of Marine, at Paris, entitled "Relation | descriptions, and secured his name an
de l'Ile Roderigue," written about 1730. honored place among reliable histo-
In this paper it is described as a bird rians. The bones of this large wood-
of the size of a young hen, which has the hen were found so associated with those
feet and beak red. Its foot is a little like of the great extinct flightless pigeon of
that of a curlew, excepting that it is slightly the same island, known as the solitaire
thicker and not quite so long. Its plumage (Pezophaps solitaria), as to prove the
is spotted wi white and grey. They gen-contemporaneity of the two birds. The
erally feed on the eggs of the land tortoises solitaire's nearest relative is the famous
which they find in the ground. . . . They dodo (Didas ineptus), also a huge flight-
have small pinions without feathers, on less ground pigeon, which lived in the
which account they cannot fly; but on the island of Mauritius ninety-five miles
other hand they run very well.
distant. In the account of his stay in
The remains of a bird discovered by Mauritius Leguat records seeing geli-
Messrs. Strickland and Melville in 1848 notes, or wood-hens, resembling those
in the cave earths of Roderiquez (mate- he had seen in Roderiquez. In 1865
rial which was largely augmented some Sir Edward sent from Mauritius to his
years later by the collections of Sir brother, Professor Newton, in Cam-
Edward Newton), were conclusively bridge, among a quantity of dodo bones
proved, on examination by Professor exhumed from the Mare aux Songes,
Milue-Edwards, to belong to a species close by Maheburg, a few limb bones
of the Rallidæ or water-hen family of and a highly arched lower jaw of a
birds, resembling the wingless rail (the bird which was then, and continued to
weka or wood-hen) of New Zealand, be, unknown till the year 1868, when
and like that bird incapable of flight. Herr von Frauenfeld discovered in the
"At the present day there does not parchment collection in the private
exist in Roderiquez any bird having the library of the emperor of Austria a
least resemblance to the ocydromi (or painting of the dodo, and by its side a
wood-hens), or the other species of the tall bird, remarkable for its long-pointed
same family; but all the osteological and arched beak, whose plumage was
characters agree very well with the of a uniform reddish color, similar in
idea that can be formed of certain birds character to that of the flightless birds,
which inhabited this island in great such as the kiwi and weka of New Zea-
numbers two centuries ago, and which land, and like them, with very rudi-
Leguat noticed under the name of geli-mentary wings and short legs. He at
notes."
They also resembled the wekas once recognized the emperor's painting
of New Zealand by a "physiological to be a representation of the bird whose
peculiarity." "If you offer them any-bones had been discovered in Mauritius
thing that's red they are so angry that in association with those of the dodo,
they will fly at you." The wekas of and without doubt identical with that
New Zealand are remarkable for their referred to by Leguat as the gelinote he
fearless inquisitiveness, through which had seen there. On this bird Frauen-
they can be caught with surprising ease feld bestowed the name of Aphanap-
by a red rag dangled at the end of a teryx, the very same genus to which
stick. From this peculiarity of the belong the bones which I dug out of the
gelinotes Milne-Edwards designated the pink sands of the Chatham Islands.
new genus he formed for their recep- The gelinote of Mauritius is hardly dis-
tion Erythromachus (hostile to red), tinguishable, except in size, from the
and named the species Erythromachus aphanapteryx of the Chatham Islands,
Leguati, in honor of the Huguenots, lands separated by more than one hun-
whose narrative was held in much dis- dred and twenty degrees of longitude.
credit till the irrefragable evidence, Indeed the latter is more nearly related
disinterred after two hundred years, to the Mauritian gelinote than that is
established the trustworthiness of his to the gelinote (or Erythromachus) of
observations and the accuracy of his Roderiquez, a neighboring island of

