augmentation from emigrants. They are mostly persons of the middle and even higher ranks of life, —who, attracted by the climate and natural fertility of the islands, with their adaptation for all purposes of maritime and commercial enterprise, have sold their home estates, chartered ships, and gone out in companies, with suitable preparation, to lay the foundation of a prosperous nation in the Southern Seas. To those who may desire to leave their native land, and who are healthy, temperate, industrious, and persevering, there is perhaps no part of the earth offering greater advantages as a land of settlement. Individuals of different habits may possibly succeed, but have no right to anticipate success, whether at home or abroad.

New Zealand was discovered by Tasman, in December, 1642. He seems to have merely seen the north coast of the northern island, and did not land upon it. Captain Cook, in 1796, circumnavigated the islands, took formal possession of them in the name of Great Britain, surveyed the coasts with remarkable accuracy, and passed through the strait which bears his name. In his journal, he observed, "If this country should ever be settled by people from Europe, they would, with a little industry, be very soon supplied not only with the necessaries but with the luxuries of life in great abundance." About the year 1814, the Church Missionary Society established themselves on the east coast of the northern island; and in 1822, the Wesleyan Missionary Society commenced stations on the west coast, both bodies subsequently extending their operations. In 1839, a Colonization Company was formed in London, for purposes indicated by its title, which received a charter of incorporation in 1841, in which year New Zealand was erected into an independent British colony. In January, 1848, it was divided into two provinces-the one embracing the north portion of the northern island-the other, comprising the remaining portion, and the whole of the middle and southern islands. The latter territory is entrusted to the New Zealand Company for colonization purposes. The government is at present administered by a governor-in-chief, residing at Auckland; a lieutenant-governor, residing at Wellington; and a Legislative Council of six members, appointed by the governor, who has power to add to their number. He is also empowered, from time to time, to constitute fresh provincial divisions, and municipal districts or boroughs in each province. On the 5th April, 1853, provincial assemblies and a general assembly are to be established, each consisting of a House of Representatives and a Legislative Council, the former elected by the people, the latter appointed by the Crown.

Auckland, the capital, is on the north-eastern side of the Northern Island, and the western shore of the Firth of Thames, with a convenient harbour landlocked by small islands off its mouth. It boasts the finest climate, and as the seat of government commands the best society, enjoys settled institutions, and possesses in comparative abundance the appliances of civilized life. At no great distance northwards is the Bay of Islands, where a considerable number of natives reside, the chief whaling station of the colony.

Wellington, the capital of the southern government, at the south extremity of the same island, and on the north shore of Cook's strait, is the oldest, wealthiest, and most populous of all the settlements. It was founded by the New Zealand Company in the early part of 1840. The neighbouring country has been opened by means of roads not surpassed by those of Britain. The Wellington Independent of January 5, 1848, contains the following Table of the climate, as compared with that of London :

Shocks of earthquakes are frequent in this district. Mr. Justice Chapman noticed 24 in 1846, and 16 in 1847, but only a few were palpably felt, and led to no inference that they were ever likely to become serious. But in October, 1848, they were alarming, and occasioned considerable damage. The volcano of Tongariri, 140 miles to the north, continually emitting jets of steam and smoke, and occasionally flame, is apparently the centre of disturbance.

New Plymouth, on the western side of the northern island, founded in 1841; Nelson, on the north coast of the middle island; and Otago, on the east coast, founded in connection with the Free Church of Scotland, are the other principal settlements. The new settlement of Canterbury, promoted in connection with the Church of England, to which the first colonists, some of high rank, have recently sailed, and to which a bishop has been appointed, is in Middle island.

The following islands occur in geographical connection with New Zealand. 1. On the east, the Chatham Islands, at the distance of 400 miles, discovered by Lieutenant Broughton, in 1791, in the brig Chatham, whence the name, and since frequented by sealers and whalers. The group consists of one large island, Chatham, remarkable for a tract which is burning slowly beneath the surface; two of small extent, Pitt's and South East; and several still smaller, the Pyramid, Fort, Outpost, Sentry, Two Sisters, and Forty-fourth Degree isles. The islanders, a harmless race of about 1,200, about the year 1830, were soon afterwards conquered by a band of New Zealanders, who reduced them to slavery, and not 90 survived at the period of Dr. Dieffenbach's visit in 1840. 2. On the south east, the Bounty Isles, a small archipelago, discovered by Captain Bligh, in 1788; and Antipodes Island, so called from being the nearest land to the antipodes of Greenwich, discovered by Captain Pendleton in 1800. The island is situated in lat. 49° 40' s., long. 177° 20' E. 3. On the south, the Auck land Isles, consisting of one principal mountainous mass, 30 miles long by 15 broad, and several islets, about 180 miles from the south extremity of New Zealand. They were discovered by one of Mr. Enderby's agents, Captain Bristow, in 1806; and visited by the Antarctic expedition under Sir James Ross in 1840. No land animal was seen except the domestic pig, introduced by the first discoverer, and now occurring in great numbers in a wild state. The stock of useful animals was increased by sheep, and rabbits; and several kinds of edible vegetables were sown and planted. The group has been ceded by the British government to a Company, for the purpose of forming a station for the southern whale fishery, and is now in process of settlement. Campbell Island, south of the Aucklands, about 30 miles in circumference, was discovered by Captain Hazelburgh in 1810. The Antarctic expedition found here the remains of some huts, as also the graves of several seamen employed in the southern fishery, and amongst them that of a French woman accidentally drowned.

