ADVENTURES IN NEW GUINEA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 5011, 12 March 1877, Page 3

ADVENTURES IN NEW GUINEA.

From a recent review in tbo Melbourne Argue of “ Adventures in Now Guinea, edited by the Rev 11. Grocker," we make the follow* ing extracts:— “ Adventures in New Guinea,” may bode* oribod as a book constructed on the model of Jules Verne's popular works; although the ttraisemblance of its details is less conspicuous and consistent than that which the French writer contrives to maintain. The narrative purports to be issued under the sponsorship of the Bov Henry Grocker, of St Ann’s Parsonage, Wiremai, New Zealand ; a place which may be looked for in the same atlas as that which contains the city of Lagado. The hero of the story is a Frenchman, who runs away to sea when a boy, visits Liverpool, is struck down by a fever, learns the English language, becomes a Free* mason, is converted to Protestantism, and sots sail for Australia, in company with an old playfellow. After various adventures in Victoria, they resolve to make a trading voyage to New Guinea. Unfor* tunately, the vessel was wrecked on the coast of that island, but Louis Tregance and four of the crew escaped with their lives, only to fall into the hands of a tribe of cannibals, who worship the sun and have a depraved taste for baked mariners. His companions were cooked and eaten with no other sauce apparently than hunger, but marvellous to relate, the worthy priest who superintended the cutting-up and cookery of the meat, gave Louis the grip of an “entered apprentice.” This was returned with hearty goodwill—... followed, perhaps, by “the sign of distress” ■ —and the delighted sailor was liberated. Not unnaturally he struck up a friendship with his masonic emancipator, who had three wives, and suffered a good deal from the sacred thirst of gold. The reverend gentleman having told his young friend that there were some wonderful diggings in the country of the Orangwoks, on the other side of the Tanna-Vorkoo ranges, Louis, who had rooked a cradle at Ballarat and elsewhere, prevailed upon his clerical preserver to forsake the baking of bodies and the curing of souls, and to accompany him on a gold-seeking expedition. This the priest agreed to, and they set out for Kootar, the capital of the auriferous region, accordingly. On their way they fell in with a detachment of cavalry, in the service of Hotarwokoo, the monarch of that realm. “ They were mounted," says the writer, “ on little ponies, striped with yellow and white, which moved with great speed. We were seized before we had time to offer resistance, even had we thought of doing so, and bound with a well-made rope of bark and gold-thread.” The two prisoners were conveyed to the capital, on entering which every one became silent or spoke only in whispers. This is the custom of the place, for as yet its inhabitants are unacquainted with Legislative Assemblies, stump oratory, street organs, and the cognate blessings of civilisation. The King of Kootar lives in a seven story palace, the courtyard of which is paved with slabs of gold and marble. But the Orangwoks, though highly advanced in some respects, are terribly backward in others. For example, every person presented at Court grovels in the presence of royalty. He is described as “ foiling upon his stomach, and drawing himself along in this position until ho is opposite the king s throne. Placed in the house of a chief named Kayhar, Louis Tregance teaches bis daughter,Lamlam, English and drawing, and ends by falling in love with her. But as he represents himself to be an experienced miner, he is sent by the King to the Watara district, where all the gold comes from, a region surrounded with glaciers, volcanoes, gigantic boa-constrictors, and everything that can make life agreeable. Here they have a very ingenious method of disposing of their criminals ; and it was ascertained to bo quite efficacious in putting a stop to robberies of the gold escorts. Travelling through a wood with a Papuan named Lanna, Tregance found his nose assoiled by an odour almost as bad as any thing that can be smelt upon the Yarra below the Falla. “ Before I could obtain any oniwer to my eager questions," he observes, “ my companion stopped, and, pointing to a tall tree, showed me the corrupting bodies of five men. They were enfolded by the coils of a huge snake, which was wound around them very elaborately. The snake, of the boa-constrictor kind, was about 17ft in length. Of course (?) it was dead, and had been used as the instrument of death to the unfor una e men.” And here wo may parenthetically indulge in a little remark expressive of our admiration for that child-like faith which is the beautiful characteristic of some religious newspapers. The Nonconformist of Nov 8 in reviewing this book, placidly remarks, “In spite of much that seems improbable enough in the narrative, we are bound to accept it as genuine! Sweet, confiding soul! At page 119 Louis Tregance 1 sees a boa-constrictor 60ft long, and at page 145 be describes an animated fight between one of these reptiles and a huge crocodile. The boa, having got the better of the saurian, swallowed him* tail and all i after t vh.ch, “ I he coiled himself up to sleep," "h.oh mu.t have been rather a difficult operation with the unelastic monster inside of him; and then Louis and his companions "fad the and out off its wrinkled head, —an incident which the Nonconformist is 1 bound to aooopt T. gonuine." At page 168 we read of “ i Aos of women who live entirely by themselves, and kill any man who falls into their hands. *n/nn the next page we hear of a tribe of men with talk, and these are so long that when They sit down they have to make hole, in the ground to coil them up m. Wo do not propose to follow Louis TroW . J««.tnrea to their conclusion, as geanoo s adve t 0 j, ho au thor, by fore* that would b whioh the reader may be stalling - n jjj g nft rralivo Enough to expected to t of ro mantio incident BO y that the book s full or pfefer . and exciting 41 ““ Captain Lawson’s ” able, on the w 'p ro( mnoo " has a much book, because" Louis more lively w 0 ora it to mention that work, Nor must £ . § that “ Adventures - t from whom we ,h.p.not. «1»»J *Ss be „ w m have little doubt P geoof)d gtor j in the . displeased to * eo ® BoeD oof it should be 1 same vein, even if laid in the same island.