2

its own group, not two degrees away. | Chatham Islands, of a heavy flightless They were all of them heavy birds, bird so nearly related to each other as devoid of functional wings and per- the gelinotes of these distant regions fectly incapable of swimming half prove to be. There must have been a round the world, yet Mauritius and the continuous land surface between the Chatham Islands are the only two spots larger areas which have been shown on the globe in which the aphanapteryx above to have with much probability is known to have lived, and at present existed in ancient times in the Indian there is no evidence that the Whare- Ocean and in the western Pacific. Not kauri species inhabited New Zealand. only were the aphanapteryx and the Along with the great pigeons and the coot common to the two lands, but aphanapteryx there lived in Mauritius, there existed also in both, though now so Leguat tells us, "water-hens, which extinct, gigantic representatives of the are as large as fowls; they are black ostrich tribe-the dinornis or moa of and have a large white crest on the New Zealand and the apyornis of Madahead." And among the aphanapteryx gascar - birds without doubt sprung remains brought thence there occurred from a common stock. So also we other bones which Milne-Edwards has might, if space permitted, show that in determined to belong to a tall species South Africa, in the southern lands of of coot, which he has named Fulica South America, in temperate Australia newtoni, doubtless the water-hen re- and Tasmania, as well as in the Anferred to by Leguat. Strangely enough, tarctic islands, there live or have lived I gathered also on the Waitangi sands, forms of animal and vegetable life, as I have narrated above, the bones of very close of kin to each other, coma tall coot in association with the mon to two or to more of these widely Wharekauri aphanapteryx, so closely parted regions, yet without any kin so rélated to Newton's coot, as to be near on the northern side of the equascarcely possible of differentiation from tor. It is impossible to doubt, thereit, except perhaps by its somewhat fore, that in southern latitudes there larger size. After a careful study of all must have existed a land on which the the remains from the different Masca- common ancestors of all these forms rene Islands as well as all that has been lived, and whence they could disperse written on the subject, Professor New-in all directions. This lost continent, I ton and his brother find the deduction am constrained to believe from evi"that the solitaire of Roderiquez and the dodo of Mauritius, much as they eventually came to differ, sprang from one and the same stock, so obvious that they can no more conceive any one fully acquainted with the facts of the case hesitating about its adoption; " and "there was once a time," they are compelled to believe," when Roderiquez, Mauritius, Bourbon, Madagascar, and the Seychelles were connected by dry land," of which they are now the surviving portions, just as New Zealand and the islands around it are but the unsunk fragments of a greater land, as I have shown on a previous page. And now, continuing the train of reasoning adopted by so excellent an authority as Professor Newton, there can be but one deduction from the occurrence in past times, both in Mauritius and in the

dence which space does not on the present occasion permit me to adduce, lies in part beneath the southern icecap, and it approached to or included the Antarctic islands, as well as extended northward to unite with the southern extremities of South America, perhaps with Africa, and with the Mascarene, the Australian and New Zealand continental islands. The comparatively shallow depth of the circumpolar seas strongly supports the probability of this supposition. In the days, however, when the ancestors of the plants and animals now living or whose fossils prove their former existence in these far-separated countries, had their common home in this Antarctic continent, it was a land, not buried under ice, but smiling under a bright and genial climate and clothed

4262

HENRY O. FORBES.

