to wait on the rock till the boat could back in between the rollers. The Bishop got in first, and the boat sheered of instantly. As it chanced a succession of heavy breakers came on, and I had to stand holding by two iron clamps (to prevent the sea washing me off into deep water, and knocking me about among the rocks,) till six or seven big fellows had given me a regular ducking. Then the boat dodged in for a moment, I jumped in, and off we went. The surface of the sea was quite smooth, but the swell o great, that as we rowed out to the schooner her masts even were almost hidden by the wall of sea, when we were in the trough of it, the space between the rollers being perhaps two hundred and fifty yards, the schooner distant about three quarters of a mile.

After visiting Sydney, the Southern Cross returned to Norfolk Island, when they found the Pitcairners had already arrived.

Off Norfolk Island, July 5th. Yesterday we sailed up to the island, saw no sign of people being on it, and thought the Pitcairners were not yet come; but at 4 p.m. a boa came off through the swell, manned by six men and a steerer. As they neared us, we saw they were not English, too dark coloured; they came up, jumped on deck, and all shook hands heartily. Familiar names, John Quintall, Fred Young, John Nobbs, son of the clergy man, &c. The Bishop, intending to land to-day, sent me off with them. As we landed, the Pitcairners working their boat through the surf admirably, Mr. Nobbs came to me. 'You are the Bishop's chaplain, I presume, Sir?"

'Yes, Mr. Nobbs, and heartily glad to see you here with all your people.'

As we walked up to his house, people collected round us, and I spoke and shook hands with half the population, I suppose. There are thirty families, one hundred married people, and one hundred and thirty-four children, young men and women, in all. I had tea at Mr. Nobbs's, and

afterwards asked to hear them sing, which they do beautifully in parts. About twenty-four of them came to his house, and most good-naturedly sang psalms and hymns for two hours and a half, ending with God save the Queen,' admirably performed. Their simple, modest, and manly behaviour, the gentle look of all, men and women, everything about them, quite confirms all that I had read, and I enjoyed the evening exceedingly. The Settlement at the S. E. corner of Norfolk Island contains about eighteen or twenty houses, of brick, with verandahs, nice gardens and paddocks, plenty of good grass, cows, and sheep. There is besides, a large building, formerly the barracks, and another larger still, formerly the prison. I don't see how they can occupy all at present. Everything has been made over to the Pitcairners except the government house, the clergyman's house, with two hundred acres of land, the quay, roads, and right of fishing, which they have only in common with other British subjects. Mr. Nobbs does not live in the clergyman's house, since his large family of ten could not find room in it, neither will he (as he said) occupy the two hundred acres, because he has his share of the whole island with the rest of the people; but his successor will take both, whenever one may be wanted. They gave him his present house, one of the best, and all cast lots for choice of the rest. The men are darker than Italians, occasionally as dark as some of the lighter-coloured Maoris, but no shade of black, it is of the bright copper colour more; the women scarcely distinguishable from English women, and most of the young women nice looking. They seem to marry early, generally at about twenty for the men, and eighteen the women, and there are but eight or nine surnames on the island. A fine, healthy race of people they seem in all respects. The men wear shirts, serge jerseys, and a sailor costume in general; many without shoes or socks. The women a round-about of calico, like the Maori women,

something like a labourer's smock, only reaching to the ankles; but a good many were tastefully dressed in loose kinds of robes, all modest and quiet, but without any ap pearance of fear, just the kind of simple easy manners you would expect. The place they now live in is very pretty, but they find it cold now in mid-winter, as Pitcairn's Isle was rather nearer the line, and their village there was on the northern, but here on the southern and colder side of the Isle. Norfolk Island pines, geraniums, and other flowers semi-tropical, grow around the houses, and behind them the ground ascends steeply to a height of about one hundred feet; the whole island is undulating ground, ful of valleys, gullies, &c.

I gave them an 80lb. chest of tea, which cost me £4..10. in Sydney, being the best tea procurable there, very cheap because near China, and I got it without paying duty, but of course not so good as the tea we get in England.

