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Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

CHAPTER I - START IN LIFE

I WAS born in the year 1632in the city of Yorkof a good family
though not of that countrymy father being a foreigner of Bremen
who settled first at Hull. He got a good estate by merchandise
and leaving off his tradelived afterwards at Yorkfrom whence he
had married my motherwhose relations were named Robinsona very
good family in that countryand from whom I was called Robinson
Kreutznaer; butby the usual corruption of words in Englandwe
are now called - nay we call ourselves and write our name - Crusoe;
and so my companions always called me.

I had two elder brothersone of whom was lieutenant-colonel to an
English regiment of foot in Flandersformerly commanded by the
famous Colonel Lockhartand was killed at the battle near Dunkirk
against the Spaniards. What became of my second brother I never
knewany more than my father or mother knew what became of me.

Being the third son of the family and not bred to any trademy
head began to be filled very early with rambling thoughts. My
fatherwho was very ancienthad given me a competent share of
learningas far as house-education and a country free school
generally goand designed me for the law; but I would be satisfied
with nothing but going to sea; and my inclination to this led me so
strongly against the willnaythe commands of my fatherand
against all the entreaties and persuasions of my mother and other
friendsthat there seemed to be something fatal in that propensity
of naturetending directly to the life of misery which was to
befall me.

My fathera wise and grave mangave me serious and excellent
counsel against what he foresaw was my design. He called me one
morning into his chamberwhere he was confined by the goutand
expostulated very warmly with me upon this subject. He asked me
what reasonsmore than a mere wandering inclinationI had for
leaving father's house and my native countrywhere I might be well
introducedand had a prospect of raising my fortune by application
and industrywith a life of ease and pleasure. He told me it was
men of desperate fortunes on one handor of aspiringsuperior
fortunes on the otherwho went abroad upon adventuresto rise by
enterpriseand make themselves famous in undertakings of a nature
out of the common road; that these things were all either too far
above me or too far below me; that mine was the middle stateor
what might be called the upper station of low lifewhich he had
foundby long experiencewas the best state in the worldthe
most suited to human happinessnot exposed to the miseries and
hardshipsthe labour and sufferings of the mechanic part of
mankindand not embarrassed with the prideluxuryambitionand
envy of the upper part of mankind. He told me I might judge of the
happiness of this state by this one thing - viz. that this was the


state of life which all other people envied; that kings have
frequently lamented the miserable consequence of being born to
great thingsand wished they had been placed in the middle of the
two extremesbetween the mean and the great; that the wise man
gave his testimony to thisas the standard of felicitywhen he
prayed to have neither poverty nor riches.

He bade me observe itand I should always find that the calamities
of life were shared among the upper and lower part of mankindbut
that the middle station had the fewest disastersand was not
exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of
mankind; naythey were not subjected to so many distempers and
uneasinesseseither of body or mindas those were whoby vicious
livingluxuryand extravagances on the one handor by hard
labourwant of necessariesand mean or insufficient diet on the
other handbring distemper upon themselves by the natural
consequences of their way of living; that the middle station of
life was calculated for all kind of virtue and all kind of
enjoyments; that peace and plenty were the handmaids of a middle
fortune; that temperancemoderationquietnesshealthsociety
all agreeable diversionsand all desirable pleasureswere the
blessings attending the middle station of life; that this way men
went silently and smoothly through the worldand comfortably out
of itnot embarrassed with the labours of the hands or of the
headnot sold to a life of slavery for daily breadnor harassed
with perplexed circumstanceswhich rob the soul of peace and the
body of restnor enraged with the passion of envyor the secret
burning lust of ambition for great things; butin easy
circumstancessliding gently through the worldand sensibly
tasting the sweets of livingwithout the bitter; feeling that they
are happyand learning by every day's experience to know it more
sensibly

After this he pressed me earnestlyand in the most affectionate
mannernot to play the young mannor to precipitate myself into
miseries which natureand the station of life I was born in
seemed to have provided against; that I was under no necessity of
seeking my bread; that he would do well for meand endeavour to
enter me fairly into the station of life which he had just been
recommending to me; and that if I was not very easy and happy in
the worldit must be my mere fate or fault that must hinder it;
and that he should have nothing to answer forhaving thus
discharged his duty in warning me against measures which he knew
would be to my hurt; in a wordthat as he would do very kind
things for me if I would stay and settle at home as he directedso
he would not have so much hand in my misfortunes as to give me any
encouragement to go away; and to close allhe told me I had my
elder brother for an exampleto whom he had used the same earnest
persuasions to keep him from going into the Low Country warsbut
could not prevailhis young desires prompting him to run into the
armywhere he was killed; and though he said he would not cease to
pray for meyet he would venture to say to methat if I did take
this foolish stepGod would not bless meand I should have
leisure hereafter to reflect upon having neglected his counsel when
there might be none to assist in my recovery.

I observed in this last part of his discoursewhich was truly
propheticthough I suppose my father did not know it to be so
himself - I sayI observed the tears run down his face very
plentifullyespecially when he spoke of my brother who was killed:
and that when he spoke of my having leisure to repentand none to
assist mehe was so moved that he broke off the discourseand
told me his heart was so full he could say no more to me.


I was sincerely affected with this discourseandindeedwho
could be otherwise? and I resolved not to think of going abroad any
morebut to settle at home according to my father's desire. But
alas! a few days wore it all off; andin shortto prevent any of
my father's further importunitiesin a few weeks after I resolved
to run quite away from him. HoweverI did not act quite so
hastily as the first heat of my resolution prompted; but I took my
mother at a time when I thought her a little more pleasant than
ordinaryand told her that my thoughts were so entirely bent upon
seeing the world that I should never settle to anything with
resolution enough to go through with itand my father had better
give me his consent than force me to go without it; that I was now
eighteen years oldwhich 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 timebut I should certainly run away from my master
before my time was outand go to sea; and if she would speak to my
father to let me go one voyage abroadif I came home againand
did not like itI would go no more; and I would promiseby a
double diligenceto recover the time that I had lost.

This put my mother into a great passion; she told me she knew it
would be to no purpose to speak to my father upon any such subject;
that he knew too well what was my interest to give his consent to
anything so much for my hurt; and that she wondered how I could
think of any such thing after the discourse I had had with my
fatherand such kind and tender expressions as she knew my father
had used to me; and thatin shortif I would ruin myselfthere
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 fatheryet I heard
afterwards that she reported all the discourse to himand that my
fatherafter showing a great concern at itsaid to herwith a
sighThat 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
thoughin the meantimeI continued obstinately deaf to all
proposals of settling to businessand frequently expostulated with
my father and mother about their being so positively determined
against what they knew my inclinations prompted me to. But being
one day at Hullwhere I went casuallyand without any purpose of
making an elopement at that time; butI saybeing thereand one
of my companions being about to sail to London in his father's
shipand prompting me to go with them with the common allurement
of seafaring menthat it should cost me nothing for my passageI
consulted neither father nor mother any morenor so much as sent
them word of it; but leaving them to hear of it as they might
without asking God's blessing or my father'swithout any
consideration of circumstances or consequencesand in an ill hour
God knowson the 1st of September 1651I went on board a ship
bound for London. Never any young adventurer's misfortunesI
believebegan sooneror continued longer than mine. The ship was
no sooner out of the Humber than the wind began to blow and the sea
to rise in a most frightful manner; andas I had never been at sea
beforeI was most inexpressibly sick in body and terrified in
mind. I began now seriously to reflect upon what I had doneand
how justly I was overtaken by the judgment of Heaven for my wicked
leaving my father's houseand abandoning my duty. All the good
counsels of my parentsmy father's tears and my mother's
entreatiescame now fresh into my mind; and my consciencewhich


was not yet come to the pitch of hardness to which it has since
reproached me with the contempt of adviceand the breach of my
duty to God and my father.

All this while the storm increasedand the sea went very high
though nothing like what I have seen many times since; nonor what
I saw a few days after; but it was enough to affect me thenwho
was but a young sailorand had never known anything of the matter.
I expected every wave would have swallowed us upand that every
time the ship fell downas I thought it didin the trough or
hollow of the seawe should never rise more; in this agony of
mindI made many vows and resolutions that if it would please God
to spare my life in this one voyageif ever I got once my foot
upon dry land againI would go directly home to my fatherand
never set it into a ship again while I lived; that I would take his
adviceand never run myself into such miseries as these any more.
Now I saw plainly the goodness of his observations about the middle
station of lifehow easyhow comfortably he had lived all his
daysand never had been exposed to tempests at sea or troubles on
shore; and I resolved that I wouldlike a true repenting prodigal
go home to my father.

These wise and sober thoughts continued all the while the storm
lastedand indeed some time after; but the next day the wind was
abatedand the sea calmerand I began to be a little inured to
it; howeverI was very grave for all that daybeing also a little
sea-sick still; but towards night the weather cleared upthe wind
was quite overand a charming fine evening followed; the sun went
down perfectly clearand rose so the next morning; and having
little or no windand a smooth seathe sun shining upon itthe
sight wasas I thoughtthe most delightful that ever I saw.

I had slept well in the nightand was now no more sea-sickbut
very cheerfullooking with wonder upon the sea that was so rough
and terrible the day beforeand could be so calm and so pleasant
in so little a time after. And nowlest my good resolutions
should continuemy companionwho had enticed me awaycomes to
me; "WellBob says he, clapping me upon the shoulder, how do
you do after it? I warrant you were frightedwer'n't youlast
nightwhen it blew but a capful of wind?" "A capful d'you call
it?" said I; "'twas a terrible storm." "A stormyou fool you
replies he; do you call that a storm? whyit was nothing at all;
give us but a good ship and sea-roomand we think nothing of such
a squall of wind as that; but you're but a fresh-water sailorBob.
Comelet us make a bowl of punchand we'll forget all that; d'ye
see what charming weather 'tis now?" To make short this sad part
of my storywe went the way of all sailors; the punch was made and
I was made half drunk with it: and in that one night's wickedness I
drowned all my repentanceall my reflections upon my past conduct
all my resolutions for the future. In a wordas the sea was
returned to its smoothness of surface and settled calmness by the
abatement of that stormso the hurry of my thoughts being overmy
fears and apprehensions of being swallowed up by the sea being
forgottenand the current of my former desires returnedI
entirely forgot the vows and promises that I made in my distress.
I foundindeedsome intervals of reflection; and the serious
thoughts didas it wereendeavour to return again sometimes; but
I shook them offand roused myself from them as it were from a
distemperand applying myself to drinking and companysoon
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
Providenceas in such cases generally it doesresolved to leave


me entirely without excuse; for if I would not take this for a
deliverancethe 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 calmwe had made but
little way since the storm. Here we were obliged to come to an
anchorand here we laythe wind continuing contrary - viz. at
south-west - for seven or eight daysduring which time a great
many ships from Newcastle came into the same Roadsas the common
harbour where the ships might wait for a wind for the river.

We had nothoweverrid here so long but we should have tided it
up the riverbut that the wind blew too freshand after we had
lain four or five daysblew very hard. Howeverthe Roads being
reckoned as good as a harbourthe anchorage goodand our groundtackle
very strongour men were unconcernedand not in the least
apprehensive of dangerbut spent the time in rest and mirthafter
the manner of the sea; but the eighth dayin the morningthe wind
increasedand we had all hands at work to strike our topmastsand
make everything snug and closethat the ship might ride as easy as
possible. By noon the sea went very high indeedand our ship rode
forecastle inshipped several seasand we thought once or twice
our anchor had come home; upon which our master ordered out the
sheet-anchorso that we rode with two anchors aheadand the
cables veered out to the bitter end.

By this time it blew a terrible storm indeed; and now I began to
see terror and amazement in the faces even of the seamen
themselves. The masterthough vigilant in the business of
preserving the shipyet as he went in and out of his cabin by me
I could hear him softly to himself sayseveral timesLord be
merciful to us! we shall be all lost! we shall be all undone!and
the like. During these first hurries I was stupidlying still in
my cabinwhich was in the steerageand cannot describe my temper:
I could ill resume the first penitence which I had so apparently
trampled upon and hardened myself against: I thought the bitterness
of death had been pastand that this would be nothing like the
first; but when the master himself came by meas I said just now
and said we should be all lostI was dreadfully frighted. I got
up out of my cabin and looked out; but such a dismal sight I never
saw: the sea ran mountains highand broke upon us every three or
four minutes; when I could look aboutI could see nothing but
distress round us; two ships that rode near uswe foundhad cut
their masts by the boardbeing deep laden; and our men cried out
that a ship which rode about a mile ahead of us was foundered. Two
more shipsbeing driven from their anchorswere run out of the
Roads to seaat all adventuresand that with not a mast standing.
The light ships fared the bestas not so much labouring in the
sea; but two or three of them droveand came close by usrunning
away with only their spritsail out before the wind.

Towards evening the mate and boatswain begged the master of our
ship to let them cut away the fore-mastwhich he was very
unwilling to do; but the boatswain protesting to him that if he did
not the ship would founderhe consented; and when they had cut
away the fore-mastthe main-mast stood so looseand shook the
ship so muchthey were obliged to cut that away alsoand make a
clear deck.

Any one may judge what a condition I must be in at all thiswho
was but a young sailorand 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 timeI was in tenfold more horror of mind
upon account of my former convictionsand the having returned from
them to the resolutions I had wickedly taken at firstthan I was
at death itself; and theseadded to the terror of the stormput
me into such a condition that I can by no words describe it. But
the worst was not come yet; the storm continued with such fury that
the seamen themselves acknowledged they had never seen a worse. We
had a good shipbut she was deep ladenand wallowed in the sea
so that the seamen every now and then cried out she would founder.
It was my advantage in one respectthat I did not know what they
meant by FOUNDER till I inquired. Howeverthe storm was so
violent that I sawwhat is not often seenthe masterthe
boatswainand some others more sensible than the restat their
prayersand expecting every moment when the ship would go to the
bottom. In the middle of the nightand under all the rest of our
distressesone of the men that had been down to see cried out we
had sprung a leak; another said there was four feet water in the
hold. Then all hands were called to the pump. At that wordmy
heartas I thoughtdied within me: and I fell backwards upon the
side of my bed where I satinto the cabin. Howeverthe men
roused meand told me that Ithat was able to do nothing before
was as well able to pump as another; at which I stirred up and went
to the pumpand worked very heartily. While this was doing the
masterseeing some light collierswhonot able to ride out the
storm were obliged to slip and run away to seaand would come near
usordered to fire a gun as a signal of distress. Iwho knew
nothing what they meantthought the ship had brokenor some
dreadful thing happened. In a wordI was so surprised that I fell
down in a swoon. As this was a time when everybody had his own
life to think ofnobody minded meor what was become of me; but
another man stepped up to the pumpand thrusting me aside with his
footlet me liethinking I had been dead; and it was a great
while before I came to myself.

We worked on; but the water increasing in the holdit was apparent
that the ship would founder; and though the storm began to abate a
littleyet it was not possible she could swim till we might run
into any port; so the master continued firing guns for help; and a
light shipwho had rid it out just ahead of usventured 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 boardor for the boat
to lie near the ship's sidetill at last the men rowing very
heartilyand venturing their lives to save oursour men cast them
a rope over the stern with a buoy to itand then veered it out a
great lengthwhich theyafter much labour and hazardtook hold
ofand we hauled them close under our sternand got all into
their boat. It was to no purpose for them or usafter we were in
the boatto think of reaching their own ship; so all agreed to let
her driveand only to pull her in towards shore as much as we
could; and our master promised themthat if the boat was staved
upon shorehe would make it good to their master: so partly rowing
and partly drivingour boat went away to the northwardsloping
towards the shore almost as far as Winterton Ness.

We were not much more than a quarter of an hour out of our ship
till we saw her sinkand then I understood for the first time what
was meant by a ship foundering in the sea. I must acknowledge I
had hardly eyes to look up when the seamen told me she was sinking;
for from the moment that they rather put me into the boat than that
I might be said to go inmy heart wasas it weredead within me
partly with frightpartly with horror of mindand the thoughts of
what was yet before me.

While we were in this condition - the men yet labouring at the oar


to bring the boat near the shore - we could see (whenour boat
mounting the waveswe were able to see the shore) a great many
people running along the strand to assist us when we should come
near; but we made but slow way towards the shore; nor were we able
to reach the shore tillbeing past the lighthouse at Winterton
the shore falls off to the westward towards Cromerand so the land
broke off a little the violence of the wind. Here we got inand
though not without much difficultygot all safe on shoreand
walked afterwards on foot to Yarmouthwhereas unfortunate men
we were used with great humanityas well by the magistrates of the
townwho assigned us good quartersas by particular merchants and
owners of shipsand 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 Hulland have gone
homeI had been happyand my fatheras in our blessed Saviour's
parablehad even killed the fatted calf for me; for hearing the
ship I went away in was cast away in Yarmouth Roadsit was a great
while before he had any assurances that I was not drowned.

But my ill fate pushed me on now with an obstinacy that nothing
could resist; and though I had several times loud calls from my
reason and my more composed judgment to go homeyet I had no power
to do it. I know not what to call thisnor will I urge that it is
a secret overruling decreethat hurries us on to be the
instruments of our own destructioneven though it be before us
and that we rush upon it with our eyes open. Certainlynothing
but some such decreed unavoidable miserywhich it was impossible
for me to escapecould have pushed me forward against the calm
reasonings and persuasions of my most retired thoughtsand against
two such visible instructions as I had met with in my first
attempt.

My comradewho had helped to harden me beforeand who was the
master's sonwas now less forward than I. The first time he spoke
to me after we were at Yarmouthwhich was not till two or three
daysfor we were separated in the town to several quarters; I say
the first time he saw meit appeared his tone was altered; and
looking very melancholyand shaking his headhe asked me how I
didand telling his father who I wasand how I had come this
voyage only for a trialin order to go further abroadhis father
turning to me with a very grave and concerned tone "Young man
says he, you ought never to go to sea any more; you ought to take
this for a plain and visible token that you are not to be a
seafaring man." "Whysir said I, will you go to sea no more?"
That is another case,said he; "it is my callingand therefore
my duty; but as you made this voyage on trialyou 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 accountlike Jonah in the
ship of Tarshish. Pray continues he, what are you; and on what
account did you go to sea?" Upon that I told him some of my story;
at the end of which he burst out into a strange kind of passion:
What had I done,says hethat such an unhappy wretch should
come into my ship? I would not set my foot in the same ship with
thee again for a thousand pounds.This indeed wasas I saidan
excursion of his spiritswhich were yet agitated by the sense of
his lossand was farther than he could have authority to go.
Howeverhe afterwards talked very gravely to meexhorting me to
go back to my fatherand not tempt Providence to my ruintelling
me I might see a visible hand of Heaven against me. "Andyoung
man said he, depend upon itif you do not go backwherever you
goyou will meet with nothing but disasters and disappointments
till your father's words are fulfilled upon you."


We parted soon after; for I made him little answerand I saw him
no more; which way he went I knew not. As for mehaving some
money in my pocketI travelled to London by land; and thereas
well as on the roadhad many struggles with myself what course of
life I should takeand whether I should go home or to sea.

As to going homeshame opposed the best motions that offered to my
thoughtsand it immediately occurred to me how I should be laughed
at among the neighboursand should be ashamed to seenot my
father and mother onlybut even everybody else; from whence I have
since often observedhow incongruous and irrational the common
temper of mankind isespecially of youthto that reason which
ought to guide them in such cases - viz. that they are not ashamed
to sinand yet are ashamed to repent; not ashamed of the action
for which they ought justly to be esteemed foolsbut are ashamed
of the returningwhich only can make them be esteemed wise men.

In this state of lifehoweverI remained some timeuncertain
what measures to takeand what course of life to lead. An
irresistible reluctance continued to going home; and as I stayed
away a whilethe remembrance of the distress I had been in wore
offand as that abatedthe little motion I had in my desires to
return wore off with ittill at last I quite laid aside the
thoughts of itand looked out for a voyage.

CHAPTER II - SLAVERY AND ESCAPE

THAT evil influence which carried me first away from my father's
house - which hurried me into the wild and indigested notion of
raising my fortuneand that impressed those conceits so forcibly
upon me as to make me deaf to all good adviceand to the
entreaties and even the commands of my father - I saythe same
influencewhatever it waspresented the most unfortunate of all
enterprises to my view; and I went on board a vessel bound to the
coast of Africa; oras our sailors vulgarly called ita voyage to
Guinea.

It was my great misfortune that in all these adventures I did not
ship myself as a sailor; whenthough I might indeed have worked a
little harder than ordinaryyet at the same time I should have
learnt the duty and office of a fore-mast manand in time might
have qualified myself for a mate or lieutenantif not for a
master. But as it was always my fate to choose for the worseso I
did here; for having money in my pocket and good clothes upon my
backI would always go on board in the habit of a gentleman; and
so I neither had any business in the shipnor learned to do any.

It was my lot first of all to fall into pretty good company in
Londonwhich does not always happen to such loose and misguided
young fellows as I then was; the devil generally not omitting to
lay some snare for them very early; but it was not so with me. I
first got acquainted with the master of a ship who had been on the
coast of Guinea; and whohaving had very good success therewas
resolved to go again. This captain taking a fancy to my
conversationwhich was not at all disagreeable at that time
hearing me say I had a mind to see the worldtold me if I would go
the voyage with him I should be at no expense; I should be his
messmate and his companion; and if I could carry anything with me
I should have all the advantage of it that the trade would admit;
and perhaps I might meet with some encouragement.


I embraced the offer; and entering into a strict friendship with
this captainwho was an honestplain-dealing manI went the
voyage with himand carried a small adventure with mewhichby
the disinterested honesty of my friend the captainI increased
very considerably; for I carried about 40 pounds in such toys and
trifles as the captain directed me to buy. These 40 pounds I had
mustered together by the assistance of some of my relations whom I
corresponded with; and whoI believegot my fatheror at least
my motherto contribute so much as that to my first adventure.

This was the only voyage which I may say was successful in all my
adventureswhich 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 navigationlearned how to keep an
account of the ship's coursetake an observationandin short
to understand some things that were needful to be understood by a
sailor; foras he took delight to instruct meI took delight to
learn; andin a wordthis voyage made me both a sailor and a
merchant; for I brought home five pounds nine ounces of gold-dust
for my adventurewhich yielded me in Londonat my returnalmost
300 pounds; and this filled me with those aspiring thoughts which
have since so completed my ruin.

Yet even in this voyage I had my misfortunes too; particularly
that I was continually sickbeing thrown into a violent calenture
by the excessive heat of the climate; our principal trading being
upon the coastfrom latitude of 15 degrees north even to the line
itself.

I was now set up for a Guinea trader; and my friendto my great
misfortunedying soon after his arrivalI resolved to go the same
voyage againand I embarked in the same vessel with one who was
his mate in the former voyageand had now got the command of the
ship. This was the unhappiest voyage that ever man made; for
though I did not carry quite 100 pounds of my new-gained wealthso
that I had 200 pounds leftwhich I had lodged with my friend's
widowwho was very just to meyet I fell into terrible
misfortunes. The first was this: our ship making her course
towards the Canary Islandsor rather between those islands and the
African shorewas surprised in the grey of the morning by a
Turkish rover of Salleewho gave chase to us with all the sail she
could make. We crowded also as much canvas as our yards would
spreador our masts carryto get clear; but finding the pirate
gained upon usand would certainly come up with us in a few hours
we prepared to fight; our ship having twelve gunsand the rogue
eighteen. About three in the afternoon he came up with usand
bringing toby mistakejust athwart our quarterinstead of
athwart our sternas he intendedwe brought eight of our guns to
bear on that sideand poured in a broadside upon himwhich made
him sheer off againafter returning our fireand pouring in also
his small shot from near two hundred men which he had on board.
Howeverwe had not a man touchedall our men keeping close. He
prepared to attack us againand we to defend ourselves. But
laying us on board the next time upon our other quarterhe entered
sixty men upon our deckswho immediately fell to cutting and
hacking the sails and rigging. We plied them with small shot
half-pikespowder-chestsand such likeand cleared our deck of
them twice. Howeverto cut short this melancholy part of our
storyour ship being disabledand three of our men killedand
eight woundedwe were obliged to yieldand were carried all
prisoners into Salleea port belonging to the Moors.

The usage I had there was not so dreadful as at first I


apprehended; nor was I carried up the country to the emperor's
courtas the rest of our men werebut was kept by the captain of
the rover as his proper prizeand made his slavebeing young and
nimbleand fit for his business. At this surprising change of my
circumstancesfrom a merchant to a miserable slaveI was
perfectly overwhelmed; and now I looked back upon my father's
prophetic discourse to methat I should be miserable and have none
to relieve mewhich I thought was now so effectually brought to
pass that I could not be worse; for now the hand of Heaven had
overtaken meand I was undone without redemption; butalas! this
was but a taste of the misery I was to go throughas will appear
in the sequel of this story.

As my new patronor masterhad taken me home to his houseso I
was in hopes that he would take me with him when he went to sea
againbelieving that it would some time or other be his fate to be
taken by a Spanish or Portugal man-of-war; and that then I should
be set at liberty. But this hope of mine was soon taken away; for
when he went to seahe left me on shore to look after his little
gardenand do the common drudgery of slaves about his house; and
when he came home again from his cruisehe ordered me to lie in
the cabin to look after the ship.

Here I meditated nothing but my escapeand what method I might
take to effect itbut 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-slaveno EnglishmanIrishmanor Scotchman there but
myself; so that for two yearsthough I often pleased myself with
the imaginationyet I never had the least encouraging prospect of
putting it in practice.

After about two yearsan odd circumstance presented itselfwhich
put the old thought of making some attempt for my liberty again in
my head. My patron lying at home longer than usual without fitting
out his shipwhichas I heardwas for want of moneyhe used
constantlyonce or twice a weeksometimes oftener if the weather
was fairto take the ship's pinnace and go out into the road afishing;
and as he always took me and young Maresco with him to row
the boatwe made him very merryand I proved very dexterous in
catching fish; insomuch that sometimes he would send me with a
Moorone of his kinsmenand the youth - the Marescoas they
called him - to catch a dish of fish for him.

It happened one timethat going a-fishing in a calm morninga fog
rose so thick thatthough we were not half a league from the
shorewe lost sight of it; and rowing we knew not whither or which
waywe laboured all dayand 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. Howeverwe got well in againthough with a great deal of
labour and some danger; for the wind began to blow pretty fresh in
the morning; but we were all very hungry.

But our patronwarned by this disasterresolved to take more care
of himself for the future; and having lying by him the longboat of
our English ship that he had takenhe resolved he would not go afishing
any more without a compass and some provision; so he
ordered the carpenter of his shipwho also was an English slave
to build a little state-roomor cabinin the middle of the longboat
like that of a bargewith a place to stand behind it to
steerand haul home the main-sheet; the room before for a hand or
two to stand and work the sails. She sailed with what we call a
shoulder-of-mutton sail; and the boom jibed over the top of the


cabinwhich lay very snug and lowand had in it room for him to
liewith a slave or twoand a table to eat onwith some small
lockers to put in some bottles of such liquor as he thought fit to
drink; and his breadriceand coffee.

We went frequently out with this boat a-fishing; and as I was most
dexterous to catch fish for himhe never went without me. It
happened that he had appointed to go out in this boateither for
pleasure or for fishwith two or three Moors of some distinction
in that placeand for whom he had provided extraordinarilyand
hadthereforesent on board the boat overnight a larger store of
provisions than ordinary; and had ordered me to get ready three
fusees with powder and shotwhich were on board his shipfor that
they designed some sport of fowling as well as fishing.

I got all things ready as he had directedand waited the next
morning with the boat washed cleanher ancient and pendants out
and everything to accommodate his guests; when by-and-by my patron
came on board aloneand told me his guests had put off going from
some business that fell outand ordered mewith the man and boy
as usualto go out with the boat and catch them some fishfor
that his friends were to sup at his houseand commanded that as
soon as I got some fish I should bring it home to his house; all
which I prepared to do.

This moment my former notions of deliverance darted into my
thoughtsfor now I found I was likely to have a little ship at my
command; and my master being goneI prepared to furnish myself
not for fishing businessbut for a voyage; though I knew not
neither did I so much as considerwhither I should steer -
anywhere to get out of that place was my desire.

My first contrivance was to make a pretence to speak to this Moor
to get something for our subsistence on board; for I told him we
must not presume to eat of our patron's bread. He said that was
true; so he brought a large basket of rusk or biscuitand three
jars of fresh waterinto the boat. I knew where my patron's case
of bottles stoodwhich it was evidentby the makewere taken out
of some English prizeand I conveyed them into the boat while the
Moor was on shoreas if they had been there before for our master.
I conveyed also a great lump of beeswax into the boatwhich
weighed about half a hundred-weightwith a parcel of twine or
threada hatcheta sawand a hammerall of which were of great
use to us afterwardsespecially the waxto make candles. Another
trick I tried upon himwhich he innocently came into also: his
name was Ismaelwhich they call Muleyor Moely; so I called to
him - "Moely said I, our patron's guns are on board the boat;
can you not get a little powder and shot? It may be we may kill
some alcamies (a fowl like our curlews) for ourselvesfor I know
he keeps the gunner's stores in the ship." "Yes says he, I'll
bring some;" and accordingly he brought a great leather pouch
which held a pound and a half of powderor rather more; and
another with shotthat had five or six poundswith some bullets
and put all into the boat. At the same time I had found some
powder of my master's in the great cabinwith which I filled one
of the large bottles in the casewhich was almost emptypouring
what was in it into another; and thus furnished with everything
needfulwe sailed out of the port to fish. The castlewhich is
at the entrance of the portknew who we wereand took no notice
of us; and we were not above a mile out of the port before we
hauled in our sail and set us down to fish. The wind blew from the
N.N.E.which was contrary to my desirefor had it blown southerly
I had been sure to have made the coast of Spainand at least
reached to the bay of Cadiz; but my resolutions wereblow which


way it wouldI would be gone from that horrid place where I was
and leave the rest to fate.

After we had fished some time and caught nothing - for when I had
fish on my hook I would not pull them upthat he might not see
them - I said to the MoorThis will not do; our master will not
be thus served; we must stand farther off.Hethinking no harm
agreedand being in the head of the boatset the sails; andas I
had the helmI ran the boat out near a league fartherand then
brought her toas if I would fish; whengiving the boy the helm
I stepped forward to where the Moor wasand making as if I stooped
for something behind himI took him by surprise with my arm under
his waistand tossed him clear overboard into the sea. He rose
immediatelyfor he swam like a corkand called to mebegged to
be taken intold me he would go all over the world with me. He
swam so strong after the boat that he would have reached me very
quicklythere being but little wind; upon which I stepped into the
cabinand fetching one of the fowling-piecesI presented it at
himand told him I had done him no hurtand if he would be quiet
I would do him none. "But said I, you swim well enough to reach
to the shoreand the sea is calm; make the best of your way to
shoreand I will do you no harm; but if you come near the boat
I'll shoot you through the headfor I am resolved to have my
liberty;" so he turned himself aboutand swam for the shoreand I
make no doubt but he reached it with easefor he was an excellent
swimmer.

I could have been content to have taken this Moor with meand have
drowned the boybut there was no venturing to trust him. When he
was goneI turned to the boywhom they called Xuryand said to
himXury, if you will be faithful to me, I'll make you a great
man; but if you will not stroke your face to be true to me- that
isswear by Mahomet and his father's beard - "I must throw you
into the sea too." The boy smiled in my faceand spoke so
innocently that I could not distrust himand swore to be faithful
to meand go all over the world with me.

While I was in view of the Moor that was swimmingI stood out
directly to sea with the boatrather stretching to windwardthat
they might think me gone towards the Straits' mouth (as indeed any
one that had been in their wits must have been supposed to do): for
who would have supposed we were sailed on to the southwardto the
truly Barbarian coastwhere whole nations of negroes were sure to
surround us with their canoes and destroy us; where we could not go
on shore but we should be devoured by savage beastsor more
merciless savages of human kind.

But as soon as it grew dusk in the eveningI changed my course
and steered directly south and by eastbending my course a little
towards the eastthat I might keep in with the shore; and having a
fairfresh gale of windand a smoothquiet seaI made such sail
that I believe by the next dayat three o'clock in the afternoon
when I first made the landI could not be less than one hundred
and fifty miles south of Sallee; quite beyond the Emperor of
Morocco's dominionsor indeed of any other king thereaboutsfor
we saw no people.

Yet such was the fright I had taken of the Moorsand the dreadful
apprehensions I had of falling into their handsthat I would not
stopor go on shoreor come to an anchor; the wind continuing
fair till I had sailed in that manner five days; and then the wind
shifting to the southwardI concluded also that if any of our
vessels were in chase of methey also would now give over; so I
ventured to make to the coastand came to an anchor in the mouth


of a little riverI knew not whatnor whereneither what
latitudewhat countrywhat nationor what river. I neither saw
nor desired to see any people; the principal thing I wanted was
fresh water. We came into this creek in the eveningresolving to
swim on shore as soon as it was darkand discover the country; but
as soon as it was quite darkwe heard such dreadful noises of the
barkingroaringand howling of wild creaturesof we knew not
what kindsthat the poor boy was ready to die with fearand
begged of me not to go on shore till day. "WellXury said I,
then I won't; but it may be that we may see men by daywho will
be as bad to us as those lions." "Then we give them the shoot
gun says Xury, laughing, make them run wey." Such English Xury
spoke by conversing among us slaves. HoweverI was glad to see
the boy so cheerfuland I gave him a dram (out of our patron's
case of bottles) to cheer him up. After allXury's advice was
goodand I took it; we dropped our little anchorand lay still
all night; I say stillfor we slept none; for in two or three
hours we saw vast great creatures (we knew not what to call them)
of many sortscome down to the sea-shore and run into the water
wallowing and washing themselves for the pleasure of cooling
themselves; and they made such hideous howlings and yellingsthat
I never indeed heard the like.

Xury was dreadfully frightedand indeed so was I too; but we were
both more frighted when we heard one of these mighty creatures come
swimming towards our boat; we could not see himbut we might hear
him by his blowing to be a monstrous huge and furious beast. Xury
said it was a lionand 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 cablewith the buoy to itand go off to
sea; they cannot follow us far." I had no sooner said sobut I
perceived the creature (whatever it was) within two oars' length
which something surprised me; howeverI immediately stepped to the
cabin doorand taking up my gunfired at him; upon which he
immediately turned about and swam towards the shore again.

But it is impossible to describe the horrid noisesand hideous
cries and howlings that were raisedas well upon the edge of the
shore as higher within the countryupon the noise or report of the
guna thing I have some reason to believe those creatures had
never heard before: this convinced me that there was no going on
shore for us in the night on that coastand how to venture on
shore in the day was another question too; for to have fallen into
the hands of any of the savages had been as bad as to have fallen
into the hands of the lions and tigers; at least we were equally
apprehensive of the danger of it.

Be that as it wouldwe were obliged to go on shore somewhere or
other for waterfor we had not a pint left in the boat; when and
where to get to it was the point. Xury saidif I would let him go
on shore with one of the jarshe would find if there was any
waterand bring some to me. I asked him why he would go? why I
should not goand he stay in the boat? The boy answered with so
much affection as made me love him ever after. Says heIf wild
mans come, they eat me, you go wey.Well, Xury,said Iwe
will both go and if the wild mans come, we will kill them, they
shall eat neither of us.So I gave Xury a piece of rusk bread to
eatand a dram out of our patron's case of bottles which I
mentioned before; and we hauled the boat in as near the shore as we
thought was properand so waded on shorecarrying nothing but our
arms and two jars for water.

I did not care to go out of sight of the boatfearing the coming
of canoes with savages down the river; but the boy seeing a low


place about a mile up the countryrambled to itand by-and-by I
saw him come running towards me. I thought he was pursued by some
savageor frighted with some wild beastand I ran forward towards
him to help him; but when I came nearer to him I saw something
hanging over his shoulderswhich was a creature that he had shot
like a harebut different in colourand longer legs; howeverwe
were very glad of itand it was very good meat; but the great joy
that poor Xury came withwas 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 outwhich flowed but a little way up; so
we filled our jarsand feasted on the hare he had killedand
prepared to go on our wayhaving seen no footsteps of any human
creature in that part of the country.

As I had been one voyage to this coast beforeI knew very well
that the islands of the Canariesand the Cape de Verde Islands
alsolay not far off from the coast. But as I had no instruments
to take an observation to know what latitude we were inand not
exactly knowingor at least rememberingwhat latitude they were
inI knew not where to look for themor when to stand off to sea
towards them; otherwise I might now easily have found some of these
islands. But my hope wasthat if I stood along this coast till I
came to that part where the English tradedI should find some of
their vessels upon their usual design of tradethat would relieve
and take us in.

By the best of my calculationthat place where I now was must be
that country whichlying between the Emperor of Morocco's
dominions and the negroeslies waste and uninhabitedexcept by
wild beasts; the negroes having abandoned it and gone farther south
for fear of the Moorsand the Moors not thinking it worth
inhabiting by reason of its barrenness; and indeedboth forsaking
it because of the prodigious number of tigerslionsleopardsand
other furious creatures which harbour there; so that the Moors use
it for their hunting onlywhere they go like an armytwo or three
thousand men at a time; and indeed for near a hundred miles
together upon this coast we saw nothing but a wasteuninhabited
country by dayand heard nothing but howlings and roaring of wild
beasts by night.

Once or twice in the daytime I thought I saw the Pico of Teneriffe
being the high top of the Mountain Teneriffe in the Canariesand
had a great mind to venture outin hopes of reaching thither; but
having tried twiceI was forced in again by contrary windsthe
sea also going too high for my little vessel; soI resolved to
pursue my first designand keep along the shore.

Several times I was obliged to land for fresh waterafter we had
left this place; and once in particularbeing early in morningwe
came to an anchor under a little point of landwhich was pretty
high; and the tide beginning to flowwe lay still to go farther
in. Xurywhose eyes were more about him than it seems mine were
calls softly to meand tells me that we had best go farther off
the shore; "For says he, lookyonder lies a dreadful monster on
the side of that hillockfast asleep." I looked where he pointed
and saw a dreadful monster indeedfor it was a terriblegreat
lion that lay on the side of the shoreunder the shade of a piece
of the hill that hung as it were a little over him. "Xury says
I, you shall on shore and kill him." Xurylooked frightedand
saidMe kill! he eat me at one mouth!- one mouthful he meant.
HoweverI said no more to the boybut bade him lie stilland I


took our biggest gunwhich was almost musket-boreand loaded it
with a good charge of powderand with two slugsand laid it down;
then I loaded another gun with two bullets; and the third (for we
had three pieces) I loaded with five smaller bullets. I took the
best aim I could with the first piece to have shot him in the head
but he lay so with his leg raised a little above his nosethat the
slugs hit his leg about the knee and broke the bone. He started
upgrowling at firstbut finding his leg brokenfell down again;
and then got upon three legsand gave the most hideous roar that
ever I heard. I was a little surprised that I had not hit him on
the head; howeverI took up the second piece immediatelyand
though he began to move offfired againand shot him in the head
and had the pleasure to see him drop and make but little noisebut
lie struggling for life. Then Xury took heartand would have me
let him go on shore. "Wellgo said I: so the boy jumped into
the water and taking a little gun in one hand, swam to shore with
the other hand, and coming close to the creature, put the muzzle of
the piece to his ear, and shot him in the head again, which
despatched him quite.

This was game indeed to us, but this was no food; and I was very
sorry to lose three charges of powder and shot upon a creature that
was good for nothing to us. However, Xury said he would have some
of him; so he comes on board, and asked me to give him the hatchet.
For whatXury?" said I. "Me cut off his head said he.
However, Xury could not cut off his head, but he cut off a foot,
and brought it with him, and it was a monstrous great one.

I bethought myself, however, that, perhaps the skin of him might,
one way or other, be of some value to us; and I resolved to take
off his skin if I could. So Xury and I went to work with him; but
Xury was much the better workman at it, for I knew very ill how to
do it. Indeed, it took us both up the whole day, but at last we
got off the hide of him, and spreading it on the top of our cabin,
the sun effectually dried it in two days' time, and it afterwards
served me to lie upon.

CHAPTER III - WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND

AFTER this stop, we made on to the southward continually for ten or
twelve days, living very sparingly on our provisions, which began
to abate very much, and going no oftener to the shore than we were
obliged to for fresh water. My design in this was to make the
river Gambia or Senegal, that is to say anywhere about the Cape de
Verde, where I was in hopes to meet with some European ship; and if
I did not, I knew not what course I had to take, but to seek for
the islands, or perish there among the negroes. I knew that all
the ships from Europe, which sailed either to the coast of Guinea
or to Brazil, or to the East Indies, made this cape, or those
islands; and, in a word, I put the whole of my fortune upon this
single point, either that I must meet with some ship or must
perish.

When I had pursued this resolution about ten days longer, as I have
said, I began to see that the land was inhabited; and in two or
three places, as we sailed by, we saw people stand upon the shore
to look at us; we could also perceive they were quite black and
naked. I was once inclined to have gone on shore to them; but Xury
was my better counsellor, and said to me, No gono go." However
I hauled in nearer the shore that I might talk to themand I found


they ran along the shore by me a good way. I observed they had no
weapons in their handexcept onewho had a long slender stick
which Xury said was a lanceand that they could throw them a great
way with good aim; so I kept at a distancebut talked with them by
signs as well as I could; and particularly made signs for something
to eat: they beckoned to me to stop my boatand they would fetch
me some meat. Upon this I lowered the top of my sail and lay by
and two of them ran up into the countryand in less than half-anhour
came backand brought with them two pieces of dried flesh and
some cornsuch as is the produce of their country; but we neither
knew what the one or the other was; howeverwe were willing to
accept itbut how to come at it was our next disputefor I would
not venture on shore to themand they were as much afraid of us;
but they took a safe way for us allfor they brought it to the
shore and laid it downand went and stood a great way off till we
fetched it on boardand then came close to us again.

We made signs of thanks to themfor we had nothing to make them
amends; but an opportunity offered that very instant to oblige them
wonderfully; for while we were lying by the shore came two mighty
creaturesone pursuing the other (as we took it) with great fury
from the mountains towards the sea; whether it was the male
pursuing the femaleor whether they were in sport or in ragewe
could not tellany more than we could tell whether it was usual or
strangebut I believe it was the latter; becausein the first
placethose ravenous creatures seldom appear but in the night;
andin the second placewe found the people terribly frighted
especially the women. The man that had the lance or dart did not
fly from thembut the rest did; howeveras the two creatures ran
directly into the waterthey did not offer to fall upon any of the
negroesbut plunged themselves into the seaand swam aboutas if
they had come for their diversion; at last one of them began to
come nearer our boat than at first I expected; but I lay ready for
himfor I had loaded my gun with all possible expeditionand bade
Xury load both the others. As soon as he came fairly within my
reachI firedand shot him directly in the head; immediately he
sank down into the waterbut rose instantlyand plunged up and
downas if he were struggling for lifeand so indeed he was; he
immediately made to the shore; but between the woundwhich was his
mortal hurtand the strangling of the waterhe 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 fearand fell down as dead with the very terror;
but when they saw the creature deadand sunk in the waterand
that I made signs to them to come to the shorethey took heart and
cameand began to search for the creature. I found him by his
blood staining the water; and by the help of a ropewhich I slung
round himand gave the negroes to haulthey dragged him on shore
and found that it was a most curious leopardspottedand fine to
an admirable degree; and the negroes held up their hands with
admirationto think what it was I had killed him with.

The other creaturefrighted with the flash of fire and the noise
of the gunswam on shoreand ran up directly to the mountains
from whence they came; nor could Iat that distanceknow what it
was. I found quickly the negroes wished to eat the flesh of this
creatureso I was willing to have them take it as a favour from
me; whichwhen I made signs to them that they might take himthey
were very thankful for. Immediately they fell to work with him;
and though they had no knifeyetwith a sharpened piece of wood
they took off his skin as readilyand much more readilythan we
could have done with a knife. They offered me some of the flesh


which I declinedpointing out that I would give it them; but made
signs for the skinwhich they gave me very freelyand brought me
a great deal more of their provisionswhichthough I did not
understandyet I accepted. I then made signs to them for some
waterand held out one of my jars to themturning it bottom
upwardto show that it was emptyand that I wanted to have it
filled. They called immediately to some of their friendsand
there came two womenand brought a great vessel made of earthand
burntas I supposedin the sunthis they set down to meas
beforeand I sent Xury on shore with my jarsand filled them all
three. The women were as naked as the men.

I was now furnished with roots and cornsuch as it wasand water;
and leaving my friendly negroesI made forward for about eleven
days morewithout offering to go near the shoretill I saw the
land run out a great length into the seaat about the distance of
four or five leagues before me; and the sea being very calmI kept
a large offing to make this point. At lengthdoubling the point
at about two leagues from the landI saw plainly land on the other
sideto seaward; then I concludedas it was most certain indeed
that this was the Cape de Verdeand those the islands calledfrom
thenceCape de Verde Islands. Howeverthey were at a great
distanceand I could not well tell what I had best to do; for if I
should be taken with a fresh of windI might neither reach one or
other.

In this dilemmaas I was very pensiveI stepped into the cabin
and sat downXury having the helm; whenon a suddenthe boy
cried outMaster, master, a ship with a sail!and the foolish
boy was frighted out of his witsthinking it must needs be some of
his master's ships sent to pursue usbut I knew we were far enough
out of their reach. I jumped out of the cabinand immediately
sawnot only the shipbut that it was a Portuguese ship; andas
I thoughtwas bound to the coast of Guineafor negroes. But
when I observed the course she steeredI was soon convinced they
were bound some other wayand did not design to come any nearer to
the shore; upon which I stretched out to sea as much as I could
resolving to speak with them if possible.

With all the sail I could makeI found I should not be able to
come in their waybut that they would be gone by before I could
make any signal to them: but after I had crowded to the utmostand
began to despairtheyit seemssaw by the help of their glasses
that it was some European boatwhich they supposed must belong to
some ship that was lost; so they shortened sail to let me come up.
I was encouraged with thisand as I had my patron's ancient on
boardI made a waft of it to themfor a signal of distressand
fired a gunboth which they saw; for they told me they saw the
smokethough they did not hear the gun. Upon these signals they
very kindly brought toand lay by for me; and in about three
hours; time I came up with them.

They asked me what I wasin Portugueseand in Spanishand in
Frenchbut I understood none of them; but at last a Scotch sailor
who was on boardcalled to me: and I answered himand told him I
was an Englishmanthat I had made my escape out of slavery from
the Moorsat Sallee; they then bade me come on boardand very
kindly took me inand all my goods.

It was an inexpressible joy to mewhich any one will believethat
I was thus deliveredas I esteemed itfrom such a miserable and
almost hopeless condition as I was in; and I immediately offered
all I had to the captain of the shipas a return for my
deliverance; but he generously told me he would take nothing from


mebut 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 otherbe my lot to be taken up in the same condition.
Besides said he, when I carry you to the Brazilsso great a way
from your own countryif I should take from you what you haveyou
will be starved thereand then I only take away that life I have
given. Nono says he: Seignior Inglese" (Mr. Englishman)I
will carry you thither in charity, and those things will help to
buy your subsistence there, and your passage home again.

As he was charitable in this proposalso he was just in the
performance to a tittle; for he ordered the seamen that none should
touch anything that I had: then he took everything into his own
possessionand gave me back an exact inventory of themthat I
might have themeven to my three earthen jars.

As to my boatit was a very good one; and that he sawand told me
he would buy it of me for his ship's use; and asked me what I would
have for it? I told him he had been so generous to me in
everything that I could not offer to make any price of the boat
but left it entirely to him: upon which he told me he would give me
a note of hand to pay me eighty pieces of eight for it at Brazil;
and when it came thereif any one offered to give morehe would
make it up. He offered me also sixty pieces of eight more for my
boy Xurywhich I was loth to take; not that I was unwilling to let
the captain have himbut I was very loth to sell the poor boy's
libertywho had assisted me so faithfully in procuring my own.
Howeverwhen I let him know my reasonhe owned it to be justand
offered me this mediumthat he would give the boy an obligation to
set him free in ten yearsif he turned Christian: upon thisand
Xury saying he was willing to go to himI let the captain have
him.

We had a very good voyage to the Brazilsand I arrived in the Bay
de Todos los Santosor All Saints' Bayin about twenty-two days
after. And now I was once more delivered from the most miserable
of all conditions of life; and what to do next with myself I was to
consider.

The generous treatment the captain gave me I can never enough
remember: he would take nothing of me for my passagegave me
twenty ducats for the leopard's skinand forty for the lion's
skinwhich I had in my boatand caused everything I had in the
ship to be punctually delivered to me; and what I was willing to
sell he bought of mesuch as the case of bottlestwo of my guns
and a piece of the lump of beeswax - for I had made candles of the
rest: in a wordI made about two hundred and twenty pieces of
eight of all my cargo; and with this stock I went on shore in the
Brazils.

I had not been long here before I was recommended to the house of a
good honest man like himselfwho had an INGENIOas they call it
(that isa plantation and a sugar-house). I lived with him some
timeand acquainted myself by that means with the manner of
planting and making of sugar; and seeing how well the planters
livedand how they got rich suddenlyI resolvedif I could get a
licence to settle thereI would turn planter among them: resolving
in the meantime to find out some way to get my moneywhich I had
left in Londonremitted to me. To this purposegetting a kind of
letter of naturalisationI purchased as much land that was uncured
as my money would reachand 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 neighboura Portugueseof Lisbonbut born of English
parentswhose name was Wellsand in much such circumstances as I
was. I call him my neighbourbecause his plantation lay next to
mineand we went on very sociably together. My stock was but low
as well as his; and we rather planted for food than anything else
for about two years. Howeverwe began to increaseand our land
began to come into order; so that the third year we planted some
tobaccoand 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 foundmore than beforeI had done wrong in parting with my
boy Xury.

Butalas! for me to do wrong that never did rightwas no great
wonder. I hail no remedy but to go on: I had got into an
employment quite remote to my geniusand directly contrary to the
life I delighted inand for which I forsook my father's houseand
broke through all his good advice. NayI was coming into the very
middle stationor upper degree of low lifewhich my father
advised me to beforeand whichif I resolved to go on withI
might as well have stayed at homeand never have fatigued myself
in the world as I had done; and I used often to say to myselfI
could have done this as well in Englandamong my friendsas have
gone five thousand miles off to do it among strangers and savages
in a wildernessand at such a distance as never to hear from any
part of the world that had the least knowledge of me.

In this manner I used to look upon my condition with the utmost
regret. I had nobody to converse withbut now and then this
neighbour; no work to be donebut by the labour of my hands; and I
used to sayI lived just like a man cast away upon some desolate
islandthat had nobody there but himself. But how just has it
been - and how should all men reflectthat when they compare their
present conditions with others that are worseHeaven may oblige
them to make the exchangeand be convinced of their former
felicity by their experience - I sayhow just has it beenthat
the truly solitary life I reflected onin an island of mere
desolationshould be my lotwho had so often unjustly compared it
with the life which I then ledin whichhad I continuedI 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 friendthe captain of the ship that took
me up at seawent back - for the ship remained therein providing
his lading and preparing for his voyagenearly three months - when
telling him what little stock I had left behind me in Londonhe
gave me this friendly and sincere advice:- "Seignior Inglese says
he (for so he always called me), if you will give me lettersand
a procuration in form to mewith orders to the person who has your
money in London to send your effects to Lisbonto such persons as
I shall directand in such goods as are proper for this countryI
will bring you the produce of themGod willingat my return; but
since human affairs are all subject to changes and disastersI
would have you give orders but for one hundred pounds sterling
whichyou sayis half your stockand let the hazard be run for
the first; so thatif it come safeyou may order the rest the
same wayandif it miscarryyou may have the other half to have
recourse to for your supply."

This was so wholesome adviceand looked so friendlythat I could
not but be convinced it was the best course I could take; so I
accordingly prepared letters to the gentlewoman with whom I had
left my moneyand a procuration to the Portuguese captainas he
desired.


I wrote the English captain's widow a full account of all my
adventures - my slaveryescapeand how I had met with the
Portuguese captain at seathe humanity of his behaviourand what
condition I was now inwith all other necessary directions for my
supply; and when this honest captain came to Lisbonhe found
meansby some of the English merchants thereto send overnot
the order onlybut a full account of my story to a merchant in
Londonwho represented it effectually to her; whereupon she not
only delivered the moneybut out of her own pocket sent the
Portugal captain a very handsome present for his humanity and
charity to me.

The merchant in Londonvesting this hundred pounds in English
goodssuch as the captain had written forsent them directly to
him at Lisbonand he brought them all safe to me to the Brazils;
among whichwithout my direction (for I was too young in my
business to think of them)he had taken care to have all sorts of
toolsironworkand utensils necessary for my plantationand
which were of great use to me.

When this cargo arrived I thought my fortune madefor I was
surprised with the joy of it; and my stood stewardthe captain
had laid out the five poundswhich my friend had sent him for a
present for himselfto purchase and bring me over a servantunder
bond for six years' serviceand would not accept of any
considerationexcept a little tobaccowhich I would have him
acceptbeing of my own produce.

Neither was this all; for my goods being all English manufacture
such as clothsstuffsbaizeand things particularly valuable and
desirable in the countryI 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 cargoand was now infinitely beyond my poor
neighbour - I mean in the advancement of my plantation; for the
first thing I didI bought me a negro slaveand an European
servant also - I mean another besides that which the captain
brought me from Lisbon.

But as abused prosperity is oftentimes made the very means of our
greatest adversityso it was with me. I went on the next year
with great success in my plantation: I raised fifty great rolls of
tobacco on my own groundmore than I had disposed of for
necessaries among my neighbours; and these fifty rollsbeing each
of above a hundredweightwere well curedand laid by against the
return of the fleet from Lisbon: and now increasing in business and
wealthmy head began to be full of projects and undertakings
beyond my reach; such as areindeedoften the ruin of the best
heads in business. Had I continued in the station I was now inI
had room for all the happy things to have yet befallen me for which
my father so earnestly recommended a quietretired lifeand of
which he had so sensibly described the middle station of life to be
full of; but other things attended meand I was still to be the
wilful agent of all my own miseries; and particularlyto increase
my faultand double the reflections upon myselfwhich in my
future sorrows I should have leisure to makeall these
miscarriages were procured by my apparent obstinate adhering to my
foolish inclination of wandering abroadand pursuing that
inclinationin contradiction to the clearest views of doing myself
good in a fair and plain pursuit of those prospectsand those
measures of lifewhich nature and Providence concurred to present
me withand to make my duty.

As I had once done thus in my breaking away from my parentsso I


could not be content nowbut I must go and leave the happy view I
had of being a rich and thriving man in my new plantationonly 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 intoor
perhaps could be consistent with life and a state of health in the
world.

To comethenby the just degrees to the particulars of this part
of my story. You may supposethat having now lived almost four
years in the Brazilsand beginning to thrive and prosper very well
upon my plantationI had not only learned the languagebut had
contracted acquaintance and friendship among my fellow-plantersas
well as among the merchants at St. Salvadorwhich was our port;
and thatin my discourses among themI had frequently given them
an account of my two voyages to the coast of Guinea: the manner of
trading with the negroes thereand how easy it was to purchase
upon the coast for trifles - such as beadstoysknivesscissors
hatchetsbits of glassand the like - not only gold-dustGuinea
grainselephants' teeth&c.but negroesfor the service of the
Brazilsin great numbers.

They listened always very attentively to my discourses on these
headsbut especially to that part which related to the buying of
negroeswhich was a trade at that timenot only not far entered
intobutas far as it washad been carried on by assientosor
permission of the kings of Spain and Portugaland engrossed in the
public stock: so that few negroes were boughtand these
excessively dear.

It happenedbeing in company with some merchants and planters of
my acquaintanceand talking of those things very earnestlythree
of them came to me next morningand 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; andafter enjoining
me to secrecythey told me that they had a mind to fit out a ship
to go to Guinea; that they had all plantations as well as Iand
were straitened for nothing so much as servants; that as it was a
trade that could not be carried onbecause they could not publicly
sell the negroes when they came homeso they desired to make but
one voyageto bring the negroes on shore privatelyand divide
them among their own plantations; andin a wordthe question was
whether I would go their supercargo in the shipto manage the
trading part upon the coast of Guinea; and they offered me that I
should have my equal share of the negroeswithout providing any
part of the stock.

This was a fair proposalit must be confessedhad it been made to
any one that had not had a settlement and a plantation of his own
to look afterwhich was in a fair way of coming to be very
considerableand with a good stock upon it; but for methat was
thus entered and establishedand had nothing to do but to go on as
I had begunfor three or four years moreand to have sent for the
other hundred pounds from England; and who in that timeand with
that little additioncould scarce have failed of being worth three
or four thousand pounds sterlingand that increasing too - for me
to think of such a voyage was the most preposterous thing that ever
man in such circumstances could be guilty of.

