all the robbed vigour of his manhood, swept back with a rush through all his frame. Even in that instant of mortal danger and of physical misery, once more he had hope, and he had freedom; they are the angels of men's lives.

He swam out to the bright blue star of light-swam with that strength which comes in the supreme hours of our lives, making us "rend the cords even as green withes."

A few brief seconds more, and he stood on the yacht deck; Lionel Caryll had saved him.

"Free-thank God!"

The words broke from both their lips as the wild rain-storm lashed round them; then, without sign or show of life, he fell down at the feet of the English youth, the blood gushing from his mouth and nostrils— his senses blind and gone.

Before the sun rose, the yacht was far on her way westward down the Mediterranean waters; Valdor was free.

Thus strangely does Circumstance turn avenger in this life.

FAREWELL TO FRANCE.

FROM THE FRENCH OF BERANGER.

BY I. A. SAXON.

I FEEL that I am dying, France, thou dear and sacred name,
Its sound shall be the latest that thy poet's lips can frame!
Oh, never son loved mother more than thou wert loved by me,
Adored, beloved land, adieu, a last farewell to thee!

I sung thee, ere in childhood's hour I learned to read thy page,
That tells of all thy glories past, of patriot, and of sage;
And praising thee my latest breath shall lingeringly depart,
While thou wilt give a sigh to him who gave to thee his heart.
When monarchs o'er thy bleeding limbs in impious triumph drove,
To crush thee with their chariot-wheels, thou country of my love,
I tore the fillets from their brows to bind thy mangled form,

And bathed thee with the balm I wrung from feelings pure and warm.
Yet even in thy ruin thou wert glorious to the earth,

And many a future age shall pay its tribute to thy worth;
By thee alone equality's bright standard was unfurl'd-
Thy glowing thoughts and lofty aims have fertilised the world.
The Dew of Death is on my brow, I sink to meet my doom,
I leave thee, France, the care of those who weep above my tomb;
'Tis a just debt thou owest to him whose love, and life, and song
Were never paid with paltry gold that gilds oppression's wrong.
Oh, bid thy sons remember this, their poet's dying prayer,
When the dark grave encloses me, O be my loved, their care!
Even now I hear the Almighty's voice, his glory dims my view,
My mortal frame is failing fast, my own bright France, adieu!

A VISIT TO THE VICTORIA FALLS.*

How short a time it seems since the rumours which had reached Europeans of the existence of a vast lake in the interior of South Africa were converted into a certainty by the persevering exertions of Livingstone, Oswell, and Murray; since Livingstone himself explored the Liambye-one of the great tributaries of the Zambesi-and discovered the Victoria Falls, next in magnitude and splendour to those of Niagara; since Andersson traversed the continent from Walvish, or "Whale-fish" Bay to Lake Ngami, by the country of the Damaras and the Bechuanas, to that of the Makololo on the Zambesi, penetrated with Galton into the corn country of the Ovampos, and navigated the Okavango, or Chobe, supposed to be the main branch of the Zambesi! Yet since those times traders and missionaries have settled in the interior, advancing their settlements to the east almost as far as the wilderness of the Bechuanas, and opening regular lines of communication, as well as determining regular hunting-grounds at different seasons of the year, all around the country of Lakes and Salt Pans upon which the Transvaal Republic, watered by the Limpopo and its tributaries, already abuts.

Hence it is that we have now the records of an artist, travelling in company with a trader, all the way from Walvish Bay to the Zambesi, with the ultimate view of descending the latter river in boats to the coast, a project which was defeated by unforeseen difficulties. We find missionaries and traders, among the latter of whom Andersson himself, settled far in the interior; native chiefs adopting European fashions and becoming semi-civilised; hunting and trading routes and wells known after the names of European adventurers; and even Lashulatebe, the monarch ruling on Lake Ngami, becoming a shrewd trader, especially fond of purchasing fire-arms, in order to carry on a successful war against Livingstone's quondam friends and allies, the Makololo.

The advance journey appears to have been undertaken in the dry or winter season-indeed, we have a notice of ice forming on one occasionbut the dry season lasts sometimes for years in these regions of little rainfall. Most of the so-called rivers-the Swakop at the head of themwere mere beds of sand, and the Dupa and the Kursip, the two first encountered on the journey, had not been known to contain water for the last ten years.

At Otjimbingue, which appears to be the most important European settlement on the Swakop, our traveller was welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson (Mr. Andersson being about to start overland for the Cape),t

* Explorations in South-West Africa. Being an Account of a Journey, in the Years 1861 and 1862, from Walvisch Bay, on the Western Coast, to Lake Ngami and the Victoria Falls. By Thomas Baines, F.R.G.S.

