Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1892-07-23
PoPULous WITH CATS.
An Uncanny Colony In Sole Possession Of
Pacific Island.

Pacific Island.
Santf, Barbara islands, off the coast
of Ventura county, says the San Fran
cisco Examiner, is rocky peak which
rises m any feet above the sea, without
verdurs and watered only by such
lakelets as gather in recesses of the
cliffs Turing transforms 1t is unin-
habita bic and undesirable in every
way, fince it affords nc shelter TO yes
sells Tor anything that might be Of
valuG to their crews. Fishermen touch
in passing, but they are the only mer
WAC ever bring news from the bleak
sentinel rock. The island is about
three-eighths Of a square mile IN area
and stands frowning menace 70 nayi-
gators. Its position, seventy-fye miles
from the coast line, would make it
suitable as a summering place if any
attractions we're there, but its only in
habitants are cats. Where the cats
came from or why they have thriyed
on the desolate rock are unanswerable
queries. They are there in numbers
and increasing.
No one believes that evolution has
they were generated spontaneously.
The only tenable theory. and that one
which finds general acceptance, is that
the tom and tabby cats from some
fishing smask which touched at Santa
Barbara island must have gone ashore
and been left when the smack sailed
away. Common sailors and fishermen
the world over have, in fancy, peopIed
unknown shores with all sorts of
strange monsters and distorted men,
and Santa Barbara island, in common
with other rarely visited spots, has
been wreathed about with garlands Of
sea-dog fancy until the superstitious
have come to look upon it as an I'M
canny place. Sailors tell Of horrible
ohantoms that sail through the air
from pinnacle to pinnacle of the rocks,
singing as they fly, and of others that
gather near the waters edge and en-
tice the mariner by lasciyious genu-
fleXions and soft murmurings like
those of the sirens who wait every
where for Jack ashore. But it is all
cats.
The cats do the singing, and if there
is any murmuring the cats purr that
into the eagerly receptive sailor ears.
Fish are in plenty about the island, but
some of the fishermen have fancied
that certain whitish objects near the
beach on the southern side are human
skulls, and other objects are thought
to be the bones of human castaways
who may, perchance, have, after death,
been gnawed by the cats.
IN q Al a.
ermen is put aside there yet remains
the curious fact that the island is
thickly infested by cats of all colors.
They manage to live by eating such
fish as may be washed upon the beaches
or among the rocks and find the young
and eggs of sea birds at certain sea-
sons. An occasional feast of flesh is
carried to them in the carcass of a por-
poise killed from some passing vessel,
or IN the carrion refuse from adjacent
whaling stations drifted to the island
by tidal currents. A precarious exist
euce it is at best, and the wonder is
small that the eats are gaunt and
eager They troop about their island,
and sometimes indulge in general en-
gagements, after which the survivors
utN OtA ltAb hllAt0 dl'A NbhI 'ARils
Six years ago two fishermen of Ven
tura were lost at sea. a year later an
other fisherman, Fazzio by name, was
carried by adverse winds near Santa
Barbara island, and when he at last es-
capped being wrecked and returned to
his home he told a CHASTITY tale of
snowy skulls on the island beach and
wreckage from a fishing sloop among
the rocks. He fancied the skulls must
be those Of his missing friends. He told
of angry screeching cats that gathered
ON the rocks aud apparently waited for
his body to be cast ashore, and lis
story soon become legend of the
island,
The lonely island is still in possess
son of the pussies, aud passing sailors
pi1u-N cross themselves ms they hear
awful voices coming up out Of the
depths lpparrutiy.