Oct. 7, 1905.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
297 
expert on islands; but San Nicolas carried off the palm 
for ultra desolation. 
The, eternal wind appeared to be blowing it into the sea. 
I did not- see the wind gods and furies, but felt their 
breath; they were there morning, noon and^ night, tear- 
ing, receding, tossing that stricken island intO' the air, 
and heaving its soil and sand out into the moaning sea. 
There was a single inhabitant, a Basque herder, who 
came down — a Robinson Crusoe. He wore a straw 
sombrero lashed under his chin, carried an old-fashioned 
muzzle-loading rifle over his shoulder, and was followed 
by two gaunt and hungry-looking dogs. He objected_ to 
our looking for Indian implements, as it made the wind 
blow — that was the , curse of the island, the wind, and 
it came from the spirits of the ancient natives whose 
bodies were uncovered and whose graves were robbed. 
He showed us his shanty down on the rocks, its roof 
covered with big stones to prevent it from being blown 
into the sea. 
Near at hand was a sea-lion rookery from which came 
the wild barking of the animals, blending with the roar 
of the wind and creating a pandemonium of sounds. 
This man was a sheep herder and his duties were to 
walk up'the island every day and see that the sheep were 
not blown away and that they found fodder. The island 
was to .all intents and purposes a desert. We climbed 
up from the beach, passing through wind-worn canons, 
reaching the mesa, where a scene of desolation stretched 
away to' the north and west, not a plant or bush in sight, 
nothing but a level plain covered with small stones about 
the size of peas, which the Basque pid were picked up 
by the wind and blown through the air like sand. On the 
northwest end of the island was one of the largest shell 
mounds known on this coast; it is a mile long, and eight 
or ten feet high, and from one end to the other displays 
evidences of human occupation. Shells of the abalone 
are strewn about by the score. Now the wind whirls the 
sand from a score’ of skeletons and implements, and an 
hour later buries them again; and all along there I found 
evidences of human occupation. In fact, San Nicolas is 
the only island of this interesting group about which any- 
thing really definite is known regarding the inhabitants. 
The objects found resemble those of the other islands, 
and tons of loot have been carried away year after year. 
For a long time it was the custom of certain fishermen 
to spend the winter here digging for relics of the 
aborigines. The wind was their aid, as it uncovered one 
place to-day and covered it to-morrow. 
There was a fascination in the quest, and as I followed 
along the edge of the mesa, that was everywhere broken 
down into, little canons through which the wind had 
swept for centuries, cutting and carving out the friable 
sandstone, I found various objects suggestive of the lost 
people who once lived here. Near a little mound some 
angler had sat, and from an abalone shell had fashioned • 
a fish hook,\ a really beautiful object. There was the tool 
which he used — a cigar-like object — to bore a hole in the 
pearly shell which was then broken and a rude fish hook 
formed, with the barb upon the outside. Not far away 
I found a number of curious wedge-shaped articles; my 
companion- picked up the fisherman’s pipe, and shells 
were found, their holes stopped with asphaltum, showing 
that they were used as drinking cups. The most interest- 
ing place was a mound from which the sand was blown, 
displaying a mass ©f skeletons, mortars, pestles, abalone 
shells, and bones of fishes. One might imagine that a 
battle had been fought here and the sand had covered the 
evidences of slaughter; but the natives buried their dead 
in the mounds, and all the mortars, pestles, spear heads, 
hooks, clubs and beads of the dead man were placed with 
him in the sand; hence, it is necessary to rob the dead 
to obtain them, the bodies being buried in tiers, one upon 
another. But the sand uncovers them, and a few years 
ago it was. only necessary to walk along the mound and 
pick up the objects. 
Among the interesting articles found here are what 
might be called jewel cases. They were formed of two 
abalone {halioiis) shells, placed face to face and sealed 
up with .asphaltum: in the interior beads or curiously- 
shaped stones were deposited, the cave or box so formed 
being buried in the grave. 
I fancy these were the possessions of women, and the 
shell-beads, their gems and trinkets. There was a fascina- 
tion in finding such an object, and shaking it to listen to 
the jangle within. One might well imagine that this 
pearly box contained pearls, black and white, and it was 
an interesting test of one’s curiosity to see how long the 
impulse to open the jewel-case could be resisted. When 
one could withstand the strain no longer and broke it 
open what were the gains? A little ear-ring, formed of 
the pearly shell of the haliotis, a few beads cut out of 
shells, another flat and beautiful, and a square piece with 
perforations on the sides, the diamonds, rubies and heir- 
looms of some San Nicolas maiden. 
