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Robinson Crusoe
By
Daniel Defoe
Cont=
ents
Chapter
3: Wrecked On A Desert Island
Chapter
4: First Weeks On The Island
Chapter
5: Builds A House - The Journal
Chapter
6: Ill And Conscience-Stricken
Chapter
7: Agricultural Experience
Chapter
8: Surveys His Position
Chapter
11: Finds Print Of Man's Foot On The Sand.
Chapter
13: Wreck Of A Spanish Ship
Chapter
15: Friday's Education
Chapter
16: Rescue Of Prisoners From Cannibals.
Chapter
17: Visit Of Mutineers
Chapter
18: The Ship Recovered
Chapter 1: Start In Life.
I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though =
not
of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at
Hull. He got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off his trade, lived
afterwards at York, from whence he had married my mother, whose relations w=
ere
named Robinson, a very good family in that country, and from whom I was cal=
led
Robinson Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption of words in England, we a=
re
now called - nay we call ourselves and write our name - Crusoe; and so my
companions always called me.
I had two elder brothers, one of whom was lieutenant-colonel to an English
regiment of foot in Flanders, formerly commanded by the famous Colonel
Lockhart, and was killed at the battle near Dunkirk against the Spaniards. =
What
became of my second brother I never knew, any more than my father or mother
knew what became of me.
Being the third son of the family and not bred to any trade, my head began =
to
be filled very early with rambling thoughts. My father, who was very ancien=
t,
had given me a competent share of learning, as far as house-education and a
country free school generally go, and designed me for the law; but I would =
be
satisfied with nothing but going to sea; and my inclination to this led me =
so
strongly against the will, nay, the commands of my father, and against all =
the
entreaties and persuasions of my mother and other friends, that there seeme=
d to
be something fatal in that propensity of nature, tending directly to the li=
fe
of misery which was to befall me.
My father, a wise and grave man, gave me serious and excellent counsel agai=
nst
what he foresaw was my design. He called me one morning into his chamber, w=
here
he was confined by the gout, and expostulated very warmly with me upon this
subject. He asked me what reasons, more than a mere wandering inclination, I
had for leaving father's house and my native country, where I might be well
introduced, and had a prospect of raising my fortune by application and
industry, with a life of ease and pleasure. He told me it was men of desper=
ate
fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring, superior fortunes on the other, who w=
ent
abroad upon adventures, to rise by enterprise, and make themselves famous in
undertakings of a nature out of the common road; that these things were all
either too far above me or too far below me; that mine was the middle state=
, or
what might be called the upper station of low life, which he had found, by =
long
experience, was the best state in the world, the most suited to human
happiness, not exposed to the miseries and hardships, the labour and suffer=
ings
of the mechanic part of mankind, and not embarrassed with the pride, luxury,
ambition, and envy of the upper part of mankind. He told me I might judge of
the happiness of this state by this one thing - viz. that this was the stat=
e of
life which all other people envied; that kings have frequently lamented the
miserable consequence of being born to great things, and wished they had be=
en
placed in the middle of the two extremes, between the mean and the great; t=
hat
the wise man gave his testimony to this, as the standard of felicity, when =
he
prayed to have neither poverty nor riches.
He bade me observe it, and I should always find that the calamities of life
were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind, but that the middle
station had the fewest disasters, and was not exposed to so many vicissitud=
es
as the higher or lower part of mankind; nay, they were not subjected to so =
many
distempers and uneasinesses, either of body or mind, as those were who, by
vicious living, luxury, and extravagances on the one hand, or by hard labou=
r,
want of necessaries, and mean or insufficient diet on the other hand, bring
distemper upon themselves by the natural consequences of their way of livin=
g;
that the middle station of life was calculated for all kind of virtue and a=
ll
kind of enjoyments; that peace and plenty were the handmaids of a middle
fortune; that temperance, moderation, quietness, health, society, all agree=
able
diversions, and all desirable pleasures, were the blessings attending the
middle station of life; that this way men went silently and smoothly through
the world, and comfortably out of it, not embarrassed with the labours of t=
he
hands or of the head, not sold to a life of slavery for daily bread, nor
harassed with perplexed circumstances, which rob the soul of peace and the =
body
of rest, nor enraged with the passion of envy, or the secret burning lust of
ambition for great things; but, in easy circumstances, sliding gently throu=
gh
the world, and sensibly tasting the sweets of living, without the bitter;
feeling that they are happy, and learning by every day's experience to know=
it
more sensibly,
After this he pressed me earnestly, and in the most affectionate manner, no=
t to
play the young man, nor to precipitate myself into miseries which nature, a=
nd
the station of life I was born in, seemed to have provided against; that I =
was
under no necessity of seeking my bread; that he would do well for me, and
endeavour to enter me fairly into the station of life which he had just been
recommending to me; and that if I was not very easy and happy in the world,=
it
must be my mere fate or fault that must hinder it; and that he should have
nothing to answer for, having thus discharged his duty in warning me against
measures which he knew would be to my hurt; in a word, that as he would do =
very
kind things for me if I would stay and settle at home as he directed, so he
would not have so much hand in my misfortunes as to give me any encourageme=
nt
to go away; and to close all, he told me I had my elder brother for an exam=
ple,
to whom he had used the same earnest persuasions to keep him from going into
the Low Country wars, but could not prevail, his young desires prompting hi=
m to
run into the army, where he was killed; and though he said he would not cea=
se
to pray for me, yet he would venture to say to me, that if I did take this
foolish step, God would not bless me, and I should have leisure hereafter to
reflect upon having neglected his counsel when there might be none to assis=
t in
my recovery.
I observed in this last part of his discourse, which was truly prophetic,
though I suppose my father did not know it to be so himself - I say, I obse=
rved
the tears run down his face very plentifully, especially when he spoke of my
brother who was killed: and that when he spoke of my having leisure to repe=
nt,
and none to assist me, he was so moved that he broke off the discourse, and
told me his heart was so full he could say no more to me.
I was sincerely affected with this discourse, and, indeed, who could be
otherwise? and I resolved not to think of going abroad any more, but to set=
tle
at home according to my father's desire. But alas! a few days wore it all o=
ff;
and, in short, to prevent any of my father's further importunities, in a few
weeks after I resolved to run quite away from him. However, I did not act q=
uite
so hastily as the first heat of my resolution prompted; but I took my mothe=
r at
a time when I thought her a little more pleasant than ordinary, and told her
that my thoughts were so entirely bent upon seeing the world that I should
never settle to anything with resolution enough to go through with it, and =
my
father had better give me his consent than force me to go without it; that I
was now eighteen years old, which was too late to go apprentice to a trade =
or
clerk to an attorney; that I was sure if I did I should never serve out my
time, but I should certainly run away from my master before my time was out,
and go to sea; and if she would speak to my father to let me go one voyage =
abroad,
if I came home again, and did not like it, I would go no more; and I would
promise, by a double diligence, to recover the time that I had lost.
This put my mother into a great passion; she told me she knew it would be t=
o no
purpose to speak to my father upon any such subject; that he knew too well =
what
was my interest to give his consent to anything so much for my hurt; and th=
at
she wondered how I could think of any such thing after the discourse I had =
had
with my father, and such kind and tender expressions as she knew my father =
had
used to me; and that, in short, if I would ruin myself, there was no help f=
or
me; but I might depend I should never have their consent to it; that for her
part she would not have so much hand in my destruction; and I should never =
have
it to say that my mother was willing when my father was not.
Though my mother refused to move it to my father, yet I heard afterwards th=
at
she reported all the discourse to him, and that my father, after showing a
great concern at it, said to her, with a sigh, "That boy might be happ=
y if
he would stay at home; but if he goes abroad, he will be the most miserable
wretch that ever was born: I can give no consent to it."
It was not till almost a year after this that I broke loose, though, in the=
meantime,
I continued obstinately deaf to all proposals of settling to business, and
frequently expostulated with my father and mother about their being so
positively determined against what they knew my inclinations prompted me to.
But being one day at Hull, where I went casually, and without any purpose of
making an elopement at that time; but, I say, being there, and one of my
companions being about to sail to London in his father's ship, and promptin=
g me
to go with them with the common allurement of seafaring men, that it should
cost me nothing for my passage, I consulted neither father nor mother any m=
ore,
nor so much as sent them word of it; but leaving them to hear of it as they
might, without asking God's blessing or my father's, without any considerat=
ion
of circumstances or consequences, and in an ill hour, God knows, on the 1st=
of
September 1651, I went on board a ship bound for London. Never any young
adventurer's misfortunes, I believe, began sooner, or continued longer than
mine. The ship was no sooner out of the Humber than the wind began to blow =
and
the sea to rise in a most frightful manner; and, as I had never been at sea
before, I was most inexpressibly sick in body and terrified in mind. I began
now seriously to reflect upon what I had done, and how justly I was overtak=
en
by the judgment of Heaven for my wicked leaving my father's house, and
abandoning my duty. All the good counsels of my parents, my father's tears =
and
my mother's entreaties, came now fresh into my mind; and my conscience, whi=
ch
was not yet come to the pitch of hardness to which it has since, reproached=
me
with the contempt of advice, and the breach of my duty to God and my father=
.
All this while the storm increased, and the sea went very high, though noth=
ing
like what I have seen many times since; no, nor what I saw a few days after;
but it was enough to affect me then, who was but a young sailor, and had ne=
ver
known anything of the matter. I expected every wave would have swallowed us=
up,
and that every time the ship fell down, as I thought it did, in the trough =
or
hollow of the sea, we should never rise more; in this agony of mind, I made
many vows and resolutions that if it would please God to spare my life in t=
his
one voyage, if ever I got once my foot upon dry land again, I would go dire=
ctly
home to my father, and never set it into a ship again while I lived; that I
would take his advice, and never run myself into such miseries as these any
more. Now I saw plainly the goodness of his observations about the middle
station of life, how easy, how comfortably he had lived all his days, and n=
ever
had been exposed to tempests at sea or troubles on shore; and I resolved th=
at I
would, like a true repenting prodigal, go home to my father.
These wise and sober thoughts continued all the while the storm lasted, and
indeed some time after; but the next day the wind was abated, and the sea
calmer, and I began to be a little inured to it; however, I was very grave =
for
all that day, being also a little sea-sick still; but towards night the wea=
ther
cleared up, the wind was quite over, and a charming fine evening followed; =
the
sun went down perfectly clear, and rose so the next morning; and having lit=
tle
or no wind, and a smooth sea, the sun shining upon it, the sight was, as I
thought, the most delightful that ever I saw.
I had slept well in the night, and was now no more sea-sick, but very cheer=
ful,
looking with wonder upon the sea that was so rough and terrible the day bef=
ore,
and could be so calm and so pleasant in so little a time after. And now, le=
st
my good resolutions should continue, my companion, who had enticed me away,
comes to me; "Well, Bob," says he, clapping me upon the shoulder,
"how do you do after it? I warrant you were frighted, wer'n't you, last
night, when it blew but a capful of wind?" "A capful d'you call
it?" said I; "'twas a terrible storm." "A storm, you fo=
ol
you," replies he; "do you call that a storm? why, it was nothing =
at
all; give us but a good ship and sea-room, and we think nothing of such a
squall of wind as that; but you're but a fresh-water sailor, Bob. Come, let=
us
make a bowl of punch, and we'll forget all that; d'ye see what charming wea=
ther
'tis now?" To make short this sad part of my story, we went the way of=
all
sailors; the punch was made and I was made half drunk with it: and in that =
one
night's wickedness I drowned all my repentance, all my reflections upon my =
past
conduct, all my resolutions for the future. In a word, as the sea was retur=
ned
to its smoothness of surface and settled calmness by the abatement of that
storm, so the hurry of my thoughts being over, my fears and apprehensions of
being swallowed up by the sea being forgotten, and the current of my former
desires returned, I entirely forgot the vows and promises that I made in my
distress. I found, indeed, some intervals of reflection; and the serious
thoughts did, as it were, endeavour to return again sometimes; but I shook =
them
off, and roused myself from them as it were from a distemper, and applying
myself to drinking and company, soon mastered the return of those fits - fo=
r so
I called them; and I had in five or six days got as complete a victory over
conscience as any young fellow that resolved not to be troubled with it cou=
ld
desire. But I was to have another trial for it still; and Providence, as in
such cases generally it does, resolved to leave me entirely without excuse;=
for
if I would not take this for a deliverance, the next was to be such a one as
the worst and most hardened wretch among us would confess both the danger a=
nd
the mercy of.
The sixth day of our being at sea we came into Yarmouth Roads; the wind hav=
ing
been contrary and the weather calm, we had made but little way since the st=
orm.
Here we were obliged to come to an anchor, and here we lay, the wind contin=
uing
contrary - viz. at south-west - for seven or eight days, during which time a
great many ships from Newcastle came into the same Roads, as the common har=
bour
where the ships might wait for a wind for the river.
We had not, however, rid here so long but we should have tided it up the ri=
ver,
but that the wind blew too fresh, and after we had lain four or five days, =
blew
very hard. However, the Roads being reckoned as good as a harbour, the
anchorage good, and our ground- tackle very strong, our men were unconcerne=
d, and
not in the least apprehensive of danger, but spent the time in rest and mir=
th,
after the manner of the sea; but the eighth day, in the morning, the wind
increased, and we had all hands at work to strike our topmasts, and make
everything snug and close, that the ship might ride as easy as possible. By
noon the sea went very high indeed, and our ship rode forecastle in, shipped
several seas, and we thought once or twice our anchor had come home; upon w=
hich
our master ordered out the sheet-anchor, so that we rode with two anchors
ahead, and the cables veered out to the bitter end.
By this time it blew a terrible storm indeed; and now I began to see terror=
and
amazement in the faces even of the seamen themselves. The master, though
vigilant in the business of preserving the ship, yet as he went in and out =
of
his cabin by me, I could hear him softly to himself say, several times,
"Lord be merciful to us! we shall be all lost! we shall be all
undone!" and the like. During these first hurries I was stupid, lying
still in my cabin, which was in the steerage, and cannot describe my temper=
: I
could ill resume the first penitence which I had so apparently trampled upon
and hardened myself against: I thought the bitterness of death had been pas=
t,
and that this would be nothing like the first; but when the master himself =
came
by me, as I said just now, and said we should be all lost, I was dreadfully
frighted. I got up out of my cabin and looked out; but such a dismal sight I
never saw: the sea ran mountains high, and broke upon us every three or four
minutes; when I could look about, I could see nothing but distress round us;
two ships that rode near us, we found, had cut their masts by the board, be=
ing
deep laden; and our men cried out that a ship which rode about a mile ahead=
of
us was foundered. Two more ships, being driven from their anchors, were run=
out
of the Roads to sea, at all adventures, and that with not a mast standing. =
The
light ships fared the best, as not so much labouring in the sea; but two or
three of them drove, and came close by us, running away with only their
spritsail out before the wind.
Towards evening the mate and boatswain begged the master of our ship to let
them cut away the fore-mast, which he was very unwilling to do; but the
boatswain protesting to him that if he did not the ship would founder, he
consented; and when they had cut away the fore-mast, the main-mast stood so
loose, and shook the ship so much, they were obliged to cut that away also,=
and
make a clear deck.
Any one may judge what a condition I must be in at all this, who was but a
young sailor, and who had been in such a fright before at but a little. But=
if
I can express at this distance the thoughts I had about me at that time, I =
was
in tenfold more horror of mind upon account of my former convictions, and t=
he
having returned from them to the resolutions I had wickedly taken at first,
than I was at death itself; and these, added to the terror of the storm, pu=
t me
into such a condition that I can by no words describe it. But the worst was=
not
come yet; the storm continued with such fury that the seamen themselves
acknowledged they had never seen a worse. We had a good ship, but she was d=
eep
laden, and wallowed in the sea, so that the seamen every now and then cried=
out
she would founder. It was my advantage in one respect, that I did not know =
what
they meant by FOUNDER till I inquired. However, the storm was so violent th=
at I
saw, what is not often seen, the master, the boatswain, and some others more
sensible than the rest, at their prayers, and expecting every moment when t=
he
ship would go to the bottom. In the middle of the night, and under all the =
rest
of our distresses, one of the men that had been down to see cried out we had
sprung a leak; another said there was four feet water in the hold. Then all
hands were called to the pump. At that word, my heart, as I thought, died
within me: and I fell backwards upon the side of my bed where I sat, into t=
he
cabin. However, the men roused me, and told me that I, that was able to do =
nothing
before, was as well able to pump as another; at which I stirred up and went=
to
the pump, and worked very heartily. While this was doing the master, seeing
some light colliers, who, not able to ride out the storm were obliged to sl=
ip
and run away to sea, and would come near us, ordered to fire a gun as a sig=
nal
of distress. I, who knew nothing what they meant, thought the ship had brok=
en,
or some dreadful thing happened. In a word, I was so surprised that I fell =
down
in a swoon. As this was a time when everybody had his own life to think of,
nobody minded me, or what was become of me; but another man stepped up to t=
he
pump, and thrusting me aside with his foot, let me lie, thinking I had been
dead; and it was a great while before I came to myself.
We worked on; but the water increasing in the hold, it was apparent that the
ship would founder; and though the storm began to abate a little, yet it was
not possible she could swim till we might run into any port; so the master
continued firing guns for help; and a light ship, who had rid it out just a=
head
of us, ventured a boat out to help us. It was with the utmost hazard the bo=
at
came near us; but it was impossible for us to get on board, or for the boat=
to
lie near the ship's side, till at last the men rowing very heartily, and
venturing their lives to save ours, our men cast them a rope over the stern
with a buoy to it, and then veered it out a great length, which they, after
much labour and hazard, took hold of, and we hauled them close under our st=
ern,
and got all into their boat. It was to no purpose for them or us, after we =
were
in the boat, to think of reaching their own ship; so all agreed to let her
drive, and only to pull her in towards shore as much as we could; and our
master promised them, that if the boat was staved upon shore, he would make=
it
good to their master: so partly rowing and partly driving, our boat went aw=
ay
to the northward, sloping towards the shore almost as far as Winterton Ness=
.
We were not much more than a quarter of an hour out of our ship till we saw=
her
sink, and then I understood for the first time what was meant by a ship
foundering in the sea. I must acknowledge I had hardly eyes to look up when=
the
seamen told me she was sinking; for from the moment that they rather put me
into the boat than that I might be said to go in, my heart was, as it were,
dead within me, partly with fright, partly with horror of mind, and the
thoughts of what was yet before me.
While we were in this condition - the men yet labouring at the oar to bring=
the
boat near the shore - we could see (when, our boat mounting the waves, we w=
ere
able to see the shore) a great many people running along the strand to assi=
st
us when we should come near; but we made but slow way towards the shore; nor
were we able to reach the shore till, being past the lighthouse at Winterto=
n,
the shore falls off to the westward towards Cromer, and so the land broke o=
ff a
little the violence of the wind. Here we got in, and though not without much
difficulty, got all safe on shore, and walked afterwards on foot to Yarmout=
h,
where, as unfortunate men, we were used with great humanity, as well by the
magistrates of the town, who assigned us good quarters, as by particular
merchants and owners of ships, and had money given us sufficient to carry us
either to London or back to Hull as we thought fit.
Had I now had the sense to have gone back to Hull, and have gone home, I had
been happy, and my father, as in our blessed Saviour's parable, had even ki=
lled
the fatted calf for me; for hearing the ship I went away in was cast away in
Yarmouth Roads, it was a great while before he had any assurances that I was
not drowned.
But my ill fate pushed me on now with an obstinacy that nothing could resis=
t;
and though I had several times loud calls from my reason and my more compos=
ed
judgment to go home, yet I had no power to do it. I know not what to call t=
his,
nor will I urge that it is a secret overruling decree, that hurries us on t=
o be
the instruments of our own destruction, even though it be before us, and th=
at
we rush upon it with our eyes open. Certainly, nothing but some such decreed
unavoidable misery, which it was impossible for me to escape, could have pu=
shed
me forward against the calm reasonings and persuasions of my most retired t=
houghts,
and against two such visible instructions as I had met with in my first
attempt.
My comrade, who had helped to harden me before, and who was the master's so=
n,
was now less forward than I. The first time he spoke to me after we were at
Yarmouth, which was not till two or three days, for we were separated in the
town to several quarters; I say, the first time he saw me, it appeared his =
tone
was altered; and, looking very melancholy, and shaking his head, he asked me
how I did, and telling his father who I was, and how I had come this voyage
only for a trial, in order to go further abroad, his father, turning to me =
with
a very grave and concerned tone "Young man," says he, "you o=
ught
never to go to sea any more; you ought to take this for a plain and visible
token that you are not to be a seafaring man." "Why, sir," s=
aid
I, "will you go to sea no more?" "That is another case,"
said he; "it is my calling, and therefore my duty; but as you made this
voyage on trial, you see what a taste Heaven has given you of what you are =
to
expect if you persist. Perhaps this has all befallen us on your account, li=
ke
Jonah in the ship of Tarshish. Pray," continues he, "what are you;
and on what account did you go to sea?" Upon that I told him some of m=
y story;
at the end of which he burst out into a strange kind of passion: "What=
had
I done," says he, "that such an unhappy wretch should come into my
ship? I would not set my foot in the same ship with thee again for a thousa=
nd
pounds." This indeed was, as I said, an excursion of his spirits, which
were yet agitated by the sense of his loss, and was farther than he could h=
ave
authority to go. However, he afterwards talked very gravely to me, exhortin=
g me
to go back to my father, and not tempt Providence to my ruin, telling me I
might see a visible hand of Heaven against me. "And, young man," =
said
he, "depend upon it, if you do not go back, wherever you go, you will =
meet
with nothing but disasters and disappointments, till your father's words are
fulfilled upon you."
We parted soon after; for I made him little answer, and I saw him no more;
which way he went I knew not. As for me, having some money in my pocket, I
travelled to London by land; and there, as well as on the road, had many
struggles with myself what course of life I should take, and whether I shou=
ld
go home or to sea.
As to going home, shame opposed the best motions that offered to my thought=
s,
and it immediately occurred to me how I should be laughed at among the
neighbours, and should be ashamed to see, not my father and mother only, but
even everybody else; from whence I have since often observed, how incongruo=
us
and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth, to that
reason which ought to guide them in such cases - viz. that they are not ash=
amed
to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; not ashamed of the action for which =
they
ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of the returning, which =
only
can make them be esteemed wise men.
In this state of life, however, I remained some time, uncertain what measur=
es
to take, and what course of life to lead. An irresistible reluctance contin=
ued
to going home; and as I stayed away a while, the remembrance of the distres=
s I
had been in wore off, and as that abated, the little motion I had in my des=
ires
to return wore off with it, till at last I quite laid aside the thoughts of=
it,
and looked out for a voyage.
Chapter 2: Slavery And Escape
That evil influence which carried me first away from my father's house - wh=
ich
hurried me into the wild and indigested notion of raising my fortune, and t=
hat
impressed those conceits so forcibly upon me as to make me deaf to all good
advice, and to the entreaties and even the commands of my father - I say, t=
he
same influence, whatever it was, presented the most unfortunate of all
enterprises to my view; and I went on board a vessel bound to the coast of
Africa; or, as our sailors vulgarly called it, a voyage to Guinea.
It was my great misfortune that in all these adventures I did not ship myse=
lf
as a sailor; when, though I might indeed have worked a little harder than
ordinary, yet at the same time I should have learnt the duty and office of a
fore-mast man, and in time might have qualified myself for a mate or
lieutenant, if not for a master. But as it was always my fate to choose for=
the
worse, so I did here; for having money in my pocket and good clothes upon my
back, I would always go on board in the habit of a gentleman; and so I neit=
her
had any business in the ship, nor learned to do any.
It was my lot first of all to fall into pretty good company in London, which
does not always happen to such loose and misguided young fellows as I then =
was;
the devil generally not omitting to lay some snare for them very early; but=
it
was not so with me. I first got acquainted with the master of a ship who had
been on the coast of Guinea; and who, having had very good success there, w=
as
resolved to go again. This captain taking a fancy to my conversation, which=
was
not at all disagreeable at that time, hearing me say I had a mind to see the
world, told me if I would go the voyage with him I should be at no expense;=
I
should be his messmate and his companion; and if I could carry anything with
me, I should have all the advantage of it that the trade would admit; and
perhaps I might meet with some encouragement.
I embraced the offer; and entering into a strict friendship with this capta=
in,
who was an honest, plain-dealing man, I went the voyage with him, and carri=
ed a
small adventure with me, which, by the disinterested honesty of my friend t=
he
captain, I increased very considerably; for I carried about 40 pounds in su=
ch
toys and trifles as the captain directed me to buy. These 40 pounds I had
mustered together by the assistance of some of my relations whom I correspo=
nded
with; and who, I believe, got my father, or at least my mother, to contribu=
te
so much as that to my first adventure.
This was the only voyage which I may say was successful in all my adventure=
s,
which I owe to the integrity and honesty of my friend the captain; under wh=
om
also I got a competent knowledge of the mathematics and the rules of
navigation, learned how to keep an account of the ship's course, take an
observation, and, in short, to understand some things that were needful to =
be
understood by a sailor; for, as he took delight to instruct me, I took deli=
ght
to learn; and, in a word, this voyage made me both a sailor and a merchant;=
for
I brought home five pounds nine ounces of gold-dust for my adventure, which
yielded me in London, at my return, almost 300 pounds; and this filled me w=
ith
those aspiring thoughts which have since so completed my ruin.
Yet even in this voyage I had my misfortunes too; particularly, that I was
continually sick, being thrown into a violent calenture by the excessive he=
at
of the climate; our principal trading being upon the coast, from latitude o=
f 15
degrees north even to the line itself.
I was now set up for a Guinea trader; and my friend, to my great misfortune,
dying soon after his arrival, I resolved to go the same voyage again, and I
embarked in the same vessel with one who was his mate in the former voyage,=
and
had now got the command of the ship. This was the unhappiest voyage that ev=
er
man made; for though I did not carry quite 100 pounds of my new-gained weal=
th,
so that I had 200 pounds left, which I had lodged with my friend's widow, w=
ho
was very just to me, yet I fell into terrible misfortunes. The first was th=
is:
our ship making her course towards the Canary Islands, or rather between th=
ose
islands and the African shore, was surprised in the grey of the morning by a
Turkish rover of Sallee, who gave chase to us with all the sail she could m=
ake.
We crowded also as much canvas as our yards would spread, or our masts carr=
y,
to get clear; but finding the pirate gained upon us, and would certainly co=
me
up with us in a few hours, we prepared to fight; our ship having twelve gun=
s,
and the rogue eighteen. About three in the afternoon he came up with us, and
bringing to, by mistake, just athwart our quarter, instead of athwart our
stern, as he intended, we brought eight of our guns to bear on that side, a=
nd
poured in a broadside upon him, which made him sheer off again, after retur=
ning
our fire, and pouring in also his small shot from near two hundred men whic=
h he
had on board. However, we had not a man touched, all our men keeping close.=
He
prepared to attack us again, and we to defend ourselves. But laying us on b=
oard
the next time upon our other quarter, he entered sixty men upon our decks, =
who
immediately fell to cutting and hacking the sails and rigging. We plied them
with small shot, half-pikes, powder-chests, and such like, and cleared our =
deck
of them twice. However, to cut short this melancholy part of our story, our
ship being disabled, and three of our men killed, and eight wounded, we were
obliged to yield, and were carried all prisoners into Sallee, a port belong=
ing
to the Moors.
The usage I had there was not so dreadful as at first I apprehended; nor wa=
s I
carried up the country to the emperor's court, as the rest of our men were,=
but
was kept by the captain of the rover as his proper prize, and made his slav=
e,
being young and nimble, and fit for his business. At this surprising change=
of
my circumstances, from a merchant to a miserable slave, I was perfectly ove=
rwhelmed;
and now I looked back upon my father's prophetic discourse to me, that I sh=
ould
be miserable and have none to relieve me, which I thought was now so
effectually brought to pass that I could not be worse; for now the hand of
Heaven had overtaken me, and I was undone without redemption; but, alas! th=
is
was but a taste of the misery I was to go through, as will appear in the se=
quel
of this story.
As my new patron, or master, had taken me home to his house, so I was in ho=
pes
that he would take me with him when he went to sea again, believing that it
would some time or other be his fate to be taken by a Spanish or Portugal
man-of-war; and that then I should be set at liberty. But this hope of mine=
was
soon taken away; for when he went to sea, he left me on shore to look after=
his
little garden, and do the common drudgery of slaves about his house; and wh=
en
he came home again from his cruise, he ordered me to lie in the cabin to lo=
ok
after the ship.
Here I meditated nothing but my escape, and what method I might take to eff=
ect
it, but found no way that had the least probability in it; nothing presente=
d to
make the supposition of it rational; for I had nobody to communicate it to =
that
would embark with me - no fellow-slave, no Englishman, Irishman, or Scotchm=
an
there but myself; so that for two years, though I often pleased myself with=
the
imagination, yet I never had the least encouraging prospect of putting it in
practice.
After about two years, an odd circumstance presented itself, which put the =
old
thought of making some attempt for my liberty again in my head. My patron l=
ying
at home longer than usual without fitting out his ship, which, as I heard, =
was
for want of money, he used constantly, once or twice a week, sometimes ofte=
ner
if the weather was fair, to take the ship's pinnace and go out into the roa=
d a-
fishing; and as he always took me and young Maresco with him to row the boa=
t,
we made him very merry, and I proved very dexterous in catching fish; insom=
uch
that sometimes he would send me with a Moor, one of his kinsmen, and the yo=
uth
- the Maresco, as they called him - to catch a dish of fish for him.
It happened one time, that going a-fishing in a calm morning, a fog rose so
thick that, though we were not half a league from the shore, we lost sight =
of
it; and rowing we knew not whither or which way, we laboured all day, and a=
ll
the next night; and when the morning came we found we had pulled off to sea
instead of pulling in for the shore; and that we were at least two leagues =
from
the shore. However, we got well in again, though with a great deal of labour
and some danger; for the wind began to blow pretty fresh in the morning; bu=
t we
were all very hungry.
But our patron, warned by this disaster, resolved to take more care of hims=
elf
for the future; and having lying by him the longboat of our English ship th=
at
he had taken, he resolved he would not go a- fishing any more without a com=
pass
and some provision; so he ordered the carpenter of his ship, who also was an
English slave, to build a little state-room, or cabin, in the middle of the
long- boat, like that of a barge, with a place to stand behind it to steer,=
and
haul home the main-sheet; the room before for a hand or two to stand and wo=
rk
the sails. She sailed with what we call a shoulder-of-mutton sail; and the =
boom
jibed over the top of the cabin, which lay very snug and low, and had in it
room for him to lie, with a slave or two, and a table to eat on, with some
small lockers to put in some bottles of such liquor as he thought fit to dr=
ink;
and his bread, rice, and coffee.
We went frequently out with this boat a-fishing; and as I was most dexterou=
s to
catch fish for him, he never went without me. It happened that he had appoi=
nted
to go out in this boat, either for pleasure or for fish, with two or three
Moors of some distinction in that place, and for whom he had provided
extraordinarily, and had, therefore, sent on board the boat overnight a lar=
ger
store of provisions than ordinary; and had ordered me to get ready three fu=
ses
with powder and shot, which were on board his ship, for that they designed =
some
sport of fowling as well as fishing.
I got all things ready as he had directed, and waited the next morning with=
the
boat washed clean, her ancient and pendants out, and everything to accommod=
ate
his guests; when by-and-by my patron came on board alone, and told me his
guests had put off going from some business that fell out, and ordered me, =
with
the man and boy, as usual, to go out with the boat and catch them some fish,
for that his friends were to sup at his house, and commanded that as soon a=
s I
got some fish I should bring it home to his house; all which I prepared to =
do.
This moment my former notions of deliverance darted into my thoughts, for n=
ow I
found I was likely to have a little ship at my command; and my master being
gone, I prepared to furnish myself, not for fishing business, but for a voy=
age;
though I knew not, neither did I so much as consider, whither I should stee=
r -
anywhere to get out of that place was my desire.
My first contrivance was to make a pretence to speak to this Moor, to get
something for our subsistence on board; for I told him we must not presume =
to
eat of our patron's bread. He said that was true; so he brought a large bas=
ket
of rusk or biscuit, and three jars of fresh water, into the boat. I knew wh=
ere
my patron's case of bottles stood, which it was evident, by the make, were
taken out of some English prize, and I conveyed them into the boat while the
Moor was on shore, as if they had been there before for our master. I conve=
yed
also a great lump of beeswax into the boat, which weighed about half a
hundred-weight, with a parcel of twine or thread, a hatchet, a saw, and a
hammer, all of which were of great use to us afterwards, especially the wax=
, to
make candles. Another trick I tried upon him, which he innocently came into
also: his name was Ismael, which they call Muley, or Moely; so I called to =
him
- "Moely," said I, "our patron's guns are on board the boat;=
can
you not get a little powder and shot? It may be we may kill some alcamies (a
fowl like our curlews) for ourselves, for I know he keeps the gunner's stor=
es
in the ship." "Yes," says he, "I'll bring some;" a=
nd
accordingly he brought a great leather pouch, which held a pound and a half=
of
powder, or rather more; and another with shot, that had five or six pounds,
with some bullets, and put all into the boat. At the same time I had found =
some
powder of my master's in the great cabin, with which I filled one of the la=
rge
bottles in the case, which was almost empty, pouring what was in it into
another; and thus furnished with everything needful, we sailed out of the p=
ort
to fish. The castle, which is at the entrance of the port, knew who we were,
and took no notice of us; and we were not above a mile out of the port befo=
re
we hauled in our sail and set us down to fish. The wind blew from the N.N.E=
.,
which was contrary to my desire, for had it blown southerly I had been sure=
to
have made the coast of Spain, and at least reached to the bay of Cadiz; but=
my
resolutions were, blow which way it would, I would be gone from that horrid
place where I was, and leave the rest to fate.
After we had fished some time and caught nothing - for when I had fish on my
hook I would not pull them up, that he might not see them - I said to the M=
oor,
"This will not do; our master will not be thus served; we must stand
farther off." He, thinking no harm, agreed, and being in the head of t=
he
boat, set the sails; and, as I had the helm, I ran the boat out near a leag=
ue
farther, and then brought her to, as if I would fish; when, giving the boy =
the
helm, I stepped forward to where the Moor was, and making as if I stooped f=
or
something behind him, I took him by surprise with my arm under his waist, a=
nd
tossed him clear overboard into the sea. He rose immediately, for he swam l=
ike
a cork, and called to me, begged to be taken in, told me he would go all ov=
er
the world with me. He swam so strong after the boat that he would have reac=
hed
me very quickly, there being but little wind; upon which I stepped into the
cabin, and fetching one of the fowling-pieces, I presented it at him, and t=
old
him I had done him no hurt, and if he would be quiet I would do him none.
"But," said I, "you swim well enough to reach to the shore, =
and
the sea is calm; make the best of your way to shore, and I will do you no h=
arm;
but if you come near the boat I'll shoot you through the head, for I am
resolved to have my liberty;" so he turned himself about, and swam for=
the
shore, and I make no doubt but he reached it with ease, for he was an excel=
lent
swimmer.
I could have been content to have taken this Moor with me, and have drowned=
the
boy, but there was no venturing to trust him. When he was gone, I turned to=
the
boy, whom they called Xury, and said to him, "Xury, if you will be
faithful to me, I'll make you a great man; but if you will not stroke your =
face
to be true to me" - that is, swear by Mahomet and his father's beard -
"I must throw you into the sea too." The boy smiled in my face, a=
nd
spoke so innocently that I could not distrust him, and swore to be faithful=
to
me, and go all over the world with me.
While I was in view of the Moor that was swimming, I stood out directly to =
sea
with the boat, rather stretching to windward, that they might think me gone
towards the Straits' mouth (as indeed any one that had been in their wits m=
ust
have been supposed to do): for who would have supposed we were sailed on to=
the
southward, to the truly Barbarian coast, where whole nations of negroes were
sure to surround us with their canoes and destroy us; where we could not go=
on
shore but we should be devoured by savage beasts, or more merciless savages=
of
human kind.
But as soon as it grew dusk in the evening, I changed my course, and steered
directly south and by east, bending my course a little towards the east, th=
at I
might keep in with the shore; and having a fair, fresh gale of wind, and a
smooth, quiet sea, I made such sail that I believe by the next day, at three
o'clock in the afternoon, when I first made the land, I could not be less t=
han
one hundred and fifty miles south of Sallee; quite beyond the Emperor of
Morocco's dominions, or indeed of any other king thereabouts, for we saw no
people.
Yet such was the fright I had taken of the Moors, and the dreadful
apprehensions I had of falling into their hands, that I would not stop, or =
go
on shore, or come to an anchor; the wind continuing fair till I had sailed =
in
that manner five days; and then the wind shifting to the southward, I concl=
uded
also that if any of our vessels were in chase of me, they also would now gi=
ve
over; so I ventured to make to the coast, and came to an anchor in the mout=
h of
a little river, I knew not what, nor where, neither what latitude, what
country, what nation, or what river. I neither saw, nor desired to see any
people; the principal thing I wanted was fresh water. We came into this cre=
ek
in the evening, resolving to swim on shore as soon as it was dark, and disc=
over
the country; but as soon as it was quite dark, we heard such dreadful noise=
s of
the barking, roaring, and howling of wild creatures, of we knew not what ki=
nds,
that the poor boy was ready to die with fear, and begged of me not to go on
shore till day. "Well, Xury," said I, "then I won't; but it =
may
be that we may see men by day, who will be as bad to us as those lions.&quo=
t;
"Then we give them the shoot gun," says Xury, laughing, "make
them run wey." Such English Xury spoke by conversing among us slaves.
However, I was glad to see the boy so cheerful, and I gave him a dram (out =
of
our patron's case of bottles) to cheer him up. After all, Xury's advice was
good, and I took it; we dropped our little anchor, and lay still all night;=
I
say still, for we slept none; for in two or three hours we saw vast great
creatures (we knew not what to call them) of many sorts, come down to the
sea-shore and run into the water, wallowing and washing themselves for the
pleasure of cooling themselves; and they made such hideous howlings and
yellings, that I never indeed heard the like.
Xury was dreadfully frighted, and indeed so was I too; but we were both more
frighted when we heard one of these mighty creatures come swimming towards =
our
boat; we could not see him, but we might hear him by his blowing to be a
monstrous huge and furious beast. Xury said it was a lion, and it might be =
so
for aught I know; but poor Xury cried to me to weigh the anchor and row awa=
y;
"No," says I, "Xury; we can slip our cable, with the buoy to=
it,
and go off to sea; they cannot follow us far." I had no sooner said so,
but I perceived the creature (whatever it was) within two oars' length, whi=
ch
something surprised me; however, I immediately stepped to the cabin door, a=
nd
taking up my gun, fired at him; upon which he immediately turned about and =
swam
towards the shore again.
But it is impossible to describe the horrid noises, and hideous cries and
howlings that were raised, as well upon the edge of the shore as higher wit=
hin
the country, upon the noise or report of the gun, a thing I have some reaso=
n to
believe those creatures had never heard before: this convinced me that there
was no going on shore for us in the night on that coast, and how to venture=
on
shore in the day was another question too; for to have fallen into the hand=
s of
any of the savages had been as bad as to have fallen into the hands of the
lions and tigers; at least we were equally apprehensive of the danger of it=
.
Be that as it would, we were obliged to go on shore somewhere or other for
water, for we had not a pint left in the boat; when and where to get to it =
was
the point. Xury said, if I would let him go on shore with one of the jars, =
he
would find if there was any water, and bring some to me. I asked him why he
would go? why I should not go, and he stay in the boat? The boy answered wi=
th
so much affection as made me love him ever after. Says he, "If wild ma=
ns
come, they eat me, you go wey." "Well, Xury," said I, "=
we
will both go and if the wild mans come, we will kill them, they shall eat
neither of us." So I gave Xury a piece of rusk bread to eat, and a dram
out of our patron's case of bottles which I mentioned before; and we hauled=
the
boat in as near the shore as we thought was proper, and so waded on shore,
carrying nothing but our arms and two jars for water.
I did not care to go out of sight of the boat, fearing the coming of canoes
with savages down the river; but the boy seeing a low place about a mile up=
the
country, rambled to it, and by-and-by I saw him come running towards me. I
thought he was pursued by some savage, or frighted with some wild beast, an=
d I
ran forward towards him to help him; but when I came nearer to him I saw
something hanging over his shoulders, which was a creature that he had shot,
like a hare, but different in colour, and longer legs; however, we were very
glad of it, and it was very good meat; but the great joy that poor Xury came
with, was to tell me he had found good water and seen no wild mans.
But we found afterwards that we need not take such pains for water, for a
little higher up the creek where we were we found the water fresh when the =
tide
was out, which flowed but a little way up; so we filled our jars, and feast=
ed
on the hare he had killed, and prepared to go on our way, having seen no
footsteps of any human creature in that part of the country.
As I had been one voyage to this coast before, I knew very well that the
islands of the Canaries, and the Cape de Verde Islands also, lay not far off
from the coast. But as I had no instruments to take an observation to know =
what
latitude we were in, and not exactly knowing, or at least remembering, what
latitude they were in, I knew not where to look for them, or when to stand =
off
to sea towards them; otherwise I might now easily have found some of these
islands. But my hope was, that if I stood along this coast till I came to t=
hat part
where the English traded, I should find some of their vessels upon their us=
ual
design of trade, that would relieve and take us in.
By the best of my calculation, that place where I now was must be that coun=
try
which, lying between the Emperor of Morocco's dominions and the negroes, li=
es
waste and uninhabited, except by wild beasts; the negroes having abandoned =
it
and gone farther south for fear of the Moors, and the Moors not thinking it
worth inhabiting by reason of its barrenness; and indeed, both forsaking it
because of the prodigious number of tigers, lions, leopards, and other furi=
ous
creatures which harbour there; so that the Moors use it for their hunting o=
nly,
where they go like an army, two or three thousand men at a time; and indeed=
for
near a hundred miles together upon this coast we saw nothing but a waste,
uninhabited country by day, and heard nothing but howlings and roaring of w=
ild
beasts by night.
Once or twice in the daytime I thought I saw the Pico of Teneriffe, being t=
he
high top of the Mountain Teneriffe in the Canaries, and had a great mind to
venture out, in hopes of reaching thither; but having tried twice, I was fo=
rced
in again by contrary winds, the sea also going too high for my little vesse=
l;
so, I resolved to pursue my first design, and keep along the shore.
Several times I was obliged to land for fresh water, after we had left this
place; and once in particular, being early in morning, we came to an anchor
under a little point of land, which was pretty high; and the tide beginning=
to
flow, we lay still to go farther in. Xury, whose eyes were more about him t=
han
it seems mine were, calls softly to me, and tells me that we had best go
farther off the shore; "For," says he, "look, yonder lies a
dreadful monster on the side of that hillock, fast asleep." I looked w=
here
he pointed, and saw a dreadful monster indeed, for it was a terrible, great
lion that lay on the side of the shore, under the shade of a piece of the h=
ill
that hung as it were a little over him. "Xury," says I, "you
shall on shore and kill him." Xury, looked frighted, and said, "Me
kill! he eat me at one mouth!" - one mouthful he meant. However, I sai=
d no
more to the boy, but bade him lie still, and I took our biggest gun, which =
was
almost musket-bore, and loaded it with a good charge of powder, and with two
slugs, and laid it down; then I loaded another gun with two bullets; and the
third (for we had three pieces) I loaded with five smaller bullets. I took =
the
best aim I could with the first piece to have shot him in the head, but he =
lay
so with his leg raised a little above his nose, that the slugs hit his leg
about the knee and broke the bone. He started up, growling at first, but
finding his leg broken, fell down again; and then got upon three legs, and =
gave
the most hideous roar that ever I heard. I was a little surprised that I had
not hit him on the head; however, I took up the second piece immediately, a=
nd
though he began to move off, fired again, and shot him in the head, and had=
the
pleasure to see him drop and make but little noise, but lie struggling for
life. Then Xury took heart, and would have me let him go on shore. "We=
ll,
go," said I: so the boy jumped into the water and taking a little gun =
in
one hand, swam to shore with the other hand, and coming close to the creatu=
re,
put the muzzle of the piece to his ear, and shot him in the head again, whi=
ch
despatched him quite.
This was game indeed to us, but this was no food; and I was very sorry to l=
ose
three charges of powder and shot upon a creature that was good for nothing =
to
us. However, Xury said he would have some of him; so he comes on board, and
asked me to give him the hatchet. "For what, Xury?" said I. "=
;Me
cut off his head," said he. However, Xury could not cut off his head, =
but he
cut off a foot, and brought it with him, and it was a monstrous great one.<=
br>
I bethought myself, however, that, perhaps the skin of him might, one way or
other, be of some value to us; and I resolved to take off his skin if I cou=
ld.
So Xury and I went to work with him; but Xury was much the better workman at
it, for I knew very ill how to do it. Indeed, it took us both up the whole =
day,
but at last we got off the hide of him, and spreading it on the top of our
cabin, the sun effectually dried it in two days' time, and it afterwards se=
rved
me to lie upon.
Chapter 3: Wrecked On A Desert Island
After this stop, we made on to the southward continually for ten or twelve
days, living very sparingly on our provisions, which began to abate very mu=
ch,
and going no oftener to the shore than we were obliged to for fresh water. =
My
design in this was to make the river Gambia or Senegal, that is to say anyw=
here
about the Cape de Verde, where I was in hopes to meet with some European sh=
ip;
and if I did not, I knew not what course I had to take, but to seek for the
islands, or perish there among the negroes. I knew that all the ships from
Europe, which sailed either to the coast of Guinea or to Brazil, or to the =
East
Indies, made this cape, or those islands; and, in a word, I put the whole o=
f my
fortune upon this single point, either that I must meet with some ship or m=
ust
perish.
When I had pursued this resolution about ten days longer, as I have said, I
began to see that the land was inhabited; and in two or three places, as we
sailed by, we saw people stand upon the shore to look at us; we could also
perceive they were quite black and naked. I was once inclined to have gone =
on
shore to them; but Xury was my better counsellor, and said to me, "No =
go,
no go." However, I hauled in nearer the shore that I might talk to the=
m,
and I found they ran along the shore by me a good way. I observed they had =
no
weapons in their hand, except one, who had a long slender stick, which Xury
said was a lance, and that they could throw them a great way with good aim;=
so
I kept at a distance, but talked with them by signs as well as I could; and
particularly made signs for something to eat: they beckoned to me to stop my
boat, and they would fetch me some meat. Upon this I lowered the top of my =
sail
and lay by, and two of them ran up into the country, and in less than half-=
an-
hour came back, and brought with them two pieces of dried flesh and some co=
rn,
such as is the produce of their country; but we neither knew what the one or
the other was; however, we were willing to accept it, but how to come at it=
was
our next dispute, for I would not venture on shore to them, and they were as
much afraid of us; but they took a safe way for us all, for they brought it=
to
the shore and laid it down, and went and stood a great way off till we fetc=
hed
it on board, and then came close to us again.
We made signs of thanks to them, for we had nothing to make them amends; bu=
t an
opportunity offered that very instant to oblige them wonderfully; for while=
we
were lying by the shore came two mighty creatures, one pursuing the other (=
as
we took it) with great fury from the mountains towards the sea; whether it =
was
the male pursuing the female, or whether they were in sport or in rage, we
could not tell, any more than we could tell whether it was usual or strange,
but I believe it was the latter; because, in the first place, those ravenous
creatures seldom appear but in the night; and, in the second place, we found
the people terribly frighted, especially the women. The man that had the la=
nce
or dart did not fly from them, but the rest did; however, as the two creatu=
res
ran directly into the water, they did not offer to fall upon any of the
negroes, but plunged themselves into the sea, and swam about, as if they had
come for their diversion; at last one of them began to come nearer our boat
than at first I expected; but I lay ready for him, for I had loaded my gun =
with
all possible expedition, and bade Xury load both the others. As soon as he =
came
fairly within my reach, I fired, and shot him directly in the head; immedia=
tely
he sank down into the water, but rose instantly, and plunged up and down, a=
s if
he were struggling for life, and so indeed he was; he immediately made to t=
he
shore; but between the wound, which was his mortal hurt, and the strangling=
of
the water, he died just before he reached the shore.
It is impossible to express the astonishment of these poor creatures at the
noise and fire of my gun: some of them were even ready to die for fear, and
fell down as dead with the very terror; but when they saw the creature dead,
and sunk in the water, and that I made signs to them to come to the shore, =
they
took heart and came, and began to search for the creature. I found him by h=
is
blood staining the water; and by the help of a rope, which I slung round hi=
m,
and gave the negroes to haul, they dragged him on shore, and found that it =
was
a most curious leopard, spotted, and fine to an admirable degree; and the
negroes held up their hands with admiration, to think what it was I had kil=
led him
with.
The other creature, frighted with the flash of fire and the noise of the gu=
n,
swam on shore, and ran up directly to the mountains from whence they came; =
nor
could I, at that distance, know what it was. I found quickly the negroes wi=
shed
to eat the flesh of this creature, so I was willing to have them take it as=
a
favour from me; which, when I made signs to them that they might take him, =
they
were very thankful for. Immediately they fell to work with him; and though =
they
had no knife, yet, with a sharpened piece of wood, they took off his skin as
readily, and much more readily, than we could have done with a knife. They
offered me some of the flesh, which I declined, pointing out that I would g=
ive
it them; but made signs for the skin, which they gave me very freely, and
brought me a great deal more of their provisions, which, though I did not
understand, yet I accepted. I then made signs to them for some water, and h=
eld
out one of my jars to them, turning it bottom upward, to show that it was e=
mpty,
and that I wanted to have it filled. They called immediately to some of the=
ir
friends, and there came two women, and brought a great vessel made of earth,
and burnt, as I supposed, in the sun, this they set down to me, as before, =
and
I sent Xury on shore with my jars, and filled them all three. The women wer=
e as
naked as the men.
I was now furnished with roots and corn, such as it was, and water; and lea=
ving
my friendly negroes, I made forward for about eleven days more, without
offering to go near the shore, till I saw the land run out a great length i=
nto
the sea, at about the distance of four or five leagues before me; and the s=
ea
being very calm, I kept a large offing to make this point. At length, doubl=
ing
the point, at about two leagues from the land, I saw plainly land on the ot=
her
side, to seaward; then I concluded, as it was most certain indeed, that this
was the Cape de Verde, and those the islands called, from thence, Cape de V=
erde
Islands. However, they were at a great distance, and I could not well tell =
what
I had best to do; for if I should be taken with a fresh of wind, I might
neither reach one or other.
In this dilemma, as I was very pensive, I stepped into the cabin and sat do=
wn,
Xury having the helm; when, on a sudden, the boy cried out, "Master,
master, a ship with a sail!" and the foolish boy was frighted out of h=
is
wits, thinking it must needs be some of his master's ships sent to pursue u=
s,
but I knew we were far enough out of their reach. I jumped out of the cabin,
and immediately saw, not only the ship, but that it was a Portuguese ship; =
and,
as I thought, was bound to the coast of Guinea, for negroes. But, when I
observed the course she steered, I was soon convinced they were bound some
other way, and did not design to come any nearer to the shore; upon which I
stretched out to sea as much as I could, resolving to speak with them if
possible.
With all the sail I could make, I found I should not be able to come in the=
ir
way, but that they would be gone by before I could make any signal to them:=
but
after I had crowded to the utmost, and began to despair, they, it seems, sa=
w by
the help of their glasses that it was some European boat, which they suppos=
ed
must belong to some ship that was lost; so they shortened sail to let me co=
me
up. I was encouraged with this, and as I had my patron's ancient on board, I
made a waft of it to them, for a signal of distress, and fired a gun, both
which they saw; for they told me they saw the smoke, though they did not he=
ar
the gun. Upon these signals they very kindly brought to, and lay by for me;=
and
in about three hours; time I came up with them.
They asked me what I was, in Portuguese, and in Spanish, and in French, but=
I
understood none of them; but at last a Scotch sailor, who was on board, cal=
led
to me: and I answered him, and told him I was an Englishman, that I had mad=
e my
escape out of slavery from the Moors, at Sallee; they then bade me come on
board, and very kindly took me in, and all my goods.
It was an inexpressible joy to me, which any one will believe, that I was t=
hus
delivered, as I esteemed it, from such a miserable and almost hopeless
condition as I was in; and I immediately offered all I had to the captain of
the ship, as a return for my deliverance; but he generously told me he woul=
d take
nothing from me, but that all I had should be delivered safe to me when I c=
ame
to the Brazils. "For," says he, "I have saved your life on no
other terms than I would be glad to be saved myself: and it may, one time or
other, be my lot to be taken up in the same condition. Besides," said =
he,
"when I carry you to the Brazils, so great a way from your own country=
, if
I should take from you what you have, you will be starved there, and then I
only take away that life I have given. No, no," says he: "Seignior
Inglese" (Mr. Englishman), "I will carry you thither in charity, =
and
those things will help to buy your subsistence there, and your passage home
again."
As he was charitable in this proposal, so he was just in the performance to=
a
tittle; for he ordered the seamen that none should touch anything that I ha=
d:
then he took everything into his own possession, and gave me back an exact
inventory of them, that I might have them, even to my three earthen jars.
As to my boat, it was a very good one; and that he saw, and told me he would
buy it of me for his ship's use; and asked me what I would have for it? I t=
old
him he had been so generous to me in everything that I could not offer to m=
ake
any price of the boat, but left it entirely to him: upon which he told me he
would give me a note of hand to pay me eighty pieces of eight for it at Bra=
zil;
and when it came there, if any one offered to give more, he would make it u=
p.
He offered me also sixty pieces of eight more for my boy Xury, which I was
loath to take; not that I was unwilling to let the captain have him, but I =
was
very loath to sell the poor boy's liberty, who had assisted me so faithfull=
y in
procuring my own. However, when I let him know my reason, he owned it to be
just, and offered me this medium, that he would give the boy an obligation =
to
set him free in ten years, if he turned Christian: upon this, and Xury sayi=
ng
he was willing to go to him, I let the captain have him.
We had a very good voyage to the Brazils, and I arrived in the Bay de Todos=
los
Santos, or All Saints' Bay, in about twenty-two days after. And now I was o=
nce
more delivered from the most miserable of all conditions of life; and what =
to
do next with myself I was to consider.
The generous treatment the captain gave me I can never enough remember: he
would take nothing of me for my passage, gave me twenty ducats for the
leopard's skin, and forty for the lion's skin, which I had in my boat, and
caused everything I had in the ship to be punctually delivered to me; and w=
hat
I was willing to sell he bought of me, such as the case of bottles, two of =
my
guns, and a piece of the lump of beeswax - for I had made candles of the re=
st:
in a word, I made about two hundred and twenty pieces of eight of all my ca=
rgo;
and with this stock I went on shore in the Brazils.
I had not been long here before I was recommended to the house of a good ho=
nest
man like himself, who had an Ingenio, as they call it (that is, a plantation
and a sugar-house). I lived with him some time, and acquainted myself by th=
at
means with the manner of planting and making of sugar; and seeing how well =
the
planters lived, and how they got rich suddenly, I resolved, if I could get a
licence to settle there, I would turn planter among them: resolving in the
meantime to find out some way to get my money, which I had left in London,
remitted to me. To this purpose, getting a kind of letter of naturalisation=
, I
purchased as much land that was uncured as my money would reach, and formed=
a
plan for my plantation and settlement; such a one as might be suitable to t=
he
stock which I proposed to myself to receive from England.
I had a neighbour, a Portuguese, of Lisbon, but born of English parents, wh=
ose
name was Wells, and in much such circumstances as I was. I call him my
neighbour, because his plantation lay next to mine, and we went on very
sociably together. My stock was but low, as well as his; and we rather plan=
ted
for food than anything else, for about two years. However, we began to
increase, and our land began to come into order; so that the third year we
planted some tobacco, and made each of us a large piece of ground ready for
planting canes in the year to come. But we both wanted help; and now I foun=
d,
more than before, I had done wrong in parting with my boy Xury.
But, alas! for me to do wrong that never did right, was no great wonder. I =
hail
no remedy but to go on: I had got into an employment quite remote to my gen=
ius,
and directly contrary to the life I delighted in, and for which I forsook my
father's house, and broke through all his good advice. Nay, I was coming in=
to
the very middle station, or upper degree of low life, which my father advis=
ed
me to before, and which, if I resolved to go on with, I might as well have
stayed at home, and never have fatigued myself in the world as I had done; =
and
I used often to say to myself, I could have done this as well in England, a=
mong
my friends, as have gone five thousand miles off to do it among strangers a=
nd
savages, in a wilderness, and at such a distance as never to hear from any =
part
of the world that had the least knowledge of me.
In this manner I used to look upon my condition with the utmost regret. I h=
ad
nobody to converse with, but now and then this neighbour; no work to be don=
e,
but by the labour of my hands; and I used to say, I lived just like a man c=
ast
away upon some desolate island, that had nobody there but himself. But how =
just
has it been - and how should all men reflect, that when they compare their
present conditions with others that are worse, Heaven may oblige them to ma=
ke
the exchange, and be convinced of their former felicity by their experience=
- I
say, how just has it been, that the truly solitary life I reflected on, in =
an
island of mere desolation, should be my lot, who had so often unjustly comp=
ared
it with the life which I then led, in which, had I continued, I had in all
probability been exceeding prosperous and rich.
I was in some degree settled in my measures for carrying on the plantation
before my kind friend, the captain of the ship that took me up at sea, went
back - for the ship remained there, in providing his lading and preparing f=
or
his voyage, nearly three months - when telling him what little stock I had =
left
behind me in London, he gave me this friendly and sincere advice:-
"Seignior Inglese," says he (for so he always called me), "if
you will give me letters, and a procuration in form to me, with orders to t=
he
person who has your money in London to send your effects to Lisbon, to such
persons as I shall direct, and in such goods as are proper for this country=
, I
will bring you the produce of them, God willing, at my return; but, since h=
uman
affairs are all subject to changes and disasters, I would have you give ord=
ers
but for one hundred pounds sterling, which, you say, is half your stock, an=
d let
the hazard be run for the first; so that, if it come safe, you may order the
rest the same way, and, if it miscarry, you may have the other half to have
recourse to for your supply."
This was so wholesome advice, and looked so friendly, that I could not but =
be
convinced it was the best course I could take; so I accordingly prepared
letters to the gentlewoman with whom I had left my money, and a procuration=
to
the Portuguese captain, as he desired.
I wrote the English captain's widow a full account of all my adventures - my
slavery, escape, and how I had met with the Portuguese captain at sea, the
humanity of his behaviour, and what condition I was now in, with all other
necessary directions for my supply; and when this honest captain came to
Lisbon, he found means, by some of the English merchants there, to send ove=
r,
not the order only, but a full account of my story to a merchant in London,=
who
represented it effectually to her; whereupon she not only delivered the mon=
ey,
but out of her own pocket sent the Portugal captain a very handsome present=
for
his humanity and charity to me.
The merchant in London, vesting this hundred pounds in English goods, such =
as
the captain had written for, sent them directly to him at Lisbon, and he
brought them all safe to me to the Brazils; among which, without my directi=
on
(for I was too young in my business to think of them), he had taken care to
have all sorts of tools, ironwork, and utensils necessary for my plantation,
and which were of great use to me.
When this cargo arrived I thought my fortune made, for I was surprised with=
the
joy of it; and my stood steward, the captain, had laid out the five pounds,
which my friend had sent him for a present for himself, to purchase and bri=
ng
me over a servant, under bond for six years' service, and would not accept =
of
any consideration, except a little tobacco, which I would have him accept,
being of my own produce.
Neither was this all; for my goods being all English manufacture, such as
cloths, stuffs, baize, and things particularly valuable and desirable in the
country, I found means to sell them to a very great advantage; so that I mi=
ght
say I had more than four times the value of my first cargo, and was now
infinitely beyond my poor neighbour - I mean in the advancement of my
plantation; for the first thing I did, I bought me a negro slave, and an
European servant also - I mean another besides that which the captain broug=
ht
me from Lisbon.
But as abused prosperity is oftentimes made the very means of our greatest
adversity, so it was with me. I went on the next year with great success in=
my
plantation: I raised fifty great rolls of tobacco on my own ground, more th=
an I
had disposed of for necessaries among my neighbours; and these fifty rolls,
being each of above a hundredweight, were well cured, and laid by against t=
he
return of the fleet from Lisbon: and now increasing in business and wealth,=
my
head began to be full of projects and undertakings beyond my reach; such as
are, indeed, often the ruin of the best heads in business. Had I continued =
in
the station I was now in, I had room for all the happy things to have yet
befallen me for which my father so earnestly recommended a quiet, retired l=
ife,
and of which he had so sensibly described the middle station of life to be =
full
of; but other things attended me, and I was still to be the wilful agent of=
all
my own miseries; and particularly, to increase my fault, and double the
reflections upon myself, which in my future sorrows I should have leisure to
make, all these miscarriages were procured by my apparent obstinate adherin=
g to
my foolish inclination of wandering abroad, and pursuing that inclination, =
in
contradiction to the clearest views of doing myself good in a fair and plain
pursuit of those prospects, and those measures of life, which nature and
Providence concurred to present me with, and to make my duty.
As I had once done thus in my breaking away from my parents, so I could not=
be
content now, but I must go and leave the happy view I had of being a rich a=
nd
thriving man in my new plantation, only to pursue a rash and immoderate des=
ire
of rising faster than the nature of the thing admitted; and thus I cast mys=
elf
down again into the deepest gulf of human misery that ever man fell into, or
perhaps could be consistent with life and a state of health in the world.
To come, then, by the just degrees to the particulars of this part of my st=
ory.
You may suppose, that having now lived almost four years in the Brazils, and
beginning to thrive and prosper very well upon my plantation, I had not only
learned the language, but had contracted acquaintance and friendship among =
my
fellow-planters, as well as among the merchants at St. Salvador, which was =
our
port; and that, in my discourses among them, I had frequently given them an=
account
of my two voyages to the coast of Guinea: the manner of trading with the
negroes there, and how easy it was to purchase upon the coast for trifles -
such as beads, toys, knives, scissors, hatchets, bits of glass, and the lik=
e -
not only gold-dust, Guinea grains, elephants' teeth, &c., but negroes, =
for
the service of the Brazils, in great numbers.
They listened always very attentively to my discourses on these heads, but
especially to that part which related to the buying of negroes, which was a=
trade
at that time, not only not far entered into, but, as far as it was, had been
carried on by assientos, or permission of the kings of Spain and Portugal, =
and
engrossed in the public stock: so that few negroes were bought, and these
excessively dear.
It happened, being in company with some merchants and planters of my
acquaintance, and talking of those things very earnestly, three of them cam=
e to
me next morning, and told me they had been musing very much upon what I had
discoursed with them of the last night, and they came to make a secret prop=
osal
to me; and, after enjoining me to secrecy, they told me that they had a min=
d to
fit out a ship to go to Guinea; that they had all plantations as well as I,=
and
were straitened for nothing so much as servants; that as it was a trade that
could not be carried on, because they could not publicly sell the negroes w=
hen
they came home, so they desired to make but one voyage, to bring the negroe=
s on
shore privately, and divide them among their own plantations; and, in a wor=
d,
the question was whether I would go their supercargo in the ship, to manage=
the
trading part upon the coast of Guinea; and they offered me that I should ha=
ve
my equal share of the negroes, without providing any part of the stock.
This was a fair proposal, it must be confessed, had it been made to any one
that had not had a settlement and a plantation of his own to look after, wh=
ich
was in a fair way of coming to be very considerable, and with a good stock =
upon
it; but for me, that was thus entered and established, and had nothing to do
but to go on as I had begun, for three or four years more, and to have sent=
for
the other hundred pounds from England; and who in that time, and with that
little addition, could scarce have failed of being worth three or four thou=
sand
pounds sterling, and that increasing too - for me to think of such a voyage=
was
the most preposterous thing that ever man in such circumstances could be gu=
ilty
of.
