PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

ROYAL SOCIETY

OF

TASMANIA,

FOR , $ T H 0 7

1889.

TASMANIA :

PRINTED AT “THE MERCURY ” OFFICE, MACQUARIE ST., HOBART.

1890.

The Responsibility of the Statements and
Opinions given in the following Papers and
Discussions rests with the individual Authors;
the Society as a body merely places them on
record.

ROYAL SOCIETY OE TASMANIA

Patron. :

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN.

President :

HIS EXCELLENCY SIR ROBERT GEORGE CROOKSHANK
HAMILTON, K.C.B.

lice=Pr££ti)ent£ :

HON. J. W. AGNEW, M.D.

JAMES BARNARD, ESQ.

HIS HONOR SIR WILLIAM LAMBERT DOBSON, Knt., C.J.,
F.L.S.

THOMAS STEPHENS, ESQ., M.A., F.G.S.

(Houndl :

HON. J. W. AGNEW, M.D.

HIS HONOR SIR WILLIAM LAMBERT DOBSON, Knt., C.J.,
F.L.S.

RUSSELL YOUNG, ESQ.

C. H. GRANT, ESQ.

C. T. BELSTEAD, ESQ.

T. STEPHENS, ESQ., M.A., F.G.S.

J. B. WALKER, ESQ.

J. BARNARD, ESQ.

A. G. WEBSTER, ESQ.

COL. W. V. LEGGE, R.A.

R. M. JOHNSTON, ESQ., F.L.S.

HON. N. J. BROWN, M.E.C.

Honorary ^cmtarj):

HON. J. W. AGNEW, M.D.

llubitor of JEontljlg Recounts!:

C. T. BELSTEAD, ESQ.

Imfotors of ^inmral Recounts! :

FRANCIS BUTLER, ESQ.

JOHN MACFARLANE, ESQ.

|^on. Sfreagnrcr :

C. J. BARCLAY, ESQ,

Secretary anb ^Librarian :

ALEXANDER MORTON, ESQ., F.L.S.

.

BOOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC
PROBLEMS.

ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA.

Average Rate of Wages. At page 25 tlie average rate is based
upon all kinds of breadwinners'; at page 48 the average
rate is based upon the wages of male adults of about
12 selected occupations.

Definition of Certain Terms Employed.

Wants. This term is used in a double sense throughout the
various chapters : (1) the term is often used in its more
legitimate sense, viz., appetites , cravings, or desires : (2) the
term, however, is also employed less correctly in the sense
of the things, objects, or desiderata which satisfy cravings.
It is used in the latter sense when such terms as the
following are used : — “ creation of wants,” “wants in
exchange,” “aggregate of primary wants,” “wants essential
to, life,” “wants essential to comfort,” “production of
wants,” “ struggle for wants,” “ supply of wants,” etc. It
is used in the former sense in the following phrases : —
“ wants are interminable,” “ satisfaction of wants,”
“ sufficiency for the wants of all,” etc. On recon¬
sideration it would, perhaps, have been an improvement if
the term ivants had been restricted to its more legitimate use,
as indicating cravings and desires, or lacks ; and that the
term satisfactions should have been substituted where
the things ivanted are concerned.

ERRATA.

Page 6, line 8, For are greatly . . . are enjoyed read is
greatly ... is enjoyed.

Page 6, line 16, For satisfaction read satisfactions.

Page 10, line 28, For very read fairly.

Page 15, line 5 from bottom, For satisfaction read satisfactions.

Page 17, line 9, For increase read decrease.

Page 19, line 8, For polemist read athlete.

Page 20, line 28, For the ideal state read the people of the
ideal state.

Page 22, after line 31, For figures given substitute — 10‘66

hours.

Page 22, line 37, For per day read per day fully.

Page 23, line 5 from bottom, For £130,000,000 read £1,300,000,000.

Page 25, line 10 from bottom, For ditto read earnings of ditto.

Page 25, line 7 from bottom, For ditto read average wages per
head.

Page 26, line 19, For her purchasing read England’s purchasing.

Page 29, line 1, For casual read causal.

Page 31, line 4, For them read proprietors of land.

Page 31, line 6, For thus read, this.

Page 31, line 23, For it as a possible ingredient read them as
possible ingredients.

Page 31, line 24, For it no more read they no more.

Page 36, line 32, For variety read rarity.

Page 64, line 31, For unsoluble read insoluble.

.

'

.

'

CUfotttfttis

3?-A- HP 3U IR S.

Page

ART. I. — The “Iron Blow” at the Linda Goldfields. By G-. Thureau,

F.G.S . 1

ART. II. — On Some Tide Observations at Hobart during February and

March, 1889 (with diagram). By A. Mault . 8

ART. III. — On the Encouragement of a More General Interest in

Scientific Pursuits. By Wm. Benson . 13

ART. IV. — Notes on the Possible Oscillation of Levels of Land and Sea

in Tasmania during Recent Years. By Capt. Shortt, R.N. ... 18

ART V.— The “Iron Blow” at the Linda Goldfield. ByR. M. Johnston,

F.L.S . 21

ART. YI. — Notes on a Case of Poisoning through Eating a Portion of

the “Brugmansia.” By Dr. Hardy . 29

ART. VII. — Notes on Angora Goat Farming. By James Andrew ... 31

ART. VIII. — Protection of Tasmanian Owls. By Col. W. V. Legge, R.A. 40

ART IX. — Protection of the Cape Barren Goose. By Col. W. V. Legge,

R.A . 41

ART. X. —A Preliminary Critique of the Terra Australis legend. By

J. R. McClymont, M.A . 43

ART. XI. — Macquarie Harbour Leaf Beds. By R. M. Johnston, F.L.S. 53

ART. XII — Foraminifera in Upper Paleozoic Rocks. By T. Stephens,

F.G.S . — - . 54

ART. XIII. Australian and Tasmanian Sandarach. By J. H. Maiden,

F.L.S., F.G.S . 55

ART. XIV. — Notes on the Last Living Aboriginal of Tasmania. By

James Barnard . 60

ART. XV. — The English at the Derwent and the Risdon Settlement

(Diagrams). By J. B. Walker . 65

ART. XVI.— Smut in Wheat. By T. Stephens, M. A., F.G.S . 94

ART. XVII. — Smut in Wheat. By Francis Abbott . 95

ART. XVIII. — A New Dark-field Micrometer for Double-star Measure¬
ment (Diagrams). By A. B. Biggs . 98

ART. XIX. — Notes on the Discovery of a Ganoid Fish in the Knocklofty
Sandstones, Hobart. By Messrs. R. M. Johnston and A.
Morton (Two Plates). ■ . 102

ART. XX. — Observations of Comet of July and August, 1889, taken at
Launceston, Tasmania, Lat. 41° 26' 0" ; Long. 9° 48' 31". By.

A. B. Biggs . 105

ART. XXI. — Recent Measures of “a Centauri.” By A. B. Biggs ... 106

ART. XXII. — Notes on Charts of the Coast of Tasmania, obtained
from the Hydrographical Department, Paris, and Copied by
permission of the French Government (Four Charts). By A.
Mault . 107

8

Page

ART. XXIII. — The Detention of Flinders at the Mauritius. Ey A.

Mault . 121

ART. XXIV.— Observations regarding Pyramid Numbers (Diagrams).

By R. M. Johnston, F.L.S. . 125

ART. XXY. — Note on the Australian Curlew and its Closely Allied

Congeners. By Col. W. Y. Legge, R.A . 133

ART. XXVI. — Additions to the List of Tasmanian Fossils of Upper

Palseozic Age (Plate). By R. M. Johnston, F.L.S . 137

ART. XXVII. —Root Matters in Social and Economic Problems. By

R. M. Johnston, F.L.S . 143

ART. XXVIII. —The Expedition under Lieut. -Governor Collins in

1803-4. By J. B. Walker . 205

ART. XXIX. — The Founding of Hobart by Lieut.-Governor Collins.

ByJ.B. Walker . ! . 223

ART. XXX. — Notes on a Grub found Infecting the Orchards of Hobart,
with a few Remarks on the Subject of Insect Pests generally.

By A. Morton, F.L.S . 249

ART. XXXI.— The President’s Address. By His Excellency Sir Robert

Hamilton, K.C.B . 252

Proceedings . i to xxxviii

ROYAL SOCIETY.

APRIL, 1889.

A meeting of the Royal Society of Tasmania was held at the
Tasmanian Museum on April 16th. The President, His Excellency Sir
Robt. G. C. Hamilton, K.C.B., presided, and there was a large
attendance of Fellows and ladies, including Lady Hamilton.

The secretary laid cn the table the following additions to the
library : —

Annual Report of the Curator of the Museum of Comparative Zoology
at Howard College for 1S87-S. — From the Department.

Buletem da Sociedade de Geographia de Lisboa, 7a serie. No. 9,
10. — From the Society.

Bolelin Mensual, Mexico. Tomo 1. Nos. 8 to 10.— From the
Department.

Bollettino della So'cieta Geographica Italiana, Serie III., Yol. 1,
Fase IX. XII. — From the Society.

Bulletin de la Socidtd Impdriale des Naturalistes de Moscow. No. 3,
Moscow. — From the Department.

Bulletin de la Socidtd D’Ethnographie, Paris. — From the Society.

Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Howard College,
whole series vol. XVI , Nos. 2 and 3, “ On the geology of the Cambrian,
District of Bristol, County Mass. By N. S. Shaler.

“ Fossil Plants collected at Golden, Colorado.” By Leo Lesquerliex.

Bulletin de laSocietd Acaddmiqua Indo Chinoise de France. Deuxidme
Sdrie — Tome Deuxieme. — From the Society.

Descriptive Catalogue_of the Sponges in the Australian Museum,
Sydney. By K, Von Lendenfeld, P L. D. — From the Trustees,

Flora of British India, The. By Sir J. D. Hooker, C.B. Part XV. —
From the Department.

Indian Meteorological Memoirs. Vol. Til., parts III,, IV.; Vol.
IV., part 5. — -From the Department.

Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society. Current numbers. —
From the Society,

Key to the system of Victorian Plants, Dichotomous arrangements
of the orders, genera and species of the native plants, with annotations
of primary distinctions and supporting characteristics. Parts 1 and 2,
1887-8. By Baron Mueller. — From the Author.

Meteorologische Bebbachtunjen, Moscow. — From the Department.

Meteorological Report of New Zealand for 1885. — From the Depart¬
ment.

The Mineral Wealth of Queensland. By R. L. Jack, F.G.S. — From
the author.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Current
Numbers. — From the Society.

Monthly Weather Report, Canada. — From the Department.

Vol. XVII., No. 2, on the lateral canal system of the Selaclna and
Holoephold. By Samuel Green. — From the Department.

Proceedings of the Canadian Institute, Toronto, October 18S8. —
From the Society.

Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, vol. III.,
part 3rd.— From the Society.

11

PROCEEDINGS, APRIL.

Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria, Decade XVII. By Prof. F.
McCoy, C.M.G. — From the Department.

Proceedings of the. Royal Society of Queensland, 18S7, vol. IV.;
1SSS, vols. III. IV. V. — From the Society.

Psyche, a journal of Entomology, vol. 5, Nos. 149 to 153. — From the
Society.

Report of the Mount Morgan gold deposits, Queensland, 1889. By
R. L. Jack, Government Geologist. — From the Author.

Scottish Geographical Magazine. Current Numbers. — From the
Department.

Select Extra-Tropical Plants, readily eligible for Industrial Culture or
Naturalisation, with indications of their native countries, and some of
their uses. By Baron F. Von Mueller. From the Author.

Systematic Account of the Geology of Tasmania. By R. M. Johnston,
F.L.S. — From the Government.

Tabular list of all the Australian birds at present known to the
author, showing the distribution of the species over the continent of
Australia and adjacent islands. By E. P. Ramsay, LL.D., etc. — From
the Trustees Australian Museum.

Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. Vol. X.V.I., Part
II. — From the Society.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of
Australasia (Victorian Branch). Part II., Vol, VI. — From the Society.

Verhandlungen des naturhistorischen, Vereines des preussischen
Rheinlande, Westfalens und des Reg. Bezirks Osnabiiick. — From the
Society.

Verhanalungen der Gesellschaft Fur, Erdkunde Band, XV., Nos. 7, S,
10. From the Society, Berlin.

Victorian Year Book for 1SS7-S. — From the Government Statist.

His Excellency stated that there were two interesting papers to be
read, and a number of equally interesting ones were promised during
the session. Many of the subjects brought forward did not lend
themselves readily to discussion, but he would like to see the Fellows
of the Society intimate with any subject laid before them to give them
the benefit of their opinions. This would make their meetings more
lively and interesting, and also gave an opportunity to those who had
read papers to correct any misunderstandings or wrong impressions
that may have arisen from the reading of those papers. He trusted,
therefore, that they would have freer and fuller discussions than they
had had during previous sessions.

PAPERS.

THE “IRON blow” AT THE LINDA GOLDFIELD.

Mr. Alex. Morton, F.L.S. , read a paper by Mr. Gustav Tliureau,
F.G.S., on “ The ‘ Iron Blow ' at the Linda Goldfield.” In it the writer
gave his opinion that this unique gold formation was due to volcanic
agency, and not as Mr. R. M. Johnston contended, to local decom¬
position, especially as far as the dark-coloured and pulverulent masses
are concerned. Decomposition, he believed, was a chemical process by
which the destruction of one or more substances leads to the substitution
and depositing of quite different matters, thereby bringing about the
re-arrangement of the former original substances in quite different forms.
The analyses of Mr. Ward conclusively proved the almost total absence
of gold in the pyrites veins or beds, which are very dense and
excessively solid, and which have undoubtedly resisted both decom¬
position and dissolution for ages, therefore he asked how it was possible
that these almost non-auriferous vein bi-sulphides produced on their
supposed (inert) decomposition that peculiar purple mineral, assaying,

PROCEEDINGS, APRIL.

iii

as reported, considerably above 170oz. of gold to the ton. Again, those
very solid pyrites contain no barytes, which latter minerals he first
discovered as the necessary adjunct to the gold. Supposing, however,
as Mr. Johnston had stated, that the “Iron Blow is the result of
oxidation of pyrites similar to that now so largely associated with it,”
it would be necessary to bear in mind that as proved from analysis they
had first to deal with a nearly non-auriferous bi sulphide of iron, con¬
taining no baryta to speak of, and, secondly, that water is assumed
to have produced the rich pulverulent gold rock by means of the
decomposition of the former, and contemporaneously or subsequently
by means of infiltration filled the fissure, and that small disseminated
particles of baryta appeared either before or during the process of
oxidation. In his (Mr. Thureau’s) opinion everything points to a more
drastic process of origination than simple and quiescent decomposition,
and to him it becomes clear to the close and careful observer of these
unique gold deposits in situ that dynamical geology can alone account
for these strictly speaking volcanic products. Having had opportunities
for examining active “ mad volcanoes ” in the United States, and as the
process observable there in active progress assimilates a great deal
to what can be seen in its “ dead state ” at the “ Iron Blow ” of baryta
is substituted for silica, as matrix in the latter ease, the question of
origin as to both metalliferous deposits is not only in his opinion, very
suggestive, but forms the only possible true solution of the case.

In consequence of the absence of Messrs. Johnston and Ward it was
decided to postpone discussion until next meeting.

TIDE OBSERVATIONS AT HOBART.

Mr. A. Mault read a paper on “Some tide observations taken at
Hobart during February and March, 1889,” in which he stated that with
a wish, firstly, to obtain information connected with the drainage of
Hobart, and, secondly, to fix the mean sea level for geodetic and
engineering matters to get a series of tidal observations, he had arranged
with Captain Oldham, of H.M.S. Egeria, that observations be taken
at the New Wharf by the automatic tide gauge belonging to that boat,
and the result briefly was as follows: — 1. The tides are subject to a
large diurnal inequality, the highest high water being followed by the
lowest low water. The tide then rises to a lesser high water and falls
to a lesser low water. 2. With the moon’s declination north the higher
high water follows the superior transit of the moon; with the moon’s
declination south the higher high water succeeds the inferior transit. 3.
The greatest range of tide appears to occur about two days after the
moon has reached its greatest north or south declination : the least
range when the declination is zero. 4. H. W.F. and C. occurs at
Hobart at Sh. 15m. Springs rise 3jft. to 4^ft. and 2ft., neaps 2|ft. In
the letter to him from Captain Oldham the following words occur : —
“ From these observations the mean tide level is 8ft. 2'7in. on the gauge
or 35'255ft. below the datum mark on the Town Hall.” In the letter it
was also stated that, as these observations were only for one month
and as probably the mean tide level varies at different seasons, to get a
satisfactory result a year’s observation should be obtained.” He (Mr.
Mault) was glad to say that the Hobart Marine Board were obtaining
an automatic gauge, so that the observation could be continued. For
the purpose of more readily comprehending the information contained in
those observations, he had prepared diagrams showing the occurrence of
springs at greatest declination, and not at new and full moon, and that
there is no “ age of the tide ” at Hobart. Diagrams were also
appended, showing, for comparison, a fortnight’s tide curves at Hobart,
and a fortnight’s at Bombay, and another representing a normal curve of
lunitidal intervals. The irregularities which appeared by these

IV

PROCEEDINGS, APRIL.

diagrams showed that no time of high water on the day of new or full
moon could be fixed, although Captain Oldham mentions 8h. 15min.
He pressed on the Society the need of co operating with the Marine
Board in the taking of observations. The force and direction of the
wind also had an influence that must be noted. The highest tides
occurred with the wind blowing from north and north-easterly points.
The barometer also should be noted, as a fall of lin. in the barometer
meant a rise of 20in. in the sea level. He also suggested that the
Marine Board be asked to get their lighthousekeepers to keep a
register of the high and low water times.

A DESIRABLE CHANGE.

Mr. W. Benson read a paper in which he pointed out that the work
of the Society had and was rendering practical and substantial benefits
to the colony at large, but was of opinion that it might be made
of still greater interest and value. There were two classes amongst
the members, first savants or specialists, and secondly those who had
not thoroughly studied any special subject. So far as the meetings of
the Society were intended for the interchange of notes upon new dis¬
coveries, the reading of papers prepared by savants and specialists
was natural and proper, though he doubted whether those who
merely heard them read could gain as full a knowledge of their con¬
tents as they could by studying them in the Society’s printed proceed¬
ings. Opportunities for self-instruction in all local branches of science —
local geology, botany, natural history, and the like — were very few
compared with what had been provided for English students. Here
text books hardly existed, and English works were in many cases unsuit¬
able. He would therefore ask the Society to consider whether means
could not be devised for affording instruction of a more elementary
and general kind, and he did not know of any other organisation so
well qualified to do the work. He wished the rising generation to
become more interested in the physical history of their native land,
its fauna, flora, and so forth. The taste for such studies when once
acquired rarely left a man, and developed afterwards along the lines
of his peculiar preference, and thus the w'hole field of scientific enquiry
became gradually occupied. He proposed for consideration the desir¬
ability of initiating courses of popular lectures on scientific subjects,
under the auspices of the Society, not restricted to members, but open
to all. He would like to see the Museum made use of on all occasions
where its cabinets could be used as illustrations. Another thing w hich
might be attempted in connection with the Society, was the forma¬
tion of a Field Naturalists’ Club. One other matter which might
well interest tke Society was the introduction of local science primers
for school use. His chief desire was to supplement rather than subvert
the work of the Society. For years science stood apart, its affairs were
assumed to be above the popular understanding, but that had all
been changed, and in Huxley, Tyndall, and many others they saw
men of the highest scientific rank taking the lead in bringing their
chosen studies home to the minds of the masses ; consequently the
Society need not fear that anything it might do would be infra dig.
He hoped the love of science for its own sake would suffice to
induce one or more of their savants to lecture, and permit the ex¬
periment to be tried. If the Council of the Society could keep an
open eye for any opportunity that might arise to interest the public,
and especially the young, he had faith that good results would follow.

NOTES AND EXHIBITS.

The Secretary drew attention to a rare bird that had lately been
shot near Muddy Plains. It was commonly known in Australia as the

PROCEEDINGS, APRIL.

V

“ nankeen kestrel,” Tinnunculus cinhceroides. Mr. Morton stated
that it was a singular coincidence that in April 1875, two specimens
now in the Museum, were shot at Sorell. On dissection the bird now
exhibited proved to be a female. The habitat of this bird, as recorded
in Dr. Ramsay’s list, was N.W. Australia, Queensland, and Victoria.

Another specimen, “the golden plover,” Charadrius fidvus, shot at
the Great Lake by Mr. T. Clarke, as also a grebe, Podiceps Australis ,
shot by the same gentleman, was shown, having been shot at the
Great Lake.

The Secretary also drew attention to a valuable collection of
minerals from the great Broken Hill Mine that had been kindly pre¬
sented to the Museum by Mr. F. Back, General Manager Tasmanian
Government Railways.

Mr. J. R. McClymont, M.A., stated he had much pleasure in placing
on record a new bird to the lists of birds at Tasman’s Peninsula, the
brown quail, Synoicus Australis. He also exhibited a specimen of
native bread, with a peculiar fungus growing from the bread.

VI

PROCEEDINGS, MAY.

MAY, 1889.

The monthly evening meeting was held on May 14th. The President, His
Excellency Sir Robert G-. C. Hamilton, K.C.B., presided.

Mr. R. Price-Williams was introduced as a visitor.

OSCILLATION OF LAND AND SEA LEVELS.

Captain Shortt, R.N., read ’a paper on “The possible oscillation
of levels of land and sea in Tasmania during recent years.” He referred
to the earth tremors experienced during the years of 1SS3-S6, prior
to the Tarawera eruption, in this and adjacent colonies, aud these
phenomena being known to often be associated with local changes of
sea and land, he was led to form the opinion that it was of great
importance that it should be ascertained whether recent changes
could be traced along the coast line of this island. Great difficulty
naturally arose owing to the fact that with but one isolated exception
no definitely fixed marks were in existence. This exception was a
tide mark taking the form of a broad arrow on the Isle of the Dead,
situate off Point Puer, Port Arthur. This mark was cut in the rock by
Mr. Lempriere. He had made efforts to discover further records relating
to Mr. Lempriere’s observations, having applied to Mr. Wharton, Hydro-
graplier of the Admiralty, but without success. By observations made in
February of last year, it was apparent that there had been no practical
alteration of the levels of sea and land during the past 47 years. This,
however, only bore reference of a reliable character in so far as the
southern portion of the island is concerned. Regarding the northern
portion no reliable data existed, but it was interesting to note that
Captain Miles had learned from the half-castes of the Furneaux Group
that they had noticed an apparent decrease of depth of water over
certain well-known rocks during recent years. He had taken steps to
fix a tide mark on Flinders Island, permitting of observations being
made in future, and urged the necessity of making such marks on
various parts of the coast line of the colony.

CONGRATULATORY.

Mr. Barnard desired, on behalf of the Royal Society, of which he
was one of the oldest vice-presidents, to thank His Excellency for
the part taken by him in that afternoon’s proceedings relative to
the new wing now added to the Museum building. He referred to the
small beginnings in the matter of a museum first taken up by the
Tasmanian Scientific Institution, of which Institution only two members
— Dr. Agnew and himself — now remained alive. They then had an
exhibition of specimens in a room in Macquarie-street without any
attempt at classification. He congratulated the Royal Society on the
progress made, and also the Museum Trustees on the fine addition
to their building, for despite the fact that there were some persons
who regarded the Museum and Royal Society as separate institutions, he
could not in his mind separate them, for they had one object, the
advancement and increase of knowledge. He also referred in con¬
gratulatory terms respecting the movement in the direction of an art

gallery.

PARERS.

THE ENGLISH AT THE DERAVE NT AND THE RISDON SETTLEMENT.

Mr. J. B. Walker read a paper on this subject. He referred to a
paper read by him last November on French visits to this colony and

PROCEEDINGS, MAY.

vii

their supposed design of colonisine it, and stated that the present
paper would follow the course of English discoveries in Southern
Tasmania. The English discoverer of the Derwent was Lieut. John
Hayes, of the Hon. East India Co.’s Service. In those days the East
India Co. claimed a monopoly of the trade, not only ith India and
China, but with the whole of the Pacific and New Holland. So late
as 1S06 the company successfully resisted the landing and sale in
England of a cargo of oil and seal skins shipped by a Sydney firm, the
ground being that it was infringement of their monopoly. Hayes’
expedition was the only one ever sent by the company to assist in Aus¬
tralian discovery. Hayes was ignorant of D’Entrecasteaux’s surveys,
and when he came up the river in 1794 he thought it was an original
discovery, and named it the Derwent. He also named Mount Direction,
Prince of Wales Bay, Cornelian Bay, Risdon Cove, and other places.
The vessel carrying Hayes’ charts and papers to England was captured
by the French and all his journals taken to Paris, and the result of his
voyage was lost. The next visitors to the Derwent were Flinders and
Bass, in the Norfolk. They circumnavigated Tasmania for the first
time and surveyed the Derwent. Bass gave a favourable description of
the country on the shores of that river, and was particularly struck with
the advantages of Risdon. It was probably owing to his report that
Governor King instructed Lt. Bowen to form his settlement there.
The paper then proceeded to give the history of the Risdon settlement,
principally from information contained in documents preserved in the
English State Record Office, and which were lately copied by Mr. Jas.
Bonwick for the Tasmanian Government. The first settlement in
Tasmania was made on September 12, 1803, on the hill near Risdon,
on which the house of the late Mr. T. G. Gregson stands, a most
unsuitable site, as it afterwards proved. From the very commencement
Bowen had great trouble with his people, the prisoners being of a very
bad class, lazy, useless, and ill-behaved. The few soldiers who formed
his guard were discontented and almost mutinous. A few weeks after
Bowen’s arrival a reinforcement of prisoners and soldiers was sent from
Sydney, making the number up to about 100, but the new arrivals
proved no better than the first. Very little in the way of progress was
accomplished, and when Governor Collins arrived in February, 1S04, he
found no ground had been prepared for sowing. Prisoners escaped from
the colony, and the soldiers robbed the stores. In February, 1804,
Governor Collins abandoned the proposed settlement at Port Phillip,
and brought his colony to the Derwent. He abandoned Risdon as
unsuitable, and chose the present site of Hobart for his new town.
Bowen was at the time absent in Sydney, whither he had taken a soldier
to be tried for robbery. When he returned he found Collins in
command at the new settlement in Sullivan’s Cove. The little party
at Risdon were in a sad condition, short of food, and altogether
demoralised. Lt. Bowen was still left in charge of the Risdon colony,
and on May 3, 1S04, the first affray took place between the English and
the aborigines at Risdon. The cause of this unfortunate occurrence was
the arrival of 200 or 300 natives who had come to hunt kangaroo. They
did not attack the settlers, but their appearance created a panic, which
resulted in the soldiers firing upon the blacks, killing a number
variously estimated at from three to 50. This was the beginning of
the troubles with the natives which lasted for nearly 30 years, and
ended in the almost complete destruction of the native race, and the
removal of the remnant to Flinders Island, In May 1S04 the Risdon
settlement was abandoned, and all the soldiers and the prisoners
comprising it, except about a dozen were sent back to Sydney in the
month of August. Lieut. Bowen’s pay for 14 months governorship was
lOOgns. He returned to England, and as captain of an English man-of-
war, served during the later years of the French war, dying in 1828.

V1U

PROCEEDINGS, MAY.

OPINIONS OF A VISITOR.

Mr. Price-Williams expressed the deep interest he had felt in the
papers read that evening. He was of opinion that the suggestion
respecting the recording of the earth’s changes and the relative levels of
the earth and sea should be given effect to in all parts. It was highly
gratifying to find to what extent the scientific efforts were carried in
this colony.

THE IRON BLOW AT THE LINDA GOLDFIFLD

Mr. R. M. Johnston read a paper on this subject, in which he set
forth that the differences of opinion as between himself and Mr, Thureau,
fortunately, were not of a serious nature, and, according to Mr. Thureau’s
recent explanation, he perceived they were more due to the confused
way in which descriptive terms were employed than to any real
differences of opinion. The question between them had been altogether
misconceived by Mr. Thureau. If Mr. Thureau had discussed the Iron
Blow question without confusing these two fundamental considerations
it would have placed the issues between them in a very small compass.
In the course of the paper he contended that the fissure at the Linda was
originally caused by the same dynamic forces which caused the tilting,
folding, and metamorphoses of the crystalline rocks, and that these
mighty effects were primarily caused by the gravitation of the outer crust
towards the shrinking and cooling central mass of the earth. Mr.
Thureau’s reply firmly established his opinion “ That the four principal
elements — iron, barytes, sulphur, and gold — were originally precipitated
from solution,” That both decomposition and recomposition in mineral
veins are among the most common of all occurrences and cannot
reasonably be disputed ; and finally that true mud volcanoes differ
widely in characteristics from the phenomena associated with the
Linda Iron Blow, and neither in their mode of appearance, nor in their
characteristic contents, show the slightest correspondence with the
metalliferous fissure lodes of the Linda district. Further discussion
was postponed till the June meeting.

COMPLIMENTARY.

Votes of thanks to the writers of papers, closed the proceedings.

PROCEEDINGS, JUNE.

IX

JUNE, 1889.

The monthly evening meeting was held on June 11th. The President,
His Excellency Sir Robt. G. C. Hamilton, K.C.B., in the chair.

NEW MEMBERS.

The following gentlemen were balloted for, and declared elected
as Fellows : — Messrs. H. Herbert Oakley, Chas. E. Walch, Howard
Wright, John Mitchell, and Geo. Lightly.

LARGE AUSTRALIAN TREES.

The Secretary (Mr. A. Morton) read the following letter, under
date 20th ult., received from the Hon. F. Stanley Dobson, Mel¬
bourne : —

My Dear Sir, — Instigated by Oliver Wendell Holmes, I have been
trying to get ascertained the actual height of our tallest gum trees.
Baron von Mtiller in his “ Botanic Teachings” speaks of 500ft. ! In
our recent Exhibition was the photo of the butt of a tree called
“The Baron,” which was stated, as per note thereto annexed, to be
464ft. measured. I gravely doubted this, and I arranged with the Hon.
Jas. Munro, who was appointed with myself to control and appro¬
priate the expenditure of £100 from the trustees of the Public Library ;
£100 from the Commissioners of the recent Exhibition, and any further
sam up to £800 that might be necessary from our Lands department —
to have this specially-named tree measured and photoed. Mr. Munro
advertised a reward of £100 from his own pocket for any one who
would point out to a licensed Government Surveyor a tree reaching
400ft. Mr. Munro and I obtained through the Hon. Mr. Dow, Minister
of Lands, reports from the surveyors in his department as to any
exceptionally large trees within their knowledge. The highest turned
out to be a tree near Ueerim, in Gippsland, which reached (I am
speaking from memory) 325ft., at any rate it was the largest that our
surveyors and photographers could get at. “ The Baron ” was known
only to a Mr. Boyle, and to a photographer, Mr. Carie, the gentleman
whose photo of the butt appeared in our Exhibition. Mr, Carie
would not say where it was, so I wrote to Mr. Boyle, and he consented
to guide anyone whom I choose to send to the tree. I saw Mr. Perrin
and Mr. Dow, and it was arranged that Mr. Perrin and Mr. Fuller,
a Government surveyor, should arrange to go with Mr. Boyle to the
spot. They went, and when Mr. Perrin saw that the trees on the
Sassafras Valley were very tall, he set four men to work to clear
the scrub and undergrowth away, so as to allow both a theodolite
and a camera to work on “ The Baron,” and to other trees in the neigh¬
bourhood. Allowing time for the clearing, he returned with surveyor
and photographer, and we now find that the “Baron” instead of
being 464ft. is only 219ft. 9in. No tree in the neighbourhood reached
3C0ft. Now, I believe that your Tasmanian trees beat ours, and as
I am most anxious to set the matter finally at rest, I am writing to
you and through you to the members of the Royal Society to get, if
I can, verified statements of the height of Tasmanian trees. I
remember that Sir William Denison measured some trees near the
Huon, and in one of the Tasmanian Exhibitions the printed catalogue,
unless my memory fails me sadly, was contained his measurement
of the tree, and a further statement of the number of 8ft. and
6ft. palings, the number of shingles and laths cut out of it, and the
price which this timber realised in the Melbourne market — something
like £250, as our first goldfield rush was then at its height, say.

X

PROCEEDINGS, JUNE.

1853 or 1854. Sir William’s tree reached, I think dimly, 290ft.
before a branch was given off and then ran up some 50ft. or 60ft.
more. Now, I want to ask you to turnup this record and to let me
know the results. You must have other records of big trees — some
which were cut down by the convicts near Port Arthur must, I believe,
have exceeded any record I have seen, and probably none remains.
This is a matter of Australian interest, and 1 feel sure that your
Society will aid us now that we are trying — with sufficieut funds at
our back — to find out the height of the tallest gum-tree in Victoria. It
is humiliating to have to give up the idea of the 500ft. tree of which
the Baron V. Muller wrote, but the close investigation now going on
will serve to give us data from actual measurement, and not from the
excited fancy of bush explorers. If you can assist me in this matter I
shall be very grateful.

Mr. Swan stated that the late Anthony Trollope had expressed the
opinion that the Victorian trees equalled in height those of America.
His own personal observations had, however, been only in regard to
girth measurement.

Colonel Legge, R.A., expressed the opinion that it would be well if
the Government would assist in the matter of obtaining reliable infor¬
mation as to the height of their forest trees. Doubtless great misap¬
prehension existed on this subject. Personally he had never seen any
trees which exceeded 250ft. in height.

Mr. C. H. Grant expressed the opinion that the Maraposa and
Calaveras trees were larger than those of these colonies.

Mr, Maolt explained the method in which t'he height of trees might
be easily ascertained. He thought the maximum height brought
under his notice was about 283ft.

PAPERS.

ANGORA GOAT FARMING.

Mr. James Andrew read a paper on this subject which had not come
under the notice of the Society since 1874, when an effort was made to
stimulate popular interest in favour of a trial in this colony of a descrip¬
tion of stock-farming, elsewhere found so profitable. This, however,
has proved ineffectual, and it was a regrettable matter that mohair
(the fleece of the Angora goat) was absent from the list of our exports.
In Asia Minor, the natural habitat of the Angora goat, the present
value of hair exported from the province amounted to £200,000 per
annum. Col. Henderson was the first introducer of the goat in the
Cape Colony, and from an export of l,0361bs. in 1862 up to 18S7 the
trade had grown to 7,154,000, of a value of £268,500, a fall of Id. per
lb. on the preceding year’s clip. An additional item of export was the
skins, valued at £100,000, and even these figures failed to represent
the total value of the products of this useful animal, for the flesh of
the wether had been proved to be an excellent article of food. Latest
returns from the Cape showed the number of Angora goats in the
colony to be two and a-half millions. Mr. Scott, Minister to Turkey
in 184S, was the introducer of the goat into America, but the industry
had not equalled the South African. As an evidence of the market
which existed for the fleeces he quoted from the Tariff Commission
of the United States, in which it was stated that — “ The supply pro¬
duced in the States, if multiplied threefold, would not be sufficient
to furnish material for the plushes now used in the railway cars of that
country alone.” The history of the endeavour to establish the industry
in Victoria had not been very satisfactory. It was feasible to cross with
the common goat the fleece of the fourth generation, pure sires being
used being equal for market purposes to that of the pure-bred ; 51bs.
might be taken as a fair average of a well-kept grade flock shorn

PROCEEDINGS, JUNE.

XI

once a year. Any staple of over 4in. in length would suffice for
manufacturing purposes. Shearing in South Africa was usually
conducted in a somewhat slovenly manner, and sorting but inefficiently
carried out. Some trouble arose at kidding time, owing to the
helplessness of the young, and the want of strong maternal instinct on
the part of the dams. The trouble and expense of managing the
flock would be less than in the case of sheep, goats being the more
intelligent, and less liable to destruction by dogs. Their attachment
to home enabled dependence to be placed on their return at night.
Their introduction would not encroach on the pasturage available for
sheep ; indeed, the reverse, for Angoras had been found to be excellent
pioneers in clearing up new country for sheep and cattle, and
were positively a benefit to other stock, especially sheep. An immense
amount of land now valueless could be utilised for good farming, and an
important fact was that they did not appear subject to dietetic influences
such as were sheep, and appeared to suffer no inconvenience from
being depastured on country where plants abound which, when eaten
by sheep, prove fatal. The climate of Tasmania and Australia had
been proved to be peculiarly suitable for goat farming. Islands were
specially adapted for farming goats, and one he could recommend for
tentative occupation was West Hunter Island, to the north-west of
Tasmania, in Bass Straits, obtainable on a 14 years’ lease from the
Crown for £20 per annum, and which was unsuitable for sheep¬
farming, as the poisonous tare — lobelia — of King’s Island abounded, and
invariably proved fatal. If it was found that the goat enjoyed immunity
from the evil effects of the plant an illimitable scope for goat-farming
was opened up on the unstocked islands of the Straits. The stock
regulations at present- in force prevented the importation of goats from
any place outside Australasia, but prize-bred Angoras could be obtained
in neighbouring colonies where small flocks are maintained. He had
made enquiries to ascertain particulars of the Angora goats still re¬
maining in the colony, but these had proved unsuccessful. Possibly the
non-success of previous attempts at goat-farming here might be attri¬
buted to the fact that the goats had been kept on an open grass country,
clearly a mistaken policy : rough, mountainous, and scrubby country
being far more suitable.

Mr. Justice Adams pointed out that between Latrobe and Ulver-
stone there was a considerable flock of Angora goats in existence. He
could not say if they were pure breds. He estimated the flock to
number between 50 and 60 animals. He had also seen another flock
of these goats, but could not call to mind the exact locality.

Mr. James Barnard confirmed what had been mentioned by Mr.
Justice Adams. The flock was owned by Mr. James Smith, of
"Westwood.

Mr. A. J. Taylor suggested that the secretary should communicate
with Mr. Smith for the purpose of obtaining information on the
subject.

CHILD POISONING BY EATING THE TRUMPET LILY.

Hr. Hardy read a paper describing a recent case of poisoning
occasioned by a child eating a portion of the common trumpet flower —
Brugmansia sp. The plant he pointed out was allied to the Solanaeia
family, known to be poisonous. He treated the case in question
with success, but concluded the paper by directing attention to the
desirableness of an investigation of the qualities of Australasian flora
from a medicinal point of view, respecting which at the present moment
but little is known. He had little doubt that if this was done the result
would be the discovery of remedies for diseases which might be classi¬
fied as having become peculiarly localised — as for instance typhoid
fever and cancer.

Xll

PROCEEDINGS. JUNE.

Mr. Ward supported the suggestion contained in the concluding
portion of the paper. He purposed making an examination of the
plant which had been eaten by the child treated by Dr. Hardy.

THE IRON BLOW: LINDA GOLDFIELD.

Mr. Ward, in continuation of the discussion already opened, in which
he maintained that the composition of the Iroa Blow completely showed
that they were not of volcanic origin, as such materials were seldom
found in masses such as in the present instance. This, with the
exception of specular ircn which is occasionally of volcanic origin. He
laid particular stress upon the presence in all of them of peroxide of
iron and pyrites, from which, he asserted, was derived the large
proportion of sulphate of Barium. He also contended that Mr. Thureau
was incorrect in contending that the presence of gold in small quantities
was to be taken as evidence of volcanic origin.

Mr. A. J. Taylor produced specimens obtained from the Iron
Blow, and pointed out that he considered the papers read by Messrs.
Ward and Johnston had fully established the nature of the present
case. He believed the plain inconsistencies in Mr. Thureau’s paper
were attributable to that gentleman’s mistaken estimation of the value
of various equivalents of the English language.

DISCOVERY OF FOSSIL FISH.

The Secretary stated that at the next meeting, in conjunction with
Mr. Johnston, he would lay before the Society a paper on the discovery
by an enthusiastic collector — Mr. Nicholls — near Hobart, of afossil fish.
The specimen, which he placed on the table, and which had been secured
for the Tasmanian Museum, was, he believed, the first discovery of its
nature in the colony.

AUSTRALIAN TURQUOISE.

Mr. A. J. Taylor exhibited a beautiful specimen of turquoise, the
latest found in Australia of a mineral suitable for jewellery purposes,
obtained at Wangaratta.

COMPLIMENTARY.

In moving the customary vote of thanks to the authors of papers.
His Excellency mentioned that Mrs. Meredith had added her ex¬
perience to the effect that the Angora goat could be successfully
farmed in this colony, and would thrive where no other animal
would. He referred in complimentary terms to the other papers, and
the vote having been passed the meeting terminated.

PROCEEDINGS, JULY.

xiii

JULY, 1889.

The monthly evening meeting was held on July 9th. The President, His
Excellency, Sir Robert G. C. Hamilton, K.C.B., presided, Lady Hamilton
was also present.

Mr. F. Back, General Manager Tasmanian Government Railways,
was elected a Fellow of the Society.

TASMANIAN TREES.

CORRESPONDENCE.

Bell-street, Domain, Hobart, June 12, 1889. Dear Sir, — By this
morning’s Mercury I observed an interesting letter from Mr. F. Stanley
Dobson, referring to what steps had been taken in order to ascertain
by careful measurement the height of forest trees in Victoria. We
have very little reliable evidence as to the exact height of the tallest
Tasmanian trees. Some years ago, the Rev. T. J. Ewing, of the Orphan
Schools, New Town, was engaged under the authority of the Govern¬
ment to compile a short paper on the statistics of the colony, wherein
was mentioned the measurement of several trees of exceptional size, but
none (trusting to my memory) reached 800ft. One was stated to be
240ft. to the first branch, where the tree had been broken off by wind,
and the remaining portion guessed at 50ft. or 60ft., therefore the
true height was left still conjectural. Many years ago I accompanied
the late James Sprent (Surveyor-General) up the spurs of Mount
Wellington, where it was thought the tallest trees of Tasmania would
be found. We, however, did not meet with anything like 300ft. We
measured the root of a large stringy bark ( E . Robust ), and ascertained
its circumference to be 14ft. close to the butt. On my own farm, Circu¬
lar Head, I had a tree felled away from the house, upon which I placed
the 2ft. rule, and found the height to be 218ft. 6in., 12ft. at the butt
in diameter. About 24 miles south of Stanley, Circular Head, I met
with at the foot of a steep hill, near the banks of the River Arthur, a
bed of trees of extraordinary height, where some might possibly reach
300ft. There are exceptionally large and tall trees at Table Cape,
North-West Coast, growing all along its summit and in the deep
gullies, attaining great height, but whether above or below 300ft. could
only be ascertained by proper tests. I employed splitters at Circular
Head who produced 13,000 and 11,200 5ft. palings from two trees,
some of which were sold at Melbourne at the rate of 105s. per
100, 1852 and 1853. It would be very interesting if the Royal Society
of Tasmania took steps to procure authentic statements of the
height of our forest trees, and to clear up as well the statement that
the trees of Tasmania in their growth make two rings every vear ; upon
one occasion I put it to the proof by cutting down a young” sapling 16
years after it had been planted, and found 16 rings only. I think the
age of our trees has been much exaggerated, and that the true time
of growth is far less than is generally supposed. I cut a tree at
Piper’s River evenly with the crosscut saw, and found 151 rings dis.
tinctly visible ; its height was 155ft., and thickness when felled 5ft. 2in.
and 4ft. 10in., or about a mean of 5ft. I refer you to Ainsworth’s
“ All Round the World,” 1st and 2ndvol., for photos, of giant trees
of Sonora, 460ft. high. — Yours truly,

S. B. Emmett.

Dear Sir, — Having read the enclosed slips which appeared in our
paper, and observing your name mentioned in one of them, I take the
liberty of telling you that I discovered a clump of trees (silver topped

XIV

PROCEEDINGS, JULY.

stringy bark we call them) some 15 years ago under the south end of
Mount Barrow. Having noticed in Sturt’s map a patch marked
“impenetrable scrub” I had the curiosity to force my way through
it, and so found the trees in question. As well as I can remember,
there may be about a hundred of them, one being 33ft. through by
actual measurement with a tape, and, I should judge, 400ft. high.
The others are all about 20ft. to 25ft.athrough, and as square as a
dry goods box, and would split like matches. None of them, except

the large one, have a blemish of any sort, but run up hundreds

of feet without a bough. The large tree is burnt through, there
being a passage wide enough for a man to walk. The first time I
saw it I could only measure it by pacing, but a few days afterwards I
got two of my brothers to go up with me, taking a tape, and we then
found its actual measurement as stated above. In all my travels

about Tasmania, prospecting and otherwise, I have never seen a

tree to compare in any way with this colossus, and it is worth going a
good way to see. I often think of these trees and endeavour to form
an idea as to how many palings one of them would split. I may say
that I was one of the Government party that cut and surveyed the track
through the great Gippsland scrub from Moe to Stockyard Creek and
saw some big trees, but none to compare with the one in question.
Apologising for trespassing on your valuable time. — I am, dear sir, yours
very truly and obliged,

Chas. B. Barkley.

A letter from Mr. A. Johnston, addressed to Colonel Legge, was also
read, wherein he directed attention to having brought under Colonel
Legge's notice some years since a tree measuring 295ft.

SELF-REGISTERING THERMOMETER.

Captain Shortt laid before the Society a chart showing the registra¬
tion of temperature by a self-registering themometer recently received
from Paris. He explained that the instrument did not move by means
of spirit or mercury, but on an entirely new principle, i,e., the expansion
of a curved piece of brass.

TERRA AUSTRALIS.

_ Mr. McClymont read a paper on the misconception existing in earlier
times on this subject. He dealt with the probable discoveries made by
early Portuguese and French voyageurs.

OLD TASMANIAN CHARTS.

Mr. Mault apologised for his inability to lay his paper on this subject
before the Society at that meeting.

Mr. McClymont explained the circumstances which had given rise to
inquiries being made respecting charts captured from Captain Hayes bv
the French.

THE TRUMPET FLOWER.

Mr. Ward related the results of recent analysis of a portion of the
plant mentioned by Dr. Hardy at the last meeting. He had discovered
only a small trace of atropine present.

PROCEEDINGS, JULY.

XV

SMUT IN WHEAT.

Mr. Joseph Barwick contributed the following paper on this subject
to the Council of the Royal Society of Tasmania, and it was read by
the Secretary at Monday night’s meeting. In his paper Mr. Barwick
said : — My apology for addressing this paper to you is that we have
no Farmers’ Club in Tasmania, or experimental farm, and my object is
to ask that a small space in your Botanical Garden may be granted to
test the cause of smut under your manager ; but before asking for this
unusual concession it is due to you that I should explain a few of the
tests that I have practised for the last 15 3?ears. It is a fact that this
pest has hitherto defeated all attempts to discover the cause, which
I can fairly claim to have discovered, and it was in this way. In 1873
I had a small paddock to sow with wheat, which I sowed with wheat
threshed by steam machine, but in completing the sowing I had not
sufficient dressed, as we term it, with blue stone, and I took sufficient
from a bag, which I sowed without dressing. The result was that only
about 25 per cent, of the dressed wheat came up, but that which was
sown without dressing produced upwards of 80 per cent, of plants ; but
upon the wheat coming to maturity I found that there was no smut in
that which was dressed, but that the small piece sown without dressing
contained more than 60 per cent, of smut. I then measured a square
rood of each, and counted the plants which had produced perfect wheat,
with the result that the number was nearly as possible equal, which at
once struck me that the dressing had simply destroyed that which would
have proved smutty. This induced me to enter into further tests the
following year, which 1 applied as follows : — (I must explain that in
those days it was not safe to sow wheat threshed by steam, consequently
we used to get sufficient threshed by hand for seed. ) I rubbed out 200
grains of wheat from stock which we were then threshing. I took
another 200 grains of that threshed by steam, 200 do. threshed by hand.
I divided these into two equal parts of 100 grains each. The first division
I dressed with bluestone, the other division I planted without dressing,
with the following result of that which was dressed : — Iso. 1. The
100 grains rubbed out by hand produced 96 plants of perfect wheat. No
2. Threshed by flail, or what is called hand-threshed, produced 81
plants of perfect wheat. No. 3. threshed by steam, produced 60 perfect
plants. 1 will now ask you, gentlemen, to mark the result of that
which was not dressed. The 100 rubbed out by hand produced 98
perfect plants and no smut. That threshed by hand produced 90 plants,
81 being perfect and nine smut. That threshed by steam produced 81
plants, 50 being perfect and 31 smut. This result confirmed my previous
experience that it was the damaged grain that produced smut, and that
the dressing simply destroyed these grains and prevented them from
germinating, but I did not stop here. I planted other beds with samples
threshed as described, and took up the plants as soon as they came
out of the ground, and I discovered that these damaged grains, unlike
perfect ones, came to the surface before shooting any roots, and that the
roots when they came they differed from the perfect roots by spreading
in to a delicate form near the surface, instead of a strong, healthy, root
penetrating downwards, and during one test I divided my plot, and by
trying the plants with the finger and thumb upon one half of the plot,
and taking out those that came too readily I succeeded in taking out all
the defective plants but one, as shown when the wheat ripened, for I
had only one smut plant left when in the other half, I had 31 smut
plants. I have followed up my tests from year to year with the same
result, and have never produced a smut plant from grain rubbed out by

xvx

PROCEEDINGS, JULY.

hand, and not injured, and I have come to the conclusion that smut is
the result of defective rooting of these damaged grains, and if my con¬
tention proves correct an enormous saving can be effected by introducing
machines coated with gutta percha, including loss of time, cost of blue-
stone, and destruction of wheat would amount to a saving of fully 3s. per
acre, but there are other causes of smut quite beyond the control of man,
another strong proof that I am correct, and that is atmospheric influence ;
for instance, the past season was most prolific in smut, and in every case
I found it was upon the high lands, it being too dry to allow the roots
to penetrate to a sufficient depth to mature the grain. I found during
the last season heads one half smut the other half perfect wheat, and in
one case one grain half smut and the other half contained flour, and in
all cases the upper half is the smut. Again, in the very wet season
smut may be found, but it will be found in the low and wet portions of
the field, the root having been injured through too much moisture. Our
grasses often prove smutty, but it is only the annual variety that can be
found smutty. The perennial plant has established the roots to a
sufficient depth to mature. I have read, from time to time, the theory
that smut is caused by infection in the stack, and, giving as a proof that
self-sown or shook wheat is never found smutty. The truth is that this
self-sown grain is not subject to injury in threshing, and will support
my experience with reference to infection. I have, upon several occasions
coated wheat that I had carefully rubbed out of the head with smut
dust, but have never produced a smut head from sound grain. I hope
the tests explained have had the effect I desire of interesting you in a
problem that has hitherto baffled all attempts to solve. To permit some
tests to be carried out in your gardens under your manager, I will
undertake to supply seed prepared in various forms for the test and
numbered. I am sure the tests would be interesting. Again apologising,
gentlemen, for bringing under your Society what very properly should
have been a farmers’ subject to deal with. — I am, etc.,

JOSEPH BARWICK.

The Secretary intimated that the suggestions would be laid before the
Trustees of the Museum and Botanical Gardens.

The President, in moving the usual vote of thanks to the contributors
of papers, expressed the hope that something would be done to meet Mr.
Barwick’s suggestions.

PROCEEDINGS, AUGUST.

XVII

AUGUST, 1889.

The monthly evening meeting was held on Monday evening, August
19th, the President, His Excellency Sir Robert G. C. Hamilton, K.C. B.,
in the chair.

THE LATE MR. JUSTIN BROWNE.

The President said : Gentlemen, before we proceed to business
to-night I would remark that since our last meeting this Society
has suffered the loss of a very oid member who had been, I understand,
21 years a member of the Council — Mr. Justin McC. Browne. I am sure
we should wish to place on record our great regret at his death, and
our heartfelt sympathy with those he has left behind.

TALL TASMANIAN TREES.

The Secretary (Mr. Alex. MortoD) stated that since the last meeting,
at which the question of the height of some of the tallest Tasmanian
trees had been discussed, he had been making inquiries by circular
on the subject and had received some replies of value thereon. He
intended to have a paper on the subject at a future meeting of the
Society. Baron Von Mueller had written on this subject asking him
to mention at this meeting that he (Baron Von Mueller) had never
made himself responsible for measurements of 400ft. in height of any
eucalyptus trees, and that in nearly all his writings on this subject he
gave the names of those on whose statements he had relied too hastily
in reference to exaggerated data concerning the supposed exceptional
heights of certain eucalyptus. In the Argus of May 25 last he had
set forth some of the best information obtainable, and urged new
measurements of trees in Tasmania and West Australia. It would
be fpleasing if the Tasmanian members of the Australian Association
for the Advancement of Science, who will attend the Melbourne
meeting to be held in the early part of next year, could furnish for the
biological section genuine measurements of Tasmania’s tallest trees, or
trustworthy records of past discoveries in this direction. He further
suggested that an officer from the Survey Department should visit
the group discovered by Mr. C. Barkley at Mount Barrow to obtain
reliable data on the height of these trees.

Mr. T. Sttphens furnished the following memorandum on the subject
of Lady Franklin’s tiee : —

In June, 1881, I measured the trunk of a large tree near the Huon
road, which had gone by the name of Lady Franklin’s tree, and was
probably identical with one of those described by the Rev. T. J. Ewing
in the proceedings of the Royal Society of May 9, 1849. It had been
blown elown in the gale of December 26, 18S0, and had been partly
burnt in a bush fire some two months afterwards. The circumference
of the trunk at the ground was about 70ft., but measurements round
the tuttresses of these large trees are not worth much for purposes
of comparison. At 26ft. from the root the circumference was 27ft.,
and at 56ft. up it was 21ft. The total length of the stem to where it
ended abruptly, being free from branches the whole way, was 266ft. ,
and it was there 9ft. round. Sixty or seventy feet is a very moderate
estimate for the height of the rest of the tree, and the total height could
not be less than 330ft,, and might have been much more. The tree
was too much burnt to enable one to determine the species, but Mr.
Ewing calls his big tree a swamp gum. My impression at the time
was that the greater part of the top had been blown off, as often
happens, long before the tree fell. More remains of it would have
been left if it had been down only six months.

PROCEEDINGS, AUGUST.

xviii

In reply to the President, Mr. Stephens said this tree was lying
about eight miles from town. He did not know whether any portion
of it remained. This would, of course, greatly depend upon what
bush fires had happened in the locality.

Mr. Johnson directed attention to the remains of a great tree
lying near the coal mines at Snug. Proofs of the huge size of this
tree were easily traceable in the decayed remains. It was a very
remarkable tree.

ANGORA GOAT FARMING.

The Secretary of the Royal Society stated at its last meeting that he
had written to Mr. James Smith, Westwood, mentioned in the discussion
which took place at the May meeting, on a paper on this subject,
and that gentleman had furnished the following particulars : —

The Angora goat will, I believe, thrive in Tasmania, if not too much
exposed to the inclemency of the weather, and if not stinted in
its food. A pure Angora buck which I had in my flock for several
years, and which did not receive any special care, seemed as hardy as
a common goat and his successor in the flock seems to possess equal
endurance. Having brambles (“ black-berries ”) on some of my land,
I was first led to keep “ grade ” Angoras, after the trial of the
browsing habits of a pair, from my attention having been directed
by a neighbour to the fact that a common milch goat kept by him had
destroyed a number of brambles, which had become a nuisance, by
feeding on their leaves and buds. When Angoras have the choice
of brambles and abundance of grass, they seem to prefer the grass
while it is green, but turn with evident relish to the brambles when
the grass becomes withered or scant. For the better eradication of
brambles by goats they should be cut low, or so reduced by burning
that their young shoots may be eaten off close to the ground. It is
hardly necessary to say that brambles are in many places in Tasmania
beginning to encumber the ground to an objectionable extent. In
destroying brambles my “grade” Angoras have been very useful,
though their usefulness in this respect has been limited from the
necessity of specially erected fences, with little exception, to prevent
the goats from straying. The Angora goat is, like the common goat,
very prone to wander, and therefore unusually close fences are necessary
where it is requisite to limit the range of the goats’ movements.
I have seen a grade Angora in passing from an enclosure, ascend a
stump and spring from it to the top of a post of a five-rail fence, and
then to the ground, and when hunted it has quickly found a log from
which to recross the fence in a similar manner. The first, so-called.
Angora goats that I obtained were not quite pure. In order to ascertain
the value of their “mohair” I sent a small quantity of it to London,
where it sold at Is. 4d. per lb., when ordinary Merino wool was
selling at lOd, per lb. I was afterwards informed, however, by the
Messrs. Sait, who, it is understood, manufacture mohair, that similar
mohair was not worth more that Is. per lb. It seems from my
observation in the matter that by crossing with a pure Angora buck
and well selected common goats, a hardy race, which begins at
once to exhibit the qualities of the sire in a remarkable degree, is
produced. The following extract in reference to the selection of a
“ stock buck ” is from the American Agriculturist for April, 1876 : —
“ 1st. Pedigree dating back to ancestor imported from Asia. 2nd.
Weight of long silky, ringletted, white fleece, and its freedom from
kemp and mane on the back and neck. 3rd. Form, size, and vigour.”
There is an illustration in two skins which I am sending to the Hobart
Museum of degrees of breeding. It will be observed that the skin from
which the ears have not been removed has a better fleece than the
other. The latter skin is from a goat less pure than the former. The
following extract is from an article on “ Goat keeping ” in the American

PROCEEDINGS, AUGUST.

XIX

Agriculturist for 1S7S: — “The profit from the goat can come only
‘.from the skin and hair. A large quantity of goat skins is yearly
imported for tanning to produce Morocco leather, and the hair of the
common goat is valued for the plasterers’ use. The Angora goat bears
-a fleece of mohair that is valuable tor several manufactures. . . By

crossing with Angora males the common goat caD soon be bred up to a
point where the fleece is worth as much as that of the pure bred. . .”

The goat will thrive where the poorest sheep would starve, but it
better enjoys the rough fare of rough places than the sweetest pastures
of grass. There are many rocky and half-barren localities that might
be put to good use by being turned into goat pastures and there are
many better pastures ill-fitted for the less hardy sheep upon which
goats could be successfully kept. As to the yield of mohair from each
well-bred grade Angora, I am of opinion that this would be from five
to eight pounds, though I cannot speak positively as to the yield, as
my Angoras usually lose a portion of their hair from coming in contact
with brambles. It has been thought that as the hair of Angoras
will grow to the length of 4in. in six months they might be shorn with
advantage twice a year. But in any case of shearing Angoras or
-grade Angoras, care should be exercised that they be not exposed to
an injurious extent to cold weather. In this respect nature seems
to indicate by the commencement of the shedding of the hair, when
the shearing can be performed with the greatest safety.

The following extract is from The American Agriculturist, for
November, 1876 : — “ In California and other of the Pacific States
large flocks of grade Angoras are being bred for their skins, for which
there is an increasing demand in San Jose, California, by the Angora
robe, glove, and mat manufactory. The carcase is highly prized wherever
introduced as food, while the milk is highly esteemedfor domestic use
-and the sick-room.” To recur to the usefulness of goats in destroying
brambles — and a single goat will do much in this respect — if herded
on brambles goats will not thrive on these alone, but would require
an amount of hand-feeding in the absence of sufficient grass within
the enclosure. The food to be given by hand might consist of waste
from the kitchen, such as turnip tops and cabbage leaves, with other
things easily available on a farm. I cannot, from my own experience,
disagree with the statement in the concluding portion of a paragraph in
The American Agriculturist for October, 1878, that “ There is nothing
in the goat or fleece to make it preferable to sheep, excepting under
circumstances in which sheep cannot be kept profitably.” Goats could
be kept with advantage with sheep, in some instances, as they would
eat much that sheep would not, and so would tend to prevent the spread
of some of the plants that are injurious to the growth of grass. For
fuller information on the Angora, the American Agriculturist for
February, 1887, refers its readers to the book, “ The Angora Goat,”
by John L. Hayes, LL.D., price l-50dol.

Mr. Johnston stated that Angora goat farming had been carried
on in Perth for many years, the hair being made into articles and sold
in Launceston. It would not be necessary to go further afield than
this for information on the question of whether the goats would thrive
in the island.

Mr. Justice Adams said he had made inquiries respecting the
flocks observed by him between Ulverstone and Fermby, and was
informed they were owned by Mr. Jas. Smith and Mr, Templar, a
neighbour of his. Mr. Templar’s flock were kept on very poor ground,
which bore out Mr. Smith’s observations that poor land would suffice
for farming purposes. He had also been informed that, an inquiry
from a resident in a neighbouring colony as to the price of a kid had
resulted in a sum of £2 10s. being asked. There were several large
tracts of land too poor for sheep growing which could be utilised
for goat farming.

XX

PROCEEDINGS, AUGUST.

OLD CHARTS OF TASMANIA.

Mr. Mault read a paper dealing with certain old charts captured
from Captain Hayes by the French, and now lodged among the archives
of France, hut copied by the permission of the Government of that
country. The paper dealt at length with each of the charts, and
illustrated the origin of many of the original names of the Derwent and
its surroundings.

Mr. McClymont complimented Mr. Mault on the care bestowed on his
paper, and reviewed the earlier part of the voyage of the Marion.

Mr. Walker also spoke on the paper, quoting from the Brabourne
Papers to illustrate the possibility that Flinders at the time of his
detention at the Mauritius was carrying despatches from Governor
King, which were regarded by his captors as a violation of the passport
held by him from Bounaparte.

DISCOVERY OF A FOSSIL FISH.

Mr. R. M. Johnston read a paper, the joint production of Mr.
Morton and himself, respecting the recent discovery by Mr. H. Nicholls
of a fossil fish, presented by him to the Museum. The specieshad been
named Acrolepis Hainiltoni, in recognition of the deep interest always
observed by the President in the affairs of the Society.

The Secretary read a communication from Mr. Petterd, referring
to a fossil fish discovered by him in a quarry near Knocklofty IS years
back, but which had not been described, but had been lost.

Mr. Stephens referred to certain correspondence received by him
from Professors Stephens and McCoy asking for particulars of this
discovery.

AUSTRALIAN AND TASMANIAN SANDARACH.

The Secretary read a paper by Mr. J. H. Maiden, F.L.S., F.G.S.,
Curator, Technological Museum, Sydney. In it the writer referred
to the fact that a specimen of resin irom the Oyster Bay Pine of
Tasmania, sent to the Exhibition of 1851, first drew the attention of
experts to the possibilities of Australian Sandarach. For this exhibit
and other gums and resins, Mr. J. Milligan was awarded honourable
mention. Sandarach is one of the most valuable of Australian and
Tasmanian vegetable products, a market is ready for it, and it seems
strange that it should have been so long neglected. No statistics are
available in regard to the importation of Sandarach into these colonies,
but to bring it here at all is a veritable “carrying of coals to Newcastle.”
In various parts of Australia and Tasmania there are vast numbers of
Callitris trees, and their resin, often abundant, can readily be collected,
and the author is sure that even with the cheap labour of Northern
Africa to contend against, it can be profitably gathered during a
portion of the year. The approximate price of Sandarach in London,
is 60-115s. per cwt., and there is no difference between it and the
colonial article. As to the cultivation of the trees, Baron von Mueller
states, “ Probably it would be more profitable to devote sandy
desert land, which could not be brought under irrigation, to the
culture of the Sandarach cypresses, than to pastoral purposes, but
boring beetles must be kept off. It is also to be borne in mind that
Gdllitris timber is valuable.”

Mr. Stephens referred to the manner in which these trees were
destroyed in clearing for sheep farming.

The President said he had frequently noticed the destruction of
these trees.

COMPLIMENTARY.

The President moved the usual vote of thanks to the contributors
of papers.

PROCEEDINGS, SEPTEMBER.

XXI

SEPTEMBER, 1889.

The monthly meeting of the Royal Society was held on Monday,
September 9th. The President (His Excellency Sir Robert G. C.
Hamilton, K.C.B.) presided. Mr. J. Provis, of South Australia, was
elected a corresponding member of the Society ; Mr. Chas. Guesdon a
member.

The President desired to bring a matter concerning the young
salmon now at the Salmon Ponds before the Society. These were the
undoubted product of the ova brought out by Sir Thomas Brady,
which had been stripped from the male and female fish and artificially
fertilised, and the utmost care had been taken to keep them apart from
any other fish bred in the Ponds. He recently visited the Ponds,
accompanied by the Chairman of the Fisheries Board, the Secretary,
and two of the members, when they carefully examined a number of
the young salmon, among which they were surprised to find marked
differences existing, not only in size, but in their characteristics. It
has often been held that the salmonidce caught in Tasmanian waters
cannot be true Salmo solar because so many of them have spots on the
dorsal fin, and a tinge of yellow or orange on the adipose fin, but nearly
half of the young salmon they examined, which had never left the
Ponds, had these characteristics. Again, many of them were almost
“ bull-headed ” in appearance — another characteristic which is not
supposed to distinguish the true Salmo solar. He would suggest to
the Chairman of the Fisheries Board, whom he saw present, that the
Secretary should be asked to make a formal report of the result of this
visit, and to obtain some specimens of the young fish, which could be
preserved in spirits, and perhaps sent to Sir Thomas Brady to be
submitted for the consideration and opinion of naturalists at Home.

Mr. Allport directed attention to the desirableness of placing young
fish in the West Coast rivers, which were entirely free at present of
fish of a migratory character.

Mr. Johnston pointed out the difficulty of transit in stocking these
rivers. He thought Lake Dixon would afford an excellent home for the
salmon, equal to any of the Scotch waters ; and as it is one of the
affluents of the Franklin and Gordon Rivers, the young fish would find
their way to the Western Ocean.

Mr. Morton drew attention to a specimen of the fish referred to, one
that had been bred from the late shipment of ova brought out by Sir
Thomas Brady. The fish exhibited had no markings on the dorsal fin,
but, as had been stated by His Excellency, there appeared to be quite an
equal number in the pond with markings on the dorsal as those without.
He hoped the recommendations of His Excellency, that specimens of this
young fry should be sent to some of the leading ichthyologists in Europe
for their opinion would be carried out, because from the care and
attention bestowed on the late shipment of ova there could be no
question but that the ova was from the true fish, Salmo solar.

SMUT IN GRAIN, AND DEPOSIT OF SALT.

The Secretary (Mr. A. Morton) read the following correspondence
rom Mr. Joseph Barwick, relating to smut in wheat, and also to a large
deposit of salt found on the plains near Mona Vale.

“ To the President and Council of the Royal Society of Tasmania.
Gentlemen, — After reading the two high class, and what would seem
unanswerable papers upon the above subject, read at the last meeting

xxn

PROCEEDINGS. SEPTEMBER.

of your Society, it will seem presumption for me to again trespass upon
you. However, I respectfully ask leave to do so in support of my first
paper. The learned writers, Messrs. Abbott and Stephens, conclude,
from the tenor of my paper, that I had not made myself acquainted
with what had been done in attempting to elucidate the mystery of smut.
I desire to say that for the last 14 years I have obtained and read all
the papers I could find upon the subject, but scarcely two of the writers
agree in the most important points, and the whole oi the writings that I
have read deal more with effect than cause, that is, with the diseased
plant. We all know that when we see either cattle or horses infested
with vermin that the animal is weakly and poor ; but we do not believe
that the vermin cause the poverty, but the reason we knowis that poverty
from disease or starvation breeds vermin, and this is my experience with
plants and trees ; and I am strongly of opinion that it is the same with
our grain plant, the plant being weakly from defective rooting it is
attacked by fungus. My object in asking for space in the Botanical
Gardens was not with a desire to carry out scientific examinations,
but to demonstrate that sound grains will not produce smut, and that
the so-called spores are as harmless as soot dust, that is if practical tests
of sixteen years are of any value, and I further concluded that the only
way to interest the public and induce other societies to take the matter
up, was to carry out the tests in some public place, and if my experience
was confirmed that some means might be devised by which the seed grain
could be threshed without injury, which would prove an enormous saving
of grain, labour, expense, and a more vigorous plant. The tests I
enumerated were only a few of the many ; I tried all with the same
result. I have now one and a half acres sown this year with wheat
collected upon stock that had been skaken out in removing sheaves ;
this I have not dressed. I do not fear the result. It is too late to
carry out any further tests this year.”

“ Tea Tree, August 23, 1889. Curator of the Museum, Hobart. — Sir,
— In forwarding the exhibit of salt it cannot be classed as one of our
manufactures, as it is a natural product of the centre of Tasmania,
and it seems to me more of a curiosity, or more properly a source of
undeveloped wealth, as nothing has ever been done to ascertain the
source of the constant and inexhaustible deposit. These chains of lagoons,
or what are known as the salt pans, are situated nearly in the centre of
the colony, and are situated on the estates of Lower Park, Balochmyle,
Ellenthorpe, and Mona Vale. I am well acquainted with these pans,
having known them for nearly 50 years. They extend for a distance of
seven miles, running as nearly as, 1 should say, south-east by north-west,
and there are to my knowledge 10 of them, in area from one acre to 100.
There may be more beyond my travels, and I think if a line was drawn
it would be found that they are not over one mile out of line. To my
mind, the most mysterious fact is that on either side of this line there
are similar pans containing fresh water. In one case at Ellenthorpe
there is one large pan of probably 100 acres, and within 10 chains
on either side there is a lagoon of fresh water. The most prolific
in salt of these pans is Ballochmyle and Mona Vale, as over
50 years ago I went with my father to these pans for a supply, and in dry
seasons large quantities have been taken from those pans, many hundreds
of tons ; the surface, about 2in. deep, is scraped up for domestic use, and
the soil is used for manure. A very old hand in the colony, John Duffield,
who came in the prison ship Dromedary, informed me that this salt was
formerly a source of wealth to the aboriginals who owned the surrounding
lands, and was often the scene of hot battle and bloodshed. I have heard
several theories of the source of supply, but none of which are tenable.
The one is that it is brought from higher levels by streams, but
most of them are situated upon a level surface and have no inlet. Another
is that the land is impregnated with salt, and that the supply is kept up

PROCEEDINGS, SEPTEMBER.

xxiii

by soakage, but if this was so it would follow that the whole of these
pans would be salt, which I have shown is not the case. My idea is
that a reef extends throughout the length of these pans. Supposing this
to be so, would the salt rise from any great depth ? I think not, and if
my theory is correct, the reef cannot be far from the surface.

Mr. Stephens said Sir Lambert Dobson, who had had a lengthy
knowledge of the district, might impart some information.

Sir Lambert Dobson had known the salt pans district for a period of
53 years. They were really small lakelets which contained salt water,
and from which, during summer, the evaporation caused the layer of salt
to form. In past years this was made a source of revenue by collectors of
thesalt, which was of excellentquality, and suitablefor domestic purposes.
Some of the lakelets provided richer deposits of salt than others, but no
reliable information, so far as he was aware, was forthcoming respecting
the origin of these deposits. Evidently they did not originate from springs,
because during summer the lakelets dried up. The soil around was
fertile, the native grasses growing well. This suggested that the water
became impregnated with salt below the surface.

Mr. Johnston considered the subject one of deep interest, and worthy
of consideration at the hands of members of the Society. He thought
that Mr. Barwick had given good reasons in favour of the idea that the
salt was derived from some underlying rock formation of marine origin —
probably of upper pakeozoic age — whose members are often highly
charged with saline matter.

Mr Stephens said it would be interesting to ascertain from the
inhabitants of the district if the trade in the salt had been discontinued
owing’ to a decrease in the supply, or market influences. The difference
between salt and fresh water lagoons was that the latter always had
natural outlets, and even if some of these lagoons having outlets
contained a percentage of salt from the solid deposits, the outflow
naturally brought about a reduction of this. Many of the sandstone
formations in Tasmania were particularly saliferous, and contained
large percentages of all the salts, from Epsom salt and alum to
chloride of sodium. This especially was noticeable in caves which
protected the deposits from being carried away by the rain. It should
be remembered that a large portion of this district had been under the
sea about the tertiary period, if not in post tertiary times. The
possibility of the existence of a solid bed of salt, as suggested by Mr.
Johnston, should not be ignored.

Mr. Johnston doubted this.

Mr. Stephens said that the district, as far as Antill Ponds, gave
evidence in favour of this. Marine fossils were not likely to be found
where the land had been rising or in drift.

THE LAST LIVING ABORIGINAL OE TASMANIA.

Mr James Barnard read the following paper compiled by him upon
this subject : — It has been generally supposed that the grave has
closed over the remains of the last of the aborigines, and that the
extinction of the race has been final and complete. This supposition,
however, is believed to be erroneous ; for there still exists one female
descendant of the former “ princes of wastes and lords of deserts ’ in the
person of Fanny Cochrane Smith, of Port Cygnet, and the mother of a
large family of six sons and five daughters, all of whom are living. Some
doubts have been cast in Parliament and elsewhere upon the claim of
Fanny (to keep to her pre-nuptial and first Christian name) to be of the
pure blood of her ancestors, but after searching the records, and upon
her own personal testimony, and from other evidence, there seems to be

XXIV

PROCEEDINGS, SEPTEMBER.

little reason to doubt the fact. It appears, theD, that Fanny was born
at Flinders Island in 1834 or 1S35, and is now about 55 years of age.
Sarah was the name of her mother, and Eugene that of her father,
and both were undeniably aboriginals. Sarah first lived with a sealer,
and became the mother of four half-caste children ; and was subsequently
married to Eugene (native Dame, Nicomanie), one of her own people,
and had three children, of whom Fanny is the sole survivor and
representative of the race. Lieut. Matthew Curling Friend, R.N., in
a paper read before the Tasmanian Society, on March 10, 1847, “On
the decrease of the Aborigines of Tasmania,” in alluding to the curious
theory propounded by Count Strzelecki, that the aboriginal mother of a
half-caste can never produce a black child should she subsequently
marry one of her own race, controverts this notion of invariable sterility
by quoting two instances which came under his notice while visiting
the aboriginal establishment at Flinders Island. I give his own words : —
“ One was the case of a black woman named Sarah, who had formerly
four half-caste children by a sealer with whom she lived, and has had
since her abode at Flinders Island, where she married a man of her own
race, three black children, two of whom are still alive. The other, a
black woman named Harriet, who had formerly by a white man with
whom she lived two halt-caste children, and has had since her marriage
with a black man a fine healthy black infant, who is still living.”
Commenting upon this doctrine of Strzelecki, West observes (Hist, of
Tasmania, vol. 2, p. 75.), “ A natural law by which the extinction of a
race is predicted will not admit of such serious deviations.” Some
explanation may properly be expected from me for reviving a question
which was supposed to be set at rest when Truganini was consigned to
the tomb, and declared to be the last woman of her race. I will
therefore mention the incident which has given me something of a
personal interest in the matter. It is now nearly 40 years ago that I
was accustomed occasionally to accompany my friend, the late Hr.
Milligan, the Medical Superintendent of the Aborigines, to the settlement
at Oyster Cove, where I saw a good deal of the native people, at that
time some 30 or 40 in number. Among these I have a distinct recollection
of Fanny, who was then apparently about 17 years of age, slender and
active, less dusky in colour, but rather more prepossessing in appearance
than any of her kind ; and certainly at that time I never heard a
doubt expx-essed of her not being a true aboriginal. There was one
circumstance in particular which impressed her upon my remembrance,
and that was on one occasion we crossed over in a boat from Oyster
Cove to Bruni Island, rowed by four of the black men, and Fanny taking
the steer-oar, which she handled with marvellous skill and dexterity. My
visits to the settlement shortly after ceased, and from that time to the
present, until a few weeks ago, when I was greatly surprised to receive a
visit from this identical Fanny, who had become transformed into
a buxom matron of considerable amplitude. By the courtesy of the
Hon. P. 0. Fysh, Chief Secretary and Premier, I have been permitted
access to the official records bearing upon the subject of this investigation.
The first documents brought under nay attention were two letters under
date J une 23 and 26, 1882, embodying a report from the Police Magistrate
of Franklin, the late E. A. Walpoie, emphatically stating that Fanny
“ is a half-caste, born of an aboriginal woman, by a white man whose
name is unknown, at Flinders Island on or about the year 1835.” No
authority beyond the expression of his individual opinion is adduced
by Mr. Walpole in support of his statement. The next document was
a letter by the late Dr. Milligan, Medical Superintendent of Aborigines,
under date July 17, 1854, enclosing William Smith’s consent to marry
Fanny Cochrane, and describing her as an aboriginal girl belonging to
the establishment at Oyster Cove. This aftords strong evidence in
support of the opposite view of the case, as those who knew Dr,

PROCEEDINGS, SEPTEMBER.

XXV

Milligan would remember how precise and accurate he invariably was in
any statement of facts. A point of some importance in the contention
would arise from Fanny’s second name, Cochrane. According to
Bonwick, in his “ Last of the Tasmanians,” p. 2S2, this was taken from
the sealer who lived with Sarah, whose name was Cottrel Cochrane.
Were this so, it would have at once have gone far to settle the question
of parentage, and show her to be the half-caste supposed. Bonwick is
obviously in error in his statement ; for I have lately ascertained from
the lips of a married lady living in Hobart, a daughter of the late
Mr. Robert Clark, catechist at the aborigines establishment, that
Cochrane was the maiden name of her mother, and that it was given by
her father to Fanny when a child, and residing in his family. Again,
Bonwick writes (p. 310) : “ We read of a sawyer, one Smith, and his
black friend, Mrs. Fanny Cochrane Smith, receiving £25 a year for their
half-caste child.” Instead of “ black friend ” he might have written
“ black wife for the parties were duly married at Hobart by the Rev.
Frederick Miller, Congregational minister, in 1S54. As respects the
cause assigned for the annuity, this writer was also in error, for the sum
of £24 (not £25) was bestowed upon Fanny on the occasion of her
marriage, and not for the reason stated. The next document is a
letter dated 8th December, 1S42, conveying the official approval of the
admission into the Queen’s Orphan School of the three aboriginal
children named in the margin — Fanny, Martha, Jesse. Then follows in
the records under same date an application from Mr. Robert Clark, late
catechist of the aborigines on Flinders Island, for permission to receive
into his family “ an aboriginal child named Fanny, upon his engagement
to feed, clothe, and educate her as one of his own children.”

Next is an extract from an official document dated 8th March, 1847 : —
“ Eugene and his wife, the father and mother of Fanny and Adam,
being asked if they were willing that their children should be sent
back to Mr. Clark, said they were not. Fanny being asked if she
understood the nature of an oath, answered, ‘No,’ and the doctor
explained it. Fanny said she did not wish to return to Mr. Clark.”

From a long report to the Government by Dr. Milligan, dated November
29, 1847, 1 have takea the following extract : — “ The fifth girl, Fanny
Cochrane, almost a woman, might remain with her half-sister, Mary
Ann. Indeed, lean scarcely say how otherwise she could be satisfactorily
disposed of.” There being no difference of opinion as to Sarah being
the mother of both, this testimony, given by Dr. Milligan as to a
difference of parentage in the case of the father, at once discriminates
her from Mary Ann, and in itself affords a strong presumption in favour
of the contention.

The superintendent at Oyster Cove, under date 4th November,
1857, reports to the Colonial Secretary the death of Adam, aged 20 years,
the youngest of the aboriginals ; and states that during his illness
he was waited upon by his mother, sister, and the latter’s husband ;
these being respectively Sarah, Fanny, and William Smith. Up to
this point my researches have been eminently satisfactory, and have
tended to confirm the theory of Fanny being an aboriginal ; but another
document has been brought under my notice which, unexplained,
certainly discountenances that theory. It is the report of certain
proceedings taken before Dr. Jeanneret, the superintendent at Flinders
Island, on the occasion of certain allegations made against an officer of
the establishment, and in which is a deposition made by Fanny, dated
March 25, 1847, commencing with these words, — “ I am a half-caste of
Van Diemen’s Land. My mother is a native. I am about 13 years
of age,” etc., with her signature attached at the foot. At first
sight this admission would appear to be conclusive and unanswerable ;
but, upon reflection, I am led to believe that there must be a mistake

XXVI

PROCEEDINGS, SEPTEMBER.

somewhere. In the first place a child of her age, with imperfectly
developed intelligence, would scarcely be likely to volunteer that
statement, or do more than give a mechanical assent to the question
when asked, without, perhaps, at all understanding its import. Again,
possibly the clerk writing the deposition may have understood that
Fanny was sister to Mary Ann instead of half-sister, and naturally
assumed them to be the offspring of the same parents. Besides, it
conflicts with all the official correspondence in which she is referred to
with Dr. Milligan, the medical superintendent, and Mr. Clark, the
catechist, in all of which the term “ half-caste ” never once appears,
and she is invariably designated an aboriginal girl, and distinguished
from Mary Ann, her half-sister, and an undisputed half-caste. I may
add, also, that Fanny wholly repudiates all knowledge or recollection
of the evidence referred to. The paper of Lieut. Friend, which I have
quoted, in which he refers to Sarah, the mother of Fanny, in support of
his hypothesis, as well as the official statement given of Eugene being
her father and Adam being her brother, should remove all doubt as to
Fanny being a true aboriginal. While it is not to be denied that
differences of opinion exist on the point, I think it must be allowed,
from the facts brought forward, that the weight of testimony is in its
favour. The characteristics of the complexion and of the hair have
been cited as favouring the opinion that Fanny must be deposed from
the pedestal claimed for her as a pure aboriginal and placed in the
ranks of the half-castes. Mr. Walpole states that “ her colour is a very
dark brown,” but I should rather term it a blackish-brown, and showing
the true aboriginal tint. On this point it must be remembered that
from her infancy she has been encircled within the pale of civilised life,
and shielded from the severities of weather and privations to which
otherwise she would have been exposed, — all this, together with her
surroundings, must naturally have in some degree tended to exercise a
modifying influence. The same as to her hair, which, if less woolly
and like a mop, has no doubt been combed and brushed out to some
small extent of its original fluffiness to reconcile it to the model of the
hair of the white children with w'hom she was brought up, and which
she would naturally strive to imitate. The question at issue may
appear, at fiist sight, to be a mere personal matter, and of comparative
unimportance, but it is in reality much more than that, and has acquired
a scientific aspect deserving of attention. There is reason to believe
that the theory of Strzelecki has influenced many to concurrence in his
views, and to disregard or overlook the cogency of facts opposed to
it. Lieutenant Friend, as we have seen, disputes the dictum referred
to, and has adduced strong evidence in support of his objection. Thus
an interesting problem has been presented for solution. All controversy,
however, must now be regarded as finally set at rest, since the adoption
by Parliament, after due inquiry, of two resolutions passed, respectively,
in sessions 1882 and 18S4, by the first of which the pension of Fanny
Smith was increased from £24 to £50 per annum, and by the second
that a grant deed of the 100 acres of land she at that time occupied,
and for the 200 acres additional then presented to her, should be
issued to Fanny free of cost, both votes being passed on the ground
specified of her being the last survivor of the aboriginal race.

Mr. Taylor did not doubt Mr. Barnard had made very searching
inquiry before submitting his paper. There was much that was new in
the paper, and he hoped if any members possessed any further evidence
respecting this much-vexed question, they would not fail to place it
before the Society.

NEW DARK YIELD MICROMETER.

In the absence of Mr. A. B. Biggs, the Secretary read a paper
contributed by that gentleman on “a new dark field micrometer for

PROCEEDINGS, SEPTEMBER. XXVii

double star measurements." The author referred to the fact that some
of the grandest achievements of science were due to workers who had
had to content themselves with very simple and perhaps roughly
constructed apparatus, the outcome of their own ingenuity, called
forth by the necessities of the case. The writer claimed the applicability
of these remarks to his own case only so far as they related to the
necessity of trusting mainly to his own resources in his very limited
field of scientific work. The instrument, of which he furnished a
description, had been in this way the outcome of his necessity ; its
special function being the measurement of very minute angular distances,
such as those of double stars, giving at the same time the angle of
position with reference to the meridian.

PYRAMIDAL NUMBERS.

Mr. Johnston read a paper on a discovery made respecting pyramidal
numbers, suggesting that these might have formed the original
selections of sub-divisions of time, space, weight, coinage, etc.

Mr. Johnston suggested that as the Egyptian pyramid builders were
great geometricians, the peculiar combinations of numbers in models of
simple pyramids of odd, even, and mixed numbers would be familiar to
them ; and that the square pyramid of even numbers with 12 as base and
the odd and even square pyramids with a base of twice 7, or 14, might
be seized upon by them for typifying astronomical facts, in conjunction
with some great fixed standard of measurements. The selection of
these types might be supposed reasonable, as the aggregates or squares
of cubes in their principal divisions coincide exactly with the known
days of year, month, week, etc.; their simple multiples also coincide
with the principal dimensions of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, and with
the length of the Egyptian cubit ; while many of the natural sequences
of related layers of cubes such as 4, 12, 20 ; 28, 56, 112 ; 44, 220, 440 ;
12, 24, 36, 144 — are very suggestive, as accounting for the origin of
many of our more important existing sub-divisions of time, space,
weight and money.

Mr. Taylor said it would be almost impossible to discuss such a
paper. He suggested the advisableness of dividing the work of the
Society into different branches. They might form a Philosophical
Society to deal with subjects apart from the scientific subjects now
dealt with by the Society. Many subjects would, he thought, be dealt
with under such an arrangement.

