The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1881-03-17
Astonishing the Natives OF New Guinea.


D'Albertis in his account of his trav-
els in New Guinea tells some interesting
stories. His porters, who had agreed
to take him to Hatam for a fixed pay
ment, stopped at a village to rest. and
on being told to 90 on, said: ''This is
Hatam; pay lis our wages" He knew,
however, both by the distance and ele-
walton, that they were deceiving him.
and told them so, but they again said:
"This is Hatam; pay us. How do you
know that this is not Hatam?' He
then took his aneroid out of his pocket,
and laying his finger on point of the
scale said: "Here is Hatam; this thing
tells me where it ISL and then ex-'
planned that when they got higher up
the mountain the index would move,
and when they reached Hatam it would
come up to the point he had.marked.
This astonished them greatly, but they
would not believe it with out proof. SO
he let one of them carry it himself to
the top of a small hill near, when they
saw that the index had moved; and on
coming down that it moved back again
This quite satisfied them. They &C
knowledged that the white man knew
where he was going, and could not be
deceived, so they at once said: LET US
rest to-day; tomorrow we will go to
Hatam.n OF course every man and
woman in the village wanted to see the
little thing that told the stranger where
lay the most remote villages OF the for
est; and thus the travellers influence
was increased, and perhaps his personal
safety secured. -
In his second journey he provided
himself with dynamite and rockets,
which were very effectual in frighten-
ing the savages and giving him moral
power over them. At Yule Island he
was on excellent terms with the ma
tives. on whom he conferred many
benefits. Yet during his absence on
an exploration his house was entered
and large quantity of goods stolen.
In recovering these and firmly estab-!
fishing his power and influence he
showed great ingenuity. Calling the
chiefs and other natives together-whot
all pretended great regret at his loss,
though the robbery must have been eff
fected with their connivance told
them that he was determined to have
his property back, sandattatsif was
not gbrought in,3tyehtysf6ar hclrsf he
would Ere at every native Who CINE
within range Of his house, which fortu-
nately. com manded "a great extent of
NATIVES paths, as well as tile narrow
strait between the island andthe main
land. He then made his preparations
for a desperate defense in case
he was attacked, loaded some Orsini
shells and mined the. paths leading to-
his house, so that with long match he
could blow them up without exposing
himself. At the end of twenty-four
hours, nothing having been brought. he.
commenced operations by exploding
five dynamite cartridges, which made
a roar like that of cannonade, the
echoes resounding for several seconds
He then let off rockets in the direction
of the native houses and Illuminated his
own house with Bengal fire. All this
caused terrible CONSERVATION, and the
next morningthe chief arrived with five
men, bringing a considerable portion of
the stolen goods, and trembling, with
fear to such an extent that some OF them
could not articulate word. He insist
ed, however, that the rest of tho goods
should be brought back; and the next
day, to show that he was in earnest,
fired at the chief himself as he WIS pass
ing at a distance of three hundred
yards, being careful not to hurt hut only
to brighten him. A canoe was also
turned back by bullet striking a rock
close by it. The effect of this was seen
next morning in another visit from the
chief, with five complete suits of clothes,
axes, knives, beads and other stolen
articles. Much more, however, ne
manned, and D'Albertis took the oppor-
tunity of impressug them thoroughly
with his power. He first asked them to
try to pierce strong piece of zinc with
their spears, which were blunted by the
attempt, while he riddled it through
and through with shot from his gun.
He also sent bullets into the trunk of
small tree hundred yards distant,
showing that a man could not escape
him. They had been seated on a large
stone near his house, which he lad
mined. He now called them away, and
| having secretly lighted the match, told
them to look at the stone. A tremen-
dous explosion soon came and the stone
disappeared. The natives were too
frightened to move, and begged him to
have pity on them, promising to restore
everything. A great hole was seen
where the stone had stood, while some
of its fragments were found a long wav
off For twelve days more he kept up
state of siege, turning back all ira v
elers and many canoes by rife balls in
front of them, but never hurting any
one. Then another large installment
of his goods was brought. leaving little
OF Importance, and ultimately he recov-
cred almost everything. During the
whole of this time he never hurt a
single person or did any damage to
their property. but succeeded in getting
back his own by impressing them with
his, to them, superhuman power. The
result was that after eight months res
idence he parted from these people on
the best of terms. They all embraced
him, and most of them shed tears, while
their last words were Maria rau! Ma
ria rau.n' Return, Mariai Return
Mariar--that being his second name,
by which they had found it most easy
to call him. t
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