The Solitary of Juan Fernandez, or the Real Robinson Crusoe

tion. -Selkirk Island.-The New Prometheus.-What is wan

hs have pa

embarkation, presents to-day an aspect not only picturesqu

towards the mountains at the left; a third leads to a tall mimosa, whose topmost boughs and dense foliage spread out like a parasol. A wooden bench, composed of some round sticks, driven into the earth, with branches interwoven

xterior with a bank of turf, and several species of creeping plants, trained to cover its calcareous nudity. At the entrance of his habitation, rise two young palm-trees, transplanted there by him, to serve as a portico. But nature is not alwa

ompelled to become a fisherman, to manufacture a net. He has succeeded, with some threads from his fragment of a sail, the fibres of his cocoa-nuts, and tough reeds, woven in close meshes; unfortunately those fine fishes, breams, eels and angel-fish, which show themselves so readily through the limpid wave, are not as easy to catch as to see. Under the surface, almost at a level with the water, there is a ledge of

ly, like a wise monarch, who wages war only for the general interest. It is true, that as it happen

entirely rid it of these pirates, reserving to himself only the right of levying upon his subjects the

part of the great ocean, and at what distance fr

lands forming the group of Chiloe; his calculations rectified, he afterwards thinks it the Island of Juan Fernandez, then San Ambrosio, or San Felix. Unable to determine the location exactly, for

ber the day when, on the way from Largo to St. Andrew, to join William Dampier, thou

False Coquimbo; he calls Toucan Forest, the wood where he saw that bird for the first time; the Defile of Attack, is that where Marimonda assaulted him with stones; upon these arid rocks, furrowed by deep ravines and abounding in precipices, he has imposed the odious name of Stradling! In his mountains he has the Oasis; it is a little shady valley, enlivened

issioned to feed the fish-pond, and which gently warbles through the grass, he calls The Linnet; the oth

rnment, opened ways of communication, given a name to every

resses, his hunting, fishing, building, felling of trees; it has become ne

f his trees, it is true, afford fruits in abundance; but most of these fruits are of a dry and woody nature; besides, young and vigorous, easily acquiring an appetite by labor and exercise, can h

g discouraged; he tries each tree, wishing even that a thunderbolt might strike the island, if it would leave there a trace of burning. At last, almost discouraged, he attacks the pimento-myrtle; [1] he recommences his customary efforts of rubbing. The twigs grow warm with the friction; a little white smok

1

rries are known under th

folly, perhaps; perhaps an act of gratitude, which ascended higher than the topmost bra

om the sea breeze, he piles up wood and brush, sets fire to it, keeps it alive from time to time, by the addition of combustibles, and comprehends why, among p

means of preservation. With some threads and the fat of his game, he co

the agouti, savory like that of the rabbit, by turns figured on his table. When he seasoned them w

ll surprised them within gun-shot. Not only was their flesh profitable for food; their horns, long and hollow, served to contain powder and other small articles necessary to his hou

the productions of his fish-pond, at present constitute a store on which he

e enjoyments he has coveted, abun

omething seems wanting; his appetite fails, his courage grows feeble, his reveries are

so essential to his

seems as if we clung with more force and tenacity to this second nature, because we have ou

y given him a good stock of tobacco, he would have pardoned all; he no longer feels courage to hate him. What to him imports the plenty which surrounds him, if he has no to

mains, with his gun on his shoulder, his hatchet at his belt, when he

s Mar

e saw her tranquilly seated on the topmost branch of a tree, holding in each of her hands fruits which

ing, but with her withered cheeks, projecting jaw, and especially her dancing motion, he now imagines that she res

then Marimonda, with her hand constantly pressed against her side, was with the other seizing various herbs, which she tasted, bruised between her teeth, and applied to her wound;

hand which had served as a compress, no longer the plant nece

render me completely happy! Is instinct then superior to reason? To believe this, would be ingratitude to Providence. Instinct is necessary, indispensable to animals, because they cannot benefit by the traditions of their ancestors. The monkey has consulted her instinct, and it has inspired her; if I consult reason, what will be her counsel? She will ad