officer, of whom the writer never heard a prisoner speak with reproach:
he was detested only as the personification of unimpassioned severity.
He gave all the weight of his example to promote the success of the
missionary, and paid him respect in the sight of the prisoners. Time
softens all things, and Captain Booth, on calm reflection, deserves to
be remembered with respect, as an officer who took no pleasure in the
sufferings he inflicted--who was as prompt to reward as to punish. A
further detail is needless, and would add no new illustration of
transportation.

The interest which Arthur took in the settlement which bears his name,
may be inferred from his frequent visits, and the large promises which
he offered in reference to its future prosperity. He thought seven
thousand men might be sent there, to be detained six months on an
average; and that the large consumption and expenditure would be repaid
by the produce of their labor. From an early date, Port Arthur possessed
the advantage of schools and ministerial attendance. A church, of
handsome exterior, was erected.[205]

As the settlement improved, a tramway formed of hard wood, crossed a
space of five miles, and thus connected the opposite bays. On this road,
travellers were conveyed by human labor, a large proportion of the
distance being, however, overcome by spontaneous locomotion.

The denizens of Port Arthur would furnish a curious collection of
biography: the muster would be a living calendar. Among the more
celebrated were, Ikey Solomon, the receiver, whom they made constable:
the chartists--men, in whose fate millions have publicly expressed an
interest. There was Collins, the mad sailor, who threw a stone at the
last king; May, who murdered the Italian boy; and Cohen, a jew, who
resigned himself to despair, and refusing sustenance, died: they now
rest in the "_Isle de Mort_."

The establishment at Point Puer was intended to reclaim and control,
rather than to punish, the unfortunate youth submitted to its
discipline. Until a very late period, boys had been transmitted to the
colonies in company with the men, and were treated without much
discrimination: some at an age to understand crime only as a trick, or
to deserve aught except pity and correction. Thus at Preston, a child,
only seven years old, was transported for life. A boy, three years
older, perhaps the same, called by his fellow prisoners, "King John,"
after three years imprisonment, arri