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cating with what the settlers call Frederik Hendrik's Bay, is the more considerable settlement of Pittwater, the chief granary of the island. It is watered by two streams, and presents to view a vast extent of naturally clear ground. On the road from Hobart Town to Port Dalrymple, there is a plain extending, in one direction, for twenty miles, and clear land is frequent on that side of the island. To the northwest of Pittwater is the Coal River settlement. About twelve miles higher up are several farms; midway, stands Mount Direction, a remarkably picturesque hill. There are several scattered farms in this quarter, and on the east of the Derwent, as far as New Norfolk. Above the falls at this place the Derwent receives many rivulets; and a most beautiful and fertile country lies on its banks. All these settlements form together a county, under the name of Buckinghamshire, comprising about half the island, the other half being called the county of Cornwall.

The chief settlement near Port Dalrymple is Launceston, situated forty miles up the Tamar, at the confluence of two small streams, called the North and South Esk. This town is about 120 miles across the island from Hobart Town. The Tamar, not admitting large vessels more than seven or eight miles, George Town has been recently laid out near the mouth of the river, and governor Macquarie speaks of it being already in a flourishing state.

Port Macquarie and Port Davey are on the western coast. The channel inwards, of the former, is made between an island and the west head of entrance; it is very deep, but not more than thirty yards wide; the basin is navigable, but shoally for about eight miles, after which there is deep water. In its cliffs are veins of coal, and on its shores abundance of useful and valuable timber, particularly a sort of cedar called the Huon pine, much esteemed in the colony and in India, for its peculiar property of repelling insects. Port Davey is more to the southward, and is a spacious port, with an open entrance; but the country is rocky and barren, and the timber difficult of access. Into these two ports fall Gordon's and several other rivers.

The mineralogical productions of this island are iron, copper, slate, alum, limestone, asbestos, and basalt; together with crystal, cornelian, jasper, marble, and various petrifactions. The first is most abundant towards Launceston, where entire mountains of this mineral, yielding twenty per cent. of ore, are said to be found. Its botany, and general natural history, resemble those of New South Wales. All kinds of European grain flourish; the harvests have never failed, it is said, for want of rain. C Barley and oats produce most abundantly, and the wheat is superior to that which is grown in New South Wales; so greatly, indeed, that the difference of price which it bears in Sydney market will generally pay the expense of transport thither; and the average produce is generally greater, with the exception, perhaps, of the flood-lands on the banks of the Hawkesbury and Nepean. The natural grasses afford abundance of pasturage at all seasons of the year, and supersede the necessity of making provi

sion for winter provender in the shape of hay or other artificial food; and, notwithstanding the greater severity of the winters, every description of stock attains a larger size here than in the neighbourhood of Port Jackson. The only advantage which the large island seems to enjoy over this, consists in the fineness of its wool, and the great excellence and variety of its fruits; particularly the grape, which promises to yield as good wine as any that is made in France, Spain, or Portugal. The temperature of Van Diemen's Land is not sufficiently high for the cultivation of the vine; but, by the introduction of the Merino sheep, the wool has been already so much improved, as to leave no doubt it will soon become a valuable article of export to the mothercountry. Mr. Wentworth supposes, that twenty years hence, this single article will raise the colonists of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, to as high a pitch of happiness and prosperity as is enjoyed by any portion of his majesty's subjects in any quarter of the globe; and that they may be enabled to ship, for Great Britain, every year, at least to the value of a million sterling. The exports, at present, consist of cattle, sheep, wool, flour, corned meats, hams, tongues, dried fish, hides, tallow, barilla, bark for tanning leather, seal-skins and oil, whale-oil, and spars. The markets hitherto opened to the colonists are England, the Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, and the East Indies. They have also sent considerable supplies of butcher's meat, corn, and potatoes to Port Jackson.'-Quarterly Review.

The wild animals are, the kangaroo, opossum, wombat, squirrel, kangaroo-cat, &c., and (rarely) the hyæna opossum. Horned cattle, and particularly sheep, thrive excellently well, the ewes generally dropping lambs twice a year. Goats and pigs run wild. Few indigenous plants were found here, but nearly all the European fruits have cultivated with success.

Van Diemen's Land has a lieutenant-governor and judge-advocate of its own, commissioned by his majesty; but it has not obtained the benefit of a separate criminal jurisdiction, so that prisoners for trial, prosecutors and witnesses, are compelled to make the voyage to Port Jackson. Its civil jurisdiction is confined to causes of £50 value; but the judge of the supreme court of New South Wales has lately made a circuit to the island for the trial of causes of greater value. The colony is peopled by free settlers and convicts from England as well as from New South Wales.

