Enterprise and Adventure. Ralph Temple

great; but was answered in the negative. 'Have you no cheese made of reindeer's milk?' said I. 'Yes,' replied she, 'but it is a mile off.' 'If it were here, would you allow me to buy some?' 'I have no desire,' answered the good woman, 'that you should die in my country for want of food.'" On arriving at her hut Linnæus perceived three cheeses lying under a shed without walls, and took the smallest of them, which she after some consultation, allowed him to purchase.

      This was the turning point in his journey, the difficulties of penetrating further in a country of morass and wilderness being insurmountable. He records in his journal that he felt that he had, with the thoughtlessness of youth, undertaken more than he could perform, and pathetically adds that the screams of some wild birds overhead as he passed along seemed to his imagination like the sound of derisive laughter, for he was faint and weak with hunger, having eaten scarcely anything for four days. In this plight, however, he fortunately reached the house of a good clergyman, who gave him hospitable shelter and some fresh meat.

      Among other strange sights which he records was that of a forest on fire, of which he gives a vivid description. The dry season had rendered the boughs so inflammable, that a flash of lightning striking one of the trees set it in a blaze, which rapidly spread. In many places the fire extended over several miles; in one place he walked for more than three-quarters of a ​mile through a part of the forest which had been completely destroyed, and where charred timbers, and blackened shrubs and grass, were the only things which met the eye. A guide accompanied him through this region, and he adds:—

      "The fire was nearly extinguished in most of the spots we visited, except in anthills and dry trunks of trees. After we had travelled about half a quarter of a mile across one of these scenes of desolation, the wind began to blow with rather more force than it had done, upon which a sudden noise arose in the half-burnt forest, such as I can only compare to what may be imagined among a large army attacked by an enemy. We knew not whither to turn our steps; the smoke would not suffer us to remain where we were, nor durst we turn back. It seemed best to hasten forward, in hopes of speedily reaching the outskirts of the wood; but in this we were disappointed. We ran as fast as we could, in order to avoid being crushed by the falling trees, some of which threatened us every minute. Sometimes the fall of a huge trunk was so sudden that we stood aghast, not knowing whither to turn to escape destruction, and throwing ourselves entirely on the protection of Providence. In one instance a large tree fell exactly between me and my guide, who walked not more than a fathom from me, but, thanks to God! we both escaped in safety. We were not a little rejoiced when this perilous adventure terminated, for we had felt all the while like a couple of outlaws, in momentary fear of surprise."

      Throughout all these perils and hardships the enthusiastic Linnæus calmly pursued his observations of ​nature, recording them daily where possible in his journal, which he concludes with the simple words, "To the Maker and Preserver of all things be praise, honour, and glory for ever." This interesting manuscript was not published, or even known to exist, until many years after his death. His papers, herbarium, etc., having been purchased by Sir J. E. Smith, this journal was found among them; but, owing to its being in the Swedish language, intermixed with Latin, and with many ciphers and abbreviations, its curious contents long remained unknown. At length a young English merchant, Mr. Charles Troilus, undertook the task of translating it, by whom it was published some years ago.

      Arthur Young's Great Enterprise

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      ARTHUR YOUNG'S GREAT ENTERPRISE.

      It is a singular circumstance that the only authentic or complete survey of agriculture in Trance, and of the condition of the French peasantry on the eve of the great Revolution, should have been made by an Englishman, whose work, although it received no help or recognition from any government, English or foreign, is still regarded as the chief source of information on that subject, even by the French themselves. This Englishman was Arthur Young, a Suffolk farmer, and a man of very enlightened views, not only on agricultural questions, but on politics and statistical science.

      ​Young was a man of limited means; but his enterprise and determination made up for all defects. He set out completely alone, furnished with a trusty English mare and a moderate purse of money; and in this way traversed the whole of France three times, besides extending his journey by along tour in Spain and Italy. In all parts of these journeys he made the minutest observations on the state of the country and the manners and condition of the people; but if this had been all, his work would scarcely have been accounted extraordinary. Its chief value lay in the immense amount of facts which he collected almost entirely from personal inquiry on the nature of crops, rent, course of husbandry, wages of labour, population, commerce, size of farms, profits of farming, and an almost infinite variety of kindred subjects. Traversing the kingdom on the western side, then through the centre, and finally along the eastern frontier, scarcely a province was left by him unexplored; and the result was the publication, in two quarto volumes, of such a body of original information on these points as had probably never before been collected by one person in any country, and which even royal commissions and liberal aid from the state have in other countries failed to obtain.

      Young's narrative was by no means a dry and technical one. It abounded in shrewd observations of life, and graphic pictures of manners and scenery, with here and there some interesting adventures. His travels were undertaken in the years 1787, 1788, and 1789, when the political ferment which resulted in the great tempest of the French Revolution was commencing, and he was present in Paris during the stormy meeting of ​the Tiers État, saw the king and queen in the midst of scenes which have since become historical; and in the latter part of his survey ran no small risk of falling a victim to the popular suspicion of the object of his laborious investigations. The people thought him a spy; and at that time to be suspected of being a spy was highly dangerous. On one occasion, in a little town, a furious mob assailed him for venturing to appear without wearing the cockade of the Tiers État. They said it was the command of the assembly, and if he was not an aristocrat he must not dare to appear without it. Having asked them, good humouredly, what would be the case, supposing he was an aristocrat, the mob answered, menacingly, "Why, then, you will be hanged." Young perceived that it was no time for joking. A cry arose that he was a noble in disguise. Finally, he thought of the device of haranguing them from the steps of his inn, which he did in such French as he could command, informing them that he was from England, where men enjoyed liberty; and having fastened on another cockade more securely than the last, the people ended in cheering him, and he was allowed to depart.

      Signs of danger became more numerous; but the indomitable Young pursued his way, unfriended and alone, noting daily as he went all things which seemed worthy of a record. Around Besançon he found chateaus burnt and plundered, the nobles hunted down like wild beasts, their wives and daughters insulted, and their property destroyed. Robbers, galley slaves, and villains of every kind, were prowling about the country to take advantage of the confusion and to instigate the ignorant peasants to further outrages. The suspicion ​of officials was sometimes still more annoying. The peaceful and polite people whom he had met in the early part of his travels appeared transformed into a savage race. On one occasion a poor woman who had guided him for a few sous over the mountains, was arrested before his eyes and dragged to a dilapidated chateau which had been turned into a prison, and Young learnt that her crime was merely that of having aided him, a stranger and a suspicious person in those parts. The good-hearted Englishman determined at once to follow the woman and her persecutors, in the hope of procuring her release by attesting her innocence. They were followed by a mob of the country people, and by the woman's children crying bitterly. At the chateau a solemn committee of the authorities sagely remarked, that "in such dangerous times, when all the world knew that so great and powerful a person as the queen was conspiring against France, for a woman to become the conductor of a stranger who appeared to be making so many suspicious inquiries, was a high offence. In vain Young assured them that she was but a poor woman who had offered, in the hope of gaining a few sous for herself and family, to direct him to see the springs and volcanic craters famous in those parts; but her judges asked him, sternly, what he had to do with springs and