whom she at length persuaded to allow her to see her friends the "white men." She, of course, remained with them, and was taken back to Sydney. From her he got a large quantity of interesting information, and many additions to his vocabulary. On these subjects, however, we must refer our readers to the work itself, assuring them it will well repay perusal. Our object has been, while reviewing the two works placed at the head of this chapter, to give the reader some idea of the form and aspect, the relative size and situation, of some of the principal islands of the eastern archipelago. We commenced with the Straits of Malacca, and the great and flourishing settlement of Singapore, as the starting point of our supposed packet route through this great archipelago. We shall close with some description of Cape York and Torres Straits, as the best spot for the intermediate coaling station for the packets between Singapore and Sydney. Torres Straits lies between the north point of the east coast of Australia and New Guinea, being about eighty geographical miles in width from north to south. The northern end of the Great Barrier reef, here about seventy miles from the land, stretches nearly across its eastern entrance. Its northern half is completely blocked by coral reefs and shoals stretching from New Guinea, so that all ships passing through it, whether they come through one of the openings in the Great Barrier reef, or double its northern extremity, are compelled to come within sight of the land of Australia, and to pass close to either the mainland of Cape York, or one of the many islands just detached from it. Having premised so much, we will let Mr. Macgillivray do the rest. While lying at anchor at Cape York, he says "The frequent excursions of our shooting parties, being more extended than during our last visit, became the means of adding considerably to our knowledge of the surrounding country. One of the immediate consequences was, the discovery of several small streams of fresh water. The principal of these, which we named Mew River (after its finder, the serjeant of marines aboard), has its mouth in a small mangrove creek, three quarters of a mile to the eastward of Evans Bay. About five miles farther up, its source was found to be a spring among rocks, in a dense calamus scrub. It waters a fine valley running nearly east and west, behind the range of hills to the southward of Evans Bay, and its line is marked by a belt of tangled brush, exceeding in luxu riance anything of the same description which I had seen elsewhere. "The lower part of the valley is open forest land, or nearly level and thinly wooded country, covered with tall coarse grass, Farther up it becomes more beautiful. From the belt of wood concealing the windings of the river, grassy sloping meadows extend upwards on each side to the flanking ridges which are covered with dense scrub, occasionally extending in straggling patches down to the water. The soil of these meadows is a rich sandy loam. Here, at the end of the dry season and before the periodical rains had fairly set in, we found the stream at half-way up to be about six feet in breadth, slowly running over a shallow gravelly, or earthy bed, with occasional pools from two to four feet in depth." This matter of permanent fresh water is one that only those who have visited Australia, can adequately appreciate. While the Mæander lay at Port Essington, they could only just get enough of water for their daily consumption, and were obliged to go to the Moluccas to water the ship. In another place, Mr. Macgillivray mentions that on Albany Island, immediately adjacent to Cape York, He finally sums up, as to Cape York, in the following terms: "I need scarcely repeat the arguments which have been adduced in favour of the expediency, I may almost say necessity, of establishing a military post, or small settlement of some kind, in the vicinity of Cape York simply because, while perfectly agreeing with Mr. Jukes, and several other persons, who have drawn the public attention to the subject, I have little in addition to offer. Still, a few words on the question may not be out of place. The beneficial results to be looked for, were such a settlement to be formed, would be: Torres "1st, A port of refuge would be afforded to the crews of vessels wrecked Straits, and its approaches, who otherwise must make for Booby Island, and there await the uncertainty of being picked up by "3rd. The knowledge of the existence of such a post would speedily exercise a beneficial influence over our intercourse with the natives of Torres Strait, and induce them to refrain from a repetition of the outrages which they have frequently committed upon Europeans; the little trade in tortoise-shell, which might be pushed in the strait, as has frequently been done before by small vessels from Sydney, and even from Hong Kong, would no longer be a dangerous one, and protection would be afforded to the coaling depôt for steamers at Port Albany. "4th. In a military point of view, the importance of such a post has been urged upon the ground, that in the event of a war, a single enemy's ship stationed in the neighbourhood, if previously unoccupied, could completely command the whole of our commerce passing through the strait. "5th. From what more central point could operations be conducted with the view of extending our knowledge of the interior of New Guinea, by ascending some of the large rivers of that country, disemboguing on the shores of the Great Bight? "6th. And lastly-but on this point I would advance my opinion with much diffidence-I believe that were a settlement to be established at Cape York, missionary enterprise, judiciously conducted, might find a useful field for its labours in Torres Strait, beginning with the Murray and Darnley islanders; people of a much higher intellectual standard than the Australians, and consequently more likely to appreciate any humanising influence which might be exercised for their benefit." Most readers, perhaps, take