The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-03
ROBINSON oRusoE's ISLAND.
Tale of Boston Sailor Who Recent
Iy Visited the Place.

~ Visited the Place.
From the St Louis Globe Democrat
Three years ago report said that Robin
son Crusoe's Island-that bit of land so
mysterious and yet so well drawn in the
imagina ton of every youth, had been de-
stroyed by volcano, and it was months
before the story was disproved In truth,
it lies as peaceful and as healthful today
in its location 400 miles off the Chilean
coast as it appeared to the shipwrecked
Robinson Crusoe in the romance which
Daniel Defoe made immortal
1t will be remembered that the adven-
lures OF Robinson Crusoe in fiction We're
roughly the adventures of Alexander Sell
kirk in real life and the strange things
which happened to one were nearly dupli-
Gated in the actual experience Of the
other So the cave in which Alexander
Selkirk lived will be more readily recog-
nized and better remembered as that of
Robinson Crusoe. John Burns, a Boston
sailor, was one of crew who recently
visited the place. He says:
1--WE visited all of the haunts of Alexan-
der Selkirk the real adventurer whom
the novelist took for his hero. We skirt
ed the sandy shore where the man Friday
was found. We entered Crusoe's cave,
where dates and memoranda were carved
'"The cave runs back in the mountain
for at least forty feet 1t does not start
from inland, 1t is largely grown over
with a vine bearing bright green leaves,
and is very attractive. Other smaller
caves are near at hand. one of which is
now occupied by an old lady and two
young children. A few hens and ducks
and wild goat help to make up the hap
py family 1t certainly looks very pic
turesque to see modern white enameled
bed with brass trimmings standing in a
cave with nothing on the floor except
what nature provided, and to see the chill
dren, chickens, ducks wild goats and old
lady on the bed at one time.
I'VE climbed to the nights above the
cave and saw the tablet erected by an
English man-of-wars man in memory of
the adventurer Selkirk, who made the ISL
and famous.
'Our ship we hove 70 in the little cove
harbor where Crusoe padded about in the
hand made canoe. This is now called Cum
berland boy, and or its shores is a quiet
little settlement of Chileans, Germans,
Scotchmen and a few Italians, numbering
in ell about eighty-five. Here on this gem
of the South Pacific almost exactly the
size of Staten Island, three miles wide by
fifteen long, they lead a happy existence
They make an easy living from the fisher
les. for the bay is full of loosters and yell
where the fish is put up for shipment. \
schooner from Chile touches there every
twenty days to load with fish and game,
and to deliver the mail. A few men are
engaged in the seal fisheries, and are do
ing well. The seals are numerous around
the island, but they are not so valuable
az the Northern seal, on account of their
light fur.
1.-THE island is covered with wild goats
wild donkeys and wild pigs. The natives.
strange TO relate. catch the goats in the
same way that 1t is reported Selkirk did
1.-The only fruit that l saw there was the
fig and the ounce. Altogether the island
is strange little principally. It's noun
tains reach to a hight of 5000 feet, and
il is pretty we'll watered.
1T was in 1904 that Alexander Selkirk,
the Scotch seaman, was cost away here
and remained four years before he wos
picked up by a British ship and taken
back to his own country.
MANY are the experiences which the
island has undergone since then. In the
early part of this century it was used for
a time as convict settlement, and in the
walls of the cliff are to be found hundreds
Of dungeons hewn by the prisoners them>
selves in the heart of the rock But the
distance from the mainland, as well as the
difficulty of keeping the garrison provs-
toned and recruited, led TO several out
massacred the warden and troops The
Chilean government then decided to a ban
don Juan Fernandez as q convict settle
ment.
at was not until 1873 that the island was
again inhabited. when it was leased for a
term of years by a Swiss patrician named
Baron Won Rodt. He had served in the
Austrian cavalry and received wounds
that disabled him for army life. Convert
ing his fortune into money, he left Eu-
rope and went TO Valparaiso, Chile. Hav-
ing a hermits disposition. he established
himself on the isolated island of Juan Fer
nandez. Finding the lobster and other
kind OF fisheries could be made proita BILE
he leased che island from the Chilean
government and conducted this industry.
as well as fruit raising on a large and
profitable scale.
"The war with Peru at length occurred
and his business was broken up. He re-
turned TO Europe, but found himself 40
little adapted for civilized life after his
island experience and so homesick for his
ocean home that he again set sail for
Juan Fernandez, this time taking with
him a charming bride to share his lot
There on the green tropical shore, she
most imposing of the dozen villas, Is his
home to-day. He Is now governor of the
island. as well as the best educated and
wealthiest Of its Inhabitants, and is known
as Don Alfredo"