Mr. Morton said the Society was always ready to discuss papers on
any subject. They were too small to have these sub-sections. This
had been done in the past, and lasted but a very short time. The
Council had considered the matter some three years since, and decided
that the Society was too small to thus sub-divide themselves. The
papers of late years had been most varied, and had always been ably
dealt with. He drew attention that a member of the New South Wales
Society had congratulated them on the fact that the Royal Society
of Tasmania in the thoroughness of its work had only one contemporary
society in the colonies that held higher position than them, viz., the
Linmean Society of Sydney.

COMPLIMENTARY.

The President in moving the usual complimentary vote to contributors
of papers, said he thought the Society specially indebted to Mr. Barnard
for his paper. The records of the Society were for all time, and it
would be to these records that reference would be made for authentic
information on a matter of this sort. He thought the paper would
help much toward the settlement of the question as to the last of the
Tasmanian aboriginals, seeing that it adopted the scientific method of
taking nothing for granted, but giving data for all his conclusions.

XXV1U

PROCEEDINGS, SEPTEMBER.

Mr. Mault had acted wisely in getting the only gentleman who differed
from his expressed views respecting Flinders detention, to read his paper
there respecting — (Laughter) — whilst Mr. Johnston’s paper had perfectly
staggered him (the President) by its ingenuity.

The proceedings then terminated.

LIBRARY ADDITIONS.

List of additions to the Library of the Royal Society : —

Acta Horti Petropolitani, Tomus X. From the Society.

Annales de la Society Entomologique de Belgique, Brussels, 1S89.
From the Department,

Annals and Magazines of Natural History, current numbers.

Anales de la Oficina Meteorologica Argentina, Tomo VI, 1SS8. From
the Department.

Archives du Mus4e Teyler, Serie II, vol. Ill, Deuxieme Partie. From
the Society.

Annual report of the Secretary for Mines of Victoria. On the working
of the regulations and inspection of mines and Mining Machinery Act
during the year 1888. From the Department.

Blowpipe The, in Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology, containing all
known methods of anhydrous analysis, many working examples, and
instructions for making apparatus, by Lieut. -Colonel VV. A. Ross, R.A.,
F.G.S. Illustrated (bound), London, 1889.

Bolletino dei Musei di Zoologia ed Anatomia Comparata (current
parts). From the Society.

Boleteim da Sociedade de Geographia de Lisboa (current numbers).
From the Society.

Boletin Mensual (pamphlets). From the Meteorological Department,
Mexico.

Bollettino della Societa Geografica Italiana (current numbers). From
the Society.

Bulletin de la Soci4ti4 Academique Indo-Chinoise de France. From
the Department.

Bulletin de la Soci£t4 D’Ethnographie, Nos 1 to 6, Paris, 1887. From
the Society.

Bulletin de la Soci^tid Imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscow (current
numbers). From the Society.

Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College,
Vol. XVII. The Coral Reefs of the Hawaiian Islands (plates), by
Alexander Agassiz. From the author.

Catalogue de la Bibliothbque dress4 par C. Ekama. Septieme Livraison,
Math^matiques ; Chimie et Physique, Astronomie ; M4t4orologie.
Huitibme Livraison, Arch4ologie. Antiquites, etc. Arts et Metiers,
Miscellanus, Supplement et Additions ; Table Alphabetique, Harlem,
1887-8. From the Society.

Descriptive Catalogue of the Sponges in the Australian Museum,
Sydney, 18S8. From the Trustees.

Eruption of Krakatoa, The, and Subsequent Phenomena, (bound)
188S

FrankliD, the Lightning Conductor (a lecture), by C. Tomlinson, F.R.S.
From the Author.

Geological Magazine. Current numbers.

History of the Birds of New Zealand, second edition, vols. 1, 2.
London, 1888. Illustrated (bound).

History of the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society, 1837-
1887. With biographical notices of some of its members, by James W.
Davis (bound). From the Society.

Imperial Federation, current Nos. From the Editor.

PROCEEDINGS, SEPTEMBER.

XXIX

Iconography of Australian species of Acacia and cognate genera. By
Baron Mueller. Decade 13. From the Government.

Insect World. Being a popular account of the orders of insects,
together with a description of the habits and economy of some of the
most interesting species. By Louis Figuier (Illustrated) bound.

Journals and Proceedings of the Parliament of Tasmania, Vol. XI,
1888-9, bound. From the Government.

Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales,
Vol. XXII., Part II., 188S. From the Society.

Journal of Morphology, edited by C. 0. Whitman and E. P. Allis.
Vol. II., No. 3 plates. From the authors.

Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society of England. Current
numbers. From the Society.

Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society. Report for 1S8S-9. From
the Society.

Lord Howe Island ; its Zoology, Geology, and Physical Character,
18S9. From the Trustees Sydney Museum.

Metallurgy of gold : A practical treatise on the metallurgical treat¬
ment of gold-bearing ores, including the process of concentration and
chlorination, and the assaying, melting and refining of gold. By M.
Eissler. Illustrated (bound). London, 1S89.

Metallurgy of silver : A practical treatise on the amalgamation,
roasting, lixibiation of silver ores, including the assaying, melting, and
refining of silver bullion. By M, Eissler. Illustrated (bound). London,
1889.

Meteorological Department, New Zealand, 1885. From the Depart¬
ment.

Meteorological papers. From the Department, Mexico.

Meteorological Monthly Weather Review, Canada, current numbers*
From the Department.

Minerals of New South Wales, etc., by A. Liversidge, M.A., F.R.S.,
with map, bound. From the Author.

Mineral Statistics of Victoria for 18S7. From the Department.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, current parts.
From the Society.

Narrative of a journey to the shores of the Polar Seas, in the years
1819, ’20, ’21, and ’22, by John Franklin, captain R.N., F.R.S., with an
appendix on various subjects relating to Science and Natural History.
Illustrated by numerous plates and maps. London 1823. Narrative of a
second expedition to the shores of the Polar Sea, in the years 1S25, ’26,
and ’27, by Captain John Franklin, R.N., F.R.S., including an account
of the progress of a detachment to the Eastward by John Richardson,
M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. Plate and maps. London, 1S28 (bound) ; 2 vols.
From Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Lefroy.

Nature. Current numbers.

New Hepatic A. By Dr. B. Carrington and W. H. Pearson. From
the authors.

Observatorio Nacional Argentine. Vol. x. Cordoba. From the depart¬
ment.

Ocean World : Being a description of the sea and home of its inhabi¬
tants, from the French by Louis Figuier, illustrated (bound).

Papers from the Registrar-General’s office, New Zealand.

Phormium Tenax as a Fibrous plant (bound). By Sir James Hector,
R.C.M.G. From the author

Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. Second
ser. Vol. IV., Pt. 1, 1SS9. From the Society.

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, 1S89. Vol. VI., Pt.
2. From the Society.

Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society, Vol,.
XI., Pt. 1, 1889. From the Society.

XXX

PROCEEDINGS, SEPTEMBER.

Proceedings and Transactions of the Queensland Branch of the Royal
Geographical Society of Australasia, 1SSS-9, Vol. IV. From the Society.

Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada. Vols.
III., 1SS5 ; IV., 1SS6 ; V., 1SS7 ; (bound). From the Society.

Psyche, a Journal of Entomology, Mass., U.S. (Current numbers.)
From the Society.

Report of the Trustees of the Australian Museum for 1SSS. From
the Trustees.

Report of the Public Library, [Museum, and Art Gallery of South
Australia for 1SS7-S. From the Trustee's.

Report of the Zoological and Acclimatisation Society of Victoria for
the year 1SSS. From the Society.

Report of the Surgeon-General of the Army to the Secretary of War
for the fiscal year ending June, 1SS8. From the Department.

Report of the Auckland Institute and Museum for 188S-9. From the
Trustees.

Report of the Mining Registrars of the Goldfields of Victoria for the
quarter ended 31st March, 1SS9. From the Department.

Report, Twenty-third Annual, on the Colonial Museum and Laboratory,
etc., New Zealand. From the Trustees.

Reports of Geological Explorations during 1887-8, with maps and
sections, New Zealand. From the Department.

Revista do Observatorio, Rio de Janeiro, 1889. From the Department.

Records of the Geological Survey of India (current numbers). From
the Society.

Results of Astronomical Observations made at the Melbourne Observa¬
tory in the years 1SS1 to 4 (bound). From the Department.

Scottish Geographical Magazine (current parts). From the Society.

Scientific Proceedings of the Royal Dublin Society (current numbers).
From the Society.

Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society. II. A monograph
of the marine and freshwater ostracoda of the North Atlantic and of
North-Western Europe. Section I. Podocopa. By G. S. Brady, M.A.,
and Rev. A. M. Norman, M.A. Plates. III. Observations/^ the Planet
Jupiter made with the reflector of three feet aperture at Birr Observatory,
Parsonstown, by Otto Boeddicker, Ph.D. Plates. IV. A new deter¬
mination of the latitude of Dunsink Observatory, by Arthur A. Rambaut,
V. A revision of the British Actiniae, Part 1, Alfred C. Haddon, M.A.,
etc. Plates. From the Society.

Studies from the Newport Marine Laboratory. Communicated by
Alexander Agassiz. XVI. The Development of Osseus Fishes. II. The
pre-embryonic stages of development. Pt. la. The history of the egg
from fertilisation to cleavage. By A. Agassiz and C. 0. Whitman.
With 12 plates. From A. Agassiz.

Statistics of the colony of New Zealand for 1SS7. From the Depart¬
ment.

Transactions of the Royal Society of Victoria, Vol. 1., part I. The
Anatomy of Megascolides Australis. The giant earth worm of Gipps-
land, by W. Baldwin Spencer. From the Author.

Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 1SS8. Vol.
XXI. From the Department.

Transactions and Proceedings and Report of the Royal Society of
South Australia. Vol. XI., for 1SS7-S. From the Society.

Text Book of Geology, by Archibald Geikie, London 1SS2 (bound).

Verhandlungen des naturhistorischen vereines (current Nos.) From
the Society.

Verhandlungen de Gesellschaft Fur Erdkunde zu Berlin (current Nos,)
From the Society.

Victorian Naturalist (current Nos.) From the Society.

Victorian Year Book for 1887-8, Vol. HI. From the Department.

PROCEEDINGS, OCTOBER.

XXXI

OCTOBER, 1889.

The monthly meeting was held on Monday evening, October 15.
There was a large attendance of Fellows and several lady visitors were
present, including Lady Hamilton. His Excellency (Sir Robt. G. C.
Hamilton, K.C.B.), President of the Society presided.

NEW MEMBER.

Mr. Alex. Montgomery, M.A., Government Geologist and Inspector
of Mines, was elected a Fellow of the Society.

THE PRESIDENT AND “LYNX.”

The President said : My attention has been drawn to a paragraph
in last week’s Tasmanian Mail in a column headed, “ Echoes ” by
“ Lynx,” in which an amusing account is given of an error I am
supposed to have fallen into in describing some of the young salmon
hatched from the ova brought overby Sir Thomas Brady, as “ markedly
bull headed.” I am supposed to have seen them, as I think the
writer sometimes sees things, through a distorted medium. (Laughter.)
Now, I am sorry to spoil so good a story. The fish I examined were
not looked at through a glass, and there is now here, in the Museum,
one of these fish which is “markedly bull headed.” I do not have
the acquainntace of “Lynx,” or I may have that pleasure without
knowing it, but if he will call here, or if he is here now, he can take
the fish out of the bottle and look at it for himself, and I am sure he
will agree with my description of it. But a more interesting point
arises as to these fish. It almost seems as if some of the characteristics
of these young salmon vary with their size, or the season of the year,
or whereas a short time ago certainly half the fish had spots on their
dorsal fin and a coloured tip to their adipose fin, the Curator the other
day could only find one possessing these characteristics, and that a
small one. This is a matter which might also be brought under Sir
Thomas Brady’s notice when the specimens are sent to him. (Applause.)

Mr. R. M. Johnston felt glad that His Excellency had noted these
peculiar characteristics, because Tasmania was the first to demonstrate
to the world the possibility of safely transporting fish over a great
distance. They had many things to consider in connection with the
acclimatisation of the fish, and it was a matter of great importance that
the results of their observations should be communicated to the experts
in the Old Country.

EARLY SETTLEMENT OF TASMANIA.

Mr. J. B. Walker read a very interesting paper entitled “ The
settlement under Collins in 1S03-4 : The failure at Port Phillip.” The
paper was a continuation of the very complete and graphically historic
account of the foundation of the colony which he has compiled from
official papers, reports, etc., obtained at the instance of the Tasmanian
Government, by Mr. James Bonwick, in London. Former papers
prepared by Mr. Walker dealt with the early visits of French and
English navigators to the colony, and in this one he gave an account
of the voyage of Lieut. Collins when under instructions to found a
colony at Port Phillip, and the failure to do so. The paper was
attentively listened to, and upon concluding the writer was heartily
applauded.

Mr. A. J. Taylor favoured Mr. Walker’s suggestion because he had
no doubt these documents would be more highly prized. He was
in hopes that before long they would have an opportunity of securing
for the Public Library a large number of works_ relating to the early
history of the colony.

XXX11

PROCEEDINGS, OCTOBER.

THE AUSTRALIAN CURLEW.

Mr. Morton, acting for Colonel Legge, read a note embodying a
comparison of the Australian Curlew with its near Asiatic ally, and its
more distantly related representative in Europe and Western Asia.
The curlews of the old world, like other members of the Wader family
(< Charadriidcii ), resemble one another in plumage. Unlike the American
curlews, which have a distinguishing characteristic in the buff tinting of
the under wing and axiliaries, the old world species differ chiefly in
the character of the markings of the breast. A marked characteristic,
however, of the Australian bird is its length of bill. As regards our
Curlew (N. Cyanopus) on arriving in Tasmania in September, some
specimens have the buff tinge of the breeding season still remaining
on the breast and flanks, and accompanying this is a rufescent hue on
the longer upper tail coverts and central tail feathers. Although
the Australian Curlew is a migratory species, breeding in northern
climates in summer and “ wintering” here in our summer, many seem
to remain throughout the year with us. It migrates north as far as
Hakodadi, in Japan, and east as far as New Zealand. The Eastern
curlew ranges across the continent to China, southward to China, and
down the East coast of South Africa. The range of the European
Curlew is throughout Europe, taking in the Orkney, Faroe, and
Shetland Isles, and extends down the coast of Africa to Damara Land.
It would therefore appear to take in the west coast, while the Asiatic,
or “Eastern” Curlew monopolises the east coast and the extreme
south in its wanderings.

ASTRONOMICAL PAPERS,

Mr. A. B. Biggs, of Launceston, forwarded two papers, which were taken
as read. One was entitled “ Observations of comet of July and
August, 18S9, taken at Launceston, Tasmania,” and “ Recent measure¬
ments of a Centauri.”

SILVER ORE.

Mr. A. J. Taylor exhibited a specimen of the silver ore struck at the
100ft. level in the Silver Queen mine at Mount Zeehan.

PALAEOZOIC POSSILS.

Mr. Johnston tabled a paper, which he said formed a sequel to a
paper he had read some time ago dealing with additions to the list of
upper palaeozoic fossils. The paper, at the author’s request, was taken
as read.

FUTURE SUBJECTS.

Mr. Johnston reminded those present that some time ago the
President had suggested that the Society should deal with a wider
range of subjects. He had brought down a paper, “Root Matters
in Social and Economic Problems,” and if thought desirable it might
be printed and circulated amongst the Fellows in time for discussion at
the next meeting.

The President stated that the Council would be pleased to consider
the suggestion.

VOTES OF THANKS.

The President, in moving a vote of thanks to the authors of the
papers, referred in flattering terms to the one read by Mr. Walker.
It was well that they should now perfect the early history of the
colony for they were nearer to the old times than those who had to
follow, and it was aworn which the Society should take in hand, as it
was to a Society of this sort that anyone would come for accurate
records of their early history.

The vote was accorded by acclamation, and the meeting terminated.

PROCEEDINGS, NOVEMBER.

xxxiii

NOVEMBER, 1889.

The last meeting of the Royal Society for the present session was
held at the Tasmanian Museum on Monday evening, November 18,
18S9. There was a large attendance of Fellows and several ladies,
and His Excellency the Governor (President) presided.

ELECTION OF FELLOWS.

Bishop Montgomery and Mr. J. H. Innes were elected Fellows, and
Drs. Schewiakoff and Lanterbach and Mr, F. D. Power were elected
corresponding members. The President, in declaring the results of the
ballot, said he was sure they would all sympathise deeply with the
Bishop in the trouble with which his family were afflicted, and had it
not been for that he had no doubt they would have had him present with
them that evening.

SOCIAL’' AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

Mr. R. M. Johnston, F. L.S. , read copious extracts from a very able
paper, which he had prepared, entitled “ Root Matters in Social and
Economic Problems.” When he had concluded, the Prfsident said
such a paper required the most careful study and thought before
anyone should speak upon it, but he hoped next session they would
have certain points in the paper discussed, which he was sure would
raise issues of the greatest interest. The reading of the paper was re¬
ceived with loud applause.

THE FOUNDING OF HOBART.

Mr. J. B. Walker read a paper entitled “ The Foundingof Hobart.”
This was a further contribution to the series of articles by that gentleman
upon the early history of the colony, based upon original official
documents preserved in the English State Record Office, and recently
copied by Mr. Bonwick for the Tasmanian Government. A former
paper had given the history of Lieutenant-Governor Collins’ expedition
in 1803 down to his abandonment of Port Phillip as unsuited for
settlement. The present paper took up the story from the sailing of
the first detachment from Port Phillip in the ships Ocean and Lady
Nelson for the Derwent. The ships arrived on February 15, 1804,
and Collins, being dissatisfied with Risdon, chose Sullivan's Cove as a
better locality, and on February 20 pitched his tents on the site of
Hobart. The landing place was Hunter’s Island, now part of the Old
Wharf, but then an island connected by a sandbank with the mouth of
the creek, which at that time fell into the river at the Fishermen’s Dock.
A dense scrub bordered the creek, along the barks of which grew gum-
trees of the largest size. The camp was pitched on the slope between
the creek and the cove, and extended up towards the present site
of the Cathedral. The description was illustrated by a very beauti¬
fully executed plan by Mr. A. Mault, showing the alterations made
by subsequent filling in of the harbour. Governor Collins’ despatches
and general orders, and the diary of Mr, Knopwood, the chaplain,
supplied the materials for an interesting account of the progress of
settlement during the first months, the clearing of the ground now
forming the centre of the city, the building of the first Government
House— a wooden cottage on the site of the Town Hall — the location
of the settlers at New Town Bay, the formation of a Government
farm at Cornelian Bay, and the building of huts of “ wattle and dab ”
for the prisoners. The prices of labour were fixed at 3s. 6d. per day
for mechanics, and 2s. fid. for labourers. Workmen were paid in
provisions, too often in rum, and the only currency was small pro*

xxxiv

PROCEEDINGS, NOVEMBER.

missory notes issued by the Government. Kangaroo, emu, pigeons,
quail, and black swans were plentiful, and during the winter months
black whales abounded in the river, as many as fifty being seen
at a time. Explorations were made up the Derwent as far as Mac¬
quarie Plains, and the Iluon was visited. The new settlement received
the name of “ Hobart Town” after the removal of the Risdon colony,
but for years it was generally known as “The Camp.” The second
detachment from Port Phillip did not arrive until the 25th June,
the Ocean being five weeks on the passage. A census taken at the
end of July gave the total population at 433.

LIST OF ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY.

List of additions to the Library of the Royal Society, November.

Abhandlungen der Mathematisch Physikalischen classe, der Koniglich
Bayerischen, Akademie der Wissienschaften. From the Society.

American Museum of Natural History. Annual report of the
Trustees, etc., for the years 1SS7-8-9. From the Trustees.

Annual report of the Canadian Institute. Session 1SS7-8. From the
Society.

Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission for 1886 (bound).
From the Commission.

Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey. No. 40. Changes in
river courses in Washington Territory due to Glaciation, by B. Willis.
41. On the fossil faunas of the upper Devonian, the Genesee section,
N.Y., by H. S. Williams. 42. Report of work done in the division of
chemistry and physics mainly during the fiscal year 1S85-6, by F. W.
Clarke. 43. On the Territory and Cretaceous strata of the Tuscaloosa,
Tombigbee, and Alabama rivers, by E. A. Smith and L. C. Johnson.
44. Bibliography of North American Geology for 1886, by N. H.
Darlon. 45. Present condition of knowledge of the geology of Texas,
by R. T. Hill. 46. The nature and origin of deposits of Phosphate of
lime, by R. A. F. Penrose, junr. 47. Analyses of waters of the Yellow¬
stone, National Park, with an account of the analyses employed, by F.
A. Gooch, and J. E. Whitfield. From the Department.

Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Central Paik,
New York, Vol. II., No. 2, March, 1889. From the Society.

Bulletin of the Essex Institute, Vol. 19, 1387, Nos. 1 to 12. From
the Institute.

Bulletin de la Societd de Geographic, Redigd avee, la concours de la
section de publication, par le secretaires de la commission Centrale
Trimestre 1 to 3, Tome IV., 188S. From the Society.

California State Bureau Mining. Eight annual reports of the State
Mineralogist for the year ending October 1, 18S8. From the

Department.

Department of the Interior. — U.S. Geological Survey, J. W. Powell,
director. Mineral resources of the U.S. calendar year, 188S, by D. T.
Day, Chief of Division of Mining Statistics (bound). From the Depart¬
ment.

General Index to the first twenty volumes of the Journal (Botany), and
the botanical portion of the proceedings, November, 1838, to June,
1888, of the Linntean Society of London (bound). From the Society.

LIST OF ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY.

XXXV

Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada, annual report
(U.S.), Vol. II., 18S6, reports and maps of investigations and surveys.
From the Department.

Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, Sixteenth
annual report for the year 1SS7- Two plates and 89 other illustrations.
From the Department.

Historical Collections of the Essex Institute, Vol. XXIV,, January
to December, 18S7, Nos. 1, 2, 3. From the Institute.

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, of London, General Index,
pt. 4, Vols. XXXVI. to L, 1873 87, Vol. LI., pts. III. IV,, September-
December, 1S88, Vol. LIL, pts. I-II., March and June, 18S9. From
the Society.

Journal of the Linnrean Society of England (Botany), Nos. 156 to

I, 773 (Zoology), Nos. 19, 20, 21, 32, Vol. XX., Nos. 129, 20, 21, Vol.
XXI., No. 132. From the Society.

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland
(new series), V< 1. XX,, pts. 3 and 4, July and October, 18SS. From
the Society.

Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of
Ireland, Vol. VIII., fourth series, Nos. 76, 77, 1S8S-9. From the
Society.

Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, Vol. XI.,
No. 4. From the Society.

Journal of the Trenton Natural History Society, No. 3, January, 18SS.
From the Society.

List of the Linnrean Society of London, session 1SSS-9. From the
Society.

List of Geological Society of London, November 1, 1888. From the
Society.

Meteorological observations made at Hobart, and other places in
Tasmania duiing the year 1888, by Captain Short, R.N., Meteorological
Observer. From the Department ,

Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences Vol. IV7"., part 1.
First memoirs. The Cave fauna of North America, with remarks on
the anatomy of the brain, and origin of the blind species by A. S.
Packard. From the Society.

Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, Vol. XX., 18SS-9 (bound).
From the Institute.

Proceedings of the Scientific meetings of the Geological Society of
London, for the year 1S8S, parts 2, 3, 4 ; 1889, part 1. From the
Society.

Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, and monthly record
of Geography, Vol. X, Nos. 9 to 12, 1888 ; Nos. 1 to 8, 1889. London.
From the Society.

Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Vol XII., part

II. , No. 82 ; list of members, etc. From the Institute.

Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural history. Vol. XXIII.

Pt. III. February, 1SS6, December, 18S7. Pt. IV., December, 1SS7,
May, 188S. From the Society.

Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
Pt. II., March and September, 1888. Pt. III., October and December,
1888. From the Society.

Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, held at Phila¬
delphia, for promoting useful knowledge. Vol XXX., No. 12S,
XXXI., No. 129. From the Society.

Proceedings of the American Academy of Sciences, U.S. Vol. XV.,
whole series. Vol. XX II., pt. 1, from May, 18S7, to May, 1888,
selected from the records. From the Society.

Proceedings of the Canadian Institute, Toronto, April, 1SS0, third
series, Vol. VI., Fax., No. 2, From the Society.

XXxvi LIST OF ADDITIONS TO THE LIBBAlW.

Quarterly Journals of the Geological Society, Vol. XLIV., pt. 3,
Nos. 175-6. Vol. XLV., pts. 1, 2, 3, Nos. 177-S-9, August and
November, 1SSS ; February, May, and August, 188S. From the
Society.

Report of the Board of Governors of Public Library, Museum, and
Art Gallery of South Australia, with the report of the Library
Committee for 1S88-9. From the Trustees.

Report upon Internation Exchanges under the direction of the
Smithsonian Institution for the year ending June 30, 1888. By J,
H. Kidder. From the Department.

Report ot the Superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory
for the year ending June 30, 1888. From the Department.

Report upon Natural History collections made in Alaska, between
the years 1877 and 1S81 by E. W. Wilson, edited by H. W. Henshaw.
No. III. Arctic series of publications issued in connection with the
signal service U.S. Army (two plates) (bound). From the Depart¬
ment.

Report of the committee appointed January 6, 18S8, by the American
Philosophical Society to assist the Commission on amended Orthography,
created by virtue of a resolution of the Legislature of Pennsylvania.
From the Society.

Revista do Observatoria Rio de Janeiro. From the Department.

Rude Stone Monuments of Ireland (Co. Sligo and the Island of
Achill), by W. C. Wood-Martin. From the Royal Historical and
Archaeological Society of Ireland.

Scottish Geographical Magazine, Vol. V., No. 10, October, 1889.
From the Society.

Sitzungsberichte, der Mathematiseh — physikalischen classe der K. B.
Akademic der Wissenschaften zu Miinchen, 1886, Heft 1,11. From the
Society.

Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. XXXII. The Constants
of Nature, a table of specific gravity for solids and liquids, by F. W,
Clarke. Voi. XXXIII., Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of
Washington, Vol. VI. From the Institution.

Societe de Geographic, Compte Rendu, des Seances de la Commission
Centrale Paraissant deux fois par mois, Nos. 1 to 17 1SS7. From the
Society.

Table Generale des Annales de la Societe, Entomologique de Belgique,
Vol. XXX., et catalogue des ouvrages Periodique de la Bibliotheque,
26th December, 1887. From the Society.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of
Australasia (Victorian branch), Part I, Vol. VII. From the Society.

Transactions of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in
Scotland, Vol. XXXT., 31st session, 1887-8 (bound), From the Society.

Transactions of the Seismological Society of Japan, Vol. XIII., part 1.
From the Society.

United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Part XIII.
Report of the Commission for 1885. A. Inquiry into the decrease of
food fishes. B. The propagation of food fishes in the waters of the
United States (bound). Illustrated. From the Commission.

United States Geological Survey. Clarence King, Director. Geology
and Mining Industry of Leadville, Colorado, with atlas. By S. F.
Emmons (bound). From the Department.

Victorian Naturalist, Vol. VI., No. 7. ninth annual report, 1SSS-9.
From the Society.

Visitor’s Guide to Salem, Mass. From the Editor.

Astronomical and Meteorological Workers in New South Wales, 1728
to 1860, by H. C. Russell, B.A. From the author.

Bolletino della Society Geografica Italiana, Ser. Ill , Vol. II., Fas.
VIII. Agosto 1889. From the Society.

LIST OF ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY.

XXXV11

Boletim da Sociedade de Geographia de Lisboa. 8a Ser., Nos. 3 to 6.
From the Society.

Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Vol. XVII., No. 4.
Studies on the Primitive Axial Segmentation of the Chick (two plates).
By Julia B. Platt. Studies from the Newport Marine Laboratory.
Communicated by Alexander Agassiz. XVI. The Development of
Osseous Fishes. II. The Pre-Embryonie Stages of Development, pt.
first. The History of the Egg from Fertilisation to Clearage. By
Alexander Agassiz and C. O. Whitman (with 12 plates.)

Catalog 51, Americana Kartem und iiber oder gedruckt in Nerd und
Siid — Amerik. From the Society.

Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia, and Amphibia in the British Museum,
Pt. II., containing the orders. “ Ichthyopterygia and Sauropterygia ”
(bound). From the Trustees.

Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, Pt. III.,
Vol. I., “Medical History,” being the third Medical Volume (bound).
From the Department.

Monthly Weather Review of the IJ. States (current parts.) From the
Department.

On a new self-recording Thermometer by H. C. Russell, B. A., Sydney
Observatory. From the Author.

President’s address, by H. C. Russell, B.A., F.R.S., at the first meet¬
ing of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science.
From the Society.

Proceedings and Scientific Transactions, II., III., IV,, V. of the
Royal Society of Dublin. From the Society.

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, vol. 1, pt. I. From the
Society.

Proposed method of recording variations in the direction of the
vertical by H. C. Russell. From the author.

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, 1889, vol. xi,, pt. v.
From the Society.

Proceedings of the Royal Society of England, vol, 39 to 45, pts. 241 to
280. From the Society.

Kecords of the Geological Survey of India, vol. xxii,, pt. 3, 1889.
From the Department.

Records of the Geological Survey of India (current numbers.) From
the Department.

Records of Observations for 1881-4. From the Government Astronomer,
Melbourne (bound).

Report of the Victorian Zoological Society, Annual. From the
Society.

Report of Surgeon-General of Washington for 1888. From the
Department.

Report of the Auckland Institute and Museum for 1888 9. From the
Trustees.

Report of the Mines Department, Victoria, for quarter ending 31st
March, 1889. From the Department.

Twenty-third Annual Report of the Colonial Museum, Wellington,
New Zealand, From the Department.

Reports of Geological Explorations during 1887-8. From the Mines
Department, Wellington, New Zealand.

Report of the Trustees of the Queensland Museum Annual. From
the Trustees.

Report of Mr, Tebutt’s Observations at Windsor, N.S.W., for 1888,
also on the high tides of June 15, and 17, 1889, New South Wales.
From the Author.

Report of the Secretary for Mines to the Hon. Duncan Gillies, M.P.,
on the Mineral Statistics of Victoria for the year 1888. From the
Department,

xxxvm

LIST OF ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY.

Report of the Technological Museum of Sydney for 188 L From the
Trustees.

Report and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia for
1887-8. From the Society.

Revista do Observatorio Rio de Janeiro 18S9. From the Department.

Results of Meteorological observations made in New South Wales
during 1887 under the direction of H. C. Russell, B.A., F.R.S From
the Department.

Thunderstorm of October 26, 1888. The Sydney Observatory. From
the Department.

Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute for 1888.
Vol. XXI. From the Department.

Victorian Naturalist. (Current numbers). From the Society.

Victorian Year Book for 1887-8. From the Department.

Scottish Geographical Magazine (current numbers). From the Society.

Results of Rain, River and Evaporation Observations made in N.S. W.
during 1888. By H. C. Russell, B.A., F.R.S. From the Department.

Statistics for 1887, New Zealand. From the Department.

The Storm of 21st September, 1888. By H. C. Russell, Government
Astronomer, Sydney, N.S.W. From the Author.

THE “ IEOH BLOW” AT THE LINDA GOLDFIELD.
By G. Thtjreau, F.G.S.

In the recently issued printed Papers and Transactions of
the Loyal Society of Tasmania, on page 216, are published
some notes by Mr. E. M. Johnston, F.L.S., an esteemed
member of the Society, on the “ Iron Blow ” at the Linda
Goldfield, his conclusions having been based upon the
examination of some rocks and specimens from that locality
received from Mr. Crotty and Mr. Belstead, the Secretary for
Mines.

It is upon that l’emarkable gold-deposit that I desire to
offer a few remarks, at the same time embracing the
opportunity of supplementing and elaborating my report, No.
146 of 1886, presented to Parliament.

In the following remarks, I shall exclusively confine myself
to the question of the probable origin of this unique gold
formation in furtherance of my theory of its being due to
“ volcanic agency,” and not, as Mr. Johnston contends, to
local decomposition, especially so far as the dark coloured
and pulverulent masses are concerned. I may likewise
observe that in my report to the Government such questions
as these concerning and referring solely to the more scientific
aspect, must of necessity be very brief, because the larger
questions as to the present or ultimate value of any mineral
or metalliferous discovery, are of more immediate practical
value as affecting directly the progress of the community at
large.

In the first place, it appears that the Secretary for Mines
obtained the specimens in question from Mr. Crotty, the
discoverer of that “ Iron Blow.” Subsequently, Mr. Johnston,
aided by Mr. Ward, the Government Analyst, concluded that
the soft purply black and so highly auriferous mineral was
the result of decomposition of some of that immense bed or
vein of solid pyrites (iron) filling the greater width of the
fissure on its “hanging wall,” or about 225 feet out of a total
width of 280 feet between walls of that chasm.

Dismissing all speculations as to whether it has been
prudent to base any reliably practical opinion, such as to the
question of origin of that valuable deposit, upon the examina¬
tion of “specimens” only, even though, such was to some
degree supported by chemical analyses, it further appears
from the late Mr. C. P. Sprent’s report that, but a very
cursory examination of that deposit, in situ, had been made
during that gentleman’s and associates’ tour from the Ouse

2 THE “IRON BLOW” AT THE LINDA GOLDFIELD.

to the West Coast. Thus, on the whole, a settled and
reliable opinion as to the causes governing the past geological
history of the “Iron Blow,” accounted for by Mr. Johnston
as a process of decomposition of materials at hand, in opposi¬
tion to the theory of volcanic agencies which I have advanced
in my report, deserves to be treated in detail, as involving
important issues.

Decomposition is, I believe, a chemical process by which
the destruction of one or more substances leads to the sub¬
stitution and depositing of quite different matters, thereby
bringing about the rearrangement of the former original
substances in quite different forms.

In this case it has been attempted to be proved that those
massive beds of pyrites on their decomposition from
local causes, were replaced by that highly interesting
pulverulent mass reported so rich in gold. How, I have
before me two letters from the Government Analyst, viz.:
one dated November, 1824, and the other October' 1885, in
which the results of the analysis of “solid pyrites” from
that “Iron Blow” are given thus: — In the first letter
Mr. Ward states : “ I have carefully tested the minerals
received .... have not been able to detect the
presence of tin or any other metal of commercial value;”
in the second he says : “ In none of the samples forwarded
for assay have I been able to find more than traces of gold.”
To these may be added those examples cited in Mr. Johnston’s
paper, viz.: Ho. 9, “A sample of Iron Pyrites in which gold
is not mentioned as being present, and in Ho. 7 the sample
only shows “fine specks of gold just visible to the eye,” but
this is not from pyrites, but from the soft purply pulverulent
mass, which is about 56 feet wide.

On page 219, the author states: “Whether we suppose
that the ‘ Iron Blow’ is due to hydrothermal agency or not,
there is nothing in the composition of the iron pyrites or the
dark purplish rock which necessitates their having been
originally formed in the way of volcanic mud.” It is more
probable that the four principal elements, iron, barytes,
sulphur and gold, were originally precipitated from solution.”

Leaving out the references made in the paper in question
as to the production of gold elsewhere as foreign to the subject
under discussion, and which, however, are not altogether
accurate, I beg to direct your attention to the facts upon
which I join issue with Mr. Johnston’s theory of origination.

The analyses of Mr. Ward, cited by Mr. Johnston and
myself, conclusively prove the almost total absence of gold in
the pyrites, veins, or beds, which may be described as very
dense and excessively solid, and which undoubtedly have
resisted both decomposition and dissolution for ages ; how is

BY G. THUKEATT, F.G.S.

3

it possible then, I may ask, that these almost non-auriferous
iron bi-sulphides produced on their supposed (inert) decotn
position that peculiar purple mineral, assaying, as reported,
considerably above 170ozs. of gold per ton ? Again, those so
very solid pyrites contain no barytes, which latter minerals I
first discovered as the necessary adjunct to the gold. “ Ex
nihil aut nihilo jit.”

It may also be fairly questioned how it is that these veins
or beds of pyrites, so dense in character, must have un
doubtedly withstood atmospheric influences for immeasurable
periods, on decomposition (?) filled, with new substances
resulting from that process, over 50 feet in width by over a
mile and a half in length, and to unknown depth of an open
fissure with a “solution” only. Such a fissure or chasm
would have collapsed at the sides long before the decomposition
process had even been initiated, as the adjacent and super¬
incumbent rocks could not have withstood the lateral and
vertical pressure their own great gravity would produce, had
not the walls of that fissure been kept apart by some heavy
filling material of a homogenous kind, exerting in itself a
sufficiently powerful resistance to the overhanging walls of
this fissure.

Supposing, however, decomposition was the cause and effect
of this rich aggregation of minerals and metals, or, in the
authors own words : “ That it (the Iron Blow) is the result of
oxidation of pyrites similar to that now so largely associated
with it ; the hydrated oxide first formed, being subsequently
metamorphosed sufficiently to get rid of its combined vapour
and produce the slight change in the form of disseminated
'particles of barytes, as revealed by the microscope ; or, this
process may have occurred during the process of oxidation,”
etc., etc.

It will therefore be necessary to bear in mind that, as
proved from analysis, we have, firstly, a nearly non-auriferous
bi-sulphide of iron (pyrites) to deal with, containing no baryta
to speak of ; and secondly, that water is assumed to have
produced the rich pulverulent gold rock by means of the
decomposition of the former, and contemporaneously or subse¬
quently by means of infiltration filled the fissure, and that
small (?) disseminated particles of baryta appeared either
before (whence ?) or during the process of oxidation.

Now, it is a fact that baryta is the “matrix” of that purple
rock, exceeding “ thirty (30%) per cent, of the whole of the
vein-matter, being disguised by coatings and linings” of
specular iron, and exhibiting gold in fine crystalline and
filagree forms ; that auriferous rock likewise exhibits a dis¬
tinctly recognisable vesicular structure, the cells and cavities
being now, however, filled by means of similar rock of a

4

THE IRON BLOW AT THE LINDA GOLDFIELD.

denser kind and of a darker colour, as, in all probability, the
result of these ore-deposits having become saturated with
steam or hot- vapours, and by means of segregation and
expansion of these high-pressure volcanic emanations, the
cavities or cells were firstly formed and subsequently filled,
thus explaining the so-called 11 schistose” appearance, which,
from all appearances was principally due to the gradual
cooling of a seething mass of volcanic mud or ash which was
ejected in combination of several kinds of metallic vapours,
such, as for instance, specular iron, which not only forms a
conspicuous constituent of that volcanic material, but also
occurs quite frequently in the wall-rocks of that immense
fissure. In my opinion everything in connection points to a
more drastic process of origination than simple and quiescent
decomposition only.

That there is strong evidence of the former ebullition and
belching forth of metalliferous and mineral vapours at high
temperatures within certain ejective points of discharge with
the volcanic muds and ashes, is clearly demonstrated by the
occurrence of elongated or spherical nodules in these muds
and ashes, which nodules on examination are found to
contain, within hard crusts of “Limonite” — sesqui-oxide of
iron — nuclei of pure iron pyrites, thus pointing the way how
the decomposition of pyrites under precisely similar circum¬
stances has actually occurred, and caused the formation of a
secondary and hydrated iron ore, and not of purple rock ,
though in very close contiguity to the massive pyrites vein
and beds referred to. Those nodules, it is submitted, present,
neither more nor less, former gaseous bubbles surcharged
with vaporous sulphuretted solutions of iron, becoming rigid
when nearer the cooler atmosphere, and which from compres¬
sion by the surrounding muds, etc., assumed their present
characteristically elongated forms.

When it is borne in mind that geologists have concluded
that “ the nature of vapours evolved depends on the tem¬
perature or degree of activity of the volcanic orifices ; chlorine
and fluorine emanation indicating the most energetic phase
of eruptivity, sulphurous gases, a diminishing condition and
carbonic acid (with hydro-carbons) the dying out of that
activity, and that sublimed by volcanic heat or chemical re¬
actions, causing the decomposition of metals and minerals from
condensing vapours along crevices and surfaces wherein they
reach the outer air and are cooled ; and further that, besides
sulphur there are chlorides, and in a lesser degree, iron,
copper, and lead ; also free sulphuric acid, sal amonia,
specular iron, oxides of copper, boracic acid, alum, sulphate
of lime, baryta and others, are formed whilst at very high
temperatures, and in connection with simultaneously en-

BY G. THUKEAU, F.G.S.

5

gendered electric currents” it becomes clear to the close and
careful observer of these unique gold deposits, in situ, that
dynamical geology can alone account for these, strictly
speaking, volcanic products.

Having myself had opportunities for examining active
“ mud volcanoes ” in IS 77, near Carson City, State of Nevada,
TJ. S. A., these “ Steamboat Springs” were most interesting,
and I can therefore speak with some authority upon the
subject. There, as is held by American geologists, these
volcanic “vents” occur on the line of continuation of the
famous Comstock Lode (silver-gold), and each spring or
geyser is indicated at the surface to the visitor, at a distance
by a thin column of white steam. When more closely
approached, it is found that the discharges of heated mud
and vapours are intermittent, and that previous to each of
such discharge a greyish semi-liquid mass rises slowly within
the mouth of the “ fumaroles ” below, and on reaching the
top of the respective orifices, the carbonic, sulphuretted and
other gases encompassed beneath, cause, through pressure, a
dome-like expansion of the “ volcanic mud,” which, however,
with increasing subterranean pressure eventually bursts, and
allows the “ mud ” again to subside. Each discharge, it is
noted, however, leaves a thin deposit or lamina in the “cups”
at the surface, which, after hardening, was found on analysis
to be chiefly charged with silica (quartz), and to also contain
a sensible percentage of gold and silver. This process is
even now in active progress, and as it assimilates a great deal
to what can be seen in its “ dead state ” at our “ Iron Blow ”
— if baryta is substituted for silica as matrix in the latter case
— the question of origin as to both metalliferous deposits is
not only, in my opinion, very suggestive, but forms the only
possibly true solution of the case.

By way of further analogy, I would likewise draw attention
to the fact of Senor Santos having found “Lead” in the
“volcanic ash” from the eruption of Cotopaxi, of August
23rd, 1878, aucl in a paper read before the Royal Society of
England, on January 6th, 1887, Mr. J. W. Mallet, M.D. and
F.R.S., etc., reports upon the “ Occurrence of Silver in Volcanic
Ash, from the Ei’uption of Cotopaxi, Ecuador, of July 22nd
and 23rd, 1885.”

A condensed extract may prove of interest : — He, Dr.
Mallet, received a specimen of volcanic ash from Senor
Julian R. Santos, of Ecuador, which was collected at his
residence, Bahia de Caraguez, about 102 miles nearly due
west from Cotopaxi. This is the highest and most mighty
of the active volcanoes of our globe ; it erupted on the 22nd
of July, and the ash began to fall at Bahia de Caraguez next
morning, to a depth of several inches, thus representing an

6

THE “IKON BLOW AT THE LINDA GOLDFIELD.

enormous discharge of volcanic and metalliferous as well as
mineral matter. The specimens consisted of a finely divided
poivder, mobile and soft to the touch, brownish grey in colour.
Under the microscope, the following minerals could be
distinguished in the granules and spicules, viz.: quartz, two
felspars (one white and one pink), augite, magnetite (strongly
magnetic, and scales of deep red specular iron oxide. After
subjecting this ash to several experimental tests, it was, as a
preliminary, found to possess a specific gravity of 2’64 at 18°
C, as compared with water at the same temperature. An
analysis of the material taken, as a whole, i,e., without any
previous mechanical separation of its constituent minerals,
and without previous digestion with water or acid, but dried up
100 C., gave no less than sixteen separate ingredients,
amongst which were traces of silver. That metal was
subsequently obtained by icet assay; and it was also after¬
wards found that it could be obtained from the ash by furnace
assay — fusion with pure lead carbonate, sodium carbonate
and a little cream of tartar, and cupellation of the lead button
so obtained or produced, which gave a minute bead of
metallic silver ; the same reagents were tested in larger
quantities, leaving out the ash, when negative results followed.
It was subsequently ascertained that silver could b'e extracted
from this volcanic ash by boiling it with a solution of
ammonia, or of potass, cyanide, or of sodium sulphate.”

The discovery of silver in the ash or mud, adds, for the
first time, this metnl to the list of elementary substances
observed in the materials ejected from volcanoes, and the
addition derived some special interest from the fact of this
ash having come from the greatest volcanic (active) vents of
that great “ argentiferous ” zone of the Andes. Small as
would be the proportion of silver, it must represent a very
large quantity of that metal ejected during the eruption, in
view of the vast masses of volcanic ash, etc., distributed over
the large area which is indicated by the fall of argentiferous
ashes at a distance of 102 miles from the central crater to
Bahia de Caraguez.

There cannot be, it is submitted, much difference of opinion
that, if silver, lead, iron, manganese, titanium, chlorium,
mercury and other less important metals occur in volcanic
ash or mud shown by frequent analyses, as derived,
inter alia from the immensely rich argentiferous formations
which that gigantic “ vent ” cotopaxi protrudes ; a similar
occurrence here on a smaller scale, within a well-known
11 auriferous zone ” is not only feasible, but can be, or is now,
demonstrated to be a fact. The only, and to us most valuable
difference, is, that the South America ejecta expelled the
silver in its ashes, whilst, with our “ Iron Blow ” the ash or

BY G. THUKEAU, F.G.S.

7

“mud” is still retained within the “dead” vent or closed
fissure, and happily for the colony at large, it is comeatable,
and it can he extracted by future systematic mining operations,
followed by skilful treatment for the rich gold, it is reported
same contains.

With regard to the opinion I have had occasion to express
in my report to the Government, I may add that the mining
operations carried on since still expose rich ores at times, and
as Mr. Johnston concludes his Paper by saying : It — the
hydrothermal theory — had also been adopted by Mr. Thureau
in respect to such mineral formations as the Iron Blow at the
Linda, although the latter “ seems to be unaware of the fact
that the mode of origin of the more common quartz reefs are
also frequently ascribed to the hydrothermal agency.”

I may be permitted to state that, in the years 1845 to 1848,
when a student at the Royal School of Mines, Clausthal,
Hannover, Germany, I studied under several eminent pro¬
fessors of geology, and at that time no less than five or more
theories — including what is now termed hydrothermal — were
known, recognised, and applied practically. Since then I
have been, and am still, an ardent student of mining geology
in several countries, so that it is not likely that I am ignorant
of so important a portion of that science.

When I held, in 1875 to 1877 inclusive, the position as
Lecturer at the Bendigo (Victoria) School of Mines, of
“ Geology as applied to Mining,” Mineralogy ; also Practical
Mining, the Administrative Council of that institution
arranged during each winter for a series of public lectures on
Popular Science, and at such I elaborated a series of lectures
upon the hydrothermal origin of the famous Bendigo Quartz
Reefs, without controversy. It appears that at those lectures,
— illustrated by models, diagrams, geological specimens, and
analysis, — visitors from England, Hew Zealand, and America
attended, and as one result of the interest they must have
taken in the subject dealt with, I was subsequently elected,
upon unsolicited nominations and recommendations, as a
Eellow of the Geological Society of London, which honour¬
able position I still hold and treasure.

8

ON SOME TIDE OBSERVATIONS AT HOBART
DURING FEBRUARY AND MARCH, 1889.

By A. Mault.

Wishing, primarily in connection with the obtaining of
necessary information for purposes connected with the
drainage of Hobart, and secondarily, to fix the mean sea level
for geodetic and engineering matters, to get a series of tidal
observations, I spoke to Captain Oldham, of H.M.S. “Egeria,”
on the subject and he at once arranged to fix the automatic
tide gauge of his ship on the New Wharf, and to have
observations taken for as long a period as the sojourn at
Hobart permitted. I am indebted to him for the accompany¬
ing remarks and tables of observations. To enable him to
connect his observations with the level of some permanent
object on shore, I took the levels from the town datum mark
fixed to one of the steps of the Town Hall to the graduated
staff fixed at the New Wharf in connection with the gauge.
In his letter to me enclosing the remarks and tables.
Captain Oldham says : — “ From these observations the ‘ mean
“tide level’ is 8ft. 2- 7 inches on the gauge, or 35'255 feet
“ below the datum mark on the Town Hall.

“ Please note that these observations are only for one
“ month, and that, as probably the mean tide level varies at
“ different seasons, to get satisfactory results, a year’s
“ observations should be obtained — this could easily be done
“ with an automatic gauge.”

I am glad to say that this will be done, as the Hobart
Marine Board is taking the necessary steps to procure and
fix such a gauge. When it arrives I shall be happy to fix
the graduated staff so as to coincide with the datum of
Captain Oldham’s observations.

The following are Captain Oldham’s remarks and observa¬
tions : —

“Remarks on Tides Observed at Hobart.

February and March, 1889.

1. The tides are subject to a large diurnal inequality; the

highest high water is followed by the lowest low
water, the tide then rises to a lesser high water, and
falls to a lesser low water.

2. With the moon’s declination north, the higher high

water follows the superior transit of the moon ; with
the moon’s declination south the higher high water
succeeds the inferior transit.

3. The greatest range of tide appears to occur about two

days after the moon has reached its greatest north or
south declination, the least range when the declination
is zero.

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

IS

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

1

2

3

4

■5

6

BY A. MAULT.

9

H.W.F. & C. occurs at Hobart at 8b. 15min.
J 3f to 4| feet,
j and 2 feet.

GISTER of TIDES observed at HOBART in the
FEBRUARY, 1889.

rise

Neaps 2-g- feet.

Springs

Month of

ay.

High Water.

Moon’s

Transit.

Bar at
H.W.

Low Water.

Bar at

L.W.

Wind.

Time.

Height.

Time.

Height.

Direction.

Force.

H. M.

F. I.

H. M.

Ins.

H. M.

F. I.

Ins.

A M.

11-00

9 -SI

29-S5

W.N.W.

1

P.M.

3-24

5-45

7-3

29-88

S.E.

3 to 4

A.M.

0-20

9-5

29-94

6-25

8-0

29-95

S.S.E.

1 to 3

P.M.

11-20

8-9

4-io

30-05

6-25

6-114

30-07

S.S.E.

4

A.M.

0-40

8-9

30-05

7-00

7-7

29-98

S.S.E.

3 to 4

P.M.

0-30

8-8

4-53

29-93

6-30

7-4

29-S3

South

3

A.M.

o-o

8-7

29-81

8-5

7-8

29-83

South

3

P.M.

A.M.

y Not observed.

P.M.

A.M.

3-00

9-0

30-22

10-20

6'5|

30-24

S.S.W.

1

P.M.

4-00

7-8

7-6

30-24

7-30

7-4

30-24

S.E.

1 to 2

A.M.

3-20

9-3

30-05

10-20

6-10

30-05

Calm

0

P.M.

5-8

8-4

7-52

30 ’OS

S-50

7-11

30-01

S.E.

2 to 3

A.M.

3-25

9'4i

30-17

11-20

6-7

30-25

N.N.W.

1

P.M.

5-40

s-04

8-40

30-20

10-00

7-7

30-20

E.S.E.

2

A.M,

4-50

9-54

30-18

12-05

6-8

3015

N.N.W.

3

P.M.

6-35

8-1

9-30

30-15

10-35

7-9

30-15

W.N.W.

4 to 6

A.M.

5-40

9-84

29-S3

S.S.E.

2

P.M.

710

9-0

10-21

29-63

oo-’oo

7-i

29-68

N.N.W.

3

A.M.

5-00

10-2

29-78

11-15

8-7

29-73

W.N.W.

4 to 6

P.M.

7-55

8‘6J

11-12

29-92

1-48

6-84

29-89

N.N.W.

2

A.M.

6-40

9-84

29-92

11-35

7-104

29-95

W.N.W.

2

P.M.

9-10

8-7

29-72

1-52

6'7

29-94

W.N.W.

1 to 3

A.M.

7-10

10-1

00-2

29-85

0-20

8-2

29-73

North

2

P.M.

9-45

8-5

30-14

3-00

6 64

30-01

S.W.

1 to 2

A.M.

S-30

9-1

00-52

30-27

1-40

7-84

30-19

N.W.

1

P.M.

10-25

8-04

30-11

3-25

5-10

30-21

S.S.E.

3

A.M.

8-50

97

1*42

29-71

2-36

7-64

29-95

N.W. by W.

1 to 2

P.M.

11-00

9-24

29-87

3-50

6 '64

29-74

W.N.W.

2 to 3

A.M.

9-40

9-4

2-28

30-08

4-20

S-04

29-94

w.s.w.

2 to 5

P.M.

11-35

8-7

30-25

4-40

6 7

30-20

North

1

A.M.

11-10

8-6

3-18

30-18

5-50

6-11

30-22

N.N.W.

1

P.M.

5-52

6-5

30-14

S. by E.

1

A.M.

0-20

s-io

4-8

30-05

6-52

7-1

29-99

W.N.W.

1 to 2

P.M.

0-30

9-1

29-91

6-30

7-5

29-80

S.E.

2

A.M.

0-40

9-10

5-0

29-81

7-40

7-0

29-87

S.W.

1

P.M.

1-20

8-9

29-96

715

7-3

29-92

S.E.

2

A.M.

1-35

9-7

5-55

30-06

8-40

6-5

30-07

N.W.

1

P.M.

2-50

8-7

30-03

7-45

7-8

29-99

S.E.

1

A.M.

2-30

10-1

6 "5 5

29-67

9-40

6-11

29-50

N.N.W.

3 to 4

P.M.

4-15

9-3

29-59

S-40

8-6

29-70

W.N.W.

4 to 6

A.M.

2-40

10-7

7-50

29-79

10-40

6-5

29-98

W.N.W.

1 to 3

P.M.

4-55

8-11

29-96

9-35

8-2

29-98

N.N.W.

1 to 3

A.M.

4-00

10-4

8-51

29-93

11-15

6-44

29-87

N.N.W.

1 to 2

P.M.

6-15

9-2

29-67

10-15

8-4

29-51

North

2 to 3

A.M.

4-35

11-0

9'45

29-40

—

—

P.M.

7-5

9-6

29-50

00-30

6-10

29-50

W.N.W.

2 to 4

A.M.

5-35

10-10

10-45

29-65

11-45

8-7J

29-54

North

5 to 6

P.M.

8-5

8-6

30-29

1-25

6-4

30-15

W.S.W.

2

MONTH of MARCH.

A.M.

7 0

9-64

11-36

30-32

0-20

7’6J

30 33

North

1

P.M.

9-0

S-6

30-25

2-15

5-11

30-28

W.N.W.

2

A.M.

8-5

9-6

3020

1-30

7-6

30-22

N.N.W.

3 to 4

P.M.

9-48

9-0

6*27

29-99

310

6-8

30-05

S by W.

1

A.M.

8-40

9-8

29-97

2-50

8-1

29-92

N.W.

1

P.M.

10-30

8-10

i-14

30-11

3-50

7-0

30-02

S.E.

1

A.M.

10-10

9-1

30 -OS

4-5

7-6

30-10

Calm

0

P.M.

11-15

9-2

2 0

29-84

4-25

7-3

29 -S7

N.W.

3 to 4

A.M.

11-00

9-4

29-63

5-20

7-9

29-47

N.W.

4

P.M.

11-35

9-9

2-43

29-60

4-55

8-2

29-61

N.W.

3 to 4

A.M.

11-20

9-4

29-63

5-30

8-1

29-60

N.W.

2 to 3

P.M.

—

—

below datum on Town Hal-1,

10

SOME TIDE OBSERVATIONS AT HOBART.

For the purpose of more readily comprehending the
information contained, in these observations, I have prepared
diagrams — the greater part drawn to scale — and setting
forth : —

1st. The curve of tidal action for every day during which
observations were taken, from the 4th February to
the 6th March, showing the levels of high and low
water in comparison with mean tide level, and the
times at which they occurred.

2nd. The moon’s course so as to show the times of superior
and inferior transit of the moon’s phases and apogee
and perigee.

3rd. The moon’s north and south declination.

4th. The intervals, called by Dr. Whewell “ Lunitidal
Intervals,” of time between the moon’s transits and
the succeeding high water; the extreme intervals
caused by the diurnal inequality being faintly
marked, and the mean intervals more strongly.

5th. Wind force and direction at every time of high water;
and

6th. Barometric pressure at every time of high water.

The graphic presentation of all these elements syn chronically
enables one to judge better of their influence upon the tide.
The diurnal inequality of spring tides is not only shown,
but is shown to follow the usual law, as pointed out by
Captain Oldham, in connection with the north and south
declination of the moon. Equally clearly appears the
occurrence of springs at greatest declination, and not at new
and full moon, so that at Hobart there is no “ age of the tide
and in connection with this the influence of perigee is shown
in the higher tides at south declination. Captain Oldham’s
caution is very useful while looking at these diagrams that we
must remember that we have here ody one month’s observa¬
tion. But it is not likely that a year’s observations will
modify the above-mentioned facts. I believe they will be
chiefly useful in showing that there is some regularity in the
sequence and circumstances of the great apparent irregularities
shown by these observations for one month. To show the
nature and extent of these irregularities I have appended two
diagrams showing for comparison a fortnight’s tide curves at
Hobart and a fortnight’s at Bombay, and a diagram repre¬
senting a normal curve of lunitidal intervals in contrast with
the zig-zag mean line of such intervals at Hobart. These
irregularities will, I think, show that no “ establishment
that is — time of high water on the day of new or full moon —
can be fixed, although on the month’s observations Captain
Oldham mentions £h, lorn. At Hobart this is of no great

BY A. MATJLT.

11

consequence, as the depth of water in the harbour is such
that the comparatively small rise and fall of tide does not
much affect sailing arrangements.

It is, however, very desirable that the observations to be
taken should be as complete as those given by Captain
Oldham, and I would press on the Society the desirability of
co-operating with the Marine Board to secure this. The
importance of the registration of the actual tidal action
speaks for itself, and equally so does the necessity of com
paring continually such action with the age and position of
the moon. The force and direction of the wind have also
an influence that must be noted. In connection with this I
may mention that during this month’s observations, as shown
on the large diagram, the highest tides occurred with the
wiud blowing from north, and north-easterly points — that is
more or less down the Channel. The barometer should also
be carefully observed, if a mean sea level is to be fixed, as a
fall of one inch in the barometer means a rise of 20 inches
in the sea level.

Another important matter can only be secured by the co¬
operation of the Marine Board; — the progress of the tide
wave round the coast. I would suggest that they be asked
to get their lighthouse men to keep a register of the actual
times of high and low water as nearly as can be ascertained
by them during all the time that registers are being kept
here. This is a matter of general interest.

I have to apologise to the Society for the presentation of
such a meagre paper, but must plead the engrossing nature
of my other occupations, and the time that the preparation
of the diagrams has taken. But I hope I have said enough
to show the desirability of pursuing investigation in this
channel.

Discussion.

Mr. A. G. Webster stated that the Marine Board would
be willing to render any assistance in its power.

Sir Lambert Dobson said that a namesake of his, who
was head-master of the High School, had manufactured an
automatic tide gauge himself, and kept a register of tides for
some time. He could not say when it was, but he thought it
would be about 1853.

Mr. W. E. Shoobridge stated that at one time he used to
register the tide in the Derwent, and found it varied very
much, the lowest tides occurring about February and March.

His Excellency thought it would be very important to
have the observations in regard to the tidal wave around the

12 DISCUSSION ON SOME TIDE OBSERVATIONS AT HOBART.

country. With regard to the point raised by Sir Lambert
Dobson, he had been told by fishermen and others that low
tides were a sign of fine weather, and high tides of bad weather,
and if they had a series of observations extending over some
time the value of them in this direction would be seen. He had
thought the highest tides would have been experienced when
high winds blew in through the Channel, keeping the water
up, instead of finding the highest tides when the winds came
from the N. or H.E., as Mr. Mault had stated.

13

ON THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF A MORE GENERAL
INTEREST IN SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS.

By Wm. Benson.

Tlie object of this short paper is to offer a suggestion for
the consideration of this Society.

It is a very simple one, and perhaps ought rather to be
made to the Council privately than be brought forward in a
general meeting. But there seemed some advantage to be
gained by mentioning it here, inasmuch as an opportunity
would be afforded for ascertaining how far other members
coincide in the views expressed.

Our Society unquestionably has rendered, and is now
rendering, practical and substantial benefits to the colony at
large, but I think it may be made of greater use, and may
influence a still wider circle than is at present the case.

Also with regard to its meetings I venture to think that
improvement is possible, which would increase their general
interest and value.

There are amongst our members two classes — first our
savants, or specialists, all more or less entitled to speak with
authority on some particular branch of scientific enquiry ; and
secondly, there are those who possess a general acquaint¬
ance with and taste for such matters, but who have not
thoroughly studied any special subject. It is as one of the
latter class, and in their primary interest that I speak, having
heard many say that they do not care to attend these meetings
because the papers read are often abstruse, fragmentary and
dry.

It is obvious that this want of interest arises from our want
of knowledge ; our previous acquaintance with the special
subject brought forward has been to slight to enable us
perfectly to follow the reader. The fault very rarely rests
with him, for it is almost impossible briefly to handle in
detail any scientific topic in a manner that can be readily
comprehended by an unprepared hearer. Even the language
is often strange, for diffuseness can only be avoided by the
free use of technical and unfamiliar words.

So far as the meetings of the Royal Society are intended
for the interchange of notes upon new discoveries between
savants and specialists only, the reading of such papers is a
natural and proper course, though it may still be questionable
whether those who merely hear a technical paper read gam
as full a knowledge of its contents as they would by studying
it at leisure in the Society’s printed proceedings.

14 ENCOURAGEMENT OF INTEREST IN SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS.

But while I would not depreciate the value of such papers,
which are and must he the most important that can come
before the Society, yet I would urge whether papers of
another kind might not also be encouraged.

In so small a community as ours the savants can never be
numerous, but there is, or with a little encouragement there
might be, a considerable number among us who would eagerly
and intelligently enter on scientific pursuits if facilities were
offered : and surely the fostering of this general interest,
and the creation of a wide-spread scientific taste throughout
our community are well worthy of any attention and assistance
this Society can give. In the long run they will yield
results of practical value, and also materially add to the
prosperity and influence of the Society itself.

It must be remembered that opportunities for self-instruc¬
tion in all local branches of science (by which I mean our
local geology, botany, natural history and the like) are very
few as compared with what have been provided for English
students.

'lhere every branch has not only its well recognised and
standard authorities, but also its popular text-books in which
the subject is presented in a simpler and more approachable
style.

Here our authorities are few, text-books hardly exist, and
English works are in many cases unsuitable. We are at a
great disadvantage in this respect, and are much more
dependent upon the direct teaching of our scientists them¬
selves, and for this reason I would ask this Society to consider
whether means cannot be devised for affording instruction
of a more elementary and general kind.

There must be not a few who sometimes attend these
meetings, and very many others who at present never think of
becoming members, to whom such opportunities would be
welcome, and, who by means of such assistance, would be
enabled to follow up chosen studies on their own account, and
to take a livelier interest in the more advanced and specialised
papers that are read here, which at present are too often, I
fear, interesting only to a few.

It is not to be expected that we can inspire everybody with
a love for scientific pursuits. The tastes and talents of many
will always lie in other directions. But good only can result
from any effort that may be made to encourage and develop
such a love wherever its germ exists, and I do not see any
other organisation that is as well qualified to do the work as
this Society.

I want to see the rising generation more interested than
they appear to be in the physical history of their native
colony, its fauna and flora, and so forth. At present these

BY WM. BENSON.

15

subjects have attracted but little attention, though they are
easily made attractive, and this neglect is largely attribut¬
able to the absence of accessible sources of information.

The taste for such studies when once acquired rarely leaves
a man, and developes afterwards along the lines of his
peculiar preference, and thus the whole field of scientific
enquiry is gradually occupied, though only a few branches be
specially taught at first.

At present the Eoyal Society occupies a somewhat isolated
height, and my wish is to see encouragement offered to
climbers from the lower level, and means of ascent provided.

Many plans might be proposed for carrying out such
educational work, and the following suggestion may not
be the best, but there is an advantage in having something
definite before us to be amended if it cannot be approved, and
therefore I would propose for consideration the desirability
of initiating courses of popular lectures on scientific subjects
to be delivered under the auspices of this Society. Such
lectures might alternate with the ordinary meetings, and they
should not be restricted to members, but be open to all who
desired to attend. I do not know whether this room would
be available. It is not spacious enough for a large audience,
but doubtless if the attendance became considerable a suitable
hall would not be wanting. Personally, having great faith in
object lessons, I should like to see the Museum itself made
use of on all occasions where its cabinets could be used as
illustrations, and the lecture would be none the less valuable
to the hearers, and might perhaps be less arduous to the
lecturer if it were so delivered.

Another thing which might be attempted in connection
with this Society is the formation of a Naturalist’s Field Club,
similar to what exists in Melbourne and other Australian,
cities.

These two suggestions are much alike in character, and
both the lectures and the excursions might be expected to
give rise to papers, for the discussion of which opportunity
should be found, though of course not at our regular meetings.

One other matter might well interest this Society, but it is
probably one which must originate with some individual
privately, and need only be hinted at here. I mean the
introduction of local science primers for school use.

Some may think such work, as is here suggested, too
elementary for our Society to recognise.

This would be true enough if it were proposed to abandon
the Society’s present work, or to lower the standard of the
papers submitted to its meetings. But the desire is to
supplement rather than to subvert, and the hope is to obtain
in the end a wider circle of contributors and papers,
embodying more varied original researches.

16 ENCOURAGEMENT OF INTEREST IN SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS.

Also, if there were any other organisation capable of taking
the matter up, or if the work could originate spontaneously, I
would not bring it before this Society’s notice, but it seems
to me a case where our recognition and help may make the
difference between failure and success.

For years science stood apart. Its affairs were assumed to
be above the popular understanding. But all that has now
been changed, and in Huxley, Tyndall, and many others, we
see men of the highest scientific rank taking the lead in
bringing their chosen studies home to the minds of the
masses. We need not fear that anything we may do will be
infra dig.

Any proposal for delivering popular lectures, pre-supposes
the presence amongst us of gentlemen qualified and willing
to come forward as lecturers. That we have the qualified
men none will deny, but it is not everyone who would be
willing to devote the necessary time and thought to the
preparation of such lectures as have been indicated, for it would
involve much trouble, and at first, until public attention had
been thoroughly aroused, there might appear to be too
little interest manifested to warrant the effort. But I
hope the love of science for its own sake, which animates
all who have advanced any distance into its mysteries,
may suffice to induce one or more of our savants to
offer their services, and to permit the experiment to be
at any rate tried. It is hardly probable that we
should ever have a continuous succession of lectures
all the year round, but if from time to time such series could
be delivered, and if the Council of this Society could keep an
open eye for any opportunity that may arise to interest- the
public, and especially the young, I have faith that good,
•results will follow.

Discussion.

Sir Lambert Dobson said he had heard many lectures in
his early days which had furnished him with a great deal of
information, and which had been of great use to him since
then. He was thoroughly in accord with Mr. Benson that
the Society could be much more useful than it is at present.
The start wanted to be made, and there was no reason why
they should not have, say, half-a-dozen lectures in the course
of a session. G-eology was a subject which might well be
introduced, and there were many other subjects which would
be found both interesting and useful.

Mr. James Barnard thought it would be very practicable
to follow out the idea suggested by Mr. Benson, and he
heartily supported and concurred in this.

DISCUSSION ON INTEREST IN SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS. 17

The Hon. Nicholas Brown said there could be no doubt
that if it were possible to carry out a system of popular
lectures they would gather in a much larger interest in the
proceedings of the Society than at present existed. He
thought the Council of the Society should take the matter up
and endeavour to ascertain whether or not it would be
possible to give effect to the suggestions made by Mr,
Benson.

Mr. Mault agreed with the suggestions contained in the
paper, and especially the one relating to the formation of a
Naturalist’s Field Club, which could work during the recess
of the Society. He would particularly urge this upon the
Council, because during the summer months they would
probably gain a good deal of knowledge through coming in
contact with members of similar clubs from the other
colonies.

The Rev. E. Gi. Porter (United States), on being intro¬
duced and requested by His Excellency to give some idea of
the working of American societies, said he was cordially in
sympathy with the objects of the Society and the paper
which had been read by Mr. Benson. In America people
were glad to study and glad to learn. They had many
societies, and although none of them were “ Royal,” he
thought they were doing “ Royal work.” (Laughter.) He
gave an interesting account of the scientific work undertaken
by the American societies, and stated that the results were
that science became popular, and that large audiences could
be secured at lectures, not only in the cities but in smaller
towns.

Mr. Morton stated that the Technical School Board had
already arranged for a course of lectures to be delivered in
connection with the work of the schools. Dr. Giblin, at the
special request of the Board, had undertaken to give a series
of lectures on “ Human Physiology.” His lectures would be
illustrated by means of an excellent collection of slides. As
secretary to the Society he would take care that the sug¬
gestions contained in the paper should be brought before the
Council.

Mr. W. E. Shoobridge thought the Society should also
take up the question of advising in regard to text books
suitable for schools.

The President (Sir R. Hamilton), in moving a vote of
thanks to the readers of the papers, said he thought the
suggestions made by Mr. Benson might be left to the
Council.

A vote of thanks was carried by acclamation.

B

18

NOTES ON THE POSSIBLE OSCILLATION OP
LEVELS OP LAND AND SEA IN TASMANIA
DURING- RECENT YEARS.

By Captain Shoktt, R.N.

During the years 1883, 1884, 1885, and 1S86, or immediately
prior to the eruption at Tarawera, this island, and the South-
Eastern portion of the mainland of Australia, were frequently
shaken by earth tremors ; and as such disturbances are often
known to be associated with local changes of sea and land, it
appeared to me to he of great importance to ascertain whether
any recent change could be traced along the coast-line of this
island.

This enquiry in a young colony is attended with many
difficulties, as with one isolated exception, hereafter discussed,
no definitely fixed tide marks are in existence by which satis¬
factory conclusion might be drawn.

The exception, however, is of peculiar interest, as it affords
us some information, so far as the locality is concerned, in
which this fixed tide mark occurs. The tide mark here referred
to is situated on the North side of the “Isle of the Dead,”
which lies off Point Puer, Port Arthur. This mark was cut
in the rock broad arrow form, on the 1st July, 1841, by the
then Deputy- Assistant Commissary- General, Mr. Lempriere.
The circumstances under which this mark was placed there is
explained by Captain Sir James Clark Ross, R.N., in his work
entitled “ A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern
and Antarctic Regions during the years 1839-43.” Thus Page
22 : — My principal object in visiting Port Arthur was to afford a
comparison of our standard barometer with that which had
been supplied to Mr. Lempriere, the Dupty- Assistant Com¬
missary- G-eneral, in accordance with my instructions ; and also
to establish a permanent mark at the zero point, or general
mean level of the sea, as determined by the tidal observations
which Mr. Lempriere had conducted with perseverance and
exactness for some time ; by which means any secular variation
in the relative level of the land and sea, which is known to
occur on some coasts, might at any future period be detected,
and its amount determined. The point chosen for this purpose
was the perpendicular cliff of the small islet off Point Puer,
which being near to the tide register, rendered the operation
more simple and exact ; the Governor, Sir John Eranklin, whom
I had accompanied on an official visit to the settlement, gave
directions to afford Mr. Lempriere every assistance of labourers

BY CAPTAIN SHORTT, R.N.

19

he required, to have the mark cut deeply in the rock, in the
exact spot which his tidal observations indicated as the mean
level of the ocean.

I may here observe, that it is not essential that the mark be
made exactly at the mean level of the ocean, indeed it is more
desirable that it should be rather above the reach of the highest
tide, and the exact distance above the mean level recorded.

The most desirable position for such another mark would be
near the North-West extremity of the island, in the vicinity
of Cape Grim.

Mr. Lempriere, it is evident, carefully carried out these
directions, for on a tablet still existing a little above the tide
mark in question is the following record. “ On the rock
fronting this stone a line denoting the height of the tide now
struck on the 1st July, 1841, mean time 4h. 44 m. p.m.;
moon’s age 12 days ; height of water in tide gauge 6 ft. 1 in.”

It is stated by my informant, Mr. T. Mason, that the words
and figures underlined are nearly obliterated, and that he has
given what they appear to be. It is unfortunate, also, that no
other records can be found relating to Mr. Lempriere’s tidal
observations, although I have searched all local records. I have
also applied to Capt. W. J. Z. Wharton, B.N., Hydrographer
of the Admiralty, with the view of ascertaining if they had
any records relating to Mr. Lempriere’s observations at Port
Arthur, but in answer I learn that no records of tidal
observations have ever been received at the Admiralty.

Capt. Wharton at the same time informs me that the
approximate time of high water on 1st July, 1841, was
5 h. 35 in., p.m., that is nearly an hour later than the apparent
record on the tablet. If we now assume that the tide
now struck refers to high water, which is most probable, we
have some means of determining whether any change has since
occurred in the relative levels of sea and land.

Mr. Mason, at my request, very kindly ascertained the time
of low water on February 24th, 1888, at 11 h. 45 m. a.m., which
day corresponds relatively with the moon’s age 47 years
previously.

At this low water level the mark was found to be 24 ft. above.
This very closely corresponds with the normal difference between
these levels of low and high water, and would therefore indicate
that there has been practically no alteration of the relative
levels of sea and land during the last 47 years. This, however,
only bears witness to possible movements in the Southern
portion of the island. As regards the Northern portion there
is no definite knowledge ; but it is interesting to place on
record, that Captain Miles has learnt from the half-casts in the
Furneaux Group they have noticed within the last few years

20 POSSIBLE OSCILLATION OF LEVELS OF LAND AND SEA.

that there seems to be less depth of water over certain well-
known rocks near the islands than formerly. This, however, if
true, does not seem to have been a sudden change, but rather a
slow elevating movement possibly still going on. As it is of
the greatest importance to get more definite information with
regard to this locality, I have already taken some steps to fix
a tide mark on Hinders Island, so that in future years obser¬
vations may be made upon some certain data that we at present
possess.

It would be desirable also in the interest of Navigation to
have such marks carefully made on various parts of our coast

line.

It might be of value, therefore, if this important matter
received the attention of the Members of this Society.

21

THE “ IRON BLOW ” AT THE LINDA GOLDFIELD.

By R. M. Johnston, F.L.S.

At tlie last meeting of tliis Society a paper, contributed by
Mr. Gr. Tliureau, F.G-.S., was read, which calls for some
observations from me. Before commenting upon the matters
which have caused differences of opinion, however, let me
express my sincere regret that any unfortunate remark of
mine should have led him to suppose that I do not appreciate
the scientific ability of the author of the paper in question.
Having said this much, it will, I hope, be granted that the
existence of differences of opinion upon geological matters
which are obscure may nevertheless exist, and, in fact,
continually happen — between the greatest names in science —
without questioning the talents or training of those who may
espouse irreconcilable opinions.

The differences of opinion as between myself and Mr.
Thureau, fortunately, are not of a serious nature, and,
according to Mr. Thureau’ s recent explanation, I perceive they
are more due to the confused way in which descriptive terms
are employed than to any real differences of opinion. The
question between us has been altogether misconceived by Mr.
Thureau, and even in his last paper he often leaves me in
doubt whether he is referring (1) to the original agencies by
which the original metalliferous deposit was formed, or (2) to
the causes which produced subsequent modifications. If Mr.
Thureau had discussed the Iron Blow question without
confusing these two fundamental considerations it would have
placed the issues between us in a very small compass. I shall
endeavour to keep free from this confusion by discussing the
two questions separately

I. (a) Under what circumstances and by what agency was
the fissure formed originally ?

(b) From whence and by what agencies were its present
altered and unaltered contents derived ?

(V) By what mode were the original matters deposited
or obtained ?

First, then, we have to enquire —

Under what circumstances and by what agency was
the fissure originally formed l

The schists and conglomerates in which the great fissure
occurs are evidently of Silurian age, and the forces which
operated in dislocating them must, therefore, have been
exerted not earlier than this period. From the abundant

22 THE “IRON BLOW” AT THE LINDA GOLDFIELD.

evidence at our command of crumpled, distorted, folded, and
metamorphosed strata, common in I'ocks of this age, there is
little doubt of the fact that the dynamic forces at work were
far more potent than at present, although not different from
forces still in operation, whose throes, like those of Krakatoa
and Tarawera, are still mighty enough to produce vast local
disturbances. There is little doubt in my opinion, therefore,
that the fissure at the Linda was originally caused by the
same dynamic forces which caused the dilating, folding, and
metamorphosis of the crystalline rocks, and that these mighty
effects were primarily caused by the gravitation of the outer
crust towards the shrinking and cooling central mass of the
earth. Mallet’s lucid exposition of this theory, many years
ago, has convinced the large body of geologists of the
reasonableness of this ; and I may be pardoned if I cannot
discover any flaw in its sufficiency to account for all the
dynamical phenomena observable at the Iron Blow.

The next consideration is — Was the opening of the fissure
accompanied by the expulsion of heated materials from the
interior of the earth by volcanic agency ? This brings us to
the second part —

From whence and by what agencies were the present
altered and unaltered materials derived l

With respect to this question, I am still in accord with Mr.
Thureau, for I am of opinion that the expulsion of heated
materials from the interior of the earth by volcanic agency
has occurred, and to this expulsion may be attributed the
immediate cause of the opening of the Iron Blow fissure. My
original suggestion, that the materials now forming the
contents of the fissure does not “ necessitate their having
been formed originally in the way of 1 volcanic mud,”’ is
incorrectly interpreted by Mr. Thureau as a denial of volcanic
action.

This interpretation, moreover, is hardly warranted; for
Mr. Thureau is well enough aware that elements such as
barium, sulphur, iron and gold, now contained in the fissure
are, and may have been, expelled from the interior of the
earth as volcanic products by way of sublimation or heated
solutions, or by both together or alternately. Mr. Thureau
elsewhere admits this, for he states the discharges of the
volcanic vents alluded to by him “ leave a thin deposit or
lamina in the £ cups ’ at the surface which, after hardening,
was fouud on analysis to be chiefly charged with silica
(quartz), and to also contain a sensible percentage of gold
and silver.” Now this deposit, it is clear by his own showing,
was not composed of “ volcanic mud ” seen in ebulition as
“ a greyish semi-liquid mass . . . within the mouth of

the ‘ fumaroles,’ ” but was essentially a distinct chemical

BY E. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

23

deposit formed from associated heated solutions. If, therefore,
this he the process — as Mr. Thureau avers it to he — “ which
assimilates a great deal to what can he seen in its 1 dead
state ’ at our ‘Iron Blow,’” it is Mr. Thureau himself who
overthrows his own argument, for it is not “ volcanic
mud ” which he likens to the baryta of the Iron Blow, but the
silica found as “ lamina in the cups ” which, without doubt,
t>y his own showing, was formed as a precipitatioyi from
solution! Where, then, is Mr. Thureau’s logic in finding
fault with me for preferring to believe the same thing in my
statement, quoted by him, viz., “ It is probable that the four
principal elements — iron, barytes, sulphur, and gold — were
originally precipitated together from solution ?”

That there can be no mistake that the contents of the Iron
Blow were considered by him to be the analogues of the silica
precipitated from solution, and not the “ greyish semi-liquid
mass,” is proved by the following sentence : — “ If baryta is
substituted for silica (as matrix?) in the latter case, the
question of origin as to both metalliferous deposits is not
only, in my opinion, very suggestive, but forms the only
possible true solution of the case.”

I am, of course, extremely gratified to find in this clear
expression of opinion that he thus agrees with me that
precipitation from solution is “ the only possible true solution
of the case for while it refutes his “ volcanic mud ” theory,
it more firmly establishes my opinion “ that the four principal
elements — iron, barytes, sulphur, and gold — were originally
precipitated from solution.”

Besides this, there is no evidence at the Iron Blow to show
that the respective solutions were in any way associated with a
“ volcanic mud ” corresponding to the “ greyish semi-liquid
mass within the mouth of the fumaroles” of America, of
whose composition Mr. Thureau’s description does not afford
us the slightest enlightenment.

Strictly speaking, mud is a term more appropriately applied
to mechanical mixtures of various hydrous aluminous silicates,
and such mixtures are fundamentally different from the
definite chemical compounds , pyrites and larytes , which form the
characteristic contents of the lode at the Iron Blow.

Causes which produced subsequent modification of
materials as originally precipitated.

This part of the subject does not concern me so much as
Mr. Ward, who is well able to defend his own views. I may,
however, be allowed to observe that Mr. Thureau’s denial
that the soft and pulverulent combination of iron peroxide
and barium sulphate of a deep purplish colour, together with
the still moi’e modified massive blocks forming the cap of this

24

THE “IRON BLOW AT THE LINDA GOLDFIELD.

part of the lode, have been derived by subsequent decom¬
position of the parts more exposed to decomposing agencies,
is a most unsatisfactory position for him to assume. It is not
true, as stated by him, that the iron pyrites contain “ no
baryta to speak of.” At page 218, “ Royal Soc. Proc., 1886,”
the analysis given by Mr. Ward shows iron bisulphide pyrites,
83'0 per cent.; barium sulphate (barytes), 17 per cent., i.e.,
actually 2 ‘85 per cent, less than the decomposed pulverulent
mass, which Mr. Ward, no doubt, rightly attributes to oxida¬
tion of pyrites.

Mr. Ward nowhere states that the entire mass of pyrites
has undergone decomposition. On the contrary, he refers to
the exposed surface of one portion of the original lode. The
very fact that the undecomposed pyrites analysed by him was
stated to be taken from a section described as two chains
wide is proof that this is so. Mr. Thureau’s most extravagant
allusion to the fissure collapsing in consequence of a partial
decomposition is therefore too preposterous to dwell upon. Has
Mr. Thureau ever known pyrites, long exposed in lodes to air
and water, not to have suffered from decomposition ? That both
decomposition and recomposition in mineral veins are among
the most common of all occurrences cannot reasonably be
disputed. Gfeikie, surely, may be trusted in a simple matter
of this kind. At page 597, “ Text Book of Geology,” he
states : — “ It has been noticed that the ‘ country ’ through
which mineral veins run is often considerably decomposed.
In Cornwall this is frequently very observable in the granite.
Moreover, in most mineral veins, there occurs layers of clay,
earth, or other soft, friable, loamy substances, to which various
mining names are given. In the south-west of England the
great majority of the remarkable minerals of that district
occur in those parts of the lodes where such soft earths
abound. The veins evidently serve as channels for the
circulation of water both upward and downward, and to this
circulation the decay of some bands into mere clay or earth,
and the recrystallisation of part of their ingredients into rare
or interesting minerals are to be ascribed.” So much for
decomposition. Mr. Thureau, curiously enough, makes no
allusion to the remarkable strings and veins of solid barytes
penetrating the decomposed part of the lode. He would
find it a difficult task to account for these strings on the
assumption that they were formed contemporaneously with
the pyrites mass, or even with the decomposed portion of the
original lode.

Mr. Thureau’s inexactness is also conspicuous iD his
references to baryta. In the first part of his paper, referring
to iron pyrites (bi-sulphide), he states that it contains “ no
baryta to speak of,” and yet he had Mr. Ward’s analyses

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

25

"before him proving that it actually contained 17 per cent, of
"baryta, thus : —

Iron Pyrites.

(Section : 2 chains wide.)

Per cent.

Iron bi-sulphide (pyrites) ... ... 83-0

Barium sulphate (barytes) ... ... 17 0

100-0

The only difference of composition between the pyrites and
the purple rock is due to oxidation of pyrites, thus :

Per cent.

Iron peroxide ... ... ... 77’7 5

Barytes ... ... ... ... 19-85

Water, etc. ... ... ... ... 2-40

100-00

It will be seen, thei'efore, that the derivation of the one from
the other is not such an inconceivable matter as Mr. Thureau
was led to imagine from liis inaccurate interpretation of the
data at his command.

Mr. Thureau again makes a curious reference to the baryta
of this purplish rock, in his expression — “ How it is a fact that
baryta is the ‘matrix’ of that purple rock.” How baryta
can be the “ matrix ” of the larger constituent iron peroxide
(the latter being nearly four parts iron peroxide to one part
baryta) is a puzzle to me.

The word matrix is usually employed by geologists to
designate the rock or main substance in which a crystal
mineral or fossil is embedded. According to this meaning of
the word, Mr. Thureau is far from correct in stating that
“ it is a fact that baryta is the matrix of that purple rock.”

MUD VOLCANOES.

As regards mud volcanoes, there are two well-known kinds,
both of which differ widely in characteristics from the phe¬
nomena associated with the deposits of the Linda Iron Blow.

The first kind is not volcanic in the proper sense of the
term, although variously named mud volca?ioes, salses, air
volcanoes, and macalubas. G-eikie describes these as forming
groups of conical hills formed by the accumulation of fine
and usually saline mud. They are distinguished from true
mud volcanoes in having their chief source of movement in
the escape of gases due to underlying chemical changes, usually
carbon dioxide, carburetted hydrogen, sulphuretted hydrogen,
and nitrogen. The mud is usually cold.

26

THE “IRON BLOW AT THE LINDA GOLDFIELD.

