A NEW BOOK.

Will be published in a few days, price 6s limp cloth, boards 7s 6d.

RAMBLES WITH A PHILOSOPHER, or, VIEWS

AT THE ANTIPODES; by an Otagonian.

(Especially interesting to Old Identities.) Giving sketches of Otago Life in the early days of the settlement.

The following extract will afford an idea of the Author’s style—

CHAPTER II.

THE OLD ROYAL. REFRESHMENT. THE RULE OF CONTRARIES. DOUBTS. PROSPECTS OF AN INFANT SETTLEMENT. A NEW ACQUAINTANCE. ALCREMIC CIRCLES. EFFECTS. A RIOT SUBDUED. SATISFACTORY EXPLANATIONS. THE STRANGER’S FIRST REFLECTIONS. SMALL BEGINNINGS MAY HAVE LARGE ENDINGS.

It was not long before I was washed, dressed, and prepared for dinner. Our horses at the same time were cared for, and, enjoying, no doubt, in their own way, the transition from the cold snow-driven mountains to the warm stables. The stranger had already entered the long-room, and I had thus for the first time an opportunity of scanning him. His age might have been over thirty. He was broad chested, but spare in the lower extremities. His complexion was so sallow as to evidence ill-health. His hair was dark, yet his features were of the true English type. His nose was prominent, but not aquiline; and his eyes (the most attractive feature) were coal black, soft in influence, yet sparkling up to occasional brilliancy. His brow was capacious, rounded, but not over prominent.

On my entry, he bowed in recognition, and, advancing, shook me warmly by the hand, and thanked me for what he termed his rescue from a difficult, if not a dangerous, plight.

Our kindly host was not long in laying the good things of the Old Royal upon the table, for he knew that sharp airs and keen appetites brooked not delay. The dinner bell no sooner rang than a dozen guests speedily took their places. As fortune would have it, I sat opposite to my new acquaintance, so that I had an opportunity of satisfying any lurking curiosity that might have arisen within me. The first topic of our conversation was naturally regarding the track over the snowy mountain.

He expressed his astonishment at my easy traverse of so tortuous and difficult a road, obliterated, as it was, by deep-lying snow and so blinding a storm. He was so full in his expressions of obligations to me, that even the most exacting of deliverers would have been satisfied; at the same time, out of his unfeigned and open recognitions, a somewhat haughty bearing was slightly perceptible. I remarked, in return, that I was astonished at his hardihood in attempting the journey alone—and I particularly complimented him on his cool perseverance in trying, without aid, to cross the obstructive swamp.

I remarked, also, on his apparent disregard, not to call it contempt, of hail, cold, snow and danger. He smiled and replied that as for cold, he was not sensible of such a thing; he had too much caloric in his body, imbibed by a long residence in the tropics, for that to affect him: and, as for danger, if bad came to worst, he added, I had only to abandon my horse to take care of himself, while I would have sought the lee of the mountain for shelter, and camped for the night in the bush. To meet such contingencies in colonial travel, he added, I always carry with me two days’ provisions, a pannikin and matches. With the last article, a fire is soon lighted; water is everywhere abundant, and can soon be made to boil, and with boiling water and provisions, you know a hungry soul can soon be replenished.

I remarked, in reply, that I had felt the bitter blast of the mountain most keenly, and that no doubt he, equally with myself, appreciated the grateful change from the exposed mountain to the snug quarters of the Royal.

“Yes,” said he, “the rapid transition from a disagreeable to its opposite is necessarily most agreeable. The rule of contraries is as little to be ignored by the moderns as by the ancients. Rapid transition from one extreme to the other, I must confess, has, for good or for evil, a subtle fascination over me. The excitement it induces animates the spirit, incites the imagination, braces the nerves, and nourishes the powers. When for good, it developes in man such higher aspirations of which his nature is capable; it elevates his destiny, promotes great objects, stimulates to great deeds—whether it be in civil or military life. Transition from this to its opposite is the spur-wheel of humanity: in it all things circulate, all things live, all things exist and have a being. This is true with regard to creation, organic or inorganic. Without the contraries, what would the world be but a chaos? Without two opposites, what would this life be but a blank?”

I was, I must confess, somewhat startled at his vehemence. To tell the plain truth, I had no other thoughts than of the good dinner before me, and which, being well cooked and served, was particularly engaging. During my new acquaintance’s epilogue, I scanned him as narrowly as good breeding permitted; for in startling me out of my self-satisfying train of thoughts, he drew my narrow attention. I say I scanned him: yet I saw no evidence of the unsettled eye of the monomaniac, nor did I see the fitful glances of the visionary. His eyes sparkled but for a moment; then their soft, soothing influence fell on me. That influence was full of benevolence, benignity, and philanthropy. I had doubts but for a moment: then I was satisfied as to his gravity. Our conversation dropped and our joint attention settled on the objects before us. As is usually the case while the viands were being demolished, so did the heart commence expanding, and the conversation of the guests became more animated.

The first exposition of the stranger’s theory flitted across my mind. Transition from this to its opposite—transition from cold to warmth, transition from hunger to satiety. Mark the effects as the transition progresses: how the flow of life bubbles up and effervesces. The topics of conversation were numerous, all tongues were at the same time noisy, and the arguments were stirring. Local interests naturally had pre-eminence. One shaggy-haired man, with large eyebrows, was, even at that early period, full of a railroad to the West Coast. This was fiercely opposed by another, who advocated an ingenious scheme for lighterage between the Port and Capital, to be worked by windmills. He stubbornly supported his scheme by explaining the complicated arrangements of whips, cranks, cogs and paddles, by which means, he assured his hearers, he would work his vessel against wind and tide, and thus overcome the laws of dynamics.

Another of the company laughed at both schemes with supercilious scorn. Their schemes were but rubbish as compared with his own. As he unfolded the same to a somewhat irreverent audience, it proved to be no less than to make Dunedin the world’s centre. “For,” continued he, “are we not placed in the very pivot of the world’s ocean navigation? We thus command all continents and islands, even more so than Great Britain herself—yea, I say to you, gentlemen, even more than Great Britain herself. You may depend upon it, gentlemen, Otago is destined to be the great emporium, not only of Australia but of the Pacific—more than that, gentlemen, of the whole world itself. Has not the great Macaulay foreseen it, as well as myself? Now listen attentively, gentlemen, when I unfold my grand scheme, for it is no less, gentlemen, than to establish steam communication with the old world by the North-west passage, and we will thus excel the deeds of Parry, Ross and Franklin!”

Jeering applause met this announcement; this great scheme met as little encouragement as the two former. The flow of conversation and war of wit went on, and from interests material the company moved to interests spiritual. At length, the spirit of anger rose to a degree that would have led to the argumentum ad hominem, when a new actor appeared on the scene.

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