ground, for the honour of those concerned in
them are numerous, and many of them very
delightful. Does the lust of swallowing the
remainder of the people's estate, stimulate
these proprietors? We envy them not their
inviolable "locations," but let them hanker
not after the portion which still belongs to
the public. So far as the government value
of these forests is concerned, we find, in the
return of the Commissioners in 1848, that the
income was eight hundred and ninety-six
pounds, and the expense of management
five hundred and eighty-four pounds. Any
purchase-money accruing to the Treasury, based
on that valuation, must be small indeed; while
the public loss would be enormous, most
melancholy, and irreparable.

We have uttered our opinion—- now let the
public of London utter theirs. The same spirit
which crushed, on the instant, all attempts to
enclose Hampstead Heath, can effectually
dissipate all designs against the suburban
forests, if it be firmly, wholesomely, and
temperately manifested. The Commissioners
of Woods and Forests may, perhaps, think
they are acting quite poetically in saying with
Milton, in " Comus,"—-

      "To-morrow to fresh fields and pastures new;"

but " fresh fields and pastures new," obtained
by the destruction of the only metropolitan
forest, would be a metamorphosis which the
London public would never cease to deplore.

CHIPS.

THE SAILOR AT HOME.

A WELL-KNOWN adage gives to sailors "a
home in every port; " and the proverb is, we
are happy to say, being fast realised. In
addition to the " Sailors' Homes " mentioned
in our recent article with that title, we learn
that several others have been established not
only in various parts of the United Kingdom,
but in the United States. Indeed these
institutions originated in America. So far
back as 1839, " Sailors' Homes " were in full
operation in most of the sea-ports. The first
effort to establish a home in America was
in 1833, at Charleston, in South Carolina,
where it answered so well, and proved so great
a blessing, that, since that period, others have
been established with equal success in Baltimore,
Philadelphia, New York, and other ports.

For the establishment of Sailors' Homes in
British ports, the nautical public are most
indebted to Captain Hall. When that officer
commanded the "Dragon" steam frigate on
the Irish station, he was instrumental in
establishing a " Home " in Dublin, which was
opened in 1849 by the Earl of Clarendon; it
has since continued in full operation, and
the reports are most encouraging.

On a late tour Captain Hall visited Belfast,
where a meeting was held, and a committee
formed to carry out this object. After visiting
other ports in Ireland, he proceeded to Scotland,
and at Greenock and Glasgow he was so
successful, that large subscriptions have been
raised by the citizens of each place.

At Stornoway, in the Island of Lewis, he
received the assistance of Sir James Matheson,
who with a princely liberality had previously
expended sixty thousand pounds, in one winter,
for the relief of the poor in the islands of
which he is proprietor. Sir James co-operated
with Captain Hall, and the result was the
immediate establishment of a " Home."

There is also every reason to hope that at
Inverness, Banff, Peterhead, Arbroath,
Kirkcaldy, Dundee, Aberdeen, Montrose, &c., &c.,
"Homes " on a small and economical scale
will be got up. Lastly, on the 23rd of April
a " Sailors' Home " was opened at Portsmouth
under most brilliant auspices; so that the
reproach, that we have hitherto neglected our
Sailors, can happily no longer exist.

OUR PHANTOM SHIP.

JAPAN.

WE may as well go by the North-west
Passage as by any other, on our phantom
voyage to Japan. Behring Straits shall be
the door by which we enter the Pacific Ocean.
We are soon flitting between islands; from
the American peninsula of Aliaska runs a
chain of islands,—- the Aleutian,—- which lie
sprinkled upon our track, like a train of
crumbs dropped by some Tom Thumb among
the giants, who may aforetime have been led
astray, not in the wood, but on the water. If
he landed on Kamtchatka, from the point of
that peninsula he made a fresh start, dropping
more crumbs,—- the Kurile Islands,—- till he
dropped some larger pieces, and a whole slice
for the main island of Japan, before he again
reached the continent and landed finally on the
Corea. In sailing by these islands, we have
abundant reason to observe that they indicate
main lines of volcanic action. From Behring
Strait, in fact, we enter the Pacific, between two
great batteries of subterranean fire. Steering
for Japan, we pass, on the Kamchatkan coast,
the loftiest volcano in the old world, Kamtchatskaja
(fifteen thousand, seven hundred and
sixty-three feet). Following the course of the
volcanic chain of Kurile Islands, of which the
most northerly belong to Russia, the southern
Kuriles are the first land we encounter
subject to Japan. We do not go ashore here,
to be sent to prison like Golownin, for we are
content, at present, to remember that the
natives of these islands are the hairiest among
men. We sail on, too polite to outrage
Japanese propriety by landing, even from a
Phantom Ship, on the main island; so we sail
to Kiusiu, and run into the bay of Nagasaki.
The isles of Japan, calling rocks islands, are
in number three thousand, eight hundred and
fifty. The main island, Nippon, is larger than
Ireland, and is important enough to have been
justly called the England of the Pacific Ocean.