A famous author,[1]
who has recently traveled the world, brings back a story from a land of savages
which could scarcely be equaled for the grand will to sacrifice for
others. Here it is in his own words:
“They landed upon some
outlying island in Carpentaria,[2]
peopled by real primitive blacks, who were rounded up by the ship’s crew on one
of the peninsulas which formed the end of the island. These creatures, the lowest of the human
race, huddled together in consternation while the white men trained a large
camera upon them. Suddenly three males
advanced and made a speech in their own tongue, which, when interpreted, proved
to be an offer that those three should die in exchange for the lives of the
tribe. What could the very highest do
more than this? And yet it came from the
lowest savages.”
A
very fine story indeed.
[1] The
“famous author” is Arthur Conan Doyle; the story quoted is from
page 79 of his book The Wanderings of a
Spiritualist, which is the account of a trip he and his family took to
Australia. Importantly for our timeline,
it was published in 1921—so Clare was probably at least 19 at this point in
time.
[2] The Gulf of
Carpentaria is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern
Australia and bounded on the north by the Arafura Sea, the body of water that
lies between Australia and New Guinea. (Source:
Wikipedia)
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