Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 106, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1912 — A Robinson Crusoe [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A Robinson Crusoe

by H.J. MOORS

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Mm DO NOT tell this story because either the memory or J ■■ the relation of tire events is pleasant to me. Indeed, it ml is the record of the most by distressing and humiliating ■■ ( experience in my life. But jSSiaBB/ lam impelled to relate it ns a protest against the prevalent idea that’ the existenee of a castaway on a tropic island is one of coraparative comfort and ease. In my younger days I was

in the employ of a firm of merchants at Apia, Samoa, who had established in business in the Ellice Islands a young man of the name of Symonds, son of a well-known missionary. His headquarters were at Funafuti, and after several successful years he had purchased from the “King” of Vaitupu the Bmall, deserted Island of Nuulakita—“Little Land.” It lies some one hundred and fifty miles southeast of Funafuti, alone amidst extensive shoals. Syxnonds* ambition was to people and plant it, hut not a native could he induce to make his home there, for the Ellice Islanders firmly believed the place was haunted by evil spirits. Not long after this, Symonds died suddenly, and I was sent to Funafuti in the company’s schooner to install a new manager, with instructions to stop at Nuulakita on the homeward voyage, inspect the little island and set a value on it as an asset of Symonds’ estate. We left Funafuti with a southeast tradewind that soon died away, and for days we drifted over a glassy sea in intolerable heat. ‘Finally, on the last day of February, we . reached Nuulakita and sailed slowly along its coast, searching for an anchorage and landing. In a short time we came to anchor in seven fathoms of water, in a convenient place on the west side of the island where we could see an opening through the reef. Four of the ship’s crew and I made an easy landing, but, finding a strong shore current running, we were compelled to haul our boat up on the sands, for I Intended to take at least two hours to inspect the place. The captain advised me to examine the place hastily, for his barometer warned him of a change that Was Imminent, and this was the dangerous season In these latitudes. * Above the sand beach, where had formerly been a settlement, a few jackfruit trees were deteriorating, being overgrown with clinging vines and other parasites. Here I discovered some native sepulchers which, beside a well that I found- later on, were the only actual signs of -man's handiwork upon the islahd. Pandanus, which seems to delight in sterile soil and In opposition to the elements, now predominated, stretching forth its weird branches and standing upon its singular stiltlike robts, an omen of desolation. Here mid there I penetrated the bush, observing the nature of the soli and noting it in my book. I must have been nearly opposite where our vessel lay, when I came to a beautiful lagoon, with charming vistas and lovely glades leading in various directions. I was about to return to the beach and continue my circuit around the island, when I beard a musket shot —a signal for my return, for the sky had darkened and I felt sure that the glass had gone lower. I started directly for the boat-landing-Towards the center of the island the trees grew leßß vigorously, and were fewer in number, and many old trunks lay prone on the - -eajth. The walking became exceedingly difficult, for It was hard to penetrate this broadleafed. stout-stemmed vinery. T had already had several nasty falls, but had escaped actual Injury, until at last I stepped on what appeared a sound tree-trunk crossing a vine-covered chasm and felt myself swiftly descending into space, clutching wildly at the vines as I passed through them. My head having come into violent contact with a jutting coral, I lay huddled and senseless at the bottom of a deep pit which In former years had been used as a well and now ifu partly filled by the action of the elements. When I revived all was darkness, and rain fwaa falling in torrents. In fact, It must have jbeen the cool drenching I had had which brought me to my senses. I tried to raise my arms and found them fortunately uninjured, but one knee had been severely bruised and my back was badly wrenched, while my head ached as If ft were sbotgt to split In two, and a great lump explained why I had wasted hours In this situation. Though It was very dark, with occasional (flashes of lightning, I found no great difficulty, except from my own injuries, In getting upward, as these native wells are so constructed that the owners may walk down one side to dip the water with their shells. When I approached the mouth of the pit and thrust my head through the sopping vines, it semed as if the world were at an end. I could hear the screaming wind rush through the now leafless branches, and great boughs and missiles of many sorts were flying through the air, making It hazardous to rise above the level. I thought of our brigantine and hoped she had got away without losing her anchors. At that moment, though the tempest roared, I did not fear for her safety, for from the direction of the wind I was sure she had not been blown ashore. Such a gale would inevitably drive her far away to westward, and her return to this region of frequent calms was quite sure to be slow and tedious. .And here I was, all unprovided for, and destined to pass some days in otter loneliness. In time they would come back again, and I must coutrive to exist till they turned up. This would be an adventure to recount to my children as they gathered round me !n the evening. ~ t How was I then to know that this raging p cyclone had utterly destroyed our ship, and while I sat shivering in my hole, my brave companions were in their watery graves? Never a word was ever heard from them again, and no fragment of our poor vessel was discovered to mark her loss. When the light returned the sun was not visible. It was not safe to make my exit yet, but, thank God! I had my pipe and tobacco with me, and some matches that were not yet spoiled. Fool! Fool! Everlasting fool that I

