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EXPEDITION TO DIiSCOVER Miw - LIONS OF PIRATES' PLUNDER. Hid in Canyon cof the Galapagos lel ands in 1820-21—A Etate Depart ment Officer—Talks of the Treas ure and the Various Searches for it. This dispatch caught the eye of o State Department official in Wash ington not long ago: ; ‘ Valparaigo, Chili, August B—The British yacht Cavalier, owned by Ma jor- Maude, a member of the Royai Army Reserve, has left Coquimbo for @Galapagos Islands, where a gearch will be made for the treasure which is said to have been hidden there a long time ago. The Cava . ler met very rough weather near Mocha Island, where the crew tempor arily abandoned the vessel and suffer ed great hardships. The yacht car ries two guns and 100 rifles. “Qtill arter the Galapagos treas ure, eh?” he remarked to your cor respondent on reading this. “Weil, I hope they get it titis tife. They are taking two guns and 100 rifles along to kill tortoise, I presume. You know the Galapagos Islands swarm with huge tortoises, some of them 600 pounds in weight. No doubt, tco any of these monsters would hinder the work of treasure digging. “Put why malke fun of these treas ure hunters? They are on a quest that to my mind is the most fascin ating in the world. What's more, I "believe the treasure is there. I have kept track of it a little myself, and if T had a few thousand to spare and six months’' leave of absence, might be there myseclf, “I'll tell you.gabout this treasure, how it came there, and who puried it there, if you will guarantee not to go down and get it before 1 do. It was the rich spoils of years of piracy in the West Indies, and was taken round the Horn in 1820 and 1821, when the English war vesscls stamped out pi racy in the. Spanish Main. Tae Gala pagos group lics right out under the equator. The treazure Wwas taken there. and buried on Commander Is land, one of the group. The spot was well chosen, in a,canon which cleaves the hills running down to the beach. The pirates, who were pretty hotly chased, scattered as soon as they had disposed of their loot. Two of them, Englisimen of the names of Thomp son and Chapel, landed at Valparaiso and worked their way back to Eng land.. They informed the British Ad miralty of the ‘reasure, and on prom ise of immunity from punishment they furnished maps and even accom panied a md-of-war that was sent out to recover the stuff and apprehend the pirates. That part of the treas ure deposited in 1820 was dug up and taken back to England, and the ex pedition captured eighty of the pi rates in small boats along the west coast, took them to Jamaica and' hanged them. “Thompson and Chapel were misty as to the location of the treasure hidden in 1821, This was the bigger lot, as it contained all the loot left in the West Indies. That is the treasure which still lies under the sands of Commander Island. A syn dicate of Liverpool merchants sent out an expedition to get the treasure, but it was not found. Since that time many parties have searched for it. In 1846 a man named Keaton, who was said to be descended from one of the pirates,” went to Galapagos and re cover:d $75.000 of the treasure. He was accompanied by a sailor named Bogué. They had two Chilians with them, who afterwards disappeared. Keaton himeself also disappeared, but Bogue turned up in St. Johns, New Brunswick, where he was charged with the murder of Keaton, and nar rowly escared the gallows. Eeveral expeditions were fitted out after that, at San Fraacisco and Victoria, B. C,, by persons who had been associated with Keaton. The brig Blakely was fitted out a couple of years ago, aad she went down to locok for the treas ure, but she might as well have look ;fl for poig if %019 at the egd of rain bows, for she went to Coccs Island, aff Costa Rica, instead of going to Galapagos. D ~wPhe latest expedition that went in search of the West Indian “treasure was in charge of Capt. Brown of Bos ton, who took a party down from San Francisco in the schooner Herman. He had no definite knowledge of the treasure, but thought it was on Cocos’ Island. He hecame invelved in a con troversy with his crew, and the ‘schooper put in at ITenclulu, Later the crowd.dribbled back to San. Fran cizco, disgusted with Brown and hid den treasure. They buried about $6OO cach of their treasure in the vepture, I understand. % “The only reference I ever saw of the amount and character of the pos gemgions .was an interview with one of the Keaton parties in a San Fran cigeo paper. Thais said that the treas ure was variously estimated at from $33 000,000 to $60,000,000 in money, bullion -and utensils. In one excava tion was buried 300,000 pounds of sil ver bullion and money, and in an other hole 733 bars of gold, cpch four by three inches, and two inches thick, as well as jewelled swords. precious stones, and several kettles full of mis cellaneous gold. ‘And now Capt. Maude of the Royal srmy Reserve js after this treasure in the stout yacht Cavalier. Good luck to him! So long as I ecannot afford to te)ie a six months’ leave of absence from the department, I am willing that Capt. Maude should have his trial. I hope he strikes that canon and diverts without superhuman difficulty the little river that now flows over the spot where the treas ure was buried. It is a good six months’ task. It might pay—quien gsabe? And think of the fun! Think of the international complications to be aveided in smuggling this loot away from the jurisdiction of Euca dor!”’