Arizona republican., 1904-02-14
ON A ROCK IN THE PACIFIC.
Interesting Discovery by a Norwegian
 Trader.

| the Pacific has gone and the work of the geographer al present is directed | to studying in detail many islands that are still little known, says the New
 York Sun.
 A few islands have not even been visited until recently by white men,
 though they were known to be inhabit ed. A German warship recently drop ped anchor at one of them, and what
 was learned about the inhabitants has interested ethnologists.
 This is the island of St. Matthias in the Rismark Archipelago. It is north of the large island of New Mecklen burg, which for long time bore the name Of New Ireland. given to it by British explorers. It was discovered by William Dampier, 2c4 years ago. but it has now been visited for the first time by the German warship Seeadler.
 It was found that the inhabitants have a knowledge Of weaving. and their product compares favorably with the best specimens of cloth made by the Caroline islanders. They are | of Melanesian origin, and they are the | only people of Melanesia who are known to practice the art of clothes making. This discovery has naturally aroused much interest in St. Matthias. A still more interesting discovery was made about the same time and in neighboring region by a Norwegian sea captain named AXel Monrad, who | for years has been in the copra trade. He buys cocoanuts in the Bismarck Archipelago and takes them to the ! little island of Greenwich. about sixty miles north of the equator where his firm prepares the copra.
 | One morning, while on his way to | Greenwich, he sighted a small island
 which he had never seen before. It
 was a little ever a mile long and about half a mile wide.
 | Its surface is quite flat and covered with forest; the coasts are surrounded l by coral rock As we'll as he could de- l termine, the island is situated in 1 de- gree 21 min. south latitude and 150 de- i grees 2S min. east longitude. Capt. Monrad did not land, but he remained near the coast for about ! day. He says the little rock must have quite a dense population At least twenty-five canoes with outrig- gers. and holding from to to six men. pushed out from the shore and came
 fearlessly alongside his vessel. ] The men appeared to belong to the | Melanesian race. but were lighter in
 color than the natives of the groups to
 the north and south Of them. A num-
 Der of them had long. thin boards. and
 all of them were perfectly nude.
 There was not a single weapon
 among them. and they brought noth-
 ing in their boats. Even their paddles
 which are often elaborately carved by
 Pacific islanders, were hardly more
 than flat pieces of wood.
 They were perfectly fearless and
 evidently did not dream that they might be badly treated. It was evil
 dent that none of the old slave hunt
 CTS of the Pacific, who forced so many
 natives from their homes to wear out
 their lives on the plantations of other ! islands. had ever paid them a visit.
 The captain had an eye out for l trade, but nothing he showed them
 seemed to excite any curiosity or in- l terest. Twice ne fired his revolver
 and those who were on the deck of
 the vessel instantly sprang into the ] sea, but clambered back again with
 shouts of laughter when they found
 that the terrible noise did them no | harm.
 The noise they made by their inces- !
 voices was very tiresome. The captain could not make himself heard above
 the din, and the constant screaming | of the natives. hour after hour. made
 him nearly i'll. In his black crew were natives from several island
 groups, but none of them could un- | derstand the language of the visitors.
 The captain could see on shore only
 a few cocoanut palms, and how the
 little island gives support to so many
 inhabitants is mystery to him. He | saw no women, and they were evident | ly careful to keep out of view 1 Capt. MOnrad told his story to the
 officers of the Seeadler a few days af-
 ter he visited this unknown people.
 The officers were of the opinion that
 he had discovered a new island in the Pacific. It was not until their return to Germany that they found that his l careful description of the island and ! It's position identified it with a little
 coral island discovered by Lieuts King
 and Ball in 179O and seen later at q
 distance by Robert Hunter.
 It lies about forty-five miles to the
 northeast of St. Matthias and is not
 in sight along any of the routes usu ally followed by vessels in those wat 1 CTS. King and Ball gave meagre in- | formation about the people who inhab-
 ited the island, and their story had
 been entirely forgotten.
 So these islanders have lived for
 over century as isolated from the
 rest of the world as they were before
 their little island was discovered from
 the deck of a passing brig.
 The Eeeadler reports that a lrage | area or the waters in this region has
 been very imperfectly explored. One
 large island which has been shown on
 the charts for many years could mot
 be found, though the. vessel visited the
 place where it was reported to be sit
 uated.