XU 
IMPRESSIONS OF ITS EARLY VISITORS. 
lation of Austral Asia and Polynesia to the new 
discovered lands in the southern ocean ; in which 
division he meant to include the numerous insular 
groups scattered over the Pacific. 
Australia is properly speaking an island, but 
it is so much larger than every other island on the 
face of the globe, that it is classed as a continent, 
in order to convey to the mind a just idea of its 
magnitude. Stretching from the 115th to the 153d 
degree of east longitude, and from the 10th to the 
37th of south latitude, it averages 2700 miles in 
length by 1800 in breadth ; and, balanced, as it 
were,upon the tropic of that hemisphere in which 
it is situated, it receives the fiery heat of the equa- 
tor at one extremity, while it enjoys the refreshing 
coolness of the temperate zone at the other. On a 
first view we should be led to expect that this 
extensive tract of land possessed more than 
ordinary advantages ; that its rivers would be in 
proportion to its size ; and that it would abound 
in the richest productions of the intertropical 
and temperate regions. Such, indeed, was the 
impression of those who first touched upon its 
southern shores, but who remained no longer 
than to be dazzled by the splendour and variety 
of its botanical productions, and to enjoy for a 
