Upon the whole, here was an undoubted testimony that there was scarce anycondition in the world so miserable but there was something negative orsomething positive to be thankful for in it; and let this stand as adirection from the experience of the most miserable of all conditions inthis world: that we may always find in it something to comfort ourselvesfrom, and to set, in the description of good and evil, on the credit sideof the account.
Having now brought my mind a little to relish my condition, and givenover looking out to sea, to see if I could spy a ship--I say, giving overthese things, I began to apply myself to arrange my way of living, and tomake things as easy to me as I could.
I have already described my habitation, which was a tent under the sideof a rock, surrounded with a strong pale of posts and cables: but I mightnow rather call it a wall, for I raised a kind of wall up against it ofturfs, about two feet thick on the outside; and after some time (I thinkit was a year and a half) I raised rafters from it, leaning to the rock,and thatched or covered it with boughs of trees, and such things as Icould get, to keep out the rain; which I found at some times of the yearvery violent.
I have already observed how I brought all my goods into this pale, andinto the cave which I had made behind me. But I must observe, too, thatat first this was a confused heap of goods, which, as they lay in noorder, so they took up all my place; I had no room to turn myself: so Iset myself to enlarge my cave, and work farther into the earth; for itwas a loose sandy rock, which yielded easily to the labour I bestowed onit: and so when I found I was pretty safe as to beasts of prey, I workedsideways, to the right hand, into the rock; and then, turning to theright again, worked quite out, and made me a door to come out on theoutside of my pale or fortification. This gave me not only egress andregress, as it was a back way to my tent and to my storehouse, but gaveme room to store my goods.
And now I began to apply myself to make such necessary things as I foundI most wanted, particularly a chair and a table; for without these I wasnot able to enjoy the few comforts I had in the world; I could not writeor eat, or do several things, with so much pleasure without a table: so Iwent to work. And here I must needs observe, that as reason is thesubstance and origin of the mathematics, so by stating and squaringeverything by reason, and by making the most rational judgment of things,every man may be, in time, master of every mechanic art. I had neverhandled a tool in my life; and yet, in time, by labour, application, andcontrivance, I found at last that I wanted nothing but I could have madeit, especially if I had had tools. However, I made abundance of things,even without tools; and some with no more tools than an adze and ahatchet, which perhaps were never made that way before, and that withinfinite labour. For example, if I wanted a board, I had no other waybut to cut down a tree, set it on an edge before me, and hew it flat oneither side with my axe, till I brought it to be thin as a plank, andthen dub it smooth with my adze. It is true, by this method I could makebut one board out of a whole tree; but this I had no remedy for butpatience, any more than I had for the prodigious deal of time and labourwhich it took me up to make a plank or board: but my time or labour waslittle worth, and so it was as well employed one way as another.
However, I made me a table and a chair, as I observed above, in the firstplace; and this I did out of the short pieces of boards that I brought onmy raft from the ship. But when I had wrought out some boards as above,I made large shelves, of the breadth of a foot and a half, one overanother all along one side of my cave, to lay all my tools, nails andironwork on; and, in a word, to separate everything at large into theirplaces, that I might come easily at them. I knocked pieces into the wallof the rock to hang my guns and all things that would hang up; so that,had my cave been to be seen, it looked like a general magazine of allnecessary things; and had everything so ready at my hand, that it was agreat pleasure to me to see all my goods in such order, and especially tofind my stock of all necessaries so great.
And now it was that I began to keep a journal of every day's employment;for, indeed, at first I was in too much hurry, and not only hurry as tolabour, but in too much discomposure of mind; and my journal would havebeen full of many dull things; for example, I must have said thus:"30_th_.--After I had got to shore, and escaped drowning, instead ofbeing thankful to God for my deliverance, having first vomited, with thegreat quantity of salt water which had got into my stomach, andrecovering myself a little, I ran about the shore wringing my hands andbeating my head and face, exclaiming at my misery, and crying out, 'I wasundone, undone!' till, tired and faint, I was forced to lie down on theground to repose, but durst not sleep for fear of being devoured."
Some days after this, and after I had been on board the ship, and got allthat I could out of her, yet I could not forbear getting up to the top ofa little mountain and looking out to sea, in hopes of seeing a ship; thenfancy at a vast distance I spied a sail, please myself with the hopes ofit, and then after looking steadily, till I was almost blind, lose itquite, and sit down and weep like a child, and thus increase my misery bymy folly.
But having gotten over these things in some measure, and having settledmy household staff and habitation, made me a table and a chair, and allas handsome about me as I could, I began to keep my journal; of which Ishall here give you the copy (though in it will be told all theseparticulars over again) as long as it lasted; for having no more ink, Iwas forced to leave it off.