But Ithat was born to be my own destroyercould no more resist
the offer than I could restrain my first rambling designs when my
father' good counsel was lost upon me. In a wordI told them I
would go with all my heartif they would undertake to look after
my plantation in my absenceand would dispose of it to such as I


should directif I miscarried. This they all engaged to doand
entered into writings or covenants to do so; and I made a formal
willdisposing of my plantation and effects in case of my death
making the captain of the ship that had saved my lifeas before
my universal heirbut obliging him to dispose of my effects as I
had directed in my will; one half of the produce being to himself
and the other to be shipped to England.

In shortI 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 interestand have made a judgment of what I
ought to have done and not to have doneI had certainly never gone
away from so prosperous an undertakingleaving all the probable
views of a thriving circumstanceand gone upon a voyage to sea
attended with all its common hazardsto say nothing of the reasons
I had to expect particular misfortunes to myself.

But I was hurried onand obeyed blindly the dictates of my fancy
rather than my reason; andaccordinglythe ship being fitted out
and the cargo furnishedand all things doneas by agreementby
my partners in the voyageI went on board in an evil hourthe 1st
September 1659being the same day eight years that I went from my
father and mother at Hullin order to act the rebel to their
authorityand the fool to my own interests.

Our ship was about one hundred and twenty tons burdencarried six
guns and fourteen menbesides the masterhis boyand myself. We
had on board no large cargo of goodsexcept of such toys as were
fit for our trade with the negroessuch as beadsbits of glass
shellsand other triflesespecially little looking-glasses
knivesscissorshatchetsand the like.

The same day I went on board we set sailstanding away to the
northward upon our own coastwith design to stretch over for the
African coast when we came about ten or twelve degrees of northern
latitudewhichit seemswas the manner of course in those days.
We had very good weatheronly excessively hotall the way upon
our own coasttill we came to the height of Cape St. Augustino;
from whencekeeping further off at seawe lost sight of landand
steered as if we were bound for the isle Fernando de Noronha
holding our course N.E. by N.and leaving those isles on the east.
In this course we passed the line in about twelve days' timeand
wereby our last observationin seven degrees twenty-two minutes
northern latitudewhen a violent tornadoor hurricanetook us
quite out of our knowledge. It began from the south-eastcame
about to the north-westand then settled in the north-east; from
whence it blew in such a terrible mannerthat for twelve days
together we could do nothing but driveandscudding away before
itlet it carry us whither fate and the fury of the winds
directed; andduring these twelve daysI need not say that I
expected every day to be swallowed up; norindeeddid any in the
ship expect to save their lives.

In this distress we hadbesides the terror of the stormone of
our men die of the calentureand one man and the boy washed
overboard. About the twelfth daythe weather abating a little
the master made an observation as well as he couldand found that
he was in about eleven degrees north latitudebut that he was
twenty-two degrees of longitude difference west from Cape St.
Augustino; so that he found he was upon the coast of Guianaor the
north part of Brazilbeyond the river Amazontoward that of the
river Orinococommonly called the Great River; and began to
consult with me what course he should takefor the ship was leaky
and very much disabledand 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 himwe concluded there was no inhabited
country for us to have recourse to till we came within the circle
of the Caribbee Islandsand therefore resolved to stand away for
Barbadoes; whichby keeping off at seato avoid the indraft of
the Bay or Gulf of Mexicowe might easily performas we hopedin
about fifteen days' sail; whereas we could not possibly make our
voyage to the coast of Africa without some assistance both to our
ship and to ourselves.

With this design we changed our courseand steered away N.W. by
W.in order to reach some of our English islandswhere I hoped
for relief. But our voyage was otherwise determined; forbeing in
the latitude of twelve degrees eighteen minutesa second storm
came upon uswhich carried us away with the same impetuosity
westwardand drove us so out of the way of all human commerce
thathad all our lives been saved as to the seawe were rather in
danger of being devoured by savages than ever returning to our own
country.

In this distressthe wind still blowing very hardone of our men
early in the morning cried outLand!and we had no sooner run
out of the cabin to look outin hopes of seeing whereabouts in the
world we werethan the ship struck upon a sandand in a moment
her motion being so stoppedthe sea broke over her in such a
manner that we expected we should all have perished immediately;
and we were immediately driven into our close quartersto shelter
us from the very foam and spray of the sea.

It is not easy for any one who has not been in the like condition
to describe or conceive the consternation of men in such
circumstances. We knew nothing where we wereor upon what land it
was we were driven - whether an island or the mainwhether
inhabited or not inhabited. As the rage of the wind was still
greatthough rather less than at firstwe could not so much as
hope to have the ship hold many minutes without breaking into
piecesunless the windsby a kind of miracleshould turn
immediately about. In a wordwe sat looking upon one anotherand
expecting death every momentand every manaccordinglypreparing
for another world; for there was little or nothing more for us to
do in this. That which was our present comfortand all the
comfort we hadwas thatcontrary to our expectationthe ship did
not break yetand that the master said the wind began to abate.

Nowthough we thought that the wind did a little abateyet the
ship having thus struck upon the sandand sticking too fast for us
to expect her getting offwe 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 stormbut
she was first staved by dashing against the ship's rudderand in
the next place she broke awayand either sunk or was driven off to
sea; so there was no hope from her. We had another boat on board
but how to get her off into the sea was a doubtful thing. However
there was no time to debatefor we fancied that the ship would
break in pieces every minuteand some told us she was actually
broken already.

In this distress the mate of our vessel laid hold of the boatand
with the help of the rest of the men got her slung over the ship's
side; and getting all into herlet goand committed ourselves
being eleven in numberto God's mercy and the wild sea; for though
the storm was abated considerablyyet the sea ran dreadfully high


upon the shoreand might be well called DEN WILD ZEEas the Dutch
call the sea in a storm.

And now our case was very dismal indeed; for we all saw plainly
that the sea went so high that the boat could not liveand that we
should be inevitably drowned. As to making sailwe had nonenor
if we had could we have done anything with it; so we worked at the
oar towards the landthough with heavy heartslike men going to
execution; for we all knew that when the boat came near the shore
she would be dashed in a thousand pieces by the breach of the sea.
Howeverwe committed our souls to God in the most earnest manner;
and the wind driving us towards the shorewe hastened our
destruction with our own handspulling as well as we could towards
land.

What the shore waswhether rock or sandwhether steep or shoal
we knew not. The only hope that could rationally give us the least
shadow of expectation wasif we might find some bay or gulfor
the mouth of some riverwhere by great chance we might have run
our boat inor got under the lee of the landand perhaps made
smooth water. But there was nothing like this appeared; but as we
made nearer and nearer the shorethe land looked more frightful
than the sea.

After we had rowedor rather driven about a league and a halfas
we reckoned ita raging wavemountain-likecame rolling astern
of usand plainly bade us expect the COUP DE GRACE. It took us
with such a furythat it overset the boat at once; and separating
us as well from the boat as from one anothergave us no time to
sayO God!for we were all swallowed up in a moment.

Nothing can describe the confusion of thought which I felt when I
sank into the water; for though I swam very wellyet I could not
deliver myself from the waves so as to draw breathtill that wave
having driven meor rather carried mea vast way on towards the
shoreand having spent itselfwent backand left me upon the
land almost drybut half dead with the water I took in. I had so
much presence of mindas well as breath leftthat seeing myself
nearer the mainland than I expectedI got upon my feetand
endeavoured to make on towards the land as fast as I could before
another wave should return and take me up again; but I soon found
it was impossible to avoid it; for I saw the sea come after me as
high as a great hilland as furious as an enemywhich I had no
means or strength to contend with: my business was to hold my
breathand raise myself upon the water if I could; and soby
swimmingto preserve my breathingand pilot myself towards the
shoreif possiblemy greatest concern now being that the seaas
it would carry me a great way towards the shore when it came on
might not carry me back again with it when it gave back towards the
sea.

The wave that came upon me again buried me at once twenty or thirty
feet deep in its own bodyand I could feel myself carried with a
mighty force and swiftness towards the shore - a very great way;
but I held my breathand assisted myself to swim still forward
with all my might. I was ready to burst with holding my breath
whenas I felt myself rising upsoto my immediate reliefI
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
soyet it relieved me greatlygave me breathand new courage. I
was covered again with water a good whilebut not so long but I
held it out; and finding the water had spent itselfand began to
returnI struck forward against the return of the wavesand felt
ground again with my feet. I stood still a few moments to recover


breathand till the waters went from meand then took to my heels
and ran with what strength I had further towards the shore. But
neither would this deliver me from the fury of the seawhich came
pouring in after me again; and twice more I was lifted up by the
waves and carried forward as beforethe shore being very flat.

The last time of these two had well-nigh been fatal to mefor the
sea having hurried me along as beforelanded meor rather dashed
meagainst a piece of rockand that with such forcethat it left
me senselessand indeed helplessas to my own deliverance; for
the blow taking my side and breastbeat the breath as it were
quite out of my body; and had it returned again immediatelyI must
have been strangled in the water; but I recovered a little before
the return of the wavesand seeing I should be covered again with
the waterI resolved to hold fast by a piece of the rockand so
to hold my breathif possibletill the wave went back. Nowas
the waves were not so high as at firstbeing nearer landI held
my hold till the wave abatedand then fetched another runwhich
brought me so near the shore that the next wavethough it went
over meyet did not so swallow me up as to carry me away; and the
next run I tookI got to the mainlandwhereto my great comfort
I clambered up the cliffs of the shore and sat me down upon the
grassfree from danger and quite out of the reach of the water.

I was now landed and safe on shoreand began to look up and thank
God that my life was savedin a case wherein there was some
minutes before scarce any room to hope. I believe it is impossible
to expressto the lifewhat the ecstasies and transports of the
soul arewhen it is so savedas I may sayout of the very grave:
and I do not wonder now at the customwhen a malefactorwho has
the halter about his neckis tied upand just going to be turned
offand has a reprieve brought to him - I sayI do not wonder
that they bring a surgeon with itto let him blood that very
moment they tell him of itthat the surprise may not drive the
animal spirits from the heart and overwhelm him.

For sudden joys, like griefs, confound at first.

I walked about on the shore lifting up my handsand my whole
beingas I may saywrapped up in a contemplation of my
deliverance; making a thousand gestures and motionswhich I cannot
describe; reflecting upon all my comrades that were drownedand
that there should not be one soul saved but myself; foras for
themI never saw them afterwardsor any sign of themexcept
three of their hatsone capand two shoes that were not fellows.

I cast my eye to the stranded vesselwhenthe breach and froth of
the sea being so bigI could hardly see itit lay so far of; and
consideredLord! how was it possible I could get on shore

After I had solaced my mind with the comfortable part of my
conditionI began to look round meto see what kind of place I
was inand what was next to be done; and I soon found my comforts
abateand thatin a wordI had a dreadful deliverance; for I was
wethad no clothes to shift menor anything either to eat or
drink to comfort me; neither did I see any prospect before me but
that of perishing with hunger or being devoured by wild beasts; and
that which was particularly afflicting to me wasthat I had no
weaponeither to hunt and kill any creature for my sustenanceor
to defend myself against any other creature that might desire to
kill me for theirs. In a wordI had nothing about me but a knife
a tobacco-pipeand a little tobacco in a box. This was all my


provisions; and this threw me into such terrible agonies of mind
that for a while I ran about like a madman. Night coming upon me
I began with a heavy heart to consider what would be my lot if
there were any ravenous beasts in that countryas 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 firbut thornywhich grew near
meand where I resolved to sit all nightand consider the next
day what death I should diefor as yet I saw no prospect of life.
I walked about a furlong from the shoreto see if I could find any
fresh water to drinkwhich I didto my great joy; and having
drankand put a little tobacco into my mouth to prevent hungerI
went to the treeand getting up into itendeavoured to place
myself so that if I should sleep I might not fall. And having cut
me a short sticklike a truncheonfor my defenceI took up my
lodging; and having been excessively fatiguedI fell fast asleep
and slept as comfortably asI believefew could have done in my
conditionand found myself more refreshed with it thanI thinkI
ever was on such an occasion.

CHAPTER IV - FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND

WHEN I waked it was broad daythe weather clearand the storm
abatedso that the sea did not rage and swell as before. But that
which surprised me most wasthat the ship was lifted off in the
night from the sand where she lay by the swelling of the tideand
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 wasand the
ship seeming to stand upright stillI wished myself on boardthat
at least I might save some necessary things for my use.

When I came down from my apartment in the treeI looked about me
againand the first thing I found was the boatwhich layas the
wind and the sea had tossed her upupon the landabout two miles
on my right hand. I walked as far as I could upon the shore to
have got to her; but found a neck or inlet of water between me and
the boat which was about half a mile broad; so I came back for the
presentbeing more intent upon getting at the shipwhere I hoped
to find something for my present subsistence.

A little after noon I found the sea very calmand 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 saywe had all got safe on shoreand I had not been so
miserable as to be left entirety destitute of all comfort and
company as I now was. This forced tears to my eyes again; but as
there was little relief in thatI resolvedif possibleto get to
the ship; so I pulled off my clothes - for the weather was hot to
extremity - and took the water. But when I came to the ship my
difficulty was still greater to know how to get on board; foras
she lay agroundand high out of the waterthere was nothing
within my reach to lay hold of. I swam round her twiceand the
second time I spied a small piece of ropewhich I wondered I did
not see at firsthung down by the fore-chains so lowas that with
great difficulty I got hold of itand by the help of that rope I
got up into the forecastle of the ship. Here I found that the ship
was bulgedand had a great deal of water in her holdbut that she


lay so on the side of a bank of hard sandorrather earththat
her stern lay lifted up upon the bankand her head lowalmost to
the water. By this means all her quarter was freeand all that
was in that part was dry; for you may be sure my first work was to
searchand to see what was spoiled and what was free. Andfirst
I found that all the ship's provisions were dry and untouched by
the waterand being very well disposed to eatI went to the bread
room and filled my pockets with biscuitand ate it as I went about
other thingsfor I had no time to lose. I also found some rum in
the great cabinof which I took a large dramand which I had
indeedneed enough of to spirit me for what was before me. Now I
wanted nothing but a boat to furnish myself with many things which
I foresaw would be very necessary to me.

It was in vain to sit still and wish for what was not to be had;
and this extremity roused my application. We had several spare
yardsand two or three large spars of woodand a spare topmast or
two in the ship; I resolved to fall to work with theseand I flung
as many of them overboard as I could manage for their weighttying
every one with a ropethat they might not drive away. When this
was done I went down the ship's sideand pulling them to meI
tied four of them together at both ends as well as I couldin the
form of a raftand laying two or three short pieces of plank upon
them crosswaysI found I could walk upon it very wellbut that it
was not able to bear any great weightthe pieces being too light.
So I went to workand with a carpenter's saw I cut a spare topmast
into three lengthsand added them to my raftwith a great deal of
labour and pains. But the hope of furnishing myself with
necessaries encouraged me to go beyond what I should have been able
to have done upon another occasion.

My raft was now strong enough to bear any reasonable weight. My
next care was what to load it withand how to preserve what I laid
upon it from the surf of the sea; but I was not long considering
this. I first laid all the planks or boards upon it that I could
getand having considered well what I most wantedI got three of
the seamen's chestswhich I had broken openand emptiedand
lowered them down upon my raft; the first of these I filled with
provisions - viz. breadricethree Dutch cheesesfive pieces of
dried goat's flesh (which we lived much upon)and a little
remainder of European cornwhich had been laid by for some fowls
which we brought to sea with usbut the fowls were killed. There
had been some barley and wheat together; butto my great
disappointmentI found afterwards that the rats had eaten or
spoiled it all. As for liquorsI found severalcases of bottles
belonging to our skipperin which were some cordial waters; and
in allabout five or six gallons of rack. These I stowed by
themselvesthere being no need to put them into the chestnor any
room for them. While I was doing thisI found the tide begin to
flowthough very calm; and I had the mortification to see my coat
shirtand waistcoatwhich I had left on the shoreupon the sand
swim away. As for my breecheswhich were only linenand openkneed
I swam on board in them and my stockings. Howeverthis set
me on rummaging for clothesof which I found enoughbut took no
more than I wanted for present usefor I had others things which
my eye was more upon - asfirsttools to work with on shore. And
it was after long searching that I found out the carpenter's chest
which wasindeeda very useful prize to meand much more
valuable than a shipload of gold would have been at that time. I
got it down to my raftwhole as it waswithout losing time to
look into itfor I knew in general what it contained.

My next care was for some ammunition and arms. There were two very
good fowling-pieces in the great cabinand two pistols. These I


secured firstwith some powder-horns and a small bag of shotand
two old rusty swords. I knew there were three barrels of powder in
the shipbut knew not where our gunner had stowed them; but with
much search I found themtwo of them dry and goodthe third had
taken water. Those two I got to my raft with the arms. And now I
thought myself pretty well freightedand began to think how I
should get to shore with themhaving neither sailoarnor
rudder; and the least capful of wind would have overset all my
navigation.

I had three encouragements - 1sta smoothcalm sea; 2ndlythe
tide risingand setting in to the shore; 3rdlywhat little wind
there was blew me towards the land. And thushaving found two or
three broken oars belonging to the boat - andbesides the tools
which were in the chestI found two sawsan axeand a hammer;
with this cargo I put to sea. For a mile or thereabouts my raft
went very wellonly that I found it drive a little distant from
the place where I had landed before; by which I perceived that
there was some indraft of the waterand consequently I hoped to
find some creek or river therewhich I might make use of as a port
to get to land with my cargo.

As I imaginedso it was. There appeared before me a little
opening of the landand I found a strong current of the tide set
into it; so I guided my raft as well as I couldto keep in the
middle of the stream.

But here I had like to have suffered a second shipwreckwhichif
I hadI think verily would have broken my heart; forknowing
nothing of the coastmy raft ran aground at one end of it upon a
shoaland not being aground at the other endit wanted but a
little that all my cargo had slipped off towards the end that was
afloatand to fallen into the water. I did my utmostby setting
my back against the cheststo keep them in their placesbut 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
mightI stood in that manner near half-an-hourin which time the
rising of the water brought me a little more upon a level; and a
little afterthe water still-risingmy raft floated againand I
thrust her off with the oar I had into the channeland then
driving up higherI at length found myself in the mouth of a
little riverwith land on both sidesand a strong current of tide
running up. I looked on both sides for a proper place to get to
shorefor I was not willing to be driven too high up the river:
hoping in time to see some ships at seaand therefore resolved to
place myself as near the coast as I could.

At length I spied a little cove on the right shore of the creekto
which with great pain and difficulty I guided my raftand at last
got so near thatreaching ground with my oarI could thrust her
directly in. But here I had like to have dipped all my cargo into
the sea again; for that shore lying pretty steep - that is to say
sloping - there was no place to landbut where one end of my
floatif it ran on shorewould lie so highand the other sink
loweras beforethat it would endanger my cargo again. All that
I could do was to wait till the tide was at the highestkeeping
the raft with my oar like an anchorto hold the side of it fast to
the shorenear a flat piece of groundwhich 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 groundand there fastened or moored herby sticking
my two broken oars into the groundone on one side near one end
and one on the other side near the other end; and thus I lay till
the water ebbed awayand left my raft and all my cargo safe on


shore.

My next work was to view the countryand seek a proper place for
my habitationand where to stow my goods to secure them from
whatever might happen. Where I wasI yet knew not; whether on the
continent or on an island; whether inhabited or not inhabited;
whether in danger of wild beasts or not. There was a hill not
above a mile from mewhich rose up very steep and highand which
seemed to overtop some other hillswhich lay as in a ridge from it
northward. I took out one of the fowling-piecesand one of the
pistolsand a horn of powder; and thus armedI travelled for
discovery up to the top of that hillwhereafter I had with great
labour and difficulty got to the topI saw any fateto my great
affliction - viz. that I was in an island environed every way with
the sea: no land to be seen except some rockswhich lay a great
way off; and two small islandsless than thiswhich lay about
three leagues to the west.

I found also that the island I was in was barrenandas I saw
good reason to believeuninhabited except by wild beastsof whom
howeverI saw none. Yet I saw abundance of fowlsbut knew not
their kinds; neither when I killed them could I tell what was fit
for foodand what not. At my coming backI 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 firedthan from all parts
of the wood there arose an innumerable number of fowlsof many
sortsmaking a confused screaming and cryingand every one
according to his usual notebut not one of them of any kind that I
knew. As for the creature I killedI took it to be a kind of
hawkits colour and beak resembling itbut it had no talons or
claws more than common. Its flesh was carrionand fit for
nothing.

Contented with this discoveryI came back to my raftand fell to
work to bring my cargo on shorewhich took me up the rest of that
day. What to do with myself at night I knew notnor indeed where
to restfor I was afraid to lie down on the groundnot knowing
but some wild beast might devour methoughas I afterwards found
there was really no need for those fears.

Howeveras well as I couldI barricaded myself round with the
chest and boards that I had brought on shoreand made a kind of
hut for that night's lodging. As for foodI yet saw not which way
to supply myselfexcept that I had seen two or three creatures
like hares run out of the wood where I shot the fowl.

I now began to consider that I might yet get a great many things
out of the ship which would be useful to meand particularly some
of the rigging and sailsand such other things as might come to
land; and I resolved to make another voyage on board the vesselif
possible. And as I knew that the first storm that blew must
necessarily break her all in piecesI resolved to set all other
things apart till I had got everything out of the ship that I could
get. Then I called a council - that is to say in my thoughts -
whether I should take back the raft; but this appeared
impracticable: so I resolved to go as beforewhen the tide was
down; and I did soonly that I stripped before I went from my hut
having nothing on but my chequered shirta pair of linen drawers
and a pair of pumps on my feet.

I got on board the ship as beforeand prepared a second raft; and
having had experience of the firstI neither made this so
unwieldynor loaded it so hardbut yet I brought away several


things very useful to me; as firstin the carpenters stores I
found two or three bags full of nails and spikesa great screwjack
a dozen or two of hatchetsandabove allthat most useful
thing called a grindstone. All these I securedtogether with
several things belonging to the gunnerparticularly two or three
iron crowsand two barrels of musket bulletsseven muskets
another fowling-piecewith some small quantity of powder more; a
large bagful of small shotand a great roll of sheet-lead; but
this last was so heavyI could not hoist it up to get it over the
ship's side.

Besides these thingsI took all the men's clothes that I could
findand a spare fore-topsaila hammockand some bedding; and
with this I loaded my second raftand brought them all safe on
shoreto my very great comfort.

I was under some apprehensionduring my absence from the land
that at least my provisions might be devoured on shore: but when I
came back I found no sign of any visitor; only there sat a creature
like a wild cat upon one of the chestswhichwhen I came towards
itran away a little distanceand then stood still. She sat very
composed and unconcernedand looked full in my faceas if she had
a mind to be acquainted with me. I presented my gun at herbut
as she did not understand itshe was perfectly unconcerned at it
nor did she offer to stir away; upon which I tossed her a bit of
biscuitthough by the wayI was not very free of itfor my store
was not great: howeverI spared her a bitI sayand she went to
itsmelled at itand ate itand looked (as if pleased) for more;
but I thanked herand could spare no more: so she marched off.

Having got my second cargo on shore - though I was fain to open the
barrels of powderand bring them by parcelsfor they were too
heavybeing large casks - I went to work to make me a little tent
with the sail and some poles which I cut for that purpose: and into
this tent I brought everything that I knew would spoil either with
rain or sun; and I piled all the empty chests and casks up in a
circle round the tentto fortify it from any sudden attempt
either from man or beast.

When I had done thisI blocked up the door of the tent with some
boards withinand an empty chest set up on end without; and
spreading one of the beds upon the groundlaying my two pistols
just at my headand my gun at length by meI went to bed for the
first timeand slept very quietly all nightfor I was very weary
and heavy; for the night before I had slept littleand had
laboured very hard all day to fetch all those things from the ship
and to get them on shore.

I had the biggest magazine of all kinds now that ever was laid up
I believefor one man: but I was not satisfied stillfor while
the ship sat upright in that postureI thought I ought to get
everything out of her that I could; so every day at low water I
went on boardand brought away something or other; but
particularly the third time I went I brought away as much of the
rigging as I couldas also all the small ropes and rope-twine I
could getwith a piece of spare canvaswhich was to mend the
sails upon occasionand the barrel of wet gunpowder. In a wordI
brought away all the sailsfirst and last; only that I was fain to
cut them in piecesand bring as much at a time as I couldfor
they were no more useful to be sailsbut as mere canvas only.

But that which comforted me more stillwasthat last of all
after I had made five or six such voyages as theseand thought I
had nothing more to expect from the ship that was worth my meddling


with - I sayafter all thisI found a great hogshead of bread
three large runlets of rumor spiritsa box of sugarand a
barrel of fine flour; this was surprising to mebecause I had
given over expecting any more provisionsexcept what was spoiled
by the water. I soon emptied the hogshead of the breadand
wrapped it upparcel by parcelin pieces of the sailswhich I
cut out; andin a wordI got all this safe on shore also.

The next day I made another voyageand nowhaving plundered the
ship of what was portable and fit to hand outI began with the
cables. Cutting the great cable into piecessuch as I could move
I got two cables and a hawser on shorewith all the ironwork I
could get; and having cut down the spritsail-yardand the mizzenyard
and everything I couldto make a large raftI loaded it
with all these heavy goodsand came away. But my good luck began
now to leave me; for this raft was so unwieldyand so overladen
thatafter I had entered the little cove where I had landed the
rest of my goodsnot being able to guide it so handily as I did
the otherit oversetand threw me and all my cargo into the
water. As for myselfit was no great harmfor I was near the
shore; but as to my cargoit was a great part of it lost
especially the ironwhich I expected would have been of great use
to me; howeverwhen the tide was outI got most of the pieces of
the cable ashoreand some of the ironthough with infinite
labour; for I was fain to dip for it into the watera work which
fatigued me very much. After thisI went every day on boardand
brought away what I could get.

I had been now thirteen days on shoreand had been eleven times on
board the shipin which time I had brought away all that one pair
of hands could well be supposed capable to bring; though I believe
verilyhad the calm weather heldI should have brought away the
whole shippiece by piece. But preparing the twelfth time to go
on boardI found the wind began to rise: howeverat low water I
went on boardand though I thought I had rummaged the cabin so
effectually that nothing more could be foundyet I discovered a
locker with drawers in itin one of which I found two or three
razorsand one pair of large scissorswith some ten or a dozen of
good knives and forks: in another I found about thirty-six pounds
value in money - some European coinsome Brazilsome pieces of
eightsome goldand some silver.

I smiled to myself at the sight of this money: "O drug!" said I
aloudwhat art thou good for? Thou art not worth to me - no, not
the taking off the ground; one of those knives is worth all this
heap; I have no manner of use for thee - e'en remain where thou
art, and go to the bottom as a creature whose life is not worth
saying.Howeverupon second thoughts I took it away; and
wrapping all this in a piece of canvasI began to think of making
another raft; but while I was preparing thisI found the sky
overcastand the wind began to riseand 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 beganotherwise I might not be able to reach the shore at
all. AccordinglyI let myself down into the waterand swam
across the channelwhich lay between the ship and the sandsand
even that with difficulty enoughpartly with the weight of the
things I had about meand partly the roughness of the water; for
the wind rose very hastilyand before it was quite high water it
blew a storm.

But I had got home to my little tentwhere I laywith all my
wealth about mevery secure. It blew very hard all nightand in


the morningwhen I looked outbeholdno more ship was to be
seen! I was a little surprisedbut recovered myself with the
satisfactory reflection that I had lost no timenor abated any
diligenceto get everything out of her that could be useful to me;
and thatindeedthere was little left in her that I was able to
bring awayif I had had more time.

I now gave over any more thoughts of the shipor of anything out
of herexcept what might drive on shore from her wreck; as
indeeddivers pieces of her afterwards did; but those things were
of small use to me.

My thoughts were now wholly employed about securing myself against
either savagesif any should appearor wild beastsif any were
in the island; and I had many thoughts of the method how to do
thisand what kind of dwelling to make - whether I should make me
a cave in the earthor a tent upon the earth; andin shortI
resolved upon both; the manner and description of whichit may not
be improper to give an account of.

I soon found the place I was in was not fit for my settlement
because it was upon a lowmoorish groundnear the seaand I
believed it would not be wholesomeand more particularly because
there was no fresh water near it; so I resolved to find a more
healthy and more convenient spot of ground.

I consulted several things in my situationwhich I found would he
proper for me: 1sthealth and fresh waterI just now mentioned;
2ndlyshelter from the heat of the sun; 3rdlysecurity from
ravenous creatureswhether man or beast; 4thlya view to the sea
that if God sent any ship in sightI might not lose any advantage
for my deliveranceof which I was not willing to banish all my
expectation yet.

In search of a place proper for thisI found a little plain on the
side of a rising hillwhose front towards this little plain was
steep as a house-sideso that nothing could come down upon me from
the top. On the one side of the rock there was a hollow place
worn a little way inlike the entrance or door of a cave but there
was not really any cave or way into the rock at all.

On the flat of the greenjust before this hollow placeI resolved
to pitch my tent. This plain was not above a hundred yards broad
and about twice as longand lay like a green before my door; and
at the end of itdescended irregularly every way down into the low
ground by the seaside. It was on the N.N.W. side of the hill; so
that it was sheltered from the heat every daytill it came to a W.
and by S. sunor thereaboutswhichin those countriesis near
the setting.

Before I set up my tent I drew a half-circle before the hollow
placewhich took in about ten yards in its semi-diameter from the
rockand twenty yards in its diameter from its beginning and
ending.

In this half-circle I pitched two rows of strong stakesdriving
them into the ground till they stood very firm like pilesthe
biggest end being out of the ground above five feet and a halfand
sharpened on the top. The two rows did not stand above six inches
from one another.

Then I took the pieces of cable which I had cut in the shipand
laid them in rowsone upon anotherwithin the circlebetween
these two rows of stakesup to the topplacing other stakes in


the insideleaning against themabout two feet and a half high
like a spur to a post; and this fence was so strongthat neither
man nor beast could get into it or over it. This cost me a great
deal of time and labourespecially to cut the piles in the woods
bring them to the placeand drive them into the earth.

The entrance into this place I made to benot by a doorbut by a
short ladder to go over the top; which ladderwhen I was inI
lifted over after me; and so I was completely fenced in and
fortifiedas I thoughtfrom all the worldand consequently slept
secure in the nightwhich otherwise I could not have done; though
as it appeared afterwardsthere was no need of all this caution
from the enemies that I apprehended danger from.

Into this fence or fortresswith infinite labourI carried all my
richesall my provisionsammunitionand storesof which you
have the account above; and I made a large tentwhich to preserve
me from the rains that in one part of the year are very violent
thereI made double - one smaller tent withinand one larger tent
above it; and covered the uppermost with a large tarpaulinwhich I
had saved among the sails.

And now I lay no more for a while in the bed which I had brought on
shorebut in a hammockwhich was indeed a very good oneand
belonged to the mate of the ship.

Into this tent I brought all my provisionsand everything that
would spoil by the wet; and having thus enclosed all my goodsI
made up the entrancewhich till now I had left openand so passed
and repassedas I saidby a short ladder.

When I had done thisI began to work my way into the rockand
bringing all the earth and stones that I dug down out through my
tentI laid them up within my fencein the nature of a terrace
so that it raised the ground within about a foot and a half; and
thus I made me a cavejust behind my tentwhich served me like a
cellar to my house.

It cost me much labour and many days before all these things were
brought to perfection; and therefore I must go back to some other
things which took up some of my thoughts. At the same time it
happenedafter I had laid my scheme for the setting up my tent
and making the cavethat a storm of rain falling from a thick
dark clouda sudden flash of lightning happenedand after that a
great clap of thunderas is naturally the effect of it. I was not
so much surprised with the lightning as I was with the thought
which darted into my mind as swift as the lightning itself - Ohmy
powder! My very heart sank within me when I thought thatat one
blastall my powder might be destroyed; on whichnot my defence
onlybut the providing my foodas I thoughtentirely depended.
I was nothing near so anxious about my own dangerthoughhad the
powder took fireI should never have known who had hurt me.

Such impression did this make upon methat after the storm was
over I laid aside all my worksmy building and fortifyingand
applied myself to make bags and boxesto separate the powderand
to keep it a little and a little in a parcelin the hope that
whatever might comeit might not all take fire at once; and to
keep it so apart that it should not be possible to make one part
fire another. I finished this work in about a fortnight; and I
think my powderwhich in all was about two hundred and forty
pounds weightwas divided in not less than a hundred parcels. As
to the barrel that had been wetI did not apprehend any danger
from that; so I placed it in my new cavewhichin my fancyI


called my kitchen; and the rest I hid up and down in holes among
the rocksso that no wet might come to itmarking very carefully
where I laid it.

In the interval of time while this was doingI went out once at
least every day with my gunas well to divert myself as to see if
I could kill anything fit for food; andas near as I couldto
acquaint myself with what the island produced. The first time I
went outI presently discovered that there were goats in the
islandwhich was a great satisfaction to me; but then it was
attended with this misfortune to me - viz. that they were so shy
so subtleand so swift of footthat it was the most difficult
thing in the world to come at them; but I was not discouraged at
thisnot doubting but I might now and then shoot oneas it soon
happened; for after I had found their haunts a littleI laid wait
in this manner for them: I observed if they saw me in the valleys
though they were upon the rocksthey would run awayas in a
terrible fright; but if they were feeding in the valleysand I was
upon the rocksthey took no notice of me; from whence I concluded
thatby the position of their opticstheir sight was so directed
downward that they did not readily see objects that were above
them; so afterwards I took this method - I always climbed the rocks
firstto get above themand then had frequently a fair mark.

The first shot I made among these creaturesI killed a she-goat
which had a little kid by herwhich she gave suck towhich
grieved me heartily; for when the old one fellthe kid stood stock
still by hertill I came and took her up; and not only sobut
when I carried the old one with meupon my shouldersthe kid
followed me quite to my enclosure; upon which I laid down the dam
and took the kid in my armsand carried it over my palein hopes
to have bred it up tame; but it would not eat; so I was forced to
kill it and eat it myself. These two supplied me with flesh a
great whilefor I ate sparinglyand saved my provisionsmy bread
especiallyas much as possibly I could.

Having now fixed my habitationI found it absolutely necessary to
provide a place to make a fire inand fuel to burn: and what I did
for thatand also how I enlarged my caveand what conveniences I
madeI shall give a full account of in its place; but I must now
give some little account of myselfand of my thoughts about
livingwhichit may well be supposedwere not a few.

I had a dismal prospect of my condition; for as I was not cast away
upon that island without being drivenas is saidby a violent
stormquite out of the course of our intended voyageand a great
wayviz. some hundreds of leaguesout of the ordinary course of
the trade of mankindI had great reason to consider it as a
determination of Heaventhat in this desolate placeand in this
desolate mannerI should end my life. The tears would run
plentifully down my face when I made these reflections; and
sometimes I would expostulate with myself why Providence should
thus completely ruin His creaturesand render them so absolutely
miserable; so without helpabandonedso entirely depressedthat
it could hardly be rational to be thankful for such a life.

But something always returned swift upon me to check these
thoughtsand to reprove me; and particularly one daywalking with
my gun in my hand by the seasideI was very pensive upon the
subject of my present conditionwhen reasonas it were
expostulated with me the other waythus: "Wellyou are in a
desolate conditionit is true; butpray rememberwhere are the
rest of you? Did not you comeeleven of you in the boat? Where
are the ten? Why were they not savedand 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 themand with what worse attends them.

Then it occurred to me againhow well I was furnished for my
subsistenceand 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 struckand was driven so
near to the shore that I had time to get all these things out of
her; what would have been my caseif I had been forced to have
lived in the condition in which I at first came on shorewithout
necessaries of lifeor necessaries to supply and procure them?
Particularly,said Ialoud (though to myself)what should I
have done without a gun, without ammunition, without any tools to
make anything, or to work with, without clothes, bedding, a tent,
or any manner of covering?and that now I had all these to
sufficient quantityand was in a fair way to provide myself in
such a manner as to live without my gunwhen my ammunition was
spent: so that I had a tolerable view of subsistingwithout any
wantas long as I lived; for I considered from the beginning how I
would provide for the accidents that might happenand for the time
that was to comeeven not only after my ammunition should be
spentbut even after my health and strength should decay.

I confess I had not entertained any notion of my ammunition being
destroyed at one blast - I mean my powder being blown up by
lightning; and this made the thoughts of it so surprising to me
when it lightened and thunderedas I observed just now.

And now being about to enter into a melancholy relation of a scene
of silent lifesuchperhapsas was never heard of in the world
beforeI shall take it from its beginningand continue it in its
order. It was by my account the 30th of Septemberwhenin the
manner as above saidI first set foot upon this horrid island;
when the sunbeing to us in its autumnal equinoxwas almost over
my head; for I reckoned myselfby observationto be in the
latitude of nine degrees twenty-two minutes north of the line.

After I had been there about ten or twelve daysit came into my
thoughts that I should lose my reckoning of time for want of books
and pen and inkand should even forget the Sabbath days; but to
prevent thisI cut with my knife upon a large postin capital
letters - and making it into a great crossI set it up on the
shore where I first landed - "I came on shore here on the 30th
September 1659."

Upon the sides of this square post I cut every day a notch with my
knifeand every seventh notch was as long again as the restand
every first day of the month as long again as that long one; and
thus I kept my calendaror weeklymonthlyand yearly reckoning
of time.

In the next placewe are to observe that among the many things
which I brought out of the shipin the several voyages whichas
above mentionedI made to itI got several things of less value
but not at all less useful to mewhich I omitted setting down
before; asin particularpensinkand paperseveral parcels in
the captain'smate'sgunner's and carpenter's keeping; three or
four compassessome mathematical instrumentsdialsperspectives
chartsand books of navigationall which I huddled together
whether I might want them or no; alsoI found three very good
Bibleswhich came to me in my cargo from Englandand which I had
packed up among my things; some Portuguese books also; and among
them two or three Popish prayer-booksand several other booksall


which I carefully secured. And I must not forget that we had in
the ship a dog and two catsof 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 doghe jumped out of the ship of himself
and swam on shore to me the day after I went on shore with my first
cargoand was a trusty servant to me many years; I wanted nothing
that he could fetch menor any company that he could make up to
me; I only wanted to have him talk to mebut that would not do.
As I observed beforeI found pensinkand paperand I husbanded
them to the utmost; and I shall show that while my ink lastedI
kept things very exactbut after that was gone I could notfor I
could not make any ink by any means that I could devise.

And this put me in mind that I wanted many things notwithstanding
all that I had amassed together; and of theseink was one; as also
a spadepickaxeand shovelto dig or remove the earth; needles
pinsand thread; as for linenI soon learned to want that without
much difficulty.

This want of tools made every work I did go on heavily; and it was
near a whole year before I had entirely finished my little paleor
surrounded my habitation. The pilesor stakeswhich were as
heavy as I could well liftwere a long time in cutting and
preparing in the woodsand moreby farin bringing home; so that
I spent sometimes two days in cutting and bringing home one of
those postsand a third day in driving it into the ground; for
which purpose I got a heavy piece of wood at firstbut at last
bethought myself of one of the iron crows; whichhoweverthough I
found itmade driving those posts or piles very laborious and
tedious work. But what need I have been concerned at the
tediousness of anything I had to doseeing I had time enough to do
it in? nor had I any other employmentif that had been overat
least that I could foreseeexcept the ranging the island to seek
for foodwhich I didmore or lessevery day.

I now began to consider seriously my conditionand the
circumstances I was reduced to; and I drew up the state of my
affairs in writingnot so much to leave them to any that were to
come after me - for I was likely to have but few heirs - as to
deliver my thoughts from daily poring over themand afflicting my
mind; and as my reason began now to master my despondencyI began
to comfort myself as well as I couldand to set the good against
the evilthat I might have something to distinguish my case from
worse; and I stated very impartiallylike debtor and creditorthe
comforts I enjoyed against the miseries I sufferedthus:-

Evil: I am cast upon a horribledesolate islandvoid of all hope
of recovery.

Good: But I am alive; and not drownedas all my ship's company
were.

Evil: I am singled out and separatedas it werefrom all the
worldto be miserable.

Good: But I am singled outtoofrom all the ship's crewto be
spared from death; and He that miraculously saved me from death can
deliver me from this condition.

Evil: I am divided from mankind - a solitaire; one banished from
human society.

Good: But I am not starvedand perishing on a barren place


affording no sustenance.

Evil: I have no clothes to cover me.

Good: But I am in a hot climatewhereif I had clothesI could
hardly wear them.

Evil: I am without any defenceor means to resist any violence of
man or beast.

Good: But I am cast on an island where I see no wild beasts to hurt
meas I saw on the coast of Africa; and what if I had been
shipwrecked there?

Evil: I have no soul to speak to or relieve me.

Good: But God wonderfully sent the ship in near enough to the
shorethat I have got out as many necessary things as will either
supply my wants or enable me to supply myselfeven as long as I
live.

Upon the wholehere was an undoubted testimony that there was
scarce any condition in the world so miserable but there was
something negative or something positive to be thankful for in it;
and let this stand as a direction from the experience of the most
miserable of all conditions in this world: that we may always find
in it something to comfort ourselves fromand to setin the
description of good and evilon the credit side of the account.

Having now brought my mind a little to relish my conditionand
given over looking out to seato see if I could spy a ship - I
saygiving over these thingsI begun to apply myself to arrange
my way of livingand to make things as easy to me as I could.

I have already described my habitationwhich was a tent under the
side of a rocksurrounded with a strong pale of posts and cables:
but I might now rather call it a wallfor I raised a kind of wall
up against it of turfsabout two feet thick on the outside; and
after some time (I think it was a year and a half) I raised rafters
from itleaning to the rockand thatched or covered it with
boughs of treesand such things as I could getto keep out the
rain; which I found at some times of the year very violent.

I have already observed how I brought all my goods into this pale
and into the cave which I had made behind me. But I must observe
toothat at first this was a confused heap of goodswhichas
they lay in no orderso they took up all my place; I had no room
to turn myself: so I set myself to enlarge my caveand work
farther into the earth; for it was a loose sandy rockwhich
yielded easily to the labour I bestowed on it: and so when I found
I was pretty safe as to beasts of preyI worked sidewaysto the
right handinto the rock; and thenturning to the right again
worked quite outand made me a door to come out on the outside of
my pale or fortification. This gave me not only egress and
regressas it was a back way to my tent and to my storehousebut
gave me room to store my goods.

And now I began to apply myself to make such necessary things as I
found I most wantedparticularly 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 eator do several thingswith so much
pleasure without a table: so I went to work. And here I must needs
observethat as reason is the substance and origin of the


mathematicsso by stating and squaring everything by reasonand
by making the most rational judgment of thingsevery man may be
in timemaster of every mechanic art. I had never handled a tool
in my life; and yetin timeby labourapplicationand
contrivanceI found at last that I wanted nothing but I could have
made itespecially if I had had tools. HoweverI made abundance
of thingseven without tools; and some with no more tools than an
adze and a hatchetwhich perhaps were never made that way before
and that with infinite labour. For exampleif I wanted a boardI
had no other way but to cut down a treeset it on an edge before
meand hew it flat on either side with my axetill I brought it
to be thin as a plankand then dub it smooth with my adze. It is
trueby this method I could make but one board out of a whole
tree; but this I had no remedy for but patienceany more than I
had for the prodigious deal of time and labour which it took me up
to make a plank or board: but my time or labour was little worth
and so it was as well employed one way as another.

HoweverI made me a table and a chairas I observed abovein the
first place; and this I did out of the short pieces of boards that
I brought on my raft from the ship. But when I had wrought out
some boards as aboveI made large shelvesof the breadth of a
foot and a halfone over another all along one side of my caveto
lay all my toolsnails and ironwork on; andin a wordto
separate everything at large into their placesthat I might come
easily at them. I knocked pieces into the wall of the rock to hang
my guns and all things that would hang up; so thathad my cave
been to be seenit looked like a general magazine of all necessary
things; and had everything so ready at my handthat it was a great
pleasure to me to see all my goods in such orderand especially to
find my stock of all necessaries so great.

And now it was that I began to keep a journal of every day's
employment; forindeedat first I was in too much hurryand not
only hurry as to labourbut in too much discomposure of mind; and
my journal would have been full of many dull things; for exampleI
must have said thus: "30TH. - After I had got to shoreand escaped
drowninginstead of being thankful to God for my deliverance
having first vomitedwith the great quantity of salt water which
had got into my stomachand recovering myself a littleI ran
about the shore wringing my hands and beating my head and face
exclaiming at my miseryand crying out'I was undoneundone!'
tilltired and faintI was forced to lie down on the ground to
reposebut durst not sleep for fear of being devoured."

Some days after thisand after I had been on board the shipand
got all that I could out of heryet I could not forbear getting up
to the top of a little mountain and looking out to seain hopes of
seeing a ship; then fancy at a vast distance I spied a sailplease
myself with the hopes of itand then after looking steadilytill
I was almost blindlose it quiteand sit down and weep like a
childand thus increase my misery by my folly.

But having gotten over these things in some measureand having
settled my household staff and habitationmade me a table and a
chairand all as handsome about me as I couldI 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 inkI was forced to leave it off.

CHAPTER V - BUILDS A HOUSE - THE JOURNAL


SEPTEMBER 301659. - Ipoor miserable Robinson Crusoebeing
shipwrecked during a dreadful storm in the offingcame on shore on
this dismalunfortunate islandwhich I called "The Island of
Despair"; all the rest of the ship's company being drownedand
myself almost dead.

All the rest of the day I spent in afflicting myself at the dismal
circumstances I was brought to - viz. I had neither foodhouse
clothesweaponnor place to fly to; and in despair of any relief
saw nothing but death before me - either that I should be devoured
by wild beastsmurdered by savagesor starved to death for want
of food. At the approach of night I slept in a treefor fear of
wild creatures; but slept soundlythough it rained all night.

OCTOBER 1. - In the morning I sawto my great surprisethe ship
had floated with the high tideand was driven on shore again much
nearer the island; whichas it was some comforton one hand -
forseeing her set uprightand not broken to piecesI hopedif
the wind abatedI might get on boardand get some food and
necessaries out of her for my relief - soon the other handit
renewed my grief at the loss of my comradeswhoI imaginedif we
had all stayed on boardmight have saved the shiporat least
that they would not have been all drowned as they were; and that
had the men been savedwe 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 lengthseeing the ship almost dryI went
upon the sand as near as I couldand then swam on board. This day
also it continued rainingthough with no wind at all.

FROM THE 1ST OF OCTOBER TO THE 24TH. - All these days entirely
spent in many several voyages to get all I could out of the ship
which I brought on shore every tide of flood upon rafts. Much rain
also in the daysthough with some intervals of fair weather; but
it seems this was the rainy season.

OCT. 20. - I overset my raftand all the goods I had got upon it;
butbeing in shoal waterand the things being chiefly heavyI
recovered many of them when the tide was out.

OCT. 25. - It rained all night and all daywith some gusts of
wind; during which time the ship broke in piecesthe wind blowing
a little harder than beforeand was no more to be seenexcept the
wreck of herand that only at low water. I spent this day in
covering and securing the goods which I had savedthat the rain
might not spoil them.

OCT. 26. - I walked about the shore almost all dayto find out a
place to fix my habitationgreatly concerned to secure myself from
any attack in the nighteither from wild beasts or men. Towards
nightI fixed upon a proper placeunder a rockand marked out a
semicircle for my encampment; which I resolved to strengthen with a
workwallor fortificationmade of double pileslined within
with cablesand without with turf.

From the 26th to the 30th I worked very hard in carrying all my
goods to my new habitationthough some part of the time it rained
exceedingly hard.

The 31stin the morningI went out into the island with my gun
to seek for some foodand discover the country; when I killed a
she-goatand her kid followed me homewhich I afterwards killed


alsobecause it would not feed.

NOVEMBER 1. - I set up my tent under a rockand lay there for the
first night; making it as large as I couldwith stakes driven in
to swing my hammock upon.

NOV. 2. - I set up all my chests and boardsand the pieces of
timber which made my raftsand 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 gunand killed two fowls like ducks
which were very good food. In the afternoon went to work to make
me a table.

NOV. 4. - This morning I began to order my times of workof going
out with my guntime of sleepand time of diversion - viz. every
morning I walked out with my gun for two or three hoursif it did
not rain; then employed myself to work till about eleven o'clock;
then eat what I had to live on; and from twelve to two I lay down
to sleepthe weather being excessively hot; and thenin the
eveningto work again. The working part of this day and of the
next were wholly employed in making my tablefor I was yet but a
very sorry workmanthough time and necessity made me a complete
natural mechanic soon afteras I believe they would do any one
else.

NOV. 5. - This day went abroad with my gun and my dogand killed a
wild cat; her skin pretty softbut her flesh good for nothing;
every creature that I killed I took of the skins and preserved
them. Coming back by the sea-shoreI saw many sorts of sea-fowls
which I did not understand; but was surprisedand almost
frightenedwith two or three sealswhichwhile I was gazing at
not well knowing what they weregot into the seaand escaped me
for that time.

NOV. 6. - After my morning walk I went to work with my table again
and finished itthough not to my liking; nor was it long before I
learned to mend it.

NOV. 7. - Now it began to be settled fair weather. The 7th8th
9th10thand part of the 12th (for the 11th was Sunday) I took
wholly up to make me a chairand with much ado brought it to a
tolerable shapebut never to please me; and even in the making I
pulled it in pieces several times.

NOTE. - I soon neglected my keeping Sundays; foromitting my mark
for them on my postI forgot which was which.

NOV. 13. - This day it rainedwhich refreshed me exceedinglyand
cooled the earth; but it was accompanied with terrible thunder and
lightningwhich frightened me dreadfullyfor fear of my powder.
As soon as it was overI resolved to separate my stock of powder
into as many little parcels as possiblethat it might not be in
danger.

NOV. 141516. - These three days I spent in making little square
chestsor boxeswhich might hold about a poundor two pounds at
mostof powder; and soputting the powder inI stowed it in
places as secure and remote from one another as possible. On one
of these three days I killed a large bird that was good to eatbut
I knew not what to call it.

NOV. 17. - This day I began to dig behind my tent into the rockto
make room for my further conveniency.


NOTE. - Three things I wanted exceedingly for this work - viz. a
pickaxea shoveland a wheelbarrow or basket; so I desisted from
my workand began to consider how to supply that wantand make me
some tools. As for the pickaxeI made use of the iron crows
which were proper enoughthough heavy; but the next thing was a
shovel or spade; this was so absolutely necessarythatindeedI
could do nothing effectually without it; but what kind of one to
make I knew not.

NOV. 18. - The next dayin searching the woodsI found a tree of
that woodor like itwhich in the Brazils they call the irontree
for its exceeding hardness. Of thiswith great labourand
almost spoiling my axeI cut a pieceand brought it hometoo
with difficulty enoughfor it was exceeding heavy. The excessive
hardness of the woodand my having no other waymade me a long
while upon this machinefor I worked it effectually by little and
little into the form of a shovel or spade; the handle exactly
shaped like ours in Englandonly that the board part having no
iron shod upon it at bottomit would not last me so long; however
it served well enough for the uses which I had occasion to put it
to; but never was a shovelI believemade after that fashionor
so long in making.

I was still deficientfor I wanted a basket or a wheelbarrow. A
basket I could not make by any meanshaving no such things as
twigs that would bend to make wicker-ware - at leastnone yet
found out; and as to a wheelbarrowI fancied I could make all but
the wheel; but that I had no notion of; neither did I know how to
go about it; besidesI had no possible way to make the iron
gudgeons for the spindle or axis of the wheel to run in; so I gave
it overand sofor carrying away the earth which I dug out of the
caveI made me a thing like a hod which the labourers carry mortar
in when they serve the bricklayers. This was not so difficult to
me as the making the shovel: and yet this and the shoveland the
attempt which I made in vain to make a wheelbarrowtook me up no
less than four days - I mean always excepting my morning walk with
my gunwhich I seldom failedand very seldom failed also bringing
home something fit to eat.

NOV. 23. - My other work having now stood stillbecause of my
making these toolswhen they were finished I went onand working
every dayas my strength and time allowedI spent eighteen days
entirely in widening and deepening my cavethat it might hold my
goods commodiously.

NOTE. - During all this time I worked to make this room or cave
spacious enough to accommodate me as a warehouse or magazinea
kitchena dining-roomand a cellar. As for my lodgingI kept to
the tent; except that sometimesin the wet season of the yearit
rained so hard that I could not keep myself drywhich caused me
afterwards to cover all my place within my pale with long polesin
the form of raftersleaning against the rockand load them with
flags and large leaves of treeslike a thatch.

DECEMBER 10. - I began now to think my cave or vault finishedwhen
on a sudden (it seems I had made it too large) a great quantity of
earth fell down from the top on one side; so much thatin short
it frighted meand not without reasontoofor if I had been
under itI had never wanted a gravedigger. I had now a great deal
of work to do over againfor I had the loose earth to carry out;
andwhich was of more importanceI had the ceiling to prop upso
that I might be sure no more would come down.


DEC. 11. - This day I went to work with it accordinglyand got two
shores or posts pitched upright to the topwith two pieces of
boards across over each post; this I finished the next day; and
setting more posts up with boardsin about a week more I had the
roof securedand the postsstanding in rowsserved me for
partitions to part off the house.

DEC. 17. - From this day to the 20th I placed shelvesand knocked
up nails on the poststo hang everything up that could be hung up;
and now I began to be in some order within doors.

DEC. 20. - Now I carried everything into the caveand began to
furnish my houseand set up some pieces of boards like a dresser
to order my victuals upon; but boards began to be very scarce with
me; alsoI made me another table.

DEC. 24. - Much rain all night and all day. No stirring out.

DEC. 25. - Rain all day.

DEC. 26. - No rainand the earth much cooler than beforeand
pleasanter.

DEC. 27. - Killed a young goatand lamed anotherso that I caught
it and led it home in a string; when I had it at homeI bound and
splintered up its legwhich was broke.

N.B. - I took such care of it that it livedand the leg grew well
and as strong as ever; butby my nursing it so longit grew tame
and fed upon the little green at my doorand would not go away.
This was the first time that I entertained a thought of breeding up
some tame creaturesthat I might have food when my powder and shot
was all spent.
DEC. 28293031. - Great heatsand no breezeso that there was
no stirring abroadexcept in the eveningfor 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 gunand lay still in the middle of the day. This evening
going farther into the valleys which lay towards the centre of the
islandI found there were plenty of goatsthough exceedingly shy
and hard to come at; howeverI resolved to try if I could not
bring my dog to hunt them down.

JAN. 2. - Accordinglythe next day I went out with my dogand set
him upon the goatsbut I was mistakenfor they all faced about
upon the dogand he knew his danger too wellfor he would not
come near them.

JAN. 3. - I began my fence or wall; whichbeing still jealous of
my being attacked by somebodyI resolved to make very thick and
strong.

N.B. - This wall being described beforeI purposely omit what was
said in the journal; it is sufficient to observethat I was no
less time than from the 2nd of January to the 14th of April
workingfinishingand perfecting this wallthough it was no more
than about twenty-four yards in lengthbeing a half-circle from
one place in the rock to another placeabout eight yards from it
the door of the cave being in the centre behind it.
All this time I worked very hardthe rains hindering me many days
naysometimes weeks together; but I thought I should never be


perfectly secure till this wall was finished; and it is scarce
credible what inexpressible labour everything was done with
especially the bringing piles out of the woods and driving them
into the ground; for I made them much bigger than I needed to have
done.

When this wall was finishedand the outside double fencedwith a
turf wall raised up close to itI perceived myself that if any
people were to come on shore therethey would not perceive
anything like a habitation; and it was very well I did soas may
be observed hereafterupon a very remarkable occasion.

