Dec. 23, 1886.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



425 



Wlien I gave liim a bright brass chain to hang it by 

 around his neck, whew! Vandorbilt and the Duke of 

 Westminster were beggax's beside him. 



THE HIMPSA TREE. 



bamboo with him; then suddenly letting go, and bending 

 his knee at the same time, the missile is hurled with im- 

 mense velocity against its intended mark. My sketch, 

 however, will give a better idea of the weapon than ever 

 so much description. 



This insti-ument they call the Khi-goorta. To supply it 

 the warrior carries a bag of ammunition slung over his 

 shoulder. This elastic wand fitting, as it does, in a socket, 

 can be easily removed, and is then used as a club and 

 becomes a fearful weapon in the hands of these muscular 

 little fellows. His other weapons are as follows: On liis 

 head a species of casque with a sharp knife projecting 

 from the top, front and rear. To his left forearm is 

 strapped a sharp dagger that projects beyond the elbow, 

 and in his left hand he carries a creese. A double-bladed 

 knife is bound to the palm of the right liand. so that he 

 can use his fingers and thumb for handling the khi-goorta, 

 or for any other purpose, while another dagger is attached 



After several other games had been played there came 

 a light lunch of fish, friiit, cakes, and the goorta cup. 

 That despatched my two warrior attendants retired for a 

 short space of time, but presently reappeared attired in 

 full fighting rig, which is much the same as that used for 



THE KHI-GOORTA— I. 



hunting big game. The warrior in this case is literally 

 covered with weajDons. To the shin of the right leg is 

 attached a strong elastic piece of bamboo 6ft. in length 

 with something like a cleft spoon at the top. This is for 



ADVANCING UNDER COVER OF THE PATSA. 



to the right forearm, similar to that on the left. To the 

 inside of each foot is firmly fastened a short, stout claw, 

 similar to the arrangement worn by workmen in oiu- 

 country to enable them to climb telegraph poles, and for 

 a parallel purpose. 



Thus accoutered, one of these active little Wongbrezy 

 will engage in a hand to hand encounter with large and 

 ferocioiis beasts, and almost invariably come off victori- 

 ous. In their encounters with human enemies otherwise 

 caparisoned, I doubt not they are equally successful. 

 They were so in the only case I ever witnessed, where a 

 party of Arahbigees encountered a marauding band from 

 the mountains. Their great object is to get at close quar- 

 ters with their enemy as quickly as possible, when they 

 fight like wildcats with their heads, elbows, hands and 

 feet. They can readily detach the khi-goorta from the 

 shin, when it might be in the way in rimning or leaping, 

 but in close-quarter fighting they consider it quite an ad- 

 vantage. 



In order to get near their foe without suffering from 

 the darts, slings, boomerangs and other missiles mostly 

 iised by motmtain tiibes, they employ a composite shield 

 called patsa, made of sections of wicker work covered 

 with tough hide, about eighteen inches square. Each man 

 carries one of these sections, that are so arranged that 

 they can be locked together in any number, making a 



o 



DETAIL OF PATSA. 



shield of any desired size, which is then carried on the 

 end of a pole, or poles, by several men, and under this 

 cover they make their advance. 



They also use this patsa as a protection against the sim 

 and rain in unsheltered places. By a simple contrivance, 

 a sort of winch, they can twist the hooks roimd so as to 

 pass through the holes and then in turning them back, 

 tighten the plates together. I am satisfied that a similar 



THE KHI-GOORTA.— n. 



holding either a dart or a stone. Placing one or the other 

 of these in this receptacle the warrior grasps it with his 

 right hand and, throwing his body back, he pulls the 



RESTING UNDER THE PATSA, 



kind of defense, made of steel plates, might be used with 

 great advantage by civilized armies for advancing under 

 musketry fire. I shall speak to officers on the subject, 

 but soldiers, like men of all other trades, are full of stale 

 traditions, and no arguments can convince theni of the 



value of anything absolutely new till they are blown into 

 it, or it into them. 



All these things, and many more, the Wongbrezies 

 exhibited diu-ing their festival. When the smi had just 

 touched the horizon the whole party collected aroxmd 

 my tent and sang a parting song to the luminary, wish- 

 ing it good night and a refreshing bath (they imagined it 

 sank into the lake every evening and swam round, x)r 

 rather was carried romid by the current, to the other 

 side, whence it arose the next morning), and thanking it 

 for its obliging attendance dui-ing the day, and for having 

 kept away all rain and clouds. Then they all cried three 

 times, "Clock! Clock! Aharooma woo, Aharooma packka, 

 dogue war WambaiT," and then filed off to the banquet. 

