The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-09-04
VOLUME XII.

period OF no less than seventeen years
Narcisse is short, thick-set, sctiv
man. His skin is Of a bright red color
and glazed upon the surface by con
tinued exposure to the sun. He is clea
in his person, and says that the black
among whom he has lived are so also
a statement apparently confirmed b,
the dirgust he expressed for the Chimes
on board the brisbane, whom he style,
dirty pigs {" DIES sales coche,s'O. Acros
his chest are two horizontal lines O
raised flesh about the thickness of a,
ordinary lead pencil. The upper on,
extends from nipple to nipple, tn,
other, rather shorter, is about an incl
lower. Above the other, and on tn,
upper part of the right arm sort O
gridiron has been scored, consisting o.
four vertical cuts inclosed in one passing
all round them. These cuts were made
with pieces of broken bottles obtained
from ships, and the tips Of the cut
raised by continually pinching them up
No earth or other foreign matter had
been introduced into the cut. These
scars, he states, are made simply fol
ornament, and he is proud of them, OF
was q short time since. The lobe OF
his right ear has been pierced, and the
flesh itself considerably drawn down,
apparently between two and three
inches. When found he wore piece of
wood in this aperture about half an
inch in diameter and four inches long.
This ornament he gave to one of the
sailors of the schooner which brought
him to Somerset. When speaking of
the size to which the ear had been drawn
down, he mentioned, with evident ad-
miration, some men of his tribe who
had trained the lobe of the ear down or
nearly down to tho shoulder. After
having been on board the Brisbane a
day or two, however, he came to the
conclusion that the best thing he could
do would be to have the lower part of
his ear cut off, as not being "the right
thing" in civilized society.
His nose is also pierced, and he was
accustomed to wear in it a piece of
white shell, probably that of the pearl
oyster. When first found by the blacks
he says he was very unhappy, often
thought of his father, mother, and
brothers, and longed to get away. In
the course of time the recollection of
them became less vivid and painful, and
he ultimately completely identified
himself with the tribe. He had never
made an attempt to escape, as, being
alone, he could not have managed
canoe out at sea and though he had
often seen vessels passing along the
coast, he had never been allowed to get
near them, having been always sent by
the blacks into the woods in the inte-
rior when they went on board a ship.
Il is not clear how they came to allow
him to be seen at last by the sailors of
the John Bell.
When first recaptured he could hardly
recall word of French, and the rapid
ity with which he has recovered it is
Even when he came on
board the Brisbane week ago his
knowledge of his own language was
very limited, and it was curious to see
the manner in which a word or its
meaning would suddenly recur to his
recollection. He now speaks French
and in proportion Is it returns
to him he forgets the language of his
tribe, of which, however, about 10D
words have been collected from him
and much more remarkable, however,
than his recovery of his mother tongue,
is. the fact that he has not lost the
powers of reading or writing after a
disuse of several years, during which
he OF course never saw book, and, as
he ssye, new ~ wrote line; nor, indeed,
did the blacks know that he possessed
the power to do so. Very probably he
did not know it himself. After two or
three weeks residence at Somerset, how
ever, he wrote, as has already been
few almost unintelligible
lines. Before coming on board the
Brisbane he had much improved in in
telligence, and pronounced correctly the
names he saw written upon the boats
and elsewhere about the ship. His pro-
now spends q good deal of every day in
though whether he understands
all that he reads may possibly be
telligence, but at the same time a child
ish dependence and imitativeness of
others. That anything is done by les
autres is sufficient to induce him to
attempt it himself. He is generally
good-humored, though with occasional
fits of apparently causeless sulkiness /;
be frequently coughs violently, and his
habits of crouching about here aud there
are those of q savage. He can count in
French up to 100, having, however. at
the first attempt, stuck at eighty, pass |
ing from seventy-nine to 100 {" soixnnte |
dix inefficient The blacks, he says,
have no names for the different numbers, |
and can only count by signs up to ten,
signifed by touching different parts of
The body.
He is very bitter against the captain
Of the Saint Paul for deserving him, but |
1t the same time appears to be afraid of |
him. He speaks with kindness of his |
family, which he distinctly remembers,
but always maintains that they must all,
sven including his younger brothers, be |
now dead, and it would appear as il,
hsving no measure of the time he has |
passed with the savsges, the past ap-
pears to him at 30 great distance as to |
have given him the impression that he |
Is extremely old, although, in fact, bare |
y 80. He says
BE WISHED TO REMAIN WITH THE BLACKS |
and, although he acquiesced in his re-
moval, he is evidently by no means as |
yet either happy or satisfied.
The name of the tribe with which he |
lived is Macadama. They have no kings,
chiefs, nor leading men among them,
all the males being equal. The men,
he says, are very strong, but observes
with pride that he himself is very strong,
much stronger than the blacks. On the |
other hand, though he says he is good |
swimmer and diver, he acknowledges |
that In the water the blacks far surpass
AAns 4ho tripc buDbi5Gb Cul0Ny on ISL,
turtles, turtles eggs, alligators' eggs,
and roots and fruits. Sometimes they
hunt animals, but apparently not often.
The occupation of the men is fishing,
that of the women to gather roots, and
sometimes also they get honey. They
have no knowledge of nets, lines, or
hooks. The larger fish are harpooned
from canoes. the smaller speared with
A three-pron0ed smear The canoes are
cut out of trees with knives formed of
hoop-iron, obtained from barrels washed
up from wrecks. OF this hoop-iron,
a1so, the heads of their spears and har-
poons are made. Narcisse says he him.
self constructed two canoes, which he
mas left behind him.
THE WOMEN
appear to be more numerous than the |
men, every man having from two to five |
women in his suite. Their position is |
4 Low 0na aa onpaoru from, tho foOt fbof Il