recruits are constantly arriving at the Heligoland
dépôt, where a considerable number are
still being trained and organised, and where
they are behaving themselves so well
that the fashionable world of the Hanse
towns, although a little frightened at first
are again flocking to their favourite dot in
the ocean for their annual sea-dips in it.

The history of Heligoland is very simple.
In the fourteenth century the Danes had
established a fort there ; then, its only church
paid a quit-rent to the chapter of Schleswig.
Afterwards Hamburg exercised over it the
simultaneous rights of lordship and
protectorate ; and, a desperate quarrel about
herrings, ended in its being bombarded and
taken by Denmark ; but, in eighteen hundred
and seven, it was taken by the English.
For many years Major-Geueral Sir Henry
King reigned over Heligoland as governor.
On this high functionary devolved the
surveillance of the island and its lighthouse,
besides the office of judge and umpire over
the internal disputes of the inhabitants. The
present ruler is Sir John Hindmarsh,
necessarily a captain in the navy, to preside
over this extraordinarily marine bit of
territory. While the continental blockade lasted,
Heligoland was of inestimable value to
England as a convenient warehouse for smuggling.
This molecule in the midst of the waters
is two thousand two hundred paces long, six
hundred and fifty broad at the widest part,
and some five thousand yards, or thereabouts,
in circumference. It will be supposed that
railroads are things uncalled for ; nay, even
that coaches-and-six, tandems, dog-carts, and
high-mettled racers, are not in high request.
The island may contain a sedan-chair, or
vinaigrette, for fashionable ladies ; but the actual
existence of such a vehicle the deponent had
rather not affirm on oath. A hop-skip-and-jump
tour of her Majesty's tight little island,
is not an impossibility ; and an intellectual
flea, or a literary gnat, may one day give to
the impatient world a nice little volume,
with map and woodcuts, entitled, "Travels
in Heligoland."

On approaching the island from Hamburg,
it looks like a triangular rock surrounded by
the sea on every side. The colours it presents
have been transferred to the flag it has
had the modesty to set up; which is red,
white, and green; and Heligoland has not
only a national flag, but a national minstrelsy.
Here is a refrain apropos to both:

Roth ist der Strand,
Weiss ist der Sand,
Grün ist die Kant;
Das sind die Farben von Helgoland.

which, translated, may be rendered:

Red is the strand,
White is the sand,
Green is the band;
Those are the colours of Heligoland.

To the south-east, only a little morsel
of level ground ia perceptible — a tiny
tongue of land, which is dignified by the
title of The Unterland or Lowlands, and
which rises gradually to the foot of the
rock to about five-and- twenty feet above the
level of the sea. On this stands the lower
town, composed of something like eighty
houses. In a gorge of the rock is a new
staircase, which connects it with the Oberland
or Highlands. This staircase, decorated
with a smart iron railing, is ten feet
wide, is composed of one hundred and seventy-
three wooden steps divided into three revolutions,
at the bottom of each of which are
seats to rest upon, and oil lamps to show
light on winter nights. After this, do not
boast of the luxury of London and Paris!

On the summit of the rock, towards the
north-east, stands the Upper Town, with
about three hundred and twenty houses, and
a church dedicated to Saint Nicholas, the
patron of fishermen and babies (whether
pickled or fresh). From this point the rock
still rises, till it attains the Alpine elevation
of a hundred and ninety feet above the
level of the sea. Not far off (nothing is
far off here) stands the light-house, erected
by the English with no other materials
than stone, iron, and copper. Its rays
command an extensive horizon, notifying dis-
tinctly to the wave-tossed traveller, " This
is I!—Heligoland, who shine so bright.
Pursue your way, by the help of my luminous
finger-post." But a beacon is an old
establishment in Heligoland. In sixteen hundred
and seventy-three, the Hamburgians built a
pharos on the eminence called the Backeberg,
wherein they kept up a cheerful coal-fire,
sometimes burning, daring winter nights, as
much as four hundred pounds of coal.

Do not suppose that the continent of
Heligoland is so poor as to be without its
dependent islet, — a faithful satellite who never
deserts it. Rather better than half-a-mile
from Heligoland, on the south-east side, is
Sandy Island, which is of the greatest
consequence to the tight little mother country,
because on that are taken the sea-baths,
which put a considerable revenue into
Heligoland's pockets.

And why should not your marine six
weeks be spent just as well at Heligoland as
at Abergavenny, Brighton, Boulogne, or
Etrebat ? For lodgings you have plenty of
houses built of brick ; so that you need not
be afraid of finding room. The natives are
hospitable, polite, sober, and hard-working,
and are as well worth study as the rock
on which they dwell. The men are active
on the sea, and exercise no other calling
than that of pilots or fishermen ; the women
attend to the housekeeping and gardening,
for there is no Royal Heligoland Agricultural
Society. You may lodge either ia
the upper or the lower town, though the
former is preferred for its more extensive
seascape and its unlimited supply of breezes,