CRUSOE’S NEW DOCK. ; 288

he saw me work the boat to and again in the sea by the rudder;
and how the sail jibed, and filled this way or that way, as tho
course we sailed changed ;—I say, when he saw this he stood like
one astonished and amazed. However, with a little use, I made all
these things familiar to him; and he became an expert sailor, except
that, as to the compass, I could make him understand very little
of that. On the other hand, as there was very little cloudy
weather, and seldom or never any fogs in those parts, there was the
less occasion for a compass, seeing the stars were always to be seen
by night and the shore by day, except in the rainy seasons, and
then nobody cared to stir abroad, either by land or sea. a

'I was now entered on the seven-and-twentieth year of my
captivity in this place; though the three last years that I had
this creature with me ought rather to be left out of the account,
my habitation being quite of another kind than in all the rest
of the time. I kept the anniversary of my landing here with
the same thankfulness to God for his mercies as at first. And
if I had such cause of acknowledgment at first, I had much
more so now, having such additional testimonies of the care of
Providence over me, and the great hopes I had of being effectually
and speedily delivered; for I had an invincible impression upon
my thoughts that my deliverance was at hand, and that I
should not be another year in this place. However, I went on
with my husbandry, digging, planting, fencing, as usual; I
gathered and cured my grapes, and did every necessary thing, as
before.

The rainy season was in the meantime upon me, when I kept
more within doors than at other times. So I had stowed our new
vessel as secure as we could, bringing her up into the creek where,
as I said, in the beginning I landed my rafts from the ship; and
hauling her up to the shore at high-water mark, I made my man
Friday dig a little dock, just big enough to hold her, and just deep
enough to give her water enough to float in; and then, when the tide
was out, we made a strong dam across the end of it, to keep the water
out; and so she lay dry, as to the tide from the sea; and to keep’
the rain off, we laid a great many boughs of trees so thick, that
she was as well thatched as a house; and thus we waited for the