The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-02-25
ON CANCED CAY.
"a Shipwrecked Sailors Horrible Fight
With Myriads of Crabs.

"
With Myriads of Crabs.
There is a tiny islet on the outskirts
Of the Solomon Archipelago that to all
such casual wanderers as stray so far
presents not a single feature of inter-
est. Like scores of others in those lat
itudes, it has not yet attained to the
dignity of a single cocoanut tree, al
though many derelict nuts have found
a Judgement upon it, and begun to grow
only to be Wiped out of existence at
the next springtide. Viewed fom bal
loon it would look like a silly season
mushroom but with fringe of snowy
foam around it marking the protecting
barrier to which it owes it's existence,
to say nothing of it's growth. Yet of all
places in the world which I have been
privileged to visit, this barren little
mound of sand clings tenaciously to my
memory, for reasons which will pres
emily appear
One of those devastating cyclones
that at long intervals sweep across the
Pacific, leaving long swatch of des-
truction in their wake, had overtaken
the pearling schooner of which [ was
mate. For twenty-four hours we fed
gDGIOTG II, we hllcW llOl WllltIlSly lIol
daring to heave to. The only compass
we possessed had been destroyed by the
first sea that broke on board. Whether
it was night or day we had no notion,
except by watch, and even then we
were doubtful, so appalling was the
darkness. Hope was beginning to re-
yive that, as the Papalangi had proved
herself so stanch, she might yet run it
e,l, hi
the tiny rag rugged forward to keep
her before it suddenly flew into
threads; the curl of the sea caught her
under the counter and spun her into
the wind like a teetotum. The next vast
comber took her broadside on, rolled
her over and swallowed her up. We
went "down quick into the pit
Always reckoned a powerful swim
rler, even among such amphiba as the
Kanakas, don't remember making a
stroke. But after a horrible, choking
struggle in the black uproar L got my
breath again, finding myself clinging,
as a drowning man will, to something
big and seaworthy. 1t was an ordinary
ships hencoop that the skipper had
bought from a passenger vessel in
Auckland AS good a raft as one could
wish. it bore me on over the mad sea,
half-dead as / was, until I felt it rise
high as if climbing a cataract and des
cend amidst furious boiling of surf
into calm, smooth water A few
minutes later l touched a sandy beach.
Utterly done up / slept where 1 lay, at
the waters edge, though the shreking
hurricane ragged overhead as if it would
tear the land up by the roots.
when 7 awOke 1t was fine weather,
though to leeward the Internal reek of
the departing meteor still disfgured a
huge segment of the sky. l looked
around and my jaw dropped Often /
had wondered what poor devil would
do who happened to be cast away on
such a spot as this. Apparently I was
about to learn. A painful pinch at my
hare foot startled me and l saw an ug-
ly beast of crab going for me. He was
q foot across. his blue back covered
with long spikes, and his wicked little
ewes seemed to have an expression of
diabolicaI malignity. l snatched at
handful of his legs and swung him
round my head, dashing him against
the side of my coop with such Vlgor
that his armor flew to flinders around
me. I never have liked crab, even when
dressed but l found the raw flesh of
that one tasty enough. 1t quite smart
ened me up Having eaten heartily, 1
took a saunter up the smooth knoll of
sand, aimlessly, l suppose for 1t was
as bare as a plate, without stone or
shell. From it's highest point, about |
ten feet above highwater mark l look
ed around, but my horizon was COM