Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE VOYAGE OF THE CASSOWARY. A NEW ZEALAND SKETCH. Day was dawning in the horizon; the sweet spicy fragrance of a tropical vegetation was wafted on the breath of night from the shore of the island that the vessel was nearing. A few scattered stars still glimmered faintly in the pale blue sky, and the white fleecy clouds that were floating beneath, flushed rose-colour as they at last welcomed the long- expected beams of the rising sun, and received his morning kiss. On the surface of the sea a leaden twilight still lay brooding; here and there a solitary albatross might be seen flapping its heavy wing, and flitting like a spirit of the night disturbed and driven back to its darkness by the coming of the sun. Ocean lay like a huge Colossus, its heaving waves rising and falling in gentle and regular pulsations. The calm was only broken by the occasional gambols of some early dolphin, or by the shrill cry of the water-fowl, that for a moment roused the slumbering pelican, wearied with his night of fishing, from his cradled repose on the crest of the rocking wave, making him shake his head angrily ere he again settled it under his wing. In the east the light was growing stronger and stronger; straggling rays from the great luminary shot their burningarrows into the very heart of the almost vanquished darkness; and now, swiftly and suddenly, the young day of the tropics broke from the arms of night, and his glorious golden face was seen dipping in the dazzled, sparkling sea; and as though himself rejoicing in his new-won freedom, he gave out his delight in a gentle breeze that crisped the blue waves under him, and sent them dancing and sporting, and setting up their wreathed crests, till he had tipped them all with his golden light. The sun mounted rapidly to its thron...