g rocks, and shadowed
by gigantic forests, the black sides of the basin narrow to the mouth of
the Gordon. The turbulent stream is the colour of indigo, and, being fed
by numerous rivulets, which ooze through masses of decaying vegetable
matter, is of so poisonous a nature that it is not only undrinkable, but
absolutely kills the fish, which in stormy weather are driven in from
the sea. As may be imagined, the furious tempests which beat upon this
exposed coast create a strong surf-line. After a few days of north-west
wind the waters of the Gordon will be found salt for twelve miles up
from the bar. The head-quarters of the settlement were placed on an
island not far from the mouth of this inhospitable river, called Sarah
Island.

Though now the whole place is desolate, and a few rotting posts and logs
alone remain-mute witnesses of scenes of agony never to be revived--in
the year 1833 the buildings were numerous and extensive. On Philip's
Island, on the north side of the harbour, was a small farm, where
vegetables were grown for the use of the officers of the establishment;
and, on Sarah Island, were sawpits, forges, dockyards, gaol,
guard-house, barracks, and jetty. The military force numbered about
sixty men, who, with convict-warders and constables, took charge of
more than three hundred and fifty prisoners. These miserable wretches,
deprived of every hope, were employed in the most degrading labour.
No beast of burden was allowed on the settlement; all the pulling and
dragging was done by human beings. About one hundred "good-conduct" men
were allowed the lighter toil of dragging timber to the wharf, to
assist in shipbuilding; the others cut down the trees that fringed the
mainland, and carried them on their shoulders to the water's edge. The
denseness of the scrub and bush rendered it necessary for a "roadway,"
perhaps a quarter of a mile in length, to be first constructed; and the
trunks of trees, stripped of their branches, were rolled together in
this roadway, until a "slide" was made, down which the heavier logs
could be shunted towards the harbour. The timber thus obtained was made
into rafts, and floated to the sheds, or arranged for transportation
to Hobart Town. The convicts were lodged on Sarah Island, in barracks
flanked by a two-storied prison, whose "cells" were the terror of the
most hardened. Each morning they received their breakfast of porridge,
water, and salt, and then rowed, under the protection