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XI
cop. 2.
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NEW-YORK.
Hubbard
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G. Crudeshank pinx!
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Frontispiece
Vol. 1, page 289.
Published by John Major, 50. Fleet Street. July 1,1831
THE LIFE
AND
SURPRISING ADVENTURES
OF
ROBINSON CRUSOE,
OF YORK, MARINER.
WITH INTRODUCTORY VERSES BY BERNARD BARTON,
AND ILLUSTRATED
WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS
FROM DRAWINGS
BY GEORGE CRUIKSHANK
EXPRESSLY DESIGNED FOR
THIS EDITION.
VOL. I.

LONDON:
PRINTED AT THE SHAKSPEARE PRESS, BY W. NICOL,
FOR
JOHN MAJOR, FLEET STREET.
1831.
"Twere well with most, if books that could engage
Their childhood, pleas'd them at a riper age;
The man, approving what had charm'd the boy,
Would die at last in comfort, peace, and joy;
And not with curses on his art, who stole
The gem of truth from his unguarded soul.
COWPER.
PREFACE.
A PREFACE has been pronounced to be, for the most
part, an impertinence; since a good Book does not
require, and a bad Book does not deserve, one. Every
rule, however, has its exceptions; and, it is necessary
to explain the manner in which the following verses
became a part of the present work.
Several years ago the writer of them prefixed, to a
Volume of his own, some Verses inscribed to a Friend*
and Relative, whose works for the rising generation are
extensively known, and deservedly esteemed, in which
he made a passing allusion to DEFOE, with other writers
for Children, whose volumes, in his early life, were
Standards in the Juvenile Library. An Extract from
this Poem, forming stanzas 3, 4, and 5, of the Verses
* Maria Hack, Author of " Grecian," and " English Stories,"
-“ Harry Beaufoy," &c.
r
PREFACE.
now printed, having been given by Wilson in his Life
of Defoe, the Publisher of these Volumes being much
struck with their beauty, requested of his kind friend
the author to amplify them so as to form a full and
appropriate Introduction. The result has only proved
that neither the flowing ease of the writer nor his
willingness to oblige were unjustly anticipated.
For the Edition now submitted to the Public little
need be said. No apology can be requisite for any
attempt to present to Readers of every age and rank a
Book confessedly at the very head of its class, in a more
generally attractive form than it has ever before been
offered. The new set of Illustrations by which it is em-
bellished, being above one third more in number than
the celebrated Series by the admirable Stothard, conse-
quently includes (without omitting any main point of the
Story) several Subjects peculiarly suited to our present
Artist's singular powers; at the same time he has thrown
into others a degree of sentiment for which his most
ardent admirers are, perhaps, little prepared. Those
who are personally acquainted with him will be not a
little pleased to recognize his own Portrait in the ear-
lier scenes of their old favorite Robinson Crusoe.
Where a Portrait of the Author harmonizes with,
and is characteristic of the Work published, it forms
PREFACE.
an appropriate embellishment of it. This was strik-
ingly exemplified in the Portrait of Bunyan, prefixed by
the Publisher of the present Work to a recent edition
of The Pilgrim's Progress. It was obviously, that of
a grave and devout Divine; bold enough to offer battle
to Apollyon; sufficiently sober and serious to resist all
the allurements of Vanity-Fair; shrewd and acute
enough to silence in argument a thousand Talkatives;
yet with a latent expression of benevolence and gentle-
ness befitting one who might be supposed to have held
converse with those unearthly Shepherds who tended
their fleecy charge on the summits of the Delectable
Mountains. But the Portrait of Defoe, unfortunately,
is much more indicative of the Historian, or the Poli-
tician, than of the Author of that celebrated Fiction to
which he is chiefly indebted for his Fame; and to the
scenes of which the embellishments have, therefore,
been confined.
For similar reasons even a Sketch of his Life has
not been included. Wilson's elaborate and circum-
stantial Biography, added to others more brief and
fugitive, leave little or nothing new to be said of the
Man, nor could the most minute details of his own life
afford any apposite illustration of The Life and Adven-
tures of his Hero.-
PREFACE.
It only remains, to wish the Reader a good appetite
for, and a healthy digestion of, the Banquet here pro-
vided it is a truly English one; for Robinson Crusoe
is to the Boy's Library,* what Roast Beef is to John
Bull's table, a National dish; its motto is "cut and
come again;' and it is happily said of it,
There are few Books one can read through and through so,
With new delight, either on wet or dry day,
As that which chronicles the acts of CRUSOE,
And the good faith and deeds of his man FRIDAY!
J. M.
* Peculiarly interesting as this most extraordinary book has
ever been found to young persons, it has also been pronounced
to deserve a place in the library of every scholar and man of
taste; the reader will, therefore, be happy to learn that the TEXT,
which had been much corrupted by arbitrary alterations, or cul-
pable negligence, is restored in this edition by a careful colla-
tion with the early copies of both parts of the work.
INTRODUCTORY VERSES,
OR
A POET'S MEMORIAL OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
1.
CLASSIC of Boy-hood's bright and balmy hour,
Be thine the tribute I have ow'd thee long ;-
Though round life's later years some clouds may lower,
And thoughts of worldly cares at seasons throng,
I would not so its happier morning wrong,
Or those who woke its earlier tear, or smile,
As find no meed for Man-hood's grateful song
In legends wont my Child-hood to beguile
Of Crusoe's lonely life upon his desart Isle.
VOL. I.
b
ii
INTRODUCTORY VERSES.
2.
I still remember the intense delight,
The thrilling interest, wonder, strange and dread,
Which in those blissful moments brief and bright
On that familiar fiction fondly fed;
When o'er the Volume with me borne to bed
I hung enraptur'd at morn's earliest beam,
Until the eventful chronicle I read
Appear'd no longer Fancy's vivid dream,
But wore the form of Truth, and Hist'ry's sober theme.
3.
"It is no unsubstantial good to dwell
In Child-hood's heart, on Child-hood's guileless tongue,
To be the chosen, favorite Oracle
Consulted by the innocent and young;
To be remember'd as the light that flung
Its first fresh lustre on the unwrinkl'd brow;
And some who now may cleave as I have clung
To pleasure known, unheeding why, or how,
Hereafter to thy worth may loftier praise allow.
INTRODUCTORY VERSES.
iii
4.
"Due to an Author honour'd for the sake
Of past enjoyment;-ay, and still possessing,
When thoughts of happy infancy awake,
A charm beyond the power of words expressing.
Yes, I am not asham'd of thus confessing
The debt my early Child-hood seems to owe,
And might I claim the power to invoke a blessing
On them who first excited rapture's glow,
'T would fall on Barbauld, Berquin, Bunyan, Day, Defoe!
5.
"Their works were dear to me before I knew,
Or cared to know if they were own'd by Fame;
And after all that Life has led me through
Of pain or pleasure they are still the same;
Whene'er I meet them they appear to claim
Familiar greeting, not to be denied,
Nor should it, for so complex is the frame
On which our minds' whole store is edified,
'Twere hard for me to tell what they have not supplied.
iv
INTRODUCTORY VERSES.
6.
And of the Tomes which thus, in early youth,
Were most especial favorites of mine,
Perus'd with willing credence of their truth,
None might surpass, and few might equal thine,
DANIEL DEFOE !-In Memory's cherish'd Shrine
The Adventures it relates are graven still;
Nor 'till remembrance shall her power resign,
Or worldly cares each glow of fancy chill,
Can scenes recorded there my bosom fail to thrill.
7.
They rise before me now! with fancy's eye
I mark the wilful Truant's vagrant flight;
The storm comes on, the sea runs mountains high,
And penitence succeeds to brief delight,
Itself, alas! as brief. The skies are bright
Again, and He a Wanderer as before;
'Till chastisement recals a sense of right,
Compelling him his folly to deplore,
An exile far from home, a Captive to the Moor.
INTRODUCTORY VERSES.
S.
Once more at Liberty: and Fortune smiles,
As oft she will the brighter for her frown,
Upon the Planter in Brazilian Isles:
He has a Home which he might call his own,
But restless still, and soon as weary grown
Of sober life, and patient industry,
Again the ventrous Mariner is gone,
Like one who had not known Captivity,
Poor Blacks to till his ground on Guinea's Coast to buy.
9.
Again the tempest rises in its ire;
Ill may his Bark such hurricane withstand;
Two hands are drown'd, and in the panic dire
A third proclaims the joyful news of Land!
Delusive hope;-the ship strikes on the sand;
They man the boat, and strive to reach the shore ;—
One, only one-hath gain'd that lonely strand,
To dwell in solitude unknown before,
Than Anchorite's more strict, or Hermit's stern and hoar.
}
vi
INTRODUCTORY VERSES.
10.
A less inventive Genius than thine own
Had left our shipwreck'd Hero to his lot,
But thou, Defoe, o'er that lone isle hast thrown
A spell so potent, who hath felt it not?-
Unto my boyhood 'twas a fairy spot ;
Yet to my fancy so familiar made
I seem'd as well to know Creek, Cave, and Grot,
Its open beach, its tangled green-wood shade,
As if I there had dwelt, and Crusoe's part had played.
11.
Fain would I dwell, did not my limits check
The fond desire, and chide the loved delay,
Upon thy daily visits to the Wreck,
And all the varied stores thou brought'st away,
Needful resource of many an after day :
Fain would I paint the Home thy hands uprear'd;
Thy house-hold goods and chattels too pourtray,
Whose rude contrivance many a sad hour cheer'd,
Which if to idlesse given more wretched had appear'd.
INTRODUCTORY VERSES.
12.
Nor is thy story useless, if it serve
To point this moral to the Stripling's heart,
That nothing like Necessity can nerve
The Man to play a truly manly part :
The mother of invention, nurse of art,
What is there, needful, which we do not owe
To her compulsion? Steersman's guiding Chart,
His trembling needle, pointing where to go,
The Anchor which he casts, the Lead he drops below:
13.
The Beacon's warning light, whose star-like beam
Flings out its friendly lustre o'er the wave;
The Philanthropic Chemist's lamp, whose gleam
In safety lights the Miner in his cave,
Which noxious damps might render else his grave;
All Medicine's triumphs, and Mechanics' power,
Philosophy's research, when Franklin gave
The electric rod to guard the loftiest tower,-
These are thy trophies all, and glorious is thy dower.
vii
viii
INTRODUCTORY VERSES.
14.
But, not to moralize too long, I turn,
Crusoe, to thy delightful page once more;
And from thy homely Journal gladly learn
A less ambitious, more attractive lore.
With Thee I now thy loneliness deplore,
And share thy griefs, a mournful Cast-away,
Anon, with humble hopes, from Scripture's store
Cull'd in adversity's instructive day,
With thee in thy lone isle I meditate and pray.
15.
I may not pause o'er each attractive scene,
Or object in thy varied record traced,
Which, like a brighter spot of livelier green,
Shines an Oasis in the desart waste
Of thy existence; yet some such are graced
With so much simple beauty they must dwell
In vivid hues and forms yet un-effaced
On Memory's tablet while her magic spell
Can render records there by Time indelible.
INTRODUCTORY VERSES.
ix
16.
Witness thy clusters of ripe Grapes, up-hung,
With prudent fore-thought in the Sun to dry ;
For them my mouth has water'd oft, when young,
As fruit with which no Grocer's stores could vie.
The grains of Barley, thrown unthinking by,
Awakening in thy heart such glad surprise
When bearing ears of Corn! a mystery
That well might fill with thankful tears thine eyes,
Tears with which Childhood's heart could freely sympathize.
17.
Next came thy live-stock ;-what a group was thine!
Thy Cats, I scarcely thought them like our own:
Thy Goats, how often have I wish'd them mine:-
But most of all was Child-hood's fancy prone
To envy thee thy Parrot! how its tone,
When thou hadst taught it speech, must strike thine ear,
In that unspeaking Solitude alone!
Tho' but an echo of thy voice, 'twas dear
Recalling thoughts of sounds thou never more might'st hear.
X
INTRODUCTORY VERSES.
18.
And then thy cumbrous, over-sized Canoe!
Would all Projectors learn that tale by rote
Many, I ween, would make far less ado
With schemes which, like thine own can never float:
Let those who now thy want of foresight quote
Learn to correct their error, too, like thee;
For thou didst build thyself a smaller boat,
Nor could thy hopes surpass my boyish glee
What time that bark was launch'd, thyself once more at sea!
19.
But what were these, or all the produce rich
Of thy Tobacco, Lemons, Grapes, and Canes,
Compared with Him whose Name hath found a Niche
In Childhood's heart? whose Memory still retains
Its greenness there, 'mid losses, cares or gains
Of later life I scarce need write his Name,
Partner of all thy pleasures, and thy pains;
His was a Servant's, Friend's, and Brother's claim;
And peerless in all three shines faithful Friday's fame.
INTRODUCTORY VERSES.
xi
20.
How much in him to love, and to admire,
Erst charm'd my boyhood, cheers my manhood still;
His touching meeting with his aged Sire,
Whom cruel cannibals brought there to kill,
Both then and now my eyes with tears could fill;
His simple awe, and wonder ever new ;
His broken English :--when did Author's skill
Hold up a lovelier Portraiture to view?
Or King a subject boast more loyal, warm, and true?
21.
Nor less of sympathy, and interest deep
Thy fears and perils waken'd in my breast;
When watchful vigils thou wert wont to keep,
And barbarous Indians threaten'd to molest,
Or when dire sickness robb'd thy couch of rest :-
But most of all I held my breath with awe
At that strange foot-mark on the shore, imprest,
More fearful than if traced by Lion's paw;
Thy panic at that sight let Cruikshank's pencil draw !
xii
INTRODUCTORY VERSES.
22.
What need to dwell on all of dark or bright
With which thy varied pages richly teem;
Now faint and dim, like visions of the night
To Memory's glance; now fair as morning's dream;
Or glowing like the west in sun-set's gleam,
When gorgeous clouds are edg'd with burnish'd gold ;
Enough is said to prove how much my theme
Possesses of attractions manifold
The love it early won in after life to hold.
23.
What marvel, then, that I should greet once more
My former favorite as a welcome guest?
Nor less so when I find his antique Lore
With novel decorations richly drest,
Where ART has done her worthiest, and her best,
Guided by TASTE and GENIUS, to pourtray
The Author's beauties; giving added zest
To scenes and objects whose delightful sway
Thus triumphs over Time, and needs not dread decay.
INTRODUCTORY VERSES.
xiii
24.
But I must bid my pleasant theme adieu!
Though lingering thought upon it fain would dwell;
Grateful I feel for what can thus renew
A sense of Youth's once bright and joyous spell;
And call back from the dim and shadowy cell
Of Memory, visions of departed days;
Yet, ere I take a long, a last farewell,
Forgive me READER! if my Muse essays
To take her leave of thee in fitting Minstrel phrase.
25.
Art thou a Stripling,-in the bloom of youth
Feasting on Fiction in a garb so fair?
Yet may these pages teach thee useful Truth
If they inculcate Wisdom, Forethought, Carc,
And show thee how to suffer, and to bear
With patient hope and fortitude the ill,
Which all who live, or more, or less must share ;
So shalt thou best the Author's aim fulfil
Avoid his Hero's harm, partake his pleasures still.
Xiv
INTRODUCTORY VERSES.
26.
Art thou a Worldling,—in Life's thoughtful Noon
Toiling in Traffic's ceaseless strife and din?
Or seeking, as thy Being's proudest boon,
Ambition's heights, or Fashion's fame to win?
Turn from each glittering bait, and specious gin!
Let a mere School-boy's tale this lesson teach
All that enobles Man is found within!
And no bad moral doth our Hero preach
Making the best he can of good within his reach.
27.
Art thou a Veteran,-in the vale of years,
Yet looking back, at times, with wistful gaze,
Upon the pains and pleasures, hopes and fears,
Shadow and sunshine of thy by-gone days?-
Here, if no guilt upon thy conscience weighs,
And generous feelings in thy heart still glow,
Some of the brightness which so fondly plays
Around the past, the present shall bestow,
And Thou in hoary age a Child's enjoyment know.
INTRODUCTORY VERSES.
28.
But now Farewell to Crusoe, and his Isle !
Farewell to his Man Friday! best of Men!
His toils, his cares, his sorrows to beguile :-
"We ne'er shall look upon their like again!"
Unless another with as deep a ken
As thine DEFOE! into these hearts of our's,
Should come once more on earth, and wield his pen
To call up mental sunshine, mixt with showers,
For Childhood, Youth, and Age by its creative powers!
Woodbridge,
6th Mo. 20th, 1831.
BERNARD BARTON.
XV

THE
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
OF
ROBINSON CRUSOE.
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
VOL. I.
B
2
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption of words
in England, we are now called, nay we call our-
selves, and write our name Crusoe; and so my com-
panions always called me.
I had two elder brothers, one of which was lieute-
nant-colonel to an English regiment of foot in Flan-
ders, 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 did know what was become 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 gene-
rally 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 propension 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 wander-
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
3
ing inclination I had for leaving my father's house
and my native country, where I might be well intro-
duced, 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 for-
tunes on one hand, or of aspiring, superior fortunes
on the other, and who went abroad upon adven-
tures, to rise by enterprise, and make themselves
famous in undertakings of a nature out of the com-
mon 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 ex-
perience, was the best state in the world, the most
suited to human happiness, not exposed to the mise-
ries 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 consequences of being born to 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 just
standard of true 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
4
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
upper and lower part of mankind; but that the mid-
dle station had the fewest disasters, and was not ex-
posed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower
part of mankind; nay, they were not subjected to so
many distempers and uneasiness, either of body or
mind, as those were, who, by vicious living, luxury,
and extravagances, on one hand, or by hard labour,
want of necessaries, and mean or insufficient diet,
on the other hand, bring distempers upon themselves
by the natural consequences of their way of living ;
that the middle station of life was calculated for all
kind of virtues 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 de-
sirable 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, or harassed with perplexed circum-
stances, 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
5
10
;
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 neces-
sity 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 been just 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 warn-
ing 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 encou-
ragement 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 would 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
6
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
:
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 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, as
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 so hastily neither as the first
heat of my resolution prompted, but I took my mo-
ther, at a time when I thought her a little pleasanter
than ordinary, and told her, that my thoughts were
so entirely bent upon seeing the world, that I should
never settle to any thing 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,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
7
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 con-
sent to any thing 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 mean time, I continued obsti-
nately deaf to all proposals of settling to business,
and frequently expostulating with my father and
mother about their being so positively determined
1
8
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
against what they knew my inclinations prompted
me to. But being one day at Hull, whither I went
casually, and without any purpose of making an
elopement that time; but, I say, being there, and
one of my companions being going by sea to London,
in his father's ship, and prompting me to go with
them, with the common allurement of a sea-faring
man; that it should cost me nothing for my pas
sage, I consulted neither father or 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 first of Septem-
ber, 1651, I went on board a ship bound for London.
Never any young adventurer's misfortunes, I believe,
began sooner, or continued longer than mine. The
ship was no sooner got out of the Humber, but
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 counsel 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
been since, reproached me with the contempt of
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
9
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 any thing 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 ob-
servations 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, in short, 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 continued, 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,
10
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 indeed
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 cap-full of wind?"
“A cap-full d'you call it?" said I; "'twas a ter-
rible 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 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
11
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 reflec-
tion; and the serious thoughts did, as it were, endea-
vour 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 my 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 an one, as the worst and most hardened
wretch among us would confess both the danger and
the mercy.
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 con-
trary, viz. at south-west, for seven or eight days,
during which time a great many ships from New-
12
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
castle came into the same roads, as the common har-
bour where the ships might wait for a wind for the
River.
We had not, however, rid here so long, but we
should have tided it up the 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 an harbour, the anchorage good, and our
ground tackle very strong, our men were uncon-
cerned, and not in the least apprehensive of danger,
but spent the time in rest and mirth, after the man-
ner of the sea; but the eighth day in the morning
the wind increased, and we had all hands at work to
strike our top-masts, and make every thing snug
and close, that the ship might ride as easy as possible.
By noon the sea went very high indeed, and our
ship rid 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 a-head, and the
cables veered out to the better 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
13
:
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 too like the
first but when the master himself came by me, as
I said just now, and said we should be all lost, I was
dreadfully frighted: I got up out of my cabin, and
looked out; but such a dismal sight I never saw;
the sea went 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 rid near us, we found, had cut their
masts by the board, being deep laden; and our
men cried out, that a ship which rid about a mile
a-head 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 not with 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 her away also, and make a clear deck.
14
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
Any one must 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 convic-
tions, 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, 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 boat-
swain, 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 on purpose 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 very word
my heart, as I thought, died within me, and I fell
backwards upon the side of my bed where I sat,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
15
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 the sea,
and would come near us, ordered to fire a gun as
a signal of distress. I, who knew nothing what they
meant, was so surprised, that I thought the ship
had broke, 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 every body had his own
life to think of, nobody minded me, or what was
become of me; but another man stept 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.
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 as
it was not possible she could swim till we might run
into any port, so the master continued firing guns for
help; and a light ship, who had rid it out just a-head
of us, ventured a boat out to help us. It was with
the utmost hazard the 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
16
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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
to 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 but 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 that moment 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 light-house at Winterton, the shore
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
17
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 diffi-
culty, 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, an emblem of our blessed Saviour's pa-
rable, 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 obsti-
nacy 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 but some such decreed unavoidable misery
attending, and which it was impossible for me to
escape, could have pushed me forward against the
calm reasonings and persuasions of my most retired
VOL. I.
C
18
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
thoughts, and against two such visible instructions
as I had met with in my first attempt.
CC
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 quar-
ters; I say, the first time he saw me, it appeared his
tone was altered, and, looking very melancholy, and
shaking his head, asked me how I did, and telling
his father who I was, and how I had come this voy-
age only for a trial, in order to go farther 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 for a 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 with 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 thou-
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
19
sand pounds." This indeed was, as I said, an excur-
sion 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 ;
told me I might see a visible hand of Heaven against
"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."
me.
We parted soon after; for I made him little
answer, and I saw him no more; which way he went,
I know 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 go 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 every body
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
20
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 stayed 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 a return wore off with it, till at last I
quite laid aside the thoughts of it, and looked out
for a voyage.
That 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 call it, a voyage
to Guinea.
;
It was my great misfortune that in all these adven-
tures I did not ship myself as a sailor; whereby,
though I might indeed have worked a little harder
than ordinary, yet at the same time I had learnt the
duty and office of a foremast-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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
21
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
learnt 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 unguided 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 fell 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 con-
versation, 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 any thing 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 in such toys and trifles as the captain directed
me to buy. This £40 I had mustered together by
the assistance of some of my relations whom I cor-
22
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
responded 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, and 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
that were needful to be understood by a sailor: for,
as he took delight to introduce 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, 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 the 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
23
voyage that ever man made; for though I did not
carry quite £100 of my new-gained wealth, so that
I had £200 left, and which I lodged with my friend's
widow, who was very just to me, yet I fell into ter-
rible misfortunes in this voyage; and the first was
this, viz. 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 canvass as our yards would
spread, or our masts carry, to have got clear; but
finding the pirate gained upon us, and would cer-
tainly 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 200 men
which he had on board. However, we had not a
man touched, all our men keeping close. He pre-
pared 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
24
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
deck of them twice. However, to cut short this me-
lancholy 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 coun-
try 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 sur-
prising change of my circumstances, from a mer-
chant to a miserable slave, I was perfectly over-
whelmed; and now I looked back upon my father's
prophetic discourse to me, that I should be mise-
rable, and have none to relieve me, which I thought
was now so effectually brought to pass, that I could
not be worse ;
that now the hand of Heaven had
overtaken me, and I was undone without redemp-
tion: but, alas! this was but a taste of the misery
I was to go through, as will appear in the sequel of
this story.
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 sometime 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 gar-
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
25
den, 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 Scotsman there but myself; so that
for two years, though I often pleased myself with
the imagination, yet I never had the least encourag-
ing prospect of putting it in practice.
After about two years an odd circumstance pre-
sented 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 fit-
ting 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 a young Maresco
with him to row the boat, we made him very merry,
and I proved very dexterous in catching fish; inso-
much 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
stark calm morning, a fog rose so thick, that though
26
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 particularly 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 long-boat of our English
ship he had taken, he resolved he would not go a
fishing any more without a compass and some pro-
vision; 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; and room be-
fore 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 gibed 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 particularly his bread, rice, and coffee.
We went frequently out with this boat a fishing,
and as I was most dexterous to catch fish for him,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
27
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 distinc-
tion in that place, and for whom he had provided
extraordinarily, and had therefore sent on board the
boat over-night a larger store of provisions than or-
dinary; and had ordered me to get ready three
fuzees with powder and shot, which were on board
his ship; for that they designed some sport of fowl-
ing 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 every thing to
accommodate his guests; when by and by my patron
came on board alone, and told me his guests had
put off going, upon 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 like
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; for any where, to get out of that
place, was my way.
My first contrivance was to make a pretence to
28
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
speak to this Moor, to get something for our subsist-
ence 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 of
their kind, and three jars with 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 bees-wax into the boat, which
weighed above 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, espe-
cially the wax to make candles. Another trick I
tried upon him, which he innocently came into also;
his name was Ismael, whom 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 (afowl 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 accord-
ingly he brought a great leather pouch which held
about 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,
:
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
29
pouring what was in it into another; and thus fur-
nished with every thing 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 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 catched
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 run
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
twist, 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
30
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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

