CHILE: In Selkirk's Steps

In the Juan Fernandez Islands, 300 miles off the Chilean coast, the lobster season was in full swing. From now until August, the goletas (sloops) would bring into Valparaiso some 150,000 lobsters—the island's one cash crop. Shipped to Santiago or flown over the Andes to Buenos Aires, the langostas (unlike the Maine lobster, they are clawless) would bring fancy prices ($2 to $3) in the toniest restaurants of the Chilean and Argentine capitals.

Practically the only other island income comes from an occasional hardy tourist who makes the five-to-six-day trip from Valparaiso to see where Robinson Crusoe (who ate goat...

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