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path which he had travelled that morning, and on the day before. If the personal appearance of the stranger seemed to mark him as one fitted to shine in the strife and tumult of battle, his conversation no less clearly proved him to be an intelligent and genial companion. He enlivened the journey with an inexhaustible fund of anecdote and observation. Every object on the way seemed to give occasion to interesting and animated discussion; and the tedious path, under the influence of his profuse animal spirits, and his versatile talent for amusement, would have seemed short and easy to any one whose mind was less pre-occupied and engrossed than that of Philokalos. He appeared to be one who loved excitement and danger for their own sake, and to be moved, not so much, as Philokalos had been, by the romantic love of glory and renown, but by a robust hardiness of mind and body which caused him to delight in the mere exercise of strength and skill. Hence, he seemed to care little what was the particular adventure in which he might be engaged, and his enthusiasm for the Trojan war did not prevent him from receiving with pleasure the information given him by Philokalos that there were wild boars, of considerable strength and ferocity, to be found in the island; and, finding that Philokalos also professed to be fond of the chase, he began openly to express his satisfaction that his vessel had proved leaky, and to promise himself a pleasant sojourn upon the island.

Although Philokalos was not in a frame of mind to enter into the schemes of his new acquaintance with an eagerness comparable to his own, yet he could not but feel himself somewhat influenced by the animation and cheerfulness of his tone and conversation; and he had besides already grasped the idea that, by entering into the sports and amusements of the other, he might manage to make his stay so agreeable that he might be willing to delay his departure. So, with different ends and motives, they followed the varied path across the island, and, towards sunset, they arrived at their destination.

BY THE RIVER.

IN the beautiful greenwood's charmèd light,
And down through the meadows wide and bright,
Deep in the silence, and smooth in the gleam,
For ever and ever flows the stream.

Where the mandrakes grow, and the pale, thin grass
The airy scarf of the woodland weaves,

By dim, enchanted paths I pass,

Crushing the twigs and the last year's leaves.

Over the wave, by the crystal brink,
A kingfisher sits on a low, dead limb:
He is always sitting there I think,—
And another, within the crystal brink,
Is always looking up at him.

I know where an old tree leans across
From bank to bank, an ancient tree,
Quaintly cushioned with curious moss,
A bridge for the cool wood-nymphs and me:
Half seen they flit, while here I sit
By the magical water, watching it.

In its bosom swims the fair phantasm

Of a subterraneous azure chasm,

So soft and clear, you would say the stream
Was dreaming of heaven a visible dream.

Where the noontide basks, and its warm rays tint
The nettles and clover and scented mint,
And the crinkled airs, that curl and quiver,
Drop their wreaths iu the mirroring river,-
Under the shaggy magnificent drapery
Of many a wild-woven native grapery,-
By ivy-bowers, and banks of violets,
And golden hillocks, and emerald islets,
Along its sinuous shining bed,

In sheets of splendour it lies outspread.

In the twilight stillness and solitude

Of green caves roofed by the brooding wood,

Where the woodbine swings, and beneath the trailing

Sprays of the queenly elm-tree sailing,—

By ribbed and wave-worn ledges shimmering,

Gilding the rocks with a rippled glimmering,

All pictured over in shade and sun,
The wavering silken waters run.

Upon this mossy trunk I sit,
Over the river, watching it.

A shadowed face peeps up at me;
And another tree in the chasm I see,
Clinging above the abyss it spans ;

The broad boughs curve their spreading fans

From side to side, in the nether air;

And phantom birds in the phantom branches
Mimic the birds above; and there,
Oh! far below, solemn and slow,

The white clouds roll the crumbling snow

Of ever-pendulous avalanches,

Till the brain grows giddy, gazing through
Their wild, wide rifts of bottomless blue.

II.

THROUGH the river, and through the rifts
Of the sundered earth I gaze,

While Thought on dreamy pinion drifts,
Over cerulean bays,

Into the deep ethereal sea

Of her own serene eternity.

Transfigured by my trancèd eye,

Wood and meadow, and stream and sky,
Like vistas of a vision lie:

THE WORLD is the River that flickers by.

Its skies are the blue-arched centuries;
And its forms are the transient images
Flung on the flowing film of Time

By the steadfast shores of a fadeless clime.
As yonder wave-side willows grow,
Substance above, and shadow below,
The golden slopes of that upper sphere
Hang their imperfect landscapes here.
Fast by the Tree of Life, which shoots
Duplicate forms from self-same roots,
Under the fringes of Paradise,
The crystal brim of the River lies.

There are banks of Peace, whose lilies pure
Paint on the wave their portraiture;

And many a holy influence,

That climbs to God like the breath of prayer,
Creeps quivering into the glass of sense,
To bless the immortals mirrored there.

Through realms of Poesy, whose white cliffs
Cloud its deep with their hieroglyphs,
Alpine fantasies heaped and wrought
At will by the frolicsome winds of Thought,-
By shores of Beauty, whose colours
Faintly into the misty glass,-

By hills of truth, whose glories show

pass

Distorted, broken, and dimmed, as we know—

Kissed by the tremulous long green trees

Of the glistening tree of Happiness,

Which ever our aching grasp

eludes

With sweet illusive similitudes,
All pictured over in shade and gleam,
For ever and ever runs the Stream.

