With parental joy, Adam Liszt contemplated the growing seeds of talent in his child. He held him to the piano, placed his small fingers on the keys, and struck first single notes, and then melodies with them. These exercises were begun with little Franz when he was but six years old, and, at the age af nine, he played for the first time in public, at Oldenburg. His performance was a concerto in E major, by Ries, and at the conclusion, a free fantasia. The boy extemporized with ease the most striking rhythms, the most surprising modulations; and the audience, almost beside themselves with admiration and sympathy, were not surprised to see the happy father shed tears of joy. Such was the general rapture, that the boy was nearly stifled in the embraces of his audience; many of them pressed him to their hearts, shaking hands with the weeping parent, and congratulating him on the rising star of his house; while Prince Esterhazy put fifty ducats in the small hands of the youthful musician, and recommended him with the zeal and warmth of a true Mecenas to all the magnates of Hungary. Such was Liszt's first introduction to the public, and it was enough to have spoiled him for life. He must have been greatly pleased with these praises, but they do not appear to have checked his progress. They acted as a strong stimulus to his genius, and kindled in him a noble ambition. His hard practice, however, produced great physical debility, and his studies were frequently interrupted by violent attacks of illness, His excitable organization exposed him to attacks of religious mania, and his mind became filled with the mysterious doctrines of Jacob Böhme, and similar enthusiasts. This continued from his tenth to his twelfth year, and meanwhile he prosecuted his musical studies and practice when his fitful health permitted. From Oldenburg, Adam Liszt removed, with his son, to Presburg. There, the counts Amaden and Zapary, together, settled on him a pension of 600 florins annually, to defray the expenses of his education. From thence, Liszt went to Vienna, and was there placed under the tuition of the celebrated Carl Czerny, than whom no better instructor could have been selected. Whilst at Vienna, Liszt also gave assiduous attention to difficult exercises in counterpoint, church music, and thorough bass, under the guidance of Salieri, for about eighteen months. He worked far into the night, and was quite absorbed in study and labour. He carried his devotion to his art almost to the extent of fanaticism; and, in order to recruit his health and spirits after such intense application, his father frequently set on foot public concerts, in which the fruits of Franz's study delighted both the eye and the ear of the musical public. To us, it is a wonder how he could survive all this intense labour and excitement. At one of these public concerts, in Vienna, almost the whole nobility were present, with the élite of the musicians of that metropolis, among whom was the great Beethoven himself. While listening to the young artist, Beethoven forgot for a moment his gloomy and morose turn of mind, and gave his applause to Liszt, in his own peculiar way, saying, "Mind, my lad, thou dost not attempt to break thy neck in attempting to descend the ladder of the art; the earth already lies too deep for thee to reach it without peril." Liszt showed his own high appreciation of the great in art, by the veneration with which he regarded the works of Beethoven. He strove to interpret his genius, but while he did so, always guarded | himself from degenerating into mannerism. Soon after, the father and son went to Paris. The conservatoire closed its doors on him, being a foreigner, but the salons of Paris received him with enthusiasm. Fêtes were given in his honcur; everywhere was he caressed and flattered. He became the lion of the day, played before the Duke of Orleans and all the nobility, and all vied in doing him homage, He passed through the giddy whirl of praise, which would have deranged many a stronger head, bnt he was preserved unhurt amid it all. His father counselled and protected him throughout, and saved him from indolent repose and self-conceit. After being the idol of the French capital, he proceeded to London, without whose crowning award no artist's career is complete, and there he was received with the same admiration and enthusiasm. His appearances were a succession of triumphs; and, after a short stay, he returned to Paris, where he devoted his energies to the composition of an opera, called "Don Sancho, or the Castle of Love," which was performed at the Academie Royale de Musique in 1825. The artist was then only fourteen years old! After the fall of the curtain, Nourrit led him forth on the stage, amidst the deafening plaudits