formed of a sail, on deck, the hold being occupied with provisions, which it was hoped would have been delivered at Port Arthur yesterday. They seemed, nevertheless, con- tented and cheerful.
25th. We reached Port Arthur, which is greatly improved since we were here before, though much still requires to be done before it can be fully effective for the purpose of a Penal Settlement. A good penitentiary, and a place of worship are much wanted. The Penitentiary in use consists only of bark huts, surrounded with a high, stockade fence. One hut is appropriated to educated prisoners, who are now, in many instances, sent here on their arrival in the Colony, being considered as having abused their advantages more than the uneducated. This class of prisoners feel their degradation greatly: they are occupied in manual labour in the settlement gardens. The other prisoners are divided into a chain-gang, and a first and second class, distinguished by the kind of labour allotted them, by their clothing, and by the second class having an allowance of tea and sugar. This classification produces a good effect. Captain Charles O'Hara Booth, the Commandant, has succeeded in establishing a more strict discipline than his predecessors, and in some respects, than that pursued at Macquarie Harbour: he has abolished the use of that great desideratum with prisoners—tobacco. The health of the prisoners is generally good, though cases of scurvy have of late increased. In the afternoon we walked with Capt. Booth to the signal-station, two miles and a half distant, through forests of Stringy-bark, Blue-gum, White-gum, Myrtle, Sasafras, Tree-fern, &c. an assemblage proving the climate to be somewhat humid; it is, however, much drier than that of Macquarie Harbour.
26th. We accompanied Captain Booth to Eagle Hawk Neck, the isthmus separating Tasmans Peninsula, on which Port Arthur is situated, from Forestiers Peninsula, which is connected with the main land. The distance, after leaving a boat at the head of Long Bay, was about eleven miles, which we walked in a soaking rain.—A guard of soldiers is stationed at Eagle Hawk Neck, which is only 120 yards across, at high tide; and to make the barrier more secure, nine watch dogs
