an enclosure by nature; at
least it did not want near so much labour to make it so, as the other
pieces of ground I had worked so hard at.

I immediately went to work with this piece of ground, and in less than a
month's time I had so fenced it round, that my flock or herd, call it
which you please, which were not so wild now as at first they might be
supposed to be, were well enough secured in it. So without any farther
delay, I removed ten she-goats and two he-goats to this piece; and when
there, I continued to perfect the fence, till I had made it as secure as
the other, which, however, I did at more leisure, and it took me up more
time by a great deal.

All this labour I was at the expense of, purely from my apprehensions on
the account of the print of a man's foot which I had seen; for as yet, I
never saw any human creature come near the island, and I had now lived
two years under these uneasinesses, which indeed made my life much less
comfortable than it was before; as may well be imagined, by any who know
what it is to live in the constant snare of the fear of man; and this I
must observe with grief too, that the discomposure of my mind had too
great impressions also upon the religious part of my thoughts; for the
dread and terror of falling into the hands of savages and cannibals lay
so upon my spirits, that I seldom found myself in a due temper for
application to my Maker; at least, not with the sedate calmness and
resignation of soul which I was wont to do. I rather prayed to God as
under great affliction and pressure of mind, surrounded with danger, and
in expectation every night of being murdered and devoured before the
morning; and I must testify from my experience, that a temper of peace,
thankfulness, love, and affection, is much more the proper frame for
prayer than that of terror and discomposure; and that under the dread of
mischief impending, a man is no more fit for a comforting performance of
the duty of praying to God, than he is for repentance on a sick bed; for
these discomposures affect the mind 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