Amador ledger., 1907-05-10
The Island Of Rats

DclWecu the hiiil'JilicS anu DOIAeU
is Il group of small islands. In 1880
we touched at one of them, and the
natives reported a white woman
them. We induced them to
bring her to us. While dressed as
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
q 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
sailing vessel for Singapore. Two
days after sailing they had encounter
I'D Il 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
then sprung a leak and foundered.
The woman had been brought on deck
and lashed 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
was waking up on the
shore of an Island. She was still
lashed to the wreckage, but she was
alone When she was able to move
about she found fresh water and pleA-
ty of wild fruits. and in the forest she
constructed a 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
Stands or the main shore but no help
came from that direction. If she had
had the means to build fire and
raise 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
we'll wooded, and in the center was
high hill Of almost solid rock. There
were birds in plenty, but not a 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,
the woman made a great discovery.
She found 4 cave which had certainly
once been a depository for the plunder
of the Sulee pirates. What she told us /
believe to be the truth, because she YER
fled 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 plunder. She found in
that cave gold, silver and paper money
to the amount Of $4,000. There was
gold dust which she estimated at $10,-
900 more. There was jewelry worth
thousands of dollars. She said there
were diamonds, rubies and other pre-
'.ous stones. There We're 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 a ships chro-
nometer she had found among the stuff
bore the name Of "Antasia," and she
gave us the markings Of several bales.
1t was a story to stir the imagina-
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 q 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 day after the story had been
told we were on our way to the is
land. We reached it without incident,
but to meet with a surprise and q 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 doz-
en- times over, but met the rodents
everywhere. They were gnawing down
the trees and eating the grass out by
the roots. Where they came from
cannot say. There was not one on the
island when the woman left We tried
powder and shot and fire to frighten
them, but it was not to be done. After
a week we bore away for Saigon.
Here the woman's story was fully cor
roborated as to her residence, mar
riage and the loss of the ship. but the
story of the cave and the treasure had
also to be told. The French governor
at once sent a ship to the island and
brought everything away after having
spent a fortnight throwing poisoned
food to the rats. We of the trading
schooner were promised a fair share,
but no man of us ever fingered a dol
lar. We were put off on one excuse or
another and finally threatened with i'm