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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..55d5537 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #62545 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62545) diff --git a/old/62545-0.txt b/old/62545-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 445c672..0000000 --- a/old/62545-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2169 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, -Science, and Art, No. 740, March 2, 1878, by Various - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, No. 740, March 2, 1878 - -Author: Various - -Editor: William Chambers - Robert Chambers - -Release Date: July 2, 2020 [EBook #62545] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL LITERATURE, MARCH 2, 1878 *** - - - - -Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - -[Illustration: - -CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL - -OF - -POPULAR - -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART. - -Fourth Series - -CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS. - -NO. 740. SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1878. PRICE 1½_d._] - - - - -THE GAELIC NUISANCE. - -SECOND ARTICLE. - - -A few months ago, in an article entitled ‘The Gaelic Nuisance,’ we -endeavoured to point out the impolicy of fostering Gaelic as the -vernacular tongue in the Highlands and Islands. Our observations were -variously received. Many approved of the article; by some it was -apparently misunderstood. On this latter account, we return to the -subject, in the hope of removing such misapprehensions as may happen -to exist. This time, at anyrate, we shall take care to be perfectly -explicit as to our meaning. - -In the article referred to, we offered no objection to the use of -Gaelic, provided the young were brought up with a knowledge of English. -That was distinctly our contention, and we believe that such is the -opinion of all who think seriously on this important question. We -therefore repeat in terms on which nothing but perversity can put a -wrong construction, that the fostering of Gaelic to the exclusion of -English—for it practically comes to that—is a grave error; it is a -cruelty which merits exposure and reprobation. Why it is a cruelty is -very clear. As previously stated, the use of Gaelic as the only known -vernacular, keeps large numbers of poor people ignorant, it usually -fixes them to their place of birth, and accordingly excludes them -from earning their bread in the general competition of the world. It -is very easy for enthusiasts living at a respectful distance to write -in glowing terms about the antiquity of Gaelic, about the wonderful -beauty of Gaelic poetry, about the philological value of Gaelic -phraseology, about the satisfaction of being able to speak Gaelic as -well as English. These are not the points in dispute. Let people, if -they will, and if they can afford the expense, learn to speak and read -Gaelic supplementary to English, just as many of us learn to speak -and read French or German. The more languages that can be acquired -the better. About that there is no contention. What we deem to be -a scandal and a cruelty is the practice of rearing, or allowing to -grow up, groups of children with a knowledge of no other language -than Gaelic; the consequence being that they are for the most part -condemned to life-long poverty and ignorance. And that is what is done -through the mistaken policy of it may be well-meaning sentimentalists -and philanthropists, who are seemingly unaware of the misery they -are helping to perpetuate. The English language, like the laws and -constitution of the country, is a common heritage, in which every child -has a claim to be instructed, so that all may be qualified to perform -such duties as fall to their lot. Is it not, then, shocking to find -groups of old and young scattered about the Highlands and Islands who -cannot speak a word of English, and who cannot so much as sign their -names? We might almost say they have no more knowledge of newspapers, -or of English literature generally, than the lower animals, amidst -which in dreary solitudes they hopelessly pass their existence. - -The Highlanders have scarcely had justice done to them. They possess -characteristics of a noble race. Faithful, honest, and steady in -civil life. Valorous as soldiers. Peaceful and law-abiding in a very -extraordinary degree. Those among them who by some good fortune quit -their native glens and mix with the Lowland population, speedily learn -English, and are able to converse as fluently in that language as in -their native Gaelic. In fact, wherever they are brought in contact -with English-speaking neighbours, they manifest no mental deficiency. -In many instances they have attained to eminence. Only where they are -habitually neglected, and left in untoward circumstances to vegetate -in primitive ignorance, do they shew anything like laziness, and -an indifference to improvement. From all we happen to know of the -Highlanders, they only need to be put in the way of being cultivated by -education and contact with the outer world. - -In hinting at educational deficiencies we tread on tender ground. There -is an Educational Act applicable to the whole of Scotland, whether -the mainland or islands. No spot is exempted from the operation of -a school-board. Although the Act was passed in 1872, it appears from -one cause or other that there are districts where no schooling is -available, and children are suffered to run about wild. In an article -in the _Scotsman_ newspaper of January 5, 1878, a correspondent writing -on the wretched condition of the Highland ‘crofters,’ or occupants of -small patches of land, refers to the educational deficiencies in the -parish of Barvas, on the west coast of Lewis. Here is what he says: -‘At present, the children know not a syllable of English; the women -and thirty per cent. of the men are as ignorant; and twenty per cent. -of the people married cannot sign their marriage papers. One thing -certain is that the people are themselves totally unprepared for the -good that the Act is expected to do them; and that it will be only by -means of vigilant compulsory officers that its full operation will -be secured. In the meantime the schools in the parish have not been -opened; and ragged boys and girls hang about on the moor all day long -herding cattle, or idle near the wayside in companies of threes and -fours, holding fast by tethers, at the ends of which small melancholy -lambs are grazing.’ What a picture of primitive rural life! Education -practically non-existent. The compulsory provisions of the School Act -in a state of abeyance! - -The island of St Kilda, to which we called attention, exhibits a small -population with no means of learning English, and who for religious -instruction in Gaelic are wholly dependent on the Rev. John M’Kay, a -minister appointed by the Free Church. This worthy individual, who is -a bachelor of advanced age, and whom, by mistake, we spoke of as being -married, can speak and read English; but with the exception of the -imported wife of one of the natives, he is the only individual on the -island who can do so, and acts as a general interpreter on the occasion -of visits from strangers. There is no school in the island, nor is -there any attempt to teach English. Is this a condition of things which -commends itself to philanthropists? - -In a handsomely printed and illustrated work, _St Kilda Past and -Present_, by George Seton, Advocate (Blackwood and Sons), 1878, there -is an effective reference to the want of education in the island of St -Kilda. ‘Probably,’ says this observant writer, ‘the most beneficial -influence that could be brought to bear upon the St Kildans would be -of an educational kind. Through the instrumentality of the Harris -school-board or otherwise, an energetic effort ought to be made to -introduce a systematic course of instruction in English, with the view -of the inhabitants enjoying the vast benefits which would inevitably -ensue. At present, they are not only cut off from regular communication -with the mainland, but in consequence of their ignorance of the -language of the United Kingdom, they are debarred from the means of -enlarging their minds, and subverting their prejudices, by the perusal -of English literature. A recent number of _Chambers’s Journal_—to -which every English-speaking section of the globe owes such deep -obligations—contains an admirable article, from the pen of the veteran -senior editor, on the subject of “The Gaelic Nuisance,” to which I -venture to call the attention of all who are interested in the future -welfare of the inhabitants of St Kilda. The writer points to Galloway -on the one hand, and to the Orkney and Shetland Islands on the other, -as illustrative examples of the blessings which have flowed from the -substitution of English for Gaelic and Norse respectively; and in the -course of his remarks he makes special allusion to St Kilda.’ - -Thanking Mr Seton for this acknowledgment of the correctness of our -views, we pass on to a note lately received from a sheriff-substitute -in a Highland county. He says: ‘Allow me to thank you for your article -in the last part of _Chambers’s_ entitled “The Gaelic Nuisance.” I have -resided here for several years, and am convinced that the civilisation -of the Highlands is impossible so long as Gaelic continues to be the -language of the common people. I hope your article will open the eyes -of common-sense people to the necessity of abolishing Gaelic as a -spoken language, by the substitution of English.’ - -A gentleman connected by heritage with one of the outer Hebrides, sends -us a note, in which, after commenting on the grotesque objections -that had been made to our article, he observes: ‘We all understand -now—though a few may deceive themselves and others—that man is not -made for language, but language for man. We Highlanders are determined -to adopt the current language, just as we have adopted the current coin -of the realm.’ This is plain speaking; and we hope that the writer, -using the power which his position gives him, will in his own locality -see that the children are taught to read and understand English; such, -in our opinion, whatever others may think, being only a simple act of -justice. - -In our former article we alluded to the case of Wales, in which -large numbers are as unhappily excluded from a knowledge of the -English language as are many of the Gaelic-speaking population of the -Highlands. We are glad to see that this deficiency is beginning to -attract attention, for reasons similar to those we employ. Recently -at a large meeting in connection with the Welsh Church in Chester, -presided over by the Bishop of Chester, as reported in _The Times_, -Jan. 10, the Dean of Bangor, in speaking of Wales, remarked: ‘Wales was -in a certain extent backward. In the power of influencing those outside -their own country, they were behind England, Scotland, and Ireland, -simply because their language excluded them from making their thoughts -and views known to those of different nationality.... He ventured to -hope that the day was rapidly approaching when every Welshman would be -able to use the English language.’ Such a public acknowledgment as this -is eminently satisfactory. It shews moral courage in combating popular -prejudice. We should like to see Highland proprietors quite as openly -avowing that it was time every Gaelic-speaking child ‘was able to use -the English language.’ - -The most conclusive evidence that could be advanced respecting the -serious disadvantage of maintaining Gaelic as an exclusively common -language is that offered by Mr Simon S. Laurie, the accomplished -Professor of Education in the University of Edinburgh, who lately -delivered an Address on the subject of Education in the Highlands. -According to a newspaper report of his address, he said in reference to -the Highlanders: ‘One thing needful was to secure for them freedom of -locomotion; so that when the pressure on one district became too great, -the people might move to another. Without a knowledge of the English -language, the country of the Highlander was bound round him as with -a brazen wall. He need not try to get out of it, because his native -language put him at such a disadvantage with other men that he had no -chance against them.... There was no doubt that the teaching of Gaelic -should be subordinate to the teaching of English. If they trained a boy -in a Highland school to read, write, and speak Gaelic, what were they -to do with him? How would we like to be in that position ourselves? -Fancy a boy at the age of fifteen or sixteen able only to point out -in Gaelic to a stranger the way he should take; would they not find -that he had been miseducated—in fact cut off from being a member of -the British Empire altogether? At the same time, while he held that, -he was of opinion that they could not teach English to the Highlanders -well except through the Gaelic. The Highland children learned very -quickly—more quickly than the Lowland children—they could soon read -with perfect fluency such a book as M’Culloch’s _Course of Reading_, -and yet not understand a single word; shewing that they would not learn -English well except through Gaelic. The aim of the whole teaching -should be to make the pupils thoroughly acquainted with English.’ - -With such a concurrence of evidence, and with the knowledge that there -is a School Act of six years’ standing, why, it will be asked, are -children in the Highlands and Islands still left to remain untaught in -the elements of education? That is a question that could perhaps best -be answered by the Education Board for Scotland. We can only conjecture -that the educational deficiency in various quarters is due to the -difficulty, for pecuniary reasons, in establishing and maintaining -schools on a proper footing consistently with the obligations of the -statute. Mr Laurie mentions that the school-rates press with a severity -which in some places is perfectly paralysing. ‘In Shetland, for -example, the School Boards were brought to a stand-still. They could -not face a rate of four shillings a pound; the same proprietors having -to pay not less than four shillings a pound for poor-rate and other -burdens besides.’ This agrees with what we have privately heard of -Shetland, where the rates of one kind or other very nearly swallow up -the whole rental drawn by proprietors. Mr Laurie states emphatically -as to this difficulty of school-rates, that ‘unless the government paid -what was necessary above fifteen-pence per pound, the Highlands and -Islands would not have the full benefit of the Act of 1872.’ - -Evidently, the School Boards, notwithstanding their comprehensive and -compulsory powers, are unable to plant and sustain schools in all -quarters where required. The difficulty, it is observed, is financial. -Let us instance the island of St Kilda. Its inhabitants are said to be -seventy-six in number, while the annual rent exigible by the proprietor -is somewhere about a hundred pounds, payable in kind. How can the -School Board of Harris, with which the island is connected parochially, -be expected to build a school and sustain a schoolmaster for the -benefit of so small a population, in which there are perhaps only a -very few children of school age? To build a school of the ordinary -authorised type would cost at least six hundred pounds. And the payment -of a teacher with other expenses would amount to one hundred pounds a -year. The organisation of a school on this footing would go far beyond -what is desirable or what could be asked for from either the state or -the ratepayers. - -A consideration of the financial difficulty leads to the conviction -that something very much less costly than the present school -organisation must in many parts of the Highlands be attempted, if the -children are to get any education at all. Mr Laurie very properly -remarks that children ‘would not well learn English except through the -Gaelic;’ meaning by this, we suppose, that the teacher would require -through the agency of Gaelic to explain the meaning of English words. -That surely would not be difficult to accomplish; nor would it be -unreasonable to establish schools on a much more modest footing than -those latterly sanctioned by School Boards. The Scotch were long -accustomed to see a very humble class of schools in secluded rural -districts. Often, these schools consisted of cottages of not more than -two apartments, one of which constituted the dwelling of the teacher. -These cottage schools were conducted at an exceedingly small expense, -yet they answered their purpose. Neither dignified nor imposing, they -were useful. They imparted to the few children in their respective -neighbourhoods a knowledge of letters. We are inclined to think that -a modification of this kind would solve some existing difficulties as -concerns the establishing of schools among the sparse population of the -Highlands and Islands. In short, it would be well to legalise a minor -or sub-class of schools, to be conducted at a small cost, designed to -effect a particular purpose, namely, that of communicating a knowledge -of the English language to large numbers of poor children who are at -present growing up in ignorance of any spoken tongue but their native -Gaelic, and who, in many cases, as is seen, have no education whatever. - -We hope the nature of our pleading is no longer misunderstood. It is, -that all Gaelic-speaking children may in some shape or other be taught -to read and understand the language common to the United Kingdom. -There may be some statutory obstacles in the way. There should be none -in the light of humanity and common-sense. Perhaps we may return to -the subject. Considering that the welfare of successive generations -of helpless beings is concerned, the subject is too momentous to be -lightly treated, or to be swept aside by casual gusts of delirious -opposition. - - W. C. - - - - -HELENA, LADY HARROGATE. - -CHAPTER XIII.—FATHER AND SON. - - -Sir Sykes was a weak man, and there are few readier elements of -mischief than that of a weak man in a strong place—meaning thereby a -position where there is authority to be abused. Some of the world’s -worst tyrants have been emphatically weak, mere spiteful capricious -children grown to man’s estate, and indued respectively with all the -powers of the purple, the royal jika, and the triple tiara. But then -the mighty system which they, unworthy, swayed, resembled some gigantic -engine put into motion by the idle touch of a truant urchin’s hand, and -crushing all resistance by the resistless force of its swaying levers -and grinding wheels. - -A Devonshire baronet, in common with baronets elsewhere, does expect -to be to a certain extent the petty autocrat of his own fields and -hamlets, to find that there are those who court the great man’s -smile and tremble at his frown, and to hold rule within strictly -constitutional limits over the dwellers on his land and the inmates -of his house. The melancholy which had become a part of Sir Sykes -Denzil’s inner nature, and the indolence which had gradually incrusted -him, had prevented the lord of Carbery from asserting in practice the -prerogatives which he knew to belong to him in theory. Thus he did -not really administer patriarchal justice on his estate, as some hale -landlords do. His bailiff decided which labourers should be employed, -which dismissed, and what wages should be allotted to crow-boys and -weeding-girls. The steward arranged as to the barns to be rebuilt, the -repairs to be granted or refused, the rent of whose cottage was to be -forgiven, or which arrears were to be sternly exacted. Poachers whom -the head-keeper did not like, found Sir Sykes’s vicarious wrath make -the parish too hot to hold them, while luckier depredators wired hares -unpunished. - -The part of a _roi fainéant_ suited better with Sir Sykes Denzil’s -languid habits than they did with his tolerably active mind. He was -well aware that the lethargy of King Log is always supplemented by the -not wholly disinterested activity of King Log’s zealous ministers, and -had formed frequent resolutions as to taking into his own hands the -reins of government and becoming in fact as well as in name the lord of -the manor—of six manors indeed, of which Carbery was the chief. These -resolutions had never been acted upon; but Sir Sykes had always been -able to lay to his soul the flattering unction that it rested with him -alone to choose the time for realising them. - -The events of the last few weeks had given some rude shocks to the -baronet’s indolent self-complacency. He had been threatened with -consequences of which he, and he alone, could thoroughly comprehend -the direful nature, and he had been forced to a series of compliances, -each of which had degraded him in his own eyes. He had borne with the -cynic effrontery of the sailor Hold. He had beneath his roof, seated -at his table, in constant association with him and his, an unbidden -guest. Mr Wilkins he had, through an unlucky chance, encountered, and -instantly the fetters of a new vassalage appeared to be fastened on his -reluctant limbs. And he owed this fresh humiliation to the misconduct -of his own son! - -Sir Sykes was very angry as he quitted No. 11 to seek out the chamber -in which Jasper lay, so angry that his temper overmastered for the -moment both the pleadings of natural affection and the instinct of -caution. He laid his hand brusquely on the door of the room which had -been pointed out to him as that to which Jasper had been conveyed, and -was about to enter, with small regard to the nerves of the invalid -within, when he felt a grasp upon his sleeve, and turned to be -confronted by the wiry figure, anxious face, and bead-like black eyes -of little Dr Aulfus. - -‘Excuse me. Sir Sykes Denzil, unless I am very much mistaken?’ said -the doctor, taking off his hat with such an air, that Sir Sykes, -irritable as he was, felt compelled to acknowledge the bow. ‘Allow me -to introduce myself: Dr Aulfus, Benjamin Aulfus, Ph.D., M.D., M.R.C.S. -of Heidelberg, Edinburgh, and London respectively. We never chanced, -before to-day, Sir Sykes, to come personally into contact, and I regret -that the occasion of our first interview should be so sad a one.’ - -During this speech, the doctor’s eyes had taken stock as it were of Sir -Sykes’s aspect, and had read the signs of anger in his knitted brows -and quivering mouth as accurately as a mountain shepherd discerns the -portents of the coming storm. Nor was the reason far to seek. Gossip -had been busy, of course, with the private affairs of so exalted a -family as that which dwelt at Carbery Chase; and Sir Sykes would have -been astonished to hear at how many minor tea-tables the surgeon—for, -his medical diplomas notwithstanding, Dr Aulfus was consulted nineteen -times out of twenty as a general practitioner—had listened while -Captain Denzil’s debts and his father’s displeasure were freely -canvassed. - -Of the arrival of Mr Wilkins and of the acceptances which the lawyer -held, the little man of healing could of course know nothing. But he -shrewdly surmised that Jasper had staked all that he could scrape -together, and probably more, on the event of the desperate race which -he had ridden on that day, and that his pecuniary losses had provoked -the indignation of Sir Sykes, already smarting under recent sacrifices. - -‘You are very good, sir; I shall see my son, and then’—— - -Sir Sykes had got thus far in his speech, attempting the while to brush -past the doctor, when he found himself gently but resolutely repulsed. - -‘Now, Sir Sykes,’ said the little man, interposing his diminutive -person between the tall baronet and the door, as some faithful dog -might have done, ‘pray have patience with me. Captain Denzil is my -patient. He has sustained severe injury, the precise extent of which it -is impossible yet for science to determine, and I am responsible for -his safety, humanly speaking—the pilot, in fact, with whom it rests to -bring him into port. We have just succeeded, by the help of an opiate, -in inducing sleep. It will not last long, on account of the smallness -of the dose. But it is of the utmost consequence that it should not be -broken; and in fact, Sir Sykes, my patient is my patient, and I must -protect him even against his own father.’ - -These last words were uttered in consequence of a renewed attempt on -the baronet’s part to force a passage, and the persuasive tone in which -they were spoken contrasted oddly with the firmness of the doctor’s -attitude. - -‘Really, Mr Aulfus,’ said Sir Sykes, half apologetically, half in -dudgeon; but the other cut him short with: ‘Excuse me, Sir Sykes. _Dr_ -Aulfus, if you please. It is perhaps the weakness of a professional -purist, but I do like to be dubbed a doctor; as your noble neighbour -and connection, the Earl, no doubt has a preference for the title of -“My Lord.” It has cost me dear enough, sir, that handle to my name; -kept me, I may safely say, out of a good four hundred a year of -practice I might have had, since old women and heads of families are -shy of sending for a regular physician; and that’s why such fellows as -Lancetter at High Tor, and Druggett the apothecary in Pebworth High -Street, rattle about the county, feeling pulses and sending out physic, -when a man who has more learning in his little finger than—— You -smile, sir; and indeed I was unduly warm. No selfish love of lucre, -believe me, prompted my remarks, but a sincere scorn for the prejudices -and gullibility, if the word be not too strong, of our Devonshire -Bœotians.’ - -By this time the doctor had succeeded in getting Sir Sykes into a -neighbouring room, the door of which stood invitingly open, and thus -securing the sleeper against the chance of being rudely awakened -from his slumber. The baronet too had employed a minute or two in -reflections which shewed him how unseemly was the part which he had -been about to play, while some dim consciousness that it was unfair to -visit on Jasper the unwelcome recognition and jocular impertinence of -Mr Wilkins, began to creep into his perturbed mind. - -‘You forget, Dr Aulfus,’ he said mildly enough, ‘that I have as yet -heard no details as to the injuries which my son has sustained. They -are not, I apprehend, of a very serious or indeed dangerous character?’ - -‘Umph! Dislocation of right shoulder, now reduced, but attended with -much pain; severe contusion on temple; some bad bruises, and complete -prostration of nervous system from the stunning blow and violent -concussion of spinal cord,’ dryly rejoined the doctor, summing up the -facts as though he had been a judge putting the pith of some case -before a jury. ‘These are all the results that I know of’—— And he -paused, hesitating, so that Sir Sykes for the first time felt a genuine -twinge of alarm. - -‘Have you any suspicion, doctor, that there is something worse than -this?’ he asked, drawing his breath more quickly. - -‘I don’t know. I hope not,’ returned Dr Aulfus thoughtfully. ‘Our -knowledge after all is but cramped and bounded. I remember once at -sea (I was assistant-surgeon in the navy and also on board Green’s -Indiamen, before I graduated in medicine) seeing a look in the face of -a young sailor who had fallen from the mizzen shrouds to the deck, very -like what I saw, or fancied I saw, in Captain Denzil’s face to-day. -But that was a fall, compared with which even the accidents of a -steeplechase are trifles,’ added the doctor more cheerfully, and with -an evident wish to change the subject. - -‘It is a mad sport, taken as a form of excitement,’ said Sir Sykes, -his resentment beginning to turn itself towards the institution of -steeplechasing; ‘worse still, when mere greed actuates the performers, -brutal curiosity the spectators.’ - -‘I quite agree with you, Sir Sykes, quite,’ chimed in the doctor, with -a bird-like chirrup of acquiescence. ‘The mob, my dear sir, whether in -decent coats or in torn fustian, is animated by much the same spirit -which caused the Roman amphitheatre to ring with applause as wild -beasts and gladiators, pitted against one another in the arena, stained -the sand with’—— - -Here Captain Prodgers came in on tiptoe to say that Jasper was awake -and sensible; that he had twice asked if his father had not yet -arrived; and that he, Prodgers, had volunteered to make inquiries, -and hearing the sound of voices as he passed the half-closed door, -had entered. ‘You, Sir Sykes, I have had the pleasure of meeting once -before—at Lord Bivalve’s, in Grosvenor Place,’ he said with a bow. -‘Captain Prodgers of the Lancers,’ he added, by way of an introduction. -The baronet returned the bow stiffly. He had some recollection of -Captain Jack’s jolly face beaming across the Bivalve mahogany; but he -felt anything but well disposed towards the owner of Norah Creina and -the man who had led his son into the present scrape. - -‘A friend of my son’s, I am aware,’ said Sir Sykes half bitterly. - -‘And I am afraid, “Save me from my friends,” is the saying just now -uppermost in your mind, Sir Sykes,’ returned Captain Prodgers. ‘But -I do assure you that, hard hit in the pocket as I have been in this -precious business, I’d sooner have lost the double of my bets, than -have seen that poor fellow knocked about as he has been. I’m no -chicken, and sentiment don’t come natural to me, but I give you my word -that had the tumble turned out as bad as I feared it would when first I -saw it, I should—never have forgiven, myself, that’s all.’ Having said -which, Jack Prodgers mentioned to the doctor that he should be found -when required in the coffee-room, and with another bow to Sir Sykes, -withdrew. The baronet, guided by Dr Aulfus, entered the darkened room -where Jasper lay. - -‘Is that you, sir? I thought you would come,’ said the hurt man from -the bed, stretching out his feeble hand, and as Sir Sykes took the -thin fingers within his own grasp, his anger, smouldering yet, seemed -for the moment to die away, chased by the crowd of early recollections -that beset his memory. He could remember Jasper as a lisping child, a -quick intelligent boy, unduly indulged and pampered it is true, but -bold-faced and free-spoken at an age when many a youngster, far nobler -in every quality of heart and head, is sheepish and tongue-tied. In -those days father and mother had been proud and fond of the boy, and -Jasper’s future prosperity had been no unimportant element in Sir -Sykes’s schemes and day-dreams. - -‘You do not feel much pain now?’ asked the baronet gently. - -‘In my arm and head I do,’ said the patient, stirring uneasily. - -The doctor, as he adjusted the pillows, smiled hopefully. ‘A very good -sign that,’ he whispered to Sir Sykes; ‘better than I had hoped for, -after the draught. I think we may pronounce all immediate cause for -anxiety to be over.’ - -‘When can he be moved?’ asked Sir Sykes, in the same cautious tone. - -‘To Carbery? I should say, if he goes on as well as he is doing now, -to-morrow,’ replied Dr Aulfus. ‘I will write down some instructions, -with which it will be well to comply, for it will be some few days at -least before he can resume his former habits of life.’ - -‘What are you two conspiring about?’ demanded Jasper, with an invalid’s -customary peevishness, from the bed. And then Sir Sykes had to resume -his seat and to say a few soothing words. - -‘You’ll soon be well, my boy,’ he said kindly; ‘and sooner back with us -at Carbery, under your sisters’ good nursing. Dr Aulfus here will, I -hope, contrive to come over and give us a call every day till you get -your strength again.’ - -Dr Aulfus said that he should be delighted to attend his patient at -Carbery Chase, and indeed he looked radiant as he said it. A physician -is, after all, a man, and probably a parent, and little Dr Aulfus had -a wife and was the happy donor of six hostages to fortune. He valued -the privilege of professional admittance at Carbery very highly, less -on account of the emoluments directly derived therefrom, than of the -many small people who would augur well of his skill, since beneath a -baronet’s roof he should prescribe for a baronet’s heir. - -The brief conversation between Sir Sykes and his son was rendered the -less marked because of Jasper’s habitual reticence, and of his father’s -unwillingness to touch on any topic that might prove painful. Thus the -lawyer and his bills met with no mention, and the steeplechase would -also have been passed over, had not Jasper himself said: ‘I told Jack -Prodgers I shouldn’t go in for cross-country work again, except with -the hounds in winter. No fear, sir, of my donning the silk jacket any -more, after this sharp lesson of aching bones and empty pockets. Don’t -be angry, please, though, with poor old Jack. He meant all for the -best, he did.’ - -Sir Sykes replied that he had already had the pleasure of shaking -hands with Captain Prodgers, whom he had formerly met, it appeared, -in London society. And soon afterwards, in compliance with an almost -imperceptible motion of the doctor’s head, he withdrew; and Captain -Jack was recalled to keep watch, uncomplainingly, beside his friend’s -couch, while the patient dozed or talked in snatches. - -‘Smoke away, old man; it rather does me good than not,’ Jasper had -said, and the captain’s cigar was seldom extinguished during his vigil. - -‘He’ll do!’ was the little doctor’s cheery whisper as he paid his early -morning visit to his charge. And soon after noon, Jasper, pale and -tottering, and with his bruised arm in a sling, was helped into one of -the Carbery carriages and propped with cushions; and under the tender -escort of his two sisters, Lucy and Blanche Denzil, was slowly and -heedfully conveyed home to Carbery Chase. - - - - -OUR SEA AND SALMON FISHERIES. - - -In the department of fishing-industries the march of scientific -inquiry has already borne good fruit. The influence of the weather, -or more properly speaking of the variations of temperature, on -the plentifulness or scarcity of our food-fishes, has grown in -importance as an element in determining the success or failure of the -herring-fishery, for example; and at more than one fishing-station -thermometrical observations are daily made by the fishermen, and -reported to the meteorological authorities, who in their turn deduce -generalisations and laws from the observations thus recorded. Thus the -teachings of the formerly despised ‘science’ are beginning to bear -fruit, and to be openly and fully recognised; and in the future, the -fisherman, as a result of the generalisations just alluded to, may be -able to determine with tolerable accuracy, before setting sail for the -fishing-grounds, the chances of a successful or unsuccessful day’s -labour. Add to this, that, with increased knowledge of the conditions -of life, development, and general history of our food-fishes, wise -legislation may provide for the protection of these fishes and for -the determination of the proper periods for the exercise of the -fisher’s art, and it will be owned that the gains from a scientific -investigation of the fishing-industries are simply incalculable. - -For these reasons we have peculiar pleasure in noting the appearance -of a small volume, under the title of _Sea Fisheries_, by E. W. H. -Holdsworth, and _Salmon Fisheries_, by Archibald Young, Commissioner -of Scotch Salmon Fisheries (London: E. Stanford. 1877). The work is -produced under the joint authorship of two gentlemen long connected -with this important branch of British industry. To Mr E. W. H. -Holdsworth has been allotted the task of giving an account of the -sea fisheries of Britain; whilst Mr Archibald Young, one of the -Commissioners of Scotch Salmon Fisheries, has undertaken the task of -giving an account of the interests connected with the capture of the -king of fishes. Mr Holdsworth has to do with the salt water, Mr Young -chiefly with the fresh. - -Within the last sixty or seventy years, the herring fisheries of -Scotland, chiefly prosecuted on the north-east coast, have risen to be -a most important national industry and source of wealth, the value of -the catch in a good year amounting to between two and three millions -sterling. Needing no cultivation, the sea yields an annual harvest -almost incredible in amount. Of course much capital is embarked; but -without the hardihood, the enterprise, and the daring risks encountered -by the fishermen, all would be unavailing. It is seen by a late Report, -that in the united fisheries of herrings, cod, and ling, in 1876, -nearly fifteen thousand boats, decked and undecked, were engaged, the -total value of which amounted to upwards of a million sterling. Ever -on the outlook for what will advance the interests of the herring -fishery, the capitalists engaged in the business have latterly added a -fast-sailing steamer to the fleets of boats; by which means herrings -caught at a considerable distance are transferred from the boats to the -steamer, rapidly brought into port, and being there properly prepared, -are despatched by railway to various parts of the United Kingdom. - -Railways, by facilitating transit, have been immensely advantageous -to all kinds of fisheries. It might now be said that by this ready -means of transit the most inland towns in the country are now as well -supplied with fresh fish as towns on the coast; in many cases better. -Ice has also played an important part in the transmission of fish to -distant places. Salmon being thus preserved till it reaches the market, -arrives in the best condition, and is sent to table fresh as when -caught. One has only to look at the quantities of beautiful salmon -and other fish spread out on marble benches of the fishmongers in any -of our larger towns, to see what railways and ice have done for this -branch of industry. - -Mr Holdsworth expresses strong regret that the prospects of the Irish -fisheries are not by any means of a promising kind, as far as the -cultivation of the art or industry is concerned. All authorities agree -in regarding the coasts of Ireland in most instances as representing -fishing-grounds in which stores of wealth lie unheeded and uncared for. -This is a state of matters much to be deplored, for the sake of all -parties concerned—fishermen, consumers, and the nation at large. Some -years ago, when we were in Ireland, we heard it mentioned that much of -the fish sold in Dublin was supplied by fishermen from the coast of -Wales; and we likewise heard that large quantities of dried white-fish -were introduced to Portrush by fishermen from Islay and other western -isles of Scotland. Though it is stated that the famine of thirty years -ago has had much to do with the depressed state of the Irish fisheries, -and that emigration has also affected them, we yet fail to see why, by -a little enterprise, the still resident natives should not be able to -beat both the Welsh and Scotch out of their own market. - -As regards the salmon fisheries, Mr Young leads us into a region which -is still in some particulars a field of debate and controversy. There -are very few readers, it may be presumed, who are ignorant of the -controversies, for instance, which have been carried on concerning the -correct answer to the question, ‘Are parr the young of salmon?’—a -query which Mr Young, along with the great majority of naturalists, -answers unhesitatingly in the affirmative. The natural history of the -salmon forms the starting-point of all knowledge of the fish, and of -the information necessary for determining the conditions under which -it may be properly and successfully caught—the terms ‘properly’ -and ‘successfully’ in this case being taken as including the best -interests of the fish and its race, as well as the interests of its -human captors. Briefly detailed, the life-history of a salmon may be -said to begin with the ascent of the parent-fishes in autumn and early -winter to the upper reaches of our rivers for the purpose of depositing -their eggs. In each salmon-mother it has been calculated about nine -hundred eggs exist for every pound of her weight, and these eggs she -deposits in a trench, excavated by aid of the jaw, in the gravelly -bed of the stream. Fertilised after being deposited, by the milt of -the male parent, the latter covers the eggs with gravel by means of -his fins—the tail-fin being, as far as can be ascertained, the chief -agent and means in effecting this necessary action. Such eggs as escape -the attack of enemies—and of these, in the shape of aquatic birds -and of other fishes, the salmon-ova have more than enough—undergo -development, and are hatched in from ninety to one hundred and thirty -days. - -It would be an interesting study were we to trace the stages through -which the young fish becomes evolved from its simple germ, and the -wondrous formation of tissues and organs out of the soft jelly-like -matter of which the egg is primarily composed. But want of space -forbids; and our readers must therefore fancy for themselves the -process whereby the hidden artist Nature works through development, -and at length shapes out the young salmon, or ‘parr.’ It may be -mentioned in proof of the small proportion borne by the salmon-eggs -actually deposited, to those developed, that authorities agree in -stating that out of three thousand eggs deposited, scarcely _one_ egg -may survive—so terrible is the destruction of young salmon. This fact -alone, as Mr Young argues, should tell powerfully as an argument in -favour of _artificial_ propagation; since out of three thousand eggs -which are thus hatched, at least one thousand young fishes may be -successfully reared. - -The curious fact is noticed that in most if not all broods of salmon, -half of the parrs will become ‘smolts’—as they are called in their -next stage—at the end of a year or so, whilst the other half will -not become smolts _until after the lapse of two years and more_. This -incongruity, if we may so term it, has led to the questions, ‘Do the -parrs become smolts between thirteen and fifteen months after they -have left the egg, or at the age of two years and two months?’ Both -questions may apparently be answered in the affirmative, since each -brood exhibits this peculiar feature of some of its members coming -to the smolt-stage long before the others. Mr Young remarks on the -authority of a salmon-breeder in the north, that about eight per cent. -of the salmon hatched by this gentleman became smolts at the end of -the first year; about sixty per cent. at the end of the second year; -and about thirty-two per cent. at the end of the third year. These -facts would seem to indicate that the end of the second year is the -most natural period for the assumption of the smolt-guise, which, as -distinguished from that of the parr, exhibits a beautiful coat of -silvery mail. - -The parr, it may be remarked, dies if placed in sea-water, whereas the -smolt thrives in the latter element. On reaching the sea, the young -smolt may measure from four to five inches. After a residence in the -sea of some six or eight weeks, the smolt returns to its river as a -‘grilse,’ which varies from five to eight or nine pounds in weight, -according to the time it has remained in the sea. After returning to -its river the grilse spawns, and then returns to the sea. The features -of the mature salmon are now apparent, and the fish increases in size -after each such annual migration to the sea. Indeed nothing is more -extraordinary in the history of the salmon than its rapid increase and -growth after these periodical migrations to salt water. Three salmon -which weighed ten, eleven and a half, and twelve and a half pounds as -they were migrating seawards, were duly marked; and on being caught -six months afterwards when returning to the fresh water, were found -to have increased in weight to the extent of seventeen, eighteen, and -nineteen pounds respectively. Although salmon usually return to the -rivers in which they first saw the light, yet it has been ascertained -that the practice is not an invariable one. There is no good reason why -one river should not suit a salmon as well as another, and in their -wide migrations these fishes are exceedingly likely to enter rivers -other than their native streams. - -One of the most interesting topics touched upon by Mr Young in his -observations, is that regarding the relative late or early development -of salmon in different Scotch rivers. Prefacing, that a ‘clean’ salmon -is a fish that has been for some time in the sea, it has been generally -believed that rivers which issue from a lake are ‘early’ rivers—or in -other words that they are streams which clean salmon will ascend in the -early spring. But this idea receives little or no support from facts -as they stand. Many early Scotch rivers have no lake heads; whilst -many Scotch rivers which run out of or through lakes are late rivers. -Mr Frank Buckland thinks a river’s ‘earliness’ in the matter of salmon -depends on its proportion of mileage in length to its square mileage -of ‘catchment’—that is of the land-area from which the river is fed. -This, however, seems to us a whimsical theory, and might be disproved -by facts. As regards the ‘earliness’ of rivers, Mr Young’s theory is -that much depends on temperature; in fact, temperature is known to be -the chief cause which regulates the distribution of life in the sea, -and there is no one fact, so far as we are aware, which can be said to -militate against his views. His theory is, however, being tested by the -Scottish Meteorological Society at Inverugie; by the Duke of Richmond, -on the Spey; by the Duke of Sutherland, on two early and two late -rivers in Sutherlandshire; and by the Tweed Commissioners—the method -of testing being by thermometers applied to the fresh water of the -rivers, and to the sea near their mouths. - -The latter part of the volume under notice is occupied with statements -relative to salmon fishery laws and legislation, a subject in which -the author is naturally deeply interested, and in which our knowledge -of the salmon naturally culminates when the fish is regarded from an -economic standpoint. In Scotland, it seems we are far behind England -and Ireland in respect that there are no Inspectors of salmon fisheries -empowered to make annual inspections and reports on the Scotch salmon -fisheries! And this fact becomes the more inexplicable, and the more -urgently demands remedy, when we consider that the Scotch fisheries -are many times as valuable as those of our English neighbours. Then -also, Mr Young has a most justifiable grumble at the fact that, in our -statutes, there are very inadequate provisions made for the removal -of artificial and natural obstructions in salmon rivers, and for the -prevention of pollutions; and no close-time for trout or char. The -importance of clearing away natural obstructions to the ascent of the -salmon in rivers is well exemplified when it is found that in Scotland -no less than 478 miles of river and loch are thus closed against these -fishes. No less forcibly shewn is the vexatious fact that rivers -are polluted and rendered unfitted for breeding-streams by means and -methods which the River Pollution Commissioners in their Reports -declare to be preventable at a moderate cost, without injury to the -manufactures with which they are connected. - -Besides pollution, two things are especially detrimental to the -Scottish salmon fisheries. The first to be mentioned, is the abominable -practice of building weirs across rivers in order to send water -into mill-lades, and the ignoring of the law that requires that the -water shall be periodically diverted into the river again. Certain -proprietors, to make the most of their lands, give perpetual leases of -ground to manufacturers of one kind or other, with liberty to build a -weir and take water to turn their machinery. There may be provisions -in the lease as there is in law to the effect that the withdrawal of -water shall cease during the night and on Sundays. Such provisions -are, however, in many instances neglected, as giving too much trouble. -The result is, that the whole river, or very nearly the whole, except -in times of flood, is diverted into the mill-lade, whereby trout and -salmon are unable to surmount the weir, and are effectually barred -from getting to the upper part of the stream. In plain terms, by the -selfishness of a proprietor (or a pair of them, one on each side), all -who dwell on the river above the weir are deprived of the fish which -nature had bountifully assigned to them. Already in these pages we have -alluded to a scandalous case of this kind on the Tweed. - -The second of the two things which act detrimentally on the Scottish -salmon fisheries is the circumstance that certain landed proprietors -near the mouths of some rivers possess a right to establish nets for -the purpose of catching all the salmon that attempt to go up the -stream. We do not contest the legality of their arrangements. We only -speak of the cruel way it acts on the rights of all who live in the -upper parts of the river, and on whose waters the salmon have bred. -While the lower proprietors catch the great bulk of the fish, those -higher up get but a miserable remnant. During the whole of the time -that the nets are on, the lower proprietors have a practical monopoly -of the fishings. Is that at all reasonable? As a consequence, first of -the weirs, and second of the netting system of the lower proprietors, -there is evoked throughout the upper part of rivers in Scotland, a -gloomy and almost vengeful hatred of the existing salmon-fishing -system. Of course the higher and middle classes take no part in -demonstrating their sense of the injustice that is committed. The -lower classes, less scrupulous, and indignant at the rapacity of -the weir-owners and lower proprietors, take such salmon as they can -get hold of in spawning-time, thus destroying by myriads in embryo -what should have been a vast national advantage. Detesting as we -do all sorts of poaching and irregularities, we are glad that the -Commissioners appointed to investigate the condition of the Scottish -salmon fisheries, have laid stress upon the miserable imperfections to -which we have ventured to draw attention. - -Mr Young informs us that in 1874, as many as 32,180 boxes of Scotch -salmon were sent to the London market alone, the estimated value of -which might possibly be L.321,800. It seems to us, however, a hard -case that the great bulk of such valuable property should be secured -by proprietors at or near the mouths of the several rivers, to the -exclusion of those in the upper reaches of the streams, who ought -to have an equal right to participate in the annual fish-harvest. -Free-trade in salmon-fishing, so much as lies within the limits of -strict justice, is still in expectation. We commend the subject to the -further consideration of Frank Buckland, Mr Young, and brother-anglers. - - - - -RACHEL LINDSAY. - -A SOUTH-AUSTRALIAN STORY. - - -Towards the end of November, about two years ago, I received the -following curt note from my brother Donald, who like myself is a -sheep-farmer in South Australia. ‘MY DEAR JERRY, Lizzie sends her love, -and hopes to see you when your shearing is over, as usual. If you’ll -say what day, I’ll fetch you from Ballarat.—Yours affectionately, - - DON GARDINER.’ - -‘_N.B._—Just begun to wash the wool. Lizzie’s sister says she has seen -my apparatus at Conolly’s, but I don’t think it. Ask Conolly.’ - -Conolly was a neighbour of mine, and he chanced to have brought me -Don’s letter, and to be lighting his pipe at my elbow while I read it. - -‘Conolly,’ said I, ‘do you know any of Mrs Gardiner’s sisters? She has -an unlimited number, I believe, for I have met a fresh one—sometimes -two fresh ones—every Christmas for about half-a-dozen years, and here -is still another I never heard of. She appears to be acquainted with -you and this neighbourhood’—— - -‘O yes; that’s Cinderella,’ interrupted Conolly, as he abstracted a -bundle of newspapers from our joint post-bag and began to rip the -wrapping from them. ‘Haven’t you seen Cinderella? She was never out of -Tasmania, I suppose, until last spring, when she was staying up here -with the Macdonalds. The Macdonald girls called her Cinderella because -she had always been the one to stay at home and keep house while the -others went about. Her proper name is Rachel. O Jerry, Jerry!’ he broke -out suddenly, laughing in what seemed to me a very offensive manner (my -proper name I may mention being Gerald), ‘your sister-in-law Lizzie -will be too many for you. She won’t let you escape this time. She has -kept Rachel as her last card.’ - -‘If ever I marry a woman with such a name as that, I hope I shall be a -henpecked husband for the rest of my life!’ I retorted angrily, seizing -a paper-knife and beginning to tear away at the _Australasian_, so as -to drown further conversation upon what was a very sore subject. - -My brother Donald’s wife Lizzie was as good and kind a little woman as -ever breathed, but like many young wives in happy circumstances, she -was a matchmaker. And being impulsive, effusive, and not quite—what -shall I call it? I don’t like to say she was not quite a lady, but that -would suggest my meaning—she did not pursue her calling with that -tact and judgment which its delicate nature required. I need not say -more, except that she had a number of spinster sisters, and one only -bachelor relative, who lived all by himself in single-blessedness on -his own fine and thriving property, and that I was that male victim. -I beg pardon of all the Misses Lindsay for using such a term; I was -not a victim as far as _they_ were concerned. But I did feel it hard -that I should be laughed at wherever I went as the captive knight of -half-a-dozen fair ones, when I had never had the choosing of one of -them. - -When I received the above letter I had just seen my last wool-bale -packed on the last bullock-dray and started on its slow journey to -Melbourne; and the day after I set off myself on my yearly visit to -Don. He was less fortunate in respect of sheep-shearing than I, for -living in an exceptionally cool district, where an exceptionally wet -and wintry spring had kept everything behindhand, he had still all -his troubles to come. I thought of that as I buttoned myself into my -Ulster, which I was glad of that cold morning, though Christmas was -only a month off; and I reflected that I should be the only unemployed -man at the disposal of the household until the shearing was over, and -foresaw (as I thought) the consequences. I made up my mind, however, -that I would defy Lizzie’s machinations in a more systematic manner -than heretofore. May I be forgiven for so priggish a determination. - -It was midnight before I reached Ballarat, where Don usually met me; -but upon this occasion I found a telegram stating that he was too -busy to leave his farm, and would send for me next day. So I had one -game of pool at the club and went to bed; and next morning enjoyed an -hour or two over newly arrived English papers and periodicals, and a -solitary lunch; and then the familiar old ramshackle buggy and the -beautiful horses Don was famed for made their appearance, and I set off -on the last stage of my journey. When I arrived at my destination it -was dark and raining heavily; and the groom who opened the stable-gate -told me that my brother had not long come up from the wash-place and -was interviewing shearers at the hut. I was wet and muddy, so I went -straight to my room without even asking for my sister-in-law, who was -usually in her nursery at that hour, and proceeded to make myself -respectable for dinner. Presently I heard Don about the passages (the -house was ‘weather-board’ and the partitions extremely thin) asking the -servants where I was; and then his head and a half-bared neck appeared -in the narrow aperture between my door and the door-post. - -‘Glad to see you, old boy; but I’m too dirty to come in,’ said he. -‘Seen Lizzie?’ - -‘Not yet.’ - -‘Seen Rachel?’ - -‘Not yet. But I say, old man, would you mind telling me how many _more_ -sisters you’ve got?’ - -‘No more,’ said Don with a grin. ‘She’s the last one, and she’s the -best of them all.’ - -‘Then I hope I may be allowed for once to enjoy the society of one of -Lizzie’s sisters, in a friendly way,’ I grumblingly responded (for I -may as well admit that Don and I had had confidences of old on this -subject). ‘Don’t you think you could give Lizzie a notion that I don’t -mean to get married, or that I’ve a sweetheart up the country, or -something of that sort?’ - -‘Not I,’ rejoined my brother, laughing. ‘I’m not going to spoil her -fun, poor little soul; you’re old enough to take care of yourself.’ -And with that he went off, whistling cheerfully, to his dressing-room. - -When I had completed my toilet, I gathered up some boxes of choice -cigars that I had been purchasing in town, and carried them to the -door of the adjoining apartment, which had been Don’s smoking-room -ever since I had known it. To my surprise, the bolt shot sharply as I -touched the handle, and I heard a rustle of drapery inside. A housemaid -coming along with lamps for the dinner-table called out hastily: ‘O -sir, that is Miss Rachel’s room now. The smoking-room is at the end of -the verandah, where Miss Carry slept last year. Mrs Gardiner wished it -to be changed because she didn’t like the smell of tobacco so near the -bedrooms.’ - -I took back my boxes, thinking no more about it, and went on to the -drawing-room, which was full of light and warmth and comfort, as -usual, and where I found two of my little nieces sitting demurely on -a sofa in their best frocks, ready to rush into my arms. Lizzie came -hurrying in after me, rosy and radiant, and with plenty of flounces -and colours about her, and gave me her own enthusiastic welcome; and -then Don, spruce and perfumed, joined us. Don in his early years had -been a dandy, and a little youthful weakness remained in him still. He -never came to dinner without rings on his fingers and subtle odours -in his clothes; and he was at great pains to keep a pair of Dundreary -whiskers accurately adjusted on each side of a closely shaven chin. He -had been ten years in the Bush, and had never objected to ‘roughing it’ -in a general way; but he persisted in shaving himself every morning, -let what would, happen; which singular habit in an Australian country -gentleman very much puzzled his bearded friends. I for one, used to -quiz him as well as I knew how, when I saw him swathe his neck in -a handkerchief, before going out to his work, if the sun shone too -strongly; but I respect his little vanities nowadays, and hope he will -keep his white throat and his Dundreary whiskers as long as he lives, -bless him. He took one of his little girls on his knee, and questioned -me about my station matters and about Conolly’s sheep-wash (which was -_not_ so well furnished with improvements as his own, much to his -satisfaction); and Lizzie gave me an account of the development of her -respective children since I had seen them last, including the cutting -of the baby’s teeth; and then the dinner-bell rang. - -‘Where’s Rachel?’ inquired Don. - -I turned a languid eye upon the door when we heard the sound of a -distant rustle, expecting to see one of the smart and smiling damsels -I was so used to, and wondering whether this one would be dark or -fair. With a slow and quiet step she came along the hall and entered -the room, and my heart began suddenly to beat in a very unpleasant -manner. She had a delicate, thoughtful, but piquant face, wavy brown -hair modestly and becomingly set, and a slight figure daintily dressed -in pale blue silk, with a little white lace about throat and arms; and -yet she was the image of Marie Antoinette in Delaroche’s picture, only -with a more majestic dignity of carriage, if that could be, and a more -cold and calm disdain upon her face. As soon as I saw her, and felt the -exceedingly faint acknowledgment she vouchsafed when we were formally -introduced, I intuitively guessed—with a horrible sense of shame and -mortification—that she had overheard what I said to Don in my bedroom -through those card-paper walls! - -I never thought I should feel so concerned at standing ill with one -of Lizzie’s sisters as I felt before that evening came to an end. All -through dinner I saw, without looking, offended dignity in the poise of -her head and the studied repose of her manner, and heard the ring of it -in every inflection of her voice, though it was so subtle and delicate -that only a guilty conscience could detect it. It was a great deal -worse in the evening, when Lizzie began her fussy little contrivances -for throwing us together. The poor little woman never had so -impracticable and aggravating a sister to manage; and I never met one -who attempted to treat me with such open indifference and thinly-veiled -contempt. It is unnecessary for me to state the consequences. I began -to interest myself in this Miss Lindsay as I had never interested -myself in the others. I began to hanker for her good opinion, as I -had never hankered for theirs. I longed to set myself straight with -her, and beg her forgiveness for a thoughtless insult that I would -have given worlds to recall, and to feel that the way was open between -us to meet and associate as friends. This longing grew apace as the -evening wore on, but the prospect of its gratification grew less -and less. Until the little ones were taken away by their nurse she -devoted herself to them, telling them stories most of the time in a -dark corner, whence merry chatter and ripples of subdued laughter came -flowing out to us; but when they were gone, the bright vivacity that -was her true characteristic went too, and she became Marie Antoinette -again. - -With an amiable wish to make things pleasant, Lizzie asked her to pour -out the tea; but she merely stood in front of me at the tea-table, -with her little nose in the air, and asked me whether I took sugar and -cream, in a high clear tone that brought a puzzled wonder into her -sister’s face and a slow smile to Don’s. I came and stood beside her, -to take the cups from her hand (her pretty head was about level with -the flower in my button-hole), and she tried to ignore me, but could -not. Her hands shook slightly and a little angry flush came and went -in her face; but I preferred that to having no notice at all. Later on -she went to the piano, and sung song after song for the delectation -of Lizzie and Don, neither of whom had the hearing ear and the -understanding heart to appreciate the pure quality and poetic sweetness -of her voice. By this time I was very low-spirited, and I drew away -from my host, who was growing sleepy after his hard day’s work, and -took a chair near her—which of course was a signal to Lizzie to leave -the room. As she sung on, forgetful of me and of everything but the -poetry awaking in her, and as I studied the pose of her slight figure -and half-bent head, and the now dreamy happiness in her face, and -listened for the first time after many years to the true translation of -a language that I loved, a vague perception dawned in me that there was -some latent fellowship between us. And then I felt that Fate had indeed -been hard. - -The silence of the room was presently brought into strong relief by a -deep snore from Don, whereupon she suddenly rose from the piano and -saw that we were virtually alone. ‘Good-night, Mr Gardiner,’ she said -promptly, holding out a somewhat reluctant hand and stiffening back -into her unnatural stateliness. - -I took it and held it and looked into her face; and I tried to tell -her, as well as plain ‘good-night’ would do it, that I knew what had -happened and wanted her to forgive me. I think she guessed what my look -meant, by the sudden crimson flame in her face; but she walked out of -the room with as much dignity as she had first walked into it, without -another word. - - * * * * * - -The early days of December were cold and wet, and the shearing was -a protracted and troublesome affair. Don hovered about restlessly, -whether in or out of the house, always bothered and anxious, and -paying frequent visits to the barometer. The ladies clung to their -fireside as if they had been in England; and I tied myself to Lizzie’s -apron-string with an abject alacrity that puzzled and charmed her. -My opportunities for ‘improving the occasion’ were many, but somehow -I could never turn them to account. The pride of that little maiden -was quite beyond my management. Lizzie threw us together; she left -us alone; she did all that in her lay to further my desires for a -reconciliation and an understanding; but the implacable resentment -of the last of the Lindsays towards me for that wretched slip of the -tongue was a stone wall I could not climb over. The worst of it was, -she did and said nothing tangibly offensive; and I was precluded by all -sorts of considerations from mentioning the subject we were both (and -that we both knew we were) thinking of. So matters went on day after -day. And before a great many days were past I was over head and ears -in love—I may as well say it and have done with it—and began to feel -desperate and dangerous. She walked about the house with her grand air, -my Queen Marie Antoinette, my little tyrant that I could almost have -demolished with a finger and thumb; and I, standing six feet three in -my stockings, had to acknowledge that she was invincible as well as -unmerciful. Unregenerate savage as I was, I had faint longings now and -then to take her by those slender shoulders, and shake her. - -There were times when she became her sweet self, and could not help -it though she tried; and these times were born of music. She and I -both loved music with that special love that nature permits to a few -people; but to no one else in the house did the ‘heaven-born maid’ -present attractions. Don, hard at work all day, could go to sleep after -dinner in his arm-chair; and Lizzie, after her manner, could go out of -the room in the middle of the most charming song. Then, when we were -singing together, or when she was gentle and gracious with the spirit -of melody in her, then was the oil thrown upon my troubled waters. At -times such as these it flashed across me that she was aware of it. - -At length on one of these occasions I made a dash at her guarded -citadel; I will not say in what words, but with the blundering -foolishness that I suppose characterises all implied aspirations; -albeit with sufficient plainness to leave no chance of being -misunderstood; and then I had indeed to bite the dust for once in -my life. She had been singing _Ruth_ with the most touching pathos -and abandonment—‘Where thou goest I will go, and there will I be -buried’—and I could not stand it. Don was in the room, but snoring in -that comfortable undertone which denoted a sound and quiet slumber. She -stood with her back to the piano, and the sheet of music trembling and -rustling in her hands, watching his nodding head in the distance, and -turning her delicate profile to my view. - -‘No; I will not,’ she half whispered with haughty rapidity. ‘You should -have known I would not. I do not particularly want to marry anybody,’ -she added, flashing round upon me with her crimson face; ‘but I will -never marry _you_. I made up my mind to that long ago.’ - -Everybody knows how, in the supremely solemn moments of one’s life, one -is apt to be assailed with most incongruously ludicrous ideas. In spite -of my bitter mortification at her reply, an absurd rhyme that I had -heard somewhere, flashed into my head: - - Do not be like Nancy Baxter, - Who refused a man before he’d axed her. - -I believe she saw the ghost of a smile that might have hovered round my -eyes when I begged to know why she had made up her mind never to marry -me; and that made her savage. - -‘Because you think I came here to be made love to,’ she retorted, with -all the concentrated contempt that her sweet face and voice could hold. -‘You think Lizzie and I have been plotting to catch you—you think we -wanted to inveigle you into marrying me! I know what you are going to -say’—as I rose and seized her hands, to stop her—‘but it is not the -truth. I _heard_ you’—lifting her angry eyes, now wet with unshed -tears, to mine—‘I heard you, with my own ears, tell Don to warn Lizzie -beforehand that you did not want to be married.’ - -‘I know you did,’ I replied, tightening my hold of her hands, while she -made feeble efforts to get away; ‘and I wish my tongue had been cut out -before I could have insulted you and her like that. Forgive me, Rachel; -I have been punished enough.’ - -‘I cannot,’ she answered, still panting with her excitement. ‘I should -be ashamed of myself if I could take a man who had even _thought_ of me -like that.’ - -Two tears began to trickle from her eyes, and a little hysterical catch -in her breath betrayed to me that her defiant courage was failing her. -I would not let her go. Love and shame and a resentful disappointment -made me a little savage too. - -‘I never _did_ think of you like that,’ I said sternly; ‘and you know -it. I must hold you till I clear myself—I cannot bear it’—— - -A log tumbled in the grate, and Don woke up. She caught away her hands -and sped out of the room; and I walked through a French window into the -cool summer night, too full of wrath and love to speak to anybody. - -This was how we stood when at last (on Saturday, the 18th of December) -the true Christmas weather came, and we found ourselves in the hot -afternoon alone on the croquet-lawn—alone for the first time since my -stormy wooing was interrupted. Don being still busy in the sheep-yards -and shearing-shed, I had been playing singly against Lizzie and her; -and now Lizzie had been called away to the nursery to consult with -a needlewoman who was at work there. We were both anxious (though -for very different reasons) to leave off playing when our chaperon -had departed; but it was not easy to do so in the middle of a game, -especially as she had instructed her partner to play for both of them -until she returned. So we knocked the balls about for a few minutes -in embarrassed silence, and then had an altercation as to which hoop -Lizzie had been through; and then we both got a little huffy, and -played, first with indifference, and then with a malicious energy, -which resulted at last in my sending her partner’s ball into the -thickest Portugal laurels in the shrubbery. - -‘Oh, I beg your pardon!’ I exclaimed with compunction, as she solemnly -marched off to look for it. ‘Let me find it for you.’ - -‘Do not trouble yourself,’ she replied sharply; and immediately dashed -in between the laurel and a very prickly rose-bush, whose long sprays -caught her muslin dress and tore it. I saw her straw-hat amongst the -big dark branches, and her little hand searching under them for a -moment or two; then she started up suddenly with a quick cry, and -bounded into the path again. - -‘What is the matter? Have you hurt yourself,’ I asked anxiously. - -Her hat fell to the ground, and she stood before me with the blazing -sun on her pretty head, and a wide-eyed horror in her face. ‘Wait a -minute for me!’ she panted breathlessly; ‘I want you to help me—I have -been bitten.’ Before I could collect my senses to understand what she -meant, she had sped like a flash of light into the house; and dashing -into the laurel bush, I saw what had happened. A big black snake was -gliding away from the spot where she had been kneeling. - -What was to be done? I stood still for a moment paralysed; then I sent -up a hurried prayer for help, and simultaneously ‘cooeyed’ three or -four times with all the force of a powerful pair of lungs, for Don at -the wool-shed. Then I hurried after her, and met her coming through the -door of my brother’s dressing-room with one of his razors in her hand. -Her face was white and set as she seized my hand and hurried me into -the smoking-room, which was near us, and turned the key in the lock. -I knew what she wanted; and I set my teeth in an agony that no words -could express, and which I can never think of now without a shudder. - -‘Look!’ she said piteously, with a little sob in her throat; and I -looked, and saw one of the fingers of her left hand tied round tightly -with a piece of string below the first joint, and the end of it already -livid and swollen and shewing the unmistakable punctures of the snake’s -fangs. She laid her other hand on my arm, and looked up at me with a -beseeching face that nearly unmanned me. - -‘Help me!’ she whispered eagerly; ‘now—now; before the others come!’ -And she held out the razor, open and shining. ‘It is no use to suck -it—it only wastes time,’ as I seized her finger and put it in my -mouth. ‘Don’t, don’t! I want to be on the safe side. I don’t want to -die! O pray, pray help me!’—now sobbing passionately—’or else I must -try to do it myself. I won’t cry out; I won’t mind it. I will turn my -head away.’ She laid her finger on the edge of the table, and I took -the razor from her, and with all the courage I could muster, excised -the wounded part. She bore the cruel operation without a murmur. - - * * * * * - -An hour afterwards the commotion in the house was over, but the -shadow of death was on it. Rachel was in her bed, white and faint and -breathing heavily, twitching with weak fingers at the bedclothes, -and staring with dull eyes into the sad faces around her. I knelt in -my room close by with my head on my outspread arms, weeping like a -child as if my heart would break, and listening to the creaking of the -doctor’s boots and the whisking of skirts and whispering of awed voices -on the other side of the thin wall. There was nothing else that I was -privileged to do, now that I had done that dreadful thing which they -told me might be the saving of her precious life. - -As the twilight fell, the voices in the sick-room took a louder and -more cheerful tone; and presently one of them called softly: ‘Jerry, I -want you.’ Lizzie met me in the passage with a tremulous tear-stained -smiling face. ‘The doctor says she will be all right now, and that she -has to thank you for it,’ she whispered. ‘Don’t stay here any longer; -go and have a cigar with Don.’ - -I seized her hand and kissed it, and looked at her with my wet eyes -full of foolish emotion, too glad for speech; and the brightening -intelligence of her countenance was curious to note. ‘I thought you -didn’t care for each other,’ she said archly; ‘but,’ she added drily, -‘I suppose I was mistaken.’ - -‘Don’t suppose anything, Lizzie, there’s a good girl. But let me know -when I may see her,’ I replied earnestly. - -‘All right—I understand—I’ll let you know,’ she said, nodding her -head vigorously with an air of mystery and importance; and then I went, -not to have a cigar with Don, but to walk about the dark garden alleys, -alone with my thoughts. - -Our patient improved steadily all night, so much so that the family -assembled at breakfast as usual. Then a great hunt was made for the -snake (at Lizzie’s instigation, on the children’s behalf), which lasted -a long while and was wholly unsuccessful. Then church-time came, and -the buggy was ordered to take the servants and the little girls to -church; and the hot day wore on. Towards evening, as I was loafing -about the garden, Lizzie came running across the croquet lawn—where -the balls and mallets were still lying about as we had left them, -though it _was_ Sunday—and told me that Rachel was up and dressed, and -that she chanced to be alone in the drawing-room. - -I stole in to her in the twilight with my heart beating fast; and for a -few moments she did not notice me. She was standing by the open piano, -small and white and weak, with a shawl wrapped round her, gazing at the -silent key-board, with tears running down her face. No one could look -less like Delaroche’s Marie Antoinette than she looked then. - -I took three long steps and reached her side; she gave a great start -and turned round to meet me. ‘I shall not again be able to play to you -for a long while!’ she said, looking up at me for sympathy in this new -trouble with her soft wet eyes. - -When she said that—instead of making me the little speech I had -expected, thanking me for saving her life—I put out my arms. And -though we said no word, we forgave one another. - -And how pleased Lizzie was when she saw the last of the Lindsays -transferred to my unworthy self. - - - - -IRRIGATION IN SOUTH AFRICA. - - -The irrigation of lands by water-channels connected with rivers is -accepted as an important means of agricultural development in countries -subject to protracted droughts, where rain falls only at distant and -uncertain intervals. The irrigation caused by the periodic overflow -of the Nile is a noted case in point. But for the annual overflow, -temporarily deluging the land for a foot or two, Lower Egypt would be -barren instead of a scene of fertility. In a country like England, -where there is, generally speaking, too much moisture, the chief -consideration is to dry the land sufficiently by draining, instead of -flooding it with water; the lesson being thus taught that as regards -the culture of soils every country must act according to circumstances. -In India, also in Ceylon, there are some remarkable instances of the -value of irrigation, and in these countries much more of the same kind -requires to be done to avert the horrors of lengthened drought and -famine. On this subject, we propose to say a few words regarding large -tracts in Southern Africa, which are very much in the condition of -those parts of Egypt fertilised by the waters of the Nile. - -We speak first of the river Oliphant, which falls into the sea on -the west of Cape Colony, and which has various important affluents. -The land through which these streams flow is of a most desolate -character—broad belts of sand, interspersed with low scrubby bush, -swelling into moderate hills, with rugged mountains for a background. -Upon the country in the lower part of the Oliphant River rains have -no appreciable effect; but when the soil is thoroughly soaked by the -overflow of the streams, after the periodical inundations, and then -covered by the deposit brought down by the floods from the upper -districts, its fertility is wonderful. The average yield is more than -a hundredfold. The quantity of land of this character along the Lower -Oliphant alone was estimated by the government surveyor in 1859 as -eight thousand seven hundred acres. - -Thus, like Egypt with its Nile inundations, those districts of Cape -Colony—otherwise almost barren—are annually fertilised. But unlike -Egypt, the country is unprovided with any means for utilising to the -full extent the advantages thus conferred. No appliances are prepared -for the purpose of storing the water thus brought down; no artificial -channels are cut for directing it and spreading it over a large area; -and when the short rainy season has passed, the inhabitants are content -to sit down and wait for the next ‘periodical.’ - -A characteristic story is told by a colonist who visited the locality -some years ago: ‘I strolled along the banks of the river, and was much -struck with the extremely fertile appearance of the soil, and the very -little which had been done for turning it to account. It seemed as -if the Creator had done everything for the country, and man nothing. -Scarcely any rain had fallen for some time past, and the river had -not overflowed its banks for more than a year. The stocks of grain -and vegetables were getting very low. The farmer was complaining much -about the long protracted drought; and when he had finished, I took the -liberty of pointing out how he could, by leading out the stream for the -purposes of irrigation, or by fixing a pump to be propelled by wind, on -the river’s bank, secure an abundant supply independent of the weather. -He seemed to listen with some interest to the development of my plans; -and I began to hope that he had decided upon doing something to relieve -himself of the difficulty; but eventually, after turning round and -scrutinising the whole horizon in the direction of the river’s source, -as if in search of some favourable symptom, he yawned heavily, and -merely observed in Dutch: “Oh, it will rain some day!”’ - -Of the Zout or Holle River, the most northerly of the tributaries of -the Oliphant, Mr P. Fletcher, the government surveyor, says: ‘By its -arteries it brings together the rich karroo soil of the Hantam and -Hardeveld and the rich sandy soil of Bushmanland. The best crop of oats -I have seen in Africa was in the deposit of this “periodical.” Other -portions are of a very saline character. At a rough guess, I believe -that in many spots a dam might be constructed three or four feet high, -and a couple of hundred feet long, which would flood several hundred -acres, thereby rendering them richly arable. I have measured some of -last year’s “slick” two feet deep; this, of course, was under the most -favourable circumstances; but by the use of dams, the deposit might -be regulated, the fresh slick might be allowed to deposit to its full -extent, so that in a few years the lands would be out of the reach of -ordinary floods, if desirable that they should be so. By this system -of irrigation, even the most saline basin would become available to -agriculture, and about nine or ten thousand acres on the banks of this -one periodical river might be brought under cultivation, which would -even excel the richest soil in the “Boland” (upper country). - -‘Several tributaries to the Zout River have extensive karroo deposits; -some of their basins reaching to nearly one mile in breadth, and their -fall being so little, that, standing in their delta, a person cannot -sometimes judge with the eye which direction water would flow. Their -water-course, which winds through the middle of the deposit, is always -well defined, and shews a longitudinal section of the plain. Except in -ordinary heavy rains, those channels carry off all the water without -overflowing, while a few pounds would leave them in a condition to -produce fifty, eighty, or even one hundred-fold. Such is the nature -of several tributaries of the Hartebeeste River. I have not seen the -latter, but have been more than once informed that it has in some -places a deposit of five miles in breadth, that when it does overflow, -there is abundance of grass for all the cattle that visit that quarter. -If this description of the Hartebeeste River be correct, the products -it may be able to yield either in the form of grain or pasture for -cattle would appear to most people fabulous. We have here, and not here -only, but over an extensive portion of the whole colony, the richest -soil in the world lying at present for two-thirds of the year utterly -unoccupied, waste and worthless.’ - -The Hartebeeste is the last principal tributary, from the south, -of the Orange River, and rises in the same chain of hills as the -Tanqua, one of the tributaries of the Oliphant—namely, the Roggeveld -Berg, receiving affluent streams from the south-east and south-west, -draining in fact nearly the whole of the central northern part of the -colony. This district is at present almost neglected. The chain of -hills in fact, which runs from east to west across the centre of the -colony, cuts off the northern half from the mass of the colonists, -notwithstanding the fact that here is the most fertile land in South -Africa. - -The Zak, as the upper part of the Hartebeeste is called, is another -instance of the wonderful effects upon the soil of periodical -inundations. The following particulars are given in Mr Noble’s book -on _Cape Colony_. In the dry season these streams are comparatively -small, and often a mere succession of pools; but after rains they run -briskly, and where level with the banks, overflow and soak the adjacent -flats. In many places so very even is the country that they may be -said to have no defined channel, and form extensive sheets of water -a few inches deep. The Zak River at two hundred and fifty miles from -its source thus varies in breadth from one to four miles; and further -on from Onderste Doorns to Leeuwenkop it widens as much as ten miles. -Along its course is the most valuable part of Great Bushmanland. Water -can be obtained in its bed even when dry, and its valley generally -affords pasture to cattle during both the winter and summer months. -After floods, there are extensive alluvial bottoms on each side of -it, where agricultural products of every kind might be raised. These -are now commonly used by the squatters as sowing lands, without any -labour or trouble beyond scratching in the seed. One overflowing of the -soil is sufficient to insure a crop even although no rain should fall -afterwards. The returns are something marvellous, especially those of -wheat. - -In 1859 the number of Europeans settled on the irrigable portion of -the Oliphant was estimated at one hundred and twenty souls. When there -was an overflow of the river, they were active enough; day and night -they worked incessantly; the sun and the moon alike witnessed that they -did not eat the bread of idleness. But talk to them of improvements in -the way of artificial irrigation by dams or pumps, and they ridiculed -the idea. Such was the description given at that time; and such, with -very little alteration, is an accurate statement of affairs now. The -population of Calvinia and Clanwilliam, the two districts drained by -the Oliphant River, was in 1875, 15,856, of whom only 2046 were classed -as ‘urban.’ These figures of course include the natives as well as -the settlers; but they represent an enormous advance in population -since 1859. It is probable that if measures were taken to secure the -permanence of the advantages which are now only temporarily enjoyed, -the population and wealth of the districts would rapidly increase. - -Of the fertility of the soil without any attempt at cultivation, -there are abundant evidences. A sandy plain apparently as barren as -the Sahara itself is suddenly transformed into an expanse of waving -grass for hundreds of miles, so soon as the annual rains occur. This -‘twaa-grass’ or Bushman grass is an excellent fodder for horses and -cattle, which thrive and grow fat upon it in a few weeks: even when -dried up in the winter it is better feeding than any available green -pasture. The natives scratch in their seeds and leave them to ripen, -which they do without the least attention, and whether the country is -visited by drought after the summer rains or not. - -The principal drawback to the complete cultivation of the lands is -the absence of roads or water-carriage. The Orange River, though a -magnificent stream, and navigable in certain parts of its course, is -blocked by narrow gorges, shallows, falls, and other impediments, and -is useless as a water-way. In time probably, it may be made available, -by means of inter-communicating canals to enable the rapids, &c. to -be passed; but at present the community must look to the extension of -roads and railways for the means of fully utilising the produce which -would be raised if a ready market could be found. In this respect a -decided step has already been taken. A railway of ninety miles in -length has been constructed from Port Nolloth on the north-west coast, -in Namaqualand, to the upper mining districts, its terminus being at -Ookiep. On the most difficult portion of the route the cost has been -very little more than a thousand pounds a mile for this distance; -and it might be extended further eastward at a still less cost, -to the great advantage of the country drained by the Hartebeeste. -Another railway, or a good system of roadways, is wanted to open up -the Oliphant water-shed; and with these means of carrying away the -produce—all that is necessary—the immense natural resources of the -district would be fully developed. In the Fraserburgh district, where -the Upper Zak river rises, substantial houses, springs, wells, and dams -have already been constructed, and plantations and gardens are being -extended; but then from Fraserburgh excellent roads run east and west; -and the railway to Cape Town comes as far as Beaufort, situated sixty -or seventy miles south-east. - -Finally, in Great Bushmanland, diamonds have been found; but there are -far greater and more permanent sources of wealth than diamond-fields. -Sheep and oxen can be raised, and their wool and hides turned to -profitable account. Wheat, grapes, and vegetables of all kinds will -grow in abundance. In fact, for pastoral and agricultural qualities -the country is unsurpassed. Here then is a field for the enterprising -emigrant from our own country. Capital alone is wanting for its -development; and capital however small, judiciously expended, must -be at once remunerative. We are glad to be able to add that an Act -has been passed by the Cape Parliament for granting facilities to -landowners for obtaining by loan or otherwise the means of improving -their lands by irrigation or other similar permanent works. - -Other districts prove how the colonists have succeeded in turning what -was, more really than Great Bushmanland or the Lower Oliphant can be -said to be, a ‘howling desert’ into valuable farms, by opening up -springs, making dams, forming irrigation channels, and planting trees -where no trees existed, and where water was only an occasional and very -ephemeral visitor. There is no reason indeed why the ‘Nile lands of -South Africa’ should not rival in productiveness the great ‘world’s -wonder’ in the north of the continent; after which, from natural -circumstances, they have been not inaptly named. - - - - -ALBATROSS NOTES. - - -Far out in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, often two thousand miles -and more from the nearest land, sails the albatross in its graceful -and powerful flight; now following in the wake of the ship, to catch -any chance morsel that may have fallen from the cook’s waste-basket; -now skimming along the water, and occasionally snapping up some small -ocean-waif from the crest of a wave; or with a few vigorous strokes of -its broad wings, gliding easily round and round the vessel, though she -may be going at the rate of a dozen knots an hour. - -No passenger to southern lands can have failed to note the -extraordinary powers of flight of this magnificent bird, and the -wonderful ease with which it sweeps for some minutes together through -the air on expanded motionless pinions, rising and falling slightly, -and taking advantage of the gravity of its own body and the angle at -which the wind strikes its feathered sails to prolong the course of -its flight with the least possible effort. Seldom, except in very -calm weather, may it be seen to alight upon the water, from which it -rises with difficulty, running for some distance along the surface. -The ends of the wings clear of the water, it turns towards the breeze, -and rises into the air in a gentle curve, in exactly the same manner -as a paper kite. That the albatross follows a ship for many days in -succession, sleeping at night upon the water, and coming up with her in -the morning, there can be no doubt. We have watched them for several -consecutive evenings during fine weather, in the latitude of the -trade-winds, settling down on the water at sundown, and preening their -feathers, until they became mere specks in the field of the telescope; -but they were with us again in the morning soon after sunrise; some -strangers among them perhaps, but several which, from some peculiarity -of marking, we knew to be our companions of the day before. In one -instance, a conspicuous mark had been made by a pistol-bullet in the -wing of an old brown-headed and curiously pied bird, by which he could -be identified beyond doubt. The second or third flight-feather had -been shot away, leaving a clearly defined gap in the wing as it came -between the light and the eye; and this bird followed us for three days -after having been fired at, though we had been sailing an average of -nearly eight knots an hour. One of the most striking examples of their -endurance on the wing, however, is the fact, which we have more than -once observed, that the same birds which had been unweariedly following -us in the day, accompanied us throughout the whole of the succeeding -night, as could be easily verified by the light of the moon. - -It is a not uncommon practice with passengers to endeavour to catch -these noble birds by a bait fastened to a hook and buoyed with corks. -That such a cruel practice should ever be tolerated, even ‘to relieve -the monotony of the voyage,’ is to us inconceivable, and can only be -accounted for as the last resource of a brutally morbid fancy. - -The albatross is essentially the scavenger of the ocean, and we doubt -whether it makes any attempt to capture living fish unless when very -hungry, for we have seen flying-fish rising in quantities while the -albatrosses made no attempt to catch them. That the nautilus is -sometimes eaten is evident, for we have taken it from the stomach; but -the chief food is dead fish and other refuse. In the South Atlantic -we passed the dead body of a small whale, on and around which were at -least a hundred of these birds, either gorged or gorging themselves -with the blubber; and guns discharged at them failed to induce many of -them to take wing. We had on one occasion an opportunity of observing -how rapidly these birds collect about a carcase. Like vultures or -ravens, when an animal dies they discover it very speedily, and flock -to the scene of the banquet. On a hot still evening in the South -Atlantic a horse died, and when cast overboard next morning, the -gases already formed by decomposition enabled it to float. The few -albatrosses in our company immediately settled down upon it; but in -less than an hour we could see through the telescope a great cloud -of the birds on the sea and hovering round the unexpected prize, the -almost entire absence of wind having kept us within two or three -miles of the spot. It may be that the (usually) white plumage enables -stragglers, far out of human ken, to see their fellows gathering in the -neighbourhood of food; others again from still more remote distances -may see them, and so on; until stragglers over hundreds of miles of -space may be gathered to one common rendezvous. - -The greater part of the year is passed by them at a distance from -land; but they flock to barren and almost inaccessible rocks to breed. -There the female lays her one dirty-white egg in a slight depression -upon the bare earth, the sitters being frequently so close together -that it is difficult to walk without touching them. They are totally -indifferent to the presence of man, and merely indicate their resent of -his intrusion into their nursery by snapping at him as he passes. The -parents share the labour of incubation and rearing the young, and when -this is over, they all go seawards together, and silence and solitude -once more reign where all had lately been clamorous and busy life. - -The range of the albatross is very considerable, and it may be met -with to the extreme limits of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, -in the South Atlantic and North and South Pacific Oceans, both at sea -and near headlands and isolated rocks. During the months of May and -June in the northern, and the months of November and December in the -southern hemisphere these rocks are tenanted by countless numbers of -albatrosses and their smaller brown relations, known to sailors under -the name of ‘Mollymawks.’ No one who has visited an albatross nursery -will readily forget the scene. Placidly sitting upon the one precious -egg is the parent, male or female as the case may be; and as far as the -eye can reach over the surface, the rock is crowded with the sitters, -indifferent to the presence of the human visitor. They know nothing -of man’s destructive nature, and they fear him not. Many of them have -never seen that curious biped before, and those which have chanced -to see him on his ships and to have suffered from his guns, are more -likely to have then regarded him as a part of the white-sailed monster -which traversed their ocean domain, than a separate creature; and fail -to recognise him as he ‘molests their ancient solitary reign.’ - -While viewing the interminable white forms thus crouching upon the -earth, above wheel in graceful circles hundreds of their mates, sending -congratulations in a hoarse piping voice to those beneath on the -progress of the all-important business of rearing the family. Here and -there sit callow uncouth nestlings; and from seawards come the parents -to discharge the contents of their maws into the insatiable stomachs of -the expectant young. Now and again one of the ‘bread-winners’ of the -family swoops past the observer on its twelve feet of outspread wings, -so near that he feels the shock of the divided air, and can realise -the immense strength of the muscles which propel the creature, who, -however, is a coward in spite of his size; for the skua gull, a bird -many times smaller than himself, will often attack him and compel him -to disgorge the product of his last foraging expedition. - -As soon as the albatross has reared its young, a penguin frequently -takes possession of the deserted nest, and in the very cradle of a bird -destined to traverse the ocean on unwearied wings lies a nestling whose -wings will never develop into anything more than a pair of paddles! -Great numbers of albatrosses are caught by the natives of the North -Pacific coasts, who use the inflated intestines as floats for their -fishing-nets, and barter the hollow wing-bones with traders for the -European markets—these bones being familiar to us as pipe-stems. The -large webbed feet when inflated make good tobacco-pouches. We have -also seen the quills of the flight-feathers converted into floats for -roach-fishing; and many a Thames angler patiently watches from his -chair in the punt a feather which has probably helped to carry its -former owner over the length and breadth of the Pacific. - - - - -A NOVEL LIFE-BOAT. - - -Mr J. Manes of Fourth Avenue, Newhaven, Connecticut, has invented a new -kind of life-boat which seems to possess features worthy of notice. -‘His boat consists of a hollow globe of metal or wood, ballasted at the -bottom, so that it will always right itself immediately on touching -the water, and can never capsize even in the roughest sea. It has -compartments for water, medical stores and provisions, bull’s-eyes -to let in the light, a door for ingress and egress, a porthole for -hoisting signals to the mast, comfortable seats all around the inside -for the passengers, and a double hollow mast for supplying fresh -air, and for carrying off that which has become vitiated. On the -outside of the Globe boat runs a gallery, for the use of sailors in -rowing, hoisting sail, discharging rockets, or steering. Of course the -cases would be very rare when rowing, sailing, or steering would be -required, but in case of need, all three could be easily managed.’ - -In such a boat—which is like a large buoy fitted with a mast—the -passengers would be protected from rain and wind, and consequently to a -great extent from cold. This seems to us to be a very important point, -as many a shipwrecked person escapes drowning only to perish from -exposure to the weather. Mr Manes suggests that a propeller might be -attached to the boat to be worked by a crank turned by the passengers -on the inside. It is calculated that a boat twelve feet in diameter -would carry about fifty passengers, and that it could be carried on -deck or hung over the stern on davits, in either of which positions -it might be used as a cabin during the voyage; and further, if hung -on a universal point like a compass, it would retain its equilibrium -no matter what the motion of the ship might be, thus affording a safe -retreat for persons subject to sea-sickness. - - - - -AWA’. - -LINES WRITTEN ON THE DEATH OF JEANIE, A FAVOURITE CHILD, AGED SEVEN -YEARS. - - - Thou ’rt lyin’ cauld an’ still, my bonnie bonnie; - The dews o’ death lie heavy on thy broo; - Thy sunny smile nae mair will thrill this bosom; - Thy sweet blue een are dark an’ sichtless noo! - - Hushed is thy fairy tread, my bonnie bonnie; - Thy lips sae rosy red, I’ll kiss nae mair. - O heavy thocht, that dims this ee wi’ sadness! - O heart that fain wad break, wi’ anguish sair! - - I cry thy name in vain, my bonnie bonnie; - For aye thy form, thy dear-loved form I see; - O face sae fair! O locks o’ golden splendour! - O guileless heart, that fondly throbbed for me! - - A dreary blank is mine, my bonnie bonnie; - Nae mair thy merry voice will cheer my ha’; - An eerie stillness fills the darksome dwelling, - Since thou, my sweetest flower, wert ta’en awa’! - - The angels cam’ for thee, my bonnie bonnie, - As saftly flickered oot life’s feeble flame: - The tender Shepherd took thee to His bosom, - An’ left me wi’ a lanely, lanely hame! - - But oh! thou ’rt wi’ the blest, my bonnie bonnie, - Where pain will rend thy gentle breist nae mair; - Oh, when this weary heart lays doun its sorrow, - My ain wee lassie, may I meet thee there! - - JAMES SMITH. - - * * * * * - -The Conductors of CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL beg to direct the attention of -CONTRIBUTORS to the following notice: - -_1st._ All communications should be addressed to the ‘Editor, 339 High - Street, Edinburgh.’ - -_2d._ To insure the return of papers that may prove ineligible, - postage-stamps should in every case accompany them. - -_3d._ MANUSCRIPTS should bear the author’s full _Christian_ name, - surname, and address, legibly written. - -_4th._ MS. should be written on one side of the leaf only. - -_5th._ Poetical offerings should be accompanied by an envelope, stamped - and directed. - -_Unless Contributors comply with the above rules, the Editor cannot -undertake to return ineligible papers._ - - * * * * * - -Printed and Published by W. & R. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, No. 740, March 2, 1878 - -Author: Various - -Editor: William Chambers - Robert Chambers - -Release Date: July 2, 2020 [EBook #62545] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL LITERATURE, MARCH 2, 1878 *** - - - - -Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129"></a>{129}</span></p> - - -<h1>CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL<br /> -OF<br /> -POPULAR<br /> -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.</h1> - - -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> - -<p class='center'> - -<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> - -<a href="#THE_GAELIC_NUISANCE">THE GAELIC NUISANCE.</a><br /> -<a href="#HELENA_LADY_HARROGATE">HELENA, LADY HARROGATE.</a><br /> -<a href="#OUR_SEA_AND_SALMON_FISHERIES">OUR SEA AND SALMON FISHERIES.</a><br /> -<a href="#RACHEL_LINDSAY">RACHEL LINDSAY.</a><br /> -<a href="#IRRIGATION_IN_SOUTH_AFRICA">IRRIGATION IN SOUTH AFRICA.</a><br /> -<a href="#ALBATROSS_NOTES">ALBATROSS NOTES.</a><br /> -<a href="#A_NOVEL_LIFE-BOAT">A NOVEL LIFE-BOAT.</a><br /> -<a href="#AWA">AWA’.</a><br /> - -<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> - -</p> - - -<hr class="full" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/header.png" width="600" height="294" alt="Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art. Fourth Series. Conducted by William and Robert Chambers." /> -</div> - -<hr class="full" /> -<div class="center"> -<div class="header"> -<p class="floatl"><span class="smcap">No. 740.</span></p> -<p class="floatr"><span class="smcap">Price</span> 1½<em>d.</em></p> -<p class="floatc">SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1878.</p> -</div></div> - -<hr class="full" /> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_GAELIC_NUISANCE">THE GAELIC NUISANCE.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">SECOND ARTICLE.</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">A few</span> months ago, in an article entitled ‘The -Gaelic Nuisance,’ we endeavoured to point out -the impolicy of fostering Gaelic as the vernacular -tongue in the Highlands and Islands. Our observations -were variously received. Many approved -of the article; by some it was apparently misunderstood. -On this latter account, we return to -the subject, in the hope of removing such misapprehensions -as may happen to exist. This time, -at anyrate, we shall take care to be perfectly -explicit as to our meaning.