370 COSMOS. 



been periodical, occurring every ten minutes, and at other 

 times, as on the occasion of the expedition of D'Entrecas- 

 teaux, the crater itself and the column of vapor were undis- 

 tinguishable from each other. 



In the Solomon's group the volcano of the island of Se- 

 sarga* is in a state of ignition. On the coast of Guadalca- 

 nar, in this neighborhood, and therefore also at the southeast 

 end of the long range of islands toward the Vanikoro or 

 Santa Cruz group, volcanic eruptive action has likewise been 

 observed. 



In the Ladrones, or Marian Islands, at the north end of 

 the range, which seems to have been upheaved from a me- 

 ridian fissure, Guguan,* Pagon,* and the Volcan grande of 

 Asuncion, are said to be still in a state of activity. 



The direction of the coasts of the small continent of New 

 Holland, and particularly the deviation from that direction 

 seen in the east coast in 25 south latitude (between Cape 

 Hervey and Moreton Bay), seem to be reflected in the zone 

 of the neighboring eastern islands. The great southern isl- 

 and of New Zealand, and the Kermadec and Tonga groups, 

 stretch from the southwest to the northeast; while, on the 

 other hand, the northern portion of the north island of New 

 Zealand (from the Bay of Plenty to Cape Oton), New Cale- 

 donia and New Guinea, the New Hebrides, the Solomon's 

 Isles, New Ireland, and New Britain, run in a direction from 

 S.E. to N.W., chiefly N. 48 W. Leopold von Buch(*) first 

 drew Attention to this relation between continental masses 

 and neighboring islands in the Greek Archipelago and the 

 Australian Coral Sea. The islands of the latter sea, too, 

 are not deficient, as both Forster (Cook's companion) and La 

 Billardiere formerly observed, in granite and mica-slate, the 

 quartzose rocks formerly called primeval. Dana has like- 

 wise collected them on the northern island of New Zealand, 

 to the west of Tipuna, in the Bay of Islands.! 



New Holland exhibits only on its southern extremity (Aus- 

 tralia Felix), at the foot and to the south of the Grampian 

 Mountains, fresh traces of former igneous action, for we learn 

 from Dana that a number of volcanic cones and deposits of 



(*) Leop.von Buch, Description Phys. deslles Canaries, 1836, p. 893 

 and 403-405. 



t See Dana, Ibid., 438-446, and on the fresh traces of ancient vol- 

 canic action in New Holland, p. 453 and 457 ; also on the many basaltic 

 columns in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, p. 495-510; 

 and E. de Strzelecki, Phys. Descr. of New South Wales, p. 112. 



