RobinsonCrusoebyDanielDefoe.
Firstpublishedin1719.Thisisamodernisededitionwhichincludeschapter breaks.
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Theartworkusedforthecoveris‘Crusoe’
painted by John Charles Dollman.
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©Global Grey 2021
11. FindsPrintOfMan’s FootOnTheSand
16. RescueOfPrisonersFromCannibals
20. FightBetween Friday AndABear
21. Sports Betting: Fundamentals and Innovations in the New Realities
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1. StartInLife
I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull. He got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off his trade lived afterward at York, from whence he had married my mother, whose relations were named Robinson, a good family in that country, and from whomIwascalledRobinsonKreutznear;butbytheusualcorruptionofwordsinEnglandwe are now called, nay, we call ourselves, and write our name, Crusoe, and so my companions always called me.
Ihadtwoelderbrothers,oneofwhichwaslieutenant-coloneltoanEnglishregimentoffoot in Flanders, formerly commanded by the famous Colonel Lockhart, and was killed at the battlenearDunkirkagainsttheSpaniards;whatbecameofmysecondbrotherIneverknew, any more than my father and mother did know what was become of me.
Being the third son of the family, and not bred to any trade, my head began to be filled very early with rambling thoughts. My father, who was very ancient, had given me a competent share of learning, as far as house-education and a country free school generally goes, and designed me for the law, but I would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea; and my inclination to this led me so strongly against the will, nay, the commands, of my father, and againstalltheentreatiesandpersuasionsofmymotherandotherfriends,thatthereseemedto be something fatal in that propension of nature tending directly to the life of misery which was to befall me.
My father, a wise and grave man, gave me serious and excellent counsel against what he foresawwasmydesign.Hecalledmeonemorningintohischamber,wherehewasconfined by the gout, and expostulated very warmly with me upon this subject. He asked me what reasons more than a mere wandering inclination I had for leaving my father’s house and my native country, where I might be well introduced, and had a prospect of raising my fortunes by application and industry, with a life of ease and pleasure. He told me it was for men of desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring, superior fortunes on the other, who went abroad upon adventures, to rise by enterprise, and make themselves famous in undertakings ofanatureoutofthecommonroad;thatthesethingswere alleithertoofaraboveme,ortoo far below me; that mine was the middle state, or what might be called the upper station of low life, which he had found by long experience was the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness, not exposed to the miseries and hardships, the labor and sufferings, of the mechanic part of mankind, and not embarrassed with the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy of the upper part of mankind.
He told me I might judge of the happiness of this state by one thing, viz., that this was the state of life which all other people envied; that kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequencesofbeingborntogreatthings,andwishedtheyhadbeenplacedinthemiddleof the two extremes, between the mean and the great; that the wise man gave his testimony to this as the just standard of true felicity, when he prayed to have neither poverty nor riches.
Hebid meobserveit, and Ishould always find that thecalamities oflife wereshared among theupperandlowerpartofmankind;butthatthemiddlestationhadthefewestdisastersand was not exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind. Nay, they were not subjected to so many distempers and uneasiness either of body or mind as those were who,byviciousliving,luxury,andextravaganciesononehand,orby hardlabor,want of necessaries, and mean or insufficient diet on the other hand, bring distempers upon
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themselves by the natural consequences of their way of living; that the middle station of life was calculated for all kind of virtues and all kind of enjoyments; that peace and plenty were the handmaids of a middle fortune; that temperance, moderation, quietness, health, society, all agreeable diversions, and all desirable pleasures, were the blessings attending the middle station of life; that this way men went silently and smoothly through the world, and comfortablyoutofit,notembarrassedwiththelaborsofthehandsorofthehead,notsoldto the life of slavery for daily bread, or harassed with perplexed circumstances, which rob the soul o f peace, and the body of rest; not enraged with the passion of envy, or secret burning lust of ambition for great things; but in easy circumstances sliding gently through the world, and sensibly tasting the sweets of living, without the bitter, feeling that they are happy, and learning by every day’s experience to know it more sensibly.
After this, he pressed me earnestly, and in the most affectionate manner, not to play the young man, not to precipitate myself into miseries which Nature and the station of life I was born in seemed to have provided against; that I was under no necessity of seeking my bread; thathewoulddowellfor me,andendeavortoentermefairlyintothestationoflifewhichhe had been just recommending to me; and that if I was not very easy and happy in the world it must be my mere fate or fault that must hinder it, and that he should have nothing to answer for, having thus discharged his duty in warning me against measures which he knew would be to my hurt; in a word, that as he would do very kind things for me if I would stay and settle at home as he directed, so he would not have so much hand in my misfortunes, as to give me any encouragement to go away. And to close all, he told me I had my elder brother for an example, to whom he had used the same earnest persuasions to keep him from going into the Low Country wars, but could not prevail, his young desires prompting him to run intothearmy,wherehewaskilled;andthoughhesaidhewouldnotceasetoprayforme,yet he would venture to say to me, that if I did take this foolish step, God would not bless me, and I would have leisure hereafter to reflect upon having neglected his counsel when there might be none to assist in my recovery.
Iobservedinthislastpartofhisdiscourse,which wastrulyprophetic,thoughIsupposemy father did not know it to be so himself — Isay, I observed the tears run down his face very plentifully, and especially when he spoke of my brother who was killed; and that when he spokeofmy having leisureto repent, and noneto assist me, hewas so moved that hebroke off the discourse, and told me his heart was so full he could say no more to me.
Iwassincerelyaffectedwiththisdiscourse,asindeedwhocouldbeotherwise?andIresolved not to think of going abroad any more, but to settle at home according to my father’s desire.
But alas! a few days wore it all off; and, in short, to prevent any of my father’s farther importunities,inafewweeksafterIresolvedtorunquiteawayfromhim.However, Ididnot act so hastily neither as my first heat of resolution prompted, but Itook my mother, at a time when I thought her a little pleasanter than ordinary, and told her that my thoughts were so entirely bent upon seeing the world that I should never settle to anything with resolution enough to go through with it, and my father had better give me his consent than force me to go without it; that I was now eighteen years old, which was too late to go apprentice to a trade, or clerk to an attorney; that I was sure if I did, I should never serve out my time, and I should certainly run away from my master before my time was out, and go to sea; and if she would speak to my father to let me go but one voyage abroad, if I came home again and did not like it, I would go no more, and I would promise by a double diligence to recover that time I had lost.
This put my mother into a great passion. She told me she knew it would be to no purpose to speaktomyfatheruponanysuchsubject;thatheknewtoowellwhatwasmyinteresttogive
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hisconsenttoanythingsomuchformyhurt,and thatshewonderedhowIcouldthinkofany such thing after such a discourse as I had had with my father, and such kind and tender expressions as she knew my father had used to me; and that, in short, if I would ruin myself there was no help for me; but Imight depend I should never have their consent to it; that for her part, she should not have so much hand in my destruction, and I should never have it to say, that my mother was willing when my father was not.
Though my mother refused to move it to my father, yet, as I have heard afterwards, she reportedallthediscoursetohim,andthatmyfather,aftershowingagreatconcernatit,said toherwithasigh,“That boymightbehappyifhewouldstayathome,butifhegoesabroad he will be the miserablest wretch that was ever born: I can give no consent to it.”
It was not till almost a year after this that I broke loose, though in the meantime I continued obstinately deafto all proposals ofsettling to business, and frequently expostulating with my father and mother about their being so positively determined against what they knew my inclinations prompted me to. But being one day at Hull, where I went casually, and without any purpose of making an elopement that time; but I say, being there, and one of my companions being going by sea to London, in his father’s ship, and prompting me to go with them, with the common allurement of sea-faring men, viz., that it should cost me nothing for my passage, I consulted neither father nor mother any more, nor so much as sent them word of it; but leaving them to hear of it as they might, without asking God’s blessing, or my father’s,withoutanyconsiderationofcircumstancesorconsequences,andinanillhour,God knows, on the first of September, 1651, Iwent on board a ship bound for London. Never any young adventurer’s misfortunes, I believe began sooner, or continued longer than mine. The ship was no sooner gotten out of the Humber, but the wind began to blow, and the waves to rise in a most frightful manner; and as I had never been at sea before, I was most inexpressibly sick in body, and terrified in my mind. I began now seriously to reflect upon what I had done, and how justly I was overtaken by the judgment of Heaven for my wicked leaving my father’s house, and abandoning my duty; all the good counsel of my parents, my father’s tears and my mother’s entreaties, came now fresh into my mind, and my conscience, whichwasnotyetcometothepitchofhardnesswhichithasbeensince, reproachedmewith the contempt of advice and the breach of my duty to God and my father.
All this while the storm increased, and the sea, which I had never been upon before, went very high, though nothing like what I have seen many times since; no, nor like what I saw a few days after. But it was enough to affect me then, who was but a young sailor, and had neverknownanythingofthematter.Iexpectedeverywavewouldhaveswallowedusup,and that every time the ship fell down, as I thought, in the trough or hollow of the sea, we should never rise more; and in this agony of mind I made many vows of resolutions, that if it would please God here to spare my life this one voyage, if ever I got once my foot upon dry land again, I would go directly home to my father, and never set it into a ship again while I lived; that Iwould take his advice, and never run myself into such miseries as these any more. Now Isawplainlythegoodnessofhisobservationsaboutthemiddlestationoflife,howeasy,how comfortably he had lived all his days, and never had been exposed to tempests at sea, or troubles on shore; and I resolved that I would, like a true repenting prodigal, go home to my father.
Thesewiseandsoberthoughtscontinuedallthewhilethestormcontinued,andindeedsome timeafter;butthenextdaythewindwas abatedandtheseacalmer,and I begantobealittle inured to it. However, I was very grave for all that day, being also a little sea-sick still; but towards night the weather cleared up, the wind was quite over, and a charming fine evening followed; the sun went down perfectly clear, and rose so the next morning; and having little
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ornowind,andasmooth sea,thesunshininguponit,thesightwas,asIthought,themost delightful that ever I saw.
I had slept well in the night, and was now no more sea-sick but very cheerful, looking with wonder upon the sea that was so wrought and terrible the day before, and could be so calm and so pleasant in so little time after. And now lest my good resolutions should continue, my companion, who had indeed enticed me away, comes to me: “Well, Bob,” says he, clapping me on the shoulder, “how do you do after it? I warrant you were frighted, wa’n’t you, last night, when it blew but a capful of wind?” “A capful, d’you call it?” said I; It was a terrible storm.”“Astorm,youfoolyou,”repliedhe;“doyoucallthatastorm?Why,itwasnothingat all; give us but a good ship and sea-room, and we think nothing of such a squall of wind as that; but you’re but a fresh-water sailor, Bob. Come, let us make a bowl of punch, and we’ll forget all that; d’ye see what charming weather ’tis now?” To make short this sad part of my story, we went the old way of all sailors; the punch was made, and I was made drunk with it, and in that one night’s wickedness I drowned all my repentance, all my reflections upon my past conduct, and all my resolutions for my future. In a word, as the sea was returned to its smoothness of surface and settled calmness by the abatement of that storm, so the hurry ofmy thoughts being over, my fears and apprehensions of being swallowed up by the sea being forgotten, and the current of my former desires returned, I entirely forgot the vows and promises that I made in my distress. I found indeed some intervals of reflection, and the serious thoughts did, as it were, endeavorto return again sometime; but Ishook them off, and roused myself from them as it were from a distemper, and applying myself to drink and company, soon mastered the return of those fits, for so I called them, and I had in five or six days got as complete a victory over conscience as any young fellow that resolved not to be troubled with it could desire. But I was to have another trial for it still; and Providence, as in such cases generally it does, resolved to leave me entirely without excuse. For if I would not take this for a deliverance, the next was to be such a one as the worst and most hardened wretch among us would confess both the danger and the mercy.
The sixth day of our being at sea we came into Yarmouth roads; the wind having been contrary andtheweathercalm,wemadebutlittlewaysincethestorm.Herewewereobliged to come to an anchor, and here we lay, the wind continuing contrary, viz., at southwest, for seven or eight days, during which time a great many ships from Newcastle came into the same roads, as the common harbor where the ships might wait for a wind for the river.
Wehadnot,however, ridheresolong,butshouldhavetidedituptheriver, butthatthewind blew too fresh; and after we had lain four or five days, blew very hard. However, the roads
.being reckoned as good as a harbor, the anchorage good, and our ground-tackle very strong, our men were unconcerned, and not in the least apprehensive of danger, but spent the time in rest and mirth, after the manner of the sea; but the eighth day in the morning the wind increased,andwehadall handsatworktostrikeourtopmasts,andmakeeverythingsnugand close,thattheshipmightrideaseasyaspossible. Bynoontheseawentveryhighindeed,and our ship rid forecastle in, shipped several seas, and we thought once or twice our anchor had come home; upon which our master ordered out the sheet anchor, so that we rode with two anchors ahead, and the cables veered out to the better end.
Bythistimeitblewaterriblestormindeed,andnowIbegantoseeterrorandamazementin the faces even of the seamen themselves. The master, though vigilant to the business of perserving the ship, yet as he went in and out of his cabin by me, I could hear him softly to himself say several times, “Lord be merciful to us, we shall be all lost, we shall be all undone”; and the like. During these first hurries I was stupid, lying still in my cabin, which was in the steerage, and cannot describe my temper; I could ill reassume the first penitence,
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which I had so apparently trampled upon, and hardened myself against; I though the bitternessofdeathhadbeenpast,andthatthiswouldbenothingtoo,likethefirst.Butwhen the master himself came by me, as I said just now, and said we should be all lost, I was dreadfully frighted; Igot up out of my cabin, and looked out but such a dismal sight Inever saw: the sea went mountains high, and broke upon us every three or four minutes; when I could look about, I could see nothing but distress round us. Two ships that rid near us we found had cut theirmasts by theboard, being deep loaden; and ourmen cried out that aship which rid about’s mile ahead of us was foundered. Two more ships being driven from their anchors,wererunoutoftheroadstoseaatalladventures,andthatwithnot amaststanding. The light ships fared the best, as not so much laboring in the sea; but two or three of them drove, and came close by us, running away with only their sprit-sail out before the wind.
Towards evening the mate and boatswain begged the master of our ship to let them cut away the foremast, which he was very unwilling to. But the boatswain, protesting to him that if he did not the ship would founder, he consented; and when they had cut away the foremast, the mainmaststoodsoloose,andshooktheshipsomuch,theywereobligedto cutherawayalso, and make a clear deck.
Any one may judge what a condition I must be in all this, who was but a young sailor, and who had been in such a fright before at but a little. But if I can express at this distance the thoughts I had about me at that time, I was in tenfold more horror of mind upon account of my formerconvictions, and then having returned from them to theresolutions Ihad wickedly takenatfirst,than Iwas atdeathitself;andthese, addedtotheterrorofthestorm,putmeinto suchaconditionthat Icanbynowordsdescribeit.Buttheworstwasnotcomeyet;thestorm continued with such fury that the seamen themselves acknowledged they had never known a worse. We had a good ship, but she was deep loaden, and wallowed in the sea, that the seameneverynow andthencriedoutshe wouldfounder. Itwasmy advantageinonerespect, that I did not know what they meant by founder till I inquired. However, the storm was so violent that I saw what is not often seen, the master, the boatswain, and some others more sensible than the rest, at their prayers, and expecting every moment when the ship would go to the bottom. In the middle of the night, and under all the rest of our distresses, one of the men that had been down on purposeto see, cried out wehad sprung aleak; anothersaid there was four foot water in the hold. Then all hands were called to the pump. At that very wordmy heart, as I thought, died within me, and I fell backwards upon the side of my bed where I sat, into the cabin.
