Traralgon Record (Traralgon, Vic. : 1886 - 1932), Friday 23 February 1900, page 1


HOVELS THAT HAVE COME TRUE.i W\HERE FACT HAS RIVALLED FICTION. Every author strives to put origin ality into his novels, and although many endeavour to adhere strictly to life, others are not above allowing their imagin.'ion to run away with them itl irder f, give additional fascination to the narrative. In some cases novels which have been regarded as improb able have subsequently astonished both their authors and the reading public by coming true. Many of Mr Rider Haggard's tales are considered unreal, but, strange to say,'two of those which one would put down as coming under this category have suffered plagiarisms by fact, namely, ' She'and ' Mr. Meeson's Will.' The former, of course, could not be reproduced exactly in real life, for the reason that She Who Must-Be Obeyed is supposed to have existed for centuries, a power not given to a human being. Nevertheless, a Kafflir woman, whose death.was reported in the papers some months ago, did her best to rival Mr. Haggard's renowned heroine. She appears to have been a woman completely shrouded in mystery, whose origin was unknown. She ruled over a small Kaffir tribe, and hs.r oldest subjects claim to have acknowledged her as queen ever since they could remember, so it was next to an impossi'ility to attempt to ascertain her age, which many Boer experts tried to do. Her face was not without its wrinkles, but, nevertheless, those who saw her failed to believe she was more than fifty years of age, judging by her appearance. Furthermore, her skin was not tanned to the same extent as that of ner subjects, which gave rise to the belief that she mus' have been of Spanish origin or a settler from the extreme north of Africa. Whether Mr Haggard originally got the idea of his heroine from hearing of this woman during his travels on the Dark Con tinent is unknown, but the fact remains that the Kaffir Queen bore the nearest similarity to the great 'IShe." Those who have read ' Mr Meeson's Will' doubtless remember how the heroine had the last testament of a wealthy man tattooed on her back, on account of the lack of suitable writing materials, on a desert island, where the chief characters of the novel landed after having been shipwrecked. Such a case would have seemed improbable enough had it not been that !Ittle more than eighteen months ago an antecedent was found A certain wealthy man, who lived alone in a small house in order that he might give full vent to his -miserly ha.its, was round one day sitting in his arm-chair perfectly dead. He was known to have relatives somewhere, but no clue could be discovered amongst his papers as to their whereabouts, till by chance the information was found upon his person. W\\hen exposed, his chest revealed a number of marks tattooed thereon in red, and further investigation showed that his will had thus been written, furnishing full particulars as to the bequest, together with the address of the missing relatives. That stirring narrative of the sea "Thie W'reck of the Grosvenor," has not been excepted from the list of those novels which have had a-tecedents in real life. Some years iaSo a barque, c led the Estella, set ,ail fro n Wetlingtoa, New Zealand, on a voyage to Steward Island, a distance of about 6ao miles. The crew consisted of ten sailors, mostly .\Malays, under Captain Liurence, an Englishman of about thirty two summers. 'There was also on board a young lady who was going to Steward Island to visit an aunt. Two days after they had started a storm sprang up, and the vessel was blown out of her course, to remain at the mercy of the waves for upwards' of a fortnight. As the :ourney can be accomplished in ten days provided the wind is good, provisions for a litde over that time we.e stored on statri g, so when the fortnight had expired food as well as water began to run out. A few days later land was sighted, and as the ship lay like a dead thing on the water, helpless and disabled, 'he c:ew debated among themselves the advisability of seizing the. only boat which remained on the snip after the gale, and, as it would only hold ten persons, setting off in it without the knowledge of the captain or the girl. Having stolen the greater part of the remaining provisions and stowed thenm aoesrd, they departed unseen under cover of darkne-s. leaving the unfortun ate couple to t re icercy of the sea, which, hosever, had now gone down in violence. Not till the next morning did the captain discover what had hap pened, and the boat with its livinig cargo was noshere to be seen, yet land ie mained in sight. The end was almost as romantic as in Mr Clark Russel tale. They were not picked up, but drilted straight on to the rocks, which proved to be part of the nmainland. Whether the twain eventually entered ino the bonds of wedlock or no the writer is not aware, but coissiders it highls prnbable. Two men did busl.ess aide by side, Forgetting trade the first relied On advertising far and wide, The while the second trusted To othdr methods to obtain The golden przie he sought to g in. Upon the first the dollars rain , The other merchan busted. Tno BEsr REiEDY FOR FLUX -IMr Joh, Mslathias, a well known stick dealer of Pulaski, Ky., says: * After safferine for osrer 5 week with flux,. and my physiciai ha'viing failed to relieve me, I was advised t', try Chamberlain's Colic.Cholera and Diarrhlt a Remedy, and have the pleasure ,f stating that the half of ,,one bottle cured lme." For sale by WVALiea 3Intous, agents.