THE UNITED STATES OF TO-DAY.

We have seen how the United States grew out of a fringe of settlements 
founded by various nations along the Atlantic
seaboard, and we have traced the history and the expansion of the great 
republic up to the present time. When the
colonists won their independence, 126 years ago, the population was about 
3,000,000; to-day there are some
84,000,000 persons in the country. 
 Since the Civil War of the last century, which decided for all time whether the nation was to remain
 weak and divided or to be strong and united, the commercial
  and industrial progress of the United States
 has been more than remarkable. But it is only
 within comparatively recent years that the nation
 has been looked upon as one of the world's Great
 Powers. With the successes of the war against
 Spain in 1898 came increased responsibilities and
 increased importance in the eyes of the nations of
 the Old World. She had beaten the fleets of the once- powerful nation that had formerly claimed a great tract of her territory,  
and from her had wrested possessions in the East and West Indies.
Looking at the map, we see that the great territory of the United States stretches through 
twenty-four degrees of latitude (1,600 miles) in the Temperate Zone. Its greatest length, which is 
from
ocean to ocean, is 2,800 miles. To the east and west we notice great mountain-systems bounding the 
vast central plain which is watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries.
On the eastern coast a plain, varying in width but always narrow compared with the great inland 
plain, stretches from the Atlantic to the Appalachian and Alleghany Mountains. The rivers which
drain this strip of country are comparatively short, but are of considerable importance to the 
industries of the states through which they flow. It was in this eastern plain that the colonists, 
after
overcoming many difficulties, founded the earliest states, and succeeded in growing the necessaries 
of life, and also maize, fruit, and tobacco. Then the hunters crossed through the mountain-passes. They were followed by the 
pioneer settlers in wagons drawn by oxen or mules. Amid constant 
danger from the Indians these settlers slowly occupied the western slopes, and at last
spread to the plains, sowing wheat and Indian corn where for ages had grown only the long 
prairie-grass.
Stretching between the eastern and western ranges, and reaching from the Gulf of Mexico to the great 
northern lakes, is the immense central plain occupying one-half of the area of the country.
It is really part of a great depression which stretches from the Arctic Regions to the Gulf of 
Mexico, with a low watershed near the Canadian border. Through this plain from north to south flows
the gigantic Mississippi, gathering to itself, from the east and the west, the waters of its giant 
arms, the Ohio and the Missouri. To-day this immense valley, which formerly served as the home and the hunting-ground for 
bands of roving Indians, is one 
of the greatest maize-, wheat-, and cotton-growing areas in the world.
Grown in the north in immense fields, and reaped by machines of the most skilful construction, wheat 
is distributed to all parts of the world by way of the ports on the Great Lakes, by steamers plying on the Mississippi and its 
tributaries, and by trains which connect the eastern and western oceans.

From stereograph copyright by Underwood and Underwood, London, New York, and Melbourne.]
LOADING A " WHALEBACK " SHIP AT A GRAIN- ELEVATOR, CHICAGO. (The wheat is run down the shoots, and is 
transported without being put into sacks.) 

After wandering south through rich fields of maize and wheat, the mighty " Father of Waters " enters the cotton- and rice-
growing districts, which extend eastwards and occupy the whole of the south and 
south-eastern
states. Passing into the Gulf of Mexico, the mighty waters help to swell the Gulf Stream.
Following the setting sun we come to the western
mountains, a portion of the great mountain-system stretching from Patagonia in the south to Alaska in the north.

From stereograph copyright by Underwood and Underwood, London, New York, and Melbourne.]
A COTTON-PLANTATION, GEORGIA.
(In Georgia alone 3,500,000 acres, are devoted to cotton-growing.)

In the United States this mountainous country is more
than 1,000 miles broad at its widest part. It is a vast plateau from 4,000 to 10,000 feet high, with 
peaks rising from it
to a height of over
14,000 ft.* On the east its boundary is the Rocky Mountains, and on the west the Sierra Nevada and 
Cascade
Ranges. This plateau is rich in minerals, but a part of it suffers greatly from want of water. The 
strip of land between
the western mountain-chains and the Pacific Ocean is known as the Pacific Slope. It is extremely 
fertile, is the chief
fruit-growing portion of the States, and has one of the most delightful climates in the world. You 
will thus see that
vastness and variety are characteristic of the physical features of the United States: plains, 
rivers, mountain-chains -
all are immense.
Every kind of climate, from sub-Arctic to subtropical, and from very cold and wet to extremely hot 
and dry, is to be
found. Many places, especially on the Atlantic coast, are liable to very sudden changes of 
temperature, the
thermometer suddenly falling many degrees. Winter and summer the climate of the Pacific coast is 
singularly mild
and equable, but in the northern and eastern states great extremes of heat and cold are experienced. 
New York is
visited by distressing and oppressive heat-waves in summer, and by fierce blizzards which pile up the 
snow thickly in
its streets in winter.
As is only to be expected from the many varieties of climate, the plant-life to be found in the 
United States is rich and
extremely varied. Indeed, if we except eastern Asia, in probably no other part of the Temperate Zone 
is the native
plant-life so rich and so diverse. In the well-watered regions forests are abundant. From Puget Sound 
southward for
many miles along the coast the plentiful rainfall, has caused the growth of marvellously dense and 
lofty forests. The
tallest masts and finest spars known to modern commerce are shipped from this coast, and in California the trees reach an 
immense size, far outrivalling the kauri, the giant of the New Zealand forests.

* The highest mountain in North America is Mount McKinley, in Alaska (20,464 feet).

The American bison, or buffalo, the largest of
the wild animals that at one time roamed over the
plains, rapidly retreated before the advance of
the white man, and could be found only in the more
remote regions. But a rifle-shot carries far, and he is now almost extinct. Among the animals still to be found are
the bear, the  moose (or true elk),  the prong-horned antelope, the cougar (the  panther, or 
American  lion), the
beaver,  the opossum, and  the jaguar. Among  the reptile forms  may be mentioned  the alligator and 
the  venomous
rattlesnake.
In the vast prairies, where trees are unknown except along the banks of the streams, the soil is 
singularly rich, and
the natural growth of grass is most luxuriant. But the people of the prairies are very much alive to 
the importance of
tree-planting, and throughout these once treeless regions forests and belts of trees are everywhere 
springing up. At
the schools in the United States, Arbor Day is not merely an occasion for a holiday, but is a day 
specially devoted to
serious instruction and work.

A FOREST GIANT, CALIFORNIA.

All over the country, but chiefly in the mountainous districts, are to be found some of the richest 
stores of mineral
wealth in the world. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 changed the face of the west, and 
brought together a
horde of treasure-seekers, by whom no law except the law of might was acknowledged, and among whom 
the pistol
was quicker than the tongue. The finding of coal, iron, and copper has dotted the wild Rockies with 
mining camps,
and the discovery of petroleum in the east has given birth to towns and cities where fortunes have 
been quickly made
and as quickly lost.
A country's production of iron and steel is one of the surest tests of its progress. The production 
of pig iron in the United States rose from 2,000,000 tons in 1875 to 25,000,000 tons in 1906, and the production of 
steel from 390,000
tons to 23,000,000 tons in the same period.
With her great natural resources the United States is capable of satisfying all her own wants, and is therefore more self-contained 
than probably any other country. She produces nearly everything that she requires - metals and coal for her foundries, raw 
materials for her manufactures, and food in abundance for her workers.
The United States is both a great agricultural and a great manufacturing country. England has 
developed her
manufactures at the expense of her agriculture; the United States not only sends large quantities of 
wheat and cattle
to England, but competes successfully with English manufacturers. America supplies the Lancashire 
cotton-mills
with nearly all their cotton, and the English-speaking world with most of its tobacco. The Standard 
Oil Company,
which controls most of the. Petroleum-wells in the United States, has branches all over the world. All 
the kerosene (or
refined petroleum)
which is burned in New Zealand lamps comes from America, and the price is controlled from New York.
As a manufacturer the American is a formidable
competitor of the Englishman, who for a long time had no rival. The American is always looking out 
for improved
methods, and will not think twice about throwing away all the machinery in a factory and replacing it by improved machinery, if 
he knows that the change will lead to the production of a cheaper or a better article.

From stereograph copyright by Underwood and Underwood, London, New York, and Melbourne.]
STUPENDOUS LOG RAFT, COLUMBIA RIVER, OREGON.
(About one-half the raft is shown. The logs are bound into a. cigar-shaped mass and towed to market.)

In selling goods the American often beats his rivals because of his quickness and readiness to meet the needs of his 
customers.
 Americans attach great importance to education,
and this has had much to do with their success in
commerce. They have splendid systems of secondary schools, technical schools, and universities,
which attract  very large numbers of students in
proportion to the population. Parents realise that
if their children are to be successful when they grow
up they must have a good education, and as boys
approach manhood many of them realise the same
thing, and are anxious to make themselves as fit as
possible for the battle of life. It is a common thing
for young men to work for a part of the year as
railway porters, bootblacks, waiters, or tram-conductors
 to earn money enough to enable them to
attend  university for the rest of the year.
Wealthy Americans set an example to the rest
of the world by their liberal gifts of money to universities and colleges, and many millions 
of pounds have
been freely given for this purpose. America has more very wealthy men than any other country in the 
world. The great
progress made during the last twenty or thirty years has poured money into the pockets of successful 
business men
and lucky speculators. Mr. John D. Rockefeller, the founder of the Standard Oil Company, the greatest 
business
concern in the world, is variously said to be worth from £60,000,000 to over £100,000,000; Mr. Andrew 
Carnegie, the
great philanthropist, who has given money so freely to help public libraries here and elsewhere, 
retired from the steel
business with a fortune of £40,000,000; and Mr. Pierpont Morgan, the leading financier in the United 
States, is worth
over £20,000,000.
(To be continued.)

CAPTURING A SLAVER.

It not many years since the slave-trade was boldly carried on between the 
coast of Africa and various parts of the
world. Though the English, French, and American Governments joined in their 
efforts to suppress the illegal and
wicked traffic in black men, it was yet carried on by adventurous and 
daring spirits for years, in spite of all the
cruisers that sailed the ocean. The great profits to be gained from the 
successful landing of a cargo of slaves, say in
Cuba, was a temptation which lured all sorts of desperadoes to engage in 
the detestable business. The secret traffic
was pursued in the most systematic manner, and with a skill and zeal worthy 
of a better cause. Only small vessels
were suited to the trade, craft that would sail well, and which drew but 
little water. The slave-vessels were obliged to
anchor within the mouths of rivers on the coast, and to run in and hide 
themselves in shallow creeks. They were
usually schooner- or brig-rigged, and spread a mountain of canvas to drive 
them at great speed through the water if
they chanced to be pursued at sea. When not upon the African coast, they 
were so arranged, with false decks and
other appliances, as to present the aspect of craft engaged in lawful 
commerce, so that, except when taken in the
act, it was difficult to convict their owners of illegal traffic.
The American sloop of war " Peacock " had been cruising between Fernando Po 
and the continent for nearly three
months without having so much as got a glimpse of a slaver. Now and then 
the captain anchored near shore to water
the ship or make inquiries, and once in a while a French or English cruiser 
was spoken.
One day the " Peacock " dropped anchor off Clarence Bay, in the Island of 
Fernando Po, and learned that a clipper craft had sailed for the coast of the mainland the previous day. Little doubt was felt as to 
her true
character. She seemed to have plenty of casks on board, which she had 
filled with water, and she had no other
cargo except rice. This was just a slaver's outfit. Besides, it was also 
learned that she had a crew of forty men, a
number out of all proportion to her size.
The anchor of the " Peacock " had hardly got fair hold of the bottom 
before the boatswain's whistle sounded to up
anchor and make all sail. The wind was light, and it was twenty-four 
hours before the ship sighted the mainland at a
point where the several mouths of the Bonny River* empty themselves into 
the open sea. This was a favourite point
with the slavers, and the fact that the mouths of the Bonny always 
afforded several channels of escape for the light-draught vessels when discovered made it especially adapted for the trade.
The " Peacock " was hove to, and an expedition in boats was sent out to 
examine the river. Night came on, however,
without any discovery being made, and the boats returned to the ship, 
which was brought to anchor as near the shore
as possible, and in a position to command the most available entrances to 
the river. Orders were given to keep an
extra sharp lookout during the night, lest the slaver should come down 
the river and give the " Peacock"
the slip under cover of the darkness.
It was just before daylight that the officer of the watch thought he 
heard the creaking of blocks aboard some vessel,
and strained his eyes through the darkness to try to discover the cause 
of the noise. He finally made out the shape of
a brigantine as she was gliding out of the most distant entrance of the 
river.

* A river entering the Gulf of Guinea a little to the east of the mouth of 
the River Niger.

As had been ordered, the captain of the " Peacock " was called at once. The anchor was soon up, sail 
after sail was
dropped from the yards and sheeted home, so that, even with the light wind which swept over the 
water, the ship
began to move, her bows headed for the dimly seen craft which had just made its appearance out of the 
river.
By-and-by, as the day fairly dawned, the stranger was clearly made out, and there could be no doubt 
as to her
character. She was a dark, low-lying brigantine-very admirable in all of her fittings, and a perfect 
witch at sailing. Still,
the " Peacock" also was a swift vessel, and, being well handled, even in that light wind did not 
permit the slaver to
creep away from her.
Presently the lookout aloft hailed the deck.
"Something in the water, right ahead ! "
"Lay aloft, Mr. Knight," said the captain, to the boatswain, " and see if you can make out what it is."
The boatswain took his spy-glass into the crosstrees, and soon returned to the deck, saying, " It's a 
man floating on
something."
"A man?"
"Aye, aye, sir."
The captain looked through his glass as the ship gradually neared the object floating between the "Peacock " and
the brigantine. Then, turning to the first officer, he said,
" Mr. Freeman, get a boat ready to lower. The rascals have thrown over a man to delay us. We must pick him up, however."
" Aye, aye, sir."
Soon after, the foretopsails of the " Peacock" were hove aback, a quarter-boat was lowered, and a 
naked black man
was picked up floating upon some corks tied to his body. The delay was brief, but,
before the ship was again fairly under way the slaver had drawn farther away from her pursuer.
This was tried a second and a third time, the captain of the " Peacock " in each instance picking up 
the poor, forlorn
object floating upon the sea. He could not find it in his heart to leave them to drown or be eaten 
by the sharks.
"This will not do, Mr. Freeman," he said, at last; " the fellow will make his escape, and, in saving 
one or two lives, we
shall permit a hundred or two to go into slavery."
" True, sir," replied the officer. " If we could only have a little wind just now, we could overhaul 
the brigantine hand over
hand."
Again the lookout hailed the deck.
" What is it? " asked the officer of the deck.
" Another man overboard, sir."
" Never mind, Mr. Freeman," said the captain; "we must keep on our course. We can't help it."
"Very well, sir."
But as the "Peacock " neared the object reported by the lookout, it was discovered to be a woman with 
an infant in
her arms. This was reported to the captain.
" Pick them up," was the reply. He could not leave a woman and child in such circumstances.
The headway of the "Peacock" was stopped again, the quarter-boat manned, and the negress and her babe 
were
taken on board. Not a word could be exchanged with the three men or the woman, but they understood 
that they were
there among friends, and they eagerly took some whisky and some ship's biscuits.
Just then a breeze came creeping over the water and filled the sails of the sloop, so that she 
visibly increased her
speed. She felt the wind some time before the brigantine, and began to close upon her. As the slaver 
got fairly within
range, a bow-chaser
was fired at her now and then, but only once was the shot seen to take effect.
The order to fire high and not at her hull was given, as the captain of the " Peacock " knew that 
below decks she
must be stowed full of human beings. The slaver, seeing that she was likely to be overhauled, set 
another negro adrift,
but the captain of the " Peacock " could not heave-to now - as long as he did so they would continue to 
play the same
game. Besides, he was now coming up with the brigantine.
The pursued, finding that the man-of-war no longer heeded the slaves set adrift, saw it was no use to 
follow that trick,
and as the wind still freshened, and one or two shots from the " Peacock " had already cut the 
rigging of the
brigantine, the captain of the slaver began to realise that the "game was up." All he could now 
hope for was to
effect an escape for himself and his crew. He therefore headed his vessel back for the coast.
It was late in the afternoon of that long summer day when the mainland at the mouth of the river 
became distinctly
visible. The brigantine had hugged the coast much nearer than the cruiser dared to go, and presently 
a couple of
boats left her side, filled with her crew.
The boats of the " Peacock" were hastily lowered, and, all well manned, were pulled toward the 
brigantine, which was
boarded just as her captain and crew reached the shore. Several thirty-two-pound shot were fired from 
the ship, one of
which dealt death to two or three of the fugitives, and caused the rest to flee inland for their 
lives.
When the brigantine was boarded by the boats sent from the ship, the usual horrors of the slave-trade 
were exhibited
on board. The craft was named the " Fleet Wing," and nearly two hundred negroes were stowed in her 
low and narrow
hold.
They were huddled together, men and women, and among them were also a few children. All were 
handcuffed, and
most of the men were chained at the ankles.
The men of the " Peacock " were set to work at once to knock off these shackles, and in a couple of 
hours the poor
creatures were freed from their bonds and permitted to come on deck, half of them at a time, to 
breathe the fresh
night air. It must have seemed like Paradise to them after the stench and suffocation of the 
brigantine's hold.
The poor creatures were liberally fed upon boiled rice, and given what they most coveted, all the 
water they chose to
drink. From the time they were taken on board the slaver they were stinted to the smallest allowance 
of food and
drink by their captors. The grateful creatures fell at the feet of the officers and crew of the "Peacock " and kissed
their shoes. Of course, they could not understand a word spoken to them, but actions do indeed speak louder than words.
The " Fleet Wing" proved a valuable prize, apart from the grand object of freeing her slaves. Of 
course, to have landed
these at the mouth of the Bonny River would have been to place them once more in the power of their 
enemies. So
they were carried down the coast to Sierra Leone, and handed over to the Court established for their protection.
-LIEUTENANT MURRAY, U.S.A.
THE PLANETS DURING THE MONTH OF APRIL.- Jupiter and Mars are the only planets in a favourable 
position for
observation. Jupiter is still in the constellation Leo, to the east of Regulus. He is due north about 
9 p.m. in the middle
of the month. He will be near the moon on the 2nd April. Mars is in the constellation Sagittarius, or 
the Archer. He
does not rise till a short time before midnight. He will be near the moon on the 14th. The other 
planets are too near
the sun for observation.

THE BATTLE OF SLUYS.

Although England made her first foreign conquest when Richard I subdued 
Cyprus on his way to the Holy Land, it was
not until later that European nations fully realised the great power that 
lay in the English navy. In Edward III's reign,
however, there was gained a great naval victory which established 
England's claim to the command of the seas
separating her from the Continent.
For some time the French had been troublesome in the English Channel. 
They had burned Southampton, and had
carried off a large ship called the
"Great Christopher." To meet these attacks, and also to safeguard the 
English woollen trade with Flanders, Edward
determined to assert his claim to the throne of France, and made great 
preparations for invading that country.
 Meanwhile Philip of France prepared to resist
the attack, and gathered together four hundred
vessels, including upwards of 120 of the largest
class, the chief of which was the " Great Christopher." The French ships 
lay in the harbour of
Sluys (Sluis, in Holland, near the Belgian frontier),
on the Flemish coast. Among them were many
Spanish vessels from the ports on the Bay of Biscay,
the sailors of that coast being renowned for their
seamanship.
On the 22nd June, 1340, Edward's fleet of 260 ships set sail for France, 
and on the next day, being the eve of St.
John the Baptist, they came to the coast of Flanders. As they approached 
the coast they discovered so great a
number of ships that their masts and streamers made them resemble a wood. 
The King asked the master of his
vessel what he supposed them to be. "May it please Your Majesty," replied 
the master, "I take them to be Normans and others, sent out by the French King to rob and spoil your coasts, and 
to take Your Majesty's person if they can.
Among them, I doubt not, we shall find those very men who burnt your good 
town of Southampton, and took your
good ship the
'Christopher.' "
" Ha!" said the King, " I have long desired to fight with the 
Frenchmen, and now I shall meet with some of them,
by the grace of God and St. George; for truly they have done me so many 
displeasures that I shall be revenged, an I
may."
Edward was so confident in the skill and courage of his men that he 
disregarded the enemy's superiority in numbers.
His great ships, well manned with archers, were placed in the van; and 
between every two there was one with men-at-arms.* A squadron was kept in reserve, to prevent the French from closing 
upon his van, and to assist wherever aid
might be required. A third squadron, in which were five hundred archers 
and three hundred men-at-arms, was
appointed to protect the vessels containing the ladies of Edward's Court, 
whom the King is said to have " comforted
all he could."
Having disposed the fleet in this array, Edward on the following day gave 
orders to hoist the sails," designing to get
the advantage of the sun and the wind." As he stood off with this 
purpose, some of the French who were more brave
than considerate supposed that the English, seeing themselves so far 
inferior in force, wished to avoid action; but
when they descried the banner royal of England, they knew that no such 
intention was entertained, and their hopes
were raised higher, thinking that so great a prize might fall into their 
hands.

* Men-at-arms - the better class of soldiers, who were fully and heavily 
armed.

It is one of the remarkable circumstances belonging to this action that 
the galleys were not employed in it according to the ancient mode of war, no attempt being made to produce any effect with 
their beaks. In
the present instance they assailed their enemy with stones and shot from engines.
And now the fleets met; " the French joining battle with many trumpets and other instruments of 
martial music, and
the English giving all together a mighty shout, it sounded horrible upon the waters, the shores being 
not far off." At the
same instant they sent a flight of arrows from their long bows, which the French answered as 
liberally with crossbow
shot; " but the arrows did most execution by far." The men-at-arms approached and fought hand to 
hand, for on both
sides they were prepared with grappling-irons, both being alike willing that strength and prowess 
should decide the
combat. "Many noble deeds of arms were that day done, assailing and defending, taking and rescuing 
again. " The
French had set the huge " Christopher " foremost, and the English made strenuous efforts to retake 
her, for they
knew the King was much displeased at the loss of that good ship. So well they fought, and yet so 
bravely were they
resisted, that when they became masters few were left alive on board to
be taken to mercy.
"This battle," says Froissart,* " was right fierce and terrible; for the battles on the sea are more 
dangerous and fiercer
than on the land, by reason that on the sea there is no recoiling nor flying; there is no remedy but 
to fight and to abide
fortune, and every man to show his prowess."
The enemy had many engines for casting stones, and they employed them with great effect: a large 
ship, and a
galley belonging to Hull, were sunk by them, with all on board; and from another great ship but two men and a woman escaped. 

* Jean Froissart, an early chronicler (1337-1410 ?).

The battle lasted from a little before 10 o'clock in the morning till 7 o'clock in the evening. The first 
squadron of the enemy was
entirely beaten, and the second so sorely pressed that the French leaped overboard to escape from the 
showers of
arrows that were sent down on them.
It was the greatest victory that had ever been gained on those seas. Two hundred and thirty sail were 
taken, among
them the " Denis," " a mighty ship. " One of the French admirals fell; another was hanged from the 
main-yard of his
own ship because of the enormities which he, " to say no more, had permitted at Southampton." The 
carnage was
very great; the largest estimate of the English loss
being four thousand, the lowest on the other side ten thousand. No doubt, in those days, the 
proportion of deaths in
battle was much greater than in
modern war. Men fought hand to hand in such close combat as called forth personal and vindictive 
feelings; and the
man who was not worth taking for
his ransom had, in most cases, little chance for mercy.
The news of this great battle was conveyed to King Philip in a very strange manner; for, though ill 
tidings too often find
ready tongues, it is not so
when the great and powerful are to be told of their defeated armaments and baffled hopes. A Court fool
is said to have been made the instrument of conveying to the Royal ear what every one else feared to 
communicate.
Accordingly he began to rail against the English as a set of dastardly poltroons, till Philip at last 
asked how he came
to think the English were such dastards. " Why," replied the fool, " because the faint-hearted rogues 
had not courage
enough to jump overboard into the sea so bravely as our Normans and gentlemen of France did."
-Abridged and adapted from Southey.

WASHINGTON AT THE DELAWARE.

In " The Story of North America " you were told how the American colonies 
declared their independence of the Mother-country. The success of the colonists was in the main due to the daring and 
generalship of a man who was one of the
world's greatest champions of liberty, a man whose name will ever be held 
in the deepest reverence by all Americans -
George Washington.
The declaration of independence on the 4th of July, 1776, was followed by a 
series of reverses. Washington, whose
army was weakened by defeats and desertions, was forced to retreat from New 
York and fall back on the Delaware.
As the British army was pressing him hard, he determined to cross, and take 
up a position on the right bank,
although the winter had set in with unusual severity, and the river was 
almost blocked with ice. So close were pursuer
and pursued that the British appeared upon the left bank of the river while 
the American rear was crossing.
Never during the whole progress of the war had the cause of independence 
been in such peril. Congress prepared to
fly from Philadelphia, where it had taken up its quarters, and the general 
despair showed itself in almost universal
cries for peace. But the nation had not yet realised the infinite resource 
and the consummate skill of their general.
Noticing that the British army, confident in its strength and its position, 
had neglected to properly guard against
attack, he determined to surprise the British camp by recrossing the 
Delaware under cover of darkness. The night of
the 25th December was chosen for the enterprise, but so bitterly cold was 
the night, and so full of floating masses of ice was the river, that out of the three divisions which embarked for the attack only 
that under the immediate command of
Washington succeeded in reaching the opposite bank.

WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE

This was at a point nine miles above the British camp.
The general had expected to reach the enemy's camp at the first dawn of day, but it was 3 o'clock in 
the morning
before he had passed his troops and artillery over the river, and 4 o'clock before he commenced his 
march. He had
now to abandon all hope of a night surprise. He formed his little army into two divisions, one of 
which he ordered to
follow a road along the river to attack the camp from the west, and the other to proceed by a road 
which approached it
from the north. The distances being equal, the general expected that the two divisions would appear 
on the scene of
action about the same time, and therefore ordered each to attack as soon as it arrived. He himself accompanied the
division which marched along the north road, and reached the outposts of the enemy precisely at 8 
o'clock. Three
minutes afterwards he had the satisfaction of hearing the volleys of his other division.
The British general hastily drew up his men, many of whom had to be roused from sleep and were still 
suffering from
their Christmas debauch. He was, however, mortally wounded by the first fire, and his men, 
disheartened and
dismayed at his loss, attempted to make good their retreat. Washington, perceiving their intention, 
moved part of his
troops into the road in front of them, and thus cut them off. Having lost their artillery, and being 
hard pressed by the
Americans, they surrendered. Considerably over a thousand were made prisoners, and this, together with the long
list of killed and wounded, was a very severe blow to the British cause. Of the American troops 
two privates were
killed and two frozen to death, and one officer and three or four privates were wounded. 
Thus at the very moment of apparently hopeless defeat did Washington snatch a brilliant victory. 
Little wonder was it
that men learned to place in him a trust and faith such as few other men have inspired, and to regard 
him with the
reverence which still clings to his name. Yet even America hardly recognised his real greatness till 
Death set his seal
on the man " first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow-countrymen," and of whom Gladstone, one of Britain's 
greatest statesmen, has truly said, " Washington is the purest figure in history."

STAR STORIES.
III. THE VIRGIN AND THE SCALES.
The constellation Virgo, the Virgin, is the next to Leo in the Zodiac. It is situated to the east of 
Leo, but higher up, and
a little below the Crow. It contains a bright star of the first magnitude, called Spica, which is 
remarkable for the
singular purity of its white rays. This bright star can be seen high up in the eastern sky between 8 
and 9 p.m. during
the month of April. A straight line joining the stars at the extremities of the shortest side of the 
Crow passes, when
produced, through Spica. There is no other star of anything like equal brightness within thirty 
degrees of it.
The other stars that make up the constellation of the Virgin are not bright, six being of the third 
magnitude and nine of
the fourth. The brightest of these form with Spica an irregular capital Y lying on its side, Spica 
being at the foot of the
stem, and the stars marking the top of the branches being
one at the top of the left wing, the other in the right wing of the 
Virgin. Another of these stars is in the heart, while two
others shine on the girdle. Two fainter stars mark the Virgin's feet, and 
three or four others her head, which in our
hemisphere appears inclined downwards. In her right hand she is supposed 
to be holding a sheaf of wheat, and in her
left an ear of corn, represented by the bright star Spica, a Latin word 
meaning " ear of corn." The Virgin would thus
represent, according to some, the goddess of the harvest, and the 
celestial patron of husbandry.
Aratus, the old Greek poet, identifies her with Astraea, the goddess of 
justice, who ruled the world in the Golden Age.
But when, according to the ancients, mankind degenerated and passed 
successively through the Silver and the
Bronze Ages to the Age of Iron, Astraea fled to the mountains, and thence 
winged her flight to heaven. As Aratus tells us,
Justice, loathing that race of men, Winged her flight to heaven; and 
fixed Her station in that region, Where still by
night is seen The Virgin goddess near to bright Bootes.
Bootes is the name of a constellation below the Virgin, in which shines 
the bright star Arcturus.
In Egypt, Virgo was supposed to represent Isis, an Egyptian goddess, and 
it was said that she had made the Milky
Way by dropping wheat-heads. In the early Christian Church the Virgin was 
thought to represent the woman
mentioned in the book of Genesis (iii, 15), where we read that God 
said to the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her 
seed." The seed was represented by
Spica, the ear of corn, whilst the great water-snake, 
Hydra, near the feet of the Virgin, drawn out at enormous length, " going on its belly," represented the serpent. 

THE MAP SHOWS THE CONSTELLATIONS AS THEY APPEAR IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.

Hence the Virgin with the bright star Spica came to be regarded as representing the Madonna and Child. We find this
meaning of the constellation, expressed by Shakespeare in his play " Titus Andronicus," where he 
speaks of the "good boy  in Virgo's lap " (Act iv, sc. 3).
The constellation Libra, or the Scales, is to the east of Virgo's feet. Among the Greeks and Romans 
Virgo
represented Astraea, the goddess of justice. Libra was her balance, in which she weighed the deeds of 
men. Milton in
his "Paradise Lost" (Book iv) refers to this constellation as the
Golden scales, yet seen
Betwixt Astraea and the Scorpion sign, in which Satan's strength was weighed and found wanting, when 
he
threatened to fight against Gabriel. The passage is as follows:
Now dreadful deeds
Might have ensued; nor only Paradise, In this commotion, but the starry cope* Of heaven perhaps, or 
all the elements
At least had gone to wrack, disturbed and torn With violence of this conflict, had not soon The 
Eternal, to prevent
such horrid fray, Hung forth in heaven his golden scales, yet seen Betwixt Astraea and the Scorpion 
sign, Wherein all
things created first He weighed, The pendulous round earth with balanced air In counterpoise; now 
ponders all events,
Battles and realms: in these he put two weights, The sequel each of parting and of fight : The latter 
quick upflew, and
kicked the beam; Which Gabriel spying, thus bespoke the Fiend: " Satan, I know thy strength, and thou 
know'st
mine; Neither our own, but given; what folly then To boast what arms can do! since thine no more

* Cope - Literally a cloak or cape; hence the canopy of heaven.

Than Heaven permits, nor mine, though doubled now To trample thee as mire : for proof look up, And 
read thy lot in
yon celestial sign, Where thou art weighed, and shown how light, how weak If thou resist." The Fiend 
looked up, and
knew His mounted scale aloft : nor more; but fled Murmuring, and with him fled the shades of night.
The stars in Libra are not very bright. As Aratus truly says,
Few are its stars for splendour and renown. 
The two principal stars, which are of the second magnitude, indicate the two scales of the balance. 
The upper one is
on the ecliptic, and forms a pretty double in the opera-glass. The lower one is remarkable as being 
the only green-coloured star that is visible to the naked eye. Claudius Ptolemy tells us that in his time (A.D. 137) 
it was as brilliant
as Antares, the bright red star in the Scorpion. It has therefore faded very much since that time.
Below the Virgin's head and to the east of Leo is the pretty little constellation of Coma Berenices, 
or Berenice's Hair.
The stars composing it are rather faint, but they form a beautiful object in an opera-glass. Six of 
them, in a close
group are in the crown of the head of hair. " You will perceive a curious twinkling, as if gossamer 
spangled with
dewdrops were entangled there. One might think the old woman of the nursery rime, who went to sweep 
the cobwebs
out of the sky, had skipped this corner, or else that its delicate beauty had preserved it even from 
her housewifely
instincts " (Serviss).
The story is told that Queen Berenice, the wife of Ptolemy Energetes, King of Egypt (250 B. C.), 
vowed to dedicate
her beautiful hair to the temple of Venus if her husband should return safely from an expedition on 
which he had set
out. He did return, and Berenice kept her vow. But the consecrated tresses
were stolen from the temple, and Conon, the Astronomer Royal of Alexandria, explained their 
disappearance by
declaring that Venus had translated the shining locks to heaven. In proof of his statement he pointed 
out the
constellation to the King
and Queen. In later Christian times the constellation was considered to represent the handkerchief of 
Saint Veronica,
with which, tradition tells us, she wiped the face of Christ while He was carrying His cross to Mount 
Calvary.
The bright reddish star to the east of Berenice's Hair is Arcturus, in the constellation Bootes. With 
Spica and with
Denebola in the Lion's tail it forms an equilateral triangle.
From the Pole Star through Mizar* glide
With long and rapid flight,
Descend, and see the Virgin's spike  Diffuse its vernal light,
And mark what glorious forms are made By the gold harvest ears
With Deneb west, Arcturus north, A triangle appears.

* A star in the constellation of the Great Bear.
 Spica.

DATES FOR. THE MONTH (APRIL) - On appropriate days the school flag might be hoisted 1st-Establishment of the Province 
of Southland, 1861 2nd-Nelson defeated the Danish fleets and batteries in the Battle of Copenhagen, 1801 ; 5th-Captain Cook 
started on his second voyage, 1772 ; 16th - The first Maori M.P. elected, 1878 ; 
18th - The New Zealand Gazette, the first New Zealand newspaper, published at Port Nicholson, 1840; 19th - Cook sighted the 
Australian coast, 1770; 20th-Charles Darwin, the great naturalist, died, 1882; 21st-Wellington first lighted with gas, 1871 ; 22nd-
Proclamation to the Rarotongan inhabitants of appointment of British Resident to the Protectorate of the Cook Islands, 1888 
23rd-St. George's Day;
27th-John Ballance died, 1893; 28th- " Bounty " mutineers cast Bligh adrift off Tofoa, Friendly Islands, 1789.

OTAKI'S LOYAL FLAG.
The following story is supplied by Mr. H. S. Hadfield, who states that it was written years ago by 
his mother, the lady
whose ingenuity saved a tribe of friendly natives from being branded as rebels. Mr. Hadfield adds, "I 
may say that I
have the original little Union Jack history from which the measurements were taken to get the 
correct proportions of
the flag. I remember the incident well, and also the Kingite chants, which we could hear from our 
house. My mother
was a very old colonist, having been born at the Bay of Islands in 1831."
In the early sixties the natives were very unsettled, and started what was known as "the King movement," in
opposition to the British rule. When the Government found the movement spreading, a Proclamation was 
issued to
the effect that any friendly natives who allowed the Kingites to come into their districts would be 
treated as rebels. As
the friendly natives were unarmed, and were therefore unable to prevent the Kingites from entering 
their districts, the
Proclamation placed them in a very awkward position.
In 1863, to the great distress of the mission settlement at Otaki, news was received that a party of 
Kingites was
coming to the village of Pukekaraka, about half a mile away, and intended to hoist the Kingite flag. 
There was great
consternation in the place, for there seemed no means of stopping them. Archdeacon Hadfield was away 
at the time,
and some of the natives came to tell Mrs. Hadfield of their trouble. They could not resist the 
invasion, and did not
wish to be considered rebels.
Mrs. Hadfield suddenly thought of a plan to save her Maori friends. She sent for the leading man amongst the natives, and told 
him that the only way out of the difficulty was to hoist the British 
flag as soon as the
Kingite flag was hoisted. The chief was much pleased with the idea, and went to consult the other 
members of the
tribe. They, too, were delighted, and thought it would be a good way out of their difficulty.
Mr. Thomas Bevan, who lived in the village, and had a flagstaff (the mast of a schooner that had been 
wrecked on the
beach near by), kindly offered the use of it for the purpose if the natives would move it. There were 
plenty of willing
hands to do the work, and the flagstaff was taken down and re-erected in the open square in front of 
the church.
The next difficulty was to find a flag. The natives inquired of all the old sailors in the district, 
and brought in all the
flags they could find. Not one, however, was suitable, and there was not time to send to Wellington 
for one. The only
course was to make a flag; but no one knew the proper way to make the Union Jack to go in the corner. 
At last Mrs.
Hadfield remembered that she had a little card showing the Union Jack, and giving a brief account of 
its history. The
picture was only a little thing about four inches long, but from it Archdeacon Hadfield (who had 
returned home) traced
the Union Jack in the corner of a large calico flag which Mrs. Hadfield, assisted by some of the 
Maori girls, had
already made.
The corner of this flag was spread out on the veranda of the Otaki mission-house, and Archdeacon 
Hadfield, with the
help of Mr. Prince, a carpenter, painted in the colours. They had no paints of the right colour, so 
the blue was made
of powdered washing-blue, and the red of raddle used for marking sheep. When the flag was finished 
the effect was
excellent, and the natives were delighted.
It was agreed that the flag should not be hoisted until the Kingite flag was flying, as it was feared 
that the hostile
natives might say that they would not have hoisted their flag if they had not been incensed by seeing 
an emblem of
British authority.
Next morning the friendly natives assembled in the square where stood our flagstaff, and patiently 
watched the King
natives busily erecting theirs. At length the Kingite flag was hoisted, and immediately afterwards 
ours fluttered in the
breeze, which was sufficiently strong to display it to the greatest advantage. The surprise of the 
Kingites may be
imagined, and the shouts of the friendly natives subsided only to give place to three cheers for the Queen.
Thus was the tribe at Otaki saved from being declared rebels. In two days the King natives left the district, returning to the north 
of the Island, and all was peace again at Otaki.
The Government acknowledged the action of the natives by presenting them with a Union Jack for the use of the tribe, and it 
remained in their possession for many years.

There are forests in England whose leafy noises may be shaped into 
Agincourt, and the names of the battlefields of the Roses; oaks that
dropped their acorns in the year that Henry VIII held his Field of the 
Cloth of Gold, and beeches that gave shelter to the deer, when
Shakespeare was a boy. There they stand, in sun and shower, the 
broad-armed witnesses of perished centuries; and sore must his need be
who commands a woodland massacre.
A great tree, the rings of a century in its bole, is one of the noblest 
of natural objects; and it touches the imagination no less than the eye,
for it is pathetic with the suggestions of dead generations. Trees waving 
a colony of rooks in the wind to-day are older than historic lines.
There are cedars on Lebanon which the axes of Solomon spared, they say, when 
he was busy with his Temple; there are oaks in Sherwood
which have tingled to the horn of Robin Hood, and have listened to Maid 
Marian's* laugh. Think of an existing Syrian cedar which is nearly as
old as history, which was middle-aged before the wolf suckled Romulus; 
think of an existing English elm in whose branches the heron was
reared which the hawks of Saxon Harold killed! If you are notable, and 
wish to be remembered, better plant a tree than build a city or strike a
medal - it will outlast both.
-	ALEXANDER SMITH

* Maid Marian - Robin Hood's wife.  
See School Journal, Part II, May, 1907, page 8.

TWO HUNDRED SQUARE MILES IN NORTH CHINA RUINED BY DEFORESTATION IN 150 YEARS.

FROM GRAVEL-PIT TO SCHOOL GARDEN
(Before they could have a school garden the plucky pupils of the Masterton School had to remove 140 tons of stones and 
boulders.)

It devolved upon " Treeless Nebraska" to institute systematic tree-planting on a given day through
 the organized effort of schools and citizens. The
 Hon. J. Stirling Morton is generally credited with
 originating the idea. In 1872, acting upon his suggestion, the Governor of the State issued a proclamation designating Arbor 
Day, and asking that
 the schools and citizens generally observe the day
 by appropriate exercises and tree-planting. The
 setting April sun saw over a million trees planted
 in Nebraska soil as a result of the first Arbor-day
 celebration. In 1885, Arbor Day, 22nd April - Morton's birthday - was made a legal holiday in
 Nebraska. Careful statisticians claim that more
 than 1,000,000,000 trees are now in a thriving condition in this once " treeless State " through the
 united efforts of the school-children and their parents
 on Arbor Day.
 The originator of the idea lived long enough to see
 Arbor Day adopted in more than forty States and
 Territories, to record millions and millions of trees
 added to the growing prosperity of the States, to
 note thousands of school-houses change cheerless surroundings for those of comfort and beauty, and to
 feel that in encouraging the planting of trees he had
 been active in fostering a love for the school, the
 home, and our country.
-Illinois Arbor and Bird Day Manual.

* See School Journal, Part, III, April, 1909, page 70.


There is another way in which a portion of Arbor Day may be appropriately employed, more 
particularly in the North
Island. In many parts are the graves of the heroes - both European and Maori - who fell during the disastrous wars which
rent the country and desolated many a home.

From photo by the kind permission of C. E. Wildbore, Pohangina.]
THE GROWTH OF CENTURIES DESTROYED IN A DAY.

To bestow a little care on these sacred spots, to plant trees, shrubs, and
flowers near and around the graves, would be a fitting way of honouring the noble dead.
- - School Journal.

LIEUTENANT SHACKLETON'S JOURNEY TOWARDS THE SOUTH POLE.

The party that recently made the gallant attempt to reach the South Pole consisted of Lieutenant Shackleton, Dr. Marshall, 
Lieutenant Adams, and Mr. Wild. Before they set out, however, a party had journeyed a 
considerable
distance towards the south and had established a depot containing food, so that the load taken by the 
actual
exploring party might be made as light as possible.
On the 29th of October Shackleton and his three friends set out. They had four Manchurian ponies, 
each drawing a
sledge. They took two small tents, and at night each man slept in a sleeping-bag, into which he crept, 
clothes and all.
For some days they were accompanied by a supporting party of seven men, but these turned back on the 
7th
November.
The food for the ponies was maize and a dried ration consisting of carrots, currants, sugar, and 
meat. After a day's
journey was over, the ponies were tethered by the heels to a wire stretched between two sledges 
twenty-five feet
apart, for had they been tethered in the ordinary way they would have bitten through and eaten the rope. The ponies were always 
attended to first; they were brushed down, rugged, and each given 10 lb. of food.

