Show A T TIDAL WAVE SWEEPS SOUTH SEA ISLANDS ONE THOUSAND NATIVES BY TIDAL WAVE W 0 ff jp terrible Terr ble story of devastate Deva stat on and death comes from the so biety lalands surviving in dest tute of food A band 1 nd shelter 1 f t ra e f 7 wy news ofa loss of life in a destructive storm that swept over the south sea islands bast month has reached ban tan francisco Pran cisco althe on arthe steamer marl mariposa posa direct from tahiti the loss of life Is lesi mated at 1020 1000 souls on january 13 last a huge hugq tidal idal wave ac ae compan led by a ter rifle hurricane at tacked the society islands and the group with fearful force causing deaths and devastation never before equaled in a land of dreaded storms a verification of man mans s anabil ity to contend with wind and sea the storm reigned several days reaching its maxi maximum muna strength be tween january 14 and january 16 from the meager advices received at up to the time of the sailing of the mariposa Marl posa it is estimated that at least 1 1000 of the island s inhabit ants lost their lives it is feared that later advices will add to the long list the first news of the disaster ar rived at papette january 26 on the schooner elm elleo eo the tle captain of the schooner placed the fatalities at the steamer ste aiger excelsior arrived at papette the follow following ilig day with destitute survivors the captain of the excelsior estimated the total loss of life to be these figures comprised only the deaths on the three islands of hao rao higuera and makekau whose ordinary population la Is 1 1800 on hi H duera island where 1000 1 inhabitants were engaged in pearl diving nearly one halt half were drowned on an all ad jacent island more were washed out to sea ma okau akau and hao are de populated conservative estimates at tahiti place the number of islands visited by the tidal wave and hurri cane at 80 all of them are under the control of the french governor of ta hitt the surviving inhabitants are left destitute of food shelter and clothing all having been swept away by the storm the french government upon re rp celpa of news of the disaster toola took prompt measures to relieve tho the dis district and dispatched two warships the durance and zelee with fresh water and provisions the ital lan ian man of war calabria accompanied the two french vessels on their errand of mercy As the y of fresh water and provisions was totally exhausted by the storm it Is feared that many lives will be lost before the relief ships arrive As the islands were barely twenty feet above sea level and not sur rounded by coral reefs it was feces sary for all the inhabitants to take to the coconut trees when the tidal waves began to cover the land these trees grow to an immense height many reaching an altitude of feet all ot of the lower trees were covered by the i aging seas which swept with pitiless force about and over them the na tives fives in the taller tatter trees were safe until the cocoanut roots gave way and then they to co were swept onward lar out into the sea the survivors brought by the excelsior to papette gained tha the ship a s side by swimming ahree and tour four miles from the tops of the cocoanut trees the lirneo though badly dis abbed by the storm also brought off as miny persons as could swim to her sides she like the excelsior being un able to run close to the shores because of the fearful violence of the ocean sivells which continued to run ab normally high for a weel after the tidal disturbances one of the many acts of heroism re ported is that of a woman who climbed one of the tall cocoanut trees and lashed her little babe to the branches hanging on to the body of the tree beneath the little one as best she could there they remained for ten hours suffering great torture until fin fill ally rescued thousands of tons of copra and over tons of mother of pearl shells are known to be lost ine pearl shells are valued at 1800 1 per ton and many valuable pearls may now be lost to the world forever as these were con some of the best pearl islands in the world |