with a vegetation sufficient for the sus- | existence of an austral continent extenance of a large and diverse fauna. tending into far southern latitudes, We know that such climatic conditions however unable we may be to fix its must have existed in the Antarctic boundaries, is undoubtedly necessary area, during the height of the glacial to explain the distribution of life in age in the Northern Hemisphere. The the southern hemisphere, and account inhabitants of this genial land lived, for no more singular instance of dismultiplied, spread abroad, and, through connected distribution than the occurlapse of ages modified by their surrence of the aphanapteryx both in roundings and the latitude of their Mauritius and in the Chatham Islands. homes, graduated into many diverse If I have been able to convey to the species, till the creeping on of the gla- reader of this account of my visit to cial age in the southern hemisphere Wharekauri but a fraction of the intercompelled them gradually to migrate est, the charm, and the excitement of further and further northward. In keen expectancy which every yard travthis as in all migrations, there perished ersed, every sand-hill and refuse-heap doubtless many strange forms of that explored, aroused when any moment land which we shall probably never might disclose still more remarkable know; the members of some of its forms of life than any already gathered, groups, such as the genus aphanapteryx, with all the light their discovery might would seem to have split into parties, shed on the past; or some impression of which, travelling by divergent roads, the delight that the scenery on every finally arrived in regions so far apart as hand afforded me, neither the reader Mauritius and the Chatham Islands, nor the writer of this paper will have unaffected by the varying climates and cause to be dissatisfied. surroundings they experienced, being of an ancient dominating type; others, again, travelling together by single route, or dying out on other roads, are therefore found only on one of the It is unlikely that the north peninsulas of the Antarctic land were ever contemporaneously united with all the northern continents, as the singularly uneven distribution among them of their fauna and flora indicates. The union was probably now with one region, now with another, and indeed it is possible that the Antarctic extensions may have never joined directly with any part of the great continents as we now actually know them. To trace, however, even roughly, the direct roads, or to locate the drawbridges, and the leaping-stones, which the many eleva- I had often wished to hear more of tions and subsidences of this volcanic that tragedy. Of the declaration of war region have made and broken for these in November, 1885, of the advance of passing migrants, or to reckon the mu- the river column under Sir Henry Prentations and combinations of their open-dergast, of the fighting at Minhla and ing and closing, or to follow the flow the subsequent collapse of all resistand flux, the expediting, the retarding, ance, and of the surrender at Mandalay or the perishing of the northward- by the king when he could have rebound pilgrims, are problems too com- treated further north and prolonged plex to attempt now. Nevertheless the the war almost indefinitely, I had of

northern continents.

From Blackwood's Magazine. THE LAST DAYS OF AN EMPIRE.

I.

I MADE her acquaintance one afternoon on my return from court. She was sitting in my verandah with her sister, an old friend of mine, the wife of a Burman magistrate, and we had tea together. She was very pretty, with round fair cheeks and brown eyes, with flowers in her hair and gold bangles on her wrists, and her face softened as her sister told me she had been maid of honor to the queen during those last days when the empire fell into dust.

course heard a great deal. The papers I did like, and I heard many stories

had been full of letters from special from the little ex-maid of honor to the correspondents, official reports had been queen, told sometimes at the well as we printed and books published, till of the sat on the steps while the maidens acts of our officers and of the reasons passed for water in the golden evenfor their acts nearly everything was ing; sometimes at my house, when the known. But of the acts of Burmese ladies honored me by coming to aftergovernment we knew little, and of the noon tea, or at a pwè 2 when we were reasons for those acts almost nothing. bored with the actors, and the summer It crumbled into dust beneath a stronger night was too hot for sleep. Of what power, and of the causes of its fall we she told me, so much as relates to those heard scarcely anything. The Bur- last eventful days, I will try to give mese empire had no special correspond-you as much as possible in her own ents, no newspapers, no makers of words, though in the translation many books. No one has stood forth to tell of the pretty turns of expression must the world the other half of that tragedy, be lost, and all the sometimes coquetthe losers' half; so it is only known tish, sometimes earnest, but always partially, and therefore incorrectly, as charming manners of the speaker; the told from one standpoint, that of the deep woe in her eyes as she spoke of victors. Yet of all but bare facts an the calamities that had overtaken the queen, and the smile on her red lips as she told of some childish escapade.

