The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-06


upon AZ 10 relieve the terrible monotony. l
tell you, words can never describe the hor-
ror OF the agonizing months a s they crawl
ed by.
Ny island was nothing but a little
sand PIT, with here and there a few tufts
OIL grass struggling through it's parched
surface.
Think of it, We who have envied the fate
OF the castaway on a gorgeous and fertile
tropical island miles in extent! Ii was
barely 100 yards in length, ten yards wide.
and only eight feet above the sea level at
hlgh water! There was no sign of animal
life upon it, but birds were plentiful
enough, particularly pelicans. My tour of
the island occupied perhaps ten minutes,
and you may perhaps form some concep-
ton of my utter dismay on failing to come
across any trace of fresh water
Shortly after the storm abated and he
was able TO 90 to the wreck and take from
it blankets, food and whatever else he vas
able to lay his hands on. These he loaded
on a raft, which he had hurriedly con
structed, and returned to shore. "When I
regained the island" de Rougemont says
IN his narrative, Il made another survey
of 1t to find the most suitable spot for
pitching my camp and in the course of my
Wauderings 1 made discovery that fill
ed me with horror and the anguish of
blankest despair My curiosity was first
attracted by a human skull that lay near
a large curcular hole in the sand about
two feet deep. Upon closer examination
l came TO the conclusion that the hole must
have been dug by civilized beings with
spades, and L commenced scratching up
the sand with my fingers at one side. 1
had only gone few inches down when
came upon a quantity of human remains.
The sight struck terror to my heart
and filed me with the most dismal fore
bodings. MY own bones l thought, will
10 he nil So
my agony of mind that l had to leave the
spot, and interest myself in other things;
but some time afterward, when had got
over my nervousness, renewed my dig
ging operations and in an hour or so had
unearthed no fewer than sixteen complete
keletons-fourteen adults, and two
younger people, possibly women
That morning l made my breakfast off
raw sea gulls eggs, but was unable to get
anything to drink. Between 8 and 10
O'clock as the tide was then very low, L
made my way back to the ship without
much difficulty, and collected as many
things as l possibly could to transfer
ashore. l had to take dangerous headers
into the cabin, as the whole ships interior
was full of water but all could manage
to secure were a tomahawk and my bow
and arrows.
Among the things I brought from the
ship on a subsequent visit were stone
the Papuans-and a quantity of a special
kind of wood, also taken on board at New
Guinea. This wood possessed the peculiar
ity of smoldering for hours when once ig
nited, without actually bursting into flame.
AS the most urgent matter was to kin
die a fire, L began experiments with my
two weapons, striking the steel tomahawk
against the stone one over a heap of fluffy
material made by unraveling and teasing
a piece of blanket. Success attended my
patient efforts this time, and to my mex
pressible relief and joy, l soon had a
cheerful fire blazing alongside my i'm
provised shelter-and, what is more, l
took good care never to let 1t go out
during the whole time I remained a pris-
oner on the island. The fire was always
my first thought, and night and day it
was kept at least smoldering by means
of the New Guinea wood 1 have already
mentioned, and of which l found a large
stock on board. The ship itself, / should
mention provided me with all the fuel
that was required in the ordinary way,
and, moreover, l was constantly finding
pieces of wreckage along the shore that
had been gathered in by the restless
waves.
:'The days passed slowly by. In what
part of the world l was located had moi
the remotest idea. but 1 felt that 1 was al
together out of the beaten track of ships,
and therefore the prospect of my being
rescued was very remote indeed-thoughts
that often caused me a kind of dull agony,
more terrible than any mere physical pain.
However, 1 fixed up a flagstaff on the
highest point of the island-poor island;
that was not many inches-and foated an
ensign upside down from 1t, in the hope
that this signal of distress might be sight
ed by some stray vessel, and Indicate the
presence of a castaway to those on board.
Every morning I made my way to the
Flagstaff and scanned the horizon for the
possible sight of a sail, but l always had
to come away disappointed. This became
a habit; yet, so eternal is hope, that day
by day, week by week, and month by
month the bitter disappointment was al
ways a keen torture. l was usually astir
about sunrise. 1 knew that the sun rose
about q. m. in those tropical seas and
set at 6 p. m.-there was very little Varia-
ton all the year round.
"A heavy dew descended at night, which
made the air delightfully."- COOL but in the
day it was so frightfully hot that l could
not bear the weight of ordinary clothes
upon my person, so / took to wearing a
silk shawl instead, slung loosely round my
shoulders and body. Later,
abandoned clothes altogether. l found that
when a rent appeared the sun blazed down
through it and raised a painful blister. on
the other hand, by going perfectly nude
and taking constant sea baths 1 suffered
scarcely at all from the scorching tropi-
cal sun"
De Rougemont then goes on to tell of his
almost daily visits to the ship for nine
months, until he so stripped her that she
was practically a skeleton. AT the same
time he had not neglected habitation for
himself, but had gotten enough shells
ashore from the ship to build a couple
of parallel walls, each about feet high 3
feet thick and 10 feet in length. The inter
stices of these walls he filled with a pud-
die of clayey sand and water, covered in
with canvas. When the wet season set in
he built third wall at one end and erect
ed a sort of double awning in front, under
which he always Kept his fire burning.
The question of food then began serious
" to concern him, for to subsst simply on
fish was not TO his liking. Accordingly"
he saws, II set my wits to work and at
length decided upon an interesting expert
ment. / flied a large turtle shell with sand
aud a little clay, and thoroughly wetted
the mixture with turtles blood, then STIR
ring the mass into puddle and planting
corn seeds in it.
tt,-l,o,, ,,tolrax, snro1Itad and Hourisbad so