ter wall.

Thus in two years time I had a thick grove; and in five or six years
time I had a wood before my dwelling, grown so monstrous thick and
strong, that it was indeed perfectly impassable; and no man of what kind
soever would ever imagine that there was any thing beyond it, much less
an habitation: as for the way I proposed myself to go in and out (for I
left no avenue), it was by setting two ladders; one to a part of the
rock which was low, and then broke in, and left room to place another
ladder upon that; so when the two ladders were taken down, no man living
could come down to me without mischiefing himself; and if they had come
down, they were still on the outside of my outer wall.

Thus I took all the measures human prudence could suggest for my own
preservation; and it will be seen at length, that they were not
altogether without just reason; though I foresaw nothing at that time
more than my mere fear suggested.

While this was doing, I was not altogether careless of my other affairs;
for I had a great concern upon me for my little herd of goats; they were
not only a present supply to me upon every occasion, and began to be
sufficient for me, without the expense of powder and shot, but also
abated the fatigue of my hunting after the wild ones; and I was loath to
lose the advantage of them, and to have them all to nurse up over again.

To this purpose, after long consideration, I could think but of two ways
to preserve them: one was to find another convenient place to dig a cave
under ground, and to drive them into it every night; and the other was
to enclose two or three little bits of land, remote from one another,
and as much concealed as I could, where I might keep about half a dozen
young goats in each place; so that if any disaster happened to the flock
in general, I might be able to raise them again with little trouble and
time: and this, though it would require a great deal of time and labour,
I thought was the most rational design.

Accordingly I spent some time, to find out the most retired parts of the
island; and I pitched upon one, which was as private indeed as my heart
could wish; for it was a little damp piece of ground in the middle of
the hollow and thick woods, where, as is observed, I almost lost myself
once before, endeavouring to come back that way from the eastern part of
the island: here I found a clear piece of land near three acres, so
surrounded with woods, that it was almost