</p> - -<p>In the article referred to, we offered no objection -to the use of Gaelic, provided the young -were brought up with a knowledge of English. -That was distinctly our contention, and we -believe that such is the opinion of all who think -seriously on this important question. We therefore -repeat in terms on which nothing but perversity -can put a wrong construction, that the -fostering of Gaelic to the exclusion of English—for -it practically comes to that—is a grave error; -it is a cruelty which merits exposure and reprobation. -Why it is a cruelty is very clear. As previously -stated, the use of Gaelic as the only known -vernacular, keeps large numbers of poor people -ignorant, it usually fixes them to their place of -birth, and accordingly excludes them from earning -their bread in the general competition of the -world. It is very easy for enthusiasts living at -a respectful distance to write in glowing terms -about the antiquity of Gaelic, about the wonderful -beauty of Gaelic poetry, about the philological -value of Gaelic phraseology, about the satisfaction -of being able to speak Gaelic as well as English. -These are not the points in dispute. Let people, -if they will, and if they can afford the expense, -learn to speak and read Gaelic supplementary -to English, just as many of us learn to speak and -read French or German. The more languages -that can be acquired the better. About that -there is no contention. What we deem to be a -scandal and a cruelty is the practice of rearing, or -allowing to grow up, groups of children with a -knowledge of no other language than Gaelic; the -consequence being that they are for the most part -condemned to life-long poverty and ignorance. -And that is what is done through the mistaken -policy of it may be well-meaning sentimentalists -and philanthropists, who are seemingly unaware -of the misery they are helping to perpetuate. The -English language, like the laws and constitution of -the country, is a common heritage, in which every -child has a claim to be instructed, so that all may -be qualified to perform such duties as fall to their -lot. Is it not, then, shocking to find groups of -old and young scattered about the Highlands and -Islands who cannot speak a word of English, and -who cannot so much as sign their names? We -might almost say they have no more knowledge of -newspapers, or of English literature generally, -than the lower animals, amidst which in dreary -solitudes they hopelessly pass their existence.</p> - -<p>The Highlanders have scarcely had justice done -to them. They possess characteristics of a noble -race. Faithful, honest, and steady in civil life. -Valorous as soldiers. Peaceful and law-abiding in -a very extraordinary degree. Those among them -who by some good fortune quit their native glens -and mix with the Lowland population, speedily -learn English, and are able to converse as fluently -in that language as in their native Gaelic. In fact, -wherever they are brought in contact with English-speaking -neighbours, they manifest no mental -deficiency. In many instances they have attained -to eminence. Only where they are habitually -neglected, and left in untoward circumstances to -vegetate in primitive ignorance, do they shew -anything like laziness, and an indifference to -improvement. From all we happen to know of -the Highlanders, they only need to be put in the -way of being cultivated by education and contact -with the outer world.</p> - -<p>In hinting at educational deficiencies we tread -on tender ground. There is an Educational Act -applicable to the whole of Scotland, whether the -mainland or islands. No spot is exempted from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130"></a>{130}</span> -the operation of a school-board. Although the -Act was passed in 1872, it appears from one -cause or other that there are districts where no -schooling is available, and children are suffered to -run about wild. In an article in the <i>Scotsman</i> -newspaper of January 5, 1878, a correspondent -writing on the wretched condition of the Highland -‘crofters,’ or occupants of small patches of land, -refers to the educational deficiencies in the parish -of Barvas, on the west coast of Lewis. Here is -what he says: ‘At present, the children know not -a syllable of English; the women and thirty per -cent. of the men are as ignorant; and twenty per -cent. of the people married cannot sign their -marriage papers. One thing certain is that the -people are themselves totally unprepared for the -good that the Act is expected to do them; and -that it will be only by means of vigilant compulsory -officers that its full operation will be -secured. In the meantime the schools in the parish -have not been opened; and ragged boys and girls -hang about on the moor all day long herding -cattle, or idle near the wayside in companies of -threes and fours, holding fast by tethers, at the ends -of which small melancholy lambs are grazing.’ -What a picture of primitive rural life! Education -practically non-existent. The compulsory provisions -of the School Act in a state of abeyance!</p> - -<p>The island of St Kilda, to which we called attention, -exhibits a small population with no means -of learning English, and who for religious instruction -in Gaelic are wholly dependent on the Rev. -John M’Kay, a minister appointed by the Free -Church. This worthy individual, who is a bachelor -of advanced age, and whom, by mistake, we spoke -of as being married, can speak and read English; -but with the exception of the imported wife of -one of the natives, he is the only individual on -the island who can do so, and acts as a general -interpreter on the occasion of visits from strangers. -There is no school in the island, nor is there any -attempt to teach English. Is this a condition of -things which commends itself to philanthropists?</p> - -<p>In a handsomely printed and illustrated work, -<i>St Kilda Past and Present</i>, by George Seton, -Advocate (Blackwood and Sons), 1878, there is -an effective reference to the want of education -in the island of St Kilda. ‘Probably,’ says this -observant writer, ‘the most beneficial influence -that could be brought to bear upon the St Kildans -would be of an educational kind. Through the -instrumentality of the Harris school-board or otherwise, -an energetic effort ought to be made to -introduce a systematic course of instruction in -English, with the view of the inhabitants enjoying -the vast benefits which would inevitably ensue. -At present, they are not only cut off from -regular communication with the mainland, but -in consequence of their ignorance of the language -of the United Kingdom, they are debarred from -the means of enlarging their minds, and subverting -their prejudices, by the perusal of English -literature. A recent number of <i>Chambers’s Journal</i>—to -which every English-speaking section of the -globe owes such deep obligations—contains an -admirable article, from the pen of the veteran -senior editor, on the subject of “The Gaelic -Nuisance,” to which I venture to call the attention -of all who are interested in the future welfare -of the inhabitants of St Kilda. The writer points -to Galloway on the one hand, and to the Orkney -and Shetland Islands on the other, as illustrative -examples of the blessings which have flowed from -the substitution of English for Gaelic and Norse -respectively; and in the course of his remarks -he makes special allusion to St Kilda.’</p> - -<p>Thanking Mr Seton for this acknowledgment -of the correctness of our views, we pass on to -a note lately received from a sheriff-substitute in -a Highland county. He says: ‘Allow me to thank -you for your article in the last part of <i>Chambers’s</i> -entitled “The Gaelic Nuisance.” I have resided -here for several years, and am convinced that the -civilisation of the Highlands is impossible so long -as Gaelic continues to be the language of the -common people. I hope your article will open -the eyes of common-sense people to the necessity -of abolishing Gaelic as a spoken language, by the -substitution of English.’</p> - -<p>A gentleman connected by heritage with one of -the outer Hebrides, sends us a note, in which, -after commenting on the grotesque objections that -had been made to our article, he observes: ‘We all -understand now—though a few may deceive themselves -and others—that man is not made for -language, but language for man. We Highlanders -are determined to adopt the current language, just -as we have adopted the current coin of the realm.’ -This is plain speaking; and we hope that the -writer, using the power which his position gives -him, will in his own locality see that the children -are taught to read and understand English; such, -in our opinion, whatever others may think, being -only a simple act of justice.</p> - -<p>In our former article we alluded to the case -of Wales, in which large numbers are as unhappily -excluded from a knowledge of the English -language as are many of the Gaelic-speaking -population of the Highlands. We are glad to see -that this deficiency is beginning to attract attention, -for reasons similar to those we employ. -Recently at a large meeting in connection with -the Welsh Church in Chester, presided over by -the Bishop of Chester, as reported in <i>The Times</i>, -Jan. 10, the Dean of Bangor, in speaking of Wales, -remarked: ‘Wales was in a certain extent backward. -In the power of influencing those outside -their own country, they were behind England, -Scotland, and Ireland, simply because their language -excluded them from making their thoughts -and views known to those of different nationality.... He -ventured to hope that the day -was rapidly approaching when every Welshman -would be able to use the English language.’ -Such a public acknowledgment as this is eminently -satisfactory. It shews moral courage in combating<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131"></a>{131}</span> -popular prejudice. We should like to see Highland -proprietors quite as openly avowing that it -was time every Gaelic-speaking child ‘was able -to use the English language.’</p> - -<p>The most conclusive evidence that could be -advanced respecting the serious disadvantage of -maintaining Gaelic as an exclusively common -language is that offered by Mr Simon S. Laurie, -the accomplished Professor of Education in the -University of Edinburgh, who lately delivered an -Address on the subject of Education in the -Highlands. According to a newspaper report of -his address, he said in reference to the Highlanders: -‘One thing needful was to secure for -them freedom of locomotion; so that when the -pressure on one district became too great, the -people might move to another. Without a knowledge -of the English language, the country of -the Highlander was bound round him as with -a brazen wall. He need not try to get out of -it, because his native language put him at such -a disadvantage with other men that he had no -chance against them.... There was no doubt -that the teaching of Gaelic should be subordinate -to the teaching of English. If they trained a boy -in a Highland school to read, write, and speak -Gaelic, what were they to do with him? How -would we like to be in that position ourselves? -Fancy a boy at the age of fifteen or sixteen able -only to point out in Gaelic to a stranger the -way he should take; would they not find that -he had been miseducated—in fact cut off from -being a member of the British Empire altogether? -At the same time, while he held that, -he was of opinion that they could not teach -English to the Highlanders well except through -the Gaelic. The Highland children learned very -quickly—more quickly than the Lowland children—they -could soon read with perfect fluency such -a book as M’Culloch’s <i>Course of Reading</i>, and yet -not understand a single word; shewing that they -would not learn English well except through -Gaelic. The aim of the whole teaching should -be to make the pupils thoroughly acquainted with -English.’</p> - -<p>With such a concurrence of evidence, and -with the knowledge that there is a School Act -of six years’ standing, why, it will be asked, are -children in the Highlands and Islands still left -to remain untaught in the elements of education? -That is a question that could perhaps best be -answered by the Education Board for Scotland. -We can only conjecture that the educational deficiency -in various quarters is due to the difficulty, -for pecuniary reasons, in establishing and maintaining -schools on a proper footing consistently -with the obligations of the statute. Mr Laurie -mentions that the school-rates press with a severity -which in some places is perfectly paralysing. -‘In Shetland, for example, the School Boards -were brought to a stand-still. They could not -face a rate of four shillings a pound; the same -proprietors having to pay not less than four -shillings a pound for poor-rate and other burdens -besides.’ This agrees with what we have privately -heard of Shetland, where the rates of one kind -or other very nearly swallow up the whole rental -drawn by proprietors. Mr Laurie states emphatically -as to this difficulty of school-rates, that -‘unless the government paid what was necessary -above fifteen-pence per pound, the Highlands -and Islands would not have the full benefit of -the Act of 1872.’</p> - -<p>Evidently, the School Boards, notwithstanding -their comprehensive and compulsory powers, are -unable to plant and sustain schools in all quarters -where required. The difficulty, it is observed, is -financial. Let us instance the island of St Kilda. -Its inhabitants are said to be seventy-six in -number, while the annual rent exigible by the -proprietor is somewhere about a hundred pounds, -payable in kind. How can the School Board of -Harris, with which the island is connected parochially, -be expected to build a school and sustain -a schoolmaster for the benefit of so small a population, -in which there are perhaps only a very -few children of school age? To build a school -of the ordinary authorised type would cost at -least six hundred pounds. And the payment -of a teacher with other expenses would amount -to one hundred pounds a year. The organisation -of a school on this footing would go far beyond -what is desirable or what could be asked for from -either the state or the ratepayers.</p> - -<p>A consideration of the financial difficulty leads -to the conviction that something very much less -costly than the present school organisation must -in many parts of the Highlands be attempted, if -the children are to get any education at all. Mr -Laurie very properly remarks that children ‘would -not well learn English except through the Gaelic;’ -meaning by this, we suppose, that the teacher -would require through the agency of Gaelic to -explain the meaning of English words. That -surely would not be difficult to accomplish; nor -would it be unreasonable to establish schools on a -much more modest footing than those latterly -sanctioned by School Boards. The Scotch were -long accustomed to see a very humble class of -schools in secluded rural districts. Often, these -schools consisted of cottages of not more than two -apartments, one of which constituted the dwelling -of the teacher. These cottage schools were conducted -at an exceedingly small expense, yet they -answered their purpose. Neither dignified nor -imposing, they were useful. They imparted to the -few children in their respective neighbourhoods a -knowledge of letters. We are inclined to think -that a modification of this kind would solve some -existing difficulties as concerns the establishing of -schools among the sparse population of the Highlands -and Islands. In short, it would be well to -legalise a minor or sub-class of schools, to be -conducted at a small cost, designed to effect a -particular purpose, namely, that of communicating -a knowledge of the English language to large -numbers of poor children who are at present -growing up in ignorance of any spoken tongue -but their native Gaelic, and who, in many cases, -as is seen, have no education whatever.</p> - -<p>We hope the nature of our pleading is no longer -misunderstood. It is, that all Gaelic-speaking -children may in some shape or other be taught to -read and understand the language common to the -United Kingdom. There may be some statutory -obstacles in the way. There should be none in -the light of humanity and common-sense. Perhaps -we may return to the subject. Considering<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132"></a>{132}</span> -that the welfare of successive generations of -helpless beings is concerned, the subject is too -momentous to be lightly treated, or to be swept -aside by casual gusts of delirious opposition.</p> - -<p class="right"> -W. C. -</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="HELENA_LADY_HARROGATE">HELENA, LADY HARROGATE.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>CHAPTER XIII.—FATHER AND SON.</h3> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Sir Sykes</span> was a weak man, and there are few -readier elements of mischief than that of a weak -man in a strong place—meaning thereby a position -where there is authority to be abused. Some of -the world’s worst tyrants have been emphatically -weak, mere spiteful capricious children grown to -man’s estate, and indued respectively with all the -powers of the purple, the royal jika, and the triple -tiara. But then the mighty system which they, -unworthy, swayed, resembled some gigantic engine -put into motion by the idle touch of a truant -urchin’s hand, and crushing all resistance by the -resistless force of its swaying levers and grinding -wheels.</p> - -<p>A Devonshire baronet, in common with baronets -elsewhere, does expect to be to a certain extent the -petty autocrat of his own fields and hamlets, to -find that there are those who court the great -man’s smile and tremble at his frown, and to hold -rule within strictly constitutional limits over the -dwellers on his land and the inmates of his house. -The melancholy which had become a part of Sir -Sykes Denzil’s inner nature, and the indolence -which had gradually incrusted him, had prevented -the lord of Carbery from asserting in practice the -prerogatives which he knew to belong to him in -theory. Thus he did not really administer patriarchal -justice on his estate, as some hale landlords -do. His bailiff decided which labourers should -be employed, which dismissed, and what wages -should be allotted to crow-boys and weeding-girls. -The steward arranged as to the barns to be rebuilt, -the repairs to be granted or refused, the rent of -whose cottage was to be forgiven, or which arrears -were to be sternly exacted. Poachers whom the -head-keeper did not like, found Sir Sykes’s vicarious -wrath make the parish too hot to hold them, -while luckier depredators wired hares unpunished.</p> - -<p>The part of a <i>roi fainéant</i> suited better with -Sir Sykes Denzil’s languid habits than they did -with his tolerably active mind. He was well -aware that the lethargy of King Log is always -supplemented by the not wholly disinterested -activity of King Log’s zealous ministers, and had -formed frequent resolutions as to taking into his -own hands the reins of government and becoming -in fact as well as in name the lord of the manor—of -six manors indeed, of which Carbery was the -chief. These resolutions had never been acted -upon; but Sir Sykes had always been able to lay -to his soul the flattering unction that it rested -with him alone to choose the time for realising -them.</p> - -<p>The events of the last few weeks had given -some rude shocks to the baronet’s indolent self-complacency. -He had been threatened with -consequences of which he, and he alone, could -thoroughly comprehend the direful nature, and he -had been forced to a series of compliances, each of -which had degraded him in his own eyes. He -had borne with the cynic effrontery of the sailor -Hold. He had beneath his roof, seated at his -table, in constant association with him and his, an -unbidden guest. Mr Wilkins he had, through an -unlucky chance, encountered, and instantly the -fetters of a new vassalage appeared to be fastened -on his reluctant limbs. And he owed this fresh -humiliation to the misconduct of his own son!</p> - -<p>Sir Sykes was very angry as he quitted No. 11 -to seek out the chamber in which Jasper lay, -so angry that his temper overmastered for the -moment both the pleadings of natural affection and -the instinct of caution. He laid his hand brusquely -on the door of the room which had been pointed -out to him as that to which Jasper had been -conveyed, and was about to enter, with small -regard to the nerves of the invalid within, when he -felt a grasp upon his sleeve, and turned to be confronted -by the wiry figure, anxious face, and bead-like -black eyes of little Dr Aulfus.</p> - -<p>‘Excuse me. Sir Sykes Denzil, unless I am very -much mistaken?’ said the doctor, taking off his -hat with such an air, that Sir Sykes, irritable as -he was, felt compelled to acknowledge the bow. -‘Allow me to introduce myself: Dr Aulfus, -Benjamin Aulfus, Ph.D., M.D., M.R.C.S. of -Heidelberg, Edinburgh, and London respectively. -We never chanced, before to-day, Sir Sykes, to -come personally into contact, and I regret that the -occasion of our first interview should be so sad a -one.’</p> - -<p>During this speech, the doctor’s eyes had taken -stock as it were of Sir Sykes’s aspect, and had read -the signs of anger in his knitted brows and quivering -mouth as accurately as a mountain shepherd -discerns the portents of the coming storm. Nor -was the reason far to seek. Gossip had been busy, -of course, with the private affairs of so exalted a -family as that which dwelt at Carbery Chase; and -Sir Sykes would have been astonished to hear at -how many minor tea-tables the surgeon—for, his -medical diplomas notwithstanding, Dr Aulfus was -consulted nineteen times out of twenty as a general -practitioner—had listened while Captain Denzil’s -debts and his father’s displeasure were freely -canvassed.</p> - -<p>Of the arrival of Mr Wilkins and of the -acceptances which the lawyer held, the little man -of healing could of course know nothing. But he -shrewdly surmised that Jasper had staked all that -he could scrape together, and probably more, on -the event of the desperate race which he had -ridden on that day, and that his pecuniary losses -had provoked the indignation of Sir Sykes, already -smarting under recent sacrifices.</p> - -<p>‘You are very good, sir; I shall see my son, -and then’——</p> - -<p>Sir Sykes had got thus far in his speech, -attempting the while to brush past the doctor, -when he found himself gently but resolutely -repulsed.</p> - -<p>‘Now, Sir Sykes,’ said the little man, interposing -his diminutive person between the tall -baronet and the door, as some faithful dog might -have done, ‘pray have patience with me. Captain -Denzil is my patient. He has sustained severe -injury, the precise extent of which it is impossible -yet for science to determine, and I am responsible<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133"></a>{133}</span> -for his safety, humanly speaking—the pilot, in -fact, with whom it rests to bring him into port. -We have just succeeded, by the help of an opiate, -in inducing sleep. It will not last long, on account -of the smallness of the dose. But it is of the -utmost consequence that it should not be broken; -and in fact, Sir Sykes, my patient is my patient, -and I must protect him even against his own -father.’</p> - -<p>These last words were uttered in consequence -of a renewed attempt on the baronet’s part to -force a passage, and the persuasive tone in which -they were spoken contrasted oddly with the firmness -of the doctor’s attitude.</p> - -<p>‘Really, Mr Aulfus,’ said Sir Sykes, half apologetically, -half in dudgeon; but the other cut him -short with: ‘Excuse me, Sir Sykes. <i>Dr</i> Aulfus, -if you please. It is perhaps the weakness of a -professional purist, but I do like to be dubbed a -doctor; as your noble neighbour and connection, -the Earl, no doubt has a preference for the title -of “My Lord.” It has cost me dear enough, sir, -that handle to my name; kept me, I may safely -say, out of a good four hundred a year of practice -I might have had, since old women and heads of -families are shy of sending for a regular physician; -and that’s why such fellows as Lancetter at High -Tor, and Druggett the apothecary in Pebworth -High Street, rattle about the county, feeling -pulses and sending out physic, when a man who -has more learning in his little finger than—— You -smile, sir; and indeed I was unduly warm. No -selfish love of lucre, believe me, prompted my -remarks, but a sincere scorn for the prejudices -and gullibility, if the word be not too strong, of -our Devonshire Bœotians.’</p> - -<p>By this time the doctor had succeeded in getting -Sir Sykes into a neighbouring room, the door of -which stood invitingly open, and thus securing -the sleeper against the chance of being rudely -awakened from his slumber. The baronet too had -employed a minute or two in reflections which -shewed him how unseemly was the part which -he had been about to play, while some dim -consciousness that it was unfair to visit on Jasper -the unwelcome recognition and jocular impertinence -of Mr Wilkins, began to creep into his -perturbed mind.</p> - -<p>‘You forget, Dr Aulfus,’ he said mildly enough, -‘that I have as yet heard no details as to the -injuries which my son has sustained. They are -not, I apprehend, of a very serious or indeed -dangerous character?’</p> - -<p>‘Umph! Dislocation of right shoulder, now -reduced, but attended with much pain; severe -contusion on temple; some bad bruises, and complete -prostration of nervous system from the -stunning blow and violent concussion of spinal -cord,’ dryly rejoined the doctor, summing up the -facts as though he had been a judge putting the -pith of some case before a jury. ‘These are all -the results that I know of’—— And he paused, -hesitating, so that Sir Sykes for the first time -felt a genuine twinge of alarm.</p> - -<p>‘Have you any suspicion, doctor, that there -is something worse than this?’ he asked, drawing -his breath more quickly.</p> - -<p>‘I don’t know. I hope not,’ returned Dr -Aulfus thoughtfully. ‘Our knowledge after all -is but cramped and bounded. I remember once -at sea (I was assistant-surgeon in the navy and -also on board Green’s Indiamen, before I graduated -in medicine) seeing a look in the face of a -young sailor who had fallen from the mizzen -shrouds to the deck, very like what I saw, or -fancied I saw, in Captain Denzil’s face to-day. -But that was a fall, compared with which even -the accidents of a steeplechase are trifles,’ added -the doctor more cheerfully, and with an evident -wish to change the subject.</p> - -<p>‘It is a mad sport, taken as a form of excitement,’ -said Sir Sykes, his resentment beginning -to turn itself towards the institution of steeplechasing; -‘worse still, when mere greed actuates -the performers, brutal curiosity the spectators.’