On the beach of Prossers Bay, we saw two beautiful White Cranes; a bluish, lead-coloured species is not uncommon; several species of Duck are also met with in this Colony.

Some parts of our journey to Spring Bay, were very uncomfortable to those on horseback. A slight mistake in regard to a track, occasioned us a trackless journey for several miles. This is a common circumstance in Van Diemens Land, where, except in a very few places, naturally clear, and in the immediate vicinity of settlers' houses, the way is through forests, bounded only by the sea that surrounds the island, and which are full of dead logs, and fragments of the limbs of trees, scattered in all directions; these continually turn travellers from a straight line, except where a path has been cleared. On our way, we had conversation with some prisoner-guides, confirming the belief that there are many of this class, far from being destitute of religious sensibility.

On the 27th, we crossed the Derwent, in a whale-boat, to Hobart Town; where we had a mutually pleasant meeting with our friends D. and C. Wheeler; who, within a few months, had been in company with our dear connexions in England. Although we hear of these frequently by letter, yet there is a satisfaction in hearing of beloved relatives, from the lips of those that have lately seen them, which none can fully understand but by experience.

In reviewing our late journey, and the many blessings, and mercies we have been made partakers of, among which is the improvement of my own health, and now, in having the comfort of meeting our dear friends, we felt that there was great reason for us to adopt the language, "What shall we render to the Lord for all his benefits?"

CHAPTER XIX.

Old Johnson.-Prayer.-Spiritual Poverty.-Yearly Meeting.-Meeting at New Norfolk.-Influenza.-Cold of Mount Wellington.-Mantis.-Sale of Spirits.Calumny. Visit to Port Arthur.-Doughboy Island.-Black-backed Gull.— Commandant bewildered in the Forest.-State of the Penal Settlement.Scurvy.-Educated Prisoners.-School.-Employment.-Convict Boys.-Coal Mine.-Black Snake -Coal.-Plants.-Return to Hobart Town.-Letter.Meetings.-Laws of Primogeniture and Entail.-Pensioners.-Rural Dean. -Surgeon of the Alligator.

8th mo. 29th. In company with G. W. Walker, F. Cotton, and T. J. Crouch, I walked to Glenorchy, to see old John Johnson, who has been very ill, and is still so feeble that he compares himself to a cracked earthen vessel, bound about to keep it together. He is full of thankfulness for the mercies he receives, often saying, "What am I, a poor bit of dust, that the Lord should regard me; I, who have lived so long in rebellion against God? He has had mercy upon me, but I can never forgive myself, nor love him sufficiently. What am I, or what are we all, that the Lord should thus regard us?"-In his illness, he said, he felt quite willing to die, that he cast himself upon his Saviour, and was quite willing to go. When his pain was excessive, he prayed, that if consistent with the divine will, he might be eased of his pain, and permitted to speak a few words of the Lord's goodness before he was taken away: his prayer was immediately answered, and the violence of his pain assuaged. The old man made many inquiries of us, on the nature of prayer. He said, he had been taught to think his petitions would not be accepted, unless offered upon bended knees; and that, for four years, he had not

missed a night in getting out of bed to pray, in addition to praying before going to bed, and on rising; but that he began to think, it was perhaps unnecessary for him to get out of bed for this purpose, and that he was nearly unable to do so. We explained to him, that God is only worshipped in spirit and in truth; that if the heart be but bowed before him, he will accept its offerings, whether from persons in bed, or out of bed, on bended knees, or at their daily occupations; and whether their petitions be uttered or unexpressed: that if people be bowed in reverent stillness of soul, under the sense of the Lord's presence, though no words may be formed in the mind, he will still regard and bless them. The old man said he was comforted, and saw the matter more clearly than he had done before, but that when he was first awakened, he was so ignorant as to think that he must go into "the bush" to pray, where he could make a great noise.

