The most important of the smaller towns are Beaconsfield, a gold-mining centre on the west bank of the River Tamar, in the county of Devon; Waratah, the township at the foot of the famous Mount Bischoff, the tin from which is conveyed by rail to Emu Bay (Burnie) and shipped thence to Launceston for smelting; Ringarooma, the shipping port for the tin mines in the north-east; Georgetown, a watering-place at the mouth of the Tamar; Devonport, which includes Formby, with Torquay (Devonport East) at the mouth of the Mersey, and Latrobe, at the head of the estuary; the agricultural centres of Deloraine and Westbury, both on the railway which leaves the Hobart and Launceston Main Line at Evansdale Junction and is now open to Ulverstone, on the northern coast, and is to be extended to Emu Bay; Stanley or Circular Head, the chief port in the north-west; Corinna, the centre of the Pieman River goldfields; Zeehan and Dundas, the chief centres of the north-west silver fieldsZeehan is the terminus of a railway to Strahan, a rising port on the northern shores of Macquarie Harbour; Franklin, on the Huon River, famous for its apples, pears, and jam fruits; New Norfolk, in the hop-growing district north of Hobart; Longford, on the Norfolk Plains, the "Garden of Tasmania"; and Fingal, a coal-mining town on the South Esk River, 120 miles north-east of Hobart, and 70 miles south-east of Launceston. There are a large number of other delightful little towns and pretty villages in this prosperous and preeminently British colony.

THE DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND.

THE COLONY OF NEW ZEALAND consists of two large islands known as the North Island and the South Island, together with a much smaller island called Stewart Island, to the south of South Island, and a number of outlying islands collectively known as the Off Islands-the whole group being situated in the South Pacific Ocean, about 1,000 miles to the south-east of Australia."

New Zealand was discovered in December, 1640, by the famous Dutch navi. gator, Tasman, who gave it the name, first of all, of Staaten or Staatenland, in honour of the States-General or Parliament of Holland, afterwards altering it to Nova Zeelanda, after his native province of Zeeland in Holland. Tasman did not land on any part of the islands, and no European is known to have visited the islands until 1769, when the celebrated Captain Cook landed at Poverty Bay, on the east coast of North Island. The account which the natives themselves gave of their impressions of Cook's arrival, is recorded by Mr. Polack, who had it from the mouths of their children in 1836. "They took the ship at first for a gigantic bird, and were struck with the beauty and size of its wings, as they supposed the sails to be. But on seeing a smaller bird, unfledged, descending into the water, and a number of parti-coloured beings, apparently in human shape, the bird was regarded as a houseful of divinities. Nothing could exceed their astonishment. The sudden death of

1. Named after the famous Sir John Franklin, who was Governor of Tasmania from 18,7 to 1843. Under Sir John, assisted by his noble wife, the colony made great progress.

2. The three islands of New Zealand were named New Ulster, New Munster, and New Leinster respectively, by the first Governor of the colony, an Irishman, "because New Zealand, like Ireland, had no toads. Subsequently they were distinguished as North Island, Middle Island, and South Island respectively, but the two main islands are now known as the North Island and the South Island-the third island being always called Stewart Island.

after the settler who first discovered that it was a separate island, and not, as had been supposed, a part of South Island.

Maut, "the fish of Matt," a native hero of day. The Maori name of North Island was Te Ika a land of the Greenstone," the substance from which South Island was called 7e Wahi Founam, the their weapons, as well as theit symbols of authority,

were made.

their chief (it proved to be their great fighting general) was regarded as a thunderbolt of these new gods. To revenge themselves was the dearest wish of the tribe, but how to accomplish it with divinities who could kill them at a distance was difficult to determine." Cook took formal possession of the islands and spent altogether 327 days in surveying the coasts, &c., quitting it for the last time in 1777. Soon after, the islands became a favourite resort of British, French, and American whalers, whose stations were scattered along the southern coasts and on both sides of Cook Strait. Australian traders then began to visit the country, and, in 1814, the first missionary station was established, but the first actual settlement was not made until 1839, and in the following year New Zealand became a British Colony, Captain Hobson having concluded the Treaty of Waitangi, by which the native chiefs ceded the sovereignty of the island to Great Britain. The progress of the colony was greatly checked at various times by wars with the natives, whose power was not finally broken until 1881, and, though some disturbances have since occurred, no further trouble is probable or even possible.

BOUNDARIES: The South Pacific Ocean is the boundary of New Zealand on all sides. That part of it which lies between New Zealand and Australia is now distinguished as the Tasman Sea, in honour of the first discoverer of New Zealand and Tasmania.

The position of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean is almost at the very antipodes of the British Isles in the North Atlantic. A line drawn from Greenwich through the centre of the globe and continued to the surface on the opposite side, would reappear near Antipodes Islets, which are only a few hundred miles to the south of South Island. But, although the geographical position of the 'Britain of the South" is almost the counterpart of that of the Britain of the North, its environment is entirely different-the British Islands being situated in the middle of the greatest extent of land on the globe, and New Zealand almost in the midst of the greatest extent of water; further, while Great Britain is, as it were, moored alongside the largest of the land masses, New Zealand is divided by over 1,000 miles of sea from the nearest, and that the smallest, of the continents. But, "looking at the extent, climate, fertility, abundant coast-line and harbours, adaptation for trade, and the bright future that awaits it in connection with the development of Australasia," New Zealand justly merits the title of the "Britain of the South."