But I, that was born to be my own destroyer, could no more resist the offer
than I could restrain my first rambling designs when my father' good counsel
was lost upon me. In a word, I told them I would go with all my heart, if t=
hey
would undertake to look after my plantation in my absence, and would dispos=
e of
it to such as I should direct, if I miscarried. This they all engaged to do,
and entered into writings or covenants to do so; and I made a formal will,
disposing of my plantation and effects in case of my death, making the capt=
ain
of the ship that had saved my life, as before, my universal heir, but oblig=
ing
him to dispose of my effects as I had directed in my will; one half of the
produce being to himself, and the other to be shipped to England.
In short, I took all possible caution to preserve my effects and to keep up=
my
plantation. Had I used half as much prudence to have looked into my own
interest, and have made a judgment of what I ought to have done and not to =
have
done, I had certainly never gone away from so prosperous an undertaking,
leaving all the probable views of a thriving circumstance, and gone upon a
voyage to sea, attended with all its common hazards, to say nothing of the
reasons I had to expect particular misfortunes to myself.
But I was hurried on, and obeyed blindly the dictates of my fancy rather th=
an
my reason; and, accordingly, the ship being fitted out, and the cargo
furnished, and all things done, as by agreement, by my partners in the voya=
ge,
I went on board in an evil hour, the 1st September 1659, being the same day
eight years that I went from my father and mother at Hull, in order to act =
the
rebel to their authority, and the fool to my own interests.
Our ship was about one hundred and twenty tons burden, carried six guns and
fourteen men, besides the master, his boy, and myself. We had on board no l=
arge
cargo of goods, except of such toys as were fit for our trade with the negr=
oes,
such as beads, bits of glass, shells, and other trifles, especially little
looking-glasses, knives, scissors, hatchets, and the like.
The same day I went on board we set sail, standing away to the northward up=
on
our own coast, with design to stretch over for the African coast when we ca=
me
about ten or twelve degrees of northern latitude, which, it seems, was the
manner of course in those days. We had very good weather, only excessively =
hot,
all the way upon our own coast, till we came to the height of Cape St.
Augustino; from whence, keeping further off at sea, we lost sight of land, =
and
steered as if we were bound for the isle Fernando de Noronha, holding our
course N.E. by N., and leaving those isles on the east. In this course we
passed the line in about twelve days' time, and were, by our last observati=
on,
in seven degrees twenty-two minutes northern latitude, when a violent torna=
do,
or hurricane, took us quite out of our knowledge. It began from the south-e=
ast,
came about to the north-west, and then settled in the north-east; from when=
ce
it blew in such a terrible manner, that for twelve days together we could do
nothing but drive, and, scudding away before it, let it carry us whither fa=
te
and the fury of the winds directed; and, during these twelve days, I need n=
ot
say that I expected every day to be swallowed up; nor, indeed, did any in t=
he
ship expect to save their lives.
In this distress we had, besides the terror of the storm, one of our men di=
e of
the calenture, and one man and the boy washed overboard. About the twelfth =
day,
the weather abating a little, the master made an observation as well as he
could, and found that he was in about eleven degrees north latitude, but th=
at
he was twenty-two degrees of longitude difference west from Cape St. August=
ino;
so that he found he was upon the coast of Guiana, or the north part of Braz=
il,
beyond the river Amazon, toward that of the river Orinoco, commonly called =
the Great
River; and began to consult with me what course he should take, for the ship
was leaky, and very much disabled, and he was going directly back to the co=
ast
of Brazil. I was positively against that; and looking over the charts of the
sea-coast of America with him, we concluded there was no inhabited country =
for
us to have recourse to till we came within the circle of the Caribbee Islan=
ds,
and therefore resolved to stand away for Barbadoes; which, by keeping off at
sea, to avoid the indraft of the Bay or Gulf of Mexico, we might easily
perform, as we hoped, in about fifteen days' sail; whereas we could not
possibly make our voyage to the coast of Africa without some assistance bot=
h to
our ship and to ourselves.
With this design we changed our course, and steered away N.W. by W., in ord=
er
to reach some of our English islands, where I hoped for relief. But our voy=
age
was otherwise determined; for, being in the latitude of twelve degrees eigh=
teen
minutes, a second storm came upon us, which carried us away with the same
impetuosity westward, and drove us so out of the way of all human commerce,
that, had all our lives been saved as to the sea, we were rather in danger =
of
being devoured by savages than ever returning to our own country.
In this distress, the wind still blowing very hard, one of our men early in=
the
morning cried out, "Land!" and we had no sooner run out of the ca=
bin
to look out, in hopes of seeing whereabouts in the world we were, than the =
ship
struck upon a sand, and in a moment her motion being so stopped, the sea br=
oke
over her in such a manner that we expected we should all have perished
immediately; and we were immediately driven into our close quarters, to she=
lter
us from the very foam and spray of the sea.
It is not easy for any one who has not been in the like condition to descri=
be
or conceive the consternation of men in such circumstances. We knew nothing
where we were, or upon what land it was we were driven - whether an island =
or
the main, whether inhabited or not inhabited. As the rage of the wind was s=
till
great, though rather less than at first, we could not so much as hope to ha=
ve
the ship hold many minutes without breaking into pieces, unless the winds, =
by a
kind of miracle, should turn immediately about. In a word, we sat looking u=
pon
one another, and expecting death every moment, and every man, accordingly,
preparing for another world; for there was little or nothing more for us to=
do
in this. That which was our present comfort, and all the comfort we had, was
that, contrary to our expectation, the ship did not break yet, and that the
master said the wind began to abate.
Now, though we thought that the wind did a little abate, yet the ship having
thus struck upon the sand, and sticking too fast for us to expect her getti=
ng
off, we were in a dreadful condition indeed, and had nothing to do but to t=
hink
of saving our lives as well as we could. We had a boat at our stern just be=
fore
the storm, but she was first staved by dashing against the ship's rudder, a=
nd
in the next place she broke away, and either sunk or was driven off to sea;=
so
there was no hope from her. We had another boat on board, but how to get her
off into the sea was a doubtful thing. However, there was no time to debate,
for we fancied that the ship would break in pieces every minute, and some t=
old
us she was actually broken already.
In this distress the mate of our vessel laid hold of the boat, and with the
help of the rest of the men got her slung over the ship's side; and getting=
all
into her, let go, and committed ourselves, being eleven in number, to God's
mercy and the wild sea; for though the storm was abated considerably, yet t=
he
sea ran dreadfully high upon the shore, and might be well called Den wild z=
ee,
as the Dutch call the sea in a storm.
And now our case was very dismal indeed; for we all saw plainly that the sea
went so high that the boat could not live, and that we should be inevitably
drowned. As to making sail, we had none, nor if we had could we have done
anything with it; so we worked at the oar towards the land, though with hea=
vy
hearts, like men going to execution; for we all knew that when the boat came
near the shore she would be dashed in a thousand pieces by the breach of the
sea. However, we committed our souls to God in the most earnest manner; and=
the
wind driving us towards the shore, we hastened our destruction with our own
hands, pulling as well as we could towards land.
What the shore was, whether rock or sand, whether steep or shoal, we knew n=
ot.
The only hope that could rationally give us the least shadow of expectation
was, if we might find some bay or gulf, or the mouth of some river, where by
great chance we might have run our boat in, or got under the lee of the lan=
d,
and perhaps made smooth water. But there was nothing like this appeared; bu=
t as
we made nearer and nearer the shore, the land looked more frightful than the
sea.
After we had rowed, or rather driven about a league and a half, as we recko=
ned
it, a raging wave, mountain-like, came rolling astern of us, and plainly ba=
de us
expect the coup de grace. It took us with such a fury, that it overset the =
boat
at once; and separating us as well from the boat as from one another, gave =
us
no time to say, "O God!" for we were all swallowed up in a moment=
.
Nothing can describe the confusion of thought which I felt when I sank into=
the
water; for though I swam very well, yet I could not deliver myself from the
waves so as to draw breath, till that wave having driven me, or rather carr=
ied
me, a vast way on towards the shore, and having spent itself, went back, and
left me upon the land almost dry, but half dead with the water I took in. I=
had
so much presence of mind, as well as breath left, that seeing myself nearer=
the
mainland than I expected, I got upon my feet, and endeavoured to make on
towards the land as fast as I could before another wave should return and t=
ake
me up again; but I soon found it was impossible to avoid it; for I saw the =
sea
come after me as high as a great hill, and as furious as an enemy, which I =
had
no means or strength to contend with: my business was to hold my breath, and
raise myself upon the water if I could; and so, by swimming, to preserve my
breathing, and pilot myself towards the shore, if possible, my greatest con=
cern
now being that the sea, as it would carry me a great way towards the shore =
when
it came on, might not carry me back again with it when it gave back towards=
the
sea.
The wave that came upon me again buried me at once twenty or thirty feet de=
ep
in its own body, and I could feel myself carried with a mighty force and
swiftness towards the shore - a very great way; but I held my breath, and
assisted myself to swim still forward with all my might. I was ready to bur=
st
with holding my breath, when, as I felt myself rising up, so, to my immedia=
te relief,
I found my head and hands shoot out above the surface of the water; and tho=
ugh
it was not two seconds of time that I could keep myself so, yet it relieved=
me
greatly, gave me breath, and new courage. I was covered again with water a =
good
while, but not so long but I held it out; and finding the water had spent
itself, and began to return, I struck forward against the return of the wav=
es,
and felt ground again with my feet. I stood still a few moments to recover
breath, and till the waters went from me, and then took to my heels and ran
with what strength I had further towards the shore. But neither would this
deliver me from the fury of the sea, which came pouring in after me again; =
and
twice more I was lifted up by the waves and carried forward as before, the
shore being very flat.
The last time of these two had well-nigh been fatal to me, for the sea havi=
ng
hurried me along as before, landed me, or rather dashed me, against a piece=
of
rock, and that with such force, that it left me senseless, and indeed helpl=
ess,
as to my own deliverance; for the blow taking my side and breast, beat the
breath as it were quite out of my body; and had it returned again immediate=
ly,
I must have been strangled in the water; but I recovered a little before the
return of the waves, and seeing I should be covered again with the water, I
resolved to hold fast by a piece of the rock, and so to hold my breath, if
possible, till the wave went back. Now, as the waves were not so high as at
first, being nearer land, I held my hold till the wave abated, and then fet=
ched
another run, which brought me so near the shore that the next wave, though =
it
went over me, yet did not so swallow me up as to carry me away; and the next
run I took, I got to the mainland, where, to my great comfort, I clambered =
up
the cliffs of the shore and sat me down upon the grass, free from danger and
quite out of the reach of the water.
I was now landed and safe on shore, and began to look up and thank God that=
my
life was saved, in a case wherein there was some minutes before scarce any =
room
to hope. I believe it is impossible to express, to the life, what the ecsta=
sies
and transports of the soul are, when it is so saved, as I may say, out of t=
he
very grave: and I do not wonder now at the custom, when a malefactor, who h=
as
the halter about his neck, is tied up, and just going to be turned off, and=
has
a reprieve brought to him - I say, I do not wonder that they bring a surgeon
with it, to let him blood that very moment they tell him of it, that the
surprise may not drive the animal spirits from the heart and overwhelm him.=
"For sudden joys, like griefs, confound at first."
I walked about on the shore lifting up my hands, and my whole being, as I m=
ay
say, wrapped up in a contemplation of my deliverance; making a thousand
gestures and motions, which I cannot describe; reflecting upon all my comra=
des
that were drowned, and that there should not be one soul saved but myself; =
for,
as for them, I never saw them afterwards, or any sign of them, except three=
of
their hats, one cap, and two shoes that were not fellows.
I cast my eye to the stranded vessel, when, the breach and froth of the sea
being so big, I could hardly see it, it lay so far of; and considered, Lord!
how was it possible I could get on shore
After I had solaced my mind with the comfortable part of my condition, I be=
gan
to look round me, to see what kind of place I was in, and what was next to =
be
done; and I soon found my comforts abate, and that, in a word, I had a drea=
dful
deliverance; for I was wet, had no clothes to shift me, nor anything either=
to
eat or drink to comfort me; neither did I see any prospect before me but th=
at
of perishing with hunger or being devoured by wild beasts; and that which w=
as
particularly afflicting to me was, that I had no weapon, either to hunt and
kill any creature for my sustenance, or to defend myself against any other
creature that might desire to kill me for theirs. In a word, I had nothing
about me but a knife, a tobacco-pipe, and a little tobacco in a box. This w=
as all
my provisions; and this threw me into such terrible agonies of mind, that f=
or a
while I ran about like a madman. Night coming upon me, I began with a heavy
heart to consider what would be my lot if there were any ravenous beasts in
that country, as at night they always come abroad for their prey.
All the remedy that offered to my thoughts at that time was to get up into a
thick bushy tree like a fir, but thorny, which grew near me, and where I
resolved to sit all night, and consider the next day what death I should di=
e,
for as yet I saw no prospect of life. I walked about a furlong from the sho=
re,
to see if I could find any fresh water to drink, which I did, to my great j=
oy;
and having drank, and put a little tobacco into my mouth to prevent hunger,=
I went
to the tree, and getting up into it, endeavoured to place myself so that if=
I
should sleep I might not fall. And having cut me a short stick, like a
truncheon, for my defence, I took up my lodging; and having been excessively
fatigued, I fell fast asleep, and slept as comfortably as, I believe, few c=
ould
have done in my condition, and found myself more refreshed with it than, I
think, I ever was on such an occasion.
Chapter 4: First Weeks On The Island
When I waked it was broad day, the weather clear, and the storm abated, so =
that
the sea did not rage and swell as before. But that which surprised me most =
was,
that the ship was lifted off in the night from the sand where she lay by the
swelling of the tide, and was driven up almost as far as the rock which I at
first mentioned, where I had been so bruised by the wave dashing me against=
it.
This being within about a mile from the shore where I was, and the ship see=
ming
to stand upright still, I wished myself on board, that at least I might save
some necessary things for my use.
When I came down from my apartment in the tree, I looked about me again, and
the first thing I found was the boat, which lay, as the wind and the sea had
tossed her up, upon the land, about two miles on my right hand. I walked as=
far
as I could upon the shore to have got to her; but found a neck or inlet of
water between me and the boat which was about half a mile broad; so I came =
back
for the present, being more intent upon getting at the ship, where I hoped =
to
find something for my present subsistence.
A little after noon I found the sea very calm, and the tide ebbed so far out
that I could come within a quarter of a mile of the ship. And here I found a
fresh renewing of my grief; for I saw evidently that if we had kept on boar=
d we
had been all safe - that is to say, we had all got safe on shore, and I had=
not
been so miserable as to be left entirety destitute of all comfort and compa=
ny
as I now was. This forced tears to my eyes again; but as there was little
relief in that, I resolved, if possible, to get to the ship; so I pulled of=
f my
clothes - for the weather was hot to extremity - and took the water. But wh=
en I
came to the ship my difficulty was still greater to know how to get on boar=
d;
for, as she lay aground, and high out of the water, there was nothing withi=
n my
reach to lay hold of. I swam round her twice, and the second time I spied a
small piece of rope, which I wondered I did not see at first, hung down by =
the
fore-chains so low, as that with great difficulty I got hold of it, and by =
the
help of that rope I got up into the forecastle of the ship. Here I found th=
at
the ship was bulged, and had a great deal of water in her hold, but that she
lay so on the side of a bank of hard sand, or, rather earth, that her stern=
lay
lifted up upon the bank, and her head low, almost to the water. By this mea=
ns
all her quarter was free, and all that was in that part was dry; for you ma=
y be
sure my first work was to search, and to see what was spoiled and what was
free. And, first, I found that all the ship's provisions were dry and untou=
ched
by the water, and being very well disposed to eat, I went to the bread room=
and
filled my pockets with biscuit, and ate it as I went about other things, fo=
r I
had no time to lose. I also found some rum in the great cabin, of which I t=
ook
a large dram, and which I had, indeed, need enough of to spirit me for what=
was
before me. Now I wanted nothing but a boat to furnish myself with many thin=
gs
which I foresaw would be very necessary to me.
It was in vain to sit still and wish for what was not to be had; and this
extremity roused my application. We had several spare yards, and two or thr=
ee
large spars of wood, and a spare topmast or two in the ship; I resolved to =
fall
to work with these, and I flung as many of them overboard as I could manage=
for
their weight, tying every one with a rope, that they might not drive away. =
When
this was done I went down the ship's side, and pulling them to me, I tied f=
our
of them together at both ends as well as I could, in the form of a raft, and
laying two or three short pieces of plank upon them crossways, I found I co=
uld
walk upon it very well, but that it was not able to bear any great weight, =
the
pieces being too light. So I went to work, and with a carpenter's saw I cut=
a
spare topmast into three lengths, and added them to my raft, with a great d=
eal
of labour and pains. But the hope of furnishing myself with necessaries
encouraged me to go beyond what I should have been able to have done upon
another occasion.
My raft was now strong enough to bear any reasonable weight. My next care w=
as
what to load it with, and how to preserve what I laid upon it from the surf=
of
the sea; but I was not long considering this. I first laid all the planks or
boards upon it that I could get, and having considered well what I most wan=
ted,
I got three of the seamen's chests, which I had broken open, and emptied, a=
nd
lowered them down upon my raft; the first of these I filled with provisions=
-
viz. bread, rice, three Dutch cheeses, five pieces of dried goat's flesh (w=
hich
we lived much upon), and a little remainder of European corn, which had been
laid by for some fowls which we brought to sea with us, but the fowls were
killed. There had been some barley and wheat together; but, to my great dis=
appointment,
I found afterwards that the rats had eaten or spoiled it all. As for liquor=
s, I
found several, cases of bottles belonging to our skipper, in which were some
cordial waters; and, in all, about five or six gallons of rack. These I sto=
wed
by themselves, there being no need to put them into the chest, nor any room=
for
them. While I was doing this, I found the tide begin to flow, though very c=
alm;
and I had the mortification to see my coat, shirt, and waistcoat, which I h=
ad
left on the shore, upon the sand, swim away. As for my breeches, which were
only linen, and open- kneed, I swam on board in them and my stockings. Howe=
ver,
this set me on rummaging for clothes, of which I found enough, but took no =
more
than I wanted for present use, for I had others things which my eye was more
upon - as, first, tools to work with on shore. And it was after long search=
ing
that I found out the carpenter's chest, which was, indeed, a very useful pr=
ize
to me, and much more valuable than a shipload of gold would have been at th=
at
time. I got it down to my raft, whole as it was, without losing time to look
into it, for I knew in general what it contained.
My next care was for some ammunition and arms. There were two very good
fowling-pieces in the great cabin, and two pistols. These I secured first, =
with
some powder-horns and a small bag of shot, and two old rusty swords. I knew
there were three barrels of powder in the ship, but knew not where our gunn=
er
had stowed them; but with much search I found them, two of them dry and goo=
d,
the third had taken water. Those two I got to my raft with the arms. And no=
w I
thought myself pretty well freighted, and began to think how I should get to
shore with them, having neither sail, oar, nor rudder; and the least capful=
of
wind would have overset all my navigation.
I had three encouragements - 1st, a smooth, calm sea; 2ndly, the tide risin=
g,
and setting in to the shore; 3rdly, what little wind there was blew me towa=
rds
the land. And thus, having found two or three broken oars belonging to the =
boat
- and, besides the tools which were in the chest, I found two saws, an axe,=
and
a hammer; with this cargo I put to sea. For a mile or thereabouts my raft w=
ent
very well, only that I found it drive a little distant from the place where=
I had
landed before; by which I perceived that there was some indraft of the wate=
r,
and consequently I hoped to find some creek or river there, which I might m=
ake
use of as a port to get to land with my cargo.
As I imagined, so it was. There appeared before me a little opening of the
land, and I found a strong current of the tide set into it; so I guided my =
raft
as well as I could, to keep in the middle of the stream.
But here I had like to have suffered a second shipwreck, which, if I had, I
think verily would have broken my heart; for, knowing nothing of the coast,=
my
raft ran aground at one end of it upon a shoal, and not being aground at the
other end, it wanted but a little that all my cargo had slipped off towards=
the
end that was afloat, and to fallen into the water. I did my utmost, by sett=
ing
my back against the chests, to keep them in their places, but could not thr=
ust
off the raft with all my strength; neither durst I stir from the posture I =
was
in; but holding up the chests with all my might, I stood in that manner near
half-an-hour, in which time the rising of the water brought me a little more
upon a level; and a little after, the water still-rising, my raft floated
again, and I thrust her off with the oar I had into the channel, and then
driving up higher, I at length found myself in the mouth of a little river,
with land on both sides, and a strong current of tide running up. I looked =
on
both sides for a proper place to get to shore, for I was not willing to be
driven too high up the river: hoping in time to see some ships at sea, and
therefore resolved to place myself as near the coast as I could.
At length I spied a little cove on the right shore of the creek, to which w=
ith
great pain and difficulty I guided my raft, and at last got so near that,
reaching ground with my oar, I could thrust her directly in. But here I had
like to have dipped all my cargo into the sea again; for that shore lying
pretty steep - that is to say sloping - there was no place to land, but whe=
re
one end of my float, if it ran on shore, would lie so high, and the other s=
ink
lower, as before, that it would endanger my cargo again. All that I could do
was to wait till the tide was at the highest, keeping the raft with my oar =
like
an anchor, to hold the side of it fast to the shore, near a flat piece of
ground, which I expected the water would flow over; and so it did. As soon =
as I
found water enough - for my raft drew about a foot of water - I thrust her =
upon
that flat piece of ground, and there fastened or moored her, by sticking my=
two
broken oars into the ground, one on one side near one end, and one on the o=
ther
side near the other end; and thus I lay till the water ebbed away, and left=
my
raft and all my cargo safe on shore.
My next work was to view the country, and seek a proper place for my
habitation, and where to stow my goods to secure them from whatever might
happen. Where I was, I yet knew not; whether on the continent or on an isla=
nd;
whether inhabited or not inhabited; whether in danger of wild beasts or not=
. There
was a hill not above a mile from me, which rose up very steep and high, and
which seemed to overtop some other hills, which lay as in a ridge from it
northward. I took out one of the fowling-pieces, and one of the pistols, an=
d a
horn of powder; and thus armed, I travelled for discovery up to the top of =
that
hill, where, after I had with great labour and difficulty got to the top, I=
saw
any fate, to my great affliction - viz. that I was in an island environed e=
very
way with the sea: no land to be seen except some rocks, which lay a great w=
ay
off; and two small islands, less than this, which lay about three leagues to
the west.
I found also that the island I was in was barren, and, as I saw good reason=
to
believe, uninhabited except by wild beasts, of whom, however, I saw none. Y=
et I
saw abundance of fowls, but knew not their kinds; neither when I killed them
could I tell what was fit for food, and what not. At my coming back, I shot=
at
a great bird which I saw sitting upon a tree on the side of a great wood. I
believe it was the first gun that had been fired there since the creation of
the world. I had no sooner fired, than from all parts of the wood there aro=
se
an innumerable number of fowls, of many sorts, making a confused screaming =
and
crying, and every one according to his usual note, but not one of them of a=
ny
kind that I knew. As for the creature I killed, I took it to be a kind of h=
awk,
its colour and beak resembling it, but it had no talons or claws more than
common. Its flesh was carrion, and fit for nothing.
Contented with this discovery, I came back to my raft, and fell to work to
bring my cargo on shore, which took me up the rest of that day. What to do =
with
myself at night I knew not, nor indeed where to rest, for I was afraid to l=
ie
down on the ground, not knowing but some wild beast might devour me, though=
, as
I afterwards found, there was really no need for those fears.
However, as well as I could, I barricaded myself round with the chest and
boards that I had brought on shore, and made a kind of hut for that night's
lodging. As for food, I yet saw not which way to supply myself, except that=
I
had seen two or three creatures like hares run out of the wood where I shot=
the
fowl.
I now began to consider that I might yet get a great many things out of the
ship which would be useful to me, and particularly some of the rigging and
sails, and such other things as might come to land; and I resolved to make
another voyage on board the vessel, if possible. And as I knew that the fir=
st
storm that blew must necessarily break her all in pieces, I resolved to set=
all
other things apart till I had got everything out of the ship that I could g=
et.
Then I called a council - that is to say in my thoughts - whether I should =
take
back the raft; but this appeared impracticable: so I resolved to go as befo=
re,
when the tide was down; and I did so, only that I stripped before I went fr=
om
my hut, having nothing on but my chequered shirt, a pair of linen drawers, =
and
a pair of pumps on my feet.
I got on board the ship as before, and prepared a second raft; and, having =
had
experience of the first, I neither made this so unwieldy, nor loaded it so
hard, but yet I brought away several things very useful to me; as first, in=
the
carpenters stores I found two or three bags full of nails and spikes, a gre=
at
screw- jack, a dozen or two of hatchets, and, above all, that most useful t=
hing
called a grindstone. All these I secured, together with several things
belonging to the gunner, particularly two or three iron crows, and two barr=
els
of musket bullets, seven muskets, another fowling-piece, with some small
quantity of powder more; a large bagful of small shot, and a great roll of
sheet-lead; but this last was so heavy, I could not hoist it up to get it o=
ver
the ship's side.
Besides these things, I took all the men's clothes that I could find, and a
spare fore-topsail, a hammock, and some bedding; and with this I loaded my
second raft, and brought them all safe on shore, to my very great comfort.<=
br>
I was under some apprehension, during my absence from the land, that at lea=
st
my provisions might be devoured on shore: but when I came back I found no s=
ign
of any visitor; only there sat a creature like a wild cat upon one of the
chests, which, when I came towards it, ran away a little distance, and then
stood still. She sat very composed and unconcerned, and looked full in my f=
ace,
as if she had a mind to be acquainted with me. I presented my gun at her, b=
ut,
as she did not understand it, she was perfectly unconcerned at it, nor did =
she offer
to stir away; upon which I tossed her a bit of biscuit, though by the way, I
was not very free of it, for my store was not great: however, I spared her a
bit, I say, and she went to it, smelled at it, and ate it, and looked (as if
pleased) for more; but I thanked her, and could spare no more: so she march=
ed
off.
Having got my second cargo on shore - though I was fain to open the barrels=
of
powder, and bring them by parcels, for they were too heavy, being large cas=
ks -
I went to work to make me a little tent with the sail and some poles which I
cut for that purpose: and into this tent I brought everything that I knew w=
ould
spoil either with rain or sun; and I piled all the empty chests and casks u=
p in
a circle round the tent, to fortify it from any sudden attempt, either from=
man
or beast.
When I had done this, I blocked up the door of the tent with some boards
within, and an empty chest set up on end without; and spreading one of the =
beds
upon the ground, laying my two pistols just at my head, and my gun at lengt=
h by
me, I went to bed for the first time, and slept very quietly all night, for=
I
was very weary and heavy; for the night before I had slept little, and had
laboured very hard all day to fetch all those things from the ship, and to =
get
them on shore.
I had the biggest magazine of all kinds now that ever was laid up, I believ=
e,
for one man: but I was not satisfied still, for while the ship sat upright =
in
that posture, I thought I ought to get everything out of her that I could; =
so
every day at low water I went on board, and brought away something or other;
but particularly the third time I went I brought away as much of the riggin=
g as
I could, as also all the small ropes and rope-twine I could get, with a pie=
ce
of spare canvas, which was to mend the sails upon occasion, and the barrel =
of
wet gunpowder. In a word, I brought away all the sails, first and last; only
that I was fain to cut them in pieces, and bring as much at a time as I cou=
ld,
for they were no more useful to be sails, but as mere canvas only.
But that which comforted me more still, was, that last of all, after I had =
made
five or six such voyages as these, and thought I had nothing more to expect
from the ship that was worth my meddling with - I say, after all this, I fo=
und
a great hogshead of bread, three large runlets of rum, or spirits, a box of
sugar, and a barrel of fine flour; this was surprising to me, because I had
given over expecting any more provisions, except what was spoiled by the wa=
ter.
I soon emptied the hogshead of the bread, and wrapped it up, parcel by parc=
el,
in pieces of the sails, which I cut out; and, in a word, I got all this saf=
e on
shore also.
The next day I made another voyage, and now, having plundered the ship of w=
hat
was portable and fit to hand out, I began with the cables. Cutting the great
cable into pieces, such as I could move, I got two cables and a hawser on
shore, with all the ironwork I could get; and having cut down the
spritsail-yard, and the mizzen- yard, and everything I could, to make a lar=
ge raft,
I loaded it with all these heavy goods, and came away. But my good luck beg=
an
now to leave me; for this raft was so unwieldy, and so overladen, that, aft=
er I
had entered the little cove where I had landed the rest of my goods, not be=
ing
able to guide it so handily as I did the other, it overset, and threw me and
all my cargo into the water. As for myself, it was no great harm, for I was
near the shore; but as to my cargo, it was a great part of it lost, especia=
lly
the iron, which I expected would have been of great use to me; however, when
the tide was out, I got most of the pieces of the cable ashore, and some of=
the
iron, though with infinite labour; for I was fain to dip for it into the wa=
ter,
a work which fatigued me very much. After this, I went every day on board, =
and
brought away what I could get.
I had been now thirteen days on shore, and had been eleven times on board t=
he
ship, in which time I had brought away all that one pair of hands could wel=
l be
supposed capable to bring; though I believe verily, had the calm weather he=
ld,
I should have brought away the whole ship, piece by piece. But preparing the
twelfth time to go on board, I found the wind began to rise: however, at low
water I went on board, and though I thought I had rummaged the cabin so
effectually that nothing more could be found, yet I discovered a locker with
drawers in it, in one of which I found two or three razors, and one pair of
large scissors, with some ten or a dozen of good knives and forks: in anoth=
er I
found about thirty-six pounds value in money - some European coin, some Bra=
zil,
some pieces of eight, some gold, and some silver.
I smiled to myself at the sight of this money: "O drug!" said I,
aloud, "what art thou good for? Thou art not worth to me - no, not the
taking off the ground; one of those knives is worth all this heap; I have no
manner of use for thee - e'en remain where thou art, and go to the bottom a=
s a
creature whose life is not worth saying." However, upon second thought=
s I
took it away; and wrapping all this in a piece of canvas, I began to think =
of
making another raft; but while I was preparing this, I found the sky overca=
st,
and the wind began to rise, and in a quarter of an hour it blew a fresh gale
from the shore. It presently occurred to me that it was in vain to pretend =
to
make a raft with the wind offshore; and that it was my business to be gone
before the tide of flood began, otherwise I might not be able to reach the
shore at all. Accordingly, I let myself down into the water, and swam across
the channel, which lay between the ship and the sands, and even that with
difficulty enough, partly with the weight of the things I had about me, and
partly the roughness of the water; for the wind rose very hastily, and befo=
re
it was quite high water it blew a storm.
But I had got home to my little tent, where I lay, with all my wealth about=
me,
very secure. It blew very hard all night, and in the morning, when I looked
out, behold, no more ship was to be seen! I was a little surprised, but
recovered myself with the satisfactory reflection that I had lost no time, =
nor
abated any diligence, to get everything out of her that could be useful to =
me;
and that, indeed, there was little left in her that I was able to bring awa=
y,
if I had had more time.
I now gave over any more thoughts of the ship, or of anything out of her,
except what might drive on shore from her wreck; as, indeed, divers pieces =
of
her afterwards did; but those things were of small use to me.
My thoughts were now wholly employed about securing myself against either
savages, if any should appear, or wild beasts, if any were in the island; a=
nd I
had many thoughts of the method how to do this, and what kind of dwelling to
make - whether I should make me a cave in the earth, or a tent upon the ear=
th; and,
in short, I resolved upon both; the manner and description of which, it may=
not
be improper to give an account of.
I soon found the place I was in was not fit for my settlement, because it w=
as
upon a low, moorish ground, near the sea, and I believed it would not be
wholesome, and more particularly because there was no fresh water near it; =
so I
resolved to find a more healthy and more convenient spot of ground.
I consulted several things in my situation, which I found would he proper f=
or
me: 1st, health and fresh water, I just now mentioned; 2ndly, shelter from =
the
heat of the sun; 3rdly, security from ravenous creatures, whether man or be=
ast;
4thly, a view to the sea, that if God sent any ship in sight, I might not l=
ose
any advantage for my deliverance, of which I was not willing to banish all =
my
expectation yet.
In search of a place proper for this, I found a little plain on the side of=
a
rising hill, whose front towards this little plain was steep as a house-sid=
e,
so that nothing could come down upon me from the top. On the one side of the
rock there was a hollow place, worn a little way in, like the entrance or d=
oor
of a cave but there was not really any cave or way into the rock at all.
On the flat of the green, just before this hollow place, I resolved to pitc=
h my
tent. This plain was not above a hundred yards broad, and about twice as lo=
ng,
and lay like a green before my door; and, at the end of it, descended
irregularly every way down into the low ground by the seaside. It was on the
N.N.W. side of the hill; so that it was sheltered from the heat every day, =
till
it came to a W. and by S. sun, or thereabouts, which, in those countries, is
near the setting.
Before I set up my tent I drew a half-circle before the hollow place, which
took in about ten yards in its semi-diameter from the rock, and twenty yard=
s in
its diameter from its beginning and ending.
In this half-circle I pitched two rows of strong stakes, driving them into =
the
ground till they stood very firm like piles, the biggest end being out of t=
he
ground above five feet and a half, and sharpened on the top. The two rows d=
id
not stand above six inches from one another.
Then I took the pieces of cable which I had cut in the ship, and laid them =
in
rows, one upon another, within the circle, between these two rows of stakes=
, up
to the top, placing other stakes in the inside, leaning against them, about=
two
feet and a half high, like a spur to a post; and this fence was so strong, =
that
neither man nor beast could get into it or over it. This cost me a great de=
al
of time and labour, especially to cut the piles in the woods, bring them to=
the
place, and drive them into the earth.
The entrance into this place I made to be, not by a door, but by a short la=
dder
to go over the top; which ladder, when I was in, I lifted over after me; an=
d so
I was completely fenced in and fortified, as I thought, from all the world,=
and
consequently slept secure in the night, which otherwise I could not have do=
ne;
though, as it appeared afterwards, there was no need of all this caution fr=
om
the enemies that I apprehended danger from.
Into this fence or fortress, with infinite labour, I carried all my riches,=
all
my provisions, ammunition, and stores, of which you have the account above;=
and
I made a large tent, which to preserve me from the rains that in one part of
the year are very violent there, I made double - one smaller tent within, a=
nd
one larger tent above it; and covered the uppermost with a large tarpaulin,
which I had saved among the sails.
And now I lay no more for a while in the bed which I had brought on shore, =
but
in a hammock, which was indeed a very good one, and belonged to the mate of=
the
ship.
Into this tent I brought all my provisions, and everything that would spoil=
by
the wet; and having thus enclosed all my goods, I made up the entrance, whi=
ch
till now I had left open, and so passed and repassed, as I said, by a short
ladder.
When I had done this, I began to work my way into the rock, and bringing all
the earth and stones that I dug down out through my tent, I laid them up wi=
thin
my fence, in the nature of a terrace, so that it raised the ground within a=
bout
a foot and a half; and thus I made me a cave, just behind my tent, which se=
rved
me like a cellar to my house.
It cost me much labour and many days before all these things were brought to
perfection; and therefore I must go back to some other things which took up
some of my thoughts. At the same time it happened, after I had laid my sche=
me
for the setting up my tent, and making the cave, that a storm of rain falli=
ng
from a thick, dark cloud, a sudden flash of lightning happened, and after t=
hat
a great clap of thunder, as is naturally the effect of it. I was not so much
surprised with the lightning as I was with the thought which darted into my=
mind
as swift as the lightning itself - Oh, my powder! My very heart sank within=
me
when I thought that, at one blast, all my powder might be destroyed; on whi=
ch,
not my defence only, but the providing my food, as I thought, entirely
depended. I was nothing near so anxious about my own danger, though, had the
powder took fire, I should never have known who had hurt me.
Such impression did this make upon me, that after the storm was over I laid
aside all my works, my building and fortifying, and applied myself to make =
bags
and boxes, to separate the powder, and to keep it a little and a little in a
parcel, in the hope that, whatever might come, it might not all take fire at
once; and to keep it so apart that it should not be possible to make one pa=
rt
fire another. I finished this work in about a fortnight; and I think my pow=
der,
which in all was about two hundred and forty pounds weight, was divided in =
not
less than a hundred parcels. As to the barrel that had been wet, I did not
apprehend any danger from that; so I placed it in my new cave, which, in my
fancy, I called my kitchen; and the rest I hid up and down in holes among t=
he
rocks, so that no wet might come to it, marking very carefully where I laid=
it.
In the interval of time while this was doing, I went out once at least every
day with my gun, as well to divert myself as to see if I could kill anything
fit for food; and, as near as I could, to acquaint myself with what the isl=
and
produced. The first time I went out, I presently discovered that there were
goats in the island, which was a great satisfaction to me; but then it was
attended with this misfortune to me - viz. that they were so shy, so subtle,
and so swift of foot, that it was the most difficult thing in the world to =
come
at them; but I was not discouraged at this, not doubting but I might now and
then shoot one, as it soon happened; for after I had found their haunts a
little, I laid wait in this manner for them: I observed if they saw me in t=
he
valleys, though they were upon the rocks, they would run away, as in a terr=
ible
fright; but if they were feeding in the valleys, and I was upon the rocks, =
they
took no notice of me; from whence I concluded that, by the position of their
optics, their sight was so directed downward that they did not readily see
objects that were above them; so afterwards I took this method - I always
climbed the rocks first, to get above them, and then had frequently a fair
mark.
The first shot I made among these creatures, I killed a she-goat, which had=
a
little kid by her, which she gave suck to, which grieved me heartily; for w=
hen
the old one fell, the kid stood stock still by her, till I came and took her
up; and not only so, but when I carried the old one with me, upon my should=
ers,
the kid followed me quite to my enclosure; upon which I laid down the dam, =
and
took the kid in my arms, and carried it over my pale, in hopes to have bred=
it
up tame; but it would not eat; so I was forced to kill it and eat it myself.
These two supplied me with flesh a great while, for I ate sparingly, and sa=
ved
my provisions, my bread especially, as much as possibly I could.
Having now fixed my habitation, I found it absolutely necessary to provide a
place to make a fire in, and fuel to burn: and what I did for that, and also
how I enlarged my cave, and what conveniences I made, I shall give a full
account of in its place; but I must now give some little account of myself,=
and
of my thoughts about living, which, it may well be supposed, were not a few=
.
I had a dismal prospect of my condition; for as I was not cast away upon th=
at
island without being driven, as is said, by a violent storm, quite out of t=
he
course of our intended voyage, and a great way, viz. some hundreds of leagu=
es,
out of the ordinary course of the trade of mankind, I had great reason to
consider it as a determination of Heaven, that in this desolate place, and =
in
this desolate manner, I should end my life. The tears would run plentifully
down my face when I made these reflections; and sometimes I would expostula=
te
with myself why Providence should thus completely ruin His creatures, and
render them so absolutely miserable; so without help, abandoned, so entirely
depressed, that it could hardly be rational to be thankful for such a life.=
But something always returned swift upon me to check these thoughts, and to
reprove me; and particularly one day, walking with my gun in my hand by the
seaside, I was very pensive upon the subject of my present condition, when
reason, as it were, expostulated with me the other way, thus: "Well, y=
ou
are in a desolate condition, it is true; but, pray remember, where are the =
rest
of you? Did not you come, eleven of you in the boat? Where are the ten? Why
were they not saved, and you lost? Why were you singled out? Is it better t=
o be
here or there?" And then I pointed to the sea. All evils are to be
considered with the good that is in them, and with what worse attends them.=
Then it occurred to me again, how well I was furnished for my subsistence, =
and
what would have been my case if it had not happened (which was a hundred
thousand to one) that the ship floated from the place where she first struc=
k,
and was driven so near to the shore that I had time to get all these things=
out
of her; what would have been my case, if I had been forced to have lived in=
the
condition in which I at first came on shore, without necessaries of life, or
necessaries to supply and procure them? "Particularly," said I, a=
loud
(though to myself), "what should I have done without a gun, without
ammunition, without any tools to make anything, or to work with, without
clothes, bedding, a tent, or any manner of covering?" and that now I h=
ad
all these to sufficient quantity, and was in a fair way to provide myself in
such a manner as to live without my gun, when my ammunition was spent: so t=
hat
I had a tolerable view of subsisting, without any want, as long as I lived;=
for
I considered from the beginning how I would provide for the accidents that
might happen, and for the time that was to come, even not only after my
ammunition should be spent, but even after my health and strength should de=
cay.
I confess I had not entertained any notion of my ammunition being destroyed=
at
one blast - I mean my powder being blown up by lightning; and this made the
thoughts of it so surprising to me, when it lightened and thundered, as I
observed just now.
And now being about to enter into a melancholy relation of a scene of silent
life, such, perhaps, as was never heard of in the world before, I shall tak=
e it
from its beginning, and continue it in its order. It was by my account the =
30th
of September, when, in the manner as above said, I first set foot upon this
horrid island; when the sun, being to us in its autumnal equinox, was almost
over my head; for I reckoned myself, by observation, to be in the latitude =
of
nine degrees twenty-two minutes north of the line.
After I had been there about ten or twelve days, it came into my thoughts t=
hat
I should lose my reckoning of time for want of books, and pen and ink, and
should even forget the Sabbath days; but to prevent this, I cut with my kni=
fe
upon a large post, in capital letters - and making it into a great cross, I=
set
it up on the shore where I first landed - "I came on shore here on the
30th September 1659."
Upon the sides of this square post I cut every day a notch with my knife, a=
nd
every seventh notch was as long again as the rest, and every first day of t=
he
month as long again as that long one; and thus I kept my calendar, or weekl=
y,
monthly, and yearly reckoning of time.
In the next place, we are to observe that among the many things which I bro=
ught
out of the ship, in the several voyages which, as above mentioned, I made to
it, I got several things of less value, but not at all less useful to me, w=
hich
I omitted setting down before; as, in particular, pens, ink, and paper, sev=
eral
parcels in the captain's, mate's, gunner's and carpenter's keeping; three or
four compasses, some mathematical instruments, dials, perspectives, charts,=
and
books of navigation, all which I huddled together, whether I might want the=
m or
no; also, I found three very good Bibles, which came to me in my cargo from
England, and which I had packed up among my things; some Portuguese books a=
lso;
and among them two or three Popish prayer-books, and several other books, a=
ll which
I carefully secured. And I must not forget that we had in the ship a dog and
two cats, of whose eminent history I may have occasion to say something in =
its
place; for I carried both the cats with me; and as for the dog, he jumped o=
ut
of the ship of himself, and swam on shore to me the day after I went on sho=
re
with my first cargo, and was a trusty servant to me many years; I wanted
nothing that he could fetch me, nor any company that he could make up to me=
; I
only wanted to have him talk to me, but that would not do. As I observed
before, I found pens, ink, and paper, and I husbanded them to the utmost; a=
nd I
shall show that while my ink lasted, I kept things very exact, but after th=
at
was gone I could not, for I could not make any ink by any means that I could
devise.
And this put me in mind that I wanted many things notwithstanding all that I
had amassed together; and of these, ink was one; as also a spade, pickaxe, =
and
shovel, to dig or remove the earth; needles, pins, and thread; as for linen=
, I
soon learned to want that without much difficulty.
This want of tools made every work I did go on heavily; and it was near a w=
hole
year before I had entirely finished my little pale, or surrounded my
habitation. The piles, or stakes, which were as heavy as I could well lift,
were a long time in cutting and preparing in the woods, and more, by far, in
bringing home; so that I spent sometimes two days in cutting and bringing h=
ome
one of those posts, and a third day in driving it into the ground; for which
purpose I got a heavy piece of wood at first, but at last bethought myself =
of
one of the iron crows; which, however, though I found it, made driving those
posts or piles very laborious and tedious work. But what need I have been
concerned at the tediousness of anything I had to do, seeing I had time eno=
ugh
to do it in? nor had I any other employment, if that had been over, at least
that I could foresee, except the ranging the island to seek for food, which=
I
did, more or less, every day.
I now began to consider seriously my condition, and the circumstances I was
reduced to; and I drew up the state of my affairs in writing, not so much to
leave them to any that were to come after me - for I was likely to have but=
few
heirs - as to deliver my thoughts from daily poring over them, and afflicti=
ng
my mind; and as my reason began now to master my despondency, I began to
comfort myself as well as I could, and to set the good against the evil, th=
at I
might have something to distinguish my case from worse; and I stated very
impartially, like debtor and creditor, the comforts I enjoyed against the
miseries I suffered, thus:-
Evil: I am cast upon a horrible, desolate island, void of all hope of recov=
ery.
Good: But I am alive; and not drowned, as all my ship's company were.
Evil: I am singled out and separated, as it were, from all the world, to be
miserable.
Good: But I am singled out, too, from all the ship's crew, to be spared from
death; and He that miraculously saved me from death can deliver me from this
condition.
Evil: I am divided from mankind - a solitaire; one banished from human soci=
ety.
Good: But I am not starved, and perishing on a barren place, affording no
sustenance.
Evil: I have no clothes to cover me.
Good: But I am in a hot climate, where, if I had clothes, I could hardly we=
ar
them.
Evil: I am without any defence, or means to resist any violence of man or
beast.
Good: But I am cast on an island where I see no wild beasts to hurt me, as I
saw on the coast of Africa; and what if I had been shipwrecked there?
Evil: I have no soul to speak to or relieve me.
Good: But God wonderfully sent the ship in near enough to the shore, that I
have got out as many necessary things as will either supply my wants or ena=
ble
me to supply myself, even as long as I live.
Upon the whole, here was an undoubted testimony that there was scarce any
condition in the world so miserable but there was something negative or
something positive to be thankful for in it; and let this stand as a direct=
ion
from the experience of the most miserable of all conditions in this world: =
that
we may always find in it something to comfort ourselves from, and to set, in
the description of good and evil, on the credit side of the account.
Having now brought my mind a little to relish my condition, and given over
looking out to sea, to see if I could spy a ship - I say, giving over these
things, I begun to apply myself to arrange my way of living, and to make th=
ings
as easy to me as I could.
I have already described my habitation, which was a tent under the side of a
rock, surrounded with a strong pale of posts and cables: but I might now ra=
ther
call it a wall, for I raised a kind of wall up against it of turfs, about t=
wo
feet thick on the outside; and after some time (I think it was a year and a=
half)
I raised rafters from it, leaning to the rock, and thatched or covered it w=
ith
boughs of trees, and such things as I could get, to keep out the rain; whic=
h I
found at some times of the year very violent.
I have already observed how I brought all my goods into this pale, and into=
the
cave which I had made behind me. But I must observe, too, that at first this
was a confused heap of goods, which, as they lay in no order, so they took =
up
all my place; I had no room to turn myself: so I set myself to enlarge my c=
ave,
and work farther into the earth; for it was a loose sandy rock, which yield=
ed
easily to the labour I bestowed on it: and so when I found I was pretty saf=
e as
to beasts of prey, I worked sideways, to the right hand, into the rock; and
then, turning to the right again, worked quite out, and made me a door to c=
ome
out on the outside of my pale or fortification. This gave me not only egress
and regress, as it was a back way to my tent and to my storehouse, but gave=
me
room to store my goods.
And now I began to apply myself to make such necessary things as I found I =
most
wanted, particularly a chair and a table; for without these I was not able =
to
enjoy the few comforts I had in the world; I could not write or eat, or do
several things, with so much pleasure without a table: so I went to work. A=
nd
here I must needs observe, that as reason is the substance and origin of the
mathematics, so by stating and squaring everything by reason, and by making=
the
most rational judgment of things, every man may be, in time, master of every
mechanic art. I had never handled a tool in my life; and yet, in time, by
labour, application, and contrivance, I found at last that I wanted nothing=
but
I could have made it, especially if I had had tools. However, I made abunda=
nce
of things, even without tools; and some with no more tools than an adze and=
a
hatchet, which perhaps were never made that way before, and that with infin=
ite
labour. For example, if I wanted a board, I had no other way but to cut dow=
n a
tree, set it on an edge before me, and hew it flat on either side with my a=
xe,
till I brought it to be thin as a plank, and then dub it smooth with my adz=
e.
It is true, by this method I could make but one board out of a whole tree; =
but
this I had no remedy for but patience, any more than I had for the prodigio=
us
deal of time and labour which it took me up to make a plank or board: but my
time or labour was little worth, and so it was as well employed one way as
another.
However, I made me a table and a chair, as I observed above, in the first
place; and this I did out of the short pieces of boards that I brought on my
raft from the ship. But when I had wrought out some boards as above, I made
large shelves, of the breadth of a foot and a half, one over another all al=
ong one
side of my cave, to lay all my tools, nails and ironwork on; and, in a word=
, to
separate everything at large into their places, that I might come easily at
them. I knocked pieces into the wall of the rock to hang my guns and all th=
ings
that would hang up; so that, had my cave been to be seen, it looked like a
general magazine of all necessary things; and had everything so ready at my
hand, that it was a great pleasure to me to see all my goods in such order,=
and
especially to find my stock of all necessaries so great.
And now it was that I began to keep a journal of every day's employment; fo=
r,
indeed, at first I was in too much hurry, and not only hurry as to labour, =
but
in too much discomposure of mind; and my journal would have been full of ma=
ny
dull things; for example, I must have said thus: "30TH. - After I had =
got
to shore, and escaped drowning, instead of being thankful to God for my
deliverance, having first vomited, with the great quantity of salt water wh=
ich
had got into my stomach, and recovering myself a little, I ran about the sh=
ore
wringing my hands and beating my head and face, exclaiming at my misery, and
crying out, 'I was undone, undone!' till, tired and faint, I was forced to =
lie
down on the ground to repose, but durst not sleep for fear of being
devoured."
Some days after this, and after I had been on board the ship, and got all t=
hat
I could out of her, yet I could not forbear getting up to the top of a litt=
le
mountain and looking out to sea, in hopes of seeing a ship; then fancy at a
vast distance I spied a sail, please myself with the hopes of it, and then
after looking steadily, till I was almost blind, lose it quite, and sit down
and weep like a child, and thus increase my misery by my folly.
But having gotten over these things in some measure, and having settled my
household staff and habitation, made me a table and a chair, and all as
handsome about me as I could, I began to keep my journal; of which I shall =
here
give you the copy (though in it will be told all these particulars over aga=
in)
as long as it lasted; for having no more ink, I was forced to leave it off.=
Chapter 5: Builds A House - The Journal
September 30, 1659. - I, poor miserable Robinson Crusoe, being shipwrecked
during a dreadful storm in the offing, came on shore on this dismal,
unfortunate island, which I called "The Island of Despair"; all t=
he
rest of the ship's company being drowned, and myself almost dead.
All the rest of the day I spent in afflicting myself at the dismal
circumstances I was brought to - viz. I had neither food, house, clothes,
weapon, nor place to fly to; and in despair of any relief, saw nothing but
death before me - either that I should be devoured by wild beasts, murdered=
by
savages, or starved to death for want of food. At the approach of night I s=
lept
in a tree, for fear of wild creatures; but slept soundly, though it rained =
all
night.
October 1. - In the morning I saw, to my great surprise, the ship had float=
ed
with the high tide, and was driven on shore again much nearer the island;
which, as it was some comfort, on one hand - for, seeing her set upright, a=
nd
not broken to pieces, I hoped, if the wind abated, I might get on board, and
get some food and necessaries out of her for my relief - so, on the other h=
and,
it renewed my grief at the loss of my comrades, who, I imagined, if we had =
all
stayed on board, might have saved the ship, or, at least, that they would n=
ot
have been all drowned as they were; and that, had the men been saved, we mi=
ght
perhaps have built us a boat out of the ruins of the ship to have carried u=
s to
some other part of the world. I spent great part of this day in perplexing
myself on these things; but at length, seeing the ship almost dry, I went u=
pon
the sand as near as I could, and then swam on board. This day also it conti=
nued
raining, though with no wind at all.
From the 1st of October to the 24th. - All these days entirely spent in many
several voyages to get all I could out of the ship, which I brought on shore
every tide of flood upon rafts. Much rain also in the days, though with some
intervals of fair weather; but it seems this was the rainy season.
Oct. 20. - I overset my raft, and all the goods I had got upon it; but, bei=
ng
in shoal water, and the things being chiefly heavy, I recovered many of the=
m when
the tide was out.
Oct. 25. - It rained all night and all day, with some gusts of wind; during
which time the ship broke in pieces, the wind blowing a little harder than
before, and was no more to be seen, except the wreck of her, and that only =
at
low water. I spent this day in covering and securing the goods which I had
saved, that the rain might not spoil them.
Oct. 26. - I walked about the shore almost all day, to find out a place to =
fix
my habitation, greatly concerned to secure myself from any attack in the ni=
ght,
either from wild beasts or men. Towards night, I fixed upon a proper place,
under a rock, and marked out a semicircle for my encampment; which I resolv=
ed
to strengthen with a work, wall, or fortification, made of double piles, li=
ned
within with cables, and without with turf.
From the 26th to the 30th I worked very hard in carrying all my goods to my=
new
habitation, though some part of the time it rained exceedingly hard.
The 31st, in the morning, I went out into the island with my gun, to seek f=
or
some food, and discover the country; when I killed a she-goat, and her kid
followed me home, which I afterwards killed also, because it would not feed=
.
November 1. - I set up my tent under a rock, and lay there for the first ni=
ght;
making it as large as I could, with stakes driven in to swing my hammock up=
on.
Nov. 2. - I set up all my chests and boards, and the pieces of timber which
made my rafts, and with them formed a fence round me, a little within the p=
lace
I had marked out for my fortification.
Nov. 3. - I went out with my gun, and killed two fowls like ducks, which we=
re
very good food. In the afternoon went to work to make me a table.
Nov. 4. - This morning I began to order my times of work, of going out with=
my
gun, time of sleep, and time of diversion - viz. every morning I walked out
with my gun for two or three hours, if it did not rain; then employed mysel=
f to
work till about eleven o'clock; then eat what I had to live on; and from tw=
elve
to two I lay down to sleep, the weather being excessively hot; and then, in=
the
evening, to work again. The working part of this day and of the next were
wholly employed in making my table, for I was yet but a very sorry workman,
though time and necessity made me a complete natural mechanic soon after, a=
s I
believe they would do any one else.
Nov. 5. - This day went abroad with my gun and my dog, and killed a wild ca=
t;
her skin pretty soft, but her flesh good for nothing; every creature that I
killed I took of the skins and preserved them. Coming back by the sea-shore=
, I
saw many sorts of sea-fowls, which I did not understand; but was surprised,=
and
almost frightened, with two or three seals, which, while I was gazing at, n=
ot
well knowing what they were, got into the sea, and escaped me for that time=
.
Nov. 6. - After my morning walk I went to work with my table again, and
finished it, though not to my liking; nor was it long before I learned to m=
end
it.
Nov. 7. - Now it began to be settled fair weather. The 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th,=
and
part of the 12th (for the 11th was Sunday) I took wholly up to make me a ch=
air,
and with much ado brought it to a tolerable shape, but never to please me; =
and
even in the making I pulled it in pieces several times.
Note. - I soon neglected my keeping Sundays; for, omitting my mark for them=
on
my post, I forgot which was which.
Nov. 13. - This day it rained, which refreshed me exceedingly, and cooled t=
he
earth; but it was accompanied with terrible thunder and lightning, which
frightened me dreadfully, for fear of my powder. As soon as it was over, I
resolved to separate my stock of powder into as many little parcels as
possible, that it might not be in danger.
Nov. 14, 15, 16. - These three days I spent in making little square chests,=
or
boxes, which might hold about a pound, or two pounds at most, of powder; and
so, putting the powder in, I stowed it in places as secure and remote from =
one
another as possible. On one of these three days I killed a large bird that =
was
good to eat, but I knew not what to call it.
Nov. 17. - This day I began to dig behind my tent into the rock, to make ro=
om
for my further conveniency.
Note. - Three things I wanted exceedingly for this work - viz. a pickaxe, a
shovel, and a wheelbarrow or basket; so I desisted from my work, and began =
to
consider how to supply that want, and make me some tools. As for the pickax=
e, I
made use of the iron crows, which were proper enough, though heavy; but the
next thing was a shovel or spade; this was so absolutely necessary, that,
indeed, I could do nothing effectually without it; but what kind of one to =
make
I knew not.
Nov. 18. - The next day, in searching the woods, I found a tree of that woo=
d,
or like it, which in the Brazils they call the iron- tree, for its exceeding
hardness. Of this, with great labour, and almost spoiling my axe, I cut a
piece, and brought it home, too, with difficulty enough, for it was exceedi=
ng
heavy. The excessive hardness of the wood, and my having no other way, made=
me
a long while upon this machine, for I worked it effectually by little and
little into the form of a shovel or spade; the handle exactly shaped like o=
urs
in England, only that the board part having no iron shod upon it at bottom,=
it
would not last me so long; however, it served well enough for the uses whic=
h I
had occasion to put it to; but never was a shovel, I believe, made after th=
at
fashion, or so long in making.
I was still deficient, for I wanted a basket or a wheelbarrow. A basket I c=
ould
not make by any means, having no such things as twigs that would bend to ma=
ke
wicker-ware - at least, none yet found out; and as to a wheelbarrow, I fanc=
ied
I could make all but the wheel; but that I had no notion of; neither did I =
know
how to go about it; besides, I had no possible way to make the iron gudgeons
for the spindle or axis of the wheel to run in; so I gave it over, and so, =
for
carrying away the earth which I dug out of the cave, I made me a thing like=
a
hod which the labourers carry mortar in when they serve the bricklayers. Th=
is
was not so difficult to me as the making the shovel: and yet this and the
shovel, and the attempt which I made in vain to make a wheelbarrow, took me=
up
no less than four days - I mean always excepting my morning walk with my gu=
n,
which I seldom failed, and very seldom failed also bringing home something =
fit
to eat.
Nov. 23. - My other work having now stood still, because of my making these
tools, when they were finished I went on, and working every day, as my stre=
ngth
and time allowed, I spent eighteen days entirely in widening and deepening =
my
cave, that it might hold my goods commodiously.
Note. - During all this time I worked to make this room or cave spacious en=
ough
to accommodate me as a warehouse or magazine, a kitchen, a dining-room, and=
a
cellar. As for my lodging, I kept to the tent; except that sometimes, in the
wet season of the year, it rained so hard that I could not keep myself dry,
which caused me afterwards to cover all my place within my pale with long
poles, in the form of rafters, leaning against the rock, and load them with=
flags
and large leaves of trees, like a thatch.
December 10. - I began now to think my cave or vault finished, when on a su=
dden
(it seems I had made it too large) a great quantity of earth fell down from=
the
top on one side; so much that, in short, it frighted me, and not without
reason, too, for if I had been under it, I had never wanted a gravedigger. I
had now a great deal of work to do over again, for I had the loose earth to
carry out; and, which was of more importance, I had the ceiling to prop up,=
so
that I might be sure no more would come down.
Dec. 11. - This day I went to work with it accordingly, and got two shores =
or
posts pitched upright to the top, with two pieces of boards across over each
post; this I finished the next day; and setting more posts up with boards, =
in
about a week more I had the roof secured, and the posts, standing in rows,
served me for partitions to part off the house.
Dec. 17. - From this day to the 20th I placed shelves, and knocked up nails=
on
the posts, to hang everything up that could be hung up; and now I began to =
be
in some order within doors.
Dec. 20. - Now I carried everything into the cave, and began to furnish my
house, and set up some pieces of boards like a dresser, to order my victuals
upon; but boards began to be very scarce with me; also, I made me another
table.
Dec. 24. - Much rain all night and all day. No stirring out. Dec. 25. - Rain
all day.
Dec. 26. - No rain, and the earth much cooler than before, and pleasanter.<=
br>
Dec. 27. - Killed a young goat, and lamed another, so that I caught it and =
led
it home in a string; when I had it at home, I bound and splintered up its l=
eg,
which was broke.
N.B. - I took such care of it that it lived, and the leg grew well and as
strong as ever; but, by my nursing it so long, it grew tame, and fed upon t=
he
little green at my door, and would not go away. This was the first time tha=
t I
entertained a thought of breeding up some tame creatures, that I might have
food when my powder and shot was all spent.
Dec. 28,29,30,31. - Great heats, and no breeze, so that there was no stirri=
ng
abroad, except in the evening, for food; this time I spent in putting all my
things in order within doors.
January 1. - Very hot still: but I went abroad early and late with my gun, =
and
lay still in the middle of the day. This evening, going farther into the
valleys which lay towards the centre of the island, I found there were plen=
ty
of goats, though exceedingly shy, and hard to come at; however, I resolved =
to
try if I could not bring my dog to hunt them down.
Jan. 2. - Accordingly, the next day I went out with my dog, and set him upon
the goats, but I was mistaken, for they all faced about upon the dog, and he
knew his danger too well, for he would not come near them.
Jan. 3. - I began my fence or wall; which, being still jealous of my being
attacked by somebody, I resolved to make very thick and strong.
N.B. - This wall being described before, I purposely omit what was said in =
the
journal; it is sufficient to observe, that I was no less time than from the=
2nd
of January to the 14th of April working, finishing, and perfecting this wal=
l,
though it was no more than about twenty-four yards in length, being a
half-circle from one place in the rock to another place, about eight yards =
from
it, the door of the cave being in the centre behind it.
All this time I worked very hard, the rains hindering me many days, nay,
sometimes weeks together; but I thought I should never be perfectly secure =
till
this wall was finished; and it is scarce credible what inexpressible labour
everything was done with, especially the bringing piles out of the woods and
driving them into the ground; for I made them much bigger than I needed to =
have
done.
When this wall was finished, and the outside double fenced, with a turf wall
raised up close to it, I perceived myself that if any people were to come on
shore there, they would not perceive anything like a habitation; and it was
very well I did so, as may be observed hereafter, upon a very remarkable
occasion.
During this time I made my rounds in the woods for game every day when the =
rain
permitted me, and made frequent discoveries in these walks of something or
other to my advantage; particularly, I found a kind of wild pigeons, which
build, not as wood-pigeons in a tree, but rather as house-pigeons, in the h=
oles
of the rocks; and taking some young ones, I endeavoured to breed them up ta=
me,
and did so; but when they grew older they flew away, which perhaps was at f=
irst
for want of feeding them, for I had nothing to give them; however, I freque=
ntly
found their nests, and got their young ones, which were very good meat. And
now, in the managing my household affairs, I found myself wanting in many
things, which I thought at first it was impossible for me to make; as, inde=
ed,
with some of them it was: for instance, I could never make a cask to be hoo=
ped.
I had a small runlet or two, as I observed before; but I could never arrive=
at
the capacity of making one by them, though I spent many weeks about it; I c=
ould
neither put in the heads, or join the staves so true to one another as to m=
ake
them hold water; so I gave that also over. In the next place, I was at a gr=
eat
loss for candles; so that as soon as ever it was dark, which was generally =
by
seven o'clock, I was obliged to go to bed. I remembered the lump of beeswax
with which I made candles in my African adventure; but I had none of that n=
ow;
the only remedy I had was, that when I had killed a goat I saved the tallow,
and with a little dish made of clay, which I baked in the sun, to which I a=
dded
a wick of some oakum, I made me a lamp; and this gave me light, though not a
clear, steady light, like a candle. In the middle of all my labours it happ=
ened
that, rummaging my things, I found a little bag which, as I hinted before, =
had
been filled with corn for the feeding of poultry - not for this voyage, but
before, as I suppose, when the ship came from Lisbon. The little remainder =
of
corn that had been in the bag was all devoured by the rats, and I saw nothi=
ng
in the bag but husks and dust; and being willing to have the bag for some o=
ther
use (I think it was to put powder in, when I divided it for fear of the
lightning, or some such use), I shook the husks of corn out of it on one si=
de
of my fortification, under the rock.
