Part 14 (2/2)

Now that Gibson was dead I decided to move my home farther north, and eventually settled doith irl--had been born to oon) in a beautiful ion 200 or 300 miles to the north It was my intention only to have made a temporary stay here, but other ties cah to undertake any such formidable journey as I had in conte e children But I must relate here an incident that happened on our journey north Ya with excitee tracks, apparently of some enormous beast--a e

She took me to the spot and pointed out the mysterious tracks, which I saw at once were those of camels I do not knohy I decided to follow them, because they ht be able to pick up so on the tracks which would be of use to me At any rate, we did follow the tracks for several days--perhaps a fortnight--and found on the way many old meat-tins, which afterwards came in useful as water vessels One day, however, I pounced upon an illustrated newspaper--a copy of the Sydney _Town and Country Journal_, bearing some date, I think in 1875 or 1876 It was a complete copy with the outer cover I re--I believe at Para Lost Relative” column interested me most, for the very an to read this part with great eagerness I could read English fairly well by this tie, I read the paper aloud to her I cannot say she altogether understood what she heard, but she saw that I was intensely interested and delighted, and so she was quite content to stay there and listen You will observe that in all cases, the very fact that _I_ was pleased was enough for Yamba, who never once wavered in her fidelity and affection Altogether we spent so up these tracks, but, of course, never came up with the caravan of camels, which th appeared to be a good deal wearied atup the tracks in this way; but after all, was it nottime?--a mild sort of sensation which served to break the eternal monotony that sometimes threatened to crush me

How I treasured that soiled copy of the _Town and Country_--as it is familiarly called in Sydney! I read and re-read it, and then read it all over again until I think I could have repeated every line of it by heart, even to the advertise the latter, by the as one inserted apparently by an anxious -lost son; and this pathetic paragraph set ht, ”she at least has no need to advertise, and I have the satisfaction of knowing that she iven ht quite reconciled me to my exile In fact, I thanked Providence that ed as to leave not the slightest cause for doubt or hope on the part of any of ined that ain soonies of mental suspense and worry onto reach her But I knew quite well that she o resigned herself to the certainty of ht hich I perused my precious newspaper I showed the pictures in it to hted,--especially with the pictures of horses in the race at Paraet torn, and then I aroo hide Thus the whole of lo-French Testament, and the copy of the _Town and Country Journal_

But I have purposely kept until the end the ely-found periodical The very first eager and feverish reading gave me an extraordinary shock, which actually threatened my reason! In a pro passage: ”_The Deputies of Alsace and Lorraine have refused to vote in the Ger whatever of the sanguinary war of 1870, or of the alterations in the e filled etting more bewildered each time ”The Deputies of Alsace and Lorraine have refused to vote in the Gerood heavens!” I almost screamed toin the German Parliament at all?” I turned thethat I was getting worked up into a state of dangerous exciteht over the ain, and so utterly incoht I must be ly I ran back and picked the paper up a second tie In vain did I seek for any sane explanation, and at last I soot it into my head that the appearance of the printed characters must be due to a kind ofmad! Even Yamba could not sympathise with me, because the matter was one which I never could have e puzzle out ofpassage would ring in my ears until I nearly went crazy But I presently put the thing firmly from me, and resolved to think no eration to describe my mountain horasses and ferns there grew to a prodigious height, and there were um and eucalyptus Down in the valley I built a spacious house--the largest the natives had ever seen It was perhaps twenty feet long, sixteen feet to eighteen feet wide, and about ten feet high The interior was decorated with ferns, war implements, the skins of various anireat sawfish I had killed in the haunted lagoon This house contained no fireplace, because all the cooking was done in the open air The walls were built of rough logs, the crevices being filled in with earth taken from ant-hills I have just said that _I_ built the house This is, perhaps, not strictly correct It was Yamba and the other women-folk who actually carried out the work, under my supervision Here it is necessary to explain that I did not dare to do much nified on h, I felt much more comfortable when it was built and furnished, because, after all, it was a source of infinite satisfaction to rown very weary of living like an aniht on the bare ground It was this same consideration of ”home” that induced me to build a little hut for poor Gibson

The floor of round in order to escape the ravages of the rats There was only one storey, of course, and the whole was divided into two roo-room and the other as a bedroom The former I fitted out with home-made tables and chairs (I had becoirls); and each day fresh eucalyptus leaves were strewed about, partly for cleanliness, and partly because the odour kept away the mosquitoes I also built another house about two days' tramp up the mountains, and to this we usually resorted in the very hot weather

Now here I have a curious confession to lided into years, and I reviewed the whole ofwith Jensen, the thought began gradually to steal into my mind, ”Why not wait until civilisation COMES TO YOU--as it must do in tiet back to the world--especially when you are so comfortable here?” Gradually, then, I settled down and was made absolute chief over a tribe of perhaps five hundred souls Besides this,country, and at every new moon I held a sort of informal reception, which was attended by deputations of tribesmen for hundreds of miles around My own tribe already possessed a chieftain of their own but reater influence than his Moreover, I was appointed to it without having to undergo the painful ceremonies that initiation entails My ireat powers, and the belief that I was a returned spirit I was always present at tribal and war councils, and also had some authority over other tribes

