dwindled to a mere speck upon the horizon!

Though naturally of an almost unconquerable spirit, the hopelessness of his situation overpowered him, and he fell down in agony upon the sand which he grasped in agitated spasm. Here he lay until the day was pretty far advanced. On recovering a little, the want of food became insupportable; he hobbled along shore in search of shell-fish, but was obliged to put up with wild shrubs. He sheltered himself this night in the woods which skirted the see, and in the morning returned to the task of procuring subsistence. With this intent he walked along the beach, and at a rocky part of the shore he perceived several seals; some of them were reposing on the sand, while others lay upon the rocks. Approaching very silently, and selecting one whose head presented a fair mark, he with a few blows secured the prize. Being unable to make a fire he proceeded to cut it up, and selecting a piece of the liver, ate it ravenously; this he had no sooner done than he was seized with excessive sickness, and was obliged to lie upon the sand for a length of time, completely exhausted. Having refreshed himself with some water, he again pursued his path along shore, when by great good fortune he fell in with a tortoise; this he also quickly despatched, and the flesh agreeing with his stomach renovated his strength; he was soon afterwards enabled to return to the place where he had left the seal, which he forthwith cut up into long strips, and laying them upon the sand, left them to dry, intending to try another piece for breakfast in the morning, the remains of the tortoise sufficing only for that evening.

In this manner, he existed for some days, sleeping in the woods at night, and roving abroad in the day; but the supply of seals at last failed him, nor could he find another tortoise, and starvation began once more to stare him in the face. It happened that the weather was particularly pleasant, and he often refreshed himself by sleeping on the warm sand; a gun would have been the means of supplying him with plenty of water-fowl, and he often had the vexation of seeing quantities of such birds fly past him with impunity. One morning when he had wandered some distance, allaying his appetite with whatever he could find upon the coast, he sank down beside a small bank quite exhausted, and fell asleep. On awaking, he found that he had overlaid a snake; its species was different from the one he had killed in the woods, and it was not quite dead; the unexpected occurrence not a little startled him, and, placing his stick under its speckled belly, he tossed it into the sea. He had not the good fortune, with all his industry, to meet with any provision, he therefore crawled back to the bay. In the morning, which was very serene and pleasant, he sauntered along, but with the same want of success as on the foregoing day; nothing could he find to recruit his strength, which now became seriously impaired, not only from the deprivation, but the quality, of the food which he had been obliged to eat. The morning being very far advanced and the sun pleasantly warm, he threw himself, or rather fell, down upon the shore, and obtained in sleep a respite from the pangs of hunger.

On awaking, he beheld the amphibious and black bullyhead of a large seal, who, like himself, was basking in the sun and enjoying a sound sleep; it had taken up its situation, singular as it may appear, almost within the grasp of our famished Crusoe. Astonished at the companionable qualities displayed by his unctuous friend, for "misery acquaints a man with strange bed-fellows," he raised himself up, and gazed perfectly panic-struck on the uncouth monster, who soundly reposed with the utmost tranquillity. From what has been related, it will be concluded that poor Lord was not at this time very strong, and unfortunately he had let fall his club about twenty paces before he sank down upon the shore, and feared that if he got up to fetch it, he might disturb his reposing companion. He therefore determined on commencing an attack with his knife. He suddenly darted forward, and succeeded in encircling the seal in his arms and legs, and rolling with the creature over and over; but the seal was too strong in despite of all he could effect, and they both rolled into the sea.

Vexed and confounded at the escape of his prey, the more so when he found his hands much lacerated in the encounter, he crawled on shore, where he luckily recovered his knife which he had dropped on the spot where they floundered. As he did not expect another visit from this animal, he picked up his club, and began to pursue his road back, benumbed with cold, and much reduced by the heavy fatigue of the day; he had not gone half a mile, when, to his great joy, he beheld a tolerably large tortoise moving up from the sea towards the woods. Exerting his utmost strength, he was so successful as to arrive in sufficient time to intercept its retreat, and he proceeded to despatch it without delay. This supply came very opportunely, and after this meal he found himself so much the better, that he reached the tree, where he put up for the night, and slept without disturbance. The next morning he finished the remains of the tortoise, and he then mustered up resolution to enter the forest, in order to keep a look-out from the mountain from whence he had beheld the American ship prepare for sailing. He succeeded in gaining the summit, and remained all this day viewing the distant horizon, but no sail appeared, and the night passed heavily. About the middle of the next day, he was obliged by hunger to return to the beach, the island being destitute of berries or fruits.

In this manner he subsisted till the morning of the twenty-first day, which found him on the top of the mountain, reduced to the greatest extremity, and more like an apparition than a human being; "sharp misery had worn him to the bone," and he expected to die very shortly. As his eye wandered round the glittering expanse, he thought he distinguished in the extreme distance a dark speck, which he took to be a sail. He gazed at it most intensely, but it did not seem to move, and he concluded it was a rock; in order to be convinced, he lay down, and brought the stem of a small tree to bear upon the distant object, which he now perceived moved along the level horizon. It must be a ship, but she was passing the island, and he kept anxiously looking, in the expectation of her fading from his view. In a short time he could perceive her to be a vessel of some size, but his heart sank within him when he observed soon afterwards that she stood away upon a different tack. In about half an hour she tacked again, and it now became evident that she was making for the island. The joy of the poor sufferer at this welcome sight broke out in sundry raptures and transports. He rushed down the mountain with such little caution, that he stumbled over the broken rocks, and pitched headlong down the broken and rugged descent. After many painful efforts, he staggered from the woods to the sea-shore, and, when he beheld the ship come fairly into the bay, and anchor, a boat hoisted out, and pull with long and rapid strokes towards him, he fell overpowered upon the sand.

On the boat reaching the shore, the poor fellow appeared at his last gasp, and all he could articulate was "Water, water!" One of the sailors brought some in a can, and suffered him to drink his fill; soon afterwards he again swooned away, and in this state they carried him alongside, where he became sensible, but unable to speak or move. His helpless condition rendered it necessary to hoist him on board. Nothing could exceed the kind and humane treatment which he received from Captain Cook, and the surgeon of the ship, to whose skill and attention may be attributed his ultimate recovery, as from the quantity of water the sailor suffered him to drink (which the surgeon succeeded in dislodging from his stomach,) in his miserable and emaciated state, the medical gentleman, when he first saw him, had but faint