Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1875-09-22
THE REPUBLIC OF NATURE
A LAND OF NO CLOTHES, NO HOUSES, NO
TOOLS, NO RELIGION, NO MARRIAGE.


Seventeen years ago Narcisse Picr'
Pelletier, the son of a shoemaker in :
small town in the department of 1t
Vondoe went to sea, and after fcv
months was wrecked with q largo car
go Of Chinese coolies. By miracle anc
lpromptitude he survived the brutality
Of his own captain, the cannibals, who
ate up most OF the Chinese, starvation
and more fatal thirst, 10 fall at the last
gasp into the hands of a native Aus.
tralian tribe.
In the settled portions Of that con
tinent, native is as great curiosity
as in this metropolis, but the aborgin.
al races still have much to themselves
the parts nearer the equator. This
was about thirteen degrees south, not
TAR from Torres Strait, New Guinea,
and thesLouisiade Archipelago. The
savages were very kind to the poor dy-
ing lad, adopted him into their tribe,
found him valuable member of socie-
ty, and were proud of their possession.
He acquired titles Of honor, inscribed
upon his skin and carried in his nose
and ears, ho learned to carve canoes,
and obtained an acknowledged pre-em-
incnce in strength, skill and counsel.
The tribe is u republic in the strict
est sense Of the word, acknowledging
no superiority, and fortunately Offering
small field for the ambition which leads
to higher political developments. They
have no clothes, except a fringe in the
case of women no houses, except UNI
brellas extemporized ont Of leaves
when it rains heavily; no tools, except
bits of hoop iron found in wrecks; no
arts and sciences; very small vocab-
ulary and an arithmetic stopping short
at ten, and indicated by pointing to
various parts of the body. They have
no religion, no history, no social insti.
tutions, not even marriage Regarded
from our point of view, life is there
one great negative, and the only won
der is that they get along as well as
they do. The women, however, go to
the wall, as in all savage life; they are
the property of the stronger, two or
three at time, and are put out of the
way as q useless horse is with us, when
no longer useful or agreeable. This is
animal life.
Narcisse Pelletier was quickly alb
sorbed IL; the new current of his ex-
istence. He became pure and simple
savage, and as much forgot that he
had ever been anything else as if
he had lived in long dream. He
could not speak word of French
lost reckoning of days and years; knew
not his own age perched on rail like
q bird had restless monkey eyes
clave with strong instinct to his adopt
ed fraternity, and only remembered his
relations as beings of another world
who must long since have passed away.
But Narcisse Pelletier has returned
to life. On the 11th of April in the
present year the John Bell schooner,
engaged in the becbe de mer fishery,
anchored at Night Island, small is
land off the coast of Queensland, to
which boats were despatched from the
-lir !" eaarnh of water The sailors
sent on this duty encountered in the
bush d party of aboriginal blacks, with
whom they found white man, who
was like the blacks, perfectly naked,
and appeared to be completely idcnti-
fed with them in language and habits
The white savage was induced to en-
ter one of the ships boats, and the
John Bell brought her prize to Somer-
set, the settlement at Cape York, where
he was clothed and cared for by the
resident magistrate. The dream of the
long has passed away and is forgotten.
To-day takes up the thread of yester-
lay, and forgets the gap between.--
Narcisse is already reading French
novels.-London Times.