My next care was for some ammunition and arms;there were two very good fowling pieces in the great cabin,and two pistols;these I secured first,with some powder horns,and a small bag of shot,and two old rusty swords.I knew there were three barrels of powder in the ship,but knew not where our gunner had stowed them;but with much search I found them,two of them dry and good,the third had taken water;those two I got to my raft with the arms.And now I thought myself pretty well freighted,and began to think how I should get to shore with them,having neither sail,oar,or rudder;and the least capful of wind would have overset all my navigation.
I had three encouragements:
1.A smooth,calm sea.
2.The tide rising and setting in to the shore.
3.What little wind there was blew me towards the land.
And thus,having found two or three broken oars belonging to the boat,and besides the tools which were in the chest,I found two saws,an axe,and a hammer,and with this cargo I put to sea.For a mile or thereabouts my raft went very well,only that I found it drive a little distant from the place where I had landed before,by which I perceived that there was some indraft of the water,and consequently I hoped to find some creek or river there,which I might make use of as a port to get to land with my cargo.
As I imagined,so it was;there appeared before me a little opening of the land,and I found a strong current of the tide set into it,so I guided my raft as well as I could to keep in the middle of the stream.But here I had like to have suffered a second shipwreck,which,if I had,I think verily would have broke my heart;for knowing nothing of the coast,my raft ran aground at one end of it upon a shoal,and not being aground at the other end,it wanted but a little that all my cargo had slipped off towards that end that was afloat,and so fallen into the water.I did my utmost by setting my back against the chests to keep them in their places,but could not thrust off the raft with all my strength,neither durst I stir from the posture I was in,but holding up the chests with all my might,stood in that manner near half an hour in which time the rising of the water brought me a little more upon a level;and a little after,the water still rising,my raft floated again,and I thrust her off with the oar I had into the channel,and then driving up higher,I at length found myself in the mouth of a little river,with land on both sides,and a strong current of tide running up.I looked on both sides for a proper place to get to shore,for I was not willing to be driven too high up the river,hoping in time to see some ship at sea,and therefore resolved to place myself as near the coast as I could.
At length I spied a little cove on the right shore of the creek,to which,with great pain and difficulty,I guided my raft,and at last got so near,as that,reaching ground with my oar,I could thrust her directly in;but here I had like to have dipped all my cargo in the sea again;for that shore lying pretty steep,that is to say,sloping,there was no place to land but where one end of my float,if it run on shore,would lie so high and the other sink lower,as before,that it would endanger my cargo again.All that I could do was to wait till the tide was at the highest,keeping the raft with my oar like an anchor to hold the side of it fast to the shore,near a flat piece of ground,which I expected the water would flow over;and so it did.As soon as I found water enough,for my raft drew about a foot of water,I thrust her on upon that flat piece of ground,and there fastened or moored her by sticking my two broken oars into the ground;one on one side near one end,and one on the other side near the other end;and thus I lay till the water ebbed away,and left my raft and all my cargo safe on shore.
My next work was to view the country and seek a proper place for my habitation,and where to stow my goods to secure them from whatever might happen.Where I was,I yet knew not;whether on the continent,or on an island;whether inhabited,or not inhabited;whether in danger of wild beasts,or not.There was a hill,not above a mile from me,which rose up very steep and high,and which seemed to over top some other hills,which lay as in a ridge from it,northward.I took out one of the fowling pieces and one of the pistols,and a horn of powder;and thus armed,I travelled for discovery up to the top of that hill,where,after I had with great labour and difficulty got to the top,I saw my fate to my great affliction,viz.,that I was in an island environed every way with the sea,no land to be seen,except some rocks which lay a great way off,and two small islands less than this,which lay about three leagues to the west.
I found also that the island I was in was barren,and,as I saw good reason to believe,uninhabited,except by wild beasts,of whom,however,I saw none;yet I saw abundance of fowls,but knew not their kinds;neither when I killed them,could I tell what was fit for food,and what not.At my coming back,I shot at a great bird which I saw sitting upon a tree on the side of a great wood.I believe it was the first gun that had been fired there since the creation of the world.I had no sooner fired,but from all the parts of the wood there arose an innumerable number of fowls of many sorts,making a confused screaming,and crying every one according to his usual note;but not one of them of any kind that I knew.As for the creature I killed I took it to be a kind of a hawk,its colour and beak resembling it,but had no talons or claws more than common;its flesh was carrion,and fit for nothing.
