boys, kept by a young man with whose family I was acquainted in England.
2nd. We returned to Hobart Town, calling at a few small cottages on the Sorell-rivulet; where we reasoned with the occupants on "temperance, righteousness, and judgment to come." Learning that there was "a marked tree road," or a way through "the bush," as the forest is termed in this country, marked by pieces of bark being chopped off the sides of trees, we ventured to take it; and though the distance was five miles, and it was extremely hilly and rough, the variety was pleasant. Some of the species of Gum-tree have deciduous bark, and consequently white trunks; these are generally blackened at the base by fire, that has been kindled to clear off the underwood and long-grass, at various intervals; long strips of bark hang from the branches, and great numbers of dying and dead trees, the wreck of ages, lie on the ground in these forests. The only quadruped we saw was an Opossum. A flock of Black Cockatoos were screaming and tearing off the bark from dead trees, to obtain the grubs on which they feed. Near the main road, a prisoner was at work splitting the wood of the Peppermint-tree, a species of Eucalyptus, into posts and rails: he was one who, as well as his master and family, had been recently awakened to the importance of eternal things, by the labours of John Leach, and belonged to a little congregation of Wesleyans, at O'Briens Bridge. The warmth of feeling of the master was like that described by the apostle Paul, in some of the early converts to Christianity; who, he says, "If it had been possible, would have plucked out their own eyes, and given them to him."
5th. Apprehending it would be right for us to take the first opportunity of visiting the penal settlement, at Macquarie Harbour, we conferred with the Lieut. Governor, on the subject, and received his sanction.—6th. We accompanied the Lieut. Governor to the Old Orphan School, and to an unfinished building, designed for the better accommodation of this institution. The latter is prettily situated near New-town, and is intended for about six hundred children.
On the 7th., we went to New Norfolk by a coach, which
