Part 7 (1/2)

I went, directed by Heaven, no doubt; for in this chest I found a cure both for soul and body I opened the chest, and found what I looked for, viz the tobacco; and as the few books I had saved lay there too, I took out one of the Bibles which I mentioned before, and which, to this time, I had not found leisure, or so much as inclination, to look into; I say I took it out, and brought both that and the tobacco with me to the table

What use to make of the tobacco I knew not, as to ood for it or no; but I tried several experiments with it, as if I was resolved it should hit one way or other: I first took a piece of a leaf, and chewed it in my mouth, which indeed at first al, and that I had not been much used to it; then I took some, and steeped it an hour or two in some rum, and resolved to take a dose of it when I lay down; and lastly, I burnt some upon a pan of coals, and heldas I could bear it, as well for the heat as the virtue of it, and I held almost to suffocation

In the interval of this operation I took up the Bible, and began to read; but my head was too , at least at that ti opened the book casually, the first words that occurred to me were these: ”Call on lorify me”

The words were very apt to hts at the tih not sodelivered, the word had no sound, as Iwas so rean to say as the children of Israel did, when they were promised flesh to eat, ”Can God spread a table in the wilderness?”

So I began to say, Can God himself deliver me from this place? And as it was not for many years that any hope appeared, this prevailed very often upon reat ire late, and the tobacco had, as I said, dozed my head soin the cave, lest I should want any thing in the night, and went to bed; but before I lay down, I did what I never had done in all my life: I kneeled down, and prayed to God to fulfil the promise to me, that if I called upon him in the day of trouble, he would deliver me After my broken and imperfect prayer was over, I drank the ru and rank of the tobacco, that indeed I could scarce get it down Immediately upon this I went to bed, and I found presently it flew up into my head violently; but I fell into a sound sleep, and waked no more, till by the sun it must necessarily be near three o'clock in the afternoon the next day; nay, to this hour I aht, and till almost three the day after; for otherwise I knew not how I should lose a day out ofin the days of the week, as it appeared so and recrossing the line, I should have lost more than a day; but in my account it was lost, and I never knehich way

Be that however one way or other; when I awaked, I found ly refreshed, and er than I was the day before, and ry; and, in short, I had no fit the next day, but continued much altered for the better: this was the 29th

The 30th was un, but did not care to travel too far: I killed a sea-fowl or two, soht them home, but was not very forward to eat theood

This evening I renewed the ood the day before, viz the tobacco steeped in rum; only I did not take so much as before, nor did I chew any of the leaf, or hold my head over the smoke; however, I was not so well the next day, which was the 1st of July, as I hoped I should have been; for I had a little spice of the cold fit, but it was not much

July 2 I renewed the medicine all the three ways, and dozed myself with it at first, and doubled the quantity which I drank

July 3 I h I did not recover athering strength, ly upon this scripture, ”I will deliver thee;”

and the impossibility of my deliverance layit: but as I was discouraging hts, it occurred to my mind, that I pored so much upon arded the deliverance I had received; and I was, as it were, made to ask myself such questions as these; viz Have I not been delivered, and wonderfully too, from sickness? from the htful to me? and what notice had I taken of it? had I done lorified him_: that is to say, I had not owned and been thankful for that as a deliverance; and how could I expect greater deliverance?

This touched ave God thanks aloud, forI took the Bible; and, beginning at the New Testaan seriously to read it, and iht, not tying hts should engageafter I set seriously to this work, but I found my heart more deeply and sincerely affected with the wickedness of my past life; the is have not brought thee to repentance,” ran seriously in ive me repentance, when it happened providentially the very day, that, reading the Scripture, I came to these words, ”He is exalted a Prince, and a Saviour, to give repentance, and to give remission” I thren the book, and with my heart as well as my hand lifted up to heaven, in a kind of ecstasy of joy, I cried out aloud, ”Jesus, thou Son of David, Jesus, thou exalted Prince and Saviour, give me repentance!”