The true mud volcano occurs in volcanic regions proper,
and “ is due to the escape of hot water and steam through
beds of tuff or some other friable kind of rock. The mud is
kept in ebulition by the rise of steam through it. As it
becomes more pasty the steam meets with greater resistance;
large bubbles are formed which burst, and the more liquid
mud below oozes out from the vent.”

These true mud volcanoes, in my opinion, neither in their
mode of appearance, nor in their characteristic contents, show
the slightest correspondence with the metalliferous fissure
lodes of the Linda district.

I may mention that although my examination of the
various lodes in this district was necessarily limited, they-
occupied my close attention for the better part of three days,
at a time when they were well exposed by working opera¬
tions,

Discussion.

Mr. W. F. "Ward, Government Analyst, said: —

The point under discussion is the origin of the “formation”
known as the “ Iron Blow,” the oxidised portion of which was
described by Mr. Thureau as “ volcanic mud or ash.” Mr.
Johnston, however, from close examination on the spot, and I
myself, from the “ internal evidence ” yielded by specimens,
etc., attribute to this a non-volcanic origin.

The materials of this formation are (1) barytes, sulphate of
barium, or heavy spar, (2) iron pyrites, or disulphide of iron,
(3) haematite, or sesquioxide or peroxide of iron.

I will glance briefly at the usual modes of occurrence of each,
as showing in the first place that they are not usually
“ volcanic products.”

1. “ Heavy spar” occurs commonly in connection with beds
or veins of metallic ore as part of the “ gangue ” of the ore.

It is found crystallised in the Cumberland haematite mines
in the carboniferous limestone, and as much as 14 per cent, of
sulphate of barium has been found disseminated in haematite
from another district.

2. “ Iron pyrites ” is very widely distributed and abundant
in rocks of all ages. By the decomposition (by the action of
water and air) on the large scale of masses of pyrites, deposits
of brown iron ore may be produced, sulphur being lost and
oxygen and water taken up by the iron, and a very moderate
heat suffices to convert this hydrated brown oxide into the red
oxide or haematite by driving out the combined water.

3. “ Haematite ” occurs in many forms differing in texture
and state of aggregation as : (a) crystallised, forming

DISCUSSION ON THE “IRON BLOW” AT LINDA GOLDFIELD. 27

“ specular iron ; ” (b) fibrous, red hiematite ; (c) earthy,

ochre, but all consisting essentially of peroxide of iron.

In the Cumberland deposits are found hard or “blast” ore,
and soft, or “ puddler’s ” ore, from its use in the puddling
furnace : the hard, fibrous, and more common form often passing
into the crystallised condition.

In Elba, hsematite occurs [crystallised between talcose (or
perhaps hydro-mica) schists and crystalline limestone, and the
crystals are frequently associated with iron pyrites. It is also
found with other minerals as an abundant component of
mineral veins, also in beds interstratified with sedimentary or
schistose rocks.

On the other hand “ specular iron ” in some cases is a result
of igneous action, is abundant around some volcanoes ; and as
pointed out by Mr. Thureau, scales of specular iron were
found with 15 other minerals in “ ash ” from Cotopaxi.

To return to the formation, and quoting Mr. Thureau, we
have “An immense bed or vein of solid pyrites filling the
greater width of the fissure on its hanging wall, or about 225 ft.
out of a total width of 2S0 ft. between walls of that chasm.”
Also “A soft purply pulverulent mass of oxide of iron about
56 ft. wide ” on th q foot-wall.

Now, as we have already seen, the pyrites decomposes sooner
or later according to circumstances, and Mr. Thureau himself
found “ elongated and spherical nodules, which on examination
were found to contain within hard crusts of sesquioxide of iron
(hydrated), nuclei of pure iron pyrites . . . the nodules

being in very close contiguity to the massive pyrites vein
or bed ; ” these showing that, as might be expected,
decomposition is still taking place.

To the analysis made by me in connection with Mr.
Johnston’s original paper, I appended a note that “ there seems
little room for doubt that the ‘ Iron Blow ’ is the result of
oxidation of pyrites similar to that now associated so largely
with it ; the hydrated oxide first formed subsequently losing its
combined water,” and I was not a little influenced in forming
this opinion by finding 17 per cent, of sulphate of barium
intimately mixed with the pyrites, and 20 per cent, of that
substance, in similar condition , intermixed with the peroxide of
iron. This sulphate of barium Mr. Thureau claims to have
“first discovered as the necessary adjunct to the gold.” While,
however, Mr. Thureau ignores or misquotes the evidence from
the presence of this common constituent, and also deprecates
forming opinions from the examination of specimens only, he
yet advances as a most, if not the most, cogent argument in
favour of “volcanic agency,” the “almost non-auriferous ”
character of the scraps of pyrites assayed, as contrasted

28 DISCUSSION ON THE “IRON BLOW” AT LINDA GOLDFIELD.

•with the high result of assay of one sample of the oxide of
iron. In addition, he calls in to explain the presence of this
always irregularly distributed metal gold, as I contend, quite
unnecessarily, “a more drastic process of origination than
simple and quiescent decomposition only,” applying this
only to the oxide of iron and not to the bulk of the pyrites
which fills four-fifths of the same “chasm.”

To return for a moment to the nodules of decomposing
pyrites found in the Blow itself, to quote Mr. Thurean again,
“ these present, neither more or less, former gaseous bubbles
surcharged with vaporous sulphuretted solutions of iron
becoming rigid when cooled, elongated or rounded by com¬
pression.” This form is almost certainly also due to decomposition
which, acting more rapidly on edges and corners of irregular
fragments, more or less rounds them off.

In conclusion, therefore, I maintain that ordinary processes of
decomposition are sufficient to account for all the phenomena
presented by the oxide of iron portion of the formation, and
that there is no necessity to invoke “ a more drastic process of
origination strictly speaking volcanic.”

The Secretary (Mr. A. Morton), read a letter received
from Professor Liversidge, Sydney University, in which he
stated that his impression formed upon Mr. Thureau’s paper,
and without having specimens before him, was that the Iron
Blow was not of volcanic origin. It would be almost im¬
possible to form a decided opinion without actual examination
of the Blow.

29

HOTES ON A CASE OF POISONING THROUGH
EATING A PORTION OF THE “ BRU GMANSIA.”

By De. Haedt.

The case which I bring before you is one of poisoning
through eating a portion of the common trumpet flower
(Brugmansia) now shown to you.

This plant belongs to the order of solanacias and is there¬
fore allied to a number of others which are recognised as poisons
for example : stramonium, belladona, tobacco, also potato and
tomato. These latter being classed as poisons appear at first
sight contradictory, but although the tuber of the potato is
wholesome when cooked, the leaves and other parts of the
plant are poisonous.

Stramonium and belladonna, although in common use as
medicines, are highly dangerous if taken in improper
doses.

The potato is a powerful narcotic and has been used in
rheumatism, while henbane is in common use as a sedative in
irritable conditions of the brain.

With these introductory remarks I will narrate the case m
question : —

On Thursday last a child, aged 2, after having a good dinner
and appearing in perfect health in all respects, ate a portion of
a trumpet lily, which had been picked in the garden of a
gentleman living in this town. Within a short time symptoms
manifested themselves, and I was called in to what the
messenger described as a case of convulsions.

On examining the child I was struck by certain peculiarities
in the symptoms unlike those of ordinary convulsions. The
child’s face and greater portions of the body were red, the eyes
staring and the pupils widely dilated, the head and shoulders
bent back, and the position almost that usually seen in tetanus
or lockjaw ; the feet pointing inwards and the great toes drawn
up and stiff, an appearance of fear in the face and starting at
times as if afraid of falling off the nurse’s knee and finally
arms moving irregularly, power of co-ordination partly
lost, and the hands picking at imaginary objects. I
was struck by the resemblance to a case of poisoning in a
child by drinking some belladonna liniment, which I attended
some 8 or 10 years ago, and so questioned the mother as to
whether any medicines of any kind had been lying about.

30

NOTES ON A CASE OF POISONING.

However, no such cause was to be found but she said the child
had been eating the plant she produced, which is said to have
a pleasant taste. Under prompt treatment the child improved
and nest day was nearly well, and on the following day
apparently none the worse for its botanical experiments, but
the parents have decided not to grow a trumpet lily in their
garden, as they had intended doing. I have heard that a
similar case occurred here some years ago, but have been
unable to find out the particulars, or how the case terminated.
"My object in bringing forward this case, apart from the
scientific interest, is, that although proverbially “a little
knowledge is a dangerous thing,” still, the knowledge of the
unsuspected dangers existing in our gardens is of interest to
those of us, like myself, having children of an inouisitive turn
of mind

31

NOTES ON ANGORA GOAT FARMING.

By James Andrew.

This is not the first occasion on which the advantages and.
profits of Angora goat farming have been brought under the
notice of the Royal Society of Tasmania, but as fifteen years
have elapsed since the late Mr. John Swan read a paper on
the subject, and the Honorary Secretary, Hr. Agnew, laid
upon the table a letter with covering correspondence from
the British Consul at Angora, giving particulars of the
industry as conducted in Asia Minor, I may be excused for
re-opening the question.

Since 1S74, when this effort was made to stimulate popular
interest in favour of a fair trial, in Tasmania, for a descrip¬
tion of stock farming elsewhere found so profitable, little or
nothing has been done ; and although a few very small flocks
of indifferently bred goats still remain in the colony, they do
not appear to receive the attention they merit, and mohair, as
the fleece of the Angora is termed in trade returns, does not
figure amongst our exports.

It is my aim in submitting the following notes, to revive if
possible the spirit of experiment which induced Mr. Swan —
an experienced flock owner — to advocate the claims of goat
farming as worthy of careful consideration.

In Asia Minor, the natural habitat of the Angora goat,
whence the progenitors of all the stock now found in
America, Africa and Australia were obtained, the hair of
some of the best flocks, which is invariably pure white, was
at one time so highly valued that its export was prohibited,
and later, permission was granted to send it out of the
country in a manufactured state only. At the present time
the value of the hair exported from the province amounts
to =£200,000 per annum, which, however, is far exceeded by
the production of other countries in which goat farming has
become a settled industry.

The Cape Colony owes the introduction there of Angora
goats, in the first instance, to a Colonel Henderson of Bombay [;
afterwards some were forwarded to the colony through Sir
Titus Salt, who was the first English manufacturer of textile
fabrics from their hair, and later Messrs. Mosenthal Bros., in
the year 1856, secured some pure bred animals from Asia
Minor. Since then there have been many private importa¬
tions of stud stock, one of the most important of which was
that of a Mr. J. B. Evans, who personally selected goats in
the mountain districts round Angora.

32

NOTES ON ANGORA GOAT FARMING.

This was in 1880, and in the following year I had an
opportunity of inspecting some of the rams — which had sold,
at from £100 to <£200 each— in the G-raaf Reinet and
Eastern districts. It was in 1862 that mohair first appeared
amongst Cape exports, the quantity being 1,036 lbs., in 1865
the export was 7,000 lbs., valued at £368, but in the next
decade the increase was marked, the figures being
1,148,000 lbs., valued at nearly £135,000 ; still another ten
years, and although the clip was more than quadrupled, being
5,250,000 lbs., the price obtained for it had suffered great
depreciation, the value being only £204,000.

The last published returns for 1887 show weight of hair
exported 7,154,000 lbs., worth £268,500, a fall in price of Id.
per lb. on the previous year’s clip. In addition there must
be taken into account the value of exported skins during the
same year, viz., £100,000, and even thesefigures fail to represent
the total value of the products of this useful animal, as a
large quantity of skins and leather are absorbed by home
consumption. It is further necessary, when estimating the
economic value of Angora goats, to remember that the meat
of the wether or “ kapata,” as it is called in the Cape Colony*
is excellent. Sir Samuel Wilson, to whose monograph on
“ The Angora Goat ” I am much indebted for information,
states that : — “ Its flesh when in good condition is not inferior
to mutton.” He adds, “ I have eaten the flesh of a half-
bred which could not be distinguished from mutton, even in
the carcase, and which on the table was considered quite a
luxury.” Further testimony is born by a Victorian sheep-
owner of repute, who in February, 1873, reported to the
President of the Acclimatisation Society in that colony
that : — “ Last winter I killed two wethers, full mouthed,
which each weighed when dressed 80 lbs., the flesh of which
when put upon the table was pronounced most delicious*
being more rich and juicy than the best Merino mutton.” I
can fully endorse, from a somewhat lengthy experience of
goat’s flesh as an article of diet, all that these gentlemen say
in its favour.

At the date of the compilation of the last returns
the number of Angora goats in the Cape Colony-
was 2| millions, and the other countries of South Africa,
Natal, the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal also maintain
a considerable number, and mohair is an important item of
their exports.

A Mr. Scott of South Carolina, minister to Turkey in 1848,
was the first to take Angoras to America, and there have
been many subsequent importations ; but the industry has
never assumed the proportions attained in South Africa. L
have not been able to obtain any recent returns, but from.

BY JAMBS ANDREW.

33

evidence given before the United States Tarriff Commission
in 1882, it appears there were then an estimated number of
100,000 goats in the country, yielding hair of over 200,000 lbs.
weight per annum.

Flocks are now to be found in various states of the Union,
in very varied climates, such as Oregon, Wyoming, Colorado,
Texas, California, Missouri, and Arkansas, whilst an absolutely
pure flock is owned by a Colonel Peters in Georgia.

For some years the growers in the States maintained their
flocks under great discouragement, as the demand there for
such fabries as the hair was used for, fell off very rapidly.
But the introduction of new materials gave a fresh impetus
to their energies, and, to again quote the Tariff Commission,
“ The supply produced in the States, if multiplied threefold,
would not be sufficient to furnish material for the plushes now
used in the railroad cars of that country alone.”

The industry had hardly been successfully established in
the Cape Colony and America when steps were taken to
introduce Angora goats into Victoria. A small flock was
purchased at Broussa, near Trebizond, and shortly after
arrival in the colony they were transferred to the care of the
Acclimatisation Society. An addition to their number was
made in 1868 when twelve pure rams of a very high-class
were received as a present from the Imperial Acclimatisation
Society of France. Two years later a further shipment of
98 carefully selected animals was forwarded from Asia
Minor, via London. These cost the Society about <£16 per
head.

As the numbers increased the accommodation at the Royal
Park, Melbourne, was found too limited, and the flock was
dispersed in 1870. A large number of the inferior
animals were sold, the price being fixed at five
guineas per head — less than their actual value — but
about fifty of the choice animals were sent to the
Wimmera district to the care of Sir Samuel Wilson, who
three years later reported : — “ The flock of Angora goats now
on the Wimmera is 108 in number besides a few young kids.
From calculations carefully made this small flock, if well
managed, and sufficient pasture allowed it to graze upon,
will at the ordinary rate of increase reach in thirty years the
very large number of 442,368. This number should be
sufficient to displace all the common goats in the colony. In
forty years at the same rate the pure flock would increase to
over seven millions.”

But to contemplate obtaining a flock of Angoras by
depending on the natural increase of such pure bred animals
as could be secured for a moderate expenditure of capital
would prove both tedious and disheartening, and we have
the pronounced success of cross-breeding in other countries

C

34

NOTES ON ANGORA GOAT FARMING.

to guide those who may be desirous of commencing the
industry. It has been found that the progeny of pure
Angora rams and common goat ewes, produce in the third
generation — the sire in each case being of pure stock-
animals, which in appearance and characteristics are hardly
to be distinguished from their male ancestors. Every
succeeding cross more nearly approaches perfection, but the
plebian taint is almost completely eliminated, and quite
sufficiently so for commercial purposes, in the fourth genera¬
tion. No matter what the colour of the female goat, black,
brown, or grey, her offspring present the male characteristics
to a pronounced degree, and in the third cross nearly every
trace of colour has disappeared.

Thus a stock-farmer has at his disposal practically
unlimited scope for increasing his general flock. It is
manifest, however, that a small stud herd would have to be
maintained to keep up the supply of pure bred males, which
are of course alone used for breeding purposes, and the
purchase of a few carefully selected Angora ewes would there¬
fore be necessary. Many objections and as many defences of
cross-breeding have been ably discussed at various times. On
this subject Sir Samuel Wilson writes : — “ It is stated by Mr.
Y. A. Niessen that the hair from the half-bred Angora is
worth a shilling per pound, that from the three-quarter-bred,
one shilling and sixpence per pound, that of the third cross,
or seven-eighths-bred, would nearly equal in value that from
the pure bred, and the fleece of the fifteen-sixteenths, or
fourth remove, would be quite equal to that of the sire in
purity, lustre, fineness, and length of fleece.” He quotes also
a letter addressed to the President of the Yictorian
Acclimatisation Society from the Hon. Bobert Simson, “ a
large sheepowner, and a distinguished breeder of the Merino,”
dated 18th February, 1873, who enclosed samples of hair from
descendants of three-quarter-bred ewes from the Cape
Colony, and a pure bred ram. In regard to which Sir
Samuel states : — “ The specimens were all of excellent quality
and excepting a greater degree of lustre which those from
the pure bred Angora exhibited, they appeared so equal in
value as scarcely to be distinguishable from each other. On
the question of the cross between the Angora and
common goat, I am ready to admit that crossing with the
Angora, with a view gradually to improve the common
goat, may produce valuable results ; I wish it to be
clearly understood that such animals or their progeny,
even if pure sires be used for a thousand generations, can
never become pure bred. The stain can never be washed
away. Each cross with the pure blood reduces it by one
half, but as division is infinite it never entirely
disappears.”

BY JAMES ANDREW.

35

Theoretically, Sir Samuel Wilson’s views are no doubt
correct, practically, in connection with goat farming, they are
unworkable. In the Cape Colony all the flocks, now
numbering 2| millions, have been raised by cross breeding,
and a similar course has been followed in the United States
with equal success ; indeed, Mr. John Swan stated that he
was informed, “ the best flock in America never contained a
pure bred female.” Sir Titus Salt, too, is known to have
raised a flock in this manner in England.

I sincerely regret that my specimens of hair, from a
celebrated flock of goats in the Graaf Eeinet district of the
Cape Colony, have so suffered from moth during eight years’
inattention that they but very imperfectly exhibit the
gradations of successive crosses and the perfect sample which
it is the aim of every flock owner to equal. They may,
however, suffice to give some idea of the various grades
through which animals with fleeces of good enough quality
for a general flock are obtained.

It is hardly necessary to remark that the degree of
attention given to the selection of the best stud rams, the
proper classification of ewes, and the systematic culling of
flocks, will determine the value of the staple product.

The fleece of. the pure bred Angora often reaches to the
ground, the locks measuring 12 or even 14 inches in length.
The kind most in demand is only so much matted as to
cling together near the root, remaining free and separate
to the tip. The weight of hair varies as much in different
individuals as does the yield of wool in sheep. Mr. Swan
exhibited samples from the fleece of a pure goat which
weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz. realising 2s. 6d. per lb. in the Home
market ; but perhaps 5 lbs. may be taken as a fair average of
a well-kept grade flock shorn once a year. From my notes
taken during shearing time at Graaf Eeinet I find that ewes
cut as much as 6f lbs., whilst a ram was relieved of
an 8 months’ fleece weighing 7 lbs. Kids of 8 months old
cut an average of 2 lbs. of very fine hair.

Sir Samuel Wilson advocated shearing twice a year,
and his returns shows that the general average of both clips,
the first in May, the second in October, was over 3f lbs.
Even although the expenses are largely increased there may
be much to be said in favour of this double clip, for, as if
unshorn the goat naturally sheds its hair in early spring, it is
found necessary to remove the fleece — if only one shearing be
adopted — in mid- winter when its protection is most required.
The growth in the former case is probably stimulated by
Nature making an effort to provide for the wants of the
animal ; and felting or matting is no doubt prevented by not
allowing the hair to attain full length. For manufacturing
purposes any staple over 4 in. in length is found sufficient.

36

NOTES ON ANGORA GOAT FARMING.

so that the shorter clip is not detrimental to the value
of the fleece

Shearing in South Africa is generally conducted in what, in
Australia, would be considered a most slovenly manner. It
is not unusual for a farmer to have the work done in the
“ kraals,” or yards, and even if under cover the floor is more
often than otherwise of earth. Goats are less troublesome
to shear than sheep, but owing to the decided “ lay ” of the
hair, men who can use both hands equally well have a
considerable advantage. Sorting is, as a rule, very inefficiently
carried out.

About the 1st June is the usual date for commencing
operations, and in the Karoo, where a large proportion of the
Angoras in the colony are kept, the nights at that time of
the year are often bitterly cold. Bad weather
immediately after shearing may cause terrible mortality
amongst a flock if proper precautions ave not taken, but the
general conditions affecting stock farming are comparatively
so unfavourable in the country alluded to, that but little
harm need be anticipated in Tasmania. Cold alone does not.
appear to have a particularly bad effect, nor does a warm
shower of rain ; but cold and wet together are very
destructive and should be carefully guarded against by
providing shelter. In the Cape Colony all flocks are
“ kraaled ” or yarded at night for protection against wild
animals and depradatory natives, and slight shelter is often
contrived for newly shorn goats, but in the Karoo there is no
scrub or timber to afford a friendly lee should the flock be
caught in a storm during the daytime, and thus the mortality
is often great.

Goats are much more prolific than sheep, but Angoras less so
than the common species, still a very large percentage of the
ewes bear twin kids. The young are at birth very helpless,
in marked contrast to lambs, and remain so for ten or twelve
days, and as the ewes display maternal instinct in a very
modified form, some trouble may be anticipated at this time,
which is usually between August and October. Here, again,
experience gained in South Africa is of little value when
applied to Tasmania, but the advantages are all in favour of
the latter, as the ewes would here be disturbed as
little as possible until their kids gained strength and
intelligence.

Mr. Swan states that : — “ The trouble and expense of
managing a flock would be less than that required for sheep.
Goats are much more intelligent and are less liable to
destruction by dogs.” He adds : — “lo ordinary fence will
restrain them, and as they are restless, energetic, and
destructive, cultivation is not profitable in their vicinity.
Hawthorn hedges and ornamental shrubs possess peculiar

BY JAMES ANDREW.

37

attractions for them.” Mr. Swan further remarks : — “They
have great attachment for home and can be depended upon
to return to their sheds at night. Shelter should be
provided for them, as they evince great aversion to rain and
will remain under cover all day in wet weather.”

There is no reason whatever why, if the goats kept here or
in other colonies become very numerous, the area of
pasturage available for sheep need be encroached upon.
Indeed, the reverse would be found to be the case, as Angoras
have been proved to be excellent pioneers in clearing up new
country for sheep and cattle, and they not only do not injure
but positively benefit other stock, especially sheep. An
immense amount of land now almost, if not quite, valueless
could be utilsed for goat farming, for these animals will live
and thrive where others would starve, and mountainous,
scrubby, and wooded country, barren ranges, and heathy
plains are alike suitable for their requirements ; and by their
activity, superior intelligence and fearlessness, they obtain
sustenance where sheep would be incapable of venturing.
They are also, with the exception of a short period
immediately after shearing, as indifferant to climatic as they
are to dietetic influences. In further reference to the latter
there is one very important point to notice ; they appear to
suffer no inconvenience from being depastured on country
where plants abound which, when eaten by sheep, prove fatal.
In South Africa I know this is the case and Sir Samuel
Wilson bears similar testimony, stating : — “ Its freedom from
disease, its activity, and endurance, and ability to feed on
shrubs, bushes, weeds, and even poisonous plants with
impunity give it a sj^ecial value as the animal suited to
the selector or the small freeholder with limited means.”

It has been conclusively proved that the climate, as well as
the pasturage and herbage of Australia and Tasmania, are
peculiarly suitable for goat farming. No large outlay is
required to form the nucleus of a flock, nor is any special
knowledge requisite for their management ; there are vast
areas of vacant land awaiting settlement, and the inquiry
naturally suggests itself how it is that the industry has
failed to command the attention here or on the continent of
Australia, which it has received elsewhere.

If some one of enterprising spirit will embark a few
hundred pounds in such a venture the investment will, I am
•confident, prove remunerative. Islands are peculiarly
adapted for the purpose, as secure boundary fences are
naturally provided, and subdivision can often be arranged
with the minimum of material.

There is one which I can recommend for tentative occupation,
viz., the West Hunter Island to the north-west of Tasmania,
in Bass Straits. It has an area of 20,000 acres, most of

38

NOTES ON ANGORA GOAT FARMING.

-which is rough feed very suitable for goats, and it may he
rented from the Crown for £ 20 per annum on a 14 years’
lease. Sheep cannot be kept there as the “ lobelia ” or
poisonous tare of King’s Island abounds and invariably
proves fatal. The last attempt at stocking this island of
which I have any knowledge was in 1882, when 600 ewes
were placed there as an experiment, of which only 30
survived in about 6 months’ time. The same plant has
proved most disastrous to the efforts made to depasture
sheep on King’s Island, and if my conviction as to the
immunity of the goat from its evil effects prove correct — and
at least an inexpensive trial might be made— there is
practically unlimited scope for many years to come in the
unstocked islands of the Straits for the development of goat
farming.

On the coast in various parts of the colony there are large
heath -covered plains which may be similarly utilised, and
experience might show that even the much-abused button
rush country can be turned to account. Perhaps the
energetic gentleman who has obtained the lease of Maria
Island from the Government may be induced to set apart the
southern end as a goat farm ; the ground is poor, can
maintain only few sheep, but has considerable capabilities as
pasturage for the more active animals which feed principally
by browsing.

The Tasmanian Stock Kegulations at present in force
absolutely prohibit the importation of goats from any place
outside the Australasian colonies, but there are, no doubt,
some perfectly pure bred Angoras to be secured in Victoria,
Kew South Wales or South Australia, where small flocks are
maintained. The common goat ewes are not difficult to
obtain.

A certain amount of surplus stock must accumulate until
after the third or fourth cross, when the hair of all should be
of nearly equal value. The skins of such half-bred or three-
quarter-bred “ kapatas ” or wethers as are killed for meat
will be found for tanning purposes of far greater value than
sheepskins, the leather being substantial and of attractive
appearance. When the goats are killed carrying a medium
length of fleece the skins make excellent and most ornamental
mats, whether dyed or left of their natural colour, and find
purchasers at all prices up to =£1 each.

Goats have much more intelligence than sheep, are easily
trained, and the employment of “voorboks” or leaders, kapatas
of the common breed — chosen for size and strength — is
infinitely better than to attempt working a flock with dogs.
These leaders are considered indispensable in South Africa,
they march in the van on making for the feeding ground in
the morning, and lead the way home at night. As decoys

BY JAMES ANDREW.

39

for yarding the flock at shearing time they are invaluable,
and I have known them pilot slaughter stock on hoard
vessels in the Cape Town docks without the least difficulty.
Being of an otherwise valueless breed and having no fleece
worth shearing they are consequently rarely handled and so
losing all timidity amongst men they fully enjoy the dignity
of their position.

Enquiries I have made to ascertain particulars of the
Angora goats still remaining in Tasmania have not been
successful. There is some reason for suspecting that attempts
previously made here, and perhaps in the other colonies, to
establish the industry have not been so successful as other¬
wise might have been the case, owing to the goats having been
kept on open grass country. This is clearly a mistake. Bough,
mountainous and scrubby ground is far more suitable, and it
is with a view to encourage the occupation of such districts and
so assist to a small extent in developing the natural resources
of the colony that I venture to recommend the farming of
Angora goats as an industry quite worth a patient and
careful trial.

40

PROTECTION OE TASMANIAN OWLS. *

By Col. W. V. Legge, R.A.

I desire to bring to the notice of the Bellows of the Royal
Society to-night the advisability of protecting the owls of
Tasmania, inasmuch as they are the most useful vermin-
killers of any known family of birds, while at the same time
no birds are more persecuted by well-meaning people through
ignorance of their true mode of life and also by pot-hunters in
search of so-called sport. It is thought by the majority of
people that owls destroy birds to a great extent, whereas, in
reality, there are few species of this large family which are
partial to birds. Owls are either twilight or night feeders, at
which time vermin or other small animals are chiefly about,
and, therefore, in the economy of nature, they form the natural
food of these birds.

Any of us who have studied works on British ornithology are,
perhaps familar with the story of the farmer who, missing his
pigeons from his dovecote night after night, laid in wait with
his gun, knowing that a pair of barn owls inhabited his
premises, and shooting at the supposed offender, whom he
caught issuing from the pigeon-house, brought him down with
a huge rat in his talons.

The large owls which kill birds-in any quantity, such as the
genera Bubo, Surnia, Nyctea, and others are absent from
Australia and Tasmania, and in fact the only species in this
quarter of the globe which feeds much on birds is the large hawk
owl, Ninox Strenua, Gould, of Eastern and Northern
Australia. We have only three species in this island: the
well-known chesnut-faced owl, Strix Castanops, Gould,
belonging to the “Barn Owl” section, and strictly a vermin¬
killing species, and the two little hawk-owls, Ninox Booboo/c and
Ninox Maculata, which are chiefly insect-feeding species. In
Victoria all owls are strictly protected, and in South Australia
and New South Wales I believe they are partly so. I would
therefore suggest that a deputation from the Royal Society
wait on the Premier and request him to take steps at the
forthcoming session of Parliament to have our owls protected,
shooting them being forbidden, except for scientific purposes,
when specimens may be required to assist naturalists in any
research they may be engaged in.

I may add that my friend, Dr. Agnew, is very anxious to see
this step taken, and though I myself have long wished to see
our owls protected, it is mainly at the Doctor’s suggestion that
I put the matter before the Society.

* I was not aware, when I read this Paper, that the owls were protected by
Act of Parliament, passed in 1887.— W.V.L.

41

PROTECTION OF THE CAPE BARREN" GOOSE.

By Col. W. Y. Legge, R.A.

Tliere is another bird for the protection of which I would
suggest steps be taken by this Society. It is the Cape
Barren Goose ( Cereopsis Novce Hollandice) , a bird of very
limited distribution, which is only found to inhabit the
Bass Straits Islands, and according to Gould, the adjacent
shores of Yictoria. I make the suggestion purely in the
interests of science, and I am therefore aware that it will be all
the more difficult to carry out the matter. This goose is one
of the very interesting monotypic generic forms which exist
among the Anatidce in Australia, the others being the Semi-
palmated goose, Anseranas Melanoleucos, the pink-eyed duck,
MalacorpyncJius Membranaceus, the musk duck, Biziura Lobata,
and the freckled duck, Stictonetta Ncevosa. There is but one
species to each of these remarkable genera (all forms peculiar
to the Australian region) and it would be a thousand pities to
see any of these birds become extinct. In Gould’s day he
found that the Cape Barren Goose must become extinct owing
to its tame disposition, terrestial mode of life, feeding on the
lands near the shore to a great extent. So inert is it described
to be that numbers can be knocked down with sticks. The
probability is that in the present day its numbers are much
fewer than 40 years ago, and it is therefore not an exaggerated
view of the case to say, that there is danger of this species
being shortly relegated to the category of the Dodo and the
Great Auk, a contingency that would be viewed with deep
regret by the ornithologists of the whole world. The Cape
Barren Goose, it is true, can be easily domesticated, and it
breeds in confinement, though apparently not continuously
out of its native country. It formed part of a collection given
by King "William in 1830 to the London Zoological Society, and
from 1835 to 1860 it bred 20 times, but after that until 1880 no
instance of its breeding occurred. I think, the best course to
pursue would be to shorten the open season for it by three
months and to alter the close season according to observations
to be made in the Straits Islands at an early date, to the time
best suited to its breeding.

I suggest the latter course, because, if it is desired to
preserve our wild fowl to the best advantage, it will be
necessary to alter the “open” season to suit the breeding
habits of the various species better than it does at present. This

42

PROTECTION OF THE CAPE BARREN GOOSE.

can only be done after more careful observation of the breeding of
our wild fowl than bas been the case hitherto. Some naturalists
might visit the Straits Islands, and after observations on the
Cape Barren G-oose and enquiry from the inhabitants of the
island, smight afford us valuable information respecting it. At
present the open season for it, though it inhabits a milder climate
than other members of its family in this colony, is the same as
the latter, and this cannot be correct. I trust other
members of the Society will support me in my plea for this
species, and that we shall be able to have something done
towards the protection of this very interesting member of the
great family of the Anatidce.

43

A PRELIMINARY CRITIQUE OF THE TEBBA
AUSTBALIS LEGEND.

By James R. McClymont, M.A.

I. MISCONCEPTIONS DUE TO THE “ NOYUS ORBIS.”

In the Latin edition of the Novus Orbis , first published in
1532 in Basle and Paris, a letter from Lorenzo Cretico,
Ambassador of the Venetian Republic to the court of Emanuel
of Portugal, is translated from the Paesi nouamente retrouati,
Vicenza, 1507, cap. cxxv. The letter treats of the Portuguese
expedition to India, conducted by Cabral in 1500-1501, for
although Cabral in not mentioned by name, we know that at
the date of this letter (June 27, 1501,) his fleet had newly
arrived in Lisbon, and was that to which the words of
Cretico must apply when he spoke of the expedition “ which
the king sent most recently to India.”

The letter begins with a brief itinerary of the voyage.
They sailed along the African coast as far as Cape Verde,
where they saw the Hesperides (Cape Verde Islands) and the
coast of Lower Ethiopia, beyond which the ancients rarely
travelled. From that point the coast trends eastwards until
it reaches the meridian of Sicily ; in latitude it is four or
five degrees north of the equator ; about the middle of it is
the gold mine of this monarch (El Mina). A cape, called
the Cape of Good Hope, rises further to the south, nine degrees
south of the tropic of Capricorn. Thence the distance to
our Barbaries is five thousand miles, coming towards our
own shores. When you have passed that cape, the coast
curves towards the promontory called Prasum, which the
ancients, and chiefly Ptolemy, held to be the limit of the
Southern Hemisphere; the land beyond he termed “Unknown.”
Thence their route was to the Troglodites and the gold mine
called Sofala, where the ancients affirm that there is a
greater quantity of gold than in any other place. Here they
enter the Barbaric Gulf (from Mozambique to Mogadoxa),
then the Indian Ocean, and finally reach the city of Calicut.
Such was their route, which you will find to be almost
fifteen thousand miles in length ; but if you sail direct, it is
less. Near the Cape of Good Hope they were driven by a
south-west wind and discovered a new country, which they
called the Land of Parrots — “ Supra Caput bonse spei lebegio
vecti vento nacti sunt novam tellurem quam apellarunt

4i A PRELIMINARY CRITIQUE OF THE TERRA AUSTRALIS LEGEND.

Psittacorum ” — because they found these birds there in
incredible number ; some of them exceed a cubit and a half in
length, and are of many colours ; we have seen two, so that
there is no doubt of the truth of it. When the sailors saw
this coast, they believed it to be a continent, because they
sailed for two thousand miles without coming to the end of
it. Numerous naked and rather handsome men inhabit
this country. Novus Orbis, cap. cxxv. Exemplum literarum
cuiusdam Cretici.

This new land, discovered by Cabral, was, owing to the
inaccuracy of the translator, located in a quite erroneous
direction. If the ships were driven on it by a south-west
wind, it must have lain to the east of their route, and it was
placed by Mercator and other geographers west of the Cape of
Good Hope and on a parallel somewhat south of it, and appears
in Mercator’s Magna orbis terrce descriptio ; Duisberg, 1569,
reproduced by Jomard, Monuments de Geographic, No. XXL,
under the name Psittacorum Regio, with an explanatory note
to the effect that it was discovered by the Portuguese when
on their way to Calicut they were driven upon it by a south¬
west wind. Where the Novus Orbis has “ lebegio vecti vento,”
Mercator’s map has “ libegio vento appulsi.” Cornelis de
Jode says nothing about the direction of the wind, but simply
that the Psittacorum Regio, which he places S.W. of the
Cape of Good Hope, was so called by the Portuguese on
account of the incredible size of these birds in that country,
and on another map that the Portuguese in rounding the
Cape have seen “this southern land” (the Terra Australis )
extending opposite, but have not yet explored it — “ sed
nondum imploravere.” Cornelis de Jode. — Speculum orbis
terrarum. Antwerp, 1593. The maps entitled Orbis universalis
descriptio, 1589, and Hemispherium ab cequinoctiali linea ad
circulum poli antarctici.

A blind adhesion to Mercator led subsequent cartographers
to include this Land of Parrots in maps of various languages
down to a comparatively recent date. M. d’Avezac mentions
several of them. Relation du Capitaine dej Gonneville, p. 20.
note ; p. 22, p. 22, note.

This Southern Regio Psittacorum had, however, a synonym
in a quite different part of the world. Johann Schoner’s
globe of the year 1520 bears the inscription “ America vel
Brasilia sive Papagalli Terra,” placed between 10 deg. and
20 deg. S.; Petrus Apianus places in a similar position the
legend “ Brasilici sive Paragalli." Cogniti orbis tabula.
Ingolstadt, 1530. How comes it that lands so far apart as
Brazil and the legendary Terra Australis should be brought
into conjunction ? The answer is to be found in comparing
the letter of Cretico, as translated in the Novus Orbis, with the
version in the Paesi, published twenty-five years earlier. We

BY JAMES E. m'cLYMONT, M.A. 45

shall find that the cartographei's were right or wrong in their
location of the Begio Psittacorum, according as they took the
one or the other of these texts for their guide.

The critical method of Kant has taught us moderns
to place no faith in second-hand testimony, or in reason¬
ings based upon plausible conjecture to which antiquity
and authority have added a specious prestige. But in the
days of the Novus Orbis, and even down to the confines of our
own age, a conjectural theorising held the place which
criticism now holds. The theory which taught the existence of
an antipodal continent as necessary, in order to maintain the
globe in a condition of counterpoise, is to be met with in a
multitude of geographical treatises, in maps, and even, at a
later period, in actual expeditions undertaken with the object
of discovering the antipodal world — a striking instance of
the influence of the philosophic upon the practical mind.
When any fresh discovery was made, this favourite theory
and the innate love of systematisation combined to induce
geographers of the Ptolemaic school to identify the new land
of fact with the old land of phantasy, and so a southern
continent was pieced together out of the figments of men’s
brains and: the inadequately recorded details of actual
voyage. The compiler of the Novus Orbis, Jans Huttich,
was, like his contemporaries, predisposed to adjust anv
fresh discoveries to the current misconceptions regarding the
configuration of the globe and the distribution of land and
water.

The Paesi, one of the first, if not actually the first
collection of voyages compiled in modern times, was the
work of Montalboddo Fracan, and was first published in
Vicenza in 1507, and in Latin and German versions in 1508.
The passage referring to the discovery of the Begio Psittacorum
is thus worded in the Italian version : — “ Di sopra dal capo
d Boasperaza uerso garbi hano scopto una terra noua la
chiamao d li Papaga.” The words “ uerso garbi ” are those
over which the translator has stumbled. They mean
“towards the south-west.” The German version has “ gege
nidergage auf£ d’ seite ” — “ towards the side of the west.” The
passage will run thus : — “ Above the Cape of Good Hope
they discovered a new land towards the south-west, which
they called the Land of Parrots.” With this indication of
Cabral’s landfall the above cited inscriptions of Schoner and
Apianus agree, as well as the independent accounts given in
Ramusio (i., 121), and in the letter of Emanuel to the Spanish
sovereigns. (Navarrete, Viages y descubrimientos iii., 94.)
Instead of lying to the east of the route to India the Begio
Psittacorum actually lay to the west of it, — was in fact the
Vera Cruz of Cabral, which appears on a map by Johan
Ruysch in a Ptolemy published in Rome in 1508 — “ JJniver-

46 A PRELIMINARY CRITIQUE OF THE TERRA AUSTRALIS LEGEND.

salior cogniti orbis tabula ” — under the came “ Terra sancte
crucis sive Mundus novus,” but which was known to French
sailors as “ Terre de Bresil.”

II. MISCONCEPTIONS OF FRENCH CARTOGRAPHERS.

At the time of the publication of the Nevus Orbis a French
geographer and mathematician, named Oronce Fine, had just
published, perhaps in Venice, a heart-shaped map of the
world, — the second of its kind known to us. It was entitled,
Nova et integra universi orbis descriptio, and dated 1531. This
map was issued a second time in 1532 in the Paris edition of
the Novus Orbis. It represents a Terra Australis brought up
to about 25 deg. S. in longitude 210 deg. to 240 deg. E. from
Ferro, and bearing the legend “ Terra Australis recenter
inventa sed nondum plene cognita a phrase of which the
“ sed nondum imploravere ” of de Jode’s map sounds like an
echo. There is no Begio Psittacorum on Fine’s map, but there
is what we have seen to be its true equivalent, a Begio
Brasilie, transferred, however, from its true American
position to the legendary Terra Australis without further note
or comment, and as if to clinch the error, a Begio Patalis,
or pratalis as well, that is, the country of silver, of La
Plata.

This obvious and hopeless confusion of places was further
augmented in the MS. maps of other French cartographers.
Jean Eotz, Guillaume le Testu, Nicholas Desliens, and others,
mostly Norman pilots, represent a country which they
denominate “ Jave la Grande,” midway between Africa and
South America, and inscribe on it a number of names, some
in French and some in Portuguese, and the figures of men
and animals. That this Jave la Grande is only an imaginary
place is admitted by one of the draughtsmen himself. In a
MS. atlas, finished in 1555, and dedicated to Admiral de
Coligny, who was then sending out a Huguenot colony to
Brazil, are twelve maps numbered xxxi. to xliii., in which the
space comprised between 1 deg. and 84 deg. S. is occupied by
a fertile country. “ But these twelve maps,” says their
author, Guillaume le Testu, of the town of Fran9oyse de
Grace, “ are only meant to warn those who may voyage in
these parts to be careful when they think they are approaching
land. Further than that, all is imaginary, for no man has
made any certain discovery there.” (Margry, Navigations
franchises, p. 138.) The title “ Jave la Grande ” on these
charts is derived from the travels of Marco Polo, who
designated Borneo under the name “ Java,” whilst the island
known to us as Java was named by him “ Java Minor.”
( Marco Polo’s Travels , edited by W. Marsden. Book iii.,
chap, vii.) The coast lines and coast names are not, as Le
Testu says, “ all imaginary,” for they are in part derived from

47

BY JAMES R. M£CLYMONT, M.A.

the actual names and outlines of the South American coasts,
with which, in some charts, the purely imaginary outlines of
the Terra Australis of previous geographers are combined.
Only the east coast of South America is inverted and so
becomes the west coast of “ Jave la Grande,” whilst the east
coast of “ Jave la Grande,” less salient in its physical features
than the west coast, and therefore less easily identified, may
be either inverted or simply transferred from the west coast
of South America, or may be, as Le Testu says, “all
imaginary.” In some of these charts, as in the Dauphin map
(about 1530), one of those of Jean Rotz (1542) and that of
Desceliers (1550), the eastern coast-line ceases or becomes a
vague featureless line at about 35 deg. S. The chart of
Desliens (1566) prolongs that coast to about 65 deg. S., and
gives to this prolongation features as specific as to the northern
part of it.

By inverting the western coast line of “ Jave la Grande ”
we find the following coincidences with the east coast of
South America. Beginning from the north we have a
“ Grant Baye,” and another unnamed inlet, probably
representing the mouths of the Amazon and Tocantins. “R.
Grande” in some of the charts forms a strait between “ Jave
la Grande ” and an island named “ Jave ;” in that of Desliens
it is a deep bay and unnamed. “ Baye Bresille” in about 18
degrees S., may coincide with Porto Seguro, immediately to the
south of which place, and in the same latitude as the “Baye
Bresille,” a “R. da Brasill” is marked on these charts. To the
French sailors is due this name “ Brazil,” as the distinctive
appellation of the country whence they brought brazil¬
wood to Europe. “ The French alone,” says La Popeliniere,
“ called it £ Terre de Bresil,’ in ignorance of what is above
narrated,” — (namely, that Cabral had called it “ Vera Cruz ”)
— <£ because they found brazil-wood there in abundance,
although it is only in one part of it, and that produces many
other woods as well.” Les trois mondes, iii. p. 16. verso. A
number of names cluster round the vicinity of Cape Frio and
Cape St. Thome, such as C. Quiesco in Desliens, C. de Sr
Drao, and C. de Grace in the Dauphin chart. The last is
probably a Norman sailor’s reminiscence of his native Havre
de St. Francoyse de Grace ; the second may be mis-written
for the name of some merchant adventurer — “ sieur,” in the
language of the time. The next notable feature is the
Havre de Sylla, between 25 deg, and 30 deg. S.,
apparently intended for Rio de Janiero. Desliens marks a
Golfe des Ysles in from 40 deg. to 45 deg. S., resembling the
Gulf of St. Mathias. If we so understand it, and if Havre
de Sylla represents Rio de Janiero, then the River Plate has
been omitted. A parallel to this would be found in the
voyage of Diaz de Solis, who sailed along these coasts from

48 A PRELIMINARY CRITIQUE OF THE TERRA AUSTRALIS LEGEND.

Cape St. Augustine to 40 deg. S., without observing the mouth
of that river. The coast-line of Desliens is prolonged about
10 deg. south of the actual termination of the American
continent. This excessive southing is characteristic of maps
of that period and of that continent. Thus Schoner in his
globe (1520) places Bahia 10 deg. or more to the south of its
true position.

The intercourse of Norman merchants with Brazilian ports
very early in the sixteenth century, gives us to understand
how the outlines of that part of the American coast should
have become known in Normandy ; and the fact of the
extreme ignorance of longitude, and how to ascertain it that
prevailed at the period we are speaking of, combined with
the confusion already existing in the minds of cartographers
between Brazil and the Terra Australis, all this explains to us,
in a great measure, how the South American coast-lines came
to be transferred to so distant a part of the world. It can,
however, only be matter for conjecture why Rotz and the
others made an eastern coast into a western one. We only
know that it was the western part of the Terra Australis that
the Portuguese were supposed to have discovered, whilst it
was, in all probability, the eastern coast of South America
that was first and best known to the French.

The advent of French ships in Brazil about the time of
Cabral’s visit, or earlier, is well attested. Ramusio preserves
a memoir written in 1539, in which we are told that “a
portion of Brazil was first discovered by the Portuguese ; and
thirty-five years ago Denys de Honfleur discovered the other
part.” iii. 3*57, F. The results of an inquiry into the date of
the first French traffic with Brazil were published in 1845,
in the Revista trimensal do Instituto do Brazil, vi. pp. 412-413,
“In the year 1504,” says this journal, “the French arrived in
Brazil for the first time at the Port of Bahia ; they entered
the River Paraguay, in that Bay, did their traffic there aud,
when they had done a good trade, returned to France, whence
three other ships came afterwards. Whilst these ships were
trading at the same place as the former ones, four ships of
the Portuguese fleet entered the river and burnt two French
ships ; and took the third, after killing a number of their
people. Some of them, however, escaped in a boat and
found at Point Itapuama, four leagues from Bahia, a French
vessel about to return home.” The Revista is at fault in
assigning to the year 1504 the earliest appearance of the
French in Brazil. I do not require at this stage to ask where
was the much disputed landfall of De Gonneville, but only
to quote some remarks of his regarding the country at which
he touched to freight his vessel on his way home from the
“Indes Meridionales ” of his six months’ sojourn. “Then
having passed the tropic of Capricorn and taken our position,

49

BY JAMES R. M'CLYMONT, M.A.

we found that we were furthur from Africa than from the
West Indies, where for several years the Dieppese aud
Maloinese, and other Normans and Bretons have gone to
fetch red dye-wood, cottons, apes, parrots, and other
commodities ; as the east wind, which we observed to prevail
between the said tropic, and that of Cancer impelled us
thither, it was unanimously agreed to go in search of that
country, in order to load with the above-mentioned articles of
merchandise, so as to recoup ourselves for the expenses of the
voyage ; and we arrived there on the day of St. Denis
(October 10, 1504), as aforesaid.” Voyage du Capitaine de
Gonneville, par. M. d’Avezac, Paris, 1869, p. 104. This
mention in the year 1505 of the West Indies, — the name by
which South America was generally known,— as a resort since
some years of French ships throws back their advent in that
country to the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the
sixteenth century. La Popeliniers states — “ The French,
especially the Normans and Bretons, always maintain that
they first discovered these lands and traded with the savages
of Brazil, on the Rio San Francisco, at the place since called
Port Real. But thoughtless in this, as in other things, they
had neither spirit nor discretion to leave a single public
document to inform us of their designs, which were as lofty
and generous as those of other people ; thus it is that the
Portuguese arrogate to themselves the prerogative of indis¬
putable lordship there, in consequence of the action of Pedro
Alvares.” Les trois mondes, iii. p. 16 verso.

The illustrations of the native life of “ Jave la Grande ”
are referable to South America. The llama — the sheep strong
enough to carry a man as one old geographer describes it, —
is frequently depicted. In one chart (Dauphin) it is harnessed
and being driven along. The cannibalistic practices of some
of the tribes are signified by Desceliers, by a drawing of a
dog-faced man engaged under the direction of a woman in
quartering a dead body, whilst a human limb hangs suspended
from a neighbouring tree. This reminds one of Yespucci’s
account of the fate of a young Portuguese of his third
expedition, and of the human flesh which he saw exposed in
the villages. In the same map of Desceliers, under the
heading “Angania,” the inhabitants of that country are
described as dog-faced Anthropophagi. The huts of the
aborigines of Jave la Grande are in the Dauphin map identical
with those of the South Americans, being x*oofecl with
palmate leaves, but they are without the hammocks of the
latter, which were characteristic of the tribes inhabiting the
north of Brazil. Desceliers has drawn clusters of anthill-
shaped structures on his Jave la Grande, and on the West
Coast of his South America. On Jave la Grande he has
pictured the Worship of the Sun, common to Peru and some

D

50 A PRELIMINARY CRITIQUE OF THE TERRA AUSTRALIS LEGEND.

other countries, as well as the worship of cattle, both of which
cults are ascribed by him to the Javanese.

The deer, of which numerous small species exist in South
America, and the peccary Dycntyles torquatus and labiatus, are
both pourtrayed. Perhaps both, certainly the latter, is
represented as tame ; the Indians of to-day keep it as a
domestic animal. (Humboldt’s Travels in America, ii.
chain, xx.) Two species, at least, of palms are represented,
one with palmate and the other with pinnate leaves ; a tree
of the former species, the Corypha tectorum, or roofing palm,
is described by Humboldt as affording the Chaymas Indians
the leaves with which they roof their huts. (i. chap, xx.)

The existence in France of a MS. chart as early as 1530,
which shows the east coast of South America to about
25 deg. S., and which is derived from French sources, is thus
no matter of wonderment. But the possible acquaintance on
the part of the French with the western coast of South
America, even at that date, is a matter on which we can as
yet throw but little light. In these circumstances a passage
quoted by M. Margry from the MS. Cosmographie of
Jean Alfonce (1545), is not without interest. “ La Grande
Jave ” says the writer, “ is a land which extends to the
Antarctic Pole and joins the Terra Australis on the west and
the land of Magellan’s Straits on the east. Some say that
it consists of islands, but as far as I have seen it, it is a
continent, and when all is said, the whole world consists of
islands, for land and water form one body. The ocean
encircles everything by means of arms of the sea, which are
in the ball (pomme) of the earth. What is called Java
Minor is an island ; but Jave la Grande is a continent.” In
another place Alfonce remarks : — “ There have been no
discoveries beyond Java on account of the great cold under
the Antarctic Pole. I have been in a place there where day
lasted for three months, allowing for the reflection of the sun ;
I did not wish to remain longer in case night should surprise
me.” Margry, Navigations francaises, pp. 316-317. The
only continental land to which this description can approxi¬
mately apply is the west coast of South America. That
coast joins the land of Magellan’s Straits towards the east,
and although there is no Terra Australis of fact with which
it can be joined towards the west, there was a Terra Australis
of fiction real enough to Jean Alfonce in the position required.
At another part of his Cosmographie, Alfonce brings his
“ Grand Jaive ” up to 21 deg. S., or about the latitude to
which Desliens traces the eastern coast of “ Jave la Grande.”

Besides the French names on the MS. charts, of which I
have spoken, there are others in Portuguese. The latter
generally differ from the former, inasmuch as they are rather
nautical than topographical, and correspond to the phrases

51

BY JAMES R. M£CLYMONT, M.A.

printed on the Admiralty Charts for the purpose of directing-
masters of ships where they are to look out for shoals,
eddies, or other dangers. Thus we find ter re ennegada,
or anegada, — sunken shoal — and baixa, — shoal. This intro¬
duction of Portuguese nautical expressions is an indica¬
tion of the superior skill of the Portuguese pilots of the
time, which has left traces in the adoption of their language
by foreigners, — as in the word abrolhos, breakers, — just
as in our own day English nautical terms have been adopted
in continental navies. But we know that the intercourse
between Portuguese and French, as well as Spanish and
French sailors, was from the fourteenth century onwards a
peculiarly intimate one. Commercial privileges with French
ports were accorded to both these nations. (Margry, p. 123
note.) On the other hand the vessels of Honfleur merchants
had access to the port of Lisbon, and in 1503 three of these
merchants, Be Gonneville, Jean l’Anglois, and Pierre le
Carpentier, having seen at Lisbon the rareties that had lately
arrived from the East in the ships of Yasco da Gama and
Cabral, engaged the services of two Portuguese pilots who
had been to Calicut, Bastiam Moura and Diego Cohinto, in
order that they might despatch a ship of their own to the
same destination. The two Portuguese accompanied the ship
in its wanderings about the Atlantic ; and touched at several
points of the South American continent. Barros relates
that a vessel from Dieppe, commanded by a Portuguese
captain, Stevam Diaz, arrived at Diu in July 1527, and that
in the same year another French ship, piloted by another
Portuguese sailor, called “ 0. Eozado ” or ££ The Rosy,” was
in the Indian seas and was ultimately lost on the west coast
of Sumatra. (Margry, p. 192.) Similarly, French sailors
sailed in Spanish and Portuguese vessels, and Navarrete
preserves the names of twelve French companions of
Magellan, the half of whom were Normans j or Bretons.
Viciges, iv. 12.

III. MISCONCEPTIONS ARISING FROM THE VOYAGE OF
MAGELLAN.

A claim to the discovery of the Terra Australis has been
recorded on behalf of Magellan in an atlas by Fernando
Yaz Dourado, Goa, 1570, in which a coast lying to the east
of New Guinea, and trending east and west with a little
southing, bears the superscription “Esta costa descubrio
Fernao de MagalMes natural! portuges por mandado do
emperador Carllos o anno 1520.” This claim occurs also on
maps by Rumoldus Mercator (1587), Ortelius (1587), and
De Jode (1589), in the words, — placed on a northward
projection of the Terra Australis immediately to the south

52 A PRELIMINARY CRITIQUE OF THE TERRA AUSTRALIS LEGEND.

of New Guinea : — “ Hanc continentem australem nonulli
Magellanica regionem ab inventore eius nuncupant.”

. From tbe facts that the coast-line so described is in the
map of Dourado disconnected by an intervening scale of
latitude from tbe rest of tbe map, and that it bears some of
tbe same names as were bestowed by Magellan on places
visited by him in South America, Mr. Major supposes that
it is “ a memorandum or cartographical side-note of tbe real
discovery by Magellan of Terra del Fuego.” Terra Australis,
p. xxvi. The position of this coast on Dourado’s map may
have led to its being confounded with the north coast of
New Guinea by Mercator, who adopts some of Dourado’s
coast names ; but transfers them to the above-mentioned
island. Amongst these are C. de las Yirgenes, and C. del
buen Deseo equivalent to Cabo Deseado, Magellan’s names for
the capes at the entrance and exit of the Straits. Some of
the names used on the coasts of Jave la Grande much
resemble others in the atlas of Dourado, and on a map
by De Jode, entitled Brasilia et Peruvia, but they are
placed by these cartographers in or near the Straits of
Magellan. Such are Baia Fremosa in Dourado and De Jode,
corresponding to C. Fromose in the Dauphin map, and in De
Jode, C. Blanco corresponding to Coste Bracq, C. de las
Baixas to Baye Bassa, B. d muchas islas to R. de Beaucoup
Disles, and Costa dos Ilheos to Baye des Ys. This parallelism
is suggestive of a community of origin, and raises the
question whether the voyage of Magellan may not in some
degree have contributed to originate the MS. charts of Jave
lia Grande.

■ It has been recently upheld by Mr. Petherick that Del
Cano on his return voyage in 1522, sighted some part of the
west Australian coast. ( Athenceum , May 24, 1884.) This
opinion is based on a passage in Galvano’s Discoveries of the
World, to the effect that that navigator discovered certain
islands one hundred leagues beyond Timor and under the
tropic of Capricorn, and further on others, all peopled thence¬
forward, when he was shaping a course which should carry
him well south of the .Cape of Good Hope. It is not
impossible that in a zig-zag course Del Cano may have sighted
some islands very near the Australian mainland.

MACQUAEIE HAEBOTIE LEA E BEDS.

By E. M. Johnston, E.L.S.

Ia the Tasmanian Museum there is a most valuable collec¬
tion of fossil leaves belonging to the earlier tertiary period of
Tasmania, hut in respect of which there is no record as to the
locality from which they were originally obtained. I was long
of opinion that this peculiar group of fossil plants was obtained
by Dr. Milligan from Macquarie Harbour in the early days of
the colony’s history, and this conviction was one of the main
reasons which induced me to visit and examine the leaf
deposits of Macquarie Harbour in the year 1887. In this
examination I was unsuccessful in discovering the exact
deposit from which the Museum collection was obtained, but
the discovery of the same forms in the lacustrine beds in the
neighbourhood of Long Bay tended to confirm me in the
notion that the unknown deposit was a member of the
lacustrine leaf beds extending from the latter locality to Kelly’-s
Basin ; and in my work on geology (p. 203, “ Geology
of Tasmania”), I ventured to predict that an examina¬
tion of the many fine sections further east “ may in the future
determine this matter.” I am happy now to be in the position
to declare that the hitherto unknown locality has been dis¬
covered; for in a fine collection of fossils made by that
indefatigable member of our society, Mr. T. B. Moore, and
sent last year to Mr. Belstead, I was fortunate in recognising
the identical rock, together with the usual impressions of leaf
forms, so characteristic of the museum collection referred to.
I now present a specimen of the rock in question, in order
that those interested may be able to judge of its value in
clearing up this interesting point in our tertiary geology.
On a future occasion I may be able to give a description
of the more remarkable plants contained in this deposit.

54

FORAMINIFERA IN UPPER PALAEOZOIC ROCKS.

By T. Stephens, F.C.S., MA.

At former meetings of the Royal Society I have incidentally
mentioned a foraminiferal limestone as occurring among the
Upper Palaeozoic rocks of the North-Eastern district.
Several years ago on one of my official cross-country journeys
I met with specimens of limestone dotted with minute white
spots, and on closer examination detected two or three more
or less perfect forms of Foraminifera, one of them resembling
genus Spirillina ( Trochammina,) and another like Valvulinci.
In the absence of any local palaeontologist competent to
determine the specific character of these fossils, and having
myself to attend to other business, I had put the specimens
away until a few months ago, when I had an opportunity of
submitting them to Mr. R. Etheridge, jun., who is engaged in
working out the palaeontology of New South Wales, and the
following is an extract from a letter lately received by him : —
“ I have at last had time to examine the pieces of supposed
foraminiferal rock you left with me. There is no doubt but
that is their nature, and, so far as I know, it is the first
record of such in the Permo-Carboniferous rocks of Australia
or Tasmania. I have sent the material to a foraminifera man,
so we shall hear more about it soon.” The difficulty of
separating these small fossils from the matrix is very great,
but I have roughly mounted a few for inspection.

55

AUSTRALIAN AND TASMANIAN SANDARACH.

By J- H. Maiden, F.L.S., F.C.S., Etc. (Curator of the
Technological Museum, Sydney).

Communicated by A. Morton, F.L.S.

It was a specimen of resin from the Oyster Bay Pine of
Tasmania, sent to the Exhibition of 1851, which first drew
the attention of experts to the possibilities of Australian
Sandarach. For “ the fine pale resin of the Oyster Bay Pine
( Callitris australis), from the eastern coast of Yan Diemen’s
Land,” and other gums and resins, Mr. J. Milligan was
awarded honourable mention (Jury Reports, 1851 Exhi¬
bition, p. 182).

This is one of the most valuable of Australian* vegetable
products, a market is ready for it, and it seems strange that
it should have been so long neglected. There are no statistics
available in regard to the importation of Sandarach into these
colonies, but to bring it here at all is a veritable “ carrying
coals to Newcastle.”

Ordinary Sandarach exudes naturally, but the practice in
Northern Africa is to stimulate the flow, making incisions in
the stem, particularly near the base. In various parts of
Australia and Tasmania there are vast numbers of Callitris
trees, their resin, often abundant, can readily be collected,
and the author is sure that, even with the cheap labour of
Northern Africa to contend against, it can be profitably
gathered during a portion of the year, by parties of men, or
the families of settlers. The approximate price of Sandarach,
in London, is 60-11 5s. per cwt., and there is no difference
between it and the colonial article. As to the cultivation of
the trees, Baron von Mueller ( Select extra-tropical plants,
Victorian Edition) states, “ Probably it would be more
profitable to devote sandy desert land, which could not be
brought under irrigation, to the culture of the Sandarach
cypresses, than to pastoral purposes, but boring beetles must
be kept off.” It is also to be borne in mind that Callitris
timber is valuable.

The Sandarach, or Gum Juniper of commerce, is the product
of a Callitris ( quadrivalvis ), and the latest classification of
Austi'alian Sandarach trees (that of Baron von Mueller),
places them under Ca llitris likewise. The following summary
of the uses of Sandarach, is taken from Morel ( Pharm . Journ.

* This word is here used in its widest sense, and, of course, includes
Tasmania.

56

AUSTRALIAN AND TASMANIAN SANDARACH.

[3]. viii. 1,024.) “ According to Gubler, the Arabs used it as

a remedy against diarrhoea, and to lull pain in haemorrhoids.

The Chinese employed it ( G . sinensis ) as a stimulant in the
treatment of ulcers (as promoting the growth of flesh), as a
deodoriser, and to preserve clothes from the attacks of insects.
In Europe it is used very little in medicine. It is most
frequently employed as an ingredient in varnish, to increase
its hardness and glossiness. It is used also as a fumigant,
and in powder (“ pounce”) to dust over paper from which the
surface has been scraped, to prevent the ink running. Rarely,
it enters into the composition of plasters.” In Southern
New South Wales (Snowy River), Gallitris resin is often
mixed with fat by the settlers, to make candles.

All our native Sandarachs possess a pleasant aromatic
odour, similar in character to that emitted by Sandarach.

When the trees are wounded the resin exudes in an
almost colourless, transparent condition. It has obviously
high refractive power, and is much like ordinary pine resin
in taste, smell, and outward appearance, when the latter is
freshly exuding. This transparent appearance is preserved
for a considerable time, the resin meantime darkening a little
with age. Old samples possess a mealy appearance, but this
is merely superficial. The origin of this appearance has been
explained as follows in regard to Sandarach, and doubtless
the simple explanation holds good here : —

“ The surface of the tears appears to be covered, more or
less, with powder, but this character is not to be attributed,
as alleged by Herlant, ( Etude sur les produits resineux de la
famille des coniferes, p. 38), to the friction of the fragments
one against another, but, as has been ascertained by a
microscopical examination by Dr. Julius Wiesner (Die che-
misch-technisch verwendte Gummiarten, Harze and Balsame,
1869, p. 129), to the unequal contraction of the resin while
drying, resulting in a mass of fissures that form, as in the
case of several kinds of copal, facets that gradually separate
from the mass, and constitute the “powder” of many authors.”
(Morel, op. cit .) Evidence against Herlant’s supposition is
also fouud in the fact that resins of the Sandarach class are
mealy while on the trees, after they have been exuded some
little time, showing that the appearance is brought about by-
exposure to the weather.

The Gallitris resins soften slightly, but do not melt in
boiling water, and a sample of commercial Sandarach behaves
similarly. In the mouth they feel gritty to the teeth, and in
no way different to Sandarach. When freshly exuded they
are very irritating to a cut.

Following are descriptions of actual specimens of resins of
different species. For the results of analyses of Sandarach
for comparison, see Gmelin, xvii., 429.

57

BY J. H. MAIDEN, F.L.S., P.C.S., ETC.

CALLITRIS CUPRESSIFORMIS. Vent.

Muell., Cens. p. 109. Syn. C. australis (iried.). Frenela
rhomboidea Endl. Yar. Tasmanica, Benth. F. Ventenatii
Mirb., B. FI., vi., 288, and others.

“ The Oyster Bay Pine of Tasmania.” Found in all the
colonies except Western Australia (normal species).

This is the pine already referred to, and a brief account of
the resin has been copied into many of the text-books. I
have collected resin of this species from Port Jackson, clear
and transparent as water. It turns pale amber coloured in
12 months if placed in a bottle, but its brilliancy shows no
sign of diminution in that time. The Sydney trees readily
exude their resin on slightly wounding, and the same remarks
apply to the Tasmanian.

CALLITRIS CALCARATA. R. Br.

Syn. Frenela Fndlicheri Parlat., B. FI., vi., 238.

Found from Northern Victoria to Central Queensland.
“ Murray Pine,” “Black Pine,” Red Pine,” “ Scrub Pine,”
“ Cypress Pine.”

Sample 1. “ Murray Pine,” Quiedong, 3rd March, 1887.
Has a pale, bleached appearance, much lighter than ordinary
Sandarach. Externally it has a very mealy appearance.
Water has no effect on it. In rectified spirit it almost wholly
dissolves, leaving a little whitish, resinoid substance.
Petroleum spirit dissolves 5 per cent, of a perfectly colourless
and transparent resin.

Sample 2. I have received a quantity of flesh-coloured
resin from the Snowy River, N.S.W., belonging to this
species. It is so different in appearance from the normal
resin, that no market can at present be found for it, and as
this is the first time such resin, in quantity, has come under
my notice, it is well worth describing. It is of the consistence
and general appearance of Manila elemi, differing from that
substance in being of a flesh-colour, and having a pure
turpentine odour, instead of a turpentine-fennel one.

There is no doubt that it would form a valuable ingredient
in plasters, and an enterprising pharmacist would doubtless
find it worth his while to follow the matter up.

It is a remarkable circumstance that the trees yielding this
resin had also, at other portions of the stem, more or less of
the normal Sandarach.

Sample 3. “ Red Pine.” Lachlan River, N.S.W. Feb. 1885.

This has comparatively freshly exuded, and has the colour
and appearance of the best selected Sandarach.

Rectified spirit nearly wholly dissolves it, forming a
beautifully clear, slightly yellowish liquid; P3 percent, of

58

AUSTRALIAN AND TASMANIAN SANDARACH.

residue remains. Petroleum spirit extracts 22T per cent, of
an apparently perfectly colourless and transparent resin.

CALLITRIS COLTTMELLARIS. F. v. M.

Syn. Frenela robusla A. Cunn., var. microcarpa Benth. B.
PL vi. 237.

Sample 4. “Cypress Pine,” etc. Pound in New South
Wales and Queensland. Received from the Botanic Gardens,
Sydney, Dec. 1887.

This is in much larger masses than the others, and some
of it has been exuded for a considerable time. It is next
lightest in colour to No. 1.

It almost wholly dissolves in rectified spirit, forming a pale
yellow solution. The insoluble residue amounts to 4‘6 per
cent. Petroleum spirit, when digested on the residue,
removes no less than 35’8 per cent, of a transparent colourless
resin. This is a remarkable percentage, and it would be
worth while to enquire whether Australian Sandarach becomes
increasingly soluble in that menstruum by age. An ordinary
sample of commercial Sandarach yielded 8'9 per cent, to
petroleum spirit.

CALLITRIS VERRUCOSA. B. Br.

Syn. Callitris Preissii Miq. Frenela robusta A. Cunn. and
others. B. PI. vi. 236.

The following note by Dr. Julius Morel (Pharm. Jourm
[3] viii. 1,025), in regard to a South Australian specimen, is
interesting ! “ With Sandarach resin may be connected

another resinous substance, which was exhibited in the Paris
Exhibition of 1867 from South Australia, under the name of
“ pine gum.” It is the resin of Callitris Beissii Miq. (a
misprint for Preissii ). This product resembles Sandarach,
and might become an important article of commerce. . . .

This resinous substance occurs in the form of slightly
yellowish tears, thicker and longer than those of ordinary
Sandarach. In consequence of unequal contraction, it pre¬
sents, like Sandarach, numerous facets, and consequently the
surface appears to be covered with a white powder. By
examining this resin under the microscope, Wiesner ascertained
that the finer fissures were derived from the larger ones. In
its transparency and hardness the resin corresponds to
Sandarach. Its odour is very agreeable and balsamic, and
its taste is bitter and aromatic.”

“ Mountain Cypress Pine,” “ Desert Pine.” “ A Sandarach
in larger tears than ordinary Sandarach is yielded by this
species. It yields it in considerable abundance, eight or ten
ounces being frequently found at the foot of a single tree.

BY J. H. MAIDEN, F.L.S., F.C.S., ETC.

59

but although this exudes naturally, the supply is stimulated
by incisions.” Victorian Cat. Col. and Ind. Exhib., 1886.)

“ It is a transparent, colourless, or pale yellow body,
fragrant and friable, fusing at a moderate temperature, and
burning with a large, smoky flame, very soluble in alcohol
and the essential oils, and almost totally so in ether ; turpen¬
tine at the ordinary temperature does not act upon it, nor do
the drying oils, but it may be made to combine with these
solvents by previous fusion.” ( Report on Indigenous Veget.
Subst. Victorian Exh., 1861).

Sample 5. Obtained from the Botanical Gardens, Sydney,
29th December, 1887 ; no particulars available.

Of a dark amber coloui’, and externally possessing the
dulled appearance found with lumps of amber. It is the
darkest resin examined by me.

It almost wholly dissolves in rectified spirit, yielding a
bright yellow liquid, leaving 2’5 per cent, of insoluble residue.
Petroleum spirit removes 22”8 per cent, of a clear resiD when
the original substance is digested in it.

Discussion.

Me. Stephens remarked how unfortunate it was that
people in the colony were so little alive to their own interest.
The Oyster Bay Pine was useful for a variety of purposes,
being suitable for light hurdles, gates, and other uses for
which the common hardwood timber was ill adapted, while
the advantage gained from shelter to stock was far superior
to any that could result from its wholesale destruction. This
beautiful and useful tree had, however, been destroyed, so far
as it could be destroyed, by ring-barking over thousands of
acres on the East Coast.

The Peesident stated that he had had his attention
directed to the state of things mentioned by Mr. Stephens.

GO

NOTES ON THE LAST LIVING ABORIGINAL
OE TASMANIA.

By James Barnard, V. P.

It has been generally supposed that the grave has closed
over the remains of the last of the aborigines, and that the
extinction of the race has been final and complete. This
supposition, however, is believed to be erroneous ; for there
still exists one female descendant of the former “ princes of
wastes and lords of deserts ” in the person of Fanny Cochrane
Smith, of Port Cygnet, and the mother of a large family of
six sons and five daughters, all of whom are living.

Some doubts have been cast in Parliament and elsewhere
upon the claim of Fanny (to keep to her pre-nuptial and first
Christian name) to be of the pure blood of her personal
ancestors, but after searching the records, and upon her own
testimony, and from other evidence, there seems to be little
reason to doubt the fact.

It appears, then, that Fanny was born at Flinders Island
in 1834 or 1835, and is now about 55 years of age. Sarah
was the name of her mother, and Eugene that of Tier father,
and both were undeniably aboriginals. Sarah first lived with
a sealer, and became the mother of four half-caste children ;
and was subsequently married to Eugene (native name,
Nicomanie), one of her own people, and had three children,
of whom Fanny is the sole survivor and representative of
the race.

Lieut. Matthew Curling Friend, R.N., in a paper read
before the Tasmanian Society, on March 10th, 1847, “ On the
decrease of the Aborigines of Tasmania,” in alluding to the
curious theory propounded by Count Strzelecki, that the
aboriginal mother of a half-caste can never produce a black
child should she subsequently marry one of her own race,
controverts this notion of invariable sterility by quoting two
instances which came under his notice while visiting the
aboriginal establishment at Flinders Island. I give his own
words : — “ One was the case of a black woman named Sarah,
who had formerly four half-caste children by a sealer with
whom she lived, and has had since her abode at Flinders
Island, where she married a man of her own race, three black
children, two of whom are still alive. The other, a black
woman named Harriet, who had formerly by a white man
with whom she lived two half-caste children, and has had
since her marriage with a black man a fine healthy black
infant, who is still living.”

BY JAMES BARNARD, V. P.

61

Commenting upon this doctrine of Strzelecki, West
observes (Hist, of Tasmania, vol. 2, p. 75), “ A natural law bj
which the extinction of a race is predicted will not admit of
such serious deviations.”

Some explanation may properly be expected from me
for reviving a question which was supposed to be set at rest
when Truganini was consigned to the tomb, and declared to
be the last woman of her race. I will therefore mention the
incident which has given me something of a personal interest
in the matter. It is now nearly 40 years ago that I was
accustomed occasionally to accompany my friend the late Dr.
Milligan, the Medical Superintendent of the Aborigines, to the
settlement at Oyster Cove, where I saw a good deal of the
native people, at that time some 30 or 40 in number. Among
these I have a distinct recollection of Fanny, who was then
apparently about 17 years of age, slender and active, less
dusky in colour, but rather more prepossessing in appearance
than any of her kind ; and certainly at that time I never
heard a doubt expressed of her not being a true aboriginal.
There was one circumstance in particular which impressed her
upon my remembrance, and that was on one occasion we
crossed over in a boat from Oyster Cove to Bruni Island,
rowed by four of the black men, and Fanny taking the steer-
oar, which she handled with marvellous skill and dexterity.
My visits to the settlement shortly after ceased, and from
that time tj the present, until a few weeks ago, when I was.
greatly surprised to receive a visit from this identical Fanny,
who had become transformed into a buxom matron of
considerable amplitude.

By the courtesy of the Hon. P. 0. Fysh, Chief Secretary
and Premier, I have been permitted access to the official
records bearing upon the subject of this investigation.

The first documents brought under my attention were two
letters under date June 23 and 26, 1882, embodying a report
from the Police Magistrate of Franklin, the late E. A.
Walpole, emphatically stating that Fanny “ is a half-caste,
born of an aboriginal woman, by a white man whose name is
unknown, at Flinders Island, in or about the year 1835.” No
authority beyond the expression of his individual opinion is
adduced by Mr. Walpole in support of his statement.

The next document was a letter by the late Dr. Milligan>
Medical Superintendent of Aborigines, under date July 17,
1854, enclosing William Smith’s consent to marry Fanny
Cochrane, and describing her as an aboriginal girl belonging to
the establishment at Oyster Cove. This affords strong-
evidence in support of the opposite view of the case, as those
who knew Dr. Milligan would remember how precise and
accurate he invariably was in any statement of facts.

62 NOTES ON THE LAST LIVING ABORIGINAL OF TASMANIA.

A point of some importance in tlie contention would arise
from Fanny’s second name of Cochrane. According to
Bonwick, in his “Last of the Tasmanians,” p. 282, this was
taken from the sealer who lived with Sarah, whose name was
Cottrel Cochrane. Were this so, it would have at once have
gone far to settle the question of parentage, and show her to he
the half-caste supposed. Bonwick is obviously in error in his
statement ; for I have lately ascertained from the lips of a
married lady living in Hobart, a daughter of the late Mr.
Robert Clark, catechist at the aborigines establishment, that
Cochrane was the maiden name of her mother, and that it
was given by her father to Fanny when a child, and residing
in his family.

Again, Bonwick writes (p. 310) : “ We read of a sawyer,
one Smith, and his black friend, Mrs. Fanny Cochrane
Smith, receiving £25 a year for their half-caste child.” Instead
of “black friend” he might have written “black wife ” ; for
the parties were duly married at Hobart by the Rev. Frederick
Miller, Congregational minister, in 1854. As respects the
cause assigned for the annuity, this writer was also in error,
for the sum of £24 (not £25) was bestowed upon Fanny on
the occasion of her marriage, and not for the reason stated.

The next document is a letter, dated 8th December, 1842,
conveying the official approval of the admission into the
Queen’s Orphan School of the three aboriginal children named
in the margin — Fanny, Martha, Jesse.

Then follows in the records, under same date, an application
from Mr. Robert Clark, late catechist of the aborigines on
Flinders Island, for permission to receive into his family “ an
aboriginal child named Fanny, upon his engagement to feed,
clothe, and educate her as one of his own children.”

Next is an extract from an official document dated 8th
March, 1847 : — “ Eugene and his wife, the father and mother
of Fanny and Adam, being asked if they were willing
that their children should be sent back to Mr. Clark, said
they were not. Fanny being asked if she understood the
nature of an oath, answered, ‘ No,’ and the Doctor explained
it. Fanny said she did not wish to return to Mr. Clark.”

From a long report to the Government by Dr. Milligan,
dated November 29th, 1847, I have taken the following
extract : — “ The fifth girl, Fanny Cochrane, almost a woman,
might remain with her half-sister, Mary Ann. Indeed I can
scarcely say how otherwise she could be satisfactorily disposed
of.” There being no difference of opinion as to Sarah being
the mother of both, this testimony, given by Dr. Milligan as
to a difference of parentage in the case of the father, at once
discriminates her from Mary Ann, and in itself affords a strong
presumption in favour of the contention.

BY JAMES BARNARD, V. P.

63

The superintendent at Oyster Cove, under date 4th
November, 1857, reports to the Colonial Secretary the death
of Adam, aged 20 years, the youngest of the aboriginals ;
and states that during his illness he was waited upon by his
mother, sister, and the latter’s husband; these being
respectively Sarah, Fanny, and William Smith.

Up to this point my researches have been eminently
satisfactory, and have tended to confirm the theory of Fannv
being an aboriginal ; but another document has been
brought under my notice which, unexplained, certainly
discountenances that theory. It is the report of certain
proceedings taken before Dr. Jeanneret, the superintendent
at Flinders Island, on the occasion of certain allegations
made against an officer of the establishment, and in which is
a deposition made by Fanny, dated. March 25th, 1847,
commencing with these words,' — “ I am a half-caste of Yan
Diemen’s Land- My mother is a native. I am about 18
years of age,” etc., with her signature attached at the foot.
At first sight this admission would appear to be conclusive
and unanswerable ; but, upon reflection, I am led to believe
that there must be a mistake somewhere. In the first place
a child of her age, with imperfectly developed intelligence,
would scarcely be likely to volunteer that statement, or do
more than give a mechanical assent to the question when,
asked, without, perhaps, at all understanding its import.
Again, possibly the clerk writing the deposition may have
understood that Fanny was sister to Mary Ann instead of
half- sister, and naturally assumed them to be the offspring of
the same parents. Besides, it conflicts with all the official
correspondence in which she is referred to with Dr. Milligan,
the medical superintendent, and Mr. Clark, the catechist, in
all of which the term “ half-caste ” never once appears, and
she is invariably designated an aboriginal girl, and
distinguished from Mary Ann, her half - sister, and an
undisputed half-caste. I may add, also, that Fanny wholly
repudiates all knowledge or recollection of the evidence
referred to. The paper of Lieut. Friend, which I have
quoted, in which he refers to Sarah, the mother of Fanny,
in support of his hypothesis, as well as the official statement
given of Eugene being her father and Adam being her
brother, should remove all doubt as to Fanny being a true
aboriginal. While it is not to be denied that differences of
opinion exist on the point, I think it must be allowed,
from the facts brought forward, that the weight of testimony
is in its favour.

The characteristics of the complexion and of the hair have
been cited as favouring the opinion that Fanny must be
deposed from the pedestal claimed for her as a pure aboriginal

64 NOTES ON THE LAST LIVING ABORIGINAL OF TASMANIA.

and placed in the ranks of the half-castes. Mr. Walpole
states that “ her colour is a very dark brown,” but I should
rather term it a blackish-brown, and showing the true
aboriginal tint. On this point it must be remembered
that from her infancy she has been encircled within
the pale of civilised life, and shielded from the
severities of weather and privations to which otherwise
she would have been exposed,— all this, together with her
surroundings, must naturally have, in some degree, tended to
exercise a modifying influence. The same as to her hair,
which, if less woolly and like a mop, has no doubt been
combed and brushed out to some small extent of its original
flufliness to reconcile it to the model of the hair of the white
children with whom she was brought up, and which she would
naturally strive to imitate.

The question at issue may appear, at first sight, to be a
mere personal matter, and of comparative unimportance, but
it is in reality much more than that, and has acquired a
scientific aspect deserving of attention. There is reason to
believe that the theory of Strzelecki has influenced many to
concurrence in his views, and to disregard or overlook the
cogency of facts opposed to it. Lieut. Friend, as we have
seen, disputes the dictum referred to, and has adduced
strong evidence in support of his objection. Thus an interesting
problem has been presented for solution.

All controversy, however, must now be regarded as finally set
at rest, since the adoption by Parliament, after due inquiry,
of two resolutions passed, respectively, in Sessions 1882 and
1884, by the first of which the pension of Fanny Smith was
increased from <£24 to £50 per annum, and by the second
that a grant deed of the 100 acres of land she at that time
occupied, and for the 200 acres additional then presented to
her, should be issued to Fanny, free of cost ; both votes
being passed on the ground specified of her being the last
survivor of the aboriginal race.

Discussion

Mr. Stephens asked the writer of the paper not to press
the matter too strongly on the Society. While Parliament
was free to act at its discretion in entertaining a claim, the
Eoyal Society would not be justified in showing any amiable
weakness in the same direction. If, however, he threw out
a challenge to ethnologists, he ran the risk of depriving
Fanny Smith of what she now enjoyed. He was certain the
paper would be well received, and the writer must not
attribute any failure to discuss it on its merits to any lack
of appreciation.

65

THE ENGLISH AT THE DERWENT, AND
THE RISDON SETTLEMENT.

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

Read October 14th, 18S9.

] . The English at the Derwent.

In a paper which I had the honour to read before the
Royal Society last November, entitled “The French in
Van Diemen’s Land,” I endeavoured to show how the
discoveries of the French at the Derwent, and their
supposed design of occupation, influenced Governor
King’s mind, and led him to despatch the first English
colony to these shores. That paper brought the story
to the 12th September, 1803, when the Albion whaler,
with Governor Bowen on board, cast anchor in Risdon
Cove, five days after the Lady Nelson, which had
brought the rest of his small establishment.

The choice of such an unsuitable place as Risdon for
the site of the first settlement has always been something
of a puzzle; and, in order to understand the circumstances
which led to this ill-advised selection, it will be necessary
to go back some years, and follow the history of English
discovery and exploration in the South of Tasmania.

I have already noticed the elaborate and complete
surveys of the Canal D’Entrecasteaux, and the Riviere
du Nord, made by the French navigators in 1792, and
again in 1802 ; but it must be remembered that the
results of these expeditions were long kept a profound
secret, not only from the English, but from the world in
general. Contemporaneously with the French, English
navigators had been making independent discoveries
and surveys in Southern Tasmania ; and it was solely
the knowledge thus acquired that guided Governor
King when he instructed Bowen u to fix on a proper
place about Risdon’s Cove ” for the new settlement.

The English discoverer of the Derwent — a navigator
who, though less fortunate than Admiral D’Entrecasteaux,
yet merits the title of original discoverer equally with the
illustrious Frenchman — was Lieutenant John Hayes,
of the Bombay Marine, to whom I have already alluded.
The occasion of Hayes’ expedition is sufficiently curious
to justify a few words of remark. It was the only
exploring expedition ever sent out by the East India
Company into Australian waters. In those days the
great Company was at the height of its power. Its

66

THE ENGLISH AT THE DERWENT.

Brabourne
Pamp., p. 14.

royal charter secured it an absolute monopoly of trade,
not only with India and China, but with the entire East,
including the whole of the Pacific Ocean. So exclusive
were its privileges, and so jealously maintained, that the
colonists of New South Wales could not trade with the
home country except by permission of the Company.
So late as the year 1806* it successfully resisted the sale
in England of the first cargo of whale-oil and sealskins
shipped by a Sydney firm in the Lady Barlow, on the
ground that the charter of the colony gave the
colonists no right to trade, and that the transaction was
a violation of the Company’s charter and against its
welfare. It was urged on behalf of tne Court of
Directors that such “ piratical enterprises ” as the
venture of the owners of the Lady Barlow must at
once be put a stop to, as “ the inevitable consequence of
building ships in New South Wales will bean intercourse
with all the ports of the China and India Seas, and a
population of European descent, reared in a climate
suited to maintain the energies of the European
character, when it becomes numerous, active, and
opulent, may be expected to acquire the ascendancy
in the Indian Seas.” The Lords Commissioners of
Trade decided that the action of the colonists was
irregular in respect to the Company’s charter. Sir
Joseph Banks exerted himself strenuously on behalf of
the colonists, and represented to the Court of Directors
that the Lords Commissioners in future cases “ are
disposed to admit the cargo to entry, in case the Court
of Directors see no objection to this measure of indul¬
gence towards an infant and improving colony,” and
further, that their Lordships intend, without delay, “to
prepare instructions for the future government of the
shipping concerns of the colony, on a plan suited to
provide the inhabitants with the means of becoming less
and less burdensome to the mother country, and framed
in such a manner as to interfere as little as possible with
the trade prerogatives and resources of the East India
Company.” It was mainly owing to Banks’ diplomacy
and energy that an Order of Council was obtained
allowing future cargoes from Sydney to be landed and
sold in England.

