ure, a little vain and self-important, but earnest and upright, and
possessed of very fair abilities. The distinguished part he played in
the early colonisation of Australia will always render him a prominent
person in our history.

#5. Governor Davey.#--It took some time for the news of the Governor's
death to reach England, and during the three years that elapsed before
his successor could be sent out, the place was filled in turn by three
gentlemen, named Lord, Murray, and Geils, till, in 1813, the new
Governor, Davey, arrived. He had been a colonel of marines, and had
shown himself a good soldier, but he had few of the qualities of a
Governor. He was rough and excessively coarse in his manners, and
utterly regardless of all decorum. He showed his defiance of all
conventional rules by the manner of his entry. The day being warm, he
took off his coat and waistcoat, and marched into the town in a costume
more easy than dignified; he listened to the address of welcome with
careless indifference, and throughout showed little respect either for
himself or for the people he had come to govern. Yet, under his rule,
the colony made progress. In his first year he opened the port to
ordinary merchant ships; for, previously, as the town was a convict
settlement of the most severe type, no free person was allowed to land
without special permission. From this time commerce began to spring up;
free settlers spread over the country, and cultivated it with such
success that, in 1816, besides supplying all the necessities of their
own community, they were able to export grain to Sydney.

#6. New Norfolk.#--In 1807 the settlement of Norfolk Island had been
abandoned by the British Government, on account of its expense, and the
convicts, of whom many had there grown to be decent, orderly farmers,
were brought to Tasmania. They formed a new settlement on the Derwent,
about fifteen miles above Hobart Town, at a place which they called "New
Norfolk," in affectionate memory of their former island home.

#7. Bushranging.#--About this time the colony began to be greatly annoyed
by bushrangers. From twenty to forty convicts generally escaped every
year and betook themselves to the wild country around the central lakes
of Tasmania. There, among the fastnesses of the western mountains, they
led a desperate and daring life, sometimes living with the natives, whom
they quickly taught all the wickedness they themselves knew. Their
ordinary