The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-03-07

OFF the regular trade paths, ready to
take advantage of any good thing
that might turn up. In his Journey
ings he CHANGED one day to come upon
a group of three small islands that
lay almost directly under the equator
Gao miles north of the line, to be ex-
act), due north of New Guinea. They
were large enough to sustain some
sort of population, but the glasses of
David revealed no living beings. He
was astonished at this; for the num-
erous matched huts and small clear
ings among the underground told of
recent jewellers. He sought in vain
for an inlet, or harbor, where he
might make a landing. The islands
were evidently the tops of peaks.
The lead showed no bottom, where he
could drop his anchors; however, the
sea was smooth and, while his vessel
rode close to shore, David and several
of his crew made landing in a small
boat. They began at once to explore
the commercial possibilities of the
islands. The little party came upon a
pile of fresh human bones and the re-
mains of a recent fire. It needed no
Sherlock Holmes to unravel the mys-
terry of the deserted group. A hunt
ing party of cannibals had descended
upon the luckless inhabitants and
forced them to take a prominent part
in their feasting. A search was made
for possible survivors and before long
several natives were discovered hid
ing in the lofty tops of the COCO
palms. They had been on the trees
for days, fearing to descend lest the
raiding Papuans from New Guinea
had not yet left the islands. They
were nearly dead for lack of food.
David furnished them with supplies
and promised to defend them against
future raids, if they would agree to
turn the three islands over to him.
The islanders were willing to sell
their all to escape the fate of their
kinsmen. David generously supple
mented his offer of protection with the
promise of a good Malayan living to
everyone who would work for him
seven days out of the week. 1t is not
recorded that the Georgia trader hoist
ed the Stars and Stripes over his new
home, or that he solemnly took pos
session in the name of his sovereign,
Abraham Lincoln. No, the country
was all his own and he had no no
ton of sharing it with the Yankees
at Washington. But neither is there
any record of his ordering a second
hand crown from Europe, or en-
bossing his stationery with his royal
arms; yet he was, in all sober reality,
David I, sovereign ruler of David's
Isles, king among kings; for he
was unhampered by ministry or par
lament. He was the executive head,
the legislative body and the supreme
court all rolled together.
In later years David's political SOW
erignty was extinguished through the
neighborhood quarrels of two rival
European powers. The contenders
submitted their strife to Pope Leo
XIII, who awarded the territory in dis
pute to Holland. King David's political
rights were overlooked; yet his over
lord, or overlady, acknowledged his
ownership of the islands. An attempt
was made in later years to wrest the
islands from David's heirs, OH the
plea that O'Keefe had taken advan-
tage of the islanders and had employed
intimidation; but some of the parties
to the original pact were still living
and they testified that the agreement
on the part of the natives was volun-
tary and TO their advantage. The
group remained in O'Keefe's posses
sion, with the sole proviso that a small
annual pension be given to the tribe
chief of the Malays.
The island reefs have a combined
length of about thirty miles. Their
chief product is copra-dried cocoa
nut meat The nuts are gathered
from a different section each day and
are floated along the shore to the
central warehouse. Every alternate
month a Dutch boat calls for the
copra; brings the papers and mails;
coffee, tea and sugar; some smoking
tobacco; occasionally pair of over
alls and a shirt waist from Sears,
Roebuck & Co., or some similar con-
Germ.
''It must be delightful" said to the
Browns, ito lead the simple life on
luXuriant tropical island, where one is
master of all he surveys, where there
are no coal bills to meet and no
crowded street cars, and where you
are not required to wear collars and
cuffs and polished shoes and dress
coat for dinner"
Mr.. Brown grunted and Mrs. Brown
said: cit is simple enough"
by the way" I turned to Mrs.
Brown, how often does priest visit
your island?"
None has been there yet" was the
answer
when do you go to Mass and the
Sacramento"
when I go to Hong Kong or Singa-
pore, once every two or three years"
I'm case of sickness what do you
do? Who is your pastor?"
There is nothing to do | do not
know where the nearest priest lives;
possibly in New Guinea. | hear some
order has established mission there.
But we have no boat service to that
country. No one could reach me from
two to four months, in any case"
What about doctor, if one of you
should get seriously ILL.,"