ing the ship touched the mud in swinging, I moored head and stern, with 48 fathoms on the bow chain, and 40 fathoms on the one astern. On our way up the starboard foremost boiler gave out, and it took us the best part of ten days to patch it up. While this was doing we had a good overhaul and refit aloft, which the rigging wanted very much. February 17th.-The Commodore arrived to-day, most unexpectedly, in the Fawn, from the Waitara, with an urgent demand for more men from the General. And at 3h. p.m. on the 20th, we started with upwards of 300 belonging to the 57th and 65th regiments, and volunteers for the Taranaki militia, besides some seventy tons of baggage, which was piled up to the top of the hammock nettings fore and aft: the ship was never so crammed before, and was brought down nearly a foot below her deep draught. The Commodore took a passage with us, so he had an opportunity of seeing what a perfect baggage waggon we have been made, for the ninth time, since this war commenced,— in less than a twelvemonth.

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On the 21st, at 1h. 30m. p.m., we anchored off the Waitara, and before dark Major Logan and his men were all landed. The greater part of the baggage had, however, to wait for the next morning's tide. Friday, February 22nd.-I have been for some time anxious to visit the "sap," which now occupies exclusively the attention of our military men, and promises to become almost as famous as that before Sebastopol, of which it indeed seems to be a humble imitation-with a difference!

It certainly is an original idea to drive saps by the mile in the direction of the enemy, with what object Providence only knows. It surely cannot be contemplated to waste time and labour in approaching every New Zealand pah upon the scientific principles that would be applied to a modern European fortification. The Maories have neither shot nor shell to disturb us in our trenches, yet we appear to go to work as timidly as if they, like ourselves, possessed all the approved appliances of modern warfare: while they look on with contemptuous scorn at our proceedings, and, it is even reported, recently sent a notice to the General of their readiness to carry the sap in any direction he wished at the rate of a shilling per head per diem,-but perhaps this is only a camp shave.

Doubtless various opinions are entertained here as to the difficulties of bush fighting: from the extreme cautious view that a screen of a few trees is an impassable object to white men: to the extreme plucky view that nothing is necessary but to go in and win. I am inclined more to the latter than to the former, being satisfied that when the Maories feel that we can encounter and repulse them in the bush, can destroy their food stores and crops, they will understand the helplessness of striving against us. But without committing myself to any decided opinion upon so important a subject, I may venture to say that up to this period we do not appear to have profited much by the experience of our former wars in this country, for the early operations at the Bay of Islands, badly as they were thought to be conducted, would compare favourably with the present ones.

There we attempted to subdue two powerful tribes with a mere handful of troops, who were always without tents and frequently without food. Deficient throughout the greater part of the campaign of artillery, and destitute of all the materiel necessary for attacking a fortified position, a force that numbered less than three hundred men at the beginning, and never, at any time, exceeded eleven hundred, not only held their own, even after a terrible disaster which reduced them by one third, but succeeded within nine months in destroying every fortified place belonging to the enemy, reducing him to starvation, and compelling him to sue for peace. In 1845 the cry used to be,-“ If we only had a few heavy guns, and a couple of hundred more men, we could surround a pah and not a Maori should escape." And doubtless the soldiers would have made their words good. But now we have a great many heavy guns, and we count our troops by the thousand, yet we do not invest pahs, we do not astonish the enemy in the morning by the sight of a battery or a breastwork within two hundred yards of him that was not there the evening before,—but we build redoubts, and leave the enemy to astonish us in the early morn ing by attacking them.

The soldiers of 1846 and 1860 are the same in quality; but the commanders are very different. Neither of the latter has, however, in his day appeared to understand the nature of the service in which he was engaged. One attached so little importance to a Maori pah, that he attempted to carry it unbreached, with fixed bayonets, and was repulsed with enormous loss: the other attaches so much importance to these fortifications, that he wastes time in making regular approaches to them, which time the Maori employs in erecting another pah to fall back upon when the beseiged one becomes untenable, and in this way intends to give us endless practice in siege operations.

