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CHAPTER I START IN LIFE
I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that
country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull.
He got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off his trade, lived afterwards at
York, from whence he had married my mother, whose relations were named Robinson, a very
good family in that country, and from whom
I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption of words in England,
we are now called-nay we call ourselves and write our name-Crusoe; and so my companions
always called me.
I had two elder brothers, one of whom was lieutenant-colonel to an English regiment
of foot in Flanders, formerly commanded by the famous Colonel Lockhart, and was killed
at the battle near Dunkirk against the Spaniards.
What became of my second brother I never knew, any more than my father or mother
knew what became of me.
Being the third son of the family and not bred to any trade, my head began to be
filled very early with rambling thoughts.
My father, who was very ancient, had given me a competent share of learning, as far as
house-education and a country free school generally go, and designed me for the law;
but I would be satisfied with nothing but
going to sea; and my inclination to this led me so strongly against the will, nay,
the commands of my father, and against all the entreaties and persuasions of my mother
and other friends, that there seemed to be
something fatal in that propensity of nature, tending directly to the life of
misery which was to befall me.
My father, a wise and grave man, gave me serious and excellent counsel against what
he foresaw was my design.
He called me one morning into his chamber, where he was confined by the gout, and
expostulated very warmly with me upon this subject.
He asked me what reasons, more than a mere wandering inclination, I had for leaving
father's house and my native country, where I might be well introduced, and had a
prospect of raising my fortune by
application and industry, with a life of ease and pleasure.
He told me it was men of desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring, superior
fortunes on the other, who went abroad upon adventures, to rise by enterprise, and make
themselves famous in undertakings of a
nature out of the common road; that these things were all either too far above me or
too far below me; that mine was the middle state, or what might be called the upper
station of low life, which he had found, by
long experience, was the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness,
not exposed to the miseries and hardships, the labour and sufferings of the mechanic
part of mankind, and not embarrassed with
the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy of the upper part of mankind.
He told me I might judge of the happiness of this state by this one thing-viz. that
this was the state of life which all other people envied; that kings have frequently
lamented the miserable consequence of being
born to great things, and wished they had been placed in the middle of the two
extremes, between the mean and the great; that the wise man gave his testimony to
this, as the standard of felicity, when he prayed to have neither poverty nor riches.
He bade me observe it, and I should always find that the calamities of life were
shared among the upper and lower part of mankind, but that the middle station had
the fewest disasters, and was not exposed
to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind; nay, they were not
subjected to so many distempers and uneasinesses, either of body or mind, as
those were who, by vicious living, luxury,
and extravagances on the one hand, or by hard labour, want of necessaries, and mean
or insufficient diet on the other hand, bring distemper upon themselves by the
natural consequences of their way of
living; that the middle station of life was calculated for all kind of virtue and all
kind of enjoyments; that peace and plenty were the handmaids of a middle fortune;
that temperance, moderation, quietness,
health, society, all agreeable diversions, and all desirable pleasures, were the
blessings attending the middle station of life; that this way men went silently and
smoothly through the world, and comfortably
out of it, not embarrassed with the labours of the hands or of the head, not sold to a
life of slavery for daily bread, nor harassed with perplexed circumstances,
which rob the soul of peace and the body of
rest, nor enraged with the passion of envy, or the secret burning *** of ambition for
great things; but, in easy circumstances, sliding gently through the world, and
sensibly tasting the sweets of living,
without the bitter; feeling that they are happy, and learning by every day's
experience to know it more sensibly.
After this he pressed me earnestly, and in the most affectionate manner, not to play
the young man, nor to precipitate myself into miseries which nature, and the station
of life I was born in, seemed to have
provided against; that I was under no necessity of seeking my bread; that he
would do well for me, and endeavour to enter me fairly into the station of life
which he had just been recommending to me;
and that if I was not very easy and happy in the world, it must be my mere fate or
fault that must hinder it; and that he should have nothing to answer for, having
thus discharged his duty in warning me
against measures which he knew would be to my hurt; in a word, that as he would do
very kind things for me if I would stay and settle at home as he directed, so he would
not have so much hand in my misfortunes as
to give me any encouragement to go away; and to close all, he told me I had my elder
brother for an example, to whom he had used the same earnest persuasions to keep him
from going into the Low Country wars, but
could not prevail, his young desires prompting him to run into the army, where
he was killed; and though he said he would not cease to pray for me, yet he would
venture to say to me, that if I did take
this foolish step, God would not bless me, and I should have leisure hereafter to
reflect upon having neglected his counsel when there might be none to assist in my
recovery.