LIEUT. SHACKLETON.
 
The tents were then pitched, and the snow was shovelled over the lower flaps to keep
them firmly down, so that the tents could withstand the fierce gales that blew almost continuously. Then the evening
meal was prepared. Each man got a pannikin of what the party called " hoosh." It consisted of pemmican* and
powdered biscuit made into a hot soup by means of a small oil-stove. Then followed cocoa or tea, which was served
up with plenty of sugar - sugar being much valued as a heat-producing food. Then the men got into their sleeping-bags.
While the men had their ponies they got up at 4.40 a.m.- for, of course, there was daylight all the time - and marched
from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a rest of one hour for lunch.
The first part of the journey was over an almost level plain of snow, so soft that the men sank into it over their ankles;
ordinary boots would have been of little use, and boots made of reindeer skin with the hair outside were used. The
ponies, with their hard hoofs, sank even more deeply into the snow. The sledges followed one behind another, and, as
the leading man and pony had the hardest work breaking down the track, they took the lead turn about for an hour at
a time.
As the party got farther and farther south the ponies were killed in turn, partly for food and partly because the feed
was becoming scarce. While they were alive the ponies were well looked after, and given even more than the daily
allowance of food if they seemed to need it. The flesh was buried in the snow, along with such other food as could be
spared, and the place was marked by the discarded sledge placed upon its end. Thus at various points along the track were depots 
of food to be used on the return journey.

* Pemmican - meat, without fat, cut into thin slices, dried in the sun, pounded, then mixed with melted fat and sometimes dried 
fruit, and compressed into cakes. It contains much nutriment in a small bulk.

At last a range of mountains rose above the level plain. To spy out the best track the men ascended a mountain
3,000 feet high. Thence they saw an
apparently smooth glacier, with a gentle slope leading up to the high plateau to which they had to ascend. Cheered
by the prospect of easier travelling, they named the mountain " Mount Hope."

Photo by Mr. Malcolm Ross.]
A CREVASSE IN A GLACIER.

With the one remaining pony, on the 5th December they attacked the glacier, but its apparently smooth surface was 
honeycombed by innumerable crevasses, and so difficult was the way that on the second day they travelled only 600 yards, after 
a hard day's toil.
Next day three of the men were on ahead picking out the easiest track, and Wild followed with the pony dragging the remaining 
sledge. Suddenly the leaders heard a cry, and on looking back saw Wild 
clinging to the
edge of a deep crevasse with his arms. Rushing back, they hauled him out of his perilous position, 
but from the great
ice chasm came neither sign nor sound of the pony. Wild said he felt a sudden rush of air, and then 
all was over. Had
the pony's harness not broken when the pony fell down the crevasse, Wild and the sledge containing all the food would have 
been hurled to destruction also.
The men had now to carry heavy loads, and the progress made was extremely slow. Ascending a mountain 
to find
the lay of the country, Wild discovered seven distinct seams of coal. This discovery was of great 
scientific
importance, since it shows that at one time the Antarctic continent had a climate altogether 
different from that for
which it is now so notorious.
As the men found that their strength would not allow them to get much farther, and as provisions were 
running very
short, they determined to make a forced march, clad as lightly as possible, and taking with them only 
one tent and
the smallest allowance of food. Struggling on, by the 9th January they reached the farthest south 
point. This was in
latitude 88' 23' south, ninety-seven geographical miles, and not quite 112 statute miles, from the 
pole.* Amid cheers
they hoisted the flag presented to them by Queen Alexandra. The high plateau on which they stood 
stretched south
as far as the eye could reach, and on it, apparently, is the South Pole, at an altitude of 10,000 or 
11,000 feet above
the sea-level.

* A geographical or nautical mile is 1/60 of a degree of a great circle of the earth, or 6,080 feet. A statute mile is 1,760 yards, or 
5,280 feet.

Into the details of the return journey we cannot enter: storms, hunger, sickness, and fatigue combined against them, and at times 
made the struggle almost hopeless. 

MAP SHOWING SHACKLETON'S FARTHEST SOUTH AND THE POSITION OF THE SOUTH MAGNETIC POLE

Fifty miles from the journey's end Dr. Marshall was taken so ill that he could go no farther. Adams was left to take care of him. 
The 
other two pushed
on, and on the 1st March beheld the little " Nimrod." A relief party was at once dispatched, and 
Marshall and Adams
were brought safely on board.
Such is a mere outline of the dangers and difficulties those four had to encounter and overcome. It 
is no record of
stirring adventure or deed of derring-do performed amid excitement and with heated blood, but a 
plain story of a task
patiently fulfilled, the enemy to be overcome being stern and relentless Nature, with all her forces 
arrayed against the
endurance and doggedness of four men during a journey covering 1,708 statute miles.

HOW TO PLANT A TREE.

I. Dig the hole wider and deeper than the tree requires. The root-tips are the feeders, and during 
the growing season
they will reach out, forming a new set of feeding-roots. They should find only good, rich soil in all 
directions. If the tree
just fits into the hole, its roots will meet a hard wall which the delicate tips cannot penetrate. 
The first year is the
critical one.
II. Be sure that the surface soil is not thrown away when the hole is dug. This soil is rich and 
full of plant-food. The
under soil is harder and poorer. Some rich garden-soil can well be brought over and used instead of 
this subsoil.
III. Take up as large a mass of roots as possible with the tree dug up. The smaller the ball of 
earth, the greater the
loss of feeding-roots. Loss of roots means starvation to the tree.
IV. Prevent the drying of the exposed roots. When root-hairs once shrivel they never revive. This is 
the general rule. A
tree may survive, but will be greatly weakened by the injury to the roots.
V. Trim all torn and broken roots with a sharp knife. A ragged wound, above or below ground, is slow 
and uncertain in
healing. A clean, slanting cut heals the soonest and surest.
VI. Set the tree on a bed of rich soil with all its roots spread out naturally.
VII. Let the level of the tree in the ground be the same as before. The tree's roots must be planted, 
but not buried too
deep. A stick laid across the hole at the ground-level will indicate where the tree
"collar " should be.
VIII. Sift rich earth, free from clods, among the roots. Hold the tree erect and firm. Lift it a 
little to make sure the
spaces are well filled underneath. Pack it well down with your foot.
IX. If the tree is planted in the growing season, pour in water and let it settle away. This 
establishes contact between
the root-hairs and the soil-particles, and dissolves plant-food for absorption. If the tree is 
dormant, do not water it.
X. Fill the hole with dirt. Tramp it well as the filling goes on. Heap it somewhat to allow for 
settling. If subsoil is used,
put it on last. Make the tree firm in its place.
XI. Prune the top to a few main branches, and shorten these. This applies to a sapling a few years 
old whose head
you are able to form. Older trees also should be pruned to balance the loss of roots, otherwise 
transpiration of water
from the foliage would be so great as to overtax the roots, not yet established in the new place. 
Many trees die from
this abuse. People cannot bear to cut back the handsome top, though a handsomer one is soon supplied 
by following
this reasonable rule.
XII. Water the tree frequently when it first starts to grow. A thorough soaking of all the roots, not 
a mere sprinkling of
the surface soil, is needed.
Continuous growth depends upon moisture in the soil. Drainage will remove the surplus water.
XIII. Keep the surface soil free from cakes and cracks. This prevents excessive evaporation. Do not 
stir the soil deep enough to disturb the roots.
XIV. Keep out grass and weeds.

OUR INVISIBLE FRIENDS AND FOES.

There are very few of us nowadays who have not heard laughing remarks made about germs or microbes. 
Usually the remarks indirectly convey the meaning that
these germs or microbes live only in a sort of fairy tale of scientists, and that, as the world in 
the past went very well without a knowledge of their existence, what is
the use of troubling about them now.
Certainly the world did do so; and it went very well when man knew nothing of the great forces of 
steam and electricity. We do not scoff at the taming of these great
forces - we recognise them as milestones marking the onward march of our progress. The recognition of 
germs is another and equally important milestone. Turn to
history, and think of the terrible havoc made by such diseases as cholera
smallpox, and typhus, which gave rise to the scourges known as the " Great Plague of London " and 
the "Black Death, " when not hundreds but thousands lost their
lives in the space of a few weeks. It is by recognising the existence of germs, and by studying their 
ways of living, that we have learned how to cope with these former
terrible visitations.
I wonder how many of you know that not very many decades* ago there were hundreds of lepers in England and Scotland.

* Decade-period of ten years.

So numerous were they that many old churches were built with what were called "leper windows." These were windows at the 
back of the
church. They faced the altar, and were placed very near the ground, so that the unfortunate outcast 
lepers could peer through and thus take part in the service without
mixing with the congregation. Modern methods have banished leprosy from England, and it is only when 
we are brought face to face with such facts as these that we
appreciate the benefits that have come to us through the discoveries of science.
Now, what are these germs or microbes? They are very minute living particles, so small that we can 
see them only when we magnify them hundreds of times with a
microscope. So strange are they that it is difficult to say whether we should call them animals or 
plants, so many resemblances do they bear to both.
They are of a thousand different forms and shape - some globular, some rod-shaped, and others curled 
into spirals. Nor do they all thrive best under the same
conditions - some  want air, others prefer to live in water or soil; some want warmth, others like 
cold; some want light, others, much more numerous, like murky, dark
corners; some require vegetable material as food, others can live upon animal food only. All these 
requirements are being very carefully studied, and we now know in
what sort of surroundings the germs of diphtheria, typhoid fever, and many other diseases grow and flourish. 

A MICROSCOPE.

Knowing the requirements of each germ, we can hinder or entirely prevent the growth and multiplication of harmful 
germs, and, on
the other hand, we can encourage the growth of organisms that prove to be our friends.
Perhaps you are surprised that germs are mentioned as friends at all. Some are indeed very real 
friends to us. It is by
their action that all dead organic material - that is, material that has been built out of the soil 
or air by plants and
animals - is broken down and returned
 again to the soil or to the
air. You know that when  a plant grows it takes materials from the soil and from  the air, and 
combines them  into
the substances that build  up the stem, leaves, and  flowers, and make a complete plant. These 
substances are
eaten by animals, and help to make the more complex substances (bone, muscle,&c.) of which the 
bodies of
animals are formed. Think of the amount of good material that would remain sealed up and useless if 
these complex
substances were never broken down again. But Nature never works in an imperfect way - she uses up 
everything, and
to save this waste she sends to our aid the germs of decomposition. By means of these germs the dead 
leaves of a
forest decay and form good growing material for other plants, and the bodies of animals undergo 
decomposition and
give back to the air or the soil the materials of which they were composed.
We do not realise the amount of activity that is going on around us. 

FORMS OF GERMS.

What the old hymn tells us is indeed true, " Change and decay in all around I see "; but very often we do not see, because we 
look on with an
unseeing eye and an uninterested mind.
You all know that farmers cannot go on for a long time growing the same kind of crop in the same 
field. A " rotation "
of crops has to be followed - that means that where wheat or barley has been grown one year some plant 
of the pea
family (field peas or clover) must be grown the next year. 

NODULES ON THE ROOTS OF A BEAN-PLANT.
Occasionally, too, the ground should lie fallow for a season and be left exposed to the action of the atmosphere.
For many years it was not known why plants of
the pea family were able to renew the strength of a soil, or why exposure to the atmosphere, without 
adding any manure, should also tend to strengthen a soil and make it more fertile for the world's most
valuable crop, the wheat. A few years ago a scientist noticed that all plants of the pea family had 
little swellings on
the roots, and on examining further he found that these little swellings all contained a particular 
kind of germ. You can
see these little growths on the roots of peas, clover, or lupins if you take the trouble to look for 
them.
Further examination showed that these germs had the power of taking certain gases from the air and 
building them up
into substances which the plant used in its growth. It was also found that these germs could be made 
to grow and
multiply under certain conditions, and could be introduced into the soil without the ground lying 
fallow, and without
giving up a year to the growth of a pea-family plant,
Not long ago a man made a long and difficult calculation about the amount of wheat that could be 
grown. He knew
that only certain climates were suitable for the growth of wheat, and he knew also that certain areas 
of land that had
been wheatfields for generations had become worked out and useless for wheat-growing. So he argued 
that, as wheat
is the principal food of the human race, in course of ages men would not be able to grow it, and the 
race would be
starved out of existence. This man little knew that, by patient work and application, scientists 
would learn how to put
back into the soil the substances that plants had taken from it.
These little germs were first discovered in Canada, and now cakes of soil containing them in large 
numbers are packed up and sent all over the world to be used as manure. The discovery is yet in its infancy, and 
a good deal
remains to be found out about it. For this reason the trials made have not always been successful, 
but the day will
come when a greater certainty of results can be assured to the farmer who takes the trouble to keep 
himself in touch with modern scientific discovery. There is all the difference between the man who is keenly 
alive to this kind of
thing and the man who goes blindly on in the old grooves - when the latter is starving the former is 
making a living, and
when the latter is making a living the former is making a fortune.
(To be continued.)

STAR STORIES.
V. THE HERDSMAN AND HIS HOUNDS.
Bootes, a Greek word meaning Herdsman, is the name given to a constellation that can be seen due 
north just above
the horizon between 6 and 8 p.m. during the mouth of July. It was called by the Greeks the "Bear-driver," and was
represented as a hunter holding two dogs by a leash, and chasing the Great Bear in its daily path 
round the pole.
The story is that Bootes, was the son of a nymph called Callisto, whom Juno, the goddess of the moon, 
in a fit of
jealousy turned into a bear. When Bootes, grew up he became a mighty hunter, and one day, when he was 
out
hunting with his dogs, he roused a bear from her lair. The bear was poor Callisto; but Bootes, not 
knowing she was
his mother, was about to kill her, when Jupiter came to the rescue and snatched them both up into the 
sky, where
they have shone ever since as beautiful constellations. We find a reference to this story in some 
lines of the eminent
Latin poet Lucan. He describes the visit of Brutus to Cato* at night, and fixes the time by the position of these constellations in 
the heavens,-

* Brutus and Cato - opponents of Julius Caesar.

'Twas when the solemn dead of night came on When bright Callisto, with her 
shining son, Now half the circle round the
pole had run.
In our southern latitudes Bootes appears to stand on his head, which is 
represented by a third-magnitude star low
down near the horizon. Three stars, almost in a line, one brighter than the 
other two, represent his belt, two little
triangles of stars are

in his legs, and a bright ruddy star, Arcturus, the brightest star in the 
constellation, is like a jewel on the hem of the
giant's tunic. His staff, or crook, is marked by three or four stars in 
a row. The group of three stars marking his left
hand, which holds, the leash, is too low down to be seen in our latitude, 
being just below the horizon.
The name Arcturus, a Greek word meaning Bear-keeper, was given to the star 
owing to its nearness to, the Great
Bear. It is a star of the first magnitude, and is a sun of enormous size, 
being equal to 47,500 of our suns. Yet to us it
appears very small, on account of its great distance, being so far 
away that its light takes at least 136 years to reach
us. Ptolemy (A.D. 137) described Arcturus, as " fiery red." Although it 
still has a remarkably reddish colour when
near the horizon, yet when high in the heavens it now appears to be more 
of a golden-yellow colour.
Arcturus, is one of the " runaway stars," as they are called. It is 
travelling in a south -westerly direction across the sky
at the rate of 257 miles per second. Since the time of Ptolemy its 
position in the heavens has changed by a distance
equal to twice the apparent diameter of the moon. If we had 
flying-machines that could travel at the same rate as
Arcturus, it would take less than two seconds to fly from Auckland to 
Dunedin, and less than two minutes to fly right
round the earth.
It is no wonder, then, that Arcturus, has a great fascination for some 
star-gazers. An American astronomer writes, "This star has possessed a peculiar charm for me ever since boyhood, 
when, having read a description of it in an old
book, I felt an eager desire to see it. As my search for it chanced to 
begin at a season when Arcturus did not rise till
after a boy's bed-time, I was for a long time disappointed,
and I shall never forget the start of surprise and almost of awe with which I finally caught sight of 
it, one spring
evening, shooting its flaming rays through the boughs of an apple-orchard, like a star on fire " 
(Serviss).
 The constellation Canes Venatici,* or the Hunting
Dogs, has only one star so bright as the third magnitude. It is called Cor Caroli, or Charles's Heart,
because it is said to have shone with peculiar brightness the night before Charles II made his entry into
London on his restoration. In a small telescope it
is seen to be a beautiful double star, one of the components being of a light-blue or lilac colour. Three
faint stars to the west of the Hunting Dogs are in
one of the hind feet of the Great Bear, but the other
stars of that constellation cannot be seen in our
latitude.
 To  the east of Bootes is a pretty little constellation called Corona Borealis, or the Northern Crown.
It is easily recognised by the semicircular arrangement of its stars, bearing a resemblance to a crown.
One of these stars, which is brighter than the others,
is sometimes called Gemma Coronae, the Gem or the
Pearl of the Crown. But the astronomical name by
which it is generally known is Alphecca, or the
Broken Platter, no doubt because the semicircular
arrangement of the stars on each side of it suggested
to the old Arabian star-gazers a broken plate held
out by a beggar to receive alms. An old rime shows
how to find Alphecca by drawing *  a line from the
star (Epsilon) in the right wing of the Virgin and
producing it as far again,--
From Epsilon in Virgo's side, Arcturus seek and stem, And just as far again you'll spy Corona's 
beauteous gem;
There no mistake can well befall e'en him who little knows, For bright and circular the Crown 
conspicuously glows.

* Canes Venatici - Ca-nez (dogs) Va-nah-te-se. Epsilon - Ep-se-lon.

The legend runs that Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, King of Crete, married 
Dionysos,* the Greek god of wine, who presented her with a
beautiful crown of seven stars. When she died the crown was translated to 
the sky, as Aratus tells us,
That Crown which Dionysos placed
Of Ariadne dead, a glorious sign.

HOW THE LAW IS ENFORCED.
PART II.
When a person is charged with having committed an offence against the 
law, he is in the first place brought before the
Magistrate's Court, where the case is heard by either a Magistrate or two 
or more Justices of the Peace. When the
offence is what is known as a " minor offence," such as drunkenness or 
petty theft, the Court, after hearing the
evidence, either dismisses the case, or, if the accused person is found 
guilty, orders him to be punished by fine or
imprisonment.
When the offence is not of the most serious nature, but is one that is 
punishable by more than three months'
imprisonment, the accused person has the right to be tried by a jury. If 
he wishes this course to be taken, the
evidence against him, or in his favour, is written down, and the case is 
then sent to the Supreme Court for trial. The
accused can, however, if he chooses, ask to be dealt with " summarily" - that is, to have his case heard and determined by the 
Magistrate.
Let us suppose that a person is accused of a serious crime, such as 
housebreaking, robbery, or forgery, and that he
intends to plead "Not guilty" at his trial; and then see what course 
is pursued in order to decide whether he is
innocent or guilty.
On the day appointed for the hearing of the case, the charge against the 
accused is heard by the Magistrate or
Justices. The accused, or his lawyer, and the police may call witnesses, 
who are sworn to speak the truth. After
hearing all the evidence, and any remarks that may be offered by either 
the prosecution or the defence, the Court may
dismiss the charge if it thinks the evidence against the accused is not 
sufficiently strong. If, on the other hand, it
thinks that the case should be tried by a Judge and jury, the accused is then committed for trial at the next criminal sessions of the 
Supreme 
Court that may
be held in the district.
When the case comes before the Supreme Court, the evidence is again taken, but this time before a 
Judge, and a
jury consisting of twelve men selected by ballot from a list of persons resident within a few miles 
of the Courthouse.
The Judge has to see that the trial is properly conducted, and that only proper evidence is given, 
either for or against
the accused person. He has also to decide all legal questions that may arise during the hearing.
After all the evidence has been given, the lawyers on either side may address the jury, stating 
their views of the case.
The Judge then addresses the jury, pointing out all the facts that seem to indicate the guilt of the 
accused, as well as
all those that seem to be in his favour and show that he is innocent. He also gives a statement of 
the law affecting the
case. He then asks the members of the jury to consider their verdict.
If the case is very clear, the jury may give the verdict of " Guilty " or " Not guilty " without 
leaving the room. Should the
members wish to consult one another or talk over the case, they may retire to a private room. In New 
Zealand all the
jurymen must be agreed upon the verdict. If they cannot come to a unanimous decision* they are 
discharged, and the
case may be retried by a fresh jury. In some other countries, however, the majority may bring in a 
verdict. If the jury
declares the prisoner to be not guilty, he is at once discharged and is a free man again. If the 
verdict is " Guilty," the
Judge pronounces sentence upon him.

* Under certain conditions three-fourths of the jury may bring in a verdict in civil cases.

From a striking picture by Max Cowper in "The Illustrated London News," being one of a series entitled "Life's Real 
Tragedies."]
THE SENTENCE.

The jury system has always been considered a great safeguard to the 
cause of right and justice, for it is unlikely that
a prisoner tried by jury will be punished unjustly or let off unjustly.
The origin of trial by jury is very obscure. Some persons seem to think 
it can be traced to an Anglo-Saxon practice,
by which a person could clear himself of a charge by the oaths of twelve 
of his neighbours who swore to his
innocence. But such persons were witnesses rather than mere judges of 
facts, as the members of a jury are at
present. Trial by jury at all like what we now understand by the term was 
not introduced until after the Conquest, and,
though it is a very old system, being expressly mentioned in the 
Constitutions of Clarendon* in 1164, it only gradually
developed into its present form.
In the olden days there were many curious ways in which the guilt of a 
person accused of any crime was considered
to be proved or disproved. Among knights the accuser and the accused 
settled the case by a bout in the lists. In
other cases also a man could challenge one of equal rank to fight in 
order to settle a question of guilt or innocence.
This was known as the " wager of battle " or " trial by combat. " If the 
fight was declined, the accused man went free.
Victory also gave him his freedom, and caused his accuser to be fined. If 
the accused was defeated, and was still
alive, he was held to be guilty and was punished. This mode of trial 
lasted for several centuries, and was then
abandoned. So late as 1817, however, a man who was accused of murder 
challenged his accuser to fight. The
challenge not being accepted, the accused was set free. 

* The Constitutions of Clarendon were drawn up by Henry II in spite of the 
bitter opposition of Thomas a Becket. One of the chief provisions made the clergy subject to the civil Courts.

To prevent such a thing happening again, in 1819 an Act of Parliament was passed abolishing the right of 
the accused to
challenge his accuser.
There was also what was known as the " trial by ordeal." The accused had to swear that he was 
innocent, and then
had to undergo certain tests, such
as plunging his arm into boiling water, grasping a red-hot iron, or walking barefoot over red-hot 
ploughshares. The
burned or blistered limbs were then anointed with oil and bound up.

IN THE LISTS.

After three days the wrappings were removed, and if the 
scars were healed the
accused was held to be not guilty; if the wounds had not healed, he was held to be guilty and was 
punished.
 Quaint ways of settling disputes and charges were
to be found among many nations. We shall here
mention only two. In Burmah, a suit was settled
by the plaintiff and the defendant being each furnished with a candle. Both candles were equal in
size, and were lit at the same moment. He whose candle outlasted the other was adjudged to have won 
his cause .
In Borneo, the two parties were represented by two shell-fish on a plate. These were irritated by 
strong lime-juice,
and the one that moved first decided the case in favour of the owner.
You have read (School Journal, Part III, for June, 1908, page 140) the rules Richard I laid down for 
the control of his
turbulent followers on their voyage to the Holy Land, and, to show that England was not alone in 
framing strange
codes of punishments, we may mention some fines that were prescribed for certain offences during the 
early days of
France. An insulting word cost 1 1/2d.; taking hold of a person by the throat with one hand, 2 1/2d. ; 
with
two hands, 7d.; throwing a stone and missing your man, 1/2d. ; throwing a stone and hitting, 1 1/2d. ; a
push, 2 1/2d.; fisticuffs, per dozen, 1s.; pulling a nose, 2 1/2d. ; continuing a row after the 
provost had interfered, 10s.; throwing dirty water from a window on a councillor's head, 10s. For swearing, a man was fined 2d., 
which sum went
to the poor; and if he was unable to pay he was straightway ducked in the nearest pond. We might 
wonder nowadays
how a person could be convicted of these offences, but it is easy to understand how fisticuffs and 
nose-pullings could
be counted when we remember that the very guardians of the peace of those days lived by playing the spy.
( To be continued.)

DATES FOR THE MONTH (July). - On appropriate days the school flag might be hoisted : 1st-First New Zealand telegraph 
opened, 1862 ; 3rd-Foundation of Quebec by Champlain, 1608; 5th-First cable message sent from London to Sydney, 1871 ; 
12th-Allies quitted the Crimea, 1856; 17th-Commencement of Waikato War, 1863; 
21st-Arbor Day; 23rd-Gibraltar taken, 1704 ; 27th - Spanish Armada defeated, 1588.

TOBACCO AND THE EYES AND NERVES.

Look at these two different photographs of a boy's writing. In each case the first specimen was written by a cigarette-smoker, 
whose hands were unsteady and eyes badly affected. The second specimen in each case was written some months after the 
cigarettes had been given up. The hands had become steady and the sight had improved. A.H. was aged twelve, and J.S. was aged 
thirteen.

THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

On the 10th June the first session of the seventeenth Parliament of New Zealand was opened. As you have been told before, it is 
the custom on such an occasion for His Excellency the Governor to deliver a speech called the "Speech from the Throne." 
Addressing the members 
of the Legislature, His Excellency
referred to the growth of foreign armaments, and to the burden cast upon 
the United Kingdom in maintaining the
Empire's supremacy at sea. He also referred to the Naval Conference which 
meets at Home this month to consider
matters affecting the naval defence of the Empire. Representatives of all 
the self-governing dominions have been
invited, and Sir Joseph Ward, Prime Minister, will represent New Zealand. 
The Governor also stated that his Advisers
deemed it necessary that Parliament should be prorogued early to enable 
the Prime Minister to be present at the
Conference. To this the Legislature agreed, and the first session of the 
new Parliament closed on the 16th June.
As you are aware, the present Parliament is a new Parliament - that is, 
there has been an election since the last
Parliament sat. In such cases, before business can be proceeded with and 
before Parliament is formally opened by
the Governor, all members of the House of Representatives are required to 
take an oath of allegiance, which is as follows:
I,    , do sincerely promise and swear that
I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Edward 
the Seventh. So help me God.
After taking the oath each member signs his name in a book, which is 
known as the "Roll of the House."

ERRATUM - On page 138 of the School Journal for June, lines 14 and 15, 
for the words "The United Kingdom has nearly 600 persons," &c., read " The United Kingdom has 360 persons," &c.

Zak., photo, Wellington.]
THE CHAMBER IN WHICH THE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT MEET.
(See also School Journal, Part III, August, 1908.)

CANADA-PAST AND PRESENT.
Sing me the song, then; sing it bravely;  Put your soul in the words you 
sing; Sing me the praise of this glorious
country Clear on the ear let the deep notes ring. 
"A Song of Canada," by Robert Reid.

You have seen how the French were the first Europeans to settle in Canada, 
and how the English won the country
from them about the middle of the eighteenth century.*
By the terms of the Treaty of Paris, which was signed at the end of the 
struggle, the French Canadians were allowed
to retain their civil laws, their language, and their religion. They 
quickly became a loyal and contented people. When,
only fifteen years after the conquest, the rebellious American colonies 
sent an army to invade Canada, the French
refused to be roused against the British, and fought side by side with 
their conquerors against the invaders. Again, in
1812, when war broke out between Great Britain and the United States,* the French Canadians fought faithfully for the British.

* See School Journal, Part III, July, 1908.

To-day 85 per cent. of the people of the Province of Quebec are French in race. The French Canadians 
have married
mostly among themselves, and have multiplied rapidly. They still speak French, and cling to French 
customs.
Quebec is very like a French town - its quaint Old-World houses seem out of place in a colonial city; 
French is spoken
in the streets, in the Courts, and in Parliament; and the news of the world is read in the same language.

THE UPPER AND LOWER PORTIONS OF QUEBEC.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Prime Minister of Canada, is a French Canadian, and in the whole Empire there is 
no warmer
Imperialist than he. This loyalty of the French Canadians is a splendid proof of the genius of the 
British for absorbing
into the Empire peoples of other races, and for building up a nation out of conflicting elements.

* See School Journal, Part III, May, 1909, page 117, note to illustration.

After the independence of the American colonists had been recognised, about forty thousand loyalists emigrated from the States 
to Canada, ten thousand of them settling in Ontario, and the rest in Nova 
Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland.
The country was divided into two provinces, Upper and Lower Canada, each having a Legislative 
Council, chosen by
the Governor, and an elective Assembly. As the Governor of Lower Canada chose Councillors from the 
British settlers
and ignored the French, the latter became discontented, and at length, in the first year of Queen 
Victoria's reign,
there was a small and unsuccessful rebellion. In Upper Canada, too, the flag of revolt was raised, 
but the leader, a
Scotchman named McKenzie, met with little success, and had to seek refuge in the United States. As a 
result of a
report by Lord Durham on the state of affairs in Canada, the two provinces were united by an Act 
passed by the
British Parliament, and Responsible Government, similar to that now enjoyed by New Zealand, was 
conferred on the
country.
This change did a great deal of good, but a further change was soon required. The population of 
Upper Canada
increased more rapidly than that of the lower province, and friction arose over the representation of 
the two provinces
in the governing Assembly.  In 1867 the problem was solved in the best way, by establishing a strong 
central
Government, with authority to deal with important matters affecting the whole community, and allowing 
each province
to manage its own local affairs. The Dominion of Canada was constituted. It embraced the Provinces of 
Quebec,
Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, and any other provinces that might afterwards be admitted. 
Prince Edward
Island, Manitoba, and British Columbia joined the Dominion soon afterwards, and a few years ago the Provinces of Alberta and 
Saskatchewan were formed in the north-west.
Since the federation of the provinces the history of Canada has been a 
record of continuous progress. Two Indian
risings had to be dealt with, one in 1870 and the other in 1886, but they 
were not serious affairs, and were put down
without much difficulty.

From a  stereograph copyright by Underwood and Underwood, London, New York, and Melbourne.]
TIRELESS NIAGARA. (The Horseshoe Fall, on the Canadian side of the river.)

The story of the development of Canada is full of romance. At one time 
the different provinces were like beads far
apart on a long string. The settlements on the Atlantic seaboard were 
separated from Quebec by hundreds of miles of
untracked forest and the only communication was by water; Quebec was wholly French, and Ontario, its neighbour, was English; 
between Ontario 
and the little settlement of Red River, in
Manitoba, lay a thousand miles of desolate country ironbound with frost in 
the winter.

From a stereograph copyright by Underwood and Underwood, London, New York, 
and Melbourne.]
BOAT IN A LOCK.
(The lock shown is one of the twenty-five on the Welland Canal, twenty-seven miles long, connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario. 
There is a difference of 327 ft. between the levels of the two lakes, but this locked canal enables vessels to make a continuous 
journey from Lake Superior to the open sea.)

Then came a thousand miles of prairie land, and then six hundred miles of 
mountain and plateau between the plains
and British Columbia. It was easier for the British Columbians to 
communicate with Mexico or Panama than with
the rest of Canada.
Fortunately, however, Canada is blessed with a magnificent lake and river system - the finest in the 
world - the surface of
the country being covered with a network of wide streams and broad lakes. The great River St. 
Lawrence, which
drains the greatest chain of lakes on the globe - Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario - 
affords a magnificent
waterway, and, by means of a canal built to avoid the Falls of Niagara, a traveller can go by steamer 
from the mouth
of the St. Lawrence to the head of Lake Superior, a distance of 2,384 miles. There taking to a canoe, he can travel by water 
almost the whole way, by lake and river, to the mouth of the Mackenzie River, in the Arctic Ocean.

THE CANADIAN CANOE.

In the early days canoeing was the favourite means of travel. Hunters and explorers set out in their 
birch-bark canoes,
and day after day paddled up or down stream, sometimes through long stretches of gloomy forest. Now 
and again
they would shoot a rapid in their frail vessels, a feat requiring strong hands and steady nerves. 
When they came to
rapids that were too dangerous to shoot or too swift to climb, they would unload their canoes, carry 
baggage and canoes along the bank, and take to the water again where the stream became navigable. The 
canoe is still
in use in the backblocks, but in the greater part of the Dominion the railway on land and the steamer 
on the water
have in a large measure displaced it. On the great lakes there is now a very large fleet of vessels, 
some of them
comparing favourably in size and luxury with the great ocean-liners.
(To be continued.)

OUR INVISIBLE FRIENDS AND FOES.
(Continued from page 179.)

Floating around us in the air there are many germs which do not make their presence felt until they 
find conditions
suitable for their growth. Some of these grow on dead plant-material, but most of them grow on dead 
animal-material. 
Unfortunately for us, some kinds of germs, when they are in large numbers and of strong vitality, 
invade the living
tissues of the body, where they begin to grow, causing the serious condition of the body that we call 
" illness."
Among such germs are those of typhoid, influenza, small-pox, diphtheria, and many other serious diseases.
Germs are seldom able to get a footing in the body unless the body has been previously weakened and 
its natural
resisting-power has been lowered. This natural resisting-power of the body is different in different 
persons. There are
some people who are said to catch every illness that is going about, and others who are never ill. 
Many people think
their illnesses are due to draughts or chills. What really happens is that draughts or chills lower 
the body's powers of
resistance, and it is then that the germs are able to make headway and develop.
Under suitable growing-conditions germs multiply very quickly - some come to maturity in twenty 
minutes, and then
produce other germs, so that in an hour or two there are hundreds and thousands where only two or 
three had been
originally. When growing, the germs make and throw off substances which, if present in sufficient 
quantity, act as
poisons to themselves.
Alcohol is one of the poisons made by germs.
Perhaps some of you have been in a brewery and have seen the huge vats of malt which are set to "ferment." This
process of fermentation is really due to the growth of the yeast-germs which feed upon the sugar, and 
the bubbles all
over the top of the liquid are caused by  the carbonic-acid gas that the yeast is breathing out. 
While making and
throwing off this gas, the yeast is making also the liquid known as alcohol. When the alcohol in the 
vat reaches a
certain strength it kills the yeast-germs, and the fermentation stops. The brewer then runs off the 
liquid, mixes with it
certain flavouring substances, and sends it out as beer or other alcoholic drink. Brandy and other 
spirits are made in
somewhat the same way, but the liquid has to be distilled to make the alcohol stronger.
This alcohol, then, is a poison which kills the germs making it. Though it cannot quickly kill such 
a highly organized
body as ours except when present in large quantities, yet it does much harm. It acts as a slow poison on the tissues of the body, 
the more delicate tissues such as the brain and the nerves suffering first and suffering most.

YEAST GERMS.

But yeast-germs are not the only ones that in growing produce substances which act as poisons and 
kill the germs
themselves. All germs do this. The germs of typhoid, diphtheria, and other diseases do so when they 
attack the
human body and begin to grow. If the sick person has a certain amount of resisting-power, and does 
not succumb to
this poison for some time, the substance produced kills the germs, and the illness comes to an end, 
leaving the
patient weak and worn out. If, on the other hand, the sick person has low resisting-power (being, for instance, weakened by 
disease or by constant drinking), the invasion of the germs kills him before the 
substance formed is
strong enough to kill the germs themselves.
But scientific men are now able to make artificially some of the substances produced by germs. In 
some illnesses
these are injected into the body of the sufferer, and the growth of the germs is very quickly cut 
short. Before this
discovery was made, out of every hundred persons who caught diphtheria about sixty died from it; 
nowadays about
seven out of every hundred die from it. Equally important are the discoveries which have been made 
in regard to blood-poisoning, which used to be exceedingly common, and caused hundreds of deaths. The germs producing 
it are
always about us, and grow immediately if they can get into an open wound, or even into so small a 
wound as a
pinprick. They set up most serious disturbances in the body, and it is only by the fighting-powers of 
the little white
blood-corpuscles, about, which I have previously told you,* that they are got rid of.
In Wellington there, resides an old lady who was a nurse in the Crimean War. She tells how dreadful were the attacks of blood-
poisoning suffered by the soldiers, who died by hundreds of what was then known as " wound-fever."

* See School Journal, Part III, November, 1908, page 315.
 
Very different was it in the Russo-Japanese War. The Japs were clever 
enough to
make practical use of the discoveries of science, and they insisted that, before a battle, all their 
soldiers should put
on clean clothes, and have a good hot bath containing a disinfectant. The result was that most of the 
wounds they
received had no chance of getting dirt or germs into them, and healed up at once. Let us learn a 
lesson from the
Japs, and keep these germs at bay by depriving them of what is necessary for their life and growth. 
We know that
they live in dusty corners, on unclean skins and dirty clothes, and on dead animal-material. Let us, 
therefore, never
allow such things to be about us. It is to keep our homes and towns clean that such large sums of 
money have been
spent on systems of sewerage, on "destructors," and on other means of getting rid of dirt and 
rubbish. Densely
populated towns with well-ordered systems for the removal of dirt and rubbish are healthier than less 
densely
populated towns which are not kept so clean.
Rats, which always come where there is much rubbish, are known to be carriers of "plague," and rubbish should
therefore be kept in iron boxes with lids designed to keep them at bay. You all know how scrupulously 
clean a
hospital has to be kept. Not only is it very carefully scrubbed and cleaned, but at intervals its 
floors and walls are
washed or sprayed with substances called antiseptics. These are substances that kill germs. They can 
be obtained
at chemists' shops or at stores, and in every household a bottle should be kept for use on cuts or 
even when the skin
is only broken.
There has always been great difficulty in saying what is the best way to dispose of the sewage of a town. When a town is near the 
coast the sewage is usually allowed to flow into the sea a good 
distance from the
town. But this method has its objections. Another method is by what are called "sewage farms." The 
sewage is
allowed to flow over fields, and the exposure to the sun and air causes it to dry and decompose, and 
thus become
harmless. Modern knowledge of germs has, however, taught us another and, in certain circumstances, a 
much better
method. The sewage is shut up in tanks, where the decomposition-germs set to work to break down and 
render
harmless all foul substances. Some products are given off to the air in the form of gases, some are 
carried away in a
stream of almost clear and comparatively harmless water, and others form a solid, which falls to the 
bottom of the
tank, and can be cleaned out and spread over fields at intervals. This is what is called the " septic 
tank " system. It is
now being used for many private houses that are beyond the reach of a town sewerage, and also in some towns,
as in Nelson, where the tank for decomposition is going to be put on the Boulder Bank.* A novel way 
of disposing of
rubbish prevails in some towns in Turkey and Armenia. Large packs of dogs are kept outside the 
cities, and are
allowed to roam the streets during the night. The rubbish is thrown out of the houses into the 
streets, and these dogs
act as the scavengers of the town, making the night hideous with their fights and growls.
There are a great many more things to learn about the wonderful work carried on by the minute particles of life that we call " 
germs," and every year adds to the knowledge. What you have read here is just a brief outline of a very big and
interesting subject.

* See School. Journal, Part III, September, 1908, page 244.

STAR STORIES.
VI. THE MAN AND THE BEAST.
During the month of August, between 7 and 9 p.m., five stellar figures are to be seen on the 
meridian, extending, in
our southern latitudes, from the northern horizon to the zenith. These constellations-the Dragon, 
Hercules, the
Serpent-holder, the Serpent, and the Scorpion-are especially interesting, as they represent in double 
form a great
conflict between a Man and a Beast.
When the old astronomers designed these constellation figures, the Scorpion appeared to them on the 
meridian in
the south, and the Dragon was in like manner on the meridian low down in the north; Hercules was 
represented as
kneeling on one knee, with one foot on the Dragon, while the Serpent-holder trampled down the 
Scorpion, and the
heads of the two heroes were made up by the stars in the zenith.
This twofold picture of a struggle between a man and a venomous beast was evidently designed to 
represent some
great conflict. Yet, strange to say, it is not known with certainty to whom or to what the 
constellations refer. It is true
that Hercules suggests the famous Greek hero of that name, but, as Aratus
tells us, the constellation was not originally known by that name, but 
simply as " the Kneeler." The ancients seem to
have felt that there was some unexplained mystery connected with these 
constellations. Some try to solve the
mystery by suggesting that in these star-figures we have a twofold 
representation of the conflict mentioned in Genesis
iii, 15, between the Serpent and the "Seed of the Woman," and that the 
Serpent-holder and the Kneeler were both
intended to represent the promised Redeemer who should crush the 
serpent's head.
The Scorpion is almost vertically overhead between 7 and 9 p.m. in 
August, and is easily recognised by its long and
beautifully winding curve of bright stars, and also by its brightest gem, 
Antares, which is almost exactly as far beyond
Spica as Spica is beyond Regulus. The name Antares is a Greek word, 
meaning " like Mars," this star being so
named on account of its resemblance in colour to the ruddy planet Mars. 
It is a sun of enormous dimensions, being
at least eight hundred times as large as our sun, but is so far away that 
its light takes 155 years to reach us. The
claws of the Scorpion extend as far as the two brightest stars in the 
Scales. In the story of Phaeton's disastrous
attempt to drive the chariot of the sun for a day,* it is related that 
the sight of the threatening Scorpion so terrified the
ambitious youth as he dashed along the Zodiac that he lost control of 
Apollo's horses, and came near burning up the
earth by running the sun into it.
Ophiucus is a Greek name meaning " Serpentholder." The constellation 
represents a giant trampling on the
Scorpion and grasping in both hands the coils of an enormous Serpent. 
Although he covers a great extent of sky ("Ophiucus huge," Milton calls him), his stars are not of the first rank, and are not 
arranged in easily followed figures.

* See School Journal, Part III, June, 1909, page 155.

His right leg is
immersed to the knee in a part of the Milky Way above the tail of the 
Scorpion, while his left foot is planted over
Antares. A star of the second magnitude marks his head, two of the third 
magnitude indicate his shoulders, while
two others are in his knees.
The head of the Serpent is marked by a group of five stars, one of which is 
brighter than the others, while its body is
represented by a number of stars in a curved line, and arranged for the 
most part in pairs. One conspicuous pair
coincides with the left hand of Ophiucus, and another pair with his right 
hand. Aratus describes Ophiucus in the
following lines:
His feet stamp Scorpio down, enormous beast,
Crushing the monster's eye and platted breast.
With outstretched arms he holds the Serpent's coils
His limbs it folds within its scaly toils;
With his right hand its writhing tail he grasps:
Its swelling neck his left securely clasps.
The reptile rears its crested head on high,
Reaching the seven-starred Crown in northern sky.
Hercules is situated to the north of Ophiucus, extending to the northern 
horizon, and is not conspicuous for any
special brilliancy or striking arrangement of its stars. It is remarkable, 
however, as containing one of the most
wonderful objects in the heavens - the Great Star Cluster in Hercules. This 
cluster is situated between the two bright
stars in the right leg of Hercules, and about one-third of the distance 
from the lower one. It is barely visible to the
naked eye, but in an opera-glass it can be seen as a faint speck. A large 
telescope shows it to be a globular cluster
of stars, or, in other words, a ball of suns. Sir William Herschel computed 
the number of stars contained in it to be
about fourteen thousand, or more than four times as many stars as can be seen at one time in the whole of the heavens with the
naked eye. Aratus describes Hercules thus :
A labouring man next rises to our sight, But what his task or who this 
honoured wight No poet tells. Upon his knee he
bends, And hence his name, Engonasin, descends. He lifts his suppliant arms 
and dares to rest His right foot on the
scaly Dragon's crest.
The Dragon is too low down to be seen completely in our southern latitudes, 
only a few of its stars just appearing
above the northern horizon.

