Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1909-02-05
TRIP TO THE ORIENT
Clarence E. Edwurds Touring the
Eastern Countries.
HE IS OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

INTERESTINGLY WRITTEN IN WEEK
LY LETTERS, WHICH WILL AP,
PEAR IN THE RECORDER.
Noumea, New Caledonia, Aug.2l
What a pity that the French
have made a prison OF this beautl-
full island. I visited the prison
the Getty and Camp of Tears, as
it might better be called, but | be-
lieve that a description of what l
saw enroute will be of as much,
IL not of more interest than the de-
scription of the prison itself, for it
will give an insight into the native
life, Passing amid tropical verdure
we stop for a while to rest beside a
shady stream, and far below us see
Bourail, the great penal town OF
tn enorthern part of the island. We
passed between coffee gardens OF
many acres and reach a river, which
has been a veritable Styx to many
o poor devil who has come here to
serve out a lifetime of penance for
a few minutes of crime.
An Algerian Arab, in flowing,
dirty white robes, and turban, acts
as Charon, and we wonder what
crime caused him to be transport
ed so far from his native land. As
we approach the prison we come
first to the great buildings of the
Gendarmerie, and just beyond
the mare the women's prison and the
hospital, all enclosed by great ugly
walls of concrete. We reach the
hotel and after being cared for by
the polite host and hostess we take
walk out in town preliminary to
interviewing the commandante OF
the prison for we must have pass
TO get inside.
A band of native Caledonians
comes trooping into town from
some distant camp, and thinking 1T
a good opportunity to make an
chronological study engage one OF
them in conversation He says his
name is Pererouse, SO called be-
cause he wears red head-dress
ard there is bird with q red head
that is named the pererouse. He
is a stalwart fellow, naked with the
exception of a sulu wound around
his loins and hanging down almost
to his knee. His head is bound
with a piece Of turkey red cloth,
but the crowns unprotected except
for the mat of woody hair, which is
ofitself ample protection against the
RAYS of the sun. His eyes are dark
brown, skin a copper color, almost
bronzein hue, nose fiat and we'll de-
velo ped and lips thick. The fea-
lures are distinctly African. To
complete his distinguished appear
ance he has dark, crispy whiskers
and large hole in his right ear,
regarded as a special mark Of dis
tinction.
While talking to him a lot of ma
tive women, or poppinees, came
jogging down the road. In the dis
lance they look like a file of ostri-
ches, for at every step, bent over
as they are with heavy bundles OF
bark. palm leaf baskets and fruit
which they carry for their lords and
masters, their comical Wristbands
of flax, old rags, or banana leaves
delicately fringed and split by the
wind, jolt upward and jostle pertly
| like the tail of the ostrich when
that bird starts to run. One OF the
women had an alpaca umbrella,
while another carried an entire
palm leaf with which she was fan
ming herself, and a third carried a
Jews harp slung around her neck
an instrument of music which they
greatly appreciate.
One of the women had an especi-
ally bright colored sulu around her