Volume I Part 20 (2/2)

MOUNT WELLINGTON

We had two or three snowstor the titon, towering above Hobart, and throwing its strange square-headed shadow across the still waters of Sullivan's cove, rave an unfavourable spot for observations, fro cloud The pleasure of our return was very much enhanced by the kind hospitality hich ere received by the inhabitants, and the officers of Her Majesty's 21st regiment From Sir John Franklin the Governor, we experienced all the attention and courtesy--all the frank and generous hospitality which it was in his power to bestow Had we been without the claims of previous acquaintance to have recoe was intended to advance the cause of science, would have been quite sufficient to interest in our welfare, one who has achieved a reputation as enduring as it is honourable, an of discovery

The unfavourable state of the weather also prevented us frohbourhood of Hobart

KANGAROO HUNT

We did, however, get a few miles froentle remembered in the colony for his pedestrian and equestrian perforaroo A thoroughly English appreciation of all that proe party of us to join the meet, at a place called the Neck The turnout was by no h rather se in the sort of country over which their work lies A tolerable ave life and animation to the scene, and forcibly reminded us of a coverside at hoaroo al off, and went aith hi scent, and from the nature of the country, over which ent for so was really desperate The country was thickly wooded, with open spaces here and there, in which fallen trees lay half hidden by long grass Riding to the hounds was therefore as necessary as dangerous, for once out of sight it was almost impossible to overtake or fall in with them Most of the field rode boldly and well, yet I reentle branch of a tree, under which he was going at a reckless pace, and another had his hat perforated i the annoyance of ferrying our horses across the Derwent, we returned to Hobart, very much pleased with the day's sport

(Footnote In the first volume of the Tasaroo-hunting with these hounds, by the Honourable H Elliot, who ave thehteen entleman's house there, I saw for the first tiaroo, Halreatly was a quarry of travertine lihbourhood of Hobart, where I saw the impression of leaves of plants, not in existence at present, and of a few shells of ancient species

(Footnote One of this rare kind, was presented by Sir John Franklin to her Majesty, in whose erie at Windsor it died, and was sent afterwards to the British Museus of these iether with the shells will be found in Count Strzelecki's scientific work)

SAIL FROM HOBART

We sailed fro fair wind to within a few days' sail of Sydney, e experienced a current that set us 40 miles South-East in 24 hours; this was the more extraordinary as we did not feel it before, and scarcely afterwards; and our course being parallel to the shore, was not likely to have brought us suddenly within the influence of the currents said to prevail along the coast The shi+p's position was 40 miles east of Jervis Bay e firstthe clearness of the atuish the light near the entrance of Sydney Harbour, while at a distance of thirty miles fro the position of the port from a distance at sea, but it has been placed too far from the entrance to be of much service to vessels when close in shore The low land in the vicinity of Sydney and Botany Bay, presents a striking contrast with the coast of the Illawarra district, a little further southwards; where the sea washes the base of a lofty range of hills, which sweeping round some distance in the rear of the two former places, leaves an extensive tract of low country between them and the sea Upon the sue clouds, which serve even through the glooator of his position

(Footnote Soht by a South-East gale, close in with the light, and was obliged to run for the harbour, but being then without anything to guide her into the entrance, recked on the south point The loss of life was dreadful

The light lately erected near the Sow and Pigs reef, has in so too far within, and on the south side of the entrance, it is not made out till, with southerly winds, a shi+p has approached dangerously close to the North Head)

APPROACH TO SYDNEY

On approaching Sydney, a stranger cannot fail of being delighted with his first glance at the noble estuary which spreads before and around hi a coastline of cliffs soeneral effect and outline not unlike those of Dover, he observes an apparent breach in the sea-wall, for two abrupt headlands, and ere he has time to speculate upon the cause of that fancied ruin, his shi+p glides between the orn cliffs into the nificent harbour of Port Jackson The viehich solicits the eye of the sea-wearied voyager as he proceeds up the harbour, is indeed well calculated to excite a feeling of ht--the security and capacity of the port--itsshores, sleeping upon the silver tide--pretty white cottages andout here and there fro shrubberies, and the whole canopied by a sky of ethereal blue, present a picture which must at once enchant thein the faator and Britomart, commanded by Captain Sir Gordon Bre to forton on the North coast; an expedition ofsoed in it

CONTRAST WITH SOUTH AMERICA

On first arriving at Sydney froe contrast its extensive and at the same ti aspect of the cities on that continent We had then been visiting colonies and settleo, by a nation at that time almost supreme in European influence, and planted with every circue upon the shores of a fertile and luxurious continent given by the immortal Genoese to the crown of Spain We had found thenorance, debased by superstition, and defiled by slavery

COLONISATION

In Sydney we beheld onder what scarce half a century had sufficed to effect; for where aled the desert wastes and trackless forests, a noble city has sprung as though by round, which will ever serve both as a lish enterprise, and as a beacon froht of Christian civilisation shall spread through the dark and gloouilt The true history of our Australian possessions; the causes which have led to their settlement; the means by which they have been established; the circumstances by which they have been influenced; and the rapid, nay, unexampled prosperity to which they have attained; present some of the most curious and most important laws of colonisation to our notice Without atte so far to deviate from my present purpose as to enter here on a deduction from the data to which I have alluded, it cannot be denied that, in the words of an eloquent writer in Blackwood, ”a great experiment in the faculty of renovation in the human character, has found its field in the solitudes of this vast continent: that the experiree: and that the question is now finally decided between severity and discipline” What else rens and unfathorace this distant theatre, I pause not now to guess The boldest conjecture would probably fall very far short of the truth It is sufficient for us to know that Providence has entrusted to England a new empire in the Southern seas Nor can we doubt that there as elsewhere throughout the various regions of the habitable globe, the same indomitable spirit which has achieved so many successes, will accompany those whoeneration and sound i promised to the repentant children of earth

QUARANTINE ESTABLISHMENT

We were sorry to find that it had been necessary to form a quarantine establishment in the North Harbour, in consequence of the diseases brought to the country by e the side of a hill, mark the locality, and afford a melancholy evidence of the short sojourn in the land of promise which has been vouchsafed to some

EXPEDITION TO PORT ESSINGTON