The orb that burns in the rifts of space
Is the adumbration of God's Face.

My Soul leans over the murmuring flow,
And I am the image it sees below.

VOL. L-No. 8.

THE WAITARA.

THE interest in the Waitara is fast sinking into insignificance. It is doubtful whether a debate on the question can be got up in the House of Representatives. Event follows event with such rapidity-each succeeding act of the drama now being played out, explaining with more or less fulness the mystery hidden in the one which immediately preceded it, that even curiosity about the "new circumstances" so mysteriously hinted at in the proclamation abandoning the block, can scarcely be excited. It is rather a relief than otherwise to all parties that, in the present struggle Waitara "is well out of the way," and that no land question or difference of opinion about Maori title is mixed up with the issue now being fought out.

Nevertheless, however willing and thankful we may be that, by the exercise of ministerial legerdemain, Waitara has been got rid of, we must confess to a certain lingering desire to take a peep behind the scenes, and ascertain how the thing was done. No sooner will the Assembly be in session than all will be revealed. It can hardly be supposed that the Waitara papers will then be any longer withheld; and though we do not in the least anticipate that the fate of the Government will at all depend upon the case they can make out, or that the abandonment of that block will be regarded as a good ground to impeach the Ministers, as some eager journalists suggested when first the intelligence shocked the public out of its sense of propriety; yet, as a matter in itself of grave public importance, there are few who take interest in the political history of the Colony who will not read with eagerness the story as the parliamentary papers will tell it.

So far, but little has been written on the subject, and that little has not gained much credence. An article in the Canterbury Press, the writer of which boasts that he knows all about it, appeared on the 9th July, and though the story which he tells is, in many respects, very remarkable, and no doubt contains much which is true, it can hardly be accepted as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The writer of that article was evidently anxious to make the most of the facts which had come to his knowledge, and these he has dressed up with all the charm of style and power of language to which we are so much accustomed in the Press; so that, what with the facts which he relates, the inferences which he shows, and the illustrations he uses, he makes the story of Waitara to reveal one of the most tragic blunders on record. He would have people believe that the forces of Great Britain had been used to turn from their houses and their cultivations a large, defenceless, and peaceable population of Natives, for no other reason on earth but to extend the limits of settlement of the Province of Taranaki. He compares the resistance of William King to the resistance of Hampden, and his heroism and chivalry to that of Garibaldi. In his eyes, William King is no rebel opposing an authority superior to his own, that the dominion

over this country should vest in the Maori and not in the European; but a justice-loving patriot, impelled to opposition by the tyrannical and oppressive acts of the land-grasping stranger. This picture is as nearly like the truth as a brigand on the stage is like the brigand of the Apennines, or as the frontispiece to the "merry Swiss boy" is like the youthful inhabitant of the valleys of the Alps.

Whatever may be the truth, whatever we may think of the Waitara purchase originally, and of the various blunders that have been made in reference thereto, we are quite certain that an historical statement of the facts that have transpired will lead no one else but the writer in the Press to the conclusions which he has drawn. The position taken up by Governor Browne and his Ministers was, that Teira and his people were the sole owners of the land they were desirous to sell; that their title was disputed by no one; that there was no good reason to allege against the purchase; that William King's opposition was purely factious, and for no other reason than to resist the Queen's authority and to prevent the further alienation of land. Great stress has been laid by the supporters of Colonel Browne on the fact that the "investigation" into Teira's title was going on for a period of nine or ten months; that during that time every effort was made to ascertain whether there were any other claimants, and that none could be found. Now, there can be very little doubt that this much boasted investigation was all a farce. Mr. Parris was the Government agent; Mr. Parris was the Land-Purchase Commissioner; Mr. Parris was deeply interested in the extension of the Taranaki settlement; Mr. Parris received instructions from the Government to buy the land if possible; Mr. Parris was the Investigator; Mr. Parris was, in fact, Judge, Jury, Prosecutor, Counsel, and Witness, all in one. There was not even so much as the formality of a Court. No particular time was fixed for this celebrated investigation.. According to Mr. Parris's own showing, it consisted of nothing but occasional loose talk at a Maori pa between him and any Maori he could get hold of. This is his own statement: " I went to Waitara to have an interview with William King and his people on the subject of resuming the negociation (not investigation mind) for Teira's land. I spent this day and many others with them endeavouring to induce them to meet Teira's party, and discuss quietly and deliberately the claims to the block of land (thus admitting that they had claims), but they never would consent to do it; I, therefore, was obliged to get information from other natives." No one need be surprised at a crop of "new circumstances" arising out of such an investigation as this; indeed, the surprise would be if there were any other result. The main point is to ascertain what the "new circumstances" really are, and how they came to be discovered, for whatever else is known or unknown, it is clear that there has been no more formal investigation this time than there was before by Mr. Parris.

It is said that the "new circumstances" rest entirely on Teira's own confession. That Teira had an interview at Taranaki with Mr. Bell. That on that occasion the talk turned upon the emigration of the Ngatiawa from Waikanae, and that Mr. Bell asked Teira to tell him how it was that William King resided on the south bank of the river instead of on his own territory on the north. The reply which it is understood Teira made is very curious. He said that, in the first instance, King had fully intended to reside on the north bank, but the

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