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 THE 
 
 BRITISH NOVELISTS; 
 
 WITH AN 
 
 ESSAY, AND PREFACES 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL, 
 
 BV 
 
 MRS. BARBAULD. 
 
 ^ |Jch) enition. 
 
 VOL. XVI. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED FOR T. C. AND J. RIVINGTON; W. LOWNDES ; SCATCHeRD 
 AND LETTERMAN ; J. NUNNJ J. CUTHELLJ JEFFERY AND SON J 
 LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME AND CO. ; T. WILKIE; CADEF.L 
 AND DAVIES ; J. AND W. T. CLARKE; J. OTRIDGE; LACKINGTON 
 
 AND CO.; s. bagster; j. murray ; j. booker; j. black; 
 
 BLACK AND CO.; J. RICHARDSON; J. M. RICHARDSON; R. SCHO- 
 lEY ; J. MAWMAN ) R. H. EVANS ; A. K. NEWMAN AND CO. ; 
 
 J. asperne; j. carpfnter; j. booth ; w. ginger; Baldwin, 
 
 CRADOCK AND joy; T. HODGSON ; J. BOHN ; J. EBERS ; SHER- 
 WOOD, neely and JONES ; g. and w. b. whittaker; setch- 
 
 ELL AND SON ; WHITMORE AND FENN ; R. HUNTER; G. COWIE 
 AND CO.; R. SAUNDERS ; T, and j. ALLMAN; T. BOONE ; C. 
 
 brown; j. brumby; edwards and co. ; t, Hamilton ; j. _ 
 lepard; g. mackie ; w. mason ; j. miller; ogle, duncan 
 
 AND CO. ; RODWELL AND MARTIN ; HURST, ROBINSON AND CO. ; 
 WILSON AND SONS, YORK; STERLING AND SLADE j AND FAIK- 
 BAIRN AND ANDERSON, EDINBURGH. 
 
 1820.
 
 C. Baldwin, Printer, Bridge Street, Elacklriars, London.
 
 ^-y^' 
 
 I,;- 
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 AND 
 
 SURPRISING ADVENTURES 
 
 OF 
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE, 
 
 OF YORK, MARINER: 
 WHO LIVED EIGHT-AND-TWENTY YEARS, 
 
 ALL ALONE, 
 
 ON AN UNINHABITED ISLAND, 
 
 NEAR THE MOUTH OF THE GREAT RIVER OROONOQUE. 
 WITH AN 
 
 ACCOUNT OF HIS TRAVELS 
 ROUND THREE PARTS OF THE GLOBE. 
 
 WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 
 
 IX TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I.
 
 DE FOE, 
 
 The first publication which appears in this se- 
 lection has so Uttle the air of a common novel, 
 tliat many will probably be surprised to see it 
 included under that denomination ; and some, 
 who consider their old friend Robinson Crusoe 
 as a mere school-boy acquaintance, may wonder 
 to see him in such good company as the Sir 
 Charleses ^nd the Lady Betties of fashionable 
 life. But the truth is, this favourite of our early 
 years, though it has no pretensions to the graces 
 of style, nor aims at touching the tender pas- 
 sions, yields to few in the truth of its descrip- 
 tion and its power of interesting the mind. Its 
 author, DanieldeFoe, isa name well known 
 in the political history of his age. He was bom 
 in London in l66iJ; his father was a butcher; 
 his education was a common one, and none of 
 his works bear any marks of that polish and ele- 
 gance of style which is the mingled result of a 
 classical education, and of associating with the 
 more cultivated orders of society : but he was a 
 man of truly original genius, and possessed in 
 a remarkable degree the power of gi^nng such 
 an air of truth and nature to his narrations that 
 VOL. XVI, a
 
 ii DE FOE. 
 
 they are rather deceptions than unitations. In 
 that particular cast of his genius he resembled 
 iSwift, his antipodes in politics and rehgion. 
 The taleiiL of grave irony, and the attention to 
 those minute circumstances, those apparendy 
 undesigned touches, which cause the reader to 
 exclaim, "No man could surely have thought 
 c\ this if it had not been true," were alike in 
 both. To the humour of Swift, Be Foe had ho 
 pretensions. This author was educated a dis- 
 5enter, and was greatly attached to the cause of 
 liberty and protestantism : he was early in hfe 
 engaged in the unfortunate rebellion of the Duke 
 of Monmouth, but had the good fortune to es„ 
 cape the severe vengeance which was exercised 
 after his defeat, and to return unmolested to 
 London, where he followed his business of a 
 maker of bricks and pantiles. He was not how- 
 ever successful, and became insolvent ; but he 
 honourably paid his creditors as soon as his cir- 
 cumstances enabled him so to do. J'rom this 
 period he attracted great notice as a writer by a 
 number of publications, chiefly political, M'hich 
 came from his pen. One of them, entitled, 
 The sliortol IV ay with the Dissenters, drew upou 
 him a severe punishn^ent. It was written in 
 1702, when the hjgh-church party were inclined 
 to persecute the seclaiies. The grave ironical 
 style in which it was written, at first deceived 
 the public, and many thought him in earnest. 
 The same diing is said to have happened to 
 Swift, on the publication of his Propose/ Jor 
 fatteni/ig and eating the Children of the poor 
 Imh, The house of commons took up th^
 
 DE tot. 11^ 
 
 matter differently, they ordered the book to be 
 burnt by the lv>ngman ; and a prosecution was 
 begun against the publishers. De Foe had se-' 
 creted himself, but honourably came t'ovvvard to 
 screen the publishers, and was senteiiced to the 
 severe and degrading puni.^hment ot ihe pillory, 
 besides fine and impiisonment. The compos- 
 sure V/ith which he bore iiis punishment gave 
 occasion to the following sarcasm from Pope, 
 who hated both whigs and distniers, 
 
 " Earless on high stood unabash'd De Foe." 
 
 While he was still in prison he commenced a 
 periodical publication entitled The Revieic It 
 w-as published twice or thrice a week, and be- 
 sides news, domestic and political, contained 
 the fiction of a club discussing \aiious topics of 
 a miscellaneous nature, which in all probabihty 
 gave the hint to ISteele and Addison for the frame 
 they used afterwards with so much success in 
 the papers of T/ie Taller and Spectator. De Foe 
 was liberated by the interposition of Hailey, and 
 afterwards employed by the queen in Scotland, 
 when the union was projected. He had great 
 knowledge of affairs of commerce and revenue, 
 on which subjects he was often consulted. After 
 the union had taken place, he wrote the history 
 of it in a folio volume. It seems strange that 
 one so much employed as he was at that time 
 should obtain no sealed provision; and still more, 
 that upon the accession of (ieiJige the Second, 
 when the whigs were again in power, he was not 
 rewarded for his suflerings in the cause of li- 
 berty civil and religious, a cause he ccrtiiinly 
 
 a2
 
 ir DE FOE. 
 
 had at heart. But it is to be feared his integri- 
 ty was not quite equal to his abiUties, and he 
 had given otlence by some publications which 
 •were at least ambiguous, and laid him open to 
 the censure of writing on both sides. He seems 
 therefore from this time to have given up poli- 
 tics, and to have employed his pen in compos- 
 ing those works by which his name has been 
 best known to posterity. Among these were his 
 Fami/j/ Instructor and Religious Courtship. They 
 both consist of dialogues on religious and moral 
 subjects, relative to the conduct of life in its va- 
 rious situations and occurrences. They have 
 not the least pretensions to elegance, and an air 
 of religious austerity pervades the whole of them; 
 but their dramatic form of dialogues, supported 
 with much nature and feeling, and the interest 
 which his manner of writing has thrown into 
 the familiar stories and incidents of domestic 
 and common life, have made these publications, 
 especially the former, exceedingly popular to 
 this day among those whose religious opinions 
 are similar to his own. I)e Foe also wrote A 
 Jounial of the Plague Year. It is written in 
 the person of a citizen, a shopkeeper, who is sup- 
 posed to have staid in the metropolis during the 
 whole time of the calamity ; and the particulars 
 are so striking, so awful, and so circumstantial, 
 that it deceived most of his readers, and amongst 
 others it is said Dr. Mead, into a behef of its 
 authenticity ; — an exercise of ingenuity not to 
 be commended ; — though, after aU,the particulars 
 were probably most of them true, though the 
 relater was fictitious. De Foe also wrote many
 
 DE rOE. V 
 
 pieces in verse, which, though they had no pre- 
 tensions to poetry properly so called, had many 
 passages that were nenous and pointed. One, 
 entitled Reformation of Manners, contains a 
 strong invective against the slave-trade. A sa- 
 tire called The true-born Englishman was much 
 read in its time, though it gave great offence. Its 
 purport was to parry the attacks made against 
 king William as a foreigner, by showing that 
 the English themselves were a very mixed breed, 
 who liad no purity of blood to boast of. — But 
 the work by which this writer is best known, 
 both at home and abroad, is that which is pre- 
 sented to the })ublic in this selection. The Life 
 and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. 
 
 It has been translated into most modem lan- 
 guages, has passed through numberless editions, 
 and has always been found particularly agree- 
 able to the taste of youth. The story turns upon 
 the ingenuity and contrivance with which a so- 
 litary being, wrecked upon a desert island, pro- 
 vides for his subsistence, and by degrees sup- 
 plies himself with all the most desirable ac- 
 commodations of life. The reader is wonder- 
 fully delighted to see him acquire one comfort 
 after another, and grows at length almost in love 
 _ with his solitude. Some have thought the author 
 has shortened his labour too much by allowing 
 him so many articles out of the ship; but with- 
 out them the story, though it might have 
 displayed more mechanical invention, would 
 have gone on rather heavily. Besides the inge- 
 nuity o( contrivance displayed in this Avork, 
 tlicrc arc many circumstances which strongly
 
 VI i)E rofe. 
 
 affect the feelings. The terror inspired bfy tiM 
 impression of the foot in the sand ; tlie kinii-s 
 nous eyes,- glaring like two lamps, at the bottom 
 of the cave ; and the aiiectionate simplicity of 
 poor Friday, agitate the mind in various ways. 
 The latter has a great deal of simple and natural 
 pathos ; and nothing in description can be more 
 lively than the account of his meeting with his 
 old father, who is saved from the cannibals, and 
 of the fond and animated expressions of his af- 
 fection to him both then, and when he meets 
 him aoain on the island. 
 
 A strong tincture of religious feeling runs 
 through the work^ not unmixed with superstition. 
 Dreams, omens, and impressions on the mind oc- 
 cur, in which De Foe was either a believer, or at 
 least he knew how to take advantage of them in 
 impressing his readers. That he was not very scru- 
 pulous in this point, appears from the following 
 anecdote : — Dre/incourt on Death, a grave religi- 
 ous book, not going ofl" so well as the booksellers 
 wished, they applied, it is said, to De Foe to 
 write something which might give it a lift ; for 
 which purpose he composed The Apparition of 
 Mrs. Veal. Though pure invention, it was told 
 in so natural and circumstantial a way, that it 
 gained credit with hundreds of readers ; and 
 being prefixed to the work, the impression sold 
 rapidly. — It is said that Robinson Crusoe has 
 given many a boy a predilection for a seafaring 
 life ; which is not unhkely ; for the variety of 
 adventures it contains kindles curiosity, and even 
 when the subject of them is in his most forlorn 
 and soUtary state, there iy something gratifying
 
 Df. FOE. vii 
 
 to the imaguiation in contemplating him as king 
 and owner of every thing about hnn ; 
 
 «* I am monarch of all I survey, 
 jMy right there is none to dispute." 
 
 Among the striking passages of the work may be 
 mentioned the encounter with the woh es and 
 bears in crossing the Pyrenees. The second 
 part, hke most second parts, is much interior 
 to the first. \'\'e lose our old acquaintance th^ 
 Solitary, and are presented with a Missionary in 
 his stead. The story is confused with a variety 
 of adventures, in which however the au'.hgr ex- 
 hibits his knowledge of the course of trade, 
 which he was well acquainted with, and man- 
 ners and customs which he had heard or read of, 
 in China, Tartary, Siberia, and other countries. 
 The most striking passage in this volume is the 
 lively description of the sufferings of a yQung 
 woman dying in the agonies of hunger. De 
 Foe has shown a candour, at that time not very 
 common, in giving a very amiable character oi 
 a French catholic priest ; but the advepture ol 
 burning the Tartar idol, if it is meant as a hej'oig 
 exploit, shows very confused ideas of justice.^™ 
 ft must not be concealed that the origuiality of 
 this work has been disputed to De Foe fro^isA th^e 
 following circumstance. One Alexander bel^ 
 kirk really passed some years alone on thg 
 island of Juan Fernandez, and a sketch of his 
 story had been given in the relaiion of \\ oodp* 
 Rogers. This might very probably give the firs>? 
 bint of his romance ; but as to the report th?,$
 
 Viii DE FOE. 
 
 he possessed papers of Selkirk's and had made 
 unacknowledged use of them, it appears to have 
 been propagated without any solid ground what- 
 ever; and indeed the situation in which Robin- 
 son Crusoe is placed, and from which most of 
 the incidents arise, materially differs from that 
 of Selkirk. — De Foe wrote many other hves and 
 adventures, and employed his ready pen to the 
 end of his laborious life, which took place in 
 London, in April 1731, in his 68th year.
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 AVD 
 
 SURPRISING ADVENTURES 
 
 OB 
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 
 
 I WAS born in the year 1632^ in the city of York, 
 of a good family, though not of that country, my 
 father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled 
 first at Hull. He got a good estate by merchandise, 
 and, leaving off his trade, lived afterwards at Yoi'k ; 
 from whence he had married my mother, whose re- 
 lations were named Robinson, a very good family 
 in that country, and from whom I was called Ro- 
 binson Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption 
 of words in England, we are now called, nay, we 
 call ourselves, and write our name, Crusoe ; and so 
 my companions always called me. 
 
 I had two elder brothers, one of whom was lieu- 
 tenant-colonel to an English regiment of foot in 
 Flanders, formerly commanded by the famous colo- 
 nel Lockhart, and was killed at the battle near 
 Dunkirk against the Spaniards. What became of 
 my second brother, I never knew, any more than 
 my father and mother did know what was become 
 of mq. 
 
 VOL. XVI, B
 
 2 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Being the third son of the family, and not bred 
 to any trade, my head began to be filled very early 
 with rambling thoughts. My father, who was very 
 ancient, had given me a competent share of learn- 
 ing, as far as house-education and a country free- 
 school generally go, and designed me for the law ; 
 but I would be satisfied with nothing: but eoinsr to 
 sea : and my mclination to this led me so strongly 
 against the will, nay, the commands of niy father, 
 and against all the entreaties and persuasions of my 
 mother and other friends, that there seemed to be 
 something fatal in that propension of nature, tend- 
 ing directly to the life of misery which was to befall 
 me. 
 
 My father, a wise and grave man, gave me serious 
 and excellent counsel against what he foresaw was 
 my design He called me one morning into his 
 chamber, where he was confined by the gout, and 
 expostulated very warmly with me upon this subject: 
 he asked me what reasons, more than a mere wan- 
 dering inclination, I had for leaving his house, and 
 my native country, where I might be well intro- 
 duced, and had a prospect of raising my fortune by 
 application and industry, with a life of ease and 
 pleasure. He told me it was for men of desperate 
 fortunes, on one hand, or of aspiring, superior 
 fortunes, on the other, who went abroad upon ad- 
 ventures, to rise by enterprise, and make themselves 
 famous in undertakings of a nature out of the com- 
 mon road ; that these things were all either too far 
 above me, or too far below me ; that mine was the 
 middle state, or what might be called the upper 
 station of low life, which he had found, by long 
 experience, was the best state in the world, the 
 most suited to human happiness, not exposed to the 
 miseries and hardships, the labour and sufferings of 
 the mechanic part of mankind, and not embarrassed
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 
 
 with the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy of the 
 upper part of mankind: he told me, I might judge 
 of the happiness of this state by one thing, viz. that 
 this was the state of life which all other people eii- 
 vied ; that kings have frequently lamented the mi- 
 serable consequences of being born to great things, 
 and wished they had been placed in the middle of 
 two extremes, "between the mean and the great ; 
 that the wise man gave his testimony to this, as the 
 just standard of true felicity, when he prayed to 
 have neither ooverty nor riches. 
 
 He bade me observe it, and I should always find, 
 that the calamities of life were shared among the 
 upper and lower part of mankind: but that the 
 middle station had the fewest disasters, and was not 
 exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or 
 lower part of mankind : nay, they were not sub- 
 jected to so many distempers and uneasinesses, 
 either of body or mind, as those were, who, by 
 vicious living, luxury, and extravagancies, on one 
 hand, or by hard labour, want of necessaries, and 
 mean and insufficient diet, on the other hand, bring 
 distempers upon themselves by the natural conse- 
 quences of their way of Hving ; that the middle 
 station of life was calculated for all kind of virtues, 
 and all kind of enjoyments ; that peace and plenty 
 were the handmaids of a middle fortune; that tem- 
 perance, moderation, quietness, health, society, all 
 agreeable diversions, and all desirable pleasures, 
 were the blessings attending the middle station of 
 life ; that this way men went silently and smoothly 
 through the world, and comfortably out of it, not 
 embarrassed with the labours of the hands or of the 
 head, not sold to the life of slavery for daily bread, 
 or harassed with perplexed circumstances, which 
 rob the soul of peace, and the body of rest ; not 
 enraged with tlie passion of envy, or secret burn- 
 
 B 2
 
 4 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 ing lust of ambition for great things ; but, in easy 
 circumstances, sliding gently through the world, 
 and sensibly tasting the sweets of living, without 
 the bitter; feeling that they are happy, and learn- 
 ing, by every day's experience, to know it more 
 sensibly. 
 
 After this, he pressed me earnestly, and in the 
 most affectionate manner, not to play the young 
 man, nor to precipitate myself into miseries which 
 nature, and the station of life I was born in, seemed 
 to have provided against ; that I was under no ne- 
 cessity of seeking my bread ; that he would do well 
 for me, and endeavour to enter me fairly into the 
 station of life which he had been just recommend- 
 ing to me ; and that if I was not very easy and 
 happy in the world, it must be my mere fate, or 
 fault, that must hinder it ; and that he should have 
 nothing to answer for, having thus discharged his 
 duty in warning me against measures which he 
 knew would be to my hurt: In a word, that as he 
 would do very kind things for me if I would stay 
 and settle at home as he directed ; so he would not 
 have so much hand in my misfortunes as to give me 
 any encouragement to go away : and, to close all, 
 he told me 1 had my elder brother for an example, 
 to whom he had used the same earnest persuasions 
 to keep him from going into the Low Country 
 wars ; but could not prevail, his young desires 
 prompting him to run into the army, where he was 
 killed ; and though, he said, he would not cease to 
 pray for me, yet he would venture to say to me, 
 that if I did take this foolish step, God would not 
 bless me ; and I would have leisure, hereafter, to 
 reflect upon having neglected his counsel, when 
 there might be none to assist in my recovery. 
 
 I observed, in this last part of his discourse, 
 which was truly prophetic, though, I suppose, my
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 5 
 
 father did not know it to be so himself; I say, I 
 observed the tears run down his face very plentiful- 
 ly, especially when he spoke of my brother who 
 was killed ; and that, when he spoke of my having 
 leisure to repent, and none to assist me, he was so 
 moved, that he broke off the discourse, and told 
 me his heart was so full, he could say no more to me. 
 
 I was sincerely affected with this discourse : as, 
 indeed, who could be otherwise ? and I resolved not 
 to think of going abroad any more, but to settle at 
 home, according to my father's desire. But alas ! 
 a few days wore it all off: and, in short, to prevent 
 any of my father's further importunities, in a few 
 weeks after I resolved to run quite away from him. 
 However, I did not act so hastily, neither, as my 
 first heat of resolution prompted ; but I took my 
 mother, at a time when I thought her a little plea- 
 santer than ordinary, and told her that my thoughts 
 were so entirely bent upon seeing the world, that I 
 should never settle to any thing with resolution 
 enough to go through with it, and my father had 
 better give me his consent than force me to go 
 without it ; that I was now eighteen years old, 
 which was too late to go apprentice to a trade, or 
 clerk to an attorney ; that I was sure, if I did, I 
 should never serve out my time, and I should cer- 
 tainly run away from my master before my time 
 was out, and go to sea; and if she would speak to 
 my father to let me make but one voyage abroad, if 
 1 came home again, and did not like it, I would go 
 no more ; and I would promise, by a double dili- 
 gence, to recover the time 1 had lost. 
 
 This put my mother into a great passion : she 
 told me she knew it would be to no purpose to 
 speak to my father upon any such a subject ; that 
 he knew too well what was my interest to give his 
 consent to any thing so much for my hurt ; and 
 
 B 3
 
 6 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 that slie wondered how I could think of any stich 
 thing, after such a discourse as I had from my fa- 
 ther, and such kind and tender expressions as she 
 knew my father had used to me : and that, in 
 short, if 1 would ruin myself, there was no help for 
 me ; but I might depend I should never have their 
 consent to it : that for her part, she would not have 
 so much hand in my destruction ; and I should 
 never have it to say, that my mother was willing 
 when my father was not. 
 
 Though my mother refused to move it to my fa- 
 ther, yet, as I have heard afterwards, she reported 
 all the discourse to him ; and that my father, after 
 showing a great concern at it, said to her with a 
 sigh. That boy might be happy, if he would stay 
 at home ; but, if he goes abroad, he will be the 
 most miserable wretch that ever was born : I can 
 give no consent to it. 
 
 It was not till almost a year after this that I 
 broke loose ; though in the mean time I continued 
 obstinately deaf to all proposals of settling to busi- 
 ness, and frequently expostulating with my father 
 and mother about their being so positively deter- 
 mined against what they knew my inclinations 
 prompted me to. But, being one day at Hull, 
 whither I went casually, and without any purpose 
 of making an elopement at that time, and one of 
 my companions then going to London by sea in his 
 father's ship, and prompting me to go with them 
 by the common allurement of sea-faring men, viz. 
 that it should cost me nothing for my passage, 
 I consulted neither father nor mother any more, 
 nor so much as sent them word of it ; but left them 
 to hear of it as they might, without asking God's 
 blessing, or my father's, without any consideration 
 of circumstances or consequences, and in an ill 
 hour, God knows.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 7 
 
 On the 1st of September, 1651, I went on board 
 a ship bound for London. Never any young ad- 
 venturer's misfortunes, I believe, began earlier, or 
 continued longer, than mine. The ship had no 
 sooner got out of the Humber, than the wind began 
 to blow, and the waves 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 1 was overtaken by the 
 judgement of Heaven, for wickedly leaving my 
 father's house, and abandoning my duty. All the 
 good counsel of my parents, my father's tears, and 
 my mother's entreaties, came now fresh into my 
 mind ; and my conscience, which was not yet come 
 to the pitch of hardness to which it has been since, 
 reproached me with the contempt of advice, and 
 the breach of my duty to God and my father. 
 
 All this while the storm increased, and the sea, 
 which I had never been upon before, went very 
 high, though nothing like what I have seen many 
 times since ; no, nor what I saw a few days after ; 
 but, such as it was, enough to affect me then, who 
 was but a young sailor, and had never known any 
 thing of the matter. I expected every wave would 
 have swallowed us up, and that every time the ship 
 fell down, as I thought, in the trough or hollow of 
 the sea, we should never rise more ; and in this 
 agony of mind 1 made many vows and resolutions, 
 that if it would please God to spare my life this 
 voyage, if ever 1 got my foot once on dry land, I 
 would go directly home to my father, and never set 
 it into a ship again while I lived ; that I would 
 take his advice, and never run myself into such mi- 
 series as these any more. Now I saw plainly the 
 goodness of his observations about the middle sta- 
 tion of life ; how easy, how comfortable he had lived 
 all his days, and never had been exposed to tempests
 
 8 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 at sea or troubles on shore ; and I resolved that I 
 would, like a true repenting prodigal, go home to 
 my father. 
 
 These wise and sober thoughts continued during 
 the storm, and indeed some time after ; but the 
 next day, as the wind was abated, and the sea calm- 
 er, I began to be a little inured to it. However, I 
 was very grave that day, being also a little sea-sick 
 still : but towards night the weather cleared up, the 
 wind was quite over, and a charming fine evening 
 followed ; the sun went down perfectly clear, and 
 rose so the next morning ; and having little or no 
 wind, and a smooth sea, the sun shining upon it, 
 the sight was, as 1 thought, the most delightful that 
 I ever saw. 
 
 I had slept well in the night, and was now no 
 more sea-sick, but very cheerful, looking with won- 
 der upon the sea that was so rough and terrible the 
 day before, and could be so calm and pleasant in a 
 little time after. 
 
 And now, lest my good resolutions should conti- 
 nue, my companion, who had indeed enticed me 
 away, came to me, and said, Well, Bob, clapping 
 me on the shoulder, how do you do after it ? i 
 ■warrant you were frightened, wa'nt you, last night, 
 when it blew but a cap-full of wind? — A cap-full, 
 do you call it ? said I ; 'twas a terrible storm. — 
 A storm, you fool! 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 : you are 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 drunk with it ; 
 and in that one night's wickedness i drowned all 
 my repentance, all my reflections upon my past
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. if 
 
 conduct, and 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 
 the storm, so the hurry of my thoughts being over, 
 my fears and apprehensions of being swallowed up 
 by the sea forgotten, and the current of my former 
 desires returned, I entirely forgot the vows and pro- 
 mises 1 had made in my distress. 1 found, indeed, 
 some intervals of reflection ; and serious thoughts 
 did, as it were, endeavour to return again some- 
 times; but I shook them off, and roused myself 
 from them, as it were from a distemper, and, ap- 
 plying myself to drink and company, soon mastered 
 the return of those fits,— for so I called them ; and 
 I had in five or six days got as complete a victory 
 over conscience as any young fellow, that resolved 
 not to be troubled with it, could desire. But I was 
 to have another trial for it still; and Providence, as 
 in such cases generally it does, resolved to leave me 
 entirely without excuse : for if I would not take this 
 for a deliverance, the next was to be such a one as 
 the worst and most hardened wretch among us 
 would confess both the danger and the mercy of. 
 The sixth day of our being at sea, we came into 
 Yarmouth roads ; the wind having been contrary, 
 and the weather calm, we had made but little way 
 since the storm. Here we were obliged to come to 
 an anchor, and here we lay, the wind continuing 
 contrary, viz. at south-west, for seven or eight 
 days, during which time a great many ships from 
 Newcastle came into the same roads, as the common 
 harbour where the ships might wait for a wind for 
 the River. We had not, however, rid here so long, 
 but we should have tided 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
 
 10 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 were unconcerned, and not in the least apprehensive 
 of danger, but spent the time in rest and mirth, 
 after the manner of the sea. But the eighth day, 
 in the morning, the wind increased, and we had all 
 hands at work to strike our topmasts, and make 
 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 rode forecastle in, 
 shipped several seas, and we thought, once or twice, 
 our anchor had come home ; upon which our master 
 ordered out the sheet-anchor ; so that we rode with 
 two anchors 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 of even the seamen themselves. The master 
 was vigilant in the business of preserving the ship ; 
 but, as he went in and out of his cabin by me, I 
 could hear him softly say to himself, several times, 
 Lord, be merciful to us ! we' shall be all lost ; we 
 shall be all undone ! and the like. During these 
 first hurries 1 was stupid, lying still in my cabin, 
 which was in the steerage, and cannot describe my 
 temper. I could ill re-assume the first penitence, 
 which I had so apparently trampled upon, and har- 
 dened myself against ; I thought that the bitterness 
 of death had been past, and that this would be no- 
 thing too, like the first : but when the master him- 
 self came by me, as I said just now, and said we 
 should be all lost, I was dreadfully frightened. I 
 got up out of my cabin, and looked out ; but such a 
 dismal sight I never saw ; the sea went mountains 
 high, and broke upon us every three or four mi- 
 nutes. When I could look about, I could see no- 
 thing but distress around us; two ships, that rid 
 near us, we found had cut their masts by the board, 
 being deeply laden ; and our men cried out that a 
 ship, which rid about a mile a-head of us, was
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 11 
 
 foundered. Two more ships, being driven from 
 their anchors, were run out of the roads to sea, at 
 all adventures, and that with not a mast standing. 
 The light ships fared the best, as not so much la- 
 bouring in the sea; but two or three of them drove, 
 and came close by us, running away, with only 
 their spritsails out, before the wind. Toward even- 
 ing, the mate and boatswain begged the master of 
 our ship to let them cut away the foremast, which 
 he was very loth to do ; but the boatswain protest- 
 ing to him, that if he did not, the ship would 
 founder, he consented ; and when they had cut 
 away the foremast, the mainmast stood so loose, 
 and shook the ship so much, they were obliged to 
 cut it away also, and make a clear deck. 
 
 Any one may judge what a condition I must be 
 in at all this, who was but a young sailor, and who 
 had been in such a fright before at but a little. 
 But if I can express, at this distance, the thoughts 
 I had about me at that time, I was in tenfold more 
 horror of mind upon account of my former convic- 
 tions, and the having returned from them to the 
 resolutions I had wickedly taken at first, than I was 
 at death itself; and these, added to the terror of the 
 storm, put me into such a condition, that I can by 
 no words describe it, but the worst was not come 
 yet ; the storm continued with such fury, that the 
 seamen themselves acknowledged they had never 
 known a worse. We had a good ship, but she was 
 deep laden, and so wallowed in the sea, that the 
 seamen every now and then cried out, she would 
 founder. It Avas my advantage, in one respect, that 
 I did not know what they meant by founder^ till 
 I inquired. However, the storm was so violent, 
 that I saw, what is not often seen, the master, the 
 boatswain, and some others, more sensible than the 
 rest, at their prayers, and expecting every moment
 
 l2 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the ship would go to the bottom. In the middle ot 
 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 leek ; 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 1 thought, died within me ; and 
 I fell backwards upon the side of my bed, where I 
 sat in the cabin. However, the men roused me, and 
 told me, that I, who was able to do nothing be- 
 fore, was as well able to pump as another : at 
 which I stirred up and went to the pump, and work- 
 ed very heartily. While this was doing, the master 
 seeing some light colliers who, not able to ride out 
 the storm, were obliged to slip and run away to sea, 
 and would not come near us, ordered us to fire a 
 gun, as a signal of distress. I, who knew nothing 
 what that meant, was so surprised, that I thought 
 the ship had broke, or some dreadful thing had hap- 
 pened. In a word, I was so surprised, that I fell 
 down in a swoon. As this was a time when every 
 body had his own life to think of, no one 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 1 came to myself. 
 
 We worked on ; but the water increasing in the 
 hold, it was apparent that the ship would founder ; 
 and though the storm began to abate a little, yet as 
 it was not possible she could swim till we might 
 run into 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. It 
 was with the utmost hazard the boat came near us, 
 but it was impossible for us to get on board, or for 
 the boat to lie near the ship's side ; till at last the 
 men rowing very heartily, and venturing their lives
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. IS 
 
 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 great labour and 
 hazard, took hold of", and we hauled them close 
 under our stern, and got all into their boat. It was 
 to no purpose for them or us, after we were in the 
 boat, to think of reaching their own ship ; so all 
 agreed to let her drive, and only to pull her in to- 
 wards shore as much as we could ; and our master 
 promised them, that if the boat was staved upon 
 shore, he would make it good to their master ; 
 so partly rowing, and partly driving, our boat went 
 away to the northward, sloping towards the shore 
 almost as far as Winterton-Ness. 
 
 We were not much more than a quarter of an 
 hour out of our ship when we saw her sink ; and 
 then I understood, for the first time, what was 
 meant by a ship foundering in the sea. 1 must ac- 
 knowledge, 1 had hardly eyes to look up when the 
 seamen told me, she was sinking ; for, from that 
 moment, they rather put me into the boat, than 
 that I might be said to go in. My heart was, as it 
 were, dead within me, partly with fright, partly 
 with horror of mind, and the thoughts of what was 
 yet before me. 
 
 While we were in tnis condition, the men yet la- 
 bouring at the oar to bring the boat near the shore, 
 we could see (when, our boat mounting the waves, 
 we were able to see the shore) a great many people 
 running along the strand, to assist us when we 
 should come near : but we made slow way towards 
 the shore; nor were we able to reach it, 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 
 
 c
 
 14; ADVENTURES OF 
 
 to Yarmouth ; where, as unfortunate men, we were 
 used with great humanity, as well by the magistrates 
 t)f the town, who assigned us good quarters, as by 
 the particular merchants and owners of ships ; and 
 had money given us sufficient to carry us either 
 to London or back to Hull, as we thought fit. 
 
 Had I now had the sense to have gone back to 
 Hull, and have gone home, I had been happy ; and 
 my father, an emblem of our blessed Saviour s para- 
 ble, had even killed the fatted calf for me ; for, 
 hearing the ship I went in was cast away in Yar- 
 mouth roads, it was a great while before he had any 
 assurance that I was not drowned. 
 
 But my ill fate pushed me on with an obstinacy 
 that nothing could resist ; and though 1 had several 
 times loud calls from my reason, and my more com- 
 posed judgement, to go home, yet I had no power 
 to do it. — I know not what to call this, nor will I 
 urge that it is a secret, over-ruling decree, that hur- 
 ries us on to be the instruments of our own destruc- 
 tion, even though it be before us, and that we rush 
 upon it with our eyes open. Certainly, nothing but 
 some such decreed unavoidable misery attending, 
 and which it was impossible for me to escape, could 
 have pushed me forward against the calm reason- 
 ings 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 be- 
 fore, 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 : telling his father who I was, and how I had
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 1.5 
 
 come this voyage only for a trial, in order to go far- 
 ther abroad. His father, turning to me, with a 
 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 sea-faring man. — Why, sir? 
 said I ; will you go to sea no more ? — That is 
 another case, said he ; it is my calling, and there- 
 fore my duty ; but as you made this voyage for a 
 trial, you see what a taste Heaven has given you of 
 what you are to expect if you persist. Perhaps this 
 has all befallen us on your account, like Jonali in 
 the ship of Tarshish. — Pray, continues he, what 
 are you, and on what account did you go to sea? 
 Upon that I told him some of my story ; at the end 
 of which he burst out with a strange kind of pas- 
 sion. What had I done, said he, that such an 
 unhappy wretch should come into my ship! I would 
 not set my foot in the same ship w ith thee again for 
 a thousand pounds. This indeed was, as I said, an 
 excursion of his spii-its, which were yet agitated by 
 the sense of his loss, and was farther than he could 
 have authority to go. — However, he afterwards talk- 
 ed very gravely to me ; exhorted me to go back to 
 my father, and not tempt Providence to my ruin ; 
 told mc, I might see a visible hand of Heaven 
 against me ; and, young man, said he, depend upon 
 it, if you do not go back, Avherever you go, you 
 will meet with nothing but disasters and disap- 
 pointments, till your father's words are fulfilled 
 upon you. 
 
 We parted soon after, for I made him little an- 
 swer, and 1 saw him no more ; which way he went, 
 I know not : as for me, having some vnoney in my 
 pocket, I travelled to London by land; and there, 
 as well as on the road, had many struggles with my- 
 self what course of life I should take, and whether 
 
 c2
 
 16 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 I should go home or go to sea. As to going home, 
 shame opposed the best motions that offered to my 
 thoughts ; and it immediately occurred to me how 
 I should be laughed at among the neighbours, and 
 should be ashamed to see, not my father and mother 
 only, but even every body else. From vi^hence I 
 have often since observed, how incongruous and ir- 
 rational the common temper of mankind is, espe- 
 cially of youth, to that reason which ought to guide 
 them in such cases, viz. that they are not ashamed 
 to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent ; not ashamed 
 of the action for which they ought justly to be 
 esteemed fools ; but are ashamed of the returning, 
 which only can make them be esteemed wise men. 
 
 In this state of life, however, I remained some 
 time, uncertain what measures to take, and what 
 course of life to lead. An irresistible reluctance 
 continued to going home ; and as I stayed awhile, 
 the remembrance of the distress I had been in wore 
 off; and, as that abated, the little motion I had in 
 my desires to a return wore off with it, till at last I 
 quite laid aside the thoughts of it, and looked out 
 for a voyage. That evil influence which carried me 
 first away from my father's house, 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 commands of my 
 father ; I say, the same influence, whatever it was, 
 presented the most unfortunate of all enterprises to 
 my view ; and I went on board a vessel bound to 
 the coast of Africa ; or, as our sailors vulgarly call 
 it, a voyage to Guinea. 
 
 It was my great misfortune, that in all these ad- 
 ventures 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
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 17 
 
 the duty and office of a foremast-man, and in time 
 might have qualified myself for a mate or lieutenant, 
 if not a master : but as it was always my fate to 
 choose for the worse, so t did here ; for having mo- 
 ney in my pocket, and good clothes upon my back, 
 I would always go on board in the habit of a gentle- 
 man ; and so I neither had any business in the ship, 
 nor learned to do any. It was my lot, first of all, 
 to fall into pretty good conjpany in London ; which 
 does not always happen to such loose and misguided 
 young fellows as 1 then was ; the devil, generally, 
 not omitting to lay some snare for them very early. 
 But it was not so with me : I first fell acquainted 
 with the master of a ship, who had been on the 
 coast of Guinea, and who, having had very good 
 success there, was i-esolved to go again. He, taking 
 a fancy to my conversation, which was not at all 
 disagreeable at that time, and hearing me say I 
 had a mind to see the world, told me, that if 1 
 would go the voyage with him, I should be at no 
 expense ; I should be his mess-mate and his com- 
 panion ; 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. 1 embraced the offer, and, enter- 
 ing into a strict friendship with this captain, who 
 was an honest and plain-dealing man, I went the 
 voyage v. ith him, and carried a small adventure with 
 me ; which, by the disinterested honesty of my 
 friend the captain, I increased very considerably ; 
 for I carried about 40Z. in such toys and trifles as 
 the captain directed me to buy. This 40/. I had 
 mustered together by the assistance of some of my 
 relations whom I 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 1 may say was suc- 
 
 c3
 
 18 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 cessful in all my adventures, and which I owe to the 
 integrity and honesty of my friend the captain; 
 under whom also I got a competent knowledge of 
 the mathematics and the rules of navigation, learned 
 how to keep an account of the ship's course, take 
 an observation, and, in short, to understand some 
 things that were needful to be understood by a 
 sailor ; for, as he took delight to 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 5lb. 9oz. of gold-dust for my adventure, 
 which yielded me in London, at my return, almost 
 3001. 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 ; particu- 
 larly, that I was continually sick, being thrown into 
 a violent calenture by the excessive heat of the cli- 
 mate ; our principal trading being upon the coast, 
 from the latitude of 15 degrees north, even to the 
 Line itself. 
 
 \ was now set up for a Guinea trader ; and my 
 frieiid, to my great misfortune, dying soon after his 
 arrival, I resolved to go the same voyage again ; and 
 1 embarked in the same vessel with one who was his 
 mate in the former voyage, and had now got the 
 command of the ship This was the unhappiest 
 voyage that ever man made ; for though I did not 
 carry quite lOOl of my new-gained wealth, so that I 
 had 200/. left, and which I lodged with my friend's 
 widow, who was very just to me, yet I fell into ter- 
 rible misfortunes in this voyage : and the first was 
 this, viz. — our ship, making her course towards the 
 Canary Islands, or rather between those islands and 
 the African shore, was surprised, in the grey of the 
 morning, by a Turkish rover, of Sallee, who gave 
 chase to us with all the sail she could make. We 
 crowded also as much canvas as our yards would
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 19 
 
 spread, or our masts carry, to get clear ; but finding 
 the pirate gained upon us, and would certainly come 
 up with us in a few hours, we prepared to fight, our 
 ship having 12 guns, and the rover 18. About 
 three in the afternoon he came up with us ; and 
 bringing to, by mistake, just athwart our quarter, 
 instead of athwart our stern, as he intended, we 
 brought eight of our guns to bear on that side, and 
 poured in a broadside upon him, which made him 
 sheer off again, after returning our fire, and pouring 
 in also his small shot from near '200 men which he 
 had on board. However, we had not a man touched, 
 all our men keeping close. He prepared to attack 
 us again, and we to defend ourselves ; but laying us 
 on board the next time upon our other quarter, he 
 entered 60 men upon our decks, who immediately 
 fell to cutting and hacking the sails and rigging. 
 We plied them with small shot, half-pikes, powder- 
 chests, and such like, and cleared our deck of them 
 twice. However, to cut short this melancholy part 
 of our story, our ship being disabled, and three or 
 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 1 had there was not so dreadful as at 
 first I apprehended ; nor was I carried up the coun- 
 try to the emperor's court, as the rest of our men 
 were, but was kept by the captain of the rover as 
 his proper prize, and made his slave, being young 
 and nimble, and fit for his business. At this sur- 
 prising change of my circumstances, from a mer- 
 chant to a miserable slave, I was perfectly over- 
 whelmed ; and now I looked back upon my father's 
 prophetic discourse to me, that I should be miser- 
 able, and have none to relieve me; which I thought 
 V 'xs now so effectually brought to pass, that it could 
 not be worse : that now the hand of Heaven had
 
 20 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 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 he would take me 
 with him when he went to sea again, believing that 
 it would, some time or other, be his fate to be taken 
 by a Spanish or Portuguese man of war, and that 
 then I should be set at liberty. But this hope of 
 mine was soon taken away ; for when he went to 
 sea, he left me on shore, to look after his little 
 garden, and do the common drudgery of slaves 
 about his house ; and when he came home again 
 from his cruise, he ordered me to lie in the cabin, 
 to look after the ship. 
 
 Here I meditated nothing but my escape, and 
 what method I might take to effect it, but found no 
 way that had the least probability in it. Nothing 
 presented to make the supposition of it rational ; 
 for I had nobody to communicate it to that would 
 embark with me ; no fellow-slave, no Englishman, 
 Irishman, or Scotchman there but myself; so that 
 for two years, though I often pleased myself with 
 the imagination, yet I never had the least encourag- 
 ing prospect of putting it in practice. 
 
 After about two years, an odd circumstance pre- 
 sented itself, which put the old thought of making 
 some attempt for my liberty again in my head. My 
 patron lying at home longer than usual, without 
 titling 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-fish- 
 ing ; 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, inso-
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 21 
 
 much that sometimes he would send me with a 
 Moor, one of his kinsmen, and the youth, the Mo- 
 resco, as they called him, to catch a dish of fish for 
 him. 
 
 It happened one time, that going a-fishing in a 
 stark calm morning, a fog rose so thick, that though 
 we were not half a league from the shore, we lost 
 sight of it; and rowina:, we knew not whither, or 
 which way, we laboured all day and all the next 
 night, and when the morning came, we found we 
 had pulled off to sea, instead of pulling in for the 
 shore, and that we were at least two leagues from 
 the shore: however, we got well in again, though 
 with a great deal of labour, and some danger, for 
 the wind began to blow pretty fresh in the morn- 
 ing ; but particularly we were all very hungry. 
 
 But our patron, warned by this disaster, resolved 
 to take more care of himself for the future ; and 
 having lying by him the long-boat of our English 
 ship he had taken, he resolved he would not go 
 a-fishing any more without a compass and some 
 provision ; so he ordered the carpenter of the ship, 
 who was an English slave, to build a little state- 
 room or cabin in the middle of the long-boat, like 
 that of a barge, with a place to stand behind it, to 
 steer and haul home the main sheet, and room be- 
 fore for a hand or two to stand and work the sails. 
 She sailed with what we call a shoulder-of-mutton 
 sail, and the boom 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 bot- 
 tles of such liquor as he thought fit to drink, and 
 particularly his bread, rice, and coifee. 
 
 We went frequently out with this boat a-fishing, 
 and as I was most dexterous to catch fish for him, 
 he never went without me. It happened, that he
 
 22 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 had appointed to go out in this boat, either for 
 pleasure or for fish, with two or three Moors of 
 some distinction in that place, and for whom he had 
 provided extraordinarily, and had therefore sent oa 
 board the boat, overnight,. a larger store of provi- 
 sion than ordinary, and had ordered me to get 
 ready three fusees, with powder and shot, which 
 were on board his ship, for that they designed 
 some sport of fowling as well as fishing. 
 
 I got all things ready as he directed, and waited 
 the next morning with the boat washed clean, her 
 ensign and pendants out, and every thing to accom- 
 modate his guests; when, by and by, my patron 
 came on board alone, and told me his guests had 
 put off going, upon some business that fell out, and 
 ordered me, with the man and boy, as usual, to go 
 out with the boat, and catch them some fish, for 
 that his friends were to sup at his house ; and com- 
 manded, that as soon as I had got some fish, I 
 should bring it home to his house : all which I pre- 
 pared to do. 
 
 This moment my former notions of deliverance 
 darted into my thoughts, for now I found I was 
 like to have a little ship at my command ; and my 
 master being gone, I prepared to furnish myself, 
 not for a fishing business, but for a voyage ; though 
 1 knew not, neither did I so much as consider, 
 whither I should steer ; for any where, to get out 
 of that place, was my way. 
 
 My first contrivance was to make a pretence to 
 speak to this Moor, to get something for our sub- 
 sistence on board ; for I told him we must not pre- 
 sume to eat of our patron's bread : he said, that was 
 true ; so he brought a large basket of rusk or bis- 
 cuit, of their kind, and three jars with fresh water, 
 into the boat. I knew where my patron's case of 
 bottles stood, which it was evident, by the make.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 23 
 
 were taken out of some English prize, and I con- 
 veyed them into the boat while the Moor was on 
 shore, as if they had been there before for our mas- 
 ter. I conveyed also a great lump of bees-wax into 
 the boat, which weighed above half a hundred- 
 weight, with a parcel of twine or thread, a hatchet, 
 a saw, and a hammer, all which were of great use 
 to us afterwards, especially the wax, to make can- 
 dles. Another trick 1 tried upon him, which he in- 
 nocently came into also : his name was Ismael, 
 whom they call Muley, or Moley : sol called to 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 (fowls like our 
 curlews) for ourselves, for I know he keeps the 
 gunner's stores in the ship— Yes, says he, I will 
 bring some ; and accordingly he brought a great 
 leather pouch, which held about a pound and a half 
 of powder, or rather more, and another with shot, 
 that had five or six pounds, Avith some bullets, and 
 put all int6 the boat : at the same time I 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 N.N.E. which was contrary to my 
 desire; for, had it blown southerly, I had been sure 
 to have made the coast of Spain, and at last reached 
 to the bay of Cadiz: but my resolutions were, blow 
 which way it would, I would be gone from the hor- 
 rid place where I was, and leave the rest to fate. 
 After we had fished some time and catched no-
 
 24 ADVENTUUES OF 
 
 thing, 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 at the head 
 of the boat, set the sails ; and as I had the helm, I 
 run the boat near a league farther, and then brought 
 to, as if I would fish. Then giving the boy the 
 helm, I stepped forward to where the Moor was, 
 and I took him by surprise, with my arm under his 
 waist, and tossed him clear overboard into the sea. 
 He rose immediately, for he swam like a cork, and 
 called to me, begged to be taken in, and told me he 
 would go all the world over with me. He swam so 
 strong after the boat, that he would have reached 
 me very quickly, there being but little wind ; upon 
 which I stepped into the cabin, and fetching one of 
 the fowling pieces, I presented it at him, and told 
 him, I had done him no hurt, and if he would be 
 quiet, I would do him none : But, said I, you 
 swim well enough to reach 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 will shoot you through the head; for I am re- 
 solved to have my liberty. So he turned himself 
 about, and swam for the shore ; and 1 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 will make you a great man ; but if you will not 
 stroke your face to be true to me, (that is, swear bv 
 Mahomet and his father's beard,) I must throw you 
 into the sea too. The boy smiled in my face, and
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 25 
 
 spoke so innocently, that I could not mistrust him ; 
 and swore to be faithful to me, and go all over the 
 world with me. 
 
 While I was in view of the Moor that was swim- 
 ming, I stood out directly to sea with the boat, ra- 
 ther stretching to windward, that they might think 
 me gone towards the Strait's mouth (as indeed any 
 one that had been in their wits must have been sup- 
 posed to do); for who would have supposed we 
 were sailing on to the southward, to the truly Bar- 
 barian 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 mer- 
 ciless 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 made the 
 land, I could not be less than 150 miles south of 
 Sallee, quite beyond the emperor of Morocco's do- 
 minions, or indeed of any other king thereabout ; 
 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 1 would not stop, or go on shore, 
 or come to an anchor, the wind continuing fair, till 
 I had sailed in that manner five days ; and then the 
 wind shifting to the southward, 1 concluded also 
 that if any of our vessels were in chase of me, they 
 also would now give over : so I ventured to make 
 to the coast, and came to an anchor in the mouth 
 of a little river; I knew not what or where, neither 
 what latitude, what country, what nation, or what 
 
 D
 
 26 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 river. I neither saw, nor desired to see, any people ; 
 the principal thing I wanted was fresh water. We 
 came into this creek in the evening, resolving to 
 swim on shore as soon as it was dark, and discover 
 the country : but as soon as it was quite dark, we 
 beard such dreadml 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 will not; but it may 
 be we may see men by day, who will be as bad 
 to us as those lions. — Then we may give them 
 the shoot-gun, says Xury, laughing ; make them 
 run away. Such English Xury spoke by convers- 
 ing among us slaves. However, 1 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 creatures, (we knew not what to 
 call them), of many sorts, come down to the sea- 
 shore, and run into the water, wallowing and wash- 
 ing themselves, for the pleasure of cooling them- 
 selves ; and they made such hideous bowlings and 
 yellings, that 1 never indeed heard the like. 
 
 Xury was dreadfully frightened, and indeed so was 
 I too; but we were both more frightened when we 
 heard one of these mighty creatures swimming to- 
 wards our boat : we could not see him, but we 
 might hear him, by his blowing, to be a monstrous, 
 huge, and furious beast. Xury said it was a lion, 
 and it might be so, for aught I know ; but poor 
 Xury cried to me to weigh the anchor, and row 
 away. No, says I, Xury ; we can slip our ca- 
 ble with a buoy to it, and go off to sea : they 
 cannot follow us far. I had no sooner said so, but
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 27 
 
 I perceived the creature (whatever it was) within 
 two oars length, which something surprised me ; 
 however, I immediately stept 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 is impossible 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 the gun ; 
 a thing, I believe, those creatures had never heard 
 before. This convinced me 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 ques- 
 tion 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 other for water, for we had not 
 a pint left in the boat : when and 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 ; Avhy I should not go, and he 
 stay in the boat. The boy answered with so much 
 affection, that he made me love him ever after. 
 Says he, If wild mans come, they eat me, you go 
 way. — Well, Xury, said I, we will both go ; and 
 if the wild mans come, we will kill them ; they 
 shall cat 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 in the boat as near the shore as we thought 
 was proper, and so waded to shore, carrying no- 
 thing but our arms, and two jars for water. 
 
 I did not care to go out of sight of the boat, fear- 
 
 d2
 
 28 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 ing the coming of canoes with savages down the 
 river ; but the boy, seeing a low place about a mile 
 up the country, rambled to it ; and, by and by, I 
 saw him come running toward me. I thought he 
 was pursued by some savage, or frightened by some 
 wild beast, and I therefore ran forwards to help 
 him ; but when I came nearer to him, I saw some- 
 thing hanging over his shoulders, which was a crea- 
 ture that he had shot, like a hare, but different in 
 colour, and longer legs : however, we were very glad 
 of it and it was very good meat : but the great joy 
 that poor Xury came with, was to tell me he had 
 found good water, and seen no wild mans. 
 
 But we found afterwards, that we need not take 
 such pains for water ; for a little higher up the 
 creek where we were, we found the water fresh when 
 the tide was out, which flowed but a little way up ; 
 so we filled our jars, and, having a fire, feasted on 
 the hare we had killed ; and prepared to go on our 
 way, having seen no footsteps of any human crea- 
 ture in that part of the country. 
 
 As I had been one voyage to this coast before, I 
 knew very well that the islands of the Canaries, and 
 the Cape de Verd islands also, lay not far from the 
 coast. But as I had no instruments to take an ob- 
 servation, to find what latitude we were in ; and did 
 not exactly know, or at least remember, what lati- 
 tude they were in, I knew not where to look for 
 them, or when to stand off to sea towards them, 
 otherwise I might now have easily found some of 
 these islands. But my hope was, that if I stood 
 along this jpoast till I came to the 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, the place where I 
 now was, must be that country which, lying between
 
 KOBINSON CRUSOE. 29 
 
 the emperor of Morocco's dominions and the Ne- 
 groes, lies waste, and miinhabited, except by wild 
 beasts ; the Negroes having abandoned it, and gone 
 farther south, for fear of the Moors, and the Moors 
 not thinking it worth inhabiting, by reason of its 
 barrenness : and, indeed, both forsaking it because 
 of the prodigious numbers of tigers, lions, leopards, 
 and other furious creatures which harbour there : 
 so that the Moors use it for their hunting only, 
 where they go like an army, two or three thousand 
 men at a time ; and, indeed, for near a hundred 
 miles together uj)on this coast, we saw nothing but 
 a waste, uninhabited country by day, and heard no- 
 thing but bowlings and roaring of wild beasts by 
 night. 
 
 Once or twice, in the day time, I thought I saw 
 the Pico of Tenerifte, being the top of the mountain 
 Teneriffe in the Canaries, and had a great mind to 
 venture out, in hopes of reaching thither ; but hav- 
 ing tried twice, I was forced in again by contrary 
 winds ; the sea also going too high for my little ves- 
 sel ; 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 were more about him 
 than, it seems, mine were, calls softly to me, and 
 tells me, that we had best go farther off the shore ; 
 for, says he, Look, yonder lies a dreadful monster 
 on the side of that hillock, fast asleep. I looked 
 where he pointed, and saw a dreadful monster in- 
 deed, 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, over him. Xury, 
 
 D 3
 
 30 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 says I, you shall go on shore and kill him. Xury 
 looked frightened, and said, Me kill ! he eat me 
 at one mouth : one mouthful he meant. However, 
 I said no more to the boy, but bade him be still ; 
 and I took our biggest gun, which was almost mus- 
 quet bore, and loaded it with a good charge of pow- 
 der, and with two slugs, and laid it down ; then I 
 loaded another gun with tvro bullets ; and a third, 
 for we had three pieces, I loaded with five smaller 
 bullets. I took the best aim I could with the first 
 piece, to have shot him in the head; but he lay so, 
 with his leg raised a little above his nose, that the 
 slugs hit his leg about the knee, and broke the bone : 
 he started up, growling at first, but finding his leg 
 broke, fell down again, and then got up upon three 
 legs, and gave the most hideous roar that ever I 
 heard. I was a little surprised that I had not hit 
 him on the head ; however, I took up the second 
 piece immediately, and though he began to move 
 off, fired again, and shot him in the head, and had 
 the pleasure to see him drop, and make but little 
 noise, but lie struggling for life. Then Xury took 
 heart, and would have me let him go on shore. 
 Well, go, said I : so the boy jumped into the wa- 
 ter, and taking a little gun in one hand, swam to 
 shore with the other hand, and coming close to the 
 creature, put the muzzle of the piece to his ear, and 
 shot him in the head again, which dispatched him 
 quite. 
 
 This was game, indeed, to us, but it was no food ; 
 and 1 was very sorry to lose three charges of powder 
 and shot upon a creature that was good for nothing 
 to us. However, Xury said he would have some of 
 him ; so he comes on board, and asked me to give 
 him the hatchet : For what, Xury ? said I. Me 
 cut off his head, said he. However, Xury could 
 not cut off his head ; but he cut off a foot, and
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 31 
 
 brought it with him, and it was a monstrous great 
 one. I bethought myself, however, that perhaps the 
 skin of him might, one way or other, be of some va- 
 lue to us ; and I resolved to take off his skin, if I 
 could. So Xury and I went to work with him : but 
 Xury was much the better workman at it, for I 
 knew very ill how to do it. Indeed, it took us both 
 up the whole day ; but at last we got off the hide of 
 him, and spreading it on the top of our cabin, the 
 sun effectually dried it in two days' time, and it 
 afterwards served me to he upon. 
 
 After this stop, we made on to the southward con- 
 tinually, for ten or twelve days, living very sparingly 
 on our provisions, which began to abate very much, 
 and going no oftener into the shore than we were 
 obliged to for fresh water. My design in this, was 
 to make the river Gambia, or Senegal ; that is to 
 say, any where about the Cape de Verd, where I was 
 in hopes to meet with some European ship ; and if I 
 did not, I knew not what course I had to take, but 
 to seek for the islands, or perish among the Negroes. 
 I knew that all the ships from Europe, which sailed 
 either to the coast of Guinea, or to Brazil, or to the 
 East Indies, made this cape, or those islands : and, 
 in a word, I put the whole of my fortune upon this 
 single point, either that I must meet with some ship, 
 or must perish. 
 
 When I had pursued this resolution about ten days 
 longer, as I have said, 1 began to see that the land 
 was inhabited ; and in two or three places, as we 
 sailed by, we saw people stand upon the shore to 
 look at us: we could also perceive they were quite 
 black, and stark naked. I was once inclined to have 
 gone on shore to them ; but Xury was my better 
 counsellor, and said to me. No go, no go. How- 
 ever, I hauled in nearer the shore, that I might talk 
 to them ; and 1 found they ran along the siiore by
 
 32 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 me a good way. I observed they had no weapons in 
 their hands, except one, who had a long, slender 
 stick, which Xury said was a lance, and that they 
 would throw them a great way with good aim ; so I 
 kept at a distance, but talked to them by signs, as 
 well as I could, and particularly made signs for 
 something to eat. They beckoned to me to stop my 
 boat, and they would fetch me some meat : upon 
 this, I lowered the top of ray sail, and lay by, and 
 two of them ran up into the country ; and in less 
 than half an hour came back, and brought with 
 them two pieces of dry flesh and some corn, such as 
 is the produce of their country ; but we neither 
 knew what the one or the other was ; however, we 
 were willing to accept it. But how to come at it 
 was our next dispute, for I was not for venturing 
 on shore to them, and they were as much afraid of 
 us : but they took a safe way for us all, for they 
 brought it to the shore, and laid it down, and went 
 and stood a great way off till we fetched it on board, 
 and then came close to us again. 
 
 We made signs of thanks to them, for w^ had no- 
 thing to make them amends : but an opportunity 
 offered that very instant to oblige them wonderfully ; 
 for while we were lying by the shore, came two 
 . mighty creatures, one pursuing the other (as we 
 took it) with great fury, from the mountains to- 
 wards the sea ; whether it was the male pursuing the 
 female, or whether they were in sport or in rage, we 
 could not tell, any more than we could tell whether 
 it was usual or strange ; but I believe it was the lat- 
 ter, because, in the first place, those ravenous crea- 
 tures seldom appear but in the night ; and, in the 
 second place, we found the people terribly fright- 
 ened, especially the women. The man that had the 
 lance, or dart, did not fly from them, but the rest 
 did ; however, as the two creatures ran directly into 
 
 3
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE, 33 
 
 the water, they did not seem to ofFer to fall upon any 
 of the Negroes, but plunged themselves into the sea, 
 and swam about, as if they had come for their diver- 
 sion : at last, one of them began to come nearer our 
 boat than I at first expected ; but I lay ready for him, 
 for I had loaded my gun with all possible expedition, 
 and bade Xury load both the others. As soon as he 
 came fairly within my reach, I fired, and shot him 
 directly in the head : immediately he sunk down into 
 the water, but rose instantly, and plunged up and 
 down, as if he was struggling for life, and so indeed 
 he was ; he immediately made to the shore , but be- 
 tween the wound, which was his mortal hurt, and 
 the strangling of the water, he died just before he 
 reached the shore. 
 
 It is impossible to express the astonishment of 
 these poor creatures, at the noise and fire of my gun; 
 some of them were even ready to die for fear, and 
 fell down as dead with the very terror ; but when 
 they saw the creature dead, and sunk in the water, 
 and that I made signs to them to come to the shore, 
 they took heart and came to the shore, and began to 
 search for the creature. I found him by his blood 
 staining the water ; and by the help of a rope, which 
 I slung round him, and gave the Negroes to haul, 
 they dragged him on shore, and found that it was a 
 most curious leopard, spotted, and fine to an admir- 
 able degree ; and the Negroes held up their hands 
 with admiration, to think what it was I had killed 
 him with. 
 
 The other creature, frightened with the flash of 
 fire and the noise of the gun, swam on shore, and ran 
 up directly to the mountains from whence they 
 came; nor could I, at that distance, know what it 
 was. 1 found quickly the Negroes were for eating 
 the flesh of this creature, so I was willing to have 
 them take it as a favour from me ; which, when I
 
 34< ADVENTURES OF 
 
 made signs to them that they might take him, they 
 were very thankful for. Immediately they fell to 
 work with him ; and though they had no knife, yet, 
 with a sharpened piece of wood, they took off his 
 skin as readily, and much more readily, than we 
 could have done with a knife. They offered me some 
 of the flesh, which I declined, making as if I would 
 give it them, but made signs for the skin, which 
 they gave me very freely, and brought me a great 
 deal more of their provisions, which, though I did 
 not understand, yet I accepted. I then made signs 
 to them for some water, and held out one of my jars 
 to them, turning it bottom upward, to show that it 
 was empty, and that I wanted to have it filled. They 
 called immediately to some of their friends, and there 
 came two women, and brought a great vessel made 
 of earth, and burnt, as I suppose, in the sun ; this 
 they set down to me, as before, and 1 sent Xury on 
 shore with my jars, and filled them all three. The 
 women were as stark naked as the men. 
 
 I was now furnished with roots and corn, such as 
 it was, and water ; and leaving my friendly Negroes, 
 I made forward for about eleven days more, without 
 offering to go near the shore, till I saw the land run 
 out a great length into the sea, at about the distance 
 of four or five leagues before me; and the sea being 
 very calm, I kept a large offing to make this point. 
 At length, doubling the point, at about two leagues 
 from the land, I saw plainly land on the other side, 
 to seaward : then I concluded, as it was most certain 
 indeed, that this was the Cape de Verd, and those 
 the islands, called, from thence. Cape de Verd Islands. 
 However, they were at a great distance, and I could 
 not well tell what I had best to do ; for if I should 
 be taken with a gale of wind, I might neither reach 
 one nor the other. 
 
 In this dilemma, as I was very pensive, I stepped
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 35 
 
 into the cabin, and sat me down, Xury having the 
 helm ; when, on a sudden, the boy cried out, Mas- 
 ter, master, a ship with a sail ! and the foolish 
 boy was frightened out of his wits, thinking it 
 must needs be some of his master's ships sent to 
 pursue us, when I knew we were gotten far enough 
 out of their reach. I jumped out of the cabin, and 
 immediately saw, not only the ship, but what she 
 was, viz. that it was a Portuguese ship, and, as I 
 thought, was bound to the coast of Guinea for Ne- 
 groes But, when I observed the course she steered, 
 I was soon convinced they were bound some other 
 way, and did not design to come any nearer to the 
 shore: upon which, I stretched out to sea as much 
 as I could, resolving to speak with them, if pos- 
 sible. 
 
 With all the sail I could make, I found I should 
 not be able to come in their way, but that they 
 would be gone by before I could make any signal 
 to them : but after I had crowded to the utmost, 
 and began to despair, they, it seems saw me, by 
 the help of their perspective glasses, and that it was 
 some European boat, which, they supposed, must 
 belong to some ship that was lost ; so they short- 
 ened sail, to let me come up. - I was encouraged 
 with this, and as I had my patron's ensign on board, 
 1 made a waft of it to them, for a signal of distress, 
 and fired a gun, both which they saw ; for they 
 told me they saw the smoke, though they did not 
 hear the gun. Upon these signals, they very kindly 
 brought to, and lay by for me ; and in about three 
 hours' time I came up with them. 
 
 The}'^ asked me what I was, in Portuguese, and in 
 Spanish and in French, but I understood none of 
 them ; bat, at last, a Scotch sailor, who was on 
 board, called to me, and I answered him, and told 
 him I was an Englishman, that I had made my
 
 36 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 escape out of slavery from the Moors, at Sallee : 
 they then bade me come on board, and very kindly 
 took me in, and all my goods. 
 
 It was an inexpressible joy to me, which any one 
 will believe, that 1 was thus delivered, as I esteemed 
 it, from such a miserable, and almost hopeless, con- 
 dition as I was in ; and 1 immediately offered all I 
 had to the captain of the ship, as a return for my 
 deliverance ; but he generously told me, he would 
 take nothing from me, but that all I had should be 
 delivered safe to me, when I came to the Brazils. 
 For, says he, I have saved your life on no other 
 terms than I would be glad to be saved myself; 
 and it may, one time or other, be my lot to be 
 taken up in the same condition. Besides, said he, 
 when 1 carry you to the Brazils, so great a way 
 from your own country, if I should take from 
 you what you have, you will be starved there, and 
 then I only take away that life I have given. No, 
 no, Seignor Inglese (Mr. Englishman), says he ; I 
 will carry you thither in charity, and these things 
 will help to buy your subsistence there, and your 
 passage home again. 
 
 As he was charitable in this proposal, so he was 
 just in the performance, to a tittle ; for he ordered 
 the seamen, that none should offer to touch any 
 thing I had : then he took every thing into his own 
 possession, and gave me back an exact inventory 
 of them, that I might have them, even so much as 
 my three earthen jars. 
 
 As to my boat, it was a very good one ; and that 
 he saw, and told me he would buy it of me for the 
 ship's use ; and asked me what I would have for it ? 
 I told him, he had been so generous to me in every- 
 thing, that I could not offer to make any price of 
 the boat, but left it entirely to him : upon which, 
 he told me he would give me a note of hand to pay 
 
 5 
 
 1
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 37 
 
 me eighty pieces of eight for it at Brazil ; and when 
 it came there, if any one offered to give more, he 
 would make it up. He offered me also sixty pieces 
 of eight more for my boy Xury, which I was loth. 
 10 take ; not that I was not willing to let the cap- 
 tain have him, but I was very loth to sell the poor 
 boy's liberty, who had assisted me so fiiithfully in 
 procuring my own. However, when I let him know 
 my reason, he owned it to be just, and offered me 
 this medium, that he would give the boy an obliga- 
 tion to set him free in ten years, if he turned Chris- 
 tian : upon this, and Xury saying he was willing to 
 go to him, I let the captain have him. 
 
 We had a very good voyage to the Brazils, and 
 arrived in the Bay de Todos los Santos, or All Saints* 
 Bay, in about twenty-two days after. And now I 
 was once more delivered from the u^ost miserable 
 of all conditions of life ; and what to do next with 
 myself, I was now to consider. 
 
 The generous treatment the captain gave me, I 
 can never enough remember : he would take no- 
 thing of me for my passage, gave mc twenty ducats 
 for the leopard's skin, and forty for the lion's skin, 
 which I had in my boat, and caused every thing I 
 had in the ship to be punctually delivered to nie ; 
 and what I was willing to sell, he bought of me; 
 such as the case of bottles, two of my guns, and a 
 piece of the lump of bees-wax, — for I had made 
 candles of the rest : in a word, I made about two 
 hundred and twent)' pieces of eight of all my cargo; 
 and with this stock, I went on shore in tlie Brazils. 
 
 I had not been long here, before I was recommend- 
 ed to the house of a good honest man, like himself, 
 who had an ingcino as they call it, (that is, a planta- 
 tion and a sugar-house). I lived with him some time, 
 and acquainted rajj^self, by that means, with the 
 manner of planting and making of sugar : and see- 
 
 VOL. XVI. E
 
 38 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 ing how well the planters lived, and how they got 
 rich suddenly, I resolved, if 1 could get a licence to 
 settle there, I would turn planter among them : en- 
 deavouring, in the mean time, to find out some way 
 to get my money, which I had left in London, re- 
 mitted to me. To this purpose, getting a kind of a 
 letter of naturalization, I purchased as much land 
 that was uncured as my money would reach, and 
 formed a plan for my plantation and settlement ; 
 such a one as might be suitable to the stock which 
 I proposed to myself to receive from England. 
 
 I had a neighbour, a Portuguese of Lisbon, but 
 born of English parents, whose name was Wells, 
 and in much such circumstances as I was. I call 
 him my neighbour, because his plantation lay next 
 to mine, and we went on very sociably together. 
 My stock was but low, as well as his ; and we ra- 
 ther planted for food than any thing else, for about 
 two years. However, we began to increase, and 
 our land began to come into order ; so that the 
 third year we planted some tobacco, and made each 
 of us a large piece of ground ready for planting 
 canes in the year to come : but we both wanted 
 help ; and now I found, more than before, I had 
 done wrong in parting with my boy Xury. 
 
 But, alas ! for me to do wrong, that never did 
 right, was no great wonder. I had no remedy, but 
 to go on : I had got into an employment quite remote 
 to my genius, and directly contrary to the life I 
 delighted in, and for which I forsook my father's 
 house, and broke through all his good advice : nay, 
 I was coming into the very middle station, or upper 
 degree of low life, which my father advised me to 
 before ; and which, if I resolved to go on with, I 
 might as well have staid at home, and never have 
 fatigued myself in the world, as I had done: and I 
 used often to say to myself, I could have done this
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 39 
 
 as well in England, among my friends, as have gone 
 five thousand miles off to do it among strangers and 
 savages, in a wilderness, and at such a distance as 
 never to hear from any part of the woi'ld that had 
 the least knowledge of me. 
 
 In this manner, I used to look upon my condition 
 with the utmost regret. I had nobody to converse 
 with, but now and then this neighbour ; no work to 
 be done, but by the labour of my hands : and I used 
 to say, I lived just like a man cast away upon some 
 desolate island, that had nobody there but himself. 
 But how just has it been ! and how should all men 
 reflect, that when they compare their present con- 
 ditions with others that are worse. Heaven may ob- 
 lige them to make the exchange, and be convinced 
 of their former felicity by their experience : 1 say, 
 how just has it been, that the truly solitary life I re- 
 flected on, in an island of mere desolation, should 
 be my lot, who had so often unjustly compared it 
 with the life which I then led, in which, had I con- 
 tinued, I had, in all probability, been exceeding 
 prosperous and rich. 
 
 I was, in some degree, settled in my measures for 
 
 carrying on the plantation, before my kind friend, 
 
 the captain of the ship that took me up at sea, went 
 
 back ; for the ship remained there, in providing his 
 
 lading, and preparing for his voyage, near three 
 
 months ; when, telling him what little stock I had 
 
 left behind me in London, he gave me this friendly 
 
 and sincere advice : Seignior Inglese, says he, (for 
 
 so he always called me), if you will give me letters, 
 
 and a procuration here in form to nic, with orders 
 
 to the person who has your money in London, to 
 
 send your effects to Lisbon, to such persons as I 
 
 shall direct, and in such goods as are proper for 
 
 this country, I will bring you the produce of them, 
 
 God willing, at my return : but, since human affairs 
 
 e2
 
 40 ADVENTURES OP 
 
 are all subject to changes and disasters, I would 
 have you give orders for but one hundred pounds 
 sterling, which, you say, is half your stock, and let 
 the hazard be run for the lirst, so that if it come 
 safe, you may order the rest the same way ; and, if 
 it miscarry, you may have the other half to have 
 recourse to for your supply. 
 
