y eradicated. Even now the descendants of convicts are
sometimes secretly looked down upon, and a great many have, on that
account, left the island. Much public work has been done by convict
labour. If a road is particularly well made, it is a sure remark that
it was made by the "Government stroke," but as a monument of human
industry, slave labour does not impress the mind like free labour. One
does not contemplate the pyramids of Egypt with the same satisfaction
as St. Peter's or St. Paul's. An account of the present aborigines of
Tasmania may be given with the same brevity as that of the snakes in
Ireland--there are none. The last was an old woman who died about ten
years ago. They were gradually reduced in numbers, partly by the
invaders, partly by natural causes, and at last the remnant was
deported to one of the neighbouring islands. In 1854 there were only
16 left. In the museum at Hobart are portraits of a good many, with
unpronounceable names. By the Australians, Tasmania is sometimes
called "sleepy hollow," and certainly, compared with their neighbours
across the water, the Tasmanians do appear to be deficient in energy.
The revenue of the country is, indeed, increasing, though slowly.
There are now only about 400,000 acres under cultivation. A great many
sheep are imported from Victoria. The principal manufacture is jam,
but the customs duties of Victoria put difficulties in the way of a
large export. Lately, the tin mines of Mount Bischoff, in the N.W.,
have been exceedingly productive, but there is an immense amount of
mineral wealth in Tasmania not yet tapped. With the exception of
Newfoundland, it is, I believe, the only Colony not represented at the
present Colonial and Indian Exhibition, and this must be matter of
regret to all wellwishers of the island, because it is certainly not
due to want of materials for exhibition. There might be shown the
varieties of the gum tree, the beautiful tree-ferns, the pretty shells
which are made into necklaces, the skin of the black opossum, of which
the finest opossum rugs are made (the black opossum has, however,
become very rare, and brown skins are sometimes dyed black). There is,
too, the Tasmanian devil, a small but formidable animal, something
like a badger, and the ornithorhynchus, or duck-billed platypus, which
figures on some of the postage stamps. This want of energy is a fact,
however it may be accounted for. Probably the emigration to Australia
of some of