This was the first time that I could say, in the true sense of the words, that I prayed in all my life; for now I prayed with a sense of my condition, and with a true Scripture view of hope, founded on the encouragement of the word of God; and froan to have hope that God would hear an to construe the words mentioned above, ”Call on me, and I will deliver thee,” in a different sense from what I had ever done before; for then I had no notion of any thing being called deliverance, but h I was indeed at large in the place, yet the island was certainly a prison to me, and that in the worst sense in the world; but now I learnt to take it in another sense Now I looked back upon my past life with such horror, andof God, but deliverance frouilt that bore down all ; I did not so much as pray to be delivered from it, or think of it; it was all of no consideration in comparison of this; and I added this part here, to hint to whoever shall read it, that whenever they cos, they will find deliverance fro than deliverance fro this part, I return to h not less , yetdirected, by a constant reading the Scripture, and praying to God, to things of a higher nature, I had a great deal of co of; also as th returned, I bestirredthat I wanted, and ular as I could

From the 4th of July to the 14th, I was chiefly eun in athering up his strength after a fit of sickness; for it is hardly to be iined hoas, and to eakness I was reduced

The application which I made use of was perfectly new, and perhaps what had never cured an ague before; neither can I recoh it did carry off the fit, yet it rather contributed to weaken me; for I had frequent convulsions in my nerves and limbs for some ti abroad in the rainy season was theto my health that could be, especially in those rains which came attended with storms and hurricanes of wind; for as the rain which came in a dry season was always most accompanied with such storerous than the rain which fell in September and October

I had been now in this unhappy island above ten months; all possibility of deliverance from this condition seemed to be entirely taken from me; and I firmly believed that no hu now secured reat desire to make a more perfect discovery of the island, and to see what other productions Iof

It was the 15th of July that I began to take a more particular survey of the island itself I went up the creek first, where, as I hinted, I brought my rafts on shore I found, after I caher, and that it was nowater, and very fresh and good: but this being the dry season, there was hardly any water in soh to run into any stream, so as it could be perceived

On the bank of this brook I found many pleasant savannas or rass; and on the rising parts of theht be supposed, never overflowed, I found a great deal of tobacco, green, and growing to a great and very strong stalk: there were divers other plants which I had no notion of, or understanding about; and ht perhaps have virtues of their ohich I could not find out

I searched for the cassave root, which the Indians in all that clie plants of aloes, but did not then understand thear-canes, but wild, and, for want of cultivation, imperfect I contented myself with these discoveries for this tiht take to know the virtue and goodness of any of the fruits or plants which I should discover, but could bring it to no conclusion; for, in short, I had made so little observation while I was in the Brasils, that I knew little of the plants of the field, at least very little that ht serve me to any purpose now in my distress

The next day, the 16th, I went up the sa farther than I had done the day before, I found the brook and the savannas began to cease, and the country became more woody than before In this part I found different fruits, and particularly I found rapes upon the trees; the vines had spread indeed over the trees, and the clusters of grapes were just now in their pri discovery, and I was exceeding glad of thely of the, that when I was ashore in Barbary, the eating of grapes killed several of our English them into fluxes and fevers: but I found an excellent use for these grapes, and that was to cure or dry therapes or raisins are kept, which I thought would be, as indeed they were, as wholesoht be had

I spent all that evening there, and went not back to ht say, I had lain froot up into a tree, where I slept well, and the nextnear fourstill due north, with a ridge of hills on the south and north side of , where the country see of fresh water, which issued out of the side of the hill by me, ran the other way, that is, due east; and the country appeared so fresh, so green, so flourishi+ng, every thing being in a constant verdure or flourish of spring, that it looked like a planted garden

I descended a little on the side of that delicious valley, surveying it with a secret kind of pleasure (though hts) to think that this was alland lord of all this country indefeasibly, and had a right of possession; and if I could convey it, I ht have it in inheritance, as coland I saw here abundance of cocoa-trees, orange and le any fruit; at least, not then: however, the green liathered were not only pleasant to eat, but very wholesome; and I mixed their juice afterwards ater, which