Alexander Selkirk, hearing strange sounds from inland, which he feared were dangerous beasts, had remained at first along the shoreline, eating shellfish, scanning the ocean daily for rescue, and suffering all the while from loneliness, misery and remorse.
Hordes of raucous sea lions, gathering on the beach for the mating season, had eventually driven him to the island's interior.
Once there, his way of life had taken a turn for the better, as more foods were now available.
Feral goats—introduced by earlier sailors—provide him with meat and milk and wild turnips, cabbage, and black pepper berries offer him variety and spice.
Although rats attack him at night, he is able, by domesticating and living near feral cats, to sleep soundly and in safety.
Selkirk has proved resourceful in using equipment from the ship as well as materials that are native to the island.
He has built two huts out of pimento trees.
He uses his musket to hunt goats and his knife to clean their carcasses.
As his gunpowder dwindles, he has to chase prey on foot.
During one such chase he had been badly injured when he tumbled from a cliff, lying unconscious for about a day. (His prey had cushioned his fall, sparing him a broken back.)
He reads from the Bible frequently, finding it a comfort to him in his condition and a mainstay for his English.
When Selkirk's clothes wear out, he makes new garments from goatskin using a nail for sewing.
The lessons he had learned as a child from his father, a tanner, help him greatly during his stay on the island.
When his shoes became unusable, he had no need to make new ones, since his toughened, callused feet make protection unnecessary.
He forges a new knife out of barrel rings left on the beach.
Two vessels had arrived and departed, but both were Spanish.
As a Scotsman and privateer, he risked a terrible fate if captured and therefore he hid himself.
At one point, his Spanish pursuers had urinated at the bottom of a tree he was hiding in, but did not discover him.
