observe that (thanks to other organisations) they have not gone adrift, but are become respected members of various religious communities.

Before passing from Tasmania, a tribute must be paid to the character of its scenery, which is so suggestive of Devon and Cornwall as to account for such names as the Esk, the Tamar, and the Derwent, being given to some of the rivers. Hobart Town has a look of Torquay about it, with the addition of an Helvellyn, in the form of Mount Wellington (a towering mass of basalt rising from dense forests on its steep slopes). The Friends there know how to make their visitor acquainted with these scenes of natural beauty or grandeur; and a row, a drive, or a walk, is sure to be arranged to effect some pleasant gathering at one or other of them. At one time it will be on the shore of a beautiful bay; at another to a mount of observation; then an excursion to country estates, where bold enterprise has, through artificial and costly irrigation, raised hops and apples with well-deserved profit; and ponds hard by contain the hopes of the country for future salmon and trout. But few scenes yield more surprise to an Englishman than the Forest Glens, where, amid a close undergrowth of bright-fruited shrubs, ferns rise to the dignity of palms, and thick set trees uplift their tall white stems to a hundred feet or more, before giving out the branches that form such a dense shade overhead.

We might easily be excused for lingering over many a pleasant scene to be met with in a country that, if it were near England, would soon become (like our Isle of Wight) a place of resort, which, in a measure, it is for the Victorians, who escape thither from the heats of their summer; but we must now suppose ourselves to take seats in a time-honoured institution still flourishing here --of the mail-coach, with guard and sounding horn, and by as good a road as could be desired, traverse the

120 miles through the island, thinking ourselves fortunate if we escape the anxiety of a race with opposition coaches on the road, or do not find a coachman, primed with spirits for a gallop, overcome with sleep when the contest is unexpectedly declined. Happily these men can still clutch the reins in their dreams, as fowls do their perches; but when the Deputation sat behind the slumbering Jehu, matters went too far for any other remedy than the guard taking the reins. There is now a railway completed, which ought to do much for the Island; but its sharp curves, on a very narrow gauge, are the subject of a Government quarrel, and may still have left the mail coach a little longer of its racing career. The country passed through would be more pleasant if it indicated greater prosperity; but the loss of convict labour, by which the settlers worked their farms, and the Government formed these roads, has led to a deserted look in township and homestead, betokening the shifting of capital to other occupations not dependent on cheap labour for success. Furze hedges, or post-and-rail fences, line the road, with most unromantic-looking towns for the various stages that little support in character the high names they bear, and provoke a smile as you find yourselves changing horses at Jerusalem, galloping past Jericho, sight the Jordan, or are informed some little hamlet is Bagdad; far better is the scenery in the valley of the Esk, at Launceston, or the rocky gorge of Corra Linn; such need no grand names, but would deserve them for their beauty's sake. There is no steamer direct from Launceston to Adelaide; but by crossing over to Melbourne you strike the regular line from thence to the capital of South Australia, and will be landed at its port, a very prosaic place, from whence it is seven miles by rail to Adelaide.

Here you find a repetition of the "rule and square"

system, inseparable to new places, and all looks very quiet after the bustle of Melbourne or Sydney; for Adelaide has not a third of the population of either, and is called by its ambitious sisters the Farinaceous Village; but some first-rate public buildings, with excellent banks, clubs, and places of worship, fully support its character as a city in which good taste and a good stone are well combined; there are also some fine trees in its principal and broad street, which give a grateful shade to the footways, and pleasantly diversify the straight lines.

Adelaide has but one suburb, called North Adelaide, on the other side of the River Torrens, which is a stream more remarkable in Summer for the depth of its channel than that of its waters; but the Spring is their genial time, and the city, with its surroundings, is beautiful then; their Botanic Gardens are so at all seasons, being some of the best in Australia, which is great praise for them in a land where these receive so much attention.

South Australia, it will be remembered, was settled as far back as 1836, on a then new system for free emigration, in which Friends took a decided interest, and some of them who went out rose to influence in the early affairs of the Colony; but the star of hope that seemed in the ascendant, suffered a temporary eclipse, and other hands than those who bore the first struggle, had to lead it out of entanglements too sanguine views had induced; but Friends as a community never recovered their cohesion, and have chiefly gone off to other congregations. There is still a little group of those who retain a strong attachment to the Society, and both at Adelaide and Mount Barker (which is a township twenty miles inland), meetings are kept up, and an official correspondence with London Yearly Meeting is regularly maintained. The meeting-house situate in North Adelaide is of wood, and came out

with the early settlers from England, showing in its size the hopes they then entertained of the Society's prospects in their new home, and it was touching to see two patriarchs, the heads of long lines of children to the third generation, come there on occasion of the Deputation's visit, and, as they sat once more on these long unaccustomed forms, remark what a change it would have been if "we and all ours had kept in the Society."

Inclination would lead us to linger in Adelaide, to dwell on country scenes beyond its mountain ranges, in the hospitable homes of Mount Barker, or on the plains of Gawler; but even with such self-denial as leaves these undescribed, a word must be said in explanation of how the country we used to think saved from financial difficulties by the discovery of copper, has become so noted for its Corn. This is grown on vast flats that may have once formed part of the broad estuary they skirt, and the success is due to the circumstance of a climate so hot as to bring the wheat to a hard, dry condition, allowing it to be threshed out as it stands. Their "rippers," by which this simple harvesting is achieved, look like covered carts drawn by four horses, having beaters revolving swiftly in front through gear-work on the wheelsthese beaters, turning like a paddle-wheel in a case, knock off the ears into the cart, which, when full, is opened behind; the heap needs only a little tossing to and fro to separate the chaff, and the wheat is put into sacks ready for immediate shipment from the nearest port, and if four shillings and sixpence per bushel is obtained for it there the farmer is well satisfied with his profit-burns off his straw, and again the soil is ready for its seed. Such work must be carried out on a large scale to pay, and you will often see four rippers at work in the same field, but then their lands are measured by miles rather than acres.

M

These notes must now close; they have been written with a difficulty of selection from the much that might be said and understood by those who have seen these wide-spread States, and the yet greater hesitation as to what would prove of interest to those who have not yet made their personal acquaintance. If any in Australia should read them, may they overlook the many omissions of what they might like to have had introduced, and excuse the imperfect manner in which those selected have been handled. Such as they are they are offered in the hopes of aiding to keep alive an interest on behalf of our Friends residing there.

"Advance" with a "rising sun" are leading features in Australia's national crest, and right well does her prosperous career justify an adoption of such a motto. Her trade is become vast; her institutions are free; her national position is assured. Are "Friends" as a Society to gradually vanish from her lists of religious communities? They are still anchored in her soil, and with due support may yet make sail, and have a share in the harvest to be gathered among her growing populations.

WILLIAM Beck.