and sometimes too small. But it must fit his head. He pulled up grass
and bound its ends together, but the grass stalks were not strong enough.
He hunted until he found a tree whose inner bark was soft and came
out in long fibres. He bound his reed with this. This, too, made the
hoop soft so that it did not hurt his head.

When the hoop was ready and fitted to his head he found the banana
leaves could not be used. Their veins ran straight out from the
midrib. This made them easily torn, and besides, they were too large.
They were not the best shape. He saw that leaves about a foot long
with broad and tapering points would be best. He saw too, that if the
leaves had their veins running parallel with the midrib they would
be stronger. He made search and at length found leaves that seemed
made for his purpose. They were thick and leathery and tapered from
base to apex like a triangle.

He now proceeded with his hat-making. He would take a leaf and lay
it on the ground with the base toward him. Then he laid the hoop on
the base of the leaf, wrapped it around the hoop and fastened it with
thorns. He did the same with the other leaves. The thorns were his
pins. At last he pinned the tips of the leaves together at the top
and the hat was ready. It looked just like a big cone, but it kept
out the heat of the sun.

Robinson now had corn and bananas and when he was thirsty he drank
a handful of water from the spring. He had been now nine days on the
island. Every day he looked out on the sea until his eyes ached to
see if he might discover a ship.

He could not understand why no ship came his way. "Who knows how long