A LEGEND OF THE PAST. The hero and his trembling bride, Which spurn'd brave Constantine. And, as the priest the ring bestow'd, Fork'd lightning flash'd the altar round, Yes still! save in Almena's breast: And oh! thou holy man, she cried The hero gazed, the hero wept, He saw the hero bend his knee- Then rush'd the palmer into view, But from his grey and glazed eye, And then the hero and his bride, O! hallow'd then was all his pride; T THE SOUL. When coldness chills this suffering clay, Knows it or limits, or controul? Say shall a thought be e'er retraced, Its pangs, too, buried with the dead, If lost in guilt and doomed to woe, What tongue shall speak its fearful doom, The unknown horror of that gloom- But if from crime and sorrow freed, TALE OF EMOUKA. A restless disposition, excited by the feverish movements of aspiring vanity, too common with thoughtless youth, has ever driven me from situations in business, when an ordinary capacity might have realized perhaps a competency—at least the comforts of life. The New World in the Southern hemisphere attracted my attention; led on by authors who have published books more calculated to deceive than to give correct information of the real state of the Colonies; men who, without the abilities themselves to convey to the public facts, have employed kind writers to illustrate statements which bear little resemblance to the truth; or Newspaper Editors, who, from selfish views have published accounts more in accordance with the beauties and advantages, described in volumes of fiction, than the stern realities, which the deceived emigrant has to encounter. It would have been pointing venom at the New Colonies to deny these advantages,, but under any circumstances, who has not been deceived by the statements promulgated in the Mother country? The man with property may employ his capital at usurious interest; the husbandman of industrious habits may readily obtain employment, and liberal wages for his labour, but the limited scope which opens to men of mercantile pursuits, possessed of small capital, presents but a narrow field for their exertions ;-connexion in business establishes a source of profit every where, but who can expect to form a connexion in a strange country, without considerable time and experience, perhaps the funds which at first might have enabled the trader to exist on his profits, dwindles away by degrees in his attempts to attain that experience. Van Diemen's Land, with its delightful climate, and its grandeur of scenery, proved a contracted sphere for my exertions; to improve under a warmer sun, I directed my course to the great country of New Holland, but the visionary anticipations of probable speculation were not to be realized even there. New Zealand next attracted my attention, from its natural capabilities, and the prospect of its becoming a Settlement of great importance at some future period; Itherefore resolved to pay a visit to that country, convinced that the little means which I still possessed might be as advantageously employed among the savages as, among their more civilized neighbours. I found it no difficult matter to form a connexion for receiving my timber and flax, at Sydney, where every merchant is an agent. I accordingly agreed with the master of a vessel for my passage, and the freight of such articles, as, from general information, I could learn were best calculated for traffic with the natives. The sun had nearly descended on the horizon, overhung by a canopy of gorgeous clouds, when our Colonial-built brigantine hauled out of Sydney Cove; the usual song of the sailors when heaving the anchor had ceased; the parting of friends, if so they may be called at Botany Bay, was over; and the vessel was under weigh;-my baggage was adjusted, and every article put in the most convenient place, (an easy matter with men who have been many voyages) when I examined my berth, hung up my hat at the head of my bed, and with my travelling cap on my head, pulled myself up the cabin ladder to look around me on deck. The pilot stood consequentially at the wheel, and with an air of authority gave his orders for the navigation of the vessel down the Port, while the Captain walked about with his hands in his pockets, looking as a 66 sort of cipher on his own desk. The vessel had nearly reached Garden Island, a beautiful and interesting spot, situated in the centre of the Cove. The Englishman, who has lately sailed down this magnificent Cove, and observed the estate of Point Piper, must have been struck with the beauty of its parks and lawns; its tout ensemble may bring fresh to his recollection the residence and 'enclosures of an English nobleman. I addressed the Captain, a tall, rough, raw-boned Scotchman, who had risen in his profession, like the rest of his countrymen, in proportion, the further they travel south. He, like all Scotch sailors, who have been absent several years from their native country, had acquired a peculiar slang, and spoke a sort of English with a swaggering Scotch accent, which gave it the air of bravery; such was our Captain, and such men are generally found to be the masters of small trading vessels in the Southern seas. I saluted the captain. "A fine day