276 
Excursion to Port Arthur. 
detained. Every soldier invariably bears loaded arms. 
The penitentiary yards are commanded in various places. 
They are repeatedly visited; and such is the severity of 
discipline, such the rigidity of scrutiny, ay, and such the 
felons’ mutual distrust, that anything like concerted 
revolt is as hopeless as impracticable. We slept in 
perfect tranquillity in a house unconscious of window- 
shutters—guiltless of window fastenings. 
Having witnessed the devotional exercises of Point 
Puer, we next morning paid a visit to the various work¬ 
shops. In this admirable establishment between 600 and 
700 boys are taught the means of obtaining an honest 
livelihood. When first received, they are instructed in 
the use of the spade, the hoe, and the grubbing axe. They 
clear, break up, fence, and cultivate their own land, the 
product being principally confined to potatoes, cabbages, 
turnips, and other vegetables. After a term of good con¬ 
duct the option of trade is conceded as a boon, five or six 
kinds of handicraft being submitted for election. At the 
head of each department the necessary instructions are 
to be found; and, as means and opportunities admit, 
these are chosen from among persons arriving free in the 
Colony. The juvenile sawyers first attracted our notice : 
of these there are from 15 to 20 pairs. At present they 
work in open pits, but sheds are in progress to shelter 
them from the weather. These lads not only cut sufficient 
timber for all their own buildings, but furnish con¬ 
siderable supplies to the other works. The boat-builders’ 
department (in which is Kirby, the poisoner of his 
master at Lincoln, now a young man of exemplary 
conduct,) came next under review: there a beautiful 
whale-boat of Huon pine, the timbers of light (a re¬ 
semblance in colour of rose) wood, was rapidly attaining 
completion. At the cooperage, tubs, buckets, mess kids, 
and ship buoys were in progress of manufacture. About 
50 tailors actively cut out and make up clothing; while 
