Connecticut western news. [volume] (Salisbury, Litchfield Co., Conn.) 1871-1970, 1901-04-25
A FIND ON =
THE BEACH
o. BY ~. QUAD.
Copyright, 1901, by G. B. Lewis.

The Palawan islands, in the China
sea. are to the north of Borneo and
form a part of the Philippine group.
They stretch out for distance of 100
miles and number nearly a thousand.
In the year 1882 | was landed on one
of the Palawans from q Singapore
trader to get up and run copra plant
had with me four Chinese, and the
trader landed provisions for a year.
After l had the shed up and the work
going had plenty of time for fishing,
hunting and visiting the other islands.
Nothing of special interest occurred
until / had been on the island three
months. Then one morning as | went
1own to the boat to put out on fishing
trip | was amazed to find tracks of
womanB bare feet on the wet sands.
The tide was out, and she had wander
ed along the beach for half mile,
probably just before daylight. 1t need
ed only a glance to tell me that the
person who had left the tracks was
white woman, but to make sure of it
called to the Cinnamon. They at
once agreed with me. There was a
trail leading out of the water at one
spot and another trail leading back at
another spot, but none to show that the
strange visitor to the island had scout
ed inland at all. We were on one of
the outer, or seward. islands, with
nothing between us and the Cochin
China coast There was small and
almost barren island three miles to the
,;r oI,a h,,
distance to the south. but | had visited
both and found no people.
Whoever had visited our island In
the darkness had come up out of the
depths of the sea-. No boat or raft had
landed on the shore. The footprints
were as plain as plaster cast, and we
were Immediately interested and more
or less excited. After thinking the
matter over | decided that the woman
must have come from one of the is
lands in some way and determined to
give both close search. | set off to
the north and in the course of an hour
made landing. This island had an
| area of not more than five acres. Here
| and there patch of soil covered the
| rocks, and young cocoanut trees were
| struggling for life, but the ground was
| easy of search. | went over it care
| fully and made the circuit of the island
| in my boat, but not living thing did
see aside from the birds. There were
| no wild fruits to sustain life, nor was
| able to find any fresh water.
1t was noon when | got back to my
own island, and after dinner | set out
to search the other. AS this one had
more vegetation | took with me the
boy, who was about 10 years of age
and named Whang. AS the wind was
| light and a current against us we were
two hours in gaining the island. | was
strong in the belief that some woman
had been cast away and was shifting
| for herself. and that she had not made
herself known to us simply proved that
she had lost her reason under the
strain of the hardships or took us for
natives who would modest her. 1t was
near sunset when we put off after a
vain search, and when we reached the
reef surrounding our island and half a
mile out from the beach the evening
breeze died out to q fat calm, and we
lay like a log. Before taking to the
oar to scull us in to the shore | sat
quiet for a minute listening to the
whispers of the sea. Whapg leaned
over the rail of the boat and watched
the sharks darling to and fro and leav.
ing trails of fire behind them, and
things were so still that | could hear
the ticking of my watch, when there
came a strange interruption. 1t was
| ha unfn ~ t., la,, Il
it sounded close by. We both sprang
up ut the sound, wondering If our ears
had deceived US, and as we stood lis
tening the sounds came again. When
they had died away, the boy turned to
me and whispered:
Master, for Gods sake let us gel
ashore at once! There Is a witch oil
the sea close by. and she will drag us
DOWN.
j waited ten minutes, and, bearing
nothing more, picked up the oar and
sculled In to the landing. There
found the three Cinnamon waiting fol
me. and they were In a state of great
excitement. They had heard the laugh
ter, and they believed with the boy
that witch of the sea was hanging
about and meant to do us harm. Chi
nese life Is made up of legends ant
superstitions, and it Is useless to com
bat them. While 1 argued that there
was a woman castaway about, and
they could not dispute the fact of the
tracks In the sand, l could not explain
away the laughter. 1 simply contente6
myself with saying that we would
leave some provisions on the beach
that night and see If they were missing
in the morning and with sleeping will
one eye open to see that the frightened
fellows did not steal the boat and make
Off to some other island.
We were down on the beach wher