The Opelousas courier., 1900-08-25
Letter from James I. Shute.
MIDWAY ISLANDS, July II. 1901

AA - W g TFEE
My DEAR FATHER =
We left Honolulu May 10th at $3.50 p.
m. loaded to the guards with coal and
provisions, crossed the 28th and goth
parallels at noon on the gath, and an
chored at this island Saturday, May
Doth, at 0 o'clock a. M, lust one week
out, and all hands went to fishing with
extra good luck.
These islands are about 1900 miles a
iittlenorthwest of Honolulu, between
the Goth and Both degrees north latl-
tnde and roth and 180th degrees lon
gitude, west from Greenwich. We
went ashore on Sunday, and landed on
Sand Island, a barren sand island, the
highest knoll being 400 above sea level.
Groonies and { morants breed here,
and there are al i curious, sand pipers.
sea swallows and sea doves. of which we
get eggs The Boatswain, a white bird
about the size of duck, with two red
feathers in his tail the Frigid bird,
called the "Pirate," with a spread OF
eight feet ; he waits until other birds
catch their fish and then he takes them
away from them. A little bird as white
as snow with black bead eyes, blue bill
and blue feet; he is about the size OF
our hooking bird, and the "Cry-Baby,"
larger than a dove, wider spread, and
hook bill ; they bnrrow in the sand and
when dug tut cry like o baby. My
partner and 1 visited Green Island and
separated in the thick shrubs that cover
this island. ran across n or these
birds and caught it, and it began to cry
like a baby. My partner began to call
me, but | kept still SO he finally made
up his mind to investigate, and when he
came up to me and saw what it was,
he said he thought he had run into a
whole nest of mermaids. Cormorants
are the prettiest little things ever saw,
(unless it is my Brooklyn girll: Wait
till | light my pipe O. X. We will
NOW start again. The GrOonies feed
their young by the little fellow putting
his bill Gr0ss-Ways In the old ones
mouth. The old one starts the pump
by working its tail up and down a couple
of times pumping rs much IN the little
fellow month as he can hold, then wad-
dies off. They are very tame-so much
so that you have to walk around them
or W. them.
The fish hero are of all kinds, colors
and shapes. The PanOt has a head like
"a parrot, two large teeth in the upper
and lower jaw, aud has all the colors OF
the rainbow. The dog-fish has a head
and teeth like a dog. The hnmpback is
almost round; the half moon with
his gorgeous colors the balloon fish
is almost round with a little fiat fin
for a tail, and "a slight projection for a
mouth. | caught two of them-the old
lady aud hers baby. | tickled the
little fellow and he began to swell
up until | thought he would burst ;
when it began it Was about an
inch in diameter and when it stopped
it was about six inches in diameter.
We then tried the old one she pulled
up to about 2 feet i'll diameter before
she stopped. W. then put them back
into the sea, but they could not leave
the surface or navigate; we left them
there thinking that they would get
back to normal size and Leave, but a
few days later | found them on the
beach.
Three miles northeast of here liz reef,
from 1 to 10 feet high, on which we get
turtles by tho wholesale the largest
caught was about four feet in diameter;
they have no fee4 bat have slippers.
There are plenty of sharks here, but
Ihave caught but one, about iyefeet
long.