As the northern part of the island where Alexander lived, is composed of high craggy precipices, many of which are almost too hilly to climb, though generally covered with wood, the soil is loose and shallow, so that on the hills the largest trees soon perish for want of nourishment, and are then very easily overturned. This was the cause of the death of a seaman belonging to the Dutchess, who being on the high ground in search of goats, caught hold of a tree to aid his ascent, when it gave way and he rolled down the hill. In his fall he grasped another of considerable bulk, which likewise failed him, and he was thrown amongst the rocks and dashed to pieces. Mr. Butt also met with an accident, merely by leaning his back to a tree nearly as thick as himself, which stood upon a slope, almost without any hold of the soil.
Selkirk catching a Goat.
Our adventurer, himself nearly lost his life from a similar cause. When pursuing a goat, he made a snatch at it on the brink of a precipice, of which he was not aware, as some bushes concealed it from them; the animal suddenly stopped; upon which he stretched forward his hand to seize it, when the branches gave way, and they both fell from a great height. Selkirk was so stunned and bruised by the fall, that he lay deprived of sensation and almost of life. Upon his recovery, he found the goat lying dead beneath him. This happened about a mile from his hut. Scarcely was he able to crawl to it when restored to his senses; and dreadful were his sufferings during the first two or three of the ten days that he was confined by the injury. This was the only disagreeable accident that befel him during his long residence on the island.
W. Rogers says that Selkirk lay above the goat deprived of sensation, for 24 hours; Sir R. Steele mentions three days. Selkirk, computed the length of time by the moon’s growth from the last observation which he had made on the evening before his fall.
He occasionally amused himself by cutting upon the trees his name, and the date when he was left on the island, and at times added to the first the period of his continuance; so averse is man to be utterly forgotten by his fellow-man. Perishable as the material was upon which he wrought, still the idea was pleasing to his lonely mind, that when he should have ended his lonely life, some future navigator would learn from these rude memorials, Alexander Selkirk had lived and died upon the island. He had no materials for writing wherewith to trace a more ample record. Upon Lord Anson’s arrival, however at Juan Fernandez, in the year 1741, there was not, so far as he observed, one of these names or dates to be discovered upon any of the trees.
Abbe Raynal is not correct, when he says that Selkirk lost his speech while upon the island. All that Cook asserts is, that, at his first coming on board, he spoke his words as it were by halves, from want of practice; while he states distinctly, that he carried on conversation from the first and that his hesitating manner gradually wore off.
As to his clothing it was very rude. Shoes he had none, as they were soon worn out. This gave him very little concern, and he never troubled himself in contriving any thing to supply their place. As his other clothes decayed, he dried the skins of the goats he had killed, to make into garments, sewing them with slender thongs of leather, which he cut for the purpose, and using a sharp nail for a needle. In this way he made for himself a cap, jacket, and short breeches. The hair being left upon the skin, gave him a very strange appearance; but in this dress he ran through the underwood, and received as little injury as the animal he pursued. Having linen cloth with him, he made it into shirts, sewing them by means of his nail, and the thread of his worsted stockings, which he untwisted for that purpose. Thus rudely equipped, he thought his wants sufficiently supplied, fashion having no longer any rule over him. His goats and cats being his sole companions, he was at least neighbor-like, and looked as wild as they; his beard was of great length, as it had been untouched since he left the ship. Still his mind was at ease, and he danced and sang amongst his dumb companions, for hours together; perhaps as happy a man, nay happier, than the gayest ball-room could have presented, in the most civilized country upon earth.
One day, in his ramble along the beach, he found a few iron hoops, which had been left by some vessel, as unworthy to be taken away. This was to him a discovery that imparted more joy than if he had found a treasure of gold or silver; for with them he made knives when his own was worn out, and bad as they were, they stood him in great stead. One of them, which he had used as a chopper, was about two feet in length, and was long kept as a curiosity, at the Golden Head Coffee-house, near Buckingham Gate, in England. It had been changed from its original simple form, having when last seen, a buck’s horn handle with some verses upon it.
