282 
Excursion to Port Arthur. 
jolly lads that my quondam acquaintances, Monarch and 
Vernon, would have leapt sky-high at. From the Fa¬ 
vourite we made a trip to the Government grounds, in 
local parlance styled the garden. Several men were 
busily occupied in building a rick of well-saved hay. 
This domain is an enchanting spot, of which the 
pencil, not the pen, can convey adequate conception : 
wood, water, earth, sky,—all contrive to gladden the 
eye, and charm the sense. Here at some future (per¬ 
chance not very distant) day, when penitentiary and 
penal settlements shall have ceased to exist,—here, in one 
of the most beautiful bays, with a shore of the purest 
sand, and waters of pellucid hue,—here the Tasmanian 
steamers will flock with their joyous freightage of 
watering-place visitors ; whilst the present Settlement, an 
easy distance off, will eventually resolve itself into one 
of the finest and most important naval arsenals_a 
Plymouth of the south: the security and amplitude of 
the haven, the facility of equipment, and the super¬ 
abundance of choice building materials, all conducing to 
the certainty of such result. On our return we boarded 
the Lady Franklin, fitting with the utmost dispatch as a 
troop and store ship. The brig Tamar shortly after¬ 
wards came to anchor, and in the course of the evening 
the beautiful Eliza, so that Port Arthur boasted a larger 
fleet than 1 have sometimes, not many years back, seen 
in Hobart Town. 
The following morning (Wednesday, the 12th) we 
accompanied the Commandant on a visit to the Probation 
Station at Flinders’ Bay, one of the numerous indenta¬ 
tions of A orfolk Bay. Our course was by the tramway, 
and a part of the route by which we first reached Port 
Arthur. Flinders Bay is a new and very primitive 
station, under the superintendence of Mr. Smith. There 
are 200 convicts at present under his charge, with a 
