Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1893-07-13

"Why the accumulating inac
curacy Of books. Errors cree
into the works of noted authors
They then find their way into tn
encyclopedias and standard work
where they are perpetuated ant
quoted back at you by people wb'
read and have travelled in thei
Libraries, but no where else.
'How manyss Papuans are ther'
in New Guinea2' said a man tt
me the Other, day.
4 don't know
well, I do. There are oyel
$780, 600,
sHow do you know?' :
sRe took down his authority
But how do they arrive at thai
conclusion when New Guinea il
practically unexplored?'
4 don't know he said, but
there is the undisputed authority.
The authority knows nothing
about it, I ventured to add, and
continued New Guinea belongs to
che English, Germans, and Dutch.
The Germans have about traded
it to England or abandoned
their interests. The. island is 800
miles long by about 300 wide, and
no one has been across or through
it. A census enumerater wouldn't
get far before he'd be roasted for a
Xmas turkey. All these aborigines
censuses are taken in this way.
The population Of friendly tribes
are taking on known area of
country and then this is multi
Piled with the whole area which is
longitude distances Of marine sur
yeys. gl,l But all native. tribes live
near water-on the coasts and
rivers. Well, all early explora-
lions are confined to the coasts and
rivers, because navigation is easy,
and 1t is therefore safer. The estl-
mate of native population is,
therefore, based on the thickest
people'd part of the islands and on
the presumption that settlement
is uniform. There are not more
than 100 whites in British New
Guinea. German New Guinea has
less, and Dutch New Guinea, per-
haps, 300 white souls. This is one
instance of book error, and what
is true Of New Guinea is true OF
every practically unknown land.
know His Excellency, Sir VIII
liam MacGregor, Governor OF Brit
ish New Guinea, and, Mr.. A. Mus
grave, the Premier. They smile at
the statistics of the authority
The Encyclopedia Britannica says
sall is frozen into bricks in Ias'
mania and shipped to the other
Australian colonies But, to an
Englishman, this book and his
Bible are twins in his unshakable
faith"
s.And it is not true?"
aNo. Itis ridiculous on the face
of it. But there it is., The great
'pedia is full of them"
aYou surprise me-"
aIt used to surprise me a lot un'
til Il became used to it. I had 8
long siege of literary sea-sicknesl
by having my early school ape
book learning so unceremoniously
shaken up after having SO much o
It settled into bed rock of liter
ary faith"
Chow are we to do?"
$50 on believing the books unit
you or tile books learn better. II
know something is better than t.
know nothing, even if the some
thing you know doesn't exist. A.
that case you have some kind OF
storage of knowledge that destroy
the horrid vacuum ignoranc
creates,>you know natures feeling
on vacuums.
aWhy don't you give the worl
your valuable experience in som
books?"
81 have preferred to perfect m
information first, balance it, an
mature it afterwards before slip
ping. my head between book cover'
There are two sets of dangerou
writer's. One set have spring-boar
brains. A thought hardly jump
on The plate before it is jumpe
loft either into.a book, or a news
paper, or magazine. Its life d.
pends upon the temperature {
] that subject in the public mine