xchange one of his piles of beads or wire for
each coin. The men soon saw what was wanted, and thus learned the use of
money. Then Gordon put before them other things of greater value, and
told them how many coins he would take for each. When the men saw what
things were to be bought by saving up a few coins, they refused to buy
any more beads. 'No,' they said, 'we will keep the money till we get
more, and can buy more expensive things.'

BARNACLES AND GEESE.

Probably the readers of _Chatterbox_, when they have been along the
sea-shore as the tide was running out, have noticed a spar, or some
other fragment of wood, which the waves threw up, dotted over with a
number of odd-looking shells. This cluster was most likely made up of
barnacles, of some sort or other--in fact, a family party.

Some people think barnacles resemble crabs more than they do fishes;
they go through changes, and while young possess no shells. After they
have grown to be of some size, they leave the parent barnacles, and swim
off, to start colonies elsewhere. The larva has twelve legs or arms,
large compound eyes, and suckers enabling it to cling firmly. When of
full growth, the barnacle's grip is so strong that it is very difficult
to pull it from its hold. Some of the South American barnacles are
sought after as a delicacy, having the flavour of a nice crab. One kind
of barnacle is shaped rather like an acorn.

The soft part of the common species of barnacle, which occurs along our
coast, rather resembles a small bird, and hence arose a curious fancy or
fable, some centuries ago. It was believed by many persons whose common
sense might have taught them better, that the barnacle was transformed
into a bird by a sort of miracle, and the particulars were recorded
exactly. People said they had seen it themselves, and others declared
they had touched little birds which were found inside shells. Some
described larger ones, but, whether large or small, they called them all
barnacle geese, probably because they were plump, and tempting to eat,
if they could be caught at the proper time.

One of the strangest things in this old story about shells producing
geese was, that several writers described the shells as growing upon the
branches of live trees near water. This would be convenient for the
newly hatched geese, because when they were hatched, they could drop
into the water beneath, and swim about. A picture exists, drawn by an
old artist,