Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-02-22

Ia LIZ oNttCOh Yin lto pm liz we,
carefully, as there are eggs all arOunC
his feet, and the birds are unwillin:
to leave them. The air overhead il
thick with them, and the 1luttering o
their wings, together with theil
screams, makes noise and eXcitemen
enough to cause One to imagine tina
the gates Of pandemonium are open.
1.-The birds on the main island arr
larger and more quiet, the two princi
pal species being about the size of 6
gull and a goose, respectfully. The lat
ter are shaped much like the goose
but have a pointed yellow bill and q
pure white body, with a chocolate
colored border about wings and tail.
when One ONE in daily contact
with the wild sea birds of Clipperton
island for months, his human vanity is
likely to receive a heavy shock. If
these birds are our interiors mentally,
they certainly are our equals morally;
they have nearly all the vices belong
ing to a and some of his virtues.
They will gorge themselves till there
is room for no more fishes, and that's
human; they will fight sometimes owe
a member of the opposite sex, some
times over territory, and that is hui
man; males and females seldom fight,
mated birds never, and that's not hui
man. They live Il very faithful and
af~fectionate family life, and it is anus
ing, some people would say touching,
to observe their gushing meetings and
farewellS. but not less so to see how
they steal. Nest building goes on all
through the Matching process. When
both the old birds are at home, the
female occupying the nest, the male
devotes himself to stealing feathers
from other nests IN the vicinity, and
for every feather he deposits his spouse
rewards him with Il kiss.
"Other edibles are to be found in the
fish that abound in the sea and the
lagoon. At least twenty different
varieties, from devilfiSh to goldfish,
can be taken with hook and line, and
four on five kinds are most excellent
blue color, with Il white belly, and al
most the size of salmon. 1t affords
good sport to an angler. The fishes
are nearly all of very striking appear
&nce, and all of them may be good to
eat, but it would take Il brave MAI to
tackle a f1atfish, with black, yellow
and white bands round its body, 4
long, ramlike Snout, and q dorSal fin
ending in a white pendant longer than
the fish itself, or 81 bright yellow fish
that blows itself up until it resembles
a human head with a bloated face,
equipped with teeth like the beak of
Il parrot, and covered all yer with
fine white hairs. Strangely notified
craWfish are to be taken in the rocks
occasionally, but the easiest fish to
capture are the cells. They grow to
diameter, but are too tough to become
popular as articles of diet.
But this is enough to prove that
there was no danger of starvation, ever
if we had not been left with an abund-
ance of provisions of all sorts. Copious
rains furnish plenty of water, and Il
condenser with a capacity Of twenty
gallons a day is there in the event OF
drouth. Weevils infested our bread
stilu uou1y III L1llJ 10 NC NApSNICo LIZ
all warm, moist climates"
According to Jensen's notes the
charts of the little-knOwn 8toll are
sadly erroneous. There is no passage
into the lagoon now, and the location
is not within 500 miles as far from
San Francisco as commonly supposed.
1t lies IN latitude 1917 north and
! Iarnit111A 10O.10 TaSt which yVnul6
make it about 1900 miles southwest
by south from this port. Then the
rocky peak described in the charts as
being forty-five feet high extends over
100 feet above the sea level.
Je7rseEs work was to make q survey
of the island and assay the guano de-
posits. THE first task required him to
visit every foot Of the strange little
dot OLE the ocean, and Jensen made
some Interesting notes concerning
them
1T is six nautical miles in circum-
ference" he says, land is more of Il
coral ring than an island. The Tibeon
of coral sand and guano has 1,2O0 feet
for it's greatest width, and IN h mar
rowest place its measures only 100 feet
from the ocean to the lagoon it in
closes. All round the island is a reef
extending seaward about zoe feet, over
which the breakers are rolling contin-
ually, sometimes attaining q height
of eight or ten feet.
along the beach are scattered hun
Greds of tributes from the ocean-larSe
branches and whole trees of various
kinds of wood, pieces Of ships tim
bers, iawbones and ribs of whales,
both ends and pieces Of the aides OF
a bark canoe, c%ocoanuts and all sorts
of foreign produce not OF a p~erlshable
nature. While I was on the island q
derrick with all it's iron work iR good
condition was thrown ashore. 10
Judge by its make it probably came
from some Mexican or Central Anerl-
can port.
con the banks of the lagoon I found
several pieces of a hard, stonelike, but
light and p3rous substance, which l
took to be lava.
There is some beautiful scenery on
the bottom OF the lagoon, with It's
small mountains and m~any-shaped
powders of coral and miniature for-
eStS Of seaweed. On the south side Is
a large, fat hand-bank, which was
formerly a pearl 0yster-bed. as attest
ed by numerous shells. In the middle