b.

EXCURSION TO PORT ARTHUR;

A CONVICT SETTLEMENT.

Passage thither Frederic Henry and Norfolk Bays-Peninsular railway-Novel Mode of propelling carriages-Port Arthur; Church; Penitentiary; its economy - Jones and Williams, the Chartists — Savary-the Bristol Fauntleroy-Point Puer, the Boy Thief's Home —Dead-man's Isle-Sabbath Schools-Ferocious Murder - Dock-yard -Tessellated Pavement-Prison Discipline of Port Arthur: Enterprise of its Commandant - The Probation Gangs Interview with Frost, the Chartist-The Coal-mines.

Port Arthur, the penal' settlement of Van Diemen's Land, 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. As a 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 information, there existed no difficulty in procuring from the colonial secretary the requisite visiting-permission, together with an order for a passage in

one of the colonial government-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, Jan. 6. 1842, I embarked in the schooner Eliza, Captain Harburg, a beautiful craft of about 150 tons, built at Port Arthur in 1835, partly as a cruiser to be employed in chase of runaways who might carry off any colonial shipping,

We skirted Slopen Island, had a distant glimpse of Pitt Water and the Carleton and shortly after noon entered the magnificent lake-like sea called (by Capt. Flinders) · Norfolk Bay. The prospect on every side was superb, the view ahead terminating in a glorious salt-water vista, its apex formed by one of those graceful sugar-loaf hills so common to Tasmania. We were the centre of a moving panorama of beauty; bight after bight, channel after channel, glen after glen, presented themselves in endless, tortuous variety; each new feature, basking in all the etherial loveliness of a spotless empyrean, seemed more attractive than the preceding,-for, in a picture of harmonious grouping, that which is seen last is ever apt to be the most esteemed. Of the present, it may be truly said, there are few scenes to surpass it; hill, dale, wood, water, blent in one enchanting whole; every eye beamed with pleasure, every imagination revelled in the ravishing prospect.

We called to land convicts at several probation stations on Tasman's peninsula; but as these were subsequently visited, I shall pass them over for the present, simply remarking, that our coasting-trip made it night ere we let go the anchor off Woody Island, near the top. of Norfolk Bay. The sunset was in keeping with the beauty of the day, being one of radiant glory, unsurpassed by any I ever witnessed within the tropics. The following morning broke forth in heavenly sweetness; the Eliza floated gracefully on the bright quiescent waters, and the beauteous landscape, sunk in calm repose, conveyed anything but an idea of being the receptacle of Britain's off-scourings. Guilt, and its attendant punishment, seemed at utter variance with scenes and climes sufficient of them..

selves to excite gratitude and joy. Lovely land, and still more lovely water, what might you not inevitably become, when the felon race, the only blot on your fair faces, shall be merged in an active, industrious, moral peasantry? And yet, humiliating as is the spectacle of man's degradation, it is still one cheering feature of the picture, that it leads in a great measure to his ultimate, compulsory, regeneration. At nine o'clock, we bade adieu to the staunch and fleet Eliza, landing on the railway jetty at the head of Norfolk Bay. This rail, or rather tram, way is framed from the hard wood of the country, passes over a space of five miles, thereby affording a rapid and easy means of transit between the heads of Norfolk and Long Bays, the latter of which leads directly to Port Arthur. This tramway, the projection of Captain Booth, has proved to be a work of the utmost utility, shortening the distance betwixt Hobart Town and Port Arthur, and insuring a certain and rapid communication at times when the long sea-passage might be impracticable. Like many men of superior intellect, it was the fortune of Captain Booth to encounter the sneer of the common herd, who, in their narrow-mindedness, predicted nought but failure to his enterprise. Nothing daunted, and possessing the confidence of the governor, Captain Booth toiled on, till they that came to jeer went back to admire. The tramway, unlike our English railways, follows the natural level, of the ground,--the ascent of a hill being compensated in its opposite descent. No horse, no ox, no locomotive, traverses its course. The wagons are propelled by felons, three men being generally allotted to do the work of each, which is capable of conveying half a ton of goods at each transit. Upon emergency, the same gang have made three journeys and back, thirty miles a-day, conveying thus half a ton per man either way. It jars harshly against the feelings to behold man, as it were, lowered to the standard of the brute, to mark the unhappy guilty creatures toiling and struggling along, their muscular powers exerted to the uttermost, and the perspiration bursting profusely from every pore. It is a harrowing picture; and yet, a little calm reflection will show that it is rendered more peculiarly so by

