"Hobart is a famous resort of Australians, who come here to escape the heat of summer. Its climate is delightful, and if all that the inhabitants claim is true, the Australians who come here have no reason to complain. Doctor Bronson says he has been told that the ladies of Tasmania are so charming that the friends of an Australian bachelor tremble for him whenever he decides to spend the summer at Hobart. But the Doctor says the friends of a Tasmanian bachelor might be equally fearful when the latter goes to Melbourne or Sydney for an extended visit.
OLD CONVICT CHURCH, PORT ARTHUR, TASMANIA.
"New York boasts of its Franklin Square, where the Harpers have their great publishing house. Hobart has its Franklin Square, which is a pretty garden in memory of Sir John Franklin, who was governor here at one time; in the centre of the garden is a bronze statue of the renowned navigator. There are other gardens and parks; there are the Royal Society's grounds and the Queen's Domain, which are much frequented; and there is a splendid cricket-ground, where games are played very often. We have witnessed a rowing match between the Hobart and the Mercantile rowing clubs, and are told that there is a grand regatta here every year that brings many visitors from Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and other cities. Altogether, Hobart impresses us most agreeably, and the inhabitants are justly proud of it."
The stay of the party in Tasmania was somewhat shortened by reason of their haste to reach South Australia. They made a brief visit to Port Arthur, which is about three hours distant from Hobart by steamer, and lies in a landlocked bay enclosed between rugged hills, which completely shelter it from the wind. Here are the prisons where thousands of convicts were once confined under the most rigorous discipline, the least infraction of the rules being punished with the lash, and serious ones by death through hanging.
The story is that the latter punishment was so frequent that the jail chaplain at Hobart once made a protest, not against hanging in general or the number of men hanged, but at the pressure upon their facilities. He said that no more than thirteen men could be comfortably executed at once, and the crowding had been too great; he trusted that for the future the accommodations of the jail might not be overtaxed.
ONE OF THE WATCH DOGS.