EIGHT YEARS' TRAVEL IN AUSTRALIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2258, 10 June 1897, Page 51

EIGHT YEARS' TRAVEL IN AUSTRALIA.

(Wbittbn fob the Witness Little Folks BY OOMPAaNON, WAIKA.WA.) XXIII. i Travelling in the wilder and more remoto districts of Australia is frequently accom- i [ panied by danger, unless extreme care be ' employed. There is the risk of getting lost j or " bushed/ aa it is termed ; of perishing from thirst, or of being murdered by the j blacks should your way lead through the '< territory of tribsa that are dangerous. Absence of mind and nervousness or fear are the main causes of travellers losing themselves. In traversing unsettled country it is imoerative to guard aeainab going astray j that the thoughts be not allowed to wander, j and also that clear observation of surrounding j objectß be exercieed, and anything peculiar j met with by the way noted. The careful observer will always meet with i some object, or other that, borne in mind, will act as a guide to lead him back to the start- ! ing point should ha wander astray from the light path. Again, it is absolutely necessary to keep an even mind, for let fear once tafc possession, and the chance of regaining your lost route is certainly slight. Nervousness or dread blind the strayed wayfarer to evsry trace, however plaiD, of his whereabouts. Consideration of surrounding objects is never thought of, bud on the excited wanderer rushes, hither and thither, a prey to the moat agonising thoughts that torture and distract the mind. Reason forsakes him the instant he gives way to fear, and soon through mental and bodily fatigue he wears away his strength and sinks into a troubled sleep that does not relieve hia j fevered brain, for the judgment being inert i his thoughts roam unchecked, and draam-j I portray his situation with * vividness that I exceeds reality. Ho raves and mutters in hie sleep, shifting ; uneasily, forcod while bodily fatigue conj tinues to Buffer from this dreadful nightmare; then starting from his slumber he gazas wonderiDgly around, until again a ' chonuand frenzied thoughts rush through bia mind, induci»g delirium. Ha strips off his ' clothing and casts ie from him, yells, laughs ; hysterically, and would, it a fellow man apj proached, flee from his presence .as from an s apparition. Again he hurries on, ho knows ' not whither, circling round towards the left. i All sense of pain is dead within him, or if ha { feels the pang* of thirst or hunger, these ! tend only to iccreaeo his madness, foe like a warhorse maddened with wounds and ' frenzied by the din of battle, he is born by the whirl of an excitement insuppressible be- , yond the kan of things material into chaos. ! The sun's rays burn and blister his naked skin. I A raging fever seizes him, his cheeks are hollow, his sunken restless ayes gleam with unnatural light, the toDgae tarns thick and I parched as ii: to choke him. But see, ha nears I a gilguy hole filled with refreshing water. i Will he stop to quench his thitst? No ! on he rushes like a rabid dog, nor turns to drink. j The getting sun casts its rays slantingly on [ a corpse, already black and swollen, and when tha darkness falls troops of famished dingoes snarl and fight as they tear the dead man's.liesh and gnaw his bones, j Now had these foolish fears been kept in | check, these wild imaginings controlled, and had the distraught traveller reasoned, he might have noticed many things which would have helped to save him. Here his tracks have crossed and recrossed, showing that he was returning on. bis way ; there is a tree with strangely twisted trunk or shattered by a lightning flash — he passed this coming on hid journey; the sun is shining overhead, travelling across the northern eky, and yet ihe sees it not ; the fins traetops incline ; towards the east, but this is unnoticed ; the shady side of all the timber is damp and mossgrowD, but he takes no cognisance — his mind is gone. It is marveUous that men who have spent years in the bush and are perfeebly aware of all these indications, who j are strong both bodily and mentally, will i become excited to a semi-madness whenever j 4,hey go astray, and such knowledge vanishes before their foar. Why, I have bean with those whose lifetime was passed free from all settlement, and yet they would tremble were they led a trifling distance from a bcaton track. Aye, stranger still, would disregard blazes made with their own hands on crees a few hours previously perhaps, and, overcome by terror, leave the track and wander till they died. Throughout the whole Australian oontinent little heaps of whitened human bones lie scattered and strewn, telliDg of thoße who lost their way and died alone. Nor are they thought much of or cause a falling tear: some poor swagger — that is all. And yet who knows 1 Hundreds have left good homes in other countries, lured by the hopes of that success, whicb they could not secure in their native land, and gone aoroad. Incapable constitutionally of undergoing the hardships and vicissitudes of the wild bu3h, yet buoyed by hope, they travelled inland, and perished by the way, unknown or disregarded by their fellow men. More than, onca the spot where some poor waDderer died was pointed out to the wiiter white travelling in Australia, and the painfully sad impression made on the occ.sion • will not be forgotten. Once it was the body 1 ' of a young man accidentally found by astockman. Unlike moat others, he had retained his reason, and died from exhaustion. Daring the last four days of his life the traveller had i kept a diary, in which ha recorded bia sensa- . ' tions as death was approaching, and as his

statements from time to time were entered , weakness and debility vrere apparent in his altered writing. One sentence, written'in a faint, irregular hand, was as follov/s j — " lam faint — ohl so faiutl Would to G-od I had water 1 lam choking," and then further on — " I feel that lam dying, nnd yet I have no fear ; it cannot bs worse than these sufferingn. I know that I am going where I shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, and God shall wipe away all tears from my eyes." Now from the danger of getting lost and perishing thus the aborigines are perfectly safe. Their imagination is lees fervid, and fear is utterly unknown to them ; while observation is tenfold more acute, because it is not interrupted. So long as there ia an opoasum alive, a tree grub to be found, or a yam in the ground, a black fellow will not die of starvation, and this keaps the mind calm on that score ; nor does the imagination conjure up troubles that may never come — the time being is all that concerns him. Thus the whole energy of the native's mind is centred on the one difficulty, and that is how to keep in the direction he wishes to go, and he accomplishes his journey without apparent exertion. Fear and excitement in this as in every danger only tends to augment the difficulty, whilst an even mind and calm deliberation may show to you many opportunities of escape and lessen the peril of your situation.