3 1822 01171 3898 u^e I iir, ' ^ *^ ilii|l|l l l) MHH I» H n n ijiiiiii inKilKwiwiiiiiwtw DANIEL DE FOE. THE LI F E AND STRANGE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE Of York, Mariner. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. BY DANIEL DE FOE. With an jiu/obibff raj? Meal Memoh^ of f/te AnfPior, AM) A LIFE OF ALEXANDER SELKIRK, liY WHOSE RESIDENCE ON THE ISLAND OF JUAN FERNANDEZ THE WORK WAS SUGGESTED. I If rofiuiclg |ttur,initc(l IIUHIJARD BROS., PHILA. & BOSTON; K. IlANNAFORi) & Co., Cincinnati and Chicago; A. L. Bancroft & Co., San Fkanciscd; CiOOinvYN & Co., Niav Orleans. 1S72. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S72, by HUBBARD BROTHERS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. INTRODUCTION. E FOE publi.*4 CHAPTER XIV. Keflections-An extraordinary Dream-Discover five Canoes of Savages on Shore-Observe from my station two miserable Wretches dragged out of their Boats to be devoureU-One of them makes his Escape, and runs dirc'ctly towarxls me, pursued by two others-I Uke measures so as to destroy his Pursuers and save his Life-Christen him by the Name of Friday, and he becomes a faithful and excellent Servant- ... U. CHAPTER XV. I am at great pains to instruct Friday respecting my abhorrence of the Cannibal practices of the Savages- He is amazed at the effects of the Gun, and considers it an intelligent being-Begins to talk English tole- rably-A Dialogue-I instruct him in the knowledge of Religion, and find him very apt^IIe descnbea to me some white Men, who had come to his country, and stiU lived there. - 211 CHAPTER XVI. I determine to go over to the Continent-Friday and I construct a Boat equal to carry twenty mon-His dexterity in managing her-Friday brings intelligence of three Canoes of Savages on Shore-Resolve to go down upon them-Friday and I fire upon the Wretches, and save the life of a poor Spaniard-List of the killed and wounded-Discover a poor Indian bound in one of the Canoes, who turns out to be Friday 8 ;iij Father. CHAPTER XVIL learn from the Spaniard that there were sixU^en more of his Countrymen among the Savages-The Spar niard and Friday's Father, well armed, sail on a Mission to the Continent-I discover an English Ship lying at anchor off the Island-II.-r Boat comes on Shore with three Prisoners-Tbe Crew straggle into the Woods, th.ir boat being aground-Discover myself to the Prisoners, who prove to be the Capta.u and Mate of the Vessel, and a Passenger— Secure the Mutineers. -' CHAPTER XVIII. The Ship makes Signals for her Boat^On receiving no answer, she sends another Boat on Shore— Method! by which we secure this Boat's Crew, and recover the Ship. ' - CHAPTER XIX. I take lea-e of the Island, and, after a long Voyage, arrive in England— Go down into Yorkshire, and fin* 1 CONTENTS. the greater part of my Family dead — Resolve to go to Lisbon for Information respecting m/ Plantatiou at the Brazils — Meet an old Friend there, by whose means I become rich — Set out for England overland — Much annoyed by Wolves on the road. 207 CHAPTER XX. Strange Battle betwixt Friday and a Bear — Terrible engagement with a whole Army of Wolves — Arrive in England safely, and settle my affairs there — I marry and have a Family. 280 PART 11. CHAPTER I. Reflections — Unsettled state of Mind, and Conversation with my Wife thereon — Purchase a Farm in the County of Bedford — Lose my Wife — I determine to revisit my Island, and for that purpose settle all my Af- fairs in England — Description of the Cargo I carried out with me — Save the Crew of a Vessel burnt at Sea. 292 CHAPTER II. Steer for the West Indies — Distressing Account of a Bristol Ship, the Crew of which we save in a state of Starvation — Arrive at my Island — Friday's joy on discovering it — Affecting interview betwixt him and his Father on landing — Narrative of the Occurrences on the Island during my Absence. 307 CHAPTER in. Narrative continued — Insolence of three of the Englishmen to the Spaniards — They are disarmed and brought to order — A great body of Savages land upon the Island — They turn out to be two adverse Nations met there by chance — A bloody Battle betwixt them — Several of the vanquished Party secured by the Spaniards 324 CHAPTER IV. Fresh broils betwixt the turbulent Englishmen and the Spaniards — The English make a, Voyage to the Mainland, and return in twenty-two Days — Particulars of their Voyage — Description of the Men and Women they brought with them — The Colony discovered by an unlucky accident to the Savages, who invade the Island, but are defeated. 337 CHAPTER V. The Island is invaded by a formidable Fleet of Savages — A terrible Engagement, in which the Cannibals are utterly routed — Thirty-seven wretches, the survivors, are saved, and employed by my people as servants — Description of Will Atkins's ingenious contrivance for his accommodation. 356 CHAPTER VI. I hold Conversations with the Spaniards, and learn the History of their situation among the Savages, from which I relieved them — I inform the Colony for what purpose I am come, and what I mean to do for them — Distribution of the Stores I brought with me — The Priest I saved at Sea solemnizes the Marriages of the Sailors and Female Indians, who had hitherto lived together as Man and Wife. 3GS CHAPTER VII. Sincere and worthy character of the Priest — Dialogue with Will Atkins and myself — Conversation betwixt Atkins and his Indian Wife on the subject of Religion — Her Baptism — Settlement of the Commonwealth. 396 CHAPTER Vin. I entertain the prospect of converting the Indians — Amiable character of the Young Woman we saved in a famished state at Sea — Her own relation of her sufferings from hunger — Sail from the Island for the Bra- zils — Encounter and rout a whole fleet of Savages — Death of Friday — Arrival at Brazil. 409 CHAPTER IX. I despatch a Number of additional Recruits, and a Quantity of extra Stores to the Island, and take my leave of it for ever — I determine to go with the Ship to the East Indies — Arrival at Madagascar — Dreadful Oc- currences there. 420 CHAPTER X. Difference with my Nephew on account of the Cru<^lties practised at Madagascar — Five men lost on the CONTENTS. 11 Arabian Shore, off the Gulf of Persia — The Seamen refuse to sail, if I continue on board, iu ceusequenoe of which I am left on shore — Make a Tery aJvantageous traUini; Voyage in company with an English Merchant, and purchase a vessel, which, it turns out, the Crew had mutinied and run away with- • 4;J5 ClIAl'TER XI. Make a trading Voyage iq this Ship — Put into the River Cambodia — Am warned of my Danger by a Coun- tryman, iu consequence of which we set sail, and are pursued — Qreat difficulty in making our Escape 446 CUAPTER XII. Obliged to come to anchor on a Savage Coast, to repair our Ship^We are attacked by the Natives, whom our Carpenter disperses by a whimsical contrivance — Serious Retlections upon our disagreeable Situation. 453 CHAPTER XIII. We arrive in China in safety — Dispose of the Ship^Description of the Inhabitants — Arrive at Pekin, and find an opportunity of returning to Europe 466 I CUAPTER XIV. Set out by the Caravan — Account of the valuable Effects we took with us — farther description of the In terior of China — Pass the great Wall — Attacked by Tartars, who are dispersed by the Resolution of a Soots Merchant — The old Pilot saves my Life — We are again attacked, and defeat the Tartars. 4T'-t CUAPTER XY. Further Account of our Journey — Description of an Idol, which we destroy — Great danger we incur thereby — Account of our Travels through Muscovy. 489 CUAPTER XVI. Conversations with a Russian Grandee — Set out on my Journey Homewards — Harassed by Kalmucks on the Road — Arrival at Archangel — Sail from thence, and arrive safely in England. 505 APPENDIX — Lips akd Adveniores op Alexander Selkirk. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Daniel De Foe, (Portrait) ^ Among the Breakers 7 Our Uero 34 Kobinson Crusoe 35 Cmsoo and Bob aboard Ship 41 The Storm 44 Attack of the Sallee Rover 49 Ci-usoe a Slave 50 Crusoe Luadiiig his Raft 75 Crusoe Writing his Jounial 90 Crusoe Discovers the Barley U7 Crusoe ill, reading the Bible 112 Crusoe in his Bower 118 Crusoe's Cat Family 121 Crusoe Making Bii-skets 122 Teaching the Parrot to talk 13:i Crusoe Making a Coat 135 Crusoe Startled by Hearing a Voice 153 Cnisoe lit Dinner 15S Crusoe Terrified by Seeing a Footprint 1114 Crusoe in hiu Fort 180 Crusoe Sleeping iu his Boat l'J3 Friday Humble 2lH Crusoe and Friday 207 Crusoe i-ud Friday out Shooting 213 Crusoe and Friday on the Hill 223 Discovering the Mutineers 249 Cru8«)e very III 273 Friday and the Bear 28.3 Crusoe Married 291 Crusoe Welcomed by the Spaniard V-o The Si>aniard Introducing Crusoe 318 Firing the Hut 323 The Vagrants in the Wood 32.5 Fight with the Cannibals 301 MaiTying the Three Couples •!9(» Priest and Negi-o Woman 4()4 Firing the Town 431 Tarring the Blinks 4.'>6 Introilueed to a Chinese Merchant 471 Crusoe Croiising the Desert 5U2 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. Daniel Foe (for the De was prefixed to his name by himself, at a late period in life) was the son of James Foe, a citizen of London, who carried on the busi- ness of a butcher, in St. Giles's, Cripplegate; but having "got a good estate bj merchandise, left off his trade" several years before his death. He was "a wise and grave man," sincerely attached to the Presbyterian form of worship; and when his pastor, the Rev. Samuel Annesley, LL. D., was ejected from the parish of Cripplegate by the Act of Uniformity, in 1662, he followed him, and worshipped at the chapel in Bishopsgate for many years. His son Daniel was born in 1661, the year following the Restoration; and after receiving a competent "house education," and as far as "the free-school generally goes," about the age of fourteen he was sent to a dissenting academy at Newington Green, then superintended by the Rev. Charles Morton, who was afterwards pastor of a church in Charlestown, Mass., and vice-president of Harvard College. Here he received as much of a collegiate education as could be obtained by a dissenter at this period, perfecting his acquaintance with lan- guages, natural philosophy, logic, geography, and history; and, under the special direction of his tutor, going through a complete course of theology. In one of his "Reviews," in 1705, he says, "I owe this justice to my ancient father, still living, and in whose behalf I freely testify, that if I am a block- head, it was nobody's fault but my own, he having spared nothing in my education." It was the intention of his parents that he should become a Presbyterian minister, and his education was adapted to that profession. The cause of his abandoning it has been a matter of some speculation, but the reason may pro- bably be gathered from the peculiar character of the times. He completed his academical career in the year when Monmouth had just returned from the slaughter of the Scottish Covenanters at Both well-bridge, and when " it was not safe for a dissenting minister to be seen in the streets of London," the liberties of England being prostrate before the court and high-church party; and need we wonder that a person of his ardent temperament should be drawn aside into the religio-political contests of the times? He himself merely says, " It was my disaster first to be set apart for, and then to be set apart from, the honour of that sacred employ." At the age of twenty-one, he began that career of authorship which he con- tinued unremittingly for the s'^ace of half a century. His first attempt is a 12 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 13 small quarto volume of thirty-four pages, with the ridiculous title of "Sj)eculum Crape- Goic7iorum ; or a Looking-Glass for the Young Academicks, new Foyl'd. With Reflections on some of the late high-flown Sermons : to which is added, An Essay towards a Sermon of the newest Fashion. By a Guide to the In- feriour Clergic. Ridentcm dkere Verum Quis Vetat? London: Printed for E. Rydal, 1682." It was intended, says De Foe, "as a banter upon Sir Roger L'Estrange's Guide to the Inferior Clergy," and seems to have produced a much greater eff"ect than the nature of the performance warranted. As a specimen, we will select a passage from the "Essay towards a Sermon of the newest Fashion." "Were I now to preach before a great magistrate that had the power in his hands, I would say, — My Lord, you bear not the sword in vain. Let them [the dissenters] be fined and imprisoned, nay hanged, my Lord. Now, if my Lord should say. Do you endeavour to convince them of their errors by sound doctrine and good example of life. Then would I say, — No, my Lord, they will never be convinced by us; for we have not wit nor learning enough to do it; neither can we take so much pains. 'Tis easier to talk an hour about state-affairs and make satires against the fanaticks than to preach convincing and sound doctrine. The fanaticks, therefore, must be con- futed by bolts and shackles; by fines and imprisonments; by excommunica- tions and exterminations ; and therefore, pray, my Lord, let 'em be scourged out of the temple ; let 'em be whipped out of the nation." In 1G83, he produced "A Treatise against the Turks." The Turks were at this time threatening the existence of the Austrian empire; and on account of the persecutions of the Protestants by that power, their irruption was looked upon with complacency by many of the dissenters in England, and the design of this work was to counteract that feeling. In February, 1685, James II. ascended the throne, and immediately mani- fested his attachment to Popery, and his intention of governing in defiance of the laws. At first he was supported by the high-church party, and the dis- senters seeing no prospect of being delivered from the shackles in which for the last twenty-five years they had been held, prepared to throw ofi" his authority. In midsummer of this year, accordingly, the kingdom was invaded by the Duke of Monmouth, a natural son of Charles II., and De Foe joined his standard. After Monmouth's defeat, he had the good fortune to escape; but in after- years he looked back upon his connection with this affair with satisfaction. In 1686, he became an agent for the sale of hosiery, and had his establish- ment in Freeman's Court, Cornhill, London; and judging it expedient to link himself more closely with his fellow-citizens, he claimed his freedom by birth, and was admitted a liveryman of London. In the chamberlain's book his name is written Daniel Foe. In the latter part of this reign, the dissenters were courted by the king ana by the high-church party, who were about to proceed to open hostilities against each other. In this aspect of affairs De Foe published two pamphlets, in ■vhich he satirizes the altered tone of the churchmen, condemns the power 14 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. J dispensing with the laws, assumed by King James, and warns the dissenters against being deceived by a pretended toleration, when his real object was to firce a religion prohibited by law upon his subjects. He who had drawn his sword in the cause of Monmouth was not backward m the cause of William. On receiving intelligence of his landing, he imme- diately set out to meet him, and got as far as Henley (thirty-five miles west of London), which "the Prince of Orange, with the second line of the army, entered that very afternoon." Being introduced to the Prince, he formed an flttachnjent to him which endured till the close of his life. At this period he tseems to have been in prosperous circumstances, having a country-house at Tooting, in Surrey, at the same time that he carried on the hose-agency in Cornhill. And when the citizens of London invited King William to a sump- tuous banquet in Guildhall, and formed a procession to conduct him thither, "among those troopers," says Oldmixon, "was Daniel Foe, at that time a hosier in Freeman's Yard, Cornhill." Though not inattentive to the political movements of this period, he was more particularly occupied in trade, and that in a very extensive way. In prosecuting his business he visited Spain, Portugal, the Low Countries, and France; but partly from his own imprudence, the circumstances of the times, and the knavery of others, he became bankrupt in 1692, and, to avoid incar- ceration, concealed himself till he could obtain a settlement with his creditors. For some time he seems to have lived in concealment at Bristol, but so high a sense of his honour was entertained by his creditors, that they soon agreed to a composition, and accepted his personal security for the amount. This confidence he more than justified, and, in 1705, he tells us, "that with a numerous family and no help but his own industry, he had forced his way with undiscouraged diligence through a sea of misfortunes, and reduced his debts, exclusive of composition, from seventeen thousand to less than five thousand pounds." In harmony with his own example, in the third volume of his Review he gives the following advice to others: "Never. think yourselves dis- charged in conscience, though you may be discharged in law. The obligation of an honest mind can never die. No title of honour, no recorded merit, no mark of distinction can exceed the lasting appellation, 'an honest man.' He that lies buried under sucH an epitaph has more said of him than volumes of history can contain. The payment of debts, after fair discharges, is the clearest title to such a character that I know; and how any man can begin again, and hope for a blessing from Heaven, or favour from man, without such a resolu- tion, I know not." To the honour of De Foe, it ought also to be mentioned, that the position in which he was placed forcibly directed his attention to the law of debtor and creditor, and "in a day when he could be heard," he directed the attention of the legislature to several very flagrant abuses, which were at that time remedied, though many of his suggestions are only being adopted at the present time. {^Review, iii. 75.) During the two years (1692-3) which were occupied in obtaining a settle- MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR 15 ment of his affairs, while in retirement, he was engaged in writing his "Essay upon Projects," the first of his works which has obtained a permanent phice in our literature. The projects are of a varied character, embracing the subject of banks, road-making, bankruptcy, friendly societies, savings' banks, asylums for the insane, education, profane swearing, military academics, sea- men's register, education of females, &c. His projects are marked by good sense, and much of the work is written in a very pleasing and forcible style. Many of his proposals have since been tested by experience, and from a copy of hi.s works, which Dr. Franklin found in his father's library, he says, "1 might receive some impressions that have since influenced the principal events ut" my life." It was not published till 1697. ''Misfortunes in business having unhinged me from matters of trade," says De Foe, "it was about the year 1G04 when I was invited by some merchants, with whom I had corresponded abroad, and some also at home, to settle at Cadiz, in Spain; and that with the offers of very good commissions. But I'rovideuoc, which had other work for me to do, placed a secret aversion in my miiid to quitting England upon any account, and made me refuse the best offers of that kind. . . . Sometime after this, I was, without the least appli- cation of mine, and being then seventy miles from London, sent for to be accountant to the conimi.ssioners of the glass duty, in which service I continued to the determination of the commission," 1699. About this time he became secretary to the pantile works at Tilbflry, in Essex, which works, he saj's, in his Review for March, 1705, "before violence, injury, and barbarous treatment demolished him and his undertaking, employed a hundred poor people in making pantiles in England, a manufacture always bought in Holland : and thus he pursued this principle with his utmost zeal for the good of England : and those gentlemen who so eagerly prosecuted him for saying what all the world since owns to be true, and which he has since a hundred times offered to prove, were particularly serviceable to the nation, in turning that hundred of poor people and their families a-begging for work, besides three thousand pounds damage to the author of this, which he has paid for this little experience." From 1697 to 1701 he entered warmly into the discussion of political mat- ters then agitated, and twelve pamphlets are extant written in this period, but in 1701 he produced "The True-Born Englishman," in rhyme, a work which added much to his celebrity. He thus accounts for the origin of the poem. "During this time, there came out a vile abhorred pamphlet, in very ill verse, written by one Mr. Tutchin, and called 'The Foreigners;' in which the author fill personally upon the king himself, and then upon the Dutch nation; and after having reproached his majesty with crimes that his worst enemies could not think of without horror, he sums up all in the odious name of Fuiciyner. 'J'iiis filled me with a kind of rage against the book, and gave birth to a trifle vihich I never could hope should have met with so general an acceptation as it did." As a specimen, a few lines upon the folly of indulging in the pride of ancestry may be given : 16 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. These are the heroes that despise the Dutch, And rail at new-come foreignei.' so much; Forgetting that themselves are all derived From the most scoundrel race that ever lived; A horrid crowd of rambling thieves and drones, Who ransack'd kingdoms and dispeopled towns The Pict and painted Briton, treach'rous Scot, By hunger, theft, and rapine hither brought; Norwegian pirates, buccaneering Danes, Whose red-hair'd offspring everywhere remains; Who, join'd with Norman-French compound the breed, From whence your True-Born Englishmen proceed. And lest, by length of time, it be pretended The climate may the modern race have mended, Wise Providence, to keep us where we are, Mixes us daily with exceeding care." The first edition was comprised in sixty pages, quarto; and such was its popularity, that in four years the author had printed nine editions, the copies of which he sold at a shilling each, while he calculated that not less than eighty f'lousand copies of pirated editions, sold at from sixpence to a penny, were disposed of in the streets of London. The loss he sustained by this conduct must have been considerable. He tells us, that "had he been allowed to enjoy the profit of his own labour, he had gained above a thousand pounds." This poem^ having met the eye of King William, inspired him with the desire to become acquainted with the author; he was accordingly presented to him, and was ever after cordially received by him and his consort, and employed in various secret services. In his "Appeal to Honour and Justice," in 1715, he says, "How this poem was the occasion of my being known to his majesty; how I was afterwards received by him ; how employed ; and how, above my capacity of deserving, rewarded, is no part of the present case, and it is only mentioned here, as I take all occasions to do, for the expressing the honour I ever preserved for the immortal and glorious memory of that greatest and best of princes, and whom it was my honour and advantage to call master as well as sovereign ; whose goodness to me I never forgot, neither can forget; and whose memory I never patiently heard abused, nor ever can do so ; and who, had he lived, would never have sufiered me to be treated as I have been in the world." Between the publication of "The True-Born Englishman" and the death of his patron, in March 1702, he published ten pamphlets, in one of which, " Reasons against a War with France," notwithstanding his passionate attach- ment to William, he ventured, on patriotic grounds, to oppose the views of the court. The life and labours of De Foe are so interwoven with the political history of his country, that the most satisfactory way of considering his life is by dividing it into periods, commensurate with the reigns in which he flourished. We have now arrived at the accession of Queen Anne. She had been educated bv Compton, bishop of Loudon, and immediately threw all the influence of the MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. IT ourt into the tory or high-church party. "The heat and fury of the clergy went to that height (says De Foe) that even it became ludicrous, and attended with all the little excesses which a person elevated beyond the governiuent of himself by some sudden joy is usually subject to. And, as a known author remarks, that upon the restoration of King Charles II., the excesses and trans- ports of the clergy and people ran out into revels, may-poles, atid all manner of extravagancies; so at this time, there were more may-poles set up in our year in England than had been in twenty years before. Ballads for the church was auotluT expression of their zeal, wherein generally the chorus or burden Df the song was, 'Down with the Presbyterians.' And to such a height were things brought, that the dissenters began to be insulted in every place; their Tieetinc-houses and assemblies assaulted by the mobs; and even their ministers and preachers were scarce admitted to pass the streets." Pamphlets inveigh- ing against the dissenters were hawked about the streets, and the pulpit- especially resounded with the most violent tirades, and the lenity of the queen in extending to them toleration was unscrupulously condemned. Familiar with the sentiments and language of the high-church party, De Foe collected them into a three-sheet pamphlet, entitled "The Shortest "Way with the Dissenters; :>r, Proposals for the Establishment of the Church." "When the book first appeared in the world," says he, "and before tho.se high-flown gentlemen knew its author; whilst the piece in its outward figure looked so natural, and was so like a brat of their own begetting, that, like two apples, they could not know them asunder, the author's true design in the writing it had its immediate effect. The gentlemen of the high-church imme- diately fell in with the project. Nothing could have been more grateful to them than arguments to prove the necessity of ruining the dissenters, and removing those obstructions to the church's glory out of the way. We have innumerable testimonies of the pleasure with which the party embraced the proposal of sending all the dissenting ministers to the gallows and the galleys; of having all their meeting-houses demolished ; and being let loose upon the people to plunder and destroy them. The soberer churclunen, whose princi- ples were founded on charity, and wlio had their eye upon the laws and con- stitution of their country, as that to which their own liberties were annexed, though they still believed the book to be written by a high-churchman, yet openly exclaimed against the proposal, condemned the warmth that appeared in the clergy against their brethren, and openly professed that such a man as Sacheverell and his brethren would blow up the foundatiy himself, and continued till May, 1713, when it was finally abandoned. It was begun when its author was in Newgate, and terminated when he was imprisoned again, under a shameful prosecution. It would be impossible in our limits to convey any idea of the variety of the contents of this work. The general tendency and design of tlie articles were to subdue the prejudices of his cnuntrymen, and give them juster ideas of foreigners and foreign nations than they generally entertained — to give information concerning trade, polities, and the general occurrences of the .veek — to put down immoral practices, such as duelling and the slave-trade— with the conversation of a ''Scandal Club," upon matters of all kinds; and the most thankless of ail undertakings, to correct the bluiiders of the centempo- rary press. At the close of the first year, he proposed to discontinue it; but several who were interested in it, being desirous to have it continued, he con- sented to oblige them if they would provide for the charges of the press, "which he was sorry he was not in a condition to oblige them with also." The Review was doubtless the most popular periodical of the time, and with the fifth volume it began to be reprinted in Edinburgh; but the author seems never to have received much pecuniary benefit from it, and the labour he be- stowed uphill it must be solely attributed to his zeal for the public welfare. In the seventh volume, he says : "Though I have the misfortune to amass infinite enemies, and not at all to oblige even the men I serve, yet I defy the world to prove I have directly or indirectly gained or received a single shilling, or the value of it, by the sale of this paper for now almost four years; and honest Mr. Morphew is able to detect me, if I speak fiilse." The intemperate conduct of the Tory party, in 1704, brought on a period of reaction. "The queen," says De Foe, "though willing to favour the high- church party, did not thereby design the ruin of those she did not employ, was soon alarmed at their wild conduct, and turned them out, adhering to the moderate counsels of those who better understood or more faithfully pursued her majesty's and the country's interest." A new ministry was formed, in which Lord Godolphin, the Duke of Marlborough, and Mr. Harley were lead- ing members; the latter of whom, sensible of the influence so popular a writei as De Foe would exert, opened a negotiation with him, immediately upon coming into office. In his "Appeal to Honour and Justice," it is thus noticed : — "While I lay friendless and distressed in the prison of Newgate, my family ruined, and myself without hope of deliverance, a message was brought me from a person of honour [Mr. Harley], who, till that time, I had never had the least acquaintance with, or knowledge of, other than by fame, or by sight, as we know men nf (|uality by seeing them on public occasions. I gave no present answer to the person who brought it, having not duly weighed the import of the message. The message was by word of mouth thus: — 'Pray, ask that gentleman what I can do for him?' But in return to this kind and 22 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. generous message, I immediately took my pen and ink, and wrote the story of the blind man in the Gospel, who followed our Saviour, and to whom our blessed Lord put the question, 'What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?' Who, as if he had made it strange that such a question should be asked, or as if he had said that I am blind, and yet ask me what thou shalt do for me ? My answer is plaii; in my misery, 'Lord, that I may receive my sight?' "I needed not to make the application. And from this time, although I lay four months in prison after this, and heard no more of it, yet from this time, as I learned afterwards, this noble person made it his business to have my case represented to her majesty, and methods taken for my deliverance. I mention this part, because I am no more to forget the obligation upon me to the queen, than to my first benefactor. "When her majesty'came to have the truth of the case laid before her, I soon felt the effects of her royal goodness and compassion. And first, her majesty declared, that she left all that matter to a certain person [the Earl of Nottingham], and did not think he would have used me in such a manner. Probably these words may seem imaginary to some, and the speaking them to be of no value, and so they would have been, had they not been followed with further and more convincing proofs of what they imported, which were these, that her majesty was pleased particularly to inquire into my circumstances and family, and by my Lord-treasurer Godolphin to send a considerable supply to my wife and family, and to send to me the prison-money to pay my fine and the expenses of my discharge. "Being delivered from the distress I was in, her majesty, who was not satis- fied to do me good by a single act of her bounty, had the goodness to think of taking me into her service, and I had the honour to be employed in several honourable, though secret services, by the interposition of my first benefactor, who then appeared as a member in the public administration." Upon his release, in August, 1704, he retired to Bury St. Edmunds, "a town famed for its pleasant situation and wholesome ah, the Montpellier of Suffolk, and perhaps of England ; famous also for the number of gentry who reside in the vicinity, and for the polite and agreeable conversation of the company resorting there." De Foe was no sooner at liberty than it was rumoured that he had effected an escape, and that warrants were issued for his apprehension ; a mischievous hoax was got up to annoy him; "his life threatened by bullying letters; his creditors roused to a general prosecution of him for debts, though under former treaties and agreements, as if he was more able to discbarge them now, reduced by a known disaster, and ruined by a public storm, than before, when in pros- perous circumstances, he was clearing himself of everybody, and all waited with patience, being themselves satisfied ; now his morals were assaulted by impo- tent and groundless slanders; his principles cried down by envious friends as well as malicious enemies. His endeavours for the public advantage prove none to himself; his family and fortunes sink under his constant attempts for the country's welfare. — I have been told that 'tis no wonder all the threaten MKMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 33 ings, sham actions, and malicious prosecutions I speak of, are practised upon mo, since I am pushing at a party daily in lampoons, ballads, and clandestine scandals; and that I mu^t expect no other till I lay down this paper and all other scribbles of such a nature I have frequently answered this, as to all the papers cried about in my name, assuring the world they have none of them been wrote by me As to laying down the pen, or discontinuing the subject I am upon, though I claim a privilege to be judge when I ought to go backward or forward, yet to answer the proposal as to a cessation of pen and ink debates, I shall make them a ftvir offer, which he that gives himself the trouble to move me in it may make use of to the other party. Whenever he will demonstrate they are inclined to peace, whenever the high-church party will cease tacking of bills, invading the toleration, raising ecclesiastical alarms against the dissenters and low-church ; will cease preaching up division, perse- cution, and ruin of their protestant brethren ; when all the crowd of high- church advocates. Rehearsers, Observers, Reflectors, Whippers, Drivers [names of periodicals and signatures of writers of that period] will declare a truce ; — when these conditions may be observed I fairly promise to be so far a contri- butor to the public peace, as to lay this [the Review] down, and turn the paper to the innocent discourses of trade and the matters of history, first proposed. Indeed, I must do so of course; for the peace will be then made, the end answered, and consequently the argument useless." Such was De Foe's popularity at this time, that he had to warn the public that printers, to make their pamphlets sell, affixed his name to things he " had no concern in, crying them about the streets as mine ; nay, and at last are come to that height of injury as to print my name to every scandalous trifle. . . [ entreat my friends once for all, that whenever they meet with a penny or half- penny paper, sold or cried about in the streets, they would conclude them not mine. I never write penny papers, this excepted [the Review'], nor ever shall, unless my name is publicly set to them." In two years of comparative retirement, during a portion of which he was compelled entirely to cease from labour on account of severe aflSiction, upwards of thirty very considerable works proceeded from his pen, in addition to the Review; now issued three times a week He also published the second volume of his collected writings. It would be impossible to give even the title-pages of these works here, but two of the opinions, in his "Giviu" Alms no Charity," are so pointed that we cannot avoid quoting them. On vagrancy he says: — "No man that has limbs and his senses need beg; and those that have not ought to be put in a condition not to want it, so that begging is a mere scandal in the general. In the able, 'tis a scandal upon their industry; and in the impotent, 'tis a scandal upon the country." His theory of population differs widely from the popular Malthusian theory of the English political economists of the present day, and both in language and sentiment corresponds with the principles so ably expounded by our fellow- citizen, Henry C. Carey. "I cannot but note that the glory, the strength, the riches, the trade and all that is valuable in a nation as to its figure in the 24 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR world depends upon (lie number of its people, be they never so mean or poor. The consumption of manufactures increases the manufacturers; the number of manufacturers increases the consumption; provisions are consumed to feed them, land improved, and more hands employed to furnish provisions. All the wealth of the nation, and all the trade, is produced by numbers of people." In this period also he gave the first specimen of those inventive powers which he exercised so successfully at a later period of life, in "A True Relation of the Apparition of one Mrs. Veal, the next day after her death, to one Mrs. Bargrave, at Canterbury, the 8th of September, 1705 : which Apparition i-ecommends the Perusal of Drelincourt's Book of Consolations against the Fear of Death." Being in company with the publisher of Drelincourt, who complained of the dulness of the sale of the book, De Foe asked if the author had blended aught of the supernatural in his work ? The bookseller answered in the negative. De Foe replied, "If you wish your book to sell, I will put you in the way of it," and immediately set about composing the story of the appa- rition. The success was complete. It soon passed through forty editions; and the recommendation of the ghost has been attended to by half the families in England. Sir Walter Scott, in illustrating the peculiar powers of De Foe in investing fiction with all the tokens of reality, has entered into a particular analysis of this story; and concludes, "that De Foe has put in force within those few pages, peculiar specimens of his art of recommending the most improbable narrative by his specious and serious mode of telling it. Whoever will read it as told by De Foe himself, will agree that could the thing have happened in reality, so it would have been told. In short, the whole is so distinctly cii'- cumstantial, that were it not for the impossibility, or extreme improbability at least, of such an occurrence, the evidence could not but support the story." In 1705, De Foe "had the honour to be employed in several honourable though secret services, in which he had run as much risk of his life as a gre nadier upon the counterscarp," the particulars of which have not transpired, but there is sufficient evidence that he executed them to the satisfaction of Mr. Harley; and he received "an appointment," probably a sinecure one, for his services. He was absent from England about two months. From 1706 to 1711, the attention of De Foe was principally directed to the affairs of Scotland. Exasperated by the massacre at Glencoe, and by the manner in which the English government had treated their colony on the Isthmus of Darien, the Scottish parliament threatened to dissent from England in the matt'^r of the succession, unless there should be a free trade between the two countries, and their aff"airs more thoroughly secured from English influence. The English ministers then saw that it would be necessary to incorporate that country with England, to prevent the Pretender from gaining the Scottisl) crown; and exerted themselves so eifectually in the Scottish parliament, that an act was passed enabling the queen to nominate commissioners for the arrange- ment of a union. Thirty commissi mers were accordingly nominated on each side; and though, with few exceptic:is, they were so friendly to the successior. MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 25 of the Hanoverian family and to the measures of the court, that no oppositioL was expected from them ; yet such was the unpopularity of the act, that it was thought unsafe to venture upon it without using some means tc soften the national prejudices. The paltry trade that Scotland even at this time carried on was behold by Englishmen with envy ; they were annoyed at the wealth of many of the Scotsmen who were settled among them, and felt it as so much taken from themselves, instead of profiting by the example of industry, per- severance, and economy thoy had set them; and they spurned at union with a beggarly country which could only burden them with its support. In Scotland the opposition to the union was almost universal : they beheld in i* the extinc- tion of their nation ; and that peacefully if not treacherously accomplished which England had for centuries vainly attempted to do by force. Especially they feared for the safety of that church which they had so fondly cherished, and which had tended so strongly to mould the national character. In these circumstances Harley cast his eye upon De Foe, as one eminently qualified and able to forward the measure. In England he was one of the most popular writers : and being a Presbyterian and opposed to the prelatic party, he calcu- lated that he would be favourably received in Scotland. The idea was fiimiliar to De Foe — he himself had suggested it to King William; one whole Review was devoted to the inculcation of peace and unity, probably before the minister had spoken to him on the subject. He imme- diately prepared to set out for Scotland, and arrived at Edinburgh in the beginning of October, 1706, a few days before the articles of union were sub- mitted to the Scottish parliament. Though without any official designation, yet as the friend and adviser of the ministers, he was received by the commis- sioners as one invested with plenipotentiary power. His business-habits enabled him to render to them essential service, in making those calculations on which the imposts in future should be levied; and in his "History of the Union" he' enters into many curious particulars of these matters, and of the dangers to which he and the commissioners were exposed from the infuriated niob. But finding that there was nothing to fear from "the treaters within doors, I thought it my duty," says he, "to do my part without doors; and I knew no part I could act in my sphere, so useful and proper, as to attempt to remove the national prejudices, which both people, by the casualty of time and the errors of parties, had too eagerly taken up, and wei'e adhered to with too great tenacity. To this purpose I wrote two Essays against National Prejudices in England, while the treaty was in agitation there; and J'uur more in Scotland, t\hile it was debating in the parliament there." With the same object, in December, 1706, he published, in Edinburgh, "Caledonia, a poem in honour of Scotland and the Scots nation " In it he also invites the Scotch to an increased attention to the improvement of the agri- cultilre and commerce of the country. During the sixteen months in which he resided in Scotland, he made several excursions throughout the country, and his observations upon what he saw there evince great sagacity. At this time Scotland contained scarcely a million of inhabitant^, and even these were 26 • MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. barely able to obtain a precarious existence. The best of the land was thought capable of producing oats and barley only; and so late were the seasons, that the poor husbandman had often to gather his scanty harvest amid the snow. Famines were frequent, when the poor were forced to live on noxious roots, and thousands of them died of hunger. But De Foe foresaw its future greatness, and held out prospects of plenty. "The poverty of Scotland, and the fruitfulness of England, or rather the diiference between them," said he, ''is owing not to mere difference of climate, or the nature of the soil; but to the errors of time and their different constitutions. — Liberty and trade have made the one rich, and tyranny the other poor." The union between the two countries was completed in May 1, 1707, but De Foe continued in Scotland till January, 1708. During his absence, the Review appeared regularly, and he' assures the reader that, "though it is none of the easiest things in the world to write a paper to come out three times a week, and perhaps liable to more censure and ill-usage than other papers; and at the same time, to reside for sixteen months together, at almost four hundred miles distance from London, and sometimes more," yet all the articles "are written by D. F." On his return to London, he endeavoured to obtain a settlement with his creditors; and after waiting on Mr. Harley and Lord Godolphin, im- mediately returned to Scotland, as we find him at Edinburgh in April. In the beginning of this year, the intrigues which Mr. Harley had for some time carried on through Mrs. Masham against his colleagues, the Duke of Marlborough and Lord Grodolphin, were discovered; and they having insisted upon the queen's removing him from office, in February he tendered his resig- nation. On learning Mr. Harley' s retirement, De Foe returned to London, with the intention of tendering his resignation and uniting his fate with him whom he always designated his benefactor. "When, upon that fotal breach," says he, "the secretary of state [Harley] was dismissed from the service, I looked upon myself as lost : it being a gene- ral rule in such cases, when a great officer falls, that all who came in by his interest fall with him ; and resolving never to abandon the fortunes of the man to whom I owed so much of my own, I quitted the usual applications which I had made to my lord-treasurer. "But my generous benefactor, when he understood it, frankly told me that T should by no means do so; 'For,' said he, in the most engaging terms, ' my lord-treasurer will employ you in nothing but what is for the J3ublic ser- vice, and agreeably to your own sentiments of things; and besides, it is the queen you are serving, who has been very good to you. Pra}-, apply yourself as you used to do; I shall not take it ill from you in the least.' "Upon this, I went to wait on my lord-treasurer [Godolphin], who received me with great freedom, and told me, smiling, he had not seen me a long while. I told his lordship very frankly the occasion — that the unhappy breach that had ftilleu out made me doubtful whether I should be acceptable to his lord- ship. That I knew it was usual when great persons fall, that all who were in their interest fell with them. That his lordship knew the obligations I was MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 27 uiuler, and that I coukl not but fear my interest in his Inrdship was lessened on that account. 'Not at all, Mr. De Foe,' replied his lordship, 'T always think a man honest till I tind to the ccmtrary.' «Upon this, I attended his lordship as usual ; and being resolved to remove all possible ground of suspicion that I kept any secret correspon-lcnco, I never visited, or wrote to, or any way corresponded with my principal benefactor for above three years; which he so well knew the reason of, and so well approved that punctual behaviour in me, that he never took it ill from me at all. " hi Lonsequence of this reception, my Lord Godolphin had the goodness not only to introduce me for the second time to her majesty, and to the honour of kissing her hand, but obtained for me the continuance of an appointment which her majesty had been pleased to make me, in consideration of a former special service I had done, and in which I had run as much risk of my life as a gren- adier upon the counterscarp; and which appointment, however, was first ob- tained for me at the intercession of my said first benefactor, and is all owing to that intercession and her majesty's bounty. Upon this second introduction, her majesty was pleased to tell me, with a goodness peculiar to herself, that she had such satisfaction in my former services, that she had appointed me for another aflair, which was something nice, and that my lord-treasurer should tell me the rest ; and so I withdrew. " The next day, his lordship having commanded me to attend, told me that he must send me to Scotland, and gave me but three days to prepare myself. Accordingly, 1 went to Scotland, where neither my business, nor the manner of my discharging it, is material to this tract ; nor will it be ever any part of my character that 1 reveal what should be concealed. And yet, my errand was such as was far from being unfit for a sovereign to direct, or an honest man to perform ; and the service I did upon that occasion, as it is not unknown to the greatest man now in the nation under the king and the prince, so, I dare say, his grace was never displeased with the part I had in it, and I hope will not forget it." — u4h Appe hear of it as they might, without asking (rod's blessing, or my father's, without any consideration of circumstances or consequences, and in an ill hour, God knows, on the 1st of September, IGol, 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 ray 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 advice, and the breach of my duty to God and my father. All this while the storm increased, and the sea went very high, though nothing like what I have seen many times since ; no, nor what I saw a few days after : but it was enough to affect me then, who was but a young sailor, and had never known anything of the matter. I expected every wave would have swallowed us up, and that every time the ship fell down, as I thought it did, in the trough, or hollow of the sea, we should never rise more. In this agony of mind, I made many vows and resolutions, that if it would please God to spai-e 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 whde 1 lived ; but I would take his advice, and never run myself into such miseries as these any more. Now I saw plainly the goodness of his observations about the middle station of life, how easy, how com fortable he had lived all his days, and never had been exposed to tem- pests at sea, or trouble on shore ; and, in short, I resolved, that 1 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, 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 ner- 40 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES fectlj 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, hut verj 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 lit- tle 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 frightened, weren't you, last night, when it blew but a capful of wind ?" — " A capful d'ye call it ?" said I, " 'twas a terrible storm." — "A storm, you fool, you!" replies he, "do you call that a storm ? why it was nothing at all ; give us but a good ship and sea-room, and we think nothing of such a squall of wind as that ; but you're but a fresh-water sailor. Bob ; come, let us make a bowl of punch, and we'll forget all that ; d'ye see what charming weather 'tis now?" To make short this sad part of my story, we went the way of all sailors ; the punch was made, and I was made half drunk with it, and in that one night's wickedness I drowned all my repentance, all my reflections upon my past conduct, all my resolutions for the future. In a word, as the sea was returned to its smoothness of surface, and settled calmness, by the abatement of that storm, so, the hurry of my thoughts being over, my fears and apprehensions of being swallowed up by the sea being forgotten, and the current of my former desires returned, I entirely forgot the vows and promises that I made in my distress. I found, indeed, some intervals of reflection ; and the serious thoughts did, as it were, endeavour to return again sometimes ; but I shook them off, and roused myself from them, as it were from a dis- temper ; 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 victoi'y 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 gene- rally 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 contrary, namely, at nouth-west, for seven or eight days ; during which time, a great many ships from CRUSOE AND BOB ABOARD SHIP 42 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES Newcastle came into the same roads, as the common harbour where the ships might wait for a wind for the river. We had not, however, rid here so long, hut we should have tided it up the river, but that the wind blew too fresh ; and after we had lain four or five days, blew very hard. However, the roads being reckoned as good as a harbour, the anchorage good, and our ground-tackle very strong, our men were unconcerned, and not in the least apprehensive of danger ; but spent the time in rest and mirth, after the manner of the sea : but the eighth day in the morning, the wind increased, and we had all hands at work to strike our 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 ! Ave shall be all lost — Ave shall be all undone !" and the like. During these first hur- ries, I Avas stupid, lying still in my cabin, Avhich 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 Avould be nothing, too, like the first. But, when the master himself came by me, as I said just noAv, and said we should be all lost, I Avas dreadfully frightened : I got up out of my cabin, and looked out ; but such a dis- mal sight I never saw: the sea went mountains high, and broke upon us CA'^ery three or four minutes ; when I could look about, I could see nothing but distress round us. Tavo 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, Avas foundered. Tavo more ships, being driven from their anchors, Avere run out of the roads to sea, at all adventures, and that with not a mast standing. The light ships fared the best, as not so much labouring in the sea ; but tAvo or three of them drove, and came close by us, running away with only their sprit-sail out, before the Avind. ToAvards the evening, the mate and boatSAvain begged tne master of our ship to let them cut aAvay the foremast, which he was very unwill- ing to do : but the boatswain protesting to him, that if he did not the ship would founder, he consented ; and when they had cut aAvay the OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 43 foremast, the mainmast stood so loose, and shook the ship so much, they were obliged to cut her away also, and make a clear deck. 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 ac- count of my former convictions, and the having returned from them to the resolutions I had wickedly taken at first, than I was at death itself; and these, added to the terror of the storm, put me into such a condi- tion, that I can by no words describe it. But the worst was not come yet; tlie 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 ray advantage in one respect, that I did not know what they meant by founder, till I intjuired. However, the storm was so violent, that I saw, what is not often seen, the master, the boatswain, and some others more sensible than the rest, at their prayers, and expecting every moment when the ship would go to the bottom. In the middle of the night, and under all the rest of our distresses, one of the men that had been down 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, 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 dis- tress. I, who knew nothing what that 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 everybody had his cwn life to think of, nobody minded me, or what was become of me ; but another man stepped up to the pump, and, thrusting me aside with his foot, let me lie, thinking I had been dead ; and it was a great while before I came to myself. We Avorked on, but the water increasing in the hold, it was apparent that the ship would founder; and though the storm began to abate u little, yet as it was not possible she could swim till we might run into a 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.- THE STORM. Of ROBINSON CllUSOK. 4;» It was witli the utmost hazard tlie boat came near us ; but it waa impossible for us to get on board, or for the boat to lie near the ship side, till at last tiie men rowing very heaitily, and venturing their lives to save ours, our men cast them a rope over the stern with a buoy to it, and then veered it out a great length, which they, after much labour and hazard, took hold of, and we hauled them close under our stern, and got all into their boat. It was to no purpose for them or us, after we were in the boat, to think of reaching 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 ;iway to the northward, sloping towards the shore, almost as far as Winterton Ness. We were not much more than a quniter of an hour out of our ship, but we fuiw her sink: and then 1 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 ine 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 shore 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 falls off' to the westward towards Cromer, and so the land broke off" a little the violence of the wind. Here we got in, and, though not without much difficulty, got all safe on shore, and walked afterwards on foot to Yarmouth, where, as unfortunate men, we were used with great humanity, as well by the magistrates of the to^vn, 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 Savioin-'s parable, had even killed the fatted calf for me ; for hearing the ship I went in was cast away in Yarmouth Roads, it was a great while before he had any assurance that I was not drowned. But my ill fate pushed me on now with an obstinacy that nothing could resist: and thouirh I had several times loud calls from mv reason 46 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES and my more composed judgment to go home, yet I had no pov/er to do it. I knoAV not what to call this, nor will I urge that it is a secret, over- rulins: decree, that hurries us on to be the instruments of our own destruction, even though it be before us, and that we push 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 thoughts, and against two such visible instructions as I had met with in my first attempt. My comrade, who had helped to harden me before, and who was the master's son, was now less forward than I. The first time he spoke to me after we were at Yarmouth, which was not till two or three days, for we were separated in the town to several quarters, — I say, the first time he saw me, it appeared his tone was altered; and looking very melancholy, and shaking his head, asked me how I did: and telling his father who I was, and how I had come this voyage only for a trial, in order to go 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 all this has befallen us on your account, like Jonah in the ship of Tarshish. Pray," con- tinues 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 thousand pounds." This indeed was, as I said, an excursion of the 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, exhorted 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 me; "And, young man," said he, " depend upon it, if you do not go back, wherever you go, you will meet with no- thing but disasters and disappointments, till your father's words are fulfilled upon you. ' We parted soon after ; for I made him little answer, and I saw him no more ; which way he went, I know not. As for me, having some money in my pocket, I travelled to London by land; and ther^, as well OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 47 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 ray father and mother only, but even everybody else ; from whence I have since often observed, how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth, to that reason which ought to guide them in such cases, namely, that they are not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; nor ashamed of the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of the return- ing, 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 Avhat course of life to lead. An irresistible reluctance con- tinued 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 mo- tion I had in my desires to a return wore oflf 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, that 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 command 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 adventures 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 learned the duty and oflBce of a foremastman, and in time might have qualified myself for a mate or lieutenant, if not for a master. But as it was always my fate to choose for the worse, so I did here ; for, having money in my pocket, and good clothes upon my back, I would always go on board in the habit of a gentleman ; and so I neither had any business in the ship, or learned to do any. 48 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES CHAPTER 11. Make a trading Voyage to Guinea very successfully — Death of my Captain — Sail anothei Trip with his Mate^The Vengeance of Providence for Disobedience to Parents now overtakes me — Taken by a Sallee Rover, and all sold as Slaves — iNIy ISIaster fre- quently sends me a-fishing, which suggests an idea of escape — Wake my escape in an open Boat, with a Moresco Boy. It was my lot, first of all, to fall into pretty good company in Lon- don, which does not ahvays 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 a 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 ; and who taking a fancy to my conversation, which was not at all disagreeable at that time, hearing me say I had a mind to see the world, told me, if I would go the voyage with him I should be at no expense ; I should be his messmate and his companion ; and if I could carry 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 and plain-dealing man, I went the voyage with him, and carried a small adventure with me, which, by the disin- terested honesty of my friend, the captain, I increased very considera- bly ; for I carried about forty pounds in such toys and trifles- as the captain directed me to buy. This forty pounds I had mustered together by the assistance of some of my relations, whom I corresponded with, and who, I believe, got my father, or at least my mother, to contribute so much as that to my first adventure. This was the only voyage which I may say was successful in all my adventures, and Avhich 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 instruct me, I took delight to learn ; and, in a word, this voyage made me both a sailor and a merchant : for I brought home five pounds nine ounces of gold dust for my adventure, which OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 49 AiiA :. Ji THE SALLEE ROVER, yielded rae in London, at my return, almost three hundred pounds ; and this filled me with those aspiring thoughts which have since so completed my ruin. Yet, even in this voyage, I had my misfortunes too ; particularly that I was continually sick, being thrown into a violent calenture by the excessive heat of the climate ; our principal trading being upon the coast, from the latitude of fifteen 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 voy- age again ; and I embarked in the same vessel with one who was his mate in the former voyage, and had now got the eonmiand of the shij). This was the unhappiest voyage that ever man made ; ft)r though I did not carry quite XlOO of my new-gained wealth, so that I had £'100 left, and which I lodged with my friend's widow, who was very just to me, yet I fell into terrible misfortunes in this voyage ; and the first was this, — namely, our ship, making her course towards the Canary Islands, or rather between those islands and the African shore, was surprised, in the gray of the morning, by a Moorish rover of Sallee, who gave chase to us with all the sail she could make. We crowded also as much canvas as our yards would spread, or our masts carry, to have got clear; but finding the pirate gained uj)on us, and would cer- tainly come up with us in a few hours, we prepared to figlit, our ship having twelve guns and the rover eighteen. About three in the after- 50 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES CRUSOE A SLAVE. noon he came up with us, and bringing to, by mistake, just athwart our quarter, instead of athwart our stern, as he intended, we brought eight of our guns to bear on that side, and poured in a broadside upon him, which made him sheer off again, after returning our fire, and pouring in also his small shot, from near two hundred men which he had on board. However, we had not a man touched, all our men keeping close. He prepared to attack us again, and we to defend our- selves ; 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 decks and rigging. We plied them with small shot, half-pikes, powder-chests, and such like, and cleared our deck of them twice. However, to cut short this melancholy part of our story, our ship being disabled, and three of our men killed, and eight wounded, we were obliged to yield, and were carried all prisoners into Sallee, a port belonging to the Moors. The usage I had there was not so dreadful as at first I apprehended : nor was I carried up the country to the'emperor's court, as the rest of our men were, but was kept by the captain of the rover, as his proper prize, and made his slave, being young and nimble, and fit for his bus!- OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. ness. At this surprising change of my circumstances, from a merchant to a miserable slave, I was perfectly overwhelmed; and now I h.oked back upon my father's prophetic discourse to me, that I should be miserable, and have none to relieve me ; which I thought was now so effectually brought to pass, that I could not be worse ; 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 acain, believing that it would be some time or other his fate to be taken by a Spanish or Portugal man-of-war ; and that then I should be set at liberty. But this hope of mine was soon taken away ; for when he went to sea, he left me on shore to look after his little garden, and do the common drudgery of slaves about his house ; and when he came home again from his cruize, 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 affect it; but found no way that had the least probability in it. Nothing presented to make the supposition of it rational ; for I had nobody to communicate it to that would embark with me, — no fellow- slave, no Englishman, Irishman, or Scotchman there, but myself; so that for two years, though I often pleased myself with the imagination, yet I never had the least encouraging prospect of putting it in practice. After about two years, an odd circumstance presented itself, which put the old thought of making some attempt for my liberty again in my head : my patron lying at home longer than usual, without fitting out his ship, which, as I heard, was for want of money, he used constantly, once or twice a-week, sometimes oftener, if the weather was fair, to take the ship's pinnace, and go out into the road a-fishing ; and as he always took me and a young Moresco with him to row the boat, we made him very merry, and I proved very dexterous in catching fish ; insomuch, that sometimes he would send me with a Moor, one of his kinsmen, and the youth, the Moresco, as they called him, to catch a dish of fish for him. It happened one time, that going a-fishing with him in a calm morn- ing, a fog rose so thick, that though we were hot 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 morn- ing 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 land : how- ever, we got well in again, though with a great deal of labour, and 53 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES •some danger ; for the wind began to bloAv pretty fresh in the morning ; but, particuhxrly, 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 Avhich he had taken, he resolved he would not go a-fishing any more without a compass and some provision ; so he ordered the carpenter of his ship, who also was an English slave, to build a little state-room, or cabin, in the middle of the long-boat, like that of a barge, with a place to stand behind it to steer, and haul home the main- sheet ; and room before for a hand or two to stand and work the sails. She sailed with what we call a shoulder-of-mutton sail ; and the boom jibbed 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, particularly his bread, rice, and coifee. We were frequently out with this boat a-fishing ; and as I was most dexterous to catch fish for him, he never Avent without me. It hap- pened one day, that he had appointed to go out in this boat, either for pleasure or for fish, with two or three Moors of some distinction, and for whom he had provided extraordinary ; and had therefore sent on board the boat over night a larger store of provisions than usual ; and had ordered me to get ready three fusils with powder and shot, which were on board his ship ; for that they designed some sport of fowling, as well as fishing. I got all things ready as he had directed ; and waited the next morn- ing 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 ; he commanded me, too, 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 Avas like to have a little ship at my com- mand ; and my master being gone, I prepared to furnish myself, net for fishing business, but for a voyage ; though I knew not, neither did I so much as consider, whither I would steer ; for anywhere to got out of that place was my way. My first contrivance was to make a pretence to speak to this Moor, to get something for our subsistence on board ; for I told him we must not presume to eat of our patron's bread : he said, that Avas true ; se OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 53 he brought a large basket of rusk, or biscuit of their kind, and three jars Avith 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 con- veyed also a great lump of beeswax 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 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 Muly, or Moley ; so I called him : " Moley," said I, " our patron's guns are on board the boat ; can you not get a little powder and shot? It may be we may kill some alcamies (a fowl like our curlews) for our- selves, for I know he keeps the gunner's stores in the ship." — "Yes," says he, " I'll bring some ;" and accordingly he brought a great leather pouch, Avhich 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, pouring what was in it into another ; and thus furnished 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 north-north-east, Avhich 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 ran the boat out near a league fiirther, 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 some- thing 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 SAvam so strong after the boat, that he would have reached me very quickly, there being but 54 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES little wind; upon which I stepped into the cabin, and fetching one of the fowling-pieces, I presented it at him, and told him, I had done him no hurt, and if he would be quiet I would do him none: " But," said I, "you swim well enough to reach to the shore, and the sea is calm; make the best of your way to shore, and I will do you no harm; but if you come near the boat, I'll shoot you through the head, for I am resolved to have my liberty:" so he turned himself about, and swam for the shore, and I make no doubt but he reached it with ease, for he was an excellent swimmer. I could have been content to have taken this Moor with me, and have drowned the boy, but there was no venturing to trust him. When he was gone, I turned to the boy, whom they called Xury, and said to him, " Xury, if you will be faithful to me, I'll make you a great man ; but if you will not stroke your face to be true to me (that is, swear by Mohammed 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 swimming, I stood out directly to sea with the boat, rather stretching to windward, that they might think me gone towards the Straits' mouth, as indeed any one that had been in their wits must have been supposed to do; for who would have supposed we were sailed on to the southward to the truly Barbarian coast, where whole nations of negroes were sure to surround us with their canoes, and destroy us ; where we could never once go on shore, but we should be devoured by savage beasts, or more merci- less 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 toward the east, that I might keep in with the shore; and having a fair, fresh gale of wind, and a smooth, quiet sea, I made such sail, that I believe by the next day at three o'clock in the afternoon, when I first made the land, I could not be less than one hundred and fifty miles south of Sallee, quite beyond the Emperor of Morocco's domi- uions, 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 1 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 come to an anchor in the mouth of a little river, I knew OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 55 not what or where; neither what latitude, what country, what nation, or what river: I neither saw, or desired to sec, 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 dis- cover the country; but as soon as it was quite dark, we heard such dreadful noises of the barking, roaring, and howling of wild creatures, of we knew not what kinds, that the poor boy was ready to die with fear, and begged of me not to go on shore till day. " Well, Xury," said I, "then I won't; but, it may be, we may see men by day, who will be as bad to us as those lions."