Juan Fernadez

hoo-an' fer-nan'deth, a rocky island 350 miles off the coast of Chile. It is thirteen miles in length and four in width. The animals and plants are those of Chile and the mainland. The sandalwood, tree palm, and other trees form forests. Fur seals were at one time plentiful. Sea fowl are numerous. There are said to be but four land birds, a thrush, kingbird, and two hummingbirds. The island was discovered in 1563 by a Spanish pirate for whom it was named. In 1704 a Scotch sailor, who quarreled with his captain, was, at his own request, put ashore here, with bountiful supplies. He was taken aboard by a passing vessel in 1709. In 1868 a tablet was erected in his memory at a point on a high hill where, no doubt, he stood for many an hour scanning the sea in search of a passing sail. The tablet bears an inscription beginning, "In memory of Alexander Selkirk, mariner, native of Largo in the county of Fife, Scotland, who was on this island in complete solitude for four years and four months," etc. Selkirk's adventures form the basis for Defoe's incomparable boy's hero, Robinson Crusoe, although the author appears to have drawn on other sources for a part of his material. See Defoe