The remaining natives are few in number considering the extent of country which they yet hold free, and in that state of extreme wretchedness which probably forbids their increase. They are, at present, hostilely inclined to Europeans; a circumstance ascribed to a fatal quarrel at the first settling, in which several of them were killed by the rash command of a young officer, and the memory of which has been kept alive by occasional encounters in the interior. The stockkeepers of the settlers are often assaulted by them with spears and stones; but a more friendly intercourse has been effected on the Western Coasts.

Hobart Town, Including that

part called the county of

As many arri

The following Tables show:-1. The progress of POPULATION in this Colony, from 1818 to 1820 (omitting the military). 2. The IMPORTS and EXPORTS of the capital at the same period.

TABLE I. ABSTRACT OF THE GENERAL MUSTER BOOKS OF VAN DIEMAN'S LAND, IN
OCTOBER 1818 AND 1820.

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Buckingham.

In 1818

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97 106 4668 7019 30680 62909 640 333 483 1114 185 2755 158 142 8196 13753 44988 95477 726 392 759 1875 266 4018]

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211 29 32 1398 2271 13195 21099 189 78 150 267 55 739 63 45 66 2708 4181 12600 29403 255 118 241 712 104 1450

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Grand Total
In 1818

Grand Total
In 1820
Increase in
2 years

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5049 214 148 269 126 138 6066 9290 43875 84008 829 411 633 1381 240 3494

9275 528 367 517 203 208 10904 17934 57588 124880 1111 530 1060 3107 370 6178

4226 314 218 248 77 70 4838 8644 13713 40872 282 119 427 1726 130 2684|

TABLE II.-OFFICIAL RETURN OF THE IMPORTS AND EXPORTS AT HOBART TOWN FOR
THE YEARS 1817 AND 1818.

IMPORTS (exclusive of Government Stores, British Goods, and India Piece-Goods).

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EXPORTS (exclusive of 250 Tons of Oil taken home by the licensed whaler Anne).

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DIEPHOLT, or DIEPHOLZ, a county of Westphalia, belonging to Hanover, bounded on the north by the county of Hoya, on the east by Minden, on the south by the bishopric of Osnaburg, and on the west by Munster. It is about twenty-four miles long, and twelve broad; and is full of briers, underwood, and morasses; except along the Dumma Lake. It contains four towns and about 16,000 inhabitants. The people are Lutherans, and subsist chiefly by feeding cattle, which they sell to Holland and the countries bordering on the Rhine, along with coarse woollens and linens. This territory was erected into a country by Maximilian I. In 1585 it passed to the duchy of Zell, and from them to the electorate of Hanover. The inhabitants rear cattle and flax.

DIEPPE, a town of Normandy, in the department of the Lower Seine, with a good harbour, formed by the mouth of the river Arques. It has an old castle westward, and two piers. Packet boats pass between this port and Brighton constantly. They are about sixty-six miles distant. The church of St. James is a very fine structure, and there is a tower from which, in fine weather, the coast of England may be seen. The principal trade consists in fish, ivory toys, and laces. It was bombarded, and great part of it burnt by the English, in 1694. Here is a navigation school very well conducted. It contains about 20,000 inhabitants; and lies thirtyfour miles north of Rouen, and 100 north-west of Paris.

DIES MARCHIE was the day of congress or meeting of the English and Scotch, annually appointed to be held on the marches or borders, in order to adjust all differences between them.

DIESIS, in music, is the division of a tone less than a semitone; or an interval consisting of a less or imperfect semitone. Diesis is the smallest and softest change or inflexion of the voice imaginable: it is called a faint, expressed thus (X) by a St. Andrew's cross or saltire. DIESPITER, in antiquity, a name given to Jupiter; and signifying diei pater, father of the day.

DIET, n. s. From dies, an appointed day, Skinner; from diet, an old German word signifying a multitude.-Junius. An assembly of princes or estates. See the article.

An emperor in title without territory, who can ordain nothing of importance but by a diet, or assembly of the estates of many free princes, ecclesiastical and temporal. Raleigh.

