THE MAN SERVERTEEN YEARS AMONG THE BLACKS.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 45, 14 April 1863, Page 3

THE MAN SERVERTEEN YEARS AMONG THE BLACKS.

; uoted some days ago an announcement lockhampton Bulletin to the effect that j£. > man, who liad toeen amongst the for seventeen years, had been disin the Burdekin district. He arrived - en da. the 20th vXt., anfl is to be for- . on to Brisbane. The subjoined narra- \ 'esses to havebeentaken down from the ps "by a correspondent of out contem- ' the Courier, signing himself" Advance ia," and has been published in that He says : — j s Morrill is my name. I was born in _ ish tf Heighbridge, near Maldon, in cki nty of Essex, England, and was an aman, shipped 'on tooird the barque in, Captain George Petkittly, bound dney to China with a cargo of timber. „ led out of Sydney the le<rt; day of me ry, 1846. For three days alter we Iney Heads we liad splendid -weather, ! fc commenced to blow hard, and into a fearful gale. It "blew all the to atoms new sails were bent, and no set than they were split into ribbons, were obliged to heave-to under bare The weather being so heavy, the was unable to talco any observations. Saturday week,following the weather ted, and we got c..me sail on the ship, lie irst watch on Saturday night the chief ow ademore sail, as the weather" got clearer, , itei the middle watch, after the wneel was Jpp 1, the second mate saw the appearance : oken water right ahead. He went it o call the captain and told him there • oken water aherd. The captain told haul the ship close to the wind, and as i eon deck to give the orders the ship : „ on a rock, and completely knocked her aee i, and shipped a very heavy sea, which — away the quarter boat and also the second mate overboard, and he t. At break of day the tackles weTe , one of the boats, and she was launched OAard, but was stove directly she got into ter. The only boat left them was the which was got over the side and I down, but no one would venture to o her. But the chief mate (a brother :aptain's) got into her to unhook the , but before he could get the after IQt j clear, the broken water pulled the stern d the fore one got adrift somehow, the ( i broke, and she drifted away by thp ' current that was running over the vay from ' e wreck. We threw ropes but none reached hi n. After he found lm io assistance could be rendered he his hand, and bid good-bye to his r and sister-in-law. There was a live t n the boat, but he must have peished after, as he could not venture to leave w of the boat, on account of the stern all to pieces and of her swamping at The captaii thcu called all hands into ' bin and read prayers, and afterwards at the best thing that could be done make a raft from the spais of the ship, 3ry we succeeded in doing, making the strong as xopes and nails could make as it was launched from off the side, ae9 t clear from the rocks, the passengers !W got on the raft ; the rope bro';e and „ rried out to sea, before we co lid get 'k'lg for use, except one small keg of a few tins of soup and boulli, and a ceg of spirits, of which the captain Ita ar S e < aQ d issued it out to each person neck of a porter bottle as long as it three or four times a day. The folwere on the raft when we left the -,-p — Captain Petkittly and his wife; J - ies Quavey and a little child of about ■ight years ef age ; Mr George Wilmot, . -l e, and an infant at the b.east, and a Let '* r * as nursemaid ; and fourteen of the irc l, :ompany. The sufferings on the raft on ■ possible to describe. The cry was ally for "water! water!" After the ire water was run out, a shower of rain I P|ien the sail was set to catch every julc water, which re-filled the keg and all ; and a eouple of sharks (by which ; was surrounded) we caught enabled to eer up a bit. We were 42 day-; on ; before we reached the land at Cleveleer iy, and out of the number saved, only tain, his wife, Mr Wilmot, and four of r, viz., James Morrill, A.8., James apprenticp, James Gouley, A.8., John A.8., reached the shore. Mr Wilmot nes Gouly died a few days after landd « )hn Miller found a native canoe and away from us, and was afterwards iy the natives under a tree dead. The '• said the ship was lost on the Horseef, or Minerva Shoal. The remaining l8 ) # the party lived chiefly on shell-fish ourteen days, when the blacks dis'"O I us. The captain's wife was the first v them, and called out. The wild re standing naked on the hills a little '• . $ from us. They made no attempt to bmi ' is until we held our hands supplicatj> them, when they did the same, and me running down to us and got round 7222 rately, and after examining us, and all our spare clothes, they tried to is up by all sorts of gestures, and Bnta perfectly friendly disposed ; some of 3pt with us that night and brought ggp r, and the following morning gave us ots to eat, and assisted us to walk to — mp. The apprentice boy having bad p on scurvey, they carried him up bodily Tvay. They supplied us with meat ik until we were strong enough to pod for ourselves, and always treated •S> y ; we were about six months before i inured to the style of the blacks, or avel with the tribe from one place to . The apprentice boy went travelling ne young men of another tribe down . puth than I have been. I was trying lim, when the news came to me that :aken ill and died, which was about . hrs after we landed. The captain, two at 1 afterwards, lost the use of his limbs, m T ioon wasted away and died ; his wife, itio utterly day and night, followed him days afterwards, and were buried side m9 _ by the natives. lam the only surthe whole party, and have lived with Qeaa ks up to this present time, now 1 7 n Bth March, 1863, and have always :ated with kindness amongst them. y a little more than a month ago that ks told me that, when fishing in the in river, they saw cattle feeding and ; ; also described a white man riding rms se and cracking a stockwhip, which «" ught was the report of a gun ; they nselves in the trees till night came then came to the camp. I then conne 2#hat white men were close to. About \J ."V/terwards I got them to come kan--1 hill, which turned out to be f \ mile from a sheep station on the Lower Burdekin, belonging '•». .fltil. While we were hunting, they >n * f>yd women as spies to see if the -^;-~|e» were there. They came back in EN* noon, and said what they had seen. otpne to show me where the place las we were going she espied the edjng in the grass, and bolted back ' itives. called to her, but she would rn. Determined, after seeing the j | > fild the shepherd, I proceeded till tbtax ° * creek where I washed myself as L» ;id alean as possible. I then went to ' !p-j%rd and got on the top rail to any dogs from biting me. I heard t 6, . i the hut close to ; I then called out, th < cheer, shipmate ? " when one of the np^ieoutand saw me standing naked °?P tils. He called his mate (and came tl0 £ his gun). "Come out here, Bill, II ired man or a yellow man. I be Ihe is no black man." As I saw the a &T 1 ' "^ Do not shoot me, lam a British ' Jicaßtaway sailor." They then called »ne, and gave me some bread and a |a, and it was a little time before I

could speak -with joy, as I had not spoken English for many years. I returned to the natives that night, to prevent them coming to the station to look for me, and I returned to the station the following day, after telling the blacks to go toward the coast a»d not to touch the cattle. I remained a fortnight, in case the natives should come to look forme. I g;ive myself up to Mr Myers, who left me in charge of Mr Salting, of fliffling's cattle station, until the return of the Commissioner's orderly i't-om the Fanning River* who accompanied me safely into the town of Bowen. I experienced great kindness from MrlP. Somers, J. P., who fitted me out afresh with shoes and clothing, and likewise lent me a horse to iide on. My experience -with the Hacks proves that they are canibals ; parents eat their own children, and generally they eat the bodies of those killed in fights, and I would not trust them generally. My name amongst them was Karckynjib-Wombil-Moony, after one of their chiefs.