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of adventure tempted him, at an early age, to sea. In one of the small craft attached to the British flotilla in the Mediterranean, he visited many parts of its coasts; accompanied Lord Exmouth's fleet in the first expedition against Algiers; afterwards visited the ruins of Carthage and Lepida; then travelled through Sicily, ascended Mount Etna, and next took a very minute survey of Gibraltar. In the summer of 1817, he returned to England, which he quitted, in the March following, for the western hemisphere. He spent nearly two years in rambling through the United States, and thence proceeded to Rio, the capital of Brazil. The next year, he visited the coast of Chile and Peru, remaining five months at Lima, where he practised his profession as an artist. After a second stay at Rio, he resolved to proceed to India via the Cape; and having once formed this resolution, he was unable to wait with patience the arrival of a merchant vessel bound to Cape Town, but must needs 'intrust himself' on board a sloop which was nothing better than 'a wornout Margate hoy, which was proceeding thither with potatoes, 'laden to the water's edge.' He embarked in her on the 17th of Feb. 1824. On the 20th of March, they were driven by stress of weather to make for Tristan d'Acunha, where Mr. Earle left the vessel, to scramble among the rocks and make sketches; till, on the third day, a strong breeze springing up, the sloop stood out to sea, and our Artist found himself left behind! There he remained in a somewhat forlorn imprisonment, till Nov. 29, when an English vessel bound for Van Diemen's Land, touched at the island, and took him off. It was now that he resolved to visi New Zealand, where he spent nine months; and thence returning to Sidney, he occupied himself in making innumerable sketchs, and in furnishing the drawings for Mr. Burford's Panorma of the Australian Capital. His desire of visiting India no reviving, he again embarked in a vessel bound for Malacca, puching first at the Caroline Islands, and thence proceeding to juam, Manilla, Sincapore, and Pulo-Penang. At every restin place, our Artist enriched his portfolio. At Madras, 'he acqu❜ed both fame and money', and while there, executed the drawigs which have since been copied and exhibited as a panorama y Messrs. Daniell and Paris. During a subsequent stay at th Mauritius, he executed a series of panoramic views of that pictuesque island. He then sailed for England, where he arrived wil a spirit not at all depressed by the vicissitudes and perilshe had gone through, but with an increased and more insaable desire to 'visit climes which he had read of, but never een.' Accordingly, the offer of the situation of draughtsma to H. M. Ship Beagle being made to him, Mr. Earle without esitation availed himself of it; and has now again left this contry on a voyage ' of discovery not likely to terminate under for years.'

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From a person whose life has been thus spent, it would be unreasonable to expect any other than a sailor's narrative; nor ought it to excite surprise, to find that the moral and religious notions of the Author are not characterized by elevation or purity. As an artist, he naturally prefers the picturesque wildness of savage life to the tameness of civilization, and abhors to see 'the finest human forms obscured under a scaman's huge clothing'. His quarrel with the Missionaries, towards whom he does not conceal his cordial contempt and dislike, is partly on this ground. 'These pious men certainly', he says, 'have no taste for the picturesque'. It is true, he was not pleased at their gravity. presenting a letter of introduction from one of their own body', to the Missionaries at the settlement on the Kiddy-Kiddy river, he was ushered into a house all cleanliness and comfort, all 'order, silence, and unsociability.' While partaking of an abundant repast, he overheard them reading and discussing the letter he brought, at which he was mortally offended. He complains, moreover, that they made no inquiry after news, but looked provokingly grave and cold. They did, it is true, invite him to stay all night; and when the number of the party precluded this", they readily lent their boat to convey them to the Bay of Islands. But this our Author regarded as no atonement for their reserve and gravity. The Missionaries might possibly have good reason for giving but a grave welcome to the party', in company with whom it appears that Mr. Earle introduced himself; and they seem to have formed a correct estimate of the uncongenial character of their guest. But the charge of inhospitality is disproved by the Author's own statement. He subsequently paid a visit to the Church Missionary settlement in Marsden Vale There, however, the missionaries soon gave their visiters to understand, that they did not wish for their acquaintance; and 'their coldness and inhospitality, I must acknowledge', says Mr. Earle, created in my mind a thorough dislike to them'. We cannot conceive of any more undesirable acquaintance to pious men so circumstanced, than a party of licentious sailors, to whom the efforts of all missionaries are the subject of coarse ridicule, and whose intercourse with the natives they have so just reason to dread, as tending to counteract all their instructions. Author found himself much more at home among the savages.

