Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1876-01-13

| II is the fate of geographical explor-
ers as well as scientific discoveries TO meet
with skeptical critics Stay -at-honie and
uninaginative mediocrity hates the me-
cessity of rearranging its beliefs. Nearly
all the old travellers were thought to be
| liars. and Bruce in the last century and
| Stanley in our own times were at nrst
thought humbugs.
| Cant. J. A. Lawson, an adventurous
/ Englishman, who has written DOCK on
New Guinea, is the latest object Of un-
| believing reproach. We are far from sure
| also that he will ever obtain reyersion
of the verdict which has already been
! pronounced against his veracity. Whether
| true or not, his book is very remarkapic
one. and we only wonder that some enter
prising American publisher has not re-
| printed it.
New Guinea is little known TO Euro
peans. It's Papuan inhabitants have long
enjoyed reputation for feroci'y ana
| treachery which has induced explorers 10
| keep at a safe distance from them. The
island is over 200 miles long and about
500 broad, and is separated from Australia
| by Tarre's Straits. Its interior was known
| TO be mountainous, and that was about Inc
extent Of information regarding II untIl
1 u.
summer of 1872. He took with him
| Lascar. named Tooloo, and two Australian
aborigines, named Joe and Billy. lie
afterward engaged the services Of two
Papuans, named Aboo and Danang, as
porters. He took fair supply OF pro.
visions and medicines, a dOuble-barreled
rifle, fowling piece, areyolver and cuiiass
| for his own use, while his attendants
were provided with muskets and knives.
| The plan Was to cross the island from
south to north The natives first encount.
cred were unexpectedly gentle. No wild
| animals were encountered at the start, but
they heard and saw traces Of the moolah,
a savage animal reported to be at least as
big as Bengal tiger. Vegetation was
most exuberant. The grass was five or
six feet higher than the travellers heads;
some of the trees were 337 feet high and
eighty. four feet around the trunk. There
were lilies with leaves one foot broad ana
six or seven feet long, with very tough
bulbs as large as a mans head. The dal-
sizes were as large as sunffowers. Insect
life was equally fiourishing. There were
scorpions ten inches in length whose bite
was instant death Capt. lawson claims
TO have narrowly escaped being victim
to one Of these creatures. There were
black and white beetles five and a halt Inch
es long and three broad, with horns two
inches in length. Moths and butterflies
were of size better proportioned TO
Swift's kingdom of Brobdingnag than to
our own diminutiye globe. Some OF them
measured n foot across the wings. Inc
monkeys were very numerous and saucy.
They spat upon the travellers as they
passed under the trees. Two of these
travesties of humanity were afterward
shot, the male beiDg five feet three inches
in height and the female three inches
shorter. The former measured forty-two
and latter thirty nine inches around the
chest The Captain thought them cetest-
ably ugly, but still human-like to an ex-
traordinary degree.
The mountains, however, beat the rep
tiles, flowers and animals "all hollow"
The highest of these, which the Captain
called Mt Hercules, was found TO be one
of the highest IN the world, and, rising
abruptly from plain, its apparent eleva-
ton was as imposing as its real height.
It's peak was 80, 1872 feet above the level OF
the sea, and nearly 81 900 above the
country at its base. The Captain, accom-
panied by Aboo, attempted to climb it.
| They reached the height Of $4,000 feet,
when the fearful cold and rare atmos-
phere compelled them to descend. They
were much used up by the fatiguing en-
terprise, but the Captain was strong
enough a day or two afterto light moolah
in the iungles at the base of the mountain
and kill 1t with his dagger, after the al
most bulet.proof animal had begun TO
"claw'' him. II was much like tiger
but more handsomely striped, and with a
I'D, an,a,, fa.t r... inphaa iapu \ fpy
DAYS after the Captain shot another
moolah SIX inches longer than his first
prize A lake full Of crocodiles was next
encountered.
We must hurry on, however. 1t should
be said that all this journeying was per
formed in an atmosphere of liz degrees
Fahrenheit The weather which the
stout Englishman endured proved too hot
r.. crstt bfb Lssear, who, having been made
The other servants mut tfhXi OUT MS brains,
remaining faithful. They demanded that
the Captain should retrace his steps, but
he thrashed them into obedience with
ropes end. They reached the northern
coast at last, only to be assailed by bar
barous natives Danang was killed. Aboo |
and Billy alone returned with their mas. |
ter TO more civilized regions.
ouI iiHiitcu spdce mas CoinpeIicu us I'D |
pass unnotIced many adventures as sur
prising as those which we have mentioned, |
but we have quoted enough to show that
the book is one Of the most marvellous mar
ratives of the present generation. The |
chief ground for discrediting his story, |
apart from the accumulation of so many |
wonders and perils in a few months trip,
is the utter dissilniiarity of the alleged |
characteristics of New Guinea TO those of |
the neighboring island of Australia. 1t
seems pretty clear that the Captain is fully
as inventive as adventurous Cincinnati
Gazette.