of the audience. Rudolph Kreutzer, the then musical director of that grand establishment, embraced him publicly, with tears in his eyes. In the midst of these great labours, Liszt was again seized by religious melancholy, or rather superstition; and his father, to divert his thoughts from himself, and to amuse him with change of scene, resolved on a series of excursions into the provinces; after which he made a tour with him through the principal towns of England, where he was received with great enthusiasm. The boy's health, however, grew worse, and the father returned with him to Boulogne. Here the father died, and Franz was left alone with his genius and his melancholy, which returned with increased force. His heart and soul wandered amidst the various branches of philosophy, theology, and general literature,-seeking rest, but finding none. But his mind became expanded, and his views became enlarged, of nature, its laws, and the world around him. While occupied thus, and engaged at intervals in the composition of masses, and other sacred music, to the neglect of his ordinary professional engagements, his soul was roused by the ardent attachment which he formed for a lady of high rank. The passion possessed his whole soul, and he worshipped, with an ardent and absorbing love, such as excitable natures like his own can alone comprehend. But his love proved an unhappy one, and the disappointed enthusiast shut himself up for weeks in his solitary apartment, brooding on his misfortunes, and confiding his griefs and lamentations to his unsympathizing but not silent instruments. In the course of time, he recovered from this wretched state; but it was only to run into the opposite extreme of gaiety and dissipation. He sought to forget his passion in a whirl of excitement and indulgence. The French Revolution of 1830 appeared, and Liszt became enraptured with the illusions of "liberty and equality." He witnessed the fight of the barricades and the storming of the Louvre. His imagination was wondrously excited by these events, and he laboured at the composition of a symphonie revolutionaire, in the same manner as Beethoven had designed and executed his Battle of Vittoria." But this symphony was never completed. While resident in Paris, he heard, for the first time, the wonderful performances of Paganini on the violin, and he was so fascinated by them, that he resolved on attaining the same style of playing on the piano, which he certainly succeeded in accomplishing to a great extent. Here also he made the acquaintance of George Sand (Madame Dudevant), which ripened into a close friendship. On looking into her "Letters of a Traveller"-an extraordinary book, full of deep thought and intense feeling -we find some of the noblest of her letters are addressed to "Franz Liszt," from Italy. After a sojourn there, he joined her and her family at Chamouni, with Puzzi, and a few more artists. In one of her letters to him, she thus speaks :-"For my part, I have always believed some organizations to be so exquisite that they possessed almost divine faculties. In them the terrestrial envelope is so ethereal, so transparent, so impressionable, that the soul seems to see and penetrate through the matter which clothes or composes the exterior mould. Their fibres are so delicately strung, and so tender, that all which escapes the grosser senses of other men makes theirs vibrate, like the slightest breeze troubling the chords of an Æolian harp, and making them tremble. You, my dear Franz, must be one of those perfect and half-angelic organizations. Your physiognomy, your complexion, your imagination, your genius, all reveal those faculties with which heaven endows its elect." Liszt still continued his wanderings over Europe, giving concerts in its principal cities, and everywhere exciting a perfect furore. He wandered into the extreme East of civilization, and back again to Germany and France. At length he became satiated with these exhibitions: his mind had acquired its full strength: he felt within him powers worthy of a better purpose than mere fitful concert-giving. He determined to settle down, and devote himself to composition. He has fixed himself at Weimar, made famous by Goethe, and other great writers, who revolutionized the entire literature of Germany. May we look for an equal revolution in its music from the labours of Liszt? We may yet live to see! His apprenticeship (wanderschaft) has closed, and we have now his journeyman's work to look for. He has already drawn around him some of the best musicians in Germany, and is looked upon in Weimar as the focus and rallying point of German music. Nor has Liszt been idle in the work of composition. He has composed several new pianoforte concertos, of great merit; and his new