Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1854-04-05

mud, stood by his side. Ills clothes hau
been nearly all torn away by the eagerness
of the birds of prey to devour his flesh; +; and
his boots, which still encased the bony
shafts of his legs, were the only articles OF
his dress in tolerable state OF preserva-
tlon.
''Poor mortal sufferer" cried Ralkes,
with deep emotion, "what have you gone
through !"
"We must turn the body" said l, "and
see if we can find any clue as to who he
was"
Whilst doing this, some of his ribs broke
away from their sockets, and Shiny snake
crawled from under his side. bruised the
head of this loathsome thing with the butt
end of my gun. We now discovered lit
tie turned ivory box. such as would easily
enter atch-pocket, where it had evident
ly been kept, but now lay close by the 9th
er hand, as if it had fallen from its grasp
with the last breath which terminated his
existence. Taking it up, and anxiously un-
screwing the Ind, we found 1t to contain
few small pieces ofgold, weighing, perhaps,
little more than half an ounce, and on the
top of these, four little knots of fine human
hair, done up with great neatness, and ap-
parently the only memorials he had of his
wife and children.
Good God !" cried Raikes, when he
looked upon these, and burst into flood of
tears. The box, however, contained moth
ing more to lead us to knowledge of who
he had been. On this side we also found
small hatchet, and his knife in a leathern
case, and still attached to its belt which
had fallen through the body, and lay upon
his spine. We found also, beneath him, a
Queen Victoria shilling, the last, perhaps,
he had in the world; but If he had all the
coin in the Bank of England within his
reach, 1t could have availed hun nothing
here. Next we went 10 take of his boots
but as they emitted sufocatng smell when
we touched them, and as the disjointed
bones of his toes ratified like pebbles with
in, we desisted, aud resolved to wrap hlm
up in the decayed remnant of his blanket,
and bury him beneath the tree where he
had died.
1t was impossible for US to dig grave
according to the usual acceptation in which
that word is taken. A hole was all that we
could be expected to accomplish; and this
we effected in very short time, by means
of the hatchet and knife which the meIan-
choly death of the unfortunate digger had
put into our possession. Cat OF large
branch we chopped a rude spade, and mark
ing off the spot in which we were to depos-
1t the bones, commenced digging immedi-
ately beneath huge limb OF the gigantic
eucalyptus where we found them. This oc-
cupied considerable time but having had
our sympathies deeply moved by the asso-
Citations with which we found the melan-
choly remains connected, particularly in
the English shilling and the children's hair,
and perhaps by secret thought that his
might be our own fates, we felt it to be a
duty not unmipgled with satlsfaction-aS
all duties are or ought to be, more or less
to perform what we had undertaken as re-
spectfulIy and completely as we could
| There was little ceremony on the occasion,
but its solemnity was felt to be not the less.
Goods will be done! I" was all the prayer
that was uttered after the interment and
when the hole was covered and well beaten
down, we inserted some green boughs on
each side, and bent them over the spot, as
a further security to the last resting place
of this frail piece of humanity within the
magnificent solitudes of the God of Nature.
As we turned to leave the spot, Raikes lin
gered for moment and said
LET us cut slice of bark from this tree,
aud write with our knives something to
show that white man lies buried here"
This was done accordingly; and the SIM
pie words spoken by Raikes, "a WHITE
MAN LIES BURIED HERE" were adopted for
the epitaph of this unfortunate Digger and
engraved upon the tree. Taking up the
birds which were shot, we found them TO be
hawks and carrying them with US short
distance, threw them away with feeling
of disgust, notwithstanding we had some
miSgivings as 20 how we were to be sup
ported ourselves in the desolate wilds into
which we had wandered. However, deter
mining to trust in Providence, we pursued
our course in the direction of the mountain
which was before US.
As we slowly proceeded, the death of
thus man naturally formed ubject of DIS
course, and 1t was not so clearly seen at
first what was the probability of its cause.
1t now, however, became evident. He had
hatchet; but then there was no animal
he could meet to encounter with such a
weapon, and his knife was of no use as an
instrument of hunting in the country where
he was. Snakes he might have killed in
abundance; but, probably, like many more
Englishmen-for we set him down for no
! thing else when we thought of the Victoria
shilling-he did not know that their flesh
was eatable. Granting, however, that he
had heard that this was the case, as there
are many species OF snakes, some poisonous
and some not, he, in all likelihood, was not
acquainted with the marks which charac-
terized this difference between them, and
consequently would be as much at loss as
if he had never heard of their existence
But he had gun Yes; but we could find
no ammunition, and, having exhausted this,
the capacity of furnishing himself with the
means of life was entirely gone. Conse-
quently, we inferred from the comparative
ly slight experience which We ourselves had
known, that he must have sunk with eX-
haustion, and died OF the united pangs oil
hunger and thirst. To this conclusion we
came, and resolved to husband our powder
and shot as much as we could.
Is FRIDAY UNLUcKY ?-The whaleship
Hillman, which arrived here on Friday
seems to disprove the old superstition that
Friday is an unlucky day, most materially.
We arm from the first officer of the vessel
that the Hillman sailed from this port on
Friday, tha. she took the first black6sh on
Friday, her first whale on Friday, made her