A NEW ZEALAND NATURE CALENDAR.
[It is intended to publish in the Journal a series of extracts from Mr. G. 
M. Thomson's book, "A New Zealand Naturalist's Calendar " (Stark and Co., Dunedin). The extracts selected will deal with the 
seasonal changes in the
habits of well-known plants and animals of New Zealand, and as they will 
suggest, in a general way, what may be looked for at different periods of the year, it is hoped that they will encourage readers of 
the Journal to take a keen and intelligent interest in Nature generally, and a more particular interest in the aspect Nature presents 
in theimmediate neighbourhood of the school.
The book from which the extracts are taken has special reference to Nature 
in Otago; and to enable observers in the
North Island, where the seasons are earlier, to know what to look for, the 
notes for any month will be published in the
Journal for the preceding month; thus in the September issue the extract 
will be taken from Mr. Thomson's chapters for October, and so on.]
AUGUST.
August, like February in the Northern Hemisphere, is usually a bleak, cold 
month, with broken weather; but the days
are lengthening, the buds
are swelling on the trees, the crocuses make the gardens quite gay in sunshiny hours, and in all bright weather there
is a feeling of spring in the air.
The birds are already preparing for the nesting season, and the wanderer in quiet paths, coming suddenly on busy
blackbirds or thrushes, sees many a fight between rival males. It is wonderful with what absolute abandon a couple of
blackbirds will fight: they attack each other with such fierceness
and savagery - with beak, and wings, and spurs - that they can almost be caught by the hand, so engrossed are they in
the scrimmage. I have come upon them while so engaged, and have marvelled to observe the state of exhaustion
which ensues after such a fight, when they sit almost on their tails, facing each other with their golden beaks wide
open as if gasping for breath, until the more vigorous suddenly renews the attack. Male thrushes also engage in
prolonged fights, but for a regular hammer-and-tongs rough-and-tumble struggle nothing can excel the blackbirds.
After the battle the successful warrior forthwith pairs with the hen of his choice, and his beaten rival looks elsewhere
for a mate.
The native birds that came much nearer to the haunts of men during the earlier months of winter now mostly seek the
denser bush in which to build their nests. One of these, one of the prettiest little birds in New Zealand, is the grey-warbler, which 
usually begins building this month. A pair used to build just a few feet from my study window, and for
three years they nested in the same spot. The nest, which is a well-built, cosy little structure, lined with moss or
feathers, hangs on a branch or in the fork of a bush, and has the entrance slightly domed over. Within this flask-shaped structure 
are laid
about four delicate little eggs, which are nearly white in colour, but are always more or less spotted or marked with
pink or reddish specks. The birds must rear two or three broods of young each season, for it is nearly always in the
nest of this songster that the cuckoos - both the long-tailed cuckoo and the shining cuckoo - place their eggs, and this
occurs usually in December or January.*
The pied fantail and the grey lark or pipit, the latter a very common ground-bird in the open country, regularly begin
nesting during this month. Occasionally the miromiro, or yellow-breasted tit, makes its nest in August, but usually it
waits till the spring is more advanced. I know of no native bird which has shown so much confidence in human beings
as this perky little bright-eyed tit. When so many of the native birds have permanently retired to districts remote from
all settlement, it is pleasant to feel that some have remained, and that, in spite of their fearlessness, they have
managed to survive near towns and beside the habitations of men.
When I was living in Southland, we daily had the robins and tomtits about the garden, while the pied and black
fantails almost lived in the house, coming into the rooms to look for flies and spiders whenever the windows were
open. We were awakened in the early mornings by the melodious concert of the tuis, bell-birds (korimakos), and
other bush-birds, singing their morning hymns. Kakas and wood-pigeons abounded, and wekas used to dodge round
the very doors in search of unconsidered trifles. The kakas used to tear the thatch off the stacks and let the rain in, and they and 
the parrakeets were our chief enemies both in the cornfield and in the garden. 

* See School Journal, Part II for May, July, and August, 1909.

At night the quaint cry of the moreporks was extremely common, and sometimes very eerie, as they called to one another from 
grove to
grove.
The very same conditions prevailed in Dunedin and its neighbourhood for many years after the founding 
of the
settlement, but the whole aspect of the scene is now changed. With few exceptions the native birds 
have retired
before the settlers and the new conditions which have been created, and we have now to go some 
distance afield to
meet familiarly with these friends of our early colonial days.
Why some birds should have increased so abundantly after being liberated, and others of somewhat 
similar habits
should have either disappeared at once or died out in a few years, is a problem which we have no 
means of solving.
We can only conjecture the causes. One instance of conspicuous success in acclimatisation is the 
Australian black
swans. These birds, natives of West Australia, were set free some years ago, and they are now very 
abundant in
some of our lakes and lagoons. On a moonlight night it is very common to hear these birds calling to 
one another as
they fly rapidly overhead on their journeys from water to water, and occasionally one can see them as 
they cross in
front of the moon or between the observer and some bright part of the sky.
In the month of August many plants commence to flower, but the majority of those which are borne by trees or
shrubs are either self-fertilised or are dependent on the wind, as insects are still comparatively 
scarce. The most
familiar examples of wind-fertilised plants are to be found among the introduced catkin-bearing 
trees - willows, poplars,
alders, hazels, and many others. In these it is noticeable
that the catkins are borne on the branches before the leaves appear, so that they hang open and loose 
to the action
of the wind.
Perhaps the best examples of wind-fertilised plants in the native flora are furnished by the Coprosmas, some species
of which come into flower this month. Male and female flowers are not found on the same plant - on one 
plant the
flowers will have stamens only and on another pistils only. The flowers with stamens are produced in 
great numbers,
and when they are shaken by the wind a cloud of extremely fine, dry, and dusty pollen is shaken out 
of them. Though
fewer in number the pistils are of large size, so as to catch any pollen-grains that may be floating 
about. A few other
early flowers are to be found this month - those of the large-flowered manuka, the bush-lawyer, and 
some others which
I can refer to only by using the difficult botanical names. Most of them bloom more freely in 
September.
SEPTEMBER.
September is really the first month of spring in this part of the world, and with its advent we feel 
that the long dead
winter has passed. The stir and hurry of life increase, the birds sing more blithely, the trees begin 
to burst into leaf,
and " soft airs fan the hills."
Under the shelter of a protecting tree-fern, or in the friendly shade of a mass of native bramble, we 
may now meet with
the large loose nest of the tui. Intertwined among the slender twigs and stems of which it is 
constructed are often
found moss or fibres, with brown fern-scales shining through them, while on a lining of fine grass in 
its evenly hollowed
cavity three or four delicately marked eggs are laid. They are nearly always pink spotted with dark red, but, if white, are streaked 
and marked with pink and red. They are fairly large eggs - over an 
inch in length.
The tuis are most pugnacious birds, and are able to hold their own against any of their bush 
neighbours. The long-tailed cuckoo seems to be one of their pet aversions, and when it arrives, later in the season, the 
tuis frequently
advertise the fact and give it a severe hackling.
The bell-bird (korimako) is one of our commonest native birds, and is a frequent visitor in town 
gardens. Somewhat
later in the spring it builds its nest, choosing a situation similar to that chosen by the tui, 
usually at no great height
from the ground. The nest is nearly always lined with feathers, which, apparently, are often selected 
for their bright
colours. The eggs are generally four in number, smaller than the tui's, and of a white or pink 
colour marked with
streaks, dots, or blotches of red or purple.
By the sides of our harbours and in all similar localities the kingfisher is to be met with. It is one of the most
beautifully plumaged birds in New Zealand, but is very shy of men. It always makes its nest in the 
extremity of a
sloping-up funnel, which it excavates in a bank, near a decaying tree,
or even in an old sod fence. The tunnel is quite narrow, and from a foot to a foot and a half long, 
and in the little
chamber at the upper end the bird lays from five to seven rather large glossy white eggs.
Another of our delightful native birds, which unfortunately has disappeared from the neighbourhood of settlement - a victim to 
its habits of 
trustfulness - is the native
robin. This bird commences
housekeeping in the month of September. "The nest is often placed amongst the steeply ridged roots of
a mighty tree near a creek, or on a bossy protuberance on the rugged stem, or perhaps it may be observed neatly
filling a hollow, matching so well the moss-tinted russet-brown bark with its cleverly selected 
material that it is difficult
for the eye to detect the robin's home" (Potts). The eggs vary in number from two to four. They are 
usually white or
creamy in colour, and are marked with grey, purple, or brown.
In connection with the introduction and acclimatisation of all animals in a new land, there is a subject which merits
and will well repay investigation-namely, to observe whether they undergo any change of habits under 
their altered
conditions, or cause the native fauna to alter in any way. Even odd and isolated cases are worthy of 
being noted.
Thus an amusing instance was narrated to me of a tui which was heard successfully mimicking the song 
of a thrush
on a neighbouring tree. The tui is a noted mimic, seeming to take delight in imitating the notes of 
other birds, and
when caged is a very apt learner. Well do I remember a splendid tui which belonged to a Dunedin lady. 
I was once
walking away from the house, when a gentle but persistent " Coo-ee " caused me to turn back to see 
who wanted
me. As soon as the bird saw me coming near the house he began to bark. I did not notice that both 
sounds came
from the same throat. Thinking I had made some mistake, I went off once more towards the gate, when 
at once the
rascal began to " Coo-ee " again. His actions struck me as very much like a case of reasoning.
Our skylarks do not always sing on the wing only, as they are credited with doing. They often 
continue their song
even after coming down to the ground, and will sometimes alight on a post and sing. In Europe these 
birds never
alight near the nest,
but always at a distance from it, running along to it under cover when they have satisfied themselves 
that there are no
watchers about. Here, with almost no enemies to guard against, it is just possible that their 
cautious habits may
have relaxed to a considerable extent.
The almost total absence here of natural enemies may be expected to lead in time to some changes of 
colour in the
birds. Colour freaks or sports are very common, but under the severe conditions which prevail in 
Europe they are
rigorously suppressed. There a white or piebald thrush or sparrow has very little chance of coming to 
maturity, for its
change of colour renders it especially conspicuous to its enemies-it is harried continually and is at 
last destroyed.
But in this favoured land, if the young bird escapes the attention of that most destructive 
animal-the small boy-its only
enemies are those of its own kind. Apparently these are often formidable enough, for there is no such 
thing as fashion
in Nature, and a thrush which develops a white wing or a white-striped tail, instead of being admired 
by all other
thrushes, is treated more or less roughly.
In the case of rabbits there appears to be nothing to repress the colour-sports which arise. In 
Europe any rabbits that
depart from the usual colour become more or less conspicuous to their numerous enemies. Among birds 
there are
falcons, hawks, ravens, carrion-crows, &c., to pursue them by day, and owls to kill them by night; 
while foxes,
stoats, and weasels prey on them constantly. The slightest departure, therefore, from the dull grey 
in the colour of
their fur renders them more easily seen, and thus such sports are constantly weeded out. But in New 
Zealand there
are very few enemies except man, and in consequence variously coloured rabbits - black, buff, and white - are not rigidly
suppressed. I was particularly struck with this
fact the last time I was in the Wanaka district - fancy-coloured rabbits seemed to be almost as common 
as the greys.
Many native plants come into flower in September, and some that have a short and fleeting season will 
not be met
with again till next year.
The native fuchsia, which is coming freely into flower this month, shows two (sometimes three) 
distinct kinds of
flowers. The large, common form has flowers of an inch or more in length, and these have all the 
parts present eight
stamens with well-developed anthers full of blue pollen, and a large, very sticky stigma to which 
these pollen-grains
adhere. Whether these flowers can be fertilised with their own pollen or not I do not know   The only 
way to ascertain
the fact would be to experiment upon them, and I do not think this has ever been done. But other 
flowers besides
these will be found - on different plants, however - which are not half so big; they are pale and pink in 
colour, while their
anthers are small and nearly white, and contain no pollen. These flowers cannot bear fruit unless 
pollen is brought to
them from the other kind.
One of our commonest mistletoes (Tupeia antaretica), a leafy parasite of a rather pale green colour, 
flowers this
month. Its flowers are yellowish-green in colour. Though so inconspicuous they are very fragrant, and 
secrete a large
amount of nectar. I have noticed that they are much frequented by midge-like flies, which in sucking 
the nectar from
the  blossoms bring the lower part of their bodies into contact with the stamens and stigmas.
It is still too early for most native flowers, though you should watch for them in your walks abroad. 
The bush-lawyer
(Rubus australis) begins to flower in September. There are several varieties. They are visited for 
their nectar and pollen
chiefly by small beetles of several species, and, if you want to
observe these, hold a sheet of paper under a bunch of the flowers and get 
some one to give the branch a smart tap
with a stick when scores of the little insects will drop on to the paper. 
I have gathered eight species of beetles on these flowers, and have also noticed several species of native flies, large and small. 
Tutu, manuka, and ngaio in flower
are occasionally to be met with this month.
If a Rip Van Winkle among naturalists could arise here - one who had known 
the natural conditions in 1849 - and if he
could be dropped down in Dunedin now, he would be astounded at the 
changes which have taken place during the
interval in the aspect of Nature. A very large proportion of the native 
flora and fauna has disappeared. The ferns and
other delicate plants which formerly filled the bush are nearly all gone - dried up and exterminated; the big trees have
disappeared long ago; the undergrowth consists very largely of European 
plants; the birds are those of the Old Land - the whole face of Nature is altered. I felt this very distinctly the 
other evening when walking up a narrow valley among
our southern hills. The hillsides were ablaze with the golden bloom of the 
gorse, and the air was heavy with its
fragrance. As the sun went down behind the western uplands, the air 
became vocal with the songs of the thrushes.
Everything, except the tussocks and the blue-gums, suggested a valley 
among the hills of old Scotland. Long after the
stars were peeping out, and even when the half-moon was throwing my shadow 
strongly on the road before me, the
melody was still kept up. Gradually it died out; then one belated bird 
came flying down the valley, and as it passed
overhead it poured out a stream of song - surely another new habit for a 
thrush, learned in this land of changed conditions.

THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR.

Most of the readers of the Journal know what is meant by the words " the 
conquest of the air" - that is, man's success in constructing machines by means of which he can 
travel through the air. Such machines are
divided into two classes - those that are lighter than air, and those 
that are heavier than air. To the former class
belong balloons, which rise in the air because they are filled with a 
light gas. But the older balloons had to drift to and
fro at the will of the air-currents, and were quite unable to make any 
headway against the winds. It was not until 1883
that a controllable balloon was invented, and even then it was only a 
partial success. Since that time, however, many
improvements have been effected, and many successful experiments have 
been made with balloons driven through
the air by screws revolving with enormous velocity, and steered by large 
light rudders.
The construction of heavier-than-air machines, however, presented even 
greater difficulties, for in them no great
reservoirs of gas are provided to make them rise.

A DIRIGIBLE BALLOON.

The study of this form of aerial navigation is very old, and, compared with the numberless devices which have been suggested 
and contrived to enable men to imitate the flight of birds, the balloon is but a 
thing of yesterday. Attempts made as early as the thirteenth century have been described, but it is only within the 
last few years
that man has provided himself with wings that will enable him to rise from the ground, soar into the 
air, and alight
easily, gracefully, and without danger.
The wonderful  pieces of mechanism by which this is accomplished are known as aeroplanes. Look at the 
pictures on
pages 228 and 229, and you will see
some of the different kinds of aeroplanes. Each inventor has his own ideas of detail, but the main 
features of
construction are much the same in all. Most of the flying-machines have two planes, or large 
horizontal frames, which
tend to keep the machine from falling. The planes or frames are made of wood and wire, covered with 
cloth, and
though light are very strong. Such aeroplanes are known as biplanes. To the right of the picture is 
an aeroplane with
only one plane: this is therefore called a monoplane. In front and behind are smaller movable planes 
by means of
which the machine is guided. Aeroplanes are driven through the air by great screws which revolve with 
enormous
rapidity, and underneath are wheels on which they run when on land.
The lifting principle is exactly that of a kite. The kite is heavier than air, and yet the action of 
the wind on it causes it
to soar. Your kite will not fly on a calm day, but it will if the string is attached to a train or 
motor-car travelling at a
great rate. You know that if you are starting your kite from a sheltered spot you run along till it 
rises and receives the
full force of the wind. The kite, therefore, flies because of the pressure of the air upon it. It 
matters not whether the kite
is fixed to a stationary object on a windy day, or is dragged through the air on a calm or 
comparatively calm day. If,
therefore, you could attach to your kite an engine that would force it through the air, it could be 
let go and would still
fly. The devices you see behind the aeroplane act like the tail of the kite. In addition to being 
used for steering
purposes, they serve to balance the aeroplane and keep it steady. Simply stated, this is the 
principle of the
aeroplane's flight.
For an aeroplane to rise, an open space is necessary. The aeroplanist takes his seat and starts the engine, and the screw rotates 
with such speed that to the eye the  blades blend to form a transparent 
disc. The flier
runs along on her wheels gathering way, just as a bird runs before rising into the air. The front 
guiding-planes are tilted
up, and, as the air acts more and more strongly on them with the increasing speed, she lifts and lifts as if desirous to be free from 
the earth, and then soars aloft, a triumph of skill,ingenuity, and science.

M. BLERIOT AND HIS MONOPLANE.

Though very successful aeroplane-flights had been performed on land, it was not until recently that 
long flights over
the sea were attempted. Should the motor-engine stop, the aeroplanist must come down with a gliding 
motion, and
come down quickly. He cannot choose his landing-place, and is saved from accident only by the absence of dangers below. If he
descends into water his aeroplane may float, or may not, according to its weight. On the 25th of 
July last, however,
M. Louis Bleriot flew a monoplane across the English Channel from Calais to Dover, covering a 
distance of twenty-six
miles in thirty-three minutes. A few days previously Mr. Hubert Latham, a French citizen of British 
extraction,
attempted the same feat. He had covered ten miles when he was forced to descend. When rescued he was 
calmly
smoking on his floating aeroplane. What Mr. Latham nearly succeeded in doing M. Bleriot 
accomplished, bringing
nearer the day described by Tennyson in " Locksley Hall":-
For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,
Saw the vision of the world, and all the wonders that would be;
Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,
Pilots of the purple twilight; dropping down with costly bales.
 [NOTE-The illustration taken from the London Magazine illustrates an article written by R. W. Wallace, the chairman of the 
Aero Club of the United Kingdom. He suggests that, when airships regularly cross the English Channel, a
course may be marked out for them. Along this, like milestones along a public road, swift motorboats 
might be
stationed at regular intervals, their purpose being twofold - to rescue the aviator in case he has to 
descend, and to act
as a guide during his rapid flight. The streamers attached to the balloon-ropes show the heights at 
which the
aeroplanes should fly at different points-the idea being that they should rise gradually, reach the 
highest point in mid-channel, and then descend gradually. The distance between the sands of Romney in England and the 
sands of
Wimereux in France (places suitable for rising and landing) is about thirty-one miles. The mileage is indicated by figures on the 
boats.]

STAR STORIES.
VII. THE EAGLE AND THE SWAN.

 A remarkable feature of the old constellation figures is the fact that many of them form pairs of similar figures, which, as a rule, 
are close together.
Thus, in the story of the Man and the Beast, the Man
is represented under the double form of Hercules
and Ophiucus, and the Beast under the forms of a
Scorpion and a Serpent. Orion has his two Dogs.
and Bootes, the Hunter, has his pair of hounds.
Another instance of this doubling of star figures
occurs in the constellations representing two birds.
the Eagle and the Swan, close together. These are
both in the north, and are near the meridian between
8 and 9 p.m. during the month of September.
Aquila, the Eagle, is easily recognised by its brightest star, Altair, a 
star of the first magnitude, in a straight line with
two fainter stars situated one on each side of it, and on the borders of 
the Milky Way. The Eagle is fabled to have
been the bird that Jupiter kept beside his throne, and is represented as 
carrying away a boy called Antinous.* This
beautiful youth was a favourite attendant of the Emperor Hadrian, and, 
when Antinous was drowned in the Nile, the
Emperor erected a temple in his honour, and gave his name to this 
constellation, saying that the Eagle of Jupiter had
carried him to heaven.
Below the Eagle is the constellation Cygnus or the Swan, the principal 
stars of which lie in the Milky Way and form
a cross, sometimes called the "Northern Cross." The constellation 
occupies one of the richest portions of the
heavens, but being rather low down it does not appear so striking a 
figure to us as to people living in the Northern Hemisphere. 

* An-tin'-o-us.

The star that marks the tip of the Swan's bill is one of the most beautiful double stars, in the heavens. When examined with a 
good 
field-glass, it is
found to be made up of two stars of different colours, one being golden yellow, the other a deep, 
rich blue. Formerly
this constellation was called the Hen, and in some old celestial charts it is, represented by the 
figure of a motherly
barnyard fowl.
Between the Eagle and the Swan is the little constellation Sagitta, or the Arrow, which consists of a 
few faint stars in
a row. Aratus refers to the Arrow, the Swan, and the Eagle in the following lines:
There is in front another Arrow cast Without a bow; and by it flies the Bird,
Nearer the north; and nigh a second sails, Lesser in size, but dangerous to come
From ocean when night flies - the Eagle named.
The Bird referred to is the Swan. According to some, Sagitta represents the arrow of Apollo, while others say it is one
of the arrows which Hercules fired at the Stymphalian birds. These were voracious birds - like cranes or storks - which
infested Lake Stymphalus in Arcadia, and fed upon human flesh. They were at last destroyed by Hercules, with the assistance of 
Minerva.
Close to the Arrow, and a little to the east of it, is another small constellation, Delphinus or the Dolphin, the four principal stars 
of which form a little lozenge, which is sometimes called Job's Coffin. The 
ancients said this
constellation represented the dolphin on whose back
the famous musician Arion* rode safe to land in the Gulf of Corinth. He had obtained immense riches 
from his
profession, and was returning home to revisit his country when the sailors of the ship in which he had embarked
resolved to murder him to obtain the riches which he was carrying to Lesbos.

* A-ri'-on.

Arion begged that he might be permitted to play some 
melodious tune; and,
as soon as he had finished it, he threw himself into the sea. A number of dolphins had been attracted 
round the ship
by the sweetness of his music, and it is said that one of them carried him safe on its back to land.
Between the Arrow and the Swan is another small constellation, Vulpecula or the Little Fox. All the 
stars composing
it are faint, and the only object of interest in it is the celebrated dumb-bell nebula, which can be 
seen only with the aid
of a telescope. It has the appearance of a dumb-bell or an hourglass, and looks as if two enormous 
masses were
gradually separating, very much as the moon and the earth are supposed to have separated when their 
originally
combined mass was in a plastic state.
Another interesting constellation in this region of the sky is Lyra, or the Lyre, which can be easily 
recognised by its
brightest gem, Vega, low down near the horizon. This beautiful star, which is remarkable for the 
brilliancy of its blue-white rays, is a sun of great magnitude, being about a hundred times as large as our sun. About 
fourteen thousand
years ago Vega was the north polar star, And in consequence of the precession of the equinoxes* it will occupy the same position 
about eleven thousand years hence. According to an old Greek legend, the constellation of the Lyre
represents the harp with which Orpheus charmed stones and trees. Longfellow refers to the story in these lines: -
I saw, with its celestial keys, Its chords of air, its frets of fire, The Samian's great Aeolian 
lyre, Rising thro' all its
sevenfold bars From earth unto the fixed stars.

* See School Journal  Part III, June, 1909, page 156. 
Orpheus's

A NEW ZEALAND NATURE CALENDAR.
OCTOBER.
The early settlers of New Zealand greatly missed - that is, those who had eyes for such things - the 
change of the
seasons that so affected the appearance of the whole of the landscape and so altered the outdoor 
occupations and
pastimes of the people in the Home Land. In New Zealand they noticed that the weather got colder as 
the autumn
waned and the winter came on, and that as the days lengthened there was the gradual increase in 
warmth; but the
character of our climate took away from the sharpness of the impression, and Nature helped but little 
to deepen it.
The native bush does grow duller in its sombre green as the old leaves lose their freshness, and some 
of the trees do
put on a fresh flush of foliage as the sun's rays come more directly down on them; but old New 
Zealand shows few
signs of a real spring-time. The deeper bush is nearly as beautiful in winter as in summer - the ferns 
and mosses are
nearly as fresh and green. The chief difference is that the ground is wetter and colder.
But by the introduced plants the gladness of spring is clearly revealed. It is made known to us by 
the number and
beauty of the spring flowers, especially the narcissi and primroses which have brightened our borders 
for some weeks
past; by the white tresses of our orchard-trees now brightening into a pink flush as the 
apple-blossoms are opening;
and by the varying hues of green displayed by the unfolding foliage of the trees and hedgerows. The 
development of
bud and leaf is beautifully shown in the introduced deciduous trees,* and it is wonderful to note the protective devices of the 
various species. 

* Deciduous trees-trees that shed their leaves in winter.
 
The ash and lilac, with their scale-like outer leaves covering their now-opened winter buds; the maple, with leaves 
covered by the old leaf-stalks; the beech, oak, elm, poplar, and chestnut, with their covering stipules*; the horse-chestnut, 
with buds coated
with gummy matter and hair - these and many others are to be met with.
The native bush shows but little of this. The same causes that have given us an evergreen 
vegetation - the comparatively
equable climate, and the fact that most of our trees have come from those of warmer zones - have 
tended to produce
simplicity of bud-structure. Most of our trees and bushes grow close together and protect one another. 
So it comes
about that only a few of our native plants have their buds specially protected.
The mapaus, white and black, are now unfolding their long slender buds, covered by brown-edged scale 
leaves. The
white mapau (tarata) has had its fragrant clusters of yellow flowers open for two or three weeks, 
while the black
mapau is now putting forth its solitary brownish-purple flowers. The Panax, too - sometimes named the "New Zealand gum-tree" 
- has its buds protected, but in these it is the dark-purple sheaths of the old leaf-stalks 
that cover the
delicate young blades. How closely packed these young leaflets are ! The hina-hina (whitewood or 
mahoe of the North
Island) is now beginning to bud again, but its buds have no special protection: the young leaves 
merely have their two
edges rolled in towards each other. The pepper-trees simply have their young leaves folded together; 
the veronicas
and coprosmas cover each pair of young leaves with the older preceding pair. These and many other 
plants testify to
the fact that the struggle for existence in these Islands has not been so keen as in the lands of the Northern Hemisphere.

* Stipules - little leaf-like bodies at the base of the leaves.

This is shown also by the fact that in no part of the world are palms (like our nikau), or 
tree-ferns, found so far from
the Equator.
Even in a general way it is difficult to give dates, for the unfolding of buds and flowers. The only 
way to find out the
earliness or lateness of a season is to keep a record of the plants in one locality. Thus the hedges 
and deciduous
trees growing on the summit of a ridge bud later than those at a lower elevation, while those on a 
slope with a
northern aspect are often weeks earlier than those on a slope facing south.
The clematis now comes into flower. In all the New Zealand species some plants bear flowers with 
stamens, and
others flowers with pistils. While the larger flowers have only a tuft of stamens, the smaller flowers have a central
mass of pistils* surrounded by a row of stamens; but the latter are functionless, for they bear no 
pollen. This kind of
incomplete structure is not at all uncommon among New Zealand flowers. The large white clematis is 
scentless, and
produces no nectar; the smaller yellow one is very fragrant, but I do not think it has any nectar. 
Both are visited for
the sake of the large quantity of pollen which they produce.
Both the native violets begin to flower in October. They are white-flowered, with streaks of blue or 
purple on their lower
petals; these lines act as honey-guides to the small insects that probably fertilise the flowers. Our 
native violets have
a peculiarity common to most of the violet family - later in the season they produce a second set of 
imperfect flowers;
so that if the ordinary earlier blossoms do not produce seed, these later ones, which are closed and self -fertilised,
may do so.

* To avoid the use of a number of scientific terms the words "stamen" and "pistil" will be used --- somewhat loosely, it is 
admitted -  to denote the reproductive organs of plants.

A common plant in our bush is the native currant, or makomako (Aristotelia racemosa; generally 
called " wineberry" in the North). Usually it is nearly if not quite deciduous in the south of New Zealand, though 
evergreen in the North
Island at all low levels. In olden times the Maoris used to eat the berries of the makomako.
 All three kinds of tutu usually commence to flower
in October. Every one in New Zealand knows, or
ought to know, the common tutu (Coriaria ruscifolia). The flowers are not particularly attractive
to look upon, yet to the botanist they are most
interesting. They produce both stamens and pistil,
yet they are quite incapable of self-fertilisation.
This is brought about by a curious device not uncommon in plants that are fertilised by the wind.
As soon as the little green flowers open, the red
pistils expand and project to a very considerable
extent. After two or three days' exposure they
wither away; then the stamens are thrust forth and
scatter out little clouds of dusty pollen.
 Besides the plants mentioned, many others are
now to be found in blossom. Those of you who are
near the bush should now look out for the little
clusters of flowers on the pine trees. Some of these
are the cedar (Libocedrus Bidwilli), the red and
yellow pines, the miro, the black-pine or the
white-pine (kahikatea), and the totara. Very few
persons seem to know that they flower just as regularly as other trees.
Before leaving the flowering-plants we must not omit to mention the large Astelias - those handsome 
flag-leaved
plants like New Zealand flax which grow so commonly on the edge of the bush and which flower about 
this time of
year. Some flowers have small and imperfect pistils, but these never produce berries. In addition to 
perfect pistils the
other flowers have stamens, but these are apparently always destitute of pollen. Probably the same thing occurs in the common 
pink-flowered fig-marigold 
(often called "ice-plant " or " pig's cheek "), which is so common on rocks near the sea.
If space allowed we should like to say something about other October flowers-the kowhai with its 
flowers of burnished
gold, the fuchsia or konini with its blue pollen, the manukas, the heaths, the ngaios, the rangiora, 
the coprosmas, and
many others hidden away in the dense bush or on rocky inaccessible cliffs where only the enthusiastic 
plant-lover will
find them. What a splendid month it would be to start your flower calendar for the year!
October is one of the busiest months of the year for the birds. Most of them have built their nests, 
after much thought,
labour, and care, and have laid their eggs; and some have hatched their young and have several chicks 
to feed and
care for. Their household duties keep the birds very active and busy all day long. October is 
certainly one of the best
months of the year in which to observe their quaint and interesting habits, and to make notes which 
are likely to
interest naturalists and to be valuable additions to the world's knowledge of birdlife.
The birds, on the whole, are also noisier than they are in the middle of summer, 
or in the autumn or winter, and the " Song of Dawn," a very notable performance, may now be heard at its best. As a rule, 
New Zealand
native birds are not highly musical. There are a few pleasant singers amongst them, but, as a whole, 
they are noted
for being songless. In the spring and early summer, however, just as the last shadows of night are departing and the morning sun 
is shedding his rays over the forests, the bell-birds, the robins, the tuis, the 
warblers, the
thrushes, and other singers raise up their voices in a grand chorus of wild and bewildering music, which rings through the glades 
and the valleys and over the forest-clad hills.
This " Song of Dawn" has been described by many writers whose ears have been delighted with its 
melody. More
than a hundred years ago, Captain Cook, when his vessel was lying at anchor in Queen Charlotte Sound, 
heard this
magnificent song. " And in the morning," he wrote in his diary, " we were awakened by the singing of 
birds. The
number was incredible, and they seemed to strain their throats in emulation of each other. This wild 
melody was
infinitely superior to any that we had ever heard of the same kind. It seemed to be like small bells, 
most exquisitely
tuned, and perhaps the distance and the water between might be no small advantage to the sound."
Perhaps the most important event in the history of bird-land in the month of October is the arrival 
of migrants after
their perilous and laborious journeys over the great ocean. In October and November the shining 
cuckoos and the long-tailed cuckoos will arrive in large force to herald the coming of summer. It is probable that some of 
them are in the
Dominion at the present time (September); but these are early arrivals, or are individuals that were 
left behind when
the outward-bound migrants left New Zealand to return to their island homes last year. October is also 
the time for the
arrival of the famous godwits, which are believed to come to us all the way from Siberia's snowy 
lands; and the knot,
the sandpiper, and other shorebirds, which travel far to other countries, may be seen in places where 
civilisation has not taken its noisy activities.*
-Adapted from Mr. G. M. Thomson's "A New Zealand  Naturalist's Calendar."

* For the purpose of illustrating these articles teachers should use the prints of New Zealand plants distributed to schools, and 
also the illustrations to the articles under the head of "Birds of New Zealand " appearing in Part II for the current year.

THE PLANET MARS.
During the evenings of September and October the planet Mars will be a prominent object in the 
eastern sky. On the
23rd September it will be in opposition - that is, it will be in that part of the sky which is directly 
opposite the sun, and
consequently on that date it will cross the meridian due north at midnight.
The accompanying diagram shows, that at some oppositions Mars is nearer the earth than at others, and 
is then in a
more favourable position for observation. The most favourable oppositions occur in the latter part of 
August, when the
earth passes the line joining the points where Mars is nearest to, and farthest away from, the sun. 
The least favourable oppositions are those which occur in February, the planet then being nearly twice as far removed from  us as
at its nearest approach during an August opposition. In one case the distance of Mars from the earth is sixty-one
millions of miles, and in the other case only thirty-five millions. This difference is  due to the elliptical shapes of the
orbits of the earth and Mars. If the orbits of the planets were circular, the distance of a planet at opposition would
always be the same, and we should see the planet equally well at all oppositions.
This year the opposition of Mars occurs on the 23rd September, about a month later than the time for the most
favourable opposition. On the 18th September Mars will be nearest to the earth, its apparent diameter being
24' 04", and its distance about thirty-six millions of miles. The real diameter of Mars is 4,200 miles, or a little more
than half that of the earth; its surface is equal to two-sevenths of that of the earth, its volume to one-seventh that of the
earth. Its time of rotation on its axis is 24 hours 37 minutes, and its year is 687 days long. Hence its seasons
resemble ours, except that they are nearly twice as long.
According to an eminent Italian astronomer, " the climate of Mars must resemble that of a clear day upon a high
mountain." By day the sun's rays will beat down with great intensity, hardly at all lessened by the presence of mist
or vapour; by night heat will rapidly radiate into space, producing cold. Consequently, Mars has a climate of
extremes, and thus we can understand the great increase and diminution of the snow that a telescope reveals at the
poles in winter and summer respectively.

"CANADA-PAST AND PRESENT'' will he continued next month.

HOW THE LAW IS ENFORCED.
PART II.
(Concluded from page 189.)
The proceedings during a trial are conducted with, as much decency and decorum as possible. A witness is sworn to
tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." If he fails to do this, he may be punished. But in the old
days cruel and barbarous, methods were adopted to discover the truth, or what was thought to be the truth.

THE PILLORY.

Prisoners were cruelly tortured to make them confess, and in many cases the unfortunate victims were maimed for life or killed. 
Strange
forms of punishment, too, existed. The offender would be placed on a bench, with his ankles fastened in holes in boards.
This was known as putting a person " in the stocks." The " pillory " was, a similar punishment, 
except that the arms
and head were fastened. As the stocks and the pillory were in public places, the punishment was cruel 
and
degrading. Moreover, the unfortunate offender was often exposed to the taunts and jeers of the 
passers-by, and even
to the filth and mud thrown by the more callous.
Punishments used to be excessively severe for slight offences, and even as late as the last century 
theft was
punishable by hanging or by transportation for life. This brings us to the more enlightened treatment 
of offenders at the
present day. The law in New Zealand recognises that three classes of offenders require to be 
specially dealt with -
children, first offenders, and habitual criminals.
Children under the age of sixteen years who are charged with any offence are kept apart from other 
prisoners. When a
case is to be heard, the Magistrate fixes a special hour; notice of this is sent to the parent or 
guardian of the young
person, and the case is heard in private. If the Magistrate is of opinion that an offence has been 
committed, he may "admonish " the offender and set him free, instead of convicting him. The offender is thus given a 
chance of making
amends for his offence by conducting himself uprightly.
It is recognised that even grown-up people who have been of good character may, under the stress of 
great
temptation, commit offences. In such case's the disgrace of the conviction is often sufficient 
punishment, and a term
of imprisonment may only have the effect of hardening the offender. The Magistrate or Judge may convict such a prisoner, and 
admit him to " probation " for a certain time that is, allow him to go free under certain conditions. If during the specified time he 
commits another offence, or associates with bad characters, he may be brought before the Judge and sentenced 
for his first
offence. First offenders are thus given an opportunity to recover their position as good members of 
society without
incurring the disgrace of imprisonment or suffering its hardships. It is found that comparatively few 
first offenders who
have been admitted to probation again offend against the laws.

A CHINESE MODE OF PUNISHMENT.

In the two cases mentioned the State has dealt in a kindly and thoughtful manner with offenders.
In regard to " habitual " criminals or offenders, however, the law is now particularly severe, and 
rightly so. When a
person has been repeatedly convicted of offences against the law, the possibility of his reforming 
and becoming a
respectable member of society is considered to be a remote one. In such cases the law-breaker is ordered to be kept in prison 
during the Governor's pleasure. He is then said to have received an "indeterminate sentence." If his conduct in gaol is
such as to lead the authorities to believe that he is not likely to 
offend again, the Governor may release him. If,
however, the authorities are not satisfied with his behaviour, or have 
any doubt in regard to his having become a
reformed character, he may be kept in gaol indefinitely.

 DATES FOR THE MONTH (September).-1st-H.M.S. Pelorus discovered Pelorus Sound, 1838; 7th-Gold discovered at Ballarat, 
1851. 12th-New Zealand University established by Act, 1870; 14th- Duke of Wellington died, 1852; 16th-First body of New 
Zealand Company's emigrants sailed from Gravesend for New Zealand, 1839 ;
18th - British flag hoisted at Auckland, 1840; 19th-Women granted franchise in New Zealand 1893; 20th-Sir George Grey died, 
1898 ; 21st-Sir Walter Scott died, 1832; 22nd-Battle of Alma, 1854; 25th-Relief of Lucknow, 1857; 26th-New Zealand 
proclaimed a Dominion, 1907 ; 26th-Arrival of Sir George Grey at Auckland to take over Governorship of New Zealand, 1861 . 
27th-First railway opened in England, 1825; 29th-Birth of Nelson, 1758; 30th-Fiji ceded to Great Britain, 1854. On appropriate 
days the school flag might be hoisted.

CAPTAIN COOK AND LORD NELSON.
In New Zealand the month of October will always be closely associated 
with the name of Captain Cook, for it was on
the 8th of October, 1769, that the great navigator first set foot on New 
Zealand soil. Many of the exploits of Captain
Cook have already been detailed in the School Journal (see Part III, 1907 
-September, page 106; October, pages
121 and 133; November, page 162: 1908-February, page 28; and October, 
page 272).
Not as a conqueror of armies, but as a hero of peace, Cook helped to 
build up our Empire, and his name will ever be
placed high among those recorded on Britain's roll of glory. But with 
this month of October there is associated also
another of Britain's heroes, a man whose life, spent in defending the 
Empire Cook had helped to build up, was brought
to a close on the 21st of October, 1805, at the Battle of Trafalgar. 
Attention has already been drawn to the life of Lord
Nelson (see Part III, 1907-0ctober, pages 126, 135, and 151; November, 
page 164: 1908-April, page 94, and October,
page 282).
This month there will be forwarded eight prints illustrating further 
incidents connected with Cook and Nelson.

A BRIEF OUTLINE OF ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION TO THE YEAR 1904.*
Before the Southern Ocean had been explored, geographers had an idea that in the Antarctic regions 
there existed a
vast continent, and on most, if not all, early charts this is shown surrounding the South Pole. This 
land varied in size
according to the imagination of the map-makers, and was sometimes marked as extending to the north of 
the Tropic
of Capricorn. It appeared on the charts not
of any discovery that had been made, but because of a generally accepted idea that a continental 
landmass was
necessary in the South Polar regions to act as a counterpoise
 to the land-mass surrounding the North Pole, and to properly balance the earth. In course of time 
this land came to
be regarded as a sort of El Dorado - a region of fabulous wealth - and when the earliest navigators ventured towards
South Polar regions it was in the romantic hope of finding there a habitable continent - marvellously 
rich and
wonderfully fertile.
We have seen how the voyages of Magellan, Drake, and others swept away many old theories by showing 
that the climate became colder and colder as the Equator was left more and more to the northward. Prior to the 
time of Cook's
second voyage, however, although many seamen, notably Bouvet and Kerguelen, had travelled far to the 
south, the
fringe of the Antarctic had not been touched, and the existence of a continent within the unexplored 
area was still the
subject of dispute amongst geographers. In the year 1772 the British Government dispatched Captain 
Cook to the
South Polar seas with definite instructions to search for a southern continent and " to put an end to 
all diversity of
opinion about a matter so curious and important."

* For more recent explorations see previous issues of the School Journal.

