, 1891-01-23


ror upward OF two hours getting these
things into the boat, and the last articles
taken aboard were meat, flour, beans, tea
and other provisions from the lazarette.
1t was about 10 O'Clock when Mrs.. Will
tams took her seat in the yawl and cast off
from the schooner, and the tide at once
drifted her out Of the bay to the north.
The only thing of consequences she had
forgotten was a chart of the Java sea,
which she could have put her hand on at a
minutes notice, and it was the want of this
which made her a Crusoe for several years.
As the yawl went to sea after its own fash
ion, Mrs. Williams lost the points of the
compass at once. Indeed, had she kept
them in mind, it would have been of no
benefit just then, as she had not studied
the chart, and could not have told which
way to steer TO reach another group or the
main land. She heard nothing whatever
from the natives, but several years later it
wis asUertHiued that they did not board
the schooner until midnight. The men,
all OF whom were still drunk and asleep,
were stripped and tossed overheard to
drown, and then the absence of the woman
and her money was discovered. Five or
six native crafts were at once sent in pur-
suit, while the people who remained looted
he schooner of everything OF value to
them, and then towed her out to deep wa
81 anu aRhANARa & " IAAh1 NhA III
of their crime.
After drifting three or four miles out to
sea the yawl got n light breeze, and after a
few trials the woman learned how to man
age the sail and lay a course. She had no
idea which way she was heading. but ran
of before the breeze, and kept going all
night and until mid afternoon the next day.
She must have passed the island Of Up
nong in the early morning, but so far to
1 the .waattrard that che ratIr NOT eaa IL
The wind hauling at mid forenoon altered
her course by several points, and the north
ernmost island of the group, named Po-
lilo, was thus brought in line. The
island is seven miles long by three in
width at its widest part, and well wooded
and watered. The woman landed on the
| east side at the mouth of a creek which
forms a snug little harbor. She was con-
WINGED that this was one of the islands of
the Kinderoon group, but she did not
know that it was the most northerly one.
| By consulting the compass she got the
cardinal points, but not having studied
the chart she could not say in what direc-
ton any other land lay. She had seen the
! sails of two traders that morning, but as
they were native crafts she had every wish
to avoid them. The boats which were
sent in pursuit Of her must have taken an
other course, as she saw nothing OF them.
When Mrs. Williams landed on the
island she had no idea Of stopping there
for more than a day or two, or until she
could decide on some plan. She had scarce
ly gone ashore when a gale came up which
lasted about thirty hours, during which
the yawl was so damaged that she must
undergo repairs. She unloaded her goods
on the shore, covered them from the
weather and then set ont to explore the
island, pretty we'll satisfied that it was in
habited, and hoping, il 1t was, that her
money might secure assistance. Before
night she was satisfied that she was all
alone, and she made a shelter out of the
blankets, and slept the night away as
peacefully as If in her cabin on the schoon-
err. Next day she exchanged her apparel
for a mans suit and began the erection Of
a hut. In a grove about 200 feet from the
beach she erected a shelter, l0x20 feet.
which withstood the storms of almost four
years. While the sides consisted of canvas
and poles, the roof was matched with a
long grass which she found on the island
In abundance.
1t took the woman about II week to con
struct her hut and move her stores into it.
and this had scarcely been don't when Der
boat, owing to carelessness on her part,
was carried off by the sea, and she now
realized that she was a prisoner until such
time as the crew Of some trading vessel
might and and discover her. After her
house was completed she made a more
thorough explorc1Ion of her island home.
There were parrots ard other birds, snakes
of II harmless variety, Borneo rats. and a
drove of about 800 Java pigs, which are
about the size Of the American peccary,
out are wild instead of fierce.
The woman had clothing to last her five
or six years, but the provisions she had
brought from the schooner would not sup.
ply her needs more han Il few months.
While hoping and expecting to be taken
off almost any day she wisely prepared for
a long stay. She had fshhooks and lines
in her outfit, and with fish from the sea,
meat from the woods and bananas and
wild fruits from the groves she had a va
riety and "A plenty. Six months after she
landed a native craft put in about n mile
from her hut, but creeping through the
woods she saw that all were Malays, and
SO savage in appearance that she did not
dare make herself known. Seven months
later a second craft sS1t men ashore to fill
two water casks, but she was also afraid
of these. She lived very quietly from that
time until nearly two years after her land
ing, having remarkably good health all the
time, but naturally lonely and cast down
at times.
One afternoon, as she was in the forest
about half "a mile from home, having her
shotgun with her, "A BUrneo sailor suddenly
confronted her. He was entirely alone,
and whether he had been marooned or cast
away she never learned. AS she was
dressed in a mans suit he naturally took
her for a man, but his first movement was
a hostile one. He advanced upon the wom-
an with a club in his hand and uttering
shouts of menace, and to save her own life
she was compelled to shoot him.
Now and then, all through her stay,
trading vessels were sighted in the oifing,
and sometimes a craft known to be
I manned by Englishmen, but signals made
TO the latter by means of smoke were never
needed. Her main hope was that the loss
of the schooner would in some way reach
her friends at Singapore, and that a search
ing party might be sent out to her rescue.
One day, when she had been on the island
four years lacking about fifty days, the
British survey ship Sahib, then engaged in
resurveying the group. dropped anchor of
the mouth Of the creek and sent n party
ashore to explore the interior. l had the
honor not only to head this party, but to
be the first man to see and to speak to Mrs.
Williams. We found her in excellent
health, although tanned and roughened
by exposure to the weather. When she
had donned her own proper apparel and
had time TO tidy up no one could find fault
with her appearance.
litter a few days we sailed for Singapore,
where Mrs. Williams was safely landed,
and a few weeks later a man-of-war was
dispatched to the island where the schooner
a been seized. Natives were found who
gave all the particulars, and the result was
that eight men were brought aboard, tried,
convicted ard swung up at the yardarm,