In the course of a walk, with a serious person, about this time, he told me, that he thought he had sustained loss, by regarding the feeling of his own weakness and emptiness, as a state of desertion, and by trying to turn from it, instead of regarding it as the teaching of the Holy Spirit, designed to humble him, and to bring him into a more simple trust in the Lord, and a closer communion of soul with God. I believe this is the case with many, who thus flinch from humiliating baptisms, and regard them as the withdrawing of the Lord's Spirit; not recollecting, that the presence and light of the Holy Spirit, are as necessary to enable us to behold our own weakness and emptiness, and even our sinfulness, as they are, to give us a perception of the Divine fulness; nor considering that we can never properly seek reconciliation with the Father, until we are given to see our alienation from him by sin; nor come unto Christ, as those who feel that they need a physician, until we feel our spiritual diseases; nor can we seek to know the Lord to be our fulness, till we are made sensible of our own emptiness; nor shall we know him to be our strength, till we be made sensible of our own weakness. But, blessed for ever be his holy name, he is still known, by his dependent chil

dren, to be riches in poverty, strength in weakness, and a very present help in trouble.

On the 3rd of 10th month, the first Yearly Meeting, of the persons professing with the Society of Friends, in Van Diemens Land, commenced; it was continued by adjournments to the ninth, inclusive. The principal subjects that occupied its attention, were, the reading and recording of the certificates from Friends in England, respecting Daniel and Charles Wheeler, and George W. Walker, and myself; the granting of an additional certificate to G. W. Walker, to authorize his proceeding with me to New South Wales and South Africa, in the character of a minister of the Gospel, (APPENDIX. G.); the making of a record of our labours in V. D. Land; the investigating into the state of the little community professing with Friends in this Colony, and agreeing upon regulations for preserving good order among them; and the addressing of an Epistle to the Meeting for Sufferings, of Friends, in Great Britain, proposing a correspondence with them. The meeting was favoured to be able to adopt the following minute at its termination :

"In conclusion, we believe it our duty to record, under feelings of reverent thankfulness, that, in the sittings of this our first Yearly Meeting, the sensible presence of the great Head of the Church, has been mercifully felt among us, enabling us to transact the business that has come before us, in much love, and in unity one with another."

On the 25th of 10th month, G. W. Walker and I, went again to New Norfolk, where, on the following day we held two meetings. In one of them a man, who is attached to the principles of Friends, reproved some persons for whispering; and afterwards remarked, that our sitting in silence might appear strange to some, who had not considered the matter, but that, for his own part, he could bear testimony to the benefit of the practice; that before leaving England, he had for some time, attended a little meeting of Friends, in which, often, not a word was spoken; that when these meetings had been held in silence, he had been more edified, as his mind was turned to the light of Christ, than ever he had been under the most learned, studied discourses; and that

he was convinced, others would also be thus edified, even in silence, if their minds were turned to the inward manifestation of that light, which is given us, through Jesus Christ.

On returning to Hobart Town, we found Daniel Wheeler very ill, in the influenza, which had been prevalent, and in many cases, fatal.

11th mo. 11th. In company with two young surgeons, I again ascended Mount Wellington, and collected specimens of various plants. Though the summer is advancing, snow fell dry on the top of the mountain, and the cold, with a high wind, was so intense, that I was unable to restore circulation in my hands, by rubbing them with snow: some of my fingers were consequently numb for several days after. Another of our company became violently affected with cramp, from which we all suffered in some degree. Though the snow was insufficient to protect vegetation from the frost, many plants which were in flower, did not seem to be injured by it; yet they cannot endure the continued cold of an English winter.

Insects are now numerous, some species of the remarkable genus Mantis, are found in Tasmania; they have obtained the name of the Praying Mantis, from the remarkable posture in which they stand to catch flies, which they eat with great voracity. The species, common at this season, in the gardens here, is of a light pea-green, an inch and a half long, and three-tenths wide in the broadest part of the body, which is covered with wings, an inch long, of an elliptic form, overlaying each other.

Colonel Arthur having invited us to express freely any thing we wished to say connected with the welfare of the Colony, we presented to him on the 15th a paper entitled, "Observations on the Distillation, Importation, and Sale of Ardent Spirits, as sanctioned by the Government." He informed us that he approved of the suggestions contained in this document, but felt a difficulty in regard to acting upon it, on account of the revenue. The state of a Government which depends upon the continuance of the sins of the people for the support of its revenue, is truly an awful state. A copy of this paper is inserted in APPENDIX. H.