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Page iii
To my wife,
CULTURE, 2nd ed. (2014) (Lisa Gezon and Conrad Phillip Kottak)
GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
Page vi
Contents
Anthropology Today Boxes
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter 1
What Is Anthropology?
The Cross-Cultural Perspective
Human Adaptability
Adaptation, Variation, and Change
Cultural Forces Shape Human Biology
General Anthropology
The Subdisciplines of Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology
Anthropological Archaeology
Biological Anthropology
Linguistic Anthropology
Applied Anthropology
Anthropology and Other Academic Fields
A Humanistic Science
Cultural Anthropology and Sociology
Anthropology Today: Words of the Year
Summary
Chapter 2
Culture
What Is Culture?
Culture Is Learned
Culture Is Symbolic
Culture Is Shared
Culture and Nature
Culture Is All-Encompassing and Integrated
Culture Is Instrumental, Adaptive, and
Maladaptive
Culture’s Evolutionary Basis
What We Share with Other Primates
How We Differ from Other Primates
Universality, Generality, and Particularity
Universals and Generalities
Particularity: Patterns of Culture
Culture and the Individual
Ethnocentrism, Cultural Relativism, and Human
Rights
Mechanisms of Cultural Change
Globalization
Anthropology Today: Preserving Cultural Heritage
Summary
Chapter 3
Doing Anthropology
What Do Anthropologists Do?
Research Methods in Archaeology and Biological
Anthropology
Multidisciplinary Approaches
Studying the Past
Survey and Excavation
Kinds of Archaeology
Dating the Past
Relative Dating
Absolute Dating
Molecular Anthropology
Kinds of Biological Anthropology
Bone Biology
Anthropometry
Primatology
Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology
Ethnography: Anthropology’s Distinctive Strategy
Observation and Participant Observation
Conversation, Interviewing, and Interview
Schedules
The Genealogical Method
Page vii
Chapter 4
Evolution, Genetics, and Human Variation
Evolution
Natural History Before Darwin
Evolution: Theory and Fact
Genetics
Mendel’s Experiments
Independent Assortment
Population Genetics and Mechanisms of Genetic
Evolution
Natural Selection
Mutation
Random Genetic Drift
Gene Flow
Race: A Discredited Concept in Biology
Races Are Not Biologically Distinct
Genetic Markers Don’t Correlate with Phenotype
Human Biological Adaptation
Explaining Skin Color
Genes and Disease
Lactose Tolerance
Anthropology Today: How Seriously Should We Take
Commercial DNA-Testing Sites?
Summary
Chapter 5
The Primates
Our Place among Primates
Apes Are Our Closest Relatives
Zoological Taxonomy
Homologies and Analogies
Primate Adaptations
The Primate Suborders
Monkeys
New World Monkeys
Old World Monkeys
Apes
Gibbons
Orangutans
Gorillas
Chimpanzees
Bonobos
Endangered Primates
Primate Evolution
Chronology
Early Primates
Early Cenozoic Primates
Oligocene Proto-Monkeys
Miocene Hominoids: The Proto-Apes
Planet of the Proto-Apes
An Evolutionary Timetable
Anthropology Today: Should Apes Have Human
Rights?
Summary
Chapter 6
Early Hominins
What Makes Us Human?
Bipedalism
Brains, Skulls, and Childhood Dependency
Tools
Teeth
Chronology of Hominin Evolution
Who Were the Earliest Hominins?
