WORTHY OF ROMANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 273, 8 April 1911, Page 9

WORTHY OF ROMANCE.

TALE OF LOST EXPLORERS. "OUT OF THE JAWS OF DEATH." The story of the adventures of Mr. Staniforth Smith and his fellow explorers who were recently lost in New Guinea is a most thrilling one, worthy of Action and romance (says a Sydney paper). They ascended the river Kikori for 50 miles and then struck north-west into practically unknown country. After crossing three large rivers, which they apparently believed included the Turama and the Bamu, they found themselves in mountainous and almost impassable country, but pushed forward, only to find themselves on the edge of a precipice 'loooft high. They had no means of their own for surmounting this unexpected difficulty, and there seemed to be no hope of avoiding it by detour. To right and left of them the march seemed barred by the wall of rock. Nothing daunted, the intrepid party made use of the tropical vines and creepers which covered the face of the precipice—and climbed down.

At the foot of the precipice was a river, which, judging by his ohart.s, Mr. Staniforth Smith took to be the Strickland river, a tributary of the Fly. They followed the stream to a distance of 2.50 miles from the coast, and came to a series of whirling rapids. Here again it seemed as if the fate of the expedition were sealed. The rapids seemed to put an end to their advance, the precipice was unscalable behind—it had been a perilous enough adventure to descend — both banks were hemmed in, and food supplies were running short. They were in a sort of cul de sac. A GREAT RISK.

There was only one thing for it, to stake everything upon a single plunge. So they constructed four rafts, said Mr. Staniforth Smith, 'binding the timbers together with creepers and rattans. They consigned themselves and their provisions on these rafts to the mercy of the swift-running waters. After they had started they found that the current assumed such swiftness that it was useless to attempt to steer the rafts. As the stream narrowed when passing through the gorges whirlpools were frequent. The rafts were twirling around like corks until the occupants were quite dizzy. Suddenly the cry was raised, "Rocks ahead!" But there was no means of avoiding them. With terrible velocity the stream carried the rafts straight on to the rocks. There was a horrible crash! A sound of tearing timber. All the rafts were smashed up. And, of course, the entire stock of stores and records of the journey were lost. Down the river the party persevered. Four more rapids were encountered, and all of them had to be shot. To progress along the banks was impossible. On every occasion their rafts were capsized, carriers were drowned, the explorers becoming increasingly handicapped by lack of men. Then, after toiling for 50 miles in this arduous endeavor, they came to another barrier, which was beyond even them. They came to a chain of rapids 150 miles long! To attempt to shoot these was to court destruction; enough lives had been sacrificed already. They were forced, however, much against their will, to abandon the river and tramp along the rough bank at the water's edge. NATIVES TO THE RESCUE.

The natives came to the rescue. So far from being hostile, they supplied them with food, the thing they lacked most sorely. This gave them new courage and fresh strength, and they entered the river once more, taking to rafts. There a great surprise was awaiting them. All the while they had no knowledge of the name of the river they were following. They believed it was an unknown river. But they were suddenly disillusioned. They arrived at their old camp which they had left on the way up. The march was' less difficult now. They soon reached the food depot of the search party, got a boat, and crossed t» Daru, where a lugger was obtained to convey them to Thursday Island. TERRIBLE HARDSHIPS. Mr. Staniforth Smith was apparently reluctant to speak of the hardships experienced. After the disaster on the river, whereby all .the records were lost, he himself was parted from the others for five and a-half days, during which he was foodless, iand 'without hat or boots. Subsequently a covering for the feet was improvised from sacking. Afterwards fibre'plants were used, but only two or three days' wear was obtained from them, added to which boils broke out in the ankles and lower part of the leg. After getting on the bank of the river he found only the inside fitting of his helmet remained round his head, necessitating getting leaves from the bushes, which he held in place by the helmet fitting. About 120 miles were travelled in this guise, and latterly Messrs BdU and Pratt were getting anxious about their ability, with 10 ulcerated sores on thai; feet, but Mr. Smith continued to speak lightly of them. Mr. Pratt also had to devise a head covering, an I contrived a kind of plaited hat, giving him a Crusoe appearance. Death by drowning appeared imminent when the rafts were being carried swiftly along amid the rapids, rocks and whirlpools; but though practically everything was lost, some tins of cocoa, with the rifles and ammunition, were saved. A watch and pedometer—which had been rendered useless through submersion—were broken into parts and each piece became something attractive to the natives, for which they readily exchanged sago, yams and taro, enabling the travellers to save time looking out for sago palms and preparing the product for themselves. An intense feeling of relief was experienced when the party came across the depot established under Judge Herbert's direction. With lighter hearts they set out in the whaleboat for the coast. Eight days were taken up in this way, and another four in reaching Daru. By the time thev readied Thursday Island over two weeks' rest and good food had restored them completely.