 This was so wholesome advice, and looked so 
 friendly, that I could not but be convinced it was 
 the best couise I could take ; so I accordingly pre- 
 pared letters to the gentlewoman with whom I left 
 my money, and a procuration to the Portuguese 
 captain, as he desired me. 
 
 I wrote the English captain's widow a full account 
 of all my adventures ; my slavery, escape, and how 
 I had met with the Portuguese captain at sea, the 
 humanity of his behaviour, and what condition I was 
 now in, with all other necessary directions for my 
 supply ; and when this honest captain came to Lis- 
 bon, he found means, by some of the English mer- 
 chants there, to send over, not the order only, but a 
 full account of my story to a merchant at London, 
 who represented it effectually to her: whereupon she 
 not only delivered the money, but, out of her own 
 pocket, sent the Portuguese captain a very hand- 
 some present for his humanity and charity to me- 
 
 The merchant in London, vesting this hundred 
 pounds in English goods, such as the captain had 
 wrote for, sent them directly to him at Lisbon, and 
 he brought them all safe to me at the Brazils : 
 among which, without my direction (for I was too 
 young in my business to think of them), he had 
 taken care to have all sorts of tools, iron work, and 
 utensils, necessary for my plantation, and v/hich 
 were of great use to me. 
 
 When this cargo arrived, I thought my fortune 
 made, for 1 was surprised with the joy of it ; and
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 4/1 
 
 iny good steward, the captain, had laid out the five 
 pounds, which my friend had sent him as a present 
 for himself, to purchase and bring me over a ser- 
 vant, under bond for six years' service, and would 
 not accept of any consideration, except a little to- 
 bacco, which I would have him accept, being of 
 my own produce. 
 
 Neither was this all : but ray goods being all En- 
 glish manufactures, such as cloths, stuffs, baize, and 
 things particularly valuable and desirable in the 
 country, I found means to sell them to a very great 
 advantage ; so that I might say, I had more than 
 four times the value of my first cargo, and was now 
 infinitely beyond my poor neighbour, I mean in the 
 advancement of my plantation : for the first thing 
 I did, I bought me a Negro slave, and a European 
 servant also ; I mean another besides that which the 
 captain brought me from Lisbon. 
 
 But as abused prosperity is oftentimes made the very 
 means of our adversity, so was it with me. I went 
 on the next year with great success in my planta- 
 tion ; I raised fifty great rolls of tobacco on my own 
 ground, more than I had disposed of for necessaries 
 among my neighbour ; and these fifty rolls, being 
 each of above 100 lb. weight, were well cured, and 
 laid by against the return of the fleet from Lisbon : 
 and now, increasing in business and in wealth, my 
 head began to be full of projects and undertakings 
 beyond my reach ; such as are, indeed, often the 
 ruin of the best heads in business. Had I continued 
 in the station I was now in, I had room for all the 
 happy things to have yet befallen me, for which my 
 father so earnestly recommended a quiet, retired life, 
 and which he had so sensibly described the middle 
 station of life to be full of: but other things attend- 
 ed me, and I was still to be the wilful agent of all 
 my own miseries ; and, particularly, to iacreasu my 
 
 E 3
 
 42 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 fault, and double the reflections upon myself, which 
 in my future sorrows I should have leisure to make, 
 all these miscarriages were procured by my apparent 
 obstinate adhering tc my foolish inclination, of wan- 
 dering about, and pursuing that inclination, in con- 
 ti-adiction to the clearest views of doing myself good 
 in a fair and plain pursuit of those prospects, and 
 those measures of life, which nature and providence 
 concurred to present me with, and to make my duty. 
 
 As I had once done thus in breaking away from 
 my parents, so I could not be content now, but I 
 must go and leave the happy view I had of being a 
 rich and tliriving man in my new plantation, only to 
 pursue a rash and immoderate desire of rising faster 
 than the nature of the thing admitted ; and thus I 
 cast myself down again into the deepest gulf of 
 human misery that ever man fell into, or perhaps 
 coukl be consistent with life, and a state of health 
 in the world. 
 
 To come, then, by just degrees, to the particulars 
 of this part of my story : — You may suppose, that 
 liaving now lived almost four years in the Brazils, 
 and beginning to thrive and prosper very well upon 
 my plantation, I had not only learned the language, 
 but had contracted an acquaintance and friendship 
 among my fellow-planters, as well as among the 
 merchants at St. Salvador, which was our port ; 
 and that, in my discourses among them, I had fre- 
 quently given them an account of my two voyages 
 to the coast of Guinea, the manner of trading with 
 the Negroes there, and how easy it was to purchase 
 on the coast for trifles — such as beads, toys, knives, 
 scissars, hatchets, bits of glass, and the like — not 
 only gold dust, Guinea grains, elephant's teetli, &c. 
 but Negroes, for the service of the Brazils, in great 
 numbers. 
 
 They listened always very attentively to my dis-
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 4-3 
 
 courses on these heads, but especially to that part 
 which related to the buying Negroes ; which was a 
 trade, at that time, not only not far entered into, 
 but, as far as it was, had been carried on by the 
 assientos, or permission of the kings of Spain and 
 Portugal, and engrossed from the public ; so that 
 few Negroes were bought, and those excessive dear. 
 
 It happened, being in company with some mer- 
 chants and planters of my acquaintance, and talking 
 of those things very earnestly, three of them came 
 to me the next morning, and told me they had been 
 musing very much upon what I had discoursed with 
 them of the last night, and they came to make a 
 secret proposal to me : and, after enjoining me to 
 secrecy, they told me that they had a mind to fit 
 out a ship to go to Guinea ; that they had all plan- 
 tations as well as I, and were straitened for nothing 
 so much as servants ; that as it was a trade that 
 could not be carried on, because they could not 
 publicly sell the Negroes when they came home, so 
 they desired to make but one voyage, to bring the 
 Negroes on shore privately, and divide them among 
 their own plantations : and, in a v.ord, the question 
 was, whether I wouid go their supercargo in the 
 siiip, to manage the trading part upon the coast of 
 (iuinea; and they offered me that I sho"!d have an 
 equal share of the Negroes, without providing any 
 part of the stock. 
 
 This vv'as a fair proposal, it must be confessed, had 
 it been made to any one that had not a settlement 
 and plantation of his own to look after, which was 
 in a fair way of coming to be very considerable, and 
 with a good stock uj)on it. But for me, that was 
 thus entered and established, and had nothing to do 
 but go on as I had begun, for three or four years 
 more, and to have sent tor the other hundred pounds 
 from England ; and who, in that time, and with that
 
 44? ADVENTURES OF 
 
 little addition, could scarce have failed of being^ 
 worth three or four thousand pounds sterling, and 
 that increasing too; for me to think of such a voy- 
 age, was the most preposterous thing that ever man, 
 in such circumstances, could be guilty of. 
 
 But I, that was born to be my own destroyer, 
 could no more resist the offer, than I could restrain 
 my first rambling designs, when my father's good 
 counsel was lost upon me. In a word, I told them 
 1 would go with all my heart, if they would under- 
 take to look after my plantation in my absence, and 
 would dispose of it to such as I should direct, if I 
 miscarried. This they-all engaged to do, and en- 
 tered into writings or covenants to do so : and I 
 made a formal will, disposing of my plantation and 
 effects, in case of my death ; making the captain of 
 the ship that had saved my life, as before, my uni- 
 versal heir ; but obliging him to dispose of my effects 
 as 1 had directed in my will ; one half of the pro- 
 duce being to himself, and the other to be shipped 
 to England. 
 
 In short, I took all possible caution to preserve 
 my effects, and to keep up my plantation : had I 
 used half as much prudence to have looked into 
 my own interest, and have made a judgement of 
 what I ought to have done and not to have done, I 
 had certainly never gone away from so prosperous 
 an undertaking, leaving all the probable views of a 
 thriving circumstance, and gone a voyage to sea, 
 attended with all its common hazards, to say no- 
 thing of the reasons I had to expect particular mis- 
 fortunes to myself. 
 
 But I was hurried on, and obeyed blindly the dic- 
 tates of my fancy, rather than my reason : and ac- 
 cordingly, the ship being fitted out, and the cargo 
 furnished, and all things done as by agreement, by 
 my partners in the voyage, I went on board in ^ 
 
 5
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 45 
 
 evil hour again, the first of September, 1659, being 
 the same day eight years that 1 went from my father 
 and mother at Hull, in order to act the rebel to 
 their authority, and the fool to my own interest. 
 
 Our ship was about one hundred and twenty tons 
 burden, carried six guns, and fourteen men, besides 
 the master, his boy, and niyself; v.'e had on 
 board no large cargo of goods, except of such toys 
 as were fit for our trade with the Negroes, such as 
 beads, bits of glass shells, and odd trifles, especially 
 little looking-glasses, knives, scissars, hatchets, and 
 the like. 
 
 The same day I went on board we set sail, stand- 
 ing away to the northward upon our own coast, with 
 design to stretch over for the African coast. When 
 they came about ten or twelve degrees of northern 
 latitude, which, it seems, was the manner of their 
 course in those days, we had very good weather, 
 only excessive hot all the way upon our own coast, 
 till we came to the height of cape St. Augustino; 
 from whence, keeping farther otFat sea, we lost sight 
 of land, and steered as if we were bound for the isle 
 Fernando dcNoronha, holding our course iS.E.by N. 
 and leaving those isles on the east. In this course 
 we passed the line in about twelve days' time, and 
 were b}^ our last observation, in 7 degrees 22 mi- 
 nutes northern latitude, when a violent tornado, or 
 Imrricane, took us quite out of our knowledge : it 
 began from the soutli-east, came about to the north- 
 west, and then settled in the north-east; from 
 whence it blew in such a terrible manner, that for 
 twelve days together we could do nothing but drive, 
 and, scudding away before it, let it carry us whither 
 ever fate and the fury of tlie winds directed; and, 
 during these twelve days, 1 need not say that 1 ex- 
 pected every day to be swallowed up ; nor, indeed, 
 did any in the ship expect to save their lives.
 
 46 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 In this distress, we had, besides the terror of the 
 storm, one of our men died of the calenture, and 
 one man and a boy washed overboard. About the 
 twelfth day, the weather abating a little, the mas- 
 ter made an observation as well as he could, and 
 found that he was in about 1 1 degrees north latitude, 
 but that he was 22 degrees of longitude difference, 
 west from cape St. Augustino; so that he found he 
 was got upon the coast of Guiana, or the north part 
 of Brazil, beyond the river Amazons, toward that 
 of the river Oroonoque, commonly called the Great 
 River; and began to consult with me what course 
 he should take, for the ship was leaky and very 
 much disabled, and he was going directly back to the 
 coast of Brazil. 
 
 I was positively against that ; and looking over 
 the charts of the sea coast of America with him, we 
 concluded there was no inhabited country for us to 
 have recourse to, till we came within the circle of 
 the Caribbee islands, and therefore resolved to stand 
 away for Barbadoes ; which by keeping off to sea, 
 to avoid the in-draft of the bay or gulf of Mexico, 
 we might easily perform, as we hoped, in about fif- 
 teen days' sail ; whereas we could not possibly make 
 our voyage to the coast of Africa without some as- 
 sistance, both to our ship and ourselves. 
 
 With this design, we changed our course, and 
 steered away N. W, by W. in order to reach some 
 of our English islands, where I hoped for relief; but 
 our voyage was otherwise determined; for being in 
 the latitude of 12 degrees 18 minutes, a second 
 storm came upon us, which carried us away with 
 the same impetuosity westward, and drove us so out 
 of the very way of all human commerce, that had all 
 our lives been saved, as to the sea, we were rather 
 in danger of being devoured by savages than ever 
 returning to our own country.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 47 
 
 In this distress, the wind still blowing very hard, 
 one of our men early in the morning, cried out. 
 Land ! and we had no sooner run out of the cabin 
 to look out, in hopes of seeing whereabouts in the 
 world we were, but the ship struck upon a sand, 
 and in a moment, her motion being so stopped, the 
 sea broke over her in such a manner, that we ex- 
 pected we should all have perished immediately ; 
 and we were immediately driven into our close 
 quarters, to shelter us from the very foam and spray 
 of the sea. 
 
 It is not easy for any one who has not been in the 
 like condition, to describe or conceive the conster- 
 nation of men in such circumstances ; we knew no- 
 thing where we were, or upon what land it was we 
 were driven, whether an island or the main, whe- 
 ther inhabited or not inhabited; and as the rage of 
 the wind was still great, though rather less than at 
 first, we could not so much as hope to have the ship 
 hold many minutes, without breaking in pieces, un- 
 less the wind, by a kind of miracle, should imme- 
 diately turn about. In a word we sat looking upon 
 one another, and expecting death every moment, 
 and every man acting accordingly, as preparing for 
 another world; for there was little or nothing more 
 for us to do in this : that which was our present 
 comfort, and all the comfort we had, was, that, 
 contrary to our expectation, the ship did not break 
 yet, and that the master said the wind began to 
 abate. 
 
 Now, though we thought that the wind did a lit- 
 tle abate, yet the ship having thus struck upon the 
 sand, and sticking too fast for us to expect her get- 
 ting off, we were in a dreadful condition indeed, 
 and had nothing to do but to think of saving our 
 lives as well as we could. We had a boat at our stern 
 just before the storm, but she was first staved
 
 48 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 by dashing against the ship's rudder, and, in the 
 next place, she broke away, and either sunk, or 
 was driven off to sea; so there was no hope trom 
 her: we had another boat on board, but how to get 
 her off into the sea was a doubtful thing; however, 
 there was no room to debate, for we fancied the 
 ship would break in pieces every minute, and some 
 told us she was actually broken alread}^ 
 
 In this distress, the mate of our vessel laid hold of 
 the boat, and with the help of the rest of the men, 
 they got her flung over the ship's side ; and getting 
 all into her, let her go, and committed ourselves, 
 being eleven in number, to God's mercy, and the 
 wild sea: for though the storm was abated consi- 
 derably, yet the sea went dreadful high upon the 
 shore, and might be well called den wild zee, as the 
 Dutch call the sea in a storm. 
 
 a.nd now our case was very dismal indeed ; for 
 we all saw plainly, that the sea went so high, that 
 the boat could not live, and that we should be in- 
 evitably drowned. As to making sail, we had none ; 
 nor, if we had, could we have done any thing with 
 it ; so we worked at the oar towards the land, 
 though with heavy hearts, like men going to execu- 
 tion ; for we all knew that when the boat came 
 nearer to the shore, she would be dashed in a 
 thousand pieces by the breach of the sea How- 
 ever, we committed our souls to God in the most 
 earnest manner ; and the wind driving us towards 
 the shore, we hastened our destruction with our own 
 hands, pulling as well as we could towards land. 
 
 What the shore was — whether rock or sand, whe- 
 ther steep or shoal — we knew not ; the only hope 
 that could rationally give us the least shadow of ex- 
 pectation, was, if we might happen into some bay 
 or gulf, or the mouth of some river, where by 
 great chance we might have run our boat in, or got 
 3
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 49 
 
 under the lee of the land, and perhaps made smooth 
 water. But there was nothhig of this appeared; 
 and as we made nearer and nearer the shore, the 
 land looked more frightful than the sea. 
 
 After we had rowed, or rather driven, about a 
 league and a half, as we reckoned it, a raging wave, 
 mountain-like, came rolling astern of us, and plain- 
 ly bade us expect the coup de grace. In a word, it 
 took us w^th such a fury, that it overset the boat at 
 once ; and separating us, as well from the boat as 
 from one another, gave us not time hardly to say, " O 
 God!" for we were all swallowed up in a moment. 
 
 Nothing can describe the confusion of thought 
 which I felt, when I sunk into the water; for 
 though I swam very well, yet I could not deliver 
 myself from the waves so as to draw my breath, till 
 that wave having driven me, or rather carried me, 
 a vast way on towards the shore, and having spent 
 itself, went back, and left me upon the land almost 
 dry, but half dead with the water I took in. I had 
 so much presence of mind, as well as breath left, 
 that seeing myself nearer the main land than I ex- 
 pected, 1 got upon my feet, and endeavoured to make 
 on towards the land as fast as I could, before ano- 
 ther wave should return and take me up again ; but 
 I soon found it was impossible to avoid it; for I saw 
 the sea come after me as high as a great hill, and as 
 furious as an enemy, which I had no means or 
 strength to contend with : my business was to hold 
 iny breath, and raise myself upon the water, if I 
 could ; and so, by swimming, to preserve my breath- 
 ing, and pilot myself towards the shore, if possible; 
 my greatest concern now being, that the wave, as 
 it would carry me a great way towards the shore 
 when it came on, might not carry me back again 
 with it when it gave back towards the sea. 
 
 The wave that came upon me again, buried me 
 
 i'
 
 50 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 at once twenty or thirty feet deep in its own body ; 
 and I could feel myself carried with a mighty force 
 and swiftness towards the shore, a very great way; 
 but I held my breath, and assisted myself to swim 
 still forward with all my might. I was ready tff 
 burst with holding my breath, when, as I felt my- 
 self rising up, so, to my immediate relief, I found 
 my head and hands shoot out above the surface 
 of the water; and though it was not two seconds 
 of time that I could keep myself so, yet it relieved 
 me greatly, gave me breath, and new courage. 
 I was covered again with water a good while, but 
 not so long but I held it out; and finding the 
 water had spent itself, and began to return, 1 
 struck forward against the return of the waves, 
 and felt ground again with my feet. I stood still 
 a few moments, to recover breath, and till the 
 water went from me, and then took to my heels, 
 and ran with what strength I had farther to- 
 wards the shore. But neither would this deliver me 
 from the fury of the sea which came pouring in 
 after me again; and twice more 1 was lifted up 
 by the waves and carried forwards as before, the 
 shore being very flat. 
 
 The last time of these two had well nigh been 
 fatal to me; for the sea having hurried me along, 
 as before, landed me, or rather dashed me, against 
 a piece of a rock, and that with such force, that it 
 left me senseless, and indeed helpless, as to my 
 own deliverance ; for the blow taking my side 
 and breast, beat the breath, as it were, quite 
 out of my body; and had it returned again 
 immediately, I must have been strangled in the 
 water; but I recovered a little before the return 
 of the waves, and seeing I should again be co- 
 vered with the water, I resolved to hold fast by a 
 piece of the rock, and so hold my breath, if possi-
 
 ROBINSON CUUSOE. 51 
 
 ble, till the wave went back. Now as the waves 
 were not so high as the first, being nearer land, I 
 held my hold till the wave abated, and then fetched 
 another run, which brought me so near the shore, 
 that the next wave, though it went over me, yet did 
 not so swallow me up as to carry me away ; and the 
 next run I took, 1 got to the main land ; where, to 
 my great comfort, I clambered up the clifts of the 
 shore, and sat me down upon the grass, free from 
 danger, and quite out of the reach of the water. 
 
 I was now landed, and safe on shore; and began 
 to look up and thank God that my life was saved, 
 in a case wherein there were, some minutes before, 
 scarce any room to hope. I believe it is impossible 
 to express, to the life, what the ecstasies and trans- 
 ports of the soul are, when it is so saved, as 1 may 
 say, out of the grave : and I did not wonder now at 
 the custom, viz. that when a inalefactor, who has 
 the halter about his neck, is tied up, and just going 
 to be turned off, and has a reprieve brought to him; 
 I say, I do not wonder that they bring a surgeon 
 with it, to let him blood that very moment they tell 
 him of it, that the surprise may not drive the ani- 
 mal spirits from the heart, and overwhelm him. 
 
 For sudden joys, like griefs, confound at first. 
 
 I walked about on the shore, lifting up my hands, 
 and my whole being, as I may say, wrapt up in the 
 contemphxtion of my deliverance ; making a thou- 
 sand gestures and motions, which I cannot describe ; 
 reflecting upon my comrades that were drowned, 
 and that there should not be one soul saved but 
 myself; for, as for them, I never saw them after- 
 wards, or any sign of them, except three of their 
 hats, one cap, and two shoes that were not fellows. 
 
 I cast my eyes to the stranded vessel — when the 
 
 f2
 
 52 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 breach and froth of the sea being so big! could hard- 
 ly see it, it lay so far off - and considered, Lord ! 
 how was it possible I could get on shore? 
 
 After I had solaced my mind with the comfort- 
 able part of my condition, 1 began to look round 
 me, to see what kind of a place I was in, and what 
 was next to be done; and I soon found my comforts 
 abate, and that, in a word, I had a dreadful deliver- 
 ance : for I was wet, had no clothes to shift me, 
 nor any thing either to eat or drink, to comfort me: 
 neither did I see any prospect before me, but that of 
 perishing with hunger, or being devoured by wild 
 beasts : and that which was particularly afflicting to 
 me was, that 1 had no weapon, either to hunt and 
 kill any creature for my sustenance, or to defend 
 myself against any other creature that might desire 
 to kill me for theirs. In a word, I had nothing 
 about me but a knife, a tobacco pipe, and a little 
 tobacco in a box. This was all my provision; and 
 this threw me into such terrible agonies of mind, 
 that, for a while, I ran about like a madman. 
 Night coming upon me, I began, with a heavy heart, 
 to consider what would be my lot if there were any 
 ravenous beasts in that country, seeing at night 
 they always come abroad for their prey. 
 
 All the remedy that offered to my thoughts, at 
 that time, was, to get up into a thick bushy tree, 
 like a fir, but thorny — which grew near me, and 
 where I resolved to sit all night — and consider the 
 next day what death I should die, for as yet I saw 
 no prospect of life. I walked about a furlong from 
 the shore, to see if I could find any fresh water to 
 drink, which I did, to my great joy ; and having 
 drank, and put a little tobacco into my mouth to 
 prevent hunger, I went to the tree, and getting up 
 into it, endeavoured to place myself so, as that if I 
 should fall asleep, I might not fall; and having cut
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE, 53 
 
 me a short stick, like a truncheon, for my defence, 
 1 took up my lodging ; and having been excessively 
 fatigued, I fell fast asleep, and slept as comfortably 
 as, I believe, few could have done in my condition ; 
 and found myself the most refreshed with it that I 
 think I ever was on such an occasion. 
 
 When I waked it was broad day, the weather 
 clear, and the storm abated, so that the sea did not 
 rage and swell as before ; but that which surprised 
 me most was, that the ship was lifted off in the 
 night from the sand where she lay, by the swelling 
 of the tide, and was driven up almost as far as the 
 rock which I at first mentioned, where I had been 
 so bruised by the wave dashing me against it. 
 This being within about a mile from the shore 
 where I was, and the ship seeming to stand upright 
 still, I wished myself on board, that at least I might 
 save some necessary things for my use. 
 
 When I came down from my apartment in the 
 tree, I looked about me again, and the first thing 
 1 found was the boat ; which lay, as the wind and 
 the sea had tossed her up, upon the land, about two 
 miles on my right hand. I walked as far as I could 
 upon the shore to have got to her ; but found a 
 neck, or inlet, of water between me and the boat, 
 which was about half a mile broad ; so 1 came back 
 for the present, being more intent upon getting at 
 the ship, where I hoped to find something for my 
 present subsistence. 
 
 A little after noon, I found the sea very calm, and 
 the tide ebbed so far out, that I could come within 
 a quarter of a mile of the ship: and here I found a 
 fresh renewing of my grief; for I saw evidently, that 
 if we had kept on board, we had been all safe ; that 
 is to say, we had all got safe on shore, and I had not 
 been so miserable as to be left entirely destitute of 
 all comfort and company, as I now was. This forc- 
 
 V 3
 
 54? ADVENTURES OF 
 
 ed tears from my e3'es again ; but as there Avas lit- 
 tle relief in that, 1 resolved, if possible, to get to 
 the sliip ; so I pulled off my clothes, for the wea- 
 ther was hot to extremity, and took the water : but 
 when 1 came to the ship, my difficulty was still 
 greater to know how to get on board; for as she 
 lay aground, and high out of the water, there was 
 nothing within my reach to lay old of. I swam 
 round her twice, and the second time I spied a small 
 piece of a rope, which I wondered I did not see at 
 first, hang down by the fore-chains so low, as that 
 with great difficulty, I got hold of it, and by the 
 help of that rope got into the forecastle of the ship. 
 Here I found that the ship was bulged, and had a 
 great deal of water in her hold ; but that she lay so 
 on the side of a bank of hard sand, or rather earth, 
 that her stern lay lifted up upon the bank, and her 
 head low, almost to the water. By this means all 
 her quarter was free, and all that was in that part 
 was dry ; for you may be sure my first work was to 
 search and to see what was spoiled and what was 
 free : and, first, I found that all the ship's provisions 
 were dry and untouched by the water; and, being 
 very well disposed to eat, I went to the bread-room, 
 and filled my pockets with biscuit, and eat it as 1 
 went about other things, for I had no time to lose. 
 I also found some rum in tlie great cabin, of which 
 I took a large dram, and which 1 had indeed need 
 enough of, to spirit me for what was before me. 
 Now 1 wanted nothing but a boat, to furnish my- 
 self with many things which 1 foresaw would be very- 
 necessary to me. 
 
 It was in vain to sit still and wish for what was 
 not to be had, and this extremity roused my appli- 
 cation: we had several spare yards, and two or three 
 large spars of v;ood, and a spare top mast or two in 
 the ship ; I resolved to fall to work with these, and
 
 KOBINSON CRUSOE. 55 
 
 flung as many overboard as I could manage for their 
 weight, tying every one with a rope, that they might 
 not drive away. Vv' hen this was done, I went down 
 the ship's side^ and pulling them to me, I tied four of 
 them fast together at both ends, as well as 1 could, 
 in the form of a raft, and laying two or three short 
 pieces of plank upon them, crossways, I found I could 
 walk upon it very well, but that it was not able to 
 bear any great weight, the pieces being too light : 
 so I went to work, and with the carpenter's saw I 
 cut a spare top-mast into three lengths, and added 
 them to my raft, with a great deal of labour and 
 pains. But the hope of furnishing myself with ne- 
 cessaries, encouraged me to go beyond what I should 
 have been able to have done upon another occasion. 
 JNIy raft was now strong enough to bear any rea- 
 sonable weight. My next care Avas what to load it 
 with, and how to preserve what I laid upon it from 
 the surf of the sea ; but I was not long considering 
 this. I first laid all the planks or boards u})on it 
 that I could get, and having considered well what I 
 most wanted, 1 got three of the seamen's chests, 
 which I had broken open and emptied, and lowered 
 them down upon my raft ; these I filled with pro- 
 visions, viz. bread, rice, three Dutch cheeses, five 
 pieces of dried goats' flesh (which we lived much 
 upon), and a little remainder of European corn, 
 which had been laid by for some fowls which we had 
 brought to sea with us, but the fowls were killed. 
 I'here had been some barley and wheat together, 
 but, to my great disappointment, I found afterwards 
 that the rats had eaten or spoiled it all. As for li- 
 quors, I found several cases of bottles belonging to 
 our skipper, in which were some cordial waters; 
 and, in all, about five or six gallons of rack. These 
 1 stowed by themselves, there being no need to put 
 tliem into the chests, nor any room for them.
 
 56 ADVKNTUKES OF 
 
 While I was doing this, I found the tide began to 
 flow, though very calm ; and 1 had the mortifica- 
 tion to see my coat, shirt, and waistcoat, which I liad 
 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. How- 
 ever, this put me upon rummaging for clothes, of 
 which I found enough, but took no more than I 
 wanted for present use, for I had other things which 
 my eye was more upon ; as, first, tools to work with on 
 shore : and it was after long searching that I found 
 the carpenter's chest, which was indeed a very use- 
 ful prize to me, and much more valuable than a 
 ship-lading of gold would have been at that time. I 
 got it down to my raft, even whole as it was, with- 
 out losing time to look into it, for I knew in gene- 
 ral what it contained. 
 
 My next care was for some ammunition and ai'ms. 
 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 
 1 found them, two of them dry and good, the third 
 had taken water. Those two I got to my raft, with 
 the arms. And now I thought myself pretty well 
 freighted, and began to think how I should get to 
 shore with them, having neither sail, oar, nor rudder; 
 and the least cap-full of wind would have overset 
 all my navigation. 
 
 I had three encouragements: 1st, A smooth, 
 calm sea : 2dly, The tide rising, and setting in to 
 the shore : 3dly, What little wind there was, blew 
 me towards the land. And thus, having found two 
 or three broken oars belonging to the boat, and 
 besides the tools which were in the chest, I found
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 57 
 
 two saws, an axe, and a hammer; and with this 
 cargo I put to sea. For a mile, or thereabouts, my 
 raft went very well, only that 1 found it drive a lit- 
 tle distant from the place where I had landed before ; 
 by which I perceived that there was some indraft of 
 the water, and consequently I hoped to find some 
 creek or river there, which I might make use of as 
 a port to get to land with my cargo. 
 
 As I imagined, so it was : there appeared before 
 me a little opening of the land, and I found a strong 
 current of the tide set into it ; so I guided my raft, 
 as well as I could, to get into the middle of 
 the stream. But here 1 had like to have suffered a 
 second shipwreck, which, if I had, I think verily 
 w^ould have broken my heart ; for knowing nothing 
 of the coast, my raft ran aground at one end of it 
 upon a shoal, and not being aground at the other 
 end, it wanted but a little that all my cargo had 
 slipped off towards that end that was afloat, and so 
 fallen into the water. I did my utmost, by settmg 
 my back against the chests, to keep them in their 
 places, but could not thrust off the raft with all my 
 strength; neither durst I stir from the posture I 
 was in, but holding up the chests with all my 
 might, I stood in that manner near half an hour, in 
 which time the rising of the water brought me a lit- 
 tle more upon a level ; and a little after, the water 
 still rising, my raft floated again, and 1 thrust her off 
 with the oar 1 had into the channel, and then driv- 
 ing 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 on 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.
 
 00 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 At length I spied a little cove on the right shore 
 of the creek, to which, with great pain and difficul- 
 ty, 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 my 
 cargo into the sea again ; for that shore lying pret- 
 ty steep, that is to say, sloping, there was no place 
 to land, but where one end of my float, if it ran on 
 shore, would lie so high, and the other sink lower, 
 as before, that it would endanger my cargo again. 
 All that I could do, was to wait till the tide was 
 at the highest, keeping the raft with my oar like an 
 anchor, to hold the side of it fast to the shore, near 
 a flat piece of ground, which I expected the water 
 would flow over ; and so it did. As soon as I found 
 water enough, for my raft drew about a foot of 
 water, I thrust her upon that flat piece of ground, 
 and there fastened or moored her, by sticking my 
 two broken oars into the ground one on one side, 
 near one end, and one on the other side, near the 
 other end : and thus I lay till the water ebbed away, 
 and left my raft and all my cargo safe on shore. 
 
 My next work was to view the country, and seek 
 a proper place for my habitation, and where to stow 
 my goods, to secure them from whatever might 
 happen. Where I was, I yet knew not ; whether 
 on the continent, or on an island ; whether inhabit- 
 ed, or not inhabited ; whether in danger of wild 
 beasts, or not. There was a hill, not above a mile 
 from me, which rose up very steep and high, and 
 which seemed to overtop some other hills, which 
 lay as in a ridge from it, northward. I took out 
 one of the fowling-pieces, and one of the pistols, 
 and a horn of powder ; and thus armed, I travelled 
 for discovery up to the top of that hill ; where, after 
 
 1 had, with great labour and difficulty, got up to 
 the top, I saw my fate, to my great affliction, viz.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. SQ 
 
 that I was in an island, environed every way with 
 the sea, no land to be seen, except some rocks, which 
 lay a great way off, and two small islands, less than 
 this, which lay about three leagues to the west. 
 
 I found also that the island 1 was in was barren, 
 and, as I saw good reason to believe, uninhabited, 
 except by wild beasts, of whom, however, I saw none ; 
 yet 1 saw abundance of fowls, but knew not their 
 kinds ; neither, when I killed them, could I tell 
 what was fit for food, and what not. At my com- 
 ing back, I shot at a great bird, which I saw 
 sitting upon a tree, on the side of a great wood. I 
 believe it was the first gun that had been fired there 
 since the creation of the world : I had no sooner 
 fired, but from all the parts of the wood there arose 
 an innumerable number of fowls, of many sorts, 
 making a confused screaming, and crying, every 
 one according to his usual note ; but not one of 
 them of any kind that I knew. As for the creature I 
 killed, I took it to be a kind of a hawk, its colour and 
 beak resembling it, but had no talons or claws more 
 than common. Its flesh was carrion, and fit for nothing. 
 
 Contented with this discovery, I came back to my 
 raft, and fell to work to bring my cargo on shore, 
 which took me up the rest of that day : what to do 
 with myself at night I knew not, nor indeed where to 
 rest : for I was afraid to lie down on the ground, not 
 knowing but some wild beast might devour me ; 
 though, as I afterwards found, there was really no 
 need for those fears. 
 
 However, as well as I could, I barricadoed myself 
 round with the chests and boards that I had brought 
 on shore, and made a kind of a hut for that night's 
 lodging. As for food, I yet saw not which way to 
 supply myself, except that I had seen two or three 
 creatures, like hares, run out of the wood where I 
 shot the fowl.
 
 60 ADVENTURES OP 
 
 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 my hut ; hav- 
 ing nothing on but a chequered shirt, a pair of linen 
 drawers, and a pair of pumps on my feet. 
 
 I got on board the ship as before, and prepared a 
 second raft ; and having had experience of the first, 
 I neither made this so unwieldy, nor loaded it so 
 hard, but yet I brought away several things very 
 useful to me : as, first, in the carpenter's stores, I 
 found two or three bags of nails and spikes, a great 
 screw-jack, a dozen or two of hatchets : and, above 
 all, that most useful thing called a grind-stone. 
 All these I secured together, with several things be- 
 longing to the gunner ; particularly, 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, 1 took all the men's clothes 
 that I could find, and a spare fore-top sail, a ham- 
 mock, and some bedding ; and with this I loaded my 
 second raft, and brought them all safe on shore, to 
 my very great comfort.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 61 
 
 I was under some apprehensions, during my ab- 
 sence from the hmd, that at least my provisions 
 might be devoured on shore : but when 1 came back, 
 I found no sign of any visitor ; only there sat a 
 creature like a wild cat, upon one of the chests, 
 which, when I came towards it, ran away a little 
 distance, and then stood still. She sat very com- 
 posed and unconcerned, and looked full in my face, 
 as if she had a mind to be acquainted with me. 1 
 presented my gun to her, but, as she did not under- 
 stand 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 
 freeof it,formystorewasnotgreat: however, I spared 
 her a bit, I sa}^ and she went to it, smelled of it, and 
 ate it, and looked (as pleased) for more; but I thank- 
 ed her, and could spare no more : so she marched oft". 
 
 Having got my second cargo on shore — though 1 
 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 snoil either with rain or sun ; 
 ajxl I piled all the empty chests and casks up in a 
 circle round the tent, to fortify it from any sudden 
 attempt either from man or beast. 
 
 When I had done this, I blocked up the door of 
 the tent with some boards within, and an empty 
 chest set up on end without ; and spreading one of 
 the beds upon the ground, laying my two pistols 
 just at my head, and my gun at length by me, I 
 went to bed for the first time, and slept very quietly 
 all night, for I was very weary and heavy ; for the 
 night before I had slept little, and had laboured very 
 hard all day, as well to fetch all those things from 
 the ship, as to get them on shore. 
 
 u
 
 62 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 I had the biggest magazine of all kinds now that 
 ever was laid up, I believe, for one man : but I was not 
 satisfied still : for while the ship sat upright in that 
 posture, I thought I ought to get every thing out 
 of her that I could : so every day, at low water, I 
 went on board, and brought away something or 
 other : but particularly, the third time I went, I 
 brought away as much of the rigging as I could, as 
 also all the small ropes and rope-twine I could get, 
 with a piece of spare canvas, which was to mend 
 the sails upon occasion, and the barrel of wet 
 gun-powder. In a word, I brought away all the 
 sails first and last ; only that I was fain to cut them 
 in pieces, and bring as much at a time as I could; 
 for they were no more useful to be sails, but as mere 
 canvass only. 
 
 But that which comforted me 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 ex- 
 pect 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, par- 
 cel by parcel, in pieces of the sails, which I cut 
 out ; and, in a word, I got all this safe on shore 
 also. 
 
 The next day I made another voyage, and now 
 having plundered the ship of what was portable and 
 fit to hand out, I began with the cables, and cutting 
 the great cable into pieces, such as I could move, I 
 got two cables and a hawser on shore, with all the 
 iron-work I could get; and having cut down the 
 spritsail-yard; and the mizen-yard, and every thing
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE, 63 
 
 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 un- 
 wieldy, and so overladen, that after I was entered 
 the little cove, where I had landed the rest of my 
 goods, not being able to guide it so handily as I did 
 the other, it overset, and threw me and all my cargo 
 into the water ; as for myself, it was no great harm, 
 for I was near the shore ; but as to my cargo, it was 
 a great part of it lost, especially the iron, M'hich I ex- 
 pected would have been of great use to me : however, 
 when the tide was out, I got most of the pieces of ca- 
 ble ashore, and some of the iron, though with infinite 
 labour ; for I was fain to dip for it into the water, a 
 work which fatigued me very much. After this I 
 went every day on board, and brought away what I 
 could get. 
 
 I had been now thirteen days ashore, 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 be- 
 lieve verily, had the calm weather held, I should 
 have brought away the whole ship, piece by piece; 
 but preparing, the twelfth time, to go on board, I 
 found the wind began to rise : however, at low 
 water, I went on board ; and though I thought I 
 had rummaged the cabin so effectually, as that 
 nothing could be found, yet I discovered a locker 
 with drawers in it, in one of which I found two or 
 three razors, and one pair of large scissars, with 
 some ten or a dozen of good knives and forks ; in 
 another I found about thirty-six pounds value in 
 money, some European coin, some Brazil, some 
 pieces of eight, some gold, and some silver. 
 
 I smiled to myself at the sight of this money : 
 O drug ! said I aloud, what art thou good for ? 
 Thou art not worth to me, no, not the taking off 
 
 G 2
 
 64* ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the ground ; one of those knives is worth all this 
 heap: I have no manner of use for thee ; e'en re- 
 main where thou art, and go to the bottom, as a 
 creature whose life is not worth saving. However, 
 upon second thoughts, I took it away; and wrapping 
 all this in a piece of canvass, I began to think of 
 making another raft ; but while I was preparing 
 this, I found t!ie sky over-cast, and the wind began 
 to rise, and in a quarter of an hour it blew a fresh 
 gale from the shore It presently occurred to me, 
 that it was in vain to pretend to make a raft with 
 the wind offshore ; and that it was my business to 
 be gone before the tide of flood began, or otherwise 
 I might not be able to reach the shore at all. Ac- 
 cordingly I let myself down into the water, and 
 swam across the channel which lay between the 
 ship and the sands, and even that with difficulty 
 enough, partly with the weight of the things I had 
 about me, and partly the roughness of the water ; 
 for the wind rose very hastily, and before it was 
 quite high water it blew a storm. 
 
 But 1 was got home to my little tent, where 
 I lay, with all my wealth about me very secure. It 
 blew very hard all that night, and in the morning, 
 when I looked out, behold, no more ship was to be 
 seen ! I was a little surprised, but recovered myself 
 with this satisfactory reflection, viz. that I had lost 
 no time, nor abated no diligence, to get every thing 
 out of her that could be useful to me, and that, in- 
 deed, there was little left in her that I was able to 
 bring away, if I had had more time. 
 
 I now gave over any more thoughts of the ship, 
 or of any thing out of her, except what might drive 
 on shore, from her wreck ; as, indeed, divers pieces 
 of her afterwards did ; but those things were of 
 small use to me 
 
 My thoughts were now wholly employed about
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 65 
 
 securing myself against either savages, if any should 
 appear, or wild beasts, if any were in the island ; and 
 I had many thoughts of the method how to do this, 
 and what kind of dwelling to make, whether I should 
 make me a cave in the earth, or a tent upon the 
 earth: and in short, I resolved upon both; the 
 manner and description of which, it may not be im- 
 proper to give an account of. 
 
 1 soon found the place I was in was not for my 
 settlement, particularly because it was upon a low 
 moorish ground, near the sea, and I believed it 
 would not be wholesome ; and more particularly 
 because there w as no fresh water near it : so I re- 
 solved to find a more healthy and more convenient 
 spot of ground. 
 
 I consulted several things in my situation, which 
 I found would be proper for me : 1st, Health and 
 fresh water, I just now mentioned, : 2dly, Shelter 
 from the heat of the sun : 3dly, Security from ra- 
 venous creatures, whether men or beasts : 4-thly, A 
 view to the sea, that if God sent any ship in sight, I 
 might not lose any advantage for my deliverance, of 
 which I was not willing to banish all my expecta- 
 tion yet. 
 
 In search for 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 fiat 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 
 
 o 3
 
 66 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 way down into the low ground by the sea side. It 
 was on the N. N. W. side of the hill ; so that it 
 was sheltered from the heat every day, till it came 
 to a W. and by S. sun, or thereabouts, which, in 
 those countries, is near the setting. 
 
 Before I set up my tent, I drew a half-circle be- 
 fore the hollow-place, which took in about ten yards 
 in its semi-diameter from the rock, and twenty 
 yards in its diameter, from its beginning and ending. 
 
 In this half circle I pitched two rows of strong 
 stakes, driving them into the ground till they 
 stood very firm like piles, the biggest end being out 
 of the ground about five feet and a half and sharp- 
 ened on the top. The two rows did not stand above 
 six inches from one another. 
 
 Then I took the pieces of cable which I cut in 
 the ship, and laid them in rows, one upon another, 
 within the circle, between these two rows of stakes, 
 up to the top, placing other stakes in the inside, 
 leaning against them, about two feet and a half high, 
 like a spur to a post ; and this fence was so strong, 
 that neither man nor beast could get into it or over 
 it. This cost me a great deal of time and labour, 
 especially to cut the piles in the woods, bring them 
 to the place, and drive them into the earth. 
 
 The entrance into this place I made to be not by 
 a door, but by a short ladder to go over the top ; 
 which ladder, when I was in, I lifted over after me ; 
 and so I was completely fenced in and fortified, as I 
 thought, from all the world, and consequently slept 
 secui-e in the night, which otherwise 1 could not 
 have done; though, as it appeared afterwards, 
 there was no need of all this caution from the ene- 
 mies 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;
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE, 67 
 
 and I made a large tent, which, to preserve me from 
 the rains, that in one part of the year are very 
 violent there, I made double, viz. one smaller tent 
 within, and one larger tent above it, and covered 
 the uppermost with a large tarpaulin, which I had 
 saved among the sails. 
 
 And now I lay no more for a while in the bed 
 which I had brought on shore, but in a hammock, 
 which was indeed a very good one, and belonged to 
 the mate of the ship. 
 
 Into this tent I brought all my provisions, and 
 every thing that would spoil by the wet ; and having 
 thus enclosed all my goods, 1 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, 1 laid them 
 up within my fence in the nature of a terrace, so 
 that it raised the ground within about a foot and an 
 half; and thus I made me a cave, just behind my 
 tent, which served me like a cellar to my house. 
 It cost me much labour and many days, before all 
 these things were brought to perfection ; and 
 therefore 1 must go back to some other things 
 wliich took up some of my thoughts. At the same 
 time it happened, after I had laid my scheme for 
 the setting up my te:it, and making the cave, that 
 a storm of rain, falling from a thick, dark cloud, a 
 sudden flti.sh of lightning happened, and after that, 
 a great clap of thunder, as is naturally tlie effect of 
 it. I was not so much surprised with the lightning, 
 as I was with a thought, which darted into my mind 
 as swift as the lightning itself: O my powder! 
 My very heart sunk within me when I thought, that 
 at one blast, all ni}^ powder might be destroyed ; 
 on which, not my defence only, but the providing
 
 Qg ADVENTURES Of 
 
 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, 1 laid aside all my works, 
 my building and fortifying, and applied myself to 
 make bags and boxes, to separate the powder, and 
 to keep it a little and a little in a parcel, in liope 
 that whatever might come, it might not all take 
 tire 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 240 lb. 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 1 hid up and down in holes among the 
 rocks, so that no wet might come to it, marking 
 very carefully where I laid it. 
 
 In the interval of time while this was doing, I went 
 out at least once 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 w ent out, I presently discovered that there 
 were goats upon the island, which was a great sa- 
 tisfaction to me ; but then it was attended with 
 this misfortune to me, viz. that they were so shy, so 
 subtle, and so swift of foot, that it was the most 
 difficult thing in the world to come at them : but 
 I was not discouraged at this, not doubting but I 
 might now^ and then shoot one, as it soon happen- 
 ed ; for after I had found their haunts a little, 1 laid 
 wait in this manner lor them : 1 observed, if they 
 saw me in the valleys, though they were upon the
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 69 
 
 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 ; frora 
 whence I concluded, that by the position of their 
 optics, their sicjht was so directed downward, that 
 they did not readily see objects that were above them : 
 so, afterwards, I took this method — I alway« climbed 
 the rocks first, to get above them, and then had 
 frequently a fair mark. The first shot 1 luude 
 among these creatures, I killed a she-g :'at, which 
 had a little kid by her, which she gave suck to, 
 which grieved me heartily ; but when the old one 
 fell, the kid stood stock still by her, till i came and 
 took her up ; and not only so, but when I carried 
 the old one with me, upon my shoulders, the kid 
 followed me quite to my enclosure ; upon which, I 
 laid down the dam, and took the kid in my arms, 
 and carried it over my pale, in hopes to have bred 
 it up tame; but it would not eat; so 1 was forced 
 to kill it, and eat it myself. These two su^j plied 
 me with flesh a great while, for I ate sparingly, and 
 preserved my provisions (my bread especially) as 
 much as possibly I could. 
 
 Having now fixed my habitation, I found it abso- 
 lutely necessary to provide a place to make a fire in, 
 and fuel to burn ; and what I did for that, as also 
 how I enlarged my cave, and what conveniences I 
 made, 1 sliali give a full account of it in its proper 
 place : but I must first give some little account of 
 myself, and of my thoughts about living, which, it 
 may well be supposed, were not a few. 
 
 1 had a dismal prospect of my condition; 
 for as I was not cast away upon that island 
 without being driven, as is said, by a violent storm 
 quite out of the course of our intended voyage ; and 
 a great way, viz. some hundreds of leagues, out of 
 the ordinary course of the trade of mankind, 1 had
 
 70 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 great reason to consider it as a determination of 
 Heaven, tliat in this desolate place, and in this deso- 
 late manner, 1 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 its creatures, and render them so absolutely 
 miserable ; so abandoned without help, 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 par- 
 ticularly, one day, walking with my gun in my 
 hand, by the sea side, I was very pensive upon the 
 subject of my present condition, when reason, as it 
 were, expostulated with me the other way, thus ; 
 Well, you are in a desolate condition, it is true ; 
 but, pray remember, where are the rest of you ? 
 Did not you come eleven of you into the boat? 
 Where are the ten ? Why were not they saved, and 
 you lost ? Why were you singled out ? Is it better 
 to be here or there ? And then I pointed to the sea. 
 All evils are to be considered with the good that is 
 in them, and with what worse attends them. 
 
 Then it occurred to me again, how well I was 
 furnished for my subsistence, and what would have 
 been my case if it had not happened (which was a 
 hundred thousand to one) that the ship floated from 
 the place where she first struck, and was driven so 
 near to the shore that I had time to get all these 
 things out of her : what would have been my case, 
 if 1 had been to have lived in the condition in which 
 I at first came on shore, without necessaries of life, 
 or necessaries to supply and procure them ? Par- 
 ticularly, said I aloud (though to myself), what 
 should I have done without a gun, without ammu- 
 nition, without any tools to make any thing, or to
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 71 
 
 work with, without, clothes, bedding, a tent, or any 
 manner of covering ? and that now I had all these 
 to a sufficient quantity, and was in a fair way to 
 provide myself in such a manner as to live without 
 my gun, when my ammunition was spent : so that 
 I had a tolerable view of subsisting, without any 
 want, as long as I lived ; for I considered, from the 
 beginning, how I would provide for the accidents 
 that might happen, and for the time that was to come, 
 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 
 anununition being destroyed at one blast, I mean 
 my powder being blown up by lightning; and this 
 made the thoughts of it so surprising to me, when 
 it lightened and thundered, as I observed just now. 
 
 And now being to enter into a melancholy rela- 
 tion 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, wag almost just over my head : 
 for I reckoned myself, by observation, to be in the 
 latitude of 9 degrees 22 minutes north of the Line 
 
 After I had been there about ten or twelve days 
 it came into my thoughts that I should lose my 
 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, viz. " 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
 
 72 ADVENTURES OP 
 
 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 rec- 
 koning of time. 
 
 But it happened, that among the many things 
 which I brought out of the ship, in the several voy- 
 ages 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 found, some time after, in rummag- 
 ing the chests ; as, in particular, pens, ink, and pa- 
 per ; several parcels in the captain's, mate's, gun- 
 ner's, and carpenter's keeping ; three or four com- 
 passes, some mathematical instruments, dials, per- 
 spectives, charts, and books of navigation; all which 
 I huddled together, whether I might want them or 
 no : also 1 found three very good bibles, which came 
 to me in my cargo from England, and which I had 
 packed up among my things ; some Portuguese books 
 also, and, among them, two or three popish prayer 
 books, and several other books, all which I carefully 
 secured. And 1 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 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 for 
 many years : I wanted nothing that he could fetch 
 me, nor any company that he could make up to me, 
 I o.ily v.'anted to have him talk to me, but that 
 would not do. As I observed before, I found pens, 
 ink, and pi per, and I husbanded them to the ut- 
 most ; and 1 shall show that while my ink lasted, I 
 k( pt things very exact, but after that was gone I 
 could not ; for I could not make any ink, by any 
 means that I could devise. 
 
 And this put me in mind that I wanted many
 
 ROBINSON CHUSOE. 73 
 
 things, notwithstanding all that I had amassed to- 
 gether ; and of these, this of ink was one ; as also 
 a spade, pick-axe, and shovel, to dig or remove the 
 earth ; needles, pins, and thread : as for linen, I 
 soon learned to want that without much difficulty. 
 
 This want of tools made every work I did go on 
 heavily ; and it v/as near a whole year before 1 had 
 entirely finished my little pale, or surrounded my ha- 
 bitation. The piles or stakes, which were as heavy 
 as I could well lift, were a long time in cutting and 
 preparing in the woods, and more, by far, in bring- 
 ing 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 these posts or piles very laborious and tedi- 
 ous work. But what need I have been concerned 
 at the tediousness of any thing I had to do, seeing 
 I had time enough to do it in ? nor had I any other 
 employment, if that had been over, at least that I 
 could foresee, except the ranging the island to seek 
 for food ; which I did, more or less, every day. 
 
 I now began to consider seriously my condition, 
 and the circumstance I was reduced to ; and I drew 
 up the state of my affairs in writing, not so much 
 to leave them to any that were to come after ni(.' 
 (for I was like to have but few heirs), as to deliver 
 my thoughts from daily poring upon them, and af- 
 flicting my mind : and as my reason began now to 
 master my despondency, I began to comfort myself 
 as well as I could, and to set the good against the 
 evil, that I might have something to distinguish ni}' 
 case from worse ; and I stated very impartially, like 
 debtor and creditor, the comforts I enjoyed against 
 the miseries I suffered, thus : 
 
 VOL. XVI. H
 
 74 
 
 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Evil,. 
 
 I am cast upon a horril)le, 
 desolate island, void of all 
 hope of recovery. 
 
 1 am singled out and sepa- 
 rated, as it were, from all the 
 world, to be miserable. 
 
 I am divided from man- 
 kind, a solitaire ; one banish- 
 ed from human society. 
 
 I have no clothes to cover 
 me. 
 
 I am without any defence, 
 ormcans lo resistany violence 
 of man or beast. 
 
 I have no soul to speak to, 
 or relieve me. 
 
 Good. 
 
 But I am alive; and not 
 drowned, as all my ship's 
 company were. 
 
 But I am singled out too 
 from all the ship's crew, to be 
 spared from death ; and he 
 that miraculously saved me 
 from death, can deliver me 
 from this condition. 
 
 But I am not starved, and 
 perishing in a barren place, 
 affording no sustenance. 
 
 But I am in a hot climate, 
 where, if I had clothes, I 
 could hardly wear them. 
 
 But I am cast on an island 
 where I see no wild beast to 
 hurt me, ati 1 saw on the coast 
 of Africa: and what if I had 
 been shipwrecked there? 
 
 But God wonderfully sent 
 the ship in near enough to the 
 shore, that 1 have got 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 testi- 
 mony, that there was scarce any condition in the 
 world so miserable, but there was something nega- 
 tive, or something positive, to be thankful for in it : 
 and let this stand as a direction from tlie experi- 
 ence of the most miserable of all conditions in this 
 world, that we may always find in it something to 
 comfort ourselves from, and to set, in the descrip- 
 tion of good and evil, on the credit side of the ac- 
 count. 
 
 Having now brought my mind a little to relish 
 n:y condition, and giving over looking out to sea, to
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 75 
 
 see if I could spy a ship ; I say, giving over these 
 things, 1 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 
 against it of turfs, about two feet thick on the out- 
 side : and after some time (I think it was a year 
 and a half) 1 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 1 found, at some times of the year, 
 very violent. 
 
 1 have already observed how I brought all my 
 goods into this pale, and into the cave which I had 
 made behind me. But I must observe, too, that at 
 first this was a confused heap of goods, which, as 
 they lay in no order, so they took up all my place ; 
 I had no room to turn myself: so I set myself to 
 enlarge my cave, and work farther into the earth ; 
 for it was a loose, sandy rock, which yielded easily 
 to the labour I bestowed on it : and when I found 
 I was pretty safe as to the 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 in 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, particu- 
 larly a chair and a table ; for without these I was 
 not able to enjoy the few comforts I had in the 
 world ; I could not write, or eat, or do several 
 
 h2
 
 76 ADVENTUKES Of 
 
 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 judge- 
 ment 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 1 wanted no- 
 thing but 1 could have made, especially if I had 
 had tools. However, I made abundance of things, 
 even without tools ; and some with no more tools 
 than an adze and a hatchet, which perhaps were 
 never made that way before, and that with infinite 
 labour. For example, if 1 wanted a board, 1 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 of a 
 whole tree; but this 1 had no remedy for but pati- 
 ence, any more than 1 had for a prodigious deal of 
 time and labour which it took me up to make a plank 
 or board : but my time or labour was little worth, 
 and so it was as well employed one way as another. 
 However, I made me a table and a chair, as I ob- 
 served above, in the first place ; and this I did out 
 of the short pieces of boards that I brought on my 
 raft from the ship. But when I wrought out some 
 boards, as above, I made large shelves, of the breadth 
 of a foot and a half, one over another, all along one 
 side of my cave, to lay all my tools, nails, and iron- 
 work on ; and, in a word, to separate every thing at 
 large in their places, that I might easily come at them. 
 I knocked pieces into the wall of the rock, to hang 
 my guns, and all things that would hang up : so that 
 had my cave been seen, it looked like a general ma-
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 77 
 
 gazine of all necessary things; and I had every 
 thing so ready at my hand, that it was a great plea- 
 sure to me to see all my goods in such order, and 
 especially to find ray stock of all necessaries so great. 
 
 And now it was that I began to keep a journal of 
 every day's employment : for, indeed, at first, I was 
 in too much hurry, and not only hurry as to labour, 
 but in much discomposure of mind ; and my journal 
 would, too, have been full of many dull things : for 
 example, I must have said thus—" Sept. 30th. After 
 I had got to shore, and had escaped drowning, in- 
 stead of beine thankful to God for my deliverance, 
 having first vomited, with the great quantity of salt 
 water which was gotten into my stomach, and re- 
 covering 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 un- 
 done, 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 1 could out of her, 
 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 that, at a vast distance, I spied 
 a sail, pleased myself with the hopes of it, and, 
 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 chair, and all as 
 handsome about me as I could, I began to keep my 
 journal : of which I shall here give you the copy 
 (though in it will be told all these particulars over 
 again) as long as it lasted ; for, having no more ink, 
 1 was forced to leave it off. 
 
 H 3
 
 78 ADVENTURES OP 
 
 THE JOURNAL. 
 
 September SOth, 1659. I, poor miserable Robin- 
 son Crusoe, being shipwrecked, during a dreadful 
 storm, in the offing, came on shore on this dismal 
 unfortunate island, which I called the Island of 
 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 my- 
 self at the dismal circumstances I was brought to, 
 viz. I had neither food, house, clothes, weapon, nor 
 place to fly to : and, in despair of any relief, saw 
 nothing but death before me ; that I should either 
 be devoured by wild beasts, murdered by savages, 
 or starved to death for want of food. At the ap- 
 proach of night I slept in a tree, for fear of wild crea- 
 tures ; but slept soundly, though it rained all night. 
 
 October 1 . In the morning I saw, to my great 
 surprise, the ship had floated with the high tide, and 
 was driven on shore again much nearer the island ; 
 which, as it was some comfort on one hand (for see- 
 ing her sit upright, and not broken in pieces, I 
 hoped, if the wind abated, I might get on board, 
 and get some food and necessaries out of her for my 
 relief), so, on the other hand, it renewed my grief 
 at the loss of my comrades, who, I imagined, if we 
 iiad all staid on board, might have saved the ship, 
 or, at least, that they would not have been all 
 drowned, as they were ; and that, had the men been 
 saved, we might perhaps have built us a boat, out 
 of the ruins of the ship, to have carried us to some 
 other part of the world. I spent great part of this 
 day in perplexing myself on these things ; but, at 
 length, seeing the ship almost dry, I went upon the 
 sand as near as I could, and then swam on board. 
 This day also it continued raining, though with no 
 wind at all. 
 
 From the 1st of October to the 24;th, All these
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 79' 
 
 days entirely spent in many several voyages to get 
 all 1 could out of the ship; which I brought on shore, 
 every tide of flood, upon rafts. Much rain also in 
 these days, though with some intervals of fair wea- 
 ther : but, it seems, this was the rainy season. 
 
 Oct. 20. I overset my raft, and all the goods I 
 had got upon it ; but being in shoal water, and the 
 things being chiefly heavy, I recovered many of 
 them when the tide was out. 
 
 Oct. 25. It rained all night and all day, with 
 some gusts of wind; during which time the ship 
 broke in pieces (the wind blowing a little harder 
 than before) and was no more to be seen, except 
 the wreck of her, and that only at low water. I 
 spent this day in covering and securing the goods 
 which I had saved, that the rain might not spoil them. 
 
 Oct. 26. I walked about the shore almost all 
 day, to find out a place to fix my habitation ; greatly 
 concerned to secure myself from any attack in the 
 night, either from wild beasts or men. Towards 
 night I fixed upon a proper place, under a rock, 
 and marked out a semicircle from my encampment ; 
 which I resolved to strengthen with a work, wall, 
 or fortification, made of double piles, lined within 
 with cables, and without with turf. 
 
 From the 26th to the 30th, I worked very hard in 
 carrying all my goods to my new habitation, though 
 some part of the time it rained exceedingly hard. 
 
 The 31st, in the morning, I went out into the 
 island with my gun, to see for some food, and dis- 
 cover the country ; when I killed a she-goat, and 
 her kid followed me home, which I afterwards killed 
 also, because it would not feed. 
 
 November 1 . I set up my tent under a rock, and 
 lay there for the first night ; making it as large as I 
 could, with stakes driven in to swing my hammock 
 upon.
 
 80 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Nov. 2. I set up all my chests and boards, and 
 the pieces of timber which made my rafts ; and with 
 them formed a fence round me, a little within the 
 place I had marked out for my fortification. 
 
 Nov. 3. I went out with my gun, and killed two 
 fowls like ducks, which were very good food. In 
 the afternoon I went to work to make me a table. 
 
 Nov. 4. This morning I began to order my times 
 of work, of going out with my gun, time of sleep, 
 and time of diversion ; viz. every morning i walked 
 out with my gun for two or three hours, if it did 
 not rain ; then employed myself to work till about 
 eleven o'clock ; then 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 the 
 next was wholly employed in making my table, 
 for I was yet but a very sorry workman : though 
 time and necessity made me a complete natural 
 mechanic soon after, as I believe they would any 
 one else. 
 
 Nov. 5. This day went abroad with my gun and 
 dog, and killed a wild cat ; her skin pretty soft, but 
 her flesh good for nothing : of every creature that 
 I killed 1 took off the skins, and preserved them. 
 Coming back by the sea-shore, I saw many sorts of 
 sea-fowl which 1 did not understand : but was sur- 
 prised, and almost frightened, with two or three 
 seals ; which, while I was gazing at them (not well 
 knowing what they were) got into the sea, and 
 escaped me for that time. 
 
 Nov. 6. After my morning walk, I went to work 
 with my table again, and finished it, though not to 
 my liking: nor was it long before I learned to 
 mend it. 
 
 Nov. 1. Now it began to be settled fair weather. 
 The 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and part of the 12th (for
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 81 
 
 the 11th was Sunday, according to my reckoning) 
 1 took wholly up to make me a chair, and with 
 umch ado brought it to a tolerable shape, but never 
 to please me ; and, even in the making, I pulled it 
 in pieces several times. 
 
 Note. 1 soon neglected my keeping Sundays ; 
 for, omitting my mark for them on my post, 1 for- 
 got which was which. 
 
 Nov. 13. This day it rained; which refreshed 
 me exceedingly, and cooled the earth : but it was 
 accompanied with terrible thunder and lightning, 
 which frightened me dreadfully, for fear of my pow- 
 der. As soon as it was over, 1 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 pow- 
 der : and so, putting the powder in, I stowed it in 
 places as secure and as remote from one another as 
 possible. On one of these three days I killed a 
 large bird that was good to eat ; but 1 knew not 
 what to call it. 
 
 Nov. 17. This day I began to dig behind my 
 tent, into the rock, to make room for my farther 
 convenience. 
 
 Note. Three things I wanted exceedingly for this 
 work, viz. a pick-axe, a shovel, and a wheel-barrow, 
 or basket ; so I desisted from my work, and began 
 to consider how to supply these wants, and make 
 me some tools. As for a pick-axe, I made use of 
 the iron crows, which were proper enough, though 
 heavy : but the next thing was a shovel or spade ; 
 this was so absolutely necessary, that, indeed, I 
 could do nothing effectually without it ; but what 
 kind of one to make 1 knew not. 
 
 Nov. 18. The next day, in searching the woods.
 
 82 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 I foundatreeof that wood, or like it, which, in the 
 Brazils, they call the iron tree, from its exceeding 
 hardness: of this, with great labour, and almost 
 spoiling my axe, I cut a piece ; and brought it home, 
 too, with difficulty enough, for it was exceeding 
 heavy. The excessive hardness of the wood, and 
 my having no other way, made me a long while 
 upon this machine : for I worked it effectually, by 
 little and little, into the form of a shovel or spade ; 
 the handle exactly shaped like ours in England, only 
 that the broad part having no iron shod upon it at 
 bottom, it would not last me so long: however, it 
 served well enough for the uses which I had occa- 
 sion to put it to; but never was a shovel, I believe, 
 made after that fashion, or so long a-making. 
 
 I was still deficient; for I wanted a basket, or a 
 wheel-barrow. A basket I could not make by any 
 means, having no such things as twigs that would 
 bend to make wicker- ware ; at least, none yet found 
 out : and as to the wheel-barrow, I fancied 1 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 iron gudgeons for 
 the spindle or axis of the wheel to run in; so I gave 
 it over : and, for carrying away the earth which I 
 dug out of the cave, 1 made me a thing like a hod, 
 which the labourers carry mortar in for the brick- 
 layers. This was not so difficult to me as the mak- 
 ing the shovel: and yet this and the shovel, and the 
 attempt which I made in vain to make a wheel- 
 barrow, took me up no less than four days ; I mean, 
 always excepting my morning walk with my gun, 
 which I seldom omitted, and very seldom failed also 
 bringing home something fit to eat. 
 
 Nov. 23. My other work havmg now stood still, 
 because of my making these tools, when they were 
 finished I went on ; and working every day, as my
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 83 
 
 Strength and time allowed, I spent eighteen days 
 entirely in widening and deepening my cave, that it 
 might hold my goods comraodiously. 
 
 Note. During all this time, 1 worked to make 
 this room, or cave, spacious enough to accommo- 
 date me as a warehouse or magazine, a kitchen, a 
 dining-room, and a cellar. As for a lodging, I kept 
 to the tent; except that sometimes, in the wet sea- 
 son of the year, it rained so hard that I could not 
 keep myself dry ; which caused me afterwards to 
 cover all my place within my pale with long poles, 
 in the form of rafters, leaning against the rock, and 
 load them with flags and large leaves of trees, like 
 a thatch. 
 
 December 10. I began now to think my cave or 
 vault finished; when on a sudden (it seems I had 
 made it too large) a great quantity of earth fell 
 down from the top and one side: so much, that, in 
 short, it frightened me, and not without reason too; 
 for if I had been under it, I should never have 
 wanted a grave-digger. Upon this disaster, I had a 
 great deal of work to do over again, for I had the 
 loose earth to carry out; and, which was of more 
 importance, I had the ceiling to prop up, so that I 
 might be sure no more would come down. 
 
 Dec. 11. This day I went to work with it ac- 
 cordingly; and got two shoars or posts pitched up- 
 right to the top, with two pieces of board across 
 over each post: this I finished the next day; and 
 setting more posts up with boards, in about a week 
 more I had the roof secured ; and the posts stand- 
 ing in rows, served me for partitions to part off 
 my house- 
 Dec. 17. From this day to the 30th, 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.
 
 M ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Dec. 20. I carried every thing into the cave, and 
 began to furnish my house, and set up some pieces 
 of boards, like a dresser, to order my victuals upon; 
 but boards began to be very scarce with me: also 
 I made me another table. 
 
 Dec. 24. Much rain all night and all day: no 
 stirring out. 
 
 Dec. 25. Rain all day. 
 
 Dec. 26. No rain ; and the earth much cooler 
 than before, and pleasanter. 
 
 Dec. 27. Killed a young goat ; and lamed ano- 
 ther, so that I catched it, and led it home in a 
 string; when 1 had it home, 1 bound and splintered 
 up its leg, which was broke. 
 
 N.B. I took such care of it that it lived; and 
 the leg grew well, and as strong as ever ; but, by 
 nursing it so long, it grew tame, and fed upon the 
 little green at my door, and would not go away. 
 This was the first time that I entertained a thought 
 of breeding up some tame creatures, that I might 
 have food when my powder and shot was all spent. 
 
 7>c. 28,29, 30, yi. Great heats, and no breeze; 
 so that there was no stirring abroad, except, in the 
 evening, for food : this time I spent in putting all 
 my things in order within doors. 
 
 January 1 . Very hot still ; but I went abroad 
 early and late with my gun, and lay still in the 
 middle of the day. This evening, going farther 
 into the valleys which lay towards the centre of the 
 island, I found there was plenty of goats, though 
 exceeding shy, and hard to come at; however, I re- 
 solved totry if I could not bring my dog to hunt 
 them down. Accordingly, the next day, 1 went out 
 with my dog, and set him upon the goats : but I 
 was mistaken, for they all faced about upon the 
 dog: and he knew his danger too well, for he would 
 not come near them.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 85 
 
 Jan. 3. I began my fence or wall ; which, being 
 still jealous of my being attacked by somebody, I 
 resolved to make very thick and strong. 
 
 iV. B. This wall being described before, I pm*- 
 posely omit what was said in the journal: it is suf- 
 ficient to observe, that I was no less time than from 
 the 3d of January to the 14th of April, working, 
 finishing, and perfecting this wall ; though it was 
 no more than about 25 yards in length, being a 
 half-circle, from one place in the rock to another 
 place about twelve yards from it, the door of the 
 cave being in the centre, behind it. 
 
 All this time 1 worked very hard ; the rains hin- 
 dering me many days, nay sometimes weeks toge- 
 ther; but I thought! should never be perfectly se- 
 cure till this wall was finished ; and it is scarce cre- 
 dible what inexpressible labour every thing was 
 done with, especially the bringing piles out of the 
 woods, and driving them into the ground; for I made 
 them much bigger than I needed to have done. 
 
 When this wall was finished, and the outside 
 double-fenced, with a turf-wall raised up close to it, 
 I persuaded myself that if any people were to come 
 on shore there they would not perceive any thing 
 like a habitation : and it was very well I did so, as 
 may be observed hereafter, upon a very remarkable 
 occasion. 
 
 During this time, I made my rounds in the woods 
 for game every day, when the rain permitted me, 
 and made frequent discoveries, in these walks, of 
 something or other to my advantage ; particularly, 
 I found a kind of wild pigeons, who build, not as 
 wood-pigeons, in a tree, but rather as house-pigeons, 
 in the holes of the rocks: and, taking some young 
 ones, I endeavoured to breed them up tame, and 
 did so; but when they grew older, they flew all 
 away ; which, perhaps, was at first for want of 
 
 I
 
 86 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 feeding them, for I had nothing to give them : 
 however, 1 frequently found their nests, and got 
 their young ones, which were very good meat. And 
 now, in the managing my household afFairr,, 1 found 
 myself wanting in many things, which I thought at 
 first it was impossible for me to make ; as indeed, 
 as to some of them, it was : for instance, I could 
 never make a cask to be hooped. I had a small 
 runlet or two, as I observed before ; but I could 
 never arrive to the capacity of making one by them, 
 though I spent many weeks about it : I could nei- 
 ther put in the heads, nor join the staves; so true to 
 one another as to make them hold water; so I gave 
 that also over. In the next place, I was at a great 
 loss for candle ; so that as soon as it was dark, 
 which was generally by seven o'clock, I was obliged 
 to go to bed. I remember the lump of bees-wax 
 with which I made candles in my African adven- 
 ture ; but I had none of that now : the only remedy 
 1 had was, that when 1 had killed a goat, I saved 
 the tallow ; and with a little dish made of clay, 
 which I baked in the sun, to which I added a wick 
 of some oakum, I made me a lamp; and this gave 
 me light, though not a clear steady light like a can- 
 dle. In the middle of all my labours it happened, 
 that in rummaging my things, I found a little bag ; 
 which, as I hinted before, had been filled with corn, 
 for the feeding of poultry ; not for this voyage, but 
 before, as I suppose, when the ship came from Lis- 
 bon, What little remainder of corn had been in 
 the bag was all devoured with the rats, and I saw 
 nothing in the bag but husks and dust ; and being 
 willing to have the bag for some other use (I think, 
 it was to put powder in, when I divided it for fear 
 of the lightning, or some such use), I shook the 
 husks of corn out of it, on one side of my fortifica- 
 tion, under the rock.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 87 
 
 It was a little before the great rain just now 
 mentioned, that I threw this stuff away ; taking no 
 notice of any thing, and not so much as remember- 
 ing that I had thrown any thing there ; when about 
 a month after, I saw some few stalks of something 
 green shooting out of the ground, which 1 fancied 
 might be some plant 1 had not seen; but I was sur- 
 prised, and perfectly astonished, when, after a little 
 longer time, I saw about ten or twelve ears come 
 out, which were perfect green barley of the same 
 kind as our European, nay as our English barley. 
 
