I had found their haunts a little, I laid wait in this manner for them:  I observed, if they saw me in the valleys, though they were upon the rocks, they would run away as in a terrible fright; but if they were feeding in the valleys, and I was upon the rocks, they took no notice of me; from whence I concluded, that by the position of their optics, their sight was so directed downward, that they did not readily see objects that were above them:  so, afterwards, I took this method—­I always climbed the rocks first, to get above them, and then had frequently a fair mark.  The first shot I made among these creatures, I killed a she-goat, which had a little kid by her, which she gave suck to, which grieved me heartily; but when the old one fell, the kid stood stock still by her, till I came and took her up; and not only so, but when I carried the old one with me, upon my shoulders, the kid followed me quite to my enclosure; upon which, I laid down the dam, and took the kid in my arms, and carried it over my pale, in hopes to have bred it up tame; but it would not eat; so I was forced to kill it, and eat it myself.  These two supplied me with flesh a great while, for I ate sparingly, and preserved my provisions (my bread especially) as much as possibly I could.

Having now fixed my habitation, I found it absolutely necessary to provide a place to make a fire in, and fuel to burn; and what I did for that, as also how I enlarged my cave, and what conveniences I made, I shall give a full account of in its proper place:  but I must first give some little account of myself, and of my thoughts about living, which, it may well be supposed, were not a few.

I had a dismal prospect of my condition; for as I was not cast away upon that island without being driven, as is said, by a violent storm, quite out of the course of our intended voyage; and a great way, viz. some hundreds of leagues, out of the ordinary course of the trade of mankind, I had great reason to consider it as a determination of Heaven, that in this desolate place, and in this desolate manner, I should end my life.  The tears would run plentifully down my face when I made these reflections; and sometimes I would expostulate with myself why Providence should thus completely ruin its creatures, and render them so absolutely miserable; so abandoned without help, so entirely depressed, that it could hardly be rational to be thankful for such a life.

But something always returned swift upon me to check these thoughts, and to reprove me:  and particularly, one day, walking with my gun in my hand, by the sea side, I was very pensive upon the subject of my present condition, when reason, as it were, expostulated with me the other way, thus:  “Well, you are in a desolate condition, it is true; but, pray remember, where are the rest of you?  Did not you come eleven of you into the boat?  Where are the ten?  Why were not they saved, and you lost?  Why were you singled out?  Is it better to be here or there?” And then I pointed to the sea.  All evils are to be considered with the good that is in them, and with what worse attends them.