436. New Guinea, or Papua, situated on the north of Australia, and immediately south of the equator, extends about 1,200 miles from north-west to south-east, and ranks after Borneo in size among the islands of the globe, having an area reckoned at 200,000 square miles, nearly equal to that of France. Its shores have not been occupied by any civilized nation, nor has the interior been penetrated by any traveller, owing to the dangerous habits of the natives, but it is known to yield in abundance many of the precious products of the tropics, and is the native region of the beautiful birds of Paradise. The Papuan race, oceanic negroes, are spread over the numerous insular clusters on the east and south-east, separated from Australia i by the Coral Sea, gradually mixing eastward with the Polynesians.

The term Papuan is derived from a Malayan word, signifying "crisp-haired." Tanna Papua, land of the crisp-haired," denominates New Guinea, and the adjacent islands exclusively occupied by the race. The hair is the most striking peculiarity. It does not spread equably over the head, as is usual with the African negroes, but grows in small separate tufts, each tuft, if allowed to grow, assuming the form of a spiral ringlet. Hence the phrase, "mop-headed Papuans." The custom of allowing the hair to grow uncut, is, however, by no means universal. Filing down the front teeth till they become pointed, is common with some tribes; boring the septum of the nose for the purpose of suspending some ornament is generally practised; and the remarkable usage prevails, of raising the skin in cicatrices over various parts of the body, by cuttings and inflaming processes, an operation quite different from the tattooing of some of the Malayo-Polynesians. Though not unattended with suffering, it is supposed that the Papuans possess a callousness of skin, or insensibility of pain, which is quite unknown to the civilized races. Their features are decidedly negro; and their complexion universally a deep chocolate.

The Papuan archipelago, besides New Guinea, includes the Admiralty Islands, New Hanover, New Britain, Louisiade, Solomon, and Queen Charlotte Islands, New Hebrides, and New Caledonia, groups extending over an immense space, but unimportant and little known. Erromanga, one of the New Hebrides has acquired a melancholy celebrity, as the scene of the death of the devoted mis sionary Williams.

POLYNESIA.

437. Polynesia, signifying "many islands," includes the prodigious number, variously arranged in clusters, chains, and scattered detachments, which stud the bosom of the Pacific between the regions of Malaysia and Australasia on the west, and the shores of America on the east, but separated from that continent by a wide space of unencumbered ocean, advancing to the parallel of 30° on the north of the equator, and nearly to the same limit on the south of the line. The grand total is quite unknown, nor is it at all improbable, that there are individual islets which have altogether escaped the notice of civilized man. Obvious prudential considerations lead the mass of navigators to sail in tracks which have previously been traversed; and hence, notwithstanding the great number of vessels which have been afloat on the Pacific, new islands are still occasionally discovered by exploring ships and adventurous whalers. A triple division of the region into High, Median, and Low, is conveniently made, founded upon diversities of natural construction. 1. High Polynesia includes that portion which ranges above the height of 2,000 feet, of which the Marquesas, Society, and Sandwich groups offer the most striking examples. The latter contains in Hawai the greatest elevation, Mowna Kea rising nearly 14,000 feet. All the islands of this class are of volcanic origin. They present the most splendid and luxuriant landscapes, tropical plants growing

