00_l._[149]
Other small places might be mentioned, as Elizabeth Town, Perth,
Brighton, &c., which are very pleasant and thriving little settlements;
and the penal settlements of Port Macquarie and on Tasman's Peninsula
might be described. Port Arthur, one of these, is on the last-named
Peninsula, a sterile spot of about 100,000 acres, surrounded by sea,
except where a narrow neck of land connects it with the main island; and
this isthmus is guarded, night and day, by soldiers, and by a line of
fierce dogs. Nothing particularly deserving of further notice presents
itself, and therefore we may conclude our brief sketch of Van Diemen's
Land, wishing it and all the other British colonies in Australia a
progress no less rapid in religion and morals, than their recent
progress in commerce, agriculture, riches, and luxuries has been. What
condition of a country can be more truly deplorable than that which in
holy Scripture is so powerfully set forth, when the boast, "I am rich
and increased with goods, and have need of nothing," is heard proceeding
from a land which in the sight of God is "wretched, and miserable, and
poor, and blind, and naked?"[150]

[149] Bishop of Australia's letter to the Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel, dated May 22, 1838.

[150] See Rev. iii. 17.

The Australian colonies may be said to form a family group of British
origin; and although the two elder sisters are undoubtedly the most
advanced and interesting, yet some of the younger branches of the same
family may justly deserve to be noticed. We may begin with the very
recent colony called Port Phillip, which lies between New South Wales
and Van Diemen's Land, and which, as we have already seen, had well
nigh taken the place of the latter country in the honours of early
colonization. The country in the neighbourhood of the inlet named Port
Phillip is in many parts exceedingly rich and fine; the scenery is
varied by hills, woods, and water; and besides much excellent pasture
and sheep walks, there are thousands of acres ready for the plough, and
capable of growing any European grain. The situation of the principal
town here, called Melbourne, is on the Yarra Yarra river, just where its
stream flows over a fall and mingles with the salt water from Port
Phillip, from the head of which bay Melbourne is distant about six miles
by the course of the river, but across the land not more than one and a
half. The vessels generally lie at Hobson'