The Republican journal., 1903-12-31

LII. P1erCe'S Pleasant FelletS assist IQS
action of the Discovery"
1709), light was discovered which they
at first thought to be on board ship at
anchor. The French pirates had been
in search of Captain Rogers, and it
was supposed that these were lying in
wait, close to the shore. The boats
which had started landward hastily re-
turned to the ship; and the wonder is
that they did not sail away leaving poor
Robinson to his solitude. But Captain
Rogers was brave man, and instead of
flight he prepared for battle. Next
DAY, seeing no vessel there, they went
on shore, where they found a man-so
says the narrator-"clad in goat-skins
and looking wilder than the first own
ers of them" 1t was Selkirk, who,
almost craZed with excitement at sight
of a longed-for sail which might deliver
him, had built the fire that attracted
their attention. The privateers took
him on board, and finding that he had
been a ships officer, appointed him
mate of one of Rogers vessels and
took him to England.
The queerest of all the books is a
little quarto volume of only twelve
pages, published in 17l0, and profusely
garnished with capital letters, after
the fashion of that time. 1t is en-
titled providence Displayed, or very
Surprising Narrative of one Alexander
Selkirk, master of a Merchant Man
called Clnque Port, who, dreaming that
the Ship would soon after be Lost, he
desired to be left on a Desolate Island
in the South Seas. where he lived Four
Years and Four Months without see
ing the Face of Man, the ship being
afterwards Cast Away as he had
Dreamed. As also how he came after
wards to be Miraculously Preserved
and Redeemed from the Fatal Place
by the two Bristol privateers. Duke
and Duchess, that took the Rich Aca-
pulco Ship worth one hundred Tons of
Gold and brought it to England 70
which is added An Account of Birth
and Education: His description of the
Island where he was cast: How he
Subssted; the several Strange Things
he saw, and how he spent his Time.
With some pious CALCULATIONS that he
used during his Melancholy Residence
there Written by his own Hand and
attested by most of the Eminent Mer-
chants upon the Royal Exchange
Probably it was this same little book
that furnished DeFoe with text for
his story which has delighted genera
tions of young people in all parts of
the world, and filled them with vague
longings for sea-life, shipwrecks and
solitude. Robinson Crusoe' had a
phenomenal success, accorded to few
works since Job wished that his enemy
| would make book" and has by no
means lost prestige after two hundred
years.
When an excursion to Juan Fernan-
dez is on the tapis, the newspapers of
Santiago and Valparaiso advertise it in
glowing terms for weeks beforehand;
and, as amusements of any sort are
generally crowded to it's utmost capaci-
ty, though the fare is as high as ac-
! commodations are poor. The party we
joined-composed mostly of Chillians
and GermanS-set sail from Talcanu-
ano, a port some two hundred miles
south from Valparaiso; and the fare
was put at $50 gold per capita, for
an absence of eight days.
We were struck by "norther"
when few hours out, (Which, as
usual in these waters, came tearing up
from the south around Cape Horn,
and the sea-sick misery that commonly
attends voyage so short that one has
not time to get his sea legs on, was in
tensified by the over crowded condition
of the tiny steamer, and the odorifer-
GUS messes Qimberger, liverwust, and
other mysteries) that our Teutonic
friends insisted upon devouring be-
tween their hearty ar-o-o-u-u-u-ps.
But the most disagreeable things have
an end, and late on the second day we
came to anchor off the island of
our dreams. Nothing could be seen
but wild seas on one hand rolling off in
to the darkness, and on the other a
black, perpendicular wall of rock,
whose ragged pinnacles appeared to
pierce the sky, broken by awful georges
through which the wind walled dismal
ly. Some Of the cliffs seemed so near
that we might almost touch them with
our hands, and the surf beat SO fright
fully upon them that returning waves
kept the ship rolling as when out on
the ocean. Sleep was out of the Ques-