It takes an excellent swimmer to make the visit to the cave without danger of death from drowning. The entrance bristles with sharp points of rock, and when a native dives he turns on his back and uses his hands to keep himself clear of these dangerous obstructions. The captain of an English man-of-war tried to enter the cavern, but was so severely injured against the sharp rocks that he died in consequence.
We will leave the Pera to pursue her course among the islands of the Pacific, while we accompany Doctor Bronson and the youths on their voyage to New Zealand and Australia. The mail-steamer Zealandia carried them swiftly along, and on the morning of the fifth day they were in sight of the shores which were their destination. From Suva to Auckland, the former capital of New Zealand, is a distance of about one thousand miles, and there is regular communication both ways monthly between the two points. There is also steam communication between Sydney and Feejee, about sixteen hundred miles—sometimes direct from one port to the other, and sometimes by way of 
AN ISLAND CAVERN.New Caledonia, which lies a short distance out of the direct track.
The Zealandia entered Hauraki Gulf, passing between the Great Barrier and Little Barrier islands, and holding her course almost due south; then, through the Rangitoto Channel, she turned, and the harbor of Auckland was before her.
"Shall we have to wait for the tide?" Frank asked, as they passed Great Barrier Island. "It often happens that we have to wait several hours for a tide when we're all impatience to get on shore."
"We don't have to wait for tides at Auckland," replied an officer of the Zealandia, to whom the query was addressed. "We can come in at dead low-water and steam to an anchorage, or to the dock if we're ready to go there. The least depth is thirty-six feet at dead low-water of the spring-tide, and at the highest tides we have fifty feet.
"There is hardly a finer seaport anywhere," he added, "than Waitamata, as the harbor of Auckland is frequently called by the New