During this time I made my rounds in the woods for game every day
when the rain permitted meand made frequent discoveries in these
walks of something or other to my advantage; particularlyI found
a kind of wild pigeonswhich buildnot as wood-pigeons in a tree
but rather as house-pigeonsin the holes of the rocks; and taking
some young onesI endeavoured to breed them up tameand did so;
but when they grew older they flew awaywhich perhaps was at first
for want of feeding themfor I had nothing to give them; however
I frequently found their nestsand got their young oneswhich
were very good meat. And nowin the managing my household
affairsI found myself wanting in many thingswhich I thought at
first it was impossible for me to make; asindeedwith some of
them it was: for instanceI could never make a cask to be hooped.
I had a small runlet or twoas I observed before; but I could
never arrive at the capacity of making one by themthough I spent
many weeks about it; I could neither put in the headsor join the
staves so true to one another as to make them hold water; so I gave
that also over. In the next placeI was at a great loss for
candles; so that as soon as ever it was darkwhich was generally
by seven o'clockI was obliged to go to bed. I remembered the
lump of beeswax with which I made candles in my African adventure;
but I had none of that now; the only remedy I had wasthat when I
had killed a goat I saved the tallowand with a little dish made
of claywhich I baked in the sunto which I added a wick of some
oakumI made me a lamp; and this gave me lightthough not a
clearsteady lightlike a candle. In the middle of all my
labours it happened thatrummaging my thingsI found a little bag
whichas I hinted beforehad been filled with corn for the
feeding of poultry - not for this voyagebut beforeas I suppose
when the ship came from Lisbon. The little remainder of corn that
had been in the bag was all devoured by the ratsand 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 inwhen I divided
it for fear of the lightningor some such use)I shook the husks
of corn out of it on one side of my fortificationunder the rock.

It was a little before the great rains just now mentioned that I
threw this stuff awaytaking no noticeand not so much as
remembering that I had thrown anything therewhenabout a month
afteror thereaboutsI saw some few stalks of something green
shooting out of the groundwhich I fancied might be some plant I
had not seen; but I was surprisedand perfectly astonishedwhen
after a little longer timeI saw about ten or twelve ears come
outwhich were perfect green barleyof the same kind as our
European - nayas our English barley.

It is impossible to express the astonishment and confusion of my
thoughts on this occasion. I had hitherto acted upon no religious
foundation at all; indeedI had very few notions of religion in my
headnor had entertained any sense of anything that had befallen
me otherwise than as chanceoras we lightly saywhat pleases
Godwithout so much as inquiring into the end of Providence in


these thingsor His order in governing events for the world. But
after I saw barley grow therein a climate which I knew was not
proper for cornand especially that I knew not how it came there
it startled me strangelyand I began to suggest that God had
miraculously caused His grain to grow without any help of seed
sownand that it was so directed purely for my sustenance on that
wildmiserable place.

This touched my heart a littleand 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 stillall along by the side of the rock
some other straggling stalkswhich proved to be stalks of rice
and which I knewbecause I had seen it grow in Africa when I was
ashore there.

I not only thought these the pure productions of Providence for my
supportbut not doubting that there was more in the placeI went
all over that part of the islandwhere I had been beforepeering
in every cornerand under every rockto see for more of itbut I
could not find any. At last it occurred to my thoughts that I
shook a bag of chickens' meat out in that place; and then the
wonder began to cease; and I must confess my religious thankfulness
to God's providence began to abatetooupon the discovering that
all this was nothing but what was common; though I ought to have
been as thankful for so strange and unforeseen a providence as if
it had been miraculous; for it was really the work of Providence to
methat should order or appoint that ten or twelve grains of corn
should remain unspoiledwhen the rats had destroyed all the rest
as if it had been dropped from heaven; as alsothat I should throw
it out in that particular placewhereit being in the shade of a
high rockit sprang up immediately; whereasif I had thrown it
anywhere else at that timeit had been burnt up and destroyed.

I carefully saved the ears of this cornyou may be surein their
seasonwhich was about the end of June; andlaying up every corn
I resolved to sow them all againhoping 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 eatand even then but sparinglyas I shall say
afterwardsin its order; for I lost all that I sowed the first
season by not observing the proper time; for I sowed it just before
the dry seasonso that it never came up at allat least not as it
would have done; of which in its place.

Besides this barleythere wereas abovetwenty or thirty stalks
of ricewhich I preserved with the same care and for the same use
or to the same purpose - to make me breador rather food; for I
found ways to cook it without bakingthough I did that also after
some time.

But to return to my Journal.

I worked excessive hard these three or four months to get my wall
done; and the 14th of April I closed it upcontriving to go into
itnot by a door but over the wallby a ladderthat there might
be no sign on the outside of my habitation.

APRIL 16. - I finished the ladder; so I went up the ladder to the
topand then pulled it up after meand 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 withoutunless it could first
mount my wall.


The very next day after this wall was finished I had almost had all
my labour overthrown at onceand myself killed. The case was
thus: As I was busy in the insidebehind my tentjust at the
entrance into my caveI was terribly frighted with a most
dreadfulsurprising thing indeed; for all on a sudden I found the
earth come crumbling down from the roof of my caveand from the
edge of the hill over my headand two of the posts I had set up in
the cave cracked in a frightful manner. I was heartily scared; but
thought nothing of what was really the causeonly thinking that
the top of my cave was fallen inas 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 neitherI got over my wall for
fear of the pieces of the hillwhich I expected might roll down
upon me. I had no sooner stepped do groundthan I plainly saw it
was a terrible earthquakefor the ground I stood on shook three
times at about eight minutes' distancewith three such shocks as
would have overturned the strongest building that could be supposed
to have stood on the earth; and a great piece of the top of a rock
which stood about half a mile from me next the sea fell down with
such a terrible noise as I never heard in all my life. I perceived
also the very sea was put into violent motion by it; and I believe
the shocks were stronger under the water than on the island.

I was so much amazed with the thing itselfhaving never felt the
likenor discoursed with any one that hadthat I was like one
dead or stupefied; and the motion of the earth made my stomach
sicklike one that was tossed at sea; but the noise of the falling
of the rock awakened meas it wereand rousing me from the
stupefied condition I was infilled me with horror; and I thought
of nothing then but the hill falling upon my tent and all my
household goodsand burying all at once; and this sunk my very
soul within me a second time.

After the third shock was overand I felt no more for some timeI
began to take courage; and yet I had not heart enough to go over my
wall againfor fear of being buried alivebut sat still upon the
ground greatly cast down and disconsolatenot knowing what to do.
All this while I had not the least serious religious thought;
nothing but the common "Lord have mercy upon me!" and when it was
over that went away too.

While I sat thusI found the air overcast and grow cloudyas if
it would rain. Soon after that the wind arose by little and
littleso that in less than half-an-hour it blew a most dreadful
hurricane; the sea was all on a sudden covered over with foam and
froth; the shore was covered with the breach of the waterthe
trees were torn up by the rootsand a terrible storm it was. This
held about three hoursand then began to abate; and in two hours
more it was quite calmand began to rain very hard. All this
while I sat upon the ground very much terrified and dejected; when
on a sudden it came into my thoughtsthat these winds and rain
being the consequences of the earthquakethe earthquake itself was
spent and overand I might venture into my cave again. With this
thought my spirits began to revive; and the rain also helping to
persuade meI went in and sat down in my tent. But the rain was
so violent that my tent was ready to be beaten down with it; and I
was forced to go into my cavethough very much afraid and uneasy
for fear it should fall on my head. This violent rain forced me to
a new work - viz. to cut a hole through my new fortificationlike
a sinkto let the water go outwhich would else have flooded my
cave. After I had been in my cave for some timeand found still
no more shocks of the earthquake followI began to be more
composed. And nowto support my spiritswhich indeed wanted it
very muchI went to my little storeand took a small sup of rum;


whichhoweverI did then and always very sparinglyknowing I
could have no more when that was gone. It continued raining all
that night and great part of the next dayso that I could not stir
abroad; but my mind being more composedI began to think of what I
had best do; concluding that if the island was subject to these
earthquakesthere would be no living for me in a cavebut I must
consider of building a little hut in an open place which I might
surround with a wallas I had done hereand so make myself secure
from wild beasts or men; for I concludedif I stayed where I was
I should certainly one time or other be buried alive.

With these thoughtsI resolved to remove my tent from the place
where it stoodwhich was just under the hanging precipice of the
hill; and whichif it should be shaken againwould certainly fall
upon my tent; and I spent the two next daysbeing the 19th and
20th of Aprilin contriving where and how to remove my habitation.
The fear of being swallowed up alive made me that I never slept in
quiet; and yet the apprehension of lying abroad without any fence
was almost equal to it; but stillwhen I looked aboutand saw how
everything was put in orderhow pleasantly concealed I wasand
how safe from dangerit made me very loath to remove. In the
meantimeit occurred to me that it would require a vast deal of
time for me to do thisand that I must be contented to venture
where I wastill I had formed a camp for myselfand had secured
it so as to remove to it. So with this resolution I composed
myself for a timeand resolved that I would go to work with all
speed to build me a wall with piles and cables&c.in a circle
as beforeand set my tent up in it when it was finished; but that
I would venture to stay where I was till it was finishedand fit
to remove. This was the 21st.

APRIL 22. - The next morning I begin to consider of means to put
this resolve into execution; but I was at a great loss about my
tools. I had three large axesand abundance of hatchets (for we
carried the hatchets for traffic with the Indians); but with much
chopping and cutting knotty hard woodthey were all full of
notchesand dull; and though I had a grindstoneI could not turn
it and grind my tools too. This cost me as much thought as a
statesman would have bestowed upon a grand point of politicsor a
judge upon the life and death of a man. At length I contrived a
wheel with a stringto turn it with my footthat I might have
both my hands at liberty. NOTE. - I had never seen any such thing
in Englandor at leastnot to take notice how it was donethough
since I have observedit is very common there; besides thatmy
grindstone was very large and heavy. This machine cost me a full
week's work to bring it to perfection.

APRIL 2829. - These two whole days I took up in grinding my
toolsmy machine for turning my grindstone performing very well.

APRIL 30. - Having perceived my bread had been low a great while
now I took a survey of itand reduced myself to one biscuit cake a
daywhich made my heart very heavy.

MAY 1. - In the morninglooking towards the sea sidethe tide
being lowI saw something lie on the shore bigger than ordinary
and it looked like a cask; when I came to itI found a small
barreland two or three pieces of the wreck of the shipwhich
were driven on shore by the late hurricane; and looking towards the
wreck itselfI thought it seemed to lie higher out of the water
than it used to do. I examined the barrel which was driven on
shoreand soon found it was a barrel of gunpowder; but it had
taken waterand the powder was caked as hard as a stone; however
I rolled it farther on shore for the presentand went on upon the


sandsas near as I could to the wreck of the shipto look for
more.

CHAPTER VI - ILL AND CONSCIENCE-STRICKEN

WHEN I came down to the ship I found it strangely removed. The
forecastlewhich lay before buried in sandwas heaved up at least
six feetand the sternwhich was broke in pieces and parted from
the rest by the force of the seasoon after I had left rummaging
herwas tossed as it were upand cast on one side; and the sand
was thrown so high on that side next her sternthat whereas there
was a great place of water beforeso that I could not come within
a quarter of a mile of the wreck without swimming I could now walk
quite up to her when the tide was out. I was surprised with this
at firstbut soon concluded it must be done by the earthquake; and
as by this violence the ship was more broke open than formerlyso
many things came daily on shorewhich the sea had loosenedand
which the winds and water rolled by degrees to the land.

This wholly diverted my thoughts from the design of removing my
habitationand I busied myself mightilythat day especiallyin
searching whether I could make any way into the ship; but I found
nothing was to be expected of that kindfor all the inside of the
ship was choked up with sand. Howeveras I had learned not to
despair of anythingI resolved to pull everything to pieces that I
could of the shipconcluding that everything I could get from her
would be of some use or other to me.

MAY 3. - I began with my sawand cut a piece of a beam through
which I thought held some of the upper part or quarter-deck
togetherand when I had cut it throughI cleared away the sand as
well as I could from the side which lay highest; but the tide
coming inI was obliged to give over for that time.

MAY 4. - I went a-fishingbut caught not one fish that I durst eat
oftill I was weary of my sport; whenjust going to leave offI
caught a young dolphin. I had made me a long line of some ropeyarn
but I had no hooks; yet I frequently caught fish enoughas
much as I cared to eat; all which I dried in the sunand ate them
dry.

MAY 5. - Worked on the wreck; cut another beam asunderand brought
three great fir planks off from the deckswhich I tied together
and made to float on shore when the tide of flood came on.

MAY 6. - Worked on the wreck; got several iron bolts out of her and
other pieces of ironwork. Worked very hardand came home very
much tiredand had thoughts of giving it over.

MAY 7. - Went to the wreck againnot with an intent to workbut
found the weight of the wreck had broke itself downthe beams
being cut; that several pieces of the ship seemed to lie looseand
the inside of the hold lay so open that I could see into it; but it
was almost full of water and sand.

MAY 8. - Went to the wreckand carried an iron crow to wrench up
the deckwhich lay now quite clear of the water or sand. I
wrenched open two planksand brought them on shore also with the
tide. I left the iron crow in the wreck for next day.


MAY 9. - Went to the wreckand with the crow made way into the
body of the wreckand felt several casksand loosened them with
the crowbut could not break them up. I felt also a roll of
English leadand could stir itbut it was too heavy to remove.

MAY 10-14. - Went every day to the wreck; and got a great many
pieces of timberand boardsor plankand two or three
hundredweight of iron.

MAY 15. - I carried two hatchetsto 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
waterI could not make any blow to drive the hatchet.

MAY 16. - It had blown hard in the nightand the wreck appeared
more broken by the force of the water; but I stayed so long in the
woodsto get pigeons for foodthat the tide prevented my going to
the wreck that day.

MAY 17. - I saw some pieces of the wreck blown on shoreat a great
distancenear two miles off mebut resolved to see what they
wereand found it was a piece of the headbut too heavy for me to
bring away.

MAY 24. - Every dayto this dayI worked on the wreck; and with
hard labour I loosened some things so much with the crowthat the
first flowing tide several casks floated outand two of the
seamen's chests; but the wind blowing from the shorenothing came
to land that day but pieces of timberand a hogsheadwhich had
some Brazil pork in it; but the salt water and the sand had spoiled
it. I continued this work every day to the 15th of Juneexcept
the time necessary to get foodwhich I always appointedduring
this part of my employmentto be when the tide was upthat I
might be ready when it was ebbed out; and by this time I had got
timber and plank and ironwork enough to have built a good boatif
I had known how; and also I gotat several times and in several
piecesnear one hundredweight of the sheet lead.

JUNE 16. - Going down to the seasideI found a large tortoise or
turtle. This was the first I had seenwhichit seemswas only
my misfortunenot any defect of the placeor scarcity; for had I
happened to be on the other side of the islandI might have had
hundreds of them every dayas I found afterwards; but perhaps had
paid dear enough for them.

JUNE 17. - I spent in cooking the turtle. I found in her threescore
eggs; and her flesh was to meat that timethe most savoury
and pleasant that ever I tasted in my lifehaving had no flesh
but of goats and fowlssince I landed in this horrid place.

JUNE 18. - Rained all dayand I stayed within. I thought at this
time the rain felt coldand I was something chilly; which I knew
was not usual in that latitude.

JUNE 19. - Very illand shiveringas if the weather had been
cold.

JUNE 20. - No rest all night; violent pains in my headand
feverish.

JUNE 21. - Very ill; frighted almost to death with the
apprehensions of my sad condition - to be sickand no help.
Prayed to Godfor the first time since the storm off Hullbut
scarce knew what I saidor whymy thoughts being all confused.


JUNE 22. - A little better; but under dreadful apprehensions of
sickness.

JUNE 22. - Very bad again; cold and shiveringand then a violent
headache.

JUNE 24. - Much better.

JUNE 25. - An ague very violent; the fit held me seven hours; cold
fit and hotwith faint sweats after it.

JUNE 26. - Better; and having no victuals to eattook my gunbut
found myself very weak. HoweverI killed a she-goatand with
much difficulty got it homeand broiled some of itand ateI
would fain have stewed itand made some brothbut had no pot.

JUNE 27. - The ague again so violent that I lay a-bed all dayand
neither ate nor drank. I was ready to perish for thirst; but so
weakI had not strength to stand upor to get myself any water to
drink. Prayed to God againbut was light-headed; and when I was
notI was so ignorant that I knew not what to say; only I lay and
criedLord, look upon me! Lord, pity me! Lord, have mercy upon
me!I suppose I did nothing else for two or three hours; till
the fit wearing offI fell asleepand did not wake till far in
the night. When I awokeI found myself much refreshedbut weak
and exceeding thirsty. Howeveras I had no water in my
habitationI was forced to lie till morningand went to sleep
again. In this second sleep I had this terrible dream: I thought
that I was sitting on the groundon the outside of my wallwhere
I sat when the storm blew after the earthquakeand that I saw a
man descend from a great black cloudin a bright flame of fire
and light upon the ground. He was all over as bright as a flame
so that I could but just bear to look towards him; his countenance
was most inexpressibly dreadfulimpossible for words to describe.
When he stepped upon the ground with his feetI thought the earth
trembledjust as it had done before in the earthquakeand all the
air lookedto my apprehensionas if it had been filled with
flashes of fire. He was no sooner landed upon the earthbut he
moved forward towards mewith a long spear or weapon in his hand
to kill me; and when he came to a rising groundat 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 repentancenow thou shalt die;" at which wordsI thought he
lifted up the spear that was in his hand to kill me.

No one that shall ever read this account will expect that I should
be able to describe the horrors of my soul at this terrible vision.
I meanthat even while it was a dreamI even dreamed of those
horrors. Nor is it any more possible to describe the impression
that remained upon my mind when I awakedand found it was but a
dream.

I hadalas! no divine knowledge. What I had received by the good
instruction of my father was then worn out by an uninterrupted
seriesfor eight yearsof seafaring wickednessand a constant
conversation with none but such as werelike myselfwicked and
profane to the last degree. I do not remember that I hadin all
that timeone thought that so much as tended either to looking
upwards towards Godor inwards towards a reflection upon my own
ways; but a certain stupidity of soulwithout desire of goodor
conscience of evilhad entirely overwhelmed me; and I was all that
the most hardenedunthinkingwicked creature among our common


sailors can be supposed to be; not having the least senseeither
of the fear of God in dangeror of thankfulness to God in
deliverance.

In the relating what is already past of my storythis will be the
more easily believed when I shall addthat through all the variety
of miseries that had to this day befallen meI never had so much
as one thought of it being the hand of Godor that it was a just
punishment for my sin - my rebellious behaviour against my father -
or my present sinswhich were great - or so much as a punishment
for the general course of my wicked life. When I was on the
desperate expedition on the desert shores of AfricaI never had so
much as one thought of what would become of meor one wish to God
to direct me whither I should goor to keep me from the danger
which apparently surrounded meas well from voracious creatures as
cruel savages. But I was merely thoughtless of a God or a
Providenceacted like a mere brutefrom the principles of nature
and by the dictates of common sense onlyandindeedhardly that.
When I was delivered and taken up at sea by the Portugal captain
well usedand dealt justly and honourably withas well as
charitablyI had not the least thankfulness in my thoughts. When
againI was shipwreckedruinedand in danger of drowning on this
islandI was as far from remorseor looking on it as a judgment.
I only said to myself oftenthat I was an unfortunate dogand
born to be always miserable.

It is truewhen I got on shore first hereand found all my ship's
crew drowned and myself sparedI was surprised with a kind of
ecstasyand some transports of soulwhichhad the grace of God
assistedmight have come up to true thankfulness; but it ended
where it beganin a mere common flight of joyoras I may say
being glad I was alivewithout the least reflection upon the
distinguished goodness of the hand which had preserved meand had
singled me out to be preserved when all the rest were destroyedor
an inquiry why Providence had been thus merciful unto me. Even
just the same common sort of joy which seamen generally haveafter
they are got safe ashore from a shipwreckwhich they drown all in
the next bowl of punchand forget almost as soon as it is over;
and all the rest of my life was like it. Even when I was
afterwardson due considerationmade sensible of my condition
how I was cast on this dreadful placeout of the reach of human
kindout of all hope of reliefor prospect of redemptionas soon
as I saw but a prospect of living and that I should not starve and
perish for hungerall the sense of my affliction wore off; and I
began to be very easyapplied myself to the works proper for my
preservation and supplyand was far enough from being afflicted at
my conditionas a judgment from heavenor as the hand of God
against me: these were thoughts which very seldom entered my head.

The growing up of the cornas is hinted in my Journalhad at
first some little influence upon meand began to affect me with
seriousnessas long as I thought it had something miraculous in
it; but as soon as ever that part of the thought was removedall
the impression that was raised from it wore off alsoas I have
noted already. Even the earthquakethough nothing could be more
terrible in its natureor more immediately directing to the
invisible Power which alone directs such thingsyet no sooner was
the first fright overbut the impression it had made went off
also. I had no more sense of God or His judgments - much less of
the present affliction of my circumstances being from His hand -
than if I had been in the most prosperous condition of life. But
nowwhen I began to be sickand a leisurely view of the miseries
of death came to place itself before me; when my spirits began to
sink under the burden of a strong distemperand nature was


exhausted with the violence of the fever; consciencethat had
slept so longbegan to awakeand I began to reproach myself with
my past lifein which I had so evidentlyby uncommon wickedness
provoked the justice of God to lay me under uncommon strokesand
to deal with me in so vindictive a manner. These reflections
oppressed me for the second or third day of my distemper; and in
the violenceas well of the fever as of the dreadful reproaches of
my conscienceextorted some words from me like praying to God
though I cannot say they were either a prayer attended with desires
or with hopes: it was rather the voice of mere fright and distress.
My thoughts were confusedthe convictions great upon my mindand
the horror of dying in such a miserable condition raised vapours
into my head with the mere apprehensions; and in these hurries of
my soul I knew not what my tongue might express. But it was rather
exclamationsuch asLord, 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 eyesand I
could say no more for a good while. In this interval the good
advice of my father came to my mindand presently his prediction
which I mentioned at the beginning of this story - viz. that if I
did take this foolish stepGod would not bless meand I would
have leisure hereafter to reflect upon having neglected his counsel
when there might be none to assist in my recovery. "Now said I,
aloud, my dear father's words are come to pass; God's justice has
overtaken meand I have none to help or hear me. I rejected the
voice of Providencewhich had mercifully put me in a posture or
station of life wherein I might have been happy and easy; but I
would neither see it myself nor learn to know the blessing of it
from my parents. I left them to mourn over my follyand now I am
left to mourn under the consequences of it. I abused their help
and assistancewho would have lifted me in the worldand would
have made everything easy to me; and now I have difficulties to
struggle withtoo great for even nature itself to supportand no
assistanceno helpno comfortno advice." Then I cried out
Lord, be my help, for I am in great distress.This was the first
prayerif I may call it sothat I had made for many years.

But to return to my Journal.

JUNE 28. - Having been somewhat refreshed with the sleep I had had
and the fit being entirely offI got up; and though the fright and
terror of my dream was very greatyet I considered that the fit of
the ague would return again the next dayand now was my time to
get something to refresh and support myself when I should be ill;
and the first thing I didI filled a large square case-bottle with
waterand set it upon my tablein reach of my bed; and to take
off the chill or aguish disposition of the waterI put about a
quarter of a pint of rum into itand mixed them together. Then I
got me a piece of the goat's flesh and broiled it on the coalsbut
could eat very little. I walked aboutbut was very weakand
withal very sad and heavy-hearted under a sense of my miserable
conditiondreadingthe return of my distemper the next day. At
night I made my supper of three of the turtle's eggswhich I
roasted in the ashesand ateas we call itin the shelland
this was the first bit of meat I had ever asked God's blessing to
that I could rememberin my whole life. After I had eaten I tried
to walkbut found myself so weak that I could hardly carry a gun
for I never went out without that; so I went but a little wayand
sat down upon the groundlooking out upon the seawhich was just
before meand very calm and smooth. As I sat here some such
thoughts as these occurred to me: What is this earth and seaof
which I have seen so much? Whence is it produced? And what am I
and all the other creatures wild and tamehuman and brutal?
Whence are we? Sure we are all made by some secret Powerwho


formed the earth and seathe air and sky. And who is that? Then
it followed most naturallyit is God that has made all. Wellbut
then it came on strangelyif God has made all these thingsHe
guides and governs them alland all things that concern them; for
the Power that could make all things must certainly have power to
guide and direct them. If sonothing can happen in the great
circuit of His workseither without His knowledge or appointment.

And if nothing happens without His knowledgeHe knows that I am
hereand am in this dreadful condition; and if nothing happens
without His appointmentHe has appointed all this to befall me.
Nothing occurred to my thought to contradict any of these
conclusionsand therefore it rested upon me with the greater
forcethat it must needs be that God had appointed all this to
befall me; that I was brought into this miserable circumstance by
His directionHe having the sole powernot of me onlybut of
everything that happened in the world. Immediately it followed:
Why has God done this to me? What have I done to be thus used? My
conscience presently checked me in that inquiryas if I had
blasphemedand methought it spoke to me like a voice: "Wretch!
dost THOU ask what thou hast done? Look back upon a dreadful
misspent lifeand ask thyself what thou hast NOT done? Askwhy
is it that thou wert not long ago destroyed? Why wert thou not
drowned in Yarmouth Roads; killed in the fight when the ship was
taken by the Sallee man-of-war; devoured by the wild beasts on the
coast of Africa; or drowned HEREwhen all the crew perished but
thyself? Dost THOU askwhat have I done?" I was struck dumb with
these reflectionsas one astonishedand had not a word to say -
nonot to answer to myselfbut rose up pensive and sadwalked
back to my retreatand went up over my wallas if I had been
going to bed; but my thoughts were sadly disturbedand I had no
inclination to sleep; so I sat down in my chairand lighted my
lampfor it began to be dark. Nowas the apprehension of the
return of my distemper terrified me very muchit occurred to my
thought that the Brazilians take no physic but their tobacco for
almost all distempersand I had a piece of a roll of tobacco in
one of the chestswhich was quite curedand some also that was
greenand not quite cured.

I wentdirected by Heaven no doubt; for in this chest I found a
cure both for soul and body. I opened the chestand found what I
looked forthe tobacco; and as the few books I had saved lay there
tooI took out one of the Bibles which I mentioned beforeand
which to this time I had not found leisure or inclination to look
into. I sayI took it outand brought both that and the tobacco
with me to the table. What use to make of the tobacco I knew not
in my distemperor whether it was good for it or no: but I tried
several experiments with itas if I was resolved it should hit one
way or other. I first took a piece of leafand chewed it in my
mouthwhichindeedat first almost stupefied my brainthe
tobacco being green and strongand that I had not been much used
to. Then I took some and steeped it an hour or two in some rum
and resolved to take a dose of it when I lay down; and lastly.I
burnt some upon a pan of coalsand held my nose close over the
smoke of it as long as I could bear itas well for the heat as
almost for suffocation. In the interval of this operation I took
up the Bible and began to read; but my head was too much disturbed
with the tobacco to bear readingat least at that time; only
having opened the book casuallythe first words that occurred to
me were theseCall on Me in the day of trouble, and I will
deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.These words were very
apt to my caseand made some impression upon my thoughts at the
time of reading themthough not so much as they did afterwards;
foras for being DELIVEREDthe word had no soundas I may say


to me; the thing was so remoteso impossible in my apprehension of
thingsthat I began to sayas the children of Israel did when
they were promised flesh to eatCan God spread a table in the
wilderness?so I began to sayCan God Himself deliver me from
this place?And as it was not for many years that any hopes
appearedthis prevailed very often upon my thoughts; buthowever
the words made a great impression upon meand I mused upon them
very often. It grew now lateand the tobacco hadas I said
dozed my head so much that I inclined to sleep; so I left my lamp
burning in the cavelest I should want anything in the nightand
went to bed. But before I lay downI did what I never had done in
all my life - I kneeled downand prayed to God to fulfil the
promise to methat if I called upon Him in the day of troubleHe
would deliver me. After my broken and imperfect prayer was overI
drank the rum in which I had steeped the tobaccowhich was so
strong and rank of the tobacco that I could scarcely get it down;
immediately upon this I went to bed. I found presently it flew up
into my head violently; but I fell into a sound sleepand waked no
more tillby the sunit must necessarily be near three o'clock in
the afternoon the next day - nayto this hour I am partly of
opinion that I slept all the next day and nightand 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 weekas it appeared
some years after I had done; for if I had lost it by crossing and
recrossing the lineI should have lost more than one day; but
certainly I lost a day in my accountand never knew which way. Be
thathoweverone way or the otherwhen I awaked I found myself
exceedingly refreshedand my spirits lively and cheerful; when I
got up I was stronger than I was the day beforeand my stomach
betterfor I was hungry; andin shortI had no fit the next day
but continued much altered for the better. This was the 29th.

The 30th was my well dayof courseand I went abroad with my gun
but did not care to travel too far. I killed a sea-fowl or two
something like a brandgooseand brought them homebut 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 medicinewhich I
had supposed did me good the day before - the tobacco steeped in
rum; only I did not take so much as beforenor did I chew any of
the leafor hold my head over the smoke; howeverI was not so
well the next daywhich was the first of Julyas I hoped I should
have been; for I had a little spice of the cold fitbut it was not
much.

JULY 2. - I renewed the medicine all the three ways; and dosed
myself with it as at firstand doubled the quantity which I drank.

JULY 3. - I missed the fit for good and allthough I did not
recover my full strength for some weeks after. While I was thus
gathering strengthmy thoughts ran exceedingly upon this
ScriptureI will deliver thee; and the impossibility of my
deliverance lay much upon my mindin bar of my ever expecting it;
but as I was discouraging myself with such thoughtsit occurred to
my mind that I pored so much upon my deliverance from the main
afflictionthat I disregarded the deliverance I had receivedand
I was as it were made to ask myself such questions as these - viz.
Have I not been deliveredand wonderfully toofrom sickness -
from the most distressed condition that could beand that was so
frightful to me? and what notice had I taken of it? Had I done my
part? God had delivered mebut I had not glorified Him - that is
to sayI had not owned and been thankful for that as a
deliverance; and how could I expect greater deliverance? This
touched my heart very much; and immediately I knelt down and gave
God thanks aloud for my recovery from my sickness.


JULY 4. - In the morning I took the Bible; and beginning at the New
TestamentI began seriously to read itand imposed upon myself to
read a while every morning and every night; not tying myself to the
number of chaptersbut long as my thoughts should engage me. It
was not long after I set seriously to this work till I found my
heart more deeply and sincerely affected with the wickedness of my
past life. The impression of my dream revived; and the wordsAll
these things have not brought thee to repentance,ran seriously
through my thoughts. I was earnestly begging of God to give me
repentancewhen it happened providentiallythe very daythat
reading the ScriptureI came to these words: "He is exalted a
Prince and a Saviourto give repentance and to give remission." I
threw down the book; and with my heart as well as my hands lifted
up to heavenin a kind of ecstasy of joyI cried out aloud
Jesus, thou son of David! Jesus, thou exalted Prince and Saviour!
give me repentance!This was the first time I could sayin the
true sense of the wordsthat I prayed in all my life; for now I
prayed with a sense of my conditionand a true Scripture view of
hopefounded on the encouragement of the Word of God; and from
this timeI may sayI began to hope that God would hear me.

Now I began to construe the words mentioned aboveCall on Me, and
I will deliver thee,in a different sense from what I had ever
done before; for then I had no notion of anything being called
DELIVERANCEbut my being delivered from the captivity I was in;
for though I was indeed at large in the placeyet the island was
certainly a prison to meand that in the worse sense in the world.
But now I learned to take it in another sense: now I looked back
upon my past life with such horrorand my sins appeared so
dreadfulthat my soul sought nothing of God but deliverance from
the load of guilt that bore down all my comfort. As for my
solitary lifeit was nothing. I did not so much as pray to be
delivered from it or think of it; it was all of no consideration in
comparison to this. And I add this part hereto hint to whoever
shall read itthat whenever they come to a true sense of things
they will find deliverance from sin a much greater blessing than
deliverance from affliction.

Butleaving this partI return to my Journal.

My condition began now to bethough not less miserable as to my
way of livingyet much easier to my mind: and my thoughts being
directedby a constant reading the Scripture and praying to God
to things of a higher natureI had a great deal of comfort within
which till now I knew nothing of; alsomy health and strength
returnedI bestirred myself to furnish myself with everything that
I wantedand make my way of living as regular as I could.

From the 4th of July to the 14th I was chiefly employed in walking
about with my gun in my handa little and a little at a timeas a
man that was gathering up his strength after a fit of sickness; for
it is hardly to be imagined how low I wasand to what weakness I
was reduced. The application which I made use of was perfectly
newand perhaps which had never cured an ague before; neither can
I recommend it to any to practiseby this experiment: and though
it did carry off the fityet it rather contributed to weakening
me; for I had frequent convulsions in my nerves and limbs for some
time. I learned from it also thisin particularthat being
abroad in the rainy season was the most pernicious thing to my
health that could beespecially in those rains which came attended
with storms and hurricanes of wind; for as the rain which came in
the dry season was almost always accompanied with such stormsso I
found that rain was much more dangerous than the rain which fell in


September and October.

CHAPTER VII - AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE

I HAD now been in this unhappy island above ten months. All
possibility of deliverance from this condition seemed to be
entirely taken from me; and I firmly believe that no human shape
had ever set foot upon that place. Having now secured my
habitationas I thoughtfully to my mindI had a great desire to
make a more perfect discovery of the islandand to see what other
productions I might findwhich I yet knew nothing of.

It was on the 15th of July that I began to take a more particular
survey of the island itself. I went up the creek firstwhereas
I hintedI brought my rafts on shore. I found after I came about
two miles upthat the tide did not flow any higherand that it
was no more than a little brook of running watervery fresh and
good; but this being the dry seasonthere was hardly any water in
some parts of it - at least not enough to run in any streamso as
it could be perceived. On the banks of this brook I found many
pleasant savannahs or meadowsplainsmoothand covered with
grass; and on the rising parts of themnext to the higher grounds
where the wateras might be supposednever overflowedI found a
great deal of tobaccogreenand growing to a great and very
strong stalk. There were divers other plantswhich I had no
notion of or understanding aboutthat mightperhapshave virtues
of their ownwhich I could not find out. I searched for the
cassava rootwhich the Indiansin all that climatemake their
bread ofbut I could find none. I saw large plants of aloesbut
did not understand them. I saw several sugar-canesbut wildand
for want of cultivationimperfect. I contented myself with these
discoveries for this timeand came backmusing with myself what
course I might take to know the virtue and goodness of any of the
fruits or plants which I should discoverbut could bring it to no
conclusion; forin shortI had made so little observation while I
was in the Brazilsthat I knew little of the plants in the field;
at leastvery little that might serve to any purpose now in my
distress.

The next daythe sixteenthI went up the same way again; and
after going something further than I had gone the day beforeI
found the brook and the savannahs ceaseand the country become
more woody than before. In this part I found different fruitsand
particularly I found melons upon the groundin great abundance
and grapes upon the trees. The vines had spreadindeedover the
treesand the clusters of grapes were just now in their prime
very ripe and rich. This was a surprising discoveryand I was
exceeding glad of them; but I was warned by my experience to eat
sparingly of them; remembering that when I was ashore in Barbary
the eating of grapes killed several of our Englishmenwho were
slaves thereby throwing them into fluxes and fevers. But I found
an excellent use for these grapes; and that wasto cure or dry
them in the sunand keep them as dried grapes or raisins are kept
which I thought would beas indeed they werewholesome and
agreeable to eat when no grapes could be had.

I spent all that evening thereand went not back to my habitation;
whichby the waywas the first nightas I might sayI had lain
from home. In the nightI took my first contrivanceand got up
in a treewhere I slept well; and the next morning proceeded upon


my discovery; travelling nearly four milesas I might judge by the
length of the valleykeeping still due northwith a ridge of
hills on the south and north side of me. At the end of this march
I came to an opening where the country seemed to descend to the
west; and a little spring of fresh waterwhich issued out of the
side of the hill by meran the other waythat isdue east; and
the country appeared so freshso greenso flourishingeverything
being in a constant verdure or flourish of spring that it looked
like a planted garden. I descended a little on the side of that
delicious valesurveying it with a secret kind of pleasurethough
mixed with my other afflicting thoughtsto think that this was all
my own; that I was king and lord of all this country indefensibly
and had a right of possession; and if I could convey itI might
have it in inheritance as completely as any lord of a manor in
England. I saw here abundance of cocoa treesorangeand lemon
and citron trees; but all wildand very few bearing any fruitat
least not then. Howeverthe green limes that I gathered were not
only pleasant to eatbut very wholesome; and I mixed their juice
afterwards with waterwhich made it very wholesomeand very cool
and refreshing. I found now I had business enough to gather and
carry home; and I resolved to lay up a store as well of grapes as
limes and lemonsto furnish myself for the wet seasonwhich I
knew was approaching. In order to do thisI gathered a great heap
of grapes in one placea lesser heap in another placeand a great
parcel of limes and lemons in another place; and taking a few of
each with meI travelled homewards; resolving to come againand
bring a bag or sackor what I could maketo carry the rest home.
Accordinglyhaving spent three days in this journeyI came home
(so I must now call my tent and my cave); but before I got thither
the grapes were spoiled; the richness of the fruit and the weight
of the juice having broken them and bruised themthey were good
for little or nothing; as to the limesthey were goodbut I could
bring but a few.

The next daybeing the nineteenthI went backhaving made me two
small bags to bring home my harvest; but I was surprisedwhen
coming to my heap of grapeswhich were so rich and fine when I
gathered themto find them all spread abouttrod to piecesand
dragged aboutsome heresome thereand abundance eaten and
devoured. By this I concluded there were some wild creatures
thereaboutswhich had done this; but what they were I knew not.
Howeveras I found there was no laying them up on heapsand no
carrying them away in a sackbut that one way they would be
destroyedand the other way they would be crushed with their own
weightI took another course; for I gathered a large quantity of
the grapesand hung them treesthat they might cure and dry in
the sun; and as for the limes and lemonsI carried as many back as
I could well stand under.

When I came home from this journeyI contemplated with great
pleasure the fruitfulness of that valleyand the pleasantness of
the situation; the security from storms on that side of the water
and the wood: and concluded that I had pitched upon a place to fix
my abode which was by far the worst part of the country. Upon the
wholeI began to consider of removing my habitationand looking
out for a place equally safe as where now I was situateif
possiblein that pleasantfruitful part of the island.

This thought ran long in my headand I was exceeding fond of it
for some timethe pleasantness of the place tempting me; but when
I came to a nearer view of itI considered that I was now by the
seasidewhere it was at least possible that something might happen
to my advantageandby 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
happenyet to enclose myself among the hills and woods in the
centre of the island was to anticipate my bondageand to render
such an affair not only improbablebut impossible; and that
therefore I ought not by any means to remove. HoweverI was so
enamoured of this placethat I spent much of my time there for the
whole of the remaining part of the month of July; and though upon
second thoughtsI resolved not to removeyet I built me a little
kind of a bowerand surrounded it at a distance with a strong
fencebeing a double hedgeas high as I could reachwell staked
and filled between with brushwood; and here I lay very secure
sometimes two or three nights together; always going over it with a
ladder; so that I fancied now I had my country house and my seacoast
house; and this work took me up to the beginning of August.

I had but newly finished my fenceand began to enjoy my labour
when the rains came onand made me stick close to my first
habitation; for though I had made me a tent like the otherwith a
piece of a sailand spread it very wellyet I had not the shelter
of a hill to keep me from stormsnor a cave behind me to retreat
into when the rains were extraordinary.

About the beginning of Augustas I saidI had finished my bower
and began to enjoy myself. The 3rd of AugustI found the grapes I
had hung up perfectly driedandindeedwere excellent good
raisins of the sun; so I began to take them down from the trees
and it was very happy that I did sofor the rains which followed
would have spoiled themand I had lost the best part of my winter
food; for I had above two hundred large bunches of them. No sooner
had I taken them all downand carried the most of them home to my
cavethan it began to rain; and from hencewhich was the 14th of
Augustit rainedmore or lessevery day till the middle of
October; and sometimes so violentlythat I could not stir out of
my cave for several days.

In this season I was much surprised with the increase of my family;
I had been concerned for the loss of one of my catswho ran away
from meoras I thoughthad been deadand I heard no more
tidings of her tillto my astonishmentshe came home about the
end of August with three kittens. This was the more strange to me
becausethough I had killed a wild catas I called itwith my
gunyet I thought it was quite a different kind from our European
cats; but the young cats were the same kind of house-breed as the
old one; and both my cats being femalesI thought it very strange.
But from these three cats I afterwards came to be so pestered with
cats that I was forced to kill them like vermin or wild beastsand
to drive them from my house as much as possible.

From the 14th of August to the 26thincessant rainso that I
could not stirand was now very careful not to be much wet. In
this confinementI began to be straitened for food: but venturing
out twiceI one day killed a goat; and the last daywhich was the
26thfound a very large tortoisewhich was a treat to meand my
food was regulated thus: I ate a bunch of raisins for my breakfast;
a piece of the goat's fleshor of the turtlefor my dinner
broiled - forto my great misfortuneI had no vessel to boil or
stew anything; and two or three of the turtle's eggs for my supper.

During this confinement in my cover by the rainI worked daily two
or three hours at enlarging my caveand by degrees worked it on
towards one sidetill I came to the outside of the hilland made
a door or way outwhich 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; foras I had managed myself beforeI was in a perfect


enclosure; whereas now I thought I lay exposedand open for
anything to come in upon me; and yet I could not perceive that
there was any living thing to fearthe biggest creature that I had
yet seen upon the island being a goat.

SEPT. 30. - I was now come to the unhappy anniversary of my
landing. I cast up the notches on my postand found I had been on
shore three hundred and sixty-five days. I kept this day as a
solemn fastsetting it apart for religious exerciseprostrating
myself on the ground with the most serious humiliationconfessing
my sins to Godacknowledging His righteous judgments upon meand
praying to Him to have mercy on me through Jesus Christ; and not
having tasted the least refreshment for twelve hourseven till the
going down of the sunI then ate a biscuit-cake and a bunch of
grapesand went to bedfinishing 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 mindI hadafter some timeomitted to
distinguish the weeksby making a longer notch than ordinary for
the Sabbath dayand so did not really know what any of the days
were; but nowhaving cast up the days as aboveI found I had been
there a year; so I divided it into weeksand 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 thismy
ink began to fail meand so I contented myself to use it more
sparinglyand to write down only the most remarkable events of my
lifewithout continuing a daily memorandum of other things.

The rainy season and the dry season began now to appear regular to
meand I learned to divide them so as to provide for them
accordingly; but I bought all my experience before I had itand
this I am going to relate was one of the most discouraging
experiments that I made.

I have mentioned that I had saved the few ears of barley and rice
which I had so surprisingly found spring upas I thoughtof
themselvesand I believe there were about thirty stalks of rice
and about twenty of barley; and now I thought it a proper time to
sow itafter the rainsthe sun being in its southern position
going from me. AccordinglyI dug up a piece of ground as well as
I could with my wooden spadeand dividing it into two partsI
sowed my grain; but as I was sowingit casually occurred to my
thoughts that I would not sow it all at firstbecause I did not
know when was the proper time for itso I sowed about two-thirds
of the seedleaving about a handful of each. It was a great
comfort to me afterwards that I did sofor not one grain of what I
sowed this time came to anything: for the dry months followingthe
earth having had no rain after the seed was sownit had no
moisture to assist its growthand never came up at all till the
wet season had come againand then it grew as if it had been but
newly sown. Finding my first seed did not growwhich I easily
imagined was by the droughtI sought for a moister piece of ground
to make another trial inand I dug up a piece of ground near my
new bowerand sowed the rest of my seed in Februarya little
before the vernal equinox; and this having the rainy months of
March and April to water itsprung up very pleasantlyand yielded
a very good crop; but having part of the seed left onlyand not
daring to sow all that I hadI had but a small quantity at last
my whole crop not amounting to above half a peck of each kind. But
by this experiment I was made master of my businessand knew
exactly when the proper season was to sowand that I might expect
two seed-times and two harvests every year.

While this corn was growing I made a little discoverywhich was of
use to me afterwards. As soon as the rains were overand the


weather began to settlewhich was about the month of NovemberI
made a visit up the country to my bowerwherethough I had not
been some monthsyet I found all things just as I left them. The
circle or double hedge that I had made was not only firm and
entirebut the stakes which I had cut out of some trees that grew
thereabouts were all shot out and grown with long branchesas much
as a willow-tree usually shoots the first year after lopping its
head. I could not tell what tree to call it that these stakes were
cut from. I was surprisedand yet very well pleasedto see the
young trees grow; and I pruned themand led them up to grow as
much alike as I could; and it is scarce credible how beautiful a
figure they grew into in three years; so that though the hedge made
a circle of about twenty-five yards in diameteryet the treesfor
such I might now call themsoon covered itand it was a complete
shadesufficient to lodge under all the dry season. This made me
resolve to cut some more stakesand make me a hedge like thisin
a semi-circle round my wall (I mean that of my first dwelling)
which I did; and placing the trees or stakes in a double rowat
about eight yards distance from my first fencethey grew
presentlyand were at first a fine cover to my habitationand
afterwards served for a defence alsoas I shall observe in its
order.

I found now that the seasons of the year might generally be
dividednot into summer and winteras in Europebut into the
rainy seasons and the dry seasonswhich were generally thus:- The
half of Februarythe whole of Marchand the half of April -
rainythe sun being then on or near the equinox.

The half of Aprilthe whole of MayJuneand Julyand the half
of August - drythe sun being then to the north of the line.

The half of Augustthe whole of Septemberand the half of October

-rainythe sun being then come back.
The half of Octoberthe whole of NovemberDecemberand January
and the half of February - drythe sun being then to the south of
the line.

The rainy seasons sometimes held longer or shorter as the winds
happened to blowbut this was the general observation I made.
After I had found by experience the ill consequences of being
abroad in the rainI took care to furnish myself with provisions
beforehandthat I might not be obliged to go outand I sat within
doors as much as possible during the wet months. This time I found
much employmentand very suitable also to the timefor I found
great occasion for many things which I had no way to furnish myself
with but by hard labour and constant application; particularly I
tried many ways to make myself a basketbut all the twigs I could
get for the purpose proved so brittle that they would do nothing.
It proved of excellent advantage to me nowthat when I was a boy
I used to take great delight in standing at a basket-maker'sin
the town where my father livedto see them make their wicker-ware;
and beingas boys usually arevery officious to helpand a great
observer of the manner in which they worked those thingsand
sometimes lending a handI had by these means full knowledge of
the methods of itand I wanted nothing but the materialswhen 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
willowsand osiers in Englandand I resolved to try.
Accordinglythe next day I went to my country houseas I called
itand cutting some of the smaller twigsI 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 quantitywhich I soon found


for there was great plenty of them. These I set up to dry within
my circle or hedgeand when they were fit for use I carried them
to my cave; and hereduring the next seasonI employed myself in
makingas well as I coulda great many basketsboth to carry
earth or to carry or lay up anythingas I had occasion; and though
I did not finish them very handsomelyyet I made them sufficiently
serviceable for my purpose; thusafterwardsI took care never to
be without them; and as my wicker-ware decayedI made more
especially strongdeep baskets to place my corn ininstead of
sackswhen I should come to have any quantity of it.

Having mastered this difficultyand employed a world of time about
itI bestirred myself to seeif possiblehow to supply two
wants. I had no vessels to hold anything that was liquidexcept
two runletswhich were almost full of rumand some glass bottles

-some of the common sizeand others which were case bottles
squarefor the holding of waterspirits&c. I had not so much
as a pot to boil anythingexcept a great kettlewhich I saved out
of the shipand which was too big for such as I desired it - viz.
to make brothand stew a bit of meat by itself. The second thing
I fain would have had was a tobacco-pipebut it was impossible to
me to make one; howeverI found a contrivance for thattooat
last. I employed myself in planting my second rows of stakes or
pilesand 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.
CHAPTER VIII - SURVEYS HIS POSITION

I MENTIONED before that I had a great mind to see the whole island
and that I had travelled up the brookand so on to where I built
my bowerand where I had an opening quite to the seaon the other
side of the island. I now resolved to travel quite across to the
sea-shore on that side; sotaking my guna hatchetand my dog
and a larger quantity of powder and shot than usualwith two
biscuit-cakes and a great bunch of raisins in my pouch for my
storeI began my journey. When I had passed the vale where my
bower stoodas aboveI came within view of the sea to the west
and it being a very clear dayI fairly descried land - whether an
island or a continent I could not tell; but it lay very high
extending from the W. to the W.S.W. at a very great distance; by my
guess it could not be less than fifteen or twenty leagues off.

I could not tell what part of the world this might beotherwise
than that I knew it must be part of Americaandas I concluded by
all my observationsmust be near the Spanish dominionsand
perhaps was all inhabited by savageswhereif I had landedI had
been in a worse condition than I was now; and therefore I
acquiesced in the dispositions of Providencewhich I began now to
own and to believe ordered everything for the best; I say I quieted
my mind with thisand left off afflicting myself with fruitless
wishes of being there.

Besidesafter some thought upon this affairI considered that if
this land was the Spanish coastI should certainlyone time or
othersee some vessel pass or repass one way or other; but if not
then it was the savage coast between the Spanish country and
Brazilswhere are found the worst of savages; for they are
cannibals or men-eatersand fail not to murder and devour all the
human bodies that fall into their hands.


With these considerationsI walked very leisurely forward. I
found that side of the island where I now was much pleasanter than
mine - the open or savannah fields sweetadorned with flowers and
grassand full of very fine woods. I saw abundance of parrots
and fain I would have caught oneif possibleto have kept it to
be tameand taught it to speak to me. I didafter some
painstakingcatch a young parrotfor I knocked it down with a
stickand having recovered itI brought it home; but it was some
years before I could make him speak; howeverat last I taught him
to call me by name very familiarly. But the accident that
followedthough it be a triflewill be very diverting in its
place.

I was exceedingly diverted with this journey. I found in the low
grounds hares (as I thought them to be) and foxes; but they
differed greatly from all the other kinds I had met withnor could
I satisfy myself to eat themthough I killed several. But I had
no need to be venturousfor I had no want of foodand of that
which was very good tooespecially these three sortsviz. goats
pigeonsand turtleor tortoisewhich 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
enoughyet I had great cause for thankfulness that I was not
driven to any extremities for foodbut had rather plentyeven to
dainties.

I never travelled in this journey above two miles outright in a
dayor thereabouts; but I took so many turns and re-turns to see
what discoveries I could makethat I came weary enough to the
place where I resolved to sit down all night; and then I either
reposed myself in a treeor surrounded myself with a row of stakes
set upright in the groundeither from one tree to anotheror so
as no wild creature could come at me without waking me.

As soon as I came to the sea-shoreI was surprised to see that I
had taken up my lot on the worst side of the islandfor here
indeedthe shore was covered with innumerable turtleswhereas 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 kindssome which I
had seenand some which I had not seen beforeand many of them
very good meatbut such as I knew not the names ofexcept those
called penguins.

I could have shot as many as I pleasedbut was very sparing of my
powder and shotand therefore had more mind to kill a she-goat if
I couldwhich I could better feed on; and though there were many
goats heremore than on my side the islandyet it was with much
more difficulty that I could come near themthe country being flat
and evenand they saw me much sooner than when I was on the hills.

I confess this side of the country was much pleasanter than mine;
but yet I had not the least inclination to removefor as I was
fixed in my habitation it became natural to meand I seemed all
the while I was here to be as it were upon a journeyand from
home. HoweverI travelled along the shore of the sea towards the
eastI suppose about twelve milesand then setting up a great
pole upon the shore for a markI 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 dwellingand so round till I came to my post
again.

I took another way to come back than that I wentthinking I could
easily keep all the island so much in my view that I could not miss


finding my first dwelling by viewing the country; but I found
myself mistakenfor being come about two or three milesI found
myself descended into a very large valleybut so surrounded with
hillsand those hills covered with woodthat I could not see
which was my way by any direction but that of the sunnor even
thenunless I knew very well the position of the sun at that time
of the day. It happenedto my further misfortunethat the
weather proved hazy for three or four days while I was in the
valleyand not being able to see the sunI wandered about very
uncomfortablyand at last was obliged to find the seasidelook
for my postand come back the same way I went: and thenby easy
journeysI turned homewardthe weather being exceeding hotand
my gunammunitionhatchetand other things very heavy.

In this journey my dog surprised a young kidand seized upon it;
and Irunning in to take hold of itcaught itand saved it alive
from the dog. I had a great mind to bring it home if I couldfor
I had often been musing whether it might not be possible to get a
kid or twoand so raise a breed of tame goatswhich might supply
me when my powder and shot should be all spent. I made a collar
for this little creatureand with a stringwhich I made of some
rope-yamwhich I always carried about meI led him alongthough
with some difficultytill I came to my bowerand there I enclosed
him and left himfor I was very impatient to be at homefrom
whence I had been absent above a month.

I cannot express what a satisfaction it was to me to come into my
old hutchand lie down in my hammock-bed. This little wandering
journeywithout settled place of abodehad been so unpleasant to
methat my own houseas I called it to myselfwas a perfect
settlement to me compared to that; and it rendered everything about
me so comfortablethat 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 weekto rest and regale myself after my
long journey; during which most of the time was taken up in the
weighty affair of making a cage for my Pollwho began now to be a
mere domesticand to be well acquainted with me. Then I began to
think of the poor kid which I had penned in within my little
circleand resolved to go and fetch it homeor give it some food;
accordingly I wentand found it where I left itfor indeed it
could not get outbut was almost starved for want of food. I went
and cut boughs of treesand branches of such shrubs as I could
findand threw it overand having fed itI tied it as I did
beforeto lead it away; but it was so tame with being hungrythat
I had no need to have tied itfor it followed me like a dog: and
as I continually fed itthe creature became so lovingso gentle
and so fondthat it became from that time one of my domestics
alsoand would never leave me afterwards.

The rainy season of the autumnal equinox was now comeand I kept
the 30th of September in the same solemn manner as beforebeing
the anniversary of my landing on the islandhaving now been there
two yearsand no more prospect of being delivered than the first
day I came thereI spent the whole day in humble and thankful
acknowledgments of the many wonderful mercies which my solitary
condition was attended withand without which it might have been
infinitely more miserable. I gave humble and hearty thanks that
God had been pleased to discover to me that it was possible I might
be more happy in this solitary condition than I should have been in
the liberty of societyand 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 societyby His presence and the
communications of His grace to my soul; supportingcomfortingand


encouraging me to depend upon His providence hereand hope for His
eternal presence hereafter.

It was now that I began sensibly to feel how much more happy this
life I now led waswith all its miserable circumstancesthan the
wickedcursedabominable life I led all the past part of my days;
and now I changed both my sorrows and my joys; my very desires
alteredmy affections changed their gustsand my delights were
perfectly new from what they were at my first comingorindeed
for the two years past.

Beforeas I walked abouteither on my hunting or for viewing the
countrythe anguish of my soul at my condition would break out
upon me on a suddenand my very heart would die within meto
think of the woodsthe mountainsthe deserts I was inand how I
was a prisonerlocked up with the eternal bars and bolts of the
oceanin an uninhabited wildernesswithout redemption. In the
midst of the greatest composure of my mindthis would break out
upon me like a stormand make me wring my hands and weep like a
child. Sometimes it would take me in the middle of my workand I
would immediately sit down and sighand look upon the ground for
an hour or two together; and this was still worse to mefor if I
could burst out into tearsor vent myself by wordsit would go
offand the griefhaving exhausted itselfwould abate.

But now I began to exercise myself with new thoughts: I daily read
the word of Godand applied all the comforts of it to my present
state. One morningbeing very sadI opened the Bible upon these
wordsI will never, never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Immediately it occurred that these words were to me; why else
should they be directed in such a mannerjust at the moment when I
was mourning over my conditionas one forsaken of God and man?
Well, then,said Iif God does not forsake me, of what ill
consequence can it be, or what matters it, though the world should
all forsake me, seeing on the other hand, if I had all the world,
and should lose the favour and blessing of God, there would be no
comparison in the loss?

From this moment I began to conclude in my mind that it was
possible for me to be more happy in this forsakensolitary
condition than it was probable I should ever have been in any other
particular state in the world; and with this thought I was going to
give thanks to God for bringing me to this place. I know not what
it wasbut something shocked my mind at that thoughtand I durst
not speak the words. "How canst thou become such a hypocrite
said I, even audibly, to pretend to be thankful for a condition
whichhowever thou mayest endeavour to be contented withthou
wouldst rather pray heartily to be delivered from?" So I stopped
there; but though I could not say I thanked God for being there
yet I sincerely gave thanks to God for opening my eyesby whatever
afflicting providencesto see the former condition of my lifeand
to mourn for my wickednessand repent. I never opened the Bible
or shut itbut my very soul within me blessed God for directing my
friend in Englandwithout any order of mineto pack it up among
my goodsand for assisting me afterwards to save it out of the
wreck of the ship.

