Anticosti Island

“ Some of them plunge into the water, and pursue their prey, while others more idle watch them from the banks. There are only two islands of note in this gulf,—the island of Anticosti, 90 miles long and 20 broad, covered with rocks, and wanting the convenience of a harbor; and Prince Edward's Islands, pleasant fertile spots. The Gulf of St. Lawrence washes the shores of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island. ”

“ Where wrecks are plentiful, and the controlling hand of the law is absent, wreckers are sure to be plentiful also. Anticosti has been no exception to this rule. The island has had its share of those who did not hesitate to pursue this nefarious business.
From the earliest times the place has held out attractions to the fisherman and the hunter. The cod, halibut, herring, and other fish that it pays to catch, abound along the coast ”

“ The Recherche and the Espérance afterwards visited the Hermit Islands, discovered in 1781 by a Spanish frigate, La Princesa. The natives, like all those they had encountered, showed a great desire to induce the strangers to land, but did not succeed in persuading them to do so.
The Exchequer Islands, discovered by Bougainville, several unknown low islands, covered with luxuriant vegetation, Schouten Island, and the coast of New Guinea, were successively sighted. ”

“ The group lies between the south end of New Ireland and the north end of the great Bougainville Island in the Solomon Archipelago, and consists of six low, well-wooded and fertile islands, enclosed within a barrier reef, forming a noble atoll, almost circular in shape. All the islands are thickly populated at the present day by natives, who are peaceable enough, and engage in bêche-de-mer and pearl-shell fishing. ”

“ This made me very curious; and, as the tide drifted us nearer and nearer, I looked well about me, and saw several things that filled me with a strong desire to land on the island. The odd house, I found, was built like a high-heeled shoe; and at every window I saw children's heads. Some were eating broth; some were crying; and some had nightcaps on. I caught sight of a distracted old lady flying about, with a ladle in one hand, and a rod in the other ”

“ After relating alleged visits to more accessible islands of the eastern Atlantic archipelagoes, from Lanzarote and Tenerife of the Canaries to São Jorge (St. George) of the Azores, he continues: “another, Conejos [doubtless Li Conigi] , another, Cuervo Marines [Corvo—the sea crow island] , so that altogether there are 25 islands.”
This account may not actually be later than the Atlante Mediceo map,268 attributed to 1351—may even have been suggested by it, as some things seem to indicate. The Friar’s voyages are perhaps merely imaginary, their variety and total extent being hardly believable. ”

“ Beside those legendary Atlantic islands that may cast some light on visits of white men to America before Columbus or have been at some time linked therewith by speculation or tradition—notably Antillia and its consorts, Brazil, Man or Mayda, Green Island, Estotiland and Drogio, the Island or Islands of St. Brendan, and the Island of the Seven Cities—there are numerous others, quite a swarm indeed, excusing Ptolemy’s and Edrisi’s extravagant estimate of 27,000. Sometimes, but not always, they are of more recent origin and are explainable in various ways. ”

“ For there ain’t no life here, an there ain’t no hope, an there ain’t no food; an the only thing a man can do is to lie down an die as fast as he can.”
A long silence followed. The boys felt utterly overwhelmed. They had all heard enough about Anticosti to make the name one of dread, and to surround it with the darkest gloom and the most formidable terrors.
“We thought,” said Arthur, at length, to the man, who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, “we supposed that we were on the coast of Newfoundland, somewhere between Cape Ray and Fortune’s Bay ”

“ It is a far cry from the trepang and tropic birds (the salmon-pink bo’suns) of the northern rocks to the sea-lions that yawn at the casual visitor to Disappointment Island. The Kermadecs—to employ an overworked expression—bask in the smiles of perpetual summer. The Three Kings, lying thirty-eight miles beyond the tip of the North Island, might be Portuguese isles, and the Chathams—as far as climate goes—bits of France. But the peaty groups of the shivering South lie right across the pathway of the Antarctic gales. ”

