TASMANIA

[s. 748] : A British colony in Austral asia, formerly called Van Diemen’s Land, and including the island of that name and several smaller ones lying, for the most part, in Ba Strait. Area, 26,215 square miles. The estimated population, about 150,000, is composed of Tasmanians, English, Austral as i ans, Chinese and Germans. The island is traversed by mountain ranges with fertile valleys. The climate is mild and not subject to extremes. It was made a penal settlement in 1804, but transportation of criminals ceased in 1853. The aborigines are entirely extinct. Hobart, the capital, had a population of 21,118 in 1881, and Launces ton had 12,752. The people are now nominally Christian, the majority belonging to the Church of England, the remainder being Roman Catholics, Wesley an Methodists, Presbyterians and others. The SPG maintains a mi ion here, and the Wesley an Methodists have several hundred churches in Victoria and Tasmania together. 748