'I suppose you are pretty well satisfied with your location at this distance from Hobart Town?' asked the Captain.

'It suits me admirably. The wife can get in to her shopping, the little ones can run about in a semibarbarous condition, the elder boy can ride to school on his pony, the girls can have a few lessons from a lady near, and I can learn the news by an easy trot.' 'Then you don't regret not going upon a farm in the interior?'

'By no means. It would have given me unnecessary anxiety and outlay, and deprived my family of educational advantages. I am quite satisfied with going on slowly, and enjoying life.'

'Yes,' Mrs Douglas said, 'we, too, find the distance from town all that we could desire. There are a few nice neighbours, and we can always add to our society by a trip to the capital, or by having our friends down here. As to Sunday, it is a great satisfaction that the younger branches are not deprived of religious teaching, and that we elder ones can have a church so convenient to us. We Presbyterians have a very comfortable place of worship near, while you Episcopalians have the same advantages for yourselves. I certainly was not prepared to find so great an advance in this, the best part of civilisation.'

The other mother professed herself equally pleased. I ought to be satisfied myself,' observed Mr Latham, 'for my health has undergone a wonderful

improvement. That voyage was a capital start for it, and the residence here has advanced it. I have employment enough for exercise and pleasure, without any burden. Then this glorious climate suits my

nervous state to admiration.'

'Ah! my dear,' remarked his partner, 'there is another important reason for better nervous health. You have not the worry you had in England about keeping up appearances, and as to what would become of the children when you were gone.'

wife.

'Rightly placed to the credit side, my thoughtful A man can't help being better when he loses his morbid cares. It is something, also, to feel that our children, as they grow up here, will be less liable to those dreadful nervous evils which are now the curse of many an English household.'

'Bravo for ourselves!' sung out the Captain merrily. Anyhow we are rowing in the same boat, my friend.' 'Yes, and that puts me in mind of asking how many of you are going out with some of us boating this afternoon.'

'Bravo! again, for ourselves. This is the place for boating. All of us will launch upon the deep with you.'

CHAPTER IV.

THE BOATING EXCURSION.

THE party gathered. Each family owned a boat, and each boat had now its merry group.

What a glorious scene for a sail or row! Such a landscape of wood and farms, of hill and dale! Then, as to the water,-it was just the very thing. The river Derwent was no narrow Cam, no tortuous mud-flat Thames. There was a splendid expanse, and deep water. One could row from bay to bay of charming pic-nic suggestions, or let out the flowing sheet before the breeze. There was no danger of getting foul of a steamer or a barge, no dread of a stick in the mud, no call for frequent tacking.

'This is just the very thing for old folks,' said the captain, as he lounged backwards in the boat, now slipping through the water. Then, turning to his son, who was that moment fancying it the very thing for young folks, he said,

'When I was a youngster like you, Horace, I used to have a sail on the Scottish lakes, and thought it mighty fine too. But I had many a drenching and chill that took off the keen edge of the enjoyment.'

'Yes, pa, I fancy I should prefer the Derwent, having a wholesome dread of coughs and colds after my taste of a British climate. Here, as I float along under this bright blue sky, with old Wellington and

the Dromedary looking down upon the river, I am half disposed to believe myself the dreaming Shelley luxuriating in a boat on the romantic lake Leman.'

The jolly youngsters in the other craft were shouting and coo-eying to their heart's content. As the wind slackened, the sails were lowered, and the oars were plied. Again and again the two companies drew near for a chat, and a lazy drift with the stream. A song was struck up, with a merry chorus at the end.

But the young folks were impatient to begin their fishing. All the apparatus had been thoughtfully stowed away before starting.

'Who will catch the first fish?' was the challenge.

A little lassie had the honour of drawing up the first. It was a Flathead, and properly so called. Sweet enough, it was rather slighted because it was common, and on account of its bones, which were awkwardly distributed for the eater.

'Just the thing,' cried out her brother Bob. 'Hand it over, Bessy, we want it for bait."

In vain did the girl assert her right to possession ; public necessity must rule over private rights. Besides, it was the regular thing to cut up the first fish for bait. Then, everyone knows that sisters must yield to their impetuous brothers; theologians assert that it is one of the consequences of the Fall. Bessy with a sigh resigned the Flathead.

A regular run of good luck set in for the Latham fishers, and a corresponding ill turn for their friends.

There were a dozen Flatheads, and quite as many Rockcods. The latter, not bigger than their mates, being less than a foot long, were thought much nicer. Their flesh was firmer, and the bones were more complacent. If larger specimens of the finny tribe were wanted, the fishermen had to go to the mouth of the river or down the channel.

The colonial waters are rich in fish. Names have been imported, but are absurdly applied.

The cod is not a cod, nor the salmon a salmon. The latter is about the size of a mackarel, but is of better flavour. The perch and bream are first-rate. The latter broadbacked fellow is ever welcome. Mullets are not to be despised any more than the flounders. The mullets are plentiful enough in the rocky rivers, and have the reputation of rising to the fly as easily as trout in the old country. The period of perfect taste is in the summer, from spring October to autumn March. The sweet little black fish may be caught in the small creeks of the interior. Lakes and larger streams furnish magnificent eels. As to oysters and crawfish, they are excellent in quality, and ready to hand.

There is no want of foes, besides man. The shark is busy enough in the seas around the Island, and will venture up the Derwent itself. Sailors love to catch a shark, and fishermen have an especial down upon the fellow. Now, in the South seas, the creature was worshipped as a god, because in his benevolent voracity he drove the timid fish in-shore, and gave a