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draw between the narrow limits of our own existence and the 

 image of infinity revealed on every side ; whether we look upwards 

 to the starry vault of heaven — scan the far-stretching plain before 

 us — or seek to trace the dim horizon across the vast expanse of 

 ocean." 



Leave for awhile, some of you, my dear readers, the smoky city, 

 and ramble with us along the seashore ; cease, for a time, your 

 pursuit after gold, which makes 



"Black, white; foul, fair; 

 Wrong, right ; base, noble ; old, young ; coward, valiant. — 



Timon of Athens, act iv., sc, 3. 



and feel " how sweet it is to breathe the pure and open air of 

 heaven." O, if ye have souls at all, the golden flowers of that 

 little Ranunculus, (repens), looking up as an old friend, reminding 

 us of home, and a thousand delightful associations, will surely give 

 you more real pleasure than the brightest golden visions you can 

 ever realise. A short walk through this noble forest of Eucalypti 

 and Banksias (Honeysuckles, with bottle-brush-shaped flowers), 

 and Casuarinae (she oaks), brings us to St. Kilda. Here we get a 

 beautiful view of the sea, and Hobson's Bay crowded with shipping 

 of all descriptions and of every nation. From this point we will 

 skirt the seashore, white as the driven snow, with the pretty Cor- 



allina , and. covered with various beautiful A Igae. In the 



salt marshes, near the sea, we cannot but notice Mesembryanthemum 

 aequilaterale (pigs' faces — fig marigold or canagong), with its 

 green fleshy leaves, and pink star-shaped flowers ; the seed vessel, 

 which is about an inch- and- a-half in length, of a reddish-green 

 colour, as well as the leaves, is eaten by the natives with their 

 fish, in lieu of salt, and also makes an agreeable pickle. Just now 

 the little scarlet-breasted robin (Petroica multicolor) is rearing her 

 first brood, in a beautifully made nest of grasses, mosses, etc., 

 lined with feathers. It delights, principally, in common with our 

 own " plaintive warbler of the ruddy breast," in places near dwell- 

 ings, and its song, though not so loud, is yet very sweet. The 

 male bird has its head, throat, and upper parts, black ; forehead, 

 white; a longitudinal, and two oblique bands of white in the 



