The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1920-06-18

W secure my existence On thia s+-or..s
Island. The needfuI things aid O.
Dest could In turn, but not o,n."S
win good fortune attending INV sfro,.,
~ my first planting Of barley and corn
SEED the half OF all my precious stock
was wasted by reason of being PLANTED
~ rhe very wrong time. spent wear
months In making earth-ware nots ~,
noidlng fresh water; and forty-+,,o
DAYS 1t took me to hew INV f1rot 49,,
plank from a tree trunk. strove
Tor weeks to fashion a stone morta,.
20 stamp grain In, only to corna a.
last to block of hollowed-out wood
Five months labored In Telling q
great cedar tree, hewfng and sban,ro
II 10 the null of a splendid boat with
which was to escape from the island
only to be forced to abandon II for
want OF a means whereby to launch n
INTO the sea. However, every failure
taught me something had not known
before.
For the elements, there were great
winds and rains and earthquakes. But
became used in time to all things.
planted and harvested my crops of
barley and corn; I plucrAd nv wild
grapes and dried them into nourishing
raisins; / raised and killed and smoked
and salted my tame goats, being thus
Tor variety of good not so badly served.
And so through the twelve years dur
ing which l saw no sign of human
existence on the island other than nv
own, until that eventful day on which
l met with the print of a mana naked
foot on the sand.
I was then like one thunderstruck.
listened, looked, but I could hear
nothing, see nothing. / went up the
shore, down the shore; but there was
only that single footprint! Terrified
to the last degree, I ran to my habi-
tation like one pursued; and for three
days and nights thereafter I did not
stir out.
After observation I learned that 1t
was the habit of cannibals from the
mainland to come to a part of the
island which seldom visited to feast
upon the bodies of their captured
enemies. One morning from my look
out perceived thirty savages dancing
around fire. They had cooked one
victim I'd had two more ready for the
fire, when I descended upon them with
two loaded muskets and my great
sword, and was in time to save one
which they had not yet eaten. The
saved man called Friday, In honor
of the day of his rescue, and his was
the first voice I heard in all my IS
years on the island. He was young,
intelligent, of superior race of saw
ages and became my trusted compan-
lon for all the time / remained on the
island.
What Friday told me of the main
land, after I had taught him some
We built boat, this time not too far
from the sea for launching, and were
almost ready to set sail when 81 saw
ages in three canoes landed on the
sland with three prisoners for feast |
One of the prisoners was a white man,
which enraged me. double-charged |
;wo fowling pieces, four muskets, two
pistols. and giving Friday a hatchet
Ind also a great dram of rum and !
myself my great sword, we descended
Ind killed all but four of the savages'
One of the prisoners was Fridays
| survivor from ship of which l had
'een the wrecked hull on my island
ome years before this. and from which
had taken some 1000 pieces of gold,
Tut of which I made small account
because of its being of less value to
ne than so much sand of the beach.
The Spaniard and Fridays father 1
ent with firearms and food in my
lew boat to bring back the wrecked
rev of the Spanish ship. While wait
ng for their return an English ship
With q mutinOus crew put into my
Stand. 1 helped the captain recover
is ship and took passage with him
or England, leaving. on the island the
lost mutinous members with two
onest ones who wished also to re-
lain. Later, my SpaniardS returned
nd all settled together on the island,
aving their dissensions at first, but
ettling down finally into fiourishing
olony, which some years later 1T was
" happiness to visit.
After twenty-eight years, two months
nd nineteen days left my island.
much joy of my arrival In
ngland, but / was like a stranger
here. My mother and father were
9th dead, which was unfortunate, as
could have been of great service to
lem: for besides the 1900 pieces OF
Did from the Spanish ship, there was
1000 pounds sterling awaiting me
ON an honest friend, Portuguese
lptain to whom I had entrusted my .
state in the Brazils before setting
nth on the Inflated errand which
rev me for twenty-eight years on