all fine buildings with the exception of the court-house, which is a low, solid-looking structure of stone, two stories in height, and of unattractive appearance. Fred asked the policeman the reason of the difference in these buildings.
"The court-house is one of the old prisons of the days of the convict system," was the reply; "it was the female penitentiary and workshop, and at one time was crowded with women who had been transported from England to spend the rest of their lives in Australia. 
A BALCONY.It will probably be torn down before many years, as the people want to get rid of everything that can remind them of the convict system."
Turning to the right at the end of Queen Street, and close to Victoria Bridge, they walked along William Street, past the museum, and the Houses of Parliament, till they came to the Government Domain, which contains the residence of the colonial governor. Close by are Queen's Park and the Botanical Gardens, and here they lingered until it was time to return to the hotel and meet Doctor Bronson, who had announced his intention of sleeping till a late hour.
The river makes a sharp bend around a balcony. Brisbane, and the Government Domain, Botanical Gardens, and Queen's Park are prettily situated at the end of the point of land enclosed in the bend. In colonial parlance it is called a "pocket," and Queen Street may be said to run across the top of the pocket, as it extends from the river to the river again, just as the numbered streets of New York go from the water on one side of Manhattan Island to the water on the other.
Frank and Fred thought they had nowhere seen more attractive Botanical Gardens than those at Brisbane. They were particularly impressed with the row of trees that lined the river-bank; they resembled pines, and were of a sugar-loaf shape, and the custodian of the place
