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Defoe, Daniel
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obinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Robinson Crusoe
2
CHAPTER I − 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 were named Robinson, a very good family in that
country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption of
words in England, we are 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 ancient, 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
seemed to be something fatal in that propensity of nature, tending directly to the life of
misery which was to befall me.
My father, a wise and grave man, gave me serious and excellent counsel against what he
foresaw was my design. He called me one morning into his chamber, where 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
desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring, superior fortunes on the other, who went
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
sufferings 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 state of life which all other people
envied; that kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequence of being born to
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CHAPTER I − START IN LIFE 3
great things, and wished they had been placed in the middle of the two extremes, between
the mean and the great; that 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 vicissitudes 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 labour, want of necessaries, and mean or insufficient diet on the other hand,
bring distemper upon themselves by the natural consequences of their way of living; that the
middle station of life was calculated for all kind of virtue and all kind of enjoyments; that
peace and plenty were the handmaids of a middle fortune; that temperance, moderation,
quietness, health, society, all agreeable 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 the 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 through 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, not to play the
young man, nor to precipitate myself into miseries which nature, and 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 encouragement to go away; and to close all, he told me I had my elder
brother for an example, 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 him to
run into the army, where he was killed; and though he said he would not cease 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 assist 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 observed the tears run down his face
very plentifully, especially when he spoke of my brother who was killed: and that when he
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CHAPTER I − START IN LIFE 4
spoke of my having leisure to repent, 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 settle at home according to my
father's desire. But alas! a few days wore it all off; 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 quite so hastily as the first heat of my resolution prompted; but I took
my mother 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 to 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 that 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 for 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 that 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 happy 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
prompting 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 more, 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 consideration of circumstances or consequences,
and in an ill hour, God knows, on the 1st of September 1651, I went on board a ship bound
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CHAPTER I − START IN LIFE 5
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 overtaken 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, which 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 nothing 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 never 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
this one voyage, if ever I got once my foot upon dry land again, I would go directly 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 never had been exposed to tempests at sea or troubles on shore; and I resolved
that 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 weather 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 little 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 cheerful, looking
with wonder upon the sea that was so rough and terrible the day before, and could be so
calm and so pleasant in so little a time after. And now, lest 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 fool 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 weather '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
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CHAPTER I − START IN LIFE 6
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 returned 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 − for 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 could 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 and
the mercy of.
The sixth day of our being at sea we came into Yarmouth Roads; the wind having been
contrary and the weather calm, we had made but little way since the storm. Here we were
obliged to come to an anchor, and here we lay, the wind continuing 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 harbour 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 river, 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 unconcerned, and not in the least apprehensive of danger, but
spent the time in rest and mirth, 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 which 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 past, 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
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CHAPTER I − START IN LIFE 7
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, being 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 the 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, put 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 deep 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 that 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 the 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 the 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 slip and run away to
sea, and would come near us, ordered to fire a gun as a signal of distress. I, who knew
nothing what they meant, thought the ship had broken, 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 the 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.
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER I − START IN LIFE 8
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 ahead of us, ventured a boat out to help us. It was with the utmost
hazard the boat 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 stern, 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 away 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 were able to see the
shore) a great many people running along the strand to assist 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 Winterton, the shore falls off to the westward towards Cromer, and so
the land broke off 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 Yarmouth, 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 killed 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 resist; and
though I had several times loud calls from my reason and my more composed judgment to
go home, yet I had no power to do it. I know not what to call this, nor will I urge that it is a
secret overruling decree, that hurries us on to be the instruments of our own destruction,
even though it be before us, and that we rush upon it with our eyes open. Certainly, nothing
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER I − START IN LIFE 9
but some such decreed unavoidable misery, which it was impossible for me to escape, could
have pushed me forward against the calm reasonings and persuasions of my most retired
thoughts, 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 son, 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 ought 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,» said 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, like 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 my 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 thousand 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
have authority to go. However, he afterwards talked very gravely to me, exhorting 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 should go home or to sea.
As to going home, shame opposed the best motions that offered to my thoughts, 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 incongruous 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 ashamed 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 measures to take,
and what course of life to lead. An irresistible reluctance continued to going home; and as I
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CHAPTER I − START IN LIFE 10
stayed away a while, the remembrance of the distress I had been in wore off, and as that
abated, the little motion I had in my desires to return wore off with it, till at last I quite laid
aside the thoughts of it, and looked out for a voyage.
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CHAPTER I − START IN LIFE 11
CHAPTER II − SLAVERY AND ESCAPE
T
HAT evil influence which carried me first away from my father's house − which
hurried me into the wild and indigested notion of raising my fortune, and that 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, the 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 myself 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 neither 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, was 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 captain, who was an
honest, plain−dealing man, I went the voyage with him, and carried a small adventure with
me, which, by the disinterested honesty of my friend the captain, I increased very
considerably; for I carried about 40 pounds in such 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 corresponded with; and who, I believe, got my father, or at least my
mother, to contribute so much as that to my first adventure.
This was the only voyage which I may say was successful in all my adventures, which I
owe to the integrity and honesty of my friend the captain; under whom 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
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CHAPTER II − SLAVERY AND ESCAPE 12
that were needful to be understood by a sailor; for, as he took delight to instruct me, I took
delight 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 with 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 heat of the climate; our principal
trading being upon the coast, from latitude of 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 ever man made; for though I did not carry quite 100
pounds of my new−gained wealth, so that I had 200 pounds left, which I had lodged with my
friend's widow, who was very just to me, yet I fell into terrible misfortunes. The first was
this: our ship making her course towards the Canary Islands, or rather between those 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 make. We crowded also as much canvas as
our yards would spread, or our masts carry, to get clear; but finding the pirate gained upon
us, and would certainly come up with us in a few hours, we prepared to fight; our ship
having twelve guns, 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, and poured in a broadside upon
him, which made him sheer off again, after returning our fire, and pouring in also his small
shot from near two hundred men which 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 board 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 belonging to the Moors.
The usage I had there was not so dreadful as at first I apprehended; nor was 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 slave, 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 overwhelmed; and now I looked back upon my father's prophetic
discourse to me, that I should 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! this was but a
taste of the misery I was to go through, as will appear in the sequel of this story.
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CHAPTER II − SLAVERY AND ESCAPE 13
As my new patron, or master, had taken me home to his house, so I was in hopes 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 when he came home again from his cruise, he ordered me to lie in the cabin to
look after the ship.
Here I meditated nothing but my escape, and what method I might take to effect it, but
found no way that had the least probability in it; nothing presented 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 Scotchman 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 lying 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 oftener if the weather was fair, to take the
ship's pinnace and go out into the road a− fishing; and as he always took me and young
Maresco with him to row the boat, we made him very merry, and I proved very dexterous in
catching fish; insomuch that sometimes he would send me with a Moor, one of his kinsmen,
and the youth − 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 all 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; but we
were all very hungry.
But our patron, warned by this disaster, resolved to take more care of himself for the
future; and having lying by him the longboat of our English ship that he had taken, he
resolved he would not go a− fishing any more without a compass 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 work
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 drink; and his bread, rice, and coffee.
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CHAPTER II − SLAVERY AND ESCAPE 14
We went frequently out with this boat a−fishing; and as I was most dexterous to catch
fish for him, he never went without me. It happened that he had appointed 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 larger store of provisions than ordinary; and had ordered me to get ready
three fusees 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 accommodate 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 as 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 now 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 voyage; though I knew not,
neither did I so much as consider, whither I should steer − 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 basket of rusk or biscuit, and three jars of fresh
water, into the boat. I knew where 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 conveyed 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 stores in the ship.» «Yes,» says he, «I'll bring
some;» and 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 large 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 port 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 before we
hauled in our sail and set us down to fish. The wind blew from the N.N.E., which was
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CHAPTER II − SLAVERY AND ESCAPE 15
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 Moor, «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 the boat, set the sails; and, as I had the helm, I ran the boat out near
a league 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 for something behind
him, I took him by surprise with my arm under his waist, and tossed him clear overboard
into the sea. He rose immediately, for he swam like a cork, and called to me, begged to be
taken in, told me he would go all over the world with me. He swam so strong after the boat
that he would have reached 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 told
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 harm; 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 excellent 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, and 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 must 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, that 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 than 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.
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CHAPTER II − SLAVERY AND ESCAPE 16
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 concluded also that if any of our vessels were in chase of me, they also
would now give over; so I ventured to make to the coast, and came to an anchor in the
mouth 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 creek in the evening, resolving to swim on shore
as soon as it was dark, and discover the country; but as soon as it was quite dark, we heard
such dreadful noises of the barking, roaring, and howling of wild creatures, of we knew not
what kinds, 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.» «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 away; «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, which something surprised
me; however, I immediately stepped to the cabin door, and 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 within the country, upon the noise
or report of the gun, a thing I have some reason 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
hands 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
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CHAPTER II − SLAVERY AND ESCAPE 17
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 with so much affection as made me love him ever after. Says he,
«If wild mans 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, and 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 feasted 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 that
part where the English traded, I should find some of their vessels upon their usual 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 country which,
lying between the Emperor of Morocco's dominions and the negroes, lies 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 furious creatures which harbour there; so that the Moors use it for their
hunting only, 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 wild beasts by night.
Once or twice in the daytime I thought I saw the Pico of Teneriffe, being the high top of
the Mountain Teneriffe in the Canaries, and had a great mind to venture out, in hopes of
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CHAPTER II − SLAVERY AND ESCAPE 18
reaching thither; but having tried twice, I was forced in again by contrary winds, the sea also
going too high for my little vessel; 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 than 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 where 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 hill 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 said 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, and 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. «Well, 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 creature,
put the muzzle of the piece to his ear, and shot him in the head again, which despatched him
quite.
This was game indeed to us, but this was no food; and I was very sorry to lose 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.
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 could. 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 served me to lie upon.
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CHAPTER II − SLAVERY AND ESCAPE 19
CHAPTER III − WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND
A
FTER 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 much, 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 anywhere about the Cape de Verde, where I was
in hopes to meet with some European ship; 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 of my fortune upon this
single point, either that I must meet with some ship or must 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 them, 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 corn, 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
fetched 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; but 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 lance or dart did not fly
from them, but the rest did; however, as the two creatures ran directly into the water, they
did not offer to fall upon any of the negroes, but plunged themselves into the sea, and swam
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER III − WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND 20
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; immediately he sank down into the
water, but rose instantly, and plunged up and down, as if he were struggling for life, and so
indeed he was; he immediately made to the 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 his blood staining the water; and by the help of a rope, which I
slung round him, 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 killed him with.
The other creature, frighted with the flash of fire and the noise of the gun, 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 wished 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 give 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 held out one of my jars to them, turning it bottom upward,
to show that it was empty, and that I wanted to have it filled. They called immediately to
some of their 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 were as naked as the men.
I was now furnished with roots and corn, such as it was, and water; and leaving 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 into the sea, at about the distance of four or
five leagues before me; and the sea being very calm, I kept a large offing to make this point.
At length, doubling the point, at about two leagues from the land, I saw plainly land on the
other 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 Verde 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.
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER III − WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND 21
In this dilemma, as I was very pensive, I stepped into the cabin and sat down, 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 his wits, thinking it must needs be some of his
master's ships sent to pursue us, 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 their 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, saw by the help of their glasses that it was
some European boat, which they supposed must belong to some ship that was lost; so they
shortened sail to let me come 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 hear 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, called to me: and I
answered him, and told him I was an Englishman, that I had made 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 thus 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 would take nothing from me, but that all I had should be delivered
safe to me when I came 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 had: 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.
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CHAPTER III − WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND 22
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 told him he had been so
generous to me in everything that I could not offer to make 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 Brazil; and when it came there, if any one offered to give more, he
would make it up. He offered me also sixty pieces of eight more for my boy Xury, which I
was loth to take; not that I was unwilling to let the captain have him, but I was very loth to
sell the poor boy's liberty, who had assisted me so faithfully 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 saying 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 once 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 what 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 rest: in a word, I made about two hundred and twenty pieces of eight of all my cargo;
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 honest 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 that 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 the stock which I proposed
to myself to receive from England.
I had a neighbour, a Portuguese, of Lisbon, but born of English parents, whose 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 planted 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 found, more than before, I
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CHAPTER III − WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND 23
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 genius, 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 into the very middle station, or upper degree
of low life, which my father advised 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, among
my friends, as have gone five thousand miles off to do it among strangers and 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 had nobody to
converse with, but now and then this neighbour; no work to be done, but by the labour of my
hands; and I used to say, I lived just like a man cast 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 make 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 compared 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 for 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 the 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 human affairs are all subject to changes and disasters, I would have you
give orders but for one hundred pounds sterling, which, you say, is half your stock, and 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.
