296 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Sept. 6, 1913. 
An Old Sailor’s Yarn 
Part Three 
By HENRY D. ATWOOD 
T HUS by his arbitrary proceedings the cap¬ 
tain was forced to ship a crew of convicts, 
who did what they pleased, and I thereby 
obtained some satisfaction for the treatment I 
had received. 
The captain of the craft on which I was 
now acting as an ordinary seaman had come to 
Australia for the purpose of cruising for fin¬ 
back whales, which cannot be caught so well 
elsewhere. They sound frequently when pur¬ 
sued, and are tireless and headstrong, making 
it a very difficult matter to secure them. 
When no whales were visible, and the old 
man got tired of cruising for them, he would 
give orders for a couple of boat crews to go 
ashore and hunt for emus, which are very plen¬ 
tiful in Australia. These birds are much like 
the ostrich, and run very swiftly, but are un¬ 
able to fly. It was a day of great rejoicing for 
those crews whom the old man selected to ac¬ 
company him upon these hunts. He had a dog 
of mixed mastiff and greyhound breed to pur¬ 
sue the birds, and he was a good trailer and tire¬ 
less pursuer of the game, and with him we were 
usually very successful in these trips. 
The dog would often have to chase these 
birds a mile or more before coming up with 
them. In their course they would often throw 
stones behind them with great force, and many 
a man got a bloody nose or black eye in conse¬ 
quence. The old man, however, always had a 
good supply of fire water with him, with which 
lie w pr free to bathe the wounds and lubricate 
the throats of his followers. This made it very 
enjoyable to all with the possible exception of 
the emus. 
It is probable that the emus in sending these 
volleys of stones behind them, as if hurled from 
a sling, were doing so either for the purpose of 
disabling their pursuers, or to aid them in their 
flight, just as a jumper takes stones in either 
hand to enable him to leap to a greater distance. 
The plumes of these birds were carefully saved, 
as being of almost priceless value. 
Getting tired of this kind of amusement, as 
one day while the party were in eager pursuit, 
and the emus were greeting them with a volley 
of stones as usual, I received a severe blow on 
the head from one of these missiles. I made up 
my mind to abandon such chase at once and 
forever. I accordingly watched my opportuntiy 
and stole off in the direction where I saw a man 
collecting sandalwood, N. lanceolalum, for which 
I had learned high prices could be obtained. 
Sandalwood found a ready market at nine 
pounds per ton, about $45, among the Chinese 
frankincense burners in their heathen temples 
and pagodas. The smoke is not obnoxious, but 
smells precisely like the wood itself, being very 
pleasing to the olfactory organs. I made ar¬ 
rangements with the sandalwood merchant to re¬ 
main jvith him for the season and help him se¬ 
cure a large stock of this valuable wood, which 
we afterward sold at a satisfactory price to mer¬ 
chants who eagerly bought it up. 
One day while engaged in our labors, we 
heard a sound like a bleating of a sheep in the 
distance, which continued so persistently that we 
concluded to go in the direction whence the 
sound came, and ascertain what was the mat¬ 
ter. Our course took us in the direction of a 
gully through which there was a rivulet of pure 
and limpid water. 
On arriving at the bank and looking down 
upon the stream below we discerned a large 
sheep fighting a kangaroo. This kangaroo was 
a giant kangaroo (Macropus major ) fully four¬ 
teen feet in length. I at once saw that the poor 
sheep had but a poor show against him, and 
drawing a pistol, which I had bought for pro¬ 
tection with some of my sandalwood, I drew a 
bead on the kangaroo and shot him through the 
head. I was quite expert with the pistol in those 
days, being able to knock a birch bark drinking 
cup from a stump at twenty yards three times 
out of five without injuring it. 
The sheep, relieved from the persecution of 
its enemy, withdrew swiftly from the water, and 
rushed up the side of the gully, and joyfully dis¬ 
appeared to a point where on the horizon we 
could see members of his flock awaiting with 
anxiety his return to the safety of the fold. 
While occupied in gathering sandalwood, I 
had plenty of opportunity to observe the way in 
which the natives were sheltered and obtained 
their subsistence. Their dwellings were made of 
sod after the manner of the Hottentots. Their 
food consisted partly of sheep. This was upon 
great occasions, like a marriage or a funeral, 
and partly and usually of snake's, worms and 
other vermin. They were usually dirty and filthy 
and much worse off than the straight Indian. 