It is, perhaps, not surprising that the Company should
have contributed so little towards the exploration of
regions which it held to be an appanage to its Indian
dominions, for at that time the Southern Seas offered few

* See Pamphlet containing a summary of the contents ( the
Brabourne Papers, Sydney, 1886, p. 11.

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

67

or no temptations of profit to a great trading corporation.

As to New Holland, and Van Diemen’s Land, its
supposed southern extension, they were merely obstacles
in the way of the lucrative China trade — -jutting out incon¬
veniently into the South Sea, lengthening the voyage
and increasing its dangers. For the sake of the vessels
en] ployed in this trade, a knowledge of the Australian
coast and its harbours was desirable.*' It was probably
with the object of finding a convenient harbour of refuge
for ships following the southern route to China in their
passage round the stormy South Cape of the Australian
continent, that, in the year 1793, the Company fitted out
an expedition destined for Van Diemen’s Land. Cook
and Bligh had recently brought home reports which
encouraged the idea that a suitable port might be found
there, and it is quite possible that rumours of the visit of
D'Entrecasteaux the year before had stimulated the
Board of Directors to action.

Lieutenant John Ha}res was appointed to the com- Low’s Hist, of
mand of the expedition, which consisted of two ships, the Indian
Duke of Clarence and the Duchess, and was despatched 200^205’ PP*
from India to explore the coasts of Van Diemen’s Land
and its harbours, and to make its way back to India by the
South Sea Islands and the Malay Archipelago. This
service Lieut. Hayes performed in a very satisfactory
manner. He surveyed the coasts of Tasmania, parts of
New Caledonia, of New Guinea and other islands,
his voyage extending over two or three years. Un¬
happily, the results of these valuable surveys were lost
to his employers and to England, for the ship taking
home his charts and journals was captured by a French
man-of-war, all his papers were taken to Paris and have
never since seen the light.! A rough sketch of the Flinders’
Derwent made by Hayes found its way to Sydney, and Voyage,
is frequently referred to by Flinders in the account of Intro,> P-
his voyage. This is all we know of his exploration of
Tasmania, and of the Honorable East India Coippany’s
first, last, and only discovery expedition to Australian
waters.

* It was considered a chief object of every exploring expedition
to find harbours suitable for the East India Company’s ships. When
Flinders was about to sail in the Investigator to explore the Aus¬
tralian coast, the Court of Directors, on being applied to, made him
an allowance of £1200 as “ batta money a practical recognition
of their interest in his expedition.— Brabourne Pamphlet, p. 13.

t There is good reason to believe that Hayes’ charts and journals
are in the National Library in Paris, or possibly in the Department
of Marine and Colonies. It would be well if an effort were made
to discover them and have them published. See Appendix.

68

THE ENGLISH AT THE DERWENT.

Flinders’
Voyage,
Intro., p. 138.

Lieut. Hayes’ ships reached Storm Bay in the year 1794.
He had heard of the visit of the French to. these shores
two years before, but knew nothing of what D’Entre¬
casteaux had done. He explored and surveyed the
approaches of the Derwent, and sailed up that river
nearly as far as Bridgewater; while, in the belief that he
was making an original discovery, he gave new names
to various localities. These have in some instances
superseded those bestowed by his predecessor D’Entre¬
casteaux. Thus it is to Hayes that we owe the name of
the Derwent, which has replaced the French appellation
of the Riviere du Nord, and D’Entrecasteaux Channel
was long known to the English by the name of Storm
Bay Passage, which it bears on Hayes’ chart. Other
names which are still remembered are Betsey’s Island,
Prince of Wales Bay, Mount Direction, and, lastly,
Risdon Cove.* It is said that Risdon Cove and River
were named by him after one of the officers of the ship,
but this I have not been able to verify.!

It was in the early spring of the year 1798 that
Governor Hunter gave to Flinders — then a young
Lieutenant of H.M.S. Reliance — the Norfolk, X a little
colonial sloop of 25 tons, to try to solve the vexed
question of the existence of a strait between New
Holland and Van Diemen’s Land. Flinders secured
Dr. George Bass as his companion in the expedition, and
on the 7th October, 1798, the Norfolk sailed from Port
Jackson with a crew of 8 volunteers, taking twelve
weeks’ provisions. They examined the North Coast of
Tasmania, entering Port Dalrymple, and sailed for the
first time through the Straits, to which, at Flinders’

* Adamson’s Peak, Mount Lewis, Cornelian Bay, Taylor’s Bay,
Court’s Island, Fluted Cape, Ralph’s Bay, were also named by
Hayes.

t Mr, Justin Browne informs me that Risdon is a name borne by
a county family of Devonshire • (see “ Marshall’s Genealogist’s
Guide,” p. 524), and that it occurs also as a place name in
Gloucestershire, (see also Burke’s Armoury, Ed. 18.) The popular
derivation from a supposed “ Rest-down ” may perhaps be credited
to the fancy of the enterprising and pugnacious printer, Andrew Bent.
So far as I have been able to discover, it first occurs in “ Bent’s
Tasmanian Almanac ” for 1827. It has been copied by West and
other writers.

t The Norfolk, which has the credit of having first circumnavi¬
gated Van Diemen’s Land, was built at Norfolk Island, of the pine
for which that island is celebrated. She was afterwards used by
Flinders in his exploration of Moreton Bay. Labilliere’s Early
History of Victoria. Vol. i, p. 26.

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

69

request, Governor Hunter gave the name of Bass’

Straits.*

Leaving Bass’ Straits the Norfolk sailed southwards
along the West Coast — Flinders naming Mount Heems-
kirk and Mount Zeehan after Tasman’s two vessels — and
on 14th December, arrived at the entrance of Storm Bay.

Flinders had with him a copy of Hayes’ sketch chart of Flinders,
the Derwent, but had never even heard of D’Entre- P- *81.

casteaux’s discoveries six years before. Bass, in
speaking of Adventure Bay, says, — “ This island, the Collins’ New
Derwent, and Storm Bay Passage were the discovery South Wales,'
of Mr. Hayes, of which he made a chart.” More than “-jP- 183-
a fortnight was employed by Flinders in making a Flinders,
careful survey of Norfolk Bay, and of the Derwent from Intro., pp.
the Iron Pot to a point some 5 miles above Bridgewater. 181-189.

In the Introduction to his Voyage to Terra Australis ,

he gives the result of his observations. Bass devoted

his attention more particularly to an examination of

the neighbouring country, its soil, productions, and

suitableness for agriculture. He took long excursions

into the country, having seldom other society than his

two dogs, examining in this way the western shore of

the river from below the Blow Hole at Brown’s River

to beyond Prince of Wales Bay, visiting various parts

of the eastern shore, and ascending Mount Wellington

and Mount Direction. His original journal has never

come to light, but the substance of it was published in

1802, by Collins, in the second volume of his Account of Collins, ii., pp.

New South Wales. 143-194.

It is interesting to learn how the country with which
we are so familiar struck the first visitor to its shores,
when as yet the land was in all its native wildness, and
untouched by the hand of man, and I shall therefore
give some of Bass’s observations on the country about
the Derwent. The explorers had some difficulty in
getting the Norfolk as far up the river as the mouth of
the Jordan, which Flinders named Herdsman’s Cove.

Thence they proceeded in their boat some 5 or 6 miles ibid, p. 186.
higher up. They expected to have been able to reach
the source in one tide, but in this they were mistaken,
falling, as they believed, some miles short of it. I regret
to say that Bass did not, show the good taste of the

* “ No more than a just tribute,” says the generous
Flinders, “ to my worthy friend and companion for the extreme
dangers and fatigues he had undergone in first entering it in t lie
whale-boat, and to the correct judgment he had formed from
various indications of the existence of a wide opening between Van
Diemen’s Land and New South Wales.” — Voyage to Terra Aus~
tralis, Intro., p. 193.

70

THE ENGLISH AT THE DERWENT.

Collins, ii.,
p. 183.

Frenchmen who were so enthusiastic on the grandeur
and beauty of the harbours and rivers which they had
entered. He describes our noble river as a u dull, lifeless
stream, which after a sleepy course of not more than 25
or 27 miles to the north-west, falls into Frederick
Henry Bay. Its breadth there is two miles and a
quarter, and its depth ten fathoms.” He further remarks,
“ If the Derwent River has any claim to respectability,
it is indebted for it more to the paucity of inlets into
Van Diemen’s Land than to any intrinsic merits of its
own.” Yet his impression of the country on its banks
was distinctly favourable. ‘‘The river,” he says, “ takes
its way through a country that on the east and north
sides is hilly, on the west and north mountainous. The
hills to the eastward arise immediately from the banks ;
but the mountains- to the westward have retired to the
distance of a few miles from the water, and have left in
their front hilly land similar to that on the east side. All
the hills are very thinly set with light timber, chiefly
short she-oaks ; but are admirably covered with thick
nutritious grass, in general free from brush or patches of
shrubs. The soil in which it grows is a black vegetable
mould, deep only in the valleys, frequently very shallow,
with occasionally a mixture of sand or small stones.
Many large tracts of land appear cultivable both for
maize and wheat, but which, as pasture land, would be
excellent. The hills descend with such gentle slopes,
that the valleys between them are extensive and flat.
Several contain an indeterminate depth of rich soil,
capable of supporting the most exhausting vegetation,
and are tolerably well watered by chains of small ponds,
or occasional drains, which empty themselves into the
river by a cove or creek.” Black swans were seen in
great numbers, and kangaroo abounded, but Bass came
to the conclusion that the natives must be few in number,
as although they frequently found their rude huts and
deserted fires, during a fortnight’s excursions they fell in
with none of the aborigines, except a man and two
women, with whom they had a friendly interview some
miles above Herdsman’s Cove. Bass contrasts New
South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land in respect of
their fitness for agriculture : his opinion was that they
were both poor countries, but in point of productive soil
the preference was to be given to Van Diemen’s Land.
He found on the banks of the Derwent various tracts of
land which he considered admirably adapted for grain,
for vines, and for pasturage, and no place combined so
many advantages as Risdon Cove. Bass grows almost

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

71

enthusiastic in describing Risdon. “ The land at the Collins, ii.,
head of Risdon Creek, on the east side,” he remarks, P- 185.

“ seems preferable to any other on the banks of the
Derwent. The creek runs winding between two steep
hills, and ends in a chain of ponds that extends into a
fertile valley of great beauty. For half-a-mile above the
head of the creek the valley is contracted and narrow,
but the soil is extremely rich, and the fields are Avell
covered with grass. Beyond this it suddenly expands
and becomes broad and flat at the bottom, whence arise
long grassy slopes, that by a gentle but increasing ascent
continue to mount the hills on each side, until they are
hidden from the view by woods of large timber which

overhang their summits . The soil along the

bottom, and to some distance up the slopes, is a rich
vegetable mould, apparently hardened by a small mixture
of clay, which grows a large quantity of thick juicy
grass and some few patches of close underwood.”

Flinders was, however, disappointed with Hayes’ Flinders.
Risdon River, and notices the insignificance of the little Intro., pp.
creek, which even his boat could not enter, and at which 185>
he could barely manage to fill his water casks. Among
“ the many local advantages of the Derwent ” to which King to
King alludes in his despatch to Lord Hobart, and which Hobart, 9th
determined him to choose that place for a settlement, 1803‘
there is no doubt that Bass’s glowing description of the
beauty and fertility of Risdon filled a large place, and
induced him to direct Bowen to choose its neighbour¬
hood for the new colony.

2. The Risdon Settlement.

It is now time for us to return to Lieut. Bowen and
his little colony, whom we left on the 12th September,

1803, in the Albion and Lady Nelson at anchor in
Risdon Cove. A week later Bowen writes to Governor Bowen to
King by the Albion , reporting his arrival, and his King, 20th
definite selection of Risdon as the site of the new ^Hember,
settlement. Fie seems to have accepted Risdon as a
foregone conclusion, for although he tells the Governor
that he had explored the river to a point rather higher
than Flinders went, it does not appear that he made any
sufficient examination of the western bank. If he had
done so he could hardly have written to King — “ There
are so many fine spots on the borders of the river that I
was a little puzzled to fix upon the best place ; but there
being a much better stream of fresh water falling into
Risdon Cove than into any of the others, and very extensive
valleys lying at the back of it, I judged it the most

72

THE RISDON SETTLEMENT.

convenient, and accordingly disembarked all the men
and stores.” He could never have written thus if he
had examined either Humphrey’s Rivulet or the stream
falling into Sullivan’s Cove. Bowen’s choice of Risdon
does not lead us to form a high opinion of his qualifi¬
cations as the founder of a new colony. On the other
hand, it is only fair to take into account his difficulties.
Doubtless he felt himself in a great degree bound by the
instructions he had received from Governor King to fix
on a spot in the neighbourhood of Risdon Cove. ! 1 e
also knew that Bass had carefully examined both shores
of the river and had found no place so eligible. Moreover,
it would be unjust to judge his choice by our present
knowledge. Every settlement in an unknown and thickly
wooded country must be more or less tentative, and the
objections to the locality were no.t so evident in its
original state as they now are. At present the Cove is
silted up in consequence of a causeway having been built
across it, but when Bowen entered it it was a fairly
deep and commodious harbour. There was much to
recommend the site to a new comer. When the Albion
sailed up the Derwent the best valleys running down to
the river were full of a dense scrub, most discouraging to
a settler, and at that period Risdon probably presented the
most open land on this side Herdsman’s Cove. It was early
spring, and at that season there would be a good stream
of water in the creek, the open land of the Risdon valley
was covered with rich and luxuriant grass, and higher
up the creek was a fair amount of the good agricultural
land described by Bass. The unsuitability of the
valley as a site for a large town would never occur to
Bowen, who was content if he could find for his
handful of settlers a sufficient space for their gardens,
and a few cornfields to supply their immediate require¬
ments. The small scale of the establishment with which
he was entrusted would inevitably limit his ideas.
Still, after every allowance has been made, it remains
evident that Lieut. John Bowen was not one of the men
who are born to be the successful founders of new States.

The site of this first settlement is on the farm so well
known as the home of the late Mr. Thos. Geo. Gregson,
M.H.A. It lies about two miles from the landing-place
of the Risdon ferry. A stone causeway crosses the cove
not far from the mouth of the creek. For some 100 or
150 yards before the little stream falls into the cove it
finds its way through a small marsh of some 20 acres,
shut in on each side by steep hills. In Bowen’s time
this stream was fresh and clear-flowing; now it is brackish,

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

73

sluggish, and muddy, choked with weeds and slime, and
altogether uninviting in aspect. At the upper end of
the marsh, where the valley suddenly contracts, a dilapi¬
dated stone jetty marks the old landing-place on the
creek, at present quite inaccessible for a boat. On the
narrow strip of flat ground between the jetty and the
steep hill beyond are the barely discernible foundations
of a stone building, the first stone store in Tasmania.

From this point a road leads upwards along the hillside
for some 150 or 200 yards to the top of the rise, where
there is a level piece of land of no great extent, bounded
on the north by rough hills and on the south sloping
steeply to the valley. On the edge of this level ground,
overlooking the flat and commanding a fine view of the
Derwent and of the mountains behind it, stand some
dilapidated wooden buildings, for many years well known
as the residence of Mr. Gregson, the little cottage in
front being not improbably Lieut. Bowen’s original
quarters. A good garden extends to the rear of the
house, and in this garden, about 100 yards behind the
cottage, there still stand the ruins of an oven with brick
chimney, which Mr. Gregson for many years religiously
preserved as the remains of the first house erected
in Van Diemen’s Land. From this point the valley is
narrow, the ground sloping down steeply, but there is
good agricultural land in the bottom, and on the northern
slope where Bowen’s free settlers were located — the
other side being stony and barren. A plan which Bowen
sent to Governor King enables us to identify the locality
with absolute precision. He tells King — “ We are
situated on a hill commanding a perfect view of the
river, and with the fresh water at the foot of it — the land
excellent.”

After pitching his tents at Risdon, Bowen was not
idle. He set his people at once to work to build huts.

During the first week he made a boat excursion up the
river ; examined Herdsman’s Cove, and thought of
locating his free settlers there. He describes the Der- Bowen to
went as “ perfectly fresh ” above Herdsman's Cove, Kin&> 20th
and “ the banks more like a nobleman’s park in England ^(!^ember’
than an uncultivated country ; every part is beautifully
green, and very little trouble might clear every valley I
have seen in a month. There are few rocky spots except
on the high hills, and in many places the plough might
be used immediately ; but our workmen are very few and
very bad. I could with ease employ a hundred men
upon the land about us, and with that number — some
good men among them — we should soon be a flourishing

74

THE RISDON SETTLEMENT.

Bowen to
King, 27th
September,

1 8U3, per
Lady Nelson.

King to
Hobart, 1st
March, 1804.

Bowen to
King, 27 th
September,
1803.

Ibid.

colony.” Next week he made another trip up the
Derwent, but without further results. He sends King a
plan of his settlement,* and already within a fortnight of
his arrival he had got quarters built for his soldiers and
prisoners, had located his free settlers on their five-acre
allotments up the valley about a quarter of a mile from
his tent, and had Clark, the stonemason, at work
building a stone store.

He had — probably in accordance with King’s in¬
structions — named the new settlement “ Hobart, ”t after
Lord Hobart, the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

His Returns, dated “ Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land,
27th September, 1803,” show an effective strength of 22
men — 21 convicts and their overseer — of whom 2 were
in charge of stock, 4 employed on buildings, (viz., a
blacksmith, carpenter, and two sawyers), the bulk of
the convicts forming a town gang. The three women
are returned as “ cutting grass,” probably for thatching.
Of' the stock, the Government owned 9 cattle and 25
sheep, the Commandant had a mare, and the Doctor a
cow, while the Officers and Birt and Clarke, the free
settlers, were possessors of 7 sheep, 8 goats, and 38
swine.

Within a fortnight from his landing, as I have said,
Bowen had all his people housed, and reports to King
that the soldiers and prisoners have got very comfortable
huts. He fixed his own quarters on the spot where
Mr. Gregson’s house now stands ; the soldiers’ huts were
a little behind Dr. Mountgarret’s quarters, and the
prisoners’ huts were placed on the brow of the steep
bank overlooking the creek. (See plan). The Command¬
ant tells King that he has not yet drawn any lines for
the town, waiting till he can cut down the large timber
which obstructed his view. To lay out a town in such
a situation must have been a difficult problem, for his
little settlement was perched on the top of a high almost
precipitous bank, on the edge of a very narrow gully,
and the narrow plateau on which it stood, shut in at the
back by rough hills, did not afford room for a fair sized
village. But the difficulties of the locality were as
nothing to the difficulties of the human material out of
which he had to form his colony.

The soldiers of the New South Wales Corps, who
formed his guard, and on whom he had to depend for

* See Appendix.

t “Town ” was not added to the name until some time after the
settlement was removed by Collins to Sullivan’s Cove.

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

75

the maintenance of order, were discontented, almost
mutinous. Within a week of his arrival they were
grumbling at the hard duty of mounting one sentry
during the day and two at night. The Commandant
thought they had been spoilt by too easy a life in
Sydney, and begged the Governor to send him down an
active officer or sergeant who would keep them to their
duty.

As to the prisoners, they were of the worst class,
ill behaved, useless, and lazy. Indeed, when we find
that some of the worst offenders in New South Wales
had been sentenced bv the Criminal Court in Sydney to
serve a certain number of years at Risdon Creek, we
cannot wonder at Bowen’s complaints of their conduct,
nor can we be surprised that he was able to effect so
little.

Meanwhile, Governor King did not forget the interests
of the new colony. In his reply to Bowen’s first letters, King to
he expressed himself as well pleased with the selection of Bowen, 18th
Risdon, and with the progress that had been made with October, 1803.
the settlement. He also promised the reinforcements for
which Bowen asked, and, accordingly, towards the end of King to
October the Dart brig was despatched to the Derwent. Hobart,

She took 42 prisoners — of whom 20 were volunteers — and 0cto1:,er,

these latter were told that, if their behaviour was good,
they should be allowed at the end of two years to choose
between settling at the Derwent and returning to Sydney.

The Governor also strengthened the Military force by
sending down 15 soldiers under the command of Lieut.

Moore. He strongly urged Bowen to leave their discipline
entirely to their officer, to give them good huts, full
rations, a plot of ground for a garden, and to employ
them on military duty only, so that they might have no
just ground for complaint. The Dart took six months’
supplies of pork and flour for the new arrivals, and also
two carronades which had belonged to the Investigator,
and as to the care of which King1 gave the Commandaut
very special cautions. No more free settlers were sent,
as the Governor wished first to get a better knowledge
of the country and of its suitableness for agriculture. To King to
this end he sent down James Meehan, a surveyor who Bowen, 1 8th
had done good work in New South Wales under Sur- (lct°ber, 1803.
veyor-General Grimes, and had recently formed one of the
party who had made the survey of Port Phillip in the
Cumberland. Meehan was to be employed in surveying
and making observations on the soil and natural pro¬
ductions of the colony, and was to advise with respect to
the distribution of the town, church, and school lands,

76

THE RISDON SETTLEMENT.

Knop wood’s
Diary, Gth
March, 1804.

Collins to

King, 29th

February,

1804.

Harris’s

statement.

fortification, court-house, settlers’ allotments, and govern¬
ment grounds for the purpose of agriculture and grazing.
He remained some four months at Hobart, returning
to Sydney in March, 1804, after having completed the
first surveys in Tasmania. Flinders’ map shows that
Meehan explored from the Coal River in a north-east
direction, returning by way of Prosser’s Plains and the
Sorell District, but we have no particulars of the result
of his observations.

Bowen’s little colony now numbered something like
100 souls. It had been established about two months,
and might fairly have been expected to have made at
least a start towards definite progress. But it was pre¬
destined to failure. The few meagre facts that can be
gleaned from the Record Office papers show that matters
went most persistently wrong. The Commandant may not
have been to blame for this ill success — possibly no man
could have achieved success with the like material. The
first arrivals had been bad, the second batch was certainly
no better. We have Collins’ testimony, very emphatically
given, that many of them were “abandoned, hardened
wretches” — “more atrocious than those imported from the
gaols of England.” The story of the escape of seven of
these convicts, under the leadership of one Duce, gives
us an idea of their lawlessness, their ignorance, and their
utter recklessness. One night, Dues and his six com¬
panions stole the Commandant’s boat as she lay in the
cove, gained possession of two guns, and got away down
the river. Some of the party wanted, without compass
or provisions, to run for New Zealand, which they
thought could easily be done. Others, not quite so
ignorant, preferred to try to make Timor. Violent
quarrels ensued, but they kept on their course along the
east coast, living on fish and such vegetable food as they
could collect on the shore, and constantly on the verge
of murderous conflict, until they reached Bass Strait.
Here one of the party was left on a desolate rock, Duce
threatening to shoot any one who interfered. The rest
made Cape Barren Island, where they fell in with a
sealing party. Duce and three others designed to seize
the vessel, but were betrayed by their companions. The
sealers overpowered them, and put the four, with some
provisions, on one of the islands, where they left them.
Whether they perished, or whether they helped to swell
the number of lawless runaways who for so long a time
infested the islands in the Straits, no one knows.'

The soldiers were almost as great a trouble to the
Commandant as the convicts. They were always

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

77

discontented, occasionally mutinous. At times, instead
of guarding the stores from depredation, they connived
at the prisoners plundering them. An occasion of this King to
sort, when a soldier was proved to have been accomplice Hobart, 1st
in a robbery, led to Bowen taking a very extraordinary March> 1804*
step. He could not try the man, not being able to
constitute a court martial, and was so puzzled to know
what to do with him, that when the Ferret whaler
chanced to put into the Derwent, he actually determined
to leave his post, and himself take the culprit to Sydney
for trial. Accordingly, he sailed from Risdon for Sydney
in the Ferret , on the 9th January, 1804.

With all these signs of the utter disorganisation of the
settlement, we cannot wonder that no progress had been
made, and that when Collins arrived a few weeks later,
he found that after five months’ residence not a single acre Collins to
of land was in preparation for grain upon Government King, 29th
account. February,

But the Risdon settlement was already doomed, owing 1
to a series of events of which neither Governor King
nor his Commandant was yet aware. Before Bowen
had made his first abortive start for the Derwent, and
before Governor King’s despatch of 23rd November,

1802, respecting French designs could have reached
England, the Home Government had taken a resolution
which — not by any intention of theirs— was destined to
bring Lieut. Bowen’s colony to an end, by its extinction in
a more systematic and extensive settlement on the banks

of the Derwent. In January, 1803, an Order in Council Downing-
appointed Lieut. -Colonel David Collins, of the Royal
Marines, Lieutenant-Governor of a settlement intended mna
to be formed at Port Phillip, in New South Wales.

The new establishment sailed from Spithead on the 24th

April, 1803 — a month before King had given Bowen Knopwood’s

his commission as Commandant of Hobart — had just left Diary.

Cape Town when Bowen sailed from Sydney in the
Albion, and arrived in Port Phillip on the 9th October,

1803.

This is not the place to give an account of Collins’
proceedings, at Port Phillip or elsewhere, except in so
far as they affected the fortunes of the Risdon settlement.

Suffice it to say, that Collins found, or fancied, that Port
Phillip was unfit for a settlement, and after corresponding
with Governor King, and dawdling near the Heads for
some three months, he finally decided to remove his
establishment to the Derwent. Thereupon, King sent King to
Collins a letter addressed to Bowen, directing the latter Bowen, 26th
to hand over to Collins his command at the Derwent, jgo^6111 er’

78

THE RISDON SETTLEMENT.

9th J anuary,
1804.

23rd January.

1st March,
1804.

Ibid.

30th January,
1804.

King’s Order
to Palmer,
29th August,
1804.

Knopwood’s
Diary, 10 th
March.

and to send back to Port Jackson his detachment of
the' New South Wales Corps. And so a game of cross
purposes began. For while Collins was still fuming’ and
fidgetting at Port Phillip, balancing the comparative
advantages of Port Dalrymple and the Derwent, and
gradually making up his mind in favour of the latter
place, Bowen had sailed from Risdon in the Ferret
with his burglarious soldier, and had presented himself
to the astonished Governor King at Port Jackson. The
Governor seems to have taken no pains to conceal the
annoyance he felt at his Commandant leaving his post
on so trifling an occasion, and sarcastically remarks in a
despatch to Lord Hobart, that Bowen’s “ return was
occasioned by the necessity he conceived himself to be
under of bringing up a soldier who had been implicated
with the rest in robbing the stores.” He was the more
vexed at this inopportune return, as he knew that Collins
was on the point of leaving Port Phillip, and he was
particularly anxious that the Risdon Commandant should
be at hand to give the new Lieutenant-Governor the
benefit of his experience and knowledge of the locality.

The colonial cutter Integrity had just been launched.
She was hastily fitted for sea, and Bowen was ordered
to return in her to the Derwent forthwith, calling at
Port Phillip to join Collins, to give him all necessary
assistance, and accompany him to Risdon. The In¬
tegrity sailed on the 5th February ; but Bowen’s ill
luck still attended him. When he reached Port Phillip
he found only a remnant of Collins’ establishment, under
the charge of Lieut. Sladden, the Lieutenant-Governor
himself having sailed for the Derwent in the Ocean
with the bulk of his people two or three days before.
Bowen accordingly hastened on with his despatches, but
shortly after sailing the cutter’s rudder fastenings carried
away, and she was placed in a very dangerous position.
However, she managed to reach Kent’s Bay, Cape Barren
Island, and there they found a sealing party belonging
to the American ships Pilgrim and Perseverance. The
necessity for getting on was imperative ; so Bowen made
a verbal agreement with the American skipper, Captain
Amasa Delano, to carry them on in his ship, and after¬
wards, if required, to proceed to Port Jackson. From
the diary of the Chaplain of Collins’ party, the well
known Rev. Robert Knopwood, we learn that the Pilgrim
cast anchor in Sullivan’s Cove on 10th March, and that
at six in the evening, a boat brought ashore “ the Governor
of Risdon Creek, Lieut. Bowen, of the Royal Navy.”

It must have proved a considerable mortification to

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

79

the Governor of Risdon Creek to learn the events that
had occurred during his unlucky absence. Lieutenant-
Governor Collins had arrived in the evening of the 15th
February, and next morning had landed at the Risdon
settlement under a salute of 11 guns from the Ocean.

On landing, he had been received by the officer in charge,

Lieut. Moore, of the New South Wales’ Corps, and the
rest of the establishment — consisting of the doctor, store¬
keeper, and military force of 16 privates, one sergeant,
and one drum and fife. After examining the camp,
gardens, water, &c., the new Lieutenant-Governor had at
once come to the conclusion — which indeed was pretty
evident — that Risdon was not, in the Chaplain’s words,

“ calculated for a town.” Accordingly, on the following

day the Governor, with the Chaplain and Wm. Collins,

had gone exploring, and had returned much delighted,

having found at a place on the opposite side of the river,

six miles below Risdon, “a plain well calculated in

every degree for a settlement.” Forthwith the tents

of the new establishment had been struck and taken on

board the ships, which had dropped down the river to

the selected spot, and anchored in Sullivan’s Cove So

that on the 20th February — five days after Collins’ Knopwood.

arrival — his tents had been pitched at the mouth of the

creek on the present site of Hobart, and the glory of

Risdon had departed.

Bowen’s settlement had had its own internal troubles,
which, no doubt, Lieut. Moore duly reported to the
Governor of Risdon Creek. On the 21st February, the Collins to
day after the founding of the new Hobart at Sullivan’s King, 29th
Cove, a further batch of five convicts had escaped from February
Risdon, having found means to steal half a barrel of
gunpowder from under the very feet of the sentry, and
also two “ musquets,” with which they had got off into the
woods. The runaways, however, did not find the woods
inviting enough for a permanent residence, and one of
them having voluntarily come in, the others followed his
example next day, bringing the arms and ammunition
with them. It was too troublesome and expensive to
send them to Sydney for trial; they wrere therefore
heavily ironed, and kept to work as a gaol gang.

The only consolation that the Risdon Governor could
have found in his adversity — besides the greater oppor¬
tunities of good fellowship which were now afforded him,
with no doubt better fare than the salt pork and bread,
which had hitherto been the regulation diet — was the
consideration that the religious wants of his people,
about which Governor King had been so emphatic,

80

THE RISDON SETTLEMENT.

26th March.
17th April.

King to
Palmer, 29th
August, 1804.

King to
Hobart, 20th
December,
1804.

American
sealers —
Murrell’s
statement.

King to
Hobart, 20th
December,
1804.

were now under proper regulation, and that on Sundays,
when the weather was not unfavourable, the Chaplain,
after divine service at Sullivan’s Cove, had occasionally
gone over to Risdon in the afternoon, and, as he phrases
it, “ done his duty to all the convicts, &c., &c.,” dining
afterwards with Dr. Mountgarret.

Captain Delano, meanwhile, was making a good thing
out of Bowen’s misfortunes. The Integrity was still
lying at Cape Barren Island, disabled, and she had to
be brought on. So after enjoying and returning the
hospitalities of the place for a fortnight, the American
captain sailed again for the Straits, with new rudder
fastenings for the disabled vessel, and in less than a
month the Pilgrim once more appeared in the Derwent
with the Integrity in company. The Pilgrim sailed
away a few days later to continue her sealing voyage,
and her captain carried with him not only the reward
of an approving conscience, but also Bowen’s bill on
Governor King for .£400. When the bill was pre¬
sented in the following August, King’s surprise was
considerable, and he made some vigorous protests. But
the bill was in due form, for services performed, and
the Governor had to pay. He could only relieve his
feelings by writing to Lord Hobart in strong terms as
to the American’s conduct ; but he says, “ I did not
consider I could, with that respect due to the British
character, either curtail or refuse payment of the bill,
notwithstanding the extortionate advantage that had
been taken of Mr. Bowen’s necessities, and his not
entering into a written agreement.”

We hear again of Captain Delano and his party a
month or two later, and they seem to have been very un¬
desirable visitors. Not only had they been smuggling spirits
against the stringent regulations and decoying prisoners,
but they had made themselves still more obnoxious by
their brutal treatment of a sealing party at Kent’s Bay
belonging to the Surprise sloop, of Sydney. According
to the statement of the master of the Surprise, he had
been flogged and nearly killed by Delano’s men for
venturing to come into the Straits and interfere with
them by killing seals in their neighbourhood. Governor
King was inclined to take vigorous measures to put a
stop to the lawless conduct which was then only too
common amongst the American sealers in Bass’ Straits,
and proposed to the Home Government that he should
be authorised to go the length of seizing their ships as
the only means of teaching them better behaviour.

But to return to the fortunes of the Risdon Settlement.

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

81

Lieutenant-Governor Collins was altogether disappointed Collins to
with the condition of Bowen’s colony, and made a very King, 29th
unfavourable report on it to Governor King. The site was ^krimvy,
quite unsuitable ; the landing-place on the creek was
choked with mud, and only accessible at high tide ; the
stores were placed on a low position, and likely to be
flooded by any heavy rain ; the land was bv no means
first class ; and the rivulet, on which they depended for Collins to
their fresh water, and which in September had been a Hobart, 31st
running stream, was in February dwindled to a few pools Jul^ 1804,
of dirty water. The indifferent capabilities of the place Collins to
had not been made the most of. No grain had been King, 29th
sown, and no Government land had been even prepared February,
for sowing. Dr. Mountgarret, and Clark and Birt, the 1804,
free settlers, had each about five acres ready, but they
had no seed, so Collins had to supply them with suf- Collins to
ficient to crop their land. The five months’ occupation Hobart, 31st
had been wasted ; there was nothing to show but a few 1S04,
wretched huts, cottages somewhat better for the officers,
and a few acres of land roughly cleared of trees and
scrub. The people -were in a miserable condition, having Collins to
been for some time on two-thirds of the standard rations, Hobart, 3rd
so that Collins had to supply them with food, and even August, 1804.
to remove their starving pigs to his own camp to save
their lives. A more dismal failure for a new colony
could scarcely be imagined. It is difficult to decide how Collins to
far Bowen was to blame for this wretched state of things. King, 29th
The human material that had been given him to mould February,
into shape was desperately bad. Collins says that the 1894'
officer in charge on his arrival (probably Lieut. Moore)
described them “ as a worthless and desperate set of
wretches;” and this language does not appear to have
been too strong. The Sydney authorities seem to have
taken the opportunity of Bowen’s settlement to rid them¬
selves of their worst criminals, including the most tur¬
bulent of the United Irishmen, who had lately given so
much trouble by their rising in the older colony. Even
the soldiers of the New South Wales Corps, sent to curb
these undesirable colonists, were lazy and mutinously
inclined. It is a satisfaction to know that Collins
eventually shipped the whole lot back to Sydney — both
soldiers and convicts, with but few exceptions — so that
they never had any part in the new Hobart.

Collins did not interfere with Bowen or with Lieut. Ibid.

Moore in their command, but left them in uncontrolled
charge. Indeed, he seems to have been only too anxious
to wash his hands of Risdon and all its works. Governor
Bowen and the Risdon officers, however, made the best
of their circumstances, and, if we can trust the chaplain’s

82

THE RISDON SETTLEMENT.

Knopwood,
2Gth March.

1 April.

Collins to
King, 24th
April, 1804.

diary, took life easily — shooting, hunting, excursionising,
and exchanging frequent visits with the officers of the
new camp. Towards the end of March Mr. Knopwood
goes to Risdon for a few days, and “ they caught six
young emews the size of a turkey, and shot the old
mother.5’ On Easter Sunday, after Divine Service,
they all go to the chaplain’s marquee at the camp, and
“partook of some Norfolk ham, the best we ever eat.”
At 4 p.m. he adjourns to Lieut. Lord’s to dinner, “and
was very merry.” Mr. Knopwood records many visits
to Risdon, and excursions with Bowen up the river, to
Mount Direction, to Ralph’s Bay, and other places.
“ The Governor of Risdon Creek,” as Knopwood called
him, had, however, enough trouble with his refractory
people. His soldiers had long grumbled at the sentry
duty as too hard for their small numbers ; and the dis¬
content at last broke out into direct mutiny. On Sunday,
22nd April, ihe men flatly refused to mount guard, and
became so insolent and insubordinate that Lieut. Moore
promptly put four of the ringleaders into irons, and took
them down to Sullivan’s Cove. Lieut. -Governor Collins
sent the mutineers under a guard on board the Colonial
cutter Integrity , then on the point of sailing for Port
Jackson. At the same time a plot was on foot amongst
some of the Irish convicts at Risdon. Their object was
to seize the storehouse, supply themselves with provisions,
and make good their escape from the settlement. On
the discovery of the plot three of the ringleaders were
forthwith flogged, and to prevent further mischief Cap¬
tain Bowen and Mr. Wilson, the storekeeper, a few
days later took the mutinous prisoners to Norfolk Bay
in the Risdon whaleboat. “ Eight of them, and all
Irishmen,” remarks the chaplain. They were left on
Smooth Island (now known as Garden Island), with a
month’s provisions, and Bowen went on to explore the
River Huon.

With that fatality which always kept Bowen out of
the way when he was wanted, an important and disastrous
event occurred at Risdon in his absence. This was the
first affray of the English with the natives. It was on
the 3rd May, 1804, that this first of the long series of
fatal encounters between the two 'races took place.
Up to this time it does not appear that any natives
had been seen in the neighbourhood of Risdon. Knop¬
wood relates that there had been some friendly intercourse
with the tribe on the other side of the river, and that
some of them had come to Collins’ camp. We also learn
from him that he and Bowen had seen many natives in
the neighbourhood of Frederick Henry Bay. "The blacks

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

83

bad always shown themselves shy and suspicious, but
relations had hitherto been quite friendly. The unhappy
event of the 3rd May sowed the seeds of a hostility on
the part of the blacks, which, exasperated from time to
time by mutual injuries, filled the colony with deeds of
outrage and horror, with savage murders of innocent
settlers, and almost equally savage retaliation, until the
native race was nearly exterminated, and the miserable
remnant removed to Flinders’ Island, to perish of slow
decay. Of the origin of the affray the accounts are very
contradictory. Two of these are contemporary ; one re¬
corded by Mr. Knopwood in his diary, the other in a
letter by Lieut. Moore, the officer in charge of Risdon.
The Chaplain says, under date Thursday, 3rd May : —
‘‘At 2 p.m. we heal’d the report of cannon once from
Risdon. The Lieut.-Governor sent a message to know the
cause. At half-past 7, Lieut. Moore arrived at the camp
to Lieut.-Governor Collins, and I received the following
note from Risdon : — ■

Dear Sir,

I beg to refer you to Mr. Moore for the particulars of an
attack the natives made on the camp to-day, and I have every
reason to think it was premeditated, as their number far
exceeded any that we ever heard of. As you express a wish
to be acquainted with some of the natives, if you will dine
with me to-morrow, you will oblige me by christening a line
native boy who I have. Unfortunately, poor boy, his father
and mother were both killed ; he is about 2 years old. I have,
likewise, the body of a man that was killed. If Mr. Bowden
wishes to see him dissected, I w’ill be happy to see him with
you to-morrow. I would have wrote to him, but Mr. Moore
waits.

Your friend,

J. Mouxtgarret.

Hobert, six o’clock.

The number of natives, I think, was not less than 5 or 6
hundred. J. M.”

Knopwood continues :

“ At 8, Lieut. Moore came to my marquee and stayed some
time ; he informed me of the natives being very numerous,
and that they had wounded one of the settlers, Burke, and
was going to burn his house down, and ill-treated his wife,
&o., &c.”

Lieut. Moore’s letter — a copy of which is preserved in
the Record Office —is dated Risdon Cove, 7th May,
1804, and is addressed to Governor Collins. He says —

Sir,

Agreeable to your desire, I have the honor of acquainting
you with the circumstances that led to the attack on the
natives, which you will perceive was the consequence of
their own hostile appearance.

84

THE RISDON SETTLEMENT.

Military-
operations
against the
aborigines of
V.D.L.,
House of
Commons
Paper, 23rd
September,
1831, p. 53.

It would appear from the numbers of them, and the spears,
&c., with which they were armed, that their design was to
attack us. However, it was not until they had thoroughly
convinced us of their intentions, by using violence to a settler’s
wife, and my own servant — who was returning into camp with
some kangaroos, one of which they took from him — that they
were fired upon. On their coming into camp and surrounding
it, I went towards them with five soldiers. Their appearance
and numbers I thought very far from friendly. During this
time I was informed that a party of them was beating Birt,
the settler, at his farm. I then despatched two soldiers to his
assistance, with orders not to fire if they could avoid it.
However, they found it necessary ; and one was killed on the
spot, and another found dead in the valley.

But at this time a great party was in the camp ; and, on a
proposal from Mr. Mountgarret to fire one of the carronades
to intimidate them, they departed.

Mr. Mountgarret, with some soldiers and prisoners, fol¬
lowed them some distance up the valley, and have reason to
suppose more was wounded, as one was seen to be taken
away bleeding. During the time they were in camp, a num¬
ber of old men were perceived at the foot of the hill, near the
valley, employed in preparing spears.

I have now, Sir, as near as I can recollect, given you the
leading particulars, and hope there has nothing been done but
what you approve of.

I have the honor to be, &c.

William Moore,
Lieut. N.S.W. Corps.

It will be noticed that in this letter Lieut. Moore,
who had every reason to represent the conduct of the
natives in the worst light, can show no direct act of
hostility. He assumed that they were hostile, from their
numbers ; and, for the beating of Birt, and the proposed
burning of his hut, he has no evidence to offer but a
report brought to him in the midst of the panic which the
appearance of the blacks had caused among his people.
That the doctor’s proposal to fire the carronade should
have induced savages, who did not understand the
language and had never seen fire-arms, to withdraw, is
too great a stretch on one’s credulity. We know, from
Knopwood, that the gun was fired; but, whether it was
loaded with blank cartridge or with grape we have no
means of deciding.

The only other eye-witness of the affair whose account
we have directly contradicts Lieut. Moore ; and his
story looks probable, like the story of a man who had
kept his head amidst the general panic. This witness is
one Edward White, who was examined before Governor
Arthur’s Aborigines’ Committee in 1830. In considering
his evidence it should be remembered that at the time he
gave it the exasperation of the Avhole colony against the

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

85

blacks, on account of their brutal outrages, was at fever
heat, and the witness had every inducement to repre¬
sent their conduct in this affair in an unfavourable light.

White came to the colony with Bowen, and was an
assigned servant to the settler Clark. He was the first
man who saw the approach of the natives. He was hoe¬
ing new ground on the creek near Clark’s house, which
was about half a mile up the valley behind the camp.

As he was hoeing, he saw 300 natives, men, women, and
children, coming down the valley in a circular, or rather
a semi-circular, form, with a flock of kangaroo between
them. They had no spears, but were armed with
waddies only, and were driving the kangaroo into the
bottom. On catching sight of him they paused astonished,
and, to use his expression, “looked at him with all
their eyes.” White had very probably been accus¬
tomed to the Port Jackson natives ; at any rate, he says
that he felt no alarm at the approach of the blacks, but
he thought it advisable to go down the creek and inform
some soldiers. He then went back to his work. On
his return the natives were near Clark’s house. They
did not molest him or threaten him in any way. Birt’s
house was on the other side of the creek some hundreds
of yards off, and White was very positive that so far
from attacking Birt or his house, they never even crossed
over to that side of the creek, and “ were not within half
a quarter of a mile ” of the hut. He knew nothing of
their going into the camp itself ; but they did not attack
the soldiers, and, he believed, would not have molested
them. When the firing commenced there were a great
many of the natives slaughtered and wounded, how many
he did not know.

The Rev. Mr. Knopwood gave evidence before then, of Com.
same committee. He stated that he had heard different Paper, 23rd
opinions as to the origin of the attack ; that it was said SeHp
the natives wanted to encamp on the site of Birt’s hut,
half a mile from the camp, and had ill-used his wife,
but that the hut was not burnt or plundered. They did
not attack the camp, but our people went from the camp
to attack the natives, who remained at Birt’s hut. He
thought only five or six natives were killed. The
general opinion was that the blacks had gone to Risdon
to hold a corrobberry.

These accounts throw great doubt on the accuracy of
Lieut. Moore’s version of the affair. It is significant
that Knopwood, who had every opportunity of learning
the truth at the time, should state so positively that the
natives never left the neighbourhood of Birt’s hut, but
that the soldiers went out to attack them.

86

THE RISDON SETTLEMENT.

H. of Com.
Paper, 23rd
Sept., 1881,
p. 53.

Knopwood,
11th May.

Collins to
King, 15 th
May, 1804.

It seems clear that the natives had no hostile intention
in their visit, and this was the conclusion of Governor
Arthur’s committee. Everything goes to show that
they were a party coming from the east, probably the
Oyster Bay tribe, engaged on a hunting expedition, and
that they were more astonished than the English on
coming into contact with them. The fact of their having
their women and children with them is a perfectly con¬
clusive proof that no attack was contemplated. We
can easily understand how terrifying to the Risdon
people must have been this sudden inroad of a horde of
excited savages, yelling and gesticulating. Utterly
ignorant of their customs, unable to understand them,
or to make themselves understood, the panic of the
English, convinced that the natives had collected in force
to destroy them, was natural enough. Doubtless the
soldiers shared in the general scare, and, moreover, were
probably quite inclined to take pot shots at the black
savages. But Lieut. Moore ought not to have lost his
head. He at least should have grasped the situation,
and restrained his men. A little more presence of mind
on his part, the exercise of a little tact and forbearance,
and a collision would have been avoided, the natives
would have been conciliated, and the history of the black
race in Tasmania might have been different. That the
aborigines of Tasmania would in any case have melted
away before the white man, as the aborigines of the other
colonies are melting away, is certain ; but if it had not been
for Lieut. Moore’s error at Risdon, a war of extermination,
with all its attendant horrors, might have been averted.

There is little to add respecting this occurrence,
except that, according to White, some of the bones of
the slaughtered natives were sent in two casks to Port
Jackson by Dr. Mountgarret, and that the chaplain,
ever anxious to extend the bounds of his church,
records that he went to Risdon a week later and “ xtiand
a young native boy whose name was Robert Hobert
May” — the good chaplain having thus the honor of
bestowing his name on this first innocent aboriginal
Christian. Collins tells Governor King' that the baptism
had taken place without his knowledge or consent, and
when he found that Dr. Mountgarret intended to take this
two-year old native to Sydney, he had the boy brought
to the camp and directed that he should be returned to
his own people, for fear they should think he had been
killed and eaten by the English. “ For,” he remarks,
“ we have every reason to believe them to be cannibals,
and they may entertain the same opinion of us.”* The

* There is no foundation for this opinion.

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

87

incident made Collins very apprehensive of further
attacks; and, indeed, a few days after this affray the crew
of the cutter, while collecting oyster shells on the river
bank opposite Hobart, was attacked by a numerous party
of natives, and beaten off with stones and clubs.

As I have already observed, Lieut.-Governor Collins
was very reluctant to have anything to do with the
Risdon people, and would willingly have shipped them
all off to Port Jackson ; but he now received express
and positive instructions from Governor King to take
over the command ; and, accordingly, on the 8th May,
(immediately after Bowen’s return from the Huon), a
General Order was issued, notifying that lie ijad taken
upon himself the command of Risdon ; that Lieut.

Bowen was to continue in the direction of the settlement
under him until further orders, and that the officers and Collins to
prisoners were to return to Port Jackson in the Ocean. Kino> 15tli
The stores were immediately removed to Sullivan’s May’ 1804‘
Cove, the few remaining prisoners being victualled
from the Hobart camp. The stock was also removed — Collins to
17 head of cattle, and 45 sheep and lambs ; and, a few Hobart, 31st
days later, the whole of the prisoners were removed to July> 1804,
the camp, where they could be kept at work in one
gang, under a strict guard and a vigilant overseer.

Although Collins badly wanted more military, he did ibid.
not care to keep the small detachment of the New South
Wales Corps, as he had at first thought of doing ; for, out
of the 23 soldiers, one had been taken to Sydney by Bowen
for robbery, and he himself had sent four others thither on
a charge of mutiny. He therefore determined to despatch
them all to Sydney, where a Court Martial could be
assembled to correct and punish their evil propensities.

Of the convicts, 50 in number, there were only 11 men and
2 women whom the Governor deemed it expedient to keep.

It was not until the 9th August that the Ocean got Knopwood.
under way for Sydney, and carried with her the whole
civil and military establishment, — Capt. John Bowen,

Hr. Mountgarret, Wilson the storekeeper, the turbulent
soldiers and the mutinous convicts, 40 or so, who had
formed the first Settlement in Van Diemen’s Land.

Thus ended the first and abortive Hobart.

The only free settler who remained was Richard Clark, Collins to
who had been made superintendent of stonemasons. King, 3rd
Both King and Collins speak highly of his character j^'1^^804’
and capacity. Collins gave him a similar position in the July’ '18q4
new Hobart at Sullivan’s Cove ; and in this office he ibid, 15th
acquitted himself well. A few sheep were given him, May.
and a location of 200 acres on the other side of the
river, nearly opposite Hobart.

88

THE RISDON SETTLEMENT.

King to
Collins, 30th
September,
1804.

Collins to
King, 29th
February,
1804.

King to
Collins, 30th
September.

Knopwood,
3rd Sept.

King to
Palmer, 89th
September.
King’s Com¬
mission, 31st
August, 1804.

King to
Collins, 30tli
September,
1804.

King’s memo,
to Palmer,
29th Septem¬
ber, 1804.

Bowen to
King, 17 th
November,
1804.

King to
Hobart, 20th
December,
1804.

The other settler, Birt, had applied for and obtained
leave to remain ; but at the last moment he changed
his mind, and sailed with the rest in the Ocean , which
brought him under the displeasure of Governor King,
who refused to allow him a grant of land. Dr. Mount-
garret also at first desired to stay, as he had been
combining commerce with medicine, and had a large
stock on hand which he wished to dispose of ; but he,
eventually, changed his mind, and he also sailed in the
Ocean.

The net balance of the Risdon Settlement, therefore,
remaining with Collins was Richard Clark and the
1 1 male and 2 female convicts above mentioned. Collins
afterwards ordered all the houses at Risdon to be pulled
down ; but it does not appear whether this was carried
into effect. The Ocean did not arrive in Port Jackson
until the 23rd August, King having almost given her up
for lost. Dr. Mountgarret got a fresh appointment as
Surgeon to the new Settlement at Port Dalrymple,
under Lieut.-Colonel Paterson.

Lieut. Bowen had left a mare at the Derwent for
which he had paid =£120, and he offered her to King at
that price. The Governor agreed to purchase her on
Government account, and paid Bowen with four cows,
which he stopped out of his next shipment to Collins.
This was the first horse taken to Van Diemen’s Land.

It only remains to state what more we know of the
Governor of Risdon Creek. On his arrival at Sydney
he was desirous of returning to England, in order that
he might again enter on active service in the navy.
Governor King had offered him the munificent pay of
5.5. per day from the 30th June, 1803, when he first
sailed from Sydney in the Porpoise, to the 24th August,
1804, when he returned thither in the Ocean, viz., 420
days, at 5 s. per day, or .£105 — exactly one hundred
guineas for 14 months’ governorship — certainly not an
extravagant salary for a Governor — not enough to pay
his passage to England. He refused the colonial pay
offered, and addressed a letter to King, in which he
reminds the Governor that pecuniary considerations had
not been in his view in accepting the appointment, but
simply the advancement of his interest in His Majesty’s
naval service ; but that, as he had been at great expense
consequent on that appointment, he trusted the Governor
would recommend him to the Home authorities for a
sufficient remuneration. King enclosed the letter to
Lord Hobart, strongly recommending the application, as
he believed Bowen had done his utmost to forward the
service he undertook, and expressing a hope that, in

%5u.'di *

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

89

addition to this, his character, and that of his father and
other relatives in the navy, might open a way for the
promotion he was so anxious to obtain. King also paid
his passage home in the Lady Barlow, amounting
to £100.

It would seem that Lieut. Bowen obtained the promo¬
tion he sought. Jorgensen — who, however, was not the
most accurate of men — states in his autobiography that
the Commandant of Risdon was a son of Commissioner
Bowen. Mr. Leslie Stephen’s “Dictionary of National Boss’ Hobart
Biography,” in a notice of Captain James (afterwards Town
Admiral) Bowen, who performed brilliant services at sea ^^nac>
during the French wars, mentions the fact that he was
one of the Commissioners of the Navy from 1816 to 1825,
and that his son J ohn, also a captain, after serving in
that rank through the later years of the war, died in the
year 1828.

With this brief notice of its founder, I close the story
of the first Settlement at Risdon Cove.

APPENDIX A.

Captain Hayes’ Charts.

A manuscript map, evidently the result of Lieut. Hayes’
surveys of the Derwent, was recently discovered by Mr.
James R. M£Clymont in the National Library. Mr. Alfred
Mault has obtained through his friends in Paris a fac simile
of this map, which he has courteously placed at the disposal
of the Royal Society, and a photo-lithograph of it will appear
in this year’s volume of the Society’s Proceedings. The map
bears the imprint of A. Arrowsmith, London, but apparently
was never published. Mr. Mault thinks it is Lieut. Hayes’
own draft of his chart prepared for publication. This is pro¬
bable ; but the map in question is not identical with the
sketch Flinders refers to, since that sketch showed Risdon
Cove, which does not appear in Mr. Mault’s/bc simile. His
Excellency the Governor has kindly interested himself in the
matter, and it is probable that through his influence some
further information respecting Hayes’ expedition may at last
be brought to light.

APPENDIX B.

Population of the Australian Colonies at the time of the
Risdon Settlement (1803) : —

New South Wales . 7134

Norfolk Island . 1200

Yan Diemen’s Land . 49

Total . 8383

See Collins’ “Account of New South Wales,” ii., 333.

90

ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA.

Addenda et Corrigenda.

“the french in van diemen’s land.”

(See Royal Society’s Transactions, 1888.)

P. 101, Note. — The name “Australia.” — In a despatch to Lord
Bathurst, dated April 4th, 1817, Governor Macquarie says —
“ The Continent of Australia, which I hope will be the name
given to this country in future, instead of the very erroneous
and misapplied name hitherto given it, of New Holland ,
which, properly speaking, only applies to a part of this
immense continent.” — Labilliere’s “ Early History of Vic¬
toria,” i., 184.

P. 100, line 3. — “ Quiros’ Terre du St. Esprit, the coast
between Cooktown and Townsville.” — It is so placed by De
Brosses in the chart appended to his “ Navigations aux Terres
Australes.” It is now identified as the island of Espiritu
Santo, one of the New Hebrides group.

P. 103, line 16. — “Cox (1789).” — Through inadvertence
Cox is mentioned as having touched at Adventure Bay.
He did not enter Storm Bay, but visited Oyster Bay and
Maria Island.

P. 110, line 9. — “ In spite of his safe conduct from the French
Admiralty, [Flinders’] ship was seized as a prize.” — In a
pamphlet published in Sydney in 1886, containing a summary
of the contents of the Brabourne Papers, it is stated that
amongst the despatches’- carried by the Cumberland was one
from Governor King pointing out the opportunities which
Port Jackson afforded for the concentration of troops, which
might at any time be sent against the Spaniards in South
America, and it is suggested that the discovery of this de-.
spatch amongst Flinders’ papers gave Governor De Caen a
plausible excuse for the detention of the English navigator.
It is difficult to believe that this surmise has any sufficient
foundation, since, if such a despatch had come to the hands
of De Caen, he would certainly have produced it as a justifica¬
tion of his action, and would not have been driven to the
paltry pretext drawn from an entry in Flinders’ journal.

It may be mentioned that in a paper dated 1809 — while
Flinders was still a prisoner — Governor King states that
there was no doubt that the French entertained the design of
attacking New South Wales from Mauritius. He says that
Baudin had taken correct plans of Port Jackson, and had
explored the passage to Mauritius through Bass Straits, and
that had he lived another year the Commodore would most
likely have visited the colony for the purpose of annihilating
the settlement. — Labilliere’s “ Early History of Victoria,” i.,
121. See also Jorgensen’s Autobiography in Boss’s “Hobart
Town Almanack for 1835,” p. 138.

DISCUSSION ON THE FRENCH IN VAN DIEMEN’S LAND. 91
Discussion.

The Eev. F. H. Cox referred to the interest always mani¬
fested in tracing the past history of peoples and places. Mr.
"Walker had taken up the position of a Goldsmith in relation
to this deserted village of Eisdon, and traced a reason for this
desertion. In a sense he might claim a relationship to Mr.
Knopwood mentioned in the paper, in that he had succeeded
Mr. Bedford, and Archdeacon Davies, who had immediately suc¬
ceeded Mr. Knopwood.

The Eev. Geo. Clarke congratulated the writer of the
paper, and referred to the value of such information being
placed on record. It also removed several mistaken impres¬
sions which had been allowed to gain ascendency.

Mr. Mault asked Mr. Walker if the chart referred to by
him was similar to one which he had brought under that
gentleman’s notice a few days ago.

Mr. Walker said it was not. The Sydney chart gave further
particulars than in the one mentioned.

Mr. Mault explained that he had, through the medium of
friends in Paris, obtained permission to copy certain of the
maps in the archives at Paris. There was one map alleged to
have been issued by Arrowsmith, but of which no trace could
be found in the publisher’s house. The theory he formed was,
that Lieut. Hayes was seized, together with his charts, by
French vessels when proceeding to London, and that this map
was in manuscript at the time of seizure. He should be happy
to place the copy at Mr. Walker’s disposal should he so
desire.

Sir Lambert Dobson endorsed the remarks made by the
Eev. Geo. Clarke. He referred to the statement made in
Hopwood’s Journal, in which it was asserted that the river
was endangered by the number of whales, and also to the fact
that a former Governor had enjoyed snipe shooting near
Hobart. All this was changed and gone. He did not think
the full blame for the exterminatory war lay on the shoulders
of Lieut. Moore. It was bound to come in time. He also
mentioned that the site of Hobart was densely covered with
scrub, and therefore the first settlers might be forgiven for
choosing a more favourable spot. These changes that had
occurred he hoped were for the better.

His Excellency congratulated the writer of the paper.
He endorsed the opinion made by Mr. Mault respecting the
existence of old records in France. He would be prepared to
use his influence in the direction of making a request to the
Home Government on the subject. (Applause.)

F

92

SMUT IN WHEAT.

By T. Stephens, M.A., F.Gf.S.

The letter of Mr. Joseph Barwick, read at the last meeting
of the Boval Society, is specially interesting as showing a
spirit of intelligent enquiry, and a desire to work out the
solution of one of the numerous problems connected with
natural phenomena, which are to some extent a matter of
uncertainty even to those who have devoted their lives to
scientific research. Mr. Barwick’s long experience as a practical
farmer, and the results of his special experiments, have shown
him that the origin and spread of the parasitic disease to
which he refers is involved in much obscurity. He has,
however, perhaps not sufficiently realised that a thorough
knowledge of the general history of these low forms of
vegetable life must be acquired before one can be
sure of a satisfactory basis for experiments. The absence
here of facilities of access to standard works and recent
reports increases the difficulty of investigation, but the main
facts of the propogation of the disease in question are
sufficiently well-known for all practical purposes. Smut
and bunt may be regarded as convertible terms. Though
they are spoken of as distinct species by some authorities, I
can say from personal knowledge that what is called smut in
Tasmania bears the same name in some parts of England,
while elsewhere it is known as bunt. It is a minute fungus
belonging to the family Coniomycetes, sub-order JJ stilaginei,
and has been described at different times under various names,
as Ureclo caries, TJredo fcetida, Tilletia caries, and Ustilago
segetum ; but it is pretty well-known now that the form in
which the disease is always recognised is simply one of
the conditions or stages in the life of a fungoid plant, which
in other stages is known by a different name. In the case of
animal parasites, such as the sheep fluke ( Fasciola hepatica),
the stage in which it appears to the Ordinary observer is
only the final development in the sheep of a cycle of changes,
one of which, at least, cannot take place except in the body of
an animal belonging to a totally different class. Again, the
disease in sheep called “ sturdy ” or “ staggers ”• — the common
term in Tasmania is a “ cranky” sheep” — is derived from the
ova of the tape worm ( Taenia ) in a dog which, voided on the
grass, are taken up by the sheep with its natural food, and
find their way through the circulation into the brain, and
are there developed into a new form called Gcenurus cerebratis,
which, lodged near the inner surface of the skull and pressing
on the brain, produces the symptoms which are well-known
to most sheep farmers. So the blight known as “ corn
mildew ” ( Puceinia graminis ) has been definitely corrected

BY T. STEPHENS,. M.A., F.G.S.

93

with a fungus (JEcidium berberidis ) found on the wild
"barberry, and is said to have disappeared from some
localities when this hedgerow tree had been extirpated. As
regards smut, it is sufficient to know that the disease generally
springs from seed infected by the minute spores of the fungus
known by that name, which explains the use of sulphate of
copper or some other fungus destroyer, as a preventive, and it
is probable that the intermediate changes take fdaee in
different parts of the wheat plant, reaching their final
development in the ear. It is well known that self-sown
wheat, such as grows on headlands, is very rarely affected by
the disease, and the probable explanation of this fact is that
it is not so much exposed to infection as that which has
passed through the steam-threshing machine. The myriads of
spores beaten out from even one smutted ear form a cloud of
impalpable slightly glutinous dust, which adheres to the
grain with which it comes in contact, and this applies also to
hand-threshed wheat, though in a much less degree. When
the machines first came into use, English farmers still pre¬
ferred to use the flail for wheat intended for seed, because in
machine-dressed wheat some of the grain is often so much
broken by the beaters as to be unfit to produce healthy plants.
They do not omit in either case to use some preventive
against smut, the experience of generations have proved that
if properly applied, it very rarely fails to check its ravages.
Of course wheat selected from sound ears and rubbed out by
hand, as described by Mr. Barwick, would be in a condition
analogous to thafi of self - sown wheat, having been free
from exposure to the ordinary causes of infection. I doubt
very much whether any trials of seed at the Botanical Gardens
could be of much practical value in a matter of this kind ; but
further experiments by Mr. Barwick and other intelligent
farmers might prove interesting. As the mode of dressing
wheat against smut varies considerably, and some kinds of
treatment may do as much harm as good, I will conclude these
remarks with a brief description of the process adopted by
the best farmers in the North of England, where it was
always regarded as an almost infallible preventive. A solution
is prepared by dissolving powdered sulphate of copper in
water, at the rate of 2ozs. to a pint for each bushel of wheat.
The grain is emptied on a floor, a little of it is shovelled to
one side by one person, while another sprinkles the solution
over it, and this process is continued until the whole quantity
is gone over. The heap is then turned repeatedly, the men.
working with shovels opposite to each other. Alter lying for
a few minutes the grain is ready for sowing either by hand or
machine. The seed ought not to be steeped in the solution,
but merely -wetted. A too strong solution may kill the seed
as well as the fungus, and damaged grains are probably often

94

DISCUSSION ON SMUT IN WHEAT.

destroyed by the ordinary process of pickling ; while too long
soaking in even a weak solution may cause premature
germination, resulting in a badly-rooted and unhealthy plant.

Discussion.

Mr. R. M. Johnston said he had studied this matter 17
or 18 years ago, and had found that the same form of
fungoid growths prevailed in all these cases. At that time
he took occasion to make enquiries among the western
farmers as to the surroundings which usually proved most
favourable to the development of the pest, and the prevailing
opinion was that it was most prevalent in newly cleared
lands, adjoining forest lands, and that the further removed
the land was from the timber growth, the pest sensibly
decreased. Perhaps, in view of all this, it might be wise on
the part of farmers, when selecting seed wheat, to obtain it
from, districts which were free, or almost free, from the
pest.

Mr. Mault directed attention to the fact that the Agri¬
cultural Department of the Privy Council, Great Britain and
Ireland, issued reports by experts on all these subjects, and
that copies thereof were furnished to the Tasmanian
Parliamentary Library. These reports embraced works deal¬
ing with the latest information, respecting both agriculture
and fruit culture, and he thought the fact was not generally
known that copies existed in the colony.

Mr. Ward called attention to the fact that sulphate of
copper contained a percentage of sulphate of iron, which
was a decidedly more powerful germicide than sulphate of
copper. It also appeared that the iron sulphate formed a
chemical compound with the cellulose portion of the coating
of grain.

95

SMUT IN WHEAT.

By F. Abbott, Superintendent op the Botanical
Gardens.

At the last meeting of the Royal Society a communication
from Mr. Joseph Barwick was read on Smut in Wheat, in
which he relates his own tests for the purpose of ascertaining
the cause, and suggests that further experiments should be
carried out in the Botanical Gardens for a like purpose.
Having carefully read Mr. Barwick’ s communication, I can
but think that he, as well as others with whom I have
conversed, are not acquainted with much that has been done
of late in the investigation of this subject, and that,
Therefore, the following general notes may interest many : — •
The various species of Ustilaginae, especially U. Segetum,
causing smut in wheat and other plants have been under
observation by a host of competent scientific observers for
many years past, and it is only of late, after much patient
research and many thousands of anatomical observations,
more in the laboratory than the field, that the life history of
the fungus has been elucidated. In the Gardener’s Chronicle
for February 23 and March 2, a detailed account of recent
discoveries as to the nature of Ustilaginse is given by H.
Marshall Ward. As this account is replete with information
at present little known, arrangements have been made for its
publication in Webster’s Gazette for August and September,
where full details may be found. To others into whose hands
this publication may not come, the following brief notes may
be of interest : The dark substance, popularly called smut, is
in reality dense masses of spores arising in tufts at the ends
of fine filaments, formed in the ovary or young grain at the
expense of the food material, which is destroyed. These
spores, of which there are enormous numbers, every ear of
smutted corn producing, it is estimated, not less than ten
millions, are capable of germinating when placed under
favourable circumstances, and multiply their conoidal cells
with great rapidity in the soil ; fresh manure or manure
washings greatly favour their development, and should in all
cases be avoided ; in material of this description the fungus
produces generation after generation in vastly increasing
numbers, waiting as it were for the coming of its host, into
which it quickly penetrates, and with which it continues to
grow. The spores ripening in the grain of the smutted
cereal are garnered with the latter, become scattered on the
healthy grain and are sown with it, the fungus germinating
at the same time as the cereal, produce their prymocella, the
germ tubes of which penetrate the embryo plant. Experiments

96

SMUT IN WHEAT.

have proved that the fungus is only able to effect an entrance
to its host by attacking. the embryonic tissue; once inside, it
gradually permeates the whole plant, extending with its growth
from cell to cell, and finally meeting in the young fruit con¬
ditions favourable to the production of spores. As the fungus
can only enter the tender tissue at the color of the young seed¬
ling, it is very important that the cultivator should endeavour,
by the selection of good, sound, clean seed only, and a good and
properly prepared seed bed, to encourage a rapid growth from
the first. Anything that tends to retard this growth in its
earliest stages lengthens the time during which it is possible
for the fungus to effect an entrance, and greatly increases
the chances of infection ; a few hours even may make all the
difference, for though thousands of sporidea may be near the
color of the young seedling, no entrance can take place unless
the germ tubes reach it at the critical time. Experiments
have been made with a view of infecting the leaves aud stem
of the growing corn with the germinating spores, but have
invariably resulted in failure, except on the tender growing
point, where the tissues remained sufficiently soft for the
sporidea to effect an entrance, but under natural conditions
this point is not subject to attack. As regards suit¬
able dressings, there is yet a large field open to
investigators ; if freeing the seed coat from spores super¬
ficially attached was all that was necessary, the matter would
be simple enough, but much more than this is required, as
the smut fungus may be present in the soil itself, ready to
attack the grain at the critical time. Dressings, to be
effectual, must be sufficiently permanent to destroy in the soil
any prymocelia or conoidal cells that may happen to be in
proximity with the seed corn. The following are said to be
as efficacious as any at present known : — A strong solution of
Glauber’s salts, in which the seed grain is to be well washed,
and afterwards, while still moist, dusted over with quicklime ;
by the application of the lime the caustic soda is set free and
destroys any fungoid growths it may come in contact with.
The application of copper sulphate to the grain as a dressing
before sowing is a well-known remedy, but though it destroys
the fungus it greatly retards the growth of the wheat, which
is an objection to its use. Lime applied after the copper salt
neutralises its prolonged effect, and is a good practice. The
presence of lime itself in the soil is likewise beneficial. The
foregoing notes are the result of the labours of many com¬
petent investigators, who have bestowed much time and care
on the subject, the elucidation of which necessitated thousands
of artificial cultures of the fungus and microscopical examina¬
tions. One or two points in Mr. Joseph Barwick’s
communication will be better accounted for, if viewed with the
light thrown on the subject by recent investigations. Mi\.

BY P. ABBOTT.

97

Barwick points out in one of his experiments that it was the
strong and deep-rooted plants that escaped infection ; this is
only what might have been looked for, as upon the strength
and rapidity of growth of the plant depends in great measure
its immunity from infection. And, again he points out that
it was only in the annual species of grasses that he detected
smut ; here again is precisely what might be expected, as the
perennial grasses would have become too consolidated at the
part subject to infection for the fine filaments of the fungus
to effect an entrance, and thus would remain free from attack.
With reference to the suggestion that experiments should be
undertaken in the Botanical Gardens for the purpose of
throwing light on the subject, I doubt much if any good
result could be obtained by such experiments. There is no
doubt but the life history of fungoid pests effecting cultivated
plants is one of great interest to the cultivator, but the
subject is so intricate, the same fungus presenting many
varying forms during its growth, that if any satisfactory
progress is to be made in its elucidation, it is absolutely
necessary that cultivators in many and varying localities
accurately record facts coming under their notice, and these
facts, which are only so much crude material, will need to be
arranged and investigated by the mycologist. Only after very
many and oft repeated experiments, made for the purpose of
verification, have been made can any definite result be
obtained.

98

A NEW DARK-FIELD MICROMETER FOR DOUBLE¬
STAR MEASUREMENT.

By A. B. Biggs.

Eigs. 1, 2, 3, 4.

I often think it must be very pleasant for the ardent
votary of science to have unlimited means at his command
for obtaining such apparatus as he requires in the pursuit of
his favourite study ; apparatus elaborately finished, and
perfectly adapted for the work for which it is designed. Yet
it too often happens that such apparatus becomes a mere toy
in the hands of its possessor, he merely contenting himself
with its possession, and the enjoyment of its beauties. On
the other hand, it remains a fact that some of the grandest
achievements of science are due to workers who have had to
be content with very simple aod perhaps roughly constructed,
apparatus, the outcome of their own ingenuity, called forth
by the necessities of the case. The writer claims the
applicability of the foregoing remarks to his own case only
so far as they relate to the necessity of trusting mainly to
his own resources in his very limited field of scientific work.
The instrument of which the following is a description, has
been in this way the outcome of his necessity. Its special
function is the measurement of very minute angular distances,
such as those of double stars, giving at the same time the
angle of position with reference to the meridian.

A few preliminary remarks on some of the existing forms of
Micrometer may help to elucidate the special adaptability
of the instrument to be described for the work for which it
was designed. The Reticle Micrometer is specially useful for
mapping star fields, but a driving clock for the telescope is
almost essential. My first Micrometer was of this form, and
consisted of a photograph (on thin micro, coverglass) of a
scale, ruled on a sheet of glass coated with black paint, and
having lines cut through the paint with the point of a pen¬
knife. The figure was a square subdivided into 400 by
parallel lines each way (20 x 20). Each interlinear space
was divided by a line running from the centre to the outside
of the square each way. The one for use with my highest
power is only Tg in. square, the spaces between the lines
being only ^g-in. It is, however, quite inadequate for
double-star work.

The Ring Micrometer is adapted for distances occupying a
considerable portion of the field, by timing the passages across
the ring. But unless the passage describes chords at some
distance from the diameter the measures are unreliable. It
involves somewhat tedious calculation for differences of
declination.

BY A. B. BIGGS.

99

A very useful dark-field Micrometer, embracing the greater
portion of the field, is the Bar Micrometer. My own form
of it is a modification of that used by Lacaille in the prepara¬
tion of his valuable Catalogue of Southern Stars. His was a
rhomboid cut out of a piece of thin brass and placed in the
focus of the eye-piece ; mine is an equilateral triangle, formed
of watch hair-spring. The differences of right ascension and
declination are obtained by timing the passages in and out of
the triangle. It is a very useful instrument for faint objects
which will not bear illumination of the field, and especially
for comet work.

The Micrometer, par excellence, for general work is doubt¬
less the Filar Position Micrometer . A description of this is
of course superfluous to those at all acquainted with telescopic
work. The measurement is effected by parallel spider lines,
moved to and fro by fine screws, the measu es being read off
by the number of turns, and by graduations on the screw
heads. The scale is revolved by a pinion and wheel, so as to
make a cross spider line intersect the objects to be measured,
and the position angle is read from a graduated circle. This
instrument is specially convenient for differences of declin¬
ation ; but for direct oblique distances, is difficult to use with¬
out a steady driving clock for the telescope. It is a delicate
and expensive aparatus.

Many other forms and methods of Micrometer measurement
are adopted, which it will be unnecessary to further refer to.
I will now go on to describe my own, first giving the general
principle.

If a strip of glass (A), coated with black paint, and having
two fine converging lines cut through the paint, at an angle
of 10 or 15 deg., be placed face to face with another piece
of glass (B), similarly coated, and having a single line ruled
across it — this line being placed so as to cross the lines of A
— the intersection of the lines will show as luminous jioints
by transmitted light. On sliding the slip A along, these
points will recede or approach until they coalesce at the
point of the angle. Now, if an image of these points can be
projected into the field of the telescope, and brought into
juxtaposition with the pair of objects whose angular distance
is to be measured, we obviously have the means, by a proper
adjustment of the points as to distance and parallelism, of
determining the measurement required. The position of the
slide A is read upon a graduated scale, the value of which
is determined by well-known astronomical methods.

The projection of the image into the telescope is effected
by means of an adjustable camera-lucida, constructed from
a selected micro, cover-glass and attached to the eye-piece. The
whole carrying arrangement of the glass plates is made to

100

A NEW DARK-FIELD MICROMETER.

revolve in a suitable frame, so that the luminous points may
be brought into parallelism with thepair of stars to be measured,
and the angle read off from a graduated circle on the rim*
the zero point being first ascertained by revolving the scale
until a star shall run along the single line of plate B. The
difference of readings will give the position angle with
reference to the meridian, it being supposed that the telescope
is mounted equatorially.

The foregoing will, I think, make the principle clear.
Dimensions will depend very much on the size of the telescope.
In my case, the glass slides are 7in. x 4in., the opening of
the circle or ring 4in. The telescope is a Newtonian reflector
— speculum 8|in. The apparatus is fixed perpendicularly on
the telescope tube at a distance (towards the speculum end)
of 19|in. from the eye-tube, this distance being adopted for
convenience, as giving a value of \ sec. of arc with the
power I generally use for double stars. The sliding glass
slip fits into a brass sliding frame, or carrier, which moves by
a rack and pinion. A scale of 100 divisions is engraved on
the side of the frame, answering to the length of the glass
slide. (See A and F, Fig. 1.)

For the glass slides I prepare a coated slip three lengths in
one, ruling the diverging lines the whole length of the slip,
from the angle at one end to an opening of about 3|in. at the
other. This slip is then cut into 3 lengths (commencing from
the point of the angle), each length being exactly equal to
the 100 divisions on the frame. This gives scale readings to
100, 200, 300, the glasses being interchangeable in the frame.
The whole arrangement, with its graduated circle, revolves in
the frame which supports it, by a pinion in the support,
working in a toothed wheel on the circle. My apparatus is
fitted with a small electric lamp (2^ candle), with a contact
conveniently near the eye-piece. At the back of the lamp is a
concave reflector, to throw a parallel beam of light upon the
scale. It is of advantage to frost the back surface of the
glass (next to the lamp). The coated surfaces should be next
each other without rubbing.

The measurement is effected, not by direct coincidence, but
by comparison. Supposing we are working without a driving-,
ciock, the “ ghost,” as I will call it (i.e., the image of the
points), is brought to about the middle of the field, and the
star brought into position with it. The circle is then revolved
until the “ ghost ” is sensibly parallel with the line joining
the components of the star, and the slide moved to correspond
with the distance. When these adjustments are perfect, as
the star approaches and recedes from the “ ghost,” the four
points will form a perfect parallelogram. (Fig. 2.)

Practically it will be found that the eye is very sensitive to

BY A. B. BIGGS.

101

any irregularity in the figure ; I think more so than with
respect to coincidence with spider lines, as in the use of the
filar micrometer, especially when, without a driving-clock, the
object is moving obliquely across the field, and only a
momentary contact can be obtained in passing. The similarity
of the images in the former case favours the comparison.
Fig. 3 shows the general arrangement of the apparatus
as applied to a Newtonian reflector.

My first experimental arrangement was fitted to mv 3in.
refractor, and was a very primitive affair, the carrier being of
tin, revolving in a paper tube. For a refractor, a different
arrangement from that described above has to be adopted.
With the Newtonian reflector, the position of the scale being
at right angles with the direction of- vision, a single reflection
at 45deg. throws the image into the eye-piece. With the
refractor, on the other hand, the only practicable position for
the apparatus is on the body of the tube towards the object-
glass ; that is in the direction of vision. This necessitates
an intermediate reflection at an angle of 45, to throw down
the image of the scale upon the camera-lucida. (Fig. 4.)

The apparatus admits of very considerable elaboration and
development; as, for instance, star photometry. Further;
the whole apparatus may be made to travel to or from the eye
on a suitable slide, having a graduated scale ; a single plate
with parallel lines being placed in the plate-holder. By this
arrangement planetary discs and differences of declination
may be read off, as with the filar micrometer. I will not,
however, add to the tediousness of this paper by further
reference to this matter.

I must, in closing, express my obligation to Mr. Alex.
Wallace, of this city, a clever amateur mechanic, for his
kindness and generosity in the successful construction of my
present apparatus.

102

NOTES ON THE DISCOVERY OF A GANOID FISH
IN THE KNOCKLOFTY SANDSTONES, HOBART.

By Messrs. R. M. Johnston and A. Morton.

Two Plates.

The recent discovery of the very perfect remains of a
Ganoid Fish, closely allied to the genus Acrolepis, in one of
the beds of the Knocklofty sandstones, is of the greatest
interest. Several fossil fishes are said to have been found
previously in the flagstone quarry near the Cascades, but,
unfortunately, the quarrymen regarded them as being of
little or no importance, and although, from curiosity, one or
two specimens had been preserved for a time by one of the
workmen, they were soon lost or thrown away. The specimen
now referred to was discovered by Mr. H. Nicholls, who,
with commendable thoughtfulness, at once presented it to
the Tasmanian Museum.

Fortunately the casts of the specimen are remarkably
perfect. The only parts imperfect, or missing, are the ventral
fins, part of the anal fin, and the anterior part of the head.
The strongly pronounced heterocercal tail and the scales of
the body are remarkably well preserved. The following is
a description of the fish, which is named, provisionally, in
honour of His Excellency Sir Robert Hamilton, to whom, as
its President, the Royal Society is so much indebted for the
enthusiastic manner in which he has ever promoted its
interests.

Acrolepis ? Hamtltoni, Johnston and Morton.

Body compressed, elliptical, elongate ; length from snout to
end of caudal fin about 7 inches; length of body 5f inches ;
depth at a vertical line through occiput, 12 lines, increasing
to 14 lines at greatest depth near ventrals, and from thence
gradually tapering to peduncle, where it measures 5 lines ;
length of heterocercal tail — which is inclined upwards at an
angle of about 22 degrees — 14 lines ; length of lower ray
lobe of caudal, 5 lines ; length of head about lj inches, or
scarcely one-sixth of the total length ; length of dorsal,
about 8 lines; fin low, with fine rays, probably 15 or 16;
anterior end situated about 39 lines from end of caudal, and
the posterior distant about 31 lines from the same point.
The anal fin is inconspicuous and imperfectly preserved, but
it appears to be similar to the dorsal, and it is situated fully
half the length of that fin nearer the tail. The ventrals are

Fig/ (Page 3)

The, .Arrow sho ws EhvpaEA of tfo Star across LA/hJxl

Fig 1

jr

• They Ghost'

X

x Theystar passing IhTGtiost

Fig 3 Page 4.

of

BY MESSRS. R. M. JOHNSTON AND A. MORTON. 103

scarcely visible, but appear to be small ; and the root is only
about 10 lines distant from a vertical drawn through posterior
portion of head. Pectorals about 7 lines in length, and.
consists, apparently, of about 15 slender rays.

There are 56 rows of small rhomboid scales, longitudinally
arranged in an inclined dorso-ventral series ; the caudal series
being more perceptibly angled than the anterior series. The
inner surface of each scale is alone visible, from which it clearly
appears that each one is finely ridged longitudinally, as in
the scales of Acrolepis. There are usually 4 slightly curved
ridges, radiating longitudinally from posterior angle of
rhomboid scale to the two inner ones, almost invariably
becoming furcate as they approach anterior inner margin ;
the outside one on either side smaller and almost invariably
simple. The upper margin of tail is markedly serrate,
indicating the presence of numerous pointed fulcra! scales.

The only Australian fish which appears to come near it is
the well-known Myriolepis Clarkei, Egerton, but it is evident
from the description and drawings that the Tasmanian
G-anoid has relatively much smaller fins, and the scales, though
belonging to a specimen half the size, are relatively much
larger and consequently less numerous.

Age of the Rocks in Which the Pish Remains Occur.

The discovery of this interesting fossil is another proof of
the aqueous origin of the important series of sandstone beds,
of which the section from Cascades to Knocklofty affords the
best and most fully developed example. Although the shales
contain impressions of what appear to be fucoids, the
evidences are not sufficient to determine whether these basins
were estuarine or lacustrine; or whether the waters were
fresh, brackish, or salt. Ganoid fishes of the period are found
under all such conditions ; and therefore their discovery in
such deposits prove little further than to indicate the aqueous
origin of the beds in which such remains occur. It is most
probable that the waters were of the nature of brackish
lagoons. The exact position of these sandstones in relation
to the Mesozoic Coal Measures, on the one hand, and the
Upper Paleozoic Mudstones, on the other, has ever been one
of much doubt.

It is true a similar series of sandstones at Adventure Bay
appear to immediately succeed the Upper Carboniferous Coal
Measures without any sign of stratigraphic break; and
again at Passage Point this succession appears to be very
complete in immediate relation to beds of the Upper Marine
series. But the absence of fossil evidence, and the manner
in which the several deposits are separated from each other,
by distance or faults and intrusive rocks, make it a doubtful

104

NOTES ON THE DISCOVERY OF A GANOID FISH.

matter whether these apparently similar formations are, in
reality, members of the same horizon. The evidence of
breaks in the series at Knocklofty, and on the Huon Road
near the Old Toll Bar, also adds perplexity when relationships
are sought to be established. And much observation is yet
needed before it is possible to satisfactorily determine the
true relations of the various separated sandstone formations,
lying either between the Upper Paleozoic Mudstones or
Upper Carboniferous Coal Measures, and the Coal Measures
of Mesozoic Age.

Section From the Cascades to Knocklofty.

The series of sandstones and shales between the bed of the
creek at the Cascades, and the blow of intrusive greenstones
forming a conical knoll above the highest sandstone quarry
on Knocklofty, is about 800 feet thick, measuring from the
bed of the creek. At this point it is not known to what
depth the series extend, but it is probable the thickness
altogether will exceed 1,000 feet.

The following is a description of the series exposed, taken
in ascending order : —

1. Yellow fissile sandstones, splitting up

into thin evenly bedded flagstones ... 20

2. Greyish or blackish micaceous bed of flaggy

sandstone, with hardened ferruginous *
nodules, sometimes enclosing remains of
fossil fish ... ... ... ... ... 5

3. Friable mottled shales — green, red, or

yellow — with obscure impressions of

minute strap-shaped plants (apparently
slightly unconformable with No. 3) ... 60

4. Thick bedded sandstones — white, red, and

yellow, worked throughout for building
stone with thin bands of fine friable
yellow or grey shales intercalated
irregulary at intervals ... ... ... 715

Total Thickness 800

ACROLEPXS HAMILTONI. Johnston and Morton.

SCALE

ACROLEPIS HAMILTQNI. Johnston and Morton.

105

OBSERVATIONS OF COMET OF JULY AND AUGUST,
1889, TAKEN AT LAUNCESTON, TASMANIA,
LAT. 41° 26' 01" ; LONG. 9° 48' 31" EAST.

By A. B. Biggs.

