IN THE AUSTRALIAN BUSH.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume XII, Issue 47, 21 April 1910, Page 2

IN THE AUSTRALIAN BUSH.

. The perils of 'explorers who, venture among hostile natives are well illustrated by the account of an expedition to Mount Morgans, which Mr. Frank~ H. Hann gives in the "Straits Times." On receiving instructions from the Minister of Lands and the Surveyor-General to ascertain the northern boundary of the limestone country lat Premier Downs in Australia. Mr. Hann travelled to a spot some 250 miles from Laverton, and there found signs that the blacks were watching him. At last he met four blacks. He invited them to his camp, where he entertained them. Three were detained at the camp whtf u Mr. Hann, with the smartest of the four, went to search for water. Before he bade them good-bye he tied a piece of red cloth round the waist of the "'smart" native—a decoration which delighted the simple savage. Mr. Hann continues : "J parted from my four dark friends on the best of terms, and 1 then went on to overtake Talbot. I had to travel slowly over the stony ground, and then proceeded at six miles an hour. Happening to glance behind me just before emerging from a clump of mulga, I saw the nigger with the red band in the act of throwing a spear. I immediately bent low, and at the- same time my mare threw, up her head and nearly stove my face in. The spear just grazed my back. The black made a bolt for the cliff. T turned my mare, had a shot, and heard a yen, and was successful in cutting him ott from the cliff, although I was suffering severely from the pain in my face." The three others faced Mr. Hann with uplifted spears, and Mr. Hann promptly rode off. Talbot, on hearing his shot, galloped up ; but as the blacks had reached the cliff there was no hope of getting them. Their idea was, Mr. Hann considers, to kill him, and then Mr. Plumridge and Talbot, who suspected nothing, to gain ot the party's"outfit. :• r- ■" ' V '.v-i: - :~:"l : '■' z '