THE EXAMINER.

2 nanos =_— its ten houses, inhabited Uy its population of fifty souls. We cannot answer for the exiuct number of the

ople; but we know that the number of the houses ro been the same through all tradition Indeed the permanence of everything at Goust is its most striking characteristic ; and inthe present age of revolution, it may be worth while to try to ascertain the cause. As for the government of the community, we are not pre- pared to say that it has any definite form atall. At any rate there is no council-chamber, no parliament, no justice-room. Certain voices are listened to with respect and obedience, but age appears to” be the sole qualification. At Goust a!l intellects are alike, the sole difference being made by experience. A man of a hun- dred years of age is wiser than a lad of fifty or sixty 5 and indeed till the first-mentioned age is attained, the judgment can hardly be reckoned mature. Jentena- rians are the rule amongst the old men, not the excep- tions; and Dr. Cayet, the chronicler of the place, who writes in 1605, mentions the déath in that year of an individual who was born in 1482.

The religion of Goust has neither priest nor temple; but, except when they are shut up by the snow during winter, the inhabitants do not suffer the insularity of their position to deprive them of spiritual comfort.— Laruns is the grand centre of the Christianity of the country ; and thither, on great occasions, descend the population of the peaks and precipices of this portion of the Pyrenees. At Laruns they are baptised, married, and buried ; for people die some time or other even at Goust. Lovers walk to the distant church to become husband and wife, and infants are carried thither to be made Christians; but the dead who cannot walk, and whom it would be difficult to carry along a descending path cut in the face ofan almost perpendicular cliff, re- quire some contrivance. They are made to slide down the precipice, and the mourners follow, having hold of a rope attached to the coffin. When the path at length becomes more practicable for a funeral procession, the cortege is met by a priest, and they take their way, with holy hymns, to the cemetery of Laruns.

But these are not the sole visits of our republicans to the jower world. They carry milk and vegetables even to the Eaux-Chaudes, and may be seen trafficking for ijuxuries, comforts, or necessaries in the most distant corners of the valley of Ossau. There is, indeed, one commodity—luxury, comfort and necessary in one— the search for which brings every young man of Goust into the valley at one time or other. At home there are young girls enough, but all are within the prohibi- ted degrees of consanguinity, and itis necessary to go abroad fora wife. Down, therefore, they plunge—these adventurous bachelors—like angels (Thomas Moore’s) coming to woo the daughters of men; and casting the eagle glance of the mountaineer round this Tempe of the Pyrenees, they are not long of singling out their destined bargain. The marriage takes place, as we have said, at Laruns; and then comes the young wife’s expedition, undertaken probably for the first time, into the cloud-land which is henceforward to be her home. As she ascends farther and farther from the level earth, and the path becomes narrower and steeper, she clings closer and closer, it may be supposed, to the arm she has selected for her support in the journey of life. ‘She valley beneath is already covered with tumbling clouds, and she is terrified to look back upon the dizzy path by which she has climbed out of the vapour. Forward— forward—is her only hope; her destiny is fixed beyond recall; the metaphors of poetry are to her substantial facts. But how beautiful is the oasis that at length re- wards her labour! How deep is the feeling of security with which her late quaking heart is filled! And how strange the next morning is the silence of the desert air, which awakens her with a start and a thrill! But her dream is interrupted by the hungry yet joyous cries of the household for breakfast; and in half an hour the young girl of Ossau is converted into the thrifty, thoughtful, methodical, hard-working matron of Goust.

This incident is fertile in consequences; for the union of the two families does not end here. The adventu- rous brother of the bride follows her steps, both in af- tection and curiosity, to see what strange abiding-place the soaring fancy of his sister has chosen. Among the curiosities of the place, his eve rests upon a rich warm vaeek and flashing eye, which has the same effect upon jain—-for love deligiits in contrasts—which the pale and pensive face of the girl of the valley produced upon the heart of the mountaineer. ‘The one damsel descends as willingly as the other climbed; and by and by the daughter of Goust becomes the wife of Ossau. Thus are knit together by kindred sympathies the two ex- iremes of the region, and sweet thoughts and joving memories fly backwards and forwards, like doves, be-

tween heaven and earth. ‘Thus, too, the principle of| H

population is regulated, and human ebb and flow goes tar towards keeping the numbers of the oagis at an ave- rare which has remained steady for ages.

