ENEMIES ASHORE AND AFLOAT. 13 



who, though he recovered " great store " of arms and 

 ammunition from the wreck, never felt quite at ease, 

 but always took his walks abroad loaded down with 

 guns and pistols. " For," said he, '" I was afraid to 

 lie down on the Ground, not knowing but some wild 

 Beast might devour me ; tho', as I afterward found, 

 there was really no need for those Fears. ... I 

 found no ravenous Beast, no furious Wolves or Ty- 

 gers to threaten my Life ; no venomous Creatures ; 

 nor Poisons which I might feed on to my hurt ; no 

 Salvages to murther and devour me." 



Neither was there anything of the sort to bother 

 me ; and I had this advantage over poor Crusoe : that 

 I knew, in a general way, what were the resources of 

 my island. 



But one day — I think it was the second of my 

 stay — in wandering over my beach, I found a clump 

 of trees that made me pause a moment and reflect 

 upon the possible dangers of hunting through these 

 woods alone. 



They had smooth and shining stems, green and 

 glossy leaves, and threw a most inviting shade over 

 the snowy sand, which was strewn with yellow apples, 

 fallen from the boughs above. Fortunately for me, 

 I did not seek to recline beneath the shade of these 

 trees nor try to eat any of the tempting apples, for 

 these were the dreaded manchineels — the West In- 

 dian upas trees — which have poisoned many a ship- 

 wrecked sailor who has been deceived by their fine ap- 

 pearance. They should especially be avoided when 

 the dew or rain is falling, as a drop of water from 



