ould do with my paddles signified
nothing; and now I began to give myself over for lost; for, as the
current was on both sides the island, I knew in a few leagues distance
they must join again, and then I was irrecoverably gone; nor did I see
any possibility of avoiding it; so that I had no prospect before me but
of perishing; not by the sea, for that was calm enough, but of starving
for hunger. I had indeed found a tortoise on the shore, as big almost as
I could lift, and had tossed it into the boat; and I had a great jar of
fresh water, that is to say, one of my earthen pots; but what was all
this to being driven into the vast ocean, where, to be sure, there was
no shore, no main land or island, for a thousand leagues at least?

And now I saw how easy it was for the providence of God to make the most
miserable condition that mankind could be in, worse. Now I looked back
upon my desolate solitary island, as the most pleasant place in the
world, and all the happiness my heart could wish for, was to be there
again: I stretched out my hands to it with eager wishes; "O happy
desert!" said I, "I shall never see thee more! O miserable creature!"
said I, "whither am I going!" Then I reproached myself with my
unthankful temper, and how I had repined at my solitary condition; and
now what would I give to be on shore there again? Thus we never see the
true state of our condition, till it is illustrated to us by its
contraries; nor know how to value what we enjoy, but by the want of it.
It is scarce possible to imagine the consternation I was now in, being
driven from my beloved island (for so it appeared to me now to be) into
the wide ocean, almost two leagues, and in the utmost despair of ever
recovering it again: however, I worked hard, till indeed my strength was
almost exhausted; and kept my boat as much to the northward, that is,
towards the side of the current which the eddy lay on, as possibly I
could; when about noon, as the sun passed the meridian, I thought I felt
a little breeze of wind in my face, springing up from the S.S.E. This
cheered my heart a little, and especially when in about half an hour
more it blew a pretty small gentle gale. By this time I was gotten at a
frightful distance from the island; and, had the least cloud or hazy
weather intervened, I had been undone another way too; for I had no
compass on board, and should never have known how to have steered
towards the island, if I had but once lost sight o