N.B.—Thiswallbeingdescribedbefore,Ipurposelyomitwhatwassaidinthejournal.Itis sufficienttoobservethatIwasnolesstimethanfromthe3rdofJanuarytothe14thofApril working, finishing, and perfecting this wall, though it was no more than about twenty-four yards in length, being a half circle from one place in the rock to another place about eight yards from it, the door of the cave being in the centre behind it.
All this time I worked very hard, the rains hindering me many days, nay, sometimes weeks together;but IthoughtIshouldneverbeperfectly securetillthiswallwasfinished.Anditis scarce credible what inexpressible labor everything was done with, especially the bringing piles of the woods, and driving them into the ground; for I made them much bigger than I need to have done.
Whenthiswallwasfinished,andtheoutsidedouble-fencedwithaturf-wallraisedupcloseto it,Ipersuadedmyselfthatifanypeopleweretocomeonshorethere,they wouldnotperceive anything like a habitation; and it was very well Idid so, as may be observed hereafter upon a very remarkable occasion.
During this time, Imade my round in the woods for game every day, when the rain admitted me, and made frequent discoveries in these walks of something or other to my advantage; particularly I found a kind of wild pigeons, who built, not as wood pigeons in a tree, but ratherashousepigeons,intheholesoftherocks.Andtakingsomeyoungones,Iendeavored to breed them up tame, and did so; but when they grew older they flew all away, which, perhaps, was at first for want of feeding them, for I had nothing to give them. However, I frequently found their nests, and got their young ones, which were very good meat.
And now in the managing my household affairs I found myself wanting in many things, which Ithought at first it was impossible for me to make, as indeed, as to some of them, it was.Forinstance, Icouldnevermakeacasktobehooped; Ihad asmallrunletortwo,as I observed before, but I could never arrive to the capacity of making one of them, though I
41
spentmanyweeks aboutit.Icouldneitherputintheheads,norjointthestavessotruetoone another as to make them hold water; so I gave that also over.
In the next place, I was at a great loss for candle; so that as soon as ever it was dark, which was generally by seven o’clock, I was obliged to go to bed. I remembered the lump of beeswax withwhich ImadecandlesinmyAfrican adventure,but Ihadnoneofthatnow.The only remedy I had was, that when I had killed a goat I saved the tallow, and with a little dish made of clay, which Ibaked in the sun, to which I added a wick of some oakum, Imade me a lamp; and this gave me light, though not a clear steady light like a candle.
In the middle of all my labors it happened that rummaging my things, I found a little bag, which, as I hinted before, had been filled with corn for the feeding of poultry, not for this voyage, but before, as I suppose, when the ship came from Lisbon. What little remainder of corn had been in the bag was all devoured with the rats, and I saw nothing in the bag but husks and dust; and being willing to have the bag for some other use, I think it was to put powder in, when I divided it for fear of the lightning, or some such use, Ishook the husks of corn out of it on one side of my fortification, under the rock. It was a little before the great rains, just now mentioned, that I threw this stuff away, taking no notice of anything there; when,aboutamonthafter,orthereabout, Isawsomefewstalksofsomethinggreenshooting out of the ground, which I fancied might be some plant I had not seen; but I was surprised, andperfectlyastonished, when,afteralittlelongertime,Isawabouttenortwelveearscome out, which were perfect green barley of the same kind as or European, nay, as our English barley.
It is impossible to express the astonishment and confusion of my thoughts on this occasion. I had hitherto acted upon no religious foundation at all; indeed, I had very few notions of religion in my head, or had entertained any sense of anything that had befallen me otherwise than as a chance, or as we lightly say, what pleases God; without so much as inquiring into theendofProvidencein thesethings,orHisorderingoverningeventsintheworld.Butafter I saw barley grow there in a climate which I knew was not proper for corn, and especially that I knew not how it came there, it startled me strangely, and I began to suggest that God had miraculously caused this grain to grow without any help of seed sown, and it was so directed purely for my sustenance on that wild miserable place.
This touched my heart alittle, and brought tears out ofmy eyes; and Ibegan to bless myself, thatsuchaprodigyofNatureshouldhappenuponmyaccount,andthiswasthemorestrange to me, because I saw near it still, all along by the side of the rock, some other straggling stalks, which proved to be stalks of rice, and which I knew, because I had seen it grow in Africa, when I was ashore there.
InotonlythoughtthesethepureproductionsofProvidenceformysupport,but,notdoubting but that there was more in the place, I went all over that part of the island where I had been before, peering in every corner, and under every rock, to see for more of it; but I could not find any.
At last it occurred to my thoughts that I had shook a bag of chicken’s meat out in thatplace,andthenthewonderbeganto cease;andImustconfess,myreligiousthankfulness to God’s providence began to abate too, upon the discovering that all this was nothing but whatwascommon; Ioughttohavebeen asthankfulforsostrangeandunforseenprovidence, as if it had been miraculous; for it was really the work of Providence as to me, that should orderorappoint,thattenortwelvegrainsofcornshouldremainunspoiled(whentheratshad destroyed all the rest), as if it had been dropped from heaven; as also that I should throw it out in that particular place, where, it being in the shade of a high rock, it sprang up immediately; whereas, if I had thrown it anywhere else at that time, it had been burnt up and destroyed.
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Icarefully saved theears ofthis corn, you may be sure, in theirseason, which was about the end of June; and laying up every corn, I resolved to sow them all again, hoping in time to havesomequantitysufficienttosupplymewithbread.Butitwasnottillthefourthyearthat Icouldallowmyselfthe leastgrainofthiscornto eat,andeventhenbutsparingly,as Ishall say afterwards in its order; for I lost all that I sowed the first season, by not observing the proper time; for I sowed it just before the dry season, so that it never came up at all, at least not as it would have done; of which in its place.
Besidesthisbarley,therewas,asabove,twentyorthirtystalksofrice,whichIpreservedwith the same care, and whose use was of the same kind, or to the same purpose, viz., to make me bread, or rather food; for I found ways to cook it up without baking, though I did that also after some time. But to return to my journal.
Iworked excessivehardthesethreeorfourmonths togetmywalldone;and the14thofApril I closed it up, contriving to go into it, not by a door, but over the wall by a ladder, that there might be no sign in the outside of my habitation.
April16.—Ifinishedtheladder,so Iwentupwiththeladdertothetop,andthenpulleditup after me, and let it down on the inside. This was a complete enclosure to me; for within Ihad room enough, and nothing could come at me from without, unless it could first mount my wall.
The very next day after this wall was finished, I had almost had all my labor overthrown at once, and myself killed. The case was thus: As I was busy in the inside of it, behind my tent, just in the entrance into my cave, I was terribly frightened with a most dreadful surprising thing indeed; forall on a sudden Ifound the earth comecrumbling down from theroofofmy cave, andfromtheedgeofthehillovermyhead, andtwooftheposts Ihadsetupinthecave cracked in a frightful manner. I was heartily scared, but thought nothing of what was really the cause, only thinking that the top of my cave was falling in, as some of it had done before; and for fear I should be buried in it, I ran forward to my ladder; and not thinking myself safe there neither, I got over my wall for fear of the pieces of the hill which I expected might roll down upon me. Iwas no sooner stepped down upon the firm ground, but Iplainly saw it was a terrible earthquake; for the ground I stood on shook three times at about eight minutes’
distance, with three such shocks as would have overturned the strongest building that could be supposed to have stood on the earth; and a great piece of the top of a rock which stood about half a mile from me next the sea, fell down with such a terrible noise, as I never heard inallmylife.Iperceived alsotheveryseawasput intoviolentmotionbyit;andIbelievethe shocks were stronger under the water than on the island.
I was so amazed with the thing itself, having never felt the like, or discoursed with any one thathad,that Iwaslikeonedeadorstupefied;and themotionoftheearth mademystomach sick, like one that was tossed at sea. But the noise of the falling of the rock awaked me, as it were, and rousing me from the stupefied condition I was in, filled me with horror, and I thought of nothing then but the hill falling upon my tent and all my household goods, and burying all at once; and this sunk my very soul within me a second time.
Afterthethird shock was over, and Ifelt no more forsometime, Ibegan to takecourage; and yetIhadnotheartenoughtogoovermywallagain,forfearofbeingburiedalive,butsatstill upontheground,greatlycastdownanddisconsolate,notknowingwhattodo.AllthiswhileI had not the least serious religious thought, nothing but the common, “Lord, have mercy upon me!”
and when it was over, that went away too.
WhileIsatthus, Ifound theairovercast,andgrowcloudy,asifitwouldrain.Soonafterthat the wind rose by little and little, so that in less than half an hour it blew a most dreadful
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hurricane. The sea was all on a sudden covered over with foam and froth; the shore was covered with thebreach ofthewater; thetrees weretorn up by theroots; and aterriblestorm itwas:andthisheldaboutthreehours,andthenbegantoabate;andintwo hoursmoreitwas stark calm, and began to rain very hard.
All this while I sat upon the ground, very much terrified and dejected; when on a sudden it came into my thoughts, that these winds and rain being the consequences of the earthquake, the earthquake itself was spent and over, and I might venture into my cave again. With this thoughtmyspiritsbegantorevive;andtherainalsohelpingtopersuademe,Iwentinandsat down in my tent. But the rain was so violent that my tent was ready to be beaten down with it, and I was forced to go into my cave, though very much afraid and uneasy, for fear it should fall on my head.
This violent rain forced me to a new work, viz., to cut a hole through my new fortification, likeasink,toletthewatergoout,whichwouldelsehavedrownedmycave.AfterIhadbeen inmycavesometime,andfoundstillnomoreshocksoftheearthquake follow, Ibegantobe morecomposed.Andnowtosupportmyspirits,whichindeedwanteditverymuch, Iwentto my little store, and took a small sup of rum, which, however, I did then, and always, very sparingly, knowing I could have no more when that was gone.
It continued raining all that night and a great part of the next day, so that I could not stir abroad; but my mind being more composed, I began to think of what I had best do, concludingthatiftheislandwassubjecttotheseearthquakes,therewouldbenolivingforme in a cave, but I must consider of building me some little hut in an open place, which I might surroundwithawall,as Ihaddonehere,andsomakemyselfsecurefrom wildbeastsormen; butconcluded,ifIstayedwhere Iwas,Ishouldcertainly,onetimeoranotherbeburied alive.
With these thoughts I resolved to remove my tent from the place where it stood, which was just under the hanging precipice of the hill, and which, if it should be shaken again, would certainlyfalluponmytent;andIspentthetwonextdays,beingthe19thand20thofApril,in contriving where and how to remove my habitation.
The fear of being swallowed up alive made me that I never slept in quiet; and yet the apprehension of lying abroad without any fence was almost equal to it. But still, when I lookedaboutandsawhoweverythingwasputinorder,howpleasantlyconcealedIwas,and how safe from danger, it made me very loth to remove.
In the meantime it occurred to me that it would require a vast deal of time for me to do this, and that I must be contented to run the venture where I was, till I had formed a camp for myself,andhadsecureditsoastoremovetoit.SowiththisresolutionIcomposedmyselffor a time, and resolved that I would go to work with all speed to build me a wall with piles and cables, etc., in a circle as before, and set my tent up in it when it was finished, but that Iwould venture to stay where I was till it was finished, and fit to remove to. This was the 21st.
April 22. — The next morning I began to consider of means to put this resolve in execution; butIwasatagreatlossaboutmytools.Ihadthreelargeaxes,and abundanceofhatchets(for we carried the hatchets for traffic with the Indians), but with much chopping and cutting knotty hard wood, they were all full of notches and dull; and though I had a grindstone, I could not turn it and grind my tools too. This cost me as much thought as a statesman would have bestowed upon a grand point of politics, or a judge upon the life and death of a man. At length I contrived a wheel with a string, to turn it with my foot, that I might have both my hands at liberty. Note, I had never seen any such thing in England, or at least not to take notice how it was done, though since I have observed it is very common there; besides that,
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mygrindstonewasverylargeandheavy.Thismachinecostmeafullweek’sworktobringit to perfection.
April28,29.—Thesetwowholedays Itookup ingrindingmytools,mymachinefor turning my grindstone performing very well.
April30.—Havingperceivedmybreadhadbeen lowagreatwhile,nowItookasurveyof it, and reduced myself to one biscuit-cake a day, which made my heart very heavy.
May 1. — In the morning, looking towards the seaside, the tide being low, I saw something lie on the shore bigger than ordinary, and it looked like a cask. When I came to it, I found a small barrel, and two or three pieces of the wreck of the ship, which were driven on shore by the late hurricane; and looking towards the wreck itself, I thought it seemed to lie higher out of the water than it used to do. I examined the barrel which was driven on shore, and soon found it was abarrel ofgunpowder; but it had taken water, and thepowder was caked as hard asastone.However, Irolleditfartheronshoreforthepresent, andwentonuponthesandsas near as could to the wreck of the ship to look for more.
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6. IllAndConscience-Stricken
When Icame down to the ship I found it strangely removed. The forecastle, which lay before buried in sand, was heaved up at least six feet; and thestern, which was broken to pieces, and partedfromtherestbytheforceoftheseasoonafterIhadleftrummaging her,wastossed, as it were, up, and cast on one side, and the sand was thrown so high on that side next her stern, that whereas there was a great placeofwaterbefore, so that Icould not comewithin aquarter ofamileofthewreckwithoutswimming,Icouldnowwalkquiteuptoher whenthetidewas out. I was surprised with this at first, but soon concluded it must be done by the earthquake.
And as by this violence the ship was more broken open than formerly, so many things came dailyonshore,whichtheseahadloosened,andwhichthewindsandwaterrolledbydegrees to the land.
This wholly diverted my thoughts from the design of removing my habitation; and I busied myself mightily, that day especially, in searching whether I could make any way into the ship. But I found nothing was to be expected of that kind, for that all inside of the ship was chokedupwithsand.However, as Ihadlearnednottodespairofanything, Iresolvedtopull everything to pieces that I could of the ship, concluding that everything Icould get from her would be of some use or other to me.
May 3. — I began with my saw, and cut a piece of a beam through, which I thought held someoftheupperpartorquarter-decktogether;andwhen Ihad cutitthrough,Iclearedaway the sand as well as I could from the side which lay highest; but the tide coming in, I was obliged to give over for that time.
May4.— Iwenta-fishing,butcaughtnotonefish thatIdursteatof,till Iwaswearyofmy sport; when, just going to leave off I caught a young dolphin. I had made me a long line of somerope-yarn,but Ihadnohooks;yetIfrequentlycaughtfishenough,asmuchas Icared to eat; all which I dried in the sun, and eat them dry.
May 5. — Worked on the wreck, cut another beam asunder, and brought three great fir-planksofffromthedecks,which Itiedtogether, andmadeswimonshore, whenthetideof flood came on.
May 6. — Worked on the wreck, got several iron bolts out of her, and other pieces of ironwork;workedveryhard,andcamehomeverymuchtired,andhadthoughtsofgivingitover.
May 7. — Went to the wreck again, but with an intent not to work, but found the weight of thewreckhadbrokeitselfdown,thebeamsbeingcut;thatseveralpiecesoftheshipseemed to lie loose, and the inside of the hold lay so open that I could see into it, but almost full of water and sand.
May8.—Wenttothewreck,and carriedaniron crowtowrenchupthedeck,whichlaynow quite clear of the water or sand. Iwrenched open two planks, and brought them on shore also with the tide. I left the iron crow in the wreck for next day.
May 9. — Went to thewreck, and with thecrow madeway into thebody ofthewreck, and feltseveralcasks,andloosenedthemwiththecrow,butcouldnotbreakthemup.Ifeltalso the roll of English lead, and could stir it, but it was too heavy to remove.