— " Then we give them the shoot gun," says Xury, laughing, " make them run wey.' Such English Xury spoke by conversing among us slaves. However, I was glad to see the boy so cheerful, and I gave him a dram, out of our patron's case of bottles, to cheer him up. After all, Xury's advice was good, and I took it; we dropped our little anchor, and lay still all night; I say still, for we slept none ; for in two or three hours we saw vast great creatures (we knew not what to call them) of many sorts, come down to the sea-shore, and run into the water, wallowing and washing themselves for the pleasure of cooling themselves ; and they made such hideous bowlings 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. Poor Xury cried to me to weigh the anchor, and row away. "No," Bays I, "Xury, we can slip our cable with a buoy to it, and go to sea; they cannot follow us far." I had no sooner said so, but I perceived the creature (whatever it was) within two oars' length, which something surprised me ; however, I immediately stepped to the cabin door, and taking up my gun, fired at him ; upon which he immediately turned about, and swam to the shore again. But it was not possible to describe the horrible noises, and hideous cries and bowlings, that were raised, as well upon the edge of the shore, as higher within the country, upon the noise or report of a 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 paws 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 56 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES Other for water, for we had not a pint left in ths hoat; 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." — "Well, Xury," said I, "we will both go, and if the wild mans come, we will kill them ; they shall eat neither of us." So I gave Xury a piece of rusk bread to eat, and a dram out of our patron's case of bottles, which I mentioned before; and we hauled the boat in as near the shore as we thought was proper, and waded on shore, carrying nothing but our arms, and two jars for water. I did not care to go out of sight of the boat, fearing the coming of canoes with savages down the river: but the boy, seeing a low place about a mile up the country, rambled to it ; and by and by I saw him come running towards me. I thought he was pursued by some savage, or frighted with some wild beast, and I ran forward towards him to help him ; but when I came nearer to him, I saw something hanging over his shoulders, which was a creature that he had shot, like a hare, but different in colour, and longer legs; however, we were very glad of it, and it was very good meat ; but the great joy that poor Xury came with, was to tell me he had found good Avater, 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 flows 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 footsteps of any human creature in that part of the country. As I had been one v^oyage to the coast before, I knew very well that the islands of the Canaries, and the Cape de Yerd islands also, lay not far off from the coast. But as I had no instruments to take an obser- vation to know what latitude we were in, and did not exactly know, or at least not remember, what latitude they were in, and knew not where to look for them, or when to stand off to sea towards them ; otherwise I might now easily have found some of these islands. But my hope was, that if I stood along this coast till I came to that part where the English traded, I should find some of their vessels upon their usual design of trade, that would relieve and take us in. By the best of my calculation, that place where I now was, must be that country, which, lying between the Emperor of Morocco' s domin- ions and the Negroes, lies waste, and uninhabited, except by wild OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 57 beasts ; the Negroes having abandoned it, and gone farther south for fear of the Moors ; and the Moors not thinking it worth inhabitnig, 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 hunt- ing only, where they go like an army, two or three thousand men at a time ; and, indeed, for near a hundred miles together upon this coast, we saw nothing but a waste uninhabited country by day, and heard nothing but bowlings 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 mountain 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. Several times I was obliged to land for fresh water, after we had left this place ; and once in particular, 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 w^ere more about him than it seems mine were, calls softly to me, and tells me, that we had best go fiirther ofi" 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 onr mouth:" one mouthful he meant: however, I said no more to the boy, but bade him lie still, and I took our biggest gun, which was almost musket-bore, and loaded it with a good charge of powder, and with two slugs, and laid it down ; then I loaded another gun with two bullets ; and the third — for we had three pieces — I loaded with five smaller bullets. I took the best aim I could with the first piece to have shot him into 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 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, firevards 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 above five or six gallons of rack : these 1 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- kneed, I swam on board in them and my stockings : hoAvever, this put me upon rummaging for clothes, of wliich I found enough, but took no more than I Avanted for present use, for I luid 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- loading of gold would have been at that time. I got it down to my I'aft, even whole as it was, without losing time to look into it, for I knew in general what it contained. My next caie 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, tAvo of them dry and' good, the third had taken water: those two I got to my raft, Avith the arms. And now I thought mj'self pretty well freighted, and began to think hoAv I should get to shore with them, having neither sail, oar, nor rudder, and the least capful of wind Avould have overset all my navigation. I had three encouragements: 1. A smooth, calm sea; 2. The tide lising and setting in to the shore ; 3. What little wind there was blew me toAvard the land: and thus, having found tAvo or three broken oars belonging to the boat, and besides the tools Avhich were in the chest, I found two saws, an axe, and a hammer ; and Avith this cargo I put to sea. For a mile, or thereabouts, my raft Avent very well, only that I found it drive a little distant from the place Avhere I had landed be- fore ; by which I perceived that there Avas some indraft of the Avater, and consequently I hoped to find some c-reek or river there, which I might make use of as a port to get to land with my cargo. As I imagined, so it Avas: there appeared before me a little opening of the land, and I found a strong current of the tide set into it, so 1 guided my raft as well as T could to keep in the middle of the stream; OF UOBINjsON CRUSOE. 77 but here I had like to liavo suffered a second shipwreck, which, if I had, I think verily would have broke my heart; for, knowing nothing of the coast, my raft run aground at one end of it upon a shoal, and. not being aground at the other end, it wanted but a little that all ray cargo had slij)ped oft" towards that end that was afloat, and so fallen into the water. T did my utmost, by setting my back against the chests, to keep them in their places, but could not thrust off the raft with all my strength ; neither durst I stir from the posture I was in. but, holding up the chests with all my might, 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 di- rectly in ; but here I had like to have dipped all ray cargo in 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 the float, if it run 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, tu hold the side of it fast to the shore, near a Hat piece of ground, which I expected the water would flow over; and so it did. As soon a-s I found water enough, for my raft drew about a foot of water, I thrust her on upon that flat piece of ground, and there fastened, or moored her, by sticking my two broken oars into the ground ; one on one side, near one end, and one on the other side, near the other end; and thus I lay till the water ebbed away, and left my raft and all my cargo safe on shore. My ne.xt work was to view the country, and seek a proper place for my habitation, and where to stow my goods, to secure them from what- ever might happen. Where I was, I yet knew not; whether on the continent or on an island — whether inhabited' or not inhabited — whe- ther 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 souic othrr bills which lay as in a ridge from it northward. 78 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES I took out one of the fowling-pieces, and one of the pistols, and a horn of powder ; and thus armed, I travelled for discovery up to the top of that hill, where, after I had with great labour and difficulty got to the top, I saw my fate to my great affliction ; namely, that I was in an island, environed every wa}* 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 Avas barren, and, as I saw good reason to believe, uninhabited, except by wild beasts, of which, how- ever, I saw none ; yet I saw abundance of fowls, but knew not their kinds ; neither, when I killed them, could I tell what Avas 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 parts of the wood, there arose an innumerable number of fowls of many sorts, making a confused scream- ing, 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 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 ; and 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 where I shot the fowl. I now began to consider, that I might yet get a great many things out of the ship, which would be useful to me, and particularly some of the rigging and sails, and such other things as might come to land, and I resolved to make another voyage on board the vessel, if possible : and as I knew that the first storm that blew must necessarily break her all in pieces, I resolved to set all other things apart, till I 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 OF 11U1UN:JU.N" lUL'SOE. ♦ T'.^ my hut, having nothing on but a cheeked sliirt and a pair of linen trowsers, and a pair of pumps on my feet. I got on board the ship as before, and prepared a second raft ; and having had experience of the first, I neither made this so unwieldy, nor loaded it so hard, but yet I brought away several things very use- ful 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, particu- larly two or three iron crows, and two barrels of musket-bullets, seven muskets, 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. Besides these things, I took all the men's clothes that I could find, and a spare fore-top-sail, hammock, and some bedding ; and with this I loaded my second raft, and brought them all safe on shore, to my very great comfort. I was under some apprehensions, during my absence from the land, that at least my provisions might be devoured on shore ; but, when I came back, I found no sign of any visiter, onl}' there sat a creature, like a wild cat, upon one of the chests, which, when I came towards it, ran away a little distance, and then stood still : she sat very com- posed and unconcerned, and looked full in my face, as if she had a mind to be acquainted with me. I presented my gun at her, but as .she did not understand it, she was perfectly unconcerned at it, nor did she offer to stir away ; upon which I tossed her a bit of biscuit, though, by the way, I was not very free of it, for my store was not great : however, I spared her a bit, I say, and she went to it, smelled of it, and ate it, and looked, as pleased, for more ; but I thanked her, and cuuld spare no more ; so she marched off. Having got my second cargo on. shore, though I was fain to open the barrels of powder, and bring them by parcels — for they were too heavy, being large casks — I went to work to make me a little tent, with the sail and some poles which I cut for that purpose ; and into this tent I brought 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 round the tent, to fortify it from any sudden attempt, either from man or beast. Wlion I had done this, I blocked up the door of the tent with some boards within, and an empty chest set up on end without, and, spread- ing one of the beds upon the ground, laying my two pistols just at 80 * THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES m J head, and mj gun at length by rae, I went to bed for the first timo, and slept very quietly all night, for I was very weary and heavy ; as 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, 1 believe, for one man ; but I was not satisfied still ; for, while the ship sat upright in that posture, I thought I ought to get everything out of her that I could ; so every day, at low water, I went on board, and brought away something or other ; but particularly the third time I went, I brouglrt 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 can- vas, which was to mend the sails upon occasion, and the barrel of wet gunpowder: in a word, I brought away all the sails first and last, only that I was fain to cut them in pieces, and bring as much at a time as I could ; for they were no more useful to be sails, but as mere canvas only. But that which comforted me still more was, that last of all, after I had made five or six such voyages as these, and thought I had nothing more to expect from the ship that was worth my meddling with, — I say, after all this, I found a great hogshead of bread, 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 expecting any more provisions, except what was spoiled by the water. I soon emptied the hogshead of that bread, and wrapped it up parcel by par- cel, 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 unwieldly and overladen, that, after I had entered the little cove, where I had landed the rest of my goods, not being able to guide it so handily as I did the other, it overset, and threw me and all my cargo into the water. As for myself, it was no great harm, for I was near the shore ; but as to my cargo, it was, great part of it, lost, especially the iron, which I expected would have been of great use to me : however, when the tide was out, I got most of the pieces of cable asliore, and some of the iron, though with infi- ute labour ; for I was fain to dip for it into the Avater, a work which OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. y| fatigued me very much. After this, I Avent every day on board, and brought away wliat I could get. ] 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 held, I should have brought away the whole ship, piece by piece : but, preparing the twelfth time to go on board, 1 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 scissors, with some ten or a dozen of good knives and forks ; in another I found about thirty-six pounds value in money, some Euro- pean coin, some Brazil, some pieces of eight, some gold, some silver. I smiled to myself at the sight of this money. "0 drug!" said 1, 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 ; even remain where thou art, and go to the bottom, as a creature whose life is not worth savins. '" However, upon second thoughts, I took it away, and, wrapping all this in a piece of canvas, I began to think of making another raft ; but, while I was preparing this, I found the sky overcast, and the wind began to rise, and in a quarter of an hour it blew a fresh gale from the shore. It presently occurred to me, that it was in vain to pretend to make a raft with the wind 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 doAvn 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 wei'^-lit of things I had about me, and partly the roughness of the water, for the wind rose very hastily, and, before it was quite high water, it blew a storm. But I was gotten home to my little tent, where I lay with all mv wealth about me very secure. It blow very hard all that night, and in the morning, when I looked out, behold, no more ship was to bo seen ! I was a little surprised, but recovered myself with this satisfac- tory reflection, namely, that I had lost no time, nor abated no dili- gence, to get every thing out of her that could be useful to mo, and that, indeed there was little left in her that I was able to bring away, if I had had more time. I now gave over any more thoughts of the ship, or of any thing out of her, except what might drive on shore from her wreck, as, indeed. G 82 THE LIFE AND ADVENTUREa divers pieces o^ her afterwards did ; ])ut tliose things were of small use to me. My thoughts were now wholly employed about seeurrng 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, 1 resolved upon both, the manner and description of which it may not be improper to give an account of. I soon found the place I was in Avas not for my settlement, particu- larly because it was upon a Ioav moorish ground near the sea, and I believed 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 Avould be proper for me : 1st, Health and fresh water I just now mentioned. 2dly, Shelter from the heat of the sun. 3dly, Security from ravenous creatures, whether man or beast. 4thly, A view of the sea, that, if God sent any ship in sight, I might not lose any advantage for my deliverance, of which I was not willing to banish all my expectation yet. In search of a place proper for this,* I found a little plain on the side of a rising hill, whose front towards this little plain was steep as a house-side, so that nothing could come down upon me from the top : on the side of this rock there was a hollow place worn a little way in, like the entrance or door of a cave, but there was not really any cave or way into the rock at all. 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 grounds by the sea-side. It was on the north-north-west side of the hill, so that I was sheltered from the heat every day, till it came to a west' and-by-south sun, or thereabouts, which in those countries is near the setting. Before I set up my tent, I drew a half-circle before the hollow- place, which took in about ten yards in its semi-diameter, from th(- 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 foot and a half, and sharpened on the top : the two rows did not stand above six inches from one another. OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 83 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 foot and a half high, like a spur to a post ; and this fence was so strong, that neither man nor beast could get into it, or over it : this cost me a great deal of time and labour, especially to cut the piles in the woods, bring them to the place, and drive them into the earth. The entrance into this place I made to be, not by a door, but by a short ladder, to go over the top ; which ladder, when I was in, I lifted over after me : and so I was completely fenced in, and fortified, as I thought, from all the world, and consequently slept secure in the night, which, otherwise, I could not have done ; though, as it appeared afterward, 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, namely, 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, Avhich 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 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, that so it raised the ground within about a foot and a half; and thus I made me a cave just behind my tent, which served me like a cellar to my house. It cost me much labour and many days before all these things were brought to perfection ; and, therefore, I must go back to some other things which took up some of my thoughts. At the same time, it hap- pened, 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 84 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES with the lightning, as I was with a thought which darted into my mind, as swift as the lightning itself: Oh, my poAvder! my very heart sank within me, when I thought that, at one blast, all my powder might be destioyed, 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 poAvder, and to keep it a little and a little in a parcel, in hope that, whatever might come, it might not all take fire at once, and to keep it so apart, that it should not be possible to make one part fire another. I finished this work in about a fortnight ; and I think my powder, which, in all, was about two hundred and forty pounds weight, was divided in not less than a hundred parcels. As to the barrel that had been wet, I did not appre- hend 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 verj carefully where I laid it. In the interval of time while this was doing, I went out once at least every day with my gun, as well to divert myself, as to see if I could kill any thing fit for food, and, as near as I could, to acquaint myself with what the island produced. The first time I went out, I presently discovered that there were goats in the island, which was a great satis- faction to me ; but then, it was attended with this misfortune to me, namely, that they were so shy, so subtle, and so swift of foot, that it Avas the most difficult thing in the world to come at them. But I was not discouraged at this, not doubting but I might now and then shoot one, as it soon happened; for, after I had found their haunts a little, I laid wait in this manner for them : I observed, if they saw me in the valleys, though they were upon the rocks, they would run away as in a terrible fright ; but if they were feeding in the valleys, and I was upon the rocks, they took no notice of me ; from whence I concluded, that, by the position of their optics, their sight Avas so directed down- Aviird, that they did not readily see objects that were above them ; s'^ afterwards I took this method : I always climbed the rocks first, to get above them, and then had frequently a fair mark. The first shot I made among these creatures I killed a she-goat, Avhich 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 OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 85 my shoulders, the kid folic wed me quite to my enclosure ; upon which I laid down the dam, and took the kid in my arms, and carried it over my pale, in hopes to have bred it up tame ; but it would not eat, so 1 was forced to kill it, and eat it myself. These two supplied me with flesh a great while, for I ate sparingly, and saved my provisions (my bread especially) as much as possibly I could. Having now fixed my habitation, I found it absolutely necessary tc provide a place to make a fire in, and fuel to burn ; and whai I did for that, as also how I enlarged my cave, and what conveniences ] 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 m ay well be supposed, were not a few. I 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, namely, some hundred of leagues out of the ordinary course of the trade of mankind, I had great reason to consider it as a determin- ation of Heaven, that, in this desolate place, and in this desolate man- ner, I should end my life. The tears would run plentifully down my face when I made these reflections ; and sometimes I would expostulate with myself, why Providence should thus completely ruin his creatures, and render them so absolutely miserable, so without help abandoned, so entirely depressed, that it could hardly be rational to be thankful for such a life. But something always returned swift upon me to check these thoughts and to reprove me ; and, particularly, one day walking, with my gur. 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 they not saved, and you lost ? Why were you singled out ? Is it better to be here or there ?" And then I pointed to the sea. All evils are to be considered with the good that is in them, and with what worse attended them. Then it occurred to me again, how well I was furnished for my sub- sistence, and what would have been my case if it had not happened, which was an hundred thousand to one, that the ship floated from the place where she first struck, and was driven so near 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 whore, wi*^^hout necessaries of life, or necessaries to supply and procure 36 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES them? "Particularly," said I, loud, though to myself, "what should I have done without a gun, without ammunition, 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 qua itity, and was in a fair way to provide myself in such a manner, as to live without my gun when my ammunition was spent ; so that I had a tolerable view of subsisting without any want, as long as I lived ; for I considered, from the beginning, how I should 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 or 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 light- ning ; and this made the thoughts of it so surprising to me when it lightened, and thundered, as I observed just now. And now, being about to enter into a melancholy relation of a scene of silent life, such, perhaps, as was never heard of in the world before, I shall take it from its beginning, and continue it in its order. It was, by my account, the 30th of September, when, in the manner as above said, I first set foot upon this horrid island, when the sun being, to us, in its autumnal equinox, was almost just over my head ; for I reckoned myself, by observation, to be in the latitude of nine degrees twenty- two minutes north of the line. After I had been there about ten or twelve days, it came into my thoughts, that I should lose my reckoning of time for want of books, and pen and ink, and should even forget the Sabbath days 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 first landed, namely, I came on shore here on the 30th of September, 1659. Upon the sides of this square post, I cut every day a notch with my knife, and every seventh notch was as long again as the rest, and every first day of the month as long again as that long one ; and thus I kept my calendar, or weekly, monthly, and yearly reckoning of time. In the next place, we are to observe, that, among the many things which I brought out of the ship in the several voyages, which, as above mentioned, I made to it, I got several things of less value, but not at all less useful to me, which I omitted setting down before ; as, in par- ticular, pens, ink, and paper, several parcels in the captain's, mate's, gunner's, and carpenter's keeping, three or four compasses, some mathematical instruments, dials, perspectives, charts, and books of navigation, all which I huddled together, whether I might want them OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. y7 or no. Also, I found three very good Bibles, which came to mo in my cargo from England, and which [ 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 nothii;g 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 he could not do. As I observed before, I found pen, 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 puts me in mind that I wanted many things, notwithstand- ing all that 1 had amassed together ; and of these, this of ink was one, as also 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. This want of tools made every work I did go on heavily, and it was near a whole year before I had entirely finished my little pale, or surrounded habitation: the piles, or stakes, which were as heavy as 1 could well lift, were a long time in cutting and preparing in the woods, and more by far in bringing home ; so that I spent sometimes two days in cutting and bringing home one of those posts, and a third day in driving it into the ground ; for which purpose I got a heavy piece of wood at first, but at last bethought myself of one of the iron crows, which, however, though I found it, yet it made driving thoso posts, or piles, very laborious and tedious Avork. But wliat need I have been concerned at the tediousness of anv thing I had to do, seeing I had time enough to do it in ? Nor had 1 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 circum- stances I wiis 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 mo (for I was like to have but few heirs), as to deliver my thoughts from daily poring upon them, and afllicting my mind ; and as my reason began now to master my despondency, I began to comfort myself as 88 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 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 : — EVIL. I am cast upon a horrible deso- late island, void of all hope of re- covery. I am singled out and separated, as it were, from all the world, to be miserable. I am divided from mankind, a solitaire, one banished from hu- n.an society. I have no 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 drown- ed, as all my ship's company was. But I am singled out, too, from all the ship's crew to be spared from death; and He that mira- culously saved me from death, can deliver me from this condition. But I am not starved and per- ishing on a barren place, aftbrding 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 Afri- ca : and what if I had been ship- wrecked 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 some- thing negative or some -Ai ng j.'o:i^iJi to be thankful for in it; and let this stand as a direction from the experience of the most miserable of all conditions in this world, that we may always find in it something to comfort 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. OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 89 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 rather call it a wall, for I raised a kind of wall up against it of turfs, about two foot thick on the outside ; and after some time — 1 think it was a year and 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 my- self; so I set myself to enlarge my cave and works farther into the earth ; for it was a loose sandy rock, which yielded easily to the labour I bestowed on it : and so when I found I was pretty safe as to beasts of prey, I worked sideways to the right hand into the rock ; and then, turning to the right again, worked quite out, and made me a door to come out, on the outside of my pale, or fortification. This gave me not only egress and regress, as it were 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, particularly a chair and a table ; for without these I was not able to enjoy the few comforts I had in the world, — I could not write or eat, or do several things with so much pleasure without a table. So I went to work ; and here I must needs observe, that as reason is the substance and 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 ; how- ever, I niade abundance of things even without tools, and sonu' 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 1 wanted a board, I had no other way but to cut down a tree, set it on an edge before me, and hew it flat on either side with my axe, till I had brought it to be as thin as a plank, and then dub it smooth with my adze. It is true, by this method, I could make but one board out of a whole tree ; but this I had no remedy for but patience, any more 90 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES than I had for the prodigious deal of time and labour which it took me up to made a plank or board ; but my time and labour were little worth, and so they were as well employed one way as another. However, I made me a table and a chair, as I observed above, in the first place ; and this I did out of the short pieces of boards that I brought on my raft from the ship ; but when I had wrought out some boards, as above, I made large shelves of the breadth of a foot and a half one over another, all along one side of my cave, to lay all my tools, nails, and iron-work, and, in a word, to separate every thing at large in their jDlaces, 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. f So that, had my cave been to be seen, it looked like a general magazine of all necessary 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 that I began to keep a journal of every day's em- ployment ; for indeed at first I was in too much a 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 : September 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 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 increase my misery by my folly. But having gotten over these things in some measure, and having settled my household stuff" and habitation, made me a table and a chiiir, 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 , toM all these particulars over again) as long as it lasted ; for, having 1 no more ink, I was forced to leave it off". CF ROBINSON CRUSOE 91 CHAPTER V. 1 begin to keep a Journal — Christen my desert Island the Island of Despair — Fall upon various Schemes to make Tools, Baskets, &c., and begin to build my House — At a great Loss of an Evening for Candle, but fall upon an expedient to supply the want — Strange discovery of Corn — A terrible Earthquake and Storm. THE JOURNAL. September 30, 1659. I, POOR miserable Robinson Crusoe, being shipwrecked, during a dreadful storm in the offing, came on shore on tliis dismal unfortunate island, Avhich I called the Island of 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, namely, I had neither food, house, clothes, weapon, or 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. Octoher 1. — In the morning I saw, to my great surprise, the ship had floated with the high tide, and was driven on shore again, much nearer the island ; which, as it was some comfort on one hand, for seeing her 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 thelossof my comrades, who, I imagined, if we had all stayed on board, might have saved the ship, or at least that they would not have been all drowned as they were ; and that had the men been saved, we might perhaps have built us a boat out of the ruins of the ship, to have car- ried us to some other part of the world. I spent great part of this day in perplexing myself on these things ; but at length, seeing the ship almost dry, I went upon the sand as near as I could, and then swam on board. This day also it continued raining, though with no wind at all. From the \st i/ Octoher to the 24^A. — All these days entirely spent m many several voyages to get all I could out of the ship, which 1 brought on shore, every tide of flood, upon rafts. Much rain also in 92 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES these days, though with some intervals of fair weather ; but it seems this was the rainy season. Oct. 20. — I overset my raft, and all the goods I had got upon it ; but being in shoal water, and the things being chiefly heavy, I reco- vered 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 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 semicircle for my encampment, which I resolved to strengthen with a work, wall, or fortification, made of double piles, lined within with cable, and with- out 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 island with my gun, to seek for some food, and discover the country ; when I killed a she- goat, and her kid followed me home, which I afterwards killed also, because it would not feed. November 1. — I set up my tent under a rock, and lay there for the first night, making it as large as I could, with stakes driven in to swing my hammock upon. Nov. 2 — I set up all my chests and boards, and the pieces of timber, which made my rafts, and Avith them formed a fence round me, a little within the place I had marked out for my fortification. Nov. 3. — I went out with my gun, and killed two fowls like ducks, which were very good food. In the afternoon went to work to make me a table. Nov. 4. — This morning I began to order my times of work ; of going out with my gun, time of sleep, and time of diversion : namely, 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 ate what I had to live on, 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 work- OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. H.l man, tliough time and necessity made me a complete natural mechanic soon after, as 1 believe it would do any one else. 2V^o,.. 5. This day went abroad with my gun and my dog, and killed •1 wild-cat ; her skin pretty soft, but her flesh good for nothing : every creature I killed I took off the skins and preserved them. Coraini^ back by the sea-shore, I saw many sorts of sea-fowls, which I did not understand ; but was surprised, 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. Xov. 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. jVr^jy, 7. — ]s^ow 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 u tolerable shape, but never to please me ; and even in the making, I pulled it in pieces several times. Note— I soon neglected my keeping Sundays ; for omitting my mark for them on my post, I forgot which was which. Nov. 13. — This day it rained, which refreshed me exceedingly, and cooled the earth ; but it was accompanied with terrible thunder and lightning, 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 making little square chests or boxes, which might hold about a pound, or two pounds at most, of powder ; and so putting the powder in, I stowed it in places as secure and remote from one another as possible. On one of these three days I killed a large bird that was good to eat, but I knew not what to call it. jVoy. 17, — This day I began to dig behind my tent into the rock, to make room for my farther conveniency. Note — Three things I wanted exceedingly for this work, namely, 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 neces- sary, that indeed I could do nothing effectually without it ; but what kind of one to make I knew not. Nov. 18. — The next day, in searching the woods, I found a tree of that wood, or like it, which in the Brazils they call the iron-tree, for its exceeding hardness : of this, with great labour, and almost spoiling 94 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 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 having no other way, made me a long while upon this machine ; for I worked it effectually by little and little into the form of a shovel or spade, the handle exactly shaped like ours in England, only that the 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 occasion 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 not 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 difficult to me as the making the shovel ; and yet this, and the shovel, and the attempt which I made in vain to make a wheelbarrow, took me up no less than four days, I mean always except- ing my morning walk with my gun, which I seldom failed ; and very seldom failed also bringing home something 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 eighteeh days entirely in widening and deepening my cave, that it might hold my goods commodiously. Note-v-During all this time I worked to make this room, or cave, spacious enough to accommodate me as a warehouse, or magazine, a kitchen, a dining-room, and a cellar : as for my lodging, I kept to the tent, except that sometimes in the wet season of the year, it rained so hard, that I could not keep myself dry, Avhich 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 d - over again ; for I had the loose earth to carry out. UF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 05 and, which was of more importance, I had the ceiling to prop up, so that I miglit bo sure no more would come down. Dec. 11.— This day I went to work with it accordingly, and got two 8hore8, 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 tiie roof secured; and the posts, standing in rows, served me for partitions to part off my house. Dee. 17.— From this day to the twentieth I placed 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 begai, 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. i>e ably 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 con dition of life so low, or any misery so great, but we may see something OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 191 or other to be thankful for, and may see others in worse circumstances than our own. Such certainly was the case of these men, of whom I could not so much as see room to suppose any 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, wliat a strange longing, or hankering of desire, I felt in my soul upon this sight ; breaking out sometimes thus: "Oh, that there had been but one or two, nay, but one soul saved out of the ship, to have escaped to me, that I might but have had one companion, one fellow-creature to have spoken to me, and to have conversed with!" In all the time of my solitary life, I never felt so earnest, so strong a desire after the society of my fellow-creatures, or so deep a regret at the want of it. There are some secret moving springs in the affections, which, when they are set a-going by some object in view, or be it some object, though not in view, yet rendered present to the mind by the power of imagina- tion, 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 ! Oh, that it had been but one ! I believe I repeated the words, " Oh, that it had been but one!" a thousand times; and my desires were so moved by it, that when I spoke the words, my hands would clench 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 involuntarily; and my teeth in my head would strike together, and set against one another so strong, that for some time I could not part them again. Let the naturalists explain these things, and the reason and manner of them ; all I can say of them. is, to describe the fact, which was ever 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, realizing the comfort which the conversation of one of my fellow Christians would have been to me. But it was not to be ; either their fate, or mine, or both, forbade it ; for till the last year of my being on this island, I never knew whether any were saved out of that ship or no ; and had only the affliction, some days after, to see the corpse of a drowned boy come on shore, at the end of the island which was next the shipwreck : he had on no clothes but a seaman's waistcoat, a pair of opened-kneed linen drawers and a blue linen shirt ; but nothing to direct me so much as to guess 192 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES what nation he was of. He had nothing in his pocket but two pieces of eight, and a tobacco pipe : the last was to me of ten times more value than the first. It was now calm, and I had a great mind to venture out m my boat to this wreck, not doubting but I might find something on board that might be useful to me; but that did not altogether press me so much, as the possibility that there might be yet some living creature on board, whose life I might not only save, but might, by saving that life, comfort my own to the last degree : and this thought clung so to my heart, that I could not be quiet night nor day, but I must venture out in my boat on board this wreck; and committing the rest to God's providence, I thought the impression was so strong upon my mind, that it could not be resisted, tlKit 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 ever}'' 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), a basket full of raisins ; and thus load- ing myself with every thing necessary, I went down to my boat, got the water out of her, and got her afloat, loaded all my cargo in her, and then went home again for more : my second cargo was a great bagful of rice, the umbrella to set up over my head for shade, another large pot full of fresh water, and about two dozen of my small loaves, or barley- cakes, more than before, with a bottle of goat's milk, and a cheese ; all which, with great labour and sAveat, 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, I came at last to the utmost point of the island, on that side, namely, north-east. 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, a,s my boat was but small, if any little gale of wind should rise, I should be inevitably lost. These thoughts so oppressed my mind that I began to give over my enterprise ; and having hauled my boat into a little creek on the shore, I stepped out, and sat me down upon a little spot of rising 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 came on, upon which my going was for so many hours CRUSOE SLEEPING IN HIS BOAT. 194 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES impracticable; upon this it presently 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, but 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 1 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 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 that 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, and so as to take from me all government of the boat ; but having a strong steerage with my paddle, I went, I say, at a great rate, directly for the wreck, and in less than two hours I came up to it. It was a dismal sight to look at : the ship, which by its building was Spanish, stuck fast, jammed in between two rocks ; all the stern and quarter of her 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 boltsprit was sound, and the head and bow appeared firm. When I came close to her, a dog appeared upon her, Avhich, 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 ate 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. 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 con- tinually 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 watei . Besides the dog, there was nothing left in the OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 105 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 wino or brandy I knew not, which lay lower in the hold, and which, the water being ebbed out, I could see ; but they were too big to meddle with : I saw several chests, which I believed belonged to some of the seamen, and I got two of them into the boat without examining what was in them. Had the stern of the ship been fixed, and the fore part 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 Ayrt. lis hands, beat his own face and head, and then sung and jumped about again like a distracted creature. It was a good while before T 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 was not easy for me to express how it moved me, to see what ecstasy and filial affection had worked in this poor savage, at the sight of his father, and of his being delivered from death ; nor indeed can I describe half the extravagances of his afiection 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 ankles, which were numbed and stiif with the binding, and chafed and rubbed them with his hands ; and I, perceiving what the case was, gave him some rum out of my bottle to rub them with, which did them a great deal of good. This 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 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 ofi" 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 feet that ever I saw — I say, he ran at such a rate that he was out of sight, as it were, in an instant ; and though I called, and hallooed too, after him, it was all one; away he went, and in a quarter of an hour I saAV 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 nig, or pot, to bring his father some fresh water ; and that ho 236 THE LIFE AND ADA^ENTURES had got 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 drunk, I called him, to know if there was any water left? He said "Yes;" and I bade him give it to the poor Spaniard, Avho was in as much want of it as his father ; and I sent one of the cakes that Friday brought to the Spaniard too, who was indeed very weak, and was reposing himself upon a green place, under the shade of a tree, and whose limbs were also very stiff, and very much swelled with the rude bandage he had been tied with. When I saw that upon Friday's coming to him with the water, he sat up and drank, and took the bread, and began to eat, I went to him, and gave him a handful of raisins ; he looked up in my face with all the tokens of gratitude and thankfulness that could appear in any countenance ; but was so weak, notwithstanding he had so exerted himself in the fight, that he could not stand upon his feet ; he tried to do it two or three times, but Avas really not able, his ankles were so swelled and so pain- ful to him ; so I bade him sit still, and caused Friday to rub his ankles, and bathe them with rum, as he had done his father's. I observed the poor affectionate creature, every two minutes, or per- haps less, all the while he was here, turned his head about, to see if his father was in the same place and posture as he left him sitting ; and at last he found he was not to be seen ; at which he started up, and, without speaking a word, flew with that swiftness to him, that one could scarce perceive his feet to touch the ground as he went ; but when he came, he only found he had laid himself down to ease his limbs : so Friday came back to me presently, and I then spoke to the Spaniard to let Friday help him up, if he could, and lead him to the boat, and then he should carry him to our dwelling, where I would take care of him ; but Friday, a lusty young fellow, took the Spaniard quite up upon his back, and carried him away to the boat, and set him down softly upon the side, or gunnel of the canoe, with his feet in the inside of it, and then lifted them 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 Avind blew pretty hard too : so he brought them 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 v, ent ? He told me, " Go fetch more boat:" so away he went, like the wind : for sure never man nor horse ran like him, and he had the other canoe in the OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 23T creek almost as soon as I got to it by land ; so 'he wafted me over, and then -went to help our new guests out of the boat, which he did ; but they were neither of them able to walk ; so that poor Friday knew not what to do. To remedy this, I went to work in my thought, and calling to Friday to bid them sit down on the bank while he came to me, I soon made a kind of hand-barrow to lay them on, and Friday and I carried them up both together upon it between us : but when we got them to the outside of our Avail 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 two beds of such things as I had ; namely, of good rice-straw, with blankets laid upon it to lie on, and another to cover them on each bed. My island was now peopled, and I thought myself very rich in subjects ; and it was a merry reflection which I frequently made, how like a king I looked : first of all, the whole country was my own mere property ; so that I had an undoubted right of dominion : secondly, my people were perfectly subjected ; I was absolute lord and lawgiver ; they all owed their lives to me, and were ready to lay down their lives, if there had been occasion for it, for me : it was remarkable too, I had but three subjects, and they were of three different religions. My man Friday was a Protestant, his father a Pagan and a cannibal, and the Spaniard was a Papist : however, I allowed liberty of conscience throughout my dominions; but this by the way. As soon as I had secured my two weak rescued prisoners, and given them shelter, and a place td rest them upon, I began to think of making some provision for them ; and the first thing I did, I ordered Friday to take a yearling goat, betwixt a kid and a goat, out of my particular flock, to be killed : then I cut off the hind quarter, and choping 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 barley 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 ate my dinner also with them: and, as well as 1 could, cheered them and encouraged them, Friday being my niter- preter, especially to his father, and indeed to the Spaniard too ; for ♦■.he Soaniard spoke the language of the savages pretty well. 238 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES After we had dined, or rather supped, I ordered Friday to take one of the canoes, and go and fetch our muskets and other firearms, which, for want of time, we had left upon the place of battle ; and the next day I ordered him to go and bury the dead bodies of the savages, which lay open to the sun, and would presently be offensive ; and J also ordered him to bury the horrid remains of their barbarous feast, which I knew Avere pretty much, and which I could not think of doiiiix myself; nay, I could not bear to see them, if I went that way: all which he punctually performed, and defaced the very appearance of the savages being there ; so that when I went again, I could scarce know where it was, otherwise than by the corner of the wood pointing to the place. I then began to enter into a little conversation with my two new subjects ; and first, I set Friday to inquire of his father, what he thought of the escape of the savages in that canoe ? and whether we might expect a return of them with a power too great for us to resist ? His first opinion was, that the savages in the boat never could live out the storm which blew that night they went off, but must of necessity be drowned or driven south to those other shores, where they were as sure to be devoured, as they v/ere 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 being attacked, the noise and the fire, that he believed they would tell their people they were all killed by thunder and lightning, and not by the hand of man ; and that the two which appeared (namely, Friday and J.) were two heavenly spirits or furies come down to destroy them, and not men with weapons. This, he said, he knew, because he heard them all cry out so in their language to one another ; for it was impossible for them to conceive that a man should 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 of that part never attempted to go over to the island after- wards. They were so terrified with the accounts given by these 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 ap- prehensions 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 appearing, the fear of OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 239 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. CHAPTER XVII. 1 learn from the Spaniard that there were sixteen more of his Countrymen amonp 'he Savages — The Spaniard and Friday's Father, well armed, sail on a Mission to the Continent — I discover an English Ship lying at anchor oflF the Island — Her Boat comes cu Shore with three Prisoners — The Crew straggle into the Woods, their Boat being aground — Discover m^'self to the Prisoners, who prove to be the Captain and Mate of the Vessel, and a Passenger — Secure the Mutineers. But my thoughts were a little suspended, when I had a serious dis- course with the Spaniard, and when I understood, that there were sixteen more of his countrymen and Portuguese, who having been cast away, and made their escape to that side, lived there at peace indeed with the savages, but were very sore put to it for necessaries, and in- deed for life. I asked him all the particulars of their voyage ; and found they were a Spanish ship, bound from the Rio de la Plata to the Havanna, being directed to leave their loading there, which was chiefly hides and silver, and to bring back what European goods they could meet with there ; that they had five Portuguese seamen on board, whom they took out of another wreck; that five of their own men were drowned when first the ship was lost ; and that these escaped through infinite dangers and hazards, and arrived almost starved on the canni- bal coast, where they expected to have been devoured every moment. He told me they had some arms with them, but they were perfectly useless : for that they had neither powder nor ball, the washing of the sea having spoiled all their powder, but a little which they used at their first landing to provide themselves 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 consultations about it ; but that, having neither vessel nor tool.-i to build one, or provisions of any kind, their counscs always ended in tears and despair. T asked him how he thought they would receive a proposal from me, which might tend towards an escape ; and whether, if they were all here, it might not be done ? I told him with freedom, I feared mostly their treachery and ill usage of me, if I put my life in their hands ; 240 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES for that gratitude was no inherent virtue in the nature of man ; nor did men always square their dealings by the obligations they had re- ceived, 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 prisoner in New Spain, where an Englishman was certain to be made a sacrifice, what necessity, or what accident soever, brought him thither ; and that I had ratlier be delivered up to the savages, and be devoured alive, than fall into the merciless claws of the priests, and be carried into the Inquisition. I added, that otherwise I was persuaded, if they were all here, we might, with so many hands, build a bark large enough to carry us all away, either to the Brazils southward, or to the islands or Spanish coast northward: but that if in requital they should, when I had put weapons into their hands, carry me by force among their own people, I might be ill used for my kindness to them, and make my case worse than it was before. He answered, with a great deal of candour and ingenuity, that their condition was so miserable, and that they Avere so sensible of it, thac he believed they would abhor the thought of using any man unkindly that should conti-ibute to their deliverance ; and that if I pleased, he would go to them with the old man, and discourse with them about it, and return again, and bring me their answer : that he would make con- ditions with them upon their solemn oath, that they would be absolutely under my leading, as their commander and captain ; and that they should swear upon the holy Sacraments and Gospel, to be true to me, and go to such Christian country as I should agree to, and no other; and to be directed wholly and absolutely by my orders, till they were landed safely in such country as I intended ; and that he would bring a contract from them under their hands for that purpose. Then he told me, he would first swear to me himself, that he would never stir from me as long as he lived, till I gave him order ; and that he would take my side to the last drop of blood, if there should happen the least breach of faith among his countrymen. He told me, they were all of them very civil, honest men, and they were under the greatest distress imaginable, having neither weapons nor clothes, nor any food, but at the mercy and discretion of the savages ; out of all hopes of ever returning to their own country ; and that he was sure, if I would undertake their relief, they Avould live and die by me. Upon these assurances, I resolved to venture to relieve them if pos- sible, and to send the old savage and this Spaniard over to them to treat ; but when he had gotten all things in readiness to go, the OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 2(1 Spaniard himself started an objection, .which had so much prudenct in it on one hand, and so much sincerity on tlie other hand, that I coukl not but be very well satisfied in it ; and, by his advice, put oiF the deliverance of his comrades for at least lialf a year. The case was this : — 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 suflB'cient for myself, so it was not sufficient, at least without good husbandry, 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 one of the Christian colonies of America. So he told me, he thought it would be more advisable, to let him and the other two dig and cultivate some more 1 !nd, 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 countrv- men 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 at their being delivered out of Egypt, yet rebelled even against God himself, that delivered them, when they came to want bread in the wilderness." His caution was so seasonable, and his advice so good, that I could not but be very well pleased with his proposal, as well as I was satisfied with his fidelity. So we fell to digging, all four of us, as well as the wooden tools we were furnished with permitted ; and, in about a month's time, by the end of which it was seed-time, we had gotten as much land cured and trimmed up as we sowed twenty-two 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 ; fur it is not to be supposed it is six months in the ground in that countrv. Having now society enough, and our number being sufficient to put us out of fear of the savages, if they had come, unless their number had been very great, we went freely all over the island, 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 tliis })urpose, I marked out several trees, which I thought fit for our work, and T set Fridav and liis fatlier to cuttinj; them down ; IC 242 THi: LIFE AiND ADVENTURES :uiy 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 treachery they had been guilty of, and would swear to be faithful to him in recovering the ship, and afterwards in carrying her back to Jamaica, from wlience 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 agaiiTtst ; only I obliged him to keep them bound, hand and foot, while they were upon the islaml. While tliis was doing, 1 *ent Friday w^ith the captains mate to tne OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 251 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 (haj»- nily 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 first, and told him my whole his- tory, which he heard with an attention even to amazement, and parti- cularly at the wonderful manner of my being furnished with provisions and ammunition ; and, indeed, as my whole story is a collection of wonders, it aflfected him deeply: but when he reflected from thence upon himself, and how I seemed to have been preserved there on pur- pose 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 apartments, leading them in just where I came out, namely, at the top of the house ; where I refreshed them with such provisions as I had, and showed them all the contrivances I had made during my long, long inhabiting that place. All I showed them, all I said to them, was perfectly amazing ; but, above all, the captain admired my fortification ; and how perfectly I had concealed my retreat with a grove of trees, which, having now been planted near twenty years, and the trees growing much faster than in England, was become a little wood, and so thick, that it was impassable in any part of it, but at that one side where I had reserved my little winding passage into it ; this I told him was my castle, and my residence ; but that I had a seat in the country, as most princes have, whither I could retreat upon occasion, and I would show him that, too, another time ; but at present our business was to consider how to recover the ship. He agreed with me as to that ; but told me he Avas perfectly at a loss what measure 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 252 THE LIFE AND ADVENTUEES fiDare for their surprise, as to prevent their landing upon us, and (de- stroying us. Upon this, it presently occurred to me, that in a little while, the ship's crew, wondering what was become of their comrades, and of the boat, would certainly come on shore in their other boat to seek for them; and that then, perhaps, they might come armed, and be too strong for us : this he allowed was rational. Upon this, I told him, the first thing we had to do was to stave the boat Avhich 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 brandy and another of rum, a few biscuit cakes, a horn of powder, and a great lump of sugar in a piece of canvas ; the sugar was five or six pounds ; all which was very welcome to me, especially the brandy and sugar, of which I had had none left for many years. When we had carried all these things on shore (the oars, mast, sail, and rudder of the boat were carried 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 capable 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. CHAPTER XVIII. The Ship makes Signals for her Boat — On receiving no answer, she sends another Boat on Shore — Methods by which we secure this Boat's Crew, and recover the Ship 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 broken 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 ancient, as a signal for the boat to come on board ; but no boat stirred ; and they fired several times, making other •^iffnals for the boat. OF HOniNSOX CRUSOE. 2ii'. At last, when all their signals and firings proved fruitless, and the,v found the boat did not stir, we saw tliem (Ity tlie help of our glasses), hoist another boat out, and row towards the shore ; and we found, as they approached, that there were no less than ten men in her, and that they had firearms with them. As the ship lay almost two leagues froMi the shoie, we had a full view of them as they came, and a plain sigiit 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 that there were three very honest fellows, who he was sure were led into this conspiracy by the rest, being overpowered and frighted ; but that for the boatswain, who, it seems, was the chief officer among them, and all the rest, they were as outrageous as any of the ship's crew ; and were, no doubt, made desperate in their new enterprise ; and terribly apprehensive he was, that they would be too powerful for us. I smiled at him, and told him, that men in our circumstances were past the operations of fear: that seeing almost every condition that could be was better than that we were supposed to be in, we ought to expect that the consequence, whether death or life, would be sure to be a delive- lance : I asked him, what he thought of the circumstances of my life, and whether a deliverance were not worth venturing for ? "' And where, sir," said I, " is your belief of my being preserved here on pur- pose to save your life, which elevated you a little while ago ? For my part," said I, "there seems to be only one thing amiss in all the pros- l»ect of it." — '' What's that?" says h.e. — "Why," said I, " 'tis that as you say, there are three or four honest fellows among them, wiiich 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 of them 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 fouml 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 sej)arating our prisoners, and had indeed secured them effectually. Two of them, of whom the captain was less as>ured than ordinary, I sent with Friday, and one of the three (delivered men) to my cave, where thev were remote enouuh, and out of d;inger of being heard oi* 254 THE LIFE ANI> AltVENTURES ■ liscoveied, or of finding their way out of the woods, if they could have delivered themselves : here they left them boand, but gave them p?-o- visions, 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 Avith patience, and were very thank- ful that they had such good usage as to have provisions and a light left them ; for Friday gave them candles (such as we made ourselves), for their comfort ; and they did not know but that he stood sentinel over them at the entrance. The other prisoners had better usage : two of them were kept pinioned indeed, because the captain was not free to trust them ; but the other two were taken into my service upon their captain's recom- mendation, 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 amongst 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 hoat 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 the other boat ; and it was easy to see they Avere under a great surprise to find her stripped as above, of all that was in her, and a great hole in her bottom. After they had mused a while upon this, they set up two or three great shouts, hallooing with all their might, to try if they could make their companions hear ; but all was to no purpose : then they came all close in a ring, and fired a volley of their small arms, which indeed we heard, and the echoes made the woods ring ; but it waS all one : those in the cave, we were sure, could not hear ; and those in our keeping, though they heard it well enough, yet durst give no answer to them. They were so astonished at the surprise of this, that, as they told us afterwards, they resolved to go all on board again to their ship, and let them know there, that the men were all murdered, and the long boat staved ; accordingly, they immediately munched the boat agnin, and sot all of them on board. The captain was terribly amazed, and even coufouuded at this, be- OK K()I{I.\.>ON CRUSUK He\ ing thoy wuulil go on boanl the ship again and sot sail, giving their coinrades up for lost, and so he should still Insr tin- ship, which lit was in liopt's \\v shouM Iimm' reeoveved : hut In- \v:is t|uickly as iiiuch frighted tlu- oiIut way. They had not Itccu long put <>{]' with the hoat, luit wc peic(;'i\ed them all coming on shore again ; I)ut with this new measure in their conduct, which it seems they consulted together upon ; namely, to leave three men in the boat, and the rest to go on shore, and go up into the coun- try to lo^k 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 ad- vantage to us if Ave let the boat escape, because they would then row away to the ship ; and then the rest of them would be sure to weigh, and set sail, and so our recovering the ship would be lost. However, we had no remedy but to wait and see what the issue of things might present. The seven men came on shore, and the three who remained in the boat put her off to a good distance from the shore, and came to an anchor to wait for them ; so that it was impossible for us to come at them in the boat. Those that came on shore ke])t 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 in the valley 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 ilanger was they had to fear neither. The captain made a very Just proposal to uie upon this consultation of theirs ; namely, that perhaps they would all tire a volley again to endeavour to make their f(dlows 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 Avas done while we were near enough to come up to them liefure tliev eouM load their pieces again. 25fi THE LIFE AN]> ADVENTURES But this event did not happen, and we lay still a long time very irresolute what course to take ; at length I told them there would be nothing 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 stratagem with them in the boat to get them on shore. We waited a great while, though very impatient for their removing, and Avere very uneasy ; Mdien, after long consultations, we saw them start all up and inarch down toward the sea : it seems they had such dreadful apprehensions upon them of the danger of the place, that they resolved to go on board the ship again, give their companions over for lost, and so go on with their intended voyage with the ship. As soon as I perceived them go towards the shore, I imagined it to be, as it really was, that they had given over their search, and were for going back again ; and the captain, as soon as I had told him my thoughts, was ready to sink at the apprehensions of it ; but I presently thought of a stratagem to fetch them back again, and which answered my end to a tittle. I ordered Friday and th<' caj)tain'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 ;i little rising ground, at about half a mile's 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. They were just going into the boat, when Friday and the mate hallooed, and they presently heard them, and answering, ran along the shore westward, towards the voice they heard, when they were 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 in- deed I expected. When they had set themselves over, I observed that the boat being gone up a good way into the cr^ek, and as it were in a harbour within the land, they took one of the three men out of her to go along with them, and left only two in the boat, having fastened her to the stump of a little tree on the shore. This was what I wished for, and immediately leaving Friday and the captain's mate to their business, I took the rest with me, and, crossing the creek out of their sight, we surprised the two men before OF ROBINSON CRUSOE 257 they were aware, one of them lying on 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 i>. the boat to yield, or he was a dead man. There needed very few arguments to persuade a single man to yield, wiien he saw five men upon him, and his comrade knocked down ; besides, this was, it seems, one of the three who were not so hearty in the mutiny as the rest of the crew, and therefore was easily persuaded not only to yield, but afterwards to join very sincerely with us. In the meantime, Friday and the captain's mate so well managed their business with the rest, that they drew them, by hallooing and answering, from one hill to another, and from one wood to another, till they not only heartily tired them, but left them where they were very sure they could not reach back to the boat before it was dark ; and, indeed, they were heartily tired themselves also by the time they came back to us. We had nothing now to do but to watch for them in the dark, and to fall upon them, so as to make sure work with them. It was several hours after Friday came back to me before they came back to their boaj; ; and we could hear the foremost of them, long before they came quite up, calling to those behind to come along ; and could also hear them answer, and complain how lame and tired they were, and not being able to come any faster, which was very welcome news to us. At length they came up to the boat ; but it is impossible to express their confusion, when they found the boat fast aground in the creek, the tide ebbed out, and their two men gone : we could hear them call to one another in a most lamentable manner, telling one another they were gotten into an enchanted island ; that either there were inhabi- tants in it, and they should all be murdered; or else there were devils or spirits in it, and they should be all carried away and de- voured. 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, and walk about again, and so the same thing over again. * My men would fain have had me give them leave to fall upon then: at once in th^ dark ; but I was willing to take them at some advantage. 258 THE LIFE AND ADVENTUREP 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 other men 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 as near them as they could possibly, before they offered to fire. They had not been long in that posture, till the boatswain, who was the principal ringleader of the mutiny, and had now shown himself the most dejected and dispirited of all the rest, came walking towards them with two more of the crew ; the captain was so eager, at having the principal rogue so much in his power, that he could hardly have patience to let him come so near as to be sure of him ; for they only heard his tongue before : but when they came nearer, the captain and Friday, starting up on their feet, let fly at them. The boatswain was killed upon the spot ; the next man was shot in the body, and fell just by him, though he did not die till an hour oi jwo after ; and the third ran for it. At the noise of the fire, I immediately advanced with my whole army, which was now eight men ; namely, myself, generalissimo ; Fri- day, my lieutenant-general ; the captain and his two men, and the three prisoners of war, whom we had trusted with arms. We came upon them indeed in the dark, so that they could not see our number ; and I made the man they had left in the boat, who was now one of us, to call them by name, to try if I could bring them to a parley, and so 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 one of them, "Tom Smith! Tom Smith!" Tom Smith answered immediately, "Who's that? Robinson?" For it seems he knew his voice. The other answered, " Ay, ay ; for God's sake, Tom Smith, throw down your arms, and yield, or you are all dead men this moment." "Who must we yield to? where are they?" says Smith again. " Here they are," says hi ; " here is our captain and fifty men with him, have been hunting you this two hours ; the boatswain is killed, Will Frye is wounded, and I am a prisoner ; and if you do not yield, you are all lost." " Will they give us quarter, theA ?" says Tom Smith, " 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 cut, " You, OF RORTNSOX CRUSOE. 