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Show RADIO TAKEN TO CURIOUS ISLAND BY MISSIONARY Descendants of Napoleon's G-uard Intermarry; Results Re-sults Pitiful MONTEVIDEO. June 3 (By th-Associated th-Associated Press ) The British Island: of Tristan da Cunha, In the middle' of the south Atlantic, with its 120 odd BOUfs, mostly descendants of Napo- leon's St. Heien.i guards, who hardly hear from civilization more than once i in two years. Is at last to have a missionary mis-sionary and radio communication For more than 18 months an Ens-I Ens-I lih clergyman named Rogers m l his wife have i"-on trying to reach the island from Cape Town and ly Induced the captain of the Japa-1 nose steamship Tacoma Mam, which loft Cape Town on March 2fi for tho; river Plnte. to deviate from his regli-l lar course and land them at Tristan da Cunha. W. Denis Myers, u passenger on the; Tacoma Maru and a lawyer of Cap Town, who has Just arrived here, tells of the vessel's call at the island with Mr. and Mrs. Rogers and thinks the population is truly In need of a missionary. RELATIONSHIP TANGIiKD, "The student of evolution, the psychologist psy-chologist as well as the mlssloi iry would find much to interest him In this CUrlOUS, forgotten community." -ays Mr Myers. "The settlement originated, orig-inated, It is said, wheji a detachment of soldiers who were guarding Napoleon Na-poleon at St Helena, to the north, were despatched to Tristan da Cunha to forestall the remote possibility that Xapoleon might attempt to escape thither. Two of tho oWIIer" remained remain-ed and, lmportlnir wives from St. Helena, laid the foundations of one of the strangest settlements In the world. Kiom time to tim'- shipwrecked: mariners have added to the Inhabit ants on the Island who have married I and Intermarried till relationship after af-ter a century has heroine a hopeless tangle Nearly all tho present population popu-lation were born on the Island and have a colored Htraln In their blood They speak English with a peculiar drawl resembling west of England speech There Is one old Italian among them, shipwrecked from i sailing vessel, who appears to have forgotten his own name and In fact hln mother tongue. TERRIBLE RESULTS "Continued Intermarriage ha.s In this generation produced some pitiful piti-ful children. Some of them are Idiots some lack limbs, some are denf and dumb The population does nothlir,-agrleulturally nothlir,-agrleulturally except to cultivate potatoes. po-tatoes. On this food, together with fish and Tjencriiln t-gkrs-. thev chleflv exist There are few wild cattle and a few sheep and out of tho wool of th latter the women knit rough woolen stockings. That Is their onlj manufacture. They wear old clothes, mostly seamen" begged from the ships, usually wandering windjammer--, that visit the Island at rare Interval'' There being no commerce, there Is no need for money. The Islander's attitude toward isitors Is curious. As he stands be-1 fore one his head droops, his arms fall listlessly to his side and he answers an-swers limply and uninterestingly questions ques-tions as to hla life and mode of existence. ex-istence. He seems to have no other Interest than to trade a penquln. an albatross skin, or a seal's flapper for an old shirt; a little tobacco, or anything any-thing from civilisation that would he useful He articulates slowly and with difficulty as If he had almost forgotten speech. I did not si-c one smile WREATHED IN MISTS. "Tristan do. Cunha Is a mountain 4000 feet high rising out of the ocean wastes like nn Inverted pudding bowl and as we saw It was wreathed In swirling mists. The little olony lives In stono huts on a green strip of pasture pas-ture land at the foot of the mountain moun-tain "Having r.o commerce and no money, these people certainly c annot worship Mammon, but it Is doubtful If they worship God. The two plucky missionaries who have exiled themselves them-selves among them for at least two years will try to teach them Thy brought large quantities of supplies and civilized comforts and a radio set so that henceforth Tristan da Cunha will not be cut off entireiv from the outside world ' |