A U S 



119 



AUS 



Austel. ed chiefly, are said to have lost 15,000 killed and 

 ' wounded, and 100 pieces of artillery. This conflict 

 has been called by the French the Battle of the Co- 

 ronation, as it was fought on the anniversary of Bo- 

 naparte's coronation ; and the Battle of the three 

 Emperors, from its being attended by the emperors 

 of the three contending powers, (j) 



AUSTEL, Austil, or Austlk, a market -town 

 of England, in the hundred of Powder in Cornwall. 

 This town, which io built on the side of a hill, and 

 stands nearly in the centre of the county, has for 

 some time been in a flourishing state, from its being 

 the seat of one of the stannary courts, and from the 



great turnpike road from London to the Land's End, 

 which passes through it. In the vicinity of the town 

 are several tin mines, and also quarries of porcelain, 

 which is sent to Liverpool, Bristol, and Stafford- 

 shire, for the use of the potteries. The inhabitants 

 are chiefly employed in the mines, in the pilchard 

 fishery, and in a manufactory of coarse woollen cloths. 

 Number of houses 663 ; population 3788, of whom 

 390 are employed in trade. See Beauties of Eng- 

 land and Wales, vol. ii. p. 422. ; and Polwhele's 

 History of Cornwall, (j) 



AUSTIN, Saint. See Augustine. 



Austin. 



AUSTRALASIA. 



A vague and indistinct idea long prevailed among 

 the more enlightened European nations, that an im- 

 mense continent existed at the south pole of the 

 world, which they denominated Terra Australis In- 

 cognita. This, from the capes and islands casually 

 seen by navigators, was supposed to extend over 

 many degrees of the polar regions ; and sanguine 

 hopes were indulged, that in future periods its shores 

 might be visited and surveyed in safety. Later 

 researches, however, have proved the fallacy of these 

 expectations : they have ascertained, that if there is 

 any continent, it can be only of a limited size, and 

 that it is guarded on all sides by an impenetrable bar- 

 rier of ice. Modern geographers have nevertheless 

 testified an inclination to subdivide the vast expanse 

 of southern hemisphere explored in voyages undertaken 

 to discover the Terra Australis, and to call one portion 

 of it by the new appellation of Australasia. We 

 acknowledge that we entertain considerable doubts 

 of the expediency of this improvement on geographi- 

 cal nomenclature, and we also hesitate in admitting 

 the proposed division as the best that can be made ; 

 for we cannot help suspecting, that the readiness 

 evinced to receive it, arises less from a conviction of 

 its utility, than from that propensity to innovation 

 in nomenclature, which is now so prevalent, and 

 which has plunged entire sciences into absolute 

 confusion. Although we may justly question, whe- 

 ther the establishment of boundaries, by lines drawn 

 through a trackless ocean, can prove of material ad- 

 vantage, we agree, that the concentration of our 

 . by any striking limits, cannot fail to be bene- 

 ficial ; especially when the judgment is liable to be 

 distracted by a great variety of objects presented 

 without order or arrangement. Australasia, accord- 

 ' the proposed division, extendi from 3 of 

 north latitude to .50" south, and from 9.3 of east lon- 

 gitude to 185 ; thus comprehending a surface of 

 5000 miles in length, by "about 3180 in breadth. 

 Geographers, however, have not yet condescended on 



l under which it i.; to be UK ' 

 particularly towards the north-eastern parts ; and 

 therefore though we have assum< d the 6ame boun- 

 daries that some of the latest authors have done, yet 

 we do not consider them as by any means completely 



The name An- ! to have been origi- 



nally proposed by M. de Brosses, a skilful geogra- Austral- 

 pher ; who meant to comprehend under it the coun- as ' a - 

 tries south of Asia, including New Holland, New r J 



Zealand, and New Guinea. This suggestion pro- Origin of 

 ceeded, in a great measure, from the belief of a south- l ' le name, 

 era continent towards the pole being still undiscovered ; 

 but, independent of this circumstance, his reasons bear 

 much weight when considered in another point of view : 

 " In the immense extent of regions about to be ex- 

 posed," he observes, " how :-various are the coun- 

 tries, the climates, the manners, and races of men. 

 Were not some fixed points assumed from place to 

 place, our judgment would be bewildered. Divi- 

 sions, relative to the progress of our knowledge, and 

 also preserving due regard to physical circumstances, 

 should be laid down. Four great portions of land, 

 Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, constitute the 

 world : and there are three wide extents of ocean, the 

 Indian, or Ethiopic ; the North, or Atlantic ; and the 

 South, or Pacific. The unexplored southern regions 

 may be divided into three portions, corresponding to 

 them ; each division being to the southward of one of 

 the three portions of land. That to the south of 

 Asia, in the Indian Ocean, I shall, on this account, 

 call Australasia." A fifth part of the world would 

 thus be constituted, bearing a reasonable proportion 

 in size to the others in point of the land it contained. 

 De Brosses had also proposed another subdivision of 

 the southern hemisphere, which would have further 

 contributed to preserve equality. 



Australasia, according to the limits which we now Countries 

 ascribe to it, is larger than the whole of Europe, included. 

 The principal countries it includes arc, 1. The im- 

 mense island, if it may be called such, of New Hol- 

 land, nearly 2000 miles in breadth, and almost 1700 

 in length ; 2. Van Diemcn's Land ; 3. Papua, or 

 New Guinea ; 4-. New Britain, rnd New Ireland ; 

 .5. The Arsacidts, or Solomon's Islands ; 6. New 

 Caledonia ; 7. New Zealand. Besides these, which 

 present the most prominent terrene objects in Aus- 

 tralasian geography, there are hundreds, p/jbably 

 thousands, of smaller and detached islands, many of 

 which have never been accurately surveyed, and it is 

 highly probable that some arc still unknown. Compare 

 ed with all the other land in Australasia, New Holland 

 may safely be calculated of tenfold greater size ; and 

 it is likely that three-fourths of the whole regions con- 



