The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-16
TWO EXPLORERS ON
PACIFIC ISLAND ARE
ATTACKED BY CRABS
Giant Creatures Crawled
Upon Them and Used
Claws-Bodies Are
Badly Lacerated

Paul Rougier, brother of the Rev.
Father Rougier. owner of Tanning island
and Samoan boatman named Liga,
have recently returned from a trip of ex-
ploration to Palmyra island, some so
miles to the north, whittier they went
about three weeks ago. The men sailed
in Rouger's catboat which has covered
| thousands of miles throughout the Pa
cific. and on which they were compelled
to live all the time they were at Pal
myra, owing to the presence there Of
thousands Of monster land crabs. The
men themselves arrived here sorely in
need of medical attention, owing to the
bites and decorations they had received,
and they are now under the care of ply
sicians of the German Improvement COM
pany, prospective purchasers of Tanning
island.
The two men left here with the hope of
gathering sufficient cocoanuts about Pal
myra island to pay for the sending of a
schooner from San Diego. Cal, for 1t was
reported last year by sailors skirting the
coast that the fruit was to be found in
great abundance at Palmyra. The cat
boat was well provisioned, for the men
We're not sure what they might find in
the way of food 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, says the New Orleans
Times Democrat.
Ltga, the Samoan, was too i'll at the
| time of this writing to talk much of the
I fas1x lxt,+
| priests house, told a graphic story of
the trip and of the inhabitants of Pal
myra. After n four-day sail, said Mr.
! Rougier, I'VE arrived in a large lagoon
which is formed by the many islands of
the group which goes under the single
! title OF Palmyra. 1t was about sunset
but as we saw a number of sheltered
| coves, we decided to run our boat in close
and tie up to the trees, or perhaps go
ashore and stretch ourselves out upon the
sands. We were perhaps an hour getting
| our boat into the cove that we had chosen
and it was quite dark when LiSa jumped
into shallow water and lashed our craft
TO great broken stump on a rather high
bank When he pulled the rope taut, part
of the bank projected out over the boat
Il was lying on the ground watching
Lika working about the little fire, when
l felt something jump upon my arm and
the next instant there was a sharp bite
into my back at the right side, little
below the ear. l yelled, of course. and
/ shook the thing off, and jumping to my
feet, saw that ii was a monster crab, the
largest thing OF that kind | had, UP to
that time. seen In all my experiences in
southern seas Ii there had been only
the one we would not have cared so
much, but instead of that here were doz-
ems all about u.s. and before l had really
recovered from my fright I saw four or
five of the big fellows running up Liga
body, biting his hands and swapping their
long nippers into his back and face. He
was twisting and turning about like a
crazy man, fighting the things with his
hands and striking at them with an iron
/ frying pan which he had been holding
over the fire "a
No Match for the Crabs &
Il was satisfied at a glance that we
were no match for the hordes of crabs
that had rushed upon us and I called to
Lea to malSe jump for the boat. which
was not more than five PAGES away under
the overhangng bank. At the same time,
crushing under my foot the big fellow
that had attacked me first, ] ran for the
boat. making for the little deck cabin in
which our guns were kept.
81 nearly tainted when | saw that boat
1t was literally overrun with the mis-
cradle creatures, and they We're so thick
In the cabin that 1t was simply out of
the question for me to unsng my guns
and dig up the ammunition. Besides, the
guns would have been useless, as the
crabs were so numerous that 1t would
have been impossible to shoot all of
them.
Therefore I grabbed up the axe lying
on deck and ran to Liga's aid on the
Shore but in the meantime he had de-
cided that the only thing to do was to
get out into the water and by the light of
the fire ] could see him standing waist
deep, fighting off two or three crabs
that had fastened themselves upon his
arms and back. He howled with pain
as he told me afterward. but l did not
hear him, as l was doing the same thing
myself.
Feeling sure however, that his plan
was a good one, I, too ran into the water
One of the monsters chung to my back,
reht between the shoulder blades. and
although l ducled under the water time
and time again. he only seemed to gain
firmer hold. Finally freed of the crabs
from his own body, but bleeding as If he
had been cut by hundred bavonets LIZA
came TO my assistance and cut from my
back the creature that held on so ten
aciously. In doing so, however, he left
, one OF the nippers In the flesh. and it is
this wound which has caused me the
most pain and the doctors the most
trouble.
I'm spite of the fact that both of us
were bleeding freely and We're very cold
IN the water. as we'll as hungry for we
had had nothing to eat from about 2
o'clock in the afternoon, we did not dare
approac ch our boat. The latter was by
this time simply covered with crabs and
we had begun to wonder if we could ever
he able to get aboard gain. We stood in
the water number of hours. how many
do not know. listening to the noises and
movements on the catboat and on shore,
when Liga complained that he was be-
coming weak and could not stand in the
water much longer. /, too. felt the same
way. but had not said ANYTHING. for
knew that Liga was much more severely
bitten than I had been and must be much
weaker from loss of blood. But when he
told me that he could not stand it much
longer. I waded along the shore some dis
tance and found what / thought to be
quiet place, at least free from the crea-
lures. I listened for some time and hav-
ing seen or heard nothing, ] returned and
brought Liea to this place.
During the remainder of the night we
remained at this new SPOT and | think
we both fell asleep. We were. however,
both aroused at the same time bv crabs
crawling over us. 1t was daylight and
we could see under and in the trees hun
dreds and hundreds of the fierce things