rt ourselves from, and to set, in the description of good and evil,
on the credit side of the account.

Having now, brought my mind a little to relish my condition, and given
over looking out to sea, to see if I could spy a ship; I say, giving
over these things, I began to apply myself to accommodate my way of
living, and to make things as easy to me as I could.

I have already described my habitation, which was a tent under the side
of a rock,--surrounded with a strong pale of posts and cables; but I
might now rather call it a wall, for I raised a kind of wall against it
of turfs, about two feet thick on the outside: and after some time (I
think it was a year and a half) I raised rafters from it, leaning to the
rock, and thatched or covered it with boughs of trees, and such things
as I could get, to keep out the rain; which I found, at some times of
the year, very violent.

I have already observed how I brought all my goods into this pale, and
into the cave which I had made behind me. But I must observe, too, that
at first this was a confused heap of goods, which, as they lay in no
order, so they took up all my place; I had no room to turn myself: so I
set myself to enlarge my cave, and work farther into the earth; for it
was a loose, sandy rock, which yielded easily to the labour I bestowed
on it: and when I found I was pretty safe as to the beasts of prey, I
worked sideways, to the right hand, into the rock, and then turning to
the right again, worked quite out, and made me a door to come out in the
outside of my pale or fortification.

This gave me not only egress and regress, as it were, a back-way to my
tent and to my storehouse, but gave me room to stow my goods.

And now I began to apply myself to make such necessary things as I found
I most wanted, particularly a chair and a table; for without these I was
not able to enjoy the few comforts I had in the world; I could not
write, or eat, or do several things with so much pleasure, without a
table: so I went to work. And here I must needs observe, that as reason
is the substance and original of the mathematics, so by stating, and
squaring every thing by reason, and by making the most rational judgment
of things, every man may be, in time, master of every mechanic art. I
had never handled a tool in my life; and yet, in time, by labour,
application, and contrivance, I found, at last, that I wanted nothing
but I could have made, especially if I had had tools. How