259 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 (juartcrl what have I done? they have all been as bad as I;" (which, by the way, was not true either ; for it seems this Will Atkins was the fi- ^t man that laid hold of the captain when they first mutinied, and used him barbarously, in tying his hands and giving him injurious lan- guage) ; however, the captain told him he must lay down his arms at discretion, and trust to the governor's mercy, by which he meant me : for they all called me governor. In a word, they all laid down their arms, and begged their lives : and I sent the man that had parleyed with them, and two, more, who bound them all ; and then my great army of fifty men, which, parti- cularly with those three, were in 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 to think of seizing the ship ; and as for the captain, now he had leisure to parley with them, he expostulated with them upon the villainy of their practices with him, and at length upon the farther 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 the island was inhabited, and that the governor was an Englishman ; that he might hang them all there, if he pleased ; but as he had given them all quarter, he supposed he would send them to England, to be dealt with there as justice required, except Atkins, whom he was commanded by the governor to advise to prepare for ileath ; 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 governt)r for his life ; and all the rest begged of him, for God's sake, that they might not be sent to England. It now occurred to me, that the time of our deliverance was con)e, and that it would be a most easy thing to bring these fellows in to be hearty in getting possession of the ship ; so I retired in the dark from them, that they might not see vhat kind of a governor they had, and called the captain to me : when I calle 1, as at a good distance, one of the men was "•dered to speak again, nd say to the captain, •' Cap 260 THE LIFE AXn ADVENTURES tain, the commander calls for you ;" and presently the captain replied, " Tell his excellency I am just a-coming." Tliis 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 wonderfully well, and resolved to put it in execution the next morning. But in order to execute it with more art, and to be secure of success, I told him we must divide the prisoners, and that he should go and take Atkins, and two more of the worst of them, and send them pinioned to the cave where the others lay : this was committed to Fri- day, and the two men who came on shore with the captain. They conveyed them to the cave, as to a prison ; and it was, indeed, a dismal place, especially to men in their condition. The others I ordered to my bower, as I called it, of which I have given a full description ; and as it was fenced in, and they pinioned, the place was secure enough, considering they were upon their beha- viour. 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 ihey were sent to England, they would all be hanged in chains, to be sure ; but that if they would join in such an attempt as to recover the ship, he would have the governor's engagement for their pardon. Any one may guess how readily such a proposal would be accepted by men in their condition : they fell down on their knees to the cap- tain, and promised, with the deepest imprecations, that they would be faithful to him to the last drop, and that they should owe their lives to him, and would go with him all over the world ; that they would own him 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 consent to it." So he brought me an account of the temper he found them in; and that he verily believed they would be faithful. However, that we might be very secure, I told him he should go back again, and choose out five of them, and tell them, that they should see that they did not want men ; but he would take out those five to be his assistants, and that the governor would keep the other two, and the th' -^e that were sent prisoners to the castle (my cave), as OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 261 iidstafros for the fidelity of those five; and that, if they proved unfaith- ful in the execution, the five hostages should be hanged in chains alive ii;)nn the shore. This looked severe, and convinced them that the governor was in . nncst ; however, they had no way left but to accept it; and it was now the business of the prisoners, as much as of the captain, to per- suade the other five to do their duty. Our strength was now thus ordered for the expedition: — 1. The captain, his mate, and passenger. 2. Then the two prisoners of the first gang, to whom, having their characters from the captain, I had given their liberty, and trusted them with arms. 3. The other two whom I kept till now in my bower pinioned ; but, upon the captain's motion, had now been released. 4. These five released at last; so that they were twelve in all, besides five we kept prisoners in the cave for hostages. I asked the captain if he was willing to venture with these hands on board the ship : 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 asunder, and supply them 5\ith victuals. As to the five in the cave, I resolved to keep them fast; but Friday wont twice a day to them, to supply them with necessaries ; and 1 made the other two carry provisions to a certain distance, where Fri- ilay was to take it. When I showed myself to the two hostages, it was with the captain, who told them I was the person the governor had ordered to look after them, and that it was the governor's pleasure that they should not stir anywhere 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 suf- fered them to see me as governor, so I now appeared as another per- son, and spoke of the governor, the garrison, the castle, and the like, upon all occasions. The captain now had no difl^culty 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 he 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 firs* with their arms, immediately knocked down the second 262 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES mate and carpenter with the butt end of their muskets. Being very faithfully seconded by their men, they secured all the rest that were upon the main and quarter decks, and began to fasten the hatches to keep them down who were below ; when the other boat, and their men, entering at the fore-chains, secured the forecastle of the ship, and the skuttle Avhich Avent down into the cook-room, making three men they found there prisoners. When this Avas done, and all safe upon the deck, the captain ordered the mute, Avith three men, to break into the round-house, where the new rebel captain lay, and, having taken the alarm, was gotten up, and, Avith two men and a boy, had gotten firearms in their hands ; and when the mate Avith a croAv split open the door, the new captain and his men fired boldly among them, and Avounded the mate with a musket-ball, Avhich 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 Avas, and Avith his pistol shot the new captain through the head, the bullets entering 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 being lost. As soon as the ship was thus secured, the captain ordered seven guns to be fired, which Avas the signal agreed upon with me, to give me notice of his success ; Avhich, you may be sure, I was very glad to hear, having sat watching upon the shore for it till near two of the clock in the morning. Having thus heard the signal plainly, I laid me doAvn ; and it having been a day of great fatigue to me, I slept very sound, till I was some- thing surprised with the noise of a gun ; and presently starting up, I heard a man call me by the name of "Governor, governor!" and presently I knoAv the captain's voice ; when climbing up to the top of the hill, there he stood, and pointing to the ship, he embraced me in his arms : " My dear friend and deliverer!" says he, "there's your ship, for she is all yours, and so are we, and all that belong to her." I cast my eyes to the ship, and there she rode Avithin a little more than half a mile of the shore : for they had Aveighed 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 a little creek ; and the tide being up, the captain had brought the pinnace in near the place where I first landed my rafts, and so landed just at my door. I Avas, at first, ready to sink down with the surprise : for I saw my deliverance indeed visibly put into my hands, all things easy, and a OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 263 large ship just ready to carry me away wliither I pleased to go. At 6rst, for some time, I was not able to answer one word ; but as he had taken me in his arms, I held fast by liiin, or I should have fallen to the ground. He perceived the surprise, and immediately pulled a bottle out of his pocket, and gave me a dram of cordial, wliich he had brought on purpose for me : after I drank it, 1 sat down upon the ground, and though it brought me to myself, yet it was a good while before I could speak a word to him. All this 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 and bring me to myself; but such was the flood of joy in my breast, that it put all my spirits into confusion: at last it broke 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 provided for one in such a wilderness, and in such a desolate condition, but from whom every deliverance must always be acknow- ledged to proceed ? When we had talked a while, the captain told me, he had brought nie some little refreshments, such as the ship afforded, and such as the wretches who had been so long his masters had not plundered him of. Upon this he called aloud to the boat, and bids his men bring the things ashore that were for the governor ; and indeed it was a present as if I had been one, not that I Avas to be carried 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 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 pease, and about a hundred weight of biscuit. He brought me also a box of sugar, a box of flour, a bag full of 264 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES 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 goad suit of clothes of his own, which had been worn but very little. In a word, he clothed me from head to foot. It was a very kind and agreeable present, as any one may imagine, to one in my circumstances ; but never was 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 apartment, we began to consult what was to be done with the prisoners we had ; for it was worth considering whether we might venture to take them away with us or no, especially tAvo of them, whom we 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 firsl English colony he could come at ; and I found that the captain him- self was very anxious about it. Upon this, I told him, that, if he desired it, I durst 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, " wi;h all my heart." " Well," said I, " 1 will send for them, and talk with them for you:" so I caused Friday and the two hostages, — for they were now dis- charged, their comrades having performed their promise, — I say, I caused them to go to the cave, and bring up the five men, pinioned as they were, to the bower, and keep them there till I came. After some time, I came thither dressed in my new habit, and now I was called governor again. Being all met, and the captain with me, I caused the men to be brought before me, and I told them, I had had a full account of their villainous 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 thoy were fallen into the pit which they had digged for others. I let them knoAv, that by my direction the ship had been seized, that she lay now in the road, and they might see by and by, that their new captain had received the reward of his villainy ; for that they might see him hanging at the yard-arm : that as to them, I wanted to know what they had 'o say, why I should not execute them as pirates taken OF Ronrxsox cRrsoR. 2f)5 in the fact, as by my commission they could not doubt I had authority to do. ( M 1' of thoin answered in tlie name of the rest, that they had no- tliin. Other supplies, 1 sent seven women, being such as I found proper for service, or for wives to such .is wouhl take them : as to the j^n»trating himself in thankfulness for his deliverance ; in which 1 unhappily and unseasonably disturbed him, really thinking he had been in a swoon : but he spoke calmly, thanked me, told me he was giving God thanks for his deliverance, begged me to leave him a few moments, and that, next to his Maker, he would give me thanks also. I was heartily sorry that I disturbed him, and not only left him, but kept others from interrupting him also : he continued in that posture about three minutes, or a little more, after I left him, then came to me, as he had said he would, and with a great deal of seriousness and affec- tion, but with tears in his eyes, thanked me that he had, under God, given him and so many miserable creatures their lives. I told him I had no room to move him to thank God for it rather than me ; for I OF ROblNSOX CRUSOE. 305 had seen that he had done that already : but I added, that it wa3 nothing but what reason and humanity dictated to all men, and that we had as much reason as he to give thanks to God, who had blessed us so far as to make us the instruments of his mei'cy to many of his crea- tures. After this the young priest applied himself to his country folks ; laboured to compose them ; persuaded, entreated, argued, reasoned with them, and did his utmost to keep them within the exercise of their reason ; and with some he had success, though others were, for a time, out of all government of themselves. I cannot help committing this to writing, as perhaps it may be use- ful to those into whose hands it may fall, in the guiding themselves in all the extravagances of their passions ; for if an excess of joy can carry men out to such a length beyond the reach of their reason, what will not the extravagances of anger, rage, and a provoked mind carry us to ? And, indeed, here I saw reason for keeping an exceeding watch over our passions of every kind, as well those of joy and satisfaction, as those of sorrow and anger. We were something disordered by these extravagances among our new guests for the first day ; but when they had been retired, lodgings provided for them all as well as our ship would allow, and they had slept heartily, as most of them did, being fatigued and frightened, they were quite another sort of people the next day. Nothing of good manners, or civil acknowledgments for the kindness shown them, was wanting; the French, it is known, are naturally apt enough to exceed that way. The captain and one of the priests came to me the next day, and, desiring to speak with me and my nephew, the commander began to consult with us what should be done with them ; and, first, they told us, that as we had saved their lives, so all they had was little enough for a return to us for the kindness received. The captain said, they had saved some money, and some things of value in their boats, catched hastily out of the flames ; and if we would accept it, they were ordered to make an offer of it all to us ; they only desired to be set on shore somewhere in our Avay, whore, if possible, they might get a passage to France. My nephew was for accepting their money at first word, and to con- aider what to do with them afterwards: but I overruled him in that part ; for I knew what it was to be set on shore in a strange country ; and if the Portugal captain that took me up at sea had served me so, and took all I had for my deliverance, I must have starved, or have beet as much a slave at the Brazils as I had been at Barbary, the being Bold to a Mohannnediin only excepted; and perhaps a Portuguese 20 306 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES is not a much better master than a Turk, if not, in some cases, a much worse. I therefore told the French captain that we had taken them up in their distress, it was true ; but that it was our duty to do so, as we were fellow-creatures, and as we would desire to be so delivered, if we were in the like or any other extremity ; that we had done nothing for them but what we believed they would have done for us, if we had beeu in their case and they in ours ; but that we took them up to serve them, not to plunder them ; and that it would be a most barbarous thing, to take that little from them which they had saved out of the fire, and then set them on shore and leave them ; that this would be first to save them from death, and then kill them ourselves ; save them from drown- ing, and then abandon them to starving ; and therefore I would not let the least thing be taken from them. As to setting them on shore, I told them, indeed, that was an exceeding difficulty to us, for that the ship was bound to the East Indies ; and though we were driven out of our course to the westward a very great way, which perhaps was directed by Heaven on purpose for their deliverance, yet it was impossible for us wilfully to change our voyage on this particular account ; nor could my nephew, the captain, answer it to the freighters, with whom he was under charter-party to pursue his voyage by the way of Brazil ; and all I knew he could do for them was, to put ourselves in the way of meet- ing with other ships homeward bound from the West Indies, and get them passage, if possible, to England or France. The first part of the proposal was so generous and kind, they could not but be very thankful for it ; but they Avere in a great consternation, especially the passengers, at the notion of being carried away to the East Indies : they then entreated me, that seeing I was driven so far to the westward before I met with them, I would at least keep on the same course to the banks of Newfoundland, where it was possible I might meet with some ship or sloop that they might hire to carry them back to Canada, from whence they came. I thought this was but a reasonable request on their part, and there- fore I inclined to agree to it ; for indeed I considered, that to carry this whole company to the East Indies would not only be an intolerable severity to the poor people, but would be ruining our whole voyage, by devouring all our provisions ; so I thought it no breach of charter-party, but what an unforeseen accident made absolutely necessary to us, and in which no one could say we were to blame ; for the laws of God and nature would have forbid, that we should refuse to take up two. boats full of people in such a distressed condition ; and the nature of the tiling, as well respecting ourselves as the poor people, obliged us to see OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 307 them on shore somewhere or other, for their deliverance ; so I con- sented that we would carry them to Newfoundland, if wind and weather would permit ; and, if not, that I would carry them to Martinico, in the West Indies. The wind continued fresh easterly, but the weather pretty good ; and as it had bluwed continually in the points between north-east and south- cast a long time, we missed several opportunities of sending them tn France ; for we met several ships bound to Europe, whereof two were French, from St. Christopher's ; but they had been so long beating up against the wind, that they durst take in no passengers for fear of wanting provisions for the voyage, as well for themselves as for those they should take in ; so we were obliged to go on. It was about a week after this, that we made the banks of Newfoundland, where, to shorten my story, we put all our French people on board a bark, which they hired at sea there, to put them on shore, and afterwards to carry them to France, if they could get provisions to victual themselves with : when I say all the French went on shore, I should remember that the young priest I spoke of, hearing we were bound to the East Indies, desired to go the voyage with us, and to be set on shore on the coast of Coromandel : I readily agreed to that ; for I wonderfully liked the man, and had very good reason, as will appear afterwards ; also four of the seamen entered themselves in our ship, and proved very useful fellows. CHAPTER 11. Steer for the West Indies — Distressing Account of a Bristol Ship, the Crew of which we save in a state of Starvation— Arrive at my Island — Friday's joy on discovering it Affecting interview betwixt him and his Father on landing — Narrative of the Occur- rences on the Island during my absence. From hence we directed our course for the West Indies, steeriii;: away south and south-by-east, for about twenty days together, some- times little or no wind at all, when we met with another subject for our humanity to work upon, almost as deplorable as that before. It was in the latitude of twenty-seven degrees five minutes north, and the 19th day of March, 1684-5, when we espied a sail, our course south-east-and-by-south. We soon perceived it was a large vessel, and that she bore up to us ; but could not at first know what to make of her, till, after coming a little nearer, .we found she had lost her main- topiuast, foremast, and bowsprit, and presently she fires a gun as a 308 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES signal of distress. The weather was pretty good, wind at north-north- west, a fresh gale, and we soon came to speak with her. We found her a ship of Bristol bound home from Barbadoes, but had been blown out of the road at Barbadoes, a few days before she was ready to sail, by a terrible hurricane, while the captain and chief mate were both gone on shore ; so that, beside the terror of the storm, they were but in an indiflFerent case for good artists to bring the ship home. They had been already nine weeks at sea, and had met with another terrible storm after the hurricane was over, which had blown them quite out of their knowledge to the westward, and in which they had lost their masts, as above ; they told us, they expected to have seen the Bahama Islands, but were then driven away again to the south-east by a strong gale of wind at north-north-west, the same that blew now, and having no sails to work the ship with, but a main- course, and a kind of square sail upon a jury-foremast, Avhich they had set up, they could not lie near the wind, but were endeavouring to stand away for the Canaries. But that which was worst of all, was, that they were almost starved for want of provisions, besides the fatigues they had undergone ; their bread and flesh was quite gone, they had not an ounce left in the ship, and had had none for eleven days ; the only relief they had was, their water was not all spent, and they had about half a barrel of flour left ; they had sugar enough ; some succades, or sweetmeats, they had at first, but they were devoured ; and they had seven casks of rum. There was a youth and his mother, and a maid-servant on board, who were going passengers, and thinking the ship was ready to sail, unhappily came on board the evening before the hurricane began ; and, having no provisions of their own left, they were in a more deplorable condition than the rest ; for the seamen, being reduced to such an extreme necessity themselves, had no compassion, we may be sure, for the poor passengers : and they were indeed in a condition that their misery is very hard to describe. I had perhaps not known this part, if my curiosity had not led me, the weather being fair, and the wind abated, to go on board the ship : the second mate, who, upon this occasion commanded the ship, had been on board our ship ; and he told me indeed, that they had three passengers in the great cabin, and that they were in a deplorable con- dition : "Nay," says he, "I believe they are dead, for I have heard nothing of them for above two days ; and I was afraid to inquire after them," said he, "for I had nothing to relieve them with." We immediately applied ourselves to give them what relief we could spare ; and indeed I had so far overruled things with my nephew, that OF ROBINSON CKLSOE. 309 I would have victualled them, though we had gone away to Virginia, Ml- any part of the coast of America, to have supplied ourselves: but there was no necessity for that. But now^ they were in a new danger, for they were afraid of eating too much, even of that little we gave them. The mate, or commander, brought six men with him in his boat, but these poor wretclu'S looked like skeletons, and were so weak, they could hardly sit to their oars ; the mate himself was very ill, and half starved, for he declared he had reserved nothing from the men, and Avent share and share alike with them in every bit they ate. I cautioned him to eat sparingly, but set meat before him immediately, and he had not eaten three mouthfuls before he began to be sick and out of order ; so he stopped a while, and our surgeon mixed him up something with some broth, which he said would be to him both food and physic, and after he had taken it, he grew better. In the mean- time I forgot not the men : I ordered victuals to be given them, and the poor creatures rather devoured than ate it ; they were so exceed- ing hungry that they were in a manner ravenous, and had no command of themselves ; and two of them ate with so much greediness, that they were in danger of their lives the next morning. The sight of these people's distress was very moving to me, and brought to mind what I had a terrible prospect of at my first coming on shore in my island, where I had not the least mouthful of food, or any hopes of procuring it ; besides the hourly apprehension I had of being made the food of other creatures. But all the while the mate was thus relating to me the miserable condition of the ship's company, I could not put out of my thought the story he had told me of the three poor creatures in the great cabin ; namely, the mother, her son, and the uiaid-servant, whom he had heard nothing of for two or three days, and whom he seemed to confess they had wholly neglected, their own extremities being so great : by which I understood, that they had really given them no food at all ; and that therefore they nnist be perished, and be all lying dead perhaps on the floor or deck of the cabin. As I therefore kept the mate, whom we then called captain, on board with his men to refresh them, so I also forgot not the starving crew that were left on board, but ordered my own boat to go on board the ship, and with my mate and twelve men to carry them a sack of bread, and four or five pieces of beef to boil. Our surgeon charged the men to cause the meat to be boiled while they stayed, and to keep guard in the cook-room, to prevent the men's taking it to eat raw, or taking it out of the pot before it was well boiled, and then to give every man 310 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES but a little at a time ; and by this caution he preserved the men, who would otherwise have killed themselves with that very food that waa given them on purpose to save their lives. At the same time I ordered the mate to go into the great cabin, and see what condition the poor passengers were in, and, if they were alive, to comfort them and give them what refreshment was proper ; and the surgeon gave him a large pitcher with some of the prepared broth which he had given the mate that was on board, and which he did not question w^ould restore them gradually. I was not satisfied with this ; but, as I said above, having a great mind to see the scene of misery, which I knew the ship itself would present me with in a more lively manner than I could have it by report, I took the captain of the ship, as we now called him, with me, and went myself a little after in their boat. I found the poor men on board almost in a tumult to get the victuals out of the boiler before it was ready ; but my mate observed his order, and kept a good guard at the cook-room door ; and the men he placed there, after using all possible persuasion to have patience, kept them oflF by force : however, he caused some biscuit cakes to be dipped in the pot, and softened them with the liquor of the meat, which they call brewis, and gave every one one, to stay their stomachs, and told them it was for their own safety that he was obliged to give them but little at a time. But it was all in vain, and had I not come on board, and their own commander and officers with me, and with good words, and some threats also of giving them no more, I believe they would have broke into the cook-room by force, and torn the meat out of the furnace ; for words indeed are of a very small force to a hungry belly : how- ever, we pacified them, and fed them gradually and cautiously for the first time, and the next time gave them more, and at last filled their bellies, and the men did well enough. But the misery of the poor passengers in the cabin was of another nature, and far beyond the rest ; for as, first, the ship's company hud so little for themselves, it was but too true that they had at first kept chem very low, and at last totally neglected them ; so that for six oi- seven days, it might be said, they had really had no food at all, and for several days before, very little. The poor mother, who, as the first mate reported, was a woman of good sense and good breeding, had spared all she could get so aflfec- tionately for her son, that at last she entirely sunk under it ; and when the mate of our ship went in, she sat upon the floor or deck, with her back up against the sides, between two chairs, which were lashed fast, and hei head sunk in between her shoulders, like a corpse, though iMjt OF KOBLNSON CllUSOE. ^H quite dead. My mate said all he could to revive and encourage her, and with a spoon put some broth into her mouth ; she opened her lips, and lifted up one hand, but could not speak ; yet she understood what he said, and made signs to him, intimating, that it was too late for her ; but pointed to her child, as if she would have said, they should take eare of him. However, the mate, who was exceedingly moved with the sight, endeavoured to get some of the broth into her mouth ; and, as he said, got two or three spoonfuls down, though I question Avhether he could be s«re of it or not; but it was too late, and she died the same night. The youth, who was preserved at the price of his most affectionate mother's life, was not so far gone ; yet he lay in a cabin bed as one .^stretched out, with hardly any life left in him : he had a piece of an old glove in his mouth, having eaten up the rest of it: however, being young, and having more strength than his mother, the mate got some- thing down his throat, and he began sensibly to revive, though, by giving him some time after but two or three spoonfuls extraordinary, he was very sick, and brought it up again. But the next care was the poor maid : she lay all along upon the deck hard by her mistress, and just like one that had fallen down with an apoplexy, and struggled for life : her limbs were distorted, one of her hands was clasped round the frame of one chair, and she griped it so hard, that we could not easily make her let it go; her other arm lay over her head, and her feet lay both together, set fast against the frame of the cabin table : in short, she lay just like one in the last agonies of death, and yet she was alive too. The poor creature was not only starved with hunger, and terrified with the thoughts of death, but, as the men told uS afterwards, was broken-hearted for her mistress, whom she saw dying two or three days before, and whom she loved most tenderly. We knew not what to do with this poor girl ; for when our suro-eon. who was a man of very great knowledge and experience, and with great application recovered her as to life, he had her upon his hand as to her senses ; for she was little less than distracted for a considerable time after, as shall appear presently. Whoever shall read these memorandums, must be desired to consider that visits at sea are not like a journey into the country, where some- times people stay a week or a fortnight at a place. Our business was to relieve this distressed ship's crew, but not lie by for them ; and though they were willing to steer the same course with us for some days, yet we could carry no sail to keep pace with a ship that had no masts: however, as their captain begged of us to help him to set up a main- 312 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES topmast, and a kind of top-mast to his jury-foremast, Ave did, as it Avere, lie by him for three or four days, and then, having given him five barrels of beef and pork, two hogsheads of biscuit, and a proportion of pease, flour, and what other things we could spare, and taking three casks of sugar and some rum, and some pieces of eight, of them for satjjs faction, Ave left them, taking on board Avith us, at their OAvn earnest request, the youth and the maid, and all their goods. The young lad Avas about seventeen years of age, a pretty, well-bred, modest, and sensible youth ; greatly dejected Avith the loss of his mother, and, as it seems, had lost his father but a few months before at Barba- does. He begged of the surgeon to speak to me to take him out of the ship, for he said the cruel felloAvs had murdered his mother : and indeed so they had, that is to say, passively ; for they might haA^e spared a small sustenance to the poor helpless widow, that might have preserved her life, though it had been just to keep her alive. But hunger knoAvs no friend, no relation, no justice, no right; and there- fore is remorseless, and capable of no compassion. The surgeon told him how far Ave Avere going, and how it would carry him aAvay from all his friends, and put him perhaps in as bad circum- stances, almost, as Ave found them in ; that is to say, starving in the world. He said it mattered not Avhither he went, if he was but delivered from the terrible crcAv that he was among; that the captain (by which he meant me, for he could know nothing of my nephew) had saved his life, and he was sure would not hurt him ; and as for the maid, he was sure if she came to herself, she Avould be A^ery thankful for it, let us carry them Avhither we would. The surgeon represented the case so affectionately to me, that I yielded, and Ave took them both on board Avith all their goods, except eleven hogsheads of sugar, which could not be removed or come at ; and as the youth had a bill of lading for them, I made his commander sign a Avriting, obliging him to go, as soon as he came to Bristol, to one Mr. Rogers, a merchant there, to whom the youth said he was related, and to deliver a letter which 1 Avrote to him, and all the goods he had belonging to the deceased AvidoAv : Avhich I suppose Avas not done; for I could ncA'^er learn that the ship came to Bristol, but was, as is most probable, lost at sea, being in so disabled a condition, and so far from any land, that I am of opinion, the first storm she met with afterAvards she might founder in the sea ; for she was leaky, and had damage in her hold when I met with her. I was noAV in the latitude of nineteen degrees thirty-two minutes, and had hitherto had a tolerable voyage as to Aveather, though at first the winds had been contrary. I shall trouble nobody with the little incidents of wind, weather, currents, &c. on the rest of our voyage ; OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 313 but shortening my story for the sake of what is to follow, shall observe, that I came to my old habitation, the island, on the 10th of April, 1695. It was with no small difficulty that I found the place : for as I came to it, and went from it before, on the south and east side of ihe island, as coming from the Brazils ; so now coming in between the main and the island, and having no chart for the coast, nor any la. "id- mark, I did not know it when I saw it, or know whether I saw it or no. We beat about a great while, and went on shore on several islands in the mouth of the great river Oroonoque, but none for my purpose : only this I learned by my coasting the shore, that I was under one great mistake before, namely, that the continent which I thought I saw from the island I lived in, was really no continent, but a long island, or rather a ridge of islands, reaching from one to the other side of the extended mouth of that great river; and that the savages who came to my island were not properly those which we call Caribbees, but islanders, and other barbarians of the same kind, who inhabited something nearer to our side than the rest. In short, I visited several of the islands to no purpose ; some I found were inhabited, and some were not. On one of them I found some Spaniards, and thought they had lived there ; but, speaking with them, found they had a sloop lay in a small creek hard by, and that they came thither to make salt, and catch some pearl mussels, if they could ; but they belonged to the Isle de Trinidad, which lay farther north, in the latitude of ten and eleven degrees. Thus coasting from one island to another, sometimes with the ship, sometimes with the Frenchman's shallop (which we had found a conve- nient boat, and therefore kept her with their very good will), at length I came fair on the south side of my island, and I presently knew the very countenance of the place ; so I brought the ship safe to an anchor broadside with the little creek, where was my old habitation. As soon as I saw the place, I called for Friday, and asked him if he knew where he was ? He looked about a little, and presently clapping his hands, cried, "Oh, yes! Oh, there! Oh, yes! Oh, there!" point- ing to our old habitation, and fell a dancing and capering like a mad fellow, and I had much ado to keep him from jumping into the sea, to swim ashore to the place. "Well, Friday," said I, " do you think we shall find anybody here, or no? and what do you think, shall we see your father?" The fellow stood mute as a stock a good while ; but when I named his father, the poor affectionate creature looked dejected, and I could see the tears run down hir face very plentifully. " ^Vhat is the matter, Friday ?" 314 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES said I ; are jou troubled because you may see your father?" — "No, no !" says he, shaking his head, " no see him more, no ever more see again!" "Why so," said I, "Friday? how do you know that?"— - "Oh, no ! Oh, no !" says Friday, " he long ago die, long ago he much old man." — " Well, well," said I, " Friday you don't know: but shall we see any one else then ?" The fellow, it seems, had better eyes than I. and he points just to the hill above my old house ; and though we lay half a league off, he cries out, " Me see ! me see ! yes, yes ; me such much man there, and there, and there." I looked, but I could see nobody — no, not with a perspective glass; which was, I suppose, because I could not hit the place : for the fellow was right, as I found, upon inquiry the next day, and there Avere five or six men all together stood to look at the ship, not knowing what to think of Uo. As soon as Friday had told me he saw people, I caused tne English ancien.t to be spread, and fired three guns, to give them notice we were friends ; and about half a quarter of an hour after, we perceived a smoke rise from the side of the creek: so I immediately ordered a boat out, taking Friday with me ; and hanging out a white flag, or a flag of truce, I went directly on shore, taking with me the young friar I mentioned, to whom I had told the whole story of my living there, and the manner of it, and every particular both of myself and those that I left there, and who was on that account extremely desirous to go with me. We had besides about sixteen men very well armed, if we had found any new guest there which we did not know of; but we had no need of weapons. As we went on shore upon the tide of flood near high water, we rowed directly into the creek ; and the first man I fixed my eye upon was the Spaniard whose life I had saved, and whom I knew by his face perfectly well ; as to his habit, I shall describe it afterwards. I ordered nobody to go on shore at first but myself; but there was no keeping Friday in the boat ; for the affectionate creature had spied his father at a distance, a good way off of the*- Spaniards, where indeed I saw nothing of him; and if they had not let him go on shore, he would have jumped into the sea. He was no sooner on shore, but he flew aAvay to his father like an arrow out of a bow. It would have made any man shed tears, in spite of the firmest resolution, to have seen the first transports of this poor fellow's joy, when he came to his father ; how he embraced him, kissed him, stroked his face, took him up in his arms, set him down upon a tree, and lay down by him ; then stood and looked at him as any one would look at a strange picture, for a quarter of an hour together ; then lay down upon the ground, and stroked his legs, and kissed them, and then got «p again, and ORUSOK WELOOMED T'.Y THE SPANIARD. 315 316 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES stared at him ; one would have thought the fellow bewitched. But it would have made a dog laugh to see how the next day his jDassion run out another Avay : in the morning he walked along the shore, to and again, with his father, several hours, always leading him by the hand as if he had been a lady ; and every now and then would come to fetch something or other for him from the boat, either a lump of sugar, or a dram, a biscuit, or something or other that was good. In the after- noon his frolics ran another way ; for then he would set the old man down upon the ground, and dance about him, and made a thousand antic postures and gestures ; and all the while he did this he Avould be talking to him, and telling him one story or another of his travels, and of what had happened to him abroad, to divert him. In short, if the same filial affection was to be found in Christians to their parents in our parts of the world, one would be tempted to say there hardly would have been any need of the fifth commandment. But this is a digression, — I return to my landing. It would be endless to take notice of all the ceremonies and civilities that the Spaniards received me with. The first Spaniard, whom, as I said, I knew very well, was he whose life I saved : he came towards the boat, attended by one more, carrying a flag of truce also ; and he did not only not know me at first, but he had no thoughts, no notion, of its being me that was come, till I spoke to him. "Seignior," said I, in Portuguese, " do you not know me ?" At Avhich he spoke not a word ; but giving his musket to the man that was with him, threw his arms abroad, and saying something in Spanish that I did not perfectly hear, came forward and embraced me, telling me, he was inexcusable not to know that face again that he had once seen, as of an angel from heaven sent to save his life: he said abundance of very handsome things, as a well-bred Spaniard always knows how; and then, beckon- ing to the person that attended him, bade him go and call out his comrades. He then asked me if I would walk to my old habitation, where he would give me possession of my own house again, and where I should see there had been but mean improvements. So I walked along with him ; but, alas ! I could no more find the place again than if I had never been there : for they had planted so many trees, and placed them in such a posture, so thick and close to one another, in ten years time they were grown so big, that, in short, the place was inaccessible, except by such windings and blind ways as they them- selves only who made them could find. I asked them, what put them upon all these fortifications ? He told me, I would say there was need enough of it, when they had given an account how they had passed their time since their arriving in the OF UORINSOX CRUSOE. SIT island, especially after they had the misfortune to find that I was gone : he told me he could not but have some satisfaction in my good fortune, when he heard that I was gone in a good ship, and to my satisfaction ; and that he had oftentimes a strong persuasion, that one time or other he should see me again : but nothing that ever befell him in his life, he said, was so surprising and afflicting to him at first, as the disappointment he was under when he came back to the island, and found I was not there. As to the three barbarians (so he called them) that were left behind, and of whom he said he had a long story to tell me, the Spaniards all thought themselves much better among the savages — only that their number was so small. " And," says he, " had they been strong enough, we had been all long ago in purgatory;" and with that he crossed himself upon the breast. "But, sir," says he, " I hope you will not be displeased when 1 shall tell you how, forced by necessity, we were obliged, for our own preservation, to disarm tiiem, and make them our subjects, who would not be content with being moderately our masters, but would be our murderers." I answered, "I was heartily afraid of it when I left them there ; and nothing troubled me at my parting from the island, but that they were not come back, that 1 might have put them in possession of every thing first, and left the other in a state of subjection, as they deserved : but if they had reduced them to it, 1 was very glad, and should be very far from finding any fault with it, for I knew they were a parcel of refractory, ungovernable villains, and were fit for any manner of mischief." While I was saying this, came the man whom he had sent back, and with him eleven men more. In the dress they were in, it was impos- sible to guess what nation they were of; but he made all clear, both to them and to me. First, he turned to me, and, pointing to them, said, " These, sir, are some of the gentlemen who owe their lives to you;" and then turning to them, and pointing to me, he let them know who I was ; upon which they all came up one by one, not as if they had been sailors, and ordinary fellows, and I the like ; but really as if they had been ambassadors or noblemen, and I a monarch or a great conqueror : their behaviour was to the last degree obliging and courteous, and yet mixed with a manly, majestic gravity, which very \\v\\ became them : and, in short, they had so much more manners tlian 1, that 1 scarce knew how to receive tiieir civilities, much less how to return them in kind. The history of their coming to, and conduct in the island after my going away, is so remarkable, and has so many incidents, which the former part of my relation will help to understand, and which will, in 318 THE SPANIARD INTRODUCING CRUSOE. OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 31i* most of the particulars, refer to that account I have already given, that I cannot but commit them, with great delight, to the reading of those that come after me. I shall no longer trouble the story with a relation in the first per- son, which will put me to the expense of ten thousand " Said I's," and "Said he's," and "He told me's," and "I told him's," and the like ; but I shall collect the facts historically, as near as I can gather them out of my memory from what they related to me, and from what I met with in my conversing with them, and with the place. In order to do this succinctly, and as intelligibly as I can, I must go back to the circumstances in which I left the island, and which the persons were in of whom I am to speak. At first, it is necessary to repeat, that I had sent away Friday's father and the Spaniard, the two whose lives I had rescued from the savages, — I say, I had sent chem away in a large canoe to the main, as I then thought it, to fetch over the Spaniard's companions whom he had left behind him, in order to save them from the like calamity that he had been in, and in order to succour them for the present, and that, if possible, we might toge- ther find some way for our deliverance afterward. When I sent them away, I had no visible appearance of, or the least room to hope for, my own deliverance, any more than I had twenty years before ; much less had I any foreknowledge of what after happened, I mean of an English ship coming on shore there to fetch them off; and it could not but be a very great surprise to them when they came back, not only to find that I was gone, but to find three strangers left on the spot, possessed of all that I had left behind me, which would otherwise have been their own. The first thing, however, which I inquired into, that I might begin where I left off, was of their own part ; and I desired he would give me a particular account of his voyage back to his countrymen with the boat, when I sent him to fetch them over. He told me there was little variety in that part ; for nothing remarkable happened to them on the way, they having vei*y calm weather and a smooth sea ; for his countrymen, it could not be doubted, he said, but that they were overjoyed to see him, (it seems he was the principal man among them, the captain of the vessel they had been shipwrecked in having been dead some time ): they were, he said, the more surprised to see him, because they knew that he was fallen into the hands of savages, who, they were satisfied, would devour him, as they did all the rest of their prisoners ; that when he told them the story of his deliverance, and in what manner he was furnished for carrying them away, it was like a dream to them; and their astonishment, they said, was something 320 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES like that of Joseph's brethren, when he told them who he was, and told them the story of his exaltation in Pharaoh's court ; but when he showed them the arms, the powder, the ball, and the provisions that he brought them for their journey, or voyage, they were restored to themselves, took a just share of the joy of their deliverance, and immediately prepared to come away with him. The first business was to get canoes ; and in this they were obliged not to stick so much upon the honest part of it, but to trespass upon their friendly savages, and to borrow two large canoes, or periaguas, on pretence of going out a-fishing, or for pleasure. In these they came away the next morning : it seems they wanted no time to get themselves ready, for they had no baggage ; neither clothes, or provisions, or any other thing in the world, but what they had on them, and a few roots to eat, of which they used to make their bread. They were in all three weeks absent ; and in that time, unluckily for them, I had the occasion offered for my escape, as I mentioned in my other part, and to get off from the island ; leaving three of the most impudent, hardened, ungoverned, disagreeable villains behind me that any man could desire to meet with, to the poor Spaniards' great grief and disappointment you may be sure. The only just thing the rogues did, was, that when the Spaniards came on shore, they gave my letter to them, and gave them provisions and other relief, as I had ordered them to do ; also they gave them the long paper of directions, which I had left with them, containing the particular methods which I took for managing every part of my life there, — the way how I baked my bread, bred up my tame goats, and planted my corn — how I cured my grapes, made my pots, and, in a word, every thing I did : all this being written down, they gave to the Spaniards, two of whom understood English well enough ; nor did they refuse to accommodate the Spaniards with any thing else, for they agreed very well for some time. They gave them an equal ad- mission into the house, or cave, and they began to live very sociably ; and the head Spaniard, who had seen pretty much of my method, and Friday's father together, managed all their affairs ; for as for the Englishmen, they did nothing but ramble about the island, shoot par- rots, and catch tortoises, and when they came home at night, the Spaniards provided their suppers for them. The Spaniards would have been satisfied with this, would the other but have left them alone ; which, however, they could not find in their hearts to do long ; but, like the dog in the manger, they would not eat themselves, and would not let others eat neither. The differ- OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 321 pnces, nevertheless, were at first but trivial, and such as are not worth relating; but at last it broke out into open war, and it began with all the rudeness and insolence that can be in.agined, without reason, with- out provocation, contrary to nature, and indeed to common sense ; and though, it is true, the first relation of it came from the Spaniards themselves, whom I may call the accusers, yet when I came to examine the fellows, they could not deny a word of it. But before I come to the particulars of this part, I must supply a defect in my former relation ; and this was, that I forgot to set down among the rest, that just as we were weighing the anchor to set sail, there happened a little quarrel on board our ship, which I was afraid once would turn to a second mutiny ; nor was it appeased till the captain, rousing up his courage, and taking us all to his assistance, parted them by force, and making two of the most refractory fellows prisoners, he laid them in irons ; and as they had been active in the former disorders, and let fall some ugly dangerous words the second time, he threatened to carry them in irons to England, and have them hanged there for mutiny, and running away with the ship. This, it seems, though the captain did not intend to do it, frighted some other men in the ship ; and some of them had put it in the heads of the rest, that the captain only gave them good words for the pre- sent till they should come to some English port, and that then they should be all put into a jail, and tried for their lives. The mate got intelligence of this, and acquainted us with it ; upon which it was desired that I, who still passed for a great man among them, should go down with the mate and satisfy the men, and tell them, that they might be assured, if they behaved well the rest of the voyage, all they had done for the time past should be pardoned. So I went, and after passing my honour's word to them, they appeared easy, and the more so, when I caused the two men who were in irons to be released and forgiven. But this mutiny had brought us to an anchor for that night, the wind also falling calm. Next morning we found that our two men, who had been laid in irons, had stole each of them a musket and some other weapons ; what powder or shot they had we knew not ; and had taken the ship's pinnace, which was not yet hauled up, and ran away with her to their companions in roguery on shore. As soon as we found this, I ordered the long-boat on shore, with twelve men and the mate, and away they went to seek the rogues ; but they could neither find them, nor any of the rest ; for they all fled into the woods when they saw the boat coming on shore. The mate was once resolved, in justice to their roguery, to have destroyed their 21 322 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES plantations, burnt all their household stuff and furniture, and left them to shift without it ; but having no order, he let all alone, left every thing as they found it, and bringing the pinnace away, came on board without them. These two men made their number five : but the other three villains were so much wickeder than these, that after they had been two or three days together, they turned their two new comers out of doors to shift for themselves, and would have nothing to do with them ; nor could they, for a good while, be persuaded to give them any food : as for the Spaniards, they were not yet come. When the Spaniards came first on shore, the business began to go forward ; the Spaniards would have persuaded the three English brutes to have taken in their two countrymen again, that, as they said, they might be all one family ; but they would not hear of it : so the two poor fellows lived by themselves, and finding nothing but industry and application would make them live comfortable, they pitched their tents on the north shore of the island, but a little more to the west, to be out of the danger of the savages, who always landed on the east parts of the island. Here they built two huts, one to lodge in, and the other to lay up their magazines and stores in ; and the Spaniards having given them some corn for seed, and especially some of the pease which I had left them, they dug, and planted, and enclosed, after the pattern I had set for them all, and began to live pretty well. Their first crop of corn was on the ground, and though it was but a little bit of land which they had dug up at first, having had but a little time, yet it was enough to relieve them, and finding them with bread or other eatables ; and one of the fellows, being the cook's mate of the ship, was very ready at making soup, puddings, and such other preparations, as the rice and the milk, and such little flesh as they got, furnished him to do. They were going on in a little thriving posture, when the three unnatural rogues, their own countrymen too, in mere humour, and to insult them, came and bullied them, and told them the island was theirs ; that the governor, meaning me, had given them possession of it, and nobody else had any right to it ; and, d — n them, they should build no houses upon their ground, unless they would pay them rent for them. The two men thought they had jested at first, and asked them to come and sit down, and see what fine houses they were that they had built, and tell them what rent they demanded : and one of them merrily told them, if they were ground-landlords, he hoped if they built tene- Ot ilOBINSON CRUSOE. 52:) FIRING THE HUT. nients upon the land, and made improvements, they would, accoi'ding to the custom of all landlords, grant them a long lease ; and bid them go fetch a scrivener to draw the writings. One of the three, damning and raging, told tliem they should see they were not in jest ; and going to a little place at a distance, where the honest men had made a fire to dress their victuals, he takes a fire-brand and claps it to the outside of their hut, and very fairly set it on fire ; and it would have been all burnt down in a few minutes, if one of the two had not run to the fellow, thrust him away, and trod the fire out with his feet, and that not without some difficulty too. The fellow was in such a rage at the honest man's thrusting him away, that he turned upon him with a pole he had in his hand ; and had not the man avoided the blow very nimbly, and run into the hut, he had ended his days at once. His comrade, seeing the danger they were both in, ran in after him, and immediately they came both out with their muskets ; and the man that was first struck at with the pole knocked the fellow down who began the quarrel, with the stock of his xiiusket, and that before the other two could come to help him ; and 324 TilE LIFE AND ADVENTURES then seeing the rest come at tnem, tney stoou togethov, mid presenting the other ends of their pieces to them,' bade them stand off. The others had firearms with them too ; but one of the two honest men, bolder than his comrade, and made desperate by his danger, told them if they offered to move hand or foot they were all dead men, and boldly commanded them to lay down their arms. They did not indeed lay down their arms ; but seeing him resolute, it brought them to a parley, and they consented to take their wounded man with them and begone : and, indeed, it seems the fellow was wounded sufficiently with the blow : however, they were much in the wrong, since they had the advantage, that they did not disarm them effectually, as they might have done, and have gone immediately to the Spaniards, and given them an account how the rogues had treated them ; for the three villains studied nothing but revenge, and every day gave them some intimation that they did so. But not to crowd this part wuth an account of the lesser part of their rogueries, such as treading down their corn, shooting three young kids and a she-goat, which the poor men had got to breed up tame for their store ; and, in a word, plaguing them night and day in this manner, it forced the two men to such a desperation, that they resolved to fight them all three the first time they had a fair opportunity. In order to this they resolved to go to the castle, as they called it, that Avas my old dwelling, where the three rogues and the Spaniards all lived together at that time, intending to have a fair battle, and the Spaniards should stand by to see fair play. So they got up in the morning before day^ and came to the place, and called the Englishmen by their names, telling a Spaniard that answered that they wanted to speak with them CHAPTER III. Narrative continued — Insolence of three of the Englishmen to the Spaniards — They are disarmed and brought to order — A great body of Savages land upon the Island — They turn out to be two adverse Nations met there by chance — A bloody Battle betwixt them — Several of the vanquished Party secured by the Spaniards. It happened that, the day before, two of the Spaniards having been in the woods, had seen one of the two Englishmen, whom, for distinc- tion, I call the honest men ; and he had made a sad complaint to the Spaniards of the barbarous usage they had met with from their three f^ should build none upon their land. "Why, Seignior," says the Spaniard, by the same rule, wo must be your servants too. — "Ay," says the bold dog, and so you shall too, before we have done with you ; mixing two or three G — d d — mme's in the proper intervals of his speech. The Spaniard only smiled at that, and made him no answer. However, this little discourse had heated them ; and starting up, one says to the other — I think it was he they called Will Atkins — " Come, Jack, let us go and have the other brush with them ; we will demolish their castle, I will warrant you; they shall plant no colony in our dominions." Upon this they were all trooping away, with every man a gun, a pistol, and a sword, and muttered some insolent things among them- selves, of what they would do to the Spaniards too, when opportunity offered ; but the Spaniards, it seems, did not so perfectly understand them as to know all the particulars ; only that, in general, they threatened them hard for taking the two Englishmen's part. Whither they Avent, or how they bestowed their time that evening, the Spaniards said they did not know ; but it seems they wandered about the country part of the night ; and then lying downjn the place which I used to call my bower, they were weary and overslept them- selves. The case was this : they had resolved to stay till midnight, so to take the poor men when they were asleep ; and they acknowledged it afterwards, intending to set fire to their huts while they were in them, and either burn them in them, or murder them as they came out : and, as malice seldom sleeps very sound, it was very strange they should not have been kept waking. However, as the two men had also a design upon them, as I have said, though a much fairer one than that of burning and murdering, it happened, and very luckily for them all, that they were up and gone abroad, before the bloody-minded rogues came to their huts. When they came thither, and found the men gone, Atkins, who it seems was the forwardest man, called out to his comrades, " Ha ! Jack, here's the nest; but, d — n them, the birds are flown!" They mused a while to think what should be the occasion of their going abroad so soon, and suggested presently that the Spaniards had given them notice of it ; and with that they shook hands, and swore to one another that they would be revenged of the Spaniards. As soon as they had made this bloody bargain, they fell to work with the poor men's habi- tation : they did not set fire indeed to any thing, but they pulled down both their houses, and pulled them so limb from limb, that they left not the least stick standing, or scarce any sign on the ground Avhere OF RORIXSOX CRUSOE. H^Y they stood ; they tore all their little collected household stuff in pieces, ami threw every thing about in such a manner that the poor men found, afterwards, some of their tilings a mile oft' from their habitation. When they had done this, they pulled up all the young trees which the poor men had planted; pulled up the er.closure they had made to secure their cattle and their corn ; and, in a word, sacked and plundered e^'ery thing, as completely as a herd of Tartars would have done. The two men were at this juncture gone to find them out, and had resolved to fight them wherever they had been, though they were but two to three : so that, had they met, there certainly would have been bloodshed among them ; for they were all very stout, resolute fellows, to give them their due. But Rrovidence took more care to keep them asunder than they them- selves could do to meet : for, as they had dodged one another, when the three were gone thither, the two were here ; and afterwards, when the two went back to find them, the three were come to the old habitation again: we shall see their dift'ering conduct presently. When the three came back like furious creatures, flushed with the rage which the work they had been about put them into, they came up to the Spaniards, and told them what they had done, by way of scoff and bravado ; and one of them stepping up to one of the Spaniards, as if they had been a couple of boys at play, takes hold of his hat, as it was upon his head, and giving it a twirl about, fleering in his face, says he to him, " And you, Seignior Jack Spaniard, shall have the same sauce, if you do not mend your manners." The Spaniard, who, though quite a civil man, was as brave as a man could desire to be, and withal a strong well-made man, looked steadily at him for a good while ; and then, having no weapon in his hand, stepped gravely up to him, and with one blow of his fist knocked him down, as an ox is felled with a pole-axe ; at which one of the rogues, insolent as the first, fired his pistol at the Spaniard imme- diately: he missed his body indoe(l, for the bullets went through his hair, but one of them touched tlie tip of his ear, and he bled pretty much. The blood made the Spaniard believe he was more hurt than he really was, and that put him into some heat, for before he acted all in a perfect calm ; but now resolving to go through with his work, he stooped and took the fellow's musket whom he had knocked down, and was just going to shoot the man who had fired at him, when the rest of the Spaniards being in the cave, came out, and calling to him not to shoot, they stepped in, secured the other two, and took their arms from them. When they were thus disarmed, and found they had made all the Spaniards their enemies, as well as their own countrymen, they began 328 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES to cool ; and giving the Spaniards better words, would have had their arms again ; but the Spaniards, considering the feud that was between them and the other tAvo Englishmen, and that it would be the best method they could take to keep them from one another, told them they would do them no harm ; and if they would live peaceably, they would be very willing to assist and associate with them, as they did before ; but that they could not think of giving them their arms again, while they appeared so resolved to do mischief with them to their own countrymen, and had even threatened them all to make them their servants. The rogues were now more capable to hear reason than to act reason ; but being refused their arms, they went raving away, and raging like madmen, threatening what they would do, though they had no firearms: but the Spaniards, despising their threatening, told them they should take care how they offered any injury to their plantation or cattle ; for if they did, they Avould shoot them, as they would do ravenous beasts, wherever they found them ; and if they fell into their hands alive, they should certainly be hanged. However, this was far from cooling them ; but away they went, swearing and raging like furies of hell. As soon as they were gone, came back the two men in passion and rage enough also, though of another kind ; for, having been at their plan- tation, and finding it all demolished and destroyed, as above, it will easily be supposed they had provocation enough : they could scarce have room to tell their tale, the Spaniards were so eager to tell them theirs ; and it was strange enough to find, that three men should thus bully nineteen, and receive no punishment at all. The Spaniards indeed despised them, and especially having thus disarmed them, made light of their threatenings ; but the two English- men resolved to have their remedy against them, what pains soever it cost to find them out. But the Spaniards interposed here too, and told them, that they were already disarmed : they could not consent that they (the two) should pursue them with firearms, and, perhaps, kill them. "But," said the grave Spaniard, who was their governor, " Ave Avill endeavour to make them do you justice, if you will leave it to us; for, as there is no doubt but they will come to us again when their passion is over, being not able to subsist without our assistance, we promise you to make no peace with them, without having a full satisfaction for you ; and upon this condition we hope you Avill promise to use no violence with them, other than in your defence." The two Englishmen yielded to this very aAvk^vardly, and with great reluctance ; but *^be Spaniards protested, they did it only to keep them OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 329 from bloodshed, and to make all easy at last ; for, said they, we are not so many of us ; here is room enough for us all, and it is a great pity we should not be all good friends. At length, they did consent, and waited for the issue of the tiling, living for some days with the Spaniards ; for their own habitation was destroyed. In about five days' time, the three vagrants, tired with wandering, and almost starved with hunger, having chiefly lived on turtles' eggs all that while, came back to the grove; and finding my Spaniard, who, as I have said, was the governor, and two more with him, walk- ing by the side of the creek, they came up in a very submissive humble manner, and begged to be received again into the family. The Spa- niards used them civilly, but told them, they had acted so unnaturally by their countrymen, and so very grossly by them (the Spaniards), that they could not come to any conclusion without consulting the two Englishmen, and the rest ; but, however, they would go to them, and discourse about it, and they should know in half an hour. It may be guessed that they were very hard put to it; for it seems, as they were to wait this half-hour for an answer, they begged he would send them out some bread in the meantime ; which he did, and sent them at the same time a large piece of goat's flesh, and a broiled parrot, which they ate very heartily, for they were hungry enough. After half an hour's consultation they were called in, and a long debate had about them, their two countrymen charging them with the ruin of all their labour, and a design to murder them ; all which they owned before, and therefore could not deny now. Upon the whole, the Spaniards acted the moderators between them ; and as they had obliged the two Englishmen not to hurt the three, Avhile they were naked and unharmed, so they now obliged the three to go and rebuild their fellows' two huts, one to be of the same dimensions, and the other larger than they were before ; also to fence their ground again, where they had pulled up the fences ; plant trees in the room of those pulled up ; dig up the land again for planting corn, where they had spoiled it ; and, in a word, to restore every thing in the same state as they found it, as near as they could ; for entirely it could not be, the .season for the corn, and the growth of the trees and hedges not being possible to be recovered. Well, they submitted to all this: and as they had plenty of provi- sions given them all the while, they grew very orderly, and the whole society began to live pleasantly and agreeably together again ; only that these three fellows could never be persuaded to work, — I mean, not for themselves, except now and then a little, just as they pleased ; however, the Spaniards told them plainly, that if they would but live 330 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES pociably and friendly together, and study in the whole the good of the plantation, they would be content to work for them, and let them walk about and be as idle as they pleased ; and thus having lived pretty well together for a month or two, the Spaniards gave them their arms again, and gave them liberty to go abroad with them as before. It was not above a week after they had these arms, and went abroad, but the ungrateful creatures began to be as insolent and trou- blesome as before ; but, however, an accident happened presently upon this, which endangered the safety of them all : they were obliged to lay by all private resentments and look to the preservation of their lives. It happened one night that the Spaniard governor, as I call him, — that is to say, the Spaniard whose life I had saved, who was now the captain, or leader, or governor of the rest, found himself very uneasy in the night, and could by no means get any sleep ; he was perfectly well in body; as he told me the story, only found his thoughts tumul- tuous ; and his mind ran upon men fighting, and killing one another, but was broad awake, and could not by any means get any sleep : in short, he lay a great while ; but growing more and more uneasy, he resolved to rise. As they lay, being so many of them, upon goat skins, laid thick upon such couches and pads as they made for them- selves, and not in hammocks and shipbeds, as I did, who was but one, so they had little to do, when they were willing to rise, but to get up upon their feet, and perhaps put on a coat, such as it was, and their pumps, and they were ready for going any way that their thoughts guided them. Being thus gotten up, he looked out ; but, being dark, he could see little or nothing ; and besides, the trees which I had planted, as in my former account is described, and which were now grown tall, inter- cepted his sight, so that he could only look up, and see that it was a clear starlight night ; and, hearing no noise, he returned and laid him down again. But it was all one, he could not sleep, nor could he compose himself to any thing like rest, but his thoughts were to the last degree uneasy, and yet he knew not for what. Having made some noise with rising and walking about, going out and coming in, another of them waked, and, calling, asked who it was that was up ? The governor told him how it had been with him. " Say you so?" says the other Spaniard; "such things are not to be slighted, I assure you — there is certainly some mischief working," says he, "near us;" and presently he asked him, "Where are the Englishmen ?" — " They are all in their huts," says he, "safe enough." It seems, the Spaniards had kept possession of the main apartment, OF RORTXSOX PRrSOE. 