Sahelanthropus tchadensis
Orrorin tugenensis
Ardipithecus
Page viii
Chapter 7
The Genus Homo
Early Homo
Recent Discoveries
H. rudolfensis
H. habilis and H. erectus
Sister Species
Hunting, Tools, and Teeth
Out of Africa I: H. erectus
Acheulean Tools
Adaptive Strategies of H. erectus
The Evolution and Expansion of H. erectus
Middle Pleistocene Hominins
Ice Ages of the Pleistocene
H. heidelbergensis
The Neandertals
Cold-Adapted Neandertals
The Neandertals and Modern People
The Denisovans
Neandertals, Denisovans, and Anatomically Modern
Humans
Asian Island Anomalies
Homo floresiensis
Homo luzonensis
Modern Humans
Out of Africa: AMH Edition
“Mitochondrial Eve” and the Spread of AMHs
Late Wave AMHs on the Move
The Advent of Behavioral Modernity
Advances in Technology
Glacial Retreat
Settling New Continents
Beringia and Beyond: Genetic Evidence
Archaeological Evidence
Anthropology Today: The Rising Stars of a South
African Cave
Summary
Chapter 8
The First Farmers
Broad-Spectrum Economies
The Mesolithic in Europe
Early Pottery and Vessels
The Neolithic
The First Farmers and Herders in the Middle East
The Environmental Setting: A Vertical Economy
Steps Toward Food Production
Genetic Changes and Domestication
The Origin of Private Property
Food Production and the State
Other Old World Farmers
The Neolithic in Africa
The Neolithic in Europe
The Neolithic in Asia
The First American Farmers
Key Aspects of Food Production in the Americas
The Tropical Origins of New World
Domestication
Explaining the Neolithic
Costs and Benefits
American First?
Anthropology Today: Dietary Diversity and Climate
Change
Summary
Chapter 9
The First Cities and States
State Formation
Regulation of Hydraulic Economies
Page ix
Regional Trade
Population, War, and Circumscription
Attributes of States
State Formation in the Middle East
Urban Life
An Early Ritual Center
The Halafian and Ubaid Periods
Social Ranking and Chiefdoms
The Rise of the State
Other Early States
State Formation in Mesoamerica
Early Chiefdoms and Elites
Warfare and State Formation: The Zapotec
Case
States in the Valley of Mexico
Why States Collapse
The Maya and Their Fall
The Fantastic Claims of Pseudo-Archaeology
Anthropology Today: The Inka Khipu System
Summary
Chapter 10
Language and Communication
Language
Nonhuman Primate Communication
Call Systems
Sign Language
The Origin of Language
Nonverbal Communication
Kinesics
Personal Space and Displays of Affection
The Structure of Language
Language, Thought, and Culture
The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Focal Vocabulary
Sociolinguistics
Linguistic Diversity Within Nations
Gender Speech Contrasts
Stratification and Symbolic Domination
African American Vernacular English (AAVE)
Historical Linguistics
Language, Culture, and History
Language Loss
Anthropology Today: Naming a Pandemic: Do
Geographic Names Stigmatize?
Summary
Chapter 11
Making a Living
Adaptive Strategies
Foraging
Geographic Distribution of Foragers
Correlates of Foraging
Adaptive Strategies Based on Food Production
Horticulture
Agriculture
The Cultivation Continuum
Agricultural Intensification: People and the
Environment
Pastoralism
Economic Systems
Organization of Production in Nonindustrial
Societies
Means of Production
Alienation in Industrial Economies
Economizing and Maximization
Alternative Ends
Distribution and Exchange
The Market Principle
Redistribution
Reciprocity
Coexistence of Exchange Principles
Potlatching
Anthropology Today: To Give Is Good–Reciprocity
and Human Survival
Summary
Chapter 12
Political Systems
What Is “The Political”?