It was a little before the great rains just now mentioned that I threw this
stuff away, taking no notice, and not so much as remembering that I had thr=
own
anything there, when, about a month after, or thereabouts, I saw some few
stalks of something green shooting out of the ground, which I fancied might=
be
some plant I had not seen; but I was surprised, and perfectly astonished, w=
hen,
after a little longer time, I saw about ten or twelve ears come out, which =
were
perfect green barley, of the same kind as our European - nay, as our English
barley.
It is impossible to express the astonishment and confusion of my thoughts on
this occasion. I had hitherto acted upon no religious foundation at all;
indeed, I had very few notions of religion in my head, nor had entertained =
any
sense of anything that had befallen me otherwise than as chance, or, as we
lightly say, what pleases God, without so much as inquiring into the end of
Providence in these things, or His order in governing events for the world.=
But
after I saw barley grow there, in a climate which I knew was not proper for
corn, and especially that I knew not how it came there, it startled me
strangely, and I began to suggest that God had miraculously caused His grai=
n to
grow without any help of seed sown, and that it was so directed purely for =
my
sustenance on that wild, miserable place.
This touched my heart a little, and brought tears out of my eyes, and I beg=
an
to bless myself that such a prodigy of nature should happen upon my account;
and this was the more strange to me, because I saw near it still, all along=
by
the side of the rock, some other straggling stalks, which proved to be stal=
ks
of rice, and which I knew, because I had seen it grow in Africa when I was
ashore there.
I not only thought these the pure productions of Providence for my support,=
but
not doubting that there was more in the place, I went all over that part of=
the
island, where I had been before, peering in every corner, and under every r=
ock,
to see for more of it, but I could not find any. At last it occurred to my
thoughts that I shook a bag of chickens' meat out in that place; and then t=
he
wonder began to cease; and I must confess my religious thankfulness to God's
providence began to abate, too, upon the discovering that all this was noth=
ing
but what was common; though I ought to have been as thankful for so strange=
and
unforeseen a providence as if it had been miraculous; for it was really the
work of Providence to me, that should order or appoint that ten or twelve
grains of corn should remain unspoiled, when the rats had destroyed all the
rest, as if it had been dropped from heaven; as also, that I should throw it
out in that particular place, where, it being in the shade of a high rock, =
it
sprang up immediately; whereas, if I had thrown it anywhere else at that ti=
me,
it had been burnt up and destroyed.
I carefully saved the ears of this corn, you may be sure, in their season,
which was about the end of June; and, laying up every corn, I resolved to s=
ow
them all again, hoping in time to have some quantity sufficient to supply me
with bread. But it was not till the fourth year that I could allow myself t=
he
least grain of this corn to eat, and even then but sparingly, as I shall say
afterwards, in its order; for I lost all that I sowed the first season by n=
ot
observing the proper time; for I sowed it just before the dry season, so th=
at
it never came up at all, at least not as it would have done; of which in its
place.
Besides this barley, there were, as above, twenty or thirty stalks of rice,
which I preserved with the same care and for the same use, or to the same
purpose - to make me bread, or rather food; for I found ways to cook it wit=
hout
baking, though I did that also after some time.
But to return to my Journal.
I worked excessive hard these three or four months to get my wall done; and=
the
14th of April I closed it up, contriving to go into it, not by a door but o=
ver
the wall, by a ladder, that there might be no sign on the outside of my
habitation.
April 16. - I finished the ladder; so I went up the ladder to the top, and =
then
pulled it up after me, and let it down in the inside. This was a complete
enclosure to me; for within I had room enough, and nothing could come at me
from without, unless it could first mount my wall.
The very next day after this wall was finished I had almost had all my labo=
ur
overthrown at once, and myself killed. The case was thus: As I was busy in =
the
inside, behind my tent, just at the entrance into my cave, I was terribly
frighted with a most dreadful, surprising thing indeed; for all on a sudden=
I
found the earth come crumbling down from the roof of my cave, and from the =
edge
of the hill over my head, and two of the posts I had set up in the cave cra=
cked
in a frightful manner. I was heartily scared; but thought nothing of what w=
as
really the cause, only thinking that the top of my cave was fallen in, as s=
ome
of it had done before: and for fear I should be buried in it I ran forward =
to
my ladder, and not thinking myself safe there neither, I got over my wall f=
or
fear of the pieces of the hill, which I expected might roll down upon me. I=
had
no sooner stepped do ground, than I plainly saw it was a terrible earthquak=
e,
for the ground I stood on shook three times at about eight minutes' distanc=
e,
with three such shocks as would have overturned the strongest building that
could be supposed to have stood on the earth; and a great piece of the top =
of a
rock which stood about half a mile from me next the sea fell down with such=
a
terrible noise as I never heard in all my life. I perceived also the very s=
ea
was put into violent motion by it; and I believe the shocks were stronger u=
nder
the water than on the island.
I was so much amazed with the thing itself, having never felt the like, nor
discoursed with any one that had, that I was like one dead or stupefied; and
the motion of the earth made my stomach sick, like one that was tossed at s=
ea;
but the noise of the falling of the rock awakened me, as it were, and rousi=
ng
me from the stupefied condition I was in, filled me with horror; and I thou=
ght
of nothing then but the hill falling upon my tent and all my household good=
s,
and burying all at once; and this sunk my very soul within me a second time=
.
After the third shock was over, and I felt no more for some time, I began to
take courage; and yet I had not heart enough to go over my wall again, for =
fear
of being buried alive, but sat still upon the ground greatly cast down and
disconsolate, not knowing what to do. All this while I had not the least
serious religious thought; nothing but the common "Lord have mercy upon
me!" and when it was over that went away too.
While I sat thus, I found the air overcast and grow cloudy, as if it would
rain. Soon after that the wind arose by little and little, so that in less =
than
half-an-hour it blew a most dreadful hurricane; the sea was all on a sudden
covered over with foam and froth; the shore was covered with the breach of =
the
water, the trees were torn up by the roots, and a terrible storm it was. Th=
is
held about three hours, and then began to abate; and in two hours more it w=
as
quite calm, and began to rain very hard. All this while I sat upon the grou=
nd
very much terrified and dejected; when on a sudden it came into my thoughts,
that these winds and rain being the consequences of the earthquake, the
earthquake itself was spent and over, and I might venture into my cave agai=
n.
With this thought my spirits began to revive; and the rain also helping to
persuade me, I went in and sat down in my tent. But the rain was so violent
that my tent was ready to be beaten down with it; and I was forced to go in=
to
my cave, though very much afraid and uneasy, for fear it should fall on my
head. This violent rain forced me to a new work - viz. to cut a hole throug=
h my
new fortification, like a sink, to let the water go out, which would else h=
ave
flooded my cave. After I had been in my cave for some time, and found still=
no
more shocks of the earthquake follow, I began to be more composed. And now,=
to
support my spirits, which indeed wanted it very much, I went to my little
store, and took a small sup of rum; which, however, I did then and always v=
ery
sparingly, knowing I could have no more when that was gone. It continued
raining all that night and great part of the next day, so that I could not =
stir
abroad; but my mind being more composed, I began to think of what I had best
do; concluding that if the island was subject to these earthquakes, there w=
ould
be no living for me in a cave, but I must consider of building a little hut=
in
an open place which I might surround with a wall, as I had done here, and so
make myself secure from wild beasts or men; for I concluded, if I stayed wh=
ere
I was, I should certainly one time or other be buried alive.
With these thoughts, I resolved to remove my tent from the place where it
stood, which was just under the hanging precipice of the hill; and which, i=
f it
should be shaken again, would certainly fall upon my tent; and I spent the =
two
next days, being the 19th and 20th of April, in contriving where and how to
remove my habitation. The fear of being swallowed up alive made me that I n=
ever
slept in quiet; and yet the apprehension of lying abroad without any fence =
was
almost equal to it; but still, when I looked about, and saw how everything =
was
put in order, how pleasantly concealed I was, and how safe from danger, it =
made
me very loath to remove. In the meantime, it occurred to me that it would
require a vast deal of time for me to do this, and that I must be contented=
to
venture where I was, till I had formed a camp for myself, and had secured i=
t so
as to remove to it. So with this resolution I composed myself for a time, a=
nd
resolved that I would go to work with all speed to build me a wall with pil=
es
and cables, &c., in a circle, as before, and set my tent up in it when =
it was
finished; but that I would venture to stay where I was till it was finished,
and fit to remove. This was the 21st.
April 22. - The next morning I begin to consider of means to put this resol=
ve
into execution; but I was at a great loss about my tools. I had three large
axes, and abundance of hatchets (for we carried the hatchets for traffic wi=
th
the Indians); but with much chopping and cutting knotty hard wood, they were
all full of notches, and dull; and though I had a grindstone, I could not t=
urn
it and grind my tools too. This cost me as much thought as a statesman would
have bestowed upon a grand point of politics, or a judge upon the life and
death of a man. At length I contrived a wheel with a string, to turn it wit=
h my
foot, that I might have both my hands at liberty. NOTE. - I had never seen =
any
such thing in England, or at least, not to take notice how it was done, tho=
ugh
since I have observed, it is very common there; besides that, my grindstone=
was
very large and heavy. This machine cost me a full week's work to bring it to
perfection.
April 28, 29. - These two whole days I took up in grinding my tools, my mac=
hine
for turning my grindstone performing very well.
April 30. - Having perceived my bread had been low a great while, now I too=
k a
survey of it, and reduced myself to one biscuit cake a day, which made my h=
eart
very heavy.
May 1. - In the morning, looking towards the sea side, the tide being low, I
saw something lie on the shore bigger than ordinary, and it looked like a c=
ask;
when I came to it, I found a small barrel, and two or three pieces of the w=
reck
of the ship, which were driven on shore by the late hurricane; and looking
towards the wreck itself, I thought it seemed to lie higher out of the water
than it used to do. I examined the barrel which was driven on shore, and so=
on
found it was a barrel of gunpowder; but it had taken water, and the powder =
was
caked as hard as a stone; however, I rolled it farther on shore for the
present, and went on upon the sands, as near as I could to the wreck of the
ship, to look for more.
Chapter 6: Ill And Conscience-Stricken
When I came down to the ship I found it strangely removed. The forecastle,
which lay before buried in sand, was heaved up at least six feet, and the
stern, which was broke in pieces and parted from the rest by the force of t=
he
sea, soon after I had left rummaging her, was tossed as it were up, and cas=
t on
one side; and the sand was thrown so high on that side next her stern, that
whereas there was a great place of water before, so that I could not come
within a quarter of a mile of the wreck without swimming I could now walk q=
uite
up to her when the tide was out. I was surprised with this at first, but so=
on
concluded it must be done by the earthquake; and as by this violence the sh=
ip
was more broke open than formerly, so many things came daily on shore, which
the sea had loosened, and which the winds and water rolled by degrees to the
land.
This wholly diverted my thoughts from the design of removing my habitation,=
and
I busied myself mightily, that day especially, in searching whether I could
make any way into the ship; but I found nothing was to be expected of that
kind, for all the inside of the ship was choked up with sand. However, as I=
had
learned not to despair of anything, I resolved to pull everything to pieces
that I could of the ship, concluding that everything I could get from her w=
ould
be of some use or other to me.
May 3. - I began with my saw, and cut a piece of a beam through, which I
thought held some of the upper part or quarter-deck together, and when I had
cut it through, I cleared away the sand as well as I could from the side wh=
ich
lay highest; but the tide coming in, I was obliged to give over for that ti=
me.
May 4. - I went a-fishing, but caught not one fish that I durst eat of, til=
l I
was weary of my sport; when, just going to leave off, I caught a young dolp=
hin.
I had made me a long line of some rope- yarn, but I had no hooks; yet I
frequently caught fish enough, as much as I cared to eat; all which I dried=
in
the sun, and ate them dry.
May 5. - Worked on the wreck; cut another beam asunder, and brought three g=
reat
fir planks off from the decks, which I tied together, and made to float on
shore when the tide of flood came on.
May 6. - Worked on the wreck; got several iron bolts out of her and other
pieces of ironwork. Worked very hard, and came home very much tired, and had
thoughts of giving it over.
May 7. - Went to the wreck again, not with an intent to work, but found the
weight of the wreck had broke itself down, the beams being cut; that several
pieces of the ship seemed to lie loose, and the inside of the hold lay so o=
pen
that I could see into it; but it was almost full of water and sand.
May 8. - Went to the wreck, and carried an iron crow to wrench up the deck,
which lay now quite clear of the water or sand. I wrenched open two planks,=
and
brought them on shore also with the tide. I left the iron crow in the wreck=
for
next day.
May 9. - Went to the wreck, and with the crow made way into the body of the
wreck, and felt several casks, and loosened them with the crow, but could n=
ot
break them up. I felt also a roll of English lead, and could stir it, but it
was too heavy to remove.
May 10-14. - Went every day to the wreck; and got a great many pieces of
timber, and boards, or plank, and two or three hundredweight of iron.
May 15. - I carried two hatchets, to try if I could not cut a piece off the
roll of lead by placing the edge of one hatchet and driving it with the oth=
er;
but as it lay about a foot and a half in the water, I could not make any bl=
ow
to drive the hatchet.
May 16. - It had blown hard in the night, and the wreck appeared more broke=
n by
the force of the water; but I stayed so long in the woods, to get pigeons f=
or
food, that the tide prevented my going to the wreck that day.
May 17. - I saw some pieces of the wreck blown on shore, at a great distanc=
e,
near two miles off me, but resolved to see what they were, and found it was=
a
piece of the head, but too heavy for me to bring away.
May 24. - Every day, to this day, I worked on the wreck; and with hard labo=
ur I
loosened some things so much with the crow, that the first flowing tide sev=
eral
casks floated out, and two of the seamen's chests; but the wind blowing from
the shore, nothing came to land that day but pieces of timber, and a hogshe=
ad,
which had some Brazil pork in it; but the salt water and the sand had spoil=
ed
it. I continued this work every day to the 15th of June, except the time
necessary to get food, which I always appointed, during this part of my
employment, to be when the tide was up, that I might be ready when it was e=
bbed
out; and by this time I had got timber and plank and ironwork enough to have
built a good boat, if I had known how; and also I got, at several times and=
in
several pieces, near one hundredweight of the sheet lead.
June 16. - Going down to the seaside, I found a large tortoise or turtle. T=
his
was the first I had seen, which, it seems, was only my misfortune, not any
defect of the place, or scarcity; for had I happened to be on the other sid=
e of
the island, I might have had hundreds of them every day, as I found afterwa=
rds;
but perhaps had paid dear enough for them.
June 17. - I spent in cooking the turtle. I found in her three- score eggs;=
and
her flesh was to me, at that time, the most savoury and pleasant that ever I
tasted in my life, having had no flesh, but of goats and fowls, since I lan=
ded
in this horrid place.
June 18. - Rained all day, and I stayed within. I thought at this time the =
rain
felt cold, and I was something chilly; which I knew was not usual in that
latitude.
June 19. - Very ill, and shivering, as if the weather had been cold.
June 20. - No rest all night; violent pains in my head, and feverish.
June 21. - Very ill; frighted almost to death with the apprehensions of my =
sad
condition - to be sick, and no help. Prayed to God, for the first time since
the storm off Hull, but scarce knew what I said, or why, my thoughts being =
all
confused.
June 22. - A little better; but under dreadful apprehensions of sickness.
June 22. - Very bad again; cold and shivering, and then a violent headache.=
June 24. - Much better.
June 25. - An ague very violent; the fit held me seven hours; cold fit and =
hot,
with faint sweats after it.
June 26. - Better; and having no victuals to eat, took my gun, but found my=
self
very weak. However, I killed a she-goat, and with much difficulty got it ho=
me,
and broiled some of it, and ate, I would fain have stewed it, and made some
broth, but had no pot.
June 27. - The ague again so violent that I lay a-bed all day, and neither =
ate
nor drank. I was ready to perish for thirst; but so weak, I had not strengt=
h to
stand up, or to get myself any water to drink. Prayed to God again, but was
light-headed; and when I was not, I was so ignorant that I knew not what to
say; only I lay and cried, "Lord, look upon me! Lord, pity me! Lord, h=
ave
mercy upon me!" I suppose I did nothing else for two or three hours; t=
ill,
the fit wearing off, I fell asleep, and did not wake till far in the night.
When I awoke, I found myself much refreshed, but weak, and exceeding thirst=
y.
However, as I had no water in my habitation, I was forced to lie till morni=
ng,
and went to sleep again. In this second sleep I had this terrible dream: I
thought that I was sitting on the ground, on the outside of my wall, where I
sat when the storm blew after the earthquake, and that I saw a man descend =
from
a great black cloud, in a bright flame of fire, and light upon the ground. =
He
was all over as bright as a flame, so that I could but just bear to look
towards him; his countenance was most inexpressibly dreadful, impossible for
words to describe. When he stepped upon the ground with his feet, I thought=
the
earth trembled, just as it had done before in the earthquake, and all the a=
ir
looked, to my apprehension, as if it had been filled with flashes of fire. =
He
was no sooner landed upon the earth, but he moved forward towards me, with a
long spear or weapon in his hand, to kill me; and when he came to a rising
ground, at some distance, he spoke to me - or I heard a voice so terrible t=
hat
it is impossible to express the terror of it. All that I can say I understo=
od
was this: "Seeing all these things have not brought thee to repentance,
now thou shalt die;" at which words, I thought he lifted up the spear =
that
was in his hand to kill me.
No one that shall ever read this account will expect that I should be able =
to
describe the horrors of my soul at this terrible vision. I mean, that even
while it was a dream, I even dreamed of those horrors. Nor is it any more
possible to describe the impression that remained upon my mind when I awake=
d,
and found it was but a dream.
I had, alas! no divine knowledge. What I had received by the good instructi=
on
of my father was then worn out by an uninterrupted series, for eight years,=
of
seafaring wickedness, and a constant conversation with none but such as wer=
e,
like myself, wicked and profane to the last degree. I do not remember that I
had, in all that time, one thought that so much as tended either to looking
upwards towards God, or inwards towards a reflection upon my own ways; but a
certain stupidity of soul, without desire of good, or conscience of evil, h=
ad
entirely overwhelmed me; and I was all that the most hardened, unthinking, =
wicked
creature among our common sailors can be supposed to be; not having the lea=
st
sense, either of the fear of God in danger, or of thankfulness to God in
deliverance.
In the relating what is already past of my story, this will be the more eas=
ily
believed when I shall add, that through all the variety of miseries that ha=
d to
this day befallen me, I never had so much as one thought of it being the ha=
nd
of God, or that it was a just punishment for my sin - my rebellious behavio=
ur
against my father - or my present sins, which were great - or so much as a
punishment for the general course of my wicked life. When I was on the
desperate expedition on the desert shores of Africa, I never had so much as=
one
thought of what would become of me, or one wish to God to direct me whither=
I
should go, or to keep me from the danger which apparently surrounded me, as
well from voracious creatures as cruel savages. But I was merely thoughtles=
s of
a God or a Providence, acted like a mere brute, from the principles of natu=
re, and
by the dictates of common sense only, and, indeed, hardly that. When I was
delivered and taken up at sea by the Portugal captain, well used, and dealt
justly and honourably with, as well as charitably, I had not the least
thankfulness in my thoughts. When, again, I was shipwrecked, ruined, and in
danger of drowning on this island, I was as far from remorse, or looking on=
it
as a judgment. I only said to myself often, that I was an unfortunate dog, =
and
born to be always miserable.
It is true, when I got on shore first here, and found all my ship's crew
drowned and myself spared, I was surprised with a kind of ecstasy, and some
transports of soul, which, had the grace of God assisted, might have come u=
p to
true thankfulness; but it ended where it began, in a mere common flight of =
joy,
or, as I may say, being glad I was alive, without the least reflection upon=
the
distinguished goodness of the hand which had preserved me, and had singled =
me
out to be preserved when all the rest were destroyed, or an inquiry why
Providence had been thus merciful unto me. Even just the same common sort of
joy which seamen generally have, after they are got safe ashore from a
shipwreck, which they drown all in the next bowl of punch, and forget almos=
t as
soon as it is over; and all the rest of my life was like it. Even when I was
afterwards, on due consideration, made sensible of my condition, how I was =
cast
on this dreadful place, out of the reach of human kind, out of all hope of
relief, or prospect of redemption, as soon as I saw but a prospect of living
and that I should not starve and perish for hunger, all the sense of my
affliction wore off; and I began to be very easy, applied myself to the wor=
ks
proper for my preservation and supply, and was far enough from being afflic=
ted
at my condition, as a judgment from heaven, or as the hand of God against m=
e:
these were thoughts which very seldom entered my head.
The growing up of the corn, as is hinted in my Journal, had at first some
little influence upon me, and began to affect me with seriousness, as long =
as I
thought it had something miraculous in it; but as soon as ever that part of=
the
thought was removed, all the impression that was raised from it wore off al=
so,
as I have noted already. Even the earthquake, though nothing could be more
terrible in its nature, or more immediately directing to the invisible Power
which alone directs such things, yet no sooner was the first fright over, b=
ut
the impression it had made went off also. I had no more sense of God or His
judgments - much less of the present affliction of my circumstances being f=
rom
His hand - than if I had been in the most prosperous condition of life. But
now, when I began to be sick, and a leisurely view of the miseries of death
came to place itself before me; when my spirits began to sink under the bur=
den
of a strong distemper, and nature was exhausted with the violence of the fe=
ver;
conscience, that had slept so long, began to awake, and I began to reproach
myself with my past life, in which I had so evidently, by uncommon wickedne=
ss,
provoked the justice of God to lay me under uncommon strokes, and to deal w=
ith
me in so vindictive a manner. These reflections oppressed me for the second=
or
third day of my distemper; and in the violence, as well of the fever as of =
the
dreadful reproaches of my conscience, extorted some words from me like pray=
ing
to God, though I cannot say they were either a prayer attended with desires=
or
with hopes: it was rather the voice of mere fright and distress. My thoughts
were confused, the convictions great upon my mind, and the horror of dying =
in
such a miserable condition raised vapours into my head with the mere
apprehensions; and in these hurries of my soul I knew not what my tongue mi=
ght
express. But it was rather exclamation, such as, "Lord, what a miserab=
le
creature am I! If I should be sick, I shall certainly die for want of help;=
and
what will become of me!" Then the tears burst out of my eyes, and I co=
uld
say no more for a good while. In this interval the good advice of my father=
came
to my mind, and presently his prediction, which I mentioned at the beginnin=
g of
this story - viz. that if I did take this foolish step, God would not bless=
me,
and I would have leisure hereafter to reflect upon having neglected his cou=
nsel
when there might be none to assist in my recovery. "Now," said I,
aloud, "my dear father's words are come to pass; God's justice has
overtaken me, and I have none to help or hear me. I rejected the voice of
Providence, which had mercifully put me in a posture or station of life whe=
rein
I might have been happy and easy; but I would neither see it myself nor lea=
rn
to know the blessing of it from my parents. I left them to mourn over my fo=
lly,
and now I am left to mourn under the consequences of it. I abused their hel=
p and
assistance, who would have lifted me in the world, and would have made
everything easy to me; and now I have difficulties to struggle with, too gr=
eat
for even nature itself to support, and no assistance, no help, no comfort, =
no
advice." Then I cried out, "Lord, be my help, for I am in great
distress." This was the first prayer, if I may call it so, that I had =
made
for many years.
But to return to my Journal.
June 28. - Having been somewhat refreshed with the sleep I had had, and the=
fit
being entirely off, I got up; and though the fright and terror of my dream =
was
very great, yet I considered that the fit of the ague would return again the
next day, and now was my time to get something to refresh and support myself
when I should be ill; and the first thing I did, I filled a large square
case-bottle with water, and set it upon my table, in reach of my bed; and to
take off the chill or aguish disposition of the water, I put about a quarte=
r of
a pint of rum into it, and mixed them together. Then I got me a piece of the
goat's flesh and broiled it on the coals, but could eat very little. I walk=
ed
about, but was very weak, and withal very sad and heavy-hearted under a sen=
se
of my miserable condition, dreading, the return of my distemper the next da=
y.
At night I made my supper of three of the turtle's eggs, which I roasted in=
the
ashes, and ate, as we call it, in the shell, and this was the first bit of =
meat
I had ever asked God's blessing to, that I could remember, in my whole life.
After I had eaten I tried to walk, but found myself so weak that I could ha=
rdly
carry a gun, for I never went out without that; so I went but a little way,=
and
sat down upon the ground, looking out upon the sea, which was just before m=
e,
and very calm and smooth. As I sat here some such thoughts as these occurre=
d to
me: What is this earth and sea, of which I have seen so much? Whence is it
produced? And what am I, and all the other creatures wild and tame, human a=
nd
brutal? Whence are we? Sure we are all made by some secret Power, who formed
the earth and sea, the air and sky. And who is that? Then it followed most
naturally, it is God that has made all. Well, but then it came on strangely=
, if
God has made all these things, He guides and governs them all, and all thin=
gs
that concern them; for the Power that could make all things must certainly =
have
power to guide and direct them. If so, nothing can happen in the great circ=
uit
of His works, either without His knowledge or appointment.
And if nothing happens without His knowledge, He knows that I am here, and =
am
in this dreadful condition; and if nothing happens without His appointment,=
He
has appointed all this to befall me. Nothing occurred to my thought to
contradict any of these conclusions, and therefore it rested upon me with t=
he
greater force, that it must needs be that God had appointed all this to bef=
all
me; that I was brought into this miserable circumstance by His direction, He
having the sole power, not of me only, but of everything that happened in t=
he
world. Immediately it followed: Why has God done this to me? What have I do=
ne
to be thus used? My conscience presently checked me in that inquiry, as if I
had blasphemed, and me thought it spoke to me like a voice: "Wretch! d=
ost
thou ask what thou hast done? Look back upon a dreadful misspent life, and =
ask
thyself what thou hast not done? Ask, why is it that thou wert not long ago
destroyed? Why wert thou not drowned in Yarmouth Roads; killed in the fight
when the ship was taken by the Sallee man-of-war; devoured by the wild beas=
ts on
the coast of Africa; or drowned here, when all the crew perished but thysel=
f?
Dost thou ask, what have I done?" I was struck dumb with these
reflections, as one astonished, and had not a word to say - no, not to answ=
er
to myself, but rose up pensive and sad, walked back to my retreat, and went=
up
over my wall, as if I had been going to bed; but my thoughts were sadly
disturbed, and I had no inclination to sleep; so I sat down in my chair, and
lighted my lamp, for it began to be dark. Now, as the apprehension of the
return of my distemper terrified me very much, it occurred to my thought th=
at
the Brazilians take no physic but their tobacco for almost all distempers, =
and
I had a piece of a roll of tobacco in one of the chests, which was quite cu=
red,
and some also that was green, and not quite cured.
I went, directed by Heaven no doubt; for in this chest I found a cure both =
for
soul and body. I opened the chest, and found what I looked for, the tobacco;
and as the few books I had saved lay there too, I took out one of the Bibles
which I mentioned before, and which to this time I had not found leisure or
inclination to look into. I say, I took it out, and brought both that and t=
he
tobacco with me to the table. What use to make of the tobacco I knew not, i=
n my
distemper, or whether it was good for it or no: but I tried several experim=
ents
with it, as if I was resolved it should hit one way or other. I first took a
piece of leaf, and chewed it in my mouth, which, indeed, at first almost
stupefied my brain, the tobacco being green and strong, and that I had not =
been
much used to. Then I took some and steeped it an hour or two in some rum, a=
nd
resolved to take a dose of it when I lay down; and lastly., I burnt some up=
on a
pan of coals, and held my nose close over the smoke of it as long as I could
bear it, as well for the heat as almost for suffocation. In the interval of
this operation I took up the Bible and began to read; but my head was too m=
uch
disturbed with the tobacco to bear reading, at least at that time; only, ha=
ving
opened the book casually, the first words that occurred to me were these,
"Call on Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou s=
halt
glorify Me." These words were very apt to my case, and made some
impression upon my thoughts at the time of reading them, though not so much=
as
they did afterwards; for, as for being delivered, the word had no sound, as=
I
may say, to me; the thing was so remote, so impossible in my apprehension of
things, that I began to say, as the children of Israel did when they were
promised flesh to eat, "Can God spread a table in the wilderness?"=
; so
I began to say, "Can God Himself deliver me from this place?" And=
as
it was not for many years that any hopes appeared, this prevailed very often
upon my thoughts; but, however, the words made a great impression upon me, =
and
I mused upon them very often. It grew now late, and the tobacco had, as I s=
aid,
dozed my head so much that I inclined to sleep; so I left my lamp burning in
the cave, lest I should want anything in the night, and went to bed. But be=
fore
I lay down, I did what I never had done in all my life - I kneeled down, and
prayed to God to fulfil the promise to me, that if I called upon Him in the=
day
of trouble, He would deliver me. After my broken and imperfect prayer was o=
ver,
I drank the rum in which I had steeped the tobacco, which was so strong and
rank of the tobacco that I could scarcely get it down; immediately upon thi=
s I
went to bed. I found presently it flew up into my head violently; but I fel=
l into
a sound sleep, and waked no more till, by the sun, it must necessarily be n=
ear
three o'clock in the afternoon the next day - nay, to this hour I am partly=
of
opinion that I slept all the next day and night, and till almost three the =
day
after; for otherwise I know not how I should lose a day out of my reckoning=
in
the days of the week, as it appeared some years after I had done; for if I =
had
lost it by crossing and recrossing the line, I should have lost more than o=
ne
day; but certainly I lost a day in my account, and never knew which way. Be
that, however, one way or the other, when I awaked I found myself exceeding=
ly
refreshed, and my spirits lively and cheerful; when I got up I was stronger
than I was the day before, and my stomach better, for I was hungry; and, in
short, I had no fit the next day, but continued much altered for the better.
This was the 29th.
The 30th was my well day, of course, and I went abroad with my gun, but did=
not
care to travel too far. I killed a sea-fowl or two, something like a
brandgoose, and brought them home, but was not very forward to eat them; so=
I
ate some more of the turtle's eggs, which were very good. This evening I
renewed the medicine, which I had supposed did me good the day before - the
tobacco steeped in rum; only I did not take so much as before, nor did I ch=
ew
any of the leaf, or hold my head over the smoke; however, I was not so well=
the
next day, which was the first of July, as I hoped I should have been; for I=
had
a little spice of the cold fit, but it was not much.
July 2. - I renewed the medicine all the three ways; and dosed myself with =
it
as at first, and doubled the quantity which I drank.
July 3. - I missed the fit for good and all, though I did not recover my fu=
ll
strength for some weeks after. While I was thus gathering strength, my thou=
ghts
ran exceedingly upon this Scripture, "I will deliver thee"; and t=
he
impossibility of my deliverance lay much upon my mind, in bar of my ever
expecting it; but as I was discouraging myself with such thoughts, it occur=
red
to my mind that I pored so much upon my deliverance from the main afflictio=
n,
that I disregarded the deliverance I had received, and I was as it were mad=
e to
ask myself such questions as these - viz. Have I not been delivered, and
wonderfully too, from sickness - from the most distressed condition that co=
uld
be, and that was so frightful to me? and what notice had I taken of it? Had=
I
done my part? God had delivered me, but I had not glorified Him - that is to
say, I had not owned and been thankful for that as a deliverance; and how c=
ould
I expect greater deliverance? This touched my heart very much; and immediat=
ely
I knelt down and gave God thanks aloud for my recovery from my sickness.
July 4. - In the morning I took the Bible; and beginning at the New Testame=
nt,
I began seriously to read it, and imposed upon myself to read a while every
morning and every night; not tying myself to the number of chapters, but lo=
ng
as my thoughts should engage me. It was not long after I set seriously to t=
his
work till I found my heart more deeply and sincerely affected with the
wickedness of my past life. The impression of my dream revived; and the wor=
ds,
"All these things have not brought thee to repentance," ran serio=
usly
through my thoughts. I was earnestly begging of God to give me repentance, =
when
it happened providentially, the very day, that, reading the Scripture, I ca=
me
to these words: "He is exalted a Prince and a Saviour, to give repenta=
nce
and to give remission." I threw down the book; and with my heart as we=
ll
as my hands lifted up to heaven, in a kind of ecstasy of joy, I cried out
aloud, "Jesus, thou son of David! Jesus, thou exalted Prince and Savio=
ur!
give me repentance!" This was the first time I could say, in the true
sense of the words, that I prayed in all my life; for now I prayed with a s=
ense
of my condition, and a true Scripture view of hope, founded on the
encouragement of the Word of God; and from this time, I may say, I began to
hope that God would hear me.
Now I began to construe the words mentioned above, "Call on Me, and I =
will
deliver thee," in a different sense from what I had ever done before; =
for
then I had no notion of anything being called deliverance, but my being
delivered from the captivity I was in; for though I was indeed at large in =
the
place, yet the island was certainly a prison to me, and that in the worse s=
ense
in the world. But now I learned to take it in another sense: now I looked b=
ack
upon my past life with such horror, and my sins appeared so dreadful, that =
my
soul sought nothing of God but deliverance from the load of guilt that bore
down all my comfort. As for my solitary life, it was nothing. I did not so =
much
as pray to be delivered from it or think of it; it was all of no considerat=
ion
in comparison to this. And I add this part here, to hint to whoever shall r=
ead
it, that whenever they come to a true sense of things, they will find
deliverance from sin a much greater blessing than deliverance from afflicti=
on.
But, leaving this part, I return to my Journal.
My condition began now to be, though not less miserable as to my way of liv=
ing,
yet much easier to my mind: and my thoughts being directed, by a constant
reading the Scripture and praying to God, to things of a higher nature, I h=
ad a
great deal of comfort within, which till now I knew nothing of; also, my he=
alth
and strength returned, I bestirred myself to furnish myself with everything
that I wanted, and make my way of living as regular as I could.
From the 4th of July to the 14th I was chiefly employed in walking about wi=
th
my gun in my hand, a little and a little at a time, as a man that was gathe=
ring
up his strength after a fit of sickness; for it is hardly to be imagined how
low I was, and to what weakness I was reduced. The application which I made=
use
of was perfectly new, and perhaps which had never cured an ague before; nei=
ther
can I recommend it to any to practise, by this experiment: and though it did
carry off the fit, yet it rather contributed to weakening me; for I had
frequent convulsions in my nerves and limbs for some time. I learned from it
also this, in particular, that being abroad in the rainy season was the most
pernicious thing to my health that could be, especially in those rains which
came attended with storms and hurricanes of wind; for as the rain which cam=
e in
the dry season was almost always accompanied with such storms, so I found t=
hat
rain was much more dangerous than the rain which fell in September and Octo=
ber.
Chapter 7: Agricultural Experience
I had now been in this unhappy island above ten months. All possibility of
deliverance from this condition seemed to be entirely taken from me; and I
firmly believe that no human shape had ever set foot upon that place. Having
now secured my habitation, as I thought, fully to my mind, I had a great de=
sire
to make a more perfect discovery of the island, and to see what other
productions I might find, which I yet knew nothing of.
It was on the 15th of July that I began to take a more particular survey of=
the
island itself. I went up the creek first, where, as I hinted, I brought my
rafts on shore. I found after I came about two miles up, that the tide did =
not
flow any higher, and that it was no more than a little brook of running wat=
er,
very fresh and good; but this being the dry season, there was hardly any wa=
ter
in some parts of it - at least not enough to run in any stream, so as it co=
uld
be perceived. On the banks of this brook I found many pleasant savannahs or
meadows, plain, smooth, and covered with grass; and on the rising parts of =
them,
next to the higher grounds, where the water, as might be supposed, never
overflowed, I found a great deal of tobacco, green, and growing to a great =
and
very strong stalk. There were divers other plants, which I had no notion of=
or
understanding about, that might, perhaps, have virtues of their own, which I
could not find out. I searched for the cassava root, which the Indians, in =
all
that climate, make their bread of, but I could find none. I saw large plant=
s of
aloes, but did not understand them. I saw several sugar-canes, but wild, an=
d,
for want of cultivation, imperfect. I contented myself with these discoveri=
es
for this time, and came back, musing with myself what course I might take to
know the virtue and goodness of any of the fruits or plants which I should
discover, but could bring it to no conclusion; for, in short, I had made so
little observation while I was in the Brazils, that I knew little of the pl=
ants
in the field; at least, very little that might serve to any purpose now in =
my
distress.
The next day, the sixteenth, I went up the same way again; and after going
something further than I had gone the day before, I found the brook and the
savannahs cease, and the country become more woody than before. In this par=
t I
found different fruits, and particularly I found melons upon the ground, in
great abundance, and grapes upon the trees. The vines had spread, indeed, o=
ver
the trees, and the clusters of grapes were just now in their prime, very ri=
pe
and rich. This was a surprising discovery, and I was exceeding glad of them;
but I was warned by my experience to eat sparingly of them; remembering that
when I was ashore in Barbary, the eating of grapes killed several of our
Englishmen, who were slaves there, by throwing them into fluxes and fevers.=
But
I found an excellent use for these grapes; and that was, to cure or dry the=
m in
the sun, and keep them as dried grapes or raisins are kept, which I thought
would be, as indeed they were, wholesome and agreeable to eat when no grapes
could be had.
I spent all that evening there, and went not back to my habitation; which, =
by
the way, was the first night, as I might say, I had lain from home. In the
night, I took my first contrivance, and got up in a tree, where I slept wel=
l;
and the next morning proceeded upon my discovery; travelling nearly four mi=
les,
as I might judge by the length of the valley, keeping still due north, with=
a
ridge of hills on the south and north side of me. At the end of this march I
came to an opening where the country seemed to descend to the west; and a
little spring of fresh water, which issued out of the side of the hill by m=
e,
ran the other way, that is, due east; and the country appeared so fresh, so
green, so flourishing, everything being in a constant verdure or flourish of
spring that it looked like a planted garden. I descended a little on the si=
de
of that delicious vale, surveying it with a secret kind of pleasure, though
mixed with my other afflicting thoughts, to think that this was all my own;
that I was king and lord of all this country indefensibly, and had a right =
of
possession; and if I could convey it, I might have it in inheritance as
completely as any lord of a manor in England. I saw here abundance of cocoa
trees, orange, and lemon, and citron trees; but all wild, and very few bear=
ing
any fruit, at least not then. However, the green limes that I gathered were=
not
only pleasant to eat, but very wholesome; and I mixed their juice afterwards
with water, which made it very wholesome, and very cool and refreshing. I f=
ound
now I had business enough to gather and carry home; and I resolved to lay u=
p a
store as well of grapes as limes and lemons, to furnish myself for the wet
season, which I knew was approaching. In order to do this, I gathered a gre=
at
heap of grapes in one place, a lesser heap in another place, and a great pa=
rcel
of limes and lemons in another place; and taking a few of each with me, I
travelled homewards; resolving to come again, and bring a bag or sack, or w=
hat
I could make, to carry the rest home. Accordingly, having spent three days =
in
this journey, I came home (so I must now call my tent and my cave); but bef=
ore
I got thither the grapes were spoiled; the richness of the fruit and the we=
ight
of the juice having broken them and bruised them, they were good for little=
or
nothing; as to the limes, they were good, but I could bring but a few.
The next day, being the nineteenth, I went back, having made me two small b=
ags
to bring home my harvest; but I was surprised, when coming to my heap of
grapes, which were so rich and fine when I gathered them, to find them all
spread about, trod to pieces, and dragged about, some here, some there, and
abundance eaten and devoured. By this I concluded there were some wild
creatures thereabouts, which had done this; but what they were I knew not.
However, as I found there was no laying them up on heaps, and no carrying t=
hem
away in a sack, but that one way they would be destroyed, and the other way
they would be crushed with their own weight, I took another course; for I g=
athered
a large quantity of the grapes, and hung them trees, that they might cure a=
nd
dry in the sun; and as for the limes and lemons, I carried as many back as I
could well stand under.
When I came home from this journey, I contemplated with great pleasure the
fruitfulness of that valley, and the pleasantness of the situation; the
security from storms on that side of the water, and the wood: and concluded
that I had pitched upon a place to fix my abode which was by far the worst =
part
of the country. Upon the whole, I began to consider of removing my habitati=
on,
and looking out for a place equally safe as where now I was situate, if
possible, in that pleasant, fruitful part of the island.
This thought ran long in my head, and I was exceeding fond of it for some t=
ime,
the pleasantness of the place tempting me; but when I came to a nearer view=
of
it, I considered that I was now by the seaside, where it was at least possi=
ble
that something might happen to my advantage, and, by the same ill fate that
brought me hither might bring some other unhappy wretches to the same place;
and though it was scarce probable that any such thing should ever happen, y=
et
to enclose myself among the hills and woods in the centre of the island was=
to
anticipate my bondage, and to render such an affair not only improbable, but
impossible; and that therefore I ought not by any means to remove. However,=
I
was so enamoured of this place, that I spent much of my time there for the
whole of the remaining part of the month of July; and though upon second
thoughts, I resolved not to remove, yet I built me a little kind of a bower,
and surrounded it at a distance with a strong fence, being a double hedge, =
as
high as I could reach, well staked and filled between with brushwood; and h=
ere
I lay very secure, sometimes two or three nights together; always going ove=
r it
with a ladder; so that I fancied now I had my country house and my sea- coa=
st
house; and this work took me up to the beginning of August.
I had but newly finished my fence, and began to enjoy my labour, when the r=
ains
came on, and made me stick close to my first habitation; for though I had m=
ade
me a tent like the other, with a piece of a sail, and spread it very well, =
yet
I had not the shelter of a hill to keep me from storms, nor a cave behind m=
e to
retreat into when the rains were extraordinary.
About the beginning of August, as I said, I had finished my bower, and bega=
n to
enjoy myself. The 3rd of August, I found the grapes I had hung up perfectly
dried, and, indeed, were excellent good raisins of the sun; so I began to t=
ake
them down from the trees, and it was very happy that I did so, for the rains
which followed would have spoiled them, and I had lost the best part of my
winter food; for I had above two hundred large bunches of them. No sooner h=
ad I
taken them all down, and carried the most of them home to my cave, than it
began to rain; and from hence, which was the 14th of August, it rained, mor=
e or
less, every day till the middle of October; and sometimes so violently, tha=
t I
could not stir out of my cave for several days.
In this season I was much surprised with the increase of my family; I had b=
een
concerned for the loss of one of my cats, who ran away from me, or, as I
thought, had been dead, and I heard no more tidings of her till, to my
astonishment, she came home about the end of August with three kittens. This
was the more strange to me because, though I had killed a wild cat, as I ca=
lled
it, with my gun, yet I thought it was quite a different kind from our Europ=
ean
cats; but the young cats were the same kind of house-breed as the old one; =
and
both my cats being females, I thought it very strange. But from these three
cats I afterwards came to be so pestered with cats that I was forced to kill
them like vermin or wild beasts, and to drive them from my house as much as
possible.
From the 14th of August to the 26th, incessant rain, so that I could not st=
ir,
and was now very careful not to be much wet. In this confinement, I began t=
o be
straitened for food: but venturing out twice, I one day killed a goat; and =
the
last day, which was the 26th, found a very large tortoise, which was a trea=
t to
me, and my food was regulated thus: I ate a bunch of raisins for my breakfa=
st;
a piece of the goat's flesh, or of the turtle, for my dinner, broiled - for=
, to
my great misfortune, I had no vessel to boil or stew anything; and two or t=
hree
of the turtle's eggs for my supper.
During this confinement in my cover by the rain, I worked daily two or three
hours at enlarging my cave, and by degrees worked it on towards one side, t=
ill
I came to the outside of the hill, and made a door or way out, which came
beyond my fence or wall; and so I came in and out this way. But I was not
perfectly easy at lying so open; for, as I had managed myself before, I was=
in
a perfect enclosure; whereas now I thought I lay exposed, and open for anyt=
hing
to come in upon me; and yet I could not perceive that there was any living
thing to fear, the biggest creature that I had yet seen upon the island bei=
ng a
goat.
Sept. 30. - I was now come to the unhappy anniversary of my landing. I cast=
up
the notches on my post, and found I had been on shore three hundred and
sixty-five days. I kept this day as a solemn fast, setting it apart for
religious exercise, prostrating myself on the ground with the most serious
humiliation, confessing my sins to God, acknowledging His righteous judgmen=
ts
upon me, and praying to Him to have mercy on me through Jesus Christ; and n=
ot
having tasted the least refreshment for twelve hours, even till the going d=
own
of the sun, I then ate a biscuit-cake and a bunch of grapes, and went to be=
d,
finishing the day as I began it. I had all this time observed no Sabbath da=
y;
for as at first I had no sense of religion upon my mind, I had, after some
time, omitted to distinguish the weeks, by making a longer notch than ordin=
ary
for the Sabbath day, and so did not really know what any of the days were; =
but
now, having cast up the days as above, I found I had been there a year; so I
divided it into weeks, and set apart every seventh day for a Sabbath; thoug=
h I
found at the end of my account I had lost a day or two in my reckoning. A
little after this, my ink began to fail me, and so I contented myself to us=
e it
more sparingly, and to write down only the most remarkable events of my lif=
e,
without continuing a daily memorandum of other things.
The rainy season and the dry season began now to appear regular to me, and I
learned to divide them so as to provide for them accordingly; but I bought =
all
my experience before I had it, and this I am going to relate was one of the
most discouraging experiments that I made.
I have mentioned that I had saved the few ears of barley and rice, which I =
had
so surprisingly found spring up, as I thought, of themselves, and I believe=
there
were about thirty stalks of rice, and about twenty of barley; and now I tho=
ught
it a proper time to sow it, after the rains, the sun being in its southern
position, going from me. Accordingly, I dug up a piece of ground as well as=
I
could with my wooden spade, and dividing it into two parts, I sowed my grai=
n;
but as I was sowing, it casually occurred to my thoughts that I would not s=
ow
it all at first, because I did not know when was the proper time for it, so=
I
sowed about two-thirds of the seed, leaving about a handful of each. It was=
a
great comfort to me afterwards that I did so, for not one grain of what I s=
owed
this time came to anything: for the dry months following, the earth having =
had
no rain after the seed was sown, it had no moisture to assist its growth, a=
nd
never came up at all till the wet season had come again, and then it grew a=
s if
it had been but newly sown. Finding my first seed did not grow, which I eas=
ily
imagined was by the drought, I sought for a moister piece of ground to make=
another
trial in, and I dug up a piece of ground near my new bower, and sowed the r=
est
of my seed in February, a little before the vernal equinox; and this having=
the
rainy months of March and April to water it, sprung up very pleasantly, and
yielded a very good crop; but having part of the seed left only, and not da=
ring
to sow all that I had, I had but a small quantity at last, my whole crop not
amounting to above half a peck of each kind. But by this experiment I was m=
ade
master of my business, and knew exactly when the proper season was to sow, =
and
that I might expect two seed-times and two harvests every year.
While this corn was growing I made a little discovery, which was of use to =
me
afterwards. As soon as the rains were over, and the weather began to settle,
which was about the month of November, I made a visit up the country to my
bower, where, though I had not been some months, yet I found all things jus=
t as
I left them. The circle or double hedge that I had made was not only firm a=
nd
entire, but the stakes which I had cut out of some trees that grew thereabo=
uts
were all shot out and grown with long branches, as much as a willow-tree
usually shoots the first year after lopping its head. I could not tell what
tree to call it that these stakes were cut from. I was surprised, and yet v=
ery
well pleased, to see the young trees grow; and I pruned them, and led them =
up
to grow as much alike as I could; and it is scarce credible how beautiful a
figure they grew into in three years; so that though the hedge made a circl=
e of
about twenty-five yards in diameter, yet the trees, for such I might now ca=
ll
them, soon covered it, and it was a complete shade, sufficient to lodge und=
er
all the dry season. This made me resolve to cut some more stakes, and make =
me a
hedge like this, in a semi-circle round my wall (I mean that of my first
dwelling), which I did; and placing the trees or stakes in a double row, at
about eight yards distance from my first fence, they grew presently, and we=
re
at first a fine cover to my habitation, and afterwards served for a defence
also, as I shall observe in its order.
I found now that the seasons of the year might generally be divided, not in=
to
summer and winter, as in Europe, but into the rainy seasons and the dry
seasons, which were generally thus:- The half of February, the whole of Mar=
ch,
and the half of April - rainy, the sun being then on or near the equinox.
The half of April, the whole of May, June, and July, and the half of August=
-
dry, the sun being then to the north of the line.
The half of August, the whole of September, and the half of October - rainy,
the sun being then come back.
The half of October, the whole of November, December, and January, and the =
half
of February - dry, the sun being then to the south of the line.
The rainy seasons sometimes held longer or shorter as the winds happened to
blow, but this was the general observation I made. After I had found by
experience the ill consequences of being abroad in the rain, I took care to
furnish myself with provisions beforehand, that I might not be obliged to go
out, and I sat within doors as much as possible during the wet months. This
time I found much employment, and very suitable also to the time, for I fou=
nd
great occasion for many things which I had no way to furnish myself with bu=
t by
hard labour and constant application; particularly I tried many ways to make
myself a basket, but all the twigs I could get for the purpose proved so
brittle that they would do nothing. It proved of excellent advantage to me =
now,
that when I was a boy, I used to take great delight in standing at a
basket-maker's, in the town where my father lived, to see them make their
wicker-ware; and being, as boys usually are, very officious to help, and a
great observer of the manner in which they worked those things, and sometim=
es
lending a hand, I had by these means full knowledge of the methods of it, a=
nd I
wanted nothing but the materials, when it came into my mind that the twigs =
of
that tree from whence I cut my stakes that grew might possibly be as tough =
as
the sallows, willows, and osiers in England, and I resolved to try.
Accordingly, the next day I went to my country house, as I called it, and
cutting some of the smaller twigs, I found them to my purpose as much as I
could desire; whereupon I came the next time prepared with a hatchet to cut
down a quantity, which I soon found, for there was great plenty of them. Th=
ese
I set up to dry within my circle or hedge, and when they were fit for use I
carried them to my cave; and here, during the next season, I employed mysel=
f in
making, as well as I could, a great many baskets, both to carry earth or to
carry or lay up anything, as I had occasion; and though I did not finish th=
em
very handsomely, yet I made them sufficiently serviceable for my purpose; t=
hus,
afterwards, I took care never to be without them; and as my wicker-ware
decayed, I made more, especially strong, deep baskets to place my corn in,
instead of sacks, when I should come to have any quantity of it.
Having mastered this difficulty, and employed a world of time about it, I
bestirred myself to see, if possible, how to supply two wants. I had no ves=
sels
to hold anything that was liquid, except two runlets, which were almost ful=
l of
rum, and some glass bottles - some of the common size, and others which were
case bottles, square, for the holding of water, spirits, &c. I had not =
so
much as a pot to boil anything, except a great kettle, which I saved out of=
the
ship, and which was too big for such as I desired it - viz. to make broth, =
and
stew a bit of meat by itself. The second thing I fain would have had was a
tobacco-pipe, but it was impossible to me to make one; however, I found a
contrivance for that, too, at last. I employed myself in planting my second
rows of stakes or piles, and in this wicker-working all the summer or dry
season, when another business took me up more time than it could be imagine=
d I
could spare.
Chapter 8: Surveys His Position
I mentioned before that I had a great mind to see the whole island, and tha=
t I
had travelled up the brook, and so on to where I built my bower, and where I
had an opening quite to the sea, on the other side of the island. I now
resolved to travel quite across to the sea-shore on that side; so, taking my
gun, a hatchet, and my dog, and a larger quantity of powder and shot than
usual, with two biscuit-cakes and a great bunch of raisins in my pouch for =
my
store, I began my journey. When I had passed the vale where my bower stood,=
as
above, I came within view of the sea to the west, and it being a very clear
day, I fairly descried land - whether an island or a continent I could not
tell; but it lay very high, extending from the W. to the W.S.W. at a very g=
reat
distance; by my guess it could not be less than fifteen or twenty leagues o=
ff.
I could not tell what part of the world this might be, otherwise than that I
knew it must be part of America, and, as I concluded by all my observations,
must be near the Spanish dominions, and perhaps was all inhabited by savage=
s,
where, if I had landed, I had been in a worse condition than I was now; and
therefore I acquiesced in the dispositions of Providence, which I began now=
to
own and to believe ordered everything for the best; I say I quieted my mind
with this, and left off afflicting myself with fruitless wishes of being th=
ere.
Besides, after some thought upon this affair, I considered that if this land
was the Spanish coast, I should certainly, one time or other, see some vess=
el
pass or repass one way or other; but if not, then it was the savage coast b=
etween
the Spanish country and Brazils, where are found the worst of savages; for =
they
are cannibals or men-eaters, and fail not to murder and devour all the human
bodies that fall into their hands.
With these considerations, I walked very leisurely forward. I found that si=
de
of the island where I now was much pleasanter than mine - the open or savan=
nah
fields sweet, adorned with flowers and grass, and full of very fine woods. I
saw abundance of parrots, and fain I would have caught one, if possible, to=
have
kept it to be tame, and taught it to speak to me. I did, after some
painstaking, catch a young parrot, for I knocked it down with a stick, and
having recovered it, I brought it home; but it was some years before I could
make him speak; however, at last I taught him to call me by name very
familiarly. But the accident that followed, though it be a trifle, will be =
very
diverting in its place.
I was exceedingly diverted with this journey. I found in the low grounds ha=
res
(as I thought them to be) and foxes; but they differed greatly from all the
other kinds I had met with, nor could I satisfy myself to eat them, though I
killed several. But I had no need to be venturous, for I had no want of foo=
d,
and of that which was very good too, especially these three sorts, viz. goa=
ts,
pigeons, and turtle, or tortoise, which added to my grapes, Leadenhall mark=
et
could not have furnished a table better than I, in proportion to the compan=
y;
and though my case was deplorable enough, yet I had great cause for
thankfulness that I was not driven to any extremities for food, but had rat=
her
plenty, even to dainties.
I never travelled in this journey above two miles outright in a day, or
thereabouts; but I took so many turns and re-turns to see what discoveries I
could make, that I came weary enough to the place where I resolved to sit d=
own
all night; and then I either reposed myself in a tree, or surrounded myself
with a row of stakes set upright in the ground, either from one tree to
another, or so as no wild creature could come at me without waking me.
As soon as I came to the sea-shore, I was surprised to see that I had taken=
up
my lot on the worst side of the island, for here, indeed, the shore was cov=
ered
with innumerable turtles, whereas on the other side I had found but three i=
n a
year and a half. Here was also an infinite number of fowls of many kinds, s=
ome
which I had seen, and some which I had not seen before, and many of them ve=
ry
good meat, but such as I knew not the names of, except those called penguin=
s.
I could have shot as many as I pleased, but was very sparing of my powder a=
nd
shot, and therefore had more mind to kill a she-goat if I could, which I co=
uld
better feed on; and though there were many goats here, more than on my side=
the
island, yet it was with much more difficulty that I could come near them, t=
he
country being flat and even, and they saw me much sooner than when I was on=
the
hills.
I confess this side of the country was much pleasanter than mine; but yet I=
had
not the least inclination to remove, for as I was fixed in my habitation it
became natural to me, and I seemed all the while I was here to be as it were
upon a journey, and from home. However, I travelled along the shore of the =
sea
towards the east, I suppose about twelve miles, and then setting up a great
pole upon the shore for a mark, I concluded I would go home again, and that=
the
next journey I took should be on the other side of the island east from my
dwelling, and so round till I came to my post again.
I took another way to come back than that I went, thinking I could easily k=
eep
all the island so much in my view that I could not miss finding my first
dwelling by viewing the country; but I found myself mistaken, for being come
about two or three miles, I found myself descended into a very large valley,
but so surrounded with hills, and those hills covered with wood, that I cou=
ld
not see which was my way by any direction but that of the sun, nor even the=
n,
unless I knew very well the position of the sun at that time of the day. It
happened, to my further misfortune, that the weather proved hazy for three =
or
four days while I was in the valley, and not being able to see the sun, I
wandered about very uncomfortably, and at last was obliged to find the seas=
ide,
look for my post, and come back the same way I went: and then, by easy
journeys, I turned homeward, the weather being exceeding hot, and my gun,
ammunition, hatchet, and other things very heavy.
In this journey my dog surprised a young kid, and seized upon it; and I,
running in to take hold of it, caught it, and saved it alive from the dog. I
had a great mind to bring it home if I could, for I had often been musing
whether it might not be possible to get a kid or two, and so raise a breed =
of
tame goats, which might supply me when my powder and shot should be all spe=
nt.
I made a collar for this little creature, and with a string, which I made of
some rope-yam, which I always carried about me, I led him along, though with
some difficulty, till I came to my bower, and there I enclosed him and left
him, for I was very impatient to be at home, from whence I had been absent
above a month.
I cannot express what a satisfaction it was to me to come into my old hutch,
and lie down in my hammock-bed. This little wandering journey, without sett=
led
place of abode, had been so unpleasant to me, that my own house, as I calle=
d it
to myself, was a perfect settlement to me compared to that; and it rendered
everything about me so comfortable, that I resolved I would never go a great
way from it again while it should be my lot to stay on the island.
I reposed myself here a week, to rest and regale myself after my long journ=
ey;
during which most of the time was taken up in the weighty affair of making a
cage for my Poll, who began now to be a mere domestic, and to be well
acquainted with me. Then I began to think of the poor kid which I had penne=
d in
within my little circle, and resolved to go and fetch it home, or give it s=
ome
food; accordingly I went, and found it where I left it, for indeed it could=
not
get out, but was almost starved for want of food. I went and cut boughs of
trees, and branches of such shrubs as I could find, and threw it over, and
having fed it, I tied it as I did before, to lead it away; but it was so ta=
me
with being hungry, that I had no need to have tied it, for it followed me l=
ike
a dog: and as I continually fed it, the creature became so loving, so gentl=
e,
and so fond, that it became from that time one of my domestics also, and wo=
uld
never leave me afterwards.
The rainy season of the autumnal equinox was now come, and I kept the 30th =
of
September in the same solemn manner as before, being the anniversary of my
landing on the island, having now been there two years, and no more prospec=
t of
being delivered than the first day I came there, I spent the whole day in
humble and thankful acknowledgments of the many wonderful mercies which my
solitary condition was attended with, and without which it might have been
infinitely more miserable. I gave humble and hearty thanks that God had bee=
n pleased
to discover to me that it was possible I might be more happy in this solita=
ry
condition than I should have been in the liberty of society, and in all the
pleasures of the world; that He could fully make up to me the deficiencies =
of
my solitary state, and the want of human society, by His presence and the
communications of His grace to my soul; supporting, comforting, and encoura=
ging
me to depend upon His providence here, and hope for His eternal presence
hereafter.
It was now that I began sensibly to feel how much more happy this life I now
led was, with all its miserable circumstances, than the wicked, cursed,
abominable life I led all the past part of my days; and now I changed both =
my
sorrows and my joys; my very desires altered, my affections changed their
gusts, and my delights were perfectly new from what they were at my first
coming, or, indeed, for the two years past.
Before, as I walked about, either on my hunting or for viewing the country,=
the
anguish of my soul at my condition would break out upon me on a sudden, and=
my
very heart would die within me, to think of the woods, the mountains, the
deserts I was in, and how I was a prisoner, locked up with the eternal bars=
and
bolts of the ocean, in an uninhabited wilderness, without redemption. In the
midst of the greatest composure of my mind, this would break out upon me li=
ke a
storm, and make me wring my hands and weep like a child. Sometimes it would
take me in the middle of my work, and I would immediately sit down and sigh,
and look upon the ground for an hour or two together; and this was still wo=
rse
to me, for if I could burst out into tears, or vent myself by words, it wou=
ld
go off, and the grief, having exhausted itself, would abate.
But now I began to exercise myself with new thoughts: I daily read the word=
of
God, and applied all the comforts of it to my present state. One morning, b=
eing
very sad, I opened the Bible upon these words, "I will never, never le=
ave
thee, nor forsake thee." Immediately it occurred that these words were=
to
me; why else should they be directed in such a manner, just at the moment w=
hen
I was mourning over my condition, as one forsaken of God and man? "Wel=
l,
then," said I, "if God does not forsake me, of what ill consequen=
ce
can it be, or what matters it, though the world should all forsake me, seei=
ng
on the other hand, if I had all the world, and should lose the favour and
blessing of God, there would be no comparison in the loss?"
From this moment I began to conclude in my mind that it was possible for me=
to
be more happy in this forsaken, solitary condition than it was probable I
should ever have been in any other particular state in the world; and with =
this
thought I was going to give thanks to God for bringing me to this place. I =
know
not what it was, but something shocked my mind at that thought, and I durst=
not
speak the words. "How canst thou become such a hypocrite," said I,
even audibly, "to pretend to be thankful for a condition which, however
thou mayest endeavour to be contented with, thou wouldst rather pray hearti=
ly
to be delivered from?" So I stopped there; but though I could not say I
thanked God for being there, yet I sincerely gave thanks to God for opening=
my
eyes, by whatever afflicting providences, to see the former condition of my
life, and to mourn for my wickedness, and repent. I never opened the Bible,=
or
shut it, but my very soul within me blessed God for directing my friend in
England, without any order of mine, to pack it up among my goods, and for
assisting me afterwards to save it out of the wreck of the ship.
Thus, and in this disposition of mind, I began my third year; and though I =
have
not given the reader the trouble of so particular an account of my works th=
is
year as the first, yet in general it may be observed that I was very seldom
idle, but having regularly divided my time according to the several daily
employments that were before me, such as: first, my duty to God, and the
reading the Scriptures, which I constantly set apart some time for thrice e=
very
day; secondly, the going abroad with my gun for food, which generally took =
me
up three hours in every morning, when it did not rain; thirdly, the orderin=
g,
cutting, preserving, and cooking what I had killed or caught for my supply;
these took up great part of the day. Also, it is to be considered, that in =
the
middle of the day, when the sun was in the zenith, the violence of the heat=
was
too great to stir out; so that about four hours in the evening was all the =
time
I could be supposed to work in, with this exception, that sometimes I chang=
ed
my hours of hunting and working, and went to work in the morning, and abroad
with my gun in the afternoon.
To this short time allowed for labour I desire may be added the exceeding
laboriousness of my work; the many hours which, for want of tools, want of
help, and want of skill, everything I did took up out of my time. For examp=
le,
I was full two and forty days in making a board for a long shelf, which I
wanted in my cave; whereas, two sawyers, with their tools and a saw-pit, wo=
uld
have cut six of them out of the same tree in half a day.
My case was this: it was to be a large tree which was to be cut down, becau=
se
my board was to be a broad one. This tree I was three days in cutting down,=
and
two more cutting off the boughs, and reducing it to a log or piece of timbe=
r.
With inexpressible hacking and hewing I reduced both the sides of it into c=
hips
till it began to be light enough to move; then I turned it, and made one si=
de
of it smooth and flat as a board from end to end; then, turning that side
downward, cut the other side til I brought the plank to be about three inch=
es
thick, and smooth on both sides. Any one may judge the labour of my hands in
such a piece of work; but labour and patience carried me through that, and =
many
other things. I only observe this in particular, to show the reason why so =
much
of my time went away with so little work - viz. that what might be a little=
to
be done with help and tools, was a vast labour and required a prodigious ti=
me
to do alone, and by hand. But notwithstanding this, with patience and labou=
r I
got through everything that my circumstances made necessary to me to do, as
will appear by what follows.
I was now, in the months of November and December, expecting my crop of bar=
ley
and rice. The ground I had manured and dug up for them was not great; for, =
as I
observed, my seed of each was not above the quantity of half a peck, for I =
had
lost one whole crop by sowing in the dry season. But now my crop promised v=
ery
well, when on a sudden I found I was in danger of losing it all again by
enemies of several sorts, which it was scarcely possible to keep from it; a=
s,
first, the goats, and wild creatures which I called hares, who, tasting the
sweetness of the blade, lay in it night and day, as soon as it came up, and=
eat
it so close, that it could get no time to shoot up into stalk.
