St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1894-11-10
A MEETING WITH cANnieALs.
Adventure In New Guinea With Some ver1
Touch Sayn4ea.

Tough savages.
On the sixth morning from the start
we wore treated to . surprise party
which shall never forget Isuppoae
l was the first to awake, and what
woke me was something whistling
over my face, as if it had come from
below. Opened my eyes and listened.
could hear what sounded like the
hum of voices at no great distance. and
the next moment something whistled
past my face again, then another, then
two, then three, and then a perfect
shower They were arrows-there
was no mistake about that-and if they
were poisoned, the slightest scratch
from one of them, meant death in hor.
rible agony within an hour. saw
that the three guides had already slid
noiselessly from their beds and were
lying fat on their faces among the
creepers, with their eyes Just peering
over the edge of the foliage. My mates
and did the same. There we saw our
surprise party. At the foot of the blufi,
cutting us off from our trail through
the forest, stood fifty or sixty Of the
grimmest figures l ever saw. They
were immensely tall men. each with
. great winged mask or helmet over
his head, and long hair standing out
like fringe beneath it, a cumbrous
cuirass of the same dark brown and
yellow color. and greaves or leg pieces
to match. When the first shudder Of
surprise had passed, recognized the
arrow proof armor of tortoise shell
worn by certain warrior tribes of New
Guinea, = specimen of which had seen
were face to face with some of the
most bloodthirsty wretches on earth.
They carried their testimonials with
them. As they came nearer and nearer
to us saw that each had q string Of
human heads slung around him, still
dripping with gore and smearing the
tortoise shell armor at each stride the
warrior took. called hoarsely to tho
guides to know what we were to do. L
felt my flesh creep all over when l saw
that they were gone. We three un-
armed whites were at the mercy cf
these ghastly monsters
How I knew what was the right
thing to do, or how nerved myself to
do it, can not tell But l did il.
Whispering to my companions not to
stir, slid down from under my bed
place, opened my white umbrella, ahd
walked slowly down the slope to meet
the mail-clad phalanx. / don't b.
lieve was in my senses. but the effect
was just rs good Is if I
had been in the habit of receiving
visitors of that kind every morn
ing. They all stood still and stared as
me in blank astonishment, exactly Is I
have seen mob of wild cattle do when
Ihave suddenly turned and faced them
in the Australian desert Steadily ad-
vancing, gave them loud saluts-
tion which they rinstantly returned
with . strange, melodious cry like 4
choric song. 1t was neck or nothing
now. Marching straight up to the
foremost warrior, who had thrown
back his mask and displayed
his hideous face. placed the palms
ef my hands against the palms Of HE,
already stretched out to meet me, and,
et1nolnS ON tpt0es pressed my nose
firmly against his and my cheek
against his cheek. My mouth and
nostrils and throat filed with . stencil
50 fright9ul that 1 felt my very bowels
rise. I knew only too well what Z
was. 1t was the fetid smell Of human
blood, with which the wretch WAS
gorged- But my own life and my COM
panions' were at stake, and gulped
down my horror and completed the
loathaome embrace It was quite sue
cessful. The huge, ponderous bar
barians, with their rattling armor and
their reeking trophies, clustered round
me, paving me over like great dogs.
and indulgmg their speechless carl
osity by opening and shutting my um-
brells and feeling the texture Of my
dannel elothsA-Lippineott's hagar
sinA