Thusand in this disposition of mindI 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 firstyet in general it may
be observed that I was very seldom idlebut having regularly
divided my time according to the several daily employments that
were before mesuch as: firstmy duty to Godand the reading the
Scriptureswhich I constantly set apart some time for thrice every


day; secondlythe going abroad with my gun for foodwhich
generally took me up three hours in every morningwhen it did not
rain; thirdlythe orderingcuttingpreservingand cooking what
I had killed or caught for my supply; these took up great part of
the day. Alsoit is to be consideredthat in the middle of the
daywhen the sun was in the zeniththe violence of the heat was
too great to stir out; so that about four hours in the evening was
all the time I could be supposed to work inwith this exception
that sometimes I changed my hours of hunting and workingand went
to work in the morningand abroad with my gun in the afternoon.

To this short time allowed for labour I desire may be added the
exceeding laboriousness of my work; the many hours whichfor want
of toolswant of helpand want of skilleverything I did took up
out of my time. For exampleI was full two and forty days in
making a board for a long shelfwhich I wanted in my cave;
whereastwo sawyerswith their tools and a saw-pitwould have
cut six of them out of the same tree in half a day.

My case was this: it was to be a large tree which was to be cut
downbecause my board was to be a broad one. This tree I was
three days in cutting downand two more cutting off the boughs
and reducing it to a log or piece of timber. With inexpressible
hacking and hewing I reduced both the sides of it into chips till
it began to be light enough to move; then I turned itand made one
side of it smooth and flat as a board from end to end; then
turning that side downwardcut the other side til I brought the
plank to be about three inches thickand smooth on both sides.
Any one may judge the labour of my hands in such a piece of work;
but labour and patience carried me through thatand many other
things. I only observe this in particularto 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 toolswas a vast labour
and required a prodigious time to do aloneand by hand. But
notwithstanding thiswith patience and labour I got through
everything that my circumstances made necessary to me to doas
will appear by what follows.

I was nowin the months of November and Decemberexpecting my
crop of barley and rice. The ground I had manured and dug up for
them was not great; foras I observedmy seed of each was not
above the quantity of half a peckfor I had lost one whole crop by
sowing in the dry season. But now my crop promised very wellwhen
on a sudden I found I was in danger of losing it all again by
enemies of several sortswhich it was scarcely possible to keep
from it; asfirstthe goatsand wild creatures which I called
hareswhotasting the sweetness of the bladelay in it night and
dayas soon as it came upand eat it so closethat it could get
no time to shoot up into stalk.

This I saw no remedy for but by making an enclosure about it with a
hedge; which I did with a great deal of toiland the morebecause
it required speed. Howeveras my arable land was but small
suited to my cropI got it totally well fenced in about three
weeks' time; and shooting some of the creatures in the daytimeI
set my dog to guard it in the nighttying him up to a stake at the
gatewhere he would stand and bark all night long; so in a little
time the enemies forsook the placeand the corn grew very strong
and welland began to ripen apace.

But as the beasts ruined me beforewhile my corn was in the blade
so the birds were as likely to ruin me nowwhen it was in the ear;
forgoing along by the place to see how it throveI saw my little
crop surrounded with fowlsof I know not how many sortswho


stoodas it werewatching till I should be gone. I immediately
let fly among themfor I always had my gun with me. I had no
sooner shotbut there rose up a little cloud of fowlswhich I had
not seen at allfrom among the corn itself.

This touched me sensiblyfor I foresaw that in a few days they
would devour all my hopes; that I should be starvedand never be
able to raise a crop at all; and what to do I could not tell;
howeverI resolved not to lose my cornif possiblethough I
should watch it night and day. In the first placeI went among it
to see what damage was already doneand found they had spoiled a
good deal of it; but that as it was yet too green for themthe
loss was not so great but that the remainder was likely to be a
good crop if it could be saved.

I stayed by it to load my gunand then coming awayI could easily
see the thieves sitting upon all the trees about meas if they
only waited till I was gone awayand the event proved it to be so;
for as I walked offas if I was goneI was no sooner out of their
sight than they dropped down one by one into the corn again. I was
so provokedthat I could not have patience to stay till more came
onknowing that every grain that they ate now wasas it might be
saida peck-loaf to me in the consequence; but coming up to the
hedgeI fired againand killed three of them. This was what I
wished for; so I took them upand served them as we serve
notorious thieves in England - hanged them in chainsfor a terror
to of them. It is impossible to imagine that this should have such
an effect as it hadfor the fowls would not only not come at the
cornbutin shortthey forsook all that part of the islandand
I could never see a bird near the place as long as my scarecrows
hung there. This I was very glad ofyou may be sureand about
the latter end of Decemberwhich was our second harvest of the
yearI reaped my corn.

I was sadly put to it for a scythe or sickle to cut it downand
all I could do was to make oneas well as I couldout of one of
the broadswordsor cutlasseswhich I saved among the arms out of
the ship. Howeveras my first crop was but smallI had no great
difficulty to cut it down; in shortI reaped it in my wayfor I
cut nothing off but the earsand carried it away in a great basket
which I had madeand so rubbed it out with my hands; and at the
end of all my harvestingI found that out of my half-peck of seed
I had near two bushels of riceand about two bushels and a half of
barley; that is to sayby my guessfor I had no measure at that
time.

Howeverthis was a great encouragement to meand I foresaw that
in timeit would please God to supply me with bread. And yet here
I was perplexed againfor I neither knew how to grind or make meal
of my cornor indeed how to clean it and part it; norif made
into mealhow to make bread of it; and if how to make ityet I
knew not how to bake it. These things being added to my desire of
having a good quantity for storeand to secure a constant supply
I resolved not to taste any of this crop but to preserve it all for
seed against the next season; and in the meantime to employ all my
study and hours of working to accomplish this great work of
providing myself with corn and bread.

It might be truly saidthat now I worked for my bread. I believe
few people have thought much upon the strange multitude of little
things necessary in the providingproducingcuringdressing
makingand finishing this one article of bread.

Ithat was reduced to a mere state of naturefound this to my


daily discouragement; and was made more sensible of it every hour
even after I had got the first handful of seed-cornwhichas I
have saidcame up unexpectedlyand indeed to a surprise.

FirstI had no plough to turn up the earth - no spade or shovel to
dig it. Wellthis I conquered by making me a wooden spadeas I
observed before; but this did my work but in a wooden manner; and
though it cost me a great many days to make ityetfor want of
ironit not only wore out soonbut made my work the harderand
made it be performed much worse. Howeverthis I bore withand
was content to work it out with patienceand bear with the badness
of the performance. When the corn was sownI had no harrowbut
was forced to go over it myselfand drag a great heavy bough of a
tree over itto scratch itas it may be calledrather than rake
or harrow it. When it was growingand grownI have observed
already how many things I wanted to fence itsecure itmow or
reap itcure and carry it homethrashpart 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 breadand an oven to bake it; but
all these things I did withoutas shall be observed; and yet the
corn was an inestimable comfort and advantage to me too. All this
as I saidmade everything laborious and tedious to me; but that
there was no help for. Neither was my time so much loss to me
becauseas I had divided ita certain part of it was every day
appointed to these works; and as I had resolved to use none of the
corn for bread till I had a greater quantity by meI had the next
six months to apply myself whollyby labour and inventionto
furnish myself with utensils proper for the performing all the
operations necessary for making the cornwhen I had itfit for my
use.

CHAPTER IX - A BOAT

BUT first I was to prepare more landfor I had now seed enough to
sow above an acre of ground. Before I did thisI had a week's
work at least to make me a spadewhichwhen it was donewas but
a sorry one indeedand very heavyand required double labour to
work with it. HoweverI got through thatand sowed my seed in
two large flat pieces of groundas near my house as I could find
them to my mindand fenced them in with a good hedgethe stakes
of which were all cut off that wood which I had set beforeand
knew it would grow; so thatin a year's timeI knew I should have
a quick or living hedgethat would want but little repair. This
work did not take me up less than three monthsbecause a great
part of that time was the wet seasonwhen I could not go abroad.
Within-doorsthat is when it rained and I could not go outI
found employment in the following occupations - always observing
that all the while I was at work I diverted myself with talking to
my parrotand teaching him to speak; and I quickly taught him to
know his own nameand at last to speak it out pretty loudPoll,
which was the first word I ever heard spoken in the island by any
mouth but my own. Thisthereforewas not my workbut an
assistance to my work; for nowas I saidI had a great employment
upon my handsas follows: I had long studied to makeby some
means or othersome earthen vesselswhichindeedI wanted
sorelybut knew not where to come at them. Howeverconsidering
the heat of the climateI did not doubt but if I could find out
any clayI might make some pots that mightbeing dried in the
sunbe hard enough and strong enough to bear handlingand to hold
anything that was dryand required to be kept so; and as this was


necessary in the preparing cornmeal&c.which was the thing I
was doingI resolved to make some as large as I couldand fit
only to stand like jarsto hold what should be put into them.

It would make the reader pity meor rather laugh at meto tell
how many awkward ways I took to raise this paste; what odd
misshapenugly things I made; how many of them fell in and how
many fell outthe clay not being stiff enough to bear its own
weight; how many cracked by the over-violent heat of the sunbeing
set out too hastily; and how many fell in pieces with only
removingas well before as after they were dried; andin a word
howafter having laboured hard to find the clay - to dig itto
temper itto bring it homeand work it - I could not make above
two large earthen ugly things (I cannot call them jars) in about
two months' labour.

Howeveras the sun baked these two very dry and hardI lifted
them very gently upand set them down again in two great wicker
basketswhich I had made on purpose for themthat they might not
break; and as between the pot and the basket there was a little
room to spareI stuffed it full of the rice and barley straw; and
these two pots being to stand always dry I thought would hold my
dry cornand perhaps the mealwhen the corn was bruised.

Though I miscarried so much in my design for large potsyet I made
several smaller things with better success; such as little round
potsflat dishespitchersand pipkinsand any things my hand
turned to; and the heat of the sun baked them quite hard.

But all this would not answer my endwhich was to get an earthen
pot to hold what was liquidand bear the firewhich none of these
could do. It happened after some timemaking a pretty large fire
for cooking my meatwhen I went to put it out after I had done
with itI found a broken piece of one of my earthenware vessels in
the fireburnt as hard as a stoneand red as a tile. I was
agreeably surprised to see itand said to myselfthat certainly
they might be made to burn wholeif they would burn broken.

This set me to study how to order my fireso as to make it burn
some pots. I had no notion of a kilnsuch as the potters burn in
or of glazing them with leadthough I had some lead to do it with;
but I placed three large pipkins and two or three pots in a pile
one upon anotherand placed my firewood all round itwith a great
heap of embers under them. I plied the fire with fresh fuel round
the outside and upon the toptill I saw the pots in the inside
red-hot quite throughand observed that they did not crack at all.
When I saw them clear redI let them stand in that heat about five
or six hourstill I found one of themthough it did not crack
did melt or run; for the sand which was mixed with the clay melted
by the violence of the heatand 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 nightthat I might
not let the fire abate too fastin the morning I had three very
good (I will not say handsome) pipkinsand two other earthen pots
as hard burnt as could be desiredand one of them perfectly glazed
with the running of the sand.

After this experimentI need not say that I wanted no sort of
earthenware for my use; but I must needs say as to the shapes of
themthey were very indifferentas any one may supposewhen I
had no way of making them but as the children make dirt piesor 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 minewhen


I found I had made an earthen pot that would bear the fire; and I
had hardly patience to stay till they were cold before I set one on
the fire again with some water in it to boil me some meatwhich it
did admirably well; and with a piece of a kid I made some very good
broththough I wanted oatmealand several other ingredients
requisite to make it as good as I would have had it been.

My next concern was to get me a stone mortar to stamp or beat some
corn in; for as to the millthere was no thought of arriving at
that perfection of art with one pair of hands. To supply this
wantI was at a great loss; forof all the trades in the worldI
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 hollowand
make fit for a mortarand could find none at allexcept what was
in the solid rockand which I had no way to dig or cut out; nor
indeed were the rocks in the island of hardness sufficientbut
were all of a sandycrumbling stonewhich neither would bear the
weight of a heavy pestlenor would break the corn without filling
it with sand. Soafter a great deal of time lost in searching for
a stoneI gave it overand resolved to look out for a great block
of hard woodwhich I foundindeedmuch easier; and getting one
as big as I had strength to stirI rounded itand formed it on
the outside with my axe and hatchetand then with the help of fire
and infinite labourmade a hollow place in itas the Indians in
Brazil make their canoes. After thisI made a great heavy pestle
or beater of the wood called the iron-wood; and this I prepared and
laid by against I had my next crop of cornwhich I proposed to
myself to grindor rather pound into meal to make bread.

My next difficulty was to make a sieve or searceto dress my meal
and to part it from the bran and the husk; without which I did not
see it possible I could have any bread. This was a most difficult
thing even to think onfor to be sure I had nothing like the
necessary thing to make it - I mean fine thin canvas or stuff to
searce the meal through. And here I was at a full stop for many
months; nor did I really know what to do. Linen I had none left
but what was mere rags; I had goat's hairbut neither knew how to
weave it or spin it; and had I known howhere were no tools to
work it with. All the remedy that I found for this wasthat at
last I did remember I hadamong the seamen's clothes which were
saved out of the shipsome neckcloths of calico or muslin; and
with some pieces of these I made three small sieves proper enough
for the work; and thus I made shift for some years: how I did
afterwardsI shall show in its place.

The baking part was the next thing to be consideredand how I
should make bread when I came to have corn; for firstI had no
yeast. As to that partthere was no supplying the wantso I did
not concern myself much about it. But for an oven I was indeed in
great pain. At length I found out an experiment for that also
which was this: I made some earthen-vessels very broad but not
deepthat is to sayabout two feet diameterand not above nine
inches deep. These I burned in the fireas I had done the other
and laid them by; and when I wanted to bakeI made a great fire
upon my hearthwhich I had paved with some square tiles of my own
baking and burning also; but I should not call them square.

When the firewood was burned pretty much into embers or live coals
I drew them forward upon this hearthso as to cover it all over
and there I let them lie till the hearth was very hot. Then
sweeping away all the embersI set down my loaf or loavesand
whelming down the earthen pot upon themdrew the embers all round
the outside of the potto keep in and add to the heat; and thus as


well as in the best oven in the worldI baked my barley-loaves
and became in little time a good pastrycook into the bargain; for I
made myself several cakes and puddings of the rice; but I made no
piesneither had I anything to put into them supposing I had
except the flesh either of fowls or goats.

It need not be wondered at if all these things took me up most part
of the third year of my abode here; for it is to be observed that
in the intervals of these things I had my new harvest and husbandry
to manage; for I reaped my corn in its seasonand carried it home
as well as I couldand laid it up in the earin my large baskets
till I had time to rub it outfor I had no floor to thrash it on
or instrument to thrash it with.

And nowindeedmy stock of corn increasingI really wanted to
build my barns bigger; I wanted a place to lay it up infor the
increase of the corn now yielded me so muchthat I had of the
barley about twenty bushelsand of the rice as much or more;
insomuch that now I resolved to begin to use it freely; for my
bread had been quite gone a great while; also I resolved to see
what quantity would be sufficient for me a whole yearand to sow
but once a year.

Upon the wholeI found that the forty bushels of barley and rice
were much more than I could consume in a year; so I resolved to sow
just the same quantity every year that I sowed the lastin hopes
that such a quantity would fully provide me with bread&c.

All the while these things were doingyou may be sure my thoughts
ran many times upon the prospect of land which I had seen from the
other side of the island; and I was not without secret wishes that
I were on shore therefancying thatseeing the mainlandand an
inhabited countryI might find some way or other to convey myself
furtherand perhaps at last find some means of escape.

But all this while I made no allowance for the dangers of such an
undertakingand how I might fall into the hands of savagesand
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 powerI
should run a hazard of more than a thousand to one of being killed
and perhaps of being eaten; for I had heard that the people of the
Caribbean coast were cannibals or man-eatersand I knew by the
latitude that I could not be far from that shore. Thensupposing
they were not cannibalsyet they might kill meas many Europeans
who had fallen into their hands had been servedeven when they had
been ten or twenty together - much more Ithat was but oneand
could make little or no defence; all these thingsI saywhich I
ought to have considered well; and did come into my thoughts
afterwardsyet gave me no apprehensions at firstand my head ran
mightily upon the thought of getting over to the shore.

Now I wished for my boy Xuryand the long-boat with shoulder-ofmutton
sailwith 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 boatwhichas I have saidwas blown up
upon the shore a great wayin the stormwhen we were first cast
away. She lay almost where she did at firstbut not quite; and
was turnedby the force of the waves and the windsalmost bottom
upwardagainst a high ridge of beachyrough sandbut no water
about her. If I had had hands to have refitted herand to have
launched her into the waterthe boat would have done well enough
and I might have gone back into the Brazils with her easily enough;
but I might have foreseen that I could no more turn her and set her
upright upon her bottom than I could remove the island; howeverI


went to the woodsand cut levers and rollersand brought them to
the boat resolving to try what I could do; suggesting to myself
that if I could but turn her downI might repair the damage she
had receivedand she would be a very good boatand I might go to
sea in her very easily.

I spared no painsindeedin this piece of fruitless toiland
spentI thinkthree or four weeks about it; at last finding it
impossible to heave it up with my little strengthI fell to
digging away the sandto undermine itand so to make it fall
downsetting pieces of wood to thrust and guide it right in the
fall.

But when I had done thisI was unable to stir it up againor to
get under itmuch less to move it forward towards the water; so I
was forced to give it over; and yetthough I gave over the hopes
of the boatmy desire to venture over for the main increased
rather than decreasedas the means for it seemed impossible.

This at length put me upon thinking whether it was not possible to
make myself a canoeor periaguasuch as the natives of those
climates makeeven without toolsoras I might saywithout
handsof the trunk of a great tree. This I not only thought
possiblebut easyand pleased myself extremely with the thoughts
of making itand with my having much more convenience for it than
any of the negroes or Indians; but not at all considering the
particular inconveniences which I lay under more than the Indians
did - viz. want of hands to move itwhen it was madeinto the
water - a difficulty much harder for me to surmount than all the
consequences of want of tools could be to them; for what was it to
meif when I had chosen a vast tree in the woodsand with much
trouble cut it downif I had been able with my tools to hew and
dub the outside into the proper shape of a boatand burn or cut
out the inside to make it hollowso as to make a boat of it - if
after all thisI must leave it just there where I found itand
not be able to launch it into the water?

One would have thought I could not have had the least reflection
upon my mind of my circumstances while I was making this boatbut
I should have immediately thought how I should get it into the sea;
but my thoughts were so intent upon my voyage over the sea in it
that I never once considered how I should get it off the land: and
it was reallyin its own naturemore easy for me to guide it over
forty-five miles of sea than about forty-five fathoms of land
where it layto 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
designwithout determining whether I was ever able to undertake
it; not but that the difficulty of launching my boat came often
into my head; but I put a stop to my inquiries into it by this
foolish answer which I gave myself - "Let me first make it; I
warrant I will find some way or other to get it along when it is
done."

This was a most preposterous method; but the eagerness of my fancy
prevailedand to work I went. I felled a cedar-treeand I
question much whether Solomon ever had such a one for the building
of the Temple of Jerusalem; it was five feet ten inches diameter at
the lower part next the stumpand four feet eleven inches diameter
at the end of twenty-two feet; after which it lessened for a while
and then parted into branches. It was not without infinite labour
that I felled this tree; I was twenty days hacking and hewing at it
at the bottom; I was fourteen more getting the branches and limbs


and the vast spreading head cut offwhich I hacked and hewed
through with axe and hatchetand inexpressible labour; after this
it cost me a month to shape it and dub it to a proportionand to
something like the bottom of a boatthat it might swim upright as
it ought to do. It cost me near three months more to clear the
insideand work it out so as to make an exact boat of it; this I
didindeedwithout fireby mere mallet and chiseland by the
dint of hard labourtill I had brought it to be a very handsome
periaguaand big enough to have carried six-and-twenty menand
consequently big enough to have carried me and all my cargo.

When I had gone through this work I was extremely delighted with
it. The boat was really much bigger than ever I saw a canoe or
periaguathat was made of one treein my life. Many a weary
stroke it had costyou may be sure; and had I gotten it into the
waterI make no questionbut I should have begun the maddest
voyageand the most unlikely to be performedthat ever was
undertaken.

But all my devices to get it into the water failed me; though they
cost me infinite labour too. It lay about one hundred yards from
the waterand not more; but the first inconvenience wasit was up
hill towards the creek. Wellto take away this discouragementI
resolved to dig into the surface of the earthand so make a
declivity: this I beganand it cost me a prodigious deal of pains
(but who grudge pains who have their deliverance in view?); but
when this was worked throughand this difficulty managedit was
still much the samefor I could no more stir the canoe than I
could the other boat. Then I measured the distance of groundand
resolved to cut a dock or canalto bring the water up to the
canoeseeing I could not bring the canoe down to the water. Well
I began this work; and when I began to enter upon itand calculate
how deep it was to be dughow broadhow the stuff was to be
thrown outI found thatby the number of hands I hadbeing none
but my ownit must have been ten or twelve years before I could
have gone through with it; for the shore lay so highthat at the
upper end it must have been at least twenty feet deep; so at
lengththough with great reluctancyI gave this attempt over
also.

This grieved me heartily; and now I sawthough too latethe folly
of beginning a work before we count the costand 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 devotionand with as much
comfort as ever before; forby a constant study and serious
application to the Word of Godand 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 remotewhich I had nothing to do withno
expectations fromandindeedno desires about: in a wordI had
nothing indeed to do with itnor was ever likely to haveso I
thought it lookedas we may perhaps look upon it hereafter - viz.
as a place I had lived inbut was come out of it; and well might I
sayas Father Abraham to DivesBetween me and thee is a great
gulf fixed.

In the first placeI was removed from all the wickedness of the
world here; I had neither the lusts of the fleshthe lusts of the
eyenor the pride of life. I had nothing to covetfor I had all
that I was now capable of enjoying; I was lord of the whole manor;
orif I pleasedI might call myself king or emperor over the
whole country which I had possession of: there were no rivals; I


had no competitornone to dispute sovereignty or command with me:
I might have raised ship-loadings of cornbut I had no use for it;
so I let as little grow as I thought enough for my occasion. I had
tortoise or turtle enoughbut now and then one was as much as I
could put to any use: I had timber enough to have built a fleet of
ships; and I had grapes enough to have made wineor to have cured
into raisinsto have loaded that fleet when it had been built.

But all I could make use of was all that was valuable: I had enough
to eat and supply my wantsand what was all the rest to me? If I
killed more flesh than I could eatthe dog must eat itor vermin;
if I sowed more corn than I could eatit must be spoiled; the
trees that I cut down were lying to rot on the ground; I could make
no more use of them but for fueland that I had no occasion for
but to dress my food.

In a wordthe nature and experience of things dictated to meupon
just reflectionthat all the good things of this world are no
farther good to us than they are for our use; and thatwhatever we
may heap up to give otherswe enjoy just as much as we can use
and no more. The most covetousgriping 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 desireexcept it was of things which I had not
and they were but triflesthoughindeedof great use to me. I
hadas I hinted beforea parcel of moneyas well gold as silver
about thirty-six pounds sterling. Alas! there the sorryuseless
stuff lay; I had no more manner of business for it; and often
thought with myself that I would have given a handful of it for a
gross of tobacco-pipes; or for a hand-mill to grind my corn; nayI
would have given it all for a sixpenny-worth of turnip and carrot
seed out of Englandor for a handful of peas and beansand a
bottle of ink. As it wasI had not the least advantage by it or
benefit from it; but there it lay in a drawerand grew mouldy with
the damp of the cave in the wet seasons; and if I had had the
drawer full of diamondsit had been the same case - they had been
of no manner of value to mebecause of no use.

I had now brought my state of life to be much easier in itself than
it was at firstand much easier to my mindas well as to my body.
I frequently sat down to meat with thankfulnessand admired the
hand of God's providencewhich had thus spread my table in the
wilderness. I learned to look more upon the bright side of my
conditionand less upon the dark sideand to consider what I
enjoyed rather than what I wanted; and this gave me sometimes such
secret comfortsthat I cannot express them; and which I take
notice of hereto put those discontented people in mind of itwho
cannot enjoy comfortably what God has given thembecause they see
and covet something that He has not given them. All our
discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the
want of thankfulness for what we have.

Another reflection was of great use to meand doubtless would be
so to any one that should fall into such distress as mine was; and
this wasto compare my present condition with what I at first
expected it would be; naywith what it would certainly have been
if the good providence of God had not wonderfully ordered the ship
to be cast up nearer to the shorewhere I not only could come at
herbut could bring what I got out of her to the shorefor my
relief and comfort; without whichI had wanted for tools to work
weapons for defenceand gunpowder and shot for getting my food.

I spent whole hoursI may say whole daysin representing to
myselfin the most lively colourshow I must have acted if I had


got nothing out of the ship. How I could not have so much as got
any foodexcept fish and turtles; and thatas it was long before
I found any of themI must have perished first; that I should have
livedif I had not perishedlike a mere savage; that if I had
killed a goat or a fowlby any contrivanceI had no way to flay
or open itor part the flesh from the skin and the bowelsor to
cut it up; but must gnaw it with my teethand pull it with my
clawslike a beast.

These reflections made me very sensible of the goodness of
Providence to meand very thankful for my present conditionwith
all its hardships and misfortunes; and this part also I cannot but
recommend to the reflection of those who are aptin their misery
to sayIs any affliction like mine?Let them consider how much
worse the cases of some people areand their case might have been
if Providence had thought fit.

I had another reflectionwhich assisted me also to comfort my mind
with hopes; and this was comparing my present situation with what I
had deservedand had therefore reason to expect from the hand of
Providence. I had lived a dreadful lifeperfectly destitute of
the knowledge and fear of God. I had been well instructed by
father and mother; neither had they been wanting to me in their
early endeavours to infuse a religious awe of God into my minda
sense of my dutyand what the nature and end of my being required
of me. Butalas! falling early into the seafaring lifewhich of
all lives is the most destitute of the fear of Godthough His
terrors are always before them; I sayfalling early into the
seafaring lifeand into seafaring companyall that little sense
of religion which I had entertained was laughed out of me by my
messmates; by a hardened despising of dangersand the views of
deathwhich grew habitual to me by my long absence from all manner
of opportunities to converse with anything but what was like
myselfor to hear anything that was good or tended towards it.

So void was I of everything that was goodor the least sense of
what I wasor was to bethatin the greatest deliverances I
enjoyed - such as my escape from Sallee; my being taken up by the
Portuguese master of the ship; my being planted so well in the
Brazils; my receiving the cargo from Englandand the like - I
never had once the words "Thank God!" so much as on my mindor in
my mouth; nor in the greatest distress had I so much as a thought
to pray to Himor so much as to sayLord, have mercy upon me!
nonor to mention the name of Godunless it was to swear byand
blaspheme it.

I had terrible reflections upon my mind for many monthsas I have
already observedon account of my wicked and hardened life past;
and when I looked about meand considered what particular
providences had attended me since my coming into this placeand
how God had dealt bountifully with me - had not only punished me
less than my iniquity had deservedbut had so plentifully provided
for me - this gave me great hopes that my repentance was accepted
and that God had yet mercy in store for me.

With these reflections I worked my mind upnot only to a
resignation to the will of God in the present disposition of my
circumstancesbut even to a sincere thankfulness for my condition;
and that Iwho was yet a living manought not to complainseeing
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 conditionbut to rejoiceand
to give daily thanks for that daily breadwhich nothing but a
crowd of wonders could have brought; that I ought to consider I had


been fed even by a miracleeven as great as that of feeding Elijah
by ravensnayby a long series of miracles; and that I could
hardly have named a place in the uninhabitable part of the world
where I could have been cast more to my advantage; a place where
as I had no societywhich was my affliction on one handso I
found no ravenous beastsno furious wolves or tigersto threaten
my life; no venomous creaturesor poisonswhich I might feed on
to my hurt; no savages to murder and devour me. In a wordas my
life was a life of sorrow one wayso it was a life of mercy
another; and I wanted nothing to make it a life of comfort but to
be able to make my sense of God's goodness to meand care over me
in this conditionbe my daily consolation; and after I did make a
just improvement on these thingsI went awayand was no more sad.
I had now been here so long that many things which I had brought on
shore for my help were either quite goneor very much wasted and
near spent.

My inkas I observedhad been gone some timeall but a very
littlewhich I eked out with watera little and a littletill it
was so paleit 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 pastI remembered that there was a strange
concurrence of days in the various providences which befell meand
whichif I had been superstitiously inclined to observe days as
fatal or fortunateI might have had reason to have looked upon
with a great deal of curiosity.

FirstI had observed that the same day that I broke away from my
father and friends and ran away to Hullin order to go to seathe
same day afterwards I was taken by the Sallee man-of-warand made
a slave; the same day of the year that I escaped out of the wreck
of that ship in Yarmouth Roadsthat same day-year afterwards I
made my escape from Sallee in a boat; the same day of the year I
was born on - viz. the 30th of Septemberthat same day I had my
life so miraculously saved twenty-six years afterwhen I was cast
on shore in this island; so that my wicked life and my solitary
life began both on a day.

The next thing to my ink being wasted was that of my bread - I mean
the biscuit which I brought out of the ship; this I had husbanded
to the last degreeallowing 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 ownand great reason I had to be
thankful that I had any at allthe getting it beingas has been
already observednext to miraculous.

My clothestoobegan to decay; as to linenI had had none a good
whileexcept some chequered shirts which I found in the chests of
the other seamenand which I carefully preserved; because many
times I could bear no other clothes on but a shirt; and it was a
very great help to me that I hadamong all the men's clothes of
the shipalmost three dozen of shirts. There were alsoindeed
several thick watch-coats of the seamen's which were leftbut they
were too hot to wear; and though it is true that the weather was so
violently hot that there was no need of clothesyet I could not go
quite naked - nothough I had been inclined to itwhich I was not

-nor could I abide the thought of itthough I was alone. The
reason why I could not go naked wasI could not bear the heat of
the sun so well when quite naked as with some clothes on; naythe
very heat frequently blistered my skin: whereaswith a shirt on
the air itself made some motionand whistling under the shirtwas
twofold cooler than without it. No more could I ever bring myself
to go out in the heat of the sun without a cap or a hat; the heat

of the sunbeating with such violence as it does in that place
would give me the headache presentlyby darting so directly on my
headwithout a cap or hat onso that I could not bear it;
whereasif I put on my hat it would presently go away.

Upon these views I began to consider about putting the few rags I
hadwhich I called clothesinto some order; I had worn out all
the waistcoats I hadand my business was now to try if I could not
make jackets out of the great watch-coats which I had by meand
with such other materials as I had; so I set to worktailoringor
ratherindeedbotchingfor I made most piteous work of it.
HoweverI made shift to make two or three new waistcoatswhich I
hoped would serve me a great while: as for breeches or drawersI
made but a very sorry shift indeed till afterwards.

I have mentioned that I saved the skins of all the creatures that I
killedI mean four-footed onesand I had them hung upstretched
out with sticks in the sunby which means some of them were so dry
and hard that they were fit for littlebut others were very
useful. The first thing I made of these was a great cap for my
headwith the hair on the outsideto shoot off the rain; and this
I performed so wellthat after I made me a suit of clothes wholly
of these skins - that is to saya waistcoatand breeches open at
the kneesand both loosefor they were rather wanting to keep me
cool than to keep me warm. I must not omit to acknowledge that
they were wretchedly made; for if I was a bad carpenterI was a
worse tailor. Howeverthey were such as I made very good shift
withand when I was outif it happened to rainthe hair of my
waistcoat and cap being outermostI was kept very dry.

After thisI spent a great deal of time and pains to make an
umbrella; I wasindeedin great want of oneand had a great mind
to make one; I had seen them made in the Brazilswhere they are
very useful in the great heats thereand I felt the heats every
jot as great hereand greater toobeing nearer the equinox;
besidesas I was obliged to be much abroadit was a most useful
thing to meas well for the rains as the heats. I took a world of
pains with itand was a great while before I could make anything
likely to hold: nayafter I had thought I had hit the wayI
spoiled two or three before I made one to my mind: but at last I
made one that answered indifferently well: the main difficulty I
found was to make it let down. I could make it spreadbut if it
did not let down tooand draw init was not portable for me any
way but just over my headwhich would not do. Howeverat last
as I saidI made one to answerand covered it with skinsthe
hair upwardsso that it cast off the rain like a pent-houseand
kept off the sun so effectuallythat I could walk out in the
hottest of the weather with greater advantage than I could before
in the coolestand when I had no need of it could close itand
carry it under my arm

Thus I lived mighty comfortablymy mind being entirely composed by
resigning myself to the will of Godand throwing myself wholly
upon the disposal of His providence. This made my life better than
sociablefor when I began to regret the want of conversation I
would ask myselfwhether thus conversing mutually with my own
thoughtsand (as I hope I may say) with even God Himselfby
ejaculationswas not better than the utmost enjoyment of human
society in the world?

CHAPTER X - TAMES GOATS


I CANNOT say that after thisfor five yearsany extraordinary
thing happened to mebut I lived on in the same coursein the
same posture and placeas before; the chief things I was employed
inbesides my yearly labour of planting my barley and riceand
curing my raisinsof both which I always kept up just enough to
have sufficient stock of one year's provisions beforehand; I say
besides this yearly labourand my daily pursuit of going out with
my gunI had one labourto make a canoewhich at last I
finished: so thatby digging a canal to it of six feet wide and
four feet deepI brought it into the creekalmost half a mile.
As for the firstwhich was so vastly bigfor I made it without
considering beforehandas I ought to have donehow I should be
able to launch itsonever being able to bring it into the water
or bring the water to itI was obliged to let it lie where it was
as a memorandum to teach me to be wiser the next time: indeedthe
next timethough I could not get a tree proper for itand was in
a place where I could not get the water to it at any less distance
thanas I have saidnear half a mileyetas I saw it was
practicable at lastI never gave it over; and though I was near
two years about ityet I never grudged my labourin hopes of
having a boat to go off to sea at last.

Howeverthough my little periagua was finishedyet 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 FIRMAwhere
it was above forty miles broad; accordinglythe smallness of my
boat assisted to put an end to that designand now I thought no
more of it. As I had a boatmy next design was to make a cruise
round the island; for as I had been on the other side in one place
crossingas I have already described itover the landso the
discoveries I made in that little journey made me very eager to see
other parts of the coast; and now I had a boatI thought of
nothing but sailing round the island.

For this purposethat I might do everything with discretion and
considerationI fitted up a little mast in my boatand made a
sail too out of some of the pieces of the ship's sails which lay in
storeand of which I had a great stock by me. Having fitted my
mast and sailand tried the boatI found she would sail very
well; then I made little lockers or boxes at each end of my boat
to put provisionsnecessariesammunition&c.intoto be kept
dryeither from rain or the spray of the sea; and a littlelong
hollow place I cut in the inside of the boatwhere I could lay my
gunmaking a flap to hang down over it to keep it dry.

I fixed my umbrella also in the step at the sternlike a mastto
stand over my headand keep the heat of the sun off melike an
awning; and thus I every now and then took a little voyage upon the
seabut never went far outnor far from the little creek. At
lastbeing eager to view the circumference of my little kingdomI
resolved upon my cruise; and accordingly I victualled my ship for
the voyageputting in two dozen of loaves (cakes I should call
them) of barley-breadan earthen pot full of parched rice (a food
I ate a good deal of)a little bottle of rumhalf a goatand
powder and shot for killing moreand two large watch-coatsof
those whichas I mentioned beforeI had saved out of the seamen's
chests; these I tookone to lie uponand the other to cover me in
the night.

It was the 6th of Novemberin the sixth year of my reign - or my
captivitywhich you please - that I set out on this voyageand I
found it much longer than I expected; for though the island itself


was not very largeyet when I came to the east side of itI found
a great ledge of rocks lie out about two leagues into the seasome
above watersome under it; and beyond that a shoal of sandlying
dry half a league moreso that I was obliged to go a great way out
to sea to double the point.

When I first discovered themI was going to give over my
enterpriseand come back againnot knowing how far it might
oblige me to go out to sea; and above alldoubting how I should
get back again: so I came to an anchor; for I had made a kind of an
anchor with a piece of a broken grappling which I got out of the
ship.

Having secured my boatI took my gun and went on shoreclimbing
up a hillwhich seemed to overlook that point where I saw the full
extent of itand resolved to venture.

In my viewing the sea from that hill where I stoodI perceived a
strongand indeed a most furious currentwhich ran to the east
and even came close to the point; and I took the more notice of it
because I saw there might be some danger that when I came into it I
might be carried out to sea by the strength of itand not be able
to make the island again; and indeedhad I not got first upon this
hillI believe it would have been so; for there was the same
current on the other side the islandonly that it set off at a
further distanceand I saw there was a strong eddy under the
shore; so I had nothing to do but to get out of the first current
and I should presently be in an eddy.

I lay herehowevertwo daysbecause the wind blowing pretty
fresh at ESE.and that being just contrary to the currentmade 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 breachnor to go too far
offbecause of the stream.

The third dayin the morningthe wind having abated overnight
the sea was calmand I ventured: but I am a warning to all rash
and ignorant pilots; for no sooner was I come to the pointwhen I
was not even my boat's length from the shorebut I found myself in
a great depth of waterand a current like the sluice of a mill; it
carried my boat along with it with such violence that all I could
do could not keep her so much as on the edge of it; but I found it
hurried me farther and farther out from the eddywhich was on my
left hand. There was no wind stirring to help meand 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
islandI knew in a few leagues distance they must join againand
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 seafor that was calm enoughbut of starving from
hunger. I hadindeedfound a tortoise on the shoreas big
almost as I could liftand had tossed it into the boat; and I had
a great jar of fresh waterthat is to sayone of my earthen pots;
but what was all this to being driven into the vast oceanwhere
to be surethere was no shoreno mainland or islandfor a
thousand leagues at least?

And now I saw how easy it was for the providence of God to make
even the most miserable condition of mankind worse. Now I looked
back upon my desolatesolitary 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 itwith eager
wishes - "O happy desert!" said II shall never see thee more. O
miserable creature! whither am going?Then I reproached myself


with my unthankful temperand that I had repined at my solitary
condition; and now what would I give to be on shore there again!
Thuswe never see the true state of our condition till it is
illustrated to us by its contrariesnor know how to value what we
enjoybut by the want of it. It is scarcely possible to imagine
the consternation I was now inbeing driven from my beloved island
(for so it appeared to me now to be) into the wide oceanalmost
two leaguesand in the utmost despair of ever recovering it again.
HoweverI worked hard tillindeedmy strength was almost
exhaustedand kept my boat as much to the northwardthat is
towards the side of the current which the eddy lay onas possibly
I could; when about noonas the sun passed the meridianI thought
I felt a little breeze of wind in my facespringing up from SSE.
This cheered my heart a littleand especially whenin about halfan-
hour moreit blew a pretty gentle gale. By this time I had got
at a frightful distance from the islandand had the least cloudy
or hazy weather intervenedI had been undone another waytoo; for
I had no compass on boardand should never have known how to have
steered towards the islandif I had but once lost sight of it; but
the weather continuing clearI applied myself to get up my mast
againand spread my sailstanding away to the north as much as
possibleto get out of the current.

Just as I had set my mast and sailand the boat began to stretch
awayI 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 clearI found the current
abate; and presently I found to the eastat about half a milea
breach of the sea upon some rocks: these rocks I found caused the
current to part againand as the main stress of it ran away more
southerlyleaving the rocks to the north-eastso the other
returned by the repulse of the rocksand made a strong eddywhich
ran back again to the north-westwith a very sharp stream.

They who know what it is to have a reprieve brought to them upon
the ladderor to be rescued from thieves just going to murder
themor who have been in such extremitiesmay guess what my
present surprise of joy wasand how gladly I put my boat into the
stream of this eddy; and the wind also fresheninghow gladly I
spread my sail to itrunning cheerfully before the windand with
a strong tide or eddy underfoot.

This eddy carried me about a league on my way back againdirectly
towards the islandbut about two leagues more to the northward
than the current which carried me away at first; so that when I
came near the islandI found myself open to the northern shore of
itthat is to saythe other end of the islandopposite 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 eddyI found it was spentand served me no
further. HoweverI found that being between two great currents -
viz. that on the south sidewhich had hurried me awayand that on
the northwhich lay about a league on the other side; I say
between these twoin the wake of the islandI found the water at
least stilland running no way; and having still a breeze of wind
fair for meI kept on steering directly for the islandthough not
making such fresh way as I did before.

About four o'clock in the eveningbeing then within a league of
the islandI found the point of the rocks which occasioned this
disaster stretching outas is described beforeto the southward
and casting off the current more southerlyhadof coursemade
another eddy to the north; and this I found very strongbut not


directly setting the way my course laywhich was due westbut
almost full north. Howeverhaving a fresh galeI stretched
across this eddyslanting north-west; and in about an hour came
within about a mile of the shorewhereit being smooth waterI
soon got to land.

When I was on shoreGod I fell on my knees and gave God thanks
for my deliveranceresolving to lay aside all thoughts of my
deliverance by my boat; and refreshing myself with such things as
I hadI brought my boat close to the shorein a little cove that
I had spied under some treesand laid me down to sleepbeing
quite spent with the labour and fatigue of the voyage.

I was now at a great loss which way to get home with my boat! I
had run so much hazardand knew too much of the caseto think of
attempting it by the way I went out; and what might be at the other
side (I mean the west side) I knew notnor had I any mind to run
any more ventures; so I resolved on the next morning to make my way
westward along the shoreand to see if there was no creek where I
might lay up my frigate in safetyso as to have her again if I
wanted her. In about three miles or thereaboutscoasting the
shoreI came to a very good inlet or bayabout a mile overwhich
narrowed till it came to a very little rivulet or brookwhere I
found a very convenient harbour for my boatand where she lay as
if she had been in a little dock made on purpose for her. Here I
put inand having stowed my boat very safeI went on shore to
look about meand see where I was.

I soon found I had but a little passed by the place where I had
been beforewhen I travelled on foot to that shore; so taking
nothing out of my boat but my gun and umbrellafor it was
exceedingly hotI began my march. The way was comfortable enough
after such a voyage as I had been uponand I reached my old bower
in the eveningwhere I found everything standing as I left it; for
I always kept it in good orderbeingas I said beforemy country
house.

I got over the fenceand laid me down in the shade to rest my
limbsfor I was very wearyand fell asleep; but judge youif you
canthat read my storywhat a surprise I must be in when I was
awaked out of my sleep by a voice calling me by my name several
timesRobin, Robin, Robin Crusoe: poor Robin Crusoe! Where are
you, Robin Crusoe? Where are you? Where have you been?

I was so dead asleep at firstbeing fatigued with rowingor part
of the dayand with walking the latter partthat I did not wake
thoroughly; but dozing thought I dreamed that somebody spoke to me;
but as the voice continued to repeatRobin Crusoe, Robin Crusoe,
at last I began to wake more perfectlyand was at first dreadfully
frightenedand started up in the utmost consternation; but no
sooner were my eyes openbut I saw my Poll sitting on the top of
the hedge; and immediately knew that it was he that spoke to me;
for just in such bemoaning language I had used to talk to him and
teach him; and he had learned it so perfectly that he would sit
upon my fingerand lay his bill close to my face and cryPoor
Robin Crusoe! Where are you? Where have you been? How came you
here?and such things as I had taught him.

Howevereven though I knew it was the parrotand that indeed it
could be nobody elseit was a good while before I could compose
myself. FirstI was amazed how the creature got thither; and
thenhow he should just keep about the placeand nowhere else;
but as I was well satisfied it could be nobody but honest PollI
got over it; and holding out my handand calling him by his name


Poll,the sociable creature came to meand sat upon my thumbas
he used to doand continued talking to mePoor Robin Crusoe! and
how did I come here? and where had I been?just as if he had been
overjoyed to see me again; and so I carried him home along with me.

I had now had enough of rambling to sea for some timeand 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 roundI knew well enough there was no venturing
that way; my very heart would shrinkand my very blood run chill
but to think of it; and as to the other side of the islandI 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 otherI might run the same risk of being driven down the
streamand carried by the islandas I had been before of being
carried away from it: so with these thoughtsI contented myself to
be without any boatthough it had been the product of so many
months' labour to make itand of so many more to get it into the
sea.

In this government of my temper I remained near a year; and lived a
very sedateretired lifeas you may well suppose; and my thoughts
being very much composed as to my conditionand fully comforted in
resigning myself to the dispositions of ProvidenceI thought I
lived really very happily in all things except that of society.

I improved myself in this time in all the mechanic exercises which
my necessities put me upon applying myself to; and I believe I
shouldupon occasionhave made a very good carpenterespecially
considering how few tools I had.

Besides thisI arrived at an unexpected perfection in my
earthenwareand contrived well enough to make them with a wheel
which I found infinitely easier and better; because I made things
round and shapedwhich before were filthy things indeed to look
on. But I think I was never more vain of my own performanceor
more joyful for anything I found outthan for my being able to
make a tobacco-pipe; and though it was a very uglyclumsy thing
when it was doneand only burned redlike other earthenwareyet
as it was hard and firmand would draw the smokeI was
exceedingly comforted with itfor I had been always used to smoke;
and there were pipes in the shipbut I forgot them at firstnot
thinking there was tobacco in the island; and afterwardswhen I
searched the ship againI could not come at any pipes.

In my wicker-ware also I improved muchand made abundance of
necessary basketsas well as my invention showed me; though not
very handsomeyet they were such as were very handy and convenient
for laying things up inor fetching things home. For exampleif
I killed a goat abroadI could hang it up in a treeflay it
dress itand cut it in piecesand bring it home in a basket; and
the like by a turtle; I could cut it uptake out the eggs and a
piece or two of the fleshwhich was enough for meand bring them
home in a basketand leave the rest behind me. Alsolarge deep
baskets were the receivers of my cornwhich I always rubbed out as
soon as it was dry and curedand kept it in great baskets.

I began now to perceive my powder abated considerably; this was a
want which it was impossible for me to supplyand I began
seriously to consider what I must do when I should have no more
powder; that is to sayhow I should kill any goats. I hadas is
observed in the third year of my being herekept a young kidand


bred her up tameand I was in hopes of getting a he-goat; but I
could not by any means bring it to passtill my kid grew an old
goat; and as I could never find in my heart to kill hershe died
at last of mere age.

But being now in the eleventh year of my residenceandas I have
saidmy ammunition growing lowI set myself to study some art to
trap and snare the goatsto 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 wireand I always found them broken and my bait
devoured. At length I resolved to try a pitfall; so I dug several
large pits in the earthin places where I had observed the goats
used to feedand over those pits I placed hurdles of my own making
toowith a great weight upon them; and several times I put ears of
barley and dry rice without setting the trap; and I could easily
perceive that the goats had gone in and eaten up the cornfor I
could see the marks of their feet. At length I set three traps in
one nightand going the next morning I found themall standing
and yet the bait eaten and gone; this was very discouraging.
HoweverI altered my traps; and not to trouble you with
particularsgoing one morning to see my trapsI found in one of
them a large old he-goat; and in one of the others three kidsa
male and two females.

As to the old oneI knew not what to do with him; he was so fierce
I durst not go into the pit to him; that is to sayto bring him
away alivewhich was what I wanted. I could have killed himbut
that was not my businessnor would it answer my end; so I even let
him outand he ran away as if he had been frightened out of his
wits. But I did not then know what I afterwards learnedthat
hunger will tame a lion. If I had let him stay three or four days
without foodand then have carried him some water to drink and
then a little cornhe would have been as tame as one of the kids;
for they are mighty sagacioustractable creatureswhere they are
well used.

Howeverfor the present I let him goknowing no better at that
time: then I went to the three kidsand taking them one by oneI
tied them with strings togetherand with some difficulty brought
them all home.

It was a good while before they would feed; but throwing them some
sweet cornit tempted themand they began to be tame. And now I
found that if I expected to supply myself with goats' fleshwhen I
had no powder or shot leftbreeding some up tame was my only way
whenperhapsI might have them about my house like a flock of
sheep. But then it occurred to me that I must keep the tame from
the wildor 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 paleto keep them in so
effectuallythat those within might not break outor those
without break in.

This was a great undertaking for one pair of hands yetas I saw
there was an absolute necessity for doing itmy first work was to
find out a proper piece of groundwhere there was likely to be
herbage for them to eatwater for them to drinkand cover to keep
them from the sun.

Those who understand such enclosures will think I had very little
contrivance when I pitched upon a place very proper for all these
(being a plainopen piece of meadow landor savannahas our


people call it in the western colonies)which had two or three
little drills of fresh water in itand at one end was very woody -
I saythey will smile at my forecastwhen I shall tell them I
began by enclosing this piece of ground in such a manner thatmy
hedge or pale must have been at least two miles about. Nor was the
madness of it so great as to the compassfor if it was ten miles
aboutI was like to have time enough to do it in; but I did not
consider that my goats would be as wild in so much compass as if
they had had the whole islandand I should have so much room to
chase them in that I should never catch them.

My hedge was begun and carried onI believeabout fifty yards
when this thought occurred to me; so I presently stopped short
andfor the beginningI resolved to enclose a piece of about one
hundred and fifty yards in lengthand one hundred yards in
breadthwhichas it would maintain as many as I should have in
any reasonable timesoas my stock increasedI could add more
ground to my enclosure.

This was acting with some prudenceand I went to work with
courage. I was about three months hedging in the first piece; and
till I had done itI tethered the three kids in the best part of
itand used them to feed as near me as possibleto make them
familiar; and very often I would go and carry them some ears of
barleyor a handful of riceand feed them out of my hand; so that
after my enclosure was finished and I let them loosethey would
follow me up and downbleating after me for a handful of corn.

This answered my endand in about a year and a half I had a flock
of about twelve goatskids and all; and in two years more I had
three-and-fortybesides several that I took and killed for my
food. After thatI enclosed five several pieces of ground to feed
them inwith little pens to drive them to take them as I wanted
and gates out of one piece of ground into another.

But this was not all; for now I not only had goat's flesh to feed
on when I pleasedbut milk too - a thing whichindeedin the
beginningI did not so much as think ofand whichwhen it came
into my thoughtswas really an agreeable surprisefor now I set
up my dairyand had sometimes a gallon or two of milk in a day.
And as Naturewho gives supplies of food to every creature
dictates even naturally how to make use of itso Ithat had never
milked a cowmuch less a goator seen butter or cheese made only
when I was a boyafter a great many essays and miscarriagesmade
both butter and cheese at lastalso 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 creatureseven in those conditions in which they
seemed to be overwhelmed in destruction! How can He sweeten the
bitterest providencesand give us cause to praise Him for dungeons
and prisons! What a table was here spread for me in the
wildernesswhere I saw nothing at first but to perish for hunger!

CHAPTER XI - FINDS PRINT OF MAN'S FOOT ON THE SAND

IT would have made a Stoic smile to have seen me and my little
family sit down to dinner. There was my majesty the prince and
lord of the whole island; I had the lives of all my subjects at my
absolute command; I could hangdrawgive libertyand take it
awayand no rebels among all my subjects. Thento see how like a


king I dinedtooall aloneattended by my servants! Pollas if
he had been my favouritewas the only person permitted to talk to
me. My dogwho was now grown old and crazyand had found no
species to multiply his kind uponsat always at my right hand; and
two catsone on one side of the table and one on the other
expecting now and then a bit from my handas a mark of especial
favour.

But these were not the two cats which I brought on shore at first
for they were both of them deadand had been interred near my
habitation by my own hand; but one of them having multiplied by I
know not what kind of creaturethese were two which I had
preserved tame; whereas the rest ran wild in the woodsand became
indeed troublesome to me at lastfor they would often come into my
houseand plunder me tootill at last I was obliged to shoot
themand did kill a great many; at length they left me. With this
attendance and in this plentiful manner I lived; neither could I be
said to want anything but society; and of thatsome time after
thisI was likely to have too much.

I was something impatientas I have observedto have the use of
my boatthough very loath to run any more hazards; and therefore
sometimes I sat contriving ways to get her about the islandand 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 whereas I have said in my last rambleI went up the hill
to see how the shore layand how the current setthat I might see
what I had to do: this inclination increased upon me every dayand
at length I resolved to travel thither by landfollowing the edge
of the shore. I did so; but had any one in England met such a man
as I wasit must either have frightened himor raised a great
deal of laughter; and as I frequently stood still to look at
myselfI could not but smile at the notion of my travelling
through Yorkshire with such an equipageand in such a dress. Be
pleased to take a sketch of my figureas follows.

I had a great high shapeless capmade of a goat's skinwith a
flap hanging down behindas well to keep the sun from me as to
shoot the rain off from running into my necknothing being so
hurtful in these climates as the rain upon the flesh under the
clothes.

I had a short jacket of goat's skinthe skirts coming down to
about the middle of the thighsand 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 thatlike
pantaloonsit reached to the middle of my legs; stockings and
shoes I had nonebut had made me a pair of somethingsI scarce
knew what to call themlike buskinsto flap over my legsand
lace on either side like spatterdashesbut of a most barbarous
shapeas indeed were all the rest of my clothes.

I had on a broad belt of goat's skin driedwhich I drew together
with two thongs of the same instead of bucklesand in a kind of a
frog on either side of thisinstead of a sword and daggerhung a
little saw and a hatchetone on one side and one on the other.
had another belt not so broadand fastened in the same manner
which hung over my shoulderand at the end of itunder my left
armhung two pouchesboth made of goat's skin tooin one of
which hung my powderin the other my shot. At my back I carried
my basketand on my shoulder my gunand over my head a great
clumsyuglygoat's-skin umbrellabut whichafter allwas the
most necessary thing I had about me next to my gun. As for my
facethe colour of it was really not so mulatto-like as one might


expect from a man not at all careful of itand living within nine
or ten degrees of the equinox. My beard I had once suffered to
grow till it was about a quarter of a yard long; but as I had both
scissors and razors sufficientI had cut it pretty shortexcept
what grew on my upper lipwhich I had trimmed into a large pair of
Mahometan whiskerssuch as I had seen worn by some Turks at
Salleefor the Moors did not wear suchthough the Turks did; of
these moustachiosor whiskersI will not say they were long
enough to hang my hat upon thembut they were of a length and
shape monstrous enoughand such as in England would have passed
for frightful.

But all this is by-the-bye; for as to my figureI had so few to
observe me that it was of no manner of consequenceso I say no
more of that. In this kind of dress I went my new journeyand was
out five or six days. I travelled first along the sea-shore
directly to the place where I first brought my boat to an anchor to
get upon the rocks; and having no boat now to take care ofI went
over the land a nearer way to the same height that I was upon
beforewhenlooking forward to the points of the rocks which lay
outand which I was obliged to double with my boatas is said
aboveI was surprised to see the sea all smooth and quiet - no
ripplingno motionno currentany more there than in other
places. I was at a strange loss to understand thisand resolved
to spend some time in the observing itto see if nothing from the
sets of the tide had occasioned it; but I was presently convinced
how it was - viz. that the tide of ebb setting from the westand
joining with the current of waters from some great river on the
shoremust be the occasion of this currentand thataccording as
the wind blew more forcibly from the west or from the norththis
current came nearer or went farther from the shore; forwaiting
thereabouts till eveningI went up to the rock againand then the
tide of ebb being madeI plainly saw the current again as before
only that it ran farther offbeing near half a league from the
shorewhereas in my case it set close upon the shoreand hurried
me and my canoe along with itwhich at another time it would not
have done.

This observation convinced me that I had nothing to do but to
observe the ebbing and the flowing of the tideand I might very
easily bring my boat about the island again; but when I began to
think of putting it in practiceI had such terror upon my spirits
at the remembrance of the danger I had been inthat I could not
think of it again with any patiencebuton the contraryI took
up another resolutionwhich was more safethough more laborious -
and this wasthat I would buildor rather makeme another
periagua or canoeand so have one for one side of the islandand
one for the other.

You are to understand that now I hadas I may call ittwo
plantations in the island - one my little fortification or tent
with the wall about itunder the rockwith the cave behind me
which by this time I had enlarged into several apartments or caves
one within another. One of thesewhich was the driest and
largestand had a door out beyond my wall or fortification - that
is to saybeyond where my wall joined to the rock - was all filled
up with the large earthen pots of which I have given an account
and with fourteen or fifteen great basketswhich would hold five
or six bushels eachwhere I laid up my stores of provisions
especially my cornsome in the earcut off short from the straw
and the other rubbed out with my hand.

As for my wallmadeas beforewith long stakes or pilesthose
piles grew all like treesand were by this time grown so bigand


spread so very muchthat there was not the least appearanceto
any one's viewof any habitation behind them.

Near this dwelling of minebut a little farther within the land
and upon lower groundlay my two pieces of corn landwhich I kept
duly cultivated and sowedand which duly yielded me their harvest
in its season; and whenever I had occasion for more cornI had
more land adjoining as fit as that.

