The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-01-02
ON cRUsoE's IsLA.ND.
A Wichita Mans Visit to Juan Fer
nandez
rFrom the Wichita Eagle.l

TFrom the Wichita Eagle.l
The Eagle the other day contained a
dispatch to the effect that the famous
island in the Pacific which was sup
posed to have been the home of Defoe's
solitary hero had been blown clear out
of existence by volcanic eruption.
The island was about twelve miles long
by about six miles wide. Mr.. w. b
Meade, who has crossed the Atlantic
and Pacific number of times and who
has sailed up the coast of Africa, and
who doubled Cape Horn in 1S49, in
speaking OF the improbability of the
extinction of Crusoe'S island, remarked
that he had been there and that his old
personal journal or diary contained an
account of what he found there. He
said that it was mistake that the ISL
and was uninhabited, or that a least it
had some people upon it forty-seVen
years go. At our suggestion Mr.. Meade
looked his dairy up, from which he
copied the following. which cannot fail
to interest all who have read Defoe'S
wonderful story, whether old or young
The following is the extract:
AT sea, Sunday, June II. 1919; lat.
1880; long. 1850.
LAS was expected, we were all aroused
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
Fernandez MY mind instantly revert
ed back to the ages of my boyhOOd
when I sat hour after hour and amused
myself with the life and adventures of
Robinson Crusoe' and his man Friday
little thinking that in after years
would ever visit this deSOlate home.
While coming up to the island our reg
ular Sunday service was held between
decks. Coming on deck, l found we
We're near the land and had a good
view of the tremendous mountains for
island famed They
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 valleys horses of
small kind were grazing. We dropped
anchor soon after noon and found our
selves 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 is
called Port Cumberland The shore is
very bold. In lying but a few rods
from it we anchored in 35 fathOmS (290
feet) of water.
June 10 the sun rose in splendor out
of the ocean, but as usual, we had two
or three showers before breakfast.
After a splendid breakfast of fresh fish
hard tack and lob scouse, some half
dozen of us started to climb to the top
of one of the highest peaks After inces-
SAINT toiling for over five hours or more
we reached the top, quite content to let
our ambition rest. We were we'll up
in the air and a man on the plain be-
low looked no larger than an infant.
while our ship in the harbOr reSem bled
the tiny plaything of a schoolboy. The
clouds were far below US, while rain
bows of most brilliant color were on all
sides of us and extended from noun
tain to mountain. The roads were
steep and rough, but the beautiful
sights we saw more than repaid US for
our trouble.
ION our way down the mountain and
back to our ship we visited several
caves or dungeons built in the side of
a mountain for the purpose of cOnfin-
ing cOnyicts who were sent from Chill,
some 300 miles away. In all, the island
contains some fifteen persons, men, wO-
men and children, and yet among these
we found one genuine Yankee from
away down east. He had been there
some two years, and said he liked it
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 better than it look
ed The next hut we called at consist
ed of man and his wife and two
daughters. The young girls looked very
comedy to us, that had ben five months
at 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 fin
gers 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 put
ting them a table 12x14 inches and
10 inches high, we squatted ourselves
on the ground and ate our first meal on
Juan Fernandez Peaches in their
season are in abundance, growing wild
After arriving at the beach we char
tered the Yankee sailor 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 mountain.
II is of triangular shape, some eight