The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-06-06

main feature is that the three beach
combers were then there with the two
| native settlements of Manahikians and
| Penryhn people and that all was well.
| In April, 1858, the brig Charlotte
| touched at Suvarrow and two of the
| Manahiki boys, Otea and aimau, went
on her to Samoa. Neither on the voy-
age nor at Apia did they mention any
white men as having been with them
on Suvarrow, and the master of the
| Charlotte knew nothing of the former
actions of Sustenance.
| That trader again visited Suvarrow
on June 18th, ten months after estab-
fishing his diving station and eight
months after his last visit. AS he stood
up for the passage through the coral
reef first one and then second canoe
filled with Penryhn Islanders boarded
the Dart with many expressions of
pleasure that they once more saw their
! friend Uru-Uru, for the three beach,
combers had long ago taken their boat
and sailed away westward to Samoa.
Knowing the wild rowing fever which
drives the beachcomber thithcr and
yon, back and forth through the South
| Seas, and their recklessness of the
chances of voyaging, Sustenance saw
| nothing unusual in the thought of three
men setting out in a small boat for an
ocean voyage of hundreds of miles.
His two mates suggested the possibility
OF foul play, but he pooh-poohed their
| suspicious. AT any rate the Penrhyn
| Islanders told a consistent story.
| On landing Sustenance met the PAU
! motu woman, Kokorariki, wife of the
Manahikian Here, Her story was to
the effect that in February the three
beachcombers had painted the boat and
| made a new sail. They had taken the
small cask filled with drinking water
and a large supply of dried eggs of the
sea fowl which swarm on the islands,
| together with a variety of food in the
shape of fresh and baked cocoanut.
The boat had been leaky, but was tight
| after the new painting. They had
sailed away to the west and before
shutdown were out of sight. AS they
| had left their wives behind, she was
sure that they intended to take ship in
| Samoa and go to their own lands be-
yond the horizon. They had taken all
their trade goods except one bolt Of
printed goods which they had divided
among the Penrhyn divers.
For a savage this woman seems to
have had genius for lying. The other
people agreed with her account and the
| island, when carefully searched, yielded
no Indication in the way of goods or
stores that the woman had told other
than the truth. For the following
fortnight the Manahikians and the
Penrhyns were on the Dart on the
homeward voyage back to Penrbyn, AMI
not a word or a sign gave reason to
suspect that the story was false.
| Some weeks later Sustenance touched
\ in the course of trade at Rakahanea
and there again encountered the wo-
man Kokorariki. She asked at once If
he had heard of Joe and Tamu. Appa-
rently much concerned when she heard
4 that they had not reached Samoa, she
asked in what direction Pukapuka bore,
| and when the shipmaster pointed down
to the west, she seemed much relieved,
and suggested that the beachcornbers
had probably reached that island
| Yet in her original story and in this
renewed interest in the voyage of the
/ beachcombers Kokorariki was but play
| ing a leading part in a tissue of fabri-
cation which was sufficiently good to
deceive Sustenance, and 1t may be said
that it is by no means easy to pull the
wool over the eyes Of South Sea :rad-
| er.
| The three beachcombers' had been
murdered on Suvarrow in the presence
| of this woman and every other person
on the island, and Kokorariki herself
| had planned the consistent story which
had cleared them all from suspicion.
The story came out by the confession of
the wife of Tanu, that Is, Tom Charl-
ton, the American, which she made to
Tairi, the native missionary teacher on
Rakahanga.
For some time after the last visit
! which Sustenance made at Suvarrow
the people busted themselves about
their several occupations. Tamu and
his Manahikians fished and ucred the
beche-d e-mer, Joe and the Penrhyn Is
landers worked at the beds of pearl
shell, and Jules seems to nave diversi-
fled his chief occupation of doing moth
ing by spells Of watching the others at
work. He was well liked by the island
ers. So was Charlton. But Joe Bird
| acted as the superior being Is so apt to
do when living among the islanders.
He brought two women from Penrhyn
to Suvarrow with him, and while there
he took away the wives of three of his
divers. He was not choice in his WOO
ing, for it was proved that when he
wanted to take woman he fiogged her
with a piece of rope or the tail of the
stingaree until her consent was won.
A common threat when any of his
divers proved refractory was that he
would cut them in two and would eat
their livers, and when one is canni-
bal such a threat does not seem as i'm
probable as it might appear in other
conditions in life. Often he deprived
his divers Of their rations and water
when their take of shell was not up to
the amount he fixed for days task.
The divers plotted to take their re-
venge upon him, and saw clearly that
they must make away with the other
white men at the same time
The opportunity came early one
morning. Joe Bird missed some cocoa
nuts from his pit. He went first to
Tom Charlton's and questioned the
Manahikians as to the theft. This
| was no more than a matter of form,