LIFE AT PALMERSTON ISLAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 165, 4 July 1876, Page 4

LIFE AT PALMERSTON ISLAND.

(Auckland Star ) A simple yarn told to our shipping reporter by Captain Bruce, of the brig Speedy, which arrived at Auckland on Wednesday, frora Maiden Island, gives us a graphic picture of a phase of life, which is suffioieutly romantic and curious to furnish tlio materials for a second edition of Robinson Crusoe. In the belief that the recital will be interesting to our readers, we produce it in, our columns :— « During the run from Maiden Island, the Speedy passed close to Palmerston Islands, which are coral formations of some extent lying to the westward of Cook's Group; in latitude 17 S., longitude 164 W. The day was fine and the wind was very light at the time, aud as the brig was drifting along, a boat was seen to leave one of the islands and approach the vessel. When it came close to the brig it was seen to be a whaleboat propelled by three sturdy half-caste lads, and steered by a patriarehal-lookirig, full-bearded man iv the stern. On coming alongside, the steersman climbed od board, and asked the captain if he was in want of anything that he stood so close in to shore. Captain Bruce responding in the negative, the stranger introduced himself as ibe proprietor of the islands (it seems there are four of them covering an area .altogether of 20 mileß by 12 miles), and expressed his willingness to supply the ship with anything that his domain afforded. He. pointed to the lads in the boat as his sons, and then, in response to some natural questions, he gave a short history of his life on the island. He had been 15 years there. He was a native of Yarmouth, in England, and had been a seafaring man in the early part of his life. Leaving his ship, he joined a band ef adventurers, ■who sailed to the Islands in search of the Jtreasures which they were supposed to contain. All his companions returned home disappointed, b-it he was determined to stay and see a little more of Island life. There were only a few inhabitants, and they treated him very ;kindly, while he in return made them little presents of the trinkets he had kep^t with him, an 1 taught them a few simple arts by which they made their lives more comfortable, and he was thus enabled to secure their lasting .respect and gratitude. He stayed with the natives, and soon took a wife from the few women of the island. In course of time his three children were born, and his island-home became as dear to him as the old shores of England, the memory of which was still fresh in his mind. By degrees he introduced such .cultivation as the barren soil would allow of. This principally took the shape of planting cocoanut trees. These flourished amazingly, and he was not long before be was able to purchase many luxuries, such as flour, potatoes, &c., from passing vessels, in exchange for copra and cocoanut oii. The manufacture of cocoaDut oil became at last "his staple industry, and has continued so, and he now does a yood business with the island traders in that article, receiving in exchange very little money but plenty of the necessaries and comforts of life. He had succeeded io introducing pigs on the island., and they h.d thriven well and fast. In the middle of the island waa a capital spring of fresh water, so that th.y were quite independent of the outward world for subsistence. As his boys grew up, he had taught them all he knew in tbe way of eduoation, which was to read and write, tie different knots, and sail and pull a boat, They had grown up strong aud healthy, and were now a great assistance to hira. He had 20,000 coooanut trees planted and bearing, and was able to make a good -drop of oil in the year. He had a comfortable and roomy house (this was visible from the sea, and looked a substantial and roomy building, surrounded by tall trees), and as hiß people and he agreed well together, be bad no desire to return to civilized haunts. Long ago he had taken formal possession of :the islands, and be now looked upon, them as his property, and the natives as his people or subjects. On Captain Bruce asking him whether he did not wish hfs sons to have the advantage of seeing something of tbe world, the old man looked sad for a minute, and then said, " Tes, he should like them to ,koow what the civilized world was like, but he did not know how he could bear to lose tbem even for a time." And then it was rather amusing to hear the old mau relate how careful he had been to bring tbem up untainted 'by the ways of the world. They read their bible (he had a large copy which had seen nearly as much service as himself) and regarded -rod and himself: as the only two beings whom it was their duty to obey and respect. He had carefully kept novels and other; harmful literature out of their way, and he believed that they had never read anything else than their bible, and one or two other good books. Their minds, he trusted, were yet quite unpolluted with any thoughts of sin, aod he feared, although he did not wish them to lead the life he had done, that if they weot into the great world they ' would fall victims to its snares from their own guilelessness. The patriarch aeked Captain Bruce what it would coat to send them to Auckland to be educated, and what he ought to have them taught in tbe way of a trade. The Captain recommended him to get them apprenticed to a respectable carpenter or joiner, and gave what he thought would be the cost of their spending a few years in the city. After spending

about an hour in this kind <of talk, which was very interesting to both gentlemen, and a favorite breeze now springing up, the patriarch rose and said "good-bye." The boat in the meanwhile had returned to the island and brought off a present of cocoanuts and other little articles from the simple homestead. The captain, in return, made up a parcel of trinkets for the patriarch's wife, and another of clothes for the old gentleman himself. As the island was at the time short of flour, Captain Bruce gave him what ho could spare of that commodity, and also added a couple of sacks of potatoes, at which the boys' eyes glistened again. The party then returned in the boat to their island home, and the Speedy resumed her voyage.