258 



NATURE 



[January 12, 1893 



of the advance are represented by a curve or curves which 

 would require a series of careful experiments to be carried out in 

 each instrument, followed by difficult and elaborate calculation 

 for each advance. 



Much credit is due to the author for working out the modifi- 

 cations, but until we have some original method of finding a 

 steady-point, not so far suggested, it is doubtful if we can im- 

 prove on the Gray, Ewing, and Milne seismographs, that are 

 not, as the author imagines, little used or tested instruments, 

 H. J. Johnston-Lavis. 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE OF 

 NEW SOUTH WALES. 



A SECOND edition of an excellent pamphlet on the " Phys- 

 ■^~*" ical Geography and Climate of New South Wales," by Mr. 

 H. C. Russell, F.R.S., astronomer royal for New South Wales, 

 has just been issued at Sydney. It is published by authority 

 of the New South Wales Government. The following extracts 

 may be of interest to various classes of readers in Great 

 Britain :— 



Looking back through the pages of history, and the dim 

 traditions of an earlier time, we find abundant evidence of a 

 belief in the existence of a great south land to the south and 

 east of what was then the well known earth. Those early 

 navigators whose travels had fostered this belief, had doubtless 

 followed down the Malay Peninsula and the string of islands 

 which seem to form part of it, in search of spices and other 

 treasures which the islands supplied. Pliny, who had evidently 

 gathered up the traditions of " Terra Australis incognita," says 

 that it lay a long way south of the Equator, and in proof of this 

 mentions the fact, strange in those days, that when some of its 

 inhabitants were brought to civilization they were astonished to 

 find the sun rise on their left hand instead of on their right. 

 And Ptolemy, A.D. 170, after describing the Malay Peninsula, 

 says : Beyond it, to the south-east, there was a great bay in 

 which was found the most distant point of the earth ; it is called 

 " Cattigara," and is in latitude 81" south ; " thence (he goes on 

 to say) the land turns to the west, and extends an immense dis- 

 tance until (as he believed) it joins Africa." And it may fairly 

 be assumed that the extreme south latitude of Cattigara, and its 

 situation in a great bay where the land turns to the west until it 

 joins Africa, is proof that it was some point in the Gulf of Car- 

 pentaria, for no other place would fulfil the conditions. The 

 idea that the land actually reached Africa was not Ptolemy's ; it 

 was a necessary part of the system of Hipparchus, for he taught 

 that the earth surrounded the water and prevented it from flowing 

 away. It is not surprising, therefore, that the early navigators, 

 following down the islands, came at length to that part of the 

 Gulf of Carpentaria where the land turned to the west ; and 

 believing Hipparchus' system of geography, thought that in 

 turning to the west they were in reality turning towards home, 

 and Cattigara was therefore the most distant point known. 

 Marco Polo tells us that the Chinese navigators in his day (A. D. 

 1293) asserted there were thousands of islands in the sea to south 

 of them, and in the present day we find proofs of their early 

 visits to Australia in the traces of Chinese features amongst the 

 natives of the northern coast ; indeed, some historians think 

 that Marco Polo, in the account he gives of the expedition sent 

 to Persia by the Great Khan, refers directly to Australia, under 

 the name of Lochac. This place he says was too faraway to be 

 subjugated by the Great Khan, and was seldom visited ; but it 

 yielded gold in surprising quantity, and amongst other wonders 

 contained within it an immense lake or inland sea. It is im- 

 possible that such a description should apply, as has been thought, 

 to the Malay Peninsula, — a country within easy reach, and one 

 which his ships must have passed in every voyage ; and so far 

 from being beyond his power, it was within the limits over which 

 his sway extended. That Lochac formed part of the main-land 

 was also quite in accordance with their ideas of the earth, which 

 surrounded the ocean, and the abundance of gold is certainly 

 more likely to be true of Australia than of the Malay Peninsula. 

 For long years after Marco Polo we find no direct reference 

 to Australia, except the stories which lived amongst navigators, 

 and seemed to lose none of their marvellous points by transmis- 

 sion. These kept alive the desire to explore the great south 

 land, so rich in treasures and wonders. All the evidence col- 

 lected so far goes to prove that the Portuguese had, early in the 



sixteenth century, explored at least the northern parts of Australia. 

