Barbarian Shrewdness

The "Yankee nation" takes great credit to itself for its ing-enuity, but a wider acquaintance with the world would probably lessen its pretensions. Wild animáis and uncivilized men - all creatures, in short, who live by their wits - have almost of necessity the quality oí shrewdiíess highly developed, at least in certain directións. Capt. Lugard, the A frican traveler, quotes his brother as the liig-hest admiration foV "the wonderful instinct" of the jungle tribe of Gonds, in India, with whoin he had practiced tiger shooting-. "If y ou dropped a Gond from a balloon in the heart of a forest unknown to him, and thcn suddenly 'went for, him with a thick stick, he would take ! the identical path that a tig-er would ! adopt, and it would be found to be the ! shortest possible way out of the jun; &le." Capt. Lug-ard bears a similar tcstimony to the ready wit of the Swahilis, nativos oí east África. lie had occasion to build a fort with all speed, and for that purpose heneeded polcs. They were dlmpult to procure, but as he remarks: "The Swahili is a wonderful fellow when pressed, for 'making' ; bricks without straw.' " Not a tree was in s'ight, and there were only a dozen axes for two hun-' dred and fifty men; but he sent all i hands out after timber. Each man was ! to a log-, or two men might I j one log, if it was exceptionally large, and only after that was done were they to be at liberty to collect their own food for the day. And the lof,rs were broug-ht. In Capt. Lug-ard's j words: "Teil a Swahili he has to produce a pole before he can eat his dinner, and thoug-h you cannot see a tree on the horizon, he will arrive with a pole before you have decided in your mind which is'the best direction in which to start your search."