and hanged. At the Baron's request
the Major did not ask for their bodies. He
(the Baron) said they were very disagreeable
people to come in contact with, when living;
but, if possible, worse, when they had been
dead some time.

The Major's turn came for doing duty at
Norfolk Island as commandant, and we went
to that terrestrial paradise; where the clanking
of chains and the fall of the lash rang in the ear
from daylight till dark—these sounds
accompanied occasionally by the report of a
discharged musket and the shriek of some wretch
who had fallen mortally wounded. These shots
became so frequent that, at last, they ceased
to disturb us, even at our meals. Our house
was behind a rampart, surmounted by a
battery of guns, loaded to the muzzles with
bullets, bits of iron, tenpenny-nails, and
tenter-hooks. By day and night sentries
guarded the doors with loaded muskets and
fixed bayonets. "Kill the Commandant!" was
always the first article of the agreement
these desperate monsters came to when they
entertained an idea of escape. In the
morning when they were brought out,
heavily ironed, to go to work, the guard that
had been on duty all night was drawn up
opposite to them. The relieving guard then
came from the barracks; and, in the presence
of the Commandant, obeyed the order Prime
and load. Then came the ringing of the
iron ramrod in the barrel. Then the order
Fix bayonets; followed by the flashing of
the bright steel in the sun's rays. Many a
time have I, from my window, seen these
incorrigibles smile and grin during this ceremony,
albeit they knew that, upon very slight
provocation, they would receive the bullet or
taste the steel.

During the twelve months that we were
on the island one hundred and nine were
shot by the sentries in self-defence, and sixty-
three bayonetted to death, while the average
number of lashes administered every day was
six hundred. Yet, to my certain knowledge,
almost every officer who acted as commandant
at Norfolk Island tried to be as lenient as
possible, but soon discovered that, instead of
making matters better, they made them
worse, and they were, in consequence,
compelled to resort, for security's sake, to the
ready use of the bullet and bayonet, and the
constant use of the lash. That part of the
punishment which galled these wretched
prisoners most was the perpetual silence that
was insisted upon. They were not allowed
to speak a word to each other. One day
when the Major was inspecting them, they
addressed him through a spokesman, who
had been originally a surgeon, and who had
been transported for a most diabolical
offence. He was a very plausible man, and
made a most ingenious speech, which he
finished thus:

"Double, if you will, the weight of our;
irons and our arm-chains, increase the weight
of the logs attached to our legs, reduce the
scanty amount of the food we now receive by
way of ration; but, in the name of humanity,
permit us the use of our tongues and our
ears, that we may have, at least, the
consolation of confessing to each other the justice
of the punishment we have to undergo!"

The Major turned a deaf ear to this
harangue, and, when he related it to me,
laughed at it. I, however, very foolishly
took a very different view of the case, and
teased him into trying the effect of such
indulgence. What was the result? The use
they made of their tongues was to concoct a
plan for butchering the garrison and every
free man, and seizing the next vessel that
brought a fresh cargo of convicts to the
island. The moment the expected vessel was
signalised was to be the moment for the
general rise and the desperate attack. There
would have been a frightful encounter and
awful bloodshed, and it is impossible to say
which side would have gained the mastery.
It was a Jew who betrayed his fellow
criminals, and gave my husband the information
just in time; for on the morning
following the expected vessel hove in sight.
The convicts, however, were all safely locked
up, and had their bread and water handed
in to them through the strong iron bars
of the small windows of their cells. My
husband called a council of war, and it
was resolved that several of the ringleaders
should be shot. For doing this, by the way,
he received a severe reprimand from the
Governor of New South Wales, who informed
him. that it was his duty to send them to
Sydney to be tried and hanged. This, next
to effecting an escape, would have been
precisely what the culprits most desired. The
Jew who gave the information was sent to
Sydney (his life would have been taken on
the island), a ticket-of-leave was granted to
him, and he became a street hawker.
Subsequently, he was emancipated, and became
an innkeeper and money-lender. Eventually,
he obtained a free pardon, visited England,
bought a ship and cargo, and became a
merchant. He is now in possession of landed
and other property of enormous worth.
The first time I saw that man he was a
manacled felon, working on Norfolk Island
amongst his compeers in infamy. The last
time I saw him he was lolling in a handsome
carriage, dressed in what he conceived the
acmé of fashion, and was drawn by two
thoroughbred horses. So that, so far as he
was concerned, the words which my husband's
predecessor caused to be cut upon a piece of
stone, and placed over the gate of the prison-
yard, were not applicable—Lasciate ogni
speranza voi ch' intrate.

In talking of Norfolk Island I have lost
sight of the dear old Baron. While we were
away, we received a letter from him in which,
he stated he had been visited for a third time
by Bushrangers, but that they had not robbed