" SHORT AND SIMPLE ANNALS." 



19 



men. From information which I have received from the 

 Grand Cayman Island, it appears that in the early forties 

 of the last century, two men, of the names of Alley and 

 Page, went from that island, where they were resident, and 

 landed on Swan Island. " They took possession of the 

 island, and felled sufficient hard-wood timber to make 

 the skeleton of a schooner." With this timber they went 

 back to the Grand Cayman, and built a small vessel which 

 they called the " Champion." Strangely enough, although 

 it pleased them to call the island " their property," Alley 

 and Page do not appear ever to have returned to their 

 newly acquired kingdom, and eventually, after living 

 long enough to see their vessel go down at her moorings 

 in the Great Sound, at Grand Cay men, during the 

 hurricane of 1876, Page took his leave of this world, 

 some thirty years later than his partner Alley. 



In the " fifties," one Samuel Parsons, grandfather of a 

 present native of the Grand Cayman, was the next 

 candidate to try his hand at annexation. The tale goes 

 that he also " took possession " of the island, and "placed 

 thereon a number of goats, which bred, and in a few years 

 formed a very large herd." Although from the point of 

 view of the student of plant dispersal, this was an abomin- 

 able crime,* yet it was a distinct advance on the methods 

 pursued by Alley and Page. But even Samuel Parsons 

 does not appear to have gone far enough in establishing 

 his claim ; for thinking his goats and his island safe, or 

 very likely not thinking any more about them at all till 

 too late, he found when next he turned up, after the 

 lapse of years, yet another claimant happity established 

 there. 



This was Mr. A., the man in present possession, who 

 appears to have acted on the principle of " J'y suis, j'y 

 reste." " He had found his haven," and having done 

 so he proceeded, without more ado, gradually to eat up all 

 Mr. Parsons' goats. Tiring of the sea and the thankless 



* Fortunately for its botanical interests no goats are allowed on the 

 island now. 



