laints: yet in that year L20,000 had
been obtained for wheat exported to Sydney. The first crops were
prolific: the early settlers chose the more fertile and open plains; and
many selected sites for their dwellings on natural lawns of surpassing
beauty.

The dispatch of vessels direct from England rapidly increased the
population: in one year (1822) six hundred settlers entered the port,
and by the capital which they invested, and the habits of decency and
enterprise they exhibited, gave a new tone to the colony. A succession
of publications drew attention at home to the capabilities of Van
Diemen's Land. It was described in the _Quarterly Review_ (May, 1820) by
a friendly pen, which stated that during three years, a detachment of
one hundred men had not lost three, and that Hobart Town had been
sixteen months without a funeral.

The work of Lieutenant Jeffries, who spent several months in a passage
from Sydney to Van Diemen's Land, and who wrote much in praise of the
native women, and the pleasures of a bush life, drew a pleasing picture.
The more sober sketch of Captain Dixon, and the copious delineations of
Mr. Wentworth, directed the public curiosity to Tasmania. For several
successive years new books were published, describing the fertility of
the soil and the beauty of the climate. These generally contained a
theory of pastoral increase--a geometrical progression towards wealth.
The increase was, indeed, rapid beyond oriental precedent. Between 1810
and 1820, it was estimated at fifty fold.[109] The adaptation of these
colonies for the growth of wool first drew the attention of several
gentlemen of Hamburgh, whose importations afterwards promoted the
improvement of our flocks.

The position of Van Diemen's Land favored its settlement. Vessels bound
to Port Jackson often touched at the Derwent to discharge portions of
their cargo; and weary with the length of the voyage, emigrants listened
to the persuasions of the colonists, and the hints of the
lieutenant-governor himself.

The advantages offered to settlers, so late as 1818, included not only
grants of land, but loans of stock and seed; and a price for wheat, long
standing at 10s. per bushel, and for meat 6d. per lb. The settlers were
entitled to rations for themselves and their convict servants for six
months. It was stipulated that the stock should be replaced by the
increase, and the wheat repaid at the harvest. Such engagements were,
however, rarely ful