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.
Pero antes de proseguir, debo explicar la razón por la que hacía este carbón y que era la siguiente: Como ya he dicho, tenía mucho miedo de hacer fuego cerca de mi casa. Sin embargo, no podía vivir sin hornear mi pan y sin cocinar mi carne y otros alimentos.