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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 over, 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 money,
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 direction (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 bring 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 might 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 brought 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 than 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 the 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 life, 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 adhering to my foolish inclination of
wandering abroad, and pursuing that inclination, in contradiction to the clearest views of
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CHAPTER III − WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND 25
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 and thriving man
in my new plantation, only to pursue a rash and immoderate desire of rising faster than the
nature of the thing admitted; and thus I cast myself 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 story. 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 like − not only
gold−dust, Guinea grains, elephants' teeth, 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 came 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 proposal to me; and, after enjoining me to secrecy, they told
me that they had a mind 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 when they came home, so
they desired to make but one voyage, to bring the negroes on shore privately, and divide
them among their own plantations; and, in a word, 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 have 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, which 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
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CHAPTER III − WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND 26
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 thousand 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 guilty 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 they would undertake to look after my
plantation in my absence, and would dispose 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 captain
of the ship that had saved my life, as before, my universal heir, but obliging 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 than 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 voyage, 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 large cargo of goods,
except of such toys as were fit for our trade with the negroes, 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 upon our
own coast, with design to stretch over for the African coast when we came 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 observation, in seven degrees twenty−two
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CHAPTER III − WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND 27
minutes northern latitude, when a violent tornado, or hurricane, took us quite out of our
knowledge. It began from the south−east, came about to the north−west, and then settled in
the north−east; from whence 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 fate and
the fury of the winds directed; and, during these twelve days, I need not say that I expected
every day to be swallowed up; nor, indeed, did any in the ship expect to save their lives.
In this distress we had, besides the terror of the storm, one of our men die 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 that he was twenty−two degrees of longitude
difference west from Cape St. Augustino; so that he found he was upon the coast of Guiana,
or the north part of Brazil, 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 coast
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 Islands, 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 both to our ship
and to ourselves.
With this design we changed our course, and steered away N.W. by W., in order to
reach some of our English islands, where I hoped for relief. But our voyage was otherwise
determined; for, being in the latitude of twelve degrees eighteen 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 cabin 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 broke 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 shelter 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 describe 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 still great, though rather less than at first, we could
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CHAPTER III − WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND 28
not so much as hope to have 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 upon 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 getting off, we were in a dreadful
condition indeed, and had nothing to do but to think of saving our lives as well as we could.
We had a boat at our stern just before the storm, but she was first staved by dashing against
the ship's rudder, and 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 told 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 the sea ran dreadfully high upon the shore, and might be well
called DEN WILD ZEE, 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 heavy 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 not. 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 land, and perhaps made smooth water. But there was
nothing like this appeared; but 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 reckoned it, a
raging wave, mountain−like, came rolling astern of us, and plainly bade 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!»
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CHAPTER III − WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND 29
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 carried 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 take 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 concern 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 deep 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 burst with holding my breath, when, as I felt myself rising
up, so, to my immediate relief, I found my head and hands shoot out above the surface of the
water; and though 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 waves, 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 having 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 helpless, 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 immediately, 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 fetched 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.
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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 ecstasies and transports of the soul
are, when it is so saved, as I may say, out of the very grave: and I do not wonder now at the
custom, when a malefactor, who has 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 may say,
wrapped up in a contemplation of my deliverance; making a thousand gestures and motions,
which I cannot describe; reflecting upon all my comrades 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 began 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 dreadful 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 that of perishing with hunger or being devoured by wild beasts;
and that which was 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 was all my provisions; and this threw me
into such terrible agonies of mind, that for 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 die, for as yet I saw no prospect of life. I walked
about a furlong from the shore, to see if I could find any fresh water to drink, which I did, to
my great joy; 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 could have done in my condition, and found myself more
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER III − WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND 31
refreshed with it than, I think, I ever was on such an occasion.
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER III − WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND 32
CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND
W
HEN 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 seeming 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 board 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 company 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 off my clothes − for
the weather was hot to extremity − and took the water. But when I came to the ship my
difficulty was still greater to know how to get on board; for, as she lay aground, and high out
of the water, there was nothing within 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 that 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 means all her quarter was free, and all that was in that part was dry; for
you may 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 untouched 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, for I had no time to lose. I also found some
rum in the great cabin, of which I took 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 things which I foresaw would be very necessary to me.
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND 33
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 three 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 four 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 could 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 deal 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 was 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 wanted, I got three of the seamen's chests, which I had broken
open, and emptied, and 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 (which 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 disappointment, I found afterwards that the rats
had eaten or spoiled it all. As for liquors, 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 stowed 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 calm; and I had
the mortification to see my coat, shirt, and waistcoat, which I had 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. However, 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
searching that I found out the carpenter's chest, which was, indeed, a very useful prize to me,
and much more valuable than a shipload of gold would have been at that 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 gunner had stowed them; but with
much search I found them, two of them dry and good, the third had taken water. Those two I
got to my raft with the arms. And now 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
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND 34
capful of wind would have overset all my navigation.
I had three encouragements − 1st, a smooth, calm sea; 2ndly, the tide rising, and setting
in to the shore; 3rdly, what little wind there was blew me towards 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 went 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 water,
and consequently I hoped to find some creek or river there, which I might make 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 setting my back against the chests, to keep them in their places, but could not
thrust 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 with 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 where one end of my float, if it ran on shore, would lie so high, and the other sink 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 other 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.
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND 35
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 island; 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, and 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 every way with the sea: no land to be seen
except some rocks, which lay a great way 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. Yet 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 arose 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 any kind that I knew. As for
the creature I killed, I took it to be a kind of hawk, 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 lie 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 first 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 get. 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 before, when the tide
was down; and I did so, only that I stripped before I went from my hut, having nothing on
but my chequered shirt, a pair of linen drawers, and a pair of pumps on my feet.
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND 36
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 great screw− jack, a dozen or two of hatchets, and,
above all, that most useful thing called a grindstone. All these I secured, together with
several things belonging to the gunner, particularly two or three iron crows, and two barrels
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 over 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.
I was under some apprehension, during my absence from the land, that at least my
provisions might be devoured on shore: but when I came back I found no sign 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 face, as if she had a mind to be acquainted with me. I presented my
gun at her, but, 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 marched 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 casks − 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 would spoil either with rain or sun; and I piled
all the empty chests and casks up 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 length 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 believe, 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
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND 37
as much of the rigging as I could, as also all the small ropes and rope−twine I could get, with
a piece 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 could, 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 found 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
water. I soon emptied the hogshead of the bread, and wrapped it up, parcel by parcel, in
pieces of the sails, which I cut out; and, in a word, I got all this safe on shore also.
The next day I made another voyage, and now, having plundered the ship of what 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 large raft, I loaded it with all these heavy goods, and came away. But my good luck
began now to leave me; for this raft was so unwieldy, and so overladen, that, after I had
entered the little cove where I had landed the rest of my goods, not being 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, especially 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 water, 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 the ship, in
which time I had brought away all that one pair of hands could well be supposed capable to
bring; though I believe verily, had the calm weather held, 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 another I found about thirty−six pounds
value in money − some European coin, some Brazil, 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 as a creature whose life is not worth saying.» However, upon second thoughts
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND 38
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 overcast, 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 before 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
away, 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; and 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 earth; 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 was 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 for 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 beast; 4thly, a view to the sea, that if God
sent any ship in sight, I might not lose 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−side, 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 door of a cave but there was not really any cave or way into
the rock at all.
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND 39
On the flat of the green, just before this hollow place, I resolved to pitch my tent. This
plain was not above a hundred yards broad, and about twice as long, 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 yards 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 the ground above five feet and a
half, and sharpened on the top. The two rows did 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 deal 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 ladder to go over
the top; which ladder, when I was in, I lifted over after me; and 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 done; though, as it appeared afterwards, there was no need
of all this caution from 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, and 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, which till now I had left
open, and so passed and repassed, as I said, by a short ladder.
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND 40
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 within my fence, in the
nature of a terrace, so that it raised the ground within about a foot and a half; and thus I
made me a cave, just behind my tent, which served 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 scheme for the setting up my
tent, and making the cave, that a storm of rain falling from a thick, dark cloud, a sudden
flash of lightning happened, and after that 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 which, 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 part fire another. I finished this work in about a fortnight; and I think my
powder, 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 the 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 island 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 the valleys, though they were upon the rocks, they would run
away, as in a terrible 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.
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CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND 41
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 when 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 shoulders, 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 saved 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 that island
without being driven, as is said, by a violent storm, quite out of the course of our intended
voyage, and a great way, viz. some hundreds of leagues, 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 expostulate
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, you 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
to 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 struck, 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, aloud
(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 had all these to sufficient quantity, and was in a fair way to
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CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND 42
provide myself in such a manner as to live without my gun, when my ammunition was
spent: so that 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 decay.
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 take 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 that 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 knife 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, and every
seventh notch was as long again as the rest, and every first day of the month as long again as
that long one; and thus I kept my calendar, or weekly, monthly, and yearly reckoning of
time.
In the next place, we are to observe that among the many things which I brought 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, which I omitted setting down before; as, in
particular, pens, ink, and paper, several 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 them 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 also; and
among them two or three Popish prayer−books, and several other books, all 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 out of the ship of himself, and swam on shore to me
the day after I went on shore 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
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CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND 43
pens, ink, and paper, and I husbanded them to the utmost; and I shall show that while my ink
lasted, I kept things very exact, but after that 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 whole 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 home 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 enough 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 afflicting 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, that 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 recovery.
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 society.
Good: But I am not starved, and perishing on a barren place, affording no sustenance.
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CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND 44
Evil: I have no clothes to cover me.
Good: But I am in a hot climate, where, if I had clothes, I could hardly wear 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 enable 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 direction 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 things 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 rather call it a wall, for I
raised a kind of wall up against it of turfs, about two 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 with boughs of trees, and such things as I could get, to keep out the
rain; which 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 cave, and work farther into the earth; for it was a loose
sandy rock, which yielded easily to the labour I bestowed on it: and so when I found I was
pretty safe 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 come 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.
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CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND 45
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. And 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 abundance 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 infinite labour. For example, if I wanted a board, I had
no other way but to cut down a tree, set it on an edge before me, and hew it flat on either
side with my axe, till I brought it to be thin as a plank, and then dub it smooth with my adze.
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 prodigious 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 along 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 things 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; for, 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 many 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 which had got into my stomach, and recovering myself a little, I ran about the shore
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 that I could out
of her, yet I could not forbear getting up to the top of a little 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.
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CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND 46
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 again) as long as it lasted; for having no more ink, I was forced to
leave it off.
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND 47
CHAPTER V − BUILDS A HOUSE − THE JOURNAL
S
EPTEMBER 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 the 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 slept 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 floated 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, and 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 hand, 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 not have been all drowned as they were; and that, had the men been saved, we might
perhaps have built us a boat out of the ruins of the ship to have carried us 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 upon the sand as near as I could, and then swam on board.
This day also it continued 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, being in shoal
water, and the things being chiefly heavy, I recovered many of them 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 night, either from wild
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CHAPTER V − BUILDS A HOUSE − THE JOURNAL 48
beasts or men. Towards night, I fixed upon a proper place, under a rock, and marked out a
semicircle for my encampment; which I resolved to strengthen with a work, wall, or
fortification, made of double piles, lined 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 for 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 night;
making it as large as I could, with stakes driven in to swing my hammock upon.
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 place I had marked out for
my fortification.
NOV. 3. − I went out with my gun, and killed two fowls like ducks, which were 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 myself to work till about eleven o'clock; then
eat what I had to live on; and from twelve 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, as I believe
they would do any one else.
NOV. 5. − This day went abroad with my gun and my dog, and killed a wild cat; 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, not 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 mend 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 chair, and with much ado
brought it to a tolerable shape, but never to please me; and even in the making I pulled it in
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CHAPTER V − BUILDS A HOUSE − THE JOURNAL 49
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 the 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 room 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 pickaxe, 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 wood, 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 exceeding 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 ours 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 which I had occasion to put it to; but never was
a shovel, I believe, made after that fashion, or so long in making.
