The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-07-24
CONCERNING CATS.
Lonely Island Inhabitsd Entlrsly ~
Gaunt, Hungry Felines.

Lonely Ialand Inhabitsd ffntirsly ~
Hi Gaunt, Hungry Felines.
Santa Barbara island, Of the coast Of
III sntura county, California, Ii = rocky peak
Ihich rises many foot above the sea. with
Iut verdurs and watered only BY such
akslsts a. gather In rsoesses OF The cli6s
IurinR rainstorMs. II 10 uninhabitablo
nd undesirable In svsry way, since II At
hat might DO Of value to thar crsvA. Fish-
Irmen touch In passing, but they are ths
lIniy men who ever bring news from the
lssk sentinel rock. The island u about
hrse-oighths Of : square mile In area,
lands = frowntng menace TO NAVIGATOR
Nsho 40 down into that part Of the go IN
fhips. Its position. seventy-avs miles
Iron ths coast line. would make y suitable
lie . aummering place II any attractions
lsere there, but its only inhabitants arc
hats. Where the cats Game from, or why
lire u~nanswerable queries. They arc there
In numbers and increasing.
No one believes that evolution has pro-
auosd them from starAsh or that they were
Generated spontaneously, shye the fhila-
Iislphia Telegraph. Even the budding SOL
h~'ntists among the fishermen OF sentata
lsland must have had ancestors IN kind.
1.-The only tenable theory. and That one
(which finds general acceptance. Ia that the
lEoms and tRDby cats from the fsAing smack
(which touched At Santa Barbara island
Unjust have gone ashore and been left when
Tho smack sailed nway. Common sailo .
Hnnd fishermen tho world over have. ~
nfancy, peopled unknown shores with al!
HsO, t. Of strange monsters and diStO TED
linen, md Santa Barbara island. IN common
with other rarely visited spots. has been
lareathed about with ga,lands OF sen-dog
fancy until the superstitious have come to
Hook upon it az an uncanny plnoe.
III Sailors tell ofsho rible phnntolns that sail
Hthrough the mir from pinnacle to. pinnacle
LOT the rocks, singing as they n.y. and OF
lOthera that gather neal the waters edge
land entice the mariner by lascivious genu-
NAexions and soft murmu,ings like those Of
3~sirens who wait evcrywhe Q for Jack ashore,
but it ia all cats.
b The cats do tho singing. and IL there 10
any murmurin2 the cats purr that into the
Eagerly receptive sailor enrs. Fish are III
~ftlenty about some OF the islands. but some
LOT the fishermen have tancied that certain
lwhitiah objects to DO seen When near the
beach on the southern aide are human
skulls, and other objects are thought to b.
bones of human caataways, who may per
chance have, after death, boen gnawed By
the oats.
When the f%oolishness of the fshe mon 10
put aside there yet 'emains tho curious fact
that the island is thickiy infested by oats
of all colors. They manage to live by eat
ing such fish rs may be washed upon the
beaches or among the rocks, and find the
young and eggs of seabl ds ut CO tain sea-
sons. An occasional fcnst of flesh is Car led
to them IN the oarcass Of a porpoiso killed
I or, some pas .in1 vessel. or in the carbon
refuse from solne adjacent whaling atntions
drifted to tho islands BY tidal currents. A
precnrious existence it ia ut best, and the
wonder ia small that the cats are
Qaunt and eager. They troop about their
island md sometimes indulge in general
engagements, nfter which the survivors de-
vOur the killed and wounded.
Six yea 8 nuo two fishermen of Ventura
were lost ut sea. A year later another fish
erm, IN, Fn2zio by name, was carried by ad-
verse winds near Santa Barbara island. and
when he at last escaped being wrecked and
returned to his home he tod n CHASTITY tale
of snowy skulls on the island beach aud
wrcckuge from n fishing sloop among the
rocks. 10 fHucied tho skulls must be- Tho 70
of his missing friends. he told OF nngry
screechinG cats that gathered on the rocks
ind apparently waited for his boIy to be
cast ashore, mud his story soon became a
legend of tho island.
Shooting parties have gone to tho island
and wasted ammunition in p'aotice upon
the yowling beusts. hut without diminish
ing the number materially. The lonely
island Is still in possession of the pussies.
and passing sailors piously cross themselves
IA they bour awful voices comlug up through
the night out Of the depths apparently, ." -