Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-05-20
A FEMININE CRUSOE.
Eighteen Years ON a Desert Island
How She Lived and Dressed.

San Francisco Correspondence Rochester Democrat.
Seventy miles from the shore Is San
Nicolas Island, the sixth OF the group that
cluster around the bay OF Santa Barbara Cali
fornia. 1t is celebrated for having been the
residence for eighteen years OF 1.-THE Lost
woman OF San Nicolas" AS her name is
famous and as her story has been told in ro-
nance will give the bare facts about her as
found them to be, without any added orna-
ment, and leave the fiction TO the pen of the
novelist.
The Island of San Nicolas was once denselv
Popuiated This is attested by the skulls and
bones and other evidences OF human abode that
are found there. The Alaska Indians frequently
visited the island to hunt for the furs OF the se,
otter. They took their women with them on
these hunts, and on returning after the hunt
was over they left them the island TO their
fate: BY order OF the government in $50 the
INDIANS We're removed from the island. Just
before they were 10 embark and carry away
every human inhabitant as IL was supposed, a
white Indian woman begged for the privilege OF
going ashore for her child, which she had acct
dentaliy left. She was gone long time in a
fruitless search for her offspring. The wind
blew gale, the water was shallow, there
one who was seeking the lost one They set
sail, intending to return for the lost woman of
San Nicolas, but the boat becoming unsea-
worthy she was left to her fate. 1t was gencr-
doned on the island, but no attempt was made
for her deliverance. As the world soon forgets
SO the woman of san Nicolas forgotten and
the year passed away. After lapse of sixteen
years man who landed on the island found
that 1t was inhabited by some one The foot
prints of a human being sunk deep i'm the
ground were seen. The hardness of the ground
was an indication that they had been made "a
long time. From their size they evidently be-
longed to a woman. Circular enclosures made
OF brush, SIX or seven feet through. were seen,
where some one had lived. Near the huts We're
sticks driven in the ground and dried blubber
hanging on them, thus prepared for food
In 1852 San Nicolas was visited again and
another hunt was made for the long-lost
woman. The hutS were seen that had been seen
before, but the old blubber had been taken
away and new food of the kind hung in its
place. Wild dogs were found which ran away
at the approach of civilized man. In a basket
covered with seal skins that they found ia a
bush-heap was a dress made OF shag skins cut
in square pieces, a rope made of snew and sew
erai smaller articles such as fiSh-hooks and bone
needles. The discoveries of these proofs that
there lived on that island human being scat
tered them on the ground, and on their return
they found them gathered together and placed
in the basket again.
The Catholic fathers of the ''Old Mission" the
foremost in every good word and work, offered
a reward to anyone who would find the lost
woman. and a third effort was made in 1858
to discover the prodigal about whom there was
such mystery and in whom the world ofthis
coast was beginning TO take an interest. Fresh
tracks of the woman were found They belonged
to very small feet, and were like those that were
seen in the first attempt TO find the woman.
Huts made of whale ribs and covered with
brush were discovered. At length an object
was seen in the distance that appeared 10 he
moving. Going towards it they saw the woman
that for Is years had reigned Queen of san Mic
olas, her subjects being the wild animals. her
robe dress OF bird skins she had made and
her throne the hut she had built. She was
seated In an enclosure, that only her head
and shoulders could be seen. Two or three
dogs Were about her that disappeared at the
command of their sovereign. She was seated
on some grass that covered the ground and
served her as a bed Her dress was neatly made
Of bird skins, extending to her ankles, the
feathers of which pointed downward Her head
was covered with thick mat of yellowish
brown hair and her shoulders were bare. She
was occupied in stripping blubber from piece
OF sealskin which she held across her knee and
using tor that purpose knife made of an iron
hoop. In her nut was fire, beside which she
sat talking to herself and, occasionally shading
her eyes with her hand looked at the men that
were in search of her. She received them with
much courtesy, bowling and smiling and show
ing that this lost child of nature had much OF
the politeness of a true woman. She took some
roots in the bag, roasted them in the fire, and
gave them to the men to eat. She gathered up
Germ, owing to the famines she had ex-
perienced, washed herself at the spring.
and followed the men cheerfully to
the boat. On being taken TO Santa Barbara she
manifested great delight on seeing the sights of
civilization. She became a universal iavorite,
and was presented with many gifts. Passengers
on the Panama steamer that landed there all
wanted to see the lost woman OF San Nicolas.
She related by signs her experience on the
Indians knew and none OF the Spanish fathers,
versed in Indian dialects, could understand.
Civilization, which prolongs the life OF some,
shortened that of the woman of San Nicolas.
An excessive love of fruit led to her death i'm
Santa Barbara at the age of fifty. She was
buried with the honors of the Catholic church
by the Franciscan fathers; and her dress and
trinkets were sent to Rome and placed in that
receptacle OF the worlds curiosities.
The story of the lost woman of San Nicolas
will always remain a wonderment. Her ingen-
uity is seen i'm the pals she made of grass. made
to hold water by smearing them with melted
asphaltum, and in her bird-skin dresses, her
bone needles, her knife of iron hoop and the
language she invented and spoke. 1t is mex
plicable to all who have learned her story how
aiwoman could live eighteen years on an island
around which the waves were beating a re-
QUEEN TO hope, getting her food and cooking ii
without even those facilities which are COM
mon to the savage, and making her dresses
neatly without the aid OF needle except what
she carved out of bone. She laid aside one dress
for eighteen years, to be worn when the white
men should come, of which she had a
presentiment. She built her own house, pro-
tected herself from the cold, gained supreme
control over the wild beasts about her and pre-
served her love for men and women for well
nigh two decades of human life alone i'm the
wild. With no previous knowledge of civiliza-
ton, solitude appeared to have educated her for
1t. An ordinary woman would have persisted
with dependency in such a desolate, hungry
naked, shelterless outlook.
A Sailors Strange Story.