ROBINSON CRUSOE'S CAVE.
Our next expedition was to Robinson Crusoe's Cave. How it obtained that
name I am unable to say. The people ashore spoke of it confidently as
the place where a seafaring man had lived for many years alone; and I
believe most mariners who have visited the island have fixed upon that
spot as the actual abode of Alexander Selkirk. There are two ways of
getting to the cave from the regular boat-landing; one over a high chain
of cliffs, intervening between Crusoe's Valley, or the valley of the
cave, and the Chilian huts near the landing; the other by water. The
route by land is somewhat difficult; it requires half a day to perform
it, and there is danger of being dashed to pieces by the loose earth
giving way. In many parts of the island the surface of the cliffs is
composed entirely of masses of burnt clay, which upon the slightest
touch are apt to roll down, carrying every thing with them. Numerous
cases are related by the early voyagers of accidents to seamen and
others, in climbing over these treacherous heights. The distance by
water is only two miles, and by passing along under the brow of the
cliffs a very vivid idea may be had of their strange and romantic
formation. We had our guns with us, which we did not fail to use
whenever there was an opportunity; but the game, consisting principally
of wild goats, kept so far out of reach on the dizzy heights, that they
passed through the ordeal in perfect safety. Some of us wanted to go by
land and shoot them from above, thinking the bullets would carry farther
when fired downward than they seemed to carry when fired from below. The
rest of the party had so little confidence in our skill that they
dissuaded us from the attempt, on the pretense that the ship might heave
in sight while we were absent.
A pleasant row of half an hour brought us to the little cove in Crusoe's
Valley. The only landing-place is upon an abrupt bank of rocks, and the
surf breaking in at this part of the shore rather heavily, we had to run
the boat up in regular beach-comber style. Riding in on the back of a
heavy sea, we sprang out as soon as the boat struck, and held our
ground, when, by watching our chance for another good sea, we ran her
clear out of the water, and made her fast to a big rock for fear she
might be carried away. About two hundred yards from where we landed we
found the cave.
[Illustration: CRUSOE'S CAVE.]
It lies in a volcanic mass of rock, forming the bluff or termination of
a rugged ridge, and looks as if it might be the doorway into the ruins
of some grand old castle. The height of the entrance is about fifteen
feet, and the distance back into the extremity twenty-five or thirty. It
varies in width from ten or twelve to eighteen feet. Within the mouth
the surface is of reddish rock, with holes or pockets dug into the
sides, which it is probable were used for cupboards by the original
occupant. There were likewise large spike-nails driven into the rock,
upon which we thought it likely clothing, guns, and household utensils
might have been hung even at as remote a date as the time of Selkirk,
for they were very rusty, and bore evidence of having been driven into
the rock a long time ago. A sort of stone oven, with a sunken place for
fire underneath, was partly visible in the back part of the cave, so
that by digging away the earth we uncovered it, and made out the purpose
for which it was built. There was a darkish line, about a foot wide,
reaching up to the roof of the cave, which, by removing the surface a
little, we discovered to be produced originally by smoke, cemented in
some sort by a drip that still moistened the wall, and this we found
came through a hole in the top, which we concluded was the original
chimney, now covered over with deposits of earth and leaves from the
mountain above. In rooting about the fireplace, so as to get away the
loose rubbish that lay over it, one of our party brought to light an
earthen vessel, broken a little on one side, but otherwise perfect. It
was about eight inches in diameter at the rim, and an inch or two
smaller at the bottom, and had some rough marks upon the outside, which
we were unable to decipher, on account of the clay which covered it.
Afterward we took it out and washed it in a spring near by, when we
contrived to decipher one letter and a part of another, with a portion
of the date. The rest unfortunately was on the piece which had been
broken off, and which we were unable to find, although we searched a
long time; for, as may be supposed, we felt curious to know if it was
the handiwork of Alexander Selkirk. For my own part, I had but little
doubt that this was really one of the earthen pots made by his own
hands, and the reason I thought so was that the parts of the letters and
date which we deciphered corresponded with his name and the date of his
residence, and likewise because it was evident that it must have been
imbedded in the ground out of which we dug it long beyond the memory of
any living man. I was so convinced of this, and so interested in the
discovery, that I made a rough drawing of it on the spot, of which I
have since been very glad, inasmuch as it was accidentally dropped out
of the boat afterward and lost in the sea.
[Illustration: A RELIC OF CRUSOE.]