I adopted every device I could think of tohome-like, and I even journeyed rape vines I had seen; but I must say that this at any rate was labour in vain, because I never irapes, which had a sharp, acid flavour, that affected the throat soot used to them

When I speak of my ”mountain home,” it must not be supposed that I remained in one place As a matter of fact, in accordance withexcursions in different directions extending over weeks and even months at a time On these occasions I always took with me a kind of nut, which, when eaten, endowed one with remarkable powers of vitality and endurance Since my return to civilisation I have heard of the Kola nut, but cannot say whether the substance used by the Australian aboriginal is the saenerally roasted ours, and ate it as we tra In the course of reat nu an oval, in or underneath which I generally carved the letter ”L” I seldoion, but when I did enerally sufficed to impress the the blacks, and they, on their part, never tried to imitate me They are a conservative race, and are perfectly satisfied with their own tieese and ducks were plentiful in those regions, and there was an infinite variety of gaather that our daily fare was both ample and luxurious

And we had pets; I reht a live cockatoo, and trained hilish phrases, such as ”Good-,” and ”How are you?”; and he would perch hireat nu I would then knock over as many as I wanted by means of erie of anih, I had ay of my people I soon made the discovery that my blacks were intensely spiritualistic; and once a year they held a festival which, when described, will, I am afraid, tax the credulity of my readers The festival I refer to was held ”when the sun was born again,”--_ie_, soon after the shortest day of the year, which would be sometime in June On these occasions the adult warriors from far and near assembled at a certain spot, and after a course of festivities, sat down to an extraordinary _seance_ conducted by women--very old, wizened witches--who apparently possessed occult powers, and were held in great veneration These witches are usually maintained at the expense of the tribe The office, however, does not necessarily descend fro only women credited with supernatural poho can claireat _corroboree_ the people would squat on the ground, the old men and warriors in front, the woation was arranged in the fore fire would be set burning So, and theirwould presently be taken up by the rest of the gathering, to the acco of hands and thighs The young warriors then went out into the open and commenced to dance

I may as well describe in detail the first of these extraordinary festivals which I witnessed The men chanted and danced themselves into a perfect frenzy, which was still further increased by the appearance of three or four witches who suddenly rose up before the fire They were very old and haggard-looking creatures, with skins like shrivelled parch, beady eyes

They were not ornamented in any way, and sees After they had gyrated wildly round the fire for a short time, the chant suddenly ceased, and the witches fell prostrate upon the ground, calling out as they did so the names of some departed chiefs A deathly silence then fell on the asse, and all eyes were turned towards the wreaths of s sky The witches presently renewed their plaintive cries and exhortations, and at length I was a themselves in the sradually they assus, and then the blacks readily recognised the-departed chiefs--estihters The baser sort never put in an appearance

Now the first two or three tiht the apparitions were the result of mere trickery

But when I saw them year after year, I caory of those things which are beyond the ken of our philosophy I ht say that no one was allowed to approach sufficiently close to touch the ”ghosts,”--if such they can be terranted, the blacks would have been in too great a state of terror to have availed themselves of it

Each of these _seances_ lasted twenty minutes or half-an-hour, and were mainly conducted in silence While the apparitions were visible, the witches remained prostrate, and the people looked on quite spellbound

Gradually the phantoht, after which the asse all the invited blacks would have gone off to their respective homes The witches, as I afterwards learnt, lived alone in caves; and that they possessed wonderful powers of prophecy was evidenced inthem that I would still be many years with their people, but I would eventually return to my own kind The warriors, too, invariably consulted these oracles before departing on hunting or fighting expeditions, and religiously followed their advice

CHAPTER XVI

A teacher of English--Myself as a black-fellow--I rest content--An unknown terror--Manufacture of gunpowder--A curious find--The fiery raft--In the lair of snakes--A dangerous ene scene--A queer sport--Respect for the victor--A vain hope--Sore disappointreets ht to h of course they were half-castes, the colour of their skin being very little different froer-nails, however, clearly indicated their origin

They were not christened in the Christian way, neither were they brought up exactly in the salish I loved theold ornales and ara winningvery quick to learn

I often told them about my life in other parts of the world; but whenever I spoke of civilisation, I classed all the nations of the universe together, and referred to theuish between France and Switzerland, England and Ah, the subject that interested thedom, and when I told thereat country and the anihted Particularly they wanted to see the horse, the lion, and the elephant Taking a yahly in the sand alns wereaudience, I found it extremely difficult to convey an idea of the part in the economy of Nature which each creature played I would tell the purposes and for travel; that the cow yielded food and drink, and that the dogs drew sledges It was absolutely necessary to dwell only on the utilitarian side of things Beasts of burden would be incomprehensible Both ofand influence over the blacks

And really I looked like a black-fellow myself at this time--not so much on account of exposure, as because rease which serves as a protection from the weather and from insects My children, you rasped the fact that my exile was other than quite voluntary on my part

The children of the blacks continued to interest me as rew tired of watching theames I think they all loved lad to see that their lives were one long dream of happiness They had no school to attend, no work to perform, and no punishment to suffer There are no children like the children of the bush for perfect content playing happily about the ca the trees after the honey-pods, and indulging in a thousand and one merry pranks Often and often I looked at those robust little rascals, and compared them sadly with my own children, ere delicate almost from birth, and who caused me so much anxiety and heartache