The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1866-03-30

or sen-bass with far less "tlngle than
a one-pounder will produce on the st.
Lawrence.
The colonists were DESTROYS that
the United States depot should be To-
Gated on their island, but the harbor
was not well protected, MS was shown
conclusively, by heavy typhoon
from Chinese Ty-fung great WINDY,
that sprung up; the Plymouth, with
four anchors down and topmasts
housed, was driven nearly an eighth
of a mile; and the American whale
ship Bowditch was blown and borne
by the waves well off again into deep
water.
This gale cost us heavily Lieut..
John Matthews, one of our most loved
and accomplished officers, started in
the morning on hunting excursion
to neighboring island. Ten of our
best men accompanied him. When
they left the ship, and, in high spirits,
! laughingly bid good-by to their mess
mates, they did not know it, but they
parted with the world forever. The
tempest came upon us suddenly, and
when it was over, an anxious search
, began; but no trace or sign of the
: lost boat rewarded our efforts. Pa
tiently and thoroughly the ship and
: her boats, with an hundred eager eyes
scanning the sea, crossed and re-
crossed their tracks, like trained set
ters in field, but not n trace of them
, could be found. Gone gone in an
/ instant; for the first terrific blow of
) that tempest must have pressed the
frail boat bodily down, and they met
their fate, leaving gloom for the deci-
mated ship, and sore hearts for the
loved ones, who, months after, first
) heard of their fate.
: While the ship lay at Port Lloyd,
the launch and first cutter were armed
and equipped, and dispatched to the
: southernmost of the group, an island
known by the funereal title of Coffin
Island, named from the wandering
: Nantucketer who claims its discovery
= Rounding a point of land the boats
, shot into little cove, almost land
locked, nearly circular in form, and
Z from to 10 feet deep. The water,
| clear as crystal, revealed the coral bot
tom and thousands of fish gliding in
e and out the network of branches
+ while here and there hideous shark
would slowly cross our track, hardly
fearing our presence, yet grudgingly
yielding to his natural enemy. No
one who has ever met the CHASTITY
J gaze OF large shark but will readily
y believe that our hatred for him is re-
: ciprocated
e On landing, we were surprised to
= find traces of inhabitants, and little
: further back from the beach, embow-
s cred in cocoa groves, and nesting
\ snug in little coral at the foot of the
y mountains, we found two cabins, and
$ soon after their owners greeted us,
q and made us very welcome. The in
I habitants consisted of George" a
! rough, unletterel English sailor,
q whose hard features were in no way
improved by an immense scar, as of a
sabre-cut that crossed his truculent
face; and Robinson, also English, but
) a tolerably well-informed and educat-
cd man.
r George possessed one wife, and no
children. Robinson, two wives Gall
t Raven Indians) and three children
} making eight in all. According to
, their story, they had lived some II
, years on the island. OF their previous
: history we learned nothing, but q
week acquaintance led usto presume
/ that each had in some portion of his
career occupied the position OF first or
second-class pirates. They made us
{ very welcome, though, and the women
got us up feast of wild-hog, corn
doc, gers, fried in turtle oil; fish, sweet
pota toes, fried bananas, and other is
land delicacies, in return for which
our "s,,lt-horse" and pork were gladly
bestowed and received.
After pitching our tents, explora-
ton was the order of the first day,
and while some took to the peaks-on
the highest of which Jimmy Keenan,
, planted our boat-hag; others resorted
to the woods in search of game; 9TH
ers to the bay tor fish; and some, yes,
, most of the blue jackets, to Georges"
| cabin, where they found rum enough
to give all hands Jolly tuck-out,
and to render the night hideous. For
| tunately for our future comfort, one
nights drinking exhausted the stock
J on hand.
: Vast piles of splendid fish OF all
: sorts, sizes and shapes, peck OF
snipe and doves, few ducks, and q
} half bushel of black stones, brought i'll
by Jacks who were not familiar with
J coal, rewarded our efforts. OF animals
4 we saw none (although there are wild
9 hogs except species of bats of enor-
= nous size, who nightly rustled about
in the tall trees. As well as we could
4 Judge from seeing them fit over in
: the dusk, they were over foot in
length, with two-feet spread OF wings.
/ We called them flying foxes. OF birds,
Y ducks, doves, and snipe, there seemed
{ to be the most plenty. In the season,
v great numbers of enormous green tur-
s ties waddle up the sandy beach to lay
v their eggs, and arc easily captured by
!. the islanders, who, getting between
i the turtles and the water, seize them
O by the side Of their shells and capsize
h them. Once ON its back, turtle is
, balnlass and very mnch in the indie