90 CONVICTS. 



when on the farm, been continually toping, and 

 as, when with the iron gang, he had no oppor- 

 tunity of continuing his potations, that circum- 

 stance may have occasioned his increased good 

 health and condition. This may be a hint, 

 therefore, to send all the sick whose illness may 

 arise principally from habitual drunkenness, in- 

 stead of an hospital, to an iron gang for a short 

 period. 



The London pickpockets are considered to 

 make the best shepherds in the colony, as it suits 

 their naturally idle habits ; the industrious la- 

 bourer cannot endure the very wearisome and 

 lazy employment of looking after sheep ; the 

 petty larcener soon gets attached to his woolly 

 charges, and the sheep, no doubt, by a natural 

 instinct, to him ; and thus the animals are 

 tended with some degree of care ; but the re- 

 gular workman, detesting the occupation, (un- 

 less incapacitated from a more active employ- 

 ment, by age or accident,) seldom takes any 

 interest in the valuable property entrusted to 

 his care ; the former are, therefore, to be pre- 

 ferred. The shepherds, when tending their 

 flocks in the pasturage, wile away their leisure 

 time by manufacturing coarse but durable straw 

 hats. 



There is, no doubt, much truth in tlie re- 



