The mouth of this hollow was at the bottom of a great rock, where, by mere accident (I would say, if I did not see abundant reason to ascribe all such things now to Providence), I was cutting down some thick branches of trees to make charcoal; and before I go on I must observe the reason of my making this charcoal, which was this—I was afraid of making a smoke about my habitation, as I said before; and yet I could not live there without baking my bread, cooking my meat, &c.; so I contrived to burn some wood here, as I had seen done in England, under turf, till it became chark or dry coal: and then putting the fire out, I preserved the coal to carry home, and perform the other services for which fire was wanting, without danger of smoke.
Olyan sötét és mély volt, hogy alighanem egyetlen vadember sem merészkedett volna be oda, csak olyasvalaki, aki biztonságos, nyugalmas helyre vágyik, mint én. A bejárat kissé szűk volt, de kíváncsi természetem számára ez nem jelenthetett akadályt.