Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-04-11
4 QUEER RACE.
By WILLIAM WESTEL.

1t was not like q British officer to accept
such an offer as this, for doing so involved
both dereliction of duty and breach of
discipline. To remain on the island, eX-
cept under compulsion, was tantamount
to desertion; and desertion by combatant
officer in war time is an offense punishable
with death. Yet Denzn Fame not only did
accept the offer of the Carib chiefs, but
constrained his brother officers to follow
his example. l assume the constraint, al
belt no mention of it appears in the re-
cords, because it can hardly be supposed
that the ofhcers-the two heutenants. the
masters mates, the surgeon, the chaplain,
and the half dozen midshipmen-would
willingly agree to eXpatriate themselves
and renounce all hope Of ever seeing Eng
land again. But the recalcitrants were a
small minority, and, being too few to build
a ship and get away by themselves, they
had no alternative but to throw in their
lot with the others and make the best Of
it. And some of the officers, like the sur
vivors of the crew, may have preferred
freedom and the Fair Island to life on the
ocean wave, for the British man-of-war OF
that time was not exactly a paradise.
As for Denzil Fane's motives l can offer
no adequate explanation. One, and per
haps the most powerful, may have been
that since his arrival on the island he had
married a wife. The Spanish captain of
the Santa Anna" who fell on his own
quarterback, had with him his wife and
daughter, the latter a handsome girl of
nineteen. The wife (Senora Velasquez Y
Blanco) survived her husband only a few
weeks; but Mercedes was among the rem
nant who reached the island, and month
J-Ioo ~
the Rev. Robert Hare.
If the commander had left wife in
England (and such things have happened),
his reluctance to return thither would be
accounted for. But, though his conduct
may have been questionable, and his mo-
tives obscure, there can be no question that
DenZil Fame was a man of resolute will
and strong characters born leader of
men, should say If his people thought
they were going to lead idle lives, they
were very much mistaken. So soon as the
decision was taken to remain on the island
he assigned to every one his task, organ
lied a government and promulgated q
| code of laws. Opposition Gf the idea of it
was ever conceived) would have been out
of the question: the Caribs simply idolized
their "White Chief" and rendered him
the most implicit obedience. Roads were
| made, houses built gardens laid out, trees
cut down, and the country opened out
| Sailors are always handy fellows, and
among so many there were naturally some
| with turn for mechanics and engineer
| ing, and great improvements were effected
| in the native methods of manufacture, and
several new industries set on foot. Into
| this work Fame threw so much energy that
49, l. L ~+,1J+ -
| fv himself to his own conscience by civil
| izing the Cacib subjects, and making the
| island the home of a happy and thriving
| community. This may possibly have been
| his ruling motive from the first; and il so,
| there can be no doubt that with the ma
| terials at his command he succeeded bet
| ter than might have been expected.
| Some of the rules he laid down are worth
| mention. Although he acquired the Carib
tongue he made English the official Ian
| guage, and insisted on the CARDS learning
| it. The process was probably slow and
| painful III the beginning, but in the end
! the desired result was attained. At the
time of my arrival on the island there were
not hundred men who could hold con-
versation in the Carib tongue. He also
made them Christians-after a fashion
which was all the more easy, as their own
| primitive religion seems to have sat very
| lightly on them, and they were ready to
believe pretty nearly everything the Great
| White Chief told them.
! In his own family Denzil Fame made the
| practice of athletics and the training Of the
senses religious duty, whereby it came
| to pass that his descendants were distin-
| guished by exceptional bodily strength,
| litheness of limb, acutenesS of hearing, and
| keenness of vision. Owing TO their descent
! from two European ancestors, moreover
| though Fane's children had necessarily
lntermarried with Caribs and half-breeds)
! they were whittier and less piebald than the
other families of mixed blood, and formed
true aristocracy, not by right of birth
merely, but by virtue of their physical and
moral superiority, which was probably the
end Fame had in view.
! He called his government a common
wealth, and himself its Protector" Grom
which I infer that he was an admirer of
! Oliver CromWeID; but in reality it was a
! paternal despotism of a very uncompro-
missing sort The ruling body was ostens-
| IDLY Council of Nine, presided over by
the Protector, and nominated by himself;
|
suggestions and make proposals, he was
under no obligation either to adopt the one
or accept the other.
The office of Protector was made heredi-
tary In Fane's own family; but on the
strictest principle of primogeniture-in
other words, the first-born child was to
succeed whatever might be its sex. Sons
and daughters were placed on perfect
equality. The Council of Nine had, how
ever, a right of veto, and it was about the
| only right they possessed. In the event Of
two thirds of their number declaring that,
| In their opinion, the heir or heiress was
physically or mentally unfit, or morally
unworthy to rule, he or she would have TO
stand aside in favor of the next child in
| the line of succession.
Denzn Fame lived long enough to con-
solidate his authority, firmly establish his
| dynasty, and organize, according to his
own ideas, the community of which he was
| the head. He ruled the Fair Island for
| nearly half century, and died full OF
| years and of honors. The islanders re-
vered his memory as the children Of Israel
revered the memory of Moses, and even
more religiously than the Americans Of
to-day revere the memory of George Wash
| ington. His recorded opinions were held
in high honor, and the views and sayings
| ascribed to him by tradition had almost
| the force Of law.
CHAPTER XX-WHY NOT QUEENf
Although I spent half the night in porting
over log-books and other records, and con-
versing with Field-who, now that the ice
was broken, threw aside his reserve, and
. frao tn6 TI7n oil Ia . I