The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-01-13

,er,nits them to survive by the con-
slant selection of the capable and the
weeding out of the unfit Let tnat
selection be for a time ntermlt'eo OF
removed. and the individuals SINK
bact to the lower level from when
they had been raised. From phllan-
thropic motives Captain Cook left IN
Now Zealand a number Of pigs, IN
tending that they should serve the
needs of the indigenes or OF future
Immigrants. The indigenes USED
tbem-they use them to this day
but many of them ran wild reFerteo
TO their primitive type, and now 1ur-
nish the dangerous sport known III
Europe as boar-hunting and in lnola
as pig-sticking.
Horses and cattle in Australia nave
escaned to "the BUSH" and IN a slnsle
generation they have lost the me
points scientifically bred in them' anu
resumed the old life Of the species
Tn both countries domestic t take
IN the forest and soon reacquire their
daring and predatory habits. Guilt
waited plants are blown into 1nnospi-
table places and forthwith lose their
graceful forms, their bright colors
and their luscious scents.
It is not otherwise with human De-
ines Wherever men have gone
among savages, some of them nave
sunk to or below the level OF tnelr
degraded associates. They assume
their manners, wear their costume
and carry their weapons, eat thelr
food. assimilate their sentiments n
speak their language. Sometimes
they forget their mother tongue anu
lose all recollection of their past. In
a few years they roll down the steep
ascent their ancestors had taken
fifteen or twenty centuries to climb.
Old New Zealand was an omnlum
gatherum Of all the rufhanism OF u
| South Seas. At the annexation OF tne
islands in 1889 it was estimated tnat
there were $50 pakehas, or half-Wlla
men. scattered chiefly in the north
island. Some of them had gone IN
land and were living as Maoris. Yet
none of these were properly wild
men," Under a veneer of baroarism
some at least of them were civilized
Englishmen at heart, who LED soroio
or MANNED, but not savage, lives.
The Three Australian Convicts.
Very different from most of these
and truly wild men, were three Aus
tralian convicts. In 1888 a party Oh
Tasmanian settlers who had shortly
before landed on the Victorian coast,
in the neighborhood Of what is now
Melbourne, were startled by the ap-
proach of an aboriginal, as ne
seemed. He was a giant (six feet
five inches without his boots, as was
! afterwards ascertained); not black
it soon appeared, but Drowned by
exposure; with long matted hair n
a ipatriarchal sweep Of beard. He
carried in his right hand two spears
and in his left a waddy and a BOOM
.erang; and he was clothed In kan
CARGO skins. He sat down among Dis
fellow-countrymen, for such tney
were. They spoke to him and ques-
toned him, but no word OF answer
could be got from him. He remained
in a kind of mental stupor, the brain
refusing to act. Not till after ten
days did the long-closed cells OF
speech and memory begin to unlock
and yield their secrets. Even then
but little could be extracted from
him. Partly from himself, but main
ly from his black "gin," a few con-
fused details we're learned.
His name was William Buckley.
Born at Macclesfeld in 1880, he was
drafted from the militia into the
Fourth Infantry Regiment. With it
he served on the Walcheren expedi-
ton and at Gibraltar. There he was
accused of mutiny and transported
to Botany Bay. From New South
Wales in 1903 he was deported to
Victoria, whittier a band of convicts
was sent under Judge-Advocate Col
Inns. Very strangely, a little boy
named Pascoe Faulkner, son Of a
convict, was also with that party; he
Is now honored as the founder OF
Victoria.
One of Three Lived.
Buckley, with two more convicts,
ESCAPED into the bush. Buckley's
physique enabled him to survive hard
ships that killed the other two. For
a year he lived on shellfsh in a cave
at Queenscliff, To- known as Buck
ley's Cave; then he was tracked by
blacks. The critical moment of his
life had come; Buckley proved equal
to it, not by cunning or force of char
acter, for he had neither, but by sheer
stolidity. Are you Chief BaWron?"
they cried to him, naming a dead
chief whom they believed to have
come to life again in Buckley. He
nodded and grunted assent. He an
swered further questions with the
same inarticulate affirmation. They
were satisfied, and acknowledged him
as their resuscitated chief. For thir-
ty years he lived among them In all
ways like themselves-in all ways
but one. He was joining in a feast
after a victory of his people over
another tribe, when his stomach and
feelings alike revolted at the roasted
flesh Of the captured blacks. He
left his associates and wandered away
by himself, taking with him a girl
-- L1,Dl 1N@p u,hnp, ha hol