LUUTSON SE.
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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
31
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 Maho-
met 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 mistrust 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 swim-
ming, 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 sur-
round us with their canoes, and destroy us; where we
could never once go on shore but we should be de-
voured 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
32
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 150 miles south of
Sallee; quite beyond the Emperor of Morocco's
dominions, or indeed of any other king thereabouts,
for we saw no people.
Yet such was the fright I had taken at 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, or where; neither what lati-
tude, what country, what nation, or what river: I
neither saw, or desired to see any people; the prin-
cipal 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 dread-
ful 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 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,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
33
laughing, "make them run wey." Such English
Xury spoke by conversing among us slaves. How-
ever 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, wal-
lowing 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:
C
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 surprized me; however, I imme-
diately 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.
VOL. I.
D
34
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 upon 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 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 or where to get it, was
the point: Xury said, if I would let him go on shore
with one of the jars, he would find if there was any
water, and bring some to me. I asked him why he
would go? why I should not go, and he stay in the
boat? The boy answered with so much affection, that
made me love him ever after. Says he, "If wild
mans come, they eat me, you go wey."-
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.
"Well,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
35
I did not care to go out of sight of the boat, fear-
ing 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 we had killed,
and prepared to go on our way, having seen no foot-
steps 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 Verd 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, and knew not where to look
for them, or when to stand off to sea towards them;
36
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 be-
tween 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 numbers 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 an hundred miles toge-
ther 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 day-time I thought I saw the
Pico of Teneriffe, being the high top of the Moun-
tain Teneriffe in the Canaries; and had a great mind
to venture out, in hopes of 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.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
37
Several times I was obliged to land for fresh
water, after we had left this place; and once in par-
ticular, being early in the 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 go 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 bad 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 broke, fell down again, and then got
up upon three legs, and gave the most hideous roar
38
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 dispatched 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
Indeed it took us both up
very ill how to do it.
the whole day, but at last we got off the hide of
him, and spreading it on the top of our cabin, the
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
39
sun effectually dried it in two days' time, and it
afterwards served me to lie upon.
After this stop, we made on to the southward
continually for ten or twelve days, living very sparing
on our provisions, which began to abate very much,
and going no oftener into 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,
any where about the Cape de Verd, 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
Brasil, 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 stark 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 hands, except one, who had a long slender
40
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
stick, which Xury said was a lance, and that they
would 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 dry 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 was not for venturing 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; be-
cause, in the first place, those ravenous creatures
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
41
:
seldom appear but in the night; and in the second
place, we found the people terribly frighted, espe-
cially the women. The man that had the lance or
dart did not fly from them, but the rest did; how-
ever, as the two creatures ran directly into the
water, they did not seem to offer to fall upon any
of the Negroes, but plunged themselves into the
sea, and swam about, as if they had come for their
diversion at last, one of them began to come
nearer our boat than at first. I expected; but I lay
ready for him, for I had loaded my gun with all
possible expedition, and bade Xury load both the
others. As soon as he came fairly within my reach,
I fired, and shot him directly in the head: imme-
diately he sunk down into the water, but rose
instantly, and plunged up and down, as if he was
struggling for life, and so indeed he was: he imme-
diately 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 to the shore, 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
42
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 were for eating
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, making as if 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 sup-
pose in the sun; this they set down to me, as before,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
43
and I sent Xury on shore with my jars, and filled
them all three. The women were as stark 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
Verd, and those the islands, called, from thence,
Cape de Verd Islands. However, they were at a
great distance, and I could not well tell what I had
best to do; for if I should be taken with a fresh of
wind, I might neither reach one or other.
In this dilemma, as I was very pensive, I stepped
into the cabin, and sat me 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, when I knew we were gotten far enough out of
their reach. I jumped out of the cabin, and imme-
diately saw, not only the ship, but what she was,
viz. that it was a Portuguese ship, and, as I thought,
was bound to the coast of Guinea, for Negroes.
44
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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.

-JACKSON.5c
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 me, by
the help of their perspective glasses, and 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
45
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 Scots 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, con-
dition 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 Brasils.
CC
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 Brasils, 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;
Seignor 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."
46
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 offer to touch any
thing I had then he took every thing into his own
possession, and gave me back an exact inventory of
them, that I might have them, even so much as my
three earthen jars.
:
As to my boat, it was a very good one; and that
he saw, and told me he would buy it of me for the
ship's use; and asked me what I would have for
it? I told him, he had been so generous to me in
every thing, 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 Brasil;
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 not willing 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 cap-
tain have him.
We had a very good voyage to the Brasils, and
arrived in the Bay de Todos los Santos, or All
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
47
Saint's 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 now 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 every thing 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 bees-wax,-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
Brasils.
I had not been long here, before I was recom-
mended 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 mean time, 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
a letter of naturalization, I purchased as much land
48
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 any thing else, for
about two years. However, we began to encrease,
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 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 had 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 ad-
vice: nay, I was coming into the very middle sta-
tion, 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 staid at home, and
never have fatigued myself in the world, as I had
done and I used often to say to myself, I could
:
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
49
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 condi-
tion with the utmost regret. I had nobody to con-
verse 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, Hea-
ven 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, near 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,
VOL. I.
E
50
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
for so he always called me, "if you will give me
letters, and a procuration here in form to me, with
orders to the person who has your money in Lon-
don, 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 pre-
pared letters to the gentlewoman with whom I had
left my money, and a procuration to the Portuguese
captain, as he desired.
I wrote the English captain's widow a full account
of all my adventures; my slavery, escape, and how
I had met with the Portugal 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 at Lon-
don, who represented it effectually to her: where-
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
51
upon 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
writ for, sent them directly to him at Lisbon, and
he brought them all safe to me to the Brasils: 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, iron work, and utensils,
necessary for my plantation, and which were of great
use to me.
When this cargo arrived, I thought my fortunes
made, for I was surprised with the joy of it; and
my good 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 ac-
cept of any consideration, except a little tobacco,
which I would have him accept, being of my own
produce.
Neither was this all: but my goods being all En-
glish manufactures, 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
52
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 was it 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 hundred weight, were
well cured, and laid by against the return of the fleet
from Lisbon: and now increasing in business and in
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 encrease my
fault, and double the reflections upon myself, which
my future sorrows I should have leisure to make,
all these miscarriages were procured by my apparent
obstinate adhering to my foolish inclination of wander-
ing abroad, and pursuing that inclination, in contra-
diction to the clearest views of doing myself good in
a fair and plain pursuit of those prospects, and those
measures of life, which nature and providence con-
curred to present me with, and to make my duty.
in
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
53
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 gulph 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 parti-
culars of this part of my story:-You may suppose,
that having now lived almost four years in the Bra-
sils, and beginning to thrive and prosper very well
upon my plantation, I had not only learned the lan-
guage, 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 Ne-
groes there, and how easy it was to purchase upon
the coast for trifles-such as beads, toys, knives,
scissars, hatchets, bits of glass, and the like-not
only gold dust, Guinea grains, elephants' teeth, &c.
but Negroes, for the service of the Brasils, in great
numbers.
They listened always very attentively to my dis-
courses on these heads, but especially to that part
which related to the buying Negroes; which was a
54
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
trade, at that time, not only not far entered into,
but, as far as it was, had been carried on by the
assientos, or permission of the kings of Spain and
Portugal, and engrossed in the public stock; so that
few Negroes were brought, and those excessive dear.
It happened, being in company with some mer-
chants and planters of my acquaintance, and talking
of those things very earnestly, three of them came
to me the 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
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, whe-
ther 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 set-
tlement and plantation of his own to look after,
which was in a fair way of coming to be very con-
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
55
siderable, and with a good stock upon it. But for
me, that was thus entered and established, and had
nothing to do but 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 encreasing 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's good
counsel was lost upon me. In a word, I told them
I would go with all my heart, if they would under-
take 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
56
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 circum-
stance, 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 dic-
tates of my fancy, rather than my reason: and ac-
cordingly, 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 of September, 1659, being the
same day eight year 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 interest.
Our ship was about one hundred and twenty ton
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 odd trifles, especially little
looking-glasses, knives, scissars, hatchets, and the
like.
The same day I went on board we set sail, stand-
ing away to the northward upon our own coast, with
design to stretch over for the African coast, when
they came about ten or twelve degrees of northern
latitude, which, it seems, was the manner of their
course in those days. We had very good weather,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
57
only excessive hot, all the way upon our own coast,
till we came to the height of Cape St. Augustino;
from whence, keeping farther 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, in7 degrees 22 minutes
northern latitude, when a violent tornado, or hurri-
cane, 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, scud-
ding away before it, let it carry us whither ever 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 died 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 11 degrees north latitude, but
that he was 22 degrees of longitude difference west
from Cape St. Augustino; so that he found he was
gotten upon the coast of Guiana, or the north part
of Brasil, beyond the river Amazons, toward that of
the river Oroonoque, commonly called the Great
58
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 Brasil.
4.
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 in-draft 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 assis-
tance, 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 12 degrees 18 minutes, a second
storm came upon us, which carried us away with
the same impetuosity westward, and drove us so out
of the very way of all human commerce, that had
all our lives been saved, as to the sea, we were ra-
ther 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
59
were, but the ship struck upon a sand, and in a mo-
ment, 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 con-
sternation 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; and as the rage of the
wind was still great, though rather less than at first,
we could not so much as hope to have the ship hold
many minutes, without breaking in 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
acting accordingly, as 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 ex-
pectation, 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 no-
thing to do but to think of saving our lives as well
as we could. We had a boat at our stern just
60
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 ano-
ther boat on board, but how to get her off into the
sea was a doubtful thing; however, there was no
room to debate, for we fancied 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 lays hold
of the boat, and with the help of the rest of the men,
they 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 went dreadful 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 inevit-
ably drowned. As to making sail, we had none;
nor, if we had, could we have done any thing 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 nearer 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
wind driving us towards the shore, we hastened our
ز
and the
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
61
destruction with our own hands, pulling as well as
we could towards land.
What the shore was, whether rock or sand, whe-
ther steep or shoal, we knew not; the only hope
that could rationally give us the least shadow of
expectation, was, if we might happen into 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 of 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. In a word, 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 not time hardly to say, " O God !”
for we were all swallowed up in a moment.
Nothing can describe the confusion of thought
which I felt, when I sunk 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 pre-
sence of mind, as well as breath left, that seeing
myself nearer the main land than I expected, I got
62
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
:
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 breath-
ing, 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.
;

OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
63
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, farther to-
wards 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 forwards as before, the shore being
very flat.
So 102nt to me
GCK
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 a rock, and that with such force, as it
64
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 main land;
where, to my great comfort, I clambered up the
cliffs of the shore, and sat me down upon the grass,
free from danger, and quite out of the reach of the
water.
I was now landed, and safe on shore, and began
to look up and thank God that my life was saved,
in a case wherein there was, some minutes before,
scarce any room to hope. I believe it is impossible
to express, to the life, what the ecstacies and trans-
ports 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, viz. that 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
65
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, wrapt up in the
contemplation of my deliverance; making a thou-
sand 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 my-
self; 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 eyes to the stranded vessel, when the
breach and froth of the sea being so big I could
hardly see it, it lay so far off, 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 any
thing either to eat or drink, to comfort me; neither
did I see any prospect before me, but that of perish-
ing 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
VOL. I.
F
66
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 provision; and this threw
me into 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, seeing 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 in my mouth to pre-
vent hunger, I went to the tree, and getting up into
it, endeavoured to place myself so, as 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 be-
lieve, few could have done in my condition; and
found myself the most refreshed with it that I think
I ever was on such an occasion.
When I waked it was broad day, the weather
clear, and the storm abated, so that the sea did not
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
67
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 entirely destitute
of all comfort and company, as I now was.
forced tears from my eyes again; but as there was
This
68
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
little relief in that, I resolved, if possible, to get to
the ship; so I pulled off my clothes, for the wea-
ther 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 a rope, which I wondered I did not see at
first, hang down by the fore-chains so low, as that
with great difficulty, I got hold of it, and by the help
of that rope 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 eat 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 no-
thing but a boat, to furnish myself with many things
which I foresaw would be very necessary to me.
:
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
69
It was in vain to sit still and wish for what was
not to be had; and this extremity roused my appli-
cation: we had several spare yards, and two or three
large spars of wood, and a spare top-mast or two in
the ship; I resolved to fall to work with these, and
I flung as many of them overboard as I could ma-
nage 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 fast 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, cross-
ways, 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
the carpenter's saw I cut a spare top-mast 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 be-
yond what I should have been able to have done
upon another occasion.
My raft was now strong enough to bear any rea-
sonable 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 plank or boards upon it
that I could get, and having considered well what I
most wanted, I first 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
with provisions, viz. bread, rice, three Dutch cheeses,
five pieces of dried goats' 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 no room for them. While
I was doing this, I found the tide began to flow,
though very calm; and I had the mortification to
see my coat, shirt, and waistcoat, which I had left
on shore, upon the sand, swim away; as for my
breeches, which were only linen, and open-knee'd, I
swam on board in them, and my stockings. How-
ever, this put me upon rummaging for clothes, of
which I found enough, but took no more than I
wanted for present use, for I had other 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 ship-lading of gold would have been at that
time. I got it down to my raft, even whole as it
was, without losing time to look into it, for I knew
in general what it contained.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
71
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, or rudder;
and the least cap-full of wind would have overset
all my navigation.
I had three encouragements: Ist, A smooth, calm
sea 2dly, The tide rising, and setting in to the
shore 3dly, 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; and 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
72
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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.

THOS-WILLIAMS
But here I had like to have suffered a second
shipwreck, which, if I had, I think verily would
have broke 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 that end that was afloat, and so 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;
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
73
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 or 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 ship 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, as 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
74
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
of water, I thrust her on upon that flat piece of
ground, and there fastened or moored her, by stick-
ing 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.
:
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 hap-
pen. Where I was, I yet knew not; whether on
the continent, or 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 la-
bour and difficulty, got to the top, I saw my 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
75
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, but from all the parts of the wood, there arose
an innumerable number of fowls, of many sorts,
making a confused screaming, and crying, 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 a 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 barricadoed myself
round with the chests and boards that I had brought
on shore, and made a kind of a 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 were I shot
the fowl.
I now began to consider, that I might yet get a
76
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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
got every thing 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
a chequered shirt, a pair of linen drawers, and a pair
of pumps on my feet.
: :
I got on board the ship as before, and prepared a
second raft; and having had experience of the first I
neither made this so unwieldly, nor loaded it so hard,
but yet I brought away several things very useful to
me: as, first, in the carpenter's 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 musquet bullets, seven musquets,
and another fowling piece, with some small quantity
of powder more; a large bag-full 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.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
77
Besides these things, I took all the men's clothes
that I could find, and a spare fore-top sail, a ham-
mock, 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 apprehensions, during my ab-
sence 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 crea-
ture 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 to 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 of it, and ate it, and
looked (as 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 pur-
pose; and into this tent I brought every thing that
I knew would spoil either with rain or sun; and I
piled all the empty chests and casks up in a circle
78
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 an 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,
as well to fetch all those things from the ship, as 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 every thing
out of her that I could: so every day, at low water, I
went on board, and brought away something or other;
but particularly the third time I went, I brought away
as much of the rigging as I could, as also all the
small ropes and rope-twine I could get, with a piece
of spare canvass, 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 canvass only.
But that which comforted me more still, was, that
at last of all, after I had made five or six such
voyages as these, and thought I had nothing more
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
79
to expect from the ship that was worth my meddling
with; I say, after all this, I found a great hogshead
of bread, and three large runlets of rum or spirits,
and a box of sugar, and a barrel of fine flour; this
was surprising to me, because I had given over ex-
pecting any more provisions, except what was spoiled
by the water. I soon emptied the hogshead of that
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, and cutting
the great cable into pieces, such as I could move, I
got two cables and a hawser on shore, with all the
iron-work I could get; and having cut down the
spritsail-yard, and the mizen-yard, and every thing
I could, to make a large raft, I loaded it with all
those 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 was 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: how-
ever, when the tide was out, I got most of the pieces
of cable ashore, and some of the iron, though with
SO
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 pre-
paring 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, as 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 scissars, 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 Brasil, some pieces of eight, some gold,
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 of
the ground; one of those knives is worth all this
heap I have no manner of use for thee; e'en re-
main where thou art, and go to the bottom, as a
creature whose life is not worth saving." However,
upon second thoughts, I took it away; and wrapping
all this in a piece of canvass, I began to think of
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
81
making another raft; but while I was preparing this,
I found the sky over-cast, 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 off shore; 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 hasti-
ly, and before it was quite high water it blew a storm.
But I was gotten home to my little tent, where I
lay, with all my wealth about me very secure.
blew very hard all that 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 this satisfactory reflection, viz. that I had lost
no time, nor abated no diligence, to get every thing
out of her that could be useful to me, and that, in-
deed, there was little left in her that I was able to
bring away, if I had had more time.
It
I now gave over any more thoughts of the ship,
or of any thing 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
VOL. I.
G
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 im-
proper to give an account of.
*
I soon found the place I was in was not for my
settlement, particularly 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 be proper for me: 1st, Health and
fresh water, I just now mentioned: 2dly, Shelter
from the heat of the sun 3dly, Security from rave-
nous creatures, whether men or beasts: 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 expecta-
tion 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 side of this rock there was a hollow
place, worn a little way in, like the entrance or door
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
83
of a cave; but there was not really any cave, or way
into the rock, at all.
On the flat of the green, just before this hollow
place, I resolved to 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 sea side. It was
on the N. N. W. side of the hill; so that it was shel-
tered from the heat every day, till it came to a W.
and by S. sun, or thereabouts, which, in those coun-
tries, is near the setting.
Before I set up my tent, I drew a half-circle be-
fore 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 about 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,
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 me a large tent, which, to preserve me
from the rains, that in one part of the year are very
violent there, I made double, viz. 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
every thing 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.
When I had done this, I began to work my way
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
85
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 an
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 there-
fore 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 a thought, which darted into my mind as swift
as the lightning itself: O my powder! My very
heart sunk within me when I thought, that at one
blast, all my powder might be destroyed; on which,
not my defence only, but the providing me food,
as I thought, entirely depended. I was nothing
near so anxious about my own danger, though, had
the powder took fire, I had never 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 hope.
86
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
at once;
that whatever might come, it might not all take fire
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 240 lb. 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 care-
fully 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 any
thing fit for food; and, as near as I could, to ac-
quaint 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 diffi-
cultest 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
87
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, after-
wards, I took this method, I always climbed the
rocks first, to get above them, and then had fre-
quently a fair mark.

