The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-09
~ LOUIS BncKR.
AuhOT Of by Reef and PAIN" &c.

on LneSo ISLANDS, tnaC 1 met with the most
profitable bit Of trading that ever befell me
during q quarter Of a oentury's experience
in the South Seas.
Nearly thirty years passed since 1899,
when the islands were discovered, without
the natives seeing more than half a dozen
ships, and I am sure that no one from these
ships put foot on shore, for the inhabitants
were not TO be trusted then, being warlike
and treacherous.
The master Of one Of these whalers was
told by the nAtives-Or rather made to under
stand, for not one OF them knew a word Of
English-that about twelve months pre-
viously q large vessel had one wild night
run on shore on the south side Of the group.
and that all on board had persisted. She
had evidently struck on the reef near the
island OF Flame with tremendous violence,
then slipped off and sunk.
On his reporting the matter to the colonial
shipping authorities, he learned that W
vessels were missing. n a Dutch bark OF
700 tons, which left Sydney for Dutch New
Guinea, and the other a full rugged English
ship bound to Shanghai. No tidings had
been heard OF them for more than eighteen
months and it WINS concluded that the vessel
lost on Woodlark Island was one or the
other, as that island lay in the course both
would have taken.
In IS68-69 there was a great outburst OF
trading operations in the northwest Pacific
islands, then a terra inco0rhd in most in
stances, and there was a keen rivalry be-
tween the English and German trading
firms TO get a footing on such new islands
as promised them a lucrative return. Scores
OF adventurous white men lost their lives
in a few months, some by the deadly malarial
fever, others by the treacherOus and can
nibalistic savages.
Others quickly took their places, nothing
daunted, for the %cocoanut oil trade, the
then staple industry Of the northwest Pa
ciic, was very profitable, and men made
fortunes rapidly. What mattered il IL every
returning ship brought news Of some bloody
tragedy, such and such a brig or schooner
having been cut of, and all hands mur-
dered, cooked and eaten. the vessel plum
dered and then burned? Such things occur
in the northwest Pacific in the present
times, but the outside world now hears OF
them through the press, and OF the punt
tive expeditions by warships Of England,
France or Germany.
At that time I was in Levuka, the old
capital Of Fiji, supercargo Of a little tOpsail
schooner OF seventy-ave tons. She was
owned and sailed by a man named White,
an extremely adventurous and daring fell
low, though very quiet in his manner 1
was being paid go per month and 10 per
cent. commission on all trade sold. and all
native produce bought.
We had been trading among the wind
ward islands Of the Fiji group for ak months,
and had not lone at all well. White was
greatly dissatisfied, and wanted to break
new ground.
Every few weeks a vessel would sail into
the little port OF Levuka with a valuable
cargo OF cocoanut oil, dunnaged with ivory
nut, the latter worth in those days G4O a
ton. Both oil and ivory nuts had been
secured from the wild savages OF the north
west in exchange for publishing hoop iron
knives, old Tower muskets, with bell and
cheap powder, common beads and other
worthless articles on which there was a
profit of thousands per cent.
White made up his mind to join in the
rush to the islands to the northwest be-
tween New Guinea and the Solomons.
Il have, " he said, Just been talking to the
skipper OF that French missionary brig, the
AnOnyme. He has just come back from the
northwest, and he told me he had landed a
French priest this was Mgr. D'Anthi-
pelIes, the head of the Marist Brothers Mis-
sion, Ooeanial at Mayu IWoodlsrk island
He-the predetermined on shore. to es-
tablish a mission, and told Rabalau, the
skipper Of the brig, that the natives were
very friendly, and said that they would be
glad to have a resident missionary but that
tha., -.arknA a kro1ar pftl mora
Furthermore, they have been making
oil for mora than a year, in expectation of
a ship coming, but none has come. Rabalau
say that they have more than a hundred
tons Of oil and cannot make any more as
they have nothing to put it in.
Some OF it is in old canoes, some in thou
sands Of big bamboos, sud some in followed
out trees. They have whips Of ivory nuts
and are just dying to get muskets, tobacco
and beads. Not a soul in Levuka except
Rabalau and mo knows il.
Now Wocdlark is the place for US. Any
way I've bought all the oil casks l could get
and a lot more In shocks and so let US hustle
and get away
We did hustle. In t~wenty-four hours
we were clear OF Levuka reef and spinning
along to the west northwest, before the
strong southeast trade wind for our run Of
1000 miles. ~
Day and night the little schooner raced
over the seas at a great rate and we made
the passage in seven days. dropping anchor
on the largest village on the island, Guasap.
In ten minutes our decks we're literally
packed with excited natives, all armed, but
friendly. lac they chosen to kill us and
seize the schooner II would have been an
easy task, for we numbered only eight per-
sons. captain, mate, bos'n, four native
seamen and myself.
We learned that two months previously
there had been a terrible hurricane, which
lasted for three days and devastated two
thirds OF the islands. Thousands Of cocoa
nut trees had been blown down and the
sea had swept away many villages on the
coast.
So violent was the surf that the wreck
Of the sunken ship on Flame Island had been
cast up in fragments OF he reef. and the
natives had secured a quantity Of logs
Of splendid sandal wood, copper and Muntz
metal bolts. These | at once ~bargainsd
for, after l had seen the collection, and for
two old Tower muskets, value 81. each,
obtained the collection worth ESQ.