I observed in this last part of his discourse, which was truly prophetic,
though I suppose my father did not know it to be so himself-I say, I observed the
tears run down his face very plentifully,
especially when he spoke of my brother who was killed: and that when he spoke of my
having leisure to repent, and none to assist me, he was so moved that he broke
off the discourse, and told me his heart was so full he could say no more to me.
I was sincerely affected with this discourse, and, indeed, who could be
otherwise? and I resolved not to think of going abroad any more, but to settle at
home according to my father's desire.
But alas! a few days wore it all off; and, in short, to prevent any of my father's
further importunities, in a few weeks after I resolved to run quite away from him.
However, I did not act quite so hastily as the first heat of my resolution prompted;
but I took my mother at a time when I thought her a little more pleasant than
ordinary, and told her that my thoughts
were so entirely bent upon seeing the world that I should never settle to anything with
resolution enough to go through with it, and my father had better give me his
consent than force me to go without it;
that I was now eighteen years old, which was too late to go apprentice to a trade or
clerk to an attorney; that I was sure if I did I should never serve out my time, but I
should certainly run away from my master
before my time was out, and go to sea; and if she would speak to my father to let me
go one voyage abroad, if I came home again, and did not like it, I would go no more;
and I would promise, by a double diligence, to recover the time that I had lost.
This put my mother into a great passion; she told me she knew it would be to no
purpose to speak to my father upon any such subject; that he knew too well what was my
interest to give his consent to anything so
much for my hurt; and that she wondered how I could think of any such thing after the
discourse I had had with my father, and such kind and tender expressions as she
knew my father had used to me; and that, in
short, if I would ruin myself, there was no help for me; but I might depend I should
never have their consent to it; that for her part she would not have so much hand in
my destruction; and I should never have it
to say that my mother was willing when my father was not.
Though my mother refused to move it to my father, yet I heard afterwards that she
reported all the discourse to him, and that my father, after showing a great concern at
it, said to her, with a sigh, "That boy
might be happy if he would stay at home; but if he goes abroad, he will be the most
miserable wretch that ever was born: I can give no consent to it."
It was not till almost a year after this that I broke loose, though, in the
meantime, I continued obstinately deaf to all proposals of settling to business, and
frequently expostulated with my father and
mother about their being so positively determined against what they knew my
inclinations prompted me to.
But being one day at Hull, where I went casually, and without any purpose of making
an elopement at that time; but, I say, being there, and one of my companions being
about to sail to London in his father's
ship, and prompting me to go with them with the common allurement of seafaring men,
that it should cost me nothing for my passage, I consulted neither father nor
mother any more, nor so much as sent them
word of it; but leaving them to hear of it as they might, without asking God's
blessing or my father's, without any consideration of circumstances or
consequences, and in an ill hour, God
knows, on the 1st of September 1651, I went on board a ship bound for London.
Never any young adventurer's misfortunes, I believe, began sooner, or continued longer
than mine.
The ship was no sooner out of the Humber than the wind began to blow and the sea to
rise in a most frightful manner; and, as I had never been at sea before, I was most
inexpressibly sick in body and terrified in mind.
I began now seriously to reflect upon what I had done, and how justly I was overtaken
by the judgment of Heaven for my wicked leaving my father's house, and abandoning
my duty.
All the good counsels of my parents, my father's tears and my mother's entreaties,
came now fresh into my mind; and my conscience, which was not yet come to the
pitch of hardness to which it has since,
reproached me with the contempt of advice, and the breach of my duty to God and my
father.
All this while the storm increased, and the sea went very high, though nothing like
what I have seen many times since; no, nor what I saw a few days after; but it was
enough to affect me then, who was but a
young sailor, and had never known anything of the matter.
I expected every wave would have swallowed us up, and that every time the ship fell
down, as I thought it did, in the trough or hollow of the sea, we should never rise
more; in this agony of mind, I made many
vows and resolutions that if it would please God to spare my life in this one
voyage, if ever I got once my foot upon dry land again, I would go directly home to my
father, and never set it into a ship again
while I lived; that I would take his advice, and never run myself into such
miseries as these any more.
