The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1889-05-15
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HIS MAJESTY BENJAMIN. I.
The ShipWrecxed Sailor Who Reigns in a
Caroline Island.

Caroline Island.
George Wright, who arrived in
San Francisco a few days ago from
the Caroline Islands, tells the San
Francisco Examiner story of the
sudden rise of sailor to distinc>
ton in one of the largest islands of
an archipelago seventy-fve miles
west of Haweis, where MIR. Wright
has trading store.
"Tbe sailor" said Mr.. Wright,
''is Carl Benjamin, and he has no
less than twenty odd native wives
and fifty copper>colored' children.
He was wrecked in the schooner
Bombazine off the Ladrone Islands
nine years ago, and foated at sci
Oh raft for couple of weeks be-
fore he struck land.
eff you will look at map you
will find lying midway between
the Trop;c of Cancer and the equa.
tor thirteen dots. On some maps
they appear marked "Thirteen Is
lands, well inhabited Well, it Is
on the biggest one of these, called
by the sailor Benjamin island, in
honor of himself, that he has taken
up his home. 1t seems odd thst an
island as big as this has not been
got down finer by the geographers,
but it remains practically terra
incognita, although it is ten by
twenty odd miles in extent.
"'Well inhabited means that
there is quite a sprinkhng OF dark
skinned native residents there, as
we'll as many men who move to and
fro in their light native boats.
fhey eat bread, fruit. bananas, CO..
Goa nuts and catch fish, and that's
the end OF it. They don't work at
all.
BENJAMIN has got to be a king
in his far way home. There the
white-capped waves beat against
the coral shores, and Benjamin has
got nothing at all to do but 90
swimming in the surf, talk the ma
tive gibberish, which he has ac>
quired, or loll under palm tree.
Sometimes he has bis wives fan him
as he smokes. Maybe you think he
hasn't soft thing of it.
However, Benjamin is doing
some good work there. despite the
hot climate. He carried three or
four books with him on his raft
the last thing you would expect
and he has continued to instruct
the natives in the English Ian
guage. The first thing he did was
to select an intelligent native and
teach him the alphabet. He
learned rapidly and soon began to
teach it to others, and number of
them can now speak English, while
the rising generation around are
gradually picking up a<primitive
knowledge of the language. Ben>
jamin is looked upon as a sage.
All the chiefs go to him for points,
and OF their own accord they Lave
made him their reigning potentate.
The chiefs, of whom there are
three, are his cabinet.
BENJAMIN has picked out the
the handsomest women for wives.
They esteem it an honor and read
lily acknowledge him as their lord
and master. His children are a
sprigbtly, lively lot. Nobody
hothers much with clothes way
down there. Still, he wears a lit>
tie something. as do some of the
natives, thanks to his teachings, for
he has instructed them that there is
no civilization without some cloth.
ing.
He is about 20 years old and
came from Massachusetts, but says
that he no longer has any desire
10 return to this country, and that
he is perfectly satisfied to end his
days there. He is the only white
man. with one exception, for huns
dreds Of miles around.
"The permanent population
of the island is perhaps not over
700. 1t is a very pretty and