News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-06-25
A FEMALE CRUSOE.

| A FEMALE CRUSOE.
raE sINGULAR STORY OF THE LOST
WOMAN OF SAN NICOLAS.
Found on an Island Where She had BE.
mafned fer sixteen Years.
San Nicolas Island is one Of the clris-
| ter about the Bay Of Santa Barbara,
California. Here for eighteen years
lived the "Lost Woman of San Nicolas. :"
The story, as told in the Rochester
Democrat, by San Francisco corre-
spondent, is 4 strange one. In 1885
the Alaska Indians we're removed from
the island by the Government. One
"white Indian woman" went ashore for
her child, and was left behind. No at
tempt was made to rescue her, but six.
teen years later q casual visitor to the
island discovered footpiiats Of woman
-ras = lsfr5li5as OF her hfe. She could
not, however, be discovered then or in
the following year. ''The Catholic
fathers of the old Mission.' the fore
most in every good word and work,
offered reward to any one who would
find the lost woman, and third effort
was made in 1853 to discover the prodi-
gal about whom there was such a t1iys-
terry, and in whom the world Of this
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 End the woman. Huts
made Of whale ribs and covered with
brush were discovered. At length an
object was seen in the distance that ap-
peared to be moving. Going toward it,
sney saw the woman that for eighteen
years had reigned Queen of San Nicolas,
her subjects being the wild animals,
her robe a dress Of bird-skins she had
made, and her throne the hut she had
built She wars seated in an inclosure,
so that Only her head and shoulders
could be seen. Two or three dogs were
about her, that disappeared at the COM
mand of their sovereign. She was
seated on some grass that covered the
ground and served her as bed. Her
dress was neatly made of bird-skins, ex-
tending to her ankles, the feathers of
which pointed downward. Her head
was covered with thick mat of yellow
ish-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 for
that purpose knife made of an iron
hoop. In her hut was a fire, beside
which she sat talking to herself, and oc-
casionally 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 showing that this lost child of nature
had much of the politeness of true
woman. She took some roots from the
bag, roasted them in the fire, and gave
them to the men to eat. She gathered
up all her food. which was her chief
concern, owing to the famines she had
experienced, washed 6~-rSelf 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 favorite, 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 ex-
perience on the island, as she spoke
language that none of the Indians
knew, and none of the Spanish fathers,
versed in Indian dialects, could under
stand. Civilization, which prolongs the !
life of some, shortened that of the wo-
man of San Nicolas. An excessive love
OF fruit led to her death in Santa Bar
bara, 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 the receptacle of the
WOrlQ curlOSltleSs
"The story of the lost woman of San
Nicolas will always remain a wonder
ment Her ingenuity is seen in 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 inexpicable to all who
have learned her story how a woman
could live eighteen years on an island
around which the waves were beating
requiem to hope, getting her food, and
cooking it without even those facilities
which are common to the savage, and
making her dresses neatly without the
aid of needles 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, protected herself from the cold,
gained supreme control over the Wild
beasts about her, and preserved her love
for men and women for well-nigh two
decades of human life alone in the wild. |
With no previous knowledge of civiliza-
tion, solitude appeared to have educated
her for it. An ordinary woman would
have persisted with dependency in such !
a desolate, hungry, naked, hopeless out
look -