Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1893-07-13
q - Il..-
island The island is about 100

island The island is about 40
miles in circuit. sssss
This story. got into the paper
Some men absorbed it like live
pad and one or two have dealt
out to me as original. This is th
class of immovables who Sit II
crowd and hang on to your nara
tive with their mouths wide opes
in unfeeling ignorance of the ihord
of flies using that mouth assabo:
seat"
GA man Of your daring natur
must have met and overcome; ;grsa
obstacles.'
"You can't penetrate into AMIN ansiRn
hospitable country, among sald
hungry, human-eating people, will
scarcity Of water and supplies
without meeting something dis
tasteful and hair-splitting, some
times hide-splitting.
To get an idea of that country
=. -. 4
Australia, you must rememb bert thal
the island-continent is over z, ,04
miles north and south by oyei
5000 miles astand west, and con:
tains s,2oO,ooo square niles u q
territory-larger than the United
States. Now roll our American
history back behind the Revolt.
tionary war to the time whenWs
had only 100000 people here q
they have there. Then settle them
in a crescent around the east coast
as is the case there, and was here;
with a few pioneers and frontiers
men sneaking the white banner
further. west, and you have the
land with it's white invader. Spread
over the whole Western wilds q
fierce, savage, untamable race Of
,annibals, instead Of Indians, and
you have the land and people of
Australia, to-day. Place a fools
hardy and reckless man of adyenz,
;ure in the middle of it, and you:
nave me. Now You have the posis
ion. The last is the fourth expe-I
lition I have made into the unciY-s
lized interior of this wild and hot
and. The first and last were the:
most noteworthy to me, personally,
because I faced death more than
nee on each expedition. IWiI
reat them all together as. ] salh hs
] had learned early in 1887 bat
zone of the South Sea Islanders
made long distances at night.
7hey go into camp and are only
90 glad to stop there. It would
70 only the most horrible appre-
tension of danger that would move
hem. They are mortally afraid
# darkness. In darkness turks
III their superstiti ous ideas of evil.
Night is filled with evil in their
mind. All good is in light. Hence,
heir Great Spirit, or God, is white
md eternal. Their fear of dark
less is SO great that you never see
,ee their village or camp fires out.
They are always burning. I used
o keep my camp fires going too,
until I learned that greater Sc
,urity lay in shedding no light
abroad. This information was got
il a fight with the Cloucurry tribes.
It was close call, and an uneven
Eight, a fight of twelve men against
about 2OO-rifles, revolvers, and
Knives against spears, battle axes,
and boomerangs. We must have
gone down eventually, as they
closed in and fought front and
rear, fencing in the circle of our
camp fire. While standing astride
Of a wounded companion, thus let
ting my defence Of self also defend
him, two spears passed through
my clothing and a boomerang
whizzed past as I lodged a vicious
throw from another spearman.
The weapon barely grazed the skin,
as the other instrument of death
sang its terrible note over my head.
Had 1 not ducked to give the
iavelin clear way, that merciless
boomerang would have gone grind
ing and burning into my stomach
Their speed is 80 terrific that they
burn into their object. At this
critical juncture, a cloud burst
over head and the torrent of rain
that fell put out our fires. The
battle ceased and'our adversaries
left. It was a close call. We could
not light up and they did not re.
turn. We lost two men, and had
c,rndod Tt uoo in this fiphf