Opening As a Health Resort Valparaiso, Feb. 19.
Juan Fernandez Island, 450 miles west of Valparaiso, widely regarded as the spot around which the story of "Robinson Crusoe" was written, is to be turned into a health resort, according to present plans of the Chilean Government. The island is 13 miles long and four miles wide. Vegetation is abundant. Many kinds of fruits thrive there and the sea in the vicinity swarms with a species of codfish and quantities of seals, according to a recent visitor.
The actual original of Defoe's story of Crusoe was said to have been Alexander Selkirk, one of a crew of buccaneers, who quarrelled with his skipper and was marooned at his own request on Juan Fernandez where he spent four lonely years.
Some years ago the Chilean Government attempted to colonize the island and gave free passage to emigrants, but the scheme was a failure and the island now has only 200 inhabitants.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.