The chart on this page will show how well Cook carried out his task. Before his discoveries the 
whole area within the
thick black line was a blank. A glance at the track of his two ships, the " Resolution " and the "Adventure," shows that he crossed 
and recrossed the Antarctic Circle three times, and circumnavigated the globe in a high southern 
latitude. He did not
discover the supposed continent which the old map-makers had loved to show on their charts, but he 
for ever swept it
away and left a clean South Polar chart to be filled in by later explorers.
After Captain Cook's voyage many minor discoveries were made by the hardy whalers and sealers of 
Britain and
America, whom no perils of ice and remote seas could daunt. The true sequence of these discoveries 
will, however,
never be known, as it was to the interest of the discoverer to keep such matters secret, and to 
retain for himself the
knowledge of rich sealing or whaling grounds.
Early in 1819 a Russian expedition was dispatched under Thaddaus Bellingshausen.* Unfortunately, the full narrative
of this expedition has never been translated into English, and very little is generally known about 
it. We know,
however, that, although Bellingshausen did not quite reach Cook's farthest south, he actually crossed 
more degrees
of longitude south of 60' S. and south of the Antarctic Circle than did Cook. Alexander Land and 
Peter I Island were
discovered by Bellingshausen. The expeditions of Cook and Bellingshausen together proved beyond any 
doubt the
existence of a large extent of open sea south of the parallel of 60' S.
In 1823 James Weddell, in a small vessel, ill designed and badly equipped, reached the very high 
latitude of 74' 15' S., in longitude 34' 16' W. The discoveries made in the next few years were due to the 
public-spirited enterprise of
the Enderby Brothers, a private mercantile firm, which fitted out and dispatched several Antarctic 
expeditions without
hope of pecuniary return. One of their captains, John Biscoe, discovered Enderby Land in 1831, and 
Graham Land in
the following year: but of the latter a part at least had been previously discovered by an American sealer named Palmer.

* Usually referred to as Fabian von Bellingshausen.
 For the purposes of his second edition of " Murihiku," recently published, Mr. R. McNab had that part of Bellingshausen's work 
which deals with his visit to New Zealand translated into English. A New Zealand writer had therefore the honour of first laying 
before English readers any portion of Bellingshausen's work.

Biscoe sailed south of 60' S. for 160 degrees of longitude, and for
almost 50 degrees within the Antarctic Circle itself. Kemp Land was discovered in 1833 by Kemp, 
another of
Enderby's captains. In 1838 John Balleny was sent to the far south by the same firm, and in 1839 he 
discovered the
islands now named after him.
About this time three expeditions for scientific research were organized by the Governments of 
France, Great Britain,
and the United States. The French expedition, under Dumont D'Urville, sailed from Toulon in 1837, and 
in the southern
summer of 1840 discovered Adelie Land and Cote Clarie. While off Adelie Land, D'Urville encountered 
the American
expedition under Lieutenant Charles Wilkes. The latter had commenced his voyage in August, 1838. He 
had five
ships under his command - ships absolutely unfit for Polar exploration, and manned by men the 
majority of whom
disliked their commander and the work in which they were engaged. In. the course of the expedition 
the land shown
on the map as Wilkes Land was discovered; but as parts of what were charted as land have been sailed 
over by later
expeditions, its existence must be considered doubtful until further exploration has been made.
The British expedition was placed under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross, an experienced 
and very
able naval officer. The two ships forming the expedition, H.M.S. " Erebus " and H.M.S. " Terror," 
sailed from Tasmania
in November, 1840. Ross was the first to burst through the pack ice that surrounds the Antarctic 
area, and reach the
sea beyond. The course was set to the south, and soon a magnificent mountainous coast was sighted. A 
prominent
cape was named Cape Adare. The coast of the mainland was quite inaccessible, but a
landing was effected on some small islands and formal possession of the land was taken - the islands being called Possession 
Islands in consequence. The mainland was named Victoria Land, after the Queen.
Following the coast in a southerly direction, on the 27th January, 1841, Ross reached latitude 76' 8', 
and on the 28th saw a noble volcano emitting
dense rolling clouds of steam. It was named Mount Erebus, after the leading ship, and an extinct volcano near by was called 
Mount Terror.

THE "EREBUS " AND " TERROR " IN THE ANTARCTIC.

These were believed to be on the mainland, and the indentation to the south-west was named McMurdo Bay. Running east of 
Mount Terror
was a great wall of ice which barred further progress to the south, and the expedition travelled to 
the east, following this ice wall-the Great Ice Barrier-
until longitude 167' W. was reached. Here Ross turned back towards the west to seek for winter 
quarters. Finding no suitable place, he steered
northwards for Hobart, where he and his men received a warm welcome. In the two succeeding seasons the work of the 
expedition added little to the knowledge gained during the first season.
 Antarctic exploration now ceased for some years. In 1874 H.M.S. " Challenger " touched the Antarctic 
regions in the course of her voyage of
research, and during the last few years of the nineteenth century visits were paid by whalers of 
various nationalities. In 1898 a Belgian expedition
under Lieutenant de Gerlache* was the first to spend a winter in the Antarctic, and did some valuable 
work in Graham Land. The same year saw Mr.
Borchgrevink start from England in the " Southern Cross." This expedition did some exploratory work in the Ross Sea, and 
wintered at Cape Adare.

THE "DISCOVERY " OFF MOUNT TERROR AND THE GREAT ICE BARRIER.

This was the last effort of the nineteenth century.
The twentieth century opened with the dispatch of two well-equipped expeditions - one from Great Britain and one from 
Germany. The " Discovery,"
under the command of Captain R. F. Scott, R.N., left New Zealand in December, 1901, and by the 9th 
January had penetrated the pack and reached
Cape Adare. She followed the coast-line of Victoria Land to the south, and on the 22nd landed a party 
at the base of Mount Terror. She then coasted
the Barrier until Ross's farthest-east point was reached and passed.

* de Gerlash.
 
A few days later new land was sighted through the mist, and, in honour of His 
Majesty the
King, was named Edward VII Land. The " Discovery " then returned to the west, and it was found that 
the volcanoes
Erebus and Terror were on an island (now called Ross Island) and not on the mainland, and that McMurdo
"Bay " was in reality a strait.
Hopes of getting far to the south were entertained, but the thick ice blocked the way, and the "Discovery " anchored
for the winter in a harbour of Ross Island. In the following two summers further exploration was 
carried out by
sledging, and more discoveries were made. Captain Scott says, "The main geographical interest of the 
'Discovery' expedition must lie in the practical observation of a coast-line from Mount Melbourne, in latitude 
74 ½ degrees south,
to Mount Longstaff, in latitude 83 degrees south, and of the conditions which lie to the east and to 
the west of this
line. Our previous knowledge extended only to that part which lies between Mount Melbourne and 
McMurdo Sound,
and of this we had but the vaguest description."
The German expedition which was dispatched at the same time as the " Discovery " was under the 
command of
Professor von Drygalski, and sailed in the "Gauss." About the meridian of 90' he discovered some 
ice-clad land,
which is shown on the chart as Kaiser Wilhelm II Land.
In 1902 Dr. Otto Nordenskiold, the well-known Swedish explorer, was in the region of Graham Land in a 
vessel called
the " Antarctic," which was unfortunately lost in the ice, the party being rescued by a relief ship. 
In 1904 Dr. Bruce, a
Scotchman, conducted an expedition to the Weddell Sea in the " Scotia." On the 6th March he 
discovered Coats
Land. In the same year Dr. Charcot, a Frenchman, was in the vicinity of Graham Land. All of these expeditions did valuable 
geographical and other 
scientific work.
Such, very briefly, is the outline of exploration in the Antarctic up to the year 1904. Very much has 
been omitted, and
to the several explorers justice could be done only in a good-sized volume. The story of Antarctic exploration has been told in a 
fascinating manner, with a wealth of romantic detail, by Dr. H. R. Mill in his book "The Siege of the South Pole," which is far 
more interesting than most novels.

THE NORTH POLE REACHED.
During the month of September news was received that the North Pole had been reached by two separate
expeditions.
The first news stated that Dr. F. A. Cook, of New York, who set out from Greenland in February, 1908, 
reached the
Pole on the 21st April of the same year. Dr. Cook had two Eskimos with him, and used dog teams to 
drag his
supplies. He returned to Upernivik, the most northerly Danish settlement in Greenland, in May last, 
and took passage
by a Danish steamer which called at Lerwick, in the Shetland Islands, whence the first news of his 
success was
received.
Five days after Dr. Cook's success was reported, it was announced that Commander Peary, of the United 
States
Navy, whose name is well known in connection with Arctic exploration, had reached the Pole on the 6th 
April last.
Commander Peary sailed in the " Roosevelt " from Nova Scotia on the 17th July, 1908, and wintered in 
Greenland. So
far as can be ascertained from the cabled reports, it appears that the successful party consisted of 
Commander
Peary and four Eskimos. Sad to say, four days after Peary reached the Pole, Professor Marvin, who had 
charge of a supporting party, was drowned, adding another name to the long list of those who have sacrificed their lives in Arctic 
exploration.
 
ABOUT A POISON.
The most powerful and valuable drugs known to medical science are poisons 
when taken in excess: it is to their
poisonous effects in large doses that they owe their useful properties in 
moderate doses. Alcohol stands among the
list of poisons, and is a useful drug taken medicinally. But alcohol 
differs from poisons such as prussic acid,
strychnine, and arsenic in exercising an insidious charm over the nervous 
system, which in time threatens to become
irresistible and tyrannical. In some form or another - as spirits, wine, 
beer, stout - its use is spread throughout the whole
of the white races.
The only common drug that can be compared with it is opium.* This is the 
drug indulged in by the Mongolian race,
and it, too, possesses a subtle but ever-increasing charm. We Caucasians 
are apt to look with a superior pity on the
Chinese for being addicted to the use of opium; but with just as much 
reason, from a medical point of view, might I
invite a friend whom I meet in the city to smoke an opium-pipe at my 
expense as to ask him to pour a nobbler of
whisky down his throat. Both belong to the class of drugs that are first 
excitants and then narcotics, and even in
small doses are entirely needless for a healthy man.
The best mental and physical work can only be done by abstaining from 
alcohol. In regard to physical effort, the best
endurance and the largest amount of work can be done only when alcohol is not used.

* Opium - A narcotic obtained from the juice of the white poppy. It is 
used instead of tobacco among the Chinese. It has at first a soothing effect, followed by a profound sleep. Its results upon the 
constitution are even more disastrous
than those of alcohol. The Mongolians constitute one of the great races of mankind, and include the greater part of the inhabitants 
of China, Japan, and the interior of Asia. The Caucasians are the white races, of whom the people about the Caucasus
Mountains were formerly taken as a type.

This was conclusively shown 
many years ago by experiments made
on the British army in the trying climate of India. When long and forced 
marches had to be undertaken, the officers
found that, if the ration of alcohol was supplied to the men at intervals 
during the march, the men for a short time
appeared to get on better, but this stage was soon followed by one of 
reaction, when the soldiers began to lag, and
could not by any means be made to keep up their speed. The time soon 
arrived when they needed another dose of
the stimulant, and, after receiving it, the same depression soon ensued, 
but with gradually increasing intensity, and
when they reached camp they were dreadfully exhausted, and slept badly. As 
the saying goes, they were " too tired to sleep."
Alcohol is absolutely unnecessary for a healthy man. It does not give 
permanent heat or strength to the body. For the
brain-worker on the one hand, or the navvy on the other, it certainly does 
not increase, but it impairs, his powers; and
it has a most destructive effect on the vital organs if its use is frequent.
-Adapted from a lecture by Dr. N. O'Donnell.

THE PLANETS. - Three planets can be seen with the naked eye in the evenings 
of the month of October - Venus,
Mars, and Saturn. Venus is very brilliant in the western sky, setting about 
9.45 p.m. She will be near the moon on the
18th. Mars is a prominent object in the northeast, crossing the meridian 
about 10.15 p.m. in the middle of the month.
He is in the constellation of the Fishes, and will be near the Moon on the 
26th. Saturn also is in the constellation of
the Fishes, to the east of Mars, crossing the meridian about an hour and a 
half later. He will be near the moon on the
28th. Jupiter is too near the sun for observation.

CANADA-PAST AND PRESENT.
(Continued from page 199.)
It was not until the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed that the 
provinces of Canada were linked together. This
great railway system runs from Vancouver, on the Pacific, to Halifax, on 
the Atlantic coast.

From a stereograph copyright by Underwood and Underwood, London, New 
York, and Melbourne.]
IN THE VALLEY OF THE KICKING HORSE.

It crosses British Columbia, and then climbs the giant Rockies. In 
the mountains the scenery, viewed from the
train winding round the mountainsides and roaring across lofty bridges, 
is magnificent, especially in winter-time. Here
the work of laying the line was attended by the greatest engineering difficulties. For some time the surveyors could not find 
through the range a pass suitable for a railway. Then one was 
discovered by Mr. James Hector, and because
he was there badly hurt by a horse it received the name of " Kicking Horse 
Pass," which it bears to this day. Mr. Hector afterwards came to New Zealand, where, as Sir James Hector, he was 
for many years Director of our
Geological Survey, and was also Chancellor of our New Zealand University.
Descending the Rockies, the traveller enters the great central Canadian 
plain, part of the great depression that
extends from the Arctic Ocean right down to the Gulf of Mexico. A run of a 
thousand miles brings him to Winnipeg,
near the lake of that name. Continuing his journey, he skirts the northern 
shore of Lake Superior, and, after
traversing country more broken than that between the mountains and 
Winnipeg, reaches Ottawa. A short run brings
him to Montreal, the terminus for most travellers, which he reaches in 
about a hundred hours from Vancouver.
The making of this long line was a splendid example of commercial 
enterprise. Canada was then poor, and so
expensive a work was a serious undertaking. At times it was doubtful if the 
money to carry on the construction could
be raised. It was a line built chiefly through uninhabited country, but it 
was hoped that it would encourage settlers to
take up the land. This it has done, and where once even the hardiest hunter 
seldom set foot may now be heard the
ring of the woodman's axe and the merry prattle of children round the 
homestead.
Canada occupies the northern half of the North American Continent, with the 
exception of Alaska, which belongs to
the United States. It extends from Vancouver in the west to Labrador in 
the east, from the Great Lakes in the south
to the islands of the Arctic Ocean in the north. From north to south the 
Dominion measures fifteen hundred miles, and from east to west three thousand miles. It is nearly as 
large as
Europe, and contains one-third of the land in the British Empire. New Zealand could be tucked away 
comfortably in
one corner of it - indeed, it would take thirty-five New Zealands to make one Canada.
Canada is very rich in native trees. The maple, elm, hickory, pine, spruce, cedar, walnut, oak, 
poplar, chestnut,
willow, birch, and many other kinds are found in the great forests. Some of these trees grow to a 
huge size, rivalling
our great kauris in thickness and greatly exceeding them in height. They are most valuable as timber, 
and many
thousands of men are employed in lumbering, as it is called - felling the trees, getting them out of 
the forests, cutting
them into planks, and conveying the timber to market.
The country is rich in native animals also. The bison, at one time the lord of the prairie, has 
almost disappeared, but
the Federal Government is protecting a few small herds. The reindeer, the moose, and several other 
kinds of deer, the
bear, the otter, the seal, the beaver, the wolf, and the fox, and several smaller animals valuable 
for their fur are found.*
The hunting of some of these animals gives employment to a large number of men.
Most people have false ideas about the climate of Canada. They always associate Canada with extreme cold, and
speak as if her people always dress in the warmest of furs. A French king once signed the Dominion away as a few square miles 
of snow. Canadians dislike people to always lay stress upon the cold of their Dominion, and some even
resent her being called by Kipling "Our Lady of the Snows."

* See pages 272 and 273.

The winter is certainly severe in most parts, and when the frost hardens the ground, or snow lies 
thickly, the farmer
cannot work his soil. In the north-west the settler has to face months of inactivity owing to the 
severe cold. The
Canadian summer, however, is warm and genial - in some parts even hot. In suitable districts apples, 
peaches, and
pears are grown in abundance, and exported in large quantities. Grapes are grown in the open in some 
of the
warmest parts. In the south, winter is to most Canadians the most delightful time of the year.

VINEYARD AT FRUITLAND, ONTARIO.

The air is delightfully dry and bracing, and outdoor sports of various kinds are entered into with great zest. Canada really 
contains all the climates of Europe - from that of the north of Russia to that of the south of France. In most parts of the 
Dominion, owing to the great distance from large masses of water, the summers are hotter, the 
winters colder, and the seasons generally drier than in Europe. British Columbia and Nova Scotia have moist climates.
(To be continued.)

ANIMALS OF AMERICA.
(Upper half, North America; lower half, South America; centre, both North and South America.)

A NEW ZEALAND NATURE CALENDAR.
NOVEMBER.
In the month of November the spring flowers have passed away or are displaying their last blooms, and 
the summer
flowers are not yet showing freely. The wanderer on the high lands will find that many of the native 
mountain-flowers are appearing - charming the eye and adding interest and pleasure to a day's ramble.
The question of annual plants is a very interesting one. With many amateur gardeners the sowing of a 
few patches is
the principal operation of the year, and it is therefore worth while considering where these 
flowering-plants come from,
and why they have such a short span of life.
There appear to be two causes that have led to the production of annual plants. The first is the 
occurrence of a cold
season during which growth is nearly if not quite arrested. Many plants, therefore, by becoming 
annual have adapted
themselves to the conditions prevailing in the cold temperate zones. They grow, flower, produce seed 
during the
warmer portion of the year, and then die off; the seed lies dormant during the cold season, and 
germinates on the
return of longer days and warmer weather. 
The second class of annuals comes from lands subjected to a warm climate, and especially to a dry 
season, when
all vegetation that is not deep-rooted is liable to be killed off. In their native homes such plants 
germinate with the
moisture of spring, come rapidly to maturity, bear flowers and fruit in the early summer, and scatter 
their seeds before
the ground becomes completely parched. To this class belong many of our cultivated annual flowers, 
especially those
we call half-hardy. They have been gathered together from distant parts of the earth - Phlox Drummondi from Texas,
Zinnias from Mexico and Peru, Saponaria from southern Spain. These and many other annuals are all 
short-lived
plants in their native countries, living out their short gay lives in the earlier months of the year. 
In New Zealand, with its
moist and equable climate, many of these plants have a comparatively long lease of life.
In most of the damp and untrodden parts of the bush there may be found numerous specimens of a little 
orchid of very
singular appearance. On a spray-sprinkled stone at the side of the bed of one of our 
mountain-streams, or on the sloping moss-covered bank, may be seen delicate heart-shaped or kidney-shaped leaves an inch or 
less 
across, and
apparently sitting on each is a large spider with long legs. The resemblance is very superficial, but 
it is sufficiently
strong to give that impression at a little distance. On coming closer it is found to be due to a 
flower of rather peculiar
shape.
To any one unacquainted with the subject the peculiarity of the orchid's structure will be most 
easily explained by
contrasting it with some other better-known flower. Thus, if we take a bluebell (wood-hyacinth) in our 
hand, we find that
the flower is made up of six blue leaves, inside of which are six
stamens, and within these again is a small globe-like ovary with a three-branched style.* The parts are quite easily
made out, even without the aid of a pocket lens.
Now, if we compare the flower of our little orchid with that of the bluebell we can trace certain 
resemblances, together
with numerous differences. The six leaves are present, but they are very unlike one another. One of 
these, at the back
of the flower, is a rather large leaf, and is greenish in colour but more or less striped and spotted 
with purple; this
arches over the rest of the flower like a helmet and shuts in all but the front. Facing it is a large 
purple lower leaf,
These two parts form the chief portion of the flower. The four other leaves are lengthened out into 
long slender tails,
and it is these which give the flower its peculiar spider-like appearance. Inside the flower we 
search in vain for the six
stamens and the three-branched style : they are not developed.
What we do find is a small column at the base of the flower having at its upper part a single stamen, 
just in front of
which is a minute sticky point called the beak, and below that two small sticky depressions which 
correspond to the
tips of two pistils. In most flowers pollen consists of small grains which are separate from one another; but in orchids
the pollen is fastened into little roundish or pear-shaped masses. The reason, no doubt, is that 
these flowers are very
much specialised in form, so that in most species only one kind of insect can fertilise them. The 
shape of the flower
and the position of the nectar, or whatever else is the attraction, compel the insect to enter in one 
particular direction, and when it does so its head touches the beak and gets a small patch of gummy matter on it. 

* Style - the stem of the pistil.

The threads which tie the pollen-grains together are joined into a tail-like process which ends in the beak, so 
that when the insect
withdraws its head it pulls out the pollen attached to it, usually in two masses. When the insect 
enters another
flower, these bags of pollen - which have meanwhile become slightly depressed by their own weight - are 
in such a
position that they are right opposite the two depressions representing the heads of the pistils. On being thrust forward
against these, some of the grains adhere to the sticky surfaces. In this way fertilisation is brought about.
The insect agent for the conveyance of the pollen is probably a small tawny-coloured fly. In examining these orchids - and I have 
looked into hundreds of them - I was formerly puzzled by often finding a small red spider 
in each flower. A
close examination revealed this curious fact: the spiders had evidently discovered that flies went 
into these little
flowers and stayed there some time, so they went in after them and stayed too. This I found was the 
case by noticing
that occasionally, only legs and wings occurred in the flowers, and on one occasion the head of a fly 
was found glued
on to the beak, while the body had been eaten away by a spider.
Several interesting orchids are to be found in flower in November, though it is early enough for most 
of them. The most
specialised of the orchids now coming into flower belong to the genus Pterostylis, so named from the 
winged style.
The plants have grass-like or broadish green leaves, and the different species vary in height from 6 
in. to 2 ft., but
each bears only one rather large green flower, which is nearly closed up except in front. The 
peculiarity of its structure
is that the leaf hanging just at the opening in front of the flower is sensitive at its lower end, so 
that, when an insect
enters the flower and touches the sensitive part, this lip-like leaf moves back and shuts the intruder into a 
little box, the back
and sides of which are formed by the winged style. The only mode of exit is by walking up the column; 
but to do this
the insect has to pass the sticky beak, and then the stamens, so that it emerges carrying the masses 
of pollen with
it, to deposit them on the pistil of the next flower visited.
In November the birds are at the height of their busy season. They have so much to do that they have 
very little time
to be afraid even of heartless human beings, many of whom would like to rob them of their most 
treasured
possessions. If you watch even the common birds that flock into the cities you will notice that they 
all have an air of
great importance. They are living very strenuous lives.
It is a time of hustle and bustle. Nests have been made, eggs have been laid, hatching is going on, 
and, in some
cases, ugly naked little chicks, with heads nearly as big as their featherless bodies, have appeared. 
It is all a great
labour; and infinite anxiety is imposed upon the parents. There are so many dangers and risks to be guarded
against - boys, cats, stoats and weasels, and other bird-enemies abound, and if the nest has not been 
skilfully
constructed in a suitable position the rain and the wind may bring disaster to the precious little 
occupants.
Reports received from all parts of New Zealand show that nesting began very early this year. This was 
specially the
case in the south, where in some districts there has been a wonderfully mild winter. This, of course, 
has been greatly
in the birds' favour, and a large increase in the bird-population may be looked for - a  
circumstance which will please
all lovers of our disappearing native birds, but which, at the same time, will not give pleasure to farmers, gardeners, 
and fruit-growers, who suffer from the
thieving habits of the sparrows and other interlopers  that came to this 
Dominion from the Old Land.
This season one of the most notable features of bird-life in many places is 
the appearance of large numbers of fantails - sprightly little native birds which almost continuously open and shut their tails like 
tiny fans. A gentleman who collects information on this subject states that in a large number of districts the fantails are reported 
to be more plentiful than they have ever been previously. Many dwellers in the suburbs of our cities have been delighted with 
visits from these welcome strangers. They have been amongst the first native birds to build, some in the South Island having 
begun this important work as early as the beginning of August. No 
other New Zealand bird builds such a substantial, neat, and compact nest as the fantail, and, when a pair of these birds are 
engaged on the work, it is worth while spending some time watching them.
-Adapted from Mr. G. M. Thomson's "A New Zealand Naturalist's Calendar."

DATES FOR THE MONTH (October).-3rd -  Wellington chosen as seat of 
Government, 1864; 4th-Gold discovered at Coromandel, 1852 ; 8th-Captain Cook landed, at Poverty Bay on his first visit, 1769; 
13th-Labour Day; 21st-Battle of
Trafalgar and Death of Nelson, 1805. On appropriate days the school flag 
might be hoisted.

IN addition to the eight prints mentioned on page 257 of this issue, sixteen pictures illustrating glaciers and their work will be 
forwarded to the school during the current month. 

THE STORY OF NORTH AMERICA.
I.
The discoveries of Columbus naturally led to the fitting-out of numerous 
expeditions to the West Indies, bent on
finding a road to India. Ignorant of the fact that the land barring their 
progress to the westward was part of a vast
continent, one Spanish mariner after another wasted time and strength in 
trying to find a channel. To an adventurer
named Vasco Nunez de Balboa belongs the fame of being the first European 
to gaze on the Pacific Ocean from the
shores of America.
Balboa's career was as romantic as any you have read about in your 
favourite books of adventure. He was one of the
earliest settlers in San Domingo, a West Indian island. He got into debt, 
and, in order to escape from his creditors,
hid himself on a ship bound westward. When out of sight of land Balboa 
ventured out, and, throwing himself on his
knees before the captain, begged for protection. The captain granted the 
request, and Balboa became one of the
crew.
The ship was wrecked on the isthmus which joins North and South America, 
and Balboa, who had been there before,
was able to guide the crew to a friendly village. There he deposed the 
man who had spared his life, and established
himself in command. Hearing from the natives that another sea lay six 
days' journey to the westward, he fought his
way thither against hostile Indians, and, on the 13th September, 1513, 
came to the foot of the mountains from the top
of which his guides told him the sea could be seen. Climbing a high peak, 
he saw the ocean stretched beneath him.*
Falling on his knees, he gave thanks to God that it had pleased Him "to 
reserve unto that day the victory and praise of
so great a thing unto him." Balboa was rewarded for his discovery by 
being appointed Governor of the Ocean - an office
giving him, though neither he nor his sovereign was aware of it, 
authority over some 70,000,000 square miles of sea
and land.
The attention of Spanish explorers was diverted from the search for a 
route to the East; they sought for gold, and for a
mythical Fountain of Youth, of which they had heard from the natives. 
Florida was discovered by one of the many
expeditions sent out with these objects, while another made a fairly 
accurate map of the Gulf of Mexico.
The adventures which befell some of these explorers are among the most 
thrilling in history. We already know the
cruel treatment the natives received at the hands of the invaders, and, 
whenever opportunity occurred, this was repaid
with interest. Out of an expedition of six hundred men led to Florida in 
1527 only a handful escaped. The natives, who
had learned not to trust the white men, lured them far inland with 
reports of gold, and then fell upon them in their sleep.

* On the 26th September.

The survivors encountered great hardships before they found their way back to Europe.
Another expedition, after enduring terrible sufferings, reached the Mississippi, and vainly endeavoured to find the sea-coast to 
the west of the great river.
In 1519 Cortez, a Spaniard, landed in Mexico on an expedition of conquest. You have read that Mexico 
was then
thickly populated by a warlike and, in some respects, highly civilised people. To meet these Cortez 
had with him the
ridiculously small force of 550 Spaniards and two or three hundred Indians; he had also a few horses 
and a few
cannon. To show his followers that their only hope of safety lay in their swords, Cortez burned his 
ships, thereby
cutting off all means of retreat.
In two years Cortez conquered the country, and the story of his campaigns is one of the most 
extraordinary chapters
in history. Though reinforced by Spaniards and helped by Mexican enemies of the Aztecs, his forces 
were a mere
handful as compared with the overwhelming number of his foes. He was often in desperate straits. In 
one great
engagement he lost 450 Spaniards and 4,000 allies, and it seemed as if nothing could restore his 
fallen fortunes. But
Cortez was one of the world's great leaders, and his genius for war and the fiery valour of his 
Spanish followers gave
him, in the end, victory over the hosts of the Aztecs.
While the Spaniards were exploring and conquering in the south, various expeditions were fitted out 
to visit the
northern portions of the continent.* The Cabots are believed to have been the first Europeans of 
modern times to set
foot on the mainland. In 1498 Sebastian Cabot set out from Bristol on a second voyage. Attempting to 
find a north-west passage,

* See School Journal, Part III, July 1908, page 163.

he sailed as far north as latitude 67 ½ ', and probably entered Hudson Bay; but the sailors terrified by the danger of steering the 
ship among the icebergs,
broke out in open mutiny and compelled him to turn back. After sailing south until he had examined 
1,800 miles of
coast he returned to England. In previous articles you were told how Jacques Cartier explored the St. 
Lawrence, and
how the heroic and gallant Champlain founded Quebec.
The English were slow to send out colonists to America, but they were destined to found a great and 
lasting nation.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, one of the noblest spirits of his time, might almost be called the founder of 
the British Empire,
for it was he who, in 1583, took possession of our oldest colony, Newfoundland. Turning homewards, he 
met his fate
in the stormy seas. "We are as near to Heaven by sea as by land," were the famous words he was heard 
to utter
while his little barque was labouring in the darkness of the night.
Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Humphrey's half-brother, obtained authority from Queen Elizabeth to dispatch 
another
expedition, which, in the name of the Queen, took possession of part of what is now the United 
States. As Queen
Elizabeth was spoken of as " The Virgin Queen," the settlement was called " Virginia" in her honour, 
and the name
may be read on the maps of the present day. A colony was planted here, but, after a stormy existence 
for a few
years, it completely disappeared. For three years it was left to itself, and when at last a ship 
arrived from England no
trace of the settlers could be found.
Sixteen years later, in 1606, there set forth from England an expedition destined to obtain the first 
permanent foothold
in the United States. It was due partly to the influence of Raleigh, and partly to the interest 
excited among noblemen
and merchants
by reports of the richness of the new land. In April, 1607, after a long voyage, the ship sailed into 
Chesapeake Bay.
Here was founded Jamestown, the first English town in the New World, though now fallen into decay. 
For a few years
the very existence of the little colony was threatened. Quarrels among the settlers, warfare with the 
natives, and
poverty threatened it with ruin. But John Smith, the leader of the colonists, set aside the dreams of 
gold that had lured
the early settlers and distracted their attention, for he saw that in labour, and in labour only, lay 
the secret of the
conquest of the New World. Of the one hundred and five who originally landed, the majority were 
unused to hard work,
and only twelve were tillers of the soil. Other more suitable immigrants followed, and, having 
learned the lessons of
labour, they set about building houses and planting corn and tobacco. By 1619 Virginia was firmly 
established, and,
three years later, was able to withstand a terrible onslaught by the Indians, who rose and killed all 
the colonists
outside Jamestown.
 In 1620 occurred the memorable migration of the,
Pilgrim Fathers. These were devout English Puritans who wished to worship according to their consciences, but were not allowed 
to do so in their own
country. They tried living in Holland, but, longing for a freer life, and wishing to preserve their independence, they determined to 
find a  home in
North America. Returning from Holland to Southampton, they embarked in two small vessels. One of these put back, and only 
the " Mayflower," with
forty-one emigrants and their families on board,
crossed the Atlantic. These " Pilgrim Fathers," as
after-times loved to call them, landed on the barren
coasts of Massachusetts, at a spot to which they gave
the name Plymouth, in memory of the last English
port at which they touched. Resolute and industrious, they bravely faced bleak winters, sickness, and famine, but so slow was 
their progress that 
in ten years they
numbered only three hundred souls. Then they were reinforced by shipload after shipload of some of 
the best of
England's sons, who were compelled to seek new homes by the misrule of King Charles I, and New 
England, as this
part of America was called, had passed its most trying stages of settlement.

THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS.

The quiet, stern enthusiasm of these men 
and women,
and their simple and religious lives, have left their mark on the character of the people of New England even to this day.
(To be continued.)

DATES FOR THE MONTH (February). - On appropriate days the school flag might be hoisted: 1st-Settlement founded at 
Nelson, 1842; 4th-Funeral of Queen Victoria, 1901 ; 5th-Treaty of Waitangi signed, 1840;  6th-Tasman discovered the Fiji 
Islands, 1643; 14th-Captain Cook killed at Hawaii, 1779; 15th-Kimberley relieved, 1900; 21st---First cable between New 
Zealand and Australia opened, 1876; 22nd-George Washington born, 1732; 26th-Loss of the "Birkenhead," 1852; 28th-
Ladysmith relieved, 1900.

A LIVING PUMP AND ITS SYSTEM OF SELFADJUSTING PIPES.
The interesting and wonderful story of the corpuscles of the blood has 
been already told, and we are now going to
speak of the great force-pump that sends them out on their busy journeys. 
We call it the heart, and it is really a
hollow muscle which silently and steadily, unceasingly and unconsciously - 
be we well or ill, asleep or awake - keeps
up the steady flow of fluid, distributing warmth and nourishment to every 
part of the body, and, as it flows, cleansing
the tissues of all waste and rubbish.
I have told you that in many ways our bodies remind us of the life of a 
busy town - the body cannot do without its
constant, steady blood-supply any more than a large town can do without 
its water-supply and its system of
drainage, or without its trains and ships bringing the necessary articles 
of food and clothing. A town can certainly
manage without the come-and-go of these for a few hours, or perhaps days. 
But the body is much more delicately
constructed - not for a minute can it do without this come-and-go of 
warmth and nourishment. Should the circulation,
or flow, be cut off, disaster follows quickly. What happens? The body 
falls limp and inert, the mind becomes
unconscious - that is, we faint - and, should the flow not be quickly 
resumed, life goes out of the body never to return.
Fortunately for us, nature provides her own method of healing; and this 
very act of fainting, which entails loss of
consciousness and a fall from the upright position, is in itself 
restorative. The lowering of the head causes a flow of
blood into it; this stimulates the brain, which in turn stimulates the 
heart, making it renew its efforts to continue beating. Owing to the prone position the contraction is now easier; so the 
flow is gradually resumed, becoming
stronger and stronger with each beat of the heart. This teaches us that if 
we see any one looking as if he were about
to faint the best way to treat him is to lower his head; make him lie down, 
or, if that is not possible, bend his head
down towards his feet - i.e., make him lean down as if to tie his shoes.
The heart is about the size of your closed fist. If you lay your closed 
left hand on your chest, the thumb just touching
the junction of the two collarbones, your fist lies just over the heart, 
the wrist corresponding to the pointed end called
the apex. The heart lies well protected within the ribs; when you have been 
running hard, or have had a great fright,
you can feel the apex thumping against the ribs. The apex lies free and 
unattached in a smooth bag, the walls of
which are kept moist by a little glistening fluid which, like oil in an 
engine, prevents friction. If from any injury or
inflammation this bag loses its smooth character, every beat of the heart 
is accompanied by intense pain. No
mechanical engine has ever been invented which works so smoothly and so 
perfectly as this pump which we possess
in our own bodies.
Its work is very complex and difficult. It has to keep two complete 
circuits of fluid flowing round the body, and one of
these circuits entails much heavier work than the other.
The larger circuit is the systemic circulation. Through it the general 
blood-supply of the body passes, such distant
outlying parts as the brain, the fingers, and the toes being supplied by 
it. The blood that is pumped into it has come
freshly purified from the lungs, and is charged with oxygen and also with 
nourishment that it has received from the
alimentary canal. As the blood passes on its way

it distributes these food-supplies to the surrounding tissues, receiving in exchange the " burnt-up " waste substances.
It thus returns as impure blood. This impure blood is of a dark-bluish tint, and we can see it in the 
veins that run just
beneath the skin. If you press a vein you will see how the blood collects and distends it on the side 
farthest from the
heart, clearly proving that the  blood
is flowing through it towards the heart.
The steady flow of blood through the body helps to maintain the whole at a uniform temperature. Where 
active
change is going on - as, for instance, in the liver - heat is produced and the blood is thoroughly 
warmed. As it flows on
it carries this warmth with it, and thus the skin is kept at almost the same temperature as the 
deeper parts of the
body. The little vessels of the body are beautifully constructed to help this - they all have the power of getting larger or
smaller as required. When the skin-vessels get larger the skin becomes red; this means that much 
blood is going to
the skin and getting cooled there. You know that when you get hot this happens. In summer every one's 
skin tends to
be redder and moister, and thus the blood is kept cooler.

DIAGRAM OF THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD.
(The unshaded portion, to the right, shows the pure blood; the shaded portion, to the left, the impure blood.)

This growing-larger, or dilatation, of the vessels can take place in all the different organs 
of the body - if the
brain is working hard, the blood-vessels dilate there, and so more blood and more fuel go to the 
brain; if the stomach
is hard at work digesting food, the blood flows more freely there. This shows us that we should not 
try to do a number
of things at once; for instance, after a heavy meal, when the blood is busy in the digestive organs, 
we should not try
to do hard brain-work.
(To be continued.)

THE NORTH ISLAND MAIN TRUNK RAILWAY.
It was not till the year 1860 that a contract for railway-building was entered into in New Zealand, 
and not until
December, 1863, that the first section of the first railway was opened for traffic. This was the 
section between
Christchurch and Ferrymead Junction (now Woolston), on the present line that connects the Cathedral 
City with the
port of Lyttelton. Since that date New Zealand has made considerable strides in railway-building, and 
the recent
completion of the last link of the North Island Main Trunk line, together with the purchase of the 
privately owned
Manawatu Railway, is a further important step in connection with the railway policy of the Dominion.
Not until late last year was it possible to travel by rail from the capital of the Dominion to 
Auckland. The journey
between these two North Island cities was usually made by train from Wellington to New Plymouth (251 
miles), and
by steamer from New Plymouth to Onehunga (135 miles). An alternative route was from Wellington to 
Napier by train
(210 miles), and thence by steamer to Auckland (301 miles). In either case there was a sea journey, and a consequent 
transhipment of passengers and luggage. The
business man or the holiday-seeker will now be able to board a 
comfortable railway-carriage in Wellington, and go
direct to Auckland in about nineteen hours. The journey is an interesting 
one, and worth describing.
For some eighty-seven miles from Wellington the line runs through fertile 
country to the westward of the Tararua
watershed till Palmerston North is reached. From Wellington to Longburn, 
a little to the south of Palmerston North,
the journey is over what is known as the Manawatu line, constructed by a 
private company during the years 1882 to
1886, but taken over by the Government in December last. In New Zealand 
this was the only long and important line
that was privately owned, and now the whole railway system in the 
Dominion is under Government control.
From Palmerston North the line to Napier runs through the Manawatu Gorge 
to Woodville, where it meets the east-coast line which runs from Wellington over the Rimutaka Range. From 
Longburn a branch line, sixteen miles long,
runs to Foxton, a flax-milling town near the mouth of the Manawatu River; 
but, as the inland terminus of the traffic is
Palmerston North, four lines may be said to meet at this important 
agricultural and railway centre.
The line along which lies our route bends northwest from Palmerston, 
through rich level and undulating country, and
across the Rangitikei River to Marton Junction. One branch of the line 
follows the west coast to Wanganui and New
Plymouth; but the other, the Main Trunk, climbs gradually northward 
towards the centre of the island. We leave the
open coast-lands and enter a region of charred logs and blackened stumps, 
indicating the ancient forests that have died to provide the settler with pasture for his cattle and sheep.
Mangaonoho, twenty-three miles from Marton, was for a long time the terminus of the line, for, a 
short distance
beyond, had to be built the Makohine Viaduct - the first of the big viaducts on this line. It is 850 
feet long, and rises to
the height of 238 feet above the creek below.
For some miles the scenery is now very picturesque. We see again the Rangitikei River, glimpses of 
the stream
swiftly flowing between its high white papa banks appearing at intervals through the clumps of forest 
that still dot this
rough but pleasant pastoral land. The line winds round the cliffs - in eight miles there are no fewer 
than six tunnels - and
in places it is possible to throw a biscuit from the carriage-window into the river many feet below.
At Taihape, the centre of a large area of pastoral and timber country, there is a brief stop, and 
then the train winds
northward to Waiouru, which, at an altitude of 2,659 feet, is the highest station on the line, being 
nearly 2,200 feet
above Marton. We are now in country which a few years ago was known only to the more adventurous 
tourists and
explorers, or to surveyors and other officials whose duties took them far afield.
Most of those travelling for pleasure will no doubt journey during the summer, but amidst its 
drawbacks the winter
journey has a charm peculiarly its own. The first occasion on which a train ran through from 
Wellington to Auckland
was during the visit of the American fleet last August. As the train climbed the steep grades above 
Taihape, those
who had the good fortune to be among the excursionists forgot the discomforts of the night journey 
and the chills
of the winter's morning in the supreme beauty of the landscape. The brightening dawn revealed a 
stretch of undulating
upland country held fast in the grip of King Frost. And presently, across the rolling downs, Ruapehu 
was seen rearing
his cold, snow-clad shoulders into the pale morning sky. The first glimpse was but a foretaste of the 
glories to come,
for, a little later, as the train rounded one of the upland curves, the cold, metallic snows of dawn 
were seen
transmuted into living gold - a glorious contrast to the frosted silver of the tussock plain still in 
shadow below.
Northward, the broken cone of Ngauruhoe, in winter garment of spotless white, rose in the clear 
distance, its
slumbering fires sending no cloud of steam skyward.
Waiouru itself seems a wilderness of upland desolation, relieved only by the view of the mountains. 
From this point a
coach-road passes eastward of the volcanoes to Tokaanu, a Maori village on the southern shores of 
Taupo Moana.
Near Tokaanu a fine river - the Tongariro - teeming with lordly trout, enters the lake, every headland 
and bay of which is
famed in Maori history or legend.
From Waiouru the railway bends to the westward, and, leaving the tussocky upland plateau, soon 
plunges into the
great forest that clothes the western plains and the foothills of the mountains. Steep wooded 
slopes - the outer
ramparts of Ruapehu - tower over us on the right, while great timbered gullies yawn below us on the 
other side.
Through the sombre pines we catch glimpses of cataracts foaming far down in the sylvan gloom. In one 
place the
track runs in a straight line through the forest; but soon mountain gulches cross our path, and we 
are in the land of
the viaducts. On the Makatote Viaduct, the greatest of them all, passengers gaze spellbound into the 
ravine, across
which,. for a distance of 864 feet, a thousand tons of steel piers and cement foundations carry the superstructure of the viaduct, 
257 feet above 
the stream.
Eastward, Ruapehu towers in massive form to   a
height of over 9,000 feet, while westward, far away
across eighty miles of intervening country, the silver spear of Egmont 
cleaves the sky. Magnificent as is this view, it
is presently to be eclipsed by the glorious panorama that bursts upon the 
delighted gaze farther on. In snowy light
and shade the three peaks of the dying Ruapehu rise grandly above the forest-line, 
while to their left  the cone of Ngauruhoe and
the lower mass of Tongariro gleam gloriously in the sunshine. Between the 
line and the foothills are great forests
where deer and other game may find a home, and splendid trout-streams, 
born midst the everlasting snows, run
swiftly westward to join the mighty Wanganui. Such a country must be a 
paradise for the scientist or the sportsman,
and a healthy resting-place for the tired city man or the jaded invalid. 
The forests, too, will supply the Dominion with
millions of feet of useful timber, and, after the timber is cleared away, 
a pastoral land of fair quality will gradually
evolve from the sawn stumps and the charred tree-trunks that remain.
Along the Waimarino uplands the train speeds at an elevation of 2,636 
feet above sea-level; but presently there is a
quick descent down a curious "spiral " to the township of Raurimu. 
These "spirals " are not unknown in other
countries, but this is the only one in New Zealand.
When only a mile and a quarter distant from Raurimu in a  straight line 
the train is 435 feet above the station, but it
has to travel four and one-third miles* in making the descent. Winding and 
doubling it passes through deep cuttings
and along a cliff which drops sheer to a creek 150 feet below. Then it 
enters upon the circle, which is about 15 chains
in diameter, and, with two miles still to run, at one point is only a 
quarter of a mile from Raurimu. It then passes
through the " Short Tunnel " and next through the "Long Tunnel," in which 
it is 75 feet underground from the portion of
the line it has just passed over.