DIET, v. a., v. n. & n.s. Fr. Germ. and Dut. DIETA'RY, adj. diete; Span. Port. DIETER, N. s. and Ital. dieta; DI'ETICAL, adj. from Gr. daira, the DIET-DRINK, N. S. manner of living. To feed or live by rule; to give food to; as a neuter verb, to feed; eat: diet as a substantive is food, generally, or allowance of food. Dietary and dietic, pertaining to diet.

For his diet, there was a continual diet given him by the king.

Jeremiah.

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I'm partly led to diet my revenge,
For that I do suspect the lusty Moor
Hath leapt into my seat.

Shakspeare. Othello.
When we've stuffed

These pipes, and these conveyances of blood,
With wine and feeding, we have suppler souls,
Than in our priestlike fasts; therefore I'll watch him
Id. Coriolanus.
Till he be dieted to my request.

Shew a while like fearful war,
To diet rank minds sick of happiness,
And purge the obstructions which begin to stop
Our very veins of life.
Id. Henry IV.

He sauced our broth as Juno had been sick, And he her dieter. ld. Cymbeline.

I commend rather some diet for certain seasons, than frequent use of physick; for these diets alter the body more, and trouble it less. Bacon.

He received no other counsel than to refrain from cold drink, which was but a dietetical caution, and such as culinary prescription might have afforded. Browne's Vulgar Errours.

Time may come, when men With angels may participate; and find No inconvenient diet, nor too light fare. Henceforth my early care

Milton.

Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden ease;
Till, dieted by thee, I grow mature

In knowledge as the gods, who all things know.

Id. No part of diet, in any season, is so healthful, so natural, and so agreeable to the stomach, as good and well-ripened fruits. Temple.

Nature delights in the most plain and simple diet. Addison. We have lived upon expedients, of which no country had less occasion; we have dieted a healthy body into a consumption, by plying it with physick inSwift.

stead of food.

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DIET, in medicine, according to some, comprehends the whole regimen of life, with regard to air, meat, drink, sleep, watching, motion, rest, the passions, retentions and excretions. Others restrict the term to eating and drinking alone. See FOOD. The natural constitution of the body of man is such, that it can easily bear some changes and irregularities without much injury. Had it been otherwise, we should be almost constantly put out of order by slight causes. This advantage arises from those wonderful communications of the inward parts, whereby, when one part is affected, another comes immediately to its relief. Thus, when the body is too full, nature causes evacuations through some of the outlets and for this reason, diseases from absolute inanition are generally more dangerous than from repletion, unless the latter be excessive; because we can more expeditiously diminish than increase the juices of the body. Upon the same

account, though temperance be beneficial to all men, the ancient physicians advised persons in good health, now and then to eat and drink more plentifully than usual. But of the two, intemperance in drinking is safer than in eating. If a man be obliged to fast, he ought to avoid all laborious work. From satiety it is not proper to pass directly to sharp hunger, nor from hunger to satiety: neither will it be safe to indulge absolute rest immediately after excessive labor, nor suddenly to fall to work after long idleness. In a word, all changes in the way of living should be made by degrees. The softer and milder kinds of aliment are proper for children, and for youth the stronger. Old people ought to lessen the quantity of their food, and increase that of their drink: but some allowance is to be made for custom, especially in cold climates like ours: for as in these the appetite is keener, so is the digestion better performed. The article ALIMENT presents a regular table of all the ordinary articles of human food, or diet: in that of DiGESTION more remarks on this subject occur.

DIET, GENERAL, OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE, was usually held at Ratisbon, It consisted of the emperor, the nine electors, and the ecclesiastical princes; viz. the archbishops, bishops, abbots, and abbesses; the secular princes, being dukes, marquises, counts, viscounts, or barons; and the representatives of the imperial cities. It met on the emperor's summons, but any of the princes might send deputies. Peace and war, the levying of general taxes, and the assessment of different states, were among the principal subjects submitted to the deliberation of the diet. But it required the consent of the emperor to give their determinations the force of laws. The imperial dignity, though not hereditary, was possessed for several ages, without interruption, by the house of Austria. The Confederation of the Rhine, during the domination of Buonaparte, completely dissolved this ancient system, and compelled the house of Austria to resign the style and title of emperor of Germany, which it has not since resumed.

than that which arises from the extent of his dominions within the limits of the confederacy. Two new kingdoms were created in the north, and two in the south. These were Hanover and Saxony, in the former; and Bavaria and Wirtemburg, in the latter.

