Nature And Science.

farmers to adventurers for the destruction of these pests . Moore of Glennark gave ono contract to Moses , a Maori , for the destruction of 15 , 000 pigs on his estate ; the exterminators preserved the skins , salted some of the flesh , and were paid besides 9 d for every pig's tail handed over . Like

Ireland , New Zealand has ever enjoyed immunity from reptiles , the only specimen being a small lizard , similar to the "ghecco" which is elsewhere met with . A striking instance of the struggle for existence , and survival of the fittest is furnished by the European imported grasses . The

native grass is long , rank , and yellow , well suited for nourishment of animals which have a large space to roam over ; but the foreign clovers and grass seeds which have come clinging to the fleeces of successive importations of

sheep , have by degrees supplanted the native grass throughout large tracts , enabling the farmers to maintain a larger number of sheep per acre . The fact that the Dutch and other islands to the South of

Asia were formerly a portion of that continent , uniting' it with Africa on the west , has been established by the industry of Mr . Alfred Wallace , who shares with Darwin the honour due to the development of the theory of descent . The frank avowal of the former of his conversion to

Spiritualism must be an inexplicable enigma to Dr . Haeckel and his materialist followers . Refined Spiritualism affords , nevertheless , the only explanation which has appeared , as yet , of the primal motor or life , which must be admitted as precursor and necessary factor before tho theory of

descent , in whatever light considered . The life or spirit which determines the properties and transmission ( heredity ) of organic and inorganic bodies is not accounted for

by Dr . Haeckel , as a corollary of his plan of materialism ; yet without it the beautiful structure of the latter seems to rest on no foundation ; if accepted alone , it would entail moral consequences shocking to humanity .

The Maoris of New Zealand , an amiable and exalted race , are disappearing , in like manner with the inhabitants of the other Pacific groups . Antagonistic habits and irritations , as it were , on the periphery of civilisation , undermine their constitutions physically and morally , before they can be absorbed into its core . Like tho Maori rat and the

Maori grass , they succumb in the inexorable struggle which permits only the " survival of the fittest . " I well remember , when digging foundations for a stable by the riverWaipera , turning up heaps and heaps of bones of the Moa-bird ( Apteryx ) out of tho bog . They lay so thickly ,

over so large a space , that I could only conclude they had assembled huddled together from terror , and been overwhelmed by an eruption of mud , or that this had been their burial-place . Traces of recent volcanic activity in the neighbourhood strengthened the former opinion . I pie ed

together the bones of a perfect leg , over 5 feet long . The extinction of the Moa must be of very recent date ; there are great hopes even now of survivors being discovered in New Guinea . What natives declared to be fresh footprints were , in my time , frequently reported , and they still profess much fear of meeting one .

PHARISEES , SADDUCEES AND ESSENES . —In the face of misconceptions which havo been fruitful of widely-spread errors , it cannot be sufficiently urged that as little as tho names of the three sections give an idea of their nature , as little as the word " sects" an appropriate designation of their mutual relations . The Sadducees had nothing of the nature of a religions sect , but had everything required for

constituting a political party . What relation they had with religion was owing to tho eminently religions character of the Jewish nation and to their tendency towards freeing themselves from those religious forms which interfered with public life . The Pharisees were their political opponents , though from religious principles , but they can the much less

appropriately be called a sect , as they constituted the bulk of tho nation , dhe Essencs , at the utmost , might be called a religions sect , because of their keeping aloof from public life , but again they do not deserve that designation , since at the outset their principles where not different from thoso of the Pharisees , but only an exaggeration thereof . Nor were the Pharisees the mediators between two extremes , but rather the

national stem , from which the Sadducees separated themselves by placing the secular interests above the religious , and the Essenes by their eccentric forms of life . How little the Sadducees or the Essenes represented the national thought , is proved by the fact that neither of them have been able to produce a literature of their own , all the literary creations of the consequent period bearing decidedly

the Pharisean stamp . Of tho Sadducees , whose aims were of an exclusively practical nature , only one unimportant literary production is known , and also as to the Essenes we know only the name of one of their books , called " Tho Assidean Scroll" ( Megillath Chassidim ) , out of which again only one single sentence has come down to posterity . It reads , " If thou forsakeat it ( tho law ) ono day , it will forsake thee two days . " —Qrats .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

