Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-08-29
T HE is l. AND CAV
By c. B. Lewis on. QuoO,

ing down the decks on the Both day of Oc-
tober, 1866, when man who had been
sent aloft to examiner q sail which had
been damaged in a squall during the pre-
vious night shouted down to the mate
that he could see man, on O raft about a
mile away and almost directly in our
course. We were then, midway between
Ceylon and the Chagos Islands, with sea
room for five hundred fhiles in every di-
rection.
The announcement of the man on the
raft did not produce much excitement.
Natives are frequently blown off the is
lands on RATS and catamarans from which
they nave been fishing, and we believed
TINS 10 be such case. We were up
with him In few minutes, and great was
our surprise to find him a white man and
sailor. The raft was a rude but stout
AFFAIR, which he had made from driftwood,
ana II earned cargo as well as the man.
Securely lashed to the panks and tim
bers were four large elephant tusks and an
carmen jar, together with two other jars
containing food and water. The raft had
no san out was managed to a certain ex
leht Dy rude steering oar. The casta-
way lock things coolly, and was neither
over-grateful nor surprised at being pick
ca up. lie saw to it that his cargo was
saieiy ABOARD before he climbed over the
rail- ana ne answered no questions until
ne was alone with the captain, in the
cabin. Then he told a story which reach
eu US Two or three hours later
l., me 3 name or the rescued sailor was Will
IAN Scout lie was second mate of Cey-
Ion schooner. called the Happy Day.
Inlee mouths before we found him the
schooner set out from some port on the
india coast for Batavia, but encountered q
typhoon and was blown a long distance to
the west and finally wrecked on a coral
reel surrounding an island OF the crew of
eignt men Scott alone escaped. He was
earned a mile or more by the waves and
cast upon the beach, and he was so bruised
anu battered that he could not stand up
risht for three or four days He believed
ti.ts island TO be one of the easternmost
OF the Chagos, and yet when he came TO
overhaul the chart and read the descrip-
TONS OF the group he could not place it
among them. 1t was an island about a
t te III circumference, rocky and barren,
Dut having plenty Of fresh water on it,
AS 1or animal life, there was not even a
lizaru 10 De seen, and but for the ravines
ana caves a man would have been roasted
a, aiisI 10y the not sun. There were shellhsh
IN plenty, and he caught many fish left in
ponds as the tide leceded but he had no
nre. Scott lived or the barren rock for
fourteen long weeks without once sight
NY san ana but for his own individual
eHorts the time might have been indefinite
~ prolonged. One day lot of wreckage
from some unfortunate native craft drove
asHore ana ne secured planks and timbers
anu SET ABOUT building a raft. He had
made up his mind TO put to sea and take
the chance of being picked up.
Inc castaway had explored his island
several ufnes, but as the ground was much
cut up ana dll1lcult to get over he had not
examined it closely. Entering the island
from the south side was narrow BAY be-
ing not ever twenty feet wide though very
oeep. ms bay came near cutting the is
lallu III TWO, as II ran within a hundred feet
OF the north end. 1t was in the still waters
OF the bay that Scott constructed his raft
ana only when it was finished that he made
strange discovery. He poled it along one
"a ha1I Of
reached the end he saw the mouth of a
cave fifteen feet above him on the right
1t seemed to him that men had used tools
10 widen the mouth and to smooth the way
up 10 II from the water, and his curiosity
was aroused He found the mouth of the
cave large enough to admit a hogShcad
ana there was every reason to believe that
IL had once been blocked up with stones
squared for the purpose and cemented in
These stones had been shaken loose by
some cat jar and had rolled down into
the bay. The cave was thirty feet long by
twenty wide, and ten feet high, dry and
airy, and Tar better house than Robinson
Crusoe had Now comes the astonishing
part OF the story. According to Scott he
found 2l0 elephant tusks stacked up in the
cave, together with five jars of gold dust
On iedVlng the island on his raft the sailor
secured four of the tusks to his raft, and
also one CT the jars of gold dust Two
other jars were emptied Of their contents
that he might use them for food and wa
ter.
Had the raft been without cargo the
mans story would have been laughed at
and ridculed. He said he had found gold
and lvory-a great fortune He had the
ivory and the gold to prove his assertions
1t made TO difference that he could not
identify the island; that the chart did not
place it. 1t was a queer story, but with
the proofs at hand to back it. what could
do but believe? Our captain was
Scotchlnan. and he took a whole day to
think the matter over and assure himself
that the stuff before him was actually gold
and ivory. Then he made Scott a PROPOSE
ton. The sailor knew the orth of what
he had sect red-knew that he was fixed for
1ife-and having kr ocked about on the raft
for nine days before we sighted him he
was not at all anxious about what he had
left behind in the cave. Our captain was,
however, and SO was every man of the
crew. The matter vas talked over. and it
was finally agreed that Scott should pilot
to the island, and take another Tar of
gold dust for his share. He would then be
landed at Batavia. to 60 where he pleased.
The rest of the treasure was to be recov-
cred for the owners of the bark, but we
were told that they would be liberal with
all. 1t was a hard bargain the Scotchman
drove with the rescued sailor, but Scott
fell in with the idea, and the course Of the
ship was changed. We were geo miles to
the south Of the Chagos, having passed
them fifty miles to the east, and as the
wind was from the north had to beat
back. This was slow work. and we had
not yet made half the distance when We
got a gale from the west, which sent US
driving away toward the Javanese coast
until we were almost in sight Of 1t. We
had then to recover our lost ground, but
what with the loss Of two topmasts and
several sails in a squall and a continuation
Of bad weather, it was sixteen days before
man was sent to the masthead to look for
land.
The Chagos Archipelago consists of a
score of Islands, banks and reefs Scott
that his island was the eastern
most one of all, but as he could not be sure
of it, we had to examine all. Running be-
tween them and around them was slow
work, and we had to feel our way. ard it
was six days before we reached the last
We had found no such island as described
by the sailor. and In our disappointment
and chagrin he came in for plenty of abuse.
He retaiated by pointing to his treasure.
If there no island, no cave and no
treasure, how did he come by the ivory
ard gold dust? 1t was most convincing
argument, and our captain decided to bear
away to the east and search at haphazard.
At the close of the fourth day, sailing back
and forth across a sea supposed to contain