He occasionally amused himself by cutting upon the trees his name, and the date when he was left on the island, and at times added to the first the period of his continuance; so averse is man to be utterly forgotten by his fellow-man. Perishable as the material was upon which he wrought, still the idea was pleasing to his lonely mind, that when he should have ended his lonely life, some future navigator would learn from these rude memorials, Alexander Selkirk had lived and died upon the island. He had no materials for writing wherewith to trace a more ample record. Upon Lord Anson’s arrival, however at Juan Fernandez, in the year 1741, there was not, so far as he observed, one of these names or dates to be discovered upon any of the trees. Abbe Raynal is not correct, when he says that Selkirk lost his speech while upon the island. All that Cook asserts is, that, at his first coming on board, he spoke his words as it were by halves, from want of practice; while he states distinctly, that he carried on conversation from the first and that his hesitating manner gradually wore off. As to his clothing it was very rude. Shoes he had none, as they were soon worn out. This gave him very little concern, and he never troubled himself in contriving any thing to supply their place. As his other clothes decayed, he dried the skins of the goats he had killed, to make into garments, sewing them with slender thongs of leather, which he cut for the purpose, and using a sharp nail for a needle. In this way he made for himself a cap, jacket, and short breeches. The hair being left upon the skin, gave him a very strange appearance; but in this dress he ran through the underwood, and received as little injury as the animal he pursued. Having linen cloth with him, he made it into shirts, sewing them by means of his nail, and the thread of his worsted stockings, which he untwisted for that purpose. Thus rudely equipped, he thought his wants sufficiently supplied, fashion having no longer any rule over him. His goats and cats being his sole companions, he was at least neighbor-like, and looked as wild as they; his beard was of great length, as it had been untouched since he left the ship. Still his mind was at ease, and he danced and sang amongst his dumb companions, for hours together; perhaps as happy a man, nay happier, than the gayest ball-room could have presented, in the most civilized country upon earth.