THOS-UTELLA KEŽ
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; but 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
88
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
bred it up tame; but it would not eat; so I was
forced to kill it, and eat it myself. These two sup-
plied 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 abso-
lutely necessary to provide a place to make a fire in,
and fuel to burn; and what I did for that, as also
how I enlarged my cave, and what conveniences I
made, I shall give a full account of in its place: but
I must first 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 plenti-
fully down my face when I made these reflections ;
and sometimes I would expostulate with myself why
Providence should thus completely ruin its creatures,
and render them so absolutely miserable; so with-
out help abandoned, so entirely depressed, that it
could hardly be rational to be thankful for such a
life.
1
But something always returned swift upon me to
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
89
check these thoughts, and to reprove me: and par-
ticularly, one day, walking with my gun in my hand,
by the sea side, 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 into the boat? Where are the
ten? Why were not they 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 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?
"Par-
ticularly, said I aloud (though to myself) what
should I have done without a gun, without ammu-
nition, without any tools to make any thing, or to
work with, without clothes, bedding, a tent, or any
manner of covering?" and that now I had all these
to a sufficient quantity, and was in a fair way to
provide myself in such a manner as to live without
90
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 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 hor-
rid island; when the sun being to us in its autumnal
equinox, was almost just over my head: for I reck-
oned myself, by observation, to be in the latitude of
9 degrees 22 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 reck-
oning of time for want of books, and pen and ink,
and should even forget the sabbath days from the
working days but to prevent this, I cut it 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
91
first landed, viz. " I came on shore here on the 30th
of September, 1659."

fan 308ypt 1999 TEO
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 reckon-
ing 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
all less useful to me, which I omitted setting down
before; as, in particular, pens, ink, and paper; seve-
ral parcels in the captain's, mate's, gunner's, and
carpenter's keeping; three or four compasses, some
mathematical instruments, dials, perspectives, charts,
92
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
and books of navigation; all which I huddled toge-
ther, 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 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 toge-
ther; and of these, this of ink was one; as also a
spade, pick-axe, and shovel, to dig or remove the
earth; needles, pins, and thread: as for linen, I soon
learned to want that without much difficulty.
L
This want of tools made every work I did go on
heavily; and it was near a whole year before I had
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
93
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 be-
thought myself of one of the iron crows; which,
however, though I found it, yet it made driving those
posts or piles very laborious and tedious work. But
what need I have been concerned at the tediousness
of any thing 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 circumstance 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 like to have but few heirs, as to deliver
my thoughts from daily poring upon them, and af-
flicting 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 it very impartially, like
debtor and creditor, the comforts I enjoyed against
the miseries I suffered, thus:-
ว
94
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
EVIL.
I am cast upon a horrible,
desolate island, void of all hope
of recovery.
I am singled out and sepa-
[rated, as it were, from 'all the
world, to be miserable.
I am divided from mankind,
a solitaire; one banished from
human society.
I have not clothes to cover
me.
I am without any defence,
or means to resist any violence
of man or beast.
I have no soul to speak to,
or relieve me.
GOOD.
But I am alive; and not
drowned, as all my ship's com-
pany were.
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.
But I am not starved, and
perishing on a barren place,
affording no sustenance.
But I am in a hot climate,
where, if I had clothes, I could
hardly wear them.
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?
But God wonderfully sent
the ship in near enough to the
shore, that I have gotten out so
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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
95
we may always find in it something to comfort our-
selves 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 began to apply myself to accommodate 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 ra-
ther 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
96
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 stow my goods.
And now I began to apply myself to make such
necessary things as I found I most wanted, as particu-
larly 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 original of the mathematics, so by
stating and squaring every thing 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
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 had 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
97
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 ob-
served 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 iron-work on; and, in a word, to separate every
thing at large in 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 neces-
sary things; and I had every thing 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 when I began to keep a journal
of every days' 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, " Sept. the 30th.
After I got to shore, and had escaped drowning, instead
of being thankful to God for my deliverance, having
first vomited with the great quantity of salt water
VOL. г.
H
98
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
which was gotten 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 encrease
my misery by my folly.
But, having gotten over these things in some mea-
sure, and having settled my household-stuff 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.
THE JOURNAL.
September 30th, 1659. I, poor miserable Robin-
son Crusoe, being shipwrecked, during a dreadful
storm, in the offing, came on shore on this dismal
unfortunate island, which I called the ISLAND OF
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
99
DESPAIR; all the rest of the ship's company being
drowned, and myself almost dead.
All the rest of that 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 sur-
prise, 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
sit 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 staid 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.
100
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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
these days, though with some intervals of fair wea-
ther: 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 beasts or men. Towards
night I fixed upon a proper place, under a rock,
and marked out a semi-circle 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 exceeding hard.
The 31st, in the morning, I went out into the
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
101
island with my gun, to see for some food, and dis-
cover 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.
on;
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 and from
twelve to two I lay down to sleep, the weather
being excessive 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 as I believe they would do
any one else.
Nov. 5. This day went abroad with my gun and
102
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
my dog, and killed a wild cat; her skin pretty soft,
but her flesh good for nothing: every creature that
I killed I took off 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 sur-
prised, and almost frighted, 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 pieces several times.
Note. I soon neglected my keeping Sundays;
for, omitting my mark for them on my post, I for-
got which was which.
Nov. 13. This day it rained; which refreshed me
exceedingly, and cooled the earth: but it was accom-
panied with terrible thunder and lightening, which
frighted 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
103
making little square chests or boxes, which might hold
about a pound, or two pound 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 farther conve-
niency.
Note. Three things I wanted exceedingly for this
work, viz. a pick-axe, a shovel, and a wheel-barrow,
or basket; so I desisted from my work, and began
to consider how to supply that want, and make me
some tools. As for a pick-axe, 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
Brasils, 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
104
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
that the broad 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 occa-
sion to put it to; but never was a shovel, I believe,
made after that fashion, or so long a-making.
I was still deficient, for I wanted a basket, or a
wheel-barrow. 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 wheel-barrow, 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 diffi-
cult to me as the making the shovel; and yet this
and the shovel, and the attempt which I made in
vain to make a wheel-barrow, took me up no less
than four days, I mean, always excepting my morn-
ing 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.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
105
Note. During all this time, I worked to make
this room, or cave, spacious enough to accommo-
date 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 sea-
son 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 and 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 grave-
digger. Upon this disaster, I had 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 accord-
ingly, 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 my house.
Dec. 17. From this day to the 20th, I placed
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
shelves, and knocked up nails on the posts, to hang
every thing up that could be hung up; and now I
began to be in some order within doors.
Dec. 20. Now I carried every thing 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.
Dec. 27. Killed a young goat, and lamed another,
so as that I catched it, and led it home in a string;
when I had it 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 ROBINSON CRUSOE.
107
of the day. This evening, going farther into the
vallies which lay towards the centre of the island, I
found there was plenty of goats, though exceeding
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 pur-
posely omit what was said in the journal; it is suffi-
cient to observe, that I was no less time than from
the 3d of January to the 14th of April, working,
finishing, and perfecting this wall; though it was
no more than about 24 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 hin-
dering me many days, nay, sometimes weeks toge-
ther but I thought I should never be perfectly
secure till this wall was finished; and it is scarce
credible what inexpressible labour every thing 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.
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
•
When this wall was finished, and the outside
double-fenced, with a turf-wall raised up close to it,
I persuaded myself that if any people were to come
on shore there they would not perceive any thing
like a habitation; and it was very well I did so, as
may be observed hereafter, upon a very remarkable
occasion.
so;
During this time, I made my rounds in the woods
for game every day, when the rain permitted me,
and made frequent discoveries, in these walks, of
something or other to my advantage; particularly
I found a kind of wild pigeons, who 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
but when they grew older, they flew all 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 want-
ing in many things, which I thought at first it was
impossible for me to make; as indeed, as to 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 to 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.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
109
In the next place, I was at a great loss for candles;
so that as soon as ever it was dark, which was gene-
rally by seven o'clock, I was obliged to go to bed.
I remembered the lump of bees-wax 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 be-
fore, had been filled with corn, for the feeding of
poultry, not for this voyage, but before, as I sup-
pose, when the ship came from Lisbon. What
little remainder of corn had been in the bag was all
devoured with 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 pow-
der 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 of any thing, and not so much as remember-
ing that I had thrown any thing 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 ;
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 any thing 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 in 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 this grain to grow without any help of seed
sown, and that it was so directed purely for my sus-
tenance, on that wild miserable place.
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, be-
cause 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
111
Providence for my support, but, not doubting but
that there was more in the place, I went all over
that part of the island where I had been before, peer-
ing 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 had shook a bag of
chicken's meat out in that place, and then the won-
der 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 provi-
dence, as if it had been miraculous; for it was really
the work of Providence as 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 dropt 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
any where 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 quan-
tity 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
I lost all that I sowed the first season, by not ob-
serving 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 whose use was of the same kind, or
to the same purpose, viz. to make me bread, or ra-
ther food; for I found ways to cook it up 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
with the ladder to the top, and then pulled it up after
me, and let it down in the inside this was a com-
plete enclosure to me; for within I had room
enough, and nothing could come at me from with-
out, unless it could first mount my wall.
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 of it, 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
113
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 falling 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 was no sooner stepped down upon the firm ground,
but 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 vio-
lent 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, hav-
ing never felt the like, nor discoursed with any one
that had, that I was like one dead or stupified; 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 awaked me, as it were, and
rousing me from the stupified condition I was in,
filled me with horror, and I thought of nothing then
VOL. I.
I
114.
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
but the hill falling upon my tent and all my house-
hold 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 rose 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 stark 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
115
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 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 drowned 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 be-
gan 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 me some 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; but concluded if I staid 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 now stood, which was just
under the hanging precipice of the hill, and which,
if it should be shaken again, would certainly fall
116
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 every thing was
put in order, how pleasantly concealed I was, and
how safe from danger, it made me very loth to re-
move. In the mean time, 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 run the 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, &c. in a circle
as before, and set my tent up in it when it was
finished; but that I would venture to stay where I
was till it was finished, and fit to remove to.
was the 21st.
This
April 22. The next morning I began 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 car-
ried 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
117
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 Eng-
land, 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.
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 toward 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
the present, and went on upon the sands, as near as I
could to the wreck of the ship, to look for more.
When I came down to the ship, I found it
strangely removed. The forecastle, which lay be-
fore buried in sand, was heaved up at least six feet,
and the stern, which was broke to 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 sur-
prised 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. How-
ever, as I had learned not to despair of any thing,
I resolved to pull every thing to pieces that I could
of the ship, concluding that every thing I could get
from her would be of some use or other to me.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
119
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 dol-
phin. 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 eat 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 swim
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 iron-work ;
worked very hard, and came home very much tired,
and had thoughts of giving it over.
;
May 7. Went to the wreck again, but not with
an intent to work, but found the weight of the
wreck had broke itself down, the beams being cut
that several pieces of the ship seemed to lie loose,
and the inside of the hold lay so open that I could
see into it, but almost full of water and sand,
May S. Went to the wreck, and carried an iron
crow to wrench up the deck, which lay now quite
120
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 se-
veral casks, and loosened them with the crow, but
could not break them up. I felt also a roll of Eng-
lish 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 deal of pieces of timber, and boards,
or plank, and two or three hundred weight of iron.
May 15. I carried two hatchets, to try if I could
not cut a piece off of 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 staid 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 blowing
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
121
.
tide several casks floated out, and two of the sea-
men'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 Brasil 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 employ-
ment, to be when the tide was up, that I might be
ready when it was ebbed out and by this time I
had gotten timber, and plank, and iron-work, 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 hundred weight of the sheet-lead.
June 16 Going down to the sea-side, 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 hap-
pened to be on the other side of the island, I might
have had hundreds of them every day, as I found after-
wards; but perhaps had paid dear enough for them.
June 17. I spent in cooking the turtle. I found
in her threescore 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 staid within. I
thought, at this time, the rain felt cold, and I was
something chilly; which I knew was not usual in
that latitude.
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
June 19. Very ill, and shivering, as if the wea-
ther 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 of Hull, but scarce knew what
I said, or why; my thoughts being all confused.
June 22. A little better; but under dreadful ap-
prehensions of sickness.
June 23. Very bad again; cold and shivering,
and then a violent head-ache.
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: how-
ever, I killed a she-goat, and with much difficulty
got it home, and broiled some of it, and eat. 1
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 eat 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
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123
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 exceed-
ing thirsty however, as I had no water in my whole
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 look-
ed, to my apprehension, as if it had been filled with
flashes of fire. He was no sooner landed upon the
earth, but he moved forward towards me, with a
long spear or weapon in his hand, to kill me ; and
when he came to a rising ground, at some distance,
he spoke to me, or I heard a voice so terrible 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.
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
No one that shall ever read this account, will ex-
pect 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 hor-
rors; 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 con-
versation 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, with-
out desire of good, or conscience of evil, had en-
tirely 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 beha-
viour against my father, or my present sins, which
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
125
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 vora-
cious 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 drown-
ing, 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 ecstacy, 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, and
had singled me out to be preserved when all the rest
126
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
were destroyed; or an inquiry why Providence had
been thus merciful to me; even just the same com-
mon 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 for-
get 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 pros-
pect 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 into 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
127
me;
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
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 dis-
temper; 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 con-
fused, the convictions great upon my mind, and the
horror of dying in such a miserable condition, raised
vapours into my head with the mere apprehension;
and, in these hurries of my soul, I knew not what
my tongue might express: but it was rather exclama-
tion, 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 my-
self, or learn to know the blessing of it from my
parents. I left them to mourn over my folly, and
now I am left to mourn under the consequences of
it: I refused their help and assistance, who would
have lifted me in the world, and would have made
every thing 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
may call it so, that I had made for many years.
But I return to my Journal.
I
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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
129
my time to get something to refresh and support my-
self 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 eat, as we call it in the shell, and this
was the first bit of meat I had ever asked God's
blessing to, even as 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 the 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 pro-
duced? 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
VOL. I.
K
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 ap-
pointment, 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 di-
rection, he having the sole power, not of me only,
but of every thing that happened in the world. Im-
mediately it followed, Why has God done this to
me? What have I done to be thus used? My con-
science 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 mispent life, and
ask thyself, what thou hast not done? Ask, why is
it that thou wert not long ago destroyed? Why wert
thou not drowned in Yarmouth Roads; killed in the
fight when the ship was taken by the Sallee man of
war; devoured by the wild beasts on the coast of
Africa, or drowned here, when all the crew perished
but thyself? Dost thou ask, what have I done?" I
י
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
131
was struck dumb with these reflections, as one as-
tonished, 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, viz.
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 so much as 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, as to my dis-
temper, 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 a leaf, and chewed it in my mouth,
which, indeed, at first, almost stupified my brain,
the tobacco being green and strong, and that I
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
↑
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 after-
wards, 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 any
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
133
thing 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
After
the day of trouble, he would deliver me.
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 in-
deed I could scarce 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 till, by the sun, it must neces-
sarily 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 al-
most 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 re-
crossing 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 exceed-
ingly 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 conti-
nued much altered for the better. This was the
29th.
The 30th was my well day, of course, and I
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
went abroad with my gun, but did not care to travel
too far. I killed a sea-fowl or two, something like
a brand goose, and brought them home; but was
not very forward to eat them; so I eat some more
of the turtle's eggs, which were very good. This
evening I renewed the medicine, which I had sup-
posed did me good the day before, viz. 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 1st 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 deli-
verance 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 afflic-
tion, that I disregarded the deliverance I had re-
ceived; and I was, as it were, made to ask myself
such questions as these, viz. Have I not been deli-
vered, and wonderfully too, from sickness? from
the most distressed condition that could be, and that
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
135
was so frightful to me? and what notice had I
taken of it? Had I done my part? God had deli-
vered 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 deli-
verance? This touched my heart very much; and
immediately I knelt down, and gave God thanks
aloud for my recovery from my sickness.

int
MACATOK 30
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 awhile
every morning and every night; not tying myself
to the number of chapters, but as long as my
thoughts should engage me. It was not long after
I set seriously to this work, but I found my heart
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
more deeply and sincerely affected with the wick-
edness of my past life. The impression of my
dream revived; and the words, "All these things
have not brought thee to repentance," ran seriously
in my thoughts. I was earnestly begging of God
to give me repentance, when it happened providen-
tially, the very day, that, reading the scripture, I
came to these words, "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 con-
dition, and with 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 have 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 any thing being called
deliverance, but my being delivered from the capti-
vity 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 worst 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,
:
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
137
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, leav-
ing 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, as my health and strength returned, I bestirred
myself to furnish myself with every thing 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
what had never cured an ague before; neither can
I recommend it to any one to practise, by this expe-
138
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
:
:
riment and though it did carry off the fit, yet it
rather contributed to weakening me; for I had fre-
quent 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, espe-
cially 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.
I had been now in this unhappy island above ten
months all possibility of deliverance from this con-
dition seemed to be entirely taken from me; and I
firmly believed that no human shape had ever set
foot upon that place. Having now secured my ha-
bitation, 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, and 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
:
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
139
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 it 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, and might, per-
haps, 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, im-
perfect. 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 conclu-
sion; for, in short, I had made so little observa-
tion while I was in the Brasils, that I knew little of
the plants in the field; at least, very little that might
serve me to any purpose now in my distress.
The next day, the 16th, I went up the same way
again; and after going something farther than I
had gone the day before, I found the brook and the
savannahs began to cease, and the country became
more woody than before. In this part I found diffe-
rent fruits, and particularly I found melons upon
140
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 Bar-
bary, the eating of grapes killed several of our Eng-
lishmen, 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 in-
deed they were, as wholesome as agreeable to eat,
when no grapes might be to be had.
I spent all that evening there, and went not back
to my habitation; which, by the way, was the first
night, as I might say, I had lain from home. In
the night, I took my first contrivance, and got up
into a tree, where I slept well; and the next morn-
ing proceeded upon my discovery, travelling near
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,
every thing being in a constant verdure, or flourish
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
141
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 indefeasibly, 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 refresh-
ing. 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 ap-
proaching. In order to 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 homeward; and resolved 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 19th, 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, I found them all spread about, trod to pieces,
and dragged about, some here, some there, and
abundance eaten and devoured. By this I con-
cluded 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 upon
the out-branches of the 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 contem-
plated with great pleasure the fruitfulness of that
valley, and the pleasantness of the situation; the
security from storms on that side the water and
the wood and concluded that I had pitched upon a
place to fix my abode, which was by far the worst
part of the country. Upon the whole, I began to
consider of removing my habitation; and to look
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
143
out for a place equally safe as where now I was
situate, if possible, in that pleasant fruitful part of
the island.
i
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
sea-side, where it was at least possible that some-
thing 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 re-
move. However, I was so enamoured of this place,
that I spent much of my time there for the whole
remaining part of the month of July; and though,
upon second thoughts, I resolved, as above not to
remove, yet I built me a little kind of a bower, and
surrounded it at a distance with a strong fence, be-
ing a double hedge, as high as I could reach, well
staked, and filled between with brush-wood; and
here I lay very secure, sometimes two or three nights
together; always going over it with a ladder, as
before; 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.
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
I had but newly finished my fence, and began to
enjoy my labour, but 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 3d of August, I found the grapes I had hung
up were 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 most of them home to my cave, but 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 in-
crease 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
tale or tidings of her, till, to my astonishment, she
came home about the end of August with three
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
145
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 a quite differing kind from
our European cats; yet the young cats were the
same kind of house-breed like the old one; and both
my cats being females, I thought it very strange.
But from these three cats, I afterwards came to be
so pestered with cats, that I was forced to kill them
like vermin, or wild beasts, and to drive them from
my house as much as possible.
From the 14th of August to the 26th, incessant
rain, so that I could not 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 regu-
lated thus; I eat a bunch of raisins for my break-
fast, 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 any thing; 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;
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
whereas now, I thought I lay exposed, and open
for any thing 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 anni-
versary of my landing. I cast up the notches on
my post, and found I had been on shore three hun-
dred and sixty-five days. I kept this day as a solemn
fast, setting it apart to religious exercise, prostrat-
ing myself on the ground with the most serious
humiliation, confessing my sins to God, acknow-
ledging 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 eat 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
147
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 discourag-
ing experiments that I had made at all.
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. Accord-
ingly 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
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
any thing, 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 dis-
covery, 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
149 ·
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 edge 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 habi-
tation, 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:
Half February,
March,
Half April,
rainy, the sun being then on, or
near the equinox.
Half April,
May,
June,
dry, the sun being then to the north
of the line.
July,
Half August,
Half August,
September, rainy, the sun being then come back.
Half October,
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Half October,
November,
dry, the sun being then to the south
December,
of the line.
January,
Half February,J
The rainy season 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 pro-
visions 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
how they worked those things, and sometimes lend-
ing a hand, I had by these means full knowledge of
the methods of it, that 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
151
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 coun-
try 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 any thing, as I had occasion; and
though I did not finish them very handsomely, yet I
made them sufficiently serviceable for my purpose;
and thus, afterwards, I took care never to be with-
out 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
vessel to hold any thing 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
waters, spirits, &c. I had not so much as a pot to
boil any thing, except a great kettle, which I saved
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
out of the ship, and which was too big for such use
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 plant-
ing 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.
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 quan-
tity 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 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,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
153
must be near the Spanish dominions, and perhaps
was all inhabited by savages, where, if I should have
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 be-
lieve ordered every thing for the best; I say I quieted
my mind with this, and left afflicting myself with
fruitless wishes of being there.
Besides, after some pause upon this affair, I con-
sidered 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 Brasils, which are indeed 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 savan-
nah fields sweet, adorned with flowers and grass,
and full of very fine woods. I saw abundance of
parrots, and fain I would have caught one, if pos-
sible, to have kept it to be tame, and taught it to
speak to me. I did, after some pains-taking, 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 my name
very familiarly. But the accident that followed,
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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; espe-
cially these three sorts, viz. goats, pigeons, and
turtle, or tortoise; which, added to my grapes,
Leadenhall-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 returns, to see what discoveries I
could make, that I came weary enough to the place
where I resolved to sit down for all night; and then
I either reposed myself in a tree, or surrounded my-
self 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 sur-
prised 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
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155
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 of 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
hill.
I confess this side of the country was much plea-
santer than mine; but yet I had not the least incli-
nation 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; of which in its
place.
I took another way to come back than that I went,
thinking I could easily keep all the island so much in
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
my view, that I could not miss finding my first dwell-
ing by viewing the country; but I found myself mis-
taken; 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 far-
ther misfortune, that the weather proved hazy for
three or four days while I was in this valley, and
not being able to see the sun, I wandered about
very uncomfortably, and at last was obliged to find
out the sea-side, look for my post, and come back
the same way I went; and then by easy journies I
turned homeward, the weather being exceeding hot,
and my gun, ammunition, hatchet, and other things
very heavy.
In this journey my dog surprised a young kid,
and seized upon it, and I running in to take hold of
it, caught it, and saved it alive from the dog. I had
a great mind to bring it home if I could, for I had
often been musing whether it might not be possible
to get a kid or two, and so raise a breed of tame
goats, which might supply me when my powder and
shot should be all spent. I made a collar to this
little creature, and with a string which I made of
some rope-yarn, 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
157
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, with-
out 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 every thing about me so comfort-
able, 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 Pol, who began now to be
a mere domestic, and to be mighty 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 con-
tinually fed it, the creature became so loving, so
gentle, and so fond, that it became from that time
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
one of my domestics also, and would never leave me
afterwards.

