Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-11-18
the plateau, to shelter themselves when

the plateau, to shelter themselves when
hunting. eo f.t
can American whaling schooner Wis
tied them, from which they obtained
some small supplies, but they would not
take the opportunity Of leaving the is
land, expecting the return of the The
mis-. A party of Tristan de Cunha men
also landed ON the west side, and cap
tured no fewer than forty seals. During
the stay of the party, they shot eight Of
the remaining twelve goats, and, on
leaving, assured the brothers that the
Themis would most certainly call the
next month. Although anxious to leave
the island, the brothers were unwilling
to go to Tristsn da Cunha, feeling that
they would not be welcome. For ten
months they were without communica-
ton with their fellow men.
elm January, 1878, Frederic, again
swimming around the bluff, mounted
the cliff, and succeeded in shooting
four pigs; these were thrown over the
cliff to the brother below. He refrained
from shooting the remaining four goats.
At the end of the month Frederic re-
joined his brother, and the day after he
did so party from Tristan ola Cunha
landed on the west side, and either
shot or caught the remaining goats,
which they took away with them. They
did not communicate with the Germans,
and as this was intentional, the brothers
considered that their object was to drive
them from the island. Probably the
Tristan da Cunha people considered
that their residing on the island inter
ferfered with their hunting ground; OF
all events, after their kindness to them
on arriving on the island, their conduct
was at least inexplicable.
GIN February, potatoes, and other
vegetables, mixed with pigs fat, formed
their daily food; but in March, that
food being exhausted, another visit was
paid to the plateau, and the goats were
then missed, which they had abstained
from shooting, but they shot several
pigs. At this time their one great COM
fort, tobacco, failed, and this to Ger
man is more than we English should
feel; they tried to replace it by dried
leaves, but without success.
The dogs which they had brought on
shore broke loose, and played sad havoc
among the penguins, killing great
numbers, and as one was apparently
mad, the three were shot. It was now
decided that the brothers should sepe-
rate for time, the elder to remain on
the plateau to provide food, whilst the
younger remained below to melt down
and store the fat, and attend to the
clearing, he want of salt prevented cur,
ing the flesh. Three young pigs had
been caught and got down the cliffs
without injury, then secured to a cask
and towed round the point, but were
nearly drowned on the passage; they
were placed in a sty, and fed with grass
and what could be spared from the gar
den, and also with penguins' eggs, when
procurable
'At the end of April, the elder re-
joined the younger, and in the attempt
to convey two more pigs round the
bluff, was nearly drowned; the pigs
were. In June Frederic again went to
the plateau, and remained there until
the 18th of August; the brothers were
not altogether without communication
during that time, for, excepting when
the noise of the wind or surf prevented,
they could hold kind of conversation
In June, July, and August they lived
on pigs flesh only; the penguins then
began to lay, and in their eggs they
had abundance of food"
Evidently, this precarious mode of
life could not last. The brothers had
made a grievous mistake in not follow
ing out their original intention of set
Ting in Tristan da CuncLa, and subse-
quently they committed a serious
blunder in not taking the earliest OPP
portunity Of leaving a spot where they
endured series Of extraordinary hard
ships.
At length they had the good fortune
to be happily rescued. The captain OF
the Challenger, when at Tristan da
Cunha, having heard that two Germans
had landed on inaccessible Island,
twenty miles to the southwest, two
years previously, feared they were in
difficulties, and went to their succor
The ship arrived at the island on the
18th Of October, found the two unfortu-
nate exiies, took them on board, and
carrying them off, terminated their
Robinson Crusoe-Eke existence.
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