Though anything relating to science, or the usual
accomplishments, would be useless to them, I did not wish to bring them
up like young savages; I hoped to be able to communicate much useful
knowledge to them, and to give them juster ideas of this world and
that to come.
"As soon as the sun had dried them, I made them put on their dresses,
and we continued our walk by the brook, till we arrived at the grove
which is before this rock. I removed the branches to pass through it,
and saw beyond them the entrance to this grotto. It was very low and
narrow; but I could not help uttering a cry of joy, for this was the
only sort of retreat that could securely shelter us. I was going to
enter it without thought, not reflecting there might be in it some
ferocious animal, when I was arrested by a plaintive cry, more like that
of a child than a wild beast; I advanced with more caution, and tried to
find out what sort of an inhabitant the cave contained. It was indeed a
human being!--an infant, whose age I could not discover; but it seemed
too young to walk, and was, besides, tied up in leaves and moss,
enclosed in a piece of bark, which was much torn and rent. The poor
infant uttered the most piteous cries, and I did not hesitate a moment
to enter the cave, and to take the innocent little creature in my arms;
it ceased its cries as soon as it felt the warmth of my cheek; but it
was evidently in want of food, and I had nothing to give it but some
figs, of which I pressed the juice into its mouth; this seemed to
satisfy it, and, rocking it in my arms, it soon went to sleep.
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