Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1884 — A LITTLE PARADISE. [ARTICLE]

A LITTLE PARADISE.

The Inland Where Itoblnsnn Crusoe Was Monarch of All He Surveyed. 225prre spondepce Rochester(Democrat. The sun was bathing! the beautiful Island with a flood of golcjen light as we neared its picturesque harbor. In . lilt's boats we went ashore and landed in a primitive manner of running the boat aground and pulling it up on the shore. It was difficult to realize that we wore, indeed, • on this historical mysterious Island that imagination had pictured froni-childhood’s early hours 4n so many fanciful -forms The booKs tell you, that it was on this lovely Island that, in 1704, the celebrated English navigator,-- Dampier, landed his boat - swain, . Alexander Selkirk, with whom he had quarreled, and left him alone on this uninhabited spot with a sniaT -quanrity of provisi:'i:S and tools. 11 ere he lived four years, till he was picked up by a passing ship and brought back to Europe. If, was from the JX)tes_hg ma ic dufing Tins s7bl7tary resi/lc)ice that Daniel Defoe composed his incomparq,ble work’of “Robinson Crusoe.” No book doubtless ever held the childish interest with a greater faeination than that which describes liis wanderings on this mysterious and enchant rd Isladd. That which bad always seemed but a dreamy romance was now before you. The scenbs where all the wild and wondrous experiences were described are justi at hand, and, you wander on, as it were, but just aroused from a fanciful dream. Perchance it was on this sandy beach among which’ you wander that Crusoe first discovered the footprints of his good man Friday. The Island is about seven Spanish leagues in circumference, or a tritie over twenty English miles. It belongs to Chili, and for a number of years the Goyernment used it as a place for transporting convicts, till one night all the prisoners rose in their power, killed their keepers, ami, taking the only boats on the Island, sailed away, and were never heard of more. Of late years the G overnment has leased the Island to one man, who pays something like £2,000 a year for its use. This man has a small colony of workmen, drying fish and goatskins, and sending them every few months in large quantities to the market in Valparaiso. There are to be found iu the waters about the Island lobsters of a peculiar kind and enormous in size. Some of these measure from two to four feet in length. Every variety of fish in abundance seem to swarm about this lone Island. It is a great resort for whalers, who put in here for a few days to supply themselves with fresh water and with fish, poultry and game, which they obtain at marvelously low prices from the sovereign ruler of the Island. Many years ago two lone, lorn goats were brought to the Island, and their families .and children have increased so rapidly that so day thousands and tens of thousands of these now are to be found in every part of the Island. Large mnnbe.ES of them are shot each year, and their dried Skins, sold in Valparaiso, are a source of large income to the lessee of the land. _p p It was necessary to live on board the ship", but each day there were excursions to distant parts, where new beauties, new surprises and new wonders revealed themselves. The whole Island is fertile, with wooded hills and valleys, wherein are springs of pure and living water. One day, I remember well, when the sun had all its dampers open end was pouring out a furious heat, so intense that our collars had lost all their dignity, and the ladies bangs looked as straight as an Ind an maiden’s tawny locks, we came within a wooded glen where suddenly a spring of living water burst from out the mossy rock. It was pure, clear as crystal, and of icy coldness. I think I never knew water of so fina a brand, It was more refreshing than the clioicest wine. There are no roads, no paths; but you pick your way along by nature's course. Now you turn sharply, and you find yourself again within a deep glen, where it would be no surprise to see nymph or giant issue forth. Here a stately tree filled with ripening fruit spreads its good branches over the smaller trees, and close beneath it ferns of wonderful beauty spring up; for where the land is musical with running streams, and great trees fling their shadows and hang darkly over the brooks whose sparkling waters give birth to soft vapors, these .ferns lore, to spring forth—perehance„,to .doubly re--fleet their beauty in some mirroring pool. It was a pretty spot, which sets you thinking of Childe Harold's temple on the bank of Clitinnus—“A mirror and bath for beauty’s youngest daughter."