Fallacious Views Of The Graft.

usefulness Avas diminished . The efforts of true and Avorth y brethren have dispersed those clouds of folly and prejudice , and our glorious Order now shines out in undiminished bri ghtness for the admiration of the Avise and just , ancl for the general benefit of the human race . D .

A Trip Five Thousand Miles Off.

A TRIP FIVE THOUSAND MILES OFF .

h OK tea long Aveeks AVO had been inmates of that most secure of prisons—a shi p ; for sevent y long-days Ave had trodden nothing firmer than our heaving deck , nor smelt aught sweeter than the fresh sea breezes which played Avild tunes among our cordage as they wafted us on our Avay . Once or twice we had the pleasure of seeing land , Madeira

looming on us , a land of silver mist , which gradually clearing off reA'ealed the outline of the bold hills and the soft green of the sheltered valleys where so many invalids arc annually restored to health ; then came Tenerille , Avith its cloud capiped peak , and further on the Cape Verd Islands , wrapped in the misty atmosphere that renders them so A'erdantand whose

, nei ghbourhood has gained so unenA'iable a notoriety as a favourite haunt of ] : > irates . But we passed them all by as fair pictures , and pursued our Avay diligently beneath the steady influence of the trade ivinds , until now , having completed our five thousand miles , Ave Avere hourly looking to see the land of our destination—the Cape of Good Hope .

At length day ancl it broke together on our A'iew , Avhere ending a chain of lofty hills , the two precipitous hummocks Avhich form the extreme point ofthe southern Cape rose Avild and stern ancl darkl y defined against the morning sk y , even as thoy met the eye of the first mariner AVIIO ploughed those seas , and even as thoy hacl stood for many thousand years

before , braving the fierce storms of the vast south Atlantic ocean . Hill beyond hill , like terrestrial billows , the land spread out before us , appearing to rise yet hi gher as it receded from the sea ; while th rough the transparent atmosphere the gleaming ridges of grass or rock ivcro distinctl y visible down the stoop hill sides , alternating Avith the darker hue ofthe Avoodcd ravines betAveen them . Some thirty miles northward the hills terminated , to recommence some ten miles further down , pale and bine in the distance .

In the intervening space stretches the broad expanse of Tabic Bay , up which , as in an estuary , the Avatcrs of the south Atlantic roll nearly thirty miles into the land . As AVC sailed up the bay udder and Avidcr it spread around ns , until it resembled one of those spacious lakes that gladden the dark forests of theivcstcrn continent . Grouped in . front ofthe town some eighty or a hundred vessels ' lay at anchor , their sizes ranging from the noble Indian tan . of fifteen hundred tons to the miniature coaster of fifteen .

In honour of onr arrival every vessel , bore a flag , and so varied was their blazonry , it seemed as if every nation in Europe was there represented , while the stripes and stars floating from the peak of the American whaler , and tho ambitions globe from that of the Brazilian trader , proved that our transatlantic brethren ivere not absent from tho maritime

congress , However , more than half the vessels displayed the flag that has " braved a thousand years the battle and the breeze , " and next numerous woro the horizontal stripes of Holland . Through the marine maze AVC ; threaded our Avay to our appointed station ; then came the tremulous sensation and the Avelcome sound of the descending anchor , and ive lay

opposite the object of our thoughts and hopes—Cape TOAVU . What a fair scene it presented to our view I Before us rose up , nearly three thousand , six hundred feet into the air , the almost perpendicular sides of the Table Mountain , with tho broad flattened summit that hacl Avon it so appropriate a . name . The upper part of the mountain seemed formed of

layers of dart , rugged stone , then grass and heaths succeeded , while the lower half of the mountain gleamed strangely ivhite in the sunshine beneath the quivering leaves ofthe beautiful

silver trees that girdled it . To the ri ght of the mountain , ancl with the head rising almost to its altitude , are the two hills whose united outline bears so exact a , resemblance to a lion couchant , that they have not unnaturally acquired the names of the Lion ' s Head and Bum ]) . Smooth , verdant , and beautiful , they form au important feature in the landscape ,

and it is on the Lion ' s Bump that the telegraph is erected , to give notice of approaching vessels ; the first ball announces a sail , the second indicates the direction Avhence it conies ; and Ave may fancy how great is the excitement those balls occasion among the dwellers in that isolated colony as to what tidings may be coining from distant friends and relativesand hoiv

, prolonged their anxiety—for tho telegraph is at work many hours before a sail can even be seen from Cape Town . To the left a hi gh conical hill called the Sugar ! oaf , flashes like an emerald in the sunli ght . And there , nestling among the amphitheatre of hills , the ivhite dwellings ancl

green trees and gardens of Cape Town look smilingly out . Toivards the Avest , or round the base of the Lion hill a succession of white villas , surrounded bj beautiful gardens and darkly green vineyards , stretch out to Green Point , the southern extremity of Tabic Bay , Avhere crowning a ridge of rocks stands a little lighthouse . In front of all roll the

bright blue waters of the bay , Avhere quietly at anchor our trusty vessel ivas IIOAV resting from her toils . Ancl , according to the Avay of the world , those she had served so well , began to murmur at the narrow limits to Avhich she had so long restricted them , and to be impatient to leave her for the land spiread out so invitingly before them . In consequence

one of the many shore boats sailing about in hopes of employment was summoned , and ivith infinite pleasure AVO Avatehed the approach of tho little cutter , her sharp boAvs cleaving the miniature waves as she came to bear us away'to the shore .

The boat ivas floating alongside tho ship , and her intending passengers were crowding eagerly to the gangway , Avheu as sudden and almost as loud as the report of a cannon , a gust of Avind blew over our heads , Avhistling menacingly through the cordage of the ship , ancl flapping deafeningly among her tmstowed sails . Astonished at the sounds , Ave

looked towards tho land AVIICUCO they came , but nothing AVIIS visible save a feiv specks of spotless A'apour clinging here and there to the dark brow- of the mountain . But those more experienced than , ourselves read in those tiny cloudlets a timely Avarning to defer our landing , for it was the first indication of one of those frequent south-east gales that IIIOAV so

furiously over that mountain plain—the first unfold in" of tho celebrated "devil ' s tablecloth" that ere many minutes AVO Avere to see sjireading over the AA'hole summit of the mountain , and curling itself in snoAvy Avreatbs far down its rugged sides ; AA'hile beneath the same influence the placid Avatcrs of the bay were soon lashed into a ivild tossing sea , Avhich muttered and hissed beneath crests of surging foam as Avhite as the cloud that shrouded the mountain .

A truly magnificent sight it ivas to watch those immense masses of spotless A'apour , as , like crowding avalanches , they came rolling over the precipitous mountain , appearing to threaten Avith death and desolation the fair city below , Avhile in vivid contrast against their intense whiteness AVIS the brilliant blue of the cloudless southern sky . For hours the

gale continued to rage around us as if the very spirit of the storm Avas abroad , beating furiously against our ri gging , and shrieking Avild threats of driving us from our anchors out into the wide ocean far to lecAVarcl , to beat back again as best AA ' mi ght . At length the gale sank with tho setting sunleaving the

, evening calm and beautiful , and enabling us to accomplish our transit to the shore . At the Ope there is no tAvili g ht , so night fell at once , preventing us seeing aught of the South African city as AVC ; approached it ; but through the clear Cape atmosphere the glorious constellations of the south shone