overture to "Prometheus' is spoken of as a work of the highest ambition, full of force and contrast. We shall look with great interest for the further works of this consummate artist and genius. "PUNCH'S" OPINION OF OUR HATS. Let the European world of inventors be called upon to come forward hat in hand, and try what can be done to crown humanity in the nineteenth century with something less like a chimney pot. We know of nothing that can be said in favour of the article which we are forced to wear on our heads-it is hot in summer, it is not warm in winter; it does not shade us from the sun, it does not shelter us from the rain; it is ugly and expensive; you cannot wear it in a railway carriage, it is always in your way in a drawing-room; if you sit upon it you crush it, yet it will not save your skull in a fall from your horse; it will not go into a portmanteau, you are sure to forget it when suspended from the straps of a carriage roof. is too hard to roll up, too soft to stand upon; it rusts with the sea-air, and spots with the rain; if it is good, you are sure to have it taken by mistake at a soirée; if it is bad, you are set down for a swindler-in short, it has all the bad qualities that a thing can have, and not one good one to set off against them. him on foot, what an old, old fellow! Did you ever form to yourself any idea of Dick Lacy (Dick has been Dick these sixty years) in a natural state, and without his stays? All these men are objects whom the observer of human life and manners may contemplate with as much profit as the most elderly Belgravian Venus, or inveterate Mayfair Jezebel. An old reprobate daddy long legs, who has never said his prayers (except perhaps in public) these fifty years: an old buck who still clings to as many of the habits of youth as his feeble grasp of health can hold by: who has given up the bottle, but sits with young fellows over it, and tells naughty stories upon toast and water-who has given up beauty, but still talks about it as wickedly as the youngest roué in company-such an old fellow, I say; if any parson in Pimlico or St. James's were to order the beadles to bring him into the middle aisle, and there set him in an arm chair, and make a text of him, and preach about him to the congregation, could be turned to a wholesome use for once in his life, and might be surprised to find that some good thoughts came out of him.-Thackeray's Pendennis. LIFE AT SIERRA LEONE. There From January to December it is steamed, and darkened, and blown upon by all manner of "vapours, and It is shrouded at one season in an clouds, and storms." almost daily haze; it is worried and terrified out of its senses during others by the insane gambols of tornadoes; it is breathed upon at others by the far spread breath of the desert, charged with its impalpable sand, and bringing chillness and drought at once. In other particulars it is very tropical indeed. It is deafened by thunder, blinded by lightning, and calcined by heat, and rained upon by rains, till the patience of European man is exhausted; for each of these phenomena is such as is known within the tropics only. But it has still greater tribulations. It is not the most frequented resort certainly, yet a favourite enough possession of those hosts of the insect and reptile creation which fill nightly the countries of the torrid zone with the loud bewildering sound of their rejoicing or complaining song, and which, night and day, with sound or in silence, carry on their unrelenting assaults and depredations on your entire person and property. There be mosquitoes (not many, but some) to hum and lull, and to sip your blood; centipedes and scorpions to sting possibly, and to alarm certainly; crickets singing in the ear; and a mysterious boog-aboog sawyer sawing all night in the wainscoat. are moths to pasture upon your coats and books, It" making fine fretwork" of both; moths of another description, clothed and winged, to distress your sensibilities by their unaccountable and uncalled-for self-immolations, and in clouds to obscure or extinguish your evening lights; cockroaches, also, both creeping and flying, whose name is a sufficient accusation; ants, red, black, and white, and brown, from whom no cupboard is secured, no sugar-basin or bread-basket ever sacred; other denizens, numberless and nameless, of bedsteads If men sneer, as our habit is, at the artifices of an old and beds; and lastly, snakes themselves not unknown. beauty, at her paint, perfumes, ringlets; at those innu- With those assailants should be named the silent but inmerable, and to us unknown stratagems, with which she veterate and severe prickly heat; because though uninis said to remedy the ravages of time and reconstruct the vested like them with personality, it