331 and had made a place, where the three Englishman, since their last mutiny, always quartered by themselves, and could not come at the rest. "Well," says the Spaniard, "there is something in it, I am persuaded from my own experience ; I am satisfied our spirits embodied have converse with, and receive intelligence from, the spirits unem- bodied, and inhabiting the invisible world ; and this friendly notice is given for our advantage, if we know how to make use of it. Come," says he, " let us go out and look abroad ; and if we find nothing at all in it to justify our trouble, I'll tell you a story to the purpose, that shall convince you of the justice of my proposing it." In a word, they went out to go to the top of the hill, where I used to go ; but they, being strong, and in good company, nor alone, as I was, used none of my cautions to go up by the ladder, and then pulling it up after them, to go up a second stage to the top, but were going round through the grove unconcerned and unwary, when they were surprised with seeing a light as of fire, a very little way off from them, and hearing the voices of men, not of one, or two, but of a great number. In all the discoveries I had made of the savages landing on the island, it was my constant care to prevent them making the least dis- covery of there being any inhabitants upon the place ; and when, by any necessity, they came to know it, they felt it so effectually, that they that got away were scarce able to give any account of it, for we disappeared as soon as possible, nor did ever any that had seen me escape to tell any one else, except it were the three savages in our last encounter, who jumped into the boat, of whom I mentioned that I was afraid they should go home and bring more help. Whether it was the consequence of the escape of those men, that so great a number came now together ; or whether they came ignorantly, and by accident, on their usual bloody errand, the Spaniards could not, it seems, understand : but whatever it was, it had been thoir busi- ness, either to have concealed themselves, and not have seen them at all, much loss to have let the savages have seen that there were any inhabitants in the place; but to have fallen upon them so effectually, as that not a man of them should have escaped, which could only have been by getting in between them and their boats : but this prosonce of mind was wanting to them, which was the ruin of their tran([uillity for a great while. We need not doubt but that the governor, and the man with him, surprised with this sight, ran back immediately, and raised their fellows, giving them an account of the imminent danger they were all in, and they again as readily took the alarm ; but it was impossible to 333 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES persuade them to stay close within where they were, but that they must all run out to see how things stood. While it was dark, indeed, they were well enough, and they had opportunity enough, for some hours, to view them by the light of three fires they had made at some distance from one another. What they Avei-e doing they knew not, and what to do themselves they knew not ; for, first, the enemy were too many ; and, secondly, they did not keep together, but were divided into several parties, and were on shore in several places. The Spaniards were in no small consternation at this sight ; and as they found that the fellows ran straggling all over the shore, they made no doubt, but, first or last, some of them would chop in upon their habitation, or upon some other place, where they would see the tokens of inhabitants ; and they Avere in great perplexity also for fear of their flock of goats, which would have been little less than starving them, if they should have been destroyed. So the first thing they resolved upon, was to despatch three men away before it was light, namely, two Spaniards and one Englishman, to drive all the goats away to the great valley where the cave was, and, if need were, to drive them into the very cave itself. Could they have seen the savages all together in one body, and at a distance from their canoes, they resolved, if there had been a hundred of them, to have attacked them ; but that could not be obtained, for there were some of them two miles off from the other, and, as it ap- peared afterwards, were of two different nations. After having mused a great while on the course they should take, and beaten their brains in considering their present circumstances, they resolved at last, while it was dark, to send the old savage (Fri- day's father) out as a spy, to learn, if possible, something concerning them, as what they came for, and what they intended to do, and the like. The old man readily undertook it, and stripping himself quite naked, as most of the savages were, away he went. After he had been gone an hour or two, he brings word that he had been among them undiscovered, that he found they Avere Uwo parties, and of tAvo several nations, Avho had war Avith one another, and had had a great battle in their own country, and that both sides having had several prisoners taken in the fight, they Avere by mere chance landed on the same island for the devouring their prisoners, and making merry ; buv their coming so by chance to the same place had spoiled all their mirth . that they were in a great rage at one another, and Avere so near, that he believed they Avould fight again as soon as daylight began to appear; but he did not perceive that they had any notion of anybody's being OF ROIJINSON CRUSOE. 333 on the island but tlicmselves. He had hardly made an end of telling the story, when they could perceive, by the unusual noise they made, that the two little armies were engaged in a bloody fight. Friday's father used all the arguments he could to persuade our people to lie close, and not to be seen : he told them their safety con- sisted in it, and that they had nothing to do but to lie still, and the sa\'nge8 would kill one another to their hands, and the rest would go away ; and it was so to a tittle. But it was impossible to prevail, especially upon the Englishmen, their curiosity was so importunate upon their prudentials, that they must run out and see the battle : however, they used some caution, namely, they did not go openly just by their own dwelling, but went farther into the woods, and placed themselves to advantage, where they might securely see them manage the fight, and, as they thought, not be seen by them ; but it seems the savages did see them, as we shall find hereafter. The battle was very fierce, and if I might believe the Englishmen, one of them said he could perceive thJt some of them were men of great bravery, of invincible spirits, and of great policy in guiding the fight. The battle, they said, held two hours before they could guess which party would be beaten ; but then that party wliich was nearest our people's habitation began to appear weakest, and, after some time more, some of them began to fly ; and this put our men again into a great consternation, lest any of those that fled should run into the grove before their dwelling for shelter, and thereby involuntarily dis- cover the place, and that by consequence the pursuers should do the like in search for them. Upon this they resolved, that they would stand armed within the wall, and whoever came into the grove they should sally out over the wall, and kill them, so that if possible not one should return to give an account of it ; they ordered also, that it should be done with their swords, or by knocking them down with the stock of the musket, not by shooting them, for fear of raising an alarm by the noise. As they expected, it fell out : three of the routed army fled for life, and crossing the creek ran directly into the place, not in the least knowing whither they went, but running as into a thick wood for shelter. The scout they kept to look abroad gave notice of this within, with this addition to our men's great satisfaction, namely, that the conquerors had not pursued them, or seen which way they were gone. Upon this the Spaniard governor, a man of humanity, would not suf- fer them to kill the three fugitives ; but sending three men out by the top of the hill, ordered them to go round and come in behind them, purp-ise, ard take them prisoners ; which was done. The residue of 334 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES the conquered people fled to their canoes and got off to sea ; the vic- tors retired, and made no pursuit, or verj little, but drawing them- selves into a body together, gave two great screaming shouts, which thej supposed were by way of triumph, and so the fight ended : and the same day, about three o'clock in the afternoon, they also marched to their canoes. And thus the Spaniards had their island again free to themselves, their fright was over, and they saw no savages in seve- ral years after. After they were all gone, the Spaniards came out of their den, and viewing the field of battle, they found about two-and-thirty dead men upon the spot ; some were killed with great long arrows, several of •which were found sticking in their bodies, but most of them were killed with great wooden swords, sixteen or seventeen of which they found in the field of battle, and as many. bows, with a great many arrows. These swords were great unwieldy things, and they must be very strong men that used them ; most of those men that were killed with them had their heads mashed to pieces, as we may say, or, as we call it in English, their brains knocked out, and several of their arms and legs broken ; so that it is evident they fight with inexpressible rage and fury. They found not one wounded man that was not stone dead ; for either they stay by their enemy till they have quite killed them, or they carry all the wounded men, that are not quite dead, away with them. This deliverance tamed our Englishmen for a great while ; the sight had filled them with horror, and the consequence appeared terrible to the last degree, especially upon supposing that some time or other they should fall into the hands of those creatures, who would not only kill them as enemies, but kill them for food, as we kill our cattle. And they professed to me, that the thoughts of being eaten up like beef or mutton, though it was supposed it was not to be till they were dead, had something in it so horrible, that it nauseated their very stomachs, made them sick when they thought of it, and filled their minds with unusual terror, that they were not themselves for some weeks after. This, as I said, tamed even the three English brutes I have been speaking of, and, for a great while after, they were very tractable, and went about the common business of the whole society well enough — planted, sowed, reaped, and began to be all naturalized to the country; but sometime after this, they fell all into such simple measures again as brought them into a great deal of trouble. They had taken three prisoners, as I had observed ; and these three being lusty, stout young fellows, they made them servants, and taught them to Af ">rk for them; and as slaves they did well enough : but they OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 335 did not take their measures with them as T did by my man Friday, namely, to begin with them upon the principle of having saved their lives, and then instructed them in the rational principles of life, much less of religion, civilizing and reducing them by kind usage and affec- tionate arguings ; but as they gave them their food every day, so they gave them their work too, and kept them fully employed in drudgery enouf^h ; but they failed in this by it, that they never had them to assist them and fight for them, as I had my man Friday, who was as true to me as the very flesh upon my bones. But to come to the family part : — Being all now good friends, (for common danger, as I said above, had effectually reconciled them), they began to consider their general circumstances ; and the first thing that came under their consideration was, whether, seeing the savages par- ticularly haunted that side of the island, and that there were more remote and retired parts of it equally adapted to their way of living, and manifestly to their advantage, they should not rather remove their habitation, and plant it in some more proper place for their safety, and especially for the security of their cuttle and corn. Upon this, after long debate, it was conceived that they should not remove their habitation, because that, some time or other, they thought they might hear from their governor again, meaning me: and if I should send any one to seek them, I would be sure to direct them on that side, where, if they should find the place demolished, they would conclude the* savages had killed us all, and we were gone, and so our supply would go away too. But as to their corn and cattle, they agreed to remove them into the valley where my cave was, where the land was as proper to both, and where, indeed there was land enough ; however, upon second thoughts they altered one part of that resolution too, and resolved only to remove part of their cattle thither, and plant part of their corn there : and so, if one part was destroyed, the other might be saved : and one piece of prudence they used, which it was very well they did, namely, that they never trusted these three savages which they ha v/ithout comparison, more agreeable than the others : but they took a good way enough to prevent quarrelling among themselves ; for they set the five women by themselves in one of their huts, and they went all into the other hut, and drew lots among them who should choose first. He that drew to choose first, went away by himself to the hut where the poor naked creatures were, and fetched out her he chose ; and it was worth observing, that he that chose first took her that was reckoned the homeliest and the oldest of the five, which made mirth enough among the rest ; and even the Spaniards laughed at it : but the fellow considered better than any of them, that it was application and busi- ness that they were to expect assistance in as much as any thing else, and she proved the best wife in the parcel. When the poor women saw themselves in a row thus, and fetched out one by one, the terrors of their condition returned upon them again, and they firmly believed that they were now going to be de- voured : accordingly, when the English sailor came in and fetched out one of them, the rest set up a most lamentable cry, and hung about her, and took their leave of her with such agonies and such affection, as w'uld have grieved the hardest heart in the world ; nor was it pos- OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. Sil •s\h\o. for the Englisliinen to satisfy them that they were not to be ininu'diately murdered, till they fetched the old man, Friday's father, wIkj instantly let them know, that the five men who had fetched them out one by one, had chosen tliem for their wives. ^^'hen they had done this, ami the fright the women were in was a little over, the men went to work, and the Spaniards came and 1 elped them ; and in a few hours they had built them every one a new hut or tent for their lodging apart ; for those they had already were crowded with their tools, household stuff, and provisions. The three wicked ones had pitched farthest off, and the two honest ones nearer, but both on the north shore of the island, so that they continued separate as before : and thus my island was peopled in three places, and, as I might say, three towns were begun to be planted. And here it is very Avell worth observing, that as it often happens in the world (what the wise ends of God's providence are in such a dispo- sition of things I cannot say), the two honest fellows had the two worst wives ; and the three reprobates, that were scarce worth hanging, that were fit for nothing, and neither seemed born to do themselves good, or any one else, had three clever, diligent, careful, and ingenious wives: not that the two first were ill wives as to their temper or humour ; for all the five were most willing, quiet, passive, and subjected creatures, rather like slaves than wives; but ray meaning is, they were not alike capable, ingt»nious, or industrious, or alike cleanly and neat. Another observation I must make, to the honour of a diligent appli- cation on the one hand, and to the disgrace of a slothful, negligent, idle temper on the other, that when I came to the place, and viewed the several improvements, planting, and management of the several little colonies, the two men had so far outgone the three, that there was no C(»mi).nison ; they had indeed both of them as much ground laid out » for coin as they wanted, and the reason was, because, according to my rule, nature dictated that it was to no purpose to sow more corn than they wanted ; but the difference of the cultivation, of the planting, of the fences, and indeed every thing else, was easy to be seen at first view. The two men had innumerable young trees planted about their huts, that when you came to the place notliing was to be seen but a wood ; and though they had their plantation twice demolished, once by their own countrymen, and once by the enemy, as shall be shown in its place; yet they had restored all again, and every thing was fiourishing and thriving about them : they had grapes planted in order, and man- aged like a vineyard, though they had themselves never seen any thing of that kind ; and by the good ordering their vines, their grapes were 348' THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES .IS good again ns any of the others. They had also formed themselves a retreat in the thickest part of the woods, where, though there was not a natural cave, as I had found, yet they made one with incessant labour of their bands, and where, when the mischief which followed happened, they secured their wives and children, so that they could never be found ; they having, by sticking innumerable stakes and poles of the wood, Avhich, us I said, grew so easily, made a grove impassable except in one place, Avhere they climbed up to get over the outside part, and then went in by ways of their own leaving. As to the three reprobates, as I justly call them, though they were much civilized by their new settlement, compared to what they were before, and were not so quarrelsome, having not the same opportunity, yet one of the certain companions of a profligate mind never left them, and that was their idleness. It is true, they planted corn, and made fences ; but Solomon's words were never better verified than in them : " I went by the vineyard of the slothful, and it was overgrown with thorns;" for when the Spaniards came to view their crop, they could not see it in some places for weeds ; the hedge had several gaps in it, where the wild goats had gotten in and eaten up the corn ; perhaps here and there a dead bush was crammed in to stop them out for the present, but it Avas only shutting the stable door after the steed was stolen ; whereas, when they looked on the colony of the other two, there was the very face of industry and success upon all they did ; there was not a weed to be seen in all their corn, or a gap in any of their hedges ; and they, on the other hand, verified Solomon's words in another place: "The diligent hand maketh rich;" for every thing grew and thrived, and they had plenty within and without ; they had more tame cattle than the others, more utensils and necessaries within doors, and • yet more pleasure and diversion too. It is true the wives of the three were very handy and cleanly within doors ; and having learned the English ways of dressing and cooking from one of the other Englishmen, who, as I said, was a cook's mate on board the ship, they dressed their husband's victuals very nicely ; whereas the other could not be brought to understand it ; but then the husband, who as I said, had been cook's mate, did it himself; but as for the husbands of the three wives, they loitered about, fetched turtles' eggs, and caught fish and birds ; in a word, any thing but labour, and they fared accordingly. The diligent lived well and comfortably, and the slothful lived hard and beggarly ; and so, I believe, generally speaking, it is all over the world. But now I come to a scene diflerent from all that had ever happened before, eithfcr to them or me ; and the origin of the story was this : OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 349 Early one morninfi there came on shore five or six canoes of Indians, or .sava;:i's, call them which you please ; and tlieie is no room to doubt that they came upon the. old errand of feeding upon their slaves ; but that part was now so familiar ro the Spaniards, and to our men too, that they did not concern themselves about it as I did; but having been made sensible, by their experience, that their only business was to lie concealed, and that, if they were not seen by any of the savages, they would go off again quietly when their business was done, having as yet not the least notion of there being any inhabitants in the island, — I say, having been made sensible of this, they had nothing to do but to give notice to all the three plantations to keep within doors, and not to show themselves ; only placing a scout in a proper place, to give notice when the boats went off to sea again. This was, without doubt, very right ; but a disaster spoiled all these measures, and made it known among the savages, that there were in- habitants there, which was, in the end, the desolation of almost the whole colony. After the canoes with the savages were gone off, the Spaniards peeped abroad again, and some of them had the curiosity to go to the place where they had been, to see what they had been doin<:. Here, to their great surprise, they found three savages left behind, and lying fast asleep upon the ground ; it was supposed they had either been so gorged with their inhuman feast, that, like beasts, they were asleep, and would not stir when the others went, or they were wandered into the woods, and did not come back in time to be taken in. The Spaniards were greatly surprised at this sight, and perfectly at a loss what to do ; the Spaniard governor, as it happened, was with them, and his advice was asked, but he professed he knew not what to do : as for slaves, they had enough already ; and as to killing them, they were none of them inclined to that. The Spaniard governor told me they could not think of shedding innocent blood; for as to them, the poor creatures had done no wrong, invaded none of their property, and they though*, they had no just quarrel against them to take away their lives. And here I must, in justice to these Spaniards, observe, that let all the accounts of Spanish cruelty in Mexico and Peru be what they Avill, I never met with seventeen men, of any nation whatsoever, in any foreign country, who were so universally modest, temperate, virtuous, so very good-humoured, and so courteous, as these Spaniards ; and as to cruelty, they had nothing of it in their very nature; no inhumanity, no barbarity, no outrageous passions, and yet all of them men of great courage and spirit. 350 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES Their temper and calmness had appeared in their bearing the insuf- ferable usage of the three Englishmen ; and their justice and humanity appeared now in the case of the savages, as .above. After some con- sultation, they resolved upon this, that they would lie still a while longer, till, if possible, these three men might be gone ; but then the governor Spaniard recollected that the three savages had no boat ; and that if they were left to rove about the island, they would certainly discover that there were inhabitants in it, and so they should be undone that way. Upon this they went back again, and there lay the fellows fast asleep still ; so they resolved to awaken them, and take them prisoners ; and they did so. The poor fellows were strangely frighted Avhen they were seized upon and bound, and afraid, like the women, that they should be murdered and eaten ; for it seems those people think all the world do as they do, eating men's flesh ; but they were soon made easy as to that ; and away they carried them. It was very happy for them that they did not carry them home to their castle — I mean to my palace under the hill — but they carried them first to the bower, where was the chief of their country work ; such as the keeping the goats, the planting the corn, &c. ; and after- wards they carried them to the habitation of the two Englishmen. Here they were set to work, though it was not much they had for them to do ; and whether it was by negligence in guarding them, or that they thought the fellows could not mend themselves, I know not, but one of them ran away, and taking into the woods, they could never hear of him more. They had good reason to believe he got home again soon after in some other boats or canoes of savages, who came on shore three or four weeks afterwards, and who carrying on their revels as usual, Avent off again in two days' time. This thought terrified them exceedingly ; for they concluded, aud that not without good cause indeed, that if this fellow got safe home among his comrades, he would certainly give them an account that there were people in the island, as also how weak and few they were ; for this savage, as I observed before, had never been told, as it was very happy he had not, how many they were, or where they lived, nor had he ever seen or heard the fire of any of their guns, much less had they shown him any other of their retired places, such as the cave in the valley, or the new retreat which the two Englishmen had made, and the like. The first testimony they had that this fellow had given intelligence of them Avas, that about two months after this, six canoes of savages, with about seven or eight, or ten men in r canoe, came rowing along OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 351 the north side of the island, where they never used to come before, and hmded about an liour after sunrise, at a convenient phice, about a mile from the liabitation of the two Englishmen, where this escaped man had been I<('j)t. As the Spaniard governor said, had they been all there, the damage would not have been so much, for not a man of them would have escaped : but the case differed now very much ; for two men to fifty were too much odds. The two men had the happiness to discover them about a league off", so that it was above an hour before they landed, and as they landed about a mile from their huts, it was some time before they could come at them. Now having great reason to believe that they were betrayed, the first thing they did was to bind the slaves which were left, and cause two of the three men whom they brought with the women, who, it seems, proved very faithful to them, to lead them with their two wives, and whatever they could carry away with them, to their retired place in the woods, which I have spoken of above, and there to bind the two fellows hand and foot till they heard farther. In the next place, seeing the savages were all come on shore, and that they bent their course directly that way, they opened the fences where their milcn-goats were kept, and drove them all out, leaving their goats to straggle into the wood, whither they pleased, that the savages might think they were all bred wild ; but the rogue who came with them was too cunning for that, and gave them an account of it all, for they went directly to the place. When the poor frighted men had secured their wives and goods, they sent the other slave they had of the three who came with the women, and who was at their place by accident, away to the Spaniards with all speed, to give them the alarm, and desire speedy help ; and, in the meantime, they took their arms, and what ammunition they had, and retreated towards the place in the wood where their wives were sent, keeping at a distance, yet so that they might see, if possible, which Avay the savages took. They had not gone far but that, from a rising ground, they could see the little army of their enemies come on directly to their habita- tion, and in a moment more, could see all their huts and household stuff" flaming up together, to their great grief and mortification ; for they had a very great loss, and to them irretrievable, at least for some time. They kept their station for a while, till they found the savages. like 'vWd beasts, spread themselves all over the place, rummaging every »vay, and every place they could think of, in search for prey, and in particular for the people, of whom it plainly appeared they had intel licence. 352 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES The two Englishmen seeing this, thinking themselves not secure where they stood, as it was likely some of the wild people might come chat way, so they might come too many together, thought it proper to make another retreat about half a mile farther, believing, as it after- wards happened, that the farther they strolled, the fewer would be together. The next halt was at the entrance into a very thick grown part of the woods, and where an old trunk of a tree stood, which was hollow, and vastly large ; and in this tree they both took their standing, re- solving to see what might offer. They had not stood there long, but two of the savages appeared running directly that way, as if they had already notice where they stood, and were coming up to attack them ; and a little way farther, they espied three more coming after them, and five more beyond them, all coming the same way ; besides which, they saw seven or eight more at a distance, running another way ; for, in a word, they ran every way, like sportsmen beating for their game. The poor men were now in great perplexity, whether they should stand and keep their posture, or fly ; but after a very short debate with themselves, they considered, that if the savages ranged the coun- try thus before help came, they might, perhaps, find out their retreat in the woods, and then all Avould be lost ; so they resolved to stand them there, and if they were too many to deal with, then they would get to the top of the tree, from Avhence they doubted not to defend them- selves, fire excepted, as long as their ammunition lasted, though all the savages that were landed, which were near fifty, were to attack them. Having resolved upon this, they next considered whether they should fire at the two first, or wait for the three, and so take the middle party, by which the two and the five that followed would be separated ; at length they resolved to let the two first pass by, unless they should spy them in the tree, and come to attack them. The two first savages also confirmed them in this resolution, by turning a little from them towards another part of the wood ; but the three, and the five after them, came forwards directly to the tree, as if they had known the Englishmen were there. Seeing them come so straight towards them, they resolved to take them in a line as they came ; and as they resolved to fire but one at a time, perhaps the first shot might hit them all three ; to Avhich purpose, the man who was to fire put three or four bullets into his piece, and having a fair loop-hole, as it were, from a broken hole in the tree, he took a sure aim, without being seen, waiting till they were within about thirty yards of the tree, so that he could not miss. OF ROUINSOX CUUf^OE. rj/SH Wliile they were thu? waiting, and the savages came on, they plainly saw, that one of the thr(>e was the runaway savage that had escaped from them, and they both knew him distinctly, and resolved that, if possible, he should not escape, though they should both fire; so the other stood ready with his piece, that if he did not drop at the first shot, he should be sure to have a second. But the first was too good a marksman to miss his aim ; for as the savages kept near one another, a little behind in a line, in a word, he fired, and hit two of them directly ; the foremost was killed outright, being shot in the head ; the second, which was the runaway Indian, was shot through the body and fell, but was not quite dead ; and the third had a little scratch in the shoulder, perhaps by the same ball that went through the body of the second ; and being dreadfully frighted, though not much hurt, sat down upon the ground, screaming and yelling in a hideous manner. The five that were behind, more frighted with the noise than sensible of their danger, stood still at first ; for the woods made the sound a thousand times bigger than it really was, the echoes rattling from one side to another, and the fowls rising from all parts, screaming and making, every sort, a several kind of noise, according to their kind, just as it was when I fired the first gun that, perhaps, was ever shot off" in that place since it was an island. However, all being silent again, and they not knowing what the matter was, came on unconcerned, till they came to that place where their companions lay, in a condition miserable enough ; and here the poor ignorant creatures, not sensible that they were within reach of the same mischief, stood all of a huddle over the wounded man, talk- ing, and, as may be supposed, inquiring of him how he came to be hurt; and who, it is very rational to believe, told them that a flash of fire first, and immediately after that thunder from their gods, had killed those two, and wounded him. This, I say, is rational ; for nothing is more certain than that, as they saw no man near them, so they had never heard a gun in all their lives, or so much as heard of a gun ; neither knew they any thing of killing or wounding at a distance with fire and bullets; if they had, one might reasonably believe that they would not have stood so unconcerned in viewing the fate of their fellows without some apprehension of their own. Our two men, though, as they confessed to me, it grieved them to be obliged to kill so many poor creatures, who at the same time had no notion of their danger; yet, having them all thus in their power, and the first having loaded his piece again, resolved to let fly both together among them, and singling out bv agreement which to aim at, 2.S 354 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES they shot together, and killed, oi very much wounded, four of them , the fifth, frighted even to death, though not hurt, fell with the rest ; so that our men, seeing them all fall together, thought they had killed them all. The belief that the savages were all killed made our two men come boldly out from the tree before they had charged their guns again, which was a wrong step, and they were under some surprise when they came to tlie place, and found no less than four of the men alive, and of them two very little hurt, and one not at all : this obliged them to fall upon them with the stocks of their muskets ; and first they made sure of the runaway savage that had been the cause of all the mischief, and of another that was hurt in his knee, and put them out of their pain. Then the man that was not hurt at all came and kneeled down to them with his two hands held up, and made piteous moan to them by gestures and signs for his life, but could not say one word to them that they could understand. However, they signified to him to sit down at the foot of a tree thereby ; and one of the Englishmen, with a piece of rope-twine which he had by great chance in his pocket, tied his feet fast together, and his hands behind him, and there they left him ; and with what speed they could make after the other two which were gone before, fearing they, or any more of them, should find the way to their covered place in the woods, where their wives, and the few goods they had left, lay. They came once in sight of the two men, but it was at a great distance ; however, they had the satisfaction to see them cross over a valley towards the sea, the quite contrary way from that which led to their retreat, which they were afraid of; and being satisfied with that, they went back to the tree where they left their prisoner, who, as they sup- posed, was delivered by his comrades ; for he was gone, and the two pieces of rope-yarn, with which they had bound him, lay just at the foot of the tree. They were now in as great a concern as before, not knowing what course to take, or how near the enemy might be, or in what numbers ; BO they resolved to go aAvay to the place where their wives were, to see if all was well there, and to make them easy, who were in fright enough to be sure ; for though the savages were their own country- folks, yet they were most terribly afraid of them, and perhaps the more for the knowledge they had of them. When they 3ame thither, they found the savages had been in the wood, and very near the place, but had not found it ; for, indeed, it was inaccessible, by the trees standing so thick, as before, unless the persons seeking it had been directed by those that knew it, which OF KOBIXSON" CRUSOK. 355 these were not ; they found, therefore, every thing very safe, only the women in a terrible fright. While they were here, they had the com- fort of seven of the Spaniards coining to their assistance ; the other ten with their servants, and old Friday, I mean Friday's father, were <:one in a body to defend their bower, and the corn and cattle that were kept there, in case the savages should have roved over to that VEiNTUR£S and to assist them with needful supplies. Their three countrymen, who were not yet noted for having the least inclination to do any thing good, yet, as soon as they heard of it (for they, living remote, knew nothing till all was over), came and offered their help and assistance, and did very friendly work for several days to restore their habita- tions, and make necessaries for them ; and thus in a little time they were set upon their legs again. About two days after this, they had the further satisfaction of seeing three of the savages' canoes come driving on shore, and at some dis- tance from them, with two drowned men; by which they had reason to believe that they had met with a storm at sea, which had overset some of them, for it blew very hard the night after they went off. However, as some might miscarry, so on the other hand enough of them escaped to inform the rest, as well of what they had done, as of what happened to them ; and to whet them on to another enterprise of the same nature, which they, it seems, resolved to attempt, with suflBcient force to carry all before them ; for except what the first man had told them of inhabitants, they could say little to it of their own knowledge ; for they never saw one man, and the fellow being killed that had affirmed it, they had no other witnesses to confirm it to them. CHAPTER V. The Island is invaded by a formidable Fleet of Savages — A terrible Engagement, m which the Cannibals are utterly routed — Thirty-seven Wretches, the survivors, are saved, and employed by my People as Servants — Description of Will Atkins' ingenious Contrivances for his Accommodation. It was five or six months after this before they heard any more of the savages, in which time our men lyere in hopes they had not forgot their former bad luck, or had given oVer the hopes of better ; when on a sudden they were invaded with a most formidable fleet of no less than twenty-eight canoes, full of savages, armed with bows and arrows, great clubs, wooden swords, and such like engines of war ; and they brought such numbers with them, that, in short, it put all our people into the utmost consternation. As they came on shore in the evening, and at the eastermost side of the island, our men had that night to consult and consider what to do ; and in the first place, knowing that their being entirely concealed OF ROBINSON CKUSUi: 357 was their only safety before, and would much more be so now, while the niinibor of their enemies was so great, tiiej tlierefore resolved, firs* of all, to take down the huts wliich were built for the two Englishmen, and drive away their goats to the old cave ; because they supposed the savages would go directly thither as soon as it was day, to play the old game over again, though they did not now land within two leagues of it. In the next place, they drove away all the flock of goats they had at the old bower, as I called it, which belonged to the Spaniards ; and, in short, left as little appearance of inhabitants anywhere as possible ; and the next morning early they posted themselves with all their force at the plantation of the two men, waiting for their coming. As they guessed, so it happened: these new invaders, leaving their canoes at the east end of the island, came ranging along the shore, directly towards the place, to the number of two hundred and fifty, as near as our men could judge. Our army was but small indeed ; but that which was worse, they had not arms for all their number neither : the whole account, it seems, stood thus : — first, as to men : 17 Spaniards. 5 Englishmen. 1 Old Friday, or Friday's father. 3 Slaves, taken with the women, who proved very faithful. 3 Other slaves, who lived with the Spaniards. 29 To arm these they had : 11 Muskets. 5 Pistols. 3 Fowling-pieces. 6 Muskets, or fowling-pieces, which were taken by me from the mutinous seamen whom I reduced. 2 Swords. 3 Old halberts. 29 To their slaves they did not give either musket or fusil, but they Lad every one an halbert, or a long staff, like a quarter-staff, with a great spike of iron fastened into each end of it, and by ins side a hatchet ; also every one of our men had hatchets. Two of the women 30uld not b" prevailed upon but they would come into the fight, and 358 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES they had bows and arrows, which the Spaniards had taken from the savages when the first action happened, which I have spoken of, where the Indians fought with one another; and the women had hatchets too. The Spaniard governor, whom I have described so often, commanded the Avhole ; and William Atkins, who, though a dreadful fellow for wickedness, was a most daring bold fellow, commanded under him. The savages came forward like lions, and our men, which was the worst of their fate, had no advantage in their situation ; only that Will At- kins, who now proved a most useful fellow, with six men, was planted just behind a small thicket of bushes, as an advanced guard, with orders to let the first of them pass by, and then fire into the middle of them ; and as soon as he had fired, to make his retreat, as nimblj as he could, round a part of the wood, and so come in behind th^ Spaniards where they stood, having a thicket of trees all before them When the savages came on, they ran straggling about every way in heaps, out of all manner of order, and Will Atkins let about fifty of them pass by him ; then seeing the rest come in a very thick throng, he orders three of his men to fire, having loaded their muskets with six or seven bullets apiece, about as big as pistol bullets. How many they killed or wounded they knew not ; but the consternation and sur- prise was inexpressible among the savages, who were frighted to the last degree, to hear such a dreadful noise, and see their men killed, and others hurt, but see nobody that did it : when in the middle of their fright, William Atkins and his other three let fly again among the thickest of them ; and in less than a minute the first three, being loaded again, gave them a third volley. Had William Atkins and his men retired immediately, as soon as they had fired, as they were ordered to do, or had the rest of the body been at hand to have poured in their shot continually, the savages had been efiectually routed ; for the terror that was among them came principally from this, namely, that they were killed by the gods with thunder and lightning, and could see nobody that hurt them : but Wil- liam Atkins staying to load again, discovered the cheat ; some of the savages, who were at a distance, spying them, came upon them behind : and though Atkins and his men -fired at them also, two or three times, and killed above twenty, retiring as fast as they could, yet they wounded Atkins himself, and killed one of his fellow Englishmen with their arrows, as they did afterwards one Spaniard, and one of the Indian slaves who came Avith the women. This slave was a most gallant fellow, and fought most desperately, killing five of them with his own hand, having no weapon but one of the armed staves and a hatchet. Our men being thus hard laid at. Atkins wounded, and two other OF ROHIXSON CRUSOK. 3;,9 men killed, retreated to a rising ground in the wood ; and the Spaniards, after filing three volleys upon them, retroatctl also; for their number was so great, and they were so desperate, tliat though above fifty of them were killed, and more than so many wounded, yet they catne on in the teeth of our men, fearless of danger, and shot their arrows like a cloud ; and it was observed, that their woun (-[uite disabled, were made outrageous by their wounds, and fought likt- madmen. When our men retreated, they leftthe Spaniard and the Englishman that were killed, behind them ; and the savages, when thoy came up to them, killed them over again in a wretched manner, breaking their arms, legs, and heads, with their clubs and wooden swords, like true savages. But finding our men were gone, they did not seem inclined to pursue them, but drew themselves up in a kind of ring, which is, it seems, their custom, and shouted twice in token of their victory ; after which, they had the mortification to see several of their wounded men fall, dying with the mere loss of blood. The Spaniard governor having drawn his little body uj) together uj)on a rising ground, Atkins, though he was wounded, would have had him march, and charge them again all together at once : but the Spa- niard replied, "Seignior Atkins, you see how their wounded men fight; let them alone till morning ; all these wounded men will be stiff and sore with their wounds, and faint with the loss of blood, and so we shall have the fewer to engage." The advice was good ; but Will Atkins replied merrily, " That's true, Seignior, and so shall I too ; and that's the reason I would go on while I am warm." — "Well, Seignior Atkins," says the Spaniard, "you have behaved gallantly, and done your part; we will fight for you, if you cannot come on : but I think it best to stay till morning:" so they waited. But as it was a clear moonlight night, and they found the savages in great disorder about their dead and wounded men, and a great hurry and noise among them where they lay, they afterwards resolved to fall upon them in the night, especially' if the^ could come to give them but one volley before they were discovered. This tliey had a fair oppor- tunity to do ; for one of the two Englishmen, in whose quarter it was where the fight began, led them round between the woods and the sea- side westward, and turning short south, they came so near where the thickest of them lay, that before they were seen or heard, eight of them fired in among them, and did dreadful execution upon them ; in iialf a minute more, eight others fired after them, pouring in their small shot in such a quantity, that abundaace were killed ami wounded' 560 OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. and all tliis while they were not able to see who hurt them, or which way to fly. The Spaniards charged again with the utmost expedition, and then divided themselves into three bodies, and resolved to fall in among them all together. They had in each body eight persons ; that is to -say, twenty-four, whereof were twenty-two men, and the two women, who, by the way, fought desperately. They divided the firearms equally in each party, and so of the hal- berts and staves. They would have had the women keep back ; but they said they were resolved to die with their husbands. Having thus formed their little army, they marched out from among the trees, and came up to the teeth of the enemy, shouting and hallooing as loud as they could. The savages stood all together, but were in the utmost confusion, hearing the noise of our men shouting from three quarters together : they would have fought if they had seen us ; and as soon as we came near enough to be seen, some arrows were shot, and poor old Friday was wounded, though not dangerously. But our men gave them no time, but running up to them, fired among them three ways, and then fell in with the butt ends of their muskets, their swords, armed staves, and hatchets ; and laid about them so well, that in a word they set up a dismal screaming and howling, flying to save their lives which way soever they could. Our men were tired with the execution, and killed, or mortally wounded, in the two fights, about one hundred and eighty of them ; the rest being frighted out of their wits, scoured through the woods and over the hills, vnth all the speed that fear and nimble feet could help them to do : and as we did not trouble ourselves much to pursue them, they got all together to the sea-side, where they landed, and where their canoes lay. But their disaster was not at an end yet, for it blew a terrible storm of wind that evening from the sea-ward, so that it was impossible for them to put ofi"; nay, the storm continuing all night, when the tide came up their canoes were most of them driven by the surge of the sea so high upon the shore, that it required in- finite toil to get them ofi"; and some of them were even dashed to pieces against the beach, or against one another. Our men, though glad of their victory, yet got little rest that night ; but having refreshed themselves as well as they could, they resolved tc march to that part of the island where the savages were fled, and see what posture they were in. This necessarily led them over the place where the fight had been, and where they found several of the poor creatures not quite dead, and 3^et past recovering life — a sight dis- agreeable enough to generou* minds ; for a truly great man, though .-«:fe 3G2 THE LIFK AND ADVENTUllES obliged "by the law of battle to destroy his enemy, takes no delight in his misery. However, there Avas no need to give any order in this case ; for their own savages, who were their servants, despatched those poor creatures with their hatchets. At length they came in view of the place where the more miserable remains of the savages' army lay, where thei'e appeared about one hundred still : their posture was generally sitting upon the ground, with their knees up towards their mouth, and the head put between the hands, leaning down upon the knees. When our men came within two musket-shot of them, the Spaniard governor ordered two muskets to be fired without ball to alarm them : this he did, that by their countenance he might know what to expect, namely, whether they were still in heart to fight, or were so heartily beaten, as to be dispirited and discouraged, and so he might manage accordingly. This stratagem took ; for as soon as the savages heard the first gun, and saw the flash of the second, they started up upon their feet in the greatest consternation imaginable ; and as our men advanced swiftly towards them, they all ran screaming and yawling away, with a kind of a howling noise, which our men did not understand, and had never heard before ; and thus they ran up the hills into the country. At first our men had much rather the weather had been calm, and they had all gone away to sea ; but they did not then consider that this might probably have been the occasion of their coming again in such multitudes as not to be resisted ; or, at least, to come so many and so often, as would quite desolate the island, and starve them. Will Atkins, therefore, who, notwithstanding his wound, kept always with them, proved the best counsellor in this case. His advice was, to take the advantage that oflFered, and clap in between them and their boats, and so deprive them of the capacity of ever returning any more to phigue the island. They consulted long about this, and some were against it, for fear of making the wretches fly into the Avoods, and live there desperate ; and so they should have them to hunt like wild beasts, be afraid to stir about their business, and have their plantations continually rifled, all their tame goats destroyed, and, in short, be reduced to a life of continual distress. Will Atkins told them they had better have to do with one hundred men than with one hundred nations; that, as they must destroy their boats, so they must destroy the men, or be all of them destroyed them- selves. In a word, he showed them the necessity of it so plainly, that they OK IIOBINSON CRUSOE. 363 all came into it ; so they went to work inimediately with the boats, and getting some dry wood together from a dead tree, they tried to set some of them on fire ; but they were so wet that they would scarce burn. However, the fire so burned the upper part, that it soon made them unfit for swimming in the sea as boats. When the Indians saw what they were about, some of them came running out of the woods, and coming as near as they could to our men, kneeled down, and cried, "Oa, Oa, Waramokoa," and some other words of their lan- guage, which none of the others understood any thing of; but as they made pitiful gestures and strange noises, it was easy to understand they begged to have their boats spared, and that they would be gone, and never return thither again. But our men were now satisfied, that they had no way to preserve themselves, or to save their colony, but efi'ectually to prevent any of these people from ever going home again : depending upon this, that if ever so much as one of them got back into their country to tell the story, the colony was undone ; so that, letting them know that they should not have any mercy, they fell to work with their canoes, and destroyed them every one that the storm had not destroyed before ; at the sight of which, the savages raised a hideous cry in the woods, Avhich our people heard plain enough ; after which, they ran about the island like distracted men ; so that, in a word, our men did not really know at first what to do with them. Nor did the Spaniards, with all their prudence, consider, that while they made those people thus desperate, they ought to have kept good guard at the same time upon their plantations ; for though, it is true, they had driven away their cattle, and the Indians did not find their main retreat, I mean my old castle at the hill, nor the cave in the val- ley j yst they found out my plantation at the bower, and pulled it all to pieces, and all the fences and planting about it ; trod all the corn under foot; tore up the vines and grapes, being just then almost ripe; and did our men an inestimable damage, though to themselves not one farthing's worth of service. Though our men were able to fight them upon all occasions, yet they tvere in no condition to pursue them, or hunt them up and down ; for, as they were too nimble of foot for our men when they found them single, so our men durst not go about single for fear of being sur- rounded with their numbers. The best was, they had no weapons ; for though they had bows, they hail no arrows left, nor any materials to make any, nor had tliey any edged tool or weapon among them. The extremity and distress they were reduced to was great, and. indeed, deplorable, but at the same time our men were also brought 364 THE LIFE AND ADVENTUKE3 to very hard circumstances by them ; for though their retreats were preserved, yet their provision was destroyed, and their harvest spoiled ; and what to do, or which way to turn themselves, they knew not ; the only refuge they had now, was the stock of cattle they had in the valley by the cave, and some little corn which grew there. The three Englishmen, William Atkins and his comrades, were now reduced to two, one of them being killed by an arrow, which struck him on the side of his head, just under the temples, so that he never spoke more ; and it was very remarkable, that this was the same barbarous fellow who cut the poor savage slave with his hatchet, and who afterwards intended to have murdered the Spaniards. I look upon their case to have been worse at this time than mine was at any time after I first discovered the grains of barley and rice, and got into the method of planting and raising my corn, and my tame cattle ; for now they had, as I may say, a hundred wolves upon the island, which would devour every thing they could come at, yet could be very hardly come at themselves. The first thing they concluded when they saw what their circum- stances were, was, that they would, if possible, drive them up to the farther part of the island, south-east, that if any more savages came on shore, they might not find one another : then that they would daily hunt and harass them, and kill as many of them as they could come at, till they had reduced the number ; and if they could at last tame them, and bring them to any thing, they would give them corn, and teach them how to plant, and live upon their daily labour. In order to this they followed them, and so terrified them with their guns, that, in a few days, if any of them fired a gun at an Indian, if he did not hit him, he would fall down for fear ; and so dreadfully frighted they were, that they kept out of sight farther and farther, till at last our men following them, and every day almost killing and wounding some of them, they kept up in the woods and hollow places so much, that it reduced them to the utmost misery for want of food ; and many were afterwards found dead in the woods without any hurt, but merely starved to death. When our men found this, it made their hearts relent, and pity moved them ; especially the Spaniard governor, who was the most gentleman-like, generous-minded man that ever I met with in my life ; and he proposed, if possible, to take one of them alive, and bring him to understand what they meant, so far as to be able to act as inter- preter, and to go among them, and see if they might be brought to some conditions that might be depended upon, to save their lives, and do us no spoil. OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 365 It was some time befo;-e any of them could be taken ; but being weak, and half-starved, one of them was at last surprised, and made a pri- soner : he was sullen at first, and would neither eat nor drink ; but finding himself kindly used, and victuals given him, and no violence oflfered him, he at last grew tractable, and came to himself. They brought old Friday to him, who talked often with him, and told him how kind the others would be to them all ; that they would not only save their lives, but would give them a part of the island to live m, provided they would give satisfaction that they should keep in their own bounds, and not come beyond them, to injure or prejudice others; and that they should have corn given them, to plant and make it grow for their bread, and some bread given them for their present subsistence ; and old Friday bade the fellow go and talk with the rest of his coun- trymen, and hear what they said to it, assuring them, that if they did not agree immediately, they should all be destroyed. The poor wretches, thoroughly humbled, and reduced in number to about thirty-seven, closed with the proposal at the first offer, and begged to have some food given them ; upon which twelve Spaniards and two Englishmen, well armed, and three Indian slaves, and old Friday, marched to the place where they were. The three Indian slaves car- ried them a large quantity of bread, and some rice boiled up to cakes, and dried in the sun, and three live goats ; and they were ordered to go to the side of a hill, where they sat down, ate the provisions very thankfully, and were the most faithful fellows to their words that could be thought of; for except when they came to beg victuals and direc- tions, they never came out of their bounds, and there they lived when I came to the island, and I went to see them. They had taught them both to plant corn, make bread, breed tame goats, and milk them : they wanted nothing but wives, and they soon would have been a nation. They were confined to a neck of land sur- rounded with high rocks behind them, and lying plain towards the sea befoi'e them, on the south-east corner of the island : they had land enough, and it was very good and fruitful ; for they had a piece of land about a mile and a half broad, and three or four miles in leni^th. Our men taught them to nuke wooden spades, such as I made for myself; and gave among them twelve hatchets, and three or four knives ; and there they lived, the most subjected innocent creatures t;hat were ever heard of. After this the colony enjoyed a perfect trant^uillity with respect to the savages, till I came to revisit them, which was in about two years. Not but that now and then some canoes of savages came on shore for 'heir triumphal, unnatural feasts, but as they were of several natiujis. J66 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES and, perhaps, had never heard of those that came before, or the reason of it, they did not make any search or inquiry after their countrymen ; and if they had, it would have been very hard for them to have found them out. Thus, I think, I have given a full account of all that happened to them to my return, at least that was worthy of notice. The Indians, or savages, were wonderfully civilized by them, and they frequently went among them ; but forbid, on pain of death, any of the Indians coming to them, because they would not have their settlement betrayed again. One thing was very remarkable, namely, that they laught the sav- ages to make wicker-work, or baskets ; but they soon outdid their masters ; for they made abundance of most ingenious things in wicker- work; particularly all sorts of baskets, sieves, bird-cages, cupboards, &c. as also chairs to sit on, stools, beds, couches, and abundance of other things, being very ingenious at such work when they were once put in the way of it. My coming was a pai'ticular relief to these people, because we fur- nished them with knives, scissors, spades, shovels, pickaxes, and all things of that kind which they could want. With the help of these tools they were so very handy, that they came at last to build up their huts, or houses, very handsomely; rad- dling, or working it up like basket-work all the way round, which was a very extraordinary piece of ingenuity, and looked very odd, but was an exceeding good fence, as well against heat, as against all sorts of vermin ; and our men Avere so taken with it, that they got the wild savages to come and do the like for them ; so that when I came to see the two Englishmen's colonies, they looked, at a distance, as if they lived all like bees in a hive ; and as for Will Atkins, who was now become a very industrious, necessary, and sober fellow, he had made himself such a tent of basket-work as I believe was never seen. It was one hundred and twenty paces round on the outside, as I measured by my steps : the walls were as close worked as a basket, in pannels or squares, thirty-two in number, and very strong, standing about seven feet high : in the middle was another not above twenty-tw^o paces round, but built stronger, being eight-square in its form, and in the eight corners stood eight very strong posts, round the top of which he laid strong pieces, joined together with wooden pins, from Avhich he raised a pyramid before the roof of eight rafters, very handsome, I assure you, and joined together very well, though he had no nails, and only a few iron spikes, Avhich he had made himself too, out of the old iron that I had left there. And indeed this fellow showed abundance (II' mim.NsoN ciusoi;. ;j(,; of ingenuity in several things which he had jto knowledge of: he made himself a forge, with a pair of wooden hellows to blow the fire ; lie made himself charcoal for his work, and he formed out of one of the iron crows a middling good anvil to hainiiK r ujiou ; in this niannci- lu- made many things, but especially hooks, staples and spikes, bolts and hinges. But to return to the house: after he pitched the roof of his innermost tent, he worked it up lietween the rafters with Ijasket-work so firm, and thatched that over again so ingeniously with rice-straw, and over that a large leaf of a tree, which covered the top, that his house was as dry as if it had been tiled or slated. Indeed he owned that the savages made the basket-work for him. The outer circuit was covered, as a lean-to, all round this inner apartment, and long rafters lay from the thirty-two angles to the top posts of the inner house, being about twenty feet distant : so that there was a space like a walk within the outer wicker wall, and without the inner, near twenty feet wide. The inner place he partitioned off with the same wicker work, but much fairer, and divided into six apartments, for that he had six rooms on a floor, and out of every one of these there was a door ; first into the entry, or coming into the main tent ; and another door into the space or walk that was round it ; so that this walk was also divided into six equal parts, which served not only for a retreat, but to store up any necessaries which the family had occasion for. These six spaces not taking up the whole circumference, what other apartments the outer circle had, were thus ordered : as soon as you were in at the door of the outer circle, you had a short passage straight before you to the door of the inner house; but on either side was a wicker par-, tition, and a door in it, by which you went first into a large room, or storehouse, twenty feet wide, and about thirty feet long, and through that into another not quite so long: so that in the outer circle were ten handsome rooms, six of which were oidy to be come at through the apartments of the inner tent, and served as closets, or retired rooms to the respective chambers of the inner circle; and four large waijL'houses, or barns, or what you please to call them, which went in tin JUgh one another, two on either hand of the passage that led through the outer door to the inner tent. Such a piece of basket-work, I believe, was never seen in the world; nor a house or tent so neatly contrived, much less so built. In this great bee-hive lived the three families; that is to say. Will Atkins and his companion ; the third was killed, but his wife remained with three children, for she was, it seems, big with child when he died ; and the •ther two were not at all backward to give the widow her full share of 368 THE J.IFK AM) ADVKNTUKES every thing, I mean as to their corn, milk, grapes, kc, and when they killed a kid, or found a turtle on the shore: so that they all lived well enougli, though, it Avas true, they were not so industrious as the other two, as has been observed already. One thing, however, cannot be ouiittcd, namely, that, as for religion, I don't know that there was any thing of that kind among them : they pretty often indeed put one another in mind that there was a God, by the very common method of seamen, namely, swearing by his name ; nor were their poor, ignorant, savage wives much the better for having been married to Christians, as we must call them ; for as they knew very little of God themselves, so they were utterly incapable of entering into any discourse with their Avives about a God, or to talk any thing to them concerning religion. The utmost of all the improvement Avhich I can say the Avives had made from them Avas, that they had taught them to speak English pretty well ; and all the children they had, Avhich Avere near tAventy in all, Avere taught to speak English too, from their first learning to speak, though they at first spoke it in a very broken manner, like their mothers. There were none of those children above six years old when I came thither; for it Avas not much above seyen years that they had fetched these five savage ladies over; but they had all been pretty fruitful, for they had all children, more or less. I think the cook's mate's wife was big of her sixth child ; and the mothers were all a good sort of well- governed, quiet, laborious Avomen, modest and decent, helpful to one another, mighty observant and subject to their masters — I cannot call them husbands — and Avanted nothing but to be well instructed in the Christian religion, and to be legally married ; both Avhich Avere happily brought about afterAvards by my means, or at least by the consequence of my coming among them. CHAPTER VI. I hold Conversations with the Spaniards, and learn the History of their situation among the Savages, from which I relieved them — 1 inform the Colony for what purpose I am come, and what I mean to do for them — Distribution of the Stores I brought with me — The Priest I saved at Sea solemnizes the Marriages of the Sailors and Female Indians, who had hitherto lived together as Man and Wife. Having thus given an account of the colony in general, and pretty much of my five runagate Englishmen, I must sa}^ something of the Spaniards, who were the main body of the family, and in whose story there are some incidents also remarkable enough. OF ROBINSON CKL'SOE. 3t)9 I had a great many discovirses with them about their circumstances when they were among the savages : they tohl me readily, that they had no instances to give of their application or ingenuity in that coun- try; that they were a poor, miserable, dejected handful of people ; that if means had been put into their hands, they had yet so abandoned themselves to despair, and so sunk under the weight of their misfortunes, that they thought of nothing but starving. One of them, a grave and very sensible man, told me he was convinced they were in the wrong ; that it was not the part of wise men to give themselves up to their misery, but always to take hold of the helps which reason offered, as well for present support as for future deliverance ; he told me, that grief was the most senseless, insignificant passion in the world ; for that it regarded only things past, which were generally impossible to be recalled or to be remedied, but had no view to things to come, and had no share in any thing that looked like deliverance, but rather added to the afflic- tion than proposed a remedy ; and upon this he repeated a Spanish pro- verb, which, though I cannot repeat in just the same words that he spoke it, yet I remember I made it into an English proverb of my own, thus : In trouble to be troubled, Is to have j'our trouble doubled. He then ran on in remarks upon all the little improvements I had made in my solitude ; my unwearied application, as he called it, and how I had made a condition, which, in its circumstances, was at first much worse than theirs, a thousand times more happy than theirs was, even now when they were all together. He told me it was remarkable that Englishmen had a greater presence of mind in their distress than any people that ever he met with ; that their unhappy nation, and the Portuguese, were the worst men in the world to struggle with misfor- tunes ; for that their first step in dangers, after common efforts are over, was always to despair, — lie down under it and die, without rousing their thoughts up to proper remedies for escape. 