CHAP, XXI 



NEW ZEALA^TD 



473 



continent, is very isolated. It is surrounded by a moder- 

 ately deep ocean; but the form of the sea-bottom is 

 peculiar, and may help us in the solution of some of the 

 anomalies presented by its living productions. The line 

 of 200 fathoms encloses the two islands and extends their 

 area considerably; but the 1,000-fathom line, which in- 

 dicates the land-area that would be produced if the sea- 

 bottom were elevated 6,000 feet, has a very remarkable 

 conformation, extending in a broad mass westward and 

 northward, then sending out a great arm reaching to 

 beyond Lord Howe's Island. Norfolk Island is situated 

 on a moderate-sized bank, while two others, much more 

 extensive, to the north-west approach the great barrier 

 reef, which here carries the 1,000-fathom line more than 

 300 miles from the coast. It is probable that a bank, less 

 than 1,500 fathoms below the surface, extends over this 

 area, thus forming a connection with tropical Australia 

 and New Guinea. Temperate Australia, on the other 

 hand, is divided from New Zealand by an oceanic gulf 

 about 700 miles wide and between 2,000 and 3,000 fathoms 

 deep. The 2,000-fathom line embraces all the islands 

 immediately round New Zealand as far as the Fijis to the 

 north, while a submarine plateau at a depth somewhere 

 between one and two thousand fathoms stretches south- 

 ward to the Antarctic continent. Judging from these 

 indications, we should say that the most probable ancient 

 connections of New Zealand were with tropical Australia, 

 New Caledonia, and the Fiji Islands, and perhaps at a 

 still more remote epoch, with the great Southern continent 

 by means of intervening lands and islands ; and we shall 

 find that a land-connection or near approximation in these 

 two directions, at remote periods, will serve to explain 

 many of the remarkable anomalies which these islands 

 present. 



Zoological Character of Nc%o Zealand. — We see, then, 

 that both geologically and geographically New Zealand 

 has more of the character of a " continental " than of an 

 " oceanic " island, yet its zoological characteristics are such 

 as almost to bring it within the latter category — and it is 

 this which gives it its anomalous character. It is usually 



