"KING" OF COCOS ISLES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 18 August 1910, Page 2

"KING" OF COCOS ISLES.

ROMANCE OF AX INDIAX

OCEAN UTOJTA

SCOTSMAN DESI'OT

The name of George Clonic,; Ross is. well known in N'elson, and writing of his death a week or two ago the ''Daily Mail'* reinarks: — The'death occuurred at Ventnor onThursday of the King of the Coo Keeling Islands —Mr George Cluuie Ross, who had come to England 'rom his coral island domain in. the Sotifli Indian Ocean in search of health. The connection of the Ross family with those remote islands (the Coco.-. Tsle ), which are under British protection, and are situated 700 miles from Java, forms a romance of adventure which might have been taken from a chapter by Stevenson. It was in the Cocos Islands that Darwin studied the formation uf coral reefs, and at the time of the great naturalist's visit in lS27the first of the Ros.Jyrasty—June Clunies Ross, a Scotsman and a British naval ollicer — ]:;i0 made his home fhcrr. The second o< the house, his son. took up the rule in 15.")4, and wa~ succeeded by Georgr Clunies Row. at the age of thirty, in IST!.

Mr George Clunies Ross was a tnnv prc-eminent in courage, capacity, nnv tenderness, and his island home. of which he was the proprietor as we]' rs the chief, is a veritable L'topia. Coined money is unknown there. i'o> fh'c parchment notes of George Ross are the sole medium of exchange; crime hardly exists. and, wit how I police or military, perfect order prevails. BEN EVOLENT DESPOT

Mr Ross was the most benevolent of despots, with the power of life and death over -ix handled or seven i:iii>dred subjects. His domain was an enchanted laud, where the rats climib 'I rees and e.iblV'e 1 the cocoa-nuts, where (he giant land crab scuttles to and fro brandishing claws of s.ich formidable character that it can ''nip ihiougiii wire netting as easily as can a man with cutting plier<. can tear up tin with' ease, and -break with its great pinceis the wooden bars of -•i cage that would to imprison

a large wild an imai. ' ' As to rats—thereby hang s a story. Until a i'f\v years ago not a rat was Kee.n in- Cocos. But a -hip was wrecked off the island, and the rats swam ashore. They increased at such a rate I hat thev became a nuisance. •and l caused a tremendous loss by spoiiing the ibuds of .the coco-nut, which are extremely tender, and are spoiled immediately anything touches them. The King of the Cocos Islands, therefore, endeavoured to exterminate the rodents, and at last he imported cats. But the cat s did not do their work at all. The trouble of catching the rats was. apparently too much for thorn, and finding a delicious shellfi h on the shores which ■I hey liked much 'better, they within a short time became large and wild, and, in fact, a tremendous nuisance, so much so that now the islanders have not only the trouble of rats, but also of cats;.

• SHAEK-IXFKSTED COASTS. One of the most interesting facts about-the Coeos Islands is tka-t at their high'esr point they are only Bft. above sou level. The principal island, taking its name from the proprietors,, is known as Ros- Jslard. and contains Malay villages. The waters surrounding the islands abound in shark s Gft. to 12ft. iu lengtlK The principal export of the islands is c ipra. the dried kernel of ihe eocoan.ut, and it is from this pro duct that the Ross family hav* amassed their great wealth. A-s a younur man Mr George Ciunit> I'oss pfndied engineering at Givip Row, returning to the i lands in. 1564He had a large family. () f who.on seve» ral .sons and dangliters were at his" bedside when n-e died. Mi/ Boss' grandmother was an Englishwoman, and his mother was a M-.lay. He himself married a Eurasian. There are ne white women iu the i lands. ■ die i an uncle of Mr K. C T?o>s p. 11 ol.d Xels-on Collegian.}