n with America with only slight interruptions. She is sending
us her criminals and paupers at present, though she does not designate
them properly when she ships them, and most of the continental nations
are doing the same thing. We are trying to prevent it, but I don't
believe we succeed to a very great extent."

"Did they send a thousand convicts to Australia in this first batch?"
queried Ned.

"There were about one thousand people altogether," said Dr. Whitney,
"including 757 convicts, and among the convicts were 190 women and
eighteen children. They had 160 soldiers to guard the prisoners, with a
sufficient number of officers, and forty of the soldiers were
accompanied by their wives. They had on the ships a goodly quantity of
cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, and goats, and a large quantity of seeds
from various parts of the world was sent out. It was not expected that
the colony would be self-supporting for some time, and so it was
arranged that supply ships laden with flour and other provisions should
be sent from England at regular intervals. A year or two after the
colony was founded one of these ships was wrecked on its way to
Australia, and the colonists suffered greatly for want of food. Among
the supplies taken by each ship there was usually a fresh batch of
convicts, and quite regularly convict ships were despatched from England
to Australia."

Ned remarked that he thought a convict ship would not be a pleasant
craft to travel on. A good many people did not like crossing the
Atlantic on cattle ships, but he thought the cattle ship would be far
preferable to one laden with convicts.

"And so it is," replied the doctor. "According to all accounts, the life
on board a convict ship from England to Australia was terrible. Remember
that in those days prisoners were treated with great harshness; they
were not supposed to have any feelings and were never spoken to kindly,
and in many instances an order was usually accompanied by a kick or a
blow. During the voyage the prisoners were allowed on deck one hour or
possibly two hours of each day, care being taken that only a small
number would be there at any one time.

"For the rest of the twenty-four hours they were shut up in close,
stifling pens or cages, generally with nothing but a little straw to
sleep on, and they were fed with the coarsest and poorest food. Coffee
and tea with hard bread formed their breakfast; dinner was the same,
with sometimes the addition