* If a shorter route were chosen the grade would be steeper than one in 
fifty, which is the steepest grade on which ordinary engines can work efficiently. On the Rimutaka the grade is one in twelve, but 
the engines used are specially built for steep grades, and there is a central rail which is gripped by a device under the engine.

Time and again the township of Raurimu is to be seen below, and, as the train twists and doubles, those passengers who have 
been unable to find room on the platform 
keep jumping from one side of the
carriage to the other, to catch glimpses of the township, or to see each 
point of interest on this wonderful feat of
railway engineering.

MAP OF NORTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND, SHOWING RAILWAYS.
THE MAKATOTE VIADUCT. Length, 864 feet; height, 257 feet.
THE SPIRAL NEAR RAURIMU.

Photo by the Public Works Department, N.Z.]
TRAINS ON THE SPIRAL.
The train in the foreground, which is two miles from Raurimu, is one mile and a half ahead of, 150 feet above, and 300 feet 
distant from the other train, which is half a mile from Raurimu. Both trains are climbing up the Spiral.

We have now obtained some idea of the engineering difficulties that had to 
be overcome in the construction of the
Main Trunk Railway. Between Te Awamutu and Marton there are no fewer than 
twenty tunnels, while in the whole
length of line between Wellington and Auckland there are thirty-six. In 
addition there are numerous bridges and
viaducts. The steepest grades, one in fifty, are met with mainly between 
Waimarino and Taumarunui.
In this stretch of thirty miles the line descends two thousand feet.
Taumarunui is an important township at the junction of the Ongarue and Wanganui Rivers. A few years ago it was only a
native village, far back in the King-country, but its isolation was broken 
from the south by the
boats that crawled up the rapids of the Wanganui, and from the north by the sawmillers who came for 
the timber, and
by the men who came to lay out and make the railway. The whares of the Maoris are no longer the only 
signs of
human habitation, and are almost lost sight of on the outskirts of the more sanitary but certainly 
less picturesque
wood-and-iron buildings of the pakeha. But Taumarunui will always possess interest for the tourist, 
for it is here that
he may leave the train and enjoy a two-days trip down the Wanganui, rushing over roaring rapids, 
gliding along still
reaches banked by precipitous cliffs or wooded slopes, and rounding point after point where the early 
missionaries
planted willows whose branches whip the waters, and groves of fruit-trees whose laden boughs serve to 
replenish the
kits of the native dwellers on the banks.
Leaving Taumarunui the train crosses the Ongarue River, and, keeping along its banks for fifteen 
miles, comes to the
township of Ongarue. Rising again, she climbs to a tunnel made years before any passenger-train went 
through it,
and then descends over 1,000 feet to Te Kuiti, an important native township in the heart of a large 
area of limestone
country. Not far distant are the wonderful limestone caves of Waitomo and Ruakuri, whose glistening 
halls and
passages, fantastic columns, and snowy stalactites hanging from the roof attract many visitors.
Much of the country through which we have passed since leaving Taumarunui is in the hands of the natives' and at present its 
fern-covered surface adds little to the wealth of the Dominion. But 
presently we enter
the more fertile plains of the Waikato basin, and soon catch glimpses of the river itself through the 
willows that fringe
its banks. At Frankton Junction (from which Hamilton, an important centre, is but a mile away) a 
branch line runs to
Morrinsville, where it again branches, one line going northward to the Thames, and the other south-eastward to Rotorua.

Photo by the Public Works Department, N.Z.]
RAURIMU.
(The station is only a quarter of a mile distant from the railway-line seen in the foreground, but it is two miles distant by train.)

With these branches we are not, at the present, greatly concerned; so, coming back to Frankton, we 
make our way
northward through rich flat lands formed by the Waikato ages ago, past the coalfields. of Huntly, along embankments with 
swamps on either 
side, into the
volcanic lands which lie round Auckland, and we are at our journey's end, having travelled by the 
overland route in all
426 miles.

STAR STORIES.
1. THE HUNTER AND His DOGS.
Begirt with many a blazing star, Stood the great giant, Algebar, Orion, 
hunter of the beast. His sword hung gleaming
by his side, And, on his arm, the lion's hide Scattered across the 
midnight air The golden radiance of its hair.
- LONGFELLOW.
When we look up at the sky on a bright starry night it is easy to see that some of the stars can be arranged in groups bearing 
resemblances to the forms of various objects. The earliest astronomers noticed this, and they therefore
divided the stars into groups called constellations, and to these they 
gave the names of objects which the outlines of
the groups more or less seemed to resemble.
Of the stars, as thus arranged, the earliest complete catalogue that has 
come down to us was compiled in A.D. 137
by Claudius Ptolemy,* the astronomer of Alexandria. But we find many 
references to the same constellation-figures,
and even elaborate descriptions of them, in books which were written long 
before his time. First of all, we have a
complete description of the constellations in a poem called the "Phenomena," written about 270 B.C. by Aratus, a
physician and poet of noble birth. This work is known to have been a 
versification of an account of the constellations
written more than a hundred years before. The Greek poet Homer, who lived 
about the tenth century before the
Christian era, frequently refers to the same constellations. Some of them 
are mentioned in the Book of Job, one of the
earliest books in existence, and many astronomical signs representing the 
constellations are found on very ancient
Greek coins and on Babylonian monuments. It is now generally admitted that the constellations 
were designed nearly five thousand years
ago by a people living somewhere in the valley of the Euphrates.
The constellations of Ptolemy's catalogue are forty-eight in number, 
twenty-one northern, fifteen southern, and twelve
in the Zodiac or zone of animals, a belt of 80 on each side of the 
ecliptic - that is, the line marking the sun's apparent
annual path in the heavens. The Zodiac is so called because all the 
constellations in it, with the exception of one - Libra, or the Balance - are figures of animals. As the constellation-figures 
were all so arranged as to be either upright
when on the meridian, or else lying down, we in the Southern Hemisphere are 
at a disadvantage when observing
them, because figures of the Northern Hemisphere appear to us inverted. 
This is due to the fact that we are at the
Antipodes, standing with our heads in the direction opposite to that which 
they would have in the Northern
Hemisphere.
Not only were the stars grouped together into constellations to represent 
various objects, but in many instances the
constellations appear to have been so arranged as to represent historical 
or legendary persons and events. One of the
most remarkable of the stories told by the stars is that of the hunter 
Orion.* According to Homer, the legendary hero
Orion was a giant renowned for his handsome form and his great strength. 
But many think that originally the
constellation of Orion was intended to represent Nimrod, who is mentioned 
in the Book of Genesis (Chap. x) as " the
mighty hunter before the Lord," and Nimrod was only the Hebrew name for 
the first King of Babylonia.
The constellation of Orion is the brightest and most beautiful in the heavens. 

* O-ri-on.

It can be seen due north between 8 and 9 p.m. in the beginning of February, and is readily recognised by the number of 
unusually bright
stars which it includes. It bears the form of a hunter or warrior carrying a club and wearing a 
girdle composed of three
beautiful stars. These three stars are in a slanting line, and form what is generally called Orion's Belt. 
Two bright stars
above the belt mark his feet, the brighter one to the left being Rigel.* Two stars below the belt are 
in his shoulders,
the bright-reddish one to the right being Betelgeuse,  and

* Ri-gel. 	Bet-el-gez.

the other to the left Bellatrix. Below these are three faint stars forming a small triangle to 
represent his head. Above
the three stars forming the belt are three fainter stars in a nearly vertical line, forming his sword.
In the accompanying map Orion is shown as he appears in the Northern Hemisphere. In our hemisphere he 
appears
to be inverted. He is in the attitude of striking the Bull on the head with his club. On his left arm 
he carries the skin of
a lion which he has killed in the chase, and which he shakes before the eyes of the Bull. His left 
foot is raised as if he
is climbing a steep ascent. Below his right foot is the Hare, represented by a few faint stars 
bearing no particular
resemblance to that animal.
Up from the east the Hare before him flies;
Close he pursues her through the southern skies.
Behind Orion are his two Dogs, each constellation distinguished by a brilliant star: the Great Dog by 
Sirius, the
brightest star in the heavens; the Little Dog by Procyon.* Aratus describes the splendour of these 
constellations in
the following lines:
First rise athwart the Bull - majestic sight - Orion's giant limbs and shoulders bright. Who but 
admires him stalking
through the sky,
With diamond-studded belt and glittering thigh! Nor with less ardour, pressing on his back, The 
mottled Hound
pursues his fiery track. Dark are his lower parts as wintry night,
His head with burning star intensely bright. Men call him Sirius, for his blasting breath
Dries mortals up in pestilence and death.
The principal star in the constellation of the Bull is Aldebaran, a bright reddish star below and to 
the left of Orion,
almost in a straight line with the belt. It represents the eye of the Bull, and forms with a number 
of faint stars a V-shaped cluster called the Hyades,* representing the face of the Bull.

* Pro-si-on.  Al-deb-a-ran.

A little to the left of the Hyades, and lower down, is another
cluster, the well-known group of the Pleiades, also belonging to the Bull, and representing his 
shoulder. Although the
greater part of the Bull's body is missing, he makes a brave attempt at charging Orion.
To the naked eye the Pleiades form the most striking star-cluster in the heavens; in neither 
hemisphere is there
another group similar to it in the brightness and in the closeness of the stars composing it. They 
bear the names of
the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, and, according to the ancients, they were placed in heaven 
on account of
their filial sorrow when their father was turned into a mountain and laden with the weight of the 
firmament. They have
been sometimes called the " Hen and Chickens." Many of the Greek poets refer to them as the " Doves." 
The number
of stars in the cluster visible to average eyesight is six, though persons gifted with exceptionally 
keen eyesight have
seen as many as twelve or fourteen. About thirty more can be seen with an opera-glass. Aratus writes 
of the
Pleiades as follows:
Near Perseus' knee, the Pleiads next are rolled Like seven pure brilliants set in ring of gold;
Though each one small, their splendour all combine To form one gem, and gloriously they shine.
Their number seven, though some men fondly say And poets feign that one has passed away.
To the east of Orion, and lower down, are two bright stars, Castor and Pollux, which are in the 
constellation of
Gemini, or the Twins. Tennyson refers to them in the lines:
And the shining daffodil dies, and the Charioteer And starry Gemini hang like glorious crowns
Over Orion's grave low down in the west.

* Hi-a-dez.  Ple-a-dez.  Ple-o-ne.

A WOOL-SALE.
In the wool season, and among those who grow wool, shear wool, sort wool, cart wool, or buy wool, the 
whole talk is
wool - nothing but wool. Indeed wool seems to be everywhere except on the back of the sheep. On 
packhorses along
bush tracks to the open roads, on drays and wagons till a more rapid means of conveyance is reached, 
streams of
wool - Merino, Romney, Lincoln, and Leicester; cross-bred and half-bred: clean, bright, and lustrous; 
dirty, greasy, and
heavy; white from the open pasture or black from the recently burnt bush lands - all are uniting and 
flowing steadily to
the market.
Into great stores holding three, four, or even five thousand bales the wool is taken, and is so 
arranged that the buyers
can readily examine each lot. The ends of the bales are ruthlessly cut open, and great gashes may be 
made even in
the sides. Handful after handful is pulled out and thrown down even before an intending buyer has 
come near it, and,
when the buyers have hauled out their quota, the wool hangs cataract-like from the bales, and is 
piled on the floor in
apparently hopeless confusion. The amazed onlooker wonders, and the inquisitive one asks, how it is 
to be sorted
and put back into its proper bale. "The men manage it pretty well," is the reply. "They understand 
wool, and very little, if
any, gets into the wrong bale."
The owner may place his own reserve on the wool - that is, the lowest price per pound at which it is 
to be sold. If the
bidding does not reach this price the wool is not sold at the auction; it is " passed," though a sale 
may he effected
afterwards. Many owners, however, leave the reserve to be fixed by the brokers, whose skilled 
employees, by trained
hand and eye, and with a knowledge of the value of the different classes of wool both here and 
abroad, fix
what they think a fair market value. Then come the buyers or their 
representatives, some clad in their oldest clothes,
and others in all sorts of odd protective garments, for handling wool is 
not the cleanest occupation in the world. With
equal skill and with a similar knowledge they fix the highest price they 
are willing to pay, and note it in a copy of the
auctioneer's printed catalogue.
Let us go along to the place where the wool is being sold. As soon as we 
come near we need not ask our way, for
the outcries, shrieks, and frenzied yells are sufficient guide. As we 
enter, one auctioneer finishes the sale of his lots
and steps down from his stand. Before his place is taken by another - for at 
each sale several firms will be selling - we
have a few minutes in which we can look around. In front of the auctioneer, 
on tiers of seats arranged crescent-wise
and with desks in front of them, sit the buyers - men young and middle-aged, 
not many of them old; some with caps
cocked on one ear, some with straw hats shoved jauntily back over the head, 
others without head-covering; two or
three with coats off, for the day is warm, and one with his shirt-sleeves 
rolled up. These men represent firms in New
Zealand, Great Britain, America, and on the Continent - everywhere, indeed, 
where wool is in demand. Only the buyers
and brokers and a few privileged persons are allowed in this part of the 
room; but in the gallery, if there is one, or at
the back of the room there is a pack of curious spectators - the sturdy 
farmer from the backblocks, the bronzed
squatter from the sunny plains, the pale-faced worker from the gloomy 
office, and idlers on whose hands time hangs
heavily - a  strange mixture of deep interest and idle curiosity.
But the stand is again occupied. Mentioning the firm for whom he is 
selling, the auctioneer says, "Lot 1. " Then
pandemonium reigns, and, amid yells, shrieks, and the angry waving of catalogues and arms, the buyers appear as if about to tear 
the auctioneer to
pieces. The sounds seem unintelligible, but the auctioneer understands. Gradually we grow accustomed 
to the
uproar. From what is said by the auctioneer we are at last able to detect what is yelled by the 
buyers. Amidst the
babel we distinguish the cries of " Five," " One," Two " (or " Half)
"Three," "Six!" " Six!" "Six!" and it gradually dawns upon our bewildered senses that the price of a lot 
has risen from 5d.
per pound through, 5 ¼ d., 5 ½ d., 5 ¾  d., to 6d. " Sixpence, Brown," says
the auctioneer calmly. Brown is the buyer, and the clerk records the name and the price. But before 
the number of
the next lot can be called out the yells are renewed. Each buyer knows exactly what he is prepared to 
pay, and half a
dozen or more buyers may have fixed on the same price. If there are several bids at the same price 
the auctioneer
takes that which first attracts his attention. As the price for a lot rises, the excitement 
increases. The buyers rise in
their places, some making trumpets of their hands, some waving their catalogues, and others screaming 
" Seven!
seven ! ! seven,! ! !" with corresponding shakes of the fist as near to the auctioneer's face as the 
desks will allow - anything, in fact, to attract attention to the bid. Moving his finger in short jerks down his 
catalogue, the auctioneer
sells lot after lot, picking out the first bid at the highest price with apparently unerring 
judgment, and seldom having
his word questioned.
With brief intervals the sale goes on until over 20,000 bales have been offered. Then along the 
deep-sea cables are
flashed the reports of the agents, and the uproar of an antipodean wool-sale finds an echo in the 
offices of the great
wool-kings in lands which know not the Southern Cross.

BUYERS EXAMINING THE WOOL.
THE BUYERS AT A WOOL-SALE.

THE CABINET.
In Part III of the School Journal for March last you were told what is meant by the "Cabinet " in our system of
government, and were told also the names of the Ministers then comprising it. Since the elections in 
November last
there have been changes in the Cabinet, and the following list gives the names of the present members 
and the State
Departments which they administer :-  The Right Hon. Sir J. G. WARD, Prime Minister, Minister of 
Finance,
Postmaster-General, Minister of Defence, Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Land and Income Tax, 
Electoral
Department, and Advertising Department.
The Hon. J. CARROLL, Native Minister, Minister of Stamps and Deeds, and Minister in charge of 
Advances to
Settlers Department.
The Hon. J. A. MILLAR, Minister of Railways, Minister of Marine, Minister in charge of Friendly 
Societies, and
Minister in charge of Machinery Department.
The Hon. G. FOWLDS, Minister of Education, Minister of Immigration, Minister in charge of Mental 
Hospitals and Fire
Insurance Department.
The Hon. Dr. FINDLAY, Attorney-General, Minister of Justice, and Minister in charge of Crown Law 
Department.
The Hon. R. MCKENZIE, Minister of Public Works and Minister of Mines.
The Hon. A.W. HOGG, Minister of Labour, Minister of Customs, Minister of Roads and Bridges, and 
Minister in
charge of Government Printing Office.
The Hon. D. BUDDO, Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Public Health, Minister in charge of 
Valuation
Department, and Minister in charge of Old-age Pensions.
The Hon. T. MACKENZIE, Minister of Industries and Commerce, Minister in charge of Tourist Department, 
Scenery
Department, and Forestry Department.
The Hon. A. T. NGATA, member of Executive representing the native race, Minister in charge of Public 
Trust Office,
Government Insurance and Government Accident Insurance, and Maori Councils.

ESSAY COMPETITION.
The Secretary of the British and Foreign Sailors' Society has forwarded the 
results of the Essay Competition on What
does the Nation owe to Nelson and her Sailors ? to which attention was 
drawn in the School Journal last year. The
successful competitors are Lenore M. Sutherland, Onehunga District High 
School; and Gretta M. Isdale, Waitaki
Girls' High School.
This year four plaques are offered for competition, the subject of the 
essay being " Captain James Cook, his Voyages
and Discoveries, and their Value to the Nation, Commerce,  and Christianity "
A plaque will be awarded to a boy and a girl in each Island, and the 
Minister of Education has prescribed the following
conditions for the competition:
1. Competitors must be under sixteen years of age on the 31st May next.
2. The essays, which must not exceed one thousand words, must be forwarded 
to the Education Board of the district
on or before the 31st May next. The envelope is to bear the words " Cook 
Essay."
3. The essays must be written in school without notes, text-books, or 
assistance from the teacher.
4. The number of essays from the boys of any one school, or from the girls 
of the same school, is limited to two, or at
the most three.
5. On the last page of each essay must be shown the full name of the 
writer, his or her age, the name of the school,
the Island in which the school is situated, and a certification by the head 
teacher that the conditions imposed have
been fully complied with.
 
THE STORY OF NORTH AMERICA.
By the middle of the seventeenth century there was a fringe of settlement 
along the American coast from the St.
Lawrence to Cape Sable. The French were in Canada, the English in New 
England and Virginia, the Spanish in
Florida, and, sandwiched in between the English settlements, was a Dutch 
colony. This was known as New
Amsterdam, and its chief settlement was where New York now stands. The 
enterprise of the Dutch, however, was a
menace to English trade, and the colony was taken during the war with 
Holland in 1664. The English settlements
grew steadily until, in the middle of the eighteenth century, the 
population numbered nearly a million, and the States
increased from two to thirteen. In the southern States, thanks to the warm 
climate, the fertility of the land, and the
tobacco industry, there was a considerable amount of luxury; in the New 
England States, where the climate was
more rigorous, the battle of life was sterner.
The States had self-government of one kind or another, but the English Government had not yet learned 
how to deal
justly with oversea colonies. Restrictions such as no Government would think of imposing to-day were 
placed on
trade for the benefit of English industries. African slaves were forced on the colonists, in spite of 
the strongest
protest. In short, the colonies were regarded as existing only for the benefit of the 
Mother-country.
In the middle of the eighteenth century occurred the great struggle for empire-expansion between the 
French and the
English. This was destined to have a momentous effect on the history of the world. You have read how 
the French settled in Canada and explored the St. Lawrence. 

NORTH AMERICA IN 1663.
NORTH AMERICA IN 1732
NORTH AMERICA IN 1763
From "The World and its People - America."    Published by T. Nelson and Sons. ]

They also came south down the Mississippi Valley until they reached the sea, and claimed a huge stretch of territory lying 
between the
Alleghanies and the Rockies. This they called Louisiana. With the intention of confining the English 
to the narrow
coastal strip east of the Alleghanies, they constructed a line of forts from the Great Lakes to the 
Gulf of Mexico.
Before long adventurous Englishmen crossed the mountains and disputed with the French the possession 
of the great
inland territory. At first the French were successful. Many of the English commanders sent from 
England were
incompetent, owed their positions to influence, and disdained to adopt colonial methods in colonial 
fighting.
The appointment of a young man, William Pitt, who was afterwards Earl of Chatham, to the post of Minister for War in the 
Newcastle 
Ministry of 1757,
was the turning-point. Pitt's name deserves to be honoured by Englishmen so long as the Empire 
exists. He was not
only a great War Minister; but a great empire-builder. He had unerring judgment in the choice of men, 
and recognised
that the colonies should be consulted about the conduct of the war. Incompetent officers were weeded 
out, competent
men appointed, and the war was carried on with vigour. Post after post fell to the English,
and the struggle was brought to a close by the capture of Quebec in 1759 by General Wolfe. French 
dominion in
North America was at an end. Canada became an English possession, and claim to all land west of the 
Mississippi
was ceded by France to Spain in recognition of her help in the war.
The war with France helped to make the English colonists more independent and self-reliant. They had 
played a brave
part in the struggle, and they could not help feeling that they were more successful in forest 
fighting than were men
from England.
We have seen that England imposed harsh restrictions on colonial trade. Soon after the close of the 
war with France
there arose the question whether England had a right to levy taxes on the colonies. The national debt 
of England was
one hundred and forty millions, and, as large sums had been spent in defence of the American 
colonies, Englishmen
thought that the colonists should bear part of the burden of taxation. The colonies recognised their indebtedness, and also the 
supremacy of England in matters affecting legislation; but they refused to be taxed by a 
Parliament three
thousand miles away, to which they sent no representative, and in whose deliberations they had no 
voice. William
Pitt supported the colonists, but his health was failing, and the influence of King George III was 
supreme. The story of
these years is the most humiliating in English history, and its shame lies at the door of the King.
 Little dreaming that the colonists would resort to
arms, the King and his Ministers insisted on their
paying taxes on certain articles. But the colonists
were equally determined. In 1773 some English
ships laden with tea arrived in Boston Harbour, and,
rather than pay the tax, some citizens, disguised as
Indians, boarded the ships and threw the chests
into the sea. Despite the efforts of George Washington and others to bring about a settlement, ill feeling increased on both sides 
till at last, in 1775,
war broke out. Into the details of this bitter
struggle we cannot enter; but in 1783 the heroic
efforts of the colonists, the hardships they had undergone, and the self-sacrifice they had displayed   in the cause of freedom were 
rewarded by the independence of the colonies being recognised. The
country became known as the United States, and
George Washington became its first President.
Since the War of Independence the history of the United States has been a story of astonishing 
growth. At the close
of the war England ceded the country lying between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi. The State of 
Louisiana, at
the mouth of the Mississippi, was purchased from France in 1803, and in 1819 Florida passed from the 
Spanish to
the American flag. Texas, which was part of Mexico, rose in revolt in 1836, and in 1845 was annexed 
by the United
States. A dispute between Mexico and the United States about the boundary followed, and the two 
countries went to
war. The Mexicans were defeated, and ceded to the United States the territories of New Mexico, 
Arizona, and
California. The Stars and Stripes thus floated from sea to sea. About the same time the north-western boundary between the 
United States and Canada was fixed, giving to the United States the large tract of 
country lying between
California and Vancouver. In 1867 Alaska was purchased from Russia, and in 1898, as the result of the 
war with
Spain, * owing to Spain's inability to pacify Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands came under 
the American flag.
In the middle of the last century a great crisis occurred in the history of the United States, and, 
indeed, in the history
of the whole of North America. The northern and southern States went to war on the question of negro 
slavery. The
North was in favour of free labour, and the South contended that slaves were necessary for the 
successful working of
the cotton-fields of the South. The South separated from the North, and formed a Confederation. Had 
the North not
taken up arms, there would probably have been two nations in the United States instead of one. 
Abraham Lincoln, who had been elected President of the whole country, was great enough to see that it was worth while to 
plunge his country into the horrors of civil war to keep it undivided for all time.

* See School Journal, Part III, August, 1908, page 197.

The struggle was long and fierce, and lasted from 1861 to 1865. It ended in a victory for the North and 
in the freedom of all
slaves.
We have seen that in the early part of the sixteenth century Spain conquered Mexico. The Spanish 
dominions in
North America eventually stretched from the Isthmus of Panama to Vancouver, and New Spain, as this 
great tract of
continent was called, was the brightest jewel in Spain's Imperial Crown. Enormous wealth flowed 
from the
conquered country to the Old World. But the Spanish rule was one of oppression, with little thought 
of the welfare of
the inhabitants. In a war which lasted from 1810 to 1821 Mexico threw off the Spanish yoke, and went 
through many
years of internal strife, until the strong hand of President Diaz took charge of the reins of government some thirty years ago. 
Under President Diaz, who still rules, Mexico has become prosperous and peaceful.

STORIES OF THE NORTH ISLAND MAIN TRUNK RAILWAY.
[By W. McNAMARA, Public Works Department, New Zealand.]
On the 6th November, 1908, at about 8 o'clock in the morning, the last spike was driven in the North 
Island Main
Trunk Railway, which connects Auckland and Wellington by a continuous line 426 miles long. The 
occasion was
marked by a little ceremony at the point where the construction-works, which had been in progress 
from the north and
south ends, met in the heart of the Waimarino Forest. The last spike driven was a silver-plated one, 
but memento-hunters did not allow it to remain long to mark the spot, and its place is now filled by an ordinary spike similar to 
its companions.

Photo by Muir and MacKinlay, Wellington.]
DRIVING THE LAST SPIKE.
(Sir Joseph Ward is bending down holding the hammer. The Hon. William Hall-Jones is the tall man standing near the line. The 
Hon. George FowIds is to be seen in a grey coat just beyond Sir Joseph Ward.)

 Among those present were the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Ward, Prime Minister; the Hon. William Hall-Jones, then Minister for 
Railways; and the Hon. George Fowlds, Minister of Education. The
Prime Minister congratulated the Dominion on the completion of the railway, and the Minister for 
Railways spoke of
the difficulties that had been overcome in the construction, and referred to the excellent manner in 
which both the
officers and the workmen had carried out their duties.
One or two of the incidents connected with the construction of this long line of railway are worth 
mentioning, for they
recall little-known stories of the past, and also serve to show the relations which, unfortunately, 
existed between the
Maori owners of the lands through which the line was being made and the European settlers, who 
desired that it
should be pushed forward as rapidly as possible.
Active hostilities with the Maoris in the Waikato may be said to have come to an end in 1864 with the 
battle at
Orakau, a native village a few miles from Te Awamutu. There, for three days, Rewi, the famous 
Maniapoto fighting-chief, with 250 brave but poorly armed warriors of his tribe, without water and with very little 
food, resisted the
attempts of six hundred well-armed British soldiers to take the pa by assault. The English general 
offered them terms
if they would surrender, but Rewi replied,
We will fight on; for ever, and and ever " (" Ka whawhai, tonu; ake, ake, ake "). When the Maoris 
found they could
hold the place no longer they formed into a column, and, pulling the women and the children in the 
centre, made a
sudden dash to escape. Many
were killed, and such as escaped were so dispersed that they could make no further stand.
At the close of the war a large area of native land was taken from the Maoris, or "confiscated," as it is called. The
southern boundary of this area was the Puniu River, which is a tributary of the Waipa, and is 
crossed by the present
railway-line a little to the south of Te Awamutu. The Puniu became recognised as the northern boundary of a large tract of 
land known as
the King-country, within which the natives resisted exploration and settlement for many years, and 
into which it was
dangerous for a white man to go.
In 1874 the railway from Auckland had nearly reached Mercer, and the authorities, in view of the 
trouble that seemed
to be brewing with the Maoris, thought that it was necessary to increase the defence force in the 
Waikato. It was
therefore decided to provide an additional armed force in the district, and at the same time push on 
the railway by
making the men serve as both soldiers and workmen. A force of about two hundred men, known as the 
Volunteer Engineer Militia, accordingly commenced work at the end of the year 1874. Every morning the men 
marched
under arms to the scene of their labour, stacked rifles, and put in a fair day's work with the pick 
and shovel. Work for
the day being over, they were put through an amount of military drill and discipline sufficient to 
make them useful
soldiers if their services were required in the field. Fortunately, the necessity for this did not 
arise during the period the
" soldier-navvies " were employed.
In 1885 the Maoris were won over to a more friendly attitude towards the proposed railway, and the 
work of carrying it
into the King-country was begun. The turning of the first sod at the northern starting-point of the 
new work was made
the occasion of a picturesque ceremony on the bank of the Puniu River on the 15th April, 1885. The 
then Premier* of the colony, Sir Robert Stout, was present, together with a party of officials, settlers, and citizens from 
Auckland. 

* It is only within recent years that the name "Prime Minister" has come into use.

The Maoris were represented by the famous chiefs Wahanui and Rewi Maniapoto, about fifty natives of rank, and some hundred 
others. The
spot selected for the ceremony was on the Maori side of the river, distant only four miles or so from 
the battlefield of Orakau, where, 
twenty-one years before, Rewi had distinguished himself at the head of his tribe. Now Rewi, wearing a black velvet coat and a 
tall hat, stood before
 the gathering as a friend of the European - his
 old hatred of the
 race exchanged
 for a feeling of
 brotherly companionship.
At the request of the natives, Wahanui dug the first three sods, which where wheeled some distance 
by the Premier
and deposited on the ground; later, most of this earth was carried away by the spectators as 
mementoes of the
occasion. There were, of course, many speeches. Sir Robert Stout gave some good advice to the Maoris, 
exhorting
them to cultivate their lands, to educate their children, and to refrain from the use of strong 
drink. On behalf of the
native race, Wahanui replied in a peaceful and dignified speech, approving the restrictions placed on 
the sale of liquor
in the King-country, and with characteristic Maori eloquence urging that the clear water of the Puniu 
should be the
boundary across which liquor should not be carried.

REWI MANIAPOTO.

The natives asked that a section of the line should be reserved for them to construct, and their wish was granted - about six miles 
of construction being carried out entirely by Maoris on a system of piecework. Later, 
many of their
race were employed by contractors in the construction of further lengths of the line, and the work 
done by them was
carried out to the entire satisfaction of the authorities.
But before the trouble with the natives was thus happily ended, surveyors had been sent out in 
several directions to
find the best route for the railway. One of the surveyors was stopped by the natives at Karioi, near 
the southern end of
Ruapehu, and was told that if he went on he would be shot. The cause of the trouble was a dispute 
about the sale of
some land, in which one of the chainmen played a part. The matter was settled by a long korero.* The offending assistant was 
discharged, and the tribe afterwards helped the surveyor to cut his line through their 
lands.
Another surveyor - Mr. C. W. Hursthouse, who still lives in Wellington - had a far more disagreeable 
experience in the
northern portion of the King-country, and for a time it was feared that the incident in which he 
played a leading though
unwilling part might result in fresh hostilities between the races. In March, 1883, by direction of 
the Government, he
set out from Alexandra (now known as Pirongia) with Mr. W. Newsham, as assistant, to explore the 
country from Te
Awamutu southward and westward towards Waitara, in Taranaki. They were unable to obtain a guide, and 
were
therefore compelled to attempt the journey alone. By the evening of the first day they had got as far 
as Otorohanga,
where they were told by the natives that they would not be allowed to go further, and must return.

* Talk.

This they refused to do, telling the Maoris, that their orders were to go on to Mokau, on the 
way to Waitara,
and that they intended to do so.
Mr. Hursthouse had been provided by the Hon. Mr. Bryce, Native Minister, with a letter addressed to 
the chiefs,
asking them to assist the explorers. This letter was presented to the natives, who held a meeting, 
and decided that,
notwithstanding the request of the Native Minister, they would not allow the party to proceed.
Next morning, after breakfast, the surveyors started on their way southwards, but were captured and 
brought back to
where the Maoris were assembled. The natives told Mr. Hursthouse that, although their feelings to 
him personally
were most friendly, they could not allow the exploration to go on. Mr. Hursthouse replied that he 
could not listen to
this, and that unless he was taken back by force he would continue his journey. Upon this the Maoris 
told off two of
their number, Aporo and Rawiri, as an escort to take the two men back to Alexandra. This Aporo was 
the man who
had, some time prior to the Maori war, headed the party which broke up the printing-press used at Te 
Awamutu by
Mr. John Gorst (now Sir John Gorst, a prominent British statesman).
On the arrival of the party at Alexandra Mr. Bryce was communicated with and informed of what had 
taken place. He
went to Alexandra and arranged with Wahanui and Rewi Maniapoto that the exploration party should 
start again on
the following Wednesday, and messengers were sent in advance to tell the natives that the men were 
to be allowed
to pass unmolested. Hursthouse and Newsham, with a native, Wetere, as guide, made a second start from 
Alexandra
on Tuesday, one day before the time arranged. After travelling about six miles they breakfasted with Wahanui, who, in reply to 
an inquiry if the date of departure made 
any difference,
said, " All days are Wednesdays while you are with Wetere."
Arriving at Otorohanga, the party was informed by Aporo, their recent escort, that, although the road 
as far as that
point was open to them, they would meet with opposition further south. His words were, " You have the key to this room, but not 
to the next one." 

From a photo kindly lent by Mr. Hursthouse.]
TE KUMI, IN THE KING-COUNTRY (Where Messrs. Hursthouse and Newsham were held as captives).

On the afternoon of the same day a band of some thirty Maoris, who were waiting on the side of the track, called out to the 
travellers to stop and go
back. This they refused to do, upon which the leader called upon his followers to seize the two white 
men. A scuffle
ensued, during which the surveyors were pulled off their horses amidst great clamour and excitement. 
They were then
taken a short distance and told to return. Wetere replied that they would not do so. Thereupon their coats and haversacks were 
taken from them, and the men themselves were taken to a cooking-house about 
a mile
distant, where their hands were tied behind their backs with ropes, and their ankles were bound with 
chains. Wetere,
the guide, seeing that further resistance was useless, left for Alexandra, the nearest 
telegraph-station, and managed
to get a message through to Mr. Bryce, then in Auckland, who at once took steps for the release of 
the prisoners.
With Hursthouse and Newsham was one of Wetere's followers. He was imprisoned with the others, but was 
not
bound, and it was only through him that the two Europeans were able to obtain even water to drink. 
They remained in
their uncomfortable position for about forty hours. The two nights they spent as prisoners were most 
trying, for, in
addition to the pain induced by their bonds, the vicious attacks of mosquitoes caused almost 
intolerable torment, and
the only way the men could find relief was by rubbing their faces on the earthen floor. Finally they 
were liberated by a
party of the Maniapoto Tribe headed by a brother of Wahanui, and Huirangi, eldest daughter of Wetere. 
Te Kooti, of
evil reputation, was at the time on his way from Te Kuiti to rescue them. He took charge of them 
immediately
afterwards, and escorted them to Te Kuiti, where they received every possible kindness. A little later Messrs. Hursthouse and 
Newsham resumed their exploration, and completed their work without interruption.

DATES FOR THE MONTH (March). - On appropriate days the school flag might be hoisted : 7th-Sir George Grey, K.C.B., 
assumed duty as Governor of the colony, 1873; 17th-St. Patrick's Day; 25th-Cook paid his second visit to New Zealand, 1773; 
26th-Commencement of San Francisco mail-service, 1870; 31st-Arrival of first New 
Plymouth settlers, 1841-Cook left Cape Farewell, 1770, after his first visit to New Zealand.

A LIVING PUMP AND ITS SYSTEM OF SELFADJUSTING PIPES.
(Continued from page 11.)
We have now followed the course of the systemic circulation to the veins, which are gathering up the 
now used-up
blood. The small veins form larger ones, and the larger ones finally unite into two large channels 
which pour their
contents into the right side of the heart. This blood is then pumped into the shorter, easier 
circuit, which conducts it
to the lungs, where it is quickly distributed into millions of vessels not thicker than hairs, and is 
brought into close
contact with the air. It gives waste material to the air, and gets in exchange the pure life-giving 
oxygen - the bluish
impure blood becomes bright-red pure blood. This is gathered into a large vein, which pours it into 
the left side of the
heart, ready to go out on the systemic circuit again.
All this steady work is going on constantly in our bodies. Even as you read this the complicated 
action of beating has
gone steadily on, and you have paid no attention to it. Certainly there has never been invented a 
mechanical pump
that will work so efficiently and silently as this living one of ours.
This wonderful living pump has to combine the action of two pumps in one, and the action of one - that 
of the systemic
circulation -has to be much more forceful than that of the other. The mechanism to overcome this 
difficulty is very
simple - the heart-muscle is divided into two, but the dividing partition, or septum, is more to the 
right side, so that the
muscle of the left side is thicker and much stronger than that of the right. These right and left 
sides are entirely cut off
from each other, and are each divided into upper and lower chambers,
called auricles and ventricles respectively. These are separted from each other by a wonderfully 
constructed series of
valves or stops to prevent any flow of blood the wrong way. Each valve consists of a fold or flap of 
the lining-membrane
of the heart, and, when the blood is flowing past in the right direction, is pressed close against the wall.

THE HEART.
(The right auricle and ventricle are opened, and in the latter the structure of a valve is well shown.)

When, however, the heart contracts, and the blood 
it contains tends
to get out of any opening through which it can get away, the thin flap or fold is ballooned out. It 
comes into contact
with other
similar flaps, thus preventing a flow of blood through the wrong opening. By one edge these valves 
are firmly attached
to the wall of the heart, the other edge being loose and free. Strong bands of tissue run like cords 
from these free
edges to the inner wall of the ventricle; these hold the flaps in position (in the same way as the 
cords hold the silk of
a balloonist's parachute) and keep them from turning inside out.
When these valves are put on the stretch they vibrate from the tension and emit a low-pitched musical 
note. It is this
to which a doctor listens when he sounds the heart. Constant practice teaches him the sound that is 
given off when
the valves are smooth and strong, and are working truly and with their natural elasticity. If they 
are rough or deficient,
the altered character of the sound gives a clue to the patient's illness.
A second series of valves, which are quite as important but are a good deal smaller, are found at the 
beginning of the
big blood-vessels. These are the semilunar valves. They have not such a wide space to bridge across, 
and they are
constructed on a simpler plan. They look like crescent-shaped pockets on the walls of the vessels, 
and lie flat as the
blood flows past them; but if it attempts to go backwards they bulge out and come into contact with 
one another. The
strongest of these is at the beginning of the systemic circulation, and the flaps are put on the 
stretch and come
together directly the blood has been pumped into the vessel. When they are stretched a sound is 
given off, as in the
case of the other valves, but it is much shorter and sharper in character.
When the heart contracts, blood is suddenly sent into the vessels. This sets up a wave throughout the 
whole system,
and it is this wave that forms the "pulse " which is felt in all the arteries - that is, in the vessels carrying blood from the heart. 
You 
can feel the pulse for
yourselves by placing your fingers on the wrist about a quarter of an inch above the base of the 
thumb. This will tell
you exactly how often the heart is beating, and whether it is beating evenly and steadily. From the 
sounds of the
heart, together with the pulse, a doctor can learn a great deal.
Though I have told you so much about the blood and the heart, I have not told you one-half of what is 
known about it. I
have told you only what takes place when the body is sound and healthy, but there are many conditions 
of ill health
or disease when the heart has to adjust itself to very different conditions.
 One particularly interesting power the blood possesses is that of setting, or coagulating, when it ceases to be in contact with the 
living vessel-wall.
If we put blood into a bowl we find that it first sets
into a sort of jelly, and that this jelly then draws
itself together and squeezes out a yellowish fluid.
When you receive a wound the blood pours out, and
as it flows over the rough sides a thin layer coagulates, and then another thin layer on top of this, till
a plug or clot fills up the gaping wound. This
shrinks together like the clot in the bowl, the sides
of the wound are drawn together, and the first step
towards healing has taken place. Exactly the same
thing takes place where a blood-vessel is cut or injured. A clot is formed which acts like a plug or cork, and prevents further loss 
of blood. You can 
see that, if the flow from a vessel were very strong,
this plug would be readily washed away, so, to give
it a chance to firmly establish itself, we press the
artery above the wound and allow only a small quantity of blood to pass along it. This is the reason for putting firm pressure 
above bleeding wounds, as we 
are taught to do in rendering first aid. The blood of some persons has not this power of coagulating, 
and in such
cases wounds of any kind are most serious, as it is almost impossible to stop the bleeding. Such 
persons have been
known to die when a tooth has been taken out or when a finger has been cut.
Arteries always bleed very severely when cut, but nature has put them deep down in the tissues, so 
that they are well
protected from injury. There are some parts of the body where, to render nicety of movement easy, 
there is very little
fleshy tissue - such parts are the wrist, the ankle, and the palm of the hand. In these parts, 
therefore, moderately deep
wounds do far more damage than in fleshy parts, such as the upper arm or the calf of the leg. You 
should always
know how to stop such bleeding, for in case of accidents you can sometimes save a life by knowing 
where to press
an artery to stop the flow of blood. The large artery that supplies the arm can be felt beating about 
half-way down the
upper arm, towards the inner side of the front - the seam of an ordinary coat-sleeve is a fair guide to 
this. You can
readily feel the pulse in this artery if you feel in the right place. Pressure over this pulse will 
stop all severe bleeding in
the arm below the elbow. The artery supplying the leg is to the inner side of the front, and the best 
way to stop the
flow of blood is to press backwards with your two thumbs in the fold of the groin, about an inch and 
a half from the
central line. If a wounded person is bleeding freely you can soon see if you are pressing in the 
right place by watching
the jet of blood and seeing if you can control it.

Truth of itself is of sufficient worth, Nor needs it gloss of art to set it forth.
-DRAYTON.

