Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-23
ISLAND OF CRUSOE
The Scene of Daniel Defoe's Immortal
Romance.
Chile mt Length to Open 1t to
Settlers-Selkirk's Hut to
BE. Prison.
From the San francisco Bulletin.


There has been received during the past
thirty days news from Chile which will not
be. regarded as joyful intelligence by the
friends of Daniel Defoe. Poor old ROBIN
son Crusoe's hut on Juan Fernandez Island
IS to be torn down, and in its place will be
erected a prison station, to be used as an
auxiliary to the Chilean peniteptiary at
Santiago. Juan Fernandez is to be thrown
open to settlers. and rumor Is extant that
Mocho Island will also be advertised as
"a splendid place for a poor man to make
a fortune" Mocho Island Is mentioned In
connection with the story Of Juan Fernan-
dez. because. according to South American
historians, the spot was probably the land
ing place of Sailor Alexander Selkirk.
whose adventures Defoe elaborated into
chapters Of marvellous narrative, instead of
the lonely rock several hundred miles in
a southwesterly direction from the port of
Valparaiso. Doubt still exists in the minds
of number of Chilean writers as to the
identity of the island on which Selkirk
spent four years of lonely existence.
The Chilean department of colonization
has never been inclined in time past to in
vtte settlers to the islands lying off the
coast of Chile and owned and controlled by
that republic. Robinson Crusoes domain
has been zealously guarded by representa-
tives Of the Chilean government. and all
attempts to settle upon 1t or to learn the
and peaks have been discountenanced by
stolid officials Of that little southern ma
ton.
The opposition Of the Chilean government
to the occupation of Crusoe's old home
dates back to the overthrow of the Spanish
powers on the western slope of the Andes
and the securing of Chilean independence.
Shortly after this important change in the
political complexion of New Spain England
dispatched Ambassadors to ascertain the
extent Of the resources of the territory
claimed by the new republic. The embassy
was not received with open arms by the
suspected that England wanted to acquire
one of the islands off the South American
coast for a naval station. and when the
embassy desired to inspect Selkirks sea-
bound retreat it met with a polite but very
positive refusal of passport privileges.
This anti-colonization feeling influenced
future Chilean presidents, and not until
the rise Of Balmaceda to power did the
government consider the feasibility of colo
nizing both Mocho and Juan Fernandez Is
lands. The present ruler Of Chile favors
the movement, and before the year is over
the authorities will have divided tho islands
into small tracts and placed the property
on the market.
Juan Bautista Pastene, the italian ex-
plorer, Is alleged to have visited Crusoe's
isle before he did the Isle Of Mocho. The
records do not bear out this statement al
though in the government library at San
tiago there Is volume of correspondence
which refers to Pastene as one, of the early
visitors to Juan Fernandez. Pastene did
visit Mocho in 1874 and again in 1850. He
Is alleged to have reported that he believed
that Defoe's hero was really marooned on
Mocho instead of Juan Fernandez. How
ever, on MOT no Pastene found a superior
race of savages. who were of much higher
order OF Intelligence than those spoken of
in Crusoe's diary. On the other hand,
there really were signs Of cannibalistic
feasts OF days gone by in the high sands
of the more remote island.
Selkirk's hut faces tho southern ocean,
and is a dininutive wooden affair. which
the keepers of Juan Fernandez did not
think worth disturbing. 1t is to be removed
shortly, for the new branch prison will be
built on the spot where it stands. Directly
under the little house is broad beach,
partly protected from the winds by high
bluff which commands from it's crest a
splendid view of the island and the sur
rounding Pacific.
Selkirk, 1t Is said, used the top of this
bluff as a signal station, and for four
years he patiently watched for passing
ships. At the base of the cliff long reef
runs seward, marked here and there by
sbarp-pofnted rocks, over which the surf
dashes necessarily.
One word about Selkirk himself. English
record keepers and historians aver that the
man was seaman, who was marooned
for mutiny, but South Americans claim that
the fellow deserted from an English trader
inbound to Valparaiso, and, after stealing
boat, sailed for what he thought was the
mainland. He land I'd on. Juan Fernandez,
and there found semi-fertile island, Wis
tied frequently by heavy rain showers the
home of waterfowl, and anything but a
tropical paradise such as Defoe portrayed
in his remarkable record of human imagi-
nation. The interior of the island was very
rocky, and the flora and fauna of the land
were of that limited character ascribed to
Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Steven
son.
The visits Of cannibsls to the beach of
Juan Fernandez are supposed to have been
related by Defoe in Robinson CrusOe"
simply to lend interest to his story. The
tribes of South Chile and Mocho Island
are not thought to have taken long canoe
trips to the out-of-the-way rock, but saw
ages. according to geological students did
frequently visit the place years and years
before Daniel Defoe and his prolific pen
were ever heard of. Bones of a race of
men of the stature and strength of the
Patagonians have been found buried deep
in tho island sands, together with stone
and bone weapons used by tribes on the
south continent centuries ago, and at a
time when Cortez. Pizarro and other Next
can and South American explorers were
boys at school
The truth In the matter is that Defoe had
the island Of Juan Fernandez that might
have aided him In the foundation of the
character of Crusoe. The evolution of a
tradition developed Selkirk into the Defoe
Crusoe; at least that is what the Chileans
say.