986 



AUSTRALIA, OR AUSTRALASIA. 



and the names of Arnheim's and De Witt's Land on the nortli, of Enracht's, Edel's, and 

 Leeuvven's Land on the west, and Nuyt's Land, still attest their early discoveries. The En- 

 glish visited these shores and made some discoveries toward the close of the 17th century, but 

 it was nearly 100 years later, that Cook discovered the whole eastern coast from Cape Howe 

 to Cape York, and called it New South Wales. Grant's Land, Bass's Land, and Flinder's 

 Land on the southern coast, are also English discoveries. In 178S, the English government 

 determined to establish a convict colony on Botany Bay, but a more favorable site was after- 

 ward selected on Port Jackson in the neighborhood, to which the colony was transferred ; yet 

 the former name is still applied to the colony in common language. The government of the 

 colony is vested in a governor and executive and legislative councils, all of whom are appointed 

 by the crown. 



The convict population forms the most prominent branch of society ; on their arrival they 

 are called canaries, in reference to their parti-colored dress, but after due probation they take 

 the name of government men, which they continue to bear, the term convict being banished 

 from the colonial vocabulary. They are at first employed on the government works, but in 

 case of good conduct, are distributed among the voluntary emigrants as farm servants. If they 

 continue to maintain a good character, they are after a while set free, when they are known as 

 emancipists, with whom the voluntary emigrants, however, rarely consent to associate, even 

 when they have obtained a respectable standing, by industry and good behaviour. Those who 

 have committed any offence, which has subjected them to punishment after their arrival, are 

 distinguished from those who have maintained an irreproachable character, by the epithet of 

 impure emancipists. The children of the convicts are generally observed to be remarkable for 

 good conduct, as if shocked by the vices and warned by the fate, of their- parents. Those 

 born in the colony are called currency, in distinction from the emigrants from the mother coun- 

 try who are called sterling. These Anglo- Australians are generally tall, thin, and pale, but 

 active and industrious, and are said to entertain a great dislike and contempt for the old country. 

 Women are scarce, and the female convicts are generally of a much more abandoned character 

 than the male, and several cargoes of virtuous young women, under the age of 30 years, have 

 lately been shipped from England to this market, as wives for the colonists ; such an arrange- 

 ment, it is well known, was also necessary in some of our own sister colonies. The system 

 of penal or convict colonies is an expensive one, but seems adapted to a country with an over- 

 grown population like England, and, perhaps, holds out better hopes of the reform and restora- 

 tion to society of the convicts than the crowded and ill-conducted prisons of that country. 



3. Van Diemen''s Land. Van Diemen''s Land or Tasmania, as it is sometimes called, is 

 separated from New Holland by Bass's Strait, and is a fertile island about 200 miles in length 

 from north to south, and 170 in breadth. It presents an agreeable variety of surface, is well 



watered bj' several fine rivers, and 

 contains many safe and commodious 

 harbors. It belongs to the English, 

 and, like New South Wales, is a pe- 

 nal colony. The population is about 

 35,000, of which nearly one third 

 are convicts. Hobartstown, the cap- 

 ital, is pleasantly situated at the 

 mouth of the Derwent, with an ex- 

 cellent harbor. It is a thriving town, 

 with a flourishing commerce and 

 15,000 inhabitants. Launcestown, 

 on the northern part of the island, 

 has about 3,000 inhabitants. The 

 government and state of society are 

 similar to those of New South 

 Wales. The island was discovered 

 by Tasraan, a Dutch navigator, in 

 1642, and by him named in honor of the governor-general of Batavia. It was first ascer- 

 tained to be a separate island by Bass, in 1798, and in 1803, the first convict colony was 

 ia::;;ed here. 



4. Papua, JS'ew Britain. &c. Of the other islands of Australia, our knowledge is confined 



Hobartstown, Van Diemen's Land. 



