n attempt minutely to describe the small towns
of New South Wales, it will be better to proceed without delay to a
description of the other British colonies in Australia.

[Illustration: HOBART TOWN.]

CHAPTER X.

TASMANIA, AND THE OTHER AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENTS.

Van Diemen's Land, or Tasmania, the next important colony, is, as we
have before stated, a separate island of considerable size, nearly
all the eastern side of which is now inhabited by the English. It
was divided into two counties only, which are called Cornwall and
Buckinghamshire, but these being inconveniently large, a fresh division
into eleven counties, all of them borrowing the names of some in England
or Wales, has since taken place.[144] But without concerning ourselves
about these smaller divisions, which it would be impossible to describe
exactly and distinctly, it may suffice to state, that the two chief
towns in the island are at its opposite extremities, Hobart Town being
at the south, and Launceston at the north, and both of these are
sea-ports; so that the colony seems naturally to divide itself into two
provinces, each of which has one of these towns for its capital, but
which are both, nevertheless, similar in their appearance, character,
and productions.

[144] According to Mr. Montgomery Martin, (Van Diemen's Land, p. 266,)
Cornwall and Buckinghamshire continue to be its only counties, and it is
subdivided into nine police districts; but Dr. Ross's Almanac for 1836
contains, at p. 238, the governor's proclamation for the division
mentioned above; whilst a third division of the island into the counties
of Argyle and Launceston is followed in the Report of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel, for 1842. The above may serve for a specimen
of the obscurity and confusion upon these trifling matters, respecting
which accuracy seems almost unattainable.

Van Diemen's Land is a more mountainous, and yet, it would seem, a more
fruitful country than New South Wales. It is, according to the testimony
of all who have visited it, a most beautiful and pleasing land; the
mountains are tolerably high, but do not run much in ranges, and the
views among them are continually broken and cheered by delightful
valleys and fertile plains. Among these hills, limestone is very
commonly discovered, and is now in considerable use; it is supposed,
likewise, that coals, and iron ore, will be found abundantly in Van
Diemen's Land,