Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1895-11-14
CRUsoE's ISLAND.
News Received from Far on Inc,
Fernandez.

The recent visit to the northwest !.
Eddie Foy's company, presenting =
burlesque version of the story Of Poh
lnson Crusoe, makes quite apronos tho
publication of a little recent naws
from the far-off island where tbos
famous navigator is supposed to have
been cast away.
There has quite recently been "a.
ceiyed news from Chill which viii n,
be regarded as joyful intelligence bv
the friends of Daniel Defoe. Poor ola
Robinson Crusoe's hut on the island ~
Juan Fernandez is to be torn down
and in its place will be erected .
prison station to be used as auxiliarv
to the Chilean penitentiary at San.
tiago. Juan Fernandez is to be thrown
open to settlers, and rumor is extant
that Mocho island will also be adyer.
tised as a splendid place for a noor
man to make his fortune" Moebo
island is mentioned in connection with
the story of Juan Fernandez. because
according to South American histor.
ians, 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 hun-
dred miles in southwesterly diree-
ton from the port of VALPARAISO
Doubts still exists in the minds of a
number of Chilean writers as to the
identity of the island on which Selkirk
spent four years of lonely existence
Juan Bautista Pastene, the Italian
explorer, is alleged to have visited
Crusoe's isle before he did the lake OF
Mocho. The records do not bear out
this statement, although in the gov
eminent library at Santiago there is a
volume of correspondence which refers
to Juan Fernandez. Pastene did visit
Mocho in 1914 and again in 1850 He
Is alleged to have reported that he be-
lieved that Defoe's hero was really
marooned on Mocho instead of Juan
Fernandez. However, on Mocho Pas
tene found a superior race Of savages
who were OF much higher order Of
intelligence than those spoken of in
Crusoe's library. On the other hand.
there really were signs of cannibalis-
tic feasts OF days zone by in the high
sands of the more remote island.
Selkirk's hut faces on the Southern
ocean, and Is a diminutive wooden af-
fair. Directly under the little house
IS a broad beach, partly protected from
the winds by high bluff which COM
mands from its crest a splendid view
Of the island and the surrounding Pa
cific. Selkirk, 1t is said, used the top
OF this bluff for a signal station. At
the base of the cliff long reef runs
seward, marked here and there by
sharp-pointed rocks over which the
surf dashes necessarily.
One word about Selkirk himself.
English record Keepers and historians
aver that the man was a seaman who
was marooned for mutiny; but South
Americans claim that the fellow de-
serted from an English trader In
bound to Valparaiso, and, after steal
ing boat, sailed for what he thought
was the mainland. He landed on Juan
Fernandez, and there found semi
fertile island. visited frequently by
heavy rain showers, the home Of water
fowl, and anything but tropical para
disc such as Defoe portrayed in his
remarkable record of human magma
ton. The interior OF the island was
very rocky, and the fora and fauna Oh
the land were Of that limited character
ascribed to Treasure island by Robert
Louis Stevenson.
The visits of cannibals to the beach
Of Juan Fernandez are supposed e
have been related by Defoe In ROBIN
son Crusoe" simply to lend interest 10
the story. The truth of the matter Il
that Defoe had little to learn iron,
Alexander Selkirk or the islana 9.
Juan Fernandez that might have aiaeo
him in the foundation Of the charactef
Of Crusoe. The evolution Of traa'.
ton developed Selkirk into the pelus
Crusoe: at least that is what INC
Chileans say.