Were it not for the story woven about the island few people would be interested in it to-day. It was here among these barren hills, and in the natural caves which abound on the island, that Alexander Selkirk lived for four years and four months, more than two centuries ago. It was here that he met and adopted a lone Indian, whom he named Friday, because of the day he first found him. It is little wonder that existence was lonesome, and it is even a greater wonder that he did not lose his mind from lack of association with other human beings. At last his watch fires attracted the attention of a passing schooner and the lone wanderer was taken to England, where, for a time, he became quite a hero. He was found, as the captain of the boat said, “clad in goat-skins and was running about as though he were demented.” There is a rock on the island which is called “Robinson Crusoe’s Lookout,” because it is said to be the place where the signal fires were built. It is on a high hill and commands a view of the sea for many miles. A large cave, which is as large as the average parlour, is supposed to have been his home. In the sides of this rock are rusty nails said to have been driven into it by pirates who used to make the place their rendezvous. A marble tablet has been erected on the “Lookout.” This was placed there by some English naval officers in 1868, for Selkirk himself was a naval officer. Among other things this tablet says: IN MEMORY OF ALEXANDER SELKIRK MARINER. A NATIVE OF LARGO, IN THE COUNTY OF FIFE, SCOTLAND, WHO LIVED ON THIS ISLAND, IN COMPLETE SOLITUDE, FOUR YEARS AND FOUR MONTHS. HE WAS LANDED FROM THE “CINQUE PORTS” GALLEY, 96 TONS, 18 GUNS, A. D., 1704, AND WAS TAKEN OFF IN THE “DUKE,” PRIVATEER, 12TH FEBRUARY, 1709. HE DIED LIEUTENANT OF H. M. S. “WEYMOUTH,” A. D., 1723, AGED 47 YEARS. THIS TABLET IS ERECTED NEAR SELKIRK’S LOOKOUT BY COMMODORE POWELL AND THE OFFICERS OF H. M. S. “TOPAZ” A. D., 1868. Although Defoe’s tale is not wholly true, and some of the descriptions are incorrect, yet the story was suggested by the adventures of the marooned mariner, and the terrors of loneliness, solitude and fear which overwhelmed Robinson Crusoe were the same as those undergone by Alexander Selkirk.