The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1914-04-30
MYSTERY ISLANDS.
Some of the Worlds Black Spots
That Defy White Men.
HAVE never BEEN EXPL ORED.

Their lnhospitabIe Shores or SAVAGE
Natives Bar the Way to Those Who
Would Learn Their Secrets-Fate of
Expeditions to Tiburon.
Leaving out of consideration the still
enexplorea portions of the arctic and
anCarctlc regiOns-and there are mil
lions of square miles of them-there
are many spots on this little globe Of
ours that have yet to become familiar
with the face of a white man and to
smile or frown upon the fearless and
hardy pathfinder.
New Guinea is one of the few coun-
tries that still present untrodden fields
for the explorer, but there are a num-
Der OF Islands that remain a mystery to
the world at large and that will proba-
oily so remain for many years to come.
One of these isles Of mystery is III
buron island, where not so long ago an
explorer met his fate. His name was
Wayne, and he is said to have been a
clever mining expert.
Wayne went across to Tiburon in
October, and not trace has since been
seen Of him, nor is it likely that his
fate will ever be known.
He was warned of the dangers that
were before him. In spite Of offers Of
double pay he could not get a soul to
accompany him, so he crossed Hell's
passage alone and, like all others who
have preceded him. has never come
back.
Tiburon is no lonely island in savage
Melanesia. It lies in the gulf Of Cali
fornia, separated from the Mexican
mainland by only few miles Of salt
water.
Yet it remains one of the worlds
black spots It has never yet been ex-
plored by white men. Its only inhab-
itants are tribe Of Indians who, arm
ed with bows and arrows dipped in
some unknown but deadly poison.
shoot down all who try to land.
The expedition of 1870 vanished into
the interior and was never seen again,
and the same fate befell the party
headed by Professor Miles in 1904.
There is only one other island in all
the world which can match Tiburon.
and that is Malaysia in the Solomons.
Match it-that is. in the way Of saw
agery And even in Malayta there are
white men on the coast. Valuable
plantations of cocoanuts and other
tropical produce have been planted on
the shores Of Malaysia. but inland is a
mountainous country covered with
thick bush and inhabited by fierce
tribes of cannibals.
Gold is believed to exist in the in
terror of Malaysia. and more than one
expedition has been organized to search
for the precious metal. But the BUSH
men, who steal noiselessly as serpents
through the tropical forest, have wiped
out every one Of the explorers, and
their smoke dried heads decorate the
dark temples in the central mountains.
Other islands there are which are as
impregnable as Tiburon and Malayta,
but for different reasons. One such is
Tromelin. a lonely spot Of land thirty
miles north of Mauritius. 1t is sur
rounded by terrific rampant of coral,
which is fully $50 yards wide. A mile
out on any side of the island the sea
is from 10000 to $4,000 feet deep. The
surf. which always breaks on the
rocky fence of this submarine noun
tain top, makes landing practically
impossible.
Yet it was here that in 1851 French
transport was wrecked, and 40 sur
.vivors out of over 800 aboard got
ashore alive. OF these, seven. all black
women, were rescued in the year 1776.
having by some amazing miracle kept
life in themselves for space of if-
teen months, with no food but shell
fish and no drink but brackish water.
In the year 1907 that famous navi.
gator, Henry Hudson. reported the ex-
istence of rock island 800 miles east
Of Greenland. 1t was named Jan May.
en- That island was never seen again
until the year 1860 when party OF
English people. among whom was
Lord Dufferin. caught glimpse of it.
Then it vanished for another fifty
years, to be seen once more in July
1910, by the tourists aboard the yacht
ing liner Oceana.
No one has ever set foot on Jan
Mayen No one is ever likely to. for
no navigator would willingly approach
it. 1t is the center Of the thickest fogs
on the surface of this planet. and from
one years end to another usually re-
mains totally invisible
Bouvet island in the antarctic. is al
most equally inaccessible. 1t is the
summit of a dead volcano, which rises
steeply from immensely deep water,
and it has been sighted only twice
since it's discovery in 1739
Once and once only has man set foot
upon it. \ boat from the German ex-
ploring ship Valdivia landed, but the
people found exploration impossible.
The rocky sides were not only Of ap-
paliing steepness. but they We're liter
ally coated with smooth ice, making
climbing Il matter Of impossibility.-