southern part of Asia. I made one step towards a particular tree,
and again all was changed. I now moved on like a recruit at drill,
taking slow and measured steps, gazing with astonished eyes at the
wonderful variety of regions, plains, meadows, mountains, steppes, and
sandy deserts, which passed in succession before me. I had now no doubt
that I had seven-leagued boots on my feet.

I fell on my knees in silent gratitude, shedding tears of thankfulness;
for I now saw clearly what was to be my future condition. Shut out by
early sins from all human society, I was offered amends for the
privation by Nature herself, which I had ever loved. The earth was
granted me as a rich garden; and the knowledge of her operations was to
be the study and object of my life. This was not a mere resolution. I
have since endeavoured, with anxious and unabated industry, faithfully
to imitate the finished and brilliant model then presented to me; and
my vanity has received a check when led to compare the picture with the
original. I rose immediately, and took a hasty survey of this new
field, where I hoped afterwards to reap a rich harvest.

I stood on the heights of Thibet; and the sun I had lately beheld in
the east was now sinking in the west. I traversed Asia from east to
west, and thence passed into Africa, which I curiously examined at
repeated visits in all directions. As I gazed on the ancient pyramids
and temples of Egypt, I descried, in the sandy deserts near Thebes of
the hundred gates, the caves where Christian hermits dwelt of old.

My determination was instantly taken, that here should be my future
dwelling. I chose one of the most secluded, but roomy, comfortable, and
inaccessible to the jackals.

I stepped over from the pillars of Hercules to Europe; and having taken
a survey of its northern and southern countries, I passed by the north
of Asia, on the polar glaciers, to Greenland, and America, visiting
both parts of this continent; and the winter, which was already at its
height in the south, drove me quickly back from Cape Horn to the north.
I waited till daylight had risen in the east of Asia, and then, after a
short rest, continued my pilgrimage. I followed in both the Americas
the vast chain of the Andes, once considered the loftiest on our globe.
I stepped carefully and slowly from one summit to another, sometimes
over snowy heights, sometimes over flaming volcanoes, often breathless
from fatigue. At last I reached