Page:Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies.djvu/166

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130
WESTBURY.
[1st mo.

military establishment. In one of these we found, as temporary residents, the family of George P. Ball, an officer lately returned from service in India, with whom we had previously become acquainted, and by whose assistance, several of the inhabitants were collected at the military barracks, where I preached to them the Gospel of peace through Jesus Christ, and pointed out the necessity of repentance, and the danger of impenitence.—Having been long in a part of the Island where there are no public-houses, and where the evils arising from strong drink are little seen, we were forcibly struck with their exhibition at Westbury, where intoxication, profane language, and depravity of countenance, bespoke in an appalling manner, man led captive of the devil at his will.

28th. Our kind friend G. P. Ball accompanied us as far as the settlement of P. Ashburner, a respectable magistrate, also returned from India, to whose family we paid a pleasant visit.—Some of the locations of settlers in this neighbourhood are upwards of 20,000 acres.—We crossed the South Esk at Entally Ford, and when it became dark, got involved among unfinished, post and rail fences, which perplexed us greatly. This is a trial of patience not unfrequent in a country in which enclosure is commencing, and one which we generally avoided by travelling on foot. It was late before we reached the town, notwithstanding we had been long in sight of it. We found comfortable accommodation for the night, at the Launceston Hotel.—The distance from the Hampshire Hills to Launceston is 113 miles.