El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-12-05

I and there is monument 70 niIu CVh-
| sisting of a marble tablet set IN the
rocks on one of the higher parts of the
| island.
The place is known as Robinson
| Crucoe's Lookout and it is where ne is
| supposed to have kept watch 1lres
burning to attract the attention Of any
/ ship that might pass Inc moIulliiffLiiS
was erected in 1868 by some English
naval officers. The inscription reads
% io--O " TN MEMORQ OF
| ALEXANDER SELKIRK. MARINER
/ "A native of Largo in the County OF
| Fyfe, Scotland, who lived on TINS IS
| land, in complete solitude -FOUR years
ana he eoV was star landed from the 'Cinque
! Ports galley, 90 tons, is guns, A u;
| 1-OA and was taken off in the Duke
| DrIvateer 18th of February 1IU9,
| ''He died Lieutenant of n. NJ ,. Ney
month a. D. 1923, aged A years.
! This tablet is erected near Selklr x X >
! TooIroT+ nv commodore Powell ana I INC
J officers of H NJ. S. Topaz A ID. 1900.
! Alexander SellEirk was RESCUED III
, 176q inst a little more than 2OO years
| ago. He went to London ana me -5tS
NET Defoe who had many talks wa" wiz
I him and therefrom got the luea al
| BACKGROUND Of his story. me 80
/ ss7obinson .Crusoe" was published ten
MAY Be Tourist Point.
Now that the Panama Canal Is com
pleted there will probably be s son
J special steamship excursions 10 10 GLi ~.
| son Crusoe's Island. The rounu UP
( from VALPARAISO can be made in Ihree
| ~ fou- DAYS and il might include a
/ look at the cave in which Alexander
! Selkirk lived, at the Lookout Where
for four long years he scanned lhe SO
for ships, and, doubt not az Ves l,ls % e
] of Crusoes man Frlday, anu Pet NJ - a
a petrified footprint OF thaI "hlCh 'Ho
] the EanQ.
! SeIkirlx was found by snip mat ma
seen the fire on the Lookout Accoru-
ing to the narrative Of the captain VIZ
/ took him to England, he was claa ~
goatskins and was running .5 aoIu Ion
/ though crazy. When ne reacheu - ~ ,
don his talk was the wonder OF tne
! coffee houses and his adventures WeIS
| discussed by every one. Slr HiCli a.. u
steele told of them in one OF ms pa
| pers. and Selkirk published MUS
psnnbIet of IL pages describing his
Crusoe's Cave Easily identified
The Robinson Crusoe cave, where
SeIkirk lived, lies in ridge OF EolGAlli y
rock. 1t is easily Identified. II y
about 80 feet deep, and its rooI IS IRON
10 to Is feet from the floor. Tne en-
trance is about is feet high' anu :
| almost hidden in ferns. The cave SHOWS
! signs of having been lived in, and IL Is
I like the description OF thaL IN f.O t.i
! son Crusoe." There are holes ana pCCh-
! e+s scooped out Of the walls and mere
ana there is a rusty nail that had been
driven in between the stones. Inc cave t,.
| is said to have been the resort OF Ihe
buccaneers who once raTaged the west
| coast of South America. l.,
| There are other caves upon the IS
Hand. and there are also cave dungeons
! which were occupied when the island
| was used for criminals. Some of the
cells were far underground, and the
| prisoners could not stand uprlgh'
| within them. History records that the
convicts once mutinied and murdered
/ their guards. They captured the boats
| in the harbor, and 800 Of them made
I their way to Chile and landed there.
/ Within the past year or so the Chill
| can government has decided to make
I Juan Fernandez again convict settle
/ ment The officials have visited 1t, and
! thev find it well fitted for the purpose
| They have sent a number of conYlcts
1 there and are now erecting a mOdel
| prison upon It
! Another Valuable Group of Islands.
| Another group of islands that will be
| important, now that the canal is com
| Melted is the Archipelago de Colon
The name on the maps is the Galapa'
/ Cos islands These Islands belong tC
| Ecuador They are situated about az
far from Panama as New York Is dls
tant from Chicago, and in such a 10
cation that they might form an I'M
Dortant coaling station for the ships or
their way north and south between
the two continents. They are abou
| 500 miles from Ecuador and 1000 miles
| north of Valparaiso.
These islands were for a long time
uninhabitated, and not long ago the!
had a sort of a Robinson Crusoe, Wit
lived there for years upon fruit anC
roots and upon the wild cattle and pigs
which he was able to kill. He caugh
the animals in traps and killed then
with a spear made of a pocket knife
tied to a stick. He had hut with
roof Of cowskins and pigskins. Whel
found he was naked, and was carrying
pig on his back. He had been on th'
islands for years having been left there
by some ship. He had almost lost tn
= power Of speech, and it took some TIM
, for him to grow accustomed to civiliz
ed ways.
! U. s. May Get Islands.
I At several times during our histor,
the United States has considered tn
getting possession of the Galapago
islands. In 1851 preliminaries of trans
fer were arranged with Ecuador, an,
at that time 100000 was offered 70
r the right of collecting the guanO Of
the islands. The sale fell through
] | however, and so far none of the sub
2 sequent negotiations has succeeded