Types and Trends
Bands and Tribes
Page x
Foraging Bands
Tribal Cultivators
The Village Head
The “Big Man”
Pantribal Sodalities
Nomadic Politics
Chiefdoms
Political and Economic Systems
Status Systems
The Emergence of Stratification
State Systems
Population Control
Judiciary
Enforcement
Fiscal Support
Social Control
Hegemony and Resistance
Weapons of the Weak
Shame and Gossip
The Igbo Women’s War
Anthropology Today: Political Action to Protect the
Sentient Forest
Summary
Chapter 13
Families, Kinship, and Marriage
How Anthropologists View Families and Kinship
Families
Nuclear and Extended Families
Industrialism and Family Organization
Changes in North American Kinship
It’s All Relative
The Family among Foragers
Descent
Attributes of Descent Groups
Lineages, Clans, and Residence Rules
Defining Marriage
Exogamy and Incest
Incest and Its Avoidance
The Occurrence of Incest
Incest Avoidance
Endogamy
Same-Sex Marriage
Romantic Love and Marriage
Marriage: A Group Affair
Gifts at Marriage
Durable Alliances
Divorce
Plural Marriages
Polygyny
Polyandry
The Online Marriage Market
Anthropology Today: What Anthropologists Could
Teach the Supreme Court about the Definition of
Marriage
Summary
Chapter 14
Gender
Sex and Gender
Recurrent Gender Patterns
Gender Roles and Gender Stratification
Reduced Gender Stratification: Matrilineal-
Matrilocal Societies
Matriarchy
Increased Gender Stratification: Patrilineal-
Patrilocal Societies
Patriarchy and Violence
Gender in Industrial Societies
Changes in Gendered Work
Work and Family: Reality and Stereotypes
The Feminization of Poverty
Beyond Male and Female
Sexual Orientation
Anthropology Today: Patriarchy Today: Case Studies
in Fundamentalist Communities
Summary
Page xi
Chapter 15
Religion
What Is Religion?
Expressions of Religion
Spiritual Beings
Powers and Forces
Magic and Religion
Uncertainty, Anxiety, Solace
Rituals
Rites of Passage
Totemism
Social Control
Kinds of Religion
Protestant Values and Capitalism
World Religions
Religion and Change
Revitalization Movements and Cargo Cults
Religious Changes in the United States
New and Alternative Religious Movements
Religion and Cultural Globalization
Evangelical Protestantism and Pentecostalism
Homogenization, Indigenization, or
Hybridization?
The Spread of Islam
Antimodernism and Fundamentalism
Recent Religious Radicalization
Secular Rituals
Anthropology Today: Rituals in a Pandemic's
Shadow
Summary
Chapter 16
Ethnicity and Race
Ethnic Groups and Ethnicity
Status and Identity
American Ethnic Groups
Minority Groups and Stratification
Race and Ethnicity
The Social Construction of Race
Hypodescent: Race in the United States
Race in the Census
Not Us: Race in Japan
Phenotype and Fluidity: Race in Brazil
Ethnic Groups, Nations, and Nationalities
Ethnic Diversity by Region
Nationalities Without Nations
Ethnic Tolerance and Accommodation
Assimilation
The Plural Society
Multiculturalism
The Backlash to Multiculturalism
Changing Demographics in the United States
The Gray and the Brown
The Gray Need the Brown
Ethnic Conflict
Sectarian Violence
Prejudice and Discrimination
Black Lives Matter
Anti-Asian Hate Crimes During the COVID-19
Outbreak
Ethnic Erasure
Anthropology Today: Why Are the Greens So White?
Race and Ethnicity in Golf
Summary
Chapter 17
Applying Anthropology
What Is Applied Anthropology?
The Role of the Applied Anthropologist
Early Applications
Academic and Applied Anthropology
Applied Anthropology Today
Development Anthropology
Equity
Negative Equity Impact
Strategies for Innovation
Overinnovation
Indigenous Models
Anthropology and Education
Urban Anthropology
Medical Anthropology
Disease Theory Systems
Page xii
Chapter 18
The World System, Colonialism, and Inequality
The World System
World-System Theory
The Emergence of the World System
Industrialization
Causes of the Industrial Revolution
Socioeconomic Changes Associated with the
Industrial Revolution
Industrial Stratification
The Persistence of Inequality
Wealth Distribution in the United States
Risky Living on the American Periphery
Colonialism and Imperialism
The First Phase of European Colonialism: Spain
and Portugal
Commercial Expansion and European
Imperialism
The British Colonial Empire
French Colonialism
Colonialism and Identity
Postcolonial Studies
Development
Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism and NAFTA’s Economic Refugees
Communism, Socialism, and Postsocialism
Communism
Postsocialist Transitions
The World System Today
Anthropology Today: When the Mills Shut Down: An
Anthropologist Looks at Deindustrialization
Summary
Chapter 19
Anthropology’s Role in a Globalizing World
Globalization and Global Issues
Energy Consumption and Industrial Degradation
Global Climate Change
Climate Change and Global Warming
Environmental Anthropology
Global Assaults on Local Autonomy
Deforestation
Emerging Diseases
Interethnic Contact
Cultural Imperialism and Indigenization
A Global System of Images
A Global Culture of Consumption
People in Motion
Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous Empowerment
Autochthony and Essentialism
Anthropology’s Lessons
Anthropology Today: Diversity under Siege: Global
Forces and Indigenous Peoples
Summary
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
Page xiii
Anthropology Today Boxes
Words of the Year
Preserving Cultural Heritage
A Workshop in Genomics for Indigenous Peoples
How Seriously Should We Take Commercial DNA-
Testing Sites?
