36 



the race, the last remaindei- of which populated Tasmania, 

 there is no necessity to suppose that the island of Taa- 

 mania became separated from the mainland of Austi'alia 

 after the disappearance of the glaciers. This separation 

 may have taken place while the glaciers still existed. 



The greatest objection against this hypothesis is the 

 great depth of the sea between Tasmania and New Zealand, 

 the bottom of which, for the greatest part, is more than 

 12,000 feet below sea-level. On the other hand, it would 

 explain the modern look of the camping grounds- If wo 

 were to assume that the subsidences of the land between 

 present Tasmania and present New Zealand took place 

 very slowly, always submerging the older camping sites 

 under the sea-level, gradually driving some of the tribes 

 towards West; and if we assume that the last and final 

 of these disturbances, which gave Tasmania its present 

 shape, took place in comparatively i-ecent times, say, about 

 2,500 years ago, this hypoithesis overcomes all the difficul- 

 ties which we meet when we assume that Tasmania waa 

 first populated about 12 — 10,000 years ago. 



This theory seems to be rather a bold one, and few 

 could grasp the idea that large geological disturbance can 

 have taken place in comparatively recent times. Yet 

 modern geology has proved that this was actually the case. 

 England was not yet separated from the Continent, aft-er 

 the greater part of the great inland ice had disappeared. 

 The Baltic Sea, which is now connected with the open 

 ocean, formed a great inland lake, the so-called "Ancylus 

 Lake," long after the ice had receded, and the bursting 

 of that lake probably resulted in the great Cimbrian 

 flood of which the Roman historians speak, and which set 

 the tribes of the Cimbri and Teutones on their move to- 

 wards Rome, whose terror they were for a long time, till 

 they were finally defeated in 113 A.D. As there can be no 

 doubt as to these great geological disturbances taking 

 place in Europe, in geologically speaking, very modern 

 times, there is no reason why we should not admit similar 

 disturbances to have taken place in equally modern times 

 in Tasmania. To sum up : 



1. Present Tasmania became only inhabitable after 



the disappearance of the glaciers. 



2. This disappearance can be fixed at about 10 — 



12,000 years before our present era. 



3. The primitive race that immigrated into Tas- 



mania must have become isolated from the 

 remainder of the world very soon after its 

 immigration, otherwise it would have been 

 wiped out long ago by a more energetic race. 



