120 L O R D A N S O N ’ S V O Y A G E
Hoping to the water- with a gentle defcent, opened a profpeft of
the bay and the Ihips at anchor. This lawn was fcreened behind
by a tall wood o f myrtle fweeping round it, in the form o f a theatre,
the Hope on which the wood flood riling with a much lharper
afcent than the lawn itfe lf; though not fo much, but that the hills
and precipices within land towered up conliderably above the tops
o f the trees, and added to the grandeur o f the view. There were,
befides, two ftreams o f cryftal water, which ran on the right and
left o f the tent, within an hundred yards diftance, and were lhaded
by the trees which Ikirted the lawn on either fide, and corn-
pleated the fymmetry of the whole. Some faint conceptions of
the elegance o f this fituation may perhaps be better deduced from
the draught o f it, inferted in the adjoining plate.
It remains now only that we lpeak of the animals and provifions
which we met with at this place. Former writers have related,
that this Illand abounded with vaft numbers of goats; and their
accounts are not to be queftioned, this place being the ufual haunt
o f the buccaneers and privateers, who formerly frequented thole
leas. And there are two inftances; one o f a Mufquito Indian, and
the other o f Alexander Selkirk, a Scotchman, who were left1 here by
their relpeftive Ihips, and lived alone upon this Illand for fome
years, and confequently were no ftrangers to its produce. Selkirk,
who was the laft, after a flay o f between four and five years, was
taken off the place by the Duke and Duchefs Privateers o f Brijioj,
as may be feen at large in the journal o f their voyage: his mannet
o f life, during his folitude, was, in moft particulars, very remarkable
; but there is ope circumftance he relates, which was fo
ftrangely verified by our own obfervation, that I cannot help reciting
it. He tells us, amongft other things, that, as he often
•caught more goats than he wanted, he- fometimes marked their
ears, and let them go. This was about thirty-two years before our
arrivall at that Illand. Now it happened, that the firft goat that
Was killed by our people, at their landing, had his ears flit; whence
we concluded, that he had doubtlefs been formerly under the power
of