also that he has treated of the history and geology, the physical 

 characteristics, customs, languages, and probable origin of the 

 aboriginal inhabitants. Further information is given as to the history 

 of Australian exploration and the special characteristics and produc- 

 tions of the several colonies as well as their more important industries. 

 Prefixed to the general work is a list of works used in preparing the 

 volume, which, though arranged without any regard for alpha- 

 betical order or date, will prove useful to the reader if he wishes to 

 pursue his subject further, for the book is essentially one of reference, 

 although readable enough in itself. 



Dr. Wallace opens with the general subject, dealing with the 

 definition and nomenclature of Australasia, showing how the area 

 covered by the word has gradually been restricted by geographers 

 until, at present, it is held to comprise only Australia and New 

 Zealand, together with the large islands as far north as New Guinea 

 and the New Hebrides. He, however, holds it to include the islands 

 of the Malay Archipelago as well, and prefers to retain the word 

 Australasia, rather than Oceania, because the former indicates the 

 true relation of the group to the great land-mass of which it forms a 

 southern prolongation. 



The geographical and physical features of Australasia are 

 unique, and are thus sketched by Dr. Wallace. In the west, the 

 Malay archipelago, comprising the largest islands in the world 

 (Australia excepted), is unsurpassed for the luxuriance of its vegeta- 

 tion, as well as for the variety and beauty of its forms of animal life. 

 Further to the east are the islands of the Pacific, remarkable for 

 their numbers and their beauty; while to the south is Australia, as 

 unique in its physical features as it is in its singular forms of vege- 

 table and animal life. Still further south lies New Zealand, almost 

 the antipodes of Britain, but possessing a milder climate, and a 

 more varied physiography. Comprised thus between the northern 

 tropic and the 40th degree of south latitude, this land-mass possesses 

 as tropical a climate as Africa, while, owing to its being so com- 

 pletely oceanic, and to its wide exterior, it presents diversities of 