May10,11,12,13,14.—Wenteverydaytothewreck, andgotagreatdealofpiecesof timber, and boards, or plank, and two or three hundredweight of iron.
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May 15. — I carried two hatchets to try if I could not cut a piece off of the roll of lead, by placingtheedgeofonehatchet,anddrivingitwiththeother;but,asitlayaboutafootanda half in the water, I could not make any blow to drive the hatchet.
May16.—Ithadblowedhardinthenight,andthewreckappearedmorebrokenbytheforce of
the
water; but Istayed so long in the woods to get pigeons for food, that the tide prevented me going to the wreck that day.
May 17. — I saw some pieces of the wreck blown on shore, at a great distance, near two milesoffme,butresolvedtoseewhattheywere, andfounditwasapieceofthehead,buttoo heavy for me to bring away.
May 24. — Every day to this day I worked on the wreck, and with hard labor I loosened some things so much with the crow that the first blowing tide several casks floated out, and two of the seamen’s chests. But the wind blowing from the shore, nothing came to land that daybutpiecesoftimber, andahogshead,whichhadsomebrazilporkinit,butthesaltwater and the sand had spoiled it.
I continued this work every day to the 15th of June, except the time necessary to get food, which I always appointed, during this part of my employment, to be when the tide was up, thatImightbereadywhenitwasebbedout.And bythistimeIhadgotten timber,andplank, and ironwork enough to have builded a good boat, if I had known how; and also, I got at several times, and in several pieces, near one hundredweight of the sheet-lead.
June 16. — Going down to the seaside, I found a large tortoise, or turtle. This was the first I hadseen,whichitseemswasonlymymisfortune,notanydefectoftheplace,orscarcity;for had Ihappenedtobeontheothersideoftheisland,Imighthavehadhundredsofthemevery day, as I found afterwards; but, perhaps, had paid dear enough for them.
June17.— Ispentincookingtheturtle.Ifoundinherthree-scoreeggs;andherfleshwasto me, at that time, the most savory and pleasant that ever I tasted in my life, having had no flesh, but of goats and fowls, since I landed in this horrid place.
June18.—Rainedallday,and Istayedwithin. Ithoughtatthistimetherainfeltcold,and I was something chilly, which I knew was not usual in that latitude.
June 19. — Very ill, and shivering, as if the weather had been cold.
June20.—Norestallnight;violentpainsinmyhead,andfeverish.
June21.—Veryill,frightedalmosttodeathwiththeapprehensionsofmysadcondition,to be sick, and no help. Prayed to God for the first time since the storm off of Hull, but scarce knew what I said, or why; my thoughts being all confused.
June 22. — A little better, but under dreadful apprehensions of sickness.
June23.—Verybadagain;coldandshivering,andthenaviolentheadache. June 24. — Much better.
June25.—Anaguevery violent;thefitheldmesevenhours;coldfit,and hot,withfaint sweats after it.
June26.—Better;andhavingnovictualstoeat,tookmygun,butfoundmyselfveryweak. However, I killed a she-goat, and with much difficulty got it home, and broiled some of it, and eat. I would fain have stewed it, and made some broth, but had no pot.
June27.—TheagueagainsoviolentthatIlayabedallday,andneithereatnordrank. Iwas ready to perish for thirst; but so weak, I had not strength to stand up, or to get myself any
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water to drink. Prayed to God again, but was light-headed; and when I was not, I was so ignorant that I knew not what to say; only I lay and cried, “Lord, look upon me! Lord, pity me! Lord, have mercy upon me!” I suppose I did nothing else for two or three hours, till the fit wearing off, I fell asleep and did not wake till far in the night. When I waked, I found myselfmuchrefreshed,butweak,andexceedinglythirsty.However,asIhadnowaterinmy whole habitation, I was forced to lie till morning, and went to sleep again. In this second sleep I had this terrible dream.
I thought that I was sitting on the ground, on the outside of my wall, where I sat when the stormblewaftertheearthquake,andthat Isawa mandescend fromagreatblackcloud,ina brightflameoffire,andlightupontheground.Hewasalloverasbrightas aflame,sothat I could but just bear to look towards him. His countenance was most inexpressibly dreadful, impossible for words to describe. When he stepped upon the ground with his feet, Ithought the earth trembled, just as it had done before in the earthquake, and all the air looked, to my apprehension, as if it had been filled with flashes of fire.
He was no sooner landed upon the earth, but he moved forward towards me, with a long spear or weapon in his hand, to kill me; and when he came to a rising ground, at some distance, he spoke to me, or I heard a voice so terrible that it is impossible to express the terrorofit.Allthat Ican say Iunderstoodwasthis:“Seeingallthesethingshavenotbrought thee to repentance, now thou shalt die;” at which words I thought he lifted up the spear that was in his hand to kill me.
No one that shall ever read this account, will expect that I should be able to describe the horrors of my soul at this terrible vision; I mean, that even while it was a dream, I even dreamedofthosehorrors;norisitanymorepossibletodescribetheimpressionthatremained upon my mind when I awaked and found it was but a dream.
I had, alas! no divine knowledge; what I had received by the good instruction of my father was then worn out, by an uninterrupted series, for eight years, of seafaring wickedness, and a constant conversation with nothing but such as were, like myself, wicked and profane to the last degree. I do not remember that Ihad, in all that time, one thought that so much as tended either to looking upwards toward God, or inwards towards a reflection upon my ways; but a certain stupidity of soul, without desire of good, or conscience of evil, had entirely overwhelmed me; and I was all that the most hardened, unthinking, wicked creature among our commonsailorscanbesupposedtobe;nothavingtheleastsense,eitherofthefearofGod,in danger, or of thankfulness to God, in deliverances.
In the relating what is already past of my story, this will be the more easily believed, when I shalladd,thatthroughallthevarietyofmiseriesthathadtothisdaybefallenme,Ineverhad so much as one thought of it being the hand of God, or that it was a just punishment for my sin; my rebellious behavior against my father, or my present sins, which were great; or so muchasapunishmentforthegeneralcourseofmywickedlife.When Iwasonthedesperate expedition on the desert shores of Africa, I never had so much as one thought of what would become of me; or one wish to God to direct me whither I should go, or to keep me from the danger which apparently surrounded me, as well from voracious creatures as cruel savages.
But I was merely thoughtless of a God or a Providence; acted like a mere brute from the principles of Nature, and by the dictates of common sense only, and indeed hardly that.
When IwasdeliveredandtakenupatseabythePortugalcaptain,wellused,anddealtjustly and honorably with, as well as charitably, I had not the least thankfulness in my thoughts.
WhenagainIwasshipwrecked, ruined,andindangerofdrowningonthis island,Iwasasfar
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fromremorse, orlookingonitasajudgment;Ionlysaidtomyselfoften,thatIwasan unfortunate dog, and born to be always miserable.
It is true, when I got on shore first here, and found all my ship’s crew drowned, and myself spared, I was surprised with a kind of ecstasy, and some transports of soul, which, had the graceofGodassisted,mighthavecomeuptotruethankfulness;butitendedwhereitbegun, in a mere common flight of joy, or, as I may say, being glad I was alive, without the least reflection upon the distinguishing goodness of the Hand which had preserved me, and had singled me out to be preserved, when all the rest were destroyed; or an inquiry why Providence had been thus merciful to me; even just the same common sort of joy which seamengenerallyhaveaftertheyaregotsafeashorefromashipwreck,whichtheydrownall in the next bowl of punch, and forget almost as soon as it is over, and all the rest of my life was like it.
Evenwhen Iwasafterwards,ondueconsideration,madesensibleofmycondition,howIwas cast on this dreadful place, out of the reach of human kind, out of all hope of relief, or prospect of redemption, as soon as I saw but a prospect of living, and that I should not starve and perish for hunger, all the sense of my affliction wore off, and I began to be very easy, applied myself to the works proper for my preservation and supply, and was far enough from being afflicted at my condition, as a judgment from heaven, or as the hand of God againstme; these were thoughts which very seldom entered my head.
The growing up of the corn, as is hinted in my journal, had at first some little influence upon me,andbegantoaffectmewithseriousness,aslongasIthoughtithadsomethingmiraculous in it; but as soon as ever that part of the thought was removed, all the impression which was raised from it wore off also, as I have noted already.
Even the earthquake, though nothing could be more terrible in its nature, or more immediately directing to the invisible Power, which alone directs such things, yet no sooner wasthefirstfrightover, buttheimpressionithadmadewentoffalso. Ihad nomoresenseof God or His judgments, much less of the present affliction of my circumstances being from His Hand, than if had been in the most prosperous condition of life.
But now, when Ibegan to be sick, and a leisurely view of the miseries of death came to place itself before me; when my spirits began to sink under the burden of a strong distemper, and Naturewasexhaustedwiththeviolenceofthefever;conscience,thathadsleptsolong,began to awake, and I began to reproach myself with my past life, in which I had so evidently, by uncommon wickedness, provoked the justice of God to lay me under uncommon strokes, and to deal with me in so vindictive a manner.
These reflections oppressed me for the second or third day of my distemper; and in the violence, as well of the fever as of the dreadful reproaches of my conscience, extorted some words from me, like praying to God, though I cannot say they were either a prayer attended with desires or with hopes; it was rather the voice of mere fright and distress. My thoughts were confused, the convictions great upon my mind, and the horror of dying in such a miserable condition, raised vapors into my head with the mere apprehensions; and in these hurriesofmysoul, Iknownotwhatmytonguemightexpress;butitwasratherexclamation, such as,
“Lord! what a miserable creature am I! If I should be sick, I shall certainly die for wantofhelp;andwhatwillbecomeofme?”Then thetearsburstoutofmy eyes,and Icould say no more for a good while.
Inthisinterval,thegoodadviceofmyfathercametomymind,andpresentlyhisprediction, which
Imentionedatthebeginningofthisstory,viz.,thatifIdidtakethisfoolishstep,God would not bless me, and I would have leisure hereafter to reflect upon having neglected his
49
counsel, when there might be none to assist in my recovery. “Now,” said I aloud, “my dear father’s words are come to pass; God’s justice has overtaken me, and I have none to help or hear me. I rejected the voice of Providence, which had mercifully put me in a posture or station of life wherein I might have been happy and easy; but I would neither see it myself norlearn to knowtheblessing ofit from my parents. Ileft them to mourn overmy folly, and now Iamlefttomournundertheconsequencesof it.Irefusedtheirhelpandassistance,who wouldhaveliftedmeintotheworld,andwouldhavemadeeverythingeasytome;andnowI have difficulties to struggle with, too great for even Nature itself to support, and no assistance, no help, no comfort, no advice.” Then I cried out, “Lord, be my help, for I am in great distress.”
Thiswasthefirstprayer, ifImaycallitso,that Ihadmadeformanyyears. ButIreturnto my journal.
June 28. — Having been somewhat refreshed with the sleep I had had, and the fit being entirely off, I got up; and though the fright and terror of my — dream was very great, yet I considered that the fit of the ague would return again the next day, and now was my time to get something to refresh and support myself when I should be ill. And the first thing I did I filled alargesquare case-bottlewith water, and set it upon my tablein reach ofmy bed; and to take off the chill or aguish disposition of the water, I put about a quarter of a pint of rum into it, and mixed them together. Then I got me a piece of the goat’s flesh, and broiled it on the coals, but could eat very little. I walked about, but was very weak, and withal very sad and heavy-hearted in the sense of my miserable condition, dreading the return of my distemper the next day. At night I made my supper of three of the turtle’s eggs, which I roastedintheashes, and eat,aswecallit,intheshell;andthiswasthefirstbitofmeatIhad ever asked God’s blessing to, even as I could remember, in my whole life.
After I had eaten, I tried to walk, but found myself so weak that I could hardly carry the gun (for I never went out without that); so I went but a little way, and sat down upon the ground, lookingoutuponthesea,whichwasjustbeforeme,andvery calmandsmooth.AsIsathere, some such thoughts as these occurred to me.
Whatisthisearthandsea,ofwhich Ihaveseensomuch?Whenceisitproduced?And what am I, and all the other creatures, wild and tame, human and brutal, whence are we? Sure we areall madeby somesecret Power, who formed theearth and sea, theairand sky. And who is that?
Then it followed most naturally, It is God that has made it all. Well, but then it came on strangely,ifGodhasmadeallthesethings,Heguidesandgovernsthemall,andallthings that concern them; for the Power that could make all things, must certainly have power to guide and direct them.
Ifso, nothing can happen in thegreat circuit ofHis works, eitherwithout His knowledgeor appointment.AndifnothinghappenswithoutHisknowledge,HeknowsthatIamhere,and am in this dreadful condition. And if nothing happens without His appointment, He has appointed all this to befall me.
Nothing occurred to my thoughts to contradict any of these conclusions; and therefore it resteduponmewiththegreaterforce,thatitmustneedsbethatGodhasappointedallthisto befall me; that I was brought to this miserable circumstance by His direction, He having the sole power, not of me only, but of everything that happened in the world. Immediately it followed, Why has God done this to me? What have I done to be thus used?
Myconsciencepresentlycheckedmeinthatinquiry,asifIhadblasphemed,andmethought it spoke to me like a voice: Wretch! dost thou ask what thou hast done? Look back upon a
50
dreadful misspent life, and ask thyself what thou hast done? Ask, why is it that thou wert not longagodestroyed?WhywertthounotdrownedinYarmouthRoads;killedinthefightwhen the ship was taken by the Sallee man-of-war; devoured by the wild beasts on the coast of Africa; or drowned here, when all the crew perished but thyself Dost thou ask, What have I done?
I was struck dumb with these reflections, as one astonished, and had not a word to say, no, nottoanswertomyself, butroseuppensiveandsad,walkedbacktomyretreat,andwentup overmy wall, as if Ihad been going to bed. But my thoughts weresadly disturbed, and Ihad no inclination to sleep; so I sat down in my chair, and lighted my lamp, for it began to be dark.
Now, as the apprehension of the return of my distemper terrified me very much, it occurred to my thought that the Brazilians take no physic but their tobacco for almost all distempers;and Ihad apieceofarolloftobaccoinoneofthechests,whichwasquitecured, and some also that was green, and not quite cured.
Iwent,directedbyHeavennodoubt;forinthischestIfoundacurebothforsoulandbody. I opened the chest, and found what I looked for, viz., the tobacco, and as the few books I had saved lay there too, Itook out one of the Bibles which Imentioned before, and which to this time I had not found leisure, or so much as inclination, to look into. I say, I took it out, and brought both that and the tobacco with me to the table.
Whatusetomakeofthetobacco Iknewnot,asto mydistemper,orwhetheritwasgoodforit or no; but I tried several experiments with it, as if I was resolved it should hit one way or other. I first took a piece of a leaf, and chewed it in my mouth, which indeed at first almost stupefied my brain, the tobacco being green and strong, and that Ihad not been much used to it. Then I took some and steeped it an hour or two in some rum, and resolved to take dose ofitwhenIlaydown.And lastly,Iburntsomeupon apanofcoals,andheld mynosecloseover the smoke of it as long as I could bear it, as well for the heat, as almost for suffocation.
Intheintervalofthisoperation, ItookuptheBible,andbegantoread,but myheadwastoo much disturbed with the tobacco to bear reading, at least that time; only having opened the book casually, the first words that occurred to me were these, “Call on Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver, and thou shalt glorify Me.”
The words were very apt to my case, and made some impression upon my thoughts at thetime of reading them, though not so much as they did afterwards; for as for being delivered, the word had no sound, as I may say, to me, the thing was so remote, so impossible in my apprehension of things, that I began to say, as the children of Israel did when they were promisedfleshtoeat,“CanGodspreadatableinthewilderness?”so Ibegantosay,CanGod Himselfdelivermefromthisplace?Andasitwasnotformanyyearsthatanyhopeappeared, thisprevailedveryoften uponmythoughts.But,however,thewordsmadeagreatimpression upon me, and I mused upon them very often.
