ROBINSON CRUSOE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2291, 18 June 1921, Page 4

ROBINSON CRUSOE.

Robinson Crusoe is universal as well as immortal. The last tribute to him comes from the Government' of Chile, which has decided to nuse “the island of Juan Eermuided" in-' to a national park, It is a- certain ns any such case of paternity of ideas can be, says the London Daily Telegraph, that “Robinson Crusoe” was suggested to Defoe by the actual adventures of that quarrelsome buccaneer, Alexander Selkirk, who, os the reward for falling out with his captain, spent something more than four years alone on the island. His story was published in several versions six years before “Robinson Crusoe.” An elaborate description of “John Fernando’s Isle” was also ready to Defoe’s hand in Dampier's story of his voyage round the world, and, indeed, the debt to Dampier is obvious on any reading of the two books. For a national park the Juan Fcrnanded Islands have some defects. They lie a long way from the Chilean coast, the larger, which is called in Spanish “Mores tn-land,” over 400 miles, the smaller, “More-to-sea,” over 500 inile.-i distant. But the purpose of (ho Chilean Government seems to be rather to establish a large shrine sacred to Robinson Crusoe than a national park in the ordinary sense of the words. “John Fernando’s Isle” is to be furnished with a cave, a parrot, and a Man Friday all complete, “just as it was when Crusoe .was shipwrecked there.” The very, phraseology show.- the invincible reality of I lie story.