</p> - -<p>‘I quite agree with you, Sir Sykes, quite,’ -chimed in the doctor, with a bird-like chirrup of -acquiescence. ‘The mob, my dear sir, whether in -decent coats or in torn fustian, is animated by -much the same spirit which caused the Roman -amphitheatre to ring with applause as wild beasts -and gladiators, pitted against one another in the -arena, stained the sand with’——</p> - -<p>Here Captain Prodgers came in on tiptoe to -say that Jasper was awake and sensible; that he -had twice asked if his father had not yet arrived; -and that he, Prodgers, had volunteered to make -inquiries, and hearing the sound of voices as he -passed the half-closed door, had entered. ‘You, -Sir Sykes, I have had the pleasure of meeting once -before—at Lord Bivalve’s, in Grosvenor Place,’ -he said with a bow. ‘Captain Prodgers of the -Lancers,’ he added, by way of an introduction. -The baronet returned the bow stiffly. He had -some recollection of Captain Jack’s jolly face -beaming across the Bivalve mahogany; but he felt -anything but well disposed towards the owner of -Norah Creina and the man who had led his son -into the present scrape.</p> - -<p>‘A friend of my son’s, I am aware,’ said Sir -Sykes half bitterly.</p> - -<p>‘And I am afraid, “Save me from my friends,” -is the saying just now uppermost in your mind, -Sir Sykes,’ returned Captain Prodgers. ‘But I -do assure you that, hard hit in the pocket as I -have been in this precious business, I’d sooner -have lost the double of my bets, than have seen -that poor fellow knocked about as he has been. -I’m no chicken, and sentiment don’t come natural -to me, but I give you my word that had the -tumble turned out as bad as I feared it would -when first I saw it, I should—never have forgiven, -myself, that’s all.’ Having said which, Jack -Prodgers mentioned to the doctor that he should -be found when required in the coffee-room, and -with another bow to Sir Sykes, withdrew. The -baronet, guided by Dr Aulfus, entered the darkened -room where Jasper lay.</p> - -<p>‘Is that you, sir? I thought you would come,’ -said the hurt man from the bed, stretching out -his feeble hand, and as Sir Sykes took the thin -fingers within his own grasp, his anger, smouldering -yet, seemed for the moment to die away, -chased by the crowd of early recollections that -beset his memory. He could remember Jasper as -a lisping child, a quick intelligent boy, unduly -indulged and pampered it is true, but bold-faced -and free-spoken at an age when many a youngster, -far nobler in every quality of heart and head, is -sheepish and tongue-tied. In those days father -and mother had been proud and fond of the boy, -and Jasper’s future prosperity had been no unimportant<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134"></a>{134}</span> -element in Sir Sykes’s schemes and day-dreams.</p> - -<p>‘You do not feel much pain now?’ asked the -baronet gently.</p> - -<p>‘In my arm and head I do,’ said the patient, -stirring uneasily.</p> - -<p>The doctor, as he adjusted the pillows, smiled -hopefully. ‘A very good sign that,’ he whispered -to Sir Sykes; ‘better than I had hoped for, after -the draught. I think we may pronounce all -immediate cause for anxiety to be over.’</p> - -<p>‘When can he be moved?’ asked Sir Sykes, in -the same cautious tone.</p> - -<p>‘To Carbery? I should say, if he goes on as -well as he is doing now, to-morrow,’ replied Dr -Aulfus. ‘I will write down some instructions, -with which it will be well to comply, for it will be -some few days at least before he can resume his -former habits of life.’</p> - -<p>‘What are you two conspiring about?’ demanded -Jasper, with an invalid’s customary peevishness, -from the bed. And then Sir Sykes had to resume -his seat and to say a few soothing words.</p> - -<p>‘You’ll soon be well, my boy,’ he said kindly; -‘and sooner back with us at Carbery, under your -sisters’ good nursing. Dr Aulfus here will, I hope, -contrive to come over and give us a call every day -till you get your strength again.’</p> - -<p>Dr Aulfus said that he should be delighted to -attend his patient at Carbery Chase, and indeed he -looked radiant as he said it. A physician is, after -all, a man, and probably a parent, and little Dr -Aulfus had a wife and was the happy donor of six -hostages to fortune. He valued the privilege of -professional admittance at Carbery very highly, -less on account of the emoluments directly derived -therefrom, than of the many small people who -would augur well of his skill, since beneath a -baronet’s roof he should prescribe for a baronet’s -heir.</p> - -<p>The brief conversation between Sir Sykes and -his son was rendered the less marked because of -Jasper’s habitual reticence, and of his father’s -unwillingness to touch on any topic that might -prove painful. Thus the lawyer and his bills met -with no mention, and the steeplechase would also -have been passed over, had not Jasper himself -said: ‘I told Jack Prodgers I shouldn’t go in for -cross-country work again, except with the hounds -in winter. No fear, sir, of my donning the silk -jacket any more, after this sharp lesson of aching -bones and empty pockets. Don’t be angry, please, -though, with poor old Jack. He meant all for the -best, he did.’</p> - -<p>Sir Sykes replied that he had already had the -pleasure of shaking hands with Captain Prodgers, -whom he had formerly met, it appeared, in London -society. And soon afterwards, in compliance with -an almost imperceptible motion of the doctor’s -head, he withdrew; and Captain Jack was recalled -to keep watch, uncomplainingly, beside his friend’s -couch, while the patient dozed or talked in -snatches.</p> - -<p>‘Smoke away, old man; it rather does me good -than not,’ Jasper had said, and the captain’s cigar -was seldom extinguished during his vigil.</p> - -<p>‘He’ll do!’ was the little doctor’s cheery -whisper as he paid his early morning visit to his -charge. And soon after noon, Jasper, pale and -tottering, and with his bruised arm in a sling, was -helped into one of the Carbery carriages and -propped with cushions; and under the tender -escort of his two sisters, Lucy and Blanche Denzil, -was slowly and heedfully conveyed home to Carbery -Chase.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="OUR_SEA_AND_SALMON_FISHERIES">OUR SEA AND SALMON FISHERIES.</h2> -</div> - - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the department of fishing-industries the march -of scientific inquiry has already borne good -fruit. The influence of the weather, or more -properly speaking of the variations of temperature, -on the plentifulness or scarcity of our food-fishes, -has grown in importance as an element in determining -the success or failure of the herring-fishery, -for example; and at more than one fishing-station -thermometrical observations are daily made by -the fishermen, and reported to the meteorological -authorities, who in their turn deduce generalisations -and laws from the observations thus recorded. -Thus the teachings of the formerly despised -‘science’ are beginning to bear fruit, and to be -openly and fully recognised; and in the future, -the fisherman, as a result of the generalisations just -alluded to, may be able to determine with tolerable -accuracy, before setting sail for the fishing-grounds, -the chances of a successful or unsuccessful day’s -labour. Add to this, that, with increased knowledge -of the conditions of life, development, and -general history of our food-fishes, wise legislation -may provide for the protection of these fishes and -for the determination of the proper periods for -the exercise of the fisher’s art, and it will be -owned that the gains from a scientific investigation -of the fishing-industries are simply incalculable.</p> - -<p>For these reasons we have peculiar pleasure -in noting the appearance of a small volume, -under the title of <i>Sea Fisheries</i>, by E. W. H. -Holdsworth, and <i>Salmon Fisheries</i>, by Archibald -Young, Commissioner of Scotch Salmon Fisheries -(London: E. Stanford. 1877). The work -is produced under the joint authorship of two -gentlemen long connected with this important -branch of British industry. To Mr E. W. H. -Holdsworth has been allotted the task of giving -an account of the sea fisheries of Britain; whilst -Mr Archibald Young, one of the Commissioners -of Scotch Salmon Fisheries, has undertaken the -task of giving an account of the interests connected -with the capture of the king of fishes. Mr -Holdsworth has to do with the salt water, Mr -Young chiefly with the fresh.</p> - -<p>Within the last sixty or seventy years, the -herring fisheries of Scotland, chiefly prosecuted -on the north-east coast, have risen to be a most -important national industry and source of wealth, -the value of the catch in a good year amounting -to between two and three millions sterling. Needing -no cultivation, the sea yields an annual harvest -almost incredible in amount. Of course much -capital is embarked; but without the hardihood, -the enterprise, and the daring risks encountered by -the fishermen, all would be unavailing. It is seen -by a late Report, that in the united fisheries of -herrings, cod, and ling, in 1876, nearly fifteen -thousand boats, decked and undecked, were engaged, -the total value of which amounted to -upwards of a million sterling. Ever on the outlook -for what will advance the interests of the -herring fishery, the capitalists engaged in the -business have latterly added a fast-sailing steamer<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135"></a>{135}</span> -to the fleets of boats; by which means herrings -caught at a considerable distance are transferred -from the boats to the steamer, rapidly brought -into port, and being there properly prepared, are -despatched by railway to various parts of the -United Kingdom.</p> - -<p>Railways, by facilitating transit, have been -immensely advantageous to all kinds of fisheries. -It might now be said that by this ready means -of transit the most inland towns in the country -are now as well supplied with fresh fish as towns -on the coast; in many cases better. Ice has also -played an important part in the transmission of -fish to distant places. Salmon being thus preserved -till it reaches the market, arrives in the -best condition, and is sent to table fresh as when -caught. One has only to look at the quantities -of beautiful salmon and other fish spread out on -marble benches of the fishmongers in any of our -larger towns, to see what railways and ice have -done for this branch of industry.</p> - -<p>Mr Holdsworth expresses strong regret that the -prospects of the Irish fisheries are not by any -means of a promising kind, as far as the cultivation -of the art or industry is concerned. All authorities -agree in regarding the coasts of Ireland in most -instances as representing fishing-grounds in which -stores of wealth lie unheeded and uncared for. This -is a state of matters much to be deplored, for the -sake of all parties concerned—fishermen, consumers, -and the nation at large. Some years ago, when -we were in Ireland, we heard it mentioned that -much of the fish sold in Dublin was supplied by -fishermen from the coast of Wales; and we likewise -heard that large quantities of dried white-fish -were introduced to Portrush by fishermen -from Islay and other western isles of Scotland. -Though it is stated that the famine of thirty years -ago has had much to do with the depressed state -of the Irish fisheries, and that emigration has also -affected them, we yet fail to see why, by a little -enterprise, the still resident natives should not be -able to beat both the Welsh and Scotch out of -their own market.</p> - -<p>As regards the salmon fisheries, Mr Young -leads us into a region which is still in some -particulars a field of debate and controversy. -There are very few readers, it may be presumed, -who are ignorant of the controversies, for instance, -which have been carried on concerning the correct -answer to the question, ‘Are parr the young -of salmon?’—a query which Mr Young, along -with the great majority of naturalists, answers -unhesitatingly in the affirmative. The natural -history of the salmon forms the starting-point of -all knowledge of the fish, and of the information -necessary for determining the conditions under -which it may be properly and successfully caught—the -terms ‘properly’ and ‘successfully’ in this case -being taken as including the best interests of the -fish and its race, as well as the interests of its -human captors. Briefly detailed, the life-history of a -salmon may be said to begin with the ascent of the -parent-fishes in autumn and early winter to the -upper reaches of our rivers for the purpose of depositing -their eggs. In each salmon-mother it has -been calculated about nine hundred eggs exist for -every pound of her weight, and these eggs she deposits -in a trench, excavated by aid of the jaw, in the -gravelly bed of the stream. Fertilised after being -deposited, by the milt of the male parent, the -latter covers the eggs with gravel by means of his -fins—the tail-fin being, as far as can be ascertained, -the chief agent and means in effecting this necessary -action. Such eggs as escape the attack of -enemies—and of these, in the shape of aquatic -birds and of other fishes, the salmon-ova have -more than enough—undergo development, and are -hatched in from ninety to one hundred and thirty -days.</p> - -<p>It would be an interesting study were we to -trace the stages through which the young fish -becomes evolved from its simple germ, and the -wondrous formation of tissues and organs out of -the soft jelly-like matter of which the egg is -primarily composed. But want of space forbids; -and our readers must therefore fancy for themselves -the process whereby the hidden artist Nature -works through development, and at length shapes -out the young salmon, or ‘parr.’ It may be -mentioned in proof of the small proportion -borne by the salmon-eggs actually deposited, to -those developed, that authorities agree in stating -that out of three thousand eggs deposited, scarcely -<i>one</i> egg may survive—so terrible is the destruction -of young salmon. This fact alone, as Mr Young -argues, should tell powerfully as an argument in -favour of <i>artificial</i> propagation; since out of three -thousand eggs which are thus hatched, at least one -thousand young fishes may be successfully reared.</p> - -<p>The curious fact is noticed that in most if not -all broods of salmon, half of the parrs will become -‘smolts’—as they are called in their next stage—at -the end of a year or so, whilst the other half -will not become smolts <i>until after the lapse of two -years and more</i>. This incongruity, if we may so -term it, has led to the questions, ‘Do the parrs -become smolts between thirteen and fifteen months -after they have left the egg, or at the age of two -years and two months?’ Both questions may -apparently be answered in the affirmative, since -each brood exhibits this peculiar feature of some -of its members coming to the smolt-stage long -before the others. Mr Young remarks on the -authority of a salmon-breeder in the north, that -about eight per cent. of the salmon hatched by this -gentleman became smolts at the end of the first -year; about sixty per cent. at the end of the -second year; and about thirty-two per cent. at the -end of the third year. These facts would seem -to indicate that the end of the second year is the -most natural period for the assumption of the -smolt-guise, which, as distinguished from that of -the parr, exhibits a beautiful coat of silvery mail.</p> - -<p>The parr, it may be remarked, dies if placed in -sea-water, whereas the smolt thrives in the latter -element. On reaching the sea, the young smolt -may measure from four to five inches. After a -residence in the sea of some six or eight weeks, -the smolt returns to its river as a ‘grilse,’ which -varies from five to eight or nine pounds in weight, -according to the time it has remained in the sea. -After returning to its river the grilse spawns, and -then returns to the sea. The features of the -mature salmon are now apparent, and the fish -increases in size after each such annual migration -to the sea. Indeed nothing is more extraordinary -in the history of the salmon than its rapid increase -and growth after these periodical migrations to -salt water. Three salmon which weighed ten, -eleven and a half, and twelve and a half pounds as -they were migrating seawards, were duly marked;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136"></a>{136}</span> -and on being caught six months afterwards when -returning to the fresh water, were found to have -increased in weight to the extent of seventeen, -eighteen, and nineteen pounds respectively. Although -salmon usually return to the rivers in -which they first saw the light, yet it has been -ascertained that the practice is not an invariable -one. There is no good reason why one river -should not suit a salmon as well as another, and -in their wide migrations these fishes are exceedingly -likely to enter rivers other than their native -streams.</p> - -<p>One of the most interesting topics touched upon -by Mr Young in his observations, is that regarding -the relative late or early development of salmon -in different Scotch rivers. Prefacing, that a -‘clean’ salmon is a fish that has been for some -time in the sea, it has been generally believed -that rivers which issue from a lake are ‘early’ -rivers—or in other words that they are streams -which clean salmon will ascend in the early -spring. But this idea receives little or no support -from facts as they stand. Many early -Scotch rivers have no lake heads; whilst many -Scotch rivers which run out of or through lakes -are late rivers. Mr Frank Buckland thinks a -river’s ‘earliness’ in the matter of salmon depends -on its proportion of mileage in length to its square -mileage of ‘catchment’—that is of the land-area -from which the river is fed. This, however, seems -to us a whimsical theory, and might be disproved -by facts. As regards the ‘earliness’ of rivers, Mr -Young’s theory is that much depends on temperature; -in fact, temperature is known to be the -chief cause which regulates the distribution of -life in the sea, and there is no one fact, so far as -we are aware, which can be said to militate -against his views. His theory is, however, being -tested by the Scottish Meteorological Society at -Inverugie; by the Duke of Richmond, on the -Spey; by the Duke of Sutherland, on two early -and two late rivers in Sutherlandshire; and by -the Tweed Commissioners—the method of testing -being by thermometers applied to the fresh water -of the rivers, and to the sea near their mouths.</p> - -<p>The latter part of the volume under notice is -occupied with statements relative to salmon fishery -laws and legislation, a subject in which the author -is naturally deeply interested, and in which our -knowledge of the salmon naturally culminates -when the fish is regarded from an economic -standpoint. In Scotland, it seems we are far behind -England and Ireland in respect that there -are no Inspectors of salmon fisheries empowered -to make annual inspections and reports on the -Scotch salmon fisheries! And this fact becomes -the more inexplicable, and the more urgently -demands remedy, when we consider that the -Scotch fisheries are many times as valuable as -those of our English neighbours. Then also, Mr -Young has a most justifiable grumble at the fact -that, in our statutes, there are very inadequate -provisions made for the removal of artificial and -natural obstructions in salmon rivers, and for -the prevention of pollutions; and no close-time -for trout or char. The importance of clearing -away natural obstructions to the ascent of the -salmon in rivers is well exemplified when it is -found that in Scotland no less than 478 miles of -river and loch are thus closed against these fishes. -No less forcibly shewn is the vexatious fact that -rivers are polluted and rendered unfitted for -breeding-streams by means and methods which the -River Pollution Commissioners in their Reports -declare to be preventable at a moderate cost, without -injury to the manufactures with which they -are connected.</p> - -<p>Besides pollution, two things are especially detrimental -to the Scottish salmon fisheries. The -first to be mentioned, is the abominable practice -of building weirs across rivers in order to send -water into mill-lades, and the ignoring of the law -that requires that the water shall be periodically -diverted into the river again. Certain proprietors, -to make the most of their lands, give perpetual -leases of ground to manufacturers of one kind or -other, with liberty to build a weir and take water -to turn their machinery. There may be provisions -in the lease as there is in law to the effect that -the withdrawal of water shall cease during the -night and on Sundays. Such provisions are, -however, in many instances neglected, as giving -too much trouble. The result is, that the whole -river, or very nearly the whole, except in times of -flood, is diverted into the mill-lade, whereby trout -and salmon are unable to surmount the weir, and -are effectually barred from getting to the upper -part of the stream. In plain terms, by the selfishness -of a proprietor (or a pair of them, one on -each side), all who dwell on the river above the -weir are deprived of the fish which nature had -bountifully assigned to them. Already in these -pages we have alluded to a scandalous case of this -kind on the Tweed.</p> - -<p>The second of the two things which act detrimentally -on the Scottish salmon fisheries is the circumstance -that certain landed proprietors near the -mouths of some rivers possess a right to establish -nets for the purpose of catching all the salmon -that attempt to go up the stream. We do not contest -the legality of their arrangements. We only -speak of the cruel way it acts on the rights of all -who live in the upper parts of the river, and on -whose waters the salmon have bred. While the -lower proprietors catch the great bulk of the fish, -those higher up get but a miserable remnant. -During the whole of the time that the nets are on, -the lower proprietors have a practical monopoly of -the fishings. Is that at all reasonable? As a consequence, -first of the weirs, and second of the netting -system of the lower proprietors, there is evoked -throughout the upper part of rivers in Scotland, a -gloomy and almost vengeful hatred of the existing -salmon-fishing system. Of course the higher and -middle classes take no part in demonstrating their -sense of the injustice that is committed. The -lower classes, less scrupulous, and indignant at the -rapacity of the weir-owners and lower proprietors, -take such salmon as they can get hold of in spawning-time, -thus destroying by myriads in embryo -what should have been a vast national advantage. -Detesting as we do all sorts of poaching and -irregularities, we are glad that the Commissioners -appointed to investigate the condition of the -Scottish salmon fisheries, have laid stress upon -the miserable imperfections to which we have -ventured to draw attention.</p> - -<p>Mr Young informs us that in 1874, as many -as 32,180 boxes of Scotch salmon were sent to the -London market alone, the estimated value of which -might possibly be L.321,800. It seems to us, however, -a hard case that the great bulk of such valuable<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137"></a>{137}</span> -property should be secured by proprietors at or -near the mouths of the several rivers, to the exclusion -of those in the upper reaches of the streams, -who ought to have an equal right to participate -in the annual fish-harvest. Free-trade in salmon-fishing, -so much as lies within the limits of strict -justice, is still in expectation. We commend the -subject to the further consideration of Frank -Buckland, Mr Young, and brother-anglers.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="RACHEL_LINDSAY">RACHEL LINDSAY.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">A SOUTH-AUSTRALIAN STORY.</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Towards</span> the end of November, about two years -ago, I received the following curt note from my -brother Donald, who like myself is a sheep-farmer -in South Australia. ‘<span class="smcap">My dear Jerry</span>, -Lizzie sends her love, and hopes to see you when -your shearing is over, as usual. If you’ll say -what day, I’ll fetch you from Ballarat.—Yours -affectionately,</p> - -<p class="right"> -<span class="smcap">Don Gardiner</span>.’ -</p> - -<p>‘<i>N.B.</i>—Just begun to wash the wool. Lizzie’s -sister says she has seen my apparatus at Conolly’s, -but I don’t think it. Ask Conolly.’</p> - -<p>Conolly was a neighbour of mine, and he -chanced to have brought me Don’s letter, and to -be lighting his pipe at my elbow while I read it.</p> - -<p>‘Conolly,’ said I, ‘do you know any of Mrs -Gardiner’s sisters? She has an unlimited number, -I believe, for I have met a fresh one—sometimes -two fresh ones—every Christmas for about half-a-dozen -years, and here is still another I never -heard of. She appears to be acquainted with you -and this neighbourhood’——</p> - -<p>‘O yes; that’s Cinderella,’ interrupted Conolly, -as he abstracted a bundle of newspapers from our -joint post-bag and began to rip the wrapping -from them. ‘Haven’t you seen Cinderella? She -was never out of Tasmania, I suppose, until last -spring, when she was staying up here with -the Macdonalds. The Macdonald girls called -her Cinderella because she had always been the -one to stay at home and keep house while the -others went about. Her proper name is Rachel. -O Jerry, Jerry!’ he broke out suddenly, laughing -in what seemed to me a very offensive manner -(my proper name I may mention being Gerald), -‘your sister-in-law Lizzie will be too many for -you. She won’t let you escape this time. She -has kept Rachel as her last card.’</p> - -<p>‘If ever I marry a woman with such a name -as that, I hope I shall be a henpecked husband -for the rest of my life!’ I retorted angrily, seizing -a paper-knife and beginning to tear away at the -<i>Australasian</i>, so as to drown further conversation -upon what was a very sore subject.