Page 420 - Child's own book

vant to me many years; tiny, he was so good a companion that I
was at a loss for nothing that be could fetch me ; and he only
wanted power of speech to become a most agreeable friend.
When my habitation was finished, 1 found it far too small to
contain my moveables ; I had hardly room to turn myself; so
1 set about enlarging my cave, and worked sideways into the
rock, farther than my outside pale, and hewing a way through,
made a back-door to my store-house, 1 then made a table and
chair, which wore great conveniences, shelved one side of my
cave, and knocked up pieces of wood in the rock to hang my
things on. When my cave was set to rights, it looked like a
general magazine for all necessary things.
What a different situation was I now in, from that I was in
when I first landed,—when I was afraid of perishing with
hunger, or of being devoured with wild beasts! I frequently
killed gnats for my subsistence, the fat of which supplied my
lamp, which was a dish made of clay, baked in the sun; and
for a wick 1 made use of oakum. In my rummaging among
the things, I found a little bag with some husks of com in it,
and wanting it, I shook it Out by the side of my fortification.
This was just before some heavy rain ; and about a month
afterwards, I saw some green stalks shooting out of the ground ;
but how great was my astonishment, when some time after, I
saw about ten or twelve cars of barley! It was some time
before J recollected the bag with the husks, and 1 thought
they could have been produced by nothing else than a miracle.
With this barley there came up also a few stalks of rice, and
these were worth more to me than fifty times their weight in
gold ; and 1 carcfully preserved them for seed.
When I had hcon about a year in the island, I was taken ex­
tremely ill, which frightened me terribly, imagining I should
die for the want of proper help. This fit of illness proved a