performers in the movement, I learn that the captain's detachments kept admirably in order, and met at Kemp's hut, by Lake Sorell, the source of the Clyde, and one of a series of noble sheets of water on the elevated basaltic plateau of the centre of the island. He commenced throwing out his line of encampments toward Lake Echo, still further southward, where they were to remain till further orders; but before that could be accomplished, commands were received to hasten downward towards Hobart Town, as a new line was to be formed from the township of Sorell to the east coast. Obedience being the duty of a soldier, and not discussion of the views of his superior, Captain Donaldson performed his great and toilsome march, and appeared at Sorell before his chief; who, to show his appreciation of his services, issued the following Order:—
"Camp, Sorell Rivulet,
Nov. 2, 1830.
"The Colonel Commanding cannot allow the Division under the orders of Captain Donaldson to join the Camp at Sorell, without expressing the sense he entertains of the zeal which has distinguished the proceedings of the whole Division in the rapid march which has been made from the Lakes to the position before Sorell. His Excellency is fully aware of the great privations and inconvenience which the Leaders, as well as those serving under them, have been suffering by so protracted a separation from their families and homes, and the cheerful and ready alacrity which has animated them in striving to accomplish the present important undertaking is beyond all praise.
"The Colonel Commanding begs Captain Donaldson will make these, his sincere sentiments, known throughout his division.
And well did they earn the glory of such a notice. From a veteran shepherd, who had been guide to a part of the captain's forces, I gathered some information of the trials of the road. He conducted a party of eighteen from near Deloraine to the top of a bluff some 4,000 feet high. Torn by the scrub, hungry and wet, their camp was most miserable. Without tents, they had to pass an inclement night on that bleak hill, around the fire, or stowed away in the hollow of trees. He told me that several wanted to go home, their sense of discomfort overcoming their love of adventure and their devotion to duty. The roaring of a grand cascade, 300 feet in height, would have given them more
