My Dear Sir Charles, I take leave to dedicate this work to you, notmerely because your nineteen years of political and literary life inAustralia render it very fitting that any work written by a resident inthe colonies, and having to do with the history of past colonialdays, should bear your name upon its dedicatory page; but because thepublication of my book is due to your advice and encouragement.
The convict of fiction has been hitherto shown only at the beginning orat the end of his career. Either his exile has been the mysterious endto his misdeeds, or he has appeared upon the scene to claim interest byreason of an equally unintelligible love of crime acquired during hisexperience in a penal settlement. Charles Reade has drawn the interiorof a house of correction in England, and Victor Hugo has shown howa French convict fares after the fulfilment of his sentence. Butno writer--so far as I am aware--has attempted to depict the dismalcondition of a felon during his term of transportation.
I have endeavoured in "His Natural Life" to set forth the working andthe results of an English system of transportation carefully consideredand carried out under official supervision; and to illustrate in themanner best calculated, as I think, to attract general attention, theinexpediency of again allowing offenders against the law to be herdedtogether in places remote from the wholesome influence of publicopinion, and to be submitted to a discipline which must necessarilydepend for its just administration upon the personal character andtemper of their gaolers.
Your critical faculty will doubtless find, in the construction andartistic working of this book, many faults. I do not think, however,that you will discover any exaggerations. Some of the events narratedare doubtless tragic and terrible; but I hold it needful to my purposeto record them, for they are events which have actually occurred, andwhich, if the blunders which produced them be repeated, must infalliblyoccur again. It is true that the British Government have ceased todeport the criminals of England, but the method of punishment, of whichthat deportation was a part, is still in existence. Port Blair is a PortArthur filled with Indian-men instead of Englishmen; and, within thelast year, France has established, at New Caledonia, a penal settlementwhich will, in the natural course of things, repeat in its annals thehistory of Macquarie Harbour and of Norfolk Island.
With this brief preface I beg you to accept this work. I would that itsmerits were equal either to your kindness or to my regard.
I am,
My dear Sir Charles,
Faithfully yours,
MARCUS CLARKE
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY, MELBOURNE
CONTENTS
DEDICATION PROLOGUE
BOOK I.--THE SEA. 1827.
I. THE PRISON SHIP II. SARAH PURFOY III. THE MONOTONY BREAKS IV. THE HOSPITAL V. THE BARRACOON VI. THE FATE OF THE "HYDASPES" VII. TYPHUS FEVER VIII. A DANGEROUS CRISIS IX. WOMAN'S WEAPONS X. EIGHT BELLS XI. DISCOVERIES AND CONFESSIONS XII. A NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPH
BOOK II.--MACQUARIE HARBOUR. 1833.
I. THE TOPOGRAPHY OF VAN DIEMEN'S LAND II. THE SOLITARY OF "HELL'S GATES" III. A SOCIAL EVENING IV. THE BOLTER V. SYLVIA VI. A LEAP IN THE DARK VII. THE LAST OF MACQUARIE HARBOUR VIII. THE POWER OF THE WILDERNESS IX. THE SEIZURE OF THE "OSPREY" X. JOHN REX'S REVENGE XI. LEFT AT "HELL'S GATES" XII. "MR." DAWES XIII. WHAT THE SEAWEED SUGGESTED XIV. A WONDERFUL DAY'S WORK XV. THE CORACLE XVI. THE WRITING ON THE SAND XVII. AT SEA
BOOK III.--PORT ARTHUR. 1838.
I. A LABOURER IN THE VINEYARD II. SARAH PURFOY'S REQUEST III. THE STORY OF TWO BIRDS OF PREY IV. "THE NOTORIOUS DAWES" V. MAURICE FRERE'S GOOD ANGEL VI. MR. MEEKIN ADMINISTERS CONSOLATION VII. RUFUS DAWES'S IDYLL VIII. AN ESCAPE IX. JOHN REX'S LETTER HOME X. WHAT BECAME OF THE MUTINEERS OF THE "OSPREY" XI. A RELIC OF MACQUARIE HARBOUR XII. AT PORT ARTHUR XIII. THE COMMANDANT'S BUTLER XIV. MR. NORTH'S INDISPOSITION XV. ONE HUNDRED LASHES XVI. KICKING AGAINST THE PRICKS XVII. CAPTAIN AND MRS. FRERE XVIII. IN THE HOSPITAL XIX. THE CONSOLATIONS OF RELIGION XX. A NATURAL PENITENTIARY XXI. A VISIT OF INSPECTION XXII. GATHERING IN THE THREADS XXIII RUNNING THE GAUNTLET XXIV. IN THE NIGHT XXV. THE FLIGHT XXVI. THE WORK OF THE SEA XXVII. THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH
BOOK IV.--NORFOLK ISLAND. 1846.
I. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. JAMES NORTH II. THE LOST HEIR III. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. JAMES NORTH IV. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. JAMES NORTH V. MR. RICHARD DEVINE SURPRISED VI. IN WHICH THE CHAPLAIN IS TAKEN ILL VII. BREAKING A MAN'S SPIRIT VIII. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. JAMES NORTH IX. THE LONGEST STRAW X. A MEETING XI. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. JAMES NORTH XII. THE STRANGE BEHAVIOUR OF MR. NORTH XIII. MR. NORTH SPEAKS XIV. GETTING READY FOR SEA XV. THE DISCOVERY XVI. FIFTEEN HOURS XVII. THE REDEMPTION XVIII. THE CYCLONE