The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1879-04-03
A FEMALE CRUS0E.

A FEMALE CRUS0E.
The San Francisco call contains q
very interesting account Of an Indian
woman, was who was abandoned on
| San Nicolas Island, on the coast of
southern California, and spent eigh-
teen years alone there befor0 she was
rescued. The main facts are as FOL
| lows:
According to the information haye
obtained from the three persons con-
| suited through the Interpreter, tho his
| tory of the Indian Woman, the femi=
nine aCrusOe," is as follows: She was
absent, gathering wood, when the 9th
ers were taken away, but returned TO
the camp or quarters, and finding them
deserted, she followed in time TO Do
taken on board the schooner, but not
finding her children there, one a babe
at the breast, and the other about 3
wears old, she plunged into the water
and SWAN ashore in search Of them.
| Unable to find her children, she re
turned 10 the beach just in time to see
| the schooner leaving. She called to
| those on board, but the only reply she
got, and which she remembered to the
/ day of her death, vas siB.Gngdliq," pro-
nOunced mah-nyall-nah, the Spanish
word for "to=mOrTOW," eYidentlymean-
| ing that the schooner would return for
her tomorrow or tho following day.
She threw herself down m the beach
and cried long and bitterly. She did
not find her children, and supposed
they were either taken off by the
schooner or carried away and GayOured
by the wild dogs on the island. She
became very sick and lay long time
without either water or food, but
| finally IecOEered and fOlgOb hlE grief
| I'm wandering about the island. She
lived on plant resembling the cab
bage, called by Californians "palO-
santO," and a root known by the name
Of "cOTeOmite;" also, a yellow root, the
name Of which was not given, and sea
or sea=liOn blqhbeF, As she had aba
| lone shellfish hooks, and lines made of
the sinews of the seal, 1t Is probable
she supplied herself with fish from the
ocean.
An approaching storm and night
coming on, the water being quite shoal
about the island and unsafe for YES
sci during a high yYind, they were COM
PEELED to leave for the safety of the
schooner, intending to return at fU-
ture time for the deserted woman.
The vessel ran before the gale, and
reached San Pedro HarbOr in safety;
but circumstances did not permit a
return prior to the loss of the schooner
in storm few weeks later, and the
distance to the island was too great TO
be safely made in small shore boats,
In 1851 Mr.. NideYer visited the is
land, otter hunting, and saw signs Of a
human inhabitant. He saw footprint
made during the previous rainy sea-
son, sunken deeply in the now dry,
hard ground, and from the size judged
il to be that of a woman; also three
small circular Enclosures, about 200
yards from tile beach, and about q mile
apart, They were about Six feet in
diameter, made Of brush; the walls
five feet high, with q small opening on
one side. Near these openings were
sticks of dTiftwOOd, stuck in the ground
in the form of tripod, supporting
dried seal blubber. These Enclosures
appeared TO be simply wind breaks, df
fOrding no protection from the rain.
The investigation was pursued no fur
ther, IS an approaching storm compell-
ed him 10 leave the island,
Mr.. NideYer having seen many otter
OIL his first trip to the island, made Il
second during the winter Of 1852, and,
being requested by the mission of
Santa Barbara, had determined to
make a careful hunt for the supposed
lone inhabitant of the island. The
head OF the island being better sup
piled with fresh water closer to the
beach and better facilities for fishing,
and the altitude such as to command
4 view of the greater portion Of the is
land and coast, he supposed if alive
she would be found there, and made
his arrangements accordingly. He
and his party found the same or simi-
lar inclOsure above mentioned, and
the tripod sticks supporting renewed
pieces of blubbeT. In the neighbOr-
hood of the huts or wind-breaks were
seven or eight wild dogs, about the
size of coyote IA small wolf on the
cOast), and in color black and white.
Mr.. NideYer said he had seen the same
kind of dogs among the Northwestern
Indians. They appeared TO be very
wild. Within half mile of the head
of the island they discovered a basket
in the crotch of bush or a small tree,
covered with a seal-skin, and contain
ing q dress made Of shagS' skins 0he
sfIag is a species of duck ON this coast
that can neither walk nor fy), care
fully folded up, and several square
pieces of skins similar to those of
which the dress was made; also a rope
made of seal sinews, abalOne shell-iish
hooks, bone, needles, etc. As it was
late and time for them to return to
their boat for the night, Mr.. Nidever
scattered the contents of the basket on
the ground, so that upon his return he
could judge Of the presence or absence
of the owner, by finding them gathered
up or remaining IS he left them. The
following four or more days were bust
ly spent IN otter hunting, and before
the search for the Indian woman was
renewed a southeast gale compelled
them to seek a more hOspitable harbOr
at the island of San Miguel.
A third voyage by Mr.. NideYea and
six Others, four of whom were Indians
from Santa Barbara Mission, was
made TO the Island In July, 1853, and
although otter hunting was the main
object Of the visit, the Indian woman
- nv AoA tafANNA4s AlIN laAAuNAA VII
the northeast side of the Island early
in the day, and, having selected their
camping site, all but one, the cook,
started for the head of the is
land. Near there was observed fresh
footprints leading from the beach to
the ridge or higher elevation, but
were soon lost in the mOSs-coyered
ground. The following day they We're
more successful. One of the party, Mr..
Brown, discovered the object of their
search at a distance, and cautiously ap-
proach in an opposite direction from
the balance of the party, got quite
close to her without being observed.
She was In one of her pens, Of wind
breaks, clothed in a garment made of
the skins Of Shag, without sleeves,
low necked, and rs observed when
standing up, extending almost to the
ankles. She was sitting crOSs-legged,
skinning seal blubber with rude
! knife, made of piece OF hoop iron
driven into apiece of wood.
There was no covering on her head
excepting a thick mass OF matted hair
of a yellOwish brown color, due TO theeX-
pOsure to the sun and air. The hair was
short, looking as though the free ends
had rOtted of. She would occasional
| ly raise her hand and shade her eyes
and look toward the other men on
n Caradxr valafu .,aor AI,n l,n,aI, -1,,