Excursion to Port Arthur . 
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Art. IV. Excursion to Port Arthur. By David Burn, 
Esq. 
Port Arthur, the Penal Settlement of Tasmania, has 
furnished a thousand texts for a thousand fallacious, if 
not perverted, commentaries. It is a place the economy 
of which is little understood even in this Colony, and, 
of course, utterly unknown to the British public. Asa 
faithful description may tend to good purpose, I hasten 
to supply a narrative, which I trust may be found as 
interesting as it is authentic. 
The principle upon which the administration of His 
Excellency Sir John Franklin is based being to afford 
every facility of investigation and of information, there 
existed no difficulty in procuring, from the Colonial 
Secretary, the requisite visiting permission, together with 
an order fora passage in one of the Colonial Government 
vessels—the only vessels trading to the port: to this His 
Excellency, in the kindest manner, added a personal letter 
of introduction to the Commandant. Thus furnished, on 
the evening of Thursday, the 6th January, 1842, I 
embarked in the schooner Eliza., Capt. Ilarburg, a beau¬ 
tiful craft of about 150 tons, built at Port Arthur in 1835, 
and named after the wife of the late Lieut.-Governor. 
It was designed partly as a yacht for Sir George Arthur, 
and partly as a cruiser to be employed in chase of any 
runaways who might carry off any colonial shipping. We 
had several passengers; amongst the number the Rev. 
Mr. Simpson, of the Wesleyan Mission, John Kerr, 
Esq., Messrs. Agnew, Holman, and Major Robertson, 
with a party of the 96th Regiment, and a batch of 
convicts for disposal at different stations. We weighed 
anchor and made sail, with a gentle land breeze, about 
4 o’clock of the following morning; the barque Lord 