 What they learned was, however, kept a profound secret until 

 about 1540, when one of their government maps was stolen ; 

 and there are now in existence six maps believed to be copies of 

 it, which were all published between 1539 and 1555. These all 

 show Australia under the name of the "Land of Java," the real 

 Java being called the " Little Java," and from this time onward 

 frequent attempts were made to explore what had for so many 

 generations been "'Terra Australis incognita." Sturdy naviga- 

 tors could not understand the silence of the Portuguese, except 

 as proof of the richness of the land, ahout which tradition told 

 wonderful tales "It was a land of gold and spices, of magnifi- 

 cent tropical fruits and vegetation— a perfect paradise, in which 

 the happy and simple inhabitants were loaded with jingling 

 ornaments of gold. Its very atmosphere was elixir, and existence 

 a round of enjoyment." No wonder that in an age when, at 

 least upon the ocean, the power to take was mistaken for the 

 right to do so, there were many who cast longing glances towards 

 the southern Paradise. Whether these stories of gold had any 

 foundation in fact or not, when barter was regularly exchanged on 

 the coast of Australia, it is impossible now to say, hut more recent 

 discoveries of rich surface gold lend some colour to them, and 

 the vegetable richness of the northern part of Australia is quite 

 in accordance with tradition. But all the early English naviga- 

 tors were unfortunate, and Australia got a reputation the very 

 reverse of what further investigation has shown that it deserves. 

 In point of fact, all the glowing colouring of tradition is true ; 

 but when Dampier, in 1688, sailed down the western coast, he 

 saw nothing but a "dry sandy soil," and the " miserablest 

 people in the world " ; and later on, when the first English 

 settlers landed on Australia, they chose a bay, beautiful to look 

 at, but there was no gold and no fruit worthy of the name, the 

 soil was barren and sandy, and the climate in the worst part of 

 its summer. No wonder that the fame of Australia was black- 

 ened, and report made it a miserable land, subject to droughts 

 and floods — a land in which everything was turned topsy-turvy. 

 The summer came at winter time ; trees shed their bark, not 

 their leaves — were brown instead of green ; the stones were on 

 the outside of the cherries ; and the pears, pleasant to look at, 

 were only to be cut with an axe ; and there was nothing to eat, 

 "unless, perchance, ye'l fill yev\ith root of fern or stalk of lily." 

 Such was the early verdict upon Australia. Fortunately the 

 first colonists, once here, were obliged to stop. By degrees 

 they found that everything that was planted grew well ; that 

 wheat in the valley of the Hawkesbury yielded 40 to 50 bushels 

 to the acre, and in one memorable season actually ruined the 

 farmers by its very abundance, for in the then limited market, 

 the price fell so low that it was not worth gathering, and 

 it was left in the fields to rot, while the farmers sought other 

 work. Horses, sheep, cattle, and pigs throve marvellously, 

 and some of the cows getting away, the bush soon contained 

 numbers of wild cattle. Even wool did not deteriorate in the 

 new Colony ; and step by step the facts became too strong for 

 prejudice, and the first fleeces of Australian sheep sent to 

 England lifted the veil. Manufacturers would gladly take as 

 many as could be sent ; their demand for more wool extends 

 with the supply, and now only from Australia can they obtain 

 the fine wools which they need. Quantity and quality of wool 

 have increased together, and the Grand Prize at the Paris Ex- 

 hibition for our New South Wales wool has proclaimed the fact 

 far and wide. Wool has done still more for the Colony. We 

 took possession of it as a narrow strip of coast country ; the de- 

 mand for pasture forced us to find a way over a hitherto impass- 

 able range, and the same want has driven all the desert out of the 

 Colony, and covered it with sixty-two millions of valuable sheep 

 (1892). The country which early writers upon Australia called 

 a barren waterless desert is now growing the finest wool and 

 yielding abundant water from wells, and when, in 185 1, it was 

 announced that gold had been discovered in abundance, the 

 world was convinced that Australia was a promising country 

 after all. Year by year the people have been coming in increas- 

 ing numbers to supply our great want (population), and as our 

 numbers increase new avenues of wealth and prosperity are 

 opening before us. 



Geographically, Australia has a grand position, lying between 

 the loth and 40th degrees of south latitude— that happy mean 

 where it is neither too hot nor too cold. Surrounded by the 

 ocean, the sea breezes temper what might otherwise be a hot 

 climate in the sun.mer ; the air is clear and dry, and yet brings 

 rain in heavy showers. Vegetation is abundant, and includes 



NO. I 2 II, VOL. 47] 