Besides thisI had my country seatand I had now a tolerable
plantation there also; forfirstI had my little boweras I
called itwhich I kept in repair - that is to sayI kept the
hedge which encircled it in constantly fitted up to its usual
heightthe ladder standing always in the inside. I kept the
treeswhich at first were no more than stakesbut were now grown
very firm and tallalways cutso that they might spread and grow
thick and wildand make the more agreeable shadewhich they did
effectually to my mind. In the middle of this I had my tent always
standingbeing a piece of a sail spread over polesset up for
that purposeand 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 killedand with other soft thingsand a blanket
laid on themsuch as belonged to our sea-beddingwhich I had
saved; and a great watch-coat to cover me. And herewhenever I
had occasion to be absent from my chief seatI took up my country
habitation.

Adjoining to this I had my enclosures for my cattlethat is to say
my goatsand 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 throughthat I never left off till
with infinite labourI had stuck the outside of the hedge so full
of small stakesand so near to one anotherthat it was rather a
pale than a hedgeand there was scarce room to put a hand through
between them; which afterwardswhen those stakes grewas they all
did in the next rainy seasonmade the enclosure strong like a
wallindeed stronger than any wall.

This will testify for me that I was not idleand that I spared no
pains to bring to pass whatever appeared necessary for my
comfortable supportfor I considered the keeping up a breed of
tame creatures thus at my hand would be a living magazine of flesh
milkbutterand cheese for me as long as I lived in the placeif
it were to be forty years; and that keeping them in my reach
depended entirely upon my perfecting my enclosures to such a degree
that I might be sure of keeping them together; which by this
methodindeedI so effectually securedthat when these little
stakes began to growI 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 growingwhich I principally
depended on for my winter store of raisinsand which I never
failed to preserve very carefullyas the best and most agreeable
dainty of my whole diet; and indeed they were not only agreeable
but medicinalwholesomenourishingand 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 boatI generally stayed and lay here
in my way thitherfor I used frequently to visit my boat; and I
kept all things about or belonging to her in very good order.
Sometimes I went out in her to divert myselfbut no more hazardous
voyages would I goscarcely ever above a stone's cast or two from
the shoreI was so apprehensive of being hurried out of my


knowledge again by the currents or windsor any other accident.
But now I come to a new scene of my life. It happened one day
about noongoing towards my boatI was exceedingly surprised with
the print of a man's naked foot on the shorewhich was very plain
to be seen on the sand. I stood like one thunderstruckor as if I
had seen an apparition. I listenedI looked round mebut I could
hear nothingnor see anything; I went up to a rising ground to
look farther; I went up the shore and down the shorebut it was
all one; I could see no other impression but that one. I went to
it again to see if there were any moreand to observe if it might
not be my fancy; but there was no room for thatfor there was
exactly the print of a foot - toesheeland every part of a foot.
How it came thither I knew notnor could I in the least imagine;
but after innumerable fluttering thoughtslike a man perfectly
confused and out of myselfI came home to my fortificationnot
feelingas we saythe ground I went onbut terrified to the last
degreelooking behind me at every two or three stepsmistaking
every bush and treeand 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 inhow many wild
ideas were found every moment in my fancyand 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
ladderas first contrivedor went in at the hole in the rock
which I had called a doorI cannot remember; nonor could I
remember the next morningfor never frightened hare fled to cover
or fox to earthwith more terror of mind than I to this retreat.

I slept none that night; the farther I was from the occasion of my
frightthe greater my apprehensions werewhich is something
contrary to the nature of such thingsand especially to the usual
practice of all creatures in fear; but I was so embarrassed with my
own frightful ideas of the thingthat I formed nothing but dismal
imaginations to myselfeven though I was now a great way off.
Sometimes I fancied it must be the deviland reason joined in with
me in this suppositionfor how should any other thing in human
shape come into the place? Where was the vessel that brought them?
What marks were there of any other footstep? And how was it
possible a man should come there? But thento think that Satan
should take human shape upon him in such a placewhere there could
be no manner of occasion for itbut to leave the print of his foot
behind himand that even for no purpose toofor 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 islandhe 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 notand in
the sand toowhich the first surge of the seaupon a high wind
would have defaced entirely. All this seemed inconsistent with the
thing itself and with all the notions we usually entertain of the
subtlety of the devil.

Abundance of such things as these assisted to argue me out of all
apprehensions of its being the devil; and I presently concluded
then that it must be some more dangerous creature - viz. that it
must be some of the savages of the mainland opposite who had
wandered out to sea in their canoesand either driven by the
currents or by contrary windshad made the islandand had been on
shorebut were gone away again to sea; being as loathperhapsto
have stayed in this desolate island as I would have been to have
had them.


While these reflections were rolling in my mindI was very
thankful in my thoughts that I was so happy as not to be
thereabouts at that timeor that they did not see my boatby
which they would have concluded that some inhabitants had been in
the placeand perhaps have searched farther for me. Then terrible
thoughts racked my imagination about their having found out my
boatand that there were people here; and thatif soI should
certainly have them come again in greater numbers and devour me;
that if it should happen that they should not find meyet they
would find my enclosuredestroy all my cornand carry away all my
flock of tame goatsand I should perish at last for mere want.

Thus my fear banished all my religious hopeall that former
confidence in Godwhich was founded upon such wonderful experience
as I had had of His goodness; as if He that had fed me by miracle
hitherto could not preserveby His powerthe provision which He
had made for me by His goodness. I reproached myself with my
lazinessthat would not sow any more corn one year than would just
serve me till the next seasonas if no accident could intervene to
prevent my enjoying the crop that was upon the ground; and this I
thought so just a reproofthat I resolved for the future to have
two or three years' corn beforehand; so thatwhatever might come
I might not perish for want of bread.

How strange a chequer-work of Providence is the life of man! and by
what secret different springs are the affections hurried aboutas
different circumstances present! To-day we love what to-morrow we
hate; to-day we seek what to-morrow we shun; to-day we desire what
to-morrow we fearnayeven tremble at the apprehensions of. This
was exemplified in meat this timein the most lively manner
imaginable; for Iwhose only affliction was that I seemed banished
from human societythat I was alonecircumscribed by the
boundless oceancut off from mankindand condemned to what I call
silent life; that I was as one whom Heaven thought not worthy to be
numbered among the livingor to appear among the rest of His
creatures; that to have seen one of my own species would have
seemed to me a raising me from death to lifeand the greatest
blessing that Heaven itselfnext to the supreme blessing of
salvationcould bestow; I saythat I should now tremble at the
very apprehensions of seeing a manand was ready to sink into the
ground at but the shadow or silent appearance of a man having set
his foot in the island.

Such is the uneven state of human life; and it afforded me a great
many curious speculations afterwardswhen I had a little recovered
my first surprise. I considered that this was the station of life
the infinitely wise and good providence of God had determined for
me; that as I could not foresee what the ends of Divine wisdom
might be in all thisso I was not to dispute His sovereignty; who
as I was His creaturehad an undoubted rightby creationto
govern and dispose of me absolutely as He thought fit; and whoas
I was a creature that had offended Himhad likewise a judicial
right to condemn me to what punishment He thought fit; and that it
was my part to submit to bear His indignationbecause I had sinned
against Him. I then reflectedthat as Godwho was not only
righteous but omnipotenthad thought fit thus to punish and
afflict meso He was able to deliver me: that if He did not think
fit to do soit was my unquestioned duty to resign myself
absolutely and entirely to His will; andon the other handit was
my duty also to hope in Himpray to Himand quietly to attend to
the dictates and directions of His daily providence

These thoughts took me up many hoursdaysnayI may say weeks


and months: and one particular effect of my cogitations on this
occasion I cannot omit. One morning earlylying in my bedand
filled with thoughts about my danger from the appearances of
savagesI found it discomposed me very much; upon which these
words of the Scripture came into my thoughtsCall upon Me in the
day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify
Me.Upon thisrising cheerfully out of my bedmy heart was not
only comfortedbut I was guided and encouraged to pray earnestly
to God for deliverance: when I had done praying I took up my Bible
and opening it to readthe 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 answerI thankfully laid down the
bookand was no more sadat least on that occasion.

In the middle of these cogitationsapprehensionsand reflections
it came into my thoughts one day that all this might be a mere
chimera of my ownand that this foot might be the print of my own
footwhen I came on shore from my boat: this cheered me up a
littletooand I began to persuade myself it was all a delusion;
that it was nothing else but my own foot; and why might I not come
that way from the boatas well as I was going that way to the
boat? AgainI considered also that I could by no means tell for
certain where I had trodand where I had not; and that ifat
lastthis was only the print of my own footI had played the part
of those fools who try to make stories of spectres and apparitions
and then are frightened at them more than anybody.

Now I began to take courageand to peep abroad againfor I had
not stirred out of my castle for three days and nightsso that I
began to starve for provisions; for I had little or nothing within
doors but some barley-cakes and water; then I knew that my goats
wanted to be milked toowhich usually was my evening diversion:
and the poor creatures were in great pain and inconvenience for
want of it; andindeedit almost spoiled some of themand almost
dried up their milk. Encouraging myselfthereforewith 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 shadowI began
to go abroad againand went to my country house to milk my flock:
but to see with what fear I went forwardhow often I looked behind
mehow I was ready every now and then to lay down my basket and
run for my lifeit would have made any one have thought I was
haunted with an evil conscienceor that I had been lately most
terribly frightened; and soindeedI had. HoweverI went down
thus two or three daysand having seen nothingI began to be a
little bolderand 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 againand see this print of a foot
and measure it by my ownand see if there was any similitude or
fitnessthat I might be assured it was my own foot: but when I
came to the placefirstit appeared evidently to methat when I
laid up my boat I could not possibly be on shore anywhere
thereabouts; secondlywhen I came to measure the mark with my own
footI found my foot not so large by a great deal. Both these
things filled my head with new imaginationsand gave me the
vapours again to the highest degreeso that I shook with cold like
one in an ague; and I went home againfilled with the belief that
some man or men had been on shore there; orin shortthat the
island was inhabitedand I might be surprised before I was aware;
and what course to take for my security I knew not.

Ohwhat 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 wasto throw


down my enclosuresand turn all my tame cattle wild into the
woodslest the enemy should find themand then frequent the
island in prospect of the same or the like booty: then the simple
thing of digging up my two corn-fieldslest they should find such
a grain thereand still be prompted to frequent the island: then
to demolish my bower and tentthat they might not see any vestiges
of habitationand be prompted to look fartherin order to find
out the persons inhabiting.

These were the subject of the first night's cogitations after I was
come home againwhile the apprehensions which had so overrun my
mind were fresh upon meand my head was full of vapours. Thus
fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger
itselfwhen apparent to the eyes; and we find the burden of
anxiety greaterby muchthan the evil which we are anxious about:
and what was worse than all thisI had not that relief in this
trouble that from the resignation I used to practise I hoped to
have. I lookedI thoughtlike Saulwho complained not only that
the Philistines were upon himbut that God had forsaken him; for I
did not now take due ways to compose my mindby crying to God in
my distressand resting upon His providenceas I had done before
for my defence and deliverance; whichif I had doneI had at
least been more cheerfully supported under this new surpriseand
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 havingby the amusement of my mind
been as it were tiredand my spirits exhaustedI slept very
soundlyand waked much better composed than I had ever been
before. And now I began to think sedately; andupon debate with
myselfI concluded that this island (which was so exceedingly
pleasantfruitfuland no farther from the mainland than as I had
seen) was not so entirely abandoned as I might imagine; that
although there were no stated inhabitants who lived on the spot
yet that there might sometimes come boats off from the shorewho
either with designor perhaps never but when they were driven by
cross windsmight come to this place; that I had lived there
fifteen years now and had not met with the least shadow or figure
of any people yet; and thatif at any time they should be driven
hereit was probable they went away again as soon as ever they
couldseeing they had never thought fit to fix here upon any
occasion; that the most I could suggest any danger from was from
any casual accidental landing of straggling people from the main
whoas it was likelyif they were driven hitherwere here
against their willsso they made no stay herebut went off again
with all possible speed; seldom staying one night on shorelest
they should not have the help of the tides and daylight back again;
and thatthereforeI had nothing to do but to consider of some
safe retreatin case I should see any savages land upon the spot.

NowI began sorely to repent that I had dug my cave so large as to
bring a door through againwhich dooras I saidcame out beyond
where my fortification joined to the rock: upon maturely
considering thisthereforeI resolved to draw me a second
fortificationin the manner of a semicircleat a distance from my
walljust where I had planted a double row of trees about twelve
years beforeof which I made mention: these trees having been
planted so thick beforethey wanted but few piles to be driven
between themthat they might be thicker and strongerand my wall
would be soon finished. So that I had now a double wall; and my
outer wall was thickened with pieces of timberold cablesand
everything I could think ofto make it strong; having in it seven
little holesabout 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 caveand laying it at the
foot of the walland walking upon it; and through the seven holes
I contrived to plant the musketsof which I took notice that I had
got seven on shore out of the ship; these I planted like my cannon
and fitted them into framesthat held them like a carriageso
that I could fire all the seven guns in two minutes' time; this
wall I was many a weary month in finishingand yet never thought
myself safe till it was done.

When this was done I stuck all the ground without my wallfor a
great length every wayas full with stakes or sticks of the osierlike
woodwhich I found so apt to growas they could well stand;
insomuch that I believe I might set in near twenty thousand of
themleaving a pretty large space between them and my wallthat I
might have room to see an enemyand they might have no shelter
from the young treesif 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 dwellinggrowing so monstrously
thick and strong that it was indeed perfectly impassable: and no
menof what kind soevercould ever imagine that there was
anything beyond itmuch less a habitation. As for the way which I
proposed to myself to go in and out (for I left no avenue)it was
by setting two laddersone to a part of the rock which was low
and then broke inand 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
downthey were still on the outside of my outer wall.

Thus I took all the measures human prudence could suggest for my
own preservation; and it will be seen at length that they were not
altogether without just reason; though I foresaw nothing at that
time more than my mere fear suggested to me.

CHAPTER XII - A CAVE RETREAT

WHILE this was doingI was not altogether careless of my other
affairs; for I had a great concern upon me for my little herd of
goats: they were not only a ready supply to me on every occasion
and began to be sufficient for mewithout the expense of powder
and shotbut also without the fatigue of hunting after the wild
ones; and I was loath to lose the advantage of themand to have
them all to nurse up over again.

For this purposeafter long considerationI could think of but
two ways to preserve them: one wasto find another convenient
place to dig a cave undergroundand to drive them into it every
night; and the other was to enclose two or three little bits of
landremote from one anotherand as much concealed as I could
where I might keep about half-a-dozen young goats in each place; so
that if any disaster happened to the flock in generalI might be
able to raise them again with little trouble and time: and this
though it would require a good deal of time and labourI thought
was the most rational design.

AccordinglyI spent some time to find out the most retired parts
of the island; and I pitched upon onewhich was as private
indeedas my heart could wish: it was a little damp piece of
ground in the middle of the hollow and thick woodswhereas is
observedI almost lost myself once beforeendeavouring to come


back that way from the eastern part of the island. Here I found a
clear piece of landnear three acresso surrounded with woods
that it was almost an enclosure by nature; at leastit did not
want near so much labour to make it so as the other piece of ground
I had worked so hard at.

I immediately went to work with this piece of ground; and in less
than a month's time I had so fenced it round that my flockor
herdcall it which you pleasewhich were not so wild now as at
first they might be supposed to bewere well enough secured in it:
sowithout any further delayI removed ten young she-goats and
two he-goats to this pieceand when they were there I continued to
perfect the fence till I had made it as secure as the other; which
howeverI did at more leisureand it took me up more time by a
great deal. All this labour I was at the expense ofpurely from
my apprehensions on account of the print of a man's foot; for as
yet I had never seen any human creature come near the island; and I
had now lived two years under this uneasinesswhichindeedmade
my life much less comfortable than it was beforeas may be well
imagined by any who know what it is to live in the constant snare
of the fear of man. And this I must observewith grieftoothat
the discomposure of my mind had great impression also upon the
religious part of my thoughts; for the dread and terror of falling
into the hands of savages and cannibals lay so upon my spirits
that I seldom found myself in a due temper for application to my
Maker; at leastnot with the sedate calmness and resignation of
soul which I was wont to do: I rather prayed to God as under great
affliction and pressure of mindsurrounded with dangerand in
expectation every night of being murdered and devoured before
morning; and I must testifyfrom my experiencethat a temper of
peacethankfulnessloveand affectionis much the more proper
frame for prayer than that of terror and discomposure: and that
under the dread of mischief impendinga man is no more fit for a
comforting performance of the duty of praying to God than he is for
a repentance on a sick-bed; for these discomposures affect the
mindas the others do the body; and the discomposure of the mind
must necessarily be as great a disability as that of the bodyand
much greater; praying to God being properly an act of the mindnot
of the body.

But to go on. After I had thus secured one part of my little
living stockI went about the whole islandsearching for another
private place to make such another deposit; whenwandering more to
the west point of the island than I had ever done yetand looking
out to seaI thought I saw a boat upon the seaat a great
distance. I had found a perspective glass or two in one of the
seamen's chestswhich I saved out of our shipbut I had it not
about me; and this was so remote that I could not tell what to make
of itthough 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 knowbut as
I descended from the hill I could see no more of itso I gave it
over; only I resolved to go no more out without a perspective glass
in my pocket. When I was come down the hill to the end of the
islandwhereindeedI had never been beforeI was presently
convinced that the seeing the print of a man's foot was not such a
strange thing in the island as I imagined: and but that it was a
special providence that I was cast upon the side of the island
where the savages never cameI should easily have known that
nothing was more frequent than for the canoes from the mainwhen
they happened to be a little too far out at seato shoot over to
that side of the island for harbour: likewiseas they often met
and fought in their canoesthe victorshaving taken any
prisonerswould bring them over to this shorewhereaccording to
their dreadful customsbeing all cannibalsthey would kill and


eat them; of which hereafter.

When I was come down the hill to the shoreas I said abovebeing
the SW. point of the islandI was perfectly confounded and amazed;
nor is it possible for me to express the horror of my mind at
seeing the shore spread with skullshandsfeetand other bones
of human bodies; and particularly I observed a place where there
had been a fire madeand a circle dug in the earthlike a
cockpitwhere I supposed the savage wretches had sat down to their
human feastings upon the bodies of their fellow-creatures.

I was so astonished with the sight of these thingsthat I
entertained no notions of any danger to myself from it for a long
while: all my apprehensions were buried in the thoughts of such a
pitch of inhumanhellish brutalityand the horror of the
degeneracy of human naturewhichthough I had heard of it often
yet I never had so near a view of before; in shortI turned away
my face from the horrid spectacle; my stomach grew sickand I was
just at the point of faintingwhen nature discharged the disorder
from my stomach; and having vomited with uncommon violenceI was a
little relievedbut could not bear to stay in the place a moment;
so I got up the hill again with all the speed I couldand walked
on towards my own habitation.

When I came a little out of that part of the island I stood still
awhileas amazedand thenrecovering myselfI looked up with
the utmost affection of my soulandwith a flood of tears in my
eyesgave God thanksthat had cast my first lot in a part of the
world where I was distinguished from such dreadful creatures as
these; and thatthough I had esteemed my present condition very
miserablehad yet given me so many comforts in it that I had still
more to give thanks for than to complain of: and thisabove all
that I hadeven in this miserable conditionbeen comforted with
the knowledge of Himselfand the hope of His blessing: which was a
felicity more than sufficiently equivalent to all the misery which
I had sufferedor could suffer.

In this frame of thankfulness I went home to my castleand began
to be much easier nowas to the safety of my circumstancesthan
ever I was before: for I observed that these wretches never came to
this island in search of what they could get; perhaps not seeking
not wantingor not expecting anything here; and having oftenno
doubtbeen up the coveredwoody part of it without finding
anything to their purpose. I knew I had been here now almost
eighteen yearsand never saw the least footsteps of human creature
there before; and I might be eighteen years more as entirely
concealed as I was nowif I did not discover myself to themwhich
I had no manner of occasion to do; it being my only business to
keep myself entirely concealed where I wasunless I found a better
sort of creatures than cannibals to make myself known to. Yet I
entertained such an abhorrence of the savage wretches that I have
been speaking ofand of the wretchedinhuman custom of their
devouring and eating one another upthat I continued pensive and
sadand kept close within my own circle for almost two years after
this: when I say my own circleI mean by it my three plantations -
viz. my castlemy country seat (which I called my bower)and my
enclosure in the woods: nor did I look after this for any other use
than an enclosure for my goats; for the aversion which nature gave
me to these hellish wretches was suchthat I was as fearful of
seeing them as of seeing the devil himself. I did not so much as
go to look after my boat all this timebut began rather to think
of making another; for I could not think of ever making any more
attempts to bring the other boat round the island to melest I
should meet with some of these creatures at sea; in which caseif


I had happened to have fallen into their handsI knew what would
have been my lot.

Timehoweverand the satisfaction I had that I was in no danger
of being discovered by these peoplebegan to wear off my
uneasiness about them; and I began to live just in the same
composed manner as beforeonly with this differencethat I used
more cautionand kept my eyes more about me than I did before
lest I should happen to be seen by any of them; and particularlyI
was more cautious of firing my gunlest any of thembeing on the
islandshould happen to hear it. It wasthereforea very good
providence to me that I had furnished myself with a tame breed of
goatsand that I had no need to hunt any more about the woodsor
shoot at them; and if I did catch any of them after thisit was by
traps and snaresas I had done before; so that for two years after
this I believe I never fired my gun once offthough I never went
out without it; and what was moreas I had saved three pistols out
of the shipI always carried them out with meor at least two of
themsticking them in my goat-skin belt. I also furbished up one
of the great cutlasses that I had out of the shipand made me a
belt to hang it on also; so that I was now a most formidable fellow
to look at when I went abroadif you add to the former description
of myself the particular of two pistolsand a broadsword hanging
at my side in a beltbut without a scabbard.

Things going on thusas I have saidfor some timeI seemed
excepting these cautionsto be reduced to my former calmsedate
way of living. All these things tended to show me more and more
how far my condition was from being miserablecompared to some
others; nayto many other particulars of life which it might have
pleased God to have made my lot. It put me upon reflecting how
little repining there would be among mankind at any condition of
life if people would rather compare their condition with those that
were worsein order to be thankfulthan be always comparing them
with those which are betterto assist their murmurings and
complainings.

As in my present condition there were not really many things which
I wantedso indeed I thought that the frights I had been in about
these savage wretchesand the concern I had been in for my own
preservationhad taken off the edge of my inventionfor my own
conveniences; and I had dropped a good designwhich I had once
bent my thoughts uponand that was to try if I could not make some
of my barley into maltand then try to brew myself some beer.
This was really a whimsical thoughtand 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; asfirstcasks to preserve
it inwhich was a thing thatas I have observed alreadyI could
never compass: nothough I spent not only many daysbut weeks
nay monthsin attempting itbut to no purpose. In the next
placeI had no hops to make it keepno yeast to made it workno
copper or kettle to make it boil; and yet with all these things
wantingI verily believehad not the frights and terrors I was in
about the savages intervenedI had undertaken itand perhaps
brought it to pass too; for I seldom gave anything over without
accomplishing itwhen once I had it in my head to began it. But
my invention now ran quite another way; for night and day I could
think of nothing but how I might destroy some of the monsters in
their cruelbloody entertainmentand 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 hatchedor rather brooded uponin my thoughtsfor
the destroying these creaturesor at least frightening them so as


to prevent their coming hither any more: but all this was abortive;
nothing could be possible to take effectunless I was to be there
to do it myself: and what could one man do among themwhen perhaps
there might be twenty or thirty of them together with their darts
or their bows and arrowswith which they could shoot as true to a
mark as I could with my gun?

Sometimes I thought if digging a hole under the place where they
made their fireand putting in five or six pounds of gunpowder
whichwhen they kindled their firewould consequently take fire
and blow up all that was near it: but asin the first placeI
should be unwilling to waste so much powder upon themmy store
being now within the quantity of one barrelso neither could I be
sure of its going off at any certain timewhen it might surprise
them; andat bestthat it would do little more than just blow the
fire about their ears and fright thembut not sufficient to make
them forsake the place: so I laid it aside; and then proposed that
I would place myself in ambush in some convenient placewith my
three guns all double-loadedand in the middle of their bloody
ceremony let fly at themwhen I should be sure to kill or wound
perhaps two or three at every shot; and then falling in upon them
with my three pistols and my swordI made no doubt but thatif
there were twentyI should kill them all. This fancy pleased my
thoughts for some weeksand I was so full of it that I often
dreamed of itandsometimesthat 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 ambuscadeas I saidto watch for themand I went
frequently to the place itselfwhich was now grown more familiar
to me; but while my mind was thus filled with thoughts of revenge
and a bloody putting twenty or thirty of them to the swordas I
may call itthe horror I had at the placeand at the signals of
the barbarous wretches devouring one anotherabetted my malice.
Wellat 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 theneven before they would be ready to come on
shoreconvey myself unseen into some thickets of treesin one of
which there was a hollow large enough to conceal me entirely; and
there I might sit and observe all their bloody doingsand take my
full aim at their headswhen they were so close together as that
it would be next to impossible that I should miss my shotor that
I could fail wounding three or four of them at the first shot. In
this placethenI resolved to fulfil my design; and accordingly I
prepared two muskets and my ordinary fowling-piece. The two
muskets I loaded with a brace of slugs eachand four or five
smaller bulletsabout the size of pistol bullets; and the fowlingpiece
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 posturewell provided with ammunition for a second and
third chargeI prepared myself for my expedition.

After I had thus laid the scheme of my designand in my
imagination put it in practiceI continually made my tour every
morning to the top of the hillwhich was from my castleas I
called itabout three miles or moreto see if I could observe any
boats upon the seacoming near the islandor standing over
towards it; but I began to tire of this hard dutyafter I had for
two or three months constantly kept my watchbut came always back
without any discovery; there having notin all that timebeen the
least appearancenot only on or near the shorebut on the whole
oceanso far as my eye or glass could reach every way.

As long as I kept my daily tour to the hillto look outso long
also I kept up the vigour of my designand my spirits seemed to be


all the while in a suitable frame for so outrageous an execution as
the killing twenty or thirty naked savagesfor an offence which I
had not at all entered into any discussion of in my thoughtsany
farther than my passions were at first fired by the horror I
conceived at the unnatural custom of the people of that country
whoit seemshad been suffered by Providencein His wise
disposition of the worldto have no other guide than that of their
own abominable and vitiated passions; and consequently were left
and perhaps had been so for some agesto act such horrid things
and receive such dreadful customsas nothing but natureentirely
abandoned by Heavenand actuated by some hellish degeneracycould
have run them into. But nowwhenas I have saidI began to be
weary of the fruitless excursion which I had made so long and so
far every morning in vainso my opinion of the action itself began
to alter; and I beganwith cooler and calmer thoughtsto consider
what I was going to engage in; what authority or call I had to
pretend to be judge and executioner upon these men as criminals
whom Heaven had thought fit for so many ages to suffer unpunished
to go onand to be as it were the executioners of His judgments
one upon another; how far these people were offenders against me
and what right I had to engage in the quarrel of that blood which
they shed promiscuously upon one another. I debated this very
often with myself thus: "How do I know what God Himself judges in
this particular case? It is certain these people do not commit
this as a crime; it is not against their own consciences reproving
or their light reproaching them; they do not know it to be an
offenceand then commit it in defiance of divine justiceas we do
in almost all the sins we commit. They think it no more a crime to
kill a captive taken in war than we do to kill an ox; or to eat
human flesh than we do to eat mutton."

When I considered this a littleit followed necessarily that I was
certainly in the wrong; that these people were not murderersin
the sense that I had before condemned them in my thoughtsany more
than those Christians were murderers who often put to death the
prisoners taken in battle; or more frequentlyupon many occasions
put whole troops of men to the swordwithout giving quarter
though they threw down their arms and submitted. In the next
placeit occurred to me that although the usage they gave one
another was thus brutish and inhumanyet it was really nothing to
me: these people had done me no injury: that if they attemptedor
I saw it necessaryfor my immediate preservationto fall upon
themsomething might be said for it: but that I was yet out of
their powerand they really had no knowledge of meand
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 Americawhere
they destroyed millions of these people; whohowever they were
idolators and barbariansand had several bloody and barbarous
rites in their customssuch as sacrificing human bodies to their
idolswere yetas to the Spaniardsvery 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 timeand by all other Christian nations of Europeas a
mere butcherya bloody and unnatural piece of cruelty
unjustifiable either to God or man; and for which the very name of
a Spaniard is reckoned to be frightful and terribleto all people
of humanity or of Christian compassion; as if the kingdom of Spain
were particularly eminent for the produce of a race of men who were
without principles of tendernessor the common bowels of pity to
the miserablewhich is reckoned to be a mark of generous temper in
the mind.

These considerations really put me to a pauseand to a kind of a


full stop; and I began by little and little to be off my design
and to conclude I had taken wrong measures in my resolution to
attack the savages; and that it was not my business to meddle with
themunless they first attacked me; and this it was my business
if possibleto prevent: but thatif I were discovered and
attacked by themI knew my duty. On the other handI argued with
myself that this really was the way not to deliver myselfbut
entirely to ruin and destroy myself; for unless I was sure to kill
every one that not only should be on shore at that timebut that
should ever come on shore afterwardsif but one of them escaped to
tell their country-people what had happenedthey would come over
again by thousands to revenge the death of their fellowsand I
should only bring upon myself a certain destructionwhichat
presentI had no manner of occasion for. Upon the wholeI
concluded that I oughtneither in principle nor in policyone way
or otherto concern myself in this affair: that my business was
by all possible means to conceal myself from themand not to leave
the least sign for them to guess by that there were any living
creatures upon the island - I mean of human shape. Religion joined
in with this prudential resolution; and I was convinced nowmany
waysthat I was perfectly out of my duty when I was laying all my
bloody schemes for the destruction of innocent creatures - I mean
innocent as to me. As to the crimes they were guilty of towards
one anotherI had nothing to do with them; they were nationaland
I ought to leave them to the justice of Godwho is the Governor of
nationsand knows howby national punishmentsto make a just
retribution for national offencesand to bring public judgments
upon those who offend in a public mannerby such ways as best
please Him. This appeared so clear to me nowthat 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 Godthat He had thus
delivered me from blood-guiltiness; beseeching Him to grant me the
protection of His providencethat I might not fall into the hands
of the barbariansor that I might not lay my hands upon them
unless I had a more clear call from Heaven to do itin 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
wretchesthat in all that time I never once went up the hill to
see whether there were any of them in sightor to know whether any
of them had been on shore there or notthat I might not be tempted
to renew any of my contrivances against themor be provoked by any
advantage that might present itself to fall upon them; only this I
did: I went and removed my boatwhich I had on the other side of
the islandand carried it down to the east end of the whole
islandwhere I ran it into a little covewhich I found under some
high rocksand where I knewby reason of the currentsthe
savages durst notat least would notcome with their boats upon
any account whatever. With my boat I carried away everything that
I had left there belonging to herthough not necessary for the
bare going thither - viz. a mast and sail which I had made for her
and a thing like an anchorbut whichindeedcould not be called
either anchor or grapnel; howeverit was the best I could make of
its kind: all these I removedthat there might not be the least
shadow for discoveryor appearance of any boator of any human
habitation upon the island. Besides thisI kept myselfas I
saidmore retired than everand seldom went from my cell except
upon my constant employmentto milk my she-goatsand manage my
little flock in the woodwhichas it was quite on the other part
of the islandwas out of danger; for certainit is that these
savage peoplewho sometimes haunted this islandnever came with


any thoughts of finding anything hereand consequently never
wandered off from the coastand I doubt not but they might have
been several times on shore after my apprehensions of them had made
me cautiousas well as before. IndeedI 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; whennaked
and unarmedexcept with one gunand that loaded often only with
small shotI walked everywherepeeping and peering about the
islandto see what I could get; what a surprise should I have been
in ifwhen I discovered the print of a man's footI hadinstead
of thatseen fifteen or twenty savagesand found them pursuing
meand by the swiftness of their running no possibility of my
escaping them! The thoughts of this sometimes sank my very soul
within meand distressed my mind so much that I could not soon
recover itto think what I should have doneand how I should not
only have been unable to resist thembut even should not have had
presence of mind enough to do what I might have done; much less
what nowafter so much consideration and preparationI might be
able to do. Indeedafter serious thinking of these thingsI
would be melancholyand sometimes it would last a great while; but
I resolved it all at last into thankfulness to that Providence
which had delivered me from so many unseen dangersand had kept me
from those mischiefs which I could have no way been the agent in
delivering myself frombecause I had not the least notion of any
such thing dependingor the least supposition of its being
possible. This renewed a contemplation which often had come into
my thoughts in former timeswhen first I began to see the merciful
dispositions of Heavenin 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 ita doubt or hesitation
whether to go this way or that waya secret hint shall direct us
this waywhen we intended to go that way: naywhen senseour own
inclinationand perhaps business has called us to go the other
wayyet a strange impression upon the mindfrom we know not what
springsand by we know not what powershall overrule us to go
this way; and it shall afterwards appear that had we gone that way
which we should have goneand even to our imagination ought to
have gonewe should have been ruined and lost. Upon these and
many like reflections I afterwards made it a certain rule with me
that whenever I found those secret hints or pressings of mind to
doing or not doing anything that presentedor going this way or
that wayI never failed to obey the secret dictate; though I knew
no other reason for it than such a pressure or such a hint hung
upon my mind. I could give many examples of the success of this
conduct in the course of my lifebut 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 ofif 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 menwhose
lives are attended with such extraordinary incidents as mineor
even though not so extraordinarynot to slight such secret
intimations of Providencelet them come from what invisible
intelligence they will. That I shall not discussand perhaps
cannot account for; but certainly they are a proof of the converse
of spiritsand a secret communication between those embodied and
those unembodiedand such a proof as can never be withstood; of
which I shall have occasion to give some remarkable instances in
the remainder of my solitary residence in this dismal place.

I believe the reader of this will not think it strange if I confess
that these anxietiesthese constant dangers I lived inand the
concern that was now upon meput an end to all inventionand to
all the contrivances that I had laid for my future accommodations
and conveniences. I had the care of my safety more now upon my


hands than that of my food. I cared not to drive a nailor chop a
stick of wood nowfor fear the noise I might make should be heard:
much less would I fire a gun for the same reason: and above all I
was intolerably uneasy at making any firelest the smokewhich is
visible at a great distance in the dayshould betray me. For this
reasonI removed that part of my business which required fire
such as burning of pots and pipes&c.into my new apartment in
the woods; whereafter I had been some timeI foundto my
unspeakable consolationa mere natural cave in the earthwhich
went in a vast wayand whereI daresayno savagehad he been at
the mouth of itwould be so hardy as to venture in; norindeed
would any man elsebut one wholike mewanted nothing so much as
a safe retreat.

The mouth of this hollow was at the bottom of a great rockwhere
by mere accident (I would sayif I did not see abundant reason to
ascribe all such things now to Providence)I was cutting down some
thick branches of trees to make charcoal; and before I go on I must
observe the reason of my making this charcoalwhich was this - I
was afraid of making a smoke about my habitationas I said before;
and yet I could not live there without baking my breadcooking my
meat&c.; so I contrived to burn some wood hereas I had seen
done in Englandunder turftill it became chark or dry coal: and
then putting the fire outI preserved the coal to carry homeand
perform the other services for which fire was wantingwithout
danger of smoke. But this is by-the-bye. While I was cutting down
some wood hereI perceived thatbehind a very thick branch of low
brushwood or underwoodthere was a kind of hollow place: I was
curious to look in it; and getting with difficulty into the mouth
of itI found it was pretty largethat is to saysufficient for
me to stand upright in itand perhaps another with me: but I must
confess to you that I made more haste out than I did inwhen
looking farther into the placeand which was perfectly darkI saw
two broad shining eyes of some creaturewhether devil or man I
knew notwhich twinkled like two stars; the dim light from the
cave's mouth shining directly inand making the reflection.
Howeverafter some pause I recovered myselfand began to call
myself a thousand foolsand to think that he that was afraid to
see the devil was not fit to live twenty years in an island all
alone; and that I might well think there was nothing in this cave
that was more frightful than myself. Upon thisplucking up my
courageI took up a firebrandand in I rushed againwith the
stick flaming in my hand: I had not gone three steps in before I
was almost as frightened as before; for I heard a very loud sigh
like that of a man in some painand it was followed by a broken
noiseas of words half expressedand then a deep sigh again. I
stepped backand was indeed struck with such a surprise that it
put me into a cold sweatand if I had had a hat on my headI will
not answer for it that my hair might not have lifted it off. But
still plucking up my spirits as well as I couldand encouraging
myself a little with considering that the power and presence of God
was everywhereand was able to protect meI stepped forward
againand by the light of the firebrandholding it up a little
over my headI saw lying on the ground a monstrousfrightful old
he-goatjust making his willas we sayand gasping for life
anddyingindeedof mere old age. I stirred him a little to see
if I could get him outand he essayed to get upbut was not able
to raise himself; and I thought with myself he might even lie there

-for if he had frightened meso he would certainly fright any of
the savagesif 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 surpriseand began to look round me
when I found the cave was but very small - that is to sayit might


be about twelve feet overbut in no manner of shapeneither round
nor squareno 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 furtherbut was so low that it
required me to creep upon my hands and knees to go into itand
whither it went I knew not; sohaving no candleI gave it over
for that timebut resolved to go again the next day provided with
candles and a tinder-boxwhich I had made of the lock of one of
the musketswith some wildfire in the pan.

Accordinglythe 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-wickusing sometimes rags or ropeyarn
and sometimes the dried rind of a weed like nettles); and
going into this low place I was obliged to creep upon all-fours as
I have saidalmost ten yards - whichby the wayI thought was a
venture bold enoughconsidering that I knew not how far it might
gonor what was beyond it. When I had got through the straitI
found the roof rose higher upI believe near twenty feet; but
never was such a glorious sight seen in the islandI daresayas
it was to look round the sides and roof of this vault or cave - the
wall reflected a hundred thousand lights to me from my two candles.
What it was in the rock - whether diamonds or any other precious
stonesor gold which I rather supposed it to be - I knew not. The
place I was in was a most delightful cavityor grottothough
perfectly dark; the floor was dry and leveland had a sort of a
small loose gravel upon itso that there was no nauseous or
venomous creature to be seenneither was there any damp or wet on
the sides or roof. The only difficulty in it was the entrance -
whichhoweveras it was a place of securityand such a retreat
as I wanted; I thought was a convenience; so that I was really
rejoiced at the discoveryand resolvedwithout any delayto
bring some of those things which I was most anxious about to this
place: particularlyI resolved to bring hither my magazine of
powderand all my spare arms - viz. two fowling-pieces - for I had
three in all - and three muskets - for of them I had eight in all;
so I kept in my castle only fivewhich stood ready mounted like
pieces of cannon on my outmost fenceand 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 seaand which had been wetand I found that the water
had penetrated about three or four inches into the powder on every
sidewhich caking and growing hardhad preserved the inside like
a kernel in the shellso that I had near sixty pounds of very good
powder in the centre of the cask. This was a very agreeable
discovery to me at that time; so I carried all away thithernever
keeping above two or three pounds of powder with me in my castle
for fear of a surprise of any kind; I also carried thither all the
lead I had left for bullets.

I fancied myself now like one of the ancient giants who were said
to live in caves and holes in the rockswhere none could come at
them; for I persuaded myselfwhile I was herethat if five
hundred savages were to hunt methey could never find me out - or
if they didthey would not venture to attack me here. The old
goat whom I found expiring died in the mouth of the cave the next
day after I made this discovery; and I found it much easier to dig
a great hole thereand throw him in and cover him with earththan
to drag him out; so I interred him thereto prevent offence to my
nose.

CHAPTER XIII - WRECK OF A SPANISH SHIP


I WAS now in the twenty-third year of my residence in this island
and was so naturalised to the place and the manner of livingthat
could I but have enjoyed the certainty that no savages would come
to the place to disturb meI could have been content to have
capitulated for spending the rest of my time thereeven to the
last momenttill I had laid me down and diedlike the old goat in
the cave. I had also arrived to some little diversions and
amusementswhich made the time pass a great deal more pleasantly
with me than it did before - firstI had taught my Pollas I
noted beforeto speak; and he did it so familiarlyand talked so
articulately and plainthat it was very pleasant to me; and he
lived with me no less than six-and-twenty years. How long he might
have lived afterwards I know notthough I know they have a notion
in the Brazils that they live a hundred years. My dog was a
pleasant and loving companion to me for no less than sixteen years
of my timeand then died of mere old age. As for my catsthey
multipliedas I have observedto that degree that I was obliged
to shoot several of them at firstto keep them from devouring me
and all I had; but at lengthwhen the two old ones I brought with
me were goneand after some time continually driving them from me
and letting them have no provision with methey all ran wild into
the woodsexcept two or three favouriteswhich I kept tameand
whose youngwhen they had anyI always drowned; and these were
part of my family. Besides these I always kept two or three
household kids about mewhom I taught to feed out of my hand; and
I had two more parrotswhich talked pretty welland would all
call "Robin Crusoe but none like my first; nor, indeed, did I
take the pains with any of them that I had done with him. I had
also several tame sea-fowls, whose name I knew not, that I caught
upon the shore, and cut their wings; and the little stakes which I
had planted before my castle-wall being now grown up to a good
thick grove, these fowls all lived among these low trees, and bred
there, which was very agreeable to me; so that, as I said above, I
began to he very well contented with the life I led, if I could
have been secured from the dread of the savages. But it was
otherwise directed; and it may not be amiss for all people who
shall meet with my story to make this just observation from it: How
frequently, in the course of our lives, the evil which in itself we
seek most to shun, and which, when we are fallen into, is the most
dreadful to us, is oftentimes the very means or door of our
deliverance, by which alone we can be raised again from the
affliction we are fallen into. I could give many examples of this
in the course of my unaccountable life; but in nothing was it more
particularly remarkable than in the circumstances of my last years
of solitary residence in this island.

It was now the month of December, as I said above, in my twentythird
year; and this, being the southern solstice (for winter I
cannot call it), was the particular time of my harvest, and
required me to be pretty much abroad in the fields, when, going out
early in the morning, even before it was thorough daylight, I was
surprised with seeing a light of some fire upon the shore, at a
distance from me of about two miles, toward that part of the island
where I had observed some savages had been, as before, and not on
the other side; but, to my great affliction, it was on my side of
the island.

I was indeed terribly surprised at the sight, and stopped short
within my grove, not daring to go out, lest I might be surprised;
and yet I had no more peace within, from the apprehensions I had
that if these savages, in rambling over the island, should find my


corn standing or cut, or any of my works or improvements, they
would immediately conclude that there were people in the place, and
would then never rest till they had found me out. In this
extremity I went back directly to my castle, pulled up the ladder
after me, and made all things without look as wild and natural as I
could.

Then I prepared myself within, putting myself in a posture of
defence. I loaded all my cannon, as I called them - that is to
say, my muskets, which were mounted upon my new fortification - and
all my pistols, and resolved to defend myself to the last gasp -
not forgetting seriously to commend myself to the Divine
protection, and earnestly to pray to God to deliver me out of the
hands of the barbarians. I continued in this posture about two
hours, and began to be impatient for intelligence abroad, for I had
no spies to send out. After sitting a while longer, and musing
what I should do in this case, I was not able to bear sitting in
ignorance longer; so setting up my ladder to the side of the hill,
where there was a flat place, as I observed before, and then
pulling the ladder after me, I set it up again and mounted the top
of the hill, and pulling out my perspective glass, which I had
taken on purpose, I laid me down flat on my belly on the ground,
and began to look for the place. I presently found there were no
less than nine naked savages sitting round a small fire they had
made, not to warm them, for they had no need of that, the weather
being extremely hot, but, as I supposed, to dress some of their
barbarous diet of human flesh which they had brought with them,
whether alive or dead I could not tell.

They had two canoes with them, which they had hauled up upon the
shore; and as it was then ebb of tide, they seemed to me to wait
for the return of the flood to go away again. It is not easy to
imagine what confusion this sight put me into, especially seeing
them come on my side of the island, and so near to me; but when I
considered their coming must be always with the current of the ebb,
I began afterwards to be more sedate in my mind, being satisfied
that I might go abroad with safety all the time of the flood of
tide, if they were not on shore before; and having made this
observation, I went abroad about my harvest work with the more
composure.

As I expected, so it proved; for as soon as the tide made to the
westward I saw them all take boat and row (or paddle as we call it)
away. I should have observed, that for an hour or more before they
went off they were dancing, and I could easily discern their
postures and gestures by my glass. I could not perceive, by my
nicest observation, but that they were stark naked, and had not the
least covering upon them; but whether they were men or women I
could not distinguish.

As soon as I saw them shipped and gone, I took two guns upon my
shoulders, and two pistols in my girdle, and my great sword by my
side without a scabbard, and with all the speed I was able to make
went away to the hill where I had discovered the first appearance
of all; and as soon as I get thither, which was not in less than
two hours (for I could not go quickly, being so loaded with arms as
I was), I perceived there had been three canoes more of the savages
at that place; and looking out farther, I saw they were all at sea
together, making over for the main. This was a dreadful sight to
me, especially as, going down to the shore, I could see the marks
of horror which the dismal work they had been about had left behind
it - viz. the blood, the bones, and part of the flesh of human
bodies eaten and devoured by those wretches with merriment and
sport. I was so filled with indignation at the sight, that I now


began to premeditate the destruction of the next that I saw there,
let them be whom or how many soever. It seemed evident to me that
the visits which they made thus to this island were not very
frequent, for it was above fifteen months before any more of them
came on shore there again - that is to say, I neither saw them nor
any footsteps or signals of them in all that time; for as to the
rainy seasons, then they are sure not to come abroad, at least not
so far. Yet all this while I lived uncomfortably, by reason of the
constant apprehensions of their coming upon me by surprise: from
whence I observe, that the expectation of evil is more bitter than
the suffering, especially if there is no room to shake off that
expectation or those apprehensions.

During all this time I was in a murdering humour, and spent most of
my hours, which should have been better employed, in contriving how
to circumvent and fall upon them the very next time I should see
them - especially if they should be divided, as they were the last
time, into two parties; nor did I consider at all that if I killed
one party - suppose ten or a dozen - I was still the next day, or
week, or month, to kill another, and so another, even AD INFINITUM,
till I should be, at length, no less a murderer than they were in
being man-eaters - and perhaps much more so. I spent my days now
in great perplexity and anxiety of mind, expecting that I should
one day or other fall, into the hands of these merciless creatures;
and if I did at any time venture abroad, it was not without looking
around me with the greatest care and caution imaginable. And now I
found, to my great comfort, how happy it was that I had provided a
tame flock or herd of goats, for I durst not upon any account fire
my gun, especially near that side of the island where they usually
came, lest I should alarm the savages; and if they had fled from me
now, I was sure to have them come again with perhaps two or three
hundred canoes with them in a few days, and then I knew what to
expect. However, I wore out a year and three months more before I
ever saw any more of the savages, and then I found them again, as I
shall soon observe. It is true they might have been there once or
twice; but either they made no stay, or at least I did not see
them; but in the month of May, as near as I could calculate, and in
my four-and-twentieth year, I had a very strange encounter with
them; of which in its place.

The perturbation of my mind during this fifteen or sixteen months'
interval was very great; I slept unquietly, dreamed always
frightful dreams, and often started out of my sleep in the night.
In the day great troubles overwhelmed my mind; and in the night I
dreamed often of killing the savages and of the reasons why I might
justify doing it.

But to waive all this for a while. It was in the middle of May, on
the sixteenth day, I think, as well as my poor wooden calendar
would reckon, for I marked all upon the post still; I say, it was
on the sixteenth of May that it blew a very great storm of wind all
day, with a great deal of lightning and thunder, and; a very foul
night it was after it. I knew not what was the particular occasion
of it, but as I was reading in the Bible, and taken up with very
serious thoughts about my present condition, I was surprised with
the noise of a gun, as I thought, fired at sea. This was, to be
sure, a surprise quite of a different nature from any I had met
with before; for the notions this put into my thoughts were quite
of another kind. I started up in the greatest haste imaginable;
and, in a trice, clapped my ladder to the middle place of the rock,
and pulled it after me; and mounting it the second time, got to the
top of the hill the very moment that a flash of fire bid me listen
for a second gun, which, accordingly, in about half a minute I
heard; and by the sound, knew that it was from that part of the sea


where I was driven down the current in my boat. I immediately
considered that this must be some ship in distress, and that they
had some comrade, or some other ship in company, and fired these
for signals of distress, and to obtain help. I had the presence of
mind at that minute to think, that though I could not help them, it
might be that they might help me; so I brought together all the dry
wood I could get at hand, and making a good handsome pile, I set it
on fire upon the hill. The wood was dry, and blazed freely; and,
though the wind blew very hard, yet it burned fairly out; so that I
was certain, if there was any such thing as a ship, they must needs
see it. And no doubt they did; for as soon as ever my fire blazed
up, I heard another gun, and after that several others, all from
the same quarter. I plied my fire all night long, till daybreak:
and when it was broad day, and the air cleared up, I saw something
at a great distance at sea, full east of the island, whether a sail
or a hull I could not distinguish - no, not with my glass: the
distance was so great, and the weather still something hazy also;
at least, it was so out at sea.

I looked frequently at it all that day, and soon perceived that it
did not move; so I presently concluded that it was a ship at
anchor; and being eager, you may be sure, to be satisfied, I took
my gun in my hand, and ran towards the south side of the island to
the rocks where I had formerly been carried away by the current;
and getting up there, the weather by this time being perfectly
clear, I could plainly see, to my great sorrow, the wreck of a
ship, cast away in the night upon those concealed rocks which I
found when I was out in my boat; and which rocks, as they checked
the violence of the stream, and made a kind of counter-stream, or
eddy, were the occasion of my recovering from the most desperate,
hopeless condition that ever I had been in in all my life. Thus,
what is one man's safety is another man's destruction; for it seems
these men, whoever they were, being out of their knowledge, and the
rocks being wholly under water, had been driven upon them in the
night, the wind blowing hard at ENE. Had they seen the island, as
I must necessarily suppose they did not, they must, as I thought,
have endeavoured to have saved themselves on shore by the help of
their boat; but their firing off guns for help, especially when
they saw, as I imagined, my fire, filled me with many thoughts.
First, I imagined that upon seeing my light they might have put
themselves into their boat, and endeavoured to make the shore: but
that the sea running very high, they might have been cast away.
Other times I imagined that they might have lost their boat before,
as might be the case many ways; particularly by the breaking of the
sea upon their ship, which many times obliged men to stave, or take
in pieces, their boat, and sometimes to throw it overboard with
their own hands. Other times I imagined they had some other ship
or ships in company, who, upon the signals of distress they made,
had taken them up, and carried them off. Other times I fancied
they were all gone off to sea in their boat, and being hurried away
by the current that I had been formerly in, were carried out into
the great ocean, where there was nothing but misery and perishing:
and that, perhaps, they might by this time think of starving, and
of being in a condition to eat one another.

As all these were but conjectures at best, so, in the condition I
was in, I could do no more than look on upon the misery of the poor
men, and pity them; which had still this good effect upon my side,
that it gave me more and more cause to give thanks to God, who had
so happily and comfortably provided for me in my desolate
condition; and that of two ships' companies, who were now cast away
upon this part of the world, not one life should be spared but
mine. I learned here again to observe, that it is very rare that
the providence of God casts us into any condition so low, or any


misery so great, but we may see something or other to be thankful
for, and may see others in worse circumstances than our own. Such
certainly was the case of these men, of whom I could not so much as
see room to suppose any were saved; nothing could make it rational
so much as to wish or expect that they did not all perish there,
except the possibility only of their being taken up by another ship
in company; and this was but mere possibility indeed, for I saw not
the least sign or appearance of any such thing. I cannot explain,
by any possible energy of words, what a strange longing I felt in
my soul upon this sight, breaking out sometimes thus: Oh that
there had been but one or twonayor but one soul saved out of
this shipto have escaped to methat I might but have had one
companionone fellow-creatureto have spoken to me and to have
conversed with!" In all the time of my solitary life I never felt
so earnestso strong a desire after the society of my fellowcreatures
or so deep a regret at the want of it.

There are some secret springs in the affections whichwhen they
are set a-going by some object in vieworthough not in viewyet
rendered present to the mind by the power of imaginationthat
motion carries out the soulby its impetuosityto such violent
eager embracings of the objectthat the absence of it is
insupportable. Such were these earnest wishings that but one man
had been saved. I believe I repeated the wordsOh that it had
been but one!a thousand times; and my desires were so moved by
itthat when I spoke the words my hands would clinch togetherand
my fingers would press the palms of my handsso that if I had had
any soft thing in my hand I should have crushed it involuntarily;
and the teeth in my head would strike togetherand set against one
another so strongthat for some time I could not part them again.
Let the naturalists explain these thingsand the reason and manner
of them. All I can do is to describe the factwhich was even
surprising to me when I found itthough I knew not from whence it
proceeded; it was doubtless the effect of ardent wishesand of
strong ideas formed in my mindrealising 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 mineor bothforbade
it; fortill the last year of my being on this islandI never
knew whether any were saved out of that ship or no; and had only
the afflictionsome days afterto 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 waistcoata pair
of open-kneed linen drawersand a blue linen shirt; but nothing to
direct me so much as to guess what nation he was of. He had
nothing in his pockets but two pieces of eight and a tobacco pipe -
the last was to me of ten times more value than the first.

It was now calmand I had a great mind to venture out in my boat
to this wrecknot doubting but I might find something on board
that might be useful to me. But that did not altogether press me
so much as the possibility that there might be yet some living
creature on boardwhose life I might not only savebut mightby
saving that lifecomfort my own to the last degree; and this
thought clung so to my heart that I could not be quiet night or
daybut I must venture out in my boat on board this wreck; and
committing the rest to God's providenceI thought the impression
was so strong upon my mind that it could not be resisted - that it
must come from some invisible directionand that I should be
wanting to myself if I did not go.

Under the power of this impressionI hastened back to my castle
prepared everything for my voyagetook a quantity of breada
great pot of fresh watera compass to steer bya bottle of rum
(for I had still a great deal of that left)and a basket of


raisins; and thusloading myself with everything necessary. I
went down to my boatgot the water out of hergot her afloat
loaded all my cargo in herand then went home again for more. My
second cargo was a great bag of ricethe umbrella to set up over
my head for a shadeanother large pot of waterand about two
dozen of small loavesor barley cakesmore than beforewith 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 outand rowing or paddling the canoe along the shorecame
at last to the utmost point of the island on the north-east side.
And now I was to launch out into the oceanand either to venture
or not to venture. I looked on the rapid currents which ran
constantly on both sides of the island at a distanceand which
were very terrible to me from the remembrance of the hazard I had
been in beforeand my heart began to fail me; for I foresaw that
if I was driven into either of those currentsI should be carried
a great way out to seaand perhaps out of my reach or sight of the
island again; and that thenas my boat was but smallif any
little gale of wind should riseI should be inevitably lost.

These thoughts so oppressed my mind that I began to give over my
enterprise; and having hauled my boat into a little creek on the
shoreI stepped outand sat down upon a rising bit of ground
very pensive and anxiousbetween fear and desireabout my voyage;
whenas I was musingI could perceive that the tide was turned
and the flood come on; upon which my going was impracticable for so
many hours. Upon thispresently it occurred to me that I should
go up to the highest piece of ground I could findand observeif
I couldhow the sets of the tide or currents lay when the flood
came inthat I might judge whetherif I was driven one way outI
might not expect to be driven another way homewith the same
rapidity of the currents. This thought was no sooner in my head
than I cast my eye upon a little hill which sufficiently overlooked
the sea both waysand from whence I had a clear view of the
currents or sets of the tideand which way I was to guide myself
in my return. Here I foundthat as the current of ebb set out
close by the south point of the islandso 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 returnand
I should do well enough.

