Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-10-29

from our gunyah, or shelter of boughs,
and slept in the bush without a fire.
In the morning we would find our
shelter riddled with spears.
At length, after several months of
coasting, we found the land trending
to the west; and here, at Raffle's Bay
we found Malay proa. VSs
landed on the northern coast of Mel.
Vile Island, and after we had again
reached the coast of the mainland
through Aspley Strait, we experienced
q terrible storm, which must have
driven us past Port Darwin. For
whole nights my native wife and I
would be immersed in the sea, cling
ing on to the gunwale of our frail
craft. At last. about eighteen months
after we had left my wife's home in
the Cambridge Gulf region, we one
day recognized certain islands and
also the coast, and soon afterward we
found ourselves, to my great surprise,
at the very spot FROM which we had
started.
The next attempt I made was to the
southwest, starting after some months
of rest, and coasting in the dugout as
far as Kings Sound. landed upon
and explored many OF the islands dot
ted along that extensive stretch Of
coast, and in some of them ! found
caves with rude drawings on the
rocks. On what was probably Bigge's
Island / found cairn of stones,
which I readily saw must have been
the handiwork Of a white man. We
returned to the old camp overland,
crossing the King Leopold ranges,
which were finely wooded, and ap-
peared to be largely composed of
granite.
We next struck what was probably
the Orde River, which we followed
down to Cambridge Gulf, and re-
turned along the coast to our own
home. On returning from this jour-
ney I felt little inclination to make
another attempt, and for three years I
lived among the natives, becoming &C.
customed to the life and finding it
not dlsagreesble. The desire to reach
civilization returned, aud about the
year 1873 I started with my wife, re-
solving this time to cross the conti-
nent to the south, as I knew in a
vague kind of way that there were
great towns on the coast somewhere
to the south. I had only the very
haziest idea, however, of their posi-
ton. The tribes were very numer-
GUS, and altogether it was very thickly
populated. I never travelled due
south, but found it expeditions to go
from tribe to tribe and from water
hole to waterhole. Besides having my
native wife with me, was armed with
certain mystic message stick and,
best of all, 1 had the power of anus
ing the tribes by means of acrobatic
performances, my steel weapons, and
the bark OF my dog, who could also
go through little performance on his
own account, dancing to the tune OF
my reed whistle. l emphasize these
things because they saved my life
over and over again.
When we were perhaps seven
months out we came suddenly upon
four white men. At this time we were
with small party of blacks, who were
on q punitive expedition. The party
had already been attacked by these
same white men and had retaliated,
and, therefore, they were by no means
disposed to be friendly. Naturally,
in the excitement Of the moment, I
forgot that I was virtually black
man myself, and rushed upon them,
but they promptly fired upon us and
retreated. now know them to have
been the Giles expedition OF 1874. I
should point out that I was perfectly
naked, like the savages, and was
anointed with the same protective
covering of black, greasy clay which
is used by the natives 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 European. Repulsed in this way
more than once, I despaired of ever
making my real character known.
Two or three weeks after the en-.
counter my wife came upon the tracks
OF q man whom she described as a
white man, and as a man no longer in
his senses. She deducted this latter
fact from the eccentric circles which
the tracks followed. Following up
these tracks, we did fnd q white man
alone and dying from thirst. He was
hopelessly imbecile. He lived with
me for two years, serious incum-
brance, and never regained his in
telligence until just before he died.
He asked who I was, and where he
was, and then he said his name was
Gibson, and that he had been q men,
ber of the Giles expedition. The
place where he was lost was, now
understand, called by the Giles ex-
pedition "Gibson's Desert" and it
lies in the southeast of Western Aus
tralia.
After Gibson's death I made up my
mind to end my days in solitude, and
the reason for this was partly that I
seemed doomed to disappointment
every time an opportunity offered it.
oCii W W CiNihLuVAOu, nuts
partly, also, on the urgent solicitations
of my wife and the tribes with whom
I lived. They pointed out to me that
1 had everything man could want,
and that I could be King among them.
1t was, moreover, quite evident to
them that my fellow white men did
not want me. Thus for something
like twenty years I made my home
with them in the mountainous region
near the centre of the continent, where
I ultimately became King or ruler
over number of large tribes. From
this mountain home I made frequent
long journeys and traversed at one
time or another great part of the in
te rior of the continent.
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, aud I
came upon an Australian newspaper.
remember it was the Sydney Town
ou1 Co,,rkr~ Tonrpo1 hoorsun 1o% a