I was still deficient, for I wanted a basket or a wheelbarrow. A basket I could not make
by any means, having no such things as twigs that would bend to make wicker−ware − at
least, none yet found out; and as to a wheelbarrow, I fancied 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. This was not so
difficult to me as the making the shovel: and yet this and the shovel, and the attempt which I
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER V − BUILDS A HOUSE − THE JOURNAL 50
made in vain to make a wheelbarrow, took me up no less than four days − I mean always
excepting my morning walk with my gun, 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 strength 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 enough 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 sudden
(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.
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CHAPTER V − BUILDS A HOUSE − THE JOURNAL 51
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 leg, 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 the little green at my door, and
would not go away. This was the first time that 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 stirring 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 plenty 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 wall, 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
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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 holes of the rocks; and taking some young ones, I
endeavoured to breed them up tame, and did so; but when they grew older they flew away,
which perhaps was at first for want of feeding them, for I had nothing to give them;
however, I frequently 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, indeed, with some of
them it was: for instance, I could never make a cask to be hooped. 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 could neither put in the heads, or join the staves so
true to one another as to make them hold water; so I gave that also over. In the next place, I
was at a great 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 now; 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 added 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 happened 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 nothing in the bag but husks and dust; and
being willing to have the bag for some other 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 side 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 thrown 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, when, 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 grain to grow without any help of seed sown,
and that it was so directed purely for my sustenance on that wild, miserable place.
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This touched my heart a little, and brought tears out of my eyes, and I began 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 stalks 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 rock, 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 the 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 nothing 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 time, 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 sow 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 the 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 not observing
the proper time; for I sowed it just before the dry season, so that 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 without 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 over 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.
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The very next day after this wall was finished I had almost had all my labour
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 cracked in a frightful manner. I was heartily scared; but thought
nothing of what was really the cause, only thinking that the top of my cave was fallen in, as
some 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 for 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 earthquake, for the ground I stood on shook three times at about
eight minutes' distance, 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 sea was put into violent motion by it;
and I believe the shocks were stronger under 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 sea; but the noise of the falling of the
rock awakened me, as it were, and rousing me from the stupefied condition I was in, filled
me with horror; and I thought of nothing then but the hill falling upon my tent and all my
household goods, 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. This held about three hours, and then began to abate; and in two hours more it
was quite calm, and began to rain very hard. All this while I sat upon the ground 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 again. 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 into my cave,
though very much afraid and uneasy, for fear it should fall on my head. This violent rain
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forced me to a new work − viz. to cut a hole through my new fortification, like a sink, to let
the water go out, which would else have 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 very
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 would 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 where 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, if 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 never 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 it so as to remove to it. So with this
resolution I composed myself for a time, and resolved that I would go to work with all speed
to build me a wall with piles and cables, 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 resolve 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 with 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 turn 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 with 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, though 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 machine for
turning my grindstone performing very well.
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CHAPTER V − BUILDS A HOUSE − THE JOURNAL 56
APRIL 30. − Having perceived my bread had been low a great while, now I took a
survey of it, and reduced myself to one biscuit cake a day, which made my heart 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 cask; when I came to it,
I found a small barrel, and two or three pieces of the wreck 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 soon 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.
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CHAPTER V − BUILDS A HOUSE − THE JOURNAL 57
CHAPTER VI − ILL AND CONSCIENCE−STRICKEN
W
HEN 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 the sea, soon after I had left rummaging her,
was tossed as it were up, and cast 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 quite up to her
when the tide was out. I was surprised with this at first, but soon concluded it must be done
by the earthquake; and as by this violence the ship 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 would 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 which lay highest; but the tide coming
in, I was obliged to give over for that time.
MAY 4. − I went a−fishing, but caught not one fish that I durst eat of, till I was weary
of my sport; when, just going to leave off, I caught a young dolphin. 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 great 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
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to lie loose, and the inside of the hold lay so open 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 not 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 other; but as it lay about a foot and a
half in the water, I could not make any blow to drive the hatchet.
MAY 16. − It had blown hard in the night, and the wreck appeared more broken by the
force of the water; but I stayed so long in the woods, to get pigeons for 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 distance, 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 labour I
loosened some things so much with the crow, that the first flowing tide several 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 hogshead, which had some Brazil pork in it; but the
salt water and the sand had spoiled 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 ebbed 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. This 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 side of the island, I might have had hundreds
of them every day, as I found afterwards; but perhaps had paid dear enough for them.
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CHAPTER VI − ILL AND CONSCIENCE−STRICKEN 59
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 landed 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 myself very
weak. However, I killed a she−goat, and with much difficulty got it home, 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 strength 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, have mercy upon me!» I suppose I did nothing else for two or three
hours; till, 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 thirsty. However, as I had
no water in my habitation, I was forced to lie till morning, 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 air looked, to my apprehension, as if it had been filled
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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 that it is impossible
to express the terror of it. All that I can say I understood 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 awaked, and found it was but a dream.
I had, alas! no divine knowledge. What I had received by the good instruction 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 were, 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, had
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 least 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 easily believed
when I shall add, that through all the variety of miseries that had to this day befallen me, I
never had so much as one thought of it being the hand of God, or that it was a just
punishment for my sin − my rebellious behaviour 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 thoughtless of a God or a Providence,
acted like a mere brute, from the principles of nature, 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 up 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,
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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 almost 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 works proper for my preservation and supply, and was
far enough from being afflicted at my condition, as a judgment from heaven, or as the hand
of God against me: 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 also, 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, but 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 from 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 burden of a strong distemper, and nature was exhausted with the violence of the
fever; 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 wickedness, provoked the
justice of God to lay me under uncommon strokes, and to deal with 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 praying 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 might express. But it was rather
exclamation, such as, «Lord, what a miserable 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 could 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 beginning 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 counsel 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 wherein I might have
been happy and easy; but I would neither see it myself nor learn to know the blessing of it
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CHAPTER VI − ILL AND CONSCIENCE−STRICKEN 62
from my parents. I left them to mourn over my folly, and now I am left to mourn under the
consequences of it. I abused their help 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 great 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 quarter 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 walked about, but was very weak, and withal very
sad and heavy−hearted under a sense of my miserable condition, dreading, the return of my
distemper the next day. 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 hardly 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 me, and very calm and smooth. As I sat here some such thoughts
as these occurred 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 and 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 things 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
circuit 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 the greater force, that it must needs be that God had
appointed all this to befall 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 the
world. Immediately it followed: Why has God done this to me? What have I done to be thus
used? My conscience presently checked me in that inquiry, as if I had blasphemed, and
methought it spoke to me like a voice: «Wretch! dost 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
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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
beasts on the coast of Africa; or drowned HERE, when all the crew perished but thyself?
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 answer 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 that 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 cured, 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 the tobacco with me to the table. What use to make of the tobacco I knew not,
in my distemper, or whether it was good for it or no: but I tried several experiments 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, and resolved to take a dose of it when I lay down; and lastly., I burnt some
upon 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 much disturbed with the tobacco to bear
reading, at least at that time; only, having 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 shalt 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 said, 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 before 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 over, 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 this I went to bed. I found
presently it flew up into my head violently; but I fell into a sound sleep, and waked no more
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till, by the sun, it must necessarily be near 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 one 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 exceedingly 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
chew 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 full strength
for some weeks after. While I was thus gathering strength, my thoughts ran exceedingly
upon this Scripture, «I will deliver thee»; and the 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 occurred to my mind that I pored so much upon my deliverance from the main
affliction, that I disregarded the deliverance I had received, and I was as it were made to ask
myself such questions as these − viz. Have I not been delivered, and wonderfully too, from
sickness − from the most distressed condition that could 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 could I expect greater deliverance? This touched my heart very much; and
immediately 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 Testament, 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 long as my thoughts should
engage me. It was not long after I set seriously to this 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 words, «All these things have not brought thee to repentance,» ran
seriously 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 came to these words:
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«He is exalted a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and to give remission.» I threw
down the book; and with my heart as well 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
Saviour! 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 sense 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 sense in the world. But now I learned to take it in another sense: now I
looked back 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 consideration in comparison to this. And I add this part
here, to hint to whoever shall read it, that whenever they come to a true sense of things, they
will find deliverance from sin a much greater blessing than deliverance from affliction.
But, leaving this part, I return to my Journal.
My condition began now to be, though not less miserable as to my way of living, 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 had a great deal of comfort
within, which till now I knew nothing of; also, my health 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 with my gun
in my hand, a little and a little at a time, as a man that was gathering 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; neither 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 came in the dry season was almost always
accompanied with such storms, so I found that rain was much more dangerous than the rain
which fell in September and October.
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CHAPTER VI − ILL AND CONSCIENCE−STRICKEN 66
CHAPTER VII − 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 desire 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 water, very fresh and good; but this being the dry season, there was
hardly any water in some parts of it − at least not enough to run in any stream, so as it could
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 plants of aloes, but did not
understand them. I saw several sugar−canes, but wild, and, for want of cultivation,
imperfect. I contented myself with these discoveries 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 plants 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 part 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, over the trees, and the clusters of grapes were just now in their
prime, very ripe 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 them 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.
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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 well; and the next morning proceeded upon
my discovery; travelling nearly four miles, 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 me, 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 side 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 bearing 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 found
now I had business enough to gather and carry home; and I resolved to lay up 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 great heap of grapes in one place, a lesser heap
in another place, and a great parcel 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
what 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 before I got thither the
grapes were spoiled; the richness of the fruit and the weight 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 bags 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 them 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 gathered a large
quantity of the grapes, and hung them trees, that they might cure and 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
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CHAPTER VII − AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE 68
of removing my habitation, 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 time, 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 possible 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, yet 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
here I lay very secure, sometimes two or three nights together; always going over it with a
ladder; so that I fancied now I had my country house and my sea− coast 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 rains came
on, and made me stick close to my first habitation; for though I had made 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 me to retreat into when the rains were extraordinary.
About the beginning of August, as I said, I had finished my bower, and began 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 take 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 had 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, more or less, every
day till the middle of October; and sometimes so violently, that 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 been
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 called it, with my gun, yet I thought it was quite a different kind from
our European 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.
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From the 14th of August to the 26th, incessant rain, so that I could not stir, and was now
very careful not to be much wet. In this confinement, I began to 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 treat to me, and my food was regulated thus: I ate a bunch
of raisins for my breakfast; 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 three 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, till 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 anything 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 being 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 judgments upon me, and praying to Him to have mercy on me through Jesus
Christ; and not having tasted the least refreshment for twelve hours, even till the going down
of the sun, I then ate a biscuit−cake and a bunch of grapes, and went to bed, finishing the
day as I began it. I had all this time observed no Sabbath day; 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 ordinary 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; though 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 use it more sparingly, and to write down only the
most remarkable events of my life, 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 thought 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 grain; but as I was sowing, it casually occurred to my thoughts that I would not
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CHAPTER VII − AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE 70
sow 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 sowed 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, and never came up at all till the wet season had come again,
and then it grew as if it had been but newly sown. Finding my first seed did not grow, which
I easily 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 rest 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 daring 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
made 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 just as I left them. The circle or double hedge that I
had made was not only firm and entire, but the stakes which I had cut out of some trees that
grew thereabouts 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 very 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 circle of about twenty−five yards in diameter, yet the trees, for such I might now call them,
soon covered it, and it was a complete shade, sufficient to lodge under 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 were 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 into 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 March, 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.
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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 found great occasion for many things which I had no way to furnish myself with
but 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 sometimes lending a hand, I
had by these means full knowledge of the methods of it, and 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. These 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 myself 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 them very
handsomely, yet I made them sufficiently serviceable for my purpose; thus, 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 vessels to hold anything that
was liquid, except two runlets, which were almost full of rum, and some glass bottles −
some of the common size, and others which were case bottles, square, for the holding of
water, spirits, 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
imagined I could spare.
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CHAPTER VII − AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE 72
CHAPTER VIII − SURVEYS HIS POSITION
I
MENTIONED before that I had a great mind to see the whole island, and that 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 great distance; by my guess it could not be
less than fifteen or twenty leagues off.
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 savages, 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 there.
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 vessel pass or repass one way
or other; but if not, then it was the savage coast between 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 side of the
island where I now was much pleasanter than mine − the open or savannah 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 hares (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 food, and of that which was very good too, especially these
three sorts, viz. goats, pigeons, and turtle, or tortoise, which added to my grapes, Leadenhall
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market could not have furnished a table better than I, in proportion to the company; 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 rather 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 down 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 covered with innumerable turtles,
whereas on the other side I had found but three in a year and a half. Here was also an infinite
number of fowls of many kinds, some which I had seen, and some which I had not seen
before, and many of them very good meat, but such as I knew not the names of, except those
called penguins.
