The Red Cloud chief., 1879-03-27
4 FEMININE CRUsOE
Alone - . Dresv Desert Isiaad for -

-
A''.' 80 Dr''2 2.. S..''' ''''." for Is
TF-om the San Francisco C~hruuic.e
The romance Of '.RHbinson Crusoe,"
woven 50 ingeniously BY the imagins-
tive DE Foe from the slender thread Of
fact afforded By the narrative Of Alex
ander S<lkirk. who for over four years
VA the sole human inhabitant Of The
lonely island Of Juan Fernandez, pos
sesses q perennial interest. II appeals
to the sympathies of tbs reader, and by
the fascination Of its style almost per-
suafes him to accept il as veritable his
tory. The story which we are about to
relate, though true in every particular,
possesses . remarkable similarity IN
many Of its incidents TO the tale told by
De Foe, and affords another illustration
Of the adsge tha; ''truth is stranger than
fiction" In the spring Of 1885 the
small schooner Peor es NADIA, built ~
Monterey, Wa chartered by Lewis T.
Burton and Isaac j. Sparks for an otter
hunting expedition from Santa Barbara
70 the coast of Lower California. The
schooner sailed in May, but the trip not
pIosA ~ ~ eONLCeelAi ~ as aLICipSSa
she returned as far north as San Pedro,
where she remained st a.chor during q
portion Of the month of Angus; Of The
same year. II being known that the
small island of San Nicholas, situated
about 30 miles southwest Of San Pedro
and little further southeast from Santa
Barbara, was inhabited By q number Of
Indians, the Peor es NADIA vas dispatch
ed TO remove them TO the main land.
were taken On board the schooner, which
was preparing to depart, when q Of
the Indian mothers discovered that two
Of her offspring had been forgotten aud
left On the island. With true maternal
devotion she sprang into the water and
swan to the shore in search of the miss
ing children, of which was three
years Of age and the other an infant un-
able TO walk. Her hurried search was
unavailing, and, abandoning all hope of
finding the babes, she returned to the
beach just in time TO see the schooner
away with all her friends On
board.
SHE CALLED FINANCIALLY
for some one to take her to the vessel,
but received no reply but the one sad
word, nsGnyana (to-morrow), which
never after ceased TO ring in her ears
and was repeated on her dying bed.
The schooner never went back to the
which was not again visited un-
til 1851, when George Nidever, another
hunter, stopped there for q few days.
He was not previously aware tha, the
place was inhabited, but on this occa-
sion he became convinced that this was
the case. He noticed three small circu-
lar Enclosures about 200 yards from the
beach and about a mile apart. They
about six feet in diameter, and
made Of brush, the walls FIVE feet high,
with q small opening on n side. Near
these openings were sticks of drift-wood
stuck in the ground in the form Of a
tripod, supporting dried seal blubber.
These Enclosures appeared TO be simply
wind-breaks, affording no protection
from the rain. He also saw
MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINT,
and judged it to be that OF a woman
from its size and arched center. An
approaching storm obliged Nidever's
vessel TO leave the island without al.
him TO pursue his Investigations
any further. Mr.. Nidever having seer
many otter on his first trip to the island,
made a second during the winter of
1852, and, being requested by the Mis-
sion Fathers Of Santa Barbara, he and a
party determined TO make a careful
for the supposed lone inhabitant
Of the island. Within half q mile of
he head Of The island they discovered
basket in the crotch of a bush or small
rec, covered with a seal-skin, and CON
dress made of shaSs' skins-a
YEA fowl common in that secuon-care-
ully folded up, and several square
pieces of skins similar to those Of which
he dress were made; also . rope made
If seal sinews, abalone shell fish-hooks.
needles, etc. As it was late, and
for them TO return to their boat for
he night, Mr.. Nidever scattered the
contents of the basket on the ground,
o that upon his return he could Judge
the presence or absence of the owner
y finding them gathered up or remain
Dg as he left them. The following four
n o days we're spent in otter hunt
ng, and before the search for the In
Ian woman was renewed a southeast
ale compelled them to seek q more
lospitable harbor at the island Of San
iiguel.
A THIRD EXPEDITION
made to the island in 1853, BY Nidever,
;harles Brown and four Indians from
he Santa Barbara Mission, was more
uccessful. On the day after landing,
ar. Brown discovered the object of their
.arch at a distance, and cautiously ap-
reaching in an opposite direction from
he remainder of the party, got quite
lose to her without being observed.
he was in one of her pens or wind
reaks, clothed in a garment made of
skin. OF the shag, without sleeves,
w necked, and, as observed when
.anding up, extending almost to the {
nkles. She vas sitting cross-legged,
seal blubber with a rude knife
,ade of a piece of hoop-iron driven into
piece of wood. There was no cover
g on her head excepting a thick mass
I matted hair Of q yellowish-b brown COL
+, due to the exposure to the sun and I
r. The hair was short, looking as a.
Tough the free ends had rOtted of. i
he would occasionally raise her hand {
I'd shade her eyes and look toward the 7
her men on q sandy plain near the 7
Zach, whom she evidently saw. The q
slance Of the party were now signaled c
order that c
SIZE MIGHT BE CAPTURED U
she attempted to escape. To the sur ;
rise Of all she made no attempt TO get !,
way, but greeted each one as they APP !.
coached with q bow and q smile, and !.
lattered all the time in q dialect that r
of them understood, although the !,
!dians ACCOMPANYING MI. Nideyer r