I liked neither them nor their mode of liv¬ 
ing, and made up my mind that as soon as I 
could make a sale of my sandalwood I would 
move to some other location, where the habits 
of the natives were not so near like those of 
wild animals. Nor was I long in finding a favor¬ 
able opportunity to dispose of my share of the 
sandalwood together with that of my partner on 
very favorable terms, and then turning over to 
my partner his share of the proceeds, I proceeded 
to take a walk to the next village, some ten miles 
away in the bush. Here I found some respect¬ 
able people, and determined to settle down as a 
herdsman, and also continue my dealings in san¬ 
dalwood. 
I had not been long in my new vocation 
when I made the acquaintance of a native girl, 
proposed marriage, and was accepted. I soon 
erected a commodious dwelling, and taking pos¬ 
session thereof, had happy thoughts of living in 
peace and prosperity. But it was not so to be. 
One afternoon my wife went away without my 
knowledge, and never returned or was heard of 
more. Presumably she wandered away in the 
sage bush, and was either devoured by wild ani¬ 
mals,- or died from thirst and starvation. 
I at once made up my mind to leave Aus¬ 
tralia and set out for the nearest port. There 
I found a vessel that was about to sail for 
America, and so I took passage on her, and 
eventually brought up in New Orleans at the 
time of the Seminole War in Florida Ever¬ 
glades. I took service on one of the vessels of 
the mosquito fleet, and there remained until I 
got a chance on board of one of the ships of 
the American Navy, and was stationed at Nor¬ 
folk. But getting tired of the monotony of the 
service, I took the first opportunity to desert, 
and went to Edenton, where- I got a situation 
as a printer. I did not stay long at this job, 
as after a few days’ trial I was summarily fired, 
as if not non compos, I was at least no com¬ 
positor. 
Thereupon I took the ferry to Gosport, Va., 
then took rail and went on, leaving the track 
whenever I heard a whistle blow, so that I 
should not be seen and information given that 
a suspicious looking character, presumably from 
some ship, was now taking a cruise on dry land, 
and might possibly be a spy and surely should 
be arrested and compelled to give a satisfactory 
account of himself. 
After abiding for some time in Norfolk, 
Brown and myself took passage on a vessel bound 
for New York. On reaching that city we ship¬ 
ped on board the schooner Antarctic, bound on 
a voyage to the South Seas, for the purpose of 
collecting a cargo of fur seal skins. In October 
following we touched at the Cape Verde 
Islands, and obtained the salt necessary for the 
preservation of the skins expected to be taken. 
From thence we shaped her course for New 
Zealand, but being disappointed in procuring 
skins there, the captain determined on altering 
his voyage, and sailed for Manila. 
While proceeding thither we fell in with a 
group of islands which the captain named Nes- 
terfield’s group. The old man may have in¬ 
tended to call them “Chesterfields” for aught 
that I know; but as he stuttered and stammered 
in his speech, it was difficult to understand him 
at times. But in case of a squall or any need 
for quick work, his voice was like a trumpet, 
and every order could be distinctly heard above 
the dashing of the waves and the howling of 
the storm. 
These islands were small, and a reef of 
rocks runs from one island to the other. On 
the day following he discovered land again, and 
found it to consist of another group of islands 
extending about seventy miles north and south. 
These not being mentioned on any chart, he 
called “Bright” group. Here he had some inter¬ 
course with the natives, but it was impossible 
for him to obtain any information from them 
as to the inducements to trade which their islands 
afforded, and he therefore continued his course. 
On the 25th he again saw land, a long, low 
island which appeared to be loaded with cocoa 
palms, the nuts of which the inhabitants were 
busily gathering. The method of ascending the 
trees was by placing a strap around the waist 
as well as the trunk of the tree, and then by 
leaning back one who w-as at all nimble could 
make his or her way up the tree by hitching 
along gradually until the top of the tree, where 
the cocoa nuts grew, was attained. This par¬ 
ticular tribe of natives, however, were of a lazy 
and indolent habit, so far as the male members 
were concerned, and they sent the women to 
ascend the trees and throw the bunches of cocoa 
nuts to the ground, when it was their province 
to pick them up. This happy land the old many 
called ‘Liberty Island." 
