The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-09-04 00:00:00

CUTTINGS FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

mad,

A lady who drew a gentleman's dressing-gown at a
recent fancy fair, now wishes to draw a good-looking young
man to put in it.
Cleveland young women write comments on the
margin of thF library novels they read. One emotional
ereature writes—" The pangs of love ar grate, I have been
there my sew,
- -

- "Charles," said a young wife to her husband, as
they sat at the window watching the fashionables on their
way to church, "When you die, and I get hold of the insur-
ance money, I intend to have a fur cape and muff just like
that lady has on over there.

An enterprising resident of New Orleans has pa-
tented an apparatus for switching boys off the back of cabs.
The urchin who steals a ride is seized firmly from behind
and is whipped by machinery, after which he is tossed
gently in the air. The capacity of the machine is ten
boys a minute.
ty oune gdo a t .
Az American boy wanted to go to the circus, and his
father said,
s"chosoaliaan
JileShthundyy.
“,
and a
t maybeh er
y‘ Jooubliimhy,elp'drreastidheehr
there's about one million boys in the United
ril
States, isn't there?" " Yes." "Well, dad, I'll sell out my
chance for a circus ticket."
given as a specimen of the conversl,
sc-hurpalend,don't you ? "
ti
iZhoef fcohlliocuagiongyoiusng
men
:_
lokyictlisu abbreve ? " "Why,'
cert. 11911,'',!; you ?" " Bet. I think
" agnif." j.‘Oging to hear Carl h
~s lee?" "NO, he's
on Hayes's cab, and won't lee ere.. Is that pea?"
raake' 1141 to me---I wasn't
"Dead cert." "Well, „ „
Z*g•"
despatches : The British
ing head- hie to 4-1.„'? of his cable
The ercr of an American paper wrote" the follow
printer's version of the
fast ne*mOrning When he foun4 the
Lion Shaking his 11.1aue." ge was unable to eat his break-
4img The British Lion i
matter staring him in the f,4eP ' '
SliatiPg 4411e.'?
himself in front,
in line and marched them along the aisles, h
A worthy Ci-4ago deacon formed his Sunday schopl
singing, "Hold the Fort." The conOern4ign
upon all parties at the second stanza which seiz. ed
"See the mighty host advanclng,
Satan leading on,"
may be better ituazlned than described.
In Omaha, a lawyer wqs addressing the judge, and
the judge was eating peanuts and rpacling a novel. The
lawyer bore it for some time, and .then angrily remarked
"I suppose I am entitled to claim the attention of this
court?' " Well, sir," rptorted the judge, "the court has
long Suspected you, and wll tip its duty the first chance it
gets."
The New York beauties waik out with their pet
dogs attached to strings, and foreigners wonder at the nuM.
ber of blind ladies going about.
When a schoolmaster "clown East" instructed his
Minnesota scholars that rapid was pronounccd " ragoo,"
the committee came round and told him they -eould not
repose any confidence in a man who could not pronounce
such simple words as "rag" and "out," and that they must
have his resignation.

Miss kielen Gladstone, daughter of the Premier, is
one of the successful candidates in this year's class lists of
Cambridge University Higher Local Examinations.

.

,?‘ .... -

DISCOVERIES AT AMSTERDAM
ISLAND.

