OFF MORETON BAT. 81 



Cape Moreton is an item in the account. I have thought it, 

 therefore, worthy of especial notice. 



If, for the sake of illustration, we could raise New Holland, 

 New Zealand, New Caledonia, and New Guinea, to one uniform 

 additional height of some 2,600 fathoms above the ocean, we would, 

 I think, perceive similar features on the surface, so formed, to 

 those which are now exposed, and be able to show what can now 

 be only surmised, that the remark of Dr. Hooker before referred 

 to is strictly true ; and also, that in examining critically the pre- 

 sent surface of the land, we can reproduce what the ancient 

 surface was which is now buried beneath the waters. And from 

 the examination of such portions of the ocean-bed as have been 

 sounded, we may gain valuable hints in the endeavour to account 

 for many of the superficial phenomena of the still exposed and 

 denuded dry land. 



In corroboration of this view of the subject, I will conclude 

 with a quotation from a very important work of Mr. Alfred 

 Russell Wallace, just published, *' On the Geographical Distribu- 

 tion of Animals, with a study of the relations of living and extinct 

 Kaunas, as elucidating the vast changes of the earth'' s surf ace. ^^ 



" The well-known fact " (says that accomplished writer, vol. i, 

 p. 35) " that nearly three-fourths of the surface of the earth is 

 occupied by water, and but little more than one-fourth by land, 

 is important as indicating the vast extent of the ocean by which 

 many of the continents and islands are separated from each other. 

 But there is another fact which greatly increases its importance, 

 namely, that the mean height of the land is very small com- 

 pared with the mean depth of the sea. It has been estimated by 

 Humboldt that the mean height of all the land surface does not 

 exceed a thousand feet, owing to the comparative narrowness of 

 mountain ranges, and the great extent of alluvial plains and val- 

 leys ; the ocean-bed on the contrary, is not only deeper than the 

 tops of the highest mountains which rise above its surface, but these 

 profound depths are broad sunken plains, while the shallows 

 correspond to the mountain ranges, so that its mean depth is, as 

 nearly as can be estimated, 12,000 feet."* 



It being no part of the present subject to go further into the 

 former connection of Australia with New Zealand, the remarks 

 of Mr. Wallace, founded on the relationship established between 

 certain portions of the Faunae of those countries, as evidenced by 

 those of the intermediate islands, have not been alluded to on 

 this occasion, but he offers sound reasons for the belief formerly 



* " This estimate has been made for me by Mr. Stanford, from the materials 

 used in delineating the contours of the ocean bed on our general map. It em- 

 bodies the results of all the soundings of the " Challenger, ^^ " Tuscarora,^^ and 

 other vessels, obtainable up to August, 1875." [The Abstract above given is, 

 therefore, additional to those mentioned by Mr. Wallace.] 



