130 



ISLAND OF MASAFUERO. 



[1824. 



incident of the romance, was doomed to pine in want and obscurity. 

 The biographers of De Foe have given him much praise for having acted 

 honourably towards his creditors, from whose demands he had been 

 legally released by the statute of insolvency. They say, "Being 

 afterward in a state of affluence, he honourably paid the whole." If 

 this affluence proceeded from the sale of Robinson Crusoe, this com- 

 pliment to his integrity might better have been omitted. 



The time and place of Selkirk's death are not on record ; but it has 

 been asserted, on undoubted authority, that so late as the year 1798, 

 the chest and musket which he had with him on the island were in 

 possession of a grand-nephew, John Selkirk, a weaver in Largo, North- 

 Britain, 



I felt almost a romantic interest in examining such places as I knew 

 had been frequented by the recluse, and which had been accurately 

 described in the fiction. The harbour, however, near which he fixed 

 his residence, the better to watch for vessels, is little more than a small 

 cove, not above one hundred and twenty rods wide at its entrance, and 

 entirely open to the easterly winds, from south-east to north-north-east. 

 But the wind seldom blows from these points, except in the winter 

 season. Here, and from the summit of an adjacent eminence, would 

 the wretched man watch the distant horizon, until his eyes and his 

 heart both became insupportably painful. As I descended from the 

 same eminence, I could not help repeating the words I had heard sung 

 somewhere, " Alas ! poor Robinson Crusoe !" 



CHAPTER X. 



Island of Masafuero — The River Maule — Captain and Crew arrested — A Prison 

 Scene — Symptoms of a bloody Crisis — Amicable Compromise — St. Valentine's 

 Day — Guests of Distinction — A nautical Breakfast strangely interrupted — False 

 Colours — Retaliation, or the Yankee Trick — Arrive at Valparaiso — The Wasp 

 changes Masters — Embark for the United States — Pilot a Ship through Magel- 

 lan's Strait — Touch at Pernambuco — Arrive at Salem — Gloomy Forebodings, 

 terminating in a fatal Reality — Visit to Stonington — Affecting Meeting — A 

 Father's Advice. 



From Juan Fernandez we proceeded to the island of Masafuero ; 

 which, though not yet known in romance, has been somewhat cele- 

 brated for the immense numbers of seals which have been found on 

 its shores. Three and a half millions of fur-seal skins were taken 

 from this island and sold in the Canton market between the years 

 1793 and 1807; at which time the business was scarcely worth fol- 

 lowing. But now the island, like its neighbour Juan Fernandez, is 

 almost entirely abandoned by these animals. 



The situation of this island is minutely stated in the last chapter. 

 It is of circular form, and about twenty miles in circumference. Its 

 surface is well covered with wood, and is generally very fertile ; 

 although it has evidently suffered from frequent volcanic eruptions. 



