oast of South America, until it touched at the
Brazilian capital, Rio de Janeiro. Thence it ran southward to the River
Plate, skirted the Patagonian shores, and, threading its way through the
defiles of the Magellan Strait, emerged into the Southern Ocean. A
northerly course took it to the great sea-port of Chili--Valparaiso,
whence it reached across the Pacific to the beautiful group of the
Society Islands, visiting Tahiti, the Eden of the southern seas. The
Sandwich Islands are almost the same distance north as the Society are
south of the Equator. Here Lady Brassey was received with great
hospitality, and surveyed the new and rising civilization of Hawaii with
much interest. In the track of the trade winds the voyagers crossed the
Pacific, which, so far as they were concerned, justified its name, to
Japan; thence they proceeded to Hong-Kong, and through the Straits of
Malacca to Penang. Ceylon lies on the farther side of the Bay of Bengal.
From Ceylon they sailed to Aden, at the mouth of the Red Sea, one of
those strong strategical points by which England keeps open the
ocean-highways to her commercial fleets. Through the Suez Canal the
_Sunbeam_ passed into the Mediterranean, "whose shores are empires,"
touching at Malta and at "the Rock," which the enterprise of Sir George
Rorke gave, and the patient courage of General Eliott preserved, to
England. Entering the familiar waters of the Atlantic, it put into
Lisbon, and afterwards fell into the track for "home," sighting the
first English land, the Start, very early in the morning of the 26th of
May. At midnight the voyagers reached Beachy Head, and could see the
lights of Hastings in the distance. At half-past six on the 27th they
landed there, and were warmly greeted by a multitude of well-wishers.

In our limited space it would be impossible for us to follow up very
closely a voyage which covered so large a part of the world's surface;
nor is it necessary, since Lady Brassey's charmingly written narrative
is now well known to every reader; but we shall permit ourselves the
pleasure of seeing, as Lady Brassey saw, a picture here and there of
beautiful scenery or foreign manners, that we may judge of the
impression it produced on so accomplished an observer. Lady Brassey
evidently belongs not to the _nil admirari_ school, but enjoys keenly
and heartily everything that is fresh and new--a bright bit of colour or
a picturesque detail. It is this which makes her book so