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island, and called it Juan Fernandez. He was 

 allowed to possess the newly-discovered spot, and 

 even made an attempt to colonize it. But the 

 few families who went to settle there did not 

 remain. They soon abandoned it, and it was un- 

 inhabited as before. 



Juan Fernandez is known to every reader of 

 " Robinson Crusoe," as the island on which he 

 and his man Friday lived in solitude. 



The real solitary, or exile, was a seaman of the 

 name of Alexander Selkirk, who quitted his 

 vessel, and was left behind in this desolate place. 

 He spent four years without hearing the sound 

 of a human voice ; and was at last picked up and 

 brought to England. The goats, in whose skins 

 he had clothed himself, were the descendants of 

 those animals brought by the colonists I have 

 mentioned, and that had multiplied and overrun 

 the island. 



