The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-08 00:00:00

640

. .
who took her in telling the officers that there
was in Australia " gold enough to copper all
" the ships in Port Jackson.' Subsequently
Mr. Malone visited the diggings, but his ac-
count of these, though full and doubtless accu-
rate, differs in no respect from those which
other travellers have given. In New Zealand
he visited the stockade or fortified pah of Kua-
pekapeke., which cost so much trouble to take in
the Maori war. The road along which guns
bad to be conveyed was rough and broken ;
the fort itself had been considered by the natives
impregnable. It is said that it was taken on a
Sunday, when the garrison were off their
guard, expecting no attack ; but this version
of the capture differs from the official one.
The stockade was of enormous strength, made
of the largest timber-trees, which bore marks
of a heavy cannonade. Of the natural beauty
of New Zealand, Mr. Malone does not seem to
think highly, but he does ample justice to its
climate and capabilities. He tells one of the
best-authenticated cannibal stories which we
remember to have read, such tales generally
coming through many narrators, and on very
dubious authority :
An awful proof of the cannibalism of the Maories took
place at Banks' Peninsula, before the settlement was made.
In 1830 two chiefs agreed with the captain of a British
brig of 300 tons that she should convey Heko, son of Te
Pahi, and Te Raperaha and their people from the northern
island to the country of Te Marinewie, Banks' Peninsula,
where the war was to be carried on to extermination. There
was a fine fleet of war canoes, with about one hundred
picked warriors on board the English brig. The English
captain describes, that Te Pahi and Te Itaperaha caused
their people to be concealed on their arrival. Te Marinewie
went immediately on board the brig to negotiate for the
trading, and he demanded two donble•barrelled guns by way
of tribute to himself. The trade commenced, Marinewie
confiding fully on the Englishman's honour. After he had
been seated in the cabin a short time, Te Heko and Te
Raperaha jumped on him, as did all their people on all those
who attended him on board. The scene which followed is
too dreadful to describe. Under cover of night, Te
Itaperaliii and 're Pahi and their men landed, and suc-
ceeded in capturing the wife and daughter of Te Marinewie ;
they sent them on board, and a work of death ensued
utterly indescribable for the horrible cruelties which were
perpetrated. The whole population of the place who did
not escape were killed, except about fifty, reserved to be
taken back. At daylight the victors were seen actively
employed in nutting up and preparing for the steam•
kettle the dead bodies of the slaughtered victims of the
night. The crew of the vessel described the horrors they
witnessed as beyond everything dreadful ; the whole of the
day was occupied in salting, and packing in baskets, heads
and bodies to be conveyed back. Among the victims was
a fine young woman near her aceouchement, who was cat
open, her unborn infant extracted, her head and part of
her body salted, and the remainder, in presence of the
captain, officers, and crew of. ii British ship, given to the
pigs. Each basket contained a human being, and there
were about a hundred baskets. I luring the passage back
the chieftain Te Marinewie and his wife, knowing the
dreadful tortures that awaited them, strangled their own
daughter; the captain then placed Te Marinewie and his
wife in irans, to prevent them destroying themselves. It
was understood that after undergoing torture the heart of
Te Marinewie should he sent to be eaten by Te Heko's
mother, the widow of 're Pahi, who had been eaten by
Te Marinewie ; that Te Raperaha should eat his brains,
Te Heko his eyes, Te Heko's sister his tongue, and the
rest of his body be sent as presents to the chiefs of the
interior.

Travellers receiving Australian hospitality are,
or wore, liable to meet strange guests :
At one evening party we were at, after a picnic, we noticed
a rather tall, geirtleunanlike•man leaning against the mantel-
piece of one of the moms alone, and not joining in any of
the amusements, but in an evening dress, quietly looking
on and apparently in thought.
A number of the officers of the Afith and of the Famtenne
were present, and we could not find out who he was, till, to
our astonishment, just as we were going away, we found
out that it woe I'ate, the man who was coward and villain
enough to strike the Queen.
This man was an officer in the regiment, and was
transported for his crime, and came to be assigned as a
prisoner-servant to the host of the evening, who, I believe,
knew something of his family at home, and received
annuities from them for him ; so his situation as a servant
was but nominal. The host of the evening would not tell
us wise he was, knowing that we, as officers of her Majesty,
would not remain in the room with such a man. Mr.
given him a hint to vanish, but that
called no more ou the gentleman who

. • - Ala • ‘...op••••••••••-s,,

THE PRESS.

if need be, with his own ban4o. Married men '
get on best : they have an additional motive
for steady work, and the want of society does
not urge them, as it drives many single men,
to habitual drunkenness. That is the one
great vice of all British colonies, indulged in
by wealthy and " respectable " settlers to an
extent unknown in England. The diggings,
though an excellent place of temporary resort,
are almost always quitted after a year or two.
The business is less profitable than it seems ;
extravagant prices deduct largely from the
digger's gains; and few men's health will bear
a long continuance of the hardship and expo-
sure which such labour involves.
Mr. Malone has brought together a multi
tude of statistical details respecting the colo-
nies, unattractive to readers, but useful for
reference.

