Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-11-02
Thrilling Adventures of Men
Who Go to Hunt
CoCOanutS

and Samoan bOafman named Liga
have just returned from a trip of
. exploration to Palmyra Island. some
! eighty miles TO the north, whittier they
! went some three weeks ago. The men
sailed in ROugier's "catboat," which
has covered thousands Of miles
throughout the Pacific and on which
they were compelled TO live all the
! time they were at Palmyra. owing TO
! the presence there of thousands OF
monster land crabs. The men them
selves arrived sorely in need of medi-
! cal attendance owing to the bites and
! decorations they had deceived and they
are now under the care Of DR.. Rancho
/ of the German Improvement company
the prospective owners of Tanning Is
! land.
The two men left here with the
hope of gathering sufficient cocoanuts
about Palmyra Island TO pay for the
! sending Of a schooner from San Diego
! for it was reported last year by sail
ors skirting the coast that the fruit
was to be found in great abundance at
! Palmyra. The catboat was we'll pro-
visioned, for the men were not sure
what they might find in the way of
| food; but no medicines were taken
along, and only very small amount
of ammunition for the two rifles they
always carried with them on trips
among the islands of the Pacific seas.
Tefts Story From Bed.
Liga, the Samoan, is too ill to talk
much of the adventure, but Mr. Rou-
gier, in bed at the priests house tells
wildly of the terrible inhabitants of
| Palmyra
After a four days SAIL" he says,
I'VE arrived in the large lagoon which
| is formed by the many islands of the
group which goes under the singular
title of Palmyra. 1t was about sunset,
but as we saw number of nice little
c0ves We decided to run our boat in
close and tie up to the trees or per-
haps go ashore and stretch ourselves
ont upon the sands. We were perhaps
cove we had chosen, and it was quite
dark when Liga jumped into shallow
water and dashed our craft to great
broken stump on a rather high bank
When he pulled the rope taut a part
of the bank projected out over the
boat
AT once we built little fire upon
the snore and were soon making cof-
fee We were very tired, for the past
eight or ten hours had been very
rough with our boat, and with bite
or two to eat we thought of early turn
ing in upon the cool, damp ground.
uY1k 10 q
for any great length Of time.
Bit On the Ear.
81 was lying upon the ground, wat
ching Liga working about the little
fire, when felt something jump up
on my arm, and the next instant there
was a sharp bite into my neck at the
right side little below the ear. j
yelled, of course, and shook the thing
off, and jumping to my feet saw that
it was a monster land crab, the larg-
est thing of 49, had up to that
time seen in all NV experience in
Southern seas. If there had been only
the one we would not have cared so
much, but instead of that there were
dozens all about us, and before l had
really recovered from my fright / saw
as many as four or five of the big
fellows running up Liga's body, biting
his hands and swapping their long nip
pers into his neck and face. He was
twisting and turning about like a
crazy man, fighting the things with
his hands and striking at them with
the iron frying pan which he had been
holding over the fire.
or fhof
were no match for the hordes of crabs
that were upon us, and l called to
Liga to make a jump for the boat,
which was not more than five PAGES
away, under the little overhanging
bank. At the same time crushing un-
der my feet the big fellow that had
attacked ME first, | ran for the boat
and made for the little deck cabin
in which our guns were lashed
Boat overrun.
81 nearly tainted when l saw that !
the boat was already overrun with
the miserable creatures. They were so
thick in the cabin that it was simply
out of the question for me to unsling
our guns and dig up the necessary
ammunition. Besides. | did not see
just then what good the rifles would
be to us, for the things were so num-
erous, crawling everywhere about and
upon us that we could not possibly
shoot them ALL
so l grabbed up the axe lying on
the deck and ran to Ligas aid on the
shore; but in the meantime he had
decided that the only thing to do was
to get out into the water. and by the
little light of our fire could see him
standing waist high in the water fight
ing off two or three of the crabs that
had fastened themselves upon his
arms and back He howled with pain,
as he told me afterWard, but | did not
hear him, for | was doing the same
thing myself
But ! was sure his plan was good
one. and | too rushed into the water
One Of the monsters chung to my back,
right between my shoulder blades,
and though | ducked myself under
water he seemed to be only getting a
better hold. Finally. freed of the crabs