Beneath
this strange confusion, the western part of this waving coast-line
observes a regularity equally remarkable as the wild disorder which
prevails above. Lofty ridges of mountain, bounded by tremendous cliffs,
project from two to four miles into the sea, at nearly equal distances
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 sandy beaches. These
vast buttresses appear to be the southern extremities of the mountains of
Van Diemen's land; which, it can hardly be doubted, have once projected
into the sea far beyond their present abrupt termination, and have been
united with the now detached land, De Witt's Isles.
If a corresponding height of similar strata was observable on the islands
and on the main, it would amount to a proof that they were originally
connected; but this proof was wanting. The same kind of strata appeared
in both; but, as far as could be determined in passing hastily by, the
necessary correspondence seemed to be deficient.
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