Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

1836. DISADVANTAGES MONEY-MAKINO. 623 excepting while fostered by the presence of regularly paid government officers, troops, and a large convict establishment. There must be great difficulty in bringing up a family well in that country, in consequence of the demoralizing influence of convict servants, to which almost all children must be more or less exposed. Besides, literature is at a low ebb : most people are anxious about active farming, or commercial pur- suits, which leave little leisure for reflection, or for reading more than those fritterers of the mind — daily newspapers and ephemeral trash. It was quite remarkable to see how few book- sellers' shops there were in Sydney, and what a low class of books — with some exceptions — was to be found in them. These few exceptions were the works usually called ' standard,'' which some persons who buy books, for show as furniture, rather than for real use, think it necessary to purchase. Ano- ther evil in the social system of Sydney and its vicinity, is the rancorous feeling which exists between the descendants of free settlers and the children of convicts. Fatal, indeed, would it be to the former, if the arm of power were removed ; for their high principles and good feelings would be no match for the wiles and atrocities of such abandoned outcasts as are there congregrated, and almost rejoice in their iniquity. Money is gained by such people by any and every means, save those of honest industry. By selling spirits, frequently drugged by theft — by receiving and selling stolen goods — by the wages of iniquity — and by exorbitant usury — fortunes have been amassed there in a few years which would make an honest man's hair stand on end. But do such men enjoy their wealth .'' Does it benefit them or their children ? No. Their life is a miserable scene of anxiety, care, fear, and generally penuriousness ; they die without a friend and without hope. The Beagle sailed from Sydney on the 30th, and anchored off" Hobart Town (or Hobarton) on the 5th of February. The change of scene was as striking as a view of Gibraltar or Madeira after leaving the Downs. Comparatively speaking, near Sydney all was light-coloured and level ; while in Van Diemen's Land we almost thought ourselves in another Tierra