This I saw no remedy for but by making an enclosure about it with a hedge;
which I did with a great deal of toil, and the more, because it required sp=
eed.
However, as my arable land was but small, suited to my crop, I got it total=
ly
well fenced in about three weeks' time; and shooting some of the creatures =
in
the daytime, I set my dog to guard it in the night, tying him up to a stake=
at
the gate, where he would stand and bark all night long; so in a little time=
the
enemies forsook the place, and the corn grew very strong and well, and bega=
n to
ripen apace.
But as the beasts ruined me before, while my corn was in the blade, so the
birds were as likely to ruin me now, when it was in the ear; for, going alo=
ng
by the place to see how it throve, I saw my little crop surrounded with fow=
ls,
of I know not how many sorts, who stood, as it were, watching till I should=
be
gone. I immediately let fly among them, for I always had my gun with me. I =
had
no sooner shot, but there rose up a little cloud of fowls, which I had not =
seen
at all, from among the corn itself.
This touched me sensibly, for I foresaw that in a few days they would devour
all my hopes; that I should be starved, and never be able to raise a crop at
all; and what to do I could not tell; however, I resolved not to lose my co=
rn,
if possible, though I should watch it night and day. In the first place, I =
went
among it to see what damage was already done, and found they had spoiled a =
good
deal of it; but that as it was yet too green for them, the loss was not so
great but that the remainder was likely to be a good crop if it could be sa=
ved.
I stayed by it to load my gun, and then coming away, I could easily see the
thieves sitting upon all the trees about me, as if they only waited till I =
was
gone away, and the event proved it to be so; for as I walked off, as if I w=
as
gone, I was no sooner out of their sight than they dropped down one by one =
into
the corn again. I was so provoked, that I could not have patience to stay t=
ill
more came on, knowing that every grain that they ate now was, as it might be
said, a peck-loaf to me in the consequence; but coming up to the hedge, I f=
ired
again, and killed three of them. This was what I wished for; so I took them=
up,
and served them as we serve notorious thieves in England - hanged them in
chains, for a terror to of them. It is impossible to imagine that this shou=
ld
have such an effect as it had, for the fowls would not only not come at the
corn, but, in short, they forsook all that part of the island, and I could
never see a bird near the place as long as my scarecrows hung there. This I=
was
very glad of, you may be sure, and about the latter end of December, which =
was
our second harvest of the year, I reaped my corn.
I was sadly put to it for a scythe or sickle to cut it down, and all I coul=
d do
was to make one, as well as I could, out of one of the broadswords, or
cutlasses, which I saved among the arms out of the ship. However, as my fir=
st
crop was but small, I had no great difficulty to cut it down; in short, I
reaped it in my way, for I cut nothing off but the ears, and carried it awa=
y in
a great basket which I had made, and so rubbed it out with my hands; and at=
the
end of all my harvesting, I found that out of my half-peck of seed I had ne=
ar
two bushels of rice, and about two bushels and a half of barley; that is to
say, by my guess, for I had no measure at that time.
However, this was a great encouragement to me, and I foresaw that, in time,=
it
would please God to supply me with bread. And yet here I was perplexed agai=
n,
for I neither knew how to grind or make meal of my corn, or indeed how to c=
lean
it and part it; nor, if made into meal, how to make bread of it; and if how=
to
make it, yet I knew not how to bake it. These things being added to my desi=
re
of having a good quantity for store, and to secure a constant supply, I
resolved not to taste any of this crop but to preserve it all for seed agai=
nst
the next season; and in the meantime to employ all my study and hours of
working to accomplish this great work of providing myself with corn and bre=
ad.
It might be truly said, that now I worked for my bread. I believe few people
have thought much upon the strange multitude of little things necessary in =
the
providing, producing, curing, dressing, making, and finishing this one arti=
cle
of bread.
I, that was reduced to a mere state of nature, found this to my daily
discouragement; and was made more sensible of it every hour, even after I h=
ad
got the first handful of seed-corn, which, as I have said, came up
unexpectedly, and indeed to a surprise.
First, I had no plough to turn up the earth - no spade or shovel to dig it.
Well, this I conquered by making me a wooden spade, as I observed before; b=
ut
this did my work but in a wooden manner; and though it cost me a great many
days to make it, yet, for want of iron, it not only wore out soon, but made=
my
work the harder, and made it be performed much worse. However, this I bore
with, and was content to work it out with patience, and bear with the badne=
ss
of the performance. When the corn was sown, I had no harrow, but was forced=
to
go over it myself, and drag a great heavy bough of a tree over it, to scrat=
ch
it, as it may be called, rather than rake or harrow it. When it was growing,
and grown, I have observed already how many things I wanted to fence it, se=
cure
it, mow or reap it, cure and carry it home, thrash, part it from the chaff,=
and
save it. Then I wanted a mill to grind it sieves to dress it, yeast and sal=
t to
make it into bread, and an oven to bake it; but all these things I did with=
out,
as shall be observed; and yet the corn was an inestimable comfort and advan=
tage
to me too. All this, as I said, made everything laborious and tedious to me;
but that there was no help for. Neither was my time so much loss to me,
because, as I had divided it, a certain part of it was every day appointed =
to
these works; and as I had resolved to use none of the corn for bread till I=
had
a greater quantity by me, I had the next six months to apply myself wholly,=
by
labour and invention, to furnish myself with utensils proper for the perfor=
ming
all the operations necessary for making the corn, when I had it, fit for my
use.
Chapter 9: A Boat
But first I was to prepare more land, for I had now seed enough to sow abov=
e an
acre of ground. Before I did this, I had a week's work at least to make me a
spade, which, when it was done, was but a sorry one indeed, and very heavy,=
and
required double labour to work with it. However, I got through that, and so=
wed
my seed in two large flat pieces of ground, as near my house as I could find
them to my mind, and fenced them in with a good hedge, the stakes of which =
were
all cut off that wood which I had set before, and knew it would grow; so th=
at,
in a year's time, I knew I should have a quick or living hedge, that would =
want
but little repair. This work did not take me up less than three months, bec=
ause
a great part of that time was the wet season, when I could not go abroad.
Within-doors, that is when it rained and I could not go out, I found employ=
ment
in the following occupations - always observing, that all the while I was at
work I diverted myself with talking to my parrot, and teaching him to speak;
and I quickly taught him to know his own name, and at last to speak it out
pretty loud, "Poll," which was the first word I ever heard spoken=
in
the island by any mouth but my own. This, therefore, was not my work, but an
assistance to my work; for now, as I said, I had a great employment upon my
hands, as follows: I had long studied to make, by some means or other, some
earthen vessels, which, indeed, I wanted sorely, but knew not where to come=
at
them. However, considering the heat of the climate, I did not doubt but if I
could find out any clay, I might make some pots that might, being dried in =
the
sun, be hard enough and strong enough to bear handling, and to hold anything
that was dry, and required to be kept so; and as this was necessary in the
preparing corn, meal, &c., which was the thing I was doing, I resolved =
to
make some as large as I could, and fit only to stand like jars, to hold what
should be put into them.
It would make the reader pity me, or rather laugh at me, to tell how many
awkward ways I took to raise this paste; what odd, misshapen, ugly things I
made; how many of them fell in and how many fell out, the clay not being st=
iff
enough to bear its own weight; how many cracked by the over-violent heat of=
the
sun, being set out too hastily; and how many fell in pieces with only remov=
ing,
as well before as after they were dried; and, in a word, how, after having
laboured hard to find the clay - to dig it, to temper it, to bring it home,=
and
work it - I could not make above two large earthen ugly things (I cannot ca=
ll
them jars) in about two months' labour.
However, as the sun baked these two very dry and hard, I lifted them very
gently up, and set them down again in two great wicker baskets, which I had
made on purpose for them, that they might not break; and as between the pot=
and
the basket there was a little room to spare, I stuffed it full of the rice =
and
barley straw; and these two pots being to stand always dry I thought would =
hold
my dry corn, and perhaps the meal, when the corn was bruised.
Though I miscarried so much in my design for large pots, yet I made several
smaller things with better success; such as little round pots, flat dishes,
pitchers, and pipkins, and any things my hand turned to; and the heat of the
sun baked them quite hard.
But all this would not answer my end, which was to get an earthen pot to ho=
ld
what was liquid, and bear the fire, which none of these could do. It happen=
ed
after some time, making a pretty large fire for cooking my meat, when I wen=
t to
put it out after I had done with it, I found a broken piece of one of my
earthenware vessels in the fire, burnt as hard as a stone, and red as a til=
e. I
was agreeably surprised to see it, and said to myself, that certainly they
might be made to burn whole, if they would burn broken.
This set me to study how to order my fire, so as to make it burn some pots.=
I
had no notion of a kiln, such as the potters burn in, or of glazing them wi=
th
lead, though I had some lead to do it with; but I placed three large pipkins
and two or three pots in a pile, one upon another, and placed my firewood a=
ll
round it, with a great heap of embers under them. I plied the fire with fre=
sh
fuel round the outside and upon the top, till I saw the pots in the inside
red-hot quite through, and observed that they did not crack at all. When I =
saw
them clear red, I let them stand in that heat about five or six hours, till=
I
found one of them, though it did not crack, did melt or run; for the sand w=
hich
was mixed with the clay melted by the violence of the heat, and would have =
run
into glass if I had gone on; so I slacked my fire gradually till the pots b=
egan
to abate of the red colour; and watching them all night, that I might not l=
et
the fire abate too fast, in the morning I had three very good (I will not s=
ay
handsome) pipkins, and two other earthen pots, as hard burnt as could be
desired, and one of them perfectly glazed with the running of the sand.
After this experiment, I need not say that I wanted no sort of earthenware =
for
my use; but I must needs say as to the shapes of them, they were very
indifferent, as any one may suppose, when I had no way of making them but as
the children make dirt pies, or as a woman would make pies that never learn=
ed
to raise paste.
No joy at a thing of so mean a nature was ever equal to mine, when I found =
I had
made an earthen pot that would bear the fire; and I had hardly patience to =
stay
till they were cold before I set one on the fire again with some water in i=
t to
boil me some meat, which it did admirably well; and with a piece of a kid I
made some very good broth, though I wanted oatmeal, and several other
ingredients requisite to make it as good as I would have had it been.
My next concern was to get me a stone mortar to stamp or beat some corn in;=
for
as to the mill, there was no thought of arriving at that perfection of art =
with
one pair of hands. To supply this want, I was at a great loss; for, of all =
the
trades in the world, I was as perfectly unqualified for a stone-cutter as f=
or
any whatever; neither had I any tools to go about it with. I spent many a d=
ay
to find out a great stone big enough to cut hollow, and make fit for a mort=
ar,
and could find none at all, except what was in the solid rock, and which I =
had
no way to dig or cut out; nor indeed were the rocks in the island of hardne=
ss
sufficient, but were all of a sandy, crumbling stone, which neither would b=
ear
the weight of a heavy pestle, nor would break the corn without filling it w=
ith
sand. So, after a great deal of time lost in searching for a stone, I gave =
it
over, and resolved to look out for a great block of hard wood, which I foun=
d,
indeed, much easier; and getting one as big as I had strength to stir, I
rounded it, and formed it on the outside with my axe and hatchet, and then =
with
the help of fire and infinite labour, made a hollow place in it, as the Ind=
ians
in Brazil make their canoes. After this, I made a great heavy pestle or bea=
ter
of the wood called the iron-wood; and this I prepared and laid by against I=
had
my next crop of corn, which I proposed to myself to grind, or rather pound =
into
meal to make bread.
My next difficulty was to make a sieve or searce, to dress my meal, and to =
part
it from the bran and the husk; without which I did not see it possible I co=
uld
have any bread. This was a most difficult thing even to think on, for to be
sure I had nothing like the necessary thing to make it - I mean fine thin
canvas or stuff to searce the meal through. And here I was at a full stop f=
or
many months; nor did I really know what to do. Linen I had none left but wh=
at
was mere rags; I had goat's hair, but neither knew how to weave it or spin =
it;
and had I known how, here were no tools to work it with. All the remedy tha=
t I
found for this was, that at last I did remember I had, among the seamen's
clothes which were saved out of the ship, some neckcloths of calico or musl=
in;
and with some pieces of these I made three small sieves proper enough for t=
he
work; and thus I made shift for some years: how I did afterwards, I shall s=
how
in its place.
The baking part was the next thing to be considered, and how I should make
bread when I came to have corn; for first, I had no yeast. As to that part,
there was no supplying the want, so I did not concern myself much about it.=
But
for an oven I was indeed in great pain. At length I found out an experiment=
for
that also, which was this: I made some earthen-vessels very broad but not d=
eep,
that is to say, about two feet diameter, and not above nine inches deep. Th=
ese
I burned in the fire, as I had done the other, and laid them by; and when I
wanted to bake, I made a great fire upon my hearth, which I had paved with =
some
square tiles of my own baking and burning also; but I should not call them
square.
When the firewood was burned pretty much into embers or live coals, I drew =
them
forward upon this hearth, so as to cover it all over, and there I let them =
lie
till the hearth was very hot. Then sweeping away all the embers, I set down=
my
loaf or loaves, and whelming down the earthen pot upon them, drew the embers
all round the outside of the pot, to keep in and add to the heat; and thus =
as
well as in the best oven in the world, I baked my barley-loaves, and became=
in
little time a good pastrycook into the bargain; for I made myself several c=
akes
and puddings of the rice; but I made no pies, neither had I anything to put
into them supposing I had, except the flesh either of fowls or goats.
It need not be wondered at if all these things took me up most part of the
third year of my abode here; for it is to be observed that in the intervals=
of
these things I had my new harvest and husbandry to manage; for I reaped my =
corn
in its season, and carried it home as well as I could, and laid it up in the
ear, in my large baskets, till I had time to rub it out, for I had no floor=
to
thrash it on, or instrument to thrash it with.
And now, indeed, my stock of corn increasing, I really wanted to build my b=
arns
bigger; I wanted a place to lay it up in, for the increase of the corn now
yielded me so much, that I had of the barley about twenty bushels, and of t=
he
rice as much or more; insomuch that now I resolved to begin to use it freel=
y;
for my bread had been quite gone a great while; also I resolved to see what
quantity would be sufficient for me a whole year, and to sow but once a yea=
r.
Upon the whole, I found that the forty bushels of barley and rice were much
more than I could consume in a year; so I resolved to sow just the same
quantity every year that I sowed the last, in hopes that such a quantity wo=
uld
fully provide me with bread, &c.
All the while these things were doing, you may be sure my thoughts ran many
times upon the prospect of land which I had seen from the other side of the
island; and I was not without secret wishes that I were on shore there,
fancying that, seeing the mainland, and an inhabited country, I might find =
some
way or other to convey myself further, and perhaps at last find some means =
of
escape.
But all this while I made no allowance for the dangers of such an undertaki=
ng,
and how I might fall into the hands of savages, and perhaps such as I might=
have
reason to think far worse than the lions and tigers of Africa: that if I on=
ce
came in their power, I should run a hazard of more than a thousand to one of
being killed, and perhaps of being eaten; for I had heard that the people of
the Caribbean coast were cannibals or man-eaters, and I knew by the latitude
that I could not be far from that shore. Then, supposing they were not
cannibals, yet they might kill me, as many Europeans who had fallen into th=
eir
hands had been served, even when they had been ten or twenty together - much
more I, that was but one, and could make little or no defence; all these
things, I say, which I ought to have considered well; and did come into my
thoughts afterwards, yet gave me no apprehensions at first, and my head ran=
mightily
upon the thought of getting over to the shore.
Now I wished for my boy Xury, and the long-boat with shoulder-of- mutton sa=
il,
with which I sailed above a thousand miles on the coast of Africa; but this=
was
in vain: then I thought I would go and look at our ship's boat, which, as I
have said, was blown up upon the shore a great way, in the storm, when we w=
ere
first cast away. She lay almost where she did at first, but not quite; and =
was
turned, by the force of the waves and the winds, almost bottom upward, agai=
nst
a high ridge of beachy, rough sand, but no water about her. If I had had ha=
nds
to have refitted her, and to have launched her into the water, the boat wou=
ld
have done well enough, and I might have gone back into the Brazils with her
easily enough; but I might have foreseen that I could no more turn her and =
set
her upright upon her bottom than I could remove the island; however, I went=
to
the woods, and cut levers and rollers, and brought them to the boat resolvi=
ng
to try what I could do; suggesting to myself that if I could but turn her d=
own,
I might repair the damage she had received, and she would be a very good bo=
at,
and I might go to sea in her very easily.
I spared no pains, indeed, in this piece of fruitless toil, and spent, I th=
ink,
three or four weeks about it; at last finding it impossible to heave it up =
with
my little strength, I fell to digging away the sand, to undermine it, and s=
o to
make it fall down, setting pieces of wood to thrust and guide it right in t=
he
fall.
But when I had done this, I was unable to stir it up again, or to get under=
it,
much less to move it forward towards the water; so I was forced to give it
over; and yet, though I gave over the hopes of the boat, my desire to ventu=
re
over for the main increased, rather than decreased, as the means for it see=
med
impossible.
This at length put me upon thinking whether it was not possible to make mys=
elf
a canoe, or periagua, such as the natives of those climates make, even with=
out
tools, or, as I might say, without hands, of the trunk of a great tree. Thi=
s I
not only thought possible, but easy, and pleased myself extremely with the
thoughts of making it, and with my having much more convenience for it than=
any
of the negroes or Indians; but not at all considering the particular
inconveniences which I lay under more than the Indians did - viz. want of h=
ands
to move it, when it was made, into the water - a difficulty much harder for=
me
to surmount than all the consequences of want of tools could be to them; for
what was it to me, if when I had chosen a vast tree in the woods, and with =
much
trouble cut it down, if I had been able with my tools to hew and dub the
outside into the proper shape of a boat, and burn or cut out the inside to =
make
it hollow, so as to make a boat of it - if, after all this, I must leave it
just there where I found it, and not be able to launch it into the water?
One would have thought I could not have had the least reflection upon my mi=
nd
of my circumstances while I was making this boat, but I should have immedia=
tely
thought how I should get it into the sea; but my thoughts were so intent up=
on
my voyage over the sea in it, that I never once considered how I should get=
it
off the land: and it was really, in its own nature, more easy for me to gui=
de
it over forty-five miles of sea than about forty-five fathoms of land, wher=
e it
lay, to set it afloat in the water.
I went to work upon this boat the most like a fool that ever man did who had
any of his senses awake. I pleased myself with the design, without determin=
ing
whether I was ever able to undertake it; not but that the difficulty of
launching my boat came often into my head; but I put a stop to my inquiries
into it by this foolish answer which I gave myself - "Let me first make
it; I warrant I will find some way or other to get it along when it is
done."
This was a most preposterous method; but the eagerness of my fancy prevaile=
d,
and to work I went. I felled a cedar-tree, and I question much whether Solo=
mon
ever had such a one for the building of the Temple of Jerusalem; it was five
feet ten inches diameter at the lower part next the stump, and four feet el=
even
inches diameter at the end of twenty-two feet; after which it lessened for a
while, and then parted into branches. It was not without infinite labour th=
at I
felled this tree; I was twenty days hacking and hewing at it at the bottom;=
I
was fourteen more getting the branches and limbs and the vast spreading head
cut off, which I hacked and hewed through with axe and hatchet, and
inexpressible labour; after this, it cost me a month to shape it and dub it=
to
a proportion, and to something like the bottom of a boat, that it might swim
upright as it ought to do. It cost me near three months more to clear the
inside, and work it out so as to make an exact boat of it; this I did, inde=
ed,
without fire, by mere mallet and chisel, and by the dint of hard labour, ti=
ll I
had brought it to be a very handsome periagua, and big enough to have carri=
ed
six-and-twenty men, and consequently big enough to have carried me and all =
my
cargo.
When I had gone through this work I was extremely delighted with it. The bo=
at
was really much bigger than ever I saw a canoe or periagua, that was made of
one tree, in my life. Many a weary stroke it had cost, you may be sure; and=
had
I gotten it into the water, I make no question, but I should have begun the
maddest voyage, and the most unlikely to be performed, that ever was
undertaken.
But all my devices to get it into the water failed me; though they cost me
infinite labour too. It lay about one hundred yards from the water, and not
more; but the first inconvenience was, it was up hill towards the creek. We=
ll,
to take away this discouragement, I resolved to dig into the surface of the
earth, and so make a declivity: this I began, and it cost me a prodigious d=
eal
of pains (but who grudge pains who have their deliverance in view?); but wh=
en
this was worked through, and this difficulty managed, it was still much the
same, for I could no more stir the canoe than I could the other boat. Then I
measured the distance of ground, and resolved to cut a dock or canal, to br=
ing
the water up to the canoe, seeing I could not bring the canoe down to the
water. Well, I began this work; and when I began to enter upon it, and
calculate how deep it was to be dug, how broad, how the stuff was to be thr=
own
out, I found that, by the number of hands I had, being none but my own, it =
must
have been ten or twelve years before I could have gone through with it; for=
the
shore lay so high, that at the upper end it must have been at least twenty =
feet
deep; so at length, though with great reluctancy, I gave this attempt over
also.
This grieved me heartily; and now I saw, though too late, the folly of
beginning a work before we count the cost, and before we judge rightly of o=
ur
own strength to go through with it.
In the middle of this work I finished my fourth year in this place, and kep=
t my
anniversary with the same devotion, and with as much comfort as ever before;
for, by a constant study and serious application to the Word of God, and by=
the
assistance of His grace, I gained a different knowledge from what I had bef=
ore.
I entertained different notions of things. I looked now upon the world as a
thing remote, which I had nothing to do with, no expectations from, and, in=
deed,
no desires about: in a word, I had nothing indeed to do with it, nor was ev=
er
likely to have, so I thought it looked, as we may perhaps look upon it
hereafter - viz. as a place I had lived in, but was come out of it; and well
might I say, as Father Abraham to Dives, "Between me and thee is a gre=
at
gulf fixed."
In the first place, I was removed from all the wickedness of the world here=
; I
had neither the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, nor the pride of
life. I had nothing to covet, for I had all that I was now capable of enjoy=
ing;
I was lord of the whole manor; or, if I pleased, I might call myself king or
emperor over the whole country which I had possession of: there were no riv=
als;
I had no competitor, none to dispute sovereignty or command with me: I might
have raised ship-loadings of corn, but I had no use for it; so I let as lit=
tle
grow as I thought enough for my occasion. I had tortoise or turtle enough, =
but
now and then one was as much as I could put to any use: I had timber enough=
to
have built a fleet of ships; and I had grapes enough to have made wine, or =
to
have cured into raisins, to have loaded that fleet when it had been built.<=
br>
But all I could make use of was all that was valuable: I had enough to eat =
and
supply my wants, and what was all the rest to me? If I killed more flesh th=
an I
could eat, the dog must eat it, or vermin; if I sowed more corn than I could
eat, it must be spoiled; the trees that I cut down were lying to rot on the
ground; I could make no more use of them but for fuel, and that I had no
occasion for but to dress my food.
In a word, the nature and experience of things dictated to me, upon just
reflection, that all the good things of this world are no farther good to us
than they are for our use; and that, whatever we may heap up to give others=
, we
enjoy just as much as we can use, and no more. The most covetous, griping m=
iser
in the world would have been cured of the vice of covetousness if he had be=
en
in my case; for I possessed infinitely more than I knew what to do with. I =
had
no room for desire, except it was of things which I had not, and they were =
but
trifles, though, indeed, of great use to me. I had, as I hinted before, a
parcel of money, as well gold as silver, about thirty-six pounds sterling.
Alas! there the sorry, useless stuff lay; I had no more manner of business =
for
it; and often thought with myself that I would have given a handful of it f=
or a
gross of tobacco-pipes; or for a hand-mill to grind my corn; nay, I would h=
ave
given it all for a sixpenny-worth of turnip and carrot seed out of England,=
or
for a handful of peas and beans, and a bottle of ink. As it was, I had not =
the
least advantage by it or benefit from it; but there it lay in a drawer, and
grew mouldy with the damp of the cave in the wet seasons; and if I had had =
the
drawer full of diamonds, it had been the same case - they had been of no ma=
nner
of value to me, because of no use.
I had now brought my state of life to be much easier in itself than it was =
at
first, and much easier to my mind, as well as to my body. I frequently sat =
down
to meat with thankfulness, and admired the hand of God's providence, which =
had
thus spread my table in the wilderness. I learned to look more upon the bri=
ght
side of my condition, and less upon the dark side, and to consider what I
enjoyed rather than what I wanted; and this gave me sometimes such secret
comforts, that I cannot express them; and which I take notice of here, to p=
ut
those discontented people in mind of it, who cannot enjoy comfortably what =
God has
given them, because they see and covet something that He has not given them.
All our discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the wa=
nt
of thankfulness for what we have.
Another reflection was of great use to me, and doubtless would be so to any=
one
that should fall into such distress as mine was; and this was, to compare my
present condition with what I at first expected it would be; nay, with what=
it
would certainly have been, if the good providence of God had not wonderfully
ordered the ship to be cast up nearer to the shore, where I not only could =
come
at her, but could bring what I got out of her to the shore, for my relief a=
nd
comfort; without which, I had wanted for tools to work, weapons for defence,
and gunpowder and shot for getting my food.
I spent whole hours, I may say whole days, in representing to myself, in the
most lively colours, how I must have acted if I had got nothing out of the
ship. How I could not have so much as got any food, except fish and turtles;
and that, as it was long before I found any of them, I must have perished
first; that I should have lived, if I had not perished, like a mere savage;
that if I had killed a goat or a fowl, by any contrivance, I had no way to =
flay
or open it, or part the flesh from the skin and the bowels, or to cut it up;
but must gnaw it with my teeth, and pull it with my claws, like a beast.
These reflections made me very sensible of the goodness of Providence to me,
and very thankful for my present condition, with all its hardships and
misfortunes; and this part also I cannot but recommend to the reflection of
those who are apt, in their misery, to say, "Is any affliction like
mine?" Let them consider how much worse the cases of some people are, =
and
their case might have been, if Providence had thought fit.
I had another reflection, which assisted me also to comfort my mind with ho=
pes;
and this was comparing my present situation with what I had deserved, and h=
ad
therefore reason to expect from the hand of Providence. I had lived a dread=
ful
life, perfectly destitute of the knowledge and fear of God. I had been well
instructed by father and mother; neither had they been wanting to me in the=
ir
early endeavours to infuse a religious awe of God into my mind, a sense of =
my
duty, and what the nature and end of my being required of me. But, alas!
falling early into the seafaring life, which of all lives is the most desti=
tute
of the fear of God, though His terrors are always before them; I say, falli=
ng
early into the seafaring life, and into seafaring company, all that little
sense of religion which I had entertained was laughed out of me by my
messmates; by a hardened despising of dangers, and the views of death, which
grew habitual to me by my long absence from all manner of opportunities to
converse with anything but what was like myself, or to hear anything that w=
as
good or tended towards it.
So void was I of everything that was good, or the least sense of what I was=
, or
was to be, that, in the greatest deliverances I enjoyed - such as my escape
from Sallee; my being taken up by the Portuguese master of the ship; my bei=
ng
planted so well in the Brazils; my receiving the cargo from England, and the
like - I never had once the words "Thank God!" so much as on my m=
ind,
or in my mouth; nor in the greatest distress had I so much as a thought to =
pray
to Him, or so much as to say, "Lord, have mercy upon me!" no, nor=
to
mention the name of God, unless it was to swear by, and blaspheme it.
I had terrible reflections upon my mind for many months, as I have already
observed, on account of my wicked and hardened life past; and when I looked
about me, and considered what particular providences had attended me since =
my
coming into this place, and how God had dealt bountifully with me - had not
only punished me less than my iniquity had deserved, but had so plentifully
provided for me - this gave me great hopes that my repentance was accepted,=
and
that God had yet mercy in store for me.
With these reflections I worked my mind up, not only to a resignation to the
will of God in the present disposition of my circumstances, but even to a
sincere thankfulness for my condition; and that I, who was yet a living man,
ought not to complain, seeing I had not the due punishment of my sins; that=
I
enjoyed so many mercies which I had no reason to have expected in that plac=
e;
that I ought never more to repine at my condition, but to rejoice, and to g=
ive
daily thanks for that daily bread, which nothing but a crowd of wonders cou=
ld
have brought; that I ought to consider I had been fed even by a miracle, ev=
en
as great as that of feeding Elijah by ravens, nay, by a long series of
miracles; and that I could hardly have named a place in the uninhabitable p=
art
of the world where I could have been cast more to my advantage; a place whe=
re,
as I had no society, which was my affliction on one hand, so I found no
ravenous beasts, no furious wolves or tigers, to threaten my life; no venom=
ous
creatures, or poisons, which I might feed on to my hurt; no savages to murd=
er
and devour me. In a word, as my life was a life of sorrow one way, so it wa=
s a
life of mercy another; and I wanted nothing to make it a life of comfort bu=
t to
be able to make my sense of God's goodness to me, and care over me in this
condition, be my daily consolation; and after I did make a just improvement=
on
these things, I went away, and was no more sad. I had now been here so long
that many things which I had brought on shore for my help were either quite
gone, or very much wasted and near spent.
My ink, as I observed, had been gone some time, all but a very little, whic=
h I
eked out with water, a little and a little, till it was so pale, it scarce =
left
any appearance of black upon the paper. As long as it lasted I made use of =
it
to minute down the days of the month on which any remarkable thing happened=
to
me; and first, by casting up times past, I remembered that there was a stra=
nge
concurrence of days in the various providences which befell me, and which, =
if I
had been superstitiously inclined to observe days as fatal or fortunate, I
might have had reason to have looked upon with a great deal of curiosity.
First, I had observed that the same day that I broke away from my father and
friends and ran away to Hull, in order to go to sea, the same day afterward=
s I
was taken by the Sallee man-of-war, and made a slave; the same day of the y=
ear
that I escaped out of the wreck of that ship in Yarmouth Roads, that same
day-year afterwards I made my escape from Sallee in a boat; the same day of=
the
year I was born on - viz. the 30th of September, that same day I had my lif=
e so
miraculously saved twenty-six years after, when I was cast on shore in this
island; so that my wicked life and my solitary life began both on a day.
The next thing to my ink being wasted was that of my bread - I mean the bis=
cuit
which I brought out of the ship; this I had husbanded to the last degree,
allowing myself but one cake of bread a-day for above a year; and yet I was
quite without bread for near a year before I got any corn of my own, and gr=
eat
reason I had to be thankful that I had any at all, the getting it being, as=
has
been already observed, next to miraculous.
My clothes, too, began to decay; as to linen, I had had none a good while,
except some chequered shirts which I found in the chests of the other seame=
n,
and which I carefully preserved; because many times I could bear no other
clothes on but a shirt; and it was a very great help to me that I had, among
all the men's clothes of the ship, almost three dozen of shirts. There were
also, indeed, several thick watch-coats of the seamen's which were left, but
they were too hot to wear; and though it is true that the weather was so
violently hot that there was no need of clothes, yet I could not go quite n=
aked
- no, though I had been inclined to it, which I was not - nor could I abide=
the
thought of it, though I was alone. The reason why I could not go naked was,=
I
could not bear the heat of the sun so well when quite naked as with some
clothes on; nay, the very heat frequently blistered my skin: whereas, with a
shirt on, the air itself made some motion, and whistling under the shirt, w=
as
twofold cooler than without it. No more could I ever bring myself to go out=
in
the heat of the sun without a cap or a hat; the heat of the sun, beating wi=
th
such violence as it does in that place, would give me the headache presentl=
y,
by darting so directly on my head, without a cap or hat on, so that I could=
not
bear it; whereas, if I put on my hat it would presently go away.
Upon these views I began to consider about putting the few rags I had, whic=
h I
called clothes, into some order; I had worn out all the waistcoats I had, a=
nd
my business was now to try if I could not make jackets out of the great
watch-coats which I had by me, and with such other materials as I had; so I=
set
to work, tailoring, or rather, indeed, botching, for I made most piteous wo=
rk
of it. However, I made shift to make two or three new waistcoats, which I h=
oped
would serve me a great while: as for breeches or drawers, I made but a very=
sorry
shift indeed till afterwards.
I have mentioned that I saved the skins of all the creatures that I killed,=
I
mean four-footed ones, and I had them hung up, stretched out with sticks in=
the
sun, by which means some of them were so dry and hard that they were fit for
little, but others were very useful. The first thing I made of these was a
great cap for my head, with the hair on the outside, to shoot off the rain;=
and
this I performed so well, that after I made me a suit of clothes wholly of
these skins - that is to say, a waistcoat, and breeches open at the knees, =
and
both loose, for they were rather wanting to keep me cool than to keep me wa=
rm.
I must not omit to acknowledge that they were wretchedly made; for if I was=
a
bad carpenter, I was a worse tailor. However, they were such as I made very
good shift with, and when I was out, if it happened to rain, the hair of my
waistcoat and cap being outermost, I was kept very dry.
After this, I spent a great deal of time and pains to make an umbrella; I w=
as,
indeed, in great want of one, and had a great mind to make one; I had seen =
them
made in the Brazils, where they are very useful in the great heats there, a=
nd I
felt the heats every jot as great here, and greater too, being nearer the
equinox; besides, as I was obliged to be much abroad, it was a most useful
thing to me, as well for the rains as the heats. I took a world of pains wi=
th
it, and was a great while before I could make anything likely to hold: nay,
after I had thought I had hit the way, I spoiled two or three before I made=
one
to my mind: but at last I made one that answered indifferently well: the ma=
in
difficulty I found was to make it let down. I could make it spread, but if =
it
did not let down too, and draw in, it was not portable for me any way but j=
ust
over my head, which would not do. However, at last, as I said, I made one to
answer, and covered it with skins, the hair upwards, so that it cast off the
rain like a pent-house, and kept off the sun so effectually, that I could w=
alk
out in the hottest of the weather with greater advantage than I could befor=
e in
the coolest, and when I had no need of it could close it, and carry it unde=
r my
arm
Thus I lived mighty comfortably, my mind being entirely composed by resigni=
ng
myself to the will of God, and throwing myself wholly upon the disposal of =
His
providence. This made my life better than sociable, for when I began to reg=
ret
the want of conversation I would ask myself, whether thus conversing mutual=
ly
with my own thoughts, and (as I hope I may say) with even God Himself, by
ejaculations, was not better than the utmost enjoyment of human society in =
the
world?
Chapter 10: Tames Goats
I cannot say that after this, for five years, any extraordinary thing happe=
ned
to me, but I lived on in the same course, in the same posture and place, as
before; the chief things I was employed in, besides my yearly labour of
planting my barley and rice, and curing my raisins, of both which I always =
kept
up just enough to have sufficient stock of one year's provisions beforehand=
; I
say, besides this yearly labour, and my daily pursuit of going out with my =
gun,
I had one labour, to make a canoe, which at last I finished: so that, by
digging a canal to it of six feet wide and four feet deep, I brought it into
the creek, almost half a mile. As for the first, which was so vastly big, f=
or I
made it without considering beforehand, as I ought to have done, how I shou=
ld
be able to launch it, so, never being able to bring it into the water, or b=
ring
the water to it, I was obliged to let it lie where it was as a memorandum to
teach me to be wiser the next time: indeed, the next time, though I could n=
ot
get a tree proper for it, and was in a place where I could not get the wate=
r to
it at any less distance than, as I have said, near half a mile, yet, as I s=
aw
it was practicable at last, I never gave it over; and though I was near two
years about it, yet I never grudged my labour, in hopes of having a boat to=
go
off to sea at last.
However, though my little periagua was finished, yet the size of it was not=
at
all answerable to the design which I had in view when I made the first; I m=
ean
of venturing over to the TERRA FIRMA, where it was above forty miles broad;
accordingly, the smallness of my boat assisted to put an end to that design,
and now I thought no more of it. As I had a boat, my next design was to mak=
e a
cruise round the island; for as I had been on the other side in one place,
crossing, as I have already described it, over the land, so the discoveries=
I
made in that little journey made me very eager to see other parts of the co=
ast;
and now I had a boat, I thought of nothing but sailing round the island.
For this purpose, that I might do everything with discretion and considerat=
ion,
I fitted up a little mast in my boat, and made a sail too out of some of the
pieces of the ship's sails which lay in store, and of which I had a great s=
tock
by me. Having fitted my mast and sail, and tried the boat, I found she would
sail very well; then I made little lockers or boxes at each end of my boat,=
to
put provisions, necessaries, ammunition, &c., into, to be kept dry, eit=
her
from rain or the spray of the sea; and a little, long, hollow place I cut in
the inside of the boat, where I could lay my gun, making a flap to hang down
over it to keep it dry.
I fixed my umbrella also in the step at the stern, like a mast, to stand ov=
er
my head, and keep the heat of the sun off me, like an awning; and thus I ev=
ery
now and then took a little voyage upon the sea, but never went far out, nor=
far
from the little creek. At last, being eager to view the circumference of my
little kingdom, I resolved upon my cruise; and accordingly I victualled my =
ship
for the voyage, putting in two dozen of loaves (cakes I should call them) of
barley-bread, an earthen pot full of parched rice (a food I ate a good deal
of), a little bottle of rum, half a goat, and powder and shot for killing m=
ore,
and two large watch-coats, of those which, as I mentioned before, I had sav=
ed
out of the seamen's chests; these I took, one to lie upon, and the other to
cover me in the night.
It was the 6th of November, in the sixth year of my reign - or my captivity,
which you please - that I set out on this voyage, and I found it much longer
than I expected; for though the island itself was not very large, yet when I
came to the east side of it, I found a great ledge of rocks lie out about t=
wo
leagues into the sea, some above water, some under it; and beyond that a sh=
oal
of sand, lying dry half a league more, so that I was obliged to go a great =
way
out to sea to double the point.
When I first discovered them, I was going to give over my enterprise, and c=
ome
back again, not knowing how far it might oblige me to go out to sea; and ab=
ove
all, doubting how I should get back again: so I came to an anchor; for I had
made a kind of an anchor with a piece of a broken grappling which I got out=
of
the ship.
Having secured my boat, I took my gun and went on shore, climbing up a hill,
which seemed to overlook that point where I saw the full extent of it, and =
resolved
to venture.
In my viewing the sea from that hill where I stood, I perceived a strong, a=
nd
indeed a most furious current, which ran to the east, and even came close to
the point; and I took the more notice of it because I saw there might be so=
me
danger that when I came into it I might be carried out to sea by the streng=
th
of it, and not be able to make the island again; and indeed, had I not got
first upon this hill, I believe it would have been so; for there was the sa=
me
current on the other side the island, only that it set off at a further
distance, and I saw there was a strong eddy under the shore; so I had nothi=
ng
to do but to get out of the first current, and I should presently be in an
eddy.
I lay here, however, two days, because the wind blowing pretty fresh at ese=
.,
and that being just contrary to the current, made a great breach of the sea
upon the point: so that it was not safe for me to keep too close to the sho=
re
for the breach, nor to go too far off, because of the stream.
The third day, in the morning, the wind having abated overnight, the sea was
calm, and I ventured: but I am a warning to all rash and ignorant pilots; f=
or
no sooner was I come to the point, when I was not even my boat's length from
the shore, but I found myself in a great depth of water, and a current like=
the
sluice of a mill; it carried my boat along with it with such violence that =
all
I could do could not keep her so much as on the edge of it; but I found it
hurried me farther and farther out from the eddy, which was on my left hand.
There was no wind stirring to help me, and all I could do with my paddles
signified nothing: and now I began to give myself over for lost; for as the
current was on both sides of the island, I knew in a few leagues distance t=
hey
must join again, and then I was irrecoverably gone; nor did I see any
possibility of avoiding it; so that I had no prospect before me but of
perishing, not by the sea, for that was calm enough, but of starving from
hunger. I had, indeed, found a tortoise on the shore, as big almost as I co=
uld
lift, and had tossed it into the boat; and I had a great jar of fresh water,
that is to say, one of my earthen pots; but what was all this to being driv=
en
into the vast ocean, where, to be sure, there was no shore, no mainland or
island, for a thousand leagues at least?
And now I saw how easy it was for the providence of God to make even the mo=
st
miserable condition of mankind worse. Now I looked back upon my desolate,
solitary island as the most pleasant place in the world and all the happine=
ss
my heart could wish for was to be but there again. I stretched out my hands=
to
it, with eager wishes - "O happy desert!" said I, "I shall n=
ever
see thee more. O miserable creature! whither am going?" Then I reproac=
hed
myself with my unthankful temper, and that I had repined at my solitary
condition; and now what would I give to be on shore there again! Thus, we n=
ever
see the true state of our condition till it is illustrated to us by its
contraries, nor know how to value what we enjoy, but by the want of it. It =
is
scarcely possible to imagine the consternation I was now in, being driven f=
rom
my beloved island (for so it appeared to me now to be) into the wide ocean,
almost two leagues, and in the utmost despair of ever recovering it again.
However, I worked hard till, indeed, my strength was almost exhausted, and =
kept
my boat as much to the northward, that is, towards the side of the current
which the eddy lay on, as possibly I could; when about noon, as the sun pas=
sed
the meridian, I thought I felt a little breeze of wind in my face, springin=
g up
from SSE. This cheered my heart a little, and especially when, in about hal=
f-
an-hour more, it blew a pretty gentle gale. By this time I had got at a
frightful distance from the island, and had the least cloudy or hazy weather
intervened, I had been undone another way, too; for I had no compass on boa=
rd,
and should never have known how to have steered towards the island, if I had
but once lost sight of it; but the weather continuing clear, I applied myse=
lf
to get up my mast again, and spread my sail, standing away to the north as =
much
as possible, to get out of the current.
Just as I had set my mast and sail, and the boat began to stretch away, I s=
aw
even by the clearness of the water some alteration of the current was near;=
for
where the current was so strong the water was foul; but perceiving the water
clear, I found the current abate; and presently I found to the east, at abo=
ut
half a mile, a breach of the sea upon some rocks: these rocks I found caused
the current to part again, and as the main stress of it ran away more
southerly, leaving the rocks to the north-east, so the other returned by the
repulse of the rocks, and made a strong eddy, which ran back again to the
north-west, with a very sharp stream.
They who know what it is to have a reprieve brought to them upon the ladder=
, or
to be rescued from thieves just going to murder them, or who have been in s=
uch
extremities, may guess what my present surprise of joy was, and how gladly I
put my boat into the stream of this eddy; and the wind also freshening, how
gladly I spread my sail to it, running cheerfully before the wind, and with=
a
strong tide or eddy underfoot.
This eddy carried me about a league on my way back again, directly towards =
the
island, but about two leagues more to the northward than the current which
carried me away at first; so that when I came near the island, I found myse=
lf
open to the northern shore of it, that is to say, the other end of the isla=
nd,
opposite to that which I went out from.
When I had made something more than a league of way by the help of this cur=
rent
or eddy, I found it was spent, and served me no further. However, I found t=
hat
being between two great currents - viz. that on the south side, which had h=
urried
me away, and that on the north, which lay about a league on the other side;=
I
say, between these two, in the wake of the island, I found the water at lea=
st
still, and running no way; and having still a breeze of wind fair for me, I
kept on steering directly for the island, though not making such fresh way =
as I
did before.
About four o'clock in the evening, being then within a league of the island=
, I
found the point of the rocks which occasioned this disaster stretching out,=
as
is described before, to the southward, and casting off the current more
southerly, had, of course, made another eddy to the north; and this I found
very strong, but not directly setting the way my course lay, which was due
west, but almost full north. However, having a fresh gale, I stretched acro=
ss
this eddy, slanting north-west; and in about an hour came within about a mi=
le
of the shore, where, it being smooth water, I soon got to land.
When I was on shore, God I fell on my knees and gave God thanks for my
deliverance, resolving to lay aside all thoughts of my deliverance by my bo=
at;
and refreshing myself with such things as I had, I brought my boat close to=
the
shore, in a little cove that I had spied under some trees, and laid me down=
to
sleep, being quite spent with the labour and fatigue of the voyage.
I was now at a great loss which way to get home with my boat! I had run so =
much
hazard, and knew too much of the case, to think of attempting it by the way=
I
went out; and what might be at the other side (I mean the west side) I knew
not, nor had I any mind to run any more ventures; so I resolved on the next
morning to make my way westward along the shore, and to see if there was no
creek where I might lay up my frigate in safety, so as to have her again if=
I
wanted her. In about three miles or thereabouts, coasting the shore, I came=
to
a very good inlet or bay, about a mile over, which narrowed till it came to=
a
very little rivulet or brook, where I found a very convenient harbour for my
boat, and where she lay as if she had been in a little dock made on purpose=
for
her. Here I put in, and having stowed my boat very safe, I went on shore to
look about me, and see where I was.
I soon found I had but a little passed by the place where I had been before,
when I travelled on foot to that shore; so taking nothing out of my boat bu=
t my
gun and umbrella, for it was exceedingly hot, I began my march. The way was
comfortable enough after such a voyage as I had been upon, and I reached my=
old
bower in the evening, where I found everything standing as I left it; for I
always kept it in good order, being, as I said before, my country house.
I got over the fence, and laid me down in the shade to rest my limbs, for I=
was
very weary, and fell asleep; but judge you, if you can, that read my story,
what a surprise I must be in when I was awaked out of my sleep by a voice
calling me by my name several times, "Robin, Robin, Robin Crusoe: poor
Robin Crusoe! Where are you, Robin Crusoe? Where are you? Where have you
been?"
I was so dead asleep at first, being fatigued with rowing, or part of the d=
ay,
and with walking the latter part, that I did not wake thoroughly; but dozing
thought I dreamed that somebody spoke to me; but as the voice continued to
repeat, "Robin Crusoe, Robin Crusoe," at last I began to wake more
perfectly, and was at first dreadfully frightened, and started up in the ut=
most
consternation; but no sooner were my eyes open, but I saw my Poll sitting on
the top of the hedge; and immediately knew that it was he that spoke to me;=
for
just in such bemoaning language I had used to talk to him and teach him; an=
d he
had learned it so perfectly that he would sit upon my finger, and lay his b=
ill
close to my face and cry, "Poor Robin Crusoe! Where are you? Where have
you been? How came you here?" and such things as I had taught him.
However, even though I knew it was the parrot, and that indeed it could be
nobody else, it was a good while before I could compose myself. First, I was
amazed how the creature got thither; and then, how he should just keep about
the place, and nowhere else; but as I was well satisfied it could be nobody=
but
honest Poll, I got over it; and holding out my hand, and calling him by his
name, "Poll," the sociable creature came to me, and sat upon my
thumb, as he used to do, and continued talking to me, "Poor Robin Crus=
oe!
and how did I come here? and where had I been?" just as if he had been
overjoyed to see me again; and so I carried him home along with me.
I had now had enough of rambling to sea for some time, and had enough to do=
for
many days to sit still and reflect upon the danger I had been in. I would h=
ave
been very glad to have had my boat again on my side of the island; but I kn=
ew
not how it was practicable to get it about. As to the east side of the isla=
nd,
which I had gone round, I knew well enough there was no venturing that way;=
my
very heart would shrink, and my very blood run chill, but to think of it; a=
nd
as to the other side of the island, I did not know how it might be there; b=
ut
supposing the current ran with the same force against the shore at the east=
as
it passed by it on the other, I might run the same risk of being driven down
the stream, and carried by the island, as I had been before of being carried
away from it: so with these thoughts, I contented myself to be without any
boat, though it had been the product of so many months' labour to make it, =
and
of so many more to get it into the sea.
In this government of my temper I remained near a year; and lived a very
sedate, retired life, as you may well suppose; and my thoughts being very m=
uch
composed as to my condition, and fully comforted in resigning myself to the
dispositions of Providence, I thought I lived really very happily in all th=
ings
except that of society.
I improved myself in this time in all the mechanic exercises which my
necessities put me upon applying myself to; and I believe I should, upon
occasion, have made a very good carpenter, especially considering how few t=
ools
I had.
Besides this, I arrived at an unexpected perfection in my earthenware, and
contrived well enough to make them with a wheel, which I found infinitely
easier and better; because I made things round and shaped, which before were
filthy things indeed to look on. But I think I was never more vain of my own
performance, or more joyful for anything I found out, than for my being abl=
e to
make a tobacco-pipe; and though it was a very ugly, clumsy thing when it was
done, and only burned red, like other earthenware, yet as it was hard and f=
irm,
and would draw the smoke, I was exceedingly comforted with it, for I had be=
en
always used to smoke; and there were pipes in the ship, but I forgot them at
first, not thinking there was tobacco in the island; and afterwards, when I
searched the ship again, I could not come at any pipes.
In my wicker-ware also I improved much, and made abundance of necessary
baskets, as well as my invention showed me; though not very handsome, yet t=
hey
were such as were very handy and convenient for laying things up in, or
fetching things home. For example, if I killed a goat abroad, I could hang =
it
up in a tree, flay it, dress it, and cut it in pieces, and bring it home in=
a
basket; and the like by a turtle; I could cut it up, take out the eggs and a
piece or two of the flesh, which was enough for me, and bring them home in a
basket, and leave the rest behind me. Also, large deep baskets were the
receivers of my corn, which I always rubbed out as soon as it was dry and
cured, and kept it in great baskets.
I began now to perceive my powder abated considerably; this was a want whic=
h it
was impossible for me to supply, and I began seriously to consider what I m=
ust
do when I should have no more powder; that is to say, how I should kill any
goats. I had, as is observed in the third year of my being here, kept a you=
ng
kid, and bred her up tame, and I was in hopes of getting a he-goat; but I c=
ould
not by any means bring it to pass, till my kid grew an old goat; and as I c=
ould
never find in my heart to kill her, she died at last of mere age.
But being now in the eleventh year of my residence, and, as I have said, my
ammunition growing low, I set myself to study some art to trap and snare the
goats, to see whether I could not catch some of them alive; and particularl=
y I
wanted a she-goat great with young. For this purpose I made snares to hamper
them; and I do believe they were more than once taken in them; but my tackle
was not good, for I had no wire, and I always found them broken and my bait
devoured. At length I resolved to try a pitfall; so I dug several large pit=
s in
the earth, in places where I had observed the goats used to feed, and over
those pits I placed hurdles of my own making too, with a great weight upon
them; and several times I put ears of barley and dry rice without setting t=
he
trap; and I could easily perceive that the goats had gone in and eaten up t=
he
corn, for I could see the marks of their feet. At length I set three traps =
in
one night, and going the next morning I found them, all standing, and yet t=
he
bait eaten and gone; this was very discouraging. However, I altered my trap=
s;
and not to trouble you with particulars, going one morning to see my traps,=
I
found in one of them a large old he-goat; and in one of the others three ki=
ds,
a male and two females.
As to the old one, I knew not what to do with him; he was so fierce I durst=
not
go into the pit to him; that is to say, to bring him away alive, which was =
what
I wanted. I could have killed him, but that was not my business, nor would =
it
answer my end; so I even let him out, and he ran away as if he had been
frightened out of his wits. But I did not then know what I afterwards learn=
ed,
that hunger will tame a lion. If I had let him stay three or four days with=
out
food, and then have carried him some water to drink and then a little corn,=
he
would have been as tame as one of the kids; for they are mighty sagacious,
tractable creatures, where they are well used.
However, for the present I let him go, knowing no better at that time: then=
I
went to the three kids, and taking them one by one, I tied them with strings
together, and with some difficulty brought them all home.
It was a good while before they would feed; but throwing them some sweet co=
rn,
it tempted them, and they began to be tame. And now I found that if I expec=
ted
to supply myself with goats' flesh, when I had no powder or shot left, bree=
ding
some up tame was my only way, when, perhaps, I might have them about my hou=
se
like a flock of sheep. But then it occurred to me that I must keep the tame
from the wild, or else they would always run wild when they grew up; and the
only way for this was to have some enclosed piece of ground, well fenced ei=
ther
with hedge or pale, to keep them in so effectually, that those within might=
not
break out, or those without break in.
This was a great undertaking for one pair of hands yet, as I saw there was =
an
absolute necessity for doing it, my first work was to find out a proper pie=
ce
of ground, where there was likely to be herbage for them to eat, water for =
them
to drink, and cover to keep them from the sun.
Those who understand such enclosures will think I had very little contrivan=
ce
when I pitched upon a place very proper for all these (being a plain, open
piece of meadow land, or savannah, as our people call it in the western
colonies), which had two or three little drills of fresh water in it, and at
one end was very woody - I say, they will smile at my forecast, when I shall
tell them I began by enclosing this piece of ground in such a manner that, =
my
hedge or pale must have been at least two miles about. Nor was the madness =
of
it so great as to the compass, for if it was ten miles about, I was like to
have time enough to do it in; but I did not consider that my goats would be=
as
wild in so much compass as if they had had the whole island, and I should h=
ave
so much room to chase them in that I should never catch them.
My hedge was begun and carried on, I believe, about fifty yards when this
thought occurred to me; so I presently stopped short, and, for the beginnin=
g, I
resolved to enclose a piece of about one hundred and fifty yards in length,=
and
one hundred yards in breadth, which, as it would maintain as many as I shou=
ld
have in any reasonable time, so, as my stock increased, I could add more gr=
ound
to my enclosure.
This was acting with some prudence, and I went to work with courage. I was
about three months hedging in the first piece; and, till I had done it, I
tethered the three kids in the best part of it, and used them to feed as ne=
ar
me as possible, to make them familiar; and very often I would go and carry =
them
some ears of barley, or a handful of rice, and feed them out of my hand; so
that after my enclosure was finished and I let them loose, they would follo=
w me
up and down, bleating after me for a handful of corn.
This answered my end, and in about a year and a half I had a flock of about
twelve goats, kids and all; and in two years more I had three-and-forty,
besides several that I took and killed for my food. After that, I enclosed =
five
several pieces of ground to feed them in, with little pens to drive them to
take them as I wanted, and gates out of one piece of ground into another.
But this was not all; for now I not only had goat's flesh to feed on when I
pleased, but milk too - a thing which, indeed, in the beginning, I did not =
so
much as think of, and which, when it came into my thoughts, was really an
agreeable surprise, for now I set up my dairy, and had sometimes a gallon or
two of milk in a day. And as Nature, who gives supplies of food to every
creature, dictates even naturally how to make use of it, so I, that had nev=
er
milked a cow, much less a goat, or seen butter or cheese made only when I w=
as a
boy, after a great many essays and miscarriages, made both butter and chees=
e at
last, also salt (though I found it partly made to my hand by the heat of the
sun upon some of the rocks of the sea), and never wanted it afterwards. How
mercifully can our Creator treat His creatures, even in those conditions in
which they seemed to be overwhelmed in destruction! How can He sweeten the
bitterest providences, and give us cause to praise Him for dungeons and
prisons! What a table was here spread for me in the wilderness, where I saw
nothing at first but to perish for hunger!
Chapter 11: Finds Print Of Man's Foot On The Sand
It would have made a Stoic smile to have seen me and my little family sit d=
own
to dinner. There was my majesty the prince and lord of the whole island; I =
had
the lives of all my subjects at my absolute command; I could hang, draw, gi=
ve
liberty, and take it away, and no rebels among all my subjects. Then, to see
how like a king I dined, too, all alone, attended by my servants! Poll, as =
if
he had been my favourite, was the only person permitted to talk to me. My d=
og,
who was now grown old and crazy, and had found no species to multiply his k=
ind
upon, sat always at my right hand; and two cats, one on one side of the tab=
le
and one on the other, expecting now and then a bit from my hand, as a mark =
of
especial favour.
But these were not the two cats which I brought on shore at first, for they
were both of them dead, and had been interred near my habitation by my own
hand; but one of them having multiplied by I know not what kind of creature,
these were two which I had preserved tame; whereas the rest ran wild in the
woods, and became indeed troublesome to me at last, for they would often co=
me
into my house, and plunder me too, till at last I was obliged to shoot them,
and did kill a great many; at length they left me. With this attendance and=
in
this plentiful manner I lived; neither could I be said to want anything but
society; and of that, some time after this, I was likely to have too much.<=
br>
I was something impatient, as I have observed, to have the use of my boat,
though very loath to run any more hazards; and therefore sometimes I sat
contriving ways to get her about the island, and at other times I sat myself
down contented enough without her. But I had a strange uneasiness in my min=
d to
go down to the point of the island where, as I have said in my last ramble,=
I
went up the hill to see how the shore lay, and how the current set, that I
might see what I had to do: this inclination increased upon me every day, a=
nd
at length I resolved to travel thither by land, following the edge of the
shore. I did so; but had any one in England met such a man as I was, it must
either have frightened him, or raised a great deal of laughter; and as I
frequently stood still to look at myself, I could not but smile at the noti=
on
of my travelling through Yorkshire with such an equipage, and in such a dre=
ss.
Be pleased to take a sketch of my figure, as follows.
I had a great high shapeless cap, made of a goat's skin, with a flap hanging
down behind, as well to keep the sun from me as to shoot the rain off from
running into my neck, nothing being so hurtful in these climates as the rain
upon the flesh under the clothes.
I had a short jacket of goat's skin, the skirts coming down to about the mi=
ddle
of the thighs, and a pair of open-kneed breeches of the same; the breeches =
were
made of the skin of an old he-goat, whose hair hung down such a length on
either side that, like pantaloons, it reached to the middle of my legs;
stockings and shoes I had none, but had made me a pair of somethings, I sca=
rce
knew what to call them, like buskins, to flap over my legs, and lace on eit=
her
side like spatterdashes, but of a most barbarous shape, as indeed were all =
the
rest of my clothes.
I had on a broad belt of goat's skin dried, which I drew together with two
thongs of the same instead of buckles, and in a kind of a frog on either si=
de
of this, instead of a sword and dagger, hung a little saw and a hatchet, on=
e on
one side and one on the other. I had another belt not so broad, and fastene=
d in
the same manner, which hung over my shoulder, and at the end of it, under my
left arm, hung two pouches, both made of goat's skin too, in one of which h=
ung
my powder, in the other my shot. At my back I carried my basket, and on my
shoulder my gun, and over my head a great clumsy, ugly, goat's-skin umbrell=
a,
but which, after all, was the most necessary thing I had about me next to my
gun. As for my face, the colour of it was really not so mulatto-like as one
might expect from a man not at all careful of it, and living within nine or=
ten
degrees of the equinox. My beard I had once suffered to grow till it was ab=
out
a quarter of a yard long; but as I had both scissors and razors sufficient,=
I
had cut it pretty short, except what grew on my upper lip, which I had trim=
med
into a large pair of Mahometan whiskers, such as I had seen worn by some Tu=
rks
at Sallee, for the Moors did not wear such, though the Turks did; of these
moustaches, or whiskers, I will not say they were long enough to hang my hat
upon them, but they were of a length and shape monstrous enough, and such a=
s in
England would have passed for frightful.
But all this is by-the-bye; for as to my figure, I had so few to observe me
that it was of no manner of consequence, so I say no more of that. In this =
kind
of dress I went my new journey, and was out five or six days. I travelled f=
irst
along the sea-shore, directly to the place where I first brought my boat to=
an
anchor to get upon the rocks; and having no boat now to take care of, I went
over the land a nearer way to the same height that I was upon before, when,
looking forward to the points of the rocks which lay out, and which I was
obliged to double with my boat, as is said above, I was surprised to see the
sea all smooth and quiet - no rippling, no motion, no current, any more the=
re
than in other places. I was at a strange loss to understand this, and resol=
ved
to spend some time in the observing it, to see if nothing from the sets of =
the
tide had occasioned it; but I was presently convinced how it was - viz. that
the tide of ebb setting from the west, and joining with the current of wate=
rs
from some great river on the shore, must be the occasion of this current, a=
nd
that, according as the wind blew more forcibly from the west or from the no=
rth,
this current came nearer or went farther from the shore; for, waiting there=
abouts
till evening, I went up to the rock again, and then the tide of ebb being m=
ade,
I plainly saw the current again as before, only that it ran farther off, be=
ing
near half a league from the shore, whereas in my case it set close upon the
shore, and hurried me and my canoe along with it, which at another time it
would not have done.
This observation convinced me that I had nothing to do but to observe the
ebbing and the flowing of the tide, and I might very easily bring my boat a=
bout
the island again; but when I began to think of putting it in practice, I had
such terror upon my spirits at the remembrance of the danger I had been in,
that I could not think of it again with any patience, but, on the contrary,=
I
took up another resolution, which was more safe, though more laborious - and
this was, that I would build, or rather make, me another periagua or canoe,=
and
so have one for one side of the island, and one for the other.
You are to understand that now I had, as I may call it, two plantations in =
the
island - one my little fortification or tent, with the wall about it, under=
the
rock, with the cave behind me, which by this time I had enlarged into sever=
al
apartments or caves, one within another. One of these, which was the driest=
and
largest, and had a door out beyond my wall or fortification - that is to sa=
y,
beyond where my wall joined to the rock - was all filled up with the large
earthen pots of which I have given an account, and with fourteen or fifteen
great baskets, which would hold five or six bushels each, where I laid up my
stores of provisions, especially my corn, some in the ear, cut off short fr=
om
the straw, and the other rubbed out with my hand.
As for my wall, made, as before, with long stakes or piles, those piles grew
all like trees, and were by this time grown so big, and spread so very much,
that there was not the least appearance, to any one's view, of any habitati=
on
behind them.
Near this dwelling of mine, but a little farther within the land, and upon
lower ground, lay my two pieces of corn land, which I kept duly cultivated =
and
sowed, and which duly yielded me their harvest in its season; and whenever I
had occasion for more corn, I had more land adjoining as fit as that.
Besides this, I had my country seat, and I had now a tolerable plantation t=
here
also; for, first, I had my little bower, as I called it, which I kept in re=
pair
- that is to say, I kept the hedge which encircled it in constantly fitted =
up
to its usual height, the ladder standing always in the inside. I kept the
trees, which at first were no more than stakes, but were now grown very firm
and tall, always cut, so that they might spread and grow thick and wild, and
make the more agreeable shade, which they did effectually to my mind. In the
middle of this I had my tent always standing, being a piece of a sail spread
over poles, set up for that purpose, and which never wanted any repair or
renewing; and under this I had made me a squab or couch with the skins of t=
he
creatures I had killed, and with other soft things, and a blanket laid on t=
hem,
such as belonged to our sea-bedding, which I had saved; and a great watch-c=
oat
to cover me. And here, whenever I had occasion to be absent from my chief s=
eat,
I took up my country habitation.
Adjoining to this I had my enclosures for my cattle, that is to say my goat=
s,
and I had taken an inconceivable deal of pains to fence and enclose this
ground. I was so anxious to see it kept entire, lest the goats should break
through, that I never left off till, with infinite labour, I had stuck the
outside of the hedge so full of small stakes, and so near to one another, t=
hat
it was rather a pale than a hedge, and there was scarce room to put a hand
through between them; which afterwards, when those stakes grew, as they all=
did
in the next rainy season, made the enclosure strong like a wall, indeed
stronger than any wall.
This will testify for me that I was not idle, and that I spared no pains to
bring to pass whatever appeared necessary for my comfortable support, for I
considered the keeping up a breed of tame creatures thus at my hand would b=
e a
living magazine of flesh, milk, butter, and cheese for me as long as I live=
d in
the place, if it were to be forty years; and that keeping them in my reach
depended entirely upon my perfecting my enclosures to such a degree that I
might be sure of keeping them together; which by this method, indeed, I so
effectually secured, that when these little stakes began to grow, I had pla=
nted
them so very thick that I was forced to pull some of them up again.
In this place also I had my grapes growing, which I principally depended on=
for
my winter store of raisins, and which I never failed to preserve very
carefully, as the best and most agreeable dainty of my whole diet; and inde=
ed
they were not only agreeable, but medicinal, wholesome, nourishing, and
refreshing to the last degree.
