wonders, you know; you forget the irons after a while. A full
service and a sermon. You hear an application or two from prisoners
about their worldly matters,--chiefly from the craftiest, oldest hands;
wish them good morning, and away.

[191] "Catholic," a most honoured term in ancient times, has in
modern days been very unfortunate. Even now the Romanists misuse it
for "Papistical," the Dissenters occasionally use it to signify
"Latitudinarian," and the members of the Church of England are either
afraid to use it at all, or else are perpetually harping upon it, as
though it were a mere party-word.

"It is now half-past ten: there lies the hot and dusty road before you,
without shelter of any kind, and the sun pours down his fiery beams; no
cloud, no intermission. If a breeze blows, it may be hotter than from
the mouth of a furnace. Well, courage; step out, it is five miles to
the other stockade. A flock of sheep,--the dog baying, the driver
blaspheming; a dray or two of hay; a few carts loaded with oranges. Up
the hill, down the hill, and so on, till, a little after twelve, you
arrive at the other stockade. This is a probationary gang, that is to
say, it is composed of those against whom complaints have been made
by their respective masters, and who are not assignable to other
individuals for six months. In this gang are six-and-twenty persons, of
whom two are [Roman] 'Catholics.' No motley dress, but all in dark grey;
no irons. A corporal and one private for a guard, and both of them
exemplary at prayers. Here I have the afternoon service. Generally about
this time the wind is up; and here, in a state of perspiration, the
breeze gives me a thorough chilling under the open shed; and often
clouds of dust come rushing through upon us, as bad as the worst days
in March along one of the great roads in England. But the service is
attended in a gratifying manner, insomuch that it would shame many home
congregations. The corporal here teaches the poor fellows who require it
to _read and write_, so that even here we find instances of christian
charity, without sinister or vain motives, which may well stimulate us
and provoke our exertions."

From this picture of the condition of some of those convicts that are
undergoing punishment, we may turn to the more pleasing view, which a
gentleman of large property in Australia, Mr. Potter Macqueen, has drawn
of the condition of his own assigned servants. Of course, much