Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1907-02-13
The Island Of Rats

Copyright, 1906, by Homer Sprague.l
Between the Philippines and Borneo
is group of small islands. In 1880
we touched at one Of them, and the
natives reported white woman
among them. We induced them to
bring her to us. While dressed as a
native, her face was scarcely more
than sunburned, and she was what
any one would call handsome. She
was only about thirty years old and
in the best of health. Her story was
queer one. She was resident Of
Saigon, capital of French Cochin China
Four years previous she had married a
Frenchman named Du Cliff and al
most at once had set out with him in a
sailing vessel for Singapore. Two
days after sailing they had encounter
ed typhOon. She was not very clear
as to what followed, being very i'll at
the time. She thought the ship strug-
gled with the storm for two days. She
The woman had been brought on deck
and dashed to the bulwarks along with
her husband while the crew were try.
ing to construct some sort of craft.
A great wave suddenly overwhelmed
them, and the next that Mrs. Du Cliff
remembered was waking up on the
shore of an island. She was still
dashed to the wreckage, but she was
alone. When she was able to move
about she found fresh water and plen-
ty of wild fruits, and in the forest she
constructed hut out of limbs and
bushes. Every day for long months
she expected rescue. She could see
ships sailing up and down, but none
came within miles of her. Off to the
east she could family make out other
islands or the main shore, but no help
came from that direction. IL she had
had the means to build fire and
raise q smoke signal, some one would
have come, but she was helpless In
that direction. 1t was three months
before she thoroughly explored her Is
land. Then she found it to be about
two miles In circumference. 1t was
well wooded, and in the center was a
high hill of almost solid rock. There
were birds in plenty, but not wild
animal or reptile Of any sort.
One day, after six months had gone
by and while inspecting the hill to see
If she could not set up signal there,
h. do
She found a cave which had certainly
once been depository for the plumber
of the Sulee pirates. What she told us
believe to be the truth, because she YER
flied it In many ways. She visited the
cave twenty different times-in fact.
lived in it for the last month of her
stay-and so she had plenty of time to
overhaul the plumber. She found in
that cave gold, silver and paper money
to the amount of $4,000. There was
gold dust which she estimated at $1O,-
900 more. There was jewelry worth
thousands of dollars. She said there
were diamonds. rubies and other pre-
ciOus stones. There were innumerable
bales and boxes that she had not med
died with and did not know their con-
tents SO far as she could judge, no
one had visited the cave for years.
When we pinned her down to particu-
lars she remembered that q ships chr0-
nometer she had found among the stuff
bore the name OF "Antasia," and she
gave us the markings Of several bales.
1t was story to stir the magma
ton and would have found ready be-
levers anywhere In the world. We
were convinced within an hour that the
woman had seen what she declared she
had and that the island was the one
known now as Outer island" 1t
stands today the westernmost Of all
the group and is still without inhabit-
ants. After full year on the island
Mrs. Du Cliff became desperate. She
gave up all hope Of being taken off and
determined to rescue herself She built
a raft and one day trusted herself to
the treacherous sea. A west wind was
blowing, and she hoped to be carried
across to other land before it changed
For five days she drove up and down
the China sea and was then cast ashore
on the island where we found her. That
the natives had been kind and respect
full to her was owing to the fact that
they thought she was out of her mind.
Half a day after the story had been
told we were on our way to the is
land. We reached 1t without incident,
but to meet with n surprise and bit
ter disappointment. We had no sooner
approached the shore in the yawl than
we discovered that the whole place
swarmed with rats. The creatures
were there by the hundreds Of thou
sands. They were water rats Of the
largest size, and their demeanOr was
so ferocious that we dared not land.
We pulled all around the island a doz-
en- times over, but met the rodents
everywhere They We're gnawing down
the trees and eating the grass out by
the roots Where they came from l
cannot say There was not one on the
island when the woman left We tried
powder and shot and fire to brighten
them, but 1t was not to be done. After
a week we bore away for Saigon.
Here the womans story was fully cor
roborated AS to her residence. mar
riage and the loss of the ship, but the