208 VAN dieman's land. 



This Island is upon the whole, mountainous and thickly wooded ; 

 it contains a great many rivers, but none of them are of any magni- 

 tude excepting the Dorwent and the Tamar. On the former Hobart 

 Town is built, and on the latter Launceston ; both these rivers 

 are navigable for the largest vessels for many miles. The climate 

 is mild, being, in summer, but little warmer than in England ; 

 whilst the winter is distinguished by the quantity of rain which 

 falls, rather than by the cold . What strikes the new settler with 

 surprise is the coldness of the summer nights; for, after the very 

 warmest days, you will have nights succeed them, in which you 

 will be glad to have a blanket or two wrapped round you when 

 you go to bed, and yet I have slept many nights in the bush, 

 with nothing but a kangaroo rug round me, without suffering the 

 least inconvenience from it. From the mildness of the climate, 

 it is well calculated for the breeding of sheep, which is there 

 carried to a great extent: I know two gentlemen there, who 

 had each above 30,000 sheep ; and, considering the fineness of 

 the wool, and the prices obtainable for it in England, wool is a 

 source of great wealth to the settlers. The grazing of cattle is also 

 carried to a great extent ; but the runs (as the pastures are called) 

 are in general fi\r in the interior. The cattle are attended to by 

 stock keepers, who live in huts built on the runs ; it is their duty 

 to collect them occasionally, and, if necessary, to take them to 

 the towns for sale. In consequence of the want of barriers to 

 their rambling, the cattle of one herd often stray into another; 

 but, to prevent confusion, every proprietor of cattle puts his 

 brand upon them, and it is felony to deface that brand or sub- 

 stitute anotlier. Most of the men who look af\er the cattle are 

 prisoners, and are in general a most desperate set of people; for, 

 being quite removed from the surveillance of the authorities, they 

 are at liberty to indulge all the grossest passions, without being 

 detected ; and it is by the means of these people that the convicts, 

 who run away and become bushrangers, are concealed and fed, 

 while tlicy in return receive and dispose of their ill gotten booty. 



The government of \^an Dieman's Land, is vested in the 

 hands of the Lieutenant CJovernor, Colonel Arthur, who has the 

 power of respiting prisoners from death, until the decision of the 

 home government be known. There is also a colonial legislature 

 or parliament ; the members of which are chosen by the Gover- 

 nor (subject to the approval of the King), from the most respect- 

 able and influential of the settlers. They have the power of 

 passing acts for.the regulation of the- colonies ; founded, of course, 



