The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-23

I
stick proved invaluable as a means of
putting us on good terms with the different
tribes We encountered. The chiefs of
the blacks never ventured out of their
own country without one of these myster-
ious sticks, and am sure ! should not
have been abe to travel far without mine.
Present My Gard"
Whenever l encountered a strange tribe
along The line of march, / always asked
TO be taken before the chief and when
in his presence l presented my little stick
He would at once manifest the greatest
friendliness, and would offer us food and
drink. Then. before / took my departure
he also would inscribe his sign upon it,
handing it back TO me, and probably send
ing me on to another tribe with an escort
il often happened, however, that ! was
personally introduced to another tribe
whose frontier joined that of my late
hosts, and in such cases my passport was
unnecessary.
At first the country through which our
wanderings led US was hilly and we'll
wooded, the trees being particularly fine,
many Of them towering to a hight of $50
feet or 200 feet. our principal food con-
sisted of roots. rats, snakes, opossum and
kangaroo The physical conditions of the
country We're constantly changing as we
moved farther eastward, and Yamba' in
genuity was often sorely taxed to detect
the whereabouts of the various roots nee
essary for food. Il was obviously unfair
TO expect her TO be familiar with the flora
and fuana of every part of the great
Australian continent Sometimes she was
absolutely nonplussed, and had to stay a
few days with a tribe until the women in
itiated her into the best methods of cook
ing the roots found in that part of the
country. And often we could not under
stand the language. In such cases though,
when spoken words were unlike those ut
tered in Yamba's country, we resorted TO
a wonderful sign language which appears
TO be general among the Australian blacks
All that Yamba carried. by the way, was
a basket made of bark, slung over her
shoulder and containing a variety OF use
fui things, including some bone needless
grinding stones. etc. Day after day we
walked steadily on in an easterly direc
ton, guiding ourselves in the daytime by
the sun, and in the evening by the atti-
tude of the ant hills. which are always
creeks and rivers. sometimes wading and
al other times swimming them
The Desert of Red Sand.
Gradually we left the billy country be-
hind us and at length got into an extra
ordinary desert of red sand, which gave
off a dust from our very tracks that near,
ly suffocated us. Each water hole We
came across now began to contain less
and less of the precious liquid, and our
daily menu grew more and more scanty,
until at length we were compelled to live
on practically nothing, but a few roots
and stray rats Stil we plodded on ana
on, finally striking a terrible spinifex
country, which was inconceivably worse
than anything we had hitherto encoun-
tered. Not only was water all but I'M
Obtainable here, but our skin was torn
with thorns at almost every step. Yamba
was terribly troubled when she found she
could no longer provide for my wants.
Fortunately the dew fen heavily at night
and a sufficient quantity would collect on
the foliage, and more particularly on the
steel blade of my tomahawk, to refresh me
somewhat in the morning. How eagerly
would 1 lick the precious drops from the
shining blade of that American AK Gu
riously enough Yamba herself up to this
time did not seem distressed from lack
of water; but nothing about this marvel
Gus woman surprised me. 1t took us about
ten days to pass through this awful spini-
fex desert, and for at least eight days
of that time we were virtually without
water, tramping through never-ending
tracts of scrub prickly grass and undulat-
ing sandhills of a reddish color. We were
still going due east but in consequence OF
the lack of water holes, my heroic guide
thought il advisable to strike little more
north.
The AgOnics of Thirst.
BY this time I began to feel delirious,
and l fear | was like a baby in Yamba s
hands She knew that all l wanted was
water, and she became almost distracted
when she could not find any for me. OF
herself she never thought. And yet she
was full of strange resources and devices.
When ! screamed aloud in an agony of
thirst, she would give some kind of grass
to chew, and although this possessed no
real moisture, yet it promoted the flow
of saliva, and TINS materially benefited
me.
Things erew worse and worse, however
and the delirium increased Hour after
hour through the endless nights would
that devoted creature sit by my side,
moistening my lips with the dew that col
ected on the grass and on the blade OF
my tOmahawk. On the fifth day without
water ] suffered the most shocking agon-
les, and in my lucid moments l gave my
self up for lost. / could not stand up
and when I opened my eyes everything
| seemed TO be going round and round in the
| most dizzy and sickening manner. My
| heart beat with choking violence, and my
| head ached so that 1 thought l was going
mad. My bloodshot eyes, so Yamba sub
soQuently told me, projected from their
sockets in the most terrifying manner, and
| an Undesirable longing possessed me &c
| kill my faithful Bruno in order to drink
! his blood. My poor Bruno! AS l write
| these humble lines, so lacking in literary
grace, ] fancy can see him lying by my
| side in that glaring. illimitable wilderness
| his poor, dry tongue loling out, and his
| piteous eyes fixed upon me with an ex.
! preston of mute appeal that added to my
| agony.
\ Chastity Drink.
Gradually ] grew weaker and weaker
and at last, feeling the end was near,
| crawlcd under a tree and prepared to NEE
the death l was now ferventy praying fol-
! Had Yamba given up these lines woulC
| never have been written Amazing TO re
late, she kept marvelously well and active
though without water; and in my mos
violent paroXysm she would pOunce upot
A Letter from Grant,