PACIFIC CRUSOES

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 124, 26 May 1923, Page 22

PACIFIC CRUSOES

'AND ISLAND HABITATION' life in lonely places stories ob 1 stjrangb and absorbing Interest. The Pacifio kaeps tne secret of Innumerable human stories of strange and exciting interest. But none of them perhaps is so appealing as the tale which creeps out, on a vessel coming into port, of a solitary white man having been found living as Crusoe on his lonely island, . ..: The tropical Pacific is the ideal sea for euch a, hermit life. ' This great and generally calm ocean is dotted with hundreds of islands, the larger of -which, In groups, are inhabited by natives but the smaller and more isolated ones are lying in a state of nature, and uninhabited at least by any aborigines—in particular, those". remarkable coral formations that are termed "atolls," in contradiction to what, are called "fringing , or. barrier reefs," many of which have been settled for centuries by natives. . '■, On such an island, or rather, little group of islets, there lived for a number of years Charlek Robertson, a Scotsman. In the middle of the ocean, across •which your -vessel has been moving for ■weeks, a snow-white circle slowly'rises, formed by the swells, lashed! into foam against a, rampart of coral. Outside this circle are the dark blue .waters of the Pacific; end inside it is a smooth stretch of light green, calnv shallow water, clotted with, small islets of sand and .soil resulting from the decomposed corals, which 'branch in myriad forms of beauty and; colour on the bed of .the lagoon. On: theni, as well as on the encircling Teef, where it rises above the breakers, grow the cocoa palm, pandanus, bread fruit, and all the rest of the. luxuriant vegetation of the South Seas. Such was Palmerston Island', where Robertson lived. On a vessel approaching he would shoot through tho mouth of the reef in his canoe and exchange fresh vegetables and fruit and pig for clothing, ammunition, tobacco, sugar, tea, and such like stores. His house, standing in a tall grove of palms, was built of cane' work, and thatched with palmetto leaves and carpeted wiih grass mats. Three or four sailor chests, a rough-made table, and a few stools, together with a hammock, made up all his furniture. In timej however, Robertson persuaded a trading skipper to bring him a coconut crusher and several Polynesians, and he added /the making of coconut oil to his Island 'industries, and to such a good end that 'in time, through the sale of it, he was able to "emigrate" to Sydney, a fairly wealthy man. s Robertson, like Robinson Cruso.e, could not resist^ returned to the comforts ot civilised life; but Thomas Holt, of Robert's Island, though* differently, for he IcTmifj to his little kingdom till death took (him. 'Holt, -who was an English sailor out of Bristol—a surly "sea lawyer' — occasioned 'bo much disturbance in tho /'American trading brijt on board of which :ihe had shipped at San Francisco that his shipmates compelled her skipper to maipon him on Robert's Island,, the mast northern.of the Marquesas Archipelago. (The captain, a good hearted man, was re;luctanito do so, an& yet, faced with 'a mutlnv. felt compelled" to send Holt ■ ashore;- 'but he. did- not abandon ham wiioilr unprovided, ......... •■■-. HoK was given a'trying pan and an 'iron pot, an axe and a spa4e, a.bagful of nails and a bagful of ship's biscuit, a fiaw. and & cutlass, and aa the boat ' was shoving ofl a musitet and amunition 'were flung on the sand beside him by I the skipper. Holt did not, as all the (boat expected,veither break Into a wild mad jury cf despair, ot hurriedly set •abouf firing on the small craft. . He rejmained standing silently alongside the jEcantyl supplies. When the yesselbore \away on the wind Holt had disappeared.

■ Seven years later a- British whaler,"the iStratford, touohed at Robert's Island, to [refill Her water casks if possible, and found V the island appeared to be inhabited, i Searoh was made by means of a weK-frodden path, l which wound (through a plantation of bread fruit, (oocoanut, bananas, and other fruit trees, ithen led ■ fnto a tnickly wooded part of jthe island toward rising ground. At ■'iibout-a mile from the beach the track opened into a clearing, that _was closed on one. side by a high tinclimable cliff of rock, and elsewhere by an impenetrable barrier of trees and priokly under- ,> prowls. At the end of this clearing 'stood a house of timber, some 20 feet lons by 12 wide, close to a small pool ;bf water fed by a spring gushing out of 'the cliff. In the cookhouse alongside it .Holt wgg' found at a meal together with 'another seaman, a Swede, and a native of the Marquesas, who had thrown in their 'lot with him on both escaping from a eohooner "black birding" ■(stealing na- ■ tives) in the archipelago two years 1 pre-' , viously. - ■ '• The Bristol man was overjoyed to see .English faces again, but, having told his story, he refused the offer pf a passage ihome. Holt was "happier nor any king," and flatly objected to leave his island idomain. V.: .:'- _..:'. .v: ".;... , He was enjoying the most delightful 1 climate in the world —the weather always fine and the air ..always pleasantly warm, and the sun always shining.' The island ;held "all ho desired—abundance of pig, poultry, fruit, and fish. He had built the house for himself, and planted bi'ead fruit and othei" food-giving trees in convenient spots. And with the Marquesas to instruct him he was getting . agreeable.food and, drink and clothing from ■the coconut palm, and-other necessaries as well. Holt had "everything he desired —was'monarch of two subjects .and all ho surveyed. 'He died—:a Crusoe. Nearer South America, the Gallipago Group, have had many island hermits' ginve: first the Spaniards sighted them, in the dpys of buccaneering this group was the base of more than one band of fiea- free-booters, whioh circumstance has ■induced several individuals to. seclude themselves there in search of hidden treasures. V

