THE YOUNG PRINCES' BOOK.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2194, 31 July 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE YOUNG PRINCES' BOOK.

The following extracts are taken from the book recently issued by Princess Albert Victor and George of Wales, being a narrative of their voyages iv the Bacchante :—: — I (Jovnrr'h Li:vr. At Blackhp.it h (about eighty miles from Sydney) we once, more left the train, and some of us walking and others driving through the bu-.h for :i couple of miles, visited " (}o\ett\ Ls.ip,"' so c.illcd from the surveyor who h"i«t discovered it, but he neither lept nor tlneu' hiuiM-ir over. It is said to be one of the deept -.1 chasms u lti. pcrpcndiuul.u cliiFi in the. W<u Id (beating even the (ii.md Can m in Yellowstone Patk). We woik our way down on the lodge on the loft-hand side, 200 feet lower than tho top. After down s >me of us recline »n the out-jutting rock ;md watch tho strange effect produced by the Wiite.if.ill .vune way ti thu ntrht, and in quiet look toith over thin wondeiful place. Wo are patched on the edge of a va-t i.impart of perpendiculai and f.it-toppul cliff of red s.and->tone, which stretches louud on either side and hems m the, head of a magnificent valley — here one mile, at least wide — into which we gaze down fro'ii a height of over 2,000 foot. The various huge curves of its hill-sides, thickly coveied with forest, run on till they aie lost in the blue distance. Over tho edge of one of the cliffs tumbles a cataract into the wooded gorge below : tho strong body of water is unbroken .it first as it falls over the Leap ; but it is dissipated into spray and mist long before its waters can reach tho bottom ; foi the face of the cliff in the horseshoe o\er which it falls goes down over <Soo,feet sheer perpendicular, and the bottom of the valley is 1,200 feet further below that. The dcptli at which the water first strikes the rock from the edge is 520 feet, and to the basin at the foot of tho rock it is about 600 feet, a height equal to that of St. Paul's Cathedral with the monument onjtop of it. In some places the cliffs go sheer down in precipices over 1,000 feet deep — there i« one 1400 feet ; the summit of the highest part of the rock of Gibralter is only 1,3% feet above the sea. Woods of evei green gum-trees — individually indistinguishable trom this height, and of an immemorial age — not only cover the bottom of the \.illey, where they come sloping up thick to the j foot of the cliffs, but also all the distant landscape, which stretches away apparently interminable inland. Theie is no way to decend into the gorge, unless a man were lowered by rope over the rocks ; and we aie told that the valley has never been trodden by man, except by a few scientific evploreis, who worked up it for several days from the othei end, and took the heights of the cliffs and many photographs of the many similar valleys and ravines with which this wonderful dividing range of the J3lue mountains i-> seamed ou .ill sides. ThejWkekly H vLt'- Holiday. To-day us Thursday, which on board a man-of-war is generally a half-holiday for all hands. Dinner i-> as usual at noon (eierlit be.lls), after which, when the aiuia had lioen cleaned and the decks cleared up, an 1 when three, bolls (1.30 p.m.) ha-> been struck on the boll on the main deck by tho sontiy, tho bo.itiwaiu-) pipe "Hands make j and inc-nd clothes !' P.nt of the instiuo turn ot boys ,md young seamen is tailoring, and almost eveiy man can theref >io make hi> own clothes. liut natmally there aie some who have .i guutei gitt that way than othei--, and t!-ie>e ,ue able to lend a helping hand to then shipm ttcs in cutting out or 1 eiiibioidtMing, or in fitting r light fancy linings to their caps, ot sinew-, ot jacket-.. Any little distinctive, in.uk which will not ! iuteiteio with a man's- legulutinn unifoim, such as these individual decorations a, bluejacket is very fond of. On tlii^ afternoon then, the men get out then clothes 1 bag" and overhaul them, liut besides his black | -.ack-hke bag of clothe-, (e.teh of which h nuinbued. and stowed away when not being i.s--d, m lack-, along the flats,) the se.iI man has .il»o hi- "ditty box," something | like a -mill writing desk only ot plain j white deal. He carries the key on his' I knife lanyaid and the b>\ itself i-, kept -towed between the bo mis ovei the me—. It is the only place .i -ailor ha- undei lock and key ; theie he keeps his needles and thiead, hit> buttons, in-, money aud lettet-, the photogiaph of his mother and si-tei, oi .-•veethe.at ; all In-, little home ie he- and any snnll gifts he may be bunging home [ fioin foiei^n puts. If, thcietoie, y-iu L r " forwaid between the h >vi- of '1 and 4 p m lonaTliuisdiy y.m will tim! all the m n mote oi los- thu- eni.' iged. On tin- ii|»pei dcclv some w ill In; fitting or Iviiilj on ti" ii.itt hv aj's, doing a bit ot lewiny at th^ii clothes; othei-, will be leading wellthumbed copies of tavounte book- fiom tiie ship's libi.uy, oi populai tales lent them by me— m.itu; othei s uill be -t ind. ng about the toi/flo chatting or smoking. JJown below on tho me— deck othei s again are grouped .uound the me— table occupied at their sewing, oi vvntinjr, or overhauling the tiea-nres ef then ditty boves ; othei* strptehed at full length on the deck or foims will be a-lecp. Over the cables away at one end of this deck, the two table-, which the rir-t lieutenant ha«> been good enough to arrange for the men as a soi t of reading room, are unslung from oveihe.ul, and rigged up, and on them the schoolmaster, who acts as general libra ritui, ha- l.iid out the, various newspapers, periodicals, or magazines, that have arrived by the last mail, .is gifts from kind friends at home, or -uch as the officerafter having finished with in the ward or gun-room may have hunt forward for the men*? use.