TASMANIA IN 1840 107 



but seldom seen — only once lately, and then near the lakes 

 in the interior.' 



As to the better society in Tasmania, the last of the Convict 

 settlements and acquainted with bushrangers, it ' is perfectly 

 English,' a commendation bestowed on the most comfortable 

 houses he enters in any Colony, and 



there is a marked Hne drawn between the children of 

 convicts or ex-convicts and those of honester, even if less 

 ca'pable, folk. Wealth is accumulating fast : and the banks 

 allow 10 per cent, on deposits. 



Literatm'e, however, is at a low ebb, and except a few 

 EngHsh famiHes, there are none who take the better 

 periodicals, or would comprehend them if they did. 



There are lots of splendid Pianos and Harps, and few 

 who can use them. Three hundred copies of Gould's most 

 extravagant book ^ are purchased by these colonists, solely 

 for the pleasure of seeing the show of it on their tables. 



Looking back after a couple of months' absence he exclaims, 

 ' altogether Van Diemen's Land was quite a home to us and a 

 most attractive place.' His remembrance is of his personal 

 entertainers, and the best is of those who could provide him 

 with the music he loved : 



There is really so much good society, wealth, and splen- 

 dour in the private houses : music is much cultivated, and 

 all the new operas, &c., are procured as soon as published. 

 Many of those pretty Strauss Waltzes you used to play I have 

 heard here. At Government House there is always excellent 

 music, and the military band is one of the best in the lines. 



So little had he gone into society at Hobart that on the eve 

 of departure he winds up : 



You would hardly beUeve it, but Mr. and Mrs. Gunn^ are 



^ Either the Synopsis of the Birds of Australia and the Adjacent Islands, 

 1837-8, 72 plates, or the first of the seven folio volumes of The Birds of Australia, 

 1840-8, 601 plates. 



2 Ronald Campbell Gunn (1808-81) emigrated to Tasmania in 1839, becoming 

 superintendent of convict prisons and a police magistrate. A keen naturalist, 

 he opened a correspondence with Sir W. Hooker and Lindley, exchanging 

 plants for books and scientific apparatus, and sending zoological collections to 

 J. E. Gray at the British Museum. [The D.N.B. wrongly names him Robert.] 



