Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-12-06

signs of having been lived in, and it is
like the description of that in Robin
son Crusoe" There are holes and peck
and there is a rusty nail that had been
driven in between the stones The cave
is said to have been the resort of the
coast of South America. There are 9TH
er caves upon the island. and there are
also cave dungeons which were occu-
pied when the island was used for
criminals. Some of the cells were far
underground, and the prisoners could
not stand upright within them His
tory records that the convicts once mu-
TIMED and murdered their guards. They
300 of them made their way to Chile
and landed there.
Within the past year or so the Chill
can government has decided to make
Juan Fernandez again a convict settle
ment. The officials have visited it. and
they find it we'll fitted for the purpose.
They have sent number of conyicts
there, and are now erecting a model
prison upon It,
Another group of islands that will he
important. now that the canal is COM
pleted, is the Archipelago de Colon.
The name on the maps is the Galanapos
Islands. THESE islands belong to Ecua-
DOR They are situated about as far
from Panama as New York is distant
from Chicago. and in such a location
mat they might form an important
coaling station for the ships on their
way north and south between the two
continents. They are about 500 miles
from Ecuador and 1000 miles north of
Valparaiso
dc
time uninhabited, and not long ago they
had sort of Robinson crnsoa ~
lived there for years upon fruits .nS
roots and upon the wild cattle and nies
winch he was able to kill He canpbt
Win vna ANIMALS naas IN traps and killed them
tied to stick. He had a hut with .
roo1 or cowskins and pigskins. When
round ne was naked. and was carryine
is, piS o.. IN nus pack; He had been on the
oy some ship. He had almost lost The
power OF speech. and it took some time
ways. ~ Si'iiiAeu
At several times during our history
the United States has considered the
gettlng possession of the Galanaeoa
Islands In 1851 preliminaries Of trans
Ter were arranged with Ecuador, and
the right of collecting the guano on
the islands. The sale fell through.
however, and so far none Of the sub
sequent negotiations has succeeded.
Now that We have the Canal the sale
may again come up in connection with
our Pacific coast trade
1t is claimed that the islands are fer
tile. Some parts of them are now being
settled. The Ecuadorians have estab-
lished several plantations. and saw that
they have enough grazing grounds to
reed thousands of cattle. The islands
have excellent cod fisheries along the
shore. and are also famous for
turtle turtles OF enormous size; which are
when full grown measure about three
feet thick and weigh as much as 500
pounds They are valuable for their
Oil, which can be used in place of lard
An ordinary turtle will yield about six
gallons of oil. and this will. sell for rs
cents a gallon. The islands~have also
seals and wild dogs, as well as wild
donkeys and cattle. all of which are
the descendants of those brought by a
colony from Ecuador, which once at
tempted to settle the island, but failed
There are other islands lying off the
west coast of South America that have
yielded more money than any other
spots upon earth of similar size.
refer to the guano islands. which have
produced more than one billion dollars
worth Of fertilizer, and which, if the
present movement for their renovation
succeeds, will produce hundreds of mill
lions of dollars more. This movement
is backed by the Peruvian government,
and is based upon scientific investiga-
lions. I will describe it further on in
this letter.
The guano islands begin at the north
ern part of Peru, and they run here
and there through the sea off the west
coast of the South American desert far
down into Chile. They are so situated
that they have no rain, and they are
absolutely barren except for the vast
focks of birds which use them for their
breeding places.
saw many of these islands on my