Should Apes Have Human Rights?
3-D Bone Scans Suggest Lucy’s Climbing Ability and
Cause of Death
The Rising Stars of a South African Cave
Dietary Diversity and Climate Change
The Inka Khipu System
Naming a Pandemic: Do Geographic Names
Stigmatize?
To Give Is Good—Reciprocity and Human Survival
Political Action to Protect the Sentient Forest
What Anthropologists Could Teach the Supreme
Court about the Definition of Marriage
Patriarchy Today: Case Studies in Fundamentalist
Communities
Rituals in a Pandemic’s Shadow
Why Are the Greens So White? Race and Ethnicity in
Golf
Culturally Appropriate Marketing
When the Mills Shut Down: An Anthropologist Looks
at Deindustrialization
Diversity under Siege: Global Forces and Indigenous
Peoples
Page xiv
Preface
Window on Humanity is intended to provide a concise, readable
introduction to general (four-field) anthropology. Its shorter length
increases the instructor’s options for assigning additional reading—
case studies, readers, and other supplements—in a semester course.
Window also can work well in a quarter system, for which traditional
texts may be too long.
Just as anthropology is a dynamic discipline that encourages new
discoveries and explores the profound changes now affecting people
and societies, this edition of Window on Humanity makes a concerted
effort to keep pace with changes in the way students read and learn
core content today. Our digital program, Connect Anthropology,
includes assignable and assessable quizzes, exercises, and
interactive activities, organized around course-specific learning
objectives. Connect also includes SmartBook, the adaptive reading
experience. The tools and resources provided in Connect
Anthropology are designed to engage students and enable them to
improve their performance in the course. This 10th edition benefited
from feedback from more than 2,000 students who worked with these
tools and programs while using previous editions of Window or one of
my other recent texts. We were able to respond to specific areas of
difficulty that students encountered, chapter by chapter. I used this
extensive feedback to revise, rethink, and clarify my writing in almost
every chapter. In preparing this edition, I benefited from both
students’ and professors’ reactions to my book.
As I work on each new edition, it becomes ever more apparent to
me that while any competent and useful text must present
anthropology’s core, that text also must demonstrate anthropology’s
relevance to the twenty-first-century world we inhabit. Accordingly,
each new edition contains content changes as well as specific
features relevant to our changing world. One of my primary goals is to
help students make connections between what they read and their
own lives. Accordingly, the “Anthropology Today” boxes placed near
the end of each chapter examine recent developments in
anthropology as well as contemporary topics and issues related to
anthropology’s subject matter. Almost half (8 of 19) of these
"Anthropology Today" boxes are new to this edition. Each chapter
also contains a feature that I call “Think Like an Anthropologist,”
which attempts to get students to do just that—to apply their critical
thinking skills as an anthropologist might.
I realize that most students who read this book will not go on to
become anthropologists, or even anthropology majors. For those who
do, this book should provide a solid foundation to build on. For those
who don’t—that is, for most of my readers—my goal is to instill a
sense of understanding and appreciation of human diversity and of
anthropology as a field. May this course and this text help students
think differently about, and achieve greater understanding of, their
own culture and its place within our globalizing world.
