The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-01-26
FREAKS OF THE EYES.

FREAKS OF THE EYES.
q Remarkable illustration OF Case of
Collective Hallucination.
Examples of collective hallucina-
tions are very numerous. Let us
cite one that certainly is not gen
orally known, and of which lieu
tenant in the French navy, NJ. Les
.onnat, was the victim.
SIN May, 1881 said he, II was
on board the bark Caroline. We
had just left Iloilo, in the Philip
pines, and we were travelling toward
the Sunda strait. One morning we
were moving slowly, at the rate OF
about four OF five knots, in q very
light wind, when the man on the
lookout shouted to ME that he saw
a pirogue OF sharpie on the star
board quarter. Everything that We
see at sea, however insignificant, is
always interesting. Consequently,
I placed myself in position to see
the object that the man reported.
But, on account of the lower sails, l
was obliged to GO forward. From
there I saw, at about two points to
starboard, the pirogue, which seem
ed as if she was about to cross our
bow. Suddenly tho mate shouted:
1T is not a pirogue. 1t is yawl-
boat. Then the sailor came down
from the rigging and reported that
he saw distinctly man standing in
the boat and that he was making
signals.
1t is not necessary to be aloft
to see that, replied the mate. i
can see him distinctly here
"After having observed the boat
with attention, I saw as plainly as
possible, and all the crew saw just
as did, man making signals with
something in his hand that we could
not yet recognize, but which evi-
dently was a gaff OF an car at the
end of which was fixed piece of
cloth.
"There was no longer any doubt.
We had discovered an unfortunate
shipwrecked man, whose vessel
doubtless was lost upon the rocks of
the shores called, if my memory
serves me correctly, the Thousand
isles. I Immediately reported to the
captain, who took his glasses and
followed me to the forward deck.
He recognized, just as we did, a boat
painted white, and in the bow there
was man dressed in a blue ganzy,
who was waving an oar, at the end
of which was fastened a piece of sail
cloth.
f" That poor devil is lucky said
the captain; for if we had had more
wind yesterday we would have
passed him in lie night, and, of
course, we could not have seen him.
"But as the current was drawing
the boat away from US he gave the
order to the man at the wheel to let
the vessel fall off so as to get the
boat we'll on our starboard. In this
way we could easily reach it with
out the necessity of lowering boat,
which is always a tedious operation
on board sailing vessels. The man,
seeing that we were coming for him,
ceased to signal, and sat down in
the stern, and with his oar he steer
ed the boat toward us. We could
distinctly see the boats mast was
broken at about three Or four feet
above the sailing thwart. When she
was about 300 meters from us, the
captain, who was on the poop, asked
the mate if everything was ready,
and, OH the latters affirmative re-
ply, he gave the order to head her
up a little to starboard. At this mo-
ment the emotion on board the yes
sci was intense. The entire crew
leaned over the rail Then sudden
ly, as if we all had been aroused
from a dream, the man and the boat
turned into block of pumice stone
on which were several branches of
banana trees. After drifting slowly
along the side of the vessel before
the stupefed sailors it vanished out
of sight. The men were so utterly
astonished that several of them
could not help crying out: But, by
jingo, there was a man on it, sure!
We all saw him!'
''If the sea mad been rough, so
that we could not reach that little
floating island, we would certainly
have been convinced that fellow
creature had been left to perish.
Nevertheless our mind was free
from all anterior prcoccupation.
Notwithstanding the spontaneity of
the thing that had started it the
suggestion was none tho less vivid.