JACKSON S
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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
159
been infinitely more miserable. I gave humble and
hearty thanks that God had been pleased to discover
to me, even that it was possible I might be more
happy in this solitary condition, than I should have
been in a 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 commu-
nications 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 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 wilder-
ness, without redemption. In the midst of the
greatest composures of my mind, this would break
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 for-
sake 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 pro-
bable 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
161
mind at that thought, and I durst not speak the words.
"How canst thou be such a hypocrite," said I, even
audibly, "to pretend to be thankful for a condition,
which, however thou mayest endeavour to be con-
tented with, thou wouldest 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 wicked-
ness, and repent. I never opened the Bible, or shut
it, but my very soul within me blessed God for di-
recting my friend in England, without any order of
mine, to pack it up among my goods, and for assist-
ing 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 ob-
served, that I was very seldom idle, but having re-
gularly divided my time, according to the several
daily employments that were before me, such as,
first, My duty to God, and the reading the Scriptures,
which I constantly set apart some time for, thrice
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, curing, preserving, and cooking what I had
killed or catched for my supply; these took up great
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 morn-
ing, 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, every thing I did took up
out of my time: for example, I was full two and
forty days making me 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 a cutting
down, and two more cutting off the boughs, and
reducing it to a log, or piece of timber. With in-
expressible 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, till 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
163
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 went through many things, and, indeed,
every thing that my circumstances made necessary
to me to do, as will appear by what follows.
I was now in the months of November and De-
cember, expecting my crop of barley and rice. The
ground I had manured or 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 scarce 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 en-
closure 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
creatures in the day-time, I set my dog to guard it
in the night, tying him up to a stake at the gate,
where he would stand and bark all night long; so in
a little time the enemies forsook the place, and the
corn grew very strong and well, and 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 like
to be a good crop, if it could be saved.
I staid 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
165
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 dropt 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 eat 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, viz. hanged them in chains, for
a terror to others. It is impossible to imagine
almost 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 scare-crows 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 broad swords, or cut-
lasses, 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
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
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seed I had near two bushels of rice, and above 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 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 mean time, 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. 'Tis a little wonderful, and what I believe
few people have thought much upon, viz. 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
167
making 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 the sooner,
but made my work the harder, and made it be per-
formed 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, and yet all these things I did without,
as shall be observed; and yet the corn was an inesti-
mable comfort and advantage to me too. All this, as
I said, made every thing 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 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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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
But 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 re-
quired double labour to work with it; however, I
went 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 of that
wood which I had set before, and knew it would
grow; so that in one year's time, I knew I should
have a quick or living hedge, that would want but
little repair. This work was not so little as to take
me up less than three months, because a great part
of that time was of 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 on the
following occasions; 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 learned him to know his own name, and at
last to speak it out pretty loud, Pol, 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 assistant to my work, for now, as I
said, I had a great employment upon my hands as
follows; viz. I had long studied, by some means or
other, to make myself some earthen vessels, which
indeed I wanted sorely, but knew not where to come
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
169
at them however, considering the heat of the cli-
mate, I did not doubt but if I could find out any
such clay, I might botch up some such pot as might,
being dried in the sun, be hard enough and strong
enough to bear handling, and to hold any thing that
was dry, and required to be kept so; and as this was
necessary in the preparing corn, meal, &c. which
was the thing I was upon, 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, mishapen, 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
rice and barley-straw, and these two pots being to
stand always dry, I thought would hold my dry
corn, and perhaps the meal, when the corn was
bruised.
Though I miscarried so much in my design for
large pots, yet I made several smaller things with
better success; such as little round pots, flat dishes,
pitchers, and pipkins, and any things my hand turned
to; and the heat of the sun baked them strangely
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 earthen-ware 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
fire-wood 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
171
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 be-
gan 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 earthen-ware 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 ingre-
dients requisite to make it so good as I would have
had it been.
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
:
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 to 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 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, or 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 Brasil 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, when I pro-
posed to myself to grind, or rather pound my corn
into meal, to make my bread.
My next difficulty was to make a sieve, or searce,
to dress my meal, and to part it from the bran and
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
173
the husk, without which I did not see it possible I
could have any bread. This was a most difficult
thing, so much as but to think on, for to be sure I
had nothing like the necessary thing to make it; I
mean fine thin canvass 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 goats'-
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 sea-
men'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 con-
sidered, 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,
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
which I had paved with some square tiles, of my
own making and burning also; but I should not
call them square.
When the fire-wood was burned pretty much into
embers, or live coals, I drew them forward upon
this earth, so as to cover it all over, and there I let
them lie till the hearth was very hot; then sweep-
ing 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 mere
pastry-cook into the bargain; for I made myself
several cakes of the rice, and puddings; indeed I
made no pies, neither had I any thing to put into
them, supposing I had, except the flesh either of
fowls or goats.
It need not be wondered at, if all these things
took me up most part of the third year of my abode
here; for, it is to be observed, that in the intervals
of these things, I had my new harvest and hus-
bandry 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
175
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, &c.
All the while these things were doing, you may
be sure my thoughts ran many times upon the pros-
pect 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 the seeing the
main land, and in an inhabited country, I might
find some way or other to convey myself farther,
and perhaps at last find some means of escape.
But all this while I made no allowance for the
dangers of such a condition, 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 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
176
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
:
the latitude, that I could not be far off from that
shore. That suppose they were not cannibals, yet that
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 de-
fence; all these things, I say, which I ought to have
considered well of, and did cast up in my thoughts
afterwards, yet took up none of my 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 the 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, as
before. 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 Brasils with her easily enough; but I
might have foreseen that I could no more turn her
and set her upright upon her bottom, than I could
remove the island; however, I went to the woods,
and cut levers and rollers, and brought them to the
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
177
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, set-
ting 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 in-
creased, 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 peria-
gua, 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,
VOL. I.
N
178
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 that when I had chosen a vast tree in
the woods, I might with much trouble cut it down,
if after I might be 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 to
make a boat of it; if, after all this, I must leave
it just there where I found it, and was not able to
launch it into the water?
One would have thought I could not have had the
least reflection upon my mind of my circumstance
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 con-
sidered how I should get it off of 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 fathom 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
own enquiries into it, by this foolish answer, which
I gave myself: Let's first make it, I'll warrant I'll
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
179
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 at Jerusalem; it was five feet ten inches
diameter at the lower part next the stump, and four
feet eleven inches diameter at the end of twenty-
two feet, after which it lessened for awhile, 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 four-
teen more getting the branches and limbs, and the
vast spreading head of it, cut off, which I hacked
and hewed through with axe and hatchet, and inex-
pressible labour: after this, it cost me a month to
shape it and dub it to a proportion, and to some-
thing 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 ex-
tremely delighted with it. The boat was really
much bigger than I ever saw a canoe or periagua,
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
that was made of one tree, in my life. Many a
weary stroke it had cost, you may be sure and

COK

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 ROBINSON CRUSOE.
181
·
of the earth, and so make a declivity: this I begun,
and it cost me a prodigious deal of pains; but who
grudge pains that have their deliverance in view?
but when this was worked through, and this diffi-
culty managed, it was still much at one, 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
to be thrown out, I found that by the number of
hands I had, being none but my own, that it must
have been ten or twelve years before I could have
gone through with it; for the shore lay high, so
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 appli-
cation 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.
+
182
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
:
I looked now upon the world as a thing remote,
which I had nothing to do with, no expectation
from, and, indeed, no desires about in a word, I had
nothing indeed to do with 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
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or 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 pos-
session of; there were no rivals; I had no compe-
titor, 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 turtles
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 they had been built.
But all I could make use of was all that was va-
supply my wants,
;
luable I had enough to eat and
:
and what was all the rest to me?
flesh than I could eat, the dog
If I killed more
must eat it, or
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
183
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 than for fuel, and that I had no occa-
sion 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 indeed to give others, we enjoy just as
much as we can use and no more. The most covet-
ous 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 nasty, sorry, useless stuff lay I
had no manner of business for it; and I often
thought with myself, that I would have given a
handfull 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 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
;
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
1
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, to put those dis-
contented 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 should be; nay, with what it would cer-
tainly 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
185
wanted for tools to work, weapons for defence, `or
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 pe-
rished 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 recom-
mend 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 Pro-
vidence had thought fit.
I had another reflection, which assisted me also
to comfort my mind with hopes; and this was com-
paring my present situation with what I had de-
served, 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;
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 enter-
tained 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 con-
verse with any thing but what was like myself, or to
hear any thing that was good, or tended towards it.
So void was I of every thing that was good, or of
the least sense of what I was, or was to be, that
in the greatest deliverances I enjoyed, such as my
escape from Sallee; my being taken up by the Por-
tuguese master of the ship; my being planted so well
in the Brasils; 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
187
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 poison-
ous, which I might feed on to my hurt; no savages
to murder and devour me. In a word, as my life
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 of these things, I went
away, and was no more sad.
I had now been here so long, that many things
which I 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 remark-
able thing happened to me: and, first, by casting
up times past, I remember that there was a strange
concurrence of days in the various providences which
befel 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 my 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 that ship in Yarmouth
Roads, that same day-year afterwards I made my
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
189
escape from Sallee in the 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 ob-
served, next to miraculous.
My clothes too began to decay mightily; 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, be-
cause 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, al-
most three dozen of shirts. There were also, several
thick watch-coats of the seamen's which were left
indeed, but they were too hot to wear and though
it is true that the weather was so violent 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 all alone. The reason why I could
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
not go quite 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 that 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 head-ach 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 those views, I began to consider about put-
ting 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 a tailoring, or rather, indeed, a
botching, for I made most piteous work of it. How-
ever, I made shift to make two or three new waist-
coats, which I hoped would serve me a great while ;
as for breeches or drawers, I made but a very sorry
shift indeed till afterward.
I have mentioned, that I saved the skins of all
the creatures that I killed, I mean four-footed ones,
and I had hung them 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
191
it seems 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 per-
formed so well, that after this I made me a suit of
clothes wholly of these skins, that is to say, a waist-
coat, 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 car-
penter, I was a worse tailor. However, they were
such as I made very good shift with, and when I
was abroad, 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 me 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 Brasils, where they are very
useful in the great heats which are 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 at it, and was a great while before I could
make any thing likely to hold; nay, after I 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 to let down. I could make it
to spread, but if it did not let down too, and draw in,
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 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 mutu-
ally 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?
I cannot say that after this, for five years, any ex-
traordinary thing happened to me, but I lived on in
the same course, in the same posture and place, just
as before; the chief things I was employed in, be-
sides 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 labour of going out with my
gun, I had one labour, to make me a canoe, which
at last I finished; so that by digging a canal to it of
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
193
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, as I made it without con-
sidering beforehand, as I ought to do, how I should
be able to launch it; so, never being able to bring
it to 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 next time; indeed, the next time,
though I could not get a tree proper for it, and 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. But as I
had a boat, my next design was to make a tour 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.
VOL. I.
0
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
For this purpose, that I might do every thing with
discretion and consideration, I fitted up a little mast
to my boat, and made a sail to it 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
either end of my boat, to put provisions, necessaries,
ammunition, &c. 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 a 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; but at last, being eager to view the circumfe-
rence of my little kingdom, I resolved upon my
tour, and accordingly I victualled my ship for the
voyage, putting in two dozen of my loaves, cakes I
should rather call them, of barley bread, an earthen
pot full of parched rice, a food I eat a great 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.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
195
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 above 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 first I discovered them, I was going to give
over my enterprise, and come back again, not know-
ing 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 me 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
went on shore, climbing up upon 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 gotten first up
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 farther distance; and
I saw there was a strong eddy under the shore; so
I had nothing to do but to get in 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 E.S.E. and that being just
contrary to the said 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 over-night, the sea was calm and I ventured;
but I am a warning-piece again to all rash and igno-
rant pilots; for no sooner was I come to the point,
when even I was not 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
197
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 the island, I knew in a few leagues
distance they must join again, and then I was irreco-
verably gone; nor did I see any possibility of avoid-
ing it; so that I had no prospect before me but of
perishing; not by the sea, for that was calm enough,
but of starving for 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 the most miserable condition man-
kind could be in, 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," said I " whither am I going?" Then I
reproached myself with my unthankful temper, and
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
how 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 scarce 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 des-
pair 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 the
S. S. E. This cheered my heart a little, and espe-
cially when, in about half an hour, more, it blew a
pretty small gentle gale. By this time I was gotten
at a frightful distance from the island, and had the
least cloud 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 ap-
plied 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
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199
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 a going to murder them, or who
have been in such-like 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 under foot.
This eddy carried me about a league in 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 farther. However,
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
I found that being between the 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 about 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, 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
201
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 only
resolved in the 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 my umbrella, for it was exceeding 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 every
thing standing as I left it; for I always kept it in
good order, being, as I said before, my country
house.
I got over the fence, and laid me down in the
shade, to rest my limbs, for I was very weary, and
fell asleep; but judge you, if you can, that read my
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story, what a surprise I must be in, when I was
waked 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 paddling, as it is called, the first part of
the day, and with walking the latter part, that I did
not wake thoroughly; but dozing between sleeping
and waking, 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 frighted, and
started up in the utmost consternation; but no
sooner were my eyes open, but I saw my Pol 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 come 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 no
where else but as I was well satified, it could be
nobody but honest Pol, I got it over; and holding
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
203
Pol,
out my hand, and calling him by his name,
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 over-
joyed 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, lived a very sedate, retired life, as you may
well suppose; and my thoughts being very much
204
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
composed, as to my condition, and fully comforted
in resigning myself to the dispositions of Providence,
I thought I lived really very happily in all things,
except that of society.
I improved myself in this time in all the mechanic
exercises, which my necessities put me upon apply-
ing myself to, and I believe could, upon occasion,
make a very good carpenter, especially considering
how few tools I had.
Besides this, I arrived at an unexpected perfection
in my earthen-ware, and contrived well enough to
make them with a wheel, which I found infinitely
easier and better; because I made things round and
shapable, 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 any thing 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 burnt red, like other
earthen-ware, 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 knowing that there was tobacco in the island;
and afterwards, when I searched the ship again, I
could not come at any pipes at all.
In my wicker-ware also I improved much, and
made abundance of necessary baskets, as well as my
invention shewed me, though not very handsome,
yet they were such as were very handy and conve-
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
205
nient for my laying things up in, or fetching things
home in. 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
my receivers for 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 con-
siderably, and this was a want which it was impos-
sible for me to supply, and I began seriously to con-
sider what I must do when I should have no more
powder; that is to say, how I should do to 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 I could never find in my
heart to kill her, till she died at last of mere age,
But being now in the eleventh year of my resi-
dence, 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. To 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
206
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 these 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 mark of their feet. At length I set
three traps in one night, and going the next morn-
ing, 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 go about 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 e'en let him out, and he ran
away, as if he had been frighted out of his wits.
But I did not then know what I learned afterwards,
that hunger will tame a lion. If I had let him stay
there 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,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
207
för 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 goat-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
presently 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 effec-
tually, 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
of doing it, my first piece of work was to find out a
proper piece of ground, viz. 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 fore-
cast, when I shall tell them, I began my enclosing
of 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 con-
sider 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.
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 first begin-
ning, I resolved to enclose a piece of about 150
yards in length, and 100 yards in breadth; which,
as it would maintain as many as I should have in
any reasonable time, so, as my flock 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 enclo-
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
209
sure 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
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.
And after that I enclosed five several pieces of ground
to feed them in, with little pens to drive them into,
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 my 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, very readily and handily, though after a
great many essays and miscarriages, made me both
butter and cheese at last, and never wanted it after-
wards. 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 a wilder-
VOL. I.
P
210
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
ness, where I saw nothing, at first, but to perish for
hunger!