It grew now late, and the tobacco had, as I said, dozed my head so much, that I inclined to sleep; so I left my lamp burning in the cave, lest I should want anything in the night, andwenttobed.ButbeforeIlaydown, Ididwhat Ineverhaddoneinallmylife: Ikneeleddown and prayed to God to fulfill thepromiseto me, that ifIcalled upon Him in theday oftrouble, He would deliver me. After my broken and imperfect prayer was over, I drank the rum in which I had steeped the tobacco; which was so strong and rank of the tobacco that indeed I could scarcely get it down. Immediately upon this I went to bed. I found presently it flew up in my head violently; butI fell into a sound sleep, and waked no more till, by the sun, it must necessarilybenearthreeo’clockintheafternoonthenextday.Nay,tohishourIampartlyof the opinion that I slept all the next day and night, and till almost three that day after; for
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otherwise Iknownot how Ishould loseaday out ofmy reckoning in thedays oftheweek, as itappearedsomeyearsafterhaddone. ForifIhad lostitbycrossingandrecrossingtheline, I should have lost more than one day. But certainly Ilost a day in my account, and never knew which way.
Bethat,however,onewayortheother,when Iawaked Ifoundmyselfexceedinglyrefreshed, and my spirits lively and cheerful. I got up, I was stronger than I was the day before, and my stomach better, for I was hungry; and, in short, I had no fit the next day, but continued much altered for the better. This was the 29th.
The 30th was my well day, of course, and I went abroad with my gun, but did not care to travel too far. I killed a sea-fowl or two, something like a brand-goose, and brought them home, but was not very forward to eat them; so I eat some more of the turtle’s eggs, which wereverygood.ThiseveningIrenewedthemedicine,which Ihadsupposeddidmegoodthe day before, viz., the tobacco steeped in rum; only I did not take so much as before, nor did I chew any of the leaf, or hold my head over the smoke. However, I was not so well the next day, which was the first of July, as I hoped I should have been; for I had a little spice of the cold fit, but it was not much.
July2.—Irenewedthemedicineallthethreeways;anddosedmyselfwithitasatfirst,and doubled the quantity which I drank.
July2.—Imissedthefit forgoodandall,though Ididnotrecovermyfullstrengthforsome weeks after. While I was thus gathering strength, my thoughts ran exceedingly upon this Scripture,
“I will deliver thee;” and the impossibility of my deliverance lay much upon my mind, in bar of my ever expecting it. But as Iwas discouraging myself with such thoughts, it occurredtomymindthatIporedsomuchuponmydeliverancefromthemainaffliction,that I disregarded the deliverance I had received; and I was, as it were, made to ask myself such questions as these, viz., Have Inot been delivered, and wonderfully too, from sickness?from themostdistressedconditionthatcouldbe,andthatwassofrightfultome?andwhatnoticeI had taken of it? Had Idone my part? God had delivered me, but Ihad not glorified Him; that istosay,Ihadnotownedandbeenthankfulforthatasadeliverance;and howcould Iexpect greater deliverance?
Thistouchedmyheartverymuch;andimmediatelyIkneeleddown,andgaveGodthanks aloud for my recovery from my sickness.
July 4. — In the morning I took the Bible; and beginning at the new Testament, I began seriouslytoreadit,andimposeduponmyselftoreadawhileeverymorningandeverynight, not tying myself to the number of chapters, but as long as my thoughts should engage me.
It was not long after I set seriously to this work, but I found my heart more deeply and sincerelyaffectedwiththewickednessofmypastlife.Theimpressionofmydreamrevived, and the words, “All these things have not brought thee to repentance,” ran seriously in my thought. I was earnestly begging of God to give me repentance, when it happened providentially, the very day, that, reading the I came to these words, “He is exalted a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance, and to give remission.” I threw down the book; and with my heart as well as my hands lifted up to heaven, in a kind of ecstasy of joy, I cried out aloud, “Jesus, Thou son of David! Jesus, Thou exalted Prince and Saviour, give me repentance!”
This was the first time that I could say, in the true sense of the words, that I prayed in all my life; for now I prayed with a sense of my condition, and with a true Scripture view of hope foundedontheencouragementoftheWordofGod;andfromthistime,Imaysay, Ibeganto have hope that God would hear me.
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Now Ibegan to construe the words mentioned above, “Call on Me, and I will deliver you,” in adifferentsense fromwhatIhadeverdonebefore;forthen Ihadnonotion ofanythingbeing calleddeliverancebutmybeingdeliveredfromthecaptivityIwasin;forthoughIwasindeed at large in the place, yet the island was certainly a prison to me, and that in the worst sense in the world. But now I learned to take it in another sense; now I looked back upon my past life with such horror, and my sins appeared so dreadful, that my soul sought nothing of God but deliverance from the load of guilt that bore down all my comfort. As for my solitary life, it was nothing; I did not so much as pray to be delivered from it, or think of it; it was all of no consideration, in comparison to this. And Iadd this part here, to hint to whoever shall read it, that whenever they come to a true sense of things, they will find deliverance from a sin a much greater blessing than deliverance from affliction.
Butleaving thispart, Ireturnto my journal.
My condition began now to be, though not less miserable as to my way of living, yet much easiertomymind;andmythoughtsbeingdirected,byaconstantreadingtheScripture,and prayingtoGod,tothingsofahighernature, Ihad agreatdealof comfortwithin,which,till now, I knew nothing of. Also, as my health and strength returned, I bestirred myself to furnish myself with everything that I wanted, and make my way of living as regular as I could.
From the 4th of July to the 14th I was chiefly employed in walking about with my gun in my hand, a little and a little at a time, as a man that was gathering up his strength after a fit of sickness; for it is hardly to be imagined how low I was, and to what weakness Iwas reduced.
TheapplicationwhichImadeuseofwasperfectlynew,andperhapswhathadnevercuredan ague before; neither can I recommend it to any one to practise, by this experiment; and though it did carry off the fit, yet it rather contributed to weakening me; for I had frequent convulsions in my nerves and limbs for some time.
I learnt from it also this, in particular, that being abroad in the rain season was the most pernicious thing to my health that could be, especially in those rains which came attended withstormsandhurricanesofwind;forastherain whichcameinthedryseasonwasalways mostaccompaniedwithsuchstorms,soIfoundthatrainwasmuchmoredangerousthanthe rain which fell in September and October.
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7. AgriculturalExperience
Ihadbeennowonthisunhappyislandabovetenmonths;allpossibilityofdeliverancefrom this condition seemed to be entirely taken from me; and I firmly believed that no human shape had ever set foot upon that place. Having now secured my habitation, as I thought, fully to my mind, Ihad a great desireto makeamoreperfect discovery oftheisland, and to see what other productions I might find, which I yet knew nothing of.
It was the 15th of July that Ibegan to take a more particular survey of the island itself. I went up the creek first, where, as I hinted, I brought my rafts on shore. I found, after I came about two miles up, that the tide did not flow any higher, and that it was no more than a little brook ofrunningwater,andveryfreshandgood;butthisbeingthedryseason,therewashardlyany waterin someparts ofit, atleast, notenough torun inany stream,so asit couldbeperceived.
On the bank of this brook I found many pleasant savannas or meadows, plain, smooth, and covered with grass; and on the water, as might be supposed, never overflowed, I found a greatdealoftobacco,green,andgrowingtoagreatandverystrongstalk.Therewerediverse other plants, which I had no notion of, or understanding about, and might, perhaps, have virtues of their own which I could not find out.
Isearched forthecassavaroot, which the Indians, in all that climate, make theirbread of, but I could find none. Isaw large plants of aloes, but did not then understand them. Isaw several sugar-canes, but wild, and, for want of cultivation, imperfect. I contented myself with these discoveries for this time, and came back, musing with myself what course I might take to knowthevirtueandgoodnessofanyofthefruitsorplantswhich Ishoulddiscover;butcould bring it to no conclusion; for, in short, I had made so little observation while I was in the Brazils, that I knew little of the plants in the field, at least very little that might serve me to any purpose now in my distress.
The next day, the 16th, I went up the same way again; and after going something farther than Ihadgonethedaybefore,Ifoundthebrook andthesavannasbegantocease,andthecountry became more woody than before. In this part Ifound different fruits, and particularly I found melons upon the ground in great abundance, and grapes upon the trees. The vines had spread indeed over the trees, and the clusters of grapes were just now in their prime, very ripe and rich. This was asurprising discovery, and Iwas exceeding glad ofthem; but Iwas warned by my experience to eat sparingly of them, remembering that when I was ashore in Barbary the eating of grapes killed several of our Englishmen, who were slaves there, by throwing them into fluxes and fevers. But I found an excellent use of these grapes; and that was, to cure or dry them in the sun, and keep them as dried grapes or raisins are kept, which Ithought would be, as indeed they were, as wholesome as agreeable to eat, when no grapes; might be to be had.
Ispent all that evening there, and went not back to my habitation; which, by theway, was the first night, as Imight say, Ihad lain from home. In the night, Itook my first contrivance, and got up into a tree, where I slept well; and the next morning proceeded upon my discovery, travellingnearfourmiles,as Imightjudgebythelengthofthevalley,keepingstillduenorth, with a ridge of hills on the south and north side of me.
At the end of this march I came to an opening, where the country seemed to descend to the west;andalittlespringoffreshwater, whichissuedoutofthesideofthehillbyme,ranthe other way, that is, due east; and the country appeared so fresh, so green, so flourishing,
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everythingbeinginaconstantverdureorflourishofspring,thatitlookedlikeaplanted garden.
I descended a little on the side of that delicious vale, surveying it with a secret kind of pleasure, though mixed with my other afflicting thoughts, to think that this was all my own; and Iwaskingandlordofallthiscountryindefeasibly,andhadarightofpossession;and,if I could convey it, I might have it in inheritance as completely as any lord of a manor in England. I saw here abundance of cocoa trees, orange, and lemon, and citron trees; but all wild, and very few bearing any fruit, at least not then. However, the green limes that I gathered were not only pleasant to eat, but very wholesome; and I mixed their juice afterwards with water, which made it very wholesome, and very cool and refreshing.
Ifoundnow
Ihadbusinessenoughtogatherand
carryhome;and
Iresolvedtolayupastore,
aswellofgrapesaslimesandlemonstofurnishmyselfforthewetseason,which Iknewwas
approaching.
In order to this, I gathered a great heap of grapes in one place, and a lesser heap in another place;andagreatparceloflimesandlemonsinanotherplace;andtakingafewofeachwith me, I travelled homeward; and resolved to come again, and bring a bag or sack, or what I could make, to carry the rest home.
Accordingly, having spent three days in this journey, I came home (so I must now call my tent and my cave); but before I got thither, the grapes were spoiled; the richness of the fruits, andtheweightofthejuice,havingbrokenthem andbruisedthem,theyweregoodforlittleor nothing: as to the limes, they were good, but I could bring but a few.
Thenextday,beingthe19th,Iwentback,havingmademetwosmallbags tobringhomemy harvest;butIwassurprised,when,comingtomyheapofgrapes,whichweresorichandfine when Igatheredthem, Ifoundthemallspreadabout,trodtopieces,anddraggedabout,some here, some there, and abundance eaten and devoured. By this I concluded there were some wild creatures thereabouts, which had done this; but what they were, I knew not.
However, as I found that there was no laying them up on heaps, and no carrying them awayinasack,butthatonewaytheywouldbedestroyed,andtheotherwaythey wouldbecrushed withtheirownweight, Itookanothercourse;forIgathered alargequantityofthegrapes,and hung them up upon the out-branches of the trees, that they might cure and dry in the sun; and as for the limes and lemons, I carried as many back as I could well stand under.
When I came home from this journey, I contemplated with great pleasure the fruitfulness of that valley, and the pleasantness of the situation; the security from storms on that side, the water and the wood; and concluded that I had pitched upon a place to fix my abode, which wasbyfartheworstpartofthecountry.Uponthewhole, Ibegantoconsiderofremovingmy habitation, and to look out for a place equally safe as where I now was situate, if possible, in that pleasant fruitful part of the island.
This thought ran long in my head, and I was exceeding fond of it for some time, the pleasantnessoftheplacetemptingme;butwhenIcametoanearerviewofit,andtoconsider that I was now by the seaside, where it was at least possible that something might happen to my advantage, and, by the same ill fate that brought me hither, might bring some other unhappy wretches to the same place; and though it was scarce probable that any such thing should ever happen, yet to enclose myself among the hills and woods in the centre of the island, was to anticipate my bondage, and to render such an affair not only improbable, but impossible; and that therefore I ought not by any means to remove.
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However, I was so enamored of this place that I spent much of my time there for the whole remainingpartofthemonthofJuly;andthough,uponsecondthoughts, Iresolvedasabove, not to remove, yet I built me a little kind of bower, and surrounded it at a distance with a strong fence, being a double hedge as high as I could reach, well staked, and filled between withbrushwood.AndhereIlayverysecure,sometimestwoorthreenightstogether,always going over it with a ladder, as before; so that I fancied now Ihad my country-house and my sea-coast house; and this work took me up to the beginning of August.
Ihadbutnewlyfinished myfence, andbeganto enjoymylabor,buttherainscameon,and made me stick close to my first habitation; for though I had made me a tent like the other, with a piece of a sail, and spread it very well, yet I had not the shelter of a hill to keep me from storms, nor a cave behind me to retreat into when the rains were extraordinary.
About the beginning of August, as I said, I had finished my bower, and began to enjoy myself. The 3rd of August I found the grapes I had hung up were perfectly dried, and indeed were excellent good raisins of the sun; so I began to take them down from the trees. And it was very happy that Ido so, for the rains which followed would have spoiled them, and Ihad lost the best part of my winter food; for I had above two hundred large bunches of them. No sooner had Itaken them all down, and carried most of them home to my cave, but it began to rain; and from hence, which was the 14th of August, it rained, more or less, every day till the middleofOctober, andsometimessoviolently,thatIcouldnotstiroutofmycaveforseveral days.
In this season, I was much surprised with the increase of my family. I had been much concerned for the loss of one of my cats, who run away from me, or, as I thought, had been dead, and I heard no more tale or tidings of her, still, to my astonishment, she came home about the end of August with three kittens. This was the more strange to me, because, though I had killed a wildcat, as I called it, with my gun, yet I thought it was a quite different kind from our European cats; yet the young cats were the same kind of house-breed like the old one; and both my cats being females, I thought it very strange. But from these three cats I afterwardscametobeso pesteredwithcats,that Iwasforcedtokillthemlikevermin,orwild beasts, and to drive them from my house as much as possible.
Fromthe14thofAugust tothe26th,incessantrain,sothatIcouldnotstir,andwasnowvery careful not to be much wet. In this confinement, I began to be straitened for food; but venturing out twice, I one day killed a goat, and the last day, which was the 26th, found a very largetortoise, which was atreat to me, and my food was regulated thus: Ieat abunch of raisins for my breakfast, a piece of the goat’s flesh, or of the turtle, for my dinner, broiled; for, to my great misfortune, I had no vessel to boil or stew anything; and two or three of the turtle’s eggs for my supper.
During this confinement in my cover by the rain, I worked daily two or three hours at enlargingmycave,andbydegrees workeditontowardsoneside,till Icametotheoutsideof thehill, and madeadoor, orway out, which came beyond my fenceorwall; and so Icamein and out this way. But I was not perfectly easy at lying so open; for as I had managed myself before, I was in a perfect enclosure; whereas now, I thought I lay exposed, and open for anything to come in upon me; and yet I could not perceive that there was any living thing to fear, the biggest creature that I had yet seen upon the island being a goat.
