the most brilliant crimson-nothing can be more beautiful; but the long purple appendages below are dangerous instruments. They twine themselves instantly round their natural prey, or the hand of the rash captor, and inflict pungent and intolerable pain by means of their acrid exudation. Mr. Bennett appears to have subjected himself to a day of great agony by one of these experiments. For what purpose a similar property has been affixed to certain vegetable tribes is one of Nature's mysteries.

On the flying-fish' Mr. Bennett bestows several interesting pages; and he seems to have successfully combated the notion of Cuvier, that the animal beats the air during its leap, alternately expanding and closing its pectoral fins.' Our author says, 'the structure of a fin is not that of a wing: the pectoral organs of the flying-fish are simply enlarged fins, capable of supporting, perhaps, but not of propelling, the animal.'

"In fish, the organ of motion for propelling them through the water is the tail, and the fins direct their course; in birds, on the contrary, the wings are the organs of motion, and the tail the rudder. The only use of the extended pectoral fins in the fish is for the purpose of supporting the animal in the air, like a parachute, after it has leaped from the water by some power which is possessed even by the whale. From the structure of the fin, I cannot consider it at all calculated for repeated percussions out of the water; while in that fluid it continues its natural action uninjured; but it soon dries when brought into contact with the air, and the delicacy of the membrane between the rays would very readily become injured, were the organ similarly exerted in that medium. The greatest length of time that I have seen these volatile fish on the fin has been thirty seconds by the watch. . . . Their usual height of flight is from two to three feet; but I have known them come on board at a height of fourteen feet; and they have been well-ascertained to come into the channels of a line-of-battle ship, i. e. as high as twenty feet and upwards. But it must not be supposed that they have the power of elevating themselves in the air, after having left their native element: on watching them I have often seen them fall much below the elevation at which they first rose from the water, but never in any one instance could I observe them raise themselves above that height: I therefore regard the elevation they take to depend on the power of the first spring or leap they make on leaving their native element.'— vol. ii. p. 31.

The flight of these animals has often been spoken of as if it resembled that of birds; but our author says,

'I cannot perceive any comparison-one being an elegant, fearless, and independent motion-whilst that of the fish is hurried, stiff, and awkward. Its repeated flights are merely another term for leaps.'

Mr. Bennett laughs at the common talk about the severe

persecution

persecution to which these poor things are exposed: he says they are no worse off than any other branch of the animated creation; but surely he himself paints their situation, when he saw a great shoal of them near the Cape Verd group, in December, 1832, as rather more distressing than is usual with either birds or fishespursued through the waves by a host of bonitos, and whenever they rose into air, pounced on by a flock of gannets and boobies. The sight of this double chasse, says the philosophical surgeon, 'afforded much amusement and interest to those who beheld it,' -(p. 35.)

But we must now get ashore, and attend Mr. Bennett in some of those 'Wanderings in New South Wales' which occupy more than half of his book. He seems to have made good use of the time which his captain's stay at Sydney enabled him to bestow according to his own inclinations-in short, to have performed several long and laborious journeys to different points of the colony-exploring, to the best of his ability, the manners of all classes of its inhabitants, rational and irrational. On colonial politics he does not say much; and here we shall follow his example. It is, however, his well-considered opinion, after all that he saw and heard, that convicts should no longer be sent to New South Wales otherwise than for the purpose of being employed on the public works,' and that free emigration ought to be strenuously encouraged. We are much inclined to believe that the time is come when the society of this colony should be delivered, if possible, from further influx of moral pollution, and a new penal settlement established on some other part of that vast continent. The population of the existing colony is now a large one; and it is the duty of Government to give it the best chance of entirely shaking off the lamentable taint of its original formation, which it can scarcely be expected to do so long as a constant succession of fresh blackguardism is infused into the system. Who can doubt that this is a country which must make a great figure in the world, either for good or for evil, before three generations more shall have passed away?-or contemplate without alarm the existence of a powerful nation born and reared amidst such a moral atmosphere as at present shocks every new visitant of Sydney, and is but too apt to corrupt and harden the whole being of any one who protracts his residence there? We believe that, if it were consistent with our feelings of duty to lay before our readers a detailed picture of real life, as it exists even among the upper class of society in that colony-of the domestic crimes and tragedies which have been brought to light there even within the last few years-it would be readily allowed that no fiction could surpass the horrible truth of such a statement. The exceptions are,

we

we well know, many-and we consider them as among the most honourable exceptions in the world; but the prevalent tone of that society in which incidents that we might particularize could have taken place, must be something quite beyond the reach of an unsophisticated English imagination.

But to waive these grave matters ;-the common stories about the extreme severity of labour in the penal gangs are considered by Mr. Bennett as gross and wilful exaggeration. He saw a farmservant, who had for some misdeed been spending six weeks in one of the iron gangs,' on the day of his return to his usual employer's establishment. His fellow-servants immediately remarked how much he had improved in appearance since he left them; and on being weighed, it turned out that the man had gained twenty pounds in the course of his unhappy six weeks.

What sort of convict makes the best shepherd? We venture to say no man could have guessed the fact-it is the London pickpocket! He is the laziest of animals, and in that fine climate the shepherd's is the most indolent existence possible.

