by a fellow-mortal, or perplexed by the straying of a beast, will insult the Majesty of Heaven?-After breakfast we pursued our route over a second Epping Forest, a sandy track more thickly timbered than the generality of this part of the country; and emerging from it near a good looking house called Wanstead, soon arrived at the dwelling of John Mc. Leod, a hospitable Scotchman, residing upon the Elizabeth River, near Campbell Town.

24th. In the forenoon, we had a meeting with about two hundred persons in the Court House at Campbell Town, a place consisting of a Court-house, a small wooden jail, and about a score of houses, some of which are of brick. Being helped on our way by J. Mc. Leod, who provided us with horses, we had a meeting in the evening at Ross, eight miles further from Launceston: this, like the one at Campbell Town, was a general assembly of the neighbouring settlers and their servants, to whom the Gospel was freely proclaimed.-We lodged at the house of George Parramore, a venerable and pious settler, whom we considered it a privilege to visit.

25th. We breakfasted at Mona Vale, with William Kermode, an opulent sheep-farmer, who accompanied us across Salt Pan Plains, an open grassy district, over which a low, drooping species of Gum-tree is thinly scattered. Upon W. Kermode's estate, near the junction of the Blackman River with the Macquarie, there is a piece of ground that yields about forty bushels of wheat per acre, but it is of small extent. Salt Pan Plains are more valued as sheep pasture, than for agriculture. These plains are terminated southward by woody hills, among which is an opening called St. Peter's Pass, through which lies the road to Oatlands, a town of about twenty houses of freestone, adjoining a rushy lagoon, called Lake Frederick.-About eight miles further is a little scattered settlement named Jericho, upon a small periodical stream, designated The Jordan. Here we found comfortable accommodation at a respectable inn.

26th. We proceeded by another little settlement called The Lovely Banks, and by the Cross Marsh, to Green Ponds. The Cross Marsh is a rich flat, intersected by the Jordan, which in the drier seasons of the year, is reduced to a chain of

pools. On the margin of this river, there is an elegant willow-like Eucalyptus, called the Black Gum, forming a tree of moderate size. Green Ponds is a scattered village, with an Episcopal place of worship, and a good inn.-In the evening we continued our walk, by moonlight, along a winding woody pass to Constitution Hill, where we lodged at an inn.

27th. Early in the morning, we visited a road-party of 120 men, and then pursued our route along the vale of Bagdad, much of which is enclosed with post and rail fences, and in which there are several decent houses, and a good inn. Soon after leaving this vale, the road crosses the Jordan, by a handsome wooden bridge, on stone pillars, over a deep ravine; it then continues over low woody hills till it reaches the Derwent, opposite to Bridgewater.-We crossed the Derwent in a small boat, to the Black Snake Inn, where, being very foot sore, we tried the experiment of drawing a double, unbleached, linen thread through the blisters, by means of a needle, and cutting off the thread so as to leave it protruding at each side. This allowed the water to pass out when the blister pressed the ground, by which means the pain was greatly alleviated, and the thread produced no inconvenience by remaining till the blister was healed. Sometimes a thread of white worsted is used for the purpose. Probably, so long as it is undyed, the material is not of much consequence, but the relief to foot-sore pedestrians is very great. We subsequently walked ten miles to Hobart Town, at the rate of a mile in sixteen and a half minutes.— On the way, we met several persons with whom we were acquainted, and passed two good stage coaches going to New Norfolk, which had an enlivening effect at the conclusion of this long journey.-There was at this time no coach to Launceston; but an open four-wheeled carriage performed the journey of 120 miles, in two days, not running at night: the fare was £5.-On reaching Hobart Town we found our friends T. J. and S. Crouch in a larger house, in Bathurststreet, where they willingly allowed us again to become their lodgers.

CHAPTER XII.

Hobart Town.-Lieutenant-Governor.-Penal Discipline.-Reformed Prisoners. -Intemperance and Indiscretion.-Sheriff's Writs.-Timber-fellers.-Meetingroom Engaged.-Meeting.-Journey.-Anxiety for Liberty.-Infidel Prisoners.-Brushy Plain.-Prisoner's View of Transportation.-Prossers River.Spring Bay.—Kangaroo Grass.—Swan Port.—Cultivated Land.—Oyster Bay Pine.-Road.-Kelvedon.-Waterloo Point.-Gunnia australis.-Ministry of F. C.--Character of the Land.-Shrubs.-Black Swans.- Boomer Kangaroo. -St. Patrick's Head.-Dwelling.-Timber.-Whales.-Mountains.-Tea.— Break o'day Plains. "Dead Mens Graves."-Buffalo Plains. -Kindness of Aborigines. Launceston.-Flinders Blacks.-Road Party.-Flagellation.— Weather.-Diseases.-Death of a Prisoner.-Intemperance.-Music.-Spring. -Ben Lomond.-Gums.-Fossil Tree.-Salt Springs.-Eagles.-Trees, &c.

