672 



DIDYMCEUS VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. 



fine editions ; among them the Voyages tTAnachar- 

 *it. He died in 1795. 



3. PIERRE DIDOT the elder, who has cnrried his 

 art to perfection, son of Franeois-Anibro.se, born in 

 1761, succeeded his father in the printing business in 

 1789. His first work was to finish the collection for 

 the dauphin, begun by the latter. But he was not 

 satisfied with accomplishing this. In the universal 

 impulse which the arts received from the revolution, 

 he aimed at becoming the Bodoni of France, and 

 conceived the plan of a splendid edition of the clas- 

 sic authors in folio, which should excel, if possible, 

 the best editions extant. He spared no expense to 

 adorn them with all the splendour and elegance of 

 the arts of design, and availed himself of the aid of 

 the first masters. He even sacrificed a part of his 

 property to this favourite object. His Virgil (1798) 

 was worthy of these endeavours, and still more so 

 his Racine of 1801, which the French regard as the 

 first typographical production of any age or country. 

 Only 250 copies of these works were struck off. 

 Among the productions of his press, Visconti's Icono- 

 graphy is particularly distinguished. Didot de- 

 voted the efforts of ten years to the improvement of 

 the types, and caused eighteen different sorts, with 

 new proportions, to be cut, with which he printed 

 Boileau and Henriade in 1819. Didot paid no less 

 attention to correctness and purity of text, and per- 

 fect consistency of orthography, than to typogra- 

 phical beauty. He is also Known as an author. He 

 has written prefaces, in Latin, to Virgil and Horace, 

 and is the author of several works in French, poetry 

 as well as prose. He has received marks of honour 

 from the republic, from Napoleon, and from Louis 

 XVIII. ; the latter conferred on him the order of St 

 Michael. 



4. FIRMAN DIDOT, brother of the preceding, printer 

 and type-founder. He is the inventor of a new sort 

 of writing, and the improver of stereotype printing. 

 ^See Printing). In 1826, he published Notes (fun 

 Voyage dans le Levant, en 1816 et 1817, of which he 

 is the author. 



5. HENRY DIDOT, son of Pierre-Frangois, and ne- 

 phew of the two preceding, early distinguished him- 

 self as a type-engraver. He then applied himselj 

 particularly to improve the method of founding types, 

 in which he succeeded by the invention of a new 

 founding apparatus. He calls his process fonderie 

 polyamatype. It is more expeditious than the former 

 mode, and the types are much cheaper. 



DIDYMCEUS ; a surname of Apollo, either be- 

 cause he was the twin-brother of Diana, or from the 

 double light of the sun and moon, which he lends to 

 men. Under this name, Apollo had one of the most 

 famous of his temples and an oracle at Didyma, among 

 the Milesians. Pindar calls Diana Didyma. 



DIEMEN, ANTHONY VAN; governor-general of the 

 Dutch East Indies ; was born in 1593, at Cuylenburg 

 Having been unsuccessful as a merchant, and presse< 

 by his creditors, he went to India, where his excellent 

 penmanship procured him the place of a clerk, and In 

 speedily rose to the highest dignity. He administera 

 the government with much ability, and contributee 

 much to the establishment of the Dutch commerce in 

 India. Abel Tasman, whom he sent with a vessel to 

 the South seas, in 1642, gave the name of Van Die 

 men 1 a Land to a country long regarded as a part o 

 New Holland, but since found to be an island ; he 

 likewise discovered New Zealand. Another naviga 

 tor, whom he sent out, made discoveries in the ocean 

 north of Japan, which have been confirmed by voy 

 ages in our days. A part of the north-western por 

 tion of New Holland, which is also called Van Die 

 men's -Land, was probably discovered later; per 

 haps, also, by Tasman. Van Diemen died in 1645. 



DIEMEN'S (VAN) LAND or, as it is sometimes 

 called in honour of its discoverer, Tasmania; ail 

 land in the southern ocean, situated between lat. 

 1 and 44 south, and between Ion. 164 40' and 

 48 20" east ; in length about 2 10 miles, and breadth 

 50- It is separated from New Holland by a strait 

 f about 100 miles in breadth, the island lying this 

 istance south of the most southern point of the 

 ormer The strait is called Bass's Strait, in l.o- 

 lour of its discoverer, Dr Bass, who, in the year 

 797, first ascertained that Van Diemen's Land was 

 in island, and that it was separated i'nmi Nc\\ I Inl- 

 and by the channel which now bears his, name. The 

 sland was discovered in the year 1642, by Abel Jan 

 en Tasman, a Dutchman, and was by him called Van 

 Jiemen's Land, in honour of Anthony Van Diemen 

 q. v). In 1773, it was visited by captain Furnwin, 

 he first English navigator who had ever touched at 

 t ; after this it was visited by several navigators, 

 ind, amongst others, by captain Cook, in the yrar 

 777. It was not, however, until 1803, that any 

 lement was made upon it ; in that year, it was for- 

 mally taken possession of by lieutenant Bowers, as a 

 receptacle for convicts, with a party from Port Jack- 

 son, in New South Wales, where a penal establish- 

 ment had been already fixed ; and to tliis purpose 

 Van Diemen's Land was exclusively devoted until the 

 year 1819, when it was thrown open to free settlers. 



The natives of Van Diemen's Land are in com- 

 plexion black ; their hair is woolly, with flat features, 

 and remarkably thin limbs. They wear no covering 

 of any sort, nor do they erect any huts or dwellings, 

 but five wholly in the woods, with as little depen- 

 dence on, and seeking as little aid from, mechanical 

 contrivances as the beasts of the forest. They have 

 no rites or ceremonies, either religious or otherwise, 

 of any description. Their numbers in the whole 

 island are not thought to exceed 2000. All attempts 

 to induce them to leave their native woods, and to 

 mingle in a friendly manner with the colonists, have 

 proved ineffectual. 



The island has not so discouraging and repulsive an 

 appearance from the coast as New Holland. Many fine 

 tracts of land are found on the very borders of the sea, 

 and the ulterior is almost invariably possessed of soil 

 adapted to ah 1 the purposes of civilized man. It is, upon 

 the whole, mountainous, with some peaks of consider- 

 able elevation, and is much better watered than New 

 Holland. The most considerable of its streams are, the 

 Derwent, Huon, and Tamar. There is, perhaps, no 

 island in the world, of the same size, which can boast 

 of more fine harbours ; the best are the Denvent, 

 Port Davy, Macquarie harbour, Port Dalrymple, and 

 Oyster bay. There is almost a perfect resemblance 

 between the animals and vegetables found here and 

 in New Holland. In the animals, in particular, there 

 is scarcely any variation. The native dog, indeed, is 

 unknown here ; but there is an animal of the panther 

 tribe in its stead, which, though not found in such 

 numbers as the native dog is in New Holland, com- 

 mits dreadful havoc among the flocks. Kangaroos 

 are most abundant. In the feathered tribes of the 

 two islands there is scarcely any diversity ; of this 

 the wattle bird, which is about the size of a snipe, and 

 considered a very great delicacy, is the only instance 

 that can be cited. The seas around abound with 

 whales, dolphins, and seals, and the shores with 

 shell-fish, particularly the muscle, these last liter- 

 ally covering the rocks on its coast, and in its bays, 

 creeks, and harbours. The climate is equally healthy, 

 and much more congenial to the European con- 

 stitution than that of Port Jackson. Here, as iu 

 New Holland, there is every diversity of soil ; but, in 

 proportion to the surface of the two countries, this 

 contains, comparatively, much less of an indifferetii 



