sad and spiritless; and, taking her little ones
with her, placed them in safety with her
father. She then sought her husband in his
prison, to comfort and console him, as best
she might. None there knew whence the
blow came: so little, indeed, did the sufferers
dream of how matters stood, that, a few days
after the catastrophe, Katrina waited on the
collector, and besought him, for the sake of
Janzs' long service, to intercede for him, and
obtain a remission of the cruel sentence.

Weeks passed away, and it appeared that
there was small chance of any pardon from the
Governor, who viewed with the greatest
displeasure any contravention of the Imperial
laws. Janzs abandoned himself to despair:
his friends considered him a lost man. All
but Katrina gave up hoping for him. She
never for a moment lost sight of any chance
which seemed to promise success. Night and
day she sought for some friendly aid to carry
out her plan. That scheme was to present a
petition to the Governor, in person: he was
reported to be a just man, though despotic in
the administration of the laws. Katrina felt
certain that he knew not all the facts of their
little history, though the collector had assured
her everything had been told him. Amongst
others whom she sought for advice and aid,
was the minister of their little church, who
listened to her with the patience of a child.
He knew a good deal of their history, though
not aware of the facts connected with their
possession of the fatal nutmegs. He heard
Katrina tell her sad story, pitied her, condoled
with her, bade her to be of good cheer, and
finally sent her away, full of faith and hope.

The good old minister saw at once the
wickedness of the collector, for he knew who
had laid the charge against Janzs. He went
boldly, though carefully, to work: satisfied
himself of the fact of Van Dort having planted
nutmegs on a larger scale than his clerk,
though unsuccessfully: drew up a petition to
the Governor, obtained the signature of Janzs,
and then proceeded with it to Colombo, and
laid it with his own hands at the feet of their
ruler. The good man was heard patiently,
and in twenty-four hours after perusal of the
petition, instructions were sent off to Galle to
the Commandant to institute the most searching
inquiry into the whole case.

It only remains to relate how the wicked
collector was detected, and dismissed the
service. Janzs was not only restored to the
possession of his lands, but received the
appointment of collector of Galle, as compensation
for his imprisonment. And so all
went well. None was more delighted than
Katrina, who, however, would not be satisfied
until they were once more quietly settled on
their pretty farm, by the riverside. There,
for long years afterwards, they lived in the
enjoyment of health and ample means, which
were, after all, brought them, indirectly, by
their nutmeg plantation: and though none of
those ominous trees were any longer growing,
there were hundreds of others, which yielded
ample stores of luscious grateful fruit, and
flung a cool and balmy shade o'er streams
and flowers, in many a quiet nook of that
sweet garden by the river.

LIFE AND LUGGAGE.

WHILE our system of lighthouses, lightboats,
and beacons, and the matchless judgment,
skill, and daring of our boatmen, on
many parts of the coast, are the admiration
of all, whether natives or foreigners, who have
any opportunities of experiencing or testing
their merits, there has at the very same time
existed the fact, that the preservation from
shipwreck of a man's portmanteau receives, as
a lawful demand, a proportionate reward—and
the preservation of his human trunk, nothing
whatever. As if to make this inhuman anomaly
perfect,—when a boatman picks up a dead
body and brings it safe ashore, he receives,
for this important service, five shillings; but
if there be a spark of life in it—nothing. Does
not this really look like a premium for murder,
or a quiet knock on the head of an
insensible person just out of the water, by way
of "settling the difference?"

A ship is on a shoal, crowded with
passengers. Never mind the lives, but look out for
the luggage! To this systematic and inhuman
teaching of our statutes, what is the
practical answer of the brave coast seamen of
England? What answer do the Deal boatmen
—the Yarmouth boatmen—the Yorkshire boatmen
—the Broadstairs boatmen, make to this?
There is scarcely a single occasion of
shipwreck on any part of our coasts which does
not furnish abundant proofs of the self-devotion
and generosity of the boatmen; all of
whom, on these dangerous expeditions, are
generally volunteers. They preserve lives
whenever it is possible: and it frequently
occurs—owing to the short time that elapses
between a vessel striking and going down,
or falling to pieces—that for every life they
save, there is some loss of property, in which,
if preserved instead, they would have derived
some benefit.

There is another very striking feature in
this question. The courageous self-devotion
of our coast seamen has produced a
corresponding impulse in many other minds; so
that while there were not above half-a-dozen,
if as many, models of boats or crafts for the
special preservation of property from
shipwreck, there were, we believe, in the Great
Exhibition, some two hundred models of life-
boats and other apparatus, specially invented
and constructed for the preservation of human
life. We have examined upwards of sixty of
these, and there was not one that did not
display a certain amount of earnest consideration
and effort to accomplish this single object.
The models and plans of life-boats sent in to
compete for the prize of one hundred guineas,
patriotically and humanely offered by the Duke