A WHITE WOMAN AMONGST BLACKS.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 202, 26 August 1873, Page 3

A WHITE WOMAN AMONGST BLACKS.

Considkrable excitement lias been created in town bv a report, emanating from Mr Robert Hewitt, to the effect that a white woman, who is supposed to bo t'<ie one after whom so many searches have been made by the Q-overninent and pthers, and who is reported to have been captured by the blacks some five-and-twenty years ago, has bpen found, and h now on her way to Rockhamplon. It seems that Mr Hewitt and party, •while travelling along the coast, met with an old blnekfellow, who, in the course of conversation, mentioned to Mr Hewitt that he knew where there was a white woman who had been with a tribe of blacks ever since he as a boy, and that he could find her, upon which the blackfellow was secured for the night, lest he should not be as good as his word, and at daylight the party, with the darkie fastened by way of security to Mr Hewitt's stirrup, pursued their course for a distance of about seventeen miles, and pame upon the woman, who was lying down upon the open beach, and quite alone. She was perfectly naked, and is described as being of fine athletic form, above the middle age, and fully six feet in height, healthy, and strong, although she refused to budge a foot when captured, having to be carried some seven miles to the place selected for her detention. She is apparently unable to speak a word of English, but that, as in the case of Morrcll, who was eighteen years with the blacks, will, no doubt, be onl\ temporary, and her natho language return to her, when public curiosity will, we expect, be gratified by her history. Some of our readers may remember that about the year 1855 a report was circulated in the Sydney Press that a white woman had been seen on the coast north of Kepple Bay, that Messrs Archer instituted a search for her though without success — and that expeditions for her recapture wero undertaken by Messrs Wiseman and G-. P. Murray, by orders of the Government, which proved fruitless. It has long been supposed that the white woman Saul to be with the blacks, was the wife of the chief constable at Gladstone, who some yeara since was supposed to have been wrecked on the coast in the Sea Gull, in which Mr Norman Hay and others perished, but as she was a short, Btout woman, and tho one found is unusually tall, that fact is set at rest. We are disposed to attach some little truth to the report, as it has long been known that tho blacks have had a white woman in their possession j at tho same time all the particulars would equally well describe a ship's figurehead of a woman washed ashore from a wreck and found " lying down on the beach." — Rockhampton Argus.

A Sight for the Lvnrß3 — The special correspondent of the I)aiJy News at the Vienna Exhibition writes :—": — " The Messrs Hancock's cases glitter in the sheen of nearly £300,000 worth of jewel-* Their moat striking objects, at a cur«ory glance, are the Tennyson va*e, modelled in chaste and repowme oxidised silver, by Armistead, to illustrate the Morte D'Arthur ; a suit of emeralds and diamonds, worth £8000 ; a lovely tiara of wheat ears and wdd flowers in diamonds, tUe centre consisting of a large cinnamon-colored brilliant ; a neckla.ee and pendant of pink pearls, the large pearl in the centre of the pendant being the size of a pigeon's egg ; another necklace and pondant in brilliants, with magnificent central ruby, the whole to be bqughk for the bagatelle of £10,000 ; a necklace of black pearls and, diamonds, value £2500 ; a suit of pearls, consisting of tiara, bracelet, earrings, and necklace, also of the value of £10,000 ; and two pim«gß>, each consisting of a single brilliant, the cost of tlio pair being £2000. Otrer |ag»inst Messrs Hancock's, Mr Aitchison, of Edinburgh, is great in cairngorm jewellery, Highland brooches, dirks, ramshead snuff mulls, &o. He shows the largest cairngorm ever yet found. It is in the rough, and weighs 71bs." Qpekr Substitute pob Cats.— Mr E. L. Layard, •writing to the Field from P.in, Brazil, saya : — "Are you a»vare that' boas' dojthe work of domestic cats in this country ? They are sold about tho street, and purchased to be placed in the roofs or under the floors of homes (usually raised several feet) to keep down the rats. I lately saw libout 20 in a bos in o, shop I entered, a.nd was told they were for Bile to captains of ships, to let loose in the hold. ' I calculate,' said a Yankee skipper present, ' I have bought but Jialf-a dozen to take to New York ; but they are the queerest cats I have ever heird of.' "hey aro exceeding v handsome, and, if not bullied, quite harmless. Their mout'is art*, hou - ever, furnished with numbers of a pry sharp teeth, capable of inflicting a nasty lacoraled wound." Modkun' IXDUsTRT. — A Vienna journal contains the following announcement : — " Anna Agrikoi, sick nurse, watches dead bodies, repairs straw chair-, applies lceohes, and makes na«tri, de^M-h, anl dolicnt'ic^."