The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1885-01-23
Pursued by Oannibals,

The London Standard prints re-
markable story of adventure. 1t is a
letter containing plant hunters ac-
count of his stewardship in New
Guinea. He was one of party of six
sent out by the proprietors of Mel
bourne newspaper to explore the inte-
rior of the great island. SIN our little
schooner" he says, "we went up a
very large river one or two miles wide;
the captain would not let us land, as
he wished to explore the river first.
This main river turned out to be an es-
tnary, though not known before.
From it we went up a new river,
which was called the Syme, for many
miles, passing several mouths of other
which were duly named. We were
anxiously looking out for natives or
their villages, but saw none. All the
way up for miles this Syme was affect
ed by the tides, but when receding we
had to use all our strength to fight
against the powerful current to get up
ward. The naturalist and | were of.
ten anxious to get on shore; but no,
our captain wanted to get to the top
of the river, or as far as we could, and
then return and begin land explora-
tions. We went up many miles, until
the current was so strong that we
could not get any farther. We could
see the banks of the river were closhed
with lofty trees, palms, and in many
instances ferns of large dimensions.
There was one tree Il could not tell
what it was) one evening most bril-
liantly lit up with tire-hles-a most
wonderful sight.
"On our return down the river to-
ward the mouth of the sea, where we
intended to begin exploring inland, we
saw sight that made us shudder- a
large number of canoes crammed full
of natives, cannibals. These wretches
live further round the coast, and make
periodical trips down the coast to the
more harmless natives, and clear them
out, killing ali before them. They are
called the Dugarra men. They have
decimated the coast tribes almost to a
man. In some instances they take
them back and kill and eat them.
Here was dilemma, aud the force of
the current was fast taking us into
their midst. We, however, managed
to get our little schooner to the wind
ward and set sail, at the same time as.
sisting her with all our power with the
dingv we had. Night was coming on,
so that we managed to escape through
the darkness. The next thing was,
what to do. Our captain was sick
he had been unwell for some days. At
last, as ruse, we set all sails on the
schooner for up the river and abandon
ed her, getting into the dingy and row.
ing to the side of the river. Having
done this, we sank the dingy in the
mangroves that grew fearfully thick.
We Hoped they would see our schooner
and we should ESCAPE. We had to
leave all behind except a few odds and
ends we could hurriedly get-a little
medicine, our guns, and some oatmeal
and few biscuits. We thus started
for the coast, to find it through swamps
and mangrove. every moment expect
ing the cannibal wretches at our feet
On we went, and at last, weary, made
bed on the ground where best we
could. In the morning we found our
selves on the edge of large fiat of
cold gray soil, covered with pitcher
plants; but on we went. Then we
came to large creek or river had to
get through as best we could-the
blazing tropical sun overhead, the mi
asmatic steam from the swamps envel-
oping us. Some of us began to feel a
touch of the fever; one got light
headed for awhile. We continued for
three or four days at this game, and
nothing to eat but dry oatmeal One
morning we were crossing a native
hunting ground, and presently, with
out warning, spear came whizzing
through the air and struck one of our
men in the foot, going clean through
boot and foot. We thought our end
had come, and determined to die des
perately; but the natives decamped as
quickly As We made up our minds to
fight it out, for we could not find one
On we went, and reached the coast al
last"