The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-04-08
A JAPANESE CRUSOE
CASTAWAY ON DESERT ISLAND
FOR II YEARS.
Lived on Fish, Eggs and seaweed and
Lived in a Cave-Reduced Almost to
a Beast.

| News of yeritable Japanese Robin
son CruBOe was brought Yesterday bv
the steamship China which arrived
from the Orient A small island near
| Gensan of Korea was the scene of the
mans residence and seventeen years
was the period of his solitary confne-
ment on the desOlate shores of the
oriental isle. When found by a special
| searching party of japanese sailors sent
from torpedo boat, the Wretched man
acted more like a wild creature than
human being. He seemed to have for
gotten his native tongue and il was
with the utmost difficulty that the sail
ors succeeded in inducing him to depart
in their company. He was taken to the
town Of Sasebo and turned over to the
japanese authorities who attended to
his wants.
So long had the man lived alone that
his mind seemed to be a perfect blank
on many subjects and not for some
days after he had received the kindest
and most soothing of treatment did he
seem to regain the power of expression.
Little by little, the history of the mans
life on the island was learned.
He was a fisherman from the west
coast of the island of Nippon. When
but youth he had gone out with his
father and some other men Of their viii
lage to fish. Their sampan was caught
in storm and swept across the Japan
Sea and after days of helpless drifting
was dashed on the barren shores of the
island where the man was found. OF
the crew of five men, only he escaped
the storm. little if anything had been
left by the waves but with the aid of a
knife and several of his fishing lines he
began life on the deserted isle. Fish was
found in abundance and the island was
M " vie hxr fr1g haf
the two, the man succeeded in procur-
ing food. He had no timber out of
which to construct a dwelling but an
exploration of the island disclosed the
existence of a cave which he chose as
as his place of habitation.
Frequently he would see vessels pass
ing and although he raised signals and
often thought that he had attracted the
attention of the crews, it always re-
suited in his hopes being blasted. None
of the vessels answered his signals, al
though often the man could not under
stand how they could fail to see him
for they came within plain sight of the
land.
His clothes dropped to pieces and
within a few years he had fallen al
most TO the level of q beast an his ha-
bits. During the first part Of his resi-
dence on the isle, he ate his food raw,
of which is not related, he succeeded in
finding the materials out of which to
kindle a fire and prepare his food.
For seventeen years, he lived this
sort of life on his lonely isle. Not once
during all that time did he have the op-
portunity of speaking with a human be
ing or even looking one in the face. But
his deliverance was at hand.
Some time during the first part of
February a Japanese happened to visit
the island, thinking that it was unin-
habited. When he say the dark hairy
creature, with shaggy name and flowing |
locks on the hills above him, he became !
terror stricken and fled from the sup |
posed wild man. The latter was almost !
as frightened as his visitor Solitude /
had inculcated in the heart of the ship |
wrecked man, the fear of any human |
being which did not resemble himself. |
The visitor hurried from the island and |
sailing to the harbor of Nagasaki, there |
informed the PrefeCtural government of |
the presence of the supposed wild man, |
A torpedo boat was dispatched in .
search of the strange man and succeed /
ed in rescuing him after some difficulty. |