PANORAMA OF HOBART To w ar.—A new panoramic view of
the capital of Van Diemen's Land, and the surrounding country, by Mr. Be RF ORD, is now exhibiting in the Strand ; and is interesting, not only from the notoriety of the place, but on account of the beauty of the scenery.
Hobart Town is, as Mr. Bunt, oan's prospectus informs his visiters, "delightfully situated at the head of Sullivan's Cove, on the south-east side of the river Derxvent, about twelve miles from its mouth. The town is built on two small hills and the intermediate valley, the whole gently sloping towards the harbour from the foot of Mount Wellington, a rock which suddenly rears its snow-clad summit to the height of four thousand feet. Through the centre of the town a rapid stream takes its course, giving motion to several mills, and affording a constant supply of most excellent water for all domestic purposes, as well as increasing the salubrity and beauty of the neighbourhood. From the summit (if one of these hills the present panorama was taken, which, although it does not include the buildings in the lowest part of the valley, exhibits every object particularly deserving notice, as well as the broad expanse of the Derwent, covered with ships, boats, &c. Beyond the town, and on the opposite side of the river, the eye ranges over a vast extent of country, richly variegated and diversified by gently rising hills, broad and ver- dant slopes, farms and pasture lands, in the highest state of cultivation, presenting the most agreeable scenes, replete with the useful products of a rich soil and fine climate ; the whole bounded by lofty mountains, clothed with rich and almost impervious forests of evergreens, occasionally intermixed with high and nearly perpendicular rocks, whose summits are, for a great part of the year, covered with snow." The view is a pleasing rather than a striking picture, and is slightly though cleverly painted. The foreground does not offer any more in- teresting objects than a group of ill-looking convicts and savages ; and the few ships in the river, and the scattered buildings of the town, are not very prominent in attraction. The picturesque scenery in the dis- tance—the whole extent of the view being bounded by mountains—is the best part, and both that and the foreground are cleverly treated ; Mount Wellington in particular, with its snow-crowned summits, and -the morning mists curling in wreaths round them, dispelled by the sun- rise. Either the objects immediately under the eye are on too large a scale for the rest of the picture, or the foreground is not sufficiently re- lieved from the middle distance ; for the ships are too near the sight for their small size, and look like models of vessels.
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