uld discover, but
could bring it to no conclusion; for, in short, I had made so little
observation while I was in the Brazils, that I knew little of the plants
in the field; at least, very little that might serve to any purpose now
in my distress.

The next day, the sixteenth, I went up the same way again; and after
going something further than I had gone the day before, I found the brook
and the savannahs cease, and the country become more woody than before.
In this part I found different fruits, and particularly I found melons
upon the ground, in great abundance, and grapes upon the trees. The
vines had spread, indeed, over the trees, and the clusters of grapes were
just now in their prime, very ripe and rich. This was a surprising
discovery, and I was exceeding glad of them; but I was warned by my
experience to eat sparingly of them; remembering that when I was ashore
in Barbary, the eating of grapes killed several of our Englishmen, who
were slaves there, by throwing them into fluxes and fevers. But I found
an excellent use for these grapes; and that was, to cure or dry them in
the sun, and keep them as dried grapes or raisins are kept, which I
thought would be, as indeed they were, wholesome and agreeable to eat
when no grapes could be had.

I spent all that evening there, and went not back to my habitation;
which, by the way, was the first night, as I might say, I had lain from
home. In the night, I took my first contrivance, and got up in a tree,
where I slept well; and the next morning proceeded upon my discovery;
travelling nearly four miles, as I might judge by the length of the
valley, keeping still due north, with a ridge of hills on the south and
north side of me. At the end of this march I came to an opening where
the country seemed to descend to the west; and a little spring of fresh
water, which issued out of the side of the hill by me, ran the other way,
that is, due east; and the country appeared so fresh, so green, so
flourishing, everything being in a constant verdure or flourish of spring
that it looked like a planted garden. I descended a little on the side
of that delicious vale, surveying it with a secret kind of pleasure,
though mixed with my other afflicting thoughts, to think that this was
all my own; that I was king and lord of all this country indefensibly,
and had a right of possession; and if I could convey it, I might have it
in inheritance as completely as any lord of a manor in E