Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-06-05

Desolate Place in Middle Of
South Atlantic Will Re
ceive. News.

eSggEEAANG%I 49, HEWrae Sc E4ASl
Monssvidso-Ths British island Of
Tristan d. sCunisa, ins$the middle OF
tho 8 Atl1ntfc, with it's 12O odd
soutANrd4stfy descendants Of Ma
polAUnls ST. HefenA.gmafds, whoshard-
IL hSar from Aciviiixatfon more than
onces In two years, is 1T laSt. to have
a missionary and radio communities.
Hons u.s. VA
For more than Is months an Eng
lishscierEynnAnlnan1 Rogers and his
wife have been trying 70 reach the
island from Cape Town and finally
induced the captain OF the japanese
Cape Town on March 26 for the
River Plate, to deviate from his regu-
lar course, and land them at Tristan
da Cunha.s
Needs Missionary.
w. Denis Myers. a passenger on the
Tacoma Maru and a lawyer OF Cape
Town. who has just arrived here, tells
OF the vessels call at the island with
Mr.. and Mrs. Rogers and thinks the
populations is truly in need OF = mis-
sionary.
.'The student Of evolution. the
psychologist as well as the-misstonary,
would And much to interest him In
this curious. forgotten community"
a Mi. Myers. THE settlement orig
inated, it is said. when a detachment
OF soldiers h were guarding Ma
poleon at st. Helena. to the north;
were dispatched to Tristan dA Cunha
to forestall the remote Possibility that
Napoleon might attempt to escape
thither. Two of the soldiers remain
ed and. importing wives from ST.
Helena, laid the foundations OF one
- 49, ~oof aetS1oye ante IN the
world.
A Hopeless Tang1e.s
From time to time s~hipwrecked
mariners have added to the inhabit-
ants on the island, who have married
and intermarried till relationship aft
err a century has become a hopeless
tangle. Nearly all the present popu-
lation were born on the island and
have a colored strain in their blood
They speak English with a peculiar
drawl, resembling west of England
speech. There is one = old Italian
among them, shipwrecked from a
sailing vessel. who appears to V
forgotten his own name n in fact
his mother tongue.
Continued i~ntermaTriage has in this
generation produced some pitiful chill.
drer. Some of them are idiots, some
lack lWOS, SOH10 are Ocol LIN A0AAAo
The population does nothing agricul'
turally except to cultivate potatoes
Or this food, together with fish ano
penguin eggs they chiefly exist. There
are few wild cattle M a few sheet
and out of the wool of the latter the
women knit rough wooden stockings
That is their only manufacture. The,
wear old clothes. mostly seamen':
begged from the ships. usually wan
dering windjammers. that visit thu
island at rare intervals. There being
no commerce. there is no need fol
money. {
THE islanders attitude toward
visitors is curious. AS he stands be
fore one his head droops, his arms fal
listlessly to his side and he answer
Imply and uninterestedly questions a
to his life and mode of existence. HI
seems to have no other interest thai
to trade a penguin. an albatross skin
or a seals fapper for In old shirt;
little tobacco. or anything from civil
ization that would be useful. n
~articulates slowly and with difficult,
as il he a almost forgotten speech
Iidid not see one smile.
Tristan da Cunha is a mountain