1825-1854 25 



article already referred to by Dr. Giippy, to his son Ross 

 Secimdus. 



Besides this publication, Ross Primus left to the world a 

 two-volume treatise on the work of Malthus, a copy of which is 

 now preserved in the Governor's house on Pulu Selma. It is a 

 work of great eru-dition written from an extreme point of view, 

 but, although it makes a fierce attack upon every premiss 

 and every argument of Mr. Malthus, it cannot be said to 

 detract greatly from the patiently drawn conclusions of that 

 astonishing and suggestive cleric. 



In 1854 the pioneer died at the age of 68. Concerning his 

 death there is told one of the many interesting and romantic 

 tales that form such a feature of the history which lives for the 

 most part in the mouths of loyal and admiring narrators. 



Upon the morning after his death, the present Governor — 

 then a little boy of nine — was sent in a boat to fetch the 

 crew of the schooner to the funeral. Although no boat had 

 previously put off to the vessel, he found on his arrival that 

 the captain and his crew were awaiting him, all dressed in 

 black, with full knowledge of the sad event of the previous 

 evening. 



It seems that at sundown — when the spirit of Ross Primus 

 fled — a sound had rushed through the air, and to each listen- 

 ing man upon the schooner had come the wail of the passing 

 of the spirit of his beloved chief. The schooner lay far out 

 in the lagoon, but the news came clear and unmistakable, 

 and the boy rowed back a troop of silent men, who had needed 

 no telling of the loss which they and the little kingdom had 

 suffered. 



Ross Primus was 41 when he made his island settle- 

 ment, and he ruled as King of Cocos-Keeling for 27 years. 

 He is buried in Pulu Selma, and Ross Tertius has honoured 

 the memory of his grandfather by obtaining from Scotland a 

 block of granite, which, carved by Cocos-born masons, makes 

 a fitting monument for the grave of the pioneer. 



The work of this strange man is one that is hard to picture 

 in these matter-of-fact days, and it is difficult to properly 