labours in its occult charms whereof years have bereft her; the ladies, it is to way with even more than the subtlety or malice of the be presumed, are not on their side altogether ignorant worst of them; and as its smart and blister are very that men are vain as well as they, and that the toilets of similar to what are caused by the mosquito, it may be old bucks are to the full as elaborate as their own. How is regarded as a very sufficient ally or substitute of that it that old Blushington keeps that constant little rose-tint musical individual. Finally, to these positive sorrows on his cheeks; and where does old Blondel get the prepa- may be added, if the reader pleases, what are negations ration which makes his silver hair pass for golden? Have certainly, but negations of a kind not unimportant-abyou ever seen Lord Hotspur get off his horse when he sence of the European lower classes; service, if it is to thinks nobody is looking? Taken out of his stirrups, his be called so, of the native race; absence of society, abshiny boots can hardly totter up the steps of Hotspur sence of books, absence of whatever seems requisite here House. He is a dashing young nobleman still, as you to reading, thinking, and talking man.-British Quarterly see the back of him in Rotten Row; when you behold Review. AN OLD BEAU. SONG. WHEN Hope was first sent down to man So, since that time, no listless fears AUTUMN G. LINNEUS BANKS. SONNETS. WHEN we have passed beyond Life's middle arch, Which brings us nearer to the shadowy bourn, Which had been treasure, had we learned to quell Leapt o'er the lea, whilst clustering round her feet Like Joseph, clothed in many-coloured vest, And pine for sustenance at Nature's knee. "Corn, wine, and oil,"-there's music in the sound; Oh, would that none might lack when such blest gifts abound! Not yet is Autumn desolate and cold, For all his woods are kindling into hues Of gorgeous beauty, mixed and manifold, Which in the soul a kindred glow transfuse. The stubble fields gleam out like tarnished gold In the mild lustre of the temperate day; Above, an azure ocean is unrolled, Where clouds, like barks of silver, float alway. Nor is he voiceless; through the forest leaves The winds make music, as they come and go; Thus the dear Seasons ever roll, and run Gold-belted Autumn, tranquil as a sage, DIAMOND DUST. RHETORIC is the creature of art, which he who feels least will most excel in. Do what you were born, or have learned to do, and avoid hindering others from doing the same. HAPPINESS is often at our side, and we pass her by; Misfortune is afar off, and we rush to meet her. A QUARREL is like a spark, which cannot be produced without a flint as well as a steel; either of them may hammer on wood for ever, no fire will follow. THOSE who understand the value of time trust it, as prudent people do their money-they make a little go a great way. AFFECTED Simplicity is refined imposture. He who lives without folly is not so wise as he imagines. WHATEVER we owe, it is our part to find where to pay it, and to do it without asking, too; for whether the creditor be good or bad, the debt is still the same. WHEN we mean to touch the heart, we always speak the truth in some degree; it is our last resource, and if it were our first, we should have less to lament. FLATTERY is a sort of bad money, to which our vanity gives currency. CHARITY and fine dressing are things very different; but if men give alms for the same reasons that others dress fine, only to be seen and admired, charity is then but like the vanity of fine clothes. THERE is a moral mirror in our hearts, which reflects the images of the things around us; and every change that comes over nature's face is mingled sweetly, though too often unnoticed, with the thoughts and feelings called forth by other things. AFFECTED Virtue is more to be dreaded than vice. THERE is this difference between happiness and wisdom; he that thinks himself the happiest man, really is so; but he that thinks himself the wisest, is generally the greatest fool. PITY will always be his portion in adversity who acts with gentleness in prosperity. CREDIT is like a looking-glass, which when only sullied by an unwholesome breath, may be wiped clean again, but if once it is cracked it is never to be repaired. SPLEEN is often little else than obstructed perspiration. WE hate some persons because we do not know them; and we will not know them, because we hate them. Those friendships that succeed to such aversions are usually firm, for those qualities must be sterling that could not only gain our hearts, but conquer our prejudices. No local associations are so impressive as those of guilt. The Re-Issue of the Complete TTorks of Eliza Cook, Commenced in No. 79, will be continued weekly until