Excerpt from The Swiss Family Robinson, or the Adventures of a Shipwrecked Family on an Uninhabited Isle Near New Guinea David Wyss, who was born in Berne, Switzerland, in 1743, became a military chaplain in 1766. He invented the tale of the Swiss Family to amuse his four children. He was something of a linguist, preaching in French and German, and knowing Italian, and possibly a little English. He was also acquainted with general literature, and he knew more or less of science and military matters. These various acquirements were utilized in the development of a tale which shows his frank admiration of Robinson Crusoe. It was founded upon a Russian sea-cap tain's report of the discovery of a Swiss pastor and his family who had been shipwrecked on an island near New Guinea. The Story may have been originally an oral one, but it was written out by the real author, as Ulbrich indicates. Yet it was for the author's family only, and he left his ms. Unpublished. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.