Sept. 8, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
3 6 9 
in the trap rock a magnificent view may be had 
of the whole island, and of the sea north and 
south, over which the exile must have often and 
eagerly watched for an approaching sail. It 
bears the following inscription: “In.memory of 
Alexander Selkirk, mariner, a native of Largo 
in the county of Fife. Scotland, who was on 
this island in complete solitude for four years 
and four months. He was landed from the 
‘Cinque Ports’ galley, 69 tons. 16 guns, 1794 
A.D., and was taken off in the Duke, privateer, 
12th February, 1709. He died lieutenant of the 
‘Weymouth,’ 1723 A.D.. aged forty-seven years. 
This tablet is erected near “Selkirk’s Lookout” 
by Commodore Powell and officers of H. M. S. 
‘Topaze.’ 1868 A.D.” (Encyclopedia Britannica.) 
Lord Anson visited the islands in 1741, adding 
to both its animal and vegetable productions, 
and some accurate manuscripts of the place and 
its productions, delightfully edited by the 
castaways and her marooners, was the inspira¬ 
tion of Defoe, impelling him to write his Robin¬ 
son Crusoe; that the great tale is fiction, founded 
on facts derived from the tales of seafaring 
men and travelers into the unknown, but more 
especially, Robin, the son of the Musquito In¬ 
dian, and Alexander Selkirk. It has' taught the 
youth of all nations who have pored over its 
pages to be strong of heart, and inculcates the 
great lessons of obedience, temperance, fortitude, 
prudence, justice and an unswerving belief in the 
wisdom and mercy of the Creator. Defoe 
covered the trail which led to the source of his 
inspiration by laying the scene of it on one 
.of the islands of the Caribbean Sea, off the 
northeastern coast of South America. 
Adios, oh! vague, splendid magical isle, to 
which the youthful hearts of two centuries have 
turned, even as the magnetic needle turns to the 
pole. Gone are thy towering peaks of reddish 
The Isle Juan Fernandez. 
THE STORY OF A VISIT IN THE YEAR l68o. FROM 
THE HISTORY OF THE BUCANIERS OF AMERICA. 
This Day, being Christmas-day, we gave in the 
Morning early three Vollies of Shot, for Solem¬ 
nization of that great Festival. I reckoned an 
E. by S. Way. By a clear Observation from the 
Middle of the Island. I found here Lat. 33 Deg. 
45 S. and M. D. to- be ninety-nine Leagues: In 
the Evening we came to an Anchor at the South- 
end of the Island, in a stately Bay, but which lies 
open to the South, and to the South-East Winds: 
We anchored in the Depth of eleven Fathom 
Water, and at the Distance of only one Furlong 
from the Shore. Here we saw Multitudes of 
Seals covering the Bay everywhere, insomuch, 
that we were forced to kill them, before we could 
set Foot on Shore. 
Photo by H. H. Dunn. 
OCELOT AND GOOSE. 
chaplain of one of his vessels, the Centurian. 
Ulloa, visiting the islands in 1743, says the 
dogs were put there in the buccaneer days, 
hoping to exterminate the goats, thus depriving 
the pirates of an appreciated meat supply. This 
scheme of the Chileans failed to work, for the 
dogs could only catch the old, the sick or the 
maimed of the goat herds, and the buccaneers 
continued to eat goat venison, drink the pure 
water of the islands, gamble and be merry at 
the expense of their fellow men, until the mother 
countries from which they sprung, suppressed 
them. Anent the wild dogs of Mas-a-Tierra, it 
is far more probable that the buccaneers them¬ 
selves established the progenitors of the breed 
which they used in hounding the goats, shoot¬ 
ing their game at stands on the runways. The 
buccaneers of old were sporting men in every 
thinkable sense of the term, and, of course, kept 
sporting dogs, to which the early explorers and 
settlers added mongrels from time to time. 
When the settlers required a large amount of 
meat at one time, they used to make surrounds 
and drive the animals over the beetling cliffs 
of Santa Catalina island into the surf below, 
where butchers in boats awaited their victims. 
From the above and the Crusoe manuscripts 
it will be readily seen that Juan Fernandez, her 
rock, and the thousand ridges sweeping upward 
from the sea-cliffs to the higher inland peaks, 
flanked with buttes and walls, sparsely covered 
with a tufa badlands soil-formation, ever ready 
to yield to the unwary tread of brute or human, 
and interspersed with fruitful vales and patches 
of rich grass, wild oats and groves of myrtle, 
pimento, corkwood and other trees and shrubs. 
Gone is-the ceaseless dash of the surf on thy 
rock-bound coast, and the two little coves and 
Cumberland Harbor, safe enough for a dinghy, 
and back of which was a none too safe anchor¬ 
age for sea-going vessels. Thy Crusoe caves 
and convict cells are filled with the ocean mud 
and slime, or are the home of the deep-sea 
fishes. O! Juan Fernandez, you were, and you 
are not, for you have followed the lost Atlantis. 
Mr. Wixon’s Prize Deer Head. 
The head here illustrated was that winning 
the first prize in the series offered by the Forest 
and Stream for the best heads killed in 1905. 
The head was taken by Mr. E., M. Wixon, of 
Wayne, N. Y., Nov. 15, at a point six miles 
north from Tupper Lake, in the Adirondacks. 
The weight, “hog dressed” was 175 pounds. 
Sunday, December the 26th. This Day we sent 
a Canoe to see if we could find any Riding se¬ 
cure from the Southerly Winds; these being the 
most constant Winds that blow on these Coasts: 
The Canoe being gone, our Commander sent like¬ 
wise what Men we could spare on Shore, to 
drive Goats, whereof there is great Plenty in 
this Island. They caught and killed that Day to 
the Number of threescore, or thereabouts. The 
Canoe returning to the Ship, made report that 
there was good Riding in another Bay, situate on 
the North Side of the Island, in fourteen Fathom 
Water, and not above one Quarter of a Mile 
from the Shore: And that there was. much 
Wood to be had; whereas, in the Place where we 
first anchored, not one Stick of Wood, nor Tuft 
of Grass was to be found. 
The next Day, being the 27th, between two and 
four in the Morning, w'e had a Tempest of violent 
Winds, and fierce Showers of Rain; the same 
Day w'e got in two hundred Jars of Water, 
bringing them a full League from the Place of 
our Riding: Mean while, others were employed 
to catch Goats, as they had done the Day before. 
On the 28th, of the said Month, in the Morn¬ 
ing I went with ten more of our Company, and 
two Canoes, to fetch Water from the Land: Be¬ 
ing come thither, and having filled our Jars, we 
