The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-10-27
THE FLEErINd SHOW.
from fourth page.)

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 ruled from the centre all round to the sea" was the veritable crusoe island. That the shipwrecked buccaneer spent four years there in solitude is true, and lis experiences suggested those Of Rob- inson Crusoe to Defoe but the scene Of that ingenious heros exploits Is now held to be the little island Of Tobaso, the most southerly of the West Indies. and of the group called the Windward islands. If the boys will compare the description of the location of the storm in the dear old story book. with the maps in the atlas. they will see that when the voyagers resolved to stand away for Barbadors." but were driven impetuously to the westward by the second storm. that Tobago would be the land upon which they must inevitably strike" Prescriptions of the island, however. make the proof still stronger" says a writer who has recently visited the place. and found that if the great romancer had seatHd himself on one of Tobago's hills with paper and pen to depict It's scenery truthfully. the DOT trayal could not have been nearer to na- ture. The "great island of Trinidad which Crusoe saw from the hill. Is eight cen miles to the southwest of Tobago, and 10 the west are seen the rocks and the two small islands which he dlscov- cred first. The wonderfully exact in- formation which Defoe gives us of an island which he had never visited, was gained frnn. shipmasters and sailors In London. Tobago offering an inducement for the occasional visits of vessels from its abundance of good fresh water. It is said at the present time there Is no book that gives so many facts about Tobago as Robinson Crusoe does.
 The island abounds in caves of soft limestone, easily worked with a pick axe. The seasons-two dry and two rainy-are precisely as described: and the wild grapes of which Crusoe made raisins, grow in great profusion. And the green turtles to this day prefer the west beach of the island, and are very rarely found on the east side. The wild tobacco which Crusoe found grow ing, and which gives the island its name, still flourishes without cultiva- tion, though it is found upon none of the other islands. As to the "corn," or rather, grain, that sprung up unex- pectedly from the chaff which Crusoe shook out of a bag, that was probably barley, which grows at Tobago, though what an American farmer boy would call corn, Indian corn or maize, can not be raised there. In fact, almost every item of description can be verified at Tobago, and that is one reason why the children of the planters there de- light in the story so much: they live in its very atmosphere and ramble over the beaches and valleys and hills that are sacred to the memory of Rob- inson and his man Friday. And though it Is not now. as in 1859, desolate is- land, it would still be possible for any adventurous youth to lead there the solitary life of a Crusoe
 Out in the forest he could build his hut, dry raisins and raise goats, catch turtles on the shore, drink the pure water of the streams, and daily notch his calendar-stick. In fact many of the rural negroes live in just such a simple | and independent style, grinding their | grain between stones, and burning CO.,  coanut oil, with sublime indifference to money and all that money can do. | The chief crop of Tobago is sugar.
 from which the planters manufacture molasses and rum, but of late much at tention has been paid to cocoanut cul- ture, with gratifying results. The tall
 beautiful cocoanut palms add greatly to the tropical appearance of the island
 which is said to be prosperous little gem of the ocean, not because it pro- duces so much, but because public ex- penditures are small. and the people are content to live within their incomes in a sort of Crusoian simplicity highly to be commended in these days of de- termined striving and crowding for Hfe's pecuniary prizes. HILARY.