September 20. — I was now come to the unhappy anniversary of my landing. I cast up the notchesonmypost,andfound Ihadbeenonshorethreehundredandsixty-fivedays. Ikept this day as a solemn fast, setting it apart to religious exercise, prostrating myself on the ground with the most serious humiliation, confessing my sins to God, acknowledging His
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righteousjudgmentsuponme,andprayingtoHimtohavemercyonmethroughJesusChrist; and having not tasted the least refreshment for twelve hours, even till the going down of the sun, I then eat a biscuit-cake and a bunch of grapes and went to bed, finishing the day as I began it.
Ihad all this time observed no Sabbath day, for as at first Ihad no sense of religion upon my mind,Ihad, aftersometime,omittedtodistinguishtheweeks,bymakingalongernotchthan ordinaryfortheSabbath day,andsodidnotreally knowwhatanyofthedayswere.Butnow, having cast up the days, as above, I found I had been there a year, so I divided it into weeks, and set apart every seventh day for a Sabbath; though I found at the end of my account, Ihad lost a day or two in my reckoning.
Alittleafterthismyinkbegantofailme,andso Icontentedmyselftouseitmoresparingly, and to write down only the most remarkable events of my life, without continuing a daily memorandum of other things.
The rainy season and the dry season began now to appear regular to me, and I learned to divide them so as to provide for them accordingly; but I bought all my experience before I hadit,andthisIamgoingtorelatewasoneofthemostdiscouragingexperimentsthatImade at all. I have mentioned that I had saved the few ears of barley and rice, which I had so surprisingly found spring up, as I thought, of themselves, and believe there were about thirty stalks of rice, and about twenty of barley; and now I thought it a proper time to sow it after the rains, the sun being in its southern position, going from me.
Accordingly I dug up a piece of ground as well as I could with my wooden spade, and dividingitintotwoparts,Isowedmygrain;butas Iwassowingit,itcasuallyoccurredtomy thoughts that Iwould not sow it all at first, because Idid not know when was the proper time for it, so I sowed about two-thirds of the seed, leaving about a handful of each.
It was a great comfort to me afterwards that Idid so, for not one grain of that Isowed this timecametoanything,forthedrymonthsfollowing,theearthhavinghad norainafterthe seedwassown,ithadno moisturetoassistitsgrowth,andnevercameup atalltillthewet season had come again, and then it grew as if it had been but newly sown.
Finding my first seed did not grow, which I easily imagined was by the drought, I sought fora moister piece of ground to make another trial in, and I dug up a piece of ground near my newbower,andsowedtherestofmyseedinFebruary,alittlebeforethevernalequinox.And this having the rainy months of March and April to water it, sprung up very pleasantly, and yieldedaverygood crop; buthavingpartoftheseedleftonly,andnotdaringtosowallthatI had, I had but a small quantity at last, my whole crop not amounting to above half a peck of each kind.
But by this experiment Iwas made master of my business, and knew exactly when the proper season was to sow, and that I might expect two seed-times and two harvests every year.
While this corn was growing, I made a little discovery, which was of use to me afterwards.
As soon as the rains were over, and the weather began to settle, which was about the month of November, I made a visit up the country to my bower, where, though Ihad not been some months, yet I found all things just as I left them. The circle or double hedge that I had made was not only firm and entire, but the stakes which I had cut out of some trees that grew hereaboutswereallshotout,andgrownwithlongbranches,asmuchasawillow-treeusually shoots the first year after loping its head. I could not tell what tree to call it that these stakes were cut from. I was surprised, and yet very well pleased to see the young trees grow, and I prunedthem,andledthemuptogrowasmuchalikeas Icould.Anditisscarce crediblehow beautiful a figure they grew into in three years; so that though the hedge made a circle of
57
abouttwenty-fiveyardsindiameter,yetthetrees, forsuch Imightnowcallthem,soon covered it, and it was a complete shade, sufficient to lodge under all the dry season.
Thismademeresolveto cutsomemorestakes, andmakemeahedgelikethis,inasemicircle round my wall (I mean that of my first dwelling, which I did; and placing the trees or stakesin a double row, at about eight yards distance from my first fence, they grew presently, and were at first a fine cover to my habitation, and afterward served for defence also, as I shall observe in its order. I found now that the seasons of the year might generally be divided, not into summer and winter, as in Europe, but into the rainy seasons and the dry seasons; which were generally thus:
Half February, March, half April: Rainy, the sun being then on, or near the equinox.
HalfApril,May,June,July,halfAugust:Dry,thesunbeingthentothenorthoftheline. Half August, September, half October: Rainy, the sun being then come back.
HalfOctober,November,December,January,halfFebruary:Dry,thesunbeingthentothe south of the line.
The rainy season sometimes held longer or shorter as the winds happened to blow, but this wasthegeneralobservationImade.AfterIhadfoundbyexperiencetheill consequenceof being abroad in the rain, I took care to furnish myself with provisions beforehand, that I might not be obliged to go out; and I sat within doors, as much as possible during the wet months.
In this time I found much employment, and very suitable also to the time, for I found great occasion of many things which I had no way to furnish myself with but by hard labor and constant application; particularly, I tried many ways to make myself a basket; but all thetwigs I could get for the purpose proved so brittle, that they would do nothing. It proved of excellent advantage to me now, that when I was a boy Iused to take great delight in standing at a basket maker’s in the town where my father lived, to see them make their wicker-ware; andbeing,asboysusuallyare,veryofficioustohelp,andagreatobserver ofthemannerhow they work those things, and sometimes lending a hand, Ihad by this means full knowledge of the methods of it. That I wanted nothing but the materials; when it came into my mind that thetwigsofthattreefromwhenceIcutmystakesthatgrewmightpossiblybeastoughasthe sallows, and willows, and osiers in England, and I resolved to try.
Accordingly,thenextday,Iwenttomycountry-house,as Icalledit;andcuttingsomeofthe smaller twigs, I found them to my purpose as much as I could desire; whereupon I came the next time prepared with a hatchet to cut down a quantity, which I soon found, for there was great plenty of them. These Iset up to dry within my circle or hedge, and when they were fit for use, I carried them to my cave; and here during the next season I employed myself in making, as well as I could, a great many baskets, both to carry earth, or to carry or lay up anything as I had occasion. And though I did not finish them very handsomely, yet I made them sufficiently serviceable for my purpose. And thus, afterwards, I took care never to be without them; and as my wicker-ware decayed, I made more; especially I made strong deep baskets to place my corn in, instead of sacks, when Ishould come to have any quantity of it.
Having mastered this difficulty, and employed a world of time about it, Ibestirred myself to see, if possible, how to supply two wants. I had no vessels to hold anything that was liquid, except two runlets, which were almost full of rum, and some glass bottles, some of the common size, and others which were case-bottles square, for the holding of waters, spirits, etc. Ihadnotsomuch asapottoboilanythingexceptagreatkettle,which Isavedoutofthe ship,andwhichwas toobigforsuch useasIdesiredit,viz.,to makebroth,and stewabit of
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meatbyitself.ThesecondthingIwouldfainhavehadwasatobacco-pipe; butitwas impossible to me to make one. However, I found contrivance for that, too, at last.
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8. SurveysHisPosition
Iemployedmyselfinplantingmysecondrowsofstakesorpiles,andinthiswicker-working all the summer or dry season, when another business took me up more time that it could be imagined I could spare.
Imentioned before that I had a great mind to see the whole island, and that Ihad travelled up the brook, and so on to where I built my bower, and where I had an opening quite to the sea, on the other side of the island. I now resolved to travel quite across to the seashore on that side; so taking my gun, a hatchet, and my dog, and a larger quantity of powder and shot than usual, with two biscuit-cakes and a great bunch of raisins in my pouch for my store, I began myjourney.WhenIhadpassedthevalewheremybowerstood,asabove,Icamewithinview of the sea to the west; and it being a very clear day, I fairly descried land, whether an islandor a continent I could not tell; but it lay very high, extending from the west to the WSW. at a very great distance; by my guess, it could not be less than fifteen or twenty leagues off.
I could not tell what part of the world this might be, otherwise than that I know it must be part of America, and, as I concluded, by all my observations, must be near the Spanish dominions, and perhaps was all inhabited by savages, where, if I should have landed, I had been in a worse condition than I was now; and therefore I acquiesced in the dispositions of ProvidencewhichIbegannowtoownandtobelieveorderedeverythingforthebest.Isay,I quieted my mind with this, and left afflicting myself with fruitless wishes of being there.
Besides,aftersomepauseuponthisaffair, IconsideredthatifthislandwastheSpanishcoast I should certainly, one time or other, see some vessel pass or repass one way or other; but if not, then it was the savage coast between the Spanish country and Brazils, which are indeed the worst of savages; for they are cannibals or men-eaters, and fail not to murder and devour all the human bodies that fall into their hands.
With these considerations I walked very leisurely forward. I found that side of the island, whereInowwas,muchpleasanterthanmine,theopenorsavannafieldssweet,adornedwith flowers and grass, and full of very fine woods.
Isawabundanceofparrots,andfainwouldhavecaughtone,ifpossible,tohavekeptittobe tame, and taught it to speak to me. I did, after some painstaking, catch a young parrot, for I knocked it down with a stick, and having recovered it, I brought it home; but it was some years before I could make him speak. However, at last I taught him to call me by my name very familiarly.
But the accident that followed, though it be a trifle, will be very diverting in its place.
I was exceedingly diverted with this journey. I found in the low grounds bares, as I thought them to be, and foxes; but they differed greatly from all the other kinds I had met with, nor couldIsatisfymyselfto eatthem,though Ikilledseveral.But Ihadnoneedtobeventurous, for I had no want of food, and of that which was very good too; especially these three sorts, viz., goats, pigeons, and turtle, or tortoise; which, added to my grapes, Leadenhall Market could not have furnished a table better than I, in proportion to the company. And though my casewasdeplorableenough,yetIhadgreatcauseforthankfulness, andthatIwasnotdriven to any extremities for food, rather plenty, even to dainties.
I never travelled in this journey above two miles outright in a day, or thereabouts; but I took somanyturnsandreturns,toseewhatdiscoveriesIcouldmake,thatIcamewearyenoughto theplacewhere Iresolved to sit down forall night; and then Ieither reposed myselfin atree,
60
orsurroundedmyselfwitharowofstakes,setuprightintheground,eitherfromonetreeto another, or so as no wild creature could come at me without waking me.
As soon as I came to the seashore, I was surprised to see that I had taken up my lot on the worst side of the island, for here indeed the shore was covered with innumerable turtles; whereas, on the other side, I had found but three in a year and a half. Here was also an infinite number of fowls of many kinds, some which I had seen, and some which I had not seeofbefore, andmany ofthemwereverygood meat,butsuchas Iknewnotthenamesof, except those called penguins.
I could have shot as many as I pleased, but was very sparing of my powder and shot, and therefore had more mind to kill a she-goat, if I could, which I could better feed on; and though there were many goats here, more than on my side the island, yet it was with much moredifficultythat Icouldcomenearthem,thecountrybeingflatandeven,andtheysawme much sooner then when I was on the hill.
I confess this side of the country was much pleasanter than mine; but yet I had not the least inclination to remove, for as I was fixed in my habitation, it became natural to me, and I seemedallthewhile Iwasheretobe asitwereuponajourney,and fromhome.However, I travelled along the shore of the sea towards the east, Isuppose about twelve miles, and then setting up a great pole upon the shore for a mark, I concluded I would go home again; and thatthenextjourney Itookshouldbeontheothersideoftheisland,eastfrommydwelling, and so round till I came to my post again; of which in its place.
Itookanotherwaytocomebackthanthat Iwent, thinkingIcouldeasilykeepalltheisland somuchinmyviewthatIcouldnotmissfindingmyfirstdwellingbyviewingthecountry. But I found myself mistaken; for being come about two or three miles, I found myself descendedintoaverylargevalley,butsosurroundedwithhills,andthosehillcoveredwith wood, that Icould not seewhich was my way by any direction but that ofthesun, noreven then, unless I knew very well the position of the sun at that time of the day.
It happened to my farther misfortune that the weather proved hazy for three or four days while I was in this valley; and not being able to see the sun, I wandered about very uncomfortably, and at last was obliged to find out the seaside, look for my post, and come backthesamewayIwent;andthenbyeasyjourneysIturnedhomeward,theweatherbeing exceeding hot, and my gun, ammunition, hatchet, and other things very heavy.
In this journey my dog surprised a young kid, and seized upon it, and I running in to takehold of it, caught it, and saved it alive from the dog. I had a great mind to bring it home if I could,forIhadoftenbeenmusingwhetheritmightnotbepossibletogetakidortwo,andso raise a breed of tame goats, which might supply me when my powder and shot should be all spent.
I made a collar to this little creature, and with a string, which I made of some rope-yarn, which Ialways carriedaboutme,Iledhimalong, thoughwithsomedifficulty,tillIcameto my bower, and there I enclosed him and left him, for I was very impatient to be at home, from whence I had been absent above a month.
I cannot express what a satisfaction it was to me to come into my old hutch, and lie down in my hammock-bed. This little wandering journey, without settled place of abode, had been so unpleasant to me, that my own house, as I called it to myself, was a perfect settlement to me comparedtothat;anditrenderedeverythingaboutmesocomfortable,thatIresolvedIwould never go a great way from it again, while it should be my lot to stay on the island.
61
I reposed myself here a week, to rest and regale myself after my long journey; during which most of the time was taken up in the weighty affair of making a cage for my Poll, who began now to be a mere domestic, and to be mighty well acquainted with me. Then Ibegan to think of the poor kid which I had penned in within my little circle, and resolved to go and fetch it home, or give it some food. Accordingly I went, and found it where I left it, for indeed it couldnotgetout,butalmoststarvedforwantoffood. Iwentoutand cutboughsoftrees,and branches of such shrubs as I could find, and threw it over, and having fed it, I tied it as I did before, to lead it away; but it was so tame with being hungry, that I had no need to have tied it,foritfollowedmelikeadog.Andas Icontinuallyfedit,thecreaturebecamesoloving,so gentle,andsofond,thatitbecamefromthattimeoneofmydomesticsalso,andwouldnever leave me afterwards.
Therainyseasonoftheautumnalequinoxwasnowcome,and Ikeptthe30thofSeptemberin the same solemn manner as before, being the anniversary of my landing on the island, having now been there two years, and no more prospect of being delivered than the first day I came there.
Ispent the wholeday in humbleand thankful acknowledgments ofthemany wonderful mercies which my solitary condition was attended with, and without which it might havebeeninfinitelymoremiserable.IgavehumbleandheartythanksthatGodhadbeenpleasedto discovertomeeventhat itwaspossibleImightbemorehappyinthissolitarycondition,than I should have been in a liberty of society, and in all the pleasures of the world; that He could fully make up to me the deficiences of my solitary state, and the want of human society, by His presence, and the communication of His grace to my soul, supporting, comforting, and encouraging me to depend upon His providence here, and hope for His eternal presence hereafter.
It was now that I began sensibly to feel how much more happy this life I now led was, with allitsmiserablecircumstances,thanthewicked,cursed,abominablelifeIledallthepastpart of my days. And now I changed both my sorrows and my joys; my very desires altered, my affections changed their gusts, and my delights were perfectIy new from what they were at my first coming, or indeed for the two years past.