Encouraged by this observationI resolved the next morning to set
out with the first of the tide; and reposing myself for the night
in my canoeunder the watch-coat I mentionedI launched out. I
first made a little out to seafull northtill I began to feel
the benefit of the currentwhich set eastwardand which carried
me at a great rate; and yet did not so hurry me as the current on
the south side had done beforeso as to take from me all
government of the boat; but having a strong steerage with my
paddleI went at a great rate directly for the wreckand in less
than two hours I came up to it. It was a dismal sight to look at;
the shipwhich by its building was Spanishstuck fastjammed in
between two rocks. All the stern and quarter of her were beaten to
pieces by the sea; and as her forecastlewhich stuck in the rocks
had run on with great violenceher mainmast and foremast were
brought by the board - that is to saybroken short off; but her
bowsprit was soundand the head and bow appeared firm. When I
came close to hera dog appeared upon herwhoseeing me coming
yelped and cried; and as soon as I called himjumped into the sea
to come to me. I took him into the boatbut found him almost dead
with hunger and thirst. I gave him a cake of my breadand he
devoured it like a ravenous wolf that had been starving a fortnight
in the snow; I then gave the poor creature some fresh waterwith
whichif I would have let himhe would have burst himself. After


this I went on board; but the first sight I met with was two men
drowned in the cook-roomor forecastle of the shipwith their
arms fast about one another. I concludedas is indeed probable
that when the ship struckit being in a stormthe sea broke so
high and so continually over herthat the men were not able to
bear itand were strangled with the constant rushing in of the
wateras 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 seebut what were spoiled by the water. There were
some casks of liquorwhether wine or brandy I knew notwhich lay
lower in the holdand whichthe water being ebbed outI could
see; but they were too big to meddle with. I saw several chests
which I believe belonged to some of the seamen; and I got two of
them into the boatwithout examining what was in them. Had the
stern of the ship been fixedand the forepart broken offI am
persuaded I might have made a good voyage; for by what I found in
those two chests I had room to suppose the ship had a great deal of
wealth on board; andif I may guess from the course she steered
she must have been bound from Buenos Ayresor the Rio de la Plata
in the south part of Americabeyond the Brazils to the Havannah
in the Gulf of Mexicoand so perhaps to Spain. She hadno doubt
a great treasure in herbut of no useat that timeto anybody;
and what became of the crew I then knew not.

I foundbesides these chestsa little cask full of liquorof
about twenty gallonswhich I got into my boat with much
difficulty. There were several muskets in the cabinand a great
powder-hornwith about four pounds of powder in it; as for the
musketsI had no occasion for themso I left thembut took the
powder-horn. I took a fire-shovel and tongswhich I wanted
extremelyas also two little brass kettlesa copper pot to make
chocolateand a gridiron; and with this cargoand the dogI came
awaythe tide beginning to make home again - and the same evening
about an hour within nightI reached the island againweary and
fatigued to the last degree. I reposed that night in the boat and
in the morning I resolved to harbour what I had got in my new cave
and not carry it home to my castle. After refreshing myselfI got
all my cargo on shoreand began to examine the particulars. The
cask of liquor I found to be a kind of rumbut not such as we had
at the Brazils; andin a wordnot at all good; but when I came to
open the chestsI found several things of great use to me - for
exampleI found in one a fine case of bottlesof an extraordinary
kindand filled with cordial watersfine and very good; the
bottles held about three pints eachand were tipped with silver.
I found two pots of very good succadesor sweetmeatsso fastened
also on the top that the salt-water had not hurt them; and two more
of the samewhich the water had spoiled. I found some very good
shirtswhich were very welcome to me; and about a dozen and a half
of white linen handkerchiefs and coloured neckcloths; the former
were also very welcomebeing exceedingly refreshing to wipe my
face in a hot day. Besides thiswhen I came to the till in the
chestI found there three great bags of pieces of eightwhich
held about eleven hundred pieces in all; and in one of them
wrapped up in a papersix doubloons of goldand some small bars
or wedges of gold; I suppose they might all weigh near a pound. In
the other chest were some clothesbut of little value; butby the
circumstancesit must have belonged to the gunner's mate; though
there was no powder in itexcept two pounds of fine glazed powder
in three flaskskeptI supposefor charging their fowling-pieces
on occasion. Upon the wholeI got very little by this voyage that
was of any use to me; foras to the moneyI had no manner of
occasion for it; it was to me as the dirt under my feetand I
would have given it all for three or four pair of English shoes and
stockingswhich were things I greatly wantedbut had had none on


my feet for many years. I hadindeedgot two pair of shoes now
which I took off the feet of two drowned men whom I saw in the
wreckand I found two pair more in one of the chestswhich were
very welcome to me; but they were not like our English shoes
either for ease or servicebeing rather what we call pumps than
shoes. I found in this seaman's chest about fifty pieces of eight
in rialsbut no gold: I supposed this belonged to a poorer man
than the otherwhich seemed to belong to some officer. Well
howeverI lugged this money home to my caveand laid it upas I
had done that before which I had brought from our own ship; but it
was a great pityas I saidthat the other part of this ship had
not come to my share: for I am satisfied I might have loaded my
canoe several times over with money; andthought Iif I ever
escape to Englandit might lie here safe enough till I come again
and fetch it.

CHAPTER XIV - A DREAM REALISED

HAVING now brought all my things on shore and secured themI went
back to my boatand rowed or paddled her along the shore to her
old harbourwhere I laid her upand made the best of my way to my
old habitationwhere I found everything safe and quiet. I began
now to repose myselflive after my old fashionand take care of
my family affairs; and for a while I lived easy enoughonly that I
was more vigilant than I used to belooked out oftenerand did
not go abroad so much; and if at any time I did stir with any
freedomit was always to the east part of the islandwhere I was
pretty well satisfied the savages never cameand where I could go
without so many precautionsand such a load of arms and ammunition
as I always carried with me if I went the other way. I lived in
this condition near two years more; but my unlucky headthat was
always to let me know it was born to make my body miserablewas
all these two years filled with projects and designs howif it
were possibleI might get away from this island: for sometimes I
was for making another voyage to the wreckthough my reason told
me that there was nothing left there worth the hazard of my voyage;
sometimes for a ramble one waysometimes another - and I believe
verilyif I had had the boat that I went from Sallee inI should
have ventured to seabound anywhereI knew not whither. I have
beenin all my circumstancesa memento to those who are touched
with the general plague of mankindwhencefor aught I knowone
half of their miseries flow: I mean that of not being satisfied
with the station wherein God and Nature hath placed them - fornot
to look back upon my primitive conditionand the excellent advice
of my fatherthe opposition to which wasas I may call itmy
ORIGINAL SINmy subsequent mistakes of the same kind had been the
means of my coming into this miserable condition; for had that
Providence which so happily seated me at the Brazils as a planter
blessed me with confined desiresand I could have been contented
to have gone on graduallyI 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 - nayI am persuadedthat by
the improvements I had made in that little time I lived thereand
the increase I should probably have made if I had remainedI might
have been worth a hundred thousand moidores - and what business had
I to leave a settled fortunea well-stocked plantationimproving
and increasingto turn supercargo to Guinea to fetch negroeswhen
patience and time would have so increased our stock at homethat
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 moreyet


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 headsso
reflection upon the folly of it is as commonly the exercise of more
yearsor of the dear-bought experience of time - so it was with me
now; and yet so deep had the mistake taken root in my temperthat
I could not satisfy myself in my stationbut was continually
poring upon the means and possibility of my escape from this place;
and that I maywith greater pleasure to the readerbring on the
remaining part of my storyit may not be improper to give some
account of my first conceptions on the subject of this foolish
scheme for my escapeand howand upon what foundationI acted.

I am now to be supposed retired into my castleafter my late
voyage to the wreckmy frigate laid up and secured under wateras
usualand my condition restored to what it was before: I had more
wealthindeedthan I had beforebut was not at all the richer;
for I had no more use for it than the Indians of Peru had before
the Spaniards came there.

It was one of the nights in the rainy season in Marchthe fourand-
twentieth year of my first setting foot in this island of
solitudeI was lying in my bed or hammockawakevery well in
healthhad no painno distemperno uneasiness of bodynor any
uneasiness of mind more than ordinarybut could by no means close
my eyesthat isso as to sleep; nonot a wink all night long
otherwise than as follows: It is impossible to set down the
innumerable crowd of thoughts that whirled through that great
thoroughfare of the brainthe memoryin this night's time. I ran
over the whole history of my life in miniatureor by abridgment
as I may call itto my coming to this islandand also of that
part of my life since I came to this island. In my reflections
upon the state of my case since I came on shore on this islandI
was comparing the happy posture of my affairs in the first years of
my habitation herewith the life of anxietyfearand care which
I had lived in ever since I had seen the print of a foot in the
sand. Not that I did not believe the savages had frequented the
island even all the whileand might have been several hundreds of
them at times on shore there; but I had never known itand was
incapable of any apprehensions about it; my satisfaction was
perfectthough my danger was the sameand 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 providedin its government of mankindsuch narrow
bounds to his sight and knowledge of things; and though he walks in
the midst of so many thousand dangersthe sight of whichif
discovered to himwould distract his mind and sink his spiritshe
is kept serene and calmby having the events of things hid from
his eyesand knowing nothing of the dangers which surround him.

After these thoughts had for some time entertained meI came to
reflect seriously upon the real danger I had been in for so many
years in this very islandand how I had walked about in the
greatest securityand with all possible tranquillityeven when
perhaps nothing but the brow of a hilla great treeor the casual
approach of nighthad been between me and the worst kind of
destruction - viz. that of falling into the hands of cannibals and
savageswho would have seized on me with the same view as I would
on a goat or turtle; and have thought it no more crime to kill and
devour me than I did of a pigeon or a curlew. I would unjustly
slander myself if I should say I was not sincerely thankful to my
great Preserverto whose singular protection I acknowledgedwith
great humanityall these unknown deliverances were dueand
without which I must inevitably have fallen into their merciless


hands.

When these thoughts were overmy head was for some time taken up
in considering the nature of these wretched creaturesI mean the
savagesand how it came to pass in the world that the wise
Governor of all things should give up any of His creatures to such
inhumanity - nayto something so much below even brutality itself

-as to devour its own kind: but as this ended in some (at that
time) fruitless speculationsit occurred to me to inquire what
part of the world these wretches lived in? how far off the coast
was from whence they came? what they ventured over so far from home
for? what kind of boats they had? and why I might not order myself
and my business so that I might be able to go over thitheras they
were to come to me?
I never so much as troubled myself to consider what I should do
with myself when I went thither; what would become of me if I fell
into the hands of these savages; or how I should escape them if
they attacked me; nonor so much as how it was possible for me to
reach the coastand not to be attacked by some or other of them
without any possibility of delivering myself: and if I should not
fall into their handswhat I should do for provisionor whither I
should bend my course: none of these thoughtsI sayso much as
came in my way; but my mind was wholly bent upon the notion of my
passing over in my boat to the mainland. I looked upon my present
condition as the most miserable that could possibly be; that I was
not able to throw myself into anything but deaththat could be
called worse; and if I reached the shore of the main I might
perhaps meet with reliefor I might coast alongas I did on the
African shoretill I came to some inhabited countryand where I
might find some relief; and after allperhaps I might fall in with
some Christian ship that might take me in: and if the worst came to
the worstI could but diewhich would put an end to all these
miseries at once. Pray noteall this was the fruit of a disturbed
mindan impatient tempermade desperateas it wereby the long
continuance of my troublesand the disappointments I had met in
the wreck I had been on board ofand where I had been so near
obtaining what I so earnestly longed for - somebody to speak to
and to learn some knowledge from them of the place where I wasand
of the probable means of my deliverance. I was agitated wholly by
these thoughts; all my calm of mindin my resignation to
Providenceand waiting the issue of the dispositions of Heaven
seemed to be suspended; and I had as it were no power to turn my
thoughts to anything but to the project of a voyage to the main
which came upon me with such forceand such an impetuosity of
desirethat it was not to be resisted.

When this had agitated my thoughts for two hours or morewith such
violence that it set my very blood into a fermentand my pulse
beat as if I had been in a fevermerely with the extraordinary
fervour of my mind about itNature - as if I had been fatigued and
exhausted with the very thoughts of it - threw me into a sound
sleep. One would have thought I should have dreamed of itbut I
did notnor of anything relating to itbut I dreamed that as I
was going out in the morning as usual from my castleI saw upon
the shore two canoes and eleven savages coming to landand that
they brought with them another savage whom they were going to kill
in order to eat him; whenon a suddenthe savage that they were
going to kill jumped awayand ran for his life; and I thought in
my sleep that he came running into my little thick grove before my
fortificationto hide himself; and that I seeing him aloneand
not perceiving that the others sought him that wayshowed myself
to himand smiling upon himencouraged him: that he kneeled down
to meseeming to pray me to assist him; upon which I showed him my


laddermade him go upand carried him into my caveand he became
my servant; and that as soon as I had got this manI said to
myselfNow I may certainly venture to the mainland, for this
fellow will serve me as a pilot, and will tell me what to do, and
whither to go for provisions, and whither not to go for fear of
being devoured; what places to venture into, and what to shun.
waked with this thought; and was under such inexpressible
impressions of joy at the prospect of my escape in my dreamthat
the disappointments which I felt upon coming to myselfand finding
that it was no more than a dreamwere equally extravagant the
other wayand threw me into a very great dejection of spirits.

Upon thishoweverI made this conclusion: that my only way to go
about to attempt an escape wasto endeavour to get a savage into
my possession: andif possibleit should be one of their
prisonerswhom they had condemned to be eatenand 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 themand killing them all; and this was not
only a very desperate attemptand might miscarrybuton the
other handI had greatly scrupled the lawfulness of it to myself;
and my heart trembled at the thoughts of shedding so much blood
though it was for my deliverance. I need not repeat the arguments
which occurred to me against thisthey being the same mentioned
before; but though I had other reasons to offer now - viz. that
those men were enemies to my lifeand would devour me if they
could; that it was self-preservationin the highest degreeto
deliver myself from this death of a lifeand was acting in my own
defence as much as if they were actually assaulting meand the
like; I say though these things argued for ityet the thoughts of
shedding human blood for my deliverance were very terrible to me
and such as I could by no means reconcile myself to for a great
while. Howeverat lastafter many secret disputes with myself
and after great perplexities about it (for all these argumentsone
way and anotherstruggled in my head a long time)the eager
prevailing desire of deliverance at length mastered all the rest;
and I resolvedif possibleto get one of these savages into my
handscost what it would. My next thing was to contrive how to do
itand thisindeedwas very difficult to resolve on; but as I
could pitch upon no probable means for itso I resolved to put
myself upon the watchto see them when they came on shoreand
leave the rest to the event; taking such measures as the
opportunity should presentlet what would be.

With these resolutions in my thoughtsI set myself upon the scout
as often as possibleand 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 endand to the southwest
corner of the island almost every dayto look for canoesbut
none appeared. This was very discouragingand began to trouble me
muchthough I cannot say that it did in this case (as it had done
some time before) wear off the edge of my desire to the thing; but
the longer it seemed to be delayedthe more eager I was for it: in
a wordI was not at first so careful to shun the sight of these
savagesand avoid being seen by themas I was now eager to be
upon them. BesidesI fancied myself able to manage onenaytwo
or three savagesif I had themso as to make them entirely slaves
to meto do whatever I should direct themand to prevent their
being able at any time to do me any hurt. It was a great while
that I pleased myself with this affair; but nothing still presented
itself; all my fancies and schemes came to nothingfor no savages
came near me for a great while.

About a year and a half after I entertained these notions (and by


long musing hadas it wereresolved them all into nothingfor
want of an occasion to put them into execution)I was surprised
one morning by seeing no less than five canoes all on shore
together on my side the islandand the people who belonged to them
all landed and out of my sight. The number of them broke all my
measures; for seeing so manyand knowing that they always came
four or sixor sometimes more in a boatI could not tell what to
think of itor how to take my measures to attack twenty or thirty
men single-handed; so lay still in my castleperplexed and
discomforted. HoweverI put myself into the same position for an
attack that I had formerly providedand was just ready for action
if anything had presented. Having waited a good whilelistening
to hear if they made any noiseat lengthbeing very impatientI
set my guns at the foot of my ladderand .clambered up to the top
of the hillby my two stagesas usual; standing sohoweverthat
my head did not appear above the hillso that they could not
perceive me by any means. Here I observedby the help of my
perspective glassthat they were no less than thirty in number;
that they had a fire kindledand that they had meat dressed. How
they had cooked it I knew notor what it was; but they were all
dancingin I know not how many barbarous gestures and figures
their own wayround the fire.

While I was thus looking on themI perceivedby my perspective
two miserable wretches dragged from the boatswhereit seems
they were laid byand were now brought out for the slaughter. I
perceived one of them immediately fall; being knocked downI
supposewith a club or wooden swordfor that was their way; and
two or three others were at work immediatelycutting him open for
their cookerywhile the other victim was left standing by himself
till they should be ready for him. In that very moment this poor
wretchseeing himself a little at liberty and unboundNature
inspired him with hopes of lifeand he started away from themand
ran with incredible swiftness along the sandsdirectly towards me;
I mean towards that part of the coast where my habitation was. I
was dreadfully frightenedI must acknowledgewhen I perceived him
run my way; and especially whenas I thoughtI saw him pursued by
the whole body: and now I expected that part of my dream was coming
to passand that he would certainly take shelter in my grove; but
I could not dependby any meansupon my dreamthat the other
savages would not pursue him thither and find him there. However
I kept my stationand my spirits began to recover when I found
that there was not above three men that followed him; and still
more was I encouragedwhen I found that he outstripped them
exceedingly in runningand gained ground on them; so thatif he
could but hold out for half-an-hourI saw easily he would fairly
get away from them all.

There was between them and my castle the creekwhich I mentioned
often in the first part of my storywhere 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 thitherhe made nothing of itthough the tide was
then up; but plunging inswam through in about thirty strokesor
thereaboutslandedand ran with exceeding strength and swiftness.
When the three persons came to the creekI found that two of them
could swimbut the third could notand thatstanding on the
other sidehe looked at the othersbut went no fartherand soon
after went softly back again; whichas it happenedwas very well
for him in the end. I observed that the two who swam were yet more
than twice as strong swimming over the creek as the fellow was that
fled from them. It came very warmly upon my thoughtsand indeed
irresistiblythat now was the time to get me a servantand
perhapsa companion or assistant; and that I was plainly called by


Providence to save this poor creature's life. I immediately ran
down the ladders with all possible expeditionfetched my two guns
for they were both at the foot of the laddersas I observed
beforeand getting up again with the same haste to the top of the
hillI crossed towards the sea; and having a very short cutand
all down hillplaced myself in the way between the pursuers and
the pursuedhallowing aloud to him that fledwholooking back
was at first perhaps as much frightened at me as at them; but I
beckoned with my hand to him to come back; andin the meantimeI
slowly advanced towards the two that followed; then rushing at once
upon the foremostI knocked him down with the stock of my piece.
I was loath to firebecause I would not have the rest hear;
thoughat that distanceit would not have been easily heardand
being out of sight of the smoketoothey would not have known
what to make of it. Having knocked this fellow downthe other who
pursued him stoppedas if he had been frightenedand I advanced
towards him: but as I came nearerI perceived presently he had a
bow and arrowand was fitting it to shoot at me: so I was then
obliged to shoot at him firstwhich I didand killed him at the
first shot. The poor savage who fledbut had stoppedthough he
saw both his enemies fallen and killedas he thoughtyet was so
frightened with the fire and noise of my piece that he stood stock
stilland neither came forward nor went backwardthough he seemed
rather inclined still to fly than to come on. I hallooed again to
himand made signs to come forwardwhich he easily understood
and came a little way; then stopped againand then a little
fartherand stopped again; and I could then perceive that he stood
tremblingas if he had been taken prisonerand had just been to
be killedas his two enemies were. I beckoned to him again to
come to meand gave him all the signs of encouragement that I
could think of; and he came nearer and nearerkneeling down every
ten or twelve stepsin token of acknowledgment for saving his
life. I smiled at himand looked pleasantlyand beckoned to him
to come still nearer; at length he came close to me; and then he
kneeled down againkissed the groundand laid his head upon the
groundand taking me by the footset my foot upon his head; this
it seemswas in token of swearing to be my slave for ever. I took
him up and made much of himand encouraged him all I could. But
there was more work to do yet; for I perceived the savage whom I
had knocked down was not killedbut stunned with the blowand
began to come to himself: so I pointed to himand showed him the
savagethat he was not dead; upon this he spoke some words to me
and though I could not understand themyet I thought they were
pleasant to hear; for they were the first sound of a man's voice
that I had heardmy own exceptedfor 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
thatI presented my other piece at the manas if I would shoot
him: upon this my savagefor so I call him nowmade a motion to
me to lend him my swordwhich hung naked in a belt by my side
which I did. He no sooner had itbut he runs to his enemyand at
one blow cut off his head so cleverlyno executioner in Germany
could have done it sooner or better; which I thought very strange
for one whoI had reason to believenever saw a sword in his life
beforeexcept their own wooden swords: howeverit seemsas I
learned afterwardsthey make their wooden swords so sharpso
heavyand the wood is so hardthat they will even cut off heads
with themayand armsand that at one blowtoo. When he had
done thishe comes laughing to me in sign of triumphand brought
me the sword againand with abundance of gestures which I did not
understandlaid it downwith the head of the savage that he had
killedjust before me. But that which astonished him most was to
know how I killed the other Indian so far off; sopointing to him


he made signs to me to let him go to him; and I bade him goas
well as I could. When he came to himhe stood like one amazed
looking at himturning him first on one sidethen on the other;
looked at the wound the bullet had madewhich it seems was just in
his breastwhere it had made a holeand no great quantity of
blood had followed; but he had bled inwardlyfor he was quite
dead. He took up his bow and arrowsand came back; so I turned to
go awayand beckoned him to follow memaking signs to him that
more might come after them. Upon this he made signs to me that he
should bury them with sandthat they might not be seen by the
restif they followed; and so I made signs to him again to do so.
He fell to work; and in an instant he had scraped a hole in the
sand with his hands big enough to bury the first inand then
dragged him into itand covered him; and did so by the other also;
I believe he had him buried them both in a quarter of an hour.
Thencalling awayI carried himnot to my castlebut quite away
to my caveon the farther part of the island: so I did not let my
dream come to pass in that partthat he came into my grove for
shelter. Here I gave him bread and a bunch of raisins to eatand
a draught of waterwhich I found he was indeed in great distress
forfrom his running: and having refreshed himI made signs for
him to go and lie down to sleepshowing him a place where I had
laid some rice-strawand a blanket upon itwhich I used to sleep
upon myself sometimes; so the poor creature lay downand went to
sleep.

He was a comelyhandsome fellowperfectly well madewith
straightstrong limbsnot too large; talland well-shaped; and
as I reckonabout twenty-six years of age. He had a very good
countenancenot a fierce and surly aspectbut seemed to have
something very manly in his face; and yet he had all the sweetness
and softness of a European in his countenancetooespecially when
he smiled. His hair was long and blacknot curled like wool; his
forehead very high and large; and a great vivacity and sparkling
sharpness in his eyes. The colour of his skin was not quite black
but very tawny; and yet not an uglyyellownauseous tawnyas the
Brazilians and Virginiansand other natives of America arebut of
a bright kind of a dun olive-colourthat had in it something very
agreeablethough not very easy to describe. His face was round
and plump; his nose smallnot flatlike the negroes; a very good
mouththin lipsand his fine teeth well setand as white as
ivory.

After he had slumberedrather than sleptabout half-an-hourhe
awoke againand 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 melaying himself down again upon the groundwith
all the possible signs of an humblethankful dispositionmaking a
great many antic gestures to show it. At last he lays his head
flat upon the groundclose to my footand sets my other foot upon
his headas he had done before; and after this made all the signs
to me of subjectionservitudeand submission imaginableto let
me know how he would serve me so long as he lived. I understood
him in many thingsand 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 firstI let him know his name should be Friday
which was the day I saved his life: I called him so for the memory
of the time. I likewise taught him to say Master; and then let him
know that was to be my name: I likewise taught him to say Yes and
No and to know the meaning of them. I gave him some milk in an
earthen potand let him see me drink it before himand sop my
bread in it; and gave him a cake of bread to do the likewhich he
quickly complied withand made signs that it was very good for
him. I kept there with him all that night; but as soon as it was


day I beckoned to him to come with meand let him know I would
give him some clothes; at which he seemed very gladfor he was
stark naked. As we went by the place where he had buried the two
menhe pointed exactly to the placeand showed me the marks that
he had made to find them againmaking signs to me that we should
dig them up again and eat them. At this I appeared very angry
expressed my abhorrence of itmade as if I would vomit at the
thoughts of itand beckoned with my hand to him to come away
which he did immediatelywith great submission. I then led him up
to the top of the hillto see if his enemies were gone; and
pulling out my glass I lookedand saw plainly the place where they
had beenbut no appearance of them or their canoes; so that it was
plain they were goneand had left their two comrades behind them
without any search after them.

But I was not content with this discovery; but having now more
courageand consequently more curiosityI took my man Friday with
megiving him the sword in his handwith the bow and arrows at
his backwhich I found he could use very dexterouslymaking him
carry one gun for meand I two for myself; and away we marched to
the place where these creatures had been; for I had a mind now to
get some further intelligence of them. When I came to the place my
very blood ran chill in my veinsand my heart sunk within meat
the horror of the spectacle; indeedit was a dreadful sightat
least it was so to methough Friday made nothing of it. The place
was covered with human bonesthe ground dyed with their bloodand
great pieces of flesh left here and therehalf-eatenmangledand
scorched; andin shortall the tokens of the triumphant feast
they had been making thereafter a victory over their enemies. I
saw three skullsfive handsand the bones of three or four legs
and feetand abundance of other parts of the bodies; and Friday
by his signsmade me understand that they brought over four
prisoners to feast upon; that three of them were eaten upand that
hepointing to himselfwas the fourth; that there had been a
great battle between them and their next kingof whose subjects
it seemshe had been oneand that they had taken a great number
of prisoners; all which were carried to several places by those who
had taken them in the fightin order to feast upon themas was
done here by these wretches upon those they brought hither.

I caused Friday to gather all the skullsbonesfleshand
whatever remainedand lay them together in a heapand make a
great fire upon itand burn them all to ashes. I found Friday had
still a hankering stomach after some of the fleshand was still a
cannibal in his nature; but I showed so much abhorrence at the very
thoughts of itand at the least appearance of itthat he durst
not discover it: for I hadby some meanslet him know that I
would kill him if he offered it.

When he had done thiswe came back to our castle; and there I fell
to work for my man Friday; and first of allI gave him a pair of
linen drawerswhich I had out of the poor gunner's chest I
mentionedwhich I found in the wreckand whichwith a little
alterationfitted him very well; and then I made him a jerkin of
goat's skinas well as my skill would allow (for I was now grown a
tolerably good tailor); and I gave him a cap which I made of hare's
skinvery convenientand fashionable enough; and thus he was
clothedfor the presenttolerably welland was mighty well
pleased to see himself almost as well clothed as his master. It is
true he went awkwardly in these clothes at first: wearing the
drawers was very awkward to himand the sleeves of the waistcoat
galled his shoulders and the inside of his arms; but a little
easing them where he complained they hurt himand using himself to
themhe took to them at length very well.


The next dayafter I came home to my hutch with himI began to
consider where I should lodge him: and that I might do well for him
and yet be perfectly easy myselfI made a little tent for him in
the vacant place between my two fortificationsin the inside of
the lastand in the outside of the first. As there was a door or
entrance there into my caveI made a formal framed door-caseand
a door to itof boardsand set it up in the passagea little
within the entrance; andcausing the door to open in the insideI
barred it up in the nighttaking in my ladderstoo; so that
Friday could no way come at me in the inside of my innermost wall
without making so much noise in getting over that it must needs
awaken me; for my first wall had now a complete roof over it of
long polescovering all my tentand leaning up to the side of the
hill; which was again laid across with smaller sticksinstead of
lathsand then thatched over a great thickness with the ricestraw
which was stronglike reeds; and at the hole or place which
was left to go in or out by the ladder I had placed a kind of trapdoor
whichif it had been attempted on the outsidewould not
have opened at allbut would have fallen down and made a great
noise - as to weaponsI took them all into my side every night.
But I needed none of all this precaution; for never man had a more
faithfullovingsincere servant than Friday was to me: without
passionssullennessor designsperfectly obliged and engaged;
his very affections were tied to melike those of a child to a
father; and I daresay he would have sacrificed his life to save
mine upon any occasion whatsoever - the many testimonies he gave me
of this put it out of doubtand soon convinced me that I needed to
use no precautions for my safety on his account.

This frequently gave me occasion to observeand that with wonder
that however it had pleased God in His providenceand in the
government of the works of His handsto 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 adaptedyet that He
has bestowed upon them the same powersthe same reasonthe same
affectionsthe same sentiments of kindness and obligationthe
same passions and resentments of wrongsthe same sense of
gratitudesincerityfidelityand all the capacities of doing
good and receiving good that He has given to us; and that when He
pleases to offer them occasions of exerting thesethey are as
readynaymore readyto apply them to the right uses for which
they were bestowed than we are. This made me very melancholy
sometimesin reflectingas the several occasions presentedhow
mean a use we make of all theseeven though we have these powers
enlightened by the great lamp of instructionthe Spirit of God
and by the knowledge of His word added to our understanding; and
why it has pleased God to hide the like saving knowledge from so
many millions of soulswhoif 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 farto invade the sovereignty of Providence
andas it werearraign the justice of so arbitrary a disposition
of thingsthat should hide that sight from someand reveal it -
to othersand yet expect a like duty from both; but I shut it up
and checked my thoughts with this conclusion: firstthat we did
not know by what light and law these should be condemned; but that
as God was necessarilyand by the nature of His beinginfinitely
holy and justso it could not bebut if these creatures were all
sentenced to absence from Himselfit was on account of sinning
against that light whichas the Scripture sayswas a law to
themselvesand by such rules as their consciences would
acknowledge to be justthough the foundation was not discovered to
us; and secondlythat still as we all are the clay in the hand of
the potterno vessel could say to himWhy hast thou formed me


thus?

But to return to my new companion. I was greatly delighted with
himand made it my business to teach him everything that was
proper to make him usefulhandyand helpful; but especially to
make him speakand understand me when I spoke; and he was the
aptest scholar that ever was; and particularly was so merryso
constantly diligentand so pleased when he could but understand
meor make me understand himthat it was very pleasant for me to
talk to him. Now my life began to be so easy that I began to say
to myself that could I but have been safe from more savagesI
cared not if I was never to remove from the place where I lived.

CHAPTER XV - FRIDAY'S EDUCATION

AFTER I had been two or three days returned to my castleI thought
thatin order to bring Friday off from his horrid way of feeding
and from the relish of a cannibal's stomachI ought to let him
taste other flesh; so I took him out with me one morning to the
woods. I wentindeedintending 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 shadeand two young kids sitting by
her. I catched hold of Friday. "Hold said I, stand still;" and
made signs to him not to stir: immediately I presented my piece
shotand killed one of the kids. The poor creaturewho had at a
distanceindeedseen me kill the savagehis enemybut did not
knownor could imagine how it was donewas sensibly surprised
trembledand shookand looked so amazed that I thought he would
have sunk down. He did not see the kid I shot ator perceive I
had killed itbut ripped up his waistcoat to feel whether he was
not wounded; andas I found presentlythought I was resolved to
kill him: for he came and kneeled down to meand embracing my
kneessaid a great many things I did not understand; but I could
easily see the meaning was to pray me not to kill him.

I soon found a way to convince him that I would do him no harm; and
taking him up by the handlaughed at himand pointing to the kid
which I had killedbeckoned to him to run and fetch itwhich he
did: and while he was wonderingand looking to see how the
creature was killedI loaded my gun again. By-and-by I saw a
great fowllike a hawksitting upon a tree within shot; soto
let Friday understand a little what I would doI called him to me
againpointed at the fowlwhich was indeed a parrotthough I
thought it had been a hawk; I saypointing to the parrotand to
my gunand to the ground under the parrotto let him see I would
make it fallI made him understand that I would shoot and kill
that bird; accordinglyI firedand bade him lookand immediately
he saw the parrot fall. He stood like one frightened again
notwithstanding all I had said to him; and I found he was the more
amazedbecause he did not see me put anything into the gunbut
thought that there must be some wonderful fund of death and
destruction in that thingable to kill manbeastbirdor
anything near or far off; and the astonishment this created in him
was such as could not wear off for a long time; and I believeif I
would have let himhe would have worshipped me and my gun. As for
the gun itselfhe would not so much as touch it for several days
after; but he would speak to it and talk to itas if it had
answered himwhen he was by himself; whichas I afterwards
learned of himwas to desire it not to kill him. Wellafter his
astonishment was a little over at thisI pointed to him to run and


fetch the bird I had shotwhich he didbut stayed some time; for
the parrotnot being quite deadhad fluttered away a good
distance from the place where she fell: howeverhe found hertook
her upand brought her to me; and as I had perceived his ignorance
about the gun beforeI took this advantage to charge the gun
againand not to let him see me do itthat I might be ready for
any other mark that might present; but nothing more offered at that
time: so I brought home the kidand the same evening I took the
skin offand cut it out as well as I could; and having a pot fit
for that purposeI boiled or stewed some of the fleshand made
some very good broth. After I had begun to eat some I gave some to
my manwho seemed very glad of itand liked it very well; but
that which was strangest to him was to see me eat salt with it. He
made a sign to me that the salt was not good to eat; and putting a
little into his own mouthhe seemed to nauseate itand would spit
and sputter at itwashing his mouth with fresh water after it: on
the other handI took some meat into my mouth without saltand I
pretended to spit and sputter for want of saltas much as he had
done at the salt; but it would not do; he would never care for salt
with meat or in his broth; at leastnot for a great whileand
then but a very little.

Having thus fed him with boiled meat and brothI was resolved to
feast him the next day by roasting a piece of the kid: this I did
by hanging it before the fire on a stringas I had seen many
people do in Englandsetting two poles upone on each side of the
fireand one across the topand tying the string to the cross
stickletting the meat turn continually. This Friday admired very
much; but when he came to taste the fleshhe took so many ways to
tell me how well he liked itthat I could not but understand him:
and at last he told meas well as he couldhe would never eat
man's flesh any morewhich I was very glad to hear.

The next day I set him to work beating some corn outand sifting
it in the manner I used to doas I observed before; and he soon
understood how to do it as well as Iespecially after he had seen
what the meaning of it wasand that it was to make bread of; for
after that I let him see me make my breadand bake it too; and in
a little time Friday was able to do all the work for me as well as
I could do it myself.

I began now to considerthat having two mouths to feed instead of
oneI must provide more ground for my harvestand plant a larger
quantity of corn than I used to do; so I marked out a larger piece
of landand began the fence in the same manner as beforein which
Friday worked not only very willingly and very hardbut did it
very cheerfully: and I told him what it was for; that it was for
corn to make more breadbecause he was now with meand that I
might have enough for him and myself too. He appeared very
sensible of that partand let me know that he thought I had much
more labour upon me on his account than I had for myself; and that
he would work the harder for me if I would tell him what to do.

This was the pleasantest year of all the life I led in this place.
Friday began to talk pretty welland understand the names of
almost everything I had occasion to call forand of every place I
had to send him toand talked a great deal to me; so thatin
shortI began now to have some use for my tongue againwhich
indeedI had very little occasion for before. Besides the
pleasure of talking to himI had a singular satisfaction in the
fellow himself: his simpleunfeigned honesty appeared to me more
and more every dayand I began really to love the creature; and on
his side I believe he loved me more than it was possible for him
ever to love anything before.


I had a mind once to try if he had any inclination for his own
country again; and having taught him English so well that he could
answer me almost any questionI asked him whether the nation that
he belonged to never conquered in battle? At which he smiledand
said - "Yesyeswe always fight the better;" that ishe meant
always get the better in fight; and so we began the following
discourse:


MASTER. - You always fight the better; how came you to be taken
prisonerthenFriday?

FRIDAY. - My nation beat much for all that.

MASTER. - How beat? If your nation beat themhow came you to be
taken?

FRIDAY. - They more many than my nationin the place where me was;
they take onetwothreeand me: my nation over-beat them in the
yonder placewhere me no was; there my nation take onetwogreat
thousand.

MASTER. - But why did not your side recover you from the hands of
your enemiesthen?

FRIDAY. - They runonetwothreeand meand make go in the
canoe; my nation have no canoe that time.

MASTER. - WellFridayand what does your nation do with the men
they take? Do they carry them away and eat themas these did?

FRIDAY. - Yesmy nation eat mans too; eat all up.

MASTER. - Where do they carry them?

FRIDAY. - Go to other placewhere they think.

MASTER. - Do they come hither?

FRIDAY. - Yesyesthey come hither; come other else place.

MASTER. - Have you been here with them?

FRIDAY. - YesI have been here (points to the NW. side of the
islandwhichit seemswas their side).

By this I understood that my man Friday had formerly been among the
savages who used to come on shore on the farther part of the
islandon the same man-eating occasions he was now brought for;
and some time afterwhen I took the courage to carry him to that
sidebeing the same I formerly mentionedhe presently knew the
placeand told me he was there oncewhen they ate up twenty men
two womenand one child; he could not tell twenty in Englishbut
he numbered them by laying so many stones in a rowand pointing to
me to tell them over.

I have told this passagebecause it introduces what follows: that
after this discourse I had with himI asked him how far it was
from our island to the shoreand whether the canoes were not often
lost. He told me there was no dangerno canoes ever lost: but
that after a little way out to seathere was a current and wind
always one way in the morningthe other in the afternoon. This I
understood to be no more than the sets of the tideas going out or
coming in; but I afterwards understood it was occasioned by the


great draft and reflux of the mighty river Orinocoin the mouth or
gulf of which riveras I found afterwardsour island lay; and
that this landwhich I perceived to be W. and NW.was the great
island Trinidadon the north point of the mouth of the river. I
asked Friday a thousand questions about the countrythe
inhabitantsthe seathe coastand what nations were near; he
told me all he knew with the greatest openness imaginable. I asked
him the names of the several nations of his sort of peoplebut
could get no other name than Caribs; from whence I easily
understood that these were the Caribbeeswhich our maps place on
the part of America which reaches from the mouth of the river
Orinoco to Guianaand onwards to St. Martha. He told me that up a
great way beyond the moonthat was beyond the setting of the moon
which must be west from their countrythere dwelt white bearded
menlike meand pointed to my great whiskerswhich I mentioned
before; and that they had killed much mansthat was his word: by
all which I understood he meant the Spaniardswhose cruelties in
America had been spread over the whole countryand were remembered
by all the nations from father to son.

I inquired if he could tell me how I might go from this islandand
get among those white men. He told meYes, yes, you may go in
two canoe.I could not understand what he meantor make him
describe to me what he meant by two canoetill at lastwith great
difficultyI found he meant it must be in a large boatas big as
two canoes. This part of Friday's discourse I began to relish very
well; and from this time I entertained some hopes thatone time or
otherI might find an opportunity to make my escape from this
placeand that this poor savage might be a means to help me.

During the long time that Friday had now been with meand that he
began to speak to meand understand meI was not wanting to lay a
foundation of religious knowledge in his mind; particularly I asked
him one timewho made him. The creature did not understand me at
allbut thought I had asked who was his father - but I took it up
by another handleand asked him who made the seathe ground we
walked onand the hills and woods. He told meIt was one
Benamuckee, that lived beyond all;he could describe nothing of
this great personbut that he was very oldmuch older,he said
than the sea or land, than the moon or the stars.I asked him
thenif this old person had made all thingswhy did not all
things worship him? He looked very graveandwith a perfect look
of innocencesaidAll things say O to him.I asked him if the
people who die in his country went away anywhere? He saidYes;
they all went to Benamuckee.Then I asked him whether those they
eat up went thither too. He saidYes.

From these thingsI began to instruct him in the knowledge of the
true God; I told him that the great Maker of all things lived up
therepointing up towards heaven; that He governed the world by
the same power and providence by which He made it; that He was
omnipotentand could do everything for usgive everything to us
take everything from us; and thusby degreesI opened his eyes.
He listened with great attentionand received with pleasure the
notion of Jesus Christ being sent to redeem us; and of the manner
of making our prayers to Godand His being able to hear useven
in heaven. He told me one daythat if our God could hear usup
beyond the sunhe must needs be a greater God than their
Benamuckeewho lived but a little way offand yet could not hear
till they went up to the great mountains where he dwelt to speak to
them. I asked him if ever he went thither to speak to him. He
saidNo; they never went that were young men; none went thither
but the old men,whom he called their Oowokakee; that isas I
made him explain to metheir religiousor 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 observedthat there is
priestcraft even among the most blindedignorant pagans in the
world; and the policy of making a secret of religionin order to
preserve the veneration of the people to the clergynot only to be
found in the Romanbutperhapsamong 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
answeror spake with any one thereit must be with an evil
spirit; and then I entered into a long discourse with him about the
devilthe origin of himhis rebellion against Godhis enmity to
manthe reason of ithis setting himself up in the dark parts of
the world to be worshipped instead of Godand as Godand 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 affectionsand to
adapt his snares to our inclinationsso as to cause us even to be
our own temptersand run upon our destruction by our own choice.

I found it was not so easy to imprint right notions in his mind
about the devil as it was about the being of a God. Nature
assisted all my arguments to evidence to him even the necessity of
a great First Causean overrulinggoverning Powera secret
directing Providenceand of the equity and justice of paying
homage to Him that made usand the like; but there appeared
nothing of this kind in the notion of an evil spiritof his
originhis beinghis natureand above allof his inclination to
do eviland to draw us in to do so too; and the poor creature
puzzled me once in such a mannerby a question merely natural and
innocentthat I scarce knew what to say to him. I had been
talking a great deal to him of the power of GodHis omnipotence
His aversion to sinHis being a consuming fire to the workers of
iniquity; howas He had made us allHe 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 menand used all his malice and skill
to defeat the good designs of Providenceand to ruin the kingdom
of Christ in the worldand the like. "Well says Friday, but
you say God is so strongso great; is He not much strongmuch
might as the devil?" "Yesyes says I, Friday; God is stronger
than the devil - God is above the deviland therefore we pray to
God to tread him down under our feetand enable us to resist his
temptations and quench his fiery darts." "But says he again, if
God much strongermuch might as the wicked devilwhy God no kill
the devilso make him no more do wicked?" I was strangely
surprised at this question; andafter allthough I was now an old
manyet I was but a young doctorand ill qualified for a casuist
or a solver of difficulties; and at first I could not tell what to
say; so I pretended not to hear himand asked him what he said;
but he was too earnest for an answer to forget his questionso
that he repeated it in the very same broken words as above. By
this time I had recovered myself a littleand I saidGod 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 Iwhy God does not kill you or me, when we do wicked
things here that offend Him - we are preserved to repent and be
pardoned.He mused some time on this. "Wellwell says he,
mighty affectionately, that well - so youIdevilall wicked


all preserverepentGod pardon all." Here I was run down again
by him to the last degree; and it was a testimony to mehow the
mere notions of naturethough they will guide reasonable creatures
to the knowledge of a Godand of a worship or homage due to the
supreme being of Godas the consequence of our natureyet nothing
but divine revelation can form the knowledge of Jesus Christand
of redemption purchased for us; of a Mediator of the new covenant
and of an Intercessor at the footstool of God's throne; I say
nothing but a revelation from Heaven can form these in the soul;
and thatthereforethe gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
ChristI mean the Word of Godand the Spirit of Godpromised for
the guide and sanctifier of His peopleare 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 hastilyas upon some sudden occasion of going out; then
sending him for something a good way offI seriously prayed to God
that He would enable me to instruct savingly this poor savage;
assistingby His Spiritthe heart of the poor ignorant creature
to receive the light of the knowledge of God in Christreconciling
him to Himselfand would guide me so to speak to him from the Word
of God that his conscience might be convincedhis eyes openedand
his soul saved. When he came again to meI entered into a long
discourse with him upon the subject of the redemption of man by the
Saviour of the worldand of the doctrine of the gospel preached
from Heavenviz. of repentance towards Godand faith in our
blessed Lord Jesus. I then explained to him as well as I could why
our blessed Redeemer took not on Him the nature of angels but the
seed of Abraham; and howfor that reasonthe fallen angels had no
share in the redemption; that He came only to the lost sheep of the
house of Israeland the like.

I hadGod knowsmore sincerity than knowledge in all the methods
I took for this poor creature's instructionand must acknowledge
what I believe all that act upon the same principle will findthat
in laying things open to himI really informed and instructed
myself in many things that either I did not know or had not fully
considered beforebut which occurred naturally to my mind upon
searching into themfor 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 thatwhether this poor wild wretch was
better for me or noI had great reason to be thankful that ever he
came to me; my grief sat lighterupon me; my habitation grew
comfortable to me beyond measure: and when I reflected that in this
solitary life which I have been confined toI had not only been
moved to look up to heaven myselfand to seek the Hand that had
brought me herebut was now to be made an instrumentunder
Providenceto save the lifeandfor aught I knewthe soul of a
poor savageand bring him to the true knowledge of religion and of
the Christian doctrinethat he might know Christ Jesusin whom is
life eternal; I saywhen I reflected upon all these thingsa
secret joy ran through every part of My souland I frequently
rejoiced that ever I was brought to this placewhich I had so
often thought the most dreadful of all afflictions that could
possibly have befallen me.

I continued in this thankful frame all the remainder of my time;
and the conversation which employed the hours between Friday and me
was such as made the three years which we lived there together
perfectly and completely happyif any such thing as complete
happiness can be formed in a sublunary state. This savage was now
a good Christiana much better than I; though I have reason to
hopeand bless God for itthat we were equally penitentand


comfortedrestored penitents. We had here the Word of God to
readand no farther off from His Spirit to instruct than if we had
been in England. I always applied myselfin reading the
Scriptureto let him knowas well as I couldthe meaning of what
I read; and he againby his serious inquiries and questionings
made meas I said beforea much better scholar in the Scripture
knowledge than I should ever have been by my own mere private
reading. Another thing I cannot refrain from observing here also
from experience in this retired part of my lifeviz. how infinite
and inexpressible a blessing it is that the knowledge of Godand
of the doctrine of salvation by Christ Jesusis so plainly laid
down in the Word of Godso easy to be received and understood
thatas 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 sinsand laying hold of a
Saviour for life and salvationto a stated reformation in
practiceand obedience to all God's commandsand this without any
teacher or instructorI mean human; so the same plain instruction
sufficiently served to the enlightening this savage creatureand
bringing him to be such a Christian as I have known few equal to
him in my life.

As to all the disputeswranglingstrifeand contention which
have happened in the world about religionwhether niceties in
doctrines or schemes of church governmentthey were all perfectly
useless to usandfor aught I can yet seethey have been so to
the rest of the world. We had the sure guide to heavenviz. the
Word of God; and we hadblessed be Godcomfortable views of the
Spirit of God teaching and instructing by His wordleading us into
all truthand 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 religionwhich have
made such confusion in the worldwould have been to usif we
could have obtained it. But I must go on with the historical part
of thingsand take every part in its order.

After Friday and I became more intimately acquaintedand that he
could understand almost all I said to himand speak pretty
fluentlythough in broken Englishto meI acquainted him with my
own historyor at least so much of it as related to my coming to
this place: how I had lived thereand how long; I let him into the
mysteryfor such it was to himof gunpowder and bulletand
taught him how to shoot. I gave him a knifewhich he was
wonderfully delighted with; and I made him a beltwith a frog
hanging to itsuch as in England we wear hangers in; and in the
froginstead of a hangerI gave him a hatchetwhich was not only
as good a weapon in some casesbut much more useful upon other
occasions.

I described to him the country of Europeparticularly England
which I came from; how we livedhow we worshipped Godhow we
behaved to one anotherand how we traded in ships to all parts of
the world. I gave him an account of the wreck which I had been on
board ofand showed himas near as I couldthe place where she
lay; but she was all beaten in pieces beforeand gone. I showed
him the ruins of our boatwhich we lost when we escapedand which
I could not stir with my whole strength then; but was now fallen
almost all to pieces. Upon seeing this boatFriday stoodmusing
a great whileand said nothing. I asked him what it was he
studied upon. At last says heMe see such boat like come to
place at my nation.I did not understand him a good while; but at
lastwhen I had examined further into itI understood by him that
a boatsuch as that had beencame on shore upon the country where
he lived: that isas he explained itwas driven thither by stress


of weather. I presently imagined that some European ship must have
been cast away upon their coastand the boat might get loose and
drive ashore; but was so dull that I never once thought of men
making their escape from a wreck thithermuch less whence they
might come: so I only inquired after a description of the boat.

Friday described the boat to me well enough; but brought me better
to understand him when he added with some warmthWe save the
white mans from drown.Then I presently asked if there were any
white mansas he called themin the boat. "Yes he said; the
boat full of white mans." I asked him how many. He told upon his
fingers seventeen. I asked him then what became of them. He told
meThey live, they dwell at my nation.

This put new thoughts into my head; for I presently imagined that
these might be the men belonging to the ship that was cast away in
the sight of my islandas I now called it; and whoafter the ship
was struck on the rockand they saw her inevitably losthad saved
themselves in their boatand were landed upon that wild shore
among the savages. Upon this I inquired of him more critically
what was become of them. He assured me they lived still there;
that they had been there about four years; that the savages left
them aloneand gave them victuals to live on. I asked him how it
came to pass they did not kill them and eat them. He saidNo,
they make brother with them;that isas I understood hima
truce; and then he addedThey no eat mans but when make the war
fight;that is to saythey never eat any men but such as come to
fight with them and are taken in battle.

It was after this some considerable timethat being upon the top
of the hill at the east side of the islandfrom whenceas I have
saidI hadin a clear daydiscovered the main or continent of
AmericaFridaythe weather being very serenelooks very
earnestly towards the mainlandandin a kind of surprisefalls a
jumping and dancingand calls out to mefor I was at some
distance from him. I asked him what was the matter. "Ohjoy!"
says he; "Ohglad! there see my countrythere my nation!" I
observed an extraordinary sense of pleasure appeared in his face
and his eyes sparkledand his countenance discovered a strange
eagernessas if he had a mind to be in his own country again.
This observation of mine put a great many thoughts into mewhich
made me at first not so easy about my new man Friday as I was
before; and I made no doubt but thatif Friday could get back to
his own nation againhe would not only forget all his religion but
all his obligation to meand would be forward enough to give his
countrymen an account of meand come backperhaps with a hundred
or two of themand make a feast upon meat which he might be as
merry as he used to be with those of his enemies when they were
taken in war. But I wronged the poor honest creature very much
for which I was very sorry afterwards. Howeveras my jealousy
increasedand held some weeksI was a little more circumspect
and not so familiar and kind to him as before: in which I was
certainly wrong too; the honestgrateful creature having no
thought about it but what consisted with the best principlesboth
as a religious Christian and as a grateful friendas appeared
afterwards to my full satisfaction.

While my jealousy of him lastedyou may be sure I was every day
pumping him to see if he would discover any of the new thoughts
which I suspected were in him; but I found everything he said was
so honest and so innocentthat I could find nothing to nourish my
suspicion; and in spite of all my uneasinesshe made me at last
entirely his own again; nor did he in the least perceive that I was
uneasyand therefore I could not suspect him of deceit.


One daywalking up the same hillbut the weather being hazy at
seaso that we could not see the continentI called to himand
saidFriday, do not you wish yourself in your own country, your
own nation?Yes,he saidI be much O glad to be at my own
nation.What would you do there?said I. "Would you turn wild
againeat men's flesh againand be a savage as you were before?"
He looked full of concernand shaking his headsaidNo, 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 himthey will kill you.He looked grave at
thatand then saidNo, no, they no kill me, they willing love
learn.He meant by thisthey would be willing to learn. He
addedthey learned much of the bearded mans that came in the boat.
Then I asked him if he would go back to them. He smiled at that
and told me that he could not swim so far. I told him I would make
a canoe for him. He told me he would go if I would go with him.
I go!says I; "whythey will eat me if I come there." "Nono
says he, me make they no eat you; me make they much love you." He
meanthe would tell them how I had killed his enemiesand saved
his lifeand so he would make them love me. Then he told meas
well as he couldhow kind they were to seventeen white menor
bearded menas he called them who came on shore there in distress.

From this timeI confessI had a mind to venture overand see if
I could possibly join with those bearded menwho I made no doubt
were Spaniards and Portuguese; not doubting butif I couldwe
might find some method to escape from thencebeing upon the
continentand a good company togetherbetter than I could from an
island forty miles off the shorealone and without help. So
after some daysI took Friday to work again by way of discourse
and told him I would give him a boat to go back to his own nation;
andaccordinglyI carried him to my frigatewhich lay on the
other side of the islandand having cleared it of water (for I
always kept it sunk in water)I brought it outshowed it himand
we both went into it. I found he was a most dexterous fellow at
managing itand would make it go almost as swift again as I could.
So when he was inI said to himWell, now, Friday, shall we go
to your nation?He looked very dull at my saying so; which it
seems was because he thought the boat was too small to go so far.
I then told him I had a bigger; so the next day I went to the place
where the first boat lay which I had madebut which I could not
get into the water. He said that was big enough; but thenas I
had taken no care of itand it had lain two or three and twenty
years therethe sun had so split and dried itthat it was rotten.
Friday told me such a boat would do very welland would carry
much enough vittle, drink, bread;this was his way of talking.

CHAPTER XVI - RESCUE OF PRISONERS FROM CANNIBALS

UPON the wholeI 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 thatand he should go home in it. He answered not
one wordbut looked very grave and sad. I asked him what was the
matter with him. He asked me againWhy you angry mad with
Friday? - what me done?I asked him what he meant. I told him I
was not angry with him at all. "No angry!" says herepeating the
words several times; "why send Friday home away to my nation?"
Why,says IFriday, did not you say you wished you were there?
Yes, yes,says hewish we both there; no wish Friday there, no


master there.In a wordhe would not think of going there
without me. "I go thereFriday?" says I; "what shall I do there?"
He turned very quick upon me at this. "You do great deal much
good says he; you teach wild mans be goodsobertame mans; you
tell them know Godpray Godand live new life." "AlasFriday!"
says Ithou knowest not what thou sayest; I am but an ignorant
man myself.Yes, yes,says heyou teachee me good, you
teachee them good.No, no, Friday,says Iyou shall go
without me; leave me here to live by myself, as I did before.He
looked confused again at that word; and running to one of the
hatchets which he used to wearhe takes it up hastilyand gives
it to me. "What must I do with this?" says I to him. "You take
kill Friday says he. What must kill you for?" said I again. He
returns very quick - "What you send Friday away for? Take kill
Fridayno send Friday away." This he spoke so earnestly that I
saw tears stand in his eyes. In a wordI so plainly discovered
the utmost affection in him to meand a firm resolution in him
that I told him then and often afterthat I would never send him
away from me if he was willing to stay with me.

Upon the wholeas I found by all his discourse a settled affection
to meand that nothing could part him from meso I found all the
foundation of his desire to go to his own country was laid in his
ardent affection to the peopleand his hopes of my doing them
good; a thing whichas I had no notion of myselfso I had not the
least thought or intentionor desire of undertaking it. But still
I found a strong inclination to attempting my escapefounded on
the supposition gathered from the discoursethat there were
seventeen bearded men there; and thereforewithout any more delay
I went to work with Friday to find out a great tree proper to fell
and make a large periaguaor canoeto undertake the voyage.
There were trees enough in the island to have built a little fleet
not of periaguas or canoesbut even of goodlarge vessels; but
the main thing I looked at wasto get one so near the water that
we might launch it when it was madeto avoid the mistake I
committed at first. At last Friday pitched upon a tree; for I
found he knew much better than I what kind of wood was fittest for
it; nor can I tell to this day what wood to call the tree we cut
downexcept that it was very like the tree we call fusticor
between that and the Nicaragua woodfor it was much of the same
colour and smell. Friday wished to burn the hollow or cavity of
this tree outto make it for a boatbut I showed him how to cut
it with tools; whichafter I had showed him how to usehe did
very handily; and in about a month's hard labour we finished it and
made it very handsome; especially whenwith our axeswhich I
showed him how to handlewe cut and hewed the outside into the
true shape of a boat. After thishoweverit cost us near a
fortnight's time to get her alongas it were inch by inchupon
great rollers into the water; but when she was inshe would have
carried twenty men with great ease.

When she was in the waterthough she was so bigit amazed me to
see with what dexterity and how swift my man Friday could manage
herturn herand 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 wellthough great blow wind." However I had a
further design that he knew nothing ofand that wasto make a
mast and a sailand to fit her with an anchor and cable. As to a
mastthat was easy enough to get; so I pitched upon a straight
young cedar-treewhich I found near the placeand which there
were great plenty of in the islandand I set Friday to work to cut
it downand gave him directions how to shape and order it. But as
to the sailthat was my particular care. I knew I had old sails
or rather pieces of old sailsenough; but as I had had them now


six-and-twenty years by meand had not been very careful to
preserve themnot imagining that I should ever have this kind of
use for themI did not doubt but they were all rotten; and
indeedmost of them were so. HoweverI found two pieces which
appeared pretty goodand with these I went to work; and with a
great deal of painsand awkward stitchingyou may be surefor
want of needlesI at length made a three-cornered ugly thinglike
what we call in England a shoulder-of-mutton sailto go with a
boom at bottomand a little short sprit at the topsuch as
usually our ships' long-boats sail withand such as I best knew
how to manageas it was such a one as I had to the boat in which I
made my escape from Barbaryas related in the first part of my
story.

