D I E 



733 



D I E 



Didymus DIDYMUS' Genera, in Music, were among the 



II many modes which the theovetical writers on the Greek 



Diemen's sca ^ es nat h °f" dividing the tetrachord, or minor fourth. 



I land. According to Dr Wallis, the genera of this author were 



'*~~^-mm* as follows, viz. 



Climate. 



Enharmonic 44 x-]-t :><-£=§= 4th. 

 Chromatic . p s xW><i=i 

 Diatonic . . 44 x ■& X f =i 



Two of these in the enharmonic, involves primes 

 higher than 5, and are inconsistent with our present 

 music. (§) 



DIDYNAMIA. See Botany, p. 74 and 242. 

 DIEMEN'S ISLAND, Van, is an island which, 

 from the year 16'42, was believed to be an integral part 

 of New Holland, until recent observations have proved 

 its separation from that extensive territory by a chan- 

 nel called Bass' Straits, bounding it on the north. It 

 approaches to a rectangular form, being about 160 

 miles in length, and 80 in breadth; and its most 

 southern point, Cape South, lies in 43° 42' South Lat. 

 and 146° 56' East Long. 



This island is surrounded by several others of va- 

 rious sizes, such as De Witt's isles, Schouten's, Bruny's, 

 and Maria's islands to the south and east ; and those of 

 Furneaux and others to the north. Bruny's island is 

 of a very singular appearance, consisting of two high 

 mountainous territories, separate and distinct for a con- 

 siderable interval, but connected by a low narrow neck 

 of land ; on the eastern coast of which is Adventure 

 Bay, a port hitherto erroneously described as pertain- 

 ing to Van Diemen's Land : but Bruny's island is di- 

 vided from it by a channel discovered by the French 

 in 1791; and named by them D'Entrecasteaux's Straits. 

 In general, isthmuses are common on the coast, and 

 frequently terminate by a high promontory : Even Van 

 Diemen's Land presents a bold and rugged front to the 

 southern ocean ; lofty basaltic columns resist the turbu- 

 lence of the waves, and the proximity of sterile point- 

 ed rocks/ detached from the main-land, attest, that their 

 separation has been effected by continued tempests, or 

 some catastrophe of nature. Nevertheless, its shores 

 are in many places penetrated by deep and capacious 

 bays, forming safe harbours for shipping, and occa- 

 sionally fresh water streams are discharged into them. 

 The inttrior consists of ridges of mountains, some al- 

 most bounded by the sea, interspersed by extensive 

 plains and vallies of rich vegetable soil. Salt and fresh 

 water lakes appear covered by innumerable birds ; but, 

 as on the continent of New Holland, there are few 

 rivers, and scarcely more than one or two for a short 

 distance navigable. 



The climate, in general, is temperate, though chill 

 and stormy about the southern extremity, except in 

 the summer season ; and snow lies on the mountains 

 during several months of the year. Sometimes hot 

 and sickly winds blow impetuously from the north, re- 

 sembling the air at the mouth of an oven : the whole 

 human body feels as if in a vapour-bath ; vegetation 

 is then totally blighted, and the putrefaction of animal 

 substances accelerated in a remarkable degree. 

 Minerslc- The mineralogy of this island has not yet been suffi- 

 'iY- ciently explored, to enable us to speak of it in detail. 



Metallic indications are rare, schist and granitic rocks 

 abound, small quantities of coral have been discovered, 

 and petrifactions of wood and shells are found at a great 

 height above the level of the sea. But it is otherwise with 

 the animal and vegetable creation ; there immense variety 



appears, all new and unknown on the old continents of 

 the world. Trees attain the incredible size of 180 feet 

 in height, and 36 in circumference, and exhibit, in their 

 decay, the evidence of the most remote antiquity. While 

 the top is still in foliage, the trunk has wasted away to 

 a slender ring, affording, in the interior cavity, an inse- 

 cure habitation to the rude natives of this distant re- 

 gion. " The dark forests of Van Diemen's Land pre- Forests, 

 sent a remarkable spectacle : These are the ancient off- 

 spring of time and nature, where the blow of the axe 

 has never resounded ; where unrestrained vegetation, 

 daily becoming richer from its own products, meets 

 with no obstruction ; and which excite still greater in- 

 terest, from consisting exclusively of trees Unknown in 

 the civilized world, and vegetables singular in organi- 

 zation. There a mysterious gloom perpetually pre- 

 vails, a refreshing coolness, and a penetrating humidi- 

 ty; there, are overgrown trees mouldering down with 

 age, from which so many vigorous scyons are spring- 

 ing; mosses and parasite lichens cover the massy trunks, 

 now decomposing by the united action of time and 

 moisture ; while cold bodied reptiles or insects are har- 

 boured within in legions. All the avenues of the fo- 

 rest are obstructed by them ; they cross each other in 

 a thousand fashions, forming so many protecting bar- 

 riers, which oppose the progress of the traveller, and 

 multiply the dangers around him. Sometimes the slip- 

 pery and decaying bark yields under his feet, or, sink* 

 ing by his own weight, he is buried amidst the sur- 

 rounding fragments. Sometimes they are heaped to- 

 gether in ramparts of twenty-five or thirty feet in 

 height ; or, fallen over the bed of torrents, they consti- 

 tute so many bridges, which the passenger must cross 

 with distrust. But amidst this scene of ravages and 

 disorder, nature universally rears all that is most im- 

 posing by her creative power. Every where are seen 

 in flourish, beautiful mimosas, superb metrosideros, and 

 elegant correa, which are strangers to our native re- 

 gions." Yet in this profusion there is scarcely a vege- 

 table adapted for the sustenance of mankind ; for, ex- 

 cepting the rarest instances, neither roots nor fruits 

 have been discovered which may be converted to that 

 purpose. The soil, besides, though in many places 

 rich, owes its chief fertility to the immediate decompo- 

 sition of vegetable matter. 



The mollusca tribes, in the neighbouring seas, are Fishes, 

 innumerable, and have added infinitely to that branch 

 of natural history which is still so imperfectly illustra- 

 ted. Quantities of fish approach the shores, and, at 

 certain seasons, may be taken with much facility ; at 

 low water, abundance of oysters, mussels, and the like, 

 are procured of the finest quality ; and many curious 

 shells, which have lost their inhabitants, are washed up 

 by the tide. 



The cetacea are likewise very numerous in the vici- 

 nity ; and the phocee, sometimes almost covering the 

 desert islands, have afforded an opportunity of esta- 

 blishing profitable fisheries. 



Uncommon beauty and variety are displayed among Bird.-.. 

 the feathered race : Besides the birds, of which analo- 

 gous species are seen in Europe, there are cocatooes, 

 black-spotted parroquets, pelicans, and the black swan, 

 so long thought to exist only in fable. Flocks in hun- 

 dreds cover the lagoons, where they shew wonderful 

 sagacity in evading pursuit ; and if followed by a boat, 

 instead of directing their course straight forward to es- 

 cape, always endeavour to gain the wind to aid then- 

 progress. 



Nature has been peculiarly sparing in the distribu- 