Jsut when this equilibrium is interrupted by circum- stances—when, for instance, there came some addition- a! mouths, which threatea, whenthey grow larger, to stint the commons of the hamlet--then appears the wis- dom of tne government of Goust. A boy, perhaps two or three, if it be necessary, are equipped, and sent forth to push their fortune in the valley. And these are no loss to the hamlet: they form its advanced guards, and become points Cuppur of its traffic. ‘They are not ex- ilies, butagents. ‘They are true Colonists, linked tothe mother-land by love amd reverence, and a constant in-

terchange of good offices. In the greater social aggre-

gations the same necessity is felt, and the same means ‘of rehef is at hand; but, less clear-sighted than the centenarians of Goust, or else bewildered by the com- plications of a numerous society, such communities lose tine in arguing and temporising, tll the evil becomes iitolerable, and the whole fabric of the staté is shaken —perhaps shattered, ‘The mouths continue to increase, while the produce remains stationary. Envy, hate, crime, take the place of love, innocence, and peace.— The food is ravished which can no longer be earned ; and the public misery at length revenges itself upon a government whose worst crimes were indecision and imbecility.

But although our hamlet escapes some of the evils, it yet misses, we must own, some of the advantages of a society in a more complicated state. In it individuals are nothing, and the mass everything. ‘There is no op- portunity for the innovations of genius, no field for ex- periment and improvement. The whole body potitic must advance at once, or all remain stationary. Origi- nality is reckoned madness; novelty isa crime—an insult. Agriculture and implements, manners and knowledge, are at this day what they were in the time of Henri Quatre; and long before then, the enduring stereotype had been cast. The stream of the world rolls by several thousand feet beneath, washing the base of that eternal rock, but unable to reach the summit with its voice or its spray.

Goust, we have said, is a democracy; and it is so in the strictest sense of the word. Distinctions of rank are unknown, andthe only existing superiority is that ofage. Asa man inthe progress of years becomes callous to the ordinary enjoyments of life, there open out to him new vistas of power and utility. Seated be- fore their cottage doore, wrapped in the twilight radi- ance of the setting sun, the cecemvirs of the hamlet re- ceive the homage of their descendants. Their deci- sions, however, are not despotic, but constitutional ; for the government is traditional, and the qualifications of a functionary are nothing more than years and memory. Property remains to this day on its original basis. No family has an inch more land than its neighbours. There being no inferiority of wealth, there 1s no pride of purse; and where the condition of all is known to all, there can be no pretension, no osteutation, no hypocri- sy. It would seem, indeed, that there is an equality even in the intellect of the inhabitants, the means of its cultivation being so humble and so uniform; and thus the hamlet of Goust presents an almost absolute equili-

Mutaal [nsuranee.--Notice, | ER Majesty the Queen having been pleased to give the Royal allowance to the act passed at last Session of the Legislature entitled An Act to Incorporate} “ Mutual Fire Insurance Company—Notce is hereby given, that in pursuance of the Eleventh Section thereof, a menibers’ Book will be opened at noon on Monday the Second day of October next, at the Office of the Hon. Charles Young, where. the Subscribers, or any three of them, shall receive and take the amount of property ix- tended to be Insured by such person or persons as te become Members of the said Company, and also the sum of Fifteen Shillings as a Deposit from each person which Deposit shall be allowed in part payment ef the first premium of Insurance, and shall be forfeited if the person shall neglect or refuse to take out a Policy with- in six Months thereafter. DANIEL BRENAN, CHARLES YOUNG, THOMAS PETHICK, DENNIS REDDIN, Sept. 18, 1848 HENRY PALMER.

The Tenants and Settlers on Lots or Town ships Nos. 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 and 66, the Property of Charles Worrell, Esquire—

ARE hereby called upon to make immediate

payment of all sums of Money due to that Gentleman upos any account whatsoever. Payment to be made in Money, or in Wheat, Oats, Barley, Flour, Oatmeal, Potatoes, Pork, Cattle or Sheep, atthe current prices, to Mr. Watson, at Morell House, or to the undersigned. All Accounts remaining unset tled on the Ist of January next, will, without further notice, be placed in the hands of an Attorney for collection.

THEOPHILUS DESBRISAY.

Charlottetown, October, 9th 1848.

ON SALE, by Captain Swabey.

[UPLAND HAY, STRAW and Marsh Hay,

SEED OATS, ape agg perng 50 bushels peracre. Alse ell Inquire of Mr. James N. Harris, Charlottetown. Sept 20.

Axes! Axes! Axes Warranted.

‘(HE Subscriber is prepared to furnish the public with Broad and Narrow AXES, and Edge Tools of all deseriptions, of a superior quality, and at reduced prices. Ship Yards supplied at a liberal discount.

jy” Call and examine, at the Shop, Head of the

brium, individual, social, and territorial, and may be

° : i looked upon as an expression of the democratic state 1n its simplest and purest form. Such as it is, it might form

« useful study, both ag regards its advantages and dis- advantages, for the statesmen of late days, if they could only raise their eyes high enough from the crowé that is rushing and struggling on the surface of the earth.

We have only to add, thet this hamlet is one of seve- ral perched on the pinnacles of the Pyrenees, and almost forgotten by the parent state to which they belong.— Escaping interference through their poverty, insignifi- cance, and remoteness, they have grown up into self- supporting communities, and preserved a traditional independence in the midst of the political changes which have convulsed the rest of the country.

