Omaha daily bee., 1895-09-30
COLONIES ON SEA.BOUND ISLES
Handful. of People on lspsss1. of Land in
the Pacific.
SUCCESS OF AN AMERICAN GIRL
Isolation of the Inhabitants of Lord
Howe and Norfolk 1slnuds-The
Descendant of the Original
Pitcairn IslnpJcrs.


Pitcairn IslnpJcrs.
-nH
A while ago, sixty-three persons, the en-
tire population of a little island in the Pa
cifc ocean, trooped down to the landing place.
wild with Joy and excitement. They saw a
small steamer entering in through a gap
in the coral reef that fringes their island, and
moving SLOWLY toward the wharf. The only
horse on the island was hurriedly hltched
into his cart and trotted away to the landing
with all the chilrden the vehicle could hold,
to help honor the occasion. No wonder the
fifteen families of Lord Howe Island cheered
and threw Wy their hats. 1t was the first
time in half a year, says the Globe-Democrat
that they had heard from the outer world.
They were beginning to think that they were
forsaken whe nthe steamer Thetis, from
Sydney, suddenly appeared in the ohing,
bringing mails and supplies for the handful
Of people on this little rock in the big
ocean.
1t happened in this way. Though Lord
Howe Island is about $50 mile sout in the
ocean, 1t is politically a part of New South
Wales. Norfolk Island, several hundred miles
still further out to sea, is also nominally a
part of the Australian province, though she
let's both islands shift for themselves the
most of the time. Four times a year, how
ever, the mail schooner Mary Ogilvle, has
been sent out from Spdned to visit the oceanic
o~utposts. On her last trip the schooner was
totally wrecked on the preciptous coast of
Norfolk Island. 1t took some month for the
news to reach Sydney, and the dispatch OF
another vessel, and so 1t happened that Lord
Howe Island was cut off from the rest of the
world for half a year.
The return of the Thetis with news of
| the islanders has brought the c~olonists of
Lord Howe and Norfolk into prominent place
in the columns of the Australian press. Lord
Howe is one of the smallest Inhabited islands
| Of any ocean, and is typical Of the few rocks
scattered here and there, which give susie
nance to a handful of people. 1t Is shaped
exactly like a boomerang. 1t is eight miles
long and from one and a half to two miles
wide. Its basalt sides rise, in places. 5000
feet above the surface Of the sea. 1t is moth
ing but a prodigious rock thrust into the air
by ~plutonic forces; and enc would think that
people would be willing to scratch very hard
for a living before they would isolate them
selves in such a home.
A PICTURESQUE PLACE.
But this half tropical island has extra.
ordinary verdure and beauty. A reporter OF
ono of the Sydney papers who was sent Out
en- the Thetis says he never saw anything sc
picturesque as those towering mountains, doc
ted here and there with the little white cot
;ages of the fifteen families who stood cheer
ing at the water edge. Etrange to relate
enc of the largest buildings is the prison and
It would be the most useless building on tho
island IL it were not utilized as a genera
store house. 1t has not held ap rlsoner since
1859, when an American was killed in a fgh'
over a woman. Next door to the prison Is
the school house, and this contiguity, under
tho circumstances, is not'so very objection
able. Here the widow '6f Captain Cavage was
leading seventeen little folks along the patti
of knowledge, when the cry was raised, -
ship at last" and school was dimissad with
out any ceremony. 80 100
But the peopleo f the little island are no
very happy, and they blame New South Vale!
for it. The island has never been surveyed
and the people are not'yet permitted to holC
land in severalty. The yoHng folks tire o
the isolated life, and mostl6 them emigratt
to the mainland. Over 400 of them have lef
their native isle, and this'is the reason VIII!
Lord Howe island, though white familiet
have lived there for mbre than fifty years, ha
a population of only sixty-three. But tn
humble people have their blessings. Their
isn't a physician among them, and most o
them di eof old age. Their medicine ches
contains only one specific for all Ills, an
that is camphor. The all-pervading grip
however, struck them a couple of years ago
casting a gloom over the community. The.
raise plenty to eat, but they are very poo
because they export so little. A few year
ago the cucumbers of Lord Howe island wer
more highly priced in Australia for pickl
making than the home product, but OF lat
years the island cucumbers have developed
sudden tendency to rot on the vines, an
Australia no longer looks to them for pickles
There is no such thing as theft, drunkenne
or profanity on the island, but for all tina
the natives seem to lack a good deal tina
makes life worth living.
THE PITCAIRN ISLANDERS.
After a few days, the Thetis steame
away 500 miles to Norfolk island, to pu
this other speck in the ocean again in touc
with the world. Small as it is, Norfolk
five times as large as Lord Howe island
Everybody has heard Of the Pitcairn island
ers, but there may be many who do nc
know that three-fourths of the descendant
Of the Bounty, mutineers and their Tahitia
wives no longer live on Pitcairn, but TO
nearly forty years have titled the soil G
Norfolk or hunted the whale around 1t
coast. 1t was in 1856 that the Pitcair
colony, grown too large for their two Q
three square miles of territory, were a
transferred to Norfolk, where these simple
God-fearing people were in striking contras
with the convict colony Great Britain ha
maintained there. The last Of these poe
wretches had been taken away, and an er
of peace succeeded the days of violence an
blcodshed, when the %convlcts, treated as the
were with incredible severity, were She
down even in the church where they some
times took refuge.
Two years after their removal to Norfol
island twenty-eight of the Pitcairn native:
homesick for the beloved rock on which the
were born, were taken back to 1t, and the,
descendants are the Pitcairn Islanders G
today. Their relatives on Norfolk have ad
mitted a good many strangers into tn
colony, but still the most conspicuous name
are the Christians, McCoys, Quintal'
Adamses and Youngs of the original mutt
neers. No more skillful and fearless whaler
can be found. They have been known, whe
thrown from their boats by an enraged levia
than, more than once to give him his deaf
wound, burying their h~arpoons deep in tn
side while they were foundering in tn
water. They are the most religious of mer
most devoted to their people, and any {
them would willingly die for the others.
while ago one Of the Evanses saw a conrad
tossed into the air by. a wounded whale
The mans leg was broken and as he fe
into the water he was helpless, Evan
sprang overheard, reached him just as h
was sinking and held him until help cam'
nearly half an hour later, He was asked
What would you haye done If he had die
5 while you held him." He replied: II Shout
have gone down with him, that is ALL"
a A UNIQUE HISTORY.
This little community mas the ordering
most of its affairs. and its history today
as unique as its beginning was remarkabl
> Fancy a civilized society sthat pays no tax