foot upon that
place. Having now secured my habitation, as I thought, fully to my mind,
I had a great desire to make a more perfect discovery of the island, and
to see what other productions I might find, which yet I knew nothing of.

It was the 15th of July that I began to take a more particular survey of
the island itself. I went up the creek first, where, as I hinted, I
brought my rafts on shore. I found, after I came about two miles up,
that the tide did not flow any higher, and that it was no more than a
little brook of running water, and very fresh and good: but this being
the dry season, there was hardly any water in some parts of it, at least
not enough to run into any stream, so as it could be perceived.

On the bank of this brook I found many pleasant savannas or meadows,
plain, smooth, and covered with grass; and on the rising parts of them
next to the higher grounds, where the water, as it might be supposed,
never overflowed, I found a great deal of tobacco, green, and growing to
a great and very strong stalk: there were divers other plants which I
had no notion of, or understanding about; and might perhaps have virtues
of their own, which I could not find out.

I searched for the cassave root, which the Indians in all that climate
make their bread of, but I could find none. I saw large plants of aloes,
but did not then understand them: I saw several sugar-canes, but wild,
and, for want of cultivation, imperfect. I contented myself with these
discoveries for this time, and came back, musing with myself what course
I might take to know the virtue and goodness of any of the fruits or
plants which I should discover, but could bring it to no conclusion;
for, in short, I had made so little observation while I was in the
Brasils, that I knew little of the plants of the field, at least very
little that might serve me to any purpose now in my distress.

The next day, the 16th, I went up the same way again; and, after going
something farther than I had done the day before, I found the brook and
the savannas began to cease, and the country became 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
exper