166 ROBINSON CRUSOE.

and though he walks in the midst of so many thousand dangers,
the sight of which, if discovered to him, would distract his
mind and sink his spirits, he is kept serene and calm, by having
the events of things hid from his eyes, and knowing nothing of
the dangers which surround him.

After these thoughts had for some time entertained me, I
came to reflect seriously upon the real danger I had been in
for so many years in this very island, and how I had walked
about in the greatest security, and with all possible tranquillity,
even when perhaps nothing but the brow of a hill, a great tree,
or the casual approach of night, had been between me and the
worst kind of destruction, viz.: that of falling into the hands of
cannibals and savages, who would have seized on me with the
same view:as I would on a goat or a turtle; and have thought
it no more crime to kill and devour me, than I did of a pigeon
or acurlew. I would unjustly slander myself, if I should say
I was not sincerely thankful to my great Preserver, to whose
singular protection I acknowledged, with great humility, all
these unknown deliverances were due, and without which I must
inevitably have fallen into their merciless hands.

“¢When these thoughts were over, my head was for some time
élup in considering the nature of these wretched creatures
(I-ifiean the savages), and how it came to pass in the world,
that the wise Governor of all things should give up any of his
creatures to such inhumanity, nay, to something so much below
even brutality itself, as to devour its own kind ; but as this
ended in some (at that time) fruitless speculations, it occurred
to me to inquire, what part of the world these wretches lived
in? how far off the coast was from whence they came? what
they ventured over'so far from home for? what kind of boats
they had? and why I might not order myself and my business
so, that I might be as able to go over thither, as they were to
come to me,

I never so much as troubled myself to consider what I
should do with myself when I went thither; what would
become of me if I fell into the hands of these savages; or
how I should escape them if they attacked me; no, nor so
much as how it was possible for me to reach the coast, and
not be attacked by some or other of them, without any possi-
bility of delivering myself; and if I should not fall into their
hands, what I should do for provision, or whither I should
bend my course: none of these thoughts, I say, so much as
came in my way ; but my mind was wholly bent upon the notion
of my passing over in my boat to the main land. I looked