2liS VAN DIEMEN B LAND. 



in retired spots, had a very attractive appearance. 

 The trcncral aspect of the vegetation is similar t(^ 

 that of Australia ; jierhaps it is a little more green 

 and cheerful, and the pasture between the trees 

 rather more abundant. One day 1 took a long walk 

 on the side of the bay opjjosite to the town ; 1 

 crossed in a steamboat, two of which are constantly 

 j)lying backwards and forwards. Tlie machinery 

 of one of these vessels was entirely manufactured 

 in this colony, which, from its very foundation, 

 then numbered only three-and-tliirty years ! An- 

 other day I ascended Mount Wellington ; I took 

 with me a guide, for I failed in a first attempt, 

 from the thickness of the wood. Our guide, how- 

 ever, was a stu]iid fellow, and conducted us to the 

 southern and <lamp side of the mountain, where 

 the vegetation was very luxuriant, and where the 

 labour of the ascent, from the number of rotten 

 trunks, was almost as great as on a mountain in 

 Tierra del Fuego or in Chiloe, It cost us five 

 and a half hours of hard climbing before we reach- 

 ed the summit. In many parts the Eucalypti grew 

 to a great size, and ctnnposed a noble forest. In 

 some of the dam]iest ravines tree-ferns flourished 

 in an extraordinary manner ; I saw one which must 

 have been at least twenty feet high to the base of 

 the fronds, and was in girth exactly six feet. The 

 fronds, forming the most elegant parasols, produced 

 a gloomy shade, like that of the first hour of night. 

 The summit of the mountain is broad and flat, and 

 is composed of huge angular masses of naked green- 

 stone. Its elevation is 3100 feet above the level 

 of the sea. The day was splendidly clear, and we 

 enjoyed a most extensive view ; to the north, the 

 country appeared a mass of wooded mountains, of 

 about the same height with that on which we were 

 standing, and with an equally tame outline ; to the 



