The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-09-13
REAL TREASURE ISLANDS.
(London Answers.)


There are twenty-six islands in the
group known as the Farce islands. and
they were first discovered LOO years
ago by Tloke-a Morse pirate who put
sheep upon them. Fare" is the old
Scandinavian word for sheep. They
are famous. too, as being the islands
where Columbus first heard of the ex-
istence Of America.
In 1903 a British cruiser captured
these islands, but in 1914 they were
abandoned as worthless and went back
to Denmark. Yeb SuderO, the southern
most of the group. which is about thir-
ty miles long by twelve wide, is moth
ing but one gigantic mass of coal. Big
ships can steam right into a land
locked bay and there fill their bunkers
from the seams which crop through the
cliffs. And by steam, this island is
only fOrty-eight hours from our south
ern ports. Is it not enough to make the
patriotic Britisher tear his hair TO
think that we gave away this treasure
island as worthless?
The treasure island has always been
a favOrite theme for the writer of fic-
ton, and without doubt there are, in
actual fact, such things as pirates
hordes of gold buried in certain island
cliffs and beaches. Such men as Adj
miral Palliser and Earl Fitzwilliam do
not risk money and time as they have
done for nothing, and there is pretty
good proof that Keating's treasure of
three millions sterling was actually
buried i'm Cocos island, and that an
other huge mass of loot was secreted
i'm Trinidad. Whether either will be
discovered is quite another matter.
But there is really no need to go and
dig for buried millions when so many
of Of fhnf1SandS Of icIo
which strew the oceans are laden with
such natural riches, like the island Of
Sudero already mentioned. Another in
stance is White island in the Bay Of
Plenty. New Zealand About three
miles in circumference and rising in its
center to 500 feet above sea level. this
island is a mass of minerals, principally
gypsum and sulphur. OF course, it is
purely volcanic. and a cloud of steam
always hangs over it. In the center is
a lake OF about fifty acres in extent,
which is practically nothing but dilute
sulphuric acid. There ought to be
money in White island.
Guano to the value of many millions
has been dug from the Chincha ISL
ands, small, barren. Sunbaked rocks off
the southwest coast of South America,
and there are islands rich with a SIM
liar deposit and known as Plum Pud-
ding and Possession islands, close 10
the coast of German Southwest Africa.
Guano is now running short but there
are still a few islands rich in the fer
tiliZing material which have not yet
been worked at all. One was recently
discovered about 400 miles southwest of
Clipperton island, in the Central Pa
cific. This low coral atoll is covered
with the richest phosphates. and has
proved a fortune to its discoveries.
Off the coast of Spanish Honduras
are the five Bay islands. The largest
of these, Ruatan. is veritable treasure
island IT has the richest soil and the
most extraordinary climate. The tenn
perature never rises above IS degrees
nor falls below sc degrees The natives
hardly ever do any work. for there is
no need to do more than plant a patch
of cocoanuts and cane and sweet po-
tatoes. These renew themselves year
by year. If any one could buy that ISL
and and had a little money to develop
it, he could make an immense fortune.