As this was also about half-way between my other habitation and the place w=
here
I had laid up my boat, I generally stayed and lay here in my way thither, f=
or I
used frequently to visit my boat; and I kept all things about or belonging =
to
her in very good order. Sometimes I went out in her to divert myself, but no
more hazardous voyages would I go, scarcely ever above a stone's cast or two
from the shore, I was so apprehensive of being hurried out of my knowledge
again by the currents or winds, or any other accident. But now I come to a =
new
scene of my life. It happened one day, about noon, going towards my boat, I=
was
exceedingly surprised with the print of a man's naked foot on the shore, wh=
ich
was very plain to be seen on the sand. I stood like one thunderstruck, or a=
s if
I had seen an apparition. I listened, I looked round me, but I could hear
nothing, nor see anything; I went up to a rising ground to look farther; I =
went
up the shore and down the shore, but it was all one; I could see no other
impression but that one. I went to it again to see if there were any more, =
and
to observe if it might not be my fancy; but there was no room for that, for
there was exactly the print of a foot - toes, heel, and every part of a foo=
t.
How it came thither I knew not, nor could I in the least imagine; but after
innumerable fluttering thoughts, like a man perfectly confused and out of
myself, I came home to my fortification, not feeling, as we say, the ground=
I
went on, but terrified to the last degree, looking behind me at every two or
three steps, mistaking every bush and tree, and fancying every stump at a
distance to be a man. Nor is it possible to describe how many various shape=
s my
affrighted imagination represented things to me in, how many wild ideas were
found every moment in my fancy, and what strange, unaccountable whimsies ca=
me
into my thoughts by the way.
When I came to my castle (for so I think I called it ever after this), I fl=
ed
into it like one pursued. Whether I went over by the ladder, as first
contrived, or went in at the hole in the rock, which I had called a door, I
cannot remember; no, nor could I remember the next morning, for never
frightened hare fled to cover, or fox to earth, with more terror of mind th=
an I
to this retreat.
I slept none that night; the farther I was from the occasion of my fright, =
the
greater my apprehensions were, which is something contrary to the nature of
such things, and especially to the usual practice of all creatures in fear;=
but
I was so embarrassed with my own frightful ideas of the thing, that I formed
nothing but dismal imaginations to myself, even though I was now a great way
off. Sometimes I fancied it must be the devil, and reason joined in with me=
in
this supposition, for how should any other thing in human shape come into t=
he
place? Where was the vessel that brought them? What marks were there of any
other footstep? And how was it possible a man should come there? But then, =
to
think that Satan should take human shape upon him in such a place, where th=
ere
could be no manner of occasion for it, but to leave the print of his foot
behind him, and that even for no purpose too, for he could not be sure I sh=
ould
see it - this was an amusement the other way. I considered that the devil m=
ight
have found out abundance of other ways to have terrified me than this of the
single print of a foot; that as I lived quite on the other side of the isla=
nd,
he would never have been so simple as to leave a mark in a place where it w=
as
ten thousand to one whether I should ever see it or not, and in the sand to=
o,
which the first surge of the sea, upon a high wind, would have defaced
entirely. All this seemed inconsistent with the thing itself and with all t=
he
notions we usually entertain of the subtlety of the devil.
Abundance of such things as these assisted to argue me out of all apprehens=
ions
of its being the devil; and I presently concluded then that it must be some
more dangerous creature - viz. that it must be some of the savages of the
mainland opposite who had wandered out to sea in their canoes, and either
driven by the currents or by contrary winds, had made the island, and had b=
een
on shore, but were gone away again to sea; being as loath, perhaps, to have
stayed in this desolate island as I would have been to have had them.
While these reflections were rolling in my mind, I was very thankful in my
thoughts that I was so happy as not to be thereabouts at that time, or that
they did not see my boat, by which they would have concluded that some
inhabitants had been in the place, and perhaps have searched farther for me.
Then terrible thoughts racked my imagination about their having found out my
boat, and that there were people here; and that, if so, I should certainly =
have
them come again in greater numbers and devour me; that if it should happen =
that
they should not find me, yet they would find my enclosure, destroy all my c=
orn,
and carry away all my flock of tame goats, and I should perish at last for =
mere
want.
Thus my fear banished all my religious hope, all that former confidence in =
God,
which was founded upon such wonderful experience as I had had of His goodne=
ss;
as if He that had fed me by miracle hitherto could not preserve, by His pow=
er,
the provision which He had made for me by His goodness. I reproached myself
with my laziness, that would not sow any more corn one year than would just
serve me till the next season, as if no accident could intervene to prevent=
my
enjoying the crop that was upon the ground; and this I thought so just a
reproof, that I resolved for the future to have two or three years' corn
beforehand; so that, whatever might come, I might not perish for want of br=
ead.
How strange a chequer-work of Providence is the life of man! and by what se=
cret
different springs are the affections hurried about, as different circumstan=
ces
present! To-day we love what to-morrow we hate; to-day we seek what to-morr=
ow
we shun; to-day we desire what to-morrow we fear, nay, even tremble at the
apprehensions of. This was exemplified in me, at this time, in the most liv=
ely
manner imaginable; for I, whose only affliction was that I seemed banished =
from
human society, that I was alone, circumscribed by the boundless ocean, cut =
off
from mankind, and condemned to what I call silent life; that I was as one w=
hom
Heaven thought not worthy to be numbered among the living, or to appear amo=
ng
the rest of His creatures; that to have seen one of my own species would ha=
ve
seemed to me a raising me from death to life, and the greatest blessing that
Heaven itself, next to the supreme blessing of salvation, could bestow; I s=
ay,
that I should now tremble at the very apprehensions of seeing a man, and was
ready to sink into the ground at but the shadow or silent appearance of a m=
an having
set his foot in the island.
Such is the uneven state of human life; and it afforded me a great many cur=
ious
speculations afterwards, when I had a little recovered my first surprise. I
considered that this was the station of life the infinitely wise and good
providence of God had determined for me; that as I could not foresee what t=
he
ends of Divine wisdom might be in all this, so I was not to dispute His
sovereignty; who, as I was His creature, had an undoubted right, by creatio=
n,
to govern and dispose of me absolutely as He thought fit; and who, as I was=
a
creature that had offended Him, had likewise a judicial right to condemn me=
to
what punishment He thought fit; and that it was my part to submit to bear H=
is
indignation, because I had sinned against Him. I then reflected, that as Go=
d,
who was not only righteous but omnipotent, had thought fit thus to punish a=
nd
afflict me, so He was able to deliver me: that if He did not think fit to do
so, it was my unquestioned duty to resign myself absolutely and entirely to=
His
will; and, on the other hand, it was my duty also to hope in Him, pray to H=
im,
and quietly to attend to the dictates and directions of His daily providenc=
e,
These thoughts took me up many hours, days, nay, I may say weeks and months:
and one particular effect of my cogitations on this occasion I cannot omit.=
One
morning early, lying in my bed, and filled with thoughts about my danger fr=
om
the appearances of savages, I found it discomposed me very much; upon which
these words of the Scripture came into my thoughts, "Call upon Me in t=
he
day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." U=
pon
this, rising cheerfully out of my bed, my heart was not only comforted, but=
I
was guided and encouraged to pray earnestly to God for deliverance: when I =
had
done praying I took up my Bible, and opening it to read, the first words th=
at
presented to me were, "Wait on the Lord, and be of good cheer, and He
shall strengthen thy heart; wait, I say, on the Lord." It is impossibl=
e to
express the comfort this gave me. In answer, I thankfully laid down the boo=
k,
and was no more sad, at least on that occasion.
In the middle of these cogitations, apprehensions, and reflections, it came
into my thoughts one day that all this might be a mere chimera of my own, a=
nd
that this foot might be the print of my own foot, when I came on shore from=
my
boat: this cheered me up a little, too, and I began to persuade myself it w=
as
all a delusion; that it was nothing else but my own foot; and why might I n=
ot
come that way from the boat, as well as I was going that way to the boat?
Again, I considered also that I could by no means tell for certain where I =
had
trod, and where I had not; and that if, at last, this was only the print of=
my
own foot, I had played the part of those fools who try to make stories of
spectres and apparitions, and then are frightened at them more than anybody=
.
Now I began to take courage, and to peep abroad again, for I had not stirred
out of my castle for three days and nights, so that I began to starve for
provisions; for I had little or nothing within doors but some barley-cakes =
and
water; then I knew that my goats wanted to be milked too, which usually was=
my
evening diversion: and the poor creatures were in great pain and inconvenie=
nce
for want of it; and, indeed, it almost spoiled some of them, and almost dri=
ed
up their milk. Encouraging myself, therefore, with the belief that this was
nothing but the print of one of my own feet, and that I might be truly said=
to
start at my own shadow, I began to go abroad again, and went to my country
house to milk my flock: but to see with what fear I went forward, how often=
I
looked behind me, how I was ready every now and then to lay down my basket =
and
run for my life, it would have made any one have thought I was haunted with=
an
evil conscience, or that I had been lately most terribly frightened; and so,
indeed, I had. However, I went down thus two or three days, and having seen
nothing, I began to be a little bolder, and to think there was really nothi=
ng
in it but my own imagination; but I could not persuade myself fully of this
till I should go down to the shore again, and see this print of a foot, and
measure it by my own, and see if there was any similitude or fitness, that I
might be assured it was my own foot: but when I came to the place, first, it
appeared evidently to me, that when I laid up my boat I could not possibly =
be
on shore anywhere thereabouts; secondly, when I came to measure the mark wi=
th
my own foot, I found my foot not so large by a great deal. Both these things
filled my head with new imaginations, and gave me the vapours again to the
highest degree, so that I shook with cold like one in an ague; and I went h=
ome
again, filled with the belief that some man or men had been on shore there;=
or,
in short, that the island was inhabited, and I might be surprised before I =
was
aware; and what course to take for my security I knew not.
Oh, what ridiculous resolutions men take when possessed with fear! It depri=
ves
them of the use of those means which reason offers for their relief. The fi=
rst
thing I proposed to myself was, to throw down my enclosures, and turn all my
tame cattle wild into the woods, lest the enemy should find them, and then
frequent the island in prospect of the same or the like booty: then the sim=
ple
thing of digging up my two corn-fields, lest they should find such a grain
there, and still be prompted to frequent the island: then to demolish my bo=
wer
and tent, that they might not see any vestiges of habitation, and be prompt=
ed
to look farther, in order to find out the persons inhabiting.
These were the subject of the first night's cogitations after I was come ho=
me
again, while the apprehensions which had so overrun my mind were fresh upon=
me,
and my head was full of vapours. Thus, fear of danger is ten thousand times
more terrifying than danger itself, when apparent to the eyes; and we find =
the
burden of anxiety greater, by much, than the evil which we are anxious abou=
t:
and what was worse than all this, I had not that relief in this trouble that
from the resignation I used to practise I hoped to have. I looked, I though=
t,
like Saul, who complained not only that the Philistines were upon him, but =
that
God had forsaken him; for I did not now take due ways to compose my mind, b=
y crying
to God in my distress, and resting upon His providence, as I had done befor=
e,
for my defence and deliverance; which, if I had done, I had at least been m=
ore
cheerfully supported under this new surprise, and perhaps carried through it
with more resolution.
This confusion of my thoughts kept me awake all night; but in the morning I
fell asleep; and having, by the amusement of my mind, been as it were tired,
and my spirits exhausted, I slept very soundly, and waked much better compo=
sed
than I had ever been before. And now I began to think sedately; and, upon
debate with myself, I concluded that this island (which was so exceedingly
pleasant, fruitful, and no farther from the mainland than as I had seen) was
not so entirely abandoned as I might imagine; that although there were no
stated inhabitants who lived on the spot, yet that there might sometimes co=
me
boats off from the shore, who, either with design, or perhaps never but when
they were driven by cross winds, might come to this place; that I had lived
there fifteen years now and had not met with the least shadow or figure of =
any
people yet; and that, if at any time they should be driven here, it was
probable they went away again as soon as ever they could, seeing they had n=
ever
thought fit to fix here upon any occasion; that the most I could suggest any
danger from was from any casual accidental landing of straggling people from
the main, who, as it was likely, if they were driven hither, were here agai=
nst
their wills, so they made no stay here, but went off again with all possible
speed; seldom staying one night on shore, lest they should not have the hel=
p of
the tides and daylight back again; and that, therefore, I had nothing to do=
but
to consider of some safe retreat, in case I should see any savages land upon
the spot.
Now, I began sorely to repent that I had dug my cave so large as to bring a
door through again, which door, as I said, came out beyond where my
fortification joined to the rock: upon maturely considering this, therefore=
, I
resolved to draw me a second fortification, in the manner of a semicircle, =
at a
distance from my wall, just where I had planted a double row of trees about
twelve years before, of which I made mention: these trees having been plant=
ed
so thick before, they wanted but few piles to be driven between them, that =
they
might be thicker and stronger, and my wall would be soon finished. So that I
had now a double wall; and my outer wall was thickened with pieces of timbe=
r,
old cables, and everything I could think of, to make it strong; having in it
seven little holes, about as big as I might put my arm out at. In the insid=
e of
this I thickened my wall to about ten feet thick with continually bringing
earth out of my cave, and laying it at the foot of the wall, and walking up=
on
it; and through the seven holes I contrived to plant the muskets, of which I
took notice that I had got seven on shore out of the ship; these I planted =
like
my cannon, and fitted them into frames, that held them like a carriage, so =
that
I could fire all the seven guns in two minutes' time; this wall I was many a
weary month in finishing, and yet never thought myself safe till it was don=
e.
When this was done I stuck all the ground without my wall, for a great leng=
th
every way, as full with stakes or sticks of the osier- like wood, which I f=
ound
so apt to grow, as they could well stand; insomuch that I believe I might s=
et
in near twenty thousand of them, leaving a pretty large space between them =
and
my wall, that I might have room to see an enemy, and they might have no she=
lter
from the young trees, if they attempted to approach my outer wall.
Thus in two years' time I had a thick grove; and in five or six years' time=
I
had a wood before my dwelling, growing so monstrously thick and strong that=
it
was indeed perfectly impassable: and no men, of what kind soever, could ever
imagine that there was anything beyond it, much less a habitation. As for t=
he
way which I proposed to myself to go in and out (for I left no avenue), it =
was
by setting two ladders, one to a part of the rock which was low, and then b=
roke
in, and left room to place another ladder upon that; so when the two ladders
were taken down no man living could come down to me without doing himself
mischief; and if they had come down, they were still on the outside of my o=
uter
wall.
Thus I took all the measures human prudence could suggest for my own
preservation; and it will be seen at length that they were not altogether
without just reason; though I foresaw nothing at that time more than my mere
fear suggested to me.
Chapter 12: A Cave Retreat
While this was doing, I was not altogether careless of my other affairs; fo=
r I
had a great concern upon me for my little herd of goats: they were not only=
a
ready supply to me on every occasion, and began to be sufficient for me,
without the expense of powder and shot, but also without the fatigue of hun=
ting
after the wild ones; and I was loath to lose the advantage of them, and to =
have
them all to nurse up over again.
For this purpose, after long consideration, I could think of but two ways to
preserve them: one was, to find another convenient place to dig a cave
underground, and to drive them into it every night; and the other was to
enclose two or three little bits of land, remote from one another, and as m=
uch
concealed as I could, where I might keep about half-a-dozen young goats in =
each
place; so that if any disaster happened to the flock in general, I might be
able to raise them again with little trouble and time: and this though it w=
ould
require a good deal of time and labour, I thought was the most rational des=
ign.
Accordingly, I spent some time to find out the most retired parts of the
island; and I pitched upon one, which was as private, indeed, as my heart c=
ould
wish: it was a little damp piece of ground in the middle of the hollow and
thick woods, where, as is observed, I almost lost myself once before,
endeavouring to come back that way from the eastern part of the island. Her=
e I
found a clear piece of land, near three acres, so surrounded with woods tha=
t it
was almost an enclosure by nature; at least, it did not want near so much
labour to make it so as the other piece of ground I had worked so hard at.<=
br>
I immediately went to work with this piece of ground; and in less than a
month's time I had so fenced it round that my flock, or herd, call it which=
you
please, which were not so wild now as at first they might be supposed to be,
were well enough secured in it: so, without any further delay, I removed ten
young she-goats and two he-goats to this piece, and when they were there I
continued to perfect the fence till I had made it as secure as the other;
which, however, I did at more leisure, and it took me up more time by a gre=
at
deal. All this labour I was at the expense of, purely from my apprehensions=
on
account of the print of a man's foot; for as yet I had never seen any human
creature come near the island; and I had now lived two years under this
uneasiness, which, indeed, made my life much less comfortable than it was
before, as may be well imagined by any who know what it is to live in the
constant snare of the fear of man. And this I must observe, with grief, too,
that the discomposure of my mind had great impression also upon the religio=
us
part of my thoughts; for the dread and terror of falling into the hands of
savages and cannibals lay so upon my spirits, that I seldom found myself in=
a
due temper for application to my Maker; at least, not with the sedate calmn=
ess
and resignation of soul which I was wont to do: I rather prayed to God as u=
nder
great affliction and pressure of mind, surrounded with danger, and in
expectation every night of being murdered and devoured before morning; and I
must testify, from my experience, that a temper of peace, thankfulness, lov=
e,
and affection, is much the more proper frame for prayer than that of terror=
and
discomposure: and that under the dread of mischief impending, a man is no m=
ore
fit for a comforting performance of the duty of praying to God than he is f=
or a
repentance on a sick-bed; for these discomposures affect the mind, as the
others do the body; and the discomposure of the mind must necessarily be as
great a disability as that of the body, and much greater; praying to God be=
ing
properly an act of the mind, not of the body.
But to go on. After I had thus secured one part of my little living stock, I
went about the whole island, searching for another private place to make su=
ch
another deposit; when, wandering more to the west point of the island than I
had ever done yet, and looking out to sea, I thought I saw a boat upon the =
sea,
at a great distance. I had found a perspective glass or two in one of the
seamen's chests, which I saved out of our ship, but I had it not about me; =
and
this was so remote that I could not tell what to make of it, though I looke=
d at
it till my eyes were not able to hold to look any longer; whether it was a =
boat
or not I do not know, but as I descended from the hill I could see no more =
of
it, so I gave it over; only I resolved to go no more out without a perspect=
ive
glass in my pocket. When I was come down the hill to the end of the island,
where, indeed, I had never been before, I was presently convinced that the
seeing the print of a man's foot was not such a strange thing in the island=
as
I imagined: and but that it was a special providence that I was cast upon t=
he
side of the island where the savages never came, I should easily have known
that nothing was more frequent than for the canoes from the main, when they
happened to be a little too far out at sea, to shoot over to that side of t=
he
island for harbour: likewise, as they often met and fought in their canoes,=
the
victors, having taken any prisoners, would bring them over to this shore,
where, according to their dreadful customs, being all cannibals, they would
kill and eat them; of which hereafter.
When I was come down the hill to the shore, as I said above, being the SW.
point of the island, I was perfectly confounded and amazed; nor is it possi=
ble
for me to express the horror of my mind at seeing the shore spread with sku=
lls,
hands, feet, and other bones of human bodies; and particularly I observed a
place where there had been a fire made, and a circle dug in the earth, like=
a
cockpit, where I supposed the savage wretches had sat down to their human
feastings upon the bodies of their fellow-creatures.
I was so astonished with the sight of these things, that I entertained no
notions of any danger to myself from it for a long while: all my apprehensi=
ons
were buried in the thoughts of such a pitch of inhuman, hellish brutality, =
and
the horror of the degeneracy of human nature, which, though I had heard of =
it
often, yet I never had so near a view of before; in short, I turned away my
face from the horrid spectacle; my stomach grew sick, and I was just at the
point of fainting, when nature discharged the disorder from my stomach; and
having vomited with uncommon violence, I was a little relieved, but could n=
ot
bear to stay in the place a moment; so I got up the hill again with all the
speed I could, and walked on towards my own habitation.
When I came a little out of that part of the island I stood still awhile, as
amazed, and then, recovering myself, I looked up with the utmost affection =
of
my soul, and, with a flood of tears in my eyes, gave God thanks, that had c=
ast
my first lot in a part of the world where I was distinguished from such
dreadful creatures as these; and that, though I had esteemed my present
condition very miserable, had yet given me so many comforts in it that I had
still more to give thanks for than to complain of: and this, above all, tha=
t I
had, even in this miserable condition, been comforted with the knowledge of
Himself, and the hope of His blessing: which was a felicity more than
sufficiently equivalent to all the misery which I had suffered, or could su=
ffer.
In this frame of thankfulness I went home to my castle, and began to be much
easier now, as to the safety of my circumstances, than ever I was before: f=
or I
observed that these wretches never came to this island in search of what th=
ey
could get; perhaps not seeking, not wanting, or not expecting anything here;
and having often, no doubt, been up the covered, woody part of it without
finding anything to their purpose. I knew I had been here now almost eighte=
en
years, and never saw the least footsteps of human creature there before; an=
d I
might be eighteen years more as entirely concealed as I was now, if I did n=
ot
discover myself to them, which I had no manner of occasion to do; it being =
my
only business to keep myself entirely concealed where I was, unless I found=
a
better sort of creatures than cannibals to make myself known to. Yet I
entertained such an abhorrence of the savage wretches that I have been spea=
king
of, and of the wretched, inhuman custom of their devouring and eating one
another up, that I continued pensive and sad, and kept close within my own
circle for almost two years after this: when I say my own circle, I mean by=
it
my three plantations - viz. my castle, my country seat (which I called my
bower), and my enclosure in the woods: nor did I look after this for any ot=
her
use than an enclosure for my goats; for the aversion which nature gave me to
these hellish wretches was such, that I was as fearful of seeing them as of
seeing the devil himself. I did not so much as go to look after my boat all
this time, but began rather to think of making another; for I could not thi=
nk
of ever making any more attempts to bring the other boat round the island to
me, lest I should meet with some of these creatures at sea; in which case, =
if I
had happened to have fallen into their hands, I knew what would have been my
lot.
Time, however, and the satisfaction I had that I was in no danger of being
discovered by these people, began to wear off my uneasiness about them; and=
I
began to live just in the same composed manner as before, only with this
difference, that I used more caution, and kept my eyes more about me than I=
did
before, lest I should happen to be seen by any of them; and particularly, I=
was
more cautious of firing my gun, lest any of them, being on the island, shou=
ld
happen to hear it. It was, therefore, a very good providence to me that I h=
ad
furnished myself with a tame breed of goats, and that I had no need to hunt=
any
more about the woods, or shoot at them; and if I did catch any of them afte=
r this,
it was by traps and snares, as I had done before; so that for two years aft=
er
this I believe I never fired my gun once off, though I never went out witho=
ut
it; and what was more, as I had saved three pistols out of the ship, I alwa=
ys
carried them out with me, or at least two of them, sticking them in my
goat-skin belt. I also furbished up one of the great cutlasses that I had o=
ut
of the ship, and made me a belt to hang it on also; so that I was now a most
formidable fellow to look at when I went abroad, if you add to the former
description of myself the particular of two pistols, and a broadsword hangi=
ng
at my side in a belt, but without a scabbard.
Things going on thus, as I have said, for some time, I seemed, excepting th=
ese
cautions, to be reduced to my former calm, sedate way of living. All these
things tended to show me more and more how far my condition was from being
miserable, compared to some others; nay, to many other particulars of life
which it might have pleased God to have made my lot. It put me upon reflect=
ing
how little repining there would be among mankind at any condition of life if
people would rather compare their condition with those that were worse, in
order to be thankful, than be always comparing them with those which are be=
tter,
to assist their murmurings and complainings.
As in my present condition there were not really many things which I wanted=
, so
indeed I thought that the frights I had been in about these savage wretches,
and the concern I had been in for my own preservation, had taken off the ed=
ge
of my invention, for my own conveniences; and I had dropped a good design,
which I had once bent my thoughts upon, and that was to try if I could not =
make
some of my barley into malt, and then try to brew myself some beer. This was
really a whimsical thought, and I reproved myself often for the simplicity =
of
it: for I presently saw there would be the want of several things necessary=
to
the making my beer that it would be impossible for me to supply; as, first,
casks to preserve it in, which was a thing that, as I have observed already=
, I
could never compass: no, though I spent not only many days, but weeks, nay
months, in attempting it, but to no purpose. In the next place, I had no ho=
ps
to make it keep, no yeast to made it work, no copper or kettle to make it b=
oil;
and yet with all these things wanting, I verily believe, had not the frights
and terrors I was in about the savages intervened, I had undertaken it, and
perhaps brought it to pass too; for I seldom gave anything over without
accomplishing it, when once I had it in my head to began it. But my inventi=
on
now ran quite another way; for night and day I could think of nothing but h=
ow I
might destroy some of the monsters in their cruel, bloody entertainment, an=
d if
possible save the victim they should bring hither to destroy. It would take=
up
a larger volume than this whole work is intended to be to set down all the
contrivances I hatched, or rather brooded upon, in my thoughts, for the
destroying these creatures, or at least frightening them so as to prevent t=
heir
coming hither any more: but all this was abortive; nothing could be possibl=
e to
take effect, unless I was to be there to do it myself: and what could one m=
an
do among them, when perhaps there might be twenty or thirty of them together
with their darts, or their bows and arrows, with which they could shoot as =
true
to a mark as I could with my gun?
Sometimes I thought if digging a hole under the place where they made their
fire, and putting in five or six pounds of gunpowder, which, when they kind=
led
their fire, would consequently take fire, and blow up all that was near it:=
but
as, in the first place, I should be unwilling to waste so much powder upon
them, my store being now within the quantity of one barrel, so neither coul=
d I
be sure of its going off at any certain time, when it might surprise them; =
and,
at best, that it would do little more than just blow the fire about their e=
ars
and fright them, but not sufficient to make them forsake the place: so I la=
id
it aside; and then proposed that I would place myself in ambush in some
convenient place, with my three guns all double-loaded, and in the middle of
their bloody ceremony let fly at them, when I should be sure to kill or wou=
nd
perhaps two or three at every shot; and then falling in upon them with my t=
hree
pistols and my sword, I made no doubt but that, if there were twenty, I sho=
uld
kill them all. This fancy pleased my thoughts for some weeks, and I was so =
full
of it that I often dreamed of it, and, sometimes, that I was just going to =
let
fly at them in my sleep. I went so far with it in my imagination that I
employed myself several days to find out proper places to put myself in
ambuscade, as I said, to watch for them, and I went frequently to the place
itself, which was now grown more familiar to me; but while my mind was thus
filled with thoughts of revenge and a bloody putting twenty or thirty of th=
em
to the sword, as I may call it, the horror I had at the place, and at the
signals of the barbarous wretches devouring one another, abetted my malice.
Well, at length I found a place in the side of the hill where I was satisfi=
ed I
might securely wait till I saw any of their boats coming; and might then, e=
ven
before they would be ready to come on shore, convey myself unseen into some
thickets of trees, in one of which there was a hollow large enough to conce=
al
me entirely; and there I might sit and observe all their bloody doings, and
take my full aim at their heads, when they were so close together as that it
would be next to impossible that I should miss my shot, or that I could fail
wounding three or four of them at the first shot. In this place, then, I
resolved to fulfil my design; and accordingly I prepared two muskets and my
ordinary fowling-piece. The two muskets I loaded with a brace of slugs each,
and four or five smaller bullets, about the size of pistol bullets; and the
fowling- piece I loaded with near a handful of swan-shot of the largest siz=
e; I
also loaded my pistols with about four bullets each; and, in this posture, =
well
provided with ammunition for a second and third charge, I prepared myself f=
or
my expedition.
After I had thus laid the scheme of my design, and in my imagination put it=
in
practice, I continually made my tour every morning to the top of the hill,
which was from my castle, as I called it, about three miles or more, to see=
if
I could observe any boats upon the sea, coming near the island, or standing
over towards it; but I began to tire of this hard duty, after I had for two=
or
three months constantly kept my watch, but came always back without any
discovery; there having not, in all that time, been the least appearance, n=
ot
only on or near the shore, but on the whole ocean, so far as my eye or glass
could reach every way.
As long as I kept my daily tour to the hill, to look out, so long also I ke=
pt
up the vigour of my design, and my spirits seemed to be all the while in a
suitable frame for so outrageous an execution as the killing twenty or thir=
ty
naked savages, for an offence which I had not at all entered into any
discussion of in my thoughts, any farther than my passions were at first fi=
red
by the horror I conceived at the unnatural custom of the people of that
country, who, it seems, had been suffered by Providence, in His wise
disposition of the world, to have no other guide than that of their own
abominable and vitiated passions; and consequently were left, and perhaps h=
ad
been so for some ages, to act such horrid things, and receive such dreadful
customs, as nothing but nature, entirely abandoned by Heaven, and actuated =
by
some hellish degeneracy, could have run them into. But now, when, as I have
said, I began to be weary of the fruitless excursion which I had made so lo=
ng
and so far every morning in vain, so my opinion of the action itself began =
to
alter; and I began, with cooler and calmer thoughts, to consider what I was
going to engage in; what authority or call I had to pretend to be judge and
executioner upon these men as criminals, whom Heaven had thought fit for so
many ages to suffer unpunished to go on, and to be as it were the execution=
ers
of His judgments one upon another; how far these people were offenders agai=
nst
me, and what right I had to engage in the quarrel of that blood which they =
shed
promiscuously upon one another. I debated this very often with myself thus:
"How do I know what God Himself judges in this particular case? It is
certain these people do not commit this as a crime; it is not against their=
own
consciences reproving, or their light reproaching them; they do not know it=
to
be an offence, and then commit it in defiance of divine justice, as we do in
almost all the sins we commit. They think it no more a crime to kill a capt=
ive
taken in war than we do to kill an ox; or to eat human flesh than we do to =
eat
mutton."
When I considered this a little, it followed necessarily that I was certain=
ly
in the wrong; that these people were not murderers, in the sense that I had
before condemned them in my thoughts, any more than those Christians were
murderers who often put to death the prisoners taken in battle; or more
frequently, upon many occasions, put whole troops of men to the sword, with=
out
giving quarter, though they threw down their arms and submitted. In the next
place, it occurred to me that although the usage they gave one another was =
thus
brutish and inhuman, yet it was really nothing to me: these people had done=
me
no injury: that if they attempted, or I saw it necessary, for my immediate
preservation, to fall upon them, something might be said for it: but that I=
was
yet out of their power, and they really had no knowledge of me, and
consequently no design upon me; and therefore it could not be just for me to
fall upon them; that this would justify the conduct of the Spaniards in all
their barbarities practised in America, where they destroyed millions of th=
ese
people; who, however they were idolators and barbarians, and had several bl=
oody
and barbarous rites in their customs, such as sacrificing human bodies to t=
heir
idols, were yet, as to the Spaniards, very innocent people; and that the
rooting them out of the country is spoken of with the utmost abhorrence and
detestation by even the Spaniards themselves at this time, and by all other
Christian nations of Europe, as a mere butchery, a bloody and unnatural pie=
ce of
cruelty, unjustifiable either to God or man; and for which the very name of=
a
Spaniard is reckoned to be frightful and terrible, to all people of humanit=
y or
of Christian compassion; as if the kingdom of Spain were particularly emine=
nt
for the produce of a race of men who were without principles of tenderness,=
or
the common bowels of pity to the miserable, which is reckoned to be a mark =
of
generous temper in the mind.
These considerations really put me to a pause, and to a kind of a full stop;
and I began by little and little to be off my design, and to conclude I had
taken wrong measures in my resolution to attack the savages; and that it was
not my business to meddle with them, unless they first attacked me; and thi=
s it
was my business, if possible, to prevent: but that, if I were discovered and
attacked by them, I knew my duty. On the other hand, I argued with myself t=
hat
this really was the way not to deliver myself, but entirely to ruin and des=
troy
myself; for unless I was sure to kill every one that not only should be on
shore at that time, but that should ever come on shore afterwards, if but o=
ne
of them escaped to tell their country-people what had happened, they would =
come
over again by thousands to revenge the death of their fellows, and I should
only bring upon myself a certain destruction, which, at present, I had no
manner of occasion for. Upon the whole, I concluded that I ought, neither in
principle nor in policy, one way or other, to concern myself in this affair:
that my business was, by all possible means to conceal myself from them, and
not to leave the least sign for them to guess by that there were any living
creatures upon the island - I mean of human shape. Religion joined in with =
this
prudential resolution; and I was convinced now, many ways, that I was perfe=
ctly
out of my duty when I was laying all my bloody schemes for the destruction =
of
innocent creatures - I mean innocent as to me. As to the crimes they were
guilty of towards one another, I had nothing to do with them; they were nat=
ional,
and I ought to leave them to the justice of God, who is the Governor of
nations, and knows how, by national punishments, to make a just retribution=
for
national offences, and to bring public judgments upon those who offend in a
public manner, by such ways as best please Him. This appeared so clear to me
now, that nothing was a greater satisfaction to me than that I had not been
suffered to do a thing which I now saw so much reason to believe would have
been no less a sin than that of wilful murder if I had committed it; and I =
gave
most humble thanks on my knees to God, that He had thus delivered me from
blood-guiltiness; beseeching Him to grant me the protection of His providen=
ce,
that I might not fall into the hands of the barbarians, or that I might not=
lay
my hands upon them, unless I had a more clear call from Heaven to do it, in
defence of my own life.
In this disposition I continued for near a year after this; and so far was I
from desiring an occasion for falling upon these wretches, that in all that
time I never once went up the hill to see whether there were any of them in
sight, or to know whether any of them had been on shore there or not, that I
might not be tempted to renew any of my contrivances against them, or be
provoked by any advantage that might present itself to fall upon them; only
this I did: I went and removed my boat, which I had on the other side of the
island, and carried it down to the east end of the whole island, where I ra=
n it
into a little cove, which I found under some high rocks, and where I knew, =
by
reason of the currents, the savages durst not, at least would not, come with
their boats upon any account whatever. With my boat I carried away everythi=
ng
that I had left there belonging to her, though not necessary for the bare g=
oing
thither - viz. a mast and sail which I had made for her, and a thing like an
anchor, but which, indeed, could not be called either anchor or grapnel;
however, it was the best I could make of its kind: all these I removed, that
there might not be the least shadow for discovery, or appearance of any boa=
t,
or of any human habitation upon the island. Besides this, I kept myself, as=
I
said, more retired than ever, and seldom went from my cell except upon my
constant employment, to milk my she-goats, and manage my little flock in the
wood, which, as it was quite on the other part of the island, was out of
danger; for certain, it is that these savage people, who sometimes haunted =
this
island, never came with any thoughts of finding anything here, and conseque=
ntly
never wandered off from the coast, and I doubt not but they might have been
several times on shore after my apprehensions of them had made me cautious,=
as
well as before. Indeed, I looked back with some horror upon the thoughts of
what my condition would have been if I had chopped upon them and been
discovered before that; when, naked and unarmed, except with one gun, and t=
hat
loaded often only with small shot, I walked everywhere, peeping and peering
about the island, to see what I could get; what a surprise should I have be=
en
in if, when I discovered the print of a man's foot, I had, instead of that,
seen fifteen or twenty savages, and found them pursuing me, and by the
swiftness of their running no possibility of my escaping them! The thoughts=
of
this sometimes sank my very soul within me, and distressed my mind so much =
that
I could not soon recover it, to think what I should have done, and how I sh=
ould
not only have been unable to resist them, but even should not have had pres=
ence
of mind enough to do what I might have done; much less what now, after so m=
uch
consideration and preparation, I might be able to do. Indeed, after serious
thinking of these things, I would be melancholy, and sometimes it would las=
t a
great while; but I resolved it all at last into thankfulness to that Provid=
ence
which had delivered me from so many unseen dangers, and had kept me from th=
ose
mischiefs which I could have no way been the agent in delivering myself fro=
m,
because I had not the least notion of any such thing depending, or the least
supposition of its being possible. This renewed a contemplation which often=
had
come into my thoughts in former times, when first I began to see the mercif=
ul
dispositions of Heaven, in the dangers we run through in this life; how won=
derfully
we are delivered when we know nothing of it; how, when we are in a quandary=
as
we call it, a doubt or hesitation whether to go this way or that way, a sec=
ret
hint shall direct us this way, when we intended to go that way: nay, when
sense, our own inclination, and perhaps business has called us to go the ot=
her
way, yet a strange impression upon the mind, from we know not what springs,=
and
by we know not what power, shall overrule us to go this way; and it shall
afterwards appear that had we gone that way, which we should have gone, and
even to our imagination ought to have gone, we should have been ruined and
lost. Upon these and many like reflections I afterwards made it a certain r=
ule
with me, that whenever I found those secret hints or pressings of mind to d=
oing
or not doing anything that presented, or going this way or that way, I never
failed to obey the secret dictate; though I knew no other reason for it than
such a pressure or such a hint hung upon my mind. I could give many example=
s of
the success of this conduct in the course of my life, but more especially in
the latter part of my inhabiting this unhappy island; besides many occasions
which it is very likely I might have taken notice of, if I had seen with the
same eyes then that I see with now. But it is never too late to be wise; an=
d I
cannot but advise all considering men, whose lives are attended with such
extraordinary incidents as mine, or even though not so extraordinary, not to
slight such secret intimations of Providence, let them come from what invis=
ible
intelligence they will. That I shall not discuss, and perhaps cannot account
for; but certainly they are a proof of the converse of spirits, and a secret
communication between those embodied and those unembodied, and such a proof=
as can
never be withstood; of which I shall have occasion to give some remarkable
instances in the remainder of my solitary residence in this dismal place.
I believe the reader of this will not think it strange if I confess that th=
ese
anxieties, these constant dangers I lived in, and the concern that was now =
upon
me, put an end to all invention, and to all the contrivances that I had laid
for my future accommodations and conveniences. I had the care of my safety =
more
now upon my hands than that of my food. I cared not to drive a nail, or cho=
p a
stick of wood now, for fear the noise I might make should be heard: much le=
ss
would I fire a gun for the same reason: and above all I was intolerably une=
asy
at making any fire, lest the smoke, which is visible at a great distance in=
the
day, should betray me. For this reason, I removed that part of my business
which required fire, such as burning of pots and pipes, &c., into my new
apartment in the woods; where, after I had been some time, I found, to my
unspeakable consolation, a mere natural cave in the earth, which went in a =
vast
way, and where, I daresay, no savage, had he been at the mouth of it, would=
be
so hardy as to venture in; nor, indeed, would any man else, but one who, li=
ke
me, wanted nothing so much as a safe retreat.
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 th=
is
charcoal, which was this - I was afraid of making a smoke about my habitati=
on,
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 s=
een
done in England, under turf, till it became chark or dry coal: and then put=
ting
the fire out, I preserved the coal to carry home, and perform the other
services for which fire was wanting, without danger of smoke. But this is
by-the-bye. While I was cutting down some wood here, I perceived that, behi=
nd a
very thick branch of low brushwood or underwood, there was a kind of hollow
place: I was curious to look in it; and getting with difficulty into the mo=
uth
of it, I found it was pretty large, that is to say, sufficient for me to st=
and
upright in it, and perhaps another with me: but I must confess to you that I
made more haste out than I did in, when looking farther into the place, and
which was perfectly dark, I saw two broad shining eyes of some creature,
whether devil or man I knew not, which twinkled like two stars; the dim lig=
ht
from the cave's mouth shining directly in, and making the reflection. Howev=
er,
after some pause I recovered myself, and began to call myself a thousand fo=
ols,
and to think that he that was afraid to see the devil was not fit to live
twenty years in an island all alone; and that I might well think there was
nothing in this cave that was more frightful than myself. Upon this, plucki=
ng
up my courage, I took up a firebrand, and in I rushed again, with the stick
flaming in my hand: I had not gone three steps in before I was almost as
frightened as before; for I heard a very loud sigh, like that of a man in s=
ome
pain, and it was followed by a broken noise, as of words half expressed, and
then a deep sigh again. I stepped back, and was indeed struck with such a
surprise that it put me into a cold sweat, and if I had had a hat on my hea=
d, I
will not answer for it that my hair might not have lifted it off. But still
plucking up my spirits as well as I could, and encouraging myself a little =
with
considering that the power and presence of God was everywhere, and was able=
to
protect me, I stepped forward again, and by the light of the firebrand, hol=
ding
it up a little over my head, I saw lying on the ground a monstrous, frightf=
ul
old he-goat, just making his will, as we say, and gasping for life, and, dy=
ing,
indeed, of mere old age. I stirred him a little to see if I could get him o=
ut,
and he essayed to get up, but was not able to raise himself; and I thought =
with
myself he might even lie there - for if he had frightened me, so he would
certainly fright any of the savages, if any of them should be so hardy as to
come in there while he had any life in him.
I was now recovered from my surprise, and began to look round me, when I fo=
und
the cave was but very small - that is to say, it might be about twelve feet
over, but in no manner of shape, neither round nor square, no hands having =
ever
been employed in making it but those of mere Nature. I observed also that t=
here
was a place at the farther side of it that went in further, but was so low =
that
it required me to creep upon my hands and knees to go into it, and whither =
it
went I knew not; so, having no candle, I gave it over for that time, but
resolved to go again the next day provided with candles and a tinder-box, w=
hich
I had made of the lock of one of the muskets, with some wildfire in the pan=
.
Accordingly, the next day I came provided with six large candles of my own
making (for I made very good candles now of goat's tallow, but was hard set=
for
candle-wick, using sometimes rags or rope- yarn, and sometimes the dried ri=
nd
of a weed like nettles); and going into this low place I was obliged to cre=
ep
upon all-fours as I have said, almost ten yards - which, by the way, I thou=
ght
was a venture bold enough, considering that I knew not how far it might go,=
nor
what was beyond it. When I had got through the strait, I found the roof rose
higher up, I believe near twenty feet; but never was such a glorious sight =
seen
in the island, I daresay, as it was to look round the sides and roof of this
vault or cave - the wall reflected a hundred thousand lights to me from my =
two
candles. What it was in the rock - whether diamonds or any other precious
stones, or gold which I rather supposed it to be - I knew not. The place I =
was
in was a most delightful cavity, or grotto, though perfectly dark; the floor
was dry and level, and had a sort of a small loose gravel upon it, so that
there was no nauseous or venomous creature to be seen, neither was there any
damp or wet on the sides or roof. The only difficulty in it was the entranc=
e -
which, however, as it was a place of security, and such a retreat as I want=
ed;
I thought was a convenience; so that I was really rejoiced at the discovery,
and resolved, without any delay, to bring some of those things which I was =
most
anxious about to this place: particularly, I resolved to bring hither my
magazine of powder, and all my spare arms - viz. two fowling-pieces - for I=
had
three in all - and three muskets - for of them I had eight in all; so I kep=
t in
my castle only five, which stood ready mounted like pieces of cannon on my
outmost fence, and were ready also to take out upon any expedition. Upon th=
is
occasion of removing my ammunition I happened to open the barrel of powder
which I took up out of the sea, and which had been wet, and I found that the
water had penetrated about three or four inches into the powder on every si=
de,
which caking and growing hard, had preserved the inside like a kernel in the
shell, so that I had near sixty pounds of very good powder in the centre of=
the
cask. This was a very agreeable discovery to me at that time; so I carried =
all
away thither, never keeping above two or three pounds of powder with me in =
my
castle, for fear of a surprise of any kind; I also carried thither all the =
lead
I had left for bullets.
I fancied myself now like one of the ancient giants who were said to live in
caves and holes in the rocks, where none could come at them; for I persuaded
myself, while I was here, that if five hundred savages were to hunt me, they
could never find me out - or if they did, they would not venture to attack =
me
here. The old goat whom I found expiring died in the mouth of the cave the =
next
day after I made this discovery; and I found it much easier to dig a great =
hole
there, and throw him in and cover him with earth, than to drag him out; so I
interred him there, to prevent offence to my nose.
Chapter 13: Wreck Of A Spanish Ship
I was now in the twenty-third year of my residence in this island, and was =
so
naturalised to the place and the manner of living, that, could I but have
enjoyed the certainty that no savages would come to the place to disturb me=
, I
could have been content to have capitulated for spending the rest of my time
there, even to the last moment, till I had laid me down and died, like the =
old
goat in the cave. I had also arrived to some little diversions and amusemen=
ts,
which made the time pass a great deal more pleasantly with me than it did
before - first, I had taught my Poll, as I noted before, to speak; and he d=
id
it so familiarly, and talked so articulately and plain, that it was very
pleasant to me; and he lived with me no less than six-and-twenty years. How
long he might have lived afterwards I know not, though I know they have a
notion in the Brazils that they live a hundred years. My dog was a pleasant=
and
loving companion to me for no less than sixteen years of my time, and then =
died
of mere old age. As for my cats, they multiplied, as I have observed, to th=
at
degree that I was obliged to shoot several of them at first, to keep them f=
rom
devouring me and all I had; but at length, when the two old ones I brought =
with
me were gone, and after some time continually driving them from me, and let=
ting
them have no provision with me, they all ran wild into the woods, except tw=
o or
three favourites, which I kept tame, and whose young, when they had any, I
always drowned; and these were part of my family. Besides these I always ke=
pt
two or three household kids about me, whom I taught to feed out of my hand;=
and
I had two more parrots, which talked pretty well, and would all call
"Robin Crusoe," but none like my first; nor, indeed, did I take t=
he
pains with any of them that I had done with him. I had also several tame
sea-fowls, whose name I knew not, that I caught upon the shore, and cut the=
ir
wings; and the little stakes which I had planted before my castle-wall being
now grown up to a good thick grove, these fowls all lived among these low
trees, and bred there, which was very agreeable to me; so that, as I said
above, I began to he very well contented with the life I led, if I could ha=
ve
been secured from the dread of the savages. But it was otherwise directed; =
and
it may not be amiss for all people who shall meet with my story to make this
just observation from it: How frequently, in the course of our lives, the e=
vil
which in itself we seek most to shun, and which, when we are fallen into, is
the most dreadful to us, is oftentimes the very means or door of our
deliverance, by which alone we can be raised again from the affliction we a=
re
fallen into. I could give many examples of this in the course of my
unaccountable life; but in nothing was it more particularly remarkable than=
in
the circumstances of my last years of solitary residence in this island.
It was now the month of December, as I said above, in my twenty- third year;
and this, being the southern solstice (for winter I cannot call it), was the
particular time of my harvest, and required me to be pretty much abroad in =
the
fields, when, going out early in the morning, even before it was thorough
daylight, I was surprised with seeing a light of some fire upon the shore, =
at a
distance from me of about two miles, toward that part of the island where I=
had
observed some savages had been, as before, and not on the other side; but, =
to
my great affliction, it was on my side of the island.
I was indeed terribly surprised at the sight, and stopped short within my
grove, not daring to go out, lest I might be surprised; and yet I had no mo=
re
peace within, from the apprehensions I had that if these savages, in rambli=
ng
over the island, should find my corn standing or cut, or any of my works or
improvements, they would immediately conclude that there were people in the
place, and would then never rest till they had found me out. In this extrem=
ity
I went back directly to my castle, pulled up the ladder after me, and made =
all
things without look as wild and natural as I could.
Then I prepared myself within, putting myself in a posture of defence. I lo=
aded
all my cannon, as I called them - that is to say, my muskets, which were
mounted upon my new fortification - and all my pistols, and resolved to def=
end
myself to the last gasp - not forgetting seriously to commend myself to the
Divine protection, and earnestly to pray to God to deliver me out of the ha=
nds
of the barbarians. I continued in this posture about two hours, and began t=
o be
impatient for intelligence abroad, for I had no spies to send out. After
sitting a while longer, and musing what I should do in this case, I was not
able to bear sitting in ignorance longer; so setting up my ladder to the si=
de
of the hill, where there was a flat place, as I observed before, and then
pulling the ladder after me, I set it up again and mounted the top of the h=
ill,
and pulling out my perspective glass, which I had taken on purpose, I laid =
me
down flat on my belly on the ground, and began to look for the place. I
presently found there were no less than nine naked savages sitting round a
small fire they had made, not to warm them, for they had no need of that, t=
he
weather being extremely hot, but, as I supposed, to dress some of their
barbarous diet of human flesh which they had brought with them, whether ali=
ve
or dead I could not tell.
They had two canoes with them, which they had hauled up upon the shore; and=
as
it was then ebb of tide, they seemed to me to wait for the return of the fl=
ood
to go away again. It is not easy to imagine what confusion this sight put me
into, especially seeing them come on my side of the island, and so near to =
me;
but when I considered their coming must be always with the current of the e=
bb,
I began afterwards to be more sedate in my mind, being satisfied that I mig=
ht
go abroad with safety all the time of the flood of tide, if they were not on
shore before; and having made this observation, I went abroad about my harv=
est
work with the more composure.
As I expected, so it proved; for as soon as the tide made to the westward I=
saw
them all take boat and row (or paddle as we call it) away. I should have
observed, that for an hour or more before they went off they were dancing, =
and
I could easily discern their postures and gestures by my glass. I could not=
perceive,
by my nicest observation, but that they were stark naked, and had not the l=
east
covering upon them; but whether they were men or women I could not distingu=
ish.
As soon as I saw them shipped and gone, I took two guns upon my shoulders, =
and
two pistols in my girdle, and my great sword by my side without a scabbard,=
and
with all the speed I was able to make went away to the hill where I had
discovered the first appearance of all; and as soon as I get thither, which=
was
not in less than two hours (for I could not go quickly, being so loaded with
arms as I was), I perceived there had been three canoes more of the savages=
at
that place; and looking out farther, I saw they were all at sea together,
making over for the main. This was a dreadful sight to me, especially as, g=
oing
down to the shore, I could see the marks of horror which the dismal work th=
ey
had been about had left behind it - viz. the blood, the bones, and part of =
the
flesh of human bodies eaten and devoured by those wretches with merriment a=
nd
sport. I was so filled with indignation at the sight, that I now began to
premeditate the destruction of the next that I saw there, let them be whom =
or
how many soever. It seemed evident to me that the visits which they made th=
us
to this island were not very frequent, for it was above fifteen months befo=
re
any more of them came on shore there again - that is to say, I neither saw =
them
nor any footsteps or signals of them in all that time; for as to the rainy
seasons, then they are sure not to come abroad, at least not so far. Yet all
this while I lived uncomfortably, by reason of the constant apprehensions of
their coming upon me by surprise: from whence I observe, that the expectati=
on
of evil is more bitter than the suffering, especially if there is no room to
shake off that expectation or those apprehensions.
During all this time I was in a murdering humour, and spent most of my hour=
s,
which should have been better employed, in contriving how to circumvent and
fall upon them the very next time I should see them - especially if they sh=
ould
be divided, as they were the last time, into two parties; nor did I conside=
r at
all that if I killed one party - suppose ten or a dozen - I was still the n=
ext
day, or week, or month, to kill another, and so another, even AD INFINITUM,
till I should be, at length, no less a murderer than they were in being
man-eaters - and perhaps much more so. I spent my days now in great perplex=
ity
and anxiety of mind, expecting that I should one day or other fall, into the
hands of these merciless creatures; and if I did at any time venture abroad=
, it
was not without looking around me with the greatest care and caution
imaginable. And now I found, to my great comfort, how happy it was that I h=
ad
provided a tame flock or herd of goats, for I durst not upon any account fi=
re
my gun, especially near that side of the island where they usually came, le=
st I
should alarm the savages; and if they had fled from me now, I was sure to h=
ave
them come again with perhaps two or three hundred canoes with them in a few
days, and then I knew what to expect. However, I wore out a year and three
months more before I ever saw any more of the savages, and then I found them
again, as I shall soon observe. It is true they might have been there once =
or
twice; but either they made no stay, or at least I did not see them; but in=
the
month of May, as near as I could calculate, and in my four-and-twentieth ye=
ar,
I had a very strange encounter with them; of which in its place.
The perturbation of my mind during this fifteen or sixteen months' interval=
was
very great; I slept unquietly, dreamed always frightful dreams, and often
started out of my sleep in the night. In the day great troubles overwhelmed=
my
mind; and in the night I dreamed often of killing the savages and of the
reasons why I might justify doing it.
But to waive all this for a while. It was in the middle of May, on the
sixteenth day, I think, as well as my poor wooden calendar would reckon, fo=
r I
marked all upon the post still; I say, it was on the sixteenth of May that =
it
blew a very great storm of wind all day, with a great deal of lightning and
thunder, and; a very foul night it was after it. I knew not what was the
particular occasion of it, but as I was reading in the Bible, and taken up =
with
very serious thoughts about my present condition, I was surprised with the
noise of a gun, as I thought, fired at sea. This was, to be sure, a surprise
quite of a different nature from any I had met with before; for the notions
this put into my thoughts were quite of another kind. I started up in the
greatest haste imaginable; and, in a trice, clapped my ladder to the middle
place of the rock, and pulled it after me; and mounting it the second time,=
got
to the top of the hill the very moment that a flash of fire bid me listen f=
or a
second gun, which, accordingly, in about half a minute I heard; and by the
sound, knew that it was from that part of the sea where I was driven down t=
he
current in my boat. I immediately considered that this must be some ship in
distress, and that they had some comrade, or some other ship in company, and
fired these for signals of distress, and to obtain help. I had the presence=
of
mind at that minute to think, that though I could not help them, it might be
that they might help me; so I brought together all the dry wood I could get=
at
hand, and making a good handsome pile, I set it on fire upon the hill. The =
wood
was dry, and blazed freely; and, though the wind blew very hard, yet it bur=
ned
fairly out; so that I was certain, if there was any such thing as a ship, t=
hey
must needs see it. And no doubt they did; for as soon as ever my fire blazed
up, I heard another gun, and after that several others, all from the same
quarter. I plied my fire all night long, till daybreak: and when it was bro=
ad
day, and the air cleared up, I saw something at a great distance at sea, fu=
ll
east of the island, whether a sail or a hull I could not distinguish - no, =
not
with my glass: the distance was so great, and the weather still something h=
azy
also; at least, it was so out at sea.
I looked frequently at it all that day, and soon perceived that it did not
move; so I presently concluded that it was a ship at anchor; and being eage=
r,
you may be sure, to be satisfied, I took my gun in my hand, and ran towards=
the
south side of the island to the rocks where I had formerly been carried awa=
y by
the current; and getting up there, the weather by this time being perfectly
clear, I could plainly see, to my great sorrow, the wreck of a ship, cast a=
way
in the night upon those concealed rocks which I found when I was out in my
boat; and which rocks, as they checked the violence of the stream, and made=
a
kind of counter-stream, or eddy, were the occasion of my recovering from the
most desperate, hopeless condition that ever I had been in in all my life.
Thus, what is one man's safety is another man's destruction; for it seems t=
hese
men, whoever they were, being out of their knowledge, and the rocks being
wholly under water, had been driven upon them in the night, the wind blowin=
g hard
at ENE. Had they seen the island, as I must necessarily suppose they did no=
t,
they must, as I thought, have endeavoured to have saved themselves on shore=
by
the help of their boat; but their firing off guns for help, especially when
they saw, as I imagined, my fire, filled me with many thoughts. First, I
imagined that upon seeing my light they might have put themselves into their
boat, and endeavoured to make the shore: but that the sea running very high,
they might have been cast away. Other times I imagined that they might have
lost their boat before, as might be the case many ways; particularly by the
breaking of the sea upon their ship, which many times obliged men to stave,=
or
take in pieces, their boat, and sometimes to throw it overboard with their =
own
hands. Other times I imagined they had some other ship or ships in company,
who, upon the signals of distress they made, had taken them up, and carried
them off. Other times I fancied they were all gone off to sea in their boat,
and being hurried away by the current that I had been formerly in, were car=
ried
out into the great ocean, where there was nothing but misery and perishing:=
and
that, perhaps, they might by this time think of starving, and of being in a
condition to eat one another.
As all these were but conjectures at best, so, in the condition I was in, I
could do no more than look on upon the misery of the poor men, and pity the=
m;
which had still this good effect upon my side, that it gave me more and more
cause to give thanks to God, who had so happily and comfortably provided fo=
r me
in my desolate condition; and that of two ships' companies, who were now ca=
st
away upon this part of the world, not one life should be spared but mine. I
learned here again to observe, that it is very rare that the providence of =
God
casts us into any condition so low, or any misery so great, but we may see
something or other to be thankful for, and may see others in worse
circumstances than our own. Such certainly was the case of these men, of wh=
om I
could not so much as see room to suppose any were saved; nothing could make=
it
rational so much as to wish or expect that they did not all perish there,
except the possibility only of their being taken up by another ship in comp=
any;
and this was but mere possibility indeed, for I saw not the least sign or
appearance of any such thing. I cannot explain, by any possible energy of
words, what a strange longing I felt in my soul upon this sight, breaking o=
ut
sometimes thus: "Oh that there had been but one or two, nay, or but one
soul saved out of this ship, to have escaped to me, that I might but have h=
ad
one companion, one fellow-creature, to have spoken to me and to have conver=
sed
with!" In all the time of my solitary life I never felt so earnest, so
strong a desire after the society of my fellow- creatures, or so deep a reg=
ret
at the want of it.
There are some secret springs in the affections which, when they are set
a-going by some object in view, or, though not in view, yet rendered presen=
t to
the mind by the power of imagination, that motion carries out the soul, by =
its
impetuosity, to such violent, eager embracings of the object, that the abse=
nce
of it is insupportable. Such were these earnest wishings that but one man h=
ad
been saved. I believe I repeated the words, "Oh that it had been but
one!" a thousand times; and my desires were so moved by it, that when I
spoke the words my hands would clinch together, and my fingers would press =
the
palms of my hands, so that if I had had any soft thing in my hand I should =
have
crushed it involuntarily; and the teeth in my head would strike together, a=
nd
set against one another so strong, that for some time I could not part them
again. Let the naturalists explain these things, and the reason and manner =
of
them. All I can do is to describe the fact, which was even surprising to me
when I found it, though I knew not from whence it proceeded; it was doubtle=
ss
the effect of ardent wishes, and of strong ideas formed in my mind, realisi=
ng
the comfort which the conversation of one of my fellow-Christians would have
been to me. But it was not to be; either their fate or mine, or both, forba=
de
it; for, till the last year of my being on this island, I never knew whether
any were saved out of that ship or no; and had only the affliction, some da=
ys
after, to see the corpse of a drowned boy come on shore at the end of the
island which was next the shipwreck. He had no clothes on but a seaman's
waistcoat, a pair of open-kneed linen drawers, and a blue linen shirt; but
nothing to direct me so much as to guess what nation he was of. He had noth=
ing
in his pockets but two pieces of eight and a tobacco pipe - the last was to=
me
of ten times more value than the first.
It was now calm, and I had a great mind to venture out in my boat to this
wreck, not doubting but I might find something on board that might be usefu=
l to
me. But that did not altogether press me so much as the possibility that th=
ere
might be yet some living creature on board, whose life I might not only sav=
e,
but might, by saving that life, comfort my own to the last degree; and this
thought clung so to my heart that I could not be quiet night or day, but I =
must
venture out in my boat on board this wreck; and committing the rest to God's
providence, I thought the impression was so strong upon my mind that it cou=
ld
not be resisted - that it must come from some invisible direction, and that=
I
should be wanting to myself if I did not go.
Under the power of this impression, I hastened back to my castle, prepared
everything for my voyage, took a quantity of bread, a great pot of fresh wa=
ter,
a compass to steer by, a bottle of rum (for I had still a great deal of that
left), and a basket of raisins; and thus, loading myself with everything
necessary. I went down to my boat, got the water out of her, got her afloat,
loaded all my cargo in her, and then went home again for more. My second ca=
rgo
was a great bag of rice, the umbrella to set up over my head for a shade,
another large pot of water, and about two dozen of small loaves, or barley
cakes, more than before, with a bottle of goat's milk and a cheese; all whi=
ch
with great labour and sweat I carried to my boat; and praying to God to dir=
ect
my voyage, I put out, and rowing or paddling the canoe along the shore, cam=
e at
last to the utmost point of the island on the north-east side. And now I wa=
s to
launch out into the ocean, and either to venture or not to venture. I looke=
d on
the rapid currents which ran constantly on both sides of the island at a
distance, and which were very terrible to me from the remembrance of the ha=
zard
I had been in before, and my heart began to fail me; for I foresaw that if I
was driven into either of those currents, I should be carried a great way o=
ut
to sea, and perhaps out of my reach or sight of the island again; and that
then, as my boat was but small, if any little gale of wind should rise, I
should be inevitably lost.
These thoughts so oppressed my mind that I began to give over my enterprise;
and having hauled my boat into a little creek on the shore, I stepped out, =
and
sat down upon a rising bit of ground, very pensive and anxious, between fear
and desire, about my voyage; when, as I was musing, I could perceive that t=
he
tide was turned, and the flood come on; upon which my going was impracticab=
le
for so many hours. Upon this, presently it occurred to me that I should go =
up
to the highest piece of ground I could find, and observe, if I could, how t=
he
sets of the tide or currents lay when the flood came in, that I might judge
whether, if I was driven one way out, I might not expect to be driven anoth=
er
way home, with the same rapidity of the currents. This thought was no soone=
r in
my head than I cast my eye upon a little hill which sufficiently overlooked=
the
sea both ways, and from whence I had a clear view of the currents or sets of
the tide, and which way I was to guide myself in my return. Here I found, t=
hat
as the current of ebb set out close by the south point of the island, so the
current of the flood set in close by the shore of the north side; and that I
had nothing to do but to keep to the north side of the island in my return,=
and
I should do well enough.
Encouraged by this observation, I resolved the next morning to set out with=
the
first of the tide; and reposing myself for the night in my canoe, under the=
watch-coat
I mentioned, I launched out. I first made a little out to sea, full north, =
till
I began to feel the benefit of the current, which set eastward, and which
carried me at a great rate; and yet did not so hurry me as the current on t=
he
south side had done before, so as to take from me all government of the boa=
t;
but having a strong steerage with my paddle, I went at a great rate directly
for the wreck, and in less than two hours I came up to it. It was a dismal
sight to look at; the ship, which by its building was Spanish, stuck fast,
jammed in between two rocks. All the stern and quarter of her were beaten to
pieces by the sea; and as her forecastle, which stuck in the rocks, had run=
on
with great violence, her mainmast and foremast were brought by the board - =
that
is to say, broken short off; but her bowsprit was sound, and the head and b=
ow
appeared firm. When I came close to her, a dog appeared upon her, who, seei=
ng
me coming, yelped and cried; and as soon as I called him, jumped into the s=
ea
to come to me. I took him into the boat, but found him almost dead with hun=
ger
and thirst. I gave him a cake of my bread, and he devoured it like a raveno=
us
wolf that had been starving a fortnight in the snow; I then gave the poor
creature some fresh water, with which, if I would have let him, he would ha=
ve
burst himself. After this I went on board; but the first sight I met with w=
as
two men drowned in the cook-room, or forecastle of the ship, with their arms
fast about one another. I concluded, as is indeed probable, that when the s=
hip
struck, it being in a storm, the sea broke so high and so continually over =
her,
that the men were not able to bear it, and were strangled with the constant
rushing in of the water, as much as if they had been under water. Besides t=
he
dog, there was nothing left in the ship that had life; nor any goods, that I
could see, but what were spoiled by the water. There were some casks of liq=
uor,
whether wine or brandy I knew not, which lay lower in the hold, and which, =
the
water being ebbed out, I could see; but they were too big to meddle with. I=
saw
several chests, which I believe belonged to some of the seamen; and I got t=
wo
of them into the boat, without examining what was in them. Had the stern of=
the
ship been fixed, and the forepart broken off, I am persuaded I might have m=
ade
a good voyage; for by what I found in those two chests I had room to suppose
the ship had a great deal of wealth on board; and, if I may guess from the
course she steered, she must have been bound from Buenos Ayres, or the Rio =
de
la Plata, in the south part of America, beyond the Brazils to the Havannah,=
in
the Gulf of Mexico, and so perhaps to Spain. She had, no doubt, a great
treasure in her, but of no use, at that time, to anybody; and what became of
the crew I then knew not.
