12 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
New Guinea, the Moluccas, Celebes, and the island 
chain as far as Lombok—or some pre-existing lands from 
which these have been formed—were in all probability 
still attached to the Australian mainland for some time 
subsequent to its severance from Asia. Cape York, the 
northern point of Australia, is continued by a chain of 
high rocky islets all the way to New Guinea, while the 
depth of Torres Straits between these two countries no¬ 
where exceeds nine fathoms, as has already been stated. 
The Louisiade Archipelago is nothing more than a sub¬ 
merged portion of the south-eastern extremity of New 
Guinea. Tasmania must similarly be regarded as the 
true southern point of Australia, as the intervening Bass’s 
Strait is shallow, and this island was undoubtedly con¬ 
nected with the mainland within comparatively recent 
geological times. Hence, in Peschers opinion, Australia 
was formerly far more extensive than at present. It has 
clearly been encroached upon along its eastern seaboard, 
for here stretches the dreaded Great Barrier Beef, whose 
coral walls sink to considerable depths below the surface, 
and still shadow forth the former limits of the coast-line 
in this direction. On this same eastern seaboard, though 
far removed from the mainland, we find some larger islands 
which may well have formed part of the Australian con¬ 
tinent, though perhaps before the Tertiary epoch. Con¬ 
spicuous among them is the non-volcanic island of New 
Caledonia, which is at present slowly subsiding. Australia 
must, in fact, be altogether regarded as a continent of the 
Secondary or early Tertiary period, now gradually dis¬ 
appearing, and this phenomenon of subsidence is displayed 
in many parts of the South Pacific Ocean. 
In the following chapter the leading characteristics of 
Malaysia—the first and most important division of the 
Australasian Archipelago—will be considered. 