this, sir, for a ride on horseback." "Curse the horseback,” said he. “Then you don't like that gentlemanly exercise?". "I once had a ride," said he, "but hang the horse will ever get me on his back again.' "Why? did you meet with accident.' any Yes, I did, I'll tell you the whole story;-its a fact!" After squirting out a mouthful of tobacco juice, he began as follows:- I was living with an uncle of my own at Berwick-upon-Tweed, where he lived, and I wanted to see my cousin at Stony-muir-riggs, where he staid,"-so says my uncle, says he," you can take the horse with you to see your cousin. The horse was a sort of Galloway pony. I got very well on its back, and it went off yery well; it kept along the road very smooth, till it saw a gentleman's chaise a-head. It went off I stuck hard to it to keep it steady-it nearly capsized me- -I took hold of its neck with my arms" (here he stood still, to show me the way he hugged the pony)" and stuck my heels into its side-its a fact!"-"Well captain," said I, "what did it do then?" "It ran as fast as it could till it got up to that there gentleman's chaise, and I fell right over its head;its a fact! The gentleman told the fellow behind to help me up, as if I wanted any of his help! They ax'd me what was the matter. I told them to ax the pony! They wanted to help me on again; no! says I, I'll be hung if that there pony, or any other horse gets me on his back again. I walked him all the way to my cousins at Stony-muir-riggs, and I brought him home tied at the back of a cart-its a fact !" 66 On the seventh day from our leaving Sydney, the dawn had scarcely broken on the eastern sky, when the man at the helm sung out, "Land a-head!" I turned from my hard mattress, and in a few minutes was pacing the deck; all was quiet; the vessel right before the wind, with her studding-sails set; a turn or two left me nothing particular to observe but the man at the wheel, with his eye alternately fixed on the compass and the square-yards ;—aft, day a poor sailor, half a-sleep, coiled up in a coil of the running rigging. The sun began to dip out and in the ocean, his rays darting along the face of the waters, as the vessel crossed the bar of the Hokianga river, on the north east coast of New Zealand; the thick mists hung heavy on the lowlands, but the lofty mountains stood rearing their heads above the clouds, glittering with the beams of the morning sun. As the powerful orb dispelled the mists, from the land, and our vessel proceeded up the river, this interesting country opened to our view. It would be no difficult matter for the emigrant Colonist who has passed the Sow and Pigs, or sailed through D'Entrecasteaux Channel, to stretch his imagination to a country studded all over with evergreens; but to my countrymen, who have never migrated beyond Highbury Barn, to look down upon Epping Forest, some account may be interesting. The bold and rugged coast is at intervals relieyed by land, sloping down to the water's edge, covered with lofty pine; some of which appear to have started at once out of the earth one hundred feet at a stretch, where no branch has had time to issue from the trunk; other trees, such as the oak, of a dark sombre cast, the branches drooping like the willow, to shade the trunk with its grass-like leaves-and, where the sun's influence has burned the sap from its fibres, gives a golden tinge to the outer branches, and relieves the dark green body of the tree. Here and there are to be seen the green Thepackidie tree, with its grape-like leaves and clusters of fruit. The land on each side of the river varied its appearance, as our vessel cut through the quivering waters. The natives were seen at several places, near their houses, where small patches of land were cleared of timber and in cultivation. The vessel had sailed about eighteen miles up the magnificent Hokianga, when she entered the Wyma, a river which winds its course from the south east, and disembogues itself into the Hokianga. Here the brigantine dropt her anchor. The sails were scarcely furled when the vessel was beset by the natives, who had pulled off in their canoes and boats, loaded with potatoes, pigs, cocmeras, and kaypackia, to offer in exchange for tobacco, and articles of European manufacture. The chiefs were well aware of the object of our visit, and the captain without any ceremony entered into an agreement, through his interpreter, for a ship load of pine spars and flax, for which he agreed to give them in exchange a certain portion of tobacco, gun-powder, and muskets. These matters being speedily adjusted, I communicated to the chiefs my desire to become a resident in their country. The sparkle of the eye, and the softened curve lines on the faces of these bold warriors, convinced me that I was not an unwelcome settler. When the spot was fixed on, where fancy directed me to build my house, I found little difficulty in the arrangement with the chief to whom the land belonged, for the purchase of as much land, as would answer for my immediate purpose. With my three men, and several servants belonging to the chief, I soon completed a building for my temporary residence. I then landed my shipment, and stored my goods with all possible care, |