been feen upon this weft coaft, the appearance o f which was mifera-
bly barren.
On the morning o f the 13th they found that they had been carried
in the night to leeward o f a break in the land, which had been feen
the preceding evening, and had the appearance of being the
entrance to a harbour. The north point o f this imaginary inlet was
named Point St. Vincent. The coaft here trended to the eaftward,
the land of which was mountainous and fteep to the fea. Some
iflands were in fight a-head, lying near the land.
At 8 in the evening they palled the S. W. cape o f Van Diemen’s
land, hitherto known as that o f New Holland. It is a narrow
piece o f land, projedting from the higher land at no great diftance,
with two flattifh hummocks, that gave it fome little refemblancc
to the Ram Head near Plymouth. Having paffed the Cape, they
hauled up, and went between the iflands, which are De Witt’s Ifles,
and the main. At funfet they were about a mile and a half from
the South Cape.
The fouth weft and fouth Capes lie nearly eaft and weft o f each
other, and are diftant about fifteen leagues. The intermediate coaft
forms the fouthern boundary o f V an Diemen’s land; but 1f taken
upon the more extenfive fcale o f the whole fouthern hemifphere, it
appears, as the fouth point o f New Holland, to be o f equal refpe&a-
bility with the extremity o f Terra del Fuego, and o f the Cape o f
Good Hope, the fouth points o f the continents o f America and
Africa.
The relative fituations o f thele three points, when viewed upon a
chart drawn on the plane o f the equator, or upon an artificial globe,
are particularly ftriking. They will be found to lie at nearly equal
diftances from each other in the circumference, and each extending
itfelf fo diredly towards the fouth, that, i f continued on in the fame
line, they would certainly meet fomewhere near the pole. The
e g e a that is produced upon the whole globe, by this peculiar difpo-
iition o f three o f its'moft prominent points, feems indeterminable.
Like
Like that o f Terra del Fuego, the extremity o f Van Diemen’s land
prefents a rugged and determined front to the icy regions o f the
fouth pole ; and, like it, feems once to havé extended further fouth
than it does at prefent. T o a very unufual elevation is added an irregularity
o f form, that juftly entitles it to rank among the fore-
moft o f the grand and wildly magnificent fcenes o f nature. It
abounds with peaks and ridgés, gaps and fiffures, that not only dif-
dain the fmalleft uniformity o f figure, but are ever changing fhape,
as the point o f view Ihifts. Beneath this ftrange confufion, the
weftern part of this waving coaft-line obferves a regularity equally
remarkable as the wild diforder which prevails above. Lofty ridges
o f mountain, bounded by tremendous cliffs, projed from two to
four miles into the fea, at nearly equal diftances from each other,
with a breadth varying from two miles to two and a half. The
bights or bays lying between them are backed by fandy beaches.
Thefe vaft buttreffes appear to be the fouthern extremities o f the
mountains o f V an Diemen’s land ; which, it can hardly be doubted,
have once projected into the fea far beyond their prefent abrupt termination,
and have been united with the now detached land, De
Witt’s Ifles.
I f a correfponding height o f fimikr ftrata were obfervable on the
iflands and on the main, it would amount to a proof that they were
originally connected ; but this proof was wanting. The fame kind
of ftrata appeared in both; but, as far as could be determined in
palling haftily by, the neceffary correfpondence fèemed to be deficient.
They did not land upon either the iflands or the main ; but
two kinds of rock, one with ftrata and the other without, were
plainly difcernible. That without ftrata formed by far the largeft
part; it appeared whitilh and Ihining, was certainly a quartz, and
probably a' granite. The layers o f the rock with ftrata were o f various
dark colours, and perfectly diftindt.
It was evident, that land fo much expofed to the violence of extenfive
oceans muft have undergone fome very material changes,
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