His caution was so seasonable, and his advice so good, that I could not but be very well pleased with his proposal, as well as I was satisfied with his fidelity; so we fell to digging, all four of us, as well as the wooden tools we were furnished with permitted; and in about a month’s time, by the end of which it was seed-time, we had got as much land cured and trimmed up as we sowed two-and-twenty bushels of barley on, and sixteen jars of rice, which was, in short, all the seed we had to spare: indeed, we left ourselves barely sufficient, for our own food for the six months that we had to expect our crop; that is to say reckoning from the time we set our seed aside for sowing; for it is not to be supposed it is six months in the ground in that country.
Mind a négyen ásót, kapát vettünk a kezünkbe, és egy hónap leforgása alatt akkora földet műveltünk meg, amelyen húsz véka árpát és tizenhat korsó rizst vetettünk el. Igaz ugyan, hogy azt is vetőmagnak szántuk, ami élelmünkre kellett volna, no de hat hónapig, míg a magból termés lesz, eltartanak majd minket a sziget szárnyas és négylábú lakói.