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'On our return from Marsden Vale, our savage friends laughed heartily at us. They had warned us of the reception we should meet with; and their delight at seeing us again, formed a strange contrast to that of their Christian teachers, whose inhospitable dwellings we determined never to re-enter.' p. 61.

How came these savages to judge so correctly of the reception which Mr. Earle and his friends would meet with from their pious

countrymen? Surely they must have confounded them with some of the Europeans of the second or third class referred to in the following description.

Kororadika beach, where we took up our residence, seemed the general place of rendezvous for all Europeans whom chance might bring into this bay. At this time there were two large vessels lying at anchor within a quarter of a mile of the shore, and I was informed there were sometimes as many as twelve or thirteen.

The spot is a most delightful one, being about three quarters of a mile in extent, sheltered by two picturesque promontories, and possessing a fine circular, firm, sandy beach, on which there is seldom much surf, so that boats can at all times land and haul up. Scattered amongst the rushes and small bushes is seen a New Zealand village, which at first landing is scarcely perceptible, the huts being so low. Some of them are of English design, though of native workmanship. These are generally the dwellings of some Europeans, who are of so doubtful a character, that it would be difficult to guess to what order of society they belonged previous to their being transplanted among these savages.

I found a respectable body of Scotch mechanics settled here, who came out in the New Zealand Company's ship "Rosanna," and who determined to remain at Kororadika. Their persevering industry as yet has been crowned with success, and they seem well pleased with the prospects before them.

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Here, these hardy sons of Britain are employed in both carrying on, and instructing the wondering savage in various branches of useful art. Here the smith has erected his forge, and his sooty mansion is crowded by curious natives, who voluntarily perform the hardest and most dirty work, and consider themselves fully recompensed by a sight of his mysterious labours, every portion of which fills them with astonishment. Here is heard daily the sound of the sawpit, while piles of neat white planks appear arranged on the beach. These laborious and useful Scotchmen interfere with no one, and pursue successfully their industrious career, without either requiring or receiving any assistance from home.

'But there is another class of Europeans here, who are both useless and dangerous, and these lower the character of the white people in the estimation of the natives. These men are called "Beach Rangers;" most of whom have deserted from, or have been turned out of whalers for crimes, for which, had they been taken home and tried, they would have been hanged; some few among them, having been too lazy to finish the voyage they had begun, had deserted from their ships, and were then leading a mean and miserable life amongst the natives.

There is still a third class of our countrymen to be met with here, whose downcast and sneaking looks proclaim them to be runaway convicts from New South Wales. These unhappy men are treated with derision and contempt by all classes; and the New Zealanders, being perfectly aware of their state of degradation, refuse all intercourse with them. They are idle, unprincipled, and vicious in the extreme, and are much feared in the Bay of Islands; for when by any

means they obtain liquor, they prove themselves most dangerous neighbours. pp. 50-53.

And yet, Mr. Earle, with marvellous simplicity, complains of 'the contemptuous manner in which the Missionaries treat their own countrymen, as they receive most of them on the outside of their stockade fence.' We thank him for so well explaining the reasonableness of their conduct.

With regard to these wild yet interesting' savages, among whom our Author found himself so happy, notwithstanding a few horrible drawbacks upon their amiableness, we do not find any novel information in his narrative. The Author of the clever little volume of the Entertaining Library, entitled The New 'Zealanders', has collected from authentic sources every thing that is known respecting their manners and customs; and to that volume we may refer our readers for a true picture of their actual condition. Mr. Earle's account is on many points not only extremely inaccurate, but self-contradictory. In one place, he describes them as having nearly left off thieving, in consequence of seeing the detestation in which theft is held by Europeans, (p. 16,) and as having no idea of robbery among themselves (p. 21); but an incident occurred, which undeceived him. The hut in which he resided had been accidentally set on fire.

