mility and was unduly vain of them. Truly, they were more
elegant to me than was ever the costliest piece of furniture to any
queen. Also, I made me a small rock vessel, containing no more than a
quart, with which to convey water from the catching-places to my large
receptacles. When I say that this one-quart vessel weighed all of two
stone, the reader will realize that the mere gathering of the rainwater
was no light task.

Thus, I rendered my lonely situation as comfortable as could be expected.
I had completed me a snug and secure shelter; and, as to provision, I had
always on hand a six months' supply, preserved by salting and drying. For
these things, so essential to preserve life, and which one could scarcely
have expected to obtain upon a desert island, I was sensible that I could
not be too thankful.

Although denied the privilege of enjoying the society of any human
creature, not even of a dog or a cat, I was far more reconciled to my lot
than thousands probably would have been. Upon the desolate spot, where
fate had placed me, I conceived myself far more happy than many, who, for
ignominious crimes, were doomed to drag out their lives in solitary
confinement with conscience ever biting as a corrosive canker.

However dreary my prospects, I was not without hope that that Providence,
which, at the very moment when hunger threatened me with dissolution, and
when I might easily have been engulfed in the maw of the sea, had cast me
upon those barren rocks, would finally direct some one to my relief.

If deprived of the society of my fellow creatures, and of the
conveniences of life, I could not but reflect that my forlorn situation
was yet attended with some advantages. Of the whole island, though
small, I had peaceable possession. No one, it was probable, would ever
appear to dispute my claim, unless it were the amphibious animals of the
ocean. Since the island was almost inaccessible, at night my repose was
not disturbed by continual apprehension of the approach of cannibals or
of beasts of prey. Again and again I thanked God on my knees for these
various and many benefactions.

Yet is man ever a strange and unaccountable creature. I, who had asked
of God's mercy no more than putrid meat to eat and a sufficiency of water
not too brackish, was no sooner blessed with an abundance of cured meat
and sweet water than I began to know discontent with my lot. I began to
want fire, and the savour of cooked