Part 16 (2/2)
Poor Bruno protested in the only way he could, which was by stopping fro vent to the erly way he put his feet down that the burning sand would soon o any farther I therefore aroo skin, and tied the similar deserts, and eventually he became so accustomed to them that as soon as we reached the sand he would coly to have his ”boots” put on!
But now age began to tell upon hi stiff in his li expeditions He seemed only to want to sleep and droay the day He had been a splendid kangaroo hunter, and took quite an extraordinary aest kangaroo and ”bail hily under a tree; and whenever the dooo for his tail, and coive the _coup de grace_ Of course, Bruno received a nasty kick sometimes and occasionally a bite fro when I had him first; and I had now er He paid but little attention in these days to either Yaered on for a year orI went into the second hut--which we still called Gibson's, by the way, although he had never lived there--when tothat I was prepared for the event), I beheldthat Gibson had originally made for hione As I stood there, with the tears coursing down e events of my wondrous career seemed to rise before my mind--events in which poor dead Bruno always took an active part He ith me on the wreck; he ith s and through all ot me out of many a scrape, and his curious little eccentricities, likes, and dislikes afforded one the way of all flesh; and although I had expected this blow for rief Yarieved at his death, for she had become most devotedly attached to him and he to her I rolled the body of the faithful creature in a kind of preservative earth and then in an outer covering of bark This done I laid his could not get at him, and where the body of Gibson, similarly treated, had also been placed
CHAPTER XVIII
Ihites--A dreadful habit--Thea de feeble--One tie snapped--Ya the end--My sole desire--Agreeting--A startling question--Towards Mount Margaret--The French Consul--I reach London
I always felt instinctively that any atteerous, and ht besides afford jealous medicine-men and other possible ene my influence
Soether, I would bring up the subject of cannibalism, and tell them that the Great Spirit they feared soall feasting off the bodies of hue” I referred to on these occasions was my old Bible Of course the blacks failed to understand its purport as a book, having no written language of their own; but my manner and words served to impress them
My natives seeave them of the wonderful resources of civilisation; but experience showed that I must adapt my descriptions to the intellect of my hearers
For exareat cities (”camps” I called them) there was never any real darkness if hts at command which could be turned off and on at will Theof the stars in the heavens; but hts could be under the co since put reat spirit come to visit them, and they even located by common consent a certain star in the heavens which they decided was at one time my home, and to which I should eventually return Every time I made a false step, I had to devise some new ”miracle” by way of counterblast
On one occasion I actually made a perambulator for the conveyance of children! It was the very first ties had seen the principle of the wheel applied to locoether With childish delight and an uproar that baffles all description, both ht with one another for the honour of pushi+ng the crude little conveyance about The peras, and was a four-wheeled vehicle; the ri cut froreat size of reatly when I explained to thereat ”cae as the hills, and much more numerous
Elsewhere I have spoken of the extraordinary syste the blacks Well, in the early eighties news began to reach me that numbers of whitetraed in prospecting I speak of this reaze in the most abrupt manner possible It is ever so in the Australian bush
I found that this party was by no means an isolated one, and I actually stayed in various ca to my mountain home I need hardly remark that the whitetheone back to civilisation, but this I would not do without my native wife and family It was in the Kimberley district that I met these parties of prospectors; and I may here remark that I had for soion I learned afterwards that the Kiht have made for in order to reach civilisation
When I settled down again in , which was practically identical with that of the blacks, save that I did not always accompany them when they shi+fted ca upon me, and would stay perhaps three or four days at a tied these visits, and invariably prepared so to the extent of providing the to native custoet wives to hand round in this convenient fashi+on? A very interesting question this, and one which requires a sothy answer Now, the blacks do not look upon the advent of a feet rid of it at once in order to save the it with them when on the walk-about
As I was always very fond of children, I decided to try and put a stop to this dreadful habit of child-murder, so I irl-babies on to me, and I would rear and look after them The result of this widely-advertised offer was that I soon had quite an orphan asylum established--an institution which was valuable to me in many ways Quite apart fro I had saved these children from a terrible death, I was looked upon as a kind of prospective father-in-law on a gigantic scale, and young men came from all parts to treat with ular reception days were held at the new rew to have quite a reverence for the Bible; but I am afraid it was not on account of the sacredness of the book, but rather owing to the wonderful things it contained, and which were interpreted by me in such a way as would appeal directly to the primitive minds of these people
Oftentimes I made mistakes For instance, what seemed to interest them enormously was the story of how Moses struck the rock and obtained ain the way of fresh water procured in the desert interested the me to accomplish a siht me some discomfiture was about Balaam and his ass Nohen I decided to tell the story of Balaam, I knew from experience that if I mentioned an ”ass,” that animal would require all kinds of tedious explanation, which would probably result in needless ed into the story of _Balaaether was that Balaaaroo should be able to speak Now, it seereatest possible joke known to the blacks, and so reeted with uproarious mirth; and my ”impossible” story even spread fro the blacks anything they could not readily comprehend
One day I told them about the destruction of Sodoain landed me in disaster, for I was promptly asked how could any one, Great Spirit or other, burn up _the stones_ of which the houses were composed? And, of course, each instance of this kind would be pounced upon by a tribal medicine-man or some other jealous ene the Sodom and Gomorrah story, I was on a walk-about with Yaion, when I suddenly discovered that shale existed in very considerable quantities, and I thereupon conceived the idea of de to the blacks that, not only was the Bible narrative a true one, but that it was quite possible to ignite stone; _and I would even show them hoas done_!
Aided by Yamba and other members of my family, I constructed an immense shaft-like cairn, mainly composed of loose pieces of shale intermixed with sandstone I put in the sandstone and other stones, partly in order that the blacks ht not notice the uniform construction of the cairn; and partly also because I knew that when the ordinary stones were heated, they would probably burst or explode with a loud sound, and so terrify the superstitious onlookers The cairn was about fifteen feet high, with an opening at the sus at the sides in order to ensure a good draught At the base I left an opening sufficiently large for h Then I placed inside a quantity of inflammable material--such as wood and dry bark;--and as all these preparations went forward in a very leisurelywas ready Wishi+ng to have an exceptionally large gathering, I sent out invitations to all the surrounding tribes to come and see my wonderful performance at which I would ”set fire to the rocks and stones”
A perfectly enormous crowd assembled at the time appointed, for my previous achievements had led the black-fellows to suppose I had some et the keenness hich that great assembly anticipated the entertain pretty _blase_ by this ti witnessed so many miracles