ions,
it occurred to me to enquire, what part of the world these wretches
lived in; how far off the coast was from whence they came; what they
ventured over so far from home for; what kind of boats they had; and why
I might not order my self, and my business so, that I might be as able
to go over thither, as they were to come to me.

I never so much as troubled my self to consider what I should do with my
self, when I came thither; what would become of me, if I fell into the
hands of the savages; or how I should escape from them, if they
attempted me; no, nor so much as how it was possible for me to reach the
coast, and not be attempted by some or other of them, without any
possibility of delivering my self; and if I should not fall into their
hands, what I should do for provision, or whither I should bend my
course; none of these thoughts, I say, so much as came in my way; but my
mind was wholly bent upon the notion of my passing over in my boat, to
the main land: I looked back upon my present condition as the most
miserable that could possibly be; that I was not able to throw myself
into any thing but death that could be called worse; that if I reached
the shore of the main, I might, perhaps, meet with relief; or I might
coast along, as I did on the shore of Africa, till I came to some
inhabited country, and where I might find some relief; and after all,
perhaps, I might fall in with some Christian ship that might take me in:
and if the worst came to the worst, I could but die, which would put an
end to all these miseries at once. Pray, note all this was the fruit of
a disturbed mind, an impatient temper, made, as it were, desperate by
the long continuance of my troubles, and the disappointments I had met
in the wreck I had been on board of, and where I had been so near the
obtaining of what I so earnestly longed for, viz. somebody to speak to,
and to learn some knowledge from of the place where I was, and of the
probable means of my deliverance; I say, I was agitated wholly by these
thoughts. All my calm of mind in my resignation to Providence, and
waiting the issue of the dispositions of Heaven, seemed to be suspended;
and I had, as it were, no power to turn my thoughts to any thing but the
project of a voyage to the main; which came upon me with such force, and
such an impetuosity of desire, that it was not to be resisted.

When this had agitated my thoughts for two hours or more, with such
violence that it set my