They made him a coat of an old Nanny goat,

I wonder how they could do so!”

Thus runs the old nursery rhyme with which all of us are familiar. There are few reading people, young or old, who have not read that fascinating tale of adventure, written by Daniel Defoe, which depicts the adventures of Robinson Crusoe. And yet, perhaps, there are not so many who are familiar with the location of the island which Defoe pretends to describe.

The island of Juan Fernandez, generally known among Chileans as Mas-a-Tierra, is a great mass of rock almost twelve miles long by seven miles wide, a large part of which is as barren as a desert. One side, however, where fruits grow and the wild sheep and goats find their sustenance, is covered with a luxuriant vegetation. It is in a desolate location, for it is away from the trade routes and there are few vessels that pass that way. The fishing boats that ply between Valparaiso and the island keep up communication with the mainland. The waters of the Pacific teem with fish, and the fishermen have found the little bays of this small island profitable waters for their trade. It is a great lobster-fishing ground also, and the largest lobsters by far that I ever have seen were caught at this island.

Even to-day there are very few people who live on the island of Juan Fernandez. Only about half of it is fertile, and access to it is so difficult that it does not appeal to many. There is one settlement at San Juan Bautista—St. John the Baptist—where the boats land, and one or two other little groups of houses where a few colonists live. The attempt that has been made by the Chilean Government to colonize it cannot be called a success, for fewer people live there to-day than there did a few years ago.

Were it not for the story woven about the island few people would be interested in it to-day. It was here among these barren hills, and in the natural caves which abound on the island, that Alexander Selkirk lived for four years and four months, more than two centuries ago. It was here that he met and adopted a lone Indian, whom he named Friday, because of the day he first found him. It is little wonder that existence was lonesome, and it is even a greater wonder that he did not lose his mind from lack of association with other human beings. At last his watch fires attracted the attention of a passing schooner and the lone wanderer was taken to England, where, for a time, he became quite a hero. He was found, as the captain of the boat said, “clad in goat-skins and was running about as though he were demented.” There is a rock on the island which is called “Robinson Crusoe’s Lookout,” because it is said to be the place where the signal fires were built. It is on a high hill and commands a view of the sea for many miles. A large cave, which is as large as the average parlour, is supposed to have been his home. In the sides of this rock are rusty nails said to have been driven into it by pirates who used to make the place their rendezvous.

A marble tablet has been erected on the “Lookout.” This was placed there by some English naval officers in 1868, for Selkirk himself was a naval officer. Among other things this tablet says:

IN MEMORY OF
ALEXANDER SELKIRK
MARINER.
A NATIVE OF LARGO, IN THE COUNTY OF FIFE,
SCOTLAND, WHO LIVED ON THIS ISLAND,
IN COMPLETE SOLITUDE, FOUR YEARS
AND FOUR MONTHS.

HE WAS LANDED FROM THE “CINQUE PORTS”
GALLEY, 96 TONS, 18 GUNS, A. D., 1704, AND WAS TAKEN
OFF IN THE “DUKE,” PRIVATEER, 12TH FEBRUARY, 1709.

HE DIED LIEUTENANT OF H. M. S. “WEYMOUTH,” A. D.,
1723, AGED 47 YEARS.