All evils are to be considered with the good
that is in them, and with what worse attends them.
Then it occurred to me again, how well I was furnished for my
subsistence, and what would have been my case if it had not
happened (which was a hundred thousand to one) that the ship
floated from the place where she first struck, and was driven so
near to the shore that I had time to get all these things out of
her; what would have been my case, if I had been forced to have
lived in the condition in which I at first came on shore, without
necessaries of life, or necessaries to supply and procure them?
"Particularly," said I, aloud (though to myself), "what should I
have done without a gun, without ammunition, without any tools to
make anything, or to work with, without clothes, bedding, a tent,
or any manner of covering?" and that now I had all these to
sufficient quantity, and was in a fair way to provide myself in
such a manner as to live without my gun, when my ammunition was
spent: so that I had a tolerable view of subsisting, without any
want, as long as I lived; for I considered from the beginning how I
would provide for the accidents that might happen, and for the time
that was to come, even not only after my ammunition should be
spent, but even after my health and strength should decay.
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