It 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 sub-
jects. Then to see how like a king I dined too, all
alone, attended by my servants, Pol, as if he had
been my favourite, was the only person permitted
to talk to me. My dog, who was now grown very
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
211
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 special 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 run 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 any
thing but society and of that in some time after
this, I was like 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
to travel thither by land, and following the edge
of the shore, I did so; but had any one in England
been to meet such a man as I was, it must either
have frighted them, or raised a great deal of laugh-
ter; 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 run-
ning 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 my thighs;
and a pair of open-kneed breeches of the same; the
breeches were made of the skin of an old he-goat,
whose hair hung down such a length on either side,
that, like pantaloons, it reached to the middle of my
legs; stockings and shoes I had none, but had made
me a pair of somethings, I scarce know what to call
them, like buskins, to flap over my legs, and lace on
either side like spatterdashes; but of a most barba-
rous 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, in-
stead 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
213
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 suffi-
cient, 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 whom I saw at Sallee; for the Moors
did not wear such, though the Turks did; of these
mustachios 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 to that part. In
this kind of figure 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
boat to an anchor, to get upon the rocks; and hav-
ing 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 point of
the rocks which lay out, and which I was obliged to
double with my boat, as is said above, I was sur-
prised to see the sea all smooth and quiet, no rip-
pling, no motion, no current, any more there than
in any other places. I was at a strange loss to un-
derstand 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 con-
vinced how it was, viz. that the tide of ebb setting
from the west, and joining with the current of wa-
ters 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 when I began to think of
putting it in practice, I had such a terror upon my
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
215
spirits at the remembrance of the danger I had been
in, that I could not think of it again with any pa-
tience; but, on the contrary, I took up another reso-
lution, 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 provision, 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 ground, which I kept duly cultivated
216
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 cir-
cled 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 my stakes,
but were now grown very firm and tall; I kept them
always so cut, 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, when-*
ever 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 cat-
tle, that is to say, my goats; and as I had taken an
inconceivable deal of pains to fence and enclose this
ground, so I was so uneasy 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
217
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 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 maga-
zine 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 toge-
ther; which, by this method, indeed, I so effectually
secured, that when these little stakes began to grow,
I had planted them so very thick, 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 agreeable
only, but physical, wholesome, nourishing, and re-
freshing to the last degree.
As this was also about half-way between my other
habitation and the place where I had laid up my
218
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
go,
boat, I generally stayed and lay here in my way thi-
ther; 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
nor scarce 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
219
plain to be seen in the sand. I stood like one thunder-
struck, or as if I had seen an apparition; I listened,
I looked round me, but I could hear nothing, nor see
any thing; 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 very print of a foot, toes, heel, and
every part of a foot; how it came thither I knew
not, nor could in the least imagine. But after innu-
merable 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 be-
hind me at every two or three steps, mistaking every
bush and tree, and fancying every stump at a dis-
tance 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 called a
door, I cannot remember; no, nor could I remember
the next morning, for never frighted hare fled to
220
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
cover, or fox to earth, with more terror of mind
than I to this retreat.
I slept none that night; the farther I was from
the occasion of my fright, the greater my appre-
hensions 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 em-
barrassed 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 of
it. Sometimes I fancied it must be the Devil, and
reason joined in with me upon 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 foot-
steps? 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 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
221
:
entirely all this seemed inconsistent with the thing
itself, and with all the notions we usually entertain
of the subtilty 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 main land over against me,
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 upon 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 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 so 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
upon such wonderful experience as I had had of his
goodness, now vanished, 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 good-
ness. I reproached myself with my easiness, that
would not sow any more corn one year than would
just serve me till the next season, as if no accident
could intervene to prevent my enjoying the crop that
was upon the ground; and this I thought so just a
reproof, that I resolved for the future to have two
or three years' corn beforehand, so that whatever
might come, I might not perish for want of bread.
How strange a chequer-work of Providence is the
life of man! and by what secret differing springs are
the affections hurried about as differing 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 called silent life; that I was as
one who 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 be-
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
223
stow; 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's having set his foot in the
island.
Such is the uneven state of human life; and it
afforded me a great many curious speculations after-
wards, when I had a little recovered my first sur-
prise. 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 who 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 God,
who was not only righteous, but omnipotent, as he
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 my-
self 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 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
224
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
effect of my cogitations on this occasion I cannot
omit, viz. One morning early, lying in my bed, and
filled with thoughts about my danger from the ap-
pearance of savages, I found it discomposed me very
much, upon which those 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 ex-
press the comfort this gave me. In answer, I
thankfully laid down the book, and was no more sad,
at least, not on that occasion.
In the middle of these cogitations, apprehensions,
and reflections, it came into my thoughts one day,
that all this might be a mere chimera of my own;
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 not I 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
225
the print of my own foot, I had played the part of
those fools who strive to make stories of spectres
and apparitions, and then are frighted at them more
than any body.
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 pro-
vision; 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. Heartening myself, therefore,
with the belief that this was nothing but the print of
one of my own feet, and so 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 frighted, and so, indeed, I had.
However, as 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
VOL. I.
Q
226
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
A
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 any where 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.
O what ridiculous resolutions men take when pos-
sessed 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, that the enemy might not find them, and
then frequent the island in prospect of the same or the
like booty; then to the simple thing of digging up
my two corn fields, that they might not 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.
These were the subject of the first night's cogita-
1
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
227
tion, after I was come home again, while the appre-
hensions which had so over-run my mind were fresh
upon me, and my head was full of vapours, as above.
Thus fear of danger is ten thousand times more
terrifying than danger itself, when apparent to the
eyes; and we find the burthen of anxiety greater,
by much, than the evil which we are anxious about;
and, which was worse than all this, I had not that
relief in this trouble from the resignation I used to
practise, that I hoped to have. I looked, I thought,
like Saul, who complained not only that the Philis-
tines 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 rest-
ing 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 the utmost debate with myself, I concluded,
that this island, which was so exceeding pleasant,
fruitful, and no farther from the main land than as
I had seen, was not so entirely abandoned as I might
imagine; that although there were no stated inhabi-
228
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
tants 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 here 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 there upon any occasion to this time; 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 pos-
sible speed, seldom staying one night on shore, lest
they should not have the help of the tides and day-
light 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 fortifica-
tion joined to the rock; upon maturely considering
this, therefore, I resolved to draw me a second for-
tification, in the same manner of a semi-circle, 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 a few piles
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
229
to be driven between them, that they should 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 every thing 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 above ten feet thick, with
continual bringing earth out of my cave, and lay-
ing 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 say, I planted like
my cannon, and fitted them into frames, that held
them like a carriage, so that I could fire all the seven
guns in two minutes' time: this wall I was many a
weary month a finishing, and yet never thought my-
self safe till it was done.
When this was done, I stuck all the ground with-
out my wall, for a great way 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; in-
somuch, that I believe I might set in near twenty
thousand of them, leaving a pretty large space be-
tween 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
230
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
dwelling, growing so monstrous thick and strong,
that it was indeed perfectly impassable; and no
men, of what kind soever, would ever imagine that
there was any thing beyond it, much less a habita-
tion. 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 mischiefing himself; and if they had
come down, they were still on the outside of my
outer wall.
Thus I took all the measures human prudencé
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.
While this was doing, I was not altogether care-
less 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 upon every occasion, and
began to be sufficient to 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.
To 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 under
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
231
ground, 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 con-
cealed 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 great 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 for 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 eas-
tern 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 pieces 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, who were not so wild now as at first
they might be supposed to be, were well enough
secured in it. So, without any farther delay, I re-
moved ten young she-goats and two he-goats to this
piece; and when they were there, I continued to
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 ap-
prehensions on the account of the print of a man's
foot which I had seen; for, as yet, I never saw any
human creature come near the island; and I had
now lived two years under these uneasinesses, which,
indeed, made my life much less comfortable than
it was before, as may well be 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 too
great impressions 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 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 more the
proper frame for prayer than that of terror and dis-
composure; 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 repentance on a sick bed; for these discom-
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
233
posures 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 perspec-
tive-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 : whe-
ther 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 pre-
sently 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
234
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 S. W. point of the island, I
was perfectly confounded and amazed; nor is it pos-
sible 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 cock-pit, where
it is supposed the savage wretches had sat down to
their inhuman 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 my-
self from it for a long while: all my apprehensions.
were buried in the thoughts of such a pitch of inhu-
man, hellish brutality, and the horror of the dege-
neracy of human nature, which, though I had heard
of 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 an uncommon violence, I was a little relieved,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
235
but could not bear to stay in the place a moment ;
so I got me up the hill again with all the speed I
could, and walked on towards my own habitation.
When I came a little out of that part of the island,
I stood still awhile, as amazed, and then recovering
myself, I looked up with the utmost affection of my
soul, and, with a flood of tears in my eyes, gave
God thanks, that had 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, any
thing here; and having often, no doubt, been up in
the covered, woody part of it, without finding any
thing 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 here eighteen more as entirely concealed
236
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 crea-
tures 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 en-
closure in the woods: nor did I look after this for
any other use than as 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; nor did
I so much as go to look after my boat in all this
time, but began rather to think of making me ano-
ther;
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 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 peo-
ple, began to wear off my uneasiness about them
and I began to live just in the same composed
;
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
237
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 cau-
tious of firing my gun, lest any of them being on
the island should happen to hear it; and it was there-
fore a very good providence to me that I had fur-
nished myself with a tame breed of goats, that I
needed not 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, which 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 my goat-skin belt. Also I furbished up one of
the great cutlasses that I had out of the ship, and
made me a belt to put 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 great
broad-sword hanging at my side in a belt, but with-
out a scabbard.
Things going on thus, as I have said, for some
time, I seemed, excepting these cautions, to be re-
duced to my former calm sedate way of living. All
these things tended to shewing me, more and more,
how far my condition was from being miserable,
compared to some others; nay, to many other par-
238
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
ticulars 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 are 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 too
much 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 simpli-
city 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 many days, but
weeks, nay, months, in attempting it, but to no pur-
pose. In the next place, I had no hops to make it
keep, no yeast to make it work, no copper or kettle
to make it boil; and yet had not all these things inter-
vened, I mean the frights and terrors I was in about
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
239
the savages, I had undertaken it, and perhaps brought
it to pass too; for I seldom gave any thing over
without accomplishing it, when I once had it in my
head enough to begin 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 these
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 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 contrived to dig a hole under the
place where they made their fire, and put 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 very loath to waste so much powder upon
them, my store being now within the quantity of
one barrel, so neither could I be sure of its going
off at any certain time, when it might surprise them;
240
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 ima-
gination, 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; and especially while my mind was thus
filled with thoughts of revenge, and of 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, abated 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 thickets of trees, in one of which there
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
241
was a hollow large enough to conceal me entirely;
and where 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 fix 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 pis-
tols with about four bullets each; and in this pos-
ture, well provided with ammunition for a second
and third charge, I prepared myself for my expedi-
tion.
After I had thus laid the scheme of my design,
and, in my imagination, put it in practice, I conti-
nually made my tour every morning up 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 not on the whole ocean, so far as my
eyes or glasses could reach every way.
VOL, I.
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242
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 suit-
able form for so outrageous an execution as the
killing twenty or thirty naked savages, for an offence
which I had not at all entered into a discussion of
in my thoughts, any farther than my passions were
at first fired by the horror I conceived at the unna-
tural 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 pas-
sions; and, consequently, were left, and perhaps
had beer so for some ages, to act such horrid things,
and receive such dreadful customs, as nothing but
nature, entirely abandoned of Heaven, and actuated
by some hellish degeneracy, could have run them
into. But now, 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
How far these people were
offenders against me, and what right I had to engage
in the quarrel of that blood which they shed pro-
one upon another.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
243
miscuously one upon 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; nor to eat human
flesh, than we do to eat mutton.
When I had considered this a little, it followed
necessarily that I was certainly in the wrong in it;
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 albeit the
usage they thus 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
me, or I saw it necessary, for my immediate preser-
vation, to fall upon them, something might be said
for it; but that as I was yet out of their power, and
they had really no knowledge of me, and conse-
quently no design upon me; and therefore it could
not be just for me to fall upon them; that this would
244
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
justify the conduct of the Spaniards in all their bar-
barities practised in America, where they destroyed
millions of these people; who, however they were
idolaters 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 Spa-
niards, very innocent people; and that the rooting
them out of the country is spoken of with the ut-
most abhorrence and detestation by even the Spa-
niards 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 such, as for which the
very name of a Spaniard is reckoned to be frightful
and terrible to all people of humanity, or of Chris-
tian compassion; as if the kingdom of Spain were
particularly eminent for the product 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 resolutions to attack
the savages; and that it was not my business to
meddle with them, unless they first attacked me;
and this it was my business, if possible, to prevent;
but that if I were discovered and attacked, then I
knew my duty. On the other hand, I argued with
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
245
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 hap-
pened, 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 neither in principle or
in policy, I ought, one way or other, to concern my-
self in this affair; that my business was, by all pos-
sible means, to conceal myself from them, and not
to leave the least signal to them to guess by that
there were any living creatures upon the island, I
mean of human shape. Religion joined in with this
prudential, 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 retri-
bution for national offences, and to bring public
judgments upon those who offend in a public man-
ner, by such ways as best pleases him. This
}
ap-
peared so clear to me now, that nothing was a
2
246
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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
had thus delivered me from blood-guiltiness; be-
seeching him to grant me the protection of his pro-
vidence, 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 occa-
sion 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 contri-
vances against them, or be provoked, by any advan-
tage which might present itself, to fall upon them;
only this I did, I went and removed my boat, which
I had on the other side 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 cur-
rents, the savages durst not, at least would not come,
with their boats, upon any account whatsoever.
With my boat I carried away every thing that I had
left there belonging to her, though not necessary
for the bare going thither, viz. a mast and sail which
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
247
7
I had made for her, and a thing like an anchor, but
indeed, which, could not be called either anchor or
grapling; however, it was the best I could make of
its kind; all these I removed, that there might not
be the least shadow of any discovery, or any ap-
pearance 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, other than upon my constant employment,
viz. 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 quite out of danger;
for certain it is, that these savage people, who some-
times haunted this island, never came with any
thoughts of finding any thing 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 cau-
tious, as well as before. Indeed, I looked back with
some horror upon the thoughts of what my condi
tion 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 every where, 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
;
248
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
thoughts of this sometimes sunk 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 not have been
able 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 consider-
ation and preparation, I might be able to do. In-
deed, after serious thinking of these things, I should
be very melancholy, and sometimes it would last a
great while; but I resolved it, at last, all into thank-
fulness to that Providence which had delivered me
from so many unseen dangers, and had kept me
from those mischiefs which I could no way have
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 to
my thoughts in former time, when first I began to
see the merciful dispositions of Heaven, in the dan-
gers 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 in-
tended to go that way: nay, when sense, our own
inclination, and perhaps business, has called 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 over-rule us to go this
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
249
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 any thing
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 that such a pres-
sure, 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 saw 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 inti-
mations of Providence, let them come from what
invisible intelligence they will; that I shall not
discuss, and perhaps cannot account for; but cer-
tainly 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 very remarkable instances in the re-
mainder of my solitary residence in this dismal place.
250
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
:
I believe the reader of this will not think it strange
if I confess that these anxieties, these constant dan-
gers I lived in, and the concern that was now upon
me, put an end to all invention, and to all the con-
trivances that I had laid for my future accommoda-
tions 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, &c.
into my new apartment in the woods; where, after
I had been some time, I found, to my unspeakable
consolation, a mere natural cave in the earth, which
went in a vast way, and where, I dare say, 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 be-
fore I go on, I must observe the reason of my mak-
ing this charcoal, which was thus; I was afraid of
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
251
making a smoke about my habitation, as I said be-
fore; and yet I could not live there without baking
my bread, cooking my meat, &c. ; so I contrived to
burn some wood here, as I had seen done in Eng-
land 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 which
fire was wanting for at home, without danger of
smoke. But this is by the by ;-While I was cut-
ting down some wood here, I perceived that behind
a very thick branch of low brush-wood, or under-
wood, there was a kind of hollow place; I was
curious to look into 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 con-
fess to you 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 tell myself that he that was afraid to see the
devil was not fit to live twenty years in an island all
alone; and that I durst to believe there was nothing
in this cave that was more frightful than myself.
Upon this, plucking up my courage, I took up a
great firebrand, and in I rushed again, with the stick

252
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
flaming in my hand; I had not gone three steps in,
but I was almost as much frighted as I was 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
if 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 every where,
and was able to protect me; upon this I stepped for-
ward again, and by the light of the firebrand, hold-
ing it up a little over my head, I saw lying on the
ground a most monstrous, frightful, old he-goat,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
253
just making his 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 es-
sayed to get up, but was not able to raise himself;
and I thought with myself he might even lie there
for if he had frighted me so, he would certainly
fright any of the savages, if any one 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, either round or
square, no hands having ever been employed in ma-
king it but those of mere Nature. I observed also
that there was a place at the farther side of it that
went in farther, but was so low that it required me
to creep upon my hands and knees to go into it,
and whither I went I knew not so having no candle,
I
but resolved to come
gave it over for some time;
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 wild fire 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) 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, con-
sidering that I knew not how far it might go, nor
254
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
what was beyond it. When I was 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 dare say, as it was, to look
round the sides and roof of this vault or cave; the
wall reflected an 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
of its kind, as could be expected, though perfectly
dark; the floor was dry and level, and had a sort of
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 how-
ever, as it was a place of security, and such a retreat
as I wanted, I thought that was a convenience; so
that I was really rejoiced at the discovery, and re-
solved, 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 at 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 occa-
sion of removing my ammunition, I happened to
open the barrel of powder, which I took up out of
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
255
#
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 a shell; so that I had near sixty pounds of very
good powder in the centre of the cask, and this was an
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.
per-
I fancied myself now like one of the ancient giants,
which were said to live in caves and holes in the
rocks, where none could come at them; for I
suaded myself, while I was here, 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, who 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 the offence to my nose.
I was now in my twenty-third year of residence
in this island; and was so naturalized to the place,
and the manner of living, that could I have but en-
joyed 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
256
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 more pleasantly with me
a great deal than it did before: as, first, I had taught
my Pol, 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 live afterwards I know not, though I know
they have a notion in the Brasils that they live a
hundred years: perhaps poor Pol may be alive there
still, calling after poor Robinson Crusoe to this day,
I wish no englishman the ill luck to come there and
hear him; but if he did, he would certainly believe
it was the devil. My dog was a very 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
257
pretty well, and would all call Robinson 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 names I know
not, who 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 be very
well contented with the life I led, if it might but 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, viz. 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 it, is the most dreadful to us, is often-
times the very means or door of our deliverance, by
which alone we can be raised again from the afflic-
tion 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 my
being pretty much abroad in the fields: when going
VOL. I.
S
258
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
out pretty 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, towards the end of the island
where I had observed some savages had been, as be-
fore, but 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
and improvements, they would immediately con-
clude that there were people in the place, and would
then never give over 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 pis-
tols, 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. And
in this posture I continued about two hours; but
began to be mighty impatient for intelligence abroad
for I had no spies to send out. After sitting awhile
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
259
longer, and musing what I should do in this case, I
was not able to bear sitting in ignorance any 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 up after me, I set it up again, and
mounted to 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 extreme
hot, but, as I supposed, to dress some of their bar-
barous diet of human flesh, which they had brought
with them, whether alive or dead, I could not know.
They had two canoes with them, which they had
hauled up upon the shore; and as it was then tide
of ebb, they seemed to me to wait for the return of
the flood to go away again. It is not easy to ima-
gine what confusion this sight put me into, espe-
cially seeing them come on my side the island, and
so near me too; but when I observed 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 tide of flood, if they were not on shore
before and having made this observation, I went
abroad about my harvest-work with the more com-
posure.
As I expected, so it proved; for as soon as the
260
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
tide made to the westward, I saw them all take boat,
and row (or paddle, as we call it,) all away. I should
have observed, that for an hour and more before
they went off, they went to dancing; and I could ea-
sily discern their postures and gestures by my glasses.
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.
As soon as I saw them shipped and gone, I took
two guns upon my shoulders, and two pistols at
my girdle, and my great sword by my side, without
a scabbard, and with all the speed I was able to
make, I went away to the hill where I had discovered
the first appearance of all; and as soon as I got
thither, which was not less than two hours (for I
could not go apace, being so loaden with arms as I
was,) I perceived there had been three canoes more
of savages on 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, espe-
cially when 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 merri-
ment 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 who or how many soever. It seemed evident to
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
261
me that the visits which they thus make to this
island are 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, or 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 ap-
prehensions I was in 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 the murdering hu-
mour, and took up 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 di-
vided, 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 round
me with the greatest care and caution imaginable.
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
And now I found, to my great comfort, how happy
it was that I provided for 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 hear 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 en-
counter with them; of which in its place.
The perturbation of my mind, during this fifteen
or sixteen months' interval, was very great; I slept
unquiet, dreamed always frightful dreams, and often
started out of my sleep in the night in the day
great troubles overwhelmed my mind, and in the
night, I dreamed often of killing the savages, and
of the reasons why I might justify the doing of it.
But, to wave 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 the
sixteenth of May that it blew a very great storm of
wind all day, with a great deal of lightning and
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
263
I
thunder, and a very foul night it was after it.
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 of a
quite different nature from any I had met with be-
fore; 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 accord-
ingly, 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 guns
for signals of distress, and to obtain help. I had the
presence of mind, at that minute, as to think, that
though I could not help them, it may be 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 burnt fairly out; 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 ever my
264
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 some-
thing at a great distance at sea, full east of the
island, whether a sail or a hull I could not distin-
guish, no, not with my glasses, 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 con-
cluded 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 safe-
ty is another man's destruction; for it seems these
men, whoever they were, being out of their know-
ledge, and the rocks being wholly under water, had
been driven upon them in the night, the wind blow-
ing hard at E. and E. N. E. Had they seen the
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
265
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 of guns for help, especially when they
saw, as I imagined, my fire, filled me with many
thoughts; first, I imagined that upon seeing my
light, they might have put themselves into their boat,
and have endeavoured to make the shore; but that
the sea going 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; as, particularly, by the breaking of the sea
upon their ship, which many times obliges 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
had made, had taken them up and carried them off;
other whiles 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 condi-
tion 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 on my side, that it
gave me more and more cause to give thanks to
266
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 of life 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 sup-
pose any of them 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 signal or appearance of any such thing.
I cannot explain, by any possible energy of words,
what a strange longing or hankering of desires I felt
in my soul upon this sight, breaking out sometimes
thus ;
"O 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 com-
panion, 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 moving springs in the af-
fections, which, when they are set a going by some
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
267
object in view, or be it some object, 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! "O that it had been but one!" I
believe I repeated the words, "O that it had been
but one!" a thousand times; and the desires were
so moved by it, that when I spoke the words my
hands would clinch together, and my fingers press
the palms of my hands, that if I had had any soft
thing in my hand, it would have crushed it involun-
tarily; and the teeth in my head would strike toge-
ther, 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 say to them is, to de-
scribe the fact, which was even surprising to me,
when I found it, though I knew not from what it
should proceed; it was doubtless the effect of ardent
wishes, and of strong ideas formed in my mind, real-
izing 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
268
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
next the shipwreck. He had on no clothes 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 ven-
ture out in my boat to this wreck, not doubting but
I might find something on board that might be use-
ful 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 pro-
vidence, 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 every thing for my
voyage, took a quantity of bread, a great pot for
fresh water, a compass to steer by, a bottle of rum
(for I had still a great deal of that left) and a basket
full of raisins and thus, loading myself with every
thing necessary, I went down to my boat, got the
water out of her, put her afloat, loaded all my cargo
:
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
269
My
in her, and then went home again for more.
second cargo was a great bag full of rice, the um-
brella to set up over my head for a shade, another
large pot full of fresh water, and about two dozen
of my small loaves, or barley-cakes, more than be-
fore, with a bottle of goat's milk and a cheese: all
which, with great labour and sweat, I brought 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 that side; viz. the N. E. 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 vast 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 be-
gan to give over my enterprise; and having hauled
my boat into a little creek on the shore, I stepped out,
and sat me down upon a little 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
270
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
many hours. Upon this, presently it occurred to
me, that I should go up to the highest piece of
ground I could find, and observe, if I could, how 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 rapidness 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 the 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 with this observation, I resolved, the
next morning, to set out with the first of the tide,
and reposing myself for the night in the canoe, under
the great watch-coat I mentioned, I launched out.
I made first 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 southern-side current 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
271
I
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 was
beaten to pieces with 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, and I took him into the
boat, but found him almost dead for hunger and
thirst. I gave him a cake of my bread, and he eat
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
272
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 believed belonged to some of the
seamen; and I got two of them into the boat, with-
out 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 these two chests I had room
to suppose the ship had a great deal of wealth on
board; and, if I may guess by 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 Brasils, to the Havanna, 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 any body; and what became of the rest of her
people I then knew not.
I found, besides these chests, a little cask full of
liquor, of about twenty gallons, which I got into my
boat with much difficulty. There were several mus-
kets in a 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 grid-
iron; 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
273
the island again, weary and fatigued to the last de-
gree. 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 Brasils, 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 wel-
come to me; and about a dozen and a half of white
linen handkerchiefs and coloured neckcloths; the
former were also very welcome, being exceeding
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. The other chest
I found had some clothes in it, but of little value;
but, by the circumstances, it must have belonged to
VOL. I.
T
274
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
the gunner's mate; though there was no powder in
it, but about two pounds of fine glazed powder, in
three small 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 not had on my feet now for
many years. I had indeed gotten two pair of shoes
now, which I took off of the feet of the 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
suppose 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 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 mo-
ney, which if I had ever escaped to England, would
have lain here safe enough till I might have come
again and fetched it.
Having now brought all my things on shore, and
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
275
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 every thing safe
and quiet; so 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 pos-
sible, I might get away from this island: for, some-
times 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; some-
times 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
any where, 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;
276
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
I mean that of not being satisfied with the station
wherein God and nature has 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 had seated
me at the Brasils as a planter, blessed me with con-
fined 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 Brasils;
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 stayed,
I might have been worth an hundred thousand moi-
dores; 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 ordinarily the fate of young heads, so
reflection' upon the folly of it is as ordinarily the
exercise of more years, or of the dear-bought expe-
rience of time; and so it was with me now; and yet
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
277
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
the greater pleasure to the reader, bring on the re-
maining part of my story, it may not be improper
to give some account of my first conceptions on the
subject of this foolish scheme for my escape, and
how, and upon what foundation I acted.
I am now to be supposed retired into my castle,
after my late voyage to the wreck, my frigate laid
up and secured under water, as usual, and my con-
dition 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 set-
ting foot in this island of solitariness, I was lying in
my bed, or hammock, awake; very well in health,
had no pain, no distemper, no uneasiness of body,
no, 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 as impossible, as needless, 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 abridg-
ment, as I may call it, to my coming to this island,
278
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
and also of the 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 compar-
ing the happy posture of my affairs in the first years
of my habitation here, compared to the life of
anxiety, fear, and care, which I had lived, 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 seve-
ral hundreds of them at times on shore there; but
I had never known it, and was incapable of any ap-
prehensions 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 particu-
larly this one; How infinitely good that Providence
is, which has provided, in its government of man-
kind, such narrow bounds to his sight and know-
ledge 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 enter-
tained 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
279
when perhaps nothing but a brow of a hill, a great
tree, or the casual approach of night, had been be-
tween me and the worst kind of destruction, viz.
that of falling into the hands of cannibals and sa-
vages, who would have seized on me with the same
view as I did of a goat or a turtle, and have thought
it no more a crime to kill and devour me, than I
did of a pigeon or curlew. I would unjustly slan-
der myself, if I should say I was not sincerely thank-
ful to my great Preserver, to whose singular protec-
tion I acknowledged, with great humility, that all
these unknown deliverances were due, and without
which I must inevitably have fallen into their mer-
ciless hands.
When these thoughts were over, my head was for
some time taken up in considering the nature of
these wretched creatures, I mean the savages, and
how it came to pass in the world, that the wise Go-
vernor of all things should give up any of his crea-
tures 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) fruit-
less 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 as able
to go over thither as they were to come to me?
I never so much as troubled myself to consider
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
what I should do with myself when I came thither;
what would become of me, if I fell into the hands
of the savages; or how I should escape from them,
if they attempted me; no, nor so much as how it
was possible for me to reach the coast, and not be
attempted 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 main land. I looked
back upon my present condition as the most mise-
rable that could possibly be; that I was not able to
throw myself into any thing, but death, that could
be called worse;
that if I reached the shore of the
main, I might perhaps meet with relief, or I might
coast along, as I did on the shore of Africa, 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 as it were, desperate, by
the long continuance of my troubles, and the disap-
pointments I had met in the wreck I had been on
board of, and where I had been so near the obtain-
ing what I so earnestly longed for, viz. somebody to
speak to, and to learn some knowledge from of the
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
281
place where I was, and of the probable means of my
deliverance. I say, I was agitated wholly by these
thoughts; all my calm of mind, in my resignation
to Providence, and waiting the issue of the disposi-
tions of Heaven, seemed to be suspended; and I
had, as it were, no power to turn my thoughts to
any thing 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
high 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 thought of it, threw me into a sound sleep.
One would have thought I should have dreamed of
it, but I did not, nor of any thing 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 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, shewed myself to
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
him, and smiling upon him, encouraged him that
he kneeled down to me, seeming to pray to me to
assist him; upon which I shewed 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
gotten this man, I said to myself, "Now I may cer-
tainly venture to the main land; 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 escape." I waked with
this thought, and was under such inexpressible im-
pressions 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
spirit.
Upon this, however, I made this conclusion; that
my only way to go about an attempt for an escape
was, if possible, 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 thither 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 lawful-
ness of it to me; and my heart trembled at the
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
283
thoughts of shedding so much blood, though it was
for my deliverance. I need not repeat the argu-
ments 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 ene-
mies 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 shed-
ding human blood for my deliverance were very ter-
rible to me, and such as I could by no means recon-
cile myself to 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 pos-
sible, to get one of those savages into my hands,
cost what it would. My next thing then was to
contrive how to do it, and this indeed was very diffi-
cult 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 be
what would be.
With these resolutions in my thoughts, I set my-
self upon the scout as often as possible, and indeed
284
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
:
so often, till 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 see 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, namely, 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 shun the sight
of these savages, and avoid being seen by them, as
I was now eager to be upon them. Besides, I fan-
cied 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 my-
self with this affair; but nothing still presented;
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 had entertained
these notions, and by long musing had, as it were,
resolved them all into nothing, for want of an occa-
sion to put them in execution, I was surprised, one
morning early, with 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 mea-
sures; for seeing so many, and knowing that they
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
285
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 I lay still in my castle, per-
plexed and discomforted: however, I put myself
into all the same postures for an attack that I had
formerly provided, and was just ready for action, if
any thing 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 had
meat dressed. How they had cooked it that 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.