Page xv
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Chapter II.
At that time horses were used as a mode of conveyance so much
more than carriages, that almost every gentlewoman had her own
steed, and Miss Cochrane, being a skilful rider, was possessed of a
well-managed palfrey, on whose speed and other qualities she had
been accustomed to depend. On the morning after she had bid her
father farewell, long ere the inhabitants of Edinburgh were astir, she
found herself many miles on the road to the Borders. She had taken
care to attire herself in a manner which corresponded with the
design of passing herself off for a young serving-woman journeying
on a borrowed horse to the house of her mother in a distant part of
the country; and by only resting at solitary cottages, where she
generally found the family out at work, save perhaps an old woman
or some children, she had the good fortune, on the second day after
leaving Edinburgh, to reach in safety the abode of her old nurse, who
lived on the English side of the Tweed, four miles beyond the town of
Berwick. In this woman she knew she could place implicit
confidence, and to her, therefore, revealed her secret. She was
resolved, she said, to make an attempt to save her father’s life, by
stopping the postman, an equestrian like herself, and forcing him to
deliver up his bags, in which she expected to find the fatal warrant.
Singular as such a determination may appear in a delicate young
woman, especially if we consider that she was aware of the arms
always carried by the man to whose charge the mail was committed,
it is nevertheless an undoubted fact that such was her resolve. In
pursuance of this design, she had brought with her a brace of small
pistols, together with a horseman’s cloak tied up in a bundle, and
hung on the crutch of her saddle; and now borrowed from her nurse
the attire of her foster-brother, which, as he was a slight-made lad,
fitted her reasonably well.
At that period, all those appliances which at this day accelerate the
progress of the traveller were unknown, and the mail from London,
which now arrives in about ten hours, took eight days in reaching the
Scottish capital. Miss Cochrane thus calculated on a delay of sixteen
or seventeen days in the execution of her father’s sentence—a space
of time which she deemed amply sufficient to give a fair trial to the
treaty set on foot for his liberation. She had, by means which it is
unnecessary here to detail, possessed herself of the most minute
information with regard to the places at which the postmen rested on
their journey, one of which was a small public-house, kept by a
widow woman, on the outskirts of the little town of Belford. There
the man who received the bag at Durham was accustomed to arrive
about six o’clock in the morning, and take a few hours’ repose before
proceeding farther on his journey.[19] In pursuance of the plan laid
down by Miss Cochrane, she arrived at this inn about an hour after
the man had composed himself to sleep, in the hope of being able, by
the exercise of her wit and dexterity, to ease him of his charge.
19. Lest it should appear at issue with probability that the postman should
thus “take his ease at his inn,” it may be mentioned, as a fact defying all question,
that this official, at a period much later, used sometimes to dismount on a muir,
near the place here mentioned, and partake of a game at quoits, or other sports
which might be proceeding by the wayside.
Having put her horse into the stable, which was a duty that
devolved on the guests at this little change-house, from its mistress
having no ostler, she entered the only apartment which the house
afforded, and demanded refreshment.
“Sit down at the end of that table,” said the old woman, “for the
best I have to give you is there already; and be pleased, my bonnie
man, to make as little noise as ye can, for there’s ane asleep in that
bed that I like ill to disturb.”
Miss Cochrane promised fairly; and after attempting to eat some of
the viands, which were the remains of the sleeping man’s meal, she
asked for some cold water.
“What!” said the old dame, as she handed it to her; “ye are a water-
drinker, are ye? It’s but an ill custom for a change-house.”
“I am aware of that,” replied her guest; “and therefore, when in a
public-house, I always pay for it the price of the stronger potation,
which I cannot take.”
“Indeed!—well, that is but just,” said the landlady; “and I think the
more of you for such reasonable conduct.”
“Is the well where you get this water near at hand?” said the young
lady; “for if you will take the trouble to bring me some from it, as this
is rather warm, it shall be considered in the lawing.”