However, the men aroused me, and told me that I, that was able to do nothing before, was as well able to pump as another; at which I stirred up and went to the pump and worked very heartily. While this was doing, the master seeing some light colliers, who,notabletorideout thestorm,wereobligedtoslipandrunawaytosea,andwouldcome near us, ordered to fire a gun as a signal of distress. I, who knew nothing what that meant, was so surprised that Ithought the ship had broke, or some dreadful thing had happened. In a word, Iwas so surprised that I fell down in a swoon. As this was a time when everybody had his own life to think of, nobody minded me, or what was become of me; but another man stepped up to the pump, and thrusting me aside with his foot, let me lie, thinking I had been dead; and it was a great while before I came to myself.
We worked on, but the water increasing in the hold, it was apparent that the ship would founder, and though the storm began to abate a little, yet as it was not possible she could swim till we might run into a port, so the master continued firing guns for help; and a light ship,whohadriditoutjustaheadofus,ventured aboatouttohelpus. Itwaswiththeutmost hazard the boat came near us, but it was impossible for us to get on board, or for the boat to lie near the ship’s side, till at last the men rowing very heartily, and venturing their lives to save ours, our men cast them a rope over the stern with a buoy to it, and then veered it out a
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great length, which they after great labor and hazard took hold of, and we hauled them close under our stern, and got all into their boat. It was to no purpose for them or us after we were in the boat to think of reaching to their own ship, so all agreed to let her drive, and only to pullherintowardsshoreasmuchaswecould,and ourmasterpromisedthemthatiftheboat was staved upon shore he would make it good to their master; so partly rowing and partly driving, our boat went away to the norward, sloping towards the shore almost as far as Winterton Ness.
We were not much more than a quarter of an hour out of our ship but we saw her sink, and then I understood for the first time what was meant by a ship foundering in the sea. I must acknowledgeIhadhardlyeyestolookupwhentheseamentoldmeshewassinking;forfrom that moment they rather put me into the boat than that Imight be said to go in; my heart was, as it were, dead within me, partly with fright, partly with horror of mind and the thoughts of what was yet before me.
While we were in this condition, the men yet laboring at the oar to bring the boat near the shore, we could see, when, our boat, mounting the waves, we were able to see the shore”
great many people running along the shore to assist us when we should come near. But we madebutslowwaytowardstheshore,norwereweabletoreachtheshore, tillbeingpastthe lighthouse at Winterton, the shore falls off to the westward towards Cromer, and so the land broke off a little the violence of the wind. Here we got in, and though not without much difficulty got all safe on shore, and walked afterwards on foot to Yarmouth, where, as unfortunate men, we were used with great humanity as well by the magistrates of the town, who assigned us good quarters, as by particular merchants and owners of ships, and had money given us sufficient to carry us either to London or back to Hull, as we thought fit.
Had I now had the sense to have gone back to Hull, and have gone home, I had been happy, andmyfather,anemblemofourblessedSaviour’sparable,hadevenkilledthefattedcalffor me;forhearingtheship IwentawayinwascastawayinYarmouthroad,itwasagreatwhile before he had any assurance that I was not drowned.
But my ill fate pushed me on now with an obstinacy that nothing could resist; and though I had several times loud calls from my reason and my more composed judgment to get home, yet I had no power to do it. I knew not what to call this, nor will I urge that it is a secret overrulingdecreethathurriesusontobetheinstrumentsofourowndestruction,eventhough it be before us, and that we rush upon it with our eyes open. Certainly nothing but some such decreed unavoidable misery attending, and which it was impossible for me to escape, could have pushed me forward against the calm reasonings and persuasions of my most retired thoughts, and against two such visible instructions as I had met with in my first attempt.
My comrade, who had helped to harden me before, and who was the master’s son, was now less forward than I. The first time he spoke to me after we were at Yarmouth, which was not till two or three days, for we were separated in the town to several quarters — I say, the first time he was me, it appeared his tone was altered, and looking very melancholy and shaking his head, asked me how I did, and telling his father who I was, and how I had came this voyageonlyforatrialinordertogofartherabroad,hisfatherturningtomewithaverygrave and concerned tone, “Young man,” says he, “you ought never to go to sea any more, you oughttotakethisforaplainandvisibletoken,thatyouarenottobeaseafaringman.”“Why, sir,” said I,
“will you go to sea no more?” “That is another case,” said he; “it is my calling, and therefore my duty; but as you made this voyage for a trial, you see what a task Heaven has given you of what you are to expect if you persist; perhaps this is all befallen us on your account, like Jonah in the ship of Tarshish. Pray,” continues he, “what are you? and on what account did you go to sea?” Upon that I told him some of my story, at the end of which he
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burstoutwithastrangekindofpassion.“WhathadIdone,”sayshe,“thatsuchanunhappy wretch
should comeinto my ship?Iwould not set my foot in thesameship with theeagain forathousandpounds.” This,indeed,was,as Isaid,anexcursionofhisspirits,whichwere got agitated by the sense of his loss, and was farther than he could have authority to go.
However, he afterwards talked very gravely to me, exhorted me to go back to my father, and not tempt Providence to my ruin; told me I might see a visible hand of Heaven against me.
“And,youngman,”saidhe,“dependuponit,ifyoudonotgoback,whereveryougoyouwill meet with nothing but disasters and disappointments, till your father’s words are fulfilled upon you.”
We parted soon after; for I made him little answer, and I saw him no more; which way he went, I know not. As for me, having some money in my pocket, I travelled to London by land;andthere, aswellasontheroad,hadmanystruggleswithmyselfwhatcourseoflifeI should take, and whether I should go home or go to sea.
As to going home, shame opposed the best motions that offered to my thoughts; and it immediately occurred to me how Ishould be laughed at among the neighbors, and should be ashamedtosee,notmyfatherandmotheronlybuteveneverybodyelse;fromwhenceIhave since often observed how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especiallyofyouth,tothereason whichoughttoguidetheminsuchcases, viz.,thattheyare not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; not ashamed of the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of the returning, which only can make them be esteemed wise men.
In this state of life, however, I remained some time, uncertain what measures to take, and what course of life to lead. An irresistible reluctance continued to going home; and as I stayedawhile,theremembranceofthedistressIhadbeeninworeoff,andasthatabated,the little motion I had in my desires to a return wore off with it, till at last I quite laid aside the thoughts of it, and looked out for a voyage.
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2. SlaveryAndEscape
Thatevilinfluencewhichcarriedmefirstawayfrommyfather’shouse,thathurriedmeinto the wild and indigested notion of raising my fortune, and that impressed those conceits so forcibly upon me as to make me deaf to all good advice, and to the entreaties and even command of my father — I say, the same influence, whatever it was, presented the most unfortunateof all enterprises to my view; and Iwent on board avessel bound to thecoast of Africa, or as our sailors vulgarly call it, a voyage to Guinea.
It was my great misfortune that in all these adventures I did not ship myself as a sailor, whereby, though I might indeed have worked a little harder than ordinary, yet at the same time I had learned the duty and office of a foremast man, and in time might have qualified myselfforamateorlieutenant,ifnotforamaster. Butasitwasalwaysmyfatetochoosefor the worse, so I did here; for having money in my pocket, and good clothes upon my back, I would always go on board in the habit of a gentleman; and so I neither had any business in the ship, or learned to do any.
It was my lot first of all to fall into pretty good company in London, which does not always happen to such loose and misguided young fellows as I then was; the devil generally not omitting to lay some snare for them very early; but it was not so with me. I first fell acquainted with the master of a ship who had been on the coast of Guinea, and who, having had very good success there, was resolved to go again; and who, taking a fancy to my conversation, which was not at all disagreeable at that time, hearing me say I had a mind to seetheworld,toldmeif Iwouldgothevoyage withhimIshouldbeatnoexpense; Ishould behismessmateandhis companion;andifIcouldcarry anythingwithme,Ishouldhaveall the advantage of it that the trade would admit, and perhaps I might meet with some encouragement.
I embraced the offer; and, entering into a strict friendship with this captain, who was an honestandplain-dealingman,Iwentthevoyagewithhim,andcarriedasmalladventurewith me, which by the disinterested honesty of my friend the captain, I increased very considerably, for I carried about L40 in such toys and trifles as the captain directed me tobuy. This L40 I had mustered together by the assistance of some of my relations whom I corresponded with, and who, I believe, got my father, or at least my mother, to contribute so much as that to my first adventure.
This was the only voyage which I may say was successful in all my adventures, and which I owetotheintegrityand honestyofmyfriendthecaptain;underwhom alsoIgotacompetent knowledgeofthemathematicsandtherulesofnavigation,learnedhowtokeepanaccountof the ship’s course, to take an observation, and, in short, to understand some things that were needful to beunderstood by asailor. For, as hetook delight to introduceme, Itook delight to learn; and, in a word, this voyage made me both a sailor and a merchant; for I brought home five pounds nine ounces of gold dust for my adventure, which yielded me in London at my return almost L300, and this filled me with those aspiring thoughts which have since so completed my ruin.
YeteveninthisvoyageIhadmymisfortunestoo;particularly,thatIwascontinuallysick, being thrown into a violent calenture by the excessive heat of the climate; our principal trading being upon the coast, for the latitude of 15 degrees north even to the line itself.
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I was not set up for a Guinea trader; and my friend, to my great misfortune, dying soon after his arrival, I resolved to go the same voyage again, and I embarked in the same vessel with one who was his mate in the former voyage, and had now got the command of the ship. This was the unhappiest voyage that ever man made; for though I did not carry quite L100 of my new-gained wealth, so that Ihad L200 left, and which Ilodged with my friend’s widow, who was very just to me, yet I fell into terrible misfortunes in this voyage; and from the first was this, viz., our ship making her course towards the Canary Islands, or rather between those islands and the African shore, was surprised in the gray of the morning by a Turkish rover of Sallee, who gave chase to us with all the sail she could make. We crowded also as much canvas as our yards would spread, or our masts carry, to have got clear; but finding the pirate gained upon us, and would certainly come up with us in a few hours, we prepared to fight,ourshiphavingtwelveguns,andtherogueeighteen.Aboutthreeintheafternoonhecameup with us, and bringing to, by mistake, just athwart our quarter, instead of athwart our stern, as he intended, we brought eight of our guns to bear on that side, and poured in a broadsideupon him, which made him sheer off again, after returning our fire and pouring in also his small-shot from near 200 men which he had on board. However, we had not a man touched, all our men keeping close. He prepared to attack us again, and we to defend ourselves; but layingusonboardthenexttimeuponourotherquarter,heenteredsixtymenuponourdecks, who immediately fell to cutting and hacking the decks and rigging. We plied them with small-shot, half-pikes, powder-chests, and such like, and cleared our deck of them twice.
However,tocutshortthismelancholypartofourstory,ourshipbeingdisabled,andthreeof our men killed and eight wounded, we were obliged to yield, and were carried all prisoners into Sallee, a port belonging to the Moors.
The usage I had there was not so dreadful as at first I had apprehended, nor was I carried up thecountrytotheemperor’scourt,astherestofourmenwere,butwaskeptbythecaptainof the rover as his proper prize, and made his slave, being young and nimble, and fit for his business. At this surprising change of my circumstances from a merchant to a miserable slave, I was perfectly overwhelmed; and now I looked back upon my father’s prophetic discoursetome,that Ishouldbemiserable,andhavenonetorelieveme, which Ithoughtwas now so effectually brought to pass, that it could not be worse; that now the hand of Heaven had overtaken me, and I was undone without redemption. But alas! this was but a taste of the misery I was to go through, as will appear in the sequel of this story.
As my new patron, or master, had taken me home to his house, so I was in hopes that he would take me with him when he went to sea again, believing that it would some time or other be his fate to be taken by a Spanish or Portugal man-of-war; and that then I should be setatliberty.Butthishopeofminewassoontakenaway;forwhenhewenttosea,heleftme on shore to look after his little garden, and do the common drudgery of slaves about his house; and when he came home again from his cruise, he ordered me to lie in the cabin to look after the ship.
Here I meditated nothing but my escape, and what method Imight take to effect it, but found no way that had the least probability in it. Nothing presented to make the supposition of it rational; for I had nobody to communicate it to that would embark with me, no fellow-slave, no Englishman, Irishman, or Scotsman there but myself; so that for two years, though Ioften pleasedmyselfwiththeimagination,yetIneverhadtheleastencouraging prospectofputting it in practice.
After about two years an odd circumstance presented itself, which put the old thought of makingsomeattemptformylibertyagaininmyhead.Mypatronlyingathomelongerthan usual without fitting out his ship, which, as I heard, was for want of money, he used
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constantly, once or twice a week, sometimes oftener, if the weather was fair, to take the ship’s pinnace, and go out into the road a-fishing; and as he always took me and a young Maresco with him to row the boat, we made him very merry, and Iproved very dexterous in catchingfish;insomuch,thatsometimeshewouldsendmewithaMoor,oneofhiskinsmen, and the youth the Maresco, as they called him, to catch a dish of fish for him.
It happened one time that, going a-fishing in a stark calm morning, a fog rose so thick, that though we were not half a league from the shore we lost sight of it; and rowing we knew not whitherorwhichway,welabored allday,andall thenextnight,andwhen themorningcame found we were pulled off to sea instead of pulling in for the shore; and that we were at least twoleaguesfromtheshore.However,wegotwellinagain,thoughwithagreatdealoflabor, and some danger, for the wind began to blow pretty fresh in the morning; but particularly we were all very hungry.
But our patron, warned by this disaster, resolved to take more care of himself for the future; and having lying by him the longboat of our English ship which he had taken, he resolved he would not go a-fishing any more without a compass and some provision; so he ordered the carpenter of his ship, who was also an English slave, to build a little state-room, or cabin, in the middle of the longboat, like that of a barge, with a place to stand behind it to steer and haul homethemain-sheet, and room beforefor a hand ortwo to stand and work thesails. She sailed with what we call a shoulder-of-mutton sail; and the boom jabbed over the top of the cabin,whichlayverysnugandlow,andhadinit roomforhimtolie,withaslaveortwo, and a table to eat on, with some small lockers to put in some bottles of such liquor as he thought fit to drink; particularly his bread, rice, and coffee.
Wewentfrequentlyoutwiththisboata-fishing,andas Iwasmostdexteroustocatchfishfor him, he never went without me. It happened that he had appointed to go out in this boat, either for pleasure or for fish, with two or three Moors of some distinction in that place, and for whom he had provided extraordinarily; and had therefore sent on board the boat over night alargerstoreofprovisions than ordinary; and had ordered meto get ready threefuzees with powder and shot, which were on board his ship, for that they designed some sport of fowling as well as fishing.
I got all things ready as he had directed, and waited the next morning with the boat, washed clean, her ancient and pendants out, and everything to accommodate his guests; when by and by my patron came on board alone, and told me his guests had put off going, upon some business that fell out, and ordered me with the man and boy, as usual, to go out with the boat and catch them some fish, for that his friends were to sup at his house; and commanded that assoonas Ihadgotsomefish,Ishouldbringithometohishouse;allwhichIpreparedtodo.
