cold; but to
the men it was a new era. Having discoursed on the advantages of
knowledge, forty-seven prisoners requested instruction; and, assisted by
Mr. Commissary Lempriere, and countenanced by the commandant, he taught
many to read. Capt. Butler marked a change in the temper of the men:
punishments fell off one half; several were united with the wesleyan
society; and on the missionary's recommendation, their stay was
shortened.

They only should ask the reality of such repentance, who have
endeavoured to reform the wicked. One man was specially pointed out to
Messrs. Backhouse and Walker: the change in his conduct was great, and
its effects visible: his demeanour, his countenance, and, said the
commandant, "his very voice was changed." He had lost his arm by an
accident, which nearly deprived him of life. He had formed a cave at the
base of the island, reached by a steep slippery descent. It was here Mr.
Backhouse joined him, as he knelt down on the rough floor of his cold
cavern to adore the Almighty, for granting the privilege of solitude!
Strange meeting, and strange subject of thanksgiving!

Messrs. Backhouse and Walker, of the Society of Friends, travelled these
colonies (1831 to 1836), chiefly engaged in religious labors, and
principally to admonish the prisoners. The volume, of which Backhouse
was the author, attests their industry and accurate observation, while
performing a mission, which the moral weight of their connections
rendered of great moment. To understand this record of their labors,
some acquaintance with science is requisite, and not less a knowledge of
quaker modes of thought. The adventurous and buoyant spirit of the
writer, which carried him into odd situations, is sometimes irresistibly
droll, in contrast with formal phrases. He was a gentleman of prudence
and sagacity: "he lifted up his heart to God; took his pocket compass,"
and thus escaped some perils, both by sea and land; and carried to
England a reputation, from which detraction has taken nothing, and which
friendship would scarcely desire to improve.

The capture of the _Cyprus_ in Recherche Bay, on the voyage to Macquarie
Habour, was a stirring episode in the history of transportation. It
excited vast interest in Great Britain, and was dramatised at a London
theatre. The prisoners, who wage war with society, regarded the event
with exultation; and long after, a song, composed by a sympathising
poet, was propagated by oral traditi