enemy can hear but little. As an enemy he is expected to desire naught but evil news of his foes, and that is all he hears. Those who could tell him My father [she began] was a Chinese the truth think he would not care to contractor, as you know, Thakin, and hear it. Let him wish to be impartial he built the great round tower with as the sea, he cannot, while the strug- the winding stair at the south-east of gle lasts, have the grounds for a sound the palace. He has never yet been judgment. Yet however grotesque the paid for it, but that cannot be helped error, however cruel the ignorant state-now. I entered the palace when I was ment, however mistaken the conclusion eleven years old, four years before the that might be published, it must remain war, and was one of the queen's maids uncorrected, and go down to the world of honor. You know, Thakin, the king as history. The king might be called a had maids of honor too, but I was one drunken ruffian, the queen a blood- of Mebya's maids, and after a year or thirsty virago, and there was no an- two I was made to carry her gold box swer, no defence. To the bitterness of of tobacco and cigarette papers and roll defeat was added this bitterness of them for her; for you know the queen misunderstanding, for the truth is hard did not smoke our great Burmese cheto come at. Perhaps, I thought, I may roots, but cigarettes such as you smoke. hear from this girl something of those There were many maids of honor. days in November, 1885. She was in Some were the daughters and sisters of the palace, if not an actor, yet with the Shan chiefs, and some were relations of actors, and she must have seen it all. ministers and governors. They were I will ask her to tell me. kept in the palace, I think, so that the princes and governors should not rebel. Yes! It was pleasant in the palace "You wish to know, Thakin,1 about then. I had a room with another maid the palace? I was in the palace four of honor. At first it was Ma E Mya years till the king and queen were taken who was with me, but she got into away by the English. That was in our trouble. She took a lover and was era 1247, or, as you count it, 1885. I punished. Perhaps some time I may will tell you if you like."

II.

A Burmese title of respect like "sahib."

2 A performance of a play or a dance.

3 The queen's.

tell you about her. Ma Shwe Tha.

Afterwards it was | to take any other wives. It is true there was the lesser queen, but Mebya did not mind her, for she was of no account; but the queen was afraid of any one coming between her and the king. If the king loved one of the queen's maidens, the queen was obliged to give her to the king, but after six months or a year the girl would disappear. Yes!

It was pleasant in the palace. There was not much to do attending on the queen, and she gave us dresses often beautiful dresses with gold and silver embroidery and we had the gardens to play in, and there were many dances and performances. No! we were not allowed to speak to young men ; but II suppose she was killed. The queen was very young then, and I did not care. The Thakin laughs and says it is not so now! Why should he laugh? Is there any harm in loving one's own sweetheart? Has the Thakin no sweetheart in his own country who loves him? He shakes his head; but perhaps some time there will be such a one, and then the Thakin will not laugh.

was afraid of any rival between herself and the throne she had given her husband. The Thakin looks upon it with different eyes from ours. He is shocked; but would it be better that the king should have seventy children, as Mindon his father had, to raise up trouble in future? Have English queens never killed their rivals, or English kings allowed their wives to be executed? No, Thakin, I do not think these things right-they are very terrible; but does the Thakin ever consider the reasons? There was no punishment the queen could give save death. Imprisonment was only death made a little longer and a great deal harder. There were no jails with high brick walls, such as the English government have raised all over the land. The jail was but a wooden hut, and the prisoners were kept in wooden stocks, and the heat was deadly in the low hut crowded with prisoners. Death were much preferable, Thakin, to such imprisonment, especially for a woman.

It is true that in the palace many people were killed, but are not many people killed in other countries? When plots are made against your king are not the plotters killed? And they were always plotting in the palace. The queen was very kind to me. When she liked any one she was very kind to her; but she was very proud, and wished to rule the kingdom through the king, and she hated any one who tried to come between her and the king. The Thakin has seen her photograph, but he cannot tell how like a queen she was, and how beautiful she looked, and how she did everything for the safety of the king her husband and the glory of the kingdom. She was not cruel, Thakin, because she liked to be cruel, but because she could not help it. When all the king's brothers were The Thakin wants to hear what I killed after the king came to the throne, know about how the war began! I was it not necessary? If they had not will tell him what I know. There was been killed would there not have been a great talk of course, long before the rebellions and wars, and the whole war began, about the timber company, country destroyed? I have heard and about the French; but I did not Mebya say so many a time. The Thakin remembers the Mingoon rebellions against the old king? If the Mingoon Mintha had been killed, how many hundreds of lives would there not have been saved!

The queen would not allow the king

1 Mintha (prince).

We did not go out of the palace much. Sometimes I went and stayed a week or a month with my mother, but the queen did not leave the palace.

understand it, and I do not remember it. Then a letter came up from the English government saying that if the king did not do certain things the English would attack him. I was at the Council that was held upon what the answer should be. I was attending on the queen, and she sat beside the king, and there were present the Kinwun