Before, as I walked about, either on my hunting, or for viewing the country, the anguish of my soul at my condition would break out upon me on a sudden, and my very heart would die within me, to think of the woods, the mountains, the deserts I was in, and how I was a prisoner, locked up with the eternal bars and bolts of the ocean, in an uninhibited wilderness, without redemption. In the midst of the greatest composures of my mind, this would breakout upon me like a storm, and make me wring my hands and weep like a child. Sometimes it would take me in the middle of my work, and I would immediately sit down and sigh, and lookuponthegroundforanhourortwotogether;andthiswasstillworsetome,forifIcould burst out into tears, or vent myself by words, it would go off, and the grief, having exhausted itself, would abate.
But now I began to exercise myself with new thoughts. I daily read the Word of God, and applied all the comforts of it to my present state. One morning, being very sad, I opened the Bible upon these words, “I will never, never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Immediately it occurredthatthesewordsweretome;why elseshouldtheybedirectedin suchamanner,just at the moment when I was mourning over my condition, as one forsake of God and man? “Well, then,” said I, “if God does not forsake me, of what ill consequence can it be, or what matters it, though the world should all forsake me, seeing on the other hand, if I had all the world, and should lose the favor and blessing of God, there would be no comparison in the loss?”
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From this moment I began to conclude in my mind that it was possible for me to be more happy in this forsaken solitary condition, that it was probable I should ever have been in any otherparticularstateintheworld,andwiththisthoughtIwasgoingtogivethankstoGodfor bringing me to this place.
Iknownotwhatitwas,butsomethingshockedmymindatthatthought,andIdurstnotspeak the words.
“How canst thou be such a hypocrite,” said I, even audibly, “to pretend to be thankful for a condition which, however thou mayest endeavor to be contented with, thou wouldest rather pray heartily to be delivered from?” So I stopped there; but though I couldnot say I thanked God for being there, yet I sincerely gave thanks to God for opening my eyes,bywhateverafflictingprovidences,toseetheformerconditionofmylife,andtomourn for my wickedness, and repent. I never opened the Bible, or shut it, but my very soul within me blessed God for directing my friend in England, without any order of mine, to pack it up among my goods, and for assisting me afterwards to save it out of the wreck of the ship.
Thus, and in this disposition of mind, I began my third year; and though I have not given the reader the trouble of so particular account of my works this year as the first, yet in general it may be observed, that I was very seldom idle, but having regularly divided my time, according to the several daily employments that were before me, such as, first my duty to God, and the reading the Scriptures, which I constantly set apart some time for, thrice every day; secondly, the going abroad with my gun for food, which generally took me up three hours in every morning, when it did not rain; thirdly, the ordering, curing, preserving, and cookingwhat Ihadkilled orcatchedformysupply;thesetookupgreatpartoftheday;alsoit is to be considered that the middle of the day, when the sun was in the zenith, the violence of the heat was too great to stir out; so that about four hours in the evening was all the time I could be supposed to work in, with this exception, that sometimes I changed my hours of hunting and working, and went to work in the morning, and abroad with my gun in the afternoon.
To this short time allowed for labor, desire may be added the exceeding laboriousness of my work; the many hours which, for want of tools, want of help, and want of skill, everything I didtookupoutofmytime.Forexample, Iwasfulltwoandfortydaysmakingmeaboard for a long shelf, which I wanted in my cave; whereas two sawyers, with their tools and a saw-pit, would have cut six of them out of the same tree in half a day.
My case was this: it was to be a large tree which was to be cut down, because my board was to be a broad one. This tree I was three days a-cutting down, and two more cutting off the boughs,andreducingittoalog,orpieceoftimber.Withinexpressiblehackingandhewing, I reduced both sides of it into chips till it begun to be light enough to move; then I turned it, and made one side of it smooth and flat as a board from end to end; then turning that side downward, cut the other side, till I brought the plank to be about three inches thick, and smooth on both sides. Any one may judge the labor of my hands in such a piece of work; but labor and patience carried me through that, and many other things. I only observe this in particular, to show the reason why so much of my time went away with so little work, viz., that what might be a little to be done with help and tools, was a vast labor, and required a prodigious time to do alone, and by hand. But not withstanding this, with patience and labor, I went through many things, and, indeed, everything that my circumstances made necessary to me to do, as will appear by what follows.
I was now, in the months of November and December, expecting my crop of barley and rice.
The ground I had manured or dug up for them was not great; for as I observed, my seed of eachwasnotabovethequantityofhalfapeck;forIhadlostonewholecropbysowinginthe dry season.
But now my crop promised very well, when on a sudden I found I was in danger
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oflosingitallagainbyenemiesofseveralsorts, whichitwasscarcepossibletokeepfromit; as, first the goats and wild creatures which I called hares, who, tasting the sweetness of the blade, lay in it night and day, as soon as it came up, and eat it so close, that it could get no time to shoot up into stalk.
ThisIsawnoremedyfor butbymakinganenclosureaboutitwithahedge, which Ididwith agreat deal oftoil, and themore, becauseit required speed. However, as my arableland was small, suited to my crop, Igot it totally well fenced in about three weeks’ time, and shooting some of the creatures in the daytime, I set my dog to guard it in the night, tying him up to a stakeatthegate, wherehewouldstandandbarkallnightlong;soinalittletimetheenemies forsook the place, and the corn grew very strong and well, and began to ripen apace.
Butasthebeastsruined mebeforewhilemycorn wasintheblade,sothebirdswereaslikely to ruin me now when it was in the ear; for going along by the place to see how it throve, I saw my little crop surrounded with fowls, of I know not how many sorts, who stood, as it were, watching till I should be gone. I immediately let fly among them, for I always had my gun with me. I had no sooner shot, but there rose up a little cloud of fowls, which I had not seen at all, from among the corn itself.
This touched me sensibly, for I foresaw that in a few days they would devour all my hopes, that I should be starved, and never be able to raise a crop at all, and what to do I could not tell. However, I resolved not to lose my corn, if possible, though Ishould watch it night and day.Inthefirstplace,Iwentamongittoseewhatdamagewasalreadydone,andfoundthey had spoiled a good deal of it; but that as it was yet too green for them, the loss was not so great but that the remainder was like to be a good crop if it could be saved.
I stayed by it to load my gun, and then coming away, I could easily see the thieves sitting uponallthetreesabout me,asiftheyonlywaitedtillIwasgone away. Andtheeventproved it to be so; for as I walked off, as if I was gone, I was no sooner out of their sight but they dropped down, one by one, into the corn again. I was so provoked, that I could not have patience to stay till more came on, knowing that every grain that they eat now was, as itmight be said, a peck-loaf to me in the consequence; but coming up to the hedge, I fired again, and killed three of them. This was what I wished for; so I took them up, and served them as we serve notorious thieves in England, viz., hanged them in chains, for a terror to others.
Itisimpossibletoimaginealmostthatthisshouldhavesuchan effectasithad,forthe fowls would not only not come at the corn, but, in short, they forsook all that part of the island, and I could never see a bird near the place as long as my scare-crows hung there.
ThisIwasverygladof, youmaybesure;and aboutthelatterendofDecember,whichwas our second harvest of the year, I reaped my crop.
Iwas sadly put to it fora scytheorasickleto cut it down, and all Icould do was to makeone as well as I could out of one of the broadswords, or cutlasses, which I saved among the arms out of the ship. However, as my first crop of corn was but small, I had no great difficulty to cutitdown;inshort,Ireapeditmyway,forIcut nothingoffbuttheears, andcarrieditaway in a great basket which I had made, and so rubbed it out with my hands; and at the end of all my harvesting, I found that out of my half peck of seed I had near two bushels of rice, and above two bushels and a half of barley, that is to say, by my guess, for I had no measure at that time.
However, this was a great encouragement to me, and I foresaw that, in time, it would please Godtosupplymewithbread.AndyethereIwasperplexed again,forIneitherknewhowto
grind
ormakemeal ofmy corn, orindeed howto clean it and part it; nor, ifmadeinto meal, how to make bread of it, and if how to make it, yet I knew not how to bake it. These things
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beingaddedtomydesireofhavingagoodquantityforstore,andtosecureaconstantsupply, I resolved not to taste any of this crop, but to preserve it all for seed against the next season, and, in the meantime, to employ all my study and hours of working to accomplish this great work of providing myself with corn and bread.
It might be truly said, that now I worked for my bread. ’Tis a little wonderful, and what I believefewpeoplehavethoughtupon,viz.,thestrangemultitudeoflittlethingsnecessaryin the providing, producing, curing, dressing, making, and finishing this one article of bread.
I,thatwasreducedtoamerestateofnature,foundthistomydailydiscouragement,andwas made more and more sensible of it every hour, even after I had got the first handful of seedcorn, which, as I have said, came up unexpectedly, and indeed, to a surprise.
First, Ihadnoploughtoturnuptheearth,nospadeorshoveltodigit.Well,thisIconquered by making a wooden spade, as I observed before, but this did my work in but a wooden manner; and though it cost meagreat many days to makeit, yet, forwant ofiron, it not only wore out the sooner, but made my work the harder, and made it be performed much worse.
However, this I bore with, and was content to work it out with patience, and bear with the badnessoftheperformance.Whenthecorn wassowed, Ihadnoharrow,butwasforcedtogo overitmyself,anddragagreatheavyboughofatreeoverit,toscratchit,asitmaybecalled, rather than rake or harrow it.
Whenitwasgrowing andgrown, Ihaveobserved alreadyhowmanythingsIwantedtofence it, secure it, mow or reap it, cure and carry it home, thrash, part it from the chaff, and save it.
Then Iwanted a mill to grind it, sieves to dress it, yeast and salt to make it into bread, and an oven to bake it, and yet all these things I did without, as shall be observed; and yet the corn was an inestimable comfort and advantage to me too. All this, as I said, made everything laboriousandtedioustome,butthattherewasno helpfor;neitherwasmy timesomuchloss to me, because, as I had divided it, a certain part of it was every day appointed to these works,andas Iresolvedtousenoneofthecornforbreadtill Ihad agreaterquantitybyme,I had the next six months to apply myself wholly, by labor and invention, to furnish myself with utensils proper for the performing all the operations necessary for the making the corn, when I had it, fit for my use.
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9. ABoat
But first I was to prepare more land, for I had now seed enough to sow above an acre of ground. Before I did this, I had a week’s work at least to make me a spade, which, when it was done, was but a sorry one indeed, and very heavy, and required double labor to workwith it. However, I went through that, and sowed my seed in two large flat pieces of ground, as nearmy houseas Icould find them to my mind, and fenced them in with agood hedge, the stakes of which were all cut of that wood which I had set before, and knew it would grow; so thatinoneyear’stimeIknewIshouldhaveaquickorlivinghedge,thatwouldwantbutlittle repair.
This work was not so little as to take me up less than three months, because great part of that time was of the wet season, when I could not go abroad.
Within doors, that is, when it rained, and I could not go out, I found employment on the following occasions; always observing, that all the while I was at work, I diverted myselfwith talking to my parrot, and teaching him to speak, and I quickly learned him to know his ownname,and atlasttospeakitoutprettyloud,“Poll,”whichwasthefirst word Ieverheard spoken in the island by any mouth but my own. This, therefore, was not my work, but an assistanttomywork;fornow,as Isaid, Ihadagreatemploymentuponmyhands,asfollows, viz., I had long studied, by some means or other, to make myself some earthern vessels, which indeed I wanted sorely, but knew not where to come at them. However, consideringthe heat of the climate, I did not doubt but if I could find out any such clay, I might botch up some such a pot as might, being dried in the sun, be hard enough and strong enough to bear handling, and to hold anything that was dry, and required to be kept so; and as this was necessary in the preparing corn, meal, etc., which was the thing I was upon, I resolved to make some as large as I could, and fit only to stand like jars, to hold what should be put into them.
It would make the reader pity me, or rather laugh at me, to tell how many awkward ways I took to raise this paste; what odd, misshapen, ugly things Imade; how many of them fell in, and how many fell out, the clay not being stiff enough to bear its own weight; how many cracked by the over-violent heat of the sun, being set out too hastily; and how many fell in pieceswithonlyremoving,aswellbeforeasaftertheyweredried;and,inaword,how,after having labored hard to find the clay, to dig it, to temper it, to bring it home, and work it, I could not make above two large earthen ugly things (I cannot call them jars) in about two months’
labor.
However, as the sun baked these two very dry and hard, Ilifted them very gently up, and set them down again in two great wicker baskets, which I had made on purpose for them, that theymightnotbreak;andasbetweenthepotand thebaskettherewasalittleroomtospare, I stuffed it full of the rice and barley straw, and these two pots being to stand always dry, I thought would hold my dry corn, and perhaps the meal, when the corn was bruised.
Though I miscarried so much in my design for large pots, yet I made several smaller things withbettersuccess;suchaslittleroundpots,flatdishes,pitchers,andpipkins,andanythings my hand turned to; and the heat of the sun baked them strangely hard. But all this would not answer my end, which was to get an earthen pot to hold what was liquid, and bear the fire, which none of these could do. It happened after some time, making a pretty large fire for cookingmymeat,when Iwenttoputitoutafter Ihaddonewithit,Ifound abrokenpieceof one of my earthenware vessels in the fire, burnt as hard as a stone, and red as a tile. I was
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agreeablysurprisedtoseeit,andsaidtomyself,thatcertainlytheymightbemadetoburn whole, if they would burn broken.
This set me to studying how to order my fire, so as to make it burn me some pots. I had no notion of a kiln, such as the potters burn in, or of glazing them with lead, though I had some lead to do it with; but I placed three large pigskins, and two or three pots in a pile, one upon another, and placed my firewood all round it, with agreat heap of embers underthem. Iplied the fire with fresh fuel round the outside, and upon the top, till Isaw the pots in the inside re-hotquitethrough,andobservedthattheydidnotcrackat all.When Isawthemclearred, Ilet them stand in that heat about five or six hours, till I found one of them, though it did not crack, did melt or run, for the sand which was mixed with the clay melted by the violence of the heat, and would have run into glass, if I had gone on; so I slacked my fire gradually till the pots began to abate of the red color; and watching them all night, that I might not let the fire abate too fast, in the morning I had three very good, I will not say handsome, pigskins, and two other earthen pots, as hard burnt as could be desired, and one of them perfectly glazed with the running of the sand.
After this experiment, I need not say that I wanted no sort of earthenware for my use; but I mustneedssay,astotheshapesofthem,theywereveryindifferent,asanyonemaysuppose, when I had no way of making them but as the children make dirt pies, or as a woman would make pies that had never learned to raise paste.
No joy at a thing of so mean a nature was ever equal to mine, when I found I had made an earthen pot that would bear the fire; and I had hardly patience to stay till they were cold, beforeIsetoneuponthefireagain,withsomewaterinit,toboilmesomemeat,whichitdid admirably well; and with a piece of a kid I made some very good broth, though I wanted oatmeal and several other ingredients requisite to make it so good as I would have had it been.
My next concern was to get me a stone mortar to stamp or beat some corn in; for as to the mill, there was no thought at arriving to that perfection of art with one pair of hands. To supply this want I was at a great loss; for, of all trades in the world, I was as perfectly unqualified for a stone-cutter as for any whatever; neither had I any tools to go about it with.I spent many a day to find out a great stone big enough to cut hollow, and make fit for a mortar, and could find noneat all, except what was in thesolid rock, and which Ihad no way to dig or cut out; nor, indeed, were the rocks in the island of hardness sufficient, but were all of a sandy crumbling stone, which neither would bear the weight of a heavy pestle, or would breakthecornwithoutfillingitwithsand.So,afteragreatdealoftimelost insearchingfora stone, I gave it over, and resolved to look out for a great block of hard wood, which I found indeedmucheasier;and gettingoneasbigas Ihadstrengthtostir,Iroundedit,andformedit in the outside with my axe and hatchet, and then, with the help of fire, and infinite labor, made a hollow place in it, as the Indians in Brazil make their canoes. After this, I made a great heavy pestle, or beater, of the wood called the iron-wood; and this I prepared and laid by against I had my next crop of corn, when I proposed to myself to grind, or rather pound, my corn into meal, to make my bread.
