128 AUSTIN AUSTRALIA wife, 160 for each child, and 80 acres for each slave; and the immigrants being made up in great part of young unmarried men, he in- duced them to unite in pairs, making one of them the head of the family thus constituted, which singular arrangement is said to have re- sulted to the satisfaction of all concerned. In spite of frequent trouble with the Indians, the colony prospered, and, being followed by a con- siderable number of similar associations, the in- flux of Americans was so large that they met March 1, 1833, without the concurrence of the Mexican population, in a convention to form a constitution for the as yet Mexican state of Texas. Austin was one of the delegates chosen to carry the result of their deliberations to the central government at Mexico, and obtain its ratification. The delays and frequent revolu- tions at Mexico leading him to despair of suc- cess in his mission, he addressed a letter to the people of Texas, recommending a union of all the municipalities to organize a state. For this he was arrested and kept in prison three months, until released by Santa Anna, who continued to hold him as a sort of hostage. In September, 1835, he returned to Texas, took part with the revolutionary party, which had been forming in his absence, and was put in command of their little army. His first act was to send into eastern Texas for Gen. Hous- ton, who was soon elected to the chief com- mand, Austin being appointed a commissioner to the United States. Here he acted with prudence, and was very successful in prepar- ing the public mind for the independence and annexation of the new republic. After spend- ing some time in advocating this measure, he returned to Texas in July, 1836 ; and he died while still engaged in negotiations. AUSTIN, William (BILLY), the reputed natural son of Queen Caroline. He was known as a poor lad of Deptford, near London, who bore a striking resemblance to the queen ; and though her majesty was judicially acquitted in 1808 of the charge of being his mother, she in- sisted upon keeping him near her person. In 1830 he was sent to a lunatic asylum at Milan, and remained there till 1845. Being then brought back to England and subjected to a medical examination at the request of his guardians, the Right Hon. S. Lushington and Sir J. P. Wilde, he was transferred to a private asylnm in London. AUSTRALASIA (South Asia), the S. "W. division of Oceania, extending from the equator to lat. 47 S., and from about Ion. 112 to about 170 E. It embraces Australia, Tasmania or Van Diemen's Land, New Zealand, and Chatham isle, on the west and south ; Papua, the Ad- miralty isles, New Ireland, and the Solomons archipelago on the north; Queen Charlotte's isles, the New Hebrides, and New Caledonia, on the east ; and all the interjacent islands. On account of the black color of its natives, Aus- tralasia is also called Melanesia, chiefly by French geographers. (See OCEANIA.) AUSTRALIA, formerly called NEW HOLLAND, an island, classed as a continent by most geogra- phers, lying S. E. of Asia and the Sunda islands, between the Indian and the Southern Pacific oceans, and extending from lat. 10 43' to 39 9' S., and from Ion. 113 to 153 E. From its western extremity, Steep point, to its extreme eastern point, Cape Byron, its length is 2,500 m. ; and its breadth, from Cape York, its northernmost point, to its southern extremity at Cape Wilson, is 1,900 m. Its entire coast line embraces a circuit of 8,000 m., and its area is estimated at 3,000,000 sq. m. The configura- tion of the Australian coast displays little irreg- ularity ; there are but two or three large penin- sulas, and although small bays are found along almost the whole coast line, the gulf of Carpen- taria, and the large inlet leading to Cambridge gulf and Queen's channel on the north, and Spencer and St. Vincent gulfs on the south, are the only deep indentations. A long curve of the southern coast forms the vast bay called the Great Australian bight, but this is only a portion of the open ocean. From the N. E. extremity of the continent, where the long, triangular peninsula of York lies between the gulf of Carpentaria and the Pacific, its northern extremity only separated from New Guinea by the narrow Torres strait, the coast trends southeastward for more than 1,400 m. to Cape Byron, where its direction suddenly changes to southwest. Along the greater part of this N. E. stretch of coast, from Cape York nearly to the Great Sandy island, lie the Great Barrier reefs, the most extensive range of coral reefs known in the world. Frequent though often dangerous passages through this barrier permit the entrance of vessels into the sea lying be- tween it and the mainland, a body of water varying in breadth from its southern entrance, where it is a broad open sea, the reefs lying at a great distance from the coast, to its central point at Cape Tribulation, where it hardly affords even a passage. Further N. it again stretches away from the coast, extending across the E. end of Torres strait. Near the southern entrance of the sea thus enclosed, and a little N. of Sandy island, are numerous good harbors. The coast is here made up of high and precip- itous cliff's, and this formation continues to characterize its whole extent, as far as its southern extremity, with the exception of a small portion S. of Cape Howe. Below Cape Byron, where it trends to the southwest, it contains some of the best harbors in the world, chief among them that of Port Jackson at Syd- ney. The S. coast, from Cape Wilson W. to the beginning of the Great Australian bight, is also celebrated for its excellent harbors ; only a short strip of coast E. of Encounter hay is with- out good shelter. But with the Australian bight begins a long uniform line of cliffs with- out refuge of any kind for vessels, steep and rugged, and continuing W. as far as the Re- cherche archipelago. West of this are a few safe ports. The W. and N. W. coasts are the least