This moment my former notions of deliverance darted into my thoughts, for now I found I was like to have a little ship at my command; and my master being gone, I prepared to furnishmyself,notforafishingbusiness,butforavoyage;though Iknewnot,neitherdid I so much as consider, whither I should steer; for anywhere, to get out of that place, was my way.
My first contrivance was to make a pretence to speak to this Moor, to get something for our subsistence on board; for I told him we must not presume to eat of our patron’s bread. He said that was true; so he brought a large basket of rusk or biscuit of their kind, and three jars with fresh water, into the boat. I knew where my patron’s case of bottles stood, which it was evidentbythemakeweretakenoutofsomeEnglishprize;and Iconveyed themintotheboat whiletheMoorwasonshore,asiftheyhadbeen therebeforeforourmaster. Iconveyed also a great lump of beeswax into the boat, which weighed above half a hundredweight, with a
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parcel of twine or thread, a hatchet, a saw, and a hammer, all of which were great use to us afterwards, especially the wax to make candles. Another trick I tried upon him, which he innocentlycameintoalso.Hisnamewas Ishmael,whotheycallMuly,orMoely;soIcalled to him,
“Moely,” said I, “our patron’s guns are on board the boat; can you not get a little powder and shot? It may be we may kill some alcamies (a fowl like our curlews) for ourselves, for I know he keeps the gunner’s stores in the ship.” “Yes,” says he, “I’ll bring some”;andaccordinglyhebroughtagreatleatherpouchwhichheldaboutapoundanahalf of powder, or rather more; and another with shot, that had five or six pounds, with some bullets, and put all into the boat. At the same time Ihad found some powder of my master’s in the great cabin, with which I filled one of the large bottles in the case, which was almo st empty, pouring what was in it into another; and thus furnished with everything needful, we sailed out of the port to fish. The castle, which is at the entrance of the port, knew who we were, and took no notice of us; and we were not above a mile out of the port before we hauled in our sail, and set us down to fish. The wind blew from the NNE., which was contrary to my desire; for had it blown southerly I had been sure to have made the coast of Spain, and at least reached to the bay of Cadiz; but my resolutions were, blow which way it would, I would be gone from the horrid place where I was, and leave the rest to Fate.
After we had fished some time and catched nothing, for when I had fish on my hook I would notpullthemup,thathemightnotseethem,IsaidtotheMoor,“Thiswillnotdo;ourmaster will not be thus served; we must stand farther off.” He, thinking no harm, agreed, and being in the head of the boat set the sails; and as I had the helm I run the boat out near a league farther, and then brought her to as if I would fish; when giving the boy the helm, I stepped forward to where the Moor was, and making as if Istooped for something behind him, Itook him by surprise with my arm under his twist, and tossed him clear overboard into the sea. He rose immediately, for he swam like a cork, and called to me, begged to be taken in, told mehewouldgoalltheworldoverwithme.Heswamsostrongaftertheboat,thathewouldhave reachedmeveryquickly, therebeingbutlittlewind;uponwhich Isteppedintothecabin,and fetching oneofthefowling-pieces, Ipresented it at him, and told him Ihad donehim no hurt, and if he would be quiet I would do him none. “But, said I, “you swim well enough to reach to the shore, and the sea is calm; make the best of your way to shore, and I will do you no harm;butifyoucomeneartheboat I’llshootyouthroughthehead,for Iamresolvedtohave my liberty.” So he turned himself about, and swam for the shore, and Imake no doubt but he reached it with ease, for he was an excellent swimmer.
I could have been content to have taken this Moor with me, and have drowned the boy, but therewasnoventuringtotrusthim.WhenhewasgoneIturnedtotheboy,whomtheycalled Xury, and said to him, “Xury, if you will be faithful to me I’ll make you a great man; but if you will not stroke your face to be true to me,” this is, swear by Mahomet and his father’s beard, “I must throw you into the sea too.” The boy smiled in my face, and spoke so innocently, that I could not mistrust him, and swore to be faithful to me, and go all over the world with me.
WhileIwasinviewoftheMoorthatwasswimming,Istoodoutdirectlytoseawiththeboat, rather stretching to windward, that they might think me gone towards the straits’ mouth (as indeed any one that had been in their wits must have been supposed to do); for who would have supposed we were sailed on to the southward to the truly barbarian coast, where whole nations of negroes were sure to surround us with their canoes, and destroy us; where wecould ne’er once go on shore but we should be devoured by savage beasts, or more merciless savages of humankind?
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But as soon as it grew dusk in the evening, Ichanged my course, and steered directly south and by east, bending my course a little toward the east, that I might keep in with the shore; andhavingafair,freshgaleofwind,and asmooth,quietsea, Imadesuch sailthatIbelieve by the next day at three o’clock in the afternoon, when I first made the land, I could not be less than 150 miles south of Sallee; quite beyond the Emperor of Morocco’s dominions, or indeed of any other king thereabouts, for we saw no people.
Yet such was the fright I had taken at the Moors, and the dreadful apprehensions I had of falling into their hands, that I would not stop, or go on shore, or come to an anchor, the wind continuing fair, till I had sailed in that manner five days; and then the wind shifting to the southward, I concluded also that if any of our vessels were in chase of me, they also would now give over; so I ventured to make to the coast, and came to an anchor in the mouth of a little river, I knew not what, or where; neither what latitude, what country, what nations, or what river. I neither saw, nor desired to see, any people; the principal thing I wanted was fresh water. We came into this creek in the evening, resolving to swim on shore as soon as it was dark, and discover the country; but as soon as it was quite dark we heard such dreadful noisesofthebarking,roaring,andhowlingofwildcreatures,ofweknewnotwhatkinds,that the poor boy was ready to die with fear, and begged me not to go on shore till day. “Well, Xury,” said I, “then I won’t; but it may be we may see men by day, who will be as bad to us as these lions.” “Then we give them the shoot gun,” says Xury, laughing; “make them run ’way.”
Such English Xury spoke by conversing among us slaves. However, Iwas glad to see the boy so cheerful, and I gave him a dram (out of our patron’s case of bottles) to cheer him up. After all, Xury’s advice was good, and Itook it; we dropped our little anchor and lay still all night. I say still, for we slept none; for in two or three hours we saw vast great creatures (we knew not what to call them) of many sorts come down to the sea-shore and run into the water, wallowing and washing themselves for the pleasure of cooling themselves; and they made such hideous howlings and yellings, that I never indeed heard the like.
Xury was dreadfully frightened, and indeed so was I too; but we were both more frighted when we heard one of these mighty creatures come swimming towards our boat; we couldnot see him, but we might hear him by his blowing to be a monstrous huge and furious beast.
Xury said it was a lion, and it might be so for aught I know; but poor Xury cried to me to weigh the anchor and row away. “No,” says I, “Xury; we can slip our cable with the buoy to it, and go off to sea; they cannot follow us far.” I had no sooner said so, but I perceived the creature(whateveritwas)withintwooars’length,whichsomethingsurprisedme;however,I immediately stepped to the cabin door, and taking up my gun, fired at him, upon which he immediately turned about and swam towards the shore again.
But is is impossibleto describethehorriblenoises, and hideous cries and howlings, that were raised, as well upon the edge of the shore as higher within the country, upon the noise or report of the gun, a thing I have some reason to believe those creatures had never heard before. This convinced me that there was no going on shore for us in the night upon that coast;andhowtoventureonshoreintheday was anotherquestiontoo;fortohavefalleninto the hands of any of the savages, had been as bad as to have fallen into the hands of lions and tigers; at least we were equally apprehensive of the danger of it.
Bethatasitwould,wewereobligedtogoonshoresomewhereorotherforwater,forwehad not a pint left in the boat; when or where to get to it, was the point. Xury said if I would let him go on shore with one the jars, he would find if there was any water, and bring some to me. I asked him why he should go? Why I should not go and he stay in the boat? The boy answered with so much affection, that made me love him ever after. Says he, “If wild mans come,theyeatme,yougoway.”“Well,Xury,”saidI,“wewillbothgo;andifthewildmans
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come,wewillkillthem,theyshalleatneitherofus.”SoIgaveXuryapieceofruskbreadto eat, and a dram out of our patron’s case of bottles which I mentioned before; and we hauled in the boat as near the shore as we thought was proper, and so waded on shore, carrying nothing but our arms and two jars for water.
I did not care to go out of sight of the boat, fearing the coming of canoes with savages down the river; but the boy seeing a low place about a mile up the country, rambled to it; and byand by I saw him come running towards me. I thought he was pursued by some savage, or frighted with some wild beast, and I ran forward towards him to help him; but when I came nearer to him, I saw something hanging over his shoulders, which was a creature that he had shot,likeahare,butdifferentincolor,andlongerlegs.However,wewereverygladofit,and it was very good meat; but the great joy that poor Xury came with was to tell me he hadfound good water, and seen no wild mans.
Butwefoundafterwardsthatweneednottakesuchpainsforwater,foralittlehigherupthe creek where we were we found the water fresh when the tide was out, which flowed but a littleway up; so wefilled ourjars, and feasted on thehare wehad killed, and prepared to go on our way, having seen no footsteps of any human creatures in that part of the country.
As I had been one voyage to this coast before, I knew very well that the Islands of the Canaries, and the Cape de Verde Islands also, lay not far off from the coast. But as I had no instruments to take an observation to know what latitude we were in, and did not exactly know,oratleastremember,whatlatitudetheywerein,Iknewnotwhereto lookforthem,or when to stand off to sea towards them; otherwise I might now easily have found some of these islands. But my hope was, that if I stood along this coast till I came to that part where the English traded, I should find some of their vessels upon their usual design of trade, that would relieve and take us in.
By the best of my calculation, that place where I now was must be that country which, lying between the Emperor of Morocco’s dominions and the negroes, lies waste and uninhabited, except by wild beasts; the negroes having abandoned it and gone farther south for fear of the Moors, and the Moors not thinking it worth inhabiting, by reason of its barrenness; and indeedbothforsakingitbecauseoftheprodigiousnumberoftigers,lions,leopards,andother furious creatures which harbor there; so that the Moors use it for their hunting only, where they go like an army, two or three thousand men at a time; and indeed for near a hundred miles together upon this coast we saw nothing but a waste uninhabited country by day, and heard nothing but howlings and roarings of wild beasts by night.
OnceortwiceinthedaytimeIthought IsawthePicoofbeingthehightopoftheMountain Teneriffe in the Canaries, and had a great mind to venture out in hopes of reaching thither; but having tried twice, I was forced in again by contrary winds, the sea also going too high for my little vessel; so I resolved to pursue my first design, and keep along the shore.
Several times I was obliged to land for fresh water after we had left this place; and once in particular,beingearlyin themorning,wecametoananchorunderalittlepointoflandwhich wasprettyhigh;andthetidebeginningtoflow,welaystilltogofartherin. Xury,whoseeyes were more about them than it seems mine were, calls softly to me, and tells me that we had best go farther off the shore; “For,” says he, “look, yonder lies a dreadful monster on the side ofthathillockfastasleep.”Ilookedwherehepointed,andsawadreadful monsterindeed,for it was a terrible great lion that lay on the side of the shore, under the shade of a piece of the hillthathungasitwerealittleoverhim.“Xury,”says I,“youshallgoonshoreandkillhim.” Xury looked frighted, and said, “Me kill! he eat me at one mouth;” one mouthful he meant.
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However, Isaid no more to the boy, but bade him lie still, and Itook our biggest gun, which wasalmostmusketbore,andloadeditwithagoodchargeofpowder,andwithtwoslugs,and laid it down; then I loaded another gun with two bullets; and the third (for we had three pieces) I loaded with five smaller bullets.
I took the best aim I could with the first piece to have him shot into the head, but he lay so with his leg raised alittleabovehis nose, that the slugs hit his leg about theknee, and broke thebone.Hestartedupgrowlingatfirst,butfindinghislegbroke,felldownagain,andthen got up upon three legs and gave the most hideous roar that ever I heard. I was a little surprised that I had not hit him on the head.
However, I took up the second piece immediately, and, though he began to move off, fired again,andshothimintothehead, andhadthepleasuretohimdrop,andmakebutlittlenoise, but lay struggling for life. Then Xury took heart, and would have me let him go on shore. “Well, go,” said I; so the boy jumped into the water, and taking a little gun in one hand,swam to shore with the other hand, and coming close to the creature, put the muzzle of the piece to his ear, and shot him into the head again, which despatched him quite.
Thiswasgameindeedto us,butthiswasnofood;and Iwasverysorrytolosethreecharges of powder and shot upon a creature that was good for nothing to us. However, Xury said he wouldhavesomeofhim; sohecomesonboard,andaskedmetogivehimthehatchet.“For what, Xury?” said I. “Me cut off his head,” said he. However, Xury could not cut off his head, but he cut off a foot, and brought it with him, and it was a monstrous great one.
Ibethoughtmyself,however,thatperhapstheskin ofhimmightonewayorotherbeofsome 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 the whole day, but at last we got off the hide of him, and spreading it on the top of our cabin, the sun effectually dried it in two days’ time, and it afterwards served me to lie upon.
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3. WreckedOnADesertIsland
After this stop we made on to the southward continually for ten or twelve days, living very sparing on our provisions, which began to abate very much, and going no oftener into the shore than we were obliged to for fresh water. My design in this was to make the river Gambia or Senegal — that is to say, 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 totake, but to seek out forthelands, orperish there among thenegroes. Iknewthat all theships from Europe, which sailed either to the coast of Guinea or to Brazil, or to the East Indies, madethiscape,orthoseislands;andinaword, Iputthewholeofmyfortuneuponthissingle 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 thelandwasinhabited;andintwoorthreeplaces, aswesailedby,wesaw peoplestandupon the shore to look at us; we could also perceive they were quite black, and stark naked. I was once inclined to have gone on shore to them; but Xury was my better counsellor, and said to me.
“No go, no go.” However, I hauled in nearer the shore that I might talk to them, and I found they ran along the shore by me a good way. I observed they had no weapons in their hands, except one, who had a long slender stick, which Xury said was a lance, and that they would throw them a great way with good aim. So I kept a distance, but talked with them by signs as well as I could, and particularly made signs for something to eat; they beckoned to me to stop my boat, and that they would fetch me some meat. Upon this I lowered the top of my sail, and lay by, and two of them ran up into the country, and in less than half an hour came back, and brought with them two pieces of dried flesh and some corn, such as is the produce of their country; but we neither knew what the one or the other was. However, we were willing to accept it, but how to come at it was our next dispute, for I was not for venturing on shore to them, and they were as much afraid to us; but they took a safe way for usall,fortheybroughtittotheshoreandlaiditdown,andwentandstood agreatwayofftill we fetched it on board, and then came close to us again.
