THE STORY OF AUTO NOUS. 279 



island lies out of the ordinary course of vessels; wherefore, but for a 

 merciful Providence, the little party would have perished one by one — a 

 catastrophe which, says Autonous with refreshing simplicity, 'wou'd 

 have depriv'd me of the Opportunity of thus telling my Story.' 



Herbs, roots and 'limpid water,' with the produce of the chase, 

 therefore constitute their fare; and their greatest pleasure, animal wants 

 being satisfied, is found in 'the usual Eesort of Persons in affliction' — 

 namely, 'Devotions and Spiritual Exercises.' Incidentally, we are here 

 treated, in the characteristic style of the eighteenth century, to a brief 

 disquisition on 'Nature' and 'Luxury'; but this may be skipped as 

 having nothing directly to do with our narrative. By-and-by, poor Para- 

 mythia, unable to endure the hardships of the new life, falls sick and 

 dies. For a time Eugenius is heart-broken. Then he returns to the care 

 of the helpless baby, and, to obtain milk for him, domesticates a hind. 

 By mere power of imitation, Autonous learns from the fawn to take 

 nourishment directly from the animal, while by watching his constant 

 companion, the dog, he soon begins to dig up edible roots. 



Things in this way are prepared for the real commencement of 

 Autonous's story. The death of his wife preys upon the mind of 

 Eugenius; he grows restless and spends his time in vain attempts to 

 devise some means of escape. One unusually clear day, he fancies that 

 he can detect a faint streak of land upon the far horizon. Upon this, 

 he patches up the ship's boat, which had been cast ashore, to start out 

 by himself upon a voyage of discovery. Once more Fate shows herself 

 against him. The boat, drawn into a swift current, is carried to 

 another island and afterwards washed away. Eugenius saves himself, 

 but father and son are now separated. 



Autonous is not quite two years old when this happens. For nine- 

 teen years he lives entirely alone; at the expiration of which time 

 both he and Eugenius are picked up by a stray ship of war and carried 

 back to Epinoia. The latter's innocence is forthwith made clear to the 

 world, and all ends happily. But, it may well be asked, in what con- 

 dition is Autonous himself, after this long period of isolation? The 

 good people of Epinoia are surprised, as we in our time are surprised, 

 to find him acting more like 'a Philosopher than a Savage.' How had 

 such an amazing result been brought about? 



Looking back into the obscurity of his strange past, Autonous 

 declares his first consciousness to have consisted in the simple sense 

 of being in the cottage his father had built. He had, of course, no 

 recollection of anything before his arrival on the island, or of his 

 father and mother; but he remembered, vaguely, taking 'little journeys' 

 from the cottage, the guidance or barking of the dog keeping him 

 from going altogether astray. But he retained no image of the hind 

 by which he had been suckled, for that portion of his experience 