 It is impossible to express the astonishment and 
 confusion of my thoughts on this occasion : I had 
 hitherto acted upon no rehgious foundation at all ; 
 indeed I had very few notions of religion in my 
 head, nor had entertained any sense of any thing 
 that had befallen me, otherwise than as chance, or, 
 as we lightly say, what pleases God; without so 
 much as inquiring into the end of Providence in 
 these things, or his order in governing events in 
 the world. But after I saw barley grow there, in 
 a climate which I knew was not proper for corn, 
 and especially as I knew not how it came there, it 
 startled me strangely; and I began to suggest, that 
 God had miraculously caused this grain to grow 
 without any help of seed sown, and that it was so 
 directed purely for my sustenance, on that wild 
 miserable place. 
 
 This touched my heart a little, and brought tears 
 out of my eyes; and I began to bless myself that such 
 a prodigy of nature should happen upon my account: 
 and this was the more strange to me, because I 
 saw near it still, all along by the side of the rock, 
 some other straggling stalks, which proved to be 
 stalks of rice, and which I knew, because I had seen 
 it grow in Africa, when I was ashore there. 
 
 1 not only thought these the pure productions of 
 
 i2
 
 88 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Providence for my support, but, not doubting that 
 tliere was more in the place, I went over all that 
 part ol" the island where I had been before searching 
 in every corner, and under every rock, for more 
 of it; but I could not find any. At last it occur- 
 red to my thoughts, that I had shook out a bag 
 of chicken's-meat in that place, and then the won- 
 der began to cease ; and 1 must confess, my religious 
 thankfulness to God's providence began to abate 
 too, upon the discovering that all this was nothing 
 but what was common; though I ought to have 
 been as thankful for so strange and unforeseen a 
 providence, as if it had been miraculous ; for it was 
 really the work of Providence, as to me, that should 
 order or appoint that ten or twelve grains of corn 
 should remain unspoiled, when the rats had destroy- 
 ed all the rest, as if it had been dropt from heaven ; 
 as also, that I should throw it out in that particular 
 place, where, it being in the shade of a high rock, it 
 sprang up immediately ; whereas, if I had thrown 
 it any where else, at that time, it would have been 
 burnt up and destroyed. 
 
 I carefully saved the ears of this corn, you may 
 be sure, in their season, which was about the end of 
 June; and, laying up every corn, I resolved to sow 
 them all again ; hoping, in time, to have some 
 quantity sufficient to supply me with bread. But 
 it was not till the fourth year that I could allow 
 myself the least grain of this corn to eat, and even 
 then but sparingly, as I shall show afterwards, in 
 its order ; for 1 lost all that I sowed the first sea- 
 son, by not observing the proper time ; as I 
 sowed just before the dry season, so that it never 
 came up at all, at least not as it would have done; 
 of which in its place. 
 
 Besides this barley, there were, as above, twenty 
 or thirty stalks of rice, which I preserved with the
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 89 
 
 saiDe care ; and whose use was of the same kind, or 
 to the same purpose, viz. to make me bread, or ra- 
 ther food ; for I found ways to cook it up without 
 baking, though I did that also after some time. — 
 But to return to my Journal. 
 
 I worked excessively hard these three or four 
 months, to get my wall done; and the 14th of 
 April I closed it up; contriving to get into it, not 
 by a door, but over the wall, by a ladder, that there 
 might be no sign on the outside of my habitation. 
 
 April 16. 1 finished the ladder; so I went up 
 with the ladder to the top, and then pulled it up 
 after me, and let it down in the inside : this was a 
 complete enclosure to me ; for within I had room 
 enough, and nothing could come at me from with- 
 out, unless it could first mount my wall. 
 
 The very next day after this wall was finished, I 
 had almost all my labour overthrown at once, and 
 myself killed ; the case was thus : — As I was busy 
 in the inside of it, behind my tent, just at the en- 
 trance into my cave, I was terribly frightened with a 
 most dreadful surprising thing indeed; for all on a 
 sudden, I found the earth come crumbling down 
 from the roof of my cave, and from the edge of the 
 hill over my head, and two of the posts I had set up 
 in the cave cracked in a frightful manner. I was 
 heartily scared; but thought nothing of what really 
 was the cause, only thinking that the top of my 
 cave was falling in, as some of it had done before; 
 and for fear I should be buried in it, I ran forward 
 to my ladder, and not thinking myself safe there 
 neither, I got over my wall for fear of the pieces of 
 the hill which I expected might roll down upon me. 
 I had no sooner stepped down upon the firm ground, 
 than I plainly saw it was a terrible earthquake ; for 
 the ground 1 stood on shook three times at about 
 eight minutes distance, with three such shocks a» 
 
 I 3
 
 90 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 would have overturned the strongest building that ! 
 
 could be supposed to have stood on the earth ; and ] 
 
 a great piece of the top of a rock, which stood about 
 half a mile from me, next the sea, fell down, with 
 such a terrible noise as I never heard in all my life. 
 I perceived also that the very sea was put into a vio- 
 lent motion by it; and ] believe the shocks were 
 stronger under the water than on the island. 
 
 I was so much amazed with the thing itself (hav- 
 ing never felt the like, nor discoursed with any one 
 that had) that I was like one dead or stupified ; and 
 the motion of the earth made my stomach sick, like 
 one that was tossed at sea: but the noise of the 
 falling of the rock awaked me, as it were ; and 
 rousing me from the stupefied condition I was in, 
 filled me with horror, and I thought of nothing 
 but the hill falling upon my tent and my household 
 goods, and burying all at once ; this sunk my very 
 soul within me a second time. 
 
 After the third shock was over, and I felt no more 
 for some time^ I began to take courage ; yet I had 
 not heart enough to go over my wall again, for fear 
 of being buried alive, but sat still upon the ground 
 greatly cast down, and disconsolate, not knowing 
 what to do. All this while, I had not the least se- 
 rious religious thought ; nothing but the common 
 Lord have mercij upon me ! and when it was over, 
 that went away too. 
 
 While 1 sat thus, I found the air overcast, and 
 grow cloudy, as if it would rain ; and soon after 
 the wind rose by little, and little, so that in less than 
 half an hour it blew a most dreadful hurricane: the 
 sea was, all on a sudden, covered with foam and 
 froth ; the shore was covered with a breach of the 
 water; the trees were torn up by the roots; and a ter- 
 rible storm it was. This held about three hours, and 
 than began to abate; and in two hours more it was
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 91 
 
 quite calm, and began to rain very hard. All this while 
 1 sat upon the ground, very much terrified and deject- 
 ed ; when, on a sudden, it came into my thoughts, 
 that these winds and rain being the consequence of 
 the earthquake, the earthquake itself was spent and 
 over, and I might venture into my cave again. With 
 this thought my spirits began to revive ; and the rain 
 also helping to persuade me, I went in, and sat 
 down in my tent ; but the rain was so violent, that 
 my tent was ready to be beaten down with it ; and I 
 was forced to get into my cave, though very nmch 
 afraid and uneasy, for fear it should fall on my head. 
 This violent rain forced me to a new work, viz. to 
 cut a hole through my new fortification, like a sink, 
 to let the water go out, which would else have 
 drowned my cave. After I had been in my cave 
 for some time, and found no more shocks of the 
 earthquake follow, I began to be more composed. 
 And now to support my spirits, which indeed want- 
 ed it very much, I went to my little store, and took 
 a small sup of rum ; which, however, I did then, and 
 always, very sparingly, knowing I could have no 
 more when that was gone. It continued raining 
 all that night, and great part of the next day, so 
 that I could not stir abroad : but my mind being 
 more composed, I began to think of what I had 
 best do ; concluding, that if the island was subject 
 to these earthquakes, there would be no living for 
 me in a cave, but I must consider of building me 
 some little hut in an open place, which I might sur- 
 round with a wall, as I had done here, and so make 
 myself secure from wild beasts or men : for if I staid 
 where 1 was, 1 should certainly, one time or other, 
 be buried alive. 
 
 With these thoughts, I resolved to remove my 
 tent from the place where it now stood, being just 
 under the hanging precipice of the hill, and which,
 
 92 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 if it should be shaken again, would certainly fall 
 upon my tent. I spent the two next days, being 
 the 1 9th and 20th of April, in contriving where and 
 how to remove my habitation. The fear of being 
 swallowed alive affected me so, that I never slept in 
 quiet ; and yet the apprehension of lying abroad, 
 without any fence, was almost equal to it : but still, 
 when I looked about, and saw how every thing was 
 put in order, how pleasantly I was concealed, and 
 how safe from danger, it made me very loth to re- 
 move. In the mean time, it occurred to me that it 
 would require avast deal of time for me to do this ; 
 and that I must be contented to run the risk where 
 I was, till I had formed a convenient camp, and se- 
 cured it so as to remove to it. With this conclusion 
 I composed myself for a time ; and resolved that I 
 would go to work with all speed to build me a wall 
 with piles and cables, &c. in a circle as before, and 
 set up my tent in it when it was finished ; but that 
 I would venture to stay where I was till it was rea- 
 dy, and fit to remove to. This was the 21st. 
 
 April 22. The next morning I began to consider 
 of means to put this measure into execution ; but I 
 was at a great loss about the tools. I had three large 
 axes, and abundance of hatchets (for we carried the 
 hatchets for traffic with the Indians); but with much 
 chopping and cutting knotty hard wood, they were 
 all full of notches, and dull : and though I had a 
 grind-stone, I could not turn it and grind my tools 
 too. This caused me as much thought as a states- 
 man would have bestowed upon a grand point of 
 politics, or a judge upon the life and death of a 
 man. At length 1 contrived a wheel with a string, 
 to turn it with my foot, that I might have both my 
 hands at liberty. 
 
 Note, I had never seen any such thing in Eng- 
 land, or at least not to take notice how it was done,
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. VJ 
 
 though since I have observed it is very common 
 there : besides that, my grind-stone was very large 
 and heavy. This machine cost me a full week's 
 work to bring it to perfection. 
 
 April 28, 29. These two whole days 1 took up in 
 grinding my tools, my machine for turning my 
 grind-stone performing very well. 
 
 April 30. Having perceived that my bread had 
 been low a great while, 1 now took a survey of it, 
 and reduced myself to one biscuit-cake a day, which 
 made my heart very heavy. 
 
 May 1 . In the morning, looking toward the sea- 
 side, the tide being low, I saw something lie on the 
 shore bigger than ordinary, and it looked like a 
 cask : when I came to it, 1 found a small barrel, and 
 two or three pieces of the wreck of the ship, which 
 were driven on shore by the late hurricane ; and 
 looking towards the wreck itself, 1 thought it 
 seemed to lie higher out of the water than it used 
 to do. I examined the barrel that was driven on 
 shore, and soon found it was a barrel of gunpow- 
 der; but it had taken water, and the po\yder was 
 caked as hard as a stone : however, I rolled it farther 
 on the shore for the present, and went on upon 
 the sands, as near as I could to the wreck of the 
 ship, to look for more. 
 
 WTien I came down to the ship, I found it 
 strangely removed. The forecastle, which lay be- 
 fore buried in sand, was heaved up at least six feet : 
 and the stern (which was broke to pieces, and 
 parted from the rest, by the force of the sea, soon 
 after I had left rummaging of her) was tossed, as it 
 were, up, and cast on one side : and the sand was 
 thrown so high on that side next her stern, that' I 
 could now walk quite up to her when the tide was 
 out ; whereas there was a great piece of water be- 
 fore, so that I could not come within a quarter of a
 
 94- ADVENTURES OF 
 
 mile of the wreck without swimming. I was sur- 
 prised with this at first, but soon concluded it must 
 be done by the earthquake ; and as by this violence 
 the ship was more broke open than formerly, so 
 many things came daily on shore, which the sea had 
 loosened, and which the winds and water rolled by 
 degrees to the land. 
 
 This wholly diverted my thoughts from the de- 
 sign of removing my habitation ; and I busied my- 
 self mightily, that day especially, in searching whe- 
 ther I could make any way into the ship: but I found 
 nothing was to be expected of that kind, for all the 
 inside of the ship was choked up with sand. How- 
 ever, as I had learned not to despair of any thing, I 
 resolved to pull every thing to pieces that I could of 
 the ship, concluding that every thing I could get 
 from her would be of some use or other to me. 
 
 May 3. I began with my saw, and cut a piece of 
 a beam through, which I thought held some of the 
 upper part or quarter-deck together ; and when I 
 had cut it through, I cleared away the sand as well 
 as I could from the side which lay highest ; but the 
 tide coming in, 1 was obliged to give over for that 
 time. 
 
 May ^. I went a-fishing, but caught not one 
 fish that I durst eat of, till 1 was weary of my sport; 
 when, just going to leave off, I caught a young dol- 
 phin. I had made me a long line of some rope-yarn, 
 but I had no hooks ; yet I frequently caught fish 
 enough, as much as 1 cared to eat; all which I 
 dried in the sun, and ate them dry. 
 
 May 5. Worked on the wreck : cut another beam 
 asunder, and brought three great fir-planks off from , 
 the decks ; which I tied together, and made swim 
 on shore when the tide of flood came on. 
 
 May 6. Worked on the wreck ; got several iron 
 bolts out of her, and other pieces of iron-work ;
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 9.5 
 
 worked very hard, and came home very much tired, 
 and had thoughts of giving it over. 
 
 May 7. Went to the wreck again, but not with 
 an intent to work : but found the weight of the 
 wreck had broke itself down, the beams being cut; 
 that several pieces of the ship seemed to lie loose ; 
 and the inside of the hold lay so open that I could 
 see into it ; but almost full of water and sand. 
 
 May 8. Went to the wreck, and carried an iron 
 crow to wrench up the deck, which lay now quite 
 clear of the water and sand. I wrenched up two 
 planks, and brought them on shore also with the 
 tide. 1 left the iron crow in the wreck for next day. 
 
 May 9. Went to the wreck, and with the crow 
 made way into the body of the wreck, and felt seve- 
 ral casks, and loosened them with the crow, but 
 could not break them up. I felt also a roll of Eng- 
 hsh lead, and could stir it ; but it was too heavy to 
 remove. 
 
 May 10 to 14. Went every day to the wreck ; 
 and got a great many pieces of timber, and boards, 
 or plank, and two or three hundred weight of iron. 
 
 May 15. 1 carried two hatchets, to try if I 
 could not cut a piece off the roll of lead, by placing 
 the edge of one hatchet, and driving it with the other ; 
 but as it lay about a foot and a half in the water, I 
 could not make any blow to drive the hatchet. 
 
 May 16. It had blown hard in the night, and 
 the wreck appeared more broken by the force of the 
 water ; but 1 staid so long in the woods, to get pi- 
 geons for food, that the tide prevented my going to 
 the wreck that day. 
 
 May 17. I saw some pieces of the wreck blown 
 on shore, at a great distance, two miles off me, but 
 resolved to see what they were, and found it was a 
 piece of the head, but too heavy for me to bring 
 away.
 
 96 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 May 24-. Every day, to this day, I worked on the 
 wreck; and with hard labour I loosened somethings 
 so much with the crow, that the first blowing tide 
 several casks floated out, and two of the seamen's 
 chests : but the wind blowing from the shore, no- 
 thing came to land that day but pieces of timber, 
 and a hogshead, which had some Brasil pork in it ; 
 but the salt water and the sand had spoiled it. I 
 continued this work every day to the 15th of June, 
 €xcept the time necessary to get food ; which I al- 
 ways appointed, during this part of my employment, 
 to be when the tide was up, that I might be ready 
 when it was ebbed out: and by this time I had got- 
 ten timber, and plank, and iron-work, enough to 
 have built a good boat, if I had known how : and I 
 also got, at several times, and in several pieces, near 
 one hundredweight of the sheet-lead. 
 
 June 16. Going down to the sea-side, I found a 
 large tortoise, or turtle. This was the first I had 
 seen ; which, it seems, was only my misfortune, not 
 any defect of the place, or scarcity: forbad I hap- 
 pened to be on the other side of the island, I might 
 have had hundreds of them every day, as I found af- 
 terwards ; but perhaps had paid dear enough for them . 
 
 June 17, I spent m cooking the turtle. I found 
 in her threescore eggs : and her flesh was to me, at 
 that time, the most savoury and pleasant that 1 ever 
 tasted in my life; having had no flesh, but of goats 
 and fowls, since 1 landed in this horrid place. 
 
 June 18. Rained all that day, and 1 staid with-* 
 in. I thought, at this time, the rain felt cold, and 
 I was somewhat chilly ; which I knew was not usual 
 in that latitude. 
 
 June 19. Very ill, and shivering, as if the wea- 
 ther had been cold. 
 
 June 20. No rest all night ; violent pains in m}'^ 
 head, and feverish.
 
 ROBINSON cnusoE. 97 
 
 June 9,1. Very ill; frightened almost to death 
 with the apprehensions of my sad condition, to be 
 sick, and no help : prayed to God, for the first time 
 since the storm off Hull ; but scarce knew what I 
 said, or why, my thoughts being all confused. 
 
 June 22. A little better ; but under dreadful 
 apprehensions of sickness. 
 
 Ju7ie 23. Very bad again ; cold and shivering, 
 and then a violent head-ache. 
 
 June 2k Much better. 
 
 June 25. An ague very violent : the fit held me 
 seven hours ; cold fit, and hot, with faint sweats af- 
 ter it. 
 
 June 26. Better ; and having no victuals to eat, 
 took my gun, but found myself very weak: however, 
 I killed a she-goat, and with much difficulty got it 
 home, and broiled some of it, and ate. 1 would fain 
 have stewed it, and made some broth, but had no pot. 
 
 June 27. The ague again so violent, that 1 lay 
 abed all day, and neither ate nor drank. I was 
 ready to perish for thirst; but so weak, I had not 
 strength to stand up, or to get myself any water to 
 drink. Prayed to God again, but was light-headed : 
 and when I was not, I was so ignorant that I knew 
 not what to say ; only lay and cried, Lord, look up- 
 on me! Lord, pity me 1 Lord, have mercy upon me! 
 I suppose I did nothing else for two or three hours ; 
 till the fit wearing off, I fell asleep, and did not 
 wake till far in the night. When I awoke, I found 
 myself much refreshed, but weak, and exceeding 
 thirsty : however, as I had no water in my whole 
 habitation, I was forced to lie till morning, and 
 went to sleep again. In this second sleep I had this 
 terrible dream; I thought that I was sitting on the 
 ground, on the outside of my wall, where I sat 
 when the storm blew after the earthquake, and that 
 I saw a man descend from a great black cloud, in a 
 
 K
 
 98 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 bright flame of fire, and light upon tlie ground: he 
 was all over as bright as a flame, so that I could but 
 just bear to look towards him : his countenance was 
 most inexpressibly dreadful, impossible for words to 
 describe : when he stepped upon the ground with 
 his feet, 1 thought the earth trembled, just as it had 
 done before in the earthquake; and all the air look- 
 ed, to my apprehension, as if it had been filled with 
 flashes of fire. He had no sooner landed upon the 
 earth, but he moved forward towards me, with a 
 long spear or weapon in his hand, to kill me ; and 
 when he came to a rising ground, at some distance, 
 he spoke to me, or I heard a voice so terrible that it 
 is impossible to express the terror of it : all that I 
 can say I understood, was this : Seeing all these 
 things have not brought thee to repentance, now 
 thou shalt die ; at which words, I thought he lifted 
 up the spear that was in his hand, to kill me. 
 
 No one that shall ever read this account, will ex- 
 pect that I should be able to describe the horrors of 
 my soul at this terrible vision ; I mean, that even 
 while it was a dream, I even dreamed of those hor- 
 rors ; nor is it any more possible to describe the im- 
 pression that remained upon my mind when I 
 awaked, and found it was but a dream. 
 
 I had, alas ! no divine knowledge : what I had re- 
 ceived by the good instruction of my father was 
 then worn out, by an uninterrupted series, for eight 
 years, of seafaring wickedness, and a constant con- 
 versation with none but such as were, Hke myself, 
 wicked and profane to the last degree. I do not re- 
 member that 1 had, in all that time, one thought 
 that so much as tended either to looking upward 
 towards God, or inward towards a reflection upon 
 my own ways : but a certain stupidity of soul, with- 
 out desire of good, or consciousness of evil, had en- 
 tirely overwhelmed me ; and I was all that the most
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 99 
 
 hardened, unthinking, wicked creature among our 
 common sailors, can be supposed to be ; not having 
 the least sense, either of the fear of God, in danger, 
 or of thankfulness to him, in deliverances. 
 
 In the relating what is already past of my story, 
 this will be the more easily believed, when I shall add, 
 that through all the variety of miseries that had to 
 this day befallen me, I never had so much as one 
 thought of its being the hand of God, or that it was 
 a just punishment for my sin ; either my rebellious 
 behaviour against my father, or my present sins, 
 which were great ; or even as a punishment for the 
 general course of my wicked life. When I was on 
 the desperate expedition on the desert shores of 
 Africa, I never had so much as one thought of what 
 would become of me ; or one wish to God to direct 
 me whither I should go, or to keep me from the dan- 
 ger which apparently surrounded rne, as well from 
 voracious creatures as cruel savages: but I was quite 
 thoughtless of a God or a Providence ; acted like a 
 mere brute, from the principles of nature, and by the 
 dictates of common sense only ; and indeed hardly 
 that. When I was delivered and taken up at sea by 
 the Portuguese captain, well used, and dealt with 
 justly and honorably, as well as charitably, I had 
 not the least thankfulness in my thoughts. When, 
 again, I was shipwrecked, ruined, and in danger of 
 drowning, on this island, I was as far from remorse, 
 or looking on it as a judgement : I only said to my- 
 self often, that I was an unfortunate dog, and born 
 to be always miserable. 
 
 It is true, when I first got on shore here, and 
 found all my ship's crew drowned, and myself spared^ 
 I was surprised with a kind of ecstasy, and some 
 transports of soul, which, had the grace of God as- 
 sisted, might have come up to true thankfulness : 
 but it ended where it began, in a mere common flight 
 
 K 2
 
 100 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 of joy ; or, as I may say, being glad I was alive, 
 without the least reflection upon the distinguished 
 goodness of the hand which had preserved me, and 
 had singled me out to be preserved when all the rest 
 were destroyed, or an inquiry why Providence had 
 been thus merciful to me : just the same common 
 sort of joy which seamen generally have, after they 
 are got safe ashore from a shipwreck ; which they 
 drown all in the next bowl of punch, and forget al- 
 most as soon as it is over : and all the rest of my 
 life was like it. Even when I was, afterwards, on 
 due consideration, made sensible of my condition, 
 — how I was cast on this dreadful place, out of the 
 reach of human kind, out of all hope of relief, or 
 prospect of redemption, — as soon as I saw but a 
 prospect of living, and that I should not starve and 
 perish for hunger, all the sense of my affliction 
 wore off, and I began to be very easy, applied myself 
 to the works proper for my preservation and supply, 
 and was far enough from being afflicted at my con- 
 dition, as a judgement from Heaven, or as the hand 
 of God against me : these were thoughts which very 
 seldom entered into my head. 
 
 The growing up of the corn, as is hinted in my 
 Journal, had, at first, some little influence upon 
 me, and began to affect me with seriousness, as 
 long as I thought it had something miraculous in 
 it ; but as soon as that part of the thought was re- 
 moved, all the impression which was raised from it 
 wore off also, as 1 have noted already. Even the 
 earthquake, though nothing could be more terrible 
 in its nature, or more immediately directing to the 
 invisible Power which alone directs such things, yet 
 no sooner was the fright over, but the impression it 
 had made went off also. I had no more sense of God, 
 or his judgements, much less of the present affliction 
 of my circumstances being from his hand, than if I
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 101 
 
 had been in the most prosperous condition of Hfe. 
 But now, when I began to be sick, and a leisure 
 view of the miseries of death came to place itself be- 
 fore me ; when my spirits began to sink under the 
 burden of a strong distemper, and nature was ex- 
 hausted with the violence of the fever ; conscience, 
 that had slept so long, began to awake ; and I re- 
 proached myself with my past life, in which I had so 
 evidently, by uncommon wickedness, provoked the 
 justice of God to lay me under uncommon strokes, 
 and to deal with me in so vindictive a manner. 
 These reflections oppressed me for the second or 
 third day of ray distemper ; and in the violence, as 
 well of the fever as of the dreadful reproaches of my 
 conscience, extorted from me some words like pray- 
 ing to God : though I cannot say it was a prayer at- 
 tended either with desires or with hopes ; it was ra- 
 ther the voice of mere fright and distress. My 
 thoughts were confused; the convictions great upon 
 my mind ; and the horror of dying in such a mise- 
 rable condition, raised vapours in my head with the 
 mere apprehension : and, in these hurries of my 
 soul, I knew not what my tongue might express : 
 but it was rather exclamation, such as. Lord, what 
 a miserable creature am I ! If I should be sick, I 
 shall certainly die for want of help ; and what will 
 become of me ? Then the tears burst out of my 
 eyes, and I could say no more for a good while. In 
 this interval, the good advice of my father came to 
 my mind, and presently his prediction, which I men- 
 tioned at the beginning of this story, viz. that if I 
 did take this foolish step, God would not bless me ; 
 and 1 should have leisure hereafter to reflect upon 
 having neglected his counsel, when there might be 
 none to assist in my recovery. Now, said I, aloud, 
 my dear father's words are come to pass ; God's jus- 
 tice has overtaken me, and I have none to help or 
 
 K 3
 
 102 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 hear me. I rejected the voice of Providence, which 
 had mercifully put me in a station of life wherein I 
 might have been happy and easy ; but I would nei- 
 ther see it myself, nor learn from my parents to know 
 the blessing of it. I left them to mourn over my 
 folly ; and now I am left to mourn under the conse- 
 quences of it : I refused their help and assistance, 
 who would have pushed me in the world, and would 
 have made every thing easy to me ; and now I have 
 difficulties to struggle with, too great for even na- 
 ture itself to support ; and no assistance, no com- 
 fort, no advice. Then I cried out, Lord, be my help, 
 for I am in great distress. This was the first prayer, 
 if i may call it so, that I had made for many years. 
 But I return to my Journal. 
 
 June 28. Having been somewhat refreshed with the 
 sleep I had had, and the fit being entirely off, 1 got 
 up ; and though the fright and terror of my dream 
 was very great, yet I considered that the fit of the 
 ague would return again the next day, and now was 
 my time to get something to refresh and support 
 myself when I should be ill. The first thing I did 
 was to fill a large square case-bottle with water ; 
 and set it upon my table, in reach of my bed : and 
 to take off the chill or aguish disposition of the wa- 
 ter, I put about a quarter of a pint of rum into it, 
 and mixed them together. Then I got me a piece 
 of the goat's flesh, and broiled it on the coals, but 
 could eat very little. I walked about ; but was very 
 weak, and withal very sad and heavy-hearted in the 
 sense of my miserable condition, dreading the re- 
 turn of my distemper the next day. At night, I 
 made my supper of three of the turtle's eggs; which 
 I roasted in the ashes, and ate, as we call it, in the 
 shell: and this was the first bit of meat I had ever 
 asked God's blessing to, as I could remember, in my 
 whole life. After I had eaten, I tried to walk; but found
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 103 
 
 myself so weak, that I could hardly carry the gun 
 (for I never went out without that) : so I went but 
 a little way, and sat down upon the ground, look- 
 ing out upon the sea, which was just before me, and 
 very calm and smooth. As I sat here, some such 
 thoughts as these occurred to me: What is this earth 
 and sea, of which I have seen so much ? Whence is 
 it produced ? And what am I, and all the other crea- 
 tures, wild and tame, human and brutal ? Whence 
 are we ? Surely, we are all made by some secret 
 power, who formed the earth and sea, the air and 
 sky. And who is that? Then it followed most na- 
 turally, It is (xod that has made all. Well, but then, 
 it came on strangel}', if God has made all these 
 things, he guides and governs them all, and all 
 things that concern them ; for the power that could 
 make all things, must certainly have power to guide 
 and direct them : if so, nothing can happen in the 
 great circuit of his works, either without his know- 
 ledge or appointment. 
 
 And if nothing happens without his knowledge, 
 he knows that I am here, and am in this dreadful 
 condition : and if nothing happens without his ap- 
 pointment, he has appointed all this to befall me. 
 Nothing occurred to my thought, to contradict any 
 of these conclusions: and therefore it rested upon me 
 with the greatest force, that it must needs be that 
 (jod had appointed all this to befall me ; that I was 
 brought to this miserable circumstance by his direc- 
 tion, he having the sole power, not of me only, but 
 of every thing that happens in the world. Immedi- 
 ately it followed. Why has God done this to me ? 
 What have I done tobe thus used ? My conscience pre-, 
 sently checked me in that inquiry, as if I had blas- 
 phemed; and methought it spoke to me like a voice, 
 VV'^retch ! dost thou ask what thou hast done ? Look 
 back upon a dreadful niispcnt life, and ask thyself.
 
 104< ADVENTURES OB 
 
 what thou hast no/ done? Ask, why is it that thouwert 
 not long ago destroyed? Why wert thou not drown- 
 ed in Yarmouth roads ; killed in the fight when the 
 ship was taken by the Sallee man of war ; devoured 
 by the wild beasts on the coast of Africa ; or drown- 
 ed here, when all the crew perished but thyself? 
 Dost thou ask what thou hast done ? I was struck 
 dumb with these reflections, as one astonished, and 
 had not a word to say ; no, not to answer to myself; 
 and, rising up pensive and sad, walked back to my 
 retreat, and went over my wall, as if I had been go- 
 ing to bed : but my thoughts were sadly disturbed, 
 and I had no inclination to sleep ; so I sat down in 
 the chair, and lighted my lamp, for it began to be 
 dark. Now, as the apprehension of the return of my 
 distemper terrified me very much, it occurred to my 
 thought, that the Brazilians take no physic but 
 their tobacco for almost all distempers; and I had a 
 piece of a roll of tobacco in one of the chests, which 
 was quite cured ; and some also that was green, and 
 not quite cured. 
 
 I went, directed by Heaven no doubt : for in this 
 chest I found a cure both for soul and body. I 
 opened the chest, and found what I looked for, viz. 
 the tobacco ; and as the few books I had saved lay 
 there too, I took out one of the Bibles which I men- 
 tioned before, and which to this time I had not 
 found leisure, or so much as inclination, to look in- 
 to. I say, I took it out, and brought both that and 
 the tobacco with me to the table. What use to make 
 of the tobacco I knew not, as to my distemper, nor 
 whether it was good for it or not ; but I tried seve- 
 ral experiments with it, as if I was resolved it should 
 hit one way or other. I first took a piece of a leaf, 
 and chewed it in my mouth ; which, indeed, at first, 
 almost stupefied my brain ; the tobacco being green 
 and strong, and such as I had not been much used
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 105 
 
 to. Then I took some and steeped it an hour or two 
 in some rum, and resolved to take a dose of it when 
 I lay down : and, lastly, I burnt some upon a pan 
 of coals, and held my nose close over the smoke of 
 it as long as I could bear it ; as well for the heat, as 
 almost for suffocation. In the interval of this ope- 
 ration, I took up the Bible, and began to read ; but 
 my head was too much disturbed with the tobacco 
 to bear reading, at least at that time ; only, having 
 opened the book casually, the first words that oc- 
 curred to me were these : " Call on me in the day of 
 trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glo- 
 rify me." These words were very apt to my case ; 
 and made some impression upon my thoughts at the 
 time of reading them, though not so much as they 
 did afterwards ; for, as for being delivered, the 
 word had no sound, as I may say, to me ; the thing 
 was so remote, so impossible in my apprehension 
 of things, that, as the children of Israel said when 
 they were promised flesh to eat, " Can God spread a 
 table in the wilderness?" so I began to say. Can even 
 God himself deliver me from this place ? And as it 
 was not for many years that any hopes appeared, 
 this prevailed very often upon my thoughts : but, 
 however, the words made a great impression upon 
 me, and I mused upon them very often. It now 
 grew late ; and the tobacco had, as I said, dozed my 
 head so much, that I inclined to sleep : so I left my 
 lamp burning in the cave, lest I should want any 
 thing in the night, and went to bed. But before I 
 lay down, I did what I never had done in all my life ; 
 I kneeled down, and prayed to God to fulfil the pro- 
 mise to me, that if I called upon him in the day of 
 trouble, he would deliver me. After my broken and 
 imperfect prayer was over, I drank the rum in which 
 I had steeped the tobacco; which was so strong and 
 rank of the tobacco, that indeed I could scarce get
 
 106 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 it down : immediately upon this I went to bed. I 
 found presently the rum flew up into my head vio- 
 lently ; but I fell into a sound sleep, and waked no 
 more till, by the sun, it must necessarily be near 
 three o'clock in the afternoon the next day: nay, to 
 this hour 1 am partly of opinion, that I slept all the 
 next day and night, and till almost three the day 
 after ; for otherwise, I know not how I should lose 
 a day out of my reckoning in the days of the week, 
 as it appeared some years after I had done ; for if I 
 had lost it by crossing and re-crossing the Line, I 
 should have lost more than one day; but certainly I 
 lost a day in my account, and never knew which 
 way. Be that, however, one way or the other, 
 when I awaked I found myself exceedingly refreshed, 
 and my spirits lively and cheerful : when I got up, 
 I w as stronger than I was the day before, and my 
 stomach better, for I was hungry ; and, in short, I 
 had no fit the next day, but continued much altered 
 for the better. This was the 29th. 
 
 The SOth was my well day, of course ; and I went 
 abroad with my gun, but did not care to travel too 
 far. I killed a sea-fowl or two, something like a 
 brand goose, and brought them home ; but was not 
 very forward to eat them ; so I ate some more of 
 the turtle's eggs, which were very good. This 
 evening I renewed the medicine, which I had sup- 
 posed did me good the day before, viz. the tobacco 
 steeped in rum ; only I did not take so much as be- 
 fore, nor did I chew any of the leaf, or hold my 
 head over the smoke : however, I was not so well 
 the next day, which was the 1st of July, as I hoped 
 I should have been; for I had a little of the cold fit, 
 but it was not much. 
 
 July 2. I renewed the medicine all the three 
 Tvays; and dosed myself with it as at first, and 
 doubled the quantity which I drank. 
 5
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 107 
 
 July 3. I missed the fit for good and all, thougli 
 I did not recover my full strength for some weeks 
 after. ' While I was thus gathering strength, my 
 thoughts ran exceedingly upon this scripture, " I will 
 deliver thee;" and the impossibility of my deliver- 
 ance lay much upon my mind, in bar of my ever 
 expecting it : but as I was discouraging myself with 
 such thoughts, it occurred to my mind that I pored 
 so much upon my deliverance from the main afflic- 
 tion, that I disregarded the deliverance I had re- 
 ceived ; and I was, as it were, made to ask myself 
 such questions as these, viz. Have I not been deli- 
 vered, and wonderfully too, from sickness ; from the 
 most distressed condition that could be, and that 
 was so frightful to me? and what notice have I 
 taken of it? Have I done my part? God has delivered 
 me, but I have not glorified him ; that is to say, I 
 have not owned and been thankful for that as a de- 
 liverance : and how can I expect a greater deliver- 
 ance ? This touched my heart very much ; and im- 
 mediately I knelt down, and gave God thanks aloud 
 for my recovery from my sickness. 
 
 July 4. In the morning I took the Bible ; and 
 beginning at the New Testament, I began seriously 
 to read it ; and imposed upon myself to read awhile 
 every morning and every night : not binding my- 
 self to the number of chapters, but as long as my 
 thoughts should engage me. It was not long after 
 I set seriously to this work, that I found my heart 
 more deeply and sincerely affected with the wicked- 
 ness of my past life. The impression of my dream 
 revived ; and the words. All these things have not 
 brought thee to repentance, ran seriously in my 
 thoughts. I was earnestly begging of God to give 
 me repentance, when it happened providentially, 
 the very same day, that, reading the scripture, I 
 came to these words, *' He is exalted a Prince and a
 
 108 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Saviour ; to give repentance, and to give remission." 
 I threw dovk'n the book ; and with my heart as well 
 as my hands lifted up to heaven, in a kind of ecstasy 
 of joy, I cried out aloud, Jesus, thou son of David ! 
 Jesus, thou exalted Prince and Saviour! give me re- 
 pentance! This was the first time in all my life I 
 could say, in the true sense of the words, that I 
 prayed ; for now I prayed with a sense of my condi- 
 tion, and with a true scripture view of hope, found- 
 ed on the encouragement of the word of God : and 
 from this time, I may say, I began to have hope 
 that God would hear me. 
 
 Now I began to construe the words mentioned 
 above, " Call on me, and I will deliver thee," in a dif- 
 ferent sense from what I had ever done before ; for 
 then I had no notion of any thing being called deli- 
 verance, but my being delivered from the captivity 
 I was in : for though I was indeed at large in the 
 place, yet the island was certainly a prison to me, 
 and that in the worst sense in the world. But now 
 I learned to take it in another sense : now I looked 
 back upon my past life with such horror, and my 
 sins appeared so dreadful, that my soul sought no- 
 thing of God but deliverance from the load of guilt 
 that bore down all my comfort. As for my solitary 
 life, it was nothing ; I did not so much as pray to 
 be delivered from it, or think of it; it was all of no 
 consideration, in comparison with this. And 1 add 
 this part here, to hint to whoever shall read it, that 
 whenever they come to a true sense of things, they 
 will find deliverance from sin a much greater bless- 
 ing than deliverance from affliction. But, leaving 
 this part, I return to my Journal. 
 
 My condition began now to be, though not less 
 miserable as to my way of living, yet much easier to 
 my mind: and my thoughts being directed, by con- 
 stantly reading the scripture and praying to God, to
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 109 
 
 things of a higher nature, I had a great deal of com- 
 fort within, which, till now, I knew nothing of; 
 also, as my health and strength returned, I bestir- 
 red me to furnish myself with every thing that I 
 wanted, and make my way of living as regular as I 
 could. 
 
 From the 4th of July to the Itth, I was chiefly 
 employed in walking about with my gun in my 
 hand, a httle and a little at a time, as a man that 
 was gathering up his strength after a fit of sickness: 
 for it is hardly to be imagined how low I was, and 
 to what weakness I was reduced. The application 
 which I made use of was perfectly new, and per- 
 haps what had never cured an ague before ; neither 
 can I recommend it to any one to practise, by this 
 experiment : and though it did carry off the fit, yet 
 it rather contributed to weakening me ; for 1 had 
 frequent convulsions in my nerves and limbs for 
 some time : I learned from it also this, in particu- 
 lar ; that being abroad in the rainy season was the 
 most pernicious thing to my health that could be, 
 especially in those rains which came attended with 
 storms and hurricanes of wind; for as the rain which 
 came in the dry season was almost always accom- 
 panied with such storms, so I found tliat this rain 
 was much more dangerous than the rain which fell 
 in September and October. 
 
 I had now been in this unhappy island above ten 
 months : all possibility of deliverance from this con- 
 dition seemed to be entirely taken from me ; and I 
 firmly believed that no human shape had ever set 
 foot upon that place. Having secured my habita- 
 tion, as 1 thought, fully to my mind, I had a great 
 desire to make a more perfect discovery of the 
 island, and to see what other [)roductions I might 
 find, which I yet knew nothing of. 
 
 It was on the 15th of July that I began to take 
 
 VOL. XVI. L.
 
 no ADVENTURES OF 
 
 a more particular survey of the island itself. I went 
 up the creek first, where, as I hinted, I brought my 
 rafts on shore. 1 found, after I came about two 
 miles up, that the tide did not flow any higher ; and 
 that it was no more than a little brook of running 
 water, very fresh and good : but this being the dry 
 season, there was hardly any v/ater in some parts of 
 it; at least, not any stream. On the banks of this 
 brook I found many pleasant savannahs or meadows, 
 plain, smooth, and covered with grass : and on the 
 rising parts of them, next to the higher grounds 
 (where the water, as it might be supposed, never 
 overflowed), 1 found a great deal of tobacco, green, 
 and growing to a very great and strong stalk : and 
 there were divers other plants, which 1 had no know- 
 ledge of, or understanding about, and that might, 
 perhaps, have virtues of their own, which I could 
 not find out. I searched for the cassava root, which 
 the Indians, in all that climate, make their bread of; 
 but I could find none. I saw large plants of aloes, 
 but did not understand them. I saw several sugar- 
 canes, but wild ; and, for want of cultivation, im- 
 perfect. I contented myself with these discoveries 
 for this time; and came back, musing with myself 
 what course I might take to know the virtue and 
 goodness of any of the fruits or plants which 1 should 
 discover ; but could bring it to no conclusion : for, 
 in short, I had made so little observation while I 
 was in the Brazils, that I knew little of the plants 
 in the field ; at least, very little that might serve me 
 to any purpose now in my distress. 
 
 The next day, the 16th, I went up the same way 
 again; and after going something farther than I 
 had gone the day before, I found the brook and the 
 savannahs begin to cease, and the countrjf become 
 more woody than before. In this part I found dif- 
 ferent fruits ; and particularly I found melons upon
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. Ill 
 
 the ground, in great abundance, and grapes upon 
 the trees : the vines, indeed, had spread over the 
 trees, and the clusters of grapes were now just in 
 their prime, very ripe and rich. This was a surprising 
 discovery, and I was exceedingly glad of them, but 
 I was warned by my experience to eat sparingly of 
 them ; remembering that when I was ashore in Bar- 
 bary, the eating of grapes killed several of our Eng- 
 lishmen, who were slaves there, by throwing them 
 into fluxes and fevers. I foimd, howevei', an excel- 
 lent use for these gi'apes ; and that was, to cure or 
 dry them in the sun, and keep them as dried grapes 
 or raisins are kept ; which I thought would be (as 
 indeed they were) as wholesome and as agreeable to 
 eat, when no grapes were to be had. 
 
 I spent all that evening there, and went not back 
 to my habitation ; which, by the way, was the first 
 night, as 1 might say, I had lain from home. At 
 night, I took my first contrivance, and got up into 
 a tree, where 1 slept well ; and the next morning 
 proceeded on my discovery, travelling near four 
 miles, as I might judge by the length of the valley; 
 keeping still due north, with a ridge of hills on the 
 south and north sides of me. At the end of this 
 march I came to an opening, where the country 
 seemed to descend to the west ; and a little spring 
 of fresh water, which issued out of the side of the 
 hill by me, ran the other way, that is, due east ; and 
 the country appeared so fresh, so green, so flourish- 
 ing, every thing being in a constant verdure, or 
 flourish of spring, that it looked like a planted gar- 
 den. I descended a little on the side of that deli- 
 cious vale, surveying it with a secret kind of pleasure 
 (though mixed with other afflicting thoughts), to 
 think that this was all my own; that I was king 
 and lord of all this country indefeasibly, and had a 
 right of possession ; and, if I could convey it, I 
 
 h 2
 
 112 ADVENTURES OP 
 
 might have it in inheritance as completely as any 
 lord of a manor in England. I saw here abundance 
 of cocoa trees, and orange, lemon, and citron trees, 
 but all wild, and very few bearing any fmit ; at least 
 not then. However, the green limes that 1 gathered 
 were not only pleasant to eat, but very wholesome; 
 and I mixed their juice afterwards with water, which 
 made it very wholesome, and very cool and refresh- 
 ing. I found now I had business enough, to gather 
 and carry home ; and I resolved to lay up a store, 
 as well of grapes as limes and lemons to furnish 
 myself for the wet season, which I knew was ap- 
 proaching. In order to this, I gathered a great 
 heap of grapes in one place, a lesser heap in another 
 place ; and a great parcel of limes and melons in 
 another place ; and, taking a few of each with rne, 
 I travelled homeward ; and resolved to come again, 
 and bring a bag or sack, or what 1 could make, to 
 carry the rest home. Accordingly, having spent 
 three days in this journey, I came home (so 1 must 
 now call my tent and my cave) : but before I got 
 thither, the grapes were spoiled ; the richness of the 
 fruits, and the weight of the juice, having broken 
 and bruised them, they were good for little or no- 
 thing : as to the limes, they were good, but I could 
 bring only a few. 
 
 The next day being the 19th, 1 went back, hav- 
 ing made me two small bags to bring home my har- 
 vest ; but I was surprised, when, coming to my 
 heap of grapes, which were so rich and fine when I 
 gathered them, I found them all spread about, trod 
 to pieces, and dragged about, some here, some 
 there, and abundance eaten and devoured. By 
 this I concluded there were some wild creatures 
 thereabouts which had done this, but what they 
 were I knew not. However, as I found there was- 
 no laying them up in heaps., and no carrying them
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 113 
 
 away in a sack ; but that one way they would be 
 destroyed, and the other way they would be crush- 
 ed with their own weight ; I took another course : 
 I then gathered a large quantity of the grapes, and 
 hung them upon the out-branches of the trees, that 
 they might cure and dry in the sun ; and as for the 
 limes and lemons, I carried as many back as I could 
 well stand under. 
 
 When I came home from this journey, I contem- 
 plated with great pleasure the fruitfulness of that 
 valley, and the pleasantness of the situation ; the 
 security from storms on that side ; the water and 
 the wood : and concluded that 1 had pitched upon a 
 place to fix my abode in, which was by far the worst 
 part of the country. Upon the whole, I began to 
 consider of removing my habitation, and to look out 
 for a place equally safe as where I was now situate ; if 
 possible, in that pleasant fruitful part of the island. 
 
 This thought ran long in my head ; and I was ex- 
 ceeding fond of it for some time, the pleasantness 
 of the place tempting me : but when [ came to a 
 nearer view of it, I considered that I was now by 
 the sea-side, where it was at least possible that some- 
 thing might happen to my advantage, and, by the 
 same ill fate that brought me hither, might bring 
 some other unhappy wretches to the same place ; 
 and though it was scarce probable that any such 
 thing should ever happen, yet to enclose myself 
 among the hills and woods in the centre of the 
 island, was to anticipate my bondage, and to ren- 
 der such an affair not only improbable, but impos- 
 sible ; and that therefore 1 ought not by any means 
 to remove. However, I was so enamoured of this 
 place, that I spent much of my time there for the 
 whole remaining part of the month of July; and 
 though, upon second thoughts, 1 resolved, as above 
 stated, not to remove ; yet I built me a little kind 
 
 l3
 
 114? ADVENTURES OF 
 
 of a bower, and surrounded it at a distance with a 
 strong fence, being a double hedge, as high as I 
 could reach, well staked, and filled between with 
 brush-wood. Here I lay very secure, sometimes 
 two or three nights together ; always going over it 
 with a ladder, as before : so that J fancied now I 
 had ray country and my sea-coast house. This work 
 took me up till the beginning of August. 
 
 I had but newly finished my fence, and began 
 to enjoy my labour, when the rains came on, and 
 made me stick close to my first habitation : for 
 though 1 had made a tent like the other, with a 
 piece of sail, and spread it very well, yet I had not 
 the shelter of a hill to keep me from storms, nor a 
 cave behind me to retreat into when the rains were 
 extraordinary. 
 
 About the beginning of August, as I said, I had 
 finished my bower, and began to enjoy myself. The 
 3d of August, I found the grapes I had hung up 
 were perfectly dried, and indeed were excellent good 
 raisins of the sun: so 1 began to take them down 
 from the trees ; and it was very happy that I did so, 
 as the rains which followed would have spoiled them, 
 and I should have lost the best part of my winter 
 food ; for I had above two hundred large bunches of 
 them. No sooner had I taken them all down, and 
 carried most of them home to my cave, but it began 
 to rain: and from hence, which was the 14th of 
 August, it rained, more or less, every day till the 
 middle of October ; and sometimes so violently, that 
 I could not stir out of my cave for several days. 
 
 In this season, I was much surprised with the in- 
 crease of my family. I had been concerned for the 
 loss of one of my cats, who ran away from me, or, 
 as I thought, had been dead ; and I heai'd no more 
 of her, till, to my astonishment, she came home 
 with three kittens. This was the more strange to
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 115 
 
 me, because, about the end of August, though I 
 had killed a wild cat, as I called it, with my gun, 
 yet I thought it was quite a different kind from our 
 European cats : yet the young cats were the same 
 kind of house-breed as the old one ; and both of my 
 cats being females, I thought it very strange. But 
 from these three, I afterwards came to be so pes- 
 tered with cats, that I was forced to kill them like 
 vermin, or wild beasts, and to drive them from my 
 house as much as possible. 
 
 From the 14th of August to the 26th, incessant 
 rain ; so that I could not stir, and was now very 
 careful not to be much wet. In this confinement, 
 I began to be straitened for food ; but venturing 
 out twice, I one day killed a goat, and the last day, 
 which was the 2(3th, found a very large tortoise, 
 which was a treat to me. My food was now regu- 
 lated thus : I ate a bunch of raisins for my break- 
 fast ; a piece of the goat's flesh, or of the turtle, 
 broiled, for my dinner (for, to my great misfortune, 
 I had no vessel to boil or stew any thing) ; and two 
 or three of the turtle's eggs for my supper. 
 
 During this confinement in my cover by the rain, 
 I worked daily two or three hours at enlarging my 
 cave: and by degrees worked it on towards one side, 
 till I came to the outside of the hill ; and made a 
 door, or way out, which came beyond my fence or 
 wall : and so I came in and out this way. But I 
 was not perfectly easy at lying so open : for as I 
 had managed myself before, I was in a perfect en- 
 closure ; whereas now, I thought I lay exposed ; 
 and yet I could not perceive that there was any 
 living thing to fear, the biggest creature that I had 
 yet seen upon the island being a goat. 
 
 September 30. I was now come to the unhappy 
 anniversary of my landing. 1 cast up the notches on 
 my post, and found I had been on shore three bun-
 
 116 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 dred and sixty-five days, I kept this day as a solemn 
 fast; setting it apart for religious exercise, prostrat- 
 ing myself on the ground with the most serious hu- 
 miliation, confessing my sins to God, acknowledg- 
 ing his righteous judgement upon me, and praying 
 to him to have mercy on me through Jesus Christ ; 
 and having not tasted the least refreshment for 
 twelve hours, even till the going down of the sun, 
 I then ate a biscuit and a bunch of grapes, and went 
 to bed, finishing the day as I began it. I had all 
 this time observed no sabbath-day ; for as at first I 
 had no sense of religion upon my mind, I had, after 
 some time, omitted to distinguish the weeks, by 
 making a longer notch than ordinary for the sab- 
 bath-day, and so did not really know what any of 
 the days were : but now having cast up the days, as 
 above, I found I had been there a year ; so I divided 
 it into weeks, and set apart every seventh day for a 
 sabbath : though I found, at the end of my account, 
 I had lost a day or two in my reckoning. A little 
 after this, my ink beginning to fail me, I contented 
 myself to use it more sparingly ; and to write down 
 only the most remarkable events of my life, without 
 continuing a daily memorandum of other things. 
 
 The rainy season and the dry season began now 
 to appear regular to me, and I learned to divide 
 them so as to provide for them accordingly ; but I 
 bought a!! my experience before I had it; and what 
 I am going to relate was one of the most discourag- 
 ing experiments that I had made at all. 
 
 1 have mentioned that I had saved the few ears of 
 barley, and rice, which I had so surprisingly found 
 sprung up, as I thought, of themselves. 1 believe 
 there w£re about thirty stalks of rice, and about 
 twenty of barley ; and now I thought it a proper 
 time to sow it after the rains ; the sun being in its 
 southern position, going from me. Accordingly I
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 117 
 
 dug a piece of ground, as well as I could, with my 
 wooden spade ; and dividing it into two parts, I 
 sowed my grain ; but, as I was sowing, it casually 
 occured to my thoughts that I would not sow it all 
 at first, because I did not know when was the pro- 
 per time for it ; so I sowed about two-thirds of the 
 seed, leaving about a handful of each : and it was a 
 great comfort to me afterwards that I did so, for 
 not one grain of what I sowed this time came to any 
 thing ; for the dry month following, and the earth 
 having thus had no rain after the seed was sown, it 
 had no moisture to assist its growth, and never came 
 up. at all till the wet season had come again, and 
 then it grew as if it had been but newly sown. Find- 
 ing my first seed did not grow, which I easily ima- 
 gined was from the drought, I sought for a moister 
 piece of ground to make another trial in ; and I 
 dug up a piece of ground near my new bower, and 
 sowed the rest of my seed in February, a little be- 
 fore the vernal equinox. This having the rainy 
 month of March and April to water it, sprung up 
 very pleasantly, and yielded a very good crop ; but 
 having only part of the seed left, and not daring to 
 sow ail that 1 had, I got but a small quantity at 
 last, my whole crop not amounting to above half a 
 peck of each kind. Hut by this experiment I was 
 made master of my business, and knew exactly when 
 was the proper time to sow ; and that I might ex- 
 pect two seed-times, and two harvests, every year. 
 While this corn was growing, 1 made a little dis- 
 covery, which was of use to me afterwards. As soon 
 as the rains were over, and the weather began to 
 settle, which was about the month of November, I 
 made a visit up the country to my bower ; where, 
 though 1 had not been some months, yet I found all 
 things just as I left them. The circle or double 
 hedge that 1 had made was not only firm and entire,
 
 lis ADVENTURES OF 
 
 but the stakes which I had cut out of some trees 
 that grew thereabouts, were all shot out and grown 
 with long branches, as much as a willow-tree usu- 
 ally shoots the tirst year after lopping its head ; but 
 I could not tell what tree to call it that these stakes 
 were cut from. I was surprised, and yet very well 
 pleased, to see the young trees grow ; and I pruned 
 thera, and led them to grow as much alike as 1 could: 
 and it is scarce credible how beautiful a figure they 
 grew into in three years : so that, though the hedge 
 made a circle of about twenty-five yards in diameter, 
 yet the trees, for such I might now call them, soon 
 covered it, and it was a complete shade, sufficient 
 to lodge under all the dry season. This made me 
 resolve to cut some more stakes, and make me a 
 hedge like this, in a semicircle round my wall (I 
 mean that of my first dwelling), which I did; and 
 placing the trees or stakes in a double row, at about 
 eight yards distance from my first fence, they grew 
 presently ; and were at first a fine cover to my ha- 
 bitation, and afterwards served for a defence also ; 
 as I shall observe in its order. 
 
 I found now that the seasons of the year might 
 generally be divided, not into summer and winter, 
 as in Europe, but into the rainy seasons and the dry 
 seasons, which were generally thus : From the mid- 
 dle of February to the middle of April, rainy ; the 
 sun being then on or near the equinox. From the 
 middle of April till the middle of August, dry; the 
 sun being then north of the line. From the middle 
 of August till the middle of October, rainy : the sun 
 being then come back to the line. From the mid- 
 dle of October till the middle of February, dry ; the 
 sun being then to the south of the line. 
 
 The rainy seasons held sometimes longer and 
 sometimes shorter, as the winds happened to blow ; 
 but this was the general observation I made. After
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 119 
 
 1 had found, by experience, the ill consequences of 
 being abroad in the rain, I took care to furnish my- 
 self with provisions beforehand, that I might not be 
 obliged to go out : and I sat within doors as much as 
 possible during the wet months. This time I found 
 much employment, and very suitable also to the 
 time ; for I found great occasion for many things 
 which I had no way to furnisli myself with but by 
 hard labour and constant application : particularly, 
 I tried many ways to make myself a basket : but all 
 the twigs I could get for the purpose proved so brit- 
 tle, that they would do nothing. It proved of ex- 
 cellent advantage to me now, that when I was a boy, 
 I used to take great delight in standing at a basket- 
 maker's in the town where my father lived, to see 
 them make their wicker-ware ; and being, as boys 
 usually are, very officious to help, and a great ob- 
 server of the manner how they worked those things, 
 and sometimes lending a hand, I had by these means 
 full knowletlge of the methods of it, so that I wanted, 
 nothing but the materials ; when it came into my 
 mind, that the twigs of that tree from whence I 
 cut my stakes that grew might possibly be as tough 
 as the sallows, willows, and osiers, in England ; and 
 I resolved to try. Accordingly, the next day, I 
 went to my country-house, as 1 called it; and cut- 
 ting some of the smaller twigs, I found them to my 
 purpose as much as I could desire : whereupon I 
 came the next time prepared with a hatchet to cut 
 down a quantity, which 1 soon found, for there was 
 great plenty of them. These I set up to dry within 
 my circle or hedge ; and when they were fit for use, 
 I carried them to my cave : and here, during the 
 next season, I employed myself in making, as well 
 as I could, several baskets ; both to carry earth, or 
 to carry or lay up any thing as I had occasion for. 
 Though I did not finish them very handsomely, yet
 
 120 ADVENTURES 6F 
 
 I made them sufficiently serviceable for my purpose : 
 and thus, afterwards, 1 took care never to be with- 
 out them ; and as my wicker-ware decayed, I made 
 more ; especially strong deep baskets, to place my 
 corn in, instead of sacks, when 1 should come to 
 have any quantity of it. 
 
 Having mastered this difficulty, and employed a 
 world of time about it, I bestirred myself to see, if 
 possible, how to supply two other wants. I had no 
 vessel to hold any thing that was liquid, except two 
 runlets, which were almost full of rum ; and some 
 glass bottles, some of the common size, and others 
 (which were case-bottles) square, for the holding of 
 waters, spirits, &c. I had not so much as a pot to 
 boil any thing : except a great kettle, which I saved 
 out of the ship, and which was too big for such use 
 as I desired it, viz. to make broth, and stew a bit of 
 meat by itself. The second thing I would fain have 
 had, was a tobacco-pipe ; but it was impossible for 
 me to make one ; however, I found a contrivance 
 for that too at last. I employed myself in planting 
 my second row of stakes or piles, and also in this 
 wicker- working, all the summer or dry season ; 
 when another business took me up more time than 
 it could be imagined I could spare. 
 
 I mentioned before, that I had a great mind to 
 see the whole island ; and that I had travelled up 
 the brook, and so on to where 1 had built my bower, 
 and where 1 had an opening quite to the sea, on the 
 other side of the island. I now resolved to travel 
 quite across to the sea-shore, on that side : so tak- 
 ing my gun, a hatchet, and my dog, and a larger 
 quantity of powder and shot than usual ; with two 
 biscuit-cakes, and a great bunch of raisins in my 
 pouch, for my store ; 1 began my journey. When I 
 had passed the vale where my bower stood, as above, 
 I came within view of the sea, to the west ; and it
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 121 
 
 being a very clear day, I fairly descried land, whe- 
 ther an island or continent I could not tell ; but it lay 
 very high, extending from W. to W. S. W. at a very 
 great distance ; by my guess it could not be less 
 than fifteen or twenty leagues off". 
 
 I could not tell what part of the world this might 
 be ; otherwise than that I knew it must be part of 
 America; and, as I concluded, by all my observations, 
 must be near the Spanish dominions ; and perhaps 
 was all inhabited by savages, where, if I should have 
 landed 1 had been in a worse condition than I was 
 now. I therefore acquiesced in the dispositions of 
 Providence, which I began now to own and to be- 
 lieve ordered every thing for the best ; 1 say, I 
 quieted my mind with this, and left off" afflicting 
 myself with fruitless wishes of being there. 
 
 Besides, after some pause upon this aff'air, I con- 
 sidered that if this land was the Spanish coast, I 
 should certainly, one time or other, see some vessel 
 pass or repass one way or other ; but if not, then it 
 was the savage coast between the Spanish country 
 and the Brazils, whose inhabitants are indeed the 
 worst of savages ; for they are cannibals, or men- 
 eaters, and fail not to murder and devour all human 
 beings that fall into their hands. 
 
 With these considerations, walking very leisurely 
 forward, I found this side of the island, where I now 
 was, much pleasanter than mine ; the open or savan- 
 nah fields sweetly adorned with flowers and grass, 
 and full of very fine woods. I saw abundance of 
 parrots; and fain would have caught one, if possible, 
 to have kept it to be tame, and taught it to speak to 
 me. I did, after taking some pains, catch a young 
 parrot; for I knocked it down with a stick, and, 
 having recovered it, I brought it home : but it was 
 some years before I could make him speak ; however, 
 at last I taught him to call me by my name very fa- 
 
 M
 
 122 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 niiliarly. But the accident that followed, though it 
 be a trifle, will be very diverting in its place. 
 
 I was exceeding!}^ amused with this journey. I 
 found in the low grounds hares, as I thought them to 
 be, and foxes ; but they differed greatly from all the 
 other kinds I had met with ; nor could I satisfy my- 
 self to eat them, though I killed several. But I had 
 no need to be venturous: for I had no want of food, 
 and of that which was very good too; especially these 
 three sorts, viz. goats, pigeons, and turtle, or tor- 
 toise. With these, added to my grapes, Leadenhall 
 market could not have furnished a table better than 
 I, in proportion to the company ; and though my 
 case was deplorable enough, yet 1 had great cause for 
 thankfulness; as I was not driven to any extremities 
 for food, but had rather plenty, even to dainties. 
 
 I never travelled on this journey above two miles 
 outright in a day, or thereabout ; but I took so ma- 
 ny turns and returns, to see what discoveries I could 
 make, that I came weary enough to the place where 
 I resolved to sit down for the night; and then I 
 either reposed myself in a tree, or surrounded myself 
 with a row of stakes, set upright in the ground, 
 either from one tree to another, or so as no wild 
 creature could come at me without waking me. 
 
 As soon as I came to the sea-shore, I was surprised 
 to see that I had taken up my lot on the worst side 
 of tlie island : for here indeed the shore was covered 
 with innumerable turtles ; whereas, on the other 
 side, I had found but three in a year and a half. 
 Here was also an infinite number of fowls of many 
 kinds ; some of which I had seen, and some of which 
 I had not seen before, and many of them very good 
 meat ; but such as I knew not the names of, except 
 those called Penguins. 
 
 I could have shot as many as I pleased, but was 
 very sparing of my powder and shot ; and therefore 
 
 3
 
 ROBINSON CIIUSOE. 125 
 
 had more mind to kill a she-goat, if I could, which I 
 could better feed on. But though there were many 
 goats here, more than on my side the island, yet it 
 was with much more difficulty that 1 could come near 
 them; the country being flat and even, and they 
 saw me much sooner than when 1 was upon a hill. 
 
 I confess this side of the country was much plea- 
 santer than mine; yet I had not the least inclination 
 to remove ; for as I v.'as fixed in my habitation, it 
 became natural to me, and I seemed all the while 
 1 was here to be as it were upon a journey, and from 
 home. However, I travelled along the sea-shore to- 
 wards the east, I suppose about twelve miles; and 
 then setting up a great pole upon the shore for a 
 mark, I concluded I would go home again; and that 
 the next journey I took should be on the other side 
 of the island, east from my dwelling, and so round 
 till i came to my post again: of which in its place. 
 
 I took another way to come back than that I went, 
 thinking 1 could easily keep so much of the island in 
 my view, that I could not miss my first dwelling by 
 viewing the country; but 1 found myself mistaken; 
 for being come about two or three miles, I found 
 myself descended into a very large valley, but so sur- 
 rounded with hills, and those hills covered with 
 wood, that 1 could not see which was my way by any 
 direction but that of the sun, nor even then, vmless 
 1 knew very well the position of the sun at that time 
 of the day. And it happened to my farther misfor- 
 tune, that the weather proved hazy for three or four 
 days while I was in this valley ; and not being able 
 to see the sun, I wandered about very uncomfort- 
 able, and at last was obliged to find out the sea-side, 
 look for my post, and come back the same way 1 
 went; and then by easy journeys I turned homeward, 
 the weather being exceeding hoi, and my gun, am~ 
 munition, hatchet, and other things very heavy. 
 
 u 2
 
 124 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 In this journey, my dog surprised a young kid, 
 and seized upon it; and running to take hold of it, 
 I caught it, and saved it alive from the dog. I had 
 a great mind to bring it home if I could; for I had 
 often been musing whether it might not be possible 
 to get a kid or two, and so raise a breed of tame 
 goats, which might supply me when my powder and 
 shot should be ail spent. I made a collar for this lit- 
 tle creature, and with a string which I had made 
 of some rope yarn, which I always carried about me, 
 I led him along, though with some difficulty, till I 
 came to my bower, and there I enclosed him and left 
 him ; for 1 was very impatient to be at home, from 
 whence I had been absent above a month. 
 
 I cannot express what a satisfaction it was to me 
 to come into my old hutch, and lie down in my ham- 
 mock-bed. This little wandering journey, without 
 a settled place of abode, had been so unpleasant to 
 me, that my own house, as I called it to myself, 
 was a perfect settlement to me, compared to that ; 
 and it rendered every thing about me so comfortable, 
 that I resolved I would never go a great way from it 
 again, while it should be my lot to stay on the island. 
 I reposed myself here a week, to rest and regale 
 myself after my long journey : during which, most 
 of the time was taken up in the weighty affair of mak- 
 ing a cage for my Poll, who began now to be more 
 domestic, and to be mighty well acquainted with me. 
 Then I began to think of the poor kid which I had 
 penned within my little circle, and resolved to fetch it 
 home, or give it some food: accordingly I went, and 
 found it where I left it (for indeed it could not get 
 out), but was almost starved for want of food. I 
 went and cut boughs of trees, and branches of such 
 shrubs as I could find, and threw it over, and having 
 fed it, I tied it as I did before, to lead it away ; but 
 it was so tame with being hungry, that I had no
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 125 
 
 need to have tied it, for it followed me like a dog : 
 and as I continually led it, the creature became so 
 loving, so gentle, and so fond, that it was from that 
 time one of my domestics also, and would never 
 leave me afterwards. 
 
 The rain^r season of the autumnal equinox was 
 now conic, and I kept the SOth of September in the 
 same solemn manner as before, being the anniver- 
 sary of my landing on the island ; having now 
 been there two years, and no more prospect of be- 
 ing delivered than the first day I came there. I 
 spent the whole day in humble and thankful acknow- 
 ledgments for the many v/onderful mercies vv-hich 
 my solitary condition was attended %vith, and with- 
 out which it might have been infinitely more miser- 
 able. I gave humble and hearty thanks to God for 
 having been pleased to discover to me, that it was 
 possible I might be more happy even in this solitary 
 condition, than I should have been in the enjoyment 
 of society, and in all the pleasures of the world: that 
 he could fully make up to me the deficiencies of my 
 solitary state, and the want of human society, by his 
 presence, and the communications of his grace to 
 my soul ; supporting, comforting, and encouraging 
 me to depend upon his providence here, and to 
 hope for his eternal presence hereafter. 
 
 It was now that I began sensibly to feel how much 
 more happy the life I now led was, with all its miser- 
 able circumstances, than the wicked, cursed, abo- 
 minable life I led all the past part of my days: and 
 now I changed both my sorrows and my joys : my very 
 desires altered, my affections changed their gusts, and 
 my delights were perfectly new from what they were 
 at my first coming, or indeed for the two years past. 
 
 Before, as I walked about, either on my hunting, 
 or for viewing the country, the anguish of my soul 
 at my condition would break out upon me on a sud- 
 
 M 3
 
 126 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 den, and my very lieart would die within me, to 
 think of the woods, the mountains, the deserts I was 
 in ; and how I was a prisoner, locked up with the 
 eternal bars and bolts of the ocean, in an uninhabited 
 wilderness, without redemption. In the midst of the 
 greatest composures of my mind, this would break 
 out upon me like a storm, and make me wring my 
 hands, and weep like a child: sometimes it would 
 take me in the middle of my work, and I would 
 immediately sit down and sigh, and look upon the 
 ground for an hour or two together : this was still 
 worse to me ; but if I could burst into tears, or give 
 vent to my feelings by words, it would go off; and 
 my grief being exhausted, would abate. 
 
 But now 1 began to exercise myself with new 
 thoughts; I daily read the word of God, and applied 
 all the comforts of it to my present state. One 
 morning, being very sad, I opened the Bible upon 
 these words, " I will never leave thee, nor for- 
 sake thee:" immediately it occurred that these 
 words were to me ; why else should they be direct- 
 ed in such a manner, just at the moment when I 
 was mourning over my condition, as one forsaken 
 of God and man? Well then, said I, if God does 
 not forsake me, of what ill consequence can it be, 
 or what matters it, though the world should forsake 
 me; seeing on the other hand, if I had all the world, 
 and should lose the favour and blessing of God, 
 there would be no comparison in the loss? 
 
 From this moment 1 began to conclude in my 
 mind, that it was possible for me to be more happy 
 in this forsaken, solitary condition, than it was pro- 
 bable I should ever have been in any other particular 
 state in the world; and with this thought I was 
 going to give thanks to God for bringing me to this 
 place. 1 know not what it was, but something 
 shocked my mind at that thought, and I durst not
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 127 
 
 speak the words. How canst thou be such a hypo- 
 crite, said I, even audibly, to pretend to be 
 thankful for a condition, which, however thou 
 mayest endeavour to be contented with, thou would- 
 est rather pray heartily to be delivered from ? Here 
 I stopped : but though I could not say I thanked 
 God for being here, yet I sincerely gave thanks to 
 God for opening ray eyes, by whatever afflicting pro- 
 vidences, to see the former condition of my life, and 
 to mourn for my wickedness, and repent. I never 
 opened the Bible, or shut it, but my very soul within 
 me blessed God for directing my friend in England, 
 without any order of mine, to pack it up among my 
 goods ; and for assisting me afterwards to save it out 
 of the wreck of the ship. 
 
 Thus, and in this disposition of mind, I began my 
 third year ; and though I have not given the reader 
 the trouble of so particular an account of my works 
 this year as the first, yet in general it may be ob- 
 served, that I was very seldom idle ; but having re- 
 gularly divided my time, according to the several 
 daily employments that were before me ; such as, 
 first. My duty to God, and the reading the Scriptures, 
 which I constantly set apart some time for, thrice 
 every day : secondly. Going abroad with my gun for 
 food, which generally took me up three hours every 
 morning, when it did not rain : thirdly. Ordering, 
 curing, preserving, and cooking what I had killed 
 or catched for my supply : these took up great part 
 of the day ; also it is to be considered, that in the 
 middle of the day, when the sun was in the zenith, 
 the violence of the heat was top great to stir out; so 
 that about four hours in the evening was all the time 
 I could be supposed to work in ; with this exception, 
 that sometimes I changed my hours of hunting and 
 working, and went to work in the morning, and 
 abroad with my gun in the afternoon.
 
 128 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 To this short time allowed for labour,! desire may 
 be added the exceeding laboriousness of my work ; 
 
 '» 
 
 the many hours which, for want of tools, want of 
 help, and want of skill, every thing I did took up 
 out of my time : for example, I was full two and 
 forty days making me a board for a long shelf, which 
 I wanted in my cave ; whereas, two sawyers, with 
 their tools and a saw-pit, would have cut six of them 
 out of the same tree in half a day. 
 