“ Ever since Formaleoni,250 near the close of the eighteenth century, called attention to the delineation of Antillia in Bianco’s map of 1436, discussed below, as indicating some knowledge of America, there have been those to urge the claims of the suppositional lost Atlantis instead. The two island names certainly begin with “A” and utilize “t,” “l,” and “i” about equally; but “Atlantis” comes so easily out of “Atlas,” and the great mountain chain marches so conspicuously down to the sea in all early maps, that the derivation of the former may be called obvious ”

“ Crowds of people came to visit the saint and his companions at Iniscaltra, so that he pined for some more lonely spot, where he might hide himself far away from men. Accordingly he embarked in his curragh, as we may suppose, then shooting the rapids, and sailing out into the estuary of the Shannon, called Luimnech, he established himself with a few companions in a lonely island, called ‘Insula Erci’ in the Latin Life, which may, perhaps, have been corrupted into Iniscorcy, the name of an island in the bay formed by the Fergus River, close to Kilydysart. ”

“ The archipelago consists mainly, in the order given, of New Ireland, New Britain, the Solomon Group, Banks Island, the New Hebrides, Loyalty Island, and New Caledonia. The inhabitants are a fusion of many oceanic elements, and are much more advanced in culture than the natives of Australia: they have chiefs, whose office tends to be hereditary (and in one place, Saa, is hereditary) , in the male line, the father handing on to the son his magical acquirements and properties, and leaving to him his wealth, as far as he may. ”

“ Also what is wanted is evidence of the great island Atlantis, not of the former seaward extension of some existing continent nor of any land bridge spanning the ocean. It is true that such conditions might serve as distant preliminaries for the production of Atlantis Island by the breaking down and submergence of the intervening land; but this only multiplies the cataclysms to be demonstrated and can have no real relevance in the absence of proof of the island itself. The geologic and geographic phenomena of pre-human ages are beside the question. ”

“ The next day we passed Possession Island, which is inhabited only in the fishing season. At this period the only dwellers there are flocks of penguins, and the birds which whalers call “white pigeons.”
The approach to land is always interesting at sea. It occurred to me that Captain Len Guy might take this opportunity of speaking to his passenger; but he did not.
We should see land, that is to say the peaks of Marion and Prince Edward Islands, before arriving at Tristan d’Acunha, but it was there the Halbrane was to take in a fresh supply of water. ”

“ But with its imposing groves of oak, its golden wealth of orange-trees, its odorous lanes of oleander.
its broad grazing-meadows yellow-starred with wild camomile, Grande Isle remains the prettiest island of the Gulf; and its loveliness is exceptional. For the bleakness of Grand Terre is reiterated by most of the other islands,—Caillou, Cassetete, Calumet, Wine Island, the twin Timbaliers, Gull Island, and the many islets haunted by the gray pelican,—all of which are little more than sand-bars covered with wiry grasses, prairie-cane, and scrub-timber. ”

“ During the unnumbered years of their occupation, the land has set a stamp upon its people—so long on Ahu Ahu that they have forgotten whence they came. Hardy, hospitable, and turbulent, they are true children of the islands, and yet a family apart—ruder and less languid than the people of Samoa or Tahiti, and speaking a harsher tongue. And, more than any other island folk, they live in the past, for ghosts walk on Ahu Ahu, and the living commune nightly with the old dead who lie in the marae. ”

“ Three days later Anchorite Island was recognized, so called because a number of pirogues occupied in fishing, took no notice of the Etoile and Boudeuse, disdaining to enter into relations with the strangers. After passing a series of islets half under water, upon which the vessels nearly struck, and which were named the Echiquiers by Bougainville, the coast of New Guinea appeared. Steep and mountainous, it ran west-north-west. On the 12th a large bay was discovered, but the currents, which so far had been unfavourable, were equally so in carrying the boats far from it. ”

