Page:Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies.djvu/54

24 29th. We walked to Elizabeth Town, usually called New Norfolk, in consequence of a number of persons, formerly residing on Norfolk Island, being settled in the neighbourhood. The distance from Hobart Town is about 22 miles, by the road, which is a pretty good one for carriages; and, which passing through the little villages of New Town, O'Briens Bridge, and Glenorchy, winds under the mountains by the side of the Derwent, which retains the appearance of a chain of picturesque lakes most of the way. It is navigable for small vessels to New Norfolk, where it is about as wide as the Thames at Battersea. The mountains are clothed with wood; but in many places the timber is not so thick as to exclude the growth of grass. Some narrow flats of good land, partially cultivated, occur near the river. The rocks exposed by cutting the road are basalt and sandstone, or more dense silicious formations, and limestone imbedding marine fossils. A considerable piece of road has been recently cut near New Norfolk, by a chain-gang, stationed in three poor looking huts, into one of which we stepped, to give the men a few tracts. They were without Bibles, which one of them remarked, they might often spend half an hour advantageously in reading. This we represented to one of the Episcopal Chaplains of the Colony, who caused the deficiency to be supplied, and placed some copies of the Scriptures at our disposal, to apply in other cases of need. Evening closed in, very dark, before we reached our destination, and the noise of strange birds, lizards and frogs, became great, and very striking to an English ear. We passed several neat farm houses, and some decent inns on the way, and at the end of our journey found accommodation at the Bush Inn, little inferior to that of decent inns, a step below first-rate, in England.

3rd mo. 1st. The site of New Norfolk is so laid out, that the streets will cross at right angles. The houses were at this time about thirty in number, exclusive of an Episcopal place of worship and an unfinished hospital. We visited the latter, which contained about forty patients, under the superintendence of one of the Colonial Surgeons. We also visited a respectable boarding-school, of about twenty fine looking