I could have shot as many as I pleased, but was very sparing of my powder and shot,
and therefore had more mind to kill a she−goat if I could, which I could 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, the 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 keep 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 could not see which was my way by any direction but that of the
sun, nor even then, 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 seaside, 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.
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CHAPTER VIII − SURVEYS HIS POSITION 74
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 spent. 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 settled place of abode,
had been so unpleasant to me, that my own house, as I called 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 journey; 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 penned in within my little circle, and resolved to go and
fetch it home, or give it some 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 tame with being hungry, that I had no
need to have tied it, for it followed me like a dog: and as I continually fed it, the creature
became so loving, so gentle, and so fond, that it became from that time one of my domestics
also, and would 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 prospect 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
been pleased to discover to me that it was possible I might be more happy in this solitary
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 encouraging 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
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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 like 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 worse to
me, for if I could burst out into tears, or vent myself by words, it would 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, being very sad, I opened
the Bible upon these words, «I will never, never leave 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 when I was mourning over my condition, as one forsaken of God and
man? «Well, then,» said I, «if God does not forsake me, of what ill consequence can it be, or
what matters it, though the world should all forsake me, seeing 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 heartily 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 this 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
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CHAPTER VIII − SURVEYS HIS POSITION 76
to God, and the reading the Scriptures, which I constantly set apart some time for thrice
every 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 ordering, 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 changed 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 example, 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, would 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, because 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 timber. With inexpressible hacking and
hewing I reduced both the sides of it into chips till it began to be light enough to move; then
I turned it, and made one side 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 inches 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 time to do alone, and by hand. But notwithstanding this, with patience
and labour 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 barley 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 very 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; as, 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 speed. However, as my arable
land was but small, suited to my crop, I got it totally 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
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CHAPTER VIII − SURVEYS HIS POSITION 77
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 began 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 along by the place to see how it
throve, I saw my little crop surrounded with fowls, 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 corn, 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 saved.
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 was 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 till 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 fired
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 should 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 could 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 first 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 away
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 near 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 again, for I neither knew
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how to grind or make meal of my corn, or indeed how to clean 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 desire 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 against
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 bread.
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 article 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 had 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; but 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 badness 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 scratch 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, secure 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 salt to make it into bread, and an oven to bake it; but all these
things I did without, as shall be observed; and yet the corn was an inestimable comfort and
advantage 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 performing all the operations necessary for making the corn, when I had it, fit
for my use.
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CHAPTER VIII − SURVEYS HIS POSITION 79
CHAPTER IX − A BOAT
B
UT first I was to prepare more land, for I had now seed enough to sow above 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 sowed 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 that, 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, because 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 employment 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, 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 stiff 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 removing, 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 call 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.
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CHAPTER IX − A BOAT 80
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 hold what was
liquid, and bear the fire, which none of these could do. It happened after some time, making
a pretty large fire for cooking my meat, when I went 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 tile. 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 with 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 all round it, with a great heap of embers under them. I
plied the fire with fresh 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 which 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 began to abate of the red colour; and watching them all night, that I
might not let the fire abate too fast, in the morning I had three very good (I will not say
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 learned 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 it 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 for any whatever; neither had I any tools to go about it
with. I spent many a day to find out a great stone big enough to cut hollow, and make fit for
a mortar, and could find none at all, except what was in the solid rock, and which I had no
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way to dig or cut out; nor indeed were the rocks in the island of hardness sufficient, but were
all of a sandy, crumbling stone, which neither would bear the weight of a heavy pestle, nor
would break the corn without filling it with 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 found, 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 Indians in Brazil make their canoes. After
this, I made a great heavy pestle or beater 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 could 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 for many months; nor did I really know what to do. Linen I had none left
but what 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 that 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 muslin; and with some pieces of these I made three
small sieves proper enough for the work; and thus I made shift for some years: how I did
afterwards, I shall show 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 deep, that is to say, about two feet diameter, and not
above nine inches deep. These 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 cakes 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
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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 barns 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 the rice as much or more; insomuch that now
I resolved to begin to use it freely; 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
year.
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 would fully provide me with bread,
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 undertaking, 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 once 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 their 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 sail, 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 were 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, against a high ridge of beachy, rough sand, but no water about her. If I had
had hands to have refitted her, and to have launched her into the water, the boat would 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
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brought them to the boat resolving to try what I could do; suggesting to myself that if I could
but turn her down, I might repair the damage she had received, and she would be a very
good boat, and I might go to sea in her very easily.
I spared no pains, indeed, in this piece of fruitless toil, and spent, I think, 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 so to make it fall down, setting pieces of wood
to thrust and guide it right in the 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 venture over for the main increased, rather than
decreased, as the means for it seemed impossible.
This at length put me upon thinking whether it was not possible to make myself a
canoe, or periagua, such as the natives of those climates make, even without tools, or, as I
might say, without hands, of the trunk of a great tree. This 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
hands 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 mind of my
circumstances while I was making this boat, but I should have immediately thought how I
should get it into the sea; but my thoughts were so intent upon 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 guide it over forty−five miles of sea than about forty−five
fathoms of land, where 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 determining 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 prevailed, and to
work I went. I felled a cedar−tree, and I question much whether Solomon ever had such a
one for the building of the Temple of Jerusalem; it was five feet ten inches diameter at the
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lower part next the stump, and four feet eleven 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 that 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, indeed,
without fire, by mere mallet and chisel, and by the dint of hard labour, till I had brought it to
be a very handsome periagua, and big enough to have carried 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 boat 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. Well, 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 deal of pains (but who grudge pains who have their deliverance in view?); but
when 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 bring 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
thrown 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 our own strength to go through with
it.
In the middle of this work I finished my fourth year in this place, and kept 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 before. 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, indeed, no desires about: in a word, I had nothing indeed to do with
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it, nor was ever 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 great 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 enjoying; 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 rivals; 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 little 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.
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 than 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 miser in the world would have been cured of the vice of
covetousness if he had been 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 for a gross of tobacco−pipes; or for a hand−mill to grind my corn; nay,
I would have 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 manner 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 bright 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,
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to put 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 want 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 and 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 hopes; and
this was comparing my present situation with what I had deserved, and had therefore reason
to expect from the hand of Providence. I had lived a dreadful 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 their 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 destitute of the fear of
God, though His terrors are always before them; I say, falling 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 was 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
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taken up by the Portuguese master of the ship; my being 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 mind, 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 place; that I ought never more to repine at my condition, but to rejoice, and
to give daily thanks for that daily bread, which nothing but a crowd of wonders could have
brought; that I ought to consider I had been fed even by a miracle, even 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 part of the world where I could have been cast more to
my advantage; a place where, 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 venomous
creatures, or poisons, which I might feed on to my hurt; no savages to murder and devour
me. In a word, as my life was a life of sorrow one way, so it was a life of mercy another; and
I wanted nothing to make it a life of comfort but 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, which 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 strange 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 afterwards I was taken by the Sallee
man−of−war, and made a slave; the same day of the year that I escaped out of the wreck of
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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 life 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 biscuit 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 great 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 seamen, 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 naked − 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, was 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 with such violence as it does in that place, would
give me the headache presently, 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, which I called
clothes, into some order; I had worn out all the waistcoats I had, and 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 work of it. However, I made shift to make two or three new waistcoats,
which I hoped 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 warm. I must
not omit to acknowledge that they were wretchedly made; for if I was a bad carpenter, I was
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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 was, 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, and 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 with
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 main 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 just 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 walk out in the hottest of
the weather with greater advantage than I could before in the coolest, and when I had no
need of it could close it, and carry it under my arm
Thus I lived mighty comfortably, my mind being entirely composed by resigning
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 regret the want of conversation I
would ask myself, whether thus conversing mutually 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?
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CHAPTER X − TAMES GOATS
I
CANNOT say that after this, for five years, any extraordinary thing happened 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, for I made it without considering beforehand,
as I ought to have done, how I should be able to launch it, so, never being able to bring it
into the water, or bring 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
not get a tree proper for it, and was in a place where I could not get the water to it at any less
distance than, as I have said, near half a mile, yet, as I saw 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 mean 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 make 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 coast;
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 consideration, 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 stock 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, into, to be kept dry, either
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 over my head, and
keep the heat of the sun off me, like an awning; and thus I every 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
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CHAPTER X − TAMES GOATS 91
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 more, and two large
watch−coats, of those which, as I mentioned before, I had saved 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 two leagues into the sea, some above water, some under it; and
beyond that a shoal 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 come back
again, not knowing how far it might oblige me to go out to sea; and above 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, and 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 some danger that when I came into it I might
be carried out to sea by the strength 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
same 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 nothing 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 shore 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; for 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 they must join again, and then I was irrecoverably gone; nor did I
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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 could 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
driven 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 most
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 happiness 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 never see thee more. O miserable creature! whither am going?» Then I
reproached 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 never 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 from 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 passed the meridian, I thought I felt a little
breeze of wind in my face, springing up from SSE. This cheered my heart a little, and
especially when, in about half− 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 board, 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 myself 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 saw 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 about 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 such 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.
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CHAPTER X − TAMES GOATS 93
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 myself open to the northern shore of it, that is to
say, the other end of the island, opposite to that which I went out from.
When I had made something more than a league of way by the help of this current or
eddy, I found it was spent, and served me no further. However, I found that being between
two great currents − viz. that on the south side, which had hurried 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 least 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 across this
eddy, slanting north−west; and in about an hour came within about a mile 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 boat; 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 but 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
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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 day, 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 utmost 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; and he had learned it so
perfectly that he would sit upon my finger, and lay his bill 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 Crusoe! 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 have been very glad to
have had my boat again on my side of the island; but I knew not how it was practicable to
get it about. As to the east side of the island, 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; and as to the other side of the island, I did not know how it might be there;
but 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 much composed as to my
condition, and fully comforted in resigning myself to the dispositions of Providence, I
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CHAPTER X − TAMES GOATS 95
thought I lived really very happily in all things 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 tools 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 able 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
firm, and would draw the smoke, I was exceedingly comforted with it, for I had been 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 they 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 which it was
impossible for me to supply, and I began seriously to consider what I must 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 young kid, and bred her up tame, and I was in hopes of
getting a he−goat; but I could not by any means bring it to pass, till my kid grew an old goat;
and as I could 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 particularly 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 pits
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 the trap; and I could easily perceive that the
goats had gone in and eaten up the corn, for I could see the marks of their feet. At length I
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CHAPTER X − TAMES GOATS 96
set three traps in one night, and going the next morning I found them, all standing, and yet
the bait eaten and gone; this was very discouraging. However, I altered my traps; 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 kids, 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 learned, that hunger will tame a lion. If I had let him stay three or four days
without 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 corn, it
tempted them, and they began to be tame. And now I found that if I expected to supply
myself with goats' flesh, when I had no powder or shot left, breeding some up tame was my
only way, when, perhaps, I might have them about my house 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 either 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 piece 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 contrivance 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 have so much room to chase them in that I should never catch
them.
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CHAPTER X − TAMES GOATS 97
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 beginning, 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 should have in any reasonable time, so, as my
stock increased, I could add more ground 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 near 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 follow
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 never
milked a cow, much less a goat, or seen butter or cheese made only when I was a boy, after a
great many essays and miscarriages, made both butter and cheese 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!
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CHAPTER X − TAMES GOATS 98
CHAPTER XI − FINDS PRINT OF MAN'S FOOT ON THE SAND
I
T would have made a Stoic smile to have seen me and my little family sit down 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, give 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 dog, who was now grown old and crazy, and had found no species to
multiply his kind upon, sat always at my right hand; and two cats, one on one side of the
table 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 come 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.
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 mind 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, and 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
notion of my travelling through Yorkshire with such an equipage, and in such a dress. 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 middle 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
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CHAPTER XI − FINDS PRINT OF MAN'S FOOT ON THE SAND 99
reached to the middle of my legs; stockings and shoes I had none, but had made me a pair of
somethings, I scarce knew what to call them, like buskins, to flap over my legs, and lace on
either 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 side of this, instead of a sword and
dagger, hung a little saw and a hatchet, one on one side and one on the other. I had another
belt not so broad, and fastened 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 hung 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 umbrella, 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 about 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 trimmed
into a large pair of Mahometan whiskers, such as I had seen worn by some Turks at Sallee,
for the Moors did not wear such, though the Turks did; of these moustachios, 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 as 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 first 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 there than in other places. I was at a
strange loss to understand this, and resolved 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 waters from
some great river on the shore, must be the occasion of this current, and that, according as the
wind blew more forcibly from the west or from the north, this current came nearer or went
farther from the shore; for, waiting thereabouts till evening, I went up to the rock again, and
then the tide of ebb being made, I plainly saw the current again as before, only that it ran
farther off, being 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 about the island again; but
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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 several 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 say, 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 from 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 habitation 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 there also; for,
first, I had my little bower, as I called it, which I kept in repair − 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 the creatures I had killed, and with other soft things, and a
blanket laid on them, such as belonged to our sea−bedding, which I had saved; and a great
watch−coat to cover me. And here, whenever I had occasion to be absent from my chief
seat, I took up my country habitation.
