A teacher of English--Myself as a black-fellow--I rest content--An unknown terror--Manufacture of gunpowder--A curious find--The fiery raft--In the lair of snakes--A dangerous enemy--An exciting scene--A queer sport--Respect for the victor --A vain hope--Sore disappointment--Yamba in danger--A strange duel--My opponent greets me.
My two children were a source of great delight to me at this time,--although of course they were half-castes, the colour of their skin being very little different from that of their mother.The whiteness of their hands and finger-nails, however, clearly indicated their origin.They were not christened in the Christian way, neither were they brought up exactly in the same way as the native children.
I taught them English.I loved them very dearly, and used to make for them a variety of gold ornaments, such as bangles and armlets.
They did not participate in all the rough games of the black children, yet they were very popular, having winning manners, and being very quick to learn.I often told them about my life in other parts of the world; but whenever I spoke of civilisation, Iclassed all the nations of the universe together, and referred to them as "my home," or "my country." I did not attempt to distinguish between France and Switzerland, England and America.
Curiously enough, the subject that interested them most was the animal kingdom, and when I told them that I hoped some day to take them away with me to see my great country and the animals it contained, they were immensely delighted.Particularly they wanted to see the horse, the lion, and the elephant.Taking a yam-stick as pointer, I would often draw roughly in the sand almost every animal in Nature.But even when these rough designs were made for my admiring audience, I found it extremely difficult to convey an idea of the part in the economy of Nature which each creature played.I would tell them, however, that the horse was used for fighting purposes and for travel; that the cow yielded food and drink, and that the dogs drew sledges.It was absolutely necessary to dwell only on the utilitarian side of things.Beasts of burden would be incomprehensible.Both of my children were very proud of my position among and influence over the blacks.
And really I looked like a black-fellow myself at this time--not so much on account of exposure, as because my body was constantly coated with the charcoal and grease which serves as a protection from the weather and from insects.My children, you may be interested to learn, never grasped the fact that my exile was other than quite voluntary on my part.
The children of the blacks continued to interest me as much as ever (I was always fond of children); and I never grew tired of watching them at their quaint little games.I think they all loved me as much as I did them, and I was glad to see that their lives were one long dream of happiness.They had no school to attend, no work to perform, and no punishment to suffer.There are no children like the children of the bush for perfect contentment.They seldom or never quarrelled, and were all day long playing happily about the camp, practising throwing their reed spears; climbing the trees after the honey-pods, and indulging in a thousand and one merry pranks.Often and often I looked at those robust little rascals, and compared them sadly with my own children, who were delicate almost from birth, and who caused me so much anxiety and heartache.
When the combination of circumstances, which is now well known to my readers, caused me to settle in my mountain home, two or three hundred miles to the north of Gibson's Desert, I had no idea that Ishould remain there for many years.
But strangely enough, as year after year slipped by, the desire to return to civilisation seemed to leave me, and I grew quite content with my lot.Gradually I began to feel that if civilisation--represented, say, by a large caravan--were to come to me, and its leader was willing not merely to take me away, but my wife and children also, then indeed I would consent to go; but for no other consideration could I be induced to leave those who were now so near and dear to me.I may as well mention here that I had many chances of returning ALONE to civilisation, but never availed myself of them.As I spent the greater part of twenty years in my mountain home, it stands to reason that it is this part of my career which I consult for curious and remarkable incidents.
One day a great darkness suddenly came over the face of Nature.
The sombre gloom was relieved only by a strange lurid glare, which hung on the distant horizon far away across that weird land.The air was soon filled with fine ashes, which descended in such quantities as to cover all vegetation, and completely hide exposed water-holes and lagoons.Even at the time I attributed the phenomenon to volcanic disturbance, and I have since found that it was most likely due to an eruption of the volcano of Krakatoa.
This visitation occasioned very great consternation among the superstitious blacks, who concluded that the spirits had been angered by some of their own misdeeds, and were manifesting their wrath in this unpleasant way.I did not attempt to enlighten them as to its true cause, but gave them to understand vaguely that Ihad something to do with it.I also told them that the great spirit, whose representative I was, was burning up the land.
Another phenomenon that caused much mystification and terror was an eclipse of the sun.Never have I seen my blacks in such a state of excitement and terror as when that intense darkness came suddenly over the world at midday.They came crowding instinctively to me, and I stood silent among the cowering creatures, not thinking it politic for a moment to break the strange and appalling stillness that prevailed on every hand--and which extended even to the animal world.The trembling blacks were convinced that night had suddenly descended upon them, but they had no explanation whatever to offer.
