where they rushed in wild confusion on board the ships which were to convey the victims back to the colonies they had left at so much sacrifice and with so extravagant expectations! It was only the energetic measures taken by Government, by whom provisions were forthwith despatched to the wretched make-shifts of settlements improvised on the spur of the moment, and gave numbers free passages to Sydney and Melbourne, that prevented some serious disaster. A few months later the place so suddenly populous had become once more a despised solitude, and Rockhampton had resumed its wonted state of a hamlet consisting of two or three houses. In Sydney, however, the famished crowd seeking after work kept wandering about, thankfully accepting the soup which the charity of their fellow-citizens supplied free of charge. During these various excursions of the scientific staff, the frigate had, thanks to the kindness of H.E. Sir Wm. Denison, been taken into the Government dry dock at Cockatoo Island in order to facilitate her extensive repairs. The _Novara_ was, as the chief engineer himself allowed, the largest man-of-war which had ever been docked, not merely in Port Jackson, but anywhere in the Eastern hemisphere. The Fitzroy dry dock, which had not long been completed, is 300 feet in length (since lengthened another 100 feet), 60 feet wide, and will accommodate vessels drawing 19 feet water. In preparing this splendid structure, which took eight years to complete, a huge rock 50 feet high was first blasted, the excavation began on the land-side, and on its completion a gate opened towards the sea. All being right thus far, a subaqueous mine was sprung by means of large diving-bells, the excavations being charged with two or three lbs. of powder. A steam-engine of 40-horse power pumps the dock dry,[18] besides being geared to set in motion the various machinery in the shops, such as lathes, iron planes, &c. The dock gates are iron-plated. Although constructed entirely by convict labour, the expense was enormous, since to overcome the extraordinary difficulty presented by the soil, the entire machinery, down to the very smallest tool, had to be imported from England. The frigate lay about a week in dock. Besides the usual handicraftsmen there were upwards of thirty caulkers employed, each of whom was paid 14_s._ per diem, net, but the entire cost was 17_s._ a day, as each man was conveyed to and fro, morning and evening, at Government expense. But as provisions are high, the workman can save by the end of the week little if at all more than the English labourer who does not receive one-third of his wages. At present there are on the island 360 prisoners, all such as have been sentenced to ten years penal servitude at least. This establishment was, however, to be broken up, and the convicts distributed among other prisons, so soon as the dock was quite completed.