The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-06-14

take them alive. Several platoons are
first marched to the assault, their move
ment being sustained by the whole line,
which keeps up din by firing blank
cartridge and swivel guns loaded with
powder only. All take to flight now. as
| the soldiers advance. Panic is the order
of this, when suddenly the fugitives
turn, for the msrauder is near the cave
where the lion has. hidden his whelps.
ORDINARILY these negroes dwell In huts
or cabins. but, to secure themselves
from their enemies, they dig holes in
the ground. at the bottom of which they
conceal that which they hold most
precious-their wives and children and
1t is TO defend this treasure that they
now pluck up courage. With one hand
they dart their long, poisonous javelins,
holding their bucklers before them with
the other but the bullets find them
long before their ASSISTANTS are within
reach of their uncertain weapons. SO
enduring are they of PAIN, besides being
ignorent of the use of fire arms, that
they are often pierced with four or five
bullets before they fall. Taking up
a handful of earth, they will rub the
bullet-wound with it, thinking that the
skin has merely been chafed off, and so
they fight on until they drop dead from
sheer loss of blood.
While the head of the family is fight
ing, his wife and children encourage
him with their cries, and even assist
him by attacking the enemy with
stones but when he falls they give
4 ap lx-ao II 1
were hopeless TO contend any longer
against destiny. Others fly with their
families and take refuge in their bur
rows; and here the skill of the hunter
is displayed in the methods by which
he unearths them, some smoking them
OF while others will discharge into the
b. low y gun loaded with red pepper,
W. .ch half suffocates the negroes, and
compels them TO rush blindly forth,
when they are at once seized and put
in irons. Should the explosion fail in
bringing any of the fugitives out, the
hunters proceed to another burrow for
they know what has happened in that
one. The mother has sutfocated her
children, the father has killed her and
then himself.
As the prisoners are drawn away, the
attachment to soil and to family so
strong among the African races, is strik-
ingly manifested by them. Some,
grasping their feet with their hands, re-
fuse TO rise. Others, bracing themselves
agains, trees, resist with all their might,
or, entwiniDg themselves with their
wives and children, form knots which
nothing short of the sword can unite.
But the soldiers have ways and means
of rendering all such resistance futile,
for they have anticipated it. The ne
groes who are the hardest 10 deal with
are yoked by the legs to horses, and
thus dragged away from their village,
through brambles and over the rocks.
Half hayed, bloody and distigured from
this treatment, and sometimes with their
limbs broken, it yet happens that some
of them will not yield, in which case
they are shot, there being no further
use for them.
The hunt over, five or six of the
prisoners are fastened to one chain, the
neck being attached to it by strong
iron ring fastened with paddock, and
Their hands are fastened behind with
palm-leaf cords. And now marked
change takes place in the conduct OF
the captors. TO carnage, fire, wounds,
and all manner of savage barbaritieS,
succeed the most tender care and COM
passion that is absolutely touching. If
an aged man is SO enfeebled that he
walks with difficulty, they place him on
litter or on camel, revivlng him with
cordial drinks. Time is given TO the
women to supply neurishment to their
infants; the wounded are assisted in
staunching their wounds, and provisions
in abundance are dealt out to all, for
the captors are bound TO carry their
prisoners to the cities alive.