My next difficulty was to make a sieve, or search, to dress my meal, and to part it from the bran and the husk, without which I did not see it possible I could have any bread. This was a mostdifficultthing,somuchasbuttothinkon,fortobesureIhadnothinglikethenecessary thing to make it; I mean fine thin canvas or stuff, to search the meal through. And here I was at a full stop for many months, nor did I really know what to do; linen I had none left, but whatwasmererags; Ihadgoats’-hair,butneitherknewIhowtoweaveitorspinit;andhadI known how, here was no tools to work it with. All the remedy that I found for this was, that
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at last I did remember I had, among the seamen’s clothes which were saved out of the ship, someneckclothsofcalicoormuslin;andwithsomepiecesoftheseImadethreesmallsieves, butproperenough forthe work;andthus Imadeshiftforsomeyears.How Ididafterwards, I shall show in its place.
The baking part was the next thing to be considered, and how I should make bread when I came to have corn; for, first, I had no yeast. As to that part, as there was no supplying the want, so Idid not concern myself much about it; but for an oven I was indeed in great pain.
At length I found out an experiment for that also, which was this: I made some earthen vessels very broad, but not deep, that is to say, about two feet diameter, and not above nine inchesdeep;theseIburnedinthefire, as Ihaddonetheother,andlaidthemby;andwhen I wanted to bake, I made a great fire upon my hearth, which I had paved with some square tiles, of my own making and burning also; but I should not call them square.
When the firewood was burned pretty much into embers, or live coals, I drew them forward upon this hearth, so as to cover it all over, and there Ilet them lie till the hearth was very hot; then sweeping away all the embers, I set down my loaf, or loaves, and whelming down the earthenpotuponthem,drewtheembersallround theoutsideofthepot,tokeepinandaddto the heat.
And thus, as well as in the best oven in the world, I baked my barley-loaves, and became; in a little time, a mere pastry-cook into the bargain; for Imade myself several cakes of the rice, and puddings; indeed, I made no pies, neither had I anything to put into them, supposing I had, except the flesh either of fowls or goats.
It need not be wondered at, if all these things took me up most part of the third year of my abodehere; forit is to be observed, that in theintervals ofthesethings Ihad my newharvest andhusbandrytomanage;forIreapedmycornin itsseason,andcarriedit homeaswellas I could, and laid it up in the ear, in my large baskets, till I had time to rub it out, for I had no floor to thrash it on, or instrument to thrash it with.
And now, indeed, my stock of corn increasing, I really wanted to build my barns bigger. I wantedaplacetolayitupin,fortheincreaseofthecornnowyieldedme somuchthatIhad of the barley about twenty bushels, and of the rice as much, or more, insomuch that now I resolved to begin to use it freely; for my bread had been quite gone a great while; also, I resolvedtoseewhatquantitywouldbesufficientformeawholeyear,and tosowbutoncea year.
Uponthewhole,IfoundthatthefortybushelsofbarleyandricewasmuchmorethanIcould consume in a year; so I resolved to sow just the same quantity every year that I sowed the last, in hopes that such a quantity would fully provide me with bread, etc.
All thewhilethesethings weredoing, you may be suremy thoughts run many times upon the prospect of land which I had seen from the other side of the island, and I was not without secretwishesthatIwereonshorethere,fancyingtheseeingthemainland,andinaninhabited country, I might find some way or other to convey myself farther, and perhaps at last find some means of escape.
But all this while I made no allowance for the dangers of such a condition, and how I might fallintothehandsofsavages,andperhapssuch asImighthavereasontothinkfarworsethan the lions and tigers of Africa; that if Ionce came into their power, Ishould run a hazard more than a thousand to one of being killed, and perhaps of being eaten; for I had heard that the people of the Caribbean coasts were cannibals, or maneaters, and Iknew by the latitude that I could not be far off from that shore. That supposed they were not cannibals, yet that they might kill me, as many Europeans who had fallen into their hands had been served, even when they had been often or twenty together, much more I, that was but one, and could make
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little or no defence; all these things, I say, which I ought to have considered well of, and did castupinmythoughtsafterwards,yettookupnoneofmyapprehensionsatfirst,butmyhead ran mightily upon the thought of getting over to the shore.
Now I wished for my boy Xury, and the longboat with the shoulder-of-mutton sail, with which I sailed above a thousand miles on the coast of Africa; but this was in vain. Then I thought Iwould go and look at our ship’s boat, which, as Ihave said, was blown up upon the shore a great way, in the storm, when we were first cast away. She lay almost where she did atfirst,butnotquite;andwasturned,bytheforceofthewaves andthewinds,almostbottom side upward, against a high ridge of beachy rough sand, but no water about her, as before.
If I had had hands to have refitted her, and to have launched her into the water, the boat would have done well enough, and I might have gone back into the Brazils with her easily enough;butImighthaveforeseenthat Icouldno moreturnherandsetheruprightuponher bottom, that I could remove the island. However, I went to the woods, and cut levers and rollers, and brought them to the boat, resolved to try what I could do; suggesting to myself that if I could but turn her down, Imight easily repair the damage she had received, and she would be a very good boat, and I might go to sea in her very easily.
Ispared no pains, indeed, in this piece of fruitless toil, and spent, Ithink, three of four weeks about it. At last finding it impossible to heave it up with my little strength, I fell to digging awaythesand,toundermineit,andsomakeitfalldown,settingpiecesofwoodtothrustand guide it right in the fall. But when I had done this, I was unable to stir it up again, or to get underit,muchlesstomoveitforwardtowardsthe water;so Iwasforcedto giveitover.And yet, though I gave over the hopes of the boat, my desire to venture over for the main increased, rather than decreased, as the means for it seemed impossible.
This at length put me upon thinking whether it was not possible to make myself a canoe, or periagua, such as the natives of those climates make, even without tools, or, as I might say, without hands, viz., ofthetrunk ofagreat tree. This Inot only thought possiblebut easy, and pleased myself extremely with the thoughts of making it, and with my having much more convenience for it than any of the negroes or Indians; but not at all considering the particular inconveniences which I lay under more than the Indians did, viz., want of hands to move it, when it was made, into the water, a difficulty much harder for me to surmount than all the consequences of want of tools could be to them. For what was it to me, that when I had chosen a vast tree in the woods, I might with much trouble cut it down, if, after I might be ablewithmytoolstohewanddubtheoutsideintothepropershapeofaboat,andburnorcut outtheinsidetomakeithollow,sotomakeaboatofit;if,afterthis, Imustleaveitjustthere where I found it, and was not able to launch it into the water?
One would have thought I could not have had the least reflection upon my mind of my circumstance while I was making this boat, but I should have immediately thought how I shouldgetitintothesea;butmythoughtsweresointentuponmyvoyageovertheseainit, that I never once considered how I should get it off the land; and it was really, in its own nature, more easy for me to guide it over forty-five miles of sea, than about forty-five fathoms of land, where it lay, to set it afloat in the water.
I went to work upon this boat the most like a fool that ever man did who had any of his sensesawake. Ipleased myselfwiththedesign,withoutdeterminingwhetherIwas everable toundertakeit.Notbutthatthedifficultyoflaunchingmyboatcameoften intomyhead;but I put a stop to my own inquiries into it, by this foolish answer which I gave myself, “Let’s first make it; I’ll warrant I’ll find some way or other to get it along when ’t is done.”
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This was amost preposterous method; but theeagerness ofmy fancy prevailed, and to work I went. I felled a cedar tree: I questioned much whether Solomon ever had such a one for the building of the Temple at Jerusalem. It was five feet often inches diameter at the lower part next the stump, and four feet eleven inches diameter at the end of twenty-two feet, afterwhich it lessened for awhile, and then parted into branches. It was not without infinite labor thatIfelledthistree. Iwastwentydayshackingandhewingatitatthebottom;Iwas fourteen moregetting thebranches and limbs, and thevast spreading head ofit cut off, which Ihacked and hewed through with axe and hatchet, and inexpressible labor. After this, it cost me a monthtoshapeitanddubittoaproportion,andtosomethinglikethebottomofaboat,thatit might swim upright as it ought to do. It cost me near three months more to clear the inside, and work it so as to make an exact boat of it. This I did, indeed, without fire, by mere mallet and chisel, and by the dint of hard labor, till Ihad brought it to be a very handsome periagua, and big enough to have carried six and twenty men, and consequently big enough to have carried me and my cargo.
When I had, gone through this work, I was extremely delighted with it. The boat was really muchbiggerthan Ieversawacanoeorperiagua,thatwasmadeofonetree, inmylife.Many a weary stroke it had cost, you may be sure; and there remained nothing but to get it into the water; and.had I gotten it into the water, I made no question but I should have begun the maddest voyage, and the most unlikely to be performed, that ever was undertaken.
But all my devices to get it into the water failed me, they cost me infinite labor, too. It lay aboutonehundredyardsfromthewater,andnotmore;butthefirstinconveniencewas,itwas uphill towards the creek. Well, to take away this discouragement, I resolved to dig into the surfaceofthe earth, and so makeadeclivity. This Ibegan, and it cost me a prodigious deal of pains; but who grudges pains, that have their deliverance in view? But when this was worked through, and this difficulty managed, it was still much at one, for I could no more stir the canoe than I could the other boat.
Thenmeasuredthedistanceofground, andresolvedtocutadockorcanal,tobringthewater up to the canoe, seeing I could not bring the canoe down to the water. Well, I began this work; and when I began to enter into it, and calculate how deep it was to be dug, how broad, howthestuffto bethrown out, Ifound that by the numberofhands Ihad, being nonebut my own,itmusthavebeenoftenortwelveyearsbeforeshouldhavegonethroughwithit;forthe shore lay high, so that at the upper end it must have been at least twenty feet deep; so at length, though with great reluctancy, I gave this attempt over also.
This grieved me heartily; and now I saw, though too late, the folly of beginning a work beforewecountthecost,and,beforewejudgerightlyofourownstrengthtogothroughwith it.
In the middle of this work I finished my fourth year in this place, and kept my anniversary with the same devotion, and with as much comfort as ever before; for, by a constant studyand serious application of the Word of God, and by the assistance of His grace, I gained a differentknowledgefromwhatIhadbefore. Ientertaineddifferentnotionsofthings.Ilooked now upon the world as a thing remote, which I had nothing to do with, no expectation from, and, indeed, no desires about. In a word, Ihad nothing indeed to do with it, nor was ever like tohave;so Ithoughtitlooked,aswemayperhaps lookuponithereafter,viz.,asaplaceIhad lived in, but was come out of it; and well might I say, as father Abraham to Dives, “Between me and thee is a great gulf fixed.”
Inthefirstplace, Iwas removedfromallthewickednessoftheworldhere. Ihadneitherthe lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or the pride of life. I had nothing to covet, for I had all
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that I was now capable of enjoying. I was lord of the whole manor; or, if I pleased, I might call myselfking oremperoroverthe wholecountry which Ihad possession of. There wereno rivals: I had no competitor, none to dispute sovereignty or command with me. I might have raised ship-loadings of corn, but I had no use for it; so I let as little grow as I thought enough for my occasion. I had tortoise or turtles enough, but now and then one was as much as I couldputtoanyuse. Ihadtimberenoughtohavebuiltafleetofships. Ihadgrapesenoughto have made wine, or to have cured into raisins, to have loaded that fleet when they had been built.
But all I could make use of was all that was valuable. I had enough to eat and to supply my wants, and what was all the rest to me? If I killed more flesh than I could eat, the dog must eatit,orthevermin. IfIsowedmorecornthan Icouldeat,itmustbespoiled.Thetreesthat I cut down were lying to rot on the ground; I could make no more use of them than for fuel, and that I had no occasion for but to dress my food.
In aword,thenature and experienceofthingsdictatedtome,uponjustreflection,thatallthe good things of this world are no farther good to us than they are for our use; and that whateverwemayheapupindeedtogiveothers, weenjoyjustasmuchas wecanuse,andno more.
The most covetous griping miser in the world would have been cured of the vice of covetousness, if he had been in my case; for I possessed infinitely more than I knew what to do with. I had no room for desire, except it was of things which I had not, and they were but trifles, through indeed of great useto me. Ihad, as Ihinted before, aparcel ofmoney, as well gold as silver, about thirty-six pounds sterling. Alas! There the nasty, sorry, useless stuff lay; Ihad no mannerofbusiness forit; and Ioften thought with myself, that Iwould havegiven a handful of it for a gross of tobacco-pipes, or for a hand-mill to grind my corn; nay, I would havegivenitallforsixpenny-worthofturnipand carrotseedoutofEngland,orforahandful ofpeasandbeans, andabottleofink.Asitwas,Ihadnottheleastadvantagebyit,orbenefit from it; but there it lay in a drawer, and grew mouldy with the damp of the cave in the wet season; and if Ihad had the drawer full of diamonds, it had been the same case, and they had been of no manner of value to me because of no use.
I had now brought my state of life to be much easier in itself than it was at first, and much easier to my mind, as well as to my body. I frequently sat down to my meat with thankfulness, and admired the hand of God’s providence, which had thus spread my table in thewilderness. Ilearned tolookmoreuponthebrightsideofmycondition,andlessuponthe dark side, and to consider what I enjoyed, rather than what I wanted; and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts, that I cannot express them; and which I take notice of here, to put those discontented people in mind of it, who cannot enjoy comfortably what God has given them, because they see and covet something that He has not given them. All our discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.
Another reflection was of great use to me, and doubtless would be so to any that should fall into such distress as minewas; and this was, to comparemy present condition with what Iat first expected it should be; nay, with what it would certainly have been, if the good providence of God had not wonderfully ordered the ship to be cast up nearer to the shore; whereInotonlycouldcomeather,butcouldbringwhat Igotoutofhertotheshore,formy relief and comfort; without which I had wanted for tools to work, weapons for defence, or gunpowder and shot for getting my food.
I spent whole hours, I may say whole days, in representing to myself, in the most lively colors,howImusthaveactedifIhadgotnothingoutoftheship.HowIcouldnothaveso muchasgotanyfood,exceptfishandturtles;andthatasitwaslongbefore Ifoundany of
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them, I must have perished first; that I should have lived, if I had not perished, like a mere savage; that if Ihad killed a goat or a fowl, by any contrivance, I had no way to flay or open them,orparttheflesh fromtheskinandthebowels,ortocutitup;butmustgnawitwithmy teeth, and pull it with my claws, like a beast.
These reflections made me very sensible of the goodness of Providence to me, and very thankfulformypresentcondition,withallitshardshipsandmisfortunes;andthispartalsoI cannot but recommend to the reflection of those who are apt, in their misery, to say, Is any affliction like mine? Let them consider how much worse the cases of some people are, and their case might have been, if Providence had thought fit.
Ihadanotherreflection, whichassistedmealsoto comfortmymindwithhopes;andthiswas, comparingmypresent conditionwithwhatIhaddeserved, andhadthereforereasonto expect from the hand of Providence. I had lived a dreadful life, perfectly destitute of the knowledge and fear of God. I had been well instructed by father and mother; neither had they been wanting to mein theirearly endeavors to infusea religious aweof God into my mind, asense of. my duty, and of what the nature and end of my being required of me. But, alas! falling early into the seafaring life, which, of all the lives, is the most destitute of the fear of God, though His terrors are always before them; I say, falling early into the seafaring life, and into seafaring company, all that little sense of religion which Ihad entertained was laughed out of me by my messmates; by a hardened despising of dangers, and the views of death, which grew habitual to me; by my long absence from all manner of opportunities to converse with anything but what was like myself, or to hear anything that was good, or tended towards it.