The following sad intelligence was brought home by the mail steamer Cambrian, which left the Cape on the 21st of October, 1864. There had been fighting in Damaraland, on the western seaboard, between the Namaquas and Damaras. It appears that the former tribe had robbed the celebrated traveller, Mr. Andersson, of a large number of cattle which were passing through their territory. Mr. Andersson roused up the Damaras to recapture his lost property, and, with Mr. F.

but he had to go back to Walvish Bay to bring up segments of boats and other impedimenta. This was in the month of May, 1861. Further delays were entailed also in bringing up Mr. Chapman's goods.

An actual start (apart from lateral excursions) appears to have been made on the 3rd of July, and the first and inevitable difficulties presented themselves of leave to travel through the country of Jonker, the Namaqua chief, who has adopted the Arab system of levying tribute, a certain Cator and Smutz having, we are told, first allowed themselves to be coerced in such a matter. To this a far more serious difficulty was superadded, the cattle necessary for drawing the waggons, as well as for slaughter on the road, being for the most part affected by a sad epidemic, known as the "lung sickness." To obviate the effects of this malady to a certain extent, it was customary to inoculate healthy cattle by passing a needle and thread, previously steeped in the virus of the diseased lung, through the skin of their tails. This caused a painful swelling, which, if the needle touched the bone in its passage, extended to the whole hindquarters, and occasioned the loss of the tail, or perhaps of the animal. It was said that of the cattle not inoculated fifty per cent. died, and that the operation reduced the per-centage to twenty-five. Still, notwithstanding these precautions, the sickness and mortality on the route was very great, and was a source of almost daily vexatious complaints: the epidemic having, with the loss of their horses, which were stolen from them in an early part of the journey, crippled the expedition almost from the onset, and rendered travel at all times difficult, from the precarious supply of water and food, and dangerous from the hostility of man and wild beast, doubly difficult and dangerous by diminishing the means of progress and the resources for food, as well as depriving them of their chief means of replenishing their supplies by hunting.

Walvish Bay, now so shallow that the whales which gave to it its name appear to have been succeeded by sharks, and where productive fisheries are in existence, is succeeded by the Narriep Desert, mere sand and rock, and beyond this the route lay for the greater part along or close to the valley of the Swakop, which is in places closed in by high cliffs, the bed being broad and sandy, but water only to be found on the surface at rare intervals. Sometimes the water may be found by scratching a hole with the hand, at other times it must be dug for.

The chief stations on the Swakop are, apparently, Hykamkop, Oosop, Onanies (Mr. Wilson's); Kurikop and the Richterfelt mission at Otjimbingue; Great Barmen, Schmelen's Hope, Rehoboth, and Windhock mission at Eikhams, or "Hot Waters," the head-quarters of the chief known as Hendrik Áfricaner. The latter, with Hoachannas in Jonker's

A fierce en

Green, marched to the attack with an army of three thousand men. gagement ensued, in which the Damaras were ultimately successful, and recaptured the cattle. No sooner was this accomplished, than the victorious army gave itself up to wholesale plunder, so that Mr. Andersson never recovered his property. He was wounded in the leg by a bullet, which shattered the bone, and had to be carried to the missionary station, where he was left. The Moravian missionary of Rehoboth, the Rev. Mr. Kleinschmidt, was with his people at the time of this attack, but in the confusion got separated from them, and was compelled to wander three or four days in the mountains without food or shelter. He ultimately got back to Otjimbingue; but the anxiety and exposure combined had such an injurious effect on his health, that he died within a few days after his arrival.

A VISIT TO THE VICTORIA FALLS.*

How short a time it seems since the rumours which had reached Europeans of the existence of a vast lake in the interior of South Africa were converted into a certainty by the persevering exertions of Livingstone, Oswell, and Murray; since Livingstone himself explored the Liambye-one of the great tributaries of the Zambesi-and discovered the Victoria Falls, next in magnitude and splendour to those of Niagara ; since Andersson traversed the continent from Walvish, or "Whale-fish” Bay to Lake Ngami, by the country of the Damaras and the Bechuanas, to that of the Makololo on the Zambesi, penetrated with Galton into the corn country of the Ovampos, and navigated the Okavango, or Chobe, supposed to be the main branch of the Zambesi! Yet since those times traders and missionaries have settled in the interior, advancing their settlements to the east almost as far as the wilderness of the Bechuanas, and opening regular lines of communication, as well as determining regular hunting-grounds at different seasons of the year, all around the country of Lakes and Salt Pans upon which the Transvaal Republic, watered by the Limpopo and its tributaries, already abuts.

