linr.AKI /I'll'N 



475 



(HI llu- sliorcs of which stands the capital ol" Tasmania. The 

 first aspect (if the place was \er)' inferiur U> tlial of S)'(lne3- ; 

 the latter miijht be called a cit)', this onl)' a town. It stands 

 at the base of Mount Wellington, a mountain 3100 feet hif^di, 

 but of little picturesque beaut>' ; from this source, however, it 

 receives a good supply of watei'. Round the cove there arc 

 some fine warehouses, and on one side a small fort. Coming 

 from the .Spanish settlements, wliere such magnificent care lias 

 gencrall)' been paid to the fortifications, the means of defence in 

 these colonies appeared \'cry contemptible. Comp.iring the tow n 

 with .S)-dney, I was chieH)' struck with the C(Hiiparati\ e fewness 



-i/iri^fc; ■- 





■iLSAiri lOW'N AND IMOLNT WF.LLI K CTON . 



of the large houses, either built or building. Hobart Town, 

 from the census of 1S35, contained 13,826 inhabitants, ,uid 

 the whole of Tasmania 36,505. 



All the aborigines have been removed to an islaiul in Bass's 

 Straits, so that Van Diemen's Land enjoys the great ad\antage 

 of being free from a native population. This most cruel step 

 seems to have been quite unavoidable, as the only means 

 of stopping a fearful succession of rcjbberies, burnings, and 

 murders, committed b)' the blacks ; and which s(.ioner or later 

 would have ended in their utter destruction. I lear there is no 

 (loubt that this tr;iin of e\il and its conse(|uences originatetl in 

 the infamous conduct of some of our countrymen. Thirty j'c.irs 



