Part 15 (1/2)

When the combination of circumstances, which is noell known to my readers, caused me to settle in my mountain home, two or three hundred miles to the north of Gibson's Desert, I had no idea that I should reh, as year after year slipped by, the desire to return to civilisation seerew quite content with an to feel that if civilisation--represented, say, by a large caravan--were to co not merely to take me away, but o; but for no other consideration could I be induced to leave those ere now so near and dear to me I_alone_ to civilisation, but never availed reater part of twenty years in my mountain home, it stands to reason that it is this part of my career which I consult for curious and rereat darkness suddenly caloo on the distant horizon far away across that weird land The air was soon filled with fine ashes, which descended in such quantities as to cover all vegetation, and cooons Even at the time I attributed the phenomenon to volcanic disturbance, and I have since found that it was most likely due to an eruption of the volcano of Krakatoa This visitation occasioned very great consternation a the superstitious blacks, who concluded that the spirits had been angered by so their wrath in this unpleasant way I did not atteave the to do with it I also told thereat spirit, whose representative I as burning up the land

Another phenomenon that caused much mystification and terror was an eclipse of the sun Never have I seen my blacks in such a state of excitement and terror as when that intense darkness ca instinctively tocreatures, not thinking it politic for astillness that prevailed on every hand--and which extended even to the aniht had suddenly descended upon them, but they had no explanation whatever to offer They seemed quite unfamiliar with the phenos which their forefathers wove superstitious stories around, to hand down to their children As the great darkness continued, the natives retired to rest, without even holding the usual evening chant I did not attempt to explain the real reason of the phenomenon, but as I had no particular end to serve, I did not tell them that it was due to my power

Never once, you see, did I lose an opportunity of i whoredients at unpowder, but truth to tell, reat success I had charcoal, saltpetre, and sulphur ready to my hand,--all obtainable from natural sources close by; but the result of all redients in every conceivable as a very coarse kind of poith practically no explosive force, but which would go off with an absurd ”puff”

Noas very anxious to make an _explosive_ powder, notthe blacks, but also because I proposed carrying out certain blasting operations in order to obtain ht would be useful The net result was that although I could not manufacture any potent explosive, yet I did succeed in arousing the intense curiosity of the blacks My powder burnt without noise, and the natives could never quite make out where the flaerness on the part of the blacks to witness the wonders of the whiteice--a commodity which is, of course, absolutely unknown in Central Australia The idea came to me one day when I found myself in a very cool cave, in which there was a well of surprisingly cold water

Accordingly, I filled so fluid, placed them in the coolest part of the cave, and then covered them with saltpetre, of which there was an abundance When I tell you that the experiment was quite fruitless, you will readily understand that I did not always succeed in my role of wonder-worker But whenever I was defeated, it only had the effect ofstillwhich I was certain would be an assured success

Whilst taking, a stroll in the region of my mountain hohly trained as those of the blacks thereenish fluid which was apparently oozing out of the rocky ground Closer investigation proved that this was not water I collected a quantity of it in a kangaroo skin, but this took a considerable time, because the liquid oozed very slowly

I would not have taken this trouble were it not that I was pretty certain _I had discovered a spring of crude petroleum_ Immediately, and by a kind of instinct, it occurred to htthe blacks with ical powers I told no one of my discovery--not even Yamba First of all I constructed a sort of raft fro each branch with the oil I also placed a shallow skin reservoir of oil on the upper end of the raft, and concealed it with twigs and leaves This done, I launchedso far carried out allwas ready I sent out invitations by e sticks to tribes both far and near, to come and see me _set fire to the water_! In parentheses, I nals, white smoke only is allowed to ascend in wreaths and curls; while black sreat volume As by this ti children of Nature lost no tith, when thehad settled over the scene, a great gathering established itself on the shores of the lagoon On such occasions, however, I always saw to it that my audience were not too near But anyhow there was little chance of failure, because the blacks had long since grown to believe in me blindly and implicitly

With much ceremony I set fire to the raft, hoisted a little bark sail upon it, and pushed it off It lay very low in the water, and as the a across the placid waters of the lagoon enveloped in smoke and flames, they did actually believe that I had set fire to the water itself--particularly when the blazing oil was seen in lurid patches on the placid surface They re till the fire died dohen they retired to their own ho thereat and powerful spirit

But, hu fundah--and, indeed, the wonder is how I escaped so long--that one or other of the tribal et jealous of my power and seek to overthrowto the tribe in my mountain home presently found himself (or fancied hi thatwhich he hiainstthat I did, and assuring the blacks that if I were a spirit at all it was certainly a spirit of evil He never once lost an opportunity of throwing discredit and ridicule upon th I discerned symptoms in the tribe which rendered it imperatively necessary that I should take immediate and drastic steps to overthrowto duplicate every one of ht, and one day, whilst out on one of my solitary rambles, I came across a curious natural feature of the landscape, which suggested to me a novel and, I venture to say, remarkable solution of a very serious situation

I suddenly found myself on the brink of a peculiar basin-like depression, which, from its obvious danised as the ideal abode of innumerable snakes Ithe details of the dramatic victory I hoped to win Day by day I returned to this depression and caught nuerous and poisonous reptiles I re it with a cross bythat it would never leave a spot so ideal--froreat number of the deadly reptiles in this way, but, of course there remained many ere not so treated; whilst several of ht under the operation Needless to say, I ht have met my own death in this extraordinary business had I not been assisted by my devoted wife When we had finished our work, there was absolutely nothing in the appearance of the place to indicate that it was any different from its state when I first castready, I chose a specially draesubstantially as follows: ”You tell the people that you are as great as I--the all-powerful white spirit-e to perform the feat which I shall perform on a certain day and at a certain spot” The day was the very next day, and the spot, the scene of ical operations upon the snakes The effect of ical