Last century; a Swede, Johan Johnson, spent many years, on Charles's Island trying to-trace a cache of which he had got some .faint indications, and tilling the I ground for -vegetables, which he sold to ipassinsr vessels,' together with . goat's flesh :and turtles. He was robbed and killed; by; a .gang ofblackguards out of Guayaquil, , ivho arrived at Charles's Island., also on a treasure-seeking expedition. "'■' ■■■.;'.'■. ... .... Some years ago, discovery was made of h. Crusoe on Ghatham Island, of tho fcamo ffroup,..and a tragical discovery it ivvas. .. - 1.'.. '-..■.' ''. ■ .' Like- Robert's Island, already men-' tioned, Chatham' Island, is a gem of a placo for a Crusoe. It is shaped like a crab's claw, about ten miles long and pome seven miles at its broadest, with a puccession of small green, hills and valJeys, each with its small, stream, and those rivulets, often flowing into one anDther, come dashing.over.the cliffs in picturesque waterfalls. Parts .of'the'island! pxe thickly wooded, and'other parts form fchanning eavannais, where browse 'wild cattle;' ■ goats,. $gSj tha descendants of etock'.imported :by buccaneer and longfload s'etfclerj alike, andi-'now so wild that, when disturbed, they dash through the thickets like deer. There is abundance ttf turtle and fish of/all speoiss $&

most easily caught. Wild ducks on the lagoons darken the air when they rise, so plentiful they are, as are largo dovea on the kin - Terrapin or elephant tortoise is abundant, and oasily caught, and the hairy Beal crowds tno rocks and shores in all directions. The bottoms of the valleys are covered with immense beda of very high, strong mint and wild thyme, sage, and other herbs and the grape grows in profusion. The climate is delightful, occasionally heavy gales and hurricanes coma down. But such plagues as gnats and ants are unknown. Altogether, Chatham Island, of the Gailipagos, is an ideal place for Crusoeing. Some years ago a steamer belonging to a company that leased tho sealing rights arrived at this island; and a doctor, who was on board her partly for his health and partly as ship's surgeon, took it into his head to walk round the island on an exploring expedition. When he was half way along the weather side, at a.bout four miles inland, he came suddenly on a space that had once been cleared. Pumpkins, melons, tobacco, sweet potatoes, etc., were now growing all together in a wild state among tall weeds and) suckers of young trees starting from the roots of the old ones. Close by his foot lay what was one'e a spade, but so rusty that it 1 fell in' pieces' when he. touched it with his foot, and, at hand, in a hollow, lay a stone .well of watery..;bujj. almost overgrown with vegetation.- . At the upper end aud rising part of the clearing the surgeon marked indication? of a large hut, almost hidden by a clump of:, trees. But there was no sound" of human voice there.. All was still except for the cooing: of the tree doves. On nearing the habitation he saw that it "was long since the place l?ad besn tended by human hands. AVild vines had thrown bo close and thick a network round it, he had to make an opening with his axe. On passing this barrier he came at once on the house, which had been built of posts of wood to the sides and front, interlaced with boughs plastered with mud. There was only a doorway into-it, but no door. On the 'earthen -floor, near a roughly-made table, lay the skeleton of a man,, only partly covered by what had been a sheet of skins. On fingering this it went into powder, and the bones of the skeleton also fell apart at the lightest touch. On one side were an old iron pot and a frying pan, a pile of what had been kindling wooa, an axe and a caw, all rotted and rust-eaten. A tobacco box and a rudelyfashioned pipe lay on the table, and a rusty gun and cutlass in the corner. A broad shelf which had served for a bedstead was still covered with its skins.

The American saw that this unfortunate Crusoe must have been dead for many years. He searched the bed minutely, and afterwards made many ' inquiries, but no clue was ever got as to the name or who this forgotten 'solitary had been.