The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1890-04-24

Il
only asked few minutes time t
put my axe into better condition. point
ing out that it was still duh. The re
quest was granted.
l will give you while am smokin,
one pipe" said the old chief; then yo,
| will have to make the trial. dull axe O
sharp axe"
set at work at once with my piece o
sandstone, and before the old chief go
through with his pipe, had an edge Of
the axe like that Of razor. l then an
nounced myself ready to undertake tn,
contest.
My opponent was . great, Drawn,
fellow, weighing close on to 200 pounds
The contest looked like an unequa
one; but in reality 1t was nothing o
the sort.
At signal from the old chief we Sc
to work, America VS.. Borneo.
will say this for the Dyak. II,
chopped like Trojan. The perspira
ton poured of his black face, and tn,
way in which, in his crampcd position
he made the chips fly, was something Il
wonder at.
Before he had been at it five minutes
however. it was quite apparent to al
that he was not in the race. Expert q.
he was in Borneo, he could not hav.
made his salt in the backwoods Of Wis
consin.
Crash, bang. thud, went my goot
Green River axe through the yielding
wood. / was back again in the ole
land, . hardy boy at work in my native
forests. The tall oak swayed, toppled
and fell to the ground with mighty
crash. Then / turned to inspect the
work of my opponent. He was abou,
played out, and was still choppine
feebly, for he knew he would be pun.
ished If he rested; but his tree was no,
half way through.
The next morning I was made fore
man of the gang, but was soon recalled
from work of that kind and given
lighter tasks, for the old chief took q
liking to me. He was a pretty decent
fellow for pirate. To amuse him. /
made board and men and taught him
play checkers, and we used to sit
gambling away our tobacco and drinking
arrack by the hour together, until al
most forgot ! was prisoner, and some
times really enjoyed myself. will do
myself the justice to say that whatever
influence had over the old man exer-
cised for good. 1t was at my instance
that the barbarous system of punishments
in vogue when ] first landed became
greatly abated. My first real step in the
direction Of reform, however, was in
teaching his son to read. When once
its advantage had been impressed upon
him, had hopes that the old chief
would permit the establishment of a
school where the young Dyaks, at least,
could be given some sort OF an education.
knew the old ones were hopeless.
After about three months steady work
l got the alphabet and its uses through
young Turns skull, and an additional
six weeks made him a tolerably pro-
fcient reader. To enable us to write, l
made pen from the feather Of goose,
which was as good as could be desired:
thin bark was our paper, and the cutie
fish, which abounds on those coasts,
supplied US with our ink. 1now thought
the time had arrived for me to show the
old chief the power Of what he had al
ways regarded. as had his six wives, as
. species Of fetish, and one day pre-
pared special exhibition to illustrate
the advantages Of writing and reading,
which was the best and most convincing
could think OF at the time. / arranged
with the old chief that his son Tum
should be blindfolded and led of into
the woods, and that the chief should
hide any thing he chose in any place he
liked, and then tell me, and l should
send fetish" to Tum informing him
Of what had been done. Tum was then
to find the hidden article.
The old chief asserting to this ar
rangement, Tum was sent off into the
woods with strong body-guard. The
chief then took my axe-head and caused
. pit to be dug at the foot Of the great
post in the center Of the town. Into
this pit he threw the axe-head, covered
it up, and covered over the spot num-
Der of bags of rice which entirely con-
cealed the freshly-turned earth.
Now" said the old chief. IF your
fetish tells Tum where the axe-head is,
there is something in it: but if not, you
are fraud, and shall go back to wood
chopping."
Paying no attention to this little
pleasantly on the part of the old gentle
man, sat down and wrote on pieco of
bark to Tum as follows:
''Tum: Your father has hidden my
axe-head in pit at the foot OF the great
post where they logged Maxi yesterday
for stealing. Take away the rice sacks
and dig it up. The old man has got the
spade under his robe"
A messenger. faithfully guarded, was
then dispatched to young Tum.
In about fifteen minutes Tum made his
appearance. My heart misgave me some.
what as saw him take out the piece oil
bark and study attentively, whilst he
looked over inquiringly at me. What il
he should forget in moment all he hao
been taught-in fit Of sudden embar.
rassment! had heard of such cases.
The chief noticed Turns hesitation,
and glanced somewhat triumphantly in
my direction.
lOO6Cu NJ I'LL - UluCU - W say
swat . minute"
Would Tum never get through spell
ing out the words on the bark?
Yes, CLEAN of intelligence flashed
across the lads swarthy features. He
had stuck on something at frst but he
had it now.
Without moments hesitation he
walked right up to his father, and, lift
ing up his robe, drew forth the spade.
The old chief was simply Thunderstorm.
"Who told him that?" he exclaimed
in establishment.
1.-The writing" he replied.
ut is wonderful fetish" said the
old man. but will it tell him what he
is to look for?''
american axe-head," said Tum i'm.
mediately.
marvellous, truly" said the old chief
starting with astonishment. Nobody
told him. The messenger was well
guardec all the way"
1.-The fetish again. said, smiling