tural
inaptitude in the savage to learn, or too great impatience in the
teachers to witness the fruits of their labours, and a proneness to be
discouraged by difficulties.

"IS THIS GRASS?"

In the journal of my residence at Sydney I find as the result of one
day's experience, the following laconic and somewhat enigmatical
memorandum: "Is this grass?" The question implies a doubt, which it would
not be easy for any person unacquainted with the circumstances of time
and place, to solve: but the reader, when he has seen the explanation,
will understand why very pleasing associations are connected with this
brief note. I was going down to the jetty late one evening, when I met a
party just landed, evidently complete strangers in this quarter of the
world. Their wandering and unsteady glances would have convinced me of
this fact, had their whole appearance left any doubt about the matter:
among them were some ladies, one of whom suddenly detached herself from
her companions, and directed as it were by instinct through the gloom,
hastened towards a few sods of turf, pressed them exaltingly with her
foot, and exclaimed in a light, joyous, happy voice--through which other
emotions than that of mere gladness struggled--"Is this grass?" The words
were nothing. They might have been uttered in a thousand different tones
and have not fixed themselves on my memory; but as they fell in accents
of delight and gratitude from the lips of the speaker, they told a whole
story, and revealed an entire world of feeling. Never shall I forget the
simple expression of this newcomer, whose emotions on first feeling the
solid earth beneath her tread, and touching a remembrance of the land she
had left in quest of another home, will be incomprehensible to no one who
has crossed the ocean.

CAPTAIN KING.

We met several persons at Sydney from whom we received valuable
information, and particularly Captain King, who, as the reader may
recollect, commanded the first expedition on which the Beagle was
employed. His great scientific attainments must ever attach respect to
his name, and his explorations on the Australian coast, previous to the
survey in which we were engaged, together with his father's services as
Governor of New South Wales, give him and his children a lasting claim
upon the country. The information he furnished on this and subsequent
occasions was extremely valuable.

RISING OF THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT.

An observation of his