The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-25

tanned from the roots of the Malice
tree, species of eucalyptus; the roots,
which lie near the surface, are dug out
4 for length of about II feet. They
/ are about two inches in diameter, and
are cut in lengths of about two feet,
and sucked or allowed to drain into a
vessel or skin water bag. These roots
yield pure and refreshing water of a
slightly earthly flavor.
REPULSED BY WHITES.
When we were perhaps seven months
out, we came suddenly upon four white
men. At this time we were with a
small party of blacks who were on a
punitive expedition. The party had al
ready been attacked by these same
white men and had retaliated, and
therefore they were by no means dis
posed to be friendly Naturally, in the
excitement of the moment ] forgot
that l was virtually a black man my
sell, and rushed upon them, but they
promptly fired upon us and retreated
now know them to have been the
Giles expedition of 1874. 1 should point
out that 1 was perfectly naked, like
the saVageS, and was anointed with the
same protective covering of black,
greasy clay, which is used by the ma
tlVeS to ward off cold and the attacks
of insects, but apart from this, the
sun had long since tanned my skin out
OF all resemblance to a European. Re
pulsed in this way more than once, l
despaired of ever making my real
character known. Two or three weeks
after the encounter my wife came upon
the tracks of a man whom she de-
scPibed as a white man, and as q man
no longer in his senses. She deduced
this latter fact from the eccentric cir
cleS which the tracks followed. Fol-
lowing up these tracks, we did find q
white man alone andadying from thirst
He was hopelessly imbecile He lived
with me for two years, a serious en-
cumbrance, and never regained his in
telligence until just before he died. He
asked who l was, and where he was,
and then he said his name was Gig
son, and that ne had been a member
of the Giles expedition. The place
where he was lost was, 1 now under
stand, called by the Giles expedition
'Gibson's Desert" and it lies in the
southeast of western Australia.
BECOMES A KING.
After Gibson's death I made up my
mind to end my days in solitude, and
the reason for this was partly that
seemed doomed to disappointment
every time an opportunity offered it
self to return to civilization, and part
ly, also, on the urgent solicitations of
my wife and the tribes with whom l
lived. They pointed out to me that
had everything man could want, and
that ] could be king among them. It
was, moreover. quite evident to them
that my fellow white men did not want
me. Thus, for something like 90
years. | made nay home with them in
the mountainous region near the CEN
ter of the continent, where / ultimate
ly became king, or ruler, over a num-
her of large tribes. From this noun
tain home ! made frequent long Jour
neys, and traversed at one time or an
other great part of the interior of
the continent.
FINDS A NEWSPAPER.
Once I followed on the camel track
of white party with the tribe for the !
purpose of picking up empty tins and |
for other things useful to us, and L |
came upon an Australian newspaper | |
remember ii was the Sydney Town and |
Country Journal. bearing date some |
where between 1874 and 1876 1t was a |
indeed. l read it over and |
over. until had learnt it by heart, !
and preserved it in an ooossum skin |
cover until it was literally worn to /
pieces.
Much of the information this news
paper contained puzzled me greatly. |
and ! nearly worried myself into in
sanity over a statement that "the depu-
ties o. Alsace and Lorraine had re-
fused to vote in the German oarlia-
nent, and had walked out" Turn it
over how ! might / could not UNDER
stand how the representatives of two
great departments in my own country
could possibly be in the German par
mountaineering absolutely nothing.
Of course, of the war of 1870
The tribe over which / reigned was
of beings who were certainly
ow down on the human scale. but at