I was near two months performing this last workviz. rigging and
fitting my masts and sails; for I finished them very complete
making a small stayand a sailor foresailto itto assist if
we should turn to windward; andwhat was more than allI fixed a
rudder to the stern of her to steer with. I was but a bungling
shipwrightyet as I knew the usefulness and even necessity of such
a thingI applied myself with so much pains to do itthat at last
I brought it to pass; thoughconsidering the many dull
contrivances I had for it that failedI think it cost me almost as
much labour as making the boat.

After all this was doneI had my man Friday to teach as to what
belonged to the navigation of my boat; though he knew very well how
to paddle a canoehe knew nothing of what belonged to a sail and a
rudder; and was the most amazed when he saw me work the boat to and
again in the sea by the rudderand how the sail jibedand 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. Howeverwith a
little useI made all these things familiar to himand he became
an expert sailorexcept that of the compass I could make him
understand very little. On the other handas there was very
little cloudy weatherand seldom or never any fogs in those parts
there was the less occasion for a compassseeing the stars were
always to be seen by nightand the shore by dayexcept in the
rainy seasonsand 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 accountmy habitation
being quite of another kind than in all the rest of the time. I
kept the anniversary of my landing here with the same thankfulness
to God for His mercies as at first: and if I had such cause of
acknowledgment at firstI had much more so nowhaving such
additional testimonies of the care of Providence over meand the
great hopes I had of being effectually and speedily delivered; for
I had an invincible impression upon my thoughts that my deliverance
was at handand that I should not be another year in this place.
I went onhoweverwith my husbandry; diggingplantingand
fencing as usual. I gathered and cured my grapesand did every
necessary thing as before.

The rainy season was in the meantime upon mewhen I kept more
within doors than at other times. We had stowed our new vessel as
secure as we couldbringing her up into the creekwhereas I
said in the beginningI landed my rafts from the ship; and hauling
her up to the shore at high-water markI made my man Friday dig a
little dockjust big enough to hold herand just deep enough to
give her water enough to float in; and thenwhen the tide was out
we made a strong dam across the end of itto keep the water out;


and so she laydry as to the tide from the sea: and to keep the
rain off we laid a great many boughs of treesso thick that she
was as well thatched as a house; and thus we waited for the months
of November and Decemberin which I designed to make my adventure.

When the settled season began to come inas the thought of my
design returned with the fair weatherI was preparing daily for
the voyage. And the first thing I did was to lay by a certain
quantity of provisionsbeing the stores for our voyage; and
intended in a week or a fortnight's time to open the dockand
launch out our boat. I was busy one morning upon something of this
kindwhen I called to Fridayand bid him to go to the sea-shore
and see if he could find a turtle or a tortoisea thing which we
generally got once a weekfor 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 fencelike one that felt not the
ground or the steps he set his foot on; and before I had time to
speak to him he cries out to meO master! O master! O sorrow! O
bad!- "What's the matterFriday?" says I. "O yonder there
says he, onetwothree canoes; onetwothree!" By this way of
speaking I concluded there were six; but on inquiry I found there
were but three. "WellFriday says I, do not be frightened."
So I heartened him up as well as I could. HoweverI saw the poor
fellow was most terribly scaredfor nothing ran in his head but
that they were come to look for himand would cut him in pieces
and eat him; and the poor fellow trembled so that I scarcely knew
what to do with him. I comforted him as well as I couldand told
him I was in as much danger as heand that they would eat me as
well as him. "But says I, Fridaywe must resolve to fight
them. Can you fightFriday?" "Me shoot says he, but there
come many great number." "No matter for that said I again; our
guns will fright them that we do not kill." So I asked him
whetherif I resolved to defend himhe would defend meand stand
by meand do just as I bid him. He saidMe die when you bid
die, master.So I went and fetched a good dram of rum and gave
him; for I had been so good a husband of my rum that I had a great
deal left. When we had drunk itI made him take the two fowlingpieces
which we always carriedand loaded them with large swanshot
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
swordas usualnaked by my sideand gave Friday his hatchet.
When I had thus prepared myselfI took my perspective glassand
went up to the side of the hillto see what I could discover; and
I found quickly by my glass that there were one-and-twenty savages
three prisonersand three canoes; and that their whole business
seemed to be the triumphant banquet upon these three human bodies:
a barbarous feastindeed! but nothing more thanas I had
observedwas usual with them. I observed also that they had
landednot where they had done when Friday made his escapebut
nearer to my creekwhere the shore was lowand where a thick wood
came almost close down to the sea. Thiswith the abhorrence of
the inhuman errand these wretches came aboutfilled me with such
indignation that I came down again to Fridayand 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 frightand his spirits
being a little raised with the dram I had given himhe was very
cheerfuland told meas beforehe would die when I bid die.

In this fit of fury I divided the arms which I had chargedas
beforebetween us; I gave Friday one pistol to stick in his
girdleand three guns upon his shoulderand 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 pocketand gave Friday a large


bag with more powder and bullets; and as to ordersI charged him
to keep close behind meand not to stiror shootor do anything
till I bid himand in the meantime not to speak a word. In this
posture I fetched a compass to my right hand of near a mileas
well to get over the creek as to get into the woodso that I could
come within shot of them before I should be discoveredwhich I had
seen by my glass it was easy to do.

While I was making this marchmy former thoughts returningI
began to abate my resolution: I do not mean that I entertained any
fear of their numberfor as they were nakedunarmed wretchesit
is certain I was superior to them - naythough I had been alone.
But it occurred to my thoughtswhat callwhat occasionmuch less
what necessity I was in to go and dip my hands in bloodto attack
people who had neither done or intended me any wrong? whoas to
mewere innocentand whose barbarous customs were their own
disasterbeing in them a tokenindeedof God's having left them
with the other nations of that part of the worldto such
stupidityand to such inhuman coursesbut did not call me to take
upon me to be a judge of their actionsmuch less an executioner of
His justice - that whenever He thought fit He would take the cause
into His own handsand by national vengeance punish them as a
people for national crimesbut thatin the meantimeit was none
of my business - that it was true Friday might justify itbecause
he was a declared enemy and in a state of war with those very
particular peopleand it was lawful for him to attack them - but I
could not say the same with regard to myself. These things were so
warmly pressed upon my thoughts all the way as I wentthat I
resolved I would only go and place myself near them that I might
observe their barbarous feastand that I would act then as God
should direct; but that unless something offered that was more a
call to me than yet I knew ofI would not meddle with them.

With this resolution I entered the woodandwith all possible
wariness and silenceFriday following close at my heelsI marched
till I came to the skirts of the wood on the side which was next to
themonly that one corner of the wood lay between me and them.
Here I called softly to Fridayand showing him a great tree which
was just at the corner of the woodI bade him go to the treeand
bring me word if he could see there plainly what they were doing.
He did soand came immediately back to meand told me they might
be plainly viewed there - that they were all about their fire
eating the flesh of one of their prisonersand that another lay
bound upon the sand a little from themwhom he said they would
kill next; and this fired the very soul within me. He told me it
was not one of their nationbut one of the bearded men he had told
me ofthat came to their country in the boat. I was filled with
horror at the very naming of the white bearded man; and going to
the treeI saw plainly by my glass a white manwho lay upon the
beach of the sea with his hands and his feet tied with flagsor
things like rushesand that he was an Europeanand had clothes
on.

There was another tree and a little thicket beyond itabout fifty
yards nearer to them than the place where I waswhichby going a
little way aboutI saw I might come at undiscoveredand that then
I should be within half a shot of them; so I withheld my passion
though I was indeed enraged to the highest degree; and going back
about twenty pacesI got behind some busheswhich held all the
way till I came to the other treeand then came to a little rising
groundwhich gave me a full view of them at the distance of about
eighty yards.

I had now not a moment to losefor nineteen of the dreadful


wretches sat upon the groundall close huddled togetherand had
just sent the other two to butcher the poor Christianand bring
him perhaps limb by limb to their fireand 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
groundand Friday did the like by hisand with the other musket I
took my aim at the savagesbidding him to do the like; then asking
him if he was readyhe saidYes.Then fire at them,said I;
and at the same moment I fired also.

Friday took his aim so much better than Ithat on the side that he
shot he killed two of themand wounded three more; and on my side
I killed oneand wounded two. They wereyou may be surein a
dreadful consternation: and all of them that were not hurt jumped
upon their feetbut did not immediately know which way to runor
which way to lookfor they knew not from whence their destruction
came. Friday kept his eyes close upon methatas I had bid him
he might observe what I did; soas soon as the first shot was
madeI threw down the pieceand took up the fowling-pieceand
Friday did the like; he saw me cock and present; he did the same
again. "Are you readyFriday?" said I. "Yes says he. Let
flythen says I, in the name of God!" and with that I fired
again among the amazed wretchesand so did Friday; and as our
pieces were now loaded with what I call swan-shotor small pistolbullets
we found only two drop; but so many were wounded that they
ran about yelling and screaming like mad creaturesall bloodyand
most of them miserably wounded; whereof three more fell quickly
afterthough not quite dead.

Now, Friday,says Ilaying down the discharged piecesand
taking up the musket which was yet loadedfollow me,which he
did with a great deal of courage; upon which I rushed out of the
wood and showed myselfand Friday close at my foot. As soon as I
perceived they saw meI shouted as loud as I couldand bade
Friday do so tooand running as fast as I couldwhichby the
waywas not very fastbeing loaded with arms as I wasI made
directly towards the poor victimwho wasas I saidlying upon
the beach or shorebetween 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 fireand fled in a terrible fright to
the seasideand had jumped into a canoeand three more of the
rest made the same way. I turned to Fridayand bade him step
forwards and fire at them; he understood me immediatelyand
running about forty yardsto be nearer themhe shot at them; and
I thought he had killed them allfor I saw them all fall of a heap
into the boatthough I saw two of them up again quickly; however
he killed two of themand wounded the thirdso that he lay down
in the bottom of the boat as if he had been dead.

While my man Friday fired at themI pulled out my knife and cut
the flags that bound the poor victim; and loosing his hands and
feetI lifted him upand asked him in the Portuguese tongue what
he was. He answered in LatinChristianus; but was so weak and
faint that he could scarce stand or speak. I took my bottle out of
my pocket and gave it himmaking signs that he should drinkwhich
he did; and I gave him a piece of breadwhich he ate. Then I
asked him what countryman he was: and he saidEspagniole; and
being a little recoveredlet me knowby all the signs he could
possibly makehow much he was in my debt for his deliverance.
Seignior,said Iwith as much Spanish as I could make upwe
will talk afterwards, but we must fight now: if you have any
strength left, take this pistol and sword, and lay about you.He


took them very thankfully; and no sooner had he the arms in his
handsbutas if they had put new vigour into himhe flew upon
his murderers like a furyand had cut two of them in pieces in an
instant; for the truth isas the whole was a surprise to themso
the poor creatures were so much frightened with the noise of our
pieces that they fell down for mere amazement and fearand had no
more power to attempt their own escape than their flesh had to
resist our shot; and that was the case of those five that Friday
shot at in the boat; for as three of them fell with the hurt they
receivedso the other two fell with the fright.

I kept my piece in my hand still without firingbeing willing to
keep my charge readybecause I had given the Spaniard my pistol
and sword: so I called to Fridayand bade him run up to the tree
from whence we first firedand fetch the arms which lay there that
had been dischargedwhich he did with great swiftness; and then
giving him my musketI sat down myself to load all the rest again
and bade them come to me when they wanted. While I was loading
these piecesthere happened a fierce engagement between the
Spaniard and one of the savageswho made at him with one of their
great wooden swordsthe weapon that was to have killed him before
if I had not prevented it. The Spaniardwho was as bold and brave
as could be imaginedthough weakhad fought the Indian a good
whileand had cut two great wounds on his head; but the savage
being a stoutlusty fellowclosing in with himhad thrown him
downbeing faintand was wringing my sword out of his hand; when
the Spaniardthough undermostwisely quitting the sworddrew the
pistol from his girdleshot the savage through the bodyand
killed him upon the spotbefore Iwho was running to help him
could come near him.

Fridaybeing now left to his libertypursued the flying wretches
with no weapon in his hand but his hatchet: and with that he
despatched those three who as I said beforewere wounded at first
and fallenand all the rest he could come up with: and the
Spaniard coming to me for a gunI gave him one of the fowlingpieces
with which he pursued two of the savagesand wounded them
both; but as he was not able to runthey both got from him into
the woodwhere Friday pursued themand killed one of thembut
the other was too nimble for him; and though he was woundedyet
had plunged himself into the seaand swam with all his might off
to those two who were left in the canoe; which three in the canoe
with one woundedthat we knew not whether he died or nowere all
that escaped our hands of one-and-twenty. The account of the whole
is as follows: Three killed at our first shot from the tree; two
killed at the next shot; two killed by Friday in the boat; two
killed by Friday of those at first wounded; one killed by Friday in
the wood; three killed by the Spaniard; four killedbeing found
dropped here and thereof the woundsor killed by Friday in his
chase of them; four escaped in the boatwhereof one woundedif
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 themI did not find
that he hit any of them. Friday would fain have had me take one of
their canoesand pursue them; and indeed I was very anxious about
their escapelestcarrying the news home to their peoplethey
should come back perhaps with two or three hundred of the canoes
and devour us by mere multitude; so I consented to pursue them by
seaand running to one of their canoesI jumped in and bade
Friday follow me: but when I was in the canoe I was surprised to
find another poor creature lie therebound hand and footas the
Spaniard wasfor the slaughterand almost dead with fearnot
knowing what was the matter; for he had not been able to look up


over the side of the boathe was tied so hard neck and heelsand
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 withand would have helped him up; but he could not stand or
speakbut groaned most piteouslybelievingit seemsstillthat
he was only unbound in order to be killed. When Friday came to him
I bade him speak to himand tell him of his deliverance; and
pulling out my bottlemade him give the poor wretch a dramwhich
with the news of his being deliveredrevived himand he sat up in
the boat. But when Friday came to hear him speakand look in his
faceit would have moved any one to tears to have seen how Friday
kissed himembraced himhugged himcriedlaughedhallooed
jumped aboutdancedsang; then cried againwrung his handsbeat
his own face and head; and then sang and jumped about again like a
distracted creature. It was a good while before I could make him
speak to me or tell me what was the matter; but when he came a
little to himself he told me that it was his father.

It is not easy for me to express how it moved me to see what
ecstasy and filial affection had worked in this poor savage at the
sight of his fatherand of his being delivered from death; nor
indeed can I describe half the extravagances of his affection after
this: for he went into the boat and out of the boat a great many
times: when he went in to him he would sit down by himopen his
breastand hold his father's head close to his bosom for many
minutes togetherto nourish it; then he took his arms and ankles
which were numbed and stiff with the bindingand chafed and rubbed
them with his hands; and Iperceiving what the case wasgave him
some rum out of my bottle to rub them withwhich did them a great
deal of good.

This affair put an end to our pursuit of the canoe with the other
savageswho were now almost out of sight; and it was happy for us
that we did notfor it blew so hard within two hours afterand
before they could be got a quarter of their wayand continued
blowing so hard all nightand that from the north-westwhich was
against themthat I could not suppose their boat could liveor
that they ever reached their own coast.

But to return to Friday; he was so busy about his father that I
could not find in my heart to take him off for some time; but after
I thought he could leave him a littleI called him to meand he
came jumping and laughingand pleased to the highest extreme: then
I asked him if he had given his father any bread. He shook his
headand saidNone; ugly dog eat all up self.I then gave him
a cake of bread out of a little pouch I carried on purpose; I also
gave him a dram for himself; but he would not taste itbut carried
it to his father. I had in my pocket two or three bunches of
raisinsso I gave him a handful of them for his father. He had no
sooner given his father these raisins but I saw him come out of the
boatand run away as if he had been bewitchedfor he was the
swiftest fellow on his feet that ever I saw: I sayhe ran at such
a rate that he was out of sightas it werein an instant; and
though I calledand hallooed out too after himit was all one -
away he went; and in a quarter of an hour I saw him come back
againthough not so fast as he went; and as he came nearer I found
his pace slackerbecause he had something in his hand. When he
came up to me I found he had been quite home for an earthen jug or
potto bring his father some fresh waterand that he had got two
more cakes or loaves of bread: the bread he gave mebut the water
he carried to his father; howeveras I was very thirsty tooI
took a little of it. The water revived his father more than all
the rum or spirits I had given himfor he was fainting with


thirst.

When his father had drunkI called to him to know if there was any
water left. He saidYes; and I bade him give it to the poor
Spaniardwho was in as much want of it as his father; and I sent
one of the cakes that Friday brought to the Spaniard toowho was
indeed very weakand was reposing himself upon a green place under
the shade of a tree; and whose limbs were also very stiffand 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
drankand took the bread and began to eatI went to him and gave
him a handful of raisins. He looked up in my face with all the
tokens of gratitude and thankfulness that could appear in any
countenance; but was so weaknotwithstanding he had so exerted
himself in the fightthat he could not stand up upon his feet - he
tried to do it two or three timesbut was really not ablehis
ankles were so swelled and so painful to him; so I bade him sit
stilland caused Friday to rub his anklesand bathe them with
rumas he had done his father's.

I observed the poor affectionate creatureevery two minutesor
perhaps lessall the while he was hereturn 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 upandwithout speaking a wordflew with that swiftness
to him that one could scarce perceive his feet to touch the ground
as he went; but when he camehe only found he had laid himself
down to ease his limbsso 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 boatand then he should carry him to our
dwellingwhere I would take care of him. But Fridaya lusty
strong fellowtook the Spaniard upon his backand carried him
away to the boatand set him down softly upon the side or gunnel
of the canoewith his feet in the inside of it; and then lifting
him quite inhe set him close to his father; and presently
stepping out againlaunched the boat offand paddled it along the
shore faster than I could walkthough the wind blew pretty hard
too; so he brought them both safe into our creekand leaving them
in the boatran away to fetch the other canoe. As he passed me I
spoke to himand asked him whither he went. He told meGo fetch
more boat;so away he went like the windfor 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 overand then went
to help our new guests out of the boatwhich he did; but they were
neither of them able to walk; so that poor Friday knew not what to
do.

To remedy thisI went to work in my thoughtand calling to Friday
to bid them sit down on the bank while he came to meI soon made a
kind of hand-barrow to lay them onand Friday and I carried them
both up together upon it between us.

But when we got them to the outside of our wallor fortification
we were at a worse loss than beforefor it was impossible to get
them overand I was resolved not to break it down; so I set to
work againand Friday and Iin about two hours' timemade a very
handsome tentcovered with old sailsand above that with boughs
of treesbeing in the space without our outward fence and between
that and the grove of young wood which I had planted; and here we
made them two beds of such things as I had - viz. of good ricestraw
with blankets laid upon it to lie onand another to cover
themon each bed.

My island was now peopledand I thought myself very rich in


subjects; and it was a merry reflectionwhich I frequently made
how like a king I looked. First of allthe whole country was my
own propertyso that I had an undoubted right of dominion.
Secondlymy people were perfectly subjected - I was absolutely
lord and lawgiver - they all owed their lives to meand were ready
to lay down their livesif there had been occasion for itfor me.
It was remarkabletooI had but three subjectsand they were of
three different religions - my man Friday was a Protestanthis
father was a Pagan and a cannibaland the Spaniard was a Papist.
HoweverI allowed liberty of conscience throughout my dominions.
But this is by the way.

As soon as I had secured my two weakrescued prisonersand given
them shelterand a place to rest them uponI began to think of
making some provision for them; and the first thing I didI
ordered Friday to take a yearling goatbetwixt a kid and a goat
out of my particular flockto be killed; when I cut off the
hinder-quarterand chopping it into small piecesI set Friday to
work to boiling and stewingand made them a very good dishI
assure youof flesh and broth; and as I cooked it without doors
for I made no fire within my inner wallso I carried it all into
the new tentand having set a table there for themI sat down
and ate my own dinner also with themandas well as I could
cheered them and encouraged them. Friday was my interpreter
especially to his fatherandindeedto the Spaniard too; for the
Spaniard spoke the language of the savages pretty well.

After we had dinedor rather suppedI ordered Friday to take one
of the canoesand go and fetch our muskets and other firearms
whichfor want of timewe had left upon the place of battle; and
the next day I ordered him to go and bury the dead bodies of the
savageswhich lay open to the sunand would presently be
offensive. I also ordered him to bury the horrid remains of their
barbarous feastwhich I could not think of doing myself; nayI
could not bear to see them if I went that way; all which he
punctually performedand effaced the very appearance of the
savages being there; so that when I went againI could scarce know
where it wasotherwise 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; andfirstI set Friday to inquire of his father what he
thought of the escape of the savages in that canoeand whether we
might expect a return of themwith a power too great for us to
resist. His first opinion wasthat the savages in the boat never
could live out the storm which blew that night they went offbut
must of necessity be drownedor driven south to those other
shoreswhere they were as sure to be devoured as they were to be
drowned if they were cast away; butas to what they would do if
they came safe on shorehe said he knew not; but it was his
opinion that they were so dreadfully frightened with the manner of
their being attackedthe noiseand the firethat he believed
they would tell the people they were all killed by thunder and
lightningnot by the hand of man; and that the two which appeared

-viz. Friday and I - were two heavenly spiritsor furiescome
down to destroy themand not men with weapons. Thishe saidhe
knew; because he heard them all cry out soin their languageone
to another; for it was impossible for them to conceive that a man
could dart fireand speak thunderand kill at a distancewithout
lifting up the handas was done now: and this old savage was in
the right; foras I understood sinceby other handsthe savages
never attempted to go over to the island afterwardsthey were so
terrified with the accounts given by those four men (for it seems
they did escape the sea)that they believed whoever went to that

enchanted island would be destroyed with fire from the gods. This
howeverI knew not; and therefore was under continual
apprehensions for a good whileand kept always upon my guardwith
all my army: foras there were now four of usI would have
ventured upon a hundred of themfairly in the open fieldat any
time.

CHAPTER XVII - VISIT OF MUTINEERS

IN a little timehoweverno more canoes appearingthe fear of
their coming wore off; and I began to take my former thoughts of a
voyage to the main into consideration; being likewise assured by
Friday's father that I might depend upon good usage from their
nationon his accountif 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 Portuguesewho having been cast away and made their
escape to that sidelived there at peaceindeedwith the
savagesbut were very sore put to it for necessariesandindeed
for life. I asked him all the particulars of their voyageand
found they were a Spanish shipbound from the Rio de la Plata to
the Havannabeing directed to leave their loading therewhich was
chiefly hides and silverand to bring back what European goods
they could meet with there; that they had five Portuguese seamen on
boardwhom they took out of another wreck; that five of their own
men were drowned when first the ship was lostand that these
escaped through infinite dangers and hazardsand arrivedalmost
starvedon the cannibal coastwhere they expected to have been
devoured every moment. He told me they had some arms with them
but they were perfectly uselessfor that they had neither powder
nor ballthe washing of the sea having spoiled all their powder
but a littlewhich they used at their first landing to provide
themselves with some food.

I asked him what he thought would become of them thereand if they
had formed any design of making their escape. He said they had
many consultations about it; but that having neither vessel nor
tools to build onenor provisions of any kindtheir councils
always ended in tears and despair. I asked him how he thought they
would receive a proposal from mewhich might tend towards an
escape; and whetherif they were all hereit might not be done.
I told him with freedomI feared mostly their treachery and illusage
of meif I put my life in their hands; for that gratitude
was no inherent virtue in the nature of mannor did men always
square their dealings by the obligations they had received so much
as they did by the advantages they expected. I told him it would
be very hard that I should be made the instrument of their
deliveranceand that they should afterwards make me their prisoner
in New Spainwhere an Englishman was certain to be made a
sacrificewhat necessity or what accident soever brought him
thither; and that I had rather be delivered up to the savagesand
be devoured alivethan fall into the merciless claws of the
priestsand be carried into the Inquisition. I added that
otherwiseI was persuadedif they were all herewe mightwith
so many handsbuild a barque large enough to carry us all away
either to the Brazils southwardor to the islands or Spanish coast
northward; but that ifin requitalthey shouldwhen I had put
weapons into their handscarry me by force among their own people
I might be ill-used for my kindness to themand make my case worse
than it was before.


He answeredwith a great deal of candour and ingenuousnessthat
their condition was so miserableand that they were so sensible of
itthat he believed they would abhor the thought of using any man
unkindly that should contribute to their deliverance; and thatif
I pleasedhe would go to them with the old manand discourse with
them about itand return again and bring me their answer; that he
would make conditions with them upon their solemn oaththat they
should be absolutely under my direction as their commander and
captain; and they should swear upon the holy sacraments and gospel
to be true to meand go to such Christian country as I should
agree toand no other; and to be directed wholly and absolutely by
my orders till they were landed safely in such country as I
intendedand that he would bring a contract from themunder their
handsfor that purpose. Then he told me he would first swear to
me himself that he would never stir from me as long as he lived
till I gave him orders; and that he would take my side to the last
drop of his bloodif there should happen the least breach of faith
among his countrymen. He told me they were all of them very civil
honest menand they were under the greatest distress imaginable
having neither weapons nor clothesnor any foodbut at the mercy
and discretion of the savages; out of all hopes of ever returning
to their own country; and that he was sureif I would undertake
their reliefthey would live and die by me.

Upon these assurancesI resolved to venture to relieve themif
possibleand to send the old savage and this Spaniard over to them
to treat. But when we had got all things in readiness to gothe
Spaniard himself started an objectionwhich had so much prudence
in it on one handand so much sincerity on the other handthat I
could not but be very well satisfied in it; andby his adviceput
off the deliverance of his comrades for at least half a year. The
case was thus: he had been with us now about a monthduring which
time I had let him see in what manner I had providedwith the
assistance of Providencefor my support; and he saw evidently what
stock of corn and rice I had laid up; whichthough it was more
than sufficient for myselfyet it was not sufficientwithout good
husbandryfor my familynow it was increased to four; but much
less would it be sufficient if his countrymenwho wereas he
saidsixteenstill aliveshould come over; and least of all
would it be sufficient to victual our vesselif we should build
onefor a voyage to any of the Christian colonies of America; so
he told me he thought it would be more advisable to let him and the
other two dig and cultivate some more landas much as I could
spare seed to sowand that we should wait another harvestthat we
might have a supply of corn for his countrymenwhen they should
come; for want might be a temptation to them to disagreeor not to
think themselves deliveredotherwise than out of one difficulty
into another. "You know says he, the children of Israelthough
they rejoiced at first for their being delivered out of Egyptyet
rebelled even against God Himselfthat delivered themwhen they
came to want bread in the wilderness."

His caution was so seasonableand his advice so goodthat I could
not but be very well pleased with his proposalas well as I was
satisfied with his fidelity; so we fell to diggingall four of us
as well as the wooden tools we were furnished with permitted; and
in about a month's timeby the end of which it was seed-timewe
had got as much land cured and trimmed up as we sowed two-andtwenty
bushels of barley onand sixteen jars of ricewhich was
in shortall the seed we had to spare: indeedwe left ourselves
barely sufficientfor 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 enoughand our numbers being sufficient to put
us out of fear of the savagesif they had comeunless their
number had been very greatwe went freely all over the island
whenever we found occasion; and as we had our escape or deliverance
upon our thoughtsit was impossibleat least for meto have the
means of it out of mine. For this purpose I marked out several
treeswhich I thought fit for our workand I set Friday and his
father to cut them down; and then I caused the Spaniardto whom I
imparted my thoughts on that affairto oversee and direct their
work. I showed them with what indefatigable pains I had hewed a
large tree into single planksand I caused them to do the like
till they made about a dozen large planksof good oaknear two
feet broadthirty-five feet longand from two inches to four
inches thick: what prodigious labour it took up any one may
imagine.

At the same time I contrived to increase my little flock of tame
goats as much as I could; and for this purpose I made Friday and
the Spaniard go out one dayand 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 kidsand added them to our flock. But above allthe
season for curing the grapes coming onI caused such a prodigious
quantity to be hung up in the sunthatI believehad we been at
Alicantwhere the raisins of the sun are curedwe could have
filled sixty or eighty barrels; and thesewith our breadformed a
great part of our food - very good living tooI assure youfor
they are exceedingly nourishing.

It was now harvestand our crop in good order: it was not the most
plentiful increase I had seen in the islandbuthoweverit was
enough to answer our end; for from twenty-two bushels of barley we
brought in and thrashed out above two hundred and twenty bushels;
and the like in proportion of the rice; which was store enough for
our food to the next harvestthough all the sixteen Spaniards had
been on shore with me; orif we had been ready for a voyageit
would very plentifully have victualled our ship to have carried us
to any part of the world; that is to sayany part of America.
When we had thus housed and secured our magazine of cornwe fell
to work to make more wicker-wareviz. great basketsin which we
kept it; and the Spaniard was very handy and dexterous at this
partand often blamed me that I did not make some things for
defence of this kind of work; but I saw no need of it.

And nowhaving a full supply of food for all the guests I
expectedI gave the Spaniard leave to go over to the mainto see
what he could do with those he had left behind him there. I gave
him a strict charge not to bring any man who would not first swear
in the presence of himself and the old savage that he would in no
way injurefight withor attack the person he should find in the
islandwho 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 attemptsand wherever they went would be entirely
under and subjected to his command; and that this should be put in
writingand signed in their hands. How they were to have done
thiswhen I knew they had neither pen nor inkwas a question
which we never asked. Under these instructionsthe Spaniard and
the old savagethe father of Fridaywent away in one of the
canoes which they might be said to have come inor rather were
brought inwhen they came as prisoners to be devoured by the
savages. I gave each of them a musketwith a firelock on itand
about eight charges of powder and ballcharging them to be very


good husbands of bothand not to use either of them but upon
urgent occasions.

This was a cheerful workbeing the first measures used by me in
view of my deliverance for now twenty-seven years and some days. I
gave them provisions of bread and of dried grapessufficient for
themselves for many daysand sufficient for all the Spaniards -
for about eight days' time; and wishing them a good voyageI saw
them goagreeing with them about a signal they should hang out at
their returnby which I should know them again when they came
backat a distancebefore they came on shore. They went away
with a fair gale on the day that the moon was at fullby my
account in the month of October; but as for an exact reckoning of
daysafter 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; thoughas it proved when I afterwards examined my
accountI found I had kept a true reckoning of years.

It was no less than eight days I had waited for themwhen a
strange and unforeseen accident intervenedof which the like has
notperhapsbeen heard of in history. I was fast asleep in my
hutch one morningwhen my man Friday came running in to meand
called aloudMaster, master, they are come, they are come!I
jumped upand regardless of danger I wentas soon as I could get
my clothes onthrough my little grovewhichby the waywas by
this time grown to be a very thick wood; I sayregardless of
danger I went without my armswhich was not my custom to do; but I
was surprised whenturning my eyes to the seaI presently saw a
boat at about a league and a half distancestanding in for the
shorewith a shoulder-of-mutton sailas they call itand the
wind blowing pretty fair to bring them in: also I observed
presentlythat they did not come from that side which the shore
lay onbut from the southernmost end of the island. Upon this I
called Friday inand bade him lie closefor these were not the
people we looked forand that we might not know yet whether they
were friends or enemies. In the next place I went in to fetch my
perspective glass to see what I could make of them; and having
taken the ladder outI climbed up to the top of the hillas I
used to do when I was apprehensive of anythingand to take my view
the plainer without being discovered. I had scarce set my foot
upon the hill when my eye plainly discovered a ship lying at
anchorat about two leagues and a half distance from meSSE.but
not above a league and a half from the shore. By my observation it
appeared plainly to be an English shipand the boat appeared to be
an English long-boat.

I cannot express the confusion I was inthough the joy of seeing a
shipand one that I had reason to believe was manned by my own
countrymenand consequently friendswas such as I cannot
describe; but yet I had some secret doubts hung about me - I cannot
tell from whence they came - bidding me keep upon my guard. In the
first placeit occurred to me to consider what business an English
ship could have in that part of the worldsince it was not the way
to or from any part of the world where the English had any traffic;
and I knew there had been no storms to drive them in there in
distress; and that if they were really English it was most probable
that they were here upon no good design; and that I had better
continue as I was than fall into the hands of thieves and
murderers.

Let no man despise the secret hints and notices of danger which
sometimes are given him when he may think there is no possibility
of its being real. That such hints and notices are given us I
believe few that have made any observation of things can deny; that


they are certain discoveries of an invisible worldand a converse
of spiritswe cannot doubt; and if the tendency of them seems to
be to warn us of dangerwhy should we not suppose they are from
some friendly agent (whether supremeor 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
admonitioncome it from whence it willI had been done
inevitablyand in a far worse condition than beforeas you will
see presently. I had not kept myself long in this posture till I
saw the boat draw near the shoreas if they looked for a creek to
thrust in atfor the convenience of landing; howeveras they did
not come quite far enoughthey did not see the little inlet where
I formerly landed my raftsbut ran their boat on shore upon the
beachat about half a mile from mewhich was very happy for me;
for otherwise they would have landed just at my dooras I may say
and would soon have beaten me out of my castleand perhaps have
plundered me of all I had. When they were on shore I was fully
satisfied they were Englishmenat least most of them; one or two I
thought were Dutchbut it did not prove so; there were in all
eleven menwhereof three of them I found were unarmed andas I
thoughtbound; and when the first four or five of them were jumped
on shorethey took those three out of the boat as prisoners: one
of the three I could perceive using the most passionate gestures of
entreatyafflictionand despaireven to a kind of extravagance;
the other twoI could perceivelifted up their hands sometimes
and appeared concerned indeedbut not to such a degree as the
first. I was perfectly confounded at the sightand knew not what
the meaning of it should be. Friday called out to me in English
as well as he couldO master! you see English mans eat prisoner
as well as savage mans.Why, Friday,says Ido you think they
are going to eat them, then?Yes,says Fridaythey will eat
them.No no,says IFriday; I am afraid they will murder
them, indeed; but you may be sure they will not eat them.

All this while I had no thought of what the matter really wasbut
stood trembling with the horror of the sightexpecting every
moment when the three prisoners should be killed; nayonce I saw
one of the villains lift up his arm with a great cutlassas the
seamen call itor swordto 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
the Spaniardand the savage that had gone with himor that I had
any way to have come undiscovered within shot of themthat I might
have secured the three menfor I saw no firearms they had among
them; but it fell out to my mind another way. After I had observed
the outrageous usage of the three men by the insolent seamenI
observed the fellows run scattering about the islandas 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 groundvery pensiveand looked like men in despair.
This put me in mind of the first time when I came on shoreand
began to look about me; how I gave myself over for lost; how wildly
I looked round me; what dreadful apprehensions I had; and how I
lodged in the tree all night for fear of being devoured by wild
beasts. As I knew nothing that night of the supply I was to
receive by the providential driving of the ship nearer the land by
the storms and tideby which I have since been so long nourished
and supported; so these three poor desolate men knew nothing how
certain of deliverance and supply they werehow near it was to
themand how effectually and really they were in a condition of
safetyat the same time that they thought themselves lost and
their case desperate. So little do we see before us in the world


and so much reason have we to depend cheerfully upon the great
Maker of the worldthat He does not leave His creatures so
absolutely destitutebut that in the worst circumstances they have
always something to be thankful forand sometimes are nearer
deliverance than they imagine; nayare even brought to their
deliverance by the means by which they seem to be brought to their
destruction.

It was just at high-water when these people came on shore; and
while they rambled about to see what kind of a place they were in
they had carelessly stayed till the tide was spentand the water
was ebbed considerably awayleaving their boat aground. They had
left two men in the boatwhoas I found afterwardshaving drunk
a little too much brandyfell asleep; howeverone of them waking
a little sooner than the other and finding the boat too fast
aground for him to stir ithallooed out for the restwho were
straggling about: upon which they all soon came to the boat: but it
was past all their strength to launch herthe boat being very
heavyand the shore on that side being a soft oozy sandalmost
like a quicksand. In this conditionlike true seamenwho are
perhapsthe least of all mankind given to forethoughtthey gave
it overand away they strolled about the country again; and I
heard one of them say aloud to anothercalling them off from the
boatWhy, 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 closenot
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 againand by that time it would
be darkand I might be at more liberty to see their motionsand
to hear their discourseif they had any. In the meantime I fitted
myself up for a battle as beforethough with more cautionknowing
I had to do with another kind of enemy than I had at first. I
ordered Friday alsowhom I had made an excellent marksman with his
gunto load himself with arms. I took myself two fowling-pieces
and I gave him three muskets. My figureindeedwas very fierce;
I had my formidable goat-skin coat onwith the great cap I have
mentioneda naked sword by my sidetwo pistols in my beltand a
gun upon each shoulder.

It was my designas I said abovenot to have made any attempt
till it was dark; but about two o'clockbeing the heat of the day
I found that they were all gone straggling into the woodsandas
I thoughtlaid down to sleep. The three poor distressed mentoo
anxious for their condition to get any sleephadhoweversat
down under the shelter of a great treeat about a quarter of a
mile from meandas I thoughtout of sight of any of the rest.
Upon this I resolved to discover myself to themand learn
something of their condition; immediately I marched as abovemy
man Friday at a good distance behind meas formidable for his arms
as Ibut not making quite so staring a spectre-like figure as I
did. I came as near them undiscovered as I couldand thenbefore
any of them saw meI called aloud to them in SpanishWhat are
ye, gentlemen?They started up at the noisebut were ten times
more confounded when they saw meand the uncouth figure that I
made. They made no answer at allbut I thought I perceived them
just going to fly from mewhen I spoke to them in English.
Gentlemen,said Ido 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 heavensir said I,
but can you put a stranger in the way to help you? for you seem to


be in some great distress. I saw you when you landed; and when you
seemed to make application to the brutes that came with youI saw
one of them lift up his sword to kill you."

The poor manwith tears running down his faceand trembling
looking like one astonishedreturnedAm I talking to God or man?
Is it a real man or an angel?Be in no fear about that, sir,
said I; "if God had sent an angel to relieve youhe would have
come better clothedand armed after another manner than you see
me; pray lay aside your fears; I am a manan Englishmanand
disposed to assist you; you see I have one servant only; we have
arms and ammunition; tell us freelycan we serve you? What is
your case?" "Our casesir said he, is too long to tell you
while our murderers are so near us; butin shortsirI was
commander of that ship - my men have mutinied against me; they have
been hardly prevailed on not to murder meandat lasthave set
me on shore in this desolate placewith these two men with me -
one my matethe other a passenger - where we expected to perish
believing the place to be uninhabitedand know not yet what to
think of it." "Where are these brutesyour enemies?" said I; "do
you know where they are gone? There they liesir said he,
pointing to a thicket of trees; my heart trembles for fear they
have seen us and heard you speak; if they havethey will certainly
murder us all." "Have they any firearms?" said I. He answered
They had only two pieces, one of which they left in the boat.
Well, then,said Ileave the rest to me; I see they are all
asleep; it is an easy thing to kill them all; but shall we rather
take them prisoners?He told me there were two desperate villains
among them that it was scarce safe to show any mercy to; but if
they were securedhe 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 thembut he would obey my orders in
anything I would direct. "Well says I, let us retreat out of
their view or hearinglest they awakeand we will resolve
further." So they willingly went back with metill the woods
covered us from them.

Look you, sir,said Iif I venture upon your deliverance, are
you willing to make two conditions with me?He anticipated my
proposals by telling me that both he and the shipif recovered
should be wholly directed and commanded by me in everything; and if
the ship was not recoveredhe would live and die with me in what
part of the world soever I would send him; and the two other men
said the same. "Well says I, my conditions are but two; first
that while you stay in this island with meyou will not pretend to
any authority here; and if I put arms in your handsyou willupon
all occasionsgive them up to meand do no prejudice to me or
mine upon this islandand in the meantime be governed by my
orders; secondlythat if the ship is or may be recoveredyou 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
demandsand besides would owe his life to meand acknowledge it
upon all occasions as long as he lived. "Wellthen said I,
here are three muskets for youwith powder and ball; tell me next
what you think is proper to be done." He showed all the
testimonies of his gratitude that he was ablebut offered to be
wholly guided by me. I told him I thought it was very hard
venturing anything; but the best method I could think of was to
fire on them at once as they layand if any were not killed at the
first volleyand offered to submitwe might save themand so put
it wholly upon God's providence to direct the shot. He saidvery
modestlythat he was loath to kill them if he could help it; but


that those two were incorrigible villainsand had been the authors
of all the mutiny in the shipand if they escapedwe should be
undone stillfor they would go on board and bring the whole ship's
companyand destroy us all. "Wellthen says I, necessity
legitimates my advicefor it is the only way to save our lives."
Howeverseeing him still cautious of shedding bloodI told him
they should go themselvesand manage as they found convenient.

In the middle of this discourse we heard some of them awakeand
soon after we saw two of them on their feet. I asked him if either
of them were the heads of the mutiny? He saidNo.Well,
then,said Iyou may let them escape; and Providence seems to
have awakened them on purpose to save themselves. Now,says I
if the rest escape you, it is your fault.Animated with thishe
took the musket I had given him in his handand a pistol in his
beltand his two comrades with himwith each a piece in his hand;
the two men who were with him going first made some noiseat which
one of the seamen who was awake turned aboutand seeing them
comingcried out to the rest; but was too late thenfor the
moment he cried out they fired - I mean the two menthe captain
wisely reserving his own piece. They had so well aimed their shot
at the men they knewthat one of them was killed on the spotand
the other very much wounded; but not being deadhe started up on
his feetand called eagerly for help to the other; but the captain
stepping to himtold him it was too late to cry for helphe
should call upon God to forgive his villainyand with that word
knocked him down with the stock of his musketso that he never
spoke more; there were three more in the companyand one of them
was slightly wounded. By this time I was come; and when they saw
their dangerand that it was in vain to resistthey begged for
mercy. The captain told them he would spare their lives if they
would give him an assurance of their abhorrence of the treachery
they had been guilty ofand would swear to be faithful to him in
recovering the shipand afterwards in carrying her back to
Jamaicafrom whence they came. They gave him all the
protestations of their sincerity that could be desired; and he was
willing to believe themand spare their liveswhich I was not
againstonly that I obliged him to keep them bound hand and foot
while they were on the island.

While this was doingI sent Friday with the captain's mate to the
boat with orders to secure herand bring away the oars and sails
which they did; and by-and-by three straggling menthat were
(happily for them) parted from the restcame back upon hearing the
guns fired; and seeing the captainwho was before their prisoner
now their conquerorthey 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 firstand told him my whole
historywhich he heard with an attention even to amazement - and
particularly at the wonderful manner of my being furnished with
provisions and ammunition; andindeedas my story is a whole
collection of wondersit affected him deeply. But when he
reflected from thence upon himselfand how I seemed to have been
preserved there on purpose to save his lifethe tears ran down his
faceand he could not speak a word more. After this communication
was at an endI carried him and his two men into my apartment
leading them in just where I came outviz. at the top of the
housewhere I refreshed them with such provisions as I hadand
showed them all the contrivances I had made during my longlong
inhabiting that place.

All I showed themall I said to themwas perfectly amazing; but


above allthe captain admired my fortificationand how perfectly
I had concealed my retreat with a grove of treeswhich having been
now planted nearly twenty yearsand the trees growing much faster
than in Englandwas become a little woodso thick that it was
impassable in any part of it but at that one side where I had
reserved my little winding passage into it. I told him this was my
castle and my residencebut that I had a seat in the countryas
most princes havewhither I could retreat upon occasionand I
would show him that too another time; but at present our business
was to consider how to recover the ship. He agreed with me as to
thatbut told me he was perfectly at a loss what measures to take
for that there were still six-and-twenty hands on boardwho
having entered into a cursed conspiracyby which they had all
forfeited their lives to the lawwould be hardened in it now by
desperationand would carry it onknowing that if they were
subdued they would be brought to the gallows as soon as they came
to Englandor to any of the English coloniesand thattherefore
there would be no attacking them with so small a number as we were.

I mused for some time on what he had saidand found it was a very
rational conclusionand that therefore something was to be
resolved on speedilyas well to draw the men on board into some
snare for their surprise as to prevent their landing upon usand
destroying us. Upon thisit presently occurred to me that in a
little while the ship's crewwondering what was become of their
comrades and of the boatwould certainly come on shore in their
other boat to look for themand that thenperhapsthey might
come armedand be too strong for us: this he allowed to be
rational. Upon thisI told him the first thing we had to do was
to stave the boat which lay upon the beachso that they might not
carry her ofand taking everything out of herleave her so far
useless as not to be fit to swim. Accordinglywe went on board
took the arms which were left on board out of herand whatever
else we found there - which was a bottle of brandyand another of
ruma few biscuit-cakesa horn of powderand a great lump of
sugar in a piece of canvas (the sugar was five or six pounds): all
which was very welcome to meespecially the brandy and sugarof
which I had had none left for many years.

When we had carried all these things on shore (the oarsmast
sailand rudder of the boat were carried away before)we knocked
a great hole in her bottomthat if they had come strong enough to
master usyet they could not carry off the boat. Indeedit was
not much in my thoughts that we could be able to recover the ship;
but my view wasthat if they went away without the boatI did not
much question to make her again fit to carry as to the Leeward
Islandsand call upon our friends the Spaniards in my wayfor I
had them still in my thoughts.

CHAPTER XVIII - THE SHIP RECOVERED

WHILE we were thus preparing our designsand had firstby main
strengthheaved the boat upon the beachso high that the tide
would not float her off at high-water markand besideshad broke
a hole in her bottom too big to be quickly stoppedand were set
down musing what we should dowe heard the ship fire a gunand
make a waft with her ensign as a signal for the boat to come on
board - but no boat stirred; and they fired several timesmaking
other signals for the boat. At lastwhen all their signals and
firing proved fruitlessand they found the boat did not stirwe


saw themby the help of my glasseshoist another boat out and row
towards the shore; and we foundas they approachedthat there
were no less than ten men in herand that they had firearms with
them.

As the ship lay almost two leagues from the shorewe had a full
view of them as the cameand a plain sight even of their faces;
because the tide having set them a little to the east of the other
boatthey rowed up under shoreto come to the same place where
the other had landedand where the boat lay; by this meansI say
we had a full view of themand the captain knew the persons and
characters of all the men in the boatof whomhe saidthere were
three very honest fellowswhohe was surewere led into this
conspiracy by the restbeing over-powered and frightened; but that
as for the boatswainwho it seems was the chief officer among
themand all the restthey were as outrageous as any of the
ship's crewand were no doubt made desperate in their new
enterprise; and terribly apprehensive he was that they would be too
powerful for us. I smiled at himand told him that men in our
circumstances were past the operation of fear; that seeing almost
every condition that could be was better than that which we were
supposed to be inwe ought to expect that the consequencewhether
death or lifewould be sure to be a deliverance. I asked him what
he thought of the circumstances of my lifeand whether a
deliverance were not worth venturing for? "And wheresir said
I, is your belief of my being preserved here on purpose to save
your lifewhich elevated you a little while ago? For my part
said I, there seems to be but one thing amiss in all the prospect
of it." "What is that?" say she. "Why said I, it isthat as
you say there are three or four honest fellows among them which
should be sparedhad they been all of the wicked part of the crew
I should have thought God's providence had singled them out to
deliver them into your hands; for depend upon itevery man that
comes ashore is our ownand 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 hadupon the first appearance of the boat's coming from the
shipconsidered of separating our prisoners; and we hadindeed
secured them effectually. Two of themof whom the captain was
less assured than ordinaryI sent with Fridayand one of the
three delivered mento my cavewhere they were remote enoughand
out of danger of being heard or discoveredor of finding their way
out of the woods if they could have delivered themselves. Here
they left them boundbut gave them provisions; and promised them
if they continued there quietlyto 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 patienceand were very thankful that they had
such good usage as to have provisions and light left them; for
Friday gave them candles (such as we made ourselves) for their
comfort; and they did not know but that he stood sentinel over them
at the entrance.

The other prisoners had better usage; two of them were kept
pinionedindeedbecause the captain was not able to trust them;
but the other two were taken into my serviceupon the captain's
recommendationand 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 comingconsidering that the captain
had said there were three or four honest men among them also. As
soon as they got to the place where their other boat laythey ran


their boat into the beach and came all on shorehauling the boat
up after themwhich I was glad to seefor I was afraid they would
rather have left the boat at an anchor some distance from the
shorewith some hands in her to guard herand so we should not be
able to seize the boat. Being on shorethe 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 strippedas aboveof all that
was in herand a great hole in her bottom. After they had mused a
while upon thisthey set up two or three great shoutshallooing
with all their mightto try if they could make their companions
hear; but all was to no purpose. Then they came all close in a
ringand fired a volley of their small armswhich indeed we
heardand the echoes made the woods ring. But it was all one;
those in the cavewe were surecould not hear; and those in our
keepingthough they heard it well enoughyet durst give no answer
to them. They were so astonished at the surprise of thisthatas
they told us afterwardsthey resolved to go all on board again to
their shipand let them know that the men were all murderedand
the long-boat staved; accordinglythey immediately launched their
boat againand got all of them on board.

The captain was terribly amazedand even confoundedat this
believing they would go on board the ship again and set sail
giving their comrades over for lostand so he should still lose
the shipwhich 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 boatwhen we perceived
them all coming on shore again; but with this new measure in their
conductwhich it seems they consulted together uponviz. to leave
three men in the boatand the rest to go on shoreand go up into
the country to look for their fellows. This was a great
disappointment to usfor now we were at a loss what to doas our
seizing those seven men on shore would be no advantage to us if we
let the boat escape; because they would row away to the shipand
then the rest of them would be sure to weigh and set sailand so
our recovering the ship would be lost. However we had no remedy
but to wait and see what the issue of things might present. The
seven men came on shoreand the three who remained in the boat put
her off to a good distance from the shoreand came to an anchor to
wait for them; so that it was impossible for us to come at them in
the boat. Those that came on shore kept close togethermarching
towards the top of the little hill under which my habitation lay;
and we could see them plainlythough they could not perceive us.
We should have been very glad if they would have come nearer usso
that we might have fired at themor that they would have gone
farther offthat we might come abroad. But when they were come to
the brow of the hill where they could see a great way into the
valleys and woodswhich lay towards the north-east partand where
the island lay lowestthey shouted and hallooed till they were
weary; and not caringit seemsto venture far from the shorenor
far from one anotherthey sat down together under a tree to
consider it. Had they thought fit to have gone to sleep thereas
the other part of them had donethey had done the job for us; but
they were too full of apprehensions of danger to venture to go to
sleepthough they could not tell what the danger was they had to
fear.

The captain made a very just proposal to me upon this consultation
of theirsviz. that perhaps they would all fire a volley againto
endeavour to make their fellows hearand that we should all sally
upon them just at the juncture when their pieces were all
dischargedand they would certainly yieldand we should have them
without bloodshed. I liked this proposalprovided 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 timevery irresolute what course to take. At length
I told them there would be nothing donein my opiniontill night;
and thenif they did not return to the boatperhaps we might find
a way to get between them and the shoreand so might use some
stratagem with them in the boat to get them on shore. We waited a
great whilethough very impatient for their removing; and were
very uneasy whenafter long consultationwe saw them all start up
and march down towards the sea; it seems they had such dreadful
apprehensions of the danger of the place that they resolved to go
on board the ship againgive their companions over for lostand
so go on with their intended voyage with the ship.

As soon as I perceived them go towards the shoreI imagined it to
be as it really was that they had given over their searchand were
going back again; and the captainas soon as I told him my
thoughtswas ready to sink at the apprehensions of it; but I
presently thought of a stratagem to fetch them back againand
which answered my end to a tittle. I ordered Friday and the
captain's mate to go over the little creek westwardtowards the
place where the savages came on shorewhen Friday was rescuedand
so soon as they came to a little rising roundat about half a mile
distantI bid them halloo outas loud as they couldand wait
till they found the seamen heard them; that as soon as ever they
heard the seamen answer themthey should return it again; and
thenkeeping out of sighttake a roundalways answering when the
others hallooedto draw them as far into the island and among the
woods as possibleand then wheel about again to me by such ways as
I directed them.

They were just going into the boat when Friday and the mate
hallooed; and they presently heard themand answeringran along
the shore westwardtowards the voice they heardwhen they were
stopped by the creekwhere the water being upthey could not get
overand called for the boat to come up and set them over; as
indeedI expected. When they had set themselves overI observed
that the boat being gone a good way into the creekandas it
werein a harbour within the landthey took one of the three men
out of herto go along with themand left only two in the boat
having fastened her to the stump of a little tree on the shore.
This was what I wished for; and immediately leaving Friday and the
captain's mate to their businessI took the rest with me; and
crossing the creek out of their sightwe surprised the two men
before they were aware - one of them lying on the shoreand the
other being in the boat. The fellow on shore was between sleeping
and wakingand going to start up; the captainwho was foremost
ran in upon himand knocked him down; and then called out to him
in the boat to yieldor he was a dead man. They needed very few
arguments to persuade a single man to yieldwhen he saw five men
upon him and his comrade knocked down: besidesthis wasit seems
one of the three who were not so hearty in the mutiny as the rest
of the crewand therefore was easily persuaded not only to yield
but afterwards to join very sincerely with us. In the meantime
Friday and the captain's mate so well managed their business with
the rest that they drew themby hallooing and answeringfrom one
hill to anotherand from one wood to anothertill they not only
heartily tired thembut left them where they werevery sure they
could not reach back to the boat before it was dark; andindeed
they were heartily tired themselves alsoby the time they came
back to us.

We had nothing now to do but to watch for them in the darkand to
fall upon themso 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 themlong before they came
quite upcalling to those behind to come along; and could also
hear them answerand complain how lame and tired they wereand
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 outand their two men gone. We could hear them
call one to another in a most lamentable mannertelling one
another they were got into an enchanted island; that either there
were inhabitants in itand they should all be murderedor else
there were devils and spirits in itand they should be all carried
away and devoured. They hallooed againand called their two
comrades by their names a great many times; but no answer. After
some time we could see themby the little light there wasrun
aboutwringing their hands like men in despairand sometimes they
would go and sit down in the boat to rest themselves: then come
ashore againand walk about againand so the same thing over
again. My men would fain have had me give them leave to fall upon
them at once in the dark; but I was willing to take them at some
advantageso as to spare themand kill as few of them as I could;
and especially I was unwilling to hazard the killing of any of our
menknowing the others were very well armed. I resolved to wait
to see if they did not separate; and thereforeto make sure of
themI drew my ambuscade nearerand ordered Friday and the
captain to creep upon their hands and feetas close to the ground
as they couldthat they might not be discoveredand get as near
them as they could possibly before they offered to fire.

They had not been long in that posture when the boatswainwho was
the principal ringleader of the mutinyand had now shown himself
the most dejected and dispirited of all the restcame walking
towards themwith two more of the crew; the captain was so eager
at having this principal rogue so much in his powerthat he could
hardly have patience to let him come so near as to be sure of him
for they only heard his tongue before: but when they came nearer
the captain and Fridaystarting up on their feetlet fly at them.
The boatswain was killed upon the spot: the next man was shot in
the bodyand fell just by himthough he did not die till an hour
or two after; and the third ran for it. At the noise of the fire I
immediately advanced with my whole armywhich was now eight men
viz. myselfgeneralissimo; Fridaymy lieutenant-general; the
captain and his two menand the three prisoners of war whom we had
trusted with arms. We came upon themindeedin the darkso that
they could not see our number; and I made the man they had left in
the boatwho was now one of usto call them by nameto try if I
could bring them to a parleyand so perhaps might reduce them to
terms; which fell out just as we desired: for indeed it was easy to
thinkas their condition then wasthey would be very willing to
capitulate. So he calls out as loud as he could to one of them
Tom Smith! Tom Smith!Tom Smith answered immediatelyIs that
Robinson?for it seems he knew the voice. The other answered
Ay, ay; for God's sake, Tom Smith, throw down your arms and yield,
or you are all dead men this moment.Who must we yield to?
Where are they?says Smith again. "Here they are says he;
here's our captain and fifty men with himhave been hunting you
these two hours; the boatswain is killed; Will Fry is woundedand
I am a prisoner; and if you do not yield you are all lost." "Will
they give us quarterthen?" says Tom Smithand we will yield.
I'll go and ask, if you promise to yield,said Robinson: so he
asked the captainand the captain himself then calls outYou,
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 outFor God's sake, captain, give me
quarter; what have I done? They have all been as bad as I:which
by the waywas not true; for it seems this Will Atkins was the
first man that laid hold of the captain when they first mutinied
and used him barbarously in tying his hands and giving him
injurious language. Howeverthe captain told him he must lay down
his arms at discretionand trust to the governor's mercy: by which
he meant mefor they all called me governor. In a wordthey all
laid down their arms and begged their lives; and I sent the man
that had parleyed with themand two morewho bound them all; and
then my great army of fifty menwhichwith those threewere in
all but eightcame up and seized upon themand upon their boat;
only that I kept myself and one more out of sight for reasons of
state.

