EXTRAORDINARY NARRATIVE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 134, 5 June 1873, Page 2

EXTRAORDINARY NARRATIVE.

TWO MEN ON: AN UNINffABITED ISLAND ; ,: : ; _<^iPOR' TWO TEARS. ' By the arrival ot; the schooner Prima Donna from Botoronga, on Tuesday, we (Auckland Herald) have been placed in possession of the .following .very sensational .intelligence by. Captain Nqrris, which was told; to him by Mr Chafe, who . was residing with the Rev Mr Chambers, rit Rorotonga, when the Prima Donna left. .Mr Chafe says that he left Starbuck lsland for the pui pose of proceeding to Maiden ; Island to get a supply of provisions, he being afraid that. the vessel,: trading, there .would not -arrive in 'time to : keep them from starving. Ho manned a boat with six natives and-Started, and after a passage of, of nine days, they, found found themselves off Pearlyn Island^ :\ In landing here the boat was capsized, and they all had a very narrow escape from .drowning. They were on this island for some time, as the natives .would^ not. venture any further. A na h tivevp| -fche island: then offered ./to. go i with Mr Chafe, and so,,ofif they started, and on the sixth day afier starting they were capsized in a squall, but they managed to get the oars and mast under her, and: by these means they were enabledito-bail herout, ; but: all' the .provisions were lost. On. they went again, and the third day after, their boat w.a 8 : smashed on a reef six miles from an island, which wds .afterwards found to be Sawarrow. Isjaqd,. ; The only thing growing on this reef was small island-grass. The second day they had been/ on the j reef Mr Chafe persuaded the native; to swim to the island, and try. and find some means to rescue ' him. Six days after the native left, Mr Chafe found himself: getting very weak; /and .there (_efng no signs of the native returning, he determined to swim to the island or drown. He followed the reef until he found a channel some two-and-a-half miles wide: There .were- a great number of sharks in the water, who kept rushing at him, but off he wentjlthe sharks being' in the rear. The tide drifted him about two miles seaward, but turned and brought hini back again, and he then managed to get a footing on the ppposite side. By dint of walking and' crawling, he managed to get f round a reef until close to the island. He ' observed a number of cocoa-nut trees, which sight revived him, and stimulated him for further exertions, i. After .another short swim, he. landed ou dry land once more, suffering intense pain from the outs and bruises he' had sustained whilst on the reef.. ; After having a rest he climbed a plantain tree for the purpose of getting

soma cocoanuts before he got too stiff to do it. *•- So up he started, and succeeded in getting within ;ten feet of the nuts; but he. could get; no : further, when all at once & voice called out the following to him: "Halloa, what you do dar; you come down." And down he did come, only top^lad to hear a human voice once m 9V,e- .Onfgainihg theiground nature was exhausted, and he fell and lay there for some time like one dead. He was finally brought to by the native, who gave him cocoanut milk, which revived him very much. Mr Chafe was a cripple for some weeks from the wounds he bad received whilst knocking about the reefs, and from the exposure to the weather. There was a small canoe on the but the native would hot go to the trouble of taking it and going to the reef for the following reason : He said that when he got to the island he went to sleep, and when he awoke a white man and some ua.tives came to hi to, and told him to look after the island, and not to go away as he waß to take charge of the island— he was to eat the nuts, as they were for him. After he had been told this, the white man vanished into the sky and, the blacks into the' ground. This was all the reason that Mr. Chafe could obtain from the native for not taking the canoe and rescuing him off the reef. Mr Chafe and the native then set to and built a house, planted trees and did other works, and they remained on the island for a period of two years, during which time they had no other subsistence than the • For remainder of news see fourth page.

:;^cpMajßUts, and scarce enough {of them. The Stative was very disagreeabje during their \_tay on* tbeSislarid,- and kept Mr Chafe in fear of his: life./ A small schooner . 4 h^penedf iter call-'at? the island, and Mr Chafe and the native were taken away in : her^td:;Autu,' close to Roro tonga, where : Captain Tray te .of ! the schooner Edith took ;-;;Mr Chafeoa :to; Rorotoriga, where he was iiaken care of by, the Rev. Mr Chalmers, ; until meahs/cpuld be; fou r t^Startek isla_d/ y -/..,.•?' ■_:.'.-." a-