We made signs of thanks to them, for we had nothing to make them amends. But an opportunity offered that very instant to oblige them wonderfully; for while we were lying by the shore came two mighty creatures, one pursuing the other (as we took it) with great fury from themountains towards thesea; whetherit was themalepursuing thefemale, orwhether they were in sport or in rage, we could not tell, any more than we could tell whether it was usual or strange, but I believe it was the latter; because in the first place, those ravenous creatures seldom appear but in the night; and in the second place, we found the people terribly frightened, especially thewomen. Theman that had thelanceordart did not fly from them, but the rest did; however, as the two creatures ran directly into the water, they did not seem to offer to fall upon any of the negroes, but plunged themselves into the sea, and swam about, as if they had come for their diversion. At last, one of them began to come nearer our boatthanatfirst Iexpected;butIlay readyforhim,for Ihadloadedmygunwithallpossible expedition, and bade Xury load both the others. As soon as he came fairly within my reach, I fired, and shot him directly into the head; immediately he sunk down into the water, but rose instantly,andplungedupanddown,asifhewasstrugglingforlife,andso indeedhewas.He immediately made to the shore; but between the wound, which was his mortal hurt, and the strangling of the water, he died just before he reached the shore.
It is impossible to express the astonishment of these poor creatures, at the noise and the fire ofmygun;someofthemwereevenreadytodieforfear,andfelldownas deadwiththevery
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terror. But when they saw the creature dead, and sunk in the water, and that I made signs to them to come to the shore, they took heart and came to the shore, and began to search for the creature. Ifound him by his blood staining thewater: and by thehelp of arope, which Islung roundhim,andgavethenegroestohaul,theydraggedhimontheshore,andfoundthatitwas a most curious leopard, spotted, and fine to an admirable degree; and the negroes held uptheir hands with admiration, to think what it was I had killed him with.
The other creature, frighted with the flash of fire and the noise of the gun, swam on shore, andrandirectlytothemountainsfromwhencetheycame;norcould I,atthatdistance,know what it was. I found quickly the negroes were for eating the flesh of this creature, so I was willing to have them take it as a favor from me; which, when I made signs to them that they might take him, they were very thankful for. Immediately they fell to work with him; and though they had no knife yet, with a sharpened piece of wood, they took off his skin as readily, and much more readily, than we could have done it with a knife. They offered me someoftheflesh,which Ideclined,makingasifIwouldgiveitthem,butmadesignsforthe skin, which they gave me very freely, and brought me a great deal more of their provision, which, though I did not understand, yet I accepted. Then I made signs to them for some water, and held out one of my jars to them, turning it bottom upward, to show that it was empty, and that I wanted to have it filled. The called immediately to some of their friends, and there came two women, and brought a great vessel made of earth, and burnt, as I suppose, in the sun; this they set down for me, as before, and I sent Xury on shore with my jars, and filled them all three. There women were as stark naked as the men.
I was now furnished with roots and corn, such as it was, and water; and leaving my friendly negroes, I made forward for about eleven days more, without offering to go near the shore,till I saw the land run out a great length into the sea, at about the distance of four or five leagues before me; and the sea being very calm, I kept a large offing, to make this point. At length, doubling the point, at about two leagues from the land, Isaw plainly land on the other side, to seaward; then I concluded, as it was most certain indeed, that this was the Cape de Verde, and those the islands, called from thence Cape de Verde Islands. However, they were atagreatdistance,and Icouldnotwelltellwhat Ihadbesttodo;forifIshouldbetakenwith a fresh of wind, I might neither reach one or other.
In this dilemma, as I was very pensive, I stepped into the cabin, and sat me down, Xury having the helm; when, on a sudden, the boy cried out, “Master, master, a ship with a sail!”
and the foolish boy was frighted out of his wits, thinking it must needs be some of his master’sshipssenttopursueus,when Iknewweweregotten farenoughoutoftheirreach. I jumped out ofthecabin, and immediately saw, not only theship, but what shewas, viz., that it was a Portuguese ship, and, as I thought, was bound to the coast of Guinea, for negroes.
But when I observed the course she steered, I was soon convinced they were bound some otherway,anddidnotdesigntocomeanynearertotheshore;uponwhich Istretchedoutto sea as much as I could, resolving to speak with them, if possible.
With all the sail I could make, I found I should not be able to come in their way, but they would be gone by before I could make any signal to them; but after I had crowded to the utmost, and began to despair, they, it seems, saw me by the help of their perspective glasses, and that it was some European boat, which, as they supposed, must belong to some ship that was lost, so they shortened sail to let me come up. I was encouraged with this; and as I had my patron’s ancient on board, I made a waft of it to them for a signal of distress, and fired a gun both of which they say; for they told me they saw the smoke, though they did not hearthegun.Uponthesesignalstheyverykindlybroughtto,andlaybyforme; andinaboutthree hours’ time I came up with them.
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They asked me what I was, in Portuguese, and in Spanish, and in French, but I understood none of them; but at last a Scots sailor, who was on board, called to me, and I answered him, andtoldhimIwas anEnglishman,thatIhadmademyescapeoutofslaveryfromtheMoors, at Sallee.
Then they bade me come on board, and very kindly took me in, and all my goods.
It was an inexpressible joy to me, that any one will believe, that I was thus delivered, as I esteemed it, from such a miserable, and almost hopeless, condition as I was in; and I immediatelyofferedall Ihadtothecaptainofthe ship,asareturn formydeliverance.Buthe generouslytoldmehewouldtakenothingfromme,butthatallIhadshouldbedeliveredsafe to me when I came to the Brazils. “For,” says he, “I have saved your life on no other terms than I would be glad to be saved myself; and it may, one time or other, be my lot to be taken up in the same condition. Besides,” says he, “when I carry you to the Brazils, so great a way from your own country, if I should take from you what you have, you will be starved there, and then I only take away that life I have given. No, no, Seignior Inglese,” says he, “Mr.
Englishman,Iwillcarry youthitherincharity,andthosethingswillhelpyoutobuyyour subsistence there, and your passage home again.”
As he was charitable in his proposal, so he was just in the performance to a tittle; for he orderedtheseamenthatnoneshouldoffertotouchanythingIhad;thenhetookeverything into his own possession, and gave me back an exact inventory of them, that I might have them, even so much as my three earthen jars.
Astomyboat,itwasaverygoodone, andthathesaw,andtoldmehewouldbuyitofmefor the 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 his hand to pay me eighty pieces of eight for it at Brazil, and when it came there, if any one offered to give more, he would make it up.
He offered me also sixty pieces of eight for my boy Xury, which Iwas loth to take; not that I was not willing to let the captain have him, but I was very loth to sell the poor boy’s liberty, who had assisted me so faithfully in procuring my own. However, when I let him know my reason, he owned it to be just, and offered me this medium, that he would give the boy an obligation to set him free in ten years if he turned Christian. Upon this, and Xury saying he was willing to go to him, I let the captain have him.
Wehad averygoodvoyagetotheBrazils,andarrivedintheBaydeTodoslosSantos,orAll Saints’
Bay, in about twenty-one days after. And now I was once more delivered from the most miserable of all conditions of life; and what to do next with myself I was now to consider.
The generous treatment the captain gave me, I can never enough remember. He would take nothingofmeformypassage,gavemetwentyducatsfortheleopard’sskin,andfortyforthe lion’s skin, which I had in my boat, and caused everything I had in the ship to be punctually delivered me; and what Iwas willing to sell hebought, such as thecaseof bottles, two ofmy guns, and a piece of the lump of beeswax, — for I had made candles of the rest; in a word, I made about 220 pieces of eight of all my cargo, and with this stock I went on shore in the Brazils.
I had not been long here, but being recommended to the house of a good honest man like himself,whohadaningeinoastheycallit,thatis,aplantationandasugar-house, Ilivedwith him some time, and acquainted myself by that means with the manner of their planting and making of sugar; and seeing how well the planters lived, and how they grew rich suddenly, I resolved, if I could get license to settle there, I would turn planter among them, resolving in the meantime to find out some way to get my money which I had left in London remitted to
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me.Tothispurpose,gettingakindofaletterofnaturalization, Ipurchased asmuchlandthat was uncured as my money would reach, and formed a plan for my plantation and settlement, and such a one as might be suitable to the stock which I proposed to myself to receive from England.
I had a neighbor, a Portuguese of Lisbon, but born of English parents, whose name was Wells, and in much such circumstances as I was. I call him my neighbor, because his plantationlaynexttomine,andwe wentonvery sociablytogether.Mystockwasbutlow,as well as his; and we rather planted for food than anything else, for about two years. However, webegantoincrease,andourlandbegantocomeintoorder;sothatthethirdyearweplanted some tobacco, and made each of us a large piece of ground ready for planting canes in the year to come. But we both wanted help; and now I found, more than before, I had donewrong in parting with my boy Xury.
Butalas!formetodowrongthatneverdidright wasnogreatwonder. Ihadnoremedybutto go on. I was gotten into an employment quite remote to my genius, and directly contrary to the life I delighted in, and for which I forsook my father’s house, and broke through all his good advice; nay, I was coming into the very middle station, or upper degree of low life, which my father advised me to before; and which if I resolved to go on with, I might as well have stayed at home, and never have fatigued myself in the world as I had done. And I used often to say to myself I could have done this as well in England among my friends, as have gone 5,000 miles off to do it among strangers and savages, in a wilderness, and at such a distance as never to hear from any part of the world that had the least knowledge of me.
In this manner I used to look upon my condition with the utmost regret. I had nobody to converse with, but now and then this neighbor; no work to be done, but by the labor of my hands;and Iusedtosay, Ilivedjustlikeaman castawayuponsomedesolateisland,thathad nobodytherebuthimself.Buthowjusthasitbeen!andhowshouldallmen reflect,thatwhen they compare their present conditions with others that are worse, Heaven may oblige them to make the exchange, and be convinced of their former felicity by their experience; — I say, how just has it been, that the truly solitary life I reflected on in an island of mere desolation should be my lot, who had so often unjustly compared it with the life which I then led, in which, had I continued, I had in all probability been exceeding prosperous and rich.
I was in some degree settled in my measures for carrying on the plantation before my kind friend, the captain of the ship that took me up at sea, went back; for the ship remained there in providing his loading, and preparing for his voyage, near three months; when telling him whatlittlestockIhadleftbehindmeinLondon,hegavemethisfriendlyandsincereadvice: “Seignior Inglese,” says he, for so he always called me, “if you will give me letters, and a procuration here in form to me, with orders to the person who has your money in London to send youreffects to Lisbon, to such persons as Ishall direct, and in such goods as areproper for this country, I will bring you the produce of them, God willing, at my return. But since human affairs are all subject to changes and disasters, I would have you give orders but for onehundredpoundssterling,which,yousay,ishalfyourstock,andletthe hazardberunfor the first; so that if it come safe, you may order the rest the same way; and if it miscarry, you may have the other half to have recourse to for your supply.”
Thiswassowholesomeadvice,andlookedsofriendly,thatIcouldnotbutbeconvincedit wasthebestcourseIcouldtake;soIaccordinglypreparedletterstothegentlewomanwith whom I left my money, and a procuration to the Portuguese captain, as he desired.
I wrote the English captain’s widow a full account of all my adventures; my slavery, escape, andhow Ihad metwiththePortugal captainatsea, thehumanityofhis behavior,andin what
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condition I was now in, with all necessary directions for my supply. And when this honest captain came to Lisbon, he found means, by some of the English merchants there, to send over not the order only, but a full account of my story to a merchant at London, who represented it effectually to her; whereupon, she not only delivered the money, but out of her ownpocketsentthePortugalcaptainaveryhandsomepresentforhishumanityandcharityto me.
The merchant in London vesting this hundred pounds in English goods, such as the captain had writ for, sent them directly to him at Lisbon, and he brought them all safe to me to the Brazils;amongwhich,withoutmydirection(forIwastooyounginmybusinesstothinkof them), he had taken care to have all sorts of tools, iron-work, and utensils necessary for my plantation, and which were of great use to me.
When this cargo arrived, I thought my fortune made, for I was surprised with joy of it; and mygoodsteward,thecaptain,hadlaidoutthefivepounds,whichmyfriendhadsenthimfor a present for himself, to purchase and bring me over a servant under bond for six years’ service, and would not accept of any consideration, except a little tobacco, which I would have him accept, being of my own produce.
Neither was this all; but my goods being all English manufactures such as cloth, stuffs, baise, and things particularly valuable and desirable in the country, I found means to sell them to a verygreatadvantage;so thatImaysay Ihadmorethanfourtimesthevalueofmyfirstcargo, and was now infinitely beyond my poor neighbor, I mean in the advancement of my plantation; for the first thing I did, I bought me a negro slave, and a European servant also; I mean another besides that which the captain brought me from Lisbon.
Butasabusedprosperityisoftentimesmadetheverymeansofourgreatestadversity,sowas it with me. I went on the next year with great success in my plantation. I raised fifty great rolls of tobacco on my own ground, more than I had disposed of for necessaries among my neighbors; and these fifty rolls, being each of a hundredweight, were well cured, and laid by against the return of the fleet from Lisbon. And now, increasing in business and in wealth, myheadbegantobefullofprojectsandundertakingsbeyondmyreach,suchasare,indeed, often the ruin of the best heads in business.
Had I continued in the station I was now in, I had room for all the happy things to have yet befallenmeforwhichmyfathersoearnestlyrecommendedaquiet,retiredlife,andofwhich hehad so sensibly described themiddlestation oflifeto befull of. But otherthings attended me,and Iwasstilltobethewillfulagentofallmy ownmiseries;andparticularlytoincrease my fault and double the reflections upon myself, which in my future sorrows I should have leisure to make. All these miscarriages were procured by my apparent obstinate adhering to my foolish inclination of wandering abroad, and pursuing that inclination in contradiction to the clearest views of doing myself good in a fair and plain pursuit of those prospects, and those measures of life, which Nature and Providence concurred to present me with, and to make my duty.
As I had once done thus in my breaking away from my parents, so I could not be content now, but I must go and leave the happy view I had of being a rich and thriving man in my newplantation,onlytopursuearashandimmoderatedesireofrisingfasterthanthenatureof the thing admitted; and thus I cast myself down again into the deepest gulf of human misery that ever man fell into, or perhaps could be consistent with life and a state of health in the world.
To come, then, by the just degrees to the particulars of this part of my story. You may suppose,thathavingnowlivedalmostfouryearsintheBrazils,andbeginningtothriveand
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prosperverywelluponmyplantation,Ihadnotonlylearnedthelanguage,buthadcontracted acquaintanceandfriendshipamongmyfellow-planters,aswellasamongthemerchantsatSt.
Salvador, which was our port, and that in my discourses among them I had frequently given them an account of my two voyages to the coast of Guinea, the manner of trading with the negroes there, and how easy it was to purchase upon the coast for trifles — such as beads, toys, knives, scissors, hatchets, bits of glass, and the like — not only gold-dust, Guinea grains, elephants’ teeth, etc. but negroes, for the service of the Brazils in great numbers.
Theylistenedalwaysveryattentivelytomydiscoursesontheseheads,butespeciallytothat part which related to the buying negroes; which was a trade, at that time, not only not far entered into, but, as far as it was, had been carried on by the assiento, or permission, of the KingsofSpainandPortugal,andengrossedinthepublic,sothatfewnegroeswerebrought, and those excessive dear.
