The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-08-02
BESIEGED By CATAMARANS.
Prom the Chambers journal. I

1 remember to have heard veteran
traveller, just returned from long wan
derings in the wilder regions of North
America, sum up the results of the ex-
pedition a follows: When left Eng
land was full OF enthusiasm about the
"noble red man." whom 1 privately
considered to lie the finest fellow
breathing. Reckoning my esteem of
him ut one hundred when / first started,
| calculate that OH reaching New York
1t had fallen to ninety-eight. BY the
time got to st. Louis thanks to what
[ learned on the rOad), the thermom-
eter stood at seventy. At Denver City,
where j first saw the red man in pro
prt0 persona, it was as low as thirty
five; and when We got fairly past the
Indian couDtry-which we crossed
with the scalping-knife hanging over
our hcais-I said to my fellow enthu-
sias.: "WeIl, old boy, what do you
think of the red men poioF F "What
do you ?" 'Wcli I'll tell you; If there's
aparty going oat to fight them, We'll go
'oov By Jove!' said he, $50 we
will"
am not mathematical enough to
classify my emotions as accurately a.
this; but must plead guilty to an ex-
act'y similar change of opinion,
although il occurred not i'm the Fai
West but in the Far East. To an iu-
defaiigable traveller, sighing over tn,
pages Of Mr.. Murray for more worlds
to conquer, there can be no greater
windfal than the suggestion of per
fectly novel route and the offer If q
passage i'm the good ship Antelope,
bound on a prolonged cruise through
the East Indian, Archipelago, came {,
me like "water to the uIirsting camelr
or the losn of a five pound-pOund note
to a gentleman i'm difficulties. As the
penny novelist would put it, "to ac-
cept the offer, to pack two trunks, and
a carpet-bag. TO call cab and drive to
the st. Catharine Dock, was the work
OF a momentn and the second morning
after found us well down the river,
bound for Ito me at least) perfectly
unknown region. This, indeed, con-
stitutcd the great charm of the expedi-
tion, i'm ths sc days of perpetual motion,
when ones only chance of finding an
unexplored region is to stay at home,
and when ones visa vis at a dinner
party, or In railway carriage, cannot
open his mouth without letting drop
something about the hotel charges at
TimbuctO,. tue probable site of Kirjath-
ieaiim, or the PleTsure of weeks fly
fishing. on the An azon; i'm such an age
il is no slight treat to discover a route
not travcr+c,i every year by q million
or 80 of ones friluw-creatures. We do
travelling nowad VS. like everything
else) at racing ~ ccd and, we have al
ready had ~ Fortnight In Russia, %
"a Week i'm Pale stine,n "a Day In
Algeria TO b. followed, no doubt, by
"Halfan Hour OF Cape Horn" by the
author of "Tweniy five Minutes ut the
North Pole" But somehow one does
not see many b.Oks on BOrneo, Java,
New Guinea or Celebes; and for that
very reason, If for no other, 1 rejoiced
unfcignetily i'm the prospect of going
thither.
But another and stronger incentive
was the prospect of forming personal
acquaintance with the islanders of the
eastern ocean, concerning whom had
heard SO many contradictory reports.
My own Prcconceived idea, drawn
from countless miscellaneous sources
from the immortal biographer OF "the
Man Friday" down to tlle entertaining
author (whose name / have ungrate-
fully forgotten) of "A Fortnight I'm the
Sandwich Islands," representing them
as simple and inOffensive race, living
i'm primitive happiness, amid an
eternal summer, feeding on baked pig
and cOcoa-nut, amusing themselves
with light periaguas (whatever they
for In
without fatigue, and chanting In mel
low iccitatlve the national songs of
their ancestors The darker shades of
the picture-the ferocity, cannibalism
and hideous superstition attributed to
them by various authorities persisted
in regarding rs the calumnies Of Eu.
ropean prejudice; aud strong i'm my
own OptOmist creed, was ready to well
come the noble savage" as man and
brother.
This cou,cur- de-rosc theory, however
found two retloubtable adversaries
even amid the limited circle of my
fellow-travelers. The one was our
skipper, Captain Darling, as fine fell
low as ever walked IL quarter deck !;
equally at home when shouting his
orders amid the pelting spray, in tat
tered flannel shit and trousers, or
when sitting down, in spoticss linen
and trim blue caat, to discuss Marryatt's
novels or Lonefeliow' poetry with me
over our aftcr-dinner dates ard la
nanas. He would listen TO all my out
pourings on the "Aboriginal Question"
with a smile of quiet indulgence more
disconcerting than any argument,
merely saying "You'll change your
opinion by-and-by, Mr.. k" The
other and more formidable contravencr
of my opinions was old Sandy Me.
Phersor, the first mate, stalwart old
fellow from the hanks of the Clyde,
with a square grauite-hewn face, round
which his short gray hair cu,lcd up de
tiautly, as if asserting itself against
every wind that Ll,w. He had been
thirty-seven years OH blue water, aud
was a perfect mine of racy anecdotes
and picture que description; and IL
was no small treat 10 me To rceline on
a spare-sail under the glorious moon
light of the tropics, and l's,en to old
Sauty's sketches of tue thousand
strange places which he had s,en. But
ON the Aboriginal Question I obtained
from him no sympathy whatever; AMI
the quaint, dry humor with which he
disscctcd my UtOpian creed WAS in
finitely exasperaiihg.
ats not for me" he would say, "to
joodge thae ISLANDERS, wl,a my be
vcrra guide fallows in their ain way,
but Gamma jist say they're the msist
respectable company man could meet
VII. You fawsliou % iovOorin ~ their
substance ut ane gran feast, and the
starvin' for days theSithcr, is clean
contrary TO the laws "r pocetical ecoan
omy; and thaat ithcr custom o. dis
pusin' o. their preesoncrs by cOnvairin'
them into muttOuchops, although
doobtlcss an auld and wCel establish
cd usage, Is no preceeseIy In ac-
cOrtlaDce WI the rules ~ scientecfic
warfare, nor yet o. sclentecfic cookery.
I'll aloO they hac gotten twa-thiee
ceevilccsed hawbits, sic as thrcvin' !,
ieen', and gcttin' fou' [drunk]; but 1
Gamma say that their nawtional progress
is muckle advanced thereby
"Mr. McPherson," interrupted Rim
digaantly, "yUu are evidently prcju-
diced against these poor creatures, and
Pm surprised that man of your age
and experience should be so."
"Aweel, it may be, 'em sac" an
swcrcd the old man silly; "but Pm
thiukin', sir, gin We were ance to risk
yer purse or yer life among the Babes
o. Grace, We wad maybe begin to be q
wee bit prejudiced yorrself."
And 50 week rolled after week, and
r.. 81