In shape, New Zealand, as seen on the map, resembles a top-boot, turned upside down, broken in two just above the instep, and having the toe pointing towards Australia-the North Island representing the foot, the South Island the top or leg, and Stewart Island "the torn loop." New Zealand thus resembles Italy in shape, as it also does in size, climate, and natural conditions generally, and, "if Italy were insular and surrounded by vast tracts of water, the resemblance would be complete."

EXTENT: With the exception of the northern portion of North Island, which bends towards the north-west, the islands extend in a south-west to north-east direction for nearly 1,200 miles, but a straight line from the North Cape, in North Island, to the South Cape, in Stewart Island, does not exceed 900 miles in length. The breadth varies from a few iniles, as at Auckland, to 250 miles, the

average being about 120 miles. The total area of the colony is over 100,000 square miles,' or considerably more than that of Great Britain.

North Island is 550 miles long, and has an area of about 44.500 square miles, or one-tenth less than that of England. Its breadth varies from a few miles, as at Auckland, to 250 miles between Cape Egmont and East Cape.

South Island is also about 550 miles in length. Its breadth varies from 150 to 200 miles, and it has an area of 58,500 square miles, so that it is almost e in extent to England and Wales together.

Stewart Island is much smaller, being only 30 miles long, 25 miles broad, and with an area of not more than 668 square miles.

Attached to New Zealand are the Off Islands, including the Chatham Islands (575 square miles), the Auckland Islands (300 square miles, and other smiler groups and islets. The Cook and other island groups in the South Pacific (280 square miles) were annexed by New Zealand in 1901.

COASTS: The coasts of New Zealand nearly equal in extent the coasts of Great Britain, but though they are, in parts, deeply indented by numerous inlets, they are not so rich in harbours and navigable estuaries as the British coasts.

No part of New Zealand is more than 75 miles from the sea, an important fact in connection with the development of the country, and which would be still more so but that the harbours are very unequally distributed, and really safe and commodious harbours are not numerous; while long stretches of crust, especially on the western side of South Island, are destitute of a single natural harbour. North Island is much more irregular in shape and more deeply indented than South Island, the coasts of which, except in the north and southwest, are remarkably bold and unbroken. Almost the whole of the western coast of this island is open and exposed-Westport, Greymouth, and Hokitika being the only available harbours. The "Sounds" on the south-western coast are long, narrow, fiord-like inlets, hemmed in by lofty cliffs, and afford some of the grandest and most picturesque coast scenery in the world. Other parts of the coast of South Island and portions of that of North Island are very beautiful The symmetrical cone of Mount Egmont, on the west coast of North Island, is a striking feature, and, viewed from a little distance from the shore, it appears

to rise from the sea.

INLETS: The chief inlets in the North Island are the Bay of Islands, Hauraki Gulf, and the Bay of Plenty, on the north-east; Poverty Bay and Hawke Bay, on the east; Palliser Bay and Port Nicholson, on the south; and the North and South Taranaki Bights, with Kawhia, Manukau, Kaipara, and

Hokianga Harbours, on the west coast.

The principal openings in the South Island are Golden Bay and Tasman Bay, on the north; Cloudy Bay, on the north-east; Pegasus Bay, with Port Lyttelton, and Akaroa Harbour, on the east; Otago Harbour and Molyneux Bay, on the south-east; Bluff Harbour, New River Harbour, and Tewaewae Bay, on the south; and Chalky Inlet, Dusky Bay, and Milford Sound, on the south-west; together with Canterbury Bight on the east coast, and Westland

and Karamea Bights on the west coast.

In Stewart Island the only large inlets are Port Pegasus on the south, and

Paterson Inlet on the east.

1. The official estimate of the area is 104.471 square miles.

1

STRAITS: The principal straits are Cook Strait, a navigable channel, from 15 to 80 miles in width, between North and South Island; Foveaux Strait, 15 miles in width, between South Island and Stewart Island; Coromandel Channel, between Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel Peninsula, on the eastern side of Hauraki Gulf; and French Pass, between D'Urville Island and the north coast of South Island, on the eastern side of Tasman Bay.

CAPES: The principal headlands in the North Island are Cape Maria Van Diemen, the most westerly point; North Cape, the most northerly; East Cape, the most easterly; and Cape Palliser, the most southerly point of the island. Cape Egmont is the extreme point of the great outcurve on the west coast.

In the South Island the chief capes are Cape Farewell, the most northerly point; Cape Jackson and Cape Campbell, on the north-east; East Head and Cape Saunders, on the east; The Bluff and Windsor Point, on the south; with West Cape, Cascade Point, and Cape Foulwind, on the west.

