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

Pacific, the two eXiles, Carl G.. Jensen
and William Hall, on whom so mucl
sympathy has been wasted, were too
impatient to reach shore to wait fol-
the interviewers to board the Viking
They escaped up town, says the Sal
Francisco Examiner, leaving the
schoOner's crew to spin such yarns rs
their fancy OF imagination suggested
to the inquirerS. Jensen is an expert
navigator and something of a scientist
particularly as Il chemist and asSayer,
and Hall ranks high up in intelligence
as compared with the average sailor.
Both men tired of the queer stories set
afioat by the Vikings crew, n they
have given the Examiner a correct &C
count of their experiences. Jensen
submitted his diary to cOrrObOrate his
story, which was verified by Hall in
every particular.
There are three kinds of crabs on
and about ClippertOn." said Jensen,
land, '%longshore and deep sea, but it
is only the first that + specially in
tcrestilg. Their characteristics are
a bright vermilion color, inquisitive-
ness and pertinacity, added 20 Il hui
man expression. They present 4 most
ludicrouS resemblance to a human face,
and this, added to their nature and
habits, tends to make them serve as
a rather humiliating mirror, SO gro
tesQuely do they ~caricatrIre human
ity. A visitors first encounter with
one of these ClippertOn crabs is bound
to be strange and interesting. Stand
still for a moment and the nearest
crab will at once commence nibbliRg
at your boot. Somewhat startled, you
will kick it aside. When it comes in
contact with the solid earth again it
will pick itself up and then stand as
still as q statue, looking you straight
in the eyes with a r~eproachful express
sion. Beginning to feel Il little uneasy
and perhaps guilty at this mute per-
sistent r%eprOach, you may go toward
the crab in order to kick 1t out of
sight. but on the first sign of approach
it opens its jaws, shows It's teeth,
stands on it's hind legs and shows
fight with its claws. Your feeling of
guilt now gets a measure Of anger in
fused into it, and you will probably hit
one Of the claws that are making such
pueilistic demonstrations. On feeling
its limb injured the crab runs away q
few feet, stands still again, and reSum-
ing the reproachfuI look, stretches the
disabled claw toward heaven as if
invoking a curse upon your head as a
punishment for your brutality. If the
claw does not fall off the crab will
pluck it off with the other claw. drop
it on the spot and go about its bust
ness.
Most of these crabs are gentlemen
of leisure. walking about unc0ncerned-
ly, inspecting and tasting everything
they come accss; but once let them
strike q rich feeding ground and their
Incidence is suddenly changed to a
feverish haste, picking UP M clawful
of food after another in ceaSeleSS pro
ceSsion. Although they will eat any
thing they can break Or tear, they
have their preferences. and when they
strike Il good thing they try to take
care of it by dragging it into some hole,
where they can have it all to them
selves. I have seen Il crab walk away
with n flying fish in each claw, and it
IS not an uncommon occurrence to see
a crab dig its claws into a newly hatch
ed bird two or three times its own size
and drag it away with a hooking, tri-
umphant expression round its hard
Jaws.
That is the C%lipperton crab as a
business man, but when it makes its
dwelling. in which it takes it's siesta
from 10 a. m. till 4 p. M, it becomes q
laboring man, and it works hard, too,
After having selected a suitable spot
il scratches a hole 4 couple of inches
deep; then it enters on II side, and
digging the ground loose with n claw,
it pushes it up out Of the hole with
the other till it has made a slantinG
tunnel a couple of feet long. There
are sections on the island that are
honeycombed in this manner to such
an extent that Il man walking over
them sinks into the ground to his
knees every step he takes.
Whether the Clipperton land crabs
are vicious or not is a question that is
open for dispute. A man can take
them In his hand and they will seldom
pinch him. They are cannibals, bullie.
and towards. They will eat an injured
bird while it is still alive and they viii
sham death in a danger they canno
avoid.
1.-THE Clipperto1 birds are nearly a
numerous and interesting as the Chp
perton crabs. There are ten dlfteren
species of birds on the island. eigh
of which are full-webbed. Of the othe
two species n is a Snipe and tn
other a kind OF fishhawk. The home
of the birds are in the guano deposits
and 50 thick are they that in the ever
ing the island seems literally covere'
with them. Hall and I cleared tn
eggs off a space 100 feet long by 4
feet wide on a little island in the lagoon
and two days later we counted 20
eggs in that same space. This wi
give you some idea Of their numbers.
Each variety of bird uses it's ow.
particular material for nest building
one kline uses Ola WluS Iedlie1S' AedIl
interviewer ON the ground. Anothe
makes a circular mound Of every sma
piece of coral. A third makes tn
same kind of mound, but OF large
pieces of coral. A fourth makes Il
nest of seaweed taken from the laSool
and one bird makes use of nothing bl
the bones of dead birds in the COZ
struction of it's nest, always selectin
1pa4 c,,,,o,,,IoJ H., x-a%or 70 hr1i16