uing to
freshen, in half an hour she was all but hull down.

The night passed not over the heads of the good folks of Lanport,
without numberless recriminations on the stupidity which had been
displayed in not arresting the stranger before it was too late; and
the ferment was not lessened on the arrival of another copy of the
---- Journal, which contained a paragraph headed with the glittering
words, "ONE THOUSAND POUNDS REWARD."

VYVYAN.

* * * * *

Spirit of Discovery.

* * * * *

THE ISLAND OF ROTUMA.[10]

"A new Cythera emerges from the bosom of the enchanted wave. An
amphitheatre of verdure rises to our view; tufted groves mingle
their foliage with the brilliant enamel of meadows; an eternal
spring, combining with an eternal autumn, displays the opening
blossoms along with the ripened fruit."--_Maltebrun._

[Illustration: The Island of Rotuma.]

This is one of the beautiful islands of Polynesia, in the South
Pacific Ocean. It was discovered in the year 1791, and has been since
occasionally visited by English and American whalers, and a few other
ships, for the purpose of procuring water and a supply of vegetable
productions, with which it abounds. It is situated in latitude 12 deg. 30'
south, and longitude 177 deg. east, and is distant about 260 miles from the
nearest island of the Fidji group. It is of a moderate height, densely
wooded, and abounding in cocoa-nut trees, and is about from thirty
to thirty-five miles in circumference. Its general appearance is
beautifully picturesque, verdant hills gradually rising from the sandy
beach, giving it a highly fertile appearance. It is surrounded by
extensive reefs, on which at low water the natives may be seen busily
engaged in procuring shell and other fish, which are abundantly produced
on them, and constitute one of their articles of daily food. At night,
they fish by torch-light, lighting fires on the beach, by which the fish
are attracted to the reefs. The torches are formed of the dried spathe
or fronds of the cocoa-nut tree, and enable them to see the fish, which
they take with hand-nets. It is by these lights that the fish are
attracted, but not so in the opinion of the natives, who say, "they
come to the reef at night to eat, then sleep, and leave again in the
morning."

[Mr. George Bennett, in his account of his recent visit, says:--]

We made this isla