TASMANIA. 419 



about a reaction, and the Tasmanians rushed towards the new Eldorado, the 

 prosperity of the island thus diminishing to the advantage of the neighbouring 

 continent. Now, however, a fresh era of prosperity has set in, and the population 

 continues steadily to increase. 



Tasmania offers to British settlers a climate which, more than any other in the 

 southern hemisphere, resembles that of their native land. Hence during the dry 

 and sultry Australian summers, numerous temporary visitors come from Victoria 

 and IS^ew South Wales to enjoy its fresh marine breezes. As in other Australian 

 colonies, the staple export is wool ; but the island also possesses deposits of tin, 

 gold, and silver ; another source of wealth are its excellent fruits, which grow in 

 such abundance that the greater part rot on the ground. Tasmania, says 

 Trollope, should prepare jams for the rest of the world. 



The island contains only two large towns, and these have been founded at the 

 northern and southern extremities of the depression connecting the two fjords 

 that penetrate farthest inland. Both cities are also connected by a railway, and 

 by a splendid highway, constructed by convict labour. Launccston, the northern 

 city, is the chief commercial centre, and already a more important place than the 

 Cornish town from which it takes its name. With its outer port of Georgetoum, 

 situated at the entrance of the fjord on Bass Strait, it monopolises nearly all the 

 trade of Tasmania with Melbourne, from which it is distant only a day's voyage 

 by steam. 



Hohart Towv, or simply Hohart, the southern city, has like Launceston a 

 harbour accessible to vessels of average size, besides an outer port where ships of 

 the largest tonnage can ride at anchor. As capital of the island Hobart possesses 

 the finest buildings and the chief scientific and other institutions in the colony. 

 Its magnificent park, covering an area of over a thousand acres, commands a 

 panoramic view of the surrounding scenery almost unrivalled in Australasia. 

 The western horizon is bounded by Mount Wellington, often snow-clad in winter, 

 and by the other ranges and wooded hills, the headlands fringed with foaming 

 surf, Storm Bay and the winding straits merging in the distance with the 

 Austral seas. Eastwards Storm Bay is skirted by the bold promontory of Tasman 

 Peninsula, broken by numerous secondary headlands, and connected with the 

 mainland only by a narrow rocky ridge. At the southern extremity of this 

 peninsula lies the inlet of Port Arthur, which had been chosen as a convict 

 station for the more desperate class of criminals, here guarded both by armed 

 sentinels and ferocious bloodhounds. Now that these painful scenes have passed 

 from the memory of living generations, Port Arthiir with its craggy heights, 

 cavernous recesses and seething waters stands out as one of the most romantic 

 spots along the seaboard. At the southern extremity of the peninsula all vessels 

 bound for Storm Bay and the Derwent estuary have to double the frowning cliffs 

 of Cape Paoul, whose black columnar basalt rocks are encircled by a white line of 

 breakers. On the west side of the bay the inlet of Oyster Cove, near which 

 perished the last survivors of the Tasmanian race, has been recently converted 

 into an oyster-bed modelled on those of the French coast. 



The western districts of Tasmania, mostly a rugged mountain region, are 



