USTRALIS INCognita, a name for a large unknown continent, supposed to lie towards the South Pole, and which for a long time was sought after by navigators. The late voyages of Captain Cook have ascertained this matter as much as it probably ever will be. (See South-Sea, Cook's Discoveries, n° 47, 48, 63, 69, and America, n° 4). On this subject Captain Cook expresses himself as follows: "I had now made the circuit of the Southern Ocean in a high latitude, and traversed it in such a manner as to leave not the least room for the possibility of there being a continent, unless near the pole, and out of the reach of navigation. By twice visiting the tropical sea, I had not only settled the situation of some old discoveries, but made there many new ones, and left, I conceive, very little more to be done even in that part." Thus I flatter myself. Terra Firma, in geography, is sometimes used for a continent, in contradistinction to islands.

Terra Firma, otherwise called New Caledonia or Caledonia del Oro, a country of America, bounded on the north by the North Sea and part of the Atlantic Ocean, by the same sea and Guiana on the east, by the country of the Amazons and Peru on the south, and by the Pacific Ocean and Veragua on the west. It lies between 62 and 83 degrees of west longitude, and between the equator and 12 degrees of north latitude; being upwards of 1200 miles in length from east to west, and 800 in breadth from north to south. It had the name of Caledonia del Oro from the quantities of gold found in the districts of Uraba and other parts; and was first discovered by the celebrated Columbus in his third voyage.

The climate is neither pleasant nor healthy; the inhabitants one part of the year being scorched by the most intense and burning heat, and the other almost drowned with perpetual floods of rain, pouring from the sky with such violence as if a general deluge was to ensue.

In so large a tract of country the soil must necessarily vary. Accordingly, in some parts it is a barren sand, or drowned mangrove land, that will scarce produce any kind of grain; in others it yields Indian corn, balms, gums, and drugs, almost all manner of fruits as well as of Old as of New Spain, sugar, tobacco, Brazil wood, and several other kinds of dyeing woods; a variety of precious stones, particularly emeralds and lapislazuli; venison and other game. The plantations of cacao, or chocolate nuts, in the district of the Caracas, are esteemed the best in America. The mountains abound with tigers, and, according to some, with lions, and great numbers of other wild beasts. The rivers, seas, and lakes, teem with fish, and also with alligators; and the bowels of the earth were once furnished with the richest treasures, now almost exhausted. The same may be said of the pearl fisheries on the coast, which are far from being so profitable now as formerly.

Terra Firma is a very mountainous country. Terra Firma Proper, in particular, consists of prodigious high mountains, and deep valleys flooded more than half the year. The mountains in the provinces of Cartagena and St. Martha, according to Dampier, are the highest in the world; being seen at least 200 miles off; from these run a chain of hills of almost equal height, quite through South America, as far as the Straits of Magellan, called the Cordilleras des Andes. The province of Venezuela also, and district of the Caracas, the most northerly parts of South America, are almost a continued chain of hills, separated by small valleys, pointing upon the coast of the North Sea. A chain of barren mountains, almost impassable, runs through the province of Popayan from north to south, some whereof are volcanoes; but towards the shores of the Pacific Ocean it is a low country, flooded great part of the year.

The principal rivers of Terra Firma are, the Davien, Chagres, Santa Maria, Conception, Rio Grande or Magdalena, Maracaibo, and Orinoco.

Terra Firma contains the provinces of Terra Firma Proper or Darien, of Cartagena, St. Martha, Rio de la Hacha, Venezuela, Comana, New Andalusia or Paria, New Granada, and Popayan.

Terra Firma Proper lies in the form of a crescent, about the spacious bay of Panama, being the isthmus which joins South and North America; and extending in length between the two seas 300 miles, but in breadth, where the isthmus is narrowest, only 60. Here are found gold mines, gold sands, and fine pearls; and though the land is generally rough, there are some fruitful valleys, watered by rivers, brooks, and springs. The chief places are Panama and Portobello.

The inhabitants of Terra Firma have never been thoroughly subdued, and in all probability never will; as they are a brave and warlike people, have retreats inaccessible to Europeans, and bear an inveterate enmity to the Spaniards. See Darien.

Terra Jabonica, more commonly called catechu, a drug formerly supposed to be an extract from the seeds of the acacia catechu, but lately discovered by Mr Kerr, assistant surgeon to the civil hospital at Bengal, to be obtained from the muga catechu. Mr Kerr gives the following account of the manner in which the extract is made: "After felling the trees, the manufacturer carefully cuts off all the exterior white part of the wood. The interior coloured wood is cut into chips, with which he fills a narrow-mouthed unglazed earthen pot, pouring water upon them until he sees it and imparts among the upper chips; when this is half evaporated by boiling, the decoction, without straining, is poured into a flat earthen pot, and boiled to one third part; this is set in a cool place for one day, and afterwards evaporated by the heat of the sun, stirring it several times in the day. When it is reduced to a considerable thickness, it is spread upon a mat or cloth, which has previously been covered with the ashes of cow-dung; this mass is divided into square or quadrangular pieces by a string, and completely dried by turning them frequently in the sun until they are fit for sale (A)."

This extract is called cutt by the natives, by the English

(A) "In making the extract, the pale brown wood is preferred, as it produces the fine whitish extract; the darker the wood is, the blacker the extract, and of less value. They are very careful in drying their pots upon the fire before they are used; but very negligent in cutting their chips upon the ground, and not straining the decoction; by which, and the dirty ashes they use, there must be a considerable quantity of earth in the extract, besides what avarice may prompt them to put into it.

"The antiseptic quality of catechu appears from the experiments made by Sir John Pringle. Huxham employed it successfully in cases where a putrid dissolved state of the blood prevailed. This extract is the principal ingredient in an ointment of great repute in India, composed of catechu four ounces, alum nine drams, white resin four ounces; these are reduced..." lith cutch, and by different authors terra japonica, catechu, khaanb, cate, cathou, &c. "In its purest state it is a dry pulverable substance, outwardly of a reddish colour, internally of a shining dark brown, tinged with a reddish hue; in the mouth it discovers considerable astringency, succeeded by a sweetish-mucilaginous taste." According to Lewis, "it dissolves almost totally in water, excepting the impurities; which are usually of the sandy kind, and amounting in the specimens I examined to about one eighth of the mass. Of the pure matter, rectified spirit dissolves about seven-eighths into a deep red liquor: the part which it leaves undissolved is an almost infipid mucilaginous substance."

Utes. Catechu may be usefully employed for most purposes where an astringent is indicated, provided the most powerful be not required. But it is particularly useful in alvine fluxes; and where these require the use of astringents, we are acquainted with no one equally beneficial. Besides this, it is employed also in uterine profusia, in laxity and debility of the visceræ in general, in catarrhal affections, and various other diseases where astringents are necessary. It is often suffered to dissolve leisurely in the mouth, as a topical astringent for laxities and exulcerations of the gums, for aphous ulcers in the mouth, and similar affections. This extract is the basis of several fixed formulas in our pharmacopœias, particularly of a tincture and an electuary; but one of the best forms under which it can be exhibited, is that of a simple infusion in warm water, with a proportion of cinnamon or cassia; for by this means it is at once freed from its impurities, and improved by the addition of the aromatic.