VAN DIEMEN'S LAND, sometimes called Tasmania, is an island and British colony situated iu the southern hemisphere, south of Australia. It lies between 40° 45' and 43° 45' S. let, 144° 45' and 14S° 30' E. long. It is separated from Australia by Bases Strait. On the west of the island is the Indian Ocean, on the east the Pacific, and on the south the Southern Ocean. The greatest length is 230 miles ; the greatest bimadth is 190 miles. The area is about 22,030 square miles. The population in December 1847 had increased to 70,164, of whom 47,828 were males and 22,330 females. Of this total 33,173 were either free emigrants, or were bore in the colony; the rest were then or had been convicts. Emigration to Victoria colony has combined with other causes to prevent any material increase of the population of Van Diemen's Land of lath years.
Coast-line and Islands.—The western coast is about 210 miles long. It is only broken by the two large inlets which form Macquarrie Harbour and Port Davy. The shores elsewhere are steep, exposed to a strong swell and surf, and without anchorage or shelter. The southern coast is about 50 miles long, and runs In a serpentine line, forming several bays, of which a few have good anchorage. The south-eastern coast extends about 60 miles in a straight lioe. It con tains a greater number of safe anchorages than probably any other country of the same extent on the globe; in fact there is hardly a mile along this coast-line which does not offer a safe refuge to vessels. This great advantage is owing partly to the size and form of the island of Brune, which extends along the coast, and partly to two far projecting promoutories, called Ralph's Peninsula and Tasman's Peninsula. The strait which divides Brune Island from the maiuland is called D'Entrecasteaux Channel, or Storm Bay Passage, and extends 45 miles in a straight line. The eastern coast extends more than 150 miles in a straight line. It has many good anchorages end inlets, of which Oyster Bay is the largest. On this coast is Maria Island, which is about 12 miles long, and consists of two large masses of rock con nected by a neck of land. It is a convict establishment, and Smith O'Brien was for a while confined upon it North of Maria Island, and near to Oyster Bay, is Schouten Island, which is about 6 miles long and 3 miles wide. The northern coast extends about 160 miles in a
straight line. North of this coast is Bass's Strait, at the eastern entrance of which is the group of the Furneaux Islands. The largest, Great Island, extends 40 miles from north to south, and is on an average 9 miles wide. South of Great Island is Cape Barren Island, which extends east to west about 20 miles, with an average width of about 5 miles. North of the Furneaux Islands is the Kent group. The strait which divides Furneaux Islands from Van Diemen's Land is called Banks's Strait, and is 10 miles wide. Lighthouses have been erected at various points on the islands.
Surface and Soil.—Tho soil is generally good and fertile, but the cultivated land has been much exhausted. Above 4,000,000 acres have been appropriated or leased as pasture ; a large proportion of the remaining land is not available even as pasture. The unoccupied country lies west of the range of hills dividing the Derwent from the Jordan. The mountain region, south of 42° S. lot., occupies the southern and western districts of the island, and reaches north-east to the banks of the river Derwent. This river, from its source in Lake St. Clair to its mouth, separates the well-known part of the island from that which is unknown except the coasts and the districts iu the immediate vicinity of the river. These districts are occupied by an apparently continuous mountain range, which extends along the river at a short distance from its banks. Many of the summits are from 3000 to 4000 feet high. The valley of the .Lower Dorwent extends from Mount Nelson upwards to the confluence of the Derwent with the Ouse, and is rather more than 50 miles lung. It is a tract of great fertility. A hilly region extends from this valley eastward to the shores of the Pacific. North of this hilly region are elevated plains crossed by woody tracts. Besides the Derwent, this region is watered by the Nive, the Dee, the Ouse, the Clyde, the Jordan, the Mien, Coal River, and Pitt's Water. There are several cousiderablo lakes.