AN ISLAND ROVER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 25, 29 December 1925, Page 8

AN ISLAND ROVER.

FOUR DAYS’ ENDURANCE,

SWOLLEN FEET, BUT STURDY HEART. • SUVA, Dec. 12. Tossed about for four days in a tropical sun with swirling waters about his feet all tho time and without food or water was tho plight of a Fijian a week or two ago, yet with gallant endurance ho fought out and won. Such was the unenviable experience of a Fijian native employed by Mrs W.-M. Caldwell on her island estate of Vatuvara, an island in the easternmost group of Fiji. Some two or three weeks ago this man, Mariko, accompanied by another named Laicani, went out fishing in a small 16 feet punt. But the wind rose, and do all they could, the two men were swept away to sea, and next day found them ashore on a reef encircling a small atoll close to the small island of Yacata, lying 12 miles north from Vatuvara. Both men got ashore, but Mariko did not despair of getting homo and, seeing the punt still lying on the reef, lie set off trying to bring it ashore. He swam to the punt, and, after some trouble, he refloated it, but as he was making for an opening in the reef tho wind rose and took them further and further away from his mate and the atoll. Resigned, Mariko set to work to keep his crazy craft aflCat as the seas were heavy. This task kept him going from codkcrow to cockcrow, and sleep was at a discount. All around him was a, waste of water and hero and there in the distance the blue shadowy outlines of small islands dotted the lino of vision, but all too far away to expect help to be forthcoming. Ybt the brave fellow did not despair, and how he managed to keep the boat afloat will never be known. But he did so, and on the fifth day at the cockcrow he found himself opposite the large island of Koro, just 70 miles from Yacata With great difficulty he struggled ashore and lay exhausted. Happily, some natives came along and carried him to their koro, and later conveyed him to Levuka and then to Suva. Mr Caldwell has taken Manko home to Vatuvara, while he has sent a cutter to look for Laicani on the atoll Mariko suffered terribly, his feet and hands being badly swollen by being so long in the salt water.