The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-04-18
: RluH|DE BEN"
FROM SOUTH SEA
Continued From Page One. }

4 i
one TO believe the tale. It S true. never
| theless. as the next man who goes to
! Palmyra Island may see if ne takes
/ the trouble to look. ] didn t disturb
the apparently eongenial pair, merely
watching them for while
81 had my shotgun ashore with me.
] but had some trouble getting a shot
The birds were so tame that it took
lots of running and yelling and jump
| ing on my part to scare them into the
| air. and ] was too much of a sports
man to take pot-shot at them. I COW
cred the most Of the territory of the
little island. wading from motto to motto,
as the natives call them a motto is
small island, and Palmyra is split
up into thousands of them The water
| between them is not usually over two
or three feet deep and is simply TEEN
ing with the most beautiful fish | have
ever seen. One funny thing that struck
| al of US was the manner in which the
baby sharks, about two or three feet
! long, resented our padding around in
the inland waters. j wore my rubber
boots. Of course. but every time
! waded between the motos / was at
tackled by these little man-eafers. They
/ tried in every conceivable way to fast
en- their teeth in my legs, and some
! times ! had to strike them off with
/ the butt of my gun. All the fishes
were wonderfully eolored.
There was no one living on Pal
myra Island, and. having another pb-
jectiYe point in view, we only STAYED
there two days, then weighed anchor
| and set a course for Tanning Island.
! We certainly had no weather luck at all
| on our voyage, for it took us exactly
| ten days to get to Tanning from Pal.
] myra Island We had head and squa1ly
| winds and head currents to buck all
the way. The distance is but 100 miles,
| so you can judge for yourself whether
we had trouble or not when it took us
ten days to cover the distance.
Captain Piitz, who is somewhat
| bald. played a joke on himself during
| this cruise that he blames on US. We
left here without sugar bowl. Cap
tain Piltz' storm-hat did very well as
the recipient for the sweet stuff. how
ever. so we used that whenever it was
not in other use. One night Captain
| Piitz was aroused by a call from the
men on deck, who said that a big
squal1 was coming up. He was in his
! bunk, but he hastily donned his
| clothes tossing his sugar bowl-hat., on
his head. The captain was in rush
and he didn't notice that it was fun
of sugar. The next morning, however.
he was pretty grouchy and wanted to
/ know If we thought he needed any
hair-restorer.
well, we finally got to Tanning Is
! land. and the first person we saw was
| Willie Greig, the old revolutionist who
was chased away from here in the
monarchical days. Willie was King
:, OF Tanning Island for a while, but
/ his property. through some mix-up.
| was disposed of at a receivers sale
| before he got a chance to make a bid.
1t now belongs to Father Rougier, and
| Willie Greig, who is known to all the
/ oldtimers in Honolulu. is managing
the place for him. With him on the
island, besides those at the cable sta
ton about FIVE miles away, are his
| mother and sister.
:. King Greig came out in his boat
to welcome us, and after we had said
| prosit a few times in the good old
style, / went ashore with him. !
| went up to the cable station from his
| place, leaving in small sailboat. and
| sent the first cable back to Captain
/ Miller. telling him that all was Well
and that we would leave for the
wreck Of the Aeon the following morn
ing Ny plans rniscarried little. how
ever, for the next morning. had re-
| manned with Greig overnight - the
| schooner was not to be seen. A
seuall had come up overnight and
she had been blown out to sea. And
for two days I saw nothing of the
Concord She had been caught in a
genuine gale, and it was forty-eight
hours before Captain Piltz could bring
her back to the anchorage once more
When she did come into sight.
was anxious to get started for Christ
mas Island as soon as possible.
wanted Greig to go along with me
too, but I didn't say anything to him
about it. He took me out to the Con
cord in his boat. I invited him on
board, and on board he refnained.
kidnapped him, for needed his advice
on the currents and other matters
| around Christmas Island. He didn't
make very much of a kick ebou'
going.
I'VE anchored off the Old Settle
ment when we arrived at Christmas
Island. For the first time since leav
ing Honolulu we lowered my little
launch, and prospected along the
coast. We sent divers down in the la
COON to look for pearl shells. but theirs
: We're none found on the first attempt
| made Later on we took the launch
| inside the lagoon. and. on sending
down the divers. were rewarded with
six or seven shells, which [ brought
home for souvenirs. Where the Con
cord was anchored was just on the
opposite side of the island from where
tn" Aeon's wreck lay. and / started
und with the launch to the west
. side of the island. | located the wreck
an right. but there was such a ter
rible sea and current that I found il
| absolutely impossible to come near In