THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 



471 



of corn, and dark green ones of potatoes, appear very lux- 

 uriant. Late in the evening we anchored in the snug cove, 

 on the shores of which stands the capital of Tasmania. The 

 first aspect of the place was very inferior to that of Sydney; 

 the latter might be called a city, this is only a town. It 

 stands at the base of Mount Wellington, a mountain 3100 

 feet high, but of little picturesque beauty; from this source, 

 however, it receives a good supply of water. Round the cove 

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

 Coming from the Spanish settlements, where such magnifi- 

 cent care has generally been paid to the fortifications, the 

 means of defence in these colonies appeared very contempti- 

 ble. Comparing the town with Sydney, I was chiefly struck 

 with the comparative fewness of the large houses, either 

 built or building. Hobart Town, from the census of 1835, 

 contained 13,826 inhabitants, and the whole of Tasmania 

 36,505. 



All the aborigines have been removed to an island in 

 Bass's Straits, so that Van Diemen's Land enjoys the great 

 advantage 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 robberies, 

 burnings, and murders, committed by the blacks; and which 

 sooner or later would have ended in their utter destruction. 

 I fear there is no doubt, that this train of evil and its conse- 

 quences, originated in the infamous conduct of some of 

 our countrymen. Thirty years is a short period, in which to 

 have banished the last aboriginal from his native island, — 

 and that island nearly as large as Ireland. The correspond- 

 ence on this subject, which took place between the government 

 at home and that of Van Diemen's Land, is very interesting. 

 Although numbers of natives were shot and taken prisoners 

 in the skirmishing, which was going on at intervals for sev- 

 eral years ; nothing seems fully to have impressed them with 

 the idea of our overwhelming power, until the whole island, 

 in 1830, was put under martial law, and by proclamation the 

 whole population commanded to assist in one great attempt 

 to secure the entire race. The plan adopted was nearly simi- 

 lar to that of the great hunting-matches in India: a line was 

 formed reaching across the island, with the intention of 