So void was I of everything that was good, or of the least sense of what I was, or was to be, thatinthegreatestdeliverancesIenjoyed,suchasmyescapefromSallee;mybeingtakenup by the Portuguese master of the ship; my being planted so well in the Brazils; my receiving the cargo from England, and the like; I never had once the words “Thank God,” so much as on my mind, or in my mouth; nor in the greatest distress had Iso much as thought to pray to Him, or so much as to say, “Lord, have mercy upon me!” no, nor to mention the name of God, unless it was to swear by and blaspheme it.
Ihadterriblereflections uponmymindformanymonths,asIhavealready observed,onthe account of my wicked and hardened life past; and when I looked about me and considered what particular providences had attended me since coming into the place, and how God had dealtbountifullywithme,hadnotonlypunishedmelessthanmyiniquityhaddeserved,but had so plentifully provided for me; this gave me great hopes that my repentance was accepted, and that God had yet mercy in store for me.
Withthesereflections, Iworkedmymindup,notonlytoresignationtothewillofGodinthe presentdispositionofmycircumstances,buteven toasincerethankfulness formycondition; and that I, who was yet a living man, ought not to complain, seeing I had not the due punishment of my sins; that I enjoyed so many mercies, which I had no reason to have expectedinthatplace;thatIoughtnevermoretorepineatmycondition,buttorejoice,andto give daily thanks for that daily bread, which nothing but a crowd of wonders could have brought; that I ought to consider I had been fed even by miracle, even as great as that of feeding Elijah by ravens; nay, by a long series of miracles; and that I could hardly have named a place in the unhabitable part of the world where I could have been cast more to my advantage; aplacewhere,as Ihadnosociety,whichwasmyafflictionononehad,so Ifound no ravenous beasts, no furious wolves or tigers, to threaten my life; no venomous creatures, or poisonous, which I might feed on to my hurt; no savages to murder and devour me.
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In a word, as my life was a life of sorrow one way, so it was a life of mercy another; and I wanted nothing to make it a life of comfort; but to be able to make my sense of God’s goodnesstome,andcareovermeinthiscondition,bemydailyconsolation;andafterIdid make a just improvement of these things, I went away, and was no more sad.
I had now been here so long that many — things which I brought on shore for my help were eitherquitegone,orvery muchwasted,andnearspent.Myink,as Iobserved,hadbeengone for some time, all but a very little, which I eked out with water, a little and a little, till it was so pale it scarce left any appearance of black upon the paper. As long as it lasted, Imade use of it to minute down the days of the month on which any remarkable thing happened to me. And, first, by casting up times past, I remember that there was a strange concurrence of days in the various providences which befell me, and which, if Ihad been superstitiously inclined to observe days as fatal or fortunate, I might have had reason to have looked upon with a great deal of curiosity.
First, Ihadobservedthat thesamedaythat Ibrokeawayfrommyfatherandmyfriends,and run away to Hull, in order to go to sea, the same day afterwards I was taken by the Sallee man-of-war, and made a slave.
ThesamedayoftheyearthatIescapedoutofthewreckofthatshipinYarmouthRoads,that same day-year afterwards I made my escape from Sallee in the boat.
The same day of the year I was born on viz., the 30th of September, that same day Ihad my lifesomiraculouslysavedtwenty-sixyearsafter,whenIwascastontheshoreinthisisland; so that my wicked life and my solitary life began both on a day.
The next thing to my ink’s being wasted, was that of my bread; I mean the biscuit, which I broughtoutoftheship.ThisIhadhusbandedtothelastdegree,allowingmyselfbutonecake of bread a day for above a year; and yet Iwas quite without bread for near a year before Igot any corn of my own; and great reason I had to be thankful that I had any at all, the getting it being, as has been already observed, next to miraculous.
My clothes began to decay, too, mightily. As tolinen, Ihad none a good while, except some checkered shirts which I found in the chests of the other seamen, and which I carefully preserved,becausemany timesIcouldbearnootherclothesonbutashirt; anditwasagreat great help to me that I had, among all the men’s clothes of the ship, almost three dozen of shirts.Therewerealsoseveralthickwatch-coatsoftheseamen’swhichwereleftindeed,but they were too hot to wear; and though it is true that the weather was so violent hot that there was no need of clothes, yet I could not go quite naked, no, though I had been inclined to it, which I was not, nor could abide the thoughts of it, though I was all alone.
The reason why I could not go quite naked was, I could not bear the heat of the sun so well when quite naked as with some clothes on; nay, the very heat frequently blistered my skin; whereas, with ashirt on, theairitselfmadesome motion, and whistling underthat shirt, was twofoldcoolerthanwithoutit.Nomorecould Ieverbringmyselftogooutintheheatofthe sun without a cap or a hat. The heat of the sun beating with such violence, as it does in that place, would give me the headache presently, by darting so directly on my head, without a cap or hat on, so that I could not bear it; whereas, if I put on my hat, it would presently go away.
Upon those views, I began to consider about putting the few rags I had, which I called clothes, into some order. Ihad worn out all the waistcoats Ihad, and my business was not to tryifIcouldnotmakejacketsoutofthegreatwatch-coatswhich Ihadby me,andwithsuch othermaterials as Ihad; soIset to work a-tailoring, orrather, indeed, a-botching, for Imade mostpiteousworkofit.However,Imadeshiftto maketwoorthreenew waistcoats,whichI
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hopedwouldservemeagreatwhile.As forbreechesordrawers, Imadebutaverysorryshift indeed till afterward.
I have mentioned that I saved the skins of all the creatures that I killed, I mean four-footed ones, and I had hung them up stretched out with sticks in the sun, by which means some of them were so dry and hard that they were fit for little, but others it seems were very useful.
The first thing I made of these was a great cap for my head, with the hair on the outside, to shoot off the rain; and this I performed so well, that after this I made me a suit of clothes whollyoftheseskins,thatistosay,awaistcoat,andbreechesopenatknees,andbothloose, for they were rather wanting to keep me cool than to keep me warm. I must not omit to acknowledge that they were wretchedly made; for if I was a bad carpenter, I was a worse tailor.However,theyweresuchas Imadeverygoodshiftwith;andwhen Iwasabroad,ifit happened to rain, the hair of my waistcoat and cap being outermost, I was kept very dry.
Afterthis Ispentagreat dealoftimeandpainsto makemeanumbrella. Iwasindeedingreat want of one, and had a great mind to make one. I had seen them made in the Brazils, where they are very useful in the great heats which are there; and I felt the heats every jot as great here, and greater too, being nearer the equinox. Besides, as I was obliged to be much abroad, itwasamostusefulthingtome,aswellfortherainsastheheats. Itookaworldofpainsatit, and was a great while before I could make anything likely to hold; nay, after I thought I had hit the way, I spoiled two or three before I made one to my mind; but at last I made one that answered indifferently well. The main difficulty I found was to make it to let down. I could make it to spread; but if it did not let it down too, and draw in, it was not portable for me any way but just over my head, which would not do. However, at last, as I said, I made one to answer, and covered with skins, the hair upwards, so that it cast off the rains like a pent- house, and kept off the sun so effectually that I could walk out in the hottest of the weather with greater advantage than Icould before in the coolest; and when Ihad no need of it, could close it, and carry it under my arm.
Thus I lived mighty comfortably, my mind being entirely composed by resigning to the will of God, and throwing myself wholly upon the disposal of His providence. This made my life better than sociable; for when I began to regret the want of conversation, I would ask myself whetherthusconversingmutuallywithmyownthoughts,and,asIhopeImaysay,witheven God Himself, by ejaculations, was not better than the utmost enjoyment of human society in the world?
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10. TamesGoats
Icannotsaythat afterthis,forfiveyears,any extraordinarythinghappened tome;butIlived on in the same course, in the same posture and place, just as before. The chief things I was employed in, besides my yearly labor of planting my barley and rice, and curing my raisins, of both which I always kept up just enough to have sufficient stock of one year’s provisions beforehand— Isay,besidesthisyearlylabor, and mydailylaborofgoingoutwithmygun,I had one labor, to make me a canoe, which at last I finished; so that by digging a canal to it of six feet wide, and four feet deep, I brought it into the creek, almost half a mile. As for the first, which was so vastly big, as I made it without considering beforehand, as I ought to do, how I should be able to launch it; so, never being able to bring it to the water, or bring the water to it, I was obliged to let it lie where it was, as a memorandum to teach me to be wiser next time. Indeed, the next time, though I could not get a tree proper for it, and in a place where I could not get the water to it at any less distance than, as Ihave said, near half a mile, yet as Isawit was at last, Inevergaveit over; and though Iwas neartwo years about it, yet I never grudged my labor, in hopes of having a boat to go off to sea at last.
However, though my little periagua was finished, yet the size of it was not at all answerable tothedesignwhich Ihad inviewwhen Imadethe first;Imean,ofventuringovertotheterra firma, where it was above forty miles broad. Accordingly, the smallness of my boat assisted to put an end to that design, and now I thought no more of it. But as I had a boat, my next design was to make a tour round the island; for as I had been on the other side in one place, crossing, as I have already described it, over the land, so the discoveries I made in that little journeymademeveryeagertoseeotherpartsofthecoast;andnowIhadaboat,Ithoughtof nothing but sailing round the island.
For this purpose, that I might do everything with discretion and consideration, I fitted up a littlemasttomyboat,andmadeasailtoitoutofsomeofthepiecesoftheship’ssail,which lay in store, and of which I had a great stock by me.
Having fitted my mast and sail, and tried the boat, I found she would sail very well. Then I made little lockers, or boxes, at either end of my boat, to put provisions, necessaries, and ammunition,etc.,into,tobekeptdry,eitherfrom rainorthesprayofthesea;andalittlelong hollow place I cut in the inside of the boat, where I could lay my gun, making a flap to hang down over it to keep it dry.
I fixed my umbrella also in a step at the stern, like a mast, to stand over my head, and keep the heat of the sun off of me, like an awning; and thus I every now and then took a little voyage upon the sea, but never went far out, nor far from the little creek. But at last, being eager to view the circumference of my little kingdom, I resolved upon my tour; and accordingly I victualled my ship for the voyage, putting in two dozen of my loaves (cakes I should rather call them) of barley bread, an earthen pot full of parched rice, a food I eat a greatdealof,alittlebottleofrum,halfagoat,and powderandshotforkillingmore,andtwo large watch-coats, of those which, as I mentioned before, I had saved out of the seamen’s chests; these I took, one to lie upon, and the other to cover me in the night.
It was the 6th of November, in the sixth year of my reign, or my captivity, which you please, thatIsetoutonthisvoyage,and Ifounditmuchlongerthan Iexpected;forthoughtheisland itself was not very large, yet when I came to the east side of it I found a great ledge of rocks lie out above two leagues into the sea, some above water, some under it, and beyond that a
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shoalofsand,lyingdryhalfaleaguemore;sothat Iwasobligedtogoagreatwayouttosea to double the point.
Whenfirst Idiscoveredthem,Iwasgoingtogiveovermyenterprise,and comebackagain, not knowing how far it might oblige me to go out to sea, and, above all, doubting how I shouldgetbackagain,so Icametoan anchor;forIhadmademeakindofananchorwitha piece of broken grappling which I got out of the ship.
Havingsecuredmyboat,Itookmygunandwentonshore,climbingupuponahill,which seemed to overlook that point, where I saw the full extent of it, and resolved to venture.
In my viewing the sea from that hill, where I stood, I perceived a strong, and indeed a most furious current, which run to the east, and even came close to the point; and I took the more notice of because I saw there might be some danger that when I came into it I might be carried out to sea by the strength of it, and not be able to make the island again. And indeed, had Inotgottenfirstupuponthishill,Ibelieveitwouldhavebeenso;fortherewasthesame current on theotherside oftheisland, only that it set offat a fartherdistance; and Isawthere was astrong eddy under theshore; so Ihad nothing to do but to get in out ofthefirst current, and I should presently be in an eddy.
Ilayhere,however,twodays;becausethewind,blowingprettyfreshatESE.,andthatbeing just contrary to the said current, made a great breach of the sea upon the point; so that it was not safe for me to keep too close to the shore for the breach, nor to go too far off because of the stream.
The third day, in the morning, the wind having abated over-night, the sea was calm, and I ventured. But I am a warning piece again to all rash and ignorant pilots; for no sooner was I come to the point, when even I was not my boat’s length from the shore, but I found myself in a great depth of water, and a current like the sluice of a mill. It carried my boat along with itwithsuchviolence,thatallIcoulddo couldnotkeephersomuchasontheedgeofit,but I found it hurried me farther and farther out from the eddy, which was on my left hand. There was no wind stirring to help me, and all I could do with my paddlers signified nothing. And now I began to give myself over for lost; for, as the current was on both sides the island, I knew in a few leagues distance they must join again, and then Iwas irrecoverably gone. Nor did I see any possibility of avoiding it; so that I had no prospect before me but of perishing; not by the sea, for that was calm enough, but of starving for hunger. I had indeed found a tortoise on the shore, as big almost as I could lift, and had tossed it into the boat; and I had a great jar of fresh water, that is to say, one of my earthen pots; but what was all this to being driven into the vast ocean, where, to be sure, there was no shore, no mainland or island, for a thousand leagues at least.
And now I saw how easy it was for the providence of God to make the most miserable conditionmankindcouldbeinworse.NowIlookedbackuponmydesolatesolitaryislandas themost pleasant placein theworld, and all thehappiness my heart could wish forwas to be butthereagain. Istretchedoutmyhandstoit,witheagerwishes.“Ohappydesert!”said I,“I shall never see thee more. O miserable creature,” said I, “whither am I going?” Then I reproached myself with my unthankful temper, and how I had repined at my solitary condition; and now what would Igive to be on shore there again. Thus we never see the true state of our condition till it is illustrated to us by its contraries; nor know how to value what we enjoy, but by the want of it. It is scarce possible to imagine the consternation I was now in, being driven from my beloved island (for so it appeared to me now to be) into the wide ocean, almost two leagues, and in the utmost despair of ever recovering it again. However, I worked hard, till indeed my strength was almost exhausted, and kept my boat as much to the
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northward, that is, towards the side of the current which the eddy lay on, as possibly I could; whenaboutnoon,asthe sunpassedthemeridian, Ithought Ifeltalittlebreezeof windinmy face,springingupfromtheSSE.Thischeeredmy heartalittle,andespeciallywhen,inabout an hour more, it blew a pretty small gentle gale. By this time I was gotten at a frightful distance from the island; and had the least cloud or hazy weather intervened, I had been undone another way too; for I had no compass on board, and should never have known how tohavesteeredtowardstheislandifIhadbutoncelostsightofit.Buttheweathercontinuing clear, I applied myself to get up my mast again, and spread my sail, standing away to the north as much as possible, to get out of the current.
JustasIhadsetmymastandsail,andtheboatbegantostretchaway, Isawevenbyclearness of the water some alteration of the current was near; for where the current was so strong, the water was foul. But perceiving the water clear, I found the current abate, and presently I found to the east, at about half a mile, a breach of the sea upon some rocks. These rocks I found caused the current to part again; and as the main stress of it ran away more southerly, leavingtherockstothenorth-east,sotheotherreturnedbytherepulseoftherocks,andmade a strong eddy, which ran back again to the north-west with a very sharp stream.
They who know what it is to have a reprieve brought to them upon the ladder, or to be rescued from thieves just going to murder them, or who have been in such like extremities, mayguesswhatmypresentsurpriseofjoywas,andhowgladly Iputmyboatintothestream of this eddy; and the wind also freshening, how gladly I spread my sail to it, running cheerfully before the wind, and with a strong tide or eddy under foot.
