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Grey River Argus, Issue 608, 9 December 1869, Page 4

Thp following "hit pf information will lie pf interest the world over :— At a distance pf less than a three days voyage from Valparaiso, in Chili, and ngaply in the paine latitude with this, important pqrt on the western coast of South America, is the island of Jqan Fernandez, where once upon a time Alexander Selkirk, during a solitary banishment of four years, gathered the material for Defoe's " Robin(3on Crusoe. 1 ' Tliis island, little thqu,ght pf by the inhabitants, of th« Qliilian coastland, has lately become of some interest by the fact that in December, 1868, it was ceded to a spciety of Germaus, under the guidance of Robert Wehrhan, an engineer from Saxony, Germany, fp,r the purpose pf colonisation. Wehrhan left Germany eleven years since, parsed several years in JSngland, served as major in the war of the republic against secession, and was Subsequently engaged as engineer with the Ceropasco Bail, in South America. He and his society, ah,Qn.t or seventy individuals, have taken possession of the island, which is described as being a most fertile and lqvely spot. They found there countless hesds of goats ; some thirty half wild horses, and sixty donkeys., the latter animals proving to be exceedingly shy. They brought with them cows and pther cattle, swine, numerous fowls, and iill the various kinds pf agricultural instruments, with bpats an,d tishing apparatus, to engage in different pursuits and occupations. The grotto, ni^defampus as jlobinson's abode, situated in a spacious valley, covered with large fields t>f wild turnips — a desirable food- for swine— has been assigned to thp hopeful young Chilian gentleman, to whom thp pare' of the porcine part of the Society's stock has been entrusted, a.nd he and his proteues are doing very well in ther new quarter*" Juan Fernandez is one of the stations where whaling vessels take in water and wood.