Mountain Home bulletin. (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1888-1889, 1888-09-15
JOHANNES ISLAND.


Where Il Ia and what . Naval Omcer
Knows About It.
"Ever been to Johannes IslandP" said
q naval officer on leave Of absence to u
reporter.
Think not; where is FTP Anywhere
in the SoundT'
mot exactly. It's one of the Comoro
group"
"And where is the Comoro groupp"
1.-The ComoVo group is off Madagas-
car, that is, from 200 to 500 miles of
Madagascar. in the Indian Ocean. Gil
mate tropical; verdure magnificent; air
spiced and dreamy. White men idae;
negroes not very busy; women drowky
and half dressed"
"What took you down thereP"
"Oh, you know some United States
ship is always slipping through Gibral-
tar, creeping down the Mediterranean,
sliding through the Suez Canal and the
Red Sea, skirting down the coast OF
Africa and then shooting across to Rio
or Montevido. They follow one
another. man after man, as we used to
say when we played marbles. We got
through in the Alliance early this year
and another vessel is doing the same
thing this very minute. It's our Govern
ment's method Of notifying the world
that there's civilized power in the
Western hemisphere"
"And do they all go to the Comoro Is
landsp"
mo; think not. We went Their
looking for q slave ship. Odd, isn't it:
1t was our business to look up YANKEES
schooner that was said to have beef
carried off by her master. Yanke.
sailor, and sold to Doctor Wilson. a
} former surgeon in the United States
navy, who was charged with using her
in the slave trade. Queer story for the
year 1888, isn't it? Further, we were
ordered to seize her by force if neoes-
sary wherever we should find her. pro-
vided 1t was safe to do so, and send her
back to this country with prize
crew."
.Did you do ftp"
1--WE found her, but we didn't seize
, her. She was under British protection
at Mauritius. But you ought to see
, !, Wilson's place on Johannes. He's beer
!. living there like prince for l dom
know how many years, with absolute
power Of life and death over seven hun
dred to eight hundred slaves and de
pendents, with thousands of acres il
sugar plantations, and no rival but tn,
Sultan, who has twice as many slave
7 as Wilson. and l don't know how man,
: wives. Wilson lives in a bungalo, which
), is one-story house with wide veran
dahs, hammocks, great fans run by lit
y ury OF the tropics. He has ice the yea
u round, makes the best and coolest cock
y tails imaginable, gets the New Yorl
c Herald, two or three English papers, al
" the best American magazines and n
end OF new books. Once month h
sends little steamboat of his own t
an island three hundred miles off t
Q bring over his mails"
e keep Il harem?'
n well, if he does it wasn't on exhib
o ton"
l.. "And did he use the Yankee schoone
in the slave trade?"
N "Blest II I know; but he said h
y didn't, and he treated us with the no,
IN pitality Of u prince
- "And, OF course, you didn't distur
g him?"
"a Eyes, we did. We sent dozen me
III over to one OF his sugar plantation
or tore away three or four great cope
10 boilers which we insisted belonged
" the schooner, and carried them off
ST South America. Then we took par
., ing drink with Wilson and left him [
10 his grievance and his tropic paradise