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1 799-] OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 479 



the Ram Head near Plymouth, At fun-fet they were about a mile 

 and a half from the South Gape. 



The fouth-weft and fouth capes lie nearly eaft and weft of each 

 other, and are diftant about fifteen leagues. The intermediate coaft 

 forms the fouthern boundary of Van Diemen's Land; but if taken 

 upon the more extenfive fcale of the whole fouthern hemifphere, it 

 appears, as the fouthern point of New Holland, to be of equal re- 

 fpe&ability with the extremity of Terra del Fuego and of the Cape 

 of Good Hope, the fouth points of the continents of America and 

 Africa. 



Like that of Terra del Fuego, the extremity of Van Diemen's Land 

 prefents a rugged and determined front to the icy regions of the fouth 

 pole ; and like it feems once to have extended further fouth than it 

 does at prefent. To a very unufual elevation, is added an irregularity 

 of form, that juftly entitles it to rank among the foremoft of the 

 grand and wildly magnificent fcenes of nature. It abounds with peaks 

 and ridges, gaps and fifTures, that not only difdain the fmalleft uni- 

 formity of figure, but are ever changing fhape, as the point of view 

 fhifts. Beneath this ftrange confufion, the weftern part of this 

 waving coaft-line obferves a regularity equally remarkable as the wild 

 diforder which prevails above. Lofty ridges of mountain bounded 

 by tremendous cliffs, project from two to four miles into the fea, at 

 nearly equal diftances from each other, with a breadth varying from 

 two miles to two and a half. The bights or bays lying between them 

 are backed by fandy beaches. Thefe vaft buttreffes appear to be the 

 fouthern extremities of the mountains of Van Diemen's Land ; which, 

 it can hardly be doubted, have once projected into the fea far beyond 

 their prefent abrupt termination, and have been united with the 

 now detached land, De Witt's Ifles. Thefe ifles, (fo named, pro- 

 bably, by Tafman) twelve in number, are of various fizes. The two 

 largeft are from three to four miles in circuit. Their fides are 

 fteep ; but their height is inferior to that of the main. The largeft is 



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