</p> - -<p>My brother Donald’s wife Lizzie was as good -and kind a little woman as ever breathed, but like -many young wives in happy circumstances, she -was a matchmaker. And being impulsive, effusive, -and not quite—what shall I call it? I don’t like -to say she was not quite a lady, but that would -suggest my meaning—she did not pursue her -calling with that tact and judgment which its -delicate nature required. I need not say more, -except that she had a number of spinster sisters, -and one only bachelor relative, who lived all by -himself in single-blessedness on his own fine and -thriving property, and that I was that male victim. -I beg pardon of all the Misses Lindsay for using -such a term; I was not a victim as far as <i>they</i> -were concerned. But I did feel it hard that I -should be laughed at wherever I went as the -captive knight of half-a-dozen fair ones, when I -had never had the choosing of one of them.</p> - -<p>When I received the above letter I had just -seen my last wool-bale packed on the last bullock-dray -and started on its slow journey to Melbourne; -and the day after I set off myself on -my yearly visit to Don. He was less fortunate -in respect of sheep-shearing than I, for living in -an exceptionally cool district, where an exceptionally -wet and wintry spring had kept everything -behindhand, he had still all his troubles to come. -I thought of that as I buttoned myself into my -Ulster, which I was glad of that cold morning, -though Christmas was only a month off; and I -reflected that I should be the only unemployed -man at the disposal of the household until the -shearing was over, and foresaw (as I thought) the -consequences. I made up my mind, however, -that I would defy Lizzie’s machinations in a more -systematic manner than heretofore. May I be forgiven -for so priggish a determination.</p> - -<p>It was midnight before I reached Ballarat, where -Don usually met me; but upon this occasion I -found a telegram stating that he was too busy to -leave his farm, and would send for me next day. -So I had one game of pool at the club and went to -bed; and next morning enjoyed an hour or two -over newly arrived English papers and periodicals, -and a solitary lunch; and then the familiar old -ramshackle buggy and the beautiful horses Don -was famed for made their appearance, and I -set off on the last stage of my journey. When -I arrived at my destination it was dark and -raining heavily; and the groom who opened the -stable-gate told me that my brother had not long -come up from the wash-place and was interviewing -shearers at the hut. I was wet and muddy, -so I went straight to my room without even -asking for my sister-in-law, who was usually in -her nursery at that hour, and proceeded to make -myself respectable for dinner. Presently I heard -Don about the passages (the house was ‘weather-board’ -and the partitions extremely thin) asking -the servants where I was; and then his head and -a half-bared neck appeared in the narrow aperture -between my door and the door-post.</p> - -<p>‘Glad to see you, old boy; but I’m too dirty -to come in,’ said he. ‘Seen Lizzie?’</p> - -<p>‘Not yet.’</p> - -<p>‘Seen Rachel?’</p> - -<p>‘Not yet. But I say, old man, would you mind -telling me how many <i>more</i> sisters you’ve got?’</p> - -<p>‘No more,’ said Don with a grin. ‘She’s the -last one, and she’s the best of them all.’</p> - -<p>‘Then I hope I may be allowed for once to -enjoy the society of one of Lizzie’s sisters, in a -friendly way,’ I grumblingly responded (for I may -as well admit that Don and I had had confidences -of old on this subject). ‘Don’t you think you -could give Lizzie a notion that I don’t mean to -get married, or that I’ve a sweetheart up the -country, or something of that sort?’</p> - -<p>‘Not I,’ rejoined my brother, laughing. ‘I’m -not going to spoil her fun, poor little soul; you’re<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138"></a>{138}</span> -old enough to take care of yourself.’ And with -that he went off, whistling cheerfully, to his -dressing-room.</p> - -<p>When I had completed my toilet, I gathered up -some boxes of choice cigars that I had been purchasing -in town, and carried them to the door -of the adjoining apartment, which had been Don’s -smoking-room ever since I had known it. To -my surprise, the bolt shot sharply as I touched the -handle, and I heard a rustle of drapery inside. -A housemaid coming along with lamps for the -dinner-table called out hastily: ‘O sir, that is Miss -Rachel’s room now. The smoking-room is at the -end of the verandah, where Miss Carry slept last -year. Mrs Gardiner wished it to be changed -because she didn’t like the smell of tobacco so -near the bedrooms.’</p> - -<p>I took back my boxes, thinking no more about -it, and went on to the drawing-room, which was -full of light and warmth and comfort, as usual, -and where I found two of my little nieces sitting -demurely on a sofa in their best frocks, ready to -rush into my arms. Lizzie came hurrying in -after me, rosy and radiant, and with plenty of -flounces and colours about her, and gave me her -own enthusiastic welcome; and then Don, spruce -and perfumed, joined us. Don in his early years -had been a dandy, and a little youthful weakness -remained in him still. He never came to dinner -without rings on his fingers and subtle odours in -his clothes; and he was at great pains to keep a -pair of Dundreary whiskers accurately adjusted on -each side of a closely shaven chin. He had been -ten years in the Bush, and had never objected -to ‘roughing it’ in a general way; but he persisted -in shaving himself every morning, let what -would, happen; which singular habit in an Australian -country gentleman very much puzzled his -bearded friends. I for one, used to quiz him -as well as I knew how, when I saw him swathe -his neck in a handkerchief, before going out to his -work, if the sun shone too strongly; but I respect -his little vanities nowadays, and hope he will keep -his white throat and his Dundreary whiskers as -long as he lives, bless him. He took one of his -little girls on his knee, and questioned me about -my station matters and about Conolly’s sheep-wash -(which was <i>not</i> so well furnished with improvements -as his own, much to his satisfaction); -and Lizzie gave me an account of the development -of her respective children since I had seen them -last, including the cutting of the baby’s teeth; -and then the dinner-bell rang.</p> - -<p>‘Where’s Rachel?’ inquired Don.</p> - -<p>I turned a languid eye upon the door when we -heard the sound of a distant rustle, expecting to -see one of the smart and smiling damsels I was so -used to, and wondering whether this one would -be dark or fair. With a slow and quiet step she -came along the hall and entered the room, and -my heart began suddenly to beat in a very unpleasant -manner. She had a delicate, thoughtful, -but piquant face, wavy brown hair modestly -and becomingly set, and a slight figure daintily -dressed in pale blue silk, with a little white lace -about throat and arms; and yet she was the image -of Marie Antoinette in Delaroche’s picture, only -with a more majestic dignity of carriage, if that -could be, and a more cold and calm disdain upon -her face. As soon as I saw her, and felt the exceedingly -faint acknowledgment she vouchsafed -when we were formally introduced, I intuitively -guessed—with a horrible sense of shame and mortification—that -she had overheard what I said to -Don in my bedroom through those card-paper -walls!</p> - -<p>I never thought I should feel so concerned at -standing ill with one of Lizzie’s sisters as I felt -before that evening came to an end. All through -dinner I saw, without looking, offended dignity in -the poise of her head and the studied repose of -her manner, and heard the ring of it in every -inflection of her voice, though it was so subtle and -delicate that only a guilty conscience could detect -it. It was a great deal worse in the evening, when -Lizzie began her fussy little contrivances for -throwing us together. The poor little woman -never had so impracticable and aggravating a sister -to manage; and I never met one who attempted -to treat me with such open indifference and thinly-veiled -contempt. It is unnecessary for me to state -the consequences. I began to interest myself in -this Miss Lindsay as I had never interested myself -in the others. I began to hanker for her good -opinion, as I had never hankered for theirs. I -longed to set myself straight with her, and beg her -forgiveness for a thoughtless insult that I would -have given worlds to recall, and to feel that the -way was open between us to meet and associate as -friends. This longing grew apace as the evening -wore on, but the prospect of its gratification grew -less and less. Until the little ones were taken -away by their nurse she devoted herself to them, -telling them stories most of the time in a dark -corner, whence merry chatter and ripples of subdued -laughter came flowing out to us; but when -they were gone, the bright vivacity that was her -true characteristic went too, and she became Marie -Antoinette again.</p> - -<p>With an amiable wish to make things pleasant, -Lizzie asked her to pour out the tea; but she -merely stood in front of me at the tea-table, with -her little nose in the air, and asked me whether -I took sugar and cream, in a high clear tone -that brought a puzzled wonder into her sister’s -face and a slow smile to Don’s. I came and -stood beside her, to take the cups from her -hand (her pretty head was about level with the -flower in my button-hole), and she tried to ignore -me, but could not. Her hands shook slightly and -a little angry flush came and went in her face; -but I preferred that to having no notice at all. -Later on she went to the piano, and sung song -after song for the delectation of Lizzie and Don, -neither of whom had the hearing ear and the -understanding heart to appreciate the pure quality -and poetic sweetness of her voice. By this time I -was very low-spirited, and I drew away from my -host, who was growing sleepy after his hard day’s -work, and took a chair near her—which of course -was a signal to Lizzie to leave the room. As -she sung on, forgetful of me and of everything but -the poetry awaking in her, and as I studied the -pose of her slight figure and half-bent head, and -the now dreamy happiness in her face, and listened -for the first time after many years to the true -translation of a language that I loved, a vague perception -dawned in me that there was some latent -fellowship between us. And then I felt that -Fate had indeed been hard.</p> - -<p>The silence of the room was presently brought -into strong relief by a deep snore from Don,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139"></a>{139}</span> -whereupon she suddenly rose from the piano and -saw that we were virtually alone. ‘Good-night, -Mr Gardiner,’ she said promptly, holding out a -somewhat reluctant hand and stiffening back into -her unnatural stateliness.</p> - -<p>I took it and held it and looked into her face; -and I tried to tell her, as well as plain ‘good-night’ -would do it, that I knew what had happened -and wanted her to forgive me. I think she -guessed what my look meant, by the sudden -crimson flame in her face; but she walked out of -the room with as much dignity as she had first -walked into it, without another word.</p> - - -<p class="p2">The early days of December were cold and wet, -and the shearing was a protracted and troublesome -affair. Don hovered about restlessly, whether in -or out of the house, always bothered and anxious, -and paying frequent visits to the barometer. The -ladies clung to their fireside as if they had been in -England; and I tied myself to Lizzie’s apron-string -with an abject alacrity that puzzled and charmed -her. My opportunities for ‘improving the occasion’ -were many, but somehow I could never turn -them to account. The pride of that little maiden -was quite beyond my management. Lizzie threw -us together; she left us alone; she did all that in -her lay to further my desires for a reconciliation -and an understanding; but the implacable resentment -of the last of the Lindsays towards me for -that wretched slip of the tongue was a stone wall -I could not climb over. The worst of it was, -she did and said nothing tangibly offensive; and -I was precluded by all sorts of considerations from -mentioning the subject we were both (and that we -both knew we were) thinking of. So matters went -on day after day. And before a great many days -were past I was over head and ears in love—I may -as well say it and have done with it—and began -to feel desperate and dangerous. She walked -about the house with her grand air, my Queen -Marie Antoinette, my little tyrant that I could -almost have demolished with a finger and thumb; -and I, standing six feet three in my stockings, had -to acknowledge that she was invincible as well as -unmerciful. Unregenerate savage as I was, I had -faint longings now and then to take her by those -slender shoulders, and shake her.</p> - -<p>There were times when she became her sweet -self, and could not help it though she tried; and -these times were born of music. She and I both -loved music with that special love that nature -permits to a few people; but to no one else in the -house did the ‘heaven-born maid’ present attractions. -Don, hard at work all day, could go to -sleep after dinner in his arm-chair; and Lizzie, -after her manner, could go out of the room in the -middle of the most charming song. Then, when -we were singing together, or when she was gentle -and gracious with the spirit of melody in her, then -was the oil thrown upon my troubled waters. At -times such as these it flashed across me that she -was aware of it.</p> - -<p>At length on one of these occasions I made a -dash at her guarded citadel; I will not say in what -words, but with the blundering foolishness that -I suppose characterises all implied aspirations; -albeit with sufficient plainness to leave no chance -of being misunderstood; and then I had indeed to -bite the dust for once in my life. She had been -singing <i>Ruth</i> with the most touching pathos and -abandonment—‘Where thou goest I will go, and -there will I be buried’—and I could not stand it. -Don was in the room, but snoring in that comfortable -undertone which denoted a sound and quiet -slumber. She stood with her back to the piano, -and the sheet of music trembling and rustling in -her hands, watching his nodding head in the -distance, and turning her delicate profile to my -view.</p> - -<p>‘No; I will not,’ she half whispered with -haughty rapidity. ‘You should have known I -would not. I do not particularly want to marry -anybody,’ she added, flashing round upon me with -her crimson face; ‘but I will never marry <i>you</i>. -I made up my mind to that long ago.’</p> - -<p>Everybody knows how, in the supremely solemn -moments of one’s life, one is apt to be assailed with -most incongruously ludicrous ideas. In spite of -my bitter mortification at her reply, an absurd -rhyme that I had heard somewhere, flashed into -my head:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Do not be like Nancy Baxter,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who refused a man before he’d axed her.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>I believe she saw the ghost of a smile that might -have hovered round my eyes when I begged to -know why she had made up her mind never to -marry me; and that made her savage.</p> - -<p>‘Because you think I came here to be made -love to,’ she retorted, with all the concentrated -contempt that her sweet face and voice could hold. -‘You think Lizzie and I have been plotting to -catch you—you think we wanted to inveigle you -into marrying me! I know what you are going to -say’—as I rose and seized her hands, to stop her—‘but -it is not the truth. I <i>heard</i> you’—lifting her -angry eyes, now wet with unshed tears, to mine—‘I -heard you, with my own ears, tell Don to warn -Lizzie beforehand that you did not want to be -married.’</p> - -<p>‘I know you did,’ I replied, tightening my -hold of her hands, while she made feeble efforts to -get away; ‘and I wish my tongue had been cut -out before I could have insulted you and her like -that. Forgive me, Rachel; I have been punished -enough.’</p> - -<p>‘I cannot,’ she answered, still panting with -her excitement. ‘I should be ashamed of myself -if I could take a man who had even <i>thought</i> of me -like that.’</p> - -<p>Two tears began to trickle from her eyes, and a -little hysterical catch in her breath betrayed to me -that her defiant courage was failing her. I would -not let her go. Love and shame and a resentful -disappointment made me a little savage too.</p> - -<p>‘I never <i>did</i> think of you like that,’ I said -sternly; ‘and you know it. I must hold you till -I clear myself—I cannot bear it’——</p> - -<p>A log tumbled in the grate, and Don woke up. -She caught away her hands and sped out of the -room; and I walked through a French window -into the cool summer night, too full of wrath and -love to speak to anybody.</p> - -<p>This was how we stood when at last (on Saturday, -the 18th of December) the true Christmas -weather came, and we found ourselves in the hot -afternoon alone on the croquet-lawn—alone for the -first time since my stormy wooing was interrupted. -Don being still busy in the sheep-yards and shearing-shed, -I had been playing singly against -Lizzie and her; and now Lizzie had been called<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140"></a>{140}</span> -away to the nursery to consult with a needlewoman -who was at work there. We were both -anxious (though for very different reasons) to -leave off playing when our chaperon had departed; -but it was not easy to do so in the middle of a -game, especially as she had instructed her partner -to play for both of them until she returned. So -we knocked the balls about for a few minutes in -embarrassed silence, and then had an altercation -as to which hoop Lizzie had been through; and -then we both got a little huffy, and played, first -with indifference, and then with a malicious -energy, which resulted at last in my sending her -partner’s ball into the thickest Portugal laurels in -the shrubbery.</p> - -<p>‘Oh, I beg your pardon!’ I exclaimed with -compunction, as she solemnly marched off to look -for it. ‘Let me find it for you.’</p> - -<p>‘Do not trouble yourself,’ she replied sharply; -and immediately dashed in between the laurel -and a very prickly rose-bush, whose long sprays -caught her muslin dress and tore it. I saw her -straw-hat amongst the big dark branches, and -her little hand searching under them for a -moment or two; then she started up suddenly -with a quick cry, and bounded into the path -again.</p> - -<p>‘What is the matter? Have you hurt yourself,’ -I asked anxiously.</p> - -<p>Her hat fell to the ground, and she stood before -me with the blazing sun on her pretty head, and -a wide-eyed horror in her face. ‘Wait a minute -for me!’ she panted breathlessly; ‘I want you to -help me—I have been bitten.’ Before I could -collect my senses to understand what she meant, -she had sped like a flash of light into the house; -and dashing into the laurel bush, I saw what had -happened. A big black snake was gliding away -from the spot where she had been kneeling.</p> - -<p>What was to be done? I stood still for a moment -paralysed; then I sent up a hurried prayer for -help, and simultaneously ‘cooeyed’ three or four -times with all the force of a powerful pair of -lungs, for Don at the wool-shed. Then I hurried -after her, and met her coming through the door -of my brother’s dressing-room with one of his -razors in her hand. Her face was white and set -as she seized my hand and hurried me into the -smoking-room, which was near us, and turned the -key in the lock. I knew what she wanted; and I -set my teeth in an agony that no words could -express, and which I can never think of now -without a shudder.</p> - -<p>‘Look!’ she said piteously, with a little sob -in her throat; and I looked, and saw one of the -fingers of her left hand tied round tightly with a -piece of string below the first joint, and the end -of it already livid and swollen and shewing the -unmistakable punctures of the snake’s fangs. She -laid her other hand on my arm, and looked up at -me with a beseeching face that nearly unmanned -me.</p> - -<p>‘Help me!’ she whispered eagerly; ‘now—now; -before the others come!’ And she held out the -razor, open and shining. ‘It is no use to suck it—it -only wastes time,’ as I seized her finger and -put it in my mouth. ‘Don’t, don’t! I want to -be on the safe side. I don’t want to die! O pray, -pray help me!’—now sobbing passionately—’or -else I must try to do it myself. I won’t cry out; -I won’t mind it. I will turn my head away.’ -She laid her finger on the edge of the table, and I -took the razor from her, and with all the courage -I could muster, excised the wounded part. She -bore the cruel operation without a murmur.</p> - - -<p class="p2">An hour afterwards the commotion in the house -was over, but the shadow of death was on it. -Rachel was in her bed, white and faint and breathing -heavily, twitching with weak fingers at the -bedclothes, and staring with dull eyes into the -sad faces around her. I knelt in my room close -by with my head on my outspread arms, weeping -like a child as if my heart would break, and -listening to the creaking of the doctor’s boots and -the whisking of skirts and whispering of awed -voices on the other side of the thin wall. There -was nothing else that I was privileged to do, now -that I had done that dreadful thing which they -told me might be the saving of her precious life.</p> - -<p>As the twilight fell, the voices in the sick-room -took a louder and more cheerful tone; and -presently one of them called softly: ‘Jerry, I want -you.’ Lizzie met me in the passage with a tremulous -tear-stained smiling face. ‘The doctor says -she will be all right now, and that she has to -thank you for it,’ she whispered. ‘Don’t stay -here any longer; go and have a cigar with Don.’</p> - -<p>I seized her hand and kissed it, and looked at -her with my wet eyes full of foolish emotion, too -glad for speech; and the brightening intelligence -of her countenance was curious to note. ‘I thought -you didn’t care for each other,’ she said archly; -‘but,’ she added drily, ‘I suppose I was mistaken.’</p> - -<p>‘Don’t suppose anything, Lizzie, there’s a good -girl. But let me know when I may see her,’ I -replied earnestly.</p> - -<p>‘All right—I understand—I’ll let you know,’ -she said, nodding her head vigorously with an air -of mystery and importance; and then I went, -not to have a cigar with Don, but to walk -about the dark garden alleys, alone with my -thoughts.</p> - -<p>Our patient improved steadily all night, so -much so that the family assembled at breakfast as -usual. Then a great hunt was made for the snake -(at Lizzie’s instigation, on the children’s behalf), -which lasted a long while and was wholly unsuccessful. -Then church-time came, and the buggy -was ordered to take the servants and the little -girls to church; and the hot day wore on. -Towards evening, as I was loafing about the -garden, Lizzie came running across the croquet -lawn—where the balls and mallets were still lying -about as we had left them, though it <i>was</i> Sunday—and -told me that Rachel was up and dressed, and -that she chanced to be alone in the drawing-room.</p> - -<p>I stole in to her in the twilight with my heart -beating fast; and for a few moments she did not -notice me. She was standing by the open piano, -small and white and weak, with a shawl wrapped -round her, gazing at the silent key-board, with -tears running down her face. No one could look -less like Delaroche’s Marie Antoinette than she -looked then.</p> - -<p>I took three long steps and reached her side; -she gave a great start and turned round to meet me. -‘I shall not again be able to play to you for a long -while!’ she said, looking up at me for sympathy -in this new trouble with her soft wet eyes.</p> - -<p>When she said that—instead of making me the -little speech I had expected, thanking me for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141"></a>{141}</span> -saving her life—I put out my arms. And though -we said no word, we forgave one another.</p> - -<p>And how pleased Lizzie was when she saw the -last of the Lindsays transferred to my unworthy -self.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="IRRIGATION_IN_SOUTH_AFRICA">IRRIGATION IN SOUTH AFRICA.</h2> -</div> - - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> irrigation of lands by water-channels connected -with rivers is accepted as an important -means of agricultural development in countries -subject to protracted droughts, where rain falls -only at distant and uncertain intervals. The irrigation -caused by the periodic overflow of the Nile -is a noted case in point. But for the annual overflow, -temporarily deluging the land for a foot or -two, Lower Egypt would be barren instead of a -scene of fertility. In a country like England, -where there is, generally speaking, too much -moisture, the chief consideration is to dry the land -sufficiently by draining, instead of flooding it with -water; the lesson being thus taught that as regards -the culture of soils every country must act according -to circumstances. In India, also in Ceylon, -there are some remarkable instances of the value -of irrigation, and in these countries much more of -the same kind requires to be done to avert the -horrors of lengthened drought and famine. On -this subject, we propose to say a few words -regarding large tracts in Southern Africa, which -are very much in the condition of those parts of -Egypt fertilised by the waters of the Nile.</p> - -<p>We speak first of the river Oliphant, which falls -into the sea on the west of Cape Colony, and -which has various important affluents. The land -through which these streams flow is of a most -desolate character—broad belts of sand, interspersed -with low scrubby bush, swelling into -moderate hills, with rugged mountains for a background. -Upon the country in the lower part of the -Oliphant River rains have no appreciable effect; -but when the soil is thoroughly soaked by the overflow -of the streams, after the periodical inundations, -and then covered by the deposit brought down by -the floods from the upper districts, its fertility -is wonderful. The average yield is more than a -hundredfold. The quantity of land of this character -along the Lower Oliphant alone was estimated -by the government surveyor in 1859 as -eight thousand seven hundred acres.