AUSTRALIA. 289 



making, cobbling, and tailoring - , but no noisy one is permitted. 

 The system is said to work well. 



I paid a visit to the quarters occupied by W. S. O'Brien 

 when prisoner here, and thought them very comfortable. The 

 cottage, comprising two rooms and a closet, is built in a garden 

 on the slope of a hill, commanding a very pretty prospect, and 

 had quite a cheerful aspect. He was supplied with books and 

 writing materials ad libitum, and on the whole was much better 

 off than John Bunyan in his " den," so might have borne his 

 lot without grumbling. I was told that he worked in his 

 garden, which had beautiful shrubs and flowers." 



Dr. Harvey remained at Port Arthur for about ten days, 

 which he employed in visiting various localities on the shores 

 of the peninsula. He then returned to Melbourne, which he 

 finally left for Sydney on the 1st of May. 



" We steamed," he writes, " close along the shore, and in the 

 afternoon began to watch for Port Jackson. The cliffs along the 

 coast are very grand and bold, being from two to three hundred 

 feet high, and the entrance to the harbour is wider than I had 

 anticipated. I wonder Cook should not have been tempted 

 farther in, for once within the heads, the prospect is extremely 

 beautiful. 



" I was amused with the grotesque appearance of the Norfolk 

 Island pine, of which there are many large specimens around 

 the fort and in the town of Sydney. This tree is in its growth 

 so perfectly formal and regular, that it looks more like an 

 artificial than a natural production, and constantly reminds me 

 of the conical and comical little green trees which belong to the 

 child's toy called ' a sheep-cot.' Seen at a distance they have 

 exactly this character, but on a near approach the sense of 

 formality is lost in the beauty of the foliage. 



May Mh. I visited the Botanic Garden, in order to call on 

 Mr. Moore, the curator. The garden forms part of the govern- 

 ment domain, and contains thirty acres of handsomely diversi- 

 fied ground, fronting the bay. The shrubberies are beautiful, 

 and many of the conifers are cultivated. Some of the larger 

 Norfolk Island pines are a hundred feet high. 



I also called on Dr. Bennett, author of " Wanderings in New 

 South Wales," who is a surgeon in large practice, and who has 

 a very fine library, containing many works on natural history, 



u 



