The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-09-03


having been on board the Brisbane
day or two, however, he came to the
conclusion that the best thing he couiC
do would be to have the lower part o.
his ear cut of, as not being "the righ
thing" in civilized society.
His nose is also pierced, and he wat
accustomed to wear in it a piece Of
white shell, probably that Of the pear
oyster. When first found by the blacks
he says he was very unhappy, otter
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 nave managed a
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.
1t 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 a word of French, and the rapid
ity with which he has recovered 1t is
remarkable. Even when he came on
board the Brisbane a week ego 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
hUently, and in proportion as it returns
to him he forgets the language of his
tribe, of which, however, about 100
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 says, new 4r wrote a 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
mentioned, 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-
gress since has been most rapid He
now spends a good deal of every day in
reading, though whether he understands
all that he reads may possibly be
doubted. He displays considerable in
telligence, but at the same time a child
ish dependence and imit&tiveness of
others. That anything is done by les
dXtTes is sufficient to induce him to
attempt it himself. He is generally
A,,,,,1-oI ~
fits of apparently causeless sulkiness
he frequently coughs violently, and his
habits of c-ouching about here aud there
are those of a 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 neuf-cent. y The blacks, he says,
have no names for the different numbers,
and can only count by signs up to ten,
signified by touching different parts of
the body.
He is very bitter against the captain
of the Saint Paul for desertirg him, but
of 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,
even including his younger brothers, be
now dead, and it would appear as if,
hsving no measure of the time he has
passed with the savages, the past ap.
pears to him at so great distance as to
have given him the impression that he
is extremely old, although, IN fact, bare
ly 80. He says
HE 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 a good
swimmer and diver, he acknowledges
that in the water the blacks far sUrpass
him. The tribe subsists chiefly on fish,
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-pronged spear. The canoes are
cut out of trees with knives formed of
hOop-iron, obtained from barrels washed
up from wrecks. OF this hoop-iron,
also, the heads of their spears and har-
poons are made. Narcisse says he him
self constructed two canoes, which he
has 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
q low one, as appears from the fact that |
although there are separate names for
"man," brother" and "son," there |
is only one word" beycheynumma"-
for woman" " sister," and Sc daugh- !
ter" The terms husband" and "wife"
are of course unknown, as are the ideas |
which they imply. The relations of the |
sexes are strictly animal, and Knight |
makes right" The men. he says, not |
unfrequently fight with spears for the |
possession of a woman, while the women |
fight among themselves about a man, |
their weapons being heavy slaves, with |
which they beat one another about the |
head till the blood flows. These quar-
rels probably arise when decided pref
erence is shown to one woman over |
another by their lord. The men have |
no clothing whatever, not even opossum
rugs or other covering at night the |
women wear fringe of cords extending |
from the waist half way down the thigh. |
They have no houses or huts, but when |.
it rains they put up some temporary
shelter of the branches of trees or bark. |
He maintains, however, that they never
feel cold, because they always have fires.
On board he feels the cold bitterly, and |
dishkes the wind. Like all savsges he
can make fire by rubbing together two
pieces of wood. He describes the tribe
he has been attached to as very peace
able, and says that he has never seen
one of its number killed by another
member of the tlibe. Battles, however,
sometimes occur between two tribes.
He describes one in which he took
part. A tribe named the Echaus killed
some of the Maccadamas, upon which
the latter retaliated by surprising the