The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-07-26
On the Lookout for Robinson
CruSO's Tower.
PLANNING A CRUCIFIx ON HIGH
Convicts Detailed to Perform the Task or
Failing to Accomplish 1t in Ten
Days, Die.

to watch for a sail, land yet no sail from
day to day." But he is likely to be long
on the way, though it is less than a mile
FROM the landing place, because there are
several points of interest to be viewed en-
route. First there are the people-a hun
dred hands to be shaken and thousand
eager questions answered; for the arrival
Of ship is by no means a matter Of every
day, and when one does appear in the har
Dor every lonesome islander, old or young,
troops down to meet her. Though volun-
tary exIles in this beautiful place, where
nature has been lavish in supplying every
thing necessary to sustain life without
labor, the colonists pine for news from the
distant world, whose echoes come to them
like angels visits, ''few and far between"
Though no longer a convict colony, as in
days long past, the island is virtually a
prison, whose bolts and bars are ocean bill
lows, and many a modern Crusoe voices
his predecessors sentiments.
Oh, Solitude, where are thy charms,
That sages have seen in thy face:
Better dwell in the midst of alarms
Than reign in this horrible place
There are about one hundred residents in
Juan Fernandez. mostly German and Chill
ian ranchmen and their families, for some
years ago the island was leased 10 a rich
cattle company, who have now as many as
thirty Thousand head of horned cattle and
twice as many sheep, grazing in the mar
row valleys and on the green foothills. The
cottages of the colonists are mostly within
sight of the landing, set in the midst OF
ORCHARDS on THE SIDE OF HILL,
silence OF Selkirk's time has given place to
the beating and lowing of fiocks and
herds, the merry shouts of children and
sounds of human activity. The houses are
extremely picturesque, being made OF
bright yellow straw of wild oats, woven in
and out through bamboo wattles and
matched with the same. Their high,
peaked roofs project all around far beyond
the walls, and the doorways are shaded by
straw-thatched porches, reminding one of
French Canadian cottages or chalets in the
valley of the Seine. Each little home is
enclosed within a wall of stones and brush
wood, its rustic gateway overrun with lux
uriant vines; and within the enclosures are
=
ings, all set up on poles to keep them out
OF the water during the heavy rains of
June, July and August. There is no
winter in this latitude, but the wet season,
though short, Is more trying than northern
ice and snow.
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 till some other
boat comes along as there are homes on
the island; and if he has been so thought
fui as to bring along a few old books or
newspapers. he has earned the lasting
gratitude OF the people. Besides caring
for their tiocks, the settlers raise fruits and
vegetables to sell to passing vessels. Tne
soil is wonderfully productive, especiallyfn
the northern valleys where decayed yege-
table matter and rich deposits of burned
earth have washed down from the mount
aims. Grass and oats spring up spontan-
eously IN the open spaces, and vegetables
OF all kinds grow abundantly wherever the
seeds are scattered. Wild grape vines and
hg trees, bearing excellent fruit, flourish
on the slopes, and there are many natural
grown from seeds
PLANTED A CENTURY AGO
by Selkirk and other mariners. Besides
peaches. apricots, pears, ounces and other
fruits common &c temperate climates, the
chuta Is eyerywhere-a species Of palm
which produces delicious berry; and
among an endless variety of indigenous
trees are pimento (pepper), sandal, cork
wood and myrtle
II appears that Lord Arson, an English
man, has done more for the settlement and
cultivation OF this island than the govern
ment that owns it. He stopped he firsr by
chance, in the year 174l, for the purpose
OF recruiting his ships after a succession of
IN their passage around Cape
Horn. The loss and danger he had expert
enced led him to establish sort Of a recruit
ing station on Juan Fernandez for his own
and other disabled ships. He devoted month
to the production here of such fruits and
vegetables as sailors crave, and caused
quantities of seed to be scattered all over
the Island, SO that future voyagers might
find variety of refreshment. He also
left ashore great many domestic animals,
that they might become numerous, for the
benefit OF vessels in distress for provisions.
castaways and shipwrecked mariners.
"He who plants an olive plants for his
children's children" Lord Arson could not
expect TO derive much personal advantage
from these benevolent acts, but how many
lives have been saved by his PHILANTHROPY
his death his papers fell into the hands of
Mr.. Richard Walters, chaplain of Centu-
rian, who copied from them the most reli-
able description and accurate Typographical
survey of Juan Fernandez that has ever
been made.
THOUGH THE TILLABLE AREA Is SMALL.
because there is so little level ground. il ia
asserted that several thousand people might
subsist comfortably on the main island
alone, without any supplies from other
countries beyond exchanging their surplus
productions with passing vessels for cloth
ing and groceries. The not very enter
prising inhabitants of to-day live chiefly on
fish and goat flesh, OF which there is an
supply. Boat-loads of the
finest cod, rockdsh, cullet, Holsters, lam
prey cells, ETC., may be caught as fast as
they can be hauled in anywhere around the
shores; and pheasants, pigeons and other
birds are as abundant as the wild goats
and rabbits. Attended by numerous vol
unteer guides from among the hospitable
settlers, we again set out for the Lookout
but turned aside midway between the cliff
and the landing TO explore some remark
able looking caves in a hillside. topped by
ruined Notifications. These are all that
remain OF the settlement founded here by
Spain in 1850. and Of the Gillian penal col
ony established on the same spot in 1919
The Spaniards built q great port and a
town, both of which were destroyed the
following year By violent earthquake
They were Immediately rebuilL and were
in good order and inhabited when Carteret
visited the island, in 1867. Earth
luakes are frequent in the archipelago,
and several within the memory Of the peo-
Pile now living here have done considerable
damage Nothing remains of the ancient
fort but its foundation and portion of the
imbedded in reddish clay and