steps going
to or coming from school, with their glowing promise of health and
beauty.

It is remarkable how certain communities are characterized by handsome
girls and boys, together with lovely children, while another locality,
either far away or near at hand, is notable for the almost painful
plainness of its rising generation. Such experiences are sure to force
themselves upon the notice of the traveller in foreign lands, personal
beauty being oftenest encountered where least expected, and usually
under such circumstances as to be the more impressive. The same
inclination to cut the hair short like that of boys, which we had
noticed among women single and married still farther north, prevails
here to even a greater extent. Though it was so common, it nevertheless
repeatedly suggested their late possible recovery from some serious and
depleting fever.

CHAPTER XII.

Lake District of Tasmania.--Mount
Wellington.--Kangaroos.--The Big Trees.--A Serenade.--The
Albatross.--Marksmanship at Sea.--Dust of the Ocean.--A
Storm.--Franklin's Proposition.--A Feathered Captive.--Bluff
Oysters.--Most Southerly Hotel in the
World.--Invercargill.--Historical
Matters.--Geographical.--The Climate of New
Zealand.--Colonial Hospitality.

The river Derwent, which rises far inland where the beautiful lakes St.
Clair and Sorell are embosomed, itself broadens into an inland lake six
miles wide, where it forms the harbor of Hobart, famous for the summer
regattas that are rowed upon its surface. Here the largest maritime
craft that navigates these seas can lie close to the wharf and the
warehouses to discharge cargo, while the fine large stone Custom House
is within pistol-shot of the shore. Let us emphasize the importance of a
visit to the Lake District of Tasmania, where the lakes just referred to
lie in their lonely beauty,--now overhung by towering cliffs, like those
bordering a Norwegian fjord, and now edged by pebbly beaches, where
choice specimens of agate and carnelian abound. They are dotted here and
there by verdant isles with sedge-lined shores, and present sheets of a
glassy surface unbroken for miles in extent. The neighborhood is one of
primeval loneliness, invaded only by an occasional traveller; but a
brief visit to Lake St. Clair and Lake Sorell leaves a delightful
picture upon the memory not soon to be obliterated.

The charming cloud-effects which hang over and