134 Dr. Fitton on the Geology of Australia. 



three hundred, and the last more than four hundred miles, in 

 length*. And these lines, though broken by numerous irre- 

 gularities, especially on the north-west coast, are yet sufficiently 

 distinct to indicate a probable connexion with the geological 

 structure of the country ; since the coincidence of similar ranges 

 of coast with the direction of the strata, is a fact of very fre- 

 quent occurrence in other parts of the globef. And it is ob- 

 servable that considerable uniformity exists in the specimens, 

 from the different places in this quarter of New Holland which 

 have been hitherto examined ; sandstone like that of the older 

 formations of Europe occurring generally on the north and 

 north-west coasts, and appearing to be extensively diffused on 

 the north-west of the Gulf of Carpentaria, where it reposes 

 upon primitive rocks \. 



The horn-like projection of the land, on the east of the 

 Gulf of Carpentaria, is a very prominent feature in the general 

 map of Australia, and may possibly have some connexion with 

 the structure just pointed out. The western shore of this horn, 

 from the bottom of the gulf to Endeavour Straits, being very 

 low ; while the land on the east coast rises in proceeding to- 

 wards the south, and after passing Cape Weymouth, latitude 



* It is deserving of notice, that the coast of Timor, the nearest land on 

 the north-west, at the distance of about 300 miles, is also nearly straight, 

 and parallel to the Coast of New Holland in this quarter: part of the 

 mountainous range, of which that island consists, being probably more than 

 9000 feet high ; and its length, from the north-eastern extremity to the 

 S.W. of the adjoining island of Rottee, about ,'300 miles. — But, unfor- 

 tunately for the hypothesis, a chain of islands immediately on the north of 

 Timor, is continued nearly in a right line for more than 1200 miles, (from 

 Sermatta Island to the south-eastern extremity of Java,) in a direction 

 from east to west. This chain, however, contains several volcanoes, in- 

 cluding those of Sumbawa, the eruption of which, in 1815, was of extraor- 

 dinary violence. See R. Inst, Journal, vol. i. (1816), p. 248, &c. 



At Lacrosse Island, in the mouth of Cambridge Gulf, on the north-west 

 coast of New Holland, the beds rise to the N.W. : their direction conse- 

 quently is from S.W. to N.E. ; and the rise towards the high land of Timor. 

 The intervening sea is very shallow. 



f A remarkable case of this kind, which has not, I believe, been noticed, 

 occurs in the Mediterranean; and is conspicuous in the new chart of that 

 sea, by Captain W. H. Smyth. The eastern coast of Corsica and Sardinia, 

 for a space of more than two hundred geographical miles being nearly 

 rectilinear, in a direction from north to south; and, Captain Smyth has 

 informed me, consisting almost entirely of granite, or, at least, of primitive 

 rocks. The coast of Norway affords another instance of the same descrip- 

 tion ; and the details of the ranges in the interior of England furnish se- 

 veral examples of the same kind, on a smaller scale. 



\ The coast lines nearly at right angles to those above mentioned — from 

 the S.E. of the Gulf of Carpentaria to Limmen's Bight, — from Cape Arn- 

 hem to Cape Croker, — and from Cape Domett to Cape Londonderry, — 

 have also a certain degree of linearity ; but much less remarkable, than 

 those which run from S.W. to N.E. 



12° 30', 



