MISCELLANEOUS PUZZLES
is omitted in the old. This has always seemed to me to be a
pity.
" The third day in the morning, the wind having abated during
the night, I went down to the shore hoping to find a typewriter and
other useful things washed up from the wreck of the ship, but all
that fell in my way was a piece of timber with many holes in it. My
man Friday had many times said that we stood sadly in need of a
square table for our afternoon tea, and I bethought me how this
piece of wood might be used for that purpose. And since during
the long time that
Friday had now
been with me I
was not wanting to
lay a foundation of
useful knowledge
in his mind, I told
him that it was my
wish to make the
table from the tim-
ber I had found,
without there being
any holes in the top
thereof.
"Friday was
sadly put to it to
say how this might
be, more especially
as I said it should consist of no more than two pieces joined to-
gether, but I taught him how it could be done in such a way
that the table might be as large as was possible, though, to be
sure, I was amused when he said,
'
My nation do much better ;
they stop up holes, so pieces sugars not fall through/ "
Now, the illustration gives the exact proportions of the piece
of wood with the positions of the fifteen holes. How did Robinson
Crusoe make the largest possible square table-top in two pieces, so
that it should not have any holes in it ?
Ill