The capture of these stockades alone will not, however, bring the war to a termination; the natives must be captured also. But judging from the manner and spirit with which it is being conducted, there is a very small chance of the latter consummation arriving, however devoutly to be wished for. Hitherto, indeed, it has been only a war of defence on our side; but a war of subjugation cannot be waged on defensive principles. Generals who prefer the spade to the sword may defend a position, but they will never conquer a country. The spade is the weapon of the weaker; and an invading army that finds or thinks itself weaker than the enemy it has gone to subdue, had better stay at home.

To-day I had an opportunity of visiting this famous sap, and rode out to the advanced position with the Commodore and Dr. Patrick, a distance of about five miles from the camp. The weather was brilliant, and the Commodore, who has been a performer in nearly all the scenes enacted here, was a capital cicerone.

We took the road by Puketakauere, the site of the disastrous affair of the 27th of June, now occupied, I have before stated, by a block house; thence to No. 1 or the Kairau Redoubt, which was planned and executed under a heavy fire, the enemy trying every

ruse to check the progress of the works, without effect: part of the 65th regiment is now in garrison here. We passed by Nos. 2 and 3 Redoubts, which are no longer tenanted. Here the "sap" commences, a double sap with traverses, with two more small field works, about four hundred yards apart, as covering places for the supports, and shelter at night for the working parties. This sap, the longest of which we have any record, is terminated by another redoubt, No. 6, on the edge of what was formerly a peach grove, and a favourite spot of the natives, who had bestowed some pains on its cultivation. It was from this point that the retreat of the 1,400 under General Pratt commenced, leaving one man in the hands of the natives, who may have numbered seventy or eighty! A full account of this inglorious affair has been already given. At this redoubt we dismounted and proceeded on foot, accompanied by an escort furnished by Colonel Wyatt, who is in command here, to No. 7 Redoubt, where the sap recommences. The road crosses a deep gully, and skirts a dense bush, which has been cleared for a distance of about two hundred yards, a necessary precaution to prevent the natives approaching too close unobserved. A few yards off it, on the left hand side, there is a beautiful view of the Waitara, flowing some five hundred feet below through a narrow gorge, the opposite bank rising almost perpendicular, and densely wooded, excepting where, here and there, a white cliff of magnesian limestone peeps out through the luxuriant foliage. The scene is highly picturesque, well worthy of the pencil of an artist. We had now a good view of the Te Arei and Pukerangiora pahs, the head quarters of Wirimi Kingi's fighting chief, Hapurona, situated on the crest of a rugged hill, honeycombed with rifle pits, up to which the sap is being carried.

Colonel Leslie, of the 40th, was in command of No. 7 Redoubt, and did the honours of his post. We spent some time with him at the head of the sap, which is progressing at the rate of about fifty yards a day, under a continual whistle of bullets, which are sharply replied to by the rifles of the covering parties, and a shell occasionally from a 24-pounder howitzer.

Whatever force the enemy have in front of us is carefully concealed. I watched closely during the time we were in the trenches, and only saw one native and two great heads, like mops, projecting over the nearest hill, so that whether there are fifty or five hundred, it is impossible to tell, although I am bound to say no attempt has been made to ascertain. The noise they make at night is hideous, hooting and howling, and calling out to us in good English to come on, &c., &c. On our side we have in this redoubt four hundred soldiers, a detachment of the naval brigade, with an 8-inch gun, besides two 24-pounder howitzers and artillery to work them.

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Naturally a very

We returned to the camp by Matoriko-riko. commanding position, the natives had exhausted all their ingenuity in constructing here a most formidable pah, protected by a series of field works, consisting of rifle pits, with covered ways leading to the gullies which terminate on three sides of it in an extensive swamp. General

Pratt invested the place on the 28th of December with more than a thousand men, and a protracted defence was anticipated; but the natives made scarcely a show of resistance and evacuated it on the 29th, retiring to Pukerangiora. On the site of this pah a block house has been erected, similar to the one at Puketekaure, and it commands a splendid view of the whole valley of the Waitara. The remains of the L pah, the scene of poor Colonel Gold's discomfiture on the 15th of March, were barely visible through the high fern as we rode past, and after a hospitable reception at the naval mess tent, we returned on board.

