 devour'd
with the Rats, and I saw nothing in the Bag but Husks and Dust; and being
willing to have the Bag for some other Use, I think it was to put Powder in,
when I divided it for Fear of the Lightning, or some such Use, I shook the Husks
of Corn out of it on one Side of my Fortification under the Rock.
    It was a little before the great Rains, just now mention'd, that I threw
this Stuff away, taking no Notice of any Thing, and not so much as remembering
that I had thrown any Thing there; when about a Month after, or thereabout, I
saw some few Stalks of something green, shooting out of the Ground, which I
fancy'd might be some Plant I had not seen, but I was surpriz'd and perfectly
astonish'd, when, after a little longer Time, I saw about ten or twelve Ears
come out, which were perfect green Barley of the same Kind as our European, nay,
as our English Barley.
    It is impossible to express the Astonishment and Confusion of my Thoughts on
this Occasion; I had hitherto acted upon no religious Foundation at all, indeed
I had very few Notions of Religion in my Head, or had entertain'd any Sense of
any Thing that had befallen me, otherwise than as a Chance, or, as we lightly
say, what pleases God; without so much as enquiring into the End of Providence
in these Things, or his Order in governing Events in the World: But after I saw
Barley grow there, in a Climate which I know was not proper for Corn, and
especially that I knew not how it came there, it startl'd me strangely, and I
began to suggest, that God had miraculously caus'd this Grain to grow without
any Help of Seed sown, and that it was so directed purely for my Sustenance, on
that wild miserable Place.
    This touch'd my Heart a little, and brought Tears out of my Eyes, and I
began to bless my self, that such a Prodigy of Nature should happen upon my
Account; and this was the more strange to me, because I saw near it still all
along by the Side of the Rock, some other straggling Stalks, which prov'd to be
Stalks of Ryce, and which I knew, because I had seen it grow in Africa when I
was ashore there.
    I not only thought these the pure Productions of Providence for my Support,
but not doubting, but that there was more in the Place