It happened, being in company with some merchants and planters of my acquaintance, and talkingofthosethingsveryearnestly,threeofthemcametonethenextmorning,andtoldme theyhadbeenmusingverymuchuponwhat Ihad discoursedwiththemof, thelastnight,and they came to make a secret proposal to me. And after enjoining me secrecy, they told me that theyhadamindtofitoutashiptogotoGuinea;thattheyhadallplantationsaswellas I,and were straitened for nothing so much as servants; that as it was a trade that could not becarried on because they could not publicly sell the negroes when they came home, so they desired to make but one voyage, to bring the negroes on shore privately, and divide them among their own plantations; and, in a word, the question was, whether I would go their supercargo in the ship, to manage the trading part upon the coast of Guinea; and they offered me that I should have my equal share of the negroes without providing any part of the stock.
This was a fair proposal, it must be confessed, had it been made to any one that had not a settlement and plantation of his own to look after, which was in a fair way of coming to be very considerable, and with a good stock upon it. But for me, that was thus entered and established, and had nothing to do but go on as Ihad begun, forthreeorfouryears more, and to have sent for the other hundred pounds from England; and who, in that time, and with that littleaddition,couldscarcehavefailedofbeingworththreeorfourthousandpoundssterling, and that increasing too — for me to think of such a voyage, was the most preposterous thing that ever man, in such circumstances, could be guilty of.
But I, that was born to be my own destroyer, could no more resist the offer than I could restrain my first rambling designs, when my father’s good counsel was lost upon me. In a word, I told them I would go with all my heart, if they would undertake to look after my plantation in my absence, and would dispose of it to such as I should direct if I miscarried.
This they all engaged to do, and entered into writings or covenants to do so; and I made a formalwilldisposingofmyplantationandeffect, incaseofmydeath;makingthecaptainof the ship that had saved my life, as before, my universal heir, but obliging him to dispose of my effects as I had directed in my will; one-half of the produce being to himself, and the other to be shipped to England.
In short, Itook all possible caution to preserve my effects and keep up my plantation. Had I usedhalfasmuchprudencetohavelookedintomyowninterest,andhavemadeajudgment of what Iought to have done and not to have done, Ihad certainly never gone away from so prosperous an undertaking, leaving all the probably views of a thriving circumstance, and gone upon a voyage to sea, attended with all its common hazards, to say nothing of the reasons I had to expect particular misfortunes to myself.
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ButIwashurriedon, and obeyedblindlythedictatesofmyfancyratherthanmyreason.And accordingly, the ship being fitted out, and the cargo furnished, and all things done as by agreement by my partners in the voyage, I went on board in an evil hour, the (first) of (September, 1659), being the same day eight year that I went from my father and mother at Hull, in order to act the rebel to their authority, and the fool to my own interest.
Our ship was about 120 tons burthen, carried six guns and fourteen men, besides the master, hisboy,andmyself.Wehadonboardnolargecargoofgoods,exceptofsuchtoysaswerefit for our trade with the negroes — such as beads, bits of glass, shells, and odd trifles,especially little looking-glasses, knives, scissors, hatchets, and the like.
The same day I went on board we set sail, standing away to the northward upon our own coast, with design to stretch over for the African coast, when they came about 10 or 12
degrees of northern latitude, which, it seems, was the manner of their course in those days.
We had very good weather, only excessive hot, all the way upon our own coast, till we came the height of Cape St. Augustino, from whence, keeping farther off at sea, we lost sight of land, and steered as if we was bound for the Isle Fernando de Noronha, holding our course NE. by N., and leaving those isles on the east. In this course we passed the line in about twelve days’ time, and were, by our last observation, in 7 degrees 22 minutes northern latitude, when a violent tornado, or hurricane, took us quite out of our knowledge. It began from the south-east, came about to the north-west, and then settled into the north-east, from whence it blew in such a terrible manner, that for twelve days together we could do nothing butdrive,and,scudding awaybeforeit,letitcarryuswhereverfateandthefuryofthewinds directed; and during these twelve days I need not say that I expected every day to be swallowed up, nor, indeed, did any in the ship expect to save their lives.
In this distress we had, besides the terror of the storm, one of our men died of the calenture, and one man and the boy washed overboard. About the twelfth day, the weather abating a little, the master made an observation as well as he could, and found that he was in about 11
degrees north latitude, but that he was 22 degrees of longitude difference west from Cape St.
Augustino; so that he found he was gotten upon the coast of Guiana, or the north part of Brazil, beyond the river Amazon, toward that of the River Orinoco, commonly called the GreatRiver,andbegantoconsultwithmewhatcourseheshouldtake,fortheshipwasleaky and very much disabled, and he was going directly back to the coast of Brazil.
I was positively against that; and looking over the charts of the sea-coast of America with him, we concluded there was no inhabited country for us to have recourse to till we came within the circle of the Caribbee Islands, and, therefore, resolved to stand away for Barbadoes,whichbykeepingoffatsea,toavoidtheindraftoftheBayorGulfofMexico,we might easily perform, as we hoped, in about fifteen days’ sail; whereas we could not possibly make our voyage to the coast of Africa without some assistance, both to our ship and to ourselves.
Withthisdesignwechangedourcourse,andsteeredaway NW.byW.inordertoreachsome of our English islands, where I hoped for relief; but our voyage was otherwise determined;for being in the latitude of 12 degrees 18 minutes, a second storm came upon us whichcarried us away with the same impetuosity westward, and drove us so out of the very way of allhumancommerce,thathadallourlivesbeensaved,astothesea, wewereratherindanger of being devoured by savages than ever returning to our own country.
Inthisdistress,thewindstillblowingveryhard,oneofourmenearlyinthemorningcried out, “Land!”
and we had no sooner ran out of the cabin to look out, in the hopes of seeing whereabouts in the world we were, but the ship struck upon a sand, and in a moment, her
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motionbeingsostopped,theseabrokeoverherin suchamanner,thatweexpectedwe should all have perished immediately; and we were immediately driven into our close quarters, to shelter us from the very foam and spray of the sea.
It is not easy for any one, who has not been in the like condition, to describe or conceive the consternation of men in such circumstances. We knew nothing where we were, or upon what land it was we were driven, whether an island or the main, whether inhabited or notinhabited; and as therage ofthewind was still great, though ratherless than at first, wecould not so much as hope to have the ship hold many minutes without breaking in pieces, unless thewinds,byakindofmiracle,shouldturnimmediatelyabout. Inaword, wesatlookingone upon another, and expecting death every moment, and every man acting accordingly, as preparing for another world; for there was little or nothing more for us to do in this. That which was our present comfort, and all the comfort we had, was that, contrary to our expectation, the ship did not break yet, and that the master said the wind began to abate.
Now, though we thought that the wind did a little abate, yet the ship having thus struck upon thesand,andstickingtoofastforustoexpecther gettingoff,wewereina dreadful condition indeed, and had nothing to do but to think of saving our lives as well as we could. We had a boat at our stern just before the storm, but she was first staved by dashing against the ship’s rudder, and in the next place, she broke away, and either sunk, or was driven off to sea, so therewasnohopefromher;wehad anotherboatonboard,buthowtogetheroffintothesea, was a doubtful thing. However, there was no room to debate, for we fancied the ship would break to pieces every minute, and some told us she was actually broken already.
In this distress, the mate of our vessel lays hold of the boat, and with the help of the rest of thementheygotherslungovertheship’sside;andgettingallintoher,letgo,andcommitted ourselves, being eleven in number, to God’s mercy, and the wild sea; for though the storm was abated considerably, yet the sea went dreadful high upon the shore, and might well be called den wild zee, as the Dutch call the sea in a storm.
And now our case was very dismal indeed, for we all saw plainly that the sea went so high, that the boat could not live, and that we should be inevitably drowned. As to making sail, we had none; nor, if we had, could we have done anything with it; so we worked at the oar towardstheland,though withheavyhearts,likemengoingtoexecution,forweallknewthat whentheboatcamenearertheshore,shewouldbedashedinathousandpiecesbythebreach of the sea.
However, we committed our souls to God in the most earnest manner; and the wind driving us towards the shore, we hastened our destruction with our own hands, pulling as well as we could towards land.
What the shore was, whether rock or sand, whether steep or shoal, we knew not; the only hope that could rationally give us the least shadow of expectation was, if we might happen intosomebayorgulf,orthemouthofsomeriver, wherebygreat chancewemighthaverun our boat in, or got under the lee of the land, and perhaps made smooth water. But there was nothing of this appeared; but as we made nearer and nearer the shore, the land looked more frightful than the sea.
After we had rowed, or rather driven, about a league and a half, as we reckoned it, a raging wave, mountain-like, came rolling astern of us, and plainly bade us expect the coup de grace.
In a word, it took us with such a fury, that it overset the boat at once; and separating us, as wellfromtheboatas fromoneanother,gaveusnottimehardlytosay,“OGod!”forwewere all swallowed up in a moment.
Nothing can describe the confusion of thought which I felt when I sunk into the water; for thoughIswamverywell,yetIcouldnotdelivermyselffromthewavessoastodrawbreath,
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till that wave having driven me, or rather carried me, a vast way on towards the shore, and having spent itself, went back, and left me upon the land almost dry, but half dead with the water I took in. I had so much presence of mind, as well as breath left, that seeing myself nearerthemainlandthanIexpected,Igotuponmyfeet,andendeavoredtomakeontowards the land as fast as I could, before another wave should return and take me up again. But I soon found it was impossible to avoid it; for I saw the sea come after me as high as a great hill, and as furious as an enemy, which I had no means or strength to contend with. My business was to hold my breath, and raise myself upon the water, if I could; and so, by swimming, to preserve my breathing, and pilot myself towards the shore, if possible: my greatest concern now being, that the sea, as it would carry me a great way towards the shore when it came on, might not carry me back again with it when it gave back towards the sea.
The wave that came upon me again, buried me at once 20 or 30 feet deep in its own body,and I could feel myself carried with a mighty force and swiftness towards the shore a very great way; but I held my breath, and assisted myself to swim still forward with all my might.I was ready to burst with holding my breath, when, as I felt myself rising up, so, to my immediate relief, I found my head and hands shoot out above the surface of the water; and though it was not two seconds of time that I could keep myself so, yet it relieved me greatly, gave me breath and new courage. I was covered again with water a good while, but not so long but I held it out; and finding the water had spent itself, and began to return, I struck forward against thereturn ofthewaves, and felt ground again with my feet. Istood still afew moments to recover breath, and till the water went from me, and then took to my heels and ranwithwhatstrength Ihadfarthertowardstheshore.Butneitherwouldthisdelivermefrom the fury of the sea, which came pouring in after me again, and twice more I was lifted up by the waves and carried forwards as before, the shore being very flat.
The last time of these two had well near been fatal to me; for the sea, having hurried mealong as before, landed me, or rather dashed me, against a piece of a rock, and that with such force, as it left me senseless, and indeed helpless, as to my own deliverance; for the blow taking my side and breast, beat the breath, as it were, quite out of my body; and had it returned again immediately, I must have been strangled in the water. But I recovered a little before the return of the waves, and seeing I should be covered again with the water, Iresolvedtoholdfastbyapieceoftherock, andsotoholdmybreath,ifpossible,tillthewave went back. Now, as the waves were not so high as at first, being near land, Iheld my hold till the wave abated, and then fetched another run, which brought me so near the shore, that the next wave, though it went over me, yet did not so swallow me up as to carry me away, and the next run I took I got to the mainland, where, to my great comfort, I clambered up thecliffs of the shore, and sat me down upon the grass, free from danger, and quite out of the reach of the water.
I was now landed, and safe on shore, and began to look up and thank God that my life was saved in a case wherein there was some minutes before scarce any room to hope. I believe itis impossible to express to the life what the ecstacies and transports of the soul are when it is so saved, as Imay say, out of the very grave; and do not wonder now at the custom, viz., that when a malefactor, who has the halter about his neck, is tied up, and just going to be turned off,andhas areprievebroughttohim—Isay, Idonotwonderthattheybringasurgeonwith it, to let him blood that very moment they tell him of it, that the surprise may not drive the animal spirits from the heart, and overwhelm him:
“Forsuddenjoys,likegriefs,confoundatfirst.”
Iwalkedaboutontheshore,liftingupmyhands,andmywholebeing,asImaysay,wraptup in the contemplation of my deliverance, making a thousand gestures and motions which I
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cannot describe, reflecting upon all my comrades that were drowned, and that there should notbeonesoulsavedby myself;for,asforthem,Ineversawthemafterwards,oranysignof them except three of their hats, one cap, and two shoes that were not fellows.
I cast my eyes to the stranded vessel, when the breach and froth of the sea being so big, I couldhardlyseeit,itlay sofaroff,andconsidered,Lord!howwasitpossibleIcouldgeton shore?
AfterIhadsolacedmymindwiththecomfortablepartofmycondition, Ibegantolookround me to see what kind of place I was in, and what was next to be done, and I soon found my comfortsabate,andthat,inaword,Ihadadreadfuldeliverance;forIwaswet,hadnoclothes to shift me, nor anything either to eat or drink to comfort me, neither did I see any prospect beforemebutthatofperishingwithhunger,ofbeingdevouredbywildbeasts;andthatwhich was particularly afflicting to me was that Ihad no weapon either to hunt and kill any creature for my sustenance, or to defend myself against any other creature that might desire to kill me for theirs. In a word, I had nothing about me but a knife, a tobacco-pipe, and a little tobaccoinabox.Thiswasallmyprovision;andthisthrewmeintoterribleagonies ofmind,thatfora while I ran about like a madman. Night coming upon me, I began, with a heavy heart, to consider what would be my lot if there were any ravenous beasts in that country, seeing at night they always come abroad for their prey.
All the remedy that offered to my thoughts at that time was to get up into a thick bushy tree like a fir, but thorny, which grew near me, and where I resolved to sit all night, and consider the next day what death I should die, for as yet I saw no prospect of life. I walked about a furlong from the shore to see if Icould find my fresh water to drink, which Idid, to my great joy; having drank, and put a little tobacco in my mouth to prevent hunger, I went to the tree, and getting up into it, endeavored to place myself so as that if I should sleep I might not fall; and having cut me a short stick, like a truncheon, for my defence, I took up my lodging, and havingbeenexcessivelyfatigued,Ifellfastasleep,andsleptascomfortablyas,Ibelieve,few could have done in my condition, and found myself the most refreshed with it that I think I ever was on such an occasion.
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4. FirstWeeksOnTheIsland
When I waked it was broad day, the weather clear, and the storm abated, so that the sea did not rage and swell as before. But that which surprised me most was, that the ship was lifted off in the night from the sand where she lay, by the swelling of the tide, and was driven up almostasfarastherockwhichIfirstmentioned,whereIhadbeensobruisedbythedashing me against it. This being within about a mile from the shore where I was, and the ship seeming to stand upright still, I wished myself on board, that, at least, I might have some necessary things for my use.
When Icamedown from myapartmentinthetreeIlooked aboutmeagain,andthefirstthing I found was the boat, which lay as the wind and the sea had tossed her up upon the land, about two miles on my right hand. I walked as far as I could upon the shore to have got toher, but found a neck or inlet of water between me and the boat, which was about half a mile broad; so I came back for the present, being more intent upon getting at the ship, where I hoped to find something for my present subsistence.
