Evening star., 1898-10-15

were washed further still inshorc-a thing
for which the blacks gave me additional
credit.
1 ought to mention here that the loss of
my boat was in some measure compensated
Tor Dy the enormous amount of prestige
which accrued to me from this whale epi-
sode. TO cut long story short, the natives
fully believed that 1 had killed sinsle-hand-
ed and brought ashore both whales. And
in the corroborees that ensued the poets
almost went delirious in trying to fin suit
able eulCgtums to bestow upon the mighly
white hunter The mother whale surpassed
in size any l had ever seen or real abodl
| measured her length by pacing and 1
judged 1t to be nearly 80 feet. My meas
urementS may not have been absolutely ac-
curate, but still the whale was Ger, ai11ly
larger than any l had ever seen or even
read of. AS she lay there on the beach the
mead lowered above me to a height of near
ly fifteen feet. Never can 1 forget the
scene that followed, when The blacks from
the surrounding country had responded to
the smoke signals announcing the capture
or the great fish. From hundreds of
miles south came the natives, lit era. v in
their thOusands-every man provided with
his stone tCmahawk and whole arnory If
Shell knives. They simply swarnel over
the carcass like vermn, and | SHY many
OF them staggering away under solid Jumps
of flesh weighing between thirty and forty
pounds
The spectacle witnessed on the beach
would have been intensely comcal were it
not so revolting. Many of the men and
women had gorged themselves to such an
extent as to be absolutely unable to walk
and they rolled about on the sand, tearing
at the ground in agony. 1t may amuse you
to know that smoke signals were at once
sent up for all the doctors in the country,
ard these ministering angels could present
ly be seen with their massage shells, rub
bing the distended stomachs of the suffer-
ers as they lay on the beach. l saw some
men fairly bowling with agony, but ye.
stlil devouring enormous quantities of oil
and bubber Besides the massage treat
ment with the thumbs as we'll as shells)
the doctors administered a kind of pill,
or pellet, of some green leaf, which they
first chewed in their own mouth and then
placed In that of the patient. SO magical
was this potent herb in its action, that l
feel sure 1t would make the fortune of an
enterprising syndicate. Others, who had
obtained temporary relief through the kind
offices of the medicine men, returned to
the whales again, and had another enor-
nous gorge. In fact, the blacks behaved
more like wild beasts of the lowest order
than men, and in very short time-con-
sldering the enormous bulk of the whales
nothing remained except the immense
bones.
L Make Use of the Visitors.
The orgy, however, had it's uses from
my point of view, because took advantage
OF the arrival of so many strange tribes to
make myself acquainted with their chiefs
their language and their manners and Gus
toms, in the hope that these tribes might
De useful to me some day when l COM
menced my journey overland to civilza-
ion For, of course, all hope of escane bv
sea had now to be abandoned since NV
boat was DESTROYED
Soon after the loss of the boat by the
way, 1amba made me a small bark canoe
about fifteen feet long but not more than
fourteen inches wide and in this we under-
TOOK various little excursions together to
Ine various islands that studded the bay
Inc construction of this little canoe was
very interesting. Iamba, first of all, heat
ed the bark and then turned the rough
part underneath in order that the interior
might be perfectly smooth. She then sewed
up the ends. finally giving the little craft a
coat OF resin, obtained by making incis;ons
IN the gum trees. OF course | missed nv
own substantial boat, and it was some
ittle time before l grew accustomed to the
an canoe, which necessitated the greatest
possible care in handling and also on the
part OF the passengers generally
OF on Il Wombat Hunt.
One day 1 decided to explore one of the
islands, in search of wombats, as I wanted
some skins TO make into sandals for my
self. l knew that wombats haunted the is
ldLdS IN countless thousands because l had
seen them rising in clouds every evening at
sunset AS usual Yamba was my only com
peMon. and we soon reached a likely is
land, but as | could find no suitable place
Tor landing, L turned the canoe up a small
creek. From this course, however nv COM
panion strongly dissuaded me- Into the
creek, nevertheless, We went and when |
saw it was hopeless impasse, | scrambled
ashore and waded through five inches or
six inches Of mud The little island was
dersely covered with luxuriant tropicai
vegetation, the mangroves coming right
down to the waters edge; so that l had
actually to force my way through them
to gain the top of the bank. l then entered
h.
the bush on both sides being so dense as
to resemble an impenetrable wall or dense
hedge 1t is necessary to bear this in mind
to realize what followed 1 had not gone
many yards along this track. when 1 was
Mortified to see, right in front of me an
enormous alligator! This great reptile was
shutfling along down the path toward me-
evidently making for the water and not
only blocked my advance, but also neces-
stated my immediate retreat The moment
the brute caught sight of me he stopped
and began swapping his jaws viciously. |
confess ] was quite ncnplussed for the
moment as to how best to commence the
attack upon this unexpected visitor 1t
was impossible for me to get round him in
any way, on account of the dense bush on
either side of the narrow forest track. l
decided. however, to make a bold dash for
victory, having always in mind the prestige
that was so necessary to my existence
among the blacks. l therefore walked
straight up to the evil-looking monster
anu lNell, TAKING a snort run, / leaDed high
into the ar, shot over his head and landed
on his scaIy back at the same time Civ
ing Il tremendous yell in order to attract
1amba, whom ] had left in charge of the
boat.
Fight with an Alligator.
The moment l landed on his back I
struck the alligator with all my force with
NY tomahaWl- on what i considered the
NEST vulnerable part of his head SO pow
erful was my stroke that / found, to my
dismay, that l could not get the weapon
out of his head again. While | was in this
extraordinary misunderstanding on the
back of an enormous alligator, anI tug
girg at my tonahawk imbedded IN his
Eead-Y Yamba came rushing up the path,
carrying one OF the paddles, which with
cut a moments hesitation, she thrust down
the alltgators throat as he turned to snap
at her. In this way the monster was pre-
vented from moving his head either back
ward or forward, and then, drawing my
stiletto. i blinded him in both eyes, after
ward finishing him leisurey with my tom
ahawk. when at length l managed 20 re-
lease 1t. Yamba was immensely proud of
me after this achievement, and when we
returned to the mainland she gave her
tribesmen a graphic account Of my gall
lantry and bravery. But she always did
this, She was nv advance agent and hill