This eddy carried me about a league in my way back again, directly towards the island, but abouttwoleaguesmoretothenorthwardthanthecurrentwhichcarriedmeawayatfirst;so that when I came near the island, I found myself open to the northern shore of it, that is to say, the other end of the island, opposite to that which I went out from.
When Ihadmadesomethingmorethanaleagueof waybythehelpofthiscurrentoreddy, I found it was spent, and served me no farther. However, I found that being between the two greatcurrents,viz.,thatonthesouthside,whichhadhurriedmeaway,andthatonthenorth, which lay about a league on the other side; I say, between these two, in the wake of the island, I found the water at least still, and running no way; and having still a breeze of wind fair for me, I kept on steering directly for the island, though not making such fresh way as I did before.
Aboutfouro’clockintheevening,beingthenwithinaboutaleagueoftheisland,Ifoundthe point oftherocks which occasioned this disasterstretching out, as is described before, to the southward, and casting off the current more southwardly had, of course, made another eddy to the north, and this I found very strong, but not directly setting the way my course lay, which was due west, but almost full north. However, having a fresh gale, I stretched across this eddy, slanting north-west; and in about an hour came within about a mile of the shore, where, it being smooth water, I soon got to land.
When Iwasonshore, Ifellonmyknees,andgaveGodthanksformydeliverance,resolving to lay aside all thoughts of my deliverance by my boat; and refreshing myself with such things as I had, I brought my boat close to the shore, in a little cove that I had spied under some trees, and laid me down to sleep, being quite spent with the labor and fatigue of the voyage.
Iwas nowat agreat loss which way to get home with my coat. Ihad run so much hazard, and knewtoo much thecase, to think ofattempting itby theway Iwent out; and what might beat theotherside(Imean the west side)Iknewnot, norhadIanymind to runany moreventures.
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So I only resolved in the morning to make my way westward along the shore, and to see if there was no creek where I might lay up my frigate in safety, so as to have her again if I wanted her. In about three miles, or thereabouts, coasting the shore, I came to a very good inlet or bay, about a mile over, which narrowed till it came to a very little rivulet or brook, whereIfoundaveryconvenientharborformyboat,andwhereshelay asifshehadbeenina little dock made on purpose her. Here I put in, and having stowed my boat very safe, I went on shore to look about me, and see where I was.
Isoon found Ihad but a little passed by the place where I had been before, when Itravelled on foot to that shore; so taking nothing out of my boat but my gun and my umbrella, for it was exceedingly hot, I began my march. The way it was comfortable enough after such a voyage as I had been upon, and I reach my old bower in the evening, where I found everythingstandingas Ileftit;forIalwayskeptitingoodorder,being,as Isaidbefore,my country-house.
I got over the fence, and laid me down in the shade to rest my limbs, for I was very weary, and fell asleep. But judge you, if you can, that read my story, what a surprise I must be in, when Iwaswakedoutofmysleepbyavoicecallingmebymynameseveraltimes,“Robin, Robin, Robin Crusoe, poor Robin Crusoe! Where are you, Robin Crusoe? Where are you?
Wherehaveyou been?”
I was so dead asleep at first, being fatigued with rowing, or paddling, as it is called, the first part of the day, and with walking the latter part, that I did not wake thoroughly; but dozing between sleeping and waking, thought I dreamed that somebody spoke to me. But as the voice continued to repeat, “Robin Crusoe, Robin Crusoe,” at last I began to wake more perfectly,andwas atfirst dreadfullyfrighted,and startedupintheutmostconsternation.But no sooner were my eyes open, but I saw my Poll sitting on the top of the hedge, and immediatelyknewthatitwashethatspoketome; forjustinsuchbemoaninglanguageIhad used to talk to him, and teach him; and he had learned it so perfectIy, that he would sit upon my finger, and lay his bill close to my face, and cry, “Poor Robin. Crusoe! Where are you?
Where have you been? How come you here?” and such things as I had taught him.
However, even though I knew it was the parrot, and that indeed it could be nobody else, it was a good while before I could compose myself. First I was amazed how the creature got thither, and then, how he should just keep about the place, and nowhere else. But as I was wellsatisfieditcouldbe nobodybuthonestPoll,Igotitover;andholdingoutmyhand,and calling him by name, Poll, the sociable creature came to me, and sat upon my thumb, as he usedtodo,andcontinuedtalkingtome,“PoorRobinCrusoe!andhowdidIcomehere?and where had I been?” just as if he had been overjoyed to see me again; and so I carried him home along with me.
Ihad now had enough of rambling to sea for some time, and had enough to do for many days to sit still and reflect upon the danger I had been in. I would have been very glad to have had my boat again on my side of the island; but I knew not how it was practicable to get it about.
As to the east side of the island, which I had gone round, I knew well enough there was no venturing that way; my very heart would shrink and my very blood run chill, but to think ofit.
And as to the other side of the island, I did not know how it might be there; but supposing the current ran with the same force against the shore at the east as it passed by it on the other, Imightrunthesamerisksofbeingdrivendownthestream,and carriedby theisland,as Ihad been before of being carried away from it. So, with these thoughts, I contented myself to be without any boat, though it had been the product of so many months’ labor to make it, and of so many more to get it into the sea.
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In this government of my temper I remained near a year, lived a very sedate, retired life, as youmaywellsuppose;andmythoughtsbeingverymuchcomposedasto mycondition,and fullycomfortedinresigningmyselftothedispositionsofProvidence, IthoughtIlivedreally very happily in all things, except that of society.
I improved myself in this time in all the mechanic exercises which my necessities put me upon applying myself to, and I believe could, upon occasion, make a very good carpenter, especiallyconsideringhowfewtools Ihad.Besidesthis,Iarrivedatanunexpectedperfection in my earthenware, and contrived well enough to make them with a wheel, which I found infinitely easier and better, because I made things round and shapable which before were filthy things indeed to look on. But Ithink Iwas never more vain of my own performance, or more joyful for anything I found out, than for my being able to make a tobacco-pipe. And though it was a very ugly, clumsy thing when it was done, and only burnt red, like other earthenware, yet as it was hard and firm, and would draw the smoke, I was exceedingly comfortedwithit;forIhadbeen alwaysusedtosmoke,andtherewerepipesintheship,butI forgot them at first, not knowing that there was tobacco in the island; and afterwards, when I searched the ship again, I could not come at any pipes at all.
In my wickerware also I improved much, and made abundance of necessary baskets, as well as my invention showed me; though not very handsome, yet they were such as were very handy and convenient for my laying things up in,or fetching things home in. For example, if Ikilledagoatabroad, Icouldhangitupinatree, flayit,anddressit,andcutitinpieces,and bring it home in a basket; and the like by a turtle; I could cut it up, take out the eggs, and a piece or two of the flesh, which was enough for me, and bring them home in a basket, and leave the rest behind me. Also, large deep baskets were my receivers for my corn, which I always rubbed out as soon as it was dry, and cured, and kept it in great baskets.
I began now to perceive my powder abated considerably, and this was a want which it was impossibleformetosupply,andIbeganseriouslytoconsiderwhat Imust dowhen Ishould have no more powder; that is to say, how Ishould do to kill any goats. Ihad, as it observed, inthethirdyearofmybeinghere,keptayoungkid,andbredheruptame, and Iwasinhope of getting a he-goat. But I could not by any means bring it to pass, till my kid grew an old goat; and I could never find it in my heart to kill her, till she dies at last of mere age.
But being now in the eleventh year of my residence, and, as I have said, my ammunition growinglow, Isetmyselftostudysomearttotrapandsnarethegoats,toseewhetherIcould not catch some of them alive; and particularly, I wanted a she-goat great with young.
To this purpose, I made snares to hamper them, and I do believe they were more than once taken in them: but my tackle was not good, for I had no wire, and I always found them broken, and my bait devoured. At length I resolved to try a pitfall; so I dug several large pits in the earth, in places where I had observed the goats used to feed, and over these pits I placed hurdles, of my own making too, with a great weight upon them; and several times I put ears of barley and dry rice, without setting the trap, and I could easily perceive that the goats had gone in and eaten up the corn, for I could see the mark of their feet. At length I set three traps in one night, and going the next morning, I found them all standing, and yet the bait eaten and gone; this was very discouraging. However, I altered my trap; and, not to troubleyouwithparticulars,goingonemorningtoseemytrap, Ifoundinoneofthemalarge old hegoat, and in one of the other three kids, a male and two females.
Astotheoldone, Iknew notwhattodowithhim,hewassofierce Idurst notgointothepit to him; that is to say, to go about to bring him away alive, which was what I wanted. Icould havekilledhim,butthatwasnotmybusiness,norwoulditanswermyend;soIevenlet him
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out, and he ran away, as if he had been frighted out of his wits. But I had forgot then what I learned afterwards, that hunger will tame a lion. If I had let him stay there three or four days without food, and then have carried him some water to drink, and then a little corn, he would havebeenastameasoneofthekids,fortheyaremightysagacious,tractablecreatureswhere they are well used.
However,forthepresent Ilethimgo,knowingno betteratthattime.Then Iwenttothethree kids, and taking them one by one, I tied them with strings together, and with some difficulty brought them all home.
It was a good while before they would feed, but throwing them some sweet corn, it tempted them, and they began to be tame. And now I found that if I expected to supply myself with goat-fleshwhenIhadnopowderorshotleft,breedingsomeuptamewasmyonlyway,when perhaps I might have them about my house like a flock of sheep.
Butthenitpresentlyoccurredtomethat Imustkeepthetamefromthewild,orelsethey would always run wild when they grew up; and the only way for this was to have some enclosed piece of ground, well fenced either with hedge or pale, to keep them in so effectually that those within might not break out, or those without break in.
This was a great undertaking for one pair of hands; yet as I saw there was an absolute necessityofdoingit,myfirstpieceofworkwastofindoutaproperpieceofground,viz., wheretherewaslikelytobeherbageforthemtoeat,waterforthemtodrink,andcoverto keep them from the sun.
Those who understand such enclosures will think I had very little contrivance when I pitched upon a place very proper for all these, being a plain open piece of meadow land, or savanna (as our people call it in the western colonies), which had two or three little drills of fresh waterinit,andatoneendwasverywoody; Isay, theywillsmileatmyforecast,when Ishall tell them I began my enclosing of this piece of ground in such a manner, that my hedge or pale must have been at least two miles about. Nor was the madness of it so great as to the compass, for if it was often miles about, I was like to have time enough to do it in. But I did notconsiderthatmygoatswouldbeaswildinsomuchcompassasifthey hadhadthewhole island and I should have so much room to chase them in that I should never catch them.
My hedgewas begun and carried on, Ibelieve, about fifty yards, when this thought occurred to me, so I presently stopped short, and, for the first beginning, I resolved to enclose a piece of about 150 yards in length, and 100 yards in breadth; which, as it would maintain as many asshouldhaveinanyreasonabletime,so,asmyflockincreased, Icouldaddmoregroundto
my
enclosure.
This was acting with some prudence, and I went to work with courage. I was about three months hedging in the first piece, and, till I had done it, I tethered the three kids in the best partofit,andusedthem tofeedasnearmeaspossible,tomakethemfamiliar;andveryoften I would go and carry them some ears of barley, or a handful of rice, and feed them out of my hand; so that after my enclosure was finished, and I let them loose, they would follow me up and down, bleating after me for a handful of corn.
Thisansweredmy end,andinaboutayearandahalfIhad aflockofabouttwelvegoats,kids and all; and in two years more I had three and forty, besides several that I took and killed for my food. And after that I enclosed five several pieces of ground to feed them in, and with little pens to drive them into, to take them as I wanted, and gates out of one piece of ground into another.
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But this was not all, for now I not only had goat’s flesh to feed on when I pleased, but milk, too,athingwhich,indeed,inmybeginning,Idid notsomuchasthinkof,andwhich,whenit came into my thoughts, was really an agreeable surprise. For now I set up my dairy, and had sometimes a gallon or two of milk in a day; and as Nature, who gives supplies of food to every creature, dictates even naturally how to make use of it, so I, that had never milked a cow,muchlessagoat,orseenbutterorcheesemade,veryreadilyandhandily,thoughaftera great many essays and miscarriages, made me both butter and cheese last, and never wantedit afterwards.
HowmercifullycanourgreatCreatortreatHiscreatures,eveninthoseconditionsinwhich they seemed to be overwhelmed in destruction! How can He sweeten the bitterest providences, and give us cause to praise Him for dungeons and prisons! What a table was here spread for me in a wilderness, where I saw nothing at first but to perish for hunger!
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11. FindsPrintOfMan’sFootOnTheSand
It would have made a stoic smile, to have seen me and my little family sit down to dinner.
There was my majesty, the prince and lord of the whole island; I had the lives of all my subjectsatmyabsolutecommand.Icouldhang,draw,giveliberty,andtakeitaway;andno rebels among all my subjects.
ThentoseehowlikeakingIdined,too,allalone, attendedbymyservants.Poll,asifhehad been my favorite, was theonly person permitted to talk to me. My dog, who was nowgrown very old and crazy, and had found no species to multiply his kind upon, sat always at my right hand, and two cats, one on one side and table, and one on the other, expecting now and then a bit form my hand, as a mark of special favor.
But these were not the two cats which I brought on shore at first, for they were both of them dead, and had been interred near my habitation, by my own hand. But one of them having multiplied by I know not what kind of creature, these were two which I had preserved tame, whereastherestrunwildinthewoods,andbecameindeedtroublesometo meatlast;forthey would often come into my house, and plunder me too, till at last Iwas obliged to shoot them, and did kill a great many; at length they left me. With this attendance, and in this plentiful manner, Ilived; neither could Ibe said to want anything but society; and of that in some time after this, I was like to have too much.
I was something impatient, as I have observed, to have the use of my boat, though very lothto run any more hazards; and therefore sometimes I sat contriving ways to get her about the island, which I drew together with two thongs of the same, instead of buckles; and in a kindof a frog on either side of this, instead of a sword and a dagger, hung a little saw and a hatchet,oneononeside, oneontheother. Ihadanotherbelt,notsobroad,andfastenedinthe same manner, which hung over my shoulder; and at the end of it, under my left arm, hungtwopouches,bothmadeofgoat’sskin,too;inoneofwhichhungmypowder,intheothermy shot.
At my back I carried my basket, on my shoulder my gun, and over my head a. great clumsy ugly goat-skin umbrella, but which, after all, was the most necessary thing I hadaboutme,nexttomygun.Asformyface,the colorofitwasreallynotsomulatto-likeasone might expect from a man not at all careful of it, and living within nineteen degrees of the equinox.
My beard I had once suffered to grow till it was about a quarter of a yard long; but as I had both scissors and razors sufficient, I had cut it pretty short, except what grew on my upper lip, which I had trimmed into a large pair of Mahometan whiskers, such as I had seen worn by some Turks whom I saw at Sallee; for the Moors did not wear such, though theTurks did. Of these mustachios or whiskers I will not say they were long enough to hang my hat upon them, but they were of a length and shape monstrous enough, and such as, in England, would have passed for frightful.
But all this is by-the-bye; for, as to my figure, I had so few to observe me, that it was of no manner of consequence; so I say no more to that part. In this kind of figure I went my new journey,andwasoutfiveorsixdays. Itravelledfirstalongthesea-shore,directlytotheplace where Ifirst brought my boat to an anchor, to get upon therocks. And having no boat flowto take care of, I went over the land, a nearer way, to the same height that I was upon before; when, looking forward to the point of the rocks which lay out, and which I was obliged to double with my boat, as is said above, I was surprised to see the sea all smooth and quiet, no rippling, no motion, no current, any more there than in any other places.