bricklayer, proposed a plan that met with the Governor's approval. He had before that been intimate with the blacks, and very kind to them. He now offered to go in search of the wild men, and induce them by argument and entreaty to yield. He took a few blacks with him-men and women. The latter were decked out with fine long ribbons, glaring red, to attract attention in the forest, as they were to be the decoys. One cannot sufficiently praise these brave men and women, who went on this errand of mercy into the forest seeking after the bloodthirsty, hunted

savages.

Wonderful dangers had to be encountered, and fearful escapes were recorded. They at length came near the dreaded Big River tribe of warriors. George Robinson, the worthy leader, telling the story afterwards, said: "I was left alone, and the blacks were coming on to me; I could hear the ring of their spears. I gave all up, but my trust was in my good friends; I felt they had not forsaken me. So when the blacks came on, whom should I see but Truganina and my other friends, who had got behind among the women; the men in front with their spears. I stood still and waited for them. 'Where is your gun?' cried one of the blacks. 'I have none,' was the reply. At last I saw a sign that I understood. I saw the old women throw up their

arms. The old women were the masters of the situation. They threw up their arms, and that meant peace." The men dropped their spears, and came before him.

Then, as Mr. George Robinson says, "to see these poor creatures crying over one another, and asking after their friends long ago-wife, father, mother, childwas sad and pitiable." But such was their confidence in this man the Conciliator, the man of peace-that they agreed to go with him down to Hobart.

"But,"

said they, "we shall keep our spears; we are freemen, and shall want to hunt by the way." They came down into the town in triumph, these sixteen men, who had kept the colony of thousands at bay.

They were then removed to Flinders Island, in Bass's Strait, where they were looked after; kindly watched over by the Superintendent Robinson. Some grand names were given to them. There were King Leonidas, King Alexander, and King Alfred, Julius Cæsar, and Queen Semiramis.

Although they were allowed much freedom, they could not help grieving over the loss of their old forest homes, and were often seen sitting on the rocks looking over the water to the land they had left. They sank into a melancholy state, and disease made rapid progress among them. I had the sad satisfaction of seeing some of the boys brought down by their kind teacher, Father Clark, as he was called, and of hearing them read passages from the Testament.

So great was the mortality, that the remnant were taken from Flinders Island to Oyster Cove, not far from Hobart, so as to be under the public eye. It was there I had the melancholy pleasure of seeing the miserable little company of one man and a few old women. Not a child remained alive.

These poor creatures were dressed very roughly, squatting about on the dirty floor, with mangy dogs around them eating out of the same dish as the people. They were grossly neglected; my heart was touched. I heard from those who could talk a little English about the bad whites, who used to give them drink on purpose to get them to give them their clothes and blankets. Drink-the curse of the black man, the curse of the white man—all through civilisation, has swept off more than any other cause.

I found at Oyster Cove a very intelligent halfcaste woman, the wife of Walter, the solitary black

man. She talked good English, and could read and write. She took me into her little place, nicely furnished, with some books on the table, and told me this story. She said, "I had schooling, and when young was looked after. I had a soul once, and I knew it. I have no soul now, for nobody cares for me. They let me and my husband drink."

Knowing that my friend Clark on the death of his wife had gone to spend his last days with his beloved black friends, I asked Mary Ann, the halfcaste, to tell me where Father Clark's grave was. She took me to the spot, and burst into tears, saying, “He was a good man; he was the only good man I ever knew." He was, indeed, a lover of the dark race.

Before I left, Walter gave me some stones, called Flinders diamonds, he had brought from the old island home, as a mark of respect for my expression of sympathy for the neglected remnants of a departed race. Alas! the poor fellow some time after fell a victim to drink, finding a watery grave, One after another died. Truganina, the merry one, lived to be the last of the tribes, and she has joined the rest.

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May I be excused in applying the lesson to my reader? If you have any opportunity to do an act of kindness to aboriginal people, by your voice or pen, pray do it. Do not content yourself with saying, They must go, as it is the way of Providence." Let them at least go comfortably to their end, if they have to give place to another race, better, or not. When you have lost one by the grasp of death to whom you have not been so kind as you might have been, the heart may cry again and again, "Would I had loved him more!" And so we should say with these departing and inferior races. Do not let them feel that they have no soul left, but do what you can to make them happy while they stay.

NEW ZEALAND1

NEW ZEALAND, though one of the best-fitted lands in the world for human habitation, was only discovered by Europeans in the reign of our King Charles I. Even then the Dutch explorer who sighted its lofty coasts did not set foot upon them. The first European to step on its shores did so only when the great American colonies were beginning to fret at the ties which bound them to England. The pioneers of New Zealand colonisation, the missionaries, whalers, and flax and timber traders, did not come upon the scene until the years of Napoleon's decline and fall. Queen Victoria had been on the throne for three years before the Colonial Office was reluctantly compelled to add the islands to an Empire which the official mind regarded as already overgrown. Yet so striking, varied, and attractive are the country's features, so full of bustle, change, and experiment have its few years been, that it is difficult to compress any adequate account of them even into a good-sized volume. All that can be attempted, therefore, in this short article, is a general description of the physical aspect of the islands, and an account of the present condition of their civilisation and social economy as reflected in their political institutions.

THE FORTUNATE ISLES.

What is New Zealand like? Let me begin by telling what it is not like. It is not very like Eng

1 Compiled from writings and speeches of the Hon. W. P. Reeves, Agent-General for the Colony, and author of the most recent history of New Zealand, "The Long White Cloud."

land. Neither in climate, outline, vegetation, nor colouring do the two countries much resemble each other. Of course, standing in a garden near Christchurch with your feet on a sward of English grasses, with English roses blooming near, English oaks, elms, and ashes in leaf close by, with the English skylark trilling overhead, and English blackbirds stealing your English cherries, you might easily fancy yourself in England, or dreaming. But were you to walk out of the garden far enough to gain a view of the western horizon you would see, many miles across an utterly flat plain, a long high blue wall, and above the top of that another blue wall, and behind that a third barrier. You would notice that the highest barrier was capped or streaked with snow. England shows no such mountain-walls as these, the Southern Alps. Then, were you to turn the other way, and look at the grassy volcanic hills to the east, you would note in their outlines, and in the yellow and brown tints mingling with their green, something un-English. As you went farther afield almost every mile you put behind you would show you less and less likeness to England. Nor does New Zealand in the least recall Australia. The mountains, valleys, forests, birds, coast-line, and, above all, the lakes, rivers, and climate, are as different from those of the great neighbour continent as can well be imagined. The dominating eucalypt of Australia is only known in New Zealand in plantations. Australia is a land of open spaces, for the most part flat or rolling, so vast as to seem endless. It is generally hot and dry. Its forest is park-like. Its trees have a strong family likeness to one another; its prevailing colours are yellow, brown, light-green, and grey. New Zealand is not a vast land. It is but about as large as the United Kingdom, minus half Ireland. Its coasts rise steep and high; its long, narrow islands are lonely amid the immense unbroken