286
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 per-
ceived one of them immediately fell, 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, 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 frighted, that I
must acknowledge, when I perceived him to 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
for the rest of it, viz. that the other savages would
not pursue him thither, and find him there. How-
ever, I kept my station, and my spirits began to re-
cover, when I found that there was not above three
men that followed him; and still more was I en-
couraged when I found that he outstripped them
exceedingly in running, and gained ground of them ;
so that if he could but hold it for half an hour, I saw
easily he would fairly get away from them all.
·
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
287
There was between them and my castle the creek,
which I mentioned often at the first part of my story,
when 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 there-
abouts, landed, and ran on 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 main. I
observed, that the two who swam were yet more than
twice as long swimming over the creek as the fellow
was that fled from them. It came now very warmly
upon my thoughts, and indeed irresistibly, that now
was my time to get me a servant, and perhaps a
companion or assistant; and that I was called plainly
by Providence to save this poor creature's life. I
immediately got down the ladders with all possible
expedition, fetched my two guns, for they were both
but at the foot of the ladders, as I observed above,
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, clapped myself in
the way between the pursuers and the pursued,
hallooing aloud to him that fled, who, looking back,
288
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
was at first, perhaps, as much frighted at me as at
them; but I beckoned with my hand to him to come
back; and, in the mean time, 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 dis-
tance, it would not have been easily heard, and being
out of sight of the smoke too, they would not have
easily known what to make of it. Having knocked
this fellow down, the other who pursued with him
stopped, as if he had been frighted, and I advanced
apace 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 necessitated 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 frighted with the
fire and noise of my piece, that he stood stock-still,
and neither came forward or went backward, though
he seemed rather inclined to fly still, than to come
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
on.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
289
ز
that I could think of; and he came nearer and nearer,
kneeling down every ten or twelve steps, in token of
acknowledgment for my 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 en-
couraged him all I could. But there was more work
to do yet; for I perceived the savage who I knocked
down was not killed, but stunned with the blow, and
began to come to himself; so I pointed to him, and
and shewing him the savage, that he was not dead 1;
upon this he spoke some words to me, and though I
could not understand them, yet I thought they were
pleasant to 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 mo-
tion to me to lend him my sword, which hung naked
in a belt by my side; so I did. He no sooner had
it, but he runs to his enemy, and, at one blow, cut
off his head as cleverly, no executioner in Germany
VOL. I.
U
290
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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
cut off heads even with them, aye, 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 had killed the other Indian so
far off so pointing to him, he made signs to me to
let him go to him; so I bade him go, as well as I
could. When he came to him, he stood like one
amazed, looking at him, turned 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 beck-
oned to him to follow me, making signs to him that
more might come after them. Upon this he signed
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 again to him to do so. He fell
to work, and, in an instant, he had scraped a hole
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
291
:
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 also by the other: I believe he had
buried them both in a quarter of an hour. Then
calling him 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, viz. 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, by his running;
and having refreshed him, I made signs for him to
go lie down and sleep, and pointing to a place where
I had laid a great parcel of rice-straw, and a blanket
upon it, which I used to sleep upon myself some-
times; so the poor creature laid 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 an 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
and yet not of an ugly, yellow, nauseous tawny, as
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
the Brasilians and Virginians, and other natives of
America are, but of a bright kind of a dun olive
colour, that had in it something very agreeable,
though not very easy to describe. His face was
round and plump; his nose small, not flat like the
Negroes; a very good mouth, thin lips, and his fine
teeth well set, and white as ivory.
After he had slumbered, rather than slept, about
half an hour, he waked again, and comes 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 possible signs of an humble
thankful disposition, making a many antic gestures
to shew 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 as 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 made 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
I gave him
some milk in an earthen pot, and let him see me
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
293
drink it before him, and sop my bread in it; and I
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 shewed 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 sub-
mission. 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 dex-
terously, making him carry one gun for me, and I
two for myself; and away we marched to the place
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
where these creatures had been; for I had a mind
now to get some fuller 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, great pieces of
flesh left here and there, half-eaten, mangled, and
scorched; and, in short, all the tokens of the trium-
phant feast they had been making there, after a vic
tory 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 eaten up, and that he, pointing to him-
self, was the fourth; that there had been a great
battle between them and their next king, whose sub-
jects it seems he had been one of, 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
on a heap, and make a great fire upon it, and burn
them all to ashes. I found Friday had still a hanker-
ing stomach after some of the flesh, and was still a
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
295
:
}
cannibal in his nature; but I discovered 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 we 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 men-
tioned, and which I found in the wreck; and which,
with a little alteration, fitted him very well; then
I made him a jerkin of goat's-skin, as well as my
skill would allow, and I was now grown a tolerable
good tailor; and I gave him a cap, which I made
of a hare-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 things 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 him-
self to them, at length he took to them 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 per-
fectly 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; and
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 on the
inside, I barred it up in the night, taking in my lad-
ders 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
waken 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 cross 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; and as to weapons, I took them all in
to my side every night. But I needed none of all this
precaution; for never man had a more faithful, lov-
ing, sincere servant, than Friday was to me; with-
out 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 dare say, he
would have sacrificed his life for the saving mine,
upon any occasion whatsoever: the many testimo-
nies he gave me of this put it out of doubt, and soon
convinced me that I needed to use no precautions,
as to my safety on his account.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
297
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 ca-
pacities of doing good, and receiving good, that he
has given to us; and that when he pleases to offer
to 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. And 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 light
from some, and reveal it to others, and yet expect a
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 that if these creatures were
all sentenced to absence from himself, it was on ac-
count 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 !"
CC
I was
But to return to my new companion;
greatly delighted with him, and made it my business.
to teach him every thing 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 s; 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 plea-
sant to me to talk to him; and 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 while I
lived.
After I had been two or three days returned to
my castle, I thought that, in order to bring Friday
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
299
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; im-
mediately I presented my piece, shot, and killed one
of the kids. The poor creature, who had, at a dis-
tance, indeed, seen me kill the savage, his enemy,
but did not know, or 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 waist-
coat, to feel if 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 under-
stand; but I could easily see that 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 pointed 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,
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
sit upon a tree, within shot; so, to let Friday un-
derstand 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 frighted again, notwith-
standing all I had said to him; and I found he was
the more amazed, because he did not see me put
any thing 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 any thing
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 staid some time; for the parrot, not being
quite dead, was fluttered away a good way off from
the place where she fell however, he found her,
took her up, and brought her to me and as I had
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
301
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 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 fast as he had done at the salt; but
it would not do; he would never care for salt with
his 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 with roast-
ing a piece of the kid; this I did, by hanging it be-
fore the fire in a string, as I had seen many people
do in England, setting two poles up, one on each
side the fire, and one cross on the top, and tying
the string to the cross stick, letting the meat turn
continually. This Friday admired very much; but
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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, he
would never eat man's flesh any more, which I was
very glad to hear.
The next day, I set him to work to 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 not only worked very wil-
lingly 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 la-
bour 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
303
in this place; Friday began to talk pretty well, and
understand the names of almost every thing 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, that is to say, about speech. Besides the
pleasure of talking to him, I had a singular satis-
faction 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 any thing before.
I had a mind once to try if he had any hankering
inclination to his own country again; and having
taught him English so well that he could answer
me almost any questions, I asked him whether the
nation that he belonged to never conquered in bat-
tle? 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 fol-
lowing discourse: "You always fight the better;"
said I, "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,
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 been here. (Points to the N. W.
side of the island, which, it seems, was their side.)
By this I understood that my man Friday had for-
merly been among the savages who used to come on
shore on the farther part of the island, on the same
man-eating occasions that he was now brought for;
and, some time after, when I took the courage to carry
him to that side, being the same I formerly men-
tioned, he presently knew the place, and told me he
was there once when they eat up twenty men, two
women, and one child; he could not tell twenty in
English, but he numbered them, by laying so many
stones on a row, and pointing to me to tell them over.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
305
I have told this passage, because it introduces
what follows; that after I had had this discourse 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 under-
stood it was occasioned by the great draft and reflux
of the mighty river Oroonoko, in the mouth or gulf
of which river, as I found afterwards, our island
lay;
and this land which I perceived to the W.
and N. W. 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 Oroonoko to
Guiana, and onwards to St. Martha. He told me
that up a great way beyond the moon, that was, be-
yond 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
VOL. I.
X
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
mentioned before; and that they had killed much
mans, that was his word; by all which I under-
stood, he meant the Spaniards, whose cruelties in
America had been spread over the whole countries,
and were remembered by all the nations, from father
to son.
I
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, I might go in two canoe.
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 began to relish with me 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 to do it.
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 founda-
tion of religious knowledge in his mind; particularly
I asked him one time, Who made him? The poor
ereature did not understand me at all, but thought
I had asked him 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 old Benamuckee,
that lived beyond all; he could describe nothing of
this great person, but that he was very old, much
8.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE
307
older, he said, than the sea or the land, than the
moon or the stars. I asked him then, if this old
person had made all things, why did not all things
worship him? He looked very grave, and with a
perfect look of innocence said, All things do say O
to him. I asked him if the people who die in his
country went away any where? He said, Yes; they all
went to Benamuckee; then I asked him whether these
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 governs the world by the
same power and providence by which he had made
it; that he was omnipotent, could do every thing
for us, give every thing to us, take every thing
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 into hea-
ven. 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 him. 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
I made him explain it 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, is not only to
be found in the Roman, but perhaps among all reli-
gions 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 original of him, his rebellion against God,
his enmity to man, the reason of it, his setting him-
self up in the dark parts of the world to be wor-
shipped instead of God, and as God, and the many
stratagems he made use of to delude mankind to
his ruin; how he had a secret access to our pas-
sions and to our affections, to adapt his snares so
to our inclinations, 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
309
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, and over-ruling, 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 all this in
the notion of an evil spirit; of his original, 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 power of God, his omnipotence,
his dreadful 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 king-
dom 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
(C
CC
(C
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 tempta-
CC
tions, and quench his fiery darts.” But," says he
310
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
">
again, "if God much strong, much might as the
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 enough
qualified for a casuist, or a solver of difficulties;
and, at first, I could not tell what to say; SO I
pre-
tended 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 reco-
vered myself a little, and I said, "God will at last
punish him severely; he is reserved for the judg-
ment, 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
ago?”-
"You may as well ask me," said I," why God does
not kill you and me, when we do wicked things
here that offend him; we are preserved to repent
and be pardoned." He muses awhile at 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
311
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 Inter-
cessor at the footstool of God's throne; I say, no-
thing 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 neces-
sary 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 to speak so to him from
the word of God, as his conscience might be con-
vinced, 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 repent-
ance 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 the
nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham; and
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 know-
ledge in all the methods I took for this poor crea-
ture'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 in-
formed 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 the 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 had been confined to, I
had not only been moved myself to look up to hea-
ven, and to seek to 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, to know
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
་
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
313
brought to this place, which I had so often thought
the most dreadful of all afflictions that could possi-
bly have befallen me.
In this thankful frame I continued all the re-
mainder of my time, and the conversation which
employed the hours between Friday and I 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. The 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 far-
ther off from his Spirit to instruct, than if we had
been in England. I always applied myself, in read-
ing 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 private mere 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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.
As to all the disputes, wrangling, strife, and con-
tention which have happened in the world about
religion, whether niceties in doctrines, or schemes
of church-government, they were all perfectly use-
less to us; as, for aught I can yet see, they have
been to all 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 us by his word, lead-
ing 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 in religion, which have made
such confusions 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 ac-
quainted, and that he could understand almost all I
said to him, and speak fluently, though in broken
English, to me, I acquainted him with my own
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
315
.
story, or at least so much of it as related to my
coming into the place; how I had lived here, 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, parti-
cularly 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 shewed him, as
near as I could, the place where she lay; but she
was all beaten in pieces before and gone. I shewed
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 farther 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,
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 mak-
ing escape from a wreck thither, much less whence
they might come; so I only inquired after a descrip-
tion 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 him, if there were
any white mans, as he called them, in the boat ;
"yes," he said, "the boat full white mans." I
asked him how many; he told upon his fingers se-
venteen. I asked him then what became of them
he told me, <<
They live, they dwell at my nation."
This put new thoughts into my head; for I pre-
sently imagined that these might be the men belong-
ing to the ship that was cast away in sight of
my island, as I now called it; and who, after the
ship was struck on the rock, and they saw her inevi-
tably lost, had saved themselves in their boat, and
were landed upon that wild shore among the sava-
ges. 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 let them alone, and gave them vic-
tuals to live on. I asked him how it came to pass
they did not kill them, and eat them; he said, “No,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
317
they make brother with them;" that is, as I under-
stood 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.
CC
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 main land, 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;
"O
O joy!" says he,
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 counte-
nance discovered a strange eagerness, as if he had a
mind to be in his own country again; and this ob-
servation 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 reli-
gion, 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
I wronged the poor honest creature very much, for
which I was very sorry afterwards. However, as
my jealousy increased, and held me some weeks, I
was a little more circumspect, and not so familiar
and kind to him as before; in which I was certainly
in the 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 every thing he said was
so honest and so innocent, that I could find nothing
to nourish my suspicion; and, in spite of all my un-
easiness, 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 con-
tinent, I called to him, and said, "Friday, do not
you wish yourself in your own country, your own
nation?" "Yes," he said, "he be much O glad to be
at his 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 head, said,
"No, no, Friday, tell them to live good; tell them
to pray God; tell them to eat corn-bread, cattle-
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
319
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, they no kill me, they wil-
ling 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.
CC
CC
CC
From this time, I confess I had a mind to venture
over, and see if I could possibly join with these
bearded men, who, I made no doubt, were Spaniards
or 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,
and alone, 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,
320
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
CC
and having cleared it of water, for I always kept it
sunk in the water, I brought it out, shewed it him,
and we both went into it. I found he was a most
dexterous fellow at managing it, would make it go
almost as swift and fast 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 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 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 split and dried it, that it was in a manner rotten.
Friday told me such a boat would do very well, and
would carry" much enough vittle, drink, bread;"
that was his way of talking.
Upon 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 thus; "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!
no angry!" says he, repeating the words several
times, "why send Friday home away to my nation?”
CC
"Why," says I “Friday, did not you say you wished
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
321
you were there?" " Yes, yes," says he, wish be
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 my-
He looked confused again at
CC
self, as I did before."
<<
that word, and running to one of the hatchets which
he used to wear, he takes it up hastily, comes and
gives it me. "What must I do with this?" says I
You take kill Friday," says he.
"What
to him.
must I 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 should
part him from me, so I found all the foundation of
his desire to go to his own country was laid in his
VOL. I.
Y
322
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 inten-
tion, or desire of undertaking it. But still I found
a strong inclination to my attempting an escape, as
above, founded on the supposition gathered from
the discourse, viz. 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 peria-
guas, 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 Ni-
caragua wood, for it was much of the same colour
and smell. Friday was for burning the hollow or
cavity of this tree out, to make it for a boat, but I
shewed him how rather to cut it out with tools;
which, after I had shewed 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 shewed him how to
handle, we cut and hewed the outside into the true
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
323
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, and though she was
so big, it amazed me to see with what dexterity, and
how swift my man Friday would 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, "he venture over in her very well, though
great blow wind." However, I had a farther 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 was 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 par-
ticular 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 care-
ful 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 ap-
peared pretty good, and with these I went to work,
and with a great deal of pains, and awkward tedious
stitching, you may be sure, for want of needles, I, at
324
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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; because 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 mast and sails; for I
finished them very complete, making a small stay,
and a sail, or fore-sail, to it, to assist, if we should
turn to windward; and, which was more than all, I
fixed a rudder to the stern of her to steer with; and
though 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, consider-
ing 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 too, I had my man Friday to
teach as to what belonged to the navigation of my
boat; for, though he knew very well how to paddle
a canoe, he knew nothing 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 gibed, and filled this
way, or that way, as the course we sailed changed;
I say, when he saw this, he stood like one astonished
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
325
and amazed. However, with a little use, I made all
these things familiar to him, and he became an expert
sailor, except that as to the compass, I could make
him understand very little of that. On the other
hand, as there was very little cloudy weather, and
seldom or never any fogs in those parts, there was
the less occasion for a compass, seeing the stars
were always to be seen by night, and the shore by
day, except in the rainy seasons, and then nobody
cared to stir abroad, either by land or sea.
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 acknowledg-
ment 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 im-
pression upon my thoughts that my deliverance was
at hand, and that I should not be another year in
this place however, I went on, with my husbandry;
digging, planting, fencing, as usual; I gathered and
cured my grapes, and did every necessary thing as
before,
The rainy season was, in the mean time, upon
me, when I kept more within doors than at other
326
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
times; so I 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 go to the sea-shore, and see
if he could find a turtle, or 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 feet on; and before
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
327
I had time to speak to him, he cries out to me, "O
master! O master! O sorrow! O bad!"
"What's
CC
the matter, Friday?" says I. "O yonder, there,"
says he,
one, two, three canoe; one, two, three!"
By this way of speaking, I concluded there were
six: but, on inquiry, I found it was but three.
"Well, Friday," says I," do not be frighted."
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 scarce
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 as I bid
him. He said, "Me die, when you bid die, master.”
So I went and fetched him 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 he had
drank it, I made him take the two fowling-pieces,
which we always carried, and load them with large
swan-shot, as big as small pistol-bullets; then I
took four muskets, and loaded them with two
328
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
slugs and five small bullets each; and my two pis-
tols 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 were 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 close almost 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 was now gotten 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.
I
In this fit of fury, I took first and divided the
arms which I had charged, as before, between us ;
gave Friday one pistol to stick in his girdle, and
three guns upon his shoulder; and I took one pistol,
and the other three myself; and in this posture we
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
329
marched out. I took a small bottle of rum in my
pocket, and gave Friday a large bag with more
powder and bullet; and, as to orders, I charged
him to keep close behind me, and not to stir, or
shoot, or do any thing, till I bid him; and, in the
mean time, 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 might 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 neces-
sity I was in, to go and dip my hands in blood, to
attack people who had neither done me 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
330
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
crimes but that, in the mean time, 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 attack them; but I could not
say the same with respect to me. 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 waryness and silence, Friday fol-
lowing close at my heels, I marched till I came to
the skirt of the wood, on the side which was next
to them; only that one corner of the wood lay be-
tween me and them. Here I called softly to Friday,
and shewing 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 immedi-
ately 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,
which, he said, they would kill next, and which
fired all the very soul within me. He told me it was
not one of their nation, but one of the bearded men,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
331
whom he had told me of, that came to their coun-
try in the boat. I was filled with horror at the
very naming 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 be-
yond 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 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 I came

