Although We
Have Not Learnt That Lieutenant King Has Completed His Survey, 8 Or 9
Degrees Of Latitude On The
North-west coast still remaining to be explored,
yet we think it may safely be inferred that no great river
Has its exit
into the ocean from the interior of New Holland. This circumstance, added
to the singular nature of the country through which Lieutenant Oxley
journeyed, and the peculiar and unique character of many of its animals,
seems to stamp on this portion of the globe marks which strongly and widely
separate it from every other portion.
It is remarked in the Quarterly Review, that, before Captain Flinder's
voyage, "the great Gulf of Carpentaria had as yet no definite outline on
our nautical charts. It was the imaginary tracing of an undulating line,
intended to denote the limits between land and water, without a promontory,
or an island, a bay, harbour, or inlet, that was defined by shape or
designated by name. This blank line was drawn and copied by one chart maker
from another, without the least authority, and without the least reason to
believe that any European had ever visited this wide and deeply-indented
gulf; and yet, when visited, this imaginary line was found to approximate
so nearly to its true form, as ascertained by survey, as to leave little
doubt that some European navigator must at one time or other have examined
it, though his labours have been buried, as the labours of many thousands
have been before and since his time, in the mouldy archives of a jealous
and selfish government."
This remark may be extended and applied to other parts of the globe beside
Australasia; but it is particularly applicable to this portion of it.
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