FURTHER ADVENTURES OF A MINING ENGINEER.* WE are very glad
that Mr. McCarthy was persuader' to write a further instalment of his experiences as a mining engineer. All the zest, the quick observation, the eye for incident and * Further Adventures in the Life of a Mining Engineer, By B. Y. McCarthy. London : Routledge. 115s. net.) colour which made the first volume so attractive mark the second. To many boys the life of a sailor no doubt offers the greatest amount of novelty and adventure, with its constant travel and its glimpses into strange cities and the lives of strange peoples. But it might well seem, after reading Mr. McCarthy's book, monotonous compared with that of a mining engineer ! In the State of Chiapas, bordering on Guatemala, Mr. McCarthy found himself in charge of a mining camp which was known for many miles round as that " little hell in Mexico." Most of the workmen were escaped criminals or else those biding from justice, and " every second man one met seemed to be either drunk or half so." Stabbing affrays were common and highway robbery was almost a habit. In his efforts to bring some order into the camp Mr. McCarthy naturally was unpopular for a time. " Many were the threats to do for me, and during the first few months I and my assistants had to be for ever on the watch, especially after dark." In Swaziland —where he was accompanied by his wife and their little son— he was called upon to quell riots among the natives. In a passage which strongly recalls the days of Allan Quatermain and his adventurous companions Mr. McCarthy describes one incident :- "Noticing the S'hangans coming down the hill from their kraals above us all dressed up in their war paint, with assegais and knobkerries, singing and stamping the ground in rhythm as they marched in battle array, I sallied out with only a glon- boo (a rhinoceros whip) in my hand. I saw Swazies in similar array advancing up the bill. I slipped back and got my revolver, and meeting the accountant arranged with him to endeavour to stop the S'hangan advance while I did similarly with the Swazies. Meantime they had both deployed into two lines, the back line evidently a line of support for the front one, as it kept well behind it. Racing down the hill I met them, and ordered them to stop, but though it checked their speed they slowly continued to advance. Then I slashed their leader with my whip, driving him back, and ran along their line slashing with all my strength any who were ahead of the others. Two bolted out into the open, and I fired my revolver at them, at which they came back. The accountant anted similarly against the S'hangans, and we brought. all to a dead halt."
The intervening party were then attacked with empty bottles, but eventually Mr. McCarthy was allowed to act as arbitrator, and order was restored. Later when rumours of the Boer War circulated Mr. McCarthy had to decide whether to trek out of the country or to face the risks. His London management directed him by cable : " On the highest authority we hear there will be no war ; stay where you are." To this Mr. McCarthy • replied magnificently : " There will be war ; sin trekking to-day." He then had to organize an expedition of twenty wagons and four hundred trek-oxen, besides some forty- five horses. " There were about seventy white people to provide for, and at least a four weeks' trek before us." Three days after the expedition left the Boers commandeered the guns, dogs, and horses left at the camp and turned out the men who had remained. The whole description of the con- dition of South Africa at this time, and of this great trek with its atmosphere of the old patriarchal days, is particularly interesting.
Between a milling expedition in Kuansi and a visit to the Federated Malay States Mr. McCarthy went to Korea, and was at Seoul when a proclamation was issued threatening a massacre of foreigners, and two days before the fatal date he dined with Yi Yong Ik, who, it was said, was the head and front of the conspiracy. In the course of conversation Mr. McCarthy told his host that " we foreigners were contemplating a picnic," two days later, but they were in some doubt about it, as the rumour was that they were all to be executed. " Now was the execution to be in the morning or late in the day ? If the latter, we could still have our picnic and come back after our pleasant day's outing for our dismissal from this world to a better one." All that Yi Yong Ik replied was : "There are some Boxer men about who started this story." " I laughed heartily," says Mr. McCarthy, •` and treated it as a joke, and most of the guests joined in, but Yi Yong Ik remained immovable." The conspiracy was broken up and Yi Yong Ik disgraced, but his disgrace was only temporary, for he was a favourite—or at any rate indispensable—at the Korean Court. In Korea also while Mr. McCarthy was manager of the mines at Chinnampo there was a native riot about the removal of some graves. Having induced them to consent to a palaver, Mr. McCarthy with an interpreter and one other of his white staff sat down with some native spokesmen in the centre of a huge crowd an.1 argued the matter. At any moment the crowd could easily have killed the Europeans. Finally it was decided to send for the native Magistrate, who lived two hours' journey away. During the whole of this waiting period Mr. McCarthy and his assistants sat and talked to the people, " and for an
hour or so I told them some funny stories about the foreigner."
7n Manchuria Mr. McCarthy had for escort to the mines he was to inspect a party of the redoubtable Hung Husees, or Chinese bandit soldiers. Being mistaken by other Hung Humes for Japanese, they were at one point mot by the firing of rifles. Arriving at the mines, Mr. McCarthy was asked to inspect the nv'n :- " I dismounted, and amid the blare of their Chinese trumpets I passed along the line and closely inspected the men as if I were some military expert. I then congratulated the Captain on the appearance of his men and their soldier-like fitness. This was translated to him before all, and gave groat satisfaction to both Captain and men ! "
Even Mr. McCarthy's little daughter, young as she was, shared in the excitements of this nomadic life, for did ever a baby have such an assortment of nurses—Arab, Zulu, French, Swazi, Egyptian, English, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, S'hangan, and Korean ? The pathetic story of her death at the age of four illustrates the tragedy as well as the fascination of adventure that may be found in a life in curious and out-of-the-way places of the world. During a winter at Chinnampo she was taken
ill with diphtheria. The Japanese doctor had to telegraph to Pyeng-Yang for serum to be sent by a runner. Mr. McCarthy sent out six good runners to act as relays. But, alas ! the
messenger from Pyeng-Yang did not know the road, missed the relays, and arrived at Chinnampo half an hour after death had taken place. The body had to be carried to Chemulpo for burial, but Koreans would not travel such a distance in winter. Temporarily it was laid in a cave, and Mr. McCarthy himself had to read the Burial Service, the whole village standing by " dressed in clean white gala garments and all so silent." When the frost broke Koreans, attended by Japanese police, carried the coffin two hundred miles to Chemulpo.
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