A GREATER THAN GULLIVER.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 718, 23 January 1877, Page 1 (Supplement)

A GREATER THAN GULLIVER.

Captatn Lawson's wonderful storio3 about New Guinea are totally eclipsed by the narrative of a French sailor, whose substmtiallity and veracity are vouched for by no less a p rson that the incum? bent of St Ann's, of Werernat. N.S.W., who has kindly acted a» its editor. Louis Tregance, the Hero of this narrative, is a native of the French province of Maine, who ran off to boa. About 1§52, his vessel was despatch? I on a trad m? ventura to New Guinea, but foundering wiih : n a few miles of the coast, he, with four companions, fell, into the hands of the savage Kahshi. Our hero caw one of bis compHnu>ns after the other thrown upon a heate \ slab, but, when his own turn came, and tbe officiating priest caught hold of his hand to lead him to the slaughter, he fels that he had reoeiyed the ' first masonic grip,' and, having become a mason whilst at the diggings of Ballarafc, he joyfully responded, and bis Lfe was spared ! Strange utorji s reached his ears abont a powerful kingdom m the interior of thelsi»nd, which was said to abound m gold. He thought that his experience as an old gold digger might prove a Fervice tbere, and started with th 9 intention of offering hia services to the kin?, Climbing the cosst range, he saw spread out beneath him a vast plain of exceeding fertility, m which herds oi cittle, buffaloes, antelopes, and other game were seen ia all directions. The snow-capped peaks of Tnnnavoorka rose beyond. Tbe capital of thi- kingdom of K'ootar consis's of 3 000 housos, three to seven storeys m height, and though the streets ard narrow, our author does not tbink this a serious drawback, as the inhabitants are forbidden by law to be m a hurry. The people of this wonderful land ara small m stature and of olive complexion. They are arin-d with the u^ual weapons of savages, wear sheild* and breastplates of gold and ride swifb ponies stripe I m white and yellow. Their dress is decent, exC3pt at the levees of the king, when it is •' de rigueur' to appear without; any disguise whatever. Our hero'? duties as a mining engineer took him to the gold mines of Warra^a m the very centre of the island.' On the road' thither he pxseed a valley of serpents, mu^h more wonderfuL than that described m M Nerne's '* Arpund the World m Eighty Days." His adventures wore numerous, as a matter of course, hut none was more curious than his fight with a boa con r strict or ,which would really hive ended fatally, bub for the intervention of a crocrdile. 'The serpent fjrluintely bwillowed the crocodile, and could thus be killed whilst m a Btate pf torpor. On his return to the capital the eminent services of thi«j rival to Captain Lwsnn were recompensed by his being received a member of the tribe. He married a chief's daughter, taught the natives how tp read and write, trans'ated pprMons of the Bcripture3, and set up a 3ible class. These missionary labours naturally roused the anger of the nati/e priests, and when an epidemic came over the country, he was charged wilh having cause! it, and would certainly have been killed had it; not been for the intervention of powerful friends, win caused the penalty of death to be commuted into, banishment. In a boat he escaped to Australia, was held captive there by the savages for two years, and was finally rescued by his old friend, the captain ot the Ville dv Havre. Truth, to a rer!,ainty , is stranger than fiction ! The reader will hesitate bef jre he accepts this curious prpducbion as a truthful relation of actual adventures. — " Athenamm." — [Undoubtedly so. Speaking for ourselves, we cjukl. we think, as easily swallow the crocpdile. — Eo. W.T.]