was, I wasted seweral of those precious matches before I lighted my damp tobacco. It was well on in the afternoon when the pangs of hunger drove me forth to seek provender of some sort. Though the force of the gale was quite strong enough to impede me greatly, I managed to struggle through the torn shrubbery and tangled vines until I once more gained the open beach, and stood appalled before the ocean’s sublime fury. Great seas hurled themselves at the trifling island, and actually threatened to engulf it. According to my calculation I had now been above forty houfs without food. Worn out by the wretched weather, and quite famished, I grasped a stick to aid my injured leg, and set out to discover food and shelter. After ft painful effort I came to the second patch of cocoanuts, and was not disappointed, for most of the fruit lay scattered on the ground, shaken down by the storm. After a bit of hard work In removing the outer husk, I regaled myself upon a ripe cocoahut and its firmer and more matured flesh, and this had to serve me, for I saw nothing else that was eatable at this time. Night came on while I still painfully wandered in search of shelter, and I would have been glad to occupy the pit again had the difficulty of returning there been less formidable. The night proved a wild one, and I lay stretched out to leeward of a giant tree, whose out-of-ground roots and buttresses gave me just a little protection from the chilling blast. Here In this miserable situation I passed the tedious hours till day appeared. My injured leg bad grown worse and swelled to a considerable size, throbbing and alarming me thoroughly. Hunger and thirst once more assailed me, and painfully I dragged myself forward in the hope of finding some sort of sustenance. If the brigantine had been lost in the hurricane there was very little chance of gnother vessel’s coming to Nuulakita for months and months. Possibly It might be years before the place was visited. Such despairing thoughts as these produced a sort of sinking of the soul, an apathetic sadness. Why struggle farther? But still I wriggled forward over the soft sands, which seemed barren enough. A soldier crab crossed my path, and I devoured him raw without a qualm. Even at this early stage of my imprisonment I must have been a bit delirious, for I began to imagine I heard voices calling me, and at length I fancied I saw people quickly flitting about as if to avoid my vision. pain in my wounded leg was very great, but I sometimes forgot this because of mental tortures far more acute. Another horrid night, and another boisterous day without the smallest comfort, left ine still more helpless. Reason, I believe, was on the verge of collapse, when my remaining physical strength suddenly gave way. Sleep, delirium, or probably prolonged unconsciousness, at length relieved mfe. I awakened at last to behold the splendors of a tropic sunrise, the great orb soon shining directly in my face. My leg was much better for the enforced rest It had had, and, strangest of all, I was not so hungry as I had been. Melancholy forebodings that perhaps I was fated to die there like a dog and lie unburied, a teast for crabs and noxious vermin, spurred me to further effort. Pride and every primal instinct urged me forward, and at length, exhausted with fatigue and in great pain, I reached the region erf the fallen cocoanuts and, after resting sufficiently, food and drink were again my portion, and later in the day I was enabled to stagger along the deserted beach upon a rude crutch which I had improvised. Onward, painfuly onward, I went, craving satisfying food and rest. Eventually I passed a sandy place marked all about by turtles’ flippers—a depression where eggs had surely been deposited. More than a hundred eggs were in the nest, all closely packed together and covered from marauders. Gathering some dry wood and bark, I built a little pile and drew forth my treasured matches. What an appalling disappointment I was to suffer! The box in which they were contained was crushed quite flat, and the matches themselves were loose in my pocket Some, being wet had lost their black heads. I must dry the matches carefully before one of them should he risked. I did not dare to take any shances of failure, and always afterward I would have to keep a smoldering fire or lose this great necessity. A flat coral stone exposed to the sun was selected, and my treasure was spread out In the genial warmth. The ignition papers from the dilapidated box were turned and turned until quite crisp, while each individual match was given careful attention. When all was ready I tried to strike a light—tried and fried again until the whole stock was done, and this with never a glimmer of ' success! Raw turtle eggs are not to be commended as a steady diet, J>ut they will serve a turn. In due course I was able to get to the rookery, but most of the birds jrere gone, dispersed no doubt by the violence of the gale. None of their eggs that I could find were eatable. I now tried ineffectually produce fire by rubbing two ? sticks together as I had often seen the Samoan natives do. No, I could not do the trick. I began to think of preparing myself some sort of shelter —at least a lodgment where I might sleep in comparative comfort. My earliest effort produced a kind of windbreak only. Raw turtle eggs when steadily adhered to become absolutely disgusting as a diet, and on the recovery of my leg I sought many expedients that might serve my turn. Raw unsalted meat I could not abide, even when 1 knew that it was sweet and wholesome. So Bow when I caught a bird or turtle, I cut the flesh Into thin strips and hung them in the sun, or plaoed them on heated rocks until they received a sort of natural cooking. Drfesged in a worn-out suit of'ihin pajamas. * my only other possessions were a pocketknife, a note-book and pencil, and a. useless pipe, for the small fragment of tobacco I had ’ been possessed of had been nibbled away as a makeshift stimulant. A spell of wet weather set before me urgently the problem of constructing a

