The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-02-14

! in an open boat, out in that vast ex-
panse, with a few friends, and the final
rescue, form one of the most thrilling
chapters in the history of the sea.
Byron immortalized this drama in his
poem The Island You know the
story; how the crew under Christian
and Adams took native wives, settled
in Pitcairn's island, and for nearly two
generations were lost to the world.
Then came this unexpected discovery,
when all but one of the original crew
were dead. The world learned of their
woes, their troubles, their sufferings,
their meanness and withal of their
triumph out on that desolate little
island, and condoned their crime.
When discovered, they had outgrown
the land. Adams, from an old Bible,
had taught the swarming half breeds
to read and write, so that when found,
there was not a more moral or peaceful
community under the sun than these
descendants of outlaw whites and saw
age native women. The English gov
eminent has transported most of these
people to a larger island, where let us
hope, in the language of your own Rip
Van Wrinkle, they and their families
may live long and prosper
Many incidents about the beach,
combers, learned from the narratives
of his Apian associations but, still
more valuable, CLEANED from his own
sympathetic and unsurpassed powers
of observation, my host repeated to me
that night, as we sat on the wide
veranda, the waterfalls music filling
the unfrequent pauses in our talk, and
the silVery flash of the moon on the
bay feasting our eyes, whenever we
turned them in that direction.
Kit Carson said to me one night, as
we lay in that glorious gorge, through
which the Rio Grande tears its way
from the heart of La Sierra Madre to
the prairie-like expanse of st. Luis
park:
Yes; the ole hunters and frontiers
men know mighty sight about this
country, from the frozen ocean plumb
down to Panama, but it's nothing COM
pared with the knowledge of the pros
pectors. Gold leads men where there's
neither meat nor fish. If the United
States could get the information of
these gold hunters and write it into
shape, the world would know more
about this great American continent 1
than a thousand surveys like the one
you are on now could give X in a hun
bred years.
FIFTY-FTVE YEARS AT THE BUSI-
NESS
I recalled this remark of the famous
scout and guide, when years afterward |
of Hawaii, both of us sitting at the
time on the glistening ignecus rocks |
that form the shore line of Kilanea's
ever-burning lake.
Sam Brant was, if ever there was one. |
a professional beach-comber and quite |
as proud of the name as the veteran |
is of his medals. When the whaler or |
merchant sailor deserts his ship in a |
Pacific island, he remains in hiding till |
the inevitable search is over and the |
vessel sails and then he makes friends |
with the natives, who rarely betray
the refugee in their midst The de- |
serter marries and soon acquires the
language, and drops into the customs
of the people, but it is not till. wears
have brought forgetfulness and Sc
curity that he ventures to the shore
where ship casts anchor.
When l met Sam Brant he told me
ne was Il years of age, though he I
might have passed for so, he was so
straight, strong and supple.
We been a beach-comber out here in
the Pacific. he explained. as we sat
looking at the fiery waves below US and
smoking our pipes, for just 30 years. L
began when 1 was 16 Why did l start?
Sag Harbor, Long Island. My father
and mother died when I was Is. and as
was my own master, l signed articles
nd shipped on the whaler John Adams
Why, in those days there was no kero-
sene that the world knowed of, and so
whaling was the business, mostly Yam
KEGS. out IN this ocean.
when I first shipped it was with the
notion that one day I'd be a master
myself but then I was boy and a fool.
The captain of the Adams was a man
named Phipps. Very nice and smooth
on shore. but a hog when out to sea-
We hadn't doubled the Cape when an
other boy and me made up our minds
to desert the first chance, and that
chance came IN the Bay of Islands, in
northern New Zealand. We married and
lived with the natives for two years.
Then a war broke out. We were sus-
Dected, and Tom Dawson, my chum,
was killed. My wife warned me, and I
it out and made my way south to Auck-
and. There 1 shipped on an English
nan bound for Fiji. This captain was
worse than Phipps, so 1 deserted with a
Scotchman named Ross, and we married
and lived with Fijians till the mission
aries came. Then we left"
I asked him if his departure was due
o the missionaries, and Brant said that
ne did not dislike them personally, but
hat wherever they went, powder and {
square ace"-rum-followed.