The Queen of the Colonies. By an Eight Years' Resident
(Sampson Low and Co.)--The title of this book is somewhat ambitions, but a case is made out that goes far to support it. If the climate and natural resources of the country are anything like what we have here put before us, there can be no question which colony affords the finest field for emigrants. The work itself is a model of what such a book should be, and tells us all we can want to know of the natural history, the aboriginal inhabitants, the gold-fields, the agriculture, and the various industries that have in a few years done so much for Queensland. Among these last are sugar, wine, and tobacco. The author's theory of floods cannot, we think, be upheld. If these disasters are sent to punish the natives for their sins, why should the climate be perfect, and the floods so far between and easily avoided? While on the subject of "floods," we may mention that we have some strange stories about horses and cattle being found " in the tops of trees " when the water has subsided, which seem to make Baron Munchausen's account of his horse and the steeple quite possible. According to what we see here, the colony was shamefully mismanaged for some years, and the whole of the "kidnapping" system was the fault of the Government in importing a wrong class of immigrants. We must not forget to say that we have a wonderfully interesting account of the "Dugong fishery," which alone would make the book well worth reading.
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