“It is a good bit off,” responded the landlady; “but I cannot refuse
to fetch some for such a civil, discreet lad, and will be as quick as I
can; but, for any sake, take care and don’t meddle with these pistols,”
she continued, pointing to a pair of pistols on the table, “for they are
loaded, and I am always terrified for them.”
Saying this, she disappeared; and Miss Cochrane, who would have
contrived some other errand for her, had the well been near, no
sooner saw the door shut, than she passed, with trembling eagerness,
and a cautious but rapid step, to the place where the man lay soundly
sleeping, in one of those close wooden bedsteads common in the
houses of the poor, the door of which was left half open to admit the
air, and which she opened still wider, in the hope of seeing the mail-
bag, and being able to seize upon it. But what was her dismay when
she beheld only a part of the integument which contained what she
would have sacrificed her life a thousand times to obtain, just
peeping out from below the shaggy head and brawny shoulders of its
keeper, who lay in such a position upon it as to give not the smallest
hope of its extraction without his being aroused from his nap.
A few bitter moments of observation served to convince her that
possession of this treasure must be obtained in some other way; and,
again closing the door of the bed, she approached the pistols, and
having taken them from the holsters, she as quickly as possible drew
the loading, which having secreted, she then returned them to their
cases, and resumed her seat at the foot of the table. She had barely
time to recover from the agitation into which the fear of the man’s
awakening during her recent occupation had thrown her, when the
old woman returned with the water; and having taken a draught, of
which she stood much in need, she settled her account much to her
landlady’s content, by paying for the water the price of a pot of beer.
Having then carelessly asked and ascertained how much longer the
other guest was likely to continue his sleep, she left the house, and
mounting her horse, set off at a trot, in a different direction from that
in which she had arrived.
Making a compass of two or three miles, she once more fell into
the high road between Belford and Berwick, where she walked her
horse gently on, awaiting the coming up of the postman. Though all
her faculties were now absorbed in one aim, and the thought of her
father’s deliverance still reigned supreme in her mind, yet she could
not help occasionally figuring to herself the possibility of her
tampering with the pistols being discovered, and their loading
replaced, in which case it was more than likely that her life would be
the forfeit of the act she meditated. A woman’s fears would still
intrude, notwithstanding all her heroism, and the glorious issue
which promised to attend the success of her enterprise. When she at
length saw and heard the postman advancing behind her, the strong
necessity of the case gave her renewed courage; and it was with
perfect coolness that, on his coming close up, she civilly saluted him,
put her horse into the same pace with his, and rode on for some way
in his company. He was a strong, thick-set fellow, with a good-
humoured countenance, which did not seem to Miss Cochrane, as
she looked anxiously upon it, to savour much of hardy daring. He
rode with the mail-bags (for there were two—one containing the
letters direct from London, and the other those taken up at the
different post-offices on the road) strapped firmly to his saddle in
front, close to the holsters. After riding a short distance together,
Miss Cochrane deemed it time, as they were nearly half-way between
Belford and Berwick, to commence her operations. She therefore
rode nearly close to her companion, and said, in a tone of
determination,—
“Friend, I have taken a fancy for those mail-bags of yours, and I
must have them; therefore, take my advice, and deliver them up
quietly, for I am provided for all hazards. I am mounted, as you see,
on a fleet steed; I carry firearms; and, moreover, am allied with those
who are stronger, though not bolder than myself. You see yonder
wood,” she continued, pointing to one at the distance of about a mile,
with an accent and air which was meant to carry intimidation with it;
“again, I say, take my advice; give me the bags, and speed back the
road you came for the present, nor dare to approach that wood for at
least two or three hours to come.”
There was in such language from a stripling something so
surprising that the man looked on Miss Cochrane for an instant in
silent and unfeigned amazement.
“If you mean, my young master,” said he, as soon as he found his
tongue, “to make yourself merry at my expense, you are welcome. I
am no sour churl to take offence at the idle words of a foolish boy.
