THE RISING IN NEW CALEDONIA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 204, 26 September 1878, Page 4

THE RISING IN NEW CALEDONIA.

The "Sydney Morning Herald" baa despatched a special correspondent to New Caledonia to report upon the Native outbreak there. The paper of thP sth contains a letter written on the sth of August from head-quarters Camp of Boulapnrj. The risin* appears to ba ft rather tame affair, "quite dtfferent from (ha severe nnd earnest fighlioo which was indulged in during tlie Maori rebellion in Now Zjaland. The correspondent thus writes of the fcawp:— "An open shed covored with bark forms our snllca-manger. his pleasant to dine thus iv fins weather with a look-out, on to the Btar»spangled heavens. My friend, the doctor, inlfoduced me to some of the officers who had been stationed here since the first establishment of the camp, n month ago. There was the gay anJ witty captaio. of mariues, who bears the dictiuguiehed title of Etienne Philibert Rene de ia Follye de Joux. He is from Burgundy, and will crack sardonic jokea or slay Cannques alike carlessjly. Captain de Joux (as we call him ehurtly) was in command of the only expedition where there has been any real fighting, and from an English mounted Volunteer I bear that he "bore btmeelf bravely, as became one of hie name. For in spite of all the reports in Noumea, the natives have never faced the French soldiers. In this instance they in large numbers attacked the rear-guard of the troop 3 which bad burnt their villages, firing, and throwing spears at them from the bush. This is all they will do. The nonsense which ia talked about the natives being possessed of a great knowledga of military tactica is absurd. If Atai, the presumed head and front of the rebellioD, had a knowledge of warfare, even to the amount possessed by a Sioux chief, he could have made things remarkably unpleasant for the denizens of the camp at Boulapari. But in truth, after the first bloody outbreak and easy victory achieved over the defenceless, the natives have never attempted. to attack armed white men. They are afraid of the soldiers, and really I think the feeling is reciprocal. It, is true that the night before I arrive! hare a Cnnaque threw a spear, to which some burning grass was attached, into the bark roof of the building inhabited by the convicts, 20 paces from the stockade, then bo <iived into the bush unharmed by the shots of the sentries. It is true that the morning before, the bakehouse at the old convict camp, 500 yards from where I write, was first plundered of the loaves destined for the daily consumption, and then fired. But these are individual cases of bravado. In ihe latter there were no soldiers nearer than the stockade. It seems Btrange, however, that the bakehouses and provender should have been nightly left at the mercy of the enemy. A new oven has, however, been built within the line of sentries. Lieutenant Frappier, of the Taye, v?as another of my new acquaiotancep, whose lively Parisian salließ tfnded to enliven the rnesstahle. Monsieur Duval, tha Comraissaire, has about the hardest time^of any of us, whilst the easiest billet is that of the telegraph clerk, whose ofiice is in the log building, formerly used as a prison. The line to the north being still cut, there is only communication with Noumea, and these only Government messages, which are not very numerous. Our dinner on these, as on following occasions, was Dot a very meagre one. There was soup, and beef in two or three different fashions, and vegetable, and a salad. And good bread and yin ordinaire always made up for other deficiencies. True, we had our hardships. Tablecloth and napkins there were none, and knives were scarce; .lucky for me that I had brought a good couteau de-chasse. After dinner there was, of course, coffee and tobacco, and general conversation. Every five minutes the cry of the sentries was beard—* .Bon quart partoztt V the sailor's watch-word, the camp having been first occupied by the men of the Tage. The fifteen sentries round the Stockade gave this cry, with a verity of different pronunciations. Some lingered long and carefully on the words, ac if conscious of performing a solemn duty; others sharp and curtly; these latter Parisians, no doubt. After an hour's digestive chat, 1 had a walk with Dr. Lossoaarn outside the Stockade. Under their mi-mis the tired soldiers were sleeping. In front was a large fire, kept up all night by some convicts detailed for that purpose. This is supposed to afford light, ia the event of a rush of the natives, to enable the troops to distinguish friend from foe. But to my mind it would also Berve admirably to show the Canaques their victims. A few determined men could make a rush through the camp, burn and kill, and disappear in the bush again without hindrance. That the soldiers are not harassed by night at. tacks provea to me that the natives have no knowledge even of the savage warfare, and are afraid of the military. True, I am told that the Canaques dread travelling at night on account of the evil spirits haunting the shades, and also that the cold affects them. Still, they must have overcome this repugnance when they fired the bakehouse the other day before sunrise.