LONE DWELLERS ON TROPICAL ISLE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 28, 25 September 1931, Page 4

LONE DWELLERS ON TROPICAL ISLE

trader's family ONLY HURRICANES INTERRUPT IDYLLIC EXISTENCE ON CORAL ATOLL. PEARL FOR OLD SHIRT - (From Our Own Correspondent) . SYDNEY, Sept. 5. A small coral island on which 87 half-castes who comprise the entire population, all descended from a white man who is still living, was 1 visited by the American freighter, Golden Coast, on her last trip from U.S.A. to - - Australia. These islanders spend much of their time in pearling, with considerable success ,and for an old shirt the wireless operator was given a perfect pearl the size of a big pea. Palmerston is the name of this small atoll, which is marked only on the largest charts of the Pacific Ocean. It is about 500 miles east of j the Tongan Islands, and about the same distance from Tahiti. It is about two miles wide and four miles long, and is perfectly flat.

Dad" Comes Aboard. "We did not know we were so close until we saw ,a ship's boat coming tov/ards us, full of wildly-gesti-culating natives," said the wireless operator, C. Dunn, when the Golden Coast arrived in Sydney. The Golden Coast slowed down and a rope ladder was lowered 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 khaki shorts, a tattered white shirt, and a home-made straw hat, decorated with the red tail plume

oi a bo'sun bird. "Dad," as this old man was called by his half-caste sons who rowed him out, told the officers of the Golden Coast a remarkable story. Speaking in perfect English, he told them that nearly 60 years ago — he could not be sure, for he had lost track of all time — he and two native women had settled on that island, which he had discovered while trading. Two Native Wives. They took with them building materials and a small supply of food, and settled down to grow copra. Being very flat, the island is frequently razed by hurricanes which level everything in their path, so, after their home had been blown down several times, the trader and his na-

bxvc wives, uecxuea to Duua a Kmd oi a 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 the island for five years. A mission schooner visits Palmerston every six months, but it missed last trip, and, in consequence all the inhabitants' clothes were in a ! sad state of disrepair. Pearls for Old Clo' "Dad," after he had been speaking to Captain Svedstrup of the freighter, for a few minutes, pulled from inside his shirt a dirty white handkerchief, in which 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. 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 abundance on the island, and there is a fresh water spring. Officers of the Golden Coast said that, judging by the men who had rowed out_ in the boat, the inhabitants, physically, were almost perfect. The men were all more than six feet high, had perfect teeth, jet black, curly hair, and handsome, regular features. The Golden Coast stayed off the island for about six hours.