went on and told me that in former times Australian convicts were spoken
of as Sydney ducks."

"Oh! I see," said Harry, "that is a very good joke when you come to know
all about it. What did the clerk of the hotel say to the inquiring
stranger?"

"I don't know," replied Ned, "but I presume he told him that Sydney
ducks had gone out of fashion, and were not being shot any more.
Probably he let the man down as gently as possible."

"How did the convicts come to have the name of Sydney ducks?" Harry
asked.

"I can't tell you, I am sure," said Ned, "you will have to ask the
doctor about it."

"The name came, no doubt," said Dr. Whitney, "from the circumstance that
the first convicts who were brought to Australia were landed at Sydney,
and for a good many years Sydney was the principal depot of these
involuntary emigrants. The adoption of Australia as the place for
convict settlement was brought about by events in America, a statement
which may surprise you."

"It certainly is surprising," Harry remarked. "How did it happen?"

"It came about in this way," the doctor continued; "when America was
subject to England, offenders of various kinds, whether political or
criminal, were sent to the American colonies, principally to the
Southern States and the West Indies, where they were chiefly employed in
the cultivation of tobacco. The consumption of tobacco in England was
very large, and the revenue derived from it was considerable.
Consequently England was able to kill two birds with one stone; she got
rid of her criminals, at the same time, and made a large profit on their
work.

"When the American colonies revolted in 1775, and gained their
independence eight years later, England found herself deprived of a
place to which she could send her convicts, and she looked around for
another. She tried the coast of Africa, and found it too unhealthy for
her purpose. Captain Cook had recently visited Australia and given a
glowing account of it, and the government officials thought that this
new country would be an excellent one for criminals. Orders were given
for sending out a fleet of ships for that purpose; and, accordingly,
eleven vessels, carrying more than one thousand people, sailed for
Portsmouth in the month of March, 1787, with orders to proceed to
Australia."

"If England had known what was to happen," said Harry, "she need not
have been at the trouble of sending her criminals so far away; she might
have kept o