ADRIFT FOR NINETY DAYS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14593, 1 May 1918, Page 4

ADRIFT FOR NINETY DAYS.

■•■'■'■ . - ■*» - .. PACIFIC ISLAND NATIVES* „■■■- ADVENTURE. ■+1-- •■" SYDNEY, April 18. ', Ah amazing story of two natives,, who drifted' for 90 days m an open boat, has come from the South Seas and been printed m the Sydney newspapers. Some people a^e inclined to scoff at- it. If it is a concoction, it is an ingenious one. TJ)e natives .who tell the story are now m Sydney, however, and! it is said that the; mam facts have been confirmed by the Japanese authorities m the Caroline Islands. , • The two nativesMßibi and Kauti— lay m avboat one night m the Tarawa Island lagjson; m the Gilbert group, waiting for j. a launch to come and' tow them out to a steamer, where they were to work. The boat was tied to a pile. Weary with waiting; they fell asleep, and when they awoke it was dawn, and the ttoat was' swinging on th> open sea outside the lagoon. Evidently it had Woken away during the night. Bibi andKauti tried Co paddle back, but the surf boat was m the grip of a strong current, and 1 they made no headway. They ma^e 'frantic signals, but n6 one 6n the steame? or the shore observed them. By the late after* noon the island was a blur on the horizon. They had no food or water ; there were only three oars, a bucket, a flare lamp, tobacco, pipe, and a. knife m the boat. FolvlO days they Buffered terribly from hunger; then the craving for food lefttheni. But they wanted water very badjy. Fourteen days out they caught a small seagull and ate it, and that night it rained, and they .caught water m the bucket; It rained! almost every night after tliat, aridl they suffered ho more from thirst, Ten days later they caught another, bird'. ' It was a long time before they captured another bird, and still longer before their fourth and last was taken. 1 The coarse, rank food juai Served to maintain life, but the men suffered terrible internal pains. When they were 80 days put they snared a shark with the painter of the boat. One man held the creature near the while the other killed) it witbJ the knife, and cut out a chunk of its flesh, which they tried to eat. It made' them very sick, ed they tried drying ? ifc' in the hot sun. This method was a failure. A day or two later > Kauti possessed himself of the knife and tried to kill Bibi. There was a* terrible struggle, but Bibi got the knife away arid threw it overboard. About six days after that the two men were lying m. a comatose condition m the bottom of the boat, when ifc bumped/ into something. They fund themselves !on a coral reef, with an island m the background. Very slowly and ' painfully they crawled along tho reef", cutting themselves severely on the ooral, artd on the beach they found some cocoanutSj which they ate. They became violently sick, and lay on the shore for sonte three days before the people of Mortlook Island (Caroline group) found them. They were then mere skeletons and 1 tvad a ghastly appearance. •■■■■■' Tenderly cared for; the men, who had drifted looo> miles, presently recovered. They were taken care of by the Japanese officials who are at present administering .the Carolines and) sent back to the Gilbert Islands. They were not able to speak €he Cai'oline language, although they could Bpeak the Gilbert, Ellioe, and Marshall tongues j but • all spoke English, and their conversations were carried on m that language/ : ..