The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-10-08
ISLE OF CRUSOE.
New Facts About Exile of the Man
Famed in Romance.
From London Illustrated Mail.

From London Illustrated Mail
Inc discovery by Randolph Berens of
Robinson Crusoe's gun is one of the
most interesting historical finds of re-
cent years and will shortly find a rest
ing place in the British Museum.
The gun which it is supposed Alex
ander Selklrk-better known as Robin
son Crusoe-used on the Island of Juan
FERNANDEZ is fitted with an ordinary
flint lock and upon the lock is engrav we'd
the figure of an elephant. This would
seem to imply that at some time or
other the lock-not necessarily the gun
was the property of the old East India
Company. Also engraved upon the
stock ar the words, "A Selkirk, Lago,
N. B." This inscription is roughly and
laboriously graved as with a penknife,
in letters about an inch high.
The following friendly doggerel is cut
upon the barrel:
With three drains powther
And two ounce hail (or' "shot)
Ram me well and prime me,
To kill l will not fail.
The story of the finding of the gun is
a little strange. Mr.. Berens prowling
for antiquities in the Ashmolean Mu-
scum at Oxford some twenty years ago,
saw it and bought it there for the sum
of Is shillings.
The Gun SeIkirk Carried.
Mr.. Berens has been unable to trace
the gun back to 1875 only when it was
sold by somebody at Chaplain for 10
shillings to a man who, failing to see
anything of interest in it, offered it
after two years to the custodian of the
Ashmolean Museum at Oxford for 20
shillings. They also saw little of inter-
OF N 70 OH RnT d9WG later
Mr.. Berens, being near Oxford on a
visit strolled by chance into the mu-
scum and Immediately recognized an
important find.
Every one who has read the famous
book-and who has not?-will be inter-
ested in this curious relic of the days
when Robinson Crusoe with his man
Friday dwelt on the desert island.
We was left upon the Island of Juan
Fernandez by the order of the captain
of the ship upon which he served as
boatswain'S mate for melting the crew
to mutiny, and was taken off four years
later by Capt. Woodes Rogers, who,
when out at sea, had observed the sig
nal from Lookout" Point.
Juan Fernandez is part of the arch
ipelago discovered in 1868 by the navi-
gator of that name. The group con-
sists of two islands and an islet, which
politically form part of the province of
VALPARAISO. They are situated between
SO degrees and "a degrees latitude south,
and at 81 degrees longitude west OF
Paris They are Mas-a-tierra, Mas-a-
fuera and Santa Clara. The first is the
only one that has ever been known by
the name of Juan Fernandez.
where the Exile Lived.
This is Robinson Crusoe's isle. 1t is
about thirty-siX square miles in extent
and is heavily wooded with splendld
tree ferns, small orange trees. mYr-
ties and sandal wood. The isle, which
is mountainous and has peaks of great
hight, is full of raVines and torrents.
Crowds of wild goats roam through the
underwood and myriads of humming
birds chat among the ferns. Every
thing thrives there-wheat, potatoes
and many vegetables; cattle also do
very we'll.
On Lookout" hill Crusoe erected a
mast on which every day he hoisted
a strip of cloth to serve as flag and
at night he lit a fire there. Nearly
seven years ago the remains of the
flagstaff were found by the commission
sent by the Gillian government to the
island to explore it and TO decide
whether a penal settlement should be
established there. 1t had already been
previously used as a place of exile for
political convicts. and Vestiges of
their cells and dungeons are still to be
seen. This use of it was eventually
abandoned and in 1877 the island was
let to an eccentric Swiss.
Nowadays a quiet little population of
sailors and colonists is settled there.
The principal town, which is but a
hamlet, San Juan Bautista, has been
built on Cumberland bay, on the very
Sall ,.Iy &c
charming little seaport, though not a
very safe one, owing to the prevailing
winds from the north and northeast
and is much frequented by whalers and
has since 1878 possessed wharf and
lighthouse.
Nearly as He Left Ii.
Naturally the great curiosities of the
island are the places where Robinson
Crusoe, according to the story, passed
the best part of his life. First there
is the grottO, where he made his dwell
ing; it is large and has plenty of room,
and as carpeted with ferns and climb
ing plants; all around it grows that
polygomy out of which gigantic leaves
he made his crockery-plates, dishes,
soup tureens and even washing basins
and tanks. There is the little bay in
which he used to moor his boat, the
plateau on which he built his cabin,
but no traces of the sailors work are
now to be found, either of the channels
he dug out for launching his canoe or
of the walls he built to protect himself
against the inclemency of the weather
These are places of pilgrimage, cele-
brated spots where the traveller gives
himself up to emotion and meditation
and which he contemplates while re-
calling to his mind what he has read
on the subject and trying to conjure
nm the tragic scenes which have UNI
folded themselves there.
Al the foot of the Lookout there is
m be seen a memorial tablet in bronze
fxed to the rock. 1t was placed there
in 1897 through the exertions of the
chilian Scientific Commission-the chief
of which was the president of the re-
nublic himself-which visited the island
10 investigate practical means for re-
esta blishing a penal colony. A solemn
inauguration was held and speeches
we're delivered, retracing the principal
events in the life of Alexander Selkirk
and praising his courage and endurance
and Industry. The tablet recalls them
in moving terms to the passer-by.
doctor, do you think you are go
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