The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1872-05-04

A correspondent writing from Melbourne
Australia, under date OF March Isl. says;
One dsy last week there arrived AT this
city the snip Altuea, which, during the past
three wears rad Lccu cruising ats'ut lu many
waters, in ths Atar IL. itchs, Southern
aud Iudiau yc,aus. Her Uri2ILai crew had
been forty-ivr men, but she came to this
port with Uuiy twenty eight men. Of The
original pumbrr seventeen had died. She
is owned in Australia by the house If Mess.
Alien 8 Bros. Oy whom she was sent out
on au Experimental voyage Of tratic with
natives IN various places aud for other tasi-
ness poses. The captain Of the Allhea
is d man OF fifty years oi age or theTeahuuts.
ara hue specimen of the skipper, with full,
round face, lined with red beard, and with
the eyes Of lion. AT present he is the very
pctnIe Ol huath, aud certainly, to see his
manly bearug and honest ways, one would
never dream that he would wifuly spin !
sailors warn lJT the sake Cl getting people to
believe liza and. so far as outward appear
ance goes. 1t would take great practltioner
of peciy olug.cri medicine to detect auy marks
oil insanity about him. Yet Capt. Arliug~
ton (or that is his name) tells a strange
story. aud Que worth hearing. | therefore
send you au accJuut Of il, thinking that it
may interest your Ie"GerS.
The only part OF he narrative which is Of
immediate interest to the public is the ac
count of waat has happened daring the last
niue months. during part of which the Al
thea %.s iu The Indian aud Southern oceans,
sud to tLis alone attention Will be called. -
Ia November last the vessel was near Mad
agascar, and. in doubling Cape ST. Mary, the
southe:nmost point of the island the watch
suddenly noticed what seemed a dense black
cloud lowering Ia the air and apparently
Diakjng for the ship. III anticipation Of a
gale, such as is common in the Indian Ocean
tho sails were instantly furled ard all things
made ready for the storm. But the cloud
came Oh steadily preceded by deAfeniug DIN.
aud in aluut twenty minutes it dissolved
into perfect rain Of s~armug flies, which
settled down on the ship, where they were
packed as deaseIy upon each other as were
the pigeons IL SUuth America, which 4 udu-
bru describes. They bit aGd buzzcd aud
stuug till the men were almost GRAZ d, but
all hands were iustant!y pipsG to clean the
decks and shovel the plague into the sea.
They worked Tor about three hours, slash
ing aud nlasLiug and hammeriug the flies;
but 50 great was the weight added to the ship
that she was still 10 danger of fOIudering
when. luckily for them, mighty wi d swept
down from the Red Mountains and blew tie
pests all away. The sailors, who did not
know what To make of the affair and WHO
were growing supersti:ious about It. wished
Instantly to leave the track they were pur-
suing, aud which was towards the mouth Of
SUao River, in Mozambique; but the cap
to n refused 10 aCCcGe TO their request For
days they proceeded Oh their path across the
NJ zlmhqus Channel. seeing 30 more of the
hes until they were within about fou- days
sail Of Suftlo, wLsn for whcie day their
ET4 Il ..f 4. l.
carcasses Of these insects, which filed the
air with a horrible and l0athscme stcncn.
hight Of the EIen were taken sick aud FIVE
u tnem died, their cOrpscs being covered
with fustules somewhat reseul bling hose Of
small PIX but looking more malignant, willie
a yelowIsh green ichor distilled from tEcm
even in death. The men were on the verge
OF nIutIny, but there was nothing for them
to 90 but 10 sail, but now they had come to
Gear water, but evidently it wUuli not DO 10
sail over that coAIss again. At last they
rsachsd Sntaie. the inhabitants of which they
iaGud suffering from a loathsome and most
nItliguaut type Of smallpox which had long
ragged in the interior and which the physi>
Clans held had been propagated by enormous
swarms Of flies which had been bred and pros
pogatec IN the uuburied and rotting carcasses
OF victims which lay broling in tie sun III
that vast ant almost unknown interior -
Iney held, too, that not only did the flies
themselves rcek with the virus, bat that
when they settled on a victim their pulvilli
which are beet with numerous hairs, aud
sct As suckers, sucked up the viius, aud then
whoever they afterwards settled upon mas
ipocculated.
The Aithea sailed away, all of its crew
being leuucsd to the extremity of fear. al
.h> ua u none vi them at ;he time we're taken
dU"l With the disease tor on the sickness
of the eight men. five OF whom had already
nici. and the other three Of whom soon fyl
loved, the oui geon had vaccinated them all
TAGe IaI Captain Arhugtou'S story had
sec meli horrible enough. yet it might be
true but for that which followed | vas
wholly unprepaFed, and think that the cap,
tain must have gene mad. The Alihea |
sailed away nOrthwaTd towards the CJmoro |
lsiAals, every day or two running through
layers Of the rotting flies tie crew again
bt c; me sick and balf crazy, and were re
dUced almost 10 skeletons; half of them /
only were maze tO do duty Tor Ten hours at |
"A unle, white The rest were couhued In the |
dslutected ho.d, where the surgeon, by !
means of some chemicals, made them breathe
air surcharged with oxygen, under the in-
fuencs OF whlch they came to sleep well and
eat ~ cal, but their nervous systems deteTi~
Grated and they became more and more
Insane For some reason OF other the Comoro
I.lands seem to be free from this pestiience.
aud here the crew remained for three weeks,
dUriug mhich time they were greatly recu~
plIa,.d. Then they dete nihel at last To
get away from the homer as soon as possible
aud set about To return humewarGs. But
they went back to Madagascar. stopping
uIiuway between Cape AmUro and ST. Al
dIe~ Here the trees aud sLrubbery for
erSat areas were c.vered aud absolutely
Weighed down with euormou US black flies,
some of which were as large as humble bees,
and occasionally vast clouds OF them would
" biz through the air, and, going down to
The shore, would settle on the ship. What
they lived on was the mystery for already
they had stripped the trees Of leaves. Some
tIn, es a umo loaded with them would ial!
auu crush myrIads OF them to ds-th. aud the
gluuud Mas cove eG with dense black masse>
Vi their decayiuS bodies. hich l,stered there