The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-09-03
NO. 557.

compelled to leave the track for a while, and
search for water. Providentially, we were
successful. A cavity in one of the rocks had
oeen niied py the recent rain. Out Of this ba-
sin, our horse also drank his fill.
| L may here mention few peculiarities of the
colonial stock-horse. Wherever a man can make
his way, SO can this quadruped. BE becomes,
In point of sure-footedness, like a mule. and in
nlmbleness like goat, after few years of ser
vitude in cattletending. He will walk down a
ravine as steep as the roof of house. or up a
hill that is almost perpendicular. Through the
dense brushwood, he will push his way with his
head, just as an elephant does. He takes To
the water like Newfoundland dog and swims
a river as matter of course. To fatigue he
seems insensible, and can do with the smallest
amount of provender. The way in which the
old horse which accompanied me in the expe.
dition am describing got down and up some
OF the places which lay in our track, would have
astounded every person who, like US, had not
previously witnessed similar performances.
We pushed on at a speedy pace, and, to my
great Joy, the blacks now represented that the
TO me invisible) footprints were very fresh, and
the missing man not far ahead of us. Every
place where he had halted sat down, or laid
down, or stayed to drink, was pointed out
Presently we came to an opening in the cliffs
which led to the seas shore, where we found a
beautiful bay of immense length. Here l no
longer required the aid of the savages in track
ing; on the sand, from which the waves had re-
ceded Jew hours previously, were plainly Wis
IDLE the imprints of naked feet. The blacks,
who had no idea of salt water, laid themselves
down on their stomachs for the purpose of ia.
king hearty draught. The first mouthful,
however, satisfied them, and they wondered as
much at the taste of the ocean as they had at
the sight thereof.
After walking several miles, the rising of the
tide and the bluff character of the coast induced
US TO avail ourselves of the first opening in the
cliffs, and ascend to the high land. 1t was with
indescribable pain reflected that the annroacb.
ing waves would obliterate the footprints then
upon the sand, and that the thread which we had
followed up to that moment would certainly be
snapped. The faculty possessed by the blacks
had deted the wind and the rain; the earth
ana the rocks had been unable to conceal from
the sight OF the savage the precise places where
the foot of civilized man had trod; but the
ocean, even in his repose makes ali men &C.
knowledge his might We wandered along the
cliffs, cooeying from time to time, and listen.
ing for response but none came, even upon
the acutely sensitive ears of the savages. A
little before sunset, we came to another open.
ing, leading down to q bay; and here the track
OF the lost man was again found. He had as
cended and pursued his way along the cliffs.
We followed until the light failed, and we were
compelled to halt Before doing so, we cooeyed
in concert, and discharged the fowling.pie
several times, but without effect.
1t rained during the night, but ceased be.
fore the day had dawned, and we resumed our
Journey. After an hours walk, we came upon
another opening, and descended to the waters
edge, which was skirted by a sandy beach, and
extended as far as the eye could compass.
Here, too, | could dispense with the aid of the
blacks, and followed on the track as fast "a
possible. Indeed, and my companions fire.
quently ran. Presently, the lost mans foot
steps diverged from the sandy shore, and took
to the high land. We had proceeded more than
a mile and half, when the black boz, who was
mounted on the horse, and following close at
my heels, called, Him! him !" and pointing
to figure, about seventy yards distant, stretch.
ed upon the grass beneath the shade of wild
hg tree, and near stream of fresh water.
recognised at once the stockman; but the
question was, was he living or dead? Having
commanded the party to remain where they
stood, approached the body upon tiptoe. The
man was not dead, but in profound slumber,
from which L would not awake him. His coun.
tenance was pale and haggard but his breath
ing was loud and natural. / beckoned the
party to approach, and then placed my fore.fn.
ger on my lips, as a signal that they were to
keep silence. Within an hour, the man awoke. |
and stared wildly around him. When he saw
us, he was under the impression that he had |
not been lost but that, while searching for the
horse, he had felt weary, laid down, slept, and |
had dreamed all that had really happened to |
him. Thus, there was no sudden shock of I'M |
expected good fortune, the effects of which upon |
him | at first dreaded.
According to the number of DAYS that we
had been travelling, and the pace at which we
had travelled, computed that we had walked
about one hundred and thirty five miles but,
according to map which consulted, we were
not more than eighty miles distant, in direc,
line, from the station. Ga our way back, it was
most distressing to observe the emotions of the
stockman when he came to or remembered the
places where he had rested, eaten, drank, or
slept, during his hopeless wanderiDgs through
the wilds of the widest country in the known
world. The watte-trees from which he had
stripped the gum, the stream in which he had
bathed, the swamp where he had discarded his
boots, the tree On which he had carved his PRAYER.
the spot where he had broken bis pipe-that
very spot upon which he first felt that he was
lost in the bush-these, and the poignant suffer.
ngs he had undergone, had 80 great an effect
upon him, that by the time he returned to the
station his intellect entirely deserted him. He.
however, partly recovered but, sometimes
better, sometimes worse, in few months it
became necessary to have him removed to the
Government lunatic asylum.