ALL ABOUT CRUSOE'S "MAN FRIDAY." 147 



of being in any way related to the Chilians or the 

 Patagonians or the Fuegians — as some would have us 

 believe — he was intimately connected with the very 

 tribes discovered by Columbus, inhabiting the islands 

 known as the Caribbees. I assert, and with confi- 

 dence, that Friday came from the island of Trinidad ; 

 that he was a Carib, and belonged to the maligned 

 tribe of Indians called by the Spaniards " cannibales." 

 And I am well supported in this assertion, since it 

 was also made by that eminent writer, the late Charles 

 Kingsley, who says: "Crusoe's Island is almos^ cer- 

 tainly meant for Tobago ; Man Friday had been 

 stolen in Trinidad ! " 



Man Friday, then, was a Carib. Descendants of 

 his relatives still reside in two islands of the Carib- 

 bees, called Dominica and St. Vincent ; but they are 

 no longer eaters of human flesh, being as peaceable 

 as was Friday himself after Crusoe had completed his 

 education. 



Crusoe discovered footprints on the sands — so did 

 I. But those I found were more in the nature of 

 " footprints on the sands of time," being relics of the 

 Indians who had lived here when Columbus and Cru- 

 soe themselves were alive. In the sand drift behind 

 my hut, and occasionally in the forest soil, I found 

 many traces of the departed Indians, such as stone 

 axes, hatchets, spear and arrow heads. On some of 

 the cliffs also I found their rude inscriptions, carved 

 long centuries ago. These remains showed that In- 

 dians had often visited the place, and in that par- 

 ticular confirmed Crusoe's story. 