I found, besides these chests, a little cask full of liquor, of about twenty
gallons, which I got into my boat with much difficulty. There were several
muskets in the cabin, and a great powder-horn, with about four pounds of po=
wder
in it; as for the muskets, I had no occasion for them, so I left them, but =
took
the powder-horn. I took a fire-shovel and tongs, which I wanted extremely, =
as
also two little brass kettles, a copper pot to make chocolate, and a gridir=
on;
and with this cargo, and the dog, I came away, the tide beginning to make h=
ome
again - and the same evening, about an hour within night, I reached the isl=
and
again, weary and fatigued to the last degree. I reposed that night in the b=
oat
and in the morning I resolved to harbour what I had got in my new cave, and=
not
carry it home to my castle. After refreshing myself, I got all my cargo on
shore, and began to examine the particulars. The cask of liquor I found to =
be a
kind of rum, but not such as we had at the Brazils; and, in a word, not at =
all
good; but when I came to open the chests, I found several things of great u=
se
to me - for example, I found in one a fine case of bottles, of an extraordi=
nary
kind, and filled with cordial waters, fine and very good; the bottles held
about three pints each, and were tipped with silver. I found two pots of ve=
ry
good succades, or sweetmeats, so fastened also on the top that the salt-wat=
er
had not hurt them; and two more of the same, which the water had spoiled. I
found some very good shirts, which were very welcome to me; and about a doz=
en
and a half of white linen handkerchiefs and coloured neckcloths; the former
were also very welcome, being exceedingly refreshing to wipe my face in a h=
ot
day. Besides this, when I came to the till in the chest, I found there three
great bags of pieces of eight, which held about eleven hundred pieces in al=
l;
and in one of them, wrapped up in a paper, six doubloons of gold, and some
small bars or wedges of gold; I suppose they might all weigh near a pound. =
In
the other chest were some clothes, but of little value; but, by the
circumstances, it must have belonged to the gunner's mate; though there was=
no
powder in it, except two pounds of fine glazed powder, in three flasks, kep=
t, I
suppose, for charging their fowling-pieces on occasion. Upon the whole, I g=
ot
very little by this voyage that was of any use to me; for, as to the money,=
I
had no manner of occasion for it; it was to me as the dirt under my feet, a=
nd I
would have given it all for three or four pair of English shoes and stockin=
gs,
which were things I greatly wanted, but had had none on my feet for many ye=
ars.
I had, indeed, got two pair of shoes now, which I took off the feet of two
drowned men whom I saw in the wreck, and I found two pair more in one of th=
e chests,
which were very welcome to me; but they were not like our English shoes, ei=
ther
for ease or service, being rather what we call pumps than shoes. I found in
this seaman's chest about fifty pieces of eight, in rials, but no gold: I
supposed this belonged to a poorer man than the other, which seemed to belo=
ng
to some officer. Well, however, I lugged this money home to my cave, and la=
id
it up, as I had done that before which I had brought from our own ship; but=
it
was a great pity, as I said, that the other part of this ship had not come =
to
my share: for I am satisfied I might have loaded my canoe several times over
with money; and, thought I, if I ever escape to England, it might lie here =
safe
enough till I come again and fetch it.
Chapter 14: A Dream Realised
Having now brought all my things on shore and secured them, I went back to =
my
boat, and rowed or paddled her along the shore to her old harbour, where I =
laid
her up, and made the best of my way to my old habitation, where I found
everything safe and quiet. I began now to repose myself, live after my old
fashion, and take care of my family affairs; and for a while I lived easy
enough, only that I was more vigilant than I used to be, looked out oftener,
and did not go abroad so much; and if at any time I did stir with any freed=
om,
it was always to the east part of the island, where I was pretty well satis=
fied
the savages never came, and where I could go without so many precautions, a=
nd
such a load of arms and ammunition as I always carried with me if I went the
other way. I lived in this condition near two years more; but my unlucky he=
ad,
that was always to let me know it was born to make my body miserable, was a=
ll
these two years filled with projects and designs how, if it were possible, I
might get away from this island: for sometimes I was for making another voy=
age
to the wreck, though my reason told me that there was nothing left there wo=
rth
the hazard of my voyage; sometimes for a ramble one way, sometimes another -
and I believe verily, if I had had the boat that I went from Sallee in, I
should have ventured to sea, bound anywhere, I knew not whither. I have bee=
n,
in all my circumstances, a memento to those who are touched with the general
plague of mankind, whence, for aught I know, one half of their miseries flo=
w: I
mean that of not being satisfied with the station wherein God and Nature ha=
th
placed them - for, not to look back upon my primitive condition, and the
excellent advice of my father, the opposition to which was, as I may call i=
t, my
original sin, my subsequent mistakes of the same kind had been the means of=
my
coming into this miserable condition; for had that Providence which so happ=
ily
seated me at the Brazils as a planter blessed me with confined desires, and=
I
could have been contented to have gone on gradually, I might have been by t=
his
time - I mean in the time of my being in this island - one of the most
considerable planters in the Brazils - nay, I am persuaded, that by the
improvements I had made in that little time I lived there, and the increase=
I
should probably have made if I had remained, I might have been worth a hund=
red
thousand moidores - and what business had I to leave a settled fortune, a
well-stocked plantation, improving and increasing, to turn supercargo to Gu=
inea
to fetch negroes, when patience and time would have so increased our stock =
at
home, that we could have bought them at our own door from those whose busin=
ess
it was to fetch them? and though it had cost us something more, yet the
difference of that price was by no means worth saving at so great a hazard.=
But
as this is usually the fate of young heads, so reflection upon the folly of=
it
is as commonly the exercise of more years, or of the dear-bought experience=
of
time - so it was with me now; and yet so deep had the mistake taken root in=
my
temper, that I could not satisfy myself in my station, but was continually
poring upon the means and possibility of my escape from this place; and tha=
t I
may, with greater pleasure to the reader, bring on the remaining part of my
story, it may not be improper to give some account of my first conceptions =
on
the subject of this foolish scheme for my escape, and how, and upon what
foundation, I acted.
I am now to be supposed retired into my castle, after my late voyage to the
wreck, my frigate laid up and secured under water, as usual, and my conditi=
on
restored to what it was before: I had more wealth, indeed, than I had befor=
e,
but was not at all the richer; for I had no more use for it than the Indian=
s of
Peru had before the Spaniards came there.
It was one of the nights in the rainy season in March, the four- and-twenti=
eth
year of my first setting foot in this island of solitude, I was lying in my=
bed
or hammock, awake, very well in health, had no pain, no distemper, no uneas=
iness
of body, nor any uneasiness of mind more than ordinary, but could by no mea=
ns
close my eyes, that is, so as to sleep; no, not a wink all night long,
otherwise than as follows: It is impossible to set down the innumerable cro=
wd
of thoughts that whirled through that great thoroughfare of the brain, the
memory, in this night's time. I ran over the whole history of my life in
miniature, or by abridgment, as I may call it, to my coming to this island,=
and
also of that part of my life since I came to this island. In my reflections
upon the state of my case since I came on shore on this island, I was compa=
ring
the happy posture of my affairs in the first years of my habitation here, w=
ith
the life of anxiety, fear, and care which I had lived in ever since I had s=
een
the print of a foot in the sand. Not that I did not believe the savages had
frequented the island even all the while, and might have been several hundr=
eds
of them at times on shore there; but I had never known it, and was incapabl=
e of
any apprehensions about it; my satisfaction was perfect, though my danger w=
as
the same, and I was as happy in not knowing my danger as if I had never rea=
lly
been exposed to it. This furnished my thoughts with many very profitable
reflections, and particularly this one: How infinitely good that Providence=
is,
which has provided, in its government of mankind, such narrow bounds to his
sight and knowledge of things; and though he walks in the midst of so many
thousand dangers, the sight of which, if discovered to him, would distract =
his
mind and sink his spirits, he is kept serene and calm, by having the events=
of
things hid from his eyes, and knowing nothing of the dangers which surround
him.
After these thoughts had for some time entertained me, I came to reflect se=
riously
upon the real danger I had been in for so many years in this very island, a=
nd
how I had walked about in the greatest security, and with all possible
tranquillity, even when perhaps nothing but the brow of a hill, a great tre=
e,
or the casual approach of night, had been between me and the worst kind of
destruction - viz. that of falling into the hands of cannibals and savages,=
who
would have seized on me with the same view as I would on a goat or turtle; =
and
have thought it no more crime to kill and devour me than I did of a pigeon =
or a
curlew. I would unjustly slander myself if I should say I was not sincerely
thankful to my great Preserver, to whose singular protection I acknowledged,
with great humanity, all these unknown deliverances were due, and without w=
hich
I must inevitably have fallen into their merciless hands.
When these thoughts were over, my head was for some time taken up in
considering the nature of these wretched creatures, I mean the savages, and=
how
it came to pass in the world that the wise Governor of all things should gi=
ve
up any of His creatures to such inhumanity - nay, to something so much below
even brutality itself - as to devour its own kind: but as this ended in some
(at that time) fruitless speculations, it occurred to me to inquire what pa=
rt
of the world these wretches lived in? how far off the coast was from whence
they came? what they ventured over so far from home for? what kind of boats
they had? and why I might not order myself and my business so that I might =
be
able to go over thither, as they were to come to me?
I never so much as troubled myself to consider what I should do with myself
when I went thither; what would become of me if I fell into the hands of th=
ese
savages; or how I should escape them if they attacked me; no, nor so much as
how it was possible for me to reach the coast, and not to be attacked by so=
me
or other of them, without any possibility of delivering myself: and if I sh=
ould
not fall into their hands, what I should do for provision, or whither I sho=
uld
bend my course: none of these thoughts, I say, so much as came in my way; b=
ut
my mind was wholly bent upon the notion of my passing over in my boat to the
mainland. I looked upon my present condition as the most miserable that cou=
ld
possibly be; that I was not able to throw myself into anything but death, t=
hat
could be called worse; and if I reached the shore of the main I might perha=
ps
meet with relief, or I might coast along, as I did on the African shore, ti=
ll I
came to some inhabited country, and where I might find some relief; and aft=
er
all, perhaps I might fall in with some Christian ship that might take me in:
and if the worst came to the worst, I could but die, which would put an end=
to
all these miseries at once. Pray note, all this was the fruit of a disturbed
mind, an impatient temper, made desperate, as it were, by the long continua=
nce
of my troubles, and the disappointments I had met in the wreck I had been on
board of, and where I had been so near obtaining what I so earnestly longed=
for
- somebody to speak to, and to learn some knowledge from them of the place
where I was, and of the probable means of my deliverance. I was agitated wh=
olly
by these thoughts; all my calm of mind, in my resignation to Providence, and
waiting the issue of the dispositions of Heaven, seemed to be suspended; an=
d I
had as it were no power to turn my thoughts to anything but to the project =
of a
voyage to the main, which came upon me with such force, and such an impetuo=
sity
of desire, that it was not to be resisted.
When this had agitated my thoughts for two hours or more, with such violence
that it set my very blood into a ferment, and my pulse beat as if I had bee=
n in
a fever, merely with the extraordinary fervour of my mind about it, Nature =
- as
if I had been fatigued and exhausted with the very thoughts of it - threw me
into a sound sleep. One would have thought I should have dreamed of it, but=
I
did not, nor of anything relating to it, but I dreamed that as I was going =
out
in the morning as usual from my castle, I saw upon the shore two canoes and
eleven savages coming to land, and that they brought with them another sava=
ge
whom they were going to kill in order to eat him; when, on a sudden, the sa=
vage
that they were going to kill jumped away, and ran for his life; and I thoug=
ht
in my sleep that he came running into my little thick grove before my
fortification, to hide himself; and that I seeing him alone, and not percei=
ving
that the others sought him that way, showed myself to him, and smiling upon
him, encouraged him: that he kneeled down to me, seeming to pray me to assi=
st
him; upon which I showed him my ladder, made him go up, and carried him int=
o my
cave, and he became my servant; and that as soon as I had got this man, I s=
aid
to myself, "Now I may certainly venture to the mainland, for this fell=
ow
will serve me as a pilot, and will tell me what to do, and whither to go for
provisions, and whither not to go for fear of being devoured; what places to
venture into, and what to shun." I waked with this thought; and was un=
der
such inexpressible impressions of joy at the prospect of my escape in my dr=
eam,
that the disappointments which I felt upon coming to myself, and finding th=
at
it was no more than a dream, were equally extravagant the other way, and th=
rew
me into a very great dejection of spirits.
Upon this, however, I made this conclusion: that my only way to go about to
attempt an escape was, to endeavour to get a savage into my possession: and=
, if
possible, it should be one of their prisoners, whom they had condemned to be
eaten, and should bring hither to kill. But these thoughts still were atten=
ded
with this difficulty: that it was impossible to effect this without attacki=
ng a
whole caravan of them, and killing them all; and this was not only a very
desperate attempt, and might miscarry, but, on the other hand, I had greatly
scrupled the lawfulness of it to myself; and my heart trembled at the thoug=
hts
of shedding so much blood, though it was for my deliverance. I need not rep=
eat
the arguments which occurred to me against this, they being the same mentio=
ned
before; but though I had other reasons to offer now - viz. that those men w=
ere
enemies to my life, and would devour me if they could; that it was
self-preservation, in the highest degree, to deliver myself from this death=
of
a life, and was acting in my own defence as much as if they were actually
assaulting me, and the like; I say though these things argued for it, yet t=
he
thoughts of shedding human blood for my deliverance were very terrible to m=
e,
and such as I could by no means reconcile myself to for a great while. Howe=
ver,
at last, after many secret disputes with myself, and after great perplexiti=
es
about it (for all these arguments, one way and another, struggled in my hea=
d a
long time), the eager prevailing desire of deliverance at length mastered a=
ll
the rest; and I resolved, if possible, to get one of these savages into my
hands, cost what it would. My next thing was to contrive how to do it, and
this, indeed, was very difficult to resolve on; but as I could pitch upon no
probable means for it, so I resolved to put myself upon the watch, to see t=
hem
when they came on shore, and leave the rest to the event; taking such measu=
res
as the opportunity should present, let what would be.
With these resolutions in my thoughts, I set myself upon the scout as often=
as
possible, and indeed so often that I was heartily tired of it; for it was a=
bove
a year and a half that I waited; and for great part of that time went out to
the west end, and to the south- west corner of the island almost every day,=
to
look for canoes, but none appeared. This was very discouraging, and began to
trouble me much, though I cannot say that it did in this case (as it had do=
ne
some time before) wear off the edge of my desire to the thing; but the long=
er
it seemed to be delayed, the more eager I was for it: in a word, I was not =
at
first so careful to shun the sight of these savages, and avoid being seen by
them, as I was now eager to be upon them. Besides, I fancied myself able to
manage one, nay, two or three savages, if I had them, so as to make them
entirely slaves to me, to do whatever I should direct them, and to prevent
their being able at any time to do me any hurt. It was a great while that I
pleased myself with this affair; but nothing still presented itself; all my
fancies and schemes came to nothing, for no savages came near me for a great
while.
About a year and a half after I entertained these notions (and by long musi=
ng
had, as it were, resolved them all into nothing, for want of an occasion to=
put
them into execution), I was surprised one morning by seeing no less than fi=
ve
canoes all on shore together on my side the island, and the people who belo=
nged
to them all landed and out of my sight. The number of them broke all my mea=
sures;
for seeing so many, and knowing that they always came four or six, or somet=
imes
more in a boat, I could not tell what to think of it, or how to take my
measures to attack twenty or thirty men single-handed; so lay still in my
castle, perplexed and discomforted. However, I put myself into the same
position for an attack that I had formerly provided, and was just ready for
action, if anything had presented. Having waited a good while, listening to
hear if they made any noise, at length, being very impatient, I set my guns=
at
the foot of my ladder, and .clambered up to the top of the hill, by my two
stages, as usual; standing so, however, that my head did not appear above t=
he
hill, so that they could not perceive me by any means. Here I observed, by =
the
help of my perspective glass, that they were no less than thirty in number;
that they had a fire kindled, and that they had meat dressed. How they had
cooked it I knew not, or what it was; but they were all dancing, in I know =
not
how many barbarous gestures and figures, their own way, round the fire.
While I was thus looking on them, I perceived, by my perspective, two miser=
able
wretches dragged from the boats, where, it seems, they were laid by, and we=
re
now brought out for the slaughter. I perceived one of them immediately fall;
being knocked down, I suppose, with a club or wooden sword, for that was th=
eir
way; and two or three others were at work immediately, cutting him open for
their cookery, while the other victim was left standing by himself, till th=
ey should
be ready for him. In that very moment this poor wretch, seeing himself a li=
ttle
at liberty and unbound, Nature inspired him with hopes of life, and he star=
ted
away from them, and ran with incredible swiftness along the sands, directly
towards me; I mean towards that part of the coast where my habitation was. I
was dreadfully frightened, I must acknowledge, when I perceived him run my =
way;
and especially when, as I thought, I saw him pursued by the whole body: and=
now
I expected that part of my dream was coming to pass, and that he would
certainly take shelter in my grove; but I could not depend, by any means, u=
pon
my dream, that the other savages would not pursue him thither and find him
there. However, I kept my station, and my spirits began to recover when I f=
ound
that there was not above three men that followed him; and still more was I
encouraged, when I found that he outstripped them exceedingly in running, a=
nd
gained ground on them; so that, if he could but hold out for half-an-hour, I
saw easily he would fairly get away from them all.
There was between them and my castle the creek, which I mentioned often in =
the
first part of my story, where I landed my cargoes out of the ship; and this=
I
saw plainly he must necessarily swim over, or the poor wretch would be taken
there; but when the savage escaping came thither, he made nothing of it, th=
ough
the tide was then up; but plunging in, swam through in about thirty strokes=
, or
thereabouts, landed, and ran with exceeding strength and swiftness. When th=
e three
persons came to the creek, I found that two of them could swim, but the thi=
rd
could not, and that, standing on the other side, he looked at the others, b=
ut
went no farther, and soon after went softly back again; which, as it happen=
ed,
was very well for him in the end. I observed that the two who swam were yet
more than twice as strong swimming over the creek as the fellow was that fl=
ed
from them. It came very warmly upon my thoughts, and indeed irresistibly, t=
hat
now was the time to get me a servant, and, perhaps, a companion or assistan=
t;
and that I was plainly called by Providence to save this poor creature's li=
fe.
I immediately ran down the ladders with all possible expedition, fetched my=
two
guns, for they were both at the foot of the ladders, as I observed before, =
and
getting up again with the same haste to the top of the hill, I crossed towa=
rds
the sea; and having a very short cut, and all down hill, placed myself in t=
he
way between the pursuers and the pursued, hallowing aloud to him that fled,=
who,
looking back, was at first perhaps as much frightened at me as at them; but=
I
beckoned with my hand to him to come back; and, in the meantime, I slowly
advanced towards the two that followed; then rushing at once upon the forem=
ost,
I knocked him down with the stock of my piece. I was loath to fire, because=
I
would not have the rest hear; though, at that distance, it would not have b=
een
easily heard, and being out of sight of the smoke, too, they would not have
known what to make of it. Having knocked this fellow down, the other who
pursued him stopped, as if he had been frightened, and I advanced towards h=
im:
but as I came nearer, I perceived presently he had a bow and arrow, and was
fitting it to shoot at me: so I was then obliged to shoot at him first, whi=
ch I
did, and killed him at the first shot. The poor savage who fled, but had
stopped, though he saw both his enemies fallen and killed, as he thought, y=
et
was so frightened with the fire and noise of my piece that he stood stock
still, and neither came forward nor went backward, though he seemed rather
inclined still to fly than to come on. I hallooed again to him, and made si=
gns
to come forward, which he easily understood, and came a little way; then
stopped again, and then a little farther, and stopped again; and I could th=
en
perceive that he stood trembling, as if he had been taken prisoner, and had
just been to be killed, as his two enemies were. I beckoned to him again to
come to me, and gave him all the signs of encouragement that I could think =
of;
and he came nearer and nearer, kneeling down every ten or twelve steps, in
token of acknowledgment for saving his life. I smiled at him, and looked
pleasantly, and beckoned to him to come still nearer; at length he came clo=
se
to me; and then he kneeled down again, kissed the ground, and laid his head
upon the ground, and taking me by the foot, set my foot upon his head; this=
, it
seems, was in token of swearing to be my slave for ever. I took him up and =
made
much of him, and encouraged him all I could. But there was more work to do =
yet;
for I perceived the savage whom I had knocked down was not killed, but stun=
ned
with the blow, and began to come to himself: so I pointed to him, and showed
him the savage, that he was not dead; upon this he spoke some words to me, =
and
though I could not understand them, yet I thought they were pleasant to hea=
r;
for they were the first sound of a man's voice that I had heard, my own
excepted, for above twenty-five years. But there was no time for such
reflections now; the savage who was knocked down recovered himself so far a=
s to
sit up upon the ground, and I perceived that my savage began to be afraid; =
but
when I saw that, I presented my other piece at the man, as if I would shoot
him: upon this my savage, for so I call him now, made a motion to me to lend
him my sword, which hung naked in a belt by my side, which I did. He no soo=
ner
had it, but he runs to his enemy, and at one blow cut off his head so cleve=
rly,
no executioner in Germany could have done it sooner or better; which I thou=
ght
very strange for one who, I had reason to believe, never saw a sword in his
life before, except their own wooden swords: however, it seems, as I learned
afterwards, they make their wooden swords so sharp, so heavy, and the wood =
is
so hard, that they will even cut off heads with them, ay, and arms, and tha=
t at
one blow, too. When he had done this, he comes laughing to me in sign of
triumph, and brought me the sword again, and with abundance of gestures whi=
ch I
did not understand, laid it down, with the head of the savage that he had
killed, just before me. But that which astonished him most was to know how I
killed the other Indian so far off; so, pointing to him, he made signs to m=
e to
let him go to him; and I bade him go, as well as I could. When he came to h=
im,
he stood like one amazed, looking at him, turning him first on one side, th=
en
on the other; looked at the wound the bullet had made, which it seems was j=
ust
in his breast, where it had made a hole, and no great quantity of blood had=
followed;
but he had bled inwardly, for he was quite dead. He took up his bow and arr=
ows,
and came back; so I turned to go away, and beckoned him to follow me, making
signs to him that more might come after them. Upon this he made signs to me
that he should bury them with sand, that they might not be seen by the rest=
, if
they followed; and so I made signs to him again to do so. He fell to work; =
and
in an instant he had scraped a hole in the sand with his hands big enough to
bury the first in, and then dragged him into it, and covered him; and did s=
o by
the other also; I believe he had him buried them both in a quarter of an ho=
ur.
Then, calling away, I carried him, not to my castle, but quite away to my c=
ave,
on the farther part of the island: so I did not let my dream come to pass in
that part, that he came into my grove for shelter. Here I gave him bread an=
d a
bunch of raisins to eat, and a draught of water, which I found he was indee=
d in
great distress for, from his running: and having refreshed him, I made signs
for him to go and lie down to sleep, showing him a place where I had laid s=
ome
rice-straw, and a blanket upon it, which I used to sleep upon myself someti=
mes;
so the poor creature lay down, and went to sleep.
He was a comely, handsome fellow, perfectly well made, with straight, strong
limbs, not too large; tall, and well-shaped; and, as I reckon, about twenty=
-six
years of age. He had a very good countenance, not a fierce and surly aspect,
but seemed to have something very manly in his face; and yet he had all the
sweetness and softness of a European in his countenance, too, especially wh=
en
he smiled. His hair was long and black, not curled like wool; his forehead =
very
high and large; and a great vivacity and sparkling sharpness in his eyes. T=
he
colour of his skin was not quite black, but very tawny; and yet not an ugly,
yellow, nauseous tawny, as the Brazilians and Virginians, and other natives=
of
America are, but of a bright kind of a dun olive-colour, that had in it
something very agreeable, though not very easy to describe. His face was ro=
und
and plump; his nose small, not flat, like the negroes; a very good mouth, t=
hin
lips, and his fine teeth well set, and as white as ivory.
After he had slumbered, rather than slept, about half-an-hour, he awoke aga=
in,
and came out of the cave to me: for I had been milking my goats which I had=
in
the enclosure just by: when he espied me he came running to me, laying hims=
elf
down again upon the ground, with all the possible signs of an humble, thank=
ful
disposition, making a great many antic gestures to show it. At last he lays=
his
head flat upon the ground, close to my foot, and sets my other foot upon his
head, as he had done before; and after this made all the signs to me of
subjection, servitude, and submission imaginable, to let me know how he wou=
ld
serve me so long as he lived. I understood him in many things, and let him =
know
I was very well pleased with him. In a little time I began to speak to him;=
and
teach him to speak to me: and first, I let him know his name should be Frid=
ay,
which was the day I saved his life: I called him so for the memory of the t=
ime.
I likewise taught him to say Master; and then let him know that was to be my
name: I likewise taught him to say Yes and No and to know the meaning of th=
em.
I gave him some milk in an earthen pot, and let him see me drink it before =
him,
and sop my bread in it; and gave him a cake of bread to do the like, which =
he
quickly complied with, and made signs that it was very good for him. I kept
there with him all that night; but as soon as it was day I beckoned to him =
to
come with me, and let him know I would give him some clothes; at which he
seemed very glad, for he was stark naked. As we went by the place where he =
had
buried the two men, he pointed exactly to the place, and showed me the marks
that he had made to find them again, making signs to me that we should dig =
them
up again and eat them. At this I appeared very angry, expressed my abhorren=
ce
of it, made as if I would vomit at the thoughts of it, and beckoned with my
hand to him to come away, which he did immediately, with great submission. I
then led him up to the top of the hill, to see if his enemies were gone; and
pulling out my glass I looked, and saw plainly the place where they had bee=
n,
but no appearance of them or their canoes; so that it was plain they were g=
one,
and had left their two comrades behind them, without any search after them.=
But I was not content with this discovery; but having now more courage, and
consequently more curiosity, I took my man Friday with me, giving him the s=
word
in his hand, with the bow and arrows at his back, which I found he could use
very dexterously, making him carry one gun for me, and I two for myself; and
away we marched to the place where these creatures had been; for I had a mi=
nd
now to get some further intelligence of them. When I came to the place my v=
ery
blood ran chill in my veins, and my heart sunk within me, at the horror of =
the
spectacle; indeed, it was a dreadful sight, at least it was so to me, though
Friday made nothing of it. The place was covered with human bones, the grou=
nd
dyed with their blood, and great pieces of flesh left here and there,
half-eaten, mangled, and scorched; and, in short, all the tokens of the
triumphant feast they had been making there, after a victory over their
enemies. I saw three skulls, five hands, and the bones of three or four legs
and feet, and abundance of other parts of the bodies; and Friday, by his si=
gns,
made me understand that they brought over four prisoners to feast upon; that
three of them were eaten up, and that he, pointing to himself, was the four=
th;
that there had been a great battle between them and their next king, of who=
se
subjects, it seems, he had been one, and that they had taken a great number=
of
prisoners; all which were carried to several places by those who had taken =
them
in the fight, in order to feast upon them, as was done here by these wretch=
es
upon those they brought hither.
I caused Friday to gather all the skulls, bones, flesh, and whatever remain=
ed,
and lay them together in a heap, and make a great fire upon it, and burn th=
em
all to ashes. I found Friday had still a hankering stomach after some of the
flesh, and was still a cannibal in his nature; but I showed so much abhorre=
nce
at the very thoughts of it, and at the least appearance of it, that he durst
not discover it: for I had, by some means, let him know that I would kill h=
im
if he offered it.
When he had done this, we came back to our castle; and there I fell to work=
for
my man Friday; and first of all, I gave him a pair of linen drawers, which I
had out of the poor gunner's chest I mentioned, which I found in the wreck,=
and
which, with a little alteration, fitted him very well; and then I made him a
jerkin of goat's skin, as well as my skill would allow (for I was now grown=
a
tolerably good tailor); and I gave him a cap which I made of hare's skin, v=
ery
convenient, and fashionable enough; and thus he was clothed, for the presen=
t,
tolerably well, and was mighty well pleased to see himself almost as well
clothed as his master. It is true he went awkwardly in these clothes at fir=
st:
wearing the drawers was very awkward to him, and the sleeves of the waistco=
at
galled his shoulders and the inside of his arms; but a little easing them w=
here
he complained they hurt him, and using himself to them, he took to them at
length very well.
The next day, after I came home to my hutch with him, I began to consider w=
here
I should lodge him: and that I might do well for him and yet be perfectly e=
asy
myself, I made a little tent for him in the vacant place between my two
fortifications, in the inside of the last, and in the outside of the first.=
As
there was a door or entrance there into my cave, I made a formal framed
door-case, and a door to it, of boards, and set it up in the passage, a lit=
tle
within the entrance; and, causing the door to open in the inside, I barred =
it
up in the night, taking in my ladders, too; so that Friday could no way com=
e at
me in the inside of my innermost wall, without making so much noise in gett=
ing
over that it must needs awaken me; for my first wall had now a complete roof
over it of long poles, covering all my tent, and leaning up to the side of =
the
hill; which was again laid across with smaller sticks, instead of laths, and
then thatched over a great thickness with the rice- straw, which was strong,
like reeds; and at the hole or place which was left to go in or out by the
ladder I had placed a kind of trap- door, which, if it had been attempted on
the outside, would not have opened at all, but would have fallen down and m=
ade
a great noise - as to weapons, I took them all into my side every night. Bu=
t I
needed none of all this precaution; for never man had a more faithful, lovi=
ng,
sincere servant than Friday was to me: without passions, sullenness, or
designs, perfectly obliged and engaged; his very affections were tied to me,
like those of a child to a father; and I daresay he would have sacrificed h=
is
life to save mine upon any occasion whatsoever - the many testimonies he ga=
ve
me of this put it out of doubt, and soon convinced me that I needed to use =
no
precautions for my safety on his account.
This frequently gave me occasion to observe, and that with wonder, that how=
ever
it had pleased God in His providence, and in the government of the works of=
His
hands, to take from so great a part of the world of His creatures the best =
uses
to which their faculties and the powers of their souls are adapted, yet tha=
t He
has bestowed upon them the same powers, the same reason, the same affection=
s, the
same sentiments of kindness and obligation, the same passions and resentmen=
ts
of wrongs, the same sense of gratitude, sincerity, fidelity, and all the
capacities of doing good and receiving good that He has given to us; and th=
at
when He pleases to offer them occasions of exerting these, they are as read=
y,
nay, more ready, to apply them to the right uses for which they were bestow=
ed
than we are. This made me very melancholy sometimes, in reflecting, as the
several occasions presented, how mean a use we make of all these, even thou=
gh
we have these powers enlightened by the great lamp of instruction, the Spir=
it
of God, and by the knowledge of His word added to our understanding; and wh=
y it
has pleased God to hide the like saving knowledge from so many millions of
souls, who, if I might judge by this poor savage, would make a much better =
use
of it than we did. From hence I sometimes was led too far, to invade the
sovereignty of Providence, and, as it were, arraign the justice of so arbit=
rary
a disposition of things, that should hide that sight from some, and reveal =
it -
to others, and yet expect a like duty from both; but I shut it up, and chec=
ked
my thoughts with this conclusion: first, that we did not know by what light=
and
law these should be condemned; but that as God was necessarily, and by the
nature of His being, infinitely holy and just, so it could not be, but if t=
hese
creatures were all sentenced to absence from Himself, it was on account of
sinning against that light which, as the Scripture says, was a law to
themselves, and by such rules as their consciences would acknowledge to be
just, though the foundation was not discovered to us; and secondly, that st=
ill
as we all are the clay in the hand of the potter, no vessel could say to hi=
m,
"Why hast thou formed me thus?"
But to return to my new companion. I was greatly delighted with him, and ma=
de
it my business to teach him everything that was proper to make him useful,
handy, and helpful; but especially to make him speak, and understand me whe=
n I
spoke; and he was the aptest scholar that ever was; and particularly was so
merry, so constantly diligent, and so pleased when he could but understand =
me,
or make me understand him, that it was very pleasant for me to talk to him.=
Now
my life began to be so easy that I began to say to myself that could I but =
have
been safe from more savages, I cared not if I was never to remove from the
place where I lived.
Chapter 15: Friday's Education
After I had been two or three days returned to my castle, I thought that, in
order to bring Friday off from his horrid way of feeding, and from the reli=
sh
of a cannibal's stomach, I ought to let him taste other flesh; so I took him
out with me one morning to the woods. I went, indeed, intending to kill a k=
id
out of my own flock; and bring it home and dress it; but as I was going I s=
aw a
she-goat lying down in the shade, and two young kids sitting by her. I catc=
hed
hold of Friday. "Hold," said I, "stand still;" and made
signs to him not to stir: immediately I presented my piece, shot, and killed
one of the kids. The poor creature, who had at a distance, indeed, seen me =
kill
the savage, his enemy, but did not know, nor could imagine how it was done,=
was
sensibly surprised, trembled, and shook, and looked so amazed that I though=
t he
would have sunk down. He did not see the kid I shot at, or perceive I had
killed it, but ripped up his waistcoat to feel whether he was not wounded; =
and,
as I found presently, thought I was resolved to kill him: for he came and
kneeled down to me, and embracing my knees, said a great many things I did =
not
understand; but I could easily see the meaning was to pray me not to kill h=
im.
I soon found a way to convince him that I would do him no harm; and taking =
him
up by the hand, laughed at him, and pointing to the kid which I had killed,
beckoned to him to run and fetch it, which he did: and while he was wonderi=
ng,
and looking to see how the creature was killed, I loaded my gun again.
By-and-by I saw a great fowl, like a hawk, sitting upon a tree within shot;=
so,
to let Friday understand a little what I would do, I called him to me again,
pointed at the fowl, which was indeed a parrot, though I thought it had bee=
n a
hawk; I say, pointing to the parrot, and to my gun, and to the ground under=
the
parrot, to let him see I would make it fall, I made him understand that I w=
ould
shoot and kill that bird; accordingly, I fired, and bade him look, and
immediately he saw the parrot fall. He stood like one frightened again,
notwithstanding all I had said to him; and I found he was the more amazed,
because he did not see me put anything into the gun, but thought that there
must be some wonderful fund of death and destruction in that thing, able to
kill man, beast, bird, or anything near or far off; and the astonishment th=
is
created in him was such as could not wear off for a long time; and I believ=
e,
if I would have let him, he would have worshipped me and my gun. As for the=
gun
itself, he would not so much as touch it for several days after; but he wou=
ld
speak to it and talk to it, as if it had answered him, when he was by himse=
lf;
which, as I afterwards learned of him, was to desire it not to kill him. We=
ll,
after his astonishment was a little over at this, I pointed to him to run a=
nd
fetch the bird I had shot, which he did, but stayed some time; for the parr=
ot,
not being quite dead, had fluttered away a good distance from the place whe=
re
she fell: however, he found her, took her up, and brought her to me; and as=
I
had perceived his ignorance about the gun before, I took this advantage to
charge the gun again, and not to let him see me do it, that I might be ready
for any other mark that might present; but nothing more offered at that tim=
e:
so I brought home the kid, and the same evening I took the skin off, and cu=
t it
out as well as I could; and having a pot fit for that purpose, I boiled or
stewed some of the flesh, and made some very good broth. After I had begun =
to
eat some I gave some to my man, who seemed very glad of it, and liked it ve=
ry
well; but that which was strangest to him was to see me eat salt with it. He
made a sign to me that the salt was not good to eat; and putting a little i=
nto
his own mouth, he seemed to nauseate it, and would spit and sputter at it,
washing his mouth with fresh water after it: on the other hand, I took some
meat into my mouth without salt, and I pretended to spit and sputter for wa=
nt
of salt, as much as he had done at the salt; but it would not do; he would
never care for salt with meat or in his broth; at least, not for a great wh=
ile,
and then but a very little.
Having thus fed him with boiled meat and broth, I was resolved to feast him=
the
next day by roasting a piece of the kid: this I did by hanging it before the
fire on a string, as I had seen many people do in England, setting two poles
up, one on each side of the fire, and one across the top, and tying the str=
ing
to the cross stick, letting the meat turn continually. This Friday admired =
very
much; but when he came to taste the flesh, he took so many ways to tell me =
how
well he liked it, that I could not but understand him: and at last he told =
me,
as well as he could, he would never eat man's flesh any more, which I was v=
ery
glad to hear.
The next day I set him to work beating some corn out, and sifting it in the
manner I used to do, as I observed before; and he soon understood how to do=
it
as well as I, especially after he had seen what the meaning of it was, and =
that
it was to make bread of; for after that I let him see me make my bread, and
bake it too; and in a little time Friday was able to do all the work for me=
as
well as I could do it myself.
I began now to consider, that having two mouths to feed instead of one, I m=
ust
provide more ground for my harvest, and plant a larger quantity of corn tha=
n I
used to do; so I marked out a larger piece of land, and began the fence in =
the
same manner as before, in which Friday worked not only very willingly and v=
ery
hard, but did it very cheerfully: and I told him what it was for; that it w=
as
for corn to make more bread, because he was now with me, and that I might h=
ave
enough for him and myself too. He appeared very sensible of that part, and =
let
me know that he thought I had much more labour upon me on his account than I
had for myself; and that he would work the harder for me if I would tell him
what to do.
This was the pleasantest year of all the life I led in this place. Friday b=
egan
to talk pretty well, and understand the names of almost everything I had
occasion to call for, and of every place I had to send him to, and talked a
great deal to me; so that, in short, I began now to have some use for my to=
ngue
again, which, indeed, I had very little occasion for before. Besides the
pleasure of talking to him, I had a singular satisfaction in the fellow
himself: his simple, unfeigned honesty appeared to me more and more every d=
ay,
and I began really to love the creature; and on his side I believe he loved=
me
more than it was possible for him ever to love anything before.
I had a mind once to try if he had any inclination for his own country agai=
n;
and having taught him English so well that he could answer me almost any
question, I asked him whether the nation that he belonged to never conquere=
d in
battle? At which he smiled, and said - "Yes, yes, we always fight the
better;" that is, he meant always get the better in fight; and so we b=
egan
the following discourse:-
Master. - You always fight the better; how came you to be taken prisoner, t=
hen,
Friday?
Friday. - My nation beat much for all that.
Master. - How beat? If your nation beat them, how came you to be taken?
Friday. - They more many than my nation, in the place where me was; they ta=
ke
one, two, three, and me: my nation over-beat them in the yonder place, wher=
e me
no was; there my nation take one, two, great thousand.
Master. - But why did not your side recover you from the hands of your enem=
ies,
then?
Friday. - They run, one, two, three, and me, and make go in the canoe; my
nation have no canoe that time.
Master. - Well, Friday, and what does your nation do with the men they take=
? Do
they carry them away and eat them, as these did?
Friday. - Yes, my nation eat mans too; eat all up.
Master. - Where do they carry them?
Friday. - Go to other place, where they think.
Master. - Do they come hither?
Friday. - Yes, yes, they come hither; come other else place.
Master. - Have you been here with them?
Friday. - Yes, I have been here (points to the NW. side of the island, whic=
h,
it seems, was their side).
By this I understood that my man Friday had formerly been among the savages=
who
used to come on shore on the farther part of the island, on the same man-ea=
ting
occasions he was now brought for; and some time after, when I took the cour=
age
to carry him to that side, being the same I formerly mentioned, he presently
knew the place, and told me he was there once, when they ate up twenty men,=
two
women, and one child; he could not tell twenty in English, but he numbered =
them
by laying so many stones in a row, and pointing to me to tell them over.
I have told this passage, because it introduces what follows: that after th=
is
discourse I had with him, I asked him how far it was from our island to the
shore, and whether the canoes were not often lost. He told me there was no
danger, no canoes ever lost: but that after a little way out to sea, there =
was
a current and wind, always one way in the morning, the other in the afterno=
on.
This I understood to be no more than the sets of the tide, as going out or
coming in; but I afterwards understood it was occasioned by the great draft=
and
reflux of the mighty river Orinoco, in the mouth or gulf of which river, as=
I
found afterwards, our island lay; and that this land, which I perceived to =
be
W. and NW., was the great island Trinidad, on the north point of the mouth =
of
the river. I asked Friday a thousand questions about the country, the
inhabitants, the sea, the coast, and what nations were near; he told me all=
he
knew with the greatest openness imaginable. I asked him the names of the
several nations of his sort of people, but could get no other name than Car=
ibs;
from whence I easily understood that these were the Caribbees, which our ma=
ps
place on the part of America which reaches from the mouth of the river Orin=
oco
to Guiana, and onwards to St. Martha. He told me that up a great way beyond=
the
moon, that was beyond the setting of the moon, which must be west from their
country, there dwelt white bearded men, like me, and pointed to my great
whiskers, which I mentioned before; and that they had killed much mans, that
was his word: by all which I understood he meant the Spaniards, whose cruel=
ties
in America had been spread over the whole country, and were remembered by a=
ll
the nations from father to son.
I inquired if he could tell me how I might go from this island, and get amo=
ng
those white men. He told me, "Yes, yes, you may go in two canoe."=
I
could not understand what he meant, or make him describe to me what he mean=
t by
two canoe, till at last, with great difficulty, I found he meant it must be=
in
a large boat, as big as two canoes. This part of Friday's discourse I began=
to
relish very well; and from this time I entertained some hopes that, one tim=
e or
other, I might find an opportunity to make my escape from this place, and t=
hat
this poor savage might be a means to help me.
During the long time that Friday had now been with me, and that he began to
speak to me, and understand me, I was not wanting to lay a foundation of
religious knowledge in his mind; particularly I asked him one time, who made
him. The creature did not understand me at all, but thought I had asked who=
was
his father - but I took it up by another handle, and asked him who made the
sea, the ground we walked on, and the hills and woods. He told me, "It=
was
one Benamuckee, that lived beyond all;" he could describe nothing of t=
his
great person, but that he was very old, "much older," he said,
"than the sea or land, than the moon or the stars." I asked him t=
hen,
if this old person had made all things, why did not all things worship him?=
He
looked very grave, and, with a perfect look of innocence, said, "All
things say O to him." I asked him if the people who die in his country
went away anywhere? He said, "Yes; they all went to Benamuckee." =
Then
I asked him whether those they eat up went thither too. He said, "Yes.=
"
From these things, I began to instruct him in the knowledge of the true God=
; I
told him that the great Maker of all things lived up there, pointing up tow=
ards
heaven; that He governed the world by the same power and providence by whic=
h He
made it; that He was omnipotent, and could do everything for us, give
everything to us, take everything from us; and thus, by degrees, I opened h=
is
eyes. He listened with great attention, and received with pleasure the noti=
on
of Jesus Christ being sent to redeem us; and of the manner of making our
prayers to God, and His being able to hear us, even in heaven. He told me o=
ne
day, that if our God could hear us, up beyond the sun, he must needs be a
greater God than their Benamuckee, who lived but a little way off, and yet
could not hear till they went up to the great mountains where he dwelt to s=
peak
to them. I asked him if ever he went thither to speak to him. He said,
"No; they never went that were young men; none went thither but the old
men," whom he called their Oowokakee; that is, as I made him explain to
me, their religious, or clergy; and that they went to say O (so he called
saying prayers), and then came back and told them what Benamuckee said. By =
this
I observed, that there is priestcraft even among the most blinded, ignorant
pagans in the world; and the policy of making a secret of religion, in orde=
r to
preserve the veneration of the people to the clergy, not only to be found in
the Roman, but, perhaps, among all religions in the world, even among the m=
ost
brutish and barbarous savages.
I endeavoured to clear up this fraud to my man Friday; and told him that the
pretence of their old men going up to the mountains to say O to their god
Benamuckee was a cheat; and their bringing word from thence what he said was
much more so; that if they met with any answer, or spake with any one there=
, it
must be with an evil spirit; and then I entered into a long discourse with =
him
about the devil, the origin of him, his rebellion against God, his enmity to
man, the reason of it, his setting himself up in the dark parts of the worl=
d to
be worshipped instead of God, and as God, and the many stratagems he made u=
se
of to delude mankind to their ruin; how he had a secret access to our passi=
ons
and to our affections, and to adapt his snares to our inclinations, so as to
cause us even to be our own tempters, and run upon our destruction by our o=
wn
choice.
I found it was not so easy to imprint right notions in his mind about the d=
evil
as it was about the being of a God. Nature assisted all my arguments to evi=
dence
to him even the necessity of a great First Cause, an overruling, governing
Power, a secret directing Providence, and of the equity and justice of payi=
ng
homage to Him that made us, and the like; but there appeared nothing of this
kind in the notion of an evil spirit, of his origin, his being, his nature,=
and
above all, of his inclination to do evil, and to draw us in to do so too; a=
nd
the poor creature puzzled me once in such a manner, by a question merely
natural and innocent, that I scarce knew what to say to him. I had been tal=
king
a great deal to him of the power of God, His omnipotence, His aversion to s=
in,
His being a consuming fire to the workers of iniquity; how, as He had made =
us
all, He could destroy us and all the world in a moment; and he listened with
great seriousness to me all the while. After this I had been telling him how
the devil was God's enemy in the hearts of men, and used all his malice and
skill to defeat the good designs of Providence, and to ruin the kingdom of
Christ in the world, and the like. "Well," says Friday, "but=
you
say God is so strong, so great; is He not much strong, much might as the
devil?" "Yes, yes," says I, "Friday; God is stronger th=
an
the devil - God is above the devil, and therefore we pray to God to tread h=
im down
under our feet, and enable us to resist his temptations and quench his fiery
darts." "But," says he again, "if God much stronger, mu=
ch
might as the wicked devil, why God no kill the devil, so make him no more do
wicked?" I was strangely surprised at this question; and, after all,
though I was now an old man, yet I was but a young doctor, and ill qualified
for a casuist or a solver of difficulties; and at first I could not tell wh=
at
to say; so I pretended not to hear him, and asked him what he said; but he =
was
too earnest for an answer to forget his question, so that he repeated it in=
the
very same broken words as above. By this time I had recovered myself a litt=
le,
and I said, "God will at last punish him severely; he is reserved for =
the
judgment, and is to be cast into the bottomless pit, to dwell with everlast=
ing
fire." This did not satisfy Friday; but he returns upon me, repeating =
my
words, "Reserve At Last! me no understand - but why not kill the devil
now; not kill great ago?" "You may as well ask me," said I,
"why God does not kill you or me, when we do wicked things here that
offend Him - we are preserved to repent and be pardoned." He mused some
time on this. "Well, well," says he, mighty affectionately,
"that well - so you, I, devil, all wicked, all preserve, repent, God
pardon all." Here I was run down again by him to the last degree; and =
it
was a testimony to me, how the mere notions of nature, though they will gui=
de
reasonable creatures to the knowledge of a God, and of a worship or homage =
due
to the supreme being of God, as the consequence of our nature, yet nothing =
but
divine revelation can form the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and of redemption
purchased for us; of a Mediator of the new covenant, and of an Intercessor =
at
the footstool of God's throne; I say, nothing but a revelation from Heaven =
can
form these in the soul; and that, therefore, the gospel of our Lord and Sav=
iour
Jesus Christ, I mean the Word of God, and the Spirit of God, promised for t=
he
guide and sanctifier of His people, are the absolutely necessary instructor=
s of
the souls of men in the saving knowledge of God and the means of salvation.=
I therefore diverted the present discourse between me and my man, rising up
hastily, as upon some sudden occasion of going out; then sending him for
something a good way off, I seriously prayed to God that He would enable me=
to
instruct savingly this poor savage; assisting, by His Spirit, the heart of =
the
poor ignorant creature to receive the light of the knowledge of God in Chri=
st,
reconciling him to Himself, and would guide me so to speak to him from the =
Word
of God that his conscience might be convinced, his eyes opened, and his soul
saved. When he came again to me, I entered into a long discourse with him u=
pon
the subject of the redemption of man by the Saviour of the world, and of the
doctrine of the gospel preached from Heaven, viz. of repentance towards God,
and faith in our blessed Lord Jesus. I then explained to him as well as I c=
ould
why our blessed Redeemer took not on Him the nature of angels but the seed =
of
Abraham; and how, for that reason, the fallen angels had no share in the
redemption; that He came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and=
the
like.
I had, God knows, more sincerity than knowledge in all the methods I took f=
or
this poor creature's instruction, and must acknowledge, what I believe all =
that
act upon the same principle will find, that in laying things open to him, I
really informed and instructed myself in many things that either I did not =
know
or had not fully considered before, but which occurred naturally to my mind
upon searching into them, for the information of this poor savage; and I had
more affection in my inquiry after things upon this occasion than ever I fe=
lt
before: so that, whether this poor wild wretch was better for me or no, I h=
ad
great reason to be thankful that ever he came to me; my grief sat lighter, =
upon
me; my habitation grew comfortable to me beyond measure: and when I reflect=
ed
that in this solitary life which I have been confined to, I had not only be=
en
moved to look up to heaven myself, and to seek the Hand that had brought me
here, but was now to be made an instrument, under Providence, to save the l=
ife,
and, for aught I knew, the soul of a poor savage, and bring him to the true=
knowledge
of religion and of the Christian doctrine, that he might know Christ Jesus,=
in
whom is life eternal; I say, when I reflected upon all these things, a secr=
et
joy ran through every part of My soul, and I frequently rejoiced that ever I
was brought to this place, which I had so often thought the most dreadful of
all afflictions that could possibly have befallen me.
I continued in this thankful frame all the remainder of my time; and the
conversation which employed the hours between Friday and me was such as made
the three years which we lived there together perfectly and completely happ=
y,
if any such thing as complete happiness can be formed in a sublunary state.
This savage was now a good Christian, a much better than I; though I have
reason to hope, and bless God for it, that we were equally penitent, and
comforted, restored penitents. We had here the Word of God to read, and no
farther off from His Spirit to instruct than if we had been in England. I
always applied myself, in reading the Scripture, to let him know, as well a=
s I
could, the meaning of what I read; and he again, by his serious inquiries a=
nd
questionings, made me, as I said before, a much better scholar in the Scrip=
ture
knowledge than I should ever have been by my own mere private reading. Anot=
her
thing I cannot refrain from observing here also, from experience in this
retired part of my life, viz. how infinite and inexpressible a blessing it =
is
that the knowledge of God, and of the doctrine of salvation by Christ Jesus=
, is
so plainly laid down in the Word of God, so easy to be received and underst=
ood,
that, as the bare reading the Scripture made me capable of understanding en=
ough
of my duty to carry me directly on to the great work of sincere repentance =
for
my sins, and laying hold of a Saviour for life and salvation, to a stated
reformation in practice, and obedience to all God's commands, and this with=
out
any teacher or instructor, I mean human; so the same plain instruction
sufficiently served to the enlightening this savage creature, and bringing =
him
to be such a Christian as I have known few equal to him in my life.
As to all the disputes, wrangling, strife, and contention which have happen=
ed
in the world about religion, whether niceties in doctrines or schemes of ch=
urch
government, they were all perfectly useless to us, and, for aught I can yet
see, they have been so to the rest of the world. We had the sure guide to
heaven, viz. the Word of God; and we had, blessed be God, comfortable views=
of
the Spirit of God teaching and instructing by His word, leading us into all
truth, and making us both willing and obedient to the instruction of His wo=
rd.
And I cannot see the least use that the greatest knowledge of the disputed
points of religion, which have made such confusion in the world, would have
been to us, if we could have obtained it. But I must go on with the histori=
cal
part of things, and take every part in its order.
After Friday and I became more intimately acquainted, and that he could
understand almost all I said to him, and speak pretty fluently, though in
broken English, to me, I acquainted him with my own history, or at least so
much of it as related to my coming to this place: how I had lived there, and
how long; I let him into the mystery, for such it was to him, of gunpowder =
and
bullet, and taught him how to shoot. I gave him a knife, which he was
wonderfully delighted with; and I made him a belt, with a frog hanging to i=
t,
such as in England we wear hangers in; and in the frog, instead of a hanger=
, I
gave him a hatchet, which was not only as good a weapon in some cases, but =
much
more useful upon other occasions.
I described to him the country of Europe, particularly England, which I came
from; how we lived, how we worshipped God, how we behaved to one another, a=
nd
how we traded in ships to all parts of the world. I gave him an account of =
the
wreck which I had been on board of, and showed him, as near as I could, the
place where she lay; but she was all beaten in pieces before, and gone. I
showed him the ruins of our boat, which we lost when we escaped, and which I
could not stir with my whole strength then; but was now fallen almost all to
pieces. Upon seeing this boat, Friday stood, musing a great while, and said
nothing. I asked him what it was he studied upon. At last says he, "Me=
see
such boat like come to place at my nation." I did not understand him a
good while; but at last, when I had examined further into it, I understood =
by
him that a boat, such as that had been, came on shore upon the country wher=
e he
lived: that is, as he explained it, was driven thither by stress of weather=
. I
presently imagined that some European ship must have been cast away upon th=
eir
coast, and the boat might get loose and drive ashore; but was so dull that I
never once thought of men making their escape from a wreck thither, much le=
ss
whence they might come: so I only inquired after a description of the boat.=
Friday described the boat to me well enough; but brought me better to
understand him when he added with some warmth, "We save the white mans
from drown." Then I presently asked if there were any white mans, as he
called them, in the boat. "Yes," he said; "the boat full of
white mans." I asked him how many. He told upon his fingers seventeen.=
I
asked him then what became of them. He told me, "They live, they dwell=
at
my nation."
This put new thoughts into my head; for I presently imagined that these mig=
ht
be the men belonging to the ship that was cast away in the sight of my isla=
nd,
as I now called it; and who, after the ship was struck on the rock, and they
saw her inevitably lost, had saved themselves in their boat, and were landed
upon that wild shore among the savages. Upon this I inquired of him more
critically what was become of them. He assured me they lived still there; t=
hat
they had been there about four years; that the savages left them alone, and
gave them victuals to live on. I asked him how it came to pass they did not
kill them and eat them. He said, "No, they make brother with them;&quo=
t;
that is, as I understood him, a truce; and then he added, "They no eat
mans but when make the war fight;" that is to say, they never eat any =
men
but such as come to fight with them and are taken in battle.
It was after this some considerable time, that being upon the top of the hi=
ll
at the east side of the island, from whence, as I have said, I had, in a cl=
ear
day, discovered the main or continent of America, Friday, the weather being
very serene, looks very earnestly towards the mainland, and, in a kind of
surprise, falls a jumping and dancing, and calls out to me, for I was at so=
me
distance from him. I asked him what was the matter. "Oh, joy!" sa=
ys
he; "Oh, glad! there see my country, there my nation!" I observed=
an
extraordinary sense of pleasure appeared in his face, and his eyes sparkled,
and his countenance discovered a strange eagerness, as if he had a mind to =
be
in his own country again. This observation of mine put a great many thoughts
into me, which made me at first not so easy about my new man Friday as I was
before; and I made no doubt but that, if Friday could get back to his own
nation again, he would not only forget all his religion but all his obligat=
ion
to me, and would be forward enough to give his countrymen an account of me,=
and
come back, perhaps with a hundred or two of them, and make a feast upon me,=
at
which he might be as merry as he used to be with those of his enemies when =
they
were taken in war. But I wronged the poor honest creature very much, for wh=
ich
I was very sorry afterwards. However, as my jealousy increased, and held so=
me
weeks, I was a little more circumspect, and not so familiar and kind to him=
as
before: in which I was certainly wrong too; the honest, grateful creature
having no thought about it but what consisted with the best principles, bot=
h as
a religious Christian and as a grateful friend, as appeared afterwards to my
full satisfaction.
While my jealousy of him lasted, you may be sure I was every day pumping hi=
m to
see if he would discover any of the new thoughts which I suspected were in =
him;
but I found everything he said was so honest and so innocent, that I could =
find
nothing to nourish my suspicion; and in spite of all my uneasiness, he made=
me
at last entirely his own again; nor did he in the least perceive that I was
uneasy, and therefore I could not suspect him of deceit.
One day, walking up the same hill, but the weather being hazy at sea, so th=
at
we could not see the continent, I called to him, and said, "Friday, do=
not
you wish yourself in your own country, your own nation?" "Yes,&qu=
ot;
he said, "I be much O glad to be at my own nation." "What wo=
uld
you do there?" said I. "Would you turn wild again, eat men's flesh
again, and be a savage as you were before?" He looked full of concern,=
and
shaking his head, said, "No, no, Friday tell them to live good; tell t=
hem
to pray God; tell them to eat corn-bread, cattle flesh, milk; no eat man
again." "Why, then," said I to him, "they will kill
you." He looked grave at that, and then said, "No, no, they no ki=
ll
me, they willing love learn." He meant by this, they would be willing =
to
learn. He added, they learned much of the bearded mans that came in the boa=
t.
Then I asked him if he would go back to them. He smiled at that, and told me
that he could not swim so far. I told him I would make a canoe for him. He =
told
me he would go if I would go with him. "I go!" says I; "why,
they will eat me if I come there." "No, no," says he, "=
me
make they no eat you; me make they much love you." He meant, he would =
tell
them how I had killed his enemies, and saved his life, and so he would make
them love me. Then he told me, as well as he could, how kind they were to
seventeen white men, or bearded men, as he called them who came on shore th=
ere
in distress.
From this time, I confess, I had a mind to venture over, and see if I could
possibly join with those bearded men, who I made no doubt were Spaniards and
Portuguese; not doubting but, if I could, we might find some method to esca=
pe
from thence, being upon the continent, and a good company together, better =
than
I could from an island forty miles off the shore, alone and without help. S=
o,
after some days, I took Friday to work again by way of discourse, and told =
him
I would give him a boat to go back to his own nation; and, accordingly, I
carried him to my frigate, which lay on the other side of the island, and
having cleared it of water (for I always kept it sunk in water), I brought =
it
out, showed it him, and we both went into it. I found he was a most dextero=
us
fellow at managing it, and would make it go almost as swift again as I coul=
d. So
when he was in, I said to him, "Well, now, Friday, shall we go to your
nation?" He looked very dull at my saying so; which it seems was becau=
se
he thought the boat was too small to go so far. I then told him I had a big=
ger;
so the next day I went to the place where the first boat lay which I had ma=
de,
but which I could not get into the water. He said that was big enough; but
then, as I had taken no care of it, and it had lain two or three and twenty
years there, the sun had so split and dried it, that it was rotten. Friday =
told
me such a boat would do very well, and would carry "much enough vittle,
drink, bread;" this was his way of talking.
Chapter 16: Rescue Of Prisoners From Cannibals
Upon the whole, I was by this time so fixed upon my design of going over wi=
th
him to the continent that I told him we would go and make one as big as tha=
t,
and he should go home in it. He answered not one word, but looked very grave
and sad. I asked him what was the matter with him. He asked me again, "=
;Why
you angry mad with Friday? - what me done?" I asked him what he meant.=
I
told him I was not angry with him at all. "No angry!" says he,
repeating the words several times; "why send Friday home away to my
nation?" "Why," says I, "Friday, did not you say you wi=
shed
you were there?" "Yes, yes," says he, "wish we both the=
re;
no wish Friday there, no master there." In a word, he would not think =
of
going there without me. "I go there, Friday?" says I; "what
shall I do there?" He turned very quick upon me at this. "You do =
great
deal much good," says he; "you teach wild mans be good, sober, ta=
me
mans; you tell them know God, pray God, and live new life." "Alas,
Friday!" says I, "thou knowest not what thou sayest; I am but an
ignorant man myself." "Yes, yes," says he, "you teachee=
me
good, you teachee them good." "No, no, Friday," says I,
"you shall go without me; leave me here to live by myself, as I did
before." He looked confused again at that word; and running to one of =
the
hatchets which he used to wear, he takes it up hastily, and gives it to me.
"What must I do with this?" says I to him. "You take kill
Friday," says he. "What must kill you for?" said I again. He
returns very quick - "What you send Friday away for? Take kill Friday,=
no
send Friday away." This he spoke so earnestly that I saw tears stand in
his eyes. In a word, I so plainly discovered the utmost affection in him to=
me,
and a firm resolution in him, that I told him then and often after, that I
would never send him away from me if he was willing to stay with me.
Upon the whole, as I found by all his discourse a settled affection to me, =
and
that nothing could part him from me, so I found all the foundation of his
desire to go to his own country was laid in his ardent affection to the peo=
ple,
and his hopes of my doing them good; a thing which, as I had no notion of
myself, so I had not the least thought or intention, or desire of undertaki=
ng
it. But still I found a strong inclination to attempting my escape, founded=
on
the supposition gathered from the discourse, that there were seventeen bear=
ded
men there; and therefore, without any more delay, I went to work with Frida=
y to
find out a great tree proper to fell, and make a large periagua, or canoe, =
to
undertake the voyage. There were trees enough in the island to have built a
little fleet, not of periaguas or canoes, but even of good, large vessels; =
but
the main thing I looked at was, to get one so near the water that we might
launch it when it was made, to avoid the mistake I committed at first. At l=
ast
Friday pitched upon a tree; for I found he knew much better than I what kin=
d of
wood was fittest for it; nor can I tell to this day what wood to call the t=
ree
we cut down, except that it was very like the tree we call fustic, or betwe=
en
that and the Nicaragua wood, for it was much of the same colour and smell.
Friday wished to burn the hollow or cavity of this tree out, to make it for=
a
boat, but I showed him how to cut it with tools; which, after I had showed =
him
how to use, he did very handily; and in about a month's hard labour we fini=
shed
it and made it very handsome; especially when, with our axes, which I showed
him how to handle, we cut and hewed the outside into the true shape of a bo=
at.
After this, however, it cost us near a fortnight's time to get her along, a=
s it
were inch by inch, upon great rollers into the water; but when she was in, =
she
would have carried twenty men with great ease.
When she was in the water, though she was so big, it amazed me to see with =
what
dexterity and how swift my man Friday could manage her, turn her, and paddle
her along. So I asked him if he would, and if we might venture over in her.
"Yes," he said, "we venture over in her very well, though gr=
eat
blow wind." However I had a further design that he knew nothing of, and
that was, to make a mast and a sail, and to fit her with an anchor and cabl=
e.
As to a mast, that was easy enough to get; so I pitched upon a straight you=
ng
cedar-tree, which I found near the place, and which there were great plenty=
of
in the island, and I set Friday to work to cut it down, and gave him direct=
ions
how to shape and order it. But as to the sail, that was my particular care.=
I
knew I had old sails, or rather pieces of old sails, enough; but as I had h=
ad
them now six-and-twenty years by me, and had not been very careful to prese=
rve
them, not imagining that I should ever have this kind of use for them, I did
not doubt but they were all rotten; and, indeed, most of them were so. Howe=
ver,
I found two pieces which appeared pretty good, and with these I went to wor=
k;
and with a great deal of pains, and awkward stitching, you may be sure, for
want of needles, I at length made a three-cornered ugly thing, like what we
call in England a shoulder-of-mutton sail, to go with a boom at bottom, and=
a
little short sprit at the top, such as usually our ships' long-boats sail w=
ith,
and such as I best knew how to manage, as it was such a one as I had to the
boat in which I made my escape from Barbary, as related in the first part o=
f my
story.
I was near two months performing this last work, viz. rigging and fitting my
masts and sails; for I finished them very complete, making a small stay, an=
d a
sail, or foresail, to it, to assist if we should turn to windward; and, what
was more than all, I fixed a rudder to the stern of her to steer with. I was
but a bungling shipwright, yet as I knew the usefulness and even necessity =
of
such a thing, I applied myself with so much pains to do it, that at last I
brought it to pass; though, considering the many dull contrivances I had fo=
r it
that failed, I think it cost me almost as much labour as making the boat.