 My case was this; it was a large tree which was to 
 be cut down, because my board was to be a broad 
 one. This tree I was three days cutting down, and 
 two more in cutting off the boughs, and reducing 
 it to a log, or piece of timber. With inexpressible 
 hacking and hewing, I reduced both the sides of it 
 into chips, till it was light enough to move ; then I 
 turned it, and made one side of it smooth and flat 
 as a board, from end to end ; then turning that side 
 downward, cut the other side, till I brought the 
 plank to be about three inches thick, and smooth on 
 both sides. Any one may judge the labour of my 
 hands in such a piece of work; but labour and pa- 
 tience carried me through that, and many other 
 things : I only observe this in particular, to show the 
 reason why so much of my time went away with so 
 little work, viz. that what might be a little to be 
 done with help and tools, was a vast labour, and re- 
 quired a prodigious time to do alone, and by hand. 
 Notwithstanding this, with patience and labour I 
 went through many things ; and, indeed, every 
 thing that, my circumstances made necessary for me 
 to do, as will appear by what follows. 
 
 I was now in the months of November and Decem- 
 ber, expecting my crop of barley and rice. The 
 ground I had manured or dug up for them was not 
 great ; for, as I observed, my seed of each was not 
 above the quantity of half a peck, having lost one
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 129 
 
 whole crop by sowing in the dry season : but now my 
 crop promised very well ; when, on a sudden, I found 
 I was in danger of losing it all again by enemies of 
 several sorts, which it was scarce possible to keep 
 from it ; as, first, the goats, and wild creatures which 
 I called hares, who, tasting the sweetness of the 
 blade, lay in it night and day, as soon as it came up, 
 and ate it so close, that it could get no time to shoot 
 up into stalk. 
 
 I saw no remedy for this, but by making an enclo- 
 sure about it with a hedge, which I did with a great 
 deal of toil; and the more, because it required speed. 
 However, as my arable land was but small, suited to 
 my crop, I got it tolerably well fenced in about three 
 weeks time ; and shooting some of the creatures in 
 the day-time, I set my dog to guard it in the night, 
 tying him up to a stake at the gate, where he would 
 stand and bark all night long ; so in a little time the 
 enemies forsook the place, and the corn grew very 
 strong and well, and began to ripen apace. 
 
 But as the beasts ruined me before, while my 
 corn was in the blade, so the birds were as likely to 
 ruin me now, when it was in the ear : for going 
 along by the place to see how it throve, I saw my 
 little crop surrounded with fowls, I know not of 
 how many sorts, who stood, as it were, watching 
 till I should be gone. I immediately let fly among 
 them (for 1 always had my gun with me); I had no 
 sooner shot, but there rose up a little cloud of fowls, 
 which I had not seen at all, from among the corn 
 itself. 
 
 This touched me sensibly, for I foresaw that in a 
 few days they would devour all my hopes ; that I 
 should be starved, and never be able to raise a crop 
 at all; and what to do I could not tell: however, 
 I resolved not to lose my corn, if possible, though 
 I should watch it night and day. In the first place,
 
 J30 ADVENTUUES OF 
 
 I went among it, to sec what damage was already 
 done, and found they had spoiled a good deal of it ; 
 but that as it was yet too green for them, the loss 
 was not so great, but that the remainder was likely 
 to be a good crop, if it could be saved. 
 
 I staid by it to load my gun, aad then coming 
 away, I could easily see the thieves sitting upon all 
 the trees about me, as if they only waited till I was 
 gone away ; and the event proved it to be so ; for as 
 I walked oiF, as if gonC; I was no sooner out of 
 their sight, than they dropt down, one by one, into 
 the corn again. I was so provoked, that I could 
 not have patience to stay till more came on, know- 
 ing that every grain they eat now was, as it might 
 be said, a peck-loaf to me in the consequence ; so 
 coming up to the hedge, I fired again, and killed 
 three of them. This was what 1 wished for : so I 
 took them up, and served them as we serve notori- 
 ous thieves in England, viz. hanged them in chains, 
 for a terror to others. It is impossible to imagine 
 that this should have such an effect as it had ; for 
 the fowls not only never came to the corn, but, in 
 short, they forsook all that part of the island, and I 
 could never see a bird near the place as long as my 
 scare-crows hung there. fhis I was very glad of, 
 you may be sure ; and about the latter end of De- 
 cember, which was our second harvest of the year, 
 I reaped my corn. 
 
 I was sadly put to it for a scythe or sickle to cut it 
 down : and all 1 could do was to make one as well 
 as I could, out of one of the broad swords, or cut- 
 lasses, which I saved among the arms out of the 
 ship. However, as my first crop was but small, I 
 had no great difficulty to cut it down : in short, I 
 reaped it my way, for I cut nothing off but the ears, 
 and carried it away in a great basket which I had 
 made, and so rubbed it out with my hands; and at
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 131 
 
 the end of all my harvesting, I found that out of my 
 half peck of seed I had near two bushels of rice, and 
 above two bushels and a half of barley ; that is to 
 say, by my guess, for I had no measure. 
 
 However, this was great encouragement to me ; 
 and I foresaw that, in time, it would please God to 
 supply me with bread; and yet here I was perplexed 
 again ; for I neither knew how to grind, or make 
 meal of my corn, or indeed how to clean it and part 
 it ; nor if made into meal, how to make bread of it ; 
 and if how to make it, yet I knew not how to bake 
 it: these things being added to my desire of having 
 a good quantity for store, and to secure a constant 
 supply, I resolved not to taste anjf of this crop, but 
 to preserve it all for seed against the next season ; 
 and, in the mean time, to employ all my study and 
 hours of working to accomplish this great work of 
 providing myself with corn and bread. 
 
 It might be truly said, that now I worked for my 
 bread. It is a little wonderful, and what I believe 
 few people have thought much upon, viz. the strange 
 multitude of little things necessary in the providing, 
 producing, curing, dressing, making, and finishing 
 this one article of bread, 
 
 I, that was reduced to a mere state of nature, 
 found this to my daily discouragement, and was 
 made more sensible of it every hour, even after I 
 had got the first handful of seed-corn, which, as I. 
 have said, came up unexpectedly, and indeed to a 
 surprise. 
 
 First, I had no plough to turn up the earth ; 
 no spade or shovel to dig it : well, this I conquered, 
 by making a wooden spade, as 1 observed before ; 
 but this did my work in but a wooden manner; 
 and though it cost me a great many days to make 
 it, yet, for want of iron, it not only wore out the 
 sooner, but made my work the harder, and per-
 
 1^2 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 formed it much worse. However, this I bore with, 
 and was content to work it out with patience, 
 and bear with the badness of the performance. 
 When the corn was sown, I had no harrow, but 
 was forced to go over it myself, and drag a great 
 heavy bough of a tree over it, to scratch it, as it 
 may be called, rather than rake or harrow it. 
 When it was growing and grown, I have observed 
 already how many things 1 wanted to fence it, se- 
 cure it, mow or reap it, cure and carry it home, 
 thresh, part it from the chaff, and save it : then 
 I wanted a mill to grind it, sieves to dress it, 
 yeast and salt to make it into bread, and an oven to 
 bake it ; and yet all these things 1 did without, as 
 shall be observed ; and the corn was an inestimable 
 comfort and advantage to me: all this, as I said, 
 made every thing laborious and tedious to me, but 
 that there was no help for ; neither was my time 
 so much loss to me, because, as I had divided it, 
 a certain part of it was every day appointed to these 
 works ; and as I resolved to use none of the corn for 
 bread till I had a greater quantity by me, I had 
 the next six months to apply myself wholly, by 
 labour and invention, to furnish myself with uten- 
 sils proper for the performing all the operations 
 necessary for making corn fit for my use. 
 
 But now I was to prepare more land ; for I 
 had seed enough to sow above an acre of ground. 
 Before I did this, I had a week's work at least to 
 make me a spade ; which, when it was done, was 
 but a sorry one indeed, and very heavy, and re- 
 quired double labour to work with it : however, 
 I went through that, and sowed my seed in two 
 large flat pieces of ground, as near my house as 
 I could find them to my mind, and fenced them in 
 with a good hedge ; the stakes of which were all cut 
 off that wood which I had set before, and knew it
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 133 
 
 would grow ; so that, in one year's time, I knew I 
 should have a quick or living hedge, that would want 
 but little repair. This work took me up full three 
 months ; because a great part of the time was in the 
 wet season, when I could not go abroad. Within 
 doors, that is, when it rained, and I could not go 
 out, I found employment on the following occasions ; 
 always observing, that while I was at work, I divert- 
 ed myself with talking to my parrot, and teaching 
 him to speak ; and I quickly learned him to know 
 his own name, and at last to speak it out pretty loud. 
 Poll ; which was the first word I ever heard spoken 
 in the island by any mouth but my own. This, 
 therefore, was not my work, but an assistant to my 
 work ; for now, as I said, I had a great employment 
 upon my hands, as follows: I had long studied, by 
 some means or other, to make myself some earthen 
 vessels, which indeed I wanted much, but knew not 
 where to come at them : however, considering the 
 heat of the climate, I did not doubt but if I could 
 find out any clay, I might botch up some such pot as 
 might, being dried in the sun, be hard and strong 
 enough to bear handling, and to hold any thing that 
 was dry, and required to be kept so ; and as this was 
 necessary in the preparing corn, meal,&c. which was 
 the thing I was upon, I resolved to make some as 
 large as I could, and fit only to stand like jars, to 
 hold what should be put into them. 
 
 It would make the reader pity me, or rather laugh 
 at me, to tell how many awkward ways I took to raise 
 this pastil ; what odd, misshapen, ugly things I made; 
 how many of them fell in, and how many fell 
 out, the clay not being stiff enough to bear its own 
 weight ; how many cracked by the over violent heat 
 of the sun, being set out too hastily; and how many 
 fell in pieces with only removing, as well before as 
 after they were dried: and, in a word, how, after hav- 
 
 N
 
 134 ADVENTURES OP 
 
 ing laboured hard to find the clay, to dig it, to tem- 
 per it, to bring it home, and work it, I could not 
 make above two large earthen ugly things (I cannot 
 call them jars) in about two months' labour. 
 
 However, as the sun baked these two very dry and 
 hard, I lifted them very gently up, and set them down 
 again in two great wicker baskets, which I had made 
 on purpose for them, that they might not break ; 
 and as between the pot and the basket there was a 
 little room to spare, I stuffed it full of the rice and 
 barley-straw ; and these two pots being to stand al- 
 ways dry, I thought would hold my dry corn, and 
 perhaps the meal, when the corn was bruised. 
 
 Though I miscarried so much in my design for 
 large pots, yet I made several smaller things with 
 better success : such as little round pots, flat dishes, 
 pitchers, and pipkins, and any thing my hand turned 
 to ; and the heat of the sun baked them very hard. 
 
 But all this would not answer my end, which was 
 to get an earthen pot to hold liquids, and bear the 
 fire, which none of these could do. It happened 
 some time after, making a pretty large fire for cook- 
 ing my meat, when I went to put it out after I had 
 done with it, I found a broken piece of one of my 
 earthen-ware vessels in the fire, burnt as hard as a 
 stone, and red as a tile. I was agreeably surprised 
 to see it ; and said to myself, that certainly they 
 might be made to burn whole, if they would burn 
 broken. 
 
 This set me to study how to order my fire, so as 
 to make it buvn some pots. I had no notion of a 
 kiln, such as tie potters burn in, or of glazing them 
 with lead, though I had some lead to do it with ; 
 but I placed three large pipkins and two or three 
 pots in a pile, one upon another, and placed my fire- 
 wood all round it, with a great heap of embers un- 
 der theni. I plied the fire with fresh fuel rouud the
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 135 
 
 outside, and upon the top, till I saw the pots in the 
 inside red-hot quite through, and observed that they 
 did not crack at all : when I saw them clear red, I 
 let them stand in that heat about five or six hours, 
 till I found one of them, though it did not crack, 
 did melt or run ; for the sand which was mixed with 
 the clay melted by the violence of the heat, and 
 would have run into glass, if I had gone on ; so I 
 slacked my fire gradually, till the pots began to abate 
 of the red colour ; and watching them all night, 
 that I might not let the fire abate too fast, in the 
 morning 1 had three very good, 1 will not say hand- 
 some, pipkins, and two other earthen pots, as hard 
 burnt as could be desired ; and one of them perfect- 
 ly glazed with the running of the sand. 
 
 After this experiment, 1 need not say that I want- 
 ed no sort of earthen-ware for my use ; but I must 
 needs say, as to the shapes of them, they were very 
 indifferent, as any one may suppose, as 1 had no way 
 of making them but as the children make. dirt pies, 
 or as a woman would make pies that never learned 
 to raise paste. 
 
 No joy at a thing of so mean a nature was ever 
 equal to mine, when I found I had made an earthen 
 pot that would bear the fire ; and I had hardly pa- 
 tience to stay till they were cold, before I set one on 
 the fire again, with some water in it, to boil me 
 some meat, which it did admirably well ; and with 
 a piece of a kid I made some very good broth ; 
 though I wanted oatmeal, and several other ingre- 
 dients requisite to make it so good as I would have 
 had it been. 
 
 My next concern was to get a stone mortar to 
 stamp or beat some corn in ; for as to the mill, 
 there was no thought of arriving to that perfection 
 of art with one pair of hands. To supply this want 
 1 was at a great loss ; for, *)f all trades in the world, 
 
 ^2
 
 136 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 I was as perfectly unqualified for a stone-cutter as 
 for any whatever ; neither had I any tools to go 
 about it with. I spent many a day to find out a 
 great stone big enough to cut hollow, and make fit 
 for a mortar ; but could find none at all, except 
 what was in the solid rock, and which I had no way 
 to dig or cut out : nor, indeed, were the rocks in the 
 island of sufficient hardness, as they were all of a 
 sandy crumbling stone, which would neither bear 
 the weight of a heavy pestle, nor would break the 
 corn without filling it with sand : so, after a great 
 deal of time lost in searching for a stone, I gave it 
 over, and resolved to look out a great block of hard 
 wood, which I found indeed much easier ; and get- 
 ting one as big as I had strength to stir, I rounded 
 it, and formed it on tlie outside with my axe and 
 hatchet ; and then, with the help of fire, and infi- 
 nite labour, made a hollow place in it, as the Indi- 
 ans in Brazil make their canoes. After this, I made 
 a great heavy pestle, or beater, of the wood called 
 iron-wood ; and this I prepared and laid by against 
 I had my next crop of corn, when I proposed to 
 myself to grind, or rather pound, my corn into 
 meal, to make my bread. 
 
 My next difficulty was to make a sieve, or search, 
 to dress my meal, and to part it from the bran and 
 the husk, without which I did not see it possible I 
 could have any bread. This was a most difficult 
 thing, even but to think on; for I had nothing like 
 the necessary thing to make it ; I mean fine thin 
 canvas or stuff, to search the meal through. Here 
 I was at a full stop for many months ; nor did I 
 really know what to do ; linen I had none left, but 
 what was mere rags ; I had goats'-hair, but neither 
 knew how to weave it nor spin it ; and had 1 known 
 how, here were no tools to work it with : all the 
 remedy I found for this was, at last recollecting I
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 137 
 
 had, among the seamen's clothes which were saved 
 out of the ship, some neckcloths of calico or muslin, 
 with some pieces of these I made three small sieves, 
 proper enough for the work ; and thus I made shift 
 for some years: how I did afterwards, I shall show 
 in its place. 
 
 The baking part was the next thing to be consi- 
 dered, and how I should make bread when I came 
 to have corn: for, first, I had no yeast: as to that 
 part there was no supplying the want, so I did not 
 concern myself much about it; but for an oven I 
 was indeed puzzled. At length I found out an ex- 
 pedient for that also, which was this ; I made some 
 earthern vessels, very broad, but not deep, that is to 
 say, about two feet diameter, and not above nine 
 inches deep : these I burned in the fire, as I had 
 done the other, and laid them by; and when I want- 
 ed to bake, I made a great fire upon my hearth, 
 which I had paved with some square tiles, of my 
 own making and burning also ; but I should not 
 call them square. 
 
 When the fire-wood was burned into embers, or 
 live coals, I drew them forward upon the hearth, so 
 as to cover it all over, and there let them lie till the 
 hearth was very hot ; then sweeping away all the 
 embers, I set down my loaf, or loaves, and covering 
 them with the earthern pot, drew the embers all 
 round the outside of the pot, to keep in and add to 
 the heat ; and thus, as Avell as in the best oven in 
 the world, 1 baked my barley-loaves, and became, in 
 a little time, a good pastry-cook into the bargain ; 
 for I made myself several cakes and puddings of the 
 rice : but made no pies, as 1 had nothing to put in- 
 to them except the flesh of fowls or goats. 
 
 It need not be wondered at, if all these things 
 took me up most part of the third year of my abode 
 here ; for, it is to be observed, in the intervals of 
 
 N .'3
 
 138 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 tliese things, I had my new harvest and husbandry 
 to manage: I reaped my corn in its season, and car- 
 ried it home as well as I could, and laid it up in the 
 ear, in my large baskets, till 1 had time to rub it 
 out ; for 1 had no floor to thresh it on, or instru- 
 ment to thresh it with. 
 
 And now, indeed, my stock of corn increasing, I 
 really wanted to build my barns bigger: I wanted a 
 place to lay it up in ; for the increase of the corn 
 now yielded me so much, that I had of the barley 
 about twenty bushels, and of rice as much, or more, 
 insomuch that now I resolved to begin to use it free- 
 ly : for my bread had been quite gone a great while: 
 I resolved also to see what quantity would be suffi- 
 cient for me a whole year, and to sow but once 
 a-year. 
 
 Upon the whole, I found that the forty bushels of 
 barley and rice were much more than I could con- 
 sume in a year ; so I resolved to sow just the same 
 quantity every year that I sowed the last, in hopes 
 that such a quantity would fully provide me with 
 bread, &c. 
 
 All the while these things were doing, you may be 
 sure my thoughts ran many times upon the prospect 
 of land which I had seen from the other side of the 
 island ; and I was not without some secret wishes 
 that I was on shore there; fancying, that seeing the 
 main land, and an inhabited country, 1 might find 
 some way or other to convey myself farther, and 
 perhaps at last find some means of escape. 
 
 But all this while I made no allowance for the 
 dangers of such a condition, and that I might fall 
 into the hands of savages, and perhaps such as I 
 might have reason to think far worse than the lions 
 and tigers of Africa ; that if I once came in their 
 power, I should run a hazard of more than a thou- 
 sand to one of being killed, and perhaps of being
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 139 
 
 eaten; for I Iiad heard that the people of the Ca- 
 ribbean coast were cannibals, or man-eaters; and I 
 knew, by the latitude, that I could not be far off 
 from that shore. Then supposing they were not 
 cannibals, yet that they might kill me, as they had 
 many Europeans who had fallen into their hands, 
 even when they have been ten or twenty together; 
 much more I, who was but one, and could make lit- 
 tle or no defence ; all these things, I say, which I 
 ought to have considered well of, and did cast up in 
 my thoughts afterwards, took up none of my appre- 
 hensions at first ; yet my head ran mightily upon 
 the thought of getting over to the shore. 
 
 Now I wished for my boy Xury, and the long-boat 
 with the shoulder-of-mutton sail, with which I sailed 
 above a thousand miles on the coast of Africa; but 
 this was in vain : then I thought I would go and look 
 at our ship's boat, which as I have said, was blown 
 up upon the shore a great way, in the storm, when 
 we were first cast away. She lay nearly where she 
 did at first, but not quite ; having turned, by the 
 force of the waves and the winds, almost bottom up- 
 ward, against a high ridge of beachy rough sand ; 
 but no water about her, as before. If I had had 
 hands to have refitted her, and to have launched her 
 into the water, the boat would have done very well, 
 and I might have gone back into the Brazils with 
 her easily enough ; but I might have foreseen, that 
 I could no more turn her and set her upright upon 
 her bottom, than I could remove the island ; how- 
 ever, I went to the woods, and cut levers and roll- 
 ers, and brought them to the boat, resolving to try 
 what I could do; suggesting to myself, that if I 
 could but turn her down, and repair the damage she 
 had received, she would be a very good boat, and I 
 might venture to sea in her. 
 
 1 spared no pains, indeed, in this piece of fruitless
 
 140 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 toil, and spent, I think, three or four weeks about 
 it : at last, finding it impossible to heave her up with 
 my little strength, I fell to digging away the sand, 
 to undermine her, and so as to make her fall down, 
 setting pieces of wood to thrust and guide her right 
 in the fall. 
 
 But when I had done this, I was unable to stir 
 her up again, or to get under her, much less to move 
 her forward towards the water ; so 1 was forced to 
 give it over : and yet, though I gave over the hopes 
 of the boat, my desire to venture over the main in- 
 creased, rather than diminished, as the means for it 
 seemed impossible. 
 
 At length, I began to think whether it was not 
 possible to make myself a canoe, or periagua, such 
 as the natives of those climates make, even without 
 tools, or, as I might say, without hands, of the trunk 
 of a great tree. This I not only thought possible, 
 but easy, and pleased myself extremely with the idea 
 of making it, and with my having much more con- 
 venience for it than any of the Negroes or Indians ; 
 but not at all considering the particular inconveni- 
 ences v/hich I lay under more than the Indians did, 
 viz. the want of hands to move it into the water 
 when it was made, a difficulty much harder ibr me 
 to surmount than all the consequences of want of 
 tools could be to thera : for what could it avail me, 
 if, after I had chosen my tree, and with much trou- 
 ble cut it down, and might be able with my tools to 
 hew and dub the outside into the proper shape of a 
 boat, and burn or cut out the inside to make it hol- 
 low, so as to make a boat of it ; if, after all this, I 
 nmst leave it just where I found it, and was notable 
 to launch it into the water ? 
 
 One would imagine, if I had had the least reflec- 
 tion upon my mind of my circumstances while I was 
 making this boat, I shouldhave immediately thought
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 14<1 
 
 how I was to get it into the sea : but my thoughts 
 were so intent upon my voyage in it, tliat I never 
 once considered how I should get it off the land ; 
 and it was really, in its own nature, more easy for 
 nie to guide it over forty-five miles of sea, than the 
 forty-five fathoms of land, where it lay, to set it 
 afloat in the water, 
 
 I went to work upon this boat the most like a fool 
 that ever man did, who had any of his senses awake. 
 I pleased myself with the design, without deter- 
 mining whether I was able to undertake it ; not but 
 that the difficulty of launching my boat came often 
 into my head ; but I put a stop to my own inquiries 
 into it, by this foolish answer: Let us first make it ; 
 I warrant I will find some way or other to get it along 
 when it is done. 
 
 This was a most preposterous method ; but the 
 eagerness of my fancy prevailed, and to work I went. 
 I felled a cedar tree, and I question much whether 
 Solomon ever had such a one for the building of the 
 Temple at Jerusalem ; it was five feet ten inches 
 diameter at the lower part next the stump, and 
 four feet eleven inches diameter at the end of 
 twenty-two feet, where it lessened, and then 
 parted into branches. It was not without infinite 
 labour that I felled this tree; I was twenty- days 
 hacking and hewing at the bottom, and fourteen 
 more getting the branches and limbs, and the 
 vast spreading head of it, cut off: after this, it 
 cost me a month to shape it and dub it to a propor- 
 tion, and to something like the bottom of a boat, 
 that it might swim upright as it ought to do. It 
 cost me near three months more to clear the inside, 
 and work it out so as to make an exact boat of it : 
 this I did, indeed, without fire, by mere mallet and 
 chisel, and by the dint of hard labour, till I had 
 brought it to be a very handsome periagua, and big
 
 14-2 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 enough tohavecaiT''edsix and twenty men, and conse- 
 quentlybig enoughto havecarried me and all mycargo. 
 
 When I had gone through this work, I was ex- 
 tremely delighted with it. The boat was really 
 much bigger than ever I saw a canoe or periagua, 
 that was made of one tree, in my life. Many 
 a weary stroke it had cost, you may be sure ; and 
 there remained nothing but to get it into the water ; 
 which, had ! accomplished, I make no question but I 
 should have begun the maddest voyage, and the 
 most unlikely to be performed, that ever was un- 
 dertaken. 
 
 But all my devices to get it into the water failed 
 me; though they cost me inexpressible labour too. 
 It lay about one hundred yards from the water, and 
 not more ; but the first inconvenience was, it was 
 up hill towards the creek. Well, to take away this 
 discouragement, I resolved to dig into the surface of 
 the earth, and so make a declivity : this I begun, 
 and it cost me a prodigious deal of pains ; (but who 
 grudge pains that have their deliverance in view ?) 
 when this was worked through, and this difficulty 
 managed, it was still much the same, for 1 could no 
 more stir the canoe than I could the other boat. 
 Then I measured the distance of ground, and resolved 
 to cut a dock or canal, to bring the water up to the 
 canoe, seeing I could not bring the canoe down to 
 the water. Well, I began this work ; and when I 
 began to enter upon it, and calculate how deep it 
 was to be dug, how broad, how the stuff was to be: 
 thrown out, 1 found by the number of hands 1 had, 
 having none but my own, that it must have been 
 tenor twelve years before I could have gone through 
 with it ; for the shore lay so high, that at the upper 
 end it must have been at least twenty feet deep ; 
 this attempt, though with great reluctuncy, I was 
 at length obliged to give over also.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 143 
 
 This grieved me heartily ; and now I saw, though 
 too late, the folly of beginning a work before we 
 count the cost, and before we judge rightly of our 
 own strength to go through with it. 
 
 In the middle of this work, I finished my fourth 
 year in this place, and kept my anniversary with 
 the same devotion, and with as much comfort as be- 
 fore; for, by a constant study and serious application 
 to the word of God, and by the assistance of his grace, I 
 gained a different knowledge from what I had before; 
 I entertained different notions of things ; I looked 
 now upon the world as a thing remote, which I had 
 nothing to do with, no expectation from, and, in- 
 deed, no desires about : in a woi'd, I had nothing 
 to do with it, nor was ever likely to have ; I thought 
 it looked, as we may perhaps look upon it hereafter, 
 viz. as a place I had lived in, but was come out of 
 it ; and well might I say, as father Abraham to 
 Dives, " Between me and thee is a great gulf fixed." 
 
 In the first place, I was here removed from all 
 the wickedness of the world ; I had neither the lust 
 of the flesh, the lust of the eye, nor the pride of 
 life. I had nothing to covet, for I had all that I 
 was now capable of enjoying : I was lord of the 
 whole manor ; or, if I pleased, I might call myself 
 king or emperor over the whole country which I 
 had possession of; there were no rivals ; I had no 
 competitor, none to dispute sovereignty or com- 
 mand with me: I might have raised ship-loadings of 
 corn, but I had no use for it ; so I let as little grow 
 as I thought enough for my occasion. I had tortoise 
 or turtle enough, but now and then one was as 
 much as 1 could put to any use : I had timber enough 
 to have built a fleet of ships ; and I had grapes 
 enough to have made wine, or to have cured into 
 raisins, to have loaded that fleet when it had been 
 built.
 
 144 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 But all I could make use of was all that was va- 
 luable : I had enough to eat and supply my wants^ 
 and what was the rest to me ? If I killed more flesh 
 than I could eat, the dog must eat it, or vermin ; 
 if I sowed more corn than I could eat, it must be 
 spoiled ; the trees that I cut dow n were lying to rot 
 on the ground ; I could make no more use of them 
 than for fuel, and that I had no other occasion for 
 but to dress my food. 
 
 In a word, the nature and experience of things 
 dictated to me, upon just reflection, that all the 
 good things of this world are of no farther good to 
 us than for our use ; and that whatever we may 
 heap up to give others, we enjoy only as much as 
 we can use, and no more. The most covetous 
 griping miser in the world would have been cured 
 of the vice of covetousness, if he had been in my 
 case ; for I possessed infinitely more than I knew 
 what to do with. I had no room for desire, except 
 it was for things which I had not, and they were 
 comparatively but trifles, though indeed of great 
 use to me. I had, as I hinted before, a parcel of 
 money, as well gold as silver, about thirty-six 
 pounds sterling. Alas ! there the nasty, sorry, use- 
 less stuff lay : 1 had no manner of business for it ; 
 and I often thought within myself, that I would 
 have given a handful of it for a gross of tobacco-pipes, 
 or for a hand-mill to grind my corn ; nay, I would 
 have given it all for sixpenny-worth of turnip and 
 carrot seed from England, or for a handful of peas 
 and beans, and a bottle of ink. As it was, I had 
 not the least advantage by it, or benefit from it ; 
 but there it lay in a drawer, and grew mouldy with 
 the damp of the cave in the wet seasons ; and if I 
 had had the drawer full of diam onds, it had been 
 the same case, — tliey had been of no manner of va- 
 lue to me because of no use.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. HS 
 
 I had now brought my state of life to be much 
 more comfortable in itself than it was at first, and 
 much easier to my mind, as well as to my body. I 
 frequently sat down to meat with thankfulness, 
 and admired the hand of God's providence, which 
 had thus spread my table in the wilderness : I 
 learned to look more upon the bright side of my 
 condition, and less upon the dark side, and to con- 
 sider what I enjoyed, rather than what I wanted : 
 and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts, 
 that I cannot express them ; and which I take no- 
 tice of here, to put those discontented people in 
 mind of it, who cannot enjoy comfortably what God 
 has given them, because they see and covet some- 
 thing that he has not given them. All our discon- 
 tents about what we want, appeared to me to spring 
 from the want of thankfulness for what we have. 
 
 Another reflection was of great use to me, and 
 doubtless would be so to any one that should 
 fall into such distress as mine was ; and this was, 
 to compare my present condition with what I at 
 first expected it would be ; nay, with what it would 
 certainly have been, if the good providence of God 
 had not wonderfully ordered the ship to be cast up 
 near to the shore, where I not only could come at 
 her, but could bring what I got out of her to the 
 shore, for my relief and comfort ; without which, 
 I had wanted for tools to work, weapons for de- 
 fence, and gunpowder and shot for getting my food. 
 
 I spent whole hours, I may say whole days, in 
 representing to myself, in the most lively colours, 
 how I must have acted if I had got nothing out of 
 the ship. I could not have so much as got any 
 food, except fish and turtles ; and that, as it was 
 long before I found any of them, I must have pe- 
 rished ; that I should have lived, if I had not pe- 
 rished, like a mere savage ; that if I had killed a 
 
 VOL. XVI. o
 
 146 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 goat or a fowl, by any contrivance, 1 had no w ay 
 to flay or open it, or part the flesh from the skin 
 and the bowels, or to cut it up ; but must knaw it 
 with my teeth, and pull it with my claws, like a 
 beast. 
 
 These reflections made me very sensible of the 
 goodness of Providence to me, and very thankful 
 for my present condition, with all its hardships and 
 misfortunes : and this part also I cannot but recom- 
 mend to the reflection of those who are apt, in their 
 miseiy, to say, Is any affliction like mine? Let 
 them consider how much worse the cases of some 
 people are, and their case might have been, if Pro- 
 vidence had thought fit. 
 
 I had another reflection, which assisted me also 
 to comfort my mind with hopes; and this was, com- 
 paring my present condition with what I had de- 
 served, and had therefore reason to expect from the 
 hand of Providence. I had lived a dreadful life, per- 
 fectly destitute of the knowledge and fear of God. 
 I had been well instructed by my father and mother; 
 neither had they been wanting to me, in their en- 
 deavours to infuse an early religious awe of God into 
 my mind, a sense of my duty, and what the nature 
 and end of my being required of me. But, alas ! 
 falling early into ihe seafaring life, which, of all lives, 
 is the most destitute of the fear of God, though his 
 terrors are always before them ; I say, falling early 
 into the seafaring life, and into seafaring company, 
 all that little sense of religion which I had enter- 
 tained was laughed out of me by my messmates ; by 
 a hardened despising of dangers, and the views of 
 death, which grew habitual to me; by my long 
 absence from all manner of opportunities to con- 
 verse with any thing but what was like myself, 
 or to hear any thing that was good, or tending 
 towards it.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 147 
 
 So void was I of every thing that was good, or of 
 the least sense of wliat 1 was, or was to be, that in 
 the greatest deliverances 1 enjoyed (such as my 
 escape from Sallee, my being taken up by the Portu- 
 guese master of a ship, my being planted so well in 
 the Brazils, my receiving the cargo from England, 
 and the like), I never had once tlie words. Thank 
 God, so much as on my mind, or in my mouth ; nor 
 in the greatest distress had 1 so much as a thought 
 to pray to him, or so much as to say. Lord, have 
 mercy upon me ! no, nor to mention the name of 
 God, unless it was to swear by, and blaspheme it. 
 
 I had terrible reflections upon my mind for many 
 months, as I have already observed, on account of my 
 wicked and hardened life past; and when I looked 
 about me, and considered what particular providences 
 had attended me since my coming into this place, 
 and how God had dealt bountifully with me, — had 
 not only punished me less than my iniquity had de- 
 served, but had so plentifully provided for me, — this 
 gave me great hopes that my repentance was ac- 
 cepted, and that God had yet mercies in store for 
 me. 
 
 With these reflections, I worked my mind up, 
 not only to a resignation to the will of God in the 
 present disposition of my circumstances, but even 
 to a sincere thankfulness for my condition ; and 
 that I, who was yet a living man, ought not to 
 complain, seeing I had not the due punishment of 
 my sins ; that I enjoyed so many mercies which I 
 had no reason to have expected in that place, that I 
 ought never more to repine at my condition, but 
 to rejoice, and to give daily thanks for that daily 
 bread, which nothing but a crowd of wonders could 
 have brought ; that i ought to consider I had been 
 fed by a miracle, even as great as that of feeding 
 Elijah by ravens ; nay, by a long series of miracles : 
 
 o2
 
 148 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 and that I could hardly have named a place in the 
 uninhabitable part of the world where I could have 
 been cast more to my advantage ; a place where, as 
 I had no society, which was my affliction on one 
 hand, so I found no ravenous beasts, no furious 
 wolves or tigers, to threaten my life ! no venemous 
 or poisonous creatures, which I might feed on to 
 my hurt ; no savages, to murder and devour me. 
 In a word, as my life was a life of sorrow one way, 
 so it was a life of mercy another ; and I wanted no- 
 thing to make it a life of comfort, but to make my- 
 self sensible of God's goodness to me, and care over 
 me in this condition ; and after I did make a just 
 improvement of these things, I went away, and was 
 no more sad. 
 
 I had now been here so long, that many things 
 which I brought on shore for my help were either 
 quite gone, or very much wasted, and near spent. 
 
 My ink, as I observed, had been gone for some 
 time, all but a very little, which I eked out with wa- 
 ter, a little and a little, till it was so pale, it scarce 
 left any appearance of black upon the paper. As 
 long as it lasted, I made use of it to minute down 
 the days of the month on which any remarkable 
 thing happened to me : and, first, by casting up 
 times past, I remember that there was a strange 
 concurrence of days in the various providences which 
 befel me, and which, if I had been superstitiously 
 inclined to observe days as fatal or fortunate, I 
 might have had reason to have looked upon with a 
 great deal of curiosity. 
 
 First, I had observed, that the same day that I 
 broke away from my father and my friends, and ran 
 away to Hull, in order to go to sea, the same day 
 afterwards 1 was taken by the Sallee man of war, 
 and made a slave : the same day of the year that T 
 escaped out of the wreck of the ship in Yarmouth
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 149 
 
 Roads, that same day-year afterwards I made my 
 escape from Sallee in the boat: and the same day of 
 the year I was bora on, viz. the 30th of September, 
 that same day I had my hfe so miraculously saved 
 twenty-six years after, when I was cast on shore in 
 this island : so that my wicked life and my solitary 
 life began both on one day. 
 
 The next thing to my ink being wasted, was that 
 of my bread, 1 mean the biscuit which I brought 
 out of the ship : this I had husbanded to the last 
 degree, allowing myself but one cake of bread a day 
 for above a year; and yet I was quite without bread 
 for near a year before I got any corn of my own ; 
 and great reason I had to be thankful that I had 
 any at all, the getting it being, as has been already 
 observed, next to miraculous. 
 
 My clothes, too, began to decay mightily : as to 
 linen, I had none for a great while, except some 
 chequered shirts which I found in the chests of the 
 other seamen, and which I carefully preserved, be- 
 cause many times I could bear no clothes on but a 
 shirt; and it was a very great help to me that I had, 
 among all the men's clothes of the ship, almost three 
 dozen of shirts. There were also, indeed, several 
 thick watch-coats of the seamen's which were left, 
 but they were too hot to wear : and though it is 
 true that the weather was so violently hot that there 
 was no need of clothes, yet I could not go quite 
 naked, no, though I had been inclined to it, which 
 I was not, nor could I abide the thought of it, 
 though I was all alone. The reason why I could 
 not go quite naked was, I could not bear the heat of 
 the sun so well when quite naked as with some 
 clothes on ; nay, the very heat frequently blistered 
 my skin : whereas, with a shirt on, ihe air itself 
 made some motion, and whistling under the shirt, 
 was twofold cooler than without it. No more could 
 
 o .J
 
 150 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 I ever bring myself to go out in the heat of the sun 
 without a cap or hat ; the heat of the sun beating^ 
 with such violence as it does in that place, would 
 give me the head-ach presently, by darting so direct- 
 ly upon my head, without a cap or hat on, so that I 
 could not bear it ; whereas, if 1 put on my hat, ii 
 Avould presently go away. 
 
 Upon these views, I began to consider about put- 
 ting the few rags I had, which I called clothes, inta 
 some order: I had worn out all the waistcoats I 
 had, and my business was now to try if I could not 
 make jackets out of the great watch-coats that I had 
 by me, and with such other materials as I had ; so 
 I set to M'ork a tailoring, or rather, indeed, a botch- 
 ing, for I made most piteous work of it. However, 
 I made shift to make two or three new waistcoats, 
 which I hoped would serve me a great while : as for 
 breeches or drawers, I made but a very sorry shift 
 indeed, till afterwards. 
 
 I have mentioned, that I saved the skins of all the 
 creatures that I killed, I mean four-footed ones ; 
 and 1 had hung them up, stretched out with sticks^ 
 in the sun, by which means some of them were so 
 dry and hard that they were fit for little, but others 
 I found very useful. The first thing I made of these 
 was a great cap for my head, with the hair on the 
 outside, to shoot off the rain ; and this I performed 
 so well, that after this I made me a suit of clothes 
 wholly of the skins, that is to say, a waistcoat, and 
 breeches, open at the knees, and both loose ; for 
 they were rather wanting to keep me cool than 
 warm. I must not omit to acknowledge that they 
 were wretchedly made ; for if I was a bad earpenter, 
 I was a worse tailor. However, they were such as I 
 made very good shift with ; and when I was abroad, 
 if it happened to rain, the hair of my waistcoat and 
 cap being uppermost, I was kept very dry.
 
 Robinson crusoe. ISi 
 
 After this, I spent a great deal of time and pains 
 to make me an miibrella : I was indeed in great 
 want of one, and had a great mind to make one ; I 
 had seen them made in the Brazils, where they were 
 very useful in the great heats which are there ; and 
 I felt the heats every jot as great here, and greater 
 too, being nearer the equinox : besides, as I was 
 obliged to be much abroad, it was a most useful 
 thing to me, as well for the rains as the heats. I 
 took a world of pains at it, and was a great while 
 before I could make any thing likely to hold ; nay, 
 after I thought I had hit the way, I spoiled two or 
 three before I made one to my mind ; but at last I 
 made one that answered indifferently well ; the main 
 difficulty I found was to make it to let down : I 
 could make it spread, but if it did not let down too, 
 and draw in, it was not portable for me any way but 
 just over my head, which would not do. However, 
 at last, as I said, I made one to answer, and covered 
 it with skins, the hair upwards, so that it cast off the 
 rain like a pent-house, and kept off the sun so ef- 
 fectually, that I could walk out in the hottest of the 
 weather with greater advantage than I could before 
 in the coolest ; and when I had no need of it, could 
 close it, and carry it under my arm. 
 
 Thus I lived mighty comfortably, my mind being 
 entirely composed by resigning to the will of God, 
 and throwing myself wholly upon the disposal of his 
 providence. This made my life better than sociable; 
 for when I began to regret the want of conversa- 
 tion, I would ask mj^self, whether thus conversing 
 mutually with my own thoughts, and, as I hope I 
 may say, with even God himself, by ejaculations, was 
 not better than the utmost enjoyment of human so- 
 ciety in the world ? 
 
 I cannot say that after this, for five years, any ex- 
 traordinary thing happened to me, but I lived on in
 
 152 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the same course, in the same posture and place, just 
 as before ; the chief things I was employed in, be- 
 sides my yearly labour of planting my barley and 
 rice, and curing my raisins, of both which I always 
 kept up just enough to have sufficient stock of one 
 year's provision beforehand ; 1 say, besides this 
 yearly labour, and my daily pursuit of going out 
 with my gun, I had one labour, to make me a canoe, 
 which at last I finished : so that by digging a canal 
 to it of six feet wide, and four feet deep, 1 brought 
 it into the creek, ahnost half a mile. As for the 
 first, which was so vastly big, as I made it without 
 considering beforehand, as I ought to do, how I 
 should be able to launch it, so, never being able to 
 bring it into the water, or bring the water to it, I 
 was obliged to let it lie where it was, as a memoran- 
 dum to teach me to be wiser the next time : indeed, 
 the next time, though I could not get a tree proper 
 for it, and was in a place where I could not get the 
 water to it at any less distance than, as I have said, 
 near half a mile, yet as 1 saw it was practicable at 
 last, I never gave it over : and though 1 was near 
 two years about it, yet I never grudged my la- 
 bour, in hopes of having a boat to go off to sea at 
 last. 
 
 However, though my little periagua was finished, 
 yet the size of it was not at all answerable to the 
 design which I had in view when I made the first; 
 I mean, of venturing over to the terra Jlrma, where 
 it was above forty miles broad; accordingly, the 
 smallness of my boat assisted to put an end to that 
 design, and now I thought no more of it. As 1 had 
 a boat, my next design was to make a cruise round 
 the island; for as i had been on the other side in 
 one place, crossing, as i have already described it, 
 over the land, so the discoveries I made in that little 
 journey made me very eager to see other pai'ts of
 
 nOBINSON CRUSOE. 152 
 
 the coast ; and now 1 Jiad a boat, 1 thought of no- 
 thing but sailing round the island. 
 
 For this purpose, that I miglit do every thing 
 with discretion and consideration, I fitted up a 
 httle mast in my boat, and made a sail to it out of 
 some of the pieces of the ship's sails wliich lay in 
 store, and of which I had a great stock by me. 
 Having fitted my mast and sail, and tried the boat, 
 1 found she would sail very well : then I made little 
 lockers, or boxes, at each end of my boat, to put 
 ])rovisions, necessaries, ammunition, &c. into, to be 
 kept dry, either from rain or the spray of the Sea ; 
 and a little long hollow place I cut in the inside of 
 the boat, where 1 could lay my gun, making a flap 
 to hang down over it, to keep it dry. 
 
 I fixed my umbrella also in a step at the stern, 
 like a mast, to stand over my head, and keep the 
 heat of the sun off me, like an awning; and thus I 
 every now and then took a little voyage upon the 
 sea, but never went far out, nor far from the little 
 creek. At last, being eager to view the circumfer- 
 ence of my little kingdom, 1 resolved upon my 
 cruise ; and accordingly, I victualled my ship for 
 the voyage, putting in two dozen of loaves (cakes I 
 should rather call them) of barley bread, an earthen 
 pot full of parched rice (a food I ate a great deal 
 of), a little bottle of rum, half a goat, and powder 
 and shot for killing more, and two large watch- 
 coats, of those which, as I mentioned before, I had 
 saved out of the seamen's chests; these I took, one 
 to lie upon, and the other to cover me in the night. 
 
 It was the 6th of November, in the sixth year of 
 my reign, or my captivity, which you please, that I 
 set out on this voyage, and I found it much longer 
 than I expected ; for though the island itself was 
 not very large, yet when I came to the east side of 
 it, f found a great ledge of rocks lie out about two
 
 154i ADVENTURES OF 
 
 leagues into the sea, some above water, some under 
 it ; and beyond that a shoal of sand, lying dry half 
 a league more, so that 1 was obliged to go a great 
 way out to sea to double the point. 
 
 When first I discovered them, I was going to give 
 over my enterprise, and come back again, not 
 knowing how far it might oblige me to go out to 
 sea, and, above all, doubtine how I should get back 
 again ; so 1 came to an anchor ; for I had made me 
 a kind of an anchor with a piece of a broken grap- 
 pling which I got out of the ship. 
 
 Having secured my boat, 1 took my gun and 
 went on shore, climbing up on a hill, which seem- 
 ed to overlook that point, where I saw the full ex- 
 tent of it, and resolved to venture. 
 
 In my viewing the sea from that hill where I 
 stood, 1 perceived a strong, and indeed a most 
 furious current, which ran to the east, and even 
 came close to the point ; and I took the more no- 
 tice of it, because I saw there might be some 
 danger, that when I came into it, I might be carri- 
 ed out to sea by the strength of it, and not be able to 
 make the island again : and, indeed, had I not got 
 first upon this hill, 1 believe it would have been so ; 
 for there v/as the same current on the other side tlie 
 island, only that it set off at a farther distance, and 
 I saw there was a strong eddy under the shore ; so I 
 had nothing to do but to get out of the first cur- 
 rent, and 1 should presently be in an eddy. 
 
 I lay here, however, two days, because the wind 
 blowing pretty fresh at E. S. E. and that being just 
 contrary to the said current, made a great breach 
 of the sea upon the point ; so that it was not safe 
 for me to keep too close to the shore, for the breach, 
 nor to go too far off, because of the stream. 
 
 The third day, in the morning, the wind having 
 abated over-night, the sea was calraj and I ventur-
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 155 
 
 ed ; but I am a warning-piece again to all rasli and 
 ignorant pilots ; for no sooner was I come to the 
 point, when I was not even my boat's length from 
 the shore, but I found myself in a great depth of 
 water, and a current like the sluice of a mill ; it 
 carried my boat along with it with such violence, 
 that all 1 could do could not keep her so much as 
 on the edge of it; but I found it hurried me farther 
 and farther out from the eddy, which was on my left 
 hand. There was no wind stirring to help me, and 
 all I could do with my paddles signified nothing : 
 and now I began to give myself over for lost; for as 
 the current was on both sides of the island, I knew 
 in a few leagues distance they must join again, and 
 then I was irrecoverably gone ; nor did I see any 
 possibility of avoiding it ; so that I had no prospect 
 before me but of perishing, not by the sea, for that 
 was calm enough, but of starving for hunger. 1 
 had indeed found a tortoise on the shore, as big al- 
 most as I could lift, and had tossed it into the boat ; 
 and I had a great jar of fresh water, that is to say, 
 one of my earthen pots ; but what was all this to 
 being driven into the vast ocean, where, to be sure, 
 there was no shore, no main land or island, for a 
 thousand leagues at least ? 
 
 And now 1 saw how easy it was for the providence 
 of God to make even the most miserable condition 
 of mankind worse. Now I looked back upon my 
 desolate solitary island, as the most pleasant place 
 in the world ; and all the happiness my heart could 
 wish for was to be but there again. I stretched out 
 my hands to it, with eager v/ishes : O happy desert ! 
 said 1, I shall never see thee more. O miserable 
 creature! whither am I going ! Then I reproached 
 myself with my unthankful temper, and how I had 
 repined at my solitary condition ; and now what 
 would I give to be on shore there again ! Thus we
 
 156 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 never see the true state of our condition till it is il- 
 lustrated to us by its contraries, nor know how to 
 value what we enjoy, but by the want of it. It is 
 scarce possible to imagine the consternation I was 
 now in, being driven from my beloved island (for so 
 it appeared to me now to be) into the wide ocean, 
 almost two leagues, and in the utmost despair of 
 ever recovering it again. However, I worked hard, 
 till indeed my strength was almost exhausted, and 
 kept my boat as much to the northward, that is, to- 
 wards the side of the current which the eddy lay on, 
 as possibly I could ; when about noon, as the sun 
 passed the meridian, 1 thought I felt a little breeze 
 of wind in my face, springing up from S. S. E. This 
 cheered my heart a little, and especially when, in 
 about half an hour more, it blew a pretty gentle 
 gale. By this time I was got at a frightful distance 
 from the island, and had the least cloudy or hazy 
 weather intervened, I had been undone another way 
 too ; for I had no compass on board, and shpuld 
 never have known how to have steered towards the 
 island, if I had but once lost sight of it ; but the 
 weather continuing clear, I applied myself to get up 
 my mast again, and spread my sail, standing away 
 to the north as much as possible, to get out of the 
 current. 
 
 Just as^I had set my mast and sail, and the boat 
 began to stretch away, I saw even by the clearness 
 of the water some alteration of the current was 
 near ; for where the current was so strong, the water 
 was foul ; but perceiving the water clear, I found 
 the current abate; and presently I found to the 
 east, at about half a mile, a breach of the sea upon 
 some rocks : these rocks 1 found caused the current 
 to part again, and as the main stress of it ran away 
 more southerly, leaving the rocks to the north-east, 
 so the other returned by the repulse of the rocks,
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 157 
 
 and made a strong eddy, which ran back again to 
 the north-west, with a very sharp stream. 
 
 They who knew what it is to have a reprieve 
 brought to them upon the ladder, or to be rescued 
 from thieves just going to murder them, or who 
 have been in such-like extremities, may guess what 
 my present surprise of joy was, and how gladly I put 
 my boat into the stream of this eddy; and the wind 
 also freshening, how gladly I spread ray sail to it, 
 running cheerfully before the wind, and with a 
 strong tide or eddy under foot. 
 
 This eddy carried me about a league in my way 
 back again, directly towards the island, but about 
 two leagues more to the northward than the current 
 which carried me away at first: so that when I came 
 near the island, I found myself open to the northern 
 shore of it, that is to say, the other end of the island, 
 opposite to that which I went out from. 
 
 When I had made something more than a league 
 of way by the help of this current or eddy, I found 
 it was spent, and served me no farther. However, 
 I found that being between two great currents, viz. 
 that on the south side, which had hurried me away, 
 and that on the north, which lay about a league on 
 the other side ; 1 say, between these two, in the 
 wake of the island, 1 found the water at least still, 
 and running no way ; and having still a breeze of 
 wind fair for me, I kept on steering directly for the 
 island, though not making such fresh way as I did 
 before. 
 
 About four o'clock in the evening, being then 
 within a league of the island, I found the point of 
 the rocks which occasioned this disaster, stretching 
 out, as is described before, to the southward, and 
 casting off the current more southerly, had, of 
 course, made another eddy to the north; and this I 
 found very strong, but not directly setting the way
 
 158 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 my course lay, which was due west, but almost full 
 north. However, having a fresh gale, I stretched 
 across this eddy, slanting north-west : and, in about 
 an hour, came within about a mile of the shore, 
 where, it being smooth water, I soon got to land. 
 
 When I was on shore, I fell on my knees, and gave 
 God thanks for my deliverance, resolving to lay aside 
 all thoughts of ray deliverance by my boat ; and re- 
 freshing myself with such things as 1 had, I brought 
 my boat close to the shore, in a little cove that 1 had 
 spied under some trees, and laid me down to sleep, 
 being quite spent with the labour and fatigue of the 
 voyage- 
 
 I was now at a great loss which way to get home 
 with my boat : I had run so nmch hazard, and 
 knew too much of the case, to think of attempting 
 it by the way 1 went out ; and what might be at 
 the other side (I mean the west side) I knew not, 
 nor had I any mind to run any more ventures ; so I 
 only resolved in the morning to make my way west- 
 ward along the shore, and to see if there was no 
 creek where 1 raiglit la}-^ up my frigate in safety, so 
 as to have her again, if 1 wanted her. In about three 
 miles, or thereabout, coasting the shore, I came to 
 a very good inlet or bay, about a mile over, which 
 narrowed till it came to a very little rivulet or brook, 
 where I found a very convenient harbour for my 
 boat, and where she lay as if she had been in a little 
 dock made on purpose for her. Here I put in, and 
 having stowed my boat very safe, I went on sliore, 
 to look about me, and see where I was. 
 
 I soon four.d I had but a little passed by the place 
 where I had been before, when I travelled on foot to 
 that shore ; so taking nothing out of my boat but 
 my gun and umbrei.a, for it was exceeding hot, 1 
 began my march. The way was comfortable enough 
 after such a voyage as I had been upon, and 1 reach-
 
 KOBmsON CRUSOE. J 59 
 
 ed my old bower in the evening, where I found 
 every thing standing as I left it : for I always kept 
 it in good order, being, as I said before, my country 
 house. 
 
 1 got over the fence, and laid me down in the 
 shade, to rest my limbs, for ] was very weary, and 
 fell asleep: but judge you, if you can, that read my 
 storj', what a surprise I must be in, when I was 
 awaked out of my sleep by a voice^ calling me by 
 my name several times, Robin, Robin, Robin Crusoe; 
 poor Robin Crusoe! Where are you, Robin Crusoe? 
 Where are you ? Where have you been ? 
 
 I was so dead asleep at first, being fatigued with 
 rowing, or paddling, as it is called, the first part of 
 the day, and with walking the latter part, that I did 
 not wake thoroughly ; but dozing between sleeping 
 and waking, thought I dreamed that some-body 
 spoke to me ; but as the voice continued to repeat 
 Robin Crusoe, Robin Crusoe, at last I began to 
 wake more perfectly, and was at first dreadfully 
 frightened, and started up in the utmost consterna- 
 tion ; but no sooner were my eyes open, but I saw 
 my Poll sitting on the top of the hedge ; and im- 
 mediately knew it was he that spoke to me ; for just 
 in such bemoaning language I had used to talk to 
 him, and teach him ; and he had learned it so per- 
 fectly, that he would sit upon my finger, and lay his 
 bill close to my face, and cry, Poor Robin Crusoe! 
 Where are you? Where have you been? How came 
 you here? and such things as I had taught him. 
 
 However, even though 1 knew it was the parrot, 
 and that indeed it could be nobody else, it was a 
 good while before I could compose myself. First, 
 J was amazed how the creature got thither, and 
 then, how he should just keep about the place, and 
 no where else : but as I was well satisfied it could 
 be nobody but honest Poll, I got over it; and holding 
 
 !• 2
 
 160 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 out my hand, and calling him by his name, Poll, 
 the sociable creature came to me, and sat upon my 
 thumb, as he used to do, and continued talking to 
 me, Poor Robin Crusoe ! and how did I come here? 
 and where had I been ? just as if he h td been over- 
 joyed to see me again : and so I carried him home 
 along with me. 
 
 I now had enough of rambling to sea for some 
 time, and had enough to do for many days, to sit 
 still, and reflect upon the danger I had been in. I 
 would have been very glad to have had my boat 
 again on my side of the island ; but I knew not 
 how it was practicable to get it about. As to the 
 east side of the island, which I had gone round, I 
 knew well enough there was no venturing that way; 
 my very heart would shrink, and my very blood run 
 chill, but to think of it; and as to the other side of 
 the island, I did not know how it might be there ; 
 but supposing the current ran with the same force 
 against the shore at the east as it passed by it on 
 the other, I might run the same risk of being driven 
 down the stream, and carried by the island, as I had 
 been before of being carried away from it ; so, with 
 these thoughts, I contented myself to be without 
 any boat, though it had been the product of so 
 many months labour to make it, and of so many 
 more to get it into the sea. 
 
 In this government of my temper I remained near 
 a year, lived a very sedate, retired life, as you may 
 well suppose ; and my thoughts being very much 
 composed, as to my condition, and fully comforted 
 in resigning myself to the dispositions of Providence, 
 I thought I lived really very happily in all tilings, 
 except that of society. 
 
 I improved myself in this time in aJl the mechanic 
 exercises which my necessities put me upon applying 
 myself to; and I believe I could, upon occasion, have 
 
 5
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 161 
 
 made a ver^ good carpenter, especially considering 
 how few toos I had. 
 
 Besides the, I arrived at an unexpected perfection 
 in my earthe»-vvare, and contrived well enough to 
 make them'iwith a wheel, which I found infinitely 
 easier and better ; because I made things round and 
 shapable, which before were filthy things indeed to 
 look on. But I think I was never more vain of my 
 own performance, or more joyful for any thing I 
 found out, than for my being able to make a to- 
 bacco-pipe ; and though it was a very ugly clumsy 
 thing when it was done, and only burnt red, like 
 other earthen-ware, yet as it was hard and firm, and 
 would draw the smoke, I was exceedingly comforted 
 with it, for I had been always used to smoke : and 
 there were pipes in the ship, but I forgot them at 
 first, not thinking that there was tobacco in the 
 island ; and afterwards, when I searched the ship 
 again, I could not come at any pipes at all. 
 
 In my wicker-ware also I improved much, and 
 made abundance of necessary baskets, as well as my 
 invention showed me ; though not very handsome, 
 yet they were such as were very handy and conve- 
 nient for my laying things up in, or fetching things 
 home. For example, if 1 killed a goat abroad, I 
 could hang it up in a tree, flay it, dress it, and cut 
 it in pieces, and bring it home in a basket; and the 
 like by a turtle: I could cut it up, take out the eggs, 
 and a piece or two of the flesh, which was enough 
 for me, and bring them home in a basket, and- 
 leave the rest behind me. Also large deep baskets 
 were the receivers of my corn, which I always rub- 
 bed out as soon as it was dry, and cured, and kept 
 it in great baskets. 
 
 1 began now to perceive my powder abated con- 
 siderably ; this was a want which it was impossible 
 for me to supply, and 1 began seriously to consider 
 
 p3
 
 16'i ADVENTURES OF 
 
 what I must do when 1 should have ru more pow- 
 der ; that is to say, how I should d* to kill any 
 goats. I had, as is observed, in the third year of 
 my being here, kept a young kid, and bred her up 
 tame, and I was in hopes of getting a he-goat: but 
 r could not by any means bring it to pass, till my 
 kid grew an old goat ; and as I couk never find in 
 my heart to kill her, she died at last of mere age. 
 
 But being now in the eleventh year of my resi- 
 dence, and, as I have said, my ammunition growing 
 low, I set myself to study some art to trap and snare 
 the goats, to see whether I could not catch some of 
 them alive ; and particularly, I wanted a she-goat 
 great with young. For this purpose, I made snares 
 to hamper them ; and I do believe they were more 
 than once taken in them ; but my tackle was not 
 good, for I had no wire, and I always found them 
 broken, and my bait devoured. At length I resolved 
 to try a pit-fall : so I dug several large pits in the 
 earth, in places where I had observed the goats used 
 to feed, and over those pits I placed hurdles, of my 
 own making too, with a great weight upon them ; 
 and several times 1 put ears of barley and dry rice, 
 without setting the trap ; and I could easily per- 
 ceive that the goats had gone in and eaten up the 
 corn, for I could see the marks of their feet. At 
 length I set three traps in one night, and going the 
 next morning, 1 found them all standing, and yet 
 the bait eaten and gone ; this was very discourag- 
 ing. However, 1 altered my traps; and, not to 
 trouble you with particulars, going one morning to 
 see my traps, I found in one of them a large old 
 he-goat, and in one of the others three kids, a male 
 and two females. 
 
 As to the old one, 1 knew not what to do with 
 him ; he was so fierce, I durst not go into the pit 
 to him ; that is to say, to go about to bring him
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 163 
 
 awaj' alive, which was what I wanted : I could have 
 killed him, but that was not my business, nor would 
 it answer my end ; so I even let him out, and he 
 ran away, as if he had been frightened out of his 
 wits. But I had forgot then, what I had learned 
 afterwards, that hunger will tame a lion. If 1 had 
 let him stay there three or four days without food, 
 and then have carried him some water to drink, and 
 then a little corn, he would have been as tame as 
 one of the kids ; for they are mighty sagacious, trac- 
 table creatures, where they are well used. 
 
 However, for the present I let him go, knowing 
 no better at that time : then 1 went to the three 
 kids, and taking them one by one, I tied them with 
 strings together, and with some difficulty brought 
 them all home. 
 
 It was a good while before they would feed ; but 
 throwing them some sweet corn, it tempted them, 
 and they began to be tame. And now 1 found that 
 if I expected to supply myself with goat's flesh when 
 I had no powder or shot left, breeding some up tame 
 was my only way ; when, perhaps, I might have 
 them about my house like a flock of sheep. But 
 then it occurred to me, that 1 must keep the tame 
 from the wild, or else they would always run wild 
 when they grew up : and the only way for this was, 
 to have some enclosed piece of ground, well fenced, 
 either with hedge or pale, to keep them in so effec- 
 tually, that those within might not break out, or 
 those without break in. 
 
 This was a great undertaking for one pair of 
 hands ; yet as i saw there was an absolute necessity 
 for doing it, my first work was to find out a proper 
 piece of ground, where there was likely to be herb- 
 age for them to eat, water for them to drink, and 
 cover to keep them from the sun. 
 
 Those who understand such enclosures will think
 
 164 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 I had very little contrivance, when I pitched upon 
 a place very proper for all these (being a plain open 
 piece of nieadov/ land, or savannah, as our people 
 call it in the western colonies), which had two or 
 three little drills of fresh water in it, and at one end 
 was very woody ; 1 say, they will smile at my fore- 
 cast, when 1 shall tell them, I began my enclosing 
 this piece of ground in such a manner, that my 
 hedge or pale must have been at least two miles 
 about. Nor was the madness of it so great as to 
 the compass, for if it was ten miles about, I was 
 like to have time enough to do it in ; but 1 did not 
 consider that my goats would be as wild in so much 
 compass as if they had had the whole island, and 
 I should have so much room to chase them in, that 
 I should never catch them. 
 
 My hedge was begun and carried on, I believe 
 about fifty yards, when this thought occured to me ; 
 so I presently stopped short, and, for the first be- 
 ginning, I resolved to enclose a piece of about 150 
 yards in length, and 100 yards in breadth ; which, 
 as it would maintain as many as I should have in 
 any reasonable time, so, as my stock increased, I 
 could add more ground to my enclosure. 
 
 This was acting with some prudence, and I went 
 to work v/ith courage. I was about three months 
 hedging in the first piece ; and, till I had done it, 
 1 tethered the three kids in the best part of it, and 
 vised them to feed as near me as possible, to make 
 them familiar ; and very often ] would go and carry 
 them some ears of barley, or a handful of rice, and 
 feed them out of my hand : so that after my enclo- 
 sure was finished, and I let them loose, they would 
 follow me up and down, bleating after me for a 
 handful of corn. 
 
 This answered my end ; and in about a year and 
 a half I had a flock of about twelve goats, kid^ and
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 16.5 
 
 all ; and in two years more, I had three and forty, 
 besides several that I took and killed tor my food. 
 After that I enclosed five several pieces of ground 
 to feed them in, with little pens to drive them into, 
 to take them as I wanted, and gates out of one 
 piece of ground into another. 
 
 But this was not all ; for now I not only had 
 goat's flesh to feed on when 1 pleased, but milk 
 too ; a thing which, indeed, in the beginning, I did 
 not so much as think of, and which, Avhen it came 
 into my thoughts, was really an agreeable surprise : 
 for now I set up my dairy, and had sometimes a 
 gallon or two of milk in a day. And as nature, who 
 gives supplies of food to every creature, dictates 
 even naturally how to make use of it, so I, that had 
 never milked a cow, much less a goat, or seen butter 
 or cheese made, only when I was a boy, after a 
 great many essays and miscarriages, made me both 
 butter and cheese at last, and also salt (though I 
 found it partly made to my hand by the heat of the 
 sun upon some of the rocks of the sea), and never 
 wanted it afterwards. How mercifully can our 
 Creator treat his creatures, even in those conditions 
 in which they seemed to be overwhelmed in de- 
 struction ! How can he sweeten the bitterest pro- 
 vidences, and give us cause to praise him for dun- 
 geons and prisons ! What a table was here spread 
 for me in a wilderness, where I saw nothing, at first, 
 but to perish for hunger ! 
 
 It would have made a stoic smile, to have seen' 
 me and my little family sit down to dinner: there 
 was my majesty, the prince and lord of the whole 
 island ; I had the lives of all my subjects at my ab- 
 solute command ; I could hang, draw, give liberty, 
 and take it away ; and no rebels among all my sub- 
 jects. Then to see how like a king I dined too, all 
 alone, attended by my servants : Poll, as if he had
 
 166 ADVENTURES OP 
 
 been my favourite, was tlie only person permitted 
 to talk to me. My dog, who was now grown very 
 old and crazy, and had found no species to multiply 
 his kind upon, sat always at my right hand ; and 
 two cats, one on one side of the table, and one on 
 the other, expecting now and then a bit from my 
 hand, as a mark of special favour. 
 
 But these were not the two cats which I brought 
 on shore at first, for they were both of them dead, 
 and had been interred near my habitation by my 
 own hand ; but one of them having multiplied by I 
 know not what kind of creature, these were two 
 which I had preserved tame ; whereas the rest run 
 wild in the woods, and became indeed troublesome 
 to me at last ; for they would often come into my 
 house, and plunder me too, till at last I was obliged 
 to shoot them, and did kill a great many ; at length 
 they left me. — With this attendance, and in this 
 plentiful manner, I lived ; neither could I be said 
 to want any thing but society : and of that, some 
 time after this, I was hke to have too much. 
 
 I was something impatient, as I have observed, 
 to have the use of my boat, though very loth to run 
 any more hazards ; and therefore sometimes I sat 
 contriving ways to get her about the island, and at 
 other times I sat myself down contented enough 
 without her. But I had a strange uneasiness in my 
 mind to go down to the point of the island, where, 
 as I have said, in my last ramble, I went up the hill 
 to see how the shore lay, and how the current set, 
 that I might see what I had to do : this inclination 
 increased upon me every day, and at length I re- 
 solved to travel thither by land, following the edge 
 of the shore. I did so ; but had any one in England 
 been to meet such a man as I was, it must either 
 have frightened him, or raised a great deal of laugh- 
 ter : and as I frequently stood still to look at myself,
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 167 
 
 I could not but smile at the notion of my travelling 
 through Yorkshire, with such an equipage, and in 
 such a dress. Be pleased to take a sketch of my 
 figure, as follows : 
 
 I had a great high shapeless cap, made of a goat's 
 skin, with a flap hanging down behind, as well to 
 keep the sun from me as to shoot the rain off from 
 running into my neck : nothing being so hurtful in 
 these climates as the rain upon the flesh, under 
 the clothes. 
 
 I had a short jacket of goat's skin, the skirts 
 coming down to about the middle of the thighs, 
 and a pair of open-kneed breeches of the same ; 
 the breeches were made of the skin of an old he- 
 goat, whose hair hung down such a length on either 
 side, that like pantaloons, it reached to the middle 
 of my legs; stockings and shoes I had none, but 
 had made me a pair of somethings, I scarce know 
 what to call them, hke buskins, to flap over my 
 legs, and lace on either side like spatterdashes ; but 
 of a most barbarous shape, as indeed were all the 
 rest of my clothes. 
 
 I had on a broad belt of goat's skin dried, which 
 I drew together with two thongs of the same, in- 
 stead of buckles; and in a kind of a frog on either 
 side of this, instead of a sword and dagger, hung 
 a little saw and a hatchet ; one on one side, and 
 one on the other. I had another belt, not so 
 broad, and fastened in the same manner, which 
 hung over my shoulder ; and at the end of it, under 
 my left arm, hung two pouches, both made of 
 goat's skin too ; in one of which hung my powder, 
 in the other my shot. At my back I carried my 
 basket, and on my shouldjr my gun ; and over my 
 head a great clumsy ugly goat's skin umbrella, 
 but which after all, was the most necessary thing 
 I had about me, next to my gun. As for my face, 
 3
 
 168 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the colour of it was really not so mulatto-like as one 
 might expect from a man not at all careful of it, 
 and living within nine or ten degrees of the equinox. 
 My beard I had once suffered to grow till it was 
 about a quarter of a yard long; but as I had both 
 scissars and razors sufficient, 1 had cut it pretty 
 short, except what grew on my upper lip, which I 
 had trimmed into a large pair of Mahometan whis- 
 kers, such as I had seen worn by some Turks at 
 Sallee ; for the Moors did not wear such, though the 
 Turks did: of these mustachios or whiskers, I will 
 not say they were long enough to hang my hat 
 upon them, but they were of a length and shape 
 monstrous enough, and such as, in England, would 
 have passed for frightful. 
 
 But all this is by the bye ; for as to my figure, 
 I had so few to observe me that it was of no manner 
 of consequence, so I say no more to that part, in 
 this kind of figure I went my new journey, and was 
 out five or six days. I travelled first along the sea- 
 shore, directly to the place where 1 first brought my 
 boat to an achor, to get upon the rocks ; and having 
 no boat now to take care of, I went over the land, 
 a nearer way, to the same height that I was upon be- 
 fore; when looking forward to the point of the rocks 
 which lay out, and which I was obliged to double with 
 my boat, as is said above, was surprised to see the 
 sea all smooth and quiet; no rippling, no motion, no 
 current, any more there than in any other places. 
 I was at a strange loss to understand this, and re- 
 solved to spend some time in the observing it, to 
 see if nothing from the sets of the tide had occa- 
 sioned it; but I was presently convinced how it was, 
 viz. that the tide of ebb setting from the west, and 
 joining with the current of watei's from some great 
 river on the shore; must be the occasion of this cur- 
 rent; and that according as the wind blew more for-
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 169 
 
 cibly from the west, or from the north, this current 
 came nearer, or went farther from the shore ; for 
 waiting thereabouts till evening, I went up to the 
 rock again, and then the tide of ebb being made, I 
 plainly saw the current again as before, only that 
 it ran farther off, being near half a league from the 
 shore; whereas, in ray case, it set close upon the 
 shore, and hurried me and my canoe along with it ; 
 which, at another time, it would not have done. 
 
 This observation convinced me, that I had no- 
 thing to do but to observe the ebbing and the flow- 
 ing of the tide, and I might very easily bring my 
 boat about the island again : but when 1 began to 
 think of putting it in practice, I had such a terror 
 upon my spirits at the remembrance of the danger 
 I had been in, that I could not think of it again 
 with any patience ; but, on the contrary, I took up 
 another resolution, which was more safe, though 
 more laborious; and this was, that I would build, 
 or rather make me another periagua or canoe ; and 
 so have one for one side of the island, and one for 
 the other. 
 
 You are to understand, that now 1 had, as I may 
 ,call it, two plantations in the island; one, my little 
 fortification or tent, with the wall about it, under the 
 rock, with the cave behind me, which, by this time, 
 I had enlarged into several apartments or caves, one 
 within another. One of these, which was the driest 
 and largest, and had a door out beyond my wall or 
 fortification, that is to say, beyond where my wall 
 joined to the rock, was aU filled up with the large 
 earthen pots, of which I have given an account, 
 and with fourteen or fifteen great baskets, which 
 would hold five or six bushels each, where I laid up 
 my stores of provision, especially my corn, some in 
 the ear, cut off short from the straw, and the other 
 rubbed out with my hand. 
 
 Q
 
 170 ADVENTURES OP 
 
 As for my wall, made, as before, with long stakes 
 or piles, those piles grew all like trees, and were by 
 this time grown so big, and spread so very much, 
 that there w as not the least appearance, to any one's 
 view, of any habitation behind them. 
 