The comet was first observed here on 26th July, faintly
visible without telescope. Tail about ldeg. in length, its
position angle estimated at 140° + . Nucleus, sharp and
starlike, about 7 mag., surrounded with considerable nebu¬
losity. Position (approximately) R.A., 13hrs. 21|min. S.
Dec. 23° 07'. (This and the position readings given below
were merely the readings of the rough home-made circles of
the equatorial, and make no pretension to exactness.) The
star comparison measures were all taken with a Bar Micro¬
meter, equilateral triangle, and are apparent difference
measures only, uncorrected for refraction, etc. Owing to
persistent cloudy and unsettled weather, very few oppor¬
tunities for star measures were afforded. Circle readings for
position were taken as often as opportunity offered.

Telescope. — Reflector, 8|in., silver on glass by Browning.

Apparent Diff. R.A. and N.P.D. Comet from Star.

Date.

L.M.

Time.

Diff. R.A.

Diff.

N.P.D.

1 No. of

I Obser.

Star.

Comet.

Approximate
Place of Comet.

Aug.

h.

m.

s.

m. s.

m. s.

h.

R.A.

m.

s.

o

2

20

31

13

+ 0-18-75

+ 2 15-8

2

b(see below)

S.F.

14

24

30

- 5

0

2

21

57

42

+3-02-5

-14 52-2

1

a (104 Virg.)

N.F.

„

,,

3

22

11

09

-1-06-7

+ 0-36-8

3

c

S.P.

14

31

30

- 3

05

3

22

27

25

+0-20-5

-17-26-3

3

d

N.F.

„

„

15

21

55

13

-1-08-4

+ 20-03-3

6

17 Serp.

S.P.

1.5

31

-

+14

51

17

22

24

23

+1-52-5

- 23-28-8

1

19 Serp.

N.F.

15

38

-

+16

43

27

19

40

05

-1-07

+ 24-21

3

10 Herculis

S.P.

16

1

5

-

+23

25J

Notes and References. — August 2. a. — 104 Virg. (?)
b. — About 7 mag., close to a small nebula, “ 70 ” (Proctor’s
Atlas), looking like a detached wisp of the comet, c. — A
minute star (lOTlm.).

August 3. — “ c ” “ d ” — Not identified, each 7m. jb
„ 17. — Brightness of nucleus, about 8m.

„ „ — Tail estimated about 10' length.

„ „ — „ Position angle, 120°+_

N.B.— The brightest star available always selected, except
as to b, August 2, on account of proximity to nebula.

106

RECENT MEASURES OF “ a. CENTAURI.”

By A. B. Biggs.

As an illustration of the efficiency of the Micrometer
described in my former paper, I give the following series of
measures, in their order, extending from 26th May to 21st
November, 1888 : —

Distance Readings 15"’60 16"-01 17"13 17" ‘40 16"-93 17"-16
Position Angle 201°-5 203°'5 204° 204°-2 205°-4 203°-7

Summary Table. Mean Date 1888' 71 1 Total No. of

„ Distance 16"‘7l > Observations

„ Posn. Angle 203°7 ) 25.

I also give for comparison, measures taken with the Filar
Micrometer, from 19th March to 26th May, 1888 ; and from
19th September to 21st November, 1888

Mean of both
Columns.

Mean Date . 1888-35

„ Distance ... ... 16"-45

„ Position Angle 203o-34
Total No. of Observans 14

1888-82

17"T0

204-6

29

1888-58

16"-77

203°-97

43

I reckon the variation at the present time at + l"-00 per
annum for distance, and + 0°-7 for position angle. To
the foregoing means of measures up to epoch 1889-00, we
shall have to multiply these rates of variation by (1889 -
1888-71 = ) 0-29 : — and (1889-1888-58 = ) 0'42 respectively.
Applying the corrections thus obtained, we may make the
following comparisons. In the third column I give the
corresponding figures from my Ephemeris— (Society’s Vol.,
1887, page 82) : —

EPOCH, 1889-00.

Micrometer

ABB

Filar

Ephemeris

Distance

17" -00

17"T9

17"-00

Position Angle

203°-90

204°-26

202°-90

I think it probable that the Ephemeris is in error about.
1 degree in Position Angle.

The measures of distance by the Filar were all taken as
differences of Declination, and were reduced to direct distance
by the secant of the Position Angle.

The specially favourable conditions which this star affords
for double star observations, as well as the particular interest
which attaches to it on many accounts, especially to us in the
South, will, I trust, be sufficient excuse for my having dealt
with so much detail.

107

NOTES ON CHARTS OE THE COAST OF TASMANIA,
OBTAINED FROM THE HYDROGRAPHICAL
DEPARTMENT, PARIS, AND COPIED BY PER¬
MISSION OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT.

By A. Mault.

(Charts I, II, III, IV.)

More than a year ago Mr. McClymont spoke to me of the
charts of which copies are attached to this papei\ He
explained at the last meeting of the Royal Society the
manner in which he had become acquainted with their
existence. I am sorry that it has not fallen to his lot to
formally present them to you, for the Society is really
indebted to him for their possession. Furthermore, in
making the presentation he would have been much more able
to accompany the gift with an explanation of the character
and history of the charts. Another gentleman to whom
thanks are due is my friend Monsieur Adelphe Patricot, of
St. James’s, Paris, who, after some little difficulty, overcame
the prejudice that the French authorities have to allowing
plans and maps to be copied, and then insisted on taking
upon himself the cost of having fac-simile tracings made.
Acknowledgments are also due to the Hon. E. N. C. Braddon,
who, when Minister of Lands and Works, authorised the
reproduction of the charts at the Government Photo¬
lithographic Establishment.

Charts op Marion’s Expedition, 1772.

The two charts that are respectively called (1), Cote des Terres
de Diemen parcourues en Mars 1772 par la flute du Boy le
Mascarin, and (2), Terres de Diemen faisant partie de la Nouvelle
Hollande la plus grande Isle connile leve du bord du Van le
Marquis de Castries en faisant route le long de la cote. Par
Mr. du Clesmeur, are particularly interesting. It will be
remembered that the first visitors to land in Tasmania after
Tasman’s time were the French in these vessels. The
expedition carried out in them was undertaken at the cost
of Captain Marion du Fresne, whose grade in the French
Navy was “ Captain of fire-ship.” The authorities of
Mauritius allowed him to charter two of the Government
vessels in the Colonial Service, the storeship Le Mascarin ,
the tonnage of which is not given, and the Marquis de
Castries, apparently a smaller vessel, and to man them at his
own pleasure. He himself took command on board the

G

108 NOTES ON CHARTS OF THE COAST OF TASMANIA.

Mascarin, with Mons. Crozet, who also was Capitaine de
brulot, as his second on board, and gave the command of the
Marquis de Castries to the Chevalier du Clesmeur, who was
second in command of the expedition, and succeeded to the
entire command on the death of Marion.

An account of the expedition, under the title “ New Voyage
to the South Sea,” was published in Paris in 1783, being
compiled from the plans and journals of Crozet. Crozet
ignores as much as possible Captain du Clesmeur, who
evidently knew it, and also of the proposed publication of
the journal. Por the editor of the journal prefixes to it a
“ preliminary discourse,” the reading of which, he says, “ is
indispensable to rectify some important points in the narra¬
tive of the voyage ; ” and in which he declares that it was
only on the eve of publication that he learnt that du
Clesmeur succeeded to the command on the death of Marion.
Por in the journal Crozet never once mentions du Clesmeur’s
name, from the time of Marion’s massacre until the moment
when the vessels are parting company at Manilla, but always —
even in relation to matters on board the Castries — says, “ I
did this/’ “ I ordered that,” as if he were in supreme com¬
mand. The editor of the journal therefore requests the
reader to note that everything done after Marion’s death
was done under the command of du Clesmeur and not of
Crozet.

It is necessary to note this jealousy, as it explains some of
the events that came to pass, and some of the results of the
expedition. Its main object was to seek the great south
land. Marion left the Mauritius in October 1771, and after
some detention at Bourbon, Madagascar, and the Cape of
Good Hope, left this last on the 28th December in that year.
On the 19th January, 1772, he discovered, after having
looked for Losier-Bouvet’s Cap de la Circoneision in the wrong
place, — the islands now called Prince Edward’s or Marion’s,
but which he himself named Terre cT Esperance. While
examining the islands, the Mascarin, by disregarding the then
acknowledged “ rules of the road,” ran foul of the Castries ,
which was lying to, and carried away her bowsprit and fore¬
mast. Crozet, who mentions the accident, carefully avoids
details as to cause. Jury masts were rigged up, and it seems
that the Castries after the accident was still a better sailor
than her consort, and du Clesmeur told Marion he was ready
to go wherever he wished. But Crozet says that the condition
of the Castries prevented Marion from carrying out his
intention of going southward. Sailing eastward, the islands
now called the Crozets were discovered on the 22nd January, —
they were first sighted from du Clesmeur’s ship, — but like
other injustices in nomenclature, record the name of a man
to whom none of the credit of their discovery is due.

Bf A. MAULT

109

Leaving the Crozets the ships were steered due eastward
until they passed the longitude of St. Paul’s Island, and then
were headed towards the land discovered by Tasman. This
was first sighted on the 3rd March, when Crozet calculated
that they were in latitude 42deg. 56min. south. The
longitude as given in the “ Hew Yoyage ” is so evidently
incorrect — 126deg. 20min. east of Paris — that I will not
here allude to it hut to say that it certainly is a misprint.

Crozet gives no account of the voyage round the south end
of the island, simply saying : — “ The chart that I have
prepared of the Terres de Diemen will give an exact idea of
the configuration of these lands, and of the route we followed
till we anchored in a bay named by Abel Tasman, Frederic
Henry’s Bay, which, according to that naviagator, is situated
in 43deg. lOmin. of south latitude.” The chart thus referred
to is given in the “ New Yoyage ” on a very small scale — the
whole south coast of the island being shown in a space of
less than two inches, and no latitude or longitude is marked.
Flinders, in the introduction of his “Yoyage to Terra
Australis,” says of it : — “ The chart of Mons. Crozet, which
accompanies the voyage, appears, though on a very small
scale, to possess a considerable degree of exactness in the
form of the land. The wide opening called Storm Bay is
distinctly marked ; as is another bay to the westward with
several small islands in it, the easternmost of which are the
BoreeVs Eylanden of Tasman.”

A very cursory examination of this small engraved chart
will show that it is a reduction made from the first of the
charts mentioned above, and this leaves no room for doubting
that the manuscript chart copied at Paris is the original one
prepared by Crozet himself on the Mascarin and during its
passage along the coast. The track of the course made is
given, with soundings and with the position of the ship at
various hours every day during the passage. These details
enable us to correct an error into which Flinders has fallen.
He says, after mentioning the sighting of land on the 3rd
March, 1772 : — “ Steering eastward round all the rocks and
islets lying off the south coast, he arrived on the evening of
the 4th in Frederik Hendrik’s Bay.” Flinders obtained this
second date by deducting the six days Marion is said to have
stayed in the bay from the date— the 10th March — -when he
quitted it for New Zealand. But the “ New Yoyage ” is so full
of misprints in figures that it is not to be depended upon
without checking. This chart of Crozet’ s affords such a
check. From it, it is evident that after sighting land, Marion
in the Mascarin, steering south-east, arrived south of the
Mewstone about 6 o’clock in the evening of the 3rd March.
He probably lay to for the night, but by 5 o’clock on the
morning of the 4th he had drifted down to 44deg. of south

110

NOTES ON CHARTS OP THE COAST OP TASMANIA.

latitude off South-east Cape. Then steering north-east, at
midday lie was south of Tasman’s Head, and passed the night
off Storm Bay. He doubled Tasman’s Island at 8 o’clock on
the morning of the 5th, — -at noon was off the Yellow Bluff,
and must have anchored in Frederik Hendrik Bay, now
called Marion Bay, early in the afternoon.

I do not think that Flinders, if he had seen Crozet’s chart
on this larger scale, would have expressed the flattering
opinion above given as to its exactness in the form of the
land. The longitudes given on this chart and in the “ Hew
Voyage ” are so far out as to be inexplicable. On the chart the
longitude of the anchorage is given as 141 deg. 30min. east of
Paris — this probably being the result of reckoning and
observation during the voyage. At the anchorage Crozet
says, “I made several observations for longitude and I found
it to be 143deg. east of Paris.” This is more than 2fdeg. out !
In the simpler matter of latitude he is also wrong, giving quite
a false impression of the trend of the south coast by making
South-west Cape more southerly than South-east Cape.

But it is in comparing this chart with the one made at the
same time, and in similar circumstances by du Clesmeur on
board the Castries, that the work of Crozet most shows its
inferiority. From the tracks laid down on the respective
charts, and from the soundings given, it is evident that in
sailing down the west coast the Mascarin was the nearer in
shore. Crozet could therefore see the opening into Port
Davey, which du Clesmeur could not. This, and perhaps the
entrance to D’Entrecasteaux Channel, are the only points in
which the Mascarin chart is superior to the Castries one.

From du Clesmeur’ s chart it is evident that the Castries had,
as usual, outsailed the Mascarin, for she had to lie to to allow
Marion to come up. The rocks and high land near Mainwaring
Cove were, in the distance, taken to be islands. Rocky Point
is distinctly and accurately laid down. The De Witt range
and the hills on Point St. Vincent which mask the entrance to
Port Davey were mistaken for islands, the lower land between
them not being seen. If the coast-line be carried along
the west side of these mistaken islands and carried back
along the eastern side, Point St. Vincent and the entrance to
Port Davey will be more accurately shown than on Crozet’s
chart. All the salient points of the south coast, from the
South-west Cape to Tasman’s Head, are accurately given with
the islands lying off. The far end of the bays and bights, not
being seen, are less accurately shown. In Storm Bay and
eastward and northward to the anchorage in Frederik Hendrik
or Marion Bay, the Castries went further in, and along this
part of the course the chart is wonderfully accurate — in fact
in some places more accurate than Flinders’.

It is not often that one has a chance of comparing the

BY A. MAULT.

Ill

impressions made by the same coast-line, seen at tbe same
time, and in almost identical circumstances, by two navigators
of tbe same nation and of equal standing. The result of the
comparison in this case makes us regret that the recording of
the whole of Marion’s expedition had not fallen to the lot of
du Clesmeur instead of Crozet. One more word and I have
done with this part of my subject. What is now called Maria
Island, Marion named St. Mary’s Isle. Could not the proper
name be reverted to P

Chart of Captain Hayes’ Discoveries.

Mr. J. B. Walker has recently called your attention to the
sole expedition for discovery sent under the auspices of the
East India Company into these seas — that commanded by
Cajitain, afterwards Sir John Hayes, who visited the Derwent
in 1794. Mr. Walker further told you how “the vessel carry¬
ing Hayes’ charts and papers to England was captured by the
French, and all his journals taken to Paris, and the result of
his voyage was lost.” I think this is rather too sweeping an
assertion, for it is evident from the narrative of Flinders
that “ sketches ” of Hayes’ charts were known, and that
Hayes’ nomenclature of localities was in many cases adopted.
I think it probable that the originals or copies of these charts
were kept in the Marine Office at Calcutta, and it was from
these that the chart published by Arrowsmith in 1798 was
taken. It is a copy of this chart (3) that I now present to
you.

As for the history of this copy I think that probably it is
as follows : — It is entitled, Chart of Several Harbours in the
South Hast part of Van Pieman’s Land. London : Published
January 1st, 1798, By A. Arrowsmith, Bathbone Place.
Though it is said to be “ published,” the copy in the French
archives, from which this copy I have was traced, is in manu¬
script and is kept with the next chart I have to describe, that
is, one of Flinders’. In the “ Observations ” on this latter
chart, Flinders says : — “ The details of the south-east part of
Yan Diemen’s Land are taken from a manuscript plan made
by Mr. J. Hayes who visited that part in a ship called the
Duke sent out from Bengal. Henshaw’s Bay and Cajie
Hanson of his chart are Frederic Henry Bay and Cape
Pillar, of which we have restored the names,” etc. Now the
parts of D’Entrecasteaux Channel not seen by Flinders
are exactly reproduced by him in his chart as they are laid
down in this published chart, but the names mentioned by
him are different. I would therefore venture to suggest that
Flinders, when at home in the winter of 1800-1801, obtained
a copy of Hayes’ published chart, which was not identical with
the manuscript one he had before seen, and that it was found
among his papers when they were taken from him in the

112

NOTES ON CHARTS OF THE COAST OF TASMANIA.

Mauritius ; that the draughtsman who copied Minder's chart,
that I am about to describe, seeing the reference therein to
Hayes’ chart, copied the published one as giving further
details about the country that was evidently then claiming
much attention from the French, and that it was thus that a
manuscript copy of an engraved chart found its way into the
Hydrographical Office at Paris.

This copy of Hayes’ chart is furthermore interesting in
connection with the history of names of ifiaces in these parts.
For instance, it is curious to note how Ray-Taylor’s Bay
has become Great Taylor’s Bay. And the name,
“ Admiral D’Entrecasteaux Bay ” shows that Hayes had
heard of the French navigator’s voyage.

I may mention that one of our fellow-members, Colonel
Cruickshank, is a great-grandson of Sir John Hayes, and have
pleasure in adding that he has promised to obtain, if possible,
copies of all documents relating to the expedition that may
exist among the family papers in England, or in the Marine
Office, Calcutta.

Chart of Flinders’ and Bass’ Discoveries.

The last of the charts (4) I have to describe is one of
exceptional interest. It is entitled, Carte du Detroit de
Basse entre la Nouvelle Galles Meridionale et la Terre de
Diemen Levee par iff. Flinders, Lieutenant du Vaisseau
Anglais la Reliance, par ordre de iff. le Gouverneur Hunter en
1798 et 1799.” Notwithstanding the title, it embraces the
whole island of Tasmania, and there are laid down on it the
tracks made in the following voyages : —

1. Bass’ voyage in the whaleboat from Sydney to Western

Port in 1797-8, whereby the existence of a strait be ttveen
Australia and Yan Diemen's Land was virtually proved.
I am not aware of the existence of any other chart show¬
ing this track.

2. Flinders’ voyage in the schooner Francis from Sydney

to Furneaux Islands in 1798.

3. Flinders’ and Bass’ voyage in the sloop Norfolk round the

Island of Yan Diemen’s Land in 1798-9. In the chart,
the Frenchman who was stealing Flinders’ observations
has called this sloop the “ Jackson ,” in specifying the
routes, confusing the name of the little vessel with that
of the port from which she sailed. He calls her by her
right name elsewhere. He frequently mistakes English
manuscript figures, especially a long drawn 1 for the long
drawn French 5, the 3 for the 5 also, and the 6 for
the 8.

The longitudes on the chart are taken from the meridian of
Paris. The following “Observations” are made: — “The voyage-
of M. Flinders, second Lieutenant of the English ship, tha

BY A. MATJLT.

113

'Reliance, round Van Diemen’s Land, was made in the colonial
sloop Norfolk of Port Jackson. The position of Port Dalrymple
is fixed by 6 sets of lunar distances, taken in each direction
with 2 sextants. The rest of the northern and western
coast have been traced by estimates corrected by observations
along the coast ; but on arriving at South-west Cape our
longitude, compared with that deduced from Cook’s
observations, was only 3min. in error. This error seemed to
us so small that we changed nothing in the chart we had
made. Adventure Bay is copied from the plan of Captain
Cook (8th Edition, Dublin), Swilly Rock or Pedra Blanca is
placed 59min. of longitude to the east of South-west Cape,
according to the table in Cook’s voyage, which agreed with
the observations we made. The east coast, where shown by a
simple line without shading, is traced from Captain Furneaux,
and copied from a chart of New South Wales, of which the
scale was about an inch to the degree of longitude. The
shaded part of the coast in the neighbourhood of Oyster
Bay is copied from a plan of 7in. to the deg. made by J. H.
Cox and published by Mr. Dalrymple in 1791. The details of
the south-east part of Yan Diemen’s Land are taken from a
manuscript plan made by Mr. J. Hayes, who visited that part
in a ship called the Duke, sent out from Bengal. We cannot
answer for their exactitude. Henshaw’s Bay and Cape
Hanson of his chart are Frederic Henry Bay and Cape
Pillar, of which we have restored the names in this : we have
also made some slight changes in the names of points
surveyed from the sloop : the ports and bays of his chart
were called coves, and the rivers creeks.

“ The coast of New South Wales from Port Jackson to
Western Port was surveyed by Mr. Bass in a whaleboat. The
shaded parts are copied from a sketch he made of it by sight.
The cape called Ram’s Head having been placed in the
position fixed by Cook and taken as a datum point, the long
coast beyond it has been extended further than shown in the
sketch, in order to place Cape Wilson in the position it ought
to have relatively to Furneaux Islands. Little confidence
can be placed in estimates of courses made in waters like
these, where there are strong currents, and it is only by
estimate that these points have been fixed. The islands
were placed by Captain Furneaux eastward of their real
position : they have been marked here after the observations
made at Port Dalrymple and the estimated course from that
Port to the Swan Islands.

“ The beginning and end of an eclipse of the moon, observed
at the east end of Preservation Island, gave 148deg. 37min.
30sec. of east longitude from Greenwich, 148deg. (146deg.)
17min. 30sec. east of Paris.”

Then follow the symbols giving the various routes ; after

114

NOTES ON CHARTS OF THE COAST OF TASMANIA.

which the “ Observations ” continue “ The double arrows
show the direction of the tides.

“ In the River Derwent, high water at 8 hours. Height
above low water 4 or 5 feet. These tides are feeble, and do
not appear to always coincide with full and new moon.
Sometimes they have an opposite course. We have grounds
for suspecting an under-current in a contrary direction.”

What is the history of this chart P

You will remember that when Flinders was kept prisoner
in the Mauritius his books, charts and papers were taken
from him. After many reclamations most of them were
returned to him in the seventh or eighth month of his
captivity. In recording this he says : — “ Word had been sent
me privately that the trunk had been opened and copies taken of
the charts — (the italics are Flinders’) but to judge from
appearances this was not true ; and on putting the question
to Colonel Monistrol, whether the trunk or papers had been
disturbed, he answered by an unqualified negative.” No
one who knows Colonel Monistrol from Flinders’ graphic
narrative will doubt the Colonel for a moment. But no one
who knows from the same source the Governor of the colony.
General De Caen, will hesitate for a moment in thinking that
he was capable of tampering with the charts, and that if he
did so he would take good care that the honest Colonel should
not know it. My own opinion is that the private letter was
right — the trunk had been opened, and the charts copied —
and the manuscript from which this photo-lithograph was
taken is one of the copies. I think this is capable of as much
demonstration as is possible in such a matter.

Apart from the fact that other information was sent to
Europe about Flinders’ voyages that could only have been
obtained from Flinders’ papers — for instance, that which
he refers to as having been given in the Moniteur of July 7th,
1804 — which shows that the papers had been read and a
precis made or copies taken, there is a great deal of internal
evidence that the copy of this chart was made during the
time of Flinders’ detention in the Mauritius.

In the first place this chart contains exactly all that
Flinders knew of Yan Diemen’s Land at that time— no more
and no less. It is true that some of Flinders’ charts had
been published in England after the return of the
Reliance in the end of 1800, but it is hardly likely that they
were so published till after Flinders had left England in the
Investigator in May, 1801. I have not seen one of these
published charts, but think that they were not precisely
similar to this, seeing that Flinders, in his published charts,
puts in only his own course, whereas in this he marks Bass’
whaleboat track. Again, if this copy were not taken from
Flinders’ papers, why was it taken at all? If the published

BY A. MAULT.

115

chart was in French hands there was no need to copy it in
manuscript.

Then there is some internal evidence. In the “ Observations ”
above given the French copyist begins in the third person,
but at the end of the first sentence incontinently drops it,
and evidently translates exactly what is before him. This
greatly differs from Flinders’ style when relating any of his
own proceedings only, for he always uses the first person
singular. I think, therefore, that the “ we ” used here shows
that these “ Observations” were written while Bass was still
with him, and before Bass had made any separate report to
the Port Jackson authorities.

Again, when Flinders was surveying Frederic Henry Bay
he had not seen any charts or details of D’Entrecasteaux’s
expedition, and consequently it is quite natural for him then
to copy from Hayes’ chart and make the observation above
quoted. But when in England in 1800 he could have
obtained details of the French discoveries, and would hardly
have published the less accurate work. In his great atlas he
unhesitatingly prefers D’Entrecasteaux, and dismisses Hayes
with rather scant courtesy.

As for the object for which the chart was copied it was
probably in connection with some designs of the French
colonial authorities in regard to the occupation of Yan
Diemen’s Land. General De Caen no doubt fully shared in
the desire to extend French territory in this direction, and
thought that all information regarding the island, and
especially the south-east part of it, would be useful. If he
knew of the beginning made of English occupation, he was
not the sort of man to be turned from bis purpose by such
an act. It may hereafter be found that the real explanation
of Flinders’ unjustifiable and otherwise inexplicable deten¬
tion at the Mauritius was connected with De Caen’s
suggestions to the French Government of an occupation of
Yan Diemen’s Land. No doubt it was thought that the
changing of English into French longitudes would facilitate
the comprehension of the chart in Paris. It would be easily
done by ruling the parallels 2deg. 20min. east of those given
on the original. It is pleasant to note that the copy contains
no trace of a desire to rob Flinders of the credit of his
discoveries.

But the chart taken by itself is very interesting as showing
what was known of our island at the moment of its first
occupation by our countrymen, and as such I have great
pleasure in presenting it to you. The concluding paragraph
of the “ Observations ” shows how careful an observer
Flinders was, and contains a suggestion in regard to the
anomalous character of the tides in the Derwent that may be
of great use, and which I will not forget.

116

NOTES ON CHARTS OF THE COAST OF TASMANIA.

Discussion.

Mr. J. R. McClymont complimented Mr. Mault on the
careful study he had made of these charts. Their friends in
Canada had set them an example in this department of work.
The Royal Society there published from time to time
historical researches, largely regarding the early exploration
of their noble Gulf of St. Lawrence. The Canadians had to
go back 350 years ; as we stood much nearer the origins of
our history than they did, it would be a crying disgrace to us
if we allowed them to out-distance us, and if we sluggishly
left to our descendants historical work that could better and
more easily be undertaken to-day. He referred especially to
the discovery and exploration of the Derwent and its
approaches, and hoped that Mr. Mault, or some other equally
competent person would take the matter up thoroughly, and
he, for one, would be most happy to render all the assistance
in his power. They had a glorious heritage in this river,
with its maze of bay and island, strait and peninsula,
wrought out of the blue incandescence of a summer sea.
This intricate net had involved one navigator after another ;
to bring order out of the confusion by tracing the develop¬
ment of our completed knowledge of it would be an
admirable intellectual exercise.

The voyages of Kerguelen and Marion du Fresne, were
historically connected with those of Bouvet de Lozier
and Bougainville, and Marion’s later discoveries were the con¬
firmation of those of Tasman. The voyage of Bouvet, in turn,
was undertaken for the French East India Company for the
purpose of discovering in the Southern Ocean a port for
their outward-bound vessels — an idea that was suggested to
the minds of these merchants by an imperfect record of the
voyage of Gonneville in 1503-1505. The tradition in France
was, that this merchant of Honfleur had been cast upon a
fertile continent and amongst a race of genial pagans when,
after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, he had encountered
a violent tempest which drove him out of his course to India.
The tradition has been traced as far back as the year 1658,
when the Abbe Binot-Paulmier de Gonneville — a descendant
from the union of a native of the land on which Gonneville was
cast with a relation of the navigator — addressed a memoir to
the Pope begging that a mission might be sent to the land of
his origin. Whether the Abbe merely adopted a current
tradition regarding the discovery of his ancestor, or himself
misinterpreted the account of the voyage as given in a
judicial declaration signed by Gonneville and his officers, we
cannot tell. At all events he placed the discovery south of
the Cape, and identified the land so fortuitously found with
the legendary Terra Australis. Bouvet’s attempt to follow the
course taken by Gonneville led to his discovery, on the 1st

DISCUSSION ON NOTES ON CHARTS OF THE COAST OF TASMANIA. 117

January, 1739, of the Cap de la Circoncision, in 55 deg. S.,
5 deg. E. The extreme rigour of its climate was incom¬
patible with G-onneville’s account of the country visited
by him. Despite much difference of opinion as to
Gfonneville’s actual landfall, some placing it in Virginia,
others in South America, and others in the lately coasted
New Holland, two fresh attempts were made with the object,
not only of finding some compensation for the loss to France
of its American territory, but also to discover the southern
land supposed to lie near the route to India. These voyages
were undertaken by the captain Kerguelen de Tremarec, and
were as fruitless as that of Bouvet, for they only resulted in
the discovery of the barren Kerguelen Land, in 49 deg. 3 min.
S., 68 deg. 18 min. E. Kerguelen returned full of the
persuasion that Madagascar was the Southern Indies of
Gonneville. When Kerguelen’s crews were freezing on
the shores of his new antarctic island, Marion was
altering his course from an easterly one between the parallels
of 46 deg. and 47 deg. S., to one with sufficient southing in
it to fetch his ships off the west coast of this island, some¬
where between Port Davey and Macquarie Harbour. He too
had been disappointed in the weary search for a southern
continent, and had only added the Prince Edward and
Crozet groups to our cognizance of the Southern Ocean.

The interest of Marion’s voyage lies in this — that it was
the last French voyage ostensibly undertaken with the object
of discovering the Terra Australis, and with it and the con¬
temporary voyages of Cook the belief in the existence of a
continent reaching~as far north as 45 deg. or 50 deg. S , may
be said to expire. But this was not Marion’s own opinion or
the opinion of his officers. On the contrary, Crozet says
expressly, “ At that point where we then were,” namely,
Possession Island, “ everything promised the discovery of
the southern continent could we only have continued to the
S.E., but, unfortunately, the state of the Castries since she
had lost her masts (through a collision), did not permit M.
Marion to follow in its full extent the careful project he had
formed for the discovery of these lands.” Nouveau voyage,
p. 23. Rochon, editor of the journals of Crozet who was
lieutenant on the Mascarin, does not agree with the opinion
that the change of route was due to the accident to the
Castries, for he says that its commander, M. Duclesmeur,
“ assured M. Marion so often and so positively of his ability
and willingness to follow his leader that M. Marion must have
had some other reason for abandoning his original plan than
that above assigned.” As for Marion’s place in relation to
his successors, it is this. Our complete cognition of any
portion of the earth’s surface is generally preceded by a
careful hydrographical survey, and that again by a cursory

118 DISCUSSION ON NOTES ON CHARTS OF THE COAST OF TASMANIA

one, which has confirmed the original discovery. Thus, in
Tasmania, the labours of Hayes and Flinders, of Baudin
and D’Entrecasteaux, had their raison d’etre for the English,
in the flying visits of Furneaux and Cook, for the French, in
that of Marion, whilst in turn Marion, Furneaux, and Cook,
were the men who established the indications given by
Tasman. Marion is in an intermediate position. He looks
back 130 years and — his own plan of original discovery
having failed because it was based on insufficiently digested
data — he is obliged to be satisfied with the secondary but
still honourable and necessary position of the man who
confirms another's effort and renders it possible for that
effort to flower into scientific achievement.

The islets in the Southern Ocean discovered by Bouvet,
Kerguelen, and Marion, may be regarded as so many step¬
ping stones to Australia. To Tasman, who held a more
northerly course than the French captains did, the stepping
stones were the islets of St. Paul and Amsterdam. To the
French captains, they were the Gap de la Cir concision, Prince
Edward and Crozet groups, and Kerguelen Land, the last three
being discovered within a month of each other. Their dates
are Prince Edward’s Island, January 13 ; Crozets, January 24;
Kerguelen Land, February 13, 1772, Sixteen days out from
the Cape the first land was sighted by Marion, and named
Terre d’ Esperance, “ because its discovery flattered us with
the hope of finding the southern continent which we sought.”
Cook re-named it Prince Edward’s Island, after the Duke of
Kent, the father of Her present Majesty. Its mountains
were visible at a distance of twelve miles, and were covered
with snow. Marion was unable to land and explore it because
of the accident to the Castries, which happened when the
ships were about to take soundings preparatory to casting
anchor. A smaller island was seen to the N.E. of the larger
one ; on its N.E. side, according to Crozet’s account, or on its
east side, following Boss, is a bay with a large cave ; round
the cave were a number of white flecks like a flock of sheep,
perhaps patches of moss, which Moseley describes as forming
principal features in the vegetation of Marion Island as seen
from a distance. Had the weather permitted, they would
have found an anchorage in this bay which was frequented
by sealers at a later date. The island was seven or eight
miles in circumference. Crozet places these islands in
46 deg. 45 min. S., and 34 deg. 31 min. E. of Paris ; Crozier,
the companion of Ross, places the North Cape of Prince
Edward’s Island in 46 deg. 53 min. S., and 37 deg. 33 min. E.
of Greenwich, and Cave Bay in the lie de la Caverne of
Marion, is reported by Ross to lie in 46 deg. 40 min. S.
There is a discrepancy in the nomenclature of these islands :
Ross calls the larger island, which it may be presumed is

DISCUSSION ON NOTES ON CHARTS OF THE COAST OF TASMANIA. 119

Marion’s Terre cV Esperance, Prince Edward’s Island, and
gives no name to the smaller island; his reference to the
cave on it identifies it with Marion’s lie de la Caverne.
Moseley of the Challenger, on the contrary, says that the
Prince Edward group consists of Marion and Prince Edward
Islands, of which Marion Island is the larger, and contains
80 square miles. Authorities on the Prince Edward and
Crozet groups are C. M. Goodridge’s Narrative of a Voyage
to the South Seas. Lond., 1883 ; Capt. Lindesay Brine’s
Visit to the Crozets, in Geogr. Mag., Oct., 1877, and the
accounts of the Challenger expedition.

On the sixth day after leaving the Terre d’ Esperance
Marion sighted two other islets in 46 deg. 5 min. S., and
42 deg. E. of Paris by dead reckoning, and named them
Les lies Froides. They are the Penguin and Hog Islands
of the Crozet group. On the morning of the following day
(January 23), they were no longer visible; but Possession
Island — lie de la prise de possession — was sighted from the
Castries, and next day both Possession Island and East Island,
the lie Aride of Marion, about ten miles apart, were in sight ;
the former is placed in 46 deg. 80 min. S., and 43 deg. E. of
Paris ; Boss places its southernmost point in 46 deg. 28 min.
S-, its northernmost in 46 deg. 19 min. S., and gives the
longitude of these points as 51 deg. 53 min. E., and 51 deg.
56 min. E. respectively.

When the ships were lying off Possession Island, Crozet
was sent ashore and annexed it in the name of the King of
France, and deposited, according to custom, a bottle containing
the declaration of annexation on the summit of a pyramid
of rocks about 50 feet above sea level. Hot a tree or shrub
was visible on the island. He mentions only a species of
reed ( gone ) growing along the shores, a small delicate grass
( gramen ), and a plant he calls ficoides. Penguins, Cape
pigeons, cormorants, and other marine birds were so tame
as to allow themselves to be taken by hand, and continued to
sit on their eggs without apprehension, whilst the seals
gambolled undisturbed by the presence of man. Strangest
of all, one white pigeon was seen, from which circumstance
Crozet supposed that a land producing the food proper to
that family could not be far distant. Nothing further of
interest occurred till the arrival of the ships in Frederick
Henry Bay, on the 5th March, 1772.

Mr. J. B. Walker said that the Society was under great
obligations to Mr. Mault for having obtained copies of the
interesting maps which he had laid before them, and for his
descriptive paper, and also to Mr. McClymont for his
criticisms on the sketch charts relating to Marion’s expedition.
The map of the Southern part of Van Diemen’s Land was
evidently that of Lieutenant Hayes, though he thought not

120 DISCUSSION ON NOTES ON CHAETS OF THE COAST OF TASMANIA.

absolutely identical with “ Captain Hayes’ sketch,” which
Flinders mentions as having had with him on his visit to the
Derwent, in the Norfolk, in 1798. The latter contained some
names — such as Eisdon Cove, — which did not appear on the
map they had now before them. Of the names on this map
very few were now in use. Some of them were given in
honour of the captain’s fellow-officers in the Bombay Marine.
Following His Excellency’s suggestion at a former meeting,
he had searched for further particulars respecting Captain
(afterwards Sir John) Hayes, and his expedition in 1794. He
had not succeeded, however, in finding more than was con¬
tained in Lieutenant Chas. E. Low’s “ History of the Indian
Navy.” That work gave a short account of the discovery
expedition, and of Hayes’ services in the Indian Seas, from
which it appeared that he was a most distinguished naval
officer. He was afterwards appointed Master Attendant at
Calcutta, ranking next to the officer in Supreme Command
of the Indian Navy. As they had in Hobart a descendant
of Sir John (Colonel Cruickshank, of New Town), he hoped
some clue might be found which would lead to the discovery
of the lost journals of the expedition. The map of Yan
Diemen’s Land, purporting to be from Flinders, was most
probably copied from one of the manuscript charts which
were seized in the Cumberland at Mauritius. In a tracing
made by Mr. Bonwick from Flinders’ original chart, the
precise phrases occurred which were here translated into
French. With respect to Flinders’ detention by Governor
De Caen, he had observed in a pamphlet containing a
summary of the Brabourne Papers, a statement that amongst
the despatches carried by the Cumberland was one from
Governor King, suggesting the possibility of using Port
Jackson as a centre from which to attack the French. The
writer of the pamphlet suggested that this despatch might
have afforded De Caen a pretext for detaining Flinders, as
being a violation of the terms of his safe conduct.

Me. Matjlt could not give credence to the latter statement,
seeing that Captain Flinders had always been regarded by him
in the light of a true man, in every sense in which that could
be applied, and strictly honourable in every sense of the
word, and he could not credit it that he would so ignore the
terms upon which he held his passport from Bonaparte.
If such papers were found on him he could not have been
aware of their contents.

Me. Walkee fully shared Mr. Mault’s admiration for
Flinders, who was a man wholly incapable of doing a dis¬
honourable action. If he carried such a despatch, it was
certain that he was unaware of its nature. It should also be.
remembered that the Cumberland left Port Jackson during
the peace of Amiens, and therefore there would have been no
impropriety in Flinders carrying despatches.

ao ca’any

mmt-

? A i %LW?

faiia.nl jia/cliit dz la nJ

ym- 'mwoquii ot Ca\

3»-

43

4*-

A ^

TERR BE BE BIEMEN f^ru ^ *. t« «««*& wu,

la jxluA 'jiajrubiy Jilt carvrait Imji du. ictO ca. );fl“ (t mwtqa.il ^ OukuJ >rt /a/ja.n(

ZO’A-tl It lon^ 2? la COLL- 7U HV' CiiimMUt'

v *n?

%

X

a*

V

8

i

f

j

} J

}

JO

M

L

v'

>> 4,

.• At

l*

sr ■

»\

<r<.

sr.r-.

Pit'tu Sud-Est ft la Tern oU-Vurrun Uent /&• ft d unPum,
a olsftc cjfts.parft etans asi /tavire nanvmt le D u_c , el expt
’{poneiee, Ac ft«r epueclfttpu..Lti Bm'e Hcnl /utwJ el Cap ft an-
' sue Or. FreftriA ft etiru el cue Cup} Pillar donl rwu.S iwp/is tc
*T Isitate, ouelyueS leper J cftxtiyeif!e;iA etatvj ft ru/trs) dej
'itr (( Jioop: ft Ports el Bads ft relic Car ft rthftnf afipdlil

fftdtet uzftiCetjuCs l*. Pori Jackson pttJyu'a ll'eSlem, Port a
fie clink up <. de BaUuifts : lei par/ft tmlrtii Jont crplft
'■■u-.Le Cap norrvmt ft our,; - tie. ft iXya.nl ele plate a (a tony tip
an poittl/Zxc (a It/naue Cad. oft- Jt Crouvt pi ft suite \
a. tftvhi cetti ej<jfts 1< , aftei ftp Ulcer ft Pronrsntsire.
[jl paid p or oil ooJU doit avoir at- tc its JUS jLurrietuuK..Oi.i dost
Urtfji. del routes dan# efts parapet ou rcyne, comrnt ft .u-n
'ft t’es tftyie fur ces points ont etcpftctj , / eS I Le-i ont /III
" oar le, Cap" k uiTtieaiuf »■ e/ft J ont p la ceed ice. d'apreS l/tob-
Prt Da.lt y triple, el ft ct’errun e-Sun it ft ce port euutlltdjwan.
a. Eclipse ftftiMtc o&Jtrute a c eat treonifc, orient otic ft CtU
ft Conq'ftfttca, i’Est oft /Men dim ft Greenwich. r/i 3o "

etc ft Co la nit le Francis']

acKson m \~jy% ft \ jyy / ft. Port J&ckson oar M. "Flinders
ne eft Baltin Ur j par M< Basse Chttwrc/un- du. /',~l & Rel i an ce
'.a. ft direction de.4 routes oUi B ailment la. Fldche double.'
i stJ >no uJAIpm cp

a 8 A-eurci : EUt/aCian au.eU.siui ole ft basic nur.^. ou l> P'tcLi
aratMtstu pdf ' ft up' our j coinctder aotc leJ plettuc et kou-
t ton. tours )pp oj e,;mus stums diet ft Soupfon-ntr ten..'

&S4

3o’

V.JSSSS..

i4a

ft

Lo>lfl|tfucU. "Eq,

C.ZZ x

i

121

THE DETENTION OE FLINDERS AT THE
MAURITIUS.

By Ay Matjlt.

To the passport dated at Paris the 4 Prairial, An nenf de
la Republique Frangaise, to the “ corvette Investigator, its
officers, crew, and effects, during their voyage, to permit
them to land at the different ports of the Republic, as well
in Europe as in other parts of the world, whether they be
forced by bad weather to there seek refuge, or that they come to
ask for succour and the means of repairs necessary to continue
their voyage,” there is added the proviso : — “It is well under¬
stood, nevertheless, that they shall not thus find protection
and assistance, but in the case that they shall not have wil¬
lingly turned out of the course they should follow ; that they
shall not have committed, nor announced their intention to
commit, any hostility against the French Republic and its
allies ; that they shall not have procured, nor sought to
procure, any succours to its enemies ; and that they shall not
have occupied themselves with any kind of commerce nor of
contraband.” It should be also borne in mind that in the
preamble to the passport, Captain Matthew Flinders is named
as commanding the Investigator. Flinders himself records
that the Lords of the Admiralty directed him “ to act in all
respects towards French ships as if the two countries were not
at war ; and with respect to the ships and vessels of other
powers with which this country is at war, you are to avoid, if
possible, having any communication with them ; and not to
take letters or packets other than such as you may receive
from this office, or the office of His Majesty’s Secretary of
State.”

We all know that, the passport notwithstanding, when
Flinders and some of his crew — the Investigator having been
condemned and the Porpoise lost — came in the little sloop
Cumberland to Port Louis in December, 1803, “ to ask for
succour and the means of repairs necessary to continue their
voyage,” to use the words of the passport, General De Caen,
Governor of the Mauritius, refused the request, and made the
captain and crew prisoners of war. Till recently this action
of De Caen’s has been as universally as righteously con¬
demned. But in 1886, in an official, or quasi-official docu¬
ment, published by the New South Wales Government (a
summary of the contents of the Brabourne Papers), the
following passages occur : — “ Much trouble had been taken
to obtain this scientific passport for Flinders. Why, then, was it

122 THE DETENTION OF FLINDERS AT THE MAURITIUS.

not respected ? We find a satisfactory answer here. . . »

Captain Flinders was going home. Governor King took
the opportunity of sending home some despatches, and these,
despatches, there is little doubt, were the cause of all poor
Flinders’ trouble. We have here (unfortunately, without a
date) a memorandum from Captain Kent, of H.M.S. Buffalo ,
for Governor King, in which it is stated that the colony ‘ is
admirably situated for sending forth a squadron against the
Spaniards on the coast of Chili and Peru.’ Governor King
makes this idea the subject of a despatch. He enlarges upon
the opportunities this most excellent harbour offers for the
concentration of troops, which might at any time be sent
against Spanish America. This despatch he entrusts to
Captain Flinders, and this Governor He Caen finds when, his
suspicion aroused by the peculiar appearance of the little
Cumberland, he seizes her and detains all her papers. Now
Flinders’ passport was granted to an officer commanding a
ship to be employed on scientific work only, and here Flinders
was found conveying a despatch to England, England being
at the time engaged in a life and death struggle with France,
which, if delivered and acted on, would have the effect of
placing points of vantage, and possibly valuable colonies,
within easy striking distances. A despatch of this sort could
hardly be considered as a document of purely international
scientific interest. Governor De Caen did not so consider it,
and having a natural animus against all Englishmen, con¬
sidered himself justified in using the excuse this paper gave
him to justify a rigorous imprisonment.” And the writer
goes on in a rather sneering style about “ poor Flinders.”

I confess that I have “ a natural animus” against special
pleading of this sort. If it had to be answered from infor¬
mation given by itself the task would be difficult, for the
information given is so vague. The only one of the documents
above referred to, which is specifically said to exist among the
papers, is the memorandum “ unfortunately without a date ”
from Captain Kent. But Governor King’s despatch founded
thereupon ; is it among the papers ? If so, why is it not to be
published as Captain Kent’s memorandum is ? Again, what
is the proof that Flinders took this despatch, and that it fell
into the hands of De Caen, and when did he use “ the excuse
this paper gave him to justify a rigorous imprisonment?”

On the contrary there is much to prove that no such
despatch was carried by Flinders, and that consequently none
such could have been taken from him by De Caen. Flinders
did take despatches from King to the Secretary of State in
England, and those despatches were taken from him and
never returned ; but they could not have been of this
contraband character, for in almost all certainty they were
papers relative to Flinders’ expedition, detailing the arrange-

BY A. MAULT.

123

ments tlie Governor had made, and the orders he had given
in consequence of the abandonment of the Investigator. This
is proved as clearly as such a fact can be by the conduct of
both Flinders and De Caen. • Flinders would not willingly
have taken general despatches, much less such an one as this
particular one ofGovernor King’s isdescribed to be, for liewould
not carry any from the ships at Madeira and the Cape. And
he blames the captain of Le Geographe for taking some from
Mauritius, which, had he been guilty of the same offence, he
could hardly have done at the time he was claiming the
benefit of his passport on the ground of not having broken its
conditions. While the despatches were in De Caen’s hands,
Flinders writes to Admiral Linois, asking for his intervention,
and says : — “I should willingly undergo an examination by
the captains of your squadron, and my papers would either
prove or disprove my assertions. If it be found that I have
committed any act of hostility against the French nation or
its allies, my passport will become forfeited, and I expect no
favour , but if my conduct hath been altogether consistent
with the passport, I hope to be set at liberty, or at least to be
sent to France for the decision of the Government.” Is it
likely Flinders would have challenged this enquiry if he knew
that De Caen had written proof that his conduct had not
been “ consistent with the passport F ”

But it may be said that Governor King may have sent the
despatch without letting Flinders know its contents. That
is true. But if it had been among Flinders’ papers De Caen
would have found it, and it is certain, notwithstanding all
that the author of the summary of the Brabourne Papers
says about De Caen’s finding it and acting upon it, he never
did find anything of the sort. It was exactly the kind of
thing he wanted to find, and had he found it, it would have
afforded the only possible justification of De Caen’s after
conduct, and he would not have been driven to make the
paltry excuses he was reduced to. But not fiuding any such
thing he had to fall back on a passage in Flinders’ journal,
in which, after giving his main reasons for running into Port
Louis rather than to the Cape, he adds, as a subordinate one,
that it will give him an opportunity of making meteorological
and other observations on the Mauritius. If De Caen had
the despatch which would have constituted a real proof that
the passport had been forfeited, would he have withheld it
and put forward the fictitiously hollow reason that by the
passport Flinders “ was certainly not authorised to put in at
the Isle of France to be able to observe the periodic winds,
the port, the actual state of the colony, etc., that thus by this
conduct he had violated the neutrality under which he had
been indirectly permitted to land in this island.” Such is
the only excuse De Caen offers, not only to Flinders in his

H

124 THE DETENTION OF FLINDERS AT THE MAURITIUS.

captivity, but to the French Government at Paris. For in
the communique of the Government in the Moniteur of the
22 Messidor, An. XII. (11th July, 1804) on the subject of
the arrest, detention and falsely reported release of Fliuders,
it is said: — “In fine, the passport granted to M. Flinders did
not admit of any equivocation upon the objects of the
expedition for which it was given ; but we read in one part of
his journal that he suspected the war; and in another, that
he had resolved to touch at the Isle of France as well in the
hope of selling his vessel advantageously, as from the desire
of knowing the present state of that colony, and the utility of
which it and its dependencies in Madagascar could be to Port
Jackson.” Now is this language compatible with the
existence of King’s despatch among Flinders’ papers? If
Flinders had carried what was clearly contraband of war,
would the French Government have been content with the
above lame apology for his arrest ? There can be but one
answer.

No ! De Caen’s conduct admits of no palliation. It brands
him with everlasting infamy. The finding of King’s despatch
after he had arrested Flinders, would not much exonerate
him. When Baudin came to Sydney was he arrested, and
his ship searched for compromising documents to justify the
arrest ? I am only sorry an Australian should attempt to
whitewash De Caen by a method which, if successful, would
tarnish the memory of Flinders.

Discussion.

Mr. J. B. Walker said that Mr. Mault had undoubtedly
made out a good case, but there was independent evidence to
show that Flinders did carry despatches to the Secretary of
State. Amongst the State papers in the Record Office, lately
-copied by Mr. Bonwick for the Tasmanian Government, was
a despatch from Governor King to Lord Hobart, dated 8th
October, 1803, in which the Governor refers to previous
despatches sent by the Cumberland. What was the nature
of these despatches did not appear, but they probably related
to Flinders’ explorations, and were not in any way a violation
of the conditions of his safe conduct from the French Govern¬
ment. Mr. Mault’s strongest argument— indeed, an un¬
answerable argument — was, that if these despatches had been
of the compromising character suggested by the writer of the
pamphlet on the Brabourne Papers, Governor De Caen would
have produced them in evidence against Flinders as a complete
justification of the detention, and would not have been driven
to find a paltry excuse in an entry in Flinders’ journal. In
any case Flinders’ himself was without blame in the matter.

125

OBSERVATIONS REGARDING PYRAMID NUMBERS.

By R. M. Johnston, F.L.S.

(Diagrams.)

The ancient structures of Egypt, especially the pyramids,
have ever been regarded with the most profound interest.
Travellers and historians find in them an everlasting theme
for description. Geometricians also find in their designs,
magnitude and dimensions, much matter for scientific
speculations ; and the mystic inspired by their age, grandeur,
and mystery, is disposed to gather from their every feature
some more or less fancifully conceived revelation or miracle.

Nor can we wonder at this. Egypt is the land of wonders.
Great pyramids covering acres of land ; colossi sitting silent
in granite thrones ; obelisks of prodigious height wonderfully
carved from a single stone ; and temples, sphinxes, and canals,
of stupendous proportions. When we consider that all these
monuments were hoary with age at the time of Herodotus,
and that a close study of their works and hieroglyphics
reveals that their builders had attained great knowledge in
astronomy, geometry, architecture, engineering, and various
arts, we may readily admit that our highest modern
civilisation was cradled in the land of the Pharaoh’s.

It is not my intention, however, to enter into the enquiry
of Egyptian civilisation at present. The observations which
I have to make are confined to the pyramid structures them¬
selves. It is now well established that pyramidal structures
were peculiarly characteristic of the most ancient civilisations
of India, Babylon, Nineveh, Egypt, China, North America,
Mexico, and even in islands of the Pacific ; and that the
whole or greater part of them are associated with sepul¬
tures for the dead. But while it is most probable that
originally such monuments were built solely for com¬
memoration and for the preservation of the remains
of noble persons, there are also good reasons for
supposing that some of them — such as the Great Pyramid
of Gizeh or Cheops — fulfilled a double purpose. The Great
Pyramid of Cheops covers a space of about 13’05 acres. If
we make allowance for slight disturbance, due to pressure of
the enormous superincumbent weight, we must assume that
its designer intended its base to form a perfect square, and
its shape a true pyramid. The various measurements of the
most competent engineers only show a variation of 11, 13,
and 19 inches in the length of each side, and with such
cloubtful data the side has been variously estimated at between
9,129 and 9,164 inches, and the mean of the five most careful

126

OBSERVATIONS REGARDING PYRAMID NUMBERS.

measurements give a length of 9,137 inches, or 36,548 inchesfor
the circuit of the four sides. Ferguson’s, Dufell’s, and Colonel
Howard Vyse’s measurements of height are the most reliable,
and they only vary between 450f feet and 456 feet, or 5,472
English inches. Broadly speaking therefore its circuit re¬
presents about 100 inches for each day in the year, and its
height almost exactly fibs, of its side base. The orientation
or eastward aspect is almost true, being 0 for South-East,
+ T for North-East, + T for South-West, and + ‘0'636 for
North-West. Subsequent settlement or earth tremors might
easily account for these minute divergences from absolutely
true orientation.

While rejecting the many fanciful interpretations of
mystical writers drawn from known facts with respect to
shape, dimensions, measurements, and orientation, I have long
been convinced by the reasoning of sober minded investi¬
gators that the principal characteristics were probably
determined as a base or fixed standard for measures,
of space and capacity ; and if so, the shape and
dimensions themselves might have been suggested to the
skilled geometricians of the time by reference to some
astronomical fact of importance known to them, in conjunction
with significant properties of number and proportion dis¬
covered by them to belong to the structure of cubes in
pyramidal form. That men who taught the modern world
mensuration and astronomy, should strive to attain a sure
method for securing uniformity in standards as applied to
weights and measurements, is a most reasonable supposition.
That these standards should be symbolised by some
striking or well-known astronomical fact, is in the
highest degree probable, and corresponds exactly with the
idea of the French astronomers, who determined the length
of their metre in relation to the ascertained length of a.
meridian line drawn from the Pole to the Equator. (The
metre representing the tenth millionth, or 39‘37079 English
inches ; the centimetre being one hundredth of a metre. The
gramme or standard of weight is derived from the centimetre,
i.e., a cubic centimetre of distilled water at the temperature
of maximum density, nearly equal to ‘0022054 of an English
avoirdupois pound, or 15,438 English grains.)

Impressed with this idea, and with the conviction that the
Egyptian builders were adepts in the construction of models,
I sought to obtain some light upon these matters by studying
the numerical combinations of simple cubes built upon the
pyramid type. I was guided to a considerable extent in these
investigations by the wide prevalence of multiples of 7, 12, and
10, in the existing subdivisions of time, space, weight and value.
How has it come about, for example, that a certain sacredness
attaches to the number 7 ? Why was the important division

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

127

of tlie year (a week) determined to be seven days, for it was
in common use long before tbe birth of Moses ? Why was the
seventh day originally set apart as the Sabbath ? Why have
we the day divided into two parts of 12 hours each, and why
do multiples of 12 so commonly appear in weights and
measures, especially in astronomical divisions ?

In many combinations conducted with the hope of throwing
light on such matters, I failed to get any remarkable indica¬
tions, with three important exceptions. These three exceptions
possess so many remarkable proportions and numbers relating
to existing sub-divisions of weights, measures, and values, and
especially with the proportions and dimensions of the Great
Pyramid, that I have been induced to risk the appellation of
“pyramid mystic,” and to lay the remarkable results before
the members of this Society.

The models which appear before you have each some
particular claim to notice, and whether any of them may offer
sufficiently remarkable characteristics or not as bearing upon
the Great Pyramid, they are all well worthy of close attention as
offering a natural solution to the genesis of particular numbers
as used in sub-divisions or measures of time, space, weight, or
value.

Pyramid of Odd Numbers, Having 7 as a Base.

As shown in diagram, the most remarkable characteristic is
the fact that the cube root of its basal layer, 49 or 72, enters
into and agrees with all the important dimensions of the
Great Pyramid, including length of complete circuit ; length
of side ; height ; length of Egytian cubit ; English inch ; and
through the latter it harmonises in the most obvious and
simple multiples with these dimensions and the days in the
year, days in the lunar month. Other natural proportions of
the three angled sides of pyramid connote the months in
the quarter and year ; while its aggregate number of cubes,
84 or 7 times 12, suggest the alliance of 7 and 12 in
measurement of time.

Demonstration indicating that the Great Pyramid dimen¬
sions were probably determined by the radix of sacred num¬
ber (7), which in itself has probably been selected because
the cube root of its square contains nearly the exact figures
representing the known days in the year : —

3

Radix (V7-2) - R = 3-6593.

1. Circuit of pyramid in inches 36598

2. Length of each side (4) „ „ 9148

8. Height of pyramid „ „ 5488>9

= 457 ,9 feet

= I0000R
= 10000R
= 3(10000R)
2

128

OBSERVATIONS REGARDING PYRAMID NUMBERS.

Note.'

4.

Note-

5.

6.

7.

8.

3 Height proportion may have been
2 selected because 3 expresses the
number of dimensions in a cube :
and 1 2 exactly expresses the

relative elevation surface of a
triangle and square resting upon
a common base and of equal ver¬
tical height at its maximum, in
a vertical line drawn at right
angles to base line.

Principal unit of measurement in
inches 25-41 =

Nearly equal to existing cubit
in Egypt.

— 12,z most probably was adopted as a

divisor, because curiously enough
the actual number of square cubes
contained in a pyramid of even
numbers, which most nearly
approaches the number of days
in a year, is 364, and the base of
such pyramid or 1st layer contains
12 X 12 cubes or 144 : the second
layer in importance succeeds it
with 10 X 10 cubes or 100 (see
plan).

1000E
12-2 or 144

Cubits in circuit of pyramid, No. 1440

1000B

122

10000E 10000E

- Toi or -

10000E— 25-41

Ditto in each side (mean) 360.

, 10000B \

10000E~12-2/ *

TT . , 10000E

Unit or year or 1 = -^3553

or

V?'2

3

V?-2

Days in Week or 7

7-2 49

7 or 7

BY E. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

129

9. Months in Year or 12 — Angles on 4 faces 4X3:

also equal to base of a-
simple pyramid of even
numbers whose aggre¬
gate represents 364: also?
the seventh of the aggre¬
gate of a simple pyramid
of odd having 7 for its
base.

10. Lunar Months in year orl3,s nearly (13,<>7) = ^7^x4^

Sqttaee Pykamid of Mixed Odd and Even Numbees,
Having foe a Base (7 x 2 )2 oe 142 = 196.

Perhaps this forms the most interesting of all the com¬
binations. Its natural proportions and naturally related
numbers are most suggestive.

The following combinations are most striking : —

1. If we take either the exposed cubes on the margin of each

layer, or the total faces of distinct cubes in the four
sides, the aggregate comes exactly to 365, or the exact
number of days in the year ; and therefore the propor¬
tional number of cubes on each triangular face is 91
corresponding to days in the quarter of a year.

2. If we now take the basal layer alone, we find the exposed

number of cubes in the square to be 52, corresponding
to weeks in the year.

3. If again we take the aggregate of all cubes in the pyramid,

we find they amount to 1,015, and if this number be
multiplied by 36, or 4 times 9 (the latter number repre¬
senting the number of verticle angles on faces of the
four wedges or prisms of which the pyramid is built, as
indicated by its diagonals), we obtain 36,540, or within
8 inches of the best actual measurements of its present
state, which has no doubt undergone some slight settle¬
ment due to superincumbent pressure.

4. A quarter of this gives 9,135 inches, or within 2 inches of

the mean of the best actual measurements obtained by
competent investigators.

5. If we now take the square of its basal layer, 14 x 14, we

get 196, and it is remarkable that if this number be
multiplied successively by half the side, and by the
number of sides, i.e., 196 x 7 x 4, we get 5,488, or within
16 inches of the best estimates of the present height of
the Great Pyramid, any two of which differ far more
seriously with each other than this curious combination.

130 OBSERVATIONS REGARDING PYRAMID NUMBERS.

6. The basal layer has 13 distinct cubes in each side, corres¬
ponding to number of weeks in each quarter, which the
side typifies naturally; while the three angles of each
triangular face makes 12, corresponding with the months
in the year or hours in the day.

These combinations are all natural to the particular
structure, and are not selected in arbitrary or forced way
as in many suggestions found in works referring to the
pyramids.

Square Pyramid of Even Numbers Having 12 for its

Base.

The remarkable characteristic of this pyramid is that —

1. The aggregate of all the cubes, if capped with an odd one

as a finishing point, numbers 865, corresponding to the
number of days in the year. It has 12 cubes along the
basal layer of each side, corresponding to months.
There are exactly 36 cubes in each triangular face, and
144 in basal layer. If each of these be multiplied by
the number of cubes in side of 2nd layer, and taken as
divisor of the circuit and side of pyramid they give
results which almost exactly correspond with the existing
cubit of Egypt.

The same result is very closely attained bp multiplying the
aggregate number of cubes (365) by 7, and dividing the
result by the square of the second layer (100).

2. But perhaps the more interesting numbers in this pyramid

of even numbers are those of the cubes of the exposed
sides of squares, and the aggregates of the cubes in
each layer.

It is singular that in the first series the sequence 1, 4, 12,
20, should exactly correspond with the sequence of English
standards of money value, viz.: Earthing, farthings in penny,
pennies in a shilling, and shillings in a pound.

The figures of the base, 12 and 144, are associated with
sub-divisions of square measured multiples or sub¬
divisions of 28, as 7, 14, 28, 56, 112, 2,240 as in sub-divisions
of weight ; and in the second series of aggregates we have in
the second layer the numbers 10, 220, and in the basal
exposed margin of circuit 44, all suggestive of some connection
with reasons which originally entered into the determination
of subdivision of 44, 220, 440, 1,760, in the English mile.

Conclusion.

Taken by themselves the remarkable coincidences with
known facts relating to measurement of time and space might
only be construed as simple examples of the facility with
which many numbers may be made to coincide with known

Pyramid of ever numbers

HA VINO t'l AS A BASE

EXPLA NA TIP N OF INDICES

B CoSes un rw:

C CuSes un-cond coboye 7U :

A oLtAuii Cube-S (rn outer r/icunroruxl layer
visible Cram, above-

E Codes visible iuuelervcctto-n oFejuJi Cato

D Actual -pivpcrrtuui OfdxStirust cubes Cormznq
each -Fact'

Ditto Cor four faces

/H 1 too 6b 36 /G b = 3: 7
3Gb iw no S6 io b - 36k

UN 36 28 70 D b = tub

12. /O 6 G b 2 = k-2

// 0 7 J. 3 V = 36

kb 36 '18 10 ll b*. N/b

pt'CLa-yer

I'l* ..
3rB- ..

4tP ..

no

Pyramid of odd numbers

HAVING 7 AS ABASE

A ==^= B

•e - - - - - - — 7

\

/

yv

1

As

\

J

£

/

A

\ D

V'Y

1 F

/ j

i

¥

/

/,

io \

|

Wk

¥

3S |

ggf

p

m

i

§

m

m

fA

m

Expla NA T/QNOFINDICES

A .Actual Cubes (HiOuterraaruurubl
tccyerr visible from aouve
B Cubes -bn

C Cubes z tl a.7 ub above-
D DnroOi'tion. oEdzstiTut cubes CbrrrsurUJ
eacYuface . 7

E Cubes -visible- zfi etic/z Fate

LAYERS OF CUBES

2^3^0^421

lb /6 8 / - bS artl* V
40 IS D t - 8U orlyx/U
8b 3S /O I - 8bort-i*.nJ
7 S 3 I = 16
G b 2 b- ni-<rP:LbiL)

■n

B

196

m

144-

111

100

221

1 0,5

313

3 G5

D

awes an ccncbabave ecuJulaoyer iyBascvb = AOIS

„ on ejDLcks Zcoyar _ *' ^ " =

tvoSwCo?vCricfonryb/rU.nit3r.ic-&S of&ctAh/ toy nr > " * 42.

ofccCCUworS : 3CS

bzs se.eroon msAof'tbi^fbanfaxaZ of each Layer : - -: /3

„ „ „ ., „ „ - alSLocycrS 'A yyTeycux, = 3/ 4-

. „ „ „ ..eac/olcvycr ; BccsaC - fU-

ir/Les on < -facer faces 4- X 3 =■ fL

ftccaZ banjos of f us {par trucryjaUxr boa eel a
ns bisected InrtJi&choocrLals Orsocuxre . 4 x o_ 3G

cruy base; ofcaxhofifnv four wedyes orynsnzs 7 / / -

cubes oro couch * * » " '■ " -

'< yrarrcLcL r

Square Pyramid of odd and ever numbers of cubes

HA VIUO FOR ITS base(t a Z)Z

A H^/O/S X 3C'3Gs5//.o. orciraanfarencb o,cMyra7>cut crc inches
AM - 9!3S t’TUng&vofcrnc side ditto

-A%X fx O S//&S irr height of Myrarmd ditto

AH~ 3GS lf-t<Jc/uAes nearly Ike length (if existing caiitofJZyypt

Cu~Sl Wftks Of' severe days on year
D a ~ 3GS days cn yea r
£u “ /3 weeks '<■ a oxide yaa rt&r
-£-u * 7 days m week
G - /2 rrurrUh > ( fo veiir

A Rof/reserM the aggregate nuoden of cates on andabave eaihlayer
B - . .arc each layer

C - - « exposed <rt i the four vertuut luces of exu/o Ca yet

D _ . . pfalitayers

£ . uctunZ narnberofaibes SeeiuoneaxAofl/ierourfaces of each utyt

£' ’ * //oeasuxCtual - . . » . uttlay

F - - cv/rparent . - .uukUi,

0 ■ Mender of distinct a ngUs cm foarfaieS

H . . ofazigles'- —

“Based, - MS
n i -JOC

JCS

■uu&i

- . - 1 u.r ifr/i.i.si^. ^ - _

C6 mo ver deal fates aftke fpa r tn icnxjudrr based 4
. ... arpresms bisected, ogtkcduigcrr.aU of sotuise, 4x9 *• Jt
of dikes Farming base oftccUuofOie tai r wedges Or yns mS 7/7 - so
aggregate, number of cukes oro each - - *>/£

laanter of sides of/yrmnid

BY E. M. JOHNSTON, ■ F.L.S.

131

measurements or proportionals relatingto the earth’s diameter,
circumference, distance from the sun, annual period of
revolution, etc.; for it is easy "by slight variations of any root,
arbitrarily made, and arbitrarily selected multiples, to make
any number approximate to some important terrestrial
measurement, provided that the computer is himself pre¬
viously aware of the proportional, size, or measurement, with
which a show of correspondence is desfired. Much of the so-
called remarkable coincidences of mystical writers are of this
class ; for it not unfrequently happens that the same root
measurement, by slight alteration, is worked up to bring about
coincidences with very different things. Thus Mr. Piazzi
Smith, by taking the height of the niche of the Queen’s
Chamber of the Great Pyramid as 182'62, and multiplying it
by 2, he obtains 365 242, equivalent to the days in the year;
and again by arbitrarily taking the same dimensions as 185,
and multiplying it successively by 8T416 and 10, he obtains
5,812, which he arbitrarily concluded to be the height
of the Great Pyramid in inches. But curiously enough
the same dimensions, 182'62, multiplied by 10 and divided
by 2 (why not at once multiply by 5-2) is made to show an
approximate to length of one of the sides in inches. These
are common examples of the facility with which many fancy
the discovery of purposeful design in numbers or dimensions,
when dealt with in a fanciful and arbitrary way.

It seems to have been forgotten by such persons that any
root figure, by the arbitrary selection of a multiplier or divisor,
may be made to coincide exactly with any other number
provided the manipulator knows beforehand the number or
proportional with which correspondence is sought to be
established.

But making all allowance for the vagaries of the mystics,
there are many legitimate subjects of enquiry, upon
which some light might be thrown by the careful investigation
of ancient structures At the present day it is remarkable
how largely the numbers 7, 12, and 10, or simple multiples of
these enter into standards of space, time, weight, and value.
It is easy to imagine how 10 was seized upon so frequently as
a standard of measurement; for counting by means of the
digits of the two hands so universal and so natural at once
suggests a probable reason ; but the reasons for the original
selection of 7 and 12 for a similar purpose are not so easily
conceived.

What, for example, were the determining causes for the
selection of the many sub-divisions of weights, values, time,
lineal and square measure ?

Why have we a sequence of 4, 12, 20, in English money
in sub-divisions of the penny, shilling and pound ; of 14, 28,
56, 112, 2,240, in sub-divisions of a ton weight ; of 44, 440,

132

OBSERVATIONS REGARDING PYRAMID NUMBERS.

1,760, in sub-diviskms of the English mile ; of multiples of
12 in square measure ; of either 8 or 7 as a root of wine
measure ?

8x1

gall.:

8x42

7x48

tierce :

8x62

7x72

hogshead

8x84

7x96

1 OX O

puncheon: ? x u4

pipe :

8 x 252
7x 288

tun

Then going to the survivals of ancient systems of linear
measurement, how can we account for the origin of lineal
measures, such as —

The English foot ... Equivalent to 12 English inches
The ancient “ Pied de

Roi” of Prance ... „ 12- 79 „

The German elle !■ „ j

„ 22-428

5 y 25 ,,

„ 268 „

„ 25-33

„ 25

27

The Italian pic
The common guerze of
Persia

The pic of Turkey
The braccio of Ancona
The shortpichaof Greece
The long _ „

The existing derah or
cubit of Egypt

Jewish cubits ... j>

25-488

61
74

/ 25-
\ 24-

May it not be possible therefore that the ancient draftsmen
or modellers of pyramids had seized upon many of these
characteristics shown in the forms and figures referred to,
both for sub-divisions of measures and weights, and also to
typify in their important fixed standards some of the more
remarkable facts of astronomy then known to them ?

123

NOTE ON THE AUSTRALIAN CURLEW AND ITS
CLOSELY ALLIED CONGENERS.

By Colonel W. V. Legge, R.xA, F.Z.S.

A comparison of the Australian Curlew with its near
Asiatic ally, and its more distantly related representative in
Europe and Western Asia, may not be uninteresting to
Members of this Society who study ornithology.

The Curlews of the old world, like other members of the
Wader family ( Gliaradriide ), resemble one another in plumage,
and hence we find that a few years ago Naturalists con¬
fused them not a little ; we have the Indian and the
Chinese Curlew spoken of as the European bird, and there
seems to be some confusion about the European and South
African species. Unlike the American Curlews, which have a
distinguishing characteristic on the buff tinting of the under
wing and axiliaries, the old world species differ chiefly in
character of the markings of the breast and axiliaries and
in the ground colour of the rump, and it is by referring to
these parts that a correct diagnosis of the above species, on
which I make this note, can be founded. A marked charac¬
teristic, however, of the Australian bird is its length of bill.

The European or common Curlew is : — Numenius Arquata
(Liun), described as Scolojpax Arquata, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat.
Ed., 12, 1. p. 242 (1766).

The Eastern, or Asiatic Curlew is : — Numenius Lineatus
(Cuvier), Reg. An., 2nd Ed., 1. p. 52 (1S29).

The Australian Curlew is : — Numenius Cyanopus (Vieillot),
2nd Ed., du Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. Yol. viii., p. 306
(1817).

The latter is the Numenius Major of Schelgel from Japan,
and the Numenius Australis of Gould from Australia, and like¬
wise the Numenius Rufescens of Gould, in the proceedings
of the Zoological Society, 1832, p. 286 — which name appears
to have been founded on a specimen in breeding plumage.

The following diagnostic table will tend to illustrate the
characteristics above alluded to : —

134

NOTE ON THE AUSTRALIAN CURLEW.

P

P

M

PQ

© XO

© iO

© o

a<°

2 JN.

Co

to oo
a

P2

^ o

42 O

- O

~ 4->

~ -A

P ■«

d

P

P o

r-P XO

a

© o

to

P P-i w

3'42 ^

«ri ©

. o a

© o
&u

p oo
P

CD

P £p to

3 '-2 rP
<11 ©
o a

P

P3

to

fn P
2 £

£ 2
=3 P
©

=H A=i

© a
£3 >
rQ 2

© a
> r P

Ad' 2 ^
rP rP ©

a ^ -P

3= P*

?h -. 7

- is

4->

fl~> . - i* . r—i

2 ^ P c3

‘a 2

2 to-

■5rP’S

-*■= A=

rd 3

2 SD'-

45 £.2 £>

•c* Ho T3 d
© d o

White,
with dark

^ip ,
| a

1 a

^ Pcd"

4- -jh CL/ ©

-A> M rS
to © -»J

lines

ej-

tbe

P © °
<& rP

P

S*

-1-3

S'*

A3 ^

&Pc

C <D

is s

2

-435

0Q

O

© 2
rd rS

4-3 C3

^ ©
© p

A4 a
a ©
-a a

A3 a

CO A2

is

o

P

=4H

O

'-*-3

-g*

5-

£

O

o

a

r2 e

d

J©

d-J

C3

c~j

rt3

o -g

r-j

+3

SH

o

m

© 1

o

rd

43)

§

pCJ

o ^
P , .

© S a

.-2 ■§ -S

rd -

£^2 £
© a

a~.S

I g

rH _a

-»

p

p

m

a bo?

© p 2
© .p o

rM 'H

1 §1

02 > -H>

~ > a

o o -d

5 j© rH P

g-|J

^ c3 g „ ,

U £

i© a

rP rP

+3 Ifl

c3

0)

Fp £

o

d rj

2 ”
2£
pd

n

2^ ^

4J r- < Q ^ ri

ond 9

«J

Eh

dq p

<5

EH

©

p

p

2 &

a w

2 %

5 ^

S2! P

& !*

p <1

p

P o

a

S

s

p

p

p

Sz5

£

N.B.— There is another Curlew that has the rump coloured like the back, instead of being white ; I refer to the large American species, N. longirostus.

BY COLONEL W. V. LEGGE, E.A., F.Z.S.

135

As regards our Curlew, 1ST. Cyanopus, on arriving in Tas¬
mania in September some specimens have the buff tinge of the
breeding season still remaining on the breast and flanks, and
accompanying this is a rufescent hue on the longer upper tail
coverts and central tail feathers. This species no doubt varies
in size, length of wing and length of bill, as much as its
congeners. But, unfortunately, I have not yet got together
a series of specimens, and cannot give much information on
the subject. A pair shot in Ralph’s Bay, by my son, on the
14th September, measured as follows : — ■

0 Length, 24'75 in.; wing, 12-25; expanse, 42*0 ; tarsus,
3‘5 ; bill along culmen, 6.9. 0 Length, 22-0 in.; wing, 11-1;
tarsus, 3-4; bill along culmen 5 5. In both, the legs were
bluish grey, with the toes darkish ; iris, very deep brown ;
bill, dark brown ; tip, blackish ; base beneath, fleshy reddish.

Geographical Distribution. — Although the Australian Curlew
is a migratory species, breeding in northern climates in
summer and “ wintering here in our summer, many seem to
remain throughout the year with us. This is a common
feature in the economy of the Waders. I have found several
species of well-known “northern breeders” remaining in
Ceylon in considerable numbers in the cool season, but not to
breed ; and though our Curlew remains with us in the winter
it is impropable that it breeds here.

It migrates north through the Malay Archipelago, being
there met with on passage in Borneo, Hew Guinea, the
Philippines and other islands ; thence northward along the
coast of China to Amoor Land, and up to Lake Baikal, in
which region it is supposed to breed. In Japan, it has been
met with as far north as Hakodadi. According to Buffer it
only occurs sparingly in Hew Zealand ; but nevertheless seems
to remain there in winter. Hew Zealand is probably its
eastern limit ; for farther east it is replaced by the oceanic
species, N. femoralis, with curiously formed tibial feathers,
and which occurs in the Marquesas Islands. Ramsay records
our bird from all the Australian Colonies.

Hollowing the principle advocated here, that the Asiatic
Curlew, N. Lineata , is distinct from the European bird, we have
the range of the former across the continent to China, down the
peninsula of India to Ceylon, and likewise southwards from
China to the Malay islands, where it has been procured in Java,
Sumatra, and Borneo. The same form of bird is known to
migrate down the east coast of Africa, and Layard records it as
a resident in South Africa.

Its range would appear to be over-lapped, so to speak, by
that of the Australian Curlew in Amoor Land and JaDan, the
present bird not being found north of the south-eastern part of

130

NOTE ON THE AUSTRALIAN CURLEW.

Mongolia where it breeds, quitting the southern portions of
the continent in April for that purpose.

Lastly, the range of the European Curlew may be defined to
extend throughout Europe, taking in the Orkney, Faroe, and
Shetland Islands. It likewise occurs in Western Asia. It is
found in the Azores and in North Africa, extending down the
coast ot that continent to Damara Land. It appears not to
wander to the extreme south, for all the South African Curlews
I examined in the British Museum when compiling my work
were inseparable from the foregoing species as found in India,
China, and Ceylon. It would therefore appear to take in the
west coast, while the Asiatic or “Eastern ” Curlew monopolises
the east coast and the extreme south in its wanderings.

ADDITIONS TO THE LIST OF TASMANIAN FOSSILS
OF UPPER PALAEOZOIC AGE.

By Eobebt M. Johnston, F.L.S.

(Pbate.)

The mudstone beds (Upper Palaeozoic) in the neighbourhood
of Hobart are extraordinarily rich in spirifers. Fourteen species
have already been noted in my recent work on the Geology of
Tasmania. A number of other interesting forms have been
collected by me during the last two or three years ; but
hitherto 1 have not had time to study them with that care
which is desirable ; for any one who has worked long in
our rocks must be aware of the many difficulties which are
presented when any attempt is made to determine the
characters of the Protean-winged spirifers of Tasmania. In
the mudstone rocks casts alone are generally found ; and
although these are numerous and sharply marked, the casts
present such a wonderful range of variation when large
numbers of the same species are subjected to examination that
the task of determining the central or most typical represen¬
tative of each species, is extremely puzzling. If attention
were confined to a single specimen — as is often the case where
odd specimens are despatched to palaeontologists at a distance
— there would be less perplexity ; but it need hardly be stated
determinations so made, without the knowledge of local vari¬
ability, must add greatly to the perplexities of the field
worker who may have to determine whatever variety comes to
his hand by the aid of descriptions based upon odd types.

All the winged spirifers of Tasmania are extremely variable,
and many species among these extreme forms are scarcely
separable from similarly variable allied species. >S'. convoluta, S,
lisculcata, H. vesper tilio, S. duodecimocosta, and S. avciula are
remarkable for the extreme variability in form and sculpture.
Added to the difficulties of the observant field worker are the
variety of modes in which they are presented in casts; some
showing sharp details of external surface of right valve; some
of left ; some of more or less blurred surfaces of one or both
sides of internal casts. The greater number, again, are
curiously distorted. It is not surprising, therefore, that many
able authorities have had frequently to revise the classifica¬
tion of many of these forms, when other examples of an
abnormal form or type have been submitted to them. The
following six species, as determined by me from a series of
specimens of each kind, presented all the difficulties referred

138

ADDITIONS TO THE LIST OF TASMANIAN FOSSILS.

to ; but after careful comparison I was enabled to account for
young and adult forms, and to mark individual variation ; and
finally I could, with some degree of confidence, select the most
typical of each group. By this means I have reduced a large
number of variable specimeos to six species, all of which I have
been able, with some degree of confidence, to refer to types of
well-known fossils occurring with many of their associates in
rocks of the same age in Europe. Fairly good photographs
have been taken of these, and the following are the determina¬
tions which I have been able to arrive at.

Tasmanian Brachiopods.

Figs. 1, 4.

Spirifera striata

33

2, 7.

- | - - laminosa

3, 8.

- cristata

var. octoplicata

3*

9, 10, 12

. - duplicostata

33

5, 6.

- alata

35

11.

- - triangularis

33

14, 15.

- vespertilio

33

18.

Leptsena sp.

33

16.

Pachydomus sp.

33

17.

Ditto

33

19.

Stenopora ovata

Martin Huon Eoad
M'Goy

I cle C. Sow. ,,

33

Schl. ,,

Martin „

G. Sow. „

33

33

33

Lons ,,

As the descriptions of the same species taken from Davidson’s
“ British Carbouiferous Brachiopoda ” answer closely to local
forms, I have appended descriptive extracts from this eminent
authority, for the convenience of local students.

Figures of local forms are taken from select types by photo¬
graphy. I have also to announce the discovery of I op h ophyMum
corniculum, de Konwick. Collected by Capt. Beddome in the
mudstone beds near Fingal.

Description of Species Occurring in European Rocks.

According to T. Davidson, E.E.S.

Spirifera striata, Martin.

A very large and variably shaped shell, transversely semi¬
circular, or sub-rhomboidal ; valves almost equally convex.
In the dorsal valve the mesial fold is of moderate elevation,
while the sinus in the opposite one is both variable in its width
and depth. The hinge-line is either a little shorter, or as long
as the greatest width of the shell, the cardinal angles being more
or less rounded in adult individuals. The area is of moderate
width, with sub-parallel sides ; fissure triangular, and partially

13

k

■ ® 3

BY EOBEET M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

139

covered by a pseudo-deltidium. The external surface of the
shell is ornamented by a variable number of radiating ribs,
which augment in number to a greater or lesser extent, from
intercalations at unequal distances from the beaks ; so that from
70 to 90 may be counted round the margin of each valve in
adult individuals. The ribs on the fold and sinus are likewise
more flattened than on the lateral portions of the shell. The
surface is closely and finely reticulated. In the interior of the
dorsal valve, under the extremity of the incurved umbonal beak
there exists a small cardinal process or muscular fulcrum, and on
either side are situated the dental sockets. The spiral cones which
fill the larger portion of the shell are attached to the extremities
of the inner socket-walls. The lamellae, after having converged
and given birth to the crural processes, diverge, and form the
first of the 20 or 22 convolutions of which each spiral is
composed. Pour impressions left by the adductor muscle are
visible in this valve. In the interior of the ventral valve a
strong hinge-tooth is situated on either side at the base of the
fissure, and is supported by a vertical shelly plate of much
strength, but not advancing to any great length into the interior
of the valve. Between these a large portion of the free space
at the bottom of the shell is occupied by the adductor and
cardinal muscular impressions, which are divided by a blunt,
central, longitudinal ridge. The dimensions of one of the
largest examples are : —

Length, 41 in.; width, 6 in. 1 line ; depth, 3 in. 1 line.

Spirifera laminosa, A [‘Coy.

Transversely sub-rhomboi dal ; valves unequally convex, the
ventral one by far the deepest. The lateral portions of the
shell are regularly curved, forming with the extremities of the
hinge-line, acute, but not prolonged cardinal extremities : area
large, triangular, more or less elevated, and divided by a fissure
of moderate width. Beak small, not much produced above or
beyond the level of the area. The mesial fold in the dorsal
valve is broad, and more or less elevated without ribs, and
corresponding with a deep and rather wide longitudinal sinus
in the ventral one. Each valve is ornamented by about 20 or
22 narrow radiating ribs, intersected by closely disposed, sharp,
oncentrie, undulating laminae. The measurements from two
examples have produced —

Length, 12 ; width, 21 ; depth, 10 lines.

» 8 „ 11 „ 61 „

Spiriferina cristata, var. octoplicata, J. De C. Sowerby.

Transversely sub-rhomboidal, valves about equally convex,
and at times rather gibbous ; hinge-line as long as the greatest
width of the shell. Cardinal angles acute or slightly rounded ;
area concave, triangular, and of variable width ; fissure partly
covered by a pseudo-deltidium ; beak small and incurved. The

I

140

ADDITIONS TO THE LIST OF TASMANIAN FOSSILS.

mesial fold of the dorsal valve is more often composed of a
single rib which is much larger than those situated on the lateral
portions of the shell; its crest being in general rounded
from the umbone to about half its length, when it gradually
becomes more and more flattened as it approaches the frontal
margin, but at times it remains angular during its entire
length, with a tendency to the formation of a rudimentary
plait on either of its slopes, so that in these rarer cases the
fold assumes towards the front an obscurely triplicated
appearance. The sinus in the ventral valve is deep, acute,
and generally simple, but also more rarely interrupted by a
rudimentary rib, which becomes visible in the proximity
of the front. The valves are ornamented by from S to 12
angular ribs, which are, as well as the sinus and fold, inter¬
cepted by closely disposed, concentric, scale-like laminae. The
surface of the shell is also closely beset by numerous small
granular (spinose) asperities ; the shell-structure being likewise
perforated by minute tubili or perforations.

In the interior of the ventral valve there exists a sharp
elevated mesial septum, which rises from the bottom of the
valve, and partly divides the spiral cones. Dimensions very
variable. Three examples, of which the first two are Sowerby’s
original types, have afforded the following measurements : —
Length, 9 ; width, 13 ; depth, 8 lines.

» 6 „ 11 „ 6 „

5J ,, S ,, o ,,

Spirifera duplicicosta, Phillips.

Transversely sub-rhomb oidal when adult, longer than wide,
or almost circular when quite young ; valves moderately convex,
with a more or less produced mesial fold in the dorsal, and a
corresponding sinus in the ventral one. The hinge-line is
shorter than the width of the shell, the area of moderate
breadth, beak incurved. Valves ornamented by numerous
radiating ribs, which rapidly augment at various distances from
the beaks by intercalation as well as bifurcation. Two examples
have afforded the following measurements : —

Spirifera alata, Schlotheim.