place and circumstance. Let us but tax our memory, and we shall find hundreds of free British labourers whose drudgery is fully equal to that of the Tasmanian tramway. I need but instance lumpers, coalheavers, bargemen, dockmen, and the like. This tends in some degree to dissipate the revolting idea which, nevertheless, still usurps possession of the imagination and shocks the heart. And yet, the tramway is a step of the probationer's advancement,-Captain Booth arguing, justly, that the convict who cannot resist the greater facility it affords of pilfering or absconding is unfit to be trusted in the less restricted parts of the island.;

By noon, Major Robertson, Holman, and myself had traversed the tramway on foot. No passenger vehicles were to be had at the moment, owing to the few in use being engaged to convey Captain Sulivan, of H. M. sloop Favour ite, and a party, to the coal-mines. Transferring the soldiers and their baggage to, a launch, we embarked in a fine four+ oared whale-boat; and, after a short pull, Port Arthur opened its capacious basin to our astonished and delighted gaze. What! this the pandemonium! this the terrific repository of the worst of guilt? was the natural exclamation bursting from our lips. Whatever the core, the outside is a goodly, an enchanting one. What lovely bays! what noble basins! what a splendid anchorage! an anchorage not wholly unconscious of freightage, nor the ample means of equipments,-for upon its dark green waters floated the Lady Franklin, a strong, staunch, wholesome-looking barque (just launched) of 270 tons burthen; and a few yards off H. M. 18-gun sloop Favourite was stripping, preparatory to undergoing a thorough refit. We landed at the Commissariat Pier, where we were met by Mr. Carte, the superintendent of convicts, through whose kindness we were quickly enabled to present our credentials to the commandant. Captain Booth welcomed us with the utmost urbanity, presenting us to his accomplished partner, and courteously inviting us to take up our quarters with him,— an invitation we gladly accepted, Port Arthur being yet unconscious of hotel, lodging-house, or any place of entertain, ment; in fact, every residence is a government one.

VOL. IV.

44

Next day being Sunday, we proceeded, after breakfast, to see the convicts mustered prior to their being marched to church. They were drawn up in three lines, each gang forming a separate division, the overseers (convicts) taking their stations in the rear. It was hideous to remark the countenances of the men, to which their yellow raiment, a halfblack, half-yellow PA, and their respective numbers stamped in various parts, imparts a sinister, a most revolting expression. Scarcely one open set of features was to be found. To read their eyes, it seemed as though they were speculating the chance of gain or advantage to be hoped from us. Crime and its consequences were fearfully depicted in their ill-omened visages, and we turned from the disagreeable caricature of humanity with as much disgust as pity and regret. Muster over, the men were marched with the utmost silence to church, whither we shortly followed,-a military detachment, with loaded arms, being so stationed as to command the entire building.

The church of Port Arthur is a beautiful, spacious, hewn stone edifice, cruciform in shape, with pinnacled tower and gables. Internally, it is simply, but neatly, fitted, affording accommodation for upwards of 2000 sitters. There is no organ; but a choir has been selected from among the convicts, who chant the psalms with considerable effect. As yet, no clergyman of the established church has been resident, the religious duties having hitherto been undertaken by those zealous and indefatigable Christians, the Wesleyans. Mr. Manton is the present respected pastor, a gentleman who has devoted. himself not only to call the sinners of Port Arthur to repentance, but who has, erewhile, laboured earnestly in the same good cause at the now abandoned settlement of Macquarie Harbour.

After service, we accompanied the commandant to the cookhouse, where the respective messes were about to be issued. The manner in which this is arranged is admirable. The messes, varying from twelve to six-and-twenty men, are berthed in chambers of the penitentiary, affording accommodation for their respective numbers. Each of these messes selects, in