These

The surgeon gives us many painful and disgusting details about the aboriginal savages of this region, but has not, we think, added much to the stock of valuable information. He evidently contemplates their utter disappearance at no very distant date; and, in truth, we see no reason to differ from him on this head. scarcely human tribes must go, almost as surely as the wild animals, their sport and prey. All attempts at civilization have utterly and completely failed: they appear, indeed, to be very many degrees below even the worst of the New Zealanders,-we mean morally and intellectually, for, as to physical structure, the New Zealanders are a very handsome race-these among the most hideous of all the living caricatures of humanity. They have, however, like all degraded human beings, their share of cunning; and we could not but smile at Mr. Bennett's account of his meeting with one of them, who took his black coat for an indication of the clerical profession, and immediately advanced a claim for a shilling, on the ground that Government gives an annual grant of five hundred pounds for the promotion of Christianity in this quarter-of which, by conversing for a few minutes with the stranger white feller' in the said black vestment, this shrewd 'black feller' considered himself to have fairly earned a portion. Mr. Bennett explained the gentleman's mistake, and was curious to hear what his notion of a clergyman might really amount to. The answer brought out his pregnant definition :

He white feller belonging to Sunday, get up top o' waddy, pile long corrobera all about debbil, debbil, and wear shirt over trowsel.' -vol. i. p. 210.

He

He retails elsewhere an old but not a bad story of General Macquarie's attempt to induce the natives to cultivate the ground, by a distribution of seeds and implements :

Among the packets of seed sent for distribution were some which contained fish-hooks: these, together with the seeds, were given by the governor to the sable monarch, King Bungaree. Some time after the governor inquired of him whether the seeds had yet come up? "Oh, berry well, berry well," exclaimed Bungaree, "all make come up berry well, except dem fish-hooks; dem no come up yet."'-p. 338.

Wherever men can be compared with women, we are pretty sure to find the moral advantage with the latter; and here, it seems, is no exception to the rule. Mr. Bennett has one short story, which we shall allow to speak for itself-dismissing some flourishes with which, unlike himself, he introduces it :

A female of one of the aboriginal tribes in the Murrumbidgee country cohabited with a convict named Tallboy, who, becoming a bush-ranger, was for a long time sought after by the police for the many atrocities he had committed, but always eluded pursuit. This female concealed him with true native ingenuity, and baffled his pursuers-she would fish and hunt for him, whilst he remained secluded in the retreat she chose. She often visited the stock-keepers' huts at the different stations, and whatever provisions she received from them were immediately conveyed to the unworthy object of her devoted attachment. Although many knew she was privy to his concealment, yet it was found impossible to elude her vigilance; neither promises of rewards-enough to excite the cupidity of any individual, but one in whom a higher feeling was paramount-nor threats, could induce her to acknowledge that she was acquainted with his place of concealment. The brute, however, manifested no kindred affection, but would frequently beat and ill-use her. Whilst she adminis. tered to him the refreshing cup of kindness, he bestowed on her misery in return. Shortly after he had, in one instance, given way to his natural brutish disposition, by ill-treating the being who had done so much for him-he was on the verge of discoveryindeed had himself given up all hopes of escape: when she again saved him, by engaging to point out to the police his place of retreat, and led them away, under that pretence, in a contrary direction, affording her paramour time and opportunity to seek out a safer asylum. When she arrived with the police at the spot where she had informed them he last was, he of course was not there, and a strict search in the vicinity was equally unsuccessful: she then left them to continue their pursuit, pretending to know nothing further respecting him. At last he was captured by venturing out too boldly during her absence, was tried, condemned, and expiated his offences on the scaffold at Sydney. She wished to follow him, on hearing he was a prisoner, but that was impossible; so, reclaimed by her tribe, she was obliged to become an unwilling wife of one of the blacks.

"This unfortunate female was ordered by her husband, whose word is law, to follow him at a time when she was rendered incapable by illness: on her hesitating, he with savage barbarity struck her with his tomahawk over the head and legs so severely, that she fainted from loss of blood. She was found lying on the ground, and taken to the house of a settler residing on the banks of the Murrumbidgee river, and every kindness and attention shown her; but after lingering, suffering severe mental and bodily anguish, she expired.'

The dingos, or native dogs of New South Wales, are the wolves of the colony-they breed in the holes of rocks, attain great size and strength, commit grievous ravages among the herds and flocks of the settlers, and are hunted by whole packs of European dogs. The cunning of these animals, and the agony they will endure without any external indication of suffering, are favourite subjects with our author, and we must spare room for one or two of his anecdotes:

One had been beaten so severely, that it was supposed all the bones were broken, and it was left for dead. After the person had walked some distance, upon accidentally looking back, his surprise was much excited by seeing master dingo rise, shake himself, and march into the bush, evading all pursuit. One, supposed dead, was brought into a hut, for the purpose of undergoing "decortication;" at the commencement of the skinning process upon the face, the only perceptible movement was a slight quivering of the lips, which was regarded at the time as merely muscular irritability: the man, after skinning a very small portion, left the hut to sharpen his knife, and returning found the animal sitting up, with the flayed integument hanging over one side of the face.

6

Another instance was that of a settler, who, returning from a sporting expedition, with six kangaroo dogs, they met a dingo, which was attacked by the dogs, and worried to such a degree, that finding matters becoming serious, and that the worst of the sport came to his share, the cunning dingo pretended to be dead. Thinking he had departed the way of all dogs, they gave him a parting shake and left him. Unfortunately for the poor dingo, he was of an impatient disposition, and was consequently premature in his resurrection, for before the settler and his dogs had gone any distance, he was seen to rise and skulk away, but, on account of the rough treatment he had received, at a slow pace; the dogs soon re-attacked him, when he was handled in a manner that must have eventually prevented any resuscitation taking place a second time.

These instances may account for the fact why skeletons of the animals are not found in places where they have been left supposed dead. I have more than once been taken where one had been killed, as I desired to have a skeleton, but no remains of the beast were visible; and crows and hawks do not devour animals, bones and all, in this country.

'The