^54 



NATURE 



\_Dec. i6, i! 



together— who all pretended great regret at his loss, 

 though the robbery must have been effected with their con- 

 nivance—he told them that he was determined to have 

 his property back, and that if it was not brought in 

 twenty-four hours he would fire at every native who came 

 within range of his house, which fortunately commanded 

 a great extent of native paths, as well as the narrow strait 

 between the island and the main land. He then made 

 his preparations for a desperate defence in case he was 

 attacked, loaded some Orsini shells and mined the paths 

 leading to his house, so that with a long match he could 

 blow them up without exposing himself. At the end of 

 the twenty-four hours, nothing having been brought, he 

 commenced operations by exploding five dynamite car- 

 tridges, which made a roar like that of a cannonade, the 

 echoes resounding for several seconds. He then let off 

 rockets in the direction of the native houses, and illumin- 



ated his own house with Bengal fire. All this caused 

 terrible consternation ; and the next morning the chief 

 arrived with five men, bringing a considerable portion of 

 the stolen goods, and trembling with fear to such an 

 e.xtent that some of them could not articulate a word. 

 He insisted however that the rest of the goods should be 

 brought back ; and the next day, to show that he was in 

 earnest, fired at the chief himself, as he was passing at a 

 distance of 300 yards, being careful not to hurt, but only 

 to frighten him. A canoe was also turned back by a 

 bullet striking a rock close by it. The effect of this 

 was seen next morning in another visit from the chief, 

 with five complete suits of clothes, axes, knives, beads, 

 and other stolen articles. Much more, however, remained, 

 and D'Albertis took the opportunity of impressing them 

 thoroughly with his power. He first asked them to try to 

 pierce a strong piece of zinc with their spears, which were 



-Epn, 



blunted by the attempt, while he riddled it through and 

 through with shot from his gun. He also sent bullets into 

 the trunk of a small tree a hundred yards distant, showing 

 that a man could not escape him. They had been seated 

 on a large stone near his house, which he had mined. He 

 now called them away, and having secretly lighted the 

 match, told them to look at the stone. A tremendous ex- 

 plosion soon came, and the stone disappeared. The | 

 natives were too frightened to move, and begged him to 

 have pity on them, promising to restore everything. A 1 

 great hole was seen where the stone had stood, while some 

 of its fragments were found a long way oft'. For twelve ' 

 days more he kept up a state of siege, turning back all 

 travellers and many canoes by rifle-balls in front of them, 

 but never hurting any one. Then another large instalment 

 of his goods was brought, leaving little of importance, and 

 ultimately he recovered almost everything. During the 



of the Mahori-papuans. 



whole of this time he never hurt a single person or did 

 any damage to their property, but succeeded in getting 

 back his own by impressing them with his, to them, 

 superhuman power. The result was that after eight 

 months' residence he parted from these people on the 

 best of terms. They all embraced him, and most of them 

 shed tears, while their last words were : " Ma> ia raic ! 

 Maria ran !" " Return, Maria ! Return, Maria ! "—that 

 being his second name, by which they had found it most 

 easy to call him. 



As a fearless capturer of snakes Signor D'Albertis 

 rivals, if he does not surpass, the celebrated Waterton ; 

 indeed he seems to like them rather than otherwise. At 

 Yule Island the natives had found a large snake under a 

 tree, and all ran away from it, crying out, and this is his 

 account of what happened : — 



"At last I went to the natives and tried to ascertain 