HOW THE LAW IS ENFORCED.
PART 1.
In English-speaking countries the laws framed for preserving the safety 
of citizens, and for protecting their property,
are now more easily enforced than they were in England less than a 
hundred years ago. One reason for this may be
found in the fact than the streets of the towns and the larger cities, 
such as London, are broader, better paved, and
better lighted than they used to be. People of evil
repute who were once in the habit of lurking in narrow alleys and dark right-of-ways at night-time, ready to pounce
upon the unwary passer-by and garner their harvest of crime, are now more readily detected when they offend against
the laws.
Curious as it may seem to us, it was not until the year 1685 that, in even such a large city as London, there were any
street-lamps to light the path of the traveller on his way home. 

THE WATCHMEN.

In that year an ingenious person called Edward Heming, for a moderate sum, undertook to place a lantern before every tenth door 
in
the principal streets during a portion of the winter nights when there was no moon. Heming was looked upon as a
public benefactor by all except the thieves and bad characters, who at that time infested the streets of the city after nightfall.
In 1762 the English Parliament passed a Paving and Lighting Act, and, for nearly half a century after, the streets of the city were 
partially lit by a few feeble oil lamps, and were guarded by a number of decrepit and
almost useless watchmen. Street brawls and robberies were still the ordinary events of the night. Troops of noisy
vagabonds paraded the alleys and thoroughfares, and these the aged watchmen, asleep in their boxes, were only
too glad to avoid.
In 1807 gas lamps were introduced, and, although the scheme ruined its enterprising promoters, who were regarded,
even in Parliament, as greedy monopolists, the benefits were so apparent that this method of street-lighting soon
came into general use. One of our historians has said that "the adventurers in gaslight did more for the prevention of
crime than the Government had done since the days of Alfred."
Even as late as 1816, the year after the Battle of Waterloo was fought, a properly organized police force for the
prevention of crime was utterly unknown. Indeed, the " thief-taker," as the police officer was called, was only too often
an encourager of crime. It was to his interest to allow a thief to remain at large until he happened to commit a crime
for the detection of which the Government would offer a reward. A London magistrate, when examined before a
parliamentary committee in 1816, said that even the children were in the habit of seeing " the thieves and thief-takers
sitting and drinking together on terms of good fellowship; all they see and hear is calculated to make them believe
that they may rob without fear of punishment; for in their thoughtless course they do not reflect that the forbearance of
the officers will continue no longer than until the thief has committed a ' forty-pound crime,' when he will be arrested, brought to 
justice, and duly hanged."
A "forty-pound crime " meant a crime for the detection of which, followed by the conviction of the 
criminal, the
Government would pay a reward of £40. To earn this reward it was the well-known practice of the 
thief-takers as a
class to wink at the commission of smaller offences until the thief could be accused of a more 
serious charge. He
was then arrested for the sake of the reward.
A regular police force, such as we have now for the maintenance of law and order, was not established 
in England
until 1829, when, owing to the efforts of Sir Robert Peel, the British Parliament abolished the local 
administration of
the nightly watch and police, and appointed a sufficient number of competent men of good character to 
act as a
police force under the direct control of the Government. It is scarcely credible, but still it is 
quite true, that at the time
a great outcry was raised against the establishment of such a force as this - a force that has since 
done so much for
the general safety and welfare of the people.* A great many foolish people stated that they were 
quite satisfied with
the protection afforded by the aged and feeble watchmen, and that they feared that the new police 
force would deprive them of some of their ancient liberties and privileges. Sensible men, however, as a witty 
writer has pointed
out, were soon satisfied to believe " that Mr. Peel's innovation would have no other effect on our 
liberties than that of
depriving us of the liberty we have hitherto enjoyed of being robbed and knocked on the head by their honours the thieves."

* The popular feeling against the police organized by Sir Robert Peel is shown in the nicknames they received, "Bobby" or 
"Peeler," and as slang expressions the names are sometimes used even at the present day. It is an extraordinary coincidence that 
the word "peeler," which is now applied to the thief-catcher, was three centuries ago
applied to robbers or thieves, and that the old towers on the borders of England and Scotland were called "peels."

Although many years have passed since Sir Robert Peel introduced this great reform, the management of 
police
affairs and the duties of police officers are not widely different from what they were then.
In New Zealand the police force is under the control of the Minister of Justice, and its members are 
responsible to him
for the proper discharge of their duties. The members of the force are almost invariably men of 
exceptionally good
character, and the special work they have to do makes it necessary that they should be healthy, 
strong, and of good
physique. Before a man is allowed to join the force, the most searching inquiries are made into his 
character and life
since he left school. Having been accepted, he has to undergo a course of two months' training in 
drill, physical
exercises, and gymnastics, and he has to attend classes of instruction. Among other things, he is 
taught the
geography of Australia and the South Pacific, is made acquainted with the laws bearing on his duties, 
and is trained
in first aid to the injured. As his duties are very responsible, he must be a man of sound 
common-sense.
It is one of the principal duties of the policeman to see that the laws relating to the maintenance 
of order, and those
having reference to the rights of property, are not broken. His first duty is, if possible, to 
prevent these laws from being
broken or evaded. His second duty is to bring offenders against the laws to justice. But his duties 
do not end here.
You see him quietly walking along the street, but his eyes and ears are on the alert. When the 
fire-bell rings he must
hasten to the scene to assist in saving life and property, or to keep in check the too curious 
spectators. Street
accidents, runaway horses, lost children, and a thousand-and-one other things all claim his 
attention. At night, in the
deserted streets, down dark alley-ways, or wherever danger or crime may lurk, for eight hours, in rain, hail, or snow, he watches 
over the sleeping 
town.
The laws dealing with offences have a twofold object. Their main object is to protect all classes of 
people against the
wrongful acts of evildoers, so that life, liberty, and property may be as safe as possible. Their 
next object is to punish
the lawbreaker in such a way that he will not be so likely to break the law a second time, and by the 
punishment
inflicted to deter others from committing similar or other offences against the law.

STAR STORIES.
II. THE CRAB, THE LION, AND THE WATER-SNAKE.
The ancient astronomers who grouped the stars into constellations first noted the apparent path of 
the sun in the
heavens, the ecliptic,* and mapped out a belt 16' wide, 8' on each side of it. They then divided this 
belt into twelve
equal parts or "signs " of 30' each, giving to each sign the name of a constellation situated near 
it. As nearly all
the constellations in the belt are figures of animals, it was called the Zodiac, or the Zone of 
Animals. The names of
these twelve constellations of the Zodiac can be remembered by the well-known lines,
The Ram, the Bull, the Heavenly Twins, And next the Crab the Lion shines, The Virgin and the Scales, 
The Scorpion,
Archer, and He-goat, The Man that bears the watering-pot, And Fish with glittering tails.

*The apparent path of the sun in the heavens is called the "ecliptic " because eclipses happen only when the moon is crossing it.

Cancer, or the Crab, is the smallest and least conspicuous of all the constellations of the Zodiac. 
It is to the east of
Gemini, or the Twins, and is due north at 9 p.m. about the middle of March. The principal stars, 
which are all faint,
form the letter Y. The only interesting part of the constellation is near the centre of the group, 
where a pair of stars lie
north and south of a misty-looking object. This hazy object is a pretty cluster of stars which can be 
seen very well
with an ordinary opera-glass. It is sometimes called the Beehive. Another name for it is the Manger 
(Praesepe). The
two faint stars on each side of it are supposed to represent two asses, or the ox and the ass, beside 
the crib in the
stable of Bethlehem.
Like a little mist, Far north in Cancer's territory it floats. Its confines 
are two faintly glimmering stars; These are two
Asses that a Manger parts.
To the east of the insignificant Crab is the most famous of all the 
constellations of the Zodiac - Leo, or the Lion. The
stars in it form two principal groups, the Sickle, made up of six bright 
stars marking the Lion's head and breast, and a
group of three stars which indicate its hind quarters. (The map represents 
the constellations as they appear in the
Northern Hemisphere. In order to see them as they appear in our hemisphere, 
turn the map upside down.) The bright
star at the end of the handle of the Sickle is called Regulus, a Latin word 
meaning " Little King." This name was given
to the star not on account of its superior brightness, for there are many 
stars more brilliant than Regulus, but on
account of its position. The map shows that it is very near the ecliptic, 
and, at the time when the constellations were
designed, the sun at its highest noon altitude - that is, at the summer 
solstice - was very near Regulus. On that account
it was called the "Little King." According to Aratus, the harvest was 
reaped when the sun entered the constellation of
the Lion, for he says,
As rushing on his prey, The lordly Lion greets the god of day,* When out of 
Cancer, in his torrid car Borne high, he
shoots his arrows from afar, Scorching the empty fields and thirsty plain, 
Secures the barn the harvest's golden grain.
The bright star at the tip of the Lion's tail is called Denebola.
The Hydra, or Water-snake, is a long trailing constellation beginning a 
little above the Crab and stretching across
some 100' of longitude. It is the longest constellation in the heavens.

* The sun.

Its head begins close to Procyon, 
and is a good representation of the head of a
hissing serpent. It has few bright stars, the brightest being Alphard 
(the " Solitary "), a ruddy star in a straight line
with the two brightest stars in the Sickle.
Above the hind quarters of the Lion and near Hydra is a group of stars 
forming the constellation Crater, or the Cap. To
the right of the Cup are four fairly bright stars forming a quadrilateral 
figure. This is Corvus, the Crow or Raven. A faint
fifth star is in the bill of the Crow, which is supposed to be standing 
upon and pecking at the Water-snake.

THE WRECK OF THE "PENGUIN."
Early on the morning of the 13th February news was received in Wellington 
of one of the most appalling shipping
disasters in the history of New Zealand. The Union Steam Ship Company's 
steamer " Penguin," bound from Nelson
and Picton to Wellington, had been wrecked between Cape Terawhiti and 
Port Nicholson, and the loss of life had
been terrible. So far as is known at present,* seventy-four of the 
passengers and crew have perished. Fourteen of the
passengers and sixteen of the crew, among whom was Captain Naylor, were 
saved.
The story of the wreck as told by the captain and the survivors is that 
the " Penguin " left Picton on Friday at 6.20
p.m. A southerly gale was blowing, and while in Cook Strait the vessel 
became enshrouded in dense fog and driving
rain. About 10 o'clock the captain expected to see the light on Pencarrow 
Head, at the entrance to Port Nicholson.
Not being able to do so, he determined to head the vessel out to sea.

* When the School Journal went to press.

As she was turning she 
struck, probably on what is known as "Tom's
Rock," the position of which is shown on the map. When it was found that 
the water was rising in the holds, the
passengers were called up and life-belts were handed out.
Into the details of the sad story of that terrible night we shall not 
enter, but to the honour of the crew and passengers - men, women, and children alike - it must be said that amidst all the 
distress and anguish there was no panic; no tale
of cowardice has been told; no ignoble and selfish struggle for personal 
safety has been even hinted at. Mr. Luke, the
second engineer, who managed to reach the shore after being five hours in 
the water, says, " I could not have
believed that there could be such discipline. There was not the slightest 
panic - not even so much excitement as there
usually is on a vessel leaving the wharves. The women and children 
behaved splendidly." What a tale of heroism and
self-restraint is told in these simple words!
The only woman saved was Mrs. Hannam, whose husband and four children 
were also on board. She was put into a
boat with her children, but while it was being lowered one of the ropes 
gave way, and many of the occupants, among
whom were her three eldest children, were thrown into the water and lost. 
When the boat reached the surf it was
capsized. Mrs. Hannam says, " Everybody was instantly thrown into the 
sea, but I managed to grasp a rope, and
God alone knows how I hung on. A young boy, Ellis Matthews, was floating 
near me, and I got a rope to him and
helped to secure him under the capsized boat. We were right underneath 
the boat, and we clung on with our heads
towards the floor of the boat, and were thus able to breathe." When the 
boat was cast upon the shore the watchers
on the beach lifted it up and took out the only two survivors of the 
whole boat-load.
In the School Journal for last year you were told of the heroism of the 
stewardesses on the ill-fated " Wairarapa " - Miss
Macquaid and Mrs. Macdonald. Not less noble and self-sacrificing were 
the two stewardesses on the " Penguin " - Mrs. Hope and Mrs. Jacobs - both of whom were drowned. In slightly 
differing words the tale of one survivor is the tale
of all. Mrs. Hannam says of Mrs. Jacobs, " She helped us before we got 
into the boat. She was a brave woman. She
did everything - got blankets and wrapped us up, and was calm and collected, and did not flurry us in the least." " Mrs. Hope," 
says
another survivor, " was giving out lifebelts and blankets from the time the 
ship struck to the last minute. She helped to
carry the women and children out of the forecabin to the deck, and hushed 
and comforted them. She was the last to
go into the women's boat."
The verdict given at the Court of Inquiry into the wreck of the " Wairarapa" said of Miss Macquaid and Mrs.
Macdonald, " The stewardesses of the ill-fated vessel preferred death to 
dishonour and neglect of duty. The conduct of
these self-sacrificing women was beyond all praise." How equally true 
these same words, ring when applied to Mrs.
Hope and Mrs. Jacobs!

From a block kindly supplied by the proprietors of the "New Zealand Times," Wellington.]
The strong current which sets up the Strait carried the survivors up the coast to a point about half-way between Tom's Rock and 
Cape Terawhiti. When they reached the shore they were shown every kindness and attention at Mr. McMenamen's homestead, 
which is close to the beach.

THE PLANETS - Jupiter is the only planet that is favourably situated for 
observation during the month. He is in the
constellation of the Lion, a little to the right of Regulus, and will be on 
the meridian about 11 p.m. in the middle of the
month. Venus and Saturn are too near the sun for observation, the former 
rising at 5 a.m., and the latter setting at 7
p.m. As Mars does not rise till midnight, he cannot be seen during the early part of the evening. (For notes on the sun see the 
astronomical notes for March, 1908)

BRITAIN'S POSITION AMONG THE NATIONS, AND THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF HER CITIZENS.
[Specially written for the School Journal by Lieutenant H. T. C. KNOX, late 
R.N., Organizing Lecturer of the Navy League.]
Never was isle so little, Never was sea so lone, But over the scud and the 
palm-trees An English flag was flown. – KIPLING.
The British Empire* may be likened to a large house containing many rooms, 
varying greatly in size, the access to
each being through various saltwater passages. There is a small overcrowded 
room in the North Sea, the unvictualled
ocean citadel at the heart of the Empire, and its 43,000,000 people are 
almost entirely dependent upon sea-borne
food and raw materials. Then there is the great India, with its 300,000,000 
people, embracing Mohammedans and
Hindus; it is distant from England six thousand miles by the Suez Canal, or 
ten thousand via the great strategic pivot
of the Empire, the Cape of Good Hope. Australia and New Zealand are the 
extreme eastern outposts of the Empire,
the former twenty-two times the size of the British Isles and containing 
one-tenth of its population, the latter rather smaller in area than the islands in the North Sea, with one million inhabitants.

*For the map of the British Empire see School Journal, Part III, May, 1908.

HIS MAJESTY KING EDWARD VII IN HIS UNIFORM AS ADMIRAL OF THE BRITISH FLEET.

To the westward is the great Dominion of Canada, which in a short time 
should become Great Britain's granary. It has
7,000,000 inhabitants, and its great trunk railway - the Canadian-Pacific - 
forms a connecting-link between the west and the east. To the southward are Cape Colony, Natal, and the British 
territory north of both, whilst scattered all over
the ocean are the Islands of the Seven Seas,* the fortified 
coaling-stations of the Empire.
The sea is our highway from every portion of this maritime empire to 
every other portion, and in order that Britons may
be enabled to carry on in peace their legitimate vocations, and because 
across the sea is carried the whole of the
vast commerce of the Empire, we must at all costs retain that command of 
the sea which Nelson and his "band of
brothers" gave us at Trafalgar. The navy is the main line of defence for 
the whole British Empire, and the amount we
spend annually upon our fleet may be truly called our insurance. It is 
interesting to note that whereas the armies of
Continental nations are numbered by millions, the whole body of men 
employed in the British Fleet is only 130,000
officers and men.
England expects, and, indeed, knows, that every man will do his duty. But 
the doing of duty begins with the boy and
the girl, and when young we must all train ourselves and fit ourselves 
for the great duties and responsibilities which
will fall upon us when we grow up. And by "duties" I do not mean only the 
duties in connection with the army and the
navy, for every man and woman, every boy and girl, who does his or her 
duty in the peaceful walks of life is helping to build up and maintain the Empire.

* Seven Seas, the waters of the globe generally.

In doing your duty you are forming your character, and when the time comes for you to fall back on that character its strength or 
its weakness will at once appear.
Let me tell you a story taken from the history of your own Dominion. During the troublous times in 
New Zealand – in 1846, to be exact - quarrels with the natives arose about the purchase of some land in the fertile 
valley of the Hutt
River, near Wellington. An hour before daylight on the 16th May fifty soldiers stationed at 
Boulcott's farm were
surprised by a party of natives. Six soldiers were, killed and four were wounded, and had it not been 
for the simple yet
lofty heroism of the bugler, a boy named Allen, a more terrible disaster would have occurred. Roused 
from his sleep
by stealthy footsteps, he seized his bugle. Raising it in his right hand, he was about to sound the 
alarm when a blow
from a tomahawk descended. Still undaunted, and still determined to do his duty at whatever cost, he 
raised the
bugle with his uninjured left hand, and blew a blast that roused his comrades. The notes cost him his 
life, for the next
moment he was struck down. No doubt Allen had had his day-dreams in which he performed the most 
heroic deeds,
but even in his wildest dreams he could not have imagined circumstances such as those in which the 
supreme act of
his life was to be played. His character, formed while he was quietly yet faithfully carrying out the 
humdrum duties of
his daily life, upheld him at that dreadful moment, and raised him to the highest pinnacle of 
nobility even as he fell.
My advice to the young people of New Zealand is, " Remember that whatever is worth doing at all is 
worth doing well."
When you are working, work your hardest, and when you are playing, play your hardest. Remember the 
words of His
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales spoken to the public-school boys of Melbourne in 1901: " Be thorough; ,do your level best 
in all that you may be called 
upon to perform.
Remember that we are all fellow-subjects of the British Crown. Be loyal, yes, to your parents, your 
country, your King,
and your God."
The benefits derived from being a subject of the British Crown are indeed great, and the longer we 
live the more we
realise this. That other people realise it also I had the opportunity for finding out in 1903 when 
travelling in Russia, at
a time when great labour riots were in progress. In company with a German merchant I had embarked on 
board a
steamer at Kieff to go down the Dnieper. When asked by the Russian authorities who he was, he 
replied, " We are
two Englishmen travelling for pleasure. "
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Premier of Canada, has well said, " The British Empire means freedom and 
autonomy [self-government], and because of that it will live for ever." Probably the full meaning of that word "freedom " is not 
fully
understood by those of us who are fortunate enough to have been born under the Union Jack, any more 
than the
beauties of New Zealand can be thoroughly appreciated by those who have not travelled in other 
lands. I well
remember, some twenty years ago, talking with a Russian in London, and, on my mentioning the word "liberty," he
said, " You are an Englishman: you really don't know the meaning of the word." Since then I have 
travelled three
times through European Russia, and now understand the full sense of his remark.
Our Empire, on which the sun never sets, contains men of all creeds and all colours, and its whole 
strength rests
upon sea power. It is founded upon self-respect, built up by self-sacrifice, and crowned by 
self-denial. It contains
everything needful for all its members. The British Isles supply the coal and iron, India the raw cotton, Australia and New 
Zealand the wool and frozen meat, and Canada the grain; and it may be stated generally that the Briton has made two blades of 
grass grow where only one grew before his occupation.
We of the present generation find ourselves in the position of trustees for the greatest heritage any people has ever received. Our 
responsibility is colossal, for we are bound to do all in our power to hand down this priceless possession unimpaired to those who 
follow us. His Most Gracious Majesty King Edward VII holds sway over 400,000,000
people - white, black, brown, and yellow – one-fourth of the population of this planet. 

H.M.S. "DREADNOUGHT," THE LATEST TYPE OF BATTLESHIP.
H.M.S. "POWERFUL," A FIRST-CLASS CRUISER.
TURBINE TORPEDO-BOAT DESTROYER, STEAMING 35 ½ KNOTS.
A SUBMARINE AT SEA.
(Notes on these illustrations will appear next month.)

Some idea of the greatness of that number may be gathered from the fact that if they could all march past a given point, one 
person passing per second, the long procession would take thirteen years to go by.
That we may not forget our responsibilities to the Empire, Lord Meath has succeeded in founding 
Empire Day, which
is celebrated on the 24th of May throughout the whole of His Majesty's dominions. On Empire Day, 
1906, I was
privileged to address a thousand children in the Midlands of England, at a meeting over which the 
Marquis of Exeter
presided, and on the 24th of May, 1907, I spoke to Lord Roberts's Rifle Boys in the City of London. 
Since then I
have crossed many thousand miles of ocean, and have found that the children of your southern isles 
take the keenest
interest in those matters on which I addressed the children in the Motherland.
In building up our Empire it may justly be said that we have striven to do justice to all men without 
respect of persons.
Britons have carried Christianity and civilisation to all the ends of the earth, redeeming from 
barbarism many of its
dark places. Wherever the Union Jack flies, those who live under its folds, dark and white races 
alike, enjoy liberty
and justice such as cannot be found under any other flag. In Africa, Britain has abolished the 
slave-trade by means of
British men-of-war cruising off the coast, and by expeditions into the interior. In the suppression 
of this hideous traffic,
I have myself been privileged to take part. The establishment of a British protectorate over Uganda 
and the making of
that great civiliser, the railway from Mombassa to Victoria Nyanza, have been of great help in this work. Farther to the 
northward the Soudan enjoys peace, and the fellaheen* of Egypt can now cultivate their lands,
and are no longer at the mercy of any tyrant who may happen to arise. India and Egypt may justly be called the
greatest monuments to the benefits of British rule. We must always take the lion's share in ruling Egypt, for it is the
half-way house to India, the brightest jewel in the British Crown.
Every Briton must consider the responsibility which attaches to himself personally for the upkeep of 
this marvellous
fabric called the British Empire, and when any one is tempted to say, " I have no influence. What can 
I do?" let him
remember that the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia was the work of countless myriads of 
the tiniest
insects, the work of each of which was necessary for the completion  of the whole structure.
Britain is fortunate in having a long roll of builders to adorn the pages of its history, and it is 
difficult to select a few
names when the choice is so wide. But I would recommend you to read all you can about Nelson, 
Wellington,
Gordon, Clive, Lawrence, Livingstone, Roberts, Wolfe, Salisbury, Beaconsfield, Bartle Frere, and 
Cromer.
We may consider ourselves fortunate indeed in having lived in the reigns of two such monarchs as 
Queen Victoria
and King Edward VII.
Let us say with Tennyson, - Shall we not through good and ill Cleave, to one another still ? 
Britain's myriad voices
call, "Sons, be welded each and all Into one Imperial whole--One with Britain, heart and soul - One 
life, one flag, one
fleet, one throne." Britons, hold your own.

* Fellaheen, the plural of fellah, an Egyptian peasant.*

NEW ZEALAND'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE  INSURANCE OF THE EMPIRE.
Before leaving the Dominion in January last Lieutenant Knox wrote for you 
the article " Britain's Position among the
Nations " - his last message to New Zealand. Since then people in all 
parts of the Empire have been stirred from a
quiet appreciation of their privileges as citizens of the Empire to a 
deeper sense of the responsibilities cast upon them
for its protection.
 To retain our supremacy at sea and to safeguard
our immense commercial interests, British statesmen
have recognised, in regard to the navy, what is
known as the " two-Power standard." By this is
meant that the United Kingdom intends to maintain
a navy which shall be equal to the combined navies
of any two other Powers. Of late Germany has
shown such increased activity in adding to her navy
that the programme of naval construction mapped
out by Britain seemed inadequate for the standard
she had set up. Throughout the Empire it was felt
that more vessels of the "Dreadnought" type
should be built. Indeed, a crisis in the history of
the British Navy had been reached.  Legislators at
Home were giving the matter their most serious
attention, and in all parts of the Empire a deep
sense of the joint responsibilities of the Motherland
and her dependencies came home to even the most
thoughtless.
From the information possessed by the New Zealand Government, the Cabinet 
unanimously decided to offer the
British Government the cost of the immediate building and arming of one 
first-class battleship of the latest type, and,
if subsequent events show it to be necessary, to provide the cost of a 
second warship of the same type.
In referring to the offer, the Right Honourable Sir Joseph Ward, Prime 
Minister, said, " No room is left for doubt that
England feels that her supremacy on the seas is now seriously threatened 
by the amazing naval activity of the
German dockyards. It appears clear that all thoughtful men in Great 
Britain recognise that the Empire must set itself
with the utmost determination, and, if necessary, sacrifice, to maintain 
the naval supremacy upon which not only our
honour but our national greatness depends. The burden lying upon the 
British nation for naval expenditure is at
present enormous, and every loyal subject of the Crown must feel that in 
time of crisis like this he is called upon to
help the Motherland with more than words."
In the House of Commons at Home the Right Honourable H. H. Asquith, Prime 
Minister, announced that the offer of
New Zealand was cordially accepted, and the Secretary of State for the 
Colonies cabled to His Excellency the
Governor, for transmission to Sir Joseph Ward, the following message from 
His Majesty the King: " I am commanded
by His Majesty the King to inform you that His
Majesty is deeply gratified at the patriotic feeling displayed by New 
Zealand towards the Mother-country in their
splendid offer, and to convey at
once his gratitude and high appreciation for the fine patriotism and 
generosity shown in the magnificent offer made so
promptly and spontaneously."
New Zealand has thus shown that she is prepared to bear her full share of 
the burden of empire so long as war is the
arbiter of nations, and until the time shall come when
The war-drum throbs no longer and the battle-flags are furled
In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.

THE UNITED STATES OF. TO-DAY.
(Concluded from page 73.)
The greater part of the population of the United States lives east of the 
Mississippi; it is in the eastern states that
nearly all the great towns are situated, and that most of the manufactures 
of the country are carried on.

From a stereograph copyright by Underwood and Underwood, London, New York 
and Melbourne.]
BROADWAY, NEW YORK.

There are in the United States thirty-eight towns having over 100,000 inhabitants - a number much larger than is contained in any 
of our four New Zealand centres. New 
York, the largest city in the United States
and the second largest in the world, has a population of well over 4,000,000 - as many 
people as there are in the whole of Australia.
New York is the greatest port of the United States, and is the commercial 
centre of the country. It is the terminus of
all the principal steamer-lines plying between the United States and Europe.
Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, stands on a peninsula on the shores 
of one of the noblest harbours in the
world. Though ranking second as an Atlantic port, Boston has yet a higher 
claim on our attention, for it is regarded as
the most literary town in the United States. No other city of the Union has 
exerted so marked an influence in shaping
the literature of the new nation, and with no other city are associated the 
names of so many men eminent in literature
and in the arts and sciences. In history, too, Boston has won a name. It 
was here, in 1773, that the tea on which a
tax had been imposed by England was thrown into the sea, and but a few 
miles away is the hallowed spot upon
which, in 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers landed.
Chicago, which has over 2,600,000 inhabitants, is the most remarkable 
instance of rapid growth in the world. Seventy
years ago it was a frontier log fort; to-day it is the second city in the 
United States, and the greatest grain and meat
market in the world. The meat industry of Chicago is on a scale such as can 
be seen nowhere else in the world. The
extensive Union Stockyards cover an area of 400 acres, and have 
accommodation for 75,000 head of cattle, 300.000
hogs, and 80,000 sheep. It has been said that in the meat-packing works "ten pigs and five cattle are killed, cleaned,
cured or tinned, and exported every minute," and there is so little waste 
that Americans have a saying that in Chicago
they use every part of a hog except its squeal.
Philadelphia, called the "City of Homes" on account of the many beautiful homes it contains, has 
1,440,000 inhabitants - a good many more than there are in the whole of New Zealand. In 1682 Quaker William 
Penn laid it out
as the capital of his new colony of Pennsylvania, and gave it its present name, which means "brotherly love." 

From a stereograph copyright by Underwood and Underwood, London, New York, and Melbourne.]
THE UNION STOCKYARDS, CHICAGO.

It is the largest coal-market in the States, and exports great quantities of petroleum, which is brought to it in pipes from
the oil region of the north-west, some hundreds of miles distant.
Pittsburg, the " iron city," also is in Pennsylvania. It occupies the site of an old French trading-post, and is named after the great 
statesman who sent out Wolfe to Quebec, and who sympathized 
with the
American colonists in their struggles against unjust taxation. It is the centre of one of the richest 
coal-areas in the
world, and has the leading steel, iron, and glass works in the republic. In the adjoining country 
petroleum is abundant,
and natural gas is distributed throughout the city, and used for lighting streets and houses, and for 
driving machinery.
The chief city of the west is San Francisco, on a splendid bay the entrance to which is the 
well-known Golden Gate,
a strikingly beautiful and picturesque waterway five miles long and one mile wide. San Francisco was 
an old Spanish
city and mission station, and many traces of Spanish occupation are still to be found in the 
surrounding district. But
the discovery of gold in 1848 made it a busy city. At the beginning of 1849 its population was 2,000; 
at the end of the
year, 20,000. In April, 1906, it was severely shaken by an earthquake, and was almost destroyed by 
the fires which
afterwards broke out and swept over it. But it is being rapidly rebuilt, and is again becoming worthy 
of its title, "the
capital of the Pacific." In its streets are to be seen people of every nationality -Europeans, 
Chinese, Japanese,
negroes, descendants of the Spaniards, and the various human flotsam and jetsam. from the isles and 
the confines of
the Pacific.
But from the gruesomeness of the Chicago slaughter-yards, the clang of the steam-hammers at 
Pittsburg, and the
babel of tongues at San Francisco, let us turn to Washington, the capital. It has no great commercial 
importance, but
it is beautiful and restful. The site of the capital was chosen by the famous champion of American 
freedom when the United States became a nation. The Declaration of Independence is kept in the Capitol, the great 
building where
Congress* meets, and where from the time of " the father of his country " the voices of America's 
greatest statesmen
have been heard.
It is a great mistake to think of all the people of the United States as being of the same race as ourselves, for there is a very large 
number of foreigners.

THE CAPITOL, WASHINGTON.

For many years there has been a steady stream of immigrants from Europe. People living in great poverty and under tyrannical 
rulers in the overcrowded Old World, and seeing nothing in front of them there but a life of semi-slavery,
have been attracted to the New World by reports of its freedom and its opportunities for making a good living. At the
entrance to New York harbour a gigantic statute of Liberty greets the new American citizen, reminding him that he is entering a 
country of freedom.

* The Senate and the House of Representatives ; see page 118.

Thousands of Russian Jews have sought refuge in the States from the persecutions of the Russian 
Government.
Great numbers of Italians have been attracted by the high wages ruling across the Atlantic. Hundreds 
of thousands of
Irish have left the Emerald Isle and gone to the States, where they have gained a considerable 
influence in local and
national politics. In a recent year immigrants from all countries numbered 1,100,735 - more people 
than there are in
this country. Of these, 273,120 came from Italy, 265,138 from Austria and Hungary, and 215,665 from 
Russia. In the
ten years from 1896 to 1906, the United States received no fewer than 6,154,229 new citizens from abroad.

THE STATUE OF LIBERTY.

The negro problem is a very serious one. The blacks were introduced as slaves, and were liberated after the war between the 
North and the 
South. The
negroes have rapidly increased in numbers, and to-day total nearly 10,000,000. Their rate of increase 
is greater than
the rate of increase of the whites. What is to be done with them is a question which puzzles even the 
most thoughtful
Americans. In some States the feeling against them is very strong, and a hard-and-fast line is drawn 
between the
white and the black races. We are accustomed to see Maoris sitting at table with Europeans, talking to them in the street, and 
competing with them 
on equal terms in various sports and occupations. The good Maori stands as high as the good pakeha, and the bad pakeha sinks as 
low as the bad Maori.

EDUCATING LITTLE NEGROES, VIRGINIA.

But in some parts of America the negro is always treated as an inferior being: he is not allowed to associate with the white man 
as an equal;
he may
not even eat at the same table as the white man, nor travel in the same compartment of a train or 
tram. Every now and then in certain states the feeling between the whites and the negroes
becomes so bitter and violent that serious rioting occurs. On the other hand, philanthropists of both 
races have founded schools and colleges for the education of the negroes, and are striving to
make them good, worthy, and loyal citizens.

From a stereograph copyright by Underwood and Underwood, London, New York, and Melbourne.]
WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, THE RESIDENCE OF THE PRESIDENT.
(The foundation-stone was laid in 1792. The building was unfinished when the British captured Washington in 1814, during a 
war which broke out owing to a dispute as to the rights of neutral vessels when France and Britain were at war. The British set 
fire to White House, but the flames were extinguished by a heavy thunderstorm.)

The United States is a republic. At the head of the administration is the President, elected by the 
people, and holding
office for four years. There are two Federal Houses of Parliament - the  Senate, composed of men from 
all the State
Parliaments; and the House of Representatives, elected by all male citizens over twenty-one years 
of age, each
state sending a number of representatives in proportion to its population. Congress deals with 
matters which affect
the country as a whole - such as defence, foreign affairs, coinage, and the postal system. The Cabinet 
is chosen by
the President, and members of it do not, as in England and the colonies, sit in either House. Each of 
the forty-six
states has full local government. There is a Governor elected by the people, a Senate, and a House of
Representatives --- indeed, each state is a republic in miniature.

DATES FOR THE MONTH (MAY) - On appropriate days the school flag might be hoisted : 1st-Death of the Hon. John 
Ballance, and appointment of new Ministry under the Premiership of the Hon. R. J. Seddon, 1893; 7th - Nelson's " Victory " 
launched at Chatham, 1765 ; 8th -Truganini, last of Tasmanian natives, died, 1876; 9th –General Thanksgiving for recovery of 
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales (now King Edward VII), 1872; 12th-Departure of the preliminary expedition of the New 
Zealand Company from England, 1831; 24th-Empire Day proclaimed in New
Zealand (anniversary of birth of the late Queen Victoria), 1903 ; 31st-Boer War terminated, 1902.

THE PLANETS IN MAY. - Jupiter is still in the constellation Leo, a little to the east of Regulus. He will be due north about 7 
p.m. in the middle of May. Mars rises a little after 11 p.m. Saturn is a morning star, rising about .4.30. Venus is too near the sun 
for observation.

AN EMPIRE DAY MESSAGE.
TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, FROM THE EARL OF MEATH.
WATCHWORDS: RESPONSIBILITY, DUTY, SYMPATHY, SELF-SACRIFICE.
BOYS AND GIRLS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE,
May you realise more and more fully as you grow older your great indebtedness to the British Empire - 
a majestic
community of free nations, freely governing themselves, owing its being to vast sacrifice, 
enterprise, and valour on the
part of your fathers and predecessors, bound together by one King, one Flag, and one Navy, comprising 
more than a
fifth part of the human race, and occupying more than a fifth part of the earth's surface   - a 
federation the like of which
the world has never known before!
May you bear in mind that, of the allied peoples of this Empire, each one looks to the others for 
practical sympathy,
protection, and co-operation; and that not only the State to which you belong, but also the Empire 
itself, looks to you
to be ready in time of need, to think, to labour, and to bear hardships in its behalf ! May you excel 
in the practice of
Faith, Courage, Duty, Self-discipline, Fair-dealing, Even Justice, Good Citizenship, Loyalty, 
Patriotism, and
Sympathy, and thus by your own individual action aid in elevating the British character, 
strengthening the British
Empire, and consolidating the British Race!

ALCOHOL NEITHER HEALTH-GIVING NOR HEAT-GIVING.
In alcohol, in which lies the charm of all fermented and distilled liquors, 
there are no nourishing qualities. It can add
no brick to the living house in which we dwell, no mortar to hold the 
building together, no sanitary arrangement for
drainage, no telegraphic wire for the flashing of the thoughts.  It can 
supply neither blood, bone, nerve, muscle, nor
sinew to the animal economy. The usefulness of an article of food or the 
necessity for it is determined by the bodily
requirements which must be met. What do body and brain need? They are ever 
undergoing the loss of substance,
heat,* and fluid, and are in constant need of fresh supplies of food and 
drink to make up these losses. Can alcohol
furnish such? It cannot. It contains no nitrogen, so it cannot give us 
flesh.
By retarding the natural processes for the removal of waste matters, it may 
cause the decayed materials to be
retained unduly, and thus bring about, indirectly, an accumulation of 
impure fatty substance, thereby adding to the
quantity of matter in the body while decreasing its quality. Those of us 
who are engaged in medical work know that
those who drink alcohol carry their "life in their sleeve," and often die 
from apparently slight injuries, which, in a pure
and healthy constitution, would have healed up without much care or 
attention.
Nor can alcohol present us with heat. We feel in a glow after taking 
fermented liquor; but this glow, which is but a
passing sensation, arises from the undue liberation of bodily heat, resulting from the partial loss of the controlling power.

* Heat is produced by the slow burning of the tissues.
 What are known as "flesh-forming foods" must contain nitrogen.

In other words, we are robbed of heat in one part of the body to send it to another part; and, as the stolen property is being hurried 
through
every opening in the walls of the body, the walls (or skin) feel 
unusually hot.
Hence, in extreme cold, I have found, as the Arctic voyagers had found 
long before, that a resort to alcohol, even in
small quantities, is not only unnecessary and useless, but extremely 
hazardous.* Alcohol lowers the temperature of
the body, thus adding to the cold you have to experience; while, by its 
paralysing action on the brain, it lessens your
power to withstand this increased degree of cold.
Some one may say that, as alcohol cools the body in cold climates, it 
ought to exert a cooling influence in hot
climates, and there be of service. But there is a difference between heat 
and the feeling of heat, between cold and the
feeling of cold; and, though alcohol makes the body colder, it does so by 
driving a portion of the internal and
necessary heat out through the skin. The exterior, therefore, is hotter, 
while the interior is colder; and thus the cooling
alcohol greatly adds to our discomfort in very warm weather.
But we also require a solvent to carry the nourishing food all over the 
system, and to cleanse us from all impurities.
Can we find in alcohol this innocent and useful fluid? We cannot. For 
each of these useful purposes alcohol is simply an adulteration.

*Further evidence of this has been recently furnished. Professor David, 
who was a member of the "Nimrod " expedition, and one of the party that reached the South Magnetic Pole, in giving an account 
of his experiences laid
great stress upon the fact that, during the four months occupied in the 
journey, the party had not one drop of alcohol.
On one occasion - a birthday celebration - they had just a little wine, but 
found their powers of resistance to cold dropped, so they dropped alcohol.

Its presence impairs the healthful action of the water in the body, and, when it is present in any noticeable quantity,
it works sad havoc with all the natural functions of a healthy system.
Science emphatically denies that alcohol is a thing necessary or even useful to a healthy man.
-Adapted from a lecture by Norman Kerr, M.D.

STAR STORIES.
IV. THE DELUGE.
In the southern portion of the heavens there are some beautiful constellations which are of special 
interest, because
they appear to have been originally designed as a pictorial representation of the Deluge. We have two 
principal
historical records of the Deluge, one in the Bible (Genesis, vi-ix), the other in Babylonian tablets 
discovered in the
library of Assurbanipal,* King of Nineveh.
The two accounts of the Flood are substantially the same. Noah was commanded by God to build a large 
ship, called
the Ark, into which he and his family were to enter, and take with them a pair of each kind of 
animal. When they
entered the Ark rain fell for forty days and forty nights, and the earth was flooded. When the rain 
ceased and the
waters began to abate, Noah sent forth a dove, which returned to the Ark with an olive-branch in its 
mouth. He sent
forth a raven also, which did not return.

* Assurbanipal, perhaps the most famous monarch of ancient Assyria, was crowned in the year 667 B.C., when Babylonia was 
still an Assyrian dependency. In 625 B.C. Babylonia threw off the Assyrian yoke, and under
Nebuchadnezzar, who became king in 604, rose to be mistress of the world. The writing dates from 660 B.C., but the
original from which it was translated may well have been composed as far back as 2,000 B.C.

After the flood had subsided, Noah left the Ark and built an altar on which he offered a sacrifice to God; and a
bow appeared in the clouds, which God said was a sign that there would no more be waters of a flood 
to waste the
earth.
Now, it is a remarkable fact that in one part of the heavens we find constellation-figures 
representing the various
things mentioned in the story of the Flood. There is the ship, Argo, to represent the Ark, and going 
forth from it is
Noah, represented originally as a man, but now as a Centaur, or half man and half horse. Before him 
is the Altar, on
which he is going to sacrifice an animal. The animal is now shown as a Wolf. The cloud of smoke from 
the incense
burning on the Altar is represented by the bright coiling wreaths of the Milky Way. To the north-east 
of Argo is the
Crow, or Raven, while to the west is the Dove, winging its way above the overflowing River Eridanus,* 
which some
consider to have been intended to represent the flood itself. Below the Scorpion is the Archer (not 
shown in the
picture), whose bow may be regarded as representing the bow in the heavens mentioned in the Bible 
story of the
Flood.
In another part of the sky, not shown in the picture, there is the constellation of Aquarius, or the 
Waterbearer, who is
supposed to be pouring out streams of water sufficient to cause a flood, and there are also the 
constellations of the
Fishes and the Whale, representing the monsters of the deep. It is not surprising, therefore, that 
many astronomers
look upon these constellation-figures as a pictorial record of the Deluge. The appearance of these 
constellations must
have been still more striking to the astronomers who designed them. To these early observers of the heavens Argo appeared just 
above the horizon, like a ship coming into harbour and the Centaur was like a great giant walking ashore from the ship, his
feet being represented upon the horizon by the two bright stars called the Pointers.

* E-rid-a-nus.

