The Loneliest ‘Speck’ in the Wide World

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 726, 27 July 1929, Page 20

The Loneliest ‘Speck’ in the Wide World

Money & Crime Unknown in Tristan da Cunha

Women Wear Rat-Hide Shoes

ILL the flappers of Tristan da Cunha adopt the “boyish bob,” the “sweetheart bob” or the "pineapple bob”? Or will the “wind-

blown” modes of coiffure be deemed more appropriate for the inhabitants of this stormed swept island? Will they trim their skirts an inch above or below the knee and abandon their ratskin slippers for lizard-sltin pumps? Or will there eventually emerge from one of the most secluded spots oil all the earth’s surface new feminine styles, both in garments and headdress, to startle the outer world through the sheer force of originality? These questions and a thousand others will remain unanswered until further word is heard from Tristan, which may require a year. For Tristan is 1,320 miles from her nearest neighbour. But one conclusion is certain. The women of this isolated region are determined to exist no longer twenty years behind tbe times. Even now a style revolution is under way, inspired by the women passengers on the Canadian Pacific steamships Empress of France and the Duchess of Atholl, which stopped at the island to land supplies.

Tristan da Cunha, discovered by the Portuguese admiral, Tristan da Cunha, in 1506, is inhabited by 156 men, women and children, of English, Scottish, Irish, American and Italian ancestry, and all of seven family names: the Swains, the Lavarellos, the Glasses, the Rogers, the Greens, the Hagans and the Repettos. Before the arrival of the Empress of France these people bad seeii no ship for eleven months and the women had viewed no other members of their sex for more than a decade. When the vessel dropped anchor they gave a great shout of joy. In their eagerness to greet the visitors, they threatened to capsize their five crude rowboats. As they climbed on board they stared at the tourists with as great a curiosity as we, of a more populated world, would scrutinise an arrival from Mars. The women especially, were irrepressible. With their heads dressed in the pompadour style of twenty years ago and their skirts of crude calico and homespun, trimmed with ratskin and falling to their shoetops, they were in striking contrast with the fashionably dressed passengers of tbe ocean liner. As they gazed about, in a mingling of amazement, admiration and awe, they demanded to know when bobbed heads and short skirts had come the vogue. Their hunger for news, news of any kind, word of a world of which they knew nothing, was almost beyond the understanding of those who had recently left lands of radio, telephone, telegraph and newspapers. For Tristan is unique. An island inhabited by white people to whom even wireless seldom penetrates—-the farthest flung of all Great Britain's outposts, a dreary, desolate, forlorn locality. 11l some ways the people of Tristan are blessed. They live in a healthgiving climate that has no peer on all tbe earth's surface. The plateau, which is about. 100 feet above sea level, is washed by constant and invigorating ocean breeze. Above

f Ereat volcanic mountain which rises to a height of 7,640 feet, the summit now filled with fresh water affording a natural reservoir. Twice a week the men scale this steep incline, usually ascending 3.000 or more leet, to obtain kindling wood. This work, together with the enforced simplicity of their lives, has resulted in an amazing agility in all ages; even those of 65 and 70 years are as nimble as the young ones and skip up and down the mountainside with an ease that would challenge an Alpine climber.

On the arrival of the Duchess of Atholl, a woman was asked what she would have to eat that day. She replied: “Our food is very simple. This morning we had potato gruel and tea. When we left, mother was baking potatoes and making a potato pudding for Sunday dinner, and for supper we will have potatoes.”

When the Duchess of Atholl hove in view the Rev. Robert Pooley, a British missionary who has ruled the native islanders with a benign despotism, broke down and cried like a child. Aboard ship several ot the natives joined him and wept and laughed a.nd chattered in a,u excess of emotion that was sufficiently touching to inspire a few of the passengers to join the party. Mr. Pooley has served without pay. He went to Tristan three years ago and was brought away this year His assistant, Mr. Lindsay, plans to remain another year. The Rev. A. G. Partridge was landed to take charge of the mission work.

Tristan has its problem, a problem of such a serious nature that the island may be abandoned or depopulated unless relief is soon brought from the outer world. For Tristan is infested with rats.

Brown rats landed by a shipwreck in 1882 have invaded every acre. Shortly before the arrival of the liner! the islanders held a “ratting day” and succeeded, through the crude "expedient of digging them out of their holes in the potato patch and clubbing and stoning them, in killing 550 of the pestiferous rodents. Others, however, appeared in seemingly increased numbers in other sections and the war is being carried on, with the pests apparently gaining the advantage. “Give us rat traps or we perish!” This was the cry that greeted passengers and crew of the Empress of France when the assortment of supplies that had been assembled by British organisations were turned over. Unfortunately, however, there was not a single rat trap among the gifts, to which even King George and Queen Mary had made generous donations. The plea for traps, however, was remembered, and this year the Duchess of Atholl brought many rat traps with which the inhabitants of the island hope to subdue the rodents. Rats in Tristan are so numerous that their hides are tanned and used in the making of slippers and other crude apparel. They are large, bold and resourceful. They undermine foundations of buildings and occasionally attack infants and children. The islanders have done everything in their power to fight them, but, because of the prolific nature of the pests and the lack of efficient means of control, all efforts to cope with the evil have hitherto been unavailing.