Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1908-04-17

The inhabitants of this island num-
Ter about 3Jn, all dependents OF sill
g.e estate and mostly engaged in the
cultivation of sugar. cotton aul tUbac.
CO. The estate lies in the hills uud
valleys on the southern slope of the
island in the only place where water
Is obiainablc Water is the need OF
all this group Of islands. and the lack
of 1t is the Keynote of their barren
wastes and cactus covered slopes. The
shores of all consist Of black volcanic
rocks and cliffs. with here aud there
In sheltered spot sandy beach. The
Islands. rising in most cases TO 5000
or 1000 feet have their slopes covered
with a giant growth of cactus min
Cling with a thorn. which made prog
ress back from the shore impossible
without cutting a way.
Two guides sent by the adminiStra-
dor arrived on board the Yankton AT
daylight. and the course was shaped for
interchangeable island. thirty-fve miles
distant The story of the wreck as
told by the guides was Interesting
Their Information was from part OF
the crew which had landed on Chat
ham island and from the captain of
the island schooner. who had heard the
wrecked captains story OF Guayaquil.
The bark was becalmed near Albe.
marie island ana swept 10y the strong
current found in these islands ashore
under a cliff, where she soon went to
pieces. The crew escaped in two boats.
one with ten men. the other with the
captain and seven men. During the
night the boats became separated. the
boat with the ten men reaching Hood
Island. aud then, seeing Chatham island
In the distance. they reached It. found
II inhabited and told their story. The
administrator forwarded them by the
Islands schooner TO Guayaquil with
letter to the consul
The captains boat. of which Jeds
was member. reached unnnahitcd
lnGcfatigable island. where it was
smashed on u reef while making 4
landing. This second disaster securely
locked the party on Indcfatigable is
land, as there is no kind of wood to
make a boat ou the island
The party. finding only few springs
Of braca.sh vu.'r near The beach be-
gan search for better camping
place and, abandoning their first camp.
moved to the place called by the na-
tlvcs Puerto Aguado, but not marked
in any way on the chart. 1t was at
this time that the separation from
JeffS took place.
According to the message received
from the consul Mt Guayaquil. the cap
tain of the wrecked bark said Jcns
preferred to loaf. and. though they
tried to persuade him to 90 with them,
he refused, saying that the chances OF.
rescue were as good one place as an
other and he was going to stay where
he was. The story as heard from the
guides was that he was i'll ana could
not follow, and the others left him.
The guides themselves were pic
turcsque characters, and one especial
IL deserves more than passing mention.
Old and tall and gauHt with Il strag-
Cling gray beard and snappsh eyes,
he was type not often seen Unable
TO read or write, he showed great intel
Iigence and caught the meaning of the
ideas expressed before half the words
were spoken. He -cheerfully aCknoWl-
tdged that his acquaintance with Inde-
fatigable island was due to a murder
committed at some previous time, for
which the administrator, who appears
- be an absolute monarch. had ma
rooned him on Indefatigable island for
three years, during which time he had
lived there alone
The Iankton approached the land on
fhe eastern side and dropped d whale
boat, which conveyed ashore Chief
Boatswain Crone and three men They
made their landing through n break in
the reef on smooth sandy beach, and
the ship, after firing two shots from
one of her three inch guns to attract
Jetfs. if h" were in that neighborhood
turned to the south to find Puerto
~ tluIO, tIC punt AZ w illt Ii lllC
and his boats crew had made their
camp. The party ashore was left TO
notify Jeffs if he appeared in answer
to the signal guns and to search the
coast if he did not show up. In the
short interval that the boat was ashore
number of turtles were chased on the
beach, but proved too much for their
pursqers. Try as the men might TO
turn one. it would tear itself away and
get to the water. and none WAS caught
until a bright lad found that by rap
ping them on the shell with a boat
stretcher, which momentarily stunned
them, they could be turned on their
backs before they recovered Before
this one or two men had almost been
carried to sea by trying to hang to
their turtle after it had reached the
water.
The ship hove to off Puerto Aguado
and whaleboat ran in to snug
boat harbOf. and there stood the re-
mains of a camp evidently occupied by
Il number of men for many months The
kitchen was marked by StOne fire
place, with the charred remains of Il
fire, number of pegs arranged for
cooking utensils and the bones of tur
ties hanging up the flesh dried on
them. A rusty rifle was picked up on
one side Hung over some bushes were
old, rough clothes. probably hung out
to dry when the cry of Sail hor' had
brought JOY to the despairing casta-
ways after their five months imprison-
ment The object found of deepest
interest 10 the search party was, a
rusty razor with a black handle, on
which was scratched "Ieffs. the name
of tho nliSSinr man MhnSn fntn Is Snrh