— : o : — We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of our Cor . respondents . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications . ¦ VI Letters must bear the name and address of the Writer , not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of good faith . — : o : —

EAST , WEST AND SOUTH . To the Editor of THE FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . 243 Bute Road , Cardiff , 9 th March 1876 . SIR , —My attention has been drawn to a paper in your last week's issue— "East , West and South , by a Wandering Freemason , " —in

which I find recorded an incident affecting myself . I was the unlucky British subject who fell into the meshes of the law at Manila , and am able to endorse your narrative as a true statement of facts . The writer might have enlarged somewhat on the iniquitous state of the law , as there administered , and the corruption which rules tho native

underlings . Tho native who got me into such trouble , and who shammed serious injury , was walking abont whole and sound on tho day of my departure . I had to pay the costs , which amounted to a good deal , and was glad to get off so cheaply , for the term of imprisonment would havo been a most severe blow , and I doubt not that my

afflicted wife would have sunk under the trial . I shall , therefore , feel greatly obliged if you will kindly publish this in your next issue , thus affording me tho great pleasure , not only of endorsing the writer ' s narrative , but of expressing tho gratitude of my wife , as well as

myself , for the personal kindness and interest exercised by him and the Chief Jnstice on our behalf at such an important moment to us . Trusting this will not encroach too much on your valuable pages , I am , Dear Sir , Yours faithfully , CHARLES COOPER ,

Magic Symbols In Masonry.

MAGIC SYMBOLS IN MASONRY .

To the Editor of THE FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . 3 Vincent Grove , Canterbury . DEAR SIR AND BRO . —In your impression of the 11 th , subject" Magic Symbols in Masonry , " " tho two columns in tho porchway of King Solomon's temple have been held to symbolise the male and female principles which pervade the creation . We cannot help

suspecting that the Trinity of the heathen mystics consisted of those two principles , and of the Astral Light—the magic Triangle . " This is no difficult matter to trace . If we turn to Layard ' s Nineveh and Babylon , page 605 , he there states that tho " equilateral triangle " was the symbol of the "Babylonian Trinity . " The Egyptians also used the " triangle " as a symbol of their triform Divinity , and if we turn

back to page 160 of the above work , we shall there find an engraving of the triform Divinity , with the male and female on either side a column of acorns . In Parson ' s " Japhesh , " page 184 , there is a representation of tho " Triform Divinity , " as worshipped by the Pagans of Siberia . The Astral Light I take to be symbolised in our Lodges by the " Sun . " This " . Sun " was the symbol of Ceres , the Goddess of Corn *

" No mortal hath lifted my veil : the fruit which I have brought forth is the ' Sun . ' " Then " Ceres" is supposed to be the same as "Rhea . " The symbol of "Rhea" was "Eye , encircled by vultures wings . " And is not the " eye " a symbol to us " Masons ? " Does not Hia " All-seeing eye behold us . " I hope , Dear Sir , I have not trespassed on your valuable time and space . I am but a young Mason , and read your able articles with interest . With brotherly love , Yours fraternally , T . B . ROSSETER , 972 , St . Augustine .

Grand Lodge Honours.

GRAND LODGE HONOURS .

To the Editor of THE FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —For some considerable time past we havo been boasting of onr prosperity . Words could scarcely be found vigorous enough to express fully our pardonable pride in everything pertaining to our cherished Institution . " Loyalty and Charity " wero the watchwords , willingly accepted as soon as they

had issued from the Royal lips . The whole aspect seemed brilliant and full of encouragement . But , alas ! for the uncertainty of all mundane hopes and anticipations , a change for tho worse is imminent . There is treason in the camp . The banner of revolution is about to be unfurled . Already the Masonic horizon is overcast with ominous clouds , and prophetic indications alarmingly point to the coming storm . The stability , if not tho very existence of the Masonio

Government , is threatened , and a kind of Red Republican Administration is to take its place . And after that , of course , the Millennium . In imagination , I see your intelligent optics open wide with astonishment at these remarks , and a shadowy thought flit through your mind that I must be dazed . Nevertheless , I have been stating a positive fact . Do yon still continue sceptical ? Then I refer you to a letter on page 148 of THE FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE , and there you will discover that " Enquirer " is at the bottom of it all . Peruse the