MANY DESCENDANTS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 11, 4 September 1931, Page 4

MANY DESCENDANTS

ISLAND IDYLL MAN WHO POPULATED PAGIFIC ISLANDS STEAMER'S DISCOVERY A small coral island _ on which 87 half-castes who eomprise the entir-i population,- -all descended_ from* a* wliite man' who is still living, was visited by the American, freighter i Golden Goast. on her -last' trip from • the, United State.s to Australja, . These islanders ' spend" much ' of tlieir time iii pearliiig, with Consider - able. sueoess; and for an old shlrt the wirejess- operatot was- given a perfecfc pearl the size of a big pea. ■ - Palmerston -is the name of this small - atoll, whioh- is marked only: dn the largest. charts -of the -Pacifio , Ooean. It is about 500 miles east of the Tongan Islands, ahd .about dhe ; same distance - from 'Tahiti. It is ahoqt ;twe miles wide and f our miles long, • and is perfectly flat. "Dad" Comes Aboard. "We did not know we were so close : until" we saw a ship's hoat comiiig ito - j wards us, full of wildly-gestieulatmg ■ •[natives,,, said the; wireless dperator-, G, Dunn, when the Golden Coast ar- ' rived at Sydne'y. • • The Golden Goast' slowed down and a rope ladder was lowerdd for the natives' to come on board. To the surprise of the - ship's ^company, the first to clamber up the ship's. side was an old white man. ' He was dressed. in khalci shotts, a tattere.I .white s'hirt, and a h'ome-made ptraw ' hat, decorated with the red tail plume ' of *a bo'stm bird. • ' : ■ 1 •: "Dad," as this old man was called by his-half-caste sons who rowed him : dut, told the offlcers- of the Golden , Goast a remarkable story. Speaking in perfect English-, 'he told them- that j nearly 60 years -ago— he could notiho sure, for he had lost track of all time ; — he and two n-ative Women had = settled on the island, which he had discovered while trading. • Two Natlv® Wives, _ ■ They took with them . building materials and a small supply df food, and settled down to grow craps; Being very flat, the island is frequently razed by hurricanes which le^et everything In their path, so after their home had been blowft down several times the trader and. his native wives decided to build a kind of flat house, which so far has not been blown over. . • '• In time "a family arrived, and. now ' he was progenitor of the entire population. The Golden Coast was the first steamer to visit th6 island for flve r years, A mission schooner yisits Pal : merston eVery six. months. but it ■missed lasL trip, and in, consequenep al'l the inhabitants' . clothes • were in a sad state of disrepair. Pearls_for Old Clothes. "Dad," -after ne had been speaking to Gaptain Svedstrup, of the freighter, for a few minutes, pulled from inside his shirt a dirty white handkerchief , in w-hich several perfect , pearls lay glittering. He said he had many more in his house, and he would exchange the pearls for clothes. Mr .Dunn thereupon. gave the patriarch an old shirt which he had bought at a Sydney bargain sale for 4s 6d, and which he had worn for three years,- and received his big pearl in return. r ' : . All members of the crew traded: in - old shirts, coats, trousers, etc., and received pearls of varying value. . The islanders refused money, but took a supply of food and matches. • Tropical fruits grow in abundahce on the island, and there is a fresh- : water spring: • Offlcers of the Golden Coast said that judging by the men who- hal rowed out in the hoat, the inhabitants, physically, were almost six feet high, had perfect teeth, jet hlack" curly hair, and handsome, regular features. The Golden Coast stayed off the island for about six hours.