thatched house. After many failures I at length owned a weatherproof roof, and was much pleased with my performance. rspr: Salt, in small quantities an d mixed with sand, I found in several spots, and the need of this* mineral seemed so great that I set about its manufacture from sea-water, by evaporation. In this work I was fairly successful, but even this could not makf me content with the raw food I was compelled to eat. Now strongly suspecting the fate of our ship, I might have despaired, but a new idea entered my

brain and for some time claimed my careful attention. Many young gannets were by this time occupying nests by the lagoon shore, and I decided to adopt several’ of these 7 bringing thehm up by hand, and afterward employ thehm to carry away letters describing my deplorable situation and praying for relief. But ,my first efforts were unsuccessful, and all three of my adoptions were dead birds within a few days. This set me to thinking that perhaps the food I was providing was unsuited to their immature digestions—that raw turtle meat, which they ate with avidity, was a dangerous diet. I now enlisted another family of birds, and by stoning up several small basins near the reef at high water. I was enabled to catch a small supply of little fish, when the tides had fallen and the water had drained away into the sea. With a supply of what appeared a suitable food, I was at length able to bring up a brood of promising birds, who were taught by me to rest on the usual sort of perch provided at the other islands. When my proteges had grown, they were not long in learning to provide Tor themselves. The hopelessness of my situation and my constant longing to be with my family often quite unnerved me, and surely left me less thankful than I should have been for benefits received and unacknowledged, My mind, at times thoroughly discouraged, recoiled before such an existence. Several months had elapsed and my situation was still unpromising. The feeding of my J>ets had provided a certain amount of occupation, and aB the birds rapidly approached maturity, I noted approvingly their greater proficiency in flight. At last all of them were able to make extended excursions. I easily taught them to return at the call of the flag. My tattered pajama coat answered as a signal. One day while experimenting with my own birds, I called from the skies an utter stranger, who calmly perched himself and squawked loudly for attention. With avidity I searched him for communications, but evidently the animal was off on leave, for he bore no letters. I fed him slowly, and between whiles I wrote what I thought would have been anywhere construed as a touching appeal for aa» slstance. Tearing the leaf out of my note-book I fastened the missive so that It laid flatly underneath the feathers of the back. For several days the new bird continued to resort to my perch, always returning with my message, and it was not until I refused him food continuously that I was able to get rid of him. Then, some days later, having fastened, missives to all three of my birds, I took down the perch and refused to notice them at all—-a treatment they could not understand, for from their earliest recollections I had been their only parent „ Within a week after the birds had deserted the island, I re-erected the perch, and thenceforth every afternoon I waved my rotting garment hoping that some intelligible answer would reach me. But flays and weeks passed without any sign whatever and I again grew utterly despondent. The turtle season had come and gone, and the extent erf my depredations had so alarmed the island birds that I was now forced to trap those which I would use for provender, or climb the trees at night and secure my victims quietly. One day, observing a troop of newly-hatched turtles painfully dragging themselves towards the salt water, it occurred to me that If I were to place these in the lagoon and feed them, a plentiful brood could be raised, and turtles would ever after be obtainable at all seasons. Once more I decided to entice the distant birds to a renewed perch, and they returned upon my signals of a welcome. At last I found , a bird with a letter written in the Samoan tongue and addressed to one of the teachers. Though I could not write grammatically and with precision in the native language, I was able to read sufficiently well. After divesting the missive of its religious commonplaces, which begin %nd end every native communication in these latitudes, I saw that the writer, living on a distant Island, had no knowledge or care for me, for he addressed a fellow worker in the mission field on topics of mutual interest. Detaining the bird for some time by such entertainment as was sure to please him and his comrades, l now prepared several messages in such Samoan as I could muster, and then, having neglected the animals to induce them to set out, I once more resumed work upon a construction somewhat resembling a monstrous top, which I proponed should spin continuously in a groove of soft dry wood until ignition wouJd foilow. It must not be supposed fiat this was my first effd#t in thin line, for I can -recollect at least four other constructions which - were wholly useless. By my repeated tafinres