The following interesting narrative of the visit of her
Majesty's ship Raleigh to Amsterdam Island in search of
wreckage and shipwrecked crews is furnished to the
Admiralty by Senior Lieut. C. E. Gissing, who conducted
the exploration :
"In pursuance of orders I proceeded, in company
with Lieut. J. B. Hay, in the fourth cutter, the first
gig following, to examine the shore under the cliffs with
the object of effecting a landing. When about half a
mile from the shore the sea became crossed and
troubled, owing to the swell meeting from opposite
directions round the island. On nearing to about
thirty yards from the shore I sounded, and found
seven and five fathoms; the cutter's anchor was now
let go, as the surf appeared to break here with
less violence than elsewhere round the island; and as
the cliffs also sloped down to the shore sufficiently to
make it practicable to climb them, this spot was
selected. It is 1i mile south of the hut, 142- mile south
of Hosken Point, and 2i north of Nevara Point. The
gig was then veered by a grass line from the cutter,
and we were able, by watching a favourable oppor-
tunity, to land on some large rounded boulders of
basaltic rock which lay at the base of the cliff. After
surmounting these and climbing the cliffs, leaving
the boats at anchor under the charge of Sub-Lieu-
tenant Edward B. T. Hall, Lieutenant Hay and
myself proceeding in the direction of the Nuts,
keeping at a distance of about 700 yards from the cliffs.
The land here rises gradually from the cliffs to the
highest central peak, which is 2,760 ft. high. On the
side of the hill were several small extinct craters, and
higher up larger ones, which we had not time to visit.
"The walking was very difficult owing to the rough
nature of the ground and the length of the grass,
which here grows to the height of several feet. After
about a mile of this walking we climbed up one of
those small extinct craters, and found on the top of
it a cairn of loose scorim stones', which we examined to
see if any records were enclosed in or buried beneath
it, but, finding nothing, we rebuilt it. During our
walk we frequently came across footprints of cattle,
but we did not see any. After leaving this cairn we
directed our steps towards Hosken Point. On arriv-
ing there we found in the valley, where some protec-
tion could be obtained from the wind, a number
of tall shrubs from 101 t. to 15ft. in height. Many
of them had been cut down, and the branches
bore the marks of an axe. From here we saw
the flagstaff which had been seen before landing
from the ship, to which we walked, and found,
about fifty yards to the north of it, a small
hut about 7ft. high, Bft. long, and 6ft. wide, built
of stout poles driven into the ground thatched,
on the roof and sides with dry grass, having no door,
but a piece of matting substituted for it. Outside
were a miscellaneous collection of empty casks, a
wooden tub, bucket, iron hoops, a large glass jar
covered with wicker-work, containing water, some
iron staples, ringbolts, feathers of seabirds, empty
eggshells, also of seabirds, empty bottles, &c. On
examining the inside of the hut we found three bunks
with a narrow space in the centre. The bunks were
made of a light stick frame-work, partially closed
in with grass matting, bedded with dry grass and
matting to about a foot from the ground; but there
was no furniture of any kind. A large iron pot, in
perfect repair, lay on one of the •bunks. Below the
hut on the rocks was an old rotten whaleboat. North
of this hut, and about twenty yards from it, was
a larger one, about 30ft. long by 14ft. across. The
walls had been made of loose scoriae stones built up
to about 4ift. high, on which had rested a roof, well
built and thatched with grass, the ends of the building
were made of planking; owing to some cause, pro-
bably wind, the walls had fallen outwards and settled
partially on the ground and partially on the remain-
ing stonework, the rafters and cross-pieces being much
broken by the fall. On crawling inside to examine
the interior we found it contained a boat, bottom up,
in very good repair, covered with pitch, evidently to
preserve it against the return of its owners; also the
oars belonging to it, a quantity of dried fish, some
wooden cases partially filled with dried fish, some casks,
iron hoops, and a miscellaneous collection of small
gear belonging to a fishing boat. On coming outside
the boathouse we found carved on the rock in Roman
capital letters: 1880. Enault. Etienne. A L'Age, 22."
On some rocks between the boat and the old whaler
were the following, also in Roman capitals: Louis
Dugaw, L. Edward, 1880. Ducain Julien, A.N. 1880.
Mulot.' The position of the hut is about fifty yards
from the shore, which here slopes down conveniently to
the water, the rocks forming a natural pier, ever which
the surf was breaking heavily. On this natural pier,
which extended out about thirty yards, were two iron
davits let into the rock and evidently used in fine wea-
ther for hoisting up a boat, also some iron crutches
evidently for supporting planked gangway. About
fifty yards above the hut was a wooden cross, near
which was a small cave or natural well of dripping
water. About fifty yards inland of the flagstaff was
the following inscription, cut on a slab of rock
Daniel Low departed this life June 13, AE., A.D.,
1803.' The inscription was also in Roman capitals.
From all appearances we came to the conclusion that
there were no signs of any shipwrecked people having
been there, but on the other hand there was every
indication of recent habitation by fishermen who, it
would appear both from the inscriptions on the rocks
and the fact of so good a boat being left behind, and
so much useful gear belonging to their trade, make
periodical visits during the fishing season.
"During our search we could find nothing of the
bottle recording the visit of the late Commodore
James Goodenough, R.N., C. 8., C.M.G., on Aug.
30, 1873, in her Majesty's ship Pearl. The hut men-
tioned by him we believe to be the one we term the
boathouse. It contains no furniture now, neither
boxes nor partitions, as mentioned by him. The
cabbage garden we found about twenty yards inland
of the hut, but quite overgrown with thick grass. A
few cabbages still remain, having grown into small
bushes with sterns several inches thick. Before
leaving we deposited in a conspicuous place a bottle
containing a statement of our visit to the island by
order of the Admiralty, adding thereto in pencil that
the hut and boathouse had been vi,ited by Lieu-
tenants Gissing and Hay, of her Majesty's ship
Raleigh, and we had not found the statement of the
visit of her Majesty's ship Pearl in 1873, nor the box
containing seeds or books.
"Owing to the shortness of time at our disposal we
were unable to obtain many specimens of plants, but
we blind that the island was covered largely with
sedge and coarse grass, and the soil was peaty in its
nature with abundance of water. Some few ferns
were collected of the genus Polypodium ; the shrubs
were of the order Myrtaceae, but few in number,
growing only here and there in the hollows. The
cones of the craters are extremely well marked and
perfect, but all of small size, continuing in some places
in ridges running from the central peak down towards
the sea. Our walk back (owing to our finding a small
path along the edges of the cliffs, which enabled us to
avoid. the roughest of the ground) was not nearly so
laborious an undertaking as going there. The get-
ting over the cliff and into the boat was done just in
time to enable us to reach the ship before dark."