1 told him their case and mine differed exceedingly ; that they were east upon the shore without necessaries, without supply of food, or of present sustenance, till they could provide it ; that it is true I had this disadvantage and discomfort, that I was alone ; but then the Applies I had providentially thrown into my hands, by the unexpected driving of the ship on shore, was such a help as would have encouraged any crea- ture in the world to have applied himself as I had done. "Seignior," says the Spaniard, " had we poor Spaniards been in your case, we should never have gotten half those things out of the ship as you did. Nay," savs he, "we should never have found means to have gotten a raft to 24 370 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES carry them, or to have gotten a raft on shore Avithout boat or sail ; and how much less should we have done," said he, "if any of us had been alone!" Well, I desired him to abate his compliment, and go on with the history of their coming on shore, where they landed. He told me they unhappily landed at a place Avhere there were people without pro- visions ; whereas, had they had the common sense to have put off to sea again, and gone to another island a little further, they had found pro- visions, though without people; there being an island that way, as they had been told, where there were provisions, though no people; that is to say, that the Spaniards of Trinidad had frequently been there, and filled the island with goats and hogs at several times, where they have bred in such multitudes, and where turtle and sea-fowls were in such plenty, that they could have been in no want of flesh, though they had found no bread ; whereas here they were only sustained with a few roots and herbs, which they understood not, and which had no substance in them, and which the inhabitants gave them sparingly enough, and who could treat them no better, unless they would turn cannibals, and eat men's flesh, Avhich was the great dainty of the country. They gave me an account how many Avays they strove to civilize the savages they Avere Avith, and to teach them rational customs in the ordinary way of living, but in vain ; and how they retorted it u2:)on them as unjust, that they Avho came thither for assistance and support should attempt to set up for instructors of those that gave them bread ; intimating, it seems, that none should set up for the instructors of others but those who could live Avithout them. They gave me dismal accounts of the extremities they Avere driven to ; how sometimes they Avere many days Avithout any food at all, the island they Avere upon being inhabited by a sort of savages that live more indolent, and for that reason were less supplied Avith the necessa- ries of life than they had reason to believe others were in the same part of the world ; and yet they found that these savages were less ravenous and voracious than those Avho had better supplies of food. Also they added, that they could not but see with Avhat demonstra- tions of wisdom and goodness the governing providence of God directs the CA'ents of things in the Avorld, Avhich they said appeared in their cir- cumstances ; for if, pressed by the hardships they were under, and the barrenness of the country Avhere they Avere, they had searched after a better place to live in, they had then been out of the Avay of the relief that happened to them by my meais. Then they gave me an account how the savages Avhom they liA'ed among expected them to gc out Avith them into their wars ; and it was true, that as they had firearms Avith them, had they not had the OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 371 •lisaster to lose their ammunition, they should not have been serviceable only to their friends, but have made themselves terrible both to friends and enemies ; but being without powder and shot, and in a condition ihat they could not in reason deny to go out with their landlords to their wars, when they came in the field of battle they were in a worse condition than the savages themselves, for they neither had bows nor arrows, nor could they use those the savages gave them, so that they could do nothing but stand still and be wounded with arrows till they came up to the teeth of their enemy ; and then indeed the three halberts they had were of use to them, and they would often drive a whole little army before them with those halberts and sharpened sticks put into the muzzles of their muskets : but that for all this, they were sometimes surrounded with multitudes, and in great danger from their arrows ; till at last they found the way to make themselves large targets of wood, which they covered with the skins of wild beasts, whose names they knew not, and these covered them from the arrows of the savages ; that notwithstanding these, they were sometimes in great danger, and were once five of them knocked down together with the clubs of the savages, which was the time when one of them was taken prisoner, that is to say, the Spaniard whom I had relieved ; that at first they thought he had been killed, but when afterwards they heard he was taken prisoner, they were under the greatest grief imaginable, and would willingly have all ventured their lives to have rescued him. They told me, that when they were so knocked down, the rest of their company rescued them, and stood over them fighting till they were come to themselves, all but he who they thought had been dead ; and then they made their way with their halberts and pieces, standing close together in a line, through a body of above a thousand savages, beating down all that came in their way, got the victory over their enemies, but to their great sorrow, because it was with the loss of their friend ; whom the other party, finding him alive, carried off with some others, as I gave an account in my former. They described, most affectionately, how they were surprised with joy at the return of their friend and companion in misery, who they thought had been devoured by wild beasts of the worst kind, namely, by wild men ; and yet how more and more they were surprised with the account he gave them of his errand, and that there Avas a Christian in a place near, much more one that was able, and had humanity enough to contribute to their deliverance. They described how they were astonished at the sight of the relief I sent them, and at the appearance of loaves of bread, things they had "ot seen since their coming to tha-t miserable place; how often THE LIFE IND ADVENTURES Dhey crossed it, and blessed it as bread sent from Heaven ; and what a reviving cordial it was to their spirits to taste it, as also of the other things I had sent for their supply. And, after all, they would have told me something of the joy they were in at the sight of a boat and pilots to carry them away to the person and place from Avhence all these new comforts came; but they told me it was impossible to ex- press it by Avords, for their excessive joy driving them to unbecoming extravagances, they had no way to describe them but by telling me that they bordered upon lunacy, having no way to give vent to their passion suitable to the sense that was upon them ; that in some it worked one way, and in some another ; and that some of them, through a surprise of joy, Avould burst out into tears ; others be half mad, and others immediately faint. This discourse extremely affected me, and called to my mind Friday's ecstasy when he met his father, and the poor people's ecstasy when I took them up at sea, after their ship was on fire ; the mate of the ship's joy when he found himself delivered in the place where he expected to perish ; and my own joy, when, after twenty-eight years' captivity, I found a good ship ready to carry me to my own country. All these things made me more sensible of the relation of these poor men, and more affected with it. Having thus given a view of the state of things as I found them, 1 must relate the heads of what I did for these people, and the condition in which I left them. It was their opinion, and mine too, that they would be troubled no more with the savages ; or that, if they Avere, they Avould be able to cut them off, if they Avere tAvice as many as be- fore ; so that they had no concern about that. Then I entered into a serious discourse Avith the Spaniard, whom I called governor, about their stay in the island ; for as I Avas not come to carry any of them off, so it Avould not be just to carry off some and leave others, Avho perhaps Avould be unAvilling to stay if their strength Avas diminished. On the other hand, I told them I came to establish them there, not to remove them ; and then I let them knoAV that I had brought Avith me relief of sundry kinds for them ; that I had been at a great charge to supply them Avith all things necessary, as well for their convenience as their defence ; and that I had such particular persons with me, as Avell to increase and recruit their number, as by the particular necessary employments Avhich they were bred to, being artificers, to assist them in those things in Avhich at present they were to seek. They were all together Avhen I talked thus to them : and before I delivered to them the stores I had brought, I asked them, one by one, if they had entirely forgot and buried the first animosities that had been among them, and could shake hands Avith one another, and engage OF UOlilNSON CRUSOE. in a strict friendship and union of interest, so that there might be no more misunderstandings or jealousies. William Atkins, with abundance of frankness and good humour, said, they had met with afflictions enough to make them all sober, and ene- jnies enough to make them all friends ; that for his part he would live and die with them : and was so far from designing any thing against the Spaniai'ds, that he owned they had done nothing to him but what his own bad humour made necessary, and what he would have done, and perhaps much worse, in their case ; and that he would ask them pardon, if I desired it, for the foolish and brutish things he had done to them ; and was very willing and desirous of living on terms of entire friendship and union with them ; and would do any thing that lav in his power to convince them of it : and as for going to England, he cared not if he did not go thither these twenty 3'ears. The Spaniards said they had indeed at first disarmed and excluded William Atkins and his two countrymen, for their ill conduct, as they had let me know; and they appealed to me for the necessity they were under to do so ; but that William Atkins had behaved himself so bravely in the great fight they had with the savages, and on several occasions since, and had showed himself so faithful to, and concerned for, the general interest of them all, that they had forgotten all that was past, and thought he merited as much to be trusted with arms, and supplied with necessaries, as any of them : and that they had testified their satisfaction in him, by committing the command to him, next to the governor himself; and as they had an entire confidence in him and all his countrymen, so they acknowledged they had merited that confidence by all the methods that honest men could merit to be valued and trusted ; and they most heartily embraced the occasion of giving me this assurance, that they would never have any interest separate from one another. Upon these frank and open declarations of friendship, we appointed the next day to dine altogether, and indeed we made a splendid feast. I caused the ship's cook and his mate to come on shore and dress our dinner, and the old cook's mate we had on shore assisted. We brought on shore six pieces of good beef, and four pieces of pork, out of the ship's provision, with our punch-bowl, and materials to fill it ; and. iu particular, I gave them ten bottles of French claret, and ten bottles <>f English beer ; things that neither the Spaniards nor the Englishmen had tasted for many years, and which, it may be supposed, they were exceeding glad of. The Spaniards added to our feast five whole kids, which the cooks roasted ; and three of them were sent, covered up close, on board our 374 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES ship to the seamen, that they might feast on fresh meat from on shore, as Ave did with their salt meat from on board. After this feast, at which we were very innocently merry, I brought out my cargo of goods, wherein, that there might be no dispute about dividing, I showed them that there was sufficient for them all ; and desired that they might all take an equal quantity of the goods that were for Avearing : that is to say, equal Avhen made up. At tirst, I distributed linen sufficient to make e\^ery one of them four shirts ; and, at the Spaniards' request, afterwards made them up six : these Avere exceeding comfortable to them, having been what, as I may say, they had long since forgot the use of, or Avhat it Avas to wear them. I allotted the thin English stufis, Avhich I mentioned before, to make every one a light coat like a frock, which I judged fittest for the heat of the season, cool and loose ; and ordered, that whenever they decayed, they should make more, as they thought fit. The like for pumps, shoes, stockings, and hats, &c. I cannot express what pleasure, Avhat satisfaction, sat upon the coun- tenances of all these poor men when they saAv the care I had taken of them, and hoAV well I had furnished them. They told me I was a father to them ; and that, having such a correspondent as I was, in so remote a part of the Avorld, it would make them forget that they Avere left in a desolate place ; and they all voluntarily engaged to me not to leave the place without my consent. Then I presented to them the people I had brought Avith me, particu- larly the tailor, the smith, and the two carpenters, all of them most necessary people ; but above all my general artificer, than whom they could not name any thing that Avas more needful to them ; and the tailor, to show his concern for them, went to work immediately, and, Avith my leave, made them every one a shirt the first thing he did ; and, Avhich Avas still more, he taught the women not only how to sew and stitch, and use the needle, but made them assist to make the shirts for their husbands and for all the rest. As for the carpenters, I need scarce mention how useful they Avere : for they took in pieces all my clumsy unhandy things, and made them clever convenient tables, stools, bedsteads, cupboards, lockers, shelves. and every thing they wanted of that kind. But to let them see how nature made artificers at first, I carried the carpenters to see William Atkins's basket-house, as I called it, and they both owned they never saAv an instance of such natural ingenuity before, nor any thing so regular, and so handily built, at least of its kind and one of them, when he saAV it, after musing a good while, OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 37o turning about to me, "I am sure," says he, "that man has no need of us ; you need do nothing but give him tools." Then I brought them out all my store of tools, and gave every man a digging spade, a shovel, and a rake, for we had no harrows or ploughs ; and to every separate place a pick-axe, a crow, a broad-axe, and a saw ; always appointing, that as often as any were broken, or worn out, they should be supplied, without grudging, out of the general stores that I left behind. Nails, staples, hinges, hammers, chisels, knives, scissors, and all sorts ot tools and iron-work, they had without tale as they required ; for no man Avould care to take more than he wanted, and he must be a fool that would waste or spoil them on any account whatever. And for the use of the smith, I left two tons of unwrought iron for a supply. My magazine of powder and arms which I brought them was such, even to profusion, that they could not but rejoice at them ; for now they could march, as I used to do, with a musket upon each shoulder, if there was occasion ; and were able to fight a thousand savages, if they had but some little advantages of situation, which also they could not miss of if they had occasion. I carried on shore with me the young man whose mother was starved to death, and the maid also : she was a sober, well-educated, religious young woman, and behaved so inoffensively that every one gave her a good Avord. She had, indeed, an unhappy life with us, there being no woman in the ship but herself; but she bore it with patience. After a while, seeing things so well ordered, and in so fine a way of thriving upon my island, and considering that they had neither business nor acquaintance in the East Indies, or reason for taking so long a voyage, — I say, considering all this, both of them came to me, and desired I would give them leave to remain on the island, and be entered among my family, as they called it. I agreed to it readily, and they had a little plot of ground allotted to them, where they had three tents or houses set up, surrounded with a basket work, palisaded like Atkins's and adjoining to his plantation'. Their tents were contrived so, that they had each of them a room, a part to lodge in, and a middle tent, like a great storehouse, to lay all their goods in, and to eat and drink in. And now the other two Eng- lishmen moved their habitation to the same place, and so the island was divided into three colonies, and no more ; namely, the Spaniards, with old Friday and the first servants, at my old habitation under the hill, Avhich was, in a word, the capital city, and where they had so enlarged and extended their works, as well under as on the outside of the hill, thai they lived, though perfectly concealed, yet full at large. 376 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES Never was there such a little city in a wood, and so hid, I believe, in any part of the world ; for I verily believe a thousand men might have ranged the island a month, and if they had not known there Avas such a thing, and looked on purpose for it, they would not have found it ; for the trees stood so thick and so close, and grew so fast matted into one another, that nothing but cutting them down first could dis- cover the place, except the two narroAv entrances where they went in and out, could be found, which was not very easy. One of them was just down at the water's edge, on the side of the creek ; and it was afterwards above two hundred yards to the place ; and the other was up the ladder at twice, as I have already formerly described it ; and they had a large wood thick planted, also, on the top of the hill, Avhich contained above an acre, which grew apace, and covered the place from all discovery there, Avith only one narrow place between two trees, not easy to be discovered, to enter on that side. The other colony was that of Will Atkins, where there were four families of Englishmen, I mean those I had left there, with their wives and children ; three savages that were slaves ; the widow and children of the Englishman that was killed ; the young man and the maid ; and (by the way) we made a wife of her also before we went away. There were also the two carpenters and the tailor, Avhom I brought with me for them ; also the smith, who Avas a very necessary man to them, especially as the gunsmith, to take care of their arms ; and my other man, whom I called Jack of all trades, Avho Avas himself as good almost as tAventy men, for he was not only a very ingenious fel- low, but a very merry fellow ; and before I went aAvay, we married him to the honest maid that came with the youth in the ship, whom I mentioned before. And now I speak of marrying, it brings me naturally to say some- thing of the French ecclesiastic, that I had brought with me out of the ship's crcAv whom I took at sea. It is true, this man was a Roman, and perhaps it may give offence to some hereafter, if I leave any thing extraordinary upon record of a man, whom, before I begin, I must, (to set him out in just colours), represent in terms very much to his disadvantage in the account of Protestants : as, first, that he Avas a Papist ; secondly, a Popish priest ; and, thirdly, a French Popish priest. But justice demands of me to give him a due character : and I must say he was a grave, sober, pious, and most religious person ; exact in his life, extensive in his charity, and exemplary in almost every thing that he did. What, thezi, can one say against my being "very sensible of the value of such a man, notAvithstanding his profes- OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 377 sion ? though it may be my opinion, perhaps, as well as the opinion of others wlio sliall read this, that he was mistaken. The first hour that I began to converse with him, after he had agreed to go Avith me to the East Indies, I found reason to delight exceedingly in his conversation ; and he first began with me about religion, in the most obliging manner imaginable. "Sir," says he, "you have not only, under God" (and at that he crossed his breast), " saved my life, but you have admitted me to go this voyage in your ship, and by your obliging civility have taken me into your family, giving me an opportunity of free conversation. Now, sir," says he, "you see by my habit what my profession is, and I guess by your nation what yours is. I may think it is ray duty, and doubtless it is so, to use my utmost endeavours on all occasions to bring all the souls that I can to the knowledge of the truth, and to embrace the Catholic doctrine ; but as I am here under your permis- sion, and in your family, I am bound, in justice to your kindness, as well as in decency and good manners, to be under your government ; and, therefore, I shall not, without your leave, enter into any debates on the points of religion in which we may not agree, further than you shall give me leave. I told him, his carriage was so modest that I could not but acknow- ledge it ; that it was true, we were such people as they call heretics, but that he was not the first Catholic that I had conversed with without falling into any inconveniences, or carrying the questions to any height in debate ; that he should not find himself the worse used for being of a different opinion from us ; and if we did not converse without any dislike on either side, upon that score, it would be his fault, not ours. He replied, that he thought our conversation might be easily sepa- rated from disputes ; that it was not his business to cap principles with every man he discoursed with ; and that he rather desired me to con- verse with him as a (jentleman than as a religieux ; that if I would give him leave at any time to discourse upon religious subjects, he would readily comply with it ; and that then he did not doubt but I would allow him also to defend his own opinions as well as he could ; but that without my leave he would not break in upon me with anv such thing. He told me further, that he would not cease to do all that became him in his office as a priest, as well as a private Christian, to procure the good of the ship, and the safety of all that was in her ; and though perhaps we would not join with him, and he could not pray with us, he hoped he might pray for us, which he would do upon all occasions. [n this manner we conversed ; and as he was of a most obliging gentle- 378 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES man-like behaviour, so he was, if I may be allowed to say so, a man of good sense, and, as I believe, of great learning. He gave me a most diverting account of his life, and of the many extraordinary events of it ; of many adventures which had befallen him in the few years that he had been abroad in the world, and par- ticularly this was very remarkable, namely, that during the voyage he was now engaged in, he had the misfortune to be five times shipped and unshipped, and never to go to the place whither any of the ships he was in were at first designed ; that his first intent was to have gone to Martinico, and that he went on board a ship bound thither at St. Maloes ; but being forced into Lisbon in bad weather, the ship received some damage by running aground in the mouth of the river Tagus, and was obliged to unload her cargo there ; that finding a Portuguese ship there, bound to the Madeiras and ready to sail, and supposing he should easily meet with a vessel there bound to Martinico, he went on board in order to sail to the Madeiras ; but the master of the Portu- guese ship, being but an indifferent mariner, had been out in his reckon- ing, and they drove to Fyal ; where, however, he happened to find a very good market for his cargo, which was corn, and therefore resolved not to go to the Madeiras, but to load salt at the isle of May, to go away to Newfoundland. He had no remedy in the exigence but to go with the ship, and had a pretty good voyage as far as the Banks (so they call the place where they catch the fish), where, meeting with a French ship bound from France to Quebec, in the river of Canada, and from thence to Martinico, to carry provisions, he thought he should have an opportunity to complete his first design. But when he came to Quebec, the master of the ship died, and the ship proceeded no farther. So the next voyage he shipped himself for France, in the ship that was burnt when we took them up at sea, and then shipped them with us for the East Indies, as I have already said. Thus he had been disappointed in five voyages, all, as I may call it, in one voyage, besides what I shall have occasion to mention further of the same person. But I shall not make digressions into other men's stories, which have no relation to my own. I return to what concerns our affairs in the island. He came to me one morning, for he lodged among us all the while we were upon the island, and it happened to be just wjien I was going to visit the Englishmen's colony at the farthest part of the island, — I say, he came to me, and told me with a very grave counte- nance, that he had for two or three days desired an opportunity of some discourse with me, which he hoped would not be displeasing to me, because he thought it might, in some measure correspond with my OF KohlNSoN CRUSOE. 37*J general design, which was the prosperity of my new colony, and per- haps might put it, at least more than he yet thought it was, in the way of God's blessing. I looked a little surprised at the last part of his discourse, and turn- ing a little short, " How, sir," said I. "can it be said that we are not in the way of God's blessing, after such visible assistances and won- derful deliverances as we have seen here, and of which I have given you a large account?" "If you had pleased, sir, " said he with a world of modesty, and yet with great readiness, "to have heard me, you would have found no room to have been displeased, much less to think so hard of me, that I should suggest that you have not had wonderful assistances and deliverances ; and I hope, on your behalf, that you are in the way of God's blessing, and yoiu" design is exceeding good, and will prosper. But, sir," said he, "though it were more so than is even possible to you, yet there may be some among you that are not equally right in their actions ; and you know that in the story of Israel, one Achan in the camp removed God's blessing from them, and turned his hand so against them, that thirty-six of them, though not concerned in the crime, were the objects of divine vengeance, and bore the weight of that punishment." I was sensibly touched with this discourse, and told liiw his inference was so just, and the whole design seemed so sincere, and was really so religious in its own nature, that I was very sorry I had interrupted him, and begged him to go on ; and, in the meantime, because it seemed that what we had both to say might take up some time, I told him I was going to the Englishmen's plantation, and asked him to go with me, and we might discourse of it by the way. He told me he would more willingly wait on me thither, because there, partly, the thing was acted which he desired to speak to me about. So we walked on, and I pressed him to be free and plain with me in what he had to say. "Why, then, sir," says he, "be pleased to give me leave to lay down a few propositions as the foundation of what 1 iiave to say, that we may not differ in the general principles, though we maybe of some differing opinions in the practice of particulars. First, sir, though we diflVr in some of the doctrinal articles of religion (and it is very unhappy that it is so, especially in the case before us, as I shall show afterwartls), yet there are some general principles in which we both agree, namely, first, that there is a God, and that this God, having given us some stated general rules for our service and obedience, we ought not willingly and knowingly to ofl'end him, either by neglecting to do what he has commanded, or by doing what he has expressly forbidden ; and 380 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES let our diflferent religions be what thej will, this general principle is readily owned by us all, that the blessing of God does not ordinarily follow a presumptuous sinning against his command ; and every good Christian will be affectionately concerned to prevent any that are under his care living in a total neglect of God and his commands. It is not your men being Protestants, whatever my opinion may be of such, that discharges me from being concerned for their souls, and from endeavour- ing, if it lies before me, that they should live in as little distance from, and enmity with, their Maker as possible ; especially if you give me leave to meddle so far in your circuit." I could not yet imagine what he aimed at, and told him I granted all he had said ; and thanked him that he would so far concern himself for us ; and begged he would explain the particulars of what he had observed, that, like Joshua (to take his own parable), I might put away the accursed thing from us. "Why, then, sir," says he ; "I will take the liberty you give me ; and there are three things Avhich, if I am right, must stand in the way of God's blessing upon your endeavours here, and which I should rejoice, for your sake and their own, to see removed. And, sir," says he, " I promise myself that you will fully agree with me in them all as soon as I name them, — especially because I shall convince you that every one of them may, with great ease, and very much to your satis- faction, be remedied." He gave me no leave to put in any more civilities, but went on: — "First, sir," says he, "you have here four Englishmen, who have fetched women from among the savages, and have taken them as their wives, and have had many children by them all, and yet are not married to them after any stated legal manner, as the laws of God and man require ; and therefore are yet, in the sense of both, no less than adulterers, and living in adultery. To this, sir," says he, "I know you will object, that there was no clergyman or priest of any kind, or of any profession, to perform the ceremony ; nor any pen and ink, or paper, to write down a contract of marriage, and have it signed between them. And* I know also, sir, what the Spaniard governor has told you, — I mean of the agreement that he obliged them to make when they took these women, namely, that they should choose them out by con- sent, and keep separately to them ; which, by the way, is nothing of a marriage, no agreement with the women as wives, but only an agree- ment among themselves, to keep them from quarrelling. " But, sir, the essence of the sacrament of matrimony (so he called it, being a Roman) consists not only in the mutual consent of the parties to take '^pe another as man and wife, but in the formal and legal obli- OK UOBINSON CKL.SUE. 381 (TixUon that there is in the contract to compel the man and woman at all times to own and acknowledge each other ; obliging the man to abstain from all other women, to engage in no other contract while these ^ub3iyt ; and on all occasions, as ability allows, to provide honestly for then-, and their children ; and to oblige the women to the same, or like fonJ'tions, mutatis mutandis, on their side. '•Now, sir," says he, "these men may, when they pleq^se, or when occasion presents, abandon these women, disown their children, leave them to perish, and take other women and marry them whilst these are iivin"." And here he added, with some warmth, "How, sir, is God lionoured in this unlawful liberty ? And how shall a blessing succeed your endeavours in this place, however good in themselves, and how- ever sincere in your design, while these men, who at present are your subjects, under your absolute government and dominion, are allowed by you to live in open adultery ?" I confess I was struck at the thing itself, but much more with the convincing arguments he supported it with. For it was certainly true, that though they had no clergyman on the spot, yet a formal contract on both sides, made before witnesses, and confirmed by any token which they had all agreed to be bound by, though it had been but the break- ing a stick between them, engaging the men to own these women fo) their waives upon all occasions, and never to abandon them or their children, and the women to the same with their husbands, had been an effectual lawful marriage in the sight of God ; and it was a great neg- lect that it was not done. But I thought to have gotten oif with my young priest by telling him. that all that part was done when I was not here ; and they had lived so many years with them now, that if it was adultery, it was past remedy, they could do nothing in it now. " Sir," says he, "asking your pardon for such freedom, you are right in this, — that it being done in your absence, you could not be charged with that part of the crime. But I beseech you, flatter not yourself that vou are not therefore under an obligation to do your uttermost now to put an end to it. IInw can you think, but that, let the time past lie on whom it will, all the guilt for the future will lie entirely upon vou? Because it is certainly in your p those tliiii'Ts, but that he Avas himself so wicked a creature, and liis own i-onscionce so reproached him witli his liorrid, ungodly life, that he trembled at the apprehensions, that her knowledge of him should lesson the attention she should give to those things, and make her ratiier con- temn relif^ion than receive it : but he was assured, he said, that her mind was so disposed to receive due impressions of all those things, that, if I would but discourse with her, she would make it appear to my satisfaction, that my labour would not be lost upon her. Accordingly I called her in, and placing myself as interpreter be- tween my religious priest and the woman, I entreated him to begin with her. But sure such a sermon was never preached by a popish priest in these latter ages of the world ; and, as I told him, I thought he had all the zeal, all the knowledge, all the sincerity of a Christian, without the errors of a Roman Catholic ; and that I took him to be such a clergyman as the Roman bishops were, before the church of Rome assumed spiritual sovereignty over the consciences of men. In a word, he brought the poor woman to embrace the knowledge of Christ, and of redemption by him, not with wonder and astonish- ment only, as she did the first notions of a God, but with joy, and faith, and with an affection and a surprising degree of understanding scarce to be imagined, much less to be expressed : and at her own request she was baptized. When he was preparing to baptize her, I entreated him, that he would perform that office with some caution, that the man might not perceive he was of the Roman church, if possible ; because of other ill consequences which might attend a difference among us in that very religion which we were instructing the other in. He told me, that as he had no consecrated chapel, nor proper things for the office, I should see he would do it in a manner that I should not know by it that he was a Roman Catholic himself, if I had not known it before, aiul so he did ; for saying only some words over to himself in Latin, which I could not understand, he poured a whole dishful of water upon the woman's head, pronouncing in French very loud, " Mary," (which was the name her husband desired me to give her, for I was her godfatiier), "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;" so that none could know any thing by it what religion he was of : he gave the benediction afterwards in Latin : but either Will Atkins did not know but it was in French, or else he did not take notice of it at that time. As soon as this was over, he married them : and after the marriage was over, he turned himself to Will Atkins, and in a very affectionate manner exhorted him not only to persevere in that good disposition 406 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES he was in, but to support the convictions that were upon him, by a resolution to reform his life ; told him it was in vain to say he re- pented, if he did not forsake his crimes ; represented to him, how God had honoured him with being the instrument of bringing his wife to the knowledge of the Christian religion ; and that he should be careful he did not dishonour the grace of God ; and that if he did, he would see the heathen a better Christian than himself; the savage converted, and the instrument cast away ! He said a great many good things to them both, and then recom- mended them, in a few words, to God's goodness ; gave them the benediction again, I repeating every thing to them in English : and thus ended the ceremony. I think it was the most pleasant, agree- able day. to me, that ever I passed in my whole life. But my clergyman had not done yet ; his thoughts hung continu- ally upon the conversion of the thirty-seven savages, and fain he would have stayed upon the island to have undertaken it : but I con- vinced him, first, that his undertaking was impracticable in itself; and secondly, that, perhaps, I could put it into a way of being done in his absence, to his satisfaction ; of which by and by. Having thus brought the affair of the island to a narrow compass, I was preparing to go on board the ship, when the young man, whom I had taken out of the famished ship's company, came to me, and told me he understood I had a clergyman with me, and that I had caused the Englishmen to be married to the savages whom they called wives ; that he had a match, too, which he desired might be finished before I went, between two Christians, which he hoped would not be disagree- able to me. I knew this must be the young woman who was his mother's ser- vant, for there was no other Christian woman on the island. So I began to persuade him not to do any thing of that kind rashly, or because he found himself in this solitary circumstance. I represented that he had some considerable substance in the world, and good friends, as I understood by himself, and by his maid also ; that the maid was not only poor, and a servant, but was unequal to him, she being twenty-six, or twenty-seven years old, and he not above seventeen or eighteen ; that he might very probably, with my assistance, make a remove from this wilderness, and come into his own country again, and that then it would be a thousand to one but he would repent his choice, and the dislike of that circumstance might be disadvantageous to both. I was- going to say more, but he interru'pted me, smiling ; and told me with a great deal of modesty, that I mistook in my guesses ; that he had nothing of that kind in his thoughts, his present circumstances OF KOBINSON CRUSOE. 407 being melancholy ami disconsolate enough, and he was very glad to hear that I had some thoughts of putting them in a way to see their own country again ; and that nothing should have set him upon staying there, but that the voyage I was going was so exceeding long and ha- zardous, and would carry him quite out of the reach of all his friends ; and that he had nothing to desire of me, but that I would settle him in some little property of the island where he was; give him a ser- vant or two, and some few necessaries, and he would settle himself here like a planter, waiting the good time when, if ever I returned to England, I would redeem him, and hoped I would not be unmindful of him wlien I came to England ; that he would give me some letters to his friends in London, to let them know how good I had been to him, and what part of the world, and what circumstances I had left him in ; and he promised me, that whenever I redeemed him, the plantation, and all the improvements he had made upon it, let the value be what it would, should be wholly mine. His discourse was very prettily delivered, considering his youth, and was the more agreeable to me, because he told me positively the match was not for himself. I gave him all possible assurances, that, if I lived to come safe to England, I would deliver his letters, and do his business efl'ectually, and that he might depend I would never forget the circumstances I left him in. But still I was impatient to know who was the person to be married ; upon which he told me it was my Jack of all trades, and his maid Susan. I was most agreeably surprised when he named the match ; for in- deed I had thought it very suitable. The character of that man I have given already; and as for the maid, she was a very honest, modest, sober, and religious woman ; had a very good share of sense ; was agreeable enough in her person ; spoke very handsomely, and to the purpose ; always with decency and good manners, and not back- ward to speak when any thing required it, or impertinently forward to speak when it was not her business ; very handy and housewifely in any thing that was before her ; an excellent manager, and fit indeed to have been governess to the whole island ; she knew very well how to behave herself to all kind of folks she had about her, and to better if she had found any there. The match being proj)osod in this manner, we married them the same day ; and as 1 was father at the altar, as I may say, and gave her away, so I gave her a portion ; for I appointed her and her husband a handsome large space of ground for their plantation ; and indeed this match, and the proposal the young gentleman made to me, to give him a small property in the island, put me upon parcelling it out 408 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES among them, that they might not quai-rel afterwards about their situa- tion This sharing out the land to them, I left to Will Atkins, who indeed was now grown a most sober, grave, managing fellow, perfectly re- formed, exceeding pious and religious, and, as far as I may be allowed to speak positively in such a case, I verily believe was a true sincere penitent. He divided things so justly, and so much to every one s satisfaction, that they only desired one general writing under my hand for the whole, which I caused to be drawn up, and signed and sealed to them, setting out the bounds and situation of every man's plantation, and testifying that I gave them thereby, severally, a right to the whole possession and inheritance of the respective plantations or farms with their im- provements, to them and their heirs ; reserving all the rest of the island as my own property, and a certain rent for every particular plantation after eleven years, if I, or any one from me, or in my name, came to demand it, producing an attested copy of the same writing. As to the government and laws among them, I told them, I was not capable of giving them better rules than they were able to give them- selves ; only made them promise me to live in love and good neigh- bourhood with one another : and so I prepared to leave them. One thing I must not omit, and that is, that being now settled in a kind of commonwealth among themselves, and having much business in hand, it was but odd to have seven-and-thirty Indians live in a nook of the island, independent, and indeed unemployed ; for, excepting the providing themselves food, which they had diflSculty enough in doing sometimes, they had no manner of business or property to manage : I proposed therefore to the governor Spaniard, that he should go to them with Friday's father, and propose to them to remove, and either plant for themselves, or take them into their several families as ser- vants, to be maintained for their labour, but without being absolute slaves ; for I would not admit them to make them slaves by force by any means, because they had their liberty given by capitulation, and as it were articles of surrender, which they ought not to break. They most willingly embraced the proposal, and came all very cheer- fully along with him ; so we allotted them land and plantations, which three or four accepted of, but all the rest chose to be employed as ser- vants in the several families we had settled ; and thus my colony was in a manner settled as follows : The Spaniards possessed my original habitation, which was the capital city, and extended their plantation all along the side of the brook which made the creek that I have so often described, as far as my be wer ; and as they increased their cul- OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 40y ture, it weut always eastward. The English lived in the north-east part, where Will Atkins and his cunirades began, and came on south- ward and south-west, towards the back part of the Spaniards; and every plantation had a great addition of land to take in, if they found occasion, so that they need not jostle one another for want of room. All the west end of the island was left uninhabited, that if any of the savages should come on shore there, only for their usual customary barbarities, they might come and go ; if they disturbed nobody, nobody would disturb them : and no doubt but they were often ashore and went away again, for I never heard that the planters were attacked and disturbed any more. CHAPTER VIII. I entertain the prospect of converting the Indians. — Amiable Character of the Young Woman we saved in a famished state at Sea — Her own Relation of her sufferings from Hunger — Sail from the Island for the Brazils — Encounter and rout a whole Fleet of Savages — Death of Friday — Arrival at Brazil. It now came into my thoughts, that I had hinted to my friend the clergyman, that the work of converting the savages might perhaps be set on foot in his absence to his satisfaction, and I told him that now I thought it was put in a fair way ; for the savages being thus divided among the Christians, if they would but every one of them do their part with those which came under their hands, I hoped it might have a very good effect. He agreed presently in that: "If," said he, "they will do their part; but how," says he, "shall we obtain that of them ?" — I told him we would call them all together, and leave it in charge with them, or go to them one by one, which he thought best ; so we divided it — he to speak to the Spaniards, who were all Papists, and I to the English, who were all Protestants ; and we recommended it earnestly to them, and made them promise that they would never make any distinction of Papist or Protestant in their exhorting the savages to turn Chris- tians, but teach them the general knowledge of the true God, and of their Saviour Jesus Christ ; and they likewise promised us, that they would never have any differences or disputes one with another about religion. When I came to Will Atkins's house (I may call it so, for such a house, or such a piece of basket-work, I believe was not standing in 410 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES the world again !), I say, when I came thither, I found the young wo- man I have mentioned above and William Atkins's wife were become intimates ; and this prudent and religious young woman had perfected the work Will Atkins had begun ; and though it was not above four days after what I have related, yet the new baptized savage woman was made such a Christian as I have seldom heard of any like her in all my observation or conversation in the world. It came next into my mind in the morning, before I went to them, that among all the needful things I had to leave with them, I had not left a Bible, in which I showed myself less considering for them than my good friend the widow was for me, when she sent me the cargo of one hundred pounds, from Lisbon, where she packed up three Bibles and a Prayer-book. However, the good woman's charity had a greater extent than ever she imagined, for they were reserved for the comfort and instruction of those that made much better use of them than I had done. I took one of the Bibles in my pocket, and when I came to William Atkins's tent, or house, I found the young woman and xltkins's bap- tized wife had been discoursing of religion together (for William Atkins told it me with a great deal of joy). I asked if they were together now ? And he said yes ; so I went into the house, and he with me. and we found them together, very earnest in discourse: "Oh, sir," says William Atkins, "when God has sinners to reconcile to himself, and aliens to bring home, he never wants a messenger : my wife has got a new instructor — I knew I was unworthy, as I was incapable of that work ; that young woman has been sent hither from Heaven — she is enough to convert a whole island of savages." The young woman blushed, and rose up to go away, but I desired her to sit still ; I told her she had a good work upon her hands, and I hoped God would bless her in it. We talked a little, and I did not perceive they had any book among them, though I did not ask, but I put my hand in my pocket, and pulled out my Bible. "Here," said I to Atkins, " I have brought you an assistant, that perhaps you had not before. The man was so con- founded, that he was not able to speak for some time ; but recovering himself, he takes it with both hands, and turning to his wife, " Here, my dear," says he, "did I not tell you, our God, though he lives above, could hear what we said ? Here is the book I prayed for, when you and I kneeled down under the bush : now God has heard us, and sent it." When he had said thus, the man fell in such transports of pas- sionate joy, that, between the joy of having it and giving God thanks for it, the tears ran down his face like a child that was crying. OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 411 The woman was surprised, and was like to have run into a mistake that none of us were aware of; for she firmly believed God had sent the book upon her husband's petition. It is true that providentially it was so, and might be taken so in a consequent sense ; but I believe it would have been no diflBcult matter at that time to have persuaded the poor woman to have believed that an express messenger came from Heaven on purpose to bring that individual book. But it was too serious a matter to suffer any delusion to take place : so I turned to the young woman, and told her we did not desire to impose upon the new convert in her first and more ignorant understanding of things, and begged her to explain to her that God may be very properly said to answer our petitions, when, in the course of his providence, such things are in a particular manner brought to pass as we petitioned for ; but we do not expect returns from Heaven in a miraculous and particu- lar manner ; and that it is our mercy it is not so. This the young woman did afterwards effectually ; so that-there was, I assure you, no priestcraft used here ; and I should have thought it one of the most unjustifiable frauds in the world to have had it so; but the surprise of joy upon Will Atkins is really not to be expressed; and there we may be sure was no delusion. Sure no man was ever more thankful in the world for any thing of its kind than he was for this Bible, and I believe never any man was glad of a Bible from a better principle ; and though he had been a most profligate creature, desperate, headstrong, ' outrageous, furious, and wicked to a great degree, yet this man is a standing rule to us all for the well instructing children, namely, that parents should never give over to teach and instruct, or ever despair of the success of their endeavours, let the children be ever so obstinate, refractory, or to appearance insensible of instruction ; for if ever God in his providence touches the consciences of such, the force of their education returns upon them, and the early instruction of parents is not lost, though it may have been many years laid asleep, but some time or other they may find tht benefit of it. Thus it was with this poor man. However ignorant he ^v>is, or divested of religion and Christian knowledge, he found he had some to do with now more ignorant than himself; and that the least part of the instruction of his good father that could now come to his mind, was uf use to him. Among the rest it occurred to him, he said, how his father used to insist much upon the inexpressible value of the Bible, the privilege and blessing of it to nations, families, and persons; but he never entertain- ed the least notion of the worth of it till now, when, being to talk to 412 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES heathens, savages, and barbarians, he wanted the help of the writtei. oracle for his assistance. The young woman was very glad of it also for the present occasion, though she had one, and so had the youth, on board our ship, among the goods which were not yet brought on shore. And now, having said so many things of this young woman, I cannot omit telling one story more of her and myself, which has something in it very inform- ing and remarkable. I have related to what extremity the poor young woman was reduced ; how her mistress was starved to death, and did die on board that un- happy ship we met at sea; and how the whole ship's company being reduced to the last extremity, the gentlewoman and her son, and this maid, were first hardly used as to provisions, and at last totally neg- lected and starved, — that is to say, brought to the last extremity of hunger. One day, being discoursing with her upon the extremities they suf- fered, I asked her if she could describe, by what she felt, what it was to starve, and how it appeared? She told me she believed she could, and she told her tale very distinctly thus : "First, sir," said she, "we had for some days fared exceeding hard, and suffered very great hunger, but n,ow at last we were wholly with- out food of any kind except sugar, and a little wine, and a little water. The first day after I had received no food at all, I found myself, to- wards evening, first empty and sickish at my stomach, and nearer night mightily inclined to yawning, and sleepy : I lay down on a couch in the great cabin to sleep, and slept about three hours, and awaked a little refreshed, having taken a glass of wine when I lay down. After being about three hours awake, it being about five o'clock in the morn- ing, I found myself empty, and my stomach sickish again, and lay down again, but could not sleep at all, being very faint and ill ; and thus I continued all the second day with a strange variety, — first hun- gry, then sick again, with retchings to vomit. The second night, being obliged to go to bed again without any food more than a draught of fair water, and being asleep, I dreamed I was at Barbadoes, and that the market was mightily stocked with provisions ; that I bought some for my mistress, and went and dined very heartily. "I thought my stomach was full after this, as it would have been after, or at a good dinner; but when I waked, I was exceedingly sunk in my spirits to find myself in the extremity of famine ; the last glass of wine we had I drank, and put sugar into it, because of its having Bome spirit to supply nourishment ; but there being no substance in the stomach for the digesting ofiice to work upon, I found the only effect OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 413 of the wine was to raise disagreeable fumes from the stomach into the head ; and I lay, as they told me, stupid and senseless, as one drunk, for some time. " The third day, in the morning, after a night of strange and con- fused, inconsistent dreams, and rather dosing than sleeping, I awaked ravenous and furious with hunger ; and I question, had not my under- standing returned and conquered it, I say, I question whether, if I had been a mother, and had had a little child with me, its life would have been safe or no. " This lasted about three hours, during which time I was twice raging mad as any creature in Bedlam, as my young master told me, and as he can now inform you. " In one of these fits of lunacy or distraction, whether by the motion of the ship, or some slip of my foot I know not, I fell down, and struck my face against the corner of a pallet-bed, in which my mistress lay, and with the blow the blood gushed out of my nose, and the cabin- boy bringing me a little basin, I sat down and bled into it a great deal, and as the blood ran from me I came to myself, and the violence of the flame or the fever I was in abated, and so did the ravenous part of the hunger. " Then I grew sick, and retched to vomit, but could not, for I had nothing in my stomach to bring up. After I had bled some time I swooned, and they all believed I was dead ; but I came to myself soon after, and then had a most dreadful pain in my stomach, not to be described, not like the colic, but a gnawing eager pain for food ; and towards night it went off with a kind of earnest wishing or longing for food, something like, as I suppose, the longing of a woman with child. I took another draught of water with sugar in it, but my stomach loathed the sugar, and brought it all up again ; then I took a draught of water without sugar, and that stayed with me, and I laid me down upon the bed, praying most heartily that it would please God to take me away; and composing my mind in hopes of it, I slumbered a while, and then waking, thought myself dying, being light with vapours from an empty stomach : I recoinnicnded my soul to God, and earnestly wished that somebody would throw me into the sea. "All this while my mistress lay by me, just, as I thought, expiring, but bore it with much more patience than I, and gave the last bit of bread she had to her child, my young master, who would not have taken it, but she obliged him to eat it, and I believe it saved his life. " Towards the morning I slept again, and first when I awaked I fell into a violent passion of crying, and after that had a second fit of violent hunger, so that I got up ravenous, and in a most dreadful con- 414 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES dition. Had my mistress been dead, so much as I loved her, 1 am certain I should have eaten a piece of her flesh with as much relish, and as unconcerned, as ever I did the flesh of any creature appointed for food ; and once or twice I was going to bite my own arm. At last I saw the basin in which was the blood I had bled at my nose the day before ; I ran to it, and swallowed it with such haste, and such a greedy appetite, as if I had wondered nobody had taken it before, and afraid it should be taken from me now. " Though, after it was down, the thoughts of it filled me with horror, yet it checked the fit of hunger, and I drank a draught of fair water, and was composed and refreshed for some hours after it. This was the fourth day; and thus I held it till towards night, when, within the compass of three hours, I had all these several circumstances over again, one after another, namely, sick, sleepy, eagerly hungry, pain in the stomach, then ravenous again, then sick again, then lunatic, then crying, then ravenous again, and so every quarter of an hour ; and my strength wasted exceedingly. At night I laid me down, having no comfort but in the hope that I should die before morning. "All this night I had no sleep, but the hunger was now turned into a disease, and I had a terrible colic and griping, wind instead of food having found its way into my bowels; and in this condition I lay till morning, when I was surprised a little with the cries and lamentations of my young master, who called out to me that his mother was dead. I lifted myself up a little, for I had not strength to rise, but found she was not dead, though she was able to give very little signs of life. " I had then such convulsions in my stomach for want of some sus- tenance, that I cannot describe them, with such frequent throes and pangs of appetite, that nothing but the tortures of death can imitate ; and this condition I was in when I heard the seamen above cry out, 'A sail ! a sail!' and halloo and jump about as if they were distracted. " I was not able to get off" from the bed, and my mistress much less, and my master was so sick that I thought he had been expiring ; so we could not open the cabin door, or get any account what it was that occasioned such a combustion ; nor had we any conversation with the ship's company for two days, they having told us they had not a mouthful of any thing to eat in the ship ; and they told us afterwards they thought we had been dead. " It was this dreadful condition we were in when you were sent to save our lives ; and how you found us, sir, you know as well as I, and better too." This was her own relation ; and is such a distinct account of starving to death, as I confess I never met with, and was exceeding entertaining OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 415 to me. I am the rather apt to believe it to be a true account, because the youth gave me an account of a good part of it ; though, I must own, not so distinct and so feelingly as his maid, and the rather because it seems his mother fed him at the price of her own life : but the poor maid, though her constitution being stronger than that of her mistress, who was in years, and a Aveakly woman too, she might struggle harder with it, — I say the poor maid might be supposed to feel the extremity something sooner than her mistress, who might be allowed to keep the last bits something longer than she parted with any to relieve the maid. No question, as the case is here related, if our ship, or some other, had not so providentially met them, a few days more would have ended all their lives, unless they had prevented it by eating one another ; and even that, as their case stood, would have served them but a little while, they being five hundred leagues from any land, or any possi*- bility of relief, other than in the miraculous manner it happened. But this is by the way ; I return to my disposition of things among the people. And first> it is to be observed here, that for many reasons I did not think fit to let them know any thing of the sloop I had framed, and which I thought of setting up among them ; for I found, at least at my first coming, such seeds of division among them, that I saw it plainly, had I set up the sloop, and left it among them, they would, upon very slight disgust, have separated, and gone away from one another ; or perhaps have turned pirates, and so made the island a den of thieves, instead of a plantation of sober and religious people, as I intended it to be ; nor did I leave the two pieces of brass cannon that I had on board, or the two quarter-deck guns, that my nephew took extraordi- nary, for the same reason ; I thought they had enough to qualify them for a defensive war, against any that should invade them ; but I was not to set them up for an offensive war, or to encourage them to go abroad to attack others, which in the end would only bring ruin and destruction upon themselves and all their undertakings. I reserved the sloop, therefore, and the guns, for their service another way, as I shall observe in its place. I have now done with the island : I left them all in good circum- stances, and in a flourishing condition, and went on board my ship a^ain the fifth day of May, having been five-and-twenty days among them ; and, as th-y were all resolved to stay upon the island till I came to remove them, I promised to send some further relief from the Brazils, if I could possibly find an opportunity ; and particularly I promised to send them some cattle, such as sheep, hogs, and cows ; for as to the two ■jows and calves which I brought from England, we had been obliged, 416 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES by the length of our v;yage, to kill them at sea, for want of hay to feed them. The next day, giving them a salute of five guns at parting, we set sail, and arrived at the bay of All Saints, in the Brazils, in about twenty-two days ; meeting nothing remarkable in our passage but this, that about three days after we sailed, being becalmed, and the current setting strong to the north-north-east, running, as it were, into a bay or gulf on the land side, we were driven something out of our course ; and once or twice our men cried, '* Land, to the westward ;" but whether it was the continent or islands, we could not tell by any means. But the third day, towards evening, the sea smooth, and the weather calm, we saw the sea, as it were, covered towards the land with some- thing very black, not being able to discover what it was ; but after some time, our chief mate going up the main shrouds a little way, and looking at them with a perspective, cried out, it was an army. I could not imagine what he meant by an army, and spoke a little hastily, calling the fellow a fool, or some such word; "Nay, sir," says he, " don't be angry, for it is an army and a fleet too ; for I believe there are a thousand canoes, and you may see them paddle along, and they are coming towards us too apace, and full of men." I was a little surprised then, indeed, and so was my nephew, the captain ; for he had heard such terrible stories of them in the isl'and, and having never been in those seas before, that he could not tell what to think of it, but said two or three times we shall all be devoured. I must confess, considering we were becalmed, and the current set strong towards the shore, I liked it the worse ; however, I bade him not to be afraid, but bring the ship to an anchor, as soon as we came so near as to know that we must engage them. The weather continued calm, and they came on apace towards us ; so I gave orders to come to an anchor, and furl all our sails. As for the savages, I told them they had nothing to fear from them but fire ; and, therefore, they should get their boats out, and fasten them, one close by the head, and the other by the stern, and man them both well, and wait the issue in that posture : this I did, that the men in the boats might be ready, with sheet and buckets, to put out any fire these savages might endeavour to fix upon the outside of the ship. In this posture we lay by for them, and in a little while they came up with us ; but never was such a horrid sight seen by Christians ; my mate was much mistaken in his calculation of their number, I mean of a thousand canoes : the most we could make of them, when they came up, bning about one hundred and twenty-six : and a great many of OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 417 them too ; for some of them had sixteen or seventeen men in them, some more, and the least six or seven. When they came nearer to us, they seemed to be struck with won- der and astonishment, as at a sight which they had, doubtless, never seen before ; nor could they, at first, as we afterwards understood, know what to make of us. They came boldly up, however, very near to us, and seemed to go about to row round us; but we called to our men in the boats, not to let them come too near them. This very order brought us to an engagement with them without our designing it ; for five or six of their large canoes came so near our long-boat, that our men beckoned with their hands to them to keep back, which they understood very well, and went back ; but at their retreat about five hundred arrows came on board us from those boats ; and one of our men in the long-boat was very much wounded. However, I called to them not to fire by any means ; but we handed down some deal boards into the boat, and the carpenter presently set up a kind of a fence, like waist boards, to cover them from the arrows of the savages, if they should shoot again. About half an hour afterwards, they came all up in a body astern of us, and pretty near ; so near that we could easily discern what they were, though we could not tell their design. I easily found they were some of my old friends, the same sort of savages that I had been used to engage with ; and in a little time more they rowed somewhat far- ther out to sea, till they came directly broadside with us, and then rowed down straight upon us, till they came so near that they could hear us speak. Upon this, I ordered all my men to keep close, lest they should shoot any more arrows, and make all our guns ready ; but being so near as to be within hearing, I made Friday go out upon the deck, and call out aloud to them in his language, to know what they meant, which accordingly he did : whether they understood him or not, that I know not ; but as soon as he called to them, six of them, who were in the foremost, or nighest boat to us, turned their canoes from us, and, stooping down, showed us their naked backs in a contemp- tuous manner. Whether this was a defiance, or challenge, we knew not ; or whether it was done in mere contempt, or a signal to the rest ; but immediately Friday cried out, they were going to shoot; and, unhappily for him (poor fellow !) they let fly about three hundred of their arrows, and, to my inexpressible grief, killed poor Friday, no other man being in their sight. The poor fellow was shot with no less than three arrows, and about three more fell very nigh him ; such •.inlucky marksmen they were ! T was so enraged with the loss of my old servant, the companion of 2< 418 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES all my sorrows and solitudes, that I immediately ordered five guns to be loaded with small shot, and four with great ; and gave them such a broadside as they had never had in their lives before, to be sure. They were not above half a cable's length off when we fired ; and our gunners took their aim so well that three or four of their canoes were overset, as we had reason to believe, by one shot only. The ill manners of turning up their bare backs to us, gave us no great offence ; neither did I know for certain whether that, which would pass for the greatest contempt among us, might be understood so by them or not ; therefore, in return I had only resolved to have fired four or five guns with powder only, which I knew would frighten them sufficiently ; but when they shot at us directly with all the fury they were capable of, and especially as they had killed my poor Fri- day, whom I so entirely loved and valued, and who, indeed, so well deserved it, I not only had been justified before God and man, but would have been very glad, if I could, to have overset every canoe there, and drowned every one of them. I can neither tell how many we killed, or how many we wounded at this broadside ; but sure such a fright and hurry never was seen among such a multitude : there were thirteen or fourteen of their canoes split, and overset in all, and the men all set a-swimming ; the rest, frighted out of their wits, scoured away as fast as they could, taking but little care to save those whose boats were split or spoiled with our shot : so I suppose that they were many of them lost ; and our men took up one poor fellow swimming for his life, above an hour after they were all gone. Our small shot from our cannon must needs kill and wound a great many ; but, in short, we never knew any thing how it went with them ; for they fled so fast, that, in three hours or thereabouts, we could not see above three or four straggling canoes ; nor did we ever see the rest any more ; for a breeze of wind springing up the same evening, we weighed and set sail for the Brazils. We had a prisoner indeed, but the creature was so sullen that he would neither eat nor speak ; and we all fancied he would starve him- self to death : but I took a way to cure him ; for I made them take him, and turn him into the long-boat, and make him believe they would toss him into the sea again, and so leave him where they found him, if be would not speak ; nor would that do, but they really did throw him into the sea, and came away from him ; and then he followed them, for he swam like a cork, and called to them in his tongue, though they knew not one word of what he said. However, at last, they took him OF ROBIXSO-N CRUSOE. 