The Portland daily press., 1885-02-17
The Land of Fsobiuscn Crusoe.

Last evening Rev. DIR. Hill, notwithstsnd-
ing the storm, gave to the boys at fraternity
Hall talk on the" Land OF Robinson Crusoe"
which delighted them extremely. DR.. Hill
began by telling the boys little about Daniel
Defoe, an Englishman, who died little more
than 150 years ago; aud who was a very re-
markabls character. Brought up as an ear
nestly religious Puritan, he held high church
religious people in about as much horror, as
he did wicked, profane or scofing men,
Eager and active as a merchant and manu-
facturer, he was alternately rich and poor,
dying apparently insolvent at the age of 70.
Belonging to neither of the great political
parties. yeritable mugwump ne offended both
by the keenness Of his political and religious
satires, which he was continually publishing
length he confined himself to writing onsrnoral
subjects alone, but his writings were neither
very popular nor very useful. When he was
almost sixty he published the first part of
Robinson Crusoe; it took immediately and
became immensely popular. It was soon
translated, and is now known in all countries:
DR.. Hill had seen, and read part of an edition
published IN Athens in modern Greek After
none had the success of this first venture.
The story OF Crusoe was founded upon two
sources. In the original editions, Crusoe is
said to have been cast away on an island at
the mouth of the Orinoco river. Some years
before a Spaniard had been cast away on lsuch
an island, and had written and published a
little account OF his life, OF some months of
isolation there;-and it has been shown that
Defoe read that account. The Immediate
stimulus to his imagination, however, was his
Foil IIfr1rr Tr1 r7Sfh Gnll rsu1- -
shipwrecked, bat who was put ashore, at his
own request, on Juan fernandez off the coast
of Chilli, and remained there alone, four years
and four months, at the beginning of the 18Th
centary, 180 years ago
Juan Fernandez was a volcanic Island about
II miles long and four miles wide at its ex-
treme widest point The shores were extreme
ly abrupt, and the surrounding sea exceed
ing deep and blue in fact the island might be
justly considered the extreme peak of a
mountain as tall as the highest of the Andes.
rising from the ocean floor and thrusting only
its peak about four thousand feet above water,
1t had been discovered in the 10th century and
was then uninhabited. Fernandez put goats
upon it and planted garden plants aud trees
there. When English freebooters and ENGLISH
men-of-war made it rendezvous and place of
refreshmenJ, the Spaniards put dogs on the
island to kill off the goats At the conclusion
of peace with England they began to try to
kill Oft the dogs and have practically sue
C6ouSu. 4u6 l6thuu was IOf q Time th6 "B0-
tany Bay" of Chill, but that government had
transferred their penal colony to Puntas
Arenas in the Straits of Magellan and now
let out Juan Fernandez to man who raises
beef and oUher supplies for passing vessels; his
best customers were American whalers. DIR.
HUI spent May day, 1872, upon the Island and
gave some anecdotes about the curious things
which he saw and the adventures which be
fel him and his fellow veyagers that day; the
plants and animals OF tho island were, for the
most part, absolutely peculiar to that single
uorId