The times., 1897-05-30
The Sole Survivor of a Wreck on
Lighthouse Island.
NO OTHER CLEW TO IDENTITY
Living the Life of Savage for
Years With No Memory of Herself
or of the Past Civilized ty Pres :
ent of Clothes, She Forgets Her
Suffcrings.

the eastern side OF Australia, are q group
of seven islands. The outermost one, which
| is seventy miles from the mainland, il
| called Lighthouse Island although there has
never been lighthouse erected there. IL
| is an island two miles long and almost as
proad, the foundation Of coral, ana is en-
| tjrely covered with trees and bushes. Whal-
ing vessels bound up the Java coast ofteh
| call there for wood and water, and III the
| year $40 British snip was wrecked there,
and twcnty-eight men lived on the island
| for ten months before being taken OFF
In the year 1872 was one of tue boat
! steerers in the lucky old whaleship Lily
| Smith, of New Bedford, and after a cruise
! of fourteen months without a man steppin z
| foot ashore we were bearing up for Light
| house Islan q TO renew our wood and waite r
| and feel the earth under our feet once more
| We reached point within about four miles
| Of the island just at sundown one night,
| when the wind failed us, and after the ship
| had drlfted in for another mile on the tide
! we came to anchor in seven fathons anil
made all snug. AS the weather was fine
| only an anchor watch was kept, and all
| went well till about midnight. Then some
one was discovered padding around the snip
on G. small raft, and All alarm was raised
| that turn ed out all hands. Some of the men
| insisted that it was negro, but, with their
| night glasses TO aid them, the officers were
| quite certain that il was a woman in
| half-nude state. They said she had long
hair narrow shoulders, and handled her
| paddle With a certain awkwardness never
| seen in a man. In "a general way We knew
| that the island was not inhabited, though
probably visited at intervals by natives
| from the otncr islands and by shell gath
| erers and fishermen. The person on the raft
| may have beel sent out To spy on us previ-
| Gus TO an attack, or may have been some
lone individual impeiIed solely by curiosity
Whoever it was he disappeared as soon as
an alarm was raised, and We beard nothing
more during the night.
Next morning as soon as breakfast / ad
been served, twenty of US went ashore
with the axes and water-casks, and for
fear we might meet with adventure, four
or the men were armed with nluskets. AS
We landed on the sandy beach Of little
cove we saw "a small and queerly con-
strUcted raft pulled up on the sands, and
leading away from 1t were the tracks OF
human feet 1t needed but a glance to
show that they were the footprints Of
woman and as we noticed tine conStruc-
tion OF the raft the dullest sailor Gould
figure that 10 man ever put it together
We felt certain that there was a woman
on the island, and as she had pulled eff
Co the ship alone, ii might be inferred that
site was solitary and alone amidst the
trees. There was well-defined path
leading from the beach into the woods.
and as we We're in sea rch Of water part
of us took this path, while he Ot hers began
telling trees. At about twenty rods 1om
the beach we came upon line spring,
from which we could fill our TASKS, and
for several hours, or until the captain came
ashore, no one penetrated further After
dinner. being satisfied that the woman
was alone ON the island, and her failure to
come near us being proof that she was not
IN her right mind, or was some native fe-
male who feared us, six men We're detailed
TO go in sea Tch Of her. few rods from
the spring, where the forest was p.ore
open. we came upon a rude hut, with a
smouldering fire at the door. The Int was
made Of sticks, stones, shells and mud.
The sticks had been broken off 10y hand,
and the shelter was a fairly good one
against any sort of weather In the in
terror we found a bed Of dry grass; SELLS,
which were used for cooking utensils and
what might be called the remains Of
lady's hat, dress, cloak and pair of
shoes.
Authese things Were old and ragged and
ready TO fall to pieces, but they proved
beyond q doubt that the woman was
white woman. w argued that they further
proved that she had reached the island from
some wreck If the loneliness of her stua-
tion and the hardships to which she had
been exposed had not affected her mind
she would have appeared before US soon
as we had landed. We began our search
for her by calling aloud, telling who we
were and asking her to come forward. but
there WAS no response. We then separated
a distance of few feet and swept across
the island We found many places where
she had broken off branches and gathered
wild fruit, and on the other beach we found
her tracks in the sand, hut nothing could be
seen of the woman herself
AS our stay at the island would he for
three or four da Us, the captain ordered that
bedding and piovis ions be placed in the
abandoned hut for use of the woman, and
that we should make no further hunt FOR
her. A letter was written and placed with
the things; giving her the name of the ship
and saying we were friends. and then we
went about our own work. At night we all
went on hoard ship, and next morning it
was ascertained that the woman had spent
the night in the hut. She had made a bed
OF the blankets and eaten of the provisions,
but she had torn the letter into five pieces,
and that probably without reading it.
We were satisfied, however, as she must
reason that we meant her no harm, and we
hoped 70 get sight of her by the time We
were ready TO depart.
We heard nothing of her on the second
day. nor the next, but she occupied her hut
again and ate heartily of the provisions
We left other letters for her, but she tore
eachup On the fourth day, as we had quite
finished, 1t was determined to run the
woman down and discover who she was
to make a thorough and speedy job OF this
everybody but the cook was iaEded-some
forty-five men in all We stretched out
across the head of the island in skirnish
line and then swept down it's length and
back again. and it was on the return that
we started her out of thick bush. We
could not get fair sight Of her under tile
trees, but we made out she had a
sort OF Jacket made of sail-cloth and was
bare-headed and bare-footed, Upon heing
driven out of her cover she ran like deer
and was soon out OF sight We had spent
about An hour in looking for her trail
when the lone man left aboard the ship
fired muskets and rang the bell aud
caused us TO hasten down to the beach
Once clear of the trees we easily dis
covered what had happened. The wild
woman had flanked us and reached the