Present Position and Prospects of Geographical Science 109 



it become ? States have been created, with cities, springing, Hke 

 Aladdin's fairy palace, into existence in a night, rivalling in 

 ■wealth, by the discovery of gold, the nations of Europe, and 

 inhabited by a race of Englishmen and their descendants, posses- 

 sing all the spirit and energy of the mother country. 



Of these exalted quahties the map of their country is a noble 

 monument, on which long lines of detailed information mark the 

 course of men who struggled, even to the death, in the cause of 

 geographical discovery; still leaving, however, vast tracts of 

 country to test the spirit of enterprise in those willing to follow 

 their example. 



Little Tasmania, although nearly the size of Ireland, hanging 

 like a small pendant to Australia, is yet destined to occupy a posi- 

 tion of greater importance than the world at present is willing to 

 accord; separated from Australia by a narrow strait of about 120 

 miles, its features are essentially different from those of the gold- 

 strewn plains of Victoria ; and its fertile soil and temperate climate 

 will ensure a steady, though slow progress. 



Proud may we be of botli, for the pursuit of wealth has not 

 caused them to neglect the gentler calls of that purer wealth — 

 science — which, like the widow's cruse of oil, seems inexhaustible, 

 and yields the more the more that is drawn from it ; and great and 

 rich promise to be the contributions to science and natural history, 

 to be poured into the common lap by our brethren at the Anti- 

 podes. 



New Zealand would equally astonish our Rip. From being a 

 country at which our ships touched occasionally, and brought 

 home, as curiosities, a few rudely designed, but elaborately carved 

 implements, or a scarcely less elaborately tatooed head of a chief, 

 it has in a few years sprung into an important colony. 



The legend of the New Zealanders, that their islands would 

 never be conquered until a woman fought against them, may, 

 in the person of our Queen, be said to have been fulfilled ; and 

 although, like a brave people as they are, they struggle in their 

 bonds, it is but a last effort. With whatever show of reason we 

 may satisfy ourselves of our wan-anty in taking possession of this 

 large group of islands, it is to be hoped that the apparently inevi- 

 table fate of the aborigines, in all countries where the white man's 

 foot rests, will not be the fate of this fine race, who, even as savages, 

 won the admiration of our forefathers, and who, in their struggle to 

 retain New Zealand for the New Zealanders, have not been with- 