Adjoining to this I had my enclosures for my cattle, that is to say my goats, 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, that it was rather a pale than a hedge, and there was scarce room to put a hand
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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 be a living magazine of flesh, milk, butter,
and cheese for me as long as I lived 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 planted 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 indeed 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 where I had
laid up my boat, I generally stayed and lay here in my way thither, for 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, which was very
plain to be seen on the sand. I stood like one thunderstruck, or as 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 foot. 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 shapes my affrighted imagination
represented things to me in, how many wild ideas were found every moment in my fancy,
and what strange, unaccountable whimsies came into my thoughts by the way.
When I came to my castle (for so I think I called it ever after this), I fled 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
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than 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 the 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 there 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 should see it − this was an amusement the other way. I considered that the devil
might 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 island, he would never have been
so simple as to leave a mark in a place where it was ten thousand to one whether I should
ever see it or not, and in the sand too, 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
the notions we usually entertain of the subtlety of the devil.
Abundance of such things as these assisted to argue me out of all apprehensions 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 been 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 corn, 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 goodness; as if He that had
fed me by miracle hitherto could not preserve, by His power, 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
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that, whatever might come, I might not perish for want of bread.
How strange a chequer−work of Providence is the life of man! and by what secret
different springs are the affections hurried about, as different circumstances present! To−day
we love what to−morrow we hate; to−day we seek what to−morrow 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 lively 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 whom Heaven thought not worthy to be numbered among the living, or to
appear among the rest of His creatures; that to have seen one of my own species would have
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 say, 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 man having set his foot in the island.
Such is the uneven state of human life; and it afforded me a great many curious
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 the 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
creation, 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 His indignation,
because I had sinned against Him. I then reflected, that as God, who was not only righteous
but omnipotent, had thought fit thus to punish and 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
Him, and quietly to attend to the dictates and directions of His daily providence,
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 from 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 the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt
glorify Me.» Upon 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 that 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 impossible to express the comfort this gave me. In answer, I thankfully laid
down the book, and was no more sad, at least on that occasion.
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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, and 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 was all a delusion; that it was nothing else but my
own foot; and why might I not 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 inconvenience for want of it; and, indeed, it almost spoiled some of them, and
almost dried 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 nothing 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 with 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 home 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 deprives them of
the use of those means which reason offers for their relief. The first 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 simple 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 bower
and tent, that they might not see any vestiges of habitation, and be prompted to look farther,
in order to find out the persons inhabiting.
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These were the subject of the first night's cogitations after I was come home 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 about: 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 thought,
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, by crying to God in my
distress, and resting upon His providence, as I had done before, for my defence and
deliverance; which, if I had done, I had at least been more 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 composed 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 come 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 never
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 against 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 help 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
planted 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 timber, 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 inside 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
upon 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
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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 done.
When this was done I stuck all the ground without my wall, for a great length every
way, as full with stakes or sticks of the osier− like wood, which I found so apt to grow, as
they could well stand; insomuch that I believe I might set 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 shelter 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 the 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 broke 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 outer 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.
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CHAPTER XII − A CAVE RETREAT
W
HILE this was doing, I was not altogether careless of my other affairs; for 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 hunting 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 much 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
would require a good deal of time and labour, I thought was the most rational design.
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 could 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. Here I found a clear piece of land, near three acres, so surrounded with woods that 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.
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 great 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 religious 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 calmness and resignation of soul which I was wont to do: I rather prayed to
God as under great affliction and pressure of mind, surrounded with danger, and in
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expectation every night of being murdered and devoured before morning; and I must testify,
from my experience, that a temper of peace, thankfulness, love, 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 more fit for a comforting performance of the duty of
praying to God than he is for 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 being 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 such 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 looked 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 perspective 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 the 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 the 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 possible for me to express the
horror of my mind at seeing the shore spread with skulls, 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 apprehensions 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 not 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.
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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 cast 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, that 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 suffer.
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: for I observed that these
wretches never came to this island in search of what they 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 eighteen years, and never saw the least footsteps of human creature there before; and
I might be eighteen years more as entirely concealed as I was now, if I did not 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 speaking 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 other 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 think 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, should happen to hear it. It was, therefore, a very good providence to me that I had
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 after this, it was by traps and
snares, as I had done before; so that for two years after this I believe I never fired my gun
once off, though I never went out without it; and what was more, as I had saved three pistols
out of the ship, I always carried them out with me, or at least two of them, sticking them in
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my goat−skin belt. I also furbished up one of the great cutlasses that I had out 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 hanging at my side in a belt, but without a scabbard.
Things going on thus, as I have said, for some time, I seemed, excepting these 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 reflecting 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 better, 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 edge 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 hops to make it keep, no yeast to made it work, no copper or kettle to
make it boil; 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 invention now ran quite another way; for night and day I could
think of nothing but how I might destroy some of the monsters in their cruel, bloody
entertainment, and 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 their coming hither any more: but all
this was abortive; nothing could be possible to take effect, unless I was to be there to do it
myself: and what could one man 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 kindled 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
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one barrel, so neither could 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 ears
and fright them, but not sufficient to make them forsake the place: so I laid 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 wound perhaps two or three at every shot; and then falling in upon them
with my three pistols and my sword, I made no doubt but that, if there were twenty, I should
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 them 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 satisfied I might securely wait till I saw any of their boats coming; and
might then, even 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 conceal 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 size; 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 for 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, not 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 kept 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 thirty 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
fired 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
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left, and perhaps had 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 long 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 executioners of His
judgments one upon another; how far these people were offenders against 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 captive 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 certainly 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, without 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 these people; who,
however they were idolators and barbarians, and had several bloody and barbarous rites in
their customs, such as sacrificing human bodies to their 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 piece 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 humanity or of Christian compassion;
as if the kingdom of Spain were particularly eminent 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
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they first attacked me; and this 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
that this really was the way not to deliver myself, but entirely to ruin and destroy 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 one 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 perfectly 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 national, 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 providence, 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 ran 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 everything that I had left there belonging to her, though not necessary for the bare
going 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 boat, 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
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savage people, who sometimes haunted this island, never came with any thoughts of finding
anything here, and consequently 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 that 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 been 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 should not only have been
unable to resist them, but even should not have had presence of mind enough to do what I
might have done; much less what now, after so much consideration and preparation, I might
be able to do. Indeed, after serious thinking of these things, I would be melancholy, and
sometimes it would last a great while; but I resolved it all at last into thankfulness to that
Providence which had delivered me from so many unseen dangers, and had kept me from
those mischiefs which I could have no way been the agent in delivering myself from,
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 merciful dispositions of Heaven, in the dangers
we run through in this life; how wonderfully 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 secret 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 other 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 rule with me, that whenever I found those secret hints or pressings of mind to doing
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 examples 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; and 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 invisible 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.
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I believe the reader of this will not think it strange if I confess that these 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 chop a stick of wood now, for fear the noise I might make should
be heard: much less would I fire a gun for the same reason: and above all I was intolerably
uneasy 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, 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, like 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 this charcoal, which was this − I was afraid of making a
smoke about my habitation, as I said before; and yet I could not live there without baking
my bread, cooking my meat, so I contrived to burn some wood here, as I had seen done in
England, under turf, till it became chark or dry coal: and then putting 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, behind 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
mouth of it, I found it was pretty large, that is to say, sufficient for me to stand 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 light from the cave's mouth shining directly in, and making the reflection.
However, after some pause I recovered myself, and began to call myself a thousand fools,
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, plucking 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 some 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 head, 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, holding it up a little
over my head, I saw lying on the ground a monstrous, frightful old he−goat, just making his
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will, as we say, and gasping for life, and, dying, indeed, of mere old age. I stirred him a little
to see if I could get him out, 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 found 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 there 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, which 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 rind of a weed like nettles); and
going into this low place I was obliged to creep upon all−fours as I have said, almost ten
yards − which, by the way, I thought 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 entrance − which, however, as it was a place
of security, and such a retreat as I wanted; 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 kept 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 this 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 side,
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.
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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.
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CHAPTER XIII − 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
amusements, 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 did 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 that degree that
I was obliged to shoot several of them at first, to keep them from 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 letting them have no provision with me, they all ran
wild into the woods, except two 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 kept 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 the 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 their 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 have 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
evil 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 are 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
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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 more peace within, from the
apprehensions I had that if these savages, in rambling 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
extremity 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 loaded 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 defend 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 hands of the barbarians. I continued in this posture about two
hours, and began to 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 side 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 hill, 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, the 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 alive 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 flood 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 ebb, I began afterwards to be more sedate in my mind, being satisfied
that I might 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 harvest 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 least covering upon them; but whether they were men or women I
could not distinguish.
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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, going down to the
shore, I could see the marks of horror which the dismal work they 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 and 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 thus to
this island were not very frequent, for it was above fifteen months before 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
expectation 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 hours, 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 should be divided, as they were the last
time, into two parties; nor did I consider at all that if I killed one party − suppose ten or a
dozen − I was still the next 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 perplexity 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 had provided a tame flock or herd of goats, for I durst not
upon any account fire my gun, especially near that side of the island where they usually
came, lest I should alarm the savages; and if they had fled from me now, I was sure to have
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 year, 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
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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, for 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 for 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 the 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 burned fairly out; so that I was certain, if there was
any such thing as a ship, they 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 broad day, and the air
cleared up, I saw something at a great distance at sea, full 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 hazy 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 eager, 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 away 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 away 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 these 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 blowing hard at ENE. Had they seen the island, as I must necessarily suppose they
did not, 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
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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 carried 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 them; 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 for me in my desolate condition; and that of two ships'
companies, who were now cast 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 whom 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
company; 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 out 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 had one companion, one fellow−creature, to have spoken to me and to have
conversed 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 regret 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 present 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 absence of it is insupportable. Such were these earnest
wishings that but one man had 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, and 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 doubtless the effect of ardent
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wishes, and of strong ideas formed in my mind, realising 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, forbade 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 days 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 nothing 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 useful to me. But that did not
altogether press me so much as the possibility that there might be yet some living creature
on board, whose life I might not only save, 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 could 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 water, 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
cargo 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 which with great labour and sweat I carried to my
boat; and praying to God to direct my voyage, I put out, and rowing or paddling the canoe
along the shore, came at last to the utmost point of the island on the north−east side. And
now I was to launch out into the ocean, and either to venture or not to venture. I looked 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 hazard 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 out 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 the tide was turned, and the flood come on;
upon which my going was impracticable for so many hours. Upon this, presently it occurred
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to me that I should go up to the highest piece of ground I could find, and observe, if I could,
how the 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 another way home, with the same
rapidity of the currents. This thought was no sooner 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, that 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 the south side had done before, so as to take from me all government of
the boat; 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 bow
appeared firm. When I came close to her, a dog appeared upon her, who, seeing me coming,
yelped and cried; and as soon as I called him, jumped into the sea to come to me. I took him
into the boat, but found him almost dead with hunger and thirst. I gave him a cake of my
bread, and he devoured it like a ravenous 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 have burst himself. After this I went on board; but the first sight I met with was 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 ship 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 the 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 liquor, 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 two 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 made 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.
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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 powder 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
gridiron; and with this cargo, and the dog, I came away, the tide beginning to make home
again − and the same evening, about an hour within night, I reached the island again, weary
and fatigued to the last degree. I reposed that night in the boat 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 use
to me − for example, I found in one a fine case of bottles, of an extraordinary 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 very good succades, or sweetmeats, so fastened
also on the top that the salt−water 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 dozen 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 hot 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 all; 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, kept, I suppose, for charging their
fowling−pieces on occasion. Upon the whole, I got 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, and I would have given it all for three or four pair of English shoes and
stockings, which were things I greatly wanted, but had had none on my feet for many years.
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 the chests, which were very
welcome to me; but they were not like our English shoes, either 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 belong to some officer. Well, however, I lugged this money home to my cave,
and laid 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.