—New Yark Fost. A WEAKNESS IN STATISTICS. Statistics of Dependent and Defective . Classes Are Not Reliable, Among the numerous subjects re garding whica the director of the cen sus is authorized decennially to col lect statistics, under the act of March 6, 1902, we find enumeratsd the “in sane, feebie-minded, deaf, dumb, and blind,” also “crime, pauperism, and benevolence, including prisoners, pau pers, juvenile delinguents, and in mates of benevolent and refcrmatory institutions.” Unfortunately the act contains a provision at the end to the effect “that the statistics of special classes, and of crime, pauperism, and benevolence specified in this section, shall be restricted to institutioas con taining such classes.” This limita tion will render the returns of little value, if it does nct make them posi tively misleading. For instance, a reform in the adminisiration of the poor laws of our northern states and cities is very apt to show itself in a cutting down of outdoor relief, which is sometimes followed by a larger population receiving in-door relief. The inmates of dlmhouses might show an increasé which would natur ally be inferprested to signify more pauperism, when in point of fact this might be the result of a change in the form of relief due to a diminution of pauperism as a whole. There are knowna to be some 150000 fecble minded persons_in the United States, and yet the census will apply only to the 15,000 found in institutions. Hardly anything can be said about dependent chiidren, s.nce most of them are cared for outside of institu tiens. ' The limitation ~of the enumeration to the decennial years, though per haps net so scrious as teat just con sidered, is yet calculated to greatly dimnish the value of thi= part of cur census work. llf paup:r statistics are to sesve the purnose of throwing light either on the general condition of the country or on the administra tion of the laws, tiey should be gath ‘ered more {requently, certainiy at ia tervals of nct more *han two years. The great expense mvolved in"all gen: eral statistical inquiries may have in flueneed Congress to practice this ecopomy on the principle that half 2 loaf is better than no bread. This may be the case 1n ‘nousekeeping, but it does not always bhold in statistics. “A -half truth is not b:tter than no truth at all, it is generally worse. And if the government can not afford the money necessary to carry out @ fairly complete. enumeration of de penclcni and defective classes annual ly or biehnially, it would seem bet ter=to give up the plan of an criginal investigation altogether, and to con fine the work of the census bureau to the compilation of such statistics as may be obtained through the boards of charities or the bureaus of statistics of those Statecs which chn supply trustworthy figures. But such a makeshift would not be worthy of a great country, which in' many fields of statistics has a proud record.— Yale Review. | The Taste in Soda Water, Year ip and year out, va: l'a flavor™ ing is the standard at th 2 soda foun tains. Chocolate is second, strawber ry a bad third, and lemcn is some where in the ruck among the also rans. It depends a gcod deal upon the. weather, but this is the normal pref erence, say the mixers of the soda fountains. The warmer th 2 weather the sourer the flavors demanded by the public. b ~ On a hot, muggy day, there is a great run on lime julce wnd phos phatcs of all flaveors. On just com fortably warm days, chocclate, straw berry and all the swe=t flavors are in demand. 4 Ice cream soda js not liked so much as it was a few years ago. Among the fancy soft drinks, egg phosphate is the favorite. Every y=ar a few. new ‘“health drinks” are sprung. They rarely last. more than a seascn. Sometimes, al ter a rest of a year or two, a health drink that has run its course is put out again under another name. TALES OF THE INDIANS. There Were Some in 1805 Who Had Never Heard a Gun Fired. Even as late as the year 1805 the.r2 were Indians on the North American continent who had never seem «(r Reard a gun, had never se2n tobacco smoke, and were capable or worship ping the white men who controlied these wonders. The Rev. A. G Morice t:lls of some cf the advern tures of Sion Fraser, who has stamyp ed his'name on Canada. Father Mo