Fine steatite pipes have been found here, spears of 
flint, stone clubs several feet in length — the insignia of 
some island chief; and if all the material that has been 
taken from this island in the past twenty years could be 
collected, it would fill a large museum. The best of the 
material has been taken, but the shifting sands doubtless 
still conceal deposits of implements in stone, bone and 
shell, telling the story of those islanders that have passed 
on over the long divide. 
There can be little doubt but that San Nicolas was well 
worded in years gone by, but the sand has the upper 
hand now, and is sweeping over the land and leaping 
into the sea. The cliffs are cut and worn by the wind 
into fanciful, shapes, and in a few centuries a shoal per- 
haps will .naark the spot where once stood a large and 
populous island. ' Ap interesting romance has associated 
itself with'-the place. Sixty years ago there were still a 
large number of natives living here. They subsisted on 
shells and' fish, and were the remains of a large and vig- 
orous race that peopled all these islands two or three 
ljundred years ago. About fifty years ago the priests at 
the mission of Santa Barbara decided to bring them to 
the mission; a vessel was sent to the island for this pur- 
pose, and *ajl were taken aboard. As she was about to 
Wil one of the women cried out that her child had been 
forgotten. |n the meantime a gale had sprung up and 
the vessel was blown off shore and could not return, so 
fhe woman leaped into the sea and swam back, while the 
vessel disappeared. It was the intention of the crew to 
return, but after the natives had been landed at Santa 
Barbara the vessel was wrecked and in time the woman 
was forgotten. Twenty years after a new_ priest carne 
to the mission, and hearing the story determined to see if 
the woman still lived. Securing a small craft called the 
“Maria Better Than Nothing,” he sailed for San 
-Nicolas. In the interim the island had been visited by 
otter hunters and Russians, but none of them ever saw 
the woman. The “Maria, etc.,” anchored off Corral 
Harbor, a small indentation in the rocks, and the men 
began their search over the sandy waste, but without 
success. They fired guns, left signs- which would have 
attracted anyone’s attention, but all to no purpose, and 
they were about to give up the search when one day in a 
deep canon they found the remains of a seafl so: fresh 
that it was evident that it had been killed by a- human 
being not many hours before. The rnen tlien began a 
more careful investigation. They formed a hue across 
the island at certain distances, and marched on over the 
sands, in this way covering every acre. Suddenly- one- ot 
the party shouted a signal; the line converged and. they 
found the lost woman of San Nicolas. She was sitting 
at the entrance of a small hut made of whale ribs cov- 
ered with bird skins, and presented a singular appearance, 
being dressed in a robe made from the skins of shags— a 
costume so peculiar that it was later sent , to the Pope 
and placed in the Vatican museum. , ■ ■ 
The woman was sitting on the ground' butting up a seal 
that she had trapped, and rose when the man came up and 
greeted them with a quiet courtesy, as though she had 
parted from them but the day before. In the party were 
Indians, but none could understand the peculiar 
jargon of the lost woman. By signs she gave them to 
understand that she knew they had been hunting for her 
and had concealed herself when they approached. She 
went with them to Santa Barbara, but never learned to 
speak English, and died after several months of civiliza- 
tion, having been christened and named for the vessel 
that rescued her, “Maria Better Than Nothing.” _ Before 
'.she died she told her rescuers by signs that the wild dogs 
had killed her child, and that she had seen otter hunters 
visit the island, but had never made herself known. 
To appreciate this story one should land at San Nicolas 
when the wind is blowing and the air is filled with sand 
and pebbles ; yet, despite the terrors of the situation, this 
sand and wind-swept place once supported a large 
and vigorous population, which suggests that the fishing 
is of the best. Great bands of yellow-tails and sea bass 
swam up the shore and rushed into Corral Harbor ; and 
in the kelp beds I took numbers of large rock bass which 
bore a striking resemblance to the black bass. 
About the island were vast flocks of sea birds, espe- 
cially cormorants, which gathered in flocks in the, inden- 
tations of the shore and held what must have been a 
“bird convention”; swimming in long lines, making 
strange noises, and dividing up a reform again and 
again. 
