SEVENTEEN YEARS WITH THE SAVAGES.

Waka Maori, Volume 11, Issue 12, 22 June 1875, Page 142

SEVENTEEN YEARS WITH THE SAVAGES.

The Sydney evening Echo, of May 26, contains the following sketch of the history of Narcisse Pelletier, who was rescued after seventeen years' residence with a savage tribe. It was drawn up from his statements by Lieutenant Ottley, H.E., a passenger on board the " Brisbane " (s.), and forwarded to that paper for

publication:—Narcisse Pierre Pelletier (or Peltier), the soil of a shoemaker, of St. Grilles, near Bordeaux, occupied in 185S the post of cabin-boy in the ship Saint Paul," of Bordeaux, during a voyage from China to whither she was conveying some 350 Chinese immigrants. One moonless night the ship struck on a reef in the Louisiade group of islands, and soon became a total wreck. The captain, crew, and immigrants however reached an island in safety, some in boats and others along the reef. One of the three boats was damaged on the rocks, and the remaining two being quite inadequate to convey all hands to any other ]and, it became quite evident that the crew, if they wished to save themselves, must leave the Chinese to shift for themselves. Accordingly Europeans made for the neighbouring island, where, however, they were attacked by the blacks, aud forced to retire, leaving behind them, in the hands of the. savages, three men—the second officer, a sailor, ,and an apprentice. During this attack Narcisse received a violent blow on the head from a stone, but managed to reach the boat. Much as the crew dreaded the Chinese, they dreaded the savages more, and accordingly returned to the island which had first afforded them refuge. Once more in comparative security, their former fears returned, aud they held a consultation as to what should be done, it being finally decided to embark in silence at dead of night when all the Chinese should be asleep. Narcisse, overhearing what was said, followed the sailors down to the boat and embarked with them in their new venture. It would seem that the captain told the men that he should make for a country where they would either fall in with English settlements or English vessels. The duration of the voyage is uncertain, but must have been considerable, as • the distance traversed cannot have been less than 600 miles. It seems, clear, however, that the crew endured great hardships, for, having no fire, thev lived on flour and such uncooked birds as they could catch or knock down ; and further, that for some three or four days before sighting the Australian coast their supply of fresh water ran out. The point where they landed is known as " First Eed Eocky Point," south of Cape Direction. Raging with thirst, the crew, consisting of the captain, some seven men, and Narcisse, drew the boat up on the beach and searched for water. At length their search was rewarded by finding a small waterhole, but the supply proved insufficient for all, and was consumed by the men, leaving none for the poor little cabinboy, already half dead from hunger, thirst, and exposure, and with feet cut to pieces by the sharp coral of the reef. Their thirst assuaged, the captain and his men (leaving the little cabin-boy to his fate) retraced their way to their boat, and, it is believed, ultimately reached New Caledonia. The conduct of these men scarcely seems to require comment: still it must be remembered that the boy was, as he himself says, "half-dead," and quite unable to walk further, whilst probably the men were themselves too weak to carry him; and we may moreover imagine that, recollecting their treatment by the Louisiade islanders, they were only too anxious to get safely under way again, so that perhaps our indignation should be largely tempered with pity. It may not be out of place here to remark that it is reported that the cannibals of the Louisiade Islands appear to have eaten most of the Chinese two by two, in the most methodical manner, some sixteen or seventeen only having at length been rescued by a passing vessel. To return, however, to Narcisse Pelletier, it appears that the blacks on the mainland, happening to cross the track of the boat's crew, followed it up to the waterhole, and found the little dying boy. They treated him with the greatest kindness, fed him, and

finally ledliim away to their camp. "With this tribe, known in their own tongue as the " Macadamas," he remained for seventeen years, until he was discovered and taken away on the 11th April last, by the crew of the John Bell—a pearl schooner then lying at Night Island. "When discovered, Narcisse was stark naked, like the rest of the tribe, his body burnt by the sun to a rich red colour, and having a glazed appearance; his breasts were adorned with two raised lines of flesh of the thickness of a pencil, while the lobe of his right ear was ornamented with a piece of wood about half-an-inch in diameter, and four inches long. The cuts on his breast, of which he is very proud, were made with pieces of broken glass bottles, the lips of the cut being raised by a system of constant pinching during the healing process. The sailors who brought him off are under the impression that he came willingly, and that the savages understood that he was being ransomed with trade. Narcisse, however, states that the sailors laboured under a misconception, and that neither did the natives wish him to go, nor did he himself wish to leave. In fact, at the time he would much rather have returned to his tribe, but that both he and the blacks were afraid of the guns in the boat. He says that for a long time—a very long time—after his desertion by the captain, his thoughts continually reverted to la belle France, and to his father, mother, and little brothers; but that, as years rolled on, these faded from his memory, and he became thoroughly identified with the blacks. For the first fortnight of his stay in Somerset he is described as restless and uneasy, and as sitting like a bird on a rail watching everyone in a frightened way. Thanks, however, to the kindness of Lieutenant Connor, R.!N\, he was rapidly reclaimed to civilization, and now his greatest pleasure appears to be reading a French novel with which his kind instructor supplied him when shipping him in the Brisbane steamer. His account of life amongst the blacks is necessarily meagre, partly because he has still some difficulty in expressing his ideas in French, and partly, possibly, because there is not much to tell. His life, like that of the men of his tribe, appears to have been principally passed in fishing and hunting, the monotony being occasionally varied by a battle with a neighbouring tribe. One of the most extraordinary features in the case is that, although a mere boy when he deserted, he has retained his knowledge of reading and writing, and can count with ease up to one hundred. Not only can he read print, but he can to a great extent make out ordinary handwriting, whilst during his stay on board he has drawn some excellent sketches of the animals he had hunted—• sketches which, if not exactly " art treasures," are at any rate very life-like representations of the objects they are intended to depict. In short, Narcisse Pelletier is a young man of great intelligence and promise, and we may be permitted to hope that he has many happy days in store for him in his native land. To further this end a subscription was set on foot on board the Brisbane, it being resolved that the money should be remitted to France through the French Consul, to be there applied as seemed best for the furtherance of his interests.