The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-06-03
Secrets of tho Sea.

Sooner or later the poles and Africa must
ylcld up their little mysteries to the organi
Zatlon and persistence of modern explora-
tlan, and then there will be one thing only
ieit TO look for--a spot of ground large
enough to be inhabited on which humanity
has not Its representatives,. The search
may not be hopeless, but certainly up to
tins date the most eccentric and indefatiga-
Die globc-trottcrs have failed to find any
such place. The man, woman, or child,
III This country of free schools who knows
ol even the existence Of the Tristan D,
tuhf'a islands can scarcely be found; yet
Most maps show them. and In some cyclO-
pedias they are recognizable in the few lines
about Tristan Da Cunha There are three
Islands IN the group, which lies in tho
south Atlantic ocean, about midway be
tween Africa and America, and nearly on a
line drawn from Bucnos Ayers TO Cape
Town. 1t was on the largest of the group,
containing about forty square miles, that
the ship Mabel Clark, owned in this city,
anu sailing from Livcrpoolto Hong Kong,
was driven ashore by stress Of weather two
years next May day; and now, Capt. East
OF her ma jcsty's ship Comus, has Just re-
ported his delivery of the presents sent by
President Hayes TO the islanders who sue
coled the crew They are one hundred in
number, and are chiefly descendants of a
certain Corporal Glass, who was one of q
garrison placed on the island by England
when Bonapartc was imprisoned on st.
Helena, fifteen hundred miles away. Tho
oldest inhabitant Is Peter Green, a hale.
hearty man, in his 72d year, and the young
est is his great-grand child, aged few
months. There have only been four deaths
III thirteen years, und no death in infancy
was ever known among them. The per
feet climate is probably the explanation of
these facts. The community cultivate
shout twenty acres, potatoes being the chief
crop, and usually get ten or twelve bushels
from one of seed. They have five hundred
cattle, five hundred sheep, and any guam
tity Of fowls. The little state is both Or
dtrly and cOntented, and Peter Green is
looked upon as the chief, although he dis
claims all prctcntions to power. Doubt
less the fact thnt nearly Il majority of the
population arc related 10 iiim-hc had six
teen childrtn-accounts for the estimation
i'll which he is held. Capt. Enat recon-
mcndcd his son, William Green, for the
Albert medal, or the lfc-saving medal of
the Royal Humane society, and rs he
greatly distinguished himself on the occa-
sion of The Mabel Clarks wreck the matter
is one for somebody's attention in this
country, also. Some years ago tho island
crs begged some cats from ship, which,
for some reason, stopped at Tristan Da
C'nha, but the pcrvcrsc animals preferred
rabbits and chickens to exclusive mice and
now they run wild all over the island,
while the mice arc greater pests thnn over.
All tho Islanders want now is II clergyman.
The chaplain of the Comus christcned five
clildrcd, who, doubtless. could have waited
a year or two longer for the ceremony, but
the case OF cXpectant brides and BRIDE
grooms is hard indeed. Contemplative
persons without inordinatc appc,itcs for
letters and newspapers, may not find its
picture unaltractive, but the genius of tho
age is all for restless competition, and most
people will regard such life as vegetation
rather than existence and will not cease to
wonder that human beings should, Of their
own free will choose to endure it.