The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-08-02

glorious sunshine of the equatorial
seas, male up q picture to which no
tongue or ren con do Justice.
But even I'm this limitlesS enjoyment
there was one drop Ofgali. We touched,
in pa.sing, ut several of the smaller
islands, and it was now that, for the
first time, my cherished theory began
to give way before the shock Of actual
obscrva ion. The moment we ca
anchor the water around us literally
swarmcd with natives, some In Cannes,
-ome on rafts, and some actually SWIM
ming, while the air rang with lar
barOus SOoloo and still more barharous
broken English, as cocoanuts, banaras,
pieces of carved wool. mats, cOnch
shells and other native products, were
eagerly off rel for sale. My first bona
fde view of the islanders did nlOre to
di.iIlusionize me than all the rhetoric
Of old McPherson, the lurking smile
on whose grim visage showed how
fully he appreciated the situation.
Their long gaunt, 1.-the, suaky frames,
ret-king with filth and rancid oil their
harsh, grating voices and uncOuth
gestures; their fiat ape-like skulls and
coarse chinless faces; their small, deep
set, rat-lile EYES, out of which theft
and murder looked greedily ever and
anOu-all inspired me with an in
descrihable aversion, which my second
Glimpse. n few days later, Increased
ra'h,r than diminished; and when, Oh
the seventh day after my fist intro
savage" getting sOundly thrashed l.y
4,,., f,.r a. ts,,rv To-
% n his tobacco pouch, l WAS startled
to find myself sympatbizing with the
"hastiscr instead Of the chastised, and
feeling n strong inclination to go and
do likewise. Nevertheless, 1 strOve
hard b believe that the monsters
could not be of the same race with the
magnificent children Of nature whom
[ had imagined. ut is cssier," says
the old proyerb, "tO convince n man
against his senses than against his
WHIP and my conversion, as it will he
seen, required q stronger agent to effect
il.
A few days later we were caught by
a storm, which drove us out of our
course, and for eieht-an'l-fOrty hours
male our p'Ti,ion sufficiently pre-
curious. Well do remember how, In
the very thick of 1t, when the sea and
air seemed one boiling whiil Of fam,
and every one was clingiDg to what
ever he could size, old Mcpherson
came close to me, and said cOolly
"Dinna he feared, sir, well yet gin
the wind fa'."
"And IL the wind keeps up, what
them" asked 1 tentatively.
Sandy eyed me for a moment I'm
silence, with that air of pity Ing con-
tempt whcrewitli cne might look at a
child asking why 10 might<nOt set fire
to a powder magazine, and then an
swered .n slow monosylable tones
'Gin--the-win we'll
wi'-thc-deil-in
utesw
"Job's comfort v' thought was
turned away; but happily the event
proved otherwise. The wind did go
down, all on sudden; and on tte
third morning VIC found ourselves I'm a
very ragged condition, becalmed off
projecting headland, which the captain
pronounced to he the western head
land of New Guinea.
Dampcr's Straits" said he looking
up from his chart; "the very last place
! should have chosen to be becalmetl
i'm. considering the sort Of gentry that
we're among. The confOunded tropics
do every thing In extremes ono either
gets too much wind or none ut all ~
Fortunately, we had carried away
none of our nIasts; but our spars AMI
rigging had suffered grievOusiy, and
the first thing to be done was to set all
hands TO repair damages. The work
was going briskly on, when the look
out at the masthead reported Boats
comiug off Shore" On nearer view,
however, they turned out to be not
boats, but "catamarals, upon which,
made as they are merely Of few light
planks laelied together, these amphibi-
Gus monsters will sometimes face n
surf that would try the quality of q
lite-bout. Captain Darling levclletl his
telescope ut the advancing flOtilla; aud
[ watching him without knowing why
/ did so, saw his lips set all Mt once,
snd his whole face harden like con-
gealed metal.
"Mr McPhcrson." said he quietly,
call all the bands down from alOft,
and get up the cutlasscs and boarding
pixies. Sharp now?"
asked I somewhat startled at this new
feature in the moral aspect Of my black
brethren.
"They don't come by n hundred at
a time only TO trade" answered the
skipper dccioiveIy: and besides they've
got no women with them to-day, and
every mun.jack of 'em has a bit Of mat
ting round his neck. There's a crease
lat fl,of .,r.I,r Of
mats, take my word for it. They see
That we're bccaImed, and they ale
coming out to make show o
trading, and then tackle us unawares;
and we haven't single musket on
boarrl, worse luck.'
Ashe spoke, the foremost catamarans
drew up alongside, and some Of those
upon them shouted to us to lleave
them rope, while Others held up h,-
nanas and cOcOanuts, rs If Wishing to
trade. Others again offered caue-
spears or carved b,ws and arrows; but
the numbr of these weapons with
which the flUtilla literally bristled)
male me suspect that they were meant
for other purposes than traffic. Mean.
while, fresh, line of catamarans had
come up to Icaward, forming a COM
plctc rUr!on around the vessel, and we
were fairly besieged.
IT is always difficult TO tell how one
may lie effected by the sudden ap-
pearanee of a deadly peril. 1 have seen
a man whose life hung by thread,
watching with apparent interest, the
movements of spider ON his window.
I myself, about three years before the
time of which 1 am writing, found
leisure, I'm the crisis of the worst danger
I have ever cncosnteretl, tO note the
PECULIAR shape Of n cloud i'm the sky.
II seems 10 me that whatever fear one
feels on such occasions comes after the
peril; i'm the actual crisis there Is no
time for it. My first feeling at sight Of
the savage host gathering around us
was one Of rasc-a kind Of angry dis
gust at the idea of these miserable
creatures daring TO modest us mt all.
AT that moment old Sandy McPherson
came aft with a cutlas5 in his hand,
and his face set like flint, mutteriDg rs
he a-scd me, '"The Lord forgive us if
we kill thae puir haythens, villa ken
nae better!' Involuntarily called
TO mind big Trygarva's truculeDt
prayer just before encountering the
poachers' and began to realize that
.n..A ry:l.t<~ 4