132 Dr. Fitton on the Geology of Australia. 



pilatam ramis strictioribus vidi in ditissimo regio horto 

 absque floribus. Forte vera species. Simulat M. bre- 

 vifolium parum, at non effuse ramosum ut in illo, neque 

 confertum. 



XVIII. An Account of some Geological Speciiucns, collected by 

 Captain P. P. King, in his Survey of the Coasts of Australia, 

 and by Robert Brown, Esq., on the Shores of' the Gidf of 

 Carpentaria, during the Voyage of Captain Flinders. By 

 William Henry Fitton, M.D. F.R.S. V.P.G.S. 



[Continued from p. 34.] 

 VI. \ S the superficial extent of Australia is more than 

 "fr; three-fourths of that of Europe, and the interior may 

 be regarded as unknown*, any theoretic inferences, from the 

 slight geological information hitherto obtained respecting this 

 great island, are very likely to be deceitful; but among the 

 few facts already ascertained respecting the northern portion 

 of it, there are some which appear to afford a glimpse of ge- 

 neral structure. 



Captain Flinders, in describing the position of the chains 

 of islands on the north-west coast of Carpentaria, Wessell's,the 

 EnglishCompany's, and Bromby's Islands, remarks, that he had 

 " frequently observed a great similarity both in the ground 

 plans, and the elevations of hills, and of islands, in the vicinity 

 of each other, but did not recollect another instance of such 

 a likeness in the arrangement of clusters of islandsf." The 

 appearances which called for this observation, from a voyager 

 of so much sagacity and experience in physical geography, 

 must probably have been very remarkable; and, combined 

 with information derivable from the charts, and from the spe- 

 cimens for which we are indebted to Captain King and Mr. 



* The following are the proportions assigned by Captain de Freycinet 

 to the principal divisions of the globe. — Voyage aux Terres Australes, p. 107. 

 French leagues square. Proportions. 



Asia . . . 2,200,000 17 



America . . 2,100,000 . . . 17 



Africa . . 1,560,000 12 



Europe . . 501,875 4 



Australia . . 384,375 3 



The most remote points from the coast of New South Wales, to which 

 the late expeditions have penetrated, (and the interior has never yet been 

 examined in any other quarter,) are not above 500 miles, in a direct line, 

 from the sea ; the average width of the island from east to west being more 

 than 2000 miles, and from north to south more than 1000 miles. 



t Flinders, v. ii. p. 246; and Charts, Plates 14 and 15. — King's Charts, 

 Plate 4. 



Brown, 



