Epigraph: Ye South Sea Sisters ! circling east, west, north,/Unite in federal bonds for one fixt power,/So shall ye find no sudden evil hour/Darken your future-check your prosperous growth./Time at your roots hath not one gnawing tooth,/Then wisely cherish each first fruit and flower ;/And, all unlike the common slow degrees./Whereby men build an empire's central tower,/Ye may fresh models give for histories,-/Spreading o'er half this globe of lands and seas,/New trades, new facts, new hopes, new nationalities./ R. H. Horne
