condemned to spend the remainder of my days. The period of my sentence is expired: I carry on with advantage two of my original trades, those of a goldsmith and watchmaker. The two rascals* who work with me, triple my profits. In a few years,

I shall be one of the richest land-holders in the settlement; and already I should be one of the happiest, if I were not incessantly tormented with the regret of having so unfortunately miscarried in such an honourable undertaking, and seeing myself on this occasion considered as a vile criminal, even by those among you, my countrymen, who cannot be acquainted with the noble principles of my conduct, or who do not properly appreciate them.”

Does not this anecdote afford an interesting episode for a melodrama? You are in the native land of those spectacles, my friend; exert your genius.

that re

You must have observed in this narrative, a passage quires a slight explanation. Morand says, that he was condemned to transportation for the remainder of his days: and he afterward adds, that the term of his sentence is expired. In this there is no contradiction.

A convict arrives, condemned to seven years' transportation. If he be of any trade, he may procure employment at it as soon as he arrives: and, if he be industrious and frugal, he is soon enabled to work on his own account, and to earn money enough to begin a little business. The Government of Sydney, well informed of the conduct of the convicts sent from England, is careful not to grant lands to any but those who render themselves deserving of such a favour. They have then a beneficial purpose in view in clearing the ground, and enriching them with

So M. Morand called those of the convicts, goldsmiths or watchmakers, whom he employed in his work at home, and whom he treated with the most sovereign contempt. "Those rascals," he said sometimes in speaking of them, "would risk their necks for a watch."

the products of our climates. But for the performance of this labour, a single pair of hands is insufficient, and with every possible diligence would obtain no beneficial result. What then is the plan of English philanthropy? The convict condemned to be transported for seven or fourteen years, whose conduct since his arrival has been blameless, is given as an assistant, or servant to him who has finished his term, or who has obtained a grant of exemption: he receives wages; his labours are recompensed; and, if he be frugal after his term is expired, he in his turn, obtains the same advantages as his master, and, like him, receives servants, who assist him in clearing fresh lands. In this manner the labour, the trouble, and the reward have been equally distributed; and, while the country is improved, the man becomes better, and society is benefited.

If a convict has given any cause of dissatisfaction during his passage, on his arrival he is put into irons, employed on laborious works, and does not recover his liberty, till he has afforded some pledge of his future good conduct. If while in irons he be guilty of any fresh crime, he is hung; and his just punishment serves as a lesson to those, who might be tempted to live in guilt like himself.

Let me hasten to say, that examples of this kind are very rare; and that the wisdom of the laws by which this settlement is governed, as well as the beauty of the climate and fertility of the soil, promise England a source of wealth, that it would seek in vain in its other distant possessions.

LETTER CXLIV.

Sydney.

AMONG the kind offers with which we were honoured by Governor Macquarrie, that of furnishing us with the means of crossing the Blue Mountains by the road to Bathurst was eagerly accepted by the commander of our expedition; from a persuasion that our surgeon, who has studied zoology with great success, and our botanist, whose zeal no difficulties can check, would find in these distant excursions, objects worthy of the attention of the learned.

M. Freycinet had intended that I should go along with them, to make drawings of the most picturesque views on this journey, as well as those subjects of natural history, the preservation of which might be impossible or doubtful. This offer I should have accepted with eagerness, if some very powerful reasons had not engaged me in other excursions, at least as perilous, and much more instructive to myself.

In the first place I was aware, that the road from Sydney to Bathurst was perfectly known; and that the commandant of the troops now at Sydney, an able draftsman, whose portfolios were enriched with every thing curious the country produces, among other excursions had accompanied Mr. Oxley in his laborious and celebrated journey, and had employed his pencil on every view worthy of delineation. I was already acquainted with the intentions of M. Freycinet, who would not have this tour extend to more than ten days; and had reason to fear, that

I could not employ my time to any advantage, as the term fixed was barely sufficient for the journey. I did not hesitate, therefore, to refuse the offer made me, persuaded before-hand, that I should obtain from the excursions I projected, subjects of congratulation for having engaged in them.

Still these powerful considerations, to which I may add the kind offer of Mr. Oxley, to carry me to his country-house, a short league from the torrent of Kinkham, would not have determined me to refuse, had I not been certain that my place would be perfectly well filled by M. Pellion, one of our midshipmen, whose zeal, activity, and courage never failed him in dangerous enterprises, and whose talents as a draftsman rendered him equally proper for this mission.

It occurred to me that a number of new and picturesque situations might still be found; and Mr. Oxley had assured me, that the mountains in the vicinity of the Kinkham, which form one of the principal branches of those which my comrades were preparing to cross, would afford me frequent opportunities for the exercise of my pencil.

When we consider the numerous unsuccessful attempts made to surmount this long barrier, it might be asked, whether the chain of the Blue Mountains, like the Cordilleras that traverse the two Americas, also exhibits summits covered with eternal snow; grand and perpendicular masses of granite; cataracts like that of Niagara; or rivers like the St. Lawrence and the Plata. In presenting to the astonished world the most minute particulars of their adventurous excursions, the courageous travellers who traversed these vast deserts do not seem to me to have candidly pointed out the obstacles that opposed them. They have terrified us with impetuous torrents, impenetrable walls, precipices that the eye could not measure. We now know all that is formi

dable in these torrents, walls, and precipices; and no person is ignorant, that the fear of wanting food was the chief, or rather the sole cause of the bad success of the first attempts.

How in fact can we imagine, that mountains, the highest summits of which do not exceed 500 or 600 toises, and the sides of which are covered by an active vegetation, are really inaccessible? How can we suppose, that these rapid torrents, the waters of which, almost always small in quantity, are swelled only by heavy storms, are so difficult to cross?....When I read the different accounts of these unsuccessful undertakings hitherto published, I shuddered with terror; and seemed to see Humboldts and Bonplands scaling the frowning brows of the Andes, the unknown summit of Chimborazo, or the terrific Cone of Cotopaxi.

At the commencement of the English settlement in these countries, some convicts, displeased with their loss of liberty, fled into the interior, and attempted to scale the mountains: but, driven back by the natives, and a still more formidable enemy, hunger, they returned to their fetters, and made public the ill-success of their attempts.

At length, in 1789, the Government began to engage seriously in this enterprise; and Lieutenant Dawes was employed to survey the mountains to the west, accompanied by a score of soldiers, who advanced with him only a few miles into the interior of the country.

If we are to believe his account, he met with nothing but cataracts, abrupt rocks, and tremendous precipices. But it should be observed that this expedition, which would have been the first capable of furnishing any satisfactory results, was undertaken without any of those precautions that might have insured its success. It was only furnished with provisions for ten days; and it was pretty certain that no supply could be found in the interior. After Dawes, Major Tench set out with a considerable escort ;