At the south of Stewart Island is South Cape. South-West Cape is the extreme point of an adjacent islet, and is the southernmost point of New Zealand. ISLANDS: There is a considerable number of islands and islets on the coasts of the main islands, such as the Three Kings off the extreme northern coast, the Great Barrier and other islands on the north-east coast of North Island, D'Urville and Arapawa Islands on the north-east coast of South Island, and Resolution and other islands on the south-west coast. Kapiti Island is in Cook Strait, and Ruapuke Island in Foveaux Strait.

The Off Islands of New Zealand include several island-groups and islets situated some hundreds of miles to the north, east, and south of the main islands. They include the Chatham Islands, about 536 miles to the east of Lyttelton; the Auckland Islands, 180 miles, and Campbell Island, about 320 miles to the south of South Island; the Bounty Islands and the Antipodes Islets, about 470 miles east of Stewart Island; and the Kermadec Islands, a group 600 miles north-east of Auckland. All these and a few other small islands belong to New Zealand, but none of them, with the exception of the Chatham group, have a permanent population. They are occasionally visited by whalers, and on many of them supplies of food, &c.. are stored, in case of vessels being wrecked on them.

RELIEF The surface of New Zealand is agreeably diversified by lofty mountains, wooded hills, well-grassed plains, fertile valleys, beautiful lakes, and swiftly-flowing rivers. In the South Island, the snow-covered "cloud-piercing" Southern Alps, with their huge glaciers and alpine lakes, rival those of Switzerland, while the lofty volcanoes and the wonderful lakes and hot springs of the North Island are among the most marvellous physical phenomena on the globe.

The scenery in North Island has all the grace and charms of Southern Italy, with volcanoes that surpass Vesuvius and rival Etna in altitude, with a brilliant sky and a marvellously luxuriant vegetation, while the Hot Lake district, in the centre of the island, prior to the terrible eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886, and the destruction of the famous Lake Rotomahana, with the boiling springs and the marvellous Pink and White Terraces, was, and to some extent still is, a veritable wonderland.' In South Island, the massive lofty mountains, extensive snowfields, huge glaciers, snow-capped peaks, foaming torrents, mist 1. For a description of the Wonderland that remains, see Dr. Moore's New Zealand, p. 132 et seq.

crowned waterfalls, placid lakes embosomed in deep mountain-valleys, recall and rival the grandly-picturesque scenery of Switzerland. Compared with Australia, nothing can be more complete than the contrast between that vast country and New Zealand. "Marcus Clarke has told us that weird melancholy is the dominant note of Australian scenery, which is true enough, for the Australian landscape is as lonely, as melancholy, and as solemn as the Roman Campagna, with the added weirdness of strange bark-shedding trees, and of uncouth birds and beasts. New Zealand is wholly different-severe and frowning in the south, open and alluring in the north, with a bright Polynesian loveliness. Australia is, in summer, a land of dry rivers, brown grass, yellow, lurid glare, and brassy sun; and, in the greater part of winter, a land of blue sky and soft, smoky haze. New Zealand, in summer, may resemble parts of Australia in winter, but she has a real winter in the South Island and a wet winter in her extreme north. The west of the Middle or South Island, whence come the New Zealand coal and gold, is a country of constant rain, of glaciers, and of tree-ferns and chattering paroquets, inexpressibly distinct from the dried-up Australian goldfields of Bendigo. South Central Australia has the climate of Greece, while New Zealand, owing to its enormous length from north to south, has, like Japan, and for the same reason, all the climates of the world, except the dry and intense brilliancy of Australia or of Greece. New Zealand, which is all but tropical in But, apart from its alpine, the Bay of Islands, is Scotch at Invercargill." volcanic, and tropical features, the general character of the New Zealand scenery is not very different from that of the British Isles, and Mr. Trollope thinks that "in New Zealand everything is English, and that the scenery, the colour, and general appearance of the waters, and the shape of the hills, are altogether un-Australian, and very like that with which we are familiar in the west of Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. The mountains are brown, and sharp, and serrated, the rivers are bright and rapid, and the lakes are deep and blue, and bosomed among the mountains. If a long-sleeping Briton could be set down among the Otago Hills, and, on awaking, be told that he was travelling in Galway, or the west of Scotland, he might be easily deceived, though he knew these countries well; but he would feel at once that he was being hoaxed, if he were told in any part of Australia that he was travelling among Irish or British scenery."

MOUNTAINS: With the exception of a few lofty volcanic peaks, the mountains of North Island are of moderate elevation, and do not vie in grandeur or magnitude with the great ranges which traverse the South Island, and rise, in the massive Southern Alps, far above the snow-line.

The most striking feature in the relief of New Zealaud is the long mountain range, which runs through both islands, in the direction of south-west to northeast, from Windsor Point in the south-west of South Island to East Cape in the north-east of North Island. This range, consisting of "up-heaved zones of stratified and massive rocks of different ages, constitutes the powerful backbone of the country," and is broken only by the Strait and by occasional

passes.

In the North Island, the main range extends, under various names, from the north-eastern outcurve to the shores of Cook Strait-the two principal sections being the Ruahine Range and the Tararua Mountains. The former has an

1. Sir C. Dilke.