S. alata varies considerably in shape, according to age and
individual. When adult or full grown it is transversely fusi¬
form, being twice and even three times as wide as long (PI. 1, figs.
23 and 27). Valves convex, deepest at a short distance from
the umbone ; hinge-line as long as the greatest width of the
shell, the cardinal extremities being more or less attenuated in
•different individuals. The area is wide with sub-parallel sides ;
fissure triangular, and in great measure covered by a convex
pseudo-deltidium ; a narrow rudimentary area may be seen

BY ROBERT M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

141

likewise in the smaller valve ; beak small and incurved. The
mesial fold is simple, of variable width, and flattened along its
upper surface ; while in the ventral valve there exists a shallow
; sinus, interrupted by the presence of a rounded slightly elevated
mesial rib. The valves are likewise ornamented by a variable
number of rounded, or but slightly angular, ribs ; these are
simple, or here or there augmented by an occasional intercala¬
tion. In number they vary from about 8 to 30 on each valve,
the larger number occurring on the most adult individuals.
The ribs are also at times of unequal width, even on the same
example ; and the entire surface of the shell is ornamened by
close and regular scale-like, concentric, imbricated laminae.
The interior of the ventral valve does not show a trace of that
elevated mesial septum which is always present in Spiriferina
cristata, Sp. octoplicata, Sp. Miinsteri, rostrata, Tessoni, and
other forms composing that sub-genus. The dental or rostral
plates in S. alata are also much smaller, and I might almost say
rudimentary ; the muscular impressions are likewise exactly
similar to those peculiar to the genus Spirifera. In the dorsal
valve, under the extremity of the umbone, there exists a small
striated cardinal process or boss, but no hinge-plate, and a
little lower is seen the quadruple impression left by the adduc¬
tor (PI. I., figs. 31, 32, 33a).

Spirifera triangularis, Martin.

Triangular, twice as wide as long, with a straight elongated
hinge-line, and slightly concave, nearly parallel-sided area,
towards the attenuated extremities of which the lateral margins
of each valve converge, forming acute angles with the hinge.
The fissure is triangular, and partly covered by a, pseudo-
deltidium. The dorsal valve is less convex than the opposite
one with an elevated mesial fold which commonly assumes the
character of a single produced and acutely angular cuneiform
ridge or rib, at times considerably prolonged beyond the frontal
level of the lateral portions of the valve. On either side of
this central ridge from 6 to 30 smaller ribs ornament the
lateral portions of the valve. The beak of the ventral valve is
narrow, produced, and incurved. A shallow mesial sinus
commences at the extremity of the beak, and extends to the
front, but at a short distance from its origin a mesial or
central rib originates, which becomes wider and more elevated
and produced as it approaches the front, and corresponds with
the central ridge of the dorsal valve. Seven to 11 smaller ribs
exist also on the lateral portions of the valve, on either side of
the sinus. The dimensions taken from a perfect individual have
produced : —

Length, 10^ ; width, 21|- ; depth, 6| lines.

142

CONTENTS.

-oci'ca'iS' ,o> *•

1. Is the Poverty of the Masses a Necessary Concomitant of Increased

Accumulation of Wealth in the Aggregate?

2. Wants of Man.

3. Division of Labour and Means of Exchange — Advantages and Defects.

4. Further Difficulties — Allocation.

5. Proportional Classification of Occupations.

(i. Causes of Existing Poverty and Misery.

7. Satisfaction of Wants and Theory of Obstacles Considered.

8. The Best Mode for Effecting Exchanges Depends Greatly Upon the

Extent and Value of Local Natural Sources.

9. Buy in the Cheapest Market.

10. Free Trade.

11. Aggregate Wealth and Individual Wealth.

12. The Effect of Strikes or a Rise in Wages in Food-producing and Food-

lacking Countries.

13. Rent Monopoly.

14. Monopoly of the Gifts of Nature.

15. Middlemen.

16. Distribution of Consumable Wealth.

17. Capital and Wages Difficulty.

18. Improvement in Social Conditions Largely Due to the Savings of Anterior

Labour.

19. Comparative Progress in Modern Times Due to Increased Productive

Power.

20. Past and Present Contrasted.

21. Comparative Effective Purchasing Power of Labour.

22. Present and Past Condition of England Contrasted.

23. Increasing Numbers.

24. The Struggle for Existence.

25. Can a Higher Culture be Maintained in Any One Country Without

Regulating its Intercourse with Other Races of Men in a Lower Plane
of Civilisation?

143

ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC
PROBLEMS.

By R. M. Johnston, F.L.S,

Is the Poverty of the Masses a Necessary Concomi¬
tant of Increased Accumulation of Wealth in
the Aggregate ?

All observers are nearly agreed that the accumulation of
wealth and wealth- producing power have prodigiously increased
within the present century. Of this there can be little
doubt. Modern discoveries — as regards the properties of
matter, the discovery and development of new lands, the uses
of steam, electricity, and labour-saving inventions in every
department of social and industrial life — have enormously
increased man’s power over the forces of nature. With this
immense gain of power vast continents of virgin forest and
barren swamp have become gardens of plenty. Rivers,
mountains, and other formidable obstacles to communication
or distribution of products have been bridged or pierced by
railways, roads, and other superior means of distribution ;
and the wide ocean, connecting far distant lands, now forms
the easy and open highway of magnificent steamers, which
vie in regularity and speed with the railway train in bringing
to local markets daily supplies of the fresh meat, fish, fruit,
and cereals of lands many thousand miles away. As a
natural consequence famines, such as are known to have been
so common and so terrible in England in the immediately
preceding centuries, are rendered an impossibility.

How is it, then, that we are again brought face to face with
the old terrible problems : “ The Misery of the Masses,”
u The Labourer’s Struggle for Existence,” “ The Growth of
Poverty,” “ The Increase of Pauperism and Crime ? ” If we
can judge by the popular literature of the day, the state of
the masses in Europe seems to be verging into as hopeless a
condition as that which existed prior to the introduction of
our vaunted discoveries.

Indeed, one writer, who recently has been heard above all
other claimants for reform, confidently affirms that “ it is
true wealth has been greatly increased, and that the average
of comfort, leisure, and refinement has been raised; but
these gains are not general. In them the Invest class do not
share.” He broadly insists that increase in poverty is the
constant concomitant of increase in aggregate wealth, and

144 BOOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

that this constant “ association of poverty with progress is
the great enigma of our times.” Is it true, as this writer
confidently affirms, that with all the advantages which man
has gained in his increased and increasing command over the
forces of nature, our present civilisation has by its customs
and provisions barred the effectual distribution of accumu¬
lated wealth ; and the only effect produced is that of making
the rich richer and the poor poorer ?

This cannot be answered effectively without some enquiry
into that form of wealth which constitutes man’s chief
satisfactions.

Are these sufficient in the aggregate to suffice for all, if
proper means for effecting distribution were employed,,
supposing such means were possible ? Or is the aggregate
supply of primary wants insufficient to provide all needs, even
were the most thorough means devised for its distribution ?

Wants of Man.

The satisfaction of the wants of man is the mainspring of
all his activities. Wants are interminable. Some affect his
very existence, while others only concern his greater degree of'
comfort or happiness. In all enquiries into matters deeply
concerning the existence and welfare of man it is well,,
therefore, to keep these fundamental distinctions clearly in
view ; for not a few of our misconceptions arise from a failure-
on the part of social and political economists to establish a.
satisfactory classification of wants according to their varying
importance.

Broadly speaking, these may be divided into three great,
groups : —

(1.) Wants Essential to Life Itself.

(2.) Wants Essential to Comfort.

(3.) Luxurious Wants.

Whatever eccentricities may be exhibited by isolated
individuals at times, it is unmistakable that the fierceness or
intensity of the struggle for wants among communities is
determined by the nature of the wants ; and, invariably, so
long as the reason of man is preserved, the greater intensity
of the struggle — beginning with the most important — is in.
the order before given, viz.:—

Wants essential to —

(1.) Life.

(2.) Comfort.

(3.) Luxury.

Man can, and, unfortunately, the masses of men are often
obliged to, exist without the enjoyment of luxurious wants.
He may even be deprived of all wants beyond th e first group-

BY E. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

145

and still maintain a more or less extended life-struggle with
misery of some kind : but if the wants of the first group be
ever so little curtailed below a certain minimum, he will
speedily perish miserably.

Preserve to man his life, and if needs be he will eagerly
exchange for its preservation all his comforts and luxuries.
Deny him life, and all the Economist’s wealth of exchange
becomes to him as dross — absolutely valueless. This being
so, let us endeavour to investigate some of the more important
social problems closely connected with the welfare and
progress of man. It is for many reasons necessai'y at this
stage to confine attention to those primary wants essential to
life itself ; and for greater clearness these may be restricted
to that minimum of each great want necessary to maintain
the life of each person. The exact minimum of these, what¬
ever their form may be, depends upon the energy destroyed
by work, and upon the physical condition of the labourer’s
environment, and may be stated thus : —

The minimum to maintain existence of
Pood.

Shelter.

Eest.

Without a certain minimum of these, man, like all living
organisms, must perish inevitably.

Division of Labotte — Advantages and Defects.

Division of labour necessary to produce necessary satisfac¬
tions, and to distribute them in large civilised communities,
undoubtedly ensures greater skill, and prevents unnecessary
waste of the aggregate time and energy of the individuals.
Were it not for this provision no country could sustain the
life of large numbers. This division of labour, however,
rests upon the tacit understanding that energies in other
directions than that of actually producing food may
constantly be exchanged for food and other primary wants.
Individual societies, communities, and nations are alike in
this respect; for no matter the skill, time, and labour
proffered or applied for or in the production of other than
primary wants, it is necessary that they be constantly
exchangeable in sufficient amount to obtain at least that
minimum of primary needs from other persons or communi¬
ties, who, under this system, are supposed to produce a
sufficient surplus for the satisfaction of all other members of
society not immediately engaged in the production of primary
wants. Were it not for this understood assurance, the
present civilisation — with special centres of manufactures for

146 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

the world at large, its defined local division of labour and
individual rights in large areas of land — would he altogether
impossible.

Among the conflicting opinions of Political Economists,
Socialists, and Communists, there is at any rate this one
fundamental point of agreement, viz., that by a proper
division of labour or services, the sum total of human
satisfactions are greatly superior, and are enjoyed by vastly
greater numbers than would be possible to men were each to
work in a state of isolation, and each one obliged to attempt
to create the whole round of his own requirements. Let us
take it for granted, then, that division of services is a
necessity ; but while so doing let us bear in mind that the
greater satisfaction of wants in the aggregate may be attained,
and yet owing to an imperfect scheme of distribution a
sufficiency, nay, even the minimum of primary satisfaction
necessary to maintain life, may fail to reach many ; and hence
it may appear that much of the idleness, pauperism, crime,
misery and death experienced in crowded centres is due to
the defects of distribution.

Let us therefore examine this root difficulty, free from the
clouds of irrelevant or less urgent considerations. Division
of labour without facilities for exchange may render a unit
more helpless in such a scheme than he would be in a savage
state. Much ingenuity and ability has been exercised by
many writers in showing to us, as Bastiat does, the glorious
provisions of one of the so-called social harmonies ( Liberty
alias Competition ) in preventing monopoly, and in effecting
the distribution of wealth. And it may be at once conceded
that human society does reap all the advantages claimed on
behalf of competition.

The question, however, is not — Does competition effect
much good ? That may be readily conceded. But confining
attention to the minimum of primary wants alone — Do the
combined effects of division of services, competition and
modes of exchange now existing, provide for the preservation
of due 'proportions between the different classes of services, so as
to ensure the production of primary needs in sufficiency for
the wants of all ; and are the means of exchange sufficiently
perfect to secure with more or less certainty a due modicum
of primary needs to all. In a word, is the “ all for each ” as
effectively complete as the “ each for all ? ”

If this latter provision be defective — and this unfortunately
seems too true — can the defects be removed P And if this be
impossible — can the evils be minimised to any extent ? All
possessors of services must be enabled to secure primary
wants, or they perish. Deferences to the wide distribution
of wealth in exchange or commercial value ; or to standard

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

147

prices or wages — low or high — are utterly misleading.
W ithout the power to acquire, or the actual possession of a
due provision of that portion of exchange wealth.— not
necessarily possessing a high exchange value — the whole
aggregate of the remaining part of the world’s wealth in
exchange would be worthless ; for it would fail to preserve the
life of the man destitute of primary wants. This is the root
difficulty ; and it is forcibly exemplified in the first notable
exchange recorded in sacred history between the typical
representative of the hunter of wild animals, and the more
.skilled and peaceful agriculturist.

“ . . . And Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the

field : and Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents. . . .

And Jacob sod pottage : and Esau came from the field and he
was faint : And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee with
that same red pottage, for I am faint. . . . And Jacob said,

Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold I am
at the point to die, and what profit shall this birthright do to
me ? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day ; and he sware
unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob
gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles ; and he did eat and
drink, and rose up and went his way ; thus Esau despised his
birthright.”- — (Genesis xxv., 27-34.)

It is fortunate for Esau that he had the power of effecting
an exchange, and that, notwithstanding the exorbitancy of the
seller’s terms, he had no hesitancy in exchanging (or
despising as it is stated) the less needful wants for the more
pressing or primary; for in the trial of Job’s integrity and
fortitude it is affirmed, with truth, that skin for skin, all
that a man hath will he give for his life.

Unfortunately for the working class breadwinner, his
only birthright is physical power and manual skill, and
although these are all he can offer for his life needs, he cannot
always as a competitor effect the necessary exchange ; and
too often he, and those depending upon him, travel the swift
road to beggary and death.

Thus there are still defects, whether remediable or other¬
wise, in the present civilisation, so long as these fundamental
necessities of a power to exchange with primary wants are
imperfect, e.g.: certain divisions of humankind are not directly
engaged in producing primary wants for themselves. They
are mostly engaged merely in rendering more or less skilled
services, in return for tokens (money or other medium)
understood to have at least the power of effecting correspond¬
ing definite supplies of primary wants. But this division has
another difficulty.

The actual owner of the power (rich capitalist) to effect
the production of things which may be exchanged for a

148 HOOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

corresponding quantity of primary wants, may in all likelihood
be able to effect such exchanges; but the poor capitalist, the
possessor of the power of mere services, such as the navvy,
the house servant, the blacksmith, may often be unable to
exchange his services towards the production of these very
things ; and under such conditions as the needful, exchange
cannot be effected, the unemployed wage-earner in the
division of human labour must be supported by drawing
upon a more or less limited surplus previously earned;
failing that he must either borrow, take the risk of violent
means to secure primary wants, be fed by private or public
charity, or die of starvation.

This, then, is the problem of problems of the present day.
References to current high rates of wages, the low prices of
provisions, or the increasing aggregate value of wealth in
exchange, do not always disclose this skeleton in the
social cupboard. When the ship of society is barred
into many more or less water-tight compartments the
ship itself may not founder, although one or two minor
chambers be damaged and water-logged, and their contents
destroyed. If the larger and more important chambers*
however, be destroyed the whole ship may founder, and
those who may effect escape may be small indeed. This
allegorical picture must not be pressed too hard. It may be
sufficient, however, to draw attention to a dangerous side of
the division of labour composition of modern society.

But, says the theorist : True, his services were shut out by
over-competition in that particular place or in that particular
occupation ; but if he only knew at that moment that by
transferring his services to other employments, or to the
same occupation in another place, the balance of service for
service would be adjusted, and the life of himself and his
dependants would be saved. Ah, if he only knew ! But the
possession of knowledge is in itself practically a form of
wealth, and that he did not possess any more than he did the
necessary capital to acquire the necessary skill in the new
occupation calling for services, or in the necessary capital
to transfer himself and his household to a great distance
where his own special skill was then in demand. We may
therefore summarise the difficulties lying at the root of all
social problems as follows : — -

(1.) All breadwinners and their families to maintain
existence must possess primary wants, whether
they can effect exchange of services or not.

(2.) Many breadwinners — whether due to lack of know¬
ledge or inability to change their occupations or
locality — cannot obtain employment, and therefore
cannot effect exchange.

BY E. M. JOHNSTON. F.L.S.

149.

(3.) Such of the latter as by former misfortunes have
been deprived of every form of wealth in exchange,
must beg or steal from public or private resources,
or die of starvation.

Thus it is shown that one of the great economic harmonies
in competition, while it effects much good in distributing
wealth and breaking down monopolies and privileges, and in
enlarging the domain of community in the enjoyment of the
gratuitous products of nature and invention, it also, as one
of the mills of God, directs its force terribly on the mere
monopolists of bone and muscle ; competition grinding them
smaller and smaller as its force is augmented by increasing
numbers.

Further Difficulties Connected With the Division
of Labour — Allocation.

One of the most formidable difficulties connected with the
division of labour is allocation ; for it is evident that if in
the technical training of the young due regard be not paid to
the chances of finding employment in the service to which the
future breadwinner aspires, disaster or a disappointed life may
be the result. This, being a relative matter, applies to a
small community as well as to a large one. Few take into
consideration that there is a natural law in operation which
as surely determines the numbers required for each great
class of employment as do the natural laws which locally
determine the times and relative heights of the tide. No
social advancement by means of the higher education of the
people can ever alter the relative numbers of the various
branches of human service ; and should it be thought possible
that the education of the masses exerts any influence in the
nature of its training in disturbing the necessary proportions
of each great group of services upon which our lives and our
civilisation depends, it would certainly prove that the general
spread of higher education was a curse and not a blessing.

Services would never become a marketable commodity of
value in exchange if it were not for wants. Kinds of sei’vices,
therefore, must be exactly proportionate to kinds of wants.
The wants which demand the expenditure of the greater
amount of labour must necessarily absorb the greater amount
of persons requiring employment without regard to their
capacities, attainments, or personal desires ; and, so far as the
mass of human beings are concerned, there is no choice.

The great wants, food, clothing, and shelter, are by far the
greatest factors in the determination of the aggregate numbers
that must be employed if the wants are to be satisfied. The
same three great wants also determine the necessary amount
and proportions of capital, machinery, and land to be employed,

150 BOOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

together with the necessary proportion of labourers for each
"kind of occupation which directly or indirectly is somehow
utilised in the production of the said three great wants.

It is true the strict average proportions of the various
classes of labour machinery may not he found to be quite the
same in each country ; but this does not affect the aggregate
of all countries. It is not absolutely necessary that the
manufactures and agricultural industries of any one country
should preserve the world’s strict average proportions to each
other, so far as that one country is concerned, so long as it is
free to make necessary exchanges with other countries for
disposing or making good their respective local surpluses and
deficiencies. Nevertheless, countries confined to the produc¬
tion of their own wants — or, what is the same, the world as a
whole — must preserve the strict average proportion and
quantity of labour and machinery in the production of those
three great wants which are the mainsprings of all human
activities and efforts. It is necessary, therefore, to make a
very wide net to obtain approximate information with respect
to the amount and due proportions of all kinds of services
employed in the production of the whole round of wants of
each country. It is unfortunate that figures relating to the
occupations of all countries are not accessible, but reference to
the ascertained occupations of Australasia, United States of
America, British India, and seven principal States of Europe,
embracing 433 millions of people, and representing all climes
and all forms of industry, afford a basis wide enough to
secure very accurate information.

The figures contained in the following table of classified
occupation of these countries afford valuable information
with regard to the definite proportions of the division of
labour engaged in the production of human wants : —

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

151

PROPORTIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE OCCUPATIONS.
OF ALL PERSONS ENGAGED IN THE SUPPLY OF
HUMAN WANTS:-

Breadwinners (Percentage).

Dependants

Percentage).

All.

Persons supported by each

Breadwinner.

Country.

Population last
Census (1 = 1000).)

Professional. | m

2

6

©

g

o

p

Commercial. | w

Industrial. | ^

5

1-5

6 |

7 1

6-7

\\ ives, Children, i

| Scholars. |

9

8-9

1-9

Agricultural. j

Total of Group. |

Property, Rank. |

s

3

O

j Total of Group. ]

Faupers,

1 Criminals. |

O

H

All.

No.

England, Wales ....

26,094

2-4

6‘9

3-7

24-5

5'3

42-S

100

2-29

Scotland — , .

3,735

2 6

4'7

3-5

24'4

7-0

42-2

100

2-33

Ireland .

5,174

3-8

8-2

1-4

13'3

19-0

45’7

100

2'15

United Kingdom ..

35,003

2'7

7-0

3-3

23-0

7-5

43-5

...

100

2-25

Six Colonies of Aus-

tralasia : —

Victoria .

862

1-6

4-5

4T

18'8

14'5

43-5

0-2

0-6

0-8

54-5

1-2

55-7

100

2-24

Queensland .

213

1-4

5-0

5'1

18-3

15-7

45-5

0T

0'6

0-7

52-8

1-0

53-8

100

2T6

South Australia . . . .

280

1-4

4T

4’8

16 5

12-6

39T

0-3

0‘7

1-0

58-9

0-7

59-6

100

2’47

Western Australia . .

30

1-6

3'9

5'1

12-6

16 T

39' 3

0-3

1-6

1-9

56-2

2'6

58-8

100

2T3

Tasmania .

116

1-5

4-6

3T

16-5

16'9

42-9

0-5

0-6

IT

55’5

0-5

56-0

100

2-27

New Zealand .

490

1-5

4T

4-3

16'8

11-2

37-9

0T

0-6

07

60-7

0-7

61T

100

2-56

Total of Six Colonies
of Australasia -

1,991

1'5

4-4

4T

17'7

13-7

411

0-2

°'6

0-8

56'6

0-9

57-5

100

2-35

United States .

50,155

1-8

63

3-6

7-6

15*3

34*6

2-83

Prussia .

27,279

21

3 2

3’3

13'0

17*0

38 6

2-54

France .

37,321

1-8

6'3

4'2

12-0

18'0

42-3

2-32

Austria .

22,144

1-9

4-0

2-0

10-0

28 0

45'9

2T4

Belgium .

5,520

3-0

9-0

4'4

17'2

14*6

48-2

2-04

India .

253,891

1-3

IT

1-4

14-C

28-0

46"2

2T3

Totals .

433,304

1-6

3-0

2’3

13-E

23-2

43’4

2'26

152 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

From this table we learn that all people are divided into
two important groups : — Viz., breadwinners, representing
about 44-2 per cent, of all persons, and non-breadwinners or
dependants, composed mainly of wives and children, repre¬
senting 55’8 per cent, of the total populations. Thus it
appears that the wants of all must be provided by the service
of less than half the total number of those who consume
wants. The proportions of the breadwinners necessary to
effect this service are as follows. That is to say, for every
100 persons engaged in services of exchange value there must
be on the aggregate the following proportions nearly : —

Percentage Proportion.

Agricultural and Pastoral services

52-5

Industrial services

30T

Domestic services

6-8

Commercial services

5-2

Professional and other undefined services

5-4

Total ...

100-0

It will be seen that the simple services of the agriculturist
and herdsman are by far the most important (52-5 per cent.),
and that the next in importance are the industrial services,
embracing all artisans and labourers, representing SOT per cent.
The higher skilled workmen of this group only represent about
11 per cent, of all services. As the balance of services — com¬
mercial and professional — only amount to 10‘6 per cent., it
follows that of all services required only 2P6 per cent,
demand shill of a higher order; and that 78'4 per cent,
represent agricultural and other labourers and domestic
servants, in respect of which skill of a high order is not
absolutely requisite.

It is largely due to the flooding of particular kinds of
employment beyond the strict proportions which local wants
demand that inconvenience or distress is felt in young as well as
old countries. The numbers which can find entry into the higher
industrial, the commercial, and professional divisions cannot,
without unhealthy competition, be increased beyond the
relative proportions which these divisions must bear to the
producing industries of the particular country ; and these
dominating industries in Australasia are agricultural, pastoral,
and mining. Employment in other divisions can only follow
substantial increases in the three industries named ; for
manufacturing industries cannot alter their present propor¬
tions independently, as in England, until such time as they
are able to manufacture for the markets of other countries
than the local one. This applies much more strongly to the
smaller division represented by unskilled labour (not agri-

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L S.

153

■cultural), and by the commercial and professional classes.
These certainly may only increase according to their rigid
proportion ; and this must be determined by a previous
increase in the fundamental producing industries of the
particular place.

The principal producing industries of the place may
increase irrespective of other local divisions ( i.e ., agricultural,
pastoral, and mining), as their products may find the neces¬
sary consumer in foreign markets. Whatever influence,
therefore, may bar the progress of the dominating producing
industries of the place must also bar occupations in all other
divisions of services.

It is clear from what has been stated that applicants for a
given kind of employment may often fail, not because there
is no room for more labour, but because the direction in which
the applicants have been trained, or in which they desire to
be employed, is out of harmony with the natural or local
proportions of that particular service necessary in the pro¬
duction of general wants.

From this cause arises much difficulty and distress. It
largely adds to the proportion of dependants, and consequently
the direct or indirect strain (i.e., support of friends, relatives,
private and public charities) upon the actual breadwinners
becomes oppressive. I do not here touch upon artificial aids
to local production in its effects upon the alteration or dis¬
turbance of the relative proportions of the division of services
upon which such aid must have an immediate effect, further
than to remark, that if the aid by tariff duties or other means
enables the local division at once to cover the ground formerly
supplied by foreign industry, it can only do so either by
increasing the machinery or the relative proportion of numbers
employed locally in the division of service affected. The
advantage or disadvantage of adopting such a policy is here¬
after discussed. It is sufficient for the present purpose to
show the possible effect it may exert upon local employment
alone.

Causes of Existing Poverty and Misery.

It cannot be denied that in spite of the great accumulation
of wealth, and the increased command over the forces of
nature during the present century, that there is still to be found
much poverty and distress, and that much of it is due to the
unequal distribution of wealth ; and whether we may or may
not be able to point a remedy, it is utterly repugnant to the
best feelings of human nature to sink into the despair or
apathy of many who say, “ Let alone ; whatever is is best or
worst, and cannot be helped.” Whatever errors the Socialists
and Communists are chargeable with they must be credited
with warm aspirations for the amelioration and improvement

154 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

of suffering humanity, and are free from the charge of indif¬
ference. The latter, however, are too emotional to perceive
the great difficulties of the problems which have always,
engaged the deepest attention of earnest Social Economists,
and are too ready to advocate the introduction of their own.
pet schemes, without having taken sufficient trouble either to
test their adequacy, or to fathom the true nature of funda¬
mental difficulties, which would in most cases be made vastly
more formidable by the various plans propounded by them
for their removal. Thus some, having been misled by the
assumption that all our evils are due to individual property
right and unequal distribution of wealth, employ all their
ingenuity to show that all existing evils are attributable to
these, and to these alone.

Tet there are many other influences far more potent for
evil which no scheme yet propounded by Political Economists,
Socialists or Communists may wisely undervalue or ignore.
Of such are the following .- —

(1.) The superabundant proportions of human beings
in existence who, free from restraint, are naturally
disposed to be idle, sensuous, and wicked ; or who
are ignorant, foolish, and improvident.

(2.) The difficulties of supplying other motives more
adequate than self-interest to so many in effecting
conformity to the necessary social laws and virtues,
and as a spur to industry and useful application of
powers.

(3.) The inequalities of different habitable portions of
the earth as regards productiveness, climate,
disease, density of population, and the difference -
of civilisation and racial characteristics.

(4.) The periodic failure of food supply (famine),,
whether due to seasonal influence, exhaustion of
soil, violence, wilful waste, or improvidence.

(5.) Effectual means for elimination from society of the
more pronounced forms of hereditary vice and
madness which, if allowed to persist, would
endanger society.

(6.) Absence of facilities for relieving the pressure of
population in over-peopled lands by migration.

(7.) Difficulties connected with free exchange of products
between different nations whose artisans and
labourers are living under different material and
social conditions, e.g., slave labour and free labour.

(8.) Difficulties in effecting adequate exchange of pro¬
ducts with other nations where, as in England, .
local foods, products, and the raw materials for
manufacture are locally far below the level of
requirement of an ever-increasing population.

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

155

(9.) Difficulties and dangers arising from local increase
of population, especially when foreign, thinly-
populated lands are forcibly closed to emigrants,
as in the experience of the Chinese.

(10.) The misery caused by war, strife, murder, accident,
painful disease, and preventible forms of death.

(11.) The terrible root difficulty connected with either (1)
decrease, (2) stationariness, or (3) rapid increase
of population.

(12.) The absolute limits of space requisite for the recep¬
tion and sustenance of man.

The last two form the population difficulty ; in itself the chief
cause of human trouble.

This difficulty cannot be banished by sentimental tirades
or bad argument. ISTo tinkering with schemes affecting
“ Eights of Property,” “ The Battle of Interests,” “ Com¬
petition,” or “ Community of Goods,” can do other than make
the dominant difficulty more formidable. As this great
difficulty is often denied or misunderstood by those who
attribute all the evils to rent and free competition, it may be
well to touch upon these important subjects separately.

Satisfaction of Wants and Theory of Obstacles
Considered.

Human satisfactions are enjoyed to the fullest extent with
the smallest expenditure of time and human energy in regions
where the natural sources of human satisfactions are vast and
rich, and under conditions where the fewest obstacles
intervene between actual producers and actual consumers.
Extra time and labour, often necessarily spent in mere
distribution, are in themselves obstacles, and directly tend to
lessen the quota of satisfactions which might be enjoyed by
each individual. All conditions, therefore, which necessitate
the larger expenditure of time and labour — (such as extreme
distance between the several kinds of producers and
manufacturers) as well as conditions which necessitate extra
provision against loss or waste of satisfactions produced or
being produced (such as dangers from loss by storms,
inundations, fire, waste by war, civil strife, robbery, depreda¬
tions by wild animals, idle and useless dependants, plagues
of parasites, disease, etc.), curtail of necessity the amount of
necessary satisfaction which otherwise might be enjoyed by
each useful human unit. Obstacles, therefore, greatly
reduce the amount of human satisfactions so far as each
individual is concerned, although in the aggregate this is not
so easily comprehended. Lowness of nominal prices is not a

J

156 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

correct index of conditions most favourable for the attainment
of the greatest amount of satisfactions, with the smallest
expenditure of time and 'human energy : for it often happens
that low prices may be caused by excessive expenditure of
human energy forced upon a struggling producer ; or by
poverty due to forced idleness on the part of a large body of
consumers. While it may often happen — as in young
colonies — that a high price is no index of a lower supply of
satisfactions ; but rather of the smaller amount of obstacles
intervening between consume and producer, and gratuitous
sources of nature ; the smaller amount of enforced idleness
on the part of consumer, giving him a greater purchasing
power; and the greater advantage of the producer, due to
similar causes, enabling him to obtain all the most necessary
round of satisfactions with a smaller expenditure of time and
labour. Mere cheapness of satisfactions, therefore, is not a
reliable index of individual welfare. Purchasing power, as
indicated by expenditure of time and labour, is the only true
index as between countries differently circumstanced, and
this purchasing power of the consumer — unlike the unreliable
nominal cost or wage — is always in harmony with the amount
of obstacles intervening between the actual pi’oducers of
satisfactions and the actual consumers.

This method of determining the condition of different
communities will be better understood if we carefully
investigate the effect of obstacles more closely. As the
factors are variable and numerous, the only way to arrive at
true conclusions is to approach the question by the
mathematical method : thus : —

Let N=]Sratural agents and products ; or the gratuitous
forces of nature.

P~Productive power of human agencies, including
skill and energy, and skilled appliances.

0— Obstacles intervening between HP or producer
and consumers.

Then NP — O

And

C=Producers, dependants, distributors, etc., repre¬
senting the living population ; or consumers.

^Represents the amount of the average satis¬
factions provided for each individual.

C

P+0

0

=Represents the nominal cost of satisfactions
for each individual on the average — or it
may fairly represent the amount of exertion
or energy expended by human energy.

Having stated the general effect of obstacles between direct
producer and consumer as minimising the actual supply of

BY E. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

157

necessary satisfactions to each consumer where the values of
N and P and C are constant, it follows inevitably that the
amount of satisfactions to each individual is in direct corre¬
spondence to the amount of 0 ; increasing with its decrease,
and decreasing with its increase.

The effect upon price, however, is exactly the reverse of this,
as a definite amount of satisfactions increase in price in corre¬
spondence with the increase in obstacles (0), and decrease
correspondingly with its increase.

This law is not invalidated, because in particular cases (1)
price is comparatively low when 0 is absolutely great, and
conversely (2), price is comparatively low when O is absolutely
small ; for in every such case there must be corresponding
dissimilarity in the other elements to explain this effect : i.e.: —

The effect (1) could only happen in cases where either N
or P is abnormally or relatively great, or C is comparatively
small ; and similarly the effect (2) could only happen in cases
where either N or P is abnormally or relatively small or C
is comparatively great.

The failure to grasp these fundamental considerations is
the chief cause of the blunders in all reasonings connected
with questions related to the policy of different nations in
respect of artificial restrictions, hindrances or facilities in
the interchange of foreign products.

To make this matter more clear it may be advantageous in
demonstration to set forth a number of examples for the sake
of illustrating the important truths involved in the effects
produced where one or all the factors are different in value : —

(1.) Where soil, climate, or natural utilities are particu¬
larly advantageous the value of N is at its best or
maximum=Nm

(2.) Where skill and energy exist and are employed to
the best advantage the largest results are attained
for P=Pm

(3.) Where the smallest number of obstacles occur
between NP and C, the largest amount of satis¬
factions fall to the share of C=C“

(4.) The most perfect conditions favourable for effecting
the highest amount of satisfactions to each indi¬
vidual consumer coincide with Pm — 0°

<r

Or,

If we separate P” into labourers (L), and instruments
(1) the fruit of former efforts saved from previous consump¬
tion, and devoted by inventive skill and energy to more or

158 BOOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

less permanent aids to L, -we have a more perfect statement
of (4) thus : —

(A)

S =

IT (L» Im)— O’

O

Or greatest quota
of satisfactions.

=The ideally best conditions for
tbe attainments of the
highest satisfactions of
human wants with the least
expenditure of human
energy.

Understanding by to and n the indices of the maximum and
minimum of the various conditions, then it would logically
follow that the converse or worst possible conditions for
attaining the necessary satisfactions of human wants, involving
also the greatest expenditure of human energy, would be
when the equation becomes

(B) Nu (IT U)— 0"

cr

=s

This being so, it also follows that this stage will be
coincident with conditions which favour the maximum of
cost for each satisfaction, thus: —

(L- 1-) + o ^

cr

Similarly the conditions favourable to the attainment of
minimum of lowest cost or price (P“) would coincide with
stage A, thus : —

IT (L° I“) + cr
cr

Reasoning from these premises it is clear that the results
S and P, or their values, can never be satisfactorily known,,
unless we can gauge the values of their respective co-efficients.
That is, we must know not merely what is the tendency of any
one factor — but we must also know the tendency of all
factors affecting the problem. Nay, more ; if Political
Economy is ever to be dignified by the name of “ The Science
of Political Economy,” it must not merely take cognisance of
the tendency of every one of these factors, but, like the
skilled physicist, its disciples must not talk of the “ teachings ”
“ or conclusions ” drawn from them until they are prepared
to place approximate values against the tendency of each
factor, and then to strike a balance showing the ultimate
effects of the ever-varying combinations in ever-varying
localities.

The difficulty of the problem is no excuse for ignoring the
necessity for the adoption of this course. Hitherto, to a
great extent, the subject has been governed by the more or

BY E. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

159

less plausible generalisations of mere literary men; and
their deserved fame and undoubted ability and skill as such
have given them a prestige in political matters to which
they are not entitled from a practical or scientific point of
view. That they have done good service in arousing and
sustaining attention on such important matters is readily
admitted ; but further progress is impossible so long as the
inexact methods of the mere literary polemist are employed.
In future the progress of Political Economy as a science
depends upon demonstrations basedupon quantitative analysis,
and not as heretofore upon authoritative dogmas based upon
the qualitative analysis of any one factor of the problem
arbitrarily chosen from a compound or complex equation.

It is obvious that we may concur with most of the writers
on Political Economy as to the general tendency of any one
influence ; but while this is so it may not be a safe proceeding
to trust the effect of this one tendency — even admitting its
importance — as determining the ultimate conclusion; for
other tendencies, minus or plus, must be reckoned with before
any reliable conclusion can be arrived at. Pathos and
literary merit are powerful adjuncts, no doubt, but in the
solution of political problems they are worse than useless
where complete and exact methods are eschewed.

The Best Mode foe Effecting the Highest Quota of
Satisfactions with a Minimum of Teouble Depends
Upon the Local Value and Extent of Natueal
Soueces of Supply.

The principal material satisfactions essential to the hap¬
piness and cultured content of human life primarily depend
upon natural sources of supply, and that country whose
natural sources afford the greatest potential of elements
which may be made to contribute to the material satisfactions
of cultured men, is also the country wherein the greatest
number of people may best fulfil all those mutual services to
each other which cover the whole round of wants of an
ideally happy community. The essential natural conditions
for the sustenance of a highly- cultured community, and
permitting a natural, healthy expansion, are : —

(1.) Large area covering all zones of climate favourable
for the production of all reasonable wants, and
possessing richly all the elements essential to
production, such as water, fertile soil, the varied
mineral and vegetable products, and such flocks
and herds as most contribute to the welfare of

man.

160 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

(2.) Division of labour — each division carefully appor¬
tioned in relation to the probable amount of
different satisfactions required ; and each labourer
in every division carefully trained in that branch
of work to which he has been apportioned.

(3.) The creation and maintenance of instruments which
best supplement man’s efforts in modifying and
distributing the products derived from natural
sources, and so enabling each unit to enjoy the
maximum of desirable satisfaction with that
minimum of exertion which is most conducive to
the health and happiness of the individual.

Now, if it were possible to find such a combination of
favourable conditions, wherein all the wants of man could be
completely met, it follows that interchange with other
countries, so far as material needs are concerned, would not
only be unnecessary, but disadvantageous.

It is true, on moral grounds, a nation enjoying the
maximum of satisfactions with a minimum of exertion or
maximum of ease, might either reduce the amount of satis¬
factions or increase its exertions for purposes of benevolence
as directed towards a country less favourably situated ; but
there would be no such necessity on commercial grounds as
laid down by the earlier economists, except upon the plea
that we should buy in the cheapest market. But this last
plea, the favourite maxim of Free Trade theorists, ignores,
many consequences of the most vital importance.

First, the ideal state contemplated had already discovered
and achieved that final state of content or end to which a
people can aspire to — that is, a maximum of desirable satis¬
factions combined with a minimum of reasonable exertion..
This being so, why should they attempt to procure this end
by another method untried by them, seeing that they could
not improve their condition in this way, but might make it
worse. But as this plea must be discussed, let us see under
such circumstances what it might lead to.

Buy in the Cheapest Market.

In our ideally perfect state, let us for convenient reference
call it “ Euphi’asia.” One of the fundamental conditions
regulating its well-being is, that all for each is considered of
as great if not greater importance as each for all.

The favourable natural conditions were experienced to be
such that the round of wants of all might be satisfactorily
supplied without demanding from any one group of its divisions
of labour more than 44 hours of public labour per week. But
it was also carefully determined that although a certain
aggregate of labour when properly directed would affect this

BY K. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

161

desirable end, a corresponding or even a much greater amount
of labour could not produce the same result if the previously
carefully arranged and periodical regulation of the apportion¬
ment of labourers were subsequently disturbed in an arbitrary
way. Every arbitrary disturbance of the proportion of
labourers trained and originally apportioned to a special work
or function, has the effect of lowering the purchasing power
of the section which was arbitrarily increased, because it
introduced either curtailment of employment, wrongful com¬
petition, over-production, or diminished purchasing power
within that particular section of the division of labour ; and
in the section from which they were arbitrarily withdrawn, it
either lessened the amount of aggregate satisfactions required
for all ; or, if it have not that effect, it increases the hours of
labour of those within the division beyond the maximum
standard without additional recompense for increased exer¬
tion. If, however, the additional hours are rewarded by
extra satisfactions, it must be at the expense of the general
consumers, thus lessening their average of aggregate satis¬
factions.

The wrongful over-production is a direct loss to the whole
community so healthfully regulated by community of in¬
terests.

Oh ! but your ideal Euphrasian forgets, says the Economist,
that the surplus of A division might by interchange with
another nation be made to restore the balance thus arbitrarily
destroyed by A recompensing through products needed in
division B where a deficiency was caused. This is true, but
at best this course only helps to restore the loss occasioned by
the arbitrary disturbance of the apportionment of the local
Euphr’asian division of services. Nay, more ; the loss occa¬
sioned could not be fully restored by an equal exchange of
labour and skill, for the exchange with the distant foreign
country involved a fresh expenditure of labour in transfer
and agencies of exchange — thus increasing the value of O or
obstacles —between producer and consumer, and so inevitably
lessening the quota of the essential material satisfactions to
be divided among consumers. It must be borne in mind
that Euphrasia is assumed to possess the maximum of favour¬
able natural resources — plus best art appliances — and con¬
sequently the restoration of the destroyed equilibrium in
Euphrasia could only be effected by a skilled people, who
of necessity were forced to adapt themselves to circumstances
by either being satisfied with a lower requirement of wants
than that enjoyed by the Euphrasians, or by a similar standard
of material satisfactions gained at a much greater expenditure
of labour.

Eor the sake of illustration, let us further examine this
theory of obstacles. It will readily be granted that where

162 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

two producing centres are situated at vastly different distances
from consuming centres, that supply from the nearer pro¬
ducing centres can be effected by a much smaller expenditure
of labour than by the more distant centre of production.

Thus, if A be 8,000 miles distant, and B 40 miles, it
follows that the extra labour and time consumed in carrying
the extra 7,960 miles is a serious disadvantage. Men do not
consume distance. In itself it does not add a jot to the
ultimate material wants of man otherwise produced. Dis¬
tribution is certainly a necessity, but the smaller the need for
distribution the larger the produce to be divided, for it is
obvious that the more machines and human beings that are
abstracted from direct production of essential satisfactions,
the smaller is the quantity falling to the share of each
consumer of wants. Thus, if 100 producers and 50 distributors
provide the ideal quota of wants of an Euphrasian at the
maximum of eight hours per day — say 10 wants per day,
then the 100 producers must each have produced 15 wants,
for consumers include producers, and non-producers or
producers and distributors, and these number 150, and

100 x 15 __ ln
150

for each consumer : or on the basis of exertion which lies at
the root of price or cost, we might put it that for the aggre¬
gate hours of labour in producing and distributing each
consumer was put in the possession of 10 wants. Now, if we
increase obstacles we cannot supply the same number of
wants without individually increasing the hours of labour.
Thus, if the additional distance involves the labour of 50
additional distributors, and if producer and consumer alike
share the additional labour thrown upon them, we have

200 x 10

200 ~1U

= x =10h

Thus, to maintain the same share of wants as formerly, the
necessary increase of 50 non-producers or distributors involved
an extra two hours labour per day, or 25 per cent, extra
exertion on the part of all breadwinners. In like manner it
may be shown if the amount of exertions per individual
remain undisturbed — then the amount of wants formerly
supplied to each consumer must be lessened, thus : —

150 x 10 „ „

- — - — =7-5 wants per consumer

ZUl/

Thus we have with the increased obstacles a diminution in
the satisfaction of wants equivalent to a reduction of 25 per
cent.

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, P.L.S.

163

In tliese simple illustrations the direct effects of increased
obstacles between producer and consumer are set forth in
plain terms, so far as interchange with a distant country-
affects the conditions of a country circumstanced like our
ideal Euphrasia. To apply the argument involving obstacles
to other countries not so favourably conditioned as Euphrasia
might favour the adoption of interchange between two or
more distant countries, as effecting improvement in the
condition of consumers in each country — but this improve¬
ment could only reach the highest possible quota for such a
place where the exchanges are confined to the necessary
products, which are either naturally easily produced beyond
local needs, or in respect of products which are naturally
deficient within its own border. In such case the exchange
-of the former by exports would have to be met with a similar
value of imports of the latter. But even here the disadvan¬
tageous effects of obstacles are not a whit lessened. The
disadvantageous effects of obstacles have to be endured so
long as they do not outweigh the advantages of the desired
exchanges.

Nay, there is one form of want — Food — which no obstacle
■can outweigh so long as the energies of the labourer in other
directions remain unexhausted. The unfortunate country so
circumstanced must of necessity effect exchanges with food
countries, or perish as a community. Still more terrible is it
for the masses of this country if it should happen that it lacks
the natural or raw products upon whose manufacture the
exchanges for the food of other countries depends.

In such a case the friction of obstacles (distance) between
(1) producer of raw products (2), manufacturer, and (3),
consumer — attains its maximum — notwithstanding that
•science and skill may have done, and are still doing, wonders
by steam and other contrivances on sea and land to minimise
its lowering influence on the amount of satisfactions propor¬
tionate to labour exerted.

The Economist may here exclaim : How does the Euphrasian
argument from obstacles reconcile itself with such a case as
the United Kingdom. He will no doubt proceed to show that
no nation on earth has carried the method of interchange
with other countries to so high a pitch as the United Kingdom.
Her vessels are found laden with the products of exchange
in every important harbour of every country.

Her aggregate wealth is the envy of nations, amounting to
a sum something approaching <£130,000,000 as a yearly
income. Her external interchange trade amounts to 643
millions yearly, 362 millions being imports and 281 millions
being exports. Her annual value of real estate alone reaches
<£196,000,000. Surely, he would continue confidently, this

164 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

is the most complete vindication that could be given
practically, that the nation which has the greatest amount of
foreign interchange trade and, presumably, the greatest
amount of obstacles — is also the nation which, by her great
wealth, affords the greatest amount of satisfactions to
divide among her consumers.

The answer to this supposed objection certainly involves
many complex questions, but it may at once be affirmed that
it does not in the slightest degree diminish the value of the
argument from obstacles as applied to Euphrasia. In
making this affirmation it is not denied that the wealth of the
United Kingdom in the aggregate is unbounded, and no one
can reflect upon her grand achievements in science, wealth,
and progress, without admiration and pride. The skill and
energy of her people are marvellous, and our admiration is
not lessened, but increased, by the thought that her vast
resources and enormous interchange of trade have been built
up by her prodigious energy and industry in spite of obstacles
of every hind. Her skill, daring, and enterprise have given
her the command of important lands under every clime.
This skill and enterprise, however, could not within her own
borders increase, beyond a certain limit, the necessary supplies
to meet her rapidly growing needs, as regards food and
clothing for her people and raw products to supplement her
needs for supplying manufactures in exchange for prime
necessaries, failing which she could not support the lives of
her people. It is necessity, therefore, which inevitably forced
her to direct her industries in such a manner that her lack
in food and other raw products at home should be purchased
by a surplus creation of manufactures. Food, being one of
the prime essentials to the life of each person, must be
secured in sufficient quantity, or the lives of her workers
cannot be sustained. A nation possessed of all the world’s
wealth of exchange could not preserve the lives of her people
if this one form of wealth — Food — be lacking or insufficient.
With such a nation — so unfavourably conditioned — her
existence depends upon her power to command supplies of
the food of other countries in exchange for such products as
food-producing countries may think it desirable to take from
ber.

The food-producing countries may carry on this exchange
as a matter of choice or preference ; but with the food-
requiring country the exchange must be effected. — on the
best terms possible — but if necessity presses hard, it must be
effected upon any terms forced upon her.

Fortunately for such a country all lands capable of pro¬
ducing large food supplies are not in the condition of our
ideal Euphrasia, and hence there is little danger of a

BY K. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

165

stoppage of food exchanges for manufactures so long as the
food-producing country is tempted by cheapness to buy those
of the food-lacking country in preference to making them for
herself ; or of buying them from a rival manufacturing
country on still more advantageous terms.

Free Trace.

A food-lacking country must therefore favour free inter¬
change of trade, for it is necessary to her existence. A
country with ample natural sources unutilised or partly
utilised would only suffer a temporary inconvenience by the
cessation of imports of foreign manufactures, and it is
possible that this inconvenience which forced her to supply
her own wants from sources and agencies within her own
borders might result in increasing the amount of satisfactions
for each consumer with an expenditure of a smaller amount
of exertion on the part of each producer and distributor.

Aggregate Wealth and Individual Wealth.

But let us again return to the outward indices of the
prosperity of the United Kingdom. Admitting that she has
great wealth in the aggregate, it does not necessarily follow
that the share of satisfactions falling to the bulk of her
people compare favourably with countries whose aggregate
wealth is comparatively small. In point of fact any aggregate
respecting the wealth of a country is a pure abstraction. It
is as such enjoyed by no one. It is the share falling on the
average to each individual which is the true indication of real
wealth, or of the satisfactions enjoyed by the unit.

This is significantly demonstrated by contrasting two
widely differing countries in respect of that abstract idea
called national wealth : —

Area ...

Ditto per head of population

A ggregate earnings of wages
class

Working class breadwinners,
estimated ...

Ditto per head

Average hours employed per
week

Ditto per week

Average wages per hour

Average cost of one quarter
of wheat ...

Equivalent of ditto in true
purchasing power, viz.,
hours labour

Tasmania.

16,778,000

114-13

United Kingdom
... 77,800,000

... 2-05

5,519,340

... 800,084,000

61,326

£90

... 15,884,000

... =£51

44

34s. 6d.
9,40d.

... 55

... 19s. 3d.

... 4-20d.

32s. 6d.

... 32s. 6d.

4T5 hours

92*9 hours

166 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

Thus it will be seen that notwithstanding the imposing
effect of the vast aggregate wealth of labour in England
representing over eight hundred million pounds sterling — the
purchase of one quarter of wheat, the staff of life — demands
of her workmen the expenditure of 92‘9 hours time in labour,
whereas in Tasmania the same amount of satisfactions can
be gained by the expenditure of 41'6 hours of labour. That is,
the English workman would have to work — if work could be
placed at his disposal (in itself a greater difficulty) — 123 per
cent, more hours to attain the same purchasing power pos¬
sessed by the Tasmanian workman, whose aggregate wealth
only represents 069 per cent, of the corresponding aggregate in
England.

This clearly proves how misleading are the effects produced
by allowing the mind to dwell upon mere abstractions based
upon aggregates.

The Eepect of Strikes or a Eise in Wages in Food-
Producing AND Food-Lacking COUNTRIES.

But the difference in the purchasing power of the English,
breadwinner is not the only disadvantage. Her purchasing
power is also not merely limited by the extent of the market
for her manufactures, but upon her success in underselling
foreign rivals who are also by necessity compelled to exchange
manufactures for the prime necessaries of raw products of
food and clothing ; and hence her success depends either upon
her superiority in skill and local appliances, or in cheapness
or extending the hours of labour. It is a necessity that a
manufacturing country must produce cheaply, and necessity
will force her to attain this end by extending the hours of the
labourer without extra recompense, should other means fail
her as a competitor for the bread and raw products of food-
producing countries. Strikes and combinations among
workmen are only of value to them within very narrow limits.
Eor let us suppose that England’s supremacy as a manufac¬
turing country depends upon her present power to undersell
rival countries to the extent of 15 per cent., it would then
follow that any nominal success attained by the combined
strikes of her workmen, thereby improving their hours of
labour or rates of wages to the extent of, say, 16 to 20 per
cent., would be altogether disastrous ; for it would destroy
the competitive power of England as a manufacturer for other
countries than her own. But if England was thus shut
within herself there would probably be no employment
whatever, and no means of subsistence for perhaps 20
millions of her present population of 38 millions. This
would be a terrible result arising out of the success of
combined strikes among her manufacturing workmen.

BY E. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

167

That an increase of the cost of her products to the extent of
what has been indicated is not a very improbable matter
springing from strikes has been foreshadowed by the recent
combination among English dock labourers, who succeeded in
having their rate of wages raised 2d. per hour. As the
average rate of workmen in England is only 4,20d. per hour,
a general increase of l|d. per hour would raise the cost of
wages 35 -7 per cent.; and as the price of labour is the chief
item of cost in all manufactures, it is not improbable that the
ultimate cost of her manufactures would be raised 20 per
cent., thus cutting her off from her previous advantage, which
enabled her successfully to outrival all other countries in
supplying the external markets of the world with manufac¬
tures.

In countries where food and raw products is or can be
produced far in excess of local requirements, the effect of
prohibitive tariffs in raising local prices would not have a
similar effect. If the cost of living would be nominally
raised thereby, it would be exactly or nearly counterbalanced
by a nominal increase in earnings locally. Thus, for example,
if the consumer had to pay 20 per cent, extra for all articles of
consumption it is probable that even this would not be dis¬
advantageous ; for it is almost certain that the true purchasing-
powers of labour — relative to staff of life — would be very
little altered, as the price of labour would also tend to
approach an increase of 20 per cent.

But there is one effect which this would have upon a food-
producing country, which would show a decided contrast with
a similar rise of wages in a manufacturing country such as
England, viz., it would draw to the former the manufacturing
labourers of manufacturing or densely-peopled centres ; for
instead of cutting off sources of employment, as in England,,
it would of necessity require her to import labourers to
produce those wants locally, or a great portion of them, which
formerly had been supplied to her by the manufactures of
external labour. That is, broadly, its main effect would be to
increase the local labour marled or widen the field for the
employment of local labour. At first this would also have
the effect of diminishing the aggregate extent of external
commerce; but it need hardly be discussed, all things being
fairly equal as regards natural sources, that the supply of
exchanges by home products, instead of by foreign, is all in
favour of diminution of obstacles, and therefore, upon the
whole, advantageous. . . . This problem has already been

worked out in the United States of America, and whatever
the ultimate effects may be when local population approaches
too close to her limits of natural powers for producing food
and necessary raw materials for her own people, it is undoubted

168 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

that 60 millions would not be profitably employed and well
supported if it were not for her policy of favouring the
creation of her own wants as far as possible by the energies of
local labourers.

It must be granted, however, that the policy which is
advantageous to a rich food and raw-producing country, such
as America, would be annihilation to a country such as
England, where the population by far exceeds her natural
sources of supply as regards food and other essential raw
products.

A country so circumstanced must maintain a Free Trade
policy or perish. With countries thinly populated, possessing
illimitable sources of natural wealth, including soil, climate,
and all conditions favourable for the production of food and
raw products in excess of local wants, it must inevitably follow
that the tendencies and influences arising from the desire to
extend the local field of employment must be in the direction
of Protection, or restrictions upon foreign trade. It is the
conditions of the various countries which determine means to
ends. In one country the means is Protection, in the other
Free Trade ; but the end in both cases is the same, viz., the
best available mode of supplying the greatest amount of satisfac¬
tions to each individual ( including local employment to the
rising generation ) with the least expenditure of individual
effort.

If Mr. Henry M. Hoyt, who has so ably defended the
American policy of Protection, had premised that he was
referring solely to countries rich in all natural sources — far
surpassing the demands of all possible local requirements —
we might agree with his ideal as regards the policy to be
pursued, vis.: — “ The nearer we come to organising and con¬
ducting our competing industries, as if we were the only
nation on the planet, the more we shall make, and the more
we shall divide among the makers. Let us, at least, enter
upon all the industries authorised by the nature of our things.
Thus we shall reach the greatest annual product of the
industry of the society.”

When, however, any country’s population fails or is unable
to cultivate 2-81 acres per head within her own borders the
policy suggested by Mr. Hoyt must of necessity be abandoned
in favour of Free Trade. This necessity — involving the
population difficulty — is, however, an evil, and not an advan¬
tage to the masses.

Pent Monopoly.

Emotional and inexact writers, carried away by some
foregone conclusion, or by the fascinating exaggerations of a
certain literary style, are constantly blundering when they

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

169

attempt to investigate the casual relations of complicated
matters. Bent presents a fertile theme for mere emotional¬
ists, yet no subject presents greater difficulties to the earnest
and more exact investigator than that of rent, whether
regarded as (1) a proper object to be included among
individual rights of property, or (2) in its effects, in the
opinion of some, in increasing by its amount the cost of
production.

(1.) What is the peculiar claim upon land which, when
used or let to a tenant, is called rent, and when
occupied by the legitimate owner is in official
assessment rolls termed annual value ?

(2.) How has the owner acquired such a right to land
which empowers him to monopolise its uses in
any way not otherwise restricted by law, or to let
it to another for an equivalent in value termed
rent ?

Perhaps the progress of property acquirement in a young
•colony affords the best means for giving a correct answer to
these questions.

In Tasmania, for example, there is an area of 16,778,000
acres, of which, up to the present time, 4,572,649 have been
•converted by purchase or grant into private property, and
whose annual value equivalent to rent is estimated at
.£860,555, or 3s. 9T6d. per acre. The remainder, representing
nearly three-fourths of the whole, is still owned by the State.
But this includes the land and its improvements. If we
eliminate the value of buildings alone — which we could not
put at a much lower figure than .£584,000, viz., 29,200
buildings, most habitable at .£20 — this leaves only <£276,555,
or a value of Is. 2|d. per acre for lands and other improve¬
ments, embracing fencing, grubbing, clearing, burning timber
and scrub, etc.

It is true that of the 4,572,649 acres private property only
■about 150,000 acres are under tillage, and about 410,000 laid
in permanent grasses, fenced, cleared, or otherwise improved ;
this represents only 12'22 per cent of all private property.

Even if we suppose the 87’78 per cent, of uncultivated
land to possess no exchange value whatsoever, and that the
existing rent only bears relation to the 560,000 acres of
cultivated land, then this (ffMM) onV provides 9s. 10|d. per
acre as the proprietor’s recompense for capital (the fruit of
previous labour or service, paid for the proprietorship ), and
for the labour value expended in bringing the wild bush land
of nature into a condition fit for the plough. Leaving out
the loss to the owner expended in obtaining the rights of
proprietorship, it follows that there is now only 9s. 10|d. per
acre per annum of exchange value left to cover former outlay

170 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

which, in a rough hush country like Tasmania, would hardly
compensate the actual labour of the pioneer bushman in
reclaiming it. Here, then, vanishes the last trace of the
element in rent supposed to form an important proportion
accruing to the landlord without the expenditure of labour.

But some may object on the ground that I leave out of
consideration the increment from which favoured properties
derive the benefit, in consequence of the enhancing effect of
subsequent influences (not the proprietor’s) as, for example: —

(1.) The establishment of a town or city continually
raising the value of lands within or near its
bounds.

(2.) The establishment of roads and railways* atthe public
expense — improving means of communication, and
saving time and money in the transit of persons
and products — and thus directly enhancing or
diminishing the value of the property.

(3.) The limited nature of naturally fertile land.

Such enhancement, for the most part, I fully admit, is in
itself an unearned increment, and cannot always justly (from
this point of view) be claimed by the proprietor as a value
produced by his individual services.

But it must also be remembered that this increment in the
aggregate is already included in the <£276,555 present value
of aggregate annual rental of all cultivated lands.

If, therefore, the present annual value of land, with
incremental value, does not cover the actual value of the
original services in rendering it fit for tillage or stock, it
follows either that the exchange value of the land, as a whole,
lias fallen below the original cost of services rendered to as
great or to a greater extent than property value, as a whole,
has been raised by the unearned increment. It becomes a
fair contention, therefore, on the part of the proprietors of
land to say that the possible loss from downward fluctuations
in the exchange value of land would hinder the development
of the occupation and cultivation of wild forest land, or
obtain a lower value from purchasers if it were not for the
hope that other influences — unearned increment, for example —
gave promise, as in other speculations, that such possible
losses might be compensated for by such possible gains ; and
we might also urge that if the community does not share in
the gam of unearned increment it is compensated by its
freedom from sharing the actual losses which are brought
about frequently by external influences effecting a gradual or
sudden depression in exchange value below the original cost
of preparing the soil for tillage, or below the price of original
purchase.

* In a colony where these works are constructed at the cost of the public, it must,
also be conceded that the proprietor contributed his share of the general cost.

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

171

It is fairly consistent, therefore, to contend that so long as
unearned increment does not exceed in amount the limits of a
possible downward depression in exchange value ( i.e ., risk of
loss), it would be unjust to deprive them of the benefit of com¬
pensation in an upward direction (i.e., chance of profit), and
thus improvement in value, however caused, cannot rightly be
claimed by the community as an unearned increment until its
amount, as a whole, exceeds the original cost of services in
converting the original land to the condition necessary to the
uses to which it may now be devoted.

Monopoly op the Gifts of Nature.

But, say others, have you forgotten the free gifts of
Nature — the oxygen, carbon, rain, and the forces of life — called
into play bv man’s industry, increasing his original stores
every year forty, fifty, and a hundredfold ; these forces
silently working, whether the proprietor sleeps or wakes, are
surely embraced in the products reaped. Most certainly.
Man’s labour would be of no avail without these natural
forces. But who reaps the benefit of these general gratuitous
services ? Most clearly it is the consumer. The free iorces
of Nature common to all lands are not produced at the
expense or by the labour of the producer, and it would scarcely
ever occur to him to introduce it as a possible ingredient in
the selling value. It no more can enter into the selling value
of common terrestrial products than can the value of the free
winds of heaven enter into the merchantman’s freight charges.
In truth, the selling price of products — such as wheat, for
example — is not now determined by the producers of any one
country ; nor by the immediate actual cost of production
defrayed by any particular producer ; nor by the greater or
smaller natural fertility of the soil of any one place or
country.

It is not now farm against farm, but terrestrial region
against terrestrial region, in which natural agents, such as
climate and largeness of cultivable area play a greater part
than human skill or even richness of soil.

The aggregate quantity 'produced in relation to present demand
is the only determining measure of selling price. When supply
is much above demand the producer must often sell under
cost price. When supply falls short of demand the profit is
still measured in the same manner without reference to
immediate cost of production. Competition forces all pro¬
ducers to give the consumer the benefit of all gratuitous
aids — whether natural or artificial — that are free to all other
producers, and the only effect of actual cost of production is
that it determines the extent and quality of the lands which
are best capable of promising success in the competition for

K

1*72 BOOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

supply. It also spurs industry and invention in the direction
of lessening cost, all of which benefits inevitably are reaped
by the community. No gratuitous element entering into
products can ever form part of exchange price so long as there
are many competitors and free competition. In the case of
the products of agriculture, too, there is the greatest possible
security against the arbitrary acts of monopolists in the
hugeness and the universality of producing operations which
can be focused at any point of demand in the globe by the
mighty steamships on the ocean highway, and which would
require omnipotence and omnipresence to monopolise.

If any one country had a monopoly of the production
and supply of an important product of the land, such as
wheat, I frankly admit that the owners of more fertile parts
would reap the sole advantage of this limited gratuitous gift
of Nature (the one rent of Political Economists), provided that
in the acquirement of these more valuable parts the present or
original possessor had not given the state or community an
equivalent in purchase value ; but this monopoly of good
lands, while securing a better return locally as compared with
poor lands, may not secure as much additional profit as the
difference in the fertility of rich and poor lands would seem
to indicate.

The world’s supply, if not artificially barred or shut out from
any country, determines the actual price of corn, and it is
significant that America, with her bonanza method of farming
on a scale far grander than is possible in England, is enabled,
with a much lower natural yield per acre, to grow grain
cheaper, and in much larger quantities than in England ; and
consequently she regulates the price of corn in England more
by her methods and scale of farming than by higher fertility
of soil. The nature of the season’s rainfall, too, falling
indifferently, and often irregularly on good or bad tracts of
lands, and sometimes restricted in sufficient quantity for
produce, a high yield to particular provinces further breaks
the influence of fixed fertility of soil in any one country as a
regulator of price. The mere difference of fertility of soil of
any one country may not, therefore, be the dominating
influence in determining price to consumer, and hence the
consumer may even have the advantage of the gratuitous
influence — a more fertile soil — in reducing the general average
of the price of corn.

In the century ending 188S it is estimated that the popu¬
lation of Europe and North America increased from 150 to 470
millions, that is, 180 per cent. This must have correspond¬
ingly increased the demand for food and the unearned
increment of land. Notwithstanding this, such were the
mighty effects of steam and electricity introduced, adding to

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

173

the effective force of man’s labour and time, that the supplies
were multiplied at a greater rate, and relatively at a much
smaller expenditure of man’s labour.

Abolish the Middleman and the Monopoliser of
Natural Wealth.

Many are of opinion that the consumer of wants would be
greatly benefited if he were brought more immediately into
contact with the producer without the intervention of the
middleman. No doubt some of thelatter, where circumstances
favour them, succeed in monopolising a larger share of profits
than he is entitled by his services, but the evil may well be
left, in the long run, to be remedied by the action of rival
competitors for custom. True the Co-operation of consumers
may successfully employ salaried agents for performing the
same services, but this is not abolishing the middleman, but
rather controlling his charges by conveiting him from an
independent dealer or agent into a salaried servant. It is
not always possible, however, for consumers to secure wise
and trustworthy agents, and there are many advantages
valued by many consumers profitably risked by energetic,
independent middlemen which would not be safe to commit
to a hired servant, and hence it seems improbable that
association, often necessary and successful, will entirely occupy
that division of the social exchanges of services.

Not a little cf the objection to middlemen, however, arises
from the misconception that the wealth earned by middlemen,
professional men, and the rich, is equivalent to wealth
individually consumed by them.

This naturally leads on to

Distribution and Consumption of Wealth.

There are many fallacies current with respect to the dis¬
tribution of wealth. If all the enormous wealth year by year
created by stored fruits of previous labour (capital), current
labour, and the gratuitous forces of Nature, were directly
devoted to consumption or enjoyment, no doubt the pro¬
portion per head allotted to the industrial labourer would be
small indeed in comparison with the rich. Indeed, it is urged
by Lange 1 that it might be better for society generally,
as well as for the rich industrial chiefs, that if all those who
have acquired a more than moderate income were to retire
from business life, and henceforth devote their leisure to
public affairs, to art and literature, and in fine to a cultured
enjoyment of life upon moderate means*, “not only would
those people lead a more beautiful and worthier existence, but
there would also be secured an adequate material basis to
maintain permanently a nobler culture with all its require-

1. * Lange’s “ History of Materialism.” E. C. Thomas’ translation. Yol. iii., pp.
237, 238, 239, 241.

174 BOOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

ments, and thus to give a higher content to our present epoch
than that of classical antiquity.” As it is, he charges not
inaccurately the few colossal capitalists and industrial chiefs
of the present age with miserly abstemiousness as regards the
proportion of the wealth gained by them which they devote
to immediate personal enjoyment and consumption. He
adds : — “ It is true that forces on forces are created, new
machinery continually devised, new means of communication;,
it is true that the capitalists, who have the means at their
command, are ceaselessly active in creating, instead of
enjoying, the fruits of their toil in dignified leisure ; but,
nevertheless, the constantly increasing activity aims directly
at anything rather than the furtherance of the common
weal (?) . . . The great interest of these times, however,

is no longer, as in antiquity, immediate enjoyment , but the
accumulation of capital .”

Again he states (p. 241) : — “ We live, in fact, not for
enjoyment, but for labour and for wants ; but amongst those
wants that of pleonexia is so over-bearing that all true and
lasting progress, all progress that might benefit the mass of
the people, is lost, or, as it were, gained only incidentally.”

If this be a true picture, and it must be confessed it is to
some extent borne out by experience, we may ask, Who
derives the benefit of the capitalised wealth ? This requires
careful analysis ; for the conclusion to be drawn as regards
the public weal may be widely different from that indicated by
Lange.

We may truly premise, in the first place, that capital in the
hands of the rich, in so far as personal consumption is con¬
cerned, is as much a tool of trade as is the plough to the
farmer. By its means he sets in motion the wheels of many
industries, and so enables the smaller capitalist of muscular
services to exchange his capital for primary wants, necessary
minor tools of trade, and such comforts as his varying rates
of profit may afford. The rich capitalist in like manner, but
with much larger profit, reaps the reward of his ventures.
But there is this important difference : The rich capitalist
cannot or does not abstract from his profits the same propor¬
tion of earnings towards his personal wants and enjoyments
as the workman does. On the contrary, what he can
directly consume personally of the said primary wants and
comforts is limited by the same natural law as his humblest
workman, and the necessities of tear and wear in his machine
(capital), or the passion or necessity to increase the number
and power of his machines, and to keep them ever at work,
abstract the greater portion of his increasing or decreasing
profits. In consequence of this inevitable tendency it is
really a difficult question to say which of the two — rich
capitalist or workman — personally consumes the largest

BY E. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

175

portion, of products created each year for actual consumption
and enjoyments. It is almost certain that as regards some of
the most valuable necessary natural products the balance
would be in favour of the workman. What immense capital
is devoted to making and working or developing railways,
steamships, sailing vessels, telegraph lines, machinery of all
kinds agricultural, farms for food and various textile products,
pastoral farms for the produce of animal meal and materials
for clothing, houses for shelter of men, animals, and products.

What is usually termed “ The Enormous Accumulations of
Wealth in our Times,” “ The Eiches of Capitalists,” are
really those tools or instruments themselves. But the owner
no more consumes or 'personally enjoys this form of commercial
wealth than does the poorest labourer who toils upon these
machines and instruments of his employer. This is seen at
once by asking for what purpose is it that so much of the
vegetable and mineral products of the earth, and so much of
the former energies and labours of man have previously been
saved, abstracted, or diverted from former possible powers of
consumption and personal enjoyment ; and for what purpose
is it that capitalists and workmen alike devote such a large
portion of their present services in fresh creations, and to the
repairs of the consumption (tear and wear) of these very
machines which do not themselves enter into their personal
consumption or enjoyment, although they nominally make up
the greater part of the so-called accumulated wealth of
capital? The answer is very simple. Their sole end is the
production, transport, distribution, and protection of man’s
primary wants — Food, clothing, shelter. Luxurious articles
of consumption are insignificant as compared with the
necessaries.

It is mainly for food and clothing, therefoi*e, that all this
vast machinery of the capitalist has been created and set in
motion by the savings of previous efforts. How much, then,
of this ultimate fruit of the combined result of the capital of
machines and instruments, the forces of Nature, and men’s
labour, is actually absorbed or consumed by the rich capitalist,
as compared with the poor servant or artisan ?

Let us see :

(1.) The human body can only consume and assimilate a
certain quantity of food per day. The old, sickly,
and very young cannot consume or assimilate so
much as the strong, healthy persons of youth and
prime of life. Health and hard physical employ¬
ment cause the body to burn more food just for
the same reason as greater energy exhausted by a
steam engine demands a much higher consumption
of fuel.

176 HOOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

This is the reason why an average, strong, healthy navvy
can and does consume a much greater quantity or weight of
food in the day than the less robust city clerk or the brain-
worried financier. Similarly, it is safe to affirm this of all
persons who are obliged to put their bones and muscles into
greater activities than their brains, and hence it is reasonable
to state that man for man the average food consumed and
enjoyed during the life of a labourer is much greater than
that personally consumed by those whose physical exertions are
smaller, as in the case of clerks, shopkeepers, teachers, pro¬
fessional men, bankers, and rich people. As the production,
transport, and distribution of this food for consumption is by
far the greatest object for which all the capitalist’s savings
and machinery have been put in motion, and must continue
so, it follows that at least in this respect the wealth of food,
the chief primary want ; wealth in highest utility as well as
their wealth of exchange, the end and aim of the greater part
of all wealth in capital, is more largely distributed among
and consumed by the poorer classes than is the case with the
rich. It is true luxurious foods, having a relatively higher
‘price, are to be found more on the rich man’s table ; but the
limits which determine what the rich man really can consume
of common and rare substances must again be reckoned with.
When we regard the cheap foods now found on the humblest
cotter’s table, and much of which, because of former rarity
and price (tea, coffee, spices, etc.), are still termed luxuries,,
we can well perceive the utter insignificance of the limited
quantities of rare food monopolised by the rich, more costly
because rare ; not because of superiority, or because in its
production it originally demanded more of the gratuitous
forces of Nature, the devotion of more capital , or the expendi¬
ture of more labour — but mere variety — one of the chief
characteristics of that part of nominal exchange ivealth termed
pleonexia.

The next item, clothing, has to be considered, and here again
it may be affirmed that the tear and wear of hard work of the
labourer demand that his clothing should be stronger. He, as
a rule, therefore, personally consumes a greater weight of the
produce of the sheep and the cotton plant than the rich man, and
however dirty and ill-looking they may seem from the nature
of the labourer’s employment, the production is as great a tax
upon the land and the forces of nature ; upon the means of
transport, upon the capitalist’s looms, and upon manufacturing
labour, as the clothes of his employer. The silks and satins,
like rare foods, are more beautiful and rarer ; but their high
price is on account of rarity, not because they are more useful.
Indeed, they are for the real purpose of clothing far inferior
in general utility to the commoner cheap woollen and cotton

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

177

fabrics. The same reasoning is applicable to the remaining
portions of the real wealth of primary wants and ordinary-
comforts, all going to show that underneath the nominal
proprietorship of the means which produce consumable
wealth, the share allotted and falling to the humblest classes
is greater than is generally supposed.

If the material comforts are, as shown, most fully dis¬
tributed according to wants, and not to relative powers of
purchase, it may also be shown that the highest forms of
culture and enjoyment are within the reach of all.

We have but to refer to cheap periodicals, cheap editions of
valuable works, newspapers ; the stage, music, fine arts. In
fact, it is notorious that the more elevated and healthful
amusements are obtainable at the least cost, and, owing to the
spread of education, it is curious to observe that the children
at public schools are now better trained in reading music at
sight than are the children of the wealthy in the higher
academies.

If it were possible for the skilled craftsman of the present
day to compare his condition with that of his representative
of the last century, or even with the rich of the same period,
he would realise that, whatever misery or difficulty still exists
among us, the condition of the masses is vastly superior ; and
this improvement could not possibly have taken place if the
rich in past times had personally consumed their yearly profits
in the same proportion as the poor ; for if they had the capital,
now engaged in meeting the demands of increasing millions
of men would not have been saved, and further increase in
population would be impossible.

Capital and Wages Difficulty.

It may seem a bold and hazardous thing to propose new
definitions for terms so frequently defined by the ablest
minds, but as in their application it is undoubted that in the
many definitions of capital and wages each varies considerably
from the other ; and as most of them fail more or less
in consistency and relevancy with the matters upon
which they are brought to bear, it is not unreasonable nor
over-presumptuous on the part of anyone to attempt the
solution of the difficulty, so long as these difficulties are also
fairly appreciated.

The expansion or limitation of the meaning of the words,
Capital and Wages, I am of opinion, would not be the source
of so much confusion if it were more firmly grasped by each
one that the terms belong to two important and distinct
categories ; the first either wholly or partly related to the
agents or powers involved in the Creation or Production of
Wants in Exchange; the second either wholly or partly
related to the Appropriation of the Wants of Exchange
Produced.

178 BOOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

Instead, therefore, of dwelling upon the contradictions
involved by the inconsistent use of these terms, it may serve
a good purpose if we discuss ideas rather than Urms before
involving the issues with a fruitless logomachy regarding
unstable definitions. First, let us honestly try to bring under
the first category all the elements or ideas that are necessary
to be reckoned with in making it complete, viz.: —

What are the necessary powers and forces now used in
the effectual production of wants in exchange.

To realise these powers and forces it will admit of clearer
apprehension if they be classified in tabular order thus : —

(A.) Agents or Powers Necessary to be Employed in
the Production and Preservation op Wants in

Exchange.

a. Labour 1.

(Present Labour).

2.

3.

b. Indirect Fruits of
Labour and Skill
(Anterior Labour of
Bastiat).

Of highly -shilled minds in the
determination of the modes in
which labour may be made
most productive; labour thus
devoted may be the means of
adding from two to many
times the effective power of
the physical force of the
labourer of mere brute force.
Types : The inventor of spin¬
ning jenny, steam-engine,
director of operations, etc.

Highly -skilled hands. Types :
Mechanic, carpenter, weaver.

Ordinary skilled hands. Types:
Navvy, messenger, ploughman,
shepherd.

Products of food, clothing,
shelter, etc., on hand in smaller
or greater proportions by dif¬
ferent persons ; the fruit of
previous labour and other forces
saved (1) partly by greater
individual economy, or abste¬
miousness in the consumption
or enjoyment of wants pre¬
viously earned ; or (2), the
saved and preserved surplus of
previous earnings, due to the
products of previous labour and
skill being much greater than
the power to reasonably con¬
sume or enjoy.

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

179

The possession of lands, mines,
costlv machines, railways,
canals, ships, buildings, instru¬
ments of all kinds that have or
may be bought or sold by the
accumulated previous or current
savings of skill, industry, or
common physical labour.

If capital, as a term, be confined to b and c, there could be
no objection if it were not assumed afterwards that these
alone formed the whole of the forces necessary to produce
fresh wants in exchange in sufficiency for all. Similarly,
there would be no objection to confine the term capital to
labour, if it were not ignored in after applications that the
important portions, viz.. Indirect Fruits of Previous Labour
and Skill or Anterior Labour (b c ) are also necessary for the
effectual production of the wants of all, and that those gained
by right of previous savings are not generally distributed
possessions.

We come now to the second great category : —

(B.) Modes of Appropriation of Wants in Exchange
Created or Produced, or About to be Created or
Produced.

Mode.

a. (By Wages or Salary.) Labourers or poor capitalists share

in respect of personal services
mainly.

b. (By Commission, In- Employers or possessors of a
terest Bent, or Income.') more than ordinary share of the

equivalents of previously stored
labour and skill — rich capi¬
talists — obtained mainly from
the possession of a larger
share than ordinary of the
actual fruits, or the equivalents
of previouslv stored labour and
skill.

From this analysis, which is sufficiently comprehensive, it
would appear that labourers are simply poor capitalists, and
employers and wealthy people are rich capitalists; that both
forms of capital are necessary to the production of fresh wants
for all, and that both — whether as wages or salary, or whether
as commission, interest, rent or income — derive their share of
these wants by the aid of the combined action of the two
groups. In this sense it is no more true or false that wages
are derived from capital, than that commission, interest, rent,
or income is derived from capital. If this view of the case be

c. Indirect Fruits of
Labour and Skill
(Anterior Labour of
Bastiat).

180 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

correct, it would seem to appear that certain Economists, as
well as their critic, Mr. Henry G-eorge, are wrong,* for if the
former may be justly accused of ignoring B a’s part in the
production of wants in exchange (in their wages fund theory),
the latter errs quite as much in ignoring the vast part which
the increasing store of previous savings, or more or less
permanent creations (anterior labour), represent in the
combination necessary to produce in sufficiency for all the
ordinary wants of exchange of human beings.

Improvement in the Condition of the Individual
Largely Dee to the Savings of Anterior LABOUtR
(Capital) Skilfully Applied as Instruments Aiding
Production.

This solution of the vexed problem of the so-called “ Wages
Eund ” is, moreover, in harmony with all related facts, and it
clearly establishes the important truth that it is to pre¬
served previous savings (anterior labour) skilfully applied,
that the powers to further increase of production 'per head is
mainly secured ; for if the increase in appropriation to neces¬
sary machines and instruments be only proportionate to
increase in mouths to be fed, there would be no improvement
in the appropriation of wants per individual, even though

each mouth ” be accompanied by “ two more hands,” as
urged by some. It follows, therefore, that if the individual
necessary wants be now better supplied than in former times,
it must either be due to relative diminution of the mouths to
be fed, or to the multiplication of productive power (anterior
labour) largely due to the great advances made in recent
years in the power which man has obtained over the forces
of Nature. As it is undeniable that population has largely
increased since the beginning of the eighteenth century, and
as it is also demonstrable, notwithstanding the great simul¬
taneous increase in population, that the supply of wants per
head, rich and poor, have also materially improved, while the
hours of labour have been shortened, it follows logically that
this improvement, in the aggregate and per head, is entirely

* The admirably expressed views of Bastiat, however, are in entire accord with
these views.

Thus Bastiat writes (p. 43, “ Wages— Harmonies of Political Economy”): — “As
capital is nothing else than human services, we may say that capital and labour are
two words which in reality express one and the same idea ; and consequently the
same thing may be said of interest and wages. Thus, where false science never fails
to find antagonism, true science ever finds identity.

“ Considered, then, with reference to their origin, nature, and form, wages have in
them nothing degrading or humiliating any more than interest has. Both constitute
the return for present and anterior labour derived from the results of a common
enterprise. Only it almost always happens that one of the two associates agrees to
take upon himself the risk. If it be the present labour which claims a uniform
remuneration the chances of profit are given up in consideration of ivages. If it be
the anterior labour which claims a fixed return, the capitalist gives up his eventual
chance of profits for a determinate rate of interest.’

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

181

due to the vastly increased productive power obtained through
a greater knowledge of Nature’s forces — more especially in
the uses of steam and electricity. The contrary allegation by
Mr. Henry George and others has no support from reason or
facts.

It is clear, therefore, that the greatness or smallness of
accumulated wealth is not necessarily an index to the presence
or absence of individual comfort and happiness, but rather
both depend upon the relative proportions which the total
wealth and total population bear to each other.

From this it is easy to show that the chief source of misery
and discomfort — or the diminution of necessary supply of
wants per head — is mainly due to the tendency of population,
in times of distress, to increase in a greater ratio than the
powers of production.

The extravagant statement of Mr. Henry George, that
“ there is nowhere any improvement which can be credited to
increased productive power,” is too absurd, perhaps, to require
serious consideration. Yet it may be well to show by a simple
illustration its utter fallacy.

Let us take one of the most important wants of man,
necessarily consumed alike by rich and poor, vis., common
water. Although in natural reservoirs or channels, as in
springs, lakes, and rivers, it is generally a gratuitous gift of
Nature to all men, it has to be transferred to points of con¬
sumption ; and although the gratuitous element never enters
into exchange price, it is generally a marketable commodity in
large centres of population where a large daily supply is
absolutely necessary. The element which here forms price is
labour of transfer. The labour of transferring water by
primitive means is great, as one gallon weighs 101b., and if
the distance be considerable both time and muscular powers of
labourer must be consumed, and, therefore, the carrier must earn
the equivalent of such time and labour as may be expended in
this most necessary service. It is true water, for the support
of a few individuals, may be supplied at a miuimum of the
expenditure of time and labour; for their habitations might
be fixed contiguous to the natural supply ; but for large
towns this, for the most part, is quite impracticable. In the
latter case water supply would fall into one of the most
important divisions of marketable labour, and the price of
water to the consumer would be determined by the present
time and labour bestowed by water carriers engaged in the
service, plus the proportion of cost and maintenance of
equipment necessary — (anterior labour).

Now, if we were to confine attention to the producer (only
about 44-2 per cent, of living persons are producers of
marketable wants), we would never perceive the full signi-

182 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

ficance of tlie statement that the greater the proportion of
skilfully applied previous labour or service (tools, instruments ,
appliances, etc., or anterior lahour) introduced as auxiliaries to
present labour or services, the greater is the power of production
and supply, and the smaller is the price of the product.

But if we bear in mind that all persons are necessarily
consumers, we can at once perceive that abundance and lessened
cost of primary needs, consumed alike by rich and poor, by
producers and dependants, are real benefits in which all must
equally participate. If it can be shown, then, that the state¬
ment respecting the introduction of anterior labour is correct,
it follows unmistakably that Mr. Henry George’s statement is
contradicted in the experience of all men as consumers of
marketable wants.

The City of Launceston contains about 15,000 inhabitants.
Each person consumes on an average at least 20 gallons of
water per day = 2001b. weight. Thus the population con¬
sumes each day at least 1,342 tons weight of water per day,
or 488,840 tons per year, and each person consumes 7,300
gallons per year.

The transit of this 488,840 tons over 13 miles from source
is at present easily effected by permanent waterways, iron
pipes, reservoirs, etc. (representing anterior labour), in conjunc¬
tion with a staff of men engaged in the maintenance and
working of the water supply (representing present labour), and
there is ample power (potential) in the store of existing
anterior labour to double the supply, if required, without any
addition to cost.

How, the exchange value of anterior labour and present
labour, combined in effecting this service each year, is estimated
to be <£68,243 and £2,133 respectively, or about £32 to £1.

The only way to measure the true value of the benefits
effected by the direct influence of anterior labour as an
auxiliary to present labour, is to try and estimate the number
of men required to effect the same work of transfer, viz.,
488,840 tons per year a distance of 13 miles by more primitive
means. It is impossible for men to do any part of this work
without some anterior labour in the shape of instruments ; but
if we reduce the latter to the most simple form, it will be
sufficient to demonstrate the enormous advantage gained by
every accession to the power of anterior labour. Let us
suppose, therefore, three modes of transfer : —

(1.) The primitive mode by pails of 2- gallon or 201b.
capacity, requiring 5 men and 10 pails per day
for carrying one day’s supply to each person, 'viz.,
20 gallons or 2001b. weight.

(2.) One man and a horse and water cart effecting the
transfer of 224 gallons per day.

BY E. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

183-

(3.) A system of pipes and waterworks, with a staff of
men to maintain and work tke system, capable of
transferring at least 1,342 tons of water per day,
i.e., 300,000 gallons.

We may now, in a tabular form, compare the effectiveness
and cost of the three modes as follows. To supply 15, 000-

persons : —

Water transported 13
miles per head of popu¬
lation per day .

Number of men required
per day .

Cost of present labour
service per year

Value of instruments —
Anterior labour

Cost of ditto per year . . .

Total cost of transit to
consumer per year ...

Cost per 100 gallons

1st Mode.

2nd Mode.

3kd Mode.

