TASMANIA REVISITED.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 346, 25 July 1885, Page 14

TASMANIA REVISITED.

By Yoice-Ha-wkixs. I HAD been representing a Melbourne Tea House in the Western District of Victoria, and returning to the city was, to my inexpressible gratification, directed to proced to Tasmania with the new season's teas. To revisit the home of one's youth, after many years of absence, to again traverse the streets your childish feet have trodden on their way to school, and look once more on all the old, familiar surroundings is agreeable, even though those surroundings be devoid of natural beauties ; but, when the scene of your childhood's days is located in such a lovely place as Hobart, where everywhere there is so much of beauty in. Nature, to return is a pleasure unspeakable. Tasuianians are singxilarly loyal to the memory of their beautiful country. Meet them where you will, but talk of thennative land and their hearts swell with pride as you descant on the beauties of that 'tight little island.' Oft, during my fifteen years of absence and wanderings, had my thoughts wandered there, and now I think of the bright Tasnianian skies, The graud old mountain's 3ides, Old spots, association's ties, Schoolboy haunts, and merry rides. Or dream of a silent graveyard Urder the wooded hills, Where repose those gone Heavenward Till tears mine eyelid fills. I missed the T.S.N. Co.'s Pateena at the Queen's Wharf, and had to hurry in a cab, at a ruinous expense, to Sandridge, and hire a boat, in order to catch her off the mouth of the Yarra. A friend accompanied me to say a late good-bye. He was persuaded to °-et into the boat by a promise of a & bottle of chan>T>agne out of a case among the samples ; but unfortunately we had such, quick despatch that there wasn't time to get the lid off. His disappointed face haunts me now, as he watched the sparkle transhipped intact into the steamer, and left disgusted and seasick. And now farewell mon beau Melbourne. A year' has rolled away since then. When shall I walk your busy streets again ? There were a goodly number of passengers on board bound for the beautiful Southern Island ; a theatrical company, with Johnny Hall and Jennie Kye among them, old New Zealand favorites, were on their way to Hobart to play a short season. The Pateena is the crack boat of the T.S.N.Co. in the Launceston and Melbourne trade, and makes a pleasure trip of the short passage across the The Melbourne wharf was left at two p.m., and we shall be alongside the wharf at Launceston at the same hour to-morrow. Quickly we reach Queenscliffe by the uninteresting middle channel of Hobson's Bay. Now we are in the rip !— the tide meets the windpropelled waves sometimes here, and makes a nasty augry cross sea that knocks the plates and dishes about should a meal be in pro-

gress. A merry time with the pro's and con's* in the saloon— story-telling and card-playing whiles away the evening. Two gentlemen are drinking together. A wag changes their glasses. One's 'poison ' was brandy, the other's English beer, liather too much of a jokeSequence : One wants to take charge of the bridge, the other makes things lively downstairs. Their friends take care of them. The lights are now out, save the glimmer in each cabin, and all turn in to wake up in the morning in sight of Tasmania. Soon we are within Low Heads and abreast of George To wn , from where a boat comes off with the health officer, whose duty it is to make a rigorous examination of the passengers to prevent the importation of small-pox. The inspection is a farce. < All well, Clinch ?'^ inquires the jolly doctor. 'AH well, sil>l -' replies the captain, and the rigorous examination is over. They adjourn to the saloon, drink each other's healths, and in a minute or two the old fellow is away in his whaleboat, while we are steaming fast up the broad estuary of the Tamar. Tins arm of the sea, into which several rivers fall at its head, is indented with numerous small bays and coves along its sixty miles of length, and the land on either side is densely wooded right down to the water's edge. Though beautiful vistas now and again are opened up, the scenery along the banks presents too little variety to be as interesting as the wider estuary of theDerwent. Launceston is an an old-fashioned place, built where the rivers fall into the head of the long estuary, and is so protected by hUls that the wind is seldom felt disagreeably strong about the town. We will not stay in the northern city, but get on to Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. For some years past a narrow guage railway has connected the northern and southern cities, but previously a splendidly made and kept coach road, one hundred and twenty miles long, served for all the purposes of communication. Imperial money and convict labour has constructed in this road a lasting monument to the reign of Colonel Arthur and his rigorous administration. ' Man's inhumanity to man Makes countless thousands mourn.' Some of our subscribers may have read. Marcus Clarke's powerful novel, entitled, ( His Natural Life,' exposing the terrible cruelties practised by the authorities on the hapless convicts in the old Port Arthur days. I have heard influential and reliable Tafr manians vouch for the truthfulness of the picture drawn by this gifted author. The tale is couched in the most graphic of language, and recounts the history of an innocent man condemned to penal servitude for the rest of ' his natural life J ; of how he bears his horrible sufferings and inhuman treatment at the hands of those the Queen had honoured with her commission ; and how, under that fearful load, he nobly bore his unmerited punishment. When the work was published a few years ago, it created a profound sensation ; for a Christian people would not believe such things could be and go unpunished, The coaches used on the magnificent road between Hobart and Launceston — for it is as well kept as a bowling-green all the way — were identical with the stage coach that traversed old England before the days of railways there. It used to be the delight of my boyhood to see the coach come tearingdown Elizabeth-street, while the guard held on behind blowing his horn. It took fifteen hours' of continuous driving in those chjs tocomplete the journey, and now by the winding, narrow guage railway it is done in six. The drivers of Page's mail coaches naturally viewed with grave alarm the invasion of the railway. A very stout old driver, after Weller of immortal Dickens, who had served twenty years on the box for the coachingfirm, used to reason thus against the innovation : — &ays he : 'If yer gits capsized off my coach, why there yer are ; but if yer has a collishun on the railway, where are yer?' Tasmania is full of towns bearing English nanies.. Close to Launceston the rail runs through St.. Leonards — a charming suburb of the northern,! city on the banks of one of the Esks. From here, as far as Oatlands, which is about thecentre of the island, the country is open and undulating, and the rail runs pretty straight. Leaving Oatlands, the ' iron horse ' is continually winding round hills, and oftener than, not you may see him puffing away from the window, while the train is doubled up and twisted like a snake. On the way down, Ben. Lomond's round head, covered with snow and towering among the clouds, can be seen away to the eastward. Near the railway station at Koss is Horton College, fondly remembe^d by its old scholars. The system of punishment adopted there did not consist of caning or corporeal punishment of any sort. The lads who behaved themselves and tried their best to learn were rewarded by allowance toramble in the bush near by ; while the bad boys had to remain within bounds. Along* the line are several magnificent mansions — homes of wool kings. Many British officers received Crown grants in the early days, and, settling on the land, formed the nucleus of the Tasmanian aristocracy of to-day. I purpose including in my next chapter a description of Mount Wellington and a climb to its summit, which, I trust, will prove interesting. This magnificent monument of basalt meets the gaze of every visitor to Hobart, yet few avail themselves of the grand prospect to be obtained from its sides and top at the expense of a few hours 1 hard work. {Concluded in our next,}