Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1878-12-21
A rluatiug Island.


Tie existence Of . floating leland
wsga,ele. in vanua Lew, il known to
,,re |, y, probably, besides those ma.
.'r.s y lao reside in or near the district
Y logo, TO the northeast OF the
y, Of Macuata. On our arrival
/, ,l,.. Lake the scene that presented 1t
Il, IA, at once most lively and most
'Iraarv. Very dreary, for ss Tag as the
". could reach there vas . barren
We stood in the center OF
,'., mn,rland, and the lake had
Iau.ll,.l during o i've months drought
-, swamp. There vas no sign OF lille
I'm, What We ourselves hal brought.
Tt,. ",tukei" had clamberel mp tree
aa III. il and Tor a tall bush called
r,I,tll. and Mas adjuring the island
,,'j 10 laovc; the girls were on the OPP
lit. ,i,!e of the mere, in the full How
-, Ike; about half a dozen natives
~. cling about q small island IN the
Nh. !, el-e, and q number, 10th men
80 women, we're on the large island
.,,h lie '.taukei," Who seemed to he
,,,s genius loci, helping him with
IN, nn!es) to move the mass. Every
on,. was in the highest spirits. One
cL,,t toll MS that the Wsgaqele had
sailed cross the mere that morning,
wL,.h we had great pleasure in be-
Erylng. as the winl Was from that
nu,r,,r, bu. it vas lying on the lee
g,i,. now and swayed about without
nrocr,ssing much. A light spring OF
iLr., or four feet landed us on the is
land which, without doubt, is ahoat,
onl moved a fathom or two when We
w.re ON il, Had the wind changed /
fssl sure that we should have been fer
r,ed,N er the water in the Wagaqele. 1t
;s "a races in length and 20 in breadth,
ami is composed entirely OF firm turf.
in some places quite dry, being thickiy
covered with tai; rushes kuta) besides
several nalata bushes Is to 20 feet high.
There are four islands in all. Three
are of the size and appearance OF that
on which we stood. One has three
balawa trees on it, and appears to have
been more recently detached from the
moor. The fourth island is smaller,
being only about fifteen feet in length,
and on it was the scene OF most uproar-
rious mirth. At one time we counted
ten men on it. The aggregate weight
of the ten people must have been 500
mounds. and the island sank several
inches and canted ominously until re-
lieved of part Of its burden. The men
plunged into the water and swan about,
regardless of the grim warning OF the
old man up the tree that they would be
seizel by unseen hands below. We
were not slow to follow the example OF
the natives, and jumped in also. The
banks are covered with rushes and are
level with the water. They do not
shelve Of. all, but go down sheer.
Where we bathed there was no bottom
for ut least two or three fathoMs at the
very margin Of the moss. In many
places the water had sapped the loose
soil under the turf to considerable
distance. At tie time of our visit the
size of the mere was about 25O yards
by $50, but probably after much rain
it is three times that size. We had no
measts of Judging the depth other than
by,sGimming, and we can only say that
wsFYound Il to be more than two
fathoms in the middle, but how much
more we cannot say, and where the is
land had drifted it was two fathoms.
The water il stagnant, but not impure;
it is not pleasant to the taste, but there
is hardly suspicion of DOGGY flavor.
The sun was extremely hot, and after
our shadeless walk we arrived in sim
mering condition, and the water felt
cool and refreshing. We swan the
entire length and back again without
finding any snags, or leaves or sticks of
ony kind