lace or get aground on a
sand or mud bank. After the first little fluster of moving was over it
was a great pleasure to me to be once more in the open air after being
shut up for what seems so long a time. It felt deliciously warm too,
the temperature being 74 deg.. The scenery was beautiful--sandy shores,
green woods with high precipitous mountains in the background,
covered with shiny slate-like shale, which when moist shows up like a
mirror through the mist. The view so reminded me of Scotland that I
felt inclined to take up my glasses to look for deer among the craggy
peaks and corries. We passed the little pilot station of Dungeness,
and almost directly afterwards the hamlet of the same name. It bears
some resemblance to its English namesake, for it is situated on a
sandy spit of land, surrounded by mangrove swamps instead of grass
marshes. I noticed, too, that the people have the fever-stricken look
which is sometimes seen about Lydd and that part of the country. There
are only fifty-six inhabitants, men, women, and children. Dull as the
surroundings seemed, it is wonderful how bright and cheerful the
people who came on board yesterday seemed to be. The river, though
wider, put us very much in mind of the Kuching, in Borneo--the same
tropical vegetation and miles of unhealthy-looking mangrove swamps. We
passed several tidy-looking little settlements on the banks, some
picturesquely built of wood thatched with sugar-cane or palm-leaf,
while others were constructed of corrugated iron, which must be
frightfully hot in summer. The white people, so far as we could judge,
as we passed up and down the river, were suffering from the climate.
The Kanakas and Chinamen seemed more prosperous; and the few
aboriginals looked quite happy in their natural surroundings.

[Illustration: Cardwell School House]

The servants, with their usual ingenuity, managed to both cook and
serve an excellent lunch, in the boat, with only the assistance of the
'Darby and Joan' stove. About half-past two we reached the wharf of
the Halifax sugar-plantation, where our arrival disturbed a large
party of aboriginals, women and children, who were enjoying their
afternoon bath, splashing, jumping like a shoal of fish. Our party
(including the dogs) landed, and on their return said that the crop of
sugar looked very healthy, and the rolling and crushing stock of the
cane was in excellent order. The whole district is well adapted for
the cultivation o