The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-30
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 80, 1898

Rougemont and overturned his canoe. the
crew OF the vessel evidently believing that
they We're being attacked by hostile ma
lives. Before the canoe was righted the
ship made all sail to get away.
Some months afterward when he had re-
covered from his wound, De ROugemont
determined TO make another strike Tor
civilization aud set off due south. not
knowing that this direction would take
him directly into the UNEMPLOYED heart Of
the continent. on this trip many wonders
were encountered, including ra!nstorm
which brought down live fish, countless
horde Of rats. which devastated all the
country Il passed over, and cave full OF
immense snakes. There were also many
narrow escapes from death at the hands
of hostile natives.
on one occasion. believing that a native
chief meditated treachery De Rougemont
and his wife left the camp which they
had constructed and slept in the bush. In
the morning they found a number of
spears sticking through the bark sides Of
the camp in the place where they would
have slept ordinarily.
Month after month the journey was con-
linued in southerly direction. 1t was
impossible to travel due south, but they
followed a zig-zag course from water
hole to water-hole after the manner of
the natives.
When he was some seven months out,
and while travelling In company with a
small party of blacks, De Rougemont
came suddenly upon four white men. At
this time he was naked like the savages,
and so tanned and Drowned by exposure
to the weather that in appearance he
was much like them. Forgetting this IN
his excitement, however. he rushed toward
the white men, who promptly fired upon
his party and then retreated. For this
2 1nksp mi
blame. saying that he would doubtless
have done the same thing under like cir
cumstances.
Two or three weeks after this encounter,
De Rougemont and his wife came across
another white man who had lost his rea-
SON and was wandering aimlessly about
IN the desert. This man lived with them
for some two years, recovering his mind
finally, Just before his death, sufficiently
TO inform De Rougemont that his name
was Gibson. and that he had been mem
Der of the Giles expedition.
After the death of Gibson, finding that
there was apparently no hope of reaching
civilization by following an overland route,
De RougemOnt determined to settle down
among the friendly blacks and If neces-
sary end his days there. To this decision,
he says, he was moved largely by the
pleadings of his native wife, for whom he
lection. He, therefore, settled down in
the mountainous region near the center
of the continent, and ultimately became
king or ruler over a number of large tribes.
In this manner he lived out the next
twenty years of his life. and would prob
ably have ended his days there had not
an epidemic of influenza swept over the
continent and carried away his wife and
children.
Being thus left alone, De Rougemont de-
cided to make one more attempt to reach
civilization, and leaving his mountain
home set out toward the Southwest. In
this, as in previous journeys, he was UNI
able to follow a direct line, but had to
go hither and thither with the tribes that
he met in his journey. After time he
came across a tree marked Forrest" ev-
identity the name of an explorer who had
passed that way. Turning South from
this point, he at length, several days jour-
ney north of Mount Marga, learned that a
party of white prospectors were near by.
Taught by his previous experience, he de-
cided to get some of the natives to pro-
cure clothes for him before he presented
himself to the white men.
When he joined the prospecting party