JUAN FERNANDEZ. 



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Juan Fernandez, Novemher 13th to 15th, 1815. — The voyage 

 to Juan Fernandez occupied six weeks, as we had the bad for- 

 tune to be becalmed for 12 days on the passage. It was with 

 the liveliest interest that we approached the scene of Alexander 

 Selkirk's life of seclusion and hardship, and an island with the 

 existence of which, in the case of most of us, the very fact that 

 we were at sea on a long voyage was more or less distinctly con- 

 nected. The study of Eobinson Crusoe certainly first gave me 

 a desire to go to sea, and "Darwin's Journal" settled the matter. 

 Defoe was obliged to lay the scene of his romance in the West 

 Indies in order to bring in the Carib man, Friday. He thus 

 gained the Parrot, but he lost the Sea-Elephants and Fur-Seals of 

 Juan Fernandez, one of the latter of which would have made a 

 capital pet for Crusoe. 



The island is most beautiful in appearance. The dark 

 basaltic cliffs contrast with the bright yellow-green of the 

 abundant verdure ; and the island terminates in fantastic peaks, 

 which rise to a height of about 3,000 feet. Especially con- 

 spicuous is a precipitous mass which backs the view from the 

 anchorage at Cumberland Bay, and which is called from its 

 form " El Yunque " (the anvil). 



There are upwards of 24 species of Ferns growing in this 

 small island, and in any general view the Ferns form a large 

 proportion of the main mass of vegetation. Amongst them are 

 two Tree Ferns, one of which I only saw amongst the rocks in 

 the distance, but could not reach. The preponderant Ferns, 

 especially the Tree Ferns, give a pleasant yellow tinge to the 

 general foliage. Curiously enough the almost cosmopolitan 

 common Brake Fern (Pteris aquilina) does not occur in the 

 island. Four species of the Ferns out of the 24 present are 

 peculiar to the island, and one, Thyrsopteris elegans, is of a genus 

 which occurs only here. The appearance of this Fern is very 



