The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1876-01-20
Seventeen Years Among SavgeS.

An Australian correspondent Of the Lon.
don Times writes An Interesting case Of
naturalization Of white man among sava-
yes has just come to light. Seventeen
wears AGO the French ship St Paul. with
three hundred and twenty-seven Chinese
coolies for Australia. was wrecked on q reef
Of Rossel Island in the LouiSiade Archi-
peiugo. east Of Uf New Guinea. The coolies
were landed On an island, where they We're
left by the captain. The story Of the China
men i = short one. for. a the natives hap
pened 10 be cannibals. It seemed good to
them to fetch of the tatteSt every day and
eat them. 80 that when at last ship came
to fetch them away there were only seven
teen left. The boat containiU- the captain
and his crew Of eight Freuchmen made the
coast e Australia near Cape Direction, on
the Cape York Peninsula, and the captain
aud crew landed in search Of water. Among
them was boy twelve wears old. named
Nurcisse Pclletier Of St Giles, near Bor-
dcaux, who cut his feet badly in walking
over the rock. and unable to keep up with
the others consequently. when the boat
started on is course he was left behind.
and remained three days alone on the coast.
IL was lying asleep under 4 tree when .
gentle shaking made him aware that he was
in the presence Of three black men and two
black women who made signs Of surprise
and commiseration. They gave him some
food. and led him away without any vio-
lence TO their camp, where he was received
by others Of the tribe in an equally friend
Is manner. He became one Of the tribe
and adopted their way Of living, which, as
he describes II. Is. perhaps. A. primitive as
any that can now be found. Shelter and
clothing are dispensed with altogether, ex-
cept that the women wear 4 small tringed
girdle around the hips. Their food con
sists Of fish which they take entirely by
sPearing and harpooning. fruits, and few
animals They use FIRE for cooking, obtain
ing it by rubbing two pieces Of dry wood
together. Their personal ornamentations
consists Of few scars made by cutting the
flesh with broken bottles and pinching UP
the incision repeatedly until a cork-like ex-
cre>cence Is formed. The design, as cx-
empiicd in his person, consists Of two
straight cords across the lower part Of the
chest the longer Of them about ten inches
in length. about third Of an inch thick
in the middle. and tapering of to the ends,
the other somewhat smaller four or FIVE
short lines parallel to these and above them
on each side Of the front Of the chest all the
lines being about an inch apart some similar
short lines or cracking in front Of the right
shoulder and a few slight ones in front Of
the left besides that he has hole through
the lobe Of the right ear large enough to
hold u piece Of wood Of the size Of five
franc piece when stretched, and finally a
hole through the division Of the nose to ad-
nit a piece OF bamboo as large as a common
lead pencil Just below the n0striIS. They
DO not practice any other mutilation or
modification ot any part Of the body, but
they cut their hair which l. black and
straight-nOt curlcd in the smallest degree J
with broken bottles The incisions applied
to the women differ only in pattern from
! those Of the men. When it rains heavily
! they Try to shelter themselves with pieces
Of bark or branches. but they have not even
I the rudiment Of hut. They seldom stay
/ long in one place They have no stone i'm
I plcments in use their weapons and fish
spears are tipped with iron, obtained from
hoops Of casks picked up on the beach.
Their language, about hundred words Of
which have been written down from Pelle-
/ tiers dictation, does not appear to have any
thing in common with Malay, OF any Pa
puan dialects, Of which vocabularies are at
/ hand 1t abounds in nasal sounds They
are wholly unable TO count, and have no
/ words for numbers. Their relations between
/ the sexes are those which obtain among
animals othsr than man. TIE strongest