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garb, or cowled hypocrisy. We, in this nineteenth century, see each other pretty much as we are; but referring to the past ages, the lives of heroes and saints are reflected with a halo of perfection; their unseemly tempers and habits lost in the distance; and so we think them purer, and honester, and nobler than ourselves, and attribute their excellence to the institutions of their day. This is why we hear of the desire to revert to ancient customs, and rites, and ceremonies, not as symbols of truth only, but as helps to devotion and obedience for some, and as means for exacting and obtaining class reverence for others."

"You are always harping on certain subjects, M. Wilhelm," said the Scotchman, "as a man never satisfied.”

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'When a man is not satisfied with himself, he seldom derives satisfaction from externals. But I know that Quod petis, hic est, animus si te non

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"But the process of amendment is itself satisfactory, and, if pursued, will be the cure you seek."

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"I did not say that I am seeking for satisfac

tion," answered M. Wilhelm.

"It would be like

seeking for honesty, for Arcadia, for El Dorado, for wild geese."

"It is nevertheless a fact," said the Scotchman, "that amendment yields satisfaction inwardly, which causes one to view with charity and fairness what hitherto he looked upon in a mere cynical and hypercritical spirit. A man of fair average capacity, too wicked or too weak to wish to amend, must ever be contemptible. Well said the heathen that mens sana in corpore sano was desirable."

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"And so it is to those who want them. But who will say," said the German, striking his chest and head, "that I am sick in mind or body." "It cuts more ways than one, M. Wilhelm. can imagine an athlete wanting a strong mind, or a philosopher, a statesman, a divine, wanting bodily health; but I can also imagine physical sanity carrying out in practice the decision of a sound, that is, of a wise, that is, of a Christian. judgment."

Perhaps you are right," said M. Wilhelm, who did not seem disposed to continue the conversation; the boiled tasajo and the cassavae bread he was consuming were then of paramount

importance.

CHAPTER XXV.

EIGHTH AND NINTH DAYS ON THE LLANOS.

LONG before the dawn on Monday morning we were on our route from Aguassai, and had crossed the Guanipa. From the few days' rest we had had at Aguassai, we found the walk very distressing, and it was arranged that M. Wilhelm, Mr M'Donald, and I should in turn mount one of the donkeys; and that we should each have our fair proportion of the privilege, the guide was requested to say when it was time for each one to have his turn. By this mode of travelling we got through a greater distance than we had done on any previous day. We crossed the Aribe and Nabo at their heads, and encamped and slung our chinchoras on a bank of the Aritupano.

On Tuesday, crossing the Aritupano and rios Chive and Pando, and passing eastward of the village of Merecural, we encamped on the open

savanna of the Morechal Largo, a mile from the west bank of the rio Tigre. We were then in the public highway, and as a deserted ox-cart lay temptingly in our way, it decided our halt. Beds were made for the tender ones under the cart, which was a convenient canopy from the dew. The men wrapped themselves in their cobijas, and made themselves as comfortable as they could. They had gathered sticks and dry brushwood, which after serving for the dinner fire, was gathered up and rekindled for the night: but the fire soon failed altogether.

The whole mesa or table-land of the Morechal Largo presents, until one gets to the cultivated districts, a gloomy appearance. It is weird-like, and induces melancholy in persons predisposed to dejected thoughts.* The extensive flat surface

* "There is something sublime, yet mournful, in the uniform spectacle of these steppes. Everything in them appears immoveable, except that perchance, occasionally, the shadow of a small cloud, which passes over the zenith and announces the approach of the rainy season, falls on the savanna. I know not whether the first feeling of surprise at the first view of the Llanos is not as great as at the first view of the chain of the Andes. Mountainous regions, however high even their highest points may be, have an

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