The relative situations of these three points, when viewed upon
a chart drawn on the plane of the equator, or upon an artificial globe,
are particularly striking. They will be found to lie at nearly equal
distances from each other in the circumference, and each extending
itself so directly towards the south, that, if continued on in the
same line, they would certainly meet somewhere near the pole. The effect
that is produced upon the whole globe, by this peculiar disposition of
three of its most prominent points, seems indeterminable.
Like that of Terra del Fuego, the extremity of Van Diemen's land presents
a rugged and determined front to the icy regions of the south pole; and,
like it, seems once to have extended further south than it does at
present. To a very unusual elevation is added an irregularity of form,
that justly entitles it to rank among the foremost of the grand and
wildly magnificent scenes of nature. It abounds with peaks and ridges,
gaps and fissures, that not only disdain the smallest uniformity of
figure, but are ever changing shape, as the point of view shifts.
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