Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1868-08-05
VISIT TO THE HOME oFR0BINsON
CRUSOE.

A correspondent of the New Yolk Her
old gives the following account of the
Juan Fernandez group Of islands, on the
principal one of which Alexander Selkirk
lived, and gave Defoe the idea Of Rob
inson Crusoe.
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL.
The writer says: This group of islands
is $50 miles west of Valparaiso, and con-
sists of two chief islands at considerable
distance apart, with smaller ones attached
to each. Their name is derived from Juan
Fernandez, Spaniard, who discovered
them in 1868 in his voyage from Lima to
Valdivia He designed to settle here,
aud applied for patent, but failed to OBJ,
tain one. The island was much visited
by the buccaneers in their expeditions
against the Spaniards, and Dampier de-
scribes his visit here. In 1861 Mos
quito Indian was eft here by the ship
which Dampier was in, and was taken off
by him in March, 1864, having lived
three years solitary upon the island, SUBJ
sisting upon the goats first introduced
there by Fernandez. In Feb, 1709,
Capt. Woods Rogers touched here and
found Alexander Selkirk who had been
left here by the ship Cinque Ports, Capt.
Stradling, four year and four months pre-
viously. From Selkirk's narration Defoe
wrote his story of Robinson Crusoe In
the visits above mentioned great num-
Der of goats were found, but these we1e
reduced by the Spaniards, who introduced
dogs for the purpose of destroying one of
the principal means of subsistence of the
buccaneers. These animals were both
found in possession of the island in 174l, /,
when Lord Anson, with the small REM
nant of his c. ews Of the Centurion, Tryal,
and Gloucester, touched here. The men,
suffering from scuryy and other maladies,
recovered their health here so speedily that
on their return home they gave eloquent
accounts of the place which, leading to
the supposition that the English would
colonize both Juan Fernandez and Inchin,
in the Chonos Archipelago, the Spaniards
sent out colony in 1851. This colony,
however, was soon after almost totally de-
stroyed by an earthquake. In 1919 Chile
established penal colony here, which re-
NAMED until 1885, when the island was
again deserted. The ruins of the cells
where the convicts were confined still re-
main, but are rapidly disappearing under
the influence of storms which sweep over
the island. In 1887 one of the present
occupants came over from Valpara iso, and
he was afterward joined by the men and
women previously referred to.
The principal islands are Juan Fernan-
dez, commonly called, for distinction
"Mas-a-T TERRA" and s-a-Fuera,
which lies some 80 miles to the westward
The first is about IL miles long and 6
broad, The highest parts of the island are in
general thickly wooded, but in some places
have grassy plains of considerable extent
whose lively color contrasts agreeably with
the da ark foliage of the myrtle trees which
abound. The remains of fort called
San Juan Bautista are yet in toleTable
state of preservation, on the rising ground
about 13O feet above the sea, at the south
west part of the bay, overlooking the set
Element. In the middle of the beach are
some remains of FIVE gun battery, and q
the northwest extremity OF the island are
also remains of batteries, with a few rusty