Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-03-07
A Feminine Crus0e.
ALONE ON pREARY DESERT ISLAND FOR EIGI
TEEN YEARS.


sesScb q ptttnnlhl Interest. IL appears W tue
sympathies of the reader. and by the fascin-
alton of its style almost persuades him to
accept it as veritable history. The story
which we are about to relate, though true in
every particular, possesses q remarkable
similarity in many of its inciden IS to the tale
told by De Foe and affords another illustra-
ton of the adage that truth is stranger
than fiction" In the spring OF 1885 the
schooner Peor es NADIA, built at Monterey,
was chartered by Lewis I. Burton and Isaac
j. Sparks for an otter-huntinR expedition
from Santa Barbara to the coast of Lower
California The schooner sailed IN May,
but the trip not proving SO successful as Was
anticipated, she returned as far north as San
Pedro, where she remained at anchor during
portion of the month of August of the same
year. 1t being known that the small island
of San Nicholas, situated about seventy
miles southwest of San Pedro and little
further southeast from Santa Barbara, was
inhabited by a number of Indians. the Peor
es NADIA was despatched TO remove them to
| the main land. Nineteen men, women and
children were taken on board the schooner.
which was preparing to depart, when one OF
the Indian mothers discovered that two of
her offsprings had been forgotten and left on
the island. With true maternal devotion she
sprang, into the water and swan to the shore
in search of the missing children, one of
which was three years OF age and the other
| an infant unable to walk. Her hurried search
was unsvailing and, abandoning all hope of
findi ng the babes, she returned to the beach
lust in time to see the schooner sailing away
with all her friends on board. She called
frantically for some one to take her to the
vessel, but received no reply but the one sad
word, man .ydna ito morrow, which ever
after ceased to ring in her ear and was re-
peated on her dying bed.
The schooner never went back to the is
land, which was not again visited until 1851,
when George Nideyer, another hunter, stop
ped there for a few days. He was not pre-
viously aware that the place was inhabited,
but on this occasion he became convinced
that such WIS the case. He noticed three
small circular Enclosures about 200 yards
from the beach and about mile apart.
| They were about six feet in diameter, and
made OF brush, the walls five feet high, with
a small opening on one side. Near these
| openings were sticks of drift wood stuck in
the ground in the form of tripod, support
ing dried seal blubber. These Enclosures ap-
peared to be simply wind breaks, afiording
no protection from the rain. He also saw
mysterious footprint, and judged it to be that
of woman from its small size and arched
centre An approaching storm obliged Md
ever syessel to the leave island without allow
ing him to pursue his investigations any
| further.
Mr.. Nideyer having seen many otter on his
first trip to the island. made a second during
the winter of 1852, and being requested by
| the Mission Father OF Santa Barbara, he and
party determined TO make careful hunt
for the supposed lone inhabitant of the is
land. Within half Il mile of the head of the
island they discovered basket in the crotch
of bush or small tree, covered with a seal
skin, and containing dress made of shag's
skins,-a sea fowl common in that section
carefully folded up, and several square pieces
ofskins similar to those of which the dress
WAS made ; also, rope made of seal sinews
abalone shell fish hooks bone needles, etc
As it was late. and time for them to return
to their boat for the night, Mr.. Nidever scat
tered 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 remaining
as be left them. The following four or more
| DAYS were spent in otter hunting and before |
| the search for the Indian woman was renew
ed southeast gale compelled them to seek
| a mere hospital harbor at the island of San |
Miguel.
A third expedition, made to the island in
1853, by Nideyer, Charles Brown and four
| Indians from the Santa Barbara Mission, WAS |
more successful On the day after landing, |
| Mr.. Brown discovered the object of their |
search at distance, and cautiously ap-
preaching in an opposite direction from the |
remainder ofthe party, got quite close TO her |
| without being observed. She was in one of |
her pens or wind breaks, clothed in gar
ment make of the skins Of the shag, without |
sleeves, lOw-nekced, and, as observed when |
| standing up, extending almost to the ankles, |
She was sitting cross-legged, skinning seal |
| biubber with a rude knife made of piece |
| of hoop iron driven into piece OF wood. |
| There was no covering on her head excepting |
a thick mass of matted hair of yellowish |
| brown color, due to the exposure to the sun |
and air. The hair was short, looking as |
| though the free ends had rotted off. She /
would occasionally raise her hand and shade |
her eyes and look toward the other men on
sandy plain near the beach, whom she evid-
emily saw. The balance OF the party were
now signaled in order that she might be cap
tured il she attempted TO escape. To the
surprise of all she made no attempt to get |
away, but greeted each one as they approach
ed with bow and n smile, and chattered all |
the time in dialect none of them under |
stood, although the Indians accompanying |
Mr.. Nidever were acquainted with several
Indian dialects. She was talking apparently
to herself 'from the time Mr.. Brown ap-
preached in hearing distance until she was
made aware OF his presence. The express
sion of her face was pleasing. her features
were regular, and her complexion much
fairer and her form more symmetrical than
that of the Indian women on the main land
and she is believed to have belonged to
different and superior race. By signs and
other means of communication she was made
aware that they wanted her to accompany
them, and without amy apparent hesitation
she made ready to follow. In their course to
where the schooner lay at anchor they found
a beautiful spring of water issuing from the
bank above the beach, under u shelving rock.
The cracks or assures in this rock were stuck
full OF bones, and there were other evidences
OF an encampment of the lone inhabitant of
the island. These bones were used for nonr-
ishment obtained by sucking they were
dried and resucked many times, showing
that occasionally she was put upon short
rations, but at the time of her discovery ap-
peared to have an abundance, such as it was
She retained all her teeth, but they were
worn low. supposed to be due to her chow
ing tough and solid articles of food. Her
age appeared to he about fifty years. Mr..
Brown made her skirt of ticking, with
which, and sailors cotton shirt and black
necktle, her dress was complete.
A severe storm arose, and embarking with
their Island Queen, the men soon found
themselves at in a storm. She made
signs that she could stop the storm, and OBJ
tanning permission she knelt on the deck
facing the quarter whence the wind came and
commenced muttering something supposed
to be II prayer. She soon got up hut con-
tlnueG the prayer at intervals during the day,
apparently without fear, and when the wind
began to abate she turned to her fellow-yoy-
ayers. and with q smile made signs that her
prayers had been answered. She WAS taken
TO the house OF Nidever. in Santa Barbara
where she became the centre of attraction.
The Mission Fathers took great interest
in her, sending to Los Angeles and other
places. hoping TO find some one who could
converse with her. but failed. Even the
Pepmaros Indians. who were said to have
had acquaintance with the Indians on the
island, could not understand her Two
offers, one of 81 900, for the privilege of
taking her to San Francisco, were refused by
Mr.. Nidever When found she was in excel
lent physical condition, strong an active
but the eating of fruit and vegetables brought
sickness. which, i'll connection with an
injury to the spine received by falling from
porch, terminated her life four weeks later,
seven weeks from the time she landed.
Her dress of shag ski;is. basket and trlnkets
were given TO Father Gonzalez of the Mis-
sion, who. 1t Is said sent them to Rome
Messrs. Nidever and Brown are still living,
and it Ia on their authority that the foregoing
strange narrative IL given to the readers Of
the fhropicle.
Dreams.
There seems no doubt that in sleep the