The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1875-06-25
ROBINSON CRUSOE.
HIS HOME AND BURIAL PLACE.


Robinson Crusoe Who has not read
or heard of him? Yet there are thous-
ards of persons who firmly believe that the
whole history of the man is fiction, and
the man himself first-cln myth, while
/ thousands of others, in blissful ignorance
OF what to think say on the subject, re-
serve their opinions. To such doubling
Thomases it may be said that the history
is founded on actual fact, though fictitious
III most of its particulars Robinson Cru
soc, as :he hero is popularly called, having
lived in flesh and blood on a little island
IN the South Pacific for four years and
four months. This island home, named
Juan Fernandez, or Mas-a- TERRA, is situa-
ted in latitude $50 81 south and longitude
7SO 53 west, being about $50 miles west of
valparaiso, Chilli. 1t comprises an area of
los square miles, butlittle of which could be
put under cultivation owing to the noun
tainous nature of the island, the mountains
rising in some places to a height of nearly
twenty-five hundred feet, many of then,
having a sea wall twelve to fifteen hundred
feet high, rising almost perpendicularly
out of the water. Farther inland the
mountains extend in irregular chains en-
closing steep, inconsiderable valleys access
to many of them being impossible without
expending an amount of time and trouble
that would be but poorly repaid even by the
attainment of the object. Being in low
latitude, it is not so prolific in fruits nor
tropical vegetation as most of the other
Pacific Islands are-peaches, quinces and
figs and several varieties of berries com
prising all the fruits worth naming. The
umbrella tree, inseperably connected with
Crusoe, presented in pictures, grows in
abundance in the valleys. 1t grows about
four feet high, with stalk of an inch and
half or two inches i'm diameter, covered
with short, blunt thorns, Which make it
decidedly rough to handle. The umbrella
part spreads out and up, forming basin
three to four feet across, with narrow
opening on one side, and as the single leaf
of which it is composed is thick and strong,
it would, in case of necessity, answer the
purpose of an umbrella very well if one
didn't object to its weight and the slight
Inconvenience likely to be experienced in
managing it in rain storm. The island
! is at present leased from the Chilian Gov
ernment by citizen of Valparaiso, who
employs about dozen men on the island
raising horses and hunting goats. The
/ latter abound in wild state, and are hunt
| ed for their skins. Add to the number of
men dozen women and children, and you
will have the total population-allli living in
the northern end of the island on Cumber-
land Bay. Briefly told, these are the prin-
cipal features Of the island as it exists to-
day.
! Some years ago this was the Botany Bay
! of Chill, where all uufortunates whose
! bumps of destructiveness and approbative-
ness were found TO Je too largely developed
for the public good were invited to sojourn
at the public expense, in the hope that
time, solitude and sea air would effect a
cure of the complaint. For time ali
went well, but the Governments guests
becoming ungrateful for the hospitalities
received, most emphatically and practically
protested against any further exercise of
| public attention i'll their favor. They first
tried the plan of working their passage
away from the island without waiting for
their ticket-of-leave, but these occasions
not occurring SO frequently nor SO easily as
! they would wish, they finally rose i'll a
body and annihiated their guardians, after
which the Government came to the con-
clusion that as a penal settlement Juan
Fernandez was not a success, so they now
-, -,
mines on the Straits of Magellan.
While on the island the convicts lived in
caves which they had to dig in the side OF
one of the mountains facing the harbor.
These caves were seven in number, all in
a row, several hundred feet back from the
water and about seventy-five feet above
the water level. Three of these caves
stood some distance from the other four,
4 and did not amount to much, being
only fifteen feet wide, ten high, and
ten deep. with hard clay walls, hooI
and ceiling. The other four were much
larger and more interesting, and l shall
endeavor to describe the best one of these.
1t was twenty feet wide, twenty high, and
eighty deep, forming parallelopipedon, il
the reader knows what that is. The
ground near the entrance was hard AND
bare, but at the rear it was soft and GOV.
cred with thick moss. The sides aud bach
were covered with hanging pinnate leave.
very much like if they were not the com
mon fern, ranging from few inches to Q
foot in length the roof or ceiling was also
thickly ''festooned" with these hanging
leaves. though many of them were faded
and black. The whole presented yer,