332
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
to a little rising ground, which gave me a full view
of them, at the distance of about eighty yards.
66
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, per-
haps, limb by limb, to their fire; and they were
stoopped down to untie the bands at his feet. I
turned to Friday-" Now, Friday," said 1, " do as
I bid thee," Friday said he would. Then, Fri-
day," 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 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 who
were not hurt jumped up upon their feet, but did not
immediately know which way to run, or which way
to look, for they knew not from whence their de-
struction came. Friday kept his eyes close upon
me, that, as I 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
1
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
333
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 loaden with what I called
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 miserably wounded most of them;
whereof three more of them fell quickly after, not
quite dead.
"Now, Friday," says I, laying down the dis-
charged pieces, and taking up the musket which was
yet loaden, "follow me," says I, which he did with
a great deal of courage; upon which I rushed out
of the wood, and shewed 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, be-
tween 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 sea-side, 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
334
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
be near 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 bot-
tom 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 vic-
tim; and losing 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 week 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 eat. Then I asked him what countryman
he was; and he said, Espagnole; 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 after-
wards, 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 frighted with the noise of our pieces, that
they fell down for mere amazement and fear: and
CC
!
(C
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
335
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.
;
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 mus-
ket, 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 same weapon that was to have
killed him before, if I had not prevented it. The
Spaniard, who was as bold and as brave as could be
imagined, though weak, had fought this Indian a
good while, and had cut him two great wounds on
his head; but the savage being a stout, lusty fel-
low, 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.
336
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
Friday being now left to his liberty, pursued the
flying wretches, with no weapon in his hand but his
hatchet; and with that he dispatched 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, who we know
not whether he died or no, were all that escaped our
hands of one and twenty; the account of the rest is
as follows:
3 killed at our first shot from the tree.
2 killed at the next shot.
2 killed by Friday in the boat.
2 killed by Ditto, of those at first wounded.
1 killed by Ditto in the wood.
3 killed by the Spaniard.
4 killed, being found dropped here and there,
of their wounds, or killed by Friday in his
chase of them.
4 escaped in the boat, whereof one wounded,
if not dead.
21 in all.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
337
Those that were in the canoe worked hard to get
out of gun-shot, and though Friday made two or
three shot 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 their 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 alive, bound hand
and foot, as the Spaniard was, for the slaughter, and
almost dead with fear, not knowing what the matter
was; for he had not been able to look up over the
side of the boat, he was tied so hard neck and heels,
and had been tied so long, that he had really but
little life in him.
I immediately cut the twisted flags or rushes,
which they had bound him with, and would have
helped him up; but he could not stand or speak,
but groaned most piteously, believing, it seems, still,
that he was only unbound in order to be killed.
When Friday came to him, I bade him speak to him,
and tell him of his deliverance; and, pulling out my
bottle, made him give the poor wretch a 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
would have moved any one to tears to have seen
how Friday kissed him, embraced him, hugged him,
cried, laughed, hallooed, jumped about, danced, sung;
then cried again, wrung his hands, beat his own
face and head; and then sung 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 extravagancies 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, half an hour
together, to nourish it; then he took his arms and
ancles, which were numbed and stiff with the bind-
ing, 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 action put an end to our pursuit of the canoe
with the other savages, who were now gotten 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 gotten a quarter of their way,
and continued blowing so hard all night, and that
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
339
from the north-west, which was against them, that
I could not suppose their boat could live, or that
they ever reached to 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." So I 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 also two or three bunches of my
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, he ran at
such a rate; for he was the swiftest fellow of his
foot 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 was 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
340
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
two more cakes or loaves of bread; the bread he
gave me, but the water he carried to his father
however, as I was very thirsty too, I took a little
sup of it. This water revived his father more than
all the rum or spirits I had given him, for he was
just fainting with thirst.
When his father had drank, 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 Spa-
niard too, who was indeed very weak, and was repos-
ing 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 ancles were so swelled and so painful
to him; so I bade him sit still, and caused Friday
to rub his ancles, 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
341
upon
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 hiin-
self 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 dwel-
ling, where I would take care of him but Friday,
a lusty strong fellow, took the Spaniard quite up
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
lifted him quite in, and 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, runs 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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
a hand-barrow to lay them on, and Friday and I
carried them up both together upon it, between
us.
But when we got them to the outside of our wall,
or fortification, we were at a worse loss than before,
for it was impossible to get them over, and I was
resolved not to break it down so I set to work
again; and Friday and I, in about two hours' time,
made a very handsome tent, covered with old sails,
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 my-
self very rich in subjects; and it was a merry re-
flection, which I frequently made, how like a king I
looked. First of all, the whole country was my own
mere property, so that I had an undoubted right of
dominion. Secondly, my people were perfectly
subjected; I was absolutely lord and law-giver;
they all owed their lives to me, and were ready to
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
343
lay down their lives, if there had been occasion of 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 or-
dered 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, having put some bar-
ley and rice also into the 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 eat my
own dinner also with them, and, as well as I could,
cheered them, and encouraged them; Friday being
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 fire-arms, which, for want of
time, we had left upon the place of battle; and,
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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; and I also ordered
him to bury the horrid remains of their barbarous
feast, which I knew were pretty much, and 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 defaced the very appear-
ance of the savages being there; so that when I
went again, I could scarce know where it was, other-
wise 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 frighted
with the manner of their being attacked, the noise,
and the fire, that he believed they would tell their
people they were all killed by thunder and lightning,
not by the hand of man; and that the two which
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
345
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 lan-
guage to one another; for it was impossible to 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 apprehen-
sions for a good while, and kept always upon my
guard, I and 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.
In a little time, however, no more canoes appear-
ing, 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 Fri-
day'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 coun-
trymen and Portuguese, who, having been cast away,
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 Por-
tuguese 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 or ball, the washing of the sea having
spoiled all their powder but a little, which they used,
at their first landing, to provide themselves some
food.
I asked him what he thought would become of
them there, and if they had formed no design of
making any escape. He said they had many con-
sultations about it; but that having neither vessel,
or tools to build one, or 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
347
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 the instrument of their deliverance,
and that they should afterwards make me their pri-
soner in New Spain, where an Englishman was cer-
tain 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 de-
voured 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
bark large enough to carry us all away, either to
the Brasils, 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
ingenuity, that their condition was so miserable, and
that they were so sensible of it, that, he believed,
they would abhor the thought of using any manı
unkindly that should contribute to their deliverance;
and that, if I pleased, he would go to them with
348
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 lead-
ing, as their commander and captain; and that they
should swear upon the holy sacraments and the
gospel, to be true to me, and to go to such Christian
country as that 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 in-
tended; 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 country-
men. He told me they were all of them very civil,
honest men, and they were under the greatest dis-
tress imaginable, having neither weapons or 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 gotten all things in a readiness to go, the
Spaniard himself started an objection, which had so
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
349
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, as it was more than sufficient for myself,
so it was not sufficient, at least without good husban-
dry, for my family, now it was increased to number
four; but much less would it be sufficient if his
countrymen, who were, as he said, fourteen, 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 adviseable 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."
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 fide-
lity 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 gotten as much land cured
and trimmed up as we sowed two and twenty bushels
of barley on, and sixteen jars of rice; which was,
in short, all the seed we had to spare; nor, indeed,
did we leave ourselves barley 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 number be-
ing 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, wherever
we found occasion; and as here 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.
To this purpose, I marked out several trees which
I thought fit for our work, and I set Friday and his
father to cutting them down; and then I caused the
Spaniard, to whom I imparted my thoughts on that
affair, to oversee and direct their work. I shewed
them with what indefatigable pains I had hewed a
large tree into single planks, and I caused them to
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
351
do the like, till they had 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 above
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, was a
great part of our food, and very good living too,
I assure you; for it is an exceeding nourishing
food.
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 our twenty-two bushels of barley
we brought in and threshed 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
352
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
voyage, it would very plentifully have victualled our
ship to have carried us to any part of the world, that
is to say, of America. When we had thus housed
and secured our magazine of corn, we fell to work
to make more wicker-work, 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 in writing, not to bring any man with him
who would not first swear, in the presence of himself
and of the old savage, that he would no way injure,
fight with, or attack the person he should find in
the island, who was so kind as send for them in
order to their deliverance; but that they would
stand by him, and defend him against all such at-
tempts, and wherever they went, would be entirely
under and subjected to his commands; and that this
should be put in writing, and signed with their
hands. How we were to have done this, when I
knew they had neither pen or ink, that indeed was a
question which we never asked. Under these instruc-
tions, the Spaniard and the old savage, the father of
Friday, went away in one of the canoes which they
might be said to come in, or rather were brought in,
when they came as prisoners to be devoured by the
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
353
savages. I gave each of them a musket, with a fire-
lock 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 occasion.
This was a cheerful work, being the first mea-
sures 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 wish-
ing 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 that 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 inter-
vened, 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, regard-
less of danger, I went out as soon as I could get my
clothes on, through my little grove, which, by the
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
:
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 half's
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 pre-
sently, 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 lad-
der out, I climbed up to the top of the hill, as I
used to do when I was apprehensive of any thing,
and to take my view the plainer, without being dis-
covered. I had scarce set my foot on the hill,
when my eye plainly discovered a ship lying at an
anchor, at about two leagues and a half distance
from me, S.S.E. 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 whom I had reason
to believe was manned by my own countrymen, and
consequently friends, was such as I cannot describe;
but yet I had some secret doubts hung about me, I
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
355
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 En-
glish had any traffic; and I knew there had been no
storms to drive them in there, as in distress; and that
if they were English really, 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 observations of things can
deny; that they are certain discoveries of an invi-
sible 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 undone inevitably,
and in a far worse condition than before, as you will
see presently. I had not kept myself long in this
posture, but I saw the boat draw near the shore, as
if they looked for a creek to thrust in at, for the con-
356
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
venience 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 run their
boat on shore upon the beach, at about half a mile
from me, which was very happy for me for other-
wise they would have landed just as I may say at my
door, 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 that
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 con-
founded at the sight, and knew not what the mean-
ing 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," says I, "Friday 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
357
i
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 mo-
ment; at which all the blood in my body seemed to
run chill in my veins. I wished heartily now for my
Spaniard, and the savage that was gone with him;
or that I had any way to have come undiscovered
within shot of them, that I might have rescued the
three men, for I saw no fire-arms 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 land, 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 dread-
ful 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 sup-
ply 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 sup-
ported; so these three poor desolate men knew
nothing how certain of deliverance and supply they
358
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
1
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 desti-
tute, but that, in the worst circumstances, they have
always something to be thankful for, and sometimes
are nearer their 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 the top of high water when these
people came on shore; and while partly they stood
parleying with the prisoners they brought, and partly
while they rambled about to see what kind of a place
they were in, they had carelessly staid 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
drank a little too much brandy, fell asleep; however,
one of them waking sooner than the other, and find-
ing the boat too fast aground for him to stir it,
hallooed 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
359
CC
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 be on 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 mean time, 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 men-
tioned, a naked sword by my side, two pistols in my
belt, and a gun upon each shoulder.
It was my design, as I said above, not to have
made any attempt till it was dark; but about two
o'clock, being the heat of the day, I found that, in
short, they were all gone straggling into the woods,
and, as I thought, were laid down to sleep.
three poor distressed men, too anxious for their con-
dition to get any sleep, were, however, sat down
The
360
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 condi-
tion; immediately I marched in the figure 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 Spa.
nish, "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 you, 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 how to help you, for you seem to be in some
great distress? I saw you when you landed, and
when you seemed to make applications 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
361
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 in: pray lay aside
your fears; I am a man, an Englishman, and dis-
posed 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," said he, "Sir, is too long to tell you, while
our murderers are so near; but, in short, Sir, I
was commander of that ship, my men have mutinied

