social state. Freemantle is at the entrance of the Swan river; and Albany on King George's Sound.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA includes that portion of the country situated between the meridians of 1329 and 141° E., and between the southern coast, and the parallel of 26 s. It contains nearly 300,000 square miles, but a large proportion of the area is very vaguely known. The lower course of the Murray river, as broad as the Thames at London-bridge, at various points, but without a navigable outlet, lies within its limits; and also the singular horse-shoe lake Torrens, with its vast basin, a mere swamp coated with salt. The colony dates from the year 1836, when the first emigrants reached Kangaroo Island. Notwithstanding early misfortunes, it has advanced with surprising rapidity, owing to the discovery of rich mineral deposits in 1843. rendered doubly important by the fact, that no reserves are made by goverment with regard to minerals, which are the unfettered property of the owners of the soil. This mineral wealth, lead and copper, was discovered by accident. No one suspected its existence except 3 single German geologist, whose statements that the hills were metalliferous was universally discredited. At length, a young florist met with a fine specimen of the green carbonate of copper, while in search of wild flowers; and a protruding mass of clay slate was afterwards observed, tinged with green, like a rock coated with beautiful green moss. Copper is now largely worked. The most important mines are the Kapunda, Montacute, and Burra Burra. The latter place, in the vicinity of the Razorback mountain, about 100 miles north of Adelaide, has acquired notoriety for its rich and abundant ores.

Adelaide, the capital, occupies an ill-chosen inland site, on the eastern side of St. Vincent's Gulf. It is symmetrically laid out, but very incomplete. The Torrens, which runs through it, is a torrent in winter, reduced to a thread in summer, connecting a chain of ponds. Population-10,000. Port Adelaide, seven miles to the north-west, and Glenelg, at the same distance to the southwest, are the ports of the capital, distant by sea about 1,100 miles from Sydney, 500 from Melbourne, 700 from Launceston in Van Diemen's Land, 800 from Hobart Town, and 2,000 from New Zealand.

VICTORIA, recently a part of New South Wales, under the name of the Port Philip district, occupies the south-east corner of Australia, and has an area larger than that of Great Britain. Its more southerly position gives it a much more temperate or European climate than that of the other districts; and its amount of permanent surface-water is more considerable. Abundance of fine timber evidence fertility and moisture. The important chain of the Australian Alps rises on the eastern side; the Pyrenees and Grampians on the western. The colony commenced its independent existence in the year 1850. It has a population of 50,000.

Melbourne, the capital, on the Yarra Yarra river, not far from its outlet into Port Philip, has risen from a nucleus of huts in the forest in 1838, to an important town. It is about 600 miles from Sydney overland, and has a regular mail communication with it.-Population, 13,000.

By the Australian Colonies Bill, which passed the Imperial Parliament in the session of 1850, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Van Diemens' Land, and Western Australia prospectively, are each to possess a Legislative Council; the number of members in the said councils to be liable to variation, and to be determined by the respective governors in council; one-third to be appointed by the Crown or its representative, and two-thirds to be elected by the colonies. It has also been provided, that the Crown may nominate any one of the governors of the Australian colonies governor-general. The Legislative Councils of two or more of the colonies may require the convocation of a general assembly, to consist of the governor-general and a house of delegates, to be elected by each Legislative Council in the proportion of two for each colony, and one additional member for every 15,000 inhabitants in each colony.

There are several considerable islands along the Australian shores, and a great number of small extent. The large islands are Melville, separated from the north coast by Dundas and Clarence Straits; Bathurst, divided from the preceding by Apsley Strait; Groote Eylandt, (big island), in the Gulf of Carpentaria; Dirk Hartog, on the west coast, called after the Dutch navigator of that name; Kangaroo, on the south coast, abounding with salt, the kangaroos now scarce; Stradbroke and Moreton, on the east coast, sheltering Moreton Bay; and Great Sandy Island, on the same coast, to the north. Restoration Island, a small granite mass on the north-east coast, was so named by Captain Bligh, in 1789, who visited it on the anniversary of the restoration of Charles II. Booby Island, the western limit of the dangerous part of Torres Strait, is so called from

A

its flocks of stupid gannets. It lies in the ordinary track of vessels, and is a constant place of resort for those which pass between Australia, India, and China. It has also the name of the Post Office, from a small shed erected upon it, beneath which is a large chest, containing a blank book, pens and ink, with some provisions for any boats' crew escaping from a wreck. Letters are left here by ships, and notices entered in the book announcing their safe arrival. similar plan is adopted by the whalers at the Galapagos Archipelago. Bountiful Islands, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, were so called by Captain Flinders, on account of the plentiful supply of turtle found there. The Capricorn group, on the east coast, the commencement of the coral islets on passing from south to north, have that name from their position under the southern tropic.