20 gallons

20 gallons

20 gallons

75,000
or 3261

1,342
or 58'35

23 or 1

,£6,844,875
or 99'73

£122,290
or 64-57

£2,133
or 3-03

£18,750
or 0"27
£1,125

£67,100
or 35-43
£4,026

£68,243
or 96-97
£4,094

£6,844,875
£6 10 0

£126,316
£0 2 3|

£6,227

£0 o r36

It is here clearly demonstrated that by the accession of
anterior labour, or the fruit of applied previous labour saved
from personal consumption, and skilfully applied in accord¬
ance with the knowledge which man has gained with respect
to natural laws, the effective power of each man’s labour is
multiplied 3,261 times, and the cost to consumer is reduced
thereby to about TxWth °f that which it would cost if the
proportion of anterior labour was at a minimum.

That is — when in the combined service of anterior and
present labour, anterior labour only represented 027 per cent,
of the combined service — the cost of water would be <£6 10s.
per 100 gallons to consumer ; but when the proportions were
reversed, and anterior labour represented 96-97 per cent, of the
combined service, the cost of water would be reduced to l'36
per 100 gallons. It will readily be perceived, therefore, that
the mere accompaniment of “ two hands to each fresh mouth ”
is insignificant as a force to effect improvement in the con¬
dition of the individual consumer of needs without a cor¬
responding gain in anterior labour.

Why the present population of the United Kingdom and
her colonies do not individually perceive the full benefit of
the immense addition made to the store of anterior labour
now used as an important auxiliary to the force of present
labour, is not because of a failure in the production or in the

184 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

distribution of tbe products or wants created, but primarily
because tlie numbers of consumers of wants have kept pace
hitherto with the increased producing power.

The individual does not necessarily benefit by the aggregate
increase in production, as it depends upon the proportion
which consumers bear to aggregate production. Thus: —

Average Individual Share oe Products.

Let A=Aggregate products created by anterior and
present labour.

C=Number of consumers.

P= Average proportional share of products falling
to each individual.

Then A _

1"

It follows, then, that P will only improve so long as A
continues to increase faster than C. The aggregate of A,
however large, is of no account. It is the proportional relation
to C which determines increase or decrease to P.

Denial of Comparative Progress in Modern Times

Due to Increased Productive Power.

“ the rich are becoming richer, and the poor poorer.”

There is nowhere any improvement which can be credited to increased produc¬
tive power.

The tendency of what we call material progress is in nowise to improve the
condition of the lowest class in the essentials of happy human life. Nay ... it
is to still further depress the conditions of the lowest class.— “ Progress and
Poverty.”

Of all the mischievous and erroneous statements current,
perhaps these are the most notable. The statements imply
that the relative state of rich and poor were formerly more
equable, and that the working classes, or the lower zone of
them, have not benefited by the introduction of steam and
electricity, the occupation of vast new virgin lands, and by
manifold" inventions and improvements in labour-saving
machinery, and in knowledge during the present century. It
would be nearer the truth to say that, owing to increase in
productive power, at no time in human history has the con¬
dition of the vast masses of skilled and unskilled workmen
been so highly raised materially, intellectually, and socially.
Ho one who has studied the writings of one of the ablest
living authorities on this subject — Robert Griffen, President of
the Royal Statistical Society of England — can help admitting
that the humblest workmen of the present generation in
civilised countries have marvellously improved their condition
as compared with any known period in past history.

Material improvement, unfortunately, cannot eradicate all
evils so long as we have those who are vicious, idle, and
improvident, and the fruit of these evils must ever fill our

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

185

records with statistics of crime and pauperism. Paradoxical
as it may appear, it is in itself a grand index of moral
improvement inour modern civilisation that we are able to refer
to State-supported paupers, even although this benevolence
may itself be the fruitful cause in time of adding to our social
difficulties.

To state, however, or to imply that pauperism is propor¬
tionately greater now than when productive power was much
less, is contrary to reason and fact.

The chief advantages of the present century in Europe and
in English colonies are, that owing to the wonderful progx-ess
made in means of communication, in knowledge, and in labour-
saving machinery, the masses of men

(1.) Are better fed, clothed, and housed than formerly?
and are almost free from the terrible periodic
famines which were so common in the four
preceding centuries, and which still afflict the
masses in India nearly every third year.

(2.) Are able to obtain primary wauts, and even luxuries,
with less hours toil.

(3.) Education and luxuries are now more diffused
among the wage-earning classes than among the
ruling classes two centuries ago.

(4.) Freedom and privileges, social and political, are
immeasurably greater than in former times.

(5.) Notwithstanding that within the same area (United
Kingdom) the wants of 37 millions have to be
supplied, instead of 2,300,000, as at the close of
the fourteenth century, and about 7f millions at
the beginning of the eighteenth century, these
wants are now supplied much more certainly and
in much superior quantities per head.

(6.) Life of each individual on the average is greatly
prolonged, owing to improvement in hygiene, social
habits, and in the improvement in material con¬
dition.

(7.) There is a much smaller mortality per 1,000;
pauperism and crime is greatly reduced propor¬
tionally, and the effective power of labour is
immeasurably superior.

Past and Present Contrasted.

Therefore, whatever evils remain they may still be con¬
sistently admitted without denying the great comparative
progress made generally in the age in which it is our good
fortune to live. If we could really picture to ourselves the
actual condition of society in former times, all doubts regarding
progress made in recent times would be speedily set aside.

186 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

Let us for a moment take a glimpse into past history, as
revealed to us in the pages of Hallam, the historian. Passing
over the Dark Ages, when the husbandman was either degraded
to menial slavery by brutal predatory lords, or, what was little
better, was afforded such miserable tenure of villenage as the
feudal lords were pleased to allow, we find the ruling classes
themselves brutal, poor, and ignorant. Thus Hallam writes
of the fifteenth century : — 1 “ It is an error to suppose that the
English gentry were lodged in stately or even in well- sized
houses. ... A gentleman’s house, containing three or
four beds, was extraordinarily well provided ; few, probably,
had more than two. The walls were commonly bare, without
wainscot or even plaster. It is unnecessary to add that
neither libraries of books nor pictures could have found a
place among furniture. . . . Ho mention is made in

inventories of such conveniences as chairs or looking glasses.
Cottages in England at this time seem to have generally
consisted of a single room without division of stories.
Chimneys were unknown.”

Even at the close of the seventeenth century the progress
made was comparatively small. Draper states : — 2 “ For a long
time London had been the most populous capital in Europe ;
yet it was dirty, ill-built, without sanitary provision. The
deaths were one in twenty-three each year ;3 now, in a much
more crowded population, they are not one in forty ” (one in
fifty in the year 1886).

Much of the country was still heath, swamp, and warren.
Nothing more strikingly shows the social condition than the
provisions for locomotion. In the rainy season the roads were
all but impassable. Through such gullies, half filled with
mud, carriages were dragged often by oxen. ... If the
country was open the track of the road was easily mistaken.
It was no uncommon thing for persons to lose their way and
to spend the night out in the air. Between places of con¬
siderable importance the roads were sometimes very little
known, and such was the difficulty for four-wheeled carriages
that a principal mode of transport was by pack horses, of
which passengers took advantage by stowing themselves away
between the packs. The usual charge for freight was 15d.
per ton per mile. The country beyond the Trent was still in a
state of barbarism, and near the source of the Tyne there were
people scarcely less savage than American Indians, their “half-
naked women chanting a wild measure, while the men with

1. “ Hallam’s View of the State of Europe During the Middle Ages.” (Murray
and Son, London, pp. 779, 7S1).

2. “ Draper’s Intellectual History of Europe,” vol. ii. , pp. 238, 239.

3. i.e., 43 AS per 1,000, or higher than the birth rate.

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

187

brandished dirks danced a war dance.” At the beginning of
the eighteenth century even, the only press in England north of
the Trent was at York. Social discipline was very far from
being of that kind which we call moral. The muster whipped
his apprentice, the pedagogue his scholar, the husband his
wife. ... It was a day for the rabble when the culprit
was set in the pillory to be pelted with brickbats, rotten eggs,
and dead cats ; when women were fastened by the legs in the
stocks at the market place, or a pilferer flogged through the
town at the cart tail. ... To a debased public life private
life corresponded. The houses of the rural population were
(cbimnevless) huts covered with thatch ; their inmates, if
able to procure fresh meat once a week, were considered to be
in prosperous circumstances. One-half of the families in
England could hardly do that. Children six years old were
not unfrequently set to labour. In London the houses were
mostly wood and plaster, the streets filthy beyond expression.
There were no lamps. ... As a necessary consequence
there were plenty of shoplifters, highwaymen, and burglars.”

No earnest and dispassionate person can contrast the con¬
ditions of the past with those of the present without frankly
acknowledging the great progress among all classes, including
the lowest in the scale ; and further, that were it not for the
vast increase in productive power the 30 millions of souls
added to the population of the United Kingdom since the
beginning of the eighteenth century would not have been
called into existence. Misery and death would have arrested
population at the limit of its old lower productive power, just
as it has in all times prevented population from passing
beyond the productive power of the respective times and
places. Nay, no reasonable mind can for a moment doubt
that the extra 30 million souls — with wants supplied more
effectively than were the 7 millions at the beginning of the
eighteenth century — is in itself the best proof that can be
conceived of the beneficial influence exerted by the knowledge
which man has gained over the forces of Nature since that
time. Indeed, so palpable must this appear to any thoughtful
mind that he or she would readily assent to the proposition
that increase of population is possible only so long as the
productive power makes a corresponding advance. When it
becomes stationary population must become stationary ; and
that means intense competition for primary wants of existence,
resulting in misery and starvation to the weakest, and
indicated most infallibly by a sudden rising of the death rate
to, or even above, the birth rate. These inevitable con¬
sequences will be more fully discussed hereafter under the
heading “ Population Difficulties.” In the meantime, instead
of making idle assertions, let us contrast the present with the

L

188 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

past as regards tlie comparative progress made in population,
and in material and social condition.

This can best be realised by tabulating for distinct pro¬
gressive periods, statistics bearing upon population, crime,
pauperism, effective purchasing power of the labourer in
relation to primary wants and comfort. The condition of the
United Kingdom since 1541 affords the best index of com¬
parative progress.

OoMPAR A.TIVE EFFECTIVE PURCHASING- POWER OF LABOUR.

Much information of value is lacking in the earlier periods
referred to, but what is lacking would tell all the more in
favour of the condition of the labourer in existing times : —

Estimated

Population.

Average
Increase Per
Year in
Population.

Average Price of
the Quarter of
Wheat.

Average Price of
Wages Per
Week.

Effective Power
of Labourer in
Purchasing 1
Quarter of
Wheat.

1 Death Rate Per

1 1,000 Persons.

Paupers Per
1,000
Persons.

Crimes Com’t’d for

Trial Per 1000 Per.

Year.

No. Pop.

About.

s. d.

s. d.

Days’ Labour.
No

-

Able-

bodied.

All.

...

1400

3,300,000

...

...

1541-82

13 10£

5 li

1630

...

1583-1642

...

36 1

6 4£

40-28

(since 1,400)

1643-1702

7,500,000

14,000

41 11J

8 0J

31-09

40

1801

16,237,300

87,370

1831

24,392,485

271,000

...

...

...

22-0

10 9

19-0

1850

...

...

21-6

8-0

17-0

0-81

1887

37,091,564

449,000

34 9

30 5

6-86

19-0

3-7

12-9

0-49

Australasian Colonies.

1887

3,551,751

38 10

53 7

4-34

1 '

...

The few figures in the preceding table tell a significant
tale. Of course, it would be alleged by all who had pre¬
conceived notions that rates of wages and prices do not
always reveal the effective power of the labourer to command
primary wants. But no index of this relative power can be
so satisfactorily shown than by reference to the relative pur¬
chasing power of the labourer as regards the staff of life.
Whatever qualification may be urged, it is undoubted that
the purchasing command of bread is the most powerful index
to purchasing command over other wants.

Now, when it is shown that the average weekly wage of
the wage-earning class at the present time, by the expenditure

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

189

■of 6'86 days’ labour, commands as much power in purchasing
one quarter of wheat as it would take the same class
16-30 days in the period 1541-1582
40-28 „ „ „ 1583-1642

31-09 „ „ „ 1643-1702

what possibly could be more conclusive ?

Especially favoured is the wage-earner of Australasia who
can command the same power by the expenditure of 4‘34
days’ labour; whereas it would cost the same class in 1583-1642
the fruits of 40'28 days, i.e., nearly ten times more. Surely
this alone should dispose of all reckless statements having a
contrary tendency in measuring comparative advantages with
the present time. The lowering of the death rate, and the
consequent more rapid increase of population ; the relative
decrease in the proportion of paupers, especially the able-
bodied ; the decrease in serious crimes, all tell the same tale
of unparalleled progress.

The Present Condition of the Masses in England and

Wales as Compared with Their Condition During

the 200 Years Ending in the Year 1800.

If still we must admit that the present condition of England
and Wales is such that great misery oppresses many, it must
also be borne in mind that her present death rate, 19 "3 per
1,000, is the lowest upon the records ; and her natural rate of
increase, although far below that of the colonies, shows an
increase of 1‘4 per cent, per year.

No statistics directly bearing upon the misery and death
rate of the 200 years ending 1700 are available, but there is
good evidence to show that the population in the year 1500
numbered about 2,300,000. In the year 1700, or 200 years
later, it only numbered 5,475,000, i.e., an increase of 3,175,000
in 200 years, equivalent to an increase of one per 1,000 per
year. There is every reason to believe that the birth rate was
at least as high as in recent years ; and if this be correct, it
follows that the death rate must have averaged 34-3 per 1,000,
instead of 19"3 per 1,000, as in recent years.

Now, what does this mean. Why, that formerly the struggle
for means of existence was so terrible that 15 deaths per
1,000 persons took place beyond the number now occurring.
This lamentable state of things is better realised when we
see that it represents the destruction of the possibility of
2,364,800 lives in the 200 years referred to, above the average
rate now occurring.

Surely this evidence should dispel all doubt respecting the
comparative state of misery, past and present.

Nor is this all. Mr. Giffen (1) has shown by unmistakable
reference to facts that in the admitted great increase of

190 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

wealth during the last fifty years the rich have not improved
their incomes in the same ratio as the working classes.
Thus : —

Progress of National Income in Millions of dfi’s.

Income.

Increase.

—

In 1843.

Present

Time.

Amount.

Per Cent.

Capitalist Classes from
Capital .

190

400

210

110

Working- Income in
Income Tax Return

90

180

90

100

Working- Income Not
Included in Income
Tax Return

235

620

385

160

515

1200

685

130

Thus we perceive the falsification of Mr. Henry George’s
statement with regard to the alleged exemption of the working-
classes from any share in the present progress in the aggre¬
gation of wealth ; for not only do they also share in the
material progress of our times, but it is shown that the pro¬
portion of the lowest group in the increased wealth (160 per¬
cent.) is by far greater than that of the two higher (100 to
110 per cent.) It is impossible to enumerate all the com¬
parative advantages of those who live in the present day, due
to improvements in knowledge, but the indices given should
decide all earnest enquirers that whatever difficulties still
exist are small, indeed, in comparison with what men suffered
from in former times. The greatest difficulty which now
threatens, is not that man’s power to further command the
forces of Nature may fail, but the far more serious con¬
sideration : Will the increase of such power be commensurate
with the high rate of natural increase which is the
inevitable concomitant of a comfortable existence ? This
brings us to the problem of problems — Population.

Increasing Numbers.

Residents of new countries, with a scant population, and
with vast natural resources in the shape of unlimited areas of
unoccupied and unutilised virgin lands, longingly picture the
transformation of these areas into yellow cornfields, fruitful

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

191

gardens, verdant pasturage teeming with browsing cattle,
busy industrial centres crowded with the homes of industrious
and happy people.

Ah ! little do they know of the never-failing Nemesis which,
like a sleuth hound, dogs the steps of an ever-increasing
population. Happy selectors of easily-acquired choice lands
may luxuriously grumble at the amount of their taxation, the
low price of mutton and corn, their bad roads, and the impos¬
sibility of extending their operations in the production of corn
and wool, so long as the wages of farm and other labour are
so high.

The professional and merchant class may reasonably
grumble at the scarcity of men and products which restricts
their respective callings, and may impatiently rail against the
slow progress which the country is making in population and
the creation of products. The few wealthy men of leisure may
hanker after the amusements and honours so common in
thickly-crowded centres, where the attractive ministry of cheap
labour is but too common.

The comparative comfortable artizan or labourer, under
such favourable conditions, may in verbal or literary debate
still wage a lively dispute whether the irksome eight hours’
labour — or weekly half-holiday — may not be further improved,
and the rate of wages further raised above the rates of over¬
peopled old countries, but he does not view with favour the
fresh introduction of labourers in his own craft.

The consumers of the services of local dear labour may
desire the introduction of the surplus cheaper labour of
Europe, and for the sake of Protection may urge upon the
Government the necessity of extending the advantages of
external Free Trade. On the other hand, the protector of a
local monopoly of relatively high wages or more dearer local
manufactures, may more strenuously advocate the necessity
of increasing the tariff on all manufactures from other
countries, especially on such as may be produced locally. It
will be seen, therefore, that in young countries, as well as in
the old, we have the battle of interests still waged, if not so
keen. The competitor or seller of services cries for Protec¬
tion ; and the user or consumer of services enlarges upon the
harmonies and advantages of universal Free Trade.

Few recognise the truth that individual welfare depends
less upon the greatness of the aggregate wealth of a country
than upon the proportion which freedom from excessive
competition gives each individual over the local natural
sources of utility, including primary wants ; and that the
country possessing the greatest aggregate of material wealth
may, owing to the competition of excessive numbers, present
~the spectacle of a small privileged minority absorbing an

192 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

unparalleled share of luxurious wealth, while the masses aro
struggling for the barest subsistence.

All other things being equal, it follows that in the country
where Nature’s gratuitous stores of wealth, as regards food
and other essential products, far exceeds the power of it&
inhabitants to utilise, yet, notwithstanding the comparative
insignificance of its accumulated wealth in exchange, its
inhabitants on the average are individually happier, and enjoy
a much larger share of material comforts, than the inhabitants
of countries, however great the aggregate wealth, but whose
natural resources as regards food products are far below the
local requirement of its teeming inhabitants.

Two nations standing in this relation to each other would
correspond to the relation of two individuals where one is the
privileged capitalist or buyer, and the other the unprivileged
seller of labour service. In other words, the latter would be
in the position of the needy Esau in being forced to sell his
whole birthright to preserve his life ; the former would occupy
the favourable position of Jacob, who had merely to part with,
a portion of his surplus of primary wants (red pottage) to
secure a large augmentation to his wealth of pleonexia.

This, unfortunately for many old centres of civilisation, is-
no overdrawn statement — the creation of enthusiastic declama¬
tion or sentimentality — for if we take one of the most vigorous
countries of Europe (England), with its untold wealth in the
aggregate, and compare it with the young colony of Victoria,,
we may readily demonstrate the verity of what has been
alleged.

Population Difficulties, or the Struggle for
Existence.

Darwin (page 52, Origin of Species) has observed “ that
in a state of nature almost every full-grown plant annually
produces seed, and amongst animals there are few which do
not annually pair. Hence we may confidently assert that all
plants and animals are tending to increase at a geometrical
ratio — that all would rapidly stock every station in which
they could anyhow exist. And this geometrical tendency to
increase must be checked by destruction at some period of
life,” and, as an inevitable consequence, he goes on to add
“ that each individual lives by a struggle at some period of
its life, that heavy destruction falls either on the young or
old during each generation, or at recurrent intervals. Lighten
any check, mitigate the destruction ever so little, and the
number of the species will almost instantaneously increase to
any amount.”

These considerations, when fully appreciated, form the-
foundation of the problem of Malthus.*

>* An Essay on the Principle of Population. Malthus. (2 vols, London, 1826.)

BY B. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

193

That Mr. Henry George altogether failed to grasp the
various elements of this problem is at once apparent by the
manner in which in his otherwise very attractive work,

“ Progress and Poverty,” he has attempted to refute the
conclusions of Malthus.

As he has fallen into the most simple errors in his adverse
comments upon Malthus, it may be as well to state with
greater precision the factors of the problem, thus : —

P. — Actual population.

I. — Natural tendency to increase.

(a) At its maximum in an ideal state of perfect
health, virtue, peace and prosperity.

(&) At its minimum when the opposite of this
state obtains.

T. — Natural limit of life ; death at extreme old age.

C. — Checks, cutting off life before the healthy limit
of life has been reached, among which are pro¬
minent : —

(a) Competition of other forms of animal life —
zymotic diseases, parasites, attacks by
beasts of prey, etc.

(&) Insufficiency of food or famine, whether
from seasonable influence, poor soil,
climate, ignorance, wilful waste, or
improvidence.

(c) Violence, wars, murders, accidents, physical

causes, such as earthquakes or volcanic
outbursts, cannibalism, infant and senile
murder, massacre.

(d) Diseases, whether due to ignorance, vice,

human neglect of hygiene, climate,
cosmical influences, etc.

(e) Diseases due to the tendency of civilised

communities to aggregate in dense num¬
bers, as in cities and towns.

(/) Misery the close attendant of these evils.

M. — Moral restraint operating upon I.

E. — Means of subsistence, varying with season, but

increased absolutely by numbers and increasing
knowledge of natural resources ; the ratio per
individual, however, gradually lessening as the
poorer lands and waters are invaded by swelling
numbers.

F. — The absolute limit when a greater density for each

square mile of the earth’s surface is reached by
removal or the minimising of allrepressive checks.
About 2-83 acres in cultivation is now necessary
for the support of each person living.

194 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

G. — The final stage, the world peopled to its full limit,
and the struggle for existence only permitting a
perpetuation of the maximum population at F
by the effects of T ; and the failure of either in
any degree, again re-introducing of necessity
checks <J, a, b, c, d, e, and so producing a decline
in population, although the natural tendency I to
multiply may still be conceived to be as vigorous
and prolific as at the first.

When Malthus affirmed that the ratio of increase of popu¬
lation advanced faster than the ratio of increase of means of
subsistence, he never stated or conceived that population
could actually outstrip the means of subsistence as interpreted
and discussed by Mr. Henry George (p. 17, book ii.), and
hence the whole of Mr. George’s citations and reasonings are
either fallacious, or they never touch upon the real causes at
the root of Malthus’ problem. That there is a thorough
misconception on the part of Mr. Henry George is clearly
proved by the following quotation from Malthus (p. 243, vol.
ii. “ Malthus on Population ”) : — “ According to the principles
of population the human race has a tendency to increase faster
than food. It has, therefore, a constant tendency to people a
country fully up to the limits of subsistence (F or G), but by
the laws of Nature it can never go beyond them, meaning, of
course, by these limits the lowest quantity of food which will
maintain a stationary population. Population, therefore, can
never, strictly speaking, precede food.” This clear expression
on the part of Malthus casts aside the whole of Mr. George’s
ratiocinations as worthless. His inability to grasp the most
important elements of the problem is still further made
manifest by his query, p. 17, “ How is it, then, that this
globe of ours, after all the thousands, and it is thought
millions, of years, that man has been upon the earth, is yet
so thinly populated.

I can hardly conceive that a man of Mr. George’s intelli¬
gence could put forward such a plea in proof of his con¬
tention that the natural tendency of population (I) is not
towards an increase in the direction of the limits of sub¬
sistence.

His query indicates unmistakably that he confounds the
product with the ever-varying factors plus and minus I, T,
and C, which make the product (P). There is no argument
necessary to show the absurdity of ignoring the value and
tendency of I, because the product P does not disclose a
similar value and tendency.

For example, the query entirely ignores the whole burden
of Malthus’ problem by the effects of the checks T and C.
The mere fact, notwithstanding the powerful influence checks

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

195

T and C, which liave always been in operation — the human
race is now, after a million years, still vigorous, and numbers
over 1,480 million souls, is in itself the strongest proof that
the natural tendency to increase has been the powerful
influence counteracting the terrible effects of C, which we
too well know have always exerted a most powerful and dire
influence in preventing a large increase of population.

The fallacy of Mr. George’s arguments is more clearly
appreciated by stating the problem thus : — -

Let I. — Natural tendency to increase (birth rate).

D. — Actual rate of increase or decrease of popu¬
lation (a) surplus of births over deaths; (&)
stationary state, etc.; (c) surplus of deaths
over births.

T. — Death as the full termination )

of a natural healthy life |> Death Eate.

C. — Death from preventible causes j

M. — -Moral influence lowering the value of I.

S. — Prosperity heightening the effect of I.

P. — The result upon the population (a) increase ;
(h) stationariness ; (c) decline.

D. — The actual surplus (a) ; stationariness ( b ) ;

decline (c) per year.

2.

3.

1. When I + S — M exceeds T + C, the result will be
P a or D a, or an increase of population.

When I + S — M only equals T + C, the result will
be P b or D b, or a stationary state of population.
When I + S — M falls below T + 0, the result will
be P c or D c, or a decline in population, caused by
the checks being greater than the birth rate.

What folly, therefore, to conceive a stationary state of
population as being due to the lowered absolute influence of
I alone, when the same result, according to our experience,
based upon the vital statistics of all countries, is due rather
to the increased value of C, the root evil, which Malthus
wished to see eliminated.

That a high death rate has a greater influence than a low
birth rate in diminishing the surplus of births over deaths is
easily proved by reference to vital statistics — our only guide
in such matters. For example, take the case of Norway and
Spain and Hungary for the year 1885 : —

I + S — M C + T
Birth rate Death rate

Norway

Spain

Hungary

D a

Surplus of births
per 100 per 100 over deaths
persons. persons. per 1000 persons.
30-9 17-1 13-8

36-6 30-6 6-0

45-3 32-6 12-7

196 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

No better example from actual facts could be obtained to
show that the increase of disease and misery, as shown by
the death rate C + T has more influence in lowering the
value of B a, or surplus of births over deaths, than the
lowering of the rate of births ; for Norway’s actual rate of
increase is higher than that of Spain and Hungary respec¬
tively by 7'8 and 1*1 per 1,000 persons ; although its birth
rate is actually lower than in these countries by 5 "7 and 14'4
per 1,000 respectively. In a healthy, happy, prosperous, and
peaceful country, the actual rate of increase is invariably
high, due to a high birth rate and a low death rate.

In an unhealthy, miserable, and savage society, the ten¬
dency, while these conditions last, is invariably shown in a
higher death than birth rate, resulting in a positive decline in
population.

It is clear, therefore, that when population is declining it
is rather because misery, disease, and vice have abnormally
raised the death rate higher than the birth rate, and not
because of any material tendency to a decline in the birth
rate.

While there are different stages of civilisation in existence,
over-population is a relative term applicable to the particular
country, and not an absolute quantity to be determined by
an absolute number of persons to a given area, as most
erroneously indicated by Mr. George. This is clear to any
one who studies the civilisation and the sanitary state of
different countries.

When peoples who have attained to the same state of
civilisation are so situated that the struggle for existence is
made ligther for a given community by local causes, such as
may be seen in the comparison between the Australian colonies
and the older countries of Europe — then the increased pros¬
perity, the diminution of competition for labour, the increased
health due to the smaller density of population, and other
advantages — climate not being too unequal — would show such
an improvement in the actual rate of increase from natural
causes alone that their effect is significant and instructive.
Thus, although the actual rate of increase in the colonies,
during many years, is equal to about 20'05 per 1,000 (not
including the effects of immigration), or about 10 per 1,000
above the rate of Europe, nevertheless, its average birth rate
is only about T5 per 1,000 higher. This again forcibly proves
that the higher rate of actual increase to population is due
mainly to favourable circumstances lowering check C, or
deaths from preventible causes. These illustrations by explicit
reference to actual facts entirely overthrow the arguments of
Mr. Henry George, which solely confine attention to one of
the two great factors in the problem relating to the causes of

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

197

the increase, stationariness, or decline in the population of
different countries. Malthus was not so visionary as to
expect the entire elimination of any of the factors. He only
hoped to regulate population in relation to means of sub¬
sistence, by the substitution of an increased power of check
M, in place of the terrible check C. He conceived that as
man grew in knowledge and dignity, he might be able by
degrees to lower the terrible influence of C, thus favouring
the state P a ; the latter being prevented from again re-intro-
ducing the evil effects of C by the substitution of influences
increasing the power of the superior central check M. If the
check C now ruthlessly in operation be removed altogether or
reduced to a minimum— a most desirable thing for its own
sake, it is certain that the geometrical increase of I would
produce a maximum effect as D a , and this would sooner or
later, if unchecked, over-populate the whole earth. No matter
in what degree the final stage was delayed by increased
knowledge and productiveness, fairer modes of wealth dis¬
tribution, and the gradual spread over all habitable areas ; or
hastened by exhaustion of existing sources of wealth, or a
state of anarchy ; the stage would in effect be often reached
in particular isolated districts, although not in all, by reason
of human ignorances, jealousies, prejudices, not to mention
lower types of human beings unfitted for the reception of a
higher civilisation.

Had it not been for the fortunate discovery of the steam
engine, the perfecting of means of transport, and the discovery
of new fertile continents (Australia and America) thinly
populated, opening out vast additional sources of production
and affording relief to the pressure of crowded European
centres, it is certain the state of Europe would be very
different at the present hour ; and the check C would long ere
this have reduced existing crowded centres to half their
present numbers. What would England do with her present
population (37 millions) if America and Australia were no
longer open to her emigrants and no longer furnished food
and other products r England is now a striking example of
a country whose population has rapidly outstripped the means
of subsistence so far as local supply of food is concerned.

It will readily be conceived, therefore, that the complicated
problem of Malthus is — the elimination of C altogether, or,
as far as it lies within man’s control ; with the substitution of
an increased power of M, only when deemed to be absolutely
necessary to banish the dire influence of C. Both Malthus
and Mr. Henry George agree in desiring the elimination of
check C, but Malthus showed that this constant effect, due to
vice, ignorance, disease, and misery, could only be finally
grappled with effectually, by never allowing P, or density of
population, to press too strongly on the means necessary to

198 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

preserve a population in a healthy and happy state, and this
could not "be practically effected without some such controlling
influences as M. The nobleness of Malthus’ aims, and the
problems which he endeavoured to grapple with, are alto¬
gether misconceived by Mr. George and other opponents.
Some (might I not add the popular view) even maliciously or
carelessly identify the Malthusian problem with the revolting
physical check of Condorcet and others ; and also of the view
which rests in considering vice and misery as necessary evils.
This proves that such people have not honestly studied the
views of this much-wronged philanthropist. This is indis¬
putably proved by the following quotations from his writings,
pp. 478,479: “Vice and misery, and these alone, are the
evils which it has been my great object to contend against. I
have expressly proposed moral restraint (M) as their rational
and proper remedy ; and whether the remedy be good or bad,
adequate or inadequate, the proposal itself and the stress
which I have laid upon it, is an incontrovertible proof that I
never can have considered vice and misery as themselves
remedies.” In connection with these unfair charges urged by
a Mr. Graham, he, in a dignified rejoinder, maintains, “ It is
therefore quite inconceivable that any writer with the slightest
pretension to respectability should venture to bring forward
such imputations, and it must be allowed to show either such
a degree of ignorance, or such a total want of candour, as
utterly to disqualify him for the discussion of such subjects.”
And with respect to charges identifying his view with the
restraints prescribed by Condorcet, he distinctly affirms, “ I
have never adverted to the check suggested by Condorcet
without the most marked disapprobation. Indeed, I should
always particularly reprobate any artificial and unnatural
inodes of checking population on account of their immorality
and their tendency to remove a necessary stimulus to
industry . . . the restraints which I have recommended

are quite of a different character. They are not only pointed
out by reason and sanctioned by religion, but tend in the most
marked manner to stimulate industry. It is not easy to
conceive a more powerful encouragement to exertion and good
conduct than the looking forward to marriage as a state
peculiarly desirable, but only to be enjoyed in comfort by the
acquisition of habits of industry, economy, and prudence, and
it is in this light I have always wished to place it.” How
clearly and nobly Malthus explains his check of moral
restraint is a matter which ought to leave no doubt of the
purity and nobleness of his views, whatever doubts may
remain as regards the efficacy of the moral check in itself.
The possibility of the check, too, pre-supposes the general
possession of moral strength sufficiently inadequate, not
merely during large intervals of time, but at all times ; for

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

199

the effects of opposing passion might wreck its efficacy at any
moment if we do not contemplate the superior strength and
continuous exertion of the higher moral virtue.

I think i have in these observations fairly vindicated the
nobility of Malthus’ ideal, however we may demur to it as
regards adequacy. It has also been clearly shown that the
problem is a serious one ; and individuals, and the poorer
classes often reach the limit of the means of subsistence long-
before society as a whole feels its pressure. How are we to
eliminate the elements of disease, vice, and misery which at
present form the only check C against over-population in
crowded centres without substituting some adequate check of a
superior kind ? This is the problem of Malthus.

Let us see what a small percentage of increase in population
would effect in a short period of time.

If murder, war or epidemic, disease or misery, be not
further increased, it would follow inevitably —

That the offspring of eight persons alone, at the present rate
of natural increase in Australasia, would so multiply that : —

(8 persons) In 961 years they would number 1,480 millions,

equal to the whole present popula¬
tion of the globe.

1314-3 years they would place one person on
every 100 square yards of the land
surface of the globe.

1527 years they would place one person on
each square yard of the estimated
cultivable portion of the earth’s
surface.

1543-9 years they would place one person on
each square yard of the total sur¬
face of the land of the globe.

But it is more terrible still if we contemplate starting with the
existing population of the earth, visa., 1,480 million persons,
and if we also reckon that the same number of acres must be
cultivated to supply each person, as at present, viz., 2-83 acres
per head nearly.

With these conditions —

(1,480 millions) In 85*03 years there would be one person to

every 2‘83 acres of all the culti¬
vable land surface of the globe.

122-48 years there would be one person to
every 2-83 acres of .land surface,
whether cultivable or not.

200 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

15 7‘6 years, or in the year 2047, there
would be one person to every acre
of land open to tbe foot of man,
supposing that one acre was by
some miraculous means sufficient
for his support, and that all arctic
and tori’id parts of tbe earth
could be made habitable.

586 ‘15 years, or in the year 2476,
there would be one person to
every square yard of total land
surface on the globe, supposing
that by miraculous intervention
life could exist under such con¬
ditions.

United Kingdom.

The natural increase of the population of the United
Kingdom in recent years, owing to comparatively low death
rate, has been increasing at the rate of l-4 per cent, per year.
The density of population of London is at present about one
person to every 90 square yards.

In 3399 years — if misery and disease does
not increase the death rate —
her population would cover the
whole land as a vast city with a
density equal to the present City
of London.

157’ 7 years this density would be reached
under the same conditions, if the
death rate was as low as in Aus¬
tralia at the present time.

United States.

The present limits of the United States are stated to be
about 2,291,355,000 acres, and her present population may be
stated at about 57,000,000. Allow that the present average
of 2-81 acres per head in cultivation is necessary to supply the
wants of each person, and that fths of her whole area are
available for cultivation. Then if her death rate be not raised
by misery and disease, the population would increase at the
rate of 2 per cent., as at present in Australia ( i.e if no pro¬
vidential influence checks the birth rate), and

In 119'8 years, or in the year 2009, the limits
of available land would be reached,
viz.,

134‘4, or in the year 2023, under the same
conditions, this limit would be
reached, even if it were possible
to cultivate every square yard of
the whole country.

BY K. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

201

Nothing shows better the incoherence of Mr. Henry George’s
so-called disproof of the Malthusian theory as in that portion
where he deals with man as limited by space. The figures
referred to show, without doubt, that if misery as a check to
population be banished, the increase to population would at
least be not less than 2 per cent, per year, and this would in
85 years, or within the limits of the life of persons now living,
exhaust all available lands, even if all available lands (pro¬
viding 2’81 acres for each person) could be made to yield the
same average as the better lands now cultivated ; and this
near contingency Mr. Henry George scoffs at as something so
distantly remote “ as to have for us no more practical interest
than the recurrence of the glacialperiod or the final extinguish¬
ment of the sun.” Rhapsodical nonsense of this sort ill-
becomes one who professes to discuss so momentous a question,
and one who professes to be so enthusiastic in attempting to
grapple with the real difficulties which hitherto have barred
the material, intellectual, moral, and social progress of
mankind.

On the other hand, it is logically impossible by any scheme
of civilisation yet propounded by man, except that suggested
by Malthus (moral check), to dispose of the existing misery
of mankind.

It would be inhuman to perceive this terrible dilemma, and
not in heart and spirit rebel against it. Who does not flinch
as he gazes upon this terrible enigma ? It is no wonder,
therefore, that many emotional natures are either struck
mentally blind at the fierce light, or try to escape the bitter
conclusions which calm reason points out as inevitable by
concealing, ostrich like, the eyes of reason in the sands of
passionate rhetoric. The worst calamities that exist seem to
be far more easily borne if we could but suppose them to be
solely the results of man’s own doings. In this conclusion
there is a hope of escape in the thought that man may undo
or amend what he has done amiss. Hence, no doubt, the
natural repulsion of Mr. Henry George to the terrible thought
that the inexorable laws of Nature dominate, corporeally at
least, over the single life, and over the types of Adam’s race,
much in the same way as Nature has hitherto dealt with the
thousand types of earlier races that have vanished. He but
utters the human cry of passion when he urges that this is not
the doing of the Almighty Ruler. “We degrade the Ever¬
lasting ; we slander the Just One. A merciful man would have
better ordered the world.” Alas ! alas ! Who does not, or
has not at times, made similar despairing exclamations and
passionate protests.

With respect to the statements of Mr. Henry George, which
led to this outburst of declamation, they are but a repetition of

202 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

the attitude of the gifted and eloquent M. de Lamennais that
drew from Bastiat the following just rebuke, which applies
equally to writers of Mr. Henry George’s class : — 1 " In all this
we see only fallacious declamation which serves as the basis
of dangerous conclusions ; and we cannot help regretting that
an eloquence so admirable should be devoted to giving popular
currency to the most fatal errors.”

The possible annihilation of our race, like those races that
have gone, has weighed upon the thoughtful and pitiful in all
ages, but nowhere does tuis feeling find nobler expression than
in the words of the most thoughtful and tender of living
poets : —

“ Are God and Nature then at strife,

That Nature lends such evil dreams :

So careful of the type she seems,

So careless of the single life 1
1 So careful of the type !’ but no,

From scarped cliff and quarried stone
She cries, ‘ A thousand types are gone ;

I care for nothing ; all shall go ;

Thou makest thine appeal to me ;

I bring to life, I bring to death,

The spirit does but mean the breath ;

I know no more.’ And he— shall he,

Man, her last work, who seem’d so fair
Such splendid purpose in his eyes,

Who roll’d the psalm to wintry skies,

And built his fanes of fruitless prayer, —

Who trusted God was love indeed,

And love Creation’s final law.

Though Nature, reel in tooth and claw,

With ravine shrieked against his creed —

Who loved, who suffered countless ills,

Who battled for the true, the just,

Be blown about the desert dust,

Or seal’d within the iron hills ?

No more ! A discord. A monster then a dream,
Dragons of the prime
That lure each other in their slime
Were mellow music, match’d with him.

O life, as futile then as frail —

O for thy voice to soothe and bless
What hope of answer or redress,

Behind the veil, behind the veil !”

Thus the poet’s refuge is in the after life. But have we no
hope of amelioration in the present. Tes, we do hope. But
all our hopes may prove fruitless if we do not bravely face the
real difficulty.

The substitution of the providential preventive check (the
moral check of Malthus) to over-population, for the hitherto
prevailing misery or repressive check is the one escape for

1. Bastiat. “ Harmonies of Political Economy.” (Part ii., p. 90).

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

203

society, even if it be only to maintain the social advantages that
we now enjoy. Of countries which have as yet shown any
tendency to successfully grapple with this problem, the only
examples known to us are those of Switzerland and France,
notably the latter.

The average birth and death rates of 14 States of Europe,
and seven colonies of Australasia, afford some idea of their
relative influence upon population, thus : —

Per 1,000. Percentage

Birth Rate. Death Rate. Increase.

Average of 13 European

States . 33-8 23 '5 P03

Seven Colonies of Aus¬
tralasia . 34‘4 13 '6 2 08

Prance . 24-8 22-2 0'26

The low birth rate of France (not her death rate, which is even
below the average of Europe) is the special reason why her
population remains almost stationary.

That her birth rate should be 9 per 1,000 below the average
of Europe is a remarkable thing. Is it due to a lowered racial
vitality, or to moral and providential causes ? If it be due to
the latter influence, a study of the conditions of social life in
France is of peculiar importance. The Hon. Gf. Shaw Lefevre,
M.P., in his work on ‘'English and Irish Land Question,” has
carefully studied the influence of large and small ownerships of
the land, and unhesitatingly concludes that to the large pro¬
portion of small owners in France, as compared with England,
is to be attributed the great superiority of the great mass
of its industrial population. He states: — “The prophecies
of Arthur Young and McCulloch that her system of small
cultivation would lead to her becoming the pauper warren
of Europe, and her sons the hewers of wood and drawers
of water for the rest of Europe, have not been fulfilled. On
the contrary, ‘ Production has been greatly stimulated by
the sense and security of ownership ; but the population
has not increased relatively in the same proportion ; the
average condition of the people, therefore, is vastly improved.
Pauperism is almost unknown in rural districts; the habits of
industry and thrift are universal.’ ” The same author wisely
observes : — “ If the institutions of France have resulted in a
self-acting process of adapting the growth of her population to
the means of subsistence, it would seem to be not the least
merit of a system which is based upon the wide distribution of
property, bringing home to the lowest, as well as the highest, the
motives of restraint .” If only a portion of this be true, the
world will owe to France the grandest lesson in social economy.
Here we see a possible escape from the terrible Malthusian
dilemma. France has attained her present state of social
welfare in rural districts by legal restriction against family
entails, which lead to the agglomeration of big estates in few

204 ROOT MATTERS IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

bauds, and by legal facilities for land transfer; and Mr. Lefevre
urges that England should follow her example. This matter
should receive the greatest attention at the hands of legislators
in these colonies, for mighty issues are at stake, socially and
politically.

Can a Higher Culture ee Maintained in ant one
Country Without Regulating its Intercourse with
other Races op Men in a Lower Plane of
Civilisation P

There is still another difficulty to face, even if one en¬
lightened country by providence had succeeded in adapting the
growth of that population to the means of subsistence.

And this difficulty now presses hard upon the labourers of a
higher civilisation open by Free Trade to the competition of
the labour market of a lower or more degraded form of civili¬
sation. The partial exclusion of cheap Chinese labour from
America and these colonies may, or may not, have been in
accord with the principle of Free Trade ; but it opens up a
grave subject. For if a higher culture could be enabled bv pro¬
vident moral or self-control to successfully grapple and overcome
the present enigmas of social science, how is it possible that such
a culture could be effectually preserved if it were open to be
disturbed by the cheap labour or the starvation price products
of other nations, who, by improvidence and lack of moral
control, were still sunk in the abyss of that wretchedness which
is due to over-population ? In this aspect I am humbly of
opinion the doctrines of Free Trade and Protection require
further consideration ; and it is with the hope that the reason¬
able discussion of such matters may shed fresh light upon this
and related problems that I have had the courage to address
you upon these old, well-worn, but hitherto unsoluble difficul¬
ties belonging to social and economic science.

One thought impresses me not a little. It is this : All
truths that are painful are blindly and passionately resisted by
the majority, who also are ever prone to reward skill when it is
employed in opposing or obscuring what is hateful. It cannot
be hoped, therefore, that the warnings given with respect to
the danger that awaits us in the near future will be much
heeded at present. The world’s greatest intellects and genius
are, for the most part, supported in defending popular views ;
for it is not found to be a difficult matter for men of greatest
literary talent and skill to show, where complications abound,
that the true is false, and the false is true. Popular favour is a
terrible taskmaster, for she refuses bread to those who fail to
work her pleasure. I do not, therefore, undervalue the temp¬
tation which ensnares the majority of able minds to continue
the defence of pleasant delusions, when these alone find a ready
market of exchange value. But the evil time draws too near
for delusive teaching. It is now necessary that those who
see the rocks ahead should speak out faithfully.

205

THE EXPEDITION UNDER LIEUTENANT-
GOVERNOR COLLINS IN 1803-4.

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

Read 14th October, 1889.

1. The Origin of the Expedition and the
Voyage to Port Phillip.

In former papers which I have had the honor to read
before the Royal Society, I have endeavoured to trace
the influence of French rivalry in hastening the English
settlement of Australia. I have shown that to the
pioneer work of French navigators we owe the first
admirable surveys of the southern coasts of Tasmania,
and that it was wholly due to the apprehensions that
those surveys excited that Governor King sent Lieut.
Bowen from Port Jackson to take possession of the
Derwent.

I have also briefly touched on the explorations of our
own English sailors in the neighbourhood of the Derwent
and in Bass’ Strait, and the influence of their reports in
deciding the choice of localities for new colonies, while I
have followed the misfortunes of the unlucky settlement
at Risdon, and described its collapse after a short and
troubled life of little more than half a year.

The real history of Tasmania as an English colony
begins with the departure from England, in the spring of
1803, of the expedition of Lieutenant-Governor Collins,*
the founder of Hobart; and it is with the origin and
misadventures of that expedition on its way to the
Derwent that I have to deal in the present paper.

The project of the English Government to found a
colony on the shores of Bass’ Strait, and the unsuccess¬
ful attempt of Governor Collins to plant that settlement

*The first lieutenant of the Calcutta published a narrative of the
voyage of the expedition to Port Phillip, and of its failure there.
“Account of a Voyage to establish a Colony' at Port Phillip, in
Bass’ Straits, in H.M.S. Calcutta, in 1802-8-4. By James
Kingston Tuckey.” London, 1805.

The principal official documents relating to the expedition down
to the date of its departure from Port Phillip, have been printed by
Mr. Francis Peter Labilliere, in his “ Early History of the Colony
of Victoria,” 2 vols., London, 1878, and also by Mr. James
Bonwick, in his “ Port Phillip Settlement,” London, 1883. The
Rev. Robert Knopwood’s Diary has been printed by Mr. John J.
Shillinglaw in his “ Early Historical Records of Fort Phillip,”
Melbourne, 1878 •, 2nd edition, 8vo., 1879. The diary was copied
from the original (hen in the possession of the late Mr. Vernon W,
Hookey, of Hobart.

206 EXPEDITION UNDER LIEUT.-GOV. COLLINS.

Labilliere,
i., 125.

Home Office
to Colonial
Office, 17 th
Dec. 1802.

at Port Phillip in 1803, may at first sight appear to
be beyond the scope of the history of Tasmania, and
to belong exclusively to that of Victoria. But Collins’
expedition has absolutely nothing to do with the history
of our Victorian neighbours. The sandhills of Port
Phillip merely served for a month or two as a resting
place for the colonists on their way to the Derwent.
The short stay of Collins’ people on Victorian soil was
only an incident in their passage from England to Van
Diemen’s Land, like their touching at Rio or the Cape ;
and the story of those months is an essential part of the
history of the first settlers of Hobart.

The idea of the settlement emanated from Captain
Philip Gidley King, the then Governor of New South
Wales, and was, doubtless, suggested to him by the
arrival at Port Jackson of the French ship the
Naturaliste from Bass’ Straits, and the suspicions thus
excited in his mind with respect to French designs on
H is Majesty’s territories in New Holland.

On the 21st May, 1802 — shortly after the arrival of
the Naturaliste , but before Commodore Baudin’s own
ship had reached Port Jackson— the Governor addressed
a despatch to the Duke of Portland pressing upon him
the importance of founding a colony at the newly dis¬
covered harbour of Port Phillip, of the soil, climate, and
advantageous position of which he had just received a
very favourable report from Captain Flinders, who had
explored it in the preceding month. The reason most
strongly urged by King was the necessity of being before¬
hand with the French, who, in his opinion, were bent on
getting a footing somewhere in Bass’ Straits.

When the Governor’s despatch reached England there
was for the moment peace with France, but French
movements were viewed with the utmost suspicion, and
a speedy renewal of the war was regarded as inevitable.
H.M.S. Calcutta was under orders to take to New South
Wales a further detachment of 400 male convicts and
some 50 free settlers, and preparations were being made
to send her off immediately. King’s recommendation
therefore came at an opportune juncture, and was at
once taken into consideration.

Amongst miscellaneous Colonial Office documents in
the Record Office, Mr. Bon wick found a paper which
records the result of these deliberations. It has neither
subscription nor address, and is undated, though from
other evidence its date can be fixed at somewhere in the
latter half of the month of December, 1802.

This document is of so much interest as setting forth

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

207

the views of the Government on Australian colonisation
at this important period, that it is here given in full : —

“ Memorandum of a Proposed Settlement in
Bass’s Straights.

“ The attention of the French Government has recently
been directed to New Holland, and two French ships
have, during the present year, been employed in survey¬
ing the western and southern coasts, and in exploring the
passage through Basses Straights to New South Wales.
By the accounts which have been recently received from
Governor King at Port Jackson, there is reason to
believe that the French navigators had not discovered
either of the two most important objects within those
Straights, namely, the capacious and secure harbour in
the North, to which Governor King has given the name
of Port Phillip, nor a large island called King’s Island,
situated nearly midway on the western side of the
Straights, and which extends about 50 miles in every
direction.

“Governor King represents each of these objects as
deserving the attention of Government, but especially
Port Phillip, where he urgently recommends that an
Establishment should be immediately formed, at the same
time observing that, if the resources of his Government
could have furnished the means, he should have thought
it his duty, without waiting for instructions, to have
formed a settlement there.

“ The reasons adduced by Governor King in support
of this opinion are principally drawn from the advantages
which the possession of such a port naturally suggests for
the valuable fishery that may be carried on in the
Straights, where the seal and the sea elephant abound,
and from the policy of anticipating the French, to whom
our discovery of this port and of King’s Island must soon
be known, and who may be stimulated to take early
measures for establishing themselves in positions so
favourable for interrupting in any future war the com¬
munication between the United Kingdom and New
South Wales, through the channel of Basses Straight.

“ In addition to these reasons, it may be stated that it
would be of material consequence to the settlement at
Port Jackson, which has now arrived to a population of
near six thousand persons, if an interval of some years
were to be given for moral improvement, which cannot
be expected to take place in any material degree while
there is an annual importation of convicts, who neces¬
sarily carry with them those vicious habits which were the
cause of their having fallen under the sentence of the law.

Downing-
street to
Admiralty,
Jan. 1803.

208 EXPEDITION UNDER LIEUT.-GOV. COLLINS.

“ From a due consideration of all these circumstances,
it is proposed to adopt the recommendation of Governor
King, and to appoint a competent person to proceed in
the Calcutta, direct for Port Phillip, for the purpose of
commencing the establishment there, by means of a
certain number of settlers and male convicts, now ready
to be embai'ked in that ship, and, further, that the
establishment shall be placed under the control of the
principal Government at Port Jackson, upon a similar
footing to that on Norfolk Island.

“ The expense of this new settlement, beyond what
would necessarily attend the conveyance and supplies for
the convicts if sent to Port Jackson, may be calculated
at a sum not exceeding .£15,000 a year, subject to a
small additional charge, if circumstances should render it
advisable to send some of the convicts under a sufficient
guard to secure the possession of King’s Island.

“ With a view to this service, and for the purpose of
keeping open the communication between the two settle¬
ments and with Port Jackson, it is thought necessary
that a small vessel should be stationed in the Straights,
to be employed in such manner as the Lieut.-Governor,
acting under the orders of Governor King, may point out.

“ Experience having proved the great inconvenience
arising from the establishment of the New South Wales
Regiment at Port Jackson, it is conceived that consider¬
able benefit would result from selecting a detachment of
the Royal Marines for this service.

“With a view of exciting the convicts to good
behaviour, it is proposed that such of them as shall
merit the recommendation of the Governors abroad shall
be informed that their wives and families will be permitted
to go to them at the public expense as indentured
servants; and, to render this act of humane policy as
conducive to the benefit of the Colony as the circum¬
stances of the case will permit, it will be necessary that
these families shall on no account be sent upon ships on
which convicts shall be embarked, and that they shall be
informed their reunion with the objects of their regard
would depend upon their own good behaviour, as well
as upon that of their husbands.”

The recommendations of the memorandum were
adopted by the Cabinet. Early in January, 1803, it
was ordered that the destination of the Calcutta should
be changed, and that the convicts, with a detachment
of 100 Royal Marines as guard, should proceed direct to
Port Phillip, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

209

David Collins, who was appointed Lieut.-Governor of
the new Settlement. An urgent appeal was made to
the authorities by Mr. Secretary' King, of the Home
Office, to send a proportion of women — to allow the
wives of the married convicts to accompany their
husbands, and to add a number of female convicts.
Secretary King pointed out the mischief that had ensued
in the Port Jackson colony from the disproportion of
the sexes, and remarked, “ To begin with a colony of
men, populrn virorum, will do for nothing in nature but
what Virgil applies it to — a Hive of Bees.” It would
have been well if this sensible advice had been acted
upon ; as it was, out of 307 convicts who sailed from
England, only 17 were accompanied by their wives.
The military guard, officers and men, consisted of
51, of whom some seven had their wives with them.
Free settlers were not much encouraged in those days ;
for, though it was the policy of the Government to
introduce a certain proportion, the number was rigidly
limited. Mr. Bonwick says that up to the year 1803
the whole number of free settlers introduced into New
Holland was only 320, to a total population of over
7000. Thirteen persons obtained Lord Hobart’s permis¬
sion to throw in their lot with the new colony as
settlers ; and, of these, not more than three or four had
wives with them. The Civil Establishment consisted
of a Chaplain, the Rev. Robert Knopwood ; three
Surgeons, Messrs. Wm. I’ Anson, Matthew Bowden, and
ffm. Hopley; a Commissary, Mr. Leonard Fosbrook;
a Surveyor, Mr. George Prideaux Harris ; a Mineralogist,
Mr. Adolarius William Henry Humphreys ; and two
Superintendents of Convicts.

The Colonial Office could probably have chosen no
more suitable man than Lieut. -Colonel David Collins
as Governor of the new settlement. Collins was an
Irishman, having been born in King’s County in
1756. He had seen military service ; and, as a young
Lieutenant of Marines, had been present at the battle of
Bunker’s Hill. When Governor Phillip sailed with
the “ First Fleet ” in 1788, to found Sydney, Captain
Collins accompanied him, as Judge Advocate. He
served in this important capacity, and also as Secretary
to the Governor, for eight years, returning to England
in 1796, with high recommendations from Governor
Hunter to the Duke of Portland for his merit and
services to the young colony. During his stay in
England he wrote and published his well known and
valuable “Account of the English Colony of New South

210 EXPEDITION UNDER LIEUT.-GOV. COLLINS.

Wales,” the first volume appearing in 1798, and the
second, which carried on the history to August, 1801 , being
published in 1802. The book met with a very favour¬
able reception, and was reviewed by Sydney Smith, in the
Edinburgh Review. The reviewer says, “ Mr. Collins’s
book is written with great plainness and candour : he
appears to be a man always meaning well; of good plain
common sense ; and composed of those well-wearing
materials which adapt a person for situations where genius
and refinement would only prove a source of misery and
error.” Collins is said to have been a remarkably hand¬
some man, with delightful manners. He seems to have
had not a little tact in managing men, and to have
possessed many of the qualities requisite in the founder of
a colony. If he erred in his judgment of the capabilities
of Victoria as a place for settlement, he certainly showed
sagacity in his choice of a site for Hobart.

The preparations for the new settlement were quickly
pushed on ; and, in April, 1803, the expedition was
ready for sea. The 307 male convicts, and their military
guard, were to be conveyed by H.M.S. Calcutta, in
which vessel the Lieut. -Governor himself, and a select
few of his staff — viz., Lieut. Sladden, the First Lieutenant
of Marines ; Mr. Knopwood, the Chaplain ; and Mr.
I’Anson, the Principal Surgeon — were also to be accom¬
modated. At the period of which we are speaking,
March, 1802, which was during the short peace which followed upon
to May, 1803. the Treaty of Amiens, the ships of the Navy were
frequently employed for the conveyance of convicts to
Bonwick’s New South Wales. In the early days of the colony the
“First Twenty convicts were brought out under contract, — the con-
tralia.” * US tiactoi's receiving as much as <£17 7s. 6cl. per head for
all shipped. The contractors had no interest in treating
the people well, or even in keeping them alive. The
consequence was a most scandalous state of things. It
was estimated that during the first eight years at least
one-tenth of those transported died on the voyage. In
the “ Second Fleet,” in 1790, the mortality was awful.
In one ship more than a fourth part died on board, and
a large number after arrival. The unhappy people
were shut up below, in filthy and stifling quarters;
seldom allowed on deck, for fear of mutiny ; kept under
no discipline ; and often subjected to brutal ill-usage.
Besides the dreadful mortality on the voyage, the
survivors arrived so enfeebled that the hospitals were
filled with sick, many of whom succumbed ; while a
considerable proportion of the remainder never recovered
from the effects of the passage. Afterwards, by the

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

211

adoption of the system of paying a premium for each
person landed, thereby giving the contractors a direct
interest in caring for the health of the convicts, a great
improvement in their treatment was secured. During
the peace, however, the Government preferred using
ships of the navy as transports, thus giving employment
to officers and seamen whom it was undesirable to dis¬
charge, in view of a probable renewal of hostilities, and
at the same time ensuring that the convicts would be
kept in a better state of order and cleanliness. The
vessels could also, on their return voyage, bring home
cargoes of timber for naval purposes at a small expense.
The ships best adapted for transports were those which
had been originally built for the East India Company,
and had been purchased into the King’s service during
the war. The Calcutta was a ship of this class. She
was commanded by Captain Daniel Woodriff, who had
been in New South Wales in 1792 and 1793, and had
been so favourably impressed with the capabilities of the
settlement that, when he received orders to take out a
transport, he petitioned Lord Hobart for a grant of land
for his sons, with the view of settling his whole family in
the colony. He had as his first, lieutenant Lieutenant
Tuckey, a young Irishman of great energy and ability,
who afterwards wrote an account of the expedition, which
was published in 1 805.*

The Calcutta was to take the convicts and military,
but a tender was necessary to carry the stores for the
whole establishment. For this purpose the Transport
Office chartered the Ocean, a ship of 481 tons, belonging

* “ An Account of a Voyage to establish a Colony at Port Phillip
in Bass’ Strait, on the South Coast of New South Wales, in H.M.S.
Calcutta." By Lieut. J. K. Tuckey. London, 1805. Lieutenant
James Kingston Tuckey was born in 1776, at Mallow, County Cork.
He entered the navy at an early age, and served with distinction in
the Eastern Archipelago and the Indian Seas, and afterwards in the
Red Sea. Broken in health, he was in 1802 appointed first lieutenant
of the Calcutta, and served during the voyage to Port Phillip,
returning to England in 1804 and publishing his book. In 1805 the
Calcutta, in convoying ships from St. Helena, was captured by tire
French, after a gallant defence, in which Tuckey particularly distin¬
guished himself. He remained in a French prison for nine years.
During his imprisonment in France he married a lady who was his
fellow prisoner. On his release in 1814 he was made commander,
and in 1816 he obtained the command of an expedition to explore
the River Congo. The members of the expedition suffered terribly
from fever, which was fatal to 21 out of a total number of 56. Tuckey
was one of the victims, dying on 4 October, 1816. — “Narrative of
an Expedition to explore the River Zaire (Congo) in South Africa
in 1816.” London, 1818.

Gentleman’ s

Magazine,

1804.

212 EXPEDITION UNDER LIEUT.-GOV. COLLINS.

Transport
Office, Memo.
7th April,

1803.

to Mr. Hurris, of .Newcastle, and commanded by Captain
John Mertho. The stores, exclusive of provisions,
amounted to the value of .£8047* ; the freight and pro¬
bable demurrage were put at £2568 ; total, £10,615.
The remainder of the civil establishment, seven in num¬
ber ; two of the officers of the Royal Marines (Lieuts.
J. M. Johnson and Edward Lord) ; and the 13 free
settlers and their families, were passengers on board the
Ocean.

On Sunday, 24th April, 1803, the Calcutta and the
Ocean left Spithead in company, and three days later
took their final departure from the Isle of Wight. For
the events of the voyage Mr. Knopwood’s diary is our
principal- source of information.! The diary is taken
for the most part from the ship’s log ; and the chaplain,
while he tells us a great deal about the ports at which
they touched, and about the dinners and amusements
which they enjoyed at those places, says nothing about
the condition of the convicts, and but little of the in¬
cidents of the voyage. The ships touched at Teneriffe
and at Rio de J aneiro, where they stayed three weeks.
Off the Island of Tristan d’Acunha the Ocean was lost
sight of in a storm, and the Calcutta put into Simon’s
Bay, Cape of Good Hope, where she remained a fort¬
night. The good chaplain was a man who dearly loved
good company and genial society, and from the fond way
in which he lingers over the delights of Rio and the
Cape, at both of which he managed to have a very good
time, we can judge how irksome he must have found the
long sea life of five months. Though well on in middle
age he wras still susceptible, for at Rio he remarks of the
Convent de Adjuda, which received as boarders young
ladies who had lost their parents : — “ This I frequently
visited, where I conversed with a very beautiful young
lady named Antonia Januaria. Her polite attention I
shall not easily forget, having received great friendship
from her, and should I ever return there again shall be
happy to see her.” And a few days later he writes : —
“ 1 visited De Adjuda for the last time. I saw Antonia
this eve at 5, and we took leave of each other with regret.
Vale !”

It is so seldom that the chaplain indulges in sentiment

* In the list of stores are the following items : — Ironmongery,
£2525 ; clothing, &c., £1930 ; naval stores, £723 ; carts and im¬
plements of husbandry, £500; medical and hospital stores, £1380;
six pipes port wine, £282.

t Mr. Labilliere discovered the log book of the Calcutta at
Deptford Dockyard, and gives extracts from it in his book.

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

213

that I cannot forbear quoting his reflections on leaving
the Cape. “ On our departure from the Cape,” he
writes, “it was natural for us to indulge at this moment
a melancholy reflection which obtruded itself on the
minds of those who were settlers at Port Phillip. The
land behind us was the abode of a civilised people — that
before us was the residence of savages. When, if ever,
we might again enjoy the commerce of the world was
doubtful and uncertain. The refreshments and the
pleasures of which we had so liberally partaken at the
Cape and Simon’s Bay were to be exchanged for coarse
fare and hard labour at Port Phillip, and we may truly
say, all communication with families and friends now cut
off, we were leaving the world behind us to enter on a
6tate unknown.” After leaving the Cape the Calcutta
encountered a severe storm, and reached Port Phillip on
the 9th October, where she found the Ocean at anchor,
having arrived two days before her.

From the Chaplain’s diary it appears that the voyage
was uneventful, and that good order was preserved
throughout, for there are only two or three entries of
punishments, for trifling offences. The health of the con¬
victs must have been fairly looked after, only four deaths
from illness being noted and one from drowning. This
presents a pleasing contrast to the mortality and ill usage
which had been too common in the transports to New
South Wales.*

2. The Port Phillip Failure.

Collins’ ships anchored within Port Phillip Heads Collins to

about a mile and a half to the eastward of the entrance.
_ Nov. 1803.

* Lieut. Governor Collins in his despatch to Governor King1
reporting his arrival, states that he had brought with him 299 x'’
male convicts and 16 married women. From this it would appear
that 8 convicts and 1 convict’s wife had died on the voyage. It
is difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile the varying statements
contained in different documents with regard to the number and
names of the free settlers. In a despatch to King, dated 16th
December, 1803, Collins says that he has eighteen free settlers with
their families, yet his official returns of 26th February and of July,

1804, show only thirteen at the Derw'ent. We have a list of thirteen
persons who had obtained permission from Lord Hobart to
accompany Collins’ settlement, but apparently this list does not
contain the names of all who eventually sailed with him. Thus,
it omits the names of Messrs. Pitt, Nicholls, Ingle, Dacres, and Blink-
worth, who are known to have come out with Collins to the Derwent
as free settlers. The Calcutta’s log records receiving on the 17th
October six passengers from the Ocean to proceed from Port
Phillip to Port Jackson. Deducting these from the total so far as
known, wTould leave the balance within one of the number given in
Collins’ return.

214 EXPEDITION UNDER LIEUT.-GOV. COLLINS.

Tuckey’s

Voyage.

On the day of their arrival the Lieut.-Governor and Capt.
Woodriff went on shore. They returned in the evening,
having found no water, and reported that the soil was
very bad. The next morning they set off again to look
for a good spot for the settlement. They examined the
eastern shore for some miles as far as Arthur’s Mount,
and although they found a small stream of fresh water,
the soil was so poor and sandy, and the shoal water made
approach to the shore so difficult that they returned
to the ship much discouraged. The next two days were
spent in exploring the west side of the Bay for a distance
of many miles, but with no better result. The soil
was rather better, but there was no fresh water. In
the words of the Chaplain — “ Along the shore we
returned by no means satisfied with the country.”
From this time Collins made up his mind that Port
Phillip was unsuited for settlement, and that his
stay could be only temporary, until some more- favour¬
able locality was found elsewhere to which he could
remove his people. For the present, however, the
necessity of immediately unloading his ships was im¬
perative. Capt. Woodriff had instructions to proceed
at once to Port Jackson to take in a cargo of timber;
the Ocean was bound for China, and could not be
detained without considerable expense. He therefore
gave up further search for a good locality, and on the
fourth day after his arrival fixed on a spot about eight
miles to the eastward of the Heads — near the present
township of Sorrento — where very good water had been
got by sinking half a dozen casks in the sand, and here
on a small flat of some 5 acres in extent he resolved to
pitch his tents and encamp his people and stores. The
ships were moved opposite to the selected spot, the convicts
and military put on shore, the ground cleared, and the
landing of the stores begun. This was a task of some
difficulty, as the men had to go up to their middle
through the water to carry in the goods from the boats.
The bulk of the stores was piled in the open air, and
the more valuable and perishable were placed in three
large tents, a guard of ten marines being posted to
protect them. This done, Lieut. Tuckey, accompanied
by Mr. Surveyor Harris and Mr. Wm. Collins, was sent
in the Calcutta’s launch to survey the upper part of the
harbour. They proceeded to the north west, and after
two attempts reached the head of the Western Arm of
Corio Bay, near to where Geelong now stands. The
report brought back was not encouraging. The soil was
mostly sandy, and, except a few acres at the head of

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

215

the Port, there was no land within five miles of the water
which would grow corn. Water was everywhere scarce.

Snakes were common, and insects innumerable and tor¬
menting, but game was not plentiful and fish scarce. At
the head of the Bay, where a level plain stretching to the
horizen appeared more promising, the blacks were
numerous and hostile. A mob of 200 attacked Tuckey’s
party, and were so pertinacious and threatening that
Tuckev had to fire upon them with fatal effect.

It seemed to the Lieut.-Governor that any attempt
to plant his colony in this apparently more favourable
situation, amidst swarms of hostile savages, with his
little military force of 40 men — already hardly sufficient
to restrain the convicts — must only end in disaster.

He wrote to Lord Hobart, “ Were I to settle in
the upper part of the harbour, which is full of natives,

I should require four times the strength I have
now.” Yet this was the only alternative he could see
to his present position in a waste of waterless sand.

So gloomy was the view he took of the situation, Collins" to
that he even found the Bay itself wholly unfit for King, 5th
commercial purposes on account of its difficulty 0fNov-1803-
access, and that, awing to the dangerous entrance and
strong tides, it required a combination of favourable cir¬
cumstances to enable a vessel to enter without disaster.

His sole idea -was to remove as soon as possible from
these forbidding shores. His instructions from the Instructions,
Colonial Office bad contemplated such a possibility, and 7th Feb. 1803.
allowed him considerable latitude of choice as to the final
destination of the colony. “ Although Port Phillip has
been pointed out as the place judged most convenient and
proper for fixing the first settlement of your establish¬
ment in Bass’ Straits, nevertheless you are not positively
restricted from giving the preference to any other part of
the said southern coast of New South Wales, or any of
the islands in Bass’ Straits, which, upon communication
with the Governor of New South Wales, and wfith his
concurrence and approbation, you may have well-
grounded reasons to consider as more advantageously
situated for that purpose.” With the idea, therefore,
fixed in his mind that at Port Phillip nothing but failure
was possible, it became his most anxious thought to
obtain Governor King’s permission to remove his settle¬
ment. But here was a new source of embarrassment.

By the beginning of November the Ocean had landed
her stores. Captain Mertho wras anxious to proceed
on his voyage to China, and to charter the ship for
Port Jackson would entail a heavy expense. The

Collins to
Hobart, 28th
Feb. 1804.

King to
Collins, 26th
Nov. 1803.

Mertho to
King, 26th
Nov, 1803.

King to
Collins, 26th
Nov. 1803.

216 EXPEDITION UNDER LIEUT.-GOV. COLLINS.

Governor was anxious to detain the Calcutta as long as
he could, both for protection and to be at hand to assist his
removal if affairs took a more serious turn. In this
dilemma he found a friend in need in one of the settlers,
Mr. William Collins, formerly a master in the navy, who
had come out in the Ocean on a seal-fishing speculation.
This William Collins volunteered to go to Port Jackson
in an open six-oared boat to carry despatches to
Governor King and to bring back his reply. Six con¬
victs volunteered as a crew,*' the boat was victualled for a
month, and on the 6th November Mr. Collins started on
his plucky trip. The surf was so bad at the Rip that he
could not get out of the entrance for four days. A week
later the Ocean was ready for sea, and sailed out of Port
Phillip on her way to China. She was, however,
destined to play a further part in the history of Tas¬
manian colonisation. When within 60 miles of Port
Jackson Captain Mertho came upon William Collins in
his cutter. The boat had been nine days at sea, and had
had a very rough time of it. The captain took the
people on board and carried them to Sydney, arriving on
the 24th November, and the despatches were delivered
to Governor King. King acted promptly, the more so,
as from Grimes’ report he vvas prepared for Collins’
unfavourable account of Port Phillip. The Lady Nelson
was on the point of sailing for Norfolk Island ; he
immediately changed her destination and sent her to
Port Phillip with wThat little fresh provisions and live
stock he could spare, and with orders to return with
despatches. He wrote to Captain Woodriff begging
him, if it was consistent with his instructions from the
Admiralty, to assist by removing the convicts to the
Derwent or Port Dalrymple ; and, finally, he arranged
with Captain Mertho for a charter of the Ocean for four
months, at 18s. per ton per month, to proceed to Port
Phillip to remove the stores. The Ocean and Lady
Nelson sailed within four days after receipt of the
despatches.

Governor King, in his despatch, fully endorses Collins’
opinion about Port Phillip. “ It appears,” he says,
“ as well by Mr. Grimes’ and Mr. Robbins’ surveys, as
by your report, that Port Phillip is totally unfit in every
point of view to remain at, without subjecting the Crown
to the certain expensive prospect of the soil not being
equal to raise anything for the support of the settlement,
unless you shall have made any further observations to

* For this service the six men received conditional pardons,

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

217

encourage your remaining there. Perhaps the upper
part of the bay at the head of the rivers may not have
escaped your notice, as this is the only part Mr. Grimes
and those that were with him speak the least favourably
of. From this circumstance, I shall presume, it will
appear to you that removing from thence will be the
most advisable for the interest of His Majesty’s Service.”

He then refers to Bowen’s settlement at Risdon, and the
reports from thence, and sends to the Lieut.-Governor
Bass’ and Flinders’ MS. journals containing a description
of the Derwent. He next discusses the relative advan¬
tages of the Derwent and Port Dalrymple (i.e., the Tamar).

The Derwent has the recommendation of being already
settled on a small scale, and as being an excellent
harbour for the China ships to touch at, and also for sealers
and whalers. However, if it were not for the difficulties
of approach in the channel of Port Dalrymple, and the
possibility of not finding good land there, he would
decidedly prefer the northern locality, as more advan¬
tageously situated, and particularly as a place of resource
for the sealing and fishing vessels in Bass’ Straits, and to
protect the fisheries at Cape Barren and King’s Island
from the Americans. However, he leaves to Collins full
freedom of choice between the two places.

In the meantime Governor Collins had got all his Collins to
people encamped in tents, and had placed his sixteen Hobart, 14th
settlers in a valley near his encampment, where they Nov- ^OS-
established themselves in temporary huts. For the first
few weeks the general health was good, but after that
time sickness began to appear, and he had some 30
under medical treatment. A matter which troubled
Collins more tvas the desertion of the convicts. The
people had been very orderly for the first three weeks,
but soon a spirit of discontent arose, and, immediately
after the boat left for Sydney, three men absconded, — with
some vague idea of reaching Port Jackson, or getting on
board a whaler off the coast,— and within a week twelve
were missing from the camp. Parties were organised in
pursuit, and, at a distance of 60 miles from the camp,
five of the runaways were recaptured and brought back.

Hitherto the Governor had not caused his commission to Collins to
be read, reserving this ceremony till he should be finally Hobart, 28th
settled. Now he wished to make a public example of Feb- 1804-
the delinquents; and, to add solemnity to the punishment,
he had the garrison drawn up under arms, the convicts,
clean dressed, on the opposite side, while the chaplain
read the commission, the marines fired three volleys,
and all gave three cheers for His Honor, The Governor

218 EXPEDITION UNDER LIEUT. -GOV. COLLINS.

then addressed the people, pointing out the comforts
they enjoyed and the ill use they made of them, and the
folly of desertion, which could only end in suffering and
death, either from the attacks of the savages, or from
starvation and hardships in the fruitless attempt to travel
1000 miles through a wild and inhospitable country
inhabited only by savages. The five deserters were then
brought up for punishment, and, in the presence of all,
received 100 lashes each, administered by the drummers.
Notwithstanding this example, desertions still continued
in spite of all the vigilance that could be exercised.
Some of the runaways, after a bitter experience of the
miseries of the bush, voluntarily returned, in a deplorable
state of illness and exhaustion, having travelled over 100
Collins to miles and subsisted on gum and shellfish. One or two

King, 29th were shot, others were recaptured, but on Collins’

Feb. 1804. departure at least seven were left in the woods. What
became of them was never known, except in one instance.
Thirty years after, when the first party from Launceston
went over to settle Port Phillip, they found amongst a
tribe of blacks a white man, unable to speak English,
and hardly distinguishable from an aborigine. This was
William Buckley, one of the runaways from Collins’
settlement. Buckley received a free pardon and settled
in Tasmania. His huge ungainly form and heavy face
were familiar in the streets of Hobart in the memory of
many now living.

Considering the character of the people, and the fact
that they were broiling on the sandhills in a Victorian
summer, with an insufficient supply of water, and unem¬
ployed on any useful work, it is not to be wondered
that disorder broke out in the camp. From Collins’
General Orders, and Mr. Knopwood’s diary, we learn of
drunkenness amongst the marines, of plundering of the
stores by the convicts. After some particularly daring
robberies on Christmas eve, it was found that the military
Knopwood, guard was insufficient, and, by the Governor’s desire, the
4th Jan. 1804. officers of the civil establishment, including the chaplain,
formed themselves into an association to patrol as a
watch at night for the protection of property and the
maintenance of order.

The Governor did his best to find employment for his
men by setting them to build huts, and to construct a
stone magazine for ammunition, but he made no further
effort at exploration, nor did he attend to King’s hint that
better country might be found at the head of the port.
If he had done so it is probable that the systematic
settlement of Hobart might have been long deferred,

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

219

It is the more inexplicable that the country on which
Melbourne now stands was not examined, as the Calcutta
proceeded up the Harbour and anchored in Hobson’s
Bay off the present site of Williamstown, actually
taking in 55 tons of water from the River Yarra. Yet
although the ship was away for some ten days no attempt
was made to explore the shores of that river.

On the 13th December the Ocean returned from
Port Jackson, and with her the Francis schooner
bringing despatches from Governor King. The appear¬
ance of the Ocean was hailed with delight, and the
satisfaction of Collins was shared by all when they learnt
the news of Bowen’s settlement at the Derwent, and that
the Ocean had been chartered to remove the people
thither, or wherever the Lieut.-Governor thought proper.
Collins’ pleasure was rather damped by Capt. Woodriff’s
informing him that as the Ocean had arrived to remove
the Colony, the Calcutta, in accordance with the
Admiralty instructions, must immediately proceed to
Port Jackson, where a cargo of timber for the use of
the navy was awaiting her, and that she could give no
assistance in removing the settlement. This would
render it necessary to divide the convicts, the military
and civil establishments, and the stores into two detach¬
ments, as the Ocean could not take them all at once.

Collins immediately set to work to prepare for removal.
He set the people to build a temporary jetty, 500 feet
long, over the flats, and soon had all hands busily at
work loading the Ocean. As to his ultimate destination
he was still in much perplexity, and for some weeks it
was doubtful whether the Tamar or the Derwent would
be the site of the principal settlement in Van Diemen’s
Land. Indeed, in those days the ignorance of the different
localities was so great — being limited to the information
acquired by Flinders in his flying visits — that the data
upon which to base a decision were wanting. By the
Calcutta, which left him on the 18th December, he
writes to King that he will not come to a decision on a
point of so much importance until Port Dalrymple
had been examined by Wm. Collins, who was leaving
in the Francis for that purpose. He will, in deference
to King, give the northern port the preference, though
he himself inclined to the Derwent. King in reply tells
him that a schooner which had just arrived from Port
Dalrymple reported the entrance and channel very
dangerous, and the natives troublesome, and advises
him to give up the idea of going there, and to decide for
the Derwent.

Calcutta’s
log, 22nd
Nov. to 1 Dec.
1803.

220 EXPEDITION UNDER LIEUT.-GOV. COLLINS.

Collins to
King, 28th
Feb. 1804.

Collins to
King, 27th
Jan. 1804.

This advice only confirmed the conclusion to which
Collins had at last brought himself. He gives as his
reasons, in addition to King’s recommendation, that the
advantages of being in a place already settled had great
weight with him, but that a stronger consideration was the
mutinous spirit amongst his soldiers, which, he thought,
would be checked by the presence of the detachment of
the New South Wales Corps at Risdon ; and, moreover,
that he considered the Derwent better for commercial
purposes than any place in the straits, and that he hoped
before long to see it a port of shelter for ships from
Europe, America, and China, and a favourite resort of
whaling ships.

The Lieut. -Governor was so anxious to get away from
the place he detested that he kept his people at work
loading the Ocean all the week round, Sundays included.
He says, in his General Order of Sunday, 31st
December, “It has never been the Lieut.-Governor’s
wish to make that day any other than a day of devotion
and rest ; but circumstances compel him to employ it in
labour. In this the whole are concerned, since the sooner
we are enabled to leave this unpromising and unpro¬
ductive country the sooner we shall be able to reap the
advantages and enjoy the comforts of a more fertile
spot ; and as the winter season will soon not be far
distant, there will not be too much time before us
wherein to erect more comfortable dwellings for every
one than the thin canvas coverings which we are now
under, and which are every day growing worse.”

When Wm. Collins, on 21st January, returned from
Port Dalrymple in the Lady Nelson — which vessel had
taken him from Kent’s Group, the Francis having
proved too leaky to venture across the straits — he found
the Ocean loaded and ready to go to the Denvent. The
fact that he brought a report on the whole very favour¬
able to Port Dalrymple did not induce the Lieut.-
Governor to alter his mind.

A few days sufficed to select the people he intended to
leave behind him, some 150 in number, of whom Lieut.
Sladden, with a small guard, was to have charge, and
to embark the majority, some 200 souls, on board the
Ocean , the settlers finding a place on board the Lady
Nelson. On the 27th January Collins writes to King
that he was now only waiting for an easterly wind to clear
the Heads and leave this inhospitable land behind. They
had to wait four days for the wind; and on the 30th
January, 1804, the Ocean and . Lady Nelson sailed out
of Port Phillip in company, and headed for the Derwent.

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

221

In his narrative of Collins’ expedition Lieut. Tuckey
says of the country he had just left: “The kangaroo
seems to reign undisturbed lord of the soil, a dominion
which, by the evacuation of Port Phillip, he is likely
to retain for ages.” — Surely as unlucky an attempt at
prophecy as was ever made !

Could some truer prophet have lifted the veil of the
future for Collins, he would have shown the disappointed
Lieut.-Governor a picture which would have more than
surprised him. He would have shown him, within
little more than thirty years, a small party of adventurous
squatters leaving Van Diemen’s Land to seek a new land
of wealth on the shores of Port Phillip. Amongst them
he would have noticed a man — whom he himself had
brought out as a boy in the Ocean, and taken to the
Derwent,* and who was now returning to the unpromis¬
ing and unproductive country which the Lieut.-Governor
had abandoned in despair, to find in it a land of fair
plains and of springs of water — a land of promise — a
veritable Australia Felix — soon to be wealthy in flocks
and herds. Such a prophet would have shown him this
country, which he and Governor King agreed in think¬
ing wholly unsuited for settlement, within another fifteen
short years invaded by tens of thousands of eagnr
emigrants rushing to secure at least some small share
of its wonderful wealth, until in another generation it
had grown into a land of gardens and farms, rich in
corn and wine, crowded with villages and cities ; and on
the unpromising shores of Port Phillip there stood a
great city, the centre of a free and prosperous state
numbering more than a million souls.

* Mr. John Pascoe Fawkner.

THE FOUNDING OF HOBART BY LIEUT.-
GOVERNOR COLLINS.

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

Read 14th October, 1889.

1. The Choice of Sullivan’s Cove.

On the 30th January, 1804, the Ocean and Lad y
Nelson , with the first detachment of Lieut.-Governor
Collins’ establishment, sailed from the Heads of Port
Phillip for the Derwent. The Lady Nelson was com¬
manded by Lieut. Simmons, with Jorgen Jorgensen as
first mate. She took the settlers and their families, and
the stores. The Ocean had on board 178 prisoners,
with some women and children, a guard of 25 marines,
under Lieut. Edward Lord, and the civil establishment,
consisting of the Lieut.-Governor, the Rev. Robert
Knopwood, Surveyor-General Geo. Prideaux Harris,

Mr. Adolarius W. H. Humphreys, the mineralogist,

Dr. Bowden, and two Superintendents of Convicts. The

ship was greatly overcrowded. She had been fitted up in

England to carry some 30 people besides her crew. She

had now over 200 souls on board, and we can well

believe Mr. J. P. Fawkner when he says that they had a

miserable time of it during their 15 days’ passage, cooped

up in a small vessel of 480 tons. Faivkner says they

suffered terribly from the want of cooked food, as the

cooking accommodation for 25 had to serve for the whole

200. They were 10 days reaching the Pillar, and were

there caught in a heavy south- -wester, which kepi them Ocean's Log.

two days off the Raoul. It then came on to blow hard

from the north west, which obliged Capt. Mertho to

bear up for Frederick Henry Bay, where he came to an

anchor off Pipe Clay Lagoon. Here Lieut. Lord and Knopwood,

Mr. Humphreys were landed, with four men, to walk up llth Feb-

to Risdon with despatches, while the vessel lay wind-

bound for another three days, the officers amusing

224

THE POUNDING OF HOBART.

Knopwooil,
17th Feb.

4th March,
1804.

themselves by going ashore, where they were very much
pleased with the appearance of the country and the
abundance of game and wild fowl. The boat’s crew
filled their boat with fine oysters in half an hour on the
shores of the lagoon. They also fell in with a party
of 17 natives, who were very friendly. On the 15th
February a change of wind enabled them to make the
entrance of the river, where they were met by the boat
of the Lady Nelson, which had arrived before them,
and they ran up before the sea breeze, anchoring at half¬
past six in Risdon Cove, off the settlement of which
Lieut. Moore was in charge, Lieut. Rowen being absent
at Port Jackson.

