me; but then it was attended with this misfortune to
me--viz. that they were so shy, so subtle, and so swift of foot, that it
was the most difficult thing in the world to come at them; but I was not
discouraged at this, not doubting but I might now and then shoot one, as
it soon happened; for after I had found their haunts a little, I laid
wait in this manner for them: I observed if they saw me in the valleys,
though they were upon the rocks, they would run away, as in a terrible
fright; but if they were feeding in the valleys, and I was upon the
rocks, they took no notice of me; from whence I concluded that, by the
position of their optics, their sight was so directed downward that they
did not readily see objects that were above them; so afterwards I took
this method--I always climbed the rocks first, to get above them, and
then had frequently a fair mark.

The first shot I made among these creatures, I killed a she-goat, which
had a little kid by her, which she gave suck to, which grieved me
heartily; for when the old one fell, the kid stood stock still by her,
till I came and took her up; and not only so, but when I carried the old
one with me, upon my shoulders, the kid followed me quite to my
enclosure; upon which I laid down the dam, and took the kid in my arms,
and carried it over my pale, in hopes to have bred it up tame; but it
would not eat; so I was forced to kill it and eat it myself. These two
supplied me with flesh a great while, for I ate sparingly, and saved my
provisions, my bread especially, as much as possibly I could.

Having now fixed my habitation, I found it absolutely necessary to
provide a place to make a fire in, and fuel to burn: and what I did for
that, and also how I enlarged my cave, and what conveniences I made, I
shall give a full account of in its place; but I must now give some
little account of myself, and of my thoughts about living, which, it may
well be supposed, were not a few.

I had a dismal prospect of my condition; for as I was not cast away upon
that island without being driven, as is said, by a violent storm, quite
out of the course of our intended voyage, and a great way, viz. some
hundreds of leagues, out of the ordinary course of the trade of mankind,
I had great reason to consider it as a determination of Heaven, that in
this desolate place, and in this desolate manner, I should end my life.
The tears would run plentifully down my face when I made these
reflections; a