Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-04-14
A SAILOR KING.
Carl benjamin., Washed Ashore on
Pacific island. Becomes o chief.

George Wright who arrived at San
| Francisco on the steamer Australia day
or two ago from the Caroline Islands,
brings a queer story of the sudden rise
OF sailor to distinction in the largest
island OF an archipelago seventy-iiye
miles west OF Haweis, where Mr.. Wright
has trading. store.
1.-THE sailor" said Mr.. Wright, "Is
Carl Benjamin, and he has no less than
nineteen wives and ffty-odd copper
colored children. He was wrecked in
the schooner Bombazine Off the Ladrone
Islands nine years ago, and tioated at
sea on a raft q couple OF weeks before he
struck land. If you will look st map
OF tho Pacific you will find lying mid.
way between the Tropic of Cancer and
the equator, six hundred miles west of
the Marshall group, thirteen dots. On
some maps they are marked Thirteen
islends. we'll inhabited That Is all
there is 10 point out their significance. 1t
is on the biggest of these, called by the
sailor Benjamin Island, after himself,
that he has taken up his home. 1t
is about ten by twenty miles IN extent.
Well inhabited means that there is
quite sprinking of dark-skinned ma
tIyes there, as well rs many more who
move TO and fro in the archipelago with
boats. They eat bread-fruit. bananas,
cocoanuts, and fish. They don't work
at all. Benjamin had got TO he king.
He has nothing at all to do but so
swimming in the surf, talk the native
gibbcrish which he had learned, or loll
under palm-tree. Sometimes he has
his wives fan him while he lazily smokes
tao kasct0 leaf, which grows plentifully
there, and which, after one becomes
used to it, is liked better than tobacco.
benjamin is doing some good work
there, however. He carried three or
/ four books with him on his raft, the last
thing you would have expected, and he
| has contriyed to teach the natives Eng
/ lab. Benjamin is an American OF Ger
man or Jewish descent, and Is a lover OF
books. The first thing he did was TO
select m intelligent native and teach him
| the alphabet. The fellow learned rapidly
and soon began to teach 1t to others, and
a number OF them can now speak Eng
lish, while the rising generation imme-
diately around are gradually picking up
a knowledge of the language. benjamin
is looked upon as a sage. The chiefs, OF
whom there are four, come to him for
points, and OF their own accord they have
made him their ruler. the chiefs being n
sort Of cabinet.
benjamin has picked out tho hand
soonest women for wives, and they
esteem it quite an honor. The King
lives in the biggest bamboo house in the
village of Hi, a struggling aggregation
OF native houses on q coral reef. Ills
children are OF all ages, and are a
sprightl7, lively lot. Nobody bothcrs
much with clothes III the South Pacific,
still benjamin wears a little something,
and is gradually prevailing on the ma
tives to do so too. He keeps telling
them that there is no civilization with
out some clothes Benjamin is about
thirty years old. He was formerly from
| Newburyport, Mass, but says that henO
longer has any desire 10 return to Amerl-
ca. He is the only white man, with
one exception, for hundreds OF miles
around lie has taken to wearing a
string Of shells around his neck like the
natives, and he sometimes initiates them
and puts dots OF blue paint. got from q
native shrub, on his face. This is only
on state occasions, however, when there
Is to be discussion OF important ques
tons with the chiefs. The permanent
population OF his island is about 600 Of
700. The island is indented with beautl
full bays, and is dotted with trees and
shrubs Of a tropical growth which are fol
most Of the year covered with fragant
flowers. Benjamin island is about SOC
miles west OF the Marshall group"