An American Robinson Crusoe | Page 7

and rolled it into the opening
till it almost closed it. "I have now a closed home. I can again stretch
my legs. Wind and rain cannot get at me, nor wild animals."

X
ROBINSON MAKES A HAT
Refreshed and with renewed strength, Robinson awoke late the next
morning, but he had a bad headache. The day before the hot tropic sun
had beat down on his bare head, as he worked at his cave. He was so
busy that he forgot to go into the shade from time to time in order to
shield himself from the scorching sunshine. He felt a new need.
"I must make me a hat," said Robinson to himself. "But how?" He had

no straw, no thread and no needle. He looked around for a long time,
but found nothing. The sun mounted even higher in the heavens, and
shone hotter and hotter. He went to seek shelter at last in the deep shade
of a nearby tall plant.
As he stood there he examined the plant more carefully. "Out of these
leaves," he said, "I might make a hat." He climbed up the short stem of
the plant and saw that it had not only leaves as long as himself, but
between the leaves were big bunches of long, thin fruit, as thick as
three fingers and similar in shape to a cucumber.
He plucked the leaves and fruit and was about to eat some of the fruit
when he heard near him a light stir as of some animal. He rolled the
leaves and fruit together and hastened back to the cave.
[Illustration: THE BANANA TREE]
The bananas, for that is what the fruit proved to be, were sweet and
refreshing. After he had eaten enough he set immediately about making
his hat. He broke off a couple of reeds. He bent one into a hoop. But the
hoop would not hold without thread. Sometimes it was too large and
sometimes too small. But it must fit his head. He pulled up grass and
bound its ends together, but the grass stalks were not strong enough. He
hunted until he found a tree whose inner bark was soft and came out in
long fibres. He bound his reed with this. This, too, made the hoop soft
so that it did not hurt his head.
When the hoop was ready and fitted to his head he found the banana
leaves could not be used. Their veins ran straight out from the midrib.
This made them easily torn, and besides, they were too large. They
were not the best shape. He saw that leaves about a foot long with
broad and tapering points would be best. He saw too, that if the leaves
had their veins running parallel with the midrib they would be stronger.
He made search and at length found leaves that seemed made for his
purpose. They were thick and leathery and tapered from base to apex
like a triangle.
He now proceeded with his hat-making. He would take a leaf and lay it

on the ground with the base toward him. Then he laid the hoop on the
base of the leaf, wrapped it around the hoop and fastened it with thorns.
He did the same with the other leaves. The thorns were his pins. At last
he pinned the tips of the leaves together at the top and the hat was ready.
It looked just like a big cone, but it kept out the heat of the sun.
Robinson now had corn and bananas and when he was thirsty he drank
a handful of water from the spring. He had been now nine days on the
island. Every day he looked out on the sea until his eyes ached to see if
he might discover a ship.
He could not understand why no ship came his way. "Who knows how
long I must wait here?" said he sorrowfully. Then the thought came to
him: "You will not be able to keep track of the days unless you write it
down."

XI
ROBINSON'S CALENDAR
The matter of keeping track of time puzzled Robinson very much. It
was getting more difficult every day to keep it in his memory. He must
write down the days as they slip by, but where and how? He had neither
pen, ink, nor paper. Should he mark every day with a colored stone on
the smooth side of the huge rock wall within whose clefts he had dug
out his cave? But the rain would wash off the record and then he would
lose all his bearings. Then he thought of the beach, but there the wind
and waves would soon also erase it.
He thought a long time. "I must find something," he said