As wild and desolate as was this place, it had a certain 
fascination. The very conflict between the wind and the 
island, the fury of the seas as they swept in, the wild 
cries of the sea lions, the menacing cloud-banners which 
streamed from the mountain tops, all formed a picture 
that could not fail to make a profund impression, on the 
human mind. As we shook out the foresail and fell away 
I saw the strange figure of the Basque, his old rifle over 
his shoulder, his sombrero bound tightly beneath his chin, 
gazing at us, then he turned and disappeared over the 
shifting sand dunes of this isle of winds. 
Difference of Objective. 
One Hour's Journey from New York City. 
The fishing season now drawing to a close has been 
a very successful one at the Great Kills, S. L, as to 
the number of fish taken. The fish have, however, been 
small, weighing three-quarters of a pound, with an 
occasional fish that would weigh a pound. I am speak- 
ing of weakfish, for aside from about a week last June, 
when a few snappers put in at the Kills, we have had 
no other kind in numbers. “Fish-butchers” who look 
for numbers rather than sport or size have been in 
clover the past summer, taking from 150 to 250 of these 
small fry in a day’s outing; and catches for two men to 
a boat have been quite common at from 40 to 70 fish. 
To the older fishermen, who have made their head- 
quarters at the Great Kills for the past fifteen or 
twenty years, the continued decrease in the size of the 
weakfish taken each successive season has been very 
pronounced, and a three-pound fish from the Kills is 
considered a curiosity. A certain few of our little band 
of fishermen can remember that four-pound fish were 
quite common in years (I am sorry to say) now past, 
with an occasional weakfish touching the scales at six 
pounds. I am speaking of the Kills, not Raritan Bay 
at large. 
It is not my purpose to attempt to give any reason 
for the decrease in the size of the weakfish, it is suf- 
ficient to know that it is so, and painfully noticeable to 
such of us as have made our fisherman’s home for the 
past fifteen years at the Kills. 
Some inquiries of our fishing friends and our tackle 
dealers, to whom we have told the story of catching 
this tomcod in size of weakfish, give us as a -remedy 
an objective on the Great South Bay, where they as- 
sured us the fish were larger. Thus it happens that 
we make up a small party, say good-bye to the Great 
Kills for a dajq and are off by midnight train for 
Freeport, L. I. An hour is consumed in the journey, 
and we are at the dock, where the captain of the launch 
we are- to fish from awaits our arrival. A faint moon 
lights up the crookedest creek that man ever navigated, 
else to our minds we had been lost in its many turn- 
ings. -However, the Captain knew his course, and we 
are soon anchored on the fishing grounds. 
It, is not daybreak, nor is it quite high water, .yet we 
are anxibus to get to work in case the unexpected 
should happen, so over go the lines with very tempting 
bait. We have to wait for daybreak and the . turn of 
the tide before the first sign of fish life is noticeable; 
blit it was worth waiting for. The first fish weighed 
4 pounds and 2 ounces, which was the sjnairest of the 
eleven weakfish taken, our largest fish weighing exactly 
7 pounds. To the above must be added five blackfish 
and five fluke of no mean size, that were taken during 
the day’s outing, and would have been excellent sport 
to the “pot-hunter” could he have caught them with 
hand line and “plumbob” sinker tackle. 
Our catch, cleaned and laid out on the deck of the 
launch, was a feast for those three pair of hungry eyes 
from the KiJIa,, who- had been hunting the little fellows 
all sumMa^2i.A 
We havFbeen over the grounds twice since, but with 
not such good success, owing, we were told, to the 
lateness of the season. Even so, there was more pleas- 
ure to us in taking the few fish we got than all the 
little„?:ones caught in the Kills during the summer. 
From my viewpoint, the possibilities of large fish of all 
.kinds are to be expected from such waters, or my 
experience at salt-water fishing for the past twenty 
years may be set down as no account. Thus it is that 
a. difference of locality within about the same time of 
journey from the city produces such different results 
as to the size of the fish taken. 
■ It is nearly time to pack away our traps for the sea- 
son of 1905, our only regret in saying good-bye to them 
being, that we had not been induced earlier in the 
season to give the Great South Bay a trial. 
Oscar. 
Fish in the Pulpit. 