completed. ELIZA COOK'S JOURNAL has not yet reached many remote parts of Great Britain, and the present Re-Issue affords a good opportunity for Subscribers to recommend their Friends to take in the the Work. They will thus obtain, at a very small cost, the whole of the Poems written before the JOURNAL commenced, besides much other instructive and amusing matter. The whole of the Numbers, from the commencement of the JOURNAL-singly, in Monthly Parts, or in Half-yearly Volumes, price 4s. 6d. each-will be kept constantly in print in London, and Readers are requested to repeat their orders to the nearest Bookseller until they obtain the desired quantities. Cases for Binding Vols. I., II., III., One Shilling each Printed and Published for the Proprietor, by JouN OWEN CLARKE, (of No. 8, Canonbury Villas, in the Parish of St. Mary, Islington, in the County of Middlesex) at bis Printing Office, No. 3, Raquet Court, Fleet Street, in the Parish of St. Bride, in the City of London, Saturday November 30, 1850. NATAL. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1850. It seems to be the destiny of Britain to colonize-to plant nations-to Saxonize the world. No people, either in ancient or modern times, has thrown out so large a number of healthy offshoots, containing in them the germs of so much life, and energy, and self-sustaining power. The Northern continent of America is already overrun and subdued by our kinsfolk, who have there, within an incredibly short space of time, built up a great nation, already equal to any in the world. The thriving colonies of Australia and New Zealand, on the opposite side of the globe, are also doubtless destined, at no remote period, to become free and independent states, self-supporting self-defending, and self-governing. Our foot has long been planted in Asia, though there, amid the teeming population of an old world, we seem to be occupiers rather than colonizers. Yet even in Hindostan, there seems to be evidences of a growing desire to plant that fertile country, and to subdue it to purposes of commerce, agriculture, and industry. The abundant supply of cotton for our vast manufacturing population has become almost as vital a matter for this country as an abundant supply of corn; and the fertile plains of India present a boundless field for the growth of the cotton plant, to which the attention of commercial men has for some time been anxiously directed. The vast continent of Africa is another inviting field for British emigration; and the already thriving colony of Natal holds out no mean attractions to those who are in search of "fresh fields and pastures new." [PRICE 14d. States, and now propose briefly to allude to the equally attractive colony which we have named, that of Natal, situated on the south-eastern coast of Africa, a few days' sail from the Cape of Good Hope. The colony is only about half the distance of Australia from England, and is very favourably situated as regards our possessions in India, to which, as well as to England, the colonists look for a ready demand for their produce. It is a long strip of fertile country, extending along the coast, and inland as far as the Drakensburg mountains, ranging from 100 to 150 miles distance from the sea, and which completely protect the colony along its western boundary. About 20,000 square miles of land are comprised within the district, nearly the whole of which is of high fertility, and may be made subservient to the industry and happiness of man. The country slopes from the high range of mountains, already referred to, towards the sea, presenting a succession of hill and dale, forests and plains, deep and spacious rivers, the whole land teeming with vegetation of the most luxuriant kind. The scourge of drought need not be feared; for copious streams of water run through all parts of the colony, descending from the hills towards the sea. The surface of the country may be described as generally undulating, except at the sea coast, where it is in many places flat and stretches out into plains. In some parts it resembles the Australian scenery in its park-like appearance, the trees being thinly scattered; though in the western districts, dense forests are found. The colony contains, besides its timber, abundance of iron ore, building-stone, coal, and other minerals. The Governor at the Cape, Sir Harry Smith, is very high in his praises of the natural capabilities of Natal. In a despatch to Lord Grey he says:-"This district embraces a most beautiful country, strongly undulating, and intersected by many streams, whose waters never fail. The land in many parts is rich and fertile beyond description, capable of producing cotton, tobacco, and, I think, indigo, as the latter plant in its wild state abounds. It possesses