ery hungry--sufficiently so, however, to remind him
that he must look out for food. He was not aware of the difficulties of
procuring it, so that his mind was not troubled on that score. His
first idea was to survey the island, so as to learn to a certainty
whether any of his shipmates might have been cast on it. He found a
piece of timber on the sand, which served him for a walking-stick, and,
supported by it, he set off to walk round the island.

He first climbed up to the top of a rock near him, from which, between
the trees, he could look across the island, and he thought that it could
be little more than half a mile wide. How long it was he could not so
well judge. He walked on and on, looking about for signs of
fresh-water, for he knew that he must not drink that of the sea. He
could find none. He became more and more thirsty; his tongue was
parched, and his throat dry: still he would not give up. He dragged his
weary feet along, helped by his stick. Some rocky mounds, scarcely to
be called hills, appeared in the distance, and he hoped that water might
be found near them. This gave him fresh strength to drag himself along.
The mounds were not so high even as he had fancied, and were much
nearer. Again he was disappointed. He paced round and round them; all
was stony and dry.

Ben was very nearly giving way to despair, when he espied, scarcely
fifty yards off, a group of tall trees with large round fruit hanging
from them. At once he knew them to be cocoa-nuts, and he went on, eager
to quench his thirst with the pure milk they contained. Yet, weak as he
was, how could he climb up to the top of those trees? He had often seen
the natives do it with a band round their waists. If he were strong, he
might do it in the same way, could he but find the band; but, in his
weak state, that was impossible. Again he was doomed to disappointment,
he feared, and was about to pursue his exploring tour, when he saw, not
far off, a nut on the ground. He ran eagerly and picked it up. It had
been blown off during the recent gale. After stripping off the husk, he
soon broke in the end; and, though he spilt a little, there was
sufficient milk in it to quench his now burning thirst. He then more
slowly ate pieces of the fruit, which he cut out with his knife. Here
was one means of supporting life, and Ben's elastic spirits again rose.
At his age the thoughts of the future did not press heavily on him. He
had, too,