up a book of voyages or travels, as they would a novel, seeking a passing amusement from the adventures therein described, or perhaps only from the illustrations given. Such voyages as these now described, however, and especially such as the latter book of Mr. Macgillivray's, admit of a more careful and studious perusal for the amount of information they contain, whether to the naturalist, the geogra pher, or the statesman. To the man of science, perhaps, it matters not of what nation were the observers, nor in what language their history is written. For the interests of the British empire, however, with her colonial possessions and foreign dependencies scattered over the whole globe, her subjects and her commerce penetrating to even the most out-ofthe-way corners of it, - new trades, new sources of wealth, new commercial relations every day springing up, it is essential that competent observers and describers of our own nation should be always travelling the globe, and from time to time giving to the public the results of their observations. These may be a source of amusement to the idle man, and of information to the man of science, but by no man ought they to be more thoroughly mastered, and frequently perused, than by any one who aspires to become a leader in the affairs of the British empire. Of this empire the United Kingdom is only the heart-its limbs and members embrace the world. Would that every politician would keep this fact present to his mind! We should then have fewer petty squabbles and local and party disputes and prejudices, here at home-should legislate and govern in a purer and larger spirit, with the consciousness that every throb of the national heart is felt, in its pulsations, to the uttermost ends of the earth. 2 A VOL. XLI.-NO. CCXLIII. SPRING-TIME FLOWERS. "Sweet as Spring-time flowers."-SHAKSPEARE. WINTER is wellnigh past and gone; snow, and sleet, and the bitter bail-storm have given place to the plashing shower, and the dull, dense clouds of February. Winter is wellnigh gone-driven away by the advent of the still young Spring. But, ere he yields up the wide domains of the fair earth, he turns ever and anon in his flight, as if he would again grasp the world with his cold, rude hands, and essays to regain his lost dominions. And so, in his Parthian flight, will he now and then turn round and hurl from his sling the pattering hail-stones, or shoot from his quiver the sharp, glittering lancets of frost by nights-or howl in a wild, blustry storm. But, for all these, he is vanquished, and shrinks away as he draws close around him his white mantle; and soon shall the song of birds proclaim the approach of his conqueror, and the flowers of the earth shall laugh with joy from a thousand bright eyes, and whisper their homage in the breathings of their odorous breath. Come, then, let us too share in the gladness of Nature. Even, already, as Tennyson sings— "The secret of the Spring Moves in the chambers of the blood." Shall it not move in our souls, too, as it does in our bodies? disposing man to intellectual pleasure, as it does all animal existence to physical delight. Yes, we will be merry-in good sooth, we will be merry. And so bring hither our red leather box, and we shall see what flowers are treasured therein-flowers that have lain through the winter, yet perished not, nor grew dim in their lustre, or faint in their odour, but like the "Rosemary and rue, these keep Seeming and savour all the winter long." And flowers, too, that have only just burst from the calyx, as the first breath of the sweet Favonius passed over them "O Proserpine, For the flowers now, that, frighted, thou let'st fall That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty; violets, dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, Bold oxlips and The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds, To make you garlands of What, then, shall we first present to you? Something that, like the primrose or the cowslip, reminds one that now the pleasant, breezy Spring "On the heel Listen, then, to a song to welcome in the season :—- THE BREEZE OF SPRING. I. Dull winter hastens to be gone, He's disappearing fast; The sunny hours are coming on, The ice no longer binds the rill, II. I hear its music in the wood, Where summer flowers in beauty stood, It plays upon the primrose banks, The drooping snowdrop kindly thanks III. Ah! well it knows where violets grow It wakes the flowers of the field, IV. The blackbird, from the hawthorn bush, On topmost branches stands the thrush, At close of evening calm and mild, He makes the forest ring With native woodnotes, clear and wild- V. The robin leaves his winter friends VI. A hundred voices fill the air, Away with each intruding care, R. TOWNLEY. What a thousand pleasant images do these verses conjure up in the mind, for they discourse of Nature, and Nature never satiates us. Old as the world, yet ever young; still the same, yet ever charming the soul and the senses with a charm beyond that of novelty-a freshness that makes her ever renew her bloom. Here, too, is a memorial of one of the earliest of our wild flowers-one that raises up its yellow head with the king-cup and the violet upon the green meads, the favourite of poets in all times the asphodel of the Greeks, the daffodil that Shakspeare, and Milton, and Spencer have sung: and now let Collins chant its praises : Ages long ago, Did thy golden glow Lie on gorse and heathbell upon the mountain side; With its wide wings drooping in the summer-tide; 'Mid Apollo's anger, Crushed thy odorous petals fair, crouching in his languor. 'Mid the moss enwoven, "Till, by winter's icy lance, the glowing year is cloven! MORTIMER COLLINS. These are, indeed, graceful verses. There is a fine rich luxurious fancy about them that bespeaks true genius. Mortimer Collins is an especial favourite of ours, and, therefore, right gladly do we find another flower of his culling, which we shall now give you :— THE PILGRIM OF ART. I. Weary of life in cities, and the sound |