</p> - -<p>Thus, like Egypt with its Nile inundations, -those districts of Cape Colony—otherwise almost -barren—are annually fertilised. But unlike Egypt, -the country is unprovided with any means for -utilising to the full extent the advantages thus -conferred. No appliances are prepared for the -purpose of storing the water thus brought down; -no artificial channels are cut for directing it and -spreading it over a large area; and when the short -rainy season has passed, the inhabitants are content -to sit down and wait for the next ‘periodical.’</p> - -<p>A characteristic story is told by a colonist who -visited the locality some years ago: ‘I strolled -along the banks of the river, and was much struck -with the extremely fertile appearance of the soil, -and the very little which had been done for turning -it to account. It seemed as if the Creator had -done everything for the country, and man nothing. -Scarcely any rain had fallen for some time past, -and the river had not overflowed its banks for -more than a year. The stocks of grain and vegetables -were getting very low. The farmer was -complaining much about the long protracted -drought; and when he had finished, I took the -liberty of pointing out how he could, by leading -out the stream for the purposes of irrigation, or by -fixing a pump to be propelled by wind, on the -river’s bank, secure an abundant supply independent -of the weather. He seemed to listen with -some interest to the development of my plans; -and I began to hope that he had decided upon -doing something to relieve himself of the difficulty; -but eventually, after turning round and scrutinising -the whole horizon in the direction of the river’s -source, as if in search of some favourable symptom, -he yawned heavily, and merely observed in Dutch: -“Oh, it will rain some day!”’</p> - -<p>Of the Zout or Holle River, the most northerly -of the tributaries of the Oliphant, Mr P. Fletcher, -the government surveyor, says: ‘By its arteries -it brings together the rich karroo soil of the -Hantam and Hardeveld and the rich sandy soil of -Bushmanland. The best crop of oats I have -seen in Africa was in the deposit of this “periodical.” -Other portions are of a very saline character. -At a rough guess, I believe that in many spots a -dam might be constructed three or four feet high, -and a couple of hundred feet long, which would -flood several hundred acres, thereby rendering -them richly arable. I have measured some of last -year’s “slick” two feet deep; this, of course, was -under the most favourable circumstances; but by -the use of dams, the deposit might be regulated, -the fresh slick might be allowed to deposit to its -full extent, so that in a few years the lands would -be out of the reach of ordinary floods, if desirable -that they should be so. By this system of irrigation, -even the most saline basin would become -available to agriculture, and about nine or ten -thousand acres on the banks of this one periodical -river might be brought under cultivation, which -would even excel the richest soil in the “Boland” -(upper country).</p> - -<p>‘Several tributaries to the Zout River have -extensive karroo deposits; some of their basins -reaching to nearly one mile in breadth, and -their fall being so little, that, standing in their -delta, a person cannot sometimes judge with the -eye which direction water would flow. Their -water-course, which winds through the middle of -the deposit, is always well defined, and shews a -longitudinal section of the plain. Except in ordinary -heavy rains, those channels carry off all the -water without overflowing, while a few pounds -would leave them in a condition to produce fifty, -eighty, or even one hundred-fold. Such is the -nature of several tributaries of the Hartebeeste -River. I have not seen the latter, but have been -more than once informed that it has in some -places a deposit of five miles in breadth, that when -it does overflow, there is abundance of grass for all -the cattle that visit that quarter. If this description -of the Hartebeeste River be correct, the products -it may be able to yield either in the form -of grain or pasture for cattle would appear to most -people fabulous. We have here, and not here only, -but over an extensive portion of the whole colony,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142"></a>{142}</span> -the richest soil in the world lying at present for -two-thirds of the year utterly unoccupied, waste -and worthless.’</p> - -<p>The Hartebeeste is the last principal tributary, -from the south, of the Orange River, and rises in -the same chain of hills as the Tanqua, one of the -tributaries of the Oliphant—namely, the Roggeveld -Berg, receiving affluent streams from the south-east -and south-west, draining in fact nearly the -whole of the central northern part of the colony. -This district is at present almost neglected. The -chain of hills in fact, which runs from east to west -across the centre of the colony, cuts off the northern -half from the mass of the colonists, notwithstanding -the fact that here is the most fertile land in South -Africa.</p> - -<p>The Zak, as the upper part of the Hartebeeste is -called, is another instance of the wonderful effects -upon the soil of periodical inundations. The following -particulars are given in Mr Noble’s book on -<i>Cape Colony</i>. In the dry season these streams -are comparatively small, and often a mere succession -of pools; but after rains they run briskly, and -where level with the banks, overflow and soak the -adjacent flats. In many places so very even is the -country that they may be said to have no defined -channel, and form extensive sheets of water a few -inches deep. The Zak River at two hundred and -fifty miles from its source thus varies in breadth -from one to four miles; and further on from -Onderste Doorns to Leeuwenkop it widens as -much as ten miles. Along its course is the most -valuable part of Great Bushmanland. Water can -be obtained in its bed even when dry, and its -valley generally affords pasture to cattle during -both the winter and summer months. After floods, -there are extensive alluvial bottoms on each side -of it, where agricultural products of every kind -might be raised. These are now commonly used -by the squatters as sowing lands, without any -labour or trouble beyond scratching in the seed. -One overflowing of the soil is sufficient to insure a -crop even although no rain should fall afterwards. -The returns are something marvellous, especially -those of wheat.</p> - -<p>In 1859 the number of Europeans settled on the -irrigable portion of the Oliphant was estimated at -one hundred and twenty souls. When there was -an overflow of the river, they were active enough; -day and night they worked incessantly; the sun -and the moon alike witnessed that they did not eat -the bread of idleness. But talk to them of improvements -in the way of artificial irrigation by -dams or pumps, and they ridiculed the idea. Such -was the description given at that time; and such, -with very little alteration, is an accurate statement -of affairs now. The population of Calvinia -and Clanwilliam, the two districts drained by the -Oliphant River, was in 1875, 15,856, of whom -only 2046 were classed as ‘urban.’ These figures -of course include the natives as well as the -settlers; but they represent an enormous advance -in population since 1859. It is probable that if -measures were taken to secure the permanence of -the advantages which are now only temporarily -enjoyed, the population and wealth of the districts -would rapidly increase.</p> - -<p>Of the fertility of the soil without any attempt -at cultivation, there are abundant evidences. A -sandy plain apparently as barren as the Sahara -itself is suddenly transformed into an expanse of -waving grass for hundreds of miles, so soon as the -annual rains occur. This ‘twaa-grass’ or Bushman -grass is an excellent fodder for horses and cattle, -which thrive and grow fat upon it in a few weeks: -even when dried up in the winter it is better feeding -than any available green pasture. The natives -scratch in their seeds and leave them to ripen, -which they do without the least attention, and -whether the country is visited by drought after -the summer rains or not.</p> - -<p>The principal drawback to the complete cultivation -of the lands is the absence of roads or water-carriage. -The Orange River, though a magnificent -stream, and navigable in certain parts of its -course, is blocked by narrow gorges, shallows, falls, -and other impediments, and is useless as a water-way. -In time probably, it may be made available, -by means of inter-communicating canals to enable -the rapids, &c. to be passed; but at present the -community must look to the extension of roads -and railways for the means of fully utilising -the produce which would be raised if a ready -market could be found. In this respect a decided -step has already been taken. A railway of ninety -miles in length has been constructed from Port -Nolloth on the north-west coast, in Namaqualand, -to the upper mining districts, its terminus being -at Ookiep. On the most difficult portion of the -route the cost has been very little more than a -thousand pounds a mile for this distance; and it -might be extended further eastward at a still less -cost, to the great advantage of the country drained -by the Hartebeeste. Another railway, or a good -system of roadways, is wanted to open up the -Oliphant water-shed; and with these means of -carrying away the produce—all that is necessary—the -immense natural resources of the district would -be fully developed. In the Fraserburgh district, -where the Upper Zak river rises, substantial -houses, springs, wells, and dams have already been -constructed, and plantations and gardens are being -extended; but then from Fraserburgh excellent -roads run east and west; and the railway to Cape -Town comes as far as Beaufort, situated sixty or -seventy miles south-east.</p> - -<p>Finally, in Great Bushmanland, diamonds have -been found; but there are far greater and more -permanent sources of wealth than diamond-fields. -Sheep and oxen can be raised, and their wool and -hides turned to profitable account. Wheat, grapes, -and vegetables of all kinds will grow in abundance. -In fact, for pastoral and agricultural qualities the -country is unsurpassed. Here then is a field for -the enterprising emigrant from our own country. -Capital alone is wanting for its development; and -capital however small, judiciously expended, must -be at once remunerative. We are glad to be able -to add that an Act has been passed by the Cape -Parliament for granting facilities to landowners -for obtaining by loan or otherwise the means of -improving their lands by irrigation or other -similar permanent works.</p> - -<p>Other districts prove how the colonists have -succeeded in turning what was, more really than -Great Bushmanland or the Lower Oliphant can -be said to be, a ‘howling desert’ into valuable -farms, by opening up springs, making dams, forming -irrigation channels, and planting trees where -no trees existed, and where water was only an -occasional and very ephemeral visitor. There is -no reason indeed why the ‘Nile lands of South<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143"></a>{143}</span> -Africa’ should not rival in productiveness the -great ‘world’s wonder’ in the north of the continent; -after which, from natural circumstances, -they have been not inaptly named.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="ALBATROSS_NOTES">ALBATROSS NOTES.</h2> -</div> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Far</span> out in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, often -two thousand miles and more from the nearest -land, sails the albatross in its graceful and powerful -flight; now following in the wake of the ship, -to catch any chance morsel that may have fallen -from the cook’s waste-basket; now skimming along -the water, and occasionally snapping up some -small ocean-waif from the crest of a wave; or -with a few vigorous strokes of its broad wings, -gliding easily round and round the vessel, though -she may be going at the rate of a dozen knots an -hour.</p> - -<p>No passenger to southern lands can have failed -to note the extraordinary powers of flight of this -magnificent bird, and the wonderful ease with -which it sweeps for some minutes together through -the air on expanded motionless pinions, rising -and falling slightly, and taking advantage of the -gravity of its own body and the angle at which -the wind strikes its feathered sails to prolong -the course of its flight with the least possible -effort. Seldom, except in very calm weather, may -it be seen to alight upon the water, from which -it rises with difficulty, running for some distance -along the surface. The ends of the wings clear -of the water, it turns towards the breeze, and -rises into the air in a gentle curve, in exactly the -same manner as a paper kite. That the albatross -follows a ship for many days in succession, sleeping -at night upon the water, and coming up with -her in the morning, there can be no doubt. We -have watched them for several consecutive evenings -during fine weather, in the latitude of the -trade-winds, settling down on the water at sundown, -and preening their feathers, until they -became mere specks in the field of the telescope; -but they were with us again in the morning soon -after sunrise; some strangers among them perhaps, -but several which, from some peculiarity -of marking, we knew to be our companions of the -day before. In one instance, a conspicuous mark -had been made by a pistol-bullet in the wing -of an old brown-headed and curiously pied bird, -by which he could be identified beyond doubt. -The second or third flight-feather had been shot -away, leaving a clearly defined gap in the wing as it -came between the light and the eye; and this -bird followed us for three days after having been -fired at, though we had been sailing an average -of nearly eight knots an hour. One of the most -striking examples of their endurance on the wing, -however, is the fact, which we have more than -once observed, that the same birds which had been -unweariedly following us in the day, accompanied -us throughout the whole of the succeeding night, -as could be easily verified by the light of the -moon.</p> - -<p>It is a not uncommon practice with passengers -to endeavour to catch these noble birds by a -bait fastened to a hook and buoyed with corks. -That such a cruel practice should ever be tolerated, -even ‘to relieve the monotony of the voyage,’ is -to us inconceivable, and can only be accounted -for as the last resource of a brutally morbid fancy.</p> - -<p>The albatross is essentially the scavenger of the -ocean, and we doubt whether it makes any attempt -to capture living fish unless when very hungry, -for we have seen flying-fish rising in quantities -while the albatrosses made no attempt to catch -them. That the nautilus is sometimes eaten is -evident, for we have taken it from the stomach; -but the chief food is dead fish and other refuse. -In the South Atlantic we passed the dead body -of a small whale, on and around which were at -least a hundred of these birds, either gorged or -gorging themselves with the blubber; and guns -discharged at them failed to induce many of -them to take wing. We had on one occasion -an opportunity of observing how rapidly these -birds collect about a carcase. Like vultures or -ravens, when an animal dies they discover it -very speedily, and flock to the scene of the -banquet. On a hot still evening in the South -Atlantic a horse died, and when cast overboard -next morning, the gases already formed by decomposition -enabled it to float. The few albatrosses -in our company immediately settled down upon it; -but in less than an hour we could see through the -telescope a great cloud of the birds on the sea and -hovering round the unexpected prize, the almost -entire absence of wind having kept us within two -or three miles of the spot. It may be that the -(usually) white plumage enables stragglers, far out -of human ken, to see their fellows gathering in -the neighbourhood of food; others again from still -more remote distances may see them, and so on; -until stragglers over hundreds of miles of space -may be gathered to one common rendezvous.</p> - -<p>The greater part of the year is passed by them -at a distance from land; but they flock to barren -and almost inaccessible rocks to breed. There the -female lays her one dirty-white egg in a slight -depression upon the bare earth, the sitters being -frequently so close together that it is difficult -to walk without touching them. They -are totally indifferent to the presence of man, -and merely indicate their resent of his intrusion -into their nursery by snapping at him as he passes. -The parents share the labour of incubation and -rearing the young, and when this is over, they -all go seawards together, and silence and solitude -once more reign where all had lately been clamorous -and busy life.</p> - -<p>The range of the albatross is very considerable, -and it may be met with to the extreme limits -of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, in -the South Atlantic and North and South Pacific -Oceans, both at sea and near headlands and isolated -rocks. During the months of May and June -in the northern, and the months of November and -December in the southern hemisphere these rocks -are tenanted by countless numbers of albatrosses -and their smaller brown relations, known to sailors -under the name of ‘Mollymawks.’ No one who -has visited an albatross nursery will readily -forget the scene. Placidly sitting upon the one -precious egg is the parent, male or female as the -case may be; and as far as the eye can reach<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144"></a>{144}</span> -over the surface, the rock is crowded with the -sitters, indifferent to the presence of the human -visitor. They know nothing of man’s destructive -nature, and they fear him not. Many of them -have never seen that curious biped before, and -those which have chanced to see him on his -ships and to have suffered from his guns, are -more likely to have then regarded him as a part -of the white-sailed monster which traversed their -ocean domain, than a separate creature; and fail -to recognise him as he ‘molests their ancient -solitary reign.’</p> - -<p>While viewing the interminable white forms -thus crouching upon the earth, above wheel -in graceful circles hundreds of their mates, -sending congratulations in a hoarse piping voice -to those beneath on the progress of the all-important -business of rearing the family. Here -and there sit callow uncouth nestlings; and from -seawards come the parents to discharge the contents -of their maws into the insatiable stomachs -of the expectant young. Now and again one of -the ‘bread-winners’ of the family swoops past the -observer on its twelve feet of outspread wings, -so near that he feels the shock of the divided -air, and can realise the immense strength of the -muscles which propel the creature, who, however, -is a coward in spite of his size; for the skua gull, -a bird many times smaller than himself, will -often attack him and compel him to disgorge -the product of his last foraging expedition.</p> - -<p>As soon as the albatross has reared its young, a -penguin frequently takes possession of the deserted -nest, and in the very cradle of a bird destined -to traverse the ocean on unwearied wings lies a -nestling whose wings will never develop into -anything more than a pair of paddles! Great -numbers of albatrosses are caught by the natives -of the North Pacific coasts, who use the inflated -intestines as floats for their fishing-nets, and barter -the hollow wing-bones with traders for the European -markets—these bones being familiar to us -as pipe-stems. The large webbed feet when inflated -make good tobacco-pouches. We have also -seen the quills of the flight-feathers converted -into floats for roach-fishing; and many a Thames -angler patiently watches from his chair in the punt -a feather which has probably helped to carry its -former owner over the length and breadth of the -Pacific.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_NOVEL_LIFE-BOAT">A NOVEL LIFE-BOAT.</h2> -</div> - - -<p>Mr J. Manes of Fourth Avenue, Newhaven, -Connecticut, has invented a new kind of life-boat -which seems to possess features worthy of notice. -‘His boat consists of a hollow globe of metal or -wood, ballasted at the bottom, so that it will -always right itself immediately on touching the -water, and can never capsize even in the roughest -sea. It has compartments for water, medical -stores and provisions, bull’s-eyes to let in the -light, a door for ingress and egress, a porthole -for hoisting signals to the mast, comfortable seats -all around the inside for the passengers, and a -double hollow mast for supplying fresh air, and -for carrying off that which has become vitiated. -On the outside of the Globe boat runs a gallery, -for the use of sailors in rowing, hoisting sail, discharging -rockets, or steering. Of course the cases -would be very rare when rowing, sailing, or steering -would be required, but in case of need, all -three could be easily managed.’</p> - -<p>In such a boat—which is like a large buoy fitted -with a mast—the passengers would be protected -from rain and wind, and consequently to a great -extent from cold. This seems to us to be a very -important point, as many a shipwrecked person -escapes drowning only to perish from exposure to -the weather. Mr Manes suggests that a propeller -might be attached to the boat to be worked by -a crank turned by the passengers on the inside. -It is calculated that a boat twelve feet in diameter -would carry about fifty passengers, and that it -could be carried on deck or hung over the stern -on davits, in either of which positions it might be -used as a cabin during the voyage; and further, -if hung on a universal point like a compass, it -would retain its equilibrium no matter what the -motion of the ship might be, thus affording a safe -retreat for persons subject to sea-sickness.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="AWA">AWA’.</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">LINES WRITTEN ON THE DEATH OF JEANIE, A FAVOURITE -CHILD, AGED SEVEN YEARS.</p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Thou ’rt</span> lyin’ cauld an’ still, my bonnie bonnie;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The dews o’ death lie heavy on thy broo;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy sunny smile nae mair will thrill this bosom;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy sweet blue een are dark an’ sichtless noo!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hushed is thy fairy tread, my bonnie bonnie;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy lips sae rosy red, I’ll kiss nae mair.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O heavy thocht, that dims this ee wi’ sadness!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O heart that fain wad break, wi’ anguish sair!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I cry thy name in vain, my bonnie bonnie;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For aye thy form, thy dear-loved form I see;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O face sae fair! O locks o’ golden splendour!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O guileless heart, that fondly throbbed for me!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A dreary blank is mine, my bonnie bonnie;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nae mair thy merry voice will cheer my ha’;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An eerie stillness fills the darksome dwelling,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Since thou, my sweetest flower, wert ta’en awa’!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The angels cam’ for thee, my bonnie bonnie,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As saftly flickered oot life’s feeble flame:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The tender Shepherd took thee to His bosom,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">An’ left me wi’ a lanely, lanely hame!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But oh! thou ’rt wi’ the blest, my bonnie bonnie,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where pain will rend thy gentle breist nae mair;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh, when this weary heart lays doun its sorrow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My ain wee lassie, may I meet thee there!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">James Smith.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The Conductors of <span class="smcap">Chambers’s Journal</span> beg to direct -the attention of <span class="smcap">Contributors</span> to the following notice:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p><i>1st.</i> All communications should be addressed to the -‘Editor, 339 High Street, Edinburgh.’</p> - -<p><i>2d.</i> To insure the return of papers that may prove -ineligible, postage-stamps should in every case accompany -them.</p> - -<p><i>3d.</i> <span class="smcap">Manuscripts</span> should bear the author’s full <i>Christian</i> -name, surname, and address, legibly written.</p> - -<p><i>4th.</i> MS. should be written on one side of the leaf only.</p> - -<p><i>5th.</i> Poetical offerings should be accompanied by an -envelope, stamped and directed.</p></div> - -<p><i>Unless Contributors comply with the above rules, the -Editor cannot undertake to return ineligible papers.</i></p> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p class="center">Printed and Published by <span class="smcap">W. & R. Chambers</span>, 47 Paternoster -Row, <span class="smcap">London</span>, and 339 High Street, <span class="smcap">Edinburgh</span>.</p> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p class="center"><i>All Rights Reserved.</i></p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular -Literature, Science, and Art,, by Various - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL LITERATURE, MARCH 2, 1878 *** - -***** This file should be named 62545-h.htm or 62545-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/5/4/62545/ - -Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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