The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1893-08-02
THf UBIQUITOUS LAND CRAB.

Their principal business was to fight land
crabs and catch fish, and they lived on
both The Caleb Curtis, a trim little
schooner, left San Francisco in August,
1898, to get guano on Clipperton island,
which is in latitude 10 degrees north and
longitude 40 degrees west. The outlook
was so poor that the captain decided to
leave one man there to hold possession and
look farther Why the schooner did not
return has not yet been explained. John
son volunteered to remain because, as he
says, he had q spice Of Robinson Crusoe i'll
him and thought it would be "a great
lark. "
"Weu," says Johnson Il watched the
schooner disappear and was beginning to
wonder how big fool I'd made of myself
by letting them land me there when felt
something touch my foot 1t felt as much
like a snake as anything, only it moved too
slow. | showed the creature away and
stood up for a moment. One foot came
plump down on a shell-like sort Of thing
that moved under my weight ! shuffied
around a bit and found | was literally sur
rounded by land crabs. l was certainlynot
likely to lack for company if / counted
crabs.
81 walked to the beach and heard queer
noise It was something like a shuttle, as
if some creature had come out Of the water
and was creeping along the sands, but
soon found that it was the crabs again. The
beach was alive with them Every step
took disturbed some Of them, and most
steps disturbed me q little, for | was almost
sure to tread upon them.
4 found that the strip Of land between
the sea and the fresh water lagoon was not
more than 600 feet wide. dipped up water
from the lagoon with my right hand and
tasted it. 1t was not bad except for flavor
of crabs, which | imagined it had, but
afterward found that the flavor must have
been wholly imagined by me, for those
creeping things can't live in the water at
ALL and when they began to get too much
in my way I got in the habit of shoveling
them off in the water to get rid OF them..
The crabs did not bite, however. 1t was
only their persistent crowding on him that
tormented him With his rude tools he
could fix up no cOntrivance to keep them
out of the hut he built, and so had to Just
get used to them and sleep while they
crawled." He had but a few weeks provi-
sons and his great reliance was on the
crabs and queer little square built fish
which he Hkens to a matchbox with head
and tail BY and by he learned how to slip
up on and knock over the BOBBY birds which
occasionally landed on the island, and that
varied his fare little The crabs averaged
about by inches in size and were red
even before cooking.
At last he gave himself up for a@ aban-
doned sailor and began to hoist signals by
day and build fires by night, but was al
most insane from loneliness. To bis great
delight the Helen hartman reached the is
land about the last of November, but before
he could warn her that there was no guano
worth working her boat had landed four
men with q small outfit and the vessel
sailed away. The newcomers thought Ohm
son a savage at first and then decided he
was a lunatic his joy at seeing them throw
inc him into a frenzy. These four were
John and William Anderson, George knud-
son and Henry Smith.
EXCEPT for society the exile was worse OH
than before, for the season came on when
no birds could be captured and no bird eggs
found. Four months dragged away, the
fyemen getting thin and Wretched on FISH
and crabs. and still the Helen hartman did
not return. Finally, late in March, the
Compeer arrived, also in search OF guano,
and with delight which words cannot eX-
press the five exiles abandoned nut hsh
and crabs and sailed away. There IS, IN
fact very little guano on the island and
that little not easily workable, The nVe
sailors recovered their usual health by the
time they reached San Francisco but have
no wish to Crusoe it again