Torres Strait, has an intricate navigation, being encumbered with islands, reefs, and shoals; and many maritime disasters have occurred in it The Gulf of Carpentaria is a noble inlet, extending inland 600 miles, with a coast-line of 900 miles, including the bays and windings.

The first point of Australia seen by European eyes, was a portion of the north coast, by the Dutch, in 1606. The north extremity, Cape York, was seen by the Spanish commander, Luis Vaes de Torres, a few months afterwards, whose name has been appropriately given to the adjoining strait. But this discovery was lost till 1770, when it was remade by Captain Cook.

The nearest possible route from Great Britain to New South Wales is by the Isthmus of Panama. It will be practicable for steam navigation all the way whenever the isthmus is opened by an oceanic canal.

Miles.

Route from Southampton to Sydney by the Isthmus of Suez.......13,288. by the Isthmus of Panama...12,700.

434. Van Diemen's Land, or Tasmania, situated to the south of Australia, and separated from it by Bass Strait, extends 210 miles from north to south, by 150 miles from east to west, and possesses an area of 27,000 square miles, being rather more than one-sixth less than Ireland. The coast abounds with fine bays, creeks, and harbours, some of which extend a considerable distance inland, so that no part of the interior is more than seventy-five miles from the sea, rendering the export of produce easy. The surface is generally hilly, and forms high downs in the centre, inclosed by mountain ranges, which are occasionally bold, wild, and stern. Government Hut, the highest habitation of the island, is 3,949 feet above the sea, on the central downs; Mount Humboldt, the highest point, towards the south-west, rising 5,520 feet. The rivers and small streams are numerous; the rains are regular and abundant; the extensive tracts of forest, consisting of trees of great variety and immense size, eucalypti and acacias, proclaim the fertility of the soil; while the climate is English in all its best features.-The important rivers are the Tamar, formed by the junction of the North and South Esk, flowing to the north; and the Derwent, issuing from a lake on the high central downs, and descending south-east to the noble estuary on which the capital is situated. From the limited size of the island, and its comparatively long

settlement, there is a considerable proportion of the surface under skilfully conducted cultivation. In fact, no colony is said to bear such a near resemblance to the mother country in its occupied districts, by neat villages and prominently seated churches, houses embosomed in orchards, clipped hedge-rows, inclosures instead of shepherds, to restrain the flocks from wandering, and fields of clover, ryegrass, and corn, in place of the natural herbage. The population amounts to 60,000, all foreigners to the island, and almost all British.

Hobart Town, the capital, founded in 1804, is situated on the right bank of the Derwent estuary, twenty miles from its mouth in Storm Bay. It boasts the finest anchorage, and admits any number of vessels of the largest burden. An amphitheatre of fine hills forms the back-ground, among which Mount Wellington rises upwards of 3,000 feet. Numerous villas inclosed with groves form the suburbs. Population-16,000. Launceston, on the north side of the island, is on the Tamar, 45 miles from its mouth, in the midst of a very rich country. A fine road of 121 miles connects it with the capital.

The colony is a penal settlement, but the convicts are almost exclusively confined to Tasman's Peninsula, Maria Island, and Macquarie Harbour. From the report of the Transportation Committee of the House of Commons in 1838, it appears that the number of convicts sent from 1817 to that date amounted to 27,759, and the average annual number, for five past years, to 2,078. The present convict population is probably 20,000. Tasman's Peninsula, is an extensive and deeply indented tract of the east coast, connected by a narrow isthmus with the smaller Forrestier peninsula, which is itself nearly detached from the main land. A strong military guard is kept at the isthmus which connects the two peninsulas. Tasman's terminates with a remarkable formation of columnar basalt, called Cape Pillar. Maria Island, a little to the north, commemorates by its name a daughter of Van Diemen. It received its first convicts in 1825. Macquarie Harbour, on the west coast, is the station of those whose crimes are of an aggravated nature.

The aborigines, an Oceanic negro race, have been forcibly removed to Flinder's Island in Bass's Strait. This proceeding called forth severe comments at the time, but it was adopted in order to terminate a fearful succession of robberies, burnings, and murders. All of that race are remarkably distinguished from the Malayo-Polynesians, and even from the Australians, by the unextinguishable hatred they bear to those who attempt to settle in their territory, and which is continued as long as a man of the tribe exists. In 1830, the whole island was put under martial law, and the entire population required by proclamation to assist in one great attempt to secure the natives. The plan adopted was to form a line around them, with the intention of driving them into a cul-de-sac in Tasman's Peninsula. But this attempt failed. At length they surrendered in despair, and were removed to Flinder's Island, where food and clothes were provided for them. In 1835, the epoch of their deportation, they numbered only 210; and by 1842, were reduced to 54.