 Near this dwelling of mine, but a little fartlier 
 within the land, and upon lower ground, lay my 
 two pieces of corn land, which I kept duly cultiva- 
 ted and sowed, and which duly yielded me their har- 
 vest in its season ; and whenever I had occasion for 
 more corn, I had more land adjoining as fit as that. \ 
 
 Besides this, I had my country seat; and I had 
 now a tolerable plantation there also : for, first, I 
 had my little bower, as I called it, which I kept in 
 repair ; that is to say, I kept the hedge which en- 
 circled it in constantly fitted up to its usual height, 
 the ladder standing always in the inside : I kept the 
 trees, which at first were no more than my stakes, 
 but were now grown very firm and tall, always cut 
 so, that they might spread and grow thick and wild, 
 and make the more agreeable shade; which they 
 did effectually to my mind. In the middle of this I 
 had my tent always standing, being a piece of a sail 
 spread over poles, set up for that purpose, and which 
 never wanted any repair or renewing; and under 
 this I had made me a squab or couch, with the skins 
 of the creatures I had killed, and with other soft 
 things; and a blanket laid on them, such as be- 
 longed to our sea-bedding, which I had saved, and 
 a great watch-coat to cover me ; and here, when- 
 ever I had occasion to be absent from my chief seat, 
 I took up my country habitation. 
 
 Adjoining to this I had my enclosures for my cat- 
 tle, that is to say, my goats; and as I had taken an 
 inconceivable deal of pains to fence and enclose this 
 ground, I was so anxious to see it kept entire, lest 
 the goats should break through, that I never left
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 171 
 
 off, till, Avith infinite labour, I had stuck the out- 
 side of the hedge so full of small stakes, and so near 
 to one another, that it was rather a pale than a 
 hedge, and there was scarce room to put a hand 
 through between them ; which afterwards, when 
 those stakes grew, as they all did in the next rainy 
 season, made the enclosure strong like a wall, — in- 
 deed, stronger than any wall. 
 
 This will testify for me that I was not idle, and 
 that I spared no pains to bring to pass whatever 
 appeared necessary for my comfortable support; 
 for I considered the keeping up a breed of tame 
 creatures thus at my hand would be a living maga- 
 zine of flesh, milk, butter, and cheese for me as 
 long as 1 lived in the place, if it were to be forty 
 years; and that keeping them in my reach depended 
 entirely upon my perfecting my enclosures to such 
 a degree, that I might be sure of keeping them to- 
 gether ; which, by this method, indeed, I so effec- 
 tually secured, that when these little stakes began 
 to grow, I had planted them so very thick, that I 
 was forced to pull some of them up again. 
 
 In this place also I had my grapes growing, which 
 I principally depended on for my winter store T>f 
 raisins, and which I never failed to preserve very 
 carefully, as the best and most agreeable dainty of 
 my whole diet : and, indeed, they were not only 
 agreeable, but medicinal, wholesome, nourishing, 
 and refreshing to the last degree. 
 
 As this was also about half-way between my other 
 habitation and the place where I had laid up my 
 boat, I generally stayed and lay here in my way thi- 
 ther ; for 1 used frequently to visit my boat ; and I 
 kept all things about, or belonging to her, in very 
 good order : sometimes 1 went out in her to divert 
 myself, but no more hazardous voyages would 1 go, 
 nor scarce ever above a stone's cast or two from the 
 
 Q '2
 
 172 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 shore, I was so apprehensive of being hurried out 
 of my knowledge again by the currents or winds, or 
 any other accident. But now I come to a new scene 
 of my life. 
 
 It happened one day, about noon, going towards 
 my boat, I was exceedingly surprised with the print 
 of a man's naked foot on the shore, which was very 
 plain to be seen in the sand. I stood like one thun- 
 tler-struck, or as if I had seen an apparition ; 1 list- 
 ened, I looked round me, but I could hear nothing, 
 nor see any thing ; I went up to a rising ground, 
 to look farther ; I went up the shore, and down 
 the shore, but it was all one ; I could see no other 
 impression but that one. I went to it again to see 
 if there were any more, and to observe if it might 
 not be my fancy ; but there was no room for that, 
 for there was exactly the print of a foot, toes, heel, 
 and every part of a foot; how it came thither 1 
 knew not, nor could I in the least imagine ; but, 
 after innumerable fluttering thoughts, like a man 
 perfectly confused and out of myself, I came home 
 to my fortification, not feeling, as we say, the 
 ground I went on, but terrified to the last degree : 
 looking behind me at every two or three steps, mis- 
 taking every bush and tree, and fancying every 
 stump at a distance to be a man. Nor is it possible 
 to describe how many various shapes my affrighted 
 imagination represented things to me in, how many 
 wild ideas were found every moment in my fancy, 
 and what strange unaccountable whimsies came 
 into my thoughts by the way. 
 
 When I came to my castle (for so I think I called 
 it ever after this), I fled into it like one pursued ; 
 whether I went over by the ladder, as first contrived, 
 or went in at the hole in the rock, which I had 
 called a door, I cannot remember ; no, nor could I 
 remember the next morning ; for never frightened
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE, 173 
 
 have fled to cover, or fox to earth, with more terror 
 of mind that I to this retreat. 
 
 I slept none that night ; the farther I was from 
 the occasion of my fright, the greater my apprehen- 
 sions were ; which is something contrary to the na- 
 ture of such things, and especially to the usual prac- 
 tice of all creatures in fear ; but T was so embar- 
 rassed with my own frightful ideas of the thing, 
 that I formed nothing but dismal imaginations to 
 myself, even though 1 was now a great way off it. 
 Sometimes I fancied it must be the Devil, and reason 
 joined in with me upon this supposition ; for how 
 should any other thing in human shape come into 
 the place ? Where was the vessel that brought 
 them ? What marks were there of any other foot- 
 steps? And how was it possible a man should come 
 there ? But then to think that Satan should take 
 human shape upon him in such a place, where there 
 could be no manner of occasion for it, but to leave 
 the print of his foot behind him, and that even for 
 no purpose too, for he could not be sure I should 
 see it, — this was an amusement the other way. I 
 considered that the Devil might have found out 
 abundance of other ways to have terrified me than 
 this of the single print of a foot ; that as I lived 
 quite on the other side of the island, he would never 
 have been so simple as to leave a mark in a place 
 where it was ten thousand to one whether I should 
 ever see it or not, and in the sand too, which the 
 first surge of the sea, upon a high wind, would have 
 defaced entirely : all this seemed inconsistent with the 
 thing itself, and with all the notions we usually en- 
 tertain of the subtilty of the Devil. 
 
 Abundance of such things as these assisted to ar- 
 gue me out of all apprehensions of its being the De- 
 vil; and I presently concluded then, that it must be 
 some more dangerous creature, viz. that it must be 
 
 a 3
 
 174< ADVENTURES OF 
 
 some of the savages of the main land over-against 
 me, who had wandered out to sea in their canoes, 
 and either driven by the currents or by contrary 
 winds, had made the island, and had been on shore, 
 but were gone away again to sea ; being as loth, 
 perhaps, to have stayed in this desolate island as I 
 would have been to have had them. 
 
 While these reflections were rolling upon my 
 mind, I was very thankful in my thoughts that 1 
 was so happy as not to be thereabouts at that time, 
 or that they did not see my boat, by which they 
 would have concluded that some inhabitants had 
 been in the place, and perhaps have searched far- 
 ther for me : then terrible thoughts racked my 
 imagination about their having found my boat, and 
 that there were people here ; and that if so, I should 
 certainly have them come again in greater num- 
 bers, and devour me ; that if it should happen so 
 that they should not find me, yet they would find 
 my enclosure, destroy all my corn, and carry away 
 all my flock of tame goats, and I should perish at 
 last for mere want. 
 
 Thus my fear banished all my religious hope, all 
 that former confidence in God, which was founded 
 upon such wonderful experience as I had had of his 
 goodness, as if he that had fed me by miracle hi- 
 therto could not preserve, by his power, the provi- 
 sion which he had made for me by his goodness. J 
 reproached myself with my laziness, that would 
 not sow any more corn one year than would just 
 serve me till the next season, as if no accident 
 would intervene to prevent my enjoying the crop 
 that was upon the ground ; and this I thought so 
 just a reproof, that I resolved for the future to 
 have two or three years corn beforehand; so that 
 whatever might come, I might not perish for want 
 of bread.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 175 
 
 How Strange a chequer-work of Providence is 
 the life of man ! and by what secret different springs 
 are the affections hurried about, as different cir- 
 cumstances present ! To-day we love what to-mor- 
 row we hate ; to-day we seek what to-morrow we 
 shun ; to-day we desire what to-morrow we fear, 
 nay, even tremble at the apprehensions of; this was 
 exemplified in me, at this time, in the most lively 
 manner imaginable; for I, whose only afHiction 
 was that I seemed banished from human society, 
 that I was alone, circumscribed by the boundless 
 ocean, cut off from mankind, and condemned to 
 what 1 called silent life ; that I was as one whom 
 Heaven thought not worthy to be numbered among 
 the hving, or to appear among the rest of his crea- 
 tures ; that to have seen one of my own species 
 would have seemed tome a raising me from death to 
 Hfe, and the greatest blessing that Heaven itself, 
 next to the supreme blessing of salvation, could be- 
 stow ; 1 say, that I should now tremble at the very 
 apprehensions of seeing a man, and was ready to 
 sink into the ground at but the shadow or silent 
 appearance of a man's having set his foot in the 
 island. 
 
 Such is the uneven state of human life ; and it 
 afforded me a great many curious speculations after- 
 wards, when 1 had a little recovered my first surprise. 
 I considered that this was the station of life the infi- 
 nitely wise and good providence of God had deter- 
 mined for me ; that as I could not foresee what the 
 ends of divine wisdom might be in all this, so I was 
 not to dispute his sovereignty, who, as I was his 
 creature, had an undoubted right, by creation, to 
 govern and dispose of me absolutely as he thought 
 fit ; and who, as I was a creature that had offended 
 him, had likewise a judicial right to condemn me 
 ,to what punishment he thought fit ; and that it was
 
 176 ADVENTURES 07 
 
 my part to submit to bear his indignation, because 
 I had sinned against him. 1 then reflected, that as 
 God, who was not only righteous, but omnipotent, 
 had thought fit thus to punish and afflict me, so he 
 was able to deliver me ; that if he did not think fit 
 to do so, it was my unquestioned duty to resign 
 myself absolutely and entirely to his will, and, on 
 the other hand, it was my duty also to hope in him, 
 pray to him, and quietly to attend the dictates and 
 directions of his daily providence. 
 
 These thoughts took me up many hours, days, 
 nay, I may say, weeks and months ; and one parti- 
 cular effect of my cogitations on this occasion I 
 cannot omit: One morning early, lying in my bed, 
 and filled with thoughts about my danger from the 
 appearances of savages, I found it discomposed me 
 very much; upon which these words of the Scripture 
 came into my thoughts, " Call upon me in the day 
 of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt 
 glorify me." Upon this, rising cheerfully out of my 
 bed, my heart was not only comforted, but J was 
 guided and encouraged to pray earnestly to God 
 for deliverance : when I had done praying, I took 
 up my Bible, and opening it to read, the first words 
 that presented to me were, " Wait on the Lord, 
 and be of good cheer, and he shall strengthen thy 
 heart ; wait, I say, on the Lord." It is impossible 
 to express the comfort this gave me. In answer, I 
 thankfully laid down the book, and was no more 
 sad, at least on that occasion. 
 
 In the middle of these cogitations, apprehensions, 
 and reflections, it came into my thoughts one day, 
 that all this might be a mere chimera of my own, 
 and that this foot might be the print of my own foot, 
 when I came on shore from my boat : this cheered 
 me up a little too, and I began to persuade myself 
 it was all a delusion ; that it was nothing eise but
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 177 
 
 nw own foot: iand why might I not come that way 
 from the boat, as well as I was going that way to 
 the boat ? Again I considered also, that I could by 
 no means tell, for certain, where I had trod, and 
 where I had not ; and that if, at last, this was only 
 the print of my own foot, 1 had played the part of 
 those fools who try to make stories of spectres and 
 apparitions, and then are frightened at them more 
 than any body. 
 
 Now I began to take courage, and to peep abroad 
 again, for I had not stirred out of my castle for three 
 days and nights, so that I began to starve for provi- 
 sions; for I had little or nothing within doors but 
 some barley-cakes and water : then I knew that my 
 goats wanted to be milked too, which usually was 
 my evening diversion ; and the poor creatures were 
 in great pain and inconvenience for want of it; and, 
 indeed, it almost spoiled some of them, and almost 
 dried up their milk. Encouraging myself, there- 
 fore, with the belief that this was nothing but the 
 print of one of my own feet, and that I might be 
 truly said to start at my own shadow, I began to go 
 abroad again, and went to my country-house to milk 
 my flock : but to see with what fear I went forward, 
 how often 1 looked behind me, how 1 was ready, 
 every now and then, to lay down my basket, and 
 run for my life, it would have made any one thought 
 I was haunted with an evil conscience, or that I had 
 been lately most terribly frightened ; and so, in- 
 deed, I had. However, as I went down thus two or 
 three days, and having seen nothing, I began to be 
 a little bolder-, and to think there was really nothing 
 in it but my own imagination ; but I could not 
 persuade myself fully of this till I should go down 
 to the shore again, and see this print of a foot, and 
 measure it by my own, and see if there was any 
 similitude or fitness, that I might be assured it was
 
 178 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 my own foot: but when I came to the place, first, 
 it appeared evidently to me, that when I laid up my 
 boat, I could not possibly be on shore any where 
 thereabout : secondly, when I came to measure the 
 mark with my own foot, I found my foot not so 
 large by a great deal. Both these things filled my 
 head with new imaginations, and gave me the va- 
 pours again to the highest degree, so that 1 shook 
 with cold like one in an ague ; and I went home 
 again, filled with the belief that some man or men 
 had been on shore there ; or, in short, that the 
 island was inhabited, and I might be surprised be- 
 fore I was aware ; and what course to take for my 
 security I knew not. 
 
 O what ridiculous resolutions men take when 
 possessed with fear! It deprives them of the use 
 of those means which reason offers for their relief. 
 The first thing I proposed to myself was, to throw 
 down my enclosures, and turn all my tame cattle 
 wild into the woods, lest the enemy should find 
 them, and then frequent the island in prospect of 
 the same or the like booty ; then to the simple 
 thing of digging up my two corn fields, lest they 
 should find such a grain there, and still be prompt- 
 ed to frequent the island : then to demolish my 
 bower and tent, that they might not see any vestiges 
 of habitation, and be prompted to look farther, in 
 order to find out the persons inhabiting. 
 
 These were the subject of the first night's cogita- 
 tions after I was come home again, while the appre- 
 hensions which had so overrun my mind were fresh 
 upon me, and my head was full of vapours, as above. 
 Thus fear of danger is ten thousand times more ter- 
 rifying than danger itself, when apparent to the 
 eyes ; and we find the burthen of anxiety greater, 
 by much, than the evil which we are anxious about: 
 and, which was worse than all this, I had not that
 
 fiOBINSON CRUSOE. 179 
 
 relief in this trouble from the resignation I used to 
 practise, that I hoped to have. 1 looked, I thought, 
 like Saul, who complained not only that the Philis- 
 tines were upon him, but that God had forsaken 
 him ; for I did not now take due ways to compose 
 my mind, by crying to God in my distress, and rest- 
 ing upon his providence, as I had done before, for 
 my defence and deliverance ; which, if I had done, 
 I had at least been more cheerfully supported under 
 this new surprise, and perhaps carried through it 
 with more resolution. 
 
 This confusion of my thoughts kept me awake 
 all night; but in the morning I fell asleep; and 
 having, by the amusement of my mind, been, as it 
 were, tired, and my spirits exhausted, I slept very 
 soundly, and waked much better composed than I 
 had ever been before. And now I began to think 
 sedately ; and, upon the utmost debate with myself, 
 1 concluded that this island, which was so exceed- 
 ing pleasant, fruitful, and no farther from the main 
 land than as 1 had seen, was not so entirely abandon- 
 ed as I might imagine ; that although there were no 
 stated inhabitants who lived on the spot, yet that 
 there might sometimes come boats off from the 
 shore, who, either with design, or perhaps never 
 but when they were driven by cross winds, might 
 come to this place ; that I had lived here fifteen 
 years now, and had not met with the least shadow 
 or figure of any people yet; and that if at any time 
 they should be driven here, it was probable they 
 went away again as soon as ever they could, seeing 
 they had never thought fit to fix here upon any oc- 
 casion ; that the most I could suggest any danger 
 from, was from any casual accidental landing of 
 straggling people from the main, who, as it was 
 likely, if they were driven hither, were here against 
 their wills, so they made no stay here, but went off
 
 180 ADVENTUKES OF 
 
 again with all possible speed : seldom staying one 
 night on shore, lest they should not have the help 
 of the tides and day-light back again ; and that, 
 therefore, I had nothing to do but to consider of 
 some safe retreat, in case I should see any savages 
 land upon the spot. 
 
 Now I began -sorely to repent that I had dug my 
 cave so large as to bring a door through again, 
 which door, as I said, came out beyond where my 
 fortification joined to the rock : upon maturely con- 
 sidering this, therefore, I resolved to draw me a 
 second fortification, in the same manner of a semi- 
 circle, at a distance from my wall, just where J had 
 planted a double row of trees about twelve years be- 
 fore, of which I made mention : these trees having 
 been planted so thick before, they wanted but few 
 piles to be driven between them, that they might 
 be thicker and stronger, and my wall would be soon 
 finished : so that i had now a double wall ; and my 
 outer wall was thickened with pieces of timber, old 
 cables, and every thing I could think of, to make it 
 strong ; having in it seven little holes, about as big 
 as I might put my arm out at. In the inside of this, 
 I thickened my wall to about ten feet thick, with 
 continually bringing earth out of my cave, and lay- 
 ing it at the foot of the wall, and walking upon it ; 
 and through the seven holes I contrived to plant 
 the muskets, of which J took notice that I had got 
 seven on shore out of the ship ; these 1 planted like 
 my cannon, and fitted them into frames, that held 
 them like a carriage, so that 1 could fire all the 
 seven guns in two minutes time : this wall 1 was 
 many a weary month in finishing, and yet never 
 thought myself safe till it was done. 
 
 When this was done, I stuck all the ground with- 
 out my wall, for a great length every way, as full 
 with stakes, or sticks, of the osier-like wood, which
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOIi:. 181 
 
 I found so apt to grow, as they could well stand ; , 
 insomuch, that I beHeve I might set in near twenty- 
 thousand of them, leaving a pretty large space be- 
 tween them and my wall, that 1 might have room 
 to see an enemy, and they might have no shelter 
 from the young trees, if they attempted to approach 
 my outer wall. 
 
 Thus, in two years' time, I had a thick grove ; 
 and in five or six years' time I had a wood before my 
 dwelling, growing so monstrous thick and strong, 
 that it was indeed perfectly impassable; and no 
 men, of what kind soever, would ever imagine that 
 there was any thing beyond it, much less a habita- 
 tion. As for the v/ay which I proposed to myself 
 to go in and out (for I left no avenue), it was by 
 setting two ladders, one to a part of the rock which 
 was low, and then broke in, and left room to place 
 another ladder upon that ; so when the two ladders 
 were taken down, no man living could come down 
 to me without doing himself mischief; and if they 
 had come down, they were still on the outside 
 of my outer wail. 
 
 Thus I took all the measures human prudence 
 could suggest for my own preservation ; and it will 
 be seen, at length, that they were not altogether 
 without just reason ; though I foresaw nothing at 
 that time more than my mere fear suggested to me. 
 
 While this was doing, I was not altogether care- 
 less of my other alfairs; for I had a great concern 
 upon me for my little herd of goats ; they were not 
 only a ready supply to me on every occasion, and 
 began to be sufficient for me, without the expense 
 of powder and shot, but also without the fatigue of 
 hunting after the v, iid ones ; and I was loth to lose 
 the advantage of them, and to have them all to 
 nurse up over again. 
 
 For this purpose, after long consideration, I could 
 
 a 
 
 VOL. XVI, R
 
 182 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 think of but two ways to preserve them : one was, 
 to find another convenient place to dig a cave under 
 ground, and to drive them into it every night ; and 
 the other was, to enclose two or three little bits of 
 land, remote from one another, and as much con- 
 cealed as I could, where I might keep about half a 
 dozen young goats in each place ; so that if any dis- 
 aster happened to the flock in general, I might be 
 able to raise them again with little trouble and 
 time : and this, though it would require a great 
 deal of time and labour, I thought was the most ra- 
 tional design. 
 
 Accordingly, I spent some time to find out the 
 most retired parts of the island ; and I pitched up- 
 on one, which was as private, indeed, as my heart 
 could wish for : it was a little damp piece of ground, 
 in the middle of the hollow and thick woods, where, 
 as is observed, I almost lost myself once before, en- 
 deavouring to come back that way from the eastern 
 part of the island. Here I found a clear piece of 
 land, near three acres, so surrounded with woods, 
 that it was almost an enclosure by nature ; at least, 
 it did not want near so much labour to make it so as 
 the other pieces of ground I had worked so hard at. 
 
 I immediately went to work with this piece of 
 ground, and in less than a month's time I had so 
 fenced it round, that my flock, or herd, call it which 
 you please, who were not so wild now as at first 
 they might be supposed to be, were well enough 
 secured in it : so, without any farther delay, I re^ 
 moved ten young she-goats and two he-goats to this 
 piece ; and when they were there, I continued to 
 perfect the fence, till I had made it as secure as the 
 other ; which, however, I did at more leisure, and 
 it took me up more time by a great deal. All this 
 labour I was at the expense of, purely from my ap- 
 prehensions on the account of the print of a man's
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 183 
 
 foot which I had seen ; for, as yet, I never saw any 
 human creature come near the island ; and I had 
 now lived two years under this uneasiness, which, 
 indeed, made my life much less comfortable than it 
 was before, as may be well imagined by any who 
 knows what it is to live in the constant snare of the 
 fear of man. And this I must observe, with grief 
 too, that the discomposure of my mind had too 
 great impressions also upon the religious part of my 
 thoughts: for the dread and terror of falling into the 
 hands of savages and cannibals lay so upon my spirits, 
 that I seldom found myself in a due temper for ap- 
 plication to my Maker, at least not with the sedate 
 calmness and resignation of soul which I was wont 
 to do : I rather prayed to God as under great afflic- 
 tion and pressure of mind, surrounded with danger, 
 and in expectation every night of being murdered 
 and devoured before morning ; and I must testify 
 from my experience, that a temper of peace, thank- 
 fulness, love, and affection, is much the more proper 
 frame for prayer than that of terror and discompo- 
 sure ; and that under the dread of mischief impend- 
 ing, a man is no moi-e fit for a comforting perform- 
 ance of the duty of praying to God, than he is for a 
 repentance on a sick bed ; for these discomposures 
 afliect the mind, as the others do the body ; and the 
 discomposure of the mind must necessarily be as 
 great a disability as that of the body, and much 
 greater ; praying to God being properly an act of 
 the mind, not of the body. 
 
 But to go on : after I had thus secured one part of 
 my little living stock, I went about the whole island, 
 searching for another private place to make such 
 another deposit ; when, wandering more to the west 
 point of the island than I had ever done yet, and 
 looking out to sea, I thought I saw a boat upon the 
 sea, at a great distance. I had found a perspective- 
 
 r2
 
 184) ADVENTURES OF 
 
 glass or two in one of the seamen's chests, which f 
 saved out of our ship, but I had it not about me; 
 and this was so remote, that I could not tell what 
 to make of it, though I looked at it till my eyes 
 were not able to hold to look any longer : whether 
 it was a boat or not, I do not know, but as 1 descend- 
 ed from the hill I could see no more of it ; so 1 gave 
 it over ; only I resolved to go no more out without 
 a perspective-glass in my pocket. When I was come 
 down the hill to the end of the island, M'here, in- 
 deed, I had never been before, I was presently con- 
 \inced that the seeing the print of a naan's foot was 
 not such a strange thing in the island as I imagin- 
 ed : and, but that it was a special providence that 
 I was cast upon the side of the island where the 
 savages never came, 1 should easily have known 
 that nothing was more frequent than for the canoes 
 from the main, when they happened to be a little 
 too far out at sea, to shoot over to that side of the 
 island for harbour : likewise, as they often met and 
 fought in their canoes, the victors, having taken any 
 prisoners, would bring them over to this shore, 
 where, according to their dreadful customs, being 
 all cannibals, they would kill and eat them ; of 
 which hereafter. 
 
 When 1 was come down the hill to the shore as I 
 said above, being the S. W. point of the island, I was 
 perfectly confounded and amazed ; nor is it possible 
 for me to express the horror of my mind, at seeing 
 the shore spread with skulls, hands, feet, and other 
 bones of human bodies ; and, particularly, I ob- 
 served a place where there had been a lire made, and 
 a circle dug in the earth, like a cock-pit, where I 
 supposed the savage wretches had sat down to their 
 inhuman feastings upon the bodies of their fellow- 
 creatures. 
 
 1 was so astonished with the sight of these things.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 185 
 
 that I entertained no notions of any danger to my- 
 self from it for a long while : all my apprehensions 
 were buried in the thoughts of such a pitch of in- 
 human, hellish brutality, and the horror of the de- 
 generacy of human nature, which, though I had 
 heard of it often, yet I never had so near a view of 
 before : in short, I turned away my face from the 
 horrid spectacle ; my stomach grew sick, and I was 
 just at the point of fainting, when nature dis- 
 charged the disorder from my stomach ; and hav- 
 ing vomited with uncommon violence, 1 was a 
 little relieved, but could not bear to stay in the 
 place a moment ; so I got me up the hill again with 
 all the speed I could, and walked on towards my 
 own habitation. 
 
 When 1 came a little out of that part of the 
 island, I stood still awhile, as amazed, and then re- 
 covering myself, I looked up with the utmost affec- 
 tion of my soul, and, with a flood of tears in my 
 eyes, gave God thanks, that had cast my first lot in 
 a part of the world where 1 was distinguished from 
 such dreadful creatures as these ; and that, though 
 I had esteemed my present condition very miserable, 
 had yet given me so many comforts in it, that I 
 had still more to give thanks for than to complain 
 of: and this, above all, that I had, even in this 
 miserable condition, been comforted with the know- 
 ledge of Himself, and the hope of His blessing ; 
 which was a felicity more than sufficiently equiva- 
 lent to all the misery which 1 had suttered, or could 
 suffer. 
 
 In this frame of thankfulness, I went home to my 
 castle, and began to be nmch easier now, as to the 
 safety of my circumstances, than ever I was before : 
 for I observed that these wretches never came to 
 this island in search of what they could get; per- 
 haps not seeking, not wanting, or not expecting, 
 
 r3
 
 186 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 any thing here ; and having often, no doubt, been 
 up' in the covered, woody part of it, without finding 
 any thing to their purpose. I knew I had been here 
 now almost eighteen years, and never saw the least 
 footsteps of human creature there before ; and I 
 might be eighteen years more as entirely concealed 
 as 1 was now, if I did not discover myself to them, 
 which 1 had no manner of occasion to do ; it being 
 my only business to keep myself entirely concealed 
 where 1 was, unless I found a better sort of crea- 
 tures than cannibals to make myself known to. 
 "Yet I entertained such an abhorrence of the savage 
 wretches that I have been speaking of, and of the 
 wretched inhuman custom of their devouring and 
 eating one another up, that I continued pensive and 
 sad,and kept close within my own circle, for almost 
 two years after this ; when I say my own circle, I 
 mean by it my three plantations, viz. my castle, my 
 country-seat, wliich I called my bower, and my en- 
 closure in the woods: nor did I look after this for 
 any other use than as an enclosure for my goats ; 
 for the aversion which nature gave me to these 
 hellish wretches was such, that I was as fearfid of 
 seeing them as of seeing the Devil himself. I did 
 not so much as go to look after my boat all this 
 time, but began rather to think of making me an- 
 other ; for 1 could not think of ever making any 
 more attempts to bring the other boat round the 
 island to me, lest I should meet with some of these 
 creatures at sea ; in which if I had happened to 
 have fallen into their hands, I knew what would 
 have been my lot. 
 
 Time, however, and the satisfaction I had that I 
 was in no danger of being discovered by these peo- 
 ple, began to wear olf my uneasiness about them ; 
 and I began to live just in the same composed man- 
 ner as before ; only with this difference, that 1 used
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 187 
 
 more caution, and kept my eyes more about me, 
 than I did before, lest I should happen to be seen 
 by any of them ; and particularly, 1 was more cau- 
 tious of firing my gun, lest any of them being on 
 the island should happen to hear it. It was there- 
 fore a very good providence to me that I had fur- 
 nished myself with a tame breed of goats, and that 
 I had no need to hunt any more about the woods, 
 or shoot at them ; and if I did catch any of them 
 after this, it was by traps and snares, as I had done 
 before: so that for two years after this, I believe I 
 never fired my gun once oif, though I never went 
 out without it ; and, which was more, as I had 
 saved three pistols out of the ship, I always carried 
 them out with me, or at least two of them, sticking 
 them in my goat's-skin belt. I also furbished up 
 one of the great cutlasses that I had out of the ship, 
 and made me a belt to hang it on also ; so that I 
 v/as now a most formidable fellow to look at when 
 1 went abroad, if you add to the former description 
 of myself, the particular of two pistols, and a great 
 broad-sword hanging at my side in a belt, but with- 
 out a scabbard. 
 
 Things going on thus, as I have said, for some 
 time, I seemed, excepting these cautions, to be re- 
 duced to my former calm sedate way of living. All 
 these things tended to show me, more and more, 
 how far my condition was from being miserable, 
 compared to some others ; nay, to many other par- 
 ticulars of life, which it might have pleased God to 
 have made my lot. It put me upon reflecting how 
 little repining there would be among mankind at 
 any condition of life, if people would rather com- 
 pare their condition with those that were worse, in 
 order to be thankful, than be alw^ays comparing 
 them with those which are better, to assist their 
 murmurings and complainings.
 
 188 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 As in my present condition there were not really 
 many things which I wanted, so, indeed, I thought 
 that the frights I had been in about these savage 
 wretches, and the concern I had been in for my 
 own preservation, had taken off the edge of my in- 
 vention for my own conveniences ; and I had drop- 
 ped a good design, which I had once bent my 
 thoughts too much upon, and that was, to try if I 
 could not make some of my barley into malt, and 
 then try to brew myself some beer. This was really 
 a whimsical thought, and I reproved myself often 
 for the simplicity of it; for I presently saw there 
 would be the want of several things necessary to the 
 making my beer, that it would be impossible for me 
 to supply : as, first, casks to preserve it in, which 
 was a thing that, as I have observed already, I 
 could never compass ; no, though I spent not only 
 many days, but weeks, nay, months, in attempting 
 it, but to no purpose. In the next place, I had no 
 hops to make it keep, no yeast to make it work, no 
 copper or kettle to make it boil ; and yet, with all 
 these things wanting, I verily believe, had not the 
 frights and terrors I was in about the savages intei*- 
 vened, I had undertaken it, and perhaps brought it 
 to pass too ; for I seldom gave any thing over with- 
 out accomplishing it, when once I had it in my 
 head to begin it. But my invention now ran quite 
 another way ; for, night and day, I could think of 
 nothing but how I might destroy some of these 
 monsters in their cruel, bloody entertainment, and, 
 if possible, save the victim they should bring hither 
 to destroy. It would take up a larger volume than 
 this whole work is intended to be, to set down all 
 the contrivances I hatched, or rather brooded upon, 
 in my thoughts, for the destroying these creatures, 
 or at least frightening them so as to prevent their 
 coming hither any more : but all this was abortive ;
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 189 
 
 nothing could be possible to take effect, unless I was 
 to be there to do it myself: and what could one 
 man do among them, when perhaps there might be 
 twenty or thirty of them together, with their darts, 
 or their bows and arrows, with which they could 
 shoot as true to a mark as I could with my gun ? 
 
 Sometimes I thought of digging a hole undei* the 
 place where they made their fire, and putting in five or 
 six pounds of gunpowder, which, when they kindled 
 their fire, would consequently take fire, and blow up 
 all that was near it : but as, in the first place, I 
 should be unwilling to waste so much powder upon 
 them, my store being now within the quantity of 
 one barrel^ so neither could I be sure of its going off 
 at any certain time, when it might surprise them ; 
 and, at best, that it would do little more than just 
 blow the fire about their ears, and fright them, but 
 not sufficient to make them forsake the place : so I 
 laid it aside ; and then proposed that 1 would place 
 myself in ambush in some convenient place, with 
 my three guns all double-loaded, and, in the middle 
 of their bloody ceremony, let fly at them, when I 
 should be sure to kill or wound perhaps two or three 
 at every shot ; and then fulling in upon them with 
 my three pistols, and my sword, I made no doubt 
 but that if there were twenty I should kill them all. 
 This fancy pleased my thoughts for some weeks ; 
 and I was so full of it, that I often dreamed of it, 
 and sometimes that I was just going to let fly at 
 them in my sleep. I went so far with it in my 
 imagination, that I employed myself several days to 
 find out proper places to put myself in ambuscade, 
 as I said, to watch for them ; and I went frequently 
 to the place itself, which was now grown more fa- 
 miliar to me : but while my mind was thus filled 
 with thoughts of revenge, and a bloody putting 
 twenty or thirty of them to the sword, as 1 may call
 
 190 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 it, the horror 1 had at the place, and at the signals 
 of the barbarous wretches devouring one another, 
 abetted my malice. Well, at length, I found a 
 place in the side of the hill, where I was satisfied I 
 might securely wait till I saw any of their boats 
 coming : and might then, even before they would 
 be ready to come on shore, convey myself, unseen, 
 into some thickets of trees, in one of which there 
 was a hollow large enough to conceal me entirely ; 
 and there I might sit and observe all their bloody 
 doings, and take my full aim at their heads, when 
 they were so close together as that it would be next 
 to impossible that I should miss my shot, or that I 
 could fail wounding three or four of them at the 
 first shot. In this place, then, I resolved to fix my 
 design ; and, accordingly, I prepared two muskets 
 and my ordinary fowling-piece. The two muskets 
 I loaded with a brace of slugs each, and four or five 
 smaller bullets, about the size of pistol-bullets ; and 
 the fowling-piece I loaded with near a handful of 
 swan-shot, of the largest size : I also loaded my 
 pistols with about four bullets each ; and in this 
 posture, well provided with ammunition for a second 
 and third charge, I prepared myself for my expedition. 
 After I had thus laid the scheme of my design, 
 and, in my imagination, put it in practice, I conti- 
 nually made my tour every morning up to the top 
 of the hill, which was from my castle, as I called it, 
 about three miles, or more, to see if I could observe 
 any boats upon the sea, coming near the island, or 
 standing over towards it : but I began to tire of 
 this hard duty, after I had, for two or three months, 
 constantly kept my watch, but came always back 
 without any discovery ; tliere having not, in all that 
 time, been the least appearance, not only on or 
 near the shore, but on the whole ocean, so far as my 
 eyes or glasses could reach every way.
 
 KOBINSON CRUSOE. 191 
 
 As long as I kept my daily tour to the hill to look 
 out, so long also I kept up the vigour of my design, 
 and my spirits seemed to be all the while in a suit- 
 able form for so outrageous an execution as the kill- 
 ing twenty or thirty naked savages, for an offence 
 which I had not at all entered into a discussion of 
 in my thoughts, any farther than my passions were 
 at first fired by the horror I conceived at the un- 
 natural custom of the people of that country; who, 
 it seems, had been suffered by Providence, in his 
 wise disposition of the world, to have no other 
 guide than that of their own abominable and vitiated 
 passions ; and, consequently, were left, and per- 
 haps had been so for some ages, to act such horrid 
 things, and receive such dreadful customs, as no- 
 thing but nature, entirely abandoned by Heaven, 
 and actuated by some hellish degeneracy, could have 
 run them into. But now, when, as I have said, I 
 began to be weary of the fruitless excursion which 
 I had made so long and so far every morning in vain, 
 so my opinion of the action itself began to alter ; 
 and I began, with cooler and calmer thoughts, to 
 consider what I was going to engage in ; what au- 
 thority or call I had to pretend to be judge and 
 executioner upon these men as criminals, whom 
 Heaven had thought fit, for so many ages, to suffer, 
 unpunished, to go on, and to be, as it were, the 
 executioners of his judgements one upon another. 
 How far these people were ofienders against me, and 
 what right I had to engage in the quarrel of that 
 blood which they shed promiscuously upon one an- 
 other, I debated this very often with myself, thus : 
 How do I know what God himself judges in this 
 particular case? It is certain these people do not 
 commit this as a crime ; it is not against their own 
 consciences reproving, or their light reproaching 
 them ; they do not know it to be an offence, and
 
 192 ADVENTURES OF, 
 
 then commit it in defiance of divine justice, as we 
 do in almost all the sins we commit. They think 
 it no more a crime to kill a captive taken in war, 
 than we do to kill an ox ; nor to eat human fiesh, 
 than we do to eat mutton. 
 
 When I considered this a little, it followed neces- 
 sarily that I was certainly in the wrong in it; that 
 these people were not murderers in the sense that I 
 had before condemned them in my thoughts, any 
 more than those Christians were murderers who 
 often put to death the prisoners taken in battle ; or 
 more frequently, upon many occasions, put whole 
 troops of men to the sword, without giving quarter, 
 though they threw down their arms and submitted. 
 In the next place, it occurred to me, that although 
 the usage they gave one another was thus brutish 
 and inhuman, yet it was really nothing to me ; these 
 people had done me no injury : that if they at- 
 tempted me, or I saw it necessary, for my imme- 
 diate preservation, to fall upon them, something 
 might be said for it ; but that I was yet out of their 
 power, and they really had no knowledge of me, and 
 consequently no design upon me ; and therefore it 
 could not be just for me to fall upon them : that 
 this would justify the conduct of the Spaniards in 
 all their barbarities practised in America, where 
 they destroyed millions of these people : who, how- 
 ever they were idolaters and barbarians, and had 
 several bloody and barbarous rites in their customs, 
 such as sacrificing human bodies to their idols, were 
 yet, as to the Spaniards, very innocent people ; and 
 that the rooting them out of the country is spoken 
 of with the utmost abhorrence and detestation by 
 even the Spaniards themselves at this time, and by 
 all other Christian nations in Europe, as a mere 
 butchery, a bloody and unnatural piece of cruelty, 
 unjustifiable either to God or man ; and for which 
 3
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 193 
 
 the very name of a Spaniard is reckoned to be fright- 
 ful and terrible to all people of humanity, or of Chris- 
 tian compassion; as if the kingdom of Spain were par- 
 ticularly eminent for the produce of a race of men 
 who were without principles of tenderness, or the 
 common bowels of pity to the miserable, which is reck- 
 oned to be a mark of generous temper in the mind. 
 These considerations really put me to a pause, 
 and to a kind of a full stop ; and I began, by little 
 and little, to be off my design, and to conclude I 
 had taken wrong measures in my resolution to at- 
 tack the savages ; and that it was not my business 
 to meddle with them, unless they first attacked me; 
 and this it was my business, if possible, to prevent ; 
 but that if I were discovered and attacked by them, 
 I knew my duty. On the other hand, I argued with 
 myself, that this really was the way not to deliver 
 myself, but entirely to ruin and destroy myself; for 
 unless I was sure to kill every one that not only 
 should be on shore at that time, but that should 
 ever come on shore afterwards, if but one of them 
 escape to tell their country-people what had hap- 
 pened, they would come over again by thousands to 
 revenge the death of their fellows, and I should only 
 bring upon myself a certain destruction, which, at 
 present, I had no manner of occasion for. Upon 
 tJie whole, I concluded, that neither in principle 
 nor in policy, I ought, one way or other, to concern 
 myself in this affair : that my business was, by all 
 possible means, to conceal myself from them, and 
 not to leave the least signal to them to guess by 
 • that there were any living creatures upon the 
 island, I mean of human shape. Religion joined 
 in with this prudential resolution ; and I was con- 
 vinced now, many ways, that I was perfectly out 
 of my dutj when 1 was laying all my bloody 
 schemes for the destruction of innocent creatures,
 
 194' ADVENTURES OF 
 
 I mean innocent as to me. As to the crimes they 
 were guilty of towards one another, I had notliing 
 to do with them ; they were national, and I ought 
 to leave them to the justice of God, who is the go- 
 vernor of nations, and knows how, by national pu- 
 nishments, to make a just retribution for national 
 offences, and to bring public judgements upon those 
 who offend in a public manner, by such ways as best 
 please him. This appeared so clear to me now, that 
 nothing was a greater satisfaction to me than that I 
 had not been suffered to do a thing which I now saw 
 so much reason to believe would have been no less a 
 sin than that of wilful murder, if I had committed 
 it; and I gave most humble thanks on my knees to 
 God, that had thus delivered me from blood-guil- 
 tiness; beseeching him to grant me the protection 
 of his providence, that I might not fall into the 
 hands of the barbarians, or that I might not lay my 
 hands upon them, unless I had a more clear call 
 from Heaven to do it, in defence of my own life. 
 
 In this disposition I continued for near a year 
 after this; and so far was I from desiring an occasion 
 for falling upon these wretches, that in all that time 
 I never once went up the hill to see whether there 
 were any of them in sight, or to know whether any of 
 them had been on shore there or not, that I might not 
 be tempted to renew any of my contrivances against 
 them, or be provoked, by any advantage which 
 might present itself, to fall upon them : only this I 
 did, I went and removed my boat, which I had on 
 the other side of the island, and carried it down to 
 the east end of the whole island, where I ran it into 
 a little cove, which I found under some high rocks, 
 and where I knew, by reason of the currents, the 
 savages durst not, at least would not come, with 
 their boats, upon any account whatever. With my 
 boat I carried away every thing that I had left there
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 195 
 
 belonging to her, though not necessary for the bare 
 going thither, viz. a mast and sail which 1 had made 
 for her, and a thing like an anchor, but which, in- 
 deed, could not be called either anchor or grapnel ; 
 however, it was the best I could make of its kind : 
 all these I removed, that there might not be the 
 least shadow of any discovery, or any appearance of 
 any boat, or of any human habitation, upon the 
 island. Besides this, I kept myself, as I said, more 
 retired than ever, and seldom went from my cell, 
 other than upon my constant employment, viz. to 
 milk my she-goats, and manage my little flock in the 
 wood, which, as it was quite on the other part of 
 the island, was quite out of danger ; for certain it 
 is, that these savage people, who sometimes haunted 
 this island, never came with any thoughts of find- 
 ing any thing here, and consequently never wan- 
 dered off from the coast ; and I doubt not but 
 they might have been several times on shore after 
 my apprehensions of them had made me cautious, 
 as well as before. Indeed, I looked back with some 
 horror upon the thoughts of what my condition 
 would have been if I had chopped upon them and 
 been discovered before that, when, naked and un- 
 armed, except with one gun, and that loaded often 
 only with small shot, I walked every where, peep- 
 ing and peering about the island to see what I could 
 get ; what a surprise should I have been in, if, 
 when I discovered the print of a man's foot, I had, 
 instead of that, seen fifteen or twenty savages, and 
 found them pursuing me, and by the swiftness of 
 their running, no possibility of my escaping them] 
 The thoughts of this sometimes sunk my very soul 
 within me, and distressed my mind so much, that 
 I could not soon recover it, to think what I should 
 have done, and how I should not only have been 
 unable to resist them, but even should not have had 
 
 s2
 
 !96 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 presence of mind enough to do what I might have 
 done; much less what now, after so much consi- 
 deration and preparation, I might be able to do. 
 Indeed, after serious thinking of these things, I 
 would be very melancholy, and sometimes it would 
 last a great while; but I resolved it all, at last, into 
 thankfulness to that Providence which had deli- 
 vered me from so many unseen dangers, and had 
 kept me from those mischiefs which I could have no 
 way been the agent in delivering myself from, be- 
 cause I had not the least notion of any such thing 
 depending, or the least supposition of its being 
 possible. This renewed a contemplation which oftea 
 had come to my thoughts in former time, when 
 first I began to see the merciful dispositions of 
 Heaven, in the dangers we run through in this life ; 
 how wonderfully we are delivered when we know 
 nothing of it ; how, when we are in {a quandary, 
 as we call it) a doubt or hesitation, whether to go 
 this way, or that way, a secret hint shall direct us 
 this way, when we intended to go that way : nay, 
 when sense, our own inclination and perhaps bu- 
 siness, has called to go the other way, yet a strange 
 impression upon the mind, from we know not what 
 springs, and by we know not what power, shall 
 overrule us to go this way ; and it shall afterwards 
 appear, that had we gone that way which we should 
 have gone, and even to our imagination ought to 
 have gone, we should have been ruined and lost. 
 Upon these, and many like reflections, 1 afterwards 
 made it a certain rule with me, that whenever I 
 found those secret hints or pressings of mind, to 
 doing or not doing any thing that presented, or go- 
 ing this way or that way, I never failed to obey the 
 secret dictate ; though I knew no other reason for 
 it than that such a pressure, or such a hint, hung 
 upon my mind. I could give many examples of the
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 197 
 
 success of this conduct in the course of my life, but 
 more especially in the latter part of my inhabiting 
 this unhappy island ; besides many occasions which 
 it is very likely I might have taken notice of, if I 
 had seen with the same eyes then that I see with 
 now. But it is never too late to be wise ; and I 
 cannot but advise all considering men, whose lives 
 are attended with such extraordinary incidents as 
 mine, or even though not so extraordinary, not to 
 slight such secret intimations of Providence, let 
 them come from what invisible intelligence they 
 will. That I shall not discuss, and perliaps cannot 
 account for ; but certainly they are a proof of the 
 converse of spirits, and a secret communication be- 
 tween those embodied and those unembodied, and 
 such a proof as can never be withstood ; of which I 
 shall have occasion to give some very remarkable 
 instances in the remainder of my solitary residence 
 in this dismal place. 
 
 I believe the reader of this will not think it 
 strange if I confess that these anxieties, these con- 
 stant dangers I lived in, and the concern that was 
 now upon me, put an end to all invention, and to 
 all the contrivances that 1 had laid for my future 
 accommodations and conveniences. I had the care 
 of my safety more now upon my hands than that of 
 my food. I cared not to drive a nail, or chop a stick 
 of wood now, for fear the noise I might make should 
 be heard ; much less would I fire a gun, for the 
 same reason : and, above all, I was intolerably un- 
 easy at making any fire, lest the smoke, which is 
 visible at a great distance in the day, should betray 
 me. For this reason I removed that part of my 
 business which required fire, such as burning of 
 pots and pipes, &c. into my new apartment in the 
 woods ; where, after I had been some time, I found, 
 to my unspeakable consolation, a mere natural cave 
 
 s 3
 
 198 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 in the earth, which went in a vast way, and where, 
 I dare say, no savage, liad he been at the mouth of 
 it, would be so hardy as to venture in ; nor, indeed^, 
 would any man else, but one who, like me, wanted 
 nothing so much as a sate retreat. 
 
 The mouth of this hollow was at the bottom of a 
 great rock, whei'e by mere accident (I would say, if I 
 did not see abundant reason to ascribe all such things^ 
 now to Providence), I was cutting down some thick 
 branches of trees to make charcoal ; and, before I 
 go on, I must observe the reason of ray making 
 this charcoal, which was thus : I was afraid of ma- 
 king a smoke about my habitation, as 1 said before; 
 andyetlcould not live there without baking my bread, 
 cooking my meat, &c. ; so I contrived to burn some 
 wood here, as I had seen done in England, under 
 turf, till it became chark, or dry coal : and then 
 putting the fire out, I preserved the coal to carry 
 home, and perform the other services for which fire 
 was wanting, without danger of smoke. But this is 
 by the by : — While I was cutting down some wood 
 here, I perceived that behind a ver}'^ thick branch 
 of low brush-wood, or under-wood, there was a 
 kind of hollow place : I was curious to look in it, 
 and getting with difficulty into the mouth of it, I 
 found it was pretty large : that is to say, sufficient 
 for me to stand upright in it, and perhaps another 
 with me : but I must confess to you that I made 
 more haste out than I did in, when, looking farther 
 into the place, and which was perfectly dark, I saw 
 two broad shining eyes of some creature, whether 
 devil or man I knew not, which twinkled like two 
 stars ; the dim light from the cave's mouth shining 
 directly in, and makii-g the reflection. However, 
 after some pause, I recovered myself, and began to 
 call myself a thousand fools, and to think, that he 
 that was afraid to see the devil was not fit to live
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 199 
 
 twenty years in an island all alone ; and that I might 
 well think there Avas nothing in this cave that was 
 more frightful than myself Upon this, plucking 
 up my courage, I took up a firebrand, and in 1 rushed 
 again, with the stick flaming in my hand : J had 
 not gone three steps in, but I was almost as much 
 frightened as I was before ; for I heard a very loud 
 sigh, like that of a man in some pain, and it was fol- 
 lowed by a broken noise, as of words half-expressed, 
 and then a deep sigh again. I stepped back, and 
 was indeed struck with such a surprise, that it put ■ 
 ,rne into a cold sweat ; and if I had had a hat on my 
 head, I will not answer for it, that my hair might 
 not have lifted it off. But still plucking up my spirits 
 as well as I could, and encouraging myself a little with 
 considering that the power and presence of God 
 was every where, and was able to protect me, upon 
 this I stepped forward again, and by the light of 
 the firebrand, holding it up a little over my head, I 
 saw lying on the ground a most monstrous, fright- 
 ful, old he-goat, just making his will, as we say, 
 and gasping for life ; and dying, indeed, of mere 
 old age. I stirred him a little to see if I could get 
 him out, and he essayed to get up, but was not able 
 to raise himself; and 1 thought with myself he might 
 even lie there ; for if he had frightened me, so he 
 would certainly fright any of the savages, if any of 
 them should be so hardy as to come in there while 
 he had any life in him. 
 
 I was now recovered from my surprise, and began 
 to look round me, when I found the cave was but 
 very small, that is to say, it might be about twelve 
 feet over, but in no manner of shape, neither round 
 nor square, no hands having ever been employed in 
 making it but those of mere Nature. I observed 
 also that there was a place at the farther side of it 
 that went in further, but was so low that it required
 
 200 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 me to creep upon my hands and knees to go into it, 
 and whither it went I knew not: so having no candle, 
 I gave it over for that time ; but resolved to come 
 again the next day, provided with candles and a 
 tinder-box, which 1 had made of the lock of one of 
 the muskets, with some wild-fire in the pan. 
 
 Accordingly, the next day I came provided with 
 six large candles of my own making (for I made very 
 good candles now of goat's tallow, but was hard set 
 for candle-wick, using sometimes rags or rope-yarn, 
 and sometimes the dried rind of a weed like net- 
 tles) ; and going into this low place, I was obliged 
 to creep upon all fours, as I have said, almost ten 
 yards ; which, by the way, 1 thought was a venture 
 bold enough, considering that I knew not how far 
 it might go, nor what was beyond it. When 1 had 
 got through the strait, I found the roof rose higher 
 up, 1 believe near twenty feet ; but never was such 
 a glorious sight seen in the island, I dare say, as it 
 was, to look round the sides and roof of this vault 
 or cave ; the wall reflected an hundred thousand 
 lights to me from my two candles. What it was in 
 the rock, whether diamonds, or any other precious 
 stones, or gold, which I rather supposed it to be, I 
 knew not. The place I was in was a most delight- 
 ful cavity or grotto of its kind, as could be expected, 
 though perfectly dark ; the floor was dry and level, 
 and had a sort of a small loose gravel upon it, so 
 that there was no nauseous or venomous creature to 
 be seen, neither was there any damp or wet on the 
 sides or roof: the only difficulty in it was the en- 
 trance ; which, however, as it was a place of secu- 
 rity, and such a retreat as I wanted, I thought that 
 was a convenience ; so that I was really rejoiced at 
 the discovery, and resolved, without any delay, to 
 bring some of those things which I was most anxi- 
 ous about to this place ; particularly, I resolved to
 
 KOBIKSOX CRUSOE. 20f 
 
 bring hither my magazine of powder, and afl my 
 spare arms, viz. two fowling pieces, for 1 had three 
 in all, and three muskets, for of them i had eight in 
 all : so I kept at my castle only five, which stood 
 ready-momited, like pieces of cannon, on my out- 
 most fence ; and were ready also to take out upon 
 any expedition. Upon this occasion of removing 
 my ammunition, I happened to open the barrel of 
 powder which I took up out of the sea, and which 
 had been wet ; and I found that the v/ater had pe- 
 netrated about three or four inches into the powder 
 on every side, which, caking and growing hard, had 
 preserved the inside like a kernel in the shell ; so 
 that I had near sixty pounds of veiy good powder 
 in the centre of the cask : this was a very agreeable 
 discovery to me at that time ; so I carried all away 
 thither, never keeping above two or three pounds 
 of powder with me in my castle, for fear of a sur- 
 prise of any kind : I also carried thither all the lead 
 i had left for bullets. 
 
 I fancied ni) self now like one of the ancient gi- 
 ants, which were said to live in caves and holes in 
 the rocks, where none could come at them ; for I 
 persuaded myself, while I was here, that if five hun- 
 dred savages were to hunt me, they could never find 
 me out ; or, if they did, they would not venture to 
 attack me here. The old goat, whom I found expir- 
 ing, died in the mouth of the cave the next day after 
 I made this discovery : and I found it much easier 
 to dig a great hole there, and throw him in and cover 
 him with earth, than to drag him out ; so I interred 
 him there, to prevent offence to my nose. 
 
 I was now in the twenty-third year of my residence 
 in this island; and was so naturalized to the place, 
 and the manner of living, that could I have but en- 
 joyed the certainty that no savages would come to 
 the place to disturb me, I could have been content
 
 202 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 to have capitulated for spending the rest of my time 
 there, even to the last moment, till I had laid me 
 down and died, like the old goat in the cave. I had 
 also arrived to some little diversions and amusements, 
 which made the time pass a great deal more plea- 
 santly with me than it did before : as, first, I had 
 taught my Poll, as I noted before, to speak ; and he 
 did it so familiarly, and talked so articulately and 
 plain, that it was very pleasant to me ; for I believe 
 no bird ever spoke plainer ; and he lived with me 
 no less than six-and-twenty years : how long he 
 might have lived afterwards I know not, though I 
 know they have a notion in the Brazils that they 
 live a hundred years. My dog was a very pleasant 
 and loving companion to me for no less than six- 
 teen years of my time, and then died of mere old age. 
 As for my cats, they multiplied, as I have observed, to 
 that degree, that I was obliged to shoot several of them 
 at first, to keep them from devouring me and all I 
 had; but at length, when the two old ones I brought 
 with me were gone, and after some time continually 
 driving them from me, and letting them have no pro- 
 vision with me, they all ran wild into the woods, 
 except two or three favourites, which I kept tame, 
 and whose young, when they had any, I always 
 drowned ; and these were part of my family. Be- 
 sides these, I always kept two or three household 
 kids about me, whom I taught to feed out of ray 
 hand ; and I had two more parrots, which talked 
 pretty well, and would all call Robin Crusoe, but 
 none like my first ; nor, indeed did I take the pains 
 with any of them that I had done with him. I had 
 also several tame sea- fowls, whose names I knew 
 not, that I caught upon the shore, and cut their 
 wings ; and the little stakes which I had planted 
 before my castle-wall being now grown up to a good 
 thick grove, these fowls all lived among these low 
 5
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 203 
 
 trees, and bred there, which was very agreeable to 
 me ; so that, as I said above, I began to be very well 
 contented with the life I led, if I could have been 
 secured from the dread of the savages. But it was 
 otherwise directed ; and it may not be amiss for all 
 people who shall meet with my story, to make this 
 ■just observation from it, viz. How frequently, in 
 the course of our lives, the evil which in itself we 
 seek most to shun, and which, when we are fallen 
 into, is the most dreadful to us, is oftentimes the 
 very means or door of our deliverance, by which 
 alone we can be raised a^ain from the affliction we 
 are fallen into. I could give many examples of 
 this in the course of my unaccountable life ; but in 
 nothing was it more particularly remarkable than 
 in the circumstances of my last years of solitary re- 
 sidence in this island. 
 
 It was now the month of December, as I said 
 above, in my twenty-third year ; and this, being the 
 southern solstice (for winter I cannot call it), was 
 the particular time of my harvest, and required my 
 being pretty much abroad in the fields : when going 
 out pretty early in the morning, even before it was 
 thorough day-light, I was surprised with seeing a 
 light of some fire upon the shore, at a distance from 
 me of about two miles, towards the end of the island 
 where I had observed some savages had been, as be- 
 fore, and not on the other side ; but, to my great 
 affliction, it was on my side of the island. 
 
 I was indeed terribly surprised at the sight, and 
 stopped short within my grove, not daring to go out, 
 lest 1 might be surprised ; and yet I had no more 
 peace within, from the apprehensions I had that if 
 these savages, in rambling over the island, should 
 find my corn standing or cut, or any of my works 
 and improvements, they would immediately conclude 
 that there were people in the place, and would then
 
 204; ADVENTURES OF 
 
 never give over till they had found me out. In this 
 extremity, I went back directly to my castle, pulled 
 up the ladder after me, and made all things without 
 look as wild and natural as I could. 
 
 Then I prepared myself within, putting myself in 
 a posture of defence : I loaded all my cannon, as I 
 called them, that is to say, my muskets, which were 
 mounted upon my new fortification, and all my pis- 
 tols, and resolved to defend myself to the last gasp ; 
 not forgetting seriously to commend myself to the 
 divine protection, and earnestly to pray to God to 
 deliver me out of the hands of the barbarians. 1 
 continued in this posture about two hours ; and 
 began to be mighty impatient for intelligence 
 abroad, for I had no spies to send out. After sit- 
 ting awhile longer, and musing what 1 should do in 
 this, I was not able to bear sitting in ignorance any 
 longer ; so setting up my ladder to the side of the 
 hill, where there was a flat place, as I observed be- 
 fore, and then pulling the ladder up after me, I set 
 it up again, and mounted to the top of the hill ; and 
 pulling out my perspective-giass, which I had taken 
 on purpose, I laid me down flat on my belly on the 
 ground, and began to look for the place. I pre- 
 sently found there was no less than nine naked sa- 
 vages, sitting round a small fire they had made, not 
 to warm them, for they had no need of that, the 
 weather being extremely hot, but, as I supposed, to 
 dress some of their barbarous diet of human flesh, 
 which they had brought with them, whether aiive 
 or dead I could not tell. 
 
 They had two canoes with them, which they had 
 hauled up upon the shore ; and as it was then tide 
 of ebb, they seemed to me to wait for the return of 
 the flood to go away again. It is not easy to ima- 
 gine what confusion this sight put me into, espe- 
 cially seeing them come on my side of the island,
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 205 
 
 and so near me too ; but when I considered their 
 coming must be always with the current of the ebb, 
 I began, afterwards, to be more sedate in my mind, 
 being satisfied that I might go abroad with safety 
 all the time of the tide of flood, if they were not 
 on shore before ; and liaving made this observation, 
 I went abroad about my harvest-work with the 
 more composure. 
 
 As I expected, so it proved ; for as soon as the 
 tide made to the westward, I saw them all take boat, 
 and row (or paddle, as we call it) away. 1 should 
 have observed, that for an hour or more before they 
 went off, they went a-dancing; and I could easily 
 discern their postures and gestures by my glass. I 
 could not perceive, by my nicest observation, but 
 that they were stark naked, and had not the least 
 covering upon them ; but whether they were men 
 or women, I could not distinguish. 
 
 As soon as I saw them shipped and gone, I took 
 two guns upon my shoulders, and two pistols in my 
 girdle, and my great sword by my side, without a 
 scabbard, and with all the speed I was able to make, 
 went away to the hill where I had discovered the 
 first appearance of all ; and as soon as I got thither, 
 which was not in less than two hours (for I could 
 not go apace, being so loaden with arms as I was), 
 I perceived there had been three canoes more of sa- 
 vages at that place ; and looking out farther, I saw 
 they were all at sea together, making over for the 
 main. This was a dreadful sight to me, especially 
 as, going down to the shore, 1 could see the marks 
 of horror, which the dismal work they had been 
 about had left behind it, viz. the blood, the bones, 
 and part of the flesh, of human bodies, eaten and 
 devoured by those wretches with merriment and 
 sport. I was so filled with indignation at the sight, 
 that I now began to premeditate the destruction of 
 
 T
 
 206 ADVENTUUEiJ OF 
 
 the next that I saw there, let them be whom or how 
 many soever. It seemed evident to me that the 
 visits which they made thus to this island were not 
 very frequent, for it was above fifteen months be- 
 fore any more of thein came on shore there again ; 
 that is to say, I neither saw them, nor any footsteps 
 or signals of them, in all that time ; for, as to the 
 riiiny seasons, then they are sure not to come 
 abroad, at least not so far : yet all this while I 
 lived uncomfortably, by reason of the constant ap- 
 prehensions of their coming upon me by surprise : 
 from whence I observe, that the expectation of evil 
 is more bitter than the suffering, especially if theie 
 is no room to shake off that expectation, or those 
 apprehensions. 
 
 During all this time I was in the murdering hu- 
 mour, and took up most of my hours, which should 
 have been better employed, in contriving how to 
 circumvent and fall upon them, the very next time 
 I should see them ; especially if they should be di- 
 vided, as they were the last time, into two parties : 
 nor did I consider at all, that if 1 killed one party, 
 suppose ten or a dozen, I was still the next day, or 
 week, or month, to kill another, and so another, 
 even ad injinitum, till I should be at length no less 
 a murderer than they were in being man-eaters, and 
 perhaps much more so. I spent my days now in 
 great perplexity and anxiety of mind, expecting that 
 1 should, one day or other, fall into the hands of 
 these merciless creatures ; and if I did at any time 
 venture abroad, it was not without looking I'ound 
 me with the greatest care and caution imaginable. 
 And now I found, to my great comfort, how happy 
 it was that I provided for a tame flock or herd of 
 goats ; for I durst not, upon any account, fire my 
 gun, especially near that side of the island where 
 they usually came, lest I should alarm the savages ;
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE, 207 
 
 and if they had fled from me now, I was sure to 
 have them come again, with perhaps two or three 
 hundred canoes with them, in a few days, and then 
 I knew what to expect. However, I wore out a 
 year and three months more before I ever saw any 
 more of the savages, and then I found them again, 
 as I shall soon observe. It it true, they might have 
 been there once or twice, but either they made no 
 stay, or at least I did not see them : but in the 
 month of May, as near as I could calculate, and in 
 my four-and-twentieth year, I had a very strange 
 encounter with them; of which in its place. 
 
 The perturbation of my mind, during this fifteen 
 or sixteen months' interval, was very great ; I slept 
 unquiet, dreamed always frightful dreams, and often 
 started out of my sleep in the night : in the day, 
 great troubles overwhelmed my mind; and in the 
 night, I dreamed often of killing the savages, and 
 of the reasons why I might justify the doing of it. 
 But, to wave all this for a while. — It was in the 
 middle of May, on the sixteenth day, I think, as 
 well as my poor wooden calendar would reckon, for 
 I marked all upon the post still ; I say, it was on the 
 sixteenth of ^Iay that it blew a very great storm of 
 wind all day, with a great deal of lightning and 
 thunder, and a very foul night it was after it. I 
 knew not what was the particular occasion of it, 
 but as I was reading in the Bible, and taken up 
 with very serious thoughts about my present condi- 
 tion, I was surprised with the noise of a gun, as I 
 thought, fired at sea. This was, to be sure, a sur- 
 prise quite of a different nature from any I had 
 met with before ; for the notions this put into my 
 thoughts were quite of another kind. I started up 
 in the greatest haste imaginable, and, in a trice, 
 clapped my ladder to the middle place of the rock, 
 and pulled it after me ; and mounting it the second 
 
 T 2
 
 208 ADVENTURES OP 
 
 time, got to the top of the hill the very moment 
 that a flash of fire bid me listen for a second gun, 
 which accordingly, in about half a minute, I heard ; 
 and, by the sound, knew that it was from that part 
 of the sea where 1 was driven down the current in 
 my boat. I immediately considered that this must 
 be some ship in distress, and that they had some 
 comrade, or some other ship in company, and fired 
 these guns for signals of distress, and to obtain 
 help. I had the presence of mind, at that minute, 
 to think, that though I could not help them, it 
 might be they might help me : so I brought toge- 
 ther all the dry wood I could get at hand, and mak- 
 ing a good handsome pile, I set it on fire upon the 
 hill. The wood was dry, and blazed freely; and 
 though the wind blew very hard, yet it burnt fairly 
 out ; so that I was certain, if there was any such 
 thing as a ship, they must needs see it; and no 
 doubt they did ; for as soon as ever my fire blazed 
 up I heard another gun, and after that several 
 others, all from the same (juarter. I plied my fire 
 all night long, till day-break; and when it was 
 broad day, and the air cleared up, I saw something 
 at a great distance at sea, full east of the island, 
 livhether a sail or a hull I could not distinguish, no, 
 not with my glass ; the distance was so great, and 
 the weather still something hazy also ; at least, it 
 was so out at sea. 
 
 I looked frequently at it all that day, and soon 
 perceived that it did not move ; so I presently con- 
 cluded that it v/as a ship at anchor; and being 
 eager, you may be sure, to be satisfied, 1 took my 
 gun in my hand, and ran towards the south side of 
 tlie island, to the rocks where 1 had formerly been 
 carried away with the current ; and getting up 
 there, the weather by this time being perfectly clear, 
 I could plainly see, to my great sorrow, the wreck
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 209 
 
 of a ship, cast away in the night upon those con- 
 cealed rocks which I found when I was out in my 
 boat ; and which rocks, as they checked the violence 
 of the stream, and made a kind of counter-stream, 
 or eddy, were the occasion of my recovering from 
 the most desperate, hopless condition that ever I 
 had been in, all my life. Thus, what is one man's 
 safety is another man's destruction ; for it seems 
 these men, whoever they were, being out of their 
 knowledge, and the rocks being wholly under water, 
 had been driven upon them in the night, the wind 
 blowing hard at E. N. E. Had they seen the island, 
 as I must necessarily suppose they did not, they 
 must, as I thought, have endeavoured to have saved 
 themselves on shore by the help of their boat ; but 
 their firing off guns for help, especially when they 
 saw, as I imagined, my fire, filled me with many 
 thoughts : First, I imagined that upon seeing my 
 light, they might have put themselves into their 
 boat, and endeavoured to make the shore ; but that 
 the sea going very high, they might have been cast 
 away ; other times I imagined that they might have 
 lost their boat before, as might be the case many 
 ways ; as, particularly, by the breaking of the sea 
 upon their ship, which many times obliges men to 
 stave, or take in pieces, their boat, and sometimes 
 to throw it overboard with their own hands : other 
 times I imagined they had some other ship or ships 
 in company, who upon the signals of distress they 
 had made, had taken them up and carried them off: 
 other times I fancied they were all gone off to sea 
 in their boat, and being hurried away by the current 
 that I had been formerly in, were carried out into 
 the great ocean, where there was nothing but misery 
 and perishing; and that, perhaps, they might by 
 this time think of starving, and of being in a con- 
 dition to eat one another. 
 
 T 3
 
 210 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 As all these were but conjectures at best, so, in 
 the condition I was in, I could do no more than 
 look on upon the misery of the poor men, and pity 
 them ; which had still this good effect on my side, 
 that it gave me more and more cause to give thanks 
 to God, who had so happily and comfortably pro- 
 vided for me in my desolate condition; and that of 
 two ships' companies who were now cast away upon 
 this part of the world, not one life should be spared 
 but mine. I learned here again to observe, that it 
 is very rare that the providence of God casts us into 
 any condition of life so low, or any miserj^ so great, 
 but we may see something or other to be thankful 
 for, and may see others in worse circumstances than 
 our own. Such certainly was the case of these 
 men, of whom I could not so much iis 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 com- 
 pany; and this was but mere possibihty indeed, for 
 I saw not the least sign or appearance of any such 
 thing. I cannot explain by any possible energy of 
 words, what a strange longing or hankering of de- 
 sires I felt in my soul upon this sight, breaking out 
 sometimes thus — O that there had been but one or 
 two, nay, or but one soul, saved out of this ship, to 
 have escaped to me, that I might but have had one 
 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 af- 
 fections, which, when they are set agoing by some 
 object in view, or, though not in view, yet rendered 
 present to the mind by the power of imagination,
 
 KOBINSON CRUSOE, 211 
 
 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. 
 J believe I repeated the words, O that it had been 
 but one ! a thousand times ; and my desires were so 
 moved by it, that when 1 spoke the words my hands 
 would clinch together, and my fingers would press 
 the palms of my hands, so that if I had had any soft 
 thing in my hand, it would have crushed it involun- 
 tarily ; and the teeth in my head would strike toge- 
 ther, and set against one another so strong, that 
 for some time 1 could not part thenj again. Let 
 the naturalists explain these things, and the reason 
 and manner of them ; all I can say to them is, to 
 describe the fact, which was even surprising to me, 
 when I found it, though I knew not from whence 
 it proceeded : it was doubtless the effect of ardent 
 wishes, and of strong ideas formed in my mind, 
 realising the comfort which the conversation of one 
 of my fellow-Christians would have been to me. — 
 But it was not to be ; either their fate or mine, or 
 both, forbade it : for, till the Jast year of my being 
 on this island, I never knew whether any were saved 
 out of that ship or no ; and had only the affliction, 
 some days after, to see the corpse of a drowned boy 
 come on shore at the end of the island which was 
 next the shipwreck. He had no clothes on but a 
 seaman's waistcoat, a pair of open-kneed linen 
 drawers, and a blue linen shirt ; but nothing to 
 direct me so mucli as to guess what nation he was 
 of: he bad nothing in his pockets but two pieces- 
 of-eight and a tobacco-pipe ; — the last was to me of 
 ten times more value than the first. 
 
 It was now calm, and 1 had a great mind to ven- 
 ture out in my boat to this wreck, not doubting but 
 I might find something on board that might be use-
 
 212 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 ful to me: but that did not altogether press me so 
 much as the possibility that there might be yet some 
 living creatui'e on board, whose life I might not only 
 save, but might, by saving that life, comfort my 
 own to the last degree; and this thought clung so 
 to my heart, that I could not be quiet night or day, 
 but I must venture out in my boat on board this 
 wreck; and committing the rest to God's providence, 
 I thought the impression was so strong upon my 
 mind that it could not be resisted, that it must come 
 from some invisible direction, and that I should be 
 wanting to myself if I did no go. 
 
 Under the power of this impression, I hastened 
 back to my castle, prepared every thing for my 
 voyage, took a quantity of bread, a great pot of 
 fresh water, a compass to steer by, a bottle of rum 
 (for I had still a great deal of that left), and a 
 basket of raisins : and thus, loading myself with 
 every thing necessary, 1 went down to my boat, got 
 the water out of her, put her afloat, loaded all my 
 cargo in her, and then went home again for more. 
 My second cargo was a great bag of rice, the um- 
 brella to set up over my head for a shade, another 
 large pot 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 sweat, I carried to my boat ; 
 and praying to God to direct my voyage, I put out; 
 and rowing, or paddling, the canoe along the shore, 
 came at last to the utmost point of the island on 
 the north-east side. And now I was to launch out 
 into the ocean, and either to venture or not to ven- 
 ture. 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 re- 
 membrance of the hazard I had been in before, and 
 my heart began to fail me ; for I foresaw that if I
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE, 213 
 
 was driven Into either of those currents, I should 
 be carried a great way out to sea, and perhaps out 
 of my reach, or sight of the island again ; and that 
 then, as my boat was but small, if any little gale 
 of wind should rise, I should be inevitably lost. 
 
