Bibliographical Notice. 
a 19 
Our reference to Tasman’s chart reminds us to correct a mis¬ 
conception to which some observations in our number for July, 
1845, might give rise, where (p. 321) the first publication of this 
chart is ascribed to the English captors of Batavia. 
We shall make no further remarks on the present state of the 
chart of Tasmania than to declare our sincere satisfaction at the 
recently-expressed intention of Lieutenant-Governor Sir William 
Denison to prosecute an amended survey of the island, under the 
immediate auspices of the local government, and our hope that 
the instructions issued to the officers employed may prove worthy 
of the present state of modern science, and may, if possible, be 
published for the sake of directing inquiry upon this topic. The 
mundus novissimus of Australia is at this moment the best-illus¬ 
trated of the regions of the earth in the department of natural 
history and physical description, thanks to the exertions of Count 
Strzelecki and the ornithologist Gould; and we trust that the 
same distinction may be in store for it at the hands of those to 
whom the new map of Tasmania is about to be entrusted. 
The excellent spirit which breathes through the pages of Capt. 
Stokes’ work, his zeal and industry, his thorough relish for the 
pursuits of the explorer, and his watchful ardour in the due fulfil¬ 
ment of his commission, all unite to relieve, though they cannot 
wholly remove the fact, that, apart from the mere charm of 
novelty, the shores of Australia are not among the most inte¬ 
resting objects of maritime research. A sandhill once in two 
hundred miles relieves the level desolation of one portion of the 
coast; a river, partaking rather of the nature of a gigantic and 
uncertain torrent than of a regularly flowing and useful stream, 
is with difficulty detected in another portion ; the scanty popu¬ 
lation which haunt the shores but seldom betray their presence to 
the voyager, except to take cruel and inhospitable advantage of 
his unprotected moments, and would appear on the most inte¬ 
resting occasions of contact with their European visitors to be 
lost in an unreasoning apathy. One chapter in Capt. Stokes 
book makes us feel still more perceptibly, by contrast, the some¬ 
what untractable nature of his subject. It is that which has 
been contributed from the pen of Capt. Owen Stanley. No 
