248 



CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



TOBAGO. 



i^j^5.— Attempted settle- 

 ment of English, from 

 Barbados ; repulsed by 

 Indians. 



1632.— Tvfo hundred per- 

 sons arrived from Hol- 

 land. They found no in- 

 habitants, and they plant- 

 ed a colony and named 

 it New Walcheren. " The 

 Spaniards of Trinidad, 

 fearing the new settlers 

 would penetrate their se- 

 crets in exploring the 

 banks of the Oroonoko, 

 which was thought at 

 that time to contain beds 

 of gold, determined to ex- 

 tirpate these unwelcome 

 neighbors, and, enlisting 

 in their cause the savages 

 of Trinidad and the can- 

 nibals of the continent, 

 killed most of them. The 

 remainder fled, and To- 

 bago was left to solitude." 



i^-^;^.— The next attempt 

 was in 1642, by James 

 Duke, of the small but 

 independent state of 

 Courland, on the Baltic, 

 but since merged into the 

 empire of Russia. His 

 people landed on the 

 northern shore of the is- 



SELKIRK AND CRUSOE. 



1563. — Juan Fernandez 

 [Spanish navigator] dis- 

 covered the island which 

 now bears his name. 



About the Middle of the 

 Sixteenth Century. — Ro- 

 mantic adventures of Pe- 

 dro Serrano, who was 

 wrecked on an island in 

 the Caribbean Sea. Lived 

 there alone seven years, 

 subsisting upon turtle and 

 shellfish, and allaying 

 thirst with water caught 

 in shells of the turtles he 

 slaughtered. By rubbing 

 together two sticks, In- 

 dian fashion, he made a 

 fire, which he tended with 

 assiduous care lest it 

 should leave him. At 

 the end of a few months 

 he was entirely naked, 

 and remained in a nude 

 state seven years. When 

 finally rescued he was 

 covered with long hair, 

 and in this state was ex- 

 hibited before the court 

 of Spain. He was pen- 

 sioned and sent to Peru, 

 but died on the voyage 

 at Panama. The narra- 

 tive of his adventures was 

 published in Garcilasso's 