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February 26th.-An alarm was given yesterday, and fears arose for the safety of Taranaki, owing to heavy firing having been heard in that direction, and at the General's request I was moved up off the town, and anchored at 7h. p.m. between the buoys, ready for anything; but all was quiet. The firing heard was an attack upon the Omata escort. This is the anniversary of our departure from Auckland with the first detachment of troops, artillery, and ammunition, and little did Colonel Gore Brown imagine, when he sent to me in hot haste the evening before, whither his measures were "drifting" him.

"Ah me! what dangers do environ

The man that meddles with cold iron!"

Friday, March 1st.-The Fawn arrived yesterday at the Waitara with the English mail, (London dates to December 26th,) and our portion came up in the Tasmanian Maid; with some interesting news from the "front" as well. Another redoubt has been thrown up and the sap continued from it. The natives keep up a sharp fire upon the working and advanced covering parties with some effect, four men having been wounded,-one since dead. The sap is now advanced to within 350 yards of Hapurona's pah, and volleys are fired at the working parties morning and evening as they go to and return from their work; a desultory fire being kept up on them during the day as usual. Our troops in reply expend, I hear, about 5,000 rounds a day, besides shells, with what result is of course unknown; but occasionally a tangi or lamentation for the dead is heard. On Tuesday night there was more than the usual howling and hooting, and a fire was seen at the head of the sap. In the morning, the sap rollers were missing, as well as a quantity of gabions, many of the sand bags were found also cut to pieces, and about a hundred and fifty yards of the sap more or less destroyed. In the course of the day the rollers and gabions were exhibited in front of Hapurona's pah for our edification, and the natives may well be proud of the results of their enterprise. Cordelia left to-day for the Manukau, and is to return immediately with a battery of Armstrong guns and mortars, which are expected hourly at Auckland. When they arrive it is expected that great things will be done. Nous verrons!

(To be continued.)

The

A TRIP TO TANANARIVO:Madagascar.

(Continued from page 181.)

When the time for my official reception arrived two officers came from the palace with a guard of troops to announce it to me. Every European, all Frenchinen, who happened to be at Tananarivo was invited to meet me, but the missionaries, for good reasons, declined. M. Laborde (senior) on this occasion, as well as on all others, served me as guide and interpreter.

The entrance gate of the palace, of stone and with hexagonal pillars, surmounted by an eagle with outspread wings, similar to that which ornaments the work at Traonvola and the Palais Royal, has a pleasing picturesque effect. To the left on entering, and immersed by other parts of the building is the tomb of Radama the First. Every one on passing this monument turns round and salutes it, pronouncing several words which I could never comprehend.

The Hovas, among others, have good reason for paying this respect to the ashes of him, who, although dead for thirty-six years, has by his great enterprise and conquests succeeded in making them what they now are. This monument is said to contain very considerable riches; but although its guardians may watch day and night over their precious relics, it is not improbable that the metallic stores so sacredly deposited have not been altogether held inviolate. This, it appears to me, is a resource at all times very uncertain for the power which reckons on it at a moment of financial crisis.

When I arrived at the entrance of the court there were soldiers inside facing the tomb and military bands commenced playing our national air. The minister of foreign affairs, Rahaniraka, presented himself to me and conducted me to the reception room, and, taking me by the hand, was most careful to place the right foot in it first, which seemed to be a matter of great importance. This small piece of ceremonial had been pointed out to me so frequently that I thought it most prudent on my part to keep the step with my conductor.

Radama awaited me at the foot of a large sofa which served him as a throne. He was attired for the occasion in the uniform of a French general, complete in all respects and looked to the best possible advantage. He is by no means on a large scale, although not small, and has nothing about him that is unpleasant. His manner is frank and open, and there is vivacity and intelligence about him. His features are regular, fine eyes, excellent moustaches, black waving hair—not stiff and straight like that of the Hovas, nor woolly as among the Malgaches, his colour clear like bistre, all enlists one in his favour as a first impression and imparts a favourable opinion of his character. One feels that he is a man who may lack firmness, but whose calm mind has no crime for the reproach of his conscience.

On his right, behind the sofa that he had reserved for me, were all the important personages of his capital in their rich brilliant military costumes. On his left were the ladies of the court, dressed in satins NO. 5.-VOL. XXXII,

2 K