 These thoughts so oppressed my mind, that I be- 
 gan to give over my enterprise ; and having hauled 
 my boat into a little creek on the shore, I stepped 
 out, and sat me down upon a rising bit of ground, 
 very pensive and anxious, between fear and desire, 
 about my voyage ; when, as I was musing, I could 
 perceive that the tide was turned, and the flood 
 come on ; upon which my going was impracticable 
 for so many hours. Upon this, presently it occur- 
 .red to me, that I should go up to the highest piece 
 of ground I could find, and observe, if 1 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 an- 
 other way home, with the same rapidness of the 
 currents. This thought was no sooner in my head 
 than I cast my eye upon a littJe hill, which surficitnt- 
 \y 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 1 found, tiiat as the current of the 
 ■ebb set out close by the south point of the island, 
 so the current of the flood set in close by the shore 
 of the north side ; and that I had nothing to do but 
 to keep to the north side of the island in my return, 
 and I should do well enough. 
 
 Encouraged with this observation, I resolved, the 
 next morning, to set out with the first of the tide; 
 and reposing myself for the night in my canoe, 
 under the great watch-coat I mentioned, I launched 
 out. 1 first made a little out to sea, full north, till 
 J began to feel the benefit of the current, which set
 
 214 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 eastward, and which carried me at a great rate ; 
 and yet did not so hurry me as the current on the 
 south side had done before, so as to take from me 
 all government of the boat ; but having a strong 
 steerage with my paddle, 1 went at a great rate di- 
 rectly for the wreck, and in less than two hours I 
 came up to it. It was a dismal sight to look at : 
 the ship, which, by its building, was Spanish, stuck 
 fast jammed in between two rocks ; all the stern 
 and quarter of her were beaten to pieces with the 
 sea : and as her forecastle, which stuck in the rocks, 
 liad run on with great violence, her mainmast and 
 foremast were brought by the board, that is to say, 
 broken short off; but her bowsprit was sound, and 
 the head and bow appeared firm. When I came 
 close to her, a dog appeared upon her, who, seeing me 
 coming, yelped and cried ; and as soon as I called 
 him, jumped into the sea to come to me ; I took him 
 into the boat, but found him almost dead with hun- 
 ger and thirst. I gave him a cake of my bread, and 
 he devoured it like a ravenous wolf that had been 
 starving a fortnight in the snow : I then gave the 
 poor creature some fresh water, with which, if I 
 would have let him, he would have burst himself. 
 After this, I went on board ; but the first sight I 
 met with was two men drowned in the cook-room, 
 or forecastle of the ship, with their arms fast about 
 one another. 1 concluded, as is indeed probable, 
 that when the ship struck, it being in a storm, the 
 sea broke so high, and so continually over her, that 
 the men were not able to bear it, and were stran- 
 gled with the constant rushing in of the water, as 
 much as if they had been under water. Besides the 
 dog, there was nothing left in the ship that had life ; 
 nor any goods, that I could see, but what were 
 spoiled by the water. There were some casks of 
 liquor, whether wine or brandy I knew not, which
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 215 
 
 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 forepart broken off, I am persuaded I might 
 have made a good voyage; for, by what 1 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 from the course she steered, she must have 
 been bound from Buenos Ayres, or the Rio de la 
 Plata, in the south part of America, beyond the 
 Brazils, to the Havanna, in the Gulf of Mexico, 
 and so perhaps to Spain. She had, no doubt, a great 
 treasure in her, but of no use, at that time, to any 
 body ; and what became of her crew, I then knew 
 not. 
 
 I found, besides these chests, a little cask full of 
 Hquor, of about twenty gallons, which I got into 
 my boat with much difficulty. There were several 
 muskets in the cabin, and a great powder-horn, 
 with about four pounds of powder in it; as for the 
 muskets, I had no occasion for them, so I left them, 
 but took the powder-horn. I took a fire-shovel and 
 tongs, which [ wanted extremely; as also two little 
 brass kettles, a copper pot to make chocolate, and 
 a gridiron : and with this cargo, and the dog, I 
 came away, the tide beginning to make home again; 
 and the same evening, about an hour within night, 
 I reached the island again, weary and fatigued to 
 the last degree. I reposed that night in the boat; 
 and in the morning 1 resolved to harbour what I 
 had got in my new cave, and not carry it home to 
 my castle. After refreshing myself, 1 got all my 
 cargo on shore, and began to examine the ])articu- 
 lars. The cask of liquor I found to be a kind of
 
 216 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 rum, but not such as we had at the Brazils, and, 
 in a word, not at all good ; but when I came to 
 open the chests, F found several things of great use 
 to me : for example, I found in one a fine case of 
 bottles, of an extraordinary kind, and filled with 
 cordial waters, fine and very good ; the bottles held 
 about three pints each, and were tipped with silver, 
 I found two pots of very good succades, or sweet- 
 meats, so fastened also on the top, that the salt water 
 had not hurt them; and two more of the same, 
 which the water had spoiled. I found some very 
 good shirts, which were very welcome to me ; and 
 about a dozen and a half of white linen handkerchiefs 
 and coloured neckcloths ; the former were also very 
 welcome, being exceeding relreshing to wipe my 
 face in a hot day. Besides this, when I came to the 
 till in the chest, I found there three great bags of 
 pieces-of-eight, which held about eleven hundred 
 pieces in all ; and in one of them, wrapped up in a 
 paper, six doubloons of gold, and some small bars 
 or wedges of gold ; I suppose they might all weigh 
 near a pound. In the other chest were some clothes, 
 but of little value ; but, by the circumstances, it 
 must have belonged to the gunner's mate ; though 
 there was no powder in it, except two pounds of 
 fine glazed powder, in three small flasks, kept, I 
 suppose, for charging their fowling-pieces on occa- 
 sion. Upon the whole, I got very little by this 
 voyage that was of any use to me ; for, as to the 
 money, I had no manner of occasion for it; it was 
 to me as the dirt under my feet ; and I would have 
 given it all for three or four pair of English shoes 
 and stockings, which were things I greatly wanted, 
 but had none on my feet for many years. I had in- 
 deed got two pair of shoes now, which I took off 
 the feet of the two drowned r icn whom I saw in the 
 wreck, and 1 found two pair more in one of the
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 217 
 
 chests, which were very welcome to me ; but they 
 were not like our English shoes, either for ease or 
 service, being rather what we call pumps than shoes. 
 I found in this seaman's chest about fifty pieces-of- 
 eight in rials, but no gold : I suppose this belonged 
 to a poorer man than the other, which seemed to 
 belong to some officer. Well, however, I lugged 
 this money home to my cave, and laid it up, as I 
 had done that before which I brought from our 
 own ship : but it was a great pity, as I said, that 
 the other part of the ship had not come to my 
 share; for 1 am satisfied 1 might have loaded my 
 canoe several times over with money ; and, thought 
 I, if I ever escape to England, it might lie here safe 
 enough till I may come again and fetch it. 
 
 Having now brought all my things on shore, and 
 secured them, I went back to my boat, and rowed 
 or paddled her along the shore to her old harbour, 
 where I laid her up, and made the best of my way 
 to my old habitation, where I found every thing 
 safe and quiet. I began now to repose myself, live 
 after my old fashion, and take care of my family 
 affairs ; and, for a while, I lived easy enough, only 
 that I was more vigilant than I used to be, looked 
 out oftener, and did not go abroad so much ; and 
 if at any time I did stir with any freedom, it was 
 always to the east part of the island, where 1 was 
 pretty well satisfied the savages never came, and 
 where I could go without so many precautions, and 
 such a load of arms and ammunition as I always 
 carried with me if I went the other way. I lived 
 in this condition near two years more; but my un- 
 lucky head, that was always to let me know it was 
 born to make my body miserable, was all these two 
 years filled with projects and designs, how, if it 
 were possible, I might get away from this island : 
 for, sometimes I was for making another voyage to 
 
 VOL. XVI. u
 
 218 ADVENTURES OE 
 
 the wreck, though my reason told me that there 
 was nothing left there worth the hazard of my voy- 
 age; sometimes for a ramble one way, sometimes 
 another; and 1 believe verily, if I had had the boat 
 that 1 went from Sallee in, I should have ventured 
 to sea, bound any whi re, I knew not whither. I 
 have been, in all my circumstances, a mrmento to 
 those who are touched with the general plague of 
 mankind, whence, for aught I know, one half of 
 their nnseries flow ; I mean that of not being satis- 
 fied with the station wherein God and nature hath 
 placed them : for, not to look back upon my pri- 
 mitive condition, and the excellent advice of my ta- 
 ther, the opposition to which was, as I may call it, 
 my original .sin, my subsequent mistakes of the same 
 kind had been the means of my coming into this 
 miserable condition ; for had that Providence, which 
 so happily stated me at the Brazils, as a planter, 
 blessed me with confined desires, and I could have 
 been contented to have gone on gradually, I might 
 have been, by this time, I mean in the time of my 
 being in this island, one of the most considerable 
 planters in the Brazils; nay, I am persuaded, that 
 by the improve;nents 1 had made in that little time 
 I lived there, and the increase I should probably 
 have made if I had remained, I might have been 
 worth a hundred thousand moidores : and what 
 business had I to leave a settled fortune, a well- 
 stocked plantation, improving and increasing, to 
 turn supercargo to Guinea to fetch negroes, when 
 patience and time would have so increased our stock 
 at home, that we could have bought them at our 
 own door from those whose business it was to fetch 
 them ; and though it had cost us something mo 
 yet the difference of that price was by no means 
 worth saving at so great a hazard ? But as this is 
 usually the fate of young heads, so reflection upon
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 219 
 
 the folly of it is as commonly the exercise of more 
 years, or of the dear-bought experience of time : 
 so it was with me now ; and yet so deep had the 
 mistake taken root in my temper, that I could not 
 satisfy myself in my station, but was conlinually 
 poring upon the means md possibility of my escape 
 from this place : and thai i may, with the greater 
 pleasure to the reader, bring on the remaining part 
 of my story, it may not be improper to give some 
 account of ray first conceptions on the subject of 
 this foolish scheme for my escape, and how, and 
 upon what foundation, I acted. 
 
 I am now to be supposed retired into my castle, 
 after ray late voyage to the wreck, my frigate idid 
 up and secured under water, as usual, and my con- 
 dition restored to what it was before ; I had mi^re 
 M^ealth, indeed, than I had before, but w.s not at 
 all the richer ; for I had no more use for it than the 
 Indians of Peru had before the Spaniards came 
 there. 
 
 It was one of the nights in the rainy season in 
 March, the four-and-twenticth year of my first set- 
 ting foot in this island of solitude, I was lying in 
 my bed, or hammock, awake ; very well in health, 
 had no pain, no distemper, no uneasiness of body, 
 nor any uneasiness of mind, more than ordinary, 
 but could by no means close my eyes, that is, so as 
 to sleep ; no, not a wink all night long, otherwise 
 ^han as follows: -It is impossible to set down the 
 innumerable crowd of thoughts that whirled through 
 tliat great thorough-fare of the brain, the memory, 
 in this night's time : 1 ran over the whole history 
 of my life in miniature, or by abridgement, as I may 
 call it, to my coming to this island, and also of 
 that part of my life since I came to this island. In 
 my reficctions upon the state of my case since 1 came 
 on shore on this island, I was comparing the happy 
 
 v2
 
 220 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 posture of my affairs in the first years of my habita- 
 tion here, compared to the Hfe of anxiety, fear, and 
 care, which I had hved in, ever since I had seen the 
 print of a foot in the sand ; not that I did not be- 
 lieve the savages had frequented the island even all 
 the white, and might have been several hundreds of 
 them at times on shore there ; but I had never known 
 it, and was incapable of any apprehensions about 
 it : my satisfaction was perfect, though my danger 
 was the same, and I was as happy in not knowing 
 my danger as if I had never really been exposed to 
 it. This furnished my thoughts with many very 
 profitable reflections, and particularly this one : How 
 infinitely good that Providence is, which has pro- 
 vided, in its government of mankind, such narrow 
 bounds to his sight and knowledge of things ; and 
 though he walks in the midst of so many thousand 
 dangers, the sight of which, if discovered to him, 
 would distract his mind and sink his spii'its, he is 
 kept serene and calm, by having the events of things 
 hid from his eyes, and knowing nothing of the dan- 
 gers which surround him. 
 
 After these thoughts had for some time enter- 
 tained me, I came to reflect seriously upon the real 
 danger I had been in for so many years in this very 
 island, and how I had vt^alked about in the greatest 
 security, and with all possible tranquillity, even 
 when perhaps nothing but the brow of a hill, a great 
 tree, or the casual approach of night, had been be- 
 tween me and the worst kind of destruction, viz. 
 that of falling into the hands of cannibals and sa- 
 vages, who would have seized on me with the same 
 view as I would on a goat or a turtle, and have 
 thought it no more a crime to kill and devour me, 
 than I did of a pigeon or curlew. I would unjustly 
 slander myself, if I should say I was not sincerely 
 thankful to my great Preserver, to whose singular
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 221 
 
 protection I acknowledged, with great humility, all 
 these unknown deliverances were due, and without 
 which I must inevitably have fallen into their mer- 
 ciless hands. 
 
 When these thoughts were over, my head was for 
 some time taken up in considering the nature of 
 tliese wretched creatures, I mean the savages, and 
 how it came to pass in the world, that the wise Go- 
 vernor of all things should give up any of his crea- 
 tures to such inhumanity, nay, to something so 
 much below even brutality itself, as to devour its 
 own kind: but as this ended in some (at that time) 
 fruitless speculations, it occurred to me to inquire, 
 what part of the world these wretches lived in ? 
 how far oif the coast was, from whence thev came? 
 what thev ventured over so far from home for ? 
 what kind of boats they had ? and why I might 
 not order myself and my business so, that I might 
 he as able to go over thither as they were to come 
 to me ? 
 
 I never so much as troubled myself to consider 
 what I should do with myself when I went thither; 
 what would become of me, if I fell into the hands 
 of the savages ; or how 1 should escape from them, 
 if they attacked me ; no, nor so much as how it 
 was possible for me to reach the coast, and not be 
 attacked by some or other of them, without any 
 possibility of delivering myself; and if I should not 
 fall into their hands, what 1 should do for provision, 
 or whither I should bend my course: none u " these 
 thoughts, I say, so much as came in my way ; but 
 my mind was wholly bent upon the notion of my 
 passing over in my boat to the main and. I looked 
 upon my present condition as the most miserable 
 that could possibly be ; tiiat I was not able to throw 
 myself into any thing, but death, that could be 
 called worse ; and if I reached the shore of the 
 
 d3
 
 222 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 main, I might perhaps meet with relief, or I might 
 coast along, as I did on the African shore, till I 
 came to some inhabited country, and where I might 
 find some relief; and after all, perhaps, I might 
 fall in with some Christian ship that might take me 
 in ; and if the worst came to the worst, I could 
 but die, which would put an end to all these mise- 
 ries at once. Pray note, all this was the fruit of a 
 disturbed mind, an impatient temper, made despe- 
 rate, as it were, by the long continuance of my 
 troubles, and the dissappointments I had met in the 
 wreck I had been on board of, and where I had been 
 so near obtaining what I so earnestly longed for, 
 viz. somebody to speak to, and to learn some know- 
 ledge from them of the place where I was, and of 
 the probable means of my deliverance, I was agi- 
 tated wholly by these thoughts : all my calm of 
 mind, in my resignation to Providence, and waiting 
 the issue of the dispositions of Heaven, seemed to 
 be suspended ; and I had, as it were, no power to 
 turn my thoughts to any thing but to the project 
 of a voyage to the main ; which came upon me with 
 such force, and such an impetuosity of desire, thai 
 it was not to be resisted. 
 
 When this had agitated my thoughts for two 
 hours or more, with such violence that it set my 
 very blood into a ferment, and my pulse beat, as if 
 I had been in a fever, merely with the extraordi- 
 nary fervour of my mind about it, nature, as if I 
 had been fatigued and exhausted with the very 
 thought of it, threw me into a sound sleep. One 
 would have thought I should have dreamed of it, 
 but I did not, nor of any thing relating to it : but 
 1 dreamed that as 1 was going out in the morning, 
 as usual, from my castle, I saw upon the shore two 
 canoes and eleven savages coming to land, and that 
 they brought with them another savage, whom
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE, 223 
 
 they were going to kill, in order to eat him; when, 
 on a sudden, the savage that they were going to kill 
 jumped away, and ran for his Hfe ; and I thought, 
 in my sleep, that he came running into ray little 
 thick grove before my fortification, to hide himself; 
 and that I, seeing him alone, and not perceiving 
 that the others sought him that way, shewed myself 
 to him, and smiling upon him, encouraged him : 
 that he kneeled down to me, seeming to pray me 
 to assist him; upon which I shewed him my ladder, 
 made him go up, and carried him into my cave, and 
 he became my servant : and that as soon as I had 
 got this man, I said to myself, Now I may certainly 
 venture to the main land ; for this fellow will serve 
 me as a pilot, and will tell me what to do, and 
 whither to go for provisions, and whither not to go 
 for fear of being devoured; what places to venture 
 into, and what to shun. I waked with this thought ; 
 and was under such inexpressible impressions of joy 
 at the prospect of my escape in my dream, that the 
 disappointments which I felt upon coming to my- 
 self, and finding that it was no more than a dream, 
 were equally extravagant the other way, and threw 
 me into a very great dejection of spirits. 
 
 Upon this, however, I made this conclusion ; 
 that my only way to go about to attempt an escape 
 was, if possible, to get a savage into my possession ; 
 and, if possible, it should be one of their prisoners 
 whom they had condemned to be eaten, and should 
 bring hither to kill. But these thoughts still were 
 attended with this difficulty, that it was impossible 
 to effect this without attacking a whole caravan of 
 them, and killing them all ; and this was not only 
 a very desperate attempt, and might miscarry, but, 
 on the other hand, I had greatly scrupled the law- 
 fulness of it to myself; and my heart trembled at 
 the thoughts of shedding so mvich blood, though it
 
 224< ADVENTURES OF 
 
 was for my deliverance. I need not repeat the ar- 
 guments which occurred to me against this, they 
 being the same mentioned before : but though I 
 had other reasons to offer now, viz. that those men 
 were enemies to my hfe, and would devour me if 
 they could ; that it was self-preservation, in the 
 highest degree, to deliver myself from this death of 
 a life, and was acting in my own defence as much 
 as if they were actually assaulting me, and the like; 
 I say, though these things argued for it, yet the 
 thoughts of shedding human blood for my deliver- 
 ance were very terrible to me, and such as I could 
 by no means reconcile myself to for a great while. 
 However, at last, after many secret disputes with 
 myself, and after great perplexities about it (for all 
 these arguments, one way and another, struggled 
 in my head a long time), the eager prevailing desire 
 of deliverance at length mastered all the rest; and 
 I resolved, if possible, to get one of those savages 
 into my hands, cost what it would. My next thing 
 was to contrive how to do it, and this indeed was 
 very difficult to resolve on : but as I could pitch 
 upon no probable means for it, so I resolved to put 
 myself upon the watch, to see them when they 
 came on shore, and leave the I'est to the event; 
 taking such measures as the opportunity sould pre- 
 sent, let what would be. 
 
 With these resolutions in my thoughts, I set my- 
 self upon the scout as often as possible, and indeed 
 so often, that I was heartily tired of it ; for it was 
 above a year and a half that I waited ; and for 
 great part of that time went out to the west end, 
 and to the south-west corner, of the island, almost 
 every day, to look for canoes, but none appeared. 
 This was very discouraging, and began to trouble 
 me much ; though 1 cannot say that it did in this 
 case (as it had done some time before) were off the
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 225 
 
 edge of my desire to the thing ; but the longer it 
 seemed to be delayed, the more eager I was for it : 
 in a word I was not at first so careful to shun the 
 sight of these savages, and avoid being seen by 
 them, as 1 was now eager to be upon them. Be- 
 sides, I fancied myself able to manage one, nay, 
 two or three savages, if I had them, so as to make 
 them entirely slaves to me, to do whatever I should 
 direct them, and to prevent their being able at any 
 time to do me any hurt. It was a great while that I 
 pleased myself with this affair; but nothing still pre- 
 sented; all my fancies and schemes came to nothing, 
 for no savages came near me for a great while. 
 
 About a year and a half after 1 entertained these 
 notions (and by long musing had, as it were, re- 
 solved them all into nothing, for want of an occa- 
 sion to put them into execution), I was surprised, 
 one morning early, with seeing no less than five 
 canoes all on shore together on my side the island, 
 and the people who belonged to them all landed, 
 and out of my sight. The number of them broke all 
 my measures; for seeing so many, and knowing that 
 they always came four or six, or sometimes more, in 
 a boat, I could not tell what to think of it, or how 
 to take my measures, to attpxk twenty or thirty 
 men single-handed ; so lay still in my castle, per- 
 plexed and discomforted: however, I put myself 
 into all the same postures for an attack that I had 
 formerly provided, and was just ready for action, 
 if any thing had presented. Having waited a good 
 while, listening to hear if they made any noise, at 
 length, being very impatient, I set my guns at the 
 foot of my ladder, and clambered up to the top of 
 the hill, by my two stages, as usual; standing so, 
 however, that my head did not appear above the hill, 
 so that they could not perceive me by any means. 
 Here I observed, by the help of my perspective-glass,
 
 226 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 that they were no less than thirty in number; that 
 they had a fire kindled, and that they had meat 
 dressed. How they had cooked it 1 knew not, or 
 what it was ; but they were all dancing, in I know 
 not how many barbarous gestures and figures, their 
 own way, round the fire. 
 
 While I was thus looking on them, I perceived, by 
 my perspective, two miserable wretches dragged from 
 the boats, where it seems, they were laid by, and 
 were now brought out for the slaughter. 1 perceived 
 one of them immediately fall, being knocked down, 
 1 suppose, with a club or wooden sword, for that was 
 their way, and two or three others were at work im- 
 mediately, cutting him open for their cookery, while 
 the other victim was left standing by himself, till 
 they should be ready for him . In that very moment, 
 this poor wretch seeing himself a little at libei'ty, 
 and unbound, nature inspired him with hopes of life, 
 and he started away from them, and ran with incre- 
 dible swiftness along the sands, directly towards me, 
 I mean towards that part of the coast where my ha- 
 bitation was. 1 was dreadfully frightened, 1 must 
 acknowledge, when I perceived him run my way, 
 and especially when, as 1 thought, I saw him pur- 
 sued by the whole body : and now 1 expected that 
 part of my dream was coming to pass, and that he 
 would certainly take shelter in my grove : but I 
 could not depend by any means upon my dream 
 for the rest of it, viz. that the other savages would 
 not pursue him thither, and find him there. How- 
 ever, I kept my station, and my spirits began to re- 
 cover, when I found that there was not above three 
 men that followed him; and still more was 1 encou- 
 raged when I found that he outstripped them ex- 
 ceedingly in running, and gained ground of them; 
 so that if he could but hold it for half an hour, I 
 saw easily he would fairly get away from them all.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 227 
 
 There was between them and my castle the creek, 
 which I mentioned often in the first part of my story, 
 where I landed my cargoes out of the ship; and this 
 I saw plainly he must necessarily swim over, or the 
 poor wretch would be taken there : but when the 
 savage escaping came thither, he made nothing of 
 it, though the tide was then up; but plunging in, 
 swam through in about thirty strokes, or there- 
 abouts, landed, and ran on with exceeding strength 
 and swiftness. When the three persons came to the 
 creek, I found that two of them could swim, but 
 the third could not, and that standing on the other 
 side, he looked at the others, but went no farther, 
 and soon after went softly back again ; which, as it 
 happened, was very well for him in the end. I ob- 
 served, that the two who swam were yet more than 
 twice as long swimming over the creek as the fellow 
 was that fled from them. It came now very warmly 
 upon my thoughts, and indeed irresistibly, that 
 now was the time to get me a servant, and perhaps 
 a companion or assistant, and that I was called 
 plainly by Providence to save this poor creature's 
 life. I immediately ran down the ladders with all 
 possible expedition, fetched my two guns, for they 
 were both at the foot of the ladders, as I observed 
 above, and getting up again, with the same haste, 
 to the top of the hill, I crossed toward the sea, and 
 having a very short cut, and all down hill, placed 
 myself in the way between the pursuers and the pur- 
 sued, holloing aloud to him that fled, who, look- 
 ing back, was at first, perhaps, as much frightened 
 at me as at them; but 1 beckoned with my hand to 
 him to come back; and, in the mean time, 1 slowly 
 advanced towards the two that followed ; then rush- 
 ing at once upon the foremost, I knocked him down 
 with the stock of my piece. I was loth to fire, 
 because I would not have the rest hear ; though, at
 
 228 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 that distance, it would not have been easily heard, 
 and being out of sight of the smoke too, they would 
 not have easily known what to make of it. Having 
 knocked this fellow down, the other who pursued 
 him stopped, as if he had been frightened, and I 
 advanced apace towards him ; but as I came nearer, 
 1 perceived presently he had a bow and arrow, and 
 was fitting it to shoot at me; so I was then neces- 
 sitated to shoot at him first, which I did, and kill- 
 ed him at the first shot. The poor savage who fled 
 but had stopped, though he saw both his enemies 
 fallen and killed, as he thought, yet was so fright- 
 ened with the fire and noise of my piece, that he 
 stood stock-still, and neither came forward nor went 
 back-ward, though he seemed rather inclined still 
 to fly, than to come on. I holloed again to him, 
 and made signs to come forward, which he easily 
 understood, and came a little way ; then stopped 
 again, and then a little farther, and stopped again; 
 and I could then perceive that he stood trembling, 
 as if he had been taken prisoner, and had just been 
 to be killed, as his two enemies were. I beckoned 
 to him again to come to me, and gave him all the 
 signs of encouragement that I could think of; and 
 he came nearer and nearer, kneeling down every ten 
 or twelve steps, in token of acknowledgement for sav- 
 ing his life. 1 smiled at him, and looked pleasantly, 
 and beckoned to him to come still nearer: at length 
 he came close to me ; and then he kneeled down 
 again, kissed the ground, and laid his head upon 
 the ground, and taking me by the foot, set my 
 foot upon his head ; this, it seems, was in token of 
 swearing to be my slave for ever. I took him up, 
 and made much of him, and encouraged him all I 
 could. But there was more work to do yet ; for I 
 perceived the savage whom I knocked down was not 
 killed, but stunned with the blow, and began to
 
 KOBINSON CRUSOE. 229 
 
 come to himself": so I pointed to him, and shewed 
 him the savage, that he was not dead; upon this 
 he spoke some words to me, and though I could 
 not understand them, yet I thought they were plea- 
 sant to hear; for they were the first sound of a 
 man's voice that I had heard, my own excepted, for 
 above twenty-five years. But there was no time for 
 such reflections now ; the savage who was knocked 
 down recovered himself so far as to sit up upon the 
 ground, and I perceived that my savage began to 
 be afraid ; but, when I saw that, I presented my 
 other piece at the man, as if I would shoot him : 
 upon this my savage, for so I call him now, made 
 a motion to me to lend him my sword, which hung 
 naked in a belt by my side, which I did. He no 
 sooner had it, but he runs to his enemy, and, at 
 one blow, cut off his head so cleverly, no execu- 
 tioner in Germany could have done it sooner or bet- 
 ter ; which I thought very strange for one who, I 
 had reason to believe, never saw a sword in his life 
 before, except their own wooden swords : however, 
 it seems, as I learned afterwards, they make their 
 wooden swords so sharp, so heavy, and the wood is 
 so hard, that they will cut off heads even with them, 
 aye and arms, and that at one blow too. When 
 he had done this, he comes laughing to me, in sign 
 of triumph, and brought me the sword again, 
 and with abundance of gestures, which I did not 
 understand, laid it down with the head of the sa- 
 vage that he had killed, just before me. But that 
 which astonished him most, was to know how I 
 killed the other Indian so far off: so pointing to 
 him, he made signs to me to let him go to him ; 
 so I bade him go, as well as I could. When he 
 came to him, he stood Hke one amazed, looking at 
 him, turning him first on one side, then on the 
 other, looked at the wound the bullet had made,
 
 *230 ADVENTURES OP 
 
 which, it seems, was just in his breast, where it had 
 made a hole, and no great quantity of blood had 
 followed ; but he had bled inwardly, for he was 
 tjuite dead. He took up his bow and arrows, and 
 came back ; so I turned to go away, and beckoned 
 him to follow me, making signs to him that more 
 might come after them. Upon this, he made signs 
 to me that he should bury them with sand, that 
 they might not be seen by the rest, if they followed; 
 and so 1 made signs to him again to do so. He fell 
 to work; and, in an instant, he had scraped a hole 
 in the sand with his hands, big enough to bury the 
 first in, and then dragged him into it, and covered 
 him; and did so by the other also : I believe he had 
 buried them both in a quarter of an hour. Then 
 calling him away, I carried him, not to my castle, 
 but quite away to my cave, on the farther part of 
 the island : so I did not let my dream come to pass 
 in that part, viz. that he came into my grove for 
 shelter. Here I gave him bread and a bunch of rai- 
 sins to eat, and a draught of water, which I found 
 he was indeed in great distress for, by his running; 
 and having refreshed him, I made signs for him to go 
 and lie down to sleep, showing him a place where 
 I had laid some rice-strasv, and a blanket upon it, 
 which I used to sleep upon myself sometimes; so 
 the poor creature lay down, and went to sleep. 
 
 He was a comely handsome fellow, perfectly well 
 made, with straight strong limbs, not too large, 
 tall, and well shaped ; and, as I reckon, about 
 twenty-six years of age. He had a very good coun- 
 tenance, not a fierce and surly aspect, but seemed 
 to have something very manly in his face ; and yet 
 he had all ihe sweetness and softness of an European 
 in his countenance too, especially when he smiled. 
 His hair was long and black, not curled like wool ; 
 his forehead very high and large ; and a great viva-
 
 ROBINSON CiaSOE. 231 
 
 city and sparkling sharpness in his e3'es. The colour 
 of his skin was not quite black, but very tawny ; 
 and yet not an ugly, yellow, nauseous tawny, as 
 the Brazilians and Virginians, and other natives of 
 America are, but of a bright kind of a dun olive co- 
 lour, that had in it something very agreeable, though 
 not very easy to describe. His face was round 
 and plump ; his nose small, not flat like the Negroes ; 
 a very good mouth, thin lips, and his fine teeth well 
 set, and as white as ivory. 
 
 After he had slumbered, rather than slept, about 
 half an hour, he awoke again, and came out of the 
 cave to me, for I had been milking my goats, which 
 I had in the enclosure just by: when he espied me, 
 he came running to me, laying himself down agairt 
 upon the ground, with all the possible signs 
 of an humble thankful disposition, making a 
 great many antic gestures to show it. At last, 
 he lays his head fiat upon the ground, close to my 
 foot, and sets my other foot upon his head, as he 
 had done before ; and after this, made all the signs 
 to me of subjection, servitude, and submission, ima- 
 ginable, to let me know how he would serve me so 
 long as he lived. I understood him in many things, 
 ajid let him know I was very well pleased with him. 
 In a little time I began to speak to him, and teach 
 him to speak to me : and, first, 1 let him know his 
 name should be Friday, which was the day I saved 
 his life : 1 called hiiu so for the memory of the 
 time, I likewise taught him to say, Master ; and 
 then let him know that was to be my name : I like- 
 wise taught him to say Yes and No, and to know the 
 meaning of them, i gave hin) some milk in an 
 earthen pot, and let him see me drink it before him, 
 and sop my bread in it ; and gave him a cake of 
 bread to do the like, which he quickly complied 
 with, and made signs that it was very good for him. 
 
 X 2
 
 232 ADVENTURES Of 
 
 I kept there with him all that night ; but as soon 
 as it was day, I beckoned to him to come with me, 
 and let him know I would give him some clothes ; 
 at which he seemed very glad, for he was stark naked. 
 As we went by the place where he had buried the 
 two men, he pointed exactly to the place, and showed 
 me the marks that he had made to find them again, 
 making signs to me that we should dig them up 
 again, and eat them. At this I appeared very an- 
 gry, expressed my abhorrence of it, made as if I 
 would vomit at the thoughts of it, and beckoned 
 with my hand to him to come away ; which he did 
 immediately, with great submission. I then led 
 him up to the top of the hill, to see if his enemies 
 were gone ; and pulling out my glass, I looked, 
 and saw plainly the place where they had been, but 
 no appearance of them or their canoes ; so that it 
 was plain they were gone, and had left their two 
 comrades behind them, without any search after them. 
 But I was not content with this discovery ; but 
 having now more courage, and consequently more 
 curiosity, 1 took my man Friday with me, giving 
 him the sword in his hand, with the bow and arrows 
 at his back, which I found he could use very dexter- 
 ously, making him carry one gun for me, and 1 two 
 for myself; and away we marched to the place where 
 these creatures had been ; for I had a mind now to 
 get some fuller intelligence of them. When I came 
 to the place, my very blood ran chill in my veins, 
 and my heart sunk within me, at the horror of the 
 spectacle ; indeed, it was a dreadful sight, at least 
 it was so to me, though Friday made nothing of it. 
 The place was covered with human bones, the ground 
 dyed with their blood, and great pieces of flesh left 
 here and there, half-eaten, mangled, and scorched; 
 and, in short, all the tokens of the triumphant feast 
 they had been making there, after a victory over
 
 ROBINSON cnusoE, 233 
 
 their enemies. I saw three sculls, five hands, and 
 the bones of three or four legs and feet, and 
 abundance of other parts of the bodies ; and Fri- 
 day, by his signs, made me understand that they 
 brought over four prisoners to feast upon ; that 
 three of thera were eaten up, and that he, pointing 
 to himself, was the fourth ; that there had been a 
 great battle between them and their ne t king, 
 whose subjects, it seems, he had been one of, and 
 that they had taken a great number of prisoners ; ail 
 which were carried to several places by those who 
 had taken them in the fight, in order to feast upon 
 them, as was done here by these wretches upon those 
 they brought hither. 
 
 I caused Friday to gather all the sculls, bones, 
 flesh, and whatever remained, and lay them together 
 in a heap, and make a great fire upon it, and burn 
 them all to ashes. 1 found Friday had still a hanker- 
 ing stomach after some of the flesh, and was still a 
 cannibal in his nature ; but I discovered so much ab- 
 horrence at the very thoughts of it, and at the 
 least appearance of it, that he durst not discover it : 
 for 1 had, by some means, let him know, that I 
 would kill him if he offered it. 
 
 When he had done this, we came back to our 
 castle ; and there I fell to work for my man Friday : 
 and, first of all, I gave him a pair of linen drawers, 
 which I had oat of the poor guimer's chest I men- 
 tioned, which 1 found in the wreck ; and which, 
 with a little alteration, fitted him very well : and 
 then I made him a jerkin of goat's-skin, as well as 
 mv skill would allow (for I was now grown a toler- 
 able good tailor) ; and 1 gave him a cap, wliich I 
 made of hare's-skin, very convenient and fashionable 
 enough : and thus he was clothed for the present, 
 tolerably well, and was mighty well pleased to see 
 himself almost as well clothed as his master. It is 
 
 X 3
 
 234- ADVENTURES OF 
 
 true, he went awkwarkly in these clothes at first ; 
 wearing the drawers was very awkward to him, and 
 the sleeves of the waistcoat galled his shoulders, and 
 the inside of his arms ; but a little easing them 
 where he complained they hurt him, and using him- 
 self to them, he took to them at length very well. 
 
 The next day after I came home to my hutch with 
 him, I began to consider where I should logde him ; 
 and that I might do well for him, and yet be perfectly 
 easy myself, I made a little tent for him in the vacant 
 place between my two fortifications,in the inside of the 
 last and in the outside of the first. As there was a 
 door or entrance there into my cave, I made a formal 
 framed door-case, and a door to it of boards, and 
 set it up in the passage, a little within the entrance ; 
 and causing the door to open in the inside, I barred 
 it up in the night, taking in my ladders too ; so 
 that Friday could no way come at me in the inside 
 of my innermost wall, without making so much 
 noise in getting over that it must needs waken me ; 
 for my first wall had now a complete roof over it of 
 long poles, covering all my tent, and leaning up to 
 the side of the hill; which was again laid across with 
 smaller sticks, instead of laths, and then thatched 
 over a great thickness with the rice-straw, which 
 was strong, like reeds ; and at the hole or place 
 which was left to go in or out by the ladder, I had 
 placed a kind of trap-door, which, if it had been at- 
 tempted on the outside, would not have opened at 
 all, but would kave fallen down, and make a great 
 noise : as to weapons, I took them all into my side 
 every night. But I needed none of all this precau- 
 tion; for never man had a more faithful, loving, sin- 
 cere servant, than Friday was to me ; without pas- 
 sions, sullenness, or designs, perfectly obliged and 
 engaged ; his very affections were tied to me, like 
 those of a child to a father; and I dare say, he would
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 235 
 
 have sacrificed his Hfe for the saving mine, upon any 
 occasion whatsoever : the many testimonies he gave 
 me of this put it out of doubt, and soon convinced 
 me that I needed to use no precautions, as to my 
 safety on his account. 
 
 This frequently gave me occasion to observe, and 
 that with wonder, that however it had pleased God, 
 in his providence, and in the government of the 
 works of his hands, to take from so great a part of 
 the world of his creatures the best uses to which 
 their faculties and the powers of their souls are 
 adapted, yet that he has bestowed upon them the 
 same powers, the same reason, the same aifections, 
 the same sentiments of kindness and obligation, the 
 same passions and resentments of wrongs, the same 
 sense of gratitude, sincerity, fidelity, and all the ca- 
 pacities of doing good, and receiving good, that he has 
 given to us; and that when he pleases to offer them oc- 
 casions of exerting these, they are as ready, nay, more 
 ready, to apply them to the right uses for which they 
 were bestow ed, than we are. This made me very me- 
 lancholy sometimes, in reflecting, as the several oc- 
 casions presented, how mean a use we make of all 
 these, even though we have these powers enlightened 
 by the great lamp of instruction, the Spirit of God, 
 and by the knowledge of his word added to our un- 
 derstanding ; and why it has pleased God to hide 
 the like saving knowledge from so many millions of 
 souls, who, if I might judge by this poor savage, 
 would make a much better use of it than we did. 
 From hence, I sometimes was led too. far, to invade 
 the sovereignty of Providence, and as it were arraign 
 the justice of so arbitrary a disposition of things, that 
 should hide that light from some, and reveal it to 
 others, and yet expect a like duty from both ; but 
 I shut it up, and checked my thoughts with this 
 conclusion : first, That we did not know by what
 
 236 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 light and law these should be condemned ; but that 
 as God was necessarily, and, by the nature of his 
 being, intinitely holy and just, so it could not be, 
 but if these creatures were all sentenced to ab- 
 sence from himself, it was on account of sinning 
 against that light, which, as the Scripture says, 
 was a law to themselves, and by such rules as their 
 consciences would acknowledge to be just, though 
 the foundation was not discovered to us ; and, 
 secondly. That still, as we all are the clay in the hand 
 of the potter, no vessel could say to him, Why hast 
 thou formed me thus ? 
 
 But to return to my new companion : — I was 
 greatly delighted with him, and made it my business 
 to teach him every thing that was proper to make 
 him useful, handy, and helpful ; but especially to make 
 him speak, and understand me when I spoke : and 
 he was the aptest scholar that ever was ; and par- 
 ticularly was so merry, so constantly diligent, and 
 so pleased when he could but understand me, or make 
 me understand him, that it was very pleasant to me to 
 talk to him. Now my life began to be so easy, that 
 I began to say to myself, that could I but have been 
 safe from more savages, I cared not if I was never 
 to remove from the place where I lived. 
 
 After I had been two or three days returned to 
 my castle, I thought' that, in order to bring Friday 
 off from his horrid way of feeding, and from the 
 relish of a cannibal's stomach, I ought to let him 
 taste other flesh ; so I took him out with me one 
 morning to the woods. I went, indeed, intend- 
 ing to kill a kid out of my own flock, and bring it 
 home and dress it ; but as I was going, I saw a she- 
 goat lying down in the shade, and two young kids sit- 
 ting by her. I catched hold of Friday ; — Hold, said I ; 
 stand still; and made signs to him not to stir: im- 
 mediately I presented my piece, shot, and killed one
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 237 
 
 of the kids. The poor creature, who had, at a dis- 
 tance, indeed, seen me kill the savage, his enemy, 
 but did not know, nor could imagine, how it was 
 done, was sensibly surprised, trembled and shook, 
 and looked so amazed, that I thought he would 
 have sunk down. He did not see the kid I shot at, 
 or perceive I had killed it, but ripped up his waist- 
 coat, to feel whether he was not wounded ; and, as 
 I found presently, thought I was resolved to kill 
 him : for he came and kneeled down to me, and 
 embracing my knees, said a great many things I did 
 not understand ; but 1 could easily see the meaning 
 was, to pray me not to kill him. 
 
 I soon found a way to convince him that I would 
 do him no harm ; and taking him up by the hand, 
 laughed at him, and pointing to the kid which I had 
 killed, beckoned to him to run and fetch it, which 
 he did : and while he was wondering, and looking to 
 see how the creature was killed, 1 loaded my gun 
 again. By and by, I saw a great fowl, like a hawk, 
 sitting upon a tree, within shot ; so, to let Friday 
 understand a little what I would do, I called him to 
 me again, pointed at the fowl, which was indeed a 
 parrot, though I thought it had been a hawk ; I 
 say, pointing to the parrot, and to my gun, and to 
 the ground under the parrot, to let him see I would 
 make it fall, I made him understand that I would 
 shoot and kill that bird ; accordingly, I fired, and 
 bade him look, and immediately he saw the parrot 
 fall. He stood like one frightened again, notwith- 
 standing all I had said to him ; and 1 found he was 
 the more amazed, because he did not see me put 
 any thing into the gun, but thought that there 
 must be some wonderful fund of death and destruc- 
 tion in that thing, able to kill man, beast, bird, or 
 any thing near or far oft'; and the astonishment 
 this created in him was such, as could not wear off
 
 238 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 for a long time; and I believe, if I would have let 
 liim, he would have worshipped me and my gun. 
 As for the gun itself, he would not so much as touch 
 it for several days after ; but he would speak to it, 
 and talk to it, as if it had answered him, when he 
 was by himself; which, as I afterwards learned of 
 him, was to desire it not to kill him. Well, after 
 his astonishment was a little over at this, I j)ointed 
 to him to run and fetch the bird I had shot, which 
 he did, but staid some time ; for the parrot, not be- 
 ing quite dead, had fluttered away a good distance 
 from the place where she fell : however, he found 
 her, took her up, and brought her to me ; and as I 
 had perceived his ignorance about the gun before, I 
 took this advantage to charge the gun again, and 
 not to let him see me do it, that I might be ready 
 for any other mark that might present : but no- 
 thing more offered at that time : so I brought home 
 the kid, and the same evening I took the skin off, 
 and cut it out as well as I could ; and having a pot 
 fit for that purpose, 1 boiled or stewed some of the 
 flesh, and made some very good broth. After I had 
 begun to eat some, I gave some to my man, who 
 seemed very glad of it, and liked it very well ; but 
 that which was strangest to him, was to see me eat 
 salt with it. He made a sign to me that the salt 
 was not good to eat ; and putting a httle into his 
 own mouth, he seemed to nauseate it, and would 
 spit and sputter at it, washing his mouth with fresh 
 water after it : on the other hand, I took some meat 
 into my mouth without salt, and 1 pretended to spit 
 and sputter for want of salt, as fast as he had done 
 at the salt ; but it would not do ; he would never 
 care for salt with his meat or in his broth ; at 
 least, not for a great while, and then but a very little. 
 Having thus fed him with boiled meat and broth, 
 I H^as resolved to feast him the next day with roast-
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 239 
 
 ing a piece of the kid : this I did, by hanging it be- 
 fore the fire on a string, as I had seen many people 
 do in England, setting two poles up, one on each 
 side of the fire, and one across on the top, and ty- 
 ing the string to the cross stick, letting the meat 
 tm-n continually. This Friday admired very much ; 
 but when he came to taste the flesh, he took so 
 many ways to tell me how well he liked it, that I 
 could not but understand him : and at last he told 
 me, as well as he could, he would never eat 
 man's flesh any more, which I was very glad to hear. 
 The next day, I set him to work to beating some 
 corn out, and sifting it in the manner I used to do, 
 as I observed before ; and he soon understood how 
 to do it as well as I, especially after he had seen 
 what the meaning of it was, and that it was to make 
 bread of it, for after that 1 let him see me make 
 my bread, and bake it too ; and in a little time Fri- 
 day was able to do all the work for me, as well as 
 I could do it myself. 
 
 I began now to consider, that having two mouths 
 to feed instead of one, 1 must provide more ground 
 for my harvest, and plant a larger quantity of corn 
 than 1 used to do ; so I marked out a larger piece 
 of land, and began the fence in the same manner as 
 before, in which Friday worked not only very will- 
 ingly and very hard, but did it very cheerfully : and 
 I told him what it was for ; that it was for corn to 
 make more bread, because he was now with me. 
 and that I might have enough for him and myself 
 too. He appeared very sensible of that part, and 
 let me know that he thought 1 had much more la- 
 bour upon me on his account, than I had for my- 
 self; and that he would work the harder for me, if 
 I would tell him what to do. 
 
 This was the pleasantest year of all the life I led 
 in this place ; Friday began to talk pretty well, and
 
 240 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 understand the names of almost every thing I had 
 occasion to call for, and of every place I had to send 
 him to, and talked a great deal to me ; so that, in 
 short, 1 began now to have some use for my tongue 
 again, which, indeed, I had very little occasion for 
 before, that is to say, about speech. Besides the 
 pleasure of talking to him, I had a singular satis- 
 faction in the fellow himself: his simple unfeigned 
 honesty appeared to me more and more every day, 
 and I began really to love the creature ; and, on his 
 side, I believe he loved me more than it was possible 
 for him ever to love any thing before. 
 
 I had a mind once to try if he had any hankering 
 inclination to his own country again ; and having 
 taught him English so well that he could answer 
 me almost any question, I asked him whether the 
 nation that he belonged to never conquered in 
 battle ? At which he smiled, and said. Yes, yes, we 
 always fight the better : that is, he meant, always 
 get the better in fight ; and so we began the follow- 
 ing discourse : 
 
 Master. You always fight the better; how came 
 you to be taken prisoner then, Friday ? 
 
 Friday . My nation beat much, for all that. 
 
 Master. How beat? If your nation beat them, 
 how came you to be taken ? 
 
 Friday. They more many than my nation in the 
 place where me was ; they take one, two, three, 
 and me ; my nation over-beat them in the j'onder 
 place, where me no was ; there my nation take one, 
 two, great thousand. 
 
 Muster. But why did not your side recover you 
 from the hands of your enemies then ? 
 
 Friday. They run one, two, three, and me, and 
 make go in the canoe ; my nation have no canoe 
 that time. 
 
 Master. Well, Friday, and what does your na- 
 5
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 241 
 
 tion do witli the men they take ? Do they carry 
 them away and eat them, as these did ? 
 
 Friday. Yes, my nation eat mans too ; eat all up. 
 
 Master. Where do they carry them ? 
 
 Friday. Go to other place, where they think. 
 
 Master. Do they come hither ? 
 
 Friday. Yes, yes, they come hither ; come other 
 else place. 
 
 Master. Have you been here with them ? 
 
 Friday. Yes, I have been here ; (points to the 
 N. W. side of the island, which, it seems, was their 
 side.) 
 
 By this I understood that my man Friday had for- 
 merly been among the savages who used to come on 
 shore on the farther part of the island, on the same 
 man-eating occasions he was now brought for ; and, 
 some time after, when I took the courage to carry 
 him to that side, being the same I formerly men- 
 tioned, he presently knew the place, and told me he 
 was there once when they eat up twenty men, two 
 women, and one child : he could not tell twenty in 
 English, but he numbered them, by laying so many 
 stones in a row, and pointing to me to tell them 
 over. 
 
 I have told this passage, because it introduces 
 what follows ; that after 1 had this discourse with 
 him, I asked him how far it was from our island to 
 the shore, and whether the canoes were not often 
 lost. He told me there was no danger, no canoes 
 ever lost ; but that, after a little way out to sea, 
 there was a current and wind, always one way in 
 the morning, the other in the afternoon. This I 
 understood to be no more than the sets of the tide, 
 as going out or coming in ; but 1 afterwards under- 
 stood it was occasioned by the great draft and re- 
 flux of the mighty river Oroonoko, in the mouth or 
 gulf of which river, as I found afterwards, our
 
 242 ADVENTURES OP 
 
 island lay ; and that this land which I perceived to 
 the W. and N. W. was the great island Trinidad, on 
 the north point of the mouth of the river. 1 asked 
 Friday a thousand questions about the country, the 
 inhabitants, the sea, the coast, and what nations 
 were near : he told me all he knew with the great- 
 est openness imaginable. I asked him the names of 
 the several nations of his sort of people, but could 
 get no other name than Caribs : from whence I 
 easily understood, that these were the Caribbees, 
 which our maps place on the part of America which 
 reaches from the mouth of the river Oroonoko to 
 Guiana, and onwards to St, Martha. He told me 
 that up a great way beyond the moon, that was, 
 beyond the setting of the moon, which must be west 
 from their country, there dwelt white bearded men, 
 like me, and pointed to my great whiskers, which I 
 mentioned before ; and that they had killed much 
 mans, that was his word: by all which I under- 
 stood, he meant the Spaniards, whose cruelties in 
 America had been spread over the whole country, 
 and were remembered by all the nations from 
 father to son. 
 
 I inquired if he could tell me how I might go 
 from this island and get among those white men : 
 he, told me, Yes, yes, you may go in two canoe. I 
 could not understand what he meant, or make him 
 describe to me what he meant by two canoe ; till, 
 at last, with great difficulty, I found he meant it 
 must be in a large boat, as big as two canoes. This 
 part of Friday's discourse began to relish with me 
 very well ; and from this time I entertained some 
 hopes that, one time or other, I might find an op- 
 portunity to make my escape from this place, and 
 that this poor savage might be a means to help me. 
 
 During the long time that Friday had no.v been 
 with me, and that he began to speak to me, and
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 24-3 
 
 understand me, I was not wanting to lay a founda- 
 tion of religious knowledge in his mind : particular- 
 ly I asked him one time, who made him ? The poor 
 creature did not understand me at all, but thought 
 I had asked him who was his father : but I took it 
 up by another handle, and asked him who made the 
 sea, the ground we walked on, and the hills and 
 woods? He told me, it was one old Benamuckee, 
 that lived beyond all ; he could describe nothing of 
 this great person, but that he was very old, much 
 older, he said, than the sea or the land, than the 
 moon or the stars. I asked him then, if this old 
 person had made all things, why did not all things 
 worship him ? He looked very grave, and with a 
 perfect look of innocence said. All things say O to 
 him. I asked him if the people who die in his 
 country went away any where ? He said. Yes ; they 
 all went to Benamuckee : then I asked him whether 
 these they eat up went thither too ? He said. Yes. 
 From these things I began to instruct him in the 
 knowledge of the true God: I told him that the 
 great Maker of all things lived up there, pointing 
 up towards heaven ; that he governed the world by 
 the same power and providence by which he made 
 it ; that he was omnipotent, and could do every 
 thing for us, give every thing to us, take every thing 
 from us ; and thus, by degrees, I opened his eyes. 
 He listened with great attention, and received with 
 pleasure the notion of Jesus Christ being sent to 
 redeem us, and of the maimer of making our prayers 
 to God, and his being able to hear us, even in heaven. 
 He told me one day, that if our God could hear us 
 up beyond the sun, he must needs be a greater God 
 than Lheir Benamuckee, who lived but a little way 
 off, and yet could not hear till they went up to the 
 great mountains where he dwelt to speak to him. 
 I asked him if ever he went thither to speak to 
 
 y2
 
 24*4' ADVENTUKES OF 
 
 him ? He said, No ; they never went that were 
 young men ; none went thither but the old men, 
 whom he called their Oowokakee ; that is, as I 
 made him explain it to me, their religious, or 
 clergy ; and that they went to say O (so he called 
 saying prayers), and then came back, and told them 
 what Benamuckee said. By this I observed, that 
 there is priestcraft even among the most blinded, 
 ignorant pagans in the world ; and the policy of 
 making a secret of religion, in order to preserve the 
 veneration of the people to the clergy, is not only 
 to be found in the Roman, but perhaps among all 
 religions in the world, even among the most brutish 
 and barbarous savages. 
 
 I endeavoured to clear up this fraud to my man 
 Friday ; and told him, that the pretence of their old 
 men going up to the mountains to say O to their 
 god Benamuckee was a cheat ; and their bringing 
 word from thence what he said was much more so ; 
 that if they met with any answer, or spake with any 
 one there, it must be with an evil spirit : and then 
 I entered into a long discourse with him about the 
 devil, the original of him, his rebellion against 
 God, his enmity to man, the reason of it, his setting 
 himself up in the dark parts of the world to be 
 worshipped instead of God, and as God, and the 
 many stratagems he made use of to delude mankind 
 to their ruin ; how he had a secret access to our 
 passions and to our aftections, and to adapt his 
 snares to our inclinations, so as to cause us even to 
 be our own tempters, and to run upon our destruc- 
 tion by our own choice. 
 
 I found it was not so easy to imprint right no- 
 tions in his mind about the devil, as it was about 
 the being of a God : nature assisted all my argu- 
 ments to evidence to him even the necessity of a 
 great First Cause, and overruling, governing Power^
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 245 
 
 a secret, directing Providence, and of the equity and 
 justice of paying homage to him that made us, and 
 the hke ; but there appeared nothing of this kind 
 in the notion of an evil spirit ; of his original, his 
 being, his nature, and, above all, of his inclination 
 to do evil, and to draw us in to do so too : and the 
 poor creature puzzled me once in such a manner, 
 by a question merely natural and innocent, that I 
 scarce knew what to say to him. I had been talk- 
 ing a great deal to him of the power of God, his 
 omnipotence, his aversion to sin, his being a con- 
 suming fire to the workers of iniquity ; how, as he 
 had made us all, he could destroy us and all the 
 world in a moment ; and he listened with great 
 seriousness to me all the while. After this, I had 
 been telling him how the devil was God's enemy in 
 the hearts of men, and u?ed all his malice and skill 
 to defeat the good designs of Providence, and to 
 ruin the kingdom of Christ in the world, and the 
 like. Well, says Friday, but you say God is so 
 strong, so great; is he not much strong, much 
 might as the devil ? — Yes, yes, says I, Friday, God 
 is stronger than the devil : God is above the 
 devil, and therefore we pray to God to tread him 
 down under our feet, and enable us to resist his 
 temptations, and quench his fiery darts. — But, says 
 he again, if God much stronger, much might as the 
 devil, why God no kill the devil, so make him no 
 more do wicked ? I was strangely surprised at this 
 question ; and, after all, though 1 was now an old 
 man, yet I was but ayoungdoctor, and ill (lualified 
 for a casuist, or a solver of difficulties ; and, at first, 
 1 could not tell what to say ; so I pretended not to 
 hear him, and asked him what he said ; but he was 
 too earnest for an answer, to forget his question, so 
 that he repeated it in the very same broken words as 
 9boye. By this time I had recovered myself a little, 
 
 y 3
 
 246 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 and I said, God will at last punish him severely ; 
 he is reserved for the judgment, and is to be cast 
 into the bottomless pit, to dwell with everlasting 
 fire. This did not satisfy Friday ; but he returns 
 upon me, repeating my words, Reserve at last: me 
 no understand ; but why not kill the devil now ; 
 not kill great ago ? — You may as well ask me, said 
 I, why (jod does not kill you and me, when we do 
 wicked things here that offend him ? We are pre- 
 served to repent and be pardoned. He mused some 
 time on this : Well, well, says he, mighty affec- 
 tionately, that well : so you, I, devil, all wicked, 
 all preserve, repent, God pardon all. Here I was 
 run down again by him to the last degree ; and it 
 was a testimony to me, how the mere notions of na- 
 ture, though they will guide reasonable creatures to 
 the knowledge of aGod,andof a worship or homage 
 due to the supreme being ofGod,asthe consequence 
 of our nature, yet nothing but divine revelation can 
 form the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and of redemp- 
 tion purchased for us, of a Mediator of the new co- 
 venant, and of an Intercessor at the footstool of 
 God's throne ; I say, nothing but a revelation from 
 Heaven can form these in the soul ; and that, there- 
 fore, the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, I mean the Word of God, and the Spirit of 
 God, promised for the guide and sanctifier of his 
 people, are the absolutely necessary instructors of 
 the souls of men in the saving knowledge of God, 
 and the means of salvation. 
 
 I therefore diverted the present discourse between 
 me and my man, rising up hastily, as upon some 
 sudden occasion of going out ; then sending him for 
 something a good way oif, I seriously prayed to God 
 that he would enable me to instruct savingly this 
 poor savage ; assisting, by his Spirit, the heart of 
 the poor ignorant creature to receive the light of
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. SiT 
 
 the knowledge of God in Christ, reconciling him to 
 liiinself, and would guide me to speak so to him from 
 the word of God, as his conscience might be con- 
 vinced, his eyes opened, and his soul saved. VVhen 
 he came again to me, I entered into a long discourse 
 with him upon the subject of the redemption of man 
 by the Saviour of the world, and of the doctrine of 
 the gospel preached from heaven, viz. of repentance 
 towards God, and faith in our blessed Lord Jesus. I 
 then expk-.ined to him, as well as I could, why our 
 blessed Redeemer took not on him the nature of 
 angels, but the seed of Abraham ; and how, for that 
 reason, the fallen angels had no share in the redemp- 
 tion ; that he came only to the lost sheep of the 
 house of Israel, and the like. 
 
 I had, God knows, more sincerity than know- 
 ledge in all the methods 1 took for this poor crea- 
 ture's instruction, and must acknowledge, what I 
 believe all that act upon the same principle will 
 find, that in laying things open to him, I really in- 
 formed and instructed myself in many things that 
 either I did not know, or had not fully considered 
 before, but which occurred naturally to my mind 
 upon searching into them, for the information of 
 this poor savage ; and I had more affection in my 
 inquiry after things upon this occasion than ever I 
 felt before : so that, whether this poor wild wretch 
 was the better for me or no, I had great reason to 
 be thankful that ever he came to me ; my grief sat 
 lighter upon me ; my habitation grew comfortable 
 to me beyond measure : and when I reflected, that 
 in this solitary life which I had been confined to, I 
 had not only been moved to look up to Heaven my- 
 self, and to seek to the hand that had brought me 
 here, but was now to be made an instrument, under 
 Providence, to save the life, and, for aught I knew, 
 the soul, of a poor 6avage> and bring him to the true
 
 248 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 knowledge of religion, and of the Christian doctrine, 
 that he might know Christ Jesus, in whom is life 
 eternal ; I say, when I reflected upon all these 
 things, a secret joy ran through every part of my 
 soul, and I frequently rejoiced that ever I was 
 brought to this place, which I had so often thought 
 the most dreadful of all afiiictions that could possi- 
 bly have befallen me. 
 
 I continued in this thankful frame all the re- 
 mainder of ray time ; and the conversation which 
 employed the hours between Friday and me was 
 such, as made the three years which we lived there 
 together perfectly and completely happy, if any such 
 thing as complete happiness can be formed in a 
 sublunary state. This savage was now a good 
 Christian, a much better than I ; though I have 
 reason to hope, and bless God for it, that we were 
 equally penitent, and comforted, restored penitents. 
 We had here the v>'ord of God to read, and no farther 
 off from his Spirit to instruct, than if we had been 
 in England. I always applied myself, in reading the 
 Scriptures, to let him know, as well as I could, the 
 meaning of what 1 read ; and he again, by his 
 serious inquiries and questionings, made me, as I 
 said before, a much better scholar in the Scripture- 
 knowledge than I should ever have been by my 
 own mere private reading. Another thing 1 can- 
 not refrain from observing litre also, from ex- 
 perience in this retired part of my life, viz. how 
 infinite and inexpressible a blessing it is that the 
 knowledge of God, and of the doctrine of salvation 
 by Christ Jesus, is so plainly laid down in the word 
 of God, so easy to be received and understood, that 
 as the bare reading the Scripture made me capable 
 of understanding enough of my duty to carry me 
 directly on to the great work of sincere repentance 
 for my sins, and laying hold of a Saviour for life
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 249 
 
 and salvation, to a stated reformation in practice, 
 and obedience to all God's commands, and this 
 without any teacher or instructor, I mean human ; 
 so, the same plain instruction sufficiently served to 
 the enlightening this savage creature, and bringing 
 him to be such a Christian, as 1 have known few 
 equal to him in my life. 
 
 As to all the disputes, wrangling, strife, and con- 
 tention, which have happened in the world about 
 religion, whether niceties in doctrines, or schemes 
 of church-government, they were all perfectly use- 
 less to us, and, for aught 1 can yet see, they have 
 been so to the rest of the world. We had the sure 
 guide to heaven, viz. the word of God; and we had, 
 blessed be God, comfortable views of the Spirit of 
 God teaching and instructing us by his word, lead- 
 ing us into all truth, and making us both willing 
 and obedient to the instruction of his word. And i 
 cannot see the least use that the greatest knowledge 
 of the disputed points of religion, which have made 
 such confusions in the world, would have been to 
 us, if we could have obtained it. — But I must go on 
 with the historical part of things, and take ever}'^ 
 part in its order. 
 
 After Friday and I became more intimately ac- 
 quainted, and that he could understand almost all I 
 said to him, and speak pretty fluently, though in 
 broken English, to me, I acquainted him with my 
 own history, or at least so much of it as related to 
 my coming to this place ; how I had lived here, and 
 how long : I let him into the mystery, for such it 
 was to him, of gunpowder and bullet, and taught 
 him how to shoot. I gave him a knife, which he 
 was wonderfully delighted with ; and I made him a 
 belt, with a frog hanging to it, such as in England 
 we wear hangers in ; and in the frog, instead of a 
 banger, I gave him a hatchet, which was not only as
 
 250 ADVENTUBES OF 
 
 good a weapon, in some cases, but much more use- 
 ful upon other occasions. 
 
 1 described to him the country of Europe, parti- 
 cularly England, which 1 came from ; how weklived, 
 how we worshipped God, how we behaved to one 
 another, and how we traded in ships to all parts of 
 the world. I gave him an account of the wreck 
 which 1 had been on board of, and showed him, as 
 near as I could, the place where she lay ; but she 
 was all beaten in pieces before, and gone. I show- 
 ed him the ruins of our boat, which we lost when 
 we escaped, and which I could not stir with my 
 whole strength then ; but was now fallen almost all 
 to pieces. Upon seeing this boat, Friday stood 
 musing a great while, and said nothing. I asked 
 him what it was he studied upon ? At last, says he, 
 Me see such boat like come to place at my nation. 
 I did not understand him a good while ; but, at last, 
 when I had examined farther into it, I vmderstood 
 by him, that a boat, such as that had been, came on 
 shore upon the country where he lived ; that is, as 
 he explained it, was driven thither by stress of wea- 
 ther. I presently imagined that some European 
 ship must have been cast away upon their coast, 
 and the boat might get loose, and drive ashore ; but 
 was so dull, that I never once thought of men mak- 
 ing their escape from a wreck thither, much less 
 whence they might come : so 1 only inquired after a 
 description of the boat. 
 
 Friday described the boat to me well enough ; 
 but brought me better to understand him when he 
 added, with some warmth, We save the white mans 
 from drown. Then 1 presently asked him, if there 
 •were any white mans, as he called them, in the 
 boat? Yes, he said ; the boat full of white mans. 
 I asked him how many ? He told upon his fingers 
 seventeen. 1 asked him then what became of
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE, 251 
 
 them ? He told me, They Hve, they dwell at my 
 nation. 
 
 This put new thoughts into my head ; for 1 pre- 
 sently imagined that these might be the men belong- 
 ing to the ship that was cast away in the sight of 
 my island ; as I now called it ; and who, after the 
 ship was struck on the rock, and they saw her in- 
 evitably lost, had saved themselves in their boat, 
 and were landed upon that wild shore among the 
 savages. Upon this, I enquired of him more critic- 
 ally what was become of them ; he assured me they 
 lived still there ; that they had been there about 
 four years ; that the savages let them alone, and 
 gave them victuals to live on. I asked him how it 
 came to pass they did not kill them, and eat them? 
 He said. No, they make brother with them ; that is, 
 as I understood him, a truce ; and then he added, 
 They eat no mans but when make the war fight ; 
 that is to say, they never eat any men but such as 
 come to fight with them, and are taken in battle. 
 
 It was after this some considerable time, that be- 
 ing upon the top of the hill, at the east side of the 
 island; from whence, as I have said, I had, in a clear 
 day, discovered the main, or continent of America, 
 Friday, the weather being very serene, looks very 
 earnestly towards the main land, and, in a kind of 
 surprise, falls a jumping and dancing, and calls out 
 to me, for 1 was at some distance from him. I ask- 
 ed him what was the matter? O joy ! says he ; O 
 glad ! there see my country, there my nation ! I 
 observed an extraordinary sense of pleasure appear- 
 ed in his face, and his eyes sparkled, and his coun- 
 tenance discovered a strange eagerness, as if he had 
 a mind to be in his own country again. This ob- 
 servation of mine put a great many thoughts into 
 me, whicli made me at first not so easy about my 
 new man Friday as I was before; audi made no doubt
 
 252 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 but that if Friday could get back to his own nation 
 again, he would not only forget all his religion, but 
 all his obligation to me, and would be forward 
 enough to give his countrymen an account of me, 
 and come back perhaps with a hundred or two of 
 them, and make a feast upon me, at which he might 
 be as merry as he used to be with those of his ene- 
 mies, when they were taken in war. But I wronged 
 the poor honest creature very much, for which I 
 was very sorry afterwards. However, as my jealousy 
 increased, and held me some weeks, I was a little 
 more circumspect, and not so familiar and kind to 
 him as before : in which I was certainly in the wrong 
 too ; the honest, grateful creature, having no 
 thought about it, but what consisted with the best 
 principles, both as a religious Christian, and as a 
 grateful friend ; as appeared afterwards, to my full 
 satisfaction. 
 
 While my jealousy of him lasted, you maybe sure 
 I was every day pumping him, to see if he would 
 discover any of the new thoughts which I suspected 
 were in him : but 1 found every thing he said was 
 so honest and so innocent, that I could find nothing 
 to nourish my suspicion ; and, in spite of all my 
 uneasiness, he made me at last entirely his own 
 again ; nor did he, in the least, perceive that I was 
 uneasy, and therefore I could not suspect him of 
 deceit. 
 
 One day walking up the same hill, but the weather 
 being hazy at sea, so that we could not see the con- 
 tinent, I called to him, and said, Friday, do not 
 you wish yourself in your own country, your own 
 nation ? — Yes, he said, I be much O glad to be at 
 my own nation. — What would you do there ? said I : 
 would you turn wild again, eat men's flesh again, 
 and be a savage, as you were before? He looked 
 full of concern, and shaking his head, said, No,
 
 UOEINSON CRUSOE. 253 
 
 no ; Friday tell them to live good, tell them to pray 
 
 God, tell them to eat corn-bread, cattle-flesh, milk; 
 
 no eat man again. — Why then, said I to him, they 
 
 will kill you. He looked grave at that, and then 
 
 said. No, no ; they no kill me, they willing love 
 
 learn. He meant by this, they would be willing 
 
 to learn. He added, the}' learned much of the 
 
 bearded mans that came in the boat. Then I asked 
 
 him if he would go back to them. He smiled at 
 
 that, and told me that he could not swim so far. I 
 
 told him, I would make a canoe for him. He told 
 
 me he would go, if 1 would go with him. I go ! 
 
 says I ; why, they will eat me, if I come there. — 
 
 No, no, says he ; me make they no eat you ; me 
 
 make they much love you. He meant, he would 
 
 tell them how I had killed his enemies, and saved 
 
 his life, and so he would make them love me. Then 
 
 lie told me, as well as he could, how kind they were 
 
 to seventeen white men, or bearded men, as he called 
 
 them, who came on shore there in distress. 
 
 From this time, 1 confess I had a mind to venture 
 over, and see if I could possibly join with those 
 bearded men, who I made no doubt, were Spaniards 
 and Portuguese : not doubting but if I could, we 
 might find some method to escape from thence, 
 being upon the continent, and a good company to- 
 gether, better than I could from an island forty 
 miles off the shore, and alone, without help. So, 
 after some days, I took Friday to work again, by 
 way of disccmrse ; and told him I would give him a 
 boat to go back to his own nation; and accordingly 
 I carried him to my frigate, which lay on the other 
 side of the island, and having cleared it of water 
 (for I always kept it sunk in water) I brought it 
 out, showed it him, and we both went into it. I 
 found he was a most dexterous fellow at managing 
 it, and would make it go almost as swift again as I 
 VOL. XVI. z
 
 254 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 could. So when he was in, I said to him, Well, 
 now, Friday, shall we go to yuui- nation? He 
 looked very dull at my saying so; which it seems, 
 was because he thought the boat too small to go so 
 far : I then told him I had a bigger ; so the next 
 day I went to the place where the first boat lay 
 which I had made, but which I could not get into 
 the water. He said that was big enough : but then, 
 as I had taken no care of it, and it had lain two or 
 three and twenty years there, the sun had split and 
 dried it, that it was in a manner rotten. Friday 
 told me such a boat would do very well, and would 
 carry much enough vittle, drink, bread ; that was 
 his way of talking. 
 
 Upon the whole, I was by this time so fixed upon 
 my design of going over with him to the continent, 
 that I told him we would go and make one as big 
 as that, and he should gojiome in it. He answered 
 not one word, but looked very grave and sad. I 
 asked him what was the matter with him ? He 
 asked me again, Why you angry mad with Friday? 
 What me done ? 1 asked him what he meant : I 
 told him I was not angiy with him at all. No an- 
 gry ! says he, repeating the words several times ; 
 Why send Friday home away to my nation. — Why, 
 says 1, Friday, did not you say, you wished you 
 were there ? — Yes, yes, says he, wish be both there; 
 no wish Friday there, no master there. In a word, 
 he would not think of going there without me. I 
 go there, Friday ! says I ; what shall I do there ? 
 He returned very quick upon me at this : You do 
 great deal much good, says he ; you teach wild mans 
 be good, sober, tame mans ; you tell them know 
 God, pray God, and live new life. — Alas ! Friday, 
 says 1, thou knowest not what thou sayest ; 1 am 
 but an ignorant man myself. — Yes, yes, says he, you 
 teachee me good, you teachee them good No, no.
 