 And such a banquet! No alderman ever sat down to its 

 equal, at least in variety of fish and game. The fragrant 

 leaves of the moy-aya served for crockery, and gourds 

 for drinking cups. I will not attempt to enumerate the 

 dishes, but piles of the delicious marble duck stiiffed with 

 ground nuts and savory herbs, roasted isi the ashes, to- 

 gether with choice joints of the exquisite Axis venison, 

 and some Ghi pears and spice melons were enough to 

 satisfy my highest idea of a repast. At 10 o'clock I 

 retired to my tent, leaving the merrymakers dancing, 

 singing, howling and playing all sorts of boisterous 

 pranks, and I went to sleep, dreaming that I was back in 

 my native America, running to a fire with the boys in old 

 Cambridgeport. 



A MEMORY OF GOOD HOPE. 



"Thalassidroma Melanogaster (Gould). — General color 

 througliout, brownisli blact; belly wMte, divided down tlie center 

 bv a black stripe; rump and sides behind the thighs pure white; 

 legs, feet and web between the toes black; length, ^^in.; wing, 

 ej/^in.; tail, Sin. Xot uncommon ofl Cape L'AgulLas and on the 

 southeastern coast. 



"Thalassidroma Leitcogastbr (Goidd).— Resembles preceding 

 species in size and color, wdth the exception of being rather 

 lighter, and the white of the belly not di\dded by a black stripe. 

 (Obtained by H. E. Sir George Gray in the Cape Seas. The only 

 specimen that has fallen imder my notice was kindly presented to 

 the South African Museum by Lieutenant-Commander L. A. 

 Beardslee, U. S. Navy; captured on board of his ship, the U. S. 

 steamer Aroostook, about 300 miles to the westward of the cape, in 

 May, 1867."— Birds of SouUi Africa, Layard). 



Be sure and italicise the "not" in above description, for it so 

 happened that it became the most important word of the whole, 

 and thereby hangs this tale. 



IT was a dark night and a rough one. For several days 

 a heavy southeaster had busied itself piling up into 

 seas, which, if any seas are so entitled, could be fairly 

 termed mountainous; the immense mass of ocean at its 

 service comprising the great bowl, with a Great Circle for 

 its circumference, into which, seven thousand miles 

 asunder. Capes Horn and Good Hope dip, while to the 

 southward the depth reaches to the ever present and last- 

 ing Antarctic ice fields. There is no lee off the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and a very moderate breeze from any direc- 

 tion, starting before it a mere ripple, may prodtice ere it 

 reaches the cape's meridian a wateiy^-ange which would, 

 if the first seen by a neophyte, fm-nish basis for night- 

 mares for a lifetime and insure his adherence to the land 

 forever. 



The developing process had been carried to perfection 

 upon this night of May 20, 1867, and a speck of a gunboat, 

 of which I was skipper, was reaping the full benefit of it. 

 Under the snuggest of canvas, simply a few hammocks 

 stopped on to the weather after-shrouds, with every spar 

 and boat and gun well lashed or cleated— everything, in 

 short, well secured for storm — the little boat lay to, look- 

 ing well up into the wind and bowing to the enormous 

 foam-crested and marbled green and blue billows which 

 came booming toward us, apparently bound to overwhelm, 

 until, with then crests higher than our mastheads and so 

 near as to shuit from view all else, the advance slope would 

 slide under our forefoot. Lifted by tlie solid water, like a 

 boat in a lock, we would rise tiU at the very summit. 

 Then the crest would divide and go rushing by, as, with 

 om- bow pointing downward, we too would rush down 

 into the great valley, comfortably and gracefully as a gull, 

 but not so dry; for, although no green water came on 

 board, on either side the combers gushed in, flooding our 

 decks a foot or more deep, just enough, as the sailors 

 said, to "wash her face and keep her sweet," for she soon 

 cleared herself. 



I often wonder now if the little Aroostook, a "ninety-day 

 gunboat" of but three hundred tons, was in reality the 

 daisy of a sea boat that I then thought, and still think her, 

 always ready, when called on properly, to respond; tack- 

 ia a light wind, wearing in a gale, scudding or lying to in 

 first-class style; or, if she owes her place in my regard 

 and memory to the fact that she was my first command, 

 and that younger then by half my lift time, I had more 

 confidence both ia ship and skipper than now. I very 

 much doiibt, if the prospect of going to China in a boat 

 of her size were now before me, that I would be able to 

 muster the enthusiasm and zeal which then made of the 

 trip and prospect a delight. 



Although even a moderate gale will get up off the Cape 

 a high sea, and a strong sea one of the highest, yet neither 

 the gale nor resulting sea are as dangerous as lesser ones 

 in some other localities. The gales, especially to the 

 westward of the Cape, are "honest ones," blowing gener- 

 ally quite steadily from one direction, and not liable to go 

 back on a luckless mariner, flanking and driving his help- 

 less craft back over a troubled path; and the seas, though 

 [ fearfully high, are comparatively harmless giants, long 

 I and regular, grand and stately in theic progress. They 



