NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19298, 10 April 1926, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEW ZEALAND

ENGLISHMAN'S EL DORADO

ltY REV. J. J. NORTII

When New Zealand was a rumour blown overseas from Holland she began to fascinate the Englishman. That Dutch valour should have failed to reach our shore, after the desperate ventures of the Tasman Sea, left us room- enough for our imaginations to work in. And work they did in the old Elizabethan style. The land guarded by painted devils might well contain tho 'wealth of Ormuz and of Ind." Samuel Johnson, "the great Cham" of English literature, in his coffee house on the Strand, was excited over the adventure 'to which the Admiralty had commjtted itself. It belonged to such an England as the elder Pitt had created, to the England served heir to the Americas and to tho Indies, to follow the quest into the uncharted seas. What Cortez and Pizzaro had done for old Spain might be repeated. Bozzy tells us "A gentleman having como in who was to go as a mate in the ship along with Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, Dr. Johnson asked what were tho names of the ships destined for the expedition. The gentleman answered that their names were once to be the Drake and the Raleigh, but now they were to be called the Resolution and the Adventure." Johnson: "Much better, for had tho Drake returned without going round the world it wonld have been ridiculous. Io give them tho names of the Drake and the Raleigh was laying a trap for satire. Boswell: "Had you not some desire to go upon this expedition, sir?" Johnson: "Why, yes." When tho ships came home, their names made immortal, Boswell, with his insatiable curiosity, got contacts with Cook. "I gave Dr. Johnson an account of the conversation which had passed between me and Captain Cook the day before at dinner at Sir John Pringle's, and he was much pleased with the conscientious accuracy of that celebrated circumnavigator. I told him that while I was with the captain I catched the enthusiasm of curiosity and adventure and felt a strong inclination to go with him on his next voyage." Romance and Fascination.

Tho dream of a continent in the southern seas to balance the land masses of the Northern Hemisphere haunted tho mind of that acute American, Ben. Franklin. He was very acute and I may incidentally commend his " Life and Letters " to those who care for the best things. He was engaged in hating us with a very thorough-going hate when tho El Dorado of the, Pacific held him at pause. We hate ourselves over that American business. George Washington is one of our heroes- His plaque is in Westminster and Abe Lincoln's statue fronts the Mothor of Parliaments. From Paris, where ho was arranging with tho Bourbon Kiug and with Lafayette for the expedition iwhich ended in our ignominious defeat, the gallant Franklin issued orders to all American Letters of Marque that Cook's exploring ships should be unmolested. He foresaw the importance to humanity of the South Pacific. The romance of these islands cancelled the passions of war. Our country made her bow to the world under these very pleasant auspices. Tho most typical Englishman of tho century approves of the ships and has more than half a mind to sail in them. A most typical American provides for their safety during the fratricidal war. The romance has never faded. On the Bourse at Marseilles the one English name chosen for place among the world's sailors is our circumnavigator.. All that insight and courage and scientific temper could do was done for us by him. Tho air of fascination never faded. It was kept alight by Dundee whalers whoso flaming try-pots threw a lurid light across our waters. It was nourished by tho exploits of that knight of romance, Sir George Grey. The gold that poured into the coffers of the old lady of Threadneedle Street in the 'sixties was succeeded by tho steadier flow from the golden fleeco. It was the golden fleece that brought Samuel Butler to our shores. His romance "Erewhon" enjoys tho honour of being the one world book which features our country and her life. A sailor whet interest in us by means of a big bone. Owen, the celebrated osteologist of tho mid-Victorian day, was roused from sleep by thunderous knocks, and a stranger from a New Zealand windjammer thrust into his hand the first moa bone to arrive in London. The challenge of that bone lay against his science. A declara tion that it was the bone of a bird twice as tall as a grenadier awoke the laughtoi of tho incredulous. It brought Buckland from his sick bed cured by mere excite ment. But, New Zealand proved herself and Owen. It was the bird of birds. The Man Who Missed New Zealand. The man who missed us most completely was no less a person than Charles Darwin. He was hero in tho Beagle ijj 1835. His usual acumen failed him. All that he discovered in the Galapagoes confirmatory of his theory of variation ho might have found here, if only ho had seen the crows and kiwis and robins of our two islands. Our wingloss birds also were waiting to offer him the most complete vindication of his idea of the powers of environment to modify types. But ho left us with this sullen entry in his journal: "December 30. In tho afternoon we stood out of the Bay of Ishinds on our course to Sydney. I believe we were all glad to leave New Zealand. It is not a pleasant place. Among tho natives there is absent that charming simplicity that is found at Tahiti, and the greater part of the English are tho very refuse of society. Neither is tho country itself attractive. I look back at one brights spot and that is Waimate, with its Christian inhabitants." But romance is inseparable from our country. On the western coast of Scotland there is hardly a villago where men's eyes do not kindle at mention of Otago. Through widely separate layers of English society tho great Canterbury pilgrimage remains as a precious memory. Bishop Selwyn, when ho entered tho Houso of Lords as His Grace of Litchfield, embodied the spirit of the most distant but most dear of tho Britains overseas.