The Wife's Manual ; or, Prayers, Thoughts, and
Songs on Several Occasions of a Matron's Life.
By the Rev. W. Calvert, M.A. London:
Longmans.
THESE meditations are in verse, and comprise
the thoughts and feelings most appropriate to
a gentle and loving woman's mind, from the
moment when the ring is placed on her finger
to the hour when she soothes her dying hus-
band's pillow, or prepares her own spirit for
its flight. There are prayers for purity of
heart, for strength to resist temptation, for
fortitude in trial, for the safe-keeping of rela-
tives and friends, for patience under afflic-
tions, for comfort in trouble, for resignation and
hope when death enters the household and
tears away the best-loved there. But some
meditations, introduced we suppose to ren-
der the book more complete, might have
been dispensed with. It is not pleasant, nor
perhaps profitable, for a young wife to con-
template the possibility of losing her hus-
band's affections. We do not recollect any
previous work by Mr. Calvert, but he has
evidently drank deeply at the spring
where the most poetically-minded of our
classical divines—as Ken and Jeremy Tay-
lor—imbibed their inspiration. His verse
is of that kind which, from its union
of piety and feeling, of holy aspiration and
human sympathy, is peculiarly suited to homes
where charitable desires and domestic affec-
tions, mingling together, and running still but
deep, are esteemed as life's best possessions.
As a specimen of the book we may quote the
piece entitled

FORGOTTEN BLESSINGS.
Where are the stars—the stars that shone
All through the summer night?
Where are they and their pale queen gone,
As if they fear'd to be look'd upon
By the gaze of the bold daylight?
Gone they are not. In the far blue skies
Their silent ranks they keep;
Unseen by our sun-dazzled eyes,
They wait till the breath of the night-wind sighs,
Then come and watch our sleep.

Thus oft it is,—the lights that cheer
The night of our distress,
When brighter gladder hours appear,
Forgotten with our grief and fear,
Wake not our thankfulness.
Yet still, unmindful though we he,
Those lamps of love remain ;
And when life's (shadows close, and we
Look up some ray of hope to see,
Shall glad our hearts again.
The volume is beautifully produced ; the
style of ornamentation is adopted from that
"Book of Christian Prayers" printed in 1569,
commonly known as Queen Elizabeth's Prayer
Book, some of the borders being copied from
that work,—while the binding, solid and hand-
some, is well-adapted for a gift-book intended
for life-long preservation.

Ths Midshipman ; or, Twelve Years at Sea. By
the Rev. F. NV. Mant, late Royal Navy.
London: Routledge and Co.

THE title of this little volume is a very attrac-
tive one just now, and the memoirs of one who
is an ex-middy and a clergyman are calculated
to excite attention. There is not enough of
gunpowder in the book to please readers fond
of stirring scenes, but, though Mr. Mant's ad-
ventures were not very remarkable, he tells us
many amusing anecdotes, and illustrates in a

Pleasing way the varieties of hfe afloat. Ife
gives us a laughable account of his own sense
of importance when he first put on his naval
uniform, and he thus records the indignities
offered to his sea-chest
At last one of the oldsters cattle inandur
trapssit"ifl
youay
youngster. I advise you to look after your
don't want them stowed down in the hold. What have you

brought with you? "
" One cocked-hat box, two bandboxes, two trunks, one
portmanteau, and one chest, painted bright blue, with my
name in white letters on the side."
" Well, if Dawson does not send half of them on shore,
I'm a Dutchman. One would think you were the
Governor-General of India. Why, where on earth do you
think we are to stow the ship's provisions, if every
reefer brought such a cargo as that? But come, youngster,
be off and look after them, at all events, and we will see
what can be done." So out we sallied on the lower deck.
On casting my eyes around me, my first immediate
impression was that the ceiling was very low, and that the
heat and noise were abominable ; and then, as I saw the
vast heaps of boxes and trunks, which were scattered about
in all directions, I thought most surely that they would
never be stowed away, and that I should get into a precious
mess for adding so materially to their quantity; infield,
1 felt more than half inclined to disown my smaller
luggage, rather than incur ridicule or disgrace from its
profusion.
" Here is a cocked-hat box and a quantity of traps by the
chain pumps," observed my Mend ; " are these yours?"
" Yes," 1 replied, trembling, " I believe so. I did not
think that I should have required so much luggage, but
Sir James said— "
" Sir James ! Does he know what you have brought?"
" I suppose that he dues," I. returned, " as it was from
his list that my clothes were provided."
" His list ! is he a relation of yours? "

