Page 281 - Child's own book

he was not come to the place where they grew thick, he laid
them in small heaps as he dug them up; whilst those sly crea­
tures would, while he was digging up more, come down from.
the trees and steal them. This
obliged him to be contented for that
time with as many as his pockets
wonld hold; and fearing those ani­
mals, which are naturally very cun­
ning, should dig them up and hide
them, he went early the following
morning to make his provision ; and
for want of a sack to put them in,
took his jacket, which he buttoned
up, and tied at the sleeves ; and as he had observed that every
root had abundance of off-sets hanging at it by small fibres,
he pulled off his shirt also, of which he made another sack
to put them in ; and finding, when his shirt and jacket were
off the animals were less shy of him, he resolved to go so
till the weather obliged him to put them on again. Having
picked up a sufficient quantity of off-sets to stock about two
acres of land, he returned home, then fixed upon a spot of
ground near his habitation, and dug it up as well as he could
with his wooden instrument^ in order to sow his seed; which
being completed in about twenty days, he implored a blessing
upon his labour, and left it to time to bring forth. Thus
having finished his work about the barrack, he resolved to take
a more particular view of the island, and taking a long staff in
his hand, he walked to the lake, which parts the land from the
rock, and went along the side of it quite round the island,
finding all the way new objects for admiration : some parts of
the rock resembling ramparts of an old fortification, other
parts challenging the likeness of a city, and clusters of houses,