JUAN FERNANDEZ ISLANDS

juan fernandez islands, a small group in the south pacific ocean, between 33° and 34° s., 80° w., belonging to chile and included in the province of valparaiso. the main island is called _mas-a-tierra_ (span. "more to land") to distinguish it from a smaller island, _mas-a-fuera_ ("more to sea"), 100 m. farther west. off the s.w. of mas-a-tierra lies the islet of santa clara. the aspect of mas-a-tierra is beautiful; only 13 m. in length by 4 in width, it consists of a series of precipitous rocks rudely piled into irregular blocks and pinnacles, and strongly contrasting with a rich vegetation. the highest of these, 3225 ft., is called, from its massive form, el yunque (the anvil). the rocks are volcanic. cumberland bay on the north side is the only fair anchorage, and even there, from the great depth of water, there is some risk. a wide valley collecting streams from several of the ravines on the north side of the island opens into cumberland bay, and is partially enclosed and cultivated. the inhabitants number only some twenty. the flora and fauna of juan fernandez are in most respects chilean. there are few trees on the island, for most of the valuable indigenous trees have been practically exterminated, such as the sandalwood, which the earlier navigators found one of the most valuable products of the island. ferns are prominent among the flora, about one-third of which consists of endemic species. there are no indigenous land mammals. pigs and goats, however, with cattle, horses, asses and dogs, have been introduced, have multiplied, and in considerable numbers run wild. sea-elephants and fur-seals were formerly plentiful. of birds, a tyrant and a humming-bird (_eustephanus fernandensis_) are peculiar to the group, while another humming bird (_e. galerites_), a thrush, and some birds of prey also occur in chile. _e. fernandensis_ has the peculiarity that the male is of a bright cinnamon colour, while the female is green. both sexes are green in _e. galerites_. juan fernandez was discovered by a spanish pilot of that name in 1563. fernandez obtained from the spanish government a grant of the islands, where he resided for some time, stocking them with goats and pigs. he soon, however, appears to have abandoned his possessions, which were afterwards for many years only visited occasionally by fishermen from the coasts of chile and peru. in 1616 jacob le maire and willem cornelis schouten called at juan fernandez for water and fresh provisions. pigs and goats were then abundant on the islands. in february 1700 dampier called at juan fernandez and while there captain straddling of the "cinque porte" galley quarrelled with his men, forty-two of whom deserted but were afterwards taken on board by dampier; five seamen, however, remained on shore. other parties had previously colonized the islands but none had remained permanently. in october 1704 the "cinque porte" returned and found two of these men, the others having been apparently captured by the french. on this occasion straddling quarrelled with alexander selkirk (q.v.), who, at his own request, became the island's most famous colonist, for his adventures are commonly believed to have inspired daniel defoe's _robinson crusoe_. among later visits, that of commodore anson, in the "centurion" (june 1741) led, on his return home, to a proposal to form an english settlement on juan fernandez; but the spaniards, hearing that the matter had been mooted in england, gave orders to occupy the island, and it was garrisoned accordingly in 1750. philip carteret first observed this settlement in may 1767, and on account of the hostility of the spaniards preferred to put in at masa-fuera. after the establishment of the independence of chile at the beginning of the 19th century, juan fernandez passed into the possession of that country. on more than one occasion before 1840 mas-a-tierra was used as a state prison by the chilean government. juangs (patuas, literally "leaf-wearers"), a jungle tribe of orissa, india. they are found in only two of the tributary states, dhenkanal and keonjhar, most of them in the latter. they are estimated to amount in all to about 10,000. their language belongs to the munda family. they have no traditions which connect them with any other race, and they repudiate all connexion with the hos or the santals, declaring themselves the aborigines. they say the headquarters of the tribe is the gonasika. in manners they are among the most primitive people of the world, representing the stone age in our own day. they do not till the land, but live on the game they kill or on snakes and vermin. their huts measure about 6 ft. by 8 ft., with very low doorways. the interior is divided into two compartments. in the first of these the father and all the females of a family huddle together; the second is used as a store-room. the boys have a separate hut at the entrance to the village, which serves as a guest-house and general assembly place where the musical instruments of the village are kept. physically they are small and weak-looking, of a reddish-brown colour, with flat faces, broad noses with wide nostrils, large mouths and thick lips, the hair coarse and frizzly. the women until recently wore nothing but girdles of leaves, the men, a diminutive bandage of cloth. the juangs declare that the river goddess, emerging for the first time from the gonasika rock, surprised a party of naked juangs dancing, and ordered them to wear leaves, with the threat that they should die if they ever gave up the custom. the juangs' weapons are the bow and arrow and a primitive sling made entirely of cord. their religion is a vague belief in forest spirits. they offer fowls to the sun when in trouble and to the earth for a bountiful harvest. polygamy is rare. they burn their dead and throw the ashes into any running stream. the most sacred oaths a juang can take are those on an ant-hill or a tiger-skin. see e. w. dalton, _descriptive ethnology of bengal_ (1872).