120 UNCONVINCING AKGUMENTS. [1693. 



to follow US, had not promis'd to come till after two years, 

 'twas convenient to outstay that time a little; perhaps Suc- 

 cour was now upon Sea for us, and miglit arrive ev'n when 

 we were the deplorable sport of tlie Waves, if we were not 

 before that Food for the Monsters of the Sea. Besides, 

 since we were in a good Place, we ought to have a little 

 Patience ; and in the mean time have Recourse to a reason- 

 able Means, which no Body had yet thought of ; and that 

 was, to light great Fires on the top of our high Mountain,^ 

 and set Lanthorns^ all about the Island, to invite Slii]3s that 

 past by us, to come to our Assistance, The Cotton^ of our 

 Plantanes, and our Turtles Oil, made the execution of this 

 Design easy ; and we had stuff enough to cover it with, and 

 make a kind of Lanthorns if it had been necessary, 



I had a thousand things more to say, if I had had to do 

 with Men of ripe Understanding, and well reclaim'd from 

 the follies of the World. For to cast up all things, what 

 cou'd be comparable to the Sweetness, the Innocence, the 

 Advantages, and Delight in a Solitude so much resembling 

 an Earthly Paradise as ours ? What can be imagin'd more 

 happy, after having groan'd and suffer'd under the Yoak of 

 Tyranny, than to live in Independence and Ease, without 

 danger of Worldly Temptations : But when a Man is 

 young, he is not capable of making such Pieflections. I 

 therefore finish'd my Speech, in representing further to them 

 the length of the Voyage, the weakness of our A^essel, the 

 wretched Tackling we had, and their Unskilfulness. They 

 heard me patiently ; several of them seem'd not to digest it, 

 and one of them whom I had touch'd in a sore Place, of 



1 In orig. ; " sur quelques hauteurs.'' The highest poiut is Mount 

 Limon, 1,300 feet. 



2 The spelling of lanthorn which so long prevailed was doubtless 

 influenced by the use of transparent sheets of horn for the sides of the 

 lantern. (Wedgwood's Diet, of Eng. Etymolorjij.) 



3 The capoc of the Latanier palm, mentioned before. {Vide supra, 

 p. 65.) 



