N E W S O U T H W A L E S, j 
tion it may be anfwered, that though the etymology of c h^a f. 
the word illand/-''- and of others fynonymoiis to i'c, points — v— 
out only a land fiirrounded by the fca, cr by any water, 
(in wiiich fenfe the term is applicable even to the 
largeii portions of the habitable globe) yet it is certain / ■ 
that, in the iifual acceptation, an ifland is conceived to 
fignify a land of only moderate extent, fiirrounded by 
the fea.t To define at what point of magnitude pre- 
cifely, a country fo fituated fliall begin to be a continent, 
could not anfwer any purpofe of utility ; but the belt 
and cleareft rule for removing the doubt appears to be 
the following : As long as the peculiar advantages of an. 
infular fituation can be enjoyed by the inhabitants of 
fuch a country, let it have the title of an illand ; when 
it exceeds thofe limits let it be conlidered as a con- 
tinent. Now the firft and principal advantage of an 
illand, is that of being capable of a convenient union 
under one government, and of deriving thence a fecurity 
from all external attacks, except by fea. In lands of 
very great magnitude fuch an union is difficult, if not 
impra6ticable, and a diftin6lion founded on this circum- 
* Infula^ from which ifland is derived, is formed from in falo, in the fea ; and 
»^o■of, the correfponding word in Greek, is ufually deduced from tieo to fiuim, as :\p- 
pearing, and probably having been originally fuppofed to fwim in the fea. 
f Thus when Dionyfius Periegetes confiders the whole ancient world as 
furrounded by the fea, he calls it vnao; umifno;, an iinnunfe if.and \ on which Eufta- 
thius remarks, that the addition of the epithet immenfc was necefiary, otherwife the 
expreffion would have been low and inadequate. 
B 2 ftance, 
