1836. 



DISADVANTAGES — MONEY-MAKING. 



623 



excepting while fostered by the presence of regularly paid 

 government officers, troops, and a large convict establishment. 



There must be great difficulty in bringing up a family well 

 in that country, in consequence of the demoralizing influence 

 of convict servants, to which almost all children must be more 

 or less exposed. Besides, literature is at a low ebb : most 

 people are anxious about active farming, or commercial pur- 

 suits, which leave little leisure for reflection, or for reading 

 more than those fritterers of the mind — daily newspapers and 

 ephemeral trash. It was quite remarkable to see how few book- 

 sellers'* shops there were in Sydney, and what a low class of 

 books — with some exceptions — was to be found in them. 

 These few exceptions were the works usually called ' standard,' 

 which some persons who buy books, for show as furniture, 

 rather than for real use, think it necessary to purchase. Ano- 

 ther evil in the social system of Sydney and its vicinity, is the 

 rancorous feeling which exists between the descendants of free 

 settlers and the children of convicts. Fatal, indeed, would it 

 be to the former, if the arm of power were removed ; for their 

 high principles and good feelings would be no match for the 

 wiles and atrocities of such abandoned outcasts as are there 

 congregrated, and almost rejoice in their iniquity. Money 

 is gained by such people by any and every means, save those 

 of honest industry. By selling spirits, frequently drugged — 

 by theft — by receiving and selling stolen goods— by the wages 

 of iniquity — and by exorbitant usury — fortunes have been 

 amassed there in a few years which would make an honest man's 

 hair stand on end. But do such men enjoy their wealth? Does 

 it benefit them or their children ? No. Their life is a miserable 

 scene of anxiety, care, fear, and generally penuriousness ; they 

 die without a friend and without hope. 



The Beagle sailed from Sydney on the 30th, and anchored 

 off Hobart Town (or Hobarton) on the 5th of February. The 

 change of scene was as striking as a view of Gibraltar or 

 Madeira after leaving the Downs. Comparatively speaking, 

 near Sydney all was light-coloured and level ; while in Van 

 Diemen's Land we almost thought ourselves in another Tierra 