GC
against me; they have been hardly prevailed on
not to murder me; and at last have set me on shore
362
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
66
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 unin-
habited, and know not yet what to think of it.".
"Where are those 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 fire-arms?" said I.
He answered, "they had only two pieces, and one
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 ra-
ther take them prisoners?" He told me there were
two desperate villains among them, that it was
scarce safe to shew 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 describe them; but he
would obey my orders in any thing I would direct.
Well," says I, "let us retreat out of their view or
hearing, lest they awake, and we will resolve fur-
ther." So they willingly went back with me, till
the woods covered us from them.
CC
"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 every
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
363
thing; 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 autho-
rity 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 mean time, 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
and 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 pow-
der and ball; tell me next what you think is proper
to be done." He shewed all the testimony of his
gratitude that he was able, but offered to be wholly
guided by me. I told him I thought it was hard
venturing any thing; but the best method I could
think of was to fire upon 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
364
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 of
the men who he had said were the heads of the mu-
tiny? 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 man 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 com-
ing, cried out to the rest; but it 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
365
;
him it was too late to cry for help, he should call
upon God to forgive his villany; and with that word
knocked him down with the stock of his musket, so
that he never spoke more; there were three more
in the company, and one of them was also 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 any assurance of their abhorrence of the trea-
chery they had been guilty of, and would swear to
be faithful to him in recovering the ship, and after-
wards 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 upon the
island.
While this was doing, I sent Friday with the cap-
tain's mate to the boat, with orders to secure her,
and bring away the oars and sail, which they did;
and by and by three straggling men, that were (hap-
pily for them) parted from the rest, came back upon
hearing the guns fired; and seeing their captain,
who before was 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
first, and told him my whole history, which he heard
with an attention even to amazement; and particu-
larly 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 pre-
served 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 shewed them all the contri-
vances I had made, during my long, long inhabiting
that place.
All I shewed them, all I said to them, was per-
fectly 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 near twenty years, and the trees
growing much faster than in England, was become
a little wood, and so thick, that it was unpassable
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
shew him that too another time; but at present our
business was to consider how to recover the ship.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
367
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 reduced, they
should 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.
I mused for some time upon what he had said,
and found it was a very rational conclusion; and
that, therefore, something was to be resolved on very
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 com-
rades, and of the boat, would certainly come on
shore in their other boat, to see 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 off; and taking every
thing 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
368
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
brandy, and another of rum, a few biscuit-cakes, a
horn of powder, and a great lump of sugar in a
piece of canvass, 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, as above, 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 fit again to
carry us away to the Leeward Islands, and call upon
our friends the Spaniards in my way; for I had
them still in my thoughts.
While we were thus preparing our designs, and
had first, by main strength, heaved the boat up 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 sat down musing what we should do, we
heard the ship fire a gun, and saw her 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,
:
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
369
by the help of my glasses, hoist another boat out,
and row towards the shore; and we found, as they
approached, that there was no less than ten men in
her, and that they had fire-arms with them.
As the ship lay almost two leagues from the shore,
we had a full view of them as they came, and a
plain sight of the men 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 overpowered and frighted; but that as
for the boatswain, who, it seems, was the chief officer
among them, and all the rest, they were as outrage-
ous 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 power-
ful 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 deliver-
ance. I asked him what he thought of the circum-
stances of my life, and whether a deliverance were
not worth venturing for? "And where, Sir," said I,
VOL. I.
2
B
370
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
""
"is your belief of my being preserved here on pur-
pose to save your life, which elevated you a little
while ago? For my part," said I," there seems to
me but one thing amiss in all the prospect of it.
“ What is that?" says he. "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 are 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 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 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
371
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
centinel over them at the entrance.
The other prisoners had better usage; two of
them were kept pinioned, indeed, because the cap-
tain was not free to trust them; but the other two
were taken into my service, upon their captain's re-
commendation, 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 a 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 that 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;
372
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 keep-
ing, 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 after-
wards, 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 con-
founded at this, believing they would go on board
the ship again, and set sail, giving their comrades
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 frighted the other way.
They had not been long put off with the boat,
but 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; for our seizing those
seven men on shore would be no advantage to us if
we let the boat escape; because they would then
row away to the ship, and then the rest of them
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
373
:
would be sure to weigh and set sail, and so our re-
covering the ship would be lost. However, we had
no remedy but to wait and see what the issue of
things might present. The seven men came on
shore, and the three who remained in 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 im-
possible 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 could have
been very glad they would have come nearer to us,
so that we might have fired at them, or that they
would have gone farther off, that we might have
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 of it. Had they thought
fit to have gone to sleep there, as the other party 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 neither.
The captain made a very just proposal to me
upon this consultation of theirs, viz. that perhaps
374.
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 the 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 irre-
solute what course to take. At length I told them
there would be nothing to be 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 strata-
gem 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 consultations, we saw them start all up, and
march down towards the sea; it seems they had
such dreadful apprehensions upon them of the dan-
ger 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 for going
back again; and the captain, as soon as I told him
my thoughts, was ready to sink at the apprehen-
sions of it; but I presently thought of a stratagem
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
375
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 as soon as they came to a
little rising ground, at about half a mile distance, I
bade them halloo, 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.
They were just going into the boat when Friday
and the mate hallooed; and they presently heard
them, and answering, run along the shore westward,
towards the voice they heard, when they were pre-
sently 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 up 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
376
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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.
There 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 mean time,
Friday and the captain's mate so well managed their
business with the rest, that they drew them, by hal-
looing and answering, from one hill to another, and
from one wood to another, till they not only hear-
tily 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 them-
selves 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,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
377
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 con-
fusion 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
gotten 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 that 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 given them leave to fall upon them at
once in the dark; but I was willing to take them at
some advantage, so to spare them, and kill as few
of them as I could; and especially I was unwilling
to hazard the killing 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, as close to the ground as they
could, that they might not be discovered, and get
378
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
as near them as they could possibly, before they
offered to fire.
They had not been long in that posture, but that
the boatswain, who was the principal ringleader of
the mutiny, and had now shewn himself the most
dejected and dispirited of all the rest, came walking
towards them, with two more of their 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 boat-
swain 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
run 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 lieu-
tenant-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 might perhaps
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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
379
one of them, "Tom Smith! Tom Smith!" Tom
Smith answered immediately, "Who's that, Robin-
son ?"
For it seems he knew the voice. The other
answered, "Aye aye; 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.”
“and we will yield.”—“ I'll go and ask,
if you promise to yield," says 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 neither; for, it seems, this Will
Atkins was the first man that laid hold of the cap-
tain, when they first mutinied, and used him barba-
rously, 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
380
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
the man that had parleyed with them, and two more
who bound them all; and then my great army of
fifty men, which, particularly with those three, were
all but eight, came up and seized upon them all,
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 villany of their practices with
him, and at length upon the further wickedness of
their design, and how 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 none of his prisoners, but the com-
mander'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 pre-
pare for death, for that he would be hanged in the
morning.
Though this was all 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
381
|
for his life; and all the rest begged of him, for God's
sake, that they might not be sent to England.
r
It now occurred to me, that the time of our deli-
verance was come, and that it would be a most easy
thing to bring these fellows in to be hearty in get-
ting 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, as 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 pre-
sently the captain replied, "Tell his excellency I am
just a coming." This more perfectly amused them,
and they all believed that the commander was just
by with his fifty men. Upon the captain's coming
to me, I told him my project for seizing the ship,
which he liked of 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 suc-
cess, 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, es-
pecially 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 consider-
ing they were upon their behaviour.
382
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 no 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, to be
sure; but that if they would join in so just an at-
tempt as to recover the ship, he would have the
governor's engagement for their pardon.
(C
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, aud would go with him all
over the world; that they would own him for a
father to them as long as they lived.
Well," says
the captain, "I must go and tell the governor what
you say, and see what I can do to bring him to con-
sent 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 five of them, 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 go-
vernor would keep the other two, and the three that
were sent prisoners to the castle, my cave, as hos-
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
383
tages 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 expe-
dition: first, The captain, his mate, and passenger:
second, Then 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 who I had kept till now in my
bower pinioned, but, on the captain's motion, had
now released fourth, The single man taken in the
boat fifth, These five released at last; so that they
were thirteen in all, besides five we kept prisoners
in the cave, and the two hostages.
:
:
I asked the captain if he was willing to venture
with these hands on board the ship; for 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 asun-
der and supply them with victuals. As to the five
in the cave, I resolved to keep them fast, but Fri-
day 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 it.
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
When I shewed myself to the two hostages, it
was with the captain, who told them I was the per-
son the governor had ordered to look after them;
and that it was the governor's pleasure they should
not stir any where but by my direction; that if they
did, they should be fetched into the castle, and be
laid in irons: so that as we never suffered them to
see me as governor, so 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 other men ; and himself, and 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 but-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 who
were below; when the other boat and their men
entering at the fore-chains, secured the forecastle of
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
385
the ship, and the scuttle which went down into the
cook-room, making three men they found there pri-
soners. 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, and having taken alarm, was gotten up,
and with two men and a boy had gotten fire-arms
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 enter-
ing at his mouth, and came out again behind one of
his ears, so that he never spoke a word; 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 suc-
cess, which you may be sure
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 something 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
VOL. I.
2 c
386
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 your's, and so are we, and all that belong to her.”
I cast my eyes to the ship, and there she rode with-
in 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 at first landed
my rafts, and so landed just at my door. I was at
first ready to sink down with 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 pulls a bottle out of
his pocket, and gave me a dram of cordial, which
he had brought on purpose for me.
After I had
drank it, I sat down upon the ground;
it brought me to myself, yet it was a good while be-
fore I could speak a word to him. All this while 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 tender things to me, to compose me and bring
me to myself: but such was the flood of joy in my
and though
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
387
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. Then I took my turn,
and embraced him as my deliverer, and we rejoiced
together. I told him I looked upon him as a man
sent from 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 eyes 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 manner pro-
vided for one 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 gover-
nor; and, indeed, it was a present as if I had been one,
not that was to be carried away along with them, but
as if I had been to dwell upon the island still, and
they were to go without me. First, he had brought
me a case of bottles full of excellent cordial waters,
six large bottles of Madeira wine, (the bottles held
388
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
two quarts a-piece, 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 an
hundred weight of biscuit; he brought me also 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 clean new shirts, six very good neckcloths, two
pair of gloves, one pair of shoes, a hat, and one pair
of stockings, and 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 ima-
gine, to one in my circumstances; but never was
any thing in the world of that kind so unpleasant,
awkward, and uneasy, as it was to me to wear such
clothes at their first putting on.
After these ceremonies passed, and after all his
good things were brought into my little apart-
ment, 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 away 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 at; and I found that the cap-
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
389
tain 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 per-
formed 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
had a full account of their villanous behaviour to
the captain, and how they had run away with the
ship, and were preparing to commit farther robberies,
but that Providence had ensnared them in their own
ways, and that they were fallen into the pit which
they had digged 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 villany, for that they might 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 com-
mission they could not doubt I had authority to do.
:
390
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 shew 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 for 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 run-
ning away with the ship; the consequence of which,
they must needs know, would be the gallows;
that I could not tell which was best for them, unless
they had a mind to take their fate in the island; if
they desired that, I did not care, as I had liberty
to leave it, I had some inclination to give them
their lives, if they thought they could shift on
shore. They seemed very thankful for it, said they
would much rather venture to stay there than be
carried to England to be hanged; so I left it on that
issue.
SO
However, the captain seemed to make some dif-
ficulty 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.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
391
Upon this they appeared very thankful, and I ac-
cordingly set them at liberty, and bade them retire
into the woods to the place whence they came, and
I would leave them some fire-arms, some ammuni-
tion, 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 that I
would stay that night to prepare my things, and
desired him to go on board, in the mean time, and
keep all right in the ship, and send the boat on shore
the next day for me; ordering him, in the mean
time, 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 of their circumstances. I
told them I thought they had made a right choice;
that if the captain carried them away, they would
certainly be hanged. I shewed them the new cap-
tain 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; shewed 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
392
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
easy. I told them the story also of the sixteen
Spaniards that were to be expected, for whom I left
a letter, and made them promise to treat them in
common with themselves.
I left them my fire-arms, 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 would 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.
Having done all this, I left them the next day,
and went on board the ship. We prepared imme-
diately to sail, but did not weigh that night. The
next morning early, two of the five men came swim-
ming to the ship's side, and making a most lament-
able 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
393
:
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 interces-
sion, 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 reliques, 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 Spa-
nish 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 deli-
vered 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 and
five years absent.
When I came to England, I was as perfect a stran-
394
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
ger to all the world as if I had never been known
there. My benefactor and faithful steward, who I
had left in trust with my money, 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 easy as to what she owed me, assuring
her I would give her no trouble; but on the con-
trary, in gratitude to her former care and faithful-
ness 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 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 provision made for
me so that, in a word, I found nothing to relieve
or assist me; and that 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 who 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 man-
ner 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
395
!
very handsome compliment upon the subject, and a
present of almost 2001. sterling.
But after making several reflections upon the cir-
cumstances 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 by some
information of the state of my plantation in the Bra-
sils, and of what was become of my partner, who, I
had reason to suppose, had some years now 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 satisfac-
tion, 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 the sea, having put
his son, who was far from a young man, into his
ship, and who still used the Brasil 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 our old ac-
quaintance, I inquired, you may be sure, after my
plantation and my partner. The old man told me
he had not been in the Brasils for about nine years;
but that he could assure me, that when he came
away my partner was living; but the trustees,
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
whom I had joined with him to take cognizance of
my part, were both dead: that, however, he believed
I would have a very good account of the improve-
ment of the plantation; for that upon the general
belief of my being cast away and drowned, my trus-
tees 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 monas-
tery 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 pro-
duction, 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 provedore,
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 received duly my moiety. I
asked him if he knew to what height of improve-
ment he had brought the plantation, and whether he
thought it might be worth looking after; or whe-
ther, on my going thither, I should meet with no
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 but one half of it; and that, to
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
397
the best of 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 trus-
tees were very fair honest people, and very wealthy ;
and he believed I would not only have their assis-
tance 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 shewed 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, &c.
He told me, that was true; but that as there was
no proof of my being dead, he could not act as ex-
ecutor, until some certain account should come of
my death; and, that 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
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LIFE AND ADVENTURES
dead or alive, he would have acted by procuration,
and taken possession of the ingenio, so they called
the sugar-house, and had given his son, who was
now at the Brasils, order 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 to me, in your name,
for six or eight of the first years' profits, which I re-
ceived; but there being at that time," says he, "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 dis-
posed of it."
After a few days' farther conference with this an-
cient friend, he brought me an account of the six
first years' income of my plantation, signed by my
partner and the merchant-trustees, being always de-
livered in goods, viz. tobacco in roll, and sugar in
chests, besides rum, molasses, &c. which is the con-
sequence of a sugar-work; and I found, by this
account, that every year the income considerably in-
creased; 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 hun-
dred and seventy moidores of gold, besides sixty
chests of sugar, and fifteen double rolls of tobacco,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
399
(C
which were lost in his ship; he having been ship-
wrecked coming home to Lisbon, about eleven years
after my leaving 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 re-
cover 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 me the writings of his title to the ship, which
his son was gone to the Brasils in, of which he was
a quarter-part owner, and his son another, he puts
them both into my hands for security of the rest.
I was too much moved with the honesty and kind-
ness 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 sin-
cere a friend he was now to me, I could hardly re-
frain weeping at what he had said to me; therefore
first 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.
Every thing the good man said was full of affec-
tion, and I could hardly refrain from tears while he
spoke; in short, I took one hundred of the moidores,
400
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
:
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 passed, the old man began to ask 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 pro-
fits to my use and as there were ships in the river
of Lisbon just ready to go away to Brasil, 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 procura-
tion 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 any thing was more honourable than the
proceedings upon this procuration; for in less than
seven months I received a large packet from the
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
401
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 pro-
duce of my farm or plantation, from the year when
their fathers had balanced with my old Portugal cap-
tain, being for six years; the balance appeared to
be one thousand one hundred and seventy-four moi-
dores in my favour.
Secondly, There was the account of four years
more, while they kept the effects in their hands, be-
fore the government claimed the administration, as
being the effects of a person not to be fouud, which
they called civil death; and the balance of this,
the value of the plantation increasing, amounted to
crusadoes,
which made three thousand two hundred and forty-
one moidores.
Thirdly, There was the prior of the Augustines ac-
count, who had received the profits for above four-
teen years; but not being to account for what was
disposed to 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 a particular of the
number of squares or acres that it contained; how
2 D
VOL. I.
402
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 mean time, 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 which he had sent thither, and who, 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 moi-
dores. By the same fleet, my two merchant trus-
tees 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 impos-
sible to express the flutterings of my very heart,
when I looked over these letters, and especially
when I found all my wealth about me; for as the
Brasil 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
403
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 or-
dered me to be let blood; after which I had relief,
and grew well; but I verily believe, if it 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 es-
tate, as I might well call it, in the Brasils, of above
a thousand pounds a year, as sure as an estate of
lands in England; and, in a word, I was in a condi-
tion 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 bene-
factor, my good old captain, who had been first cha-
ritable to me in my distress, kind to me in the begin-
ning, and honest to me at the end. I shewed him all
that was sent to me; I told him, that next to the
providence of Heaven, which disposes 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
for 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 my
404
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
e;
receiver of the annual profits of my plantation, and
appointing my partner to account to him, and make
the returns by the usual fleets to him in my name
and a clause in the end, being a grant of one hun-
dred 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 was 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, in-
deed, I had more care upon my head now than I had
in my silent 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 never 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 any body 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 Brasils 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
:
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
405
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 my
poor widow, whose husband had been my first bene-
factor, and she, while it was in her power, my faith-
ful steward and instructor. So the first thing I did,
I got a merchant in Lisbon to write to his corre-
spondent in London, not only to pay a bill, but to
go find her out, and carry her in money an 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 each of them an
hundred pounds, they being, though not in want,
yet not in very good circumstances; one having
been married and left a widow; and the other hav-
ing 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 Bra-
sils, and leave things safe behind me; and this
greatly perplexed me.
I had once a mind to have gone to the Brasils,
and have settled myself there, for I was, as it were,
naturalized to the place: but I had some little scru-
ple in my mind about religion, which insensibly
drew me back, of which I shall say more presently.
406
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 coun-
try 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 my having professed myself a papist, and
thought it might not be the best religion to die
with.
But, as I have said, this was not the main thing
that kept me from going to the Brasils, but that
really I did not know with whom to leave my effects
behind me; so I resolved, at last, to go to England
with it, where, if I arrived, I concluded I should
make some acquaintance, or find some relations that
would be faithful to me; and, accordingly, I pre-
pared to go for England with all my wealth.
In order to prepare things for my going home,
I first, the Brasil fleet being just going away, re-
solved to give answers suitable to the just and faith-
ful 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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
407
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 occa-
sion for it. Lastly, I wrote to my partner, acknow-
ledging 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 my-
self 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 cap-
tain's son informed me he had; with two pieces of
fine English broad-cloth, the best I could get in Lis-
bon, 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 going to England by sea
at that time; and though 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,
408
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
and this might be some 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, that is to say, so as in
one of them to put my things on board, and in the
other to have agreed with the captain; I say, two
of these ships miscarried, viz. one was taken by the
Algerines, and the other was cast away on the Start,
near Torbay, and all the people drowned, except
three; so that in either of those vessels I had been
made miserable; and in which most, it was hard
to say.
Having been thus harassed in my thoughts, my
old pilot, to whom I communicated every thing,
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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
409
going to Paris only; so that we were in all six of
us, and five servants; the two merchants and the
two Portuguese contenting themselves with one ser-
vant 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 original of the whole journey.
As I have troubled you with none of my sea jour-
nals, so I shall trouble you now with none of my land
journal; 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 to see what was worth
observing; but it being the latter part of the sum-
mer, 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 fallen 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,
410
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
When we came to Pampeluna itself, we found it
so indeed; and to me, that had been always used to
a hot climate, and indeed to countries where we could
scarce bear any clothes on, the cold was insufferable :
nor indeed, was it more painful than it was 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 moun-
tains so very keen, so severely cold, as to be intoler-
able, and to endanger benumbing and perishing of
our fingers and toes.
Poor Friday was really frighted when he saw the
mountains all covered with snow, and felt cold wea-
ther, which he had never seen or felt before in his
life. To mend the matter, when we came to Pam-
peluna, 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, 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 all go away to Font-
arabia, and there take shipping for Bourdeaux, which
was a very little voyage. But while we were con,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
411
sidering 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; and 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, pro-
vided we were armed sufficiently to protect ourselves
from wild beasts; for he said, upon these great snows
it was frequent for some wolves to shew 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 ensure 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 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 at-
tempted to go, and were obliged to come back
again.
Accordingly, we all set out from Pampeluna, with
our guide, on the 15th of November; and, indeed,
I was surprised, when, instead of going forward, he
412
.LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 were insensibly
passed the height of the mountains without being
much encumbered with the snow; and, all on a
sudden, he showed us the pleasant fruitful provinces
of Languedoc and Gascoigne, all green and flourish-
ing, though, indeed, they were at a great distance, and
we had some rough way to pass yet.
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, out of a hollow way adjoining to a
thick wood; two of the wolves flew upon the guide,
and had he been half a mile before us, he had
been devoured indeed before we could have helped
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
413
him; one of them fastened upon his horse, and
the other attacked the man with that violence,
that he had not time, or not 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 mat-
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
that attacked him in the head.
ter.
It was happy for the poor man that it was my
man Friday; for he having been used to that kind
of creature in his country, had no fear upon him,
but went close up to him and shot him, as above;
whereas any of us would have fired at a farther dis-
tance, 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 dismallest howling of wolves; and
the noise, redoubled by the echo of the mountains,
that it was to us as if there had been a prodigious
multitude of them; and perhaps there was not such
a few as that we had no cause of apprehensions;
however, as Friday had killed this wolf, the other
that had fastened upon the horse left him imme-
diately, and fled, having happily fastened upon his
head, where the bosses of the bridle had stuck in his
414
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
teeth, so that he had not done him much hurt. The
man indeed 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 he was just as it
were 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.
But never was a fight managed so hardily, and in
such a surprising manner, as that which followed
between Friday and the bear, which gave us all,
though at first we were surprised and afraid for him,
the greatest diversion 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, I say, not his proper prey, because, though I
cannot say what excessive hunger might do, which
was now their case, the ground being all covered
with snow;
but as to men, he does not usually
attempt them, unless they first attack him; on the
contrary, if you meet him in the woods, if you do
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
415
:
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 gentle-
man; 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 any thing at him, and it hits him,
though it were but a bit of stick as big as your
finger, he takes it for an affront; and sets all other
business aside to pursue his revenge; for he will
have satisfaction in point of honour; this is his first
quality the next is, that 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 from
his horse; for the man was both hurt and frighted,
and indeed, the last more than the first; when, on a
sudden, we espied the bear come out of the wood,
and a vast 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 pleased;
416
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
"You fool," says I, "he will eat you up." "Eatee
me up! eatee me up!" says Friday, twice over
<c
again; me eatee him up; me makee you good
laugh; you all stay here, me shew you good laugh."
So down he sits, and gets his boots off in a moment,
and put 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 wit
you." We followed at a distance; for now being
come down on the Gascoigne side of the mountains,
we were entered a vast great forest, where the coun-
try 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 takes up a great stone and throws
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 shew 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, túk-
ing devilish long strides, and shuffling along at a
strange rate, so as would have put a horse to a
middling gallop; away runs Friday, and takes his
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
417
course as if he run 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 heartily for
for bringing the bear back upon us, when he was
going about his own business another way: and es-
pecially I was angry that he had turned the bear upon
us, and then run away; and I called out, "You
dog," said I, "is this your making us laugh? Come
away, and take your horse, that we may shoot the
creature." He hears me, and cries out, "No shoot,
no shoot; stand still, you get much laugh :" and as
the nimble creature ran two feet for the beast's one,
he turned on a sudden, on one side of us, and see-
ing a great oak tree fit for his purpose, he beckoned
to us to follow; and doubling his pace, he gets
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 to it, but let it lie, and up
he scrambles into the tree, climbing like a cat, though
so monstrously heavy. I was amazed at the folly,
as I thought it, of my man, and could not for my
life see any thing to laugh at yet, till seeing the bear
get up the tree, we all rode nearer to him.
When we came to the tree, there was Friday got
out to the small end of a large limb of the tree, and
the bear got about half way to him. As soon as
the bear got out to that part where the
tree was weaker,-" Ha!" says he to us,
VOL. I.
2 E
limb of the
“now you
418
LIFE AND ADVENTURES

see me teachee the bear dance:" so he falls a jump-
ing 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 he sees him stand
still, he calls out to him again, as if he had supposed
the bear could speak English, "What, you no come
farther? pray you come farther';" so he left jumping

and shaking the tree; and the bear, just as if he
had understood what he said, did come a little far-
ther; then he fell a jumping again, and the bear
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
419
stopped again. We thought now was a good time
to knock him on the head, and called to Friday to
stand still, and we would shoot the bear; but he
cried out earnestly, "O pray! O 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 indeed, but still could not imagine
what the fellow would do; for first we thought he de-
pended 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 clings fast
with his great broad claws and feet, so that we could
not imagine what would be the end of it, and where
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, me go; you no come to me,
me go come to you ;" and upon this he goes out to
the smallest end of the bough, where it would bend
with his weight, and gently lets himself down by it,
sliding down the bough, till he came near enough
to jump down on his feet, and away he run to his
gun, takes it up, and stands still. Well," said I
to him, "Friday, what will you do now? Why
don't you shoot him?"-" No shoot," says Friday,
(C
<<
no yet; me shoot now, me no kill; me stay, give
you one more laugh;" and, indeed, so he did, as
you will see presently; for when the bear saw his
420
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
enemy gone, he comes back from the bough where
he stood, but did it mighty leisurely, 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 feet upon the ground, Friday stepped
up close to him, clapped the muzzle of his piece
into his ear, and shot him dead as a stone. Then
the rogue turned about to see if we did not laugh;
and when he saw we were pleased, by our looks, he
falls a laughing himself 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 any thing 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 mon-
strous creature off, which was worth saving; but
we had near three leagues to go, and our guide has-
tened us; so we left him, and went forward on our
journey.
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
421
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, which our guide
told us, if there were any more wolves in the coun-
try 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
first 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 a wretched faint-
hearted 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
422
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 of
him, but picking of his bones rather; for they had
eaten up all the flesh before.
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 found we were like to have more business upon
our hands than we were aware of. We were not
gone half over the plain, but 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 vol-
ley immediately, if they continued to advance upon
us and that then those who had fired at first should
not pretend to load their fusees again, but stand
ready with every one 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 ROBINSON CRUSOE.
423
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 re-
treat; whereupon, remembering that I had been
told that the fiercest creatures were terrified at the
voice of a man, I caused all our company to halloo
as loud as we could; and I found the notion not
altogether mistaken; for upon our shout they began
to retire, and turn about. Then I 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 our-
selves into a readiness, when we heard a terrible noise
in the same wood, on our left, only that it was far-
ther 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 crea-
tures; and, on a sudden, we perceived two or three
troops of wolves, one on our left, one behind us, and
one on 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
424
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
our horses go, which, the way being very rough,
was only a good large 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 sud-
den, 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; indeed the horse had the heels 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, and no question but they did.
But here we had a most horrible sight; for rid-
ing up to the entrance where the horse came out,
we found the carcase of another horse and of two
men, devoured by the ravenous creatures; and one
of the men was no doubt the same whom we heard
fire the gun, for there lay a gun just by him fired
off; but as to the man, his head and the upper part
of his body were 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 hap-
pened very much to our advantage, that at the en-
trance into the wood, but a little way from it, there
lay some large timber-trees, which had been cut
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
425
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 us with
a growling kind of a 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, which was the
prey they aimed at. I ordered our men to fire as
before, every other man; and they took their aim
so sure, that indeed 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 our 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 loath
to spend our shot too hastily; so I called my ser-
vant, not my man Friday, for he was better em-
ployed; for, with the greatest dexterity imaginable,
426
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 bade 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
were got upon it, when I, snapping an uncharged
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 dis-
patched these in an instant, and the rest were so
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
427
frighted 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, who we found struggling on the ground, and
fell a 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: so 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, that the night before
the wolves and some bears had broke into the vil-
lage, and put them in a terrible fright; and they
were obliged to keep guard night and day, but espe-
cially in the night, to preserve their cattle, and,
indeed, their people.
The next morning our guide was so ill, and
his limbs so swelled with the rankling of his two
wounds, that he could go no farther; so we were
428
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
obliged to take a new guide there, and go to Thou-
louse, where we found a warm climate, a fruitful
pleasant country, and no snow, no wolves, or any
thing like them but when we told our story at
Thoulouse, 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 a
guide we had gotten, that would venture to bring us
that way in such a severe season; and told us it was
very much 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 the
being excessive 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
continued 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 all together, and left
our horses, they would have been so eager to have
devoured them, that we might have come off safe,
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
429
especially having our fire-arms in our hands, and
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 moun-
tains again; I think I would much rather go a thou-
sand 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 Thoulouse to
Paris, and without any considerable stay came to Ca-
lais, and landed safe at Dover, the 14th of Jan. after
having had a severely 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 very 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, or care
too great, to employ for me; and I trusted her so en-
tirely with every thing, that I was perfectly easy as
to the security of my effects: and, indeed, I was very
happy from the beginning, and now to the end, in the
unspotted integrity of this good gentlewoman.
And now I began to think of leaving my effects
430
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
with this woman, and setting out for Lisbon, and so
to the Brasils; but now another scruple came in my
way, and that was religion; for as I had entertained
some doubts about the Roman religion, even while
I was abroad, especially in my state of solitude; so
I knew there was no going to the Brasils for me,
much less going to settle there, unless I resolved to
embrace the Roman catholic religion, without any
reserve; except on the other hand I resolved to be
a sacrifice to my principles, be a martyr for religion,
and die in the Inquisition; so I resolved to stay at
home, and, if I could find means for it, to dispose
of my plantation.
To this purpose I wrote to my old friend at Lisbon,
who in return gave me notice, that he could easily
dispose of it there: but that if I thought fit to give
him leave to offer it in my name to the two mer-
chants, the survivors of my trustees who lived in the
Brasils, who must fully understand the value of it, who
lived just upon the spot, and whom I knew were very
rich ;
so that he believed they would be fond of
buying it; he did not doubt, but I should make four
or five thousand pieces of eight the more of it.
Accordingly I agreed, gave him order to offer it
to them, and he did so; and in about eight months
more, the ship being then returned, he sent me an
account, that they had accepted the offer, and had
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
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
431
form which they sent from Lisbon, and sent it to
my old man, who sent me bills of exchange for
32,800 pieces-of-eight for the estate; reserving the
payment of 100 moidores a year to him, the old man,
during his life, and 50 moidores afterwards to his
son for his life, which I had promised them, which
the plantation was to make good as a rent-charge.
And thus I have given the first part of a life of for-
tune and adventure, a life of Providence's chequer-
work, and of a variety which the world will seldom
be able to shew 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 compli-
cated good fortune, I was past running any more
hazards, and so indeed I had been, if other circum-
stances had concurred: but I was inured to a wan-
dering life, had no family, not many relations, nor,
however rich, had I contracted much acquaintance;
and though I had sold my estate in the Brasils, yet
I could not keep the country out of my head, and
had a great mind to be upon the wing again; espe-
cially I could not resist the strong inclination I had
to see my island, and to know if the poor Spaniards
were in being there, and how the rogues I left there
had used them. My true friend, the widow, earnestly
dissuaded me from it, and so far prevailed with me,
that, for almost seven years, she prevented my run-
ning abroad; during which time I took my two ne-
phews, the children of one of my brothers, into my
432
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
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 put out to a 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 farther adventures myself.
In the mean time, I in part settled myself here;
for, first of all, I married, and that not either to my
disadvantage or dissatisfaction, and had three chil-
dren, 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
whole 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, se-
parated, 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;
an history, if it were entered into, as full of variety
and wonderful accidents as my own part: parti-
cularly also as to their battles with the Caribbeans,
who landed several times upon the island, and as to
the improvement they had made upon the island
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.
433
itself; and how five of them made an attempt upon
the main land, 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 sup-
plies of all necessary things, and particularly of arms,
powder, shot, clothes, tools, and two workmen,
which I brought from England with me; viz. a car-
penter 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 Brasils, from whence
I sent a bark, which I bought there, with more peo-
ple, 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 them to send them
some women from England, with a good cargo of
necessaries, if they would apply themselves to plant-
ing; 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 Brasils five
cows, three of thein being big with calf, some sheep,
and some hogs, which, when I came again, were
considerably increased.
VOL. I.
2 F
434
ROBINSON CRUSOE.
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 destroy-
ing 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 inci-
dents in some new adventures of my own, for ten
years more, I may perhaps give a farther account of
hereafter.



ARTES
LIBRARY
1817
SCIENTIA
VERITAS
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN |
yi
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TUEBOR
QUERIS PENINSULAM AMŒNAN
CIRCUMSPICE
Y
GIFT OF
REGENT LL HUBBARD