598 
APPENDIX. 
[C. 
VI. As the superficial extent of Australia is more than 
three-fourths of that of Europe, and the interior may be 
regarded as unknown *, any theoretic inferences, from the 
slight geological information hitherto obtained respecting this 
great island, are very likely to be deceitful; but among the 
few facts already ascertained respecting the northern portion 
of it, there are some which appear to afford a glimpse of 
general structure. 
Captain Flinders, in describing the position of the chains 
of islands on the north-west coast of Carpentaria, Wes- 
sell’s, the English Company’s, and Bromby’s Islands, re- 
marks, that he had “ frequently observed a great similarity 
both in the ground plans, and the elevations of hills, and of 
islands, in the vicinity of each other, but did not recollect 
another instance of such a likeness in the arrangement of 
clusters of islands The appearances which called for this 
observation, from a voyager of so much sagacity and experi- 
* The following are the proportions assigned by Captain de 
Freycinet to the principal divisions of the globe . — Voyage aux 
Terres Australes, p. 107. 
Asia 
French leagues square. 
. 2,200,000 
Proportions. 
17 
America 
2,100,000 
17 
Africa . 
. 1,560,000 
12 
Europe . 
501,875 
4 
Australia 
384,375 
3 
The most remote points from the coast of New South Wales, 
to which the late expeditions have penetrated, (and the interior 
has never yet been examined in any other quarter,) are not above 
500 miles, in a direct line, from the sea ; the average width of 
the island from east to west being more than 2000 miles, and from 
north to south more than 1000 miles. 
t Flinders, v. ii. p. 246; and Charts, Plates 14 and 15. — King’s 
Charts, Plate 4. 
