No description can convey to the mind the fascinating, poetic charm of the lovely Southern Cross, or the hopeful and religious thoughts which it inspires, as it is seen sparkling and glistening while floating through the deeply clear, and transparent ether of the tropical heavens. The serenity of the evening, the balmy weather, and cloudless sky, wooed us to the open air, where, hour after hour, we watched the rising of this, and kindred constellations that never illuminate our Northern sky; together with the curious Magellanic clouds, which are supposed to be other planetary systems. The superb lustre of Aldebaran, and the increased brilliancy of the Pleiades, in Taurus, together with the surpassing effulgence of the stars composing Orion,--the largest and brightest of the Southern constellations,--often held us spellbound for hours; and most reverently impressed us with the truth of the Psalmist, that “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork.” We also caught something more than a faint glimmer of the meaning of the Almighty, who, when addressing Job, said:--“Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?” On the afternoon of the 20th of December we were nearing the southeastern shore of the “Island of the Moon,”[3] and before night were within eight or ten miles of the land, with the shadowy outlines of two large mountains distinctly visible. We coasted for several hours along the low shore of this comparatively unexplored country; but, “Green Madagascar’s flowery dales, Her vernal lawns, and numerous peaceful bays,” were enveloped in a hazy, dreamy, tropical atmosphere that hung over the mountains like a veil, and floated across the lowlands, soon to be dissipated by the glorious sun, even as the shades of heathenism and the darkness of superstition, which once entirely enveloped in tenfold night this beautiful country, are beginning to be dissipated by the glorious light of the Sun of Righteousness. We sighted Fort Dauphin in the bright tropical moonlight, which also brought to view the mountain ranges and the coast, that here assumed a bolder outline. We were heading, however, for the Isle of Bourbon and the Mauritius; and the morning found us once more where the clear cerulean of the horizon met only the darker blue of the ocean. We had looked our last upon a land combining in its romantic mountain-scenery much that is grand and sublime in Nature,--a land whose flora is unequalled, being particularly rich in rare and superb orchids, and remarkable for its traveller’s-tree, from whose leaf-stalk, when pierced, pure water gushes to refresh the thirsty wayfarer.