This calamity had made us acquainted with another of their barbarous customs; which is, whenever a misfortune happens to a community, or an individual, every person, even the friends of his own tribe, fall upon and strip him of all he has remaining. As an unfortunate fish, when struck by a harpoon, is instantly surrounded and devoured by his companions, so in New Zealand, when a chief is killed, his former friends plunder his widow and children; and they, in revenge, ill use and even murder their slaves: thus one misfortune gives birth to various cruelties. During the fire, our allies proved themselves the most adroit and active thieves imaginable; though previously to that event we had never lost an article, although every thing we possessed was open to them.' p. 96.

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We like to be just. Touching the thieving, an English mob would have exhibited similar adroitness; and the sufferer would not have so easily redeemed his property. As to their cannibalism, it was Mr. Earle's lot to behold it in all its horrors'; but attestation of the horrible fact was not wanting. Slavery also here assumes its most hideous shape'; and we are happy to agree with our Author in the sentiment he expresses respecting it. 'That Slavery should be the custom of savage nations and cannibals, is not a cause of wonder: they are the only class of human beings it ought to remain with.' (p. 122.) Mr. E. is clearly mistaken in supposing that the New Zealanders have no priesthood, and that they do not worship their carved figures.

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The priests (or tohungas) are, on the contrary, persons of great importance and authority; and one of the most enlightened chiefs complained to Mr. Marsden, that there were too many priests in New Zealand, and that they tabooed and prayed the people to death*. Something beyond inaccuracy is involved in our Author's assertion, that there is in fact little crime among them, ' for which reason they cannot imagine any man wicked enough to deserve eternal punishment.' What he would call crime, it is difficult to decide. Either the most atrocious murder, bloody cruelty', hideous oppression, unjustifiable cannibalism', theft, fraud, and the most unbridled licentiousness are not crime; or his own volume supplies the most emphatic refutation of the absurd misstatement, which seems introduced only for the purpose of having another blow at the hateful Missionaries. We admit that it must have been mortifying to our Artist's vanity, to find the honour of his company continually declined by his unsociable countrymen; but he has taken a very foolish way of revenging himself at the expense of his own character. His savage friends, it seems, warmly resented this want of hospitality on the part of the Teachers towards our Author. According to their 'phisticated notions of right and wrong', it was an unpardonable offence; and they shewed their displeasure in the most dignified way, by refusing to hear them preach! On Christmas Day, Mr. Earle, in company with the captains of two whalers, had resolved to knock up the quarters of the Missionaries once more, to see if they would join them in a pic-nic feast. We must transcribe the picture of the station, and the result of the jovial challenge.

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We proceeded to Tipoona in two whale-boats: it was a most delightful trip, the scenery being strikingly beautiful. The village of Ranghe Hue, belonging to Warri Pork, is situated on the summit of an immense and abrupt hill: the huts belonging to the savages appeared, in many places, as though they were overhanging the sea, the height being crowned with a mighty par. At the bottom of this hill, and in a beautiful valley, the cottages of the missionaries are situated, complete pictures of English comfort, content, and prosperity: they are close to a bright sandy beach; a beautiful green slope lies in their rear, and a clear and never-failing stream of water runs by the side of their enclosures. As the boats approached this lovely spot, I was in an extasy of delight: such a happy mixture of savage and civilised life I had never seen before; and, when I observed the white smoke curling out of the chimneys of my countrymen, I anticipated the joyful surprise, the hearty welcome, the smiling faces, and old Christmas compliments that were going to take place, and the great pleasure it would give our secluded countrymen to meet us, in these distant regions, at this happy season, and talk of our relatives and friends in England.

* New Zealanders, pp. 238--240.