A little after noon I found the sea very calm, and the tide ebbed so far out, that I could come withinaquarterofamileoftheship;andhereIfoundafresh renewingofmygrief,forIsaw evidently, that ifwehad kept on board wehad been all safe,that is to say, wehad all got safe on shore, and I had not been so miserable as to be left entirely destitute of all comfort and company, and I now was. This forced tears from my eyes again; but as there was little relief in that, I resolved, if possible, to get to the ship; so I pulled off my clothes, for the weather was hot to extremity, and took the water. But when I came to the ship, my difficulty was still greater to know how to get on board; for as she lay aground, and high out of the water, there was nothing within my reach to lay hold of. I swam round her twice, and the second time I spied a small piece of rope, which I wondered I did not see at first, hang down by the fore- chains so low as that with great difficulty I got hold of it, and by the help of that rope got up into the forecastle of the ship. Here I found that the ship was bulged, and had a great deal of water in her hold, but that she lay so on the side of a bank of hard sand, or rather earth, that her stern lay lifted up upon the bank, and her head low almost to the water. By this means all her quarter was free, and all that was in that part was dry; for you may be sure my first work was to search and to see what was spoiled and what was free. And first I found that all the ship’sprovisionsweredryanduntouchedbythe water;andbeingverywelldisposedtoeat,I went to the bread-room and filled my pockets with biscuit, and eat it as I went about other things, for I had no time to lose. I also found some rum in the great cabin, of which I took a largedram,andwhichIhadindeedneedenoughoftospiritmeforwhatwasbeforeme.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 yards, and two or three large spars of wood, and a spare topmast or two in the ship. I resolved to fall to work with these, and flung as many of them overboard as Icouldmanagefortheirweight,tyingeveryonewitharope,thattheymightnot drive away. When this was done I went down the ship’s side, and, pulling them to me, I tied four of them fast together at both ends as well as I could, in the form of a raft; and laying two or three short pieces of plank upon them, crossways, I found I could walk upon it very well, butthatitwasnotabletobearanygreatweight,thepiecesbeingtoolight.SoIwenttowork, and with the carpenter’s saw I cut up a spare topmast into three lengths, and added them to my raft, with a great deal of labor and pains; but hope of furnishing myself with necessaries
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encouragedmetogobeyondwhat Ishouldhavebeenabletohavedoneuponanother occasion.
Myraftwasnotstrongenoughtobearany reasonableweight.Mynextcarewaswhattoload it with, and how to preserve what I laid upon it from the surf of the sea; but I was not long considering this. I first laid all the planks or boards upon it that I could get, and having considered well what I most wanted, I first got three of the seamen’s chests, which I had broken open and emptied, and lowered them down upon my raft. The first of these I filled withprovisions,viz.,bread,rice,threeDutchcheeses,fivepiecesofdriedgoat’sflesh,which we lived much upon, and a little remainder of European corn, which had been laid by for somefowls which webrought to seawith us, but thefowls werekilled. Therehad been some barley and wheat together, but, to my great disappointment, I found afterwards that the rats had eaten or spoiled it all. As for liquors, I found several cases of bottles belonging to our skipper, in which were some cordial waters, and, in all, about five or six gallons of rack.
TheseIstowedbythemselves,therebeingnoneedtoputthemintothechest,nornoroomfor them.
While I was doing this, I found the tide began to flow, though very calm, and I had the mortification to see my coat, shirt, and waistcoat, which I had left on shore upon the sand, swim away; as for my breeches, which were only linen, and open-kneed, I swam on board in them, and my stockings. However, this put me upon rummaging for clothes, of which Ifound enough, but took no more than I wanted for present use; for I had other things which my eye was more upon, as first tools to work with on shore; and it was after long searching that I found out the carpenter’s chest, which was indeed a very useful prize to me, and much more valuable than a ship-loading of gold would have been at that time. I got it down to my raft, even whole as it was, without losing time to look into it, for I knew in general what it contained.
My next care was for some ammunition and arms; there were two very good fowling-pieces in thegreat cabin, and two pistols; theseIsecured first, with somepowder-horns, and asmall bag of shot, and two old rusty swords. I knew there were three barrels of powder in the ship, but knew not where our gunner had stowed them; but with much search I found them, two of them dry and good, third had taken water; those two Igot to my raft with the arms. And now Ithoughtmyselfprettywellfrighted,andbeganto thinkhowIshouldgettoshorewiththem, having neither sail, oar, nor rudder; and the least capful of wind would have overset all my navigation.
I had three encouragements. 1. A smooth, calm sea. 2. The tide rising and setting in to the shore.3.Whatlittlewind therewasblewmetowardstheland.Andthus,havingfoundtwoor threebrokenoarsbelongingtotheboat,andbesidesthetoolswhichwerein thechest, Ifound two saws, an axe, and a hammer, and with this cargo I put to sea. For a mile or thereabouts my raft went very well, only that I found it drive a little distant from the place where I had landed before, by which I perceived that there was some indraft of water, and consequently I hoped to find some creek or river there, which I might make use of as a port to get to land with my cargo.
As I imagined, so it was; there appeared before me a little opening of the land, and I found a strong current of the tide set into it, so I guided my raft as well as I could to keep in the middleofthestream.ButhereIhadliketohavesufferedasecondshipwreck,which,ifIhad, I think verily would have broke my heart, for knowing nothing of the coast, my raft ran aground at one end of it upon a shoal, and not being aground at the other end, it wanted but a little that all my cargo had slipped off towards that end that was afloat, and so fallen into the water.
Idid my utmost by setting my back against the chests to keep them in their places, but could not thrust off the raft with all my strength, neither durst Istir from the posture Iwas in,
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butholdingupthechestswithallmymight,stoodinthatmannernearhalfanhour,inwhich time the rising of the water brought me a little more upon a level; and a little after, the water still rising, my raft floated again, and Ithrust her off with the oar I had into the channel, and then driving up higher, I at length found myself in the mouth of a little river, with land on both sides, and a strong current or tide running up. I looked on both sides for a proper place to get to shore, for I was not willing to be driven too high up the river, hoping in time to see some ship at sea, and therefore resolved to place myself as near the coast as I could.
At length I spied a little cove on the right shore of the creek, to which, with great pain and difficulty, I guided my raft, and at last got so near, as that, reaching ground with my oar, I could thrust her directly in; but here I had like to have dipped all my cargo in the sea again; for that shore lying pretty steep, that is to say, sloping, there was no place to land but where one end of my float, if it run on shore, would lie so high and the other sink lower, as before, that it would endanger my cargo again. All that I could do was to wait till the tide was at the highest, keeping the raft with my oar like an anchor to hold the side of it fast to the shore,near a flat piece of ground, which I expected the water would flow over; and so it did. As soonas Ifoundwaterenough,formyraftdrewaboutafootofwater, Ithrustheronuponthat flat piece of ground, and there fastened or moored her by sticking my two broken oars intothe ground; one on one side near the end, and one on the other side near the other end; and thus I lay till the water ebbed away, and left my raft and all my cargo safe on shore.
My next work was to view the country, and seek a proper place for my habitation, and where to stow my goods to secure them from whatever might happen. Where I was, I yet knew not; whether on the continent, or on an island; whether inhabited, or not inhabited; whether in danger of wild beasts, or not. There was a hill, not above a mile from me, which rose up very steep and high, andwhich seemed to overtopsomeotherhills, whichlay as in aridgefromit, northward. I took out one of the fowling-pieces and one of the pistols, and a horn of powder; and thus armed, I travelled for discovery up to the top of that hill, where, after I had with greatlaboranddifficulty gottothetop,Isawmyfatetomygreataffliction, viz.,thatIwasin an island environed every way with the sea, no land to be seen, except some rocks which laya great way off, and two small islands less than this, which lay about three leagues to the west.
I found also that the island I was in was barren, and, as I saw good reason to believe, uninhabited, except by wild beasts, of whom, however, I saw none; yet I saw abundance of fowls, but knew not their kind; neither, when Ikilled them, could Itell what was fit for food, andwhatnot.Atmycomingback, Ishotatagreat birdwhich Isawsittinguponatreeonthe side of a great wood. Ibelieve it was the first gun that had been fired there since the creation of the world. I had no sooner fired, but from all the parts of the wood there arose an innumerablenumberoffowlsofmanysorts,makingaconfusedscreaming,andcrying,every one according to his usual note; but not one of them of any kind that I knew. As for the creature I killed, I took it to be a kind of a hawk, its color and beak resembling it, but had no talons or claws more than common; its flesh was carrion, and fit for nothing.
Contented with this discovery, I came back to raft, and fell to work to bring my cargo on shore, which took me up the rest of that day; and what to do with myself at night, Iknew not, or, indeed, where to rest; for I was afraid to lie down on the ground, not knowing but some wild beast might devourme, though, as Iafterwards found, therewas really no need forthose fears. However,aswellasIcould, Ibarricadedmyselfroundwiththechestsandboardsthat I had brought on shore, and made a kind of a hut for that night’s lodging; as for food, Iyet saw not which way to supply myself, except that I had seen two or three creatures like hares run out of the wood where I shot the fowl.
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Inowbegan to considerthat Imight yet get agreat many things out oftheship, which would beusefultome,andparticularlysomeoftheriggingandsails,andsuchotherthingsasmight come to land; and Iresolved to make another voyage on board the vessel, if possible. And as Iknew that the first storm that blew must necessarily break her all in pieces, I resolved to set all other things apart till I 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 Iresolved to go as before, when thetidewas down: and Idid so, only that I stripped before I went from my hut, having nothing on but a checkered shirt and a pair of linen drawers, and a pair of pumps on my feet.
I got on board the ship as before, and prepared a second raft, and having had experience ofthefirst, Ineithermadethissounwieldy,norloadeditsohard;butyet Ibroughtawayseveral things very useful to me; as, at first, in the carpenter’s stores I found two or three bags full of nails and spikes, a great screw-jack, a dozen or two of hatchets, and above all, that most useful thing called agrindstone. All these Isecured, togetherwith several things belonging to the gunner, particularly two or three iron crows, and two barrels of musket bullets, seven muskets, and another fowling-piece, with some small quantity of powder more; a large bag full ofsmall-shot, and a great roll ofsheet-lead; but this last was so heavy, Icould not hoist it up to get it over the ship’s side. Besides these things, I took all the men’s clothes that I could find, and a spare foretop sail, a hammock, and some bedding; and with this I loaded my second raft, and brought them all safe on shore, to my very great comfort.
Iwasundersomeapprehensionsduringmyabsencefromtheland,thatatleastmyprovisions might be devoured on shore; but when I came back, I found no sign of any visitor, only there sat acreaturelike awild cat upon oneofthe chests, which, when Icametowards it, ran away alittledistance,andthen stoodstill.Shesatverycomposedandunconcerned,andlookedfull in my face, as if she had a mind to be acquainted with me. I presented my gun at her; but as she did not understand it, she was perfectly unconcerned at it, nor did she offer to stir away; upon which I tossed her a bit of biscuit, though, by the way, I was not very free of it, for my store was not great. However, I spared her a bit, I say, and she went to it, smelled of it, and ate it, and looked (as pleased) for more; but I thanked her, and could spare no more, so she marched off.
Having got my second cargo on shore, though I was fain to open the barrels of powder and bringthembyparcels,fortheyweretooheavy,beinglargecasks, Iwentto worktomakeme a little tent with the sail and some poles which I cut for that purpose; and into this tent I brought everything that I knew would spoil either with rain or sun; and I piled all the empty chests and casks up in a circle round the tent, to fortify it from any sudden attempt, either from man or beast.
When Ihasdonethis Iblockedupthedoorofthetentwithsomeboardswithin,andanempty chest set up on end without; and spreading one of the beds upon the ground, laying my two pistols just at my head, and my gun at length by me, I went to bed for the first time, and slept very quietly all night, for I was very weary and heavy; for the night before I had slept little, and had labored very hard all day, as well to fetch all those things from the ship, as to get them on shore.
Ihadthebiggestmagazineofallkindsnowthateverwaslaidup, Ibelieve,foroneman;but I was not satisfied still, for while the ship sat upright in that posture, Ithought Iought to get everything out of her that I could. So every day at low water I went on board, and brought away something or other; but, particularly, the third time I went I brought away as much of the rigging as I could, as also all the small ropes and rope-twine I could get, with a piece of spare canvas, which was to mend the sails upon occasion, the barrel of wet gunpowder; in a
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word, Ibroughtawayall thesailsfirstandlast;onlythatIwasfaintocuttheminpieces,and bring as much at a time as I could; for they were no more useful to be sails, but as mere canvas only.
But that which comforted me more still was, that at last of all, after I had made five or six suchvoyagesasthese,andthoughtIhadnothing moretoexpect fromthe shipthatwasworth my meddling with; I say, after all this, I found a great hogshead of bread, and three large runlets of rum or spirits, and a box of sugar, and a barrel of fine flour; this was surprising to me, because I had given over expecting any more provisions, except what was spoilt by the water.Isoonemptiedthehogsheadofthatbread,andwrappeditupparcelbyparcelinpieces of the sails, which I cut out; and, in a word, I got all this safe on shore also.
The next day I made another voyage. And now, having plundered the ship of what was portable and fit to hand out, I began with the cables; and cutting the great cable into pieces, such as I could move, I got two cables and a hawser on shore, with all the iron-work I could get; and having cut down the spritsail-yard, and the mizzen-yard, and everything I could to make a large raft, I loaded it with all those heavy goods, and came away. But my good luck began now to leave me; for this raft was so unwieldy, and so overladen, that after I was entered the little cove where I had landed the rest of my goods, not being able to guide it so handily as I did the other, it overset, and, threw me and all my cargo into the water. As for myself, it was no great harm, for I was near the shore; but as to my cargo, it was great part of itlost,especiallytheiron,whichIexpectedwouldhavebeengreatusetome.However,when the tide was out I got most of the pieces of cable ashore, and some of the iron, though with infinite labor; for Iwas fain to dip for it into the water, a work which fatigued me very much. After this I went every day on board, and brought away what I could get.
I have been now thirteen days on shore, and had been eleven times on board the ship; in which time I had brought away all that one pair of hands could well be supposed capable to bring, though I believe verily, had the calm weather held, I should have brought away the whole ship piece by piece. But preparing the twelfth time to go on board, I found the wind begin to rise. However, at low water Iwent on board, and though Ithought Ihad rummaged the cabin so effectually as that nothing more could be found, yet I discovered a locker with drawersinit,inoneofwhichIfoundtwoorthreerazors, andonepairoflargescissors,with some ten or a dozen of good knives and forks; in another, I found some thirty-six pounds value in money, some European coin, some Brazil, some pieces of eight, some gold, some silver.
Ismiled to myself at the sight of this money. “O drug!” said I aloud, “what art thou good for?
Thouartnotworthtome,no,notthetakingoffoftheground;oneofthoseknivesisworthall this heap.
Ihave no manner of use for thee; even remain where thou art, and go to the bottom as a creature whose life is not worth saving.” However, upon second thoughts, Itook it away; and wrapping all this in apieceof canvas, Ibegan to think ofmaking anotherraft; but while I was preparing this, Ifound thesky overcast, and thewind began to rise, and in aquarterofan hour it blew a fresh gale from the shore. It presently occurred to me that it was in vain to pretend to make a raft with the wind off shore, and that it was my business to be gone before the tide of flood began, otherwise I might not be able to reach the shore at all. Accordingly I let myself down into the water, and swam across the channel, which lay between the ship and the sands, and even that with difficulty enough, partly with the weight of the things I had about me, and partly the roughness of the water; for the wind rose very hastily, and before it was quite high water it blew a storm.