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CHAPTER XIV − A DREAM REALISED
H
AVING 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 freedom, it
was always to the east part of the island, where I was pretty well satisfied the savages never
came, and where I could go without so many precautions, and 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 head, that was always to let me know it was born to make
my body miserable, was all 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 voyage
to the wreck, though my reason told me that there was nothing left there worth 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 been, 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 flow: I mean that of not being satisfied with the station wherein God and Nature
hath 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 it, 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 happily 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 this 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 hundred thousand moidores − and
what business had I to leave a settled fortune, a well−stocked plantation, improving and
increasing, to turn supercargo to Guinea 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 business 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 that 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
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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 condition restored to what it was
before: I had more wealth, indeed, than I had before, but was not at all the richer; for I had
no more use for it than the Indians of Peru had before the Spaniards came there.
It was one of the nights in the rainy season in March, the four− and−twentieth 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 uneasiness of body, nor any uneasiness of
mind more than ordinary, but could by no means 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 crowd 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 comparing the happy posture of my affairs in the first years of my
habitation here, with the life of anxiety, fear, and care which I had lived in ever since I had
seen 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 hundreds of them at times on shore
there; but I had never known it, and was incapable of any apprehensions about it; my
satisfaction was perfect, though my danger was the same, and I was as happy in not knowing
my danger as if I had never really 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 seriously upon
the real danger I had been in for so many years in this very island, and 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 tree, 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 which I must inevitably have fallen into their merciless
hands.
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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 give 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 part
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 these 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 some or other of them, without any possibility of
delivering myself: and if I should not fall into their hands, what I should do for provision, or
whither I should bend my course: none of these thoughts, I say, so much as came in my way;
but 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 could possibly be;
that I was not able to throw myself into anything but death, that could be called worse; and if
I reached the shore of the main I might perhaps meet with relief, or I might coast along, as I
did on the African shore, till I came to some inhabited country, and where I might find some
relief; and after 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 continuance 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
wholly 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; and 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 impetuosity 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 been 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 savage whom they
were going to kill in order to eat him; when, on a sudden, the savage that they were going to
kill jumped away, and ran for his life; and I thought in my sleep that he came running into
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my little thick grove before my fortification, to hide himself; and that I seeing him alone,
and not perceiving 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 assist him;
upon which I showed him my ladder, made him go up, and carried him into my cave, and he
became my servant; and that as soon as I had got this man, I said to myself, «Now I may
certainly venture to the mainland, for this fellow 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 under such inexpressible impressions of joy at the prospect of my escape in my dream,
that the disappointments which I felt upon coming to myself, and finding that it was no more
than a dream, were equally extravagant the other way, and threw 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 attended with this difficulty: that it was impossible to
effect this without attacking 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 thoughts of shedding so
much blood, though it was for my deliverance. I need not repeat the arguments which
occurred to me against this, they being the same mentioned before; but though I had other
reasons to offer now − viz. that those men were 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 the thoughts of shedding human
blood for my deliverance were very terrible to me, and such as I could by no means
reconcile myself to for a great while. However, at last, after many secret disputes with
myself, and after great perplexities about it (for all these arguments, one way and another,
struggled in my head a long time), the eager prevailing desire of deliverance at length
mastered all 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 them when they came on shore, and leave the rest to the
event; taking such measures 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 above 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 done some time before) wear off the edge of my desire to the thing; but the longer it
seemed to be delayed, the more eager I was for it: in a word, I was not at first so careful to
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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 musing 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 five canoes all on shore together on my
side the island, and the people who belonged to them all landed and out of my sight. The
number of them broke all my measures; for seeing so many, and knowing that they always
came four or six, or sometimes 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 the 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 miserable
wretches dragged from the boats, where, it seems, they were laid by, and were 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 their 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 they should be ready for him. In that very moment this poor wretch,
seeing himself a little at liberty and unbound, Nature inspired him with hopes of life, and he
started 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, upon 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
found 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, and 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.
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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, though 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 the three persons came to the creek, I found that two of them
could swim, but the third could not, and that, standing on the other side, he looked at the
others, but went no farther, and soon after went softly back again; which, as it happened,
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 fled from them. It came very
warmly upon my thoughts, and indeed irresistibly, that now was the time to get me a
servant, and, perhaps, a companion or assistant; and that I was plainly called by Providence
to save this poor creature's life. 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 towards the
sea; and having a very short cut, and all down hill, placed myself in the 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 foremost, 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 been
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 him: 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, which 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, yet 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 signs 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
then 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
close 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 stunned 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
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hear; 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 as 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 sooner
had it, but he runs to his enemy, and at one blow cut off his head so cleverly, no executioner
in Germany could have done it sooner or better; which I thought 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 that 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 which 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 me to let him go to him; and I bade him go, as well as I
could. When he came to him, he stood like one amazed, looking at him, turning him first on
one side, then on the other; looked at the wound the bullet had made, which it seems was
just 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 arrows, 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 so by the
other also; I believe he had him buried them both in a quarter of an hour. Then, calling
away, I carried him, not to my castle, but quite away to my cave, 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 and a bunch of raisins to eat, and a draught of water, which I
found he was indeed 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 some
rice−straw, and a blanket upon it, which I used to sleep upon myself sometimes; 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 when 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. The 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
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not very easy to describe. His face was round and plump; his nose small, not flat, like the
negroes; a very good mouth, thin 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 again, 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 himself down again upon the
ground, with all the possible signs of an humble, thankful 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 would 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 Friday, which was the day I saved his life: I called
him so for the memory of the time. 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 them. 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
abhorrence 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 been, but no appearance of them or their canoes; so
that it was plain they were gone, 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 sword 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 mind now to get some further intelligence of
them. When I came to the place my very 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 ground
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 signs, made
me understand that they brought over four prisoners to feast upon; that three of them were
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eaten up, and that he, pointing to himself, was the fourth; that there had been a great battle
between them and their next king, of whose 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
wretches upon those they brought hither.
I caused Friday to gather all the skulls, bones, flesh, and whatever remained, and lay
them together in a heap, and make a great fire upon it, and burn them 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 abhorrence 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 him 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, very convenient, and fashionable enough; and thus he was clothed, for the
present, 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 first: wearing the drawers was
very awkward to him, and the sleeves of the waistcoat galled his shoulders and the inside of
his arms; but a little easing them where 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 where I
should lodge him: and that I might do well for him and yet be perfectly easy 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
little 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 come at me in the inside of my
innermost wall, without making so much noise in getting 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 made a great noise − as to weapons, I took them all into
my side every night. But I needed none of all this precaution; for never man had a more
faithful, loving, 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 his life to save mine upon any
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occasion whatsoever − the many testimonies he gave 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 however 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 that He has bestowed upon them the same powers,
the same reason, the same affections, the same sentiments of kindness and obligation, the
same passions and resentments 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 that
when He pleases to offer them occasions of exerting these, they are as ready, nay, more
ready, to apply them to the right uses for which they were bestowed 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 though we have these powers enlightened by the great lamp
of instruction, the Spirit of God, and by the knowledge of His word added to our
understanding; and why 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 arbitrary 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 checked 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 these
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 still as we all are the clay in the hand of the potter, no vessel could say to
him, «Why hast thou formed me thus?»
But to return to my new companion. I was greatly delighted with him, and made 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 when 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.
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CHAPTER XV − FRIDAY'S EDUCATION
A
FTER 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 relish 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 kid out of my own flock; and bring it home and dress it; but
as I was going I saw a she−goat lying down in the shade, and two young kids sitting by her.
I catched 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 thought 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 him.
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 wondering, 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 been 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 would 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 this created in him was such as could not wear
off for a long time; and I believe, 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
would speak to it and talk to it, as if it had answered him, when he was by himself; which, as
I afterwards learned of him, was to desire it not to kill him. Well, after his astonishment was
a little over at this, I pointed to him to run and fetch the bird I had shot, which he did, but
stayed some time; for the parrot, not being quite dead, had fluttered away a good distance
from the place where 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 time: so I brought home the kid, and the
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same evening I took the skin off, and cut 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 very
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 into 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 want 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 while, 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 string 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 very 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 must provide
more ground for my harvest, and plant a larger quantity of corn than 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 very hard, but did it very cheerfully: and I
told him what it was for; that it was for corn to make more bread, because he was now with
me, and that I might have 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 began 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 tongue 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 day, 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.
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I had a mind once to try if he had any inclination for his own country again; 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 conquered 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 began the following discourse:−
MASTER. − You always fight the better; how came you to be taken prisoner, then,
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 take
one, two, three, and me: my nation over−beat them in the yonder place, where 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 enemies,
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, which, 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−eating occasions he
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was now brought for; and some time after, when I took the courage 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 this 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 afternoon. 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 Caribs; from whence I easily
understood that these were the Caribbees, which our maps place on the part of America
which reaches from the mouth of the river Orinoco 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 cruelties in America
had been spread over the whole country, and were remembered by all the nations from
father to son.
I inquired if he could tell me how I might go from this island, and get among 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 meant 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 time or other, I might find an opportunity to make my escape from this place, and
that 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 this 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 then, if this old person had made all things, why did not all things
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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 towards heaven; that He
governed the world by the same power and providence by which 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 his eyes. He listened with great attention, and received with
pleasure the notion 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 one 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 speak 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 order 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 most 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 world to be
worshipped instead of God, and as God, and the many stratagems he made use of to delude
mankind to their ruin; how he had a secret access to our passions 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 own choice.
I found it was not so easy to imprint right notions in his mind about the devil as it was
about the being of a God. Nature assisted all my arguments to evidence 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 paying 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;
and 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 talking a great deal to him of the
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power of God, His omnipotence, His aversion to sin, 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 than
the devil − God is above the devil, and therefore we pray to God to tread him down under
our feet, and enable us to resist his temptations and quench his fiery darts.» «But,» says he
again, «if God much stronger, much 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 what 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 little, 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 everlasting 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 guide 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 Saviour Jesus Christ, I mean the Word of God, and the Spirit of God, promised for
the guide and sanctifier of His people, are the absolutely necessary instructors 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 Christ, 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 upon 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 could why our blessed Redeemer took not on Him
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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 for 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
felt before: so that, whether this poor wild wretch was better for me or no, I had 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 reflected that in this solitary life which I
have been confined to, I had not only been 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 life, 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 secret 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 happy, 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 as I could, the meaning of what I
read; and he again, by his serious inquiries and questionings, made me, as I said before, a
much better scholar in the Scripture knowledge than I should ever have been by my own
mere private reading. Another 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 understood, that, as the bare reading
the Scripture made me capable of understanding enough 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
without 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.
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As to all the disputes, wrangling, strife, and contention which have happened in the
world about religion, whether niceties in doctrines or schemes of church 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 word. 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 historical 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 it, 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, and 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 where 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 their
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 less 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.»
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This put new thoughts into my head; for I presently imagined that these might be the
men belonging to the ship that was cast away in the sight of my island, 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; that 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;» 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 hill at the east
side of the island, from whence, as I have said, I had, in a clear 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 some distance from him. I asked him what was the matter. «Oh, joy!» says 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 obligation 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 which I was very sorry afterwards. However, as my jealousy
increased, and held some 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, both 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 him 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 that 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,» he said, «I be much O glad to be at my own
nation.» «What would 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
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head, said, «No, no, Friday tell them to live good; tell them 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 kill 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 boat. 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 there 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 escape 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. So, 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 dexterous fellow at managing it, and
would make it go almost as swift again as I could. 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 because he thought the boat was too small to go so far. I then told him I had a
bigger; so the next day I went to the place where the first boat lay which I had made, 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.
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CHAPTER XVI − RESCUE OF PRISONERS FROM CANNIBALS
U
PON the whole, I was by this time so fixed upon my design of going over with him to
the continent that I told him we would go and make one as big as that, 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 wished you were there?» «Yes, yes,» says he,
«wish we both there; 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, tame 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 people, 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 undertaking it. But still I found a strong inclination to attempting my escape,
founded on the supposition gathered from the discourse, that there were seventeen bearded
men there; and therefore, without any more delay, I went to work with Friday 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 last
Friday pitched upon a tree; for I found he knew much better than I what kind of wood was
fittest for it; nor can I tell to this day what wood to call the tree we cut down, except that it
was very like the tree we call fustic, or between 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
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showed him how to use, he did very handily; and in about a month's hard labour we finished
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 boat. After this, however, it
cost us near a fortnight's time to get her along, as 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 great 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 cable.
