The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1894-05-30
INHABITED BY CATS.
An Island OF the California Coast Il
Overrun with PEssies.

An Island OF the California Coast Il
Overrun with PUSHES.
Santa Barbara island, Off the coast of
Ventura county, is rocky peak winch
rises many feet above the sea, without YER
dure and watered only by such lakelets Al
gather in recesses of the cliffs during rain
storms 1t is uninhabitable and undesra-
BILE in every way, since it affords no shell
ter to vessels nor anything that might be
of value to their crews. Fishermen touch
in passing. but they are the only men who
lver bring news from the bleak sentinel
rock. The island is about three-eighths Of
u square mile in area and stands Il frcwn-
ing menace to navigators. Its position.
s.venty-fye miles from the coast line.
would make it suitable as a summering
place if any attractions were there, but its
only inhabita are cats. Where the cata
came from or why they have thrived upon
the desoate rock are unanswerable que
ries. They are there in numbers and in
creasing.
No one believes that evolution has pro-
duced them from starfsh or that they were
generated spontaneously. The only ten
able theory, and that one which finds gen
eral acceptance, is that the tom anu tabby
cats from some fishing smack which
have gone ashore and been left when the
smack sailed away. Common sailors and
fishermen the world over have, in fancy. 4
peopled unknown shores with all sorts of
strange monsters and distorted men, ana
Santa Barbara island, in common with
other rarely visited spots, has been wreath
ed about with garands of seaaog fancy
until the superstitious have come to look
II fell
of horrible phantoms that sail through the
air from pinnacle to pinnacle of the rocks.
singing as they fly, and of others that
gather near the waters edge and entice
the mariner by lascivious genuiexions and
soft murmurngs like those of the sirens
who wait everywhere for Jack ashore.
But it is all cats.
The cats do the singing, and if there is
any murmuring the cats purr that into the
eagerly receptive sailor ears. Fish are in
plenty about the island, but some of tho
fishermen have fancied that certain whit
ish objects near the beach on the southern
side are human skulls, and other objects
are thought to be the bones OF human
castaways who may perchance have. after
death, been gnawed by the cats.
When all the fOolishness of the fisher
men is put aside there yet remains the Gu
rious fact that the island is thiCkly infest
ed by cats of all colOrs They manage to
live by eating such fish as may be washed
upon the beaches or among the rocks and
find the young and eggs of sea birds at
certain seasons An occasional feast of
flesh is carried to them in the carcass of
porpoise killed from some passing vessel,
or in the carrion refuse from adjacent
whaling stations drifted to the island by
tidal currents. A precarious existence it
is at best, and the wonder is small that the
cats are gaunt and eager. They troop
about their island, and sometimes indulge
in general engagements, after which the
survivors devour the killed and wounded.
Six years ago two fishermen of Ventura
were lost at sea. A year later another fist;
erman, Fazzio by name, was carried by All
verse winds near Santa Barbara island.
and when he at last escaped being wrecked
and returned to his home he told CHASTITY
tale of snowy skulls ON the island beach
and wreckage from fishing sloop among
the rocks. He fancied the skulls must be
those of his missing friends. He told Of
angry, screeching cats that gathered OH
the rocks and apparently waited for his
body to be cast ashore and his story soon
became legend of the island.
Shooting parties have gone to the island
and wasted ammunition in practice upon
the yowling beasts, but without diminish
ing the number materially.
The lonely island is still in possession OF
the pussies, and passing sailors piously
cross themselves as they hear awful voices
coming up, out of the depths apparently
San Francisco Examiner.