ButIwasgottenhometo mylittletent,whereIlaywithallmywealthaboutmeverysecure. It blew very hard all that night, and in the morning, when Ilooked out, behold, no more ship
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was to be seen. I was a little surprised, but recovered myself with this satisfactory reflection, viz.,thatIhadlostnotime,norabatednodiligence,togeteverythingoutofherthatcouldbe useful to me, and that indeed there was little left in her that I was able to bring away if I had had more time.
Inow gave over any more thoughts of the ship, or of anything out of her, except what might driveontherefromherwreck, asindeeddiverspiecesofherafterwardsdid;butthosethings were of small use to me.
Mythoughtswerenowwhollyemployedaboutsecuringmyselfagainsteithersavages,ifany should appear, or wild beasts, if any were in the island; and I had many thoughts of the methodhowtodothis,andwhatkindofdwellingtomake,whetherIshouldmakemeacave in the earth, or a tent upon the earth; and, in short, I resolved upon both, the manner and description of which it may not be improper to give an account of.
Isoon found the place I was in was not for my settlement, particularly because it was upon a low moorish ground near the sea, and I believed would not be wholesome; and more particularlybecausetherewasnofreshwaternearit.SoIresolvedtofind amorehealthyand more convenient spot of ground.
Iconsultedseveralthingsinmysituation,whichIfoundwouldbeproperforme.First,health and fresh water, I just now mentioned. Secondly, shelter from the heat of the sun. Thirdly security from ravenous creatures, whether men or beasts. Fourthly, a view to the sea, that if God sent any ship in sight Imight not lose any advantage for my deliverance, of which I was not willing to banish all my expectation yet.
In search of a place proper for this, I found a little plain on the side of a rising hill, whose front towards this little plain was steep as a house-side, so that nothing could come down uponmefromthetop;onthesideofthisrocktherewasahollowplace,wornalittlewayin, liketheentranceordoor ofacave; but there was not really any cave, or way into therock at all.
On the flat of the green, just before this hollow place, I resolved to pitch my tent. This plain wasnotaboveahundredyardsbroad,andabouttwiceaslong,andlaylikeagreenbeforemy door, and at the end of it descended irregularly every way down into the low grounds by the seaside. It was on the NNW. side of the hill, so that I was sheltered from the heat every day, till it came to a W. and by S. sun, or thereabouts, which in those countries is near setting.
Before Iset up my tent, Idrewahalfcirclebefore thehollowplace, which took in about ten yardsinitssemi-diameterfromtherock,andtwentyyardsinitsdiameterfromitsbeginning and ending. In this half circle I pitched two rows of strong stakes, driving them into the groundtilltheystoodveryfirmlikepiles,thebiggestendbeingoutofthegroundaboutfive feet and a half, and sharpened on the top. The two rows did not stand above six inches from one another.
Then I took the pieces of cable which I had cut in the ship, and laid them in rows one upon another, within the circle, between these two rows of stakes, up to the top, placing other stakesintheinsideleaningagainstthem,abouttwofeetand ahalfhigh,likeaspurtoapost; and this fence was so strong that neither man or beast could get into it, or over it. This cost me a great deal of time and labor, especially to cut the piles in the woods, bring them to the place, and drive them into the earth.
TheentranceintothisplaceImadetobenotbyadoor,butbyashortladdertogooverthe top;whichladder,when Iwasin, Iliftedoverafterme,andso Iwascompletelyfencedin, and fortified, as I thought, from all the world, and consequently slept secure in the night,
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whichotherwiseIcouldnothavedone;thoughasitappearedafterward,therewasnoneedof all this caution from the enemies that I apprehended danger from.
Into this fence or fortress, with infinite labor, I carried all my riches, all my provisions, ammunition, and stores, of which you have the account above; and I made me a large tent, which,topreservemefromtherainsthatinonepartoftheyearareveryviolentthere, Imade double, viz., one smaller tent within, and one larger tent above it, and covered the uppermost with a large tarpaulin, which Ihad saved among the sails. And now Ilay no more for a while in the bed which I had brought on shore, but in a hammock, which was indeed a very good one, and belonged to the mate of the ship.
Into this tent I brought all my provisions, and everything that would spoil by the wet; and havingthusenclosedall mygoodsImadeuptheentrance,which,tillnow,Ihadleftopen, and so passed and repassed, as I said, by a short ladder.
When I had done this, I began to work my way into the rock; and bringing all the earth and stonesthatIdugdownoutthroughmytent,Ilaid themupwithinmyfenceinthenatureofa terrace,sothatitraisedthegroundwithinabouta footandahalf; andthusImademea cave just behind my tent, which served me like a cellar to my house.
Itcostmemuchlabor,andmanydays,beforeallthesethingswerebrought toperfection,and therefore I must go back to some other things which took up some of my thoughts. At the same time it happened, after Ihad laid my scheme for the setting up my tent, and making the cave, that a storm of rain falling from a thick dark cloud, a sudden flash of lightning happened, and after that a great clap of thunder, as is naturally the effect of it. I was not so much surprised with the lightning, as I was with a thought which darted into my mind as swiftasthelightningitself.Omypowder!Myveryheartsunkwithinmewhen Ithoughtthat at one blast all my powder might be destroyed, on which, not my defence only, but the providing me food, as I thought, entirely depended. I was nothing near so anxious about my own danger; though had the powder took fire, I had never known who had hurt me.
Such impression did this make upon me, that after the storm was over I laid aside all my works, my building, and fortifying, and applied myself to make bags and boxes to separate the powder, and keep it a little and a little in a parcel, in hope that whatever might come it might not all take fire at once, and to keep it so apart that it should not be possible to make onepart fireanother. Ifinished this work in about afortnight; and Ithink my powder, which inallwasabout240poundsweight,wasdividedinnotlessthanahundredparcels.Astothe barrel that had been wet, I did not apprehend any danger from that, so I placed it in my new cave, which in my fancy I called my kitchen, and the rest I hid up and down and in holes among the rocks, so that no wet might come to it, marking very carefully where I laid it.
In the interval of time while this was doing, Iwent out once, at least, every day with my gun, as well to divert myself, as to see if I could kill anything fit for food, and as near as I could to acquaint myself with what the island produced. The first time I went out, I presently discoveredthatthereweregoatsintheisland,whichwasagreatsatisfactiontome;butthenit was attended with this misfortune to me, viz., that they were so shy, so subtle, and so swift of foot, that it was the difficultest thing in the world to come at them. But Iwas not discouraged at this, not doubting but I might now and then shoot one, as it soon happened; for after I had foundtheirhauntsalittle,Ilaidwaitinthismannerforthem. Iobservediftheysawmeinthe valleys, though they were upon the rocks, they would run away as in a terrible fright; but if they were feeding in the valleys, and I was upon the rocks, they took no notice of me, from whence I concluded that, by the position of their optics, their sight was so directeddownward, that they did not readily see objects that were above them. So afterward I took
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thismethod:Ialways climbedtherocksfirsttogetabovethem,andthenhadfrequentlyafair mark.
The first shot I made among these creatures I killed a she-goat, which had a little kidby her, which she gave suck to, which grieved me heartily; but when the old one fell, the kid stood stock still by hertill Icameand took herup; and not only so, but when Icarried theold one with me upon my shoulders, the kid followed me quite to my enclosure; upon which I laiddownthedam,andtookthekidinmyarms,andcarrieditovermypale,inhopestohave bred it up tame; but it would not eat, so I was forced to kill it, and eat it myself. These two supplied me with flesh a great while, for I eat sparingly, and saved my provisions, my bread especially, as much as possibly I could.
Having now fixed my habitation, Ifound it absolutely necessary to provide a place to make a fire in, and fuel to burn; and what I did for that, as also how I enlarged my cave, and what conveniences I made, I shall give a full account of in its place. But I must first give somelittleaccountofmyself,andofmythoughtsaboutliving,whichitmaywellbesupposedwere not a few. I had a dismal prospect of my condition; for as I was not cast away upon thatisland without being driven, as is said, by a violent storm, quite out of the course of our intended voyage, and a great way, viz., some hundreds of leagues out of the ordinary course ofthetradeofmankind, Ihadgreat reasontoconsideritasadeterminationofHeaven,thatin this desolate place, and in this desolate manner, I should end my life. The tears would run plentifully down face when Imade these reflections, and sometimes I would expostulate with myself, why Providence should thus completely ruin its creatures, and render them so absolutely miserable, so without help abandoned, so entirely depressed, that it could hardlybe rational to be thankful for such a life.
But something always returned swift upon me to check these thoughts, and to reprove me; andparticularlyoneday,walkingwithmyguninmyhandbytheseaside,Iwasverypensive upon the subject of my present condition, when reason, as it were, expostulated with me t’other way, thus: “Well, you are in a desolate condition it istrue, but pray remember, where are the rest of you? Did not you come eleven of you in the boat? Where are the ten? Why were not they saved, and you lost? Why were you singled out? Is it better to be here, or there?” And then I pointed to the sea. All evils are to be considered with the good that is in them, and with what worse attends them.
Then it occurred to me again, how well I was furnished for my subsistence, and what would havebeenmycaseifithadnothappened, which wasahundredthousandtoone,thattheship had floated from the place where she first struck and was driven so near to the shore that I had time to get all these things out of her; what would have been my case, if I had been to have lived in the condition in which I first came on shore, without necessaries of life, or necessaries to supply and procure them? “Particularly,” said I aloud (though to myself),
“what should I have done without a gun, without ammunition, without any tools to make anything or to work with, without clothes, bedding, a tent, or any manner of covering?” and that now I had all these to a sufficient quantity, and was in a fair way to provide myself in such a manner, as to live without my gun when my ammunition was spent; so that I had a tolerable view of subsisting without any want as long as I lived. For I considered from the beginninghow Iwouldprovideforthe accidentsthatmighthappen,andforthetimethatwas to come, even not only after my ammunition should be spent, but even after my health or strength should decay.
Iconfess Ihadnotentertainedanynotionofmyammunitionbeingdestroyedatoneblast—I mean, my powder being blown up by lightning; and this made the thoughts of it so surprising to me when it lightened and thundered, as I observed just now.
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And now being to enter into a melancholy relation of a scene of silent life, such, perhaps, as wasneverheardofinthe worldbefore, Ishalltakeitfromitsbeginningandcontinueitinits order.
Itwasbymyaccount,the30thofSeptemberwhen,inthemanner asabovesaid, Ifirst setfootuponthishorridisland,whenthesunbeingtousinitsautumnalequinox,wasalmost justovermyhead,forIreckonedmyself,byobservation,tobeinthelatitudeof9degrees22 minutes north of the line.
After I had been there about ten or twelve days it came into my thoughts that I should lose myreckoningoftimeforwantofbooksandpenandink,andshouldevenforgettheSabbath days from the working days; but to prevent this, I cut it with my knife upon a large post, in capital letters; and making it into a great cross, I set it up on the shore where I first landed, viz.,“Icameonshoreherethe30thofSeptember1659.”Uponthesidesofthissquarepost I cut every day a notch with my knife, and every seventh notch was as long again as the rest, and every first day of the month as long again as that long one; and thus Ikept my calendar, or weekly, monthly, and yearly reckoning of time.
In the next place we are to observe that among the many things which I brought out of the ship in the several voyages, which, as above mentioned, I made to it, I got several things of less value, but not all less useful to me, which Iomitted setting down before; as in particular, pens, ink, and paper, several parcels in the captain’s, mate’s, gunner’s, and carpenter’s keeping,threeorfourcompasses,somemathematicalinstruments,dials,perspectives,charts, and books of navigation, all of which I huddled together, whether I might want them or no.
AlsoIfoundthreeverygoodBibles,whichcametomeinmycargofromEnglandandwhich I had packed up among my things; some Portuguese books, also, and among them two or three Popish prayer-books, and several other books, all of which I carefully secured.
And Imust not forget, that wehad in theship adog and two cats, ofwhose eminent history I may have occasion to say something in its place; for I carried both the cats with me; and as for the dog he jumped out of the ship of himself, and swam on shore to me the day after I went on shore with my first cargo, and was a trusty servant to me many years. I wanted nothingthathecouldfetchme,noranycompanythathecouldmakeupto me;Ionlywanted to have him talk to me, but that would not do. As I observed before, I found pen, ink, and paper, and I husbanded them to the utmost; and I shall show that while my ink lasted, I kept things very exact; but after that was gone, I could not, for I could not make any ink by any means that I could devise.
And this put me in mindthat Iwanted many things, notwithstanding all that Ihad amassed together; and of these, this of ink was one, as also spade, pick-axe, and shovel, to dig or removetheearth,needles,pins,andthread;asforlinen,Isoonlearnedtowantthatwithout much difficulty.
Thiswantoftoolsmadeeverywork Ididgoonheavily;anditwasnearawholeyearbeforeI had entirely finished my little pale or surrounded habitation. The piles or stakes, which were as heavy as I could well lift, were a long time in cutting and preparing in the woods, andmore by far in bringing home; so that I spent sometimes two days in cutting and bringing homeoneofthoseposts, and athird day in driving it into theground; forwhich purpose Igot a heavy piece of wood at first, but at last bethought myself of one of the iron crows, which, however,though Ifound it,yetitmadedrivingthosepostsorpilesverylaboriousandtedious work.
But what need Ihave been concerned at the tediousness of anything Ihad to do, seeing Ihad timeenoughtodoitin?Norhad Ianyotheremployment,ifthathadbeen over,atleastthat I
34
couldforesee,excepttherangingtheislandtoseekforfood,whichIdidmoreorlessevery day.
Inow began to consider seriously my condition, and the circumstance Iwas reduced to; and I drewupthestateofmyaffairsinwriting;notsomuchtoleavethemtoanythatweretocome after me, for I was like to have but few heirs, as to deliver my thoughts from daily poring uponthem;andafflicting mymind.Andasmyreasonbegannowtomastermydespondency, Ibegan to comfort myself as well as I could, and to set the good against the evil, that Imight have something to distinguish my case from worse; and I stated it very impartially, like a debtor and creditor, the comforts I enjoyed against the miseries I suffered, thus: Evil:Iamcastuponahorribledesolateisland,voidofallhopeofrecovery. Good: But I am alive, and not drowned, as all my ship’s company was.
Evil:Iamsingled outandseparated, asitwere, fromalltheworldtobemiserable.
Good:ButIamsingledout,too,fromalltheship’screwtobespared from death;andHethat 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:ButIamnotstarvedandperishingonabarrenplace,affordingnosustenance. Evil: I have not clothes to cover me.
Good:ButIaminahotclimate,whereifIhadclothesIcouldhardlywearthem. Evil: I am without any defence or means to resist any violence of man or beast.
Good:ButIamcastonanisland,whereIseeno wildbeaststohurtme,as Isawonthecoast of Africa; and what if I had been shipwrecked there?
Evil:Ihavenosoul to speakto, orrelieveme.
Good: But God wonderfully sent the ship in near enough to the shore, that I have gotten out somanynecessarythingsaswilleithersupplymywants,orenablemetosupplymyselfeven as long as I live.
Uponthewhole,herewasanundoubtedtestimony,thattherewasscarce anyconditioninthe worldsomiserablebuttherewassomethingnegativeorsomethingpositivetobethankfulfor in it; and let this stand as a direction from the experience of the most miserable of all conditions in this world, that we may always find in it something to comfort ourselves from, and to set in the description of good and evil on the credit side of the account.
