The Forrest City times., 1893-05-12
ISLANDS OF FACT AND FANCY.
Some Interesting Stories iRegarding Ker-
 Guelen. the Land of DesoIation.

Guelen. the Land of Desolation.
 The islands of Kergueleu, of which France has recently taken possession, were well named by Cook the Land of Desolation." Their history, however, is not without interest. They were the cause of the rise and fall of young French admiral of the last century; their rocky coasts appear in two recent French novels, and there still cruises around them the last of the American whalers which were once seen so often in the South seas. No one seems to know the Yankee captain well. though few South sea navigators have not seen him. In 1772 the Cheva Her de Kergue- len, admiral in the French fleet. discov- cred these islands. As the exploring parties sent short distances into the in- terior of the largest island did not reach the farther coast, De Kerguelen became convinced that he had discov- cred the great southern continent of which geographers had written much. He hastened back to France and pe- titioned the king so earnestly to take possession of the new land that an ex- petition was fitted out for that purpose and placed under De Kerguelen's com mand. The land was soon found to be only group of volcanic islands. and the admiral was forced to return to Paris and to acknowledge his mistake. The admiralty, stung by the ridicule of the people. called a court-martial, which decided that De Kerguelen. who was then scarcely thirty years old. must lose his rank and be imprisoned in- definitely in the castle of Saumer. He was soon released. but never served again the navy. M. de Tinseau recent ly introduced De Kerguelen as char acter in a novel.
 Four years ago the sailors of the bark Tamaris were cast upon one of the ker- guelen islands. A sailor fastened to the wing of an albatross a tube con- taining a roll of paper on which was written the story of the shipwreck. The bird was released, and. strange to say was caught by the mate of a vessel cruising in that ighborhood. An ex- petition which was sent in search of the crew of the Tamaris, by following the directions on the roll of paper. had uO III liIC CdNtS " liiCI the sailors had occupied. There were many traces of the castaways, but the men themselves had patched up rude boat and sailed off. Since then nothing has been heard of them. These incidents were worked over and used as the foundation of another novel, published in 1890. called
 'Le Fond dun C9ur." In this story there also figured an American captain, Joseph Fuller, who commanded the bark Francys Allyn. Fuller is, in fact. in command of an old-fashioned Amer ican whaler. He knows the straits of the island as though they were book. and his ship goes where no other dares follow, and is seldom seen twice at the same anchorage. An officer of the eX- petition which has taken possession of the islands wrote to the Illustration that he had seen this Joseph Fuller. A vessel sailed one night into the harbor opposite the shore where the French men were encamped. much to the lat ter's surprise. The officer continues as follows:
 This morning the bark hoisted the American flag. On her stern was the name Francys Allyn. Her captains name is Joseph Fuller. It was not one of the least of my surprises in this strange place to see in flesh and blood, a character of novel. Fuller bears no trace of the classic type'of the sea dog He is tall and thin: his face is sur rounded by handsome white beard, and his open. laughing eyes are hidden behind pair of spectacles. He looks more like professor of German uni versity than hardy sailor who has lived for thirty years in these danger ous passages.
 The Kerguelen islands lie half way between the cape of Good Hope and Australia and south of the route usually taken by vessels. They were visited by Cook in 17T6. and later by Rose.-N. !. Post-EXpress.