every advantage of climate; the land is wonderfully well watered, and possesses rich coal mines." There is every reason to believe that emigration from Britain will steadily increase, rather than diminish, for some considerable time to come. We regard it as extremely probable that there will be a large and increasing emigration of the farming classes, in consequence of the diminished attractions of farming pursuits in this country, from a recent radical change in the laws affecting the importation of foreign-grown food. Considerable tracts of land, that had been forced into cultivation by the stimulus of high prices, must now drop out of cultivatic n and be converted into their former pasture; while small farms will probably be converted into larger ones, as an inducement to men of capital to hold and occupy them. This will cause a large disengagement of agricultural skill and labour, as is indeed already the case to some extent in the northern counties, and we do not know to what alternative the classes so disengaged can look so hopefully, as to emigration to the teeming and fertile lands in our colonies, which are only waiting the presence and labour of the farmer and husbandman to teem with prosperity and plenty. We have already, in the columns of this journal, referred to the emigration fields of Australia and the United The climate is spoken of by all visitors as remarkably fine; and it is now frequently resorted to by invalids from India, in preference to the Cape, the weather and atmosphere being found more genial. The temperature is never excessive, nor of such a description as to prevent field labour at any period. The summer is mild, and it is during that time that the greater part of the annual rains usually fall. Frost is very rare, and snow is never seen, except on the summits of the distant hills. Consumption, ague, and bronchial complaints are unknown, which speaks well for the general salubrity of the climate. The mildness and geniality of the air give great scope for luxuriant vegetation, and the stranger is struck by the number and variety of the creepers and parasitical plants, which twine round and cling to everything which will yield them support, festooning the branches of the trees, and matting together the underwood, so as almost to render the bush impenetrable. The convolvulus and passion flower, honeysuckle and nasturtium, are particularly abundant. The agricultural capabilities of the soil are great and varied. It is for the most part a rich black loam along the coast, and a red sandy soil of great depth farther in the interior. All kinds of produce are raised in the colony; more inland, excellent wheat is grown and yields a heavy crop, the produce weighing about sixty-five pounds to the bushel. Maize, oats, and barley thrive well, and all kinds of vegetables that have yet been tried. Kidney beans yield a large crop, and find a ready market in the Mauritius, whither large quantities of this vegetable, and of grain, cattle, salted fish, pork, butter, lard, &c., are already sent from the colony. In most places, the soil is sufficiently clear to be at once ready for the plough and from the mildness of the climate, two crops are usually grown in the year, and without manure. which must in a short time become an article of conside- Sugar, coffee, oranges, peaches, lemons, figs, pomegranates, pine-apples, apples, pears, and all such fruits, are also grown with ease in the open air, and reach maturity and perfection. The colony has been divided into eight magistracies or divisions, and the elements of local government have already been organized. The principal of these is Pietermaritzburg, in which the capital of the colony is situated, But the cultivation of the cotton plant seems more about fifty miles from the sea-port, in a north-west directhan any other branch of agricultural industry, to be the tion. The town is regular and well-built, prettily situfuture destiny of Natal, and we believe her prosperity ated on a level piece of ground, and surrounded by hills, will mainly depend on her success in this respect. The the sides of which are mostly clothed with wood, and rich grassy land along the sea-coast grows cotton of first-look fresh and verdant all the year round. The town rate quality, which has already received the highest com- contains shops, stores, and several public buildings, with mendation at Manchester and Glasgow, fetching the numerous well-built dwelling houses of stone and brick. best price in the market. The fibre possesses extra- A handsome church is now in course of erection, which ordinary strength and tenacity, and is of greater length is estimated to cost about £8,000; Wesleyan and Rethan that ordinarily used. The cultivation is already rapidly formed chapels