What is, perhaps, still more remarkable is that the order in which these 
constellations, as seen from the Northern
Hemisphere, come above the horizon corresponds with the sequence of events 
in the story of the Flood. First the
Waterbearer appears, pouring out streams of water; then the Fishes and the 
Whale, showing how the waters
prevailed over the highest hills; afterwards the Ark appears, sailing on 
the waters; a little later rises the Raven, then
the man descending from the Ark and offering a gift on the Altar, and last 
of all the bow set in the clouds.
Argo is now represented without the fore part; but at one time the latter 
part of the Centaur, the body of a horse,
probably belonged to Argo. She is supposed to be moving backwards. In Greek 
mythology Argo represented the ship,
fabled by the poets to be the first vessel ever made, in which Jason and 
his crew sailed to Colchis in quest of the
golden fleece, which was there guarded by a dragon in a grove sacred to 
Mars. The Greek poet Aratus describes the
constellation Argo in the following lines:
Sternward she glides, like to a ship whose helm Her crew have turned to 
landward Coming to anchor. All the oars
back water, And lapping surges splash upon the strand. Thus sternward 
Jason's Argo makes her way, Spectral her
frame, and starless from the prow To the central mast, but radiant all her 
after-hull.
Argo can be seen in our southern latitudes all the year round, as it never 
sinks below the horizon. During the month of
May between 8 and 9 p.m. it
is high up, to the west of the Cross. The principal stars composing it 
are in or near the Milky Way. The brightest star
in the constellation is Canopus,* situated in the keel of the ship. It is 
the second-brightest star in the heavens, and is
an enormous sun of extraordinary brilliancy, being at least ten thousand 
times as bright as our own sun, but at so
vast a distance from us that it appears only as a twinkling star. 
Tennyson, in his poem " A Dream of Fair Women,"
speaks of " Lamps which outburn'd Canopus." This beautiful and wonderful 
star is now in the south-western part of the
sky. Sirius is lower down, and more to the west. Canopus is almost in a 
straight line with Sirius and the South
Celestial Pole.
 The stars which form Columba, the Dove, are
faint, only one being of the second magnitude. It
is called Phact, the " Thigh " - the thigh, that is,
of the Greater Dog, to which it formerly belonged.
It forms with Sirius and Canopus a right angle, and
is at nearly equal distances from both. It is now
low down near the south-western horizon. The
Chinese call Phact " Chang Jin," the " Old Folks."
 (To be continued.)

EMPIRE STATISTICS.
Area 12,000,000 sq. miles.
Population 400,000,000
Seaborne commerce, annual £1,400,000,000
Coast-line 43,000 miles.
Mercantile marine tonnage 12,000,000
Area, United Kingdom 121,391 sq. miles.
Population, United Kingdom 43,600,000
Import of food into the United Kingdom £400 per minute
Imports into the United Kingdom (1907) £645,904,176
Exports from the United Kingdom (1907) £426,204,596
Area of New Zealand (with islands) 104,751 sq. miles.
Imports into New Zealand (1907) £17,302,861
Exports from New Zealand (1907) £20,688,957
Population of New Zealand (1907) 989,555

* Ca-no-pus. Co-lum'-ba

THE DISCOVERY OF THE SOUTH MAGNETIC POLE.
Towards the end of March the "Nimrod" expedition, in charge of Lieutenant 
Shackleton, returned to New Zealand from
Antarctica,  and the stories of grim fights with ice and cold add further 
pages to the history of man's endeavour to wrest from Nature the secrets of the Frozen South. In addition to other 
scientific successes, the value of which will be
known only as time goes on, four great feats were achieved - Mount Erebus, a 
volcano named by Sir James Ross in
1841 after one of his ships, was climbed; the great wall of ice known as 
the "Great Ice Barrier" was explored, and
much information was gained as to its nature; one branch of the expedition 
succeeded in reaching a point only
ninety-seven miles distant from the South Pole; and -what we turn our 
present attention to - the South Magnetic Polewas reached.
In Part III of the School Journal for September, 1907, you were told what 
was meant by the South Magnetic Pole, and
what an accurate knowledge of
its exact position meant to New Zealand and to the commerce of the world generally. The story of how 
the success
was achieved reads like a page out of fiction, and we in New Zealand can scarcely realise the 
struggles against
hardships, and the fights with the terrors of the ice-regions of the South, that took place during 
our recent summer.
With us the sun and moon rose and set daily; in those southern regions they chased each other in 
circles above the
horizon - indeed, Nature seemed topsy-turvy.

THE " NIMROD " STEAMING UP LYTTELTON HARBOUR ON HER RETURN.

The party that set out for the purpose of locating the South Magnetic Pole consisted of three - Professor David (of
Sydney University), Mr. Mawson, and Dr. Mackay. Altogether the trip covered 1,260 miles. The men had 
to travel
much of the ground three times, for they had two sledges, each weighing about a quarter of a ton. 
They could pull
only one at a time, and so had to take one some distance ahead and then return for the other. For two 
hundred and fifty miles they travelled along the coast before they could find a suitable spot whence to 
attack the great
inland plateau to which they must ascend. Here they established a depot, from which they set out 
with only one
sledge, the equipment and the load of provisions being made as light as possible.
On the inland journey they had twice to retreat owing to the deep crevasses in the glaciers. They had 
to abandon their
proposed route, but at last found a long glacier affording a fairly good road to the high inland 
plateau which led to the
South Magnetic Pole. This plateau was like a great snow
prairie at an altitude of 7,000 or 8,000 feet above sea-level. Wave on wave of snow extended on 
every side. The wind
was bitterly cold, and the men were in danger of frost-bite even in midsummer. Land really existed 
underneath, but
there was no trace of it, and no opinion could be formed as to the depth of the snow.
Only once Professor David fell a long way down a crevasse, but he as well as the others frequently 
tumbled into
them. Sometimes the crevasses were quite open, but at other times were covered with lids of snow 
which concealed
them. The men had on a kind of harness, to which the sledge-ropes were attached. One man walked ahead 
and the
other two more to the sides, so that there was little danger of more than one falling into a crevasse 
at the same time;
and when any one did fall in, the other two could come promptly to his assistance. Every day each 
member of the
party fell into a crevasse from half a dozen to twenty times, so that the travelling was very 
difficult and slow:
They pushed steadily on, and, on the 16th January, reached latitude 72' 25', longitude 154' E., the 
goal of their
strenuous labours. They had at last
realised their ambition - the South Magnetic Pole was reached. Professor David hoisted the Union Jack 
in the name of
the British Empire, and the little band gave three hearty cheers. Then they started back for the 
depot, which was
reached on the 3rd February.
The principal instrument they carried was a magnetic needle, which moved not as does the ordinary 
needle of the
compass, but in a vertical plane, as shown in the illustration. The nearer they got to the South 
Magnetic Pole the
more vertical the needle became. The determination was made partly by that and partly by the ordinary 
compass. Near the Magnetic Pole the needle of the ordinary compass refuses to work.
The South Magnetic Pole is not actually a fixed spot, but may be defined as a circular area, about 
thirty miles in
diameter, within which the absolute magnetic pole is differently situated on different days, and at 
different hours of the
same day. The pole moves round with a sort of waltzing movement.
The intrepid explorers were out on the journey 126 days, and during that time they never washed, 
never took off their
clothes. The hard work made them perspire freely, but, notwithstanding that they did not change their 
clothes, their
skins kept perfectly healthy. They were, however, very careful
about changing their socks every evening, otherwise they would have been in danger of having their 
feet frostbitten.
The socks would get damp, and in a minute or two after being taken off would be frozen hard.
 It was intended that the party should return to the
winter quarters to be picked up by the " Nimrod," but the toilsome journey had made them late. It
had been arranged that if they were a month overdue the " Nimrod "  was to look for them along a
line of coast two hundred miles long. The sea-ice
over which they had travelled to their depot had
broken up, and their retreat was entirely cut off.
Even if they had been able to overcome this difficulty their winter quarters lay beyond a great range
round which they would have to travel, short of
provisions and exhausted by their previous efforts.
While afraid that the party was lost, Captain Evans of the " Nimrod " searched the coast carefully; 
but as he passed
along there was one little bit he was unable to see for a blizzard. When he reached the limits of his 
search he said, "We must have another good look, particularly at that little piece we could not see" ; and to the 
thoroughness of
Captain Evans's search the little party owed their lives. On the 1st March the depot-flag was seen, 
and a man who
climbed up the mast sighted the explorers' tent. Here let Professor David tell the story in his own 
words:
" The provisions were just about exhausted, but we had been fortunate enough in getting a seal, and had a real good square meal 
of seal-oil and blubber.
"We had just finished this repast when we heard a bang, but took little notice, thinking it was one of 
the crevasses
cracking, as they often did. Then came a heavy 'boom' in the air, and we knew it was something 
civilised. A shout
went up, 'There
goes the " Nimrod," ' and we all made one wild leap for the small exit, and, of course, jammed in the 
doorway.
Mawson got free first and out, and Mackay trampled over my prostrate form and ran second. I was an 
easy third.
" It was an extremely dramatic moment for us. We looked seaward, and there saw the gallant little 
'Nimrod' poking
her nose into a small cove or bay in the ice just a short distance off. We gave a cheer, and ran off 
full-steam in the
direction of the ship. Mawson, of course, was in the lead - he generally was - and going at top speed, 
when he suddenly
disappeared. He had gone down a crevasse, and when we peered down we saw him on a ledge twenty feet 
below.
'Are you hurt ?' we cried.
'No,' he growled in reply. ' I'm all right; a bit bruised, but no bones broken.'
" I stayed there while Mackay ran on to the ship for help. When he got within speaking distance he 
yelled, 'Mawson is
down a crevasse, and we've got the Magnetic Pole!'
" We were soon aboard, and then we had a simply enormous feed. We overfed ourselves, and paid the penalty in due course."

DATES FOR THE MONTH (June). - On appropriate days the school flag might be hoisted: 2nd-Peace declared in South Africa, 
1902; 3rd-Birthday of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales; 5th-British entered Pretoria, 1900; 10th-Volcanic eruption at Mount 
Tarawera, and destruction of the famous pink and white terraces, 1886; Duke and 
Duchess of Cornwall and York arrived in New Zealand, 1901; death of Rt. Hon. R. J. Seddon, 1906; 18th-Battle of Waterloo, 
1815; 28th-Triple Alliance renewed, 1902; 30th-New Zealand Constitution Act passed the Imperial Parliament, 1852.

THE PRODUCTION OF WHEAT IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE.
ADAPTED FROM A PAPER BY ALBERT E. HUMPHRIES,
Sundry persons have ventured to declare that our Empire is able to grow sufficient wheat for its own 
needs. I am
merely a miller, in constant touch directly and indirectly with all our sources of
supply, and to my mind the great problem is not whether the British Empire, or even the world, can 
grow wheat
enough for the needs of its inhabitants, but whether either or both can grow enough to enable it to 
be delivered at
London at the low price of thirty shillings per quarter.
A continued high average price of wheat would
bring into cultivation dry lands on which irrigation cannot now be made to pay, or good lands on
which, because of their geographical position, it has not recently been profitable to grow wheat. 
Such a rise would
also tempt farmers in many parts of the
world to adopt better methods of cultivating and manuring, whereby they might obtain a better yield 
per acre.
But the world's supply of wheat does not depend on the farmer only. The botanist is showing us that 
it is possible to
breed wheats suitable to the very many varying needs of each country or district, so that on existing 
wheatfields,
without increased cost,
it will be possible to grow much larger crops; he is showing us also how to lessen or remove the 
ravages
of plant-diseases; he is finding or producing wheats which may be grown without irrigation on wide
tracts of land where the rainfall is at present insufficient; and he is producing varieties that will 
grow and ripen rapidly,
so that wheat can be successfully cultivated in countries where the summers are short. The chemist, too, is at work, notably on
 soil problems; the engineer is still reducing the cost
 of transport and perfecting methods of irrigation.
 These and other workers are all co-operating for the
 benefit of the increasing population of the world.
 Thirty years ago the population of the United
 Kingdom was about 34,000,000; to-day it is about
 44,000,000. Yet in the same time the average acreage of wheat in Great Britain has decreased about 45 per cent.
 In Australia the problem of wheat-growing is a
 very interesting one. We see a great area of which
 only a small proportion is cultivated, a slowly increasing area under crop, a large proportion of that cultivated area under wheat, 
a very small yield of
 wheat per acre, and difficult problems of soil and
 climate. Australia's total wheat-production is about
 2 per cent. of the world's crop. The distribution of
 rainfall is peculiar. The capital cities of the Australian States all have a good rainfall; but the wheatfields are almost entirely in 
dry districts, and
 this fact brings in its train the necessity for obtaining varieties of wheat suitable for growing in such districts. In the United 
Kingdom wheat-growing
 is carried on principally in  the eastern counties,
 where the rainfall is from 22 to 27 inches per annum.
 It has been pointed out that, by sowing in Australia a variety which was 
originally obtained from
 Egypt, a farmer had succeeded in growing a crop
 far inland in a year when the rainfall there was
 under 5 inches.
 In England wheats are wanted that will throw
 up a great number of stems from well-developed
 roots. In dry climates farmers want varieties which
 will throw up stems sparingly, for a single set of
 roots seems unable to collect food-bearing moisture
enough for more than a very few stalks. British 
wheats generally have big, broad leaves, and their large surfaces give off a considerable quantity of 
water; Australian
wheats, owing to lack of moisture, require narrow leaves and scanty foliage, to keep down 
evaporation. Again, British
wheats are nearly all slow and late ripeners. Australians must have quick ripeners. If Australian 
wheats ripen slowly in
very hot, dry weather, the tops of their heads will be withered. Again, England wants big crops of 
good straw; in
Australia the straw is practically valueless.
Like Australia, the Dominion of Canada possesses an enormous extent of territory with an extremely 
small population
per square mile. The United Kingdom has nearly 600 persons to the square mile; Canada has less than 
two. Each
province grows some wheat: British Columbia, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island each a 
little,
Quebec more, Ontario still more, the North-west Territories again more, and Manitoba most of all. The 
average yield of
wheat for the last five years is 31 per cent. of the world's average wheat-crop.
Wheat is not indigenous to Canada. The variety known as Red Fife forms the bulk of the wheat grown in 
the North-west. It was introduced about 1842. A Scotsman sent to David Fife, a settler in Ontario, some wheat 
which had been
imported into Glasgow from Danzig [or Dantzic]. David Fife sowed some of it, and only three ears, 
which grew
apparently from a single grain, ripened. In recent years it has been recognised that this Fife wheat 
is simply a variety
known in Europe as Galician; so we must suppose that at least one stray grain of that variety found 
its way into the
cargo from Danzig, which was of quite a different kind. From these three ears has come that splendid 
wheat for which
the Canadian North-west has become so famous.
Although Canada is in the same latitude as England, frost is the great enemy to wheat-growing in the 
North-west. An
authority has divided the year into 4 ½ weeks spring, 20 weeks summer, 8 weeks autumn, and 19 ½  weeks winter.
While English farmers are quite content to grow late-ripening wheats, and consider Fife an early ripener, the 
Canadians have been
striving to produce wheats equal in quality to Fife which shall grow and ripen in a shorter period, 
and they have very
good reason to be pleased with their success in producing some which require five to nine days less 
than Fife for their
whole period of growth from sowing to cutting.
It has been said that Canada will grow all the wheat required for the increasing importations of the 
United Kingdom;
but it is clear that Canada does not mean to live for wheat alone. She has mines, fisheries, forests, 
manufactures;
she can produce oats, barley, fruits, cattle, butter, bacon, and other good things in abundance; she 
has enormous
areas of uncultivated land capable of cultivation; but whether she will specialise wheat-growing, and 
will compete, for
instance, with Argentina, which in the last twenty years has increased its area under wheat more than 
twice as fast
as Canada, remains to be seen.
In regard to wheat-growing, India is in many respects strikingly different from Australia and Canada. 
We see the same
vast areas and the same liability to drought and rust, but there the principal points of resemblance 
cease. In Australia
and Canada only a small proportion of the total area is as
yet under crop. In 1901 Australia had a total population of about 4 millions, Canada about 5 ½ millions, and India 294
millions, of whom nearly  192 millions were dependent on agriculture. This means that, whereas in 
Australia and
Canada the
population is less than two per square mile, in India it ranges in the 
principal wheat-growing areas from sixty-seven in
the north-west to over 400 per square mile in the plains of the Indus and 
Ganges basins. In Australia and Canada
wheaten bread is the principal article of diet; in India fermented bread 
seems to have been unknown prior to the advent
of the Europeans. Even now wheat is an important article of food in the 
Punjab only, and there it is generally eaten by
the natives in the form of coarse cakes toasted by the side of an open fire.
We used to get a large proportion of Indian wheat from Calcutta and Bombay, 
but in recent years the export trade has
been confined principally - indeed, almost entirely - to Karachi.
Since the 31st December, 1893, the population of New Zealand has increased 
by about 250,000. The average yield of
wheat per acre for the five years 1893 to 1897 was 23 ½ bushels; for the 
five years 
1903 to 1907 it was the particularly good one of 33 bushels; yet the land 
under wheat decreased from 255,321 acres
in the former period to 222,373 acres in the latter. In quality New Zealand 
wheat resembles English at its best.
Cape Colony produces from 200,000 to 300,000 quarters of wheat per annum, 
which equals about one-fifth of its
annual requirements.  In Natal and the Orange River Colony very little 
wheat is grown, though the climatic conditions
in Basutoland and in certain parts of the upland districts of Natal are 
suitable for wheat - growing. Only a very small
quantity of wheat - say, 40,000 quarters per annum - is grown in the 
Transvaal. The great hindrances to a larger wheat-production are rust and drought.
Of all the diseases to which the wheat-plant is liable rust is by far the 
most important. It is the chief obstacle to wheat-growing in South Africa,
and in India its ravages have been estimated to cost that country in diminished income £2,000,000 
sterling per
annum. It has been said on high authority " that Prussia alone lost some £20,000,000 in one year " 
through rust.
Rust may be described as a fungoid disease, which saps the vitality of the plant, hinders its 
breathing, and weakens
the straw, so that it cannot stand up so well as it ought to do.

From Dr. Freeman's " Minnesota Plant Diseases."]
FUNGUS OF WHEAT-RUST ON STEM.
(The rust bursts through the stem. The water in the stem escapes through the wounds, and the plants are dried up as well as 
starved by the action of the fungus.)
AN IRRIGATION CHANNEL, NEW SOUTH WALES.
(Water from the rivers is distributed by means of these channels.)
AN ARTESIAN WELL.
(Water for stock and for irrigating purposes is obtained by sinking a pipe into the ground until water begins to flow. In many 
parts of New Zealand water can be obtained in this way.)

NOTE ON THE DIAGRAM: For the years indicated, the graph shows – a (lower line), the wheat exported from New Zealand, 
with the price per quarter in London; and b (upper line), the estimated gross produce of wheat in New Zealand. Each small space 
represents, vertically, 100,000 bushels. The graph shows also the general relationship existing between the gross produce and the 
amount exported.

The only practical remedy for it is to find varieties which are more or less 
free from its attacks.
Each country, or, in the case of large countries, each district, has to work out its own salvation in 
this matter. A
variety of wheat which is not attacked by one kind of rust may be attacked by another, and local 
conditions have to
be taken into account.
The international grain-market may be called a "pool,"* into which the exporting countries pour 
their surplus, and
from which the importing countries draw their imports. At present each country of the British Empire 
which wants to
buy or sell wheat goes to this international grain-market. We know that the requirements of the United 
Kingdom are
increasing, and even if the British Empire took all the wheat shipped from Australasia, Canada, and 
India it would still
be a very long way from being
self-sustaining so far as wheat is concerned.

WHEAT AND FLOUR imported into the UNITED KINGDOM
(Average of 5 years 1903 – 1907) 115,502,843 cwts.
From Australia	From Canada		From India
 
The large sack shows the wheat and flour imported into the United Kingdom, and the smaller sacks the proportion coming  from 
the Empire (exclusive of Egypt). The little sack on the top of that representing New Zealand shows the proportion imported from 
other dependencies of Great Britain. 

* Pool - a business term, meaning a commercial arrangement to which several contribute.

BRITISH WAR-VESSELS.
On pages 104 and 105 of last month's School Journal were shown types of 
British war-vessels. The " Dreadnoughts,"
the latest type of battleship, are thickly plated over their most vital 
parts. The " Dreadnought " (the first of the class
built), for example, has 11 inches of armour on the greater part of her 
water-line and on the turrets containing the
heavy guns. These turrets are five in number, each being armed with two 
large weapons of 59 tons weight, capable of firing, twice a minute, a shell 12 inches in diameter, weighing 250 pounds, and of 
hitting an enemy and of piercing his armour at 9,000 yards.

ON THE DECK OF THE "DREADNOUGHT."

At present Great Britain has nine vessels of the " Dreadnought " type
completed or nearing completion, and five others in various stages of 
construction. Since the first " Dreadnought "
was launched considerable improvements have been made in the construction 
of this class of battleship. Battleships
steam generally from eighteen to twenty-one knots..
The " Powerful " is what is known as a cruiser. She is the flagship of the 
Australian station, and it was her guns
which, taken up to Ladysmith during the Boer War, did so much to keep the 
Boers at bay. Though the strength of a
nation at sea must be measured by the strength of its battleships, these 
can act efficiently only when in possession
of information obtained by means of numerous speedy cruisers, which act as 
the eyes of the fleet. They keep in
touch with the enemy until the battleships come on the scene. They are 
neither so heavily armed nor so thickly
protected as the battleship, but are capable of travelling at speeds as 
high as twenty-five knots. By means of the
Marconi apparatus they are in constant communication with the main fleet, 
which is thus at once put in possession of
any information obtained regarding the enemy.
The weakness of that part of a warship under the water-line has long been 
recognised. This caused the construction
of small, swift vessels designed to dash in near the object of attack. 
discharge torpedoes, and then trust to their
speed to escape. It next became necessary to devise a boat to meet the 
torpedo-boat - hence the destroyer. It is
really a large torpedo-boat provided with tubes for discharging torpedoes, 
and armed with quick-firing guns, so that it
can overtake and destroy the smaller torpedo-boat before it can carry out 
its mission. The speed of the destroyer
shown in the illustration was thirty-five and a half knots.
The submarine is a torpedo-boat which can be navigated under the water as 
well as on the surface. When the boat is
to be submerged, the men enter her, and then the passage is closed. Water 
is allowed to flow into tanks fore and aft,
and the boat can be made to dive by means of diving-rudders. The only thing 
then visible is a narrow tube carrying a mirror at the top. So long as the mirror is above the water a picture of the surrounding sea 
with any vessels on it
is thrown upon a table inside the boat. Though such boats can travel only at from six to eight knots under the water,
the secrecy with which they can move renders them dangerous antagonists.

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.
DRAKE'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.
Drake round the world his sovereign's honour spread, Through straits and gulfs immense her fame conveyed.
-WILLIAM KING.
 Like many of the sailors of Elizabeth's reign, Francis Drake was born in Devonshire. As quite a young lad he was apprenticed to 
the owner of a coasting-vessel, and so well did he perform his duty that his master
bequeathed to him the vessel in which they had sailed together.
But the spirit of adventure had invaded all the southern seaports of England, and had seized the lad. His eyes turned
to America - not the America with industrious British-speaking people spread along its coasts and scattered over its
wide prairies, but a tropical America occupied by Spaniards, who had enslaved the Indians, and were obtaining from
them seemingly endless stores of gold and precious stones.
Drake made several voyages across the Atlantic, and on one occasion when he was raiding on the Isthmus of
Panama one of the friendly Indians under his command showed him a high tree in which notches had been cut to
render it easy to climb. Ascending the tree, Drake reached a kind of arbour made of planks laid on the branches.
Extending his arm towards the south, the Indian pointed to the bright waves of the Pacific glancing in the sunlight. For
the first time Drake saw that ocean of mystery, upon which no English vessel had as yet floated, but along whose 
eastern shores sailed Spanish galleons laden with the rich spoils from the mines. Drake threw himself on his knees.
and prayed solemnly to God to give him " life and leave once to sail an English ship over those glittering seas."
Five years passed away before the time for the fulfilment of his wish arrived, but at last, in 1577, he set out from
England with five small vessels, the largest of which, the "Pelican," was of only a hundred tons burden, and the
smallest was but a pinnace* of fifteen tons. But the men were picked sailors, accustomed to hardship.

* Pinnace - a small vessel propelled by sails or oars.

Hoping for rich rewards, and expecting no mercy at the hands of the Spaniards
should they suffer defeat, they were just the men for a desperate enterprise.
At the time there was no actual war between England and Spain, and Drake has not inappropriately been called "Elizabeth's Little 
Pirate." But the Spaniards had refused permission to the English to trade in the 
west, and, as
Queen Elizabeth herself did not disdain to take a share of the spoils, Englishmen believed that their 
piracy was not
only justifiable but praiseworthy.
The object of Drake's expedition was kept a secret as far as possible. Some thought it was bound for 
the
Mediterranean, others that it had set out on a voyage of discovery to the Southern Seas. But the 
number of guns
carried showed that danger was expected, and that the chances of safe return depended not so much on 
the
staunchness of the ships as on the prowess of the men on board.
On the 15th November the little fleet set sail from Plymouth Sound, but, meeting with a winter gale, 
was forced to put
back for repairs, and it was near the middle of December before the shores of England sank below the 
horizon, not to
rise again for many weary months.
On Christmas Day the coast of Barbary was seen, and on the 27th the adventurers entered the harbour 
of Mogador.
Then, picking up the north-east trades, they struck across the Atlantic, and, crossing the Line, saw 
the Brazilian
coast in latitude 32' South. They passed some distance up the La Plata to obtain fresh water and 
fresh meat. On the
20th June they reached Port St. Julian, on the coast of Patagonia, where, nearly sixty years before, 
in his memorable
voyage round the world Magellan had wintered. The rueful evidences of his visit still remained in the gibbet on which he had 
meted out punishment to his disobedient and rebellious company.*
During the six weeks Drake wintered here, by a strange coincidence he also had to quell 
insubordination with a
strong hand. Thomas Doughty, who had stood high in Drake's favour, was found guilty of inciting the 
men to mutiny.
Drake laid the case before a jury of twelve of his principal comrades, and, on their bringing in a 
verdict of " Guilty,"
pronounced sentence of death. Strange, indeed, the chivalry of these early adventurers! After 
sentence had been
pronounced Drake and Doughty met in good-fellowship, and then received the communion together. At the 
place of
execution Doughty embraced Drake, took leave of all the company, and, with a prayer for Her Majesty 
and the welfare
of the realm on his lips, laid his head on the block.
By this time the number of ships was reduced to three - the " Pelican," the "Elizabeth," and the "Marygold." Setting
sail, they reached the Strait of Magellan, through which Drake thought he must pass to enter the 
Pacific. He did not
even know of Cape Horn, and supposed that Tierra del Fuego was the northern end of a continent 
reaching to the
South Pole. Boldly entering the narrow and winding strait, between the towering ice-cones and 
threatening glaciers,
he was buffeted by squalls and drifted into danger after danger by contrary currents. Of food there 
was an abundant
supply, and the ships were victualled with penguins, of which three thousand were killed in one day. 
This seems to be
the first mention of penguins in our language, and they were thus described: " They have no wings, 
but short pinions,
which serve their turn in swimming. Their colour is somewhat black, mixed with white spots under 
their belly and
about their necks.

* See School Journal, Part III, October, 1908, page 261.

They walk so upright that, afar off, a man would take them to be little children."
After sixteen days of hardship the little fleet entered the Pacific - Drake's wish was fulfilled and 
his prayer answered.
For the first time from the east English ships furrowed the waters of the South Sea, and, as though 
maddened at the
intrusion, the ocean hurled upon them all its fury. During a succession of gales the " Marygold " was 
lost, and the
"Pelican" and the " Elizabeth " parted company. Winter, the captain of the latter, now seems to have 
lost heart. He
took refuge in the strait, and for some days lit fires on the shore to attract Drake's attention. 
Then he set sail for
England, where he arrived with the reproach of having abandoned his commander.
Meanwhile Drake was driven south and " fell in with the uttermost part of the land towards the South 
Pole," where the
waves of the Atlantic and the Pacific rolled together in one great flood. He thus accidentally 
discovered Cape Horn,
and proved the existence of a wide passage between America and the great " terra incognita "* of former explorers.

A PENGUIN.
(It was brought from the Frozen South by the "Nimrod.")

* Terra incognita - unknown land.

Drake went ashore, and, sailor-like, leaning over a promontory as far as he safely could, came back 
and told his
companions he had been farther south than any man living.
The days lengthened, and the seas became smooth at last. On the 30th October Drake set sail for 
Valparaiso, where
he hoped to meet Winter, as he had arranged to do if they were parted. No Winter was there, but a 
great galleon just
arrived from Peru lay in the harbour. The galleon's crew took the English for Spaniards, and, 
hoisting their colours,
beat a welcome on their drums. The " Pelican " shot alongside, and in high spirits the English 
sailors leaped on
board. A Plymouth lad knocked down the first man he met, with " Down, you dog, down," and the other 
Spaniards,
not being prepared for resistance, sprang overboard or took refuge below decks. The prize was taken 
out to sea, and
when, examined yielded 400 pounds weight of gold, besides some pearls and other plunder.
Still hoping to find Winter, Drake sailed north till he reached Tarapaca, in north Chili  whence the 
Spaniards used to
ship to Panama the silver from the mines of the Andes. Silver bars lay piled upon the shore, and 
beside them was a
Spaniard peacefully sleeping. Scarcely was the silver transferred to the boats when a train of eight 
llamas,* each
carrying a hundredweight of silver, arrived at the landing. The llamas as well as their freight 
were taken on board.
Drake now abandoned all hope of meeting Winter, and felt that he had only himself and his crew to 
depend on.
Behind him the coast had been alarmed, but before him the Spaniards were still unconscious of danger. 
Some fifty
bars of silver were obtained at Arica, but much spoil was expected at Callao, the port of Lima.

* See School Journal, Part III, October, 1908, page 262.

In this port twelve great ships were moored, and the men were enjoying themselves 
on shore. Little plunder was obtained, for, a few days before, a treasure-ship, the " Cacafuego " (Spitfire), had 
sailed for the isthmus
with the whole output of the Lima mines for the season. Her ballast was silver, and her cargo gold 
and emeralds and
other treasures.
Drake's great object was now to overtake the
"Cacafuego," and to prevent pursuit he cut the cables of the vessels in the harbour and allowed them 
to drift ashore.
Capturing and plundering more vessels as they sailed, a little to the north of the Equator the 
English sighted the
chase. The Spanish captain, unaware of his danger and hoping for company on his voyage, sailed 
leisurely on. When
hailed to strike he refused, and tried to make off, but yielded when a broadside carried away the 
mainmast. Drake
carried his prize a safe distance out of sight of the coast, and then for four days transferred her 
cargo to the "Pelican." A great store of riches was found. Of silver alone there were 26 tons, besides gold, 
pearls, emeralds, and
diamonds, and the captors congratulated themselves that their ship might now well be called the 'Golden Hind.'*
Unless impelled to avenge an injury, Drake never took a life unnecessarily, and after a fight was 
over he became the
courteous host of his captives. He was no swashbuckler of a pirate, taking life for the mere pleasure 
of doing so, and
revelling in cries of distress and anguish. As a boy he had seen the horrors of the slave trade, and as a commander he refused with 
disgust to share in the large profits to be obtained by hideous traffic in the bodies of African negroes.

* The day before Drake entered Magellan Strait he renamed the "Pelican " the " Golden Hind."
 Swashbuckler - a bully or swaggering boastful fellow.

Rough times produce rough men; but in the character of the great sailors of the Elizabethan age there was a strong strain of 
nobility lifting 
them above their
surroundings. When Drake dismissed the captain of the " Cacafuego " he gave him a letter of 
safe-conduct in case he
should fall in with the " Elizabeth " or the " Marygold." He commanded Winter and others to use the 
Spaniards well, "according to my word and promise given unto them; and if you want anything that is in this ship, I 
pray you give them
double the value of it, which I will satisfy again; and command your men not to do them any hurt; and 
what
composition or agreement we have made, at my return into England I will by God's help perform." To us 
it may seem
difficult to reconcile Drake's plundering of the Spaniard and his offer to pay double for what a 
comrade might take. But
if one has a knowledge of the times the riddle is not hard to read.
Having so much treasure on board, Drake thought it prudent to stay in the neighbourhood no longer 
than was
necessary. Rich as the booty to be obtained at Panama was expected to be, he recognised that it was 
not his
business to encounter any danger that could be avoided. He therefore determined to make for 
England - not by the way
he had come, but by way of a supposed passage north of America. His daring resolve completely 
outwitted the
Spaniards, who had made great preparations for his capture on his return down the coast.
He sailed north until he reached latitude 48' north. Here the cold became intense, and he drew back 
ten degrees,
when " it pleased God to send them into a fair and good bay, with a good wind to enter the same." 
There can be little
doubt that this bay was that upon which San Francisco now stands.
To the country Drake gave the name New Albion, for old England's sake, and "in respect of the white 
banks and cliffs
which lie towards the sea." After remaining five weeks in port, Drake determined to follow the 
example of Magellan
and steer for the Moluccas. He sailed for sixty-eight days without seeing land, and then fell in with 
some inhabited
islands, which from the conduct of the natives he named the " Thieves " - another remarkable 
coincidence with the
incidents of Magellan's voyage. These were not the " Ladrones " of Magellan, and there is little 
doubt that they were
the Pelew Islands.
The voyagers then visited the Philippines and the Moluccas. Here they secured a store of provisions, 
and took in a
large quantity of cloves. Continuing west, on the 9th January, when they thought themselves in a 
clear sea, they ran
at full sail on to a submerged rock and stuck fast. Three tons of cloves, some of the stores, and 
eight of the guns
were thrown overboard, and, by great good chance, with the falling tide the "Pelican" slid off the 
submarine pinnacle*
into deep water. Touching at Java, they steered for the Cape of Good Hope. Their prosperous voyage 
ended at
Plymouth two years and nearly ten months after their setting-out. They arrived on Monday according to 
their own
reckoning, whereas it was Sunday in England.
Drake immediately repaired to the Court, where Elizabeth received her " Little Pirate" with every 
honour. She gave
orders that his ship should be drawn up in a little creek near Deptford, and there preserved as a 
monument of the
most memorable voyage that the English had as yet performed.

* Only a short distance from the ship on one side no bottom could be found with all the lines; on the other side the water at low 
tide was only six feet deep.
 See School Journal, Part III, October, 1908, page 266.

At a banquet given on board Drake knelt before Elizabeth. Taking his sword and laying it on his shoulder, she bade him rise as " 
Sir Francis," in honour of his exploits.

STAR STORIES.
IV. THE DELUGE.
(Continued from page 126.)
The bright star low down near the southern horizon is Achernar,* an Arabic word meaning the End of 
the River - that is,
the river Eridanus, which rises near Orion, and only a small portion of which can be seen at present. 
The Egyptians
identified it with the Nile, and the Chaldeans with the Euphrates. The Greeks tell a story of this 
river in connection
with Phaeton, the ambitious son of Phoebus.  One day he persuaded his father to let him drive the 
chariot of the sun.
The fiery steeds, feeling a feebler hand on the reins, bolted and ran away with the sun, leaving the 
track of the Zodiac,
and dashing so close to the earth that it began to smoke. Jupiter restored order by striking Phaeton 
with a
thunderbolt, and hurling him into the river Eridanus, whose nymphs " swelled the flood with their 
tears," shed in
mourning over the sad fate of their favourite. It is in allusion to this legend that Aratus writes,
The scorched waters of Eridanus, tear-swollen flood,
Welling beneath the left foot of Orion.
High up overhead is the Southern Cross, consisting essentially of four bright stars arranged as if at 
the ends of the
two sticks of a kite, somewhat awry.

* A-ker' nar.  Fe'-bus, the god of the sun.

The longer beam of the Cross always points to the South Celestial Pole, marked in the picture with a 
small cross.
The Southern Cross is moving slowly southward;* and it is a curious fact that this constellation was 
last visible on the
horizon of Jerusalem about the time of the crucifixion of Christ. The constellation seems to have 
been named only in
the sixteenth century. Dante's lines in the first canto
of the "Purgatory" have often
been supposed to refer to this constellation, because of its four 
bright stars : 
To the right hand I turned, and fixed my mind On the other Pole, attentive, where I saw Four stars 
ne'er seen before
save by the ken Of our first parents. Heaven of their ray Seemed joyous. O thou northern site ! 
bereft Indeed, and
widowed, since of these deprived!
When Vespucci, the great navigator, first saw the Cross, he wrote that he had beheld Dante's "four stars." 

* The earth, besides rotating on its axis and revolving round the sun, reels like a top spinning, but with so slow a motion that it 
takes about 25,900 years to complete one such revolution. This is caused by the attraction of the sun, moon and planets on the 
protruding mass of the earth at the Equator. This motion causes what is known as 
the "precession of the equinoxes "-that is, the gradual westward motion of the equinox, or the point where the sun crosses the 
celestial equator. The amount of precession is 50.2" per year, and about 25,900 years is therefore required for a
complete revolution. If the line of the earth's axis were prolonged northwards to meet the heavens, it would, in 25,900 years, 
mark out a circle above the North Pole, and on or near that circle would lie the Pole Star (a bright star vertically, or almost 
vertically, above the North Pole) for any given time. Thus 4,000 years ago the 
earth's axis pointed
in a direction different from what it does at present, and the Pole Star was then Thuban, in the constellation of the Dragon. It was 
also the Pole Star to the Egyptians at the time when they built the Great Pyramid of Cheops (about 4,000 B.C.), and was no doubt 
of great use to them in erecting that gigantic structure, which is found to be very accurately placed in regard to the four cardinal 
points. The North Celestial Pole is now near Polaris (which is known as the Pole Star), a bright star at the tip of the tail of the 
Little Bear. In consequence of this "reeling " motion of the earth, the Southern Cross appears to be moving slowly southwards.
 Ves-poo-tchee (Amerigo Vespucci: See School Journal, Part III, October, 1908, page 259).

The early Spanish settlers in the West Indies were accustomed to use the Southern Cross as a clock,* reckoning the hour by its 
inclination 
to the horizon. It
is thus often associated with the days of discovery and early conquest in America. Mrs. Hemans writes 
of the
Southern Cross in these words:
Thou recallest the ages when first o'er the main My fathers unfolded the ensign of Spain, And planted 
their faith in the
regions that see Its imperishing symbol ever blazoned in thee.
The two bright stars called the Pointers belong to the Centaur, a monster half man and half horse, 
who is represented
as charging with levelled lance at the Wolf. The Centaur is specially interesting because it 
contains, so far as is
known, the star nearest to the earth - Alpha Centauri, the brighter of the two Pointers, and the more 
remote from the
Cross. As it is twenty-six millions of millions of miles away, its light takes four years and a 
quarter to reach us. When
seen through a telescope Alpha Centauri appears double, being a binary star, or two stars revolving 
round each other - in this case once in eighty-one years. The mean distance between them is twenty-three times the 
earth's distance
from the sun, or 2,116 millions of miles.
The Centaur also contains the most beautiful globular cluster of stars in the heavens. It is called 
Omega++ Centauri.
To the naked eye it appears to be a hazy star of the fourth magnitude, but in a large telescope it is 
found to be a
magnificent cluster containing fully ten thousand stars in a space apparently so small that the stars 
seem like a
swarm of bees or like the most delicate lacework. 

* For the Southern Cross as a clock see School Journal, Part III, August, 1907, page 89.
 Al'-fa, the first letter of the Greek alphabet. It means the brightest star in the constellation. 
++ O-meg-a.

Sir John Herschel,* observing this cluster with a large telescope at the Cape of Good Hope, describes it as " beyond comparison 
the richest and largest object of its
kind in the heavens.  The stars are literally innumerable. … Altogether, this object is truly astonishing."
Lupus, the Wolf, the somewhat inappropriate animal which the Centaur is offering up, contains only a 
few faint stars
of no special interest. Ara, the Altar, stands directly south of the tail of the Scorpion, between it 
and the Triangle, and
in a line with the two Pointers, but in a direction opposite to that of the Cross. Its stars are few 
and small, but it was
at one time held in importance as a weather-portent. When black clouds were seen at nightfall forming 
like smoke
above its stars sailors prepared for a storm.
About that Altar ancient Night,
Pitying human woes in ocean-storms, Has raised a beacon.
The Triangle is a constellation on the edge of the Milky Way, consisting principally of three stars 
in the form of a
triangle, almost equilateral. One is of the second magnitude, and the other two of the third. With 
Alpha Centauri they
form a diamond.
TERCENTENARY OF CANADA.
CANADA's THANKS TO THE SCHOOL-CHILDREN OF NEW ZEALAND.
School-children will be interested in reading the following dispatch which has been received by His Excellency Lord Plunket 
from Earl Grey, Governor-General of Canada.

* Her-shel.   Loo'-pus.

His Excellency has been pleased to authorise the publication of the dispatch in the School Journal, 
in order that
children throughout the Dominion may be made aware of Canada's grateful recognition of their 
assistance in
preserving and dedicating the historic Plains of Abraham as an Imperial memorial:
Canada,
Government House, Ottawa, 19th March, 1909.
MY LORD,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt
of Your Excellency's dispatch of January 28th, conveying the welcome news that 46,992 New Zealand 
children have
contributed their personal assistance to our endeavours to celebrate the Tercentenary of Quebec by 
the acquisition
and maintenance of the historic Plains of Abraham as an Imperial Park.
I shall be obliged if you will convey to the 981
New Zealand schools which have so generously associated themselves with this undertaking the thanks 
of this
Dominion for the gratifying proof of New Zealand's interest in the history and well-being of the 
people of Canada.
It will give the school-children of Canada the
liveliest satisfaction to know that the meaning and significance of the Quebec Tercentenary 
celebrations have been
explained to all the school-children of New Zealand through the medium of their School Journal, and 
that the teachers
throughout your Dominion have used the articles in the School Journal referring to Quebec as a basis 
for the tuition of
their pupils in Canadian affairs.
I shall be further grateful if you will convey to
Sir Joseph Ward my thanks and those of Sir Wilfrid Laurier and of His Majesty's other Canadian 
Ministers for this
much-valued proof of the sympathy of the school-children of New Zealand, who
by their kind action have stimulated and increased the affection already 
existing between the peoples of our
respective Dominions.
I have to thank Your Excellency for sending the names of the children 
contributing. They will be preserved in the
Dominion archives.
It is my hope that many of the 46,992 contributors, when the time for 
travel has entered into their lives, may have
occasion to break their All-red Route journey to the Motherland by a short 
stay at Ottawa, in order that they may
enjoy the pleasure of making the acquaintance of our Federal City, and also 
of finding their own names in the list of
those New-Zealanders who esteemed it a privilege to be personally 
associated with an event of interest and
significance to every Briton.
 I have the honour to be,  My Lord, Your Excellency's obedient servant,
GREY.

THE CARE OF THE TEETH.
In different creatures the teeth are used for different purposes. Thus the 
walrus has two great teeth projecting
downward, which he uses to fight with or to assist him in clambering over the ice.

Photographed from a specimen in Wellington Museum by A. Hamilton, Esq.]
BOAR'S LOWER JAW.
(Showing how the continuous growth has forced the tusk through the jawbone. 
The detached tusk has grown into the form of a circle.)

