7700 Notices of New Books. 



but, following up the habits of their early life, make periodical excur- 

 sions into the bush at different seasons when the different game is in. 

 Thus swan's eggs, kangaroo, ducks, pigeons, eels and cray-fish, all 

 furnish them with food and occupation at certain seasons, and it was 

 but rarely tliat many of these were on the lescrve at one time. 1 have 

 oflen ren)arked, when wandering through these forests, that the Blacks 

 invariably fix upon the prettiest situations for their camping places. 

 I cannot help tbinldng that the character of the Australian aborigines 

 has been much belied by those writers who have described them as 

 but one degree removed from the brute. I always found them honest 

 and fond of the truth, and although they will ask for anything they 

 fancy, just as if they had a right to it, I never knew them steal." — 

 p. 258. 



It is impossible to close this amusing and instructive little book 

 without wishing thai its author had been more methodical in his manner, 

 more precise in his choice of words and expressions, more careful to 

 convey exact ideas. Thus we feel doubtful whether many of the terms 

 our author employs express his meaning. Is Australia that well- 

 watered country which the fascinating description of the night watch 

 by its lagoons seems to imply .'' Are these beautiful lakes with their 

 pellucid waters permanent or seasonal ? I have many correspondents 

 who speak of mud-holes in the rainy seasons, of excessive droughts, 

 overpowering dust and scorched earth in the dry season, but not one 

 whose descriptions tally exactly with those of the " Old Bushman." 

 Amid all the inexact and sometimes conflicting evidence there is the 

 most direct evidence of intended truthfulness ; he paints, on all occa- 

 sions, the impressions his mind receives at the moment, but whether 

 other eyes would behold the same objects under the same mental con- 

 ditions is ver}' questionable. It has been wisely said " that beauty is in 

 the mind of the beholder," and this perhaps affords some clew to the 

 conflicting reports we are daily receiving of that juvenile England 

 known as Australia Felix, a country of which nothing is too marvellous 

 to believe, and whose luture is perhaps more glorious than imagination 

 has the power to depict. — Edward Netvman. 



Darwin s ' Origin of Species.^ — At page 7594 of ihe ' Zoologist ' we read, relative 

 to the presuineJ iclatioiisliip between species, that " If Mr. Darwin could believe he 

 was dcaHiig will) plants or auimals, instead of inactive mineral elements, he could 

 weave them into a genealogical series more remarkably consistent than the blood 

 alliuilies he assumes exist in the organic kingdom ;" and again, iu the same page, his 



