2 HINTS ON FOREST AND PRAIRIE LIFE. 



should be made, or geographical problems solved, we 

 find the Englishman foremost; venturing with his 

 frail bark and his reindeer sled amongst the icebergs 

 of a frozen ocean in search of a north-west passage ; 

 laboriously tracing the Nile to its source, in un- 

 known lands, amongst a fierce and savage people; 

 braving the tropical heats and deadly miasmas of 

 Central Africa ; or working their way across the arid 

 deserts of Australia, to set up land-marks, and point 

 the way to future discoverers. 



And in every phase of their wandering life the}^ 

 are attentively watched by those who are unable to 

 accompany them. Elderly, staid, respectable gentle- 

 men, with a slight inclination to Toryism, ma}^ pro- 

 fess to think it rather low to go rambling about 

 over a whole continent, subsisting on the produce of 

 the chase, and bartering Birmingham goods with 

 naked savao'es; but when the name of one of our 

 travellers is mentioned they cannot help feeling a 

 pride in him, and reflecting that the same country 

 gave them birth. The old man who knows what the 

 gout is, suffers a little from indigestion, and is 

 slightly disposed to asthma, looks with a touch 

 of envy upon the bronzed, healthy face and keen 

 eye of the rover, and wishes that his own step 

 was as firm and light. With a sigh he thinks upon 

 his bankers' account, and the years of toil which 



