260 CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



" In October the Cinque Ports entered the harbor and 

 took them on board again ; when Selkirk, having been 

 caught in pilfering, Captain Stradling suddenly put him 

 ashore and declared he should never enter the vessel again. 

 Accordingly, the vessel sailed without him, nobody re- 

 gretting his loss, for he had been boatswain of the ship 

 and was of surly humor. Before the vessel sailed he was 

 furnished with abundance of provision. 



'' In August, 1708, my grandfather enlisted in another 

 expedition to the South Seas, this time under royal author- 

 ity. The commander's name was Rogers, the first lieuten- 

 ant Courtney, and the second lieutenant a certain Dr. 

 Thomas Dover, a physician well known as the inventor of 

 Dover's powders. All three had shares in the expedition. 



" After making the Brazils and rounding Cape Horn 

 they bore away for Juan Fernandez, where they arrived 

 on February 1, 1709, and after coming to an anchor sent a 

 boat ashore for fresh water. In a short time she returned, 

 not only with the water, but a supply of crawfish and a 

 man clothed in goatskins, whose looks were as wild as his 

 attire was uncouth. This proved to be no other than 

 Alexander Selkirk, whom Captain Stradling had left on 

 the island four years and four months previously, and who 

 might have got away on several occasions when ships 

 touched there, but that he preferred to remain. Having 

 at length resolved to leave it, he availed himself of our 

 arrival, and removed his effects on board the Duke, of 

 which he was appointed mate. 



"When abandoned to his fate he had with him his 

 clothes and bedding, firearms, ammunition, tools, cooking 

 utensils, farming implements, mathematical instruments, 

 books, provisions, and an old anchor and cable, which the 

 Cinque Ports had abandoned on the beach. He was well 

 acquainted with the island, having roamed it for six 

 months before he was left upon it, and already had a vege- 

 table garden in a forward state of cultivation. There were 