As to a mast, that was easy enough to get; so I pitched upon a straight young 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 directions 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 had them now six−and−twenty years by me, and had not been very
careful to preserve 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. However, I found
two pieces which appeared pretty good, and with these I went to work; 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 with, 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 of 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, and 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 for 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 amazed 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
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stir abroad either by land or sea.
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 hopes 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 should 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 out, 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 great 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 returned 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 dock, 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 could 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 when he came running back,
and flew over my outer wall or fence, like one that felt not the ground or the steps he set his
foot on; and before I had time to speak 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 trembled 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 fight
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
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as I bid him. He said, «Me die when you bid die, master.» So I went and fetched a good
dram of rum and gave him; for I had been so good 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 took my perspective
glass, and went up to the side of the hill, to see what I could 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 barbarous feast, indeed! but nothing more than, as I had observed, was usual with
them. 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 thick 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 that 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 his 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, between 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 abate my
resolution: I do not mean that I entertained any fear of their number, for 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, what 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 in 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 call 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 crimes, but that, in the meantime, it was
none of my business − that it was true Friday 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
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attack them − but 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 only 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 that 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 showing 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 them, 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 told 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, and had clothes
on.
There was another tree and a little thicket beyond it, about fifty yards nearer to them
than the place where I was, which, by going a little way about, I saw 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 upon 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 fire, and they were stooping down to
untie the bands at his feet. I turned to Friday. «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−piece 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 wounded two. They were,
you may be sure, in a dreadful consternation: and all of them that were not hurt jumped upon
their feet, but did not immediately know which 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
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had bid him, 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?» said I. «Yes,» says he. «Let fly,
then,» says I, «in the name of God!» and with that I fired again among the amazed wretches,
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 were 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 taking up the musket
which was yet loaded, «follow me,» which he did with a great deal of courage; upon which I
rushed out of the wood and showed myself, 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
made 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 were 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 third, 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 little
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 much 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 about you.» He took them very thankfully; and no sooner had he the arms in
his hands, but, as if they had put new vigour into him, he flew upon his murderers 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 amazement 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 shot at in the boat; for as three of them fell with the hurt they received, so the other
two fell with the fright.
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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 called 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 all the rest again, and bade them come to me when they wanted. While
I was loading these pieces, there happened a fierce engagement between the Spaniard and
one 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; but the savage being a stout, lusty fellow, closing in with
him, had thrown him down, 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 girdle,
shot the savage through the body, and killed him upon the spot, before I, who 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 could 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 nimble
for him; and though he was wounded, yet had plunged himself into the sea, and 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 no, 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 Spaniard; 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 them. 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 sea, 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 almost 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.
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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 dram, 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 him, 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 jumped about again like a distracted
creature. It was a good while before I could make him 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 filial 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 extravagances of his affection after this: for he went
into the boat and out of the boat a great many times: when he went in to him he would sit
down by him, open his breast, 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 with the binding, and chafed and rubbed them with his hands; and I, perceiving what
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 could 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 find in my heart
to take him off for some time; but after I thought he could leave him a little, I called him to
me, and he came jumping and laughing, and pleased to the highest extreme: then I asked
him if he had given his father any bread. 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 his 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 raisins but I saw him come out of the boat, and run
away as if he had been bewitched, 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 quarter 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
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he carried to his father; 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 left. 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 himself 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. When 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 stand 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 less, 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, and then he should
carry him to our dwelling, where I would take care of him. But 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 wind blew pretty
hard too; so he brought them both safe into our creek, and leaving them in the boat, ran
away to fetch the other canoe. As he passed me I spoke to him, and asked him whither he
went. He told me, «Go fetch more boat;» so away he went like the wind, for sure never man
or horse ran like him; and 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 not 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
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handsome tent, covered with old sails, and above that with boughs of trees, being in the
space without our outward fence 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 undoubted right of dominion. Secondly, my
people were perfectly subjected − I was absolutely lord and lawgiver − they all owed their
lives to me, and were ready 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
pieces, 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 made 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 them, 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, with 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,
where they were as sure to be devoured as they were to be drowned if they were cast 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
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noise, and the fire, that he believed they 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 their 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.
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CHAPTER XVII − VISIT OF MUTINEERS
I
N a little time, however, no more canoes appearing, the fear of their coming wore off;
and I began to take my former thoughts of a voyage to the main into 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
countrymen and Portuguese, who having been cast away and made their escape to that side,
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
out of another wreck; that five of their own men were drowned when first the ship 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 they were perfectly useless, for that they had neither
powder nor ball, the washing 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 formed 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 put
my life in their hands; for that gratitude was no inherent virtue in the nature 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 deliverance, 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
accident 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 barque large enough to carry us all away, either to the Brazils
southward, or to the 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 people, I might
be ill−used for my kindness to them, and make my case worse than it was before.
He answered, with a great deal of candour and ingenuousness, that their condition was
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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 bring 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 true 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 safely 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 to 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 there should
happen the least breach of faith among his countrymen. He told me they 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 objection, 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. The case was thus: he had been with us now about a month, during which time I had
let him see in what manner I had provided, with the assistance of Providence, 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 any 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 come; for want might be a temptation to them to disagree, or not to think
themselves 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.»
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 tools we were furnished with permitted; and in about a
month's time, by the end of which 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,
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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 crop; that is to say reckoning
from the time we set our seed aside for sowing; for 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 great, we went freely all
over the island, whenever we found occasion; and as we had 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 several 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 caused 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 inches 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 much 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 means we got about twenty young
kids to breed up with the rest; for whenever we shot 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 too, I assure you, for they are
exceedingly nourishing.
It was now harvest, and our crop in good order: it was not the most plentiful 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 above two hundred and twenty bushels;
and the like in proportion of the rice; which 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 part 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 he 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
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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 were to have done this, when I
knew they had neither pen nor ink, was a question which 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
it, 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.
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 provisions 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 never 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 heard 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 come, 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 might 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 being 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 observation 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, and one that I
had reason to believe was manned by my own countrymen, and consequently friends, was
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such as I cannot describe; but yet I had some secret doubts hung about me − I cannot tell
from whence they came − bidding me keep upon my guard. 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 any part of the world where the English had any traffic; and I
knew there had been 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 that 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 are 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 reasoning; for had I
not been made cautious by this secret admonition, come it from whence it will, I had been
done inevitably, and in a far worse condition than before, 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 they were Englishmen, at least most of them; one or two I thought
were Dutch, but it did not prove so; there were in all eleven men, whereof three of them I
found were unarmed and, as I thought, bound; and when the first four or five of them were
jumped on shore, they took those three out of the boat as prisoners: one of the three I could
perceive using the most passionate gestures of entreaty, affliction, and despair, even to a
kind of extravagance; the other two, I could perceive, lifted up their hands sometimes, and
appeared concerned indeed, but 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
English, as well as he could, «O master! you see English mans eat prisoner as well as savage
mans.» «Why, Friday,» says I, «do you think they are going to eat them, then?» «Yes,» says
Friday, «they will eat them.» «No no,» says I, «Friday; I am afraid they 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 three 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 blood in my body seemed to run chill in my veins. I wished heartily now for
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the Spaniard, and the savage that had gone with him, or that I had any way to have 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 another way. After I had observed
the outrageous usage of the three men by the insolent 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, very pensive, and looked like men in despair. This put me in mind of the first time
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. As 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
was 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 depend 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
deliverance 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 found afterwards, having drunk a little too much brandy, fell
asleep; however, one 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 side being a soft oozy sand, almost like a quicksand.
In this condition, like true seamen, who are, perhaps, the least of all mankind given to
forethought, they gave it over, and away they strolled about the country again; and I heard
one 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 fully 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
was to think how well it was fortified. I knew it was no less than ten hours before 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
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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 were 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 quarter of a mile from me, and, as I thought, out of sight of any of the rest. Upon
this 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
formidable 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 them saw me, I called
aloud to them in Spanish, «What are ye, gentlemen?» 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 armed 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 you 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, with
these two men with me − one my mate, the other a passenger − where we expected 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.» «Have they any firearms?»
said I. He answered, «They had only two pieces, one of which they left in the boat.» «Well,
then,» 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 told 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 return 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
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will resolve further.» So they willingly 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, that 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 devise 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 to be
wholly guided by me. I told him I thought it was very hard venturing anything; but the best
method I could think of was to fire on them at once as they lay, and if any were not killed at
the first volley, and offered to submit, we might 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 found 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 noise, at which one of the seamen who was awake
turned about, and seeing them coming, cried out to the rest; but was too late then, for the
moment he cried out they 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 killed
on the spot, and the other very much wounded; but not being dead, he started up on his feet,
and called eagerly for help to the other; but the captain stepping 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
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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 obliged
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 manner of my being furnished with
provisions and ammunition; and, indeed, as my story is a whole collection of wonders, it
affected him deeply. But when he reflected 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 speak 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 top of the
house, where I refreshed them with such provisions as I had, and showed 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 little 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 princes 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 their lives to the law, would be hardened in it now by desperation, and would carry
it on, knowing that if they were subdued they would be brought to the gallows as soon as
they came to England, or to any of the English colonies, and that, therefore, there would be
no attacking them with so small a number as we were.
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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 prevent 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 their 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
strong for us: this he allowed to be rational. Upon this, I told him the first thing we had to do
was to stave the boat which lay upon the beach, so that they might not carry her of, and
taking everything out of her, leave her so far useless as not to be fit to swim. Accordingly,
we went on board, took the arms which were left on board out of her, and whatever else we
found there − which was a bottle 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 rudder of the
boat were carried away before), we knocked a great hole in her bottom, 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 Islands, and call upon our friends the Spaniards in my way, for I had them still in
my thoughts.
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CHAPTER XVIII − THE SHIP RECOVERED
W
HILE 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 off 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 ship fire a gun, and make a waft with her
ensign as a signal for the boat to come on board − but no boat stirred; and they fired several
times, making other signals 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, hoist
another boat out and row towards the shore; and we found, as they approached, 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 them 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 this 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 very 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 seems 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 past 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 the
consequence, whether death or life, would be sure to be a deliverance. I asked him what he
thought of the circumstances of my life, and whether a deliverance 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 elevated 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 comes
ashore is our own, and shall die or live as they behave to us.» As I spoke this with a raised
voice and cheerful countenance, I found it greatly encouraged 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 ordinary, 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
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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 that if they
attempted their escape they should be put to death without mercy. They 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, indeed, 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 came 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 able to seize the boat. Being on shore, the first thing
they did, they ran all to their 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 shouts, 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 fired 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, that, 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 all of them on board.
The captain was terribly amazed, and even confounded, at this, believing they would go
on board the ship again and set sail, giving their comrades over for 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 coming 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
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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 the 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
the 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 would 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 lowest, 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 there, 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 theirs, 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 juncture 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 boat, 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 the sea; it seems they had such dreadful apprehensions of the danger of the place
that 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 back 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 came 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 others hallooed, to draw them as far into the island and among
the woods as possible, and then wheel about again to me by such ways as I directed them.
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They were just going into the boat when Friday and the mate hallooed; and they
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
along 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 leaving Friday and the
captain's mate to their business, I took the rest with me; and, 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 boat. 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 with 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 heartily
tired them, but left them where they were, very sure they could not reach back to the boat
before it was dark; and, indeed, they were heartily tired themselves 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 foremost of them, long before they came
quite up, calling to those behind to come along; 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 they came up to the boat: but it is impossible to express their
confusion when they 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 there 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 many 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 sometimes
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 killing 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 hands and feet,
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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 dejected 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, the captain and Friday, starting up on their feet, let fly at them. The boatswain
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 was now eight men, viz. myself,
generalissimo; Friday, my lieutenant−general; the 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 see 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, «Ay,
ay; for God's sake, Tom Smith, throw down your arms and yield, or you are all dead men
this moment.» «Who must we yield to? Where are they?» says Smith again. «Here they
are,» says he; «here's our captain and fifty men with him, have been hunting you these two
hours; the boatswain is killed; Will Fry is wounded, and I am a prisoner; and if you do not
yield you 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
arms immediately and submit, you shall have your lives, all but Will Atkins.»
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 tying 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 them upon the villainy
of their practices with him, and upon the further wickedness of their design, and how
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certainly it must bring them to misery and distress 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 might 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 presently
the captain replied, «Tell his excellency I am just coming.» This more perfectly amazed
them, and they all believed that the commander was just 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, and 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 place 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 the 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, yet that if they were sent to England they would all be hanged in chains; but
that if they would join in so just an attempt as to recover the ship, he would have the
governor's engagement for their pardon.