The jealous ed before the whole tribe, had no time to entblacks, to all the tribes, so that ere pretty sure of a large and attentive audience It was about e round the depression was croith expectant blacks, every one of whom dearly loved a contest, or competition, of whatever kind I lost no ti the blacks--but boldly leaped down into the hollow armed only with a reed whistle, which I hadthe snakes frolance at my impassive rival, who, up to this moment, had not the faintest idea what the proposed ordeal was I commenced to play as lively a tune as the limited number of notes in the whistle would allow, and before I had been playingtheir heads backwards and forwards and fro a huge black snake, who bore unobtrusively my safety mark, I pounced down upon hi the reptile two or three times I allowed him to strike his teeth deep into an to run I also perless snakes to bite s, breast and back, were covered with blood Personally, I did not feel much the worse, as the bites were mere punctures, and I knew the selected reptiles to be quite innocuous Several ”uner desire to join in the fun, and I had so their deadly attentions I had to wave them aside with a stick

All this ti with excitement, and I a rily upon ht about e of the hollow and stood before the horrified o and do likewise, returned a feeble and treative Even he, I think, was now sincerely convinced that I possessed superhu when I was laboriously and surreptitiously extracting the poison fangs fro my ”hall e, and he was forthwith driven froher than ever The blacks noished me to take over the office of medicine-man, but I declined to do so, and nominated instead a youth I had trained for the position It may be necessary here to remark that the blacks, under no circumstances, kill a medicine-man My defeated rival was a man of very considerable power, and I knew quite well that if I did not get the best of him he would have _me_ driven out of the tribe and perhaps speared

Mention of the snake incident re sport which the blacks indulge in I refer to fights between snakes and iguanas These combats certainly afford very fine sport The two creatures are always at uana coer the snake may be than hiuanas attack black snakes froth, whilst they themselves rarely uanabite at the snake a few inches below its head, and the latter instantly retaliates by striking its ene happens The iguana will let go his hold and straightway make for a kind of fern, which he eats in considerable quantities, the object of this being to counteract the effects of the poison When he thinks he has had enough of the antidote he rushes back to the scene of the encounter and resuain and again the snake bites the iguana, and as often the latter has recourse to the counteracting influences of the antidote The fight uana conquers The final struggle is uana seizes hold of the snake five or six inches below the head, and this tio his hold, no le and enwrap hirip of the iguana is relentless; and the struggles of the snake groeaker, until at length he is stretched out dead Then the triuuana steals sloay

The spectators would never drea him,--partly on account of their admiration for his prowess, but more particularly because his flesh is tainted with poison froenerally take place near water-holes

I have also seen remarkable combats between snakes of various species and sizes A ser one, this challenge taking the for The little snake will then advance slowly towards its opponent and atte one crushes it before it can do any harm

I had often heard of the joke about two snakes of equal size trying to s one another, and was, therefore, the more interested when I caht in e snakes which had evidently been engaged in a very serious encounter; and the victor had co his exhausted adversary He had disposed of soth when I arrived on the scene, and was evidently resting before taking in the rest I easilyafter this incident a delusive hope was held out to ht be able to return to civilisation Neas brought one day that the tracks of soe and hitherto unknown animals had been found to the north, and, accompanied by Yamba, I went off to inspect them I found that they were camel tracks--for the second time; and as Yamba informed me that, from the appearance of the trail, there was no one with them, I concluded that in all probability the creatures ild, having long ago belonged to sorief

”Here at length,” I thought, ”is theto civilisation

If I can only reach these creatures--and why should I not with so much assistance at my disposal?--I will break them in, and then strike south across the deserts withwith ent tribesmen, set off after the wild ca we caether, and right wild and vicious-looking brutes they were They ether in a band, and never parted company The moment I and my men tried to separate and head them off, the leader would swoop down upon us with openapparition was that my black assistants fled precipitately Alone I followed the ca able ultiht possibly bring them into a state of subjection by systematic starvation But it was a vain effort on my part They kept in the track of water-holes, and wandered on froth I abandoned hope altogether, though not without a feeling of sore disappointainly creatures disappearing over the ridge of a sand-hill Of course I took good care not to tell any of the natives the real reason of h I did try to explain to them some of the uses to which people in other parts of the world put these wonderful ani records wherever I could As I have said before, I was constantly blazing trees and even s upon them; and I would have left records in cairns had I been able toabout this, I was for a long time possessed with the desire to make myself a kind of paper, and I frequently experimented with the fibres of a certain kind of tree This material I reduced to a pulp, and then endeavoured to roll into sheets

Here again, however, I had to confess failure I found the ordinary sheets of bark much more suitable for my purpose

Pens I had in thousands frooose; and I made ink from the juice of a certain dark-coloured berry, old cooking-kettle I also thought it advisable to make myself plates from which to eat my food--not because of any fastidiousness on my part, but from that ever-present desire to iest instinct In the course of ions I came across quantities of silver-lead, which I s lead to beat out into plates I also went so copper, and found great quantities of ores of different kinds in the Kie experience befell Ya the blacks in my mountain home; and it serves to illustrate the strictness hich the laws against poaching are observed The incident I aht have cost me my life as well as my wife Well, it happened that Ya from one of thealone and with natives, and which sometimes extended over several weeks and even months We had pitched our camp for the afternoon, and Yaaone some little ti that she raspedmyself by her tracks