The elephant uses his great tusks to uproot trees or move heavy weights. Mice and rats 
gnaw with  their 
front teeth, which are so constructed that
they keep growing (like our finger-nails) as fast as the edge becomes worn 
down; if it were otherwise the teeth would
soon become too short. The tiger and other flesh-eating animals have very 
large upper eye-teeth (canines), with which they seize and tear their food.

RAT'S JAW.
(The tip of the lower jaw was broken off in a trap. The teeth of the upper 
jaw, having no teeth in the lower jaw to rub against, continued growing till they 
assumed the form shown.)
 
 Poisonous snakes have a special tooth 
called the
poison-fang. It is a hollow tube down  which the poison pours.  But in man and most  
other animals 
the teeth  are
used to cut up and  grind the food so as  to prepare it for the  stomach. Some 
reptiles and fishes 
have a
 very large number of
 teeth, and, as the old  teeth drop out, new ones  take their place. We,  
however, have only two sets of teeth, and we must therefore take the greatest care to 
preserve them, for once any of the 
second set are lost
new ones will not grow in their place.
The first set, called the temporary or milk set, consists of twenty teeth. These begin 
to appear 
about the age of eight
months. The lower front teeth come first, and all the first set have been cut by the 
time the age of 
three years is
reached. After this no more teeth are cut till about six years of age, when the first 
four teeth of 
the second or
permanent set appear. These are not, as you might think, front teeth taking the place 
of those 
already in position, but back teeth, which come through further back in the jaw than 
the first set, and before 
any of these are
lost.

FIG. 1. Milk-teeth. FIG. 2. shows how the milk-teeth grow and are afterwards pushed 
out by the 
permanent teeth. FIG. 3. Permanent teeth.

After these four permanent teeth have appeared the milk-teeth begin to fall out, and 
are replaced by 
others of the
second set. The last of the first set are lost about the age of eleven, when you have 
twenty-four 
teeth, all of which are
permanent teeth. If you are not careful of these new teeth they will decay and be 
lost, and you will 
not get others in
their place. About twelve years of age, as your jaws grow, another big double tooth 
appears far back 
on each side of
each jaw - four altogether - and about the age of twenty years four more come; and now 
all the second set 
of teeth
should be in place - thirty-two altogether.
When a tooth is decaying it becomes soft and crumbles away. After the decay has once 
begun, the 
inside often
decays much more quickly than the outside, and, unknown to you, a tooth that you think 
is sound may 
have a very
large hole in it. Only the mere shell of the tooth may be left, and, when you bite 
anything, it may 
break to pieces. As
the decay eats deeper into the tooth it gets to the sensitive nerve, which becomes 
inflamed and 
causes violent
toothache. Still later the face may swell, and there may be formed an abscess causing 
a very 
unpleasant discharge
into the mouth.
Now, when your teeth decay, besides suffering a great deal of pain, you will have a 
very offensive 
breath, and if your
front teeth are decayed your mouth will present an unsightly appearance. But, much 
worse than all 
this, your health
will very likely suffer, for many reasons. First of all, you will not be able to chew 
your food. Just 
one tender tooth on
each side is quite enough to stop you from chewing, and the food, instead of being 
ground into very small pieces, is swallowed in lumps. These lumps cannot be properly 
digested in the stomach, and 
so you suffer
from indigestion. Again, when you are eating, saliva is being discharged into the 
mouth. It mixes 
with the food while
the teeth are doing their work of grinding, and helps digestion by changing the starch 
in the food 
into a kind of sugar.
If, however, the food is not well ground up and worked about in the mouth for some 
time, the saliva 
is unable to act
upon it. In addition to all this, if your teeth are decayed and your mouth is unclean, 
and especially 
if abscesses or
gum-boils have been formed, you are swallowing night and day a large amount of very 
bad and poisonous 
material,
and your health is bound to suffer.
"But why do teeth decay?" perhaps you ask. Well, a tooth consists of a hard kind of 
ivory called 
dentine. Over the
exposed part of the tooth this dentine is protected by a perfectly fitting cap of a 
highly glazed and 
much harder
substance called enamel. If, when the tooth is cut, the dentine and the enamel are not 
properly 
hardened, they will be
full of defects and will be very liable to decay. The teeth must therefore be thought 
of even before 
they are cut, and the
food a child receives should be nourishing and should contain tooth-forming elements.
But good teeth may decay, and decay rapidly, if used carelessly or neglected. If you 
bite nuts or 
other hard
substances the enamel may be broken away, and then the softer dentine decays very 
rapidly. The real 
danger,
however, lies in the fact that the enamel can be gradually destroyed. If scraps of 
food are left in 
the mouth for any
length of time, little organisms called bacteria get to work on them and cause them to 
ferment and 
produce acids,
which gradually eat away the enamel and
then rapidly destroy the dentine. Teeth in unclean mouths are covered with slime and a 
green stain or 
tartar, both of
which encourage the growth of the harmful bacteria and cause the decay to go on very 
rapidly.
Now that you have seen what causes the teeth to decay you may ask, "What must be done 
to arrest this 
decay?"
To this question most of you will be able to give an answer in one word - cleanliness. 
But you must 
not think that this
applies only to the permanent teeth; it applies with equal force to the first set. If 
the teeth of 
the first set are decaying, the mouth cannot be kept clean, and the new teeth, coming 
into a dirty mouth and alongside 
of teeth
already decaying, have no chance at all, and will soon be as bad as the others. Again, 
if the first 
teeth decay and
have to be removed before Nature intended them to fall out, the teeth of the second 
set will most 
likely be crowded
and irregular. This renders them unsightly and very liable to decay.
Let us now see how the teeth can be kept clean. You may not have thought of it, but 
the act of eating 
suitable food
helps to keep the teeth clean. If we eat coarse and fibrous foods such as crusts of 
bread, meat, &c., 
the teeth are
scrubbed, as it were, and much of the food that clung to them from the previous meal 
is removed. Soft 
foods,
however, will not do this. The food should be chewed well, not only because the 
stomach is thereby 
assisted in its
work, but because the teeth are kept in better working-condition. It is very 
important, too, that we 
should not get into
the habit of eating food between meals, for then the teeth are never free from food-
particles. 
Biscuits and sweets eaten
between meals are very bad for the teeth. The biscuits crumble, and small particles 
get between the 
teeth, and the
sugar in both the biscuits and the sweets, if left in the mouth, causes acids to be 
produced rapidly.
But the cleaning of the teeth that goes on in the act of chewing the food is 
insufficient to prevent 
decay. The mouth
should be cleansed regularly. It should be rinsed out after every meal, and a 
toothpick (preferably 
of quill) and not a
pin should be used to dislodge larger pieces. A piece of silk frequently drawn between 
the teeth also 
does much
good. You would not think of using a dirty fork with particles of food from the 
previous meal between 
the prongs. After
using the fork you clean it; then why not take the same trouble with your teeth ?
A toothbrush, too, should be used, and used more than once a day if possible. If used 
only once, when 
should it be
used? Many people clean their teeth with a brush only in the morning - quite the wrong 
time. Breakfast 
will help to
clean the teeth in the morning, but after the evening meal the food-particles remain 
among the teeth 
for many hours,
and it is during the night that most of the damage is done. The toothbrush should be 
used both 
morning and night if
possible, but you should never go to bed without using it.
Get a good toothbrush, reasonably hard, but not so hard that it hurts the gums, and 
hang it up where 
you can readily
see it. When using it you should move it not only from side to side, but also up and 
down, so that 
the bristles get
between the teeth. Clean also the back of the teeth. Do not use any fancy tooth-
powders. A little of 
what is known as
" precipitated chalk," a little bicarbonate of soda, or even some common salt is in 
most cases quite sufficient. Do not
forget, however, that as much harm is done in the one day you omit to use the brush as 
good is done 
in the six days
you remember.
[The matter of this article was supplied by the Dental Association of New Zealand.]

CANADA - PAST AND PRESENT.
(Concluded from page 273.) .
Canada has grown to be a great country, and her progress during the last twenty-five 
or thirty years 
has been
astonishing. In that time the length of her railways has increased from two thousand 
to twenty-three 
thousand miles.
In, sixty years the trade of the country has risen from £7,000,000 to £120,000,000, 
and the 
population from three
millions to seven millions. But Canada is destined to be very much greater. Her people 
have 
boundless confidence in
her future, and are working with all their energy to develop her vast resources. " The 
twentieth 
century is Canada's,"
Sir Wilfrid Laurier has said, and the people fully believe him.
For some years every effort has been made to attract people from the Old World to 
settle on the vast 
tracts of land in
the north-west; and Canada has been so well advertised in England that Englishmen have 
come to regard 
her as the
most important oversea portion of the Empire. Hundreds of thousands of British and 
Continental 
emigrants have
crossed over to Canada during the last few years, and hundreds of thousands of men 
from the United States have
been attracted by the cheapness of the land, and by the great amount of it available 
for settlement.
Civilisation is ever pushing steadily into the wilds of the north-west. Towns are 
there springing up 
that may before long
rival Toronto and Montreal in population. A new trunk railway is being built to tap 
the lands of 
Alberta and
Saskatchewan. It will run through the Rockies, and touch the Pacific near the southern 
boundary of 
Alaska, at Prince
Rupert, a new town which is expected to be one day a great
and important commercial centre, and the terminus of trans-Pacific lines of steamers.
Canada's two great industries are lumbering and agriculture, but she has within her 
borders the 
materials for all kinds
of industrial activity. The late Lord Dufferin, who was once Governor-General of the 
Dominion, said 
that Canada
possessed the finest forests in the world, widely-spread coalfields, most extensive 
and productive 
fisheries, and all
varieties of minerals; was watered by the most remarkable natural distribution of 
lakes and rivers, and contained an enormous area of fertile land destined to become 
the future granary of England.

LOGS IN A CANADIAN RIVER.

Timber was long the leading article of export, but now that the country is more 
developed timber 
ranks after the
products of the farm. The paper on which our daily papers are printed is made from 
wood pulp obtained 
from Canadian
forests. Wheat is grown in varying quantities in all the provinces, but the principal 
wheat-growing 
areas are Manitoba
and the north-west districts, where huge tracts of rich soil await the plough. How far 
north grain
can be grown is doubtful, but some people say that it can be grown in the country 
lying round Lake 
Athabasca and
stretching up to the basin of the Mackenzie River. There the winter, of course, is 
very severe, but 
the summer days
are longer than they are further south, and it is claimed that this extra sunshine 
gives wheat a quality that cannot be obtained in the south.
Cheese, butter, and meat, and other products of the farm are exported in large 
quantities. 

A FIELD OF WHEAT, MANITOBA.

In some parts fruit-farming is a very profitable industry. The fisheries of Canada are 
enormously valuable, 
but are only partly
developed. Tinned salmon from the Pacific coast goes all over the world, and the cod-
fish of the 
Newfoundland banks
provides a living for thousands of fishermen on the Atlantic seaboard. Gold is found 
in large 
quantities in British
Columbia and in the famous Klondike district, in the Yukon Territory. Coal, iron, 
nickel, copper, and 
other minerals
are found in various parts. In the great uninhabited tracts in the north various 
animals, such as the beaver, the sable, the fox, and the otter, are hunted for their 
furs. 
This was Canada's first
great industry, and it is still flourishing. The Hudson Bay Company, of which you have 
probably read 
in books of
adventure, still has its trading posts where Indians and white trappers barter furs 
for goods. 
Manufactures are
increasing rapidly in number and importance. Persons who visited the Canadian Court at 
the New Zealand
International Exhibition, at Christchurch, were astonished at the excellence and 
variety of the 
Dominion's manufactured goods displayed there.

LOADING SALMON IN BRITISH COLUMBIA.

Montreal (" Mount Royal ") is situated on the south side of the Island of Montreal, 
famed in the history of Jacques
Cartier.* Lying at the head of the ocean-navigation of the St. Lawrence, and 
commanding the trade 
from the Great
Lakes, it has grown to be the largest city and chief port of the Dominion, its 
population being 
350,000.
Toronto, with a population of 250,000, also owes its importance to its position. It is 
on Lake 
Ontario, has a fine
harbour, and is the natural outlet for the produce of a large territory. It is the 
capital of the Province of Ontario.

* See School Journal, Part III, July, 1908

Though only the second city in point of size, it prides itself on being the first as a 
centre of
learning. It is noted for the interest its people take in education, and its 
University is one of 
the finest buildings in the
continent.
Quebec (70,000) is a much smaller city, but it is rich in historical interest. Its 
citadel guards the entrance to the St. Lawrence, and around the city were acted those 
stirring scenes which marked the 
death of the French Empire in America.

From a stereograph copyright by Underwood and Underwood, London, New York, and 
Melbourne.]
AN OLD STREET IN QUEBEC.
(The little folks are French, and the houses are from one hundred to two hundred years 
old. The steps lead to a street that climbs from the lower to the upper town.)

Quebec is the capital of " French Canada," and, as we have already said, its 
architecture, and the customs 
and language of
most of its inhabitants, remind the traveller of France.
Ottawa, the capital of the Dominion, stands on the Ottawa River, a tributary of the 
St. Lawrence. It 
has a population of
about 60,000. In its vicinity lumbering is the chief industry, and during the winter 
season thousands 
of men are
engaged in cutting timber and drawing it to the streams in readiness for the spring 
freshets to carry it to the mills.

CANADA'S CAPITAL.
(In the foreground are the Parliament Buildings; to the right are some of the 
departmental offices.)

Ottawa is one of the handsomest cities of the Dominion, and
is also a scientific centre. Among the most notable structures are the magnificent 
Government 
buildings, which cost
over £1,000,000. The parliamentary library contains upwards of 200,000 volumes.
Winnipeg is the seat of the government of Manitoba. It is situated on the broad plain 
of the Red River, and is the distributing centre for the vast territory of the north-
west. Less than forty years 
ago it was only a
backblocks trading post (Fort Garry), but is now a handsomely laid-out and populous 
city. It is 
practically the
headquarters of the powerful Hudson Bay Company, which has here enormous stores.
Vancouver, the chief port on the Pacific coast, has 85,000 inhabitants. It is the 
terminus of the 
Canadian Pacific
Railway and of the steamer-lines to Australasia and the East. Until 1885 its site was 
a dense forest, 
but its fine
harbour and the command of the trade of Western Canada have caused the construction of 
extensive 
wharves and the
growth of valuable industries.
Halifax (50,000), the capital of Nova Scotia, is the eastern terminus of the trans-
continental 
railway systems, and the
Atlantic port of Canada. Its fine harbour provides excellent anchorage, and is capable 
of holding the 
navies of the
world. It is protected by numerous fortifications, has a Royal dock-yard with a dry 
dock over 600 
ft. long, and is the
chief British naval station of North America.
Among other important towns may be mentioned Hamilton, a port at the western extremity 
of Lake 
Ontario, and the
centre of a rich district; St. John, a city and seaport of New Brunswick, and the 
chief trading 
centre of a wide extent of
country abounding in agricultural resources, minerals, and valuable timber; and St. 
John's, the 
capital and seaport of
Newfoundland, with great interests in the industries of fishing and seal-oil refining.
The system of government in Canada has been already touched upon. The Federal 
Government has control 
over such
matters as public debt, trade, postal arrangements, defence, shipping, and coinage. 
Parliament 
consists of a House
of Commons
elected by the people, and a Senate appointed by the Governor-General, who represents 
the King.
Each of the nine provinces has full power to regulate its local affairs, provided that 
local 
legislation does not clash with
that passed by the Federal Parliament. The Crown is represented by a Lieutenant-
Governor, appointed by 
the Federal
Government.
Newfoundland, though geographically part of Canada, has refused to join the Canadian 
Federation, and 
retains its
independence. It is an island about one-third larger than Ireland, lying off the mouth 
of the St. 
Lawrence.
Newfoundland, as we have seen, is the oldest British colony. Its population is about 
230,000. It has 
timber, coal,
copper, and other minerals, but the staple industry is fishing. Most of the 
Newfoundlanders are 
connected with the
fisheries, and immense quantities of salt fish are annually exported to Europe.
Canada is really no longer a colony, but a nation, and wishes to be treated as such. 
Canada is, 
however, intensely
loyal to the Mother-land. She showed her sympathy with Britain in the South African 
War by sending 
troops to South
Africa. She was also the first of the colonies to grant preference to British goods - 
that is to say, 
to place lower
Customs duties on goods of British manufacture than on articles from Europe or 
elsewhere. Canada's 
attitude to the
Mother-land is well described by Kipling when he says,
A Nation spoke to a Nation,
A Throne sent word to a Throne:
"Daughter am I in my mother's house,
But mistress in my own!
The gates are mine to open, As the gates are mine to close, And I abide by my mother's 
house,"
Said our Lady of the Snows.

LONDON IN THE TIME OF CHAUCER.
[Geoffrey Chaucer (1330 ?-1400) has been called the Father of English Poetry." In 1356 
we find him bearing arms in France, where for some time he was held prisoner. He was a 
great favourite at the Court of Edward 
III. His best-known
work is "The Canterbury Tales," in which the tales of twenty - nine pilgrims on their 
way to the 
shrine of Thomas A
Becket are recounted. The following description of London during the fourteenth 
century is adapted from the "Life of Geoffrey Chaucer " by William Godwin (1756 - 
1836).]
GEOFFREY CHAUCER.
The seat of Chaucer's nativity was the City of London. He who loves to follow the poet 
through 
the various scenes
from which his mind received its first impressions will be eager to recollect what 
sort of a city 
London was in the
beginning of the fourteenth century - how far it resembled, and in what respects it 
differed from, the 
present metropolis
of England.
I am afraid little doubt can be entertained that, if we were to judge it from the 
first impression it 
was likely to make upon a stranger, it would not have been found much more 
advantageous than that of 
Paris at the
same era, which a writer describes (AD. 1333) as " the most dirty and ill-smelling 
town I have ever 
visited."
London, with its narrow lanes and its dirty ways, its streets encumbered with commerce 
and its people 
vexed with the
cares of gain, was in the eyes of Chaucer beautiful, lovely, and engaging. "More 
kindly love and 
fuller appetite" had he "to that place than to any other in yerth."

REMAINS OF THE WALL OF LONDON.

 Though London had at this time very little to
boast on the score of its general architecture, it was
already the scene of considerable population and
wealth. The man who would attain to an exact idea
of any of our principal towns at a remote period of
their history must go back in the first place to the
consideration of what they were in the time of the
Roman Empire. For nearly four centuries, from
the year A.D. 50 to the year 450, Britain was a
flourishing and powerful colony to the great mistress of the world. In proportion as 
the Romans 
subdued the barbarous
inhabitants, they founded cities, erected theatres, established universities, 
constructed highways, 
and adorned the
island with magnificent works of art, as well as planted within its circuit the seeds 
of discipline, 
science, and
literature. England was then civilised, and would have presented many objects worthy 
of the  
curiosity of a traveller of
taste. London was founded by the Romans, and inclosed with a wall, nearly equal in 
extent to the 
present boundaries
of the City of London strictly so called.*
 In that melancholy period when the Roman Empire in the west became universally a prey 
to the
hordes of ferocious barbarians, England fell to the
lot of certain piratical tribes from the north of
Germany, since known by the general name of
Anglo-Saxons. These invaders were successful in
destroying all traces of literature and Roman civilisation. The Christian religion 
itself sank under
their hostility. The institutions of the ancient Germans and the mythology of Woden 
became universal. At the time when the monk St. Augustine
arrived in this country for the pious purpose of
converting its conquerors, A.D. 596, it has been
supposed that there was not a book to be found through the whole extent of the island. 
From this time, however, there was a period of comparative illumination. The Saxons 
had poetry, and the 
missionaries from Rome brought with them such literature as Europe then had to boast.

* The City of London properly so called contains a little over a square mile. It has a 
separate administration, presided over by the Lord Mayor. The area of Greater London 
is about 700 square miles; but even beyond this there is a large array of towns, some 
of them of large size, whose activities are in a great measure merged in those 
of the capital.  
A deity corresponding to Odin, the supreme deity of the Scandinavians. Wednesday was 
named after him.

We had our Bede* and our Alfred. This infancy of improvement 
was nearly crushed by the Danes - the deadly foes of monasteries and learning - who 
were in the tenth century what 
the Saxons
had already been in the sixth. England presented little to soothe the eye of the lover 
of 
civilisation. Then a race of
warriors [the Normans], educated in a happier scene, and a succession of kings nearly 
all of 
distinguished ability,
brought back to us the abode of the Muses and the arts of cultivated life.
During the interval, from the retreat of the Romans to the time of the Norman 
Conquest, London, the 
heart of England,
had experienced a fate common with the rest of its members. The walls, indeed, in 
considerable part 
remained, but
the houses tumbled into ruin, and the tall grass waved in the streets: not that the 
city was ever 
wholly unpeopled, but
that it was an inconsiderable place in comparison with the dimensions which the Romans 
had marked out 
for it. A
short time, however, previously to the Conquest, it had a bridge of wood erected over 
the Thames - a 
work which
would scarcely have been constructed in those rude times if the city had not even then 
been 
flourishing.
The Tower of London was constructed by William the Conqueror. William Rufus, who had a 
strong passion 
for
magnificence, enlarged this edifice, rebuilt London Bridge on a larger scale, and laid 
the foundation 
of Westminster
Hall. London Bridge was first built of stone under Henry the Second. Edward the 
Confessor, who, a 
short time before
the Conquest, imported some of the Norman arts into Britain, first gave existence to 
the City of West minster,* having built there the old palace, and the venerable 
structure known by the name of 
Westminster Abbey.

* See School Journal, Part II, February, 1908, page 1.
 The nine goddesses who presided over song, poetry, and the arts and sciences.

London also, in the time of Chaucer, contained several royal palaces.

LONDON OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
(The Tower, London Bridge, and a general view of the City are shown. The scene 
represents the imprisonment of the Duke of Orleans in the Tower.)

The Tower was long the principal residence of our kings; besides which they 
had a similar
mansion very near it, called the Royal;

* This was outside the City of London proper. It is now one of the London boroughs.

a second, south of St. Paul's, called the Wardrobe; and a third, nearly on the site of 
the present 
Bridewell.* The city
was besides adorned with various monasteries, the chief of which were the Temple, 
which had been the 
residence of
the Knights Templars, but was then in the occupation of the students at law; and the 
Monastery of St. 
John,
belonging to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. It had many other 
buildings which, relatively to the
times we are considering, might be styled magnificent.
The population of London has been stated at forty thousand persons in the reign of 
King Stephen. In 
the year 1285,
during the reign of Edward the First, the twenty-four wards of London are mentioned in 
a charter of 
that monarch
nearly as at present, so that London must then have occupied the same space of ground 
as the City of 
London now
occupies. We must not, however, suppose that this space was covered with inhabitants. 
Cheapside, for 
example, we
are told, was " no manner of street, a fair large place, commonly called Crown Field 
"; and 
tournaments were held
there in the reign of Edward III.
Respecting the population of London in the year 1349, when Chaucer was already twenty-
one years of 
age, we have a
ground of calculation of singular trustworthiness. That was a period when Europe, and 
nearly the 
whole known world,
was afflicted with a pestilence more terrible, perhaps, than any other in the records 
of mankind. In 
England, our old
historians assure us that scarcely the tenth person was left alive. One of the most 
distinguished 
warriors and
courtiers of Edward III purchased at this time a piece of ground for the interment of 
such persons as the churches and churchyards of London might not suffice to bury;

* Bridemell - A prison, now pulled down.
 Cheapside - An important street leading to St. Paul's, so called because its site was 
the side - the south side - of the Chepe, or old London market.

and it appears from an inscription on a 
stone cross erected on the spot, which remained in the time of these historians, that 
more than fifty 
thousand
persons were buried in this ground in the space of one year. One historian very 
naturally observes 
that this cannot be
supposed to exceed the amount of one-half of the persons who died in that period. One 
hundred 
thousand persons,
therefore, may safely be taken to be a part, whatever part we may choose to imagine 
it, of the 
population of London at
that period.
With the growth of population the wealth and commerce of the city had increased. Of 
this many 
striking examples
may be produced. The father of Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, and Lord 
Chancellor to King 
Richard the Second,
was a merchant; and the first cause of the subsequent greatness of the son was the 
loan of money 
advanced at
several times by the father to Edward III to assist him in his wars with France.
In the year next after the Battle of Poitiers, Henry Picard, vintner, or wine-
merchant, Mayor of 
London, gave a
sumptuous entertainment to four kings - Edward, King of England; John, King of France; 
David, King of 
Scots; and the
King of Cyprus. The circumstances of the entertainment are thus characteristically 
described by an 
old historian: "After dinner, the sayd Henry Picard kept his hall against all comers 
whosoever that were willing to 
play at dice and
hazard. In like manner, the Ladie Margaret, his wife, did also keepe her chamber to 
the same intent. 
The King of
Cipres, playing with Henry Picard in his hall, did winne of him fiftie markes [say,  
£600]; but 
Henry, being very skilful
in that arte, altering his hand, did after winne, of the same king, the same fiftie 
markes and 
fiftie markes more, which, when the same king began to take in ill parte, although hee 
dissembled the 
same, Henry
sayd unto him, 'My Lord and King, be not aggreeved, I covet not your gold but your 
play; for I have 
not bidde you
hither that I might greeve you, but that amongst other things I might trie your play'; 
and gave him 
his money again,
plentifully bestowing of his owne amongst the retinue; besides, hee gave many rich 
giftes to the 
king, and other
nobles and knights, which dined with him."
In the second year of King Richard the Second, John Mercer, a Scotchman, having fitted 
out a 
piratical fleet against
the English, John Philpot, a citizen of London, hired with his own money, to the 
number of a thousand 
soldiers; and,
putting to sea, in a short time took the said John Mercer, with all his prizes, and 
fifteen valuable 
Spanish ships which
he had drawn to his assistance.
In the same reign, Sir Richard Whittington, Mayor of London, of whom so many 
traditional and 
improbable stories are
told, rebuilt at his own expense the gaol of Newgate, the library of Gray Friars, the 
hospital of 
Little St.
Bartholomew's, and a college near St. Paul's, which was called after his own name.
The increase of the towns and the progress of commerce were the immediate causes of 
that great 
revolution in the
thirteenth century, the rise of the commons; and we shall be at a loss to understand 
many 
circumstances in the
history of this period if we do not distinctly recollect that the wealthy merchants of 
England and 
the neighbouring
countries were now enabled to enter into a sort of rivalship with the ancient barons, 
which these 
latter wished,
perhaps, but were not able, to despise. The citizens had not yet learned the sordid 
habits of later 
times,
and appear to have copied with success the purest models that were afforded them. The 
father of 
Chaucer is
conjectured, by one of his editors, to have been, like Henry Picard, a vintner, or 
merchant of the 
vintry. Such, then,
were the scenes which our poet first beheld, and the description of persons with
whom his infant years were connected.

A NEW ZEALAND NATURE CALENDAR.
COMPILED FOR HOLIDAY EXCURSIONS IN DECEMBER, JANUARY, AND FEBRUARY.
Up! up! my friend, and quit your books, Or surely you'll grow double. Up! 
up! my friend, and clear your looks; Why all
this toil and trouble ?
Enough of science and of art; Close up these barren leaves; Come forth, and 
bring with you a heart That watches and
receives.
-WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
In a few weeks the boys and girls of the Dominion will be " free from 
lessons and from books," and what a glorious
time they are looking forward to - delightful visits to friends, long journeys 
to town or country or to the seaside; picnics,
rambles, and jaunts here, there, and everywhere!
Now, while wishing you all the pleasures you have so long looked forward 
to, may we just point out how your holidays
may be made most interesting as well as most enjoyable? You will, of 
course, be much in the open air and in the
sunshine
running about, scrambling through the bush, bathing in the sea or in the 
rivers - and will often go to bed sunburnt, tired
out, and very happy. The free life spent in the open air will give you 
health, strength, and vigour. But not less important
is another purpose of a holiday. A great man has said that on work-days we 
work at what some one else wants us to
do, on holidays at what we want to do ourselves - that is, a holiday is a 
time when we may, or rather should, cultivate a
hobby. When reading the lives of great men we must all have been struck by 
the fact that it was chiefly the
way in which they employed their leisure time that made them more than 
other men.
In the Journal and elsewhere you have read about some of our wonderful 
plants and animals, and while you are
enjoying those rambles in the bush, over the hills, or along the 
sea-shore, can you not spend some of your time in
learning at first hand something about the secrets of Nature in this our 
beautiful sea-girt land? Can you not take a few
notes on what you see, and make a Nature Calendar of your own ? You may 
be encouraged to do this when you hear
that it was on schoolboy rambles, such as most of you will be taking 
during the Christmas holidays, that many of the
world's greatest naturalists began the work for which they afterwards 
became so famous. Darwin, Spencer, Miller,
Wallace, Geikie - these are only a few of the great men who admit that 
their love for those branches of science for
which they did so much sprang from holiday excursions such as you will be 
able to make, and such as are so vividly
described in " Tom Brown's Schooldays," " My Schools and Schoolmasters," 
or " Life of a Scotch Naturalist."
We shall suppose, therefore, that you are interested in the bush - and what 
boy or girl is not? - and that while there you
mean to use your eyes and to see everything that is to be seen. In other 
words, you will be going through the bush
not as an ordinary commonplace matter-of-fact person, but rather as a "Leatherstocking 
" or a true Robinson Crusoe
- observing everything, missing nothing. Every tree, every leaf, every 
flower will then have something to tell you.
In the small space at our disposal it is impossible to describe in what 
way each of the plants we shall mention is
especially interesting, but all will repay a quiet half-hour spent in 
their company. You may not know some of these friends of the forest, but anybody who 
lives in the country will be able to 
point them out to
you, and will very gladly do so if he sees you are really interested. All the plants 
named will not 
be found, for some of
them do not grow all over New Zealand; but you should easily come upon a number of 
them, and, if you 
read their
story aright, you will find that you have opened a book that is altogether new, 
delightful, and 
fascinating.
First of all there are the great trees, which you should be able to tell at once by 
their bark, or 
leaves, or flowers. There
are the pines, of which you should easily find at least three - the red, the black, 
and the white. 
These, with the totara or
the kauri, will make four kinds. Then there are the rata, the broadleaf, the matipos 
(two or three), 
the pokaka, the
kamahi, the fuchsia, the grass-tree, the tawa, the honeysuckle, the maire, the pepper-
tree, the 
titoki, the kohekohe,
and the beeches.
Sheltered by their taller friends, you should be able to find also two or three 
different kinds of 
tree-fern and almost
numberless low-growing ferns. Again, there are such climbers as the clematis, the 
supplejack, the 
rata, the parsonsia
(native jasmine), the passion-flower, the muhlenbeckia, and the bush-lawyer. Do not 
confuse these 
lianes, as they are
called, with the plants you find growing up in the forks and in the old rugged bark of 
the forest 
giants. Such are known
as epiphytes, a word meaning " growing upon a plant." The commonest epiphytes are 
ferns, mosses, 
orchids, and
astelias (flax-like plants). Seeds drop into a fork or into a crevice in the bark. 
There they 
germinate, and in time the
tree becomes decked with bunches of gracefully swaying foliage.
Again, you should distinguish between epiphytes and what are called parasites - that 
is, plants which
not only grow upon others, but actually send in roots or suckers to live upon their " 
hosts." Our 
commonest parasite
is the mistletoe, of which you may be able to discover three kinds; and there is also 
the rata, 
clasping its host in its
octopus-like arms and gradually killing the friend that supported it in its infancy.
Now, round the edge of the bush you have the scrub for which New Zealand is so famous. 
Here you 
should learn to
pick out the makomako or wineberry, the lacebarks, the cassinia or tauhinu, the 
manukas, the olearias 
and senecios,
both of which have daisy-like flowers and (nearly always) leaves covered on the under 
side by white, 
downy hairs. The
coprosmas, too, form a very large family, for there are forty species, most of which 
are found all 
over both Islands. But
the best time to study coprosmas is in October, when most of them are in flower. The 
koromikos, 
however, you
should easily learn to distinguish by their long, narrow, opposite leaves and hanging 
clusters 
(racemes) of white, blue,
or purple flowers. If you are in scrub high up the mountain-side you will find also 
several native 
heaths, the tutu, and
other species of coprosma, olearia, and senecio. In the bush and scrub you will find 
comparatively 
few flowers, for
spring is essentially the flowering-time there.
If you are anxious, then, to find flowers, your rambles should be either along the 
sea-shore and open 
flats near the
beach or away up on the hilltops. Let us take the sea-shore first. Here you should 
find a large 
number of most
interesting plants in flower. On the sands there should be easily found a low-growing 
pink and white 
convolvulus,
while the ordinary white one will be found climbing over the scrub. If there are rocks 
about, you may 
look for three
plants, all of which should be in flower. First and most conspicuous is what is often
called the ice-plant (the native mesembryanthemum) because of its triangular, thick, 
fleshy leaves. 
In less exposed
positions you should find another plant called the native spinach (tetragonia), which 
also has thick 
leaves covered with
what look like tiny ice-crystals; if late in January you will easily recognise it by 
its juicy pink 
berries. Then you will
probably find near it our only native representative of the primulas (samolus), a low-
growing plant. 
It sends out long
runners like a strawberry-plant, and has small oval leaves. If there is enough scrub 
to give the 
necessary shelter you
may find our native violet in flower - though you must remember the flowers are white, 
not the lovely 
violet colour of our
imported favourite. While fossicking about the scrub take care of nettles, for we have 
two native species, both of
which can sting with all the ferocity of the English species.
We must close this list with a trio of orchids, all of which you may find in flower; 
but as orchids 
have already been
referred to in our nature notes we shall only mention them - the purple spider-like 
orchid 
(corysanthes); a tall-growing
flower with colours shading from blue to purple (thelymitra); and a creeper (earina) 
with glossy 
thick leaves and heavily
scented flowers, which may not yet be in full bloom.
We now find that we have not left space to deal fairly with the flowers you will find 
in January up 
on the higher open
hilltops or mountains. Perhaps the better plan will be to refer you to the pictures of 
native plants 
supplied to your
school. Of the forty figured, you will find growing on the mountains practically all 
except the 
trees. You cannot take
the pictures up the mountains, but you can bring down small specimens of the plants, 
and your 
teacher will help you
to find their names from
the pictures and the accompanying descriptions. You may even make a collection of 
plants for the 
school, but, if so,
always remember not to wilfully and wastefully destroy beautiful plants, many of which 
are already 
becoming rare.
In the months of December, January, and February you will find bird and insect life 
very plentiful 
and very interesting.
The " children of the summer," as the insects are called, because they usually hide 
themselves away 
in the cold
months and come out only when the splendid warm weather calls them into activity, may 
now be seen and 
heard at
their best. There is not an insect in this country, no matter how insignificant it may 
be, which is 
not well worthy of
attention. The droning bee, the lazy beetle, the industrious wasp, and the beautiful 
butterfly, all 
have their wonderful
stories to unfold.
In many parts of New Zealand, especially in the North Island, where the climate is 
warmer than in the 
South, the hum
of the chorus made by countless thousands of cicadas, commonly called "locusts," 
resounds in woods 
and fields. It
begins almost as soon as the first streaks of dawn appear over the horizon - low and 
gentle at first, 
but as the day
wears on growing loud and strong, until at midday, when the sun sends down its hottest 
rays, there is 
a magnificent
volume of sound.
In New Zealand there are native insects and introduced insects.  The native insects 
are probably the 
more interesting,
because very little is known about their habits, and many of them are dying out owing 
to the ravages 
of birds and
other enemies; but there are still left a number sufficiently large to afford a wide 
field for 
investigation which will prove
both interesting and valuable.
In many of our rivers we find the trout, which has been introduced from the Old 
Country; but
nearly all the fish in our seas are natives. About thirty-five kinds of New Zealand 
fish are used for 
food. At this time of
the year strange migrations to southern waters sometimes take place amongst the 
northern fish. The 
schnapper, the
mullet, and the trevally are northern fish, and the trumpeter, the red-cod, and the 
ling belong to 
the south. There are
some fish, such as the kahawai, the hapuka or groper, the blue-cod, the barracouta, 
the herring, and 
the flat-fish or
flounder, which are found in waters all round the coast of both Islands. The " bully " 
or " 
bull-head," and the kokopu
(sometimes called the " native trout," a very lazy fish) are found in rivers and 
streams. The young 
whitebait came up
the rivers from the sea in the early spring, and are now attaining adult form; they 
may be recognised 
as the " inanga "
of the Maori.
All the famous migratory birds - the shining cuckoo, the long-tailed cuckoo, the 
godwit, and a few 
others - are still with
us. Probably at the end of February or the beginning of March some of the cuckoos will 
be preparing 
to leave New
Zealand for their other homes in tropical lands. They have laid their eggs, usurped 
the nests of 
other birds, and left
their young to be reared by strangers. Many of the native birds have got through the 
most trying part 
of the year, and
are now enjoying the company of their young ones.
There is a great deal to see just now, and armies of enthusiastic observers are needed 
to make notes 
and record
facts and incidents which will interest those who are making investigations into New 
Zealand's natural history.

NOTE-The "School Journal" will not be issued in December and January next.

THE DIGNITY OF LABOUR.
Labour is life. 'Tis the still water faileth;
Idleness ever despaireth, bewaileth;
Keep the watch wound, for the dark rust assaileth;
Flowers droop and die in the stillness of noon.
Labour is glory. The flying cloud lightens;
Only the waving wing changes and brightens;
Idle hearts only the dark future frightens;
Play the sweet keys, wouldst thou keep them in tune. -R S. OSGOOD.
The dignity of labour! Consider its achievements. Dismayed by no 
difficulty, shrinking from no exertion, exhausted by
no struggle, ever eager for renewed efforts in its persevering promotion 
of human happiness, " clamorous Labour
knocks with its hundred hands at the golden gate of the morning," 
obtaining each day, through succeeding centuries,
fresh benefactions for the world.
Labour clears the forest, and drains the morass, and makes the wilderness 
rejoice and blossom as the rose. Labour
drives the plough, and scatters the seed, and reaps the harvest, and 
grinds the corn, and converts it into bread, the
staff of life. Labour, tending the pastures and sweeping the waters, as 
well as cultivating the soil, provides with daily
sustenance the thousand millions of the family of man.
Labour moulds the brick, and splits the slate, and quarries the stone. 
and shapes the column, and rears not only the
humble cottage, but the gorgeous palace, the tapering spire, and the 
stately dome.
Labour, diving deep into the solid earth, brings up the long-hidden 
stores of coal, to feed ten thousand furnaces, and
in millions of habitations to defy the winter's cold. Labour explores the 
rich veins of deeply buried rocks, extracting the
gold, the silver, the copper, and the tin. Labour smelts the iron, and 
moulds it into a thousand shapes for use and
ornament - from the massive pillar to the tiniest needle, from the ponderous 
anchor to the wire gauze, from the mighty
fly-wheel of the steam-engine to the polished purse-ring or the glittering 
bead.
Labour hews down the gnarled oak, and shapes the timber, and builds the 
ship, and guides it over the deep, plunging
through the billows and wrestling with the tempest, to bear to our shores 
the produce of every clime. Labour brings us
Indian rice and American cotton; African ivory and Greenland oil; fruits 
from the sunny South and furs from the frozen
North; tea from the East and sugar from the West: carrying, in exchange, to 
every land the products of British
industry and British skill. Labour distributes its own treasures from 
country to country, from city to city, from house to
house, conveying to the doors of all the necessaries and luxuries of life; 
and, by the pulsations of commerce,
maintains healthy life in the great social system.
Labour, fusing opaque particles of rock, produces transparent glass, which 
it moulds and polishes, and combines so
wondrously that sight is restored to the blind; while worlds, before 
invisible from distance, are brought so near as to
be weighed and measured with unerring exactness; and atoms, which had 
escaped all detection from their
minuteness, reveal a world of wonder and beauty in themselves.
Labour, laughing at difficulties, spans majestic rivers, carries viaducts 
over marshy swamps, suspends aerial bridges
above deep ravines, pierces the solid mountain with its dark, undeviating 
tunnel, blasting rocks and filling hollows;
and, while linking together with its iron but loving grasp all nations of 
the earth, verifies, in a literal sense, the ancient
prophecy, " Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill 
shall be made low."*

* Isaiah xl, 4.

Labour draws forth its delicate iron thread, and, stretching it from city to city, 
from province to 
province, through
mountains and beneath the sea, realises more than fancy ever fabled; and it constructs 
a chariot on 
which speech
may outstrip the wind, compete with the lightning, and fly as rapidly as thought 
itself.
Labour seizes the thoughts of genius, the discoveries of science, the admonitions of 
piety, and, 
with its magic type
impressing the vacant page, renders it pregnant with life and power, perpetuating 
truth to distant 
ages, and diffusing it
to all mankind.
Labour, a mighty magician, walks forth into a region uninhabited and waste; he looks 
earnestly at the 
scene, so quiet
in its desolation; then, at the wave of his wonder-working wand, those dreary valleys 
smile with 
golden harvests; those
barren mountain-slopes are clothed with foliage; the furnace blazes; the anvil rings; 
the busy wheels 
whirl round; the
town appears - the mart of Commerce, the hall of Science, the temple of Religion, rear 
high their lofty 
fronts; a forest of
masts, gay with varied pennons, rises from the harbour; the quays are crowded with 
commercial 
spoils - the peaceful
spoils which enrich both him who receives and him who yields. Representatives from 
far-off regions 
make it their
resort; Science enlists the elements of earth and heaven in its service; Art, awaking, 
clothes its 
strength with beauty;
Literature, newborn, redoubles and perpetuates its praise; Civilisation smiles; 
Liberty is glad; 
Humanity rejoices; Piety
exults-the voice of Industry and Gladness is heard on every hand. And who, 
contemplating such achievements, will deny that there is dignity in Labour!
-NEWMAN HALL.

DATES FOR THE MONTH (November).-1st - Old-age pensions became law, 1898; 9th-King 
Edward VII born, 1841 ; 13th-Robert Louis Stevenson, the great writer, born, 1850; 
16th-Suez Canal opened, 1869 ; 28th-First 
occasion on which New Zealand women exercised the franchise, 1893 ; 29th-Education Act 
providing for the free and compulsory education of children passed, 1877 ; 29th-
Chatham Islands discovered by Lieutenant Broughton in H.M.S. "Chatham," 1790; 30th-St. 
Andrew's Day. On appropriate days the school flag might be hoisted.

CORRECTION.-The attention of teachers is directed to the following corrections in the 
names of two plants, prints of which were forwarded a short time ago: Print No. 37 - 
Gaultheria perplea should be Gaultheria Supestr s; Print No. 38 - Cyathodes robusta 
should be Cyathodes acerosa.









