Page:Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies.djvu/172

136 pools. On the margin of this river, there is an elegant willow-like Eucalyptus, called the Black Gum, forming a tree of moderate size. Green Ponds is a scattered village, with an Episcopal place of worship, and a good inn.—In the evening we continued our walk, by moonlight, along a winding woody pass to Constitution Hill, where we lodged at an inn.

27th. Early in the morning, we visited a road-party of 120 men, and then pursued our route along the vale of Bagdad, much of which is enclosed with post and rail fences, and in which there are several decent houses, and a good inn. Soon after leaving this vale, the road crosses the Jordan, by a handsome wooden bridge, on stone pillars, over a deep ravine; it then continues over low woody hills till it reaches the Derwent, opposite to Bridge-water.—We crossed the Derwent in a small boat, to the Black Snake Inn, where, being very foot sore, we tried the experiment of drawing a double, unbleached, linen thread through the blisters, by means of a needle, and cutting off the thread so as to leave it protruding at each side. This allowed the water to pass out when the blister pressed the ground, by which means the pain was greatly alleviated, and the thread produced no inconvenience by remaining till the blister was healed. Sometimes a thread of white worsted is used for the purpose. Probably, so long as it is undyed, the material is not of much consequence, but the relief to foot-sore pedestrians is very great. We subsequently walked ten miles to Hobart Town, at the rate of a mile in sixteen and a half minutes.—On the way, we met several persons with whom we were acquainted, and passed two good stage coaches going to New Norfolk, which had an enlivening effect at the conclusion of this long journey.—There was at this time no coach to Launceston; but an open four-wheeled carriage performed the journey of 120 miles, in two days, not running at night: the fare was £5.—On reaching Hobart Town we found our friends T. J. and S. Crouch in a larger house, in Bathurst-street, where they willingly allowed us again to become their lodgers.