He Told Us That He Was Born In Largo, In The County Of Fife In Scotland,
And Was Bred A Sailor From His Youth.
The reason of his being left here
was a difference with Captain Stradling; which, together with the ship
being
Leaky, made him at first rather willing to stay here than to
continue in the ship; and when at last he was inclined to have gone, the
captain would not receive him. He had been at the island before to wood
and water, when two of the men were left upon it for six months, the
ship being chased away by two French South-Sea ships; but the
Cinque-ports returned and took them off, at which time he was left. He
had with him his clothes and bedding, with a firelock and some powder
and bullets, some tobacco, a knife, a kettle, a bible, with some other
books, and his mathematical instruments. He diverted himself and
provided for his sustenance as well as he could; but had much ado to
bear up against melancholy for the first eight months, and was sore
distressed at being left alone in such a desolate place. He built
himself two huts of pimento trees, thatched with long grass, and lined
with goat-skins, killing goats as he needed them with his gun, so long
as his powder lasted, which was only about a pound at first. When that
was all spent, he procured fire by rubbing two sticks of pimento wood
together.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 561 of 825
Words from 152333 to 152584
of 224764