419 «n again, and then he began to be more tractable ; nor did I ever design they should drown him. We were now under sail again ; but I was the most disconsolate creature alive, for want of my man Friday, and would have been very glad to have gone back to the island, to have taken one of the rest from thence for my occasion : but it could not be, so we went on. We had one prisoner, as I have said, and it was a long while before we could make him understand any thing ; but in time, our men taught him some English, and he began to be a little tractable ; afterwards we inquired what countr}'' he came from, but could make nothing of what he said ; for his speech was so odd, all gutturals, and spoken in the throat in such a hollow and odd manner that we could never form a word from him ; and we were all of opinion that they might speak that language as well if they were gagged, as otherwise ; nor could we perceive that they had any occasion either for teeth, tongue, lips, or palate ; but formed their words just as a hunting-horn forms a tune, with an open throat : he told us, however, some time after, when we had taught him to speak a little English, that they were going with their kings to fight a great battle. When he said kings, we asked him, How many kings? He said, there were "five nation," (we could not make him understand the plural s), and that they all joined to go against two nation. We asked him, " What made them come up to us?" He said, "To makee te great wonder look." — Where it is to be observed, that all those natives, as also those of Africa, when they learn English, they always add two e's at the end of the words where we use one, and place the accent upon the last of them ; as makee, takec, and the like; and we could not break them off it; nay, I could hardly make Friday leave it off, though at last he did. And now I name the poor fellow once more, I must take my last leave of him — poor honest Friday ! We buried him with all decency and solemnity possible, by putting him into a coffin, and throwing him into the sea ; and I caused them to fire eleven guns for him : and so ended the life of the most grateful, faithful, honest, and most affection- ate servant that ever man had. We now went away with a fair wind for Brazil, and, in about twelve days' time, we made land in the latitude of five degrees south of the line, being the north-easternmost land of all that part of America. We kept on south-by-east, in sight of the shore, four days, when we made the Cape St. Augustine, and in three days came to an anchor off the Bay of All Saints, the old place of my deliverance, from whence came both my good an'' evil fate. Never did a ship come to this part that had less business than I had; 420 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES and yet it was with great difficulty that we were admitted to hold the least correspondence on shore. Not ray partner himself, who was alive, and made a great figure among them, not my two merchant trus- tees, nor the fame of my wonderful preservation in the island, could obtain me that favour ; but my partner, remembering that I had given five hundred moidores to the prior of the monastery of the Augustines, and three hundred and seventy-two to the poor, went to the monastery, and obliged the prior that then was to go to the governor, and beg leave for me presently, with the captain, and one more, besides eight seamen, to come on shore, and no more ; and this upon condition ab- solutely capitulated for, that we should not ofi"er to land any goods out of the ship, or to carry any person away without license. They were so strict with us, as to landing any goods, that it was with extreme difficulty that I got on shore three bales of English goods, such as fine broadcloths, stuffs, and some linen, which I had brought for a present to my partner. He was a very generous, broad-hearted man, though (like me) he came from little at first ; and though he knew not that I had the least design of giving him any thing, he sent me on board a present of fresh provisions, wine, and sweatmeats, worth above thirty moidores, includ- ing some tobacco, and three or four fine medals in gold. But I was even with him in my present, which, as I have said, consisted of fine broadcloth, English stuffs, lace, and fine Hollands. Also I delivered him about the value of one hundred pounds sterling, in the same goods, for other uses ; and I obliged him to set up the sloop which I had brought with me from England, as I have said, for the use of my colony, in order to send the refreshments I intended to my plantation. CHAPTER IX. I despatch a Number of additional Recruits, and a quantity of extra Stores to the Island, and take my leave of it for ever — I determine to go with the Ship to the East Indies — Arrival at Madagascar — Dreadful Occurrences there. Accordingly he got hands, and finished the sloop in a very few days, for she was already framed ; and I gave the master of her such instructions as he could not miss the place ; nor did he miss it, as I had an ac^^unt from my partner afterwards. I ;^ot him soon loaded with OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 421 the small cargo I had sent them; and one of our seamen, that had been on shore with me there, offered to go with the sloop, and settle there, upon my letter to the governor Spaniard, to allot him a suflScient quantity of land for a plantation ; and giving some clothes, and tools for his planting work, which he said he understood, having been an old planter in Maryland, and a buccaneer into the bargain. I encouraged the fellow, by granting all he desired ; and, as an addition, I gave him the savage whom we had taken prisoner of war, to be his slave, and ordered the governor Spaniard to give him his share of every thing he wanted, with the rest. When we came to fit this man out, my old partner told me, there was a certain very honest fellow, a Brazil planter of his acquaintance, who had fallen into the displeasure of the church : " I know not what the matter is with him," says he, "but on my conscience, I think he is a heretic in his heart; and he has been obliged to conceal himself for fear of the Inquisition ; that he would be very glad of such an opportunity to make his escape, with his wife and two daughters ; and if I would let them go to the island, and allot them a plantation, he would give them a small stock to begin with ; for the officers of the Inquisition had seized all his effects and estate, and he had nothing left but a little household stuff, and two slaves; and," adds he, " though I hate his principles, yet I would not have him fall into their hands, for he will assuredly be burnt alive if he does." I granted this presently, and joined my Englishman with them ; and we concealed the man, and his wife and daughters, on board our ship, till the sloop put out to go to sea ; and then (having put all their goods on board the sloop some time before), we put them on board the sloop, after she was got out of the bay. Our seaman was mightily pleased with this new partner ; and their stock, indeed, was much alike rich in tools, and in preparations, for a farm ; but nothing to begin with, but as above. However, they carried over with them (which was worth all the rest) some materials for planting sugar-canes, with some plants of canes ; which he (I mean the Portugal man) understood very well. Among the rest of the supplies sent my tenants in the island, I sent them, by this sloop, throe milcli-cows and five calves, about twenty-two hogs among them, three sows big with pig, two mares, and a stone- horse. For my Spaniards, according to my promise, I engaged three Por- tugal women to go ; and recommended it to them to marry them, and use them kindly. I could have procured more women, but I remem- bered that the poor persecuted man had two daughters, and there were 422 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES but five of the Spaniards" that "wanted ; the rest had wives of their own, though in another country. All this cargo arrived safe, and, as you may easily suppose, very welcome to my* old inhabitants, who were now (with this addition) between sixty and seventy people, besides little children, of which, there were a great many. I found letters at London from them all, by way of Lisbon, when I came back to England, being sent back to the Brazils by this sloop ; of which I shall take some notice in its place. I have now done with my island, and all manner of discourse about it ; and whoever reads the rest of my memorandums, would do well to turn his thoughts entirely from it, and expect to read only of the fol- lies of an old man, not warned by his own harms, much less by those of other men, to beware of the like ; not cooled by almost forty years' misery and disappointments ; not satisfied with prosperity beyond expectation ; not made cautious by afiliction and distress beyond imitation. I had no more business to go to the East Indies, than a man at full liberty, and having committed no crime, has to go to the turnkey at Newgate, and desire him to lock him up among the prisoners there, and starve him. Had I taken a small vessel from England, and gone directly to the island — had I loaded her, as I did the other vessel, with all the necessaries for the plantation, and for my people — took a patent from the government here, to have secured my property, in subjection only to that of England, which, to be sure, I might have obtained — had I carried over cannon and ammunition, servants and people to plant, and, taking possession of the place, fortified and strengthened it in the name of England, and increased it with people, as I might easily have done — had I then settled myself there, and sent the ship back loaded with good rice, as I might also have done in six months' time, and ordered my friends to have fitted her out again for our sup- ply, — had I done this, and stayed there myself, I had, at least, acted like a man of common sense : but I was possessed with a wandering spirit, scorned all advantages, pleased myself with being the patron of these people I had placed there, and doing for them in a kind of haughty majestic way, like an old patriarchal monarch ; providing for them, as if I had been father of the whole family, as well as of the plantation : but I never so much as pretended to plant in the name of any government or nation, or to acknowledge any prince, or to call my people subjects to any one nation more than another ; nay, I never so much as gave the place a name ; but left it as I found it, belonging to no man, and the people under no discipline or government but my own • who, though I had an influence over them as father and bene- OF ROIJINSOX CRUSOE. 423 factor, had no authority or power to act or command one way or other, further than voluntary consent moved them to comply : yet even this, had 1 stayed there, would have done well enough ; but as I rambled from them and came thither no more, the last letters I had from any of them were by my partner's means, who afterwards sent another sloop to the place ; and who sent me word, though I had not the letter till five years after it was written, that they went on but poorly, were malcontent with their long stay there ; that Will Atkins was dead ; that five of the Spaniards were come away ; and that though they had not been much molested by the savages, yet they had had some skir- mishes with them ; that they begged of him to write to me to think of the promise I had made to fetch them away, that they might see their own country again before they died. But I was gone a wild-goose chase indeed, and they who will have any more of me, must be content to follow me through a new variety of follies, hardships, and wild adventures, wherein the justice of Provi- dence may be duly observed, and we may see how easily Heaven can gorge us with our own desires, make the strongest of our wishes to be our afiliction, and punish us most severely with those very things which we think it would be our utmost happiness to be allowed in. Let no wise man flatter himself with the strength of his own judg- ment, as if he were able to choose any particular station of life for liimsclf. Man is a short-sighted creature, sees but a very little way before him ; and as his passions are none of his best friends, so his particular affections are generally his worst counsellors. I say this with respect to the impetuous desire I had, from a youth, to wander into the world, and how evident it now was that this principle was preserved in me for my punishment. How it came on, the man- ner, the circumstance, and the conclusion of it, it is easy to give you historically, and with its utmost variety of particulars. But the secret ends of Divine Providence, in thus permitting us to be hurried down the stream of our own desires, are only to be understood by those who can listen to the voice of Providence, and draw religious consequences from God's justice and 'heir own mistakes. Be it I had business or no business, away I went. It is no time now to enlarge any further upon the reason or absurdity of my own con- duct ; but to come to the history, — I was embarked for the voyage, and the voyage I went. I shall only add here, that my honest and truly pious clergyman left me here ; a ship being ready to go to Lisbon, he asked me leave to go thither ; being still, as he observed, bound never to finish any voyage he began. How happy had it been for me, if I had gone with him ! 424 illE LIFE AND ADVENTURES But it was too late now — all things Heaven appoints are best. Had I gone with him, T had never had so many things to be thankful for, and you had never heard of the Second Part of the Travels and Ad- ventures of Robinson Crusoe ; so I must leave here the fruitless ex- claiming at myself, and go on with my voyage. From the Brazils, we made directly away over the Atlantic Sea to the Cape de Bonne Esperance, or, as we call it, the Cape of Good Hope ; and had a tolerable good voyage, our course generally south- east ; now and then a storm, and some contrary winds. But my disas- ters at sea were at an end ; my future rubs and cross events were to befall me on shore ; that it might appear the land was as well prepared to be our scourge as the sea, when Heaven, who directs the circum- stances of things, pleases to appoint it to be so. Our ship was on a trading voyage, and had a supercargo on board, who was to direct all her motions after she arrived at the Cape ; only being limited to a certain number of days for stay, by charter-party, at the several ports she was to go to. This was none of my business, neither did I meddle with it at all ; my nephew, the captain, and the supercargo, adjusting all those things between them as they thought fit. We made no stay at the Cape longer than was needful to take in fresh water, but made the best of our way for the coast of Coromandel : we were indeed informed that a French man-of-war of fifty guns, and two large merchant ships, were gone for the Indies ; and as I knew we were at war with France, I had some apprehensions of them; but they went their own way, and we heard no more of them. I shall not pester my account, or the reader, with descriptions of places, journals of our voyages, variations of the compass, latitudes, meridian distances, trade-winds, situation of ports, and the like ; such as almost all the histories of long navigation are full of, and which make the reading tiresome enough, and are perfectly unprofitable to all ,that read, except only to those who are to go to those places them- selves. It is enough to name the ports and places which we touched at, and what occurred to us upon our passing from one to another. We touched first at the island of Madagascar, where though the people are fierce and treacherous, and, in particular, very well armed with lances and bows, w^hich they use with inconceivable dexterity, yet we fared very Avell with them a while ; they treated us very civilly ; and for some trifles which we gave them, such as knives, scissors, &c. they brought us eleven good fat bullocks, middling in size, but very good in flesh, which we took in, partly for fresh provisions for our present spending, and the rest to salt for the ship's use. OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 425 We were obliged to stay here for some time after we had furnished «»urselves with provisions ; and I, that was always too curious to look into every nook of the world wherever I came, was for going on shore as often as I could. It was on the east side of the island that we went on shore one evening, and the people, who by the way are very nume- rous, came thronging about us, and stood gazing at us at a distance. As we had traded freely with them, and had been kindly used, we thought ourselves in no danger; but when we saw the people, we cut three boughs out of a tree and stuck them up at a distance from us, which, it seems, is a mark in the country not only of truce and friend- ship, but, when it is accepted, the other side set up three poles or boughs also, which is a signal that they accept the truce too ; but then this is a known condition of the truce, that you are not to pass beyond their three poles towards them, nor they come past your three poles or boughs towards you ; so that you are perfectly secure within the three poles, and all the space between your poles and theirs is allowed, like a market, for free converse,''traffic, and commerce. When you go thither, you must not carry your weapons with you ; and if they come into that space, they stick up their javelins and lances all at the first poles, and come on unarmed : but if any violence is offered them, and the truce thereby broken, away they run to the poles, and lay hold of their wea- pons, and then the truce is at an end. It happened one evening Avhen we went on shore, that a greater number of their people came down than usual, but all was very friendly and civil. They brought with them several kinds of provisions, for Avhich we satisfied them with such toys as we had ; their women also brought us milk and roots, and several things very acceptable to us, and all was quiet ; and we made us a little tent or hut, of some boughs of trees, and lay on shore all that night. I know not what was the occasion, but I was not so well satisfied to lie on shore as the rest ; and the boat lying at an anchor about a stone's cast from the land, with two men in her to take care of her, I made one of them come on shore, and getting some boughs of trees to lover us also in the boat, I spread the sail on the bottom of the boat, and lay on board, under the cover of the branches of the trees all night. About two o'clock in the morning, we heard one of our men make a terrible noise on the shore, calling out for God's sake to bring the boat in, and come and help them, for they were all like to be murdered; at the same time I heard the firing of five muskets, which was the num- ber of the guns they had, and that three times over : for it seems, the natives here were not so easily frighted with guns as the savages were in Am'^rica, where I had to do with them. 426 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES All this while I knew not what was the matter ; but rousing imme- diately from sleep with the noise, I caused the boat to be thrust in, and resolved, with three fusils we had on board, to land and assist our men. We got the boat soon to the shore ; but our men were in too much haste ; for, being come to the shore, they plunged into the water to get to the boat with all the expedition they could, being pursued by between three and four hundred men. Our men were but nine in all. and only five of them had fusils with thvni ; the rest, indeed, had pis- tols and swords, but they were of small use to them. We took up seven of our men, and with difficulty enough too, three of them being very ill wounded ; and that which was still worse was, that while we stood in the boat to take our men in, we were in as much danger as they were in on shore ; for they poured their arrows in upon us so thick, that we were fain to barricade the side of the boat up with the benches and two or three loose boards, which, to our great satis- faction, we had, by mere accident, or providence rather, in the boat. And yet had it been daylight, they are, it seems, such exact marks- men, that if they could have seen but the least part of any of us, they would have been sure of us. We had, by the light of the moon, a little sight of them as they stood pelting us from the shore with darts and arrows ; and having got ready our firearms, Ave gave them a vol- ley, and we could hear by the cries of some of them, that we had wounded several ; however, they stood thus in battle-array on the shore till break of day, which we suppose was that they might see the better to take their aim at us. In this condition we lay, and could not tell how to weigh our anchor, or set up our sail, because we must needs stand up in the boat, and they were as sure to hit us, as we were to hit a bird in a tree with small shot. Wo made signals of distress to the ship, which though she rode a league oft", yet my nephew, the captain, hearing our firing, and by glasses perceiving the posture we lay in, and that we fii-ed towards the shore, pretty well understood us ; and weighing anchor with all speed, he stood as near the shore as he durst with the ship, and then sent another boat with ten hands in her to assist us ; but Ave called to them not to come too near, telling them what condition Ave were in. How- ever, they stood in nearer to us; and one of the men taking the end of a tow-line in his hand, and keeping our boat between him and the enemy, so that they could not perfectly see him, SAvam on board us, and made the line fast to the boat, upon which Ave slipt our little cable, and leaving our anchoi" behind, they towed us out of the reach of the OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 427 arrows, we all the while lying close behind the barricade we had made. As soon as we were got from between the ship and the shore, that she could lay her side to the shore, we ran along just by them, and we poured in a broadside among them, loaded with pieces of iron and lead, small bullets, and such stuff, besides the great shot, which made a ter- rible havoc among them. When we were got on board, and out of danger, we had time to ex- amine into the occasion of this fray ; and indeed our supercargo, who had been often in those parts, put me upon it ; for he said he was sure the inhabitants would not have touched us after we had made a truce, if we had not done something to provoke them to it. At length it came out, namely, that an old woman, who had come to sell us some milk, had brought it within our poles, with a young woman with her, who also brought some roots or herbs ; and while the old woman (whe- ther she was mother to the young woman or no they could not tell) was selling us the milk, one of our men offered some rudeness to the wench that was with her, at which the old woman made a great noise. However, the seaman would not quit his prize, but carried her out of the old woman's sight, among the trees, it being almost dark. The old woman went away without her, and, as we suppose, made an out- cry among the people she came from ; who, upon notice, raised this great army upon us in three or four hours ; and it was great odds but we had been all destroyed. One of our men was killed with a lance that was thrown at him, just at the beginning of the attack, as he sallied out of the tent we had made ; the rest came off free, all but the fellow who was the occasion of all the mischief, who paid dear enough for his black mistress, for we could not hear what became of him a great while. We lay upon the shore two days after, though the wind presented, and made signals for him ; made our boat sail up shore and down shore several leagues, but in vain ; so we were obliged to give him over ; and if he alone had suffered for it, the loss had been the less. I could not satisfy myself, however, without venturing on shore once more, to try if 1 could learn any thing of him or them. It was the third night after the action, that I had a great mind to learn, if I could by any means, what mischief we had done, and how the game stood on the Indian side. I was careful to do it in the dark, lest we should be attacked again ; but I ought indeed to have been sure that the men I went with had been under my command before I engaged in a thing so hazardous and mischievous, as I was brought into it withouc my knowledge or desire. 428 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES We took twenty stout fellows with us as any in the ship, besides the supercargo and myself; and we landed two hours before midnight, at the same place where the Indians stood drawn up the evening before. I landed here, because my design, as I have said, was chiefly to see if they had quitted the field, and if they had left any marks behind them, or of the mischief we had done them ; and I thought if we could sur- prise one or two of them, perhaps we might get our man again by way of exchange. We landed without any noise, and divided our men into two com- panies, whereof the boatswain commanded one, and I the other. We neither could hear nor see anybody stir when we landed ; so we marched up, one body at a distance from the other, to the field of battle. At first we could see nothing, it being very dark ; but by and by our boatswain that led the first party, stumbled and fell over a dead body. This made them halt there a while ; for knowing by the circum- stances that they were at the place where the Indians had stood, they waited for my coming up. Here we concluded to halt till the moon began to rise, which we knew would be in less than an hour, and then we could easily discern the havoc we had made among them. We told two-and-thirty bodies upon the ground, whereof two were not quite dead. Some had an arm, and some a leg shot off, and one his head: those that Avere Avounded we supposed they had carried away. When we had made, as I thought, a full discovery of all we could come at the knowledge of, I was for going on board again ; but the boatswain and his party often sent me word, that they were resolved to make a visit to the Indian town, where these dogs, as they called them, dwelt, and desired me to go along with them, and if they could find them, as they still fancied they should, they did not doubt, they said, getting a good booty, and it might be that they might find Thomas Jeffrys there, — that was the man's name we had lost. Had they sent to ask my leave to go, I knew well enough what answer to have given them; for I would have commanded them instantly on board, knowing it was not a hazard fit for us to run, who had a ship and a ship's loading in our charge, and a voyage to make, which depended very much upon the lives of the men; but as they sent me word they were resolved to go, and only asked me and my company to go along with them, I positively refused it, and rose up (for I was sitting on the ground) in order to go to the boat. One or two of the men began to importune me to go, and when I still refused positively began to grumble, and say they were not under my command, and they would go. " Come, Jack," says one of the men, " will you go with m-^? I will go for one." Jack said he would ; and another OF ROBLNSON CRUSOE. 429 followed, and then another ; and, in a word, they all left me but one, whom, with much difficulty too, I persuaded to stay ; so the supercargo and I, with one man, went back to the boat, where, I told them, we would stay for them, and take care to take in as many of them as should be left; for I told them it was a mad thing they were going about, and supposed most of them would run the fate of Thomas JeffVys. They told me, like seamen, they would warrant it they would come off again, and they would take care, &c. So away they went. I entreated them to consider the ship and the voyage; that their lives were not their own, and that they were intrusted with the voyage in some mea- sure ; that if they miscarried, the ship might be lost for want of their help, and that they could not answer it to God and man. I said a great deal more to them on that head, but I might as well have talked to the main-mast of the ship; they were mad upon their journey ; only they gave me good words, and begged I would not be angry ; said th«y would be very cautious, and they did not doubt but they would be back again in about an hour at farthest ; for the Indian town, they said, was not above half a mile off; though they found it above two miles before they got to it. Well, they all went away as above ; and though the attempt was desperate, and such as none but madmen would have gone about, yet, to give them their due, they went about it warily as well as boldly. They were gallantly armed, that is true ; for they had every man a fusil, or musket, a bayonet, and every man a pistol ; some of them had broad cutlasses, some of them hangers, and the boatswain and two more had pole-axes; besides all which, they had among them thirteen hand- grenadoes. Bolder fellows, and better provided, never went about any wicked work in the world. When they went out, their chief design was plunder, and they were in mighty hopes of finding gold there ; but a circumstance, which none of them were aware of, set them on fire with revenge, and made devils of them all. When they came to the few Indian houses, which they thought had been the town, which were not above half a mile off, they were under a great disappointment ; for there were not above twelve or thirteen houses ; and where the town was, or how big, they knew not. They consulted, therefore, what to do, and were some time before they could resolve ; for, if they fell upon these they must cut all their throats, and it was ten to one but some of them might escape, it being in the night, though the moon was up ; and if one escajied, he would run away, and raise all the town, so they sliould have a whole army upon them. Again, on the other hand, if they went away, and 430 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES left those untouched (for the people were all asleep), they could not tell which way to look for the town. However, the last was the best advice ; so they resolved to leave those houses, and look for the town as well as they could. They went on a little way, and found a cow tied to a tree ; this they presently concluded would be a good guide to them ; for they said the cow cer- tainly belonged to the town before them, or the town behind them, and if they untied her, they should see which way she went : if she went back, they had nothing to say to her, but if she went forward, they had nothing to do but to follow her ; so they cut the cord, which was made of twisted flags, and the cow went on before them. In a word, the cow led them directly to the town, which, as they reported, con- sisted of above two hundred houses, or huts ; and in some of these they found several families living together. Here they found all silent ; as profoundly secure as sleep and a country that had never seen an enemy of that kind could make them. Upon this, they called another council, to consider what they had to do, and, in a word, they resolved to divide themselves into three bodies, and to set three houses on fire in three parts of the town; and as the men came out, to seize them and bind them ; if any resisted, they need not be asked what to do then, and so to search the rest of the houses for plunder ; but resolved to march silently first through the town, and see what dimensions it was of, and consider if they might venture upon it or no. They did so, and desperately resolved that they would venture upon them ; but while they were animating one another to the work ; three of them that were a little before the rest called out aloud, and told them they had found Thomas Jeffrys ; they all ran up to the place, and so it was, indeed, for there they found the poor fellow hanged up naked by one arm, and his throat cut. There was an Indian house just by the tree, where they found sixteen or seventeen of the princi- pal Indians, who had been concerned in the fray with us before, and two or three of them wounded with our shot ; and our men found they were awake, and talking one to another in that house, but knew not their number. The sight of their poor mangled comrade so enraged them, a* before, that they swore to one another they would be revenged, and that not an Indian who came into their hands should have quarter ; and to work they went immediately, and yet not so madly as by the rage and fury they Avere in might be expected. Their first care was to get something that would soon take fire ; but, after a little search, they found that would be to no purpose, for most of the houses were FIKIXG THE TOWN. 432 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES low, and thatched with flags or rushes, of which the country is full , so they presently made some wild-fire, as we call it, by wetting a little powder in the palms of their hands ; and in a quarter of an hour they set the town on fire in four or five places, and particularly that house where the Indians were not gone to bed. As soon as the fire began to blaze, the poor, frighted creatures began to rush out to save their lives, but met with their fate in the attempt, and especially at the door, where they drove them back, the boatswain himself killing one or two with his pole-axe : the house being large, and many in it, he did not care to go in, but called for a hand-grenado, and threw it among them, which at first frighted them ; but when it burst, made such havoc among them, that they cried out in a hideous manner. In short, most of the Indians who were in the open part of the house, were killed or hurt with the grenade, except two or three more, who pressed to the door, which the boatswain and two more kept with the bayonets in the muzzles of their pieces, and despatched all who came that way. But there was another apartment in the house, where the prince, or king, or whatsoever he was, and several others were ; and they kept in till the house, which was by this time all of a light flame, fell in upon them, and they were smothered or burnt together. All this while, they fired not a gun, because they would not waken the people faster than they could master them ; but the fire began to waken them fast enough,, and our fellows were glad to keep a little together in bodies ; for the fire grew so raging, all the houses being made of light combustible stufi", that they could hardly bear the street between them, and their business was to follow the fire for the surer execution. As fast as the fire either forced the people out of those houses which were burning, or frighted them out of others, our people were ready at their doors to knock them on the head, still calling and hallooing to one another to remember Thomas Jefi"rys. While this was doing, I must confess I was very uneasy, and espe- cially when I saw the flames of the town, which, it being night, seemed to be just by me. My nephew, the captain, who was roused by his men too, seeing such a fire, was very uneasy, not knowing what the matter was, or what danger I was in ; especially hearing the guns too, for by this time they began to use their firearms. A thousand thoughts oppressed his mind concerning me and the supercargo, what should become of us ; and at last, though he could ill spare any more men, yet, not knowing what exigencies we might be in, he takes another boat, and with thirteen men and himself, comes on shore to me. He was surprised to see me and the supercargo in the boat with nc OF RoniNsoN rRusoK 433 more tlian two men, for one had been left to keep the bo^; and £hou>>;h be was gbid tbat we were well, yet he was in the same impa- tience witii us to know what was doing, for the noise continued, and the flame increased. I confess it was next to an impossibility for any men in the world to restrain their curiosity of knowing what had happeneil, or their concern for the safety of the men. In a word the captain told me he would go and help his men, let what would come. I argued with him, as I did before with the men, the safety of the ship, and the danger of the voyage, the interest of the owners and merchants, &c., and told him I would go, and the two men, and only see if we could, at a distance, learn what was like to be the event, and come back and tell him. It was all one to talk co my nephew, as it was to talk to the rest before ; he would go, he said, and he only wished he had left but ten men in the ship, for he could not think of having his men lost for want of help ; he had rather, he said, lose the ship, the voyage, and his life, and all ; and so away went he. Kor was I any more able to stay behind now than I was to persuade them not to go before ; so, in short, the "captain ordered two men to row back the pinnace, and fetch twelve men more from the ship, leav- ing the long boat at an anchor ; and that when they came back, six men should keep the two boats, and six more come after us, so that he left only sixteen men in the ship ; for the whole ship's company con- sisted of sixty-five men, whereof two were lost in the first quarrel which brought this mischief on. Being now on the march, you may be sure we felt little of the groiind we trod on, and being guided by the fire, we kept no path, but went directly to tiie place of the flame. If the noise of the guns was surprising to us before, the cries of the poor people were now quite of another nature, and filled us with horror. I must confess I never was at the sacking of a city, or at the taking of a town by storm ; I have heard of Oliver Cromwell taking Drogheda in Ireland, and kill- ing man, woman, and child ; and I had read of Count Tilly sacking the city of Magdebourg, and cutting the throats of twenty-two thou- sand of both sexes ; but I never had an idea of the thing itself before, nor is it. possible to describe it, or the horror which was upon our minds at hearing it. However, we went on, and at length came to the town, though there was no entering the streets of it for the fire. The first object that we met with was the ruins of a hut, or house, or rather the ashes of it, for the house was consumed; and just before it, plain now to be seen by the light of the fire, lay four men and three 434 THE LIFE AND ADVEXTFRKS women killed, and, as we thought, one or two more ];ij in the heap among the fire. In shoit, these were such instances of a rage alto- gether barbarous, and of a fury something beyond what was human, that we thought it impossible our men could be guilty of it ; or, if they were the authors of it, we thought that every one of them ought to be put to the worst of deaths : but this was not all; we saw the fire increased forward, and the cry went on, just as the fire went on, so that we were in the utmost confusion. We advanced a little way far- ther, and beheld, to our astonishment, three women naked, crying in a most dreadful manner, and flying as if they had indeed had wings, and after them sixteen or seventeen men, natives, in the same terror and consternation, with three of our English butchers (for I can call them no better) in the rear, who, when they could not overtake them, fired in among them, and one that was killed by their shot fell down in our sight : when the rest saw us, believing us to be their enemies, and that we would murder them as well as those that pursued them, they set up a most dreadful shriek, especially the women, and two of them fell down, as if already dead, with the fright. My very soul shrank within me, and my blood ran chill in my veins, when I saw this; and I believe had the three English sailors that pur- sued them come on, I had made our men kill them all. However, we took some ways to let the poor flying creatures know that we would not hurt them, and immediately they came up to us, and kneeling down, with their hands lifted up, made piteous lamentations to us to save them, Avhich we let them know we Avould do ; whereupon they kept all together in a huddle close behind us for protection. I left my men drawn up together, and charged them to hurt nobody, but if pos- sible to get at some of our people, and see what devil it was possessed them, and what they intended to do ; and, in a word, to command them oif, assuring them, that if they stayed till daylight, they would have a hundred thousand men about their ears: I say, I left them, and went among those flying people, taking only two of our men with me ; and there was indeed a piteous spectacle among them : some of them had their feet terribly burnt with trampling and running through the fire, others their hands burnt ; one of the women had fallen down in the fire, and was almost burnt to death before she could get out again : two or three of the men had cuts in their backs and thighs, from our men pursuing, and another was shot through the body, and died while I was there. I would fain have learned what the occasion of all this was, but I could not understand one word they said, though by signs I perceived that some of them knew not what was the occasion themselves. I was OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 435 BO terrified in my thouglits at thi8 outrageous attempt, tliat I could not stay there, but went back to my own men : I told them my resolution, and commanded them to follow me ; when, in the very moment, came four of our men, with the boatswain at their head, running over the heaps of bodies they had killed, all covered with blood aneak ing ray mind in things which publicly concerned us all : as to what concern I had in the voyage, tiiat was none of his business ; I was a considerable owner of the ship, and in that claim I conceived 1 ha<] a light to speak, even further than I had yet done, and would not be accountable to him or any one else; and began to be a little warm with him : he made but little reply to me at thjit time, and I thought that affair had been over. We were at this time in the road to Bengal ; , and being willing to see the place, I went on shore with the supercargo, in the ship's boat, to divert myself ; and towards evening was preparing to go on board, when one of the men came to me, and told me, he would not have me trouble myself to come down to the boat, for they had orders not to carry me on board. Any one may guess what a surprise I was in at so insolent a message ; and I asked the man, who bade him deliver that errand to me? He told me, the coxswain. I said no more to the fellow, but bid him let them know he had delivered his message, and that I had given him no answer to it. I immediately went and found out the supercargo, and told him the story, adding, what I presently foresaw, namely, that there would certainly be a mutiny in the ship ; and entreated him to go immediately on board the ship in an Indian boat, and acquaint the captain of it : but I might have spared this intelligence, for before I had spoken to him on shore, the matter was effected on board: the boatswain, the gunner, tiie carpenter, and, in a word, all the inferior officers, as soon as I was gone off in the boat, came up to the quarter-deck, and desired to speak with the captain ; and there the boatswain, making a long harangue (for the fellow talked very well), and, repeating all he had said to me, told the cajjtain in a few words, that as 1 was now gone peaceably on shore, they were loth to use any violence with me ; which, if I had not gone on shore, they would otherwise have done, to oblige me to have gone. They therefore thought fit to tell him, that as they shipped themselves to serve in the ship, under his command, they would perform it faithfully ; but if I would not quit the ship, or the captain oblige me to quit it, they would all leavo the ship, and sail no further with him ; and at that word ALL, he turned his face about towards the mainmast, which was, it seems, the signal agreed on between them, at which all the sianien being got together, they cried out, " One and ALL ! One and all !" My nephew, the captain, w as a man of spirit, and of great presence of mind ; and though he was surprised, you may be sure, at the thing, 440 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES yet he told them calmly he would consider of the matter, but that he could do nothing in it till he had spoken to me about it : he used some arguments Avith them, to show them the unreasonableness and injustice of the thing, but it was all in vain; they swore, and shook hands round, before his face, that they would go all on shore, unless he would engage to them not to suffer me to come on board the ship. This was a hard article upon him, who knew his obligation to me, and did not know how I might take it ; so he began to talk cavalierly to them ; told them that I was a very considerable owner of the ship, ,and that, in justice, he could not put me out of my own house; that this was next door to serving me as the famous pirate Kid had done, who made the mutiny in the ship, set the captain on shore in an unin- habited island, and ran away with 'the ship ; that let them go into what ship they would, if ever they came to England again, it would cost them dear ; that the ship was mine, and that he would not put me out of it ; and that he would rather lose the ship, and the voyage too, than disoblige me so much ; so they might do as they pleased. How- ever, he would go on shore, and talk with me there, and invited the boatswain to go with him, and perhaps they might accommodate the matter with me. But they all rejected the proposal ; and said, they would have nothing to do with me any more, neither on board nor on shore ; and if I came on board they Avould go on shore. " Well," said the cap- tain, " if you are all of this mind, let me go on shore, and talk with him ;" so away he came to me with this account, a little after the mes- sage had been brought to me from the coxswain. I was very glad to see my nephew, I must confess ; for I was not without apprehensions that they would confine him by violence, set sail, and run away with the ship ; and then 1 had been stripped naked, in a remote country, and nothing to help myself: in short, I had been in a worse case than when I was all alone on the island. But they had not come to that length, it seems, to my great satis- faction ; and when my nephew told me what they had said to him, and how they had SAvorn, and shook hands, that they would one and all leave the ship, if I was suffered to come on board, I told him he should not be concerned at it at all, for I would stay on shore ; I only desired he would take care and send me all my necessai-y things on shore, and leave me a sufficient sum of money, and I would find my way to Eng- hind as well as I could. This was a heavy piece of news to my nephew ; but there was no way to help it, but to comply with it. So, in short, he Avent on board the ship again, and satisfied the men that his uncle had yielded to their OF nOBTN.«0\ CRUPOE. 441 importunity, and had sent *"'"? his goods from on board the ship. So tln' matter was over in a very few hours ; tlie men returned to their duty, and I began to consider what course I should steer. I was now alone, in the remotest part of the world, as I think I may call it, for I was near three thousand leagues, by sea, farther off from ICiigland than I was at my island ; only, it is true, I might travel here liy land, over the Great Mogul's country to Surat ; might go from I hence to Bassora by sea, up the Gulf of Persia, and from thence might lake the way of the caravans, over the deserts of Arabia, to Aleppo and Scanderoon, and from thence by sea again to Italy, and so over land into France ; and this, put together, might be, at least, a full diameter of the globe; but, if it were to be measured, I suppose it '.vould appear to be a great deal more. I had another way before me, which was to wait for some English ships, which were coming to Bengal, from Achin, on the island of Su- matra, and get passage on board them for England : but as I came liither without any concern with the English East India Company, so it would be difficult to go from hence without their license, unless with great favour of the captains of the ships, or of the Company's factors; and to both I was an utter stranger. Here I had the particular pleasure, speaking by contrarieties, to see the ship set sail without me ; a treatment, I think, a man in my cir- emnstanccs scarce ever met with, except from pirates running away with the ship, and setting those that would not agree with their villainy on sliore : indeed this was the next door to it both ways. However, my nephew left me two servants, or rather, one companion and one servant : the first was clerk to the purser, whom he engaged to go with me ; and the other was his own servant. I took me also a good lodging in the house of an English woman, where several merchants hxiged, some French, two Italians, or rather Jews, and one English- man. Here I was handsomely enough entertained ; and that I might not be said to run rashly upon any thing, I stayed here above nine months, considering Avhat course to take, and how to manage myself. I luid some English goods with me of value, and a considerable sum uf money ; my nephew furnishing me Avith a thousand pieces of eight, and a letter of credit for more, if I had occasion, that I might not be straitened, whatever might happen. I quickly disposed of my goods, and to advantage too ; and, as I originally intended, 1 bought here some very good diamonds, which, of all other things, were the most proper for me, in my circumstances, !>ecause I might always carry my whole estate about me. After a long stay here, and many proposals made for my return to 442 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES England, but none falling to my mind, the English merchant, v«'ho lodged with me, and with whom I had contracted an intimate acquaint- ance, came to me one morning: "Countryman," says he, "I have a project to communicate to you, Avhich, as it suits with my thoughts, may, for aught I know, suit with yours also, when you shall have tho- roughly considered it. " Here we are posted," says he, "you by accident, and I by my OAvn choice, in a part of the world very remote from my own country ; but it is in a country where, by us who understand trade and business, a great deal of money is to be got : if you will put a thousand pounds to my thousand pounds, we will hire a ship here, the first we can get to our minds ; you shall be captain, I'll be merchant, and we will go a trading voyage to China ; for Avhat should we stand still for ? The whole world is in motion, rolling round and round; all the creatures of God, heavenly bodies and earthly, are busy and diligent : why should we be idle? There are no drones," says he, "living in the world but men : why should we be of that number?" I liked this proposal very well ; and the more because it seemed to be expressed with so much good-will, and in so friendly a manner. I will not say, but that I might, by my loose and unhinged circumstances, be the fitter to embrace a proposal for trade, and indeed for any thing else : or otherwise trade was none of my element ; however, I might, per- haps, say with some truth, that if trade was not my element, rambling was; and no proposal for seeing any part of the world, which I had never seen before, could possibly come amiss to me. It was, however, some time before we could get a ship to our mind ; and when we got a vessel, it was not easy to get English sailors ; that is to say, so many as were necessary to govern the voyage, and manage the sailors which we should pick up there. After some time we got a mate, a boatswain, and a gunner, English ; a Dutch carpenter, and three Portuguese foremast-men : with these we found we could do well enough, having Indian seamen, such as they are, to make up. There are so many travellers who have written the history of their voyages and travels this way, that it would be but very little diversion to anybody, to give a long account of the places we went to, and the people who inhabit there: those things I leave to others, and refer the reader to those journals and travels of Englishmen, many of which, 1 find, are published, and more promised every day. It is enough for me to tell you that we made the voyage to Achin, in the island of Su- matra, first ; and from thence to Siam, where we exchanged some of our wares for opium, and some for arrack; the first, a commodity which bears a great price among the Chinese, and which, at that time, waw OF RonTXSON CRr«nE. 443 very much wanted there: in a word, we went up to Susliam, made a vpry great voyjige, were eight months out, and returned to Bengal ; and 1 was very well satisfied with my adventure. I observe, that our people in Enixhind often admire how the officers which the Company send into India, and the merchants which generally stay there, get such very good estates as they do, and sometimes come home worth sixty, seventy, and a hundred thousand pounds at a time. Hut it is no wonder, or, at least, we shall see so much further into it, when we consider the innumerable ports and places where they have a free commerce, that it will then be no wonder; and much less will it be so, when we consider, that at all those places and ports where the English ships come, there is so much, and such constant demand for the growth of all other countries, that there is a certain vent for the return, as well as a market abroad for the goods carried out. In short, we made a very good voyage, and I got so much money by the first adventure, and such an insight into the method of getting more, that, had I been twenty years younger, I sliould have been tempted to have stayed here, and sought no farther for making my for- tune : but what was all this to a man on the wrong side of threescore, that was rich enough, and came abroad more in obedience to a restless desire of seeing the world, than a covetous desire of getting in it? And indeed I think it is with great justice that I now call it a restless desire, for it was so: when I was at home, I was restless to go abroad; and noAv I was abroad, I was restless to be at home. I say, what was this gain to me ? I was rich enough already ; nor had I any uneasy desires about getting more money; and therefore, the profits of the voyage were things of no great force to me, for the prompting me for- ward to farther undertakings ; hence I thought, that by this voyage, I had iii.idi' no progress at all; because I was come back, as I might call it, to the place from whence I came, as to a home ; whereas my eye, which, like that which Solomon speaks of, was never satisfied with see- ing — was still more desirous of wandering and seeing. I was come into a part of the world which I never was in before; and that part in ]):uticular, which I had heard much of; and was resolved to see as niucii of it as I could; and then I thought I might say I had seen all the world that was worth see'ng. But my fellow-traveller and I had diflerent notions : I do not name this to insist upon my own, for I acknowledge his was most just, and the most suited to the end of a merchant's life ; wiio, when he is abroad upon adventures, it is his wisdom to stick to that, as the best thing for him. which he is like to get the most money by. My new friend kept himself to the nature of the thing, and wouM have been euntenl 444 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES to have gone, like a carrier's horse, always to the same inn, backward and forward, provided he could, as he called it, find his account in it : on the other hand, mine, as old as I was, was the notion of a mad ram- bling boy, that never cares to see a thing twice over. But this was not all : I had a kind of impatience upon me to be nearer home, and yet the most unsettled resolution imaginable which way to go. In the interval of these consultations, my friend, who was always on the search for business, proposed another voyage to me, namely, among the Spice Islands ; and to bring home a load of cloves from the Manillas, or thereabouts ; places where, indeed, the Dutch do trade, but the islands belong partly to the Spaniards ; though we went not so far, but to some other, where they have not the whole power, as they have at Batavia, Ceylon, &c. We were not long in preparing for this voyage ; the chief difficulty was in bringing me to come into it : however, at last, nothing else offering, and finding that really stirring about and trading, the profit being so great, and, as I may say, certain, had more pleasure in it, and more satisfaction to the mind, than sitting still, which, to me especially, was the unhappiest part of life, I resolved on this voyage too ; which we made very successfully, touching at Borneo, and several islands, whose names I do not remember, and came home in about five months. We sold our spice, which was chiefly cloves, and some nutmegs, to the Persian merchants, who carried them away for the Gulf; and, making near five of one, we really got a great deal of money. My friend, when we made up this account, smiled at me : " Well, now," said he, with a sort of an agreeable insult upon my indolent temper, " is not this better than walking about here, like a man of nothing to do, and spending our time in staring at the nonsense and ignorance of the Pagans ?" — "Why truly," said I, " my friend, I think it is ; and I begin to be a convert to the principles of merchandising. But I must tell you," said I, " by the way, you do not know what I am doing ; for if once I conquer my backwardness, and embark heartily, as old as I am, I shall harass you up and down the world till I tire you ; for I shall pursue it so eagerly I shall never let you lie still." But to be short with my speculations : a little while after this there came in a Dutch ship from Batavia ; she was a coaster, not a European trader, and of about two hundred tons burden : the men, as they pre- tended, having been so sickly that the captain had not men enough to gc to sea with, he lay by at Bengal ; and, as if having got money enough, or being willing, for other reasons, to go for Europe, he gave public notice that he would sell his ship : this came to my ears before my new pa*-^ner heard of it ; and I had a great mind to buy it. So I wen OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 445 home to him, and told him of it ; he considered a while, for he was no rash man neither: but musing some time, he replied, " She is a little too Itjfi: ; hutj however, we will have her." Accordingly, we bought the ship; and agreeing with the master, we paid for her, and took possession ; when we had done so, we resolved to entertain the men, if we eoidd. to join tliein with those we had, for the pursuing our busi- ness ; but, on a sudden, they not having received their wages, but their >liaie of the money, as we afterwards learned, not one of ihem was to be f )und. We inquired much about them, and at length were told, that they were all gone together, by land, to Agra, the great city of the Mogul's residence; and from thence were to travel to Surat, and so by sea to the Gulf of Persia. Nothing had so heartily troubled me a good while, as that I missed the opportunity of going with them ; for such a ramble, I thought, and in such company as would both have guarded me and diverted me, would have suited mightily witli my great design ; and I should botii have seen the world, and gone homewards too ; but 1 was much better satisfied a few days after, when I came to know what sort of fellows they were ; for, in short, their history was, tliat this man they called captain was the gunner only, not the commander : that they iiad been a trading voyage, in which they were attacked on shore by some of the Malaccans, who had killed the captain and three of his men ; and that after the captain was killed, these men, eleven in number, had resolved to run away with the ship, which they did ; and had brought her in at the Bay of Bengal, leaving the mate and five men more on shore; of whom we shall hear further. Well ; let them come by the ship how they would, we came honestly by her, as we thought ;• though we did not, I confess, examine into things so exactly as we ought; for we never incjuired any thing of the seamen, who, if we had examined, would certainly have faltered in their accounts, contradicted one another, and perhaps have contradicted them- selves : or, one how or other, we should have seen reason to have suspected them ; but the man showed us a bill of sale for the ship to one Emanuel Clostershoven, or some such name (for 1 suppose it wa?' all a forgery), and called himself by that name: and we could not con n adict him ; and being withal a little too unwary, or at least having uo suspicion of the thing, we went through with our bargain. 446 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES CHAPTER XL Make a trading Voyage in this Ship — Put into the River Cambodia — Am warned of ray Danger by a Countryman, in consequence of which we set sail, and are pursued • —Great difficulty in making our Escape. However, we picked up some English seamen here after this, and some Dutch ; and we now resolved for a second voyage to the south- east, for cloves, &c. that is to say, among the Philippine and Molucca isles ; and, in short, not to fill this part of my story with trifles, when what is yet to come is so remarkable, I spent, from first to last, six years in this country, trading from port to port, backward and forward, and with very good success ; and was now the last year with my part- ner, going in the ship above mentioned, on a voyage to China : but designing first to go to Siam, to buy rice. In this voyage, being by contrary winds obliged to beat up and down a great while in the Straits of Malacca, and among the islands, we were no sooner got clear of those difficult seas, but we found our ship had sprung a leak, and we were not able, by all our industry, to find out where it was. This forced us to make for some port ; and my part- ner, who knew the country better than I did, directed the captain to put into the river of Cambodia ; for I had made the English mate, one Mr. Thompson, captain, not being willing to take the charge of the ship upon myself. This river lies on the north side of the great bay or gulf which goes up to Siam. While we were here, and going often on shore for refreshments, there comes to me one day an Englishman, and he was, it seems, a gunner's mate on board an English East India ship, which rode in the same river, up at, or near the city of Cambodia : Avhat brought him hither we knew not; but he comes up to me, and, speaking English, "Sir," says he, " you are a stranger to me, and I to you ; but I have something to tell you, that very nearly concerns you." I looked steadfastly at him a good while, and he thought at first I had known him, but I did not. " If it very nearly concerns me," said I, " and not yourself, what moves you to tell it me." — "I am moved," says he, by the imminent danger you are in ; and for aught I see, you have no knowledge of it." — " I know no danger I am in," said I, " but that my ship is leaky, and I cannot find it out ; but I propose to lay her •aground to-morrow, to see if I can find it." — "But, sir," says he, "leaky OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 44Y or not leaky, find it or not find it, you will be wiser than to lay tout ship on shore to-morrow, when you hear what I have to say to you." — "Do you know, sir," said he, "the town of Cambodia lies about fifteen leagues up this river ? And there are two large English ships about five leagues on this side, and three Dutch." — " Well,' said I, "and what is that to me ?" — " Why, sir," says he, " is it for a man that is upon such adventures as you are, to come into a port, and not examine first what ships there are there, and whether he is able to deal with them ": I suppose you do not think you are a match for them V — I was amused very much at his discourse, but not amazed at it ; for I could not con- ceive what he meant ; and I turned short upon him and said, " Sir, 1 wish you would explain yourself; I cannot imagine what reason I have to be afraid of any of the Company's ships, or Dutch ships ; I am no interloper ; wliat can they have to say to me ?" He looked like a man half angry, half pleased ; pausing a while, but smiling, " Well, sir," says he, " if you think yourself secure, you must take your chance ; I am sorry your fate should blind you against good advice ; but assure yourself, if you do not put to sea immediately, you will the very next tide be attacked by five long-boats full of men ; and, perhaps, if you arc taken, you will be hanged for a pirate, and the particulars be examined into afterwards. I thought, sir," added he, " I should have met with a better reception than this, for doing you a piece of service of such importance." — " I can never be ungrateful," said I, " for any service, or to any man that offers me an}' kindness ; but it is past my comprehension," said I, " what they should have such a design upon me for : however, since you say there is no time to be lost, and that there is some villanous design in hand against me, T will go on board this minute, and put to sea immediately, if my men can stop the leak, or if we can swim without stopping it: but, sir," said I, "shall I go away ignorant of the reason of all this? Can you give me no further light into it?" "I can tell you but part of the story, sir," says he; "but I have a Dutch seaman here with me, and, I believe, I could persuade him to tell you the rest; but there is scarce time for it: but the short of the story is this, the first part of which, I suppose, you know well enough, namely, that you were with this ship at Sumatra ; that there your captain was murdered by the Malaccans, with three of his men ; and that you, or some of those that were on board with you, ran away with the ship, and are since turned pirates. This is the sum of the story, and you will all be seized as pirates, I can assure you, and exe- cuted with very little ceremony ; for you know merchant ships show but little law to pirates, if they get them in their power." 448 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES "Now you speak plain English,'' said I, "and I thank you; and though I know nothing that we have done, like what you talk of, but r am sure we came honestly and fairly by the ship ; yet seeing such work is a-doing, as you say, and that you seem to mean honestly, 1 will be upon my guard." — "Nay, sir," says he,' "do not talk of being upon your guard ; the best defence is to be out of the danger : if you have any regard to your life, and the lives of all your men, put out to sea without fail at high water; and as you have a whole tide before you, you will be gone too far out before they can come down ; foi they will come away at high water ; and as they have twenty miles to come, you'll get near two hours of them by the difference of the tide, not reckoning the length of the way : besides, as they are only boats, and not ships, they will not venture to follow you far out to sea, espe- cially if it blows." "Well," said I, "you have been very kind in this: what shall I do for you, to make you amends ?" — "Sir," says he, "you may not be so willing to make me amends, because you may not be convinced of the truth of it : I will make an offer to you ; I have nineteen months' pay due to me on board the ship , which I came out of England in, and the Dutchman, that is with me, has seven months' pay due to him ; if you will make good our pay to us, we will go along with you: if you find nothing more in it, we Avill desire no more ; but if we do convince you that we have saved your life, and the ship, and the lives of all the men in her, we will leave the rest to you." I consented to this readily, and went immediately on board, and the two men with me. As soon as I came to the ship's side, my partner, who was on board, came on the quarter-deck, and called to me with a great deal of joy, "Oh ho! ho! we have stopped the leak!" — "Say you so?" said I, "thank God; but Aveigh the anchor, then, immedi- ately." — "Weigh!" says he, "what do you mean by that? What is the matter?" says he. — "Ask no questions," said I, "but all hands to work, and weigh without losing a minute." He was surprised: but. however, he called the captain, and he immediately ordered the anchor to be got up, and, though the tide was not quite done, yet a little land breeze blowing, we stood out to sea ; then I called him into the cabin, and told him the story at large ; and we called in the men, and they told us the rest of it : but as it took us up a great deal of time, so before we had done, a seaman comes to the cabin door, and calls out to us, that the captain bade him tell us we were chased. — "Chased!" said I, "by whom, and by what?" — "By five sloops, or boats," said the fellow, "full of men." — "Very well," said I, "then it is apparent there is something in it." In the next place, I ordered all our men OF Ronrxsox crusoe. 449 to be called up, and told them that there was a design to seize the ship and to take us for pirates ; and asked them, if they would stand by us, and by one another ? The men answered cheerfully, one and all, tiiat they would live and die with us. Then I asked the captain, what way he thought best for us to n)anage a fight with them, for resist iheni I resolved we would, and that to the last drop. He said, readily, tliat the way was to keep them oft" with our great shot as long as we could, and then to fire at them with our small arms, to keep them fr®ra boarding us ; but when neither of these would do any longer, we should retire to our close quarters — perhaps they had not materials to break open our bulk-heads, or get in upon us. The gunner had, in the mean time, orders to bring two guns to bear fore and aft, out of the steerage, to clear the deck, and load them with musket bullets and small pieces of old iron, and what next came to hand ; and thus we made ready for fight, but all this while kept out to sea, with wind enough, and could see the boats at a distance, b&ing five large long-boats, following us, with all the sail they could make. Two of these boats, which, by our glasses, we could see were English, had outsailed the rest, were near two leagues ahead of them, and gained upon us considerably, so that we found they would come up with us ; upon which we fired a gun without a shot, to intimate that they should bring to, and we put out a flag of truce as a signal for parley, but they kept crowding after us till they came within shot. Upon this we took in our white flag, they having made no answer to it, hung out the red flag, and fired at them with shot : notwithstanding this, they came on till they were near enough to call to them with a speaking trumpet, which we had on board ; so we called to them, and bade them keep ofi" at their peril. It was all one : they crowded after us, and endeavoured to come under our stern, so to board us on our quarter : upon which, seeing they were resolute for mischief, and depended upon the strength that followed them, I ordered to bring the ship to, so that they lay upon our broadside, when immediately we fired five guns at them : one of them had been levelled so true as to carry away the stern of the hind- ermost boat, and bring them to the necessity of taking down their sail, and running all to the head of the boat to keep her from sinking, so she lay by, and had enough of it ; but seeing the foremost boat still crowd on after us, we made ready to fire at her in particular. While this was doing, one of the three boats that was behind, being forwarder than the other two, made up to the boat which we had dis- abled to relieve her, and we could afterwards see her take out the men; we called again to the foremost boat, and off'ered a truce to parley ■20 450 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES again, and to know what was her business with us ; but had no onswer, only she crowded close under our stern. Upon this our gunner, Avho was a very dexterous fellow, ran out his tAvo chase guns, and fired at her, but the shot missing, the men in the boat shouted, waved their caps, and came on ; but the gunner, getting quickly ready again, fired among them a second time, one shot of which, though it missed the boat itself, yet fell in among the men, and, we could easily see, had done a great deal of mischief among them ; but we, taking no notice of that, weared the ship again, and brought our quarter to bear upon them, and firing three guns more, we found the boat was split almost to pieces ; in particular, her rudder, and a piece of her stern, were shot quite away, so they handed their sail immediately, and were in great disorder : but, to complete their misfortune, our gunner let fly two guns at them again ; where he hit them we could not tell, but Ave found the boat was sinking, and some of the men already in the water. Upon this I immediately manned out our pinnace, which we had kept close by our side, Avith orders to pick up some of the men, if they could, and save them from drowning, and immediately to come on board with them, because we saw the rest of the boats began to come up. Our men in the pinnace followed their orders, and took up three men, one of whom was just drowning, and it was a good while before we could recover him. As soon as they were on board, we crowded all the sail we could make and stood further out to sea; and we found, that when the other three boats came up to the first two, they gave over their chase. Being thus delivered from a danger, which though I knew not the reason of it, yet seemed to be much greater than I apprehended, I took care that we should change our course, and not let any one ima- gine whither we were going ; so we stood out to sea eastward, quite out of the course of all European ships, whether they were bound to China, or anywhere else within the commerce of the European nations. When we. were noAV at sea, we began to consult with the two seamen, and inquire, first, what the meaning of all this should be ? The Dutch- man let us into the secret of it at once, telling us, that the fellow that sold us the ship, as we said, was no more than a thief that had run away with her. Then he told us how the captain, whose name too he mentioned, though I do not remember it now, was treacherously mur- dered by the natives on the coast of Malacca, with three of his men ; and that he, this Dutchman, and four more, got into the woods, where they Avandered about a great while ; till at length he, in particular, in I miraculous manner, made his escape, and swam ofi* to a Dutch ship, OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 451 which sailing near the shore, in its way from China, had sent their boat on shore for fresh water ; that he durst not come to that part of the shore where the boat was, but made shift in the night to take in the water further off, and swimming a great while, at last the ship's boat took him up. He then told us, that he went to Batavia, where two of the seamen belonging to the ship had arrived, having deserted the rest in their travels ; and gave an account, that the fellow who had run away with the ship, sold her at Bengal to a set of pirates, which "were gone a cruizing in her ; and that they had already taken an English ship, and two Dutch ships, very richly laden. This latter part we found to concern us directly; and though we knew it to be false, yet, as my partner said very well, if we had fallen into their hands, and they had such a prepossession against us before- hand, it had been in vain for us to have defended ourselves, or to hope for any good quarters at their hands ; especially considering that our accusers had been our judges, and that we could have expected no- thing from them but what rage would have dictated, and ungoverned passion have executed ; and, therefore, it was his opinion, we should go directly back to Bengal, from whence we came, without putting in at any port whatever ; because there we could give an account of our- selves, and could prove where we were when the ship put in, whom we bought her of, and the like ; and, which was more than all the rest, if we were put to the necessity of bringing it before the proper judges, we should be sure to have some justice ; and not be hanged first and judged afterwards. I was some time of my partner's opinion ; but after a little more serious thinking, I told him, I thought it was a very great hazard for us to attempt returning to Bengal, for that we were on the wrong side of tlie Straits of Malacca ; and that if the alarm was given, we should be sure to be waylaid on every side, as well by the Dutch of Batavia as the English elsewhere ; that if we should be taken, as it were, run- ning away, we should even condemn ourselves, and there would want no more evidence to destroy us. I also asked the English sailor's opinion, who said, he was of my mind, and that we should certainly be taken. This danger a little startled ray partner, and all the ship's com- pany; and we immediately resolved to go away to the coast of Ton- quin, and so on to China ; and from thence, pursuing the first design, as to trade, find some way or other to dispose of the ship, and come back in some of the vessels of the country, such as we could get. This was approved of, as the best method for our security ; and accord- 452 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES ingly we steered away north-north-east, keeping above fifty leagues off from the usual course to the eastward. This, however, put us to some inconveniences ; for first, the winds, when we came to that distance from the shore, seemed to be more steadily against us, blowing almost trade, as we call it, from the east and east-north-east ; so that we were a long while upon our voyage, and we were but ill provided with victuals for so long a run ; and, which was still worse, there Avas some danger that those English and Dutch ships, whose boats pursued us, whereof some were bound that way, might be got in before us ; and if not, some other ship bound to China might have information of us from them, and pursue us with the same vigour. I must confess I was now very uneasy, and thought myself, includ- ing the late escape from the long-boats, to have been in the most dan- gerous condition that ever I Avas in through all my past life ; for, whatever ill circumstances I had been in, I was never pursued for a thief before ; nor had I ever done any thing that merited the name of dishonest or fraudulent, much less thievish. I had chiefly been mine own enemy ; or, as I might rightly say, I had been nobody's enemy but my own. But now I was embarrassed in the worst condi- tion imaginable ; for though I was perfectly innocent, I was in no condition to make that innocence appear ; and if I had been taken, it had been under a supposed guilt of the worst kind ; at least, a crime esteemed so among the people I had to do with. This made me very anxious to make an escape, though which way to do it I knew not ; or what port or place we should go to. My partner, seeing me thus dejected, though he was the most concerned at first, began to encourage me ; and describing to me the several ports of that coast, told me he would put in on the coast of Cochin- China, or the bay of Tonquin ; intending to go afterwards to Macao, a town once in the possession of the Portuguese, and where still a great many European families resided, and particularly the missionary priests usually went thither, in order to their going forward to China. Hither we then resolved to go ; and accordingly, though after a tedious and irregular course, and very much straitened for provisions, we came within sight of the coast very early in the morning ; and upon reflection upon the past circumstances we were in, and the dan- ger, if we had not escaped, we resolved to put into a small river, which, however, had depth enough of water for us, and to see if we could, either overland, or by the ship's pinnace, come to know what ships were in any port thereabouts. This happy step was, indeed, our deliverance ; for though we did not immediately see any European OF RoniNsox ruusoE. 