From July 8th, the Bishop was engaged in visiting about seventy islands in the New Hebrides and Solomon Groups, till September 5th, when the Southern Cross again sailed up to Norfolk Island, where Mrs. Selwyn had remained, busied in teaching and preparing the women and girls for Confirmation.

Government House, Norfolk Island, September 8th. On Sunday morning I was able to land at the Settlement about 11.40. a.m., after my service on board ship. I walked to the church, put on surplice, hood, and bands outside the door, and went in just as a baptism after the second lesson was concluded-the Bishop at the Commu nion Table, Mr. Nobbs in the reading-desk. I went inside the rails; all the population, except half-a-dozen, present. Bishop preached a wonderful sermon upon the Epistle of the day; Holy Communion, sixty-six communicants besides our three selves; not over till 2 o'clock. 3.30. afternoon ser vice, I read prayers; the Bishop's charge was a sermonette on the same Epistle, working round the subject of Christ

dwelling in the heart, to the grace of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation; a very touching sight, eighty-six confirmed, from old Elizabeth Young, sixty-seven, and Arthur Quintall, sixty-five, to the young people of fifteen and sixteen; all the women and girls in loose white robes, rather than gowns, with white handkerchiefs prettily tied upon their heads, singing excellent. What a day of comfort it was to me, you may well imagine; the great interest, too, of witnessing the first confirmation ever held among those simple good people, a whole community confirmed, a whole community (comparatively speaking) receiving the supper of the Lord! You may imagine the love that is borne to Mrs. Selwyn by these people, who had never seen a lady, and only occasionally the wife of an English or Yankee skipper. They have loaded me with presents, good souls. There are lots of children, and such pretty, bright-eyed children they are. Most of the women have a delicate, pale complexion, like all who live in a warm climate. Two of John Adams's daughters, the oldest people on the island, are really magnificent women, like queens, old Hannah, about sixty-five, with long black hair, flowing almost to her waist. Next year I hope to see them again, and some seem disposed to go with us on our island voyage; a crew of them would indeed be fit for a mission ship.

ETCHINGS ABROAD IN PEN AND INK.

No. IX.-ARTISTS' STUDIOS.

My dear Lizzie,

Rome.

I have never told you what astonishing things the reeds are here, and to what un-English uses they are put. You remember our wonder at the length and thickness of one which had floated ashore on the banks of the Severn, and made such a capital handle for the

butterfly-net. It must have been of foreign growth, and have fallen overboard from some ship in the Bristol Channel; but it was but a tiny specimen of what a reed can be, for here they make fences of them. In a Spanish song, I recollect that a lady's eyes are compared to the brightness of a wax taper when the reed touches it, so we may conclude that in Spain they light the church candles just as they do here. And a very long process it is when some large church is to be illuminated for a grand service, and a profusion of wax tapers are placed in most inaccessible positions all over the building. A boy goes about with a light fixed to the end of one these enormous reeds, and with it he gradually kindles spark after spark in the constellations aloft until the whole firmament of stars is shining. But it is not only to such uses they are put; the vines are all propped by them, and to lean upon a reed is no despicable support when the reed is a glorious fellow as thick as a bamboo; and when two or three are bound together they are strong enough for anything. In November, when the vines are pruned, the reeds are all renewed, and the old ones go to light the fires. I tried to break two of them this morn ing fastened together with tendrils and vines shoots, and could not do it until they were separated.

We have lately been spending a good deal of time in artists' studios, some of which I must tell you about; and our visit to Overbeck, one of the fathers of modern art, shall come first. He lives in a most desolate region close to the Jews Quarter, in the old Cenci palace, where all the environs are ruinous, dirty, and neglected, and the old fountain in the Piazza overflows its broken reservoir, and trickles to waste over the rough pavement. He himself is the most interesting object in his studio, and looks like some astrologer and alchemist of old, whose eyes have grown visionary with long gazing upon the stars. His loose gown of worn purple serge contributed a little