have been
long since forgotten. The modern emigrant to Australia can know them
only in part. He is carried to his destination by a public conveyance,
at a cost determined by extensive competition. He can have the
mechanical labor he may need: he can buy the stock, descended from
European flocks and herds, lower than in their native regions. The
choice fruit trees, flowers, and plants, which multitudes have combined
to collect, he can obtain often at a gift. The costly experiments of his
predecessors have established the rules which preserve his crops from
destruction, or his folds from disease. There is a market for his
produce, and a bank for his money; and a school for his children.

A poet, of some celebrity, predicted the fortunes of Tasmania. The
picture he drew, is no unpleasing prospect for posterity:--

"Now, on my soul the rising vision warms,
But mingled in a thousand lovely forms!
Methinks I see Australian landscapes still,
But softer beauty sits on every hill:
I see bright meadows, decked in livelier green,
The yellow corn-field, and the blossomed bean:
A hundred flocks o'er smiling pastures roam,
And hark! the music of the harvest home!
Methinks I hear the hammer's busy sound,
The cheerful hum of human voices round;
The laughter and the song that lightens toil,
Sung in the language of my native isle!
The vision leads me on by many a stream;
And spreading cities crowd upon my dream,
Where turrets darkly frown, and lofty spires
Point to the stars and sparkle in their fires!
Here Sydney gazes, from the mountain side,
Narcissus-like upon the glassy tide!
O'er rising towns Notasian commerce reigns,
And temples crowd Tasmania's lovely plains!
The prospect varies in an endless range;
Villas and lawns go by, in ceaseless change:
And wafted on the gale from many a dell,
Methinks I hear the village Sabbath bell!
Faith upward mounts, upon devotion's wings,
And, like the lark, at heaven's pure portal sings;
From myriad tongues the song of praise is poured,
And o'er them floats 'the spirit of the Lord!'"[140]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 137: Mr. Samuel Bate, after exercising the functions of judge
at Port Phillip (1803), returned home, and received the appointment,
many years after, of inspector of excise, at Port Jackson.]

[Footnote 138: _Par. Pap._ 1812.]

[Footnote 139: The following may be considered almost unparalleled in
the history of modern colonies, and in this has never