hin the next few centuries may well
become one of the mightiest in the world. We have made many and many a
mistake, but still that empire grows; in spite of the errors of the Home
Government, the obstinacy of the Boers, the power of native chiefs, and
the hatred of Portuguese, still it grows. Already it is about as big as
Europe, and it is only a baby yet, a baby begotten by the genius and
courage of individual Englishmen.

When the child has become a giant--yes, even in those far-off ages when
it is a very old giant, a king among the nations--we may be sure that,
from generation to generation, men will show their sons the mountain
that was called Isandhlwana, or the place of the Little Hand, and a
certain spot on the banks of the Buffalo River, and tell the tale of how
beneath that hill the wild Zulus of the ancient times overwhelmed the
forces of the early English settlers; of how, for a long night through,
a few men of those forces held two grass-thatched sheds against their
foe's savage might; and of how some miles away two heroes named Melville
and Coghill died together whilst striving to save the colours of their
regiment from the grasp of the victorious 'Children of Heaven.'

* * * * *

Now it may interest you to know that these last words are written with a
pen that was found among the bones of the dead at Isandhlwana.

H. RIDER HAGGARD.

FOOTNOTE:

[12] Col. Bromhead died recently.

_HOW LEIF THE LUCKY FOUND VINELAND THE GOOD_

THIS is the story of the first finding of America by the Icelanders,
nearly five hundred years before Columbus. They landed on the coast, and
stayed for a short time; where they landed is uncertain. Thinking that
it was in New England, the people of Boston have erected a statue of
Leif in their town. The story was not written till long after Leif's
time, and it cannot _all_ be true. Dead men do not return and give
directions about their burial as we read here. We have omitted a silly
tale of a one-footed man. In the middle ages, people believed that
one-footed men lived in Africa; they thought Vineland was near Africa,
so they brought the fable into the Saga.

Hundreds of years before Columbus discovered America, there lived in
Iceland a man named Eric the Red. His father had slain a man in Norway,
and fled with his family to Iceland. Eric, too, was a dangerous man. His
servants did mi