After all this was done, I had my man Friday to teach as to what belonged to
the navigation of my boat; though he knew very well how to paddle a canoe, =
he
knew nothing of what belonged to a sail and a rudder; and was the most amaz=
ed
when he saw me work the boat to and again in the sea by the rudder, and how=
the
sail jibed, and filled this way or that way as the course we sailed changed=
; I
say when he saw this he stood like one astonished and amazed. However, with=
a
little use, I made all these things familiar to him, and he became an expert
sailor, except that of the compass I could make him understand very little.=
On
the other hand, as there was very little cloudy weather, and seldom or never
any fogs in those parts, there was the less occasion for a compass, seeing =
the
stars were always to be seen by night, and the shore by day, except in the
rainy seasons, and then nobody cared to stir abroad either by land or sea.<=
br>
I was now entered on the seven-and-twentieth year of my captivity in this
place; though the three last years that I had this creature with me ought
rather to be left out of the account, my habitation being quite of another =
kind
than in all the rest of the time. I kept the anniversary of my landing here
with the same thankfulness to God for His mercies as at first: and if I had
such cause of acknowledgment at first, I had much more so now, having such
additional testimonies of the care of Providence over me, and the great hop=
es I
had of being effectually and speedily delivered; for I had an invincible
impression upon my thoughts that my deliverance was at hand, and that I sho=
uld
not be another year in this place. I went on, however, with my husbandry;
digging, planting, and fencing as usual. I gathered and cured my grapes, and
did every necessary thing as before.
The rainy season was in the meantime upon me, when I kept more within doors
than at other times. We had stowed our new vessel as secure as we could,
bringing her up into the creek, where, as I said in the beginning, I landed=
my
rafts from the ship; and hauling her up to the shore at high-water mark, I =
made
my man Friday dig a little dock, just big enough to hold her, and just deep
enough to give her water enough to float in; and then, when the tide was ou=
t,
we made a strong dam across the end of it, to keep the water out; and so she
lay, dry as to the tide from the sea: and to keep the rain off we laid a gr=
eat
many boughs of trees, so thick that she was as well thatched as a house; and
thus we waited for the months of November and December, in which I designed=
to
make my adventure.
When the settled season began to come in, as the thought of my design retur=
ned
with the fair weather, I was preparing daily for the voyage. And the first
thing I did was to lay by a certain quantity of provisions, being the stores
for our voyage; and intended in a week or a fortnight's time to open the do=
ck,
and launch out our boat. I was busy one morning upon something of this kind,
when I called to Friday, and bid him to go to the sea-shore and see if he c=
ould
find a turtle or a tortoise, a thing which we generally got once a week, for
the sake of the eggs as well as the flesh. Friday had not been long gone wh=
en
he came running back, and flew over my outer wall or fence, like one that f=
elt
not the ground or the steps he set his foot on; and before I had time to sp=
eak
to him he cries out to me, "O master! O master! O sorrow! O bad!"=
-
"What's the matter, Friday?" says I. "O yonder there," =
says
he, "one, two, three canoes; one, two, three!" By this way of
speaking I concluded there were six; but on inquiry I found there were but
three. "Well, Friday," says I, "do not be frightened." =
So I
heartened him up as well as I could. However, I saw the poor fellow was most
terribly scared, for nothing ran in his head but that they were come to look
for him, and would cut him in pieces and eat him; and the poor fellow tremb=
led
so that I scarcely knew what to do with him. I comforted him as well as I
could, and told him I was in as much danger as he, and that they would eat =
me
as well as him. "But," says I, "Friday, we must resolve to f=
ight
them. Can you fight, Friday?" "Me shoot," says he, "but
there come many great number." "No matter for that," said I
again; "our guns will fright them that we do not kill." So I asked
him whether, if I resolved to defend him, he would defend me, and stand by =
me,
and do just as I bid him. He said, "Me die when you bid die, master.&q=
uot;
So I went and fetched a good dram of rum and gave him; for I had been so go=
od a
husband of my rum that I had a great deal left. When we had drunk it, I made
him take the two fowling- pieces, which we always carried, and loaded them =
with
large swan- shot, as big as small pistol-bullets. Then I took four muskets,=
and
loaded them with two slugs and five small bullets each; and my two pistols I
loaded with a brace of bullets each. I hung my great sword, as usual, naked=
by
my side, and gave Friday his hatchet. When I had thus prepared myself, I to=
ok
my perspective glass, and went up to the side of the hill, to see what I co=
uld
discover; and I found quickly by my glass that there were one-and-twenty
savages, three prisoners, and three canoes; and that their whole business
seemed to be the triumphant banquet upon these three human bodies: a barbar=
ous
feast, indeed! but nothing more than, as I had observed, was usual with the=
m. I
observed also that they had landed, not where they had done when Friday made
his escape, but nearer to my creek, where the shore was low, and where a th=
ick
wood came almost close down to the sea. This, with the abhorrence of the
inhuman errand these wretches came about, filled me with such indignation t=
hat
I came down again to Friday, and told him I was resolved to go down to them=
and
kill them all; and asked him if he would stand by me. He had now got over h=
is
fright, and his spirits being a little raised with the dram I had given him=
, he
was very cheerful, and told me, as before, he would die when I bid die.
In this fit of fury I divided the arms which I had charged, as before, betw=
een
us; I gave Friday one pistol to stick in his girdle, and three guns upon his
shoulder, and I took one pistol and the other three guns myself; and in this
posture we marched out. I took a small bottle of rum in my pocket, and gave
Friday a large bag with more powder and bullets; and as to orders, I charged
him to keep close behind me, and not to stir, or shoot, or do anything till=
I
bid him, and in the meantime not to speak a word. In this posture I fetched=
a
compass to my right hand of near a mile, as well to get over the creek as to
get into the wood, so that I could come within shot of them before I should=
be
discovered, which I had seen by my glass it was easy to do.
While I was making this march, my former thoughts returning, I began to aba=
te
my resolution: I do not mean that I entertained any fear of their number, f=
or
as they were naked, unarmed wretches, it is certain I was superior to them -
nay, though I had been alone. But it occurred to my thoughts, what call, wh=
at
occasion, much less what necessity I was in to go and dip my hands in blood=
, to
attack people who had neither done or intended me any wrong? who, as to me,
were innocent, and whose barbarous customs were their own disaster, being i=
n them
a token, indeed, of God's having left them, with the other nations of that =
part
of the world, to such stupidity, and to such inhuman courses, but did not c=
all
me to take upon me to be a judge of their actions, much less an executioner=
of
His justice - that whenever He thought fit He would take the cause into His=
own
hands, and by national vengeance punish them as a people for national crime=
s,
but that, in the meantime, it was none of my business - that it was true Fr=
iday
might justify it, because he was a declared enemy and in a state of war with
those very particular people, and it was lawful for him to attack them - bu=
t I
could not say the same with regard to myself. These things were so warmly
pressed upon my thoughts all the way as I went, that I resolved I would onl=
y go
and place myself near them that I might observe their barbarous feast, and =
that
I would act then as God should direct; but that unless something offered th=
at
was more a call to me than yet I knew of, I would not meddle with them.
With this resolution I entered the wood, and, with all possible wariness and
silence, Friday following close at my heels, I marched till I came to the
skirts of the wood on the side which was next to them, only that one corner=
of
the wood lay between me and them. Here I called softly to Friday, and showi=
ng
him a great tree which was just at the corner of the wood, I bade him go to=
the
tree, and bring me word if he could see there plainly what they were doing.=
He
did so, and came immediately back to me, and told me they might be plainly
viewed there - that they were all about their fire, eating the flesh of one=
of
their prisoners, and that another lay bound upon the sand a little from the=
m,
whom he said they would kill next; and this fired the very soul within me. =
He
told me it was not one of their nation, but one of the bearded men he had t=
old
me of, that came to their country in the boat. I was filled with horror at =
the
very naming of the white bearded man; and going to the tree, I saw plainly =
by
my glass a white man, who lay upon the beach of the sea with his hands and =
his
feet tied with flags, or things like rushes, and that he was an European, a=
nd
had clothes on.
There was another tree and a little thicket beyond it, about fifty yards ne=
arer
to them than the place where I was, which, by going a little way about, I s=
aw I
might come at undiscovered, and that then I should be within half a shot of
them; so I withheld my passion, though I was indeed enraged to the highest
degree; and going back about twenty paces, I got behind some bushes, which =
held
all the way till I came to the other tree, and then came to a little rising
ground, which gave me a full view of them at the distance of about eighty
yards.
I had now not a moment to lose, for nineteen of the dreadful wretches sat u=
pon
the ground, all close huddled together, and had just sent the other two to
butcher the poor Christian, and bring him perhaps limb by limb to their fir=
e,
and they were stooping down to untie the bands at his feet. I turned to Fri=
day.
"Now, Friday," said I, "do as I bid thee." Friday said =
he
would. "Then, Friday," says I, "do exactly as you see me do;
fail in nothing." So I set down one of the muskets and the fowling-pie=
ce
upon the ground, and Friday did the like by his, and with the other musket I
took my aim at the savages, bidding him to do the like; then asking him if =
he
was ready, he said, "Yes." "Then fire at them," said I;=
and
at the same moment I fired also.
Friday took his aim so much better than I, that on the side that he shot he=
killed
two of them, and wounded three more; and on my side I killed one, and wound=
ed
two. They were, you may be sure, in a dreadful consternation: and all of th=
em
that were not hurt jumped upon their feet, but did not immediately know whi=
ch
way to run, or which way to look, for they knew not from whence their
destruction came. Friday kept his eyes close upon me, that, as I had bid hi=
m,
he might observe what I did; so, as soon as the first shot was made, I threw
down the piece, and took up the fowling-piece, and Friday did the like; he =
saw
me cock and present; he did the same again. "Are you ready, Friday?&qu=
ot;
said I. "Yes," says he. "Let fly, then," says I, "=
in
the name of God!" and with that I fired again among the amazed wretche=
s,
and so did Friday; and as our pieces were now loaded with what I call
swan-shot, or small pistol- bullets, we found only two drop; but so many we=
re
wounded that they ran about yelling and screaming like mad creatures, all
bloody, and most of them miserably wounded; whereof three more fell quickly
after, though not quite dead.
"Now, Friday," says I, laying down the discharged pieces, and tak=
ing
up the musket which was yet loaded, "follow me," which he did wit=
h a
great deal of courage; upon which I rushed out of the wood and showed mysel=
f,
and Friday close at my foot. As soon as I perceived they saw me, I shouted =
as
loud as I could, and bade Friday do so too, and running as fast as I could,
which, by the way, was not very fast, being loaded with arms as I was, I ma=
de
directly towards the poor victim, who was, as I said, lying upon the beach =
or
shore, between the place where they sat and the sea. The two butchers who w=
ere
just going to work with him had left him at the surprise of our first fire,=
and
fled in a terrible fright to the seaside, and had jumped into a canoe, and
three more of the rest made the same way. I turned to Friday, and bade him =
step
forwards and fire at them; he understood me immediately, and running about
forty yards, to be nearer them, he shot at them; and I thought he had killed
them all, for I saw them all fall of a heap into the boat, though I saw two=
of
them up again quickly; however, he killed two of them, and wounded the thir=
d,
so that he lay down in the bottom of the boat as if he had been dead.
While my man Friday fired at them, I pulled out my knife and cut the flags =
that
bound the poor victim; and loosing his hands and feet, I lifted him up, and
asked him in the Portuguese tongue what he was. He answered in Latin,
Christianus; but was so weak and faint that he could scarce stand or speak.=
I
took my bottle out of my pocket and gave it him, making signs that he should
drink, which he did; and I gave him a piece of bread, which he ate. Then I
asked him what countryman he was: and he said, Espagniole; and being a litt=
le
recovered, let me know, by all the signs he could possibly make, how much he
was in my debt for his deliverance. "Seignior," said I, with as m=
uch
Spanish as I could make up, "we will talk afterwards, but we must fight
now: if you have any strength left, take this pistol and sword, and lay abo=
ut
you." He took them very thankfully; and no sooner had he the arms in h=
is
hands, but, as if they had put new vigour into him, he flew upon his murder=
ers
like a fury, and had cut two of them in pieces in an instant; for the truth=
is,
as the whole was a surprise to them, so the poor creatures were so much
frightened with the noise of our pieces that they fell down for mere amazem=
ent
and fear, and had no more power to attempt their own escape than their flesh
had to resist our shot; and that was the case of those five that Friday sho=
t at
in the boat; for as three of them fell with the hurt they received, so the
other two fell with the fright.
I kept my piece in my hand still without firing, being willing to keep my
charge ready, because I had given the Spaniard my pistol and sword: so I ca=
lled
to Friday, and bade him run up to the tree from whence we first fired, and
fetch the arms which lay there that had been discharged, which he did with
great swiftness; and then giving him my musket, I sat down myself to load a=
ll
the rest again, and bade them come to me when they wanted. While I was load=
ing
these pieces, there happened a fierce engagement between the Spaniard and o=
ne
of the savages, who made at him with one of their great wooden swords, the
weapon that was to have killed him before, if I had not prevented it. The
Spaniard, who was as bold and brave as could be imagined, though weak, had
fought the Indian a good while, and had cut two great wounds on his head; b=
ut the
savage being a stout, lusty fellow, closing in with him, had thrown him dow=
n,
being faint, and was wringing my sword out of his hand; when the Spaniard,
though undermost, wisely quitting the sword, drew the pistol from his girdl=
e,
shot the savage through the body, and killed him upon the spot, before I, w=
ho
was running to help him, could come near him.
Friday, being now left to his liberty, pursued the flying wretches, with no
weapon in his hand but his hatchet: and with that he despatched those three=
who
as I said before, were wounded at first, and fallen, and all the rest he co=
uld
come up with: and the Spaniard coming to me for a gun, I gave him one of the
fowling- pieces, with which he pursued two of the savages, and wounded them
both; but as he was not able to run, they both got from him into the wood,
where Friday pursued them, and killed one of them, but the other was too ni=
mble
for him; and though he was wounded, yet had plunged himself into the sea, a=
nd
swam with all his might off to those two who were left in the canoe; which
three in the canoe, with one wounded, that we knew not whether he died or n=
o,
were all that escaped our hands of one-and-twenty. The account of the whole=
is
as follows: Three killed at our first shot from the tree; two killed at the
next shot; two killed by Friday in the boat; two killed by Friday of those =
at
first wounded; one killed by Friday in the wood; three killed by the Spania=
rd;
four killed, being found dropped here and there, of the wounds, or killed by
Friday in his chase of them; four escaped in the boat, whereof one wounded,=
if
not dead - twenty-one in all.
Those that were in the canoe worked hard to get out of gun-shot, and though
Friday made two or three shots at them, I did not find that he hit any of t=
hem.
Friday would fain have had me take one of their canoes, and pursue them; and
indeed I was very anxious about their escape, lest, carrying the news home =
to
their people, they should come back perhaps with two or three hundred of the
canoes and devour us by mere multitude; so I consented to pursue them by se=
a,
and running to one of their canoes, I jumped in and bade Friday follow me: =
but
when I was in the canoe I was surprised to find another poor creature lie
there, bound hand and foot, as the Spaniard was, for the slaughter, and alm=
ost
dead with fear, not knowing what was the matter; for he had not been able to
look up over the side of the boat, he was tied so hard neck and heels, and =
had
been tied so long that he had really but little life in him.
I immediately cut the twisted flags or rushes which they had bound him with,
and would have helped him up; but he could not stand or speak, but groaned =
most
piteously, believing, it seems, still, that he was only unbound in order to=
be
killed. When Friday came to him I bade him speak to him, and tell him of his
deliverance; and pulling out my bottle, made him give the poor wretch a dra=
m,
which, with the news of his being delivered, revived him, and he sat up in =
the
boat. But when Friday came to hear him speak, and look in his face, it would
have moved any one to tears to have seen how Friday kissed him, embraced hi=
m,
hugged him, cried, laughed, hallooed, jumped about, danced, sang; then cried
again, wrung his hands, beat his own face and head; and then sang and jumpe=
d about
again like a distracted creature. It was a good while before I could make h=
im
speak to me or tell me what was the matter; but when he came a little to
himself he told me that it was his father.
It is not easy for me to express how it moved me to see what ecstasy and fi=
lial
affection had worked in this poor savage at the sight of his father, and of=
his
being delivered from death; nor indeed can I describe half the extravagance=
s of
his affection after this: for he went into the boat and out of the boat a g=
reat
many times: when he went in to him he would sit down by him, open his breas=
t,
and hold his father's head close to his bosom for many minutes together, to
nourish it; then he took his arms and ankles, which were numbed and stiff w=
ith
the binding, and chafed and rubbed them with his hands; and I, perceiving w=
hat
the case was, gave him some rum out of my bottle to rub them with, which did
them a great deal of good.
This affair put an end to our pursuit of the canoe with the other savages, =
who
were now almost out of sight; and it was happy for us that we did not, for =
it
blew so hard within two hours after, and before they could be got a quarter=
of
their way, and continued blowing so hard all night, and that from the
north-west, which was against them, that I could not suppose their boat cou=
ld
live, or that they ever reached their own coast.
But to return to Friday; he was so busy about his father that I could not f=
ind
in my heart to take him off for some time; but after I thought he could lea=
ve
him a little, I called him to me, and he came jumping and laughing, and ple=
ased
to the highest extreme: then I asked him if he had given his father any bre=
ad.
He shook his head, and said, "None; ugly dog eat all up self." I =
then
gave him a cake of bread out of a little pouch I carried on purpose; I also
gave him a dram for himself; but he would not taste it, but carried it to h=
is
father. I had in my pocket two or three bunches of raisins, so I gave him a
handful of them for his father. He had no sooner given his father these rai=
sins
but I saw him come out of the boat, and run away as if he had been bewitche=
d,
for he was the swiftest fellow on his feet that ever I saw: I say, he ran at
such a rate that he was out of sight, as it were, in an instant; and though=
I called,
and hallooed out too after him, it was all one - away he went; and in a qua=
rter
of an hour I saw him come back again, though not so fast as he went; and as=
he
came nearer I found his pace slacker, because he had something in his hand.
When he came up to me I found he had been quite home for an earthen jug or =
pot,
to bring his father some fresh water, and that he had got two more cakes or
loaves of bread: the bread he gave me, but the water he carried to his fath=
er;
however, as I was very thirsty too, I took a little of it. The water revived
his father more than all the rum or spirits I had given him, for he was
fainting with thirst.
When his father had drunk, I called to him to know if there was any water l=
eft.
He said, "Yes"; and I bade him give it to the poor Spaniard, who =
was
in as much want of it as his father; and I sent one of the cakes that Friday
brought to the Spaniard too, who was indeed very weak, and was reposing him=
self
upon a green place under the shade of a tree; and whose limbs were also very
stiff, and very much swelled with the rude bandage he had been tied with. W=
hen
I saw that upon Friday's coming to him with the water he sat up and drank, =
and
took the bread and began to eat, I went to him and gave him a handful of
raisins. He looked up in my face with all the tokens of gratitude and
thankfulness that could appear in any countenance; but was so weak,
notwithstanding he had so exerted himself in the fight, that he could not s=
tand
up upon his feet - he tried to do it two or three times, but was really not
able, his ankles were so swelled and so painful to him; so I bade him sit
still, and caused Friday to rub his ankles, and bathe them with rum, as he =
had
done his father's.
I observed the poor affectionate creature, every two minutes, or perhaps le=
ss,
all the while he was here, turn his head about to see if his father was in =
the
same place and posture as he left him sitting; and at last he found he was =
not
to be seen; at which he started up, and, without speaking a word, flew with
that swiftness to him that one could scarce perceive his feet to touch the
ground as he went; but when he came, he only found he had laid himself down=
to
ease his limbs, so Friday came back to me presently; and then I spoke to the
Spaniard to let Friday help him up if he could, and lead him to the boat, a=
nd
then he should carry him to our dwelling, where I would take care of him. B=
ut
Friday, a lusty, strong fellow, took the Spaniard upon his back, and carried
him away to the boat, and set him down softly upon the side or gunnel of the
canoe, with his feet in the inside of it; and then lifting him quite in, he=
set
him close to his father; and presently stepping out again, launched the boat
off, and paddled it along the shore faster than I could walk, though the wi=
nd
blew pretty hard too; so he brought them both safe into our creek, and leav=
ing
them in the boat, ran away to fetch the other canoe. As he passed me I spok=
e to
him, and asked him whither he went. He told me, "Go fetch more boat;&q=
uot;
so away he went like the wind, for sure never man or horse ran like him; an=
d he
had the other canoe in the creek almost as soon as I got to it by land; so =
he
wafted me over, and then went to help our new guests out of the boat, which=
he
did; but they were neither of them able to walk; so that poor Friday knew n=
ot
what to do.
To remedy this, I went to work in my thought, and calling to Friday to bid =
them
sit down on the bank while he came to me, I soon made a kind of hand-barrow=
to
lay them on, and Friday and I carried them both up together upon it between=
us.
But when we got them to the outside of our wall, or fortification, we were =
at a
worse loss than before, for it was impossible to get them over, and I was
resolved not to break it down; so I set to work again, and Friday and I, in
about two hours' time, made a very handsome tent, covered with old sails, a=
nd
above that with boughs of trees, being in the space without our outward fen=
ce
and between that and the grove of young wood which I had planted; and here =
we
made them two beds of such things as I had - viz. of good rice- straw, with
blankets laid upon it to lie on, and another to cover them, on each bed.
My island was now peopled, and I thought myself very rich in subjects; and =
it
was a merry reflection, which I frequently made, how like a king I looked.
First of all, the whole country was my own property, so that I had an undou=
bted
right of dominion. Secondly, my people were perfectly subjected - I was
absolutely lord and lawgiver - they all owed their lives to me, and were re=
ady
to lay down their lives, if there had been occasion for it, for me. It was
remarkable, too, I had but three subjects, and they were of three different
religions - my man Friday was a Protestant, his father was a Pagan and a
cannibal, and the Spaniard was a Papist. However, I allowed liberty of
conscience throughout my dominions. But this is by the way.
As soon as I had secured my two weak, rescued prisoners, and given them
shelter, and a place to rest them upon, I began to think of making some
provision for them; and the first thing I did, I ordered Friday to take a
yearling goat, betwixt a kid and a goat, out of my particular flock, to be
killed; when I cut off the hinder-quarter, and chopping it into small piece=
s, I
set Friday to work to boiling and stewing, and made them a very good dish, I
assure you, of flesh and broth; and as I cooked it without doors, for I mad=
e no
fire within my inner wall, so I carried it all into the new tent, and having
set a table there for them, I sat down, and ate my own dinner also with the=
m,
and, as well as I could, cheered them and encouraged them. Friday was my
interpreter, especially to his father, and, indeed, to the Spaniard too; for
the Spaniard spoke the language of the savages pretty well.
After we had dined, or rather supped, I ordered Friday to take one of the
canoes, and go and fetch our muskets and other firearms, which, for want of
time, we had left upon the place of battle; and the next day I ordered him =
to
go and bury the dead bodies of the savages, which lay open to the sun, and
would presently be offensive. I also ordered him to bury the horrid remains=
of
their barbarous feast, which I could not think of doing myself; nay, I could
not bear to see them if I went that way; all which he punctually performed,=
and
effaced the very appearance of the savages being there; so that when I went
again, I could scarce know where it was, otherwise than by the corner of the
wood pointing to the place.
I then began to enter into a little conversation with my two new subjects; =
and,
first, I set Friday to inquire of his father what he thought of the escape =
of
the savages in that canoe, and whether we might expect a return of them, wi=
th a
power too great for us to resist. His first opinion was, that the savages in
the boat never could live out the storm which blew that night they went off,
but must of necessity be drowned, or driven south to those other shores, wh=
ere
they were as sure to be devoured as they were to be drowned if they were ca=
st
away; but, as to what they would do if they came safe on shore, he said he =
knew
not; but it was his opinion that they were so dreadfully frightened with the
manner of their being attacked, the noise, and the fire, that he believed t=
hey
would tell the people they were all killed by thunder and lightning, not by=
the
hand of man; and that the two which appeared - viz. Friday and I - were two
heavenly spirits, or furies, come down to destroy them, and not men with
weapons. This, he said, he knew; because he heard them all cry out so, in t=
heir
language, one to another; for it was impossible for them to conceive that a=
man
could dart fire, and speak thunder, and kill at a distance, without lifting=
up
the hand, as was done now: and this old savage was in the right; for, as I
understood since, by other hands, the savages never attempted to go over to=
the
island afterwards, they were so terrified with the accounts given by those =
four
men (for it seems they did escape the sea), that they believed whoever went=
to
that enchanted island would be destroyed with fire from the gods. This,
however, I knew not; and therefore was under continual apprehensions for a =
good
while, and kept always upon my guard, with all my army: for, as there were =
now
four of us, I would have ventured upon a hundred of them, fairly in the open
field, at any time.
Chapter 17: Visit Of Mutineers
In a little time, however, no more canoes appearing, the fear of their comi=
ng
wore off; and I began to take my former thoughts of a voyage to the main in=
to
consideration; being likewise assured by Friday's father that I might depend
upon good usage from their nation, on his account, if I would go. But my
thoughts were a little suspended when I had a serious discourse with the
Spaniard, and when I understood that there were sixteen more of his country=
men
and Portuguese, who having been cast away and made their escape to that sid=
e,
lived there at peace, indeed, with the savages, but were very sore put to it
for necessaries, and, indeed, for life. I asked him all the particulars of
their voyage, and found they were a Spanish ship, bound from the Rio de la
Plata to the Havanna, being directed to leave their loading there, which was
chiefly hides and silver, and to bring back what European goods they could =
meet
with there; that they had five Portuguese seamen on board, whom they took o=
ut
of another wreck; that five of their own men were drowned when first the sh=
ip
was lost, and that these escaped through infinite dangers and hazards, and
arrived, almost starved, on the cannibal coast, where they expected to have
been devoured every moment. He told me they had some arms with them, but th=
ey
were perfectly useless, for that they had neither powder nor ball, the wash=
ing
of the sea having spoiled all their powder but a little, which they used at
their first landing to provide themselves with some food.
I asked him what he thought would become of them there, and if they had for=
med
any design of making their escape. He said they had many consultations about
it; but that having neither vessel nor tools to build one, nor provisions of
any kind, their councils always ended in tears and despair. I asked him how=
he
thought they would receive a proposal from me, which might tend towards an
escape; and whether, if they were all here, it might not be done. I told him
with freedom, I feared mostly their treachery and ill- usage of me, if I pu=
t my
life in their hands; for that gratitude was no inherent virtue in the natur=
e of
man, nor did men always square their dealings by the obligations they had
received so much as they did by the advantages they expected. I told him it
would be very hard that I should be made the instrument of their deliveranc=
e,
and that they should afterwards make me their prisoner in New Spain, where =
an
Englishman was certain to be made a sacrifice, what necessity or what accid=
ent
soever brought him thither; and that I had rather be delivered up to the
savages, and be devoured alive, than fall into the merciless claws of the
priests, and be carried into the Inquisition. I added that, otherwise, I was
persuaded, if they were all here, we might, with so many hands, build a bar=
que
large enough to carry us all away, either to the Brazils southward, or to t=
he
islands or Spanish coast northward; but that if, in requital, they should, =
when
I had put weapons into their hands, carry me by force among their own peopl=
e, I
might be ill-used for my kindness to them, and make my case worse than it w=
as
before.
He answered, with a great deal of candour and ingenuousness, that their
condition was so miserable, and that they were so sensible of it, that he
believed they would abhor the thought of using any man unkindly that should
contribute to their deliverance; and that, if I pleased, he would go to them
with the old man, and discourse with them about it, and return again and br=
ing
me their answer; that he would make conditions with them upon their solemn
oath, that they should be absolutely under my direction as their commander =
and
captain; and they should swear upon the holy sacraments and gospel to be tr=
ue
to me, and go to such Christian country as I should agree to, and no other;=
and
to be directed wholly and absolutely by my orders till they were landed saf=
ely
in such country as I intended, and that he would bring a contract from them,
under their hands, for that purpose. Then he told me he would first swear t=
o me
himself that he would never stir from me as long as he lived till I gave him
orders; and that he would take my side to the last drop of his blood, if th=
ere
should happen the least breach of faith among his countrymen. He told me th=
ey
were all of them very civil, honest men, and they were under the greatest
distress imaginable, having neither weapons nor clothes, nor any food, but =
at
the mercy and discretion of the savages; out of all hopes of ever returning=
to
their own country; and that he was sure, if I would undertake their relief,
they would live and die by me.
Upon these assurances, I resolved to venture to relieve them, if possible, =
and
to send the old savage and this Spaniard over to them to treat. But when we=
had
got all things in readiness to go, the Spaniard himself started an objectio=
n,
which had so much prudence in it on one hand, and so much sincerity on the
other hand, that I could not but be very well satisfied in it; and, by his
advice, put off the deliverance of his comrades for at least half a year. T=
he
case was thus: he had been with us now about a month, during which time I h=
ad
let him see in what manner I had provided, with the assistance of Providenc=
e,
for my support; and he saw evidently what stock of corn and rice I had laid=
up;
which, though it was more than sufficient for myself, yet it was not
sufficient, without good husbandry, for my family, now it was increased to
four; but much less would it be sufficient if his countrymen, who were, as =
he
said, sixteen, still alive, should come over; and least of all would it be
sufficient to victual our vessel, if we should build one, for a voyage to a=
ny
of the Christian colonies of America; so he told me he thought it would be =
more
advisable to let him and the other two dig and cultivate some more land, as
much as I could spare seed to sow, and that we should wait another harvest,
that we might have a supply of corn for his countrymen, when they should co=
me;
for want might be a temptation to them to disagree, or not to think themsel=
ves
delivered, otherwise than out of one difficulty into another. "You
know," says he, "the children of Israel, though they rejoiced at
first for their being delivered out of Egypt, yet rebelled even against God=
Himself,
that delivered them, when they came to want bread in the wilderness."<=
br>
His caution was so seasonable, and his advice so good, that I could not but=
be
very well pleased with his proposal, as well as I was satisfied with his
fidelity; so we fell to digging, all four of us, as well as the wooden tool=
s we
were furnished with permitted; and in about a month's time, by the end of w=
hich
it was seed-time, we had got as much land cured and trimmed up as we sowed
two-and- twenty bushels of barley on, and sixteen jars of rice, which was, =
in
short, all the seed we had to spare: indeed, we left ourselves barely
sufficient, for our own food for the six months that we had to expect our c=
rop;
that is to say reckoning from the time we set our seed aside for sowing; fo=
r it
is not to be supposed it is six months in the ground in that country.
Having now society enough, and our numbers being sufficient to put us out of
fear of the savages, if they had come, unless their number had been very gr=
eat,
we went freely all over the island, whenever we found occasion; and as we h=
ad
our escape or deliverance upon our thoughts, it was impossible, at least for
me, to have the means of it out of mine. For this purpose I marked out seve=
ral
trees, which I thought fit for our work, and I set Friday and his father to=
cut
them down; and then I caused the Spaniard, to whom I imparted my thoughts on
that affair, to oversee and direct their work. I showed them with what
indefatigable pains I had hewed a large tree into single planks, and I caus=
ed
them to do the like, till they made about a dozen large planks, of good oak,
near two feet broad, thirty-five feet long, and from two inches to four inc=
hes
thick: what prodigious labour it took up any one may imagine.
At the same time I contrived to increase my little flock of tame goats as m=
uch
as I could; and for this purpose I made Friday and the Spaniard go out one =
day,
and myself with Friday the next day (for we took our turns), and by this me=
ans
we got about twenty young kids to breed up with the rest; for whenever we s=
hot
the dam, we saved the kids, and added them to our flock. But above all, the
season for curing the grapes coming on, I caused such a prodigious quantity=
to
be hung up in the sun, that, I believe, had we been at Alicant, where the
raisins of the sun are cured, we could have filled sixty or eighty barrels;=
and
these, with our bread, formed a great part of our food - very good living t=
oo,
I assure you, for they are exceedingly nourishing.
It was now harvest, and our crop in good order: it was not the most plentif=
ul
increase I had seen in the island, but, however, it was enough to answer our
end; for from twenty-two bushels of barley we brought in and thrashed out a=
bove
two hundred and twenty bushels; and the like in proportion of the rice; whi=
ch
was store enough for our food to the next harvest, though all the sixteen
Spaniards had been on shore with me; or, if we had been ready for a voyage,=
it
would very plentifully have victualled our ship to have carried us to any p=
art
of the world; that is to say, any part of America. When we had thus housed =
and
secured our magazine of corn, we fell to work to make more wicker-ware, viz.
great baskets, in which we kept it; and the Spaniard was very handy and
dexterous at this part, and often blamed me that I did not make some things=
for
defence of this kind of work; but I saw no need of it.
And now, having a full supply of food for all the guests I expected, I gave=
the
Spaniard leave to go over to the main, to see what he could do with those h=
e had
left behind him there. I gave him a strict charge not to bring any man who
would not first swear in the presence of himself and the old savage that he
would in no way injure, fight with, or attack the person he should find in =
the
island, who was so kind as to send for them in order to their deliverance; =
but
that they would stand by him and defend him against all such attempts, and
wherever they went would be entirely under and subjected to his command; and
that this should be put in writing, and signed in their hands. How they wer=
e to
have done this, when I knew they had neither pen nor ink, was a question wh=
ich
we never asked. Under these instructions, the Spaniard and the old savage, =
the
father of Friday, went away in one of the canoes which they might be said to
have come in, or rather were brought in, when they came as prisoners to be
devoured by the savages. I gave each of them a musket, with a firelock on i=
t,
and about eight charges of powder and ball, charging them to be very good
husbands of both, and not to use either of them but upon urgent occasions.<=
br>
This was a cheerful work, being the first measures used by me in view of my
deliverance for now twenty-seven years and some days. I gave them provision=
s of
bread and of dried grapes, sufficient for themselves for many days, and
sufficient for all the Spaniards - for about eight days' time; and wishing =
them
a good voyage, I saw them go, agreeing with them about a signal they should
hang out at their return, by which I should know them again when they came
back, at a distance, before they came on shore. They went away with a fair =
gale
on the day that the moon was at full, by my account in the month of October;
but as for an exact reckoning of days, after I had once lost it I could nev=
er
recover it again; nor had I kept even the number of years so punctually as =
to
be sure I was right; though, as it proved when I afterwards examined my
account, I found I had kept a true reckoning of years.
It was no less than eight days I had waited for them, when a strange and
unforeseen accident intervened, of which the like has not, perhaps, been he=
ard
of in history. I was fast asleep in my hutch one morning, when my man Friday
came running in to me, and called aloud, "Master, master, they are com=
e,
they are come!" I jumped up, and regardless of danger I went, as soon =
as I
could get my clothes on, through my little grove, which, by the way, was by
this time grown to be a very thick wood; I say, regardless of danger I went
without my arms, which was not my custom to do; but I was surprised when,
turning my eyes to the sea, I presently saw a boat at about a league and a =
half
distance, standing in for the shore, with a shoulder-of-mutton sail, as they
call it, and the wind blowing pretty fair to bring them in: also I observed,
presently, that they did not come from that side which the shore lay on, but
from the southernmost end of the island. Upon this I called Friday in, and =
bade
him lie close, for these were not the people we looked for, and that we mig=
ht
not know yet whether they were friends or enemies. In the next place I went=
in
to fetch my perspective glass to see what I could make of them; and having
taken the ladder out, I climbed up to the top of the hill, as I used to do =
when
I was apprehensive of anything, and to take my view the plainer without bei=
ng
discovered. I had scarce set my foot upon the hill when my eye plainly
discovered a ship lying at anchor, at about two leagues and a half distance
from me, SSE., but not above a league and a half from the shore. By my obse=
rvation
it appeared plainly to be an English ship, and the boat appeared to be an
English long-boat.
I cannot express the confusion I was in, though the joy of seeing a ship, a=
nd
one that I had reason to believe was manned by my own countrymen, and conse=
quently
friends, was such as I cannot describe; but yet I had some secret doubts hu=
ng
about me - I cannot tell from whence they came - bidding me keep upon my gu=
ard.
In the first place, it occurred to me to consider what business an English =
ship
could have in that part of the world, since it was not the way to or from a=
ny
part of the world where the English had any traffic; and I knew there had b=
een
no storms to drive them in there in distress; and that if they were really
English it was most probable that they were here upon no good design; and t=
hat
I had better continue as I was than fall into the hands of thieves and
murderers.
Let no man despise the secret hints and notices of danger which sometimes a=
re
given him when he may think there is no possibility of its being real. That
such hints and notices are given us I believe few that have made any
observation of things can deny; that they are certain discoveries of an
invisible world, and a converse of spirits, we cannot doubt; and if the
tendency of them seems to be to warn us of danger, why should we not suppose
they are from some friendly agent (whether supreme, or inferior and
subordinate, is not the question), and that they are given for our good?
The present question abundantly confirms me in the justice of this reasonin=
g;
for had I not been made cautious by this secret admonition, come it from wh=
ence
it will, I had been done inevitably, and in a far worse condition than befo=
re,
as you will see presently. I had not kept myself long in this posture till I
saw the boat draw near the shore, as if they looked for a creek to thrust in
at, for the convenience of landing; however, as they did not come quite far
enough, they did not see the little inlet where I formerly landed my rafts,=
but
ran their boat on shore upon the beach, at about half a mile from me, which=
was
very happy for me; for otherwise they would have landed just at my door, as=
I
may say, and would soon have beaten me out of my castle, and perhaps have
plundered me of all I had. When they were on shore I was fully satisfied th=
ey
were Englishmen, at least most of them; one or two I thought were Dutch, bu=
t it
did not prove so; there were in all eleven men, whereof three of them I fou=
nd
were unarmed and, as I thought, bound; and when the first four or five of t=
hem
were jumped on shore, they took those three out of the boat as prisoners: o=
ne
of the three I could perceive using the most passionate gestures of entreat=
y,
affliction, and despair, even to a kind of extravagance; the other two, I c=
ould
perceive, lifted up their hands sometimes, and appeared concerned indeed, b=
ut
not to such a degree as the first. I was perfectly confounded at the sight,=
and
knew not what the meaning of it should be. Friday called out to me in Engli=
sh,
as well as he could, "O master! you see English mans eat prisoner as w=
ell
as savage mans." "Why, Friday," says I, "do you think t=
hey
are going to eat them, then?" "Yes," says Friday, "they
will eat them." "No no," says I, "Friday; I am afraid t=
hey
will murder them, indeed; but you may be sure they will not eat them."=
All this while I had no thought of what the matter really was, but stood
trembling with the horror of the sight, expecting every moment when the thr=
ee
prisoners should be killed; nay, once I saw one of the villains lift up his=
arm
with a great cutlass, as the seamen call it, or sword, to strike one of the
poor men; and I expected to see him fall every moment; at which all the blo=
od
in my body seemed to run chill in my veins. I wished heartily now for the
Spaniard, and the savage that had gone with him, or that I had any way to h=
ave
come undiscovered within shot of them, that I might have secured the three =
men,
for I saw no firearms they had among them; but it fell out to my mind anoth=
er
way. After I had observed the outrageous usage of the three men by the inso=
lent
seamen, I observed the fellows run scattering about the island, as if they
wanted to see the country. I observed that the three other men had liberty =
to
go also where they pleased; but they sat down all three upon the ground, ve=
ry
pensive, and looked like men in despair. This put me in mind of the first t=
ime
when I came on shore, and began to look about me; how I gave myself over for
lost; how wildly I looked round me; what dreadful apprehensions I had; and =
how
I lodged in the tree all night for fear of being devoured by wild beasts. A=
s I
knew nothing that night of the supply I was to receive by the providential
driving of the ship nearer the land by the storms and tide, by which I have
since been so long nourished and supported; so these three poor desolate men
knew nothing how certain of deliverance and supply they were, how near it w=
as
to them, and how effectually and really they were in a condition of safety,=
at
the same time that they thought themselves lost and their case desperate. So
little do we see before us in the world, and so much reason have we to depe=
nd
cheerfully upon the great Maker of the world, that He does not leave His
creatures so absolutely destitute, but that in the worst circumstances they
have always something to be thankful for, and sometimes are nearer delivera=
nce
than they imagine; nay, are even brought to their deliverance by the means =
by
which they seem to be brought to their destruction.
It was just at high-water when these people came on shore; and while they
rambled about to see what kind of a place they were in, they had carelessly
stayed till the tide was spent, and the water was ebbed considerably away,
leaving their boat aground. They had left two men in the boat, who, as I fo=
und
afterwards, having drunk a little too much brandy, fell asleep; however, on=
e of
them waking a little sooner than the other and finding the boat too fast
aground for him to stir it, hallooed out for the rest, who were straggling
about: upon which they all soon came to the boat: but it was past all their
strength to launch her, the boat being very heavy, and the shore on that si=
de
being a soft oozy sand, almost like a quicksand. In this condition, like tr=
ue
seamen, who are, perhaps, the least of all mankind given to forethought, th=
ey
gave it over, and away they strolled about the country again; and I heard o=
ne
of them say aloud to another, calling them off from the boat, "Why, let
her alone, Jack, can't you? she'll float next tide;" by which I was fu=
lly
confirmed in the main inquiry of what countrymen they were. All this while I
kept myself very close, not once daring to stir out of my castle any farther
than to my place of observation near the top of the hill: and very glad I w=
as
to think how well it was fortified. I knew it was no less than ten hours be=
fore
the boat could float again, and by that time it would be dark, and I might =
be
at more liberty to see their motions, and to hear their discourse, if they =
had
any. In the meantime I fitted myself up for a battle as before, though with
more caution, knowing I had to do with another kind of enemy than I had at
first. I ordered Friday also, whom I had made an excellent marksman with his
gun, to load himself with arms. I took myself two fowling-pieces, and I gave
him three muskets. My figure, indeed, was very fierce; I had my formidable
goat-skin coat on, with the great cap I have mentioned, a naked sword by my
side, two pistols in my belt, and a gun upon each shoulder.
It was my design, as I said above, not to have made any attempt till it was
dark; but about two o'clock, being the heat of the day, I found that they w=
ere
all gone straggling into the woods, and, as I thought, laid down to sleep. =
The
three poor distressed men, too anxious for their condition to get any sleep,
had, however, sat down under the shelter of a great tree, at about a quarte=
r of
a mile from me, and, as I thought, out of sight of any of the rest. Upon th=
is I
resolved to discover myself to them, and learn something of their condition=
; immediately
I marched as above, my man Friday at a good distance behind me, as formidab=
le
for his arms as I, but not making quite so staring a spectre-like figure as=
I
did. I came as near them undiscovered as I could, and then, before any of t=
hem
saw me, I called aloud to them in Spanish, "What are ye, gentlemen?&qu=
ot;
They started up at the noise, but were ten times more confounded when they =
saw
me, and the uncouth figure that I made. They made no answer at all, but I
thought I perceived them just going to fly from me, when I spoke to them in
English. "Gentlemen," said I, "do not be surprised at me;
perhaps you may have a friend near when you did not expect it." "=
He
must be sent directly from heaven then," said one of them very gravely=
to
me, and pulling off his hat at the same time to me; "for our condition=
is
past the help of man." "All help is from heaven, sir," said =
I,
"but can you put a stranger in the way to help you? for you seem to be=
in
some great distress. I saw you when you landed; and when you seemed to make
application to the brutes that came with you, I saw one of them lift up his
sword to kill you."
The poor man, with tears running down his face, and trembling, looking like=
one
astonished, returned, "Am I talking to God or man? Is it a real man or=
an
angel?" "Be in no fear about that, sir," said I; "if God
had sent an angel to relieve you, he would have come better clothed, and ar=
med
after another manner than you see me; pray lay aside your fears; I am a man=
, an
Englishman, and disposed to assist you; you see I have one servant only; we
have arms and ammunition; tell us freely, can we serve you? What is your
case?" "Our case, sir," said he, "is too long to tell y=
ou
while our murderers are so near us; but, in short, sir, I was commander of =
that
ship - my men have mutinied against me; they have been hardly prevailed on =
not
to murder me, and, at last, have set me on shore in this desolate place, wi=
th
these two men with me - one my mate, the other a passenger - where we expec=
ted
to perish, believing the place to be uninhabited, and know not yet what to
think of it." "Where are these brutes, your enemies?" said I;
"do you know where they are gone? There they lie, sir," said he,
pointing to a thicket of trees; "my heart trembles for fear they have =
seen
us and heard you speak; if they have, they will certainly murder us all.&qu=
ot;
"Have they any firearms?" said I. He answered, "They had only
two pieces, one of which they left in the boat." "Well, then,&quo=
t;
said I, "leave the rest to me; I see they are all asleep; it is an easy
thing to kill them all; but shall we rather take them prisoners?" He t=
old
me there were two desperate villains among them that it was scarce safe to =
show
any mercy to; but if they were secured, he believed all the rest would retu=
rn
to their duty. I asked him which they were. He told me he could not at that
distance distinguish them, but he would obey my orders in anything I would
direct. "Well," says I, "let us retreat out of their view or
hearing, lest they awake, and we will resolve further." So they willin=
gly
went back with me, till the woods covered us from them.
"Look you, sir," said I, "if I venture upon your deliverance,
are you willing to make two conditions with me?" He anticipated my
proposals by telling me that both he and the ship, if recovered, should be
wholly directed and commanded by me in everything; and if the ship was not
recovered, he would live and die with me in what part of the world soever I
would send him; and the two other men said the same. "Well," says=
I, "my
conditions are but two; first, that while you stay in this island with me, =
you
will not pretend to any authority here; and if I put arms in your hands, you
will, upon all occasions, give them up to me, and do no prejudice to me or =
mine
upon this island, and in the meantime be governed by my orders; secondly, t=
hat
if the ship is or may be recovered, you will carry me and my man to England
passage free."
He gave me all the assurances that the invention or faith of man could devi=
se
that he would comply with these most reasonable demands, and besides would =
owe
his life to me, and acknowledge it upon all occasions as long as he lived.
"Well, then," said I, "here are three muskets for you, with
powder and ball; tell me next what you think is proper to be done." He
showed all the testimonies of his gratitude that he was able, but offered t=
o be
wholly guided by me. I told him I thought it was very hard venturing anythi=
ng;
but the best method I could think of was to fire on them at once as they la=
y,
and if any were not killed at the first volley, and offered to submit, we m=
ight
save them, and so put it wholly upon God's providence to direct the shot. He
said, very modestly, that he was loath to kill them if he could help it; but
that those two were incorrigible villains, and had been the authors of all =
the
mutiny in the ship, and if they escaped, we should be undone still, for they
would go on board and bring the whole ship's company, and destroy us all.
"Well, then," says I, "necessity legitimates my advice, for =
it
is the only way to save our lives." However, seeing him still cautious=
of
shedding blood, I told him they should go themselves, and manage as they fo=
und
convenient.
In the middle of this discourse we heard some of them awake, and soon after=
we
saw two of them on their feet. I asked him if either of them were the heads=
of
the mutiny? He said, "No." "Well, then," said I, "=
you
may let them escape; and Providence seems to have awakened them on purpose =
to
save themselves. Now," says I, "if the rest escape you, it is your
fault." Animated with this, he took the musket I had given him in his
hand, and a pistol in his belt, and his two comrades with him, with each a
piece in his hand; the two men who were with him going first made some nois=
e,
at which one of the seamen who was awake turned about, and seeing them comi=
ng,
cried out to the rest; but was too late then, for the moment he cried out t=
hey
fired - I mean the two men, the captain wisely reserving his own piece. They
had so well aimed their shot at the men they knew, that one of them was kil=
led
on the spot, and the other very much wounded; but not being dead, he starte=
d up
on his feet, and called eagerly for help to the other; but the captain step=
ping
to him, told him it was too late to cry for help, he should call upon God to
forgive his villainy, and with that word knocked him down with the stock of=
his
musket, so that he never spoke more; there were three more in the company, =
and
one of them was slightly wounded. By this time I was come; and when they saw
their danger, and that it was in vain to resist, they begged for mercy. The
captain told them he would spare their lives if they would give him an
assurance of their abhorrence of the treachery they had been guilty of, and
would swear to be faithful to him in recovering the ship, and afterwards in
carrying her back to Jamaica, from whence they came. They gave him all the
protestations of their sincerity that could be desired; and he was willing =
to
believe them, and spare their lives, which I was not against, only that I o=
bliged
him to keep them bound hand and foot while they were on the island.
While this was doing, I sent Friday with the captain's mate to the boat with
orders to secure her, and bring away the oars and sails, which they did; and
by-and-by three straggling men, that were (happily for them) parted from the
rest, came back upon hearing the guns fired; and seeing the captain, who was
before their prisoner, now their conqueror, they submitted to be bound also;
and so our victory was complete.
It now remained that the captain and I should inquire into one another's
circumstances. I began first, and told him my whole history, which he heard
with an attention even to amazement - and particularly at the wonderful man=
ner
of my being furnished with provisions and ammunition; and, indeed, as my st=
ory
is a whole collection of wonders, it affected him deeply. But when he refle=
cted
from thence upon himself, and how I seemed to have been preserved there on
purpose to save his life, the tears ran down his face, and he could not spe=
ak a
word more. After this communication was at an end, I carried him and his two
men into my apartment, leading them in just where I came out, viz. at the t=
op
of the house, where I refreshed them with such provisions as I had, and sho=
wed
them all the contrivances I had made during my long, long inhabiting that
place.
All I showed them, all I said to them, was perfectly amazing; but above all,
the captain admired my fortification, and how perfectly I had concealed my
retreat with a grove of trees, which having been now planted nearly twenty
years, and the trees growing much faster than in England, was become a litt=
le
wood, so thick that it was impassable in any part of it but at that one side
where I had reserved my little winding passage into it. I told him this was=
my
castle and my residence, but that I had a seat in the country, as most prin=
ces
have, whither I could retreat upon occasion, and I would show him that too
another time; but at present our business was to consider how to recover the
ship. He agreed with me as to that, but told me he was perfectly at a loss =
what
measures to take, for that there were still six-and-twenty hands on board, =
who,
having entered into a cursed conspiracy, by which they had all forfeited th=
eir
lives to the law, would be hardened in it now by desperation, and would car=
ry
it on, knowing that if they were subdued they would be brought to the gallo=
ws
as soon as they came to England, or to any of the English colonies, and tha=
t,
therefore, there would be no attacking them with so small a number as we we=
re.
I mused for some time on what he had said, and found it was a very rational
conclusion, and that therefore something was to be resolved on speedily, as
well to draw the men on board into some snare for their surprise as to prev=
ent
their landing upon us, and destroying us. Upon this, it presently occurred =
to
me that in a little while the ship's crew, wondering what was become of the=
ir
comrades and of the boat, would certainly come on shore in their other boat=
to
look for them, and that then, perhaps, they might come armed, and be too st=
rong
for us: this he allowed to be rational. Upon this, I told him the first thi=
ng
we had to do was to stave the boat which lay upon the beach, so that they m=
ight
not carry her of, and taking everything out of her, leave her so far useles=
s as
not to be fit to swim. Accordingly, we went on board, took the arms which w=
ere
left on board out of her, and whatever else we found there - which was a bo=
ttle
of brandy, and another of rum, a few biscuit-cakes, a horn of powder, and a
great lump of sugar in a piece of canvas (the sugar was five or six pounds):
all which was very welcome to me, especially the brandy and sugar, of which=
I
had had none left for many years.
When we had carried all these things on shore (the oars, mast, sail, and ru=
dder
of the boat were carried away before), we knocked a great hole in her botto=
m,
that if they had come strong enough to master us, yet they could not carry =
off
the boat. Indeed, it was not much in my thoughts that we could be able to
recover the ship; but my view was, that if they went away without the boat,=
I
did not much question to make her again fit to carry as to the Leeward Isla=
nds,
and call upon our friends the Spaniards in my way, for I had them still in =
my thoughts.
Chapter 18: The Ship Recovered
While we were thus preparing our designs, and had first, by main strength,
heaved the boat upon the beach, so high that the tide would not float her o=
ff
at high-water mark, and besides, had broke a hole in her bottom too big to =
be
quickly stopped, and were set down musing what we should do, we heard the s=
hip
fire a gun, and make a waft with her ensign as a signal for the boat to com=
e on
board - but no boat stirred; and they fired several times, making other sig=
nals
for the boat. At last, when all their signals and firing proved fruitless, =
and
they found the boat did not stir, we saw them, by the help of my glasses, h=
oist
another boat out and row towards the shore; and we found, as they approache=
d,
that there were no less than ten men in her, and that they had firearms with
them.
As the ship lay almost two leagues from the shore, we had a full view of th=
em
as the came, and a plain sight even of their faces; because the tide having=
set
them a little to the east of the other boat, they rowed up under shore, to =
come
to the same place where the other had landed, and where the boat lay; by th=
is
means, I say, we had a full view of them, and the captain knew the persons =
and
characters of all the men in the boat, of whom, he said, there were three v=
ery
honest fellows, who, he was sure, were led into this conspiracy by the rest,
being over-powered and frightened; but that as for the boatswain, who it se=
ems
was the chief officer among them, and all the rest, they were as outrageous=
as
any of the ship's crew, and were no doubt made desperate in their new
enterprise; and terribly apprehensive he was that they would be too powerful
for us. I smiled at him, and told him that men in our circumstances were pa=
st
the operation of fear; that seeing almost every condition that could be was
better than that which we were supposed to be in, we ought to expect that t=
he
consequence, whether death or life, would be sure to be a deliverance. I as=
ked
him what he thought of the circumstances of my life, and whether a delivera=
nce
were not worth venturing for? "And where, sir," said I, "is =
your
belief of my being preserved here on purpose to save your life, which eleva=
ted
you a little while ago? For my part," said I, "there seems to be =
but
one thing amiss in all the prospect of it." "What is that?" =
say
she. "Why," said I, "it is, that as you say there are three =
or
four honest fellows among them which should be spared, had they been all of=
the
wicked part of the crew I should have thought God's providence had singled =
them
out to deliver them into your hands; for depend upon it, every man that com=
es
ashore is our own, and shall die or live as they behave to us." As I s=
poke
this with a raised voice and cheerful countenance, I found it greatly encou=
raged
him; so we set vigorously to our business.
We had, upon the first appearance of the boat's coming from the ship,
considered of separating our prisoners; and we had, indeed, secured them
effectually. Two of them, of whom the captain was less assured than ordinar=
y, I
sent with Friday, and one of the three delivered men, to my cave, where they
were remote enough, and out of danger of being heard or discovered, or of
finding their way out of the woods if they could have delivered themselves.
Here they left them bound, but gave them provisions; and promised them, if =
they
continued there quietly, to give them their liberty in a day or two; but th=
at
if they attempted their escape they should be put to death without mercy. T=
hey
promised faithfully to bear their confinement with patience, and were very
thankful that they had such good usage as to have provisions and light left
them; for Friday gave them candles (such as we made ourselves) for their
comfort; and they did not know but that he stood sentinel over them at the
entrance.
The other prisoners had better usage; two of them were kept pinioned, indee=
d,
because the captain was not able to trust them; but the other two were taken
into my service, upon the captain's recommendation, and upon their solemnly
engaging to live and die with us; so with them and the three honest men we =
were
seven men, well armed; and I made no doubt we should be able to deal well
enough with the ten that were coming, considering that the captain had said
there were three or four honest men among them also. As soon as they got to=
the
place where their other boat lay, they ran their boat into the beach and ca=
me
all on shore, hauling the boat up after them, which I was glad to see, for I
was afraid they would rather have left the boat at an anchor some distance =
from
the shore, with some hands in her to guard her, and so we should not be abl=
e to
seize the boat. Being on shore, the first thing they did, they ran all to t=
heir
other boat; and it was easy to see they were under a great surprise to find=
her
stripped, as above, of all that was in her, and a great hole in her bottom.
After they had mused a while upon this, they set up two or three great shou=
ts,
hallooing with all their might, to try if they could make their companions
hear; but all was to no purpose. Then they came all close in a ring, and fi=
red
a volley of their small arms, which indeed we heard, and the echoes made the
woods ring. But it was all one; those in the cave, we were sure, could not
hear; and those in our keeping, though they heard it well enough, yet durst
give no answer to them. They were so astonished at the surprise of this, th=
at,
as they told us afterwards, they resolved to go all on board again to their
ship, and let them know that the men were all murdered, and the long-boat
staved; accordingly, they immediately launched their boat again, and got al=
l of
them on board.
The captain was terribly amazed, and even confounded, at this, believing th=
ey
would go on board the ship again and set sail, giving their comrades over f=
or
lost, and so he should still lose the ship, which he was in hopes we should
have recovered; but he was quickly as much frightened the other way.
They had not been long put off with the boat, when we perceived them all co=
ming
on shore again; but with this new measure in their conduct, which it seems =
they
consulted together upon, viz. to leave three men in the boat, and the rest =
to
go on shore, and go up into the country to look for their fellows. This was=
a
great disappointment to us, for now we were at a loss what to do, as our
seizing those seven men on shore would be no advantage to us if we let the =
boat
escape; because they would row away to the ship, and then the rest of them
would be sure to weigh and set sail, and so our recovering the ship would be
lost. However we had no remedy but to wait and see what the issue of things
might present. The seven men came on shore, and the three who remained in t=
he
boat put her off to a good distance from the shore, and came to an anchor to
wait for them; so that it was impossible for us to come at them in the boat.
Those that came on shore kept close together, marching towards the top of t=
he
little hill under which my habitation lay; and we could see them plainly,
though they could not perceive us. We should have been very glad if they wo=
uld
have come nearer us, so that we might have fired at them, or that they would
have gone farther off, that we might come abroad. But when they were come to
the brow of the hill where they could see a great way into the valleys and
woods, which lay towards the north-east part, and where the island lay lowe=
st,
they shouted and hallooed till they were weary; and not caring, it seems, to
venture far from the shore, nor far from one another, they sat down together
under a tree to consider it. Had they thought fit to have gone to sleep the=
re,
as the other part of them had done, they had done the job for us; but they =
were
too full of apprehensions of danger to venture to go to sleep, though they
could not tell what the danger was they had to fear.
The captain made a very just proposal to me upon this consultation of their=
s,
viz. that perhaps they would all fire a volley again, to endeavour to make
their fellows hear, and that we should all sally upon them just at the junc=
ture
when their pieces were all discharged, and they would certainly yield, and =
we
should have them without bloodshed. I liked this proposal, provided it was =
done
while we were near enough to come up to them before they could load their
pieces again. But this event did not happen; and we lay still a long time, =
very
irresolute what course to take. At length I told them there would be nothing
done, in my opinion, till night; and then, if they did not return to the bo=
at,
perhaps we might find a way to get between them and the shore, and so might=
use
some stratagem with them in the boat to get them on shore. We waited a great
while, though very impatient for their removing; and were very uneasy when,
after long consultation, we saw them all start up and march down towards th=
e sea;
it seems they had such dreadful apprehensions of the danger of the place th=
at
they resolved to go on board the ship again, give their companions over for
lost, and so go on with their intended voyage with the ship.
As soon as I perceived them go towards the shore, I imagined it to be as it
really was that they had given over their search, and were going back again;
and the captain, as soon as I told him my thoughts, was ready to sink at the
apprehensions of it; but I presently thought of a stratagem to fetch them b=
ack
again, and which answered my end to a tittle. I ordered Friday and the
captain's mate to go over the little creek westward, towards the place where
the savages came on shore, when Friday was rescued, and so soon as they cam=
e to
a little rising round, at about half a mile distant, I bid them halloo out,=
as
loud as they could, and wait till they found the seamen heard them; that as
soon as ever they heard the seamen answer them, they should return it again;
and then, keeping out of sight, take a round, always answering when the oth=
ers
hallooed, to draw them as far into the island and among the woods as possib=
le,
and then wheel about again to me by such ways as I directed them.
They were just going into the boat when Friday and the mate hallooed; and t=
hey
presently heard them, and answering, ran along the shore westward, towards =
the
voice they heard, when they were stopped by the creek, where the water being
up, they could not get over, and called for the boat to come up and set them
over; as, indeed, I expected. When they had set themselves over, I observed
that the boat being gone a good way into the creek, and, as it were, in a
harbour within the land, they took one of the three men out of her, to go a=
long
with them, and left only two in the boat, having fastened her to the stump =
of a
little tree on the shore. This was what I wished for; and immediately leavi=
ng
Friday and the captain's mate to their business, I took the rest with me; a=
nd,
crossing the creek out of their sight, we surprised the two men before they
were aware - one of them lying on the shore, and the other being in the boa=
t.
The fellow on shore was between sleeping and waking, and going to start up;=
the
captain, who was foremost, ran in upon him, and knocked him down; and then =
called
out to him in the boat to yield, or he was a dead man. They needed very few
arguments to persuade a single man to yield, when he saw five men upon him =
and
his comrade knocked down: besides, this was, it seems, one of the three who
were not so hearty in the mutiny as the rest of the crew, and therefore was
easily persuaded not only to yield, but afterwards to join very sincerely w=
ith
us. In the meantime, Friday and the captain's mate so well managed their
business with the rest that they drew them, by hallooing and answering, from
one hill to another, and from one wood to another, till they not only heart=
ily
tired them, but left them where they were, very sure they could not reach b=
ack
to the boat before it was dark; and, indeed, they were heartily tired thems=
elves
also, by the time they came back to us.
We had nothing now to do but to watch for them in the dark, and to fall upon
them, so as to make sure work with them. It was several hours after Friday =
came
back to me before they came back to their boat; and we could hear the forem=
ost
of them, long before they came quite up, calling to those behind to come al=
ong;
and could also hear them answer, and complain how lame and tired they were,=
and
not able to come any faster: which was very welcome news to us. At length t=
hey
came up to the boat: but it is impossible to express their confusion when t=
hey
found the boat fast aground in the creek, the tide ebbed out, and their two=
men
gone. We could hear them call one to another in a most lamentable manner,
telling one another they were got into an enchanted island; that either the=
re
were inhabitants in it, and they should all be murdered, or else there were
devils and spirits in it, and they should be all carried away and devoured.
They hallooed again, and called their two comrades by their names a great m=
any
times; but no answer. After some time we could see them, by the little light
there was, run about, wringing their hands like men in despair, and sometim=
es
they would go and sit down in the boat to rest themselves: then come ashore
again, and walk about again, and so the same thing over again. My men would
fain have had me give them leave to fall upon them at once in the dark; but=
I
was willing to take them at some advantage, so as to spare them, and kill as
few of them as I could; and especially I was unwilling to hazard the killin=
g of
any of our men, knowing the others were very well armed. I resolved to wait=
, to
see if they did not separate; and therefore, to make sure of them, I drew my
ambuscade nearer, and ordered Friday and the captain to creep upon their ha=
nds
and feet, as close to the ground as they could, that they might not be
discovered, and get as near them as they could possibly before they offered=
to
fire.
They had not been long in that posture when the boatswain, who was the
principal ringleader of the mutiny, and had now shown himself the most deje=
cted
and dispirited of all the rest, came walking towards them, with two more of=
the
crew; the captain was so eager at having this principal rogue so much in his
power, that he could hardly have patience to let him come so near as to be =
sure
of him, for they only heard his tongue before: but when they came nearer, t=
he
captain and Friday, starting up on their feet, let fly at them. The boatswa=
in
was killed upon the spot: the next man was shot in the body, and fell just =
by
him, though he did not die till an hour or two after; and the third ran for=
it.
