a sandy shore, near the
site of Sorrento, but had grown disgusted with the place; and early in
1804 he carried off all the people, and resolved to abandon Port Phillip
in favour of the Derwent. He landed at Risdon on the 15th February, and,
after a short examination, came to the conclusion that the situation was
unsuitable. Next day he went in search of a better place, and chose a
little bay on the opposite side, some six miles nearer the mouth of the
estuary, and thither the whole settlement was soon after removed. There,
at the very foot of the lofty Mount Wellington, Hobart Town began to
grow in its new situation. Houses were rapidly erected; most of them
consisted of posts stuck in the ground, interwoven with twigs of wattle
trees, and then daubed over with mud. The chimneys were built of stones
and turf, and the roofs were thatched with grass. Whilst the new town
was growing, a party of convicts and soldiers was still busy on the
little farms at Risdon, and early in May they had a most unfortunate
affray with the natives. A party of two or three hundred blacks, who
were travelling southward, came suddenly in sight of the white men and
their habitations. These were the first Europeans whom they had seen,
and they became much excited at the strange spectacle. While they were
shouting and gesticulating, the Englishmen thought they were preparing
for an attack and fired upon them. The blacks fled and the white men
pursued them, killing about thirty of the unfortunate natives. Thus was
begun a long warfare, which ended only with the complete extinction of
the native races.

[Illustration: GOVERNOR COLLINS.]

#3. Patterson.#--Next year, 1804, the Sydney Government sent another party
of convicts, under Colonel Patterson, to found a colony in the north of
Tasmania. The position selected was near the entrance to Port Dalrymple;
and here, for eight years, a small settlement continued to exist in an
independent state, until, in 1812, it was placed under the charge of the
Governor at Hobart Town.

#4. Death Of Collins.#--The colony at the latter place was meanwhile
slowly establishing itself; and in 1808, when Bligh visited it after his
expulsion from Sydney, he found the little township with quite a settled
and comfortable appearance. In 1810 it lost its amiable and warm-hearted
Governor. While calmly and cheerfully conversing with a friend, Mr.
Collins fell back dead in his chair. He was a man of a good and kindly
nat