The great powers of this new confederation are Austria, Prussia, Hanover, Saxony, Bavaria, and Wirtemburg. In the diet, each member of the confederacy has an equal vote. The members, as constituted by the act of congress, are seventeen, composed of the following separate or combined powers:

1. Austria.

2. Prussia.
3. Bavaria.

4. Saxony, kingdom (not the duchies).
5. Hanover.

6. Wirtemberg.

7. Baden.

8. The electorate of Hesse.

9. The grand duchy of Hesse.

10. Denmark for Holstein and Lauenburg. 11. The Netherlands for Luxemburg.

12. The grand ducal, and the ducal houses of Saxony.

13. Brunswick and Nassau.

14. Mecklenburg, Schwerin and Strelitz.
15. Oldenburg, Anhalt, and Schwartzburg.
16. Hohenzollern, Lichtenstein, Reuss, Shaum-
burg-Lippe, Lippe, and Waldeck.
17. The free towns of Lubeck, Frankfort,
Bremen, and Hamburg.

This list therefore exhibits the present political
division of Germany, and the states included un-
der the same number vote in the diet conjointly.
The deliberations of this body embrace all ordi-
nary discussions; but when general laws are to
be enacted, or changes made in the fundamental
rules or principles of the confederation, the diet
forms itself into a general assembly, in which
each state votes separately. But as it would
evidently have been an unequal partition of
power to have given each an equal voice in this
assembly, the number of votes possessed by the
several states are regulated by their territorial
extent and importance. For this purpose, the
whole of the confederacy is divided into four
classes, which, with the population of each state,
according to the official returns of 1818, and the
number of votes it possesses in the general as-
sembly, are as follow, viz:—
FIRST CLASS.

At the congress of Vienna, however, the constitution of Germany was so far remodelled on the former plan, that a new diet was created to watch over the interests of what was now called the Germanic Confederation. By this confederation, although the title of elector ceases, all the states have a vote in the diet according to their respective territories, and the population. The emperor of Austria has no other preponderance

States.

Population. Votes.

1. Austria (for her possessions within the limits of the confederacy) 9,482,227— 4
2. Prussia (exclusive of her Polish territories)

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1,200,000 4

3,560,000 4

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The pecuniary contributions of the several members of the confederacy have also been voted for five years; after which the proportions are subject to revision. The fortresses that are considered as essential to the defence of the dominions, belong in common to the confederation, and are to be repaired and supported at the general expense. Germersheim, as commanding the passage of the Rhine, is to be made a place of great strength; as well as Homburg and Ulm. For completing the fortifications of the last of these places, the sum of £800,000 was voted by the diet in 1818. In time of war, a generalis

201,000- 1

185,682 1 80,012-1 54,400- 1 27,706 1 71,769- 1 217,769 1 52,947-1

37,046-1

32,454-1

45,117-1

53,937-1

14,500- 1

5,546-1 35,360-1

51,877-1

22,255- 1

52,205-1 20,000- 1 24,000- 1 69,062-1

40,650 1 47,850-1 48,500- 1 129,800- 1 30,091,489-69

simo is to be chosen by the diet, and who is to be accountable to them alone for his conduct.

DIETRICH, or DIETRICY (Christian William Ernest), a modern artist, born at Weimar in 1712. He resided chiefly at Dresden, where he was professor of the Academy of Arts. He succeeded both in history and landscape, and painted above 150 small subjects, which he engraved in the style of Salvator Rosa. Some of these etchings are exceedingly rare.

DIEU ET MON DROIT, Fr. i. e. God and my right. The motto of the arms of England, first assumed by Richard I. to intimate that he did not hold his empire in vassalage of any mortal. It was afterwards taken up by Edward III. and was continued without interruption to the time of king William III. who used the motto Je maintiendray, though the former was still retained upon the great seal. After him queen Anne used the motto Semper eadem, which had been before used by queen Elizabeth; but ever since queen Anne, Dieu et mon droit has been the royal motto.

DIEU ET SON ACTE, in common law, a maxim that the act of God shall hurt no man: so that if a house be beat down by a tempest, the lessee shall not only be free from an action of waste, but also have a right to take the timber to rebuild the house.

DIEU, ISLE DE, an island in the Atlantic, near the coast of France, about seven miles long, and two wide, fifteen miles S.S. W. of Noirmoutier. Long. 15° 17′ E. of Ferro,, lat. 46° 42′ N.

DIEZ (Juan or John Martin), better known as the Empecinado of modern Spanish guerilla warfare, was the son of a peasant of Valladolid,

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