" A cousin," I said.
" Humph! not so good as a nephew. But never mind ;
I have no doubt if you are rigged by his directions be will
take care that your things are not turned out of the ship,
but I suspect Dawson will growl like a bear with a sore
head. if the skipper had not lived so long on shore him-
self, he would have recommended a more moderate outfit
for a youngster like you. Well, now for your chest—what
does it look like? what is its size ? "
" I do not know about its size," I replied; "but we
shall easily know It. It is painted bright blue, with
F—W—M—, Royal Navy,' in white letters on the
front."
He burst into a loud laugh. "Is it one of those,
youugster ? " said he, pointing to a number of chests,
looking exactly alike, being covered with a thick coat of
whitewash, which effectually destroyed all their indi-
viduality, and ranged along the bulkhead upon either side
of the steerage.
"Oh dear no! " I exclaimed, with a tone of great
decision, " mine was blue, with white letters, quite different
from these."
" Well, take my advice, youngster," said he ; " and don't
waste your time in looking for blue chests or white letters
here : the atmosphere of the lower deck is very fatal to
delicate complexions. 'Why, 1 have seen a blue chest
change its colour in'five minutes after landing from the
hatchway ! If you want to discover which is yours, run
your finger along the top, and take the one which has been
last daubed over. See, here is a fresh arrival," and as he
spoke he pointed to a newly-whitened concern, which re-
tained no truce of the tints or titles iu which I had so much
gloried. It might as well have belonged to Cheeks the
Marine, as to F—W—M—, Royal Navy.
" 1 do not know whether that is mine," whimpered I.
" Well, try your key in the hole, that is the only way,"
was the answer. I did so : and sure enough the shabby
concern before me was an old friend with a new face, being
by no means improved by the alteration.
We have heard much lately about " whop-
ping" stories. Here is an account of one ad-
ministered without the aid of a monitor:—
As I before observed, from my extreme youth and the
smallness of my stature, 1 had been treated with great
indulgence by boys and masters, and was, indeed, the pet
of the school. Unfortunately the same reasons qualified
me to be its plaything : and 1 accordingly used to be hired
out, night after night, through the different rooms to be
tossed in a blanket, my price being gingerbread or tennis-
balls. For myself, 1 liked the fun well enough, and as my
owners, that is to say, the room to which I belonged, gave
me a fair share of the emoluments, and my employers
seldom let me fall, there was nothing objectionable in the
proceeding. One night, however, as ill luck would have it,
the master's step was heard at the door: i was in the very
act of ascending : my propellers in the midst of their noisy
merriment : out went the lights, off scampered the company,
down came the blanket, and down came 1.
" Did you ever go up to the sky with a bounce ?
Did you ever come down to the floor with the Mlle ?
I have tried at both ends, and can safely pronounce,
Heads and tails, with a child, are utipleasantieh game."
But this was not all : Johnny was very wrath; and I was
the only enemy left in the field—quid piera f as I had been
taken out of bed for the exercise, no preliminaries were
necessary ; he had a large hand, and 1 received immediate
martyrdom.
Now for one in which a Dutchman was the
" whopper" and a shark was the "whoppee"
I saw once a curious instance of a shark being foiled by
a swimmer, in a packet in which I happened to be in the
course of my many wanderings ; the performer being a
Dutchman who had dropped his cap overboard, and
jumped after it, although a shark had been seen cruising
under the stern a very short time before. Some of us
immediately ran up into the top, and watched the surface

regretted he had not given him a hint to vanish, but that
was too late, and we called no more ou the gentleman who
gavo the party.
Mr. Malono's chapter on emigration will be
read with interest by those whom it concerns.
His advice is not uew, but contains truths
which cannot be too often repeated. Tools,
books, and working clothes ntust be taken
oat: beyond these, the less luggage the better.
It , often happens that English-made articles
44„, are so iu Australia below their cost price.
I,lll‘ No. *we can prosper as an emigrant who
444 his gentility, and is above working,
„
diviL
r•
t

SATURDAY,
of lite afloat. tie
at of his own sense
it put on his naval
)rds the indignities
one in and said, " I say,
after your traps, if you
he hold. What have you
ofboxes, two trunks, one
ited bright blue, with my
d half of them on shore,
d think you were the
Liy, where on earth do you
p's provisions, if every
at? But come, youngster,
events, and we will see
allied on the lower deck.
me, my first immediate
was very low, and that the
; and then, as I saw the
which were. scattered about
oat surely that they would
should get into a precious
o their quantity; infield,
d to disown my smaller
icule or disgrace from its
I a quantity of traps by the
rid ; " are these yours?"
" I believe so. I did not
•ed so much luggage, but
what you have brought?"
eturned, " as it was from
yrided."
of yours ? "
ephew. But never mind ;
ed by his directions he will
of turned out of the ship,
wl like a bear with a sore
ved so long on shore him-
ed a more moderate outfit
, now for your chest—what
fp 9 "