are already in existence. The scenery of on the increase, and a Natal cotton company has been the neighbourhood is very fine and picturesque, and the formed, which holds out bright prospects of profit to its soil is rich and fertile. projectors. Numerous private cultivators are also at work, and are realizing good prices for their produce. The soil is also exceedingly favourable for the production of indigo and tobacco, both which may be grown in any quantity, and of fine quality. Mr. Edward Chippiani, an eminent merchant, and proprietor of land at Natal, in a report to the governor of the colony, gives the following account of the capabilities of the colony in these respects: D'Urban is the oldest part of the settlement, and contains the sea-port town of the same name. The town is well laid out, and is rapidly increasing in size and importance; it is seated on the banks of a lake skirting the bay of Natal, and is embowered in trees and flowering shrubs in endless variety. Mr. Methley, who has resided in the colony and published a little book on the subject,* gives a glowing description of the town and neighbour"Having, as a commercial man, had transactions with hood. He says "near the town is Berea, a very high Natal for the last five years, and this being the third visit hill, covered to the summit with dense and tangled brush I have paid to the settlement, I can speak not only as to or forest, from the top of which is seen some of the most the great diminution of the population, but in respect also beautiful scenery in South Africa. Such a combination to the great capabilities of the country. In the year 1843 of the majestic and sublime, of wood and water, hill and I took with me to Cape Town a considerable quantity of dale, is rarely to be met with; and when once beheld is native tobacco, which, being at the time admitted free of never forgotten-a scene on which the eye feasts with duty, sold at a very remunerating price; and at my sug-delight, and which memory loves to recall in after days. gestion a farmer prepared about 50lbs. in weight, as near as he could in appearance to the American leaf tobacco; this sample I exhibited to the consul for the States, and to the masters of two American merchant ships, who declared it to be equal to many samples of Virginia tobacco; and all that stopped the cultivation of the article was sub-chantman wending its way to the rich ports of the east." sequently making Natal an independent colony; and thus tobacco from thence became liable to the same duty, as from any other part of the world. Here are seen to advantage the varied beauties of island, mountain, and stream; the town, shipping, and placid waters of the bay; while the eye roams over the blue endless expanse of the Indian Ocean, on whose bosom is seen a glistening speck, the sail of some distant mer The scenery of the bay of Port Natal is thus described by the same writer: "near the upper end of the bay are the Mayron islands, the wood of which is used in the construction of houses; there are also great quantities of shells which are burnt for lime. It is exceedingly pleasant, on a summer's evening, to sail round this noble bay. As the boat proceeds on its course there is an everchanging panorama of nature's brightest pictures; profuse and lovely vegetation margins the water, and as you near the islands, flocks of flamingos, pelicans, and cranes, large white-plumaged birds, rise on the wing, startled by your approach. Soon you glide into a canal-like passage, the trees on either hand arching above forming a fairylike vista, through which the evening breeze comes cool and refreshing. Underneath the clear water you see the fish darting to and fro beneath the matted roots of the mangrove, and as the rich flood of light from the setting "Secondly, if not ranking before tobacco, Natal is capable of producing an almost unlimited quantity of cotton, superior to any North American cotton, Sea Island excepted. In the year 1845, the firm, of which I am a member, sent home the first bale of Natal cotton. The report thereon from the brokers and manufacturers was so encouraging, that I was induced to commence planting. In 1846 we sent home six bales, which sold at 74d. per lb., at a time when the best North American cotton (Sea Island excepted) was selling at 63d. And in 1847 we sent home fourteen bales, the result of the sale of which I have still to learn. This year we have seventy-five acres under cultivation, and are daily expecting the necessary presses and other machinery from America, to enable us to carry on operations on a more extensive scale. Several other parties are also now cultivating cotton, grants. By James Erasmus Methley: Houlston and Stoneman. The New Colony of Port Natal, with Information for Emi |