Havingnowbroughtmy mindalittletorelishmycondition,andgivenoverlookingoutto sea, to see if I could spy a ship; I say, giving over these things, I began to apply myself to accomodate my way of living, and to make things as easy to me as I could.
Ihavealreadydescribed myhabitation,whichwasatentunderthesideofarock,surrounded with astrong paleofposts and cables; but Imight nowrather call it awall, for Iraised akind of wall up against it of turfs, about two feet thick on the outside, and after some time — I think it was a year and a half – I raised rafters from it leaning to the rock, and thatched or covered it with boughs of trees and such things as I could get to keep out the rain, which I found at some times of the year very violent.
I have already observed how I brought all my goods into this pale, and into the cave which I had made behind me. But Imust observe, too, that at first this was a confused heap of goods, whichastheylayinnoorder,sotheytookupall myplace; Ihadno roomtoturnmyself.SoI set myself to enlarge my cave and works farther into the earth; for it was a loose sandy rock
35
which yielded easily to thelabor Ibestowed on it. And so, when Ifound I was pretty safeas to beasts of prey, I worked sideways to the right hand into the rock; and then, turning to the rightagain,workingquiteout,andmademeadoortocomeoutontheoutsideofmypaleor fortification.Thisgavemenotonlyegressand regress,asitwereaback-waytomytentand to my storehouse, but gave me room to stow my goods.
AndnowIbegantoapplymyselftomakesuchnecessarythingsas Ifound Imostwanted,as particularly a chair and a table; for without these I was not able to enjoy the few comforts I had in theworld. Icould not writeoreat, ordo several things with so much pleasurewithout a table.
SoIwenttowork:andhere Imustneedsobserve, thatasreasonisthesubstanceandoriginal ofthemathematics,sobystatingandsquaringeverythingbyreason, andbymakingthemost rational judgment of things, every man may be in time master of every mechanic art. I had never handled a tool in my life; and yet in time, by labor, application, and contrivance, I found at last that I wanted nothing but I could have made it, especially if I had had more tools.However, Imadeabundanceofthingseven withouttools,andsomewithnomoretools than an adze and a hatchet, which, perhaps, were never made that way before, and that with infinitelabor.For example,if Iwanted aboard, I hadnootherwaybuttocutdownatree,set it on an edge before me, and hew it flat on either side with my axe, till I had brought it to be thickasaplank,andthen dubitsmoothwithmyadze. Itistrue,bythismethodIcouldmake but one board out of a whole tree; but this I had no remedy for but patience, any more than I had for the prodigious deal of time and labor which it took me up to make a plank or board. But my time or labor was little worth, and so it was as well employed one way as another.
However, I made me a table and a chair, as I observed above, in the first place, and this I did out of the short pieces of boards that I brought on my raft from the ship. But when I had wrought out some boards, as above, I made large shelves of the breadth of a foot and a half one over another, all along one side of my cave, to lay all my tools, nails, and ironwork; and, in a word, to separate everything at large in their places, that I might come easily at them. I knocked pieces into the wall of the rock to hang my guns and all things that would hang up; sothathadmycavebeen tobeseen,itlookedlikeageneralmagazineofallnecessarythings; and I had everything so ready at my hand, that it was a great pleasure to me to see all my goods in such order, and especially to find my stock of all necessaries so great.
And now it was when I began to keep a journal of every day’s employment; for, indeed, at first, I was in too much hurry, and not only hurry as to labor, but in too much discomposureof mind; and my journal would have been full of many dull things. For example, I must have said thus: September the 30th. — After I got to shore, and had escaped drowning, instead of being thankful to God for my deliverance, having first vomited with the great quantity of salt waterwhichwasgottenintomystomach,andrecoveringmyselfalittle,Iranabouttheshore, wringing my hands, and beating my head and face, exclaiming at my misery, and crying out,I was undone, undone, till, tired and faint, I was forced to lie down on the ground to repose; but durst not sleep, for fear of being devoured.
Somedaysafterthis,and afterIhadbeenonboardtheshipandgotallthatIcouldoutofher, yet I could not forbear getting up to the top of a little mountain, and looking out to sea, in hopes of seeing a ship; then fancy at a vast distance I spied a sail, please myself with the hopes of it, and then, after looking steadily till I was almost blind, lose it quite, and sit down and weep like a child, and thus increase my misery by my folly.
But having gotten over these things in some measure, and having settled my household stuff andhabitation,mademeatableand achair, andallashandsomeaboutmeas Icould, Ibegan
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tokeepmyjournal,ofwhichIshallheregiveyou thecopy(thoughinitwillbetoldallthese particulars over again) as long as it lasted; for, having no more ink, I was forced to leave it off.
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5. BuildsAHouse-TheJournal
TheJournal
September 30, 1659. — I, poor miserable Robinson Crusoe, being shipwrecked, during a dreadfulstorm,intheoffing,cameonshoreinthisdismalunfortunateisland,whichIcalled the Island of Despair, all the rest of the ship’s company being drowned, and myself almost dead.
All the rest of that day I spent in afflicting myself at the dismal circumstances I was brought to, viz., I had neither food, house, clothes, weapon, or place to fly to; and in despair of any relief, saw nothing but death before me; either that I should be devoured by wild beasts, murderedbysavages,orstarvedtodeathforwant offood.Attheapproach ofnight,Isleptin a tree for fear of wild creatures, but slept soundly, though it rained all night.
October 1. — In the morning I saw, to my great surprise, the ship had floated with the high tide,andwasdrivenonshoreagainmuchnearertheisland;which,asitwassomecomforton one hand, for seeing her sit upright, and not broken to pieces, I hoped, if the wind abated, I might get on board, and get some food and necessaries out of her for my relief; so, on the other hand, it renewed my grief at the loss of my comrades, who, I imagined, if we had all stayed on board, might have saved the ship, or at least that they would not have been all drowned as they were; and that had the men been saved, we might perhaps have built us a boat out of the ruins of the ship, to have carried us to some other part of the world. I spent great part of this day in perplexing myself on these things; but at length seeing the ship almost dry, I went upon the sand as near as I could, and then swam on board; this day also it continued raining, though with no wind at all.
Fromthe1stofOctobertothe24th.—Allthesedaysentirelyspentinmanyseveralvoyages to get all I could out of the ship, which I brought on shore, every tide of flood, upon rafts.
Muchrainalsointhesedays,thoughwithsomeintervalsoffairweather;but,itseems,this was the rainy season.
October20.— Ioverset myraft,andallthegoods Ihadgotuponit;butbeinginshoalwater, and the things being chiefly heavy, I recovered many of them when the tide was out.
October25.—Itrainedallnightandallday,withsomegustsofwind,duringwhichtimethe ship broke in pieces, the wind blowing a little harder than before, and was no more to be seen, except the wreck of her, and that only at low water. I spent this day in covering and securing the goods which I had saved, that the rain might not spoil them.
October 26. — I walked about the shore almost all day to find out a place to fix my habitation,greatlyconcernedtosecuremyselffromanattackinthenight,eitherfromwild beasts or men. Towards night I fixed upon a proper place under a rock, and marked out a semicircle for my encampment, which I resolved to strengthen with a work, wall, or fortification made of double piles, lined within with cables, and without with turf.
Fromthe26thtothe30thIworkedveryhardincarryingallmygoodstomynewhabitation, though some part of the time it rained exceeding hard.
The31st,inthemorning,Iwentoutintotheislandwithmyguntoseeforsomefood,and discover the country; when I killed a she-goat, and her kid followed me home, which I afterwards killed also, because it would not feed.
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November1.— Isetup mytentunderarock,and laythereforthefirstnight,makingitas large as I could, with stakes driven in to swing my hammock upon.
November2.—
Isetup
allmychestsandboards,
andthepiecesoftimberwhichmademy
rafts,andwiththemformedafence roundme,alittlewithintheplace Ihad markedoutfor my fortification.
November3.—Iwentoutwithmygun,andkilledtwofowlslikeducks,whichwerevery good
food. In the afternoon went to work to make me a table.
November 4. — This morning I began to order my times of work, of going out with my gun, time of sleep, and time of diversion, viz., every morning I walked out with my gun for two or threehours,ifitdidnotrain;thenemployedmyselftoworktillabouteleveno’clock;theneat what I had to live on; and from twelve to two I lay down to sleep, the weather beingexcessive hot; and then in the evening to work again. The working part of this day and of the next were wholly employed in making my table; for I was yet but a very sorry workman, though time and necessity made me a complete natural mechanic soon after, as I believe it would do any one else.
November 5. — This day went abroad with my gun and my dog, and killed a wild-cat; her skin pretty soft, but her flesh good for nothing. Every creature I killed, I took off the skinsand preserved them. Coming back by the seashore, Isaw many sorts of seafowls, which Idid notunderstand;butwassurprised,andalmostfrighted,withtwoorthreeseals,which,whileI was gazing at, not well knowing what they were, got into the sea, and escaped me for that time.
November6.—Aftermymorningwalk Iwentto workwithmytableagain,andfinishedit, though not to my liking; nor was it long before I learned to mend it.
November 7. — Now it began to be settled fair weather. The 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and part of the12th(forthe11thwasSunday)Itookwhollyuptomakemeachair,andwithmuchado, brought it to a tolerable shape, but never to please me; and even in the making I pulled it to piecesseveraltimes.Note, IsoonneglectedmykeepingSundays;for,omittingmymarkfor them on my post, I forgot which was which.
November 13. — This day it rained, which refreshed me exceedingly, and cooled the earth; butitwasaccompaniedwithterriblethunderandlightning,whichfrightedmedreadfully,for fear of my powder. As soon as it was over, I resolved to separate my stock of powder into as many little parcels as possible, that it might not be in danger.
November 14, 15, 16. — These three days I spent in making little square chests or boxes, whichmightholdaboutapound,ortwopoundat most,ofpowder;andso puttingthepowder in, I stowed it in places as secure and remote from one another as possible. On one of these three days I killed a large bird that was good to eat, but I know not what to call it.
November 17. — This day I began to dig behind my tent into the rock, to make room for my farther conveniency. Note, three things I wanted exceeding for this work, viz., a pick-axe, a shovel, and a wheelbarrow or basket; so Idesisted from my work, and began to consider how tosupplythatwant,andmakemesometools.Asforapick-axe, Imadeuseoftheironcrows, which were proper enough, though heavy; but the next thing was a shovel or spade. This was so absolutely necessary, that indeed I could no nothing effectually without it; but what kindof one to make, I knew not.
November18.—Thenextday,insearchingthewoods,Ifoundatreeofthatwood,orlikeit, which in the Brazils they call the iron tree, for its exceeding hardness; of this, with great
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labor,andalmostspoilingmyaxe,Icutapiece,andbroughtithome,too,wasdifficulty enough, for it was exceeding heavy.
The excessive hardness of the wood, and having no other way, made me a long while upon thismachine,forIworkediteffectually,bylittleandlittle,intotheformofashovelorspade, the handle exactly shaped like ours in England, only that the broad part having no iron shod upon it at bottom, it would not last me so long. However, it served well enough for the uses which Ihadoccasionto putitto;butneverwasashovel,Ibelieve,madeafterthatfashion,or so long a-making.
I was still deficient, for I wanted a basket or a wheel-barrow. A basket I could not make by any means, having no such things as twigs that would bend to make wicker ware, at least none yet found out. And as to a wheelbarrow, I fancied I could make all but the wheel, but that Ihad no notion of, neither did Iknow how to go about it; besides, Ihad no possible way tomaketheirongudgeonsforthespindleoraxisofthewheeltorunin,so Igaveitover;and so for carrying away the earth which I dug out of the cave, I made me a thing like a hod which the laborers carry mortar in, when they serve the bricklayers.
Thiswasnotsodifficulttomeasthemakingtheshovel;andyetthis,andtheshovel,andthe attempt which I made in vain to make a wheelbarrow, took me up no less than four days; I mean always, excepting my morning walk with my gun, which I seldom failed, and very seldom failed also bringing home something fit to eat.
November 23. — My other work having now stood still because of my making these tools, whentheywerefinishedIwenton,andworkingeveryday,asmystrengthandtimeallowed, I spent eighteen days entirely in widening and deepening my cave, that it might hold my goods commodiously.
Note: During all this time I worked to make this room or cave spacious enough to accomodatemeasawarehouseormagazine,akitchen,adining-room,andacellar;asformy lodging, I kept to the tent, except that sometimes in the wet season of the year it rained so hard that I could not keep myself dry, which caused me afterwards to cover all my place withinmypalewithlongpoles,intheformofrafters,leaningagainsttherock,andloadthem with flags and large leaves of trees, like a thatch.
December10.— Ibegan nowtothinkmycaveorvaultfinishedwhenonasudden(itseems I had made it too large) a great quantity of earth fell down from the top and one side, so much, that, in short, it frighted me, and not without reason too; for if I had been under it, I had never wanted a grave-digger. Upon this disaster I had a great deal of work to do over again; for I had the loose earth to carry out; and, which was of more importance, I had the ceiling to prop up, so that I might be sure no more would come down.
December 11. — This day I went to work with it accordingly, and got two shores or posts pitcheduprighttothetop,withtwopiecesofboardsacrossovereachpost.ThisIfinishedthe nextday;andsettingmorepostsupwithboards,inaboutaweekmoreIhad theroofsecured; and the posts standing in rows, served me for partitions to part of my house.
December17.—FromthisdaytothetwentiethIplacedshelves,andknockedupnailsonthe posts to hang everything up that could be hung up; and now I began to be in some order within doors.
December 20. — Now I carried everything into the cave, and began to furnish my house, and setupsomepiecesofboards,likeadresser,toordermyvictualsupon;butboardsbegantobe very scarce with me; also I made me another table.
December24.—Muchrainall nightandallday;nostirring out.
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December25.— Rainall day.
December26.—No rain,andtheearthmuchcoolerthanbefore,and pleasanter.
December27.—Killed ayounggoat,andlamed another,sothat Icatched it,andledithome inastring.When Ihadit home,Iboundandsplinteredupitsleg,whichwasbroke.N.B.— I took such care of it, that it lived; and the leg grew well and as strong as ever; but by my nursing it so long it grew tame, and fed upon the little green at my door, and would not go away.ThiswasthefirsttimethatIentertained athoughtofbreedingupsometamecreatures, that I might have food when my powder and shot was all spent.
December28,29,30.—
Greatheatsandnobreeze,sothattherewasnostirringabroad, exceptintheevening,forfood.ThistimeIspentinputtingallmythingsinorderwithin doors.
January 1. — Very hot still, but I went abroad early and late with my gun, and lay still in the middleoftheday.Thisevening,goingfartherinto thevalleyswhichlaytowardsthecentreof the island, I found there was plenty of goats, though exceeding shy, and hard to come at.
However,Iresolvedto tryifIcould notbring mydog tohunt them down.
January2.—Accordingly,thenextday, Iwentoutwithmydog,andsethimuponthegoats; but I was mistaken, for they all faced about upon the dog; and he knew his danger too well, for he would not come near them.
January3.— Ibeganmy fenceorwall;whichbeingstilljealousofmybeingattackedby somebody, I resolved to make very thick and strong.
