the country were very amusing. The idea got into the heads of
many that, by traveling overland for a few days, they would reach China,
and quite a number of them tried to do so. One man wandered for a month
around the bush country, until finally, driven by hunger, he ventured
to approach a house. There he saw a fellow-prisoner whom he knew, and
asked him how long he had been in China. He was very much surprised on
learning that he was not in China at all, but on a farm a few miles from
Sydney. While he was talking with the friend two soldiers happened along
and took him in charge, and then carried him back to the prison, where
he received the customary punishment.

"In 1798 a good many Irishmen who had been concerned in the Irish
rebellion of that year were transported to Australia. They saw in the
mountains back of Sydney a close resemblance to the mountains of
Connaught, in their native country, and fancied that if they could cross
those mountains they would find themselves at home. Quite a number of
them ran away in consequence, but were doomed to disappointment. One man
on the voyage out to Australia had given a good deal of time to studying
the motions of the ship's compass, and he imagined that if he could only
get something of the kind he would be all right and could safely guide
himself through the forests of Australia. He watched his chance and
stole a book on navigation. One leaf of the book had a picture of a
mariner's compass. He tore out this leaf, and, thus equipped, took the
first opportunity of running away.

"Speaking of these Irish rebels reminds me of something I must tell you.
They were convicted of treason, either for taking an active part in the
rebellion or sympathizing with it, and for this crime they were sent as
convicts to the other side of the world. No distinction was made between
political and criminal offenders, and the man who had loved his country
and tried to set her free treated with the same severity as the house
breaker and highwayman.

"A great many men were sent to Australia for the crime of poaching. Many
a man was condemned to seven, ten, and fifteen years' exile at hard
labor because he had taken a trout out of a brook, or snared a
partridge. Offenses that in these times would only result in a fine were
then punished with great severity, and a considerable number of the
convicts sent to Australia in the first thirty years of the prevalence
of the system were men whose offense