136 CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



proof against moths and insects, and furniture gen- 

 erally. 



It was of a cedar that Crusoe tried to fashion his 

 great canoe, and which was in the end such a dismal 

 failure — that is, he says it was a cedar ; but I think 

 it more likely to have been a gum tree, or a ceiba — a 

 silk cotton. He felt the need of a boat or canoe, you 

 may remember, with which to explore the coast and 

 the creeks, and so, in his deliberate way, he set him- 

 self the task : 



" Whether it was not possible to make myself a 

 Canoe, or Periagua, such as the Natives of those 

 Climates make, even without Tools, or, as I might 

 say, without Hands — viz., of the Trunk of a great 

 Tree." 



Finally : " I fell'd a Cedar Tree ; I question much 

 whether Solomon ever had such a one for the build- 

 ing of his Temple at Jerusalem. It was five Foot 

 ten Inches diameter at the lower Part, next the 

 Stump, and four Foot eleven Inches diameter at the 

 End of twenty -two Foot, after which it lessened for a 

 while, and then parted into Branches." 



We all know the termination of his arduous task 

 — ^that he cut down the great tree, hollowed it out 

 laboriously with fire and axe in true aboriginal fash- 

 ion, and then, after all his labor, could not launch it ! 



Taking his misspent labor as a warning, and hav- 

 ing so much to do on land that I did not need to ven- 

 ture at sea for many months at least, I reserved my 

 strength and time for more useful work. With all 

 his seafaring, Crusoe was a true ''landlubber," and 