at the base of the mountains, and bright verdure of various shades clothing their sides, where rock, wood, and rill combine to form scenes of unsurpassed natural beauty. Some have volcanoes at present in action, while others exhibit indubitable marks of volcanic eruption, in a conical shape, and in rocks which have evidently undergone the action of fire. Reef-belts of coral are common appendages, varying in distance from the shores, from a few yards to two miles. These belts act as great natural breakwaters, and are admirably designed for the protection of the land. They receive the vast swells of the Pacific, which, if reaching the coast, would speedily wash away the soft alluvial soil which in many places borders the sea, and thus deprive the natives of their most productive tracts. There are openings here and there, by which vessels enter to their anchorage, in the calm lagoons formed between the reefs and the shores; and singularly enough, these openings are invariably opposite the mouths of running streams, an advantage fully appreciated by the mariner who touches for the purpose of watering his ship.-2. Median Polynesia embraces the islands below the height of the preceding division, and above 100 feet. They are equally fruitful and beautiful, but have less imposing features, and are generally composed of crystallized carbonate of lime, probably coralline rock altered and elevated by volcanic agency.-3. Low Polynesia comprehends the coral islands, rising only a few feet above the waves, many of which are largely invaded by the ocean in storms. They are very numerous, mostly small, sometimes wooded, but always covered with verdure. A considerable number consists of narrow, circular, or oval-shaped belts, surrounding a smooth lagoon, connected by a single opening with the sea.

438. Owing to an intertropical position, Polynesia is subject to intense solar heat; but this is modified by a vast expanse of ocean, by elevation in the case of the high islands, and by free exposure to the sea-breezes in the instance of the low, rendering the climate in general salubrious, and seldom oppressive. The native vegetable productions include, as the most important or widely distributed, the cocoa-palm, the bread-fruit tree, bananas and plantains, the sugarcane, and several plants with edible roots. When first visited by Europeans, the only quadrupeds found were the

dog and hog; and, excepting in the Marian Isles, there are no land reptiles.-The natives are of Malay extraction, and hence are commonly styled Malayo-Polynesians. Many of them have long in various quarters been under Christian instruction, and brought to abandon the crimes to which they were formerly addicted,-idolatry, infanticide, and cannibalism; though, unhappily, missionary efforts for their benefit have been extensively counteracted by the dissolute conduct of foreign sailors.

DIVISIONS.

1. NORTH OF THE EQUATOR.

The Bonin Islands, or Islas del Arzobispo. Ladrone or Marian Islands. The Carolinas, including the Pelew Group, at the west extremity, and the Marshall, Ralick, Radack, and Gilbert archipelagoes, on the east. The Sandwich, or Hawaiian Islands.

2. SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR.

The Feejee, Friendly or Tonga, and Navigator's or Samoan Islands. Cook's, or the Hervey Islands, Austral Isles.

The Society, and the Low Islands, with the Dangerous Archipelago,
The Marquesas or Mendanas. Scattered Islands.

The cocoa-palm (cocos nucifera), may be regarded as the staff of life to the Polynesian. Its aspect is very imposing, and the blessings it confers are incalculable. The islander reposes beneath its shade, eats its fruit, and obtains a delicious drink in the acidulated cream of the nut His hut is thatched with its boughs, which are also woven into baskets. He shields his head from the sun by a bonnet of the leaves, and cools himself with a fan plaited from the young leaflets. The larger nuts, thinned and polished, furnish him with beautiful goblets; the dry husks kindle his fires; while their fibres are twined into fishing lines and cords. The trunk itself is sawn into posts to uphold the islander's dwelling; converted into charcoal, it cooks his food, while his canoe is impelled through the water with a paddle of the wood. The tree delights in a maritime situation. It is found in its greatest perfection directly on the seashore, where its roots are actually washed, and no saline flavour is perceptible in the nut produced in such a place. If met with far inland, its tall stem is frequently observed inclining seaward, as if pining after a more genial site. It needs no culture, pruning, or attention of any sort, and its fruitfulness is remarkable. Two hundred nuts, besides innumerable white blossoms of others, may be seen upon it at a time; and though a whole year is required to bring any one of them to maturity, no two, perhaps, are in precisely the same stage of growth. The Bread-fruit tree (Artocarpus incisa), which,

"without the ploughshare yields

The unreap'd harvest of unfurrow'd fields,
And bakes its unadulterated loaves

Without a furnace, in unpurchased groves,"

ranks next in value. It is a grand and towering object in its prime, forming the same feature in a Polynesian landscape that the patriarchal elm does in English scenery, resembling it in height, in the wide spread of its branches, and in venerable aspect. The leaves are of great size, with edges cut and scolloped as fantastically as those of a lace collar, brilliantly tinted with nearly all the prismatic colours, when tending to decay. The fruit is heart-shaped, and when roasted, supplies nourishing and pleasant food. Such is its abundance, that two or three trees will suffice for a man's yearly supply. The earliest account of the bread-fruit is by Captain Dampier in 1688, who met with it at the Ladrone Islands.