rice writes as follows: “On landing -at Lake Stuart Fraser's men, to im press the natives with a proper idea of their wonderful resources, firsd a volley with their guns, whereupon the whole crowd of Indians fell prostrate to the ground. To allay their fears and make friends, tobacco was oifer ed to’ them, which, on being tasted, was found tco bitter and thrown away. Then to sh:w its use,. the crew lighted their pipes, and at the sight of smoke issuing from their mouths the people b2gan to whisper that they must come from the land of ghosts, since they were still full of fire wherewith they had besn cre mated. Picces of soap were given to the women, who, taking 'them to be cakzas of fat, set upon crunching them causing foam and Dbubles in the mouth, which puzzled both actors and bystanders. All these phenomena, however, were sicon explained away, lesaving np suspicion in the native mind, but a most profound admira tion for the {oreignsrs and their wares,” ; : Sir Alexander Mackenzis had an idea that th= Indians of the far north west were partly Jewish in origin. From Lak2 Athabasca in 1794 he set out at the head of an expedition “in a birch bark canoce, twenty-five feeg long, . four and three-quarters fest beam, and twenty-six inches held," with 3,000 pounds cof baggage and pro visions ar4 s erew of nine French Canadians.” He reacned the Pacific coast ‘ax‘lg,,‘;xgturged. he aboriginies he met were “fior the most part pos sessed of strongly religious instinets,” said he in his report. “With regard to their origin all we- ar3 prepared to state, after a careful survey of ‘heir language, manners and customs 3 that they are™ undoubtedly of a mixed origin; com: from the norig acrthwest, and ha! commerce in thefr aarly history, perhaps, through inter marriage, with peopie of Jewish pga_'- suasion or origin.” f " New Year’s Day, 1811, in the Caza dian northwest was described by D. W. Harmon as follows: “This being the first day of a new year, our people have passed it, according to th\:zus tom of the Canadians in drinking and fighting. Some of *the principal Indians of Fraser Lake desired to al low them to remain at the fort that they might see our people drink. As soon as they bzgan to b 2 a little in tovicated and to quairel among them selves the natives began to be appre hensive that something unpleasant might befall them also. They, there fore, hid themselves under beds and elsewher?, saying that they thought the white people had run mad, for they appeared not to kuwow what they were about. It was the first time thdat th:y had ever gseen a person it tox:cated.” A Goats and a Nation’s Fate. The frontier between British India and Thibet traverses districts where there ars mountain pastures, and our main grievance was that certain Thi betan goats which were ignorant of the line of demarcation were in the habit of straying into British terri tory. What particular harm the goaty did by browsing occaslonally on Brit ish grass is not very clear. In any case, the damage could not have been censiderable. In 1739 we went to war with Spain on account cf the ear of a cartain Jenkins, which, we asserted had bzen cut off by somsz Spanish of: ficial, although 1t was cont2nded that the ear was still attachsd to Jen kins’ head. It has, however, been re served to this century for this coun: try to engage in a war that promises to be extensive, on accouni, profess edly, of a few wandering goats.—Lon don Truth. : Cursing *he Sea. The little sears:de resort of Kuit chuk, Russia, has been scandalized by the introduction of mixed bathing by visitors from Odessa. The priests and puritan residents are denouncing “the awful behavior of the Odessa devils,” whieh, neventhaless, is drawing crowds, hundreds of peasants driving to Kultchuk to witness the novelty. ‘Father- Zachrali, a local priest, is conducting on the beach a propaganda against mixed bathing. He wades into the water up to his armpits daily at noon and solemnly curses the sea for permitting the defilement. He has improvised a liturgy, which includes the follcwing: “Rire, ye waves, and cverwhelm these unchristian men and women, whose conduct makes the fishes blush.” Not the Same Bird., Secking' for argument to gupport an attack cn woman, a correspond ent of a contemporary found what he thought was a suitabls. one in the Book of Job, and produced it in tri umph. Next day another correspond ent pointed out that, owing to a slight technical error, the argument was not 80 convincing as it might otherwise have been. It seems that the pro phet’s remark was not sbout women at all, but abou: ostriches. These mistakes will oecenr, Thieves and Beggars. When the unmanning inseeurity of poverty oppresses man the weak beg, the strong steal. And the strong largely outnumber the weak in this sublunary world of ours. e The easiest legal' way of becoming a Japanese subject is to marry a Jap anese woman.