Van Diemen's Land has been so called after the Dutch governor of Batavia, Anthony Van Diemen, but is more properly styled Tasmania, after Abel Jasmen Tasman, the real discoverer, November 24, 1642. It was believed to form part of Australia down to the year 1798, when Bass established its insularity, by passing in an open boat through the strait which bears his name.

Norfolk Island, E.N.E. of Sydney, at the distance of 900 miles, and northwest of New Zealand, is a penal settlement included in the government of Van Diemen's Land. In February, 1798, it received a small company from New South Wales, with a view to the cultivation of flax, consisting of twenty-two persons. of whom fifteen were convicts, a large band of transports speedily following. A singular circumstance marks the early history of the settlement. Provisions failing, all the inhabitants were on the eve of perishing, when they were saved by a large flock of aquatic birds alighting on the island to lay their eggs. Their number was so great, that for two months the settlers captured from two to

three thousand every night, with an incalculable quantity of eggs, upon which they subsisted. The island is singularly beautiful, and noted for its fine vegetation, among which is the lofty cone-bearing tree, araucaria excelsa, attaining a height of from 180 to 223 feet. and called the Norfolk Island Pine from its site, but found also on the eastern side of Australia.

435. New Zealand, situated to the south-east of Australia, at the distance of about 1,100 miles, and near the antipodes of Great Britain, consists of two large islands, and one of small dimensions, extending in a curved line from north to south. The northern island, or New Ulster, is about onesixth less than England and Wales; the middle, or New Munster, separated from it by Cook's Strait, is nearly onefourth larger; the southern, or New Leinster, divided from the preceding by Foveaux Strait, is only equal in extent to a moderate-sized English county. The correspondence in area between the United Kingdom and the "Britain of the South," as the New Zealand group is frequently styled, from natural resemblances, has been thus stated:

The group extends about 800 miles in length from north to south; but the breadth is comparatively small, and very varying, owing to deeply indented shores. This is specially characteristic of the northern island, which has a width amounting at the most to 200 miles, but diminishing to less than five miles. The coast-line probably exceeds 3,000 miles, marked with many large and well protected harbours.-Situated near the antipodes, everything in nature is, of course, as to times and seasons, discordant to what it is with us, while various phenomena occur under reverse circumstances. Midnight reigns there at our noonday. June is midwinter, January midsummer.

The

compass-needle points to the south. The north is the warmest, and the south the coldest point. The luminosity, which we designate, from its general position in the heavens, the aurora borealis, occurs there as the aurora australis. The surface rises in grand mountains, some of which are capped with perpetual snow, forests clothing their slopes, and innumerable rills pouring down their declivities, forming considerable streams in the great valleys. Mount Edgecombe, the highest point, on the

eastern shore of the northern island, attains the height of 9,630 feet; but Mount Egmont, on the western coast, is the most beautiful and imposing mass,―a volcanic cone, quite extinct, rising 8,840 feet, or about 1,600 feet above the snow-line, in complete isolation from a perfectly level plain, a thick belt of woods adorning its base. There are evidences of the islands having been the scenes of extensive combustion in ancient times, while the present intensity of subterranean heat is proclaimed by warm lakes, ponds, and springs in a state of ebullition, and the mountain of Tongariri, with other active volcanic vents. Shocks of earthquakes, occasionally very sensible, are frequent in certain districts, and have excited great alarm among the European colonists; but it does not appear that the natives themselves have any tradition of formidable catastrophes of the kind having occurred. The climate is universally spoken of in terms of no common eulogy, as remarkably salubrious and agreeable, more equable than our own, and more mild,—the winters being warmer, while cool and refreshing sea-breezes prevent oppressive heat and sultriness in the summer months. The soil, though variable in quality, is in many parts extremely rich, densely clothed in its natural state with a wild indigenous vegetation of valuable timber-trees, ornamental and dye-woods, majestic ferns, and the native flax, phormium tenax, remarkable for the strength of its fibre. European grain of all kinds, fruits, and vegetables, grow luxuriantly on the cleared surface; and admirable pastures for cattle are produced by the sowing of the English grasses. There are no predatory animals, or venomous reptiles, and no indigenous quadrupeds; but all the introduced domesticated races thrive well.- Coal has been found in various districts, and used in steamers with success; while minerals of other descriptions appear to be abundant.-The aborigines, a vigorous race of Malayo-Polynesians, are supposed not to exceed 110,000, and are principally found in the northern island. Great efforts have been made to establish amicable relations with them on the part of the British colonists; and not without success have missionaries, of various Christian denominations, laboured to extend to them the blessings of civilization and true religion. The colonists may probably number 20,000, in course of steady annual