Our next work was to repair the boatand think of seizing the
ship: and as for the captainnow he had leisure to parley with
themhe expostulated with them upon the villainy of their
practices with himand upon the further wickedness of their
designand how certainly it must bring them to misery and distress
in the endand perhaps to the gallows. They all appeared very
penitentand begged hard for their lives. As for thathe told
them they were not his prisonersbut the commander's of the
island; that they thought they had set him on shore in a barren
uninhabited island; but it had pleased God so to direct them that
it was inhabitedand that the governor was an Englishman; that he
might hang them all thereif he pleased; but as he had given them
all quarterhe supposed he would send them to Englandto be dealt
with there as justice requiredexcept Atkinswhom he was
commanded by the governor to advise to prepare for deathfor that
he would be hanged in the morning.

Though this was all but a fiction of his ownyet 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 himfor God's sakethat they might not be sent to England.

It now occurred to me that the time of our deliverance was come
and that it would be a most easy thing to bring these fellows in to
be hearty in getting possession of the ship; so I retired in the
dark from themthat they might not see what kind of a governor
they hadand called the captain to me; when I calledat a good
distanceone of the men was ordered to speak againand say to the
captainCaptain, the commander calls for you;and presently the
captain repliedTell his excellency I am just coming.This more
perfectly amazed themand they all believed that the commander was
just bywith his fifty men. Upon the captain coming to meI told
him my project for seizing the shipwhich he liked wonderfully
welland resolved to put it in execution the next morning. But
in order to execute it with more artand to be secure of success
I told him we must divide the prisonersand that he should go and
take Atkinsand two more of the worst of themand send them
pinioned to the cave where the others lay. This was committed to
Friday and the two men who came on shore with the captain. They
conveyed them to the cave as to a prison: and it wasindeeda
dismal placeespecially to men in their condition. The others I
ordered to my boweras I called itof which I have given a full
description: and as it was fenced inand they pinionedthe place
was secure enoughconsidering they were upon their behaviour.

To these in the morning I sent the captainwho was to enter into a
parley with them; in a wordto try themand tell me whether he
thought they might be trusted or not to go on board and surprise
the ship. He talked to them of the injury done himof the


condition they were brought toand that though the governor had
given them quarter for their lives as to the present actionyet
that if they were sent to England they would all be hanged in
chains; but that if they would join in so just an attempt as to
recover the shiphe 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
captainand promisedwith the deepest imprecationsthat they
would be faithful to him to the last dropand that they should owe
their lives to himand would go with him all over the world; that
they would own him as a father to them as long as they lived.
Well,says the captainI must go and tell the governor what you
say, and see what I can do to bring him to consent to it.So he
brought me an account of the temper he found them inand that he
verily believed they would be faithful. Howeverthat we might be
very secureI told him he should go back again and choose out
those fiveand tell themthat they might see he did not want men
that he would take out those five to be his assistantsand that
the governor would keep the other twoand the three that were sent
prisoners to the castle (my cave)as hostages for the fidelity of
those five; and that if they proved unfaithful in the execution
the five hostages should be hanged in chains alive on the shore.
This looked severeand convinced them that the governor was in
earnest; howeverthey had no way left them but to accept it; and
it was now the business of the prisonersas much as of the
captainto persuade the other five to do their duty.

Our strength was now thus ordered for the expedition: firstthe
captainhis mateand passenger; secondthe two prisoners of the
first gangto whomhaving their character from the captainI had
given their libertyand trusted them with arms; thirdthe other
two that I had kept till now in my bowerpinionedbut on the
captain's motion had now released; fourththese five released at
last; so that there were twelve in allbesides 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 FridayI did not think
it was proper for us to stirhaving seven men left behind; and it
was employment enough for us to keep them asunderand supply them
with victuals. As to the five in the caveI resolved to keep them
fastbut Friday went in twice a day to themto supply them with
necessaries; and I made the other two carry provisions to a certain
distancewhere Friday was to take them.

When I showed myself to the two hostagesit was with the captain
who told them I was the person the governor had ordered to look
after them; and that it was the governor's pleasure they should not
stir anywhere but by my direction; that if they didthey would be
fetched into the castleand be laid in irons: so that as we never
suffered them to see me as governorI now appeared as another
personand spoke of the governorthe garrisonthe castleand
the likeupon all occasions.

The captain now had no difficulty before himbut to furnish his
two boatsstop the breach of oneand man them. He made his
passenger captain of onewith four of the men; and himselfhis
mateand five morewent in the other; and they contrived their
business very wellfor they came up to the ship about midnight.
As soon as they came within call of the shiphe made Robinson hail
themand tell them they had brought off the men and the boatbut
that it was a long time before they had found themand 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 armsimmediately
knocked down the second mate and carpenter with the butt-end of
their musketsbeing very faithfully seconded by their men; they
secured all the rest that were upon the main and quarter decksand
began to fasten the hatchesto keep them down that were below;
when the other boat and their menentering at the forechains
secured the forecastle of the shipand the scuttle which went down
into the cook-roommaking three men they found there prisoners.
When this was doneand all safe upon deckthe captain ordered the
matewith three mento break into the round-housewhere the new
rebel captain laywhohaving taken the alarmhad got upand
with two men and a boy had got firearms in their hands; and when
the matewith a crowsplit open the doorthe new captain and his
men fired boldly among themand wounded the mate with a musket
ballwhich broke his armand wounded two more of the menbut
killed nobody. The matecalling for helprushedhoweverinto
the round-housewounded as he wasandwith his pistolshot the
new captain through the headthe bullet entering at his mouthand
came out again behind one of his earsso that he never spoke a
word more: upon which the rest yieldedand the ship was taken
effectuallywithout any more lives lost.

As soon as the ship was thus securedthe captain ordered seven
guns to be firedwhich was the signal agreed upon with me to give
me notice of his successwhichyou may be sureI was very glad
to hearhaving sat watching upon the shore for it till near two
o'clock in the morning. Having thus heard the signal plainlyI
laid me down; and it having been a day of great fatigue to meI
slept very soundtill I was surprised with the noise of a gun; and
presently starting upI heard a man call me by the name of
Governor! Governor!and presently I knew the captain's voice;
whenclimbing up to the top of the hillthere he stoodand
pointing to the shiphe embraced me in his armsMy dear friend
and deliverer,says hethere's your ship; for she is all yours,
and so are we, and all that belong to her.I cast my eyes to the
shipand there she rodewithin little more than half a mile of
the shore; for they had weighed her anchor as soon as they were
masters of herandthe weather being fairhad brought her to an
anchor just against the mouth of the little creek; and the tide
being upthe captain had brought the pinnace in near the place
where I had first landed my raftsand so landed just at my door.
I was at first ready to sink down with the surprise; for I saw my
deliveranceindeedvisibly put into my handsall things easy
and a large ship just ready to carry me away whither I pleased to
go. At firstfor some timeI was not able to answer him one
word; but as he had taken me in his arms I held fast by himor I
should have fallen to the ground. He perceived the surpriseand
immediately pulled a bottle out of his pocket and gave me a dram of
cordialwhich he had brought on purpose for me. After I had drunk
itI sat down upon the ground; and though it brought me to myself
yet it was a good while before I could speak a word to him. All
this time the poor man was in as great an ecstasy as Ionly not
under any surprise as I was; and he said a thousand kind and tender
things to meto compose and bring me to myself; but such was the
flood of joy in my breastthat it put all my spirits into
confusion: at last it broke out into tearsand in a little while
after I recovered my speech; I then took my turnand embraced him
as my delivererand we rejoiced together. I told him I looked
upon him as a man sent by Heaven to deliver meand that the whole
transaction seemed to be a chain of wonders; that such things as
these were the testimonies we had of a secret hand of Providence
governing the worldand an evidence that the eye of an infinite
Power could search into the remotest corner of the worldand 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 Himwho had not only in a miraculous manner provided for me
in such a wildernessand in such a desolate conditionbut from
whom every deliverance must always be acknowledged to proceed.

When we had talked a whilethe captain told me he had brought me
some little refreshmentsuch as the ship affordedand such as the
wretches that had been so long his masters had not plundered him
of. Upon thishe called aloud to the boatand bade his men bring
the things ashore that were for the governor; andindeedit was a
present as if I had been one that was not to be carried away with
thembut as if I had been to dwell upon the island still. First
he had brought me a case of bottles full of excellent cordial
waterssix large bottles of Madeira wine (the bottles held two
quarts each)two pounds of excellent good tobaccotwelve good
pieces of the ship's beefand six pieces of porkwith a bag of
peasand about a hundred-weight of biscuit; he also brought me a
box of sugara box of floura bag full of lemonsand two bottles
of lime-juiceand abundance of other things. But besides these
and what was a thousand times more useful to mehe brought me six
new clean shirtssix very good neckclothstwo pair of glovesone
pair of shoesa hatand one pair of stockingswith a very good
suit of clothes of his ownwhich had been worn but very little: in
a wordhe clothed me from head to foot. It was a very kind and
agreeable presentas any one may imagineto one in my
circumstancesbut never was anything in the world of that kind so
unpleasantawkwardand uneasy as it was to me to wear such
clothes at first.

After these ceremonies were pastand after all his good things
were brought into my little apartmentwe began to consult what was
to be done with the prisoners we had; for it was worth considering
whether we might venture to take them with us or noespecially two
of themwhom he knew to be incorrigible and refractory to the last
degree; and the captain said he knew they were such rogues that
there was no obliging themand if he did carry them awayit must
be in ironsas malefactorsto be delivered over to justice at the
first English colony he could come to; and I found that the captain
himself was very anxious about it. Upon thisI told him thatif
he desired itI would undertake to bring the two men he spoke of
to make it their own request that he should leave them upon the
island. "I should be very glad of that says the captain, with
all my heart." "Well says I, I will send for them up and talk
with them for you." So I caused Friday and the two hostagesfor
they were now dischargedtheir comrades having performed their
promise; I sayI caused them to go to the caveand bring up the
five menpinioned as they wereto the bowerand keep them there
till I came. After some timeI came thither dressed in my new
habit; and now I was called governor again. Being all metand the
captain with meI caused the men to be brought before meand I
told them I had got a full account of their villainous behaviour to
the captainand how they had run away with the shipand were
preparing to commit further robberiesbut that Providence had
ensnared them in their own waysand that they were fallen into the
pit which they had dug for others. I let them know that by my
direction the ship had been seized; that she lay now in the road;
and they might see by-and-by that their new captain had received
the reward of his villainyand that they would see him hanging at
the yard-arm; thatas to themI wanted to know what they had to
say why I should not execute them as pirates taken in the factas
by my commission they could not doubt but I had authority so to do.

One of them answered in the name of the restthat they had nothing


to say but thisthat when they were taken the captain promised
them their livesand they humbly implored my mercy. But I told
them I knew not what mercy to show them; for as for myselfI had
resolved to quit the island with all my menand had taken passage
with the captain to go to England; and as for the captainhe could
not carry them to England other than as prisoners in ironsto be
tried for mutiny and running away with the ship; the consequence of
whichthey must needs knowwould be the gallows; so that I could
not tell what was best for themunless they had a mind to take
their fate in the island. If they desired thatas I had liberty
to leave the islandI had some inclination to give them their
livesif they thought they could shift on shore. They seemed very
thankful for itand said they would much rather venture to stay
there than be carried to England to be hanged. So I left it on
that issue.

Howeverthe captain seemed to make some difficulty of itas if he
durst not leave them there. Upon this I seemed a little angry with
the captainand told him that they were my prisonersnot his; and
that seeing I had offered them so much favourI would be as good
as my word; and that if he did not think fit to consent to it I
would set them at libertyas 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 thankfuland I accordingly set them at libertyand
bade them retire into the woodsto the place whence they cameand
I would leave them some firearmssome ammunitionand 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 thingsand desired him to go
on board in the meantimeand keep all right in the shipand send
the boat on shore next day for me; ordering himat all eventsto
cause the new captainwho was killedto be hanged at the yardarm
that these men might see him.

When the captain was gone I sent for the men up to me to my
apartmentand entered seriously into discourse with them on their
circumstances. I told them I thought they had made a right choice;
that if the captain had carried them away they would certainly be
hanged. I showed them the new captain hanging at the yard-arm of
the shipand told them they had nothing less to expect.

When they had all declared their willingness to stayI then told
them I would let them into the story of my living thereand put
them into the way of making it easy to them. AccordinglyI gave
them the whole history of the placeand of my coming to it; showed
them my fortificationsthe way I made my breadplanted my corn
cured my grapes; andin a wordall that was necessary to make
them easy. I told them the story also of the seventeen Spaniards
that were to be expectedfor whom I left a letterand made them
promise to treat them in common with themselves. Here it may be
noted that the captainwho had ink on boardwas greatly surprised
that I never hit upon a way of making ink of charcoal and wateror
of something elseas I had done things much more difficult.

I left them my firearms - viz. five musketsthree 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 littleand wasted none.
I gave them a description of the way I managed the goatsand
directions to milk and fatten themand to make both butter and
cheese. In a wordI gave them every part of my own story; and
told them I should prevail with the captain to leave them two
barrels of gunpowder moreand some garden-seedswhich I told them
I would have been very glad of. AlsoI gave them the bag of peas
which the captain had brought me to eatand bade them be sure to


sow and increase them.

CHAPTER XIX - RETURN TO ENGLAND

HAVING done all this I left them the next dayand went on board
the ship. We prepared immediately to sailbut did not weigh that
night. The next morning earlytwo of the five men came swimming
to the ship's sideand making the most lamentable complaint of the
other threebegged to be taken into the ship for God's sakefor
they should be murderedand begged the captain to take them on
boardthough he hanged them immediately. Upon this the captain
pretended to have no power without me; but after some difficulty
and after their solemn promises of amendmentthey were taken on
boardand weresome time aftersoundly whipped and pickled;
after which they proved very honest and quiet fellows.

Some time after thisthe boat was ordered on shorethe tide being
upwith the things promised to the men; to which the captainat
my intercessioncaused their chests and clothes to be addedwhich
they tookand were very thankful for. I also encouraged themby
telling them that if it lay in my power to send any vessel to take
them inI would not forget them.

When I took leave of this islandI carried on boardfor relics
the great goat-skin cap I had mademy umbrellaand one of my
parrots; alsoI forgot not to take the money I formerly mentioned
which had lain by me so long useless that it was grown rusty or
tarnishedand could hardly pass for silver till it had been a
little rubbed and handledas also the money I found in the wreck
of the Spanish ship. And thus I left the islandthe 19th of
Decemberas I found by the ship's accountin the year 1686after
I had been upon it eight-and-twenty yearstwo monthsand nineteen
days; being delivered from this second captivity the same day of
the month that I first made my escape in the long-boat from among
the Moors of Sallee. In this vesselafter a long voyageI
arrived in England the 11th of Junein the year 1687having been
thirty-five years absent.

When I came to England I was as perfect a stranger to all the world
as if I had never been known there. My benefactor and faithful
stewardwhom I had left my money in trust withwas alivebut had
had great misfortunes in the world; was become a widow the second
timeand very low in the world. I made her very easy as to what
she owed meassuring her I would give her no trouble; buton the
contraryin gratitude for her former care and faithfulness to me
I relieved her as my little stock would afford; which at that time
wouldindeedallow me to do but little for her; but I assured her
I would never forget her former kindness to me; nor did I forget
her when I had sufficient to help heras shall be observed in its
proper place. I went down afterwards into Yorkshire; but my father
was deadand my mother and all the family extinctexcept that I
found two sistersand two of the children of one of my brothers;
and as I had been long ago given over for deadthere had been no
provision made for me; so thatin a wordI found nothing to
relieve or assist me; and that the little money I had would not do
much for me as to settling in the world.

I met with one piece of gratitude indeedwhich I did not expect;
and this wasthat the master of the shipwhom I had so happily
deliveredand by the same means saved the ship and cargohaving


given a very handsome account to the owners of the manner how I had
saved the lives of the men and the shipthey invited me to meet
them and some other merchants concernedand all together made me a
very handsome compliment upon the subjectand a present of almost
200 pounds sterling.

But after making several reflections upon the circumstances of my
lifeand how little way this would go towards settling me in the
worldI resolved to go to Lisbonand see if I might not come at
some information of the state of my plantation in the Brazilsand
of what was become of my partnerwhoI had reason to supposehad
some years past given me over for dead. With this view I took
shipping for Lisbonwhere I arrived in April followingmy man
Friday accompanying me very honestly in all these ramblingsand
proving a most faithful servant upon all occasions. When I came to
LisbonI found outby inquiryand to my particular satisfaction
my old friendthe captain of the ship who first took me up at sea
off the shore of Africa. He was now grown oldand had left off
going to seahaving put his sonwho was far from a young man
into his shipand who still used the Brazil trade. The old man
did not know meand indeed I hardly knew him. But I soon brought
him to my remembranceand as soon brought myself to his
remembrancewhen I told him who I was.

After some passionate expressions of the old acquaintance between
usI inquiredyou may he sureafter 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 livingbut the trustees whom I had joined with
him to take cognisance of my part were both dead: thathoweverhe
believed I would have a very good account of the improvement of the
plantation; for thatupon the general belief of my being cast away
and drownedmy trustees had given in the account of the produce of
my part of the plantation to the procurator-fiscalwho had
appropriated itin case I never came to claim itone-third to the
kingand two-thirds to the monastery of St. Augustineto be
expended for the benefit of the poorand for the conversion of the
Indians to the Catholic faith: but thatif I appearedor any one
for meto claim the inheritanceit would be restored; only that
the improvementor annual productionbeing distributed to
charitable usescould not be restored: but he assured me that the
steward of the king's revenue from landsand the providoreor
steward of the monasteryhad taken great care all along that the
incumbentthat is to say my partnergave every year a faithful
account of the produceof which they had duly received my moiety.
I asked him if he knew to what height of improvement he had brought
the plantationand whether he thought it might be worth looking
after; or whetheron my going thitherI should meet with any
obstruction to my possessing my just right in the moiety. He told
me he could not tell exactly to what degree the plantation was
improved; but this he knewthat my partner was grown exceeding
rich upon the enjoying his part of it; and thatto the best of his
remembrancehe had heard that the king's third of my partwhich
wasit seemsgranted away to some other monastery or religious
houseamounted to above two hundred moidores a year: that as to my
being restored to a quiet possession of itthere was no question
to be made of thatmy partner being alive to witness my titleand
my name being also enrolled in the register of the country; also he
told me that the survivors of my two trustees were very fair
honest peopleand very wealthy; and he believed I would not only
have their assistance for putting me in possessionbut 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 upas above; whichas he rememberedwas


for about twelve years.

I showed myself a little concerned and uneasy at this accountand
inquired of the old captain how it came to pass that the trustees
should thus dispose of my effectswhen he knew that I had made my
willand had made himthe Portuguese captainmy universal heir
&c.

He told me that was true; but that as there was no proof of my
being deadhe could not act as executor until some certain account
should come of my death; andbesideshe was not willing to
intermeddle with a thing so remote: that it was true he had
registered my willand put in his claim; and could he have given
any account of my being dead or alivehe would have acted by
procurationand taken possession of the ingenio (so they call the
sugar-house)and have given his sonwho was now at the Brazils
orders to do it. "But says the old man, I have one piece of
news to tell youwhich perhaps may not be so acceptable to you as
the rest; and that isbelieving you were lostand all the world
believing so alsoyour partner and trustees did offer to account
with mein your namefor the first six or eight years' profits
which I received. There being at that time great disbursements for
increasing the worksbuilding an ingenioand buying slavesit
did not amount to near so much as afterwards it produced; however
says the old man, I shall give you a true account of what I have
received in alland how I have disposed of it."

After a few days' further conference with this ancient friendhe
brought me an account of the first six years' income of my
plantationsigned by my partner and the merchant-trusteesbeing
always delivered in goodsviz. tobacco in rolland sugar in
chestsbesides rummolasses&c.which is the consequence of a
sugar-work; and I found by this accountthat every year the income
considerably increased; butas abovethe disbursements being
largethe sum at first was small: howeverthe old man let me see
that he was debtor to me four hundred and seventy moidores of gold
besides sixty chests of sugar and fifteen double rolls of tobacco
which were lost in his ship; he having been shipwrecked coming home
to Lisbonabout eleven years after my having the place. The good
man then began to complain of his misfortunesand how he had been
obliged to make use of my money to recover his lossesand buy him
a share in a new ship. "Howevermy 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 pouchand gives me one hundred and sixty Portugal moidores in
gold; and giving the writings of his title to the shipwhich his
son was gone to the Brazils inof which he was quarter-part owner
and his son anotherhe puts them both into my hands for security
of the rest.

I was too much moved with the honesty and kindness of the poor man
to be able to bear this; and remembering what he had done for me
how he had taken me up at seaand how generously he had used me on
all occasionsand particularly how sincere a friend he was now to
meI could hardly refrain weeping at what he had said to me;
therefore I asked him if his circumstances admitted him to spare so
much money at that timeand if it would not straiten him? He told
me he could not say but it might straiten him a little; but
howeverit was my moneyand I might want it more than he.

Everything the good man said was full of affectionand I could
hardly refrain from tears while he spoke; in shortI took one
hundred of the moidoresand called for a pen and ink to give him a
receipt for them: then I returned him the restand told him if


ever I had possession of the plantation I would return the other to
him also (asindeedI afterwards did); and that as to the bill of
sale of his part in his son's shipI would not take it by any
means; but that if I wanted the moneyI found he was honest enough
to pay me; and if I did notbut came to receive what he gave me
reason to expectI would never have a penny more from him.

When this was pastthe old man asked me if he should put me into a
method to make my claim to my plantation. I told him I thought to
go over to it myself. He said I might do so if I pleasedbut that
if I did notthere were ways enough to secure my rightand
immediately to appropriate the profits to my use: and as there were
ships in the river of Lisbon just ready to go away to Brazilhe
made me enter my name in a public registerwith his affidavit
affirmingupon oaththat I was aliveand 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 notaryand a
procuration affixedhe directed me to send itwith a letter of
his writingto a merchant of his acquaintance at the place; and
then proposed my staying with him till an account came of the
return.

Never was anything more honourable than the proceedings upon this
procuration; for in less than seven months I received a large
packet from the survivors of my trusteesthe merchantsfor whose
account I went to seain which were the followingparticular
letters and papers enclosed:-

Firstthere was the account-current of the produce of my farm or
plantationfrom the year when their fathers had balanced with my
old Portugal captainbeing for six years; the balance appeared to
be one thousand one hundred and seventy-four moidores in my favour.

Secondlythere was the account of four years morewhile they kept
the effects in their handsbefore the government claimed the
administrationas being the effects of a person not to be found
which they called civil death; and the balance of thisthe value
of the plantation increasingamounted to nineteen thousand four
hundred and forty-six crusadoesbeing about three thousand two
hundred and forty moidores.

Thirdlythere was the Prior of St. Augustine's accountwho had
received the profits for above fourteen years; but not being able
to account for what was disposed of by the hospitalvery honestly
declared he had eight hundred and seventy-two moidores not
distributedwhich he acknowledged to my account: as to the king's
partthat refunded nothing.

There was a letter of my partner'scongratulating me very
affectionately upon my being alivegiving me an account how the
estate was improvedand what it produced a year; with the
particulars of the number of squaresor acres that it contained
how plantedhow many slaves there were upon it: and making twoand-
twenty crosses for blessingstold me he had said so many AVE
MARIAS to thank the Blessed Virgin that I was alive; inviting me
very passionately to come over and take possession of my ownand
in the meantime to give him orders to whom he should deliver my
effects if I did not come myself; concluding with a hearty tender
of his friendshipand that of his family; and sent me as a present
seven fine leopards' skinswhich he hadit seemsreceived from
Africaby some other ship that he had sent thitherand whichit
seemshad made a better voyage than I. He sent me also five
chests of excellent sweetmeatsand a hundred pieces of gold
uncoinednot quite so large as moidores. By the same fleet my two


merchant-trustees shipped me one thousand two hundred chests of
sugareight hundred rolls of tobaccoand the rest of the whole
account in gold.

I might well say nowindeedthat the latter end of Job was better
than the beginning. It is impossible to express the flutterings of
my very heart when I found all my wealth about me; for as the
Brazil ships come all in fleetsthe same ships which brought my
letters brought my goods: and the effects were safe in the river
before the letters came to my hand. In a wordI turned paleand
grew sick; andhad not the old man run and fetched me a cordialI
believe the sudden surprise of joy had overset natureand I had
died upon the spot: nayafter that I continued very illand was
so some hourstill a physician being sent forand something of
the real cause of my illness being knownhe ordered me to be let
blood; after which I had reliefand grew well: but I verify
believeif I had not been eased by a vent given in that manner to
the spiritsI should have died.

I was now masterall on a suddenof above five thousand pounds
sterling in moneyand had an estateas I might well call itin
the Brazilsof above a thousand pounds a yearas sure as an
estate of lands in England: andin a wordI was in a condition
which I scarce knew how to understandor how to compose myself for
the enjoyment of it. The first thing I did was to recompense my
original benefactormy good old captainwho had been first
charitable to me in my distresskind to me in my beginningand
honest to me at the end. I showed him all that was sent to me; I
told him thatnext to the providence of Heavenwhich disposed all
thingsit was owing to him; and that it now lay on me to reward
himwhich I would do a hundred-fold: so I first returned to him
the hundred moidores I had received of him; then I sent for a
notaryand caused him to draw up a general release or discharge
from the four hundred and seventy moidoreswhich he had
acknowledged he owed mein the fullest and firmest manner
possible. After which I caused a procuration to be drawn
empowering him to be the receiver of the annual profits of my
plantation: and appointing my partner to account with himand make
the returnsby the usual fleetsto him in my name; and by a
clause in the endmade a grant of one hundred moidores a year to
him during his lifeout of the effectsand fifty moidores a year
to his son after himfor his life: and thus I requited my old man.

I had now to consider which way to steer my course nextand what
to do with the estate that Providence had thus put into my hands;
andindeedI had more care upon my head now than I had in my
state of life in the island where I wanted nothing but what I had
and had nothing but what I wanted; whereas I had now a great charge
upon meand my business was how to secure it. I had not a cave
now to hide my money inor a place where it might lie without lock
or keytill it grew mouldy and tarnished before anybody would
meddle with it; on the contraryI knew not where to put itor
whom to trust with it. My old patronthe captainindeedwas
honestand that was the only refuge I had. In the next placemy
interest in the Brazils seemed to summon me thither; but now I
could not tell how to think of going thither till I had settled my
affairsand left my effects in some safe hands behind me. At
first I thought of my old friend the widowwho I knew was honest
and would be just to me; but then she was in yearsand but poor
andfor aught I knewmight be in debt: so thatin a wordI had
no way but to go back to England myself and take my effects with
me.

It was some monthshoweverbefore I resolved upon this; and


thereforeas I had rewarded the old captain fullyand to his
satisfactionwho had been my former benefactorso I began to
think of the poor widowwhose husband had been my first
benefactorand shewhile it was in her powermy faithful steward
and instructor. Sothe first thing I didI got a merchant in
Lisbon to write to his correspondent in Londonnot only to pay a
billbut to go find her outand carry herin moneya hundred
pounds from meand to talk with herand comfort her in her
povertyby telling her she shouldif I livedhave a further
supply: at the same time I sent my two sisters in the country a
hundred pounds eachthey beingthough not in wantyet 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 stockthat I might
go away to the Brazilsand 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 therefor I wasas it werenaturalised to the place; but
I had some little scruple in my mind about religionwhich
insensibly drew me back. Howeverit was not religion that kept me
from going there for the present; and as I had made no scruple of
being openly of the religion of the country all the while I was
among themso neither did I yet; only thatnow and thenhaving
of late thought more of it than formerlywhen I began to think of
living and dying among themI began to regret having professed
myself a Papistand thought it might not be the best religion to
die with.

Butas I have saidthis was not the main thing that kept me from
going to the Brazilsbut that really I did not know with whom to
leave my effects behind me; so I resolved at last to go to England
whereif I arrivedI concluded that I should make some
acquaintanceor find some relationsthat would be faithful to me;
andaccordinglyI prepared to go to England with all my wealth.

In order to prepare things for my going homeI first (the Brazil
fleet being just going away) resolved to give answers suitable to
the just and faithful account of things I had from thence; and
firstto the Prior of St. Augustine I wrote a letter full of
thanks for his just dealingsand the offer of the eight hundred
and seventy-two moidores which were undisposed ofwhich I desired
might be givenfive hundred to the monasteryand three hundred
and seventy-two to the pooras the prior should direct; desiring
the good padre's prayers for meand the like. I wrote next a
letter of thanks to my two trusteeswith all the acknowledgment
that so much justice and honesty called for: as for sending them
any presentthey were far above having any occasion of it.
LastlyI wrote to my partneracknowledging his industry in the
improving the plantationand his integrity in increasing the stock
of the works; giving him instructions for his future government of
my partaccording to the powers I had left with my old patronto
whom I desired him to send whatever became due to metill he
should hear from me more particularly; assuring him that it was my
intention not only to come to himbut to settle myself there for
the remainder of my life. To this I added a very handsome present
of some Italian silks for his wife and two daughtersfor such the
captain's son informed me he had; with two pieces of fine English
broadcloththe best I could get in Lisbonfive pieces of black
baizeand some Flanders lace of a good value.

Having thus settled my affairssold my cargoand turned all my
effects into good bills of exchangemy next difficulty was which


way to go to England: I had been accustomed enough to the seaand
yet I had a strange aversion to go to England by the sea at that
timeand yet I could give no reason for ityet the difficulty
increased upon me so muchthat though I had once shipped my
baggage in order to goyet I altered my mindand that not once
but two or three times.

It is true I had been very unfortunate by seaand this might be
one of the reasons; but let no man slight the strong impulses of
his own thoughts in cases of such moment: two of the ships which I
had singled out to go inI mean more particularly singled out than
any otherhaving put my things on board one of themand in the
other having agreed with the captain; I say two of these ships
miscarried. One was taken by the Algerinesand the other was lost
on the Startnear Torbayand all the people drowned except three;
so that in either of those vessels I had been made miserable.

Having been thus harassed in my thoughtsmy old pilotto whom I
communicated everythingpressed me earnestly not to go by seabut
either to go by land to the Groyneand cross over the Bay of
Biscay to Rochellefrom whence it was but an easy and safe journey
by land to Parisand so to Calais and Dover; or to go up to
Madridand so all the way by land through France. In a wordI
was so prepossessed against my going by sea at allexcept from
Calais to Doverthat I resolved to travel all the way by land;
whichas I was not in hasteand did not value the chargewas by
much the pleasanter way: and to make it more somy old captain
brought an English gentlemanthe son of a merchant in Lisbonwho
was willing to travel with me; after which we picked up two more
English merchants alsoand two young Portuguese gentlementhe
last going to Paris only; so that in all there were six of us and
five servants; the two merchants and the two Portuguesecontenting
themselves with one servant between twoto save the charge; and as
for meI got an English sailor to travel with me as a servant
besides my man Fridaywho was too much a stranger to be capable of
supplying the place of a servant on the road.

In this manner I set out from Lisbon; and our company being very
well mounted and armedwe made a little troopwhereof they did me
the honour to call me captainas well because I was the oldest
manas because I had two servantsandindeedwas the origin of
the whole journey.

As I have troubled you with none of my sea journalsso I shall
trouble you now with none of my land journals; but some adventures
that happened to us in this tedious and difficult journey I must
not omit.

When we came to Madridwebeing all of us strangers to Spain
were willing to stay some time to see the court of Spainand what
was worth observing; but it being the latter part of the summerwe
hastened awayand set out from Madrid about the middle of October;
but when we came to the edge of Navarrewe were alarmedat
several towns on the waywith an account that so much snow was
falling on the French side of the mountainsthat several
travellers were obliged to come back to Pampelunaafter having
attempted at an extreme hazard to pass on.

When we came to Pampeluna itselfwe found it so indeed; and to me
that had been always used to a hot climateand to countries where
I could scarce bear any clothes onthe cold was insufferable; nor
indeedwas it more painful than surprising to come but ten days
before out of Old Castilewhere the weather was not only warm but
very hotand immediately to feel a wind from the Pyrenean


Mountains so very keenso severely coldas to be intolerable and
to endanger benumbing and perishing of our fingers and toes.

Poor Friday was really frightened when he saw the mountains all
covered with snowand felt cold weatherwhich he had never seen
or felt before in his life. To mend the matterwhen 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
roadswhich were difficult beforewere now quite impassable; for
in a wordthe snow lay in some places too thick for us to travel
and being not hard frozenas is the case in the northern
countriesthere was no going without being in danger of being
buried alive every step. We stayed no less than twenty days at
Pampeluna; when (seeing the winter coming onand no likelihood of
its being betterfor it was the severest winter all over Europe
that had been known in the memory of man) I proposed that we should
go away to Fontarabiaand there take shipping for Bordeauxwhich
was a very little voyage. Butwhile I was considering thisthere
came in four French gentlemenwhohaving been stopped on the
French side of the passesas we were on the Spanishhad found out
a guidewhotraversing 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
quantitythey said it was frozen hard enough to bear them and
their horses. We sent for this guidewho told us he would
undertake to carry us the same waywith no hazard from the snow
provided we were armed sufficiently to protect ourselves from wild
beasts; forhe saidin these great snows it was frequent for some
wolves to show themselves at the foot of the mountainsbeing made
ravenous for want of foodthe ground being covered with snow. We
told him we were well enough prepared for such creatures as they
wereif he would insure us from a kind of two-legged wolveswhich
we were told we were in most danger fromespecially on the French
side of the mountains. He satisfied us that there was no danger of
that kind in the way that we were to go; so we readily agreed to
follow himas did also twelve other gentlemen with their servants
some Frenchsome Spanishwhoas I saidhad attempted to goand
were obliged to come back again.

Accordinglywe set out from Pampeluna with our guide on the 15th
of November; and indeed I was surprised wheninstead of going
forwardhe came directly back with us on the same road that we
came from Madridabout twenty miles; whenhaving passed two
riversand come into the plain countrywe found ourselves in a
warm climate againwhere the country was pleasantand no snow to
be seen; buton a suddenturning to his lefthe approached the
mountains another way; and though it is true the hills and
precipices looked dreadfulyet he made so many tourssuch
meandersand led us by such winding waysthat we insensibly
passed the height of the mountains without being much encumbered
with the snow; and all on a sudden he showed us the pleasant and
fruitful provinces of Languedoc and Gasconyall green and
flourishingthough at a great distanceand we had some rough way
to pass still.

We were a little uneasyhoweverwhen we found it snowed one whole
day and a night so fast that we could not travel; but he bid us be
easy; we should soon be past it all: we foundindeedthat we
began to descend every dayand to come more north than before; and
sodepending upon our guidewe went on.

It was about two hours before night whenour guide being something
before usand not just in sightout rushed three monstrous
wolvesand after them a bearfrom a hollow way adjoining to a


thick wood; two of the wolves made at the guideand had he been
far before ushe would have been devoured before we could have
helped him; one of them fastened upon his horseand the other
attacked the man with such violencethat he had not timeor
presence of mind enoughto draw his pistolbut hallooed and cried
out to us most lustily. My man Friday being next meI bade him
ride up and see what was the matter. As soon as Friday came in
sight of the manhe hallooed out as loud as the otherO master!
O master!but like a bold fellowrode directly up to the poor
manand with his pistol shot the wolf in the head that attacked
him.

It was happy for the poor man that it was my man Friday; for
having been used to such creatures in his countryhe had no fear
upon himbut went close up to him and shot him; whereasany other
of us would have fired at a farther distanceand have perhaps
either missed the wolf or endangered shooting the man.

But it was enough to have terrified a bolder man than I; and
indeedit alarmed all our companywhenwith the noise of
Friday's pistolwe heard on both sides the most dismal howling of
wolves; and the noiseredoubled by the echo of the mountains
appeared to us as if there had been a prodigious number of them;
and perhaps there was not such a few as that we had no cause of
apprehension: howeveras Friday had killed this wolfthe other
that had fastened upon the horse left him immediatelyand fled
without doing him any damagehaving happily fastened upon his
headwhere 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 armand the other time a little above his knee; and
though he had made some defencehe was just tumbling down by the
disorder of his horsewhen Friday came up and shot the wolf.

It is easy to suppose that at the noise of Friday's pistol we all
mended our paceand rode up as fast as the waywhich was very
difficultwould give us leaveto see what was the matter. As
soon as we came clear of the treeswhich blinded us beforewe saw
clearly what had been the caseand how Friday had disengaged the
poor guidethough we did not presently discern what kind of
creature it was he had killed.

CHAPTER XX - FIGHT BETWEEN FRIDAY AND A BEAR

BUT never was a fight managed so hardilyand in such a surprising
manner as that which followed between Friday and the bearwhich
gave us allthough at first we were surprised and afraid for him
the greatest diversion imaginable. As the bear is a heavyclumsy
creatureand does not gallop as the wolf doeswho is swift and
lightso he has two particular qualitieswhich generally are the
rule of his actions; firstas to menwho are not his proper prey
(he does not usually attempt themexcept they first attack him
unless he be excessively hungrywhich it is probable might now be
the casethe ground being covered with snow)if you do not meddle
with himhe will not meddle with you; but then you must take care
to be very civil to himand give him the roadfor he is a very
nice gentleman; he will not go a step out of his way for a prince;
nayif you are really afraidyour best way is to look another way
and keep going on; for sometimes if you stopand stand stilland
look steadfastly at himhe takes it for an affront; but if you
throw or toss anything at himthough it were but a bit of stick as


big as your fingerhe thinks himself abusedand sets all other
business aside to pursue his revengeand will have satisfaction in
point of honour - that is his first quality: the next isif he be
once affrontedhe will never leave younight or daytill he has
his revengebut follows at a good round rate till he overtakes
you.

My man Friday had delivered our guideand when we came up to him
he was helping him off his horsefor the man was both hurt and
frightenedwhen on a sudden we espied the bear come out of the
wood; and a monstrous one it wasthe biggest by far that ever I
saw. We were all a little surprised when we saw him; but when
Friday saw himit was easy to see joy and courage in the fellow's
countenance. "O! O! O!" says Fridaythree timespointing to him;
O master, you give me te leave, me shakee te hand with him; me
makee you good laugh.

I was surprised to see the fellow so well pleased. "You fool
says I, he will eat you up." - "Eatee me up! eatee me up!" says
Fridaytwice over again; "me eatee him up; me makee you good
laugh; you all stay hereme show you good laugh." So down he
sitsand gets off his boots in a momentand puts on a pair of
pumps (as we call the flat shoes they wearand which he had in his
pocket)gives my other servant his horseand with his gun away he
flewswift like the wind.

The bear was walking softly onand offered to meddle with nobody
till Friday coming pretty nearcalls to himas if the bear could
understand him. "Hark yehark ye says Friday, me speakee with
you." We followed at a distancefor now being down on the Gascony
side of the mountainswe were entered a vast forestwhere the
country was plain and pretty openthough it had many trees in it
scattered here and there. Fridaywho hadas we saythe heels of
the bearcame up with him quicklyand took up a great stoneand
threw it at himand hit him just on the headbut did him no more
harm than if he had thrown it against a wall; but it answered
Friday's endfor the rogue was so void of fear that he did it
purely to make the bear follow himand show us some laugh as he
called it. As soon as the bear felt the blowand saw himhe
turns about and comes after himtaking very long stridesand
shuffling on at a strange rateso as would have put a horse to a
middling gallop; away reins Fridayand takes his course as if he
ran towards us for help; so we all resolved to fire at once upon
the bearand deliver my man; though I was angry at him for
bringing the bear back upon uswhen he was going about his own
business another way; and especially I was angry that he had turned
the bear upon usand then ran away; and I called outYou dog! is
this your making us laugh? Come away, and take your horse, that we
may shoot the creature.He heard meand cried outNo shoot, no
shoot; stand still, and you get much laugh:and as the nimble
creature ran two feet for the bear's onehe turned on a sudden on
one side of usand seeing a great oak-tree fit for his purposehe
beckoned to us to follow; and doubling his pacehe got nimbly up
the treelaying his gun down upon the groundat 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 gunsmelt at itbut let it lieand up he scrambles into the
treeclimbing like a catthough so monstrous heavy. I was amazed
at the follyas I thought itof my manand could not for my life
see anything to laugh attill seeing the bear get up the treewe
all rode near to him.

When we came to the treethere was Friday got out to the small end
of a large branchand 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
weakerHa!says he to usnow you see me teachee the bear
dance:so he began jumping and shaking the boughat which the
bear began to totterbut stood stilland began to look behind
himto see how he should get back; thenindeedwe did laugh
heartily. But Friday had not done with him by a great deal; when
seeing him stand stillhe called out to him againas if he had
supposed the bear could speak EnglishWhat, you come no farther?
pray you come farther;so he left jumping and shaking the tree;
and the bearjust as if he understood what he saiddid come a
little farther; then he began jumping againand the bear stopped
again. We thought now was a good time to knock him in the head
and called to Friday to stand still and we should shoot the bear:
but he cried out earnestlyOh, pray! Oh, pray! no shoot, me
shoot by and then:he would have said by-and-by. Howeverto
shorten the storyFriday danced so muchand the bear stood so
ticklishthat we had laughing enoughbut 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 downbut
clung fast with his great broad claws and feetso that we could
not imagine what would be the end of itand what the jest would be
at last. But Friday put us out of doubt quickly: for seeing the
bear cling fast to the boughand that he would not be persuaded to
come any fartherWell, well,says Fridayyou no come farther,
me go; you no come to me, me come to you;and upon this he went
out to the smaller endwhere it would bend with his weightand
gently let himself down by itsliding down the bough till he came
near enough to jump down on his feetand away he ran to his gun
took it upand stood still. "Well said I to him, Fridaywhat
will you do now? Why don't you shoot him?" "No shoot says
Friday, no yet; me shoot nowme no kill; me staygive you one
more laugh:" andindeedso he did; for when the bear saw his
enemy gonehe came back from the boughwhere he stoodbut did it
very cautiouslylooking behind him every stepand coming backward
till he got into the body of the treethenwith the same hinder
end foremosthe came down the treegrasping it with his claws
and moving one foot at a timevery leisurely. At this juncture
and just before he could set his hind foot on the groundFriday
stepped up close to himclapped the muzzle of his piece into his
earand shot him dead. Then the rogue turned about to see if we
did not laugh; and when he saw we were pleased by our lookshe
began to laugh very loud. "So we kill bear in my country says
Friday. So you kill them?" says I; "whyyou have no guns." -
No,says heno gun, but shoot great much long arrow.This was
a good diversion to us; but we were still in a wild placeand our
guide very much hurtand what to do we hardly knew; the howling of
wolves ran much in my head; andindeedexcept the noise I once
heard on the shore of Africaof which I have said something
alreadyI never heard anything that filled me with so much horror.

These thingsand the approach of nightcalled us offor elseas
Friday would have had uswe should certainly have taken the skin
of this monstrous creature offwhich was worth saving; but we had
near three leagues to goand our guide hastened us; so we left
himand went forward on our journey.

The ground was still covered with snowthough not so deep and
dangerous as on the mountains; and the ravenous creaturesas we
heard afterwardswere come down into the forest and plain country
pressed by hungerto seek for foodand had done a great deal of
mischief in the villageswhere they surprised the country people
killed a great many of their sheep and horsesand some people too.
We had one dangerous place to passand our guide told us if there


were more wolves in the country we should find them there; and this
was a small plainsurrounded with woods on every sideand a long
narrow defileor lanewhich we were to pass to get through the
woodand then we should come to the village where we were to
lodge. It was within half-an-hour of sunset when we entered the
woodand a little after sunset when we came into the plain: we met
with nothing in the first woodexcept that in a little plain
within the woodwhich was not above two furlongs overwe saw five
great wolves cross the roadfull speedone after anotheras if
they had been in chase of some preyand had it in view; they took
no notice of usand were gone out of sight in a few moments. Upon
thisour guidewhoby the waywas but a fainthearted fellow
bid us keep in a ready posturefor he believed there were more
wolves a-coming. We kept our arms readyand our eyes about us;
but we saw no more wolves till we came through that woodwhich was
near half a leagueand entered the plain. As soon as we came into
the plainwe had occasion enough to look about us. The first
object we met with was a dead horse; that is to saya poor horse
which the wolves had killedand at least a dozen of them at work
we could not say eating himbut picking his bones rather; for they
had eaten up all the flesh before. We did not think fit to disturb
them at their feastneither did they take much notice of us.
Friday would have let fly at thembut I would not suffer him by
any means; for I found we were like to have more business upon our
hands than we were aware of. We had not gone half over the plain
when we began to hear the wolves howl in the wood on our left in a
frightful mannerand presently after we saw about a hundred coming
on directly towards usall in a bodyand most of them in a line
as regularly as an army drawn up by experienced officers. I scarce
knew in what manner to receive thembut 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 intervalI ordered that only every
other man should fireand that the otherswho had not fired
should stand ready to give them a second volley immediatelyif
they continued to advance upon us; and then that those that had
fired at first should not pretend to load their fusees againbut
stand readyevery one with a pistolfor we were all armed with a
fusee and a pair of pistols each man; so we wereby this method
able to fire six volleyshalf of us at a time; howeverat present
we had no necessity; for upon firing the first volleythe enemy
made a full stopbeing terrified as well with the noise as with
the fire. Four of them being shot in the headdropped; several
others were woundedand went bleeding offas we could see by the
snow. I found they stoppedbut did not immediately retreat;
whereuponremembering that I had been told that the fiercest
creatures were terrified at the voice of a manI caused all the
company to halloo as loud as they could; and I found the notion not
altogether mistaken; for upon our shout they began to retire and
turn about. I then ordered a second volley to be fired in their
rearwhich put them to the gallopand away they went to the
woods. This gave us leisure to charge our pieces again; and that
we might lose no timewe kept going; but we had but little more
than loaded our fuseesand put ourselves in readinesswhen we
heard a terrible noise in the same wood on our leftonly that it
was farther onwardthe same way we were to go.

The night was coming onand the light began to be duskywhich
made it worse on our side; but the noise increasingwe could
easily perceive that it was the howling and yelling of those
hellish creatures; and on a sudden we perceived three troops of
wolvesone on our leftone behind usand one in our frontso
that we seemed to be surrounded with them: howeveras they did not
fall upon uswe kept our way forwardas fast as we could make our
horses gowhichthe way being very roughwas only a good hard


trot. In this mannerwe came in view of the entrance of a wood
through which we were to passat the farther side of the plain;
but we were greatly surprisedwhen coming nearer the lane or pass
we saw a confused number of wolves standing just at the entrance.
On a suddenat another opening of the woodwe heard the noise of
a gunand looking that wayout rushed a horsewith a saddle and
a bridle on himflying like the windand sixteen or seventeen
wolves after himfull speed: the horse had the advantage of them;
but as we supposed that he could not hold it at that ratewe
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 outwe found the carcasses of
another horse and of two mendevoured by the ravenous creatures;
and one of the men was no doubt the same whom we heard fire the
gunfor there lay a gun just by him fired off; but as to the man
his head and the upper part of his body was eaten up. This filled
us with horrorand we knew not what course to take; but the
creatures resolved us soonfor they gathered about us presently
in hopes of prey; and I verily believe there were three hundred of
them. It happenedvery much to our advantagethat at the
entrance into the woodbut a little way from itthere lay some
large timber-treeswhich had been cut down the summer beforeand
I suppose lay there for carriage. I drew my little troop in among
those treesand placing ourselves in a line behind one long tree
I advised them all to alightand keeping that tree before us for a
breastworkto stand in a triangleor three frontsenclosing our
horses in the centre. We did soand it was well we did; for never
was a more furious charge than the creatures made upon us in this
place. They came on with a growling kind of noiseand mounted the
piece of timberwhichas I saidwas our breastworkas if they
were only rushing upon their prey; and this fury of theirsit
seemswas principally occasioned by their seeing our horses behind
us. I ordered our men to fire as beforeevery other man; and they
took their aim so sure that they killed several of the wolves at
the first volley; but there was a necessity to keep a continual
firingfor they came on like devilsthose behind pushing on those
before.

When we had fired a second volley of our fuseeswe thought they
stopped a littleand I hoped they would have gone offbut it was
but a momentfor 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 themand lamed twice as manyyet
they came on again. I was loth to spend our shot too hastily; so I
called my servantnot my man Fridayfor he was better employed
forwith the greatest dexterity imaginablehe had charged my
fusee and his own while we were engaged - butas I saidI called
my other manand giving him a horn of powderI had him lay a
train all along the piece of timberand let it be a large train.
He did soand had but just time to get awaywhen the wolves came
up to itand some got upon itwhen Isnapping an unchanged
pistol close to the powderset it on fire; those that were upon
the timber were scorched with itand six or seven of them fell; or
rather jumped in among us with the force and fright of the fire; we
despatched these in an instantand the rest were so frightened
with the lightwhich the night - for it was now very near dark -
made more terrible that they drew back a little; upon which I
ordered our last pistols to be fired off in one volleyand after
that we gave a shout; upon this the wolves turned tailand we
sallied immediately upon near twenty lame ones that we found
struggling on the groundand fell to cutting them with our swords
which answered our expectationfor the crying and howling they


made was better understood by their fellows; so that they all fled
and left us.

We hadfirst and lastkilled about threescore of themand had it
been daylight we had killed many more. The field of battle being
thus clearedwe made forward againfor we had still near a league
to go. We heard the ravenous creatures howl and yell in the woods
as we went several timesand sometimes we fancied we saw some of
them; but the snow dazzling our eyeswe were not certain. In
about an hour more we came to the town where we were to lodge
which we found in a terrible fright and all in arms; forit seems
the night before the wolves and some bears had broken into the
villageand put them in such terror that they were obliged to keep
guard night and daybut especially in the nightto preserve their
cattleand indeed their people.

The next morning our guide was so illand his limbs swelled so
much with the rankling of his two woundsthat he could go no
farther; so we were obliged to take a new guide hereand go to
Toulousewhere we found a warm climatea fruitfulpleasant
countryand no snowno wolvesnor anything like them; but when
we told our story at Toulousethey told us it was nothing but what
was ordinary in the great forest at the foot of the mountains
especially when the snow lay on the ground; but they inquired much
what kind of guide we had got who would venture to bring us that
way in such a severe seasonand told us it was surprising we were
not all devoured. When we told them how we placed ourselves and
the horses in the middlethey blamed us exceedinglyand told us
it was fifty to one but we had been all destroyedfor it was the
sight of the horses which made the wolves so furiousseeing their
preyand that at other times they are really afraid of a gun; but
being excessively hungryand raging on that accountthe eagerness
to come at the horses had made them senseless of dangerand that
if we had not by the continual fireand at last by the stratagem
of the train of powdermastered themit had been great odds but
that we had been torn to pieces; whereashad we been content to
have sat still on horsebackand fired as horsementhey would not
have taken the horses so much for their ownwhen men were on their
backsas otherwise; and withalthey told us that at lastif we
had stood altogetherand left our horsesthey would have been so
eager to have devoured themthat we might have come off safe
especially having our firearms in our handsbeing so many in
number. For my partI was never so sensible of danger in my
life; forseeing above three hundred devils come roaring and openmouthed
to devour usand having nothing to shelter us or retreat
toI gave myself over for lost; andas it wasI believe I shall
never care to cross those mountains again: I think I would much
rather go a thousand leagues by seathough I was sure to meet with
a storm once a-week.

I have nothing uncommon to take notice of in my passage through
France - nothing but what other travellers have given an account of
with much more advantage than I can. I travelled from Toulouse to
Parisand without any considerable stay came to Calaisand landed
safe at Dover the 14th of Januaryafter having had a severe cold
season to travel in.

I was now come to the centre of my travelsand had in a little
time all my new-discovered estate safe about methe bills of
exchange which I brought with me having been currently paid.

My principal guide and privy-counsellor was my good ancient widow
whoin gratitude for the money I had sent herthought no pains
too much nor care too great to employ for me; and I trusted her so


entirely that I was perfectly easy as to the security of my
effects; andindeedI was very happy from the beginningand now
to the endin the unspotted integrity of this good gentlewoman.

And nowhaving resolved to dispose of my plantation in the
BrazilsI wrote to my old friend at Lisbonwhohaving offered it
to the two merchantsthe survivors of my trusteeswho lived in
the Brazilsthey accepted the offerand remitted thirty-three
thousand pieces of eight to a correspondent of theirs at Lisbon to
pay for it.

In returnI signed the instrument of sale in the form which they
sent from Lisbonand sent it to my old manwho sent me the bills
of exchange for thirty-two thousand eight hundred pieces of eight
for the estatereserving the payment of one hundred moidores a
year to him (the old man) during his lifeand fifty moidores
afterwards to his son for his lifewhich I had promised themand
which the plantation was to make good as a rent-charge. And thus I
have given the first part of a life of fortune and adventure - a
life of Providence's chequer-workand of a variety which the world
will seldom be able to show the like of; beginning foolishlybut
closing much more happily than any part of it ever gave me leave so
much as to hope for.

Any one would think that in this state of complicated good fortune
I was past running any more hazards - and soindeedI had been
if other circumstances had concurred; but I was inured to a
wandering lifehad no familynor many relations; norhowever
richhad I contracted fresh acquaintance; and though I had sold my
estate in the Brazilsyet I could not keep that country out of my
headand had a great mind to be upon the wing again; especially I
could not resist the strong inclination I had to see my islandand
to know if the poor Spaniards were in being there. My true friend
the widowearnestly dissuaded me from itand so far prevailed
with methat for almost seven years she prevented my running
abroadduring which time I took my two nephewsthe children of
one of my brothersinto my care; the eldesthaving something of
his ownI bred up as a gentlemanand gave him a settlement of
some addition to his estate after my decease. The other I placed
with the captain of a ship; and after five yearsfinding him a
sensibleboldenterprising young fellowI put him into a good
shipand sent him to sea; and this young fellow afterwards drew me
inas old as I wasto further adventures myself.

In the meantimeI in part settled myself here; forfirst of all
I marriedand that not either to my disadvantage or
dissatisfactionand had three childrentwo sons and one daughter;
but my wife dyingand my nephew coming home with good success from
a voyage to Spainmy inclination to go abroadand his
importunityprevailedand engaged me to go in his ship as a
private trader to the East Indies; this was in the year 1694.

In this voyage I visited my new colony in the islandsaw my
successors the Spaniardshad the old story of their lives and of
the villains I left there; how at first they insulted the poor
Spaniardshow they afterwards agreeddisagreedunited
separatedand how at last the Spaniards were obliged to use
violence with them; how they were subjected to the Spaniardshow
honestly the Spaniards used them - a historyif it were entered
intoas full of variety and wonderful accidents as my own part -
particularlyalsoas to their battles with the Caribbeanswho
landed several times upon the islandand as to the improvement
they made upon the island itselfand how five of them made an
attempt upon the mainlandand brought away eleven men and five


women prisonersby whichat my comingI found about twenty young
children on the island.

Here I stayed about twenty daysleft them supplies of all
necessary thingsand particularly of armspowdershotclothes
toolsand two workmenwhich I had brought from England with me
viz. a carpenter and a smith.

Besides thisI shared the lands into parts with themreserved to
myself the property of the wholebut gave them such parts
respectively as they agreed on; and having settled all things with
themand engaged them not to leave the placeI left them there.

From thence I touched at the Brazilsfrom whence I sent a bark
which I bought therewith more people to the island; and in it
besides other suppliesI sent seven womenbeing such as I found
proper for serviceor for wives to such as would take them. As to
the EnglishmenI promised to send them some women from England
with a good cargo of necessariesif they would apply themselves to
planting - which I afterwards could not perform. The fellows
proved very honest and diligent after they were mastered and had
their properties set apart for them. I sent themalsofrom the
Brazilsfive cowsthree of them being big with calfsome sheep
and some hogswhich when I came again were considerably increased.

But all these thingswith an account how three hundred Caribbees
came and invaded themand ruined their plantationsand how they
fought with that whole number twiceand were at first defeated
and one of them killed; but at lasta storm destroying their
enemies' canoesthey famished or destroyed almost all the rest
and renewed and recovered the possession of their plantationand
still lived upon the island.

All these thingswith some very surprising incidents in some new
adventures of my ownfor ten years moreI shall give a farther
account of in the Second Part of my Story.