Evening star., 1927-10-24
WORLD FAMOUS STORIES
ROBINSON CRUSOE'S CANOE
BY DANIEL DEFOE.

nhi ea in W npr" H. II 1nion 1aros Asq Rp
ings earned him enduring fame in literature
| which first appeared in 1919. 1t is one of
the most Gonyingins imaginary accounts of
nctoe's other we'll known WORKS are Mol
tha piaspe as am S1hSie19n hs Journal Of
| one Mrs Feal."f
| Robinson Crusoe, shipwrecked. was
! marooned on desert island and has
| been living there. by the use of his
wits and natural skill with his hands.
| for almost three years. In this third
year be contemplates some land he
| has seen on the other side of his
| island. and although he desires to
| reach it. he realizes the nearly inn
| possible nature of such wish. and
| knows, too. that it may be inhabited
| by savages or cannibals. However,
he finds his long-lost ships longboat,
nearly bottom up on the far shore
| Of the island. and tries to move it
with crudely fashioned rollers, all to
no avail. Sight Of it nerves him to
attempt to make boat or canoe
Of his own. which he gets out to carve
from the trunk Of a tree
j felled d cedar tree las Robinson
Crusoe wrote in his journaD, and |
question much whether solomon ever
had such one for the building of the
Temple OF Jerusalem, it was, 5 feet
lO inches in diameter at the lower
part next TO the stump, and 4 feet
II inches in diameter at the end of
% feet; after which it lessened for a
While. and then parted into branches.
1t was not without infinite labor
that l felled this tree; I was 90 DAYS
hacking and hewing at 1t at the bot
tom; was IA more getting the
branches and limbs, and the vast
spreading head. cut off, which
hacked and hewed through with ak
and hatchet and inexpress:ble labor.
After this, it cost me a month to shape
| It to proportion and to something
| like the bottom of boat that it might
swim upright as it ought to do. Tt
| cost me near three months more to
clear the inside and work it out so as
| to make an exact boat of it. This
| did, indeed without fire, by mere NAL.
| let and chisel, which l had saved
! among my other few tools from the
wreck and by the dint of hard labor
! till ! had brought it 50 be ~ very hand.
sor,e pen aqua, and big enough, to
have carried six ar1 twenty men, ard
| consequently big enough to have car
ried me and all my cargo.
| When ! had gone through this
work I was extremely delighted with
| 1t. The boat was really much bigger
| than ever | saw a canoe or periagua
that was made Of one tree in my life.
! Many weary stroke it had cost, YOU
may be sure, and had l gotten it into
the water / make no question but /
| should have begun the naddest voy-
| age and the most unlikely to be per.
| formed that ever was undertaken.
I But all my devices to get it into
the water failed me, though they cost
| me infinite labor. too. 1t lay about
| 100 yards from the water ana not
more than that. but the first incon-
venience that l found was that it was
! uphill toward the creek. ! confess
! that had never thought of that until
| | came to launch my new canoe.
! Well. to make the best of that first
| disappointment. I resolved to dig into
the surface OF the earth and so make
a reclivity or incline. This I began
with great enthusiasm, and it cost me
prodigious deal Of pains tbut who
ever grudeed pains who has his de.
| liverance in view to spur him on to
greater endeavorD: but when this was
worked through and this difficulty
! overcome the situation was still much
! the same. For / could no more stir
| that canoe than / had been able to
boudse the ships longbOat that had
been cast up on the distant shore.
| / was resolved not to give up even
yet. Next I measured the distance Of
ground between the canoe and the
water. and ] decided to cut a dock,
| which is to say that l meant to dig
canal and SO float the canoe to the
creek and to the sea. Seeing that
could not bring the canoe down to the
water. L determined, if possible, to
bring the water up to the canoe.
Well I began this work and
spared no pains to get it rapidly un-
der way. But when l began to enter
upon 1t in good earnest 7 calculated
how deep the canal must be dug, and
how broad 1t would have to be. and
| the slowness with which l was COM
PEELED to throw out the earth as I
cut 1t away. This computation stag