Conservative *
glass beads and porcelain a'nd other
things from Cnnnda , trinkets that are
traded with ' this1 nation' for gold ,
ivhich'they have in so great abuud-
aiico. and by. which they set so little
stbro that the King told them to take
as much of it as .the } ' chose , insomuch
that' they loaded themselves there
with'and took every man 00 bars of
about a palm's length , and their
weight about 4 1. The two savages
that wore with them. would none of
- it , and seemed surprised that the
Frenchmen would. lade. themselves
with it , they told-them that it .was to
make kettles of , which they believed ,
because those of theAcaniba , and all
their cooking utensils and tableware
are. of that precious metal. . . .The
i , said Sageau saith that he , did .not - seethe
fV f the mines .whence. . . thisc-prodigious
V quantity of gold isidrawu , but' saith
that they cannot be-fair from the city ,
because two of his .comrades .wlth-\a
person of .the nation ; took only throe
days for the journey' thither iiiclud-
ing the return.- that his' eonlrades
who perished afterwards , told him
that this gold was in the hollow of
Sundry mountains and hills , that in
the seasons of Jiign water , which are
frequent.in those" .places , the floods
break this gold loose and bear , it- away
and-when thoyaro dried .up great
heaps.of'it-are found in tha.t place in
the riverbeds , which are dry for. four
mouths'of the year-.when these-peo-
ples gather : it up , - .
" " Sngea'u'-'assureth us upon- his life ,
that if ho is'forwarded' to the Missis
sippi , "at what- place soever upon the
river , ho will'vdry well find his'way ,
and lead-any one Whom \vemaychooSC ,
to-Acaariiba , with canoes that ho will
build himself , provided , ho have tools
and men with arms , and ammunition
for hunting , and that one will be very
well received by those peoples , in
bringing them presents of the things
above 'mentioned , which is that by
wTiich they set most store. Tho" King
Having" dismissed them gave them
moreover'more than * 200. horsemen ,
rather to do'them honor than for their
scourity , " "since they had' no risk to
run among folk who-loved them unto
adoration-and the hors"einenbesides a
quantity of nil sorts of provisions car
ried their gold as far as their canoes ,
and followed coasting the"river for
five days , after which they "bade them
adieu with frightful roarings.
And-the continuation' this tale
contains the extraordinary adventures
of the said Sugean , uud the massacre
of almost all those that accompanied
him in the river Saint Laurent , to
ward 'its mouth , whore they were taken
by an English "pirate , his imprison
ment , and of "some few of his. com
rades who remained , and of his last
voyages in which he has sailed to the
East and West Indias , and to China ,
and his return to Brest , whore ho
finds himself serving from necessity
as a soldier in a company of Marines ,
where ho has made this statement ,
having been unwilling to reveal this
secret , neither to the Dutch nor to
the English , among whom ho has been
serving during the long sojourn that
he was obliged to make with them ,
which is confirmed by his responses to
the examination made by Monsieur
Dechouronx. Ho addeth that upon
that river of the Acaaniba which they
call Milli , that is Eiver , he hath seen
much gold dust upon 'its banks , and
thereof giVeth his affirmative assur
ance. A. T. EIOHAEDSON.
PUBLIC OPINION.
*
*
A-BR1EF SNARK HUNT.
. ' Those whohave followed Lewis Oar-
roll from his'"Wonderland of Alice , "
on ; to his-"Hunt ; pf the Snark , " may
have sometimes , . been"too engrossed in
t * r " ' *
the ) ( - chase" . - to , 'meditato . , . carefully on the
quality the frequency of the game.
One point'of peculiar interest about this
pursuit appears to have been , thatwhen
finally run downthe quarry might turn
out to be-something else , or practically
nothing at all.
A recent" English reviewer ( Nine
teenth Century , September , 1901) ) treat
ing Bulwer Lytton's novels , at the out
set casts a glance across the Atlantic.
In 'whatever connection' with his sub
ject , he presents at' the first paragraph
this lively prospect : "The pressure of
that tyrannical public opinion , which
is rapidly 'moulding the mind of the
States on lines which for dull uniform
ity can only be paralleled in Kussia. "
That conclusion at the beginning seems
to be especially founded on the "stamp
ing out" of Mormonism ; which is
well known to be for more prevalent
now than-it ever was in the days of
more strenuous contest ; but -that is
little matter. A" citizen of- these un
lucky States , "who has spent his-hialf
century at the heart"'of-them , in frill
participa ionof their various "interests" ,
Isapt" to-be-alike unconscious -of tlie
Cause' and effect."He may be aware 'of
iio'view tbathe * holds or step'that-he *
lias taken-having ever been-formed"
altered at the dictate'1 of this tyrant ; lie
may * find no otherwise among- his
friends ; and he may be accustomed to
more inexhaustible variety of all that
goes to malceup social life , than he
would reasonably expect to find among
any other people-on-the earth"He
might then take a-moment'-to , inquire ,
how his British cousin had come to be
thus impressed. - " - - -
The" answer would seem to be simple
and obvious. Here are seventy-
eighty million- people , of whom this
observer could know but very few ;
therefore the rest would appear all
alike to him ; the subjective impression
being- the same , from a million uniform
things , as from' the uniform ignorance
of one's own mind in regard to the
things. Objects in the dark are like
dark objects. Ho would remark the
absence of monarchy or other ancient
institution of government , yet a social
order as well kept as elsewhere ; hence
as the only alternative , he would sup
pose a power acting within them to the
same effect as such institutions , and
that must be public .opinion , operating
everywhere like atmospheric pressure ,
and flattening out the subject area as
described.
This , except that more distance and
less knowledge put it at rather an ex
treme , is no preposterous type of usual
modes of thinking upon this matter.
Public Opinion seems to be nearly
always spoken of as a power , for good
or evil indeterminately , with never an
effort to seejwhether such a. power
really exists , and of what it consists if
it does. An attempt at some such ex
amination may be in order.
From a distant hill , suppose we" are
observing a succession of persons trav
ersing a way between one gate and an
other. They pursue a course in general
tolerably direct or at least consecutive ,
but here and there they turn , and after
some deflection get back to the general
route as before. It is presently noticed ,
that these deviations are nearly at.the
same points ; each wayfarer , different in
all manner of other respects , yet bends
aside , this way or that , just about
where another did. Then we say ,
"What a set of sheep these people'are.
One turns and tumbles hither and
thither , just because the rest are doing
so , and as they do. ' . ' Suppose we then
descend from our perch , ' and inspect
the actual state of things where they
happen. We find in the first place that
a path has * been worn , along which
each successive traveller passes , with
out apparent thought of other travellers
or anything else except that it is the
way which will naturally carry him
where he is to go. Next , following its
course , wo find that on one side at a
certain spot is a marshy space , which
has to be avoided ; on the other at an
other spot a ledge of stone , a hollow or
the likeriiot obvious where we sat ; and
these > , determined the variations. In
each case , as a rule , the reason for the
course was. fairly- traceable from the
ground itself ; in few oases decided by
the direct influence of the other travel
lers. Still less could the other travellers
collectively , imagined as acting in one
abstract whole , -be reasonably con
ceived to have exerted such an in
fluence. If the pilgrims went a similar
way , it was because similar causes had
acted on each. We had made the com
mon mistake of putting a thing we did
not .know for a" thing wo knew.
Those points or.topics on which a
majority of the individuals in a given
community think alike , are probably
determined in the same manner. The