THE GOLD SANDS OF CAPE NOME. 633 



have been already wrecked in ancient or modern times. And it 

 is far safer to leave such men unwatched, with the certainty that 

 they will receive a fair value for all they find, than it is to drive 

 a gang under the lash, on bare wages, without rewards to keep 

 them from pilfering. The English system means mutual confi- 

 dence and good faith; the native and French system of force means 

 the destruction of both information and antiquities. 



And yet besides this there is the essential business of observing 

 and recording. Every hole dug must have a meaning and be under- 

 stood, as to the date of the ground at different levels and the 

 nature of the place. Everything must be spelled out as the work 

 advances; any diflaculties that can not be explained must be tried 

 with all possible hypotheses; each detail must either fall into place 

 as agreeing with what is known, or be built in as a new piece of 

 knowledge. 



Twenty years ago nothing was known of the date of any Egyp- 

 tian manufactures, not even of pottery or beads, which are the com- 

 monest. Now, at present it is seldom that anything is found which 

 can not be dated tolerably near by, and in some classes of remains 

 the century or even the reign can be stated at once, without a single 

 word to show it. The science of Egyptian archaeology is now in 

 being. 



In this, therefore, as in many other matters, the Anglo-Saxon 

 taste for private enterprise is the ruling power, and in spite of 

 political obstacles and of taxation, which are happily unknown in 

 other sciences, the private work of individuals has quietly traced 

 out the foundations of one of the earliest civilizations of mankind. 



THE GOLD SANDS OF CAPE NOME. 



By Prof. ANGELO HEILPRIN, 

 late president of the philadelphia geographical society. 



ONE of the most interesting contributions to the history of 

 gold and gold mining has undoubtedly been discovered in the 

 region of Cape Nome, Alaska, during the past summer. Vague 

 reports have from time to time, for a period of a year or more, 

 been sent out from the bleak and inhospitable shores of Bering Sea 

 of the discovery there of rich deposits of placer gold, and of almost 

 fabulous wealth acquired by a few fortunate prospectors — a new 

 Klondike on American soil — but these gained little credence be- 

 yond the portals of transportation companies and the organizers of 

 " boom " enterprises. A few of the more credulous and those 

 unmindful of adventure and hardship took practical action on the 