453 ships in the bay of Tonquin, yet the next morning there came into the bay two Dutch ships; and a third without any colours spread out, but which we believed to be a Dutchman, passed by at about two leagues distance, steering for the coast of China ; and in the afternoon went by two English ships, steering the same course ; and thus we thought we saw ourselves beset with enemies, both one way and the other. The place we were in was wild and barbarous, the people >thieves, even by occupation or profession ; and though, it is true, we had not much to seek of them, and, except getting a few provisions, cared not how little we had to do with them, yet it was with much difficulty that we kept ourselves from being insulted by them several way? CHAPTER XII. Obliged to come to anchor on i\ Savage Coast, to repair our Ship — We are attacked by the Natives, whom our Carpenter disperses by a whimsical Contrivance — Serious Reflections upon our disagreeable Situation. Wk were in a small river of this country, within a few leagues of its utmost limits northward, and by our boat we coasted north-east to the point of land which opens to the great bay of Tonquin : and it was in this beating up along the shore that we discovered as above, that, in a word, we were surrounded with enemies. The people we were among were the most barbarous of all the inhabitants of the coast ; having no correspondence with any other nation, and dealing only in fish and oil, and such gross commodities ; and it may be particularly seen that they are, as I said, the most barbarous of any of the inhabitants, namely, that among other customs they have this one, that if any vessel had liic misfortune to be shipwrecked upon their coast, they presently make the men all prisoners; that is to say, slaves; and it was not long before we found a spice of their kindness this way. on the occasion following : — I have oltserved above, that our ship sprung a leak at sea, ami that we could not find it out ; and however it happened, that, as I have said, it was stopped unexpectedly, in the happy minute of our being to be seized by the Dutch and English ships, near the bay of Siam ; yet, as we did not find the ship so perfectly tight and sound as we desired, we resolved, while we were in this place, to lay her on shore, take out what heavy things we bad on board, which were not many. 454 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES and to wash and clean her bottom, and if possible to find out where the leaks were. Accordingly, having lightened the ship, and brought all our guns, and other movable things, to one side, we tried to bring her down, that we might come at her bottom ; for, on second thoughts, we did not care to lay her dry aground, neither could we find out a proper place for it. The inhabitants, who had never been acquainted with such a sight, came wondering down to the shore to look at us ; and seeing the ship lie down on one side in such a manner, and heeling towards the shore, and not seeing our men, who were at work on her bottom with stages, and with their boats on the off" side, they presently concluded that the ship was cast away, and lay so very fast on the ground. On this supposition, they came all about us in two or three hours' time, with ten or twelve large boats, having some of them dght, some ten men in a boat, intending, no doubt, to have come on board and plunder the ship ; and if they had found us there, to have carried us away for slaves to their king, or whatever they call him, for we knew not who was their governor. When they came up to the ship, and began to row round her, they discovered us all hard at work, on the outside of the ship's bottom and side, washing, and graving, and stopping, as every seafaring man knows how. They stood for a while gazing at us, and we, who were a little sur- prised, could not imagine what their design was ; but being willing to be sure, we took thisi opportunity to get some of us into the ship, and others to hand down arms and ammunition to those that were at work, to defend themselves with, if there should be occasion ; and it was no more than need, for in less than a quarter of an hour's consultation, they agreed, it seems, that the ship was really a wreck ; that we were all at work endeavouring to save her, or to save our lives by the help of our boats ; and when we handed our arms into the boats, they con- cluded by that motion that we were endeavouring to save some of our goods. Upon this, they took it for granted they all belonged to them, and away they came directly upon our men, as if it had been in a line of battle. Our men seeing so many of them, began to be frighted, for we lay but in an ill posture to fight, and cried out to us to know what they should do ? I immediately called to the men who worked upon the stages, to slip them down, and get up the side into the ship, and bade those in the boat to row round and come on board ; and those few of us who were on board, worked with all the strength and hands we had to brir>- the ship to rights; but, however, neither the men upon the OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 455 Stage, nor those in the boats, could do as they were ordered, before the Cochin-Chinese were upon them, and with two of their boats, boarded our long-boat, and began to Lay hohl of the men as their prisoners. The first man they laid hold of was an English seaman, a stout, strong fellow, who, having a musket in his hand, never offered to fire it, but laid it down in the boat, like a fool, as I thought. But he understood his business better than I could teach him ; for he grappled the Pagan, and dragged him by main force out of their own boat into ours, where, taking him by the two ears, he beat his head so against the boat's gunnel, that the fellow died instantly in his hands ; and, in the meantime, a Dutchman, who stood next, took up the musket, and, with the butt-end of it, so laid about him, that he knocked down five of them who attempted to enter the boat. But this was little towards resisting thirty or forty men, who fearless, because ignorant of their danger, began to throw themselves into the long-boat, where we had but five men to defend it. But one accident gave our men a Complete victory, which deserved our laughter rather than any thing else, and that was this : — Our carpenter being prepared to grave the outside of the ship, as well as to pay the seams where he had caulked her to stop the leaks, had got two kettles just let down into the boat ; one filled with boiling pitch, and the other with rosin, tallow, and oil, and such stufi" as the shipAvrights used for that work ; and the man that tended the carpenter had a great iron ladle in his hand, with which he supplied the men that were at work with that hot stuff: two of the enemy's men entered the boat just where this fellow stood, being in the foresheets ; he imme- diately saluted them with a ladleful of the stuff, boiling hot, which so burnt and scalded them, being half naked, that they roared out like two bulls, and, enraged with the fire, leaped both into tlie sea. The car- penter saw it, and cried out, " Well done. Jack, give them some more of it;" when stepping forward himself, he takes one of their mops, and dipping it in the pitch-pot, he and his man threw it among them so plentifully, that, in short, of all the men in three boats, there was not one that was not scalded and burnt with it in a most frightful, pitiful manner, and made such a howling and crying, that I never heard a M orse noise, and, indeed, nothing like it ; for it was worth observing, that though pain naturally makes all people cry out, yet every nation have a particular way of exclamation, and make noises as different from one another as their speech. I cannot give the noise these creatures made, a better name than howling, nor a name more proper to the tone of it : Un- I never heard any thing more like the noise of the wolves. OF KOBINSON CUL'SOK. 457 which, as I have said, I heard howl in the forest on tlie frontiers of Languedoc. I was never pleased with a victory better in my life ; not only as it was a perfect surprise to nie, and that our danger was imminent before ; but as we got this victory without any bloodshed, except of that man the fellow killed with his naked hands, and which I was very much concerned at ; for I was sick of killing such poor savage wretches, even though it was in my own defence, knowing they came on errands which they thought just, and knew no better; and that though it may be a just thing, because necessary, for there is no necessary wickedness in nature ; yet I thought it was a sad life, when we must be always obliged to be killing our fellow-creatures to preserve ourselves ; and, indeed, I think so still ; and I would, even now, suffer a great deal, rather than I would take away the life even of the worst person injur- ing me. I believe also, all considering people, who know the value of life, would be of my opinion, if they entered seriously into the con- sideration of it. But to return to my story. All the while this was doing, my partner and I, who managed the rest of the men on board, had, with great dexterity, brought the ship almost to rights ; and, having gotten the guns in their places again, the gunner called to me to bid our boat get out of the way, for he would let fly among them. I called back again to him, and bid him not offer to fire, for the carpenter would do the work without him ; but bade him heat another pitch-kettle, which our cook, who was on board, took care of. But the enemy was so terrified with what they met with in their first attack, that they would not come on again ; and some of them that were furthest off, seeing the ship swim, as it were, upright, began, as we supposed, to see their mistake, and gave over the enterprise, finding it was not as thoy expected. Thus we got clear of this merry fight ; and having gotten some rice, and some roots and bread, with about sixteen good big hogs on board, two days before, we resolved to stay here no longer, but go forward, whatever came of it ; for we made no doubt but we should be sur- rounded next day with rogues enough, — perhaps more than our pitch- kettle would dispose of for us. We, therefore, got all our things on board the same evening, and the next morning were ready to sail. In the meantime, lying at an anchor some distance from the shore, we were not so much concerned, being now in a fighting posture as well as in a sailing posture, if any enemy had presented. The next day, having finished our work within board, and finding our ship was perfectly healed of all her leaks, Ave set sail. We would have gone into the bay of Tonquin, for wo wanted to inf rm 458 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES ourselves of what was to be known concerning the Dutch ships that had been there ; but we durst not stand in there, because we had seen several ships go in, as we supposed, but a little before ; so we kept on north-east, towards the isle of Formoso, as much afraid of being seen by a Dutch or English merchant ship, as a Dutch or English merchant ship in the Mediterranean is of an Algerine man-of-war. When we were thus got to sea, we kept on north-east, as if we would go to the Manillas or the Philippine islands, and this we did, that we might not fall into the way of any of the European ships ; and then we steered north again, till we came to the latitude of twenty-two degrees twenty minutes, by which means we made the island of For- moso directly, where we came to an anchor, in order to get water and fresh provisions, which the people there, who are very courteous and civil in their manners, supplied us with willingly, and dealt very fairly and punctually with us in all their agreements and bargains, which is what we did not find among other people, and may be owing to the re- mains of Christianity, which was once planted here by a Dutch mission of Protestants, and is a testimony of what I have often observed, namely, that the Christian religion always civilizes the people, and reforms their manners, where it is received, whether it works saving effects upon them or not. From hence we sailed still north, keeping the coast of China at an equal distance, till we knew we were beyond all the ports of China where, our European ships usually come ; but being resolved, if possi- ble, not to fall into any of their hands, especially in this country, where as our circumstances were, we could not fail of being entirely ruined; nay, so great was my fear in particular, as to my being taken by them, that I believe firmly I would much rather have chosen to fall into the hands of the Spanish Inquisition. Being now come to the latitude of thirty degrees, we resolved to put into the first trading port we should come at ; and, standing in for the shore, a boat came off two leagues to us, with an old Portuguese pilot on board, who, knowing us to be a European ship, came to offer his service, which, indeed, we were very glad of, and took him on board ; upon which, without asking us whither we would go, he dismissed the boat he came in, and sent it back. I thought it was now so much in our choice to make the old man carry us whither we would, that I began to talk to him about carrying us to the Gulf of Nanquin, which is the most northern part of the coast of China. The old man said he knew the Gulf of J^anquin very well; but, smiling, asked us what we would do there ? - told him we would sell our cargo, and purchase China wares, OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 459 calicoes, raw silks, tea, wrought silks, &c. and so would return by the same course we came. He told us our best port had been to have put in at Macao, where we could not fail of a market for our opium to our satisfaction, and might, for our money, have purchased all sorts of China goods as cheap as we could at Nanquin. Not being able to put the old man out of his talk, of which he was very opinionated, or conceited, I told him we were gentlemen as well as merchants, and that we had a mind to go and see the great city of Pekin, and the famous court of the monarch of China. " Why, then," says the old man, "you should go to Ningpo, where, by the river that runs into the sea there, you may go up within five leagues of the great canal." — This canal is a navigable made stream, which goes through the heart of all that vast empire of China, crosses all the rivers, passes some considerable hills by the help of sluices and gates, and goes up to the city of Pekin, being in length near two hundred and seventy leagues. " Well," said I, " Seignior Portuguese, but that is not our business now ; the great question is, if you can carry us up to the city of Nan- quin, from whence we can travel to Pekin afterwards?" — "Yes," he said, " he could do so very well ; and there was a great Dutch ship gone up that way just before." This gave me a little shock ; a Dutch ship was now our terror, and we had much rather have met the devil, at least, if he had not come in too frightful a figure. We depended upon it that a Dutch ship would be our destruction, for we were in no condition to fight them ; all the ships they trade with in those parts being of great burden, and of much greater force than we were. The old man found me a little confused, and under some concern, when he named a Dutch ship ; and said to me, " Sir, you need be under no apprehension of the Dutch ; I suppose they are not now at war with your. nation." — "No," said I, " that's true ; but I know not what lib- erties men may take when they are out of the reach of the laws of their country." — " Why," said he, " you are no pirates ; what need you fear? They will not meddle with peaceable merchants, sure." If I had any blood in my body that did not fly up into my face at that word, it Avas hindered by some stop in the vessels appointed by nature to circulate it ; for it put me into the greatest disorder and con- fusion imaginable ; nor was it possible for me to conceal it so, but that the old man easily perceived it. " Sir," said he, " I find you are in some disorder in your thoughts at my talk ; pray be pleased to go which way you think fit, and de- pend upon it, I'll do you all the service I can." — "Why, seignior," naid I, " it is true I am a little unsettled in my resolution at this time, 460 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES whither to go in particular; and I am something more so for what you said about pirates. I hope there are no pirates in these seas ; we are but in ill condition to meet with them ; for you see we have but a small force, and but very weakly manned." " sir," said he, " do not be concerned ; I do not know that there have been any pirates in these seas these fifteen years, except one, which was seen, as I hear, in the bay of Siam, about a month since ; but you may be assured she is gone to the southward; nor was she a ship of any great force, or fit for the work ; she was not built for a privateer, but was run away with by a reprobate crew that were on board, after the captain and some of his men had been murdered by the Malaccans, at or near the island of Sumatra." "What!" said I, seeming to know nothing of the matter, "did they murder the captain?" — "No," said he, "I do not understand that they murdered him ; but as they afterwards ran away with the ship, it is generally believed they betrayed him into the hands of the Malac- cans, who did murder him; and, perhaps, they procured them to do it." — "Why then," said I, "they deserved death as much as if they had done it themselves." — "Nay," said the old man, "they do deserve it, and they will certainly have it if they light upon any English or Dutch ship ; for they have all agreed together, that if they meet that rogue, they Avill give him no quarter," "But," said I to him, "you say the pirate is gone out of these seas; how can they meet with him then?" — "Why, that is true," said he, "they do say so ; but he was, as I tell you, in the bay of Siam, in the river Cambodia, and was discovered there by some Dutchmen who be- longed to the ship, and who were left on shore when they ran away with her ; and some English and Dutch traders being in the river, they were within a little of taking him. Nay," said he, "if the foremost boats had been well seconded by the rest, they had certainly taken him ; but he, finding only two boats within reach of him, tacked about, and fired at these two, and disabled them before the others came up; and then, standing ofi" to sea, the others were not able to follow him, and so he got away. But they have all so exact a description of the ship, that they will be sure to know him ; and, wherever they find him, they have vowed to give no quarter to either the captain or seamen, but to hang them all up at the yard-arm." "What!" said I, "will they execute them, right or wrong ; hang them first, and judge them afterwards ?" — " sir !" said the old pilot, "there is no need to make a formal business of it with such rogues as those; let them tie them back to back, and 3 3t them a-diving; it is no more than they rightly deserve." OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 461 I knew I had ray old man fast aboard, and that he could do me no harm; so I turned short upon liim. "Well, seignior," said I, "and this is the very reason why I would have you carry us to Nanquin, and not to put back to Macao, or to any other part of the country where the English or Dutch ships come ; for be it known to you, seignior, those captains of the English and Dutch ships are a parcel of rash, proud, insolent fellows, that neither know what belongs to justice, or how to behave themselves as the laws of God and nature direct; but being proud of their offices, and not understanding their power, they would act the murderers to punish robbers ; would take upon them to insult men falsely accused, and determine them guilty without due inquiry ; and perhaps I may live to call some of them to an account of it, where they may be taught how justice is to be executed ; and that no man ought to be treated as a criminal, till some evidence may be had of the crime, and that he is the man." With this I told him, that this was the very ship they had attacked ; and gave him a full account of the skirmish we had with their boats, and how foolishly and coward-like they had behaved. I told him all the story of our buying the ship, and how the Dutchmen served us. I told him the reasons I had to believe that this story of killing the mas- ter by the Malaccans was not true, as also the running away with the ship ; but that it was all a fiction of their own, to suggest that the men were turned pirates ; and they ought to have been sure it was so, before they had ventured to attack us by surprise, and oblige us to resist them ; adding, that they would have the blood of those men who were killed there, in our just defence, to answer for. The old man was amazed at this relation, and told us, we were very much in the right to go a#ay to the north ; and that if he might ad- vise us, it should be to sell the ship in China, which we might very well do, and buy or build another in the country: "And," said he, "though you will not get so good a ship, yet you may get one able enough to carry you and all your goods back again to Bengal, or any- where else." I told him I would take his advice when I came to any port where I could find a ship for my turn, or get any customer to buy this. He replied, I should meet with customers enough for the ship at Nanquin, and that a Chinese junk would serve me very well to go back again ; and that he would procure me people both to buy one and sell the other. "Well, but, seignior," says I, "as you say they know the ship so well, I may, perhaps, if I follow your measures, be instrumental to b^ng some honest, innocent men, into a terrible broil, and perhaps be 462 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES murdered in cold blood ; for v/herever they find the ship, tkey will prove the guilt upon the men, by proving this was the ship ; and so innocent men may probably be overpowered and murdered." — "Why," said the old man, "I'll find out a way to prevent that also; for as I know all those commanders you speak of very well, and shall see them all as they pass by, I will be sure to set them to rights in the thing, and let them know that they had been so much in the wrong; that though the people who were on board at first might run away with the ship, yet it was not true that they had turned pirates ; and that in particular those were not the men that first went ofi" with the ship, but innocently* bought her for their trade ; and I am persuaded they will so far believe me, as, at least, to act more cautiously for the time to come." — "Well," said I, "an^ will you deliver one message to them from me?" — "Yes, I will," says he, "if you will give it under your hand in writing, that I may be able to prove it came from you, and not out of my own head." I answered, that I would readily give it him under my hand. So I took a pen and ink, and paper, and wrote at large the story of assaulting me with the long-boats, &c., the pre- tended reason of it, and the unjust, ci'uel design of it ; and concluded to the commanders, that they had done what they not only should have been ashamed of, but also, that if ever they came to England, and I lived to see them there, they should all pay dearly for it, if the laws of my country were not grown out of use before I arrived there. My old pilot read this over and over again, and asked me several times if I would stand to it. I answered, I would stand to it as long as I had any thing left in the world ; being sensible that I should, one time or other, find an opportunity to put it home to them. But we had no occasion ever to let the pilot cari^ this letter, for he nevei went back again. While those things were passing between us, by way of discourse, we went forward directly for Nanquin, and, in about thirteen days' sail, came to anchor at the south-west point of the great Grulf of Nanquin, where, by the way, I came by accident to under- stand, that the two Dutch ships were gone that length before me, and that I should certainly fall into their hands. I consulted my partner again in this exigency, and he was as much at a loss as I was, and would very gladly have been safe on shore almost anywhere. How- ever, I was not in such a perplexity neither, but I asked the old pilot if there was no creek or harbour which I might put into, and pursue my business with the Chinese privately, and be in no danger of the enemy. He told me, if I would sail to the southward about two-and- forty leagues, there was a little port called Quinchang, where the fathers of the mission usually landed from Macao, on their progress to OF ROBINSON CRUSOE, 463 teach the Christian religion to the Chinese, and where no European ships ever put .in : and if I thought proper to put in there, I might consider what farther course to take when I was on sliore. He con- fessed, he said, it was not a phace for merchants, except that at some certain times they had a kind of a fair there, when the merchants from Japan came over thither to buy the Chinese merchandises. We all agreed to go back to this place : the name of the port, as he called it, I may, perhaps, spell wrong, for I do not particularly remem- ber it, having lost this, together with the names of many other places set down in a little pocket-book, which was spoiled by the water, on an accident which I shall relate in its order : but this I remember, that the Chinese or Japanese merchants we correspond with, call it by a different name from that which our Portuguese pilot gave it, and pro- nounced it as above, Quinchang. As we were unanimous in our resolutions to go to this place, we weighed the next day, having only gone twice on shore, where we were to get fresh water ; on both which occasions the people of the country were very civil to us, and brought us abundance of things to sell to us ; I mean of provisions, plants, roots, tea, rice, and some fowls ; but nothing without money. We came to the other port (the wind being contrary) not till five days ; but it was very much to our satisfaction, and I was joyful, and I may say thankful, when I set my foot safe on shore, resolving, and my partner too, that if it was possible to dispose of ourselves and effects any other way, though not every way to our satisfaction, we would never set one foot on board that unhappy vessel again : and indeed I must acknowledge, that of all the circumstances of life that ever I had any experience of, nothing makes mankind so completely miserable as that of being in constant fear. Well does the Scripture say, "The fear of man brings a snare;" it is a life of death, and the mind is so entirely oppressed by it, that it is capable of no relief; the animal spirits sink, and all the vigour of nature, which usually sup- ports men under other afflictions, and is present to them in the greatest exigencies, fails them here. Nor did it fail of its usual operations upon the fancy, by heighten- ing every danger ; representing the English and Dutch captains to be men incapable of hearing reason, or distinguishing between honest men and rogues ; or between a story calculated for our own turn, made out of nothing, on purpose to deceive, and a true genuine account of our whole voyage, progress, and design ; for we might many ways have convinced any reasonable creature that we were not pirates ; the good«» we had c^ board, the course Ave steered, our frankly showing ourselv'>8. 464 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES and entering into such and such ports — even our very manner, the force we had, the numher of men, the few arms, little ammunition, and short provisions, — all these would have served to convince any man that we were no pirates. The opium, and other goods we had on board, would make it appear the ship had been at Bengal ; the Dutchmen, who, it was said, had the names of all the men that were in the ship, might easily see that we were a mixture of English, Portuguese, In- dians, and but two Dutchmen on board. These, and many other particu- lar circumstances, might have made it evident to the understanding of any commander, whose hands we might fall into, that we were no pirates. But fear, that blind useless passion, worked another way and threw us into the vapours ; it bewildered our understandings, and set the imagination at work, to form a thousand terrible things, that, perhaps, might never happen. We first supposed, as indeed everybody had related to us, that the seamen on board the English and Dutch ships, but especially the Dutch, were so enraged at the name of a pirate, and especially at our beating off their boats, and escaping, that they would not give themselves leave to inquire whether we were pirates or no ; but would execute us off-hand, as we call it, without giving us any room for a defence. We reflected, that there was really so much apparent evidence before them, that they would scarce inquire after any more : as, first, that the ship was certainly the same, and that some of the seamen among them knew her, and had been on board her : and secondly, that when we had intelligence at the river Cambodia, that they were coming down to examine us, we fought their boats, and fled : so that we made no doubt but they were as fully satisfied of our being- pirates, as we were satisfied of the contrary ; and I often said, I knew not but I should have been apt to have taken the like circumstances for evidence, if the tables were turned, and my case was theirs ; and have made no scruple of cutting all the crew to pieces, without be- lieving, or perhaps considering, what they might have to offer in their defence. , But let that be how it will, those were our apprehensions ; and both my partner and I too scarce slept a night without dreaming of halters and yard-arms ; that is to say, gibbets — of fighting, and being taken — of killing and being killed ; and one night I was in such a fury in my dream, fancying the Dutchmen had boarded us, and I was knocking one of their seamen down, that I struck my double fist against the side of the cabin I lay in, with such a force as wounded my hand most grievously, broke my knuckles, and cut and bruised the flesh ; so that it not only waked me out of my sleep but I was once afraid I should have lost two of my fingers. OF ROBINSON CRUSOE 465 Another apprehension I had, was of the cruel usage we should meet with from them, if we fell into their hands : then the story of Am- bojna came into my head, and how the Dutch might, perhaps, torture us, as they did our countrymen there ; and make some of our men, by extremity of torture, confess those crimes they were never guilty of — own themselves, and all of us to be pirates ; and so they would put us to death, with a formal appearance of justice ; and that they might be tempted to do this for the gain of our ship and cargo, which was worth four or five thousand pounds, put all together. These things tormented me, and my partner too, night and day ; nor did we consider that the captains of ships have no authority to act thus ; and if we had surrendered prisoners to them, they could not answer the destroying us, or torturing us, but would be accountable for it when they came into their own country. This, I say, gave me no satisfaction ; for, if they will act thus with us, what advantage would it be to us that they would be called to an account for it ? or, if we were first to be murdered, what satisfaction would it be to us to have them punished when they came home ? I cannot refrain taking notice here what reflections I now had upon the past variety of my particular circumstances ; how hard I thought it was, that I, who had spent forty years in a life of continued difiB- culties, and was at last come, as it were, at the port or haven which all men drive at, namely, to have rest and plenty, should be a volun- teer in new sorrows, by my own unhappy choice ; and that I, who had escaped so many dangers in my youth, should now come to be hanged in my old age, and in so remote a place, for a crime I was not in the least inclined to, much less guilty of; and in a place and circumstance, ivhere innocence was not like to be any protection at all to me. After these thoughts, something of religion would come in ; and I would be considering that this seemed to me to be a disposition of im- mediate Providence ; and I ought to look upon it, and submit to it as such ; that although I was innocent as to men, I was far from being innocent as to my Maker ; and I ought to look in, and examine what other crimes in my life were most obvious to me, and for which Pro- vidence might justly inflict this punishment as a retribution ; and that 1 ought to submit to this, just as I would to a shipwreck, if it had pleased God to have brought such a disaster upon me. In its turn, natural courage would sometimes take its place ; and then I would be talking myself up to vigorous resolution, that I would not be taken to be barbarously used by a parcel of merciless wretches, in cold blood ; that it was much better to have fallen into the hands 0^ the savages, who were n en-eaters, and who, I was sure, would 30 466 THE LIFE AND AL'VENTURES feast upon me, when they had taken me, than by those who would perhaps glut their rage upon me by inhuman tortures and barbarities : that, in the case of the savages, I always resolved to die fighting to the last gasp ; and why should I not do so now, seeing it was much more dreadful, to me at least, to think of falling into these men's hands, than ever it was to think of being eaten by men; for the savages, give them their due, would not eat a man till he was dead ; and killed him first as we do a bullock ; but that these men had manj arts beyond the cruelty of death. Whenever these thoughts prevailed, I was sure to put myself into a kind of fever, with the agitations of a supposed fight : my blood would boil, and my eyes sparkle, as if I was engaged; and I always resolved that I would take no quarter at their hands, but even at last, if I could resist no longer, I would blow up the ship, and all that was in her, and leave them but little booty to boast of. But by how much the greater weight the anxieties and perplexities of those things were to our thoughts while we were at sea, by so much the. greater was our satisfaction when we saw ourselves on shore ; and my partner told me he dreamed that he had a very heavy load upon his back, which he was to carry up a hill, and found that he was not able to stand long under it ; but the Portuguese pilot came, and took it oflf his back, and the hill disappeared, the ground before him show- ing all smooth and plain : and truly it was so ; we were all like men who had a load taken ofi" their backs. CHAPTER XIII. We arrive in China in safety — Dispose of the Ship — Description of the Inhabitants — Arrive at Pekin, and find an opportunity of returning to Europe. For my part, I had a Aveight taken off from my heart, that I was not able any longer to bear ; and, as I said above, we resolved to go no more to sea in that ship. When we came on shore, the old pilot, who was now our friend, got us a lodging, and a warehouse for our goods, Avhich, by the way, was much the same : it was a little house or hut, with a large house joining to it, all built with canes, and palisadoed round with large canes, to keep out pilfering thieves, of which it seems there were not a few in the country. However, the magistrates allowed us a little guard, and we had a soldier with a kind of halbert, or half- pike, whrt stood sentinel at our door, to whom we allowed a pint of OF ROlilxNSUN CRUSOE. -167 rice, and a little piece of money, about the value of threepence, per day ; so that our goods wore kept very safe. The fair or mart usually kept in this place had been over for some time • however, we found that there were three or four junks in the river! and two Japanners; I mean ships from Japan, with goods which they 'had bought in Ciiina, and were not gone away, having Japanese merchants on shore. The first thing our old Portuguese pilot did for us, was to bring us acquainted with three missionary Romish priests, who were in the town, and who had been there some time, converting the people to Christian- ity • but we thought they made but poor work of it, and made them but .orry Christians when they had done. However, that was not our business. One of these was a Frenchman, whom they called Father Simon ; he was a jolly, well-conditioned man, very free in his conver- sation, not seeming so serious and grave as the other two did, one of whom was a Portuguese, and the other a Genoese; but Father Simon was courteous, easy in his manner, and very agreeable company; the other two were more reserved, seemed rigid and austere, and applied seriously to the work they came about, namely, to talk with, and insin- uate themselves among the inhabitants wherever they had opportunity. We often ate and drank with those men ; and though, I must confess, the conversion, as they call it, of the Chinese to Christianity, is so far from the true conversion required to bring heathen people to the taith of Christ, that it seems to amount to little more than letting them know the name of Christ, say some prayers to the Virgin Mary and her Son, in a tongue which they understand not, and to cross them- selves, and the like; yet it must be confessed, that these religious whom we call missionaries, have a firm belief that these people should be saved, and that they are the instrument of it: and, on this account, thev undergo not only the fatigue of the voyage, and hazards of living in such places, but oftentimes death itself, with the most violent tor- tures, for the sake of this work; and it would be a great want of charity in us, whatever opinion we have of the work itself, and the manner of their doing it, if we should not have a good opinion of then- zeal, who undertake it with so many hazards, and who have no pros- pect of the least temporal advantage to themselves. But to return to my story: This French priest. Father Simon, was appointed, it seems, by order of the chief of the mission, to go up to Pekin, the royal seat of the Chinese emperor ; and waited only for an- . other priest, who was ordered to come to him from Macao, to go along with him ; and we scarce ever met together but he was inviting me to go that journey with him, tel'ing me how he would show me all the 468 THE LIFE AND ADYilNTURES glorious things of that mighty empire, and among the rest, the great- est city in the world; "a city," said he, "that your London and our Paris put together, cannot be equal to." This was the city of Pekin, which, I confess, is very great, and infinitely full of people ; but as I looked on those things with different eyes from other men, so I shall give my opinion of them in a few words, when I come, in the course of my travels, to speak more particularly of them. But, first, I come to my friar, or missionary : Dining with him one day, and being very merry together, I showed some little inclination to go with him ; and he pressed me and my partner very hard, and with a great many persuasions, to consent. " Why, Father Simon," says my partner, " why should you desire our company so much ? You know we are heretics, and you do not love us, nor can keep us compa- ny with any pleasure." — " Oh," says he, "you may perhaps be good Catholics in time ; my business here is to convert heathens, and who knows but I may convert you too ?" — " Very well, father," said I, " so you will preach to us all the way." — " I won't be troublesome to you," said he; "our religion does not divest us of good manners; besides," said he, "we are all here like countrymen; and so we are, compared to the place we are in ; and if you are Huguenots, and I a Catholic, we may be all Christians at last; at least," said he, "we are all gen- tlemen, and we may converse so, without being uneasy to one another." I liked that part of his discourse very well, and it began to put me in mind of my priest that I had left in the Brazils ; but this Father Simon did not come up to his character by a great deal ; for though Father Simon had no appearance of a criminal levity in him neither, yet he had not that fund of Christian zeal, strict piety, and sincere affection to religion, that my other good ecclesiastic had, of whom I have said so much. But to leave him a little, though he never left us, nor soliciting us to go with him, but we had something else before us at that time ; for we had all this while our ship and our merchandise to dispose of; and we began to be very doubtful what we should do, for we were now in a place of very little business : and once I was about to venture to sail for the river of Kilam, and the city of Nanquin; but Providence seemed now more visibly, as I thought, than ever, to concern itself in our affairs ; and I was encouraged from this very time to think I should, one way or other, get out of this entangled circumstance, and be brought home to my own country again, though I had not the least view of the manner ; and when I began sometimes to think of it, could not imagine by what method it was to be done. Providence, I say, began here to clear up our way a little ; and the first thing that off'ered OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 469 was, that our old Portuguese pilot brought a Japan merchant to us, who began to inquire what goods we had ; and, in the first place, he bought all our opium, and gave us a very good price for it, paying us in gold by weight, some in small pieces of their own coin, and some in small wedges, of about ten or eleven ounces each. While we were dealing with him for our opium, it came into my head that he might, perhaps, deal with us for the ship too ; and I ordered the interpreter to propose it to him. He shrunk up his shoulders at it when it was first proposed to him ; but in a few days after, he came to me, with one of the missionary priests for his interpreter, and told me he had a pro- posal to make to me, and that was this : he had bought a great quan- tity of goods of us when he had no thoughts (or proposals made to him) of buying the ship, and that, therefore, he had not money enough to pay for the ship ; but if I would let the same men who were in the ship navigate her, he would hire the ship to go to Japan, and would send them from thence to the Philippine Islands with another loading, which he would pay the freight of before they went to Japan : and that, at their return, he would buy the ship. I began to listen to this proposal, and so eager did my head still run upon rambling, that 1 could not but begin to entertain a notion myself of going with him, and so to sail from the Philippine Islands away to the South Seas ; and accordingly I asked the Japanese merchant if he would not hire us to the Philippine Islands, and discharge us there. He said, no, he could not do that, for then he could not have the return of his cargo ; but he would discharge us in Japan, he said, at the ship's return. Well, still I was for taking him at that proposal, and going myself; but ray partner, wiser than myself, persuaded me from it, representing the dan- gers, as well of the seas, as of the Japanese, who are a false, cruel, treacherous people; and then of the Spaniards at the Philippines, more false, more cruel, more treacherous than they. But, to bring this long turn of our affairs to a conclusion, the first thing we had to do was to consult with the captain of the ship, and with the men, and know if they were willing to go to Japan ; and, while I was doing this, the young man whom, as I said, my nephew had left with me as my companion for my travels, came to mo and told me, that he thought the voyage promised very fiiir, and that there was a great prospect of advantage, and he would be very glad if I undertook it ; but that if I would not, and would give him leave, he would go as a merchant, or how T pleased to order him ; and if ever he came to England, and I was there, and alive, he would render me a faithful account of his success, and it should be as much mine as I pleased. 470 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES I was really loth to part with him ; but considering the prospect of advantage, which was really considerable, and that he was a young fellow, as likely to do well in it as any I knew, I inclined to let him go ; but first I told him, I would consult my partner, and give him an answer the next day. My partner and I discoursed about it, and my partner made a most generous offer : he told me, " You know it has been an unlucky ship, and we both resolved not to go to sea in it again ; if your steward (so he called my man) will venture the voyage, I'll leave my share of the vessel to him, and let him make the best of it ; and if we live to meet in England, and he meets with success abroad, he shall account for one half of the profits of the ship's freight to us, the other shall be his own. If my partner, who was no way concerned with my young man, made him such an offer, I could do no less than offer him the same ; and all the ship's company being willing to go with him, we made over half the ship to him in property, and took a writing from him oblig- ing him to account for the other ; and away he went to Japan. The Japan merchant proved a very punctual honest man to him, protected him at Japan, and got him a license to come on shore, which the Europeans in general have not lately obtained, paid him his freight very punctually, sent him to the Philippines, loaded with Japan and China wares, and a supercargo of their own, who, trafficking with the Spaniards, brought back European goods again, and a great quantity of cloves and other spice ; and there he was not only paid his freight very well, and at a very good price, but being not willing to sell the ship then, the merchant furnished him with goods on his own account ; that for some money and some spices of his own, which he brought with him, he went back to the Manillas, to the Spaniards, where he sold his cargo very well. Here, having gotten a good acquaintance at Manilla, he got his ship made a free ship ; and the governor of Manilla hired him to go to Acapulco, in America, on the coast of Mexico ; and gave him a license to land there, and travel to Mexico ; and to pass in any Spanish ship to Europe, with all his men. He made the voyage to Acapulco very happily, and there he sold his ship ; and having there also obtained allowance to travel by land to Porto Bello, he found means, some how or other, to go to Jamaica with all his treasure ; and about eight years after came to England, exceeding rich, of which I shall take notice in its place ; in the mean time, 1 return to our particular affairs. Being 'now to part with the ship and ship's company, it came before us, of course, to consider what recompense we should give to the two men that gave us such timely notice of the design against us in the 472 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES river of Cambodia. The truth was, they had done us a considerable r^ervice, and deserved well at our hands ; though, by the way, they were a couple of rogues too : for, as they believed the story of our being pirates, and that we had really run away with the ship, they came down to us, not only to betray the design that was formed against us, but to go to sea with us as pirates ; and one of them confessed afterwards, that nothing else but the hopes of going a-roguing brought him to do it. However, the service they did us was not the less; and theiefore, as I had promised to be grateful to them, I first ordered the money to be paid to them, which they said was due to them on board their respective ships ; that is to say, the Englishman nineteen months' pay, and to the Dutchman seven ; and, ov(„r and above that, I gave each of them a small sum of money in gold, which contented them very well : then I made the Englishman gunner of the ship, the gun- ner being now made second mate and purser ; the Dutchman I made boatswain : so they were both very well pleased, and proved very serviceable, being both able seamen, and very stout fellows. We were now on shore in China. If I thought myself banished, and remote from my own country, at Bengal, where I had many ways to get home for my money, what could I think of myself now, when I was gotten about a thousand leagues farther off from home, and per- fectly destitute of all manner of prospect of return ! All we had for it was this : that in about four months' time there was to be another fair at that place where we were, and then we might be able to purchase all sorts. of the manufactures of the country, and withal might possibly find some Chinese junks or vessels from Nanquin, that would be to be sold, and would carry us and our goods whither we pleased. This I liked very well, and resolved to wait ; besides, as our particular persons were not obnoxious, so if any English or Dutch ships came thither, perhaps we might have an oj^portunity to load our goods, and get passage to some other place in India nearer home. , Upon these hopes we resolved to continue here ; but, to divert our- selves, we took two or three journeys into the country. First, we went ten days' journey to see the city of Nanquin, a city well worth seeing, indeed : they say it has a million of people in it, which, how- ever, I do not believe ; it is' regularly built, the streets all exactly straight, and cross one another in direct lines, which gives the figure of it great advantage. But when I came to compare the miserable people of these coun- tries with ours ; their fabrics, their manner of living, their govern- raert, their religion, their ■"'^'alt'} , and their glory (as some call it), I OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 473 must confess, I do not so much as think it wortl> naming, or worth my while to write of, or any that shall conie after nie to read. It was very observable, that we wondt-r at the grandeur, the riches, the pomp, the ceremonies, the government, the manufactures, the com- merce, and the conduct of these people ; not that they are to be won- dered at, or, indeed, in the least to be regarded ; but because, having first a notion of the barbarity of those countries, the rudeness and the ignorance that prevail there, we do not expect to find any such things so far off. Otherwise, what are their buildings to the palaces and royal build- ings of Europe? What their trade, to the universal commerce of England, Holland, France, and Spain ? What their cities to ours, for wealth, strength, gaiety of apparel, rich furniture, and an infinite variety ? What are their ports, supplied with a few junk.s and barks, to our navigation, our merchants' fleets, our large and powerful navies? Our city of London has more trade than all their mighty empire. One English, or Dutch, or French man of war, of eighty guns, would fight with and destroy all the shipping of China. But the greatness of their wealth, their trade, the power of their government, and strength of their armies, are surprising to us, because, as I have said, considering them as a barbarous nation of pagans, little better than savages, we did not expect such things among them ; and this, indeed, is the advantage with which all their greatness and power is repre- sented to us: otherwise, it is in itself nothing at all; for, as I have said of their ships, so it may be said of their armies and troops, — all the forces of their empire, though they were to bring two millions of men into the field together, would be able to do nothing but ruin the country, and starve themselves. If they were to besiege a strong town in Flanders, or to fight a disciplined army, one line of German cuirassiers, or of French cavalry, would overthrow all the horse of China ; a million of their foot could not stand before one embattled body of our infantry, posted so as not to be surrounded, though they were not to be one to twenty in number, — nay, I do not boast, if I say, that thirty thousand German or English foot, and ten thousand French horse, would fairly beat all the forces of China. And so of our fortified towns, and of the art of our engineers, in assaulting and defending towns: there is not a fortified town in China could hold out one month against the batteries and attacks of a European arinv ; and, at the same time, all tlio avuiies of China could never take such a town as Dunkirk, provided it was not starved, — no; not in ten years' ijiege. They have firearms, it is true, but they are awkward, clumsy, and uncertain in going oQ" — (hey have powder, but it is of no strength 4'74 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES — they have neither discipline in the field, exercise in their ai-ms, skill to attack, nor temper to retreat. And therefore, I must confess, it seeoed strange to me Avhen I came home, and heard our people say smh fine things of the power, riches, glory, magnificence, and trade of the Chinese, because I saw and knew that they were a contemptible herd or crowd of ignorant, sordid slaves, subjected to a government qualified only to rule such a people ; and, in a word — for I am now launched quite beside my design — I say, in a Avord, were not its dis- tance inconceivably great from Muscovy, and were not the Muscovite empire almost as rude, impotent, and ill governed a crowd of slaves as they, the Czar of Muscovy might, with much ease, drive them all out of their country, and conquer them in one campaign ; and had the czar, who, I since hear, is a growing prince, and begins to appear for- midable in the world, fallen this way instead of attacking the warlike Swedes (in which attempt none of the powers of Europe would have envied or interrupted him), he might, by this time, have been Emperor of China, instead of being beaten by the King of Sweden at Narva, when the latter was not one to six in number. As their strength and their grandeur, so their navigation, commerce, and husbandry, are im- perfect and impotent, compared to the same things in Europe. Also, in their knowledge, their learning, their skill in the sciences : they have globes and spheres, and a smatch of the knowledge of the mathema- tics ; but when you come to inquire into their knowledge, how short- sighted are the Avisest of their students ! They know nothing of the motion of the heavenly bodies ; and so grossly, absurdly ignorant, that when the sun is eclipsed, they think it is a great dragon has assaulted and run away with it, and they fall a clattering with all the drums and kettles in the country, to fright the monster away, just as we do to hive a swarm of bees. As this is the only excursion of this kind which I have made in all the account I have given of my travels, so I shall make no more descriptions of countries and people : it is none of my business, or any part of my design ; but giving an account of my own adventures, through a life of infinite Avanderings, and a long variety of changes, which, perhaps, few have heard the like of, I shall say nothing of the mighty places, desert countries, and numerous people, I have yet to pass through, more than relates to ray own story, and which my con- cern among them will make necessary. I was now, as near as I can compute, in the heart of China, about the latitude of thirty degrees north of the line, for we were returning from Nanquin ; I had, indeed a mind to see the city of Pekin, which I had heard so much of, and Father Simon importuned me daily to do it. At length his time of OF ROBIXSON CRUSOE. 475 going away being set, and the other missionary who was to go with him being arrived from Macao, it was necessary that we should resolve either to go, or not to go; so I referred liim to my partner, and left it wholly to his choice, who at length resolve.l it in the affirmative, and we prepared for our journey. We set out with very good advantage, as to finding the way; for we got leave to travel in the retinue of one of their mandarins, a kind of viceroy, or principal magistrate, in the province where they reside, and who take great state upon them, tra- velling with great attendance, and with great homage from the people, Avho are sometimes greatly impoverished by them, because all the countries they pass through are obliged to furnish provisions for them, and all their attendants. That which I particularly observed, as to our travelling with his baggage, was this ; that though we received sufficient provisions, both for ourselves and our horses, from the coun- try, as belonging to the mandarin, yet we were obliged to pay for every thing we had after the market price of the country, and the mandarin's steward, or commissary of the provisions, collected it duly from us ; so that our travelling in the retinue of the mandarin, though it was a very great kindness to us, was not such a mighty favour in him, but was, indeed, a great advantage to him, considering there were about thirty other people travelling in the same manner besides us, under the protection of his retinue, or, as we may call it, under his convoy. This, I say, was a great advantage to him ; for the country furnished all the provisions for nothing, and he took all our money for them. We were five-and-twenty days travelling to Pekin, through a coun- try infinitely populous, but miserably cultivated : the husbandry, eco- nomy, and the way of living, all very miserable, though they boast so much of the industry of the people, — I say miserable ; and so it is, if we, who understand how to live, were to endure it, or to compare it with our own ; but not so to these poor wretches, who know no other. The pride of these people is infinitely great, and exceeded by nothing but their poverty, which adds to that which I call their misery. I must needs think the naked savages of America live much more happy, because, as they have nothing, so they desire nothing ; whereas, these are proud and insolent, and, in the main, are mere beggars and drudges : their ostentation is inexpressible, and is chiefly showed in their clothes and buildings, and in the keeping multitudes of servants or slaves, and, which is to the last degree ridiculous, their contompt of all the world but themselves. I must confess, I travelled more pleasantly afterwards, in tne deserts and vast wildernesses of Grand Tartary, than here : and yet the roads here are well paved and well kept, and very convenient for travellers; ilQ THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES but nothing was more awkward to me than to see such a haughty, im- perious, insolent people, in the midst of the grossest simplicity and ignorance ; for all their famed ingenuity is no more. My friend Father Simon, and I, used to he very merry upon these occasions, to see the beggarly pride of those people. For example, coming by the house of a country gentleman, as Father Simon called him, about ten leagues off from the city of Nanquin, we had, first of all, the honour to ride with the master of the house about two miles ; the state he rode in was a perfect Don Quixotism, being a mixture of pomp and poverty. The habit of this greasy Don was very proper for a scaramouch, or merry-andrew, being a dirty calico, with all the tawdry trappings of a fool's coat, such as hanging sleeves, taffety, and cuts and slashes almost on every side ; it covered a rich taffety vest, as greasy as a butcher, and which testified, that his honour must needs be a most exquisite sloven. His horse was a poor, lean, starved, hobbling creature, such as in England might sell for about thirty or forty shillings ; and he had two slaves followed him on foot, to drive the poor creature along : he had a whip in his hand, and he belaboured the beast as fast about the head as his slaves did about the tail ; and thus he rode by us with about ten or twelve servants, and we were told he was going from the city to his country-seat, about half a league before us. We travelled on gently, but this figure of a gentleman rode away before us ; and as we stopped at a village about an hour to refresh us, when we came by the country seat of this great man, we saw him in a little place before his door, eating his repast : it was a kind of a garden, but he was easy to be seen ; and we were given to understand, that the more we looked on him, the better he would be pleased. He sat under a tree, something like the palmetto tree, which effect- uJilly shaded him over the head, and on the south side ; but under the tree also was placed a large umbrella, which made that part look well enough : he sat lolling back in a great elbow chair, being a heavy cor- pulent man, and his meat being brought him by two women slaves ; he had two more, whose office, I think, few gentlemen in Europe would accept of their service in, namely, one fed the squire with a spoon, and the other held the dish with one hand, and scraped off what he let fall upon his worship's beard and taffety vest, with the other; while the great fat brute thought it below him to employ his own hands in any of those familiar offices, which kings and monarchs would rather do than be troubled with the clumsy fingers of their servants. I took this time to think what pain men's pride puts them to, and how troublesome a haughty temper, thus ill managed, must be to a OF ROBINSON CUUSOB. 47T man of common sense ; and, leaving the po'^r wretch to please himself w ith our looking at him, as if we admired his pomp, whereas we really pitied and contemned him, we pursued our journey ; only Father Simon had the curiosity to stay, to inform himself what dainties the country justice had to feed on, in all his state, which he said he had the honour to taste of, and which was, I think, a dose that an English hound would scarce have eaten, if it had been offered him, namely, a mess of boiled rice, with a great piece of garlic in it, and a little bag filled with green pepper, and another plant which they have there, something like our ginger, but smelling like musk, and tasting like mustard, — all this was put together, and a small lump or piece of lean mutton boiled in it ; and this was his worship's repast, four or five servants more attendincr at a distance. If he fed them meaner than he was fed himself, the spice excepted, they must fare very coarsely indeed. As for our mandarin with whom we travelled, he was respected like a king: surrounded always with his gentlemen, and attended, in all his appearances, with such pomp that I saw little of him but at a dis- tance ; but this I observed, that there was not a horse in his retinue, but that our carriers' packhorses in England seem to me to look much better ; but they were so covered with equipage, mantles, trappings, and such like trumpery, that you cannot see whether they are fat or lean. In a word, we could scarce see any thing but their feet and their heads. I was noAv light-hearted, and all my trouble and perplexity that I had given an account of being over, I had no anxious thougiits about me, which made this journey much the pleasanter to me ; nor had I any ill accident attended me, only in the passing or fording a small river, my horse fell, and made me free of the country, as they call it ; that is to say, threw me in : the place was not deep, but it wetted me all over: I mention it, because it spoiled my pocket-book, wherein I had set down the names of several people and places which I had occa- sion to remember, and which, not taking due care of, the leaves rotted, and the words were never after to be read, to my great loss as to the names of some places which I touched at in this voyage. At length we arrived at Pekin : I had nobody with me but the youth, whom my nephew the captain had given me to attend me as a servant, and who proved very trusty and diligent; and my partner had nobody with him but one servant, who Avas a kinsman. As for the Portuguese pilot, he being desirous to see the court, we gave him his passage, that is to say, bore his charges for his company ; and to use him as an interpreter, for he understood the language of the country, and spoke good Erench and a little English; and, indeed, this old man was a most 4Y8 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES useful implement to us everywhere : for we had not been above a week at Pekin, when he came laughing: "Ah, Seignior Inglese," said he, "1 have something to tell you, will make your heart glad." — "My heart glad !" said I ; "what can that be ? I don't know any thing in this country can either give me joy or grief, to any great degree." — "Yes, yes," said the old man, in broken English, "make you glad, me sorrow ;" sorry, he would have said. — This made me more inquisitive. "Why," said I, "will it make you sorry?" — "Because," §aid he, " you have brought me here twenty-five days' journey, and will leave me to go back alone ; and which way shall I get to my port after- wards, without a ship, without a horse, without pecune ?" so he called money ; being his broken Latin, of which he had abundance to make us merry with. In short, he told us there was a great caravan of Muscovy and Polish merchants in the city, and that they were preparing to set out on their journey by land, to Muscovy, within four or five weeks, and he was sure we would take the opportunity to go with them, and leave him behind to go back alone. I confess I was surprised with this news ; a secret joy spread itself over my whole soul, which I cannot describe, and never felt before or since, and I had no power, for a good while, to speak a word to the old man ; but at last I turned to him : " How do you know this ?" said I ; " are you sure it is true?" — "Yes," he said, " I met this morning in the street, an old acquaintance of mine, an Armenian, or one you call a Grecian, who is among them ; he came last from Astracan, and was designing to go to Tonquin, where I for- merly knew him, but has altered his mind, and is now resolved to go back with the caravan to Moscow, and so down the river of Wolga to Astracan." — "Well, Seignior," said I, "do not be uneasy about being left to go back alone ; if this be a method for my return to England, it shall be your fault if you go back to Macao at all." — We then went to consult together what was to be done, and I asked my partner Avhat he thought of the pilot's news, and whether it would suit with his affairs : he told me he would do just as I would ; for he had settled all his aff"airs so well at Bengal, and left his effects in such good hands, that as we made a good voyage here, if he could vest it in China silks wrought and raw, such as might be worth the carriage, he would be content to go to England, and then make his voyage back to Bengal by the Company's ships. oi< iionrxsoN rursoE. 479 CHAPTER XIV. Set out by the Caravan — Account of the valuable Effects we took with us — Further Description of the Interior of China — Pass the Great Wall — Attacked by Tartars, who are dispersed by the Resolution of a Scots Merchant — The old Pilot saves my Life — We are again attacked, and defeat the Tartars. Having resolved upon this, we agreed, that, if our Portuguese pilot would go with us, we would bear his charges to Moscow, or to Eng- land, if he pleased ; nor, indeed, were we to be esteemed over-generous in that part neither, if we had not rewarded him further ; for the ser- vice he had done us was really worth all that, and more ; fur he had not only been a pilot to us at sea, but he had been also like a broker for us on shore ; and his procuring for us the Japan merchant was some hundreds of pounds in our pockets. So we consulted together about it ; and, being willing to gratify him, which was, indeed, but doing him justice, and very willing also to have him with us besides, for he was a most necessary man on all occasions, we agreed to give him a quan- tity of coined gold, which, as I compute it, came to about one hundred and seventy-five pounds sterling between us, and to bear his charges, both for himself and horse, except only a horse to carry his goods. Having settled this among ourselves, we called him to let him know what we had resolved : I told him, he had complained of our being like to let him go back alone, and I was now to tell him we were resolved he should not go back at all ; that as we had resolved to go to Europe with the caravan, we resolved also he should go with us, and that we called him to know his mind. He shook his head, and said it was a long journey, and he had no pecune to carry him thither, nor to sub- sist himself when he came thither. We told him, we believed it was so, and therefore we had resolved to do something for him, that siiould let him see how sensible we were of the service he had done us ; ami also how agreeable he was to us : and then I told him what we ha" ^-1 "" ")• as de«olale and unfit for use, and more especially, being so ^ery mote mlsodiflicult to send troops hither for ,ts defence; or we htd y i.bove two thousand miles to Muscovy, properly so ea le 1. ifter this we passed several great rivers, and two <•--;"->-. one of which wo were sixteen days passing over, and which as 1 s.m^ :: t called No Man's Land ; and, on the 13,h ;;f A-'';'; ^ -"; to the frontiers of the Muscovite dominions I think "' « ' •^' ° town, or fortress, whatever it might be called, '"l "; ^^ . ''^t I of Muscovy was called Argun, being on the wesa s de of t lii '- A;-" I could not but discover an infinite -""f-""": ".,.:„:" arrived in, as I called it, a Christian country; or; at h-as., ni a .ouul.y 490 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES governed by Christians : for though the Muscovites do, in my opinion, but just deserve the name of Christians, (yet such they pretend to be, and are very devout in their way). It would certainly occur to any man who travels the Avorld as [ have done, and who had any power of reflection ; I say, it would occur to him, to reflect, what a blessing it is to be brought into the world where the name of God, and of a Re- deemer, is known, worshipped, and adored — and not where the people, given up by Heaven to strong delusions, worship the devil, and pros- trate themselves to stocks and stones ; worship monsters, elements, horrible shaped animals, and statues, or images of monsters. Not a town or city we passed through but had their pagods, their idols, and their temples ; and ignorant people worshipping even the works of their own hands ! Now we came where, at least, a face of the Christian worship ap- peared, where the knee was bowed to Jesus ; and whether ignorantly or not, yet the Christian religion was owned, and the name of the true God was called upon and adored ; and it made the very recesses of my soul rejoice to see it. I saluted the brave Scotch merchant I men- tioned above, with my first acknowledgment of this ; and, taking him by the hand, I said to him, "Blessed be God, Ave are once again come among Christians !" He smiled, and answered, "Do not rejoice too soon, countryman ; these Muscovites are but an odd sort of Christians : and but for the name of it, you may see very little of the substance for some months further of our journey. "Well," said I, " but still it is better than paganism, and worship- ping of devils." — "Why, I'll tell you," said he, "except the Russian soldiers in garrisons, and a few of the inhabitants of the cities upon the road, all the rest of this country, for above a thousand miles farther, is inhabited by the worst and most ignorant of pagans." And so in- deed we found it. We Avere now launched into the greatest piece of solid earth, if I un- derstand any thing of the surface of the globe, that is to be found in any part of the world : we had at least twelve hundred miles to the sea, eastward ; we had at least two thousand to the bottom of the Baltic Sea, westward; and almost three thousand miles, if we left that sea and Avent on west to the British and French channels ; we had full five thousand miles to the Indian, or Persian Sea, south ; and about eight hundred miles to the Frozen Sea, north ; nay, if some people may be believed, there might be no sea north-east till we came round the pole, and consequently, into the north-west, and so had a continent of land into America, no mortal knows where ; though I could give some reasons why I believe that to be a mistake too OF KOIilNSON CRUSOE. 