_ = ao _ ———

PRICES CURRENT,

JANUARY 6, 1849.

PROVISIONS Coal, Pictou, chald.|none Flour, Am superfine |50s rlack do {18s a 19s seconds Wood per cord 10s 12s 6 P if per tb.|24d a24d SUNDRIS. Kye per barrel Tea, Bohea per chest) Is a Is6d Corn Meal per barrel perib {2s per Ib l4d Congo per chest) 2s 4d Oatmeal per lb jlada 14d per lb = {3s 6d Beef, small pieces lb 3d a 44d |\Coffee P Rico, cwt 84s per quarter |2da 4d per lbiIs per barrel 47s 6d St Domingo,cwt!|80s Mutton per Ib 24d ad per Ib| 11d Veal do 24d a dd [Sugar per cwt/44s a 46s Pork per barrel 60s per Ib|6d per carcass (24d a 34d Refined do |9d Butter, fresh, per Ib) 10d a 1s |Molasses, per gal. Is 7d tub, do 8d a 10d !Raisins, per box lds Cheese, P EIsland tb}4d a 7d |Tobacco, Fig. P E L.jlsa bsld American [%da 10d Cavendish, Am.|9d Ezgs per doz 191 Is | Soap, per box 43d Is

Potatoes per bushel | Is4 a 1s6)/Candles, mould P ET.

‘Turnips 10d Is 2 dip, PEL. {10d Tallow per Ib\3d a 10d mould, Am./10d Lard do ibd a 8d_ dip Am. Od Pearl Barley do |2d )Brandy (Martel s) gal} 1286 alds am do ‘5d Wine, Port do/14s a 16s Rice do |4d Sherry do! ts ao per cwt 25s Gin (Hollands) do |736d a9s6 Turkeys each|2ssda 4s6| Rum, Demerara, high Geese do |Ils 3da2s proof, per gal.|8s a Ss3d Fowls do \7d a 10d Jamaica, high|

Codtish per quintal {Ilsa TJs! proof, per gal)8s 6d Salmon each iBoards, Pine 100 {t./5s a 6s

Herrings per barrel|20s 28 j Spruce do (2s 6d ade Mackerel do | | Hemlockdo 285d a 3s GRAIN. } iShingles i63 a 10s Oats per bushel! IsGdal 9) EXCHANGE. Barley do: }%s Gda3s'On London 60 days = |324 pr.ct W heat ea 30days {35 do melletans On Halifax 6U days {20 do Hay, per toa 10s a 50s/ Sovereigns 308 a Deubloous Jos Coal Syduey, chald.'378 6d (|Dollare ug 2 O53

Queen’s W harf—West. ARTEMAS DAVISON.

Decr. 25. ACARD. Me. WEATHERBE, of Saint Eleanor’s,

takes this method to inform these indebted to him, throughout Prince Kdward Isiand, without distinction of per- sons, that he requests them to come forward and pay their re- anective debts, as he is in want of the same ; otherwise their Notes, Bills of Sale, Bonds, &c. &c., will be placed in the hands of his Attorney, without delay. By calling on business at hic house they will meet a qualified person to attend to them. St. Eleanor’s, Oct. 30. bw.

Light House at Cascumpee.

Notice to Mariners.

‘THE Subscriber notifies that the Light House erected by him at the entrance of Cascumpeque Harbour, bearing W. by N. half N. of the channel, will be lighted witha red light on and after the first of June next, 1849. It is GO feet fromthe levei of the sea. JOHN Le COST.

Cascumpeque, Sept. 15, 1848. To be let, A large SHOP ina convenient and public

part of the Town. Rent low. Enquire at the Office et December 18.

this Paper. Farm for sale

HE LEASE and IMPROVEMENTS of the Farm

now in possession of William Kendal, within five miles of Charlottetown, on Brackley Point Road, con- taining 175 acres of first rate LAND, nearly 100 acres of which are clear and ina high state of cultivation, with suitable Buildings thereon. For particulare en- quire on the premises,

Brackley Point Road, August 14.

Summer-side Hetel.

MHE Subscriber begs to inform Travellere,

and the Public generally that he has recently opened a House of Entertaiument at the Wharf, Green’s Shore, Be- deque. ‘I'he House is spacious and well adapted for the par- pose. He therefore hopes to give satisfaction, and meriia

share of public patronage. WILLIAM J. TAYLOR

Removal. PHOMAS DENNIS, Tinsmrrn, begs res-

pectfully to announce to the public that he has removed his establishment to his new and commodious building en the corner of Printe and Gratton Streets, where he will be happy to receive the orders of his friends and patrons; and hopes, by pu..ctuality, low prices, and good Workmanship, to ments continuance of tie patronage with which be has beeu ae hinwy favoured since his commencement Iu business.

eal kinds of TIN WARE constantly on hand. N. B—An scarst DOY, of industrious and suber babi Waited a5 AbaAyy cen to the above business.