President Cleveland attended a Presbyterian church, 
in the old residence part of the city, which had been some- 
what sidetracked by the northwest movement of popula- 
tion. It revived during his administrations so far as 
numbers were concerned, although church trustees invari- 
ably assert that the tourists who go to see a President 
prove an unprofitable line of traffic, by comparison with 
steady pew-holders. Dr. Talmage served this church Jn 
the latter half of President Cleveland’s second adminis- 
tration without salary; the publication of his sermpns in 
the newspapers throughout the country was the main line 
of his influence and effort, and the place of actual ser- 
mon delivery was comparatively unimportant. It simply 
afforded a date-line. 
There was at times a noticeable disposition on the part 
of Dr. Talmage to “jolly” his distinguished parishioner 
from the pulpit, which everybody who knows Mr. Cleve- 
land cannot doubt was highly distasteful to him. For 
example, in a Thanksgiving sermon one year, when Mr. 
Cleveland was present after a summer at Buzzard’s Bay, 
in which the newspapers had pictured him as constantly 
fishing. Dr. Talmage proceeded to tell of the abundance 
with which the earth yielded her increase, in this broad 
land. He told of the wheat of Dakota, the corn of 
Kansas, the cotton of South Carolina, the fruits _df Cali- 
fornia, all in eloquent phrase, bringing his period to a 
climax in “the fish of Buzzard’s Bay,” as if that were 
America’s great source of supply, recognized as such in 
the commercial world, like the banks of Newfoundland. 
A smile played over the countenances of the congrega- 
tion as it contrasted .the alert-minded sermonizer and the 
sedate pew-holder. 
On another occasion, the first Sunday of Mr. Cleve- 
land’s return from Buzzard’s Bay, the venerable Dr. Sun- 
derland, in this same church, took for his text, /‘And 
they cast forth their nets,” or words to that effect, in the 
gospel narrative of the miracle of the multitude of fishes. 
Dr. Sunderland was too serious-minded to see the slight- 
est suggestion of humor in the discussion for forty-five 
minutes of the spiritual aspects of large-sized successes 
in catching fish, but the careful analysis with which the 
lessons , of the art were elaborated, could not but impress 
his hearers as more realistic than he had perhaps in- 
tended. — Washington Correspondence New York Even- 
ing .Post. 
Unclaimed Salmon Streams. 
New York, Sept. 30 . — Editor Forest and Stream: 
In Forest and Stream for Sept. 23 Mr. Chambers re- 
fers to my suggestion anent the taking up of old Maine 
salmon streams, and you may be interested to know that 
I did not receive a single letter in answer to my offer to 
tell about six streams now containing salmon, and so 
situated that the streams could be made valuable salmon 
property, at the same time that the mills and timber on 
the streams would pay the interest at least on the invest- 
ment. At about the same time that I wrote Forest ani> 
Stream on this subject I sent 100 letters to sportsmen 
of my acquaintance telling them of a tract of 2,000 acres 
of forest land near New York that could be bought up 
for small money, and that was likely to be cut up and de- 
stroyed on the development of new rapid transit plans. 
Not a man bought an acre. Some of the land that was 
then offered at $100 per acre less than a year ago cannot 
be bought now at. twenty times that amount. I got a 
large tract rnyself, and -vvanted friends to get in on the 
ground floor. Some of them are now writing me that 
they will go out there this year or next and see about 
buying. It is too late, and the same thing will happen 
with the salmon streams. Robert T. Morris. 
An Island Sinkingf. 
Recent news from Heligoland, according to the Lon- 
don Standard, speaks of further encroachments by the 
sea on Heligoland in the North Sea. Since the island 
was ceded to Germany, in 1890, in exchange for Zanzibar, 
it has lost a considerable area, not alone through the col- 
lapse of the sandy cliffs which surround its shores, but 
also through a definite sinking on its south side. Engi- 
neers have been at work since the cession in a continuous 
endeavor to safeguard the island from demolition, and 
considerable work has been performed in filling crevices 
in the rocks, while -breakwaters have been built, tO' break 
the force of the sea. It has been found, however, that 
the very sea floor on which these are constructed is with- 
out stability, and it is believed that the work, can only 
serve to,^ delay the encroachmept of the sea on the friable 
cliffs. It has now a circumferencq of a little less than 
three rniles, as ^igainst three and three-quarters in 1^0. 
The island has little importance and is known chiefly as 
a w'atefing place. Its population numbers about 2 ,( 3 po, 
and the natives of Heligoland are creditably l^nown 
among the North Sea and Baltic pilots. ' ' 
