The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1909-01-03
COnYictS Lose Identity and
Language in Australia.
LIVE THE LIFE OF SAvAGES
Escaping Into the Bush, They For
get the Ways OF CiviIiEatiOn-ThOse
Who Return Are Broken in Mind
and BOdy-Strange story of Man
Thirty-twO Years a Savage.

Of the capable and the wedding out OF the
unfit Let that selection be for time in
Permitted or removed, and the individuals
sink back to the lower level from which
they had been raised, says a Sidney, Aus
tralla, special in the New York Post
From philanthropic motives Capt Cook
left in New Zealand a number Of pigs.
intending that they should serve the needs
Of the indigenes or OF future immigrants.
The indigenes used thena-they use them
10 this day-but many Of them ran wild
reverted 20 their primitive type, and now
furnish the dangerous sport known in
Europe as boar-hunting and in India as
pig-sticking-
Horses and cattle in Australia have es-
capped 70 "the bush" and in a single gen
GRAFTON they have lost the fine points
scientifically bred in them. and resumed
the old life OF the species. In both coun-
tries domestic cats take 10 the forest and
soon reacquire their daring and predatory
habits Cultivated plants are blown INTO
lnhospitable places and forthwith loose
their graceful forms. their bright colors'
and their luscious scents
II is not otherwise with human beings.
Wherever men have gone among sayages,
some OF them have sunk TO or below the
level Of their degraded associates They
assume their manners. wear their COS
tunes. and carry their weapons. eat their
food. assimilate their sentiments. and
speak their language. Sometimes they
forget their mother tongue and lose all
recollection Of their past. In a few years
they roll down the steep ascent their an
cestors had taken fifteen or twenty cen
turtles TO climb.
Old New Zealand was an omnium gath
erum OF ell the rufianism Of the South
Seas. At the annexation OF the islands in
1853 It was estimated thar there were 10
pakehas. or half-vlld men. scattered
chiefly in the north island. Some Of them
had gone inland and were living as
Maorfs. Yet none 81 these were properly
wild men" Under a veneer OF barbsr-
ism some az least Of them were civilized
Englishmen at heart. who led sordid OF
MANNED. but not savage. lives
The Three Australian COnVicts-
Very different from the most Ct these,
and truly wild men. were three Australian
convicts In 1888 q party OF Tasmanian
settlers who had shortly before LANDED
on the Victorian coast. in the nsighbor-
hood OF what Is now Melbourne were
startled by the approach of an aboriginal.
as he seemed. He was a giant tsix feet
FIVE Inches without his boots. as was az
terwsrd ascertained. mot black Il soon
appeared. but Drowned by exposure. with
long matted hair and a patrisrchal sweep
of beard. he carried in bis right hand two
spears. and IN his left a waddy and a
4 boomerang. and he was clothed in kanga-
roo skins He sat down among his fell
low-couutrymen. for such they were
/ They spoke 20 him and questioned him,
but no word % answer could be got from
him. He remained IN a kind Of mental
stupor. the brain refusing 10 act. Not
till after ten DAYS did the Iong-Closed
cells OF speech and memory begin 20 un-
lock and yield their secrets Even then
but little could be extracted from him.
Partly from himself. but mainly from
his black gin. a few confused details
were learned.
His name was William Buckley. Born
az NacclesfeId iu -7Sa be was drafted
. from the militia into the Fourth Infantry
Regiment With * he served on the
WalCheren expedition and AT Gibraltar.
There he was accused OF mutiuy. and
transported 90 Botany Bay From New
South Wales IN 1913 he was deported 20
Victoria. whittier a band OF convicts was
sent under Judge Advocate Collins. Very
strangely = little boy named Pascoe
/ Faulkner. sen 81 a convict. was also with
that party he IS now honored as the
I founder OF Victoria.
One of Three Lived.
/ BCckley. with two more convicts. es-
/ capped into the bush. BuckIey's physique
enabled him 20 survive hsrdships that
killed the other two. For a year he lived
/ on sheHfsh IN cave at QUeensciiT. now
+ known as Buckley's Cave; then he was
/ tracked by blacks. The critical moment
Of his life had come. Buckley proved
equal 70 81. not by cunning or force Of
/ character. for hes had neither. but by
sheer stolidity Are you Chief Bar
wOn?'' they cried to him. naming a dead
! chief whom they believed to have come to
I life again IN Buckley. He nodded. and
grunted assent. He answered further
/ questions with the same inarticulste af-
/ frmation They were satisfied and &C
( knowIedged. him as their resuscitated
chief. For thirty years he lived among
/ them in all ways Ike themselves-in all
ways but one he was joining in a feast
after a victory o. his people over an
other tribe. when his stomach and feel
/ ings alike revolted al the roasted flesh Of
the captured blacks He left his associ-
ates and wandered away by himself, tax
/ ing with him girl and blind boy whom
! he had adopted.
Eventually. he returned and resumed
! the old life a black girl TO whom he
{ had been married proved raithless. and
/ ito his grim delighD was speared. with
her lover by the tribe He married a
second time. but had no children by
either wife. Twice OF thrice al the most
did the opportunity OF escape present f.
self when shins touched AZ the bay. but
each time he vas bafied.
Thirty-tvO Years a savage.
Nearly thirty-fve years had rolled away
when Buckley learned that q party Of
whites. VINO had landed on the coast. was
about 30 be attacked He made a two
days journey 20 warn them. and thus
found his coUntrymen. When Gov. Ar
thur soon after granted him a free par
don, the shock was so great as for some
time 10 nd-aiyze his atrOphied faculties
At lengtl he took service with an officer
I Of the regiment he had once belonged to.
which had been senc 10 Australia This
he tired OF. and lie passed over TO Tas-
mania whore Sir John Franklin found
him something 10 DO. On the strength Of
n pension Of SO. given aim by the govern
meut Of Tasmania. and another OF SO
given by the government of Victoria. he
married q third time twhitel widow
with daughter. Tie WAS 10 be seen in
Hobart pacing along the middle Of she