ALASKA INDUSTRIES, 199 



sarilv traced out bv their varions combinations a great number of romantic val- 

 leys 'most of wliicli had a stream of the clearest water running through them that 

 tumbled in cascades at the bottom of the valley by the course of the neighboring 

 hills was ;it anv time broken into a sharp, sudden descent. Some particiilar 

 snots occurred iii those valleys where the shaded fragrance of the contiguous 

 woods the loftiness of the overhanging trees, and the transparency and frequent 

 falls of the neighboring streams presented scenes of such elegance and dignity as 

 would be with difaculty rivaled by any other part of the globe. It is in this place, 

 perhaps, that the simple productions of unassisted nature may be said to excel all 

 the fictitious descriptions of the most animated imagination. 



Animals of Juan Fkrnandez.— It remains now only that we speak of the 

 animals and the provisions which we met with at this place. Former writers 

 have related that this island abounded with vast numbers of goats, and their 

 accounts are not to be questioned, this place being the usual haunt of the bucca- 

 neers and privateers who formerly frequented these seas. And there are two 

 instances, one of a Mosquito Indian and the other of Alexander Selkirk, a Scotch- 

 man, who were left here by their respective ships and lived alone upon this island 

 for some years, and consequently were no strangers to its produce. Selkirk, who 

 was the last, after a stay of between four and five years, was taken off the place 

 (in 1708) by the Dul^e and Dutchess, privateers of Bristol, as may be seen at large 

 in the journal of their voyage. His manner of life during his solitude was in 

 most particulars very remarkable, but there is one circumstance which he relates 

 which was so strangely verified by our own observations that I can not help 

 reciting it. He tells us, among other things, that he often caught more goats 

 than he wanted. He sometimes marked their ears and let them go. This was 

 about thirty-two years before our arrival on this island. Now, it happened that 

 the first goat killed by our peojde at their landing had its ears slit, whence we 

 concluded that he had doubtless been formerly under the power of Selkirk. This 

 was indeed an animal of most venerable aspect, dignified with an exceedingly 

 majestic beard, and with many other symptoms of antiquity. During our stay 

 on the islands we met with others marked in the same manner, all the males 

 being distinguished by an exuberance of beard and every other characteristic of 

 extreme age. 



But the great number of goats which former writers describe to have been f oimd 

 upon this' island are at present very much diminished, as the Spaniards, being 

 informed of the advantages which the buccaneers and privateers drew from the 

 provisions which goats' flesh here furnished them with, have endeavored to 

 extirpate the breed, thereby to deprive their enemies of this relief. For this pur- 

 pose they have put on shore great numbers of large dogs, who have increased 

 apace and have destroyed all the goats in the accessible part of the country, so 

 that there now remain only a few among the crags and precipices, where the dogs 

 can not follow them. These are divided into separate herds of twenty or thirty 

 each, which inhabit distinct fastnesses and never mingle with each other. By 

 this means we found it extremely difficult to kill them: and yet we were so desir- 

 ous of their flesh, which we all agreed much resembled venison, that we got 

 knowledge, I believe, of all their herds, and it was conceived, by comparing their 

 number together, that they scarcely exceeded two hundred upon the whole island. 

 -X- * ■» These dogs, who are masters of all the accessible parts of the island, are 

 of various kinds, some of them very large, and are multiplied to a prodigious 

 degree. They sometimes came down to our habitations at night and stole our 

 provisions, and once or twice they set upon single persons, but assistance being 

 at hand they were driven off without doing any mischief. As at present it is rare 

 for goats to fall in their way, we conceived that they lived principally upon young- 

 seals; and, instead, some of our people had the curiosity to kill dogs sometimes and 

 dress them, and it seemed to be agreed upon that they had a fishy taste. 



Seals at Juan Fernandez.— Goats' flesh, as I have mentioned, being scarce, we 

 rarely being able to kill above one a day, and our people growing tired of fish 

 (which, as I shall hereafter observe, abound at this place), they at last conde- 

 scended to eat seals, which by degrees they came to relish and called it lamb. The 

 seal, numbers of which haunt this island, hath been so often mentioned byformer 

 writers that it is unnecessary to say anything particular about it in this place. 

 But there is another amphibious creature to be met with here, called a sea lion, 

 that bears some resemblance to a seal, though it is much larger. This, too, we eat, 

 under the denomination of beef, and as it is so extraordinary an animal I conceive 

 it well merits a particular description. [This is the Southern Sea elephant, Macro- 

 rh inns leonin us, not the sea lion. Otaria jiibata.—B.. W. E.] They are in size, when 

 arrived at their full growth, from 12 to 20 feet in length and from 8 to 15 feet in 

 circumference. They are extremely fat, so that after having cut through the skin, 



