320 
Bibliographical Notice. 
sooner are we transported from the northern shores of Australia 
to the islands of the Arafura Sea than the whole face of things 
begins to brighten, amusing novelties teem on every side, the 
silence of the desert is exchanged for a succession of sights and 
sounds which excite our involuntary interest, and we feel that 
we are once more within the precincts of that oriental world 
which has still some store of undiscovered wonders for European 
voyagers, after three hundred years of almost constant investi¬ 
gation. 
The vast unmanageable block which forms the continent of 
Australia contrasts very remarkably with the features of that 
other portion of the earth's surface which lies immediately to the 
north. Taking a section of the same length and breadth as com¬ 
prises Australia, we find it chequered by a thousand islands, and 
divided by innumerable seas and channels. The scanty forest of 
Australia is exchanged for the rankest vegetation, the boundless 
plains for bold volcanic disruptions. What will be ultimately the 
relations of the inhabitants of this vast archipelago with those 
of the Australian main, it is impossible now to foretell, nor whe¬ 
ther Australia or India is destined to exert the most important 
influence in this direction hereafter. We must turn from the 
tempting speculation to the subject more immediately in hand. 
However devoid of interest the shores of the Australian conti¬ 
nent may be, and those shores more especially which have been 
last examined, the bold coasts of Tasmania cannot be subjected 
to such an imputation. Those massive tiers which traverse the 
island from north-west to south-east are for the most part first 
seen by the English voyager where they descend with a precipi¬ 
tous declivity into the depths of the ocean upon the southern 
coast. Two of these vast chains, opening further to the east¬ 
ward, form that noble entrance from the south which leads 
through the waters of Storm Bay and the Derwent far into the 
bosom of the country. I lie sunny shores of the eastern districts, 
with their castled cliffs and rocky islands, were not closely exa¬ 
mined by the Beagle , though much needing investigation ; but 
on the north little or nothing has been left unfinished. There 
the chief portion of Capt. Stokes’ Tasmanian labours were ex- 
