The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-12-29
ON DEFOE'S TRAIL
WICHITA MAN WHO LANDED ON
CBUSOE'S ISLAND.
He Takes Ont His Ancient Diary and Gives
the Eagle q Few Pointers About That
Celebrated Dot Upon the Sea-He Cor
reefs Some Mistakes Going the Rounds
of tho Press-ae Gives q Varied Descrip-
tion of What He Saw, Including the
Cave Of Old Robinson and His Man
Friday.

Cave of Old Robinson and His Mar
Friday.
The Eagle. the other day. contained
dispatch TO the effect that the famous IS
| land in the Pacific which was supposed
| to have been the home Of Defoes soil
| tary hero, had been blown clear out OF
existence by a volcanic eruption. The
| island was about twelve miles long by
about six miles wide. Mr.. W. B. Mead
| who has crossed the Atlantic and Pacihc
| a number of times and who has sailed VI
| the coast of Africa and who doubled
| Cape Horn in 1S49, in speaking Of the
| improbab ility Of the extinction OF Cru
soes island, remarked that he had been
there and that his old personal journal
or dairy contained account Of what he
found there. He said that it was mis-
take that the island was uninha bited, OF
that at least it had some people upon II
forty-seven years ago. At our suggeS-
ton Mr.. Meade looked his diary up from
which he copied the following which can
not fail TO interest all who have read
Defoe's wonderful story, whether old OF
young. The following is the extract:
AT sea, Sunday, June IL, 1S49; lat
$3.50, long. 1850.
"As was expected we were all arous-
ed bright and early by the cry Of land
no." about two points off the starboard
bow. We had been laying to- for some
two hours or more as the captain could
get no observation the day before and
did not like to run too far in. Far ahead
and through the mist might be seen the
dark dim outline Of the far-famed Fer
nandaz Nv mind ivct NJ rarort oS
back to the ages Of my boyhood when
sat hour after hour and amused myself
with the life and adventures of Robin
son Crusoe' and his man Friday little
thinking that in after years / would ever
visit this desolate home. While coming
up to the island our regular Sunday SER
vice was held between decks Coming
on deck 1 found we were very near the
land and had good view of the ire
mendous mountains for which the is
land is famed. They are very high and
for the most part rise perpendicular out
of the sea. Far up the sides Of these We
saw thousands Of goats while in the val
leys horses of small kind were grazing.
We dropped anchor soon after noon, and
found ourselves in company with several
other vessels from Boston, Baltimore,
etc. The bay in which we anchored is
on the northeast side Of the island and
called Port Cumberland The shore is
very bold. In lying but few rods from
it We anchored in thirty-five fathoms
ESQ IT'D of water.
June IS the sun rose in splendor out
Of the ocean but as usual we had two
or three showers before breakfast. AZ
ter a splendid breakfast of fresh fish,
had tack and lob scouse, some half dozen
Of us started to climb to the top of one
of the highest peaks. After incessant
toiling for over five hours or more, we
reached the top, quite content to let our
ambition rest. We were well up in the
air and man on the plain below look
ed no larger than an infant, while our
ship in the harbor resembled the tiny
plaything Of a schoc4 boy. The clouds
were far below us, while rainbows or
most brilliant colors were on all sides of
us and extended from mountain 10
mountain. The road was steep and
rough, but the beautiful sights we saw
more than repay US for all our trouble.
''On our way down the mountain and
back to our ship we visited several caves
or dungeons built in the sides OF a noun
tain for the purpose of combining convicts
which were sent from Chilli, some 800
miles away. In all, the island contains
some fifteen persons, men, women and
children. and yet among these few We
found one genuine Yankee from away
down east He had been there some two
years and said he liked il very much. He
lived in brush hut and on the bare
ground. His bed was pallet spread on
some boughs. He gave US some water
and dried goats meat, which tasted much
better than it looked. The next hut We
called at consisted of a man and his wife
and two daughters. The young girls
looked very comely to us, that had been
five months al sea. The old couple /
think moved there soon after Robinson
left. They must have been very old.
Their faces looked like dried raisin
and their fingers were like birds claws.
by gestures and hard work we made
them understand that We wanted some
thing to eat. The old lady brought out
cold roast chicken and some onions and
preserved peaches and putting them on
a table 12x14 inches and 10 inches high.
we squatted ourselves on the ground and
eat our first meal on Juan F'ernadez.
Peaches in their season are in abund-
ance. growing wild. After arriving al
the beach we chartered the Yankee sail
or to take US to the original cave OF
Robinson Crusoe' The cave we
found on a bluff near the ocean and
part way up the montain. 1t Is of TRAN
gular shape, some eight feet high in the
center. with sloping sides, ana two places
on each side chiseled out that could be
used for seats. In the bottom over and
between these four seats were two holes
in the rock that evidently had been used
for cooking purposes. The top and sides
OF the cave were covered with an in
crustation of SCOT and smoke. AS I
stepped out of the cave l could not help
thinking how true the words Of the poet
were: I am monarch Of all 1 survey
''W. 3. MEAD"