 HOBINSON CRUSOE. 255 
 
 Friday, says 1, you sliall go without me ; leave me 
 here to live by myself, as I did before. He looked 
 confused again at that word ; and running to one 
 of the hatchets which he used to wear, he takes it 
 up hastily, and gives it to me. What must I do 
 with this ? says 1 to him. You take kill Friday, 
 says he. What must 1 kill you for ? said I again. 
 He returns very quick. What you send Friday 
 away for ? Take kill Friday, no send Friday 
 away. This he spoke so earnestly, that I saw tears 
 stand in his eyes : in a word, I so plainly discovered 
 the utmost affection in him to me, and a firm reso- 
 lution in him, that I told him then, and often after, 
 that I would never send him away from me, if he 
 was willing to stay with me. 
 
 Upon the whole, as I found, by all his discourse, 
 a settled affection to me, and that nothing should 
 part him from me, so I found all the foundation of 
 his desire to go to his own country was laid in his 
 ardent affection to the people, and his hopes of my 
 doing them good : a thing, which, as I had no no- 
 tion of myself, so I had not the least thought, or 
 intention, or desire of undertaking it. But still 1 
 found a strong inclination to my attempting an 
 escape, as above, founded on the supposition ga- 
 thered from the discourse, viz. that there were se- 
 venteen bearded men there : and, therefore, without 
 any more delay, I went to work with Friday, to find 
 out a great tree proper to fell, and make a larg» 
 periagua, or canoe, to undertake the voyage. There 
 were trees enough in the island to have built a little 
 fleet, not of periaguas, or canoes, but even of good 
 large vessels : but the main thing 1 looked at was, 
 to get one so near the water that we might launch 
 it when it was made, to avoid the mistake I com- 
 mitted at first. At last, Friday pitched upon a 
 tree; for I found he knew much better than 1 what 
 
 z2
 
 256 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 kind of wood was fittest for it; nor can I tell, to 
 this day, what wood to call the tree we cut down, 
 except that it was very like the tree we call fustic, 
 or between that and the Nicaragua wood, for it was 
 much of the same colour and smell. Friday was 
 for burning the hollow or cavity of this tree out, 
 to make it for a boat, but I showed him how to cut 
 it with tools ; which, after 1 had showed him how 
 to use, he did very handily : and in about a month's 
 hard labour we finished it, and made it very hand- 
 some ; especially when, with our axes, which I 
 showed him how to handle, we cut and hewed the 
 outside into the true shape of a boat. After this, 
 however, it cost us near a fortnight's time to get her 
 along, as it were inch by inch, upon great rollers 
 into the water; but when she was in, she would 
 have carried twenty men with great ease. 
 
 When she was in the water, and though she was 
 so big, it amazed me to see with what dexterity, 
 and how swift my man Friday would manage her, 
 turn her, and paddle her along. So I asked him if 
 he would, and if we might, venture over in her. 
 Yes, he said ; we venture over in her very well, 
 though great blow wind. However, I had a far- 
 ther design, that he knew noting of, and that was 
 to make a mast and a sail, and to fit her with an 
 anchor and cable. As to a mast, that was easy 
 enough to get ; so I pitched upon a strait young 
 cedar tree, which I found near the place, and which 
 there were great plenty of in the island : and I set 
 Friday to work to cut it down, and gave him direc- 
 tions how to shape and order it. But as to the sail, 
 that was my particular care. I knew I had old sails 
 or rather pieces of old sails enough ; but as 1 had 
 had them now six and twenty years by me, and had 
 not been very careful to preserve them, not imagin- 
 ing that I should ever have this kind of use for them.
 
 AOBINSON CKUSOE. 257 
 
 1 did not doubt but they were all rotten, and, in- 
 deed, most of them were so. However, I found two 
 pieces, which appeared pretty good, and with these 
 I went to work ; and with a great deal of pains, and 
 awkward stitching, you may be sure, for want of 
 needles, I, at length, made a three-cornered ugly 
 thing, like what we call in England a shoulder-of- 
 mutton sail, to go with a boom at bottom, and a 
 little short sprit at the top, such as usually our 
 ships' long-boats sail with, and such as I best knew 
 how to manage, as it was such a one I had to the 
 boat in which I made my escape from Barbary, as 
 related in the first part of my story. 
 
 I was near two months performing this last work, 
 viz. rigging and fitting my mast and sails ; for [ 
 finished them very complete, making a small stay, 
 and a sail, or fore-sail, to it, to assist, if we should 
 turn to windward ; and, which was more than all, 
 I fixed a rudder to the stern of her to steer with. I 
 was but a bungling ship-wright, yet, as I knew the 
 usefulness, and even necessity of such a thing, I ap- 
 plied myself with so much pains to do it, that at last 
 I brought it to pass ; though, considering the many 
 dull contrivances I had for it that failed, I think it 
 cost me almost as much labour as making the boat. 
 After all this was done, I had my man Friday to 
 teach as to what belonged to the navigation of my 
 boat ; for, though he knew very well how to paddle 
 a canoe, he knew nothing what belonged to a sail 
 and a rudder; and was the most amazed when he 
 saw me work the boat to and again in the sea by 
 the rudder, and how the sail gibbed, and filled this 
 way, or that way, as the course we sailed changed; 
 I say, when he saw this, he stood like one astonished 
 and amazed. However, with a little use, I made 
 all these things familiar to him, and he became an 
 expert sailor, except that as to the compass ; I could
 
 258 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 make him understand very little of that. On the 
 other hand, as there was very little cloudy weather, 
 and seldom or never any fogs in those parts, there 
 was the less occasion for a compass, seeing the stars 
 were always to be seen by night, and the shore by 
 day, except in the rainy seasons, and then. nobody 
 cared to stir abroad, either by land or sea. 
 
 I was now entered on the seven and twentieth 
 year of my captivity in this place ; though the three 
 last years that I had this creature with me ought 
 rather to be left out of the account, my habitation 
 being quite of another kind than in all the rest of 
 the time. I kept the anniversary of my landing 
 here with the same thankfulness to God for his mer- 
 cies as at first; and if 1 had such cause of acknow- 
 ledgement at first, I had much more so now, having 
 such additional testimoniesof the care of Providence 
 over me, and the great hopes I had of being effec- 
 tually and speedily delivered ; for I had an invinci- 
 ble impression upon my thoughts that my deliver- 
 ance was at hand, and that I should not be another 
 year in this place. I went on, however, with my 
 husbandry ; digging, planting, and fencing, as usual. 
 I gathered and cured my grapes, and did every ne- 
 cessary thing as before. 
 
 The rain}^ season was, in the mean time, upon me, 
 when I kept more within doors than ac other times. 
 We had stowed our new vessel as secure as we 
 could, bringing her up into the creek, where, as I 
 said in the beginning, 1 landed ray rafts from the 
 ship ; and hauling her up to the shore, at high-water 
 mark, I made my man Friday dig a little dock, just 
 big enough to hold her, and just deep enough to 
 give her water enough to float in ; and then, when 
 the tide was out, we made a strong dam across the 
 end of it, to keep the water out ; and so she lay dry,. 
 as to the tide, from the sea ; and to keep the raia
 
 ROBINSON CHUSOE. 259 
 
 off, we laid a great many boughs of trees, so thick, 
 that she was as well thatched as a house ; and thus 
 we waited for the months of November and Decem- 
 ber, in which 1 designed to make my adventure. 
 
 When the settled season began to come in, as 
 the thought of my design returned wiih the fair 
 weather, I was preparing daily for the voyage : and 
 the first thing 1 did was to lay by a certain quantity 
 of provisions, being the stores for our voyage : and 
 intended, in a week or a fortnight's time, to open 
 the dock, and launch out our boat. I was busy one 
 morning upon something of this kind, when I called 
 to Friday, and bid him go to the sea-shore, and see 
 if he could find a turtle, or tortoise, a thing which 
 we generally got once a week, for the sake of the 
 eggs as well as the flesh. Friday had not been long 
 gone, when he came running back, and flew over 
 my outer-wall, or fence, like one that felt not the 
 ground, or the steps he set his feet on ; and before 
 I had time to speak to him, he cries out to me, O 
 
 master ! O master ! O sorrow ! O bad ! What's 
 
 the matter, Friday ? says I. O yonder, there, says 
 he, one, two, three canoe ; one, two, three ! By 
 this way of speaking, I concluded there were six ; 
 but, on inquiry, I found it was but three. Well, 
 Friday, says I, do not be frightened ! So I heart- 
 ened him up as well as I could : however, I saw 
 the poor fellow was most terribly scared ; for no- 
 thing ran in his head but that they were come to 
 look for him, and would cut him in pieces, and eat 
 him ; and the poor fellow trembled so, that I scarce 
 knew what to do with him. I comforted him as 
 well as I could, and told him I was in as much 
 danger as he, and that they would eat me as well 
 as him : But, says I, Friday, we must resolve to 
 fight them. Can you fight, Friday ? — Me shoot, 
 says he ; but there come many great number.
 
 260 ADVENTURES OP 
 
 No matter for that, eaid I, again ; our guiis will 
 fright them that we do not kill. So I asked him 
 whether, if I resolved to defend him, he would de- 
 fend me, and stand by me, and do just as I bid him. 
 He said, Me die, when you bid die, master. So I 
 went and fetched a good dram of rum and gave 
 him ; for 1 had been so good a husband of my 
 rum, that I had a great deal left. When he drank 
 it, I made him take the two fowling-pieces, which 
 we always carried, and loaded them with large 
 swan-shot, as big as small pistol-bullets : then I 
 took four muskets, and loaded them with two slugs, 
 and five small bullets each ; and my two pistols I 
 loaded with a brace of bullets each : I hung my 
 great sword, as usual, naked by my side, and gave 
 Friday his hatchet. When 1 had thus prepared 
 myself, I took my perspective glass, and went up 
 to the side of the hill, to see what I could discover; 
 and I found quickly, by my glass, that there were 
 one and twenty savages, three prisoners, and three 
 canoes ; and that their whole business seemed to 
 be the triumphant banquet upon these three human 
 bodies; a barbarous feast, indeed! but nothing 
 more than, as I had observed, was usual with them. 
 I observed also, that they were landed, not where 
 they had done when Friday made his escape, but 
 nearer to my creek : where the shore was low, and 
 where a thick wood came almost close down to the 
 sea. This, with the abhorrence of the inhuman 
 errand these wretches came about, filled me with 
 such indignation, that I came down again to Friday, 
 and told him I was resolved to go down to them, 
 and kill them all ; and asked him if he would stand 
 by me. He had now got over his fright, and his 
 spirits being a little raised with the dram I had given 
 him, he was very cheerful, and told me, as b^ore, 
 he would die when I bid die.
 
 ROBINSON CKUSOE. 261 
 
 In this fit of fury, I took and divided the arms 
 which 1 had charged, as before, between us : I gave 
 Friday one pistol to stick in his girdle, and three 
 guns upon his shoulder ; and I took one pistol, and 
 the other three guns myself; and in this posture 
 we marched out. I took a small bottle of rum in 
 my pocket, and gave Friday a large bag with more 
 powder and bullets ; and, as to orders, 1 charged 
 him to keep close behind me, and not to stir, or 
 shoot, or do any thing, till I bid him ; and, in the 
 mean time, not "to speak a word. In this posture, 
 I fetched a compass to my right hand of near a 
 mile, as well to get over the creek as to get into 
 the wood, so that I might come within shot of them 
 before I should be discovered, which I had seen, 
 by my glass, it was easy to do. 
 
 While I was making this march, my former 
 thoughts returning, I began to abate my resolu- 
 tion : 1 do not mean that I entertained any fear of 
 their number ; for, as they were naked, unarmed 
 wretches, it is certain I was superior to them •, nay, 
 though I had been alone. But it occurred to my 
 thoughts, what call, what occasion, much less what 
 necessity 1 was in, to go and dip my hands in blood, 
 to attack people who had neither done or intended 
 me any wrong ? Who, as to me, were innocent, and 
 whose barbarous customs w ere their own disaster ; 
 being, in them, a token indeed of God's having left 
 them, with the other nations of that part of the 
 world, to such stupidity, and to such inhuman 
 courses ; but did not call me to take upon me to 
 be a judge of their actions, much less an execu- 
 tioner of his justice ; that, whenever he thought fit, 
 he would take the cause into his own hands, and, 
 by national vengeance, punish them, as a people, 
 for national crimes; but that, in the mean time, it 
 was none of my busmess ; that, it was true, Friday
 
 26'Jl ADVENTURES OF 
 
 might justify it, because he was a declared enemy, 
 and in a state of war with those very particular peo- 
 ple, and it was lawful for him to attack them ; but 
 I could not say the same with respect to myself. 
 These things were so warmly pressed upon my 
 thoughts all the way as I went, that I resolved I 
 would only go and place myself near them, that I 
 might observe their barbarous feast, and that I would 
 act then as God should direct; but that, unless 
 something offered that was more a call to me than 
 yet 1 knew of, I would not meddle with them. 
 
 With this resolution I entered the wood ; and, 
 with all possible wariness and silence, Friday fol- 
 lowing close at my heels, I marched till I came to 
 the skirt of the wood, on the side which was next 
 to them, only that one corner of the wood lay be- 
 tween me and them. Here I called softly to Friday, 
 and showing him a great tree, which was just at the 
 corner of the wood, 1 bade him go the tree, and 
 bring me word if he could see there plainly what 
 they were doing. He did so ; and came immediately 
 back to me, and told me they might be plainly 
 viewed there ; that they were all about their fire, 
 eating the flesh of one of their prisoners, and that 
 another lay bound upon the sand, a little from them, 
 which, he said, they would kill next, and which fired 
 all the very soul within me. He told me it was not 
 one of their nation, but one of the bearded men he 
 had told me of, that came to their country in the 
 boat. 1 was filled with horror at the very naming 
 the white bearded man ; and, going to the tree, I 
 saw plainly, by my glass, a white man, who lay upon 
 the beach of the sea, with his hands and his feet 
 tied with flags, or things like rushes, and that he 
 was an European, and had clothes on. 
 
 There was another tree, and a little thicket be- 
 yond it, about fifty yards nearer to them than the
 
 nOBINSON CRUSOE. 263 
 
 place where I was, which, by going a little way 
 about, I saw I might come at undiscovered, and 
 that then I should be within half a shot of them : 
 so I withheld my passion, though I was indeed en- 
 raged to the highest degree ; and going back about 
 twenty paces, 1 got behind some bushes, which held 
 all the way till 1 came to the other tree ; and then 
 came to a little rising ground, which gave me a 
 full view of them, at the distance of about eighty 
 yards. 
 
 I had now not a moment to lose, for nineteen of 
 the dreadful wretches sat upon the ground, all close 
 huddled together, and had just sent the other two 
 to butcher the poor Christian, and bring him, per- 
 haps, limb by limb, to their fire; and they were 
 stooping down to untie the bands at his feet. I 
 turned to Friday — Now Friday, said I, do as I bid 
 thee. Friday said he would. Then, Friday, says 
 I, do exactly as you see me do ; fail in nothing. So 
 I set down one of the muskets and the fowling-piece 
 upon the ground, and Friday did the like by his ; 
 and with the other musket I took my aim at the 
 savages, bidding him to do the like : then asking 
 him if he was ready, he said, Yes. Then fire at 
 them, said I ; and the same moment I fired also. 
 
 Friday took his aim so much better than I, that 
 on the side that he shot, he killed two of them, and 
 wounded three more ; and on my side, I killed one, 
 and wounded two. They were, you may be sure, 
 in a dreadful consternation ; and all of them who 
 were not hurt jumped upon their feet, but did not 
 immediately know which way to run, or which way 
 to look, for they knew not from whence their de- 
 struction came. Friday kept his eyes close upon me 
 that, as I had bid him, he might observe what I 
 did ; so, as soon as the first shot was made, I threw 
 down the piece, and took up the fowUng-piece, and
 
 264 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Friday did the like : he saw nie cock and present ; 
 he did the same again. Are you ready, Fi'iday? 
 said I. — Yes, says he. Let fly, then, says I, in the 
 name of (}od! and with that., I fired again among 
 the amazed wretches, and so did Friday ; and as 
 our pieces were now loaden with what I called 
 swan-shot, or small pistol-bullets, we found only 
 two drop, but so many were wounded, that they 
 ran about yelling and screaming like mad creatures, 
 all bloody, and most of them miserably wounded, 
 whereof three more fell quickly after, though not 
 quite dead. 
 
 Now, Friday, says I, laying down the discharged 
 pieces, and taking up the musket which was yet 
 loaden, follow me ; which he did, with a great deal 
 of courage ; upon which I rushed out of the wood, 
 and showed myself, and Friday close at my foot. 
 As soon as I perceived they saw me, I shouted as 
 loud as I could, and bade Friday do so too ; and 
 running as fast as I could, which, by tlic way, was 
 not very fast, being loaded with arms as I was, I 
 made directly towards the poor victim, who was, as 
 I said, lying upon the beach, or shore, between the 
 place where they sat and the sea. The two butchers, 
 who were just going to work with him, had left him 
 at the surprise of our first fire, and fled in a terrible 
 fright to the sea-side, and had jumped into a canoe, 
 and three more of the rest made the same way. I 
 turned to Friday, and bade him step forwards, and 
 fire at them ; he understood me immediately, and 
 running about forty yards, to be nearer them, he 
 shot at them, and 1 thought he had killed them all, 
 for I saw them all fall of a heap into the boat, though 
 I saw two of them up again quickly : however, he 
 killed two of them, and wounded the third so, that 
 he lay down in the bottom of the boat as if he had 
 been dead.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 265 
 
 While my man Friday fired at them, I pulled out 
 my knife and cut the flags tliat bound the poor vic- 
 tim ; and loosing his hands and feet, I lifted him 
 up, and asked him in the Portuguese tongue, what he 
 was. He answered in Latin, Christianus ; but was so 
 weak and faint that he could scarce stand or speak. 
 I took my bottle out of my pocket, and gave it him, 
 making signs that he should drink, which he did ; 
 ar.d I gave him a piece of bread, which he eat. 
 Then 1 asked him what countryman he was : and 
 lie said, Rspagniole ; and being a little recovered, 
 let me know, by all the signs he could possibly make, 
 how much he was in my debt for his deliverance. 
 Seignior, said I, with as much Spanish as I could 
 make up, we will talk afterwards, but we must 
 fight now : if you have any strength left, take this 
 pistol and sword^ and lay about you. He took them 
 very thankfully; and no sooner had he the arms in 
 fiis hands, but, as if they had put new vigour into 
 him, he flew upon his murderers like a fury, and 
 had cut two of them in pieces in an instant ; for 
 the truth is, as the whole was a surprise to them, 
 so the poor creatures were so much frightened with 
 the noise of our pieces, that they fell down for mere 
 amazement and fear, and had no more power to at^- 
 tempt their own escape, than their flesh had to re- 
 sist our shot : and that was the case of those five 
 that I'riday shot at in the boat : for as three of them 
 fell with the hurt they received, so the other two 
 fell with the fright. 
 
 I kej)t my piece in my hand still without firing, 
 being willing to keep my charge ready, because I 
 had given the Spaniard my pistol and sword : so I 
 called to Friday, and bade him run up to the tree 
 from wlience we first fired, and fetch the arms w Inch 
 lay there that had been discharged, which he did 
 with great swiftness ; and then giving him my mus- 
 
 2 A
 
 266 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 ket, I sat down myself to load all the rest again, and 
 bade them come to me when they wanted. While I 
 was loading these pieces, there happened a fierce 
 engagement between the Spaniard and one of the 
 savages, who made at him with one of their great 
 wooden swords, the same-like weapon that was to 
 have killed him before, if I had not prevented it. 
 The Spaniard, who was as bold and brave as could 
 be imagined, though weak, had fought this Indian 
 a good while, and had cut him two great wounds 
 on his head; but the savage being a stout, lusty fel- 
 low, closing in with him, had thrown him down, 
 being faint, and was wringing my sword out of his 
 hand ; when the Spaniard, though undermost, 
 wisely quitting the sword, drew the pistol from his 
 girdle, shot the savage through the body, and kill- 
 ed him upon the spot, before I, who was running 
 to help him, could come near him. 
 
 Friday being now left to his liberty, pursued the 
 flying wretches, with no weapon in his hand but his 
 hatchet ; and with that he dispatched those three, 
 who, as I said before, were wounded at first, and 
 fallen, and all the rest he could come up with : and 
 the Spaniard coming to me for a gun, I gave him 
 one of the fowling-pieces, with which he pursued 
 two of the savages, and wounded them both ; but, 
 as he was not able to run, they both got from him 
 into the wood, where Friday pursued them, and 
 killed one of them, but the other was too nimble 
 for him ; and though he was wounded, yet had 
 plunged himself into the sea, and swam, with all 
 his might, off to those two who were left in the ca- 
 noe, which three in the canoe, with one wounded, 
 that we knew not whether he died or no, were all 
 that escaped our hands of one and twenty ; the ac- 
 count of the whole is as follows : three killed at our 
 first shot from the tree; two killed at the next shot;
 
 ROBINSON CJtUSOE. 267 
 
 two killed by Friday in the boat ; two killed by Fri- 
 day of those at first wounded ; one killed by Friday 
 in the wood ; three killed by the Spaniard ; four 
 killed, being found dropped here and there, of their 
 wounds, or killed by Friday in his chase of them ; 
 four escaped in the boat, whereof one wounded, if 
 not dead. — Twenty-one in all. 
 
 Those that were in the canoe worked hard to get 
 out of gun-shot, and though Friday made two or 
 three shots at them, I did not find that he hit any 
 of them. Friday would fain have had me take one 
 of their canoes, and pursue them ; and, indeed, I 
 w-as very anxious about their escape, lest carrying 
 the news home to their people, they should come 
 back perhaps with two or three hundred of the ca- 
 noes, and devour us by mere multitude ; so I con- 
 sented to pursue them by sea, and running to one 
 of their canoes, 1 jumped in, and bade Friday fol- 
 low me ; but when I was in the canoe, I was sur- 
 prised to find another poor creature lie there, bound 
 hand and foot, as the Spaniard was, for the slaugh- 
 ter, and almost dead with fear, not knowing what 
 was the matter; for he had not been able to look up 
 over the side of the boat, he was tied so hard neck 
 and heels, and had been tied so long, that he had 
 really but little life in him. 
 
 I immediately cut the twisted flags or rushes, 
 which they had bound him with, and would have 
 helped him up ; but he could not stand or speak, 
 but groaned most piteously, believing, it seems, still, 
 that he was only unbound in order to be killed. 
 When Friday came to him, I bade him speak to 
 him, and tell him of his deliverance ; and, pulling 
 out my bottle, made him give the poor wretch a 
 dram; which, with the news of his being delivered, 
 revived him, and he sat up in the boat. But when 
 Friday came to hear him speak, and look in his 
 
 2 A 2
 
 268 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 face, it would have moved any one to tears to have 
 seen how Friday kissed him, embraced him, hug- 
 ged him, cried, laughed, hollowed, jumped about, 
 danced, sung ; then cried again, wrung his hands, 
 beat his own face and head ; and then sung and 
 jumped about again, like a distracted creature. It 
 was a good while before I could make him speak to 
 me, or tell me what was the matter ; but when he 
 came a little to himself, he told me that it was his 
 father. 
 
 It is not easy for me to express how it moved me 
 to see what ecstasy and filial affection had worked 
 in this poor savage at the sight of his father, and 
 of his being delivered from death ; nor, indeed, can 
 I describe hillf the extravagancies of his affection 
 after this ; for he went into the boat, and out of 
 the boat, a great many times : when he went into 
 him, he would sit down by him, open his breast, 
 and hold his father's head close to his bosom for 
 many minutes together, to nourish it ; then he 
 took his arms and ancles, which were numbed and 
 stiff with the binding, and chafed and rubbed them 
 with his hands ; and I, perceiving what the case 
 was, gave him some rum out of my bottle to rub 
 them with, which did them a great deal of good. 
 
 This afikir put an end to our pursuit of the canoe 
 with the other savages, who were now got almost 
 out of sight ; and it was happy for us that we did 
 not, for it blew so hard within two hours after, and 
 before they could be got a quarter of their way, and 
 continued blowing so hard all night, and that from 
 the north-west, which was against them, that I 
 could not suppose their boat could live, or that they 
 ever reached their own coast. 
 
 But, to return to Friday ; he was so busy about 
 his father, that I could not find in my heart to take 
 him off for some time : but after I thought he could
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 269 
 
 leave him a little, I called him tome, 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. 1 then gave him 
 a cake of bread, out of a little pouch 1 carried 
 on purpose ; I also gave him a dram for himself, 
 but he would not taste it, but carried it to his fa- 
 ther. I had in my pocket two or three bunches of 
 raisins, so I gave him a handful of them for his fa- 
 ther. He had no sooner given his father these 
 raisins, but 1 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 on his 
 feet that ever I saw : I say, he ran at such a rate, 
 that he was out of sight, as it were, in an instant ; 
 and though I called, and hollowed out too, after 
 him, it was all one, away he went : and in a quar- 
 ter of an hour I saw him come back again, though 
 not so fast as he went ; and as he came nearer, I 
 found his pace slacker, because he had something 
 in his hand. When he came up to me, I found he 
 had been quite home for an earthen jug, or pot, to 
 bring his father some fresh water, and that he had 
 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. The water revived his father more than 
 all the rum or spirits I had given him, for he was 
 just fainting with thirst. 
 
 When his father had drank, I called to him to 
 know if there was any water left: he said, Yes ; and 
 I bade him give it to the poor Spaniard, who was 
 in as much want of it as his father ; and I sent one 
 of the cakes that Friday brought to the Spaniard 
 too, who was indeed very weak, and was reposing 
 himself upon a green place under the shade of a tree ; 
 
 2 A 3
 
 270 ADVENTUUES OF 
 
 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 thankful- 
 ness that could appear in any countenance ; but 
 was so weak, notwithstanding he had so exerted 
 himself in the fight, that he could not stand up 
 upon his feet ; he tried to do it two or three times, 
 but was really not able, his ancles were so swelled 
 and so painful to him ; so I bade him sit still, and 
 caused Friday to rub his ancles, and bathe them 
 with rum, as he had done his father's. 
 
 I observed the poor affectionate creature, every 
 two minutes, or perhaps less, all the while he was 
 here, turn his head about, to see if his father was 
 in the same place and posture as he left him sitting ; 
 and at last he found he was not to be seen ; at which 
 he started up, and, without speaking a word, flew 
 with that swiftness to him, that one could scarce 
 perceive his feet to touch the ground as he went : 
 but when he cavne, he only found he had laid him- 
 self down to ease his limbs, so Friday came back to 
 me presently ; and then I spoke to the Spaniard to 
 let Friday help him up, if he could, and lead him 
 to the bpat, and then he should carry him to our 
 dwelling, where I would take care of him : but Fri- 
 day, a lusty strong 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 gun- 
 nel of the canoe, with his feet in the inside of it ; 
 and then lifting him quite in, he set him close to 
 his father; and presently stepping out again, lavmch- 
 ed the boat off", and paddled it along the shore faster 
 than I could walk, though the wind blew pretty
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 271 
 
 hard too : so he brought them both safe into our 
 creek, and leaving them in the boat, ran away to 
 fetch the other canoe As he passed me, I spoke 
 to him, and asked him whither he went. He told 
 me. Go fetch more boat : so away he went like 
 the wind, for sure never man or horse ran like him ; 
 and he had the other canoe in the creek almost as 
 soon as I got to it by land ; so he wafted me over, 
 and then went to help our new guests out of the 
 boat, which he did ; but they were neither of them 
 able to walk, so that poor Friday knew not what to 
 do. 
 
 To remedy this, I went to work in my thought, 
 and calling to Friday to bid them sit down on the 
 bank while he came to me, I soon made a kind of 
 a hand-barrow to lay them on, and Friday and I 
 carried them both up together upon it, between us. 
 But when we got them to the outside of our wall, 
 or fortification, we were at a worse loss than be- 
 fore, 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 Avith boughs of trees, being in the 
 sj)ace without our outward fence, and between that 
 and the grove of young wood which I had planted ; 
 and here we made them two beds of such things as 
 I had, viz. of good rice-straw, with blankets laid 
 upon it, to lie on, and another to cover them, on 
 each bed. 
 
 My island was now peopled, and I thought my- 
 self \ery rich in subjects; and it was a merry re- 
 flection, which I frequently made, how like a king 
 I looked. First of all, the whole country was my 
 own mero property, so that I had an undoubted 
 right of dominion. Secondly, my people were pe- 
 fectly subjected ; I was absolutely lord and law-
 
 272 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 giver ; they all owed their lives to me, and were 
 ready to lay down their lives, if there had been oc- 
 casion for it, for me. It was remarkable, too, I 
 had but three subjects, and they were of three dif- 
 ferent religions : my man Friday was a Protestant, 
 his father was a Pagan and a cannibal, and the Spa- 
 niard was a Papist : however, I allowed liberty of 
 conscience throughout my dominions : — But this is 
 by the way. 
 
 As soon as I had secured my two weak rescued 
 prisoners, and given them shelter, and a place to 
 rest them upon, I began to think of making some 
 provision for them ; and the first thing 1 did, I or- 
 dered Friday to take a yearling goat, betwixt a kid 
 and a goat, out of my particular flock, to be killed ; 
 when 1 cut off the hinder-quarter, and chopping it 
 into small pieces, I set Friday to work to boiling 
 and stewing, and make 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 hav- 
 ing set a table there for them, I sat down, and eat 
 my dinner also with them, and, as well as I could, 
 cheered them, and encouraged them. Friday was 
 my interpreter, especially to his father, and, indeed 
 to the Spaniard too ; for the Spaniard spoke the 
 language of the savages pretty well. 
 
 After we had dined, or rather supped, I ordered 
 Friday to take one of the canoes, and go and fetch 
 our muskets and other fire-arms, which, for want of 
 time, we had left upon the place of battle : and, 
 the next day, I ordered him to go and bury the 
 dead bodies of the savages, which lay open to the 
 sun, and would presently be offensive. I also or- 
 dered him to bury the horrid remains of their bar- 
 barous feast, which I knew were pretty much, and
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 273 
 
 which I could not think of doing myself; nay, I 
 could not bear to see them, if I Avent that way ; all 
 which he punctually performed, and effaced the very 
 appearance of the savages being there ; so that 
 when I went again, I could scarce know where it 
 was, otherwise than by the corner of the wood 
 pointing to the place. 
 
 I then began to enter into a little conversation 
 with my two new subjects : and first, 1 set Fri- 
 day to inquire of his father what he thought of 
 the escape of the savages in that canoe, and whe- 
 ther we might expect a return of them, with a 
 power too great for us to resist. His first opinion 
 was, that the savages in ^he boat never could live 
 out the storm which blew that night they went off, 
 but must, of necessity, be drowned, or driven south 
 to those other shores, where they were as sure to 
 be devoured as they were to be drowned, if they 
 were cast away : but, as to what they would do, if 
 they came safe on shore, he said he knew not ; but 
 it was his opinion, that they were so dreadfully 
 frightened with the manner of their being attacked, 
 the noise, and the fire, that he believed they would 
 tell the people they were all killed b}' thunder and 
 lightning, not by the hand of man ; and that the 
 two which ai)peared, viz, Friday and I, were two 
 heavenly spirits, or furies, come down to destroy 
 them, and not men with weapons. This, he said, 
 he knew ; because he heard them all cry out so, 
 in their language, one to another ; for it was im- 
 possible for them to conceive that a man could dart 
 fire, and speak thunder, and kill at a distance, with- 
 out lifting up the hand, as was done now : and this 
 old savage was in the right ; for, as I understood 
 since, by other hands, the savages never attempted 
 to go over to the island afterwards, they were so 
 terrified with the accounts given by those four men
 
 274 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 (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 con- 
 tinual apprehensions for a good while, and kept 
 always upon my guard, with all my army : for, as 
 there were now four of us, I would have ventured 
 upon a hundred of them, fairly in the open field, 
 at any time. 
 
 In a little time, however, no more canoes ap- 
 pearing, the fear of their coming wore off; and I 
 began to take my former thoughts of a voyage to 
 the main into consideration ; being likewise assured, 
 by Friday's fother, that I might depend upon good 
 usage from their nation, on his account, if I would 
 go. But my thoughts were a little suspended when 
 I had a serious discourse with the Spaniard, and 
 when I understood that there were sixteen more of 
 his countrymen and Portuguese, who, having been 
 cast away, and made their escape to that tide, lived 
 there at peace, indeed, with the savages, but were 
 very sore put to it for necessaries, and indeed for 
 life. I asked him all the particulars of their voyage, 
 and found they were a Spanish ship, bound from 
 the Rio de la Plata to the Havanna, being directed 
 to leave their loading there, which was chiefly hides 
 and silver, and to bring back what European goods 
 they could meet with there ; that they had five Por- 
 tuguese seamen on board, whom they took out of 
 another wreck ; that five of their own men were 
 drowned, when first the ship was lost, and that these 
 escaped, through infinite dangers and hazards, and 
 arrived, almost starved, on the cannibal coast, where 
 they expected to have been devoured every moment. 
 He told me they had some arms with them, but they 
 were perfectly useless, for that tliey had neither 
 powder or ball, the washing of the sea having spoil-
 
 KOBINSON CRUSOE. 27.5 
 
 ed all their powder, but a little, which they used, 
 at their first landing, to provide themselves some 
 food. 
 
 1 asked him what he thought would become of 
 them there, and if they had formed no design of 
 making any escape. He said they had many con- 
 sultations about it ; but that having neither vessel, 
 nor tools to build one, nor provisions of any kind, 
 their councils always ended in tears and despair. I 
 asked him how he thought they would receive a 
 proposal from me, which might tend towards an 
 escape ; and whether, if they were all here, it might 
 not be done. I told him with freedom, I feared 
 mostly their treachery and ill usage of me, if I put 
 my life in their hands ; for that gratitude was no 
 inherent virtue in the nature of man, nor did men 
 always square their dealings by the obligations they 
 had received, so much as they did by the advantages 
 they expected. I told him it would be very hard 
 that I should be the instrument of their deliverance, 
 and that they should afterwards make me their pri- 
 soner in New Spain, where an Englishman was cer- 
 tain to be made a sacriftce, what necessity, or what 
 accident soever brought him thither; and that I 
 had rather be delivered up to the savages, and be 
 devoured alive ; than fall into the merciless claws of 
 the priests, and be carried into the Inquisition. I 
 added, that otherwise I was persuaded, if they were 
 all here, we might, with so many hands, build a 
 bark large enough to carry us all away, either to 
 the Brazils, southward, or to the islands, or Spa- 
 nish 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
 
 276 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 ingenuousness, that their condition was so miser- 
 able, and that they were so sensible of it, that, he 
 believed, they would abhor the thought of using any 
 man unkindly that should contribute to their deli- 
 verance ; and that if I pleased, he would go to them 
 with the old man, and discourse with them about it 
 and return again, and bring me their answer ; that 
 he would make conditions with them upon their so- 
 lemn oath, that they should 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 that I should agree to, and no other, 
 and to be directed wholly and absolutely by my or- 
 ders, 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 him- 
 self, that he would never stir from me as long as 
 he lived, till I gave him orders ; and that he would 
 take my side to the last drop of his blood, if there 
 should happen the least breach of faith among his 
 countrymen. He told me they were all of chem very 
 civil, honest men, and they were under the greatest 
 distress imaginable, having neither weapons or 
 clothes, nor any food, but at the mercy and discre- 
 tion of the savages ; out of all hopes of ever return- 
 ing to their own country ; and that he was sure, if 
 I would undertake their relief, they would live and 
 die by me. 
 
 Upon these assurances, I resolved to venture to 
 relieve them, if possible, and to send the old savage 
 and this Spaniard over to them to treat. But when 
 we had got all things in readiness to go, the Spa- 
 niard himself started an objection, which had so 
 much prudence in it, on one hand, and so much 
 isincerity, on the other hand, that I could not but
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 277 
 
 be very well satisfied in it ; and, by his advice, put 
 off the dehverance of his comrades tor at least half 
 a year. The case was thus : He had been with us 
 now about a month, during which time I had let 
 him see in what manner 1 had provided, with the 
 assistance of Providence, for my support ; and he 
 saw evidently what stock of corn and rice 1 had laid 
 up ; which, though it was more than sufficient for 
 myself, yet it was not sufficient, without good hus- 
 bandry, for my family, now it was increased to 
 four ; but much less would it be sufficient if his 
 countrymen, who were, as he said, sixteen, still alive, 
 should come over ; and, least of all, would it be 
 sufficient to victual our vessel, if we should build 
 one, for a voyage to any of the Christian colonies of 
 America ; so he told me he thought it would be 
 more adviseable to let him and the other two dig and 
 cultivate some more land, as much as I could spare 
 seed to sow, and that we should wait another har- 
 vest, that we might have a supply of corn for his 
 countrymen, when they should come ; for want 
 might be a temptation to them to disagree, or not 
 to think themselves delivered, otherwise tlian out 
 of one difficulty into another. You know, says 
 he, the children of Israel, though they rejoiced 
 at first for their being delivered out of Egypt, yet 
 rebelled even against God himself, that delivered 
 them, when they came to want bread in the wil- 
 derness. 
 
 His caution was so seasonable, and his advice so 
 good, that I could not but be very well pleased witli 
 his proposal, as well as I was satisfied with his fide- 
 lity : so we fell to digging all four of us, as well 
 as the wooden tools we were furnished with permit- 
 ted ; and in about a month's time, by the end of 
 which it was seed-time, we had got as much land 
 cured and trimmed up as we sowed two and twenty 
 
 2 B
 
 278 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 bushels of barley on, and sixteen jars of rice ; which 
 was, in short, all the seed we had to spare ; nor, 
 indeed, did we leave ourselves barley sufficient for 
 our own food, for the six months that we had to 
 expect our crop ; that is to say, reckoning from the 
 time we set our seed aside for sowing ; for it is not 
 to be supposed it is six months in the ground in that 
 country. 
 
 Having now society enough, and our number be- 
 ing sufficient to put us out of fear of the savages, if 
 they had come, unless their number had been very 
 great, we went freely all over the island, whenever 
 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. 
 For this purpose, I marked out several trees which 
 I thought fit for our work, and I set Friday and his 
 father to cutting them down ; and then I caused the 
 Spaniard, to whom I imparted my thought on that 
 affair, to oversee and direct their work. 1 showed 
 them with what indefatigable pains 1 had hewed a 
 large tree into single planks, and I caused them to 
 do the like, till they had made about a dozen large 
 planks of good oak, near two feet broad, thirty-five 
 feet long, and from two inches to four inches thick : 
 what prodigious labour it took up, any one may 
 imagine. 
 
 At the same time, I contrived to increase my little 
 flock of tame goats as much as I could; and, for 
 this purpose, 1 made Friday and the Spaniard go out 
 one day, and myself with Friday the next day (for 
 we took our turns), and by this means we got about 
 twenty young kids to breed up with the rest ; for 
 whenever we shot the dam, we saved the kids, and 
 added them to our flock. But, above all, the sea- 
 son for curing the grapes coming on, I caused such 
 a prodigious quantity to be hung up in the sun, 
 5
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 279 
 
 that, I believe, had we been at Alicant, where the 
 raisihs of the sun are cured, we could have filled 
 sixty or eighty barrels ; and these, with our bread, 
 was a great part of our food, and was very good 
 living too, 1 assure you, for it is exceeding nourish- 
 ing. 
 
 It was now harvest, and our crop in good oi'der : 
 it was not the most plentiful increase 1 had seen in 
 the island, but, however, it was enough to answer 
 our end ; for from twenty -two bushels of barley we 
 brought in and threshed out above two hundred and 
 twenty bushels, and the like in proportion of the 
 rice; which was store enough for our food to the 
 next harvest, though all the sixteen Spaniards had 
 been on shore with me ; or if we had been ready 
 for a voyage, it would very plentifully have victual- 
 led our ship to have carried us to any part of the 
 world, that is to say, any part of America. When 
 we had thus housed and secured our magazine of 
 corn, we fell to work to make more wicker-ware, 
 viz. great baskets, in which we kept it; and the 
 Spaniard was very handy and dexterous at this part, 
 and often blamed me that 1 did not make some 
 things for defence of this kind of work ; but I saw 
 no need of it. 
 
 And now having a full supply of food for all the 
 guests I expected, I gave the Spaniard leave to go 
 over to the main, to see what he could do with 
 those he had left behind them there. I gave him a 
 strict charge not to bring any man with him who 
 would not first swear, in the presence of himself 
 and the old savage, that he would no way injure, 
 fight with, or attack the person he should find in 
 the island, who was so kind as to send for them in 
 order to their deliverance ; but that they would 
 stand by him, and defend him against all such at- 
 tempts, and wherever they went, would be entirely 
 
 2b2
 
 280 ADVENTURES OF, 
 
 under and subjected to his command ; and that this 
 should be put in writing, and signed with their 
 hands. How they were to have done this, when I 
 knew they had neither pen nor ink, was a question 
 which we never asked. Under these instructions, 
 the Spaniard and the old savage, the father of 
 Friday, went away in one of the canoes which they 
 might be said to come in, or rather were brought 
 in, when they came as prisoners to be devoured by 
 the savages. I gave each of them a musket, with 
 a firelock on it, and about eight charges of powder 
 and ball, charging them to be very good husbands 
 of both, and not to use either of them but upon 
 urgent occasions. 
 
 This was a cheerful work, being the first mea- 
 sures used by me, in view of my deliverance, for 
 now twenty-seven years and some days. I gave 
 them provisions of bread, and of dried grapes, 
 sufficient for themselves for many days, and suffi- 
 cient for all the Spaniards for about eight days' 
 time ; and wishing them a good voyage, I saw 
 them go ; agreeing with them about a signal they 
 should hang out at their return, by which I should 
 know them again, when they came back, at a dis- 
 tance, before they came on shore. They went away 
 with a fair gale, on the day that the moon was at 
 full, by my account in the month of October ; but 
 as for an exact reckoning of days, after I had once 
 lost it, I could never recover it again ; nor had I 
 kept even the number of years so punctually as to 
 be sure I was right ; though, as it proved, when I 
 afterwards examined my account, I found I had 
 kept a true reckoning of years. 
 
 It was no less than eight days I had waited for 
 them, when a strange and unforeseen accident in- 
 tervened, of which the like has not perhaps been 
 lieard of in history. I was fast asleep in my hutch
 
 ROBINSON CKUSOE, 281 
 
 one morning, when my man Friday came running 
 in to me, and called aloud, Master, master, they are 
 come, they are come ! I jumped up, and, regard- 
 less of danger, I went out as soon as I could get my 
 clothes on, through my little grove, which, by the 
 way, was by this time grown to be a very thick 
 wood; I say, regardless of danger, I went without 
 my arms, which was not my custom to do ; but I 
 was surprised, when turning my eyes to the sea, I 
 presently saw a boat at about a league and a half 
 distance, standing in for the shore, with a shoulder- 
 of mutton sail, as they call it, and the wind blow- 
 ing pretty fair to bring them in : also I observed 
 presently that they did not come from that side 
 which the shore lay on, but from the southernmost 
 end of the island. Upon this I called Friday in, and 
 bade him lie close, for these were not the people we 
 looked for, and that we might not know yet whe- 
 ther they were friends or enemies. In the next 
 place, I went in to fetch my perspective glass, to see 
 what I could make of them; and having taken the 
 ladder out, I climbed up to the top of the hill, as I 
 used to do when I was apprehensive of any thing, 
 and to take my view the plainer, without being dis- 
 covered. I had scarce set my foot upon the hill, 
 when my eye plainly discovered a ship lying at an 
 anchor, at about two leagues and a half distance 
 from me, S. S.E. but not above a league and a half 
 from the shore. By my observation it appeared 
 plainly to be an English ship, and the boat appeared 
 to be an English long-boat. 
 
 1 cannot express the confusion I was in ; though 
 the joy of seeing a ship, and one that I had reason 
 to believe was manned by my own countrymen, and 
 consequently friends, was such as I cannot describe ; 
 but yet I had some secret doubts hung about me, I 
 cannot tell from whence they came, bidding me 
 
 2 B 3
 
 282 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 keep upon my guard. In the first place it occurred 
 to me to consider what business an English ship 
 could have in that part of the world, since it was 
 not the way to or from any part of the world where 
 the English had any traffic ; and I knew there had 
 been no storms to drive them in there, as in distress ; 
 and that if they were really English, it was most 
 probable that they were here upon no good design ; 
 and that I had better continue as I was, than fall 
 into the hands of thieves and murderers. 
 
 Let no man despise the secret hints and notices 
 of danger, which sometimes are given him when he 
 may think there is no possibility of its being real. 
 That such hints and notices are given us, I believe 
 few that have made any observations of things can 
 deny; that they are certain discoveries of an invisi- 
 ble world, and a converse of spirits, we cannot 
 doubt ; and if the tendency of them seems to be to 
 warn us of danger, why should we not suppose they 
 are from some friendly agent (whether supreme, or 
 inferior and subordinate, is not the question), and 
 that they are given for our good ? 
 
 The present question abundantly confirms me in 
 the justice of this reasoning ; for had I not been 
 made cautious by this secret admonition, come it 
 from whence it will, I had been undone inevitably, 
 and in a far worse condition than before, as you will 
 see presently. I had not kept myself long in this 
 posture, but I saw the boat draw near the shore, as 
 if they looked for a creek to thrust in at, for the 
 convenience of landing ; however, as they did not 
 come quite far enough, they did not see the little 
 inlet where I formerly landed my rafts, but run their 
 boat on shore upon the beach, at about half a mile 
 from me, which was very happy for me ; for other- 
 wise they would have landed just at my door, as I 
 may say, and would soon have beaten me out of my
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 283 
 
 castle, and perhaps have plundered me of all I had. 
 When they were on shore, I was fully satisfied they 
 were Englishmen, at least most of them; one or two 
 I thought were Dutch, but it did not prove so ; 
 there were in all eleven men, whereof three of them 
 I found were vmarmed, and, as I thought, bound; 
 and when the first four or five of them were jumped 
 on shore, they took those three out of the boat, as 
 prisoners: one of the three I could perceive using 
 the most passionate gestures of entreaty, affliction, 
 and despair, even to a kind of extravagance; the 
 other two, I could perceive, lifted up their hands 
 sometimes, and appeared concerned, indeed, but not 
 to such a degree as the first. I was perfectly con- 
 founded at the sight, and knew not what the mean- 
 ing of it should be. Friday called out to me in 
 English, as well as he could, O master! 3'ou see 
 English mans eat prisoner as well as savage mans. — 
 Why, Friday, says I, do you think they are going to 
 cat them, then ? — Yes, says Friday, they will eat 
 them. — No, no, says I, Friday ; I am afraid they 
 will murder them, indeed, but you may be sure they 
 will not eat them. 
 
 All this while I had no thought of what the mat- 
 ter really was, but stood trembling with the horror 
 of the sight, expecting every moment when the 
 three prisoners should be killed ; nay, once I saw 
 one of the villains lift up his arm with a great cut- 
 lass, as the seamen call it, or sword, to strike one of 
 the poor men ; and I expected to see him fall every 
 moment ; at which all the blood in my body seemed 
 to run chill in my veins. I wished heartily now for 
 my Spaniard, and the savage that was gone with 
 him, or that I had any way to have come undisco- 
 vered within shot of them, that I mi^rht have rescued 
 the three men, for I saw no fire-arms they had 
 among them ; but it fell out to my mind anolhee
 
 284 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 way. After I had observed the outrageous usage of 
 the three men by tlie insolent seamen, I observed 
 the fellows run scattering about the island, as if 
 they wanted to see the country. I observed that the 
 three other men had liberty to go also where they 
 pleased ; but they sat down all three upon the 
 ground, very pensive, and looked like men in des- 
 pair. This put me in mind of the first time when I 
 came on shore, and began to look about me ; how 
 I gave myself over for lost; how wildly I looked 
 round me; what dreadful apprehensions I had; and 
 how I lodged in the tree all night, for fear of being 
 devoured by wild beasts. As I knew nothing, that 
 night, of the supply I was to receive by the provi- 
 dential driving of the ship nearer the land by the 
 storms and tide, by which I have since been so long 
 nourished and supported ; so these three poor de- 
 solate men knew nothing how certain of deliverance 
 and supply they were, how near it was to them, and 
 how effectually and really they were in a condition 
 of safety, at the same time that they thought them- 
 selves lost, and their case desperate. So little do we 
 see before us in the world, and so much reason have 
 we to depend cheerfully upon the great Maker of 
 the world, that he does not leave his creatures so 
 absolutely destitute, but that in the worst circum- 
 stances, they have always something to be thankful 
 for, and sometimes are nearer their deliverance than 
 they imagine ; nay, are even brought to their de- 
 liverance by the means by which they seem to be 
 brought to their destruction. 
 
 It was just at the top of high-water when these 
 people came on shore; and partly while they rambled 
 about to see what kind of a place they were in, they 
 had careles.'sly staid till the tide was spent, and the 
 water was ebbed considerably away, leaving their 
 boat aground. They had left two men in the boat.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 285 
 
 who, as I found afterwards, having drank a little too 
 much brandy, fell asleep ; however, one of them 
 waking a little sooner than the other, and finding 
 the boat too fast aground for him to stir it, hollow- 
 ed out for the rest, who were straggling about ; 
 upon which they all soon came to the boat : but it 
 v/as past all their strength to launch her, the boat 
 being very heavy, and the shore on that side being a 
 soft oozy sand, almost like a quick-sand. In this 
 condition, like true seamen, who are perhaps the 
 least of all mankind given to forethought, they gave 
 it over, and away they strolled about the country 
 again ; and I heard one of them say aloud to an- 
 other, calling them off from the boat. Why, let her 
 alone, Jack, can't you ? she'll float next tide : by 
 which I was fully confirmed in the main inquiry of 
 what countrymen they were. All this while I kept 
 myself very close, not once daring to stir out of my 
 castle, any farther than to my place of observation, 
 near the top of the hill ; and very glad I was to 
 think how well it was fortified. I knew it was no 
 less than ten hours before the boat could float again, 
 and by that time it would be dark, and I might be 
 at more liberty to see thei'* motions, and to hear 
 their discourse, if they had any. In the mean time, 
 I fitted myself up for a battle, as before, though 
 with more caution, knowing I had to do with an- 
 otiier kind of enemy than I had at first. I ordered 
 Friday also, whom I had nuide an excellent marks- 
 man with his gun, to load himself with arms. I 
 took myself two fowling-pieces, and I gave him 
 three muskets. My figure, indeed, was very fierce; 
 I had my formidable goats' skin coat on, with the 
 great cap I have mentioned, a naked sword by my side, 
 two pistols in my belt, and a gun upon each shoulder. 
 It was my design, as I said above, not to have 
 made any attempt till it was dark : but about two
 
 '286 ADVENTUKES OF 
 
 o'clock, being the heat of the day, I found tliat, in 
 short, they were all gone straggling into the woods, 
 and, as I thought, laid down to sleep. The three 
 poor distressed men, too anxious for their condition 
 to get any sleep, were, however, sat down under 
 the shelter of a great tree, at about a quarter of a 
 mile from me, and as, I thought, out of sight of any 
 of the rest. Upon this 1 resolved to discover my- 
 self to them, and learn something of their condi- 
 tion ; immediately I marched in the figure as above, 
 my man Friday at a good distance behind me, as 
 formidable for his arms as I, but not making quite 
 so staring a spectre-like figure as I did. I came as 
 near them undiscovered as I could, and then, before 
 any of them saw me, I called aloud to them in 
 Spanish, What are ye, gentlemen ? They started 
 up at the noise ; but were ten times more con- 
 founded when they saw me, and the uncouth figure 
 that I made. They made no answer at all, but I 
 thought I perceived them just going to fly from me, 
 when I spoke to them in English : Gentlemen, said 
 I, do not be surprised at me ; perhaps you may have 
 a friend near, when you did not expect it. — He 
 must be sent directly from Heaven, then, said one of 
 them very gravely to me, and pulling off his hat at 
 the same time to me; for our condition is past the 
 help of man — All help is from Heaven, sir, said I : 
 But can you put a stranger in the way how to help 
 you ? for you seem to be in some great distress. 
 I saw you when you landed ; and when you seem- 
 ed to make application to the brutes that came 
 with you, I saw one of them lift up his sword to 
 kill you. 
 
 The poor man with tears running down his face, 
 and trembling, looking like one astonished, return- 
 ed. Am I talking to God or man ? Is it a real man 
 or an angel ? — Be in no fear about that, sir, said I ;
 
 ROBINSON CUUSOE. 287 
 
 if God had sent an angel to relieve you, he would 
 have come better clothed, and armed after another 
 manner than you see me: pray lay aside your fears; 
 I am a man, an Englishman, and disposed to assist 
 you : you see I have one servant only ; we have 
 arms and ammunition ; tell us freely, can we serve 
 you ? What is your case ? — Our case said, he, sir, 
 is too long to tell you, while our murderers are so 
 near us : but, in short, sir, I vv^as commander of that 
 ship, my men have mutinied against me ; they have 
 been hardly prevailed on not to murder me ; and at 
 last have set me on shore in this desolate place, 
 with these two men with me, one my mate, the 
 other a passenger, where we expected to perish, 
 believing the place to be uninhabited, and know not 
 yet what to think of it. — Where are these brutes, 
 your enemies ? said I : Do you know where they 
 are gone ? — There they lie, sir, said he, pointing to 
 a thicket of trees ; my heart trembles for fear they 
 have seen us, and heard you speak ; if they have, 
 they will certainly murder us all. — Have they any 
 fire-arms ? said I. He answered they had only two 
 pieces, one of which they left in the boat. Well 
 then, said I, leave the rest to me ; I see they are all 
 asleep, it is an easy thing to kill them all; but shall 
 we rather take them prisoners ? He told me there 
 were two desperate villains among them, that it was 
 scarce safe to shew any mercy to ; but if they were 
 secured, he believed all the rest would return to their 
 duty. I asked him which they were ? He told me 
 he could not at that distance distinguish them, but 
 he would obey my orders in any thing I would 
 direct. Well, says I, let us retreat out of their 
 view or hearing, lest they awake, and we will re- 
 solve further. So they willingly went back with 
 me, till the woods covered us from them. 
 
 Look you, sir, said I, if 1 venture upon your de-
 
 288 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 liverance, are you willing to Imake two conditions 
 with me? He anticipated my proposals, by telling 
 me, that both he and the ship, if recovered, should 
 be wholl}' directed and commanded by me in every 
 thing ; and, if the ship was not recovered, he would 
 live and die with me in what part of the world so- 
 ever I would send him; and the two other men said 
 yie same. Well, says I, my conditions are but two : 
 hrst, That while you stay in this island with me, you 
 will not pretend to any authority here; and if I 
 put arms in your hands, you will, upon all occa- 
 sions, give them up to me, and do no prejudice to 
 me or mine upon this island; and in the mean time, 
 be governed by my orders: secondly. That if the 
 ship is, or may be recovered, you will carry me 
 and my man to England passage free. 
 
 He gave me all the assurances that the invention 
 or faith of man could devise, that he would comply 
 with these most reasonable demands; and, besides, 
 would owe his life to me, and acknowledge it upon 
 all occasions as long as he lived. Well then, said 
 I, here are three muskets for you, with powder and 
 ball : tell me next what you think is proper to be 
 done. He showed all the testimonies of his grati- 
 tude that he was able, but offered to be wholly 
 guided by me. I told him I thought it was hard 
 venturing any thing; but the best method I could 
 think of was to tire upon them at once, as they lay, 
 and if any was not killed at the first volley, and of- 
 fered to submit, we might save them, and so put it 
 wholly upon God's providence to direct the shot. 
 He said very modestly, that he was loath to kill 
 them, if he could help it: but that those two were 
 incorrigible villains, and had been the authors of 
 all the mutiny in the ship, and if they escaped, we 
 should be undone still ; for they would go on board 
 and bring the whole ship's company, and destroy us
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE, 289 
 
 all. Well then, says I, necessity legitimates my ad- 
 vice, for it is the only way to save our lives. How- 
 ever, seeing him still cautious of shedding blood, I 
 told him they should go themselves, and manage as 
 they found convenient. 
 
 In the middle of this discourse we heard some of 
 them awake, and soon after we saw two of them on 
 their feet. I asked him if either of them were the 
 heads of the mutiny? He said no. Well then, said 
 I, 3'^ou may let them escape ; and Providence seems 
 to have awakened them on purpose to save them- 
 selves. Now, says I, if the rest escape you, it is your 
 fault. Animated with this, he took the musket I 
 had given him in his hand, and a pistol in his belt, 
 and his two comrades with him, with each a piece 
 in his hand ; the two men who were with him going 
 first, made some noise, at which one of the seamen 
 ■who was awake turned about, and seeing them com- 
 ing, cried out to the rest ; but it was too late then, 
 for the moment he cried out they fired ; I mean the 
 two men, the captain wisely reserving his own piece. 
 They had so well aimed their shot at the men they 
 knew, that one of them was killed on the spot, and 
 the other very much wounded; but not being dead, 
 he started up on his feet, and called eagerly for help 
 to the other ; but the captain stepping to him, told 
 him it was too late to cry for help, he should call 
 upon God to forgive his villainy ; and with that word 
 knocked him down with the stock of his musket, so 
 that he never spoke more : there were three more in 
 the company, and one of them was also slightly 
 wounded. By this time I was come; and when they 
 saw their danger, and that it was in vain to resist, 
 they begged for mercy. The captain told them he 
 would spare their lives, if they would give him any 
 assurance of their abhorrence of the treachery they 
 had been guilty of, and would swear to be faithful to 
 
 VOL. XVI. 2 o
 
 290 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 him in recovering the ship, and afterwards in carry- 
 ing her back to Jamaica, from whence they came. 
 They gave him all the protestations of their sincerity 
 that could be desired, and he was willing to believe 
 them, and spare their lives, which I was not against, 
 only that I obliged him to keep them bound hand 
 and foot while they were on the island. 
 
 While this was doing, 1 sent Friday with the 
 captain's mate to the boat, with orders to secure 
 her, and bring away the oars and sails, which they 
 did : and by and by three straggling men, that 
 were (happily for tliem) parted from the rest, came 
 back upon hearing the guns fired, and seeing the 
 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 history, which he 
 heard with an attention even to amazement ; and 
 particularly at the wonderful manner of my being 
 furnished with provisions and ammunition ; and, in- 
 deed, as my story is a whole collection of wonders, 
 it affected him deeply. But when he reflected from 
 thence upon himself, and how I seemed to have 
 been preserved there on purpose to save his life, 
 the tears ran down his face, and he could not 
 speak a word more. After this communication 
 was at an end, I carried him and his two men into 
 my apartment, leading them in just where I came 
 out, viz. at the top of the house, where I refreshed 
 them with such provisions as I had, and showed 
 them all the contrivances I had made, during my 
 long, long inhabiting that place. 
 
 All I showed them, all I said to them, was per- 
 fectly amazing ; but, above all, the captain admir- 
 ed my fortification, and how perfectly I had con-
 
 ROBINSON CIIUSOE. 291 
 
 cealed my retreat with a grove of trees, which, 
 having been now planted near twenty years, and the 
 trees growing much faster than in England, was be- 
 come a little wood, and so thick, that it was im- 
 passable in any part of it, but at that one side where 
 I had reserved niy little winding passage into it. I 
 told him this was my castle and my residence, but 
 that I had a seat in the country, as most princes 
 have, whither I could retreat upon occasion, and I 
 would show him that too another time : but at pre- 
 sent our business was to consider how to recover the 
 ship. He agreed with me as to that ; but told me, 
 he was perfectly at a loss what measures to take, 
 for that there were still six and twenty hands on 
 board, who having entered into a cursed conspiracy, 
 by which they had all forfeited their lives to the 
 law, would be hardened in it now by desperation, 
 and would carry it on, knowing that, if they were 
 subdued, they would be brought to the gallows, as 
 soon as they came to England, or to any of the 
 English colonies ; and that, therefore, there would 
 be no attacking them with so small a number as we 
 were. 
 
 I mused for some time upon vAmt he had said, 
 and found it was a very rational conclusion, and 
 that, therefore, something was to be resolved on 
 speedily, as well to draw the men on board into some 
 snare for their surprise, as to prevent their landing 
 upon us, and destroying us. Upon this, it present- 
 ly occurred to me, that in a little while the ship's 
 crew, wondering what was become of their com- 
 rades, and of the boat, would certainly come on 
 shore in their other boat, to look for them ; and 
 that then, perhaps, they might come armed, and be 
 too strong for us : this he allowed to be rational. 
 Upon this, I told him the first thing we had to do 
 was to stave the boat, which lay upon the beach, 
 
 2c2
 
 292 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 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 bis- 
 cuit-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 
 none left for many years. 
 
 When we had carried all these things on shore, 
 (the oars, mast, sail and rudder of the boat were 
 carried away before, as above,) we knocked a great 
 hole in her bottom, that if they had come strong 
 enough to master us, yet they could not carry off 
 the boat. Indeed, it was not much in my thoughts 
 that we could be able to recover the ship ; but my 
 view was, that if they went away without the boat, 
 I did not much question to make her fit again to 
 carry us to the Leeward Islands, and call upon our 
 friends the Spaniards in my way ; for I had them 
 still in my thoughts. 
 
 While we were thus preparing our designs, and 
 had first, by main strength, heaved the boat upon 
 the beach so high, that the tide would not float 
 her off at high water mark, and besides, had broke 
 a hole in her bottom too big to be quickly stopped, 
 and were set down musing what we should do, we 
 heard the ship fire a gun, and saw her make a waft 
 with her ensign as a signal for the boat to come on 
 board : but no boat stirred ; and they fired several 
 times, making other signals for the boat. At last, 
 when all their signals and firing proved fruitless, 
 and they found the boat did not stir, we saw them, 
 by the help of my glasses, hoistanother boat out, and 
 row towards the shore ; and we found, as they ap-
 
 KOBINSON CRUSOE. 293 
 
 proached, that there were no less than ten men in 
 her, and that they had fire-arms with them. 
 
 As the ship lay almost two leagues from the shore, 
 we had a full view of them as they came, and a 
 plain sight 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, 1 say, we had a full 
 view of them, and the captain knew the persons and 
 characters of all the men in the boat, of whom, he 
 said, there were three very honest fellows, who, he 
 was sure, were led into this conspiracy by the rest, 
 being overpowered and frightened ; but that as for 
 the boatswain, who, it seems, was the chief officer 
 among them, and all the rest, they were as outrageous 
 as any of the ship's crew, and were no doubt made 
 desperate in their new enterprise ; and terribly appre- 
 hensive he was that they wouldbe too powerful forus. 
 I smiled at him, and told him that men in our cir- 
 cumstances were past the operation of fear ; that 
 seeing almost every condition that could be was 
 better than that which we were supposed to be in, 
 we ought to expect that the consequence, whether 
 death or life, would be sure to be a deliverance. 
 I asked him what he thought of the circumstances 
 of my life, and whether a deliverance were not 
 worth venturing for? And where, sir, said I, is 
 your belief of my being preserved here on purpose 
 to save your life, which elevated you a little while 
 ago ; for my part, said I, there seems to me but 
 one thing amiss in all the prospect of it. What is 
 that? says he. Why, said I, it is, that as you say 
 there are three or four honest fellows among them, 
 which should be spared, had they been all of the 
 wicked part of the crew I should have thought 
 God's providence had singled them out to deliver
 
 294< ADVENTURES OF 
 
 them into your hands ; for depend upon it, every 
 man that comes ashore are our own, and shall die 
 or live as they behave to us. As I spoke this with 
 a raised voice and cheerful countenance, I found it 
 greatly encouraged him; so we set vigorously to 
 our business. 
 
 We had, upon the first anpearance of the boat's 
 coming from the ship, considered of separating our 
 prisoners ; and we had, indeed, secured them effect- 
 ually. Two of them, of whom the captain was less 
 assured than ordinary, I sent with Friday, and one 
 of the three delivered men, to my cave, where they 
 were remote enough, and out of danger of being 
 heard or discovered, or of finding their way out of 
 the woods if they could have delivered themselves : 
 here they left them bound, but gave them provi- 
 sions ; and promised them, if they continued there 
 quietly, to give them their liberty in a day or two ; 
 but that if they attempted their escape, they should 
 be put to death without mercy. They promised 
 faithfully to bear their confinement with patience, 
 and were very thankful that they had such good 
 usage as to have provisions and light left them ; 
 for Friday gave them candles (such as we made our- 
 selves) for their comfort ; and they did not know 
 but that he stood sentinel over them at the en- 
 trance. 
 
 The other prisoners had better usage ; two of 
 them were kept pinioned, indeed, because the cap- 
 tain was not free to trust them ; but the other two 
 were taken into my service, upon the captain's re- 
 commendation, and upon their solemnly engaging 
 to live and die with us ; so with them and the three 
 honest men we were seven men well armed ; and 
 I made no doubt we should be able to deal well 
 enough with the ten that were coming, considering 
 that the captain had said there were three or four
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 295 
 
 honest men among them also. As soon as they got 
 to the place where their other boat lay, they ran 
 their boat into the beach, and came all on shore, 
 hauling the boat up after them, which I was glad to 
 see ; for I was afraid they would rather have left the 
 boat at an anchor, some distance from the shore, 
 with some hands in her, to guard her, and so we 
 should not be able to seize the boat. Being on 
 shore, the first thing they did, they ran all to their 
 other boat ; and it was easy to see they were under 
 a great surprise to find her stripped, as above, of all 
 tliat 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, hollowing 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 asto- 
 nished at the surprise of this, that, as they told us 
 afterwards, they resolved to go pU on board again, 
 to their ship, and let them know that the men were 
 all murdered, and the long-boat staved ; according- 
 ly, they immediately launched their boat again, and 
 got all of them on board. 
 
 The captain was terribly amazed, and even con- 
 founded at this, believing they would go on board 
 the ship again, and set sail, giving their comrades 
 over for lost, and so he should still lose the ship, 
 which he was in hopes we should have recovered ; 
 but he was quickly as much frightened the other 
 way. 
 
 They had not been long put off with the boat, but 
 we perceived them all coming on shore again; but
 
 296 ADVENTURES OK 
 
 with this new measure in their conduct, which it 
 seems they consulted together upon, viz. to leave 
 three men in the boat, and the rest to go on shore, 
 and go up into the country to look for their fellows. 
 This was a great disappointment to us, for now we 
 were at a loss what to do ; as our seizing those 
 seven men on shore would be no advantage to us, 
 if we let the boat escape ; because they would then 
 row away to the ship, and then the rest of them 
 would be sure to weigh and set sail, and so our re- 
 covering the ship would be lost. However, we had 
 no remedy but to wait and see what the issue of 
 things might present. The seven men came on 
 shore, and the three who remained in the boat put 
 her off to a good distance from the shore, and came 
 to an anchor to wait for them ; so that it was im- 
 possible for us to come at them in the boat. Those 
 that came on shore, kept close together, marching 
 towards the top of the little hill under which my ha- 
 bitation 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 thev would 
 have gone farther off, that we might have come 
 abroad. But when they were come to the brow of the 
 hill, where they could see a great way into the valleys 
 and woods, which lay towards the north-east part, 
 and where the island lay lowest, they shouted and 
 hollowed 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 part of them had done, 
 they had done the job for us ; but they were too full 
 of apprehensions of danger to venture to go to sleep, 
 though they could not tell what the danger was they 
 had to fear neither.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. ' 297 
 
 The captain made a very just proposal to me upon 
 this consultation of theirs, viz. that perhaps they 
 would all fire a volley again, to endeavour to make 
 their fellows hear, and that we should all sally upon 
 them, just at the juncture when their pieces were 
 all discharged, and they would certainly yield, and 
 we should have been without bloodshed. I liked this 
 proposal, provided it was done while we were near 
 enough to come up to them before they could load 
 their pieces again. But this event did not happen ; 
 and we lay still a long time, very irresolute what 
 course to take. At length I told them there would 
 be nothing done, in my opinion, till night; and 
 then, if they did not return to the boat, perhaps 
 we might find a way to get between them and the 
 shore, and so might use some stratagem with them 
 in the boat to get them on shore. We waited a 
 great while, though very impatient for their remov- 
 ing ; and were very uneasy, when, after long con- 
 sultations, we saw them all start up, and march down 
 towards 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 1 perceived them to go towards the 
 shore, I imagined it to be, as it really was, that 
 the}' had given over their search, and were for go- 
 ing back again ; and the captain, as soon as I told 
 him my thoughts, was ready to sink at the appre- 
 hensions of it: but I presently thought of a stratagem 
 to fetch them back again, and which answered my 
 end to a tittle, I ordered Friday and the captain's 
 mate to go over the little creek westward, towards 
 the place where the savages came on shore when 
 Friday was rescued, and as soon as they came to a 
 little rising ground, at about half a mile distance, I 
 bade them hollow out, as loud as they could, and wait
 
 298 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 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 hollowed, to draw them as far into the island, 
 and among the woods, as possible, and then wheel 
 about again to me, by such ways as I directed them. 
 They were just going into the boat when Friday 
 and the mate hollowed : and they presently heard 
 them, and answering, run along the shore west- 
 ward, towards the voice they heard, when they 
 were presently stopped by the creek, where the wa- 
 ter being up, they could not get over, and called 
 for the boat to come up and set them over ; as, in- 
 deed, 1 expected. When they had set themselves 
 over, I observed that the boat being gone a good 
 way into the creek, and, as it were, in a harbour 
 within the land, they took one of the three men out 
 of her, to go along with them, and left only two in 
 the boat, having fastened her to the stump of a little 
 tree on the shore. This was what 1 wished for ; 
 and immediately leaving Friday and the captain's 
 mate to their business, 1 took the rest with me, and 
 crossing the creek out of their sight, we surprised 
 the two men before they were aware ; one of them 
 lying on the shore, and the other being in the boat. 
 The fellow on shore was between sleeping and 
 waking, and going to start up ; the captain, who 
 was foremost, ran in upon him, and knocked him 
 down; and then called out to him in the boat to 
 yield, or he was a dead man. There needed very 
 few arguments to persuade a single man to yield, 
 when he saw five men upon him, and his comrade 
 knocked down ; besides, this was, it seems, "one of 
 the three who were not so hearty in the mutiny as 
 the rest of the crew, and therefore was easily per- 
 suaded not only to yield, but afterwards to join very 
 sincerely with us. In the mean time, Friday and
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 299 
 
 the captain's mate so well managed their business 
 with the rest, that they drew them, by hollowing 
 and answering, from one hill to another, and from 
 one wood to another, till they not only heartily tired 
 them, but left them where they were very sure they 
 could not reach back to the boat before it was dark ; 
 and, indeed, they were heartily tired themselves 
 also, by the time they came back to us. 
 
