The Republican journal., 1903-12-31
Robinson Crusoe'S Island.
VISIT TO THE HOME OF THE AN
GENT MARINER. HOW THE ISLAND
LOOKS TODAY

AsAxAANAANASA>s
LOOKS TODAY.
Especial Correspondence of The Journal
VALPARAISO, CHILL, Nov. %, 1908.
Being on the western side of South
America it is an easy matter to visit
Juan Fernandez-the island known to
the world as ''Robinson CrusOe's'-for
it lies only about 400 miles from Val
paraiso. sailing straight toward sunset.
or rather it is easy whenever some
body succeeds in drumming up an ex-
cursion party large enough to pay for
chartering a special steamer; other
wise one might as we'll dream of going
on foot to Polynesia, as there Is no
regular communication between the
main land and this isolated Chilian
possession. There is picnic two or
three times a year to Juan Fernandez
more for the purpose of shooting
4oats and seal and fishing for cod and
.ubsters than for visiting the haunts of
-hp ancient mariner for the memory of
lat worthy is not held in much vener-
5tion near the scene of his adventures.
since SO many of the heroes of our
rarlier days have lamentably turned
nit to be myths-Since it has been
moved that William Tell did not shoot
Al. apple from his sons head, nor Bar
1lra Fritchie tlirt a flag in the face of
>toneWall JackSon's men; and since in
.Ae broad light of nowadays even
santa Claus is doubted, and the whale
nat swallowed Jonah-I am delighted
10 he able to declare that there really
MAS a Robinson Crusoe," Though, as
everybody knows, that was not his true
Yame), and that he lived on the island,
almost exactly as described in the story,
ust two hundred years ago. But local
additions of the affair differ greatly
;rom the account with which we are
.amiliar.
1t seems that in The year 1904
Seotchman named Alexander Seleraig,
now commonly called Selkirk), mutt
med on board the Spanish bark Cinque
Ports, and was given the choice of
l4ing hanged at the yard-arm or put
shore alone on an uninhabited island.
lie chose the latter alternative, because
offered some hope of life: but when
anded on the mossy rocks of Juan Fer
andez with his sailors kit and small
,upply of provisions, the desolation of
.Ne place so weighed upon him that he
truged with tears to be taken back and
anged. rather than remain-a solitary
lman speck surrounded by a wild
waste of water.
\ few days afterward he discovered
II. indian on the island, who had come
own some years before from the Mos
INTO Coast of Central America Oh the
;alate Danthere; and who, having gone
.,Yore to hunt, got lost and was aban-
med by his companions. This was the
an Friday" whom Daniel DeFoe
mortalized.
After Selkirk had lived on Fernandez
aJr wears and four months he was res
ed by an English ship and taken to
-ulthampton. where he told his story
e Mn some judicious omissions and eX-
-erations: and so it came to DeF'oes
us. and finally into print. The book
Its not published until more than ten
ears after Selkirk's return to England,
ua it is asserted that the author of
"Robinson Crusoe'' never saw his hero
,I held any communication with HIM,
1T that he picked up the narrative by
-ps here and there, mainly from news
Fiper items which doubtless originated
, the sailors own account OF himself.
1T any rate it is surprising how correct
.y the scenery of Juan Fernandez Island
is portrayed in the well-known story, so
lat to this day it serves we'll for
book, and by it one may readily
nd the ''look out" the ''cave," and
ghat remains of Crusoes castle and
other haunts.
But Mr.. DeFoe does not appear to
ave been very we'll posted on the
geography of this part of the world,
tor he has located his island on the
wrong side of the continent, and mixed
p Valparaiso on the western coast
with Montevideo on the eastern.
Hunt up your long unread Robinson
Crusoe'' and turn to the fourth sec
ION. There you will read that the hero
starts from Brazil, where he had been
wing as a planter, on voyage to the
northward. Driven by heavy gales to-
ward the equator, along the eastern
coast of South America, the Captain
If the vessel finds himself upon the
toast of Guiana, on the north part of
Brazil, beyond the river Amazon, to-
ward that part of the river Orinoco,
commonly called the Great River;
and began to consult with me-" con-
tlnues Robinson, ''what course he
snould take, for the ship was leaky and
much disabled, and he was for going
directly back to the coast of Brazil. |
vas positively against that, and look
ng over the charts of the sea coast OF
Amprica with him we concluded there