28 6 
Excursion to Port Arthur. 
defaultof a more appropriate definition, lias been styled the 
tessclated pavement. Some of the officers of the Erebus 
and Terror removed a portion, which may probably find 
its way to the United Service Institution. In future 
times this pavement will become as much the object of 
Tasmanian, as Staffa and the Causeway are of Scotch or 
Irish, pride ; and it is paying Pirates’ Bay no small com¬ 
pliment when I pronounce its cliff's and promontories to 
be fully equal to the bold and varied scenery of the 
Antrim Coast. On our return to the house of Captain 
Booth, we had an idea of the speed of the tramway. 
There is a shoot of a mile and a half near the head of 
Long Bay, which is traversed at the rate of forty miles 
an hour. It requires some little nerve at first to keep 
one’s composure; because, once in motion, there are no 
stoppages, and the least obstruction would, as Jonathan 
says, “send carriages and their contents to immortal 
smash.” The officers of the French frigate Artemise 
were in extacies with this descent, which, on a larger 
scale, reminded them of the Montagnes Russes of Paris: 
down they went, hollowing, shouting, screaming like 
madmen. 
The night of Wednesday was a turbulent one, 
blowing half a gale ; but the morning sun that was to 
light us on our homeward path broke forth bright and 
genial. However disagreeable to its constrained visitors, 
we found Port Arthur a place of beauty, kindness, 
courtesy, and good-will; a place where w T e enjoyed all 
the comforts, and many of the luxuries of life ; and these 
imparted with a cordial welcome devoid of affectation. 
To take a summary of our five days’ residence,—a space 
sufficiently long to see and form a correct opinion of 
every thing,—we arrived at the conclusion, that the main 
purposes of its creation were wrought out with consum¬ 
mate skill and great humanity. The discipline is, oi 
