The Swiss Family Robinson; Or, Adventures of a Father and Mother and Four Sons in a Desert Island. with Maps and Illustrations

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1885. Not illustrated. Excerpt: … intermediate twilight.–” This,” replied I, ” makes me suspect that we are not far from the equator, or at least between the tropics, where this is of ordinary occurrence: for the twilight is occasioned by the rays of the sun being broken in the atmosphere; the more obliquely they fall, the more their feeble light is extended and prolonged; while, on the other hand, the more perpendicular the rays, the less their declination: consequently, the change from day to night is much moie sudden when the sun is under the horizon.” 1 looked once more out of the tent to see if all was quiet around us. The old cock, awaking at the rising of the moon, chanted our vespers, and then I lay down to sleep. In proportion as we had been during the clay oppressed with heat we were now in the night inconvenienced with the cold, so that we clung to each other for warmth. A sweet sleep began to close the eyes of my beloved family; I endeavored to keep awake till I was sure my wife’s solicitude had yielded to the same happy state, and then I closed my own. Thanks to the fatigue we had undergone, our first night in the desert island was very tolerably comfortable. CHAPTER III. VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. I Was roused at the dawn of day by the crowing of the cocks. I awoke my wife, and we consulted together as to the occupations we should engage in. We agreed, that we would seek for traces of our late ship companions, and at the same time examine the nature of the soil on the other side of the river, before we determined on a fixed place of abode. My wife easily perceived that such an excursion could not be undertaken by all the members of the family; and full of confidence in the protection of Heaven, she courageously consented to my proposal of leaving her with the three youngest boys, and pr…