I had at least acquired some experience. This time success crowned my efforts., From this moment I date a comfortable change of diet, and I may say that in the completion of this labor and a contemplation of Its results to me I was happier—at any rate calmer —than I had been Bince my arrival on the island. My misery was soon deepened* aye, made insupportable, by the loss of my precious knife, the one invaluable treasure that yet remained. As I was stooping over my turtle cage to observe the welfare of its occupants it slipped from my pocket and dropped into the water. For some time I had been of opinion that the bad weather would soon have its ending, and that probably a gale of wind would mark its exit. The accuracy of my calculations was justified, for after several days of great heat and unexampled calm, one of those sudden convulsions of tropic violence assailed the island with cyclonic force. My frail hut was bodily lifted by the blast as if it were a feather’s weight, and no portion of It or its contents ever met my eye again. Torrential rain in blinding sheets, almost suffocating in its profusion, utterly drenohed me, and the great ocean, lashed into a wild fury, seemed bent on subfaaerging the little Island, as it had done on previous occasions. From the ending of this storm, my days were spent in searching for food and praying to the fiend, and my nights were troubled with such realistic dreams and phantoms—if such they were—as wholly to wreck my reason. Naked and unkempt, I roamed over the limited extent the land afforded; attached now to no particular place, and heedless of any attempts at rescue, I no longer kept a lookout. Like a wild man that I was, I gleaned such food as the place afforded, untroubled by qualms of any sort. One day while drowsily musing, new sounds assailed my ears —more Intelligible, more harmontous they seemed, than the others I had been accustomed to. Though they evidently ,<came from behind, I expected the new breed of internals to deploy „ suddenly In front, as thehir predecessors had always done, therefore I did not turn until one of them laid a rough hand on me. This was a new experience, for till now the busy imps had under close inspection seemed intangible. Turning to the touch, a number of figures in white garb met my astonished gaze, and though their countenances seemed pitying and beneficent, I knew them for their deceitful worth, and cursed their uncalled-for Interference. I would have chased them from the island. Till now all goblins and little inquisitive Imps had fled before my rage< but these new-comers closed in around me, seizing my weapon and overpowering my fiercest efforts, until I lay fast in bonds, and quite insensible. The end had come. I had been rescued by an adventurous and devoted party of Samoan missionaries and their Ellice inland followers. Strange to say, nearly if not all of my messages had safely reached some Inhabited island, but unfortunately none could read and understand the English words. Paulo, the teacher on Nanomea, sent message after message through the group, and these timely explanations came to the southern teachers, enlightening them as to the real meaning of my misspelled and almost unintelligible Samoan notes which they had been getting from time to time by bird post—-«-letterdelivery service which was soon actively employed in my behalf. As soon as the defective Bystem would allow, the teachers consulted, and one bold spirit, an aged man, brave old Alamoa —journeyed from Nicutao to Vaitupu, and on to Funafuti, in an open boat, to give direction to the work of rescue. As an example of infinite unselfishness, of noble devotion to high convictions ’of duty, I think that the work of my difficult rescue can be favorably "Compared with many other shining records of Christian endeavor. The original party of thirteen adventurers set out from Funafuti in an ordinary open boat, three oars on a Bide, and using a battered compass as their only guide. After a rest of several days on Nukulailal, and with Increased stores of food and water, the perilous journey to Nuulakita was successfully attempted. -A Who can with pen or recount the raptures of a return such as mine out to be? By kindness and generosity, my employers songht to reward the good teachers and the workers who bad saved me from a living death at the Imminent risk of their own lives, and my good wife and children set down in feeling terms the heavy obligations under which they lay; but I, who more Immediately knew the case, felt that a long life of thankfulness to and respect for the good people of the Ellice Oroop .no more than paid my score.