The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-05-01
LONELY, HAPPY EXILES
THE LITTLE COLONY OF PARKWAY
 TRISTIN D'ACUNHA.

Men and Women Who Prefer Their Rock
 in the South Atlantic to Civilization-One
 ofThem Yankee Captain Who is Deaf
 to Appeals from His Friends at Home.
 In the South Atlantic, nearly mid way between the Cape of Good Hope and the coast of South America, in 37 5 50" south latitude, and F 16' 4O' west longitude, situated on the same long elevation in the Atlantic from which rise Ascension, St. Paul Rocks and the Azores is group or three volcanic islands one or which, Tristan D'Acunha, came very near tax ing from that other isolation, st. Hele- na, it's chief claim to remembrance.
 In the flood of Napoleonic literature poured forth in the present decaue there has been little mention of the fact that Great Britain for nearly year at- ter it had chained the eagle upon its bleak eyrie, was apprehensiVe lest It soar away, and conceived the plan or making change that should baff1e all attempt at escape or rescue. In the search for some spot even more mac cessble than St. Helena the group at the end of the ocean ridge arrested at tenton, and without any scruple as to the rights of other nations, in lSl6, Great Britain coolly raised the Union Jack and proceeded to make the largest habitable for a garrison.
 Tristan D'Acunha, named after it's Portuguese discoverer of 1506, is the most northern of the group, nearly seven miles in diameter and nearly circular, with a volcanic cove, in the center Of which is a fresh water lake that never freezes. Precipitous cliffs from one to two thousand feet high tower from the very waters edge. Except on the northern side there are hardly any in- lets. On the northwest there Is an ir- regular plain one thousand feet above the sea and two and a half miles long by one-half mile wide, which is both habitable and arable.
 When Great Britain took D'Acunha, though the thought of transferring Na- poleon thither was abandoned, 1t was deemed wise on account of it's proximi- ty to St. Helena to keep a garrison there, but in a few years the hopeless ness of Napoleon's situation was thor oughly impressed upon his captors, and they withdrew all the garrsons save Corporal William Glass, sturdy Scotchman, who was permitted to have wife and family with him to mitigate the loneliness of his exile, and two sol- diers.
 Comfortab ble dwellings were provided for them, with an abundance of the ne- cessaries of life and implements and stock for farming experiments if they desired to make them. Leave for trips to the mainland was hard to obtain, and a strict account was required of communications held with the occa- sional vessel that approached the drea- ry spot. This was very easily rendered, however, for from 1917 till 1921 not a single bark save British vessels touched at the island. When death relieved the British of the care of Napoleon, the re- strctions were removed, and it would have been easy to leave the island, but the sturdy Scot and his little company had found it all sufficient for their sim pie needs. They made frequent visits to Cape Town, and Corporal Glass wife having died, he married native woman, and his example was followed | by his two men. The corporal had no desire to have his children remain on | the island, and on the death of his wife | told his sons to return to Scotland But | the free life they enjoyed had it's fasci- | nation, and they refused to return tc | the trammels of a stricter civilization | Their father did not insist, and taught l them all he himself knew, and it was not inconsiderable.
 l With loyal devotion to the land of his birth he named the cleared space ir and by 1926, when an English vesse
 stopped at Tristan, it's officers found | the little colony absorbed in building | its town, and the nine adults and tht
 promising brood of children evincet
 such satisfaction with their lot that in
 stead of any of them desiring to leave
 two of the ships crew deserted anC
 were so thoroughly concealed by thu inhabitants that after an ineffectua search the officers had to depart with out them.
 William Glass had, in addition to tn
 love of adventure which appeared t
 rule him, all the national characteris
 tics of caution and thrift None kney
 better than he the folly of living in
 community without laws, so he drey
 up his own constitution and estab
 lished a government where he wa
 king. prime minister and chamber, an
 devised a set of laws which his subject
 implicitly obeyed, infraction of whic
 if serious and repeated, meant summa " and irrevocable punishment. Ther was but one of his subjects who brave him, and the memory of his sentenc } was wholesome and deterrent.
 , After they had built dwellings for tt separate families, the land was pol tioned out into small farms, which wei stocked with cattle, sheep, geese an hogs. Many of the products of Sco
 land could be raised, and potatoes wei
 easily cultivated. Besides this the
 had the eggs of penguins and the albf
 tross, and there was a species of cal | tba