JUAN FERNANDEZ. 327 
Pacific. The navigation of the Straits was often 
tedious and unsafe ; yet it was the only communi¬ 
cation known for nearly a century after its dis¬ 
covery, when, in January 1616, Schouten and 
Le Maire, two Dutch navigators, passed round the 
southern extremity of the American continent, 
which, in honour of the town whence they sailed, 
they designated Cape Horn. This course is now 
almost invariably preferred; and though the sea 
is high, and the gales are often boisterous and 
severe, the passage round the Cape is found 
more expeditious, and less hazardous, than the 
way through the Straits. 
One of the first objects that arrests the atten¬ 
tion of many, soon after they enter the Pacific, 
is the small island of Juan Fernandez, situated in 
lat. 33 deg. 49 sec. S. long. 80.30. The centre is 
mountainous, and the shore rocky, having one or 
two good harbours. It has received its designa¬ 
tion from its discoverer,* a Spanish pilot, Juan 
Fernandez, who originally, with several Spanish 
families, settled on its shores, but removed to 
the opposite coast of Chili, when the inhabitants 
became subject to his countrymen. It is dis¬ 
tinguished by its verdant and romantic appear¬ 
ance, the luxuriance with which peaches, necta¬ 
rines, apricots, and plums, (produced from seeds 
left by different visitors,) grow in different parts of 
the island, and by the bright red colour of the soil. - 
But it is chiefly celebrated as having been the 
abode of Alexander Selkirk, a native of Fife, in 
Scotland, who, being left on shore by the captain of 
the ship in which he sailed, remained on solitude 
on the island four years and four months, when he 
was released by Captain Rogers, on the 2d of 
* Rogers* Voyage of Duke and Duchess. V 
