The San Francisco call., 1896-08-08
THEY DIED BY
THE HUNDREDS,
Gilbert Islanders Who Per.
iShed in Central
America.
A TOO SEVERE CLIMATE.
All That Was Left of Them
Went Home on the Bark
Helen w. Almy.
ENTIRE GROUP IN MOURNING.
All the Vessels in the "Blackbirding"
Scheme Have Met With
Disaster.
ENTIRE GROUP IN MOURNING

"Those whom the Gods love die young"
If the quotation is true then the Gods
must love the natives of the Gilbert group.
They were beguiled from their island
homes to the plantations of Central
America and there they died. Not in ones
or twos, or tens and twenties, but in
hundreds, and out of 1000 men, women
and children who left Butaritari four
years ago only 227 lived TO reach home.
The humid weather which prevails in
Central America was too much for them
and they succumbed one by one. In some
cases 1t was pneumonia, but in the ma
iority it was consumption which carried
them off. The latter disease was even
more prevalent than the former, and it
counted its victims by the score each
month.
All that was left Of the "blackbirds"
were taken home on the bark Helen W.
Almy, and there was weeping and wailing,
mingled with tears of joy, at every point
at which the YES sci stopped to unload her
human frei ght.
The story began nearly five years ago.
The coffee-planters OF Guatemala wanted
cheap labor, and they contracted with
Captain Ferguson for SO many South Sea
Islanders. The skipper chartered the brig
Tahiti and sent her out on a cruise.
"Blackbirding" was and is common
practice in the South Seas, aud all the
labor employed in the canefelds of
Queensland, Australia, is thus recruited.
Ferguson had thus no difficulty in secur-
ing 270 natives, after which the Tahiti
was headed for San Jose de Guatemala.
She was driven north as far as brakes
Bay, and after reftting made another
start with Captain Ericsson in command.
The next news came from Mexico, and was
to the effect that the Tahiti had capsized
and every one on board drowned.
Nothing daunted, Ferguson chartered
the steamer Montserrat and sent her TO
the Gilbert group. The people were wary
and demanded information as to where
their relatives were. Specious answers we're
given, and finally with the assistance of
the King of the group nearly 500 men,
won en- and children signed contracts to
work four years in the coffee plantations
of Guatemala. Only 225 of them lived to
tell the tale, and they went home on the
bark Helen w. Almy. The vessel took
aboard DOT, all told, but as there were two
births and two deaths during the voyage
the total was not changed.
The AImy made an unusually long voy-
age and returned to port light. In talk
ing about the matter yesterday Captain
and It's lucky we are in even now. When
we left San Francisco we were all right
but during the time we lay at Ocos and
San Jose de Guatemala the barnacles grew
six inches every six hours. We expected
big crowd of South Sea Islanders, but
only 227 all told were put aboard. Half
of them were sick and dispirited, but as
soon as we got to sea they picked up and
were as Jolly as sand boys. Outside of the
two deaths from consumption and the two
births there was nothing OF interest dur
ing the voyage.
"The homes of the natives were scattered
over the entire Gilbert group and we had
to go to at least a dozen ISLANDS before we
got rid of our passengers. Every place we
touched at we could hear the mournful
death song as soon as the natives
were landed and if we stayed there any
length of time the bark would be sur
rounded by canoes, in which were the
relatives of the men who perished in
Guatemala. They asked for this man and
that woman and were so persistent that
we had to up anchor and get aw ay as
quickly as possible.
II can state positively that the natives
were well treated in Guatemala and every
one of those who returned with me had
more money with him than he had ever
seen in all his life before. The. money
earned by those who died was sent to their
circulation when we lett Butarltari. Had
it not been for this it would have gone
hard with the Gilbert Islanders.
There has been no rain tor months and
the cocoanuts were not as big as my list.
There was no copra, and we could not have
done any trading even If we wanted to.
The British Government runs the group,
and in order to do any business we would
have had TO put up $500 for license. The
old King, who came to San Francisco
few years ago, is dead and his l6-year-old
SON reigns in his stead. The new King
is a progressive lad and he sought to rule
his Kingdom as he thought fit. The Brit
ish Commissioner sat down on him heavy,
however. The young monarch was told
that if he did not behave himself he would
be sent to school at Fiji to learn manners
That settled the matter and young Tom
bola has been a most obedient lad ever
since.
1.-The bark's bottom was very foul, so
decided to have 1t partially cleaned while
we were at anchor in Butaritari. Eight
natives went down and removed barnacles
naked and would remain below all OF two
minutes al time.
''Hali-castes who attempted the work
could not remain under water more than
a minute. Had we not got the hull par
italy cleaned it might have been another
mOntn Delore we reacned san Francisco.
The Helen w. Almy was specially char
tered to take the Gilbert Islanders home.
1t was part of Captain Black burns con-
tract that he return the natives, but as
his vessel foundered off Cape Flattery and
he and every soul on board went down
with her, there was nothing left to be done
save charter another craft to carry out the
agreement. Misfortune seems to have
followed all engaged in the venture.
Nearly a thousand natives died from
swamp fever or exposure or went down in
the wreck of the Tahiti. Two vessels
with all hands were lost, and the Almy
after a seven months cruise returned here
in ballast. 1t will be many long day be-
fore another successful black birding cruise
can be made to the Gilbert group.