第37章
In this Season I was much surpriz'd with the Increase of my Family；I had been concern'd for the Loss of one of my Cats，who run away from me，or as I thought had been dead，and I heard no more Tale or Tidings of her，till to my Astonishment she came Home about the End of August，with three Kittens；this was the more strange to me，because tho' I had kill'd a wild Cat，as I call'd it，with my Gun；yet I thought it was a quite differing Kind from our European Cats；yet the young Cats were the same Kind of House breed like the old one；and both my Cats being Females，I thought it very strange：But from these three Cats，I afterwards came to be so pester'd with Cats，that I was forc'd to kill them like Vermine，or wild Beasts，and to drive them from my House as much as possible.
From the fourteenth of August to the twenty sixth，incessant Rain，so that I could not stir，and was now very careful not to be much wet. In this Confinement I began to be straitned for Food，but venturing out twice，I one Day kill'd a Goat，and the last Day，which was the twenty sixth，found a very large Tortoise，which was a Treat to me，and my Food was regulated thus；I eat a Bunch of Raisins for my Breakfast，a Piece of the Goat's Flesh，or of the Turtle for my Dinner broil'd；for to my great Misfortune，I had no Vessel to boil or stew any Thing；and two or three of the Turtle's Eggs for my Supper.
During this Confinement in my Cover，by the Rain，I work'd daily two or three Hours at enlarging my Cave，and by Degrees work'd it on towards one Side，till I came to the Out-Side of the Hill，and made a Door or Way out，which came beyond my Fence or Wall，and so I came in and out this Way；but I was not perfectly easy at lying so open；for as I had manag'd my self before，I was in a perfect Enclosure，whereas now I thought I lay expos'd，and open for any Thing to come in upon me；and yet I could not perceive that there was any living Thing to fear，the biggest Creature that I had yet seen upon the Island being a Goat.
September the thirtieth，I was now come to the unhappy Anniversary of my Landing. I cast up the Notches on my Post，and found I had been on Shore three hundred and sixty five Days. I kept this Day as a Solemn Fast，Setting it apart to Religious Exercise，prostrating my self on the Ground with the most serious Humiliation，confessing my Sins to God，acknowledging his Righteous Judgments upon me，and praying to him to have Mercy on me，through Jesus Christ；and having not tasted the least Refreshment for twelve Hours，even till the going down of the Sun，I then eat a Bisket Cake，and a Bunch of Grapes，and went to Bed，finishing the Day as I began it.
I had all this Time observ'd no Sabbath-Day；for as at first I had no Sense of Religion upon my Mind，I had after some Time omitted to distinguish the Weeks，by making a longer Notch than ordinary for the Sabbath-Day，and so did not really know what any Of the Days were；but now having cast up the Days，as above，I found I had been there a Year；so I divided it into Weeks，and set apart every seventh Day for a Sabbath；though I found at the End of my Account I had lost a Day or two in my Reckoning.
A line after this my Ink began to fail me，and so I contented my self to use it more sparingly，and to write down only the most remarkable Events of my Life，without continuing a daily Memorandum of other Things.
The rainy Season，and the dry Season，began now to appear regular to me，and I learn'd to divide them so，as to provide for them accordingly. But I bought all my Experience before I had it；and this I am going to relate，was one of the most discouraging Experiments that I made at all：I have mention'd that I had sav'd the few Ears of Barley and Rice，which I had so surprizingly found spring up，as I thought，of themselves，and believe there was about thirty Stalks of Rice，and about twenty of Barley；and now I thought it a proper Time to sow it after the Rains，the Sun being in its Southern Position going from me.
Accordingly I dug up a Piece of Ground as well as I could with my wooden Spade，and dividing it into two Parts，I sow'd my Grain；but as I was sowing，it casually occur'd to my Thoughts，That I would not sow it all at first，because I did not know when was the proper Time for it；so I sow'd about two Thirds of the Seed，leaving about a Handful of each.
It was a great Comfort to me afterwards，that I did so，for not one Grain of that I sow'd this Time came to any Thing；for the dry Months following，the Earth having had no Rain after the Seed was sown，it had no Moisture to assist its Growth，and never came up at all，till the wet Season had come again，and then it grew as if it had been but newly sown.
Finding my first Seed did not grow，which I easily imagin'd was by the Drought，I fought for a moister Piece of Ground to make another Trial in，and I dug up a Piece of Ground near my new Bower，and sow'd the rest of my Seed in February，a little before the Vernal Equinox；and this having the rainy Months of March and April to water it，sprung up very pleasantly，and yielded a very good Crop；but having Part of the Seed left only，and not daring to sow all that I had I had but a small Quantity at last，my whole Crop not amounting to above half a Peck of each kind.
But by this Experiment I was made Master of my Business，and knew exactly when the proper Season was to sow；and that I might expect two Seed Times，and two Harvests every Year.