“ Perhaps the explanation lies in a disposition of cartographers to expect and allow for a great deal of nautical exaggeration in the mariners’ yarns that reached them. A careful man might come at last to believe in the existence of an island but doubt if it were really so very far away.
The Pareto Map of 1455
Pareto, 1455, has a very interesting and elaborate map259 (Fig. 21) showing Antillia, Reylla, and I in Mar (the latter without name) in the orthodox size, shape, and position, but with a great gap between Antillia and I in Mar where Salvagio should be. Very likely it was there once. ”

“ We hope to see Antonio, one of the Cape Verd Islands, to-morrow. The anxiety with which we look for the smallest island is inconceivable to those who have not been exposed for many days to the monotony of time passed on the ocean. ”

“ Christoval and of the adjoining small islands of Ugi, Santa Anna, and Santa Catalina; and towards the opposite extremity to the natives of the islands of Bougainville Straits, which include Treasury Island, the Shortland Islands, Faro Island, together with Choiseul Bay. Observations, although fewer in number, were also made on the natives of the following intermediate islands, viz., Malaita, the Florida Islands, and Simbo or Eddystone Island.
All the measurements, unless otherwise stated, refer to male adults. ”

“ Professor Stevens admitted, a smile moving that gray beard now and his blue eyes twinkling merrily. “But the Sargasso, an area almost equal to Europe, covers other land as well—land of far more recent submergence than Atlantis, which foundered in 9564 B. C., according to Plato. What I am going to look for is this newer lost continent, or island rather—namely, the great island of Antillia, of which the West Indies remain above water to-day.”
“Antillia?” queried Larry Hunter, wonderingly. “I never heard of it.” ”

“ Knowing that the strictest search would be made for them, and that if taken, instant death would be their doom; they stole forth from their lurking-place by night, repaired to the beach, and taking a large canoe, which they discovered there, set sail in her, steering boldly southward, in search of a considerable island which was believed to lie in that direction. Soon after sunrise they came in sight of land, but, on approaching it, they found that the surf was bursting with great fury upon a barrier reef, stretching between them and the shore ”

“ Parham harbour, although it affords safe anchorage when gained, is dangerous to the inexperienced navigator from the number of shoals and reefs which encumber its approach. It also contains some few islands, of which Bethel’s Island is the largest. This harbour is protected from the inroads of the enemy by Port Byam, erected upon Barnacle Point, and which derives its name from Colonel Edward Byam, some-time governor of Antigua. ”

“ The tides or currents are strong and irregular here, as may be expected, from the extending reefs, shoals, and keys, and its vicinity to Endeavour Straits.
We steered from these hostile savages to other islands in sight, and sent some armed men on shore, with orders to keep pretty near us, and to run close along shore in the boats. But they returned without success. This island we called Plumb Island, from its bearing an austere, astringent kind of fruit, resembling plumbs, but not fit to eat. ”

“ Sandy Island is by no means the only sentinel which Nature has placed to guard her favourite land from the sudden inroads of the enemy, the whole of the north side of Antigua being surrounded by rocks and breakers, which make it dangerous navigation. ”

“ About the center of the island is a large building which may be used for barracks or a citadel. A belt of batteries encircles the island, and it seems to be defended at every point. There is a lighthouse and fog-bell on this island also.
Soon after passing Alcatraces Island, we came to anchor near Mission Street wharf. We waited for the custom-house officer to come on board. After a short detention we went down the ship's ladder into a small boat, and were soon on shore. Half an hour's ride brought us to the Lick House, and the journey to the Hawaiian Islands was among the things of the past. ”

“ The Isola dei Pescatori, or Island of the Fishermen, lying near the “Beautiful Island,” forms a striking contrast. If distance is needed to lend enchantment and conceal the lavish expenditure of wealth on the Isola Bella, it is needed still more to hide the squalor and avoid the odor of the poor fishermen’s island. Yet the latter, seen from the steamer’s deck, is far more picturesque than its more pretentious neighbor. The third of the Borromean group is known as the Isola Madre. It has seven terraces, surmounted by an unused villa. ”