Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 1.djvu/197

] secretary, during the temporary absence of Mr. Montague, and Mr. Henslowe, the governor's private secretary, being now but of little general interest, from much later information on the various subjects having already been published (showing a far less prosperous state of affairs, owing to the sad mismanagement of our colonial legislators in England); but more especially because of the admirable work lately published by Count Strzelecki, whose opportunities of traversing the country, and by whose fidelity and ability a far better account has been laid before the public than I could give, I consider it unnecessary for me to enter at all upon the subject of the present condition of the colony.

Constant occupation at the observatory prevented my seeing much of the interior of this most interesting and valuable country; two short excursions only, which I made with Sir John Franklin after the pendulum observations were completed, served to confirm all I had heard of its great resources; and to prove to me that, unlike the more northern colonies of these regions, its climate has not the effect of deteriorating the British character or constitution of the rising generation.

The society of Hobart-town is most perfectly English, and therefore most agreeable to visitors from the mother country.. The houses even of the wealthier colonists are smaller and more unpretending in appearance than those of persons of more limited means in England; but there is no want of the characteristic substantial comforts of