Crusoe's Island: A Ramble in the Footsteps of Alexander Selkirk

dden rustling

o laugh, and whose chief pleasure consisted in reducing every thing to the practical standard of common sense. He was deeper th

"nothing gives a cold so quick

g; "but recollect the

, "won't cure a cold. I never k

reality. The hewer of wood and the drawer of water gets more credit in the wo

e's a much mor

cut a few walking-sticks to carry home. It will please our friends t

ry them home. No, sir, you can't do it. You'll

end me your knife, and we'll tr

mention the fate of these much-valued relics. I cut four beautiful sticks of myrtle, every one of which I lost before I reached Californi

med destined to be laid waste by some fierce and unconquerable destroyer, that devoured trees, shrubs, and flowers in its desolating career. The roar of the mad rushing flames, the seething tongues of fire shooting out from the bowers of shrubbery, the whirling smoke sweeping upward around the pinnacles of rock

urely it must be some awful visitation of Providence. It wouldn't be comfortable, howe

n at the cave. I told them before I left that they'd set fire to the grass

nd a tolerably big fire

andalism, so sublime was the scene. It wa

ings. I wouldn't give an acre of ground in Illinois for the whole island. I only wish they'd

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r relics, till they had left scarcely a dozen square feet of the original surface. Every man had literally his pocket full of rocks. It was a curious sight, here in this solitary island, scarcely known to mariners save as the resort of pirates, deserters, and buccaneers, and chiefly to the reading world at home as the land of Robinson Crusoe, to see these adventurous Americans in their red shirts, lounging about the veritable castle of the "wild man in the goatskins," digging out the walls, smoking cigars, whittling sticks, and talking in plain Engli

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ant 'em for our whale-ships and the yeomanry of our country! (cheers.) We'll buy 'em from the Spaniards, sir, with our gold; if we can't buy 'em sir, by hokey! we'll take 'em, sir! (Renewed cheers.) I ask you, gentlemen-I appeal to your feelins as feller-citizens of thee greatest concatenation of states on thee face of God's airth, are you the men that'll refuse to fight for your country? (Cheers, and cries of No, no, we ain't the men; hurra for Joo-an Fernandays!) Then, by Jupiter, sir, we'll have it! We'll have it as sure as

ese lively individuals had made the most of their time in the way of enjoying themselves ashore. About a week before our arrival they gave a grand party in honor of the American nation in general. It was in rather a novel sort of place, to be sure, but none the worse for that-one of the large caves near the boat-landing. On this eventful occasion they "scared up," as they alleged, sundry delicacies from home, such as preserved meats, pound-cake, Champagne, and wines of various sorts, and out of their number they produced a full band of

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e beach. They had shot at a great many wild goats, without hitting any,