The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-09-16
WHERE cRUs0E LANDED.
The Island Of Juan Fernandez as II
is and Its One Hundred
Inhabitants.
The Residents Are Hcspitable Ger
man and CHILEAN Ranohmen
and Their Families.
Ford Anson's Noble work In Planting
Seeds and stocking 1t With Domcstio
Animals--Scens from lockout

The first thing that a tourist does, {
,oinc ashore at Juan Fernandez, 10 to sta
or the famous Lookout, from the top
ehicL-so says the h~istorian-poor Crus.
,sed to watch for a sail, 'and yet no Ga
from day to day" But he il likely to
long on the way, though it ID less tina
a mile from the landing place, beoau'
there are several points of interest I
be viewed en route. First, there arc th
psople-a hundred hands TO be shaken an
a thousand eager questions to be answered
for the arrival of a ship is by nc means
matter of every day, and when one doe
appear II the harbor. the lonssom
islanders. old and young, troop dow
to meet her. Though voluntary exile
in this beautiful place, where nature ha
been lavish in supplying everything neces
sary to sustain life without labor, the col
caists pine for news from tho distan'
world, whose echoes come to them like
angela visits, ''few and far between
Though no longer q convict colony. Is in
DAYS long past, tho island is virtually
prison. whose bolts and bars ars ocean bill
lows. "
xQ0f0 are kOOU6 v AcS4AGAGU VA AGA
Fernandez, mostly German and CHILEAN
ranchmen and their families; for some
years ago the island wal leased to a rich
cattle company, who have now as many as
81 ,OO0 head of horned cattle and twice as
many sheep grazing in the narrow valleys
and on the green foothills. The cottages
Of the colonists are mostly within sight Of
the landing, set in ths midst of orchards on
the side of a hill sloping down to the sea,
and the oppressive silence of Selkirk's
time has given place to the bleating and
lowing OF fooks and herds, the merry
shouts of children and sounds of human
activity.
Whoever goes to Juan Fernandez finds
himself enthusiastically welcomed by every
soul on the island, and receives just as
many pressing invitations to lunch, to dine,
and to stop over until some other boat
along, as there are homes on the
island, and if he has been SO thoughtful as
papers he has earned the lasting gratitude
Of the people. Besides caring for tn cir
fiocks the settlers raise fruits and vegetables
to sell to passing vessels. The soil is won
derfully productive, especially in the north
ern valleys. where dscayed vegetable matter
and rich deposits of turned earth have
washed down from the mountains. Grass
and oats spring up spontaneously in the
open SPACE, and vegetables OF all kinds
grow ~abundantly wherever the seeds are
scattered. Wild graPevines and tg tree,
bearing excellent fruit flourish on the slopes,
and there are many natural orchards grown
from seeds planted a century ago by Sell
kinrk and other mariners. Besides peaches,
apricots, pears, ounces, and other fruits
common to temperate climates, the chuta is
everywhere-a species of palm which pro-
duces a delicious berry-and among an
endless variety of indigenous trees are
pimento %(pepper), sandalwood, corkwood
and myrtle.
II appears that Lord Arson, an English
man, has done more for the settlements and
cultivation of this island than the govern
ment that WINS it. He stopped here first
by chance, in the year 1741, for the purpose
of recruiting his ships after q succession of
disasters in their passage around Cape
Horn. The loss and danger he had expert
enced led him to. establish q sort OF recruit
ing station on Juan Fernandez, for his own
and other disabled ships. He devoted
months to the production hero of such
fruits and vegetables as sailors crave, and
caused quantities Of seeds to be scattered
all over the islands, that future voyagers
mightSfnd q variety of rsfreshment. He
also left ashore q great many domestic
animals, that they might become numerous,
for the benefit of vessels in distress for pro-
visions, castaways n shipwrscked mari
ners. II who plants an olive, plants for
his children's children" Lord Arson
from these benevolent acts, but
how many lives have been saved by his
philanthropy there il no human record to
SHOW.
Attended by numerous volunteer guides
from among the hospitable settlers, We
again set out for the Lookout, but turned
aside midway between the cliff and land
caves in q hillside topped by ruined fortif-
These are all that remain of the
settlement founded here BY Spain in 1850,
and of the Gillian penal colony established
on the same spot in 1873. The Spaniards
built q great fort and q town, both of which
lent earthquake. They were Immediately
rebuilt. and were in good order and inhabit-
ed when Carteret visited the island in 1867.
Earthquakes are frequent in the archipel-
ago, sns several within the memory of the
people now living have done considerable
fort but its foundation and a portion of the
ramparts, embedded in reddish clay and
oyergrown with weeds.
The convict colony was established as
soon as Chill gained her independence, and
something more than 1000 criminals were
ASIS. " ooutbc, dl1sT tuo Luhuucr OF Clll-
lar.s, they were subject to the most barbar-
GUS treatment in these gloomy dungeons,
which are dug into the brow of the bluff
facing the barbor, and extend several
hundred feet under ground in the form of
vaults and passages somewhat resembling
the catacombs of Rome. The gates bv
which tho entrances were secured disap-
peared long ago, and the passages that
have not fallen in are rre-empted by wild
dogs, bats, toads and centipedes.
At last, about thirty years after the foun-
datlon of the colony, some 800 prisoners
broka loose from their chains, murdered
the guards and ESCAPED. They seized the
garrison, and for several days held possas-
whale chip happened to put into lumber
land bay for food and water. The convicta
seized the captain and compelled him to
take on board AZ man of their
rs the vessel could possibly
carry. Two hundred of them crowded in,
and thev threatened the ships officers with
death in case of failure to land them
On the coast of Peru, whittier they deter
mined to go to escape the vengeance Of the
government. The captain of the
whaler ran over to the nearest land ON the
coast Of Chill, and leading the convicts to
believe that it WAS Peru, put them ashore
only about thirty miles north of Valparaiso.
They soon found out their dangerous situa-
ton, but it is said that every one of them
in eluding the Gillian authori-
ties, and eventually joined the Peruvian
army, which was at that time advancing
upod santiago. Most Of tho prisoners left
OH the island escaped by different vessels,
and were scattered over the globe. But
very few of those engaged in the massacre
were recaptured. and they were shot in the