We searched in vain for other relics of the kind, but all we could find
were a few rusty pieces of iron and some old nails. The sides of the
cave, as also the top, had marks scattered over them of different kinds,
doubtless made there in some idle moment by human hands; but we were
unable to make out that any of them had a meaning beyond the unconscious
expression of those vague and wandering thoughts which must have passed
occasionally through the mind of the solitary mariner who dwelt in this
lonely place. They may have been symbolical of the troubled and
fluctuating character of his religious feelings before he became a
confirmed believer in the wisdom and mercy of Divine Providence, which
unhappy state of mind he often refers to in the course of his narrative.
[Illustration: CRUSOE'S DEVOTIONS.]
This cave is now occupied only by wild goats and bats, and had not been
visited, perhaps, by any human being, until recently, more than once or
twice in half a century, and then probably only by some deserter from a
whale-ship, who preferred solitude and the risk of starvation to the
cruelty of a brutish captain.
In front of the cave, sloping down to the sea-side, is a plain covered
with long rank grass, wild oats, radishes, weeds of various kinds, and a
few small peach-trees. The latter we supposed were of the stock planted
in the island by Lord Anson. From the interior of the cave we looked
out over the tangled mass of shrubs, wild flowers, and waving grass in
front, and saw that the sea was covered with foam, and the surf beat
against the point beyond the cove, and flew up in the air to a
prodigious height in white clouds of spray. Large birds wheeled about
over the rocky heights, sometimes diving suddenly into the water, from
which they rose again flecked with foam, and, soaring upward in the
sunlight, their wings seemed to sparkle with jewels out of the ocean.
Following the curve of the horizon, the view is suddenly cut off by a
huge cliff of lava that rises directly out of the water to the height of
twelve or fifteen hundred feet. It forms an abrupt precipice in front,
and joins a range of rugged cliffs behind, which all abound in wonderful
ledges overlooking the depths below, dark and lonesome caverns, and
sharp pinnacles piercing the clouds in every direction. Goat-paths wind
around them in places apparently inaccessible, and we saw herds of goats
running swiftly along the dizzy heights overhanging the sea, where we
almost fancied the birds of the air would fear to fly; they bounded over
the frightful fissures in the rocks, and clung to the walls of cliffs
with wonderful agility and tenacity of foot, and sometimes they were so
high up that they looked hardly bigger than rabbits, and we thought it
impossible that they could be goats.
[Illustration: THE VALLEY WITH THE CAVE AND CLIFF.]
Looking back into the valley, we beheld mountains stretching up to a
hundred different peaks, the sides covered with woods and fields of
golden-colored oats, and the ravines fringed with green banks of grass
and wild flowers of every hue. A stream of pure spring water rippled
down over the rocks, and wound through the centre of the valley,
breaking out at intervals into bright cascades, which glimmered freshly
in the warm rays of the sun; its margins were fringed with rich grass
and fragrant flowers, and groves of myrtle overhung the little lakelets
that were made in its course, and seemed to linger there like mirrored
beauties spell-bound. Ridges of amber-colored earth, mingled with rugged
and moss-covered lava, sloped down from the mountains on every side and
converged into the valley, as if attracted by its romantic beauties.
Immense masses of rock, cast off from the towering cliffs by some dread
convulsion of the elements, had fallen from the heights, and now lay
nestling in the very bosom of the valley, enamored with its charms. Even
the birds of the air seemed spell-bound within this enchanted circle;
their songs were low and soft, and I fancied they hung in the air with a
kind of rapture when they rose out of their sylvan homes, and looked
down at all the wondrous beauties that lay outspread beneath them.
[Illustration: DREAM-LAND CRUSOE.]
Some of us scattered off into the woods of myrtle, or lay down by the
spring in the pleasant shade of the trees, and bathed our faces and
drank of the cool water; others went up the hill-sides in search of
peaches, or gathered seeds and specimens of wild flowers to carry home.
Too happy in the change, after our gloomy passage round Cape Horn, I
rambled up the valley alone, and dreamed glowing day-dreams of Robinson
Crusoe. Of all the islands of the sea, this had ever been the paradise
of my boyish fancy. Even later in life, when some hard experience before
the mast had worn off a good deal of the romance of sea-life, I could
never think of Juan Fernandez without a strong desire to be shipwrecked
there, and spend the remainder of my days dressed in goatskins, rambling
about the cliffs, and hunting wild goats. It was a very imprudent
desire, to be sure, not at all sensible; but I am now making a
confession of facts rather out of the common order, and for which it
would be useless to offer any excuse. Pleasant scenes of my early life
rose up before me now with all their original freshness. How well I
remembered the first time I read the surprising adventures of Robinson
Crusoe! It was in the country, where I had never learned the worldly
wisdom of the rising generation in cities. Indeed, I had never seen a
city, and only knew by hearsay that such wonderful places existed. My
father, after an absence of some weeks, returned with an illustrated
volume of Crusoe, bound in cream-colored muslin (how plainly I could see
that book now!), which he gave me, with a smiling admonition not to
commence reading it for two or three years, by which time he hoped I
would be old enough to understand it. That very night I was in a new
world--a world all strange and fascinating, yet to me as real as the
world around me. How I devoured each enchanting page, and sighed to
think of ever getting through such a delightful history. It was the
first book beyond mere fairy tales (which I had almost begun to doubt),
the first narrative descriptive of real life that I had ever read. Such
a thing as a doubt as to its entire truthfulness never entered my head.
