Attacked By Crocodile

How Brave Papuan Saved a Child

WRITING on February 16, Mr. F. W.

Burke, of Orokolo. Papua, sends the following remarkable account of a native’s bravery;— A few weeks ago a little Papuan girl, of lari village, in the Great Delta Divi sion, went to the river to draw water.

No sooner had she stooped, than a huge crocodile swept her from the river bank with its tail, and dragged her below.

Immediately on hearing her cry, her uncle, Arko, who was close by, dived

into the river and came face to face with the crocodile. Without hesitating, he plunged his bone dagger into the crocodile’s eye thus making it relinquish the child.

Arko brought the girl to the surface, placed her in a canoe and paddled to the Seventh Day Adventist Mission Hos pital at Orokolo, a distance of about 45 miles. Here, the child was found to be suffering from a broken leg and deep wounds across her back and sides, caus ed by the crocodile’s frightful talons.

Without a whimper the child had her leg set and the wounds cleaned and ster ilised. Under the care of Nurse Nolan, the child’s wounds healed quickly. The leg is still in plaster, but the child is well and very much alive.

Nurse Nolan, with the injured girl and her rescuer.