Page:Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies.djvu/149



settlement of the Van Diemens Land Company, at the Hampshire Hills, consisted of a few houses for the officers and servants, built of weather-board, upon a gentle eminence, among grassy and ferny hills, interspersed with forest, and watered by clear brooks, bordered with beautiful shrubs.—Here we remained seven weeks, using such opportunities as occurred for communicating religious instruction to the people. While my companion enjoyed the society of his relations, I often made excursions into the surrounding country; in company with Joseph Milligan, the surgeon of the Company's establishment at this place.

12th mo. 15th. In the course of a walk, we met with the V. D. Land Tulip-tree, Telopea truncata, a laurel-like shrub, bearing heads four inches across, of brilliant, scarlet, wiry, flowers; we also saw by the side of a brook, a large upright Phebalium, a shrub with silvery leaves and small white blossoms, and a white flowered Wood Sorrel, Oxtalis Lactea, resembling the Wood Sorrel of England.

17th. When in the forest, a large Black Snake apprized me of its proximity by a loud hiss: I struck it, but