I lingered over it with the most intense and credulous interest, and
long after parental authority had compelled me to give it up for the
night, my whole soul was filled with a confusion of novel and delightful
sensations. Before daylight I was up again; I could not read in the
dark, but I could open the magic book and smell the leaves fresh from
the press; and before the type was visible I could trace out the figures
in the prints, and gaze in breathless wonder upon the wild man in the
goatskins.
[Illustration: FAIRY COVE.]
The big tears stood in my eyes when I was through; but I found
consolation in reading it again and again; in picturing out a thousand
things that perhaps De Foe never dreamt of; and each night when I went
to bed I earnestly prayed to God that I might some day or other be cast
upon a desolate island, and live to become as wonderful a man as
Robinson Crusoe. Yet, not content with that, I devoted all my leisure
hours to making knife-cases, caps, and shot-pouches out of rabbit-skins,
in the faint hope that it would hasten the blissful disaster. Years
passed away; I lived on the banks of the Ohio; I had been upon the
ocean. Still a boy in years, and more so perhaps in feeling, the dream
was not ended. I gathered up drift-wood, and built a hut among the
rocks; whole days I lay there thinking of that island in the far-off
seas. A piece of tarred plank from some steam-boat had a sweeter scent
to me than the most odorous flower; for, as I lay smelling it by the
hour, it brought up such exquisite visions of shipwreck as never before,
perhaps, so charmed the fancy of a dreaming youth. Well I remembered,
too, the favored few that I let into the secret; how we went every
afternoon to a sand-bar, and called it Crusoe's Island; how I was
Robinson Crusoe, and the friend of my heart Friday, whom I caused to be
painted from head to foot with black mud, as also the rest of my
friends; and then the battles we had; the devouring of the dead men; the
horrible dances, and chasing into the water; and, above all, the rescue
of my beloved Friday--how vividly I saw those scenes again!
[Illustration: RESCUE OF FRIDAY.]
Years passed on; I was a sailor before the mast. Alas! what a sad
reality! I saw men flogged like beasts; I saw cruelty, hardship,
disease, death in their worst forms; so much I saw that I was glad to
take the place of a wandering outcast upon the shores of a sickly island
ten thousand miles from home, to escape the horrors of that life. Yet
the dream was not ended. Bright and beautiful as ever seemed to me that
little world upon the seas, where dwelt in solitude the shipwrecked
mariner. In the vicissitudes of fortune, I was again a wanderer;
impelled by that vision of island-life which for seventeen years had
never ceased to haunt me, I cast all upon the hazard of a die--escaped
in an open boat through the perils of a storm, and now--where was I?
What pleasant sadness was it that weighed upon my heart? Was all this a
dream of youth; was it here to end, never more to give one gleam of joy;
was the happy credulity, the freshness, the enthusiasm of boyhood gone
forever? Could it be that this was not Crusoe's Valley at last--this
spot, which I had often seen in fancy from the banks of the Ohio, dim in
the mist of seas that lay between? Did I really wander through it, or
was it still a dream?
And where was the king of the island; the hero of my boyish fancy; he
who had delighted me with the narrative of his romantic career, as man
had never done before, as all the pleasures of life have never done
since; where was the genial, the earnest, the adventurous Robinson
Crusoe? Could it be that there was no "mortal mixture of earth's mould
in him;" that he was barely the simple mariner Alexander Selkirk? No!
no! Robinson Crusoe himself had wandered through these very groves of
myrtle; he had quenched his thirst in the spring that bubbled through
the moss at my feet; had slept during the glare of noon in the shade of
those overhanging grottoes; had dreamed his day-dreams in these
secluded glens.
[Illustration: CRUSOE ASLEEP.]
Here, too, Friday had followed his master; the simple, childlike Friday,
the most devoted of servants, the gentlest of savages, the faithfullest
of men! Blessing on thee, Robinson, how I have admired thy prolific
genius; how I have loved thee for thine honest truthfulness! And
blessings on thee, Friday, how my young heart hath warmed toward thee!
how I have laughed at thy scalded fingers, and wept lest the savages
should take thee away from me! * * *