Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-07-18
j L A n + FERN NDEZ.

rated from company from his gesture and as
pect. but adds that in the course OF q few
months familiar converse with the town took
on the loneliness of SelkIrk's aspect and quite
altered the expression Of his face.
sELKIRE's own NARRATIVE.
The queerest Of all the books is little quarto
volume Of only twelve pages, published in
1710 and profusely garnished with capital let
tiers after the fashion Of the time, entitled
Providence Displayed. or a very surprising
Narrative of one Alexander Selkirk. master Of
a Merchant Man called Cirque Ports. who.
dreaming that the ship would soon after be
lost. he desired to be left on a Desolste Island
in the South Seas. whers he lived Four Years
and -Four Months without seeing the Face Of
Man. the ship being afterward Cast Away as he
had Dreamed. As also how he came afterward
| to be miraculously preserved and redeemed
from the Fatal Place by the two Bristol pri-
! vateers. Duk and Duchess that took the rich
Acapulco Ship worth one hundred Ton of
Gold and brought it to England. To which 10
added an account of Birth and Education; His
description OF the Island where he was cast;
How he Subsisted; the several Strange Things
he saw. and how he spent his Time. With
some pious CALCULATIONS that he used during
his melancholy Residence there. Written by
his own Hand. and sttested by most of the
eminent merchants upon the Royal Exchange"
THIS WAS POSSIBLY DE FOES TEXT.
Possibly it was this same little book that fur
nished De Foe with text for the story which
has delighted generations of young people in
all parts of the world and filled them with vague
longings for life shipwreck and solitude.
AT any rate Robinson Crusoe' had phenom-
email success, accorded to few works since Job
wished that his enemy would make q book, I"
and has by no means lost prestige after more
than century and three-9uarters.
When an excursion to Juan Fernandez IL on
the taps the newspapers of Santiago and VAL
asNUAr A1~
beforehand. snd-ss amusements Of the sort
are rare In Chili-the little coaster that makes
the trip is generally crowded to its utmost
capacity. though the fare is as high accom-
modations are poor. The party we joined
composed mostly of Chiians and Germans-set
sail from Talcuahano, a port some 200 miles
south from Valparaiso. and the fare was put at
$40 per capita for an absence Of eight days.
STRUCK BY A NoRTHER.
We were struck by ''norther" when q few
hours out (Which. as usual in these waters,
came tearing up from the south around Cape
Horn. and the sea-sick misery that commonly
attends a voyage SO short that one has no time
TO get his sea-legs on, vas intensified by the
overcrowded condition Of the tiny steamer
ana the odorlferous messes (limburger, liver
wurst and other mysteries) that our Teutonic
friends insisted on devouring between their
hearty ar-o-o-u-u-u-ps- But the most disagree
able things have an end, and late on the second
day we came to anchor off the island of our
dreams. Nothing could be seen but wild seas
on one hand rolling off into the darkness and
on the other black. perpendicular wall Of
rock, whose ragged pinnacles appeared to
pierce the sky, broken by awful gorges
through which the wind walled dismailv.
some OF the cliffs seemed SO near that we might
almost touch them with our hands. and the surf
beat SO frightfully upon them that returning
waves kept the ship rolling as when out on the
unsheltered ocean. Sleep was out Of the ques-
ton, so little group of Americans beguiled
the hours of darkness BY reading Robinson
Crusoe aloud to one another in the uncertain
hight of swaying lanterns. Somebody had
brought along 1.-Two Years Before the Mast"
written by Mr.. Richard H. Dana IT,. who
visited this place in 1885, in the course Of his
memorable voyage to California. and delighted
Us with extracts from that charming book re-
lating to the authors experiences here.
J. ROSS BROWNIES FEELINGS ON REACHING CRU
soE's ISLAND.
Another passenger had the later book of Mr..
]. Ross Browne, called "Crusoes Island" and
elected unmeasured applause by reading how
that distinguished man felt when he fret set
foot upon Juan Fernandez. He writes: Never
shall i forget the strange delight with which 1
gazed upon that isle of romance; the unfeigned
rapture / felt in the anticipation of exploring
that miniature world in the desert waters SO
fraught with the happiest associations of youth
remote from all the ordinary realities Of life:
the actual embodiment of the most fascinating
of all the dreams Of fancyi Many foreign lands
had | seen. many islands scattered over the
broad ocean, rich and wondrous In their ro-
mantle beauty; many glens of Utopian lowell
ness: mountain heights weird and impressive
in their sublimity; but nothing to equal this
III variety Of outline and undesirable rich
ness Of coloring-nothing SO dreamlike, SO
wrapped in illusion. so absorbing in its
novelty. l was one who had fought
tfr RnhI in hAx-s a., A.
greatest hero that ever breathed, who had
always, even to mans estate, secretly cherished
the belief that Alexander the Great, Julius
Caesar and all the warriors of antiquity were
commonplace persons compared to him: that
Napoleon Bonaparte. the Duke of Wellington
Tecumseh and all the noted statesmen and SOL
diers of modern times were not to be men,
toned In the same day with so extraordinary a
man, and now i. who had always regarded him
as the most truthful as well the very sub
holder of his abiding place-walking and see
ing on the very spot, Talk Of gold, Whv
tell you dear friends, that all the gold Of Cali
fornia was not worth the ecstatic bliss Of that
moment"
sIsHr OF JUAN FERNANDEZ.
Next morning all hands were on deck to see
the sun rise over the hills Of Juan Fernandez.
and when the thick vapors that shrouded the
island were lifted a scene of beauty was dis
closed worth coming far TO see. Bevond the
abrupt walls of rock that lowered a thousan nd
feet straight out of the sea were mountains
whose tops were bathed in the glory of MORN
ing, their sides covered with greenest yerdure
and golden fields of wild oats their feet hid
den III groves of myrtle corkwood and nj
mento- Farther inland, great peaks Of reddish
stone lowered TO the clouds. silvery cascades
leaped down to the ocean, and snowy foam ont
lined the shores where the surf beat IN meas
nred swells like the voice Of a distant Niagara.
The raylnes showed focks and herds and cult
| waited fields. and in the central valley, nestled
| amid blooming orchards. were the bamboo
straw-thatched cottages of the inhabitants,
looking like so many large bird cages.
| There Is but one spot in all the northern
| coast, which Is the side of the island USUALLY
| approached where the rocks open wide enough
| To admit the smallest vessel This single inlet
\ Is named Cumberland bay, and nearly all the
! rest of the shore Is inaccessible to man with
| fearful cliffs overhanging the water. where
waiing winds and moaning surf keep up a per.
peiual dirge for the thousands Of sailors who
| have been wrecked in sight Of safety The
ridges of the cliffs slope upward as they recede
| inland, forming a series OF smaller valleys
above, whose tints are diversified with yellow
| oats, emerald groves and red-burnt earth the
latter rent in countless assures by many earth.
| quakes-
AN ABUNDANCE OF YrsH.
Soon as ahasty breakfast could be dispatched
of course of bacallao (cod fish, caught from
the deck. which in all South America 10 con.