 We had nothing now to do but to watch for them 
 in the dark, and to fall upon them, so as to make 
 sure work with them. It was several hours after 
 Friday came back to me before they came back to 
 their boat ; and we could hear the foremost of them, 
 long before they came quite up, calling to those be- 
 hind to come along ; and could also hear them answer, 
 and complain how lame and tired they were, and not 
 able to come any faster ; which was very welcome news 
 to us. At length they came up to the boat: but it 
 is impossible to express their confusion when they 
 found the boat fast aground in the creek, the tide 
 ebbed out, and their two men gone. We could hear 
 them call to one another in a most lamentable man- 
 ner, telling one another they were got into an en- 
 chanted island ; that either there were inhabitants 
 in it, and they should all be murdered, or else there 
 were devils and spirits in it, and they should be all 
 carried away and devoured. They hollowed again, 
 and called their two comrades by their names a great 
 many times ; but no answer. After some time, we 
 could see them, by the little light there was, run 
 about, wringing their hands like men in despair; 
 and that sometimes they would go and sit down in the 
 boat, to rest themselves ; then come ashore again, and 
 walk about again, and so the same thing over again. 
 My men would fain have had me give them leave to 
 fall upon them at once in the dark ; but I was will- 
 ing to take them at some advantage, so to spare
 
 300 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 them, and kill as few of them as I could ; and espe- 
 cially I was unwilling to hazard the killing any of 
 our men, knowing the others were very well armed. 
 I resolved to wait, to see if they did not separate ; 
 and, therefore, to make sure of them, I drew my 
 ambuscade nearer, and ordered Friday and the cap- 
 tain 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 pos- 
 sibly, before they offered to fire. 
 
 They had not been long in that posture, when 
 the boatswain, who was the principal ringleader of 
 the mutiny, and had now shown himself the most 
 dejected and dispirited of all the rest, came walking 
 towards them, with two more of the crew : the cap- 
 tain was so eager at having this principal rogue so 
 much in his power, that he could hardly have pa- 
 tience 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 
 into the body, and fell just by him, though he did 
 not die till an hour or two after ; and the third run 
 for it. At the noise of the fire, 1 immediately ad- 
 vanced with my whole army, which was now eight 
 men, viz. myself, generalissimo ; Friday, my lieu- 
 tenant-general ; the captain and his two men, and 
 the three prisoners of war, whom we had trusted 
 with arms. We came upon them, indeed, in the 
 dark, so that they could not see our number ; and 
 I made the man they had left in the boat, v/ho 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
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 301 
 
 capitulate. So he calls out, as loud as lie could, to 
 one of them, Tom Smith! Tom Smith! Tom Smith 
 answered immediately, Is that Robinson ? For it 
 seems, he knew the voice. The other answered, 
 Aye, aye ; for God's sake, Tom Smith, throw down 
 your arms atid yield, or you are all dead men this 
 moment. — Who must we yield to? Where are they? 
 says Smith again. Here they are, says he ; here's 
 our captain and fifty men with him, have been 
 hunting you these two hours : the boatsv/ain is kill- 
 ed. Will Fry is wounded, and I am a prisoner; and 
 if you do not yield, you are all lost. — Will they give 
 us quarter then ? says Tom Smith, and we will yield. 
 — I will go ask, if you promise to yield, says Robin- 
 son : so he asked the captain ; and the captain him- 
 self then calls out, You, Smith, you know my voice; 
 if you lay down your arms immediately, and submit, 
 you shall have your lives, all but Will Atkins. 
 
 Upon this Will Atkins cried out, For God's sake, 
 captain, give me quarter ; what have I done ? They 
 have all been as bad as I : which, by the way, was 
 not true neither ; for, it seems, this Will Atkins 
 was the first man that laid hold of the 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 parlied with them, and two 
 more, who bound them all ; and then my great 
 army of fifty men, which, particularly with those 
 three, were in all but eight, came up and seized 
 upon them, and upon their boat ; only that I kept 
 mvself and one more out of sight for reasons of 
 state. 
 
 2 J>
 
 302 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Our next work was to repair the boat, and think 
 of seizing the ship : and as for the captain, now he 
 had leisure to parley with them, he expostulated 
 with them upon the villainy of their practices with 
 him, and at length upon the further wickedness of 
 their design, and how certainly it must bring them 
 to misery and distress in the end, and perhaps to 
 the gallows. They all appeared very penitent, and 
 begged hard for their lives. As for that, he told 
 them they were none of his prisoners, but the com- 
 mander's of the island ; that they thought they had 
 set him on shore in a barren, uninhabited island ; 
 but it had pleased God so to direct them, that it 
 was inhabited, and that the governor was an Eng- 
 lishman ; 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 ad- 
 vise to prepare for death, for that he would be 
 hanged in the morning. 
 
 Though this was all but a fiction of his own, yet_ 
 it had its desired effect : Atkins fell upon his knees, 
 to beg the captain to intercede with the governor 
 for his life ; and all the rest begged of him, for God's 
 sake, that they might not be sent to England. 
 
 It now occurred to me, that the time of our de- 
 liverance was come, and that it would be a most 
 easy thing to bring these fellows in to be hearty in 
 getting possession of the ship ; so I retired in the 
 dark from them, that they might not see what kind 
 of a governor they had, and called the captain to 
 me : when 1 called, as at a good distance, one of 
 the men was ordered to speak again, and say to 
 the captain, Captain, the commander calls for you; 
 and presently the captain replied. Tell his excellency 
 I am just a-coming. This more perfectly amused
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 303 
 
 them, and they all believed that the commander 
 was just by with his fifty men. Upon the captain's 
 coming to me, I toJd him ray 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 com- 
 mitted to Friday, and the two men who came on 
 shore with the captain. They conveyed them to 
 the cave, as to a prison : and it was, indeed, a dis- 
 mal place, especially to men in their condition. The 
 others I ordered to my bower, as I called it, of which 
 I have given a full description; and as it was fenced 
 in, and they pinioned, the place was secure enough, 
 considering they were upon their behaviour. 
 
 To these in the morning I sent the captain, who 
 was to enter into a parley with them ; in a word, to 
 try them, and tell me whether he thought they might 
 be trusted or no to go on board and surprise the ship. 
 He talked to them of the injury done him, of the 
 condition they were brought to, and that though 
 the governor had given them quarter for their lives 
 as to the present action, yet that if they were sent 
 to England, they would all be hanged in chains, to 
 be sure ; but that if they would join in so just an 
 attempt as to recover the ship, he would have the 
 governor's engagement for their pardon. 
 
 Any one may guess how readily such a proposal 
 would be accepted by men in their condition ; they 
 fell down on their knees to the captain, and pro- 
 mised, 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 
 
 2d 2
 
 304" ADVENTURES 0^ 
 
 him as a father as long as they lived. Well, says 
 the captain, I must go and tell the governor what 
 you say, and see what I can do to bring him to con- 
 sent to it. So he brought me an account of the 
 temper he found them in, and that he verily believed 
 they would be faithful. However, that we might 
 be very secure, I told him he should go back agaia 
 and choose out those five, and tell them, that they 
 might see he did not v/ant men, that he would take 
 out those five to be his assistants, and that the go- 
 vernor would keep the other two, and the three that 
 were sent prisoners to the castle (ray cave) as hos- 
 tages for the fidelity of those five ; and that if they 
 proved unfaithful in the execution, the five hostages 
 should be hanged in chains alive on the shore. This 
 looked severe, and convinced them that the governor 
 was in earnest: however, they had no way left 
 them but to accept it; and it was now the business 
 of the prisoners, as much as of the captain, to per- 
 suade the other five to do their duty. 
 
 Our strength was now thus ordered for the expe- 
 dition : first, The captain, his mate and passenger : 
 second, Then the two prisoners of the first gang, 
 to whom, having their character from the captain, 
 I had given their liberty, and trusted them with 
 arms : third, The other two that I had kept till now 
 in my bovver pinioned, but, on the captain's motion, 
 had now released : fourth, 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 : but as for me 
 and my man Friday, I did not think it was proper 
 for us to stir, having seven men left behind ; and it 
 was employment enough for us to keep them asun- 
 der, and supply them with victuals. As to the five 
 in the cave, 1 resolved to keep them fast, but Friday
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 305 
 
 went in twice a-day to them, to supply them with 
 necessaries ; and I made the other two carry provi- 
 sions to a certain distance, where Friday was to 
 take it. 
 
 When I showed myself to the two hostages, it 
 was with the captain, who told them I was the per- 
 son the governor had ordered to look after them : 
 and that it was the governor's pleasure they should 
 not stir any where but by my direction ; that if they 
 did, they would be fetched into the castle, and be 
 laid in irons : so that as we never suffered them to 
 see me as a governor, I now appeared as another 
 person, and spoke of the governor, the garrison, 
 the castle, and the like, upon all occasions. 
 
 The captain now had no difficulty before him, but 
 to furnish his two boats, stop the breach of one, 
 and man them. He made his passenger captain of 
 one, with four of the men ; and himself, his mate, 
 and five more, went in the other ; and they con- 
 trived their business very well, for they came up to the 
 ship about midnight. As soon as they came within 
 call of the ship, he made Robinson hail them, and 
 tell them they had brought off the men and the boat, 
 but that it was a long time before they had found 
 them, and the like, holding them in a chat till they 
 came to the ship's side ; when the captain and the 
 mate entering first, with their arms, immediately 
 knocked down the second mate and carpenter with 
 the butt-end of their muskets, being very faithfully 
 seconded by their men ; they secured all the rest 
 that were upon the main and quarter-decks, and 
 began to fasten the hatches, to keep them down 
 that were below ; when the other boat and their 
 men entering at the fore-chains, secured the fore- 
 castle of the ship, and the scuttle which went down 
 into the cook-room, making three men they found 
 there prisoners. When this was done, and all safe 
 
 2 D 3
 
 306 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 upon deck, the captain ordered the mate, with three 
 men, to break into the round-house, where the new 
 rebel captain lay, who having taken the alarm, had 
 got up, and with two men and a boy had got fire- 
 arms in their hands ; and when the mate, with a 
 crow, split open the door, the new captain and 
 hLs men fired boldly among them, and wounded 
 the mate with a musket ball, which broke his arm, 
 and wounded two more of the men, but killed no- 
 body. The mate calling for help, rushed, however, 
 into the round-house, wounded as he was, and with 
 his pistol shot the new captain through the head, 
 the bullet entering at his mouth, and came out 
 again behind one of his ears, so that he never spoke 
 a word more ; upon which the rest yielded, and the 
 ship was taken effectually, without any more lives 
 lost. 
 
 As soon as the ship was thus secured, the captain 
 ordered seven guns to be fired, which was the signal 
 agreed upon with me to give me notice of his suc- 
 cess, which you may be sure I was very glad to hear, 
 having sat watching upon the shore for it till near 
 two o'clock in the morning. Having thus heard the 
 signal plainly, I laid me down ; and it having been 
 a day of great fatigue to me, I slept very sound, till 
 I was something surprised with the noise of a gun ; 
 and presently starting up, I heard a man call me by 
 the name of Governor, Governor, and presently I 
 knew the captain's voice ; v/hen climbing up to the 
 top of the hill, there he stood, and pointing to the 
 ship, he embraced me in his arms. My dear friend 
 and deliverer, says he, there's your ship, for she 
 is all your's, and so are we, and all that belong to 
 her. I cast my eyes to the ship, and there she rode 
 within little more than half a mile of the shore ; for 
 they had weighed her anchor as soon as they were 
 masters of her, and the weather being fair, had
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 307 
 
 brought her to an anchor just against the mouth of 
 the httle creek ; and the tide being up, the captain 
 had brought the pinnace in near the place where I 
 at first landed my rafts, and so landed just at my 
 door. I was at first ready to sink down with the 
 surprise ; for 1 saw my deliverance, indeed, visibly 
 put into my hands, all things easy, and a large ship 
 just ready to carry me away whither I pleased to go. 
 At first, for some time, I was not able to answer 
 him one word ; but as he had taken me in his arms, 
 I held fast by him, or I should have fallen to the 
 ground. He perceived the surprise, and immedi- 
 ately pulls a bottle out of his pocket, and gave 
 me a dram of cordial, Avhich he had brought on 
 purpose for me. After I had drank it, I sat down 
 upon the ground ; and though it brought me to 
 myself, yet it was a good while before I could speak 
 a word to him. All this time the poor man was in 
 as great an ecstacy as I, only not under any sur- 
 prise, as I was ; and he said a thousand kind and 
 tender things to me, to compose and bring me to 
 myself: but such was the flood of joy in my breast, 
 that it put all my spints into confusion; at last it 
 broke out into teai's ; and in a little while after I I'e- 
 covered my speech. I then took my turn, and em- 
 braced him as my deliverer, and we rejoiced to-, 
 gether. I told him I looked upon him as a man sent 
 from Heaven to deliver me, and that the whole trans- 
 action seemed to be ;a chain of wonders ; that such 
 things as these were the testimonies we had of a se- 
 cret hand of Providence governing the world, and 
 an evidence that the eye of an infinite power could 
 search into the remotest corner of the world, and 
 send help to the miserable whenever he pleased. I 
 forgot not to lift up my heart in thankfulness to 
 Heaven ; and what heart could forbear to bless him, 
 who had not only ia a miraculous manner provided
 
 308 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 for me in such a wilderness, and in such a desolate 
 condition, but from whom every deliverance must 
 always be acknowledged to proceed ? 
 
 When we had talked a while, the captain told me 
 he had brought me some little refreshment, such as 
 the ship afforded, and such as the wretches that had 
 been so long his masters had not plundered him of. 
 Upon this he called aloud to the boat, and bade his 
 men bring the things ashore that were for the gover- 
 nor ; and, indeed, it was a present as if I had been 
 one that was not to be carried away with them, but 
 as if I had been to dwell upon the island still. First, 
 he had brought me a case of bottles full of excellent 
 cordial waters, six large bottles of Madeira wine 
 (the bottles held two quarts each) two pounds of 
 excellent good tobacco, twelve good pieces of the 
 ship's beef, and six pieces of pork, with a bag of 
 peas, and about an hundred weight of biscuit : he 
 also brought me a box of sugar, a box of flour, a 
 bag full of lemons, and two bottles of lime juice, 
 and abundance of other things. But, besides these, 
 and what was a thousand times more useful to me, 
 he brought me six new clean shirts, six very good 
 neckcloths, two pair of gloves, one pair of shoes, a 
 hat, and one pair of stockings, with a very good 
 suit of clothes of his own, which had been worn but 
 very little ; in a word, he clothed me from head to 
 foot. It was a very kind and agreeable present, as 
 any one may imagine, to one in my circumstances ; 
 but never was any thing in the world of that kind so 
 unpleasant, awkward, and uneasy, as it was to me 
 to wear such clothes at first. 
 
 After these ceremonies were past, and after all 
 his good things were brought into my little apart- 
 ment, we began to consult what was to be done with 
 the prisoners we had ; for it \^'as worth considering 
 whether we might venture to take them away
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE.- 309 
 
 with us or no, especially two of them, whom he 
 knew to be incorrigible and refractory to the last 
 degree ; and the captain said ho knew they were 
 such rogues, that there was no obliging them ; and 
 if he did carry them away, it must be in irons, as 
 malefactors, to be delivered over to justice at the 
 first English colony he could come at ; and I found 
 that the captain himself was very anxious about it. 
 Upon this I told him, that if he desired it, I would 
 undertake to brina; the two men he spoke of to make 
 it their own request that he should leave them upon 
 the island. I should be very glad of that, says the 
 captain, with all my heart. — Well, says I, I v/ill send 
 for them up, and talk with them for you. Ho I caused 
 Friday and the two hostages, for they were now dis- 
 charged, their comrades having performed their pro- 
 mise; 1 say, I caused them to go to the cave,andbring 
 up the five men, pinioned as they were, to the bower, 
 and keep them there till I came. After some time, I 
 came thither dressed in my new habit ; and now I 
 was called governor again. Being all met, and the 
 captain with me, I caused the men to be brought 
 before me, and I told them I had got a full account 
 of their villainous behaviour to the captain, and how 
 they had run away with the ship, and were prepai'- 
 ing to commit farther robberies, but that Providence 
 had ensnared them in their own ways, and that they 
 were fallen into thepitwhich they had dug for others. 
 I let them know that by my direction the ship had 
 been seized ; that she lay now in the road : and 
 they might see, by and by, that their new captain 
 had received the reward of his villainy, and that they 
 would see him hanging at the yard-arm : tliat as ti> 
 them, I wanted to know what they had to say why I 
 shou'd not execute them as pirates, taken in the 
 fact, as by my commission they could not doubt but 
 I had authority so to do.
 
 310 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 One of them answered in the name of the rest, 
 that they had nothing to say but this, that when 
 they were taken, the captain promised them their 
 Hves, and they humbly implored my mercy. But I 
 told them I knew not what mercy to show them ; 
 for as for myself, I had resolved to quit the island 
 with all my men, and had taken passage with the 
 captain to go for England ; and as for the captain, 
 he could not carry them to England other than as 
 prisoners, in irons, to be tried for mutiny, and run- 
 ning away with the ship ; the consequence of which, 
 they must needs know, would be the gallows ; so 
 that I could not tell what was best for them, unless 
 they had a mind to take their fate in the island ; it 
 they desired that, as I had liberty to leave the island, 
 I had some inclination to give them their lives, if 
 they thought they could shift on shore. They 
 seemed very thankful for it, and said they would 
 much rather venture to stay there than be carried to 
 England to be hanged : so I left it on that issue. 
 
 However, the captain seemed to make some diffi- 
 culty of it, as if he durst not leave them there. 
 Upon this I seemed a little angry with the captain, 
 and told him that they were my prisoners, not his ; 
 and that seeing I had offered them so much favour, 
 I would be as good as my word ; and that if he did 
 not think fit to consent to it I would set them at 
 liberty, as I found them ; and if he did not like it, 
 he might take them again if he could catch them. 
 Upon this they appeared very thankful, and I ac- 
 cordingly set tiiem at liberty, and bade them retire 
 into the woods to the place whence they came, and 
 I would leave them some fire-arms, some ammuni- 
 tion, and some directions how they should live very 
 well, if they thought fit. Upon this I prepared to 
 go on board the ship ; but told the captain I would 
 stay that night to prepare my things, and desired
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 311 
 
 him to go on board, in the mean time, and keep 
 all right in the ship, and send the boat on shore 
 next day for me ; ordering him, at all events, to 
 cause the new captain, who was killed, to be hang- 
 ed at the yard-arm, that these men might see him. 
 
 When the captain was gone, 1 sent for the men 
 up to me to my apartment, and entered seriously into 
 discourse with them on their circumstances. I told 
 them I thought they had made a right choice ; that 
 if the captain had carried them away, they would 
 certainly be hanged. I showed them the new cap- 
 tain hanging at the yard-arm of the ship, and told 
 them they had nothing less to expect. 
 
 When they had all declared their willingness to 
 stay, I then told them I would let them into the 
 story of my living there, and put them into the way 
 of making it easy to them : accordingly, I gave them 
 the whole history of the place, and of my coming to 
 it ; showed them my fortifications, the way I made 
 my bread, planted my corn, cured my grapes ; and, 
 in a word, all that was necessary to make them easy. 
 I told them the story also of the seventeen Spaniards 
 that were to be expected, for whom I left a letter, 
 and made them promise to treat them in common 
 with themselves. Here it may be noted, that the 
 captain had ink on board, who was greatly surprised 
 that I never hit upon a way of making ink of char- 
 coal and water, or of something else, as I had done 
 things much more difficult. 
 
 1 left them my fire-arms, viz. five muskets, three 
 fowling-pieces, and three swords. I had above a 
 barrel and a half of powder left ; for after the first 
 year or two I used but little, and wasted none. I 
 gave them a description of the way I managed the 
 goats, and directions to milk and fatten them, and 
 to make both butter and cheese : in a word, I gave 
 them every part of my own story ; and told them
 
 312 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 I should prevail with the captain to leave them two 
 barrels of f:^unpowder more, and some garden-seeds, 
 which I told them I would have been very glad of: 
 also I gave them the bag of peas which the captain 
 had brought me to eat, and bade them be sure to 
 sow and increase them. 
 
 Having done all this, I left them the next day, 
 and went on board the ship. We prepared immedi- 
 ately to sail, but did not weigh that night. The 
 next morning early, two of the five men came 
 swimming to the ship's side, and making a most la- 
 mentable complaint of the other three, begged to 
 be taken into the ship, for God's sake, for they 
 should be murdered, and begged the captain to take 
 them on board, though he hanged them immedi- 
 ately. Upon this, the captain pretended to have no 
 power without me ; but after some difficulty, and 
 after their solemn promises of amendment, they 
 were taken on board, and were some time after 
 soundly whipped and pickled : after which they 
 proved very honest and quiet fellows. 
 
 Some time after this, the boat was ordered on 
 shore, the tide being up, with the things promised 
 to the men ; to which tlie captain, at my interces- 
 sion, caused their chests and clothes to be added, 
 which they took, and were very thankful for. I 
 also encouraged them, by telling them that if it lay 
 in my power to send any vessel to take them in, I 
 would not forget them. 
 
 When I took leave of this island, I carried on 
 board, for reliques, the great goat-skin cap I had 
 made, my umbrella, and one of my parrots ; also I 
 forgot not to take the money I formerly mentioned, 
 which had lain by me so long useless, that it was 
 grown rusty or tarnished, and could hardly pass for 
 silver, till it had been a little rubbed and handled; 
 as also the money I found ia the wreck of the Spanish 
 
 3
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. S13 
 
 ship. And thus I left the island, the 19th of De- 
 cember, as I found by the ship's account, in the 
 year 1686, after I had been upon it eight and twenty 
 years, two months, and nineteen days ; being deli- 
 vered from this second captivity the same day of the 
 month that 1 first made my escape in the long-boat, 
 from among the Moors of Sallee. In this vessel, after 
 a long voyage, I arrived in England the 1 Ith of June, 
 in the year 1687, having been thirty-fiveyears absent. 
 When I came to England, 1 was as perfect a stran- 
 ger to all the world as if I had never been known 
 there. My benefactor and faithful steward, whom 
 1 had left my money in trust with, was alive, but 
 had had great misfortunes in the world ; was be- 
 come a widow the second time, and very low in the 
 world. I made her very easy as to what she owed 
 me, assuring her I would give her no trouble ; but, 
 on the contrary, in gratitude for her former care 
 and faithfulness to me, I relieved her as my little 
 stock would afford ; which, at that time, would in- 
 deed allow me to do but little for her ; but I as- 
 sured her I would never forget her former kindness 
 to me ; nor did I forget her when I had sufficient 
 to help her, as shall be observed in its proper place. 
 I went down afterwards into Yorkshire ; but my fa- 
 ther was dead, and my mother and all the family 
 extinct, except that I found two sisters, and two of 
 the children of one of my brothers ; and as I had 
 been long ago given over for dead, there had been 
 no provision made for me : so that, in a word, I 
 found nothing to relieve or assist me ; and that the 
 little money 1 had would not do much for me as to 
 settling in the world. 
 
 I met with one piece of gratitude, indeed, which 
 I did not expect ; and this was, that the master of 
 the ship whom I had so happily delivered, and by 
 },he same means saved the ship and cargo, having 
 
 2e
 
 314 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 given a very handsome account to the owners of the 
 manner how i had saved the Hves of the men, and 
 the ship, they invited me to meet them, and some 
 other merchants concerned, and all together made 
 me a very handsome compliment upon the subject, 
 and a present of almost 2001. sterling. 
 
 But after making several reflections upon the cir- 
 cumstances of my life, and how little way this would 
 go towards settling me in the world, I resolved to 
 go to Lisbon, and see if I might not come by some 
 information of the state of my plantation in the 
 Brazils, and of what was become of my partner, 
 who, I had reason to suppose, had some years past 
 given me over for dead. With this view I took 
 shipping for Lisbon, where I arrived in April fol- 
 lowing; my man Friday accompanying me very 
 honestly in all these ramblings, and proving a most 
 faithful servant upon all occasions. When I came 
 to Lisbon, I found out, by inquiry, and to my par- 
 ticular satisfaction, my old friend the captain of the 
 ship who first took me up at sea, off the shore of 
 Africa. He was now grown old, and had left off 
 going to sea, having put his son, who was far from 
 a young man, into his ship, and who still used the 
 Brazil trade. The old man did not know me ; and, 
 indeed, 1 hardly knew him : but I soon brought him 
 to my remembrance, and as soon brought myself to 
 his remembrance, when I told him who I was. 
 
 After some passionate expressions of the old ac- 
 quaintance between us, I inquired, you may be sure, 
 after my plantation and my partner. The old man 
 told me he had not been in the Brazils for about 
 nine years ; but that he could assure me, that when 
 he came away my partner was living ; but the trus- 
 tees, whom I had joined with him to take cogniz- 
 ance of my part, were both dead : that, however, 
 he believed I would have a very good account of the 
 5
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE, 315 
 
 improvement of the plantation ; for that upon the 
 general belief of my being cast away and drowned, 
 my trustees had given in the account of the produce 
 oi my part of the plantation to the procurator-fiscal, 
 who had appropriated it, in case I never came to 
 claim it, one-third to the king, and two-thirds to 
 the monastery of St. Augustine, to be expended for 
 the benefit of the poor, and for the conversion of 
 the Indians to the ('atholic faith; but that if I ap- 
 peared, or any one for me, to claim the inheritance, 
 It would be restored ; only that the improvement, 
 or annual production, being distributed to charita- 
 ble uses, could not be restored : but he assured me 
 that the steward of the king's revenue from lands, 
 and the proviedore, or steward of the monastery, 
 had taKcn great care all along that the incumbent, 
 that is to say, my partner, gave every year a faith- 
 ful account of the produce, of which they had duly 
 received my moiety. I asked him if he knew to 
 what height of improvement he had brought the 
 plantation, and whether he thought it might be 
 worth looking after ; or whether, on my going thi- 
 ther, I should meet with any obstruction to my pos- 
 sessing my just right in the moiety. He told me he 
 could not tell exactly to what degree the plantation 
 was improved, but this he knew, that my partner 
 was grown exceeding rich upon the enjoying his 
 part of it ; and that, to the best of his remembrance, 
 he had heard that the king's third of my part, which 
 was, it seems, granted away to some other monas- 
 tery or religious house, amounted to above two 
 hundred moidores a-year : that as to my being re- 
 stored to a quiet possession of it, there was no ques- 
 tion to be made of that, my partner being alive to 
 witness my title, and my name being also enrolled 
 in the register of the country : also he told me, 
 that the survivors of my two trustees were very fair 
 
 2 E 2
 
 316 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 honest people, and very wealthy ; and he believed I 
 would not only have their assistance for putting me 
 in possession, but would find a very considerable 
 sum of money in their hands for my account, being 
 the produce of the farm while their fathers held the 
 trust, and before it was given up, as above ; which, 
 as he remembered, was for about twelve years. 
 
 I showed myself a little concerned and uneasy at 
 this account, and enquired of the old captain how 
 it came to pass that the trustees should thus dispose 
 of my eflvcts, when he knew that I had made my 
 will, and had made him, the Portuguese captain, 
 my universal heir, ^-c. 
 
 He told aie that was true; but that as there was 
 no proof of my being dead, he could not act as ex- 
 ecutor, until some certain account should come of 
 my death ; and, besides, he was not willing to in- 
 termeddle with a thing so remote : that it was true 
 he had registered my will, and put in his claim; 
 and could he have given any account of my being 
 dead or alive, he would have acted by procuration, 
 and taken j)Ossession of the ingeino (so they called 
 the sugar-house), and have given his son, who was 
 now at the Brazils, orders to do it. But, says the 
 old man, I have one piece of news to tell you, which 
 perhaps may not be so acceptable to you as the rest ; 
 and that is, believing you were lost, and all the 
 world believing so also, your partner and trustees 
 did offer to account with me, in your name, for six 
 or eight of the first years' profits, which I received. 
 There being at that time great disbursements for 
 increasing the works, building an ingeino, and buy- 
 ing slaves, it did not amount to near so much as- 
 afterwards it produced : however, says the old man, 
 I shall give you a true account of what I have re- 
 ceived in all, and how I have disposed ot it. 
 
 After a few days farther conference with this an-
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 319 
 
 survivors of my trustees, the merchants, for whose 
 account I went to sea, in which were the following 
 particular letters and papers enclosed. 
 
 First, there was the account-current of the pro- 
 duce of my farm or plantation, from the year when 
 their fathers had balanced with my old Portugal 
 captain, being for six years ; the balance appeared 
 to be one thousand one hundred and seventy-four 
 moidores in my favour. 
 
 Secondly, There was the account of four years 
 more, while they kept the estate in their hands, 
 before the government claimed the administration, 
 as being the effects of a person not to be found, 
 which they called civil death ; and the balance of 
 this, the value of the plantation increasing, amount- 
 ed to nineteen thousand four hundred and forty-six 
 crusadoes, being about three thousand two hundred 
 and forty moidores. 
 
 Thirdly, There was the prior of Augustine's ac- 
 count, who had received the profits for above four- 
 teen years ; but not being to account for what was 
 disposed of by the hospital, very honestly declared 
 he had eight hundred and seventy-two moidores not 
 distributed, which he acknowledged to my account: 
 as to the king's part, that refunded nothing. 
 
 There was a letter of my partner's, congratula- . 
 ting me very affectionately upon my being alive, 
 giving me an account how the estate was improved, 
 and what it produced a year ; with a particular of 
 the number of squares or acres that it contained, 
 how planted, how many slaves there were upon it, 
 and making two and twenty crosses for blessings, 
 told me hehad said so many Ave-Mnrias to thank 
 the blessed Virgin that 1 was alive; inviting me very 
 passionately to come over and take possession of my 
 own ; and, in the mean time, to give him orders 
 to whom he should deliver my effects, if I did not
 
 320 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 come myself; concluding with a hearty tender of 
 his friendship, and that of his family ; and sent me, 
 as a present, seven fine leopards' skins, which he 
 had, it seems, received from Africa, by some other 
 ship that he had sent thither, and who, it seems, 
 had made a better voyage than I. He sent me also 
 five chests of excellent sweatmeats, and a hundred 
 pieces of gold uncoined, not quite so large as moi- 
 dores. By the same fleet, my two merchant trus- 
 tees shipped me one thousand two hundred chests of 
 sugar, eight hundred rolls of tobacco, and the rest 
 of the whole account in gold. 
 
 I might well say now, indeed, that the latter end 
 of Job was better than the beginning. It is impos- 
 sible to express the flutterings of my very heart, 
 when I found all my wealth about me ; for as the 
 Brazil ships come all in fleets, the same ships which 
 brought my letters brought my goods : and the ef- 
 fects were safe in the river before the letters came 
 to my hand. In a word, I turned pale and grew 
 sick ; and had not the old man run and fetched me 
 a cordial, I believe the sudden surprise of joy had over- 
 set nature, and I had died upon the spot : nay, after 
 that, I continued very ill, and was so some hours, till 
 a physician being sent for, and something of the real 
 cause of my illness being known, he ordered me to 
 be let blood ; after which I had relief, and grew 
 well : but I verily believe, if I had not been eased 
 by a vent given in that manner to the spirits, I 
 should have died. 
 
 I was now master, all on a sudden, of above five 
 thousand pounds sterling in money, and had an 
 estate, as I might well call it, in the Brazils, of 
 above a thousand pounds a-year, as sure as an estate 
 of lands in England ; and, in a word, I was in a 
 condition which I scarce knew how to understand, 
 or how to compose myself for the enjoyment of it.
 
 ROBLNSON CRUSOE. 317 
 
 cient friend, he brought me an account of the 
 first six years' income of my plantation, signed 
 by my partner and the merchant trustees, being 
 always delivered in goods, viz. tobacco in roll, and 
 sugar in chests, besides rum, molasses, &c. which 
 is the consequence of a sugar-work ; and I found, 
 by this account, that every year the income consi- 
 derably increased ; but, as above, the disbursements 
 being large, the sum at first was small : however, 
 the old man let me see that he was debtor to me 
 four hundred and seventy moidores of gold, besides 
 sixty chests of sugar, and fifteen double rolls of to- 
 bacco, which were lost in his ship ; he having been 
 shipwrecked coming home to Lisbon, about eleven 
 years after my leaving the place. The good man 
 then began to complain of his misfortunes, and how 
 he had been obliged to make use of my money to 
 recover his losses, and buy him a share in a new 
 ship. However, my old friend, says he, you shall 
 not want a supply in your necessity ; and as soon 
 as my son returns, you shall be fully satisfied. 
 Upon this, he pulls out an old pouch, and gives me 
 one hundred and sixty Portugal moidores in gold ; 
 and giving the writings of his title to the ship, 
 which his son was gone to the Brazils in, of which 
 he was a quarter-part owner, and his son another, 
 he puts them both into my hands, for security of 
 the rest. 
 
 I was too much moved with the honesty and kind- 
 ness of the poor man to be able to bear this ; and 
 remembering what he had done for me, how he had 
 taken me up at sea, and how generously he had 
 used me on all occasions, and particularly how sin- 
 cere a friend he was now to me, I could hardly re« 
 frain weeping at what he had said to me ; therefore 
 I asked him if his circumstances admitted him to 
 spare so much money at that time, and if it would 
 
 2 E 3
 
 318 ADVENTURES OP 
 
 not straiten him ? He told me he could not say but 
 it might straiten him a little; but, however, it was 
 my money, and I might want it more than he. 
 
 Every thing the good man said was full of affec- 
 tion, and I could hardly refrain from tears while he 
 spoke ; in short, I took one hundred of the moi- 
 dores, and called for a pen and ink to give him a 
 receipt for them : then I returned him the rest, 
 and told him if ever I had possession of the planta- 
 tion, I would return the other to him also (as, in- 
 deed, I afterwards did) : and that as to the bill of 
 sale of his part m his son's ship, I would not take 
 it by any means ; but that if I wanted the money, I 
 found he was honest enough to pay me ; and if I 
 did not, but came to receive what he gave me rea- 
 son to expect, I would never have a penny more 
 from him. 
 
 When this was past, the old man asked me if he 
 should put me into a method to make my claim to 
 my plantation ? 1 told him I thought to go over to 
 it myself He said I might do so, if I pleased ; but 
 that if I did not, there were ways enough to secure 
 ray right, and immediately to appropriate the pro- 
 fits to my use : and as there were ships in the river 
 of Lisbon just ready to go away to Brazil, he made 
 me enter my name in a public register, with his af- 
 fidavit, affirming, upon oath, that I was alive, and 
 that I was the same person who took up the land 
 for the planting the said plantation at first. This 
 being regularly attested by a notary, and a procura- 
 tion affixed, he directed me to send it, with a letter 
 of his writing, to a merchant of his acq.uaintance at 
 the place ; and then proposed my staying with him 
 till an account came of the return. 
 
 Never was any thing more honourable than the 
 proceedings upon this procuration ; for in less than 
 seven months I received a large packet from the
 
 ROBINSOy CRUSOE. 321 
 
 The first thing I did was to recompense my original 
 benefactor, my good old captain, who had been first 
 charitable to me in my distress, kind to me in my 
 beginning, and honest to me at the end. I showed 
 him all that was sent to me ; I told him, that next 
 to the providence of Heaven, which disposed all 
 things, it was owing to him : and that it now lay 
 on me to reward him, which 1 would do a hundred- 
 fold : so I first returned to him the hundred moidores 
 I had received of him ; then I sent for a notary, 
 and caused him to draw up a general release or dis- 
 charge from the four hundred and seventy moidores, 
 which he had acknowledged he owed me, in the 
 fullest and firmest manner possible. After which 
 I caused a procuration to be drawn, empowering 
 him to be my receiver of the annual profits of my 
 plantation, and appointing my partner to account 
 with him, and make the returns by the usual fleets 
 to him in my name ; and a clause in the end, being 
 a grant of one hundred moidores a-year to him 
 during his life, out of the effects, and fifty moidores 
 a-year to his son after him, for his life: and thus I 
 requited my old man. 
 
 1 was now to consider which way to steer my 
 course next, and what to do with the estate that 
 Providence had thus put into my hands ; and, in- 
 deed, i had more care upon my head now than I had 
 in my silent state of life in tha island, where I 
 w^anted nothing but what I had, and had nothing 
 but what I wanted ; whereas 1 had now a great 
 charge upon me, and my business was how to se- 
 cure it. I had never a cave now to hide my money 
 in, or a place where it might lie without lock or 
 key, till it grew mouldy and tarnished before any 
 body would meddle with it : on the contrary, I knew 
 not where to put it, or whom to trust with it My 
 old patron, the captain, indeed, was honest, and that
 
 322 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 was the only refuge I had. In the next place, my 
 interest in the Brazils seemed to summon nie thither ; 
 but now I could not tell how to think of going 
 thither till I had settled my affairs, and left my ef- 
 fects in some safe hands behind me. At first I thought 
 of my old friend the widow, who I knew was honest, 
 and would be just to me ; but then she was in years, 
 and but poor, and, for ought I knew, might be in 
 debt ; so that, in a word, I had no way but to go 
 back to England myself, and take my effects with 
 me. 
 
 It was some months, however, before I resolved 
 upon this ; and therefore, as I had rewarded the old 
 captain fully, and to his satisfaction, who had been 
 my former benefactor, so I beg'an to think of my 
 poor widow, whose husband had been my first 
 benefactor, and she, while it was in her power, my 
 faithful steward and instructor. So the first thing 
 I did, I got a merchant in Lisbon to write to his 
 correspondent in London, not only to pay a bill, 
 but to go find her out, and carry her in money a 
 hundred pounds from me, and to talk with her, and 
 comfort her in her poverty, by telling her she 
 should, if I lived, have a further supply : at the same 
 time I sent my two sisters in the country a hundred 
 pounds each, they being, though not in want, yet 
 not in very good circumstances ; one having been 
 married and left a widow ; and the other having a 
 husband not so kind to her as he should be. But 
 among all my relations or acquaintances, I could 
 not yet pitch upon one to whom I durst commit the 
 gross of my stock, that I might go away to the 
 Brazils, and leave things safe behind me ; and this 
 greatly perplexed me. 
 
 I had once a mind to have gone to the Brazils, 
 and have settled myself there ; for I was, as it were, 
 naturalized to the place ; but I had some Uttle
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 323 
 
 scruple in my mind about religion, which insensibly 
 drew me back. However, it was not religion that 
 kept me from going there for the present ; and as 
 I had made no scruple of being openly of the reli- 
 gion of the country all the while I was among them, 
 so neither did I yet ; only that, now and then, hav- 
 ing of late thought more of it than formerly, when 
 I began to think of living and dying among them, 
 I began to regret my having professed myself a 
 papist, and thought it might not be the best re- 
 ligion to die with. 
 
 But, as I have said, this was not the main thing 
 that kept me from going to the Brazils, but that 
 really 1 did not know with whom to leave my effects 
 behind me ; so I resolved, at last, to go to England 
 with it, where, if I arrived, I concluded I should 
 make some acquaintance, or find some relations that 
 would be faithful to me ; and, accordingly, 1 pre- 
 pared to go to England with all my wealth. 
 
 In order to prepare things for my going home, 
 I first, the Brazil fleet being just going away, re- 
 solved to give answers suitable to the just and faith- 
 ful account of things I had from thence ; and, first, 
 to the prior of St. Augustine I wrote a letter full of 
 thanks for their just dealings, and the offer of the 
 eight hundred and seventy-two moidores which were 
 undisposed of, which I desired might be given, five 
 hundred to the monastery, and three hundred and 
 seventy-two to the poor, as the prior should direct ; 
 desiring the good padre's prayers for me, and the 
 like. I wrote next a letter of thanks to my two 
 trustees, with all the acknowledgement that so 
 much justice and honesty called for; as for sending 
 them any present, they were far above having any 
 occasion for it. Lastly, I wrote to my partner, ac- 
 knowledging his industry in the improving the 
 plantation, and his integrity in increasing the stock
 
 SS-t ADVENTURES OP 
 
 of the worts ; giving him instructions for his future 
 government of my part, according to the powers J 
 had left with my old patron, to whom I desired him 
 to send whatever became due to me, till he should 
 hear from me more paiticularly ; assuring him that 
 it was my intention not only to come to him, but 
 to settle myself there for the remainder of my life. 
 To this 1 added a very handsome present of some 
 Italian silks for his wife and two daughters, for such 
 the captain's son informed me he had; with two 
 pieces of fine English broad-cloth, the best I could 
 get in Lisbon, five pieces of black baize, and some 
 Flanders lace of a good value. 
 
 Having thus settled my affairs, sold my cargo, 
 and turntd all my effects into good bills of exchange, 
 my next difficulty was, which way to go to England s 
 I had been accustomed enough to the sea, and yet 
 I had a strange aversion to go to England by sea at 
 that time ; and though I could give no reason for 
 it, yet the difficulty increased upon me so much, 
 that though I had once shipped my baggage, in 
 order to go, yet I altered my mind, and that not 
 once, but two or three times. 
 
 It is true, I had been very unfortunate by sea, 
 and this might be some of the reasons ; but let no 
 man slight the strong impulses of his own thoughts 
 in cases of such moment : two of the ships which I 
 had singled out to go in, I mean more particularly 
 singled out than any other, having put my things on 
 board one of them, and in the other to have agreed 
 with the captain; 1 say, two of these ships miscarried, 
 viz. one was taken by the Algerines, and the other was 
 cast away on the Start, near Torbay, and all the 
 people drowned, except three ; so that in either of 
 those vessels I had been made miserable. 
 
 Having been thus harassed in my thoughts, my 
 old pilot, to whom I cemaiunicated every thing,
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 325 
 
 pressed me earnestly not to go by sea, but either to 
 go by land to the Groyne, and cross over the Bay of 
 Biscay to Rochelle, from whence it was but an easy 
 and safe journey by land to Paris, and so to Calais 
 and Dover; or to go up to Madrid, and so all the 
 way by land through France. In a word, I was so 
 prepossessed against my going by sea at all, except 
 from Calais to Dover, that I resolved to travel all 
 the way by land: which, as I was not in haste, and 
 did not value the charge, was by much the plcasant- 
 er way: and to make k more so, my old captain 
 brought an English gentleman, the son of a mer- 
 chant in Lisbon, who was willing to travel with me; 
 after which we picked up two more English mer- 
 chants also, and two young Portuguese gentlemen, 
 the last going to Paris only; so that in all there 
 were six of us, and five servants; the two merchants 
 and the two Portuguese contenting themselves with 
 one servant between two, to save the charge; and 
 as for me, I got an English sailor to travel with me 
 as a servant, besides my man Friday, who was too 
 nmch a stranger to be capable of supplying the 
 place of a servant on the road. 
 
 In this manner I set out ft-om Lisbon; and our 
 company being very well mounted and armed, we 
 made a little troop, whereof they did me the honour 
 to call me captain, as well because 1 was the old- 
 est man, as because I had two servants, and, in 
 deed, was the original of the whole journey. 
 
 As 1 have troubled you with none of my sea jour- 
 nals, so I shall trouble you now with none of my 
 land journal; but some adventures that happened 
 to us in this tedious and difficult journey 1 nmst not 
 omit. 
 
 When we came to Madrid, we being all of us 
 strangers to Spain, were willing to stay some time 
 to see the court of Spain, and to see what was worth 
 
 VOL. XVI. 2 V
 
 J526 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 observing ; but it being the latter part of the sum- 
 mer, we hastened away, and set out from Madrid 
 about the middle of October: but when we came 
 to the edge of Navarre, we were alarmed, at several 
 towns on the way, with an account that so much 
 snow was fallen on the French side of the moun- 
 tains, that several travellers were obliged to come 
 back to Pampeluna, after having attempted, at an 
 extreme hazard, to pass on. 
 
 When we came to Pampeluna itself, we found it 
 so, indeed: and to me, that had been always used 
 to a hot climate, and to countries where I could 
 scarce bear any clothes on, the cold was insufferable: 
 nor, indeed, was it more painful than surprising, to 
 come but ten days before out of Old Castile, where 
 the weather was not only warm, but very hot, and 
 immediately to feel a wind from the Pyrenean moun- 
 tains so very keen, so severely cold, as to be into- 
 lerable, and to endanger benumbing and perishing 
 of our fingers and toes. 
 
 Poor Friday was really frightened when he saw 
 the mountains all covered with snow, and felt cold 
 weather, which he had never seen or felt before in 
 his life. To mend the matter, when we came to 
 Pampeluna, it continued snowing with so much 
 violence, and so long, that the people said winter 
 was come before its time; and the roads, which 
 were difficult before, were now quite impassable; 
 for, in a word, the snow lay in some places too thick 
 for us to travel, and being not hard frozen, as is 
 the case in the northern countries, there was no 
 going without being in danger of being buried alive 
 every step. We staid no less than twenty days at 
 Pampeluna; when seeing the winter coming on, 
 and no likelihood of its being better, for it was the 
 severest winter all over Europe that had been known 
 in the memory of man, I proposed that we should
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 327 
 
 all go away to Fontarabia, and there take shipping 
 for Bourdeaux, which was a very little voyage. But 
 while I was considering this, there came in four 
 French gentlemen, who having been stopped on the 
 French side of the passes, as we were on the Spanish, 
 had found out a guide, who, traversing the country 
 near the head of Languedoc, had brought them 
 over the mountains by such ways, that they were 
 not much incommoded with the snow; for where 
 they met with snow in any quantity, they said it was 
 frozen hard enough to bear them and their horses. 
 We sent for this guide, who told ushe would under- 
 take to carry us the same way with no hazard from 
 the snow, provided we were armed sufficiently to 
 protect ourselves from wild beasts; for, he said, 
 upon these great snows it was frequent for some 
 wolves to show themselves at the foot of the moun- 
 tains, being made ravenous for want of food, the 
 ground being covered with snow. We told him we 
 were well enough prepared for such creatures as they 
 were, if he would insure us from a kind of two- 
 legged wolves, which we were told, we were in most 
 danger from, especially on the French side of the 
 mountains. He satisfied us that there was no dan- 
 ger of that kind in the way that we were to go: so 
 we readily agreed to follow him, as did also twelve 
 other gentlemen, with their servants, some French, 
 some Spanish, who, as I said, had attempted to go, 
 and were obliged to come back again. 
 
 Accordingly, we set out from Pampeluna, with 
 our guide, on the 15th of November; and, indeed, 
 I was surpised, when, instead of going forward, he 
 came directly back with us on the same roud that 
 we came from Madrid, about twenty miles ; wlien 
 having passed two rivers, and come into the plain 
 country, we found ourselves in a warm climate 
 again, where the country was pleasant, and no snow 
 
 2 F 2
 
 328 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 to be seen ; but on a sudden turning to his left, he 
 approached the mountains another way: and though 
 it is true the hills and precipices looked dreadful, 
 yet he made so many tours, such meanders, and led 
 us by such winding ways, that we insensibly passed 
 the height of the mountains without being much 
 incumbered with the snow ; and, all on a sudden, 
 he showed us the pleasant fruitful provinces of 
 Languedoc and Gascony, all green and flourishing, 
 though, indeed, at a great distance, and we had 
 some rough way to pass still. 
 
 We were a little uneasy, however, when we found 
 it snowed one whole day and night so fast that 
 we could not travel ; but he bid us be easy ; we 
 should soon be past it all : we found, indeed, that 
 we began to descend every day, and to come more 
 north than before; and so depending upon our guide, 
 we went on. 
 
 It was about two hours before night, when our 
 guide being something before us, and not just in 
 sight, out rushed three monstrous wolves, and after 
 them a bear, out of a hollow way adjoining to a 
 thick wood; two of the wolves made at the guide, 
 and had he been far before us, he would have been 
 devoured before we could have helped him; one of 
 them fastened upon his horse, and the other at- 
 tacked the man with that violence, that he had not 
 time, or presence of mind enough, to draw his pis- 
 tol, but holloed and cried out to us most lustily. 
 My man Friday being next me, I bade him ride up, 
 and see what was the matter. As soon as Friday 
 came in sight of the man, he holloed out as loud as 
 the other, O master! O master! but, like a bold fel- 
 low, rode directly up to the poor man, and with his 
 pistol shot the wolf that attacked him in the head. 
 
 It was happy for the poor man that it was my 
 man Friday ; for he having been used to such crea-
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 329 
 
 tures in his country, he had no fear upon him, but 
 went close up to him and shot him, as above ; 
 whereas, any other of us would have fired at a far- 
 ther distance, and have perhaps either missed the 
 wolf, or endangered shooting the man. 
 
 But it was enough to have terrified a bolder man 
 than 1 ; and, indeed, it alarmed all our company, 
 when, with the noise of Friday's pistol, we heard on 
 both sides the most dismal howling of wolves; and 
 the noise, redoubled by the echo of the mountains, 
 appeared to us as if there had been a prodigious 
 number of them ; and perhaps there was not such 
 a few as that we had no cause of apprehensions ; 
 however, as Friday had killed this wolf, the other 
 that had fastened upon the horse left him immedi- 
 ately, and fled, without doing him any damage, hav- 
 ing happily fastened upon his head, where the bosses 
 of the bridle had stuck in his teeth. But the man 
 was most hurt; for the raging creature had bit him 
 twice, once in the arm, and the other time a little 
 above his knee ; and though he had made some de- 
 fence, he was just as it were tumbling down by the 
 disorder of his horse, when Fridaj- came up and shot 
 the wolf. 
 
 It is easy to suppose that at the noise of Friday's 
 pistol we all mended our pace, and rode up as fast 
 as the way which was very difiicult, would give us 
 leave, to see what was the matter. As soon as we 
 came clear of the trees which blinded us before, we 
 saw clearly what had been the case, and how Friday 
 had disengaged the poor guide, though we did not 
 presently discern what kind of creature it was he 
 had killed. 
 
 But never was a fight managed so hardily, and in 
 such a surprising manner, as that which followed, 
 between Friday aud the bear, which gave us all, 
 though at first we were surprised and afraid for him, 
 
 2 F 3
 
 330 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the greatest diversion imaginable. As the bear is 
 a heavy clumsy creature, and does not gallop as the 
 wolf does, who is swift and light, so he has two par- 
 ticular qualities, which generally are the rule of his 
 actions: first, as to men, who are not his proper 
 prey (he does not usually attempt them, except they 
 first attack him, unless he be excessive hungry, 
 which it is probable might now be the case, the 
 ground being covered with snow), if you do not 
 meddle with him, he will not meddle with you; but 
 then you must take care to be very civil to him, 
 and give him the road, for he is a very nice gentle- 
 man ; he will not go a step out of his way for a 
 prince ; nay, if you are really afraid, your best way 
 is to look another way, and keep going on ; for 
 sometimesif you stop, and standstill, and lookstead- 
 fastly at him, he takes it for an aifront ; but if you 
 throw or toss any thing at him, and it hits him, 
 though it were but a bit of stick as big as your 
 finger, he thinks himself abused, and sets all other 
 business aside to pursue his revenge, and will have 
 satisfaction in point of honour; — this is his first 
 quality: the next is, if he be once affronted, he will 
 never leave you, night nor day, till he has his re- 
 venge, but follows, at a good round rate, till he 
 overtakes you. 
 
 My man Friday haddelivei'ed our guide, and when 
 we came up to him, he was helping him off from 
 his horse, for the man was both hurt and frightened, 
 when, on a sudden, we espied the bear come out of 
 the wood, and a vast monstrous one it was, the big- 
 gest by far that ever I saw. We were all a little sur- 
 prised when we saw him; but when Friday saw him, 
 it was easy to see joy and courage in the fellow's 
 countenance: O, O, O! says Friday, three times, 
 pointing to him; O master! you give me te leave, me 
 shakee te hand with him : me makee you good laugh.
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 331 
 
 I was surprised to see the fellow so well pleased : 
 You fool, says I, he will eat you up. — Eatee nie up ! 
 eatee nie up! says Friday, twice over again; me 
 eatee him up; me makee you good laugh; you all 
 stay here, me shew you good laugh. So down 
 he sits, and gets off his boots in a moment, and puts 
 on a pair of pumps (as we call the flat shoes they 
 wear, and which he had in his pocket), gives my 
 other servant his horse, and with his gun away he 
 flew, swift like thewind. 
 
 The bear was walking softly on, and offered to 
 meddle with nobody, till Friday coming pretty near, 
 calls to him, as if the bear could understand him, 
 Hark ye, hark ye, says Friday, me speakee with you. 
 We followed at a distance; for now being come 
 down on the Gasconyside of the mountains, we were 
 entered a vast great forest, where the country was 
 plain and pretty open, though it had many trees in 
 it scattered here and there. Friday, who had, as we 
 say, the heels of the bear, came up with him quickly, 
 and takes up a great stone and throws it at him, and 
 hit him just on the head, but did him no more harm 
 than if he had thrown it against a wall; but it 
 answered Friday's end, for the rogue was so void of 
 fear that he did it purely to make the bear follow 
 him, and show us some laugh, as he called it. As 
 soon as the bear felt the blow, and saw him, he 
 turns about, and comes after him, taking devilish 
 long strides, and shuffling on at a strange rate, so 
 as would have put a horse to a middling gallop ; away 
 runs Friday, and takes his course as if he run to- 
 wards us for help ; so we all resolved to fire at once 
 upon the bear, and deliver my man ; though I was 
 angry at him heartily for bringing the bear back 
 •^pon us, when he was going about his own busi- 
 ness another way; and especially 1 was angry that he 
 had turned the bear upon us, and then run away ; and
 
 332 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 I called out, You dog, is this your making us laugh ? 
 Come away, and take your horse, that we may shoot 
 the creature. He heard me, and cried out, No shoot, 
 no shoot; stand still, and you get much laugh; and 
 as the nimble creature ran two feet for the bear's 
 one, he turned on a sudden, on one side of us, and 
 seeing a great oak tree fit for his purpose, he bec- 
 koned to us to follow; and doubling his pace, he 
 gets nimbly up the tree, laying his gun down upon 
 the ground, at about five or six yards from the 
 bottom of the tree. The bear soon came to the tree, 
 and we followed at a distance: the first thing he 
 did. he stopped at the gun, smelt to it, but let it 
 lie, and up he scrambles into the tree, climbing like 
 a cat, though so monstrous heavy. I was amazed 
 at the folly, as I thought it, of my man, and could 
 not for my life see any thing to laugh at yet, till see- 
 ing the bear get up the tree, we all rode near to him. 
 When we came to the tree, there was Friday got 
 out to the small end of a large branch, and the bear 
 got about half way to him. As soon as the bear got 
 out to that part where the limb of the tree was 
 weaker. — Ha! says he to us, now you see me teachee 
 the bear dance: so he falls a jumping and shaking 
 the bough, at which the bear began to totter, but 
 stood still, and began to look behind him, to see how 
 he should get back; then, indeed, we did laugh 
 heartily. But Friday had not done with him by a 
 great deal; when seeing him stand still, he calls out 
 to him again, as if he had supposed the bear could 
 speak English, What, you come no farther? pray 
 you come farther: so he left jumping and shaking 
 the tree; and the bear, just as if he understood what 
 he said, did comealittle farther; then he fell a-jump- 
 ing again, and the bear stopped again. We thought 
 now was a good time to knock him in the head, and 
 called to Friday to stand still, and we would shoot
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 333 
 
 the bear: but he cried out earnestly, Opray! Opray ! 
 no shoot, me shoot by and then: he would have 
 said by and by. However to shorten the story, 
 Friday danced so much, and the bear stood so tick- 
 lish, that we had laughing enough, but still could 
 not imagine what the fellow would do : for first we 
 thought he depended upon shaking the bear off; and 
 we found the bear was too cunning for that too ; 
 for he would not go out far enough to be thrown 
 down, but clings fast with his great broad claws and 
 feet, so that we could not imagine what would be 
 the end of it, and what the jest would be at last. 
 But Friday put us out of doubt quickly: for seeing 
 the bear cling fast to the bough, and that he would 
 not be persuaded to come any farther, Well, well, 
 says Friday, you no come farther, me go : you no 
 . come to me, me come to you ; and upon this, he 
 goes out to the smaller end of the bough, where it^ 
 would bend with his weight, and gently lets himself 
 down, by it, sliding down the bough, till he came 
 near enough to jump down on his feet, and away he 
 runs to his gun, takes it up, and stands still. Well, 
 said I to him, Friday, what will you do now? Why 
 don't you shoot him?— No shoot, says Friday, no 
 yet; me shoot now, me no kill; me stay, give you 
 one more laugh; and, indeed so he did, as you will 
 see presently; for when the bear saw his enemy gone, 
 he comes back from the hough where he stood, but 
 did it mighty cautiously, looking behind liim every 
 step, and coming backward till he got into the body 
 of the tree; then with the same hinder-end foremost, 
 he came down the tree, grasping it with his claws, 
 and moving one foot at a time, very leisurely. At 
 this juncture, and just before he could set his hind- 
 foot on the ground, Friday stepped up close to him, 
 clapped the muzzle of his piece into his car, and 
 shot him dead. Then the rogue turned about, to
 
 3f54' ADVENTURES OF 
 
 see if we did not laugh ; and when he saw we were 
 pleased, by our looks, he falls a laughing himself 
 very loud. So we kill bear in my country, says 
 Friday. So you kill them? says I : why, you have 
 no guns. — No, says he, no gun, but shoot great 
 much long arrow. This was a good diversion to us ; 
 but we were still in a wild place, and our guide very 
 much hurt, and what to do v/e hardly knew : the 
 howling of wolves run much in my head ; and, in- 
 deed except the noise I once heard on the shore 
 of Africa, of which I have said something already, 
 I never heard any thing that filled me with so 
 much horror. 
 
 These things, and the approach of night, called 
 us off, or else, as Friday would have had us, we 
 should certainly have taken the skin of this mon- 
 strous creature off, which was worth saving; but 
 we had near three leagues to go, and our guide 
 hastened us; so we left him, and went forward on 
 our journey. 
 
 The ground was still covered with snow, though 
 not so deep and dangerous as on the mountains ; 
 and the ravenous creatures, as we heard afterwards, 
 were come down into the forest and plain country, 
 pressed by hunger, to seek for food, and had done 
 a great deal of mischief in the villages, where they 
 surprised the country people, killed a great many of 
 their sheep and horses, and some people too. We 
 had one dangerous place to pass, which our guide 
 told us, if there were more wolves in the country 
 we should find them there ; and this was a small 
 plain, surrounded with woods on every side, and a 
 long narrow defile, or lane, which we were to pass 
 to get through the wood, and then we should come 
 to the village where we were to lodge. It was 
 within half an hour of sun-set when we entered the 
 first wood, and a little after sun-set when we came
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 335 
 
 into the plain: we met with nothing in the first 
 wood, except that, inahttle plain within the wood, 
 which was not above two furlongs over, we saw five 
 great wolves cross the road, full speed, one after 
 another, as if they had been in chase of some prey, 
 and had it in view; they took no notice of us, and 
 were gone out of sight in a few moments. Upon 
 this our guide, who, by the way, was but a faint- 
 hearted fellow, bid us keep in a ready posture, for 
 he believed there were more wolves a coming. We 
 kept our arms ready, and our eyes about us ; but we 
 saw no more wolves till we came through that wood, 
 which was near half a league, and entered the plain. 
 As soon as we came into the plain, we had occasion 
 enough to look about us: the first object we met 
 with was a dead horse, that is to say, a poor horse 
 which ihe wolves had killed, and at least a dozen of 
 them at work, we could not say eating of him, but 
 picking of his bones rather: for they had eaten up 
 all the flesh before. We did not think fit to disturb 
 them at their feast ; neither did they take much no- 
 tice of us. Friday would have let fly at them, but I 
 would not suffer him by any means; for 1 found we 
 were like to have more business upon our hands than 
 we were aware of. We were not gone half over the 
 plain, when we began to hear the wolves howl in the 
 wood on our left in a frightful manner, and pre- 
 sently after we saw about a hundred coming on di- 
 rectly towards us, all in a body, and most of them in 
 a line, as regularly as an army drawn up by experi- 
 enced officers. 1 scarce knew in what manner to 
 receive them, but found, to draw ourselves in a close 
 line was the only way: so we formed in a moment : 
 but that we might not have too much interval, I or- 
 dered that only ever}' other man should fire, and 
 that the others who had not fired should stand ready 
 to give them a second volley immediately, if they
 
 336 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 continued to advance upon us; and then that those 
 who had fired at first should not pretend to load 
 their fusees again, but stand ready every one with a 
 pistol, for we were all armed with a fusee and a pair 
 of pistols each man ; so we were, by this method, 
 able to fire six volleys, half of us at a time: however, 
 at present we had no necessity ; for upon firing the 
 first volley, the enemy made a full stop, being terri- 
 fied as well with the noise as with the fire; four of 
 them being shot in the head, dropped; several others 
 were wounded, and went bleeding off, as we could 
 see by the snow. I found they stopped, but did not 
 immediately retreat; whereupon, remembering that 
 I had been told that the fiercest creatures were ter- 
 rified at the voice of a man, I caused all the com- 
 pany to hollow as loud as we could ; and I found the 
 notion not altogether mistaken; for upon our shout, 
 they began to retire, and turn about. I then or- 
 dered a second volley to be fired in their rear, which 
 put them to the gallop, and away they went to the 
 woods. This gave us leisure to charge our pieces 
 again; and that" we might lose no time, we kept 
 going : but we had but little more than loaded our 
 fusees, and put ourselves in readiness, when we 
 heard a tei'rible noise in the same wood, on our 
 left, only that it was farther onward, the same way 
 we were to go. 
 
 The night was coming on, and the light began to 
 be dusky, which made it worse on our side; but the 
 noise increasing, we could easily perceive that it was 
 the howling and yelling of those hellish creatures ; 
 and on a sudden, we perceived two or three troops 
 of wolves, one on our left, one behind us, and one 
 in our front, so that we seemed to be surrounded 
 with them : however, as they did not fall upon us, 
 we kept our way forward, as fast as we could make 
 our horses go, which the way being very rough was
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE. 337 
 
 only a good hard trot. In this manner we came in 
 view of the entrance of a wood, through which we 
 were to pass, at the farther side of the plain; but 
 we were greatly surprised, when coming nearer the 
 lane or pass, we saw a confused number of wolves 
 standing just at the entrance. On a sudden, at 
 another opening of the wood, we heard the noise of 
 a gun, and looking that way, out rushed a horse, 
 with a saddle and a bridle on him, flying like the 
 wind, and sixteen or seventeen wolves after him, 
 full speed; indeed the horse had the heels of them, 
 but as we supposed that he could not hold it at that 
 rate, we doubted not but they would get up with 
 him at last; no question but they did. 
 
 But here we had a most horrible sight; for riding 
 up to the entrance where the horse came out, we 
 found the carcases of another horse and of two men, 
 devoured by the ravenous creatures : and one of the 
 men was no doubt the same whom we heard fire the 
 gun, for there lay a gun just by him fired off; but 
 as to the man, his head and the upper part of his 
 body were eaten up. This filled us with horror, and 
 we knew not what course to take ; but the creatures 
 resolved us soon; for they gathered about us pre- 
 sently, in hopes of prey; and I verily believe there 
 were three hundred of them. It happened very 
 much to our advantage, that at the entrance into the 
 wood, but a little way from it, there lay some large 
 timber-trees, which had been cut down the summer 
 before, and I suppose lay there for carriage. I drew 
 my little troop in among those trees, and placing 
 ourselves in a line behind one long tree, I advised 
 them all to alight, and keeping that tree before us 
 for a breast- work, to stand in a triangle or three 
 fronts, inclosing our horses in the centre. We did 
 so, and it was well we did; for never was a more fu- 
 rious charge than the creatures made upon us in 
 
 VOL. XVI. 2 G
 
 338 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 this place. They came on with a growling kind of 
 noise, and mounted the piece of timber, which, as I 
 said, was our breast-work, as if they were only rush- 
 ing upon their prey ; and this fury of theirs, it seems, 
 was pricipally occasioned by their seeing our horses 
 behind us. I ordered our men to fire as before, 
 every other man ; and they took their aim so sure, 
 that they killed several of the wolves at the first vol- 
 ley; but there was a necessity to keep a continual 
 firing, for they came on like devils, those behind 
 pushing on those before. 
 
 When we had fired a second volley of our fusees, 
 we thought they stopped a little, and I hoped they 
 would have gone off; but it was but a moment, for 
 others came forward again; so we fired two volleys 
 of our pistols; and I believe in these four firings we 
 had killed seventeen or eighteen of them, and lamed 
 twice as many, yet they came on again. I was loath 
 to spend our shot too hastily; so I called my ser- 
 vant, not my man Friday, for he was better em- 
 ployed, for, with the greatest dexterity imaginable, 
 he had charged my fusee and his own while we were 
 engaged; but, as 1 said, 1 called my other man, 
 and giving him a horn of powder, I bade him lay a 
 train all along the piece of timber, and let it be a 
 large train. He did so; and had but just time to 
 get away, when the wolves came up to it, and 
 some got upon it, when I, snapping an uncharged 
 pistol close to the powder, set it on fire : those that 
 were upon the timber were scorched with it; and 
 six or seven of them fell, or rather jumped in among 
 us, with the force and fright of the fire, we dis- 
 patched these in an instant, and the rest were so 
 frightened with the light, which the night, for it 
 was now very near dark, made more terrible, that 
 they drew back a little; upon which I ordered our 
 last pistols to be fired oft" in one volley, and after
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE 339 
 
 that we gave a shout: upon this the wolves turned 
 tail, and we sallied immediately upon near twenty 
 lame ones, that we found struggling on the ground, 
 and fell a cutting them with our swords, which an- 
 swered our expectation; for the crying and howling 
 they made was better understood by their fellows ; 
 so that they all fled and left us. 
 
 We had first and last, killed about threescore of 
 them; and had it been day-light, we had killed many 
 more. The field of battle beingthus cleared, we made 
 forward again, for we had still near a league to go. 
 We heard the ravenous creatures howl and yell in the 
 woods as we went, several times, and sometimes we 
 fancied we saw some of them, but the snow dazzling 
 our eyes, we were not certam: m about an hour 
 more we came to the town where we were to lodge, 
 which we found in a terrible fright, and all in arms; 
 for, it seems, the night before, the wolves and some 
 bears had broke into the village, and put them in 
 such terror, that they were obliged to keep guard 
 night and day, but especially in the night, to pre- 
 serve their cattle, and, indeed, their people. 
 
 The next morning our guide was so ill, and his 
 limbs swelled so nmch with the rankling of his two 
 wounds, that he could go no farther; so we were 
 obliged to take a new guide here, and go to Thou- 
 louse, where we found a warm climate, a fruitful 
 pleasant country, and no snow, no wolves, nor any 
 thing like them: but when we told our story at 
 Thoulousc, they told us it was nothing but what 
 was ordinary in the great forest at the foot of the 
 mountains, especially when the snow lay on the 
 ground; but they enquired much what kind of a 
 guide we had got, who would venture to bring us 
 that way in such a severe season; and told us it was 
 surprising we were not all devoured. When we told 
 them how we placed ourselves, and the horses in
 
 340 ADVENTURES Of 
 
 the middle, they blamed us exceedingly, and told ua 
 it was fifty to one but we had been all destroyed ; 
 for it was the sight of the horses which made the 
 wolves so furious, seeing their prey ; and that, at 
 other times, they are really afraid of a gun; but be- 
 ing excessive hungry, and raging on that account, 
 the eagerness to come at the horses had made them 
 senseless of danger; and that if we had not, by the 
 continued fire, and at last by the stratagem of the 
 train of powder, mastered them, it had been great 
 odds but that we had been torn to pieces; whereas, 
 had we been content to have sat still on horseback, 
 and fired as horsemen, they would not have taken 
 the horses so much for their own, when men were 
 on their backs, as otherwise; and withal they told 
 us, that at last, if we had stood altogether, and left 
 our horses, they would have been so eager to have 
 devoured them, that we might have come off safe, 
 especially having our fire-arms in our hands, and 
 being so many in number. For my part, I was never 
 so sensible of danger in my life; for seeing above 
 three hundred devils come roaring and open-mouthed 
 to devour us, and having nothing to shelter us, or 
 retreat to, I gave myself over for lost; and, as it 
 was, 1 believe 1 shall never care to cross those moun- 
 tains again; I think I would much rather go a thou- 
 sand leagues by sea, though I was sure to meet 
 with a storm once a-week. 
 
 I have nothing uncommon to take notice of in my 
 passage through Fi'ance, nothing but what other 
 travellers have given an account of, with much more 
 advantage than I can. I travelled from Thoulouse 
 to Paris, and without any considerable stay came to 
 Calais, and landed safe at Dover, the 14th of Janua- 
 ry , after having a severe cold season to travel in. 
 
 I was now come to the centre of my travels, and 
 had in a little time all my new discovered estate safe
 
 KOBINSON CRUSOE. 341 
 
 about me; the bills of exchange which I brought 
 with me having been very currently paid. 
 
 My principal guide and privy counsellor was my 
 good ancient widow; who in gratitude for the mo- 
 ney I had sent her, thought no pains too much, 
 nor care too great to employ for me; and I trusted 
 her so entirely with eviery thing, that I was perfectly 
 easy as to the security of my effects; and, indeed, I 
 was very happy from the beginning, and now to 
 the end, in the unspotted integrity of this good 
 gentlewoman. 
 
 I now resolved to dispose of my plantation in the 
 Brazils, if I could find means. For this purpose, I 
 wrote to my old friend at Lisbon ; who having of- 
 fered it to the two merchants, the survivors of my 
 trustees who lived in the Brazils, they accepted 
 the offer, and remitted thirty-three thousand pieces 
 of eight to a correspondent of theirs at Lisbon, to 
 pay for it. Having signed the instrument of sale, 
 and sent it to my old friend, he remitted me bills of 
 exchange for thirty-two thousand eight hundred 
 pieces of eight for the estate, reserving the payment 
 of a hundred moidores a-year to himself during his 
 life, and fifty moidores afterwards to his son for life, 
 which I had promised them. 
 
 Though I had sold my estate in the Brazils, yet I 
 could not keep the country out of my head; nor 
 could I resist the strong inclination 1 had to see my 
 island. My true friend, the widow, earnestly dis- 
 suaded me from it, and so far prevailed with me, 
 that for almost seven years, she prevented my run- 
 ning abroad; during which time I took my two ne- 
 phews, the children of one of my brothers into my 
 care: the eldest having something of his own, I bred 
 up as a gentleman, and gave him a settlement of 
 some addition to his estate, after my decease. The 
 other I put out to a captain of a ship: and after five 
 
 VOL. XVI. 2 H
 
 S42 ADVENTURES OP ROBINSON CRUSOE. 
 
 years, finding him a sensible, bold, enterprising 
 young fellow, I put him into a good ship, and sent 
 him to sea: and this young fellow afterwards drew 
 me in, as old as I was, to farther adventures myself. 
 
 In the mean time, I in part settled myself here ; 
 for, first of all, I married, and that not either to 
 my disadvantage or dissatisfaction, and had three 
 children, two sons and one daughter; but my wife 
 dying, and my nephew coming home with good 
 success from a voyage to Spain, my inclination to 
 go abroad, and his importunity prevailed, and en- 
 gaged to go in his ship as a private trader to the 
 East Indies: this was in the year 1694^. 
 
 But these things, with some very surprising inci- 
 dents in some new adventures of my own, for ten 
 years more, I shall give a farther account of in 
 another volume. 
 
 END OF VOL. XVI. 
 
 C. Baldwin. Piiiiler. 
 New Briilee-stivet, Ijoniloii.
 
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