Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-21

Of q rocky isle in mid-Pacifc Her engines
cease TO thTob; a sharp voice rings out a
clear command. Then comes a mighty
splash; the rattle of rusty chain, and 40
days from Hawaii we are anchored in the
calm and semi-tropi0 bay Of Peel Island
BONN group.
There are but few places now, even in the
most unfrequGnted by-ways of trackless
oceans that have not at odd times, attracted
either the cupidity or the curiosity of the
nomadlc rover. Even over the vast sweep
Of the Southern seas, where almost count
less Isles peep their coral fringe above a
placid ocean, there remains but few-if any
which the trader or the whaler has not
called upon for one purpose or another. The
buccaneers Of the Spanish Main; the bloody
pirates Of the Coral Islands; the horrible
fleets Of Cannibal canOes-all the reckless
romance Of the sea, and its distant and un-
known lands, have long since been swept
from the pages of fiction by the common
place voyages of the unromantic steamer, or
the cold facts Of the modern commercial
traveller.
Has Never Seen the World.
Still, once in a while, in a long and
ehaugeful life, away from the middle and
the deeper current Of his experience, char
meter so odd and strange, so outside the pres
ent and still so forgotten by the past, as to
reckon even worse than the usual outcast
from the society Of other men. Think of
such a one, Of that society never to have
known; Of the sound or roar of the great
world Of life never to have heard; to
have been born in the nineteenth and died
in the first century of existence. Yet upon
these lonely islands it was reported that
such q man lived; a man who knew abso-
Iutely nothing and had no curiosity even
about the simplest facts of modern history
and achievement. [ met this man a few
DAYS after our arrival, in an accidental way.
The Bonin Islands are divided into three
groups, known to navigators as the Parry,
the Baily, the Peel and the Kater groups.
On the Peel group are settled a few English
and other Europeans generally the descend
ants Of deserters from visiting whalemen or
other vessels. Port Lloyd, the calling sta
tlOn, on the largest island of this group, has
good harbOr OF basin-like proportions and
sale anchorage. 1t is the home of the great
sea turtle of the Western Pacific, and upon
its flesh the few inhabitants mostly subsist,
while its shell affords them means of trade
with passing vessels.
A Crude, Unpainted Building.
One balmy afternoon had started inland
from the circuit of the broad Wav of Port
Lloyd and climbed a woody monntain-side to
the valley beneath. Here, above a mass of
dark greenlsh leaves, saw protruding the
JbaJched roof Of some settlers cottage
Curiosity led me to turn my steps in this
new direction, till l stood in front of
small, One-story building of the crudest con-
struction. Unpainted and weather-stained,
the rough boards that formed its sides leaned
in and out, warped by long exposure, and
with hardly remaining strength enough to
support the heavy burden of the matted
root There was a door hung upon leather
hinges and closed.
l stepped upon the half-barrel that served
as a stcpping-stone and knocked abruptly.
For some time there was no response, though
the sound of my rapping echoed through
The crazy house. Presently, however, L
heard the noise of chair legs pushed about
E floor and the shuttle of heavy feet The