Any one may guess how readily such a proposal would be accepted by men in their
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
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governor what 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 told 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
five; and that if they proved unfaithful in the execution, the five hostages should be hanged
in chains alive on the shore. This looked severe, and convinced them 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, his 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 trusted 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 supply them with necessaries; and I made the other two carry
provisions to a certain 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 direction; that if they did, they would be
fetched into the castle, and be laid in irons: 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 other; and they contrived their business
very well, for they came up to the ship about midnight. As soon as they came within call of
the ship, he made Robinson hail 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 first 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 began to fasten the hatches, to keep them down that
were below; when the other boat and their men, entering at the forechains, secured the
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forecastle of the ship, and the scuttle which went down into the cook−room, making three
men they found 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, and wounded the mate with a musket ball, which
broke his arm, and wounded two more 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 again
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 watching upon the shore for it till near two o'clock
in the morning. Having thus heard the signal plainly, I laid me down; and it having been a
day of great fatigue 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 more than half a mile of the shore; for
they had weighed her anchor as soon as they were masters of her, and, the weather being
fair, had brought her to an anchor just against the mouth of the little creek; and the tide being
up, the captain 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 his pocket
and gave me a dram of cordial, which he had brought on purpose for me. 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 surprise as I was; and he said a thousand kind and tender things to me,
to compose and 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 chain 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 infinite 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 thankfulness to
Heaven; and what heart could forbear to bless Him, who had not only in a miraculous
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manner provided for me in such a wilderness, and in such a desolate 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 little
refreshment, such as the ship afforded, and such as the wretches that had been 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 away with them, but as if I had been to dwell upon the
island still. First, he had 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 pieces 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, which 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 unpleasant, 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 must 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 very 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 that he should leave them upon the island. «I should
be very glad of that,» 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
there till I came. After some time, I came thither dressed in my new habit; and now 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 their villainous behaviour to
the captain, and how they had run away with the ship, 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 which 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 their
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 had to say why I should not
execute them as pirates taken in the fact, as by my commission they could not doubt but I
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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 them; for as for myself, I had
resolved to quit the island with all my men, and had 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 tried for mutiny and running away with the ship; the consequence of which,
they must 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 desired 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 not leave them
there. Upon this I seemed a little angry with the captain, and told him that they were my
prisoners, not his; and that seeing I had offered them so much favour, I would be as good as
my word; and that if he did not think fit to consent to it I would set them at liberty, as I
found them: and if he did not 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 very 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 new
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 them 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 would let them
into the story of my living there, and put them into the way of making it easy to them.
Accordingly, I gave them the whole history of the place, and 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
them in common with themselves. Here it may be noted that the captain, who had ink 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.
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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 story; 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.
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CHAPTER XIX − RETURN TO ENGLAND
H
AVING 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 ship 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 silver 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
eight−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 voyage, 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 the contrary, in gratitude for her former care and
faithfulness to me, I relieved her as my little stock would afford; which at that time would,
indeed, allow 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 Yorkshire; but my father was dead, and my
mother and all the family extinct, except that 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
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provision made for me; so that, in a word, I found nothing to relieve or assist me; and that
the little 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 same 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 view 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 the 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 whom 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 never 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 conversion of the Indians to the Catholic faith: but that, if I appeared, or
any one for me, to claim the inheritance, it would be restored; only that the improvement, 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 lands, and the providore, or steward of the
monastery, had taken great care all along 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 the enjoying his part of it; and that, to the best of
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his remembrance, he had heard 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, and my name being also enrolled in
the register of the country; also he told me that 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
hands 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 for 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 of my effects, when he
knew that I had made my will, and had made him, the Portuguese captain, my universal heir,
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 death; and, besides, he was
not willing to intermeddle with a thing so remote: that 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 tell 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 eight years' profits, which I received. There being at that time great disbursements 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 old 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 me an account
of the first six years' income of my plantation, signed by my partner and the
merchant−trustees, being always delivered in goods, viz. tobacco in roll, and sugar in chests,
besides rum, molasses, which is the consequence of a sugar−work; and I found by this
account, that every year the 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 debtor to
me four hundred and seventy moidores of gold, besides sixty chests of sugar 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 had been obliged to make use of my money to
recover his losses, and buy him a share 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
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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 able 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 what 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 refrain 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
means; 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 never 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 myself. 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 place; and then proposed my staying with him till an
account came of the return.
Never was anything more honourable than the proceedings upon this procuration; 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 plantation, 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 effects 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 nineteen thousand four hundred and forty−six crusadoes,
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being about three thousand two hundred and forty moidores.
Thirdly, there was the Prior of St. Augustine's account, who had received the 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 upon 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 that it contained, how planted, how many
slaves there were upon it: and making two− 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 orders to whom he should deliver my effects if I did not come myself; concluding with
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, had 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 when I found all my wealth about
me; for as the Brazil ships come all in fleets, the 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:
nay, after that I continued very ill, and was so some hours, till a physician being sent for,
and something of the real cause of my illness being known, he ordered 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 spirits, 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 recompense 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 him 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
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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,
empowering him to be the receiver of the annual profits of my plantation: and appointing 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 moidores a year to his son after him, for his life: and thus I
requited my old man.
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 more 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 affairs, 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 that, 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, as 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 Lisbon 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 country 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 having 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 gross
of my stock, that I might go away to the Brazils, and leave things safe behind 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 scruple in my mind about religion,
which insensibly drew me back. However, it was not 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 them, I
began to regret having professed myself a Papist, and thought it might not be the best
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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 being 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. Augustine 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 padre's
prayers for me, and the like. I wrote next a letter of thanks to my two trustees, 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 Italian silks for his wife and two
daughters, for such the captain's son informed me 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 into 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 cases of such moment: two of the
ships which I had singled out to go in, I mean more 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 ships 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 either of those
vessels I had been made miserable.
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Having been thus harassed in my thoughts, my old pilot, to whom I communicated
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 stranger 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 mounted 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 servants, 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 this tedious and
difficult journey I must not omit.
When we came to Madrid, we, being all of us strangers to Spain, were willing 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 Madrid about the middle of
October; but when we came to the edge of Navarre, we were 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 hazard 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 bear 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 with so much violence and so long, that
the people said winter was come before its time; and the roads, which were difficult before,
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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 Europe 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
gentlemen, 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 ourselves from wild beasts; for, he said, in these great snows it was frequent for
some 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 November; 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 snow to be seen; but, on a sudden, turning to his left, he
approached the mountains 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 encumbered 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 soon 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.
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
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us, he would have been devoured before 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 mind 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 other, «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.
It was happy for the poor man that it was my man Friday; for, having been used to such
creatures in his country, he had no fear upon him, but went close up 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 the echo of the mountains, appeared to us as
if there had been a prodigious number 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 any damage,
having happily fastened upon his head, where the bosses of the bridle 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, which 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.
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CHAPTER XX − FIGHT BETWEEN FRIDAY AND A BEAR
B
UT 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 imaginable. As the bear is a heavy,
clumsy creature, and does not gallop as the wolf does, 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 way 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 revenge, 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, till
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 on 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,» says 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; you 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 they
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 Friday 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. Friday, who had, as
we say, the heels of the bear, came up with him quickly, and took up a great stone, and
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CHAPTER XX − FIGHT BETWEEN FRIDAY AND A BEAR 189
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 make 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 us, 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 nimble 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 down 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
anything 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 large 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 could 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 the 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 cried out
earnestly, «Oh, pray! Oh, pray! no shoot, me shoot by and then:» 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 too; for he would not go out far enough to be thrown down, but clung fast
with his 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, «you no come farther, me go; you no come to me, me come to you;» and
upon this he went out to the smaller end, where it would bend with his weight, and gently 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,
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CHAPTER XX − FIGHT BETWEEN FRIDAY AND A BEAR 190
what will you do now? Why don't you shoot him?» «No shoot,» says Friday, «no yet; me
shoot 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, where he stood, but did it very
cautiously, looking behind him every step, and coming 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 muzzle 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 began 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.» 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 people 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 lane, which
we were to pass to get through the wood, and then we should come to the 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 wood, which was not above two furlongs over, we saw five great
wolves cross the road, full speed, one after another, as if they had been in chase of some
prey, and 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 fellow, 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 enough to look about us. The first object we met with was a dead horse; that is
to say, a poor horse which the wolves had killed, and at least a dozen of them at work, we
could not say eating him, but picking his bones rather; for they had eaten up all the flesh
before. We did not think fit to disturb them at their feast, 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
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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 directly
towards us, all in a body, and most of them in a line, as regularly as an army drawn up by
experienced officers. I scarce knew in what manner to receive them, 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 every 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 fusees again, but stand ready, every one with a pistol, for we were all armed with a
fusee and a pair of pistols each man; so we were, by this method, 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, being 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 retreat;
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 shout they began to retire and turn about. I then
ordered a second volley to be fired in their rear, which put them to the gallop, and away they
went to the woods. 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 fusees, 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 worse 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 front, 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 the 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 of 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
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CHAPTER XX − FIGHT BETWEEN FRIDAY AND A BEAR 192
body was eaten up. This filled us with horror, and we knew not what course to take; but the
creatures resolved us soon, for they gathered about us presently, in hopes of prey; and I
verily 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, there 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, and 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 mounted 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 keep a continual firing, for they came
on like devils, those behind pushing on those before.
When we had fired a second volley of our fusees, 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 loth
to spend our shot too hastily; so I called my servant, not my man Friday, for he was better
employed, for, with the greatest dexterity imaginable, he had charged my fusee and his own
while we were engaged − but, as I said, I called my other man, and giving him a horn of
powder, I had him lay a train all along the piece of timber, and let it be a large train. He did
so, and had but just time to get away, when the wolves came up to it, and some got upon it,
when I, snapping an unchanged pistol close 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 the force and fright of the fire; we despatched these in an instant, and the rest
were so frightened with the light, which the night − for it was now very near 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 shout; upon this the wolves turned tail, and we sallied
immediately upon near twenty 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 daylight 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 sometimes 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 night 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 especially in the night, to preserve their cattle,
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER XX − FIGHT BETWEEN FRIDAY AND A BEAR 193
and indeed their people.
The next morning our guide was so ill, and his limbs swelled so much with the 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 told 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 other times they are really afraid of a gun; but being
excessively hungry, and raging on that account, the eagerness to come at the horses had
made them senseless 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 still 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 number. 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 with 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 January, 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.
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER XX − FIGHT BETWEEN FRIDAY AND A BEAR 194
And now, having resolved to dispose of my plantation in the Brazils, I wrote 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 theirs 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 Providence'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 of 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 past running
any more hazards − and so, indeed, I had been, if other circumstances 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 though 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
poor Spaniards were in being there. My true friend, the widow, earnestly dissuaded 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 addition to his estate after my decease. The other I placed with the
captain of a ship; and after five years, finding him a sensible, bold, enterprising young
fellow, 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 married, 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 there; 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
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER XX − FIGHT BETWEEN FRIDAY AND A BEAR 195
they made upon the island itself, and how five of them made 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 the 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, which 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 the 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 bought 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 cows, 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 whole number twice, and
were at first defeated, and one of them killed; but at last, 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 adventures of my
own, for ten years more, I shall give a farther account of in the Second Part of my Story.
Robinson Crusoe
CHAPTER XX − FIGHT BETWEEN FRIDAY AND A BEAR 196
Table of Content
CHAPTER I − START IN LIFE
CHAPTER II − SLAVERY AND ESCAPE
CHAPTER III − WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND
CHAPTER IV − FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND
CHAPTER V − BUILDS A HOUSE − THE JOURNAL
CHAPTER VI − ILL AND CONSCIENCE−STRICKEN
CHAPTER VII − AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE
CHAPTER VIII − SURVEYS HIS POSITION
CHAPTER IX − A BOAT
CHAPTER X − TAMES GOATS
CHAPTER XI − FINDS PRINT OF MAN'S FOOT ON THE SAND
CHAPTER XII − A CAVE RETREAT
CHAPTER XIII − WRECK OF A SPANISH SHIP
CHAPTER XIV − A DREAM REALISED
CHAPTER XV − FRIDAY'S EDUCATION
CHAPTER XVI − RESCUE OF PRISONERS FROM CANNIBALS
CHAPTER XVII − VISIT OF MUTINEERS
CHAPTER XVIII − THE SHIP RECOVERED
CHAPTER XIX − RETURN TO ENGLAND
CHAPTER XX − FIGHT BETWEEN FRIDAY AND A BEAR
Robinson Crusoe
Table of Content 197
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