PART I 

 THE HISTOliY OF THE ATOLL 



CHAPTER I 



THE DISCOVERY AND EARLY HISTORY OF 

 THE ISLANDS 



From what has been said by way of introduction to this 

 account of the atoll, it will be seen that the Cocos-Keeling 

 Islands are worthy of some notice from the greater world for 

 a twofold reason : first, for their being what they are — a 

 perfect example of that most wonderful of geographical forma- 

 tions, a coral atoll ; and the second, that they hold the records 

 of a history of romance tind adventure which rivals any of the 

 imagined happenings of fiction. 



The kinofdom of the Cocos-Keeling Islands has a strange 



o o o 



and attractive history — as instructive in its way as is that of 

 any great nation, or any story that tells of the doings of the 

 ruler and the ruled. 



The drama of history loses nothing by reason of the small- 

 ness of its stage ; and just as all the problems of life — all the 

 social questions in their most elaborate and acute forms — may 

 be seen outside a philosopher's front door ; so may the never- 

 ending story of monarch and rival monarch, of rule and mis- 

 rule, and of treasons and plotting, which constitutes all history, 

 be traced in miniature in the early doings of this little colony. 

 There is always a popular attraction attaching to little king- 

 doms, and a halo of romance about the man who, greatly daring, 

 has left the more beaten tracks of life to take upon himself 

 the rule of other races, even though his people have been 

 few, and his enterprise of but little import among the nations. 



