years old. The translator, Sir Paul Rycant,
was a notable personage in his time, and his
book attracted general attention. The story of
Peter Serrano stands at the very beginning of
the volume, and affords a close parallel to Hue
Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. The island
on which Serrano was cast, is one of a small
cluster, now called the Serrano Keys, lying in
the Caribbean Sea, in latitude fourteen degrees
north, and longitude eighty degrees west, about
midway between Cuba and the Isthmus of Panama.
The locality given by De Eoe to Robinson
Crusoe's island is only two degrees further
south, but eighteen degrees further east.

The following, with the omission of a few un-
important sentences, is Rycant's translation:

"Peter Serrano escaped from shipwreck by
swimming to that desert island, which from him
received its name, being, as he reported, about
two leagues in compass.    .   .   .   .   .   It was
his misfortune to be lost upon these places, and
to save his life on this disconsolate island, where
was neither water, nor wood, nor grass, nor
anything for support of human life. With the
sad thoughts hereof he passed the first night,
lamenting his affliction with as many melancholy
reflections as we may imagine capable to
enter into the mind of a wretch in like extremities.
So soon as it grew day, he began to traverse
his island, and found on the shore some
cockles, shrimps, and other creatures of like
nature, which the sea had thrown up, and which
he was forced to eat raw, because he wanted fire
wherewith to roast them: and with this small
entertainment he passed his time, till observing
some turtles not far from the shore, he watched
a convenience until they came within his reach,
and then throwing them on their backs (which
is the manner of taking that sort of fish), he cut
the throat, drinking the blood instead of water;
and slicing out the flesh with a knife which was
fastened to his girdle, he laid the pieces to be
dried and roasted by the sun: the shell he made
use of to rake up rain water, which lay in little
puddles, for that is a country often subject to
great and sudden rains. In this manner he
passed the first of his days by killing all the
turtles he was able, some of which were so
large that their shells were as big as targets or
bucklers; others were so great that he was not
able to stop them on their way to the sea, so
that in a short time experience taught him
which sort he was able to deal with and which
were too unwieldly for his force. With his
lesser shells he poured water into the greater,
some of winch contained twelve gallons: so
that having made sufficient provision of meat
and drink, he began to contrive some way to
strike fire, that so he might not only dress his
meat with it, but also make a smoke to give a
sign to any ship which was passing in those
seas. Considering of this invention (for seamen
are much more ingenious in all times of
extremity than men bred on land), he searched
everywhere to find out a couple of hard pebbles
instead of flint, his knife serving in place of a
steel; but the island being all covered with
a dead sand, and no stone appearing, he swam
into the sea, and diving often to the bottom, he
at length found a couple of stones fit for his
purpose, which he rubbed together until he got
them to an edge, with which being able to strike
fire, he drew some thread out of his shirt
which he worked so small that it was like cotton
and served for tinder; so that having contrived
a means to kindle fire, he then gathered
a great quantity of sea-weeds thrown up by the
waves, which, with the shells of fish and the
planks of ships which had been wrecked on
these shoals, afforded nourishment for his fuel;
and lest sudden showers should extinguish his
fire, he made a little covering like a small hut
with the shells of the largest turtles or tortoises
that he had killed, taking great care that his
fire should not go out. In the space of two
months and sooner, he was as unprovided of all
things as he was at first, for with the great
rains, heat, and moisture of that climate, his
provisions were corrupted; and the great heat
of the sun was so violent on him, having neither
clothes to cover him nor shadow for shelter,
that when he was, as it were, broiled in the
sun, he had no remedy but to run into the sea.
In this misery and care he passed three years,
during which time he saw several ships at sea
and often made his smoke; but none turned out
of their way to see what it meant, for fear of
those shelves and sands which wary pilots avoid
with all imaginable circumspection; so that the
poor wretch, despairing of all manner of relief,
esteemed it a mercy for him to die, and arrive
at that period which could only put an end to
his miseries; and being exposed in this manner
to all weathers, the hair of his body grew in
that manner that he was covered all over with
bristles, the hair of his head and beard reaching
to his waist, that he appeared like some wild
and savage creature.

"At the end of three years, Serrano was
strangely surprised with the appearance of a
man in his island, whose ship had the night
before been cast away upon those sands, and
had saved himself on a plank of the vessel. So
soon as it was day he espied the smoke, and,
imagining whence it was, made towards it. So
soon as they saw each other, it is hard to say
which was the most amazed. Serrano imagined
that it was the devil who came in the shape of a
man to tempt him to despair: the new comer
believed Serrano to be the devil in his own proper
shape and figure, being covered over with hair
and beard; in fine, they were both afraid, flying
one from the other. Peter Serrano cried out as
he ran, ' Jesus, Jesus, deliver me from the
devil! ' The other, hearing this, took courage,
and returning again to him, called out, 'Brother,
brother, don't fly from me, for I am a
Christian as thou art!' and because he saw
that Serrano still ran from him, he repeated the
Credo, or Apostles' Creed, in words aloud, which
when Serrano heard, he knew it was no devil
would recite those words, and thereupon gave a
stop to his flight, and returning to him with
great kindness they embraced each other with