or three feet long—­is first filled with tobacco-smoke, and then handed round the company, seated on the ground in a ring; each takes a long inhalation, and passes the pipe to his neighbour, slowly allowing the smoke to exhale.  On several occasions at Cape York,’ continues the author, ’I have seen a native so affected by a single inhalation, as to be rendered nearly senseless, with the perspiration bursting out at every pore, and require a draught of water to restore him; and although myself a smoker, yet, on the only occasion when I tried this mode of using tobacco, the sensations of nausea and faintness were produced.’  There is something new in the idea of taking whiffs of ready-made smoke, which might perhaps be turned to account by enterprising purveyors of social enjoyments on this side of the world.

After the abortive attempt to establish the colony of ’North Australia’ at Port Curtis, at a cost of L.15,000, and the abandonment of Port Essington, it is not uninteresting to learn that Cape York presents many natural capabilities for a settlement.  There is a good harbour, safe anchorage, abundance of fresh water all the year round, and a moderate extent of cultivable land, all of which will help to constitute it a desirable coaling station for the contemplated line of steamers from Sydney to Singapore and India.  The Port-Essington experiment was so complete a failure, that after trying for eleven years, the colonists were ’not even able to keep themselves in fresh vegetables.’  Fortunately, but little encouragement was ever offered to permanent settlers, or the disappointments caused by an unproductive soil and unhealthy climate would have been greatly multiplied.  A singular example of the lex talionis occurred among the natives at this place.  One of them having been severely wounded in punishment for an offence, the penalty was considered too severe, and ’it was finally determined that, upon Munjerrijo’s recovery, the two natives who had wounded him should offer their heads to him to be struck with a club—­the usual way, it would appear, of settling such matters.’

Here we find, too, another of those instances of intelligence in a native, the more extraordinary when contrasted with the low mental condition of the aborigines in general.  Sir Thomas Mitchell, and other Australian travellers, have spoken of their acutely-endowed guides in terms almost of affection; and Mr Macgillivray relates that, during his stay at Port Essington, a native named Neinmal became greatly attached to him.  ‘One day,’ he continues, ’while detained by rainy weather at my camp, I was busy in skinning a fish; Neinmal watched me attentively for some time, and then withdrew, but returned in half an hour afterwards with the skin of another fish in his hand, prepared by himself, and so well done, too, that it was added to the collection.  He went with us to Singapore, Java, and Sydney, and, from his great good-humour, became a favourite with all on board—­picking