TASMANIA. ABORIGINES. 235 



some extensive basaltic platforms, but higher up 

 the land becomes mountainous, and is covered by 

 a light wood. The lov^^er parts of the hills which 

 skirt the bay are cleared, and the bright yellow 

 fields of corn, and dark green ones of potatoes, ap- 

 peared very luxuriant. Late in the evening we 

 anchored in the snug cove, on the shores of which 

 stands the capital of Tasmania. The first aspect 

 of the place was very inferior to that of Sydney ; 

 the latter might be called a city, this only a town. 

 It stands at the base of Mount Wellington, a mount- 

 ain 3100 feet high, but of little j)icturesque beauty : 

 from this source, however, it receives a good sup- 

 ply of water. Round the cove there are some fine 

 warehouses, and on one side a small fort. Coming 

 from the Spanish settlements, where such magnifi- 

 cent care has generally been paid to the fortifica- 

 tions, the means of defence in these colonies ap- 

 peared very contemptible. Comparing the town 

 with Sydney, I was chiefly struck with the com- 

 parative fewness of the large houses, either built 

 or building. Hobart Town, from the census of 

 1835, contained 13,826 inhabitants, and the whole 

 of Tasmania 36,505. 



All the aborigines have been removed to an isl- 

 and in Bass's Straits, so that Van Diemen's Land 

 enjoys the great advantage of being fi-ee from a 

 native population. This most cruel step seems to 

 have been quite unavoidable, as the only means of 

 stopping a fearful succession of robberies, burn- 

 ings, and murders committed by the blacks, and 

 which sooner or later would have ended in their 

 utter destruction. I fear there is no doubt that 

 this train of evil and its consequences originated 

 in the infamous conduct of some of our country- 

 men. Thirty years is a short period in which to 

 have banished the last aboriginal from his native 