At 10 the next morning, the Lieut.-Governor, with
Lieut. Lord and the Chaplain, landed under a salute of
11 guns from the Ocean — the first salute fired in the
Derwent — to inspect the Risdon settlement. They were
received with military honours by Lieut. Moore and the
16 privates of the New South Wales’ Corps drawn up
under arms. After inspecting the settlement, the Lieut.-
Governor came to the conclusion that Risdon was not a
suitable site for a town, and returned on board the Ocean
very much disappointed. It was the report of the
advantages of Risdon that had led him to decide in
favour of the Derwent rather than the Tamar, and now
he had brought his people to a spot that promised as
little as the abandoned Port Phillip. However, the next
morning was bright with sunshine, and as he looked out
over the waters of the Derwent, with iffi picturesque
scenery of hill and valley and thickly wooded plains,
things looked less gloomy. To be prepared for the worst,
he directed the tents to be pitched at Risdon. Then the
boat was ordered out and put in charge of the trusted
William Collins, and the Governor, taking with him his
favourite companion, Mr. Knopwood, was pulled down
the river to a cove on the opposite shore some five miles
below Risdon, and which had probably attracted attention
on the way up. Here Collins landed, and, after a short
examination, made up his mind that it was the very place
for his settlement. We can imagine his admiration of
the fine cove, with deep water up to the shore, and his
profound satisfaction, after four months on the dry sand¬
hills of Sorrento, at finding himself on a well-wooded
and fertile plain, lying at the foot of the great Table
Mountain, and watered by a copious stream of splendid
fresh water. In his first despatch to Lord Hobart, he
says that the situation was all he could wish. There

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

225

was land of good quality immediately about him
sufficient for extensive agricultural purposes. The timber
and stone were in sufficient quantity and quality tor all
his needs, and the cove would make an admirable
harbour. Knopwood describes the site, not very
accurately, as an “ extensive plain, with a continual run
of water, which comes from the lofty mountain much
resembling the Table Mountain at the Cape of Good
Hope. The land is good, and the trees excellent. The
plain is calculated in every degree for a settlement. At
five we returned and dined with the Governor, much
delighted with the excursion.” Collins devoted another
day to the examination of a plain further up the river —
probably in the neighbourhood of Glenorchy — which,
lie thought, might serve for the. location of his free
settlers. The trees were large and good, but the ground
was so cut up bv torrents that he decided it to be unsuit¬
able. In the meantime the officers had been sent to look
at the first site, and they returned with their unanimous
approval of it. The Governor forthwith ordered the Ocean's Lag.
tents to be struck and sent on board the Lady Nelson,
and the two ships were moved out of the cove. On the
Sunday morning, in a strong northerly breeze, they
dropped down the river and anchored oft the bay, to
which the Lieut. -Governor gave the name of Sudivan s
Cove, in honour of his friend Mr. John Sullivan, tue
Permanent Under-Secretarv at the Colonial Ornce.

Monday morning (20tl/ February) was squally and Knopwood.
wet, but in the afternoon the weather cleared, and a body
of prisoners with a military guard was landed to pitch tiie
tents on the selected site. At four o clock the Lieut.-
Governor himself, with his officers, went on shore tor
a short time to superintend operations, ihat night tne
marines and convicts slept at the new camp the first
Europeans to sleep .on the site of the iuture capital 01
Tasmania.

In a despatch to Governor King, Collins gives a 29th Feb.
description of the Cove in its original state. “ In the
centre of the Cove,” he writes, “ is a small island, con¬
nected with the mainland at low water, admirably
adapted for the landing and reception ot stores and pio-
visions. Round this island is a channel for a boat, at
the head of which is a run of clear fresh water, pro¬
ceeding from a distance inland, and having its source in
a rockln the vicinity of Table Mountain. The ground
on each side of the run is of gradual ascent, and upon
that next the Cove I have formed my camp. The Ocean

226

THE FOUNDING OF HOBART.

Ocean's Log.

and Lady Nelson are lying within half a cable length of
the shore in nine fathoms water.” The inhabitants of
Hobart will hardly recognise their harbour in Collins’
description. The filling up has been so considerable as
to obliterate the original natural features. The creek has
been diverted from its course, and the island, which
Collins named Hunter’s Island, after his old patron, has
been swallowed up in the Old Wharf. Originally the
Cove was much more extensive than it is at present.
The island, which now forms the extremity of the Old
Wharf, was then in the middle of the bay. This island
was connected with the mainland by a long sandspit,
covered at high water, and the site of which is now
occupied by the long range of stores forming the Old
Wharf. The bottom of the Cove was marked by a
yellow sandstone bluff, since cut away, and now forming
the cliff overhanging the creek at the back of the hospital.
A little below this was the original mouth of the creek,
which issued out of a dense tangle of tea-tree scrub and
fallen logs, surmounted by huge gum trees. It fell into
the river just at the intersection of Campbell-street and
Macquarie-street, at the lower angle of the New Market
building. The land at the creek mouth was flat and
marshy for some distance. On the side towards the
town the beach curved round the site of the old Bonded
Stores, thence, along a slope covered with gum trees, by
the back of the Town Hall, by Risby’s Saw-mill and the
Parliament Houses, past St. David’s churchyard, and
thence along the line of stone stores on the New Wharf
to the Ordnance Stores, and round the old Mulgrave
Battery Point. On the side of the creek towards the
Domain was a low swampy flat, extending over Wapping
and Lower Collins and Macquarie Streets to the Park-
street rivulet and the present bridge leading to the Domain.
Thence the beach ran round the foot of a wooded slope
by the present Gas Company’s office, along the course
of the railway embankment, to Macquarie Point.*

* I am indebted to my friend Mr. Mault for a beautifully executed
plan (see Appendix) which shows very clearly the original features
of the ground, and the position of the first camp, and also indicates
the alterations which have since taken place. I't is taken from a sur¬
vey made by Surveyor- General II arris in 1804-5. The original plan
was discovered many years ago in the Lands Office at Sydney, and
was presented by the New South Wales Government to our Lands
Department. The Deputy-Commissioner of Crown Lands, Mr,
Albert Reid, koutiy presented me with a tracing of it.

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

227

2, The Founding of Hobart.

On Tuesday, the 21st February, 1804, the Ocean and
Lculy Nehonytero. warped up to within half a cable length
of Hunter’s Island, the rest of the people were landed, and
the discharge of the stores began. The Lieut.-Governor’s
tent was pitched on the slope overlooking the oove near
the spot where the Town Hall now stands. The Chap- Knopwood.
Iain’s marquee was pitched next to the Governor’s, and
those of the other civil officers in close proximity on the
same slope. The tents of the convicts were further
inland, extending from about the present Telegraph
Office at the corner of Macquarie and Elizabeth Streets,
back to Collins Street to the- edge of the scrub in the
valley of the creek. The camp of the marines was
placed higher up towards the Cathedral. On the Tuesday
night, Knopwood says, “ I slept at the camp for the
first time, and so did the Lieut.-Governor.” Jorgensen, Jorgensen’s
who as mate of the Lacly Nelson , had assisted at the autobiog. in
settlement of Risdon in the preceding September, and ^i^anac
was now in the same capacity assisting at the founding 1335. ’

of Hobart, gives us a graphic sketch of the scene on that
first day. As soon as the tents had been pitched under
the shadow of the great gum-trees, spades, hoes, saws,
and axes were put into the hands of the prisoners, and
they began clearing away as fast as they could. The
block just opposite the Tasmanian Museum, behind
the old Bank of Van Diemen’s Land building to the
neighbouring mouth of the creek, was then an impervious
grove of the densest tea tree scub, surmounted by some
of the largest gum-trees that this island can produce.

All along the rivulet, as far up as the old mill beyond
Molle Street Bridge, was impassable from the denseness
of the scrub, and the huge collections of fallen trees and
dead timber which had been washed down the stream
and were strewed and piled in confusion in its bed. In
many places the stream was daifimed back, and spread out
into marshes covered with rushes and water.

Governor Collins had amongst his various stores a
small printing press, which had already done service at
the Port Phillip camp. This was set up under a con¬
venient gum-tree, and on the day of landing the first
printed work issued from the Tasmanian press. It was
a General Order, fixing the weekly rations to be issued
to each person — viz., 7 lbs. beef or 4 lbs. pork, 7 lbs.
flour, and 6 oz. sugar. The second day’s order, with a
backward glance at the casks sunk at the foot of the Port
Phillip sandhills, expressed the Governor’s satisfaction at

228

THE FOUNDING OF HOBART.

having been enabled to fix the settlement advantageously,
and in a situation blessed with that great comfort of life, a
permanent supply of pure running water, and cautioned
the people against polluting the stream. On the third
day the hours of labour were fixed. The Lieut.-Governor
having thus given his people some elementary lessons,
enforced by appropriate sanctions, on the mutual rights
and duties of the individual and the State, proceeded to
care for their spiritual requirements, and on the fourth
day issued an order for a general muster of the prisoners,
and notified that on Sunday, weather permitting, divine
service would be performed, at which all were expected
to attend.

Hunter’s Island had been appropriated for the site of
the store tents, for which purpose it was admirably
adapted, not only on account of its handiness as a landing
place, but also because its isolated position made it com¬
paratively safe from plunderers. All available hands
were now employed to discharge the stores. The ships
were moored at a short distance from the shore, and the
cargo taken off in boats. A wharf was begun at the
landing-place on the island, and a way was formed along
the sandspit by means of which the mainland could be
more conveniently reached at low tide. These works
were placed under the superintendence of Mr. William
Collins, the hero of the boat expedition to Port Jackson,
and who had already given the Governor many proofs
of his capacity. Even the Chaplain, usually the only
idle man in the settlement, found employment during
the first week. His diary tells us that it cost him three
days’ work to prepare a sermon worthy to be the first
preached in the new colony. On Sunday, then, under
the gum-trees on the slope near the Governor’s tent,
overlooking the waters of the Derwent sparkling in the
bright February sunshine, the military paraded, the
prisoners were drawn up* the officers and settlers formed
Kn@pwo.od, a group apart, and the Rev. Robert Knopwood conducted
the first service in Tasmania. “ The sermon, by request
of the Lieut.-Governor, was upon the prosperity of the
new settlement, and to pray to God for a blessing upon
the increase of it.” This first Sunday had, however,
Ocean’s Log. practical duties, and after service the Ocean's boats
moved the settlers, with their families and baggage, to
the spot which had been fixed upon for them on the
shores of New Town Bay, then known as Stainsforth’s
Cove, not far from where the Risdon Road leaves the
Main Road.

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER. 229

On the same day the first census was taken, and it
appeared that the population consisted of 262 souls, of
whom 15 were women and 21 children.*

Of the group who landed at Sullivan’s Cove in Feb¬
ruary, 1804, with our first Governor, the best remem¬
bered, and, indeed, the only one of whom tradition has
anything to say, is the Chaplain, the Rev. Robert Knop-
wood. The survivor of all Collins’ officers, he lived to
times well within living memory, and many an old
settler still tells stories of his eccentricities. His spare
wiry little figure, on the well-known cream-colored pony,
is familiar to us from Mr. Gregson’s painting, taken in his
later days when the camp had grown into a town, and he
had bachelor quarters at Cottage Green. Of his qualifi¬
cations as the spiritual guide of the young colony not
much can be said, and of this he must have been fully
sensible if the tradition is correct which reports his
favourite saying to have been, “ Do as I say, not I as
do.” The choice of Mr. Knopwood as chaplain was an
unfortunate one. There was a fine field in those early
days for a man who would have devoted himself — as
Bishop Willson and others did in later years — with
wise enthusiasm to the elevation of the society in
which his work lay. It is doubtful whether Mr.
Knopwood, clergyman though he was, ever made any
serious attempt to raise the moral or religious tone of the
community. He had been a chaplain in the navy, and,
like too many chaplains of those days, was content to
acquiesce easily and without uncomfortable protesta¬
tions in the ways which were current. As a colonist, or

* Number victualled at Sullivan’s Cove, Derwent River, 26th
February, 1804 : —

Qualities.

Men.

Women.

Children.

Over 10.

Over 5.

Under 5.

Military Establishment .

26

1

Civil .

6

—

—

—

— -

Settlers .

13

6

8

2

3

Convicts .

178

9

2

—

6

Supernumeraries* .

3

—

—

—

—

Total .

226

lo

10

2

9

* Mr. Brown, Botanist.

Henry Hacking.

Salamander, a Port Jackson native.

230

THE FOUNDING OF HOBART.

Collins to
Hobart, 4th
March, 1804,

Bomvick.

Collins to Sal-
livan, 4th
March, 1804.

in any other capacity than a clergyman, he would have
been valuable ; as a chaplain he was a failure. Yet he
was a genial little fellow, fond of good company and of a
good dinner, not a verse to a glass of good wine or a pipe
with a friend, a lover of animals, an ardent sportsman, of
a kindly nature, always ready to give good-natured help
to any one in need. In spite of his grave deficiencies,
and the conviction that he would have been better in a
secular calling, one cannot help having a kindly feeling
for the man who was always popular in the settlement,
and was long familiarly remembered amongst early
settlers as “ Old Bobby Knopwood.” The diary of the
chaplain is the only contemporary material, except grave
official documents, which we have for the history of the
founding of Hobart. It runs to the end of 1804. The
entries are meagre, and too much limited to records
of dinners and the interchange of hospitalities amongst
the officers ; yet it is naive and candid, and supplies
interesting detail. Official records are dry reading, but
even they yield unexpected treasures to careful study;
and, from the early despatches of Lieut.-Governor Collins
to Governor King and Lord Hobart, and from Collins’
General Orders, with occasional side-lights from the
Chaplain’s diary, we can form an idea of life in the quaint
little camp which at the beginning of this century was
pitched on the narrow' rise between the waters of Sul¬
livan’s Cove and the thick belt of tea-tree scrub shading
the course of the Hobart Creek.

The Governor had planted his settlers at a safe distance
at New Town Bay, and his total strength at Sullivan’s
Cove consisted of 178 convicts and the guard of 25
marines under Lieut. Edward Lord. The selection of
prisoners for the settlementhad been very carelessly
made. The frequent burden of Collins’ complaint to the
Colonial Office is that he was encumbered with so many
old, worn out, or useless men, who ate the precious
provisions, better bestowed on artificers and stout
labourers. Out of the whole 307 men who sailed with
him 137 were labourers, but the trades useful in a new
colony were very insufficiently represented, and the
w'eavers, silversmiths, engravers, and clerks supplied to
him by the authorities with more than sufficient liberality
were likely to have long to wait before finding scope for
their talents. In fact, the usuai official bungling was
■ exemplified in the new colony. The stores supplied
by contract were as bad as usual. The Governor makes
an exception in favour of the provisions, which he says

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

231

were excellent, the salt beef and pork being better than
any he had seen in New South Wales. But with
respect to the other stores he has one long complaint
to make. The tools were bad ; the axes so soft that the
commonest wood would turn their edges ; of the gimlets
scarce one in a dozen would stand boring twice. The
materials for clothing were of poor quality, and the
thread rotten. The shoes were made of inferior leather,
and were all of one size. The surgical instruments were
of an obsolete pattern, and many of them worn out. The
iron was rolled and not wrought, while neither glue,
borax, rosin, nor bar steel had been thought of, so that
the carpenters and smiths were in difficulties. The
ordnance that had been given him for defence was in¬
complete, the guns of different sizes and patterns, while
the ammunition was all of one sort. The seed corn brought
from England would not vegetate, and if it had not been
for some good seed which he obtained at the Cape, and
some more which Governor King sent him, he could
not have raised a crop of wheat. Except the provisions,
the printing press was the only item of which he could
speak with satisfaction, but for this they had not given
him a sufficient supply of type or of paper. Of course,
when the contractors were communicated with they all pro¬
tested that the goods were carefully selected, of a quality
superior to the pattern, and quite equal to those which
the convicts had had heretofore. Perhaps this last state¬
ment was correct.

In spite of these minor difficulties, the work of settle¬
ment and improvement was pushed on with an energy
and system presenting a strong contrast to the inaction
and disorder of the Port Phillip camp. When the land¬
ing jetty at Hunter’s Island was completed, all the
strength that could be spared from the work of clear¬
ing was bent to the building of a Government House.
He had 178 men in all, but when the necessary deductions
were made for overseers, servants, cooks, boats’ crews,
labourers clearing away scrub or employed in other
necessary work, and for the sick — always a large item,
owing to the prevalence of scurvy and other ailments
induced by the exclusive use of salt provisions — it will
be seen that no large number would be left for the actual
work of building.* It is most probable that the Governor
selected and brought with him in the first detachment
all the skilled workmen, leaving the most useless at

* See Appendix : Return of Employments.

232

THE FOUNDING OF HOBART.

Gen. Orders,
22nd Feb.
30tli April.

Gen. Order,
27th Feb.

Gen. Order,
27th July.

Port Phillip with Lieut. Sladden ; but still the number
available was small.

No idle time was allowed in the settlement. The bell
rang at five in the morning, and the convicts turned out,
clad in blue kersey jackets and trousers, and proceeded
at once under their overseers to their various employ¬
ments. Work was continued, with intervals of an hour
for breakfast and an hour and a half for dinner, until six
o’clock in the evening, when the bell gave the signal for
the close of the day’s labour. On Tuesday an extra
hour was allowed for the issue of rations ; Saturday was
a half holiday after 11 a.m. ; and it was only under
exceptional circumstances that any labour was required
on Sunday.

There was ample work for all hands. A large pro¬
portion of the people had to be employed clearing away
and burning the scrub, grubbing stumps, trenching,
digging and preparing garden ground. Building opera¬
tions were necessarily slow. A quarry had to be opened
on the sandstone Point near the mouth of the creek to
supply stone for foundations. Oyster shells were gathered
from the beaches and burnt for lime. Governor King
had sent a quantity of bricks from Port Jackson, and
these were utilised for chimneys. The fine gums on the
banks of the creek furnished an abundant supply of good
timber. Stringent regulations were enforced against the
useless destruction of the timber, and no trees might be
felled without the permission of the Superintendent of
Carpenters, to which office the Governor had appointed
Mr. Wm. Nicholls, who had come out in the Ocean as
a free settler. With the inferior axes supplied by the
Government contractors, and which had their edges
turned by the hard gum wood, felling was a tedious
operation ; and when the trees were felled and sawn into
lengths, the logs had to be dragged to the sawpits by
hand labour, and the sawn timber carried thence by the
same means, for as yet there were neither horses nor
oxen in the colony. The sawyers, of whom it appears
there were nine, were constantly employed at the saw-
pits cutting the logs into posts and planks — two men at
each log with a ripping saw— in the slow and laborious
method so familiar to those whose memory goes back to
the days when steam saw-mills were not. The progress
at the sawpiis was so slow that the Governor, notwith¬
standing his preference for day work, found it necessary
at a later period to put the sawyers on task work ; and
no sawyer was allowed to work for his own profit unless

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

233

he and his mate had turned out at least 400 feet of sawn
timber in the week on the public account. It speaks
Avell for the industry of the community and the energy
of the administration, that the sawyers, carpenters, and
other mechanics made such good progress with their
work that in less than three weeks from the day of
landing Government House Avas completed, and the
Chaplain records in his diary on the 9th March, “ The
Lieut. -Governor slept in his house for the first time.’'

This first Avooden Government Mouse was not on the
same site as the brick building of later years, but stood
on the spot now marked by the main entrance of the
ToAvn Hall.

So soon as the Lieut.-Governor had got his house Gen. Order,
built he turned his attention to agriculture. A gang of 24tl1 Mareh.
some thirty men was sent to prepare ground for wheat for
the use of the settlement. The place chosen was near
the locations where the settlers had been set doAvn a
month before, on the shore of a bay named Farm Bay.

This appears to have been at Cornelian Bay, at what
Avas long known as the Government Farm, but is noAv
occupied by the Cornelian Bay Cemetery. The farm
Avas placed under the charge of Mr. Thomas Clark, Avho
had been brought out from England as Agricultural
Superintendent.

Collins’ next care was to get his people housed under
better shelter than canvas tents afforded. They Avere
encouraged to use their spare time in building huts.

This Avas an employment for Saturday afternoons, for
Sundays — after service, when that was held — and for the
occasional holidays alloAved for the purpose by the
indulgence of the Governor. The huts were of most
primitive construction, being for the most part what
old settlers will remember under the name of wattle-
and-dab — or wattle-and-daub — with a rush thatch. Let
me give you an idea of what a Avattle-and-dab hut
Avas like, and how it Avas built. Four corner posts were
stuck in the ground, and upon these Avail-plates were
rested or nailed ; further uprights Avere then added, and
long rods of wattle from the bush were interwoven with
the uprights, openings being left for door and windoAvs.

Mortar Avas then made of clay and loam, into which A\ras
mixed and beaten up Aviry grass chopped up as a substitute
for hair. This mortar Avas dabbed and plastered against
the Avattles outside and in, the roof covered in with flag-
grass, a chimney built of stones or turf, a door and
window added, the earthen floor levelled, and a coat of

234

THE FOUNDING OF HOBART.

West, i., 36. whitewash completed the cottage. It is said that the
first house in Hobart was a wattle-and-dab hut built by-
Lieut. Lord on land adjoining Macquarie House. In
less than two months after the Ocean and Lady Nelson
had anchored in Sullivan’s Cove the huts were com¬
pleted and the people were all provided with fairly
comfortable habitations, occupying a line from the Com¬
mercial Bank to the Hobart Club in Collins Street, and
thence along the edge of the scrub to the Australian
Mutual Provident Society’s Building. A General Order
of 17th April enjoins strict attention to the cleanliness
and order of the huts, and to precautions against danger
by fire.

When the huts were finished the prisoners were at
liberty to -work in their spare time for the officers and
settlers, in clearing locations, preparing and fencing in
gardens, trenching and hoeing the ground for corn or
vegetables, and building houses. Labour was scarce,
and the demand being greater than the supply, the work
people were not slow to take advantage of the necessity
by demanding exorbitant prices for their labour. The
abuse became so considerable that by General Order
(1st June), the Lieut. -Governor appointed a Committee
composed of the civil and military officers, together with
three of the settlers, to meet on Sunday after service and
fix the rate of -wages. The new prices for labour were
promulgated by General Order of 22nd June. Mechanics
for the day of 10 hours were to be paid 3s. 6c/., and
labourers 2s. 6d. For felling and burning timber, 30s.
per acre ; for grubbing and burning, .£4 per acre ; for
breaking up new ground, £2 per acre. For reaping
wheat, 10s. per acre. For sawing, 8s. Ad. per 100 feet.
Splitting 7 feet palings, 3s. per 100 ; 5 feet palings, Is. 6c/.
per 100. Oyster shells for lime, 3d. per bushel. Thatch,
6d. per bundle of 9 feet girth. The workmen were often
paid for their labour in provisions, and the Order fixed
the following equivalent rates : — Salt beef, 9 d. per lb. ;
Salt pork, Is. ; Kangaroo, 8c?. per lb. ; Flour, Is. per lb.
So that for a day’s work of 10 hours, a labourer could
procure 1 lb. of pork and 1^ lbs. of flour, and a mechanic
2 lbs. of beef and 2 lbs. flour. Payment for labour,
however, was often made in a more objectionable medium,
Gen. Order, raw spirit. At a very early period the Governor issued
27th Feb. a stringent order against this most pernicious practice.

Nevertheless, in spite of Government regulations it
continued to be a crying evil, and for many a long year
the abuse continued. Many a Hobart building has

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

235

been paid for in rum. More could be got for spirits than

for cash. A bottle of rum was long recognised currency

for .£1, or even a higher value. It is probable that very

little labour in those early days was paid for in cash. The Collins to

want of specie prevented the payment of the salaries of the Hobart, 3rd

officers and superintendents, and to meet this difficulty, Au&- 1804'

and to supply the officers with the means of purchasing

necessary articles brought by vessels coming from Sydney,

the Commissary was directed to issue small promissory

notes of not less than £1 sterling in value. These were

to pass in circulation until specie was sent out.

The little camp on the hill above Sullivan’s Cove
must have been a grotesque and rough-looking village,
with its collection of wattle-and-dab huts thatched with
grass. The officers, for the most part, still occupied
tents, the hospital was a marquee, and the only piece of
architecture making any pretence to be a civilised dwel¬
ling was the wooden cottao-e of the Governor. Hunter’s
Island was the citadel of the colony. Here all the stores
were kept in large tents under a strong guard, which,
however, did not always prevent robberies. At low
water the island could now be reached by the sandspit.

The approach was carefully guarded, and the most
minute regulations were laid down for the issue of stores
and provisions, only one person at a time being allowed
to come up to the store tent. Those who landed at the
jetty were not permitted to make any stoppage at the
island; no boat was -allowed to land passengers at the
jetty or come into the creek after sunset, nor was any
person suffered to approach the island after that hour
without a special permit from the Governor. These
precautions were necessary, not only for the protection of
the stores, but to secure the safety of the boats, always
in danger of seizure by intending runaways. The
boats were moored every night by a locked chain, a
sentinel was always on guard over them, and one of the
earliest works, after the completion of Government
House, was the building of a boat-house for their security.

Mr. William Collins was supreme in the direction of
the works in and about the island, and the Governor was
already planning the erection of substantial store-houses
there, in which the precious provisions and stores, on
which the very existence of his little community depended,
might be safely housed beyond the reach of marauders.

This William Collins was a prominent man in the new
colony, a position which his training as a master in the
navy, his enterprising character, and his capacity and

236

THE FOUNDING OF HOBART.

6th Aug. 1804.

Sydney
Gazette, 25th
March, 1804.

Memo. 4th
Aug. 1804.

judgment fully justified. His adventurous and plucky
voyage in an open boat from Port Phillip to Port Jack-
son with despatches will be remembered. Since that
time he had done good service in examining Port
Dalrymple, in company with Surveyor-General Harris
and Agricultural Superintendent Clark, while the
Governor was still lingering at Port Phillip undecided
as to his final destination. He was now raised to the
dignity of Harbour Master of the port, and was a person
of no small consequence in the settlement.

The Lieut.-Governor, in his despatches to the Colonial
Office, enlarges on the advantages of Hobart for pur¬
poses of commerce, and speaks of the spot chosen
for the settlement as “ a port the advantages of which,
when once known, will ensure its being the general
rendezvous of all shipping bound into these seas.” For
the present, however, merchant ships were absolutely for¬
bidden, under severe penalties, from entering the Derwent,
except in case of absolute necessity. The masters of
vessels sailing from Port Jackson for Van Diemen’s
Land had to enter into a recognizance of ,£100, and two
sureties in £50 each, to be forfeited if they landed any
person or took any one away without the Governor’s
written permission. No one but the Harbour Master
was allowed to board any vessel arriving' in the river.
These restrictions on merchant ships were not removed
until the year 1813.

But while trading was thus prohibited, the develop¬
ment of the whale fishery, from which Hobart in after
years drew so much wealth, early engaged the Governor’s
attention. By his desire William Collins drew up a
scheme for the establishment of an extensive whaling
station at Sullivan’s Cove. This memorandum, which
was forwarded to the Secretary for the Colonies for
his approval, is well written, and shows that the
Harbour Master was a man of good education and
shrewd practical sense. He works out a plan for making
Sullivan’s Cove the centre of a South Sea sperm whale
fishery, — advising on the description of the vessels to
be employed, their plant and equipment, the number
of men required, the mode of their remuneration by
lays on the take, the necessary local superintendence,
and all the details of the scheme, with an estimate of
probable profits. The sperm whale season lasted from
December to April. William Collins says that when
the season for sperm whales and for sealing on the
islands was over, the vessels could arrive in the Der-

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER. 237

went in time to get rid of their catch, and then pursue
the beach whale fishery, which commenced early in
July and continued until September. During these
months Storm Bay Passage, Frederick Henry Bay, and
the Derwent abounded with the black whale or right
fish, and a dozen vessels yearly could be freighted
and sent home with their oil. The right whale was
frequently seen in the Derwent in considerable numbers
out of the regular season, but during the months of
July, August, and September they were so numerous in
the shoal parts of the river that from his tent in the
camp at. Sullivan’s Cove he had counted as many as 50
or 60 whales in the river at one time.*

The Lieut. -Governor had his time fully7 occupied in
directing the development of the settlement. Every¬
thing had his daily supervision. The planning of the
buildings, the clearing of the ground, the marking off of
gardens, the allotment of servants to the officers, -the
regulation of labour, the provisions, the stores, the
punishment of offences, and the general discipline and
regulation of the people, down to the smallest detail,
required the personal sanction of His Honor. Tn addi¬
tion to the care of the camp, the new Government farm
demanded his constant attention, for the prosperity
of the new settlement largely depended on the progress
of cultivation. The intervening scrub made it difficult
to reach the farm by land' and Henry Hacking, the
Governor’s coxswain, with his boat’s crew, frequently
pulled H is Honor to Cornelian Bay to inspect the work
of Superintendent Clark and his thirty men, who had
now some 19 acres in crop, and to pay a visit to the settlers’
locations a short distance beyond at Stainforth’s Cove.

The officers of the settlement, too, had little spare time
on their hands, for the Governor was eager to get on
with the public buildings, and the workmen could only
be kept industrious by close and constant supervision and
the strictest discipline. The Chaplain was probably the

* Knopwood in his diary (1st July) speaks of whales being so
numerous in the river that his boat had to keep close along the
shore, it being dangerous to venture into the mid-channel. The Kuopwood.
Alexander whaler, Captain Rhodes, fished in the Derwent and
Storm Bay Passage from August to the end of October in this same
year, and went home a full ship. There are persons yet living who
can remember the time when bay-whaling, as it was called, had
not ceased to be profitable. We have a reminiscence of this old
industry in the name of Tryway Point, by which one of the promon¬
tories in the Derwent is still sometimes known.

238

THE FOUNDING OF HOBART.

only really idle man in the camp. His professional duties
were not heavy, consisting of one service and a sermon
on Sundays, when the weather was fine, for there was
no building large enough for the people to assemble in.
Occasionally there was a burial or a marriage. During
Knopwoocl. the first six months there were three weddings. On Sun¬
day, the 18th March, Corporal Gangell of the Royal
Marines was married to Mrs. Ann Skelthorn, the widow
of a settler, at Governor Collins’ house. On the 1st July,
at the same place, Mr. Superintendent Ingle was married
to Miss Rebecca Hobbs, and on the 23rd July, Mr.
Gunn to Miss Patterson. But the Chaplain had plenty
of idle time. His poultry yard occupied a good deal of
his attention, and he chronicles his successes with sittings
of eggs, and the raids made upon his hens by spotted
cats, which he occasionally captured. His chief resource
was his gun. During the first fortnight he shot quail in
the camp, on one occasion putting up three by Mr. Bow¬
den’s marquee and bagging them. Bronzewing pigeons
he sometimes shot. On the 13th March he killed his
first kangaroo, adding — “ the first kangaroo that had been
killed by any of the gentlemen in the camp.” Many a
walk through the adjoining bush he took, gun in hand,
and accompanied by his dog “Nettle.” Sometimes
he went by himself, sometimes with his man Salmon,
who was a better sportsman than his master, and shot
the largest kangaroo recorded as being killed on the
present site of Hobart. Mi1. Knopwoocl has preserved
the weight and measurements. It weighed 150 lbs., and
measured 3 feet 10 from the tip of the nose to the root
of the tail, the tail being 3 feet 4 long, and 16 inches in
girth at the root. Sometimes Lieut. Bowen, or some
of the officers from Risdon joined the Chaplain in
his shooting expeditions, more rarely Surveyor-General
Har ris, or Mr. Humphreys, the mineralogist. The
parson’s skill was scarcely equal to his zeal, for though
he extended his walks as far as the Government farm
and the settler’s locations at Stainforth’s Cove, and
game was fairly plentiful, the diary often contains the
entry “no success.” It was not altogether the love of
sport that spurred the Chaplain to these excursions — he
went to shoot something for dinner. Twelve or fifteen
months of salt beef and salt pork, without even vege¬
tables, would have made a man less fond of good things
than the parson long for a change, and kangaroo was
greatly appreciated, Of the first kangaroo he tasted at

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

239

Port Phillip, he says “ and very excellent it was.” He

is equally emphatic as to the excellence of emu, on which

he dined at Risdon. On one occasion he gave a dinner

in his tent to all the civil and military officers. Here is

the bill of fare: — “Fish, kangaroo soup, .roast kid

saddle, roast kangaroo saddle, 2 fowls pellewed with

rice and bacon, roast pig.” Game was plentiful at the

camp, and kangaroo sold at Sd. per lb. Sometimes good

hauls of fish were made. Soon after his landing, the Lieut.- 4th Mar. 1804.

Governor tells Lord Hobart that on the preceding day he

had served out 328 lbs. of fish, thereby saving 184 lbs.

of salt beef. At Risdon game was much more abundant

than in the neighbourhood of the Camp. Kangaroo, emu,

ducks, and black swans were very plentiful. Immense

flights of black swans frequented the river above Risdon

in the breeding season. The people destroyed them so

recklessly that the Governor, fearing lest such a valuable

resource for fresh food might be extinguished, issued an

Order prohibiting their being molested during the breed- 10th March.

ing season. This first game law was one of the earliest

products of civilisation.

We have little information respecting the numbers of
the natives about the neighbourhood of ihe Camp.

During the first week their fires were seen at a
little distance, and Mr. Knopwood in his walks saw
many of their huts. There is no doubt that they
reconnoitred the strangers closely, but they were very
shy, and only once did a party of them approach
the settlement. Captain Mertho and Mr. Brown, the
botanist, had an interview with them on the beach
near Macquarie Point, but could not induce them to
venture into the Camp. They were probably not very
numerous about Sullivan’s Cove — at any rate we hear
nothing of such large bodies of them as visited Risdon
and caused a panic on the 3rd May, when the fatal
affray took place. At other places, such as Frederick
Henry Bay and the Huon, they were numerous, and
quite friendly with the English.

During this first year few attempts were made to explore,
the neighbouring country. In a former paper I noticed
Mr. James Meehan's exploring trip from Risdon in the
early part of 1804, by way of the Coal River to Prosser’s
Plains, and through the Sorell district. Of Meehan’s jour¬
ney there is no record, except the track of his route given
in Flinders’ map. The few officers at Sullivan’s Cove had
too much to do at the Camp to allow of their leaving it
for any extended excursions. The first explorations from

240

TUB FOUNDING OF HOBART.

the Hobart settlement were made by Mr. Robert Brown,*
the celebrated botanist, who had come to the Derwent
with Collins’ settlers, to examine the flora of Tasmania.
Lieut. Bowen had ascended the river for some distance
above Bridgewater, but on 5th March Mr. Brown,
accompanied by Capt. Mertho and Mr. Knopwood, set
out in the Ocean's boat on a more extended exploration.
They vrere three days absent, and Knopwood says they
reached a spot more than 40 miles from the Camp,
where was an extensive plain, with very few trees — pro¬
bably Macquarie Plains. Game— kangaroo, emu, and
pigeons — was abundant. They saw many traces of the
blacks, who, however, carefully avoided them. Towards
the end of the month Brown and Humphreys, with a
party provisioned for ten days, made a farther attempt
to reach the sources of the Derwent, but had to return

Knopwood. disappointed. A few days later the indefatigable botanist
set off alone through the bush, intending to go to the
Huon. He was unable to get further than the North
West Bay River ; but on the 1st May he and H umphreys
started again, and this time they succeeded in reaching
the Huon, returning to the Camp after an absence of
sixteen days. Lieut. Bowen had already been a short
distance up this river, and had given but a poor account

Ibid. of the country. In J une, William Collins, the Harbour

Master, went in the white cutter to Betsy’s Island, to land
two refractory convicts there, and to look out for the
anxiously expected ship Ocean, with the rest of the people
from Port Phillip. Prom Betsy’s Island Collins pro¬
ceeded up the Huon River. He was away a fortnight,
and on his return reported that it was a very favour¬
able site for a settlement, with an abundance of fresh
water, good land, and fine trees. He saw many of
the natives, who were friendly and took him to their
camp, where there were about twenty families. Knop¬
wood says that on this trip Collins saw three of the
native “ catamarans, or small boats made of bark, that
would hold about six of them.”

Ibid, 18 June* The only other exploration recorded is Surveyor-
General Harris’ survey of the Hobart Rivulet. Harris
was accompanied by Mr. Humphreys, the mineralogist,
and three men. They followed the rivulet to its source,

* Robert Brown was a botanist of European reputation, and his
“ Prodromus Floras Novse-Hollandise et Insulas Van Diemen(London,
1810], is still a standard work. He arrived at the Derwent in the
Lady Nelson early in February, 1804, and returned to Port Jaekson
in the Ocean, 9th August in the same year.

BY .TAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

241

and thence went to the top of the mountain. The old
plan which I have mentioned was probably the result of
this survey.

It will be remembered that when the Lieut. -Governor
removed his people to Sullivan’s Cove, he did not inter¬
fere with Lieut. Bowen at Risdon, but left that officer
in charge at the site chosen by him in the previous
September. It was not until after Lieut. Moore’s fatal
affray with the blacks (3rd May) that Collins took over
the command of the unlucky first settlement, and removed
the people to Sullivan’s Cove preparatory to their being
sent back to Port Jackson. The Risdon colony had
been named “ Hobart,” under instructions from Governor
King, and, on the abandonment of that place, Collins
appropriated the name, and called his new settlement at
Sullivan’s Cove “Hobart Town.” This name it retained
until 1881, when the Legislature dropped the superfluous
“ Town,” and reverted to the simple original designation
“Hobart.” The name “Hobart Town” first appears
in a General Order of 15th June, 1804. Hobart Town
was henceforth the official designation of the colony ;
but the memory of the first encampment lingered
long with the early settlers, and at that time, and for
long years afterwards, even as late as the year 1825, the
new town at Sullivan’s Cove was fifmiliarly known as
“ The Camp.” /

The Lieut. -Governor had now been settled at the
Derwent for four months, and as yet had only half his
establishment with him. The Lady Nelson, after land- Kjfcopwood,
ing the settlers and the stores, had sailed for Port Jack- 6th March,
son early in March, and before the end of the mouth the
Ocean also had left for Port Phillip to bring Lieut. 24th Maiyh.
Sladden and the remainder of the people. The Ocean
might have been reasonably expected to be back in a
month at furthest ; but week after week went by, April
and May had passed, June was well advanced, and yet
there was no sign of the missing vessel. The Governor
grew very anxious, and almost made up his mind to give
her up for lost. The Harbour Master was sent at inter¬
vals to Betsy’s Island to look out for her, but returned
without news. At last, on the 22nd June, the Governor’s
fears were set at rest by her appearance in the river.

Lieut. Johnson landed, and reported that they had been
33 days on the voyage,, during which they had had
violent gales, the ship having been under bare poles for
days at a time, the captain hour by hour expecting her to
founder. It took her three days to come up the river,

242

THE FOUNDING OF HOBART.

Gen. Order,
29tli June.

making her total passage 36 days. The misery and semi¬
starvation of those wretched five weeks, during which
they were cooped up and tossed about in that little vessel
of 480 tons, were not soon forgotten by her 160 pas¬
sengers. The live stock brought in the Ocean also
suffered severely during the long rough passage, and
Collins ruefully enumerates the losses, which he could
ill afford, seeing that the whole of the live stock at the
settlement at the end of July consisted of only 20 head of
cattle, 60 sheep, and some pigs, goats, and poultry.

The reinforcement of people he had received now
brought up the strength of the Governor’s establishment
to 433 persons — viz., 358 rpen, 39 women, and 36
children.* The new arrivals w($re temporarily distributed
amongst the huts already built, and the considerate
Governor allowed them a few days’ exemption from work
to enable them to build themselves houses. He was so
pleased with Lieut. Sladden’s report of his little detach¬
ment of marines that he issued a Garrison Order
commending them, and expressing his gratification at
their soldierlike demeanour. His civil staff was now
oonrplete. Mr. Leonard Fosbrook, the Deputy Com¬
missary-General, who had been left at Port Phillip in
charge of the stores and live stock, was quartered in a
marquee on Hunter’s Island. Three magistrates were
appointed under a Commission from the Governor-
General King. This first Tasmanian Commission of the
Peace consisted of the Rev. Robert Knopwood, Lieut.
Sladden,and Surveyor-General Harris. The night watch
was also reorganised, and placed under the direction of
Mr. Wm. Thos. Stocker, who in after years became a
respected citizen of Hobart as the proprietor of the best
inn in the town, the Derwent Hotel , situated in Eliza-
beth-street, on the spot now occupied by Mr. Henry
Cook’s tailors’ shop. Collins was not altogether satis¬
fied with this night watch, for he had to complain of
frequent robberies, which he characterised as a disgrace
to the settlement, and which he was of opinion could not
have been perpetrated if the watch had been properly
vigilant. Such irregularities were, no doubt, inevitable

* The return is printed in the Appendix. It bears date July,
1804, and is, presumably, therecord of the muster taken about three
weeks after the Ocean's arrival, and referred to in General Order,
17th July. It does not include Lieut. Bowen’s Risdon people, who
were separately victualled. A comparison of figures leads to the
belief that it does include the few prisoners selected from the Risdon
establishment, and whom Collins retained at the Derwent.

BY JAMES RACKHOUSE WALKER.

243

with the class of people the Governor had to control ;
but, for all that, the community, taking all things into
consideration, seems to have been fairly orderly and well
behaved, and to have been free from the flagrant abuses
and general demoralisation which disgraced the early
years of the Port Jackson settlement, and which
afterwards sprung up in this colony under less capable
governors than Collins.

That Collins must have had first-rate qualities as a
ruler is evidenced by the fact of the rapid progress made
by the colony during the first six months of its existence —
from February to the beginning of August — the time
covered by the present paper. When, on the 9th August,
1804, the Ocean sailed for Port Jackson with Lieut.
Bowen and the rest of the Risdon people, whom the
Governor was so glad to be rid of, the new settlement at
Sullivan’s Cove was already organised, and with every
prospect of permanent success.

After the lapse of well nigh a century, we, the inhabi¬
tants of the fair city which has arisen on the site of the
Camp of 1804, would show ourselves strangely unmindful
of what we ovre to the past if we did not hold in honour
the name of David Collins, and if we failed to keep in
grateful remembrance the sagacity and energy which he,
our first Lieut. -Governor, displayed in the founding of
Hobart, 85 years ago.

244

THE FOUNDING OF HOBART.

APPENDIX.

RETURN of Inhabitants at the Derwent River,
Van Diemen’s Land, Jidy, 1804.

Civil Department .

Men.

18

Women.

5

Children.

9

Military Department .

48

9

3

Prisoners .

279

2

Prisoners’ wives-and children...

16

8

Settlers .

13

7

16

358

39

36

Total . . 433

Note. — This return does not include the people belonging to
Lieut. Bowen’s Risdon Settlement, who were sent back to Port
Jackson by the Ocean, 9th August, 1804.

Free Settlers.

The names of the free settlers were sent with a letter
of April 5th, 1803, from Mr. Sullivan to Lient.-Governor
Collins. — Labilliere’s “ Early History of Victoria,” i., 148.

“ LIST of Persons who have obtained Lord Hobart's
‘permission to proceed to Port Phillip.

Names.

Mr. Collins .

Edw. Newman .

Mr. Hartley .

Edwd. F. Hamilton.
John J. Gravie.

Mr. Pownall.

A female servant.
Thos. Collingwood
Duke Charman.
John Skilthorne ...

Anty. Fletcher .

T. R. Preston .

Occupations. Remarks.
Seaman
Ship carpr.

Seaman

Carpenter

Cutler

Mason

Pocket-book maker.”

[This list is incomplete.]

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

245

RETll RN of the Officers, Superintendents , and Over¬
seers belonging to the Civil Establishment at Hobart
Town, River Derwent, Van Diemen’s Land. [July,
1804.]

Names.

Appointments.

Where

disposed.

Date of
Appointment.

David Collins, Esq.

Lt.-Governor

At Hobart

Rev. Robt. Knop-

Chaplain

Town

Ditto

wood

Benjn. Barbauld1

Depty. Judge

InEngland

Win. T’Anson

Advocate

Surgeon

on leave
At Hobart

Mattw. Bowden

1st Asst. Sur-

Town

Ditto

Wm. Hopley

geon

2nd Asst. Sur-

Ditto

Leond. Fosbrook

geon

Depy.Commis-

Ditto

Geo. Prid. Harris

sary •

Depy.Surveyor

Ditto

A. W. H. Hum-

Mineralogist

Ditto

phreys 2

Wm. Collins3

Harbour Mas-

Ditto

2 April, 1804

Thos. Clarke

ter

Superintendent

At Farm

Wm. Patterson

Ditto

Bay

At Hobart

Wm. Nieholls4

Ditto

Town

Ditto

21 Jany. 1804

John Jubal Sutton 5

Ditto

Ditto

27Feby. „

Richd. Clark6

Ditto

Ditto

1 June ,,

John Ingle7

Overseer

Ditto

Wm. Parish7

Ditto

Ditto

1 Mr. Barbauld never came out to tile Colony. 2 Afterwards
Police Magistrate at Hobart. 3 Came out as a free settler.

4 Came out as a free settler ; appointed Superintendent of Car¬
penters at Port Phillip. 5 Came out as Corporal of Marines.
6 Came with Lt. Bowen to Bisdon in Sept., 1803, as a free settler ;
appointed Superintendent of Masons, 7 Appointed at Port Phillip •
seem to have been free settlers.

246

THE FOUNDING OF HOBART.

QUARTERLY employment of the Prisoners in His
Majesty's Settlement , Derwent River, Van Diemen's
Land, July, 1804.

Agriculture and Stock.

Overseers . 2

Agriculture on the public account . 28

Care of Government Stock . 5

— 35

Buildings.

Stone Cutters and Masons . 3

Sawyers and Timber Measurer . 11

Carpenters and Labourers . 11

Blacksmiths, Armourer, Tinman, and File Cutter... 8

Lath and Pale Splitters . 2

Bricklayers, Plasterers, and Labourers . 10

Lime and Charcoal Burners . 5

Timber Carriage . . 26

— 76

Boat Builders , Sfc.

Shipwrights and Caulkers . 3

Labourers . . . 1

— 4

Various Employments.

Clerks . 2

Overseers . 7

Taking care of Government Huts . 4

Public Stores and Cooper at ditto . •. . 5

Boats’ Crews . 21

Government Gardens . 7

Town Gang . 38

Night Watch . 7

Attending Hospital . 6

Bellringer and Barbers . . . 3

Tailors and Shoemakers . 6

Printer’ . 1

Thatchers and Too’lhelver . 5

Cook, Baker, and Drummers to the R. M. Detach¬
ment . 4

Jail Gang . 1

Tanner and Gluemaker . 1

— 118

Servants.

To Commissioned Officers, Civil and Military . 21

To Superintendents and Overseers . 8

To Non-commissioned Officers of the Royal Marines 2

To Settlers . 1

— 32

Sick and Convalescent . 14

Total . 279

KaZAJLF.

<2C-2.fi- tOLfoirL
'pfiCLtrof tfri
•af VaAAsQitLt
‘S'.pU.fiVfi^C
CctL-£?<Z-C: Cell

ShZ.iiLfca.
uvc-Cil^C?
SVe-V1 IS-ri ttc*

I.TtAckAv^ f?

5 id’.

ic 3u^xcJ T

hkirt Hi"r

KffZART- 'NoU.-.- Cfya- pociti s^4.vcHA.Vf)Uf) {UXtftfcu:lt.fuie5

~° oiaouixi from. (Rap a-f

jait of tf> a f2«L£,f) u’otajL Ro> aa ofcT^otonateown. , Riv?£>ztw AiaC, iai

,f Voo.® \JH 1 um.'. f5 u_rt> a ij a2> rui£ 3 ao-ujii by £>co ■ p AuSecu.v*. paw i. =
2.$&yiyoi.-6<UT.*2Xill? Biw-sinMiZ cc^cSt^oa^oi&^ULiat in,
^Stc: ktteA^Vs Of i^SSeo1 (^RicJtoo^ fid rLSyi^y) asy

wx-iv.,*,-— 3 - J’.v- -

■ c- (R^iocZ fACirtSyiii^y') -

*a£3%i.V>,X-'<~'~:L a=>e aoaofl &£avC(c tUia* Ofo'l1 CjrLstUK}

,ldt= ef,0 poLAts tf^wu-voltf. Cows 0.14 tafUa fWm apt«\

-CiiK'3 Pp?aa af oofliial: aotwa - "ippaovcA - p*?6a£0 LOU’rt ,3a

aCii^cJ'pEamafMflairebWlv.appaeVc^ . !. SaAOlnanA. . pono-x x* J

a’ ts.ii Zuxn^niiilcZ to fizStmscMvi-Ge.nezaX in. C.S .1. ‘"/'o'5 -’f ic Sax. J

SiiKm., *APaW*. iWt.&u,»(^. ap^te^a^uc V£.X0 |

&’.3*<}(U'. *®*H*c) :-<Dj<tO) iv«^ sAMimKaiiViiat:'^

? 3tu*-z.£ oou-i>c . 11. l'Uwiftc.cycLi3

BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKER.

247

RETURN of Live Stock in His Majesty's Settlement,
Derwent River, Van Diemen's Land, 4th August,

1804.

To whom belonging.

Horses.

Cattle.

Sheep.

Goats.

£

P .

j:-i

fa

Government . . .

21

39

15

Lieut.-Governor Collins .

1

• • •

20

37

Military Officers .

2

5

22

Civil Officers .

12

13

7

36

Settlers and others .

...

9

3

9

83

0

21

61

IS

56

178

248

Discussion.

Mr. Nicholas Brown said the very clear historical account
they had been listening to formed a very fitting sequel to the
papers which Mr. Walker had previously read and which he
was glad to say had been printed as a Parliamentary paper.
He was very pleased that Mr. Walker had dealt with these
matters in such an interesting way, and he thought they were
all amply rewarded for any expense which had been incurred
by employing Mr. Bonwick in collecting the information, and
they were especially indebted to Mr. Walker for the way in
which lie had handled the subject.

Mr. McClymont thought it would be a good thing if the
papers were published in a more popular form than as a mere
record of tlie Society’s proceedings.

Mr. Walker said there was a large number of the early
documents relating to Tasmania, and the Society might
endeavour to get the Government to publish a selection of
them. Another thing he hoped was that the Government
would continue to employ Mr. Bonwick collecting these
documents. He had only gone as far as 1806, and he might
go on to the death of Collins through Governor Davey’s term
of office, and possibly part of Sorell’s. As the settlers went
through some very great privations a selection of these
documents, if published, would be of very great interest and
value.

Mr. R. M. Johnston thought if the sequence of papers
whicli Mr. Walker had undertaken to prepare were published
in the form of a hand-book they would be better for general
reference and become more popular. If the series of papers
were reproduced in this form they would be mucli better and
more valuable than publishing a few disconnected documents.

249

NOTES ON A GRUB FOUND INFESTING THE
ORCHARDS OF HOBART, WITH A FEW
REMARKS ON THE SUBJECT OF INSECT
PESTS GENERALLY.

By Alex. Morton, F.L.S.

On the 9th of November I received a number of cherries
from Mr. R. Walker, of Hobart, which were infected with
a small grub. After examination, I am led to believe that
the grub is identical with a native of the United States, known
there as the plum curculio ( Conoirachelus nenuphar ), of the
family Curculionide. I understand it was first noticed about
Hobart last year, but has enormously increased since its first
approach, and is attacking the best kinds of cherries, such as
the Florence and Bigaroo. It is so destructive that the most
vigorous measures should be taken by orchardists in whose
gardens it appears to prevent it spreading to places as yet free
from its ravages. From William Saunder’s “ Insects injurious
to fruit,” I extract the following: — “This insect is, without
doubt, the greatest enemy the plumgrower has to contend with,
for when allowed to pursue its course unchecked it often
destroys the entire crop. The perfect insect is a beetle
belonging to a family known under the several names of
curculios, weevils, and snout beetles. It is a small, rough,
greyish, or blackish beetle, about one-fifth of an inch long,
with a black shining hump on the middle of each, wing case,
and behind this a more or less distinct band of a dull ochre
yellow colour, with some whitish marks about the middle. The
snout is rather short. The female lays her eggs in the young
green fruit shortly after it is formed, proceeding in the following
manner : Alighting on a plum, she makes with her jaws, which
are at the end of her snout, a small cut through the skin of the
fruit, then runs the snout obliquely under the skin to the depth
of about one-sixteenth of an inch, and moves it backward and
forward until the cavity is smooth and large enough to receive
the egg to be placed in it. She then turns round, and
dropping an egg into it, again turns and pushes it with her
snout to the end of the passage. Subsequently she cuts a
crescent-shaped slit in front of the hole so as to undermine the
egg and leave it in a sort of flap, her object apparently being
to wilt the piece around the egg and thus prevent the growing
fruit from crushing it. The whole operation occupies about
five minutes. The stock of eggs at the disposal of a single

250 NOTES ON A GRUB FOUND INFESTING THE ORCHARDS.

female lias been variously estimated at from 50 to 100, of
which she deposits from 5 to 10 a day, her activity varying
with the temperature. In warm and genial weather it will
hatch in 3 or 4 days, but in cold and chilly weather it will
remain a week or even longer without hatching. The young
larva is a tiny and footless grub, with a horny head. It
immediately begins to feed on the green flesh of the fruit,
boring a tortuous channel as it proceeds until it reaches the
centre, where it feeds around the stone. It attains its full
growth in from 3 to 5 weeks, when it is about 2-5ths of an
inch long, of a glassy yellowish-white colour, with a light
brown head, a pale line along each side of the body, a row of
minute black bristles below the lines, a second row, less
distinct, above, and a few pale hairs, towards the hinder
extremity. The insect is single brooded, the beetle hibernating
in secluded spots, under the loose bark of trees, and in other
spots. Besides the plum, the peach, nectarine, and apricot
also suffer much from its attacks, and it is very injurious to
the cherry. When the plum curculio is alarmed it suddenly
folds its legs close to its body, turns the snout under its breast,
and falls to the ground, where it remains motionless, feigning
death. Advantage to be taken of this peculiarity to catch and
destroy the insect, a sheet to spread under the trees, and the
tree audits branches are suddenly jarred, when the beetles fall
on the sheet, where they may be gathered up and destroyed.”
This extract will sufficiently show the serious nature of the
new invasion, and it seems to me of sufficient importance to
sound a note of alarm on the subject. How can we best deal
with the insect pests that are injurious to fruit ? The question
must be answered if the fruitgrowing industry is to live, and
answered in a vigorous and indisputable fashion, or the industry
will utterly perish. We have in our midst not one pest
but many, and though some of the fruit inspectors have a
general knowledge of the codlin moth, there is probably not
one qualified to deal with any new pests that may be developed.
What we need is to have one competent practical entomologist,
with a knowledge of actual orchard work, to take charge of
the entire department, make such regulations as he may see to
be necessary, and be responsible only to Parliament. As no
country in the world has paid so much attention to the subject
as America, it might be necessary to send there for the man
we require, but no time should be lost in setting in motion the
machinery for the subjugation of our insect foes. Another
aspect of the same subject is the danger we incur in importing
fruit from the United States. When we know that in
America there are 210 species of insects known to be injurious
to apples, the gravity of the danger in introducing American
fruit to Tasmania may be understood. Dr. Packard, a well-

BY ALEX. MORTON, F.L.S.

251

known entomologist, has estimated that there are within the
limits of the United States 50,000 species of insects ; another
writer says, that of the 325,000 species of insects known to
exist by name and description, 25,000 belong to the United
States. Of these 15,000 at least would be regarded as
injurious, from preying upon material serviceable to man. Of
these 7,000 or 8,000 may justly be regarded as fruit destroyers.
A writer in America, referring to the increase in insect pests,
thus writes : — “ The fruitgrower can no longer ignore the
insects as insignificant objects in nature almost unworthy of
regard. The myriad hosts confront him on every side, and
demand his attention. They claim the choicest products of
his labour, not a tithe of them, which might, perhaps, be
granted, but the entirety. It is a struggle for mastery, in
which he must conquer the insect, or the insect will conquer
him.” It is to be hoped that Parliament will seriously
consider this matter and devise prompt measures, in the
interests of the whole colony, for the eradication of enemies
that seriously threaten one of the most important industries
in Tasmania. In the meantime, let the orchardists bestir
themselves and remove the breeding grounds that many of
them considerately leave to encourage the growth and spread
of insects. Let them see to it that no long grass or weeds are
allowed to grow in their orchards, that all trees are planted at
a considerable distance from fences or fallen timber, and that
ali rubbish in the orchard be promptly and constantly burned.
Then the pests would be kept at any rate within manageable
limits, and the losses would be considerably reduced. With a
view of studying the development of the Curculio, and any
other insects that infest Tasmanian orchards, Mr. Creswell, the
Chairman of the Hobart Fruit Board, has kindly promised to
be good enough to have forwarded to me grubs in different
stages of development, and at different seasons, and am about
procuring a case for their reception, in which their changes and
development may be noted. I have also written to several
prominent entomologists in America on the matter, and hope
during next session to give some further information on the
subject.

252

THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS.

Fellows of the Royal Society of Tasmania, — Following
the precedent of the last two sessions, during which I have had
the honour of holding the office of jour President, I now
proceed, on this our closing meeting for 1889, to sum up
briefly the results of the session. The number of our Fellows
has increased since last year, and the additions to our library
have been most satisfactory. The attendance at our meetings
has been much larger than in previous sessions, and owing
mainly to the general interest attaching to many of the
papers submitted, and, perhaps, to some extent, to a sug¬
gestion I made at our opening meeting, more members have
taken part in the discussion of papers than has hitherto been
the case, and in this way our meetings have been made more
lively and interesting. And here I must say one word in
commendation of the full and accurate reports which the
Press have been good enough to give of our proceedings, and
I am happy to place on record the fact that I have found
persons in all parts of the island taking a deep interest
in what goes on at our meetings, of which they would have
known nothing except from the reports in the newspapers.

The close association of our Society with the Museum, with
which we have many objects in common, justifies me in
referring to the very important addition made during the
session to the accommodation of the Museum by the opening
of a new wing. It will be in your recollection that it was at
a meeting held in this room on 22nd May last that I per¬
formed the pleasing duty of declaring this new wing to be
open. On that occasion I referred to the excellence of the
description and classification adopted by our Curator, and
since that time Professor Flower, F.R.S., the President of
the last meeting of the British Association held at Newcastle-
on-Tvne on September 11, devoted a considerable portion of
his address to pointing out the extreme importance of the
classification and descriptions of specimens in Museums. He
goes so far as to say that a well-arranged Museum should be
“ a collection of instructive labels illustrated by well-selected
specimens.” The Curator, he says, “ must carefully consider
the object of the Museum, the class and capacities of the
persons for whose instruction it is founded, and the sj)ace
available to carry out this object. He will then divide the
subject to be illustrated into groups, and consider their

BY HIS EXCELLENCY.

253

relative proportions, according to which he will plan out the
space. Large labels will next be prepared for the principal
headings, as the chapters of a book, and smaller ones for the
various sub-divisions. Certain propositions to be illustrated,
either in the structure, classification, geographical distribu¬
tion, geological position, habits, or evolution of the subjects
dealt with, will be laid down and reduced to definite and
concise language. Lastly will come the illustrative specimens,
each of which, as procured and prepared, will fall into its
appropriate place. As it is not always easy to obtain these at
the time they are wanted, gaps will often have to be left, but
these, if properly utilised by drawings or labels, may be made
nearly as useful as if occupied by the actual specimens.” He
says further : — “ A local collection, illustrating the fauna and
flora of the district should be part of every such museum.”
This description of what a museum should be exactly accords
with the method pursued by our Curator, and I think it is a
matter of which we may well be proud, that we have been for
some time and are now proceeding in this respect upon the
exact lines laid down by so great an authority as Professor
Flower. I have, perhaps, now spoken of the Museum as far
as is admissable on an occasion of this sort, but as I have re¬
ferred to the addition of the new wing, I cannot pass over in silence
the appropriation of part of it to form the nucleus of an Art
Gallery, and I am sure you all unite with me in hoping that
this may develop and increase the taste and love for art
amongst us.

We have held eight meetings this session, and have had
some very admirable papers submitted to us. On our first
meeting Mr. Benson read a very interesting paper on the
question of popularising scientific societies by supplementing,
not by subverting, their work, and while our Society, who
have carefully considered this matter, have not yet seen
their way to give effect to Mr. Benson’s excellent sugges¬
tion, it is satisfactory to note that, under the auspices of the
Technical Education Board, several interesting popular
lectures, which have been well attended, have been delivered
in connection with such scientific subjects as “Human Phsyio-
logy ,” “Chemistry,” and “Art in Relation to Construction.”
Acting upon a suggestion of mine made some time ago that our
Society might deal with a wider range of subjects, Mr. Johnston
has submitted to us to-night a very elaborate paper, and a
very able paper, as all his papers are, on “ Root matters in
social and economic problems.” This subject is far too wide,
covering as it does the whole range of economic science,
to admit of discussion without much study and consideration,
but I hope that next session we may have some interesting
discussions upon it.

254

THE PRESIDENT S ADDRESS.

In Geology we have had papers on “ The Iron Blow at the
Linda Gold-fields,” by Mr. G. Thureau and Mr. R. M.
Johnston, and on the discovery of a fossil fish by Mr. R. M.
Johnston and Mr. A. Morton, which they did me the honour
to name after me, Acrolejois Hamiltoni. Mr. Johnston also
laid before us a paper supplementary to one previously
submitted by him, giving additions to the list of Upper
Palaeozoic fossils.

In ornithology Col. Legge submitted a paper on the
Australian Curlew, and Mr. Morton called attention to one
or two rare birds, of which specimens have recently been
obtained for the Museum.

In astronomy we have had papers from our valued con¬
tributor, Mr. A. B. Biggs, on “ A new dark field micrometer
for double star measurements,” or “ Observations of the
comet of July and August, 1889, taken at Launceston,” and
on recent measurements of “ a Centauri.”

An interesting question respecting smut in grain was raised
by a letter from Mr. Joseph Barwick, and was commented on
in papers submitted by Mr. P. Abbott and Mr. T. Stephens ;
and another question raised by the same gentleman (Mr.
Barwick) respecting the value, probable extent and source
of supply of the salt to be found in what is known
as the Salt Pans in the Midland district, gave rise to some
interesting discussion.

Mr. J. H. Maiden, Curator of the Technological Museum,
Sydney, a corresponding member of our Society, was good
enough to send us a paper on Australian and Tasmanian
Sandarach, pointing out its value as an article of commerce.

Dr. Hardy read a paper on a case of poisoning of a child
by eating a portion of the trumpet lily flower, in which he
suggested that much valuable information, from a medical
point of view, might he obtained from an investigation into
the properties of the Australian flora. I ventured last year
to appeal to the medical fellows of our Society to do some
work for us, and I hope that next session we may have further
contributions from Dr. Hardy, and also from other of our
medical friends.

We have had to-night some valuable notes, by Mr. A.
Morton, on an insect found infesting the orchards of Hobart,
with a few remarks on the subject of insect pests generally,
a matter of great importance in a fruit-growing community
like ours.

At our June meeting a very interesting letter was read from
the Hon. Stanley Dobson on the height of trees, pointing out

BY HIS EXCELLENCY.

255

that in Victoria this had been greatly exaggerated, and asking
for information as to the highest Tasmanian trees. Our Society
thereupon addressed a circular to several persons living in
different districts where large trees grow, but although we
have had many communications in reply to our request, we
have not yet received authentic information of any existing
tree exceeding 331ft. in height. I would ask every one who
may read these remarks, who is in a position to send authentic
measurement of any tree exceeding this height to be good
enough to do so. Mr. E. A. Counsel, the Deputy- Surveyor
General, has also instructed his surveyors, whenever possible,
to find the elevation of any unusually large trees they come
across, and to furnish the result to this Society.

Mr. James Andrew submitted a very suggestive paper on
Angora goat farming, and this was followed by an interesting
letter on the subject from Mr. J. Smith, of Westwood. I
hcpe the attention called to this subject by our proceedings
may lead to the utilisation in this way of some of our rough
mountainous and scrubby country, which is practically value¬
less for feeding sheep or cattle.

Mr. Johnston, whose range of subjects is about as wide as
our Society itself, submitted a paper on pyramidal numbers,
which seemed to me, as I listened to it, to be more ingenious
than the most ingenious puzzle, but I feel sure when it comes
to be studied, that like all his work, it will be a worthy
addition to the proceedings of the Society.

Our respected Vice-President, Mr. Barnard, laid before us
a most interesting paper on the last living aboriginal of
Tasmania. Mr. Barnard’s long connection with this Society
has taught him the true method of scientific inquiry, viz., to
take nothing for granted, even although accepted by the
bulk of opinion, and to give categorically his own reasons for
his conclusions. We all hope the Society may long continue
to receive papers from him.

Captain Shortt read an interesting paper on the possible
oscillation of levels of land and sea in Tasmania, and
he submitted a chart to us showing the registration of
temperature bv a self-registering thermometer recently
received from Paris. This instrument will no doubt become
of great value, as it shows the precise time of each day at
which the greatest heat and cold are experienced, and also the
duration of the varying temperatures during the 24 hours,
which cannot be ascertained from the present maximum and
minimum thermometers. We hope we may have a paper
from him on this subject next session.

256

THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS.

Mr. Mault read a paper on certain tide observations taken
at Hobart during February and March, 1889, which showed
some very curious irregularities, and the thanks of our
Society are certainly due to him for the trouble he has
taken in getting copies for us of the old charts of Tasmania.

Mr. McClymont read a most curious paper, illustrated by
charts, of the misconceptions existing in early times re¬
specting the terra Australis, and gave some very ingenious
explanations of how they had arisen.

Then last, but by no means least, we have had the three
excellent papers by Mr. J. B. Walker on the early settlement
of Tasmania. The first, following up his paper of last session
on the early visits of the French to this island, deals with the
English at the Derwent and the Risdon settlement. The
second deals with the settlement under Collins in 1808-4,
and the third, which we have heard to-night, with the first
settlement at Hobart. It is impossible to attach too great
importance to an authoritative compilation from official
documents of the early history of the land in which we live,
and it is meet and fitting that such a compilation should
take its place on the records of our Society. It certainly
is well worthy of consideration whether a popular handbook
of the early history of Tasmania might not be compiled from
these interesting papers of Mr. Walker’s.

It is too early yet to speak of the results which we hope
will follow from the generous gift of Dr. Agnew to the colony
of the large quantity of salmon ova which Sir Thomas Brady
brought out, and which are being distributed under the
auspices of a committee of this Society, but it may be interest¬
ing to refer to the fact which I have already brought under
the notice of this Society, that marked variations exist in the
characteristics of the young salmon even before their libera¬
tion from the Salmon Ponds, and to the fact that specimens
showing these variations have been obtained, which will be
sent to experts in the Old Country. We had hoped to have
welcomed Dr. Agnew amongst us this evening, and we all'
regret his absence, for no individual member has done more to
secure the advancement of this Society than Dr. Agnew.

I think, gentlemen, we may regard with satisfaction the
work of this session. Our best thanks are due to those
gentlemen who have done work for us, and have taken part
in our discussions, but still I should like to see more work
done, and more of our Fellows doing it. Since last session a
great step in a,dvance has been taken by the colony in founding
a school for technical instruction, and I trust and hope that the
facilities afforded to the rising generation of Tasmanians for
the study of science will help in time to come to rarV up an

THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS.

257

army of workers for tliis Society who will greatly add to its
success and usefulness. It is our earnest hope and desire that
this Society may flourish more and more. I need not
commend it to those who love science for its own sake, but
those whose other avocations may not permit of their personally
devoting time to research, or who may not have any bent
in that direction, will nevertheless by attendance at its
meetings and studying its proceedings, derive much pleasure
and profit, and experience a relaxation from their daily work
which carries no enervating tendencies with it. While to
those who judge everything from a material standpoint, I
would say, Do not forget that many of the investigations of
science, which is a main business of societies like this, lead
directly and indirectly to the opening up of new industries,
and to the development of existing ones, while they con¬
tribute much to the comfort and, sometimes, even to the
extension of the duration of human existence.

Mr. James Barnard, Y.P., said we have all, I am sure,
listened with equal pleasure and profit to the highly interesting
address with which we have been favoured by His Excellency
the President, reviewing the work of the Royal Society during
the session about to close ; and, if I interpret aright the feel¬
ings and wishes of the Fellows present, they would desire not
only to thank His Excellency for his valuable paper, but also
to acknowledge their deep obligations to him for the unceasing
interest which he has shown in the Royal Society, as well as
for so regularly attending its evening meetings.

Three sessions have now passed since His Excellency’s
assumption of the Chair of the Society as its official President
and I think it will not be denied that His Excellency has amply
fulfilled his expressed intention of attending all the meetings
he could, for I believe it has only been on some two or three
occasions during the whole of this long period that His
Excellency has been absent, and then arising from some
unavoidable cause.

And here I cannot refrain from remarking upon an innovation
— and that of an especially gratifying character — which we owe
to His Excellency, and that is the admission of ladies to our
evening meetings, and which has procured for us the pleasure of
the frequent presence of the accomplished lady who is at the
head of society in Tasmania, and thus reviving the practice
that prevailed at the meetings of the original Tasmanian
Society more than forty years ago, at which that noble woman
Lady Franklin was invariably present.

Digressing for a moment to another subject, I would observe
that in politics intercolonial federation is believed to be the

258

BY JAMES BARNARD, V.P.

dream of colonial statesmen ; but in science we have the
satisfaction of knowing that federation has been already
attained by the “ Australasian Association for the Advancement
of Science,” which has gathered into its ranks and welded into
one body representatives from all the several scientific societies
of Australia and New Zealand: and here I may remark that our
Royal Society is to be congratulated that it is sending to that
Association early in January one of its most distinguished
members, who is second to none in scientific acquirements, and
who has been selected by the Council of that Association to be
the President of an important section in the programme for
the year.

But I have been getting off the rails, and must now come
back to the pleasing duty which I have undertaken, and that is
to offer to His Excellency the President our best thanks for
his admirable closing address of the session, as well as our
hearty acknowledgments of the eminent services which His
Excellency has rendered to the Royal Society during the past
three years.

iiisriDiEix:-

A.

Page

Aboriginal of Tasmania, the

last living . xxiii

Aborigines of Tasmania . 60

Abbe Binot — Paulmier de

Gonneville . 116

Acacia, Iconography of Aus¬
tralian . ii

Account of New South Wales

(Collins’) . 69

Acrolepis. [Acrolepis Hamil-

toni) . 102

Account of The English Colony

of N. S. Wales . 209

Adamson’s Peak . 68

Adventure Bay . 68-90

Admiral D’Entrecasteaux Bay 112
Additions to The List of Tas¬
manian Palaeozoic Fossils 137

JEcidium berberidis . 93

African Species of Curlew ... 133

Alf once J ean ‘ Cosmography ’ 50

American Sealers in Bass’

Straits . 80

Angora Goat Farming ... x-xi-xviii

Antarctic Regions . 18

Angora Goat Farming, Notes

on . 31-39

Angora Rams . 34

Angoras, Pure Bred . 38

Anatidce . 42

Anthropophagi . 49

Arabs, Sandarach used by ... 56

Arrowsmith . 91

Asiatic or Eastern Curlews ... 136

Astronomical Papers . xxxiii

Australian Trees, Large . ix

Australian Curlew . xxxii

B.

‘Baron’ The. (Large Trees) ix

Bass’ Straits . xi

Barwick, J. (Smut in Wheat,

a letter) . xxi

Bahia de Caraguez ... . 5

Bass’ Description of Risdon ... 71

Bastiat, Harmonies of Political

Economy . 180

Betsey’s Island . 68

Birds of New Zealand, History

of the . xxviii

Biziura Lobata . 41

Blinkworth . 213

Boobook ninox (Protection of

Owls) . 40

Bowen, Lt. John (Settlement

at Risdon) . 79

Bombay Marine and Lt. Hayes 129

Bonwick Jas . 120

Borneo . 134

Bowen, Lt . 205

Bowden, Matthew . 205

Bon wick’s “First Twenty Years

of Australia” ... . ... 210

Brabourne Papers . 66-124

Page

Brachiopods, Tasmanian and

British . 138

Bubo. (Paper on Owls) ... 29

Buffalo, H.M.S . 122

c.

Clark, Robert, Catechist, Flin¬
ders Isld . xxv

Collins, Governor . vii

Cochrane, Fanny (Smith) ... xxv

Cotopaxi, Eruption of . 5

Courts Island . €8

Collins, New South Wales, 11,

P. 183 . 69

Collins’ Account of New South

Wales, ii, 333 . 89

Coniomycetes . 92

Ccenurus cerebratis . 92

Coal Measures, Mesozoic ... 103

Cook’s Observations at Ad¬
venture Bay . 113

Communists and Socialists 146-155
Collins’, Governor, Expedition

in 1803-4 . 205

Collins, Lieutenant-Governor,

Founder of Hobart . 205

Collins’ Ships . 213

Collins’ Unfavourable Account

of Pt. Phillip . 216

Cretico . 43

Crozets Islds . 109

Cumberland Ship . 120

Curlew, Notes on the Austral¬
ian . 133-6

Curlew, European, Asiatic, or

Eastern . .-. ... 136

Cape Barren Goose . 41

Cape Barren Island... . . 76

Calicut . 43

Cabral . 44

Callitris quadrivalvis . 55

„ sinensis . 56

,, cupressiformis . 57

,, calcar ata ... 57

,, columellaris . 58

„ verrucosa . 58

Cascades Flagstones, Fishes in 102

Caen, General de . 115

Calcutta, H.M.S . 205

Charadrius fulvus . v

Charts of The Coast of Tas¬
mania . _ ... 107

Charts of Marion’s Expedition,

1772 . 107

Chart of Capt. Hayes dis¬
coveries . Ill

Chart of South East Van

Diemen’s Land . Ill

Cheops, The Great Pyramid of 125
Charadriide . 133

D.

Dauphin Chart . 49

Davey Port . HO

Dalrymple Point . 113

260

Page

Denison, Sir Wm. (on large

trees) . ix

Derwent, The English at the... 65

Derwent, Approaches of the... 68

Delano, Captain . 80

Derwent, Surveys of the ... 89

D’Entrecasteaux Bay . 112

Death Rate per 1000 18S

Death, as Termination of

Healthy Life . 195

Death from Preventible Causes 195

Discussion of Papers —

Remarks by— Mr. A. G. Webster,
Sir Lambert Dobson, Mr. W. E.
Shoobridge, His Excellency Sir
Robert Hamilton, Tide Observa¬
tions at Hobart, 11-12. Sir Lam¬
bert Dobson, Mr. James Barnard,
Hon. N. J. Brown, Mr. Mault,
Rev. E. G. Porter, Mr. A. Mor¬
ton, Mr. W. E. Shoobridge, The
President, Encouragement of
Interest in Scientific Pursuits,
16-17. Mr. W. F. Ward, The
Secretary, The “ Iron Blow ’’ at
Linda Goldfield, 27-28. Mr.
Stephens, The President, Austral¬
ian and Tasmanian Sandarach,
59. Mr. Stephens, Notes on the
Last Living Aboriginal of Tas¬
mania, 64. Rev. F. H. Cox, Rev.
Geo. Clarke, Mr. Mault, Mr.
Walker, Sir Lambert Dobson,
His Excellency, French in Van
Diemen's Land, 91. Mr. R. M.
Johnston, Mr. Mault, Mr. Ward,
Smut in Wheat, 94. Mr. J. B.
Walker, Mr. Mault, Notes on
Charts of the Coast of Tasmania,
120. Mr. J. B. Walker, Deten¬
tion of Flinders at the Mauritius,

1.24.

Direction, Mt . vii

Dictionary of National Biogra¬
phy (L. Stephens) . 89

Dourado, Map of . 52

E.

Egeria, H.M.S. (Tide Observa¬
tions at Hobart) . iii

Emmett, S. B., on Large Trees xiii

Eucalyptus robusta . xiii

Eucalypts, Height of . xvii

F.

Eawkner, John Pascoe . 221

Field Naturalist Club . iv

Field Club, Formation of a ... 15

Flora of British India . i

Flinders’ Detention at Mauri¬
tius . xxviii

Flinders’ Voyage . 68

Flin ders’ and Bass’ Disco veries,

Charts of . 112

Flinders’ Arrest . 124

Page

Foraminifera in Upper Palaeo¬
zoic Rocks . 54

Foraminifera Rock . 54

Fosbrook Leonard . 209

French Visits to Tasmania ... vi

Franklin’s, Lady, Tree . xvii

Franklin and Gordon Rivers... xxi

French Cartographers . 46

Frio Cape . 47

French in Brazil . 48

French Companions of Magel¬
lan . 51

Frenela endlicheri . 57

,, rhomboidea . 58

,, robusta . 58

French Navigators in 1792 ... 65

French in Van Diemen’s Land 90

Frederic Henry Bay . 109

Free Trade . 165

G.

Ganoid Fish, Discovery of a... 102

Geology of Tasmania . 53

Genealogists, Marshall’s Guide 68

Gizeh or Cheops . 125

Goldfield, The Linda . ii-viii

Goat, Angora . x

Goldfield, The Iron Blow at

the Linda . i

Goodridge’s Nairative of a

Voyage to N.S. Wales ... 119

Gonneville, de, Capt. . 50

Goose, Cape Barren . 41

Gregson, T. G . xii

Grim Cape . 19

Grimes, Surveyor-General ... 75

H.

Hanover, Germany, School of

Mines . 7

Hayes’, Lieut. John, Expedi¬
tion . 65

Hayes’ Ships . 65

Hayes’ Discoveries . Ill

Hanson, Cape . 1L1

Harmonies of Political Econ¬
omy (Bastiat) . ISO

Hallams’ Europe during the

Middle Ages . 186

Harris, G. Prideaux . 209

Henderson, Col. (Angora Goat

Farming) . x

Henshaw’s Bay . iii

History of the Birds of New

Zealand . xxviii

History of the Indian Navy

Low’s . 67

History of Materialism,

Lange’s .

Hobart, Tide Observations at iii

Hobart, Site of . 91

Hobart, Lord . 124

Humphreys, A. W. H . 209

Hydrographical Department)

France . 107

261

I.

Iconography of Australian

Acacia . .

Indian Navy, Low’s History of

the .

India, Population of .

Industrial Services .

Indirect Fruits of Labour

Ingle, John .

Insect Pests (a Paper) .

Iron Blow at the Linda Gold¬
fields .

J.

Jave la Grande . . .

Jorgensen’s Autobiography,
90-2 .

K.

Key to the System Victorian

Plants .

Kent, Capt .

Knopwood’s, Rev. Rob., Diary,

76-77-78-82-218 .

Knopwood’s Evidence Abori¬
gines Committee .

Knocklofty Sandstones .

L.

Land and Sea Levels, Oscilla¬
tions of .

Labilliere’s Early History of

Victoria .

I am inosa ( Spirifera ) ... ...

Labourers Struggle for Exis¬
tence .

Labour, Division of .

Labour and Skill .

Lange’s History of Materialism
Launceston, Population of ...
Labilliere, Francis Peter

Lady Nelson Vessel .

Lempriere’s Observations on

Tides .

Leptcena sp .

Linda Goldfields .

lineatus ( Numenius) .

Livestock, Return of, 1804 ...
Lophophyllum corniculum

Page

67

151

143

145

178

173

182

205

220

138

ii

133

247

138

Marquis de Castries Ship
Marion, M assacre of

Mascarin Chart .

Marion du Fresne .

Marion Island .

“Materialism, History
Lange’s

of,’

Page

107

108
110
116
118

173

178

Malthusian Problem ... 194-198

245

Macquarie Point .

226

250

Macquarie House .

234

Macquarie Plains .

240

1

Melanoleucos ( Anseranas )

41

Mertho, Captain .

216

Mehan, dames .

239

49

Milligan’s, Dr., Report .

Micrometer, for Double-star

xxiv

Measurement .

98

Micrometer Reticle .

98

227

„ Ring .

98

,, Bar .

99

,, Measurement

99

,, Filar Position ...

99

Misery of the Masses .

143

Monuments de Geographie ...

44

i

Morell, Dr. Julius (on Sandar-

122

ach) .

58

205

Mountain Cypress Pine .

58

Moreton Bay, Exploration of...

68

85

Mount Garrett, Dr .

74

Monopoly of Natural Wealth

142-

102

171-173

Museum, Opening of NewWing

vi

Murray Pine .

57

munsteri Spirifera .

141

vi

Myriolepis Clarkei .

103

>8-90

N.

L38-9

Naturalists Field Club .

15

M.

maculata (Ninox) .

40

0.

Malacorhynchus membrana-
ceus .

41

Ocean Ship .

Marco Polo’s Travels .

46

,, Log .

Oldham, Capt. H.M.S,
Ortelius 1587 .

Major, R. H., on Magellan s
IViap .

52

Macquarie Harbour Leaf -beds
(a Paper) .

53

Owls, Tasmanian
Oyster Bay Pine

Marion’s Expedition .

107

Oyster Cove .

Navarette .

Navigations Aux Terre Aus¬
tralis .

Newtonian Reflector .

Ninox maculata, ( Strenua ) ...
Notes on a Grub Injurious to

Fruit .

“ Novis Orbis ” .

Nord, Rivure du .

Norfolk, Colonial Sloop .

Numenius arquata .

lineatus .

lyanopus .

major .

australis .

rufescens .

Egeria

45

90

101

40

249

43

68

68

133

133

133

133

133

133

219

223

8

51

40

57

61

262

P.

Page

Papagalli Terra . 44

Palaeozoi* Rocks, Upper . 54

„ Mudstones . 103

Pauperism and Crime . 143

Permo-Carbonifei ous Rocks ... 54

Phormium tenax . ,.. xxix

Pine, Red . 57

,, Cypress . 58

Plants, Key to the System of

Victorian . i

Pcdiceps Australis . v

Population of Launceston ... 182

Poisoning Through Eating

Trumpet Lily . xi

Possession Island . 119

Port Phillip Settlement . 205

,, ,, Failure . 213

,, ,, Camp . 231

Portland, Duke of _ . 208

Problems, Economic . xxxii

Present Condition of the

Masses in England . 189

Property, Rights of . 155

Psittacorum Regio . ... 44

Q.

Quiedong, 3 March, 1887 ••• 57

Queensland, Population of ... 151

R.

Ralph’s Bay . 08

Red Pine, (Callitris c alcarata) 57

reissii, ( Callitris ) 58

Report on Indigenous Vege¬
table Substances . 58

Reliance, H.M.S . 68

Record Office, Copy of Lt.

Moore’s Letter in the ... 83

Rectile Micrometer . 98

Rent Monopoly . 142-168

rhomboidea (Frenela) . 57

Risdon Cove, Naming of ... vii-68

,, ,, New Settlement

of . 65

,, Settlement, Landing
of Governor Collins at the 79

,, Creek . 79

Ring Micrometer . 9S

“RozadoO” or The Rosy ... 51

robusta, ( Frenela )

Rock in which Fish Remains

occur . 103

Rumoldus Mercator, Maps by 51

s.

Sassafras Valley, Tall Trees at vii

Sandarach, Australian and

Tasmanian . xx

Sandarach, or Gum Juniper... 55

Salmo Salar, Notes on . xxi

Salt, Deposit of . xxi

Salt, Sir Titus, (on Angora

Goat Farming) . 35

Page

Sandstones, Knocklofty . 102

Segetum (Ustilago) . 92

Select Extra Tropical Plants 55

Section from The Cascades to

Knocklofty . 104

Settlers, Free . 244

Silver Ore, From 100 Feet

Level, Silver Queen . xxxii

Simmons, Lieut. Commander

of The Lady Nelson ... 223

Simon’s Bay . 213

Sladden, Lieut . 210

Smut in Wheat, (Notes on) ... xv

,, ,, ,, Two Papers 92-95

Snowy River . 56

South Sea, New Voyage to The 108

Sorrento . ■. . 224

Spirillina . . ... 54

Spirifera convolutco . 137

,, bisculcata . 137

,, vespertilio . 137

,, duodecimocosta ... 137

,, avicula . 137

,, striata . 138

„ laminosa . 139

., cristata . 139

,, duplicicosta . 140

,, alata . 140

,, triangularis . 141

Strix castanops . 40

Strenua ( Ninox ) 40

Stictonetta ncevosa . 41

Stevam Diaz Arrived at Diu

1527 . 51

Star Measurement . 98

Stocker, W. Thos . 242

Sullivan’s Cove, New Settle¬
ment at . vii

Surnia . 40

“ Surprise ” Sloop of Sydney 80

Sullivan’s Cove, The Choice of 223

,, ,, Camp at ... 237

Sullivan, John . 225

T.

Tasmaniau Trees, Heights of ix

,, Sandarach . xx

,, The Last Living

Aboriginal . xxiii, 60

Tasmanian Aboriginals . xxiii

Tasmania, Early Settlement of xxxi

,, First Surveys in ... 76

,, First Visitors to

Land in . 107

Tasmania, Population of ... 151

„ Aggregate Wealth
and Individual Wealth of 165

Tasmania, Documents Relat¬
ing to . 248

Taylor’s Bay . 112

Terra Australis Legend . 43

,, „ Discovery of... 51

Thermometer, Self-registering xiv

Tinnunculus cinhccroides ... iv

Tillctia caries . 92

263

Trumpet Lily .

Page

Page

xi

Victorian Forest Trees .

xiii

,, ,, Analysis of the

Trochammina .

xiv

Victoria, Angora Goats in ...

33

54

Viellot .

133

Trycary Point .

237

Volcanoes, Mud .

25-26

Tuckey, Lieut. James Kingston

211

Voyage to the S. Seas (Good-

ridges) .

119

u.

,, to Port Phillip

205

,, ,, ,, (Tuckeys)

Uredo canes .

92

,, fcetidia .

Ustilaginei (or Smut in Wheat)

92

92

w.

United Kingdom (population)

151

,, States ,,

,, Kingdom, Aggregate’
Wealth, etc .

151

165

Walpole, E. A .

Wants of Man (Root Matters)
Webster’s Gazette (Smut in

61

143

V.

Van Diemens’ Land, Chart of
the South-East part
vespertilio ( Spirifera ) .

Ill

138

Wheat) .

Wheat, Smut in .

Wimmera District (Angora

Goat Farming) .

Wilson, Sir Samuel (Angora
Goat Farming) .

95

33

“The Mercury" Office.

.

.

/

■

«

.