At the noise of the fire I immediately advanced with my whole army, which w=
as
now eight men, viz. myself, generalissimo; Friday, my lieutenant-general; t=
he
captain and his two men, and the three prisoners of war whom we had trusted
with arms. We came upon them, indeed, in the dark, so that they could not s=
ee
our number; and I made the man they had left in the boat, who was now one of
us, to call them by name, to try if I could bring them to a parley, and so
perhaps might reduce them to terms; which fell out just as we desired: for
indeed it was easy to think, as their condition then was, they would be very
willing to capitulate. So he calls out as loud as he could to one of them,
"Tom Smith! Tom Smith!" Tom Smith answered immediately, "Is =
that
Robinson?" for it seems he knew the voice. The other answered, "A=
y,
ay; for God's sake, Tom Smith, throw down your arms and yield, or you are a=
ll
dead men this moment." "Who must we yield to? Where are they?&quo=
t;
says Smith again. "Here they are," says he; "here's our capt=
ain
and fifty men with him, have been hunting you these two hours; the boatswai=
n is
killed; Will Fry is wounded, and I am a prisoner; and if you do not yield y=
ou
are all lost." "Will they give us quarter, then?" says Tom
Smith, "and we will yield." "I'll go and ask, if you promise=
to
yield," said Robinson: so he asked the captain, and the captain himself
then calls out, "You, Smith, you know my voice; if you lay down your a=
rms
immediately and submit, you shall have your lives, all but Will Atkins.&quo=
t;
Upon this Will Atkins cried out, "For God's sake, captain, give me
quarter; what have I done? They have all been as bad as I:" which, by =
the
way, was not true; for it seems this Will Atkins was the first man that laid
hold of the captain when they first mutinied, and used him barbarously in t=
ying
his hands and giving him injurious language. However, the captain told him =
he
must lay down his arms at discretion, and trust to the governor's mercy: by
which he meant me, for they all called me governor. In a word, they all laid
down their arms and begged their lives; and I sent the man that had parleyed
with them, and two more, who bound them all; and then my great army of fifty
men, which, with those three, were in all but eight, came up and seized upon
them, and upon their boat; only that I kept myself and one more out of sight
for reasons of state.
Our next work was to repair the boat, and think of seizing the ship: and as=
for
the captain, now he had leisure to parley with them, he expostulated with t=
hem
upon the villainy of their practices with him, and upon the further wickedn=
ess
of their design, and how certainly it must bring them to misery and distres=
s in
the end, and perhaps to the gallows. They all appeared very penitent, and
begged hard for their lives. As for that, he told them they were not his
prisoners, but the commander's of the island; that they thought they had set
him on shore in a barren, uninhabited island; but it had pleased God so to
direct them that it was inhabited, and that the governor was an Englishman;
that he might hang them all there, if he pleased; but as he had given them =
all
quarter, he supposed he would send them to England, to be dealt with there =
as
justice required, except Atkins, whom he was commanded by the governor to
advise to prepare for death, for that he would be hanged in the morning.
Though this was all but a fiction of his own, yet it had its desired effect;
Atkins fell upon his knees to beg the captain to intercede with the governor
for his life; and all the rest begged of him, for God's sake, that they mig=
ht
not be sent to England.
It now occurred to me that the time of our deliverance was come, and that it
would be a most easy thing to bring these fellows in to be hearty in getting
possession of the ship; so I retired in the dark from them, that they might=
not
see what kind of a governor they had, and called the captain to me; when I
called, at a good distance, one of the men was ordered to speak again, and =
say
to the captain, "Captain, the commander calls for you;" and prese=
ntly
the captain replied, "Tell his excellency I am just coming." This
more perfectly amazed them, and they all believed that the commander was ju=
st
by, with his fifty men. Upon the captain coming to me, I told him my project
for seizing the ship, which he liked wonderfully well, and resolved to put =
it
in execution the next morning. But, in order to execute it with more art, a=
nd
to be secure of success, I told him we must divide the prisoners, and that =
he
should go and take Atkins, and two more of the worst of them, and send them
pinioned to the cave where the others lay. This was committed to Friday and=
the
two men who came on shore with the captain. They conveyed them to the cave =
as
to a prison: and it was, indeed, a dismal place, especially to men in their
condition. The others I ordered to my bower, as I called it, of which I have
given a full description: and as it was fenced in, and they pinioned, the p=
lace
was secure enough, considering they were upon their behaviour.
To these in the morning I sent the captain, who was to enter into a parley =
with
them; in a word, to try them, and tell me whether he thought they might be
trusted or not to go on board and surprise the ship. He talked to them of t=
he
injury done him, of the condition they were brought to, and that though the
governor had given them quarter for their lives as to the present action, y=
et
that if they were sent to England they would all be hanged in chains; but t=
hat
if they would join in so just an attempt as to recover the ship, he would h=
ave
the governor's engagement for their pardon.
Any one may guess how readily such a proposal would be accepted by men in t=
heir
condition; they fell down on their knees to the captain, and promised, with=
the
deepest imprecations, that they would be faithful to him to the last drop, =
and
that they should owe their lives to him, and would go with him all over the
world; that they would own him as a father to them as long as they lived.
"Well," says the captain, "I must go and tell the governor w=
hat
you say, and see what I can do to bring him to consent to it." So he
brought me an account of the temper he found them in, and that he verily
believed they would be faithful. However, that we might be very secure, I t=
old
him he should go back again and choose out those five, and tell them, that =
they
might see he did not want men, that he would take out those five to be his =
assistants,
and that the governor would keep the other two, and the three that were sent
prisoners to the castle (my cave), as hostages for the fidelity of those fi=
ve;
and that if they proved unfaithful in the execution, the five hostages shou=
ld
be hanged in chains alive on the shore. This looked severe, and convinced t=
hem
that the governor was in earnest; however, they had no way left them but to
accept it; and it was now the business of the prisoners, as much as of the
captain, to persuade the other five to do their duty.
Our strength was now thus ordered for the expedition: first, the captain, h=
is
mate, and passenger; second, the two prisoners of the first gang, to whom,
having their character from the captain, I had given their liberty, and tru=
sted
them with arms; third, the other two that I had kept till now in my bower,
pinioned, but on the captain's motion had now released; fourth, these five
released at last; so that there were twelve in all, besides five we kept
prisoners in the cave for hostages.
I asked the captain if he was willing to venture with these hands on board =
the
ship; but as for me and my man Friday, I did not think it was proper for us=
to
stir, having seven men left behind; and it was employment enough for us to =
keep
them asunder, and supply them with victuals. As to the five in the cave, I
resolved to keep them fast, but Friday went in twice a day to them, to supp=
ly
them with necessaries; and I made the other two carry provisions to a certa=
in
distance, where Friday was to take them.
When I showed myself to the two hostages, it was with the captain, who told
them I was the person the governor had ordered to look after them; and that=
it
was the governor's pleasure they should not stir anywhere but by my directi=
on;
that if they did, they would be fetched into the castle, and be laid in iro=
ns:
so that as we never suffered them to see me as governor, I now appeared as
another person, and spoke of the governor, the garrison, the castle, and the
like, upon all occasions.
The captain now had no difficulty before him, but to furnish his two boats,
stop the breach of one, and man them. He made his passenger captain of one,
with four of the men; and himself, his mate, and five more, went in the oth=
er;
and they contrived their business very well, for they came up to the ship a=
bout
midnight. As soon as they came within call of the ship, he made Robinson ha=
il
them, and tell them they had brought off the men and the boat, but that it =
was
a long time before they had found them, and the like, holding them in a chat
till they came to the ship's side; when the captain and the mate entering f=
irst
with their arms, immediately knocked down the second mate and carpenter with
the butt-end of their muskets, being very faithfully seconded by their men;
they secured all the rest that were upon the main and quarter decks, and be=
gan
to fasten the hatches, to keep them down that were below; when the other bo=
at
and their men, entering at the forechains, secured the forecastle of the sh=
ip,
and the scuttle which went down into the cook-room, making three men they f=
ound
there prisoners. When this was done, and all safe upon deck, the captain
ordered the mate, with three men, to break into the round-house, where the =
new
rebel captain lay, who, having taken the alarm, had got up, and with two men
and a boy had got firearms in their hands; and when the mate, with a crow,
split open the door, the new captain and his men fired boldly among them, a=
nd
wounded the mate with a musket ball, which broke his arm, and wounded two m=
ore
of the men, but killed nobody. The mate, calling for help, rushed, however,
into the round-house, wounded as he was, and, with his pistol, shot the new
captain through the head, the bullet entering at his mouth, and came out ag=
ain
behind one of his ears, so that he never spoke a word more: upon which the =
rest
yielded, and the ship was taken effectually, without any more lives lost.
As soon as the ship was thus secured, the captain ordered seven guns to be
fired, which was the signal agreed upon with me to give me notice of his
success, which, you may be sure, I was very glad to hear, having sat watchi=
ng
upon the shore for it till near two o'clock in the morning. Having thus hea=
rd
the signal plainly, I laid me down; and it having been a day of great fatig=
ue
to me, I slept very sound, till I was surprised with the noise of a gun; and
presently starting up, I heard a man call me by the name of "Governor!
Governor!" and presently I knew the captain's voice; when, climbing up=
to
the top of the hill, there he stood, and, pointing to the ship, he embraced=
me
in his arms, "My dear friend and deliverer," says he, "there=
's
your ship; for she is all yours, and so are we, and all that belong to
her." I cast my eyes to the ship, and there she rode, within little mo=
re
than half a mile of the shore; for they had weighed her anchor as soon as t=
hey
were masters of her, and, the weather being fair, had brought her to an anc=
hor
just against the mouth of the little creek; and the tide being up, the capt=
ain
had brought the pinnace in near the place where I had first landed my rafts,
and so landed just at my door. I was at first ready to sink down with the
surprise; for I saw my deliverance, indeed, visibly put into my hands, all
things easy, and a large ship just ready to carry me away whither I pleased=
to
go. At first, for some time, I was not able to answer him one word; but as =
he
had taken me in his arms I held fast by him, or I should have fallen to the
ground. He perceived the surprise, and immediately pulled a bottle out of h=
is
pocket and gave me a dram of cordial, which he had brought on purpose for m=
e.
After I had drunk it, I sat down upon the ground; and though it brought me =
to
myself, yet it was a good while before I could speak a word to him. All this
time the poor man was in as great an ecstasy as I, only not under any surpr=
ise
as I was; and he said a thousand kind and tender things to me, to compose a=
nd
bring me to myself; but such was the flood of joy in my breast, that it put=
all
my spirits into confusion: at last it broke out into tears, and in a little
while after I recovered my speech; I then took my turn, and embraced him as=
my
deliverer, and we rejoiced together. I told him I looked upon him as a man =
sent
by Heaven to deliver me, and that the whole transaction seemed to be a chai=
n of
wonders; that such things as these were the testimonies we had of a secret =
hand
of Providence governing the world, and an evidence that the eye of an infin=
ite
Power could search into the remotest corner of the world, and send help to =
the
miserable whenever He pleased. I forgot not to lift up my heart in thankful=
ness
to Heaven; and what heart could forbear to bless Him, who had not only in a
miraculous manner provided for me in such a wilderness, and in such a desol=
ate
condition, but from whom every deliverance must always be acknowledged to
proceed.
When we had talked a while, the captain told me he had brought me some litt=
le
refreshment, such as the ship afforded, and such as the wretches that had b=
een
so long his masters had not plundered him of. Upon this, he called aloud to=
the
boat, and bade his men bring the things ashore that were for the governor; =
and,
indeed, it was a present as if I had been one that was not to be carried aw=
ay
with them, but as if I had been to dwell upon the island still. First, he h=
ad
brought me a case of bottles full of excellent cordial waters, six large
bottles of Madeira wine (the bottles held two quarts each), two pounds of
excellent good tobacco, twelve good pieces of the ship's beef, and six piec=
es
of pork, with a bag of peas, and about a hundred-weight of biscuit; he also
brought me a box of sugar, a box of flour, a bag full of lemons, and two
bottles of lime-juice, and abundance of other things. But besides these, and
what was a thousand times more useful to me, he brought me six new clean
shirts, six very good neckcloths, two pair of gloves, one pair of shoes, a =
hat,
and one pair of stockings, with a very good suit of clothes of his own, whi=
ch
had been worn but very little: in a word, he clothed me from head to foot. =
It
was a very kind and agreeable present, as any one may imagine, to one in my
circumstances, but never was anything in the world of that kind so unpleasa=
nt,
awkward, and uneasy as it was to me to wear such clothes at first.
After these ceremonies were past, and after all his good things were brought
into my little apartment, we began to consult what was to be done with the
prisoners we had; for it was worth considering whether we might venture to =
take
them with us or no, especially two of them, whom he knew to be incorrigible=
and
refractory to the last degree; and the captain said he knew they were such
rogues that there was no obliging them, and if he did carry them away, it m=
ust
be in irons, as malefactors, to be delivered over to justice at the first
English colony he could come to; and I found that the captain himself was v=
ery
anxious about it. Upon this, I told him that, if he desired it, I would
undertake to bring the two men he spoke of to make it their own request tha=
t he
should leave them upon the island. "I should be very glad of that,&quo=
t;
says the captain, "with all my heart." "Well," says I,
"I will send for them up and talk with them for you." So I caused
Friday and the two hostages, for they were now discharged, their comrades
having performed their promise; I say, I caused them to go to the cave, and
bring up the five men, pinioned as they were, to the bower, and keep them t=
here
till I came. After some time, I came thither dressed in my new habit; and n=
ow I
was called governor again. Being all met, and the captain with me, I caused=
the
men to be brought before me, and I told them I had got a full account of th=
eir
villainous behaviour to the captain, and how they had run away with the shi=
p,
and were preparing to commit further robberies, but that Providence had
ensnared them in their own ways, and that they were fallen into the pit whi=
ch
they had dug for others. I let them know that by my direction the ship had =
been
seized; that she lay now in the road; and they might see by-and-by that the=
ir
new captain had received the reward of his villainy, and that they would see
him hanging at the yard-arm; that, as to them, I wanted to know what they h=
ad
to say why I should not execute them as pirates taken in the fact, as by my
commission they could not doubt but I had authority so to do.
One of them answered in the name of the rest, that they had nothing to say =
but
this, that when they were taken the captain promised them their lives, and =
they
humbly implored my mercy. But I told them I knew not what mercy to show the=
m;
for as for myself, I had resolved to quit the island with all my men, and h=
ad
taken passage with the captain to go to England; and as for the captain, he
could not carry them to England other than as prisoners in irons, to be tri=
ed
for mutiny and running away with the ship; the consequence of which, they m=
ust
needs know, would be the gallows; so that I could not tell what was best for
them, unless they had a mind to take their fate in the island. If they desi=
red
that, as I had liberty to leave the island, I had some inclination to give =
them
their lives, if they thought they could shift on shore. They seemed very
thankful for it, and said they would much rather venture to stay there than=
be
carried to England to be hanged. So I left it on that issue.
However, the captain seemed to make some difficulty of it, as if he durst n=
ot
leave them there. Upon this I seemed a little angry with the captain, and t=
old
him that they were my prisoners, not his; and that seeing I had offered the=
m so
much favour, I would be as good as my word; and that if he did not think fi=
t to
consent to it I would set them at liberty, as I found them: and if he did n=
ot
like it he might take them again if he could catch them. Upon this they
appeared very thankful, and I accordingly set them at liberty, and bade them
retire into the woods, to the place whence they came, and I would leave them
some firearms, some ammunition, and some directions how they should live ve=
ry
well if they thought fit. Upon this I prepared to go on board the ship; but
told the captain I would stay that night to prepare my things, and desired =
him
to go on board in the meantime, and keep all right in the ship, and send the
boat on shore next day for me; ordering him, at all events, to cause the ne=
w captain,
who was killed, to be hanged at the yard- arm, that these men might see him=
.
When the captain was gone I sent for the men up to me to my apartment, and
entered seriously into discourse with them on their circumstances. I told t=
hem
I thought they had made a right choice; that if the captain had carried them
away they would certainly be hanged. I showed them the new captain hanging =
at
the yard-arm of the ship, and told them they had nothing less to expect.
When they had all declared their willingness to stay, I then told them I wo=
uld
let them into the story of my living there, and put them into the way of ma=
king
it easy to them. Accordingly, I gave them the whole history of the place, a=
nd
of my coming to it; showed them my fortifications, the way I made my bread,
planted my corn, cured my grapes; and, in a word, all that was necessary to
make them easy. I told them the story also of the seventeen Spaniards that =
were
to be expected, for whom I left a letter, and made them promise to treat th=
em
in common with themselves. Here it may be noted that the captain, who had i=
nk
on board, was greatly surprised that I never hit upon a way of making ink of
charcoal and water, or of something else, as I had done things much more
difficult.
I left them my firearms - viz. five muskets, three fowling-pieces, and three
swords. I had above a barrel and a half of powder left; for after the first
year or two I used but little, and wasted none. I gave them a description of
the way I managed the goats, and directions to milk and fatten them, and to
make both butter and cheese. In a word, I gave them every part of my own st=
ory;
and told them I should prevail with the captain to leave them two barrels of
gunpowder more, and some garden-seeds, which I told them I would have been =
very
glad of. Also, I gave them the bag of peas which the captain had brought me=
to
eat, and bade them be sure to sow and increase them.
Chapter 19: Return To Engl=
and
Having done all this I left them the next day, and went on board the ship. =
We
prepared immediately to sail, but did not weigh that night. The next morning
early, two of the five men came swimming to the ship's side, and making the
most lamentable complaint of the other three, begged to be taken into the s=
hip
for God's sake, for they should be murdered, and begged the captain to take
them on board, though he hanged them immediately. Upon this the captain
pretended to have no power without me; but after some difficulty, and after
their solemn promises of amendment, they were taken on board, and were, some
time after, soundly whipped and pickled; after which they proved very honest
and quiet fellows.
Some time after this, the boat was ordered on shore, the tide being up, with
the things promised to the men; to which the captain, at my intercession,
caused their chests and clothes to be added, which they took, and were very
thankful for. I also encouraged them, by telling them that if it lay in my
power to send any vessel to take them in, I would not forget them.
When I took leave of this island, I carried on board, for relics, the great
goat-skin cap I had made, my umbrella, and one of my parrots; also, I forgot
not to take the money I formerly mentioned, which had lain by me so long
useless that it was grown rusty or tarnished, and could hardly pass for sil=
ver
till it had been a little rubbed and handled, as also the money I found in =
the
wreck of the Spanish ship. And thus I left the island, the 19th of December=
, as
I found by the ship's account, in the year 1686, after I had been upon it e=
ight-and-twenty
years, two months, and nineteen days; being delivered from this second
captivity the same day of the month that I first made my escape in the
long-boat from among the Moors of Sallee. In this vessel, after a long voya=
ge,
I arrived in England the 11th of June, in the year 1687, having been
thirty-five years absent.
When I came to England I was as perfect a stranger to all the world as if I=
had
never been known there. My benefactor and faithful steward, whom I had left=
my
money in trust with, was alive, but had had great misfortunes in the world;=
was
become a widow the second time, and very low in the world. I made her very =
easy
as to what she owed me, assuring her I would give her no trouble; but, on t=
he
contrary, in gratitude for her former care and faithfulness to me, I reliev=
ed
her as my little stock would afford; which at that time would, indeed, allo=
w me
to do but little for her; but I assured her I would never forget her former
kindness to me; nor did I forget her when I had sufficient to help her, as
shall be observed in its proper place. I went down afterwards into Yorkshir=
e;
but my father was dead, and my mother and all the family extinct, except th=
at I
found two sisters, and two of the children of one of my brothers; and as I =
had
been long ago given over for dead, there had been no provision made for me;=
so
that, in a word, I found nothing to relieve or assist me; and that the litt=
le
money I had would not do much for me as to settling in the world.
I met with one piece of gratitude indeed, which I did not expect; and this =
was,
that the master of the ship, whom I had so happily delivered, and by the sa=
me
means saved the ship and cargo, having given a very handsome account to the
owners of the manner how I had saved the lives of the men and the ship, they
invited me to meet them and some other merchants concerned, and all together
made me a very handsome compliment upon the subject, and a present of almost
200 pounds sterling.
But after making several reflections upon the circumstances of my life, and=
how
little way this would go towards settling me in the world, I resolved to go=
to
Lisbon, and see if I might not come at some information of the state of my
plantation in the Brazils, and of what was become of my partner, who, I had
reason to suppose, had some years past given me over for dead. With this vi=
ew I
took shipping for Lisbon, where I arrived in April following, my man Friday
accompanying me very honestly in all these ramblings, and proving a most
faithful servant upon all occasions. When I came to Lisbon, I found out, by
inquiry, and to my particular satisfaction, my old friend, the captain of t=
he
ship who first took me up at sea off the shore of Africa. He was now grown =
old,
and had left off going to sea, having put his son, who was far from a young
man, into his ship, and who still used the Brazil trade. The old man did not
know me, and indeed I hardly knew him. But I soon brought him to my
remembrance, and as soon brought myself to his remembrance, when I told him=
who
I was.
After some passionate expressions of the old acquaintance between us, I
inquired, you may he sure, after my plantation and my partner. The old man =
told
me he had not been in the Brazils for about nine years; but that he could
assure me that when he came away my partner was living, but the trustees wh=
om I
had joined with him to take cognisance of my part were both dead: that,
however, he believed I would have a very good account of the improvement of=
the
plantation; for that, upon the general belief of my being cast away and
drowned, my trustees had given in the account of the produce of my part of =
the
plantation to the procurator-fiscal, who had appropriated it, in case I nev=
er
came to claim it, one-third to the king, and two-thirds to the monastery of=
St.
Augustine, to be expended for the benefit of the poor, and for the conversi=
on
of the Indians to the Catholic faith: but that, if I appeared, or any one f=
or
me, to claim the inheritance, it would be restored; only that the improveme=
nt,
or annual production, being distributed to charitable uses, could not be
restored: but he assured me that the steward of the king's revenue from lan=
ds,
and the providore, or steward of the monastery, had taken great care all al=
ong
that the incumbent, that is to say my partner, gave every year a faithful
account of the produce, of which they had duly received my moiety. I asked =
him
if he knew to what height of improvement he had brought the plantation, and
whether he thought it might be worth looking after; or whether, on my going=
thither,
I should meet with any obstruction to my possessing my just right in the
moiety. He told me he could not tell exactly to what degree the plantation =
was
improved; but this he knew, that my partner was grown exceeding rich upon t=
he
enjoying his part of it; and that, to the best of his remembrance, he had h=
eard
that the king's third of my part, which was, it seems, granted away to some
other monastery or religious house, amounted to above two hundred moidores a
year: that as to my being restored to a quiet possession of it, there was no
question to be made of that, my partner being alive to witness my title, an=
d my
name being also enrolled in the register of the country; also he told me th=
at
the survivors of my two trustees were very fair, honest people, and very
wealthy; and he believed I would not only have their assistance for putting=
me
in possession, but would find a very considerable sum of money in their han=
ds
for my account, being the produce of the farm while their fathers held the
trust, and before it was given up, as above; which, as he remembered, was f=
or
about twelve years.
I showed myself a little concerned and uneasy at this account, and inquired=
of
the old captain how it came to pass that the trustees should thus dispose o=
f my
effects, when he knew that I had made my will, and had made him, the Portug=
uese
captain, my universal heir, &c.
He told me that was true; but that as there was no proof of my being dead, =
he
could not act as executor until some certain account should come of my deat=
h;
and, besides, he was not willing to intermeddle with a thing so remote: tha=
t it
was true he had registered my will, and put in his claim; and could he have
given any account of my being dead or alive, he would have acted by
procuration, and taken possession of the ingenio (so they call the
sugar-house), and have given his son, who was now at the Brazils, orders to=
do
it. "But," says the old man, "I have one piece of news to te=
ll
you, which perhaps may not be so acceptable to you as the rest; and that is,
believing you were lost, and all the world believing so also, your partner =
and
trustees did offer to account with me, in your name, for the first six or e=
ight
years' profits, which I received. There being at that time great disburseme=
nts
for increasing the works, building an ingenio, and buying slaves, it did not
amount to near so much as afterwards it produced; however," says the o=
ld
man, "I shall give you a true account of what I have received in all, =
and
how I have disposed of it."
After a few days' further conference with this ancient friend, he brought m=
e an
account of the first six years' income of my plantation, signed by my partn=
er
and the merchant-trustees, being always delivered in goods, viz. tobacco in
roll, and sugar in chests, besides rum, molasses, &c., which is the
consequence of a sugar-work; and I found by this account, that every year t=
he
income considerably increased; but, as above, the disbursements being large,
the sum at first was small: however, the old man let me see that he was deb=
tor
to me four hundred and seventy moidores of gold, besides sixty chests of su=
gar
and fifteen double rolls of tobacco, which were lost in his ship; he having
been shipwrecked coming home to Lisbon, about eleven years after my having =
the
place. The good man then began to complain of his misfortunes, and how he h=
ad
been obliged to make use of my money to recover his losses, and buy him a s=
hare
in a new ship. "However, my old friend," says he, "you shall=
not
want a supply in your necessity; and as soon as my son returns you shall be
fully satisfied." Upon this he pulls out an old pouch, and gives me one
hundred and sixty Portugal moidores in gold; and giving the writings of his
title to the ship, which his son was gone to the Brazils in, of which he was
quarter-part owner, and his son another, he puts them both into my hands for
security of the rest.
I was too much moved with the honesty and kindness of the poor man to be ab=
le
to bear this; and remembering what he had done for me, how he had taken me =
up
at sea, and how generously he had used me on all occasions, and particularly
how sincere a friend he was now to me, I could hardly refrain weeping at wh=
at
he had said to me; therefore I asked him if his circumstances admitted him =
to
spare so much money at that time, and if it would not straiten him? He told=
me
he could not say but it might straiten him a little; but, however, it was my
money, and I might want it more than he.
Everything the good man said was full of affection, and I could hardly refr=
ain
from tears while he spoke; in short, I took one hundred of the moidores, and
called for a pen and ink to give him a receipt for them: then I returned him
the rest, and told him if ever I had possession of the plantation I would
return the other to him also (as, indeed, I afterwards did); and that as to=
the
bill of sale of his part in his son's ship, I would not take it by any mean=
s;
but that if I wanted the money, I found he was honest enough to pay me; and=
if
I did not, but came to receive what he gave me reason to expect, I would ne=
ver
have a penny more from him.
When this was past, the old man asked me if he should put me into a method =
to
make my claim to my plantation. I told him I thought to go over to it mysel=
f.
He said I might do so if I pleased, but that if I did not, there were ways
enough to secure my right, and immediately to appropriate the profits to my
use: and as there were ships in the river of Lisbon just ready to go away to
Brazil, he made me enter my name in a public register, with his affidavit, =
affirming,
upon oath, that I was alive, and that I was the same person who took up the
land for the planting the said plantation at first. This being regularly
attested by a notary, and a procuration affixed, he directed me to send it,
with a letter of his writing, to a merchant of his acquaintance at the plac=
e;
and then proposed my staying with him till an account came of the return.
Never was anything more honourable than the proceedings upon this procurati=
on;
for in less than seven months I received a large packet from the survivors =
of
my trustees, the merchants, for whose account I went to sea, in which were =
the
following, particular letters and papers enclosed:-
First, there was the account-current of the produce of my farm or plantatio=
n,
from the year when their fathers had balanced with my old Portugal captain,
being for six years; the balance appeared to be one thousand one hundred and
seventy-four moidores in my favour.
Secondly, there was the account of four years more, while they kept the eff=
ects
in their hands, before the government claimed the administration, as being =
the
effects of a person not to be found, which they called civil death; and the
balance of this, the value of the plantation increasing, amounted to ninete=
en
thousand four hundred and forty-six crusadoes, being about three thousand t=
wo
hundred and forty moidores.
Thirdly, there was the Prior of St. Augustine's account, who had received t=
he
profits for above fourteen years; but not being able to account for what was
disposed of by the hospital, very honestly declared he had eight hundred and
seventy-two moidores not distributed, which he acknowledged to my account: =
as
to the king's part, that refunded nothing.
There was a letter of my partner's, congratulating me very affectionately u=
pon
my being alive, giving me an account how the estate was improved, and what =
it
produced a year; with the particulars of the number of squares, or acres th=
at
it contained, how planted, how many slaves there were upon it: and making t=
wo-
and-twenty crosses for blessings, told me he had said so many AVE MARIAS to
thank the Blessed Virgin that I was alive; inviting me very passionately to
come over and take possession of my own, and in the meantime to give him or=
ders
to whom he should deliver my effects if I did not come myself; concluding w=
ith
a hearty tender of his friendship, and that of his family; and sent me as a
present seven fine leopards' skins, which he had, it seems, received from
Africa, by some other ship that he had sent thither, and which, it seems, h=
ad
made a better voyage than I. He sent me also five chests of excellent
sweetmeats, and a hundred pieces of gold uncoined, not quite so large as
moidores. By the same fleet my two merchant-trustees shipped me one thousand
two hundred chests of sugar, eight hundred rolls of tobacco, and the rest of
the whole account in gold.
I might well say now, indeed, that the latter end of Job was better than the
beginning. It is impossible to express the flutterings of my very heart whe=
n I
found all my wealth about me; for as the Brazil ships come all in fleets, t=
he
same ships which brought my letters brought my goods: and the effects were =
safe
in the river before the letters came to my hand. In a word, I turned pale, =
and
grew sick; and, had not the old man run and fetched me a cordial, I believe=
the
sudden surprise of joy had overset nature, and I had died upon the spot: na=
y,
after that I continued very ill, and was so some hours, till a physician be=
ing
sent for, and something of the real cause of my illness being known, he ord=
ered
me to be let blood; after which I had relief, and grew well: but I verify
believe, if I had not been eased by a vent given in that manner to the spir=
its,
I should have died.
I was now master, all on a sudden, of above five thousand pounds sterling in
money, and had an estate, as I might well call it, in the Brazils, of above=
a
thousand pounds a year, as sure as an estate of lands in England: and, in a
word, I was in a condition which I scarce knew how to understand, or how to
compose myself for the enjoyment of it. The first thing I did was to recomp=
ense
my original benefactor, my good old captain, who had been first charitable =
to
me in my distress, kind to me in my beginning, and honest to me at the end.=
I
showed him all that was sent to me; I told him that, next to the providence=
of
Heaven, which disposed all things, it was owing to him; and that it now lay=
on
me to reward him, which I would do a hundred-fold: so I first returned to h=
im
the hundred moidores I had received of him; then I sent for a notary, and
caused him to draw up a general release or discharge from the four hundred =
and
seventy moidores, which he had acknowledged he owed me, in the fullest and
firmest manner possible. After which I caused a procuration to be drawn, em=
powering
him to be the receiver of the annual profits of my plantation: and appointi=
ng
my partner to account with him, and make the returns, by the usual fleets, =
to
him in my name; and by a clause in the end, made a grant of one hundred
moidores a year to him during his life, out of the effects, and fifty moido=
res
a year to his son after him, for his life: and thus I requited my old man.<=
br>
I had now to consider which way to steer my course next, and what to do with
the estate that Providence had thus put into my hands; and, indeed, I had m=
ore
care upon my head now than I had in my state of life in the island where I
wanted nothing but what I had, and had nothing but what I wanted; whereas I=
had
now a great charge upon me, and my business was how to secure it. I had not=
a
cave now to hide my money in, or a place where it might lie without lock or
key, till it grew mouldy and tarnished before anybody would meddle with it;=
on
the contrary, I knew not where to put it, or whom to trust with it. My old
patron, the captain, indeed, was honest, and that was the only refuge I had=
. In
the next place, my interest in the Brazils seemed to summon me thither; but=
now
I could not tell how to think of going thither till I had settled my affair=
s,
and left my effects in some safe hands behind me. At first I thought of my =
old
friend the widow, who I knew was honest, and would be just to me; but then =
she
was in years, and but poor, and, for aught I knew, might be in debt: so tha=
t,
in a word, I had no way but to go back to England myself and take my effects
with me.
It was some months, however, before I resolved upon this; and, therefore, a=
s I
had rewarded the old captain fully, and to his satisfaction, who had been my
former benefactor, so I began to think of the poor widow, whose husband had
been my first benefactor, and she, while it was in her power, my faithful
steward and instructor. So, the first thing I did, I got a merchant in Lisb=
on
to write to his correspondent in London, not only to pay a bill, but to go =
find
her out, and carry her, in money, a hundred pounds from me, and to talk with
her, and comfort her in her poverty, by telling her she should, if I lived,
have a further supply: at the same time I sent my two sisters in the countr=
y a
hundred pounds each, they being, though not in want, yet not in very good
circumstances; one having been married and left a widow; and the other havi=
ng a
husband not so kind to her as he should be. But among all my relations or
acquaintances I could not yet pitch upon one to whom I durst commit the gro=
ss
of my stock, that I might go away to the Brazils, and leave things safe beh=
ind
me; and this greatly perplexed me.
I had once a mind to have gone to the Brazils and have settled myself there,
for I was, as it were, naturalised to the place; but I had some little scru=
ple
in my mind about religion, which insensibly drew me back. However, it was n=
ot
religion that kept me from going there for the present; and as I had made no
scruple of being openly of the religion of the country all the while I was =
among
them, so neither did I yet; only that, now and then, having of late thought
more of it than formerly, when I began to think of living and dying among t=
hem,
I began to regret having professed myself a Papist, and thought it might no=
t be
the best religion to die with.
But, as I have said, this was not the main thing that kept me from going to=
the
Brazils, but that really I did not know with whom to leave my effects behind
me; so I resolved at last to go to England, where, if I arrived, I concluded
that I should make some acquaintance, or find some relations, that would be
faithful to me; and, accordingly, I prepared to go to England with all my
wealth.
In order to prepare things for my going home, I first (the Brazil fleet bei=
ng
just going away) resolved to give answers suitable to the just and faithful
account of things I had from thence; and, first, to the Prior of St. August=
ine
I wrote a letter full of thanks for his just dealings, and the offer of the
eight hundred and seventy-two moidores which were undisposed of, which I
desired might be given, five hundred to the monastery, and three hundred and
seventy-two to the poor, as the prior should direct; desiring the good padr=
e's
prayers for me, and the like. I wrote next a letter of thanks to my two tru=
stees,
with all the acknowledgment that so much justice and honesty called for: as=
for
sending them any present, they were far above having any occasion of it.
Lastly, I wrote to my partner, acknowledging his industry in the improving =
the
plantation, and his integrity in increasing the stock of the works; giving =
him
instructions for his future government of my part, according to the powers I
had left with my old patron, to whom I desired him to send whatever became =
due
to me, till he should hear from me more particularly; assuring him that it =
was
my intention not only to come to him, but to settle myself there for the
remainder of my life. To this I added a very handsome present of some Itali=
an
silks for his wife and two daughters, for such the captain's son informed m=
e he
had; with two pieces of fine English broadcloth, the best I could get in
Lisbon, five pieces of black baize, and some Flanders lace of a good value.=
Having thus settled my affairs, sold my cargo, and turned all my effects in=
to
good bills of exchange, my next difficulty was which way to go to England: I
had been accustomed enough to the sea, and yet I had a strange aversion to =
go
to England by the sea at that time, and yet I could give no reason for it, =
yet
the difficulty increased upon me so much, that though I had once shipped my
baggage in order to go, yet I altered my mind, and that not once but two or
three times.
It is true I had been very unfortunate by sea, and this might be one of the
reasons; but let no man slight the strong impulses of his own thoughts in c=
ases
of such moment: two of the ships which I had singled out to go in, I mean m=
ore
particularly singled out than any other, having put my things on board one =
of
them, and in the other having agreed with the captain; I say two of these s=
hips
miscarried. One was taken by the Algerines, and the other was lost on the
Start, near Torbay, and all the people drowned except three; so that in eit=
her
of those vessels I had been made miserable.
Having been thus harassed in my thoughts, my old pilot, to whom I communica=
ted
everything, pressed me earnestly not to go by sea, but either to go by land=
to
the Groyne, and cross over the Bay of Biscay to Rochelle, from whence it was
but an easy and safe journey by land to Paris, and so to Calais and Dover; =
or
to go up to Madrid, and so all the way by land through France. In a word, I=
was
so prepossessed against my going by sea at all, except from Calais to Dover,
that I resolved to travel all the way by land; which, as I was not in haste,
and did not value the charge, was by much the pleasanter way: and to make it
more so, my old captain brought an English gentleman, the son of a merchant=
in
Lisbon, who was willing to travel with me; after which we picked up two more
English merchants also, and two young Portuguese gentlemen, the last going =
to
Paris only; so that in all there were six of us and five servants; the two
merchants and the two Portuguese, contenting themselves with one servant
between two, to save the charge; and as for me, I got an English sailor to
travel with me as a servant, besides my man Friday, who was too much a stra=
nger
to be capable of supplying the place of a servant on the road.
In this manner I set out from Lisbon; and our company being very well mount=
ed
and armed, we made a little troop, whereof they did me the honour to call me
captain, as well because I was the oldest man, as because I had two servant=
s,
and, indeed, was the origin of the whole journey.
As I have troubled you with none of my sea journals, so I shall trouble you=
now
with none of my land journals; but some adventures that happened to us in t=
his
tedious and difficult journey I must not omit.
When we came to Madrid, we, being all of us strangers to Spain, were willin=
g to
stay some time to see the court of Spain, and what was worth observing; but=
it
being the latter part of the summer, we hastened away, and set out from Mad=
rid
about the middle of October; but when we came to the edge of Navarre, we we=
re
alarmed, at several towns on the way, with an account that so much snow was
falling on the French side of the mountains, that several travellers were
obliged to come back to Pampeluna, after having attempted at an extreme haz=
ard
to pass on.
When we came to Pampeluna itself, we found it so indeed; and to me, that had
been always used to a hot climate, and to countries where I could scarce be=
ar
any clothes on, the cold was insufferable; nor, indeed, was it more painful
than surprising to come but ten days before out of Old Castile, where the
weather was not only warm but very hot, and immediately to feel a wind from=
the
Pyrenean Mountains so very keen, so severely cold, as to be intolerable and=
to
endanger benumbing and perishing of our fingers and toes.
Poor Friday was really frightened when he saw the mountains all covered with
snow, and felt cold weather, which he had never seen or felt before in his
life. To mend the matter, when we came to Pampeluna it continued snowing wi=
th
so much violence and so long, that the people said winter was come before i=
ts
time; and the roads, which were difficult before, were now quite impassable;
for, in a word, the snow lay in some places too thick for us to travel, and
being not hard frozen, as is the case in the northern countries, there was =
no
going without being in danger of being buried alive every step. We stayed no
less than twenty days at Pampeluna; when (seeing the winter coming on, and =
no
likelihood of its being better, for it was the severest winter all over Eur=
ope
that had been known in the memory of man) I proposed that we should go away=
to
Fontarabia, and there take shipping for Bordeaux, which was a very little
voyage. But, while I was considering this, there came in four French gentle=
men,
who, having been stopped on the French side of the passes, as we were on the
Spanish, had found out a guide, who, traversing the country near the head of
Languedoc, had brought them over the mountains by such ways that they were =
not
much incommoded with the snow; for where they met with snow in any quantity,
they said it was frozen hard enough to bear them and their horses. We sent =
for
this guide, who told us he would undertake to carry us the same way, with no
hazard from the snow, provided we were armed sufficiently to protect oursel=
ves
from wild beasts; for, he said, in these great snows it was frequent for so=
me
wolves to show themselves at the foot of the mountains, being made ravenous=
for
want of food, the ground being covered with snow. We told him we were well
enough prepared for such creatures as they were, if he would insure us from=
a
kind of two-legged wolves, which we were told we were in most danger from,
especially on the French side of the mountains. He satisfied us that there =
was
no danger of that kind in the way that we were to go; so we readily agreed =
to
follow him, as did also twelve other gentlemen with their servants, some
French, some Spanish, who, as I said, had attempted to go, and were obliged=
to
come back again.
Accordingly, we set out from Pampeluna with our guide on the 15th of Novemb=
er;
and indeed I was surprised when, instead of going forward, he came directly
back with us on the same road that we came from Madrid, about twenty miles;
when, having passed two rivers, and come into the plain country, we found
ourselves in a warm climate again, where the country was pleasant, and no s=
now
to be seen; but, on a sudden, turning to his left, he approached the mounta=
ins
another way; and though it is true the hills and precipices looked dreadful,
yet he made so many tours, such meanders, and led us by such winding ways, =
that
we insensibly passed the height of the mountains without being much encumbe=
red
with the snow; and all on a sudden he showed us the pleasant and fruitful
provinces of Languedoc and Gascony, all green and flourishing, though at a
great distance, and we had some rough way to pass still.
We were a little uneasy, however, when we found it snowed one whole day and=
a
night so fast that we could not travel; but he bid us be easy; we should so=
on
be past it all: we found, indeed, that we began to descend every day, and to
come more north than before; and so, depending upon our guide, we went on.<=
br>
It was about two hours before night when, our guide being something before =
us,
and not just in sight, out rushed three monstrous wolves, and after them a
bear, from a hollow way adjoining to a thick wood; two of the wolves made at
the guide, and had he been far before us, he would have been devoured befor=
e we
could have helped him; one of them fastened upon his horse, and the other
attacked the man with such violence, that he had not time, or presence of m=
ind
enough, to draw his pistol, but hallooed and cried out to us most lustily. =
My
man Friday being next me, I bade him ride up and see what was the matter. As
soon as Friday came in sight of the man, he hallooed out as loud as the oth=
er,
"O master! O master!" but like a bold fellow, rode directly up to=
the
poor man, and with his pistol shot the wolf in the head that attacked him.<=
br>
It was happy for the poor man that it was my man Friday; for, having been u=
sed
to such creatures in his country, he had no fear upon him, but went close u=
p to
him and shot him; whereas, any other of us would have fired at a farther
distance, and have perhaps either missed the wolf or endangered shooting the
man.
But it was enough to have terrified a bolder man than I; and, indeed, it
alarmed all our company, when, with the noise of Friday's pistol, we heard =
on
both sides the most dismal howling of wolves; and the noise, redoubled by t=
he
echo of the mountains, appeared to us as if there had been a prodigious num=
ber
of them; and perhaps there was not such a few as that we had no cause of
apprehension: however, as Friday had killed this wolf, the other that had
fastened upon the horse left him immediately, and fled, without doing him a=
ny
damage, having happily fastened upon his head, where the bosses of the brid=
le
had stuck in his teeth. But the man was most hurt; for the raging creature =
had
bit him twice, once in the arm, and the other time a little above his knee;=
and
though he had made some defence, he was just tumbling down by the disorder =
of
his horse, when Friday came up and shot the wolf.
It is easy to suppose that at the noise of Friday's pistol we all mended our
pace, and rode up as fast as the way, which was very difficult, would give =
us
leave, to see what was the matter. As soon as we came clear of the trees, w=
hich
blinded us before, we saw clearly what had been the case, and how Friday had
disengaged the poor guide, though we did not presently discern what kind of
creature it was he had killed.
Chapter 20: Fight Between =
Friday
And A Bear
But never was a fight managed so hardily, and in such a surprising manner as
that which followed between Friday and the bear, which gave us all, though =
at
first we were surprised and afraid for him, the greatest diversion imaginab=
le.
As the bear is a heavy, clumsy creature, and does not gallop as the wolf do=
es,
who is swift and light, so he has two particular qualities, which generally=
are
the rule of his actions; first, as to men, who are not his proper prey (he =
does
not usually attempt them, except they first attack him, unless he be
excessively hungry, which it is probable might now be the case, the ground
being covered with snow), if you do not meddle with him, he will not meddle
with you; but then you must take care to be very civil to him, and give him=
the
road, for he is a very nice gentleman; he will not go a step out of his way=
for
a prince; nay, if you are really afraid, your best way is to look another w=
ay
and keep going on; for sometimes if you stop, and stand still, and look
steadfastly at him, he takes it for an affront; but if you throw or toss
anything at him, though it were but a bit of stick as big as your finger, he
thinks himself abused, and sets all other business aside to pursue his reve=
nge,
and will have satisfaction in point of honour - that is his first quality: =
the
next is, if he be once affronted, he will never leave you, night or day, ti=
ll
he has his revenge, but follows at a good round rate till he overtakes you.=
My man Friday had delivered our guide, and when we came up to him he was
helping him off his horse, for the man was both hurt and frightened, when o=
n a
sudden we espied the bear come out of the wood; and a monstrous one it was,=
the
biggest by far that ever I saw. We were all a little surprised when we saw =
him;
but when Friday saw him, it was easy to see joy and courage in the fellow's
countenance. "O! O! O!" says Friday, three times, pointing to him;
"O master, you give me te leave, me shakee te hand with him; me makee =
you
good laugh."
I was surprised to see the fellow so well pleased. "You fool," sa=
ys
I, "he will eat you up." - "Eatee me up! eatee me up!" =
says
Friday, twice over again; "me eatee him up; me makee you good laugh; y=
ou
all stay here, me show you good laugh." So down he sits, and gets off =
his
boots in a moment, and puts on a pair of pumps (as we call the flat shoes t=
hey
wear, and which he had in his pocket), gives my other servant his horse, and
with his gun away he flew, swift like the wind.
The bear was walking softly on, and offered to meddle with nobody, till Fri=
day
coming pretty near, calls to him, as if the bear could understand him.
"Hark ye, hark ye," says Friday, "me speakee with you."=
We
followed at a distance, for now being down on the Gascony side of the
mountains, we were entered a vast forest, where the country was plain and
pretty open, though it had many trees in it scattered here and there. Frida=
y,
who had, as we say, the heels of the bear, came up with him quickly, and to=
ok
up a great stone, and threw it at him, and hit him just on the head, but did
him no more harm than if he had thrown it against a wall; but it answered
Friday's end, for the rogue was so void of fear that he did it purely to ma=
ke
the bear follow him, and show us some laugh as he called it. As soon as the
bear felt the blow, and saw him, he turns about and comes after him, taking
very long strides, and shuffling on at a strange rate, so as would have put=
a
horse to a middling gallop; away reins Friday, and takes his course as if he
ran towards us for help; so we all resolved to fire at once upon the bear, =
and
deliver my man; though I was angry at him for bringing the bear back upon u=
s,
when he was going about his own business another way; and especially I was
angry that he had turned the bear upon us, and then ran away; and I called =
out,
"You dog! is this your making us laugh? Come away, and take your horse,
that we may shoot the creature." He heard me, and cried out, "No
shoot, no shoot; stand still, and you get much laugh:" and as the nimb=
le
creature ran two feet for the bear's one, he turned on a sudden on one side=
of
us, and seeing a great oak-tree fit for his purpose, he beckoned to us to
follow; and doubling his pace, he got nimbly up the tree, laying his gun do=
wn
upon the ground, at about five or six yards from the bottom of the tree. The
bear soon came to the tree, and we followed at a distance: the first thing =
he
did he stopped at the gun, smelt at it, but let it lie, and up he scrambles
into the tree, climbing like a cat, though so monstrous heavy. I was amazed=
at
the folly, as I thought it, of my man, and could not for my life see anythi=
ng
to laugh at, till seeing the bear get up the tree, we all rode near to him.=
When we came to the tree, there was Friday got out to the small end of a la=
rge
branch, and the bear got about half-way to him. As soon as the bear got out=
to
that part where the limb of the tree was weaker, "Ha!" says he to=
us,
"now you see me teachee the bear dance:" so he began jumping and =
shaking
the bough, at which the bear began to totter, but stood still, and began to
look behind him, to see how he should get back; then, indeed, we did laugh
heartily. But Friday had not done with him by a great deal; when seeing him
stand still, he called out to him again, as if he had supposed the bear cou=
ld
speak English, "What, you come no farther? pray you come farther;"=
; so
he left jumping and shaking the tree; and the bear, just as if he understood
what he said, did come a little farther; then he began jumping again, and t=
he
bear stopped again. We thought now was a good time to knock him in the head,
and called to Friday to stand still and we should shoot the bear: but he cr=
ied
out earnestly, "Oh, pray! Oh, pray! no shoot, me shoot by and then:&qu=
ot;
he would have said by-and-by. However, to shorten the story, Friday danced =
so
much, and the bear stood so ticklish, that we had laughing enough, but still
could not imagine what the fellow would do: for first we thought he depended
upon shaking the bear off; and we found the bear was too cunning for that t=
oo;
for he would not go out far enough to be thrown down, but clung fast with h=
is
great broad claws and feet, so that we could not imagine what would be the =
end
of it, and what the jest would be at last. But Friday put us out of doubt
quickly: for seeing the bear cling fast to the bough, and that he would not=
be
persuaded to come any farther, "Well, well," says Friday, "y=
ou
no come farther, me go; you no come to me, me come to you;" and upon t=
his
he went out to the smaller end, where it would bend with his weight, and ge=
ntly
let himself down by it, sliding down the bough till he came near enough to =
jump
down on his feet, and away he ran to his gun, took it up, and stood still.
"Well," said I to him, "Friday, what will you do now? Why do=
n't
you shoot him?" "No shoot," says Friday, "no yet; me sh=
oot
now, me no kill; me stay, give you one more laugh:" and, indeed, so he
did; for when the bear saw his enemy gone, he came back from the bough, whe=
re
he stood, but did it very cautiously, looking behind him every step, and co=
ming
backward till he got into the body of the tree, then, with the same hinder =
end
foremost, he came down the tree, grasping it with his claws, and moving one
foot at a time, very leisurely. At this juncture, and just before he could =
set
his hind foot on the ground, Friday stepped up close to him, clapped the mu=
zzle
of his piece into his ear, and shot him dead. Then the rogue turned about to
see if we did not laugh; and when he saw we were pleased by our looks, he b=
egan
to laugh very loud. "So we kill bear in my country," says Friday.
"So you kill them?" says I; "why, you have no guns." -
"No," says he, "no gun, but shoot great much long arrow.&quo=
t;
This was a good diversion to us; but we were still in a wild place, and our
guide very much hurt, and what to do we hardly knew; the howling of wolves =
ran
much in my head; and, indeed, except the noise I once heard on the shore of
Africa, of which I have said something already, I never heard anything that
filled me with so much horror.
These things, and the approach of night, called us off, or else, as Friday
would have had us, we should certainly have taken the skin of this monstrous
creature off, which was worth saving; but we had near three leagues to go, =
and
our guide hastened us; so we left him, and went forward on our journey.
The ground was still covered with snow, though not so deep and dangerous as=
on
the mountains; and the ravenous creatures, as we heard afterwards, were come
down into the forest and plain country, pressed by hunger, to seek for food,
and had done a great deal of mischief in the villages, where they surprised=
the
country people, killed a great many of their sheep and horses, and some peo=
ple
too. We had one dangerous place to pass, and our guide told us if there were
more wolves in the country we should find them there; and this was a small
plain, surrounded with woods on every side, and a long, narrow defile, or l=
ane,
which we were to pass to get through the wood, and then we should come to t=
he
village where we were to lodge. It was within half-an-hour of sunset when we
entered the wood, and a little after sunset when we came into the plain: we=
met
with nothing in the first wood, except that in a little plain within the wo=
od,
which was not above two furlongs over, we saw five great wolves cross the r=
oad,
full speed, one after another, as if they had been in chase of some prey, a=
nd
had it in view; they took no notice of us, and were gone out of sight in a =
few
moments. Upon this, our guide, who, by the way, was but a fainthearted fell=
ow,
bid us keep in a ready posture, for he believed there were more wolves
a-coming. We kept our arms ready, and our eyes about us; but we saw no more
wolves till we came through that wood, which was near half a league, and
entered the plain. As soon as we came into the plain, we had occasion enoug=
h to
look about us. The first object we met with was a dead horse; that is to sa=
y, a
poor horse which the wolves had killed, and at least a dozen of them at wor=
k,
we could not say eating him, but picking his bones rather; for they had eat=
en
up all the flesh before. We did not think fit to disturb them at their feas=
t,
neither did they take much notice of us. Friday would have let fly at them,=
but
I would not suffer him by any means; for I found we were like to have more
business upon our hands than we were aware of. We had not gone half over the
plain when we began to hear the wolves howl in the wood on our left in a
frightful manner, and presently after we saw about a hundred coming on dire=
ctly
towards us, all in a body, and most of them in a line, as regularly as an a=
rmy
drawn up by experienced officers. I scarce knew in what manner to receive t=
hem,
but found to draw ourselves in a close line was the only way; so we formed =
in a
moment; but that we might not have too much interval, I ordered that only e=
very
other man should fire, and that the others, who had not fired, should stand
ready to give them a second volley immediately, if they continued to advance
upon us; and then that those that had fired at first should not pretend to =
load
their fuses again, but stand ready, every one with a pistol, for we were all
armed with a fuse and a pair of pistols each man; so we were, by this metho=
d,
able to fire six volleys, half of us at a time; however, at present we had =
no
necessity; for upon firing the first volley, the enemy made a full stop, be=
ing
terrified as well with the noise as with the fire. Four of them being shot =
in
the head, dropped; several others were wounded, and went bleeding off, as we
could see by the snow. I found they stopped, but did not immediately retrea=
t;
whereupon, remembering that I had been told that the fiercest creatures were
terrified at the voice of a man, I caused all the company to halloo as loud=
as
they could; and I found the notion not altogether mistaken; for upon our sh=
out
they began to retire and turn about. I then ordered a second volley to be f=
ired
in their rear, which put them to the gallop, and away they went to the wood=
s.
This gave us leisure to charge our pieces again; and that we might lose no
time, we kept going; but we had but little more than loaded our fuses, and =
put
ourselves in readiness, when we heard a terrible noise in the same wood on =
our
left, only that it was farther onward, the same way we were to go.
The night was coming on, and the light began to be dusky, which made it wor=
se
on our side; but the noise increasing, we could easily perceive that it was=
the
howling and yelling of those hellish creatures; and on a sudden we perceived
three troops of wolves, one on our left, one behind us, and one in our fron=
t,
so that we seemed to be surrounded with them: however, as they did not fall
upon us, we kept our way forward, as fast as we could make our horses go,
which, the way being very rough, was only a good hard trot. In this manner,=
we
came in view of the entrance of a wood, through which we were to pass, at t=
he
farther side of the plain; but we were greatly surprised, when coming nearer
the lane or pass, we saw a confused number of wolves standing just at the
entrance. On a sudden, at another opening of the wood, we heard the noise o=
f a
gun, and looking that way, out rushed a horse, with a saddle and a bridle on
him, flying like the wind, and sixteen or seventeen wolves after him, full
speed: the horse had the advantage of them; but as we supposed that he could
not hold it at that rate, we doubted not but they would get up with him at
last: no question but they did.
But here we had a most horrible sight; for riding up to the entrance where =
the
horse came out, we found the carcasses of another horse and of two men,
devoured by the ravenous creatures; and one of the men was no doubt the same
whom we heard fire the gun, for there lay a gun just by him fired off; but =
as
to the man, his head and the upper part of his body was eaten up. This fill=
ed
us with horror, and we knew not what course to take; but the creatures reso=
lved
us soon, for they gathered about us presently, in hopes of prey; and I veri=
ly
believe there were three hundred of them. It happened, very much to our
advantage, that at the entrance into the wood, but a little way from it, th=
ere
lay some large timber-trees, which had been cut down the summer before, and=
I
suppose lay there for carriage. I drew my little troop in among those trees,
and placing ourselves in a line behind one long tree, I advised them all to
alight, and keeping that tree before us for a breastwork, to stand in a
triangle, or three fronts, enclosing our horses in the centre. We did so, a=
nd
it was well we did; for never was a more furious charge than the creatures =
made
upon us in this place. They came on with a growling kind of noise, and moun=
ted
the piece of timber, which, as I said, was our breastwork, as if they were =
only
rushing upon their prey; and this fury of theirs, it seems, was principally
occasioned by their seeing our horses behind us. I ordered our men to fire =
as
before, every other man; and they took their aim so sure that they killed
several of the wolves at the first volley; but there was a necessity to kee=
p a
continual firing, for they came on like devils, those behind pushing on tho=
se
before.
When we had fired a second volley of our fuses, we thought they stopped a
little, and I hoped they would have gone off, but it was but a moment, for
others came forward again; so we fired two volleys of our pistols; and I
believe in these four firings we had killed seventeen or eighteen of them, =
and
lamed twice as many, yet they came on again. I was loath to spend our shot =
too
hastily; so I called my servant, not my man Friday, for he was better emplo=
yed,
for, with the greatest dexterity imaginable, he had charged my fuse and his=
own
while we were engaged - but, as I said, I called my other man, and giving h=
im a
horn of powder, I had him lay a train all along the piece of timber, and le=
t it
be a large train. He did so, and had but just time to get away, when the wo=
lves
came up to it, and some got upon it, when I, snapping an unchanged pistol c=
lose
to the powder, set it on fire; those that were upon the timber were scorched
with it, and six or seven of them fell; or rather jumped in among us with t=
he
force and fright of the fire; we despatched these in an instant, and the re=
st
were so frightened with the light, which the night - for it was now very ne=
ar
dark - made more terrible that they drew back a little; upon which I ordered
our last pistols to be fired off in one volley, and after that we gave a sh=
out;
upon this the wolves turned tail, and we sallied immediately upon near twen=
ty
lame ones that we found struggling on the ground, and fell to cutting them =
with
our swords, which answered our expectation, for the crying and howling they
made was better understood by their fellows; so that they all fled and left=
us.
We had, first and last, killed about threescore of them, and had it been da=
ylight
we had killed many more. The field of battle being thus cleared, we made
forward again, for we had still near a league to go. We heard the ravenous
creatures howl and yell in the woods as we went several times, and sometime=
s we
fancied we saw some of them; but the snow dazzling our eyes, we were not
certain. In about an hour more we came to the town where we were to lodge,
which we found in a terrible fright and all in arms; for, it seems, the nig=
ht
before the wolves and some bears had broken into the village, and put them =
in
such terror that they were obliged to keep guard night and day, but especia=
lly
in the night, to preserve their cattle, and indeed their people.
The next morning our guide was so ill, and his limbs swelled so much with t=
he
rankling of his two wounds, that he could go no farther; so we were obliged=
to
take a new guide here, and go to Toulouse, where we found a warm climate, a
fruitful, pleasant country, and no snow, no wolves, nor anything like them;=
but
when we told our story at Toulouse, they told us it was nothing but what was
ordinary in the great forest at the foot of the mountains, especially when =
the
snow lay on the ground; but they inquired much what kind of guide we had got
who would venture to bring us that way in such a severe season, and told us=
it
was surprising we were not all devoured. When we told them how we placed
ourselves and the horses in the middle, they blamed us exceedingly, and tol=
d us
it was fifty to one but we had been all destroyed, for it was the sight of =
the
horses which made the wolves so furious, seeing their prey, and that at oth=
er
times they are really afraid of a gun; but being excessively hungry, and ra=
ging
on that account, the eagerness to come at the horses had made them senseles=
s of
danger, and that if we had not by the continual fire, and at last by the
stratagem of the train of powder, mastered them, it had been great odds but
that we had been torn to pieces; whereas, had we been content to have sat s=
till
on horseback, and fired as horsemen, they would not have taken the horses so
much for their own, when men were on their backs, as otherwise; and withal,
they told us that at last, if we had stood altogether, and left our horses,
they would have been so eager to have devoured them, that we might have come
off safe, especially having our firearms in our hands, being so many in num=
ber.
For my part, I was never so sensible of danger in my life; for, seeing above
three hundred devils come roaring and open- mouthed to devour us, and having
nothing to shelter us or retreat to, I gave myself over for lost; and, as it
was, I believe I shall never care to cross those mountains again: I think I
would much rather go a thousand leagues by sea, though I was sure to meet w=
ith
a storm once a-week.
I have nothing uncommon to take notice of in my passage through France -
nothing but what other travellers have given an account of with much more
advantage than I can. I travelled from Toulouse to Paris, and without any
considerable stay came to Calais, and landed safe at Dover the 14th of Janu=
ary,
after having had a severe cold season to travel in.
I was now come to the centre of my travels, and had in a little time all my
new-discovered estate safe about me, the bills of exchange which I brought =
with
me having been currently paid.
My principal guide and privy-counsellor was my good ancient widow, who, in
gratitude for the money I had sent her, thought no pains too much nor care =
too
great to employ for me; and I trusted her so entirely that I was perfectly =
easy
as to the security of my effects; and, indeed, I was very happy from the
beginning, and now to the end, in the unspotted integrity of this good
gentlewoman.
And now, having resolved to dispose of my plantation in the Brazils, I wrot=
e to
my old friend at Lisbon, who, having offered it to the two merchants, the
survivors of my trustees, who lived in the Brazils, they accepted the offer,
and remitted thirty-three thousand pieces of eight to a correspondent of th=
eirs
at Lisbon to pay for it.
In return, I signed the instrument of sale in the form which they sent from
Lisbon, and sent it to my old man, who sent me the bills of exchange for
thirty-two thousand eight hundred pieces of eight for the estate, reserving=
the
payment of one hundred moidores a year to him (the old man) during his life,
and fifty moidores afterwards to his son for his life, which I had promised
them, and which the plantation was to make good as a rent-charge. And thus I
have given the first part of a life of fortune and adventure - a life of Pr=
ovidence's
chequer-work, and of a variety which the world will seldom be able to show =
the
like of; beginning foolishly, but closing much more happily than any part o=
f it
ever gave me leave so much as to hope for.
Any one would think that in this state of complicated good fortune I was pa=
st
running any more hazards - and so, indeed, I had been, if other circumstanc=
es
had concurred; but I was inured to a wandering life, had no family, nor many
relations; nor, however rich, had I contracted fresh acquaintance; and thou=
gh I
had sold my estate in the Brazils, yet I could not keep that country out of=
my
head, and had a great mind to be upon the wing again; especially I could not
resist the strong inclination I had to see my island, and to know if the po=
or
Spaniards were in being there. My true friend, the widow, earnestly dissuad=
ed
me from it, and so far prevailed with me, that for almost seven years she
prevented my running abroad, during which time I took my two nephews, the
children of one of my brothers, into my care; the eldest, having something =
of
his own, I bred up as a gentleman, and gave him a settlement of some additi=
on
to his estate after my decease. The other I placed with the captain of a sh=
ip;
and after five years, finding him a sensible, bold, enterprising young fell=
ow,
I put him into a good ship, and sent him to sea; and this young fellow
afterwards drew me in, as old as I was, to further adventures myself.
In the meantime, I in part settled myself here; for, first of all, I marrie=
d,
and that not either to my disadvantage or dissatisfaction, and had three
children, two sons and one daughter; but my wife dying, and my nephew coming
home with good success from a voyage to Spain, my inclination to go abroad,=
and
his importunity, prevailed, and engaged me to go in his ship as a private
trader to the East Indies; this was in the year 1694.
In this voyage I visited my new colony in the island, saw my successors the
Spaniards, had the old story of their lives and of the villains I left ther=
e;
how at first they insulted the poor Spaniards, how they afterwards agreed,
disagreed, united, separated, and how at last the Spaniards were obliged to=
use
violence with them; how they were subjected to the Spaniards, how honestly =
the
Spaniards used them - a history, if it were entered into, as full of variety
and wonderful accidents as my own part - particularly, also, as to their
battles with the Caribbeans, who landed several times upon the island, and =
as
to the improvement they made upon the island itself, and how five of them m=
ade
an attempt upon the mainland, and brought away eleven men and five women
prisoners, by which, at my coming, I found about twenty young children on t=
he
island.
Here I stayed about twenty days, left them supplies of all necessary things,
and particularly of arms, powder, shot, clothes, tools, and two workmen, wh=
ich
I had brought from England with me, viz. a carpenter and a smith.
Besides this, I shared the lands into parts with them, reserved to myself t=
he
property of the whole, but gave them such parts respectively as they agreed=
on;
and having settled all things with them, and engaged them not to leave the
place, I left them there.
From thence I touched at the Brazils, from whence I sent a bark, which I bo=
ught
there, with more people to the island; and in it, besides other supplies, I
sent seven women, being such as I found proper for service, or for wives to
such as would take them. As to the Englishmen, I promised to send them some
women from England, with a good cargo of necessaries, if they would apply
themselves to planting - which I afterwards could not perform. The fellows
proved very honest and diligent after they were mastered and had their
properties set apart for them. I sent them, also, from the Brazils, five co=
ws,
three of them being big with calf, some sheep, and some hogs, which when I =
came
again were considerably increased.
But all these things, with an account how three hundred Caribbees came and
invaded them, and ruined their plantations, and how they fought with that w=
hole
number twice, and were at first defeated, and one of them killed; but at la=
st,
a storm destroying their enemies' canoes, they famished or destroyed almost=
all
the rest, and renewed and recovered the possession of their plantation, and
still lived upon the island.
All these things, with some very surprising incidents in some new adventure=
s of
my own, for ten years more, I shall give a further account of in the Second
Part of my Story.