Soon after returning to Hobart Town, where we remained nine weeks, we spent an evening with the Lieut. Governor and his family, and renewed the Christian intercourse which we had often enjoyed in their company. It was gratifying to see the anxiety exhibited by Colonel Arthur, to rule on Christian principles, and to prosecute the work of reformation among the prisoners, according to the same unerring standard.-Mankind have too long striven to prevent crime by visiting it with vengeance, under the delusive hope that vengeance upon the criminal would deter others. The effect of this system was unsuccessful, as the means is unauthorized by the Gospel, which says, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord; therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for, in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." (Rom. xii. 19-21.) No doubt but these principles, if acted upon, would promote reformation and reduce crime, more than any others, whether by individuals or by governments; and they would not

prevent a salutary restraint being placed upon transgressors, till these kindly principles could be made to bear efficaciously upon them.

Several persons called upon us to obtain tracts: some of these were reformed prisoners, who were diligent in distributing them, sticking up in cottages the broad sheets containing the Ten Commandments, &c. and in other ways endeavouring to do good.-One of them said he had reason to bless God, day and night, for having caused him to be sent to this colony; for by this means he had been broken off from his evil associates: he attributed his change to the labours of Benjamin Carvosso, a Wesleyan minister, whom he heard preaching to condemned criminals in Hobart Town Jail; and he said he was much confirmed by reading religious tracts. Another told us that he was distinguished as an audacious sinner, and a pugilist; he was awakened to a sense of his undone state about a year and a half ago; he is now distinguished among the Wesleyans for his great fervency in prayer. Intemperance, and a disposition to embark in business. beyond the capital of the parties engaging in it, are prevailing evils in V. D. Land. The consequences are such as might naturally be expected. In addition to premature death, and other awful effects of intemperance, distress and ruin in temporal concerns, are of frequent occurrence. Upwards of four hundred writs have passed through the Sheriffs Office within the last three months.

In a walk in the forest embosoming Mount Wellington, I was attracted to a timber-feller's hut, by the singing of two men, the father of one of whom was a Wesleyan class-leader. This young man said he was sure they were not singing because they were comfortable, but because, having finished their work, they had nothing to do; they had no books, and he assured me that he was very uncomfortable in his mind; he said he had been thinking in the night, how easily one of the trees, such as they are surrounded by, might have fallen upon their hut, and crushed them to death, and he was sure he was not prepared to die. The scrub was burning near to the place: their little bark hovel had narrowly escaped the flames, which had communicated to the lofty Stringy

bark trees, and charred them to the top. The fire had also burnt into the butts of some of them, and had loosened them, and in some instances, brought them down. The young man repeatedly pointed to these trees, which were a hundred and fifty feet high, and some of them nearly thirty feet in circumference, and said, "You see, sir, we cannot tell but at any hour of the day or night, one of these great trees may fall upon us, and crush us; but we are prisoners, sent here to work, and cannot help it:" he did not complain of this as an undue hardship, but spoke of it as giving a sense of the necessity of being prepared for death. He told me that he had slighted the counsel of his father, but said "Now I begin to think of what my father used to say to me." Sometimes his emotion almost choked his utterance. I encouraged him to cherish these feelings, and to be willing to understand his errors; to attend to the convictions of the Holy Spirit, by which he was given to see his unfitness to die, assuring him, that if he kept under this holy influence, he would be led to repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus, by which he would know his sin to be blotted out, and ability to be given, to walk in holiness before the Lord.

Our meetings for worship at Hobart Town, were often favoured with a solemn sense of divine influence, bowing our hearts before the Lord; and sometimes raising a vocal testimony to his goodness, both from ourselves and from pious persons who were casually present. The number who regularly met, became a little augmented. Among these were two persons from England, members of the Society of Friends; one of whom had been several years in the Colony. A man also became one of our congregation, who had had his education among Friends, but had committed a crime for which he was transported when young, and who in his old age had been stirred up to seek the Lord in earnest. With these we had a conference, on the subject of continuing to assemble regularly for worship when we were absent from the town; and they being desirous to do so, a room in a private house was hired for the purpose, as they united with us in the judgment, that they were not in a state to open a