Hence it is that we have now the records of an artist, travelling in company with a trader, all the way from Walvish Bay to the Zambesi, with the ultimate view of descending the latter river in boats to the coast, a project which was defeated by unforeseen difficulties. We find missionaries and traders, among the latter of whom Andersson himself, settled far in the interior; native chiefs adopting European fashions and becoming semi-civilised; hunting and trading routes and wells known after the names of European adventurers; and even Lashulatebe, the monarch ruling on Lake Ngami, becoming a shrewd trader, especially fond of purchasing fire-arms, in order to carry on a successful war against Livingstone's quondam friends and allies, the Makololo.

The advance journey appears to have been undertaken in the dry or winter season—indeed, we have a notice of ice forming on one occasionbut the dry season lasts sometimes for years in these regions of little rainfall. Most of the so-called rivers-the Swakop at the head of them— were mere beds of sand, and the Dupa and the Kursip, the two first encountered on the journey, had not been known to contain water for the last ten years.

At Otjimbingue, which appears to be the most important European settlement on the Swakop, our traveller was welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson (Mr. Andersson being about to start overland for the Cape),†

* Explorations in South-West Africa. Being an Account of a Journey, in the Years 1861 and 1862, from Walvisch Bay, on the Western Coast, to Lake Ngami and the Victoria Falls. By Thomas Baines, F.R.G.S.

†The following sad intelligence was brought home by the mail steamer Cambrian, which left the Cape on the 21st of October, 1864. There had been fighting in Damaraland, on the western seaboard, between the Namaquas and Damaras. It appears that the former tribe had robbed the celebrated traveller, Mr. Andersson, of a large number of cattle which were passing through their territory. Mr. Andersson roused up the Damaras to recapture his lost property, and, with Mr. F.

but he had to go back to Walvish Bay to bring up segments of boats and other impedimenta. This was in the month of May, 1861. Further delays were entailed also in bringing up Mr. Chapman's goods.

An actual start (apart from lateral excursions) appears to have been made on the 3rd of July, and the first and inevitable difficulties presented themselves of leave to travel through the country of Jonker, the Namaqua chief, who has adopted the Arab system of levying tribute, a certain Cator and Smutz having, we are told, first allowed themselves to be coerced in such a matter. To this a far more serious difficulty was superadded, the cattle necessary for drawing the waggons, as well as for slaughter on the road, being for the most part affected by a sad epidemic, known as the "lung sickness." To obviate the effects of this malady to a certain extent, it was customary to inoculate healthy cattle by passing a needle and thread, previously steeped in the virus of the diseased lung, through the skin of their tails. This caused a painful swelling, which, if the needle touched the bone in its passage, extended to the whole hindquarters, and occasioned the loss of the tail, or perhaps of the animal. It was said that of the cattle not inoculated fifty per cent. died, and that the operation reduced the per-centage to twenty-five. Still, notwithstanding these precautions, the sickness and mortality on the route was very great, and was a source of almost daily vexatious complaints: the epidemic having, with the loss of their horses, which were stolen from them in an early part of the journey, crippled the expedition almost from the onset, and rendered travel at all times difficult, from the precarious supply of water and food, and dangerous from the hostility of man and wild beast, doubly difficult and dangerous by diminishing the means of progress and the resources for food, as well as depriving them of their chief means of replenishing their supplies by hunting.

Walvish Bay, now so shallow that the whales which gave to it its name appear to have been succeeded by sharks, and where productive fisheries are in existence, is succeeded by the Narriep Desert, mere sand and rock, and beyond this the route lay for the greater part along or close to the valley of the Swakop, which is in places closed in by high cliffs, the bed being broad and sandy, but water only to be found on the surface at rare intervals. Sometimes the water may be found by scratching a hole with the hand, at other times it must be dug for.

The chief stations on the Swakop are, apparently, Hykamkop, Oosop, Onanies (Mr. Wilson's); Kurikop and the Richterfelt mission at Otjimbingue; Great Barmen, Schmelen's Hope, Rehoboth, and Windhock mission at Eikhams, or "Hot Waters," the head-quarters of the chief known as Hendrik Africaner. The latter, with Hoachannas in Jonker's

Green, marched to the attack with an army of three thousand men. A fierce engagement ensued, in which the Damaras were ultimately successful, and recaptured the cattle. No sooner was this accomplished, than the victorious army gave itself up to wholesale plunder, so that Mr. Andersson never recovered his property. He was wounded in the leg by a bullet, which shattered the bone, and had to be carried to the missionary station, where he was left. The Moravian missionary of Rehoboth, the Rev. Mr. Kleinschmidt, was with his people at the time of this attack, but in the confusion got separated from them, and was compelled to wander three or four days in the mountains without food or shelter. He ultimately got back to Otjimbingue; but the anxiety and exposure combined had such an injurious effect on his health, that he died within a few days after his arrival.