glass
tumbler, we shall find the abundance of living forms which it contains
quite visible to the naked eye. No two of these minute creatures seem to
be of similar form; the variety is infinite, and their activity
incessant. Most of these animalcules, however, are so small that if it
were not for the microscope we should never know of their existence.

The voyage from Hobart to the Bluff, South New Zealand, usually consumes
four days, and it is often a very rough passage. Sailing-vessels making
this trip carry a quantity of crude oil, which in extreme cases they
employ to still the boisterous sea about them, when "God maketh the deep
to boil like a pot." It should be known that our own Benjamin Franklin
first suggested, about a century ago, the carrying of oil by vessels for
this purpose. This shrewd American philosopher was also the first to
suggest, about the same time, that ship-builders should construct the
hulls of vessels in water-tight compartments, thus affording sufficient
sustaining power to float them when by accident portions of the hull
became leaky or broken into. After the lapse of a century both of these
precautions have been adopted, and are much used.

As we sight the land, the southwest coast of New Zealand is found to be
indented with deep fjords [Pronounced _feords_.] almost precisely like
the coast of Norway from Bergen to Hammerfest; and, singular to say,
these arms of the sea, like those of the far north, are much deeper than
the neighboring ocean. The Bluff, also known as Campbelltown, is
situated in the very track of storms, being open to the entire sweep of
the Antarctic Ocean. Its shelving side, sloping towards the harbor,
forms a sort of lee, or sheltered position, which is occupied by a
pretty little fishing-village of some sixty houses, and contains a
population of less than a thousand. These people gain their living
mostly from the neighboring sea, and from such labor as is consequent
upon the occasional arrival of a steamship bound northward. We may here
take refreshment at the Golden Age Inn, which is the most southerly
house of public entertainment on the globe.

New Zealand did not become a recognized British colony until the year
1840. For three-quarters of a century after Cook's first visit, the
native tribes remained in free possession of the country. It is true
that England was mistress of these islands by right of discovery, but
she made no formal assumption of political domai