FOURTH JOURNEY. 259 



Ye who are versed in politics, and study the rise and 

 fall of empires, and know what is good for civilized 

 man, and what is bad for him, or, in other words, 

 what will make him happy, and what will make him 

 miserable, tell us how comes it that Europe has lost 

 almost her last acre in the boundless expanse of ter- 

 ritory which she so lately possessed in the West, and 

 still contrives to hold her vast property in the extensive 

 regions of the East ? 



But whither am I going 1 I find myself uii a new 

 and dangerous path. Pardon, gentle reader, this sudden 

 deviation. Me thinks I hear thee saying to me, 



"Tramite quo tendis, majoraque viribus audes." 



I grant that I have erred, but I will do so no more. In 

 general I avoid politics ; they are too heavy for me, 

 and I am aware that they have caused the fall of many 

 a strong and able man : they require the shoulders of 

 Atlas to support their weight. 



When I was in the rocky mountains of Macoushia, in 



Cocks of the the month of June, 1812, I saw four young 



Cocks of the Eock in an Indian's hut ; they 



had been taken out of the nest that week. They were 



of a uniform dirty brown colour, and by the position of 



the young feathers upon the head, you might see that 



there would be a crest there when the bird arrived at 



maturity. By seeing young ones in the month of June, 



I immediately concluded that the old cock of the rock 



would be in fine plumage from the end of November to 



the beginning of May ; and that the naturalist who was 



in quest of specimens for his museum ought to arrange 



his plans in such a manner as to be able to get into 



Macoushia during these months. However, I find now 



s2 



