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Alexander Selkirk was placed on shore for mutiny towards his captain. For more than four years he lived alone on this island, when at last he was discovered and taken off by Captain Rodgers, amongst whose crew was a man who had been on board Selkirk's ship when he was put ashore. From Selkirk's narrative Defoe is said to have derived and written his wonderful book, 'Robinson Crusoe.' Whether he did so or not, has been the subject of much controversy. I will not attempt to lay a dictum, for I do not think it matters now in the slightest either way. But in the memory of Defoe, who, as a writer, has had few equals before or since, and for the benefit of any one interested in the question, I must say that, having been led in the imagination to picture this island somewhat according to the book, there is nothing in Juan Fernandez to give rise to the belief that Defoe could have received from Selkirk anything but the idea from which he constructed his famous romance. Moreover, it was not published till the year 1719, ten years after the return of Selkirk.

"That Defoe took the greater part-as he has been accused of his story from Selkirk's journal, it is impossible for anyone who has seen the Island of Juan Fernandez to believe. His cave can be seen now, cut in a sand-cliff, with the shelves in it used for cooking utensils, etc.; so that, unless we concede the almost impossible theory that when it was visited by a fearful earthquake, in 1760, the whole island changed its nature and appearance, we must acquit Defoe of plagiarism. If he did read Selkirk's journal, it had the effect simply of making him strive in every way to show there was no connection or similitude, the one with the other."

PITCAIRN ISLAND.

This little dot on the great ocean's surface, lying in latitude 25 deg. 3 min. south, and longitude 130 deg. 6 min. west, is about 21⁄2 miles long by 14 wide, made famous as the home of the mutineers of the ship Bounty. It has, in addition, been of great service to the maritime world, being one of the fresh-water stations resorted to by whalers and others sailing in the Pacific.

Pitcairn Island was discovered in 1767 by Philip Carteret, navigator, who first sailed under Captain Wallis in 1766.

Although the history of the Bounty mutineers has already formed the theme of numerous writers, a very brief statement of the facts may not be out of place here, and might prove interesting to the general reader. Captain Cook, in his first voyage to Tahiti, one of the Society group, was much pleased with the bread-fruit tree, found in great abundance there, and on his return suggested to the British Government its many valuable qualities, not only for the nutritive uses, as food, of the fruit, but for the value of its timber and bark in a commercial way. He suggested transplanting the young shoots of the tree to the West India' Islands, and the vessel Bounty was dispatched to Tahiti for this purpose, under. command of Lieut. Bligh. It was during the voyage from Tahiti, loaded with the plants, that the mutiny occurred, Bligh being set adrift in an open boat. The mutineers returned to Tahiti, where they remained some time, recruiting their forces with natives-also persuading some of the gentler sex to accompany them -when they sailed away, reaching Pitcairn Island in 1789. There they established a colony, and after

using everything of value belonging to the ship for building and other purposes, the Bounty was burned. Many years elapsed before they were discovered, and then only by accident, through an American ship captain who landed there for water. This being communicated to the British Government, a vessel was sent, not only for their relief, but to punish the ringleaders of the mutiny.

Lieut. Bligh, after many adventures and hairbreadth escapes as a castaway, finally succeeded in getting back to England. He was placed in command of another vessel, and successfully accomplished the object of his first voyage, transplanting the bread-fruit. tree of the South Seas to the West India Islands in 1792-3.

BREAD-FRUIT TREE.

The bread-fruit tree (Artocarpus incisa) alluded to above, is indigenous to nearly all the islands of the South Sea, forming, with the cocoanut and banana, the principal sources of food for the indolent natives. The tree grows from twenty to forty feet high, with a diameter of one to two feet. The bark and inner portions furnish a valuable fibre, while the pith supplies the material for much of the paper cloth worn by the natives.

The fruit ripens at different periods of the year. It is about the size of a melon, and is found singly and in clusters attached to the branches of the tree. There are two or three periods in its growth when it can be used; at one time supplying a milky nutritious fluid as a drink, and at another a delicious custard, but the period when it is most used is just before ripening, at which time the fruit is picked and baked in rude ovens,

the whole interior, assuming the spongy form of freshly-baked bread, with a pleasant taste-much superior to the doughy preparations, called bread, so common in Europe and America. When baked in this way, the bread-fruit can be kept for several months.

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The timber of the tree is used to make ticles of furniture, and the trunk often formed into

canoes, etc.

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