THE SOUTHERN WORLD.

JOURNAL OF A DEPUTATION

FROM THE

WESLEYAN CONFERENCE

ΤΟ

AUSTRALIA AND POLYNESIA:

INCLUDING

NOTICES OF A VISIT TO THE GOLD-FIELDS.

BY THE REV. ROBERT YOUNG.

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:

HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO.:

SOLD BY JOHN MASON, 66, PATERNOSTER-ROW.

1855.

-1

PREFACE.

THE Author of the following pages having in eighteen months passed over a large portion of the globe, his remarks on the different countries visited are necessarily brief. He has described things as they appeared to him; and although interspersing his journal with several miscellaneous subjects, he has endeavoured to keep in view the object of his mission. No labour has been spared to obtain correct information on the various topics introduced: and he would here gratefully acknowledge his obligation to the Missionaries and other gentlemen, for the readiness and clearness with which they answered his numerous inquiries, and thus put him in possession of much valuable information, which he could not otherwise have obtained.

It was the Author's intention to have offered some suggestions on Emigration; but having seen that other writers have anticipated him, and furnished much suitable advice to emigrants, the only remarks which he would now venture to make on the subject are these:-If people are doing well at home, they had better be content to remain there, lest, like many he has met with, they should change for the worse. To those who think they must emigrate, he would respectfully intimate that if they are delicate, and have been tenderly brought up, they ought not to emigrate to the "diggings," unless they are

prepared to dig their own graves. Mechanics, agriculturists, labourers, and miners are the classes best adapted to the present state of Australia; and if such parties be healthy, sober, industrious, of good principles, possessed of common sense, and willing to endure hardship and discomfort for a season, they may emigrate to any of the Australian colonies with a reasonable hope of success.

The writer is thankful to be able to state that the object of his mission to the Southern World has been satisfactorily accomplished, and that the Wesleyan Mission churches in Australia and Polynesia have been formed into a distinct Connexion, with a Conference of its own. This important arrangement is now committed to the watchful care and guidance of Him, without whose blessing nothing is wise, or good, or strong.

London, September 23, 1854.