As I was thinking of death, I heard the stone lifted up from the mouth of the cave, and immediately the corpse of a man was let down When reduced to necessity, it is natural to come to extreme resolutions.  While they let down the woman I approached the place where her coffin was to be put, and as soon as I perceived they were again covering the mouth of the cave, gave the unfortunate wretch two or three violent blows over the head, with a large bone; which stunned, or, to say the truth, killed her.  I committed this inhuman action merely for the sake of the bread and water that was in her coffin, and thus I had provision for some days more.  When that was spent, they letdown another dead woman, and a living man; I killed the man in the same manner, and, as there was then a sort of mortality in the town, by continuing this practice I did not want for provisions.

One day after I had dispatched another woman, I heard something tread, and breathing or panting as it walked.  I advanced towards that side from whence I heard the noise, and on my approach the creature puffed and blew harder, as if running away from me.  I followed the noise, and the thing seemed to stop sometimes, but always fled and blew as I approached.  I pursued it for a considerable time, till at last I perceived a light, resembling a star; I went on, sometimes lost sight of it, but always found it again, and at last discovered that it came through a hole in the rock, large enough to admit a man.

Upon this, I stopped some time to rest, being much fatigued with the rapidity of my progress:  afterwards coming up to the hole, I got through, and found myself upon the sea shore.  I leave you to guess the excess of my joy:  it was such, that I could scarcely persuade myself that the whole was not a dream.

But when I was recovered from my surprise, and convinced of the reality of my escape, I perceived what I had followed to be a creature which came out of the sea, and was accustomed to enter the cavern and feed upon the bodies of the dead.

I examined the mountain, and found it to be situated betwixt the sea and the town, but without any passage to or communication with the latter; the rocks on the sea side being high and perpendicularly steep.  I prostrated myself on the shore to thank God for this mercy, and afterwards entered the cave again to fetch bread and water, which I ate by daylight with a better appetite than I had done since my interment in the dark cavern

I returned thither a second time, and groped among the coffins for all the diamonds, rubies,, pearls, gold bracelets, and rich stuffs I could find; these I brought to the shore, and tying them up neatly into bales, with the cords that let down the coffins, I laid them together upon the beach, waiting till some ship might appear, without fear of rain, for it was then the dry season.