The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-12-08

- one OF the boys books Of Janan
ana a Chinese edition has baen 81
oehty issued. which is harne -,
enormous sale. 'HAS an
.oW mat the Panama canal is cam
pieted, there will probably ha 80
speclal steamship excursions tn Robin
= orusOe s Island. The round trim
from ~alparai can he nado -
three or four days. and II mieht ~ III
ciude a look at the cave in 49,
a~eAahoer Selkirk lived, at the LOOT
ou., "here for four long years he
canned the sea for ships. and I
ooupt not, at vestiges Of Crnscoe.s
man rflday, and perhaps a petrifed
OF that which the savage
mace upon the sand.
Selkirk was found nv Chi, 49,
had seen the fire on the Iookort a.
corolng TO the narrative of the can
tam VINO took him to England. he
was ciad IN goatskins and was run
nlng about as though crazy. Wheu
ne reached London his talk was the
wonder OF the coffee houses and his
adventures were discussed by every
one. Sir Richard Steele told Of them
| IN one or his papers, and Selkirk NIB
llshed a little pamphlet of twelve
pages describing his wanderings.
The b Crusoe cave. where
oetKirk lived, lies in a ridge of vol
canlc rock. 1T is easily identified r.
Is about 80 feet deep. and it's roof
is from ten to fifteen feet from the
floor. The entrance is about fifteen
feet high, and is almost hidden in
terms. The cave shows signs Of hay-
description Of that in Robinson
Crusoe.' Their are holes and peck
etc scooped out OF the walls and here
and there is a rusty nail that had been
driven in between the stones. The cave
Is said to have beer the resort of the
buccaneers, who once ravaged the
west coast of South America. There
are other caves upon the island, and
there are also ave dungeons which
were occupiede when the island was
used for criminals. Some of the
cells were far underground, and tn
prisoners could not stand upright
within them. History records that
the convicts once mutinied and muir
dered their guards. They captured
the boats in the harbor, and 300 OF
} them made their way to Chile and
landed there.
Within h past year or SO the Chill
can government has decided to make
Juan Fernandez again a convict set
Element. The officials have visited 1t
and they find it well fitted for the
purposes. They have sent a number
of convicts there, and are now erect
ing a model prison upon it.
Another group OF islands that will
be important, now that the canal Il
, completed. is the Archipelago d,
Colon. The name On the maps is tn
Galapagos Islands. These islands be
long to Ecuador. They are situated
| about as far from Panama as New
York is distant from Chicago. n il
such a location that they might form
an important coaling station for tn
ships on their way north and soutl
Z between the two continents. They ar
4 about 500 miles from Ecuador and z.
8 600 miles north Of Valparaiso.
These islands were for a long tim
: uninhabited, and not long ago the
8 had a sort Of a Robinson Cruso, VIII
: lived there for years upon fruits an
roots and upon the wild cattle an
e pigs hich he was able to kill. II
caught the animals in traps and kill
n ed them with a spear made OF a poke
e knife tied to a stick. He had a hu
with a roof of cowskins and pigskin:
When found he was naked. and wa
n carrying a pig on his back. He ha
been on h islands for years havln
been left there by some ship. II
r had almost lost the power Of speech
and it took some time for him to gro
accustomed to civilized ways.
At several times during our histor
Q the United States has considered tn
J. getting possession of the Galapage
Islands. In 1851 p~reliminaries
transfer were arranged with Eduado
, and at that time 100000 was onere
for the right Of collecting IA guam
on the islands. The sale fell through
however, and so far none of the SUI
seouent negotiations has s~ucceede'
NOW that we have the Canal. the sal
may again come up in connectlC
i, with our Pacific coast trade-
e It is claimed that the Islands al
a fertile. Some parts OF them are no
being settled. The E~cuadorians ha'
established several plantations. ar
saw that they have enough srazlI
grounds to feed thousands OF cattl
n The islands have excellent COD fsi
4 cries along the shore, and are al:
famous for turtles of enormous siz
which are found nowhere else Inc:
- turtles when full grown measul
III