Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-11
THE MODERN CRUSOE.
MIR. Mcintyre Lives for More Than
Four Years the Only White Man
ON A LONE SOUTH PACIFIC ISLAND.
He Becomes the Ward of the King, but
Sighs Daily for Sail.
HIS PIPE LINE AND A RESURRECTION

| mr. Ian. Il. "A. mcintyre, VINO furnished
THE DISPATCH with an interesting de-
scription of the Samoan Islands and the ma
tives, has had some remarkable experiences
on the seas during his life. He has spent a
good part of his days whaling in the Arctic
| Ocean and hunting the sperm whale in the
South Pacific seas. Some of the pages from
his life read like romance. Mr.. McIn-
tyres ship was once wrecked on coral reef,
and he was the only man of the crew who was
saved. His companions were washed up on
the rocky beach of the Marquesas Islands
and killed. MIR. Mcintyre still bears an
ugly scar over his right eye that he received
during the storm, and, when he came to his
senses, he found himself lying on the rocky
shore with group of natives bending over
him. Here he remained for AZ years, the
only white man on the island, when he was
| picked up by a French man-ofwar. Re-
lating his experience yesterday he said:
THE NEW CRUsoE's STORY.
The Marquesas group on which found my
self consists of 16 islands, IL of which inhab-
| tied. The greatest distance between any of
them is about 40 miles. The natives, away back
| in those times, passed from one island to the
other in big canoes and small sail boats. Dur
ing certain seasons of the year the Pacific was
stormy; but the natives were well acquainted
with the weather, and knew when to venture.
| The islands are located in latitude 80 south of
! the equator.
The people belong to the Malay class having
| dark straight hair and swarthy compilations.
Like the Fiji Islanders, they are very tall and
| muscular, plenty of them measuring seven
feet in height. 1 never, before or since, saw
such powerful fellows They are rather bright
men, and live, like the Samoans, on the fruits
of the islands that grow in abundance without
| much cultivation. Wild hogs and sea fowls
were the only game to be hunted; in fact, there
were no other animals on the islands. The
natives spent most of their time in taking life
easy, occasionally hunting and fishing.
My life for four and one-haf years among
| these people was pleasant taking it altogether.
| The first six months could scarcely endure 1t.
If had been imprisoned in cell could not
| have led more miserable existence. Day
after day climbed the highest mountains, and
| sat for hours scanning the horizon, looking
| for sail; but none appeared. The people
were friendly, and tried to console me IN tnelr
| uncouth way. 1 appreciated their kindness,
and, after awhile, learned enough of their
| language to be able to converse with them.
THE KINGS MARKED MAN.
Life then became less unbearable, and pre-
pared myself to wait for vessel to come along.
| The King of the island made me a namesake
of his, and lived with him for the first year.
When found I would have to stay for some
time, built house, and, to amuse myself, l
was in the habit of going into the forest and
| pulling up young orange and lemon trees to
plant about my home.
The King tattooed his name on my leg, which
made me a privileged character, and equal
| to one of his relatives. If broke any of their
| laws was not punished, and the King would
not allow any of his people to insult me or
treat me rudely. In this respect / must say
| that was greatly admired by all the natives.
| They have a vast deal of respect for white
| man, and many of them envied my white skin.
The natives were all tattooed. 1t is painful
process, but they stand it without finching.
| When a boy reaches the age of they begin
| the operation. First they tattoo him around
the eyes, and wait until that heals up SO
he can see. Then they begin around the
mouth, and also give thar chance to heal SO
he can eat before they 60 further. Afterward
by degrees they continue the work until the
| whole body is covered with marks and emblems
of various kinds Each one represents some
thing. They use an ink of pale-blue color,
made by boiling certain nut that grows on
| the islands. They take pearl shell and rub it
on stone with sand and water until it is very
! sharp. The edge IS then nicked, and the pearl
| knife is fastened into reed. In working they
strike the reed, which drives the shell into the
| hesh and the rebound pulls it out again. Some
times they sharpen the bones of animals and
men, and use them to puncture the skin.
HOW HE ENDED A WAR.
The natives on the different islands were
hostile to each other, and most of the time
were at war. The King would never allow me
to mix up in any of their fights. He held me
in too sacred a light. Once 1 was captured by
neighDoring tribe. They knew by the tattoo
| on my leg that belonged to their enemy, and
| they decided to tattoo me all over. They
started on my lower limbs; but the pain was SO
great that 1 could scarcely stand it. 1t
| orin hod
S1ss visited 'Ue the island 40 years before,
natives nad' they ai left One of the old men had
| in that language 1 begged him to go to my
| King and inform him of my plight. This he
| did, when my master made peace with his enc
mics and was released. If they had disfgured
my face don't believe should ever have come
| back to America.
When the French ship came along 1 boarded
it, and went with them to the Island Obatite,
| where number of Europeans live. There re.
mained for two years before returned to San
| Francisco. The French man-of-war was max
| ing soundings and surveys, for the purpose of
| locating a naval station. Since then l have
| learned that they established coaling station
on the island where spent four and half
| years of mylife.
Mr.. McIntyre's story of how he astonished
the natives with en engineering feat on the
Marquesas Island, where he was so long a
castawav, is very good. They had, from
/
ing all their rdrinkingwatert from springs away
on an eminence in the background of the
principal settlement. In that tropical cline
this was quite task, yet they could con-
ceive of no way 10 improve upon it. First
| convincing the King that he had a much
better plan, Mcintyre was granted the
necessary assistance and succeeded in con-
strueting a sort of bamboo pipe line from
the springs to the settlement, so that the
natives thereafter got their drinking water
without any labor whatever. 1t was great
scientific triumph, to their notion.
RETURN AND REVELATION.
When Mr.. Mcintyre came back to Pitts
| burg he found it so greatly changed that
the old familiar city was new to him.
Finally, however, by diligent inquiry, he
located his brother, liquor dealer, in the
eastern part of the city. One day he went
out, ordered glass of beer at his brothers
bar, and, without making himself known,
engaged in conversation with the gentle
man.
"You had brother DAMP" said he.
'Yes," was the reply, 'but he was
drowned in the Pacific ocean-went down
/ with his ship-a good many years ago."
"But," was the rejoinder of the returned
! Dan, II met fellow, not SO very long ago,
either, who claimed he had recently seen
your brother Dan, and that Dan had great
story of how he had lived, castaway for
years. with savages on an island"
Impossible! He's dead-poor Dan, +"
was the retort.
"But do you think you'd know Dan, if
you saw him?''
Eyes, indeed! Add 20 years more to each
of our lives, and I'm sure I'd still be able to
recognize my brother Dan, if could only
see him alive again, In any part of the