But if,” he said, taking one of the pistols from the holster, and
turning its muzzle towards her, “ye are mad enough to harbour one
serious thought of such a matter, I am ready for you. But, methinks,
my lad, you seem at an age when robbing a garden or an old woman’s
fruit-stall would befit you better, if you must turn thief, than taking
his Majesty’s mails upon his own highway, from such a stout man as
I am. Be thankful, however, that you have met with one who will not
shed blood if he can help it, and sheer off before you provoke me to
fire.”
“Nay,” said his young antagonist, “I am not fonder of bloodshed
than you are; but if you will not be persuaded, what can I do? for I
have told you a truth, that mail I must and will have. So now
choose,” she continued, as she drew one of the small pistols from
under her cloak, and deliberately cocking it, presented it in his face.
“Then your blood be upon your own head,” said the fellow, as he
raised his hand, and fired his pistol, which, however, only flashed in
the pan. Dashing this weapon to the ground, he lost not a moment in
pulling out the other, which he also aimed at his assailant, and fired
with the same result. In a transport of rage and disappointment, the
man sprung from his horse, and made an attempt to seize her; but by
an adroit use of her spurs she eluded his grasp, and placed herself
out of his reach. Meanwhile his horse had moved forward some
yards, and to see and seize the advantage presented by this
circumstance was one and the same to the heroic girl, who, darting
towards it, caught the bridle, and having led her prize off about a
hundred yards, stopped while she called to the thunderstruck
postman to remind him of her advice about the wood. She then put
both horses to their speed, and on turning to look at the man she had
robbed, had the pleasure of perceiving that her mysterious threat
had taken effect, and he was now pursuing his way back to Belford.
Miss Cochrane speedily entered the wood to which she had
alluded, and tying the strange horse to a tree, out of all observation
from the road, proceeded to unfasten the straps of the mail. By
means of a sharp penknife, which set at defiance the appended locks,
she was soon mistress of the contents, and with an eager hand broke
open the Government dispatches, which were unerringly pointed out
to her by their address to the council in Edinburgh, and their
imposing weight and broad seals of office. Here she found not only
the warrant for her father’s death, but also many other sentences
inflicting different degrees of punishment on various delinquents.
These, however, it may be readily supposed, she did not then stop to
examine; she contented herself with tearing them into small
fragments, and placing them carefully in her bosom.
The intrepid girl now mounted her steed, and rode off, leaving all
the private papers as she had found them, imagining—what
eventually proved the case—that they would be discovered ere long,
from the hints she had thrown out about the wood, and thus reach
their proper places of destination. She now made all haste to reach
the cottage of her nurse, where, having not only committed to the
flames the fragments of the dreaded warrant, but also the other
obnoxious papers, she quickly resumed her female garments, and
was again, after this manly and daring action, the simple and
unassuming Miss Grizel Cochrane. Leaving the cloak and pistols
behind her, to be concealed by her nurse, she again mounted her
horse, and directed her flight towards Edinburgh, and by avoiding as
much as possible the high road, and resting at sequestered cottages,
as she had done before (and that only twice for a couple of hours
each time), she reached town early in the morning of the next day.
It must now suffice to say that the time gained by the heroic act
above related was productive of the end for which it was undertaken,
and that Sir John Cochrane was pardoned, at the instigation of the
king’s favourite counsellor, who interceded for him in consequence
of receiving a bribe of five thousand pounds from the Earl of
Dundonald. Of the feelings which on this occasion filled the heart of
his courageous and devoted daughter, we cannot speak in adequate
terms; and it is perhaps best at any rate to leave them to the
imagination of the reader. The state of the times was not such for
several years as to make it prudent that her adventure should be
publicly known; but after the Revolution, when the country was at
length relieved from persecution and danger, and every man was at
liberty to speak of the trials he had undergone, and the expedients by
which he had mastered them, her heroism was neither unknown nor
unapproved. Miss Cochrane afterwards married Mr Ker of Moriston,
in the county of Berwick; and there can be little doubt that she
proved equally affectionate and amiable as a wife, as she had already
been dutiful and devoted as a daughter.—Chambers’s Edinburgh
Journal.
THE FATAL PRAYER.
By William Bennet.