The World of Waters, Or, A Peaceful Progress O'er the Unpathed SeaOsborne, David, Mrs. (Fanny)
General
The World of Waters, Or, A Peaceful Progress O'er the Unpathed Sea
Osborne, David, Mrs. (Fanny)
Geography -- Juvenile literature; Voyages and travels -- Juvenile literature
DORA. "Port Adelaide appears to be a neat town. Its harbor is a deep
creek or inlet of the sea, running out of Gulf St. Vincent: it
contains two spacious wharfs, alongside of which, vessels from Great
Britain, Singapore, Manilla, China, Mauritius, Sydney, Hobart Town,
and New Zealand, are continually discharging their cargoes."
MRS. WILTON. "There are many lakes in Australia, but none of them
very large. Lake Alexandria is the largest, but it is very shallow;
and Lake St. George, the second in size, which, in 1828, was a sheet
of water 17 miles long by 7 broad, was said by an old native female
to have been a forest within her memory, and in 1836 it was dried up
to a grassy plain."
EMMA. "Does not Van Diemen's Land belong to New Holland, mamma?"
MRS. WILTON. "Yes, my dear; and the part nearest to it is New South
Wales, from which it is separated by Bass's Straits, which are 100
miles broad, and contain a great many small islands. Van Diemen's
Land was discovered by Tasman, in 1644, and named by him in honor of
the Dutch Governor-General of the East Indies: but it is now more
appropriately called Tasmania. This island contains several
mountains of considerable elevation. The highest is ascertained to
be 3964 feet in height. Hobart Town is the capital. The population
of Tasmania has of late years much increased, for, owing to its
eligibility, the tide of emigration has been strong. For many years,
three or four vessels have annually sailed from Great Britain, laden
with emigrants possessed of more or less capital, and they have, in
most cases, prospered equal to their expectations."
GEORGE. "Are there not more coral reefs about Australia than in any
other part of the Ocean?"
MR. WILTON. "It is generally supposed so; but, in asking that
question, do you know what coral reefs are?"
GEORGE. "Yes, papa; they are the work of insects, who build them for
their habitations; but it is very wonderful."
GRANDY. "It is wonderful, my dear; and there are many other
marvellous productions of the Most High God, so infinitely beyond
the power of man to produce, that, in meditating on them, the mind
is lost in wonder and surprise. 'The most powerful, acutest, and
holiest mind,' says a learned divine, 'will eternally be unable
fully to find out God, or perfectly to comprehend Him.' May these
wonders then increase our reverence, and humble us before the mighty
Creator of all things."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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