The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: provisions, which the people there, who are very courteous in their
manners, supplied us with willingly, and dealt very fairly and
punctually with us in all their agreements and bargains. This is
what we did not find among other people, and may be owing to the
remains of Christianity which was once planted here by a Dutch
missionary of Protestants, and it is a testimony of what I have
often observed, viz. that the Christian religion always civilises
the people, and reforms their manners, where it is received,
whether it works saving effects upon them or no.
From thence we sailed still north, keeping the coast of China at an
equal distance, till we knew we were beyond all the ports of China
 Robinson Crusoe |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson: our limbs on the grass, and smoked deifying tobacco and proclaimed
the world excellent. It was the last good hour of the day, and I
dwell upon it with extreme complacency.
On one side of the valley, high up on the chalky summit of the
hill, a ploughman with his team appeared and disappeared at regular
intervals. At each revelation he stood still for a few seconds
against the sky: for all the world (as the CIGARETTE declared)
like a toy Burns who should have just ploughed up the Mountain
Daisy. He was the only living thing within view, unless we are to
count the river.
On the other side of the valley a group of red roofs and a belfry
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