, as the
others do the body; and the discomposure of the mind must necessarily be
as great a disability as that of the body, and much greater; praying to
God being properly an act of the mind, not of the body.

But to go on. After I had thus secured one part of my little living
stock, I went about the whole island, searching for another private place
to make such another deposit; when, wandering more to the west point of
the island than I had ever done yet, and looking out to sea, I thought I
saw a boat upon the sea, at a great distance. I had found a perspective
glass or two in one of the seamen's chests, which I saved out of our
ship, but I had it not about me; and this was so remote that I could not
tell what to make of it, though I looked at it till my eyes were not able
to hold to look any longer; whether it was a boat or not I do not know,
but as I descended from the hill I could see no more of it, so I gave it
over; only I resolved to go no more out without a perspective glass in my
pocket. When I was come down the hill to the end of the island, where,
indeed, I had never been before, I was presently convinced that the
seeing the print of a man's foot was not such a strange thing in the
island as I imagined: and but that it was a special providence that I was
cast upon the side of the island where the savages never came, I should
easily have known that nothing was more frequent than for the canoes from
the main, when they happened to be a little too far out at sea, to shoot
over to that side of the island for harbour: likewise, as they often met
and fought in their canoes, the victors, having taken any prisoners,
would bring them over to this shore, where, according to their dreadful
customs, being all cannibals, they would kill and eat them; of which
hereafter.

When I was come down the hill to the shore, as I said above, being the
SW. point of the island, I was perfectly confounded and amazed; nor is it
possible for me to express the horror of my mind at seeing the shore
spread with skulls, hands, feet, and other bones of human bodies; and
particularly I observed a place where there had been a fire made, and a
circle dug in the earth, like a cockpit, where I supposed the savage
wretches had sat down to their human feastings upon the bodies of their
fellow-creatures.

I was so astonished with the sight of these things, that I entertained no
notions of any danger to myself from it for a long while: all my
a