491 As we entered into the Muscovite dominions, a good while hefore we came to any considerable town, we had nothing to observe there but this ; first, that all the rivers run to the east. As I understood by the charts which some of our caravans had with them, it was plain that all those rivers ran into the great river Yarauur, or Gamraour. This river, by the natural course of it, must run into the East Sea, or Chinese Ocean. The story they tell us, that the mouth of this river is choked up with bulrushes of a monstrous growth, namely, three feet about, and twenty or thirty feet high, I must be allowed to say I believe no- thing of; but as its navigation is of no use, because there is no trade that way, the Tartars, to whom alone it belongs, dealing in nothing but cattle ; so nobody that ever I heard of, has been curious enough either to go down to the mouth of it in boats, or to come up from the mouth of it in ships; but this is certain, that this river running due east, in the latitude of sixty degrees, carries a vast concourse of rivers along with it, and finds an ocean to empty itself in that latitude ; so we are sure of sea there. Some leagues to the north of this river there are several consider- able rivers, whose streams run as due north as the Yamour runs east ; and these are all found to join their waters with the great river Tarta- rus, named so from the northernmost nations of the Mogul Tartars, who, the Chinese say, were the first Tartars in the world ; and who, as our geographers allege, are the Gog and Magog mentioned in sacred story. These rivers running all northward, as well as all the other rivers I am yet to speak of, made it evident that the Northern Ocean bounds the land also on that side ; so that it does not seem rational in the least to think that the land can extend itself to join with America on that side, or that there is not a communication between the Northern and the Eastern Ocean ; but of this I shall say no more ; it was my observa- tion at that time, and therefore I take notice of it in this place. We now advanced from the river Arguna by easy and moderate journeys, and were very visibly obliged to the care the Czar of Muscovy has taken to have cities and towns built in as many places as are possible to place them, where his soldiers keep garrison, something like tiie stationary soldiers placed by the Romans in the remotest countries of their empire, some of which, I had read, were particularly placed in Britain for the security of commerce, and for the lodging of travellers ; and thus it was here ; though wherever we came ;it these towns and stations, the garrisons and governor were Russians, and }trofcs8ed mere pagans, sacrificing to idols, and worshipping the sun, moon, and stars, or aM the host of heaven : and not only so, but were, of all the 49S THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES heathens and pagans that ever I met with, the most barbarous, except cnly that they did not eat man's flesh, as our savages of America did. Some instances of this we met with in the country between Arguna, where we enter the Muscovite dominions, and a city of Tartars and Russians together, called Nertzinskay ; in which space is a continued desert or forest, which cost us twenty days to travel over it. In a village near the last of those places, I had the curiosity to go and see their way of living, which is most brutish and insufferable : they had, I suppose, a great sacrifice that day ; for there stood out upon an old stump of a tree, an idol made of wood, frightful as the devil, at least as any thing we can think of to represent the devil that can be made. It had a head certainly not so much as resembling any creature that the world ever saw, — ears as big as goat's horns, and as high, — eyes as big as a crown piece, and a nose like a crooked ram's horn, and a mouth extended four-cornered, like that of a lion, with horrible teeth, hooked like a parrot's under bill. It was dressed up in the filthiest manner that you can suppose : its upper garment was of sheep skins, with the wool outward ; a great Tartar bonnet on the head, with two horns growing through it : it was about eight feet high, yet had no feet or legs, or any other proportion of parts. This scarecrow was set up at the outside of the village ; and when I came near to it there were sixteen or seventeen creatures, whether men or women I could not tell, for they make no distinction by their habits, either of body or head ; these lay all flat on the ground, round this formidable block of shapeless wood. I saw no motion among them any more than if they had been logs of wood, like their idol ; at first I really thought they had been so ; but when I came a little nearer, they started up upon their feet, and raised a howling cry, as if it had been so many deep-mouthed hounds, and walked away as if they were displeased at our disturbing them. A little way off from this monster, and at the door of a tent or hut, made all of sheep-skins and cow- skins, dried, stood three butchers : I thought they were such ; for when I came nearer to them, I found they had long knives in their hands, and in the middle of the tent appeared three sheep killed, and one young bullock or steer. These, it seems, were sacrifices to that sense- less log of an idol ; and these three men priests belonging to it ; and the seventeen prostrated wretches were the people who brought the offering, and were making their prayers to that stock. I confess I was more moved at their stupidity, and this brutish wor- ship of a hobgoblin, than ever I was at any thing in my life, — to see God's most glorious and best creature, to whom he had granted so many advantages, even by creation, above the rest of the works of his OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 493 hands, vested with a reasonable soul, and that soul adorned with facul- ties and capacities adapted both to honour his Maker and be honoured by liiui, — I say, to see it sunk and degenerated to a degree so more than stupid, as to prostrate itself to a frightful nothing, a mere ima- ginary object dressed up by themselves, and made terrible to themselves by their own contrivance, adorned only with clouts and rags, — and that tiiis should be the effect of mere ignorance, wrought up into hellish devotion by the devil himself, who, envying his Maker the homage and adoration of his creatures, had deluded them into such gross, sui'feit- ing, sordid, and brutish things, as one would think should shock nature itself. But what signified all the astonishment and reflection of thoughts ? Thus it was, and I saw it before my eyes ; and there was no room to wonder at it, or think it impossible. All my admiration turned to rage ; and I rode up to the image or monster, call it what you will, and with my sword cut the bonnet that was on its head in two in the middle, so that it hung down by one of the horns ; and one of our men that was with me, took hold of the sheep-skin that covered it, and pulled at it, when, behold, a most hideous outcry and howling ran through the village, and two or three hundred people came about my ears, so that I was glad to scour for it; for we saw some had bows and arrows; but I resolved from that moment to visit them again. Our caravan rested three nights at the town, which wa>< about four miles off, in order to provide some horses, which they wanted, several of the horses having been lamed and jaded with the badness of the way, and our long march over the last desert ; so we had some leisure liere to put my design in execution. I communicated my project to the Scots merchant, of Moscow, of whose courage I had had a sufli- cient testimony, as above. I told him what I had seen, and with what indignation -I had since thought that human nature could be so dege- nerate. I told him 1 was resolved, if I could get but four or five men well armed to go with me, to go and destroy that vile, abominable idol ; to let them see, that it had no power to help itself, and consequently could not be an object of worship, or to be prayed to, much less help them that offered sacrifices to it. He laughed at me; said he, "Your zeal may be good; but what do you j)roj)ose to yourself by it?" — "Propose!" said I; "to vindicate the honour of God, which is insulted by this devil worship." "But how will it vindicate the honour of God," said he, "while the people will not be able to know what you mean by it, unless you could speak to them too, and tell them so ? and then they will fight you too, I will assure you, for tliey are desperate fellows, and that especially in 494 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES defence of their idolatry." — " Can we not," said I, "do it in the night, and then leave them the reasons in writing, in their own language." — "Writing!" said he; "why, there is not in five nations of them one man that knows any thing of a letter, or how to read a word in any language, or in their own." — "Wretched ignorance!" said I to him: " however 1 have a great mind to do it; perhaps nature may draw iiifeiences from it to them, to let them see how brutish they are to '\\orship such horrid things." — "Look you, sir," said he; "if your zeal prompts you to it so warmly, you must do it ; but in the next place, I would have you consider these wild nations of people are sub- jected by force to the Czar of Muscovy's dominion ; and if you do this, it is ten to one but they will come by thousands to the governor of Nertzinskay, and complain, and demand satisfaction ; and if he cannot give them satisfaction, it is ten to one but they revolt ; and it will occasion a new war with all the Tartars in the country." This, I confess, put new thoughts into my head for a while ; but I harped upon the same string still ; and all that day I was uneasy to put my project in execution. Towards the evening the Scots merchant met me by accident in our walk about the town, and desired to speak with me. " I believe," said he, " I have put you off your good design ; I have been a little concerned about it since ; for I abhor the idol and idolatry as much as you can do." — " Truly," said I, " you have put it off a little, as to the execution of it, but you have not put it all out of my thoughts ; and, I believe, I shall do it still before I quit this place, though I were to be delivered up to them for satisfaction." — " No, no," said he, " God forbid they should deliver you up to such a crew of monsters ! they shall not do that neither ; that would be murdering you indeed." — "Why," said I, "how would they use me?" — "Use you!" said he; "I'll tell you how they served a poor Russian, who affronted them in their worship just as you did, and whom they took prisoner, after they had lamed him with an arrow, that he could not run away : they took him and stripped him stark naked, and set him. upon the top of the idol monster, and stood all round him, and shot as many arrows into him as would stick over his whole body ; and then they burnt him, and all the arrows sticking in him, as a sacrifice to the idol." — "And was this the same idol?" said I. "Yes," said he, " the very same." — " Well," said I, " I will tell you a story." So 1 related the story of our men at Madagascar, and how they burnt and sacked the village there, and killed man, woman, and child, for their murdering one of our men, just as it is related before ; and when 1 had done, I added, that I thought we ought to do so to this village. He listened very attentively to the story ; but when I talked of OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 495 tluing SO to that village, said he, "You mistake very much ; it was not tills village ; it was almost a hundred miles from this place; but it was the same idol, for thoy carry him ahout in procession all over the country " — " Well," said I, " then that idol ought to be punished for it; and it shall," said I, "if I live this night out." In a word, finding me resolute, he liked the design, and told mc, I should not go alone, but he wouM go with nie ; hut he would go first, and bring a stout fellow, one of his countrymen, to go also with us : " and one," said he, " as famous for his zeal as you can desire any one to be against such devilish things as these." In a word, he brought me his comrade, a Scotsman, whom he called Captain Richardson ; and I gave him a full account of what I had seen, and also what I intended: and he told me readily he would go with me, if it cost him his life. So we agreed to go, only we three. I had, indeed, proposed it to my partner, but he declined it. He said, he was ready to assist me to the utmost, and upon all occasions, for my defence ; but that this was an adventure quite out of his way : so, I say, we resolved upon our work. only we three, and my man-servant, and to put it in execution that night about midnight, with all the secrecy imaginable. However, upon second thoughts, we were willing to delay it. till the next night, because the caravan being to set forward in the morning, we supposed the governor could not pretend to give them any satisfac- tion upon us when we were out of his power. The Scots merchant, as steady in his resolution to enterprise it as bold in executing, brought me a Tartar's robe, or gown of sheep-skins, and a bonnet, with a bow and arrows, and had provided the same for himself and his country- man, that the people, if they saw us, should not be able to determine who we were. All the first night we spent in mixing up some combustible matter with aquavitae, gunpowder, and such other materials as we could get : and having a good quantity of tar in a little pot, about an hour after night we set out upon our expedition. We came to the place about eleven o'clock at night, and found that the people had not the least jealousy of danger attending their idol. The night was cloudy ; yet the moon gave us light enough to see that the idol stood just in the same posture and place that it did before. The people seemed to be all at their rest ; only, that in the great hut or tent, as we called it, where Ave saw the three priests whom we mis- took for butchers, we saw a light, and going up close to the door, we heard people talking, as if there were five or six of them ; we con- cluded, therefore, that if we set wildfire to the idol, these men would come out immediately and run up to the place to rescue it from the 496 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES destruction that we intended for it ; and what to do with them we knew not. Once we thought of carrying it away, and setting fire to it at u distance, but when we came to handle it we found it too bulky for our carriage ; so we were at a loss again. The second Scotsman was for setting fire to the tent or hut, and knocking the creatures that were there on the head, when they came out; but I could not join with that: I was against killing them, if it was possible to be avoided. " Well, then," said the Scots merchant, "I will tell you what we will do; we will try to make them prisoners, tie their hands, and make them stand and see their idol destroyed." As it happened, Ave had twine or packthread enough about* us, which we used to tie our fireworks together with ; so Ave resolved to attack these people first, and Avith as little noise as Ave could. The first thing Ave did Ave knocked at the door, when one of the priests coming to it, Ave immediately seized upon him, stopped his mouth, and tied his hands behind him, and led him to the idol, Avhere Ave gagged him, that he might not make a noise, tied his feet also together, and left him on the ground. Two of us then Avaited at the door, expecting that another Avould come ojit to see Avhat the matter Avas ; but Ave Avaited so long till the third man came back to us, and then nobody coming out, Ave knocked again gently, and immediately out came tAvo more, and Ave served them just in the same manner, but v/ere obliged to go all with them, and lay them doAvn by the idol, some distance from one another ; Avhen going back we found tAVO more Avere come out to the door, and a third stood behind them Avithin the door. We seized the tAvo, and immediately tied them, Avhen the third stepping back, and crying out, my Scots merchant went in after him, and taking out a composition Ave had made, that Avould only smoke and stink, he set fire to it, and thrcAV it in among them : by that time the other Scotsman and my man taking charge of the two men already bound, and tied together also by the arm, led them away to the idol, and left them there, to see if their idol Avould relieve them, making haste back to us. When the furze Ave had throAvn in had filled the hut with so much smoke that they Avere almost sufi'ocated, Ave then thrcAv in a small lea- ther bag of another kind, which flamed like a candle, and folloAving it in, we found there Avere but four people left, who, it seems, were two men and two Avomen, and, as Ave supposed, had been about some of theii diabolic sacrifices. They appeared, in short, frighted to death, at least so as t . sit trembling and stupid, and not able to speak neither, for the smoke. In a word, Ave took them, bound them as we had the other, and all OF Ronrxsox crisor. 4^^ without any noise. I should have said, we brought them out of the house, or hut, first; for, indeed, we were not able to bear the smoke any more than they were. When we had done this, we carried them alt(igether to the idol: when we came there we fell to work with him ; and first we daubed him all over, and his robes also, with tar, and such other stuif as we had, which was tallow mixed with brimstone ; then we stopped his eyes, and ears, and mouth full of gunpowder ; then we wrapped up a great piece of wildfire in his bonnet ; and then sticking all the combustibles we had brought with us upon him, we looked about to see if we could find any thing else to help to burn him ; when my Scotsman remembered that by the tent, or hut, where the men were, there lay a heap of dry forage, whether straw or rushes I do not re- member: away he and the other Scotsman ran, and fetched their arms full of that. When we had done this, we took all our prisoners, and brought them, having untied their feet and ungagged their mouths, and made them stand up, and set them just before their monstrous idol, and then set fire to the whole. We stayed by it a quarter of an hour or thereabouts, till the pow- der in the eyes and mouth and ears of the idol blew up, and, as we could perceive, had split and deformed the shape of it ; and, in a word, till we saw it burnt into a mere block or log of wood ; and then setting the dry forage to it, we found it would be soon quite consumed ; so we began to think of going away ; but the Scotsman said, "No, we must not go, for these poor deluded wretches will all throw themselves into the fire, and burn themselves with the idol." So we resolved to stay till the forage was burnt down too, and then we came away and left them. In the morning we appeared among our fellow-travellers, exceeding busy in getting ready for our journey; nor could any man suggest that we had been anywhere but in our beds, as travellers might be sup- posed to be, to fit themselves for the fatigues of that day's journey. But it did not end so ; for the next day came a great multitude of the country people, not only of this village, but of a hundred more, for aught I knoAv, to the town gates ; and in a most outrageous man- ner demanded satisfaction of the Russian governor, for the insulting their priests, and burning their great Cham-Chi-Thaungu ; such a hard name they gave the monstrous creature they worshipped. The people of Nertzinskay were at first in a great consternation ; for they said the Tartars were no less than thirty thousand, and that in a few days more they would be one hundred thousand stronger. The Russian governor sent out messengers to appease tlu'ui, and gave them all the good words imagiiiabU-. He assured them he knew nothing of it, and that there had not a soul of his garrison been 32 498 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES abroad ; that it could not be from anybody there ; and if they would let him know who it was, he should be exemplarily punished. They returned haughtily, that all the country reverenced the great Cham- Chi-Thaungu, Avho dwelt in the sun, and no mortal would have dared to offer violence to his image, but some Christian miscreants ; so they called them, it seems ; and they therefore denounced war against him, and all the Russians, who, they said, were miscreants and Christians. The governor, still patient, and unwilling to make a breach, or to have any cause of war alleged to be given by him, the czar having straitly charged him to treat the conquered country with gentleness and civility, gave them still all the good words he could. At last he told them, there was a caravan gone towards Russia that morning, and perhaps it was some of them who had done them this injury; and that, if they would be satisfied with that, he would send after them, to inquire into it. This seemed to appease them a little ; and accord- ingly the governor sent after us, and gave us a particular account how the thing was, intimating withal, that if any in our caravan had done it, they should make their escape ; but that, whether they had done it or no, we should make all the haste forward that was possible ; and that, in the mean time, he would keep them in play as long as he could. This was very friendly in the governor. However, when it came to the caravan, there was nobody knew any thing of the matter ; and, as for us that were guilty, we were the least of all suspected : none so much as asked us the question ; however, the captain of the caravan, for the time, took the hint that the governor gave us, and we marched or travelled two days and two nights without any considerable stop, and then we lay at a village called Plothus ; nor did we make any long stop here, but hastened on towards Jarawena, another of the Czar of Muscovy's colonies, and where we expected we should be safe ; but it is to be observed, that here we began, for two or three days' march, to enter upon a vast nameless desert, of which I shall say more in its place ; and which, if we had now been upon it, it is more than probable we had been all destroyed. It was the second day's march from Plothus, that, by the clouds of dust behind us at a great distance, some of our .people began to be sensible we were pursued ; we had entered the desert, and had passed by a great lake, called Schanks Osier, when we perceived a very great body of horse appear on the other side of the lake to the north, we travelling west. We observed they went away west, as we did ; but had supposed we should have taken that side of the lake, whereas we very, happily took the south side ; and in two days more we saw them not, for they, believing we were still before OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 499 tliom, pushed on till they came to the river Udda : this is a very great ii\er when it passes farther north, hut when we came to it, we found it narrow and fordable. The third day they either found their mistake, or had intelligence of us, and came pouring in upon us towards the dusk of the evening. We had, to our great satisfaction, just pitched upon a place for our camp, whicli was very convenient for the night ; for as we were upon a desert, though but at the beginning of it, that was above five hun- dred miles over, wo had no towns to lodge at, and, indeed, expected none but the city of Jarawena, which we had yet two days' march to; the desert, however, had some few woods in it on this side, and little rivers, which ran all into the great river Udda. It was in a narrow strait, between two small but very thick woods, that we pitched our little camp for that night, expecting to be attacked in the night. Nobody knew but ourselves what we were pursued for ; but as it was usual for the Mogul Tartars to go about in troops in that desert, so the caravans always fortify themselves every night against them, as against armies of robbers ; and it was therefore no new thing to be pursued. But we had this night, of all the nights of our travels, a most ad- vantageous camp ; for we lay between two woods, with a little rivulet running iust before our front ; so that we could not be surrounded or attacked any way but in our front or rear ; we took care also to make our front as strong as we could, by placing our packs, with our camels and horses, all in a line on the side of the river, and we felled some trees in our rear. In this posture we encamped for the night; but the enemy was uiton us before we had finished our situation : they did not come on us like thieves, as we expected, but sent three messengers to us, to demand the men to be delivered to them that had abused their priests, and burnt their god Cham-Chi-Thaungu, that they might burn them with fire ; and, upon this, they said, they would go away, and do us no further harm, otherwise they would burn us all with fire. Our men looked very blank at this message, and began to stare at one another, to see who looked with most guilt in their faces, but nobody was the word, nobody did it. The leader of the caravan sent word, he was well assured it was not done by any of our camp ; that we were peace- able merchants, travelling on our business ; that we had done no harm to them, or to any one else ; and therefore they must look further for their enemies, who had injured them, for we were not the people; so desired them not to disturl) us, for if they did, we should defend our- selves. 500 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES They were far from being satisfied with this for an answer, and a great crowd of them came down in the morning, by break of day, to our camp; but, seeing us in such an advantageous situation, they durst come no further than the brook in our front, where they stood, and showed us such a number, as, indeed, terrified us very much ; for those that spoke least of them, spoke of ten thousand. Here they stood, and looked at us a while ; and then, setting up a grand howl, they let fly a cloud of arroAvs among us ; but we were well enough fortified for that, for we were sheltered under our baggage; and I do not remember that one man of us was hurt. Some time after this we saw them move a little to our right, and expected them on the rear, when a cunning fellow, a Cossack, as they call them, of Jarawena, in the pay of the Muscovites, calling to the leader of the caravan, said to him, " I will send all these people away to Sibeilka." This was a city four or five days' journey at least to the south, and rather behind us. So he takes his bow and arrows, and, getting on horseback, he rides away from our rear directly, as it were, back to Nertzinskay ; after this, he takes a great circuit about, and comes to the army of the Tartars, as if he had been sent express to tell them a long story, that the people who had burnt their Cham-Chi- Thaungu were gone to Sibeilka. with a caravan of miscreants, as he called them ; that is to say, Christians ; and that they were resolved to burn the god Seal Isarg, belonging to the Tonguses. As this fellow was a mere Tartar, and perfectly spoke their lan- guage, he counterfeited so well that they all took it from him, and away they drove, in a most violent hurry, to Sibeilka, which, it seems, was five days' journey to the south ; and, in less than three hours, they were entirely out of our sight, and we never heard any more of them, nor ever knew whether they went to that other place called Sibeilka or no. So we passed safely on to the city of Jarawena, where there was a garrison of Muscovites ; and there we rested five days, the caravan being exceedingly fatigued with the last day's march, and with want of rest in the night. From this city we had a frightful desert, which held us three-and- twenty days' march. We furnished ourselves with some tents here, for the better accommodating ourselves in the night ; and the leader of the caravan procured sixteen carriages, or wagons, of the country, for carrying our water and provisions ; and these carriages were our defence every night round our little camp; so that had the Tartars appeared, unless they had been very numerous indeed, they would not have been able to hurt us. OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 501 We may well be supposod to want rest again after this long journey; for in thi.s desert we saw neither house or tree, or scarce a bush ; we saw, indeed, abundance of the sable-hunters, as they called them. These are all Tartars, of tho Mogul Tartary, of which this country is a part, and they frequently attack small caravans; but we saw no numbers of them together. T was curious to see the sable-skins they catched ; but T could never speak with any of them ; for they durst not come near us; neither durst we straggle from our company to go near them. After we had passed this d(?sert, we came into a country pretty well inhabited ; that is to say, we found towns and castles settled by the Czar of Muscovy, with garrisons of stationary soldiers to protect the caravans, and defend the country against the Tartars, who would other- wise make it very dangerous travelling ; and his czarish majesty has given such strict orders for the well guarding the caravans and mer- chants, that if there are any Tartars heard of in the country, detach- ments of the garrison are always sent to see travellers safo from station to station. And thus the governor of Adinskoy, whom I had an opportunity to make a visit to, by means of the Scots merchant, who was acquainted with him, offered us a guard of fifty men, if we thought there was any danger, to the next station. I thought, long before this, that as we came nearer to Europe we should find the country better peopled, and the people more civilized ; but I found myself mistaken in both, for we had yet the nation of the Tonguses to pass through, where we saw the same tokens of paganism and barbarity, or, worse than before, only, as they were conquered by the Muscovites, and entirely reduced, they were not so dangerous ; but for the rudeness of manners, idolatry, and polytheism, no people in the world ever went beyond them. They are all clothed in skins of beasts, and their houses are built of the same. You know not a man from a w..nian, neither by the ruggedness of their countenances or their clothes ; and in the winter, when the ground is covered with snow, they live under ground, in houses like vaults, which have cavities, or caves, going from one to another. If the Tartars haut 1 uni no niore to describe people tiian countries, any further than 502 OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. oO:? my own story comes to be concerned in them. I met with nothing pe- culiar' to myself in all this country, which I reckon was, from the desert which I spoke of laat, at least four hundred miles, half of it being another desert, which took us up twelve days severe travelling, without house, tree, or bush ; but we were obligc weather at least tolerable ; so other travellers began to prepare sledges to carry them over the snow, and to get things ready to be going; but my measures being fixed, as I have said, for Archangel, and not for Muscovy or the Baltic, I made no motion, knowing very well, that the ships from the south do not set out for that part of the world till May or June ; and that if I was there at the beginning of August, it would be as soon as any ships would be ready to go away; and therefore, I say, I made no haste to be gone, as others did; in a word, I saw a great many people, nay, all the travellers, go away before me. It seems, every year they go from thence to Moscow for trade ; namely, to carry furs, and buy necessaries with them, which they bring back to fucnish their shops : also others went on the same errand to Arch- angel ; but then they also, being to come back again above eight hun- dred miles, went all out before me. In short, about the latter end of May I began to make all ready to pack up ; and as I was doing this, it occurred to me, that seeing all these people were banished by the Czar of Muscovy to Siberia, and yet, when they came there, were at liberty to go whither they would, why did they not then go away to any part of the world wherever they thought fit ? and I began to examine what should iiinder them from making such an attempt. But my wonder was over, when I entered upon that subject with the person I have mentioned, who answered me thus: " Consider, first," said he, "the place where we are; and, secondly, the condition we are in ; especially," said he, " the generality of the people who are ban- ished hither. We are surrounded with stronger things than bars and bolts : on the north side is an unnavigable ocean, where ship never sailed and boat never swam ; neither, if we had both, could we know whither to go with them. Every other way," said he, "we have above a thousand miles to pass through the Czar's own dominions, and by ways utterly impassable, except by the roads made by the government, an' through the towns garrisoned by its troops; so that we could 610 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES neither pass undiscovered by the road, or subsist any other way; so that it is in vain to attempt it." I was silenced, indeed, at once, and found that they were in a pri- son, every jot as secure as if they had been locked up in the castle of Moscow; however, it came into my thoughts, that I might certainly be made an instrument to procure the escape of this excellent person, and that it was very easy for me to carry him away, there being no guard over him in the country ; and as I was not going to Moscow, but to Archangel, and that I went in the nature of a caravan, by which I was not obliged to lie in the stationary towns in the desert, but could encamp every night where I would, we might easily pass uninterrupted to Archangel, where I could immediately secure him on board an English or Dutch ship, and carry him off safe along with me ; and as to his subsistence, and other particulars, that should be my care, till he should better supply himself. He heard me very attentively, and looked earnestlj? on me all the while I spoke ; nay, I could see in his very face, that what I said put his spirits into an exceeding ferment ; his colour frequently changed, his eyes looked red, and his heart fluttered, that it might even be per- ceived in his countenance; nor could he immediately answer me when I had done, and, as it were, expected what he would say to it; and after he had paused a little, he embraced me, and said, " How unhappy are we, unguided creatures as we are, that even our greatest acts of friendship are made snares to us, and we are made tempters of one another! My dear friend," said he, "your oflFer is so sincere, has such kindness in it, is so disinterested in itself, and is so calculated for my advantage, that I must have very little knowledge of the world, if I did not both wonder at it, and acknowledge the obligation I have upon me to you for it : but did you believe I was sincere in what I have so often said to you of my contempt of the world ? Did you believe I spoke my very soul to you, and that I had really maintained that degree of felicity here, that had placed me above all that the world could give me, or do for me ? Did you believe I was sincere, when I told you I would not go back, if I was recalled even to be all that once I was in the court, and with the favour of the Czar, my master? Did you believe me, my friend, to be an honest man, or did you think me to be a boasting hypocrite?" Here he stopped, as if he would hear what I would say ; but, indeed, I soon after perceived, that he stopped because his spirits were in motion; his heart was full of struggles, and he could not go on. I was, I confess, astonished at the thing, as well as at the man, and I used some arguments with him to urge him to set himself free ; that he ought to look upon this as a OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 511 tioor opened by Heaven for his deliverance, and a summons by Provi- dence, who has the care and good disposition of all events, to do him- self good, and to render himself useful in the world. He had by this time recovered himself. "How do you know, sir," said he, warmly, "but that, instead of a summons from Heaven, it may be a feint of another instrument, representing, in all the alluring colours to me, the show of felicity as a deliverance, which may in itself be my snare, and tend directly to my ruin? Here I am free from the temptation of returning to my former miserable greatness ; there I am not sure, but that all the seeds of pride, ambition, avarice, and luxury, which I know remain in my nature, may revive and take root, and, in a word, again overwhelm me ; and then the happy pri- soner, whom you see now master of his soul's liberty, shall be the miserable slave of his own senses, in the full possession of all personal liberty. Dear sir, let me remain in this blessed confinement, banished from the crimes of life, rather than purchase a show of freedom at the expense of the liberty of my reason, and at the expense of the future happiness which now I have in my view, but shall then, I fear, quickly lose sight of; for, I am but flesh, a man, a mere man, have passions and afi'ections as likely to possess and overthrow me as any man : Oh, be not my friend and my tempter both together !" If I was surprised before, I was quite dumb now, and stood silent, looking at him ; and, indeed, admired what I saw. The struggle in his soul was so great, that, though the weather was extremely cold, it put him into a most violent sweat, and I found he wanted to give vent to his mind ; so I said a word or two, that I would leave him to con- sider of it, and wait on him again ; and then I withdrew to my own apartment. About two hours after, I heard somebody at or near the door of the room, and I was going to open the door ; but he had opened it, and come in: "My dear friend," said he, "you had almost overset me, but I am recovered ; do not take it ill that I do not close with your offer ; I assure you, it is not for want of a sense of the kindness of it in you ; and I come to make the most sincere acknowledgment of it to you ; but, I hope, I have got the victory over m3'self." " My lord," said I, " I hope you are fully satisfied that you did not resist the call of Heaven." — "Sir," said he, "if it had been from Heaven, the same power would have influenced me to accept it ; but I hope, and am fully satisfied, that it is from Heaven that I decline it ; and I have an infinite satisfaction in the parting, that you shall leavo me an honest man still, though not a free itian." I hs>d nothing to do but to ac(juiesce, and make profession to him of 512 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES my having no end in it, but a sincere desire to serve him. He em- braced me very passionately, and assured me, he was sensible of that, and should always acknowledge it : and with that he offered me a very fine present of sables, too much indeed for me to accept from a man in his circumstances ; and I would have avoided them, but he would not be refused. The next morning I sent my servant to his lordship, with a small present of tea, two pieces of China damask, and four little wedges of Japan gold, which did not all weigh above six ounces or thereabouts ; but were far short of the value of his sables, which, indeed, when 1 came to England, I found worth near tAvo hundred pounds. He ac- cepted the tea, and one piece of the damask, and one of the pieces of gold, which had a fine stamp upon it, of the Japan coinage, which I found he took for the rarity of it, but would not take any more ; and sent word by my servant, that he desired to speak with me. When I came to him, he told me, I knew what had passed between us, and hoped I would not move him any more in that affair ; but that, since I made such a generous offer to him, he asked me, if I had kind- ness enough to offer the same to another person that he would name to me, in whom he had a great share of concern. I told him, that 1 could not say I inclined to do so much for any one but himself, for whom I had a particular value, and should have been glad to have been the instrument of his deliverance : however, if he would please to name the person to me, I would give him my ansAver, and hoped he would not be displeased with me, if he was with my answer. He told me, it was only his son, who, though I had not seen, yet was in the same condition with himself, and above two hundred miles from him, on the other side the Oby ; but that, if 1 consented, he would send for him. I made no hesitation, but told him I would do it. I made some cere- mony in letting him understand that it was wholly upon his account , and that, seeing I could not prevail on him, I would show my respect to him by my concern for his son : but these things are too tedious to repeat here. He sent away the next day for his son, and in about twenty days he came back with the messenger, bringing six or seven horses loaded with very rich furs, and which, in the whole, amounted to a very great value. His servants brought the horses into the town, but left the young lord at a distance till night, when he came incognito into our apartment, and his father presented him to me ; and, in short, we concerted there the manner of our travelling, and every thing proper for the journey. I had bought a considerable quantity of sables, black fox skins, fine OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 513 ermins, and such other furs that are very rich ; I say I had bought them in that city in exchange for some of the goods brought from China ; in particular, for the cloves and nutmegs, of which I sold the greatest part here, and the rest afterwards at Archangel, for a much better price than I could have done at London ; and my partner, who was sensible of the profit, and whose business, more particularly than mine, was merchandise, was mightily pleased with our stay, on account of the traffic we made here. It was in the beginning of June when I left this remote place, a city, I believe, little heard of in the world ; and, indeed, it is so far out of the road of commerce, that I know not how it should be much talked of. We were now come to a very small caravan, being only thirty-two horses and camels in all, and all of them passed for mine, though my new guest was proprietor of eleven of them. It was most natural, also, that I should take more servants with me than I had before, and the young lord passed for my steward ; what great man 1 passed for myself I know not, neither did it concern me to inquire. We had here the worst and the largest desert to pass over that we met with in all the journey ; indeed I call it the worst, because the way was very deep in some places, and very uneven in others ; the best we had to say for it was, that we thought we had no troops of Tartars and robbers to fear, and that they never came on this side the river Oby, or at least but very seldom ; but we found it otherwise. My young lord had with him a faithful Muscovite servant, or rather a Siberian servant, who was perfectly acquainted with the country, and who led us by private roads, that we avoided coming into the prin- cipal towns and cities upon the great road, such as Tumen, Soloy Ka- maskoy, and several others ; because the Muscovite garrisons, which are kept there, are very curious and strict in their observation upon travellers, and searching lest any of the banished persons of note should make their escape that way into Muscovy ; but by this means, as we were kept out of the cities, so our whole journey was a desert, and we were obliged to encamp and lie in our tents, when we might have had good accommodation in the cities on the way: this the young lord was so sensible of, that he Avould not allow us to lie abroad, when we came to several cities on the way, but lay abroad himself, with his servant, in the Avoods, and met us always at the appointed places. We were just entered Europe, having passed the river Kama, which, in these parts, is the boundary between Europe and Asia ; and the ' first city on the European side was called Soloy Kamaskoy, which is as much as to say, the great city on the river Kama ; and here we thought to have seen some evident alteration in the people, their man- 33 514 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES ners, their habit, their religion, and their business ; but we were mis- taken ; for as we had a vast desert to pass, which by rehition is near seven hundred miles long in some places, but not above two hundred miles over where we passed it ; so, till we came past that horrible place, we found very little difference between that country and the Mogul Tartary ; the people mostly Pagans, and little better than the savages of America ; their houses and town** full of idols, and their way of living wholly barbarous, except in the cities as above, and the villages near them, where they are Christians, as they call themselves, of the Greek church ; but even these have their religion mingled with so many relics of superstition, that it is scarce to be known in some places from mere sorcery and witchcraft. In passing this forest, I thought indeed Ave must, after all our dan- gers were, in our imagination, escaped, as before, have been plundered, and robbed, and perhaps murdered, by a troop of thieves : of what country they were, whether the roving bands of the Ostiachi, a kind of Tartars, or wild people on the banks of the Oby, had ranged thus far, or whether they were the sable-hunters of Siberia, I am yet at a loss to know ; but they were all on horseback, carried bows and arrows, and were at first about five-and-forty in number. They came so near to us as within about two musket-shot ; and, asking no questions, they surrounded us with their horses, and looked very earnestly upon us twice. At length they placed themselves just in our way ; upon which we drew up in a little line before our camels, being not above sixteen men in all ; and being drawn up thus, we halted, and sent out the Siberian servant who attended his lord, to see who they were : his master was the more willing to let him go, because he was not a little apprehensive that they were a Siberian troop sent out after him. The man came up near them with a flag of truce, and called to them ; but though he spoke several of their languages, or dialects of languages rather, he could not understand a word they said ; however, after some signs to him not to come nearer to them at his peril, so he said he understood them to mean, offering to shoot at him if he advanced, the fellow came back no wiser than he went, only that by their dress, he said he believed them to be some Tartars of Kalmuck, or of the Cir- cassian hordes, and that there must be more of them on the great uesert, though he never heard that ever any of them were seen so far north before. This was small comfort to us ; however, we had no remedy : there was on our left hand, at about a quarter of a mile's distance, a little grove or clump of trees, which stood close together, and very near the road ; I immediately resolved we should advance to those trees, and OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. ol5 fortify ourselves as well as we could there ; for, first, I considered that the trees would in a great measure cover us from their arrows ; and in the next place, they could not come to charge us in a body : it was, indeed, my old Portuguese pilot who proposed it ; and who had this excellency attending him, namely, that he was always readiest and most apt to direct and encourage us in cases of the most danger. We advanced immediately with what speed we could, and gained that little wood, the Tartars, or thieves, for we knew not what to call them, keep- ing their stand, and not attempting to hinder us. When we came thither, we found, to our great satisfaction, that it was a swampy, springy piece of ground, and, on the other side, a great spring of water, which, running out in a little rill or brook, was a little farther joined by another of the like bigness ; and was, in short, the head or source of a considerable river, called afterwards the Wirtska. The trees which grew about this spring were not in all above two hundred, but were very large, and stood pretty thick ; so that as soon as we got in, we saw ourselves perfectly safe from the enemy, unless they alighted and attacked us on foot. But to make this more difficult, our Portuguese, with indefatigable application cut down great arms of the trees, and laid them hanging, not quite cut off, from one tree to another ; so that he made a con- tinued fence almost round us. We stayed here, waiting the motion of the enemy some hours, without perceiving they made any offer to stir; when about two hours before night, they came down directly upon us ; and, though we had not per- ceived it, we found they had been joined by some more of the same, so that they were near fourscore horse, whereof, however, we fancied some were women. They came on till they were within half a shot of our little wood, when we fired one musket without ball, and called to them in the Russian tongue, to know what they wanted, and bid them keep off; but, as if they knew nothing of what we said, they came on with a double fury directly up to the wood side, not imagining we were so barricaded that they could not break in. Our old pilot was our cap- tain, as well as he had been our engineer ; and desired of us, not to fire upon them till they came within pistol-shot, that we might be sure to kill ; and that, when we did fire, we should be sure to take good aim. We bade him give the word of command, which he delayed so long that they were, some of them, within two pikes' length of us when we fired. We aimed so true, or Providence directed our shot so sure, that we killed fourteen of them at the first volley, and wounded several others, as also several of their horses; for we li;id all of us loaded our pieces with tv-o or three bullets ajr^-^ce at least. 516 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES They were terribly surprised with our fire, and retreated immediately about one hundred rods from us ; in whicii time we loaded our pieces again, and seeing them keep that distance, we sallied out, and cauglit four or five of their horses, whose riders, we supposed, were killed ; and coming up to the dead, Ave could easily perceive they were Tartars, but knew not from what country, or how they came to make an excur- sion such an unusual length. About an hour after, they made a motion to attack us again, and rode round our little wood, to see where else they might break in; but finding us always ready to face them, they went off again, and we re- solved not to stir from the place for that night. We slept little, you may be sure ; but spent the most part of the night in strengthening our situation, and barricading the entrances into the wood ; and. keeping a strict watch, we waited for daylight, and, when it came, it gave us a very unwelcome discovery indeed : for the enemy, who we thought were discouraged with the reception they had met with, were now increased to no less than three hundred, and had set up eleven or twelve huts and tents, as if they were resolved to be- siege us; and this little camp they had pitched, was upon the open plain, at about three quarters of a mile from us. We were indeed sur- prised at this discovery ; and now, I confess, I gave myself over for lost, and all that I had. The loss of my effects did not lie so near me (though they were very considerable) as the thoughts of falling into the hands of such barbarians, at the latter end of my journey, after so many difficulties and hazards as I had gone through; and even in sight of our port, where we expected safety and deliverance. As for my partner, he was raging : he declared, that to lose his goods would be his ruin ; and he would rather die than be starved ; and he was for fighting to the last drop. The young lord, as gallant as ever flesh shoAved itself, Avas for fight- ing to the last also ; and my old pilot Avas of the opinion we Avere able to resist them all, in the situation we then were in ; and thus we spent the day in debates of Avhat Ave should do ; but towards evening, we found that the number of our enemies still increased: perhaps, as they were abroad in several parties for prey, the first had sent out scouts to call for help, and to acquaint them of their booty ; and we did not knoAv but by the morning they might still be a greater number ; so I began to inquire of those people Ave had brought from Tobolski, if there Avere no other, or more private Avays, by Avhich we might avoid them in the night, and perhaps either retreat to some toAvn, or get help to guard us over the desert. The Siberian, who av5>s servant to the young lord, told us, if we de- OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 51' signed to avoid them, and not fight, he would engage to carry us oflF in the night to a way that went north towards the river Petraz, by Avhich he made no doubt but we might get away, and the Tartars never the wiser ; but he said, his lord had told him he would not return, but would rather choose to fight. I told him, he mistook his lord ; for that he was too wise a man to love fighting for the sake of it ; that I knew his lord was brave enough by what he had showed already; but that his lord knew better than to desire to have seventeen or eighteen men fight five hundred, unless an unavoidable necessity forced them to it ; and that if he thought it possible for us to escape in the night, we had nothing else to do but to attempt it. He answered, if his lord gave him such order, he would lose his life if he did not perform it. We soon brought his lord to give that order, though privately, and we im- mediately prepared for the putting it in practice. And first, as soon as it began to be dark, we kindled a fire in our little camp, which we kept burning, and prepared so as to make it burn all night, that the Tartars might conclude Ave were still there ; but, as soon as it was dark, that is to say, so as we could see the stars, (for our guide would not stir before), having all our horses and camels ready loaded, we followed our new guide, who, I soon found, steered himself by the pole, or north star, all the country being level for a long way. After we had travelled two hours very hard, it began to be lighter still ; not that it was quite dark all night, but the moon began to rise ; so that, in short, it was rather lighter than we wished it to be : but by six o'clock next morning, we were gotten nearly forty miles, though the truth is, we almost spoiled our horses. Here we found a Russian village, named Kirmazinskoy, where we rested, and heard nothing of the Kalmuck Tartars that day. About two hours before night we set out again, and travelled till eight the next morning, though not quite so hastily as before ; and about seven o'clock we passed a little river, called Kirtza, and came to a good large town inhabited by Russians, and very populous, called Ozomys. There we heard that several troops, or herds, of Kalmucks had been abroad upon the desert, but that we were now completely out of danger of them, which was to our great satisfaction, you may be sure. Here we were obliged to get some fresh horses; and, having need of rest, we stayed five days; and my partner and I agreed to give the honest Siberian, who brought us hither, the value of ten pistoles for his conducting us. In five days more we came to Veussima, upon the river Witzogda, which running into the river Dwina, we were there very happily near the end of on- travels by land, that river being navigable in seven 518 LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. days' passage to Archangel. From hence we came to Lawrenskoy, where the river joins, the third of July ; and provided ourselves with tAvo luggage-boats, and a barge, for our convenience. We embarked the seventh, and arrived all safe at Archangel the eighteenth, having been a year, five months, and three days on the journey, including our stay of eight months and odd days at Tobolski. We Avere obliged to stay at this place six weeks for the arrival of the ships, and must have tarried longer, had not a Hamburgher come up in above a month sooner than any of the English ships ; when, after some consideration, that the city of Hamburgh might happen to be as good a market for our goods as London, we all took freight with him ; and, having put our goods on board, it was most natural for me to put my steward on board to take care of them ; by which means my young lord had a sufficient opportunity to conceal himself, never coming on shore again in all the time we stayed there; and this he did. that he might not be seen in the city, Avhere some of the Moscow mer- chants would certainly have seen and discovered him. We sailed from Archangel the tAventieth of August the same year ; and, after no extraordinary bad voyage, arrived in the Elbe the thir- teenth of September. Here my partner and I found a very good sale for our goods, as well those of China, as the sables, &c., of Siberia ; and, dividing the produce of our eifects, my share amounted to three thousand four hundred and seventy-five pounds, seventeen shillings, and three pence, notwithstanding so many losses we had sustained, and charges we had been at ; only remembering that I had included in this, about six hundred pounds' Avorth of diamonds, AA'hich I had purchased at Bengal. Here the young lord took his leave of us, and went up the Elbe, in order to go to the court of Vienna, Avhere he resolved to seek protec- tion, and Avhere he could correspond with those of his father's friends who were left alive. He did not part Avithout all the testimonies he could give, of gratitude for the service I had done him, and his sense of my kindness to the prince his father. To conclude : having stayed near four months in Hamburgh, I came from thence overland to the Hague, Avhere I embarked in the packet, and arrived in London the tenth of January, 1705, having been gone from England ten years and nine months. And here, resolving to harass myself no more, I am preparing for a longer journey than all these, having lived seventy-two years a life of infinite variety, and learned sufficiently to knoAv the value of retirement, and the blessing of ending our days in peace. APPENDIX. AuouT seven years before the appearunce of Robiuson Crusoe, a Scottish sailor returned to London after four years' solitary residence in the island of Juan Fernandez. Several accounts of his adventures were then published, which excited much interest at the time, and doubtless suggested the idea of the preceding work. That the reader may have an opportunity of comparing truth with fiction, Howell's Life of Alexander Selkirk — a work in which all that is known of him is industriously collected — is here stripped of collateral matters and appended Alexander Selcuaig, for he changed the orthography of his name to Selkirk after he went to sea, was born at Largo, in Scotland, in 1G7G. His father carried on the joint trade of shoemaking and tanning, and amassed considerable property, which was equally divided among his family. At a proper age he was sent to school, where he made considerable progress in the branches usually taught, more especially in navigation, as the whole bent of his mind was to go to sea. He was of quick parts, but a spoiled and wayward boy, frequently engaged in mischief of one kind or another, and restless in the extreme. This was much increased by the indulgence of his mother, who concealed as much as she could his faults from his father, who was a strict disciplinarian ; she having formed the most extravagant hopes from the circumstance of his birth, as being a seventh son, or lucky lad. These foolish hopes led her to encourage his going to sea, that he might obtain the good fortune on which her superstitious dreams were fixed. Until the year 1095, Alexander continued at home working with his father; but he was still very unsettled, and gave to his parents much cause of uneasiness by his way- ward humours and irregular conduct, which at length brought him under church cen- sure. Being now eigiiteen years of age, and spurning the control of his father, he went to sea, rather than be rebuked in church for his improper behaviour. For a period of six years he remained abroad ; but in what situation, or in what particular part of the world, there are no documents to prove. In the year 1701, we find him again at Largo, the same wayward person as ever; nay, if possible, worse than he was before, quarrelling and fighting with his brothers so much that the elders of the church were obliged to take up the cause, and cite him before them. To this citation he paid due obedience, and even gave satisfaction for his offence, after which he left Scotland, and engaged in that voyage which has ren- dered the subsequent part of his life so interesting to the lovers of romance and of personal history. With the first ship that required his services Alexander sailed for England, bent upon going to the South Seas, that place of hope and promise, where seamen had gold in abundance for the taking; and where he probably had passed the six previous years. The Spanish Succession war was raging at that time, and Captain Dampier, whose knowledge of the South Seas was great, and his adventures well known, persuaded several merchants to subscribe a sum towards equipping two vessels to sail into that part of the ocean upon a privateering expedition, being excited by the report of the immense sums of gold got by the Buccaneers, and by the lofty schemes of the projector. Dampier's first scheme was to go up the rivsr La Plata, as far as Buenos Ayres, and 519 520 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES capture two or three galleons, which he said were usually stationed there. If by thi« capture they obtained £600,000 they would return home; otherwise they were to cruise ofiF the coast of Peru for the Baldivia ships, which carry great quantities of gold to Lima. If this likewise failed, they were to attempt such rich towns as he should think worth plundering, and afterwards lie in wait for the Acapulco sliip, said to be worth tliirteen or fourteen millions of pieces of eigl.t. That these objects might be attained, two vessels were equipped, the St. George, mounting twenty-six guns, of which William Dampier was captain ; John Clipperton chief mate; and William Funnel, who wrote an account of the voyage, second matu: and the Cinque Ports Galley, Charles Pickering, captain ; Thomas Stradling, lieutenant : and Alexander Selkirk, sailing-master. On September 11, 1703, they set sail from Kinsale, Ireland. On the 2d of November the two vessels crossed the equator. On the 24th, they anchored at La Granda, an un- inhabited island belonging to the Portuguese, where they watered, and completed their supply of wood. While they lay there. Captain Charles Pickering died, and was buried on shore, at the watering-place, with every honour they could bestow upon his memory. This was a misfortune that could not be repaired, and quite destroyed all hopes of success, as he was looked upon by all as the main prop of the expedition. His death was the event which led to Alexander Selkirk's determination rather to remain on some island, perhaps for ever secluded from all human society, than sail with his successor, Mr. Stradling, who was appointed in Captain Pickering's place. It was at this time, while brooding over the untoward appearances thatwere but too evident to every person of judgment, that he had a remarkable dream, in which he was forewarned of the total failure of the expedition, and shipwreck of the Cinque Ports. From this period he resolved to leave her, the first favourable opportunity, which soon occurred. On the 13th of February, 1704, the vessels arrived at the island of Juan Fernandez, and anchored in Cumberland Bay. All the crews were very busy for some time; for here they wooded, watered, hulled, and refitted their ships. While thus emploj^ed. a violent quarrel broke out between Captain Stradling and his crew. So high did their disputes arise, and so universal was their discontent, that forty-two out of the sixty men went on shore, resolving not to return on board ; so that for two days the vessel rode at anchor, almost quite deserted, during which time the sailors wandered up and down the island, without coming to any final determination. Whether Alexander was among the revolters, or stayed with Stradling, on board. Funnel does not mention ; but that he was with them, there is every reason to suppose, from what afterwards oc- curred ; and that, moreover, this was the time in which he made those observations upon the island which determined him in his subsequent choice, is very probable. At length, the refractory crew being weary of their situation. Captain Dampiei*suc- ceeded in reconciling tliem to their captain, and they returned to their duty. They continued here till the 2r)th of February, when they again sailed ; but, from the indecision of Dampier, achieved nothing. On the 19th of May, the two ships parted company, never to meet again. Selkirk remained with Stradling, being no doubt convinced, by this time, that no money was to be got under Dampier's command, and that no eD+er- prise would succeed where he was the leader. From this period until the end of August, the Cinque Ports kept cruising along the shores of Mexico, or among the islands, without any success, the St. George having gone to the coast of Peru. During this period a violent quarrel arose between " Hon- est Selkirk," as Harris calls our hero, and Captain Stradling. So high did their dis- pute arise, that Selkirk resolved to leave the vessel, whatever might be the consequence. At length want of provisions, and the crazy state cf the ship, compelled Stradling to sail for the island of .luan Fernandez, to refit. From the beginning to the end of September, the vessel remained undergoing repairs. OF ALEXANDER SELKIUK. 521 The disagreement, instead of being made up, became greater every day, and strengtli- eued the resolution wliich Selkirk had made to leave the vessel. Just before getting under weigh, he was landed, with all iiis effects, and he leaped on shore with a faint sensation of freedom and Joy. lie shook hands with his comrades, and bade tiiem ndieii in a hearty manner, while Stradling sat in the boat urging their return to the ship, which order they instantly obeyed ; but no sooner did the sound of their oars, as they left the beach, fall on his ears, than the horrors of being left alone, cut off from nil human society, perhaps for ever, rushed upon his mind. His heart sunk within him, and all his resolution failed, lie rushed into the water, and implored tlvcm to return and take iiim on board with them. To all his entreaties Stradling turned a deaf ear, and even mocked his despair ; denouncing the choice he had made of remaining upon the island as rank mutiny, and describing his present situation as the most proper state for such a fellow, where his example would not affect others. For many days after being left alone, Selkirk was under such great dejection of mind that he never tasted food until urged by extreme hunger, nor did he go to sleep until he could watch no longer, but sat with hi.s eyes fixed in the direction where he had seen his shipmates depart, fondly hoping that they would return and free him from his misery. Thus he remained seated upon his chest, until darkness shut out every object from his sight ; and morning found him still anxiously there. When urged by hunger, he fed upon seals, and such shell-fish as he could pick up along the shore. The reason of this was the aversion he felt to leave the beach, and the care he took to save his powder. Though seals and shell-fish were but sorry fare, his greatest inconvenience was the want of salt and bread, which made him loathe his food until reconciled to it by long use. It was now the beginning of October, 1704, which, in those southern latitudes, is the middle of spring, when nature appears in a thousand varieties of form and fragrance, quite unknown in northern climates ; but the agitation of his mind, and the forlorn situation in which he was now placed, caused all its charms to be unregarded. There was present no one to partake of its sweets, — no companion to whom he could commu- nicate the feelings of his mind. He had to contend for life in a' mode quite strange to him, and it was witli much difficulty that he sustained the feeling of being alone in such a desolate place. What greatly added to the horrors of his condition, was the noise of the seals during the night, and the crashing made by falling trees and rocks among the heights; which often broke the stillness of the scene with dismal sounds, that were echoed from valley to valley. So heart-sinking was his situation, that nothing but Divine Providence could have sustained him from falling into utter despair. Indeed, he often thought of putting a period to his sufferings by a violent death ; so feeble is all the boasted firmness of the most daring courage when left for a length of time to solitude, and its own unassisted resources. It was in this trying situation, when his mind, deprived of all outward occupation, was turnuen let into his character and story, I could have discerned that he had been much separated from company, from his aspect and gesture. There was n strong, but cheerful seriousness in his look, and a certain disregard to the ordinary things around him, as if he had been sunk in thought. The manfrequently bewailed his return to the world, which could not, as he said, with all its enjoyments, restore to him the tranquillity of his solitude." This appearance, so well-described, had quite worn off in less than two years; for Sir Richard continues, — "That, having met him in the streets of London, he did not recognise him, so much was he altered by his intercourse w^ith man in London;" and concludes with the following just remark: — "This plain man's story is a memorable example, that he is happiest who confines his wants to natural necessities, and he that goes farther in his desires increases his wants in proportion to his acquisitions; or, to use his own (.Vlexander's) expression, 'I am now worth £800, but shall never be so happy as when I was not worth a farthing.' " Selkirk, as soon as he had got the proceeds of his voyage realized, set out for Largo and arrived early in the spring of 1712, at his native village. It was the forenoon of a Sabbath day, when all were in church, that he knocked at the door of his paterna dwelling ; but found not those whom his heart yearned to see, and his soul longei to embrace. He set out for the church, prompted both by his piety and his love for his parents; for great was the change that had taken place in his feelings since he had last been within its walls. As soon as he entered and sat down, all eyes were upon him ; for such a personage perhaps had seldom been seen within the church at Largo. He was elegantly dressed in gold-laced clothes; besides, he was a stranger, which, in a country church, is a matter of attention to the hearers at all times. Hut his man- ner and appearance would have attracted the notice of more discerning spectators After remaining some time engaged in devotion, his eyes were ever turning to where his parents and brothers sat, while theirs as often met his gaze ; still they did not know him. At length, his mother, whose thoughts, perhaps, at this time wandered to her long-lost son, recognised him, and, uttering a cry of joj-, could contain herself no longer. Even in the house of God, she rushed to his arms, unconscious of the impro- priety of her conduct, and the interruption of the service. Alexander and his friends immediately retired to his father's house to give free scope to their congratulations. For a few days, Selkirk was happy in the company of his parents and friends; but, from long habits, he soon felt averse to mixing in society', and was most happy when alone. For days, his relations never saw his face from the dawn until late in the even- ing, when he returned to bed. It was his custom to go out in the morning, carrying with him provisions for the day ; then would he wander and meditate alone through the secluded and solitary valley of Keil's Den. The romantic beauties of the place and, above all, the stillness that reigned there, reminded him of his beloved island, which he never thought of but with regret for having left it. When evening forced him to return to the haunts of men. he appeared to do so with reluctance. He retired to his room up stairs, where he was accustomed to amuse himself with two cats that belonged to his brother, which he taught, in imitation of a part of his occupations on his solitary island, to dance and perform many little feats. Attached to his father's house was n piece of ground, occupied as a garden, which roBe in a considerable acclivity backwards. Here, on the top of the eminence, soon 528 LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF ALEXANDER SELKIRK. after his arrival at Largo, Alexander constructed a sort of cave, commanding an extensive and delightful view of the Forth and its shores. In fits of musing medita- tion, he was vfont to sit here in bad weather, and even at other times, and to bewail his ever having left his island. This recluse and unnatural propensity, as it appeared to them, -was cause of great grief to his parents, who often remonstrated with him, and endeavoured to raise his spirits. But their eflorts were made in vain ; nay, he sometimes broke out before them in a passion of grief, and exclaimed, "Oh, my beloved island ! I wish I had never left thee ! I never was before the man I was on thee! I have not been such since I left thee! and, I fear, never can be again!" Having plenty of money, he purchased a boat for himself, and often, when the wea- ther would permit, he made little excursions, but always alone ; and day after day he spent in fishing, either in the beautiful bay of Largo, or at Kingscraig Point, where he would loiter till evening among its romantic cliffs, catching lobsters, his favourite amusement, as they reminded him of the crawfish of Juan Fernandez. ■ It was thus he lived during his short stay at home, evidently far from being happy jr contented. The visions he had formed of domestic life could not be realized, and he remained among his friends only because he knew not what better to do with him- self He found he was not fitted for society; his enjoyments were all solitary; his pleasures were wholly derived from himself; he felt oj^pressed by the kind attentions of strangers. At length chance threw an object in his way, that awakened in his mind a new train of thoughts and feelings, and roused him from his lethargy. In his wan- derings up the burn side of Keil's Den, to the ruins of Balcruivie Castle and its roman- tic neighbourhood, he often met a young girl, seated alone, tending a single cow, the property of her parents. Her lonely occupation and innocent looks made a deep impression upon him. He watched her for hours unseen, as she amused herself with Uie wild flowers she gathered, or chanted her rural lays. At each meeting the impres- sion became stronger, and he felt more interested in the young recluse. At length he addressed himself to her, and they joined in conversation : he had no aversion to com- mune with her for hours together, and began to imagine that he could live and be happy with a companion such as she. His fishing excursions were now neglected. Even his cave became not so sweet a retreat. His mind led him to Keil's Den and the amiable Sophia. He never mentioned this adventure and attachment to his friends; for he felt ashamed, after his discourses to them, and the profession he had made of dislike to human society, to acknowledge that he was upon the point of marrying, and thereby plunging into the midst of worldly cares. But he was determined to marry Sophia, though as firmly resolved not to remain at home to be the subject of their jests. This resolution being formed, he soon persuaded the object of his choice to elope with him, and bid adieu to the romantic glen. Without the knowledge of their parents, they both set off" for London. Alexander left his chest and all his clothes behind; nor did he ever claim them again; and his friends knew nothing and heard nothing of him for many years after. In the end of the year 1724, or beginning of 1725, twelve years after his elopement with Sophia Bruce, a gay widow, by name Frances Candis, or Candia, came to Largo to claim the property left to him by his father. She produced documents to provt her right ; from which it appeared that Sophia Bruce lived but a very few years after her marriage, and must have died some time between the years 1717 and 1720. Having proved her marriage, and the will, which was dated the 12th of December, 1720, and also the death of her husband. Lieutenant Alexander Selkirk, on board his majesty's ship Weymouth, some time in the year 1723, her claim was adjusted, and she left Largo in a few days "^ THE END, CENTRAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY University of California, Saxi Diego DATE DUE ■ J UN U 1980 JAM 2 3 1980 WAR 2 7 mn APR 3 19m cj \ ') iqR4 JAN 2 11QB4 ^'N 12 1386" ifeB% 1987 C/39 l/CSD Libr.