Now I saw plainly the goodness of his observations about the middle station of
life, how easy, how comfortably he had lived all his days, and never had been
exposed to tempests at sea or troubles on
shore; and I resolved that I would, like a true repenting prodigal, go home to my
father.
These wise and sober thoughts continued all the while the storm lasted, and indeed some
time after; but the next day the wind was abated, and the sea calmer, and I began to
be a little inured to it; however, I was
very grave for all that day, being also a little sea-sick still; but towards night
the weather cleared up, the wind was quite over, and a charming fine evening followed;
the sun went down perfectly clear, and rose
so the next morning; and having little or no wind, and a smooth sea, the sun shining
upon it, the sight was, as I thought, the most delightful that ever I saw.
I had slept well in the night, and was now no more sea-sick, but very cheerful,
looking with wonder upon the sea that was so rough and terrible the day before, and
could be so calm and so pleasant in so little a time after.
And now, lest my good resolutions should continue, my companion, who had enticed me
away, comes to me; "Well, Bob," says he, clapping me upon the shoulder, "how do you
do after it?
I warrant you were frighted, wer'n't you, last night, when it blew but a capful of
wind?" "A capful d'you call it?" said I; "'twas a terrible storm." "A storm, you
fool you," replies he; "do you call that a
storm? why, it was nothing at all; give us but a good ship and sea-room, and we think
nothing of such a squall of wind as that; but you're but a fresh-water sailor, Bob.
Come, let us make a bowl of punch, and we'll forget all that; d'ye see what
charming weather 'tis now?" To make short this sad part of my story, we went the way
of all sailors; the punch was made and I
was made half drunk with it: and in that one night's wickedness I drowned all my
repentance, all my reflections upon my past conduct, all my resolutions for the future.
In a word, as the sea was returned to its smoothness of surface and settled calmness
by the abatement of that storm, so the hurry of my thoughts being over, my fears
and apprehensions of being swallowed up by
the sea being forgotten, and the current of my former desires returned, I entirely
forgot the vows and promises that I made in my distress.
I found, indeed, some intervals of reflection; and the serious thoughts did,
as it were, endeavour to return again sometimes; but I shook them off, and roused
myself from them as it were from a
distemper, and applying myself to drinking and company, soon mastered the return of
those fits-for so I called them; and I had in five or six days got as complete a
victory over conscience as any young fellow
that resolved not to be troubled with it could desire.
But I was to have another trial for it still; and Providence, as in such cases
generally it does, resolved to leave me entirely without excuse; for if I would not
take this for a deliverance, the next was
to be such a one as the worst and most hardened wretch among us would confess both
the danger and the mercy of.
The sixth day of our being at sea we came into Yarmouth Roads; the wind having been
contrary and the weather calm, we had made but little way since the storm.
Here we were obliged to come to an anchor, and here we lay, the wind continuing
contrary-viz. at south-west-for seven or eight days, during which time a great many
ships from Newcastle came into the same
Roads, as the common harbour where the ships might wait for a wind for the river.
We had not, however, rid here so long but we should have tided it up the river, but
that the wind blew too fresh, and after we had lain four or five days, blew very hard.
However, the Roads being reckoned as good as a harbour, the anchorage good, and our
ground-tackle very strong, our men were unconcerned, and not in the least
apprehensive of danger, but spent the time
in rest and mirth, after the manner of the sea; but the eighth day, in the morning,
the wind increased, and we had all hands at work to strike our topmasts, and make
everything snug and close, that the ship might ride as easy as possible.
By noon the sea went very high indeed, and our ship rode forecastle in, shipped
several seas, and we thought once or twice our anchor had come home; upon which our
master ordered out the sheet-anchor, so
that we rode with two anchors ahead, and the cables veered out to the bitter end.
By this time it blew a terrible storm indeed; and now I began to see terror and
amazement in the faces even of the *** themselves.
The master, though vigilant in the business of preserving the ship, yet as he went in
and out of his cabin by me, I could hear him softly to himself say, several times,
"Lord be merciful to us! we shall be all
lost! we shall be all undone!" and the like.
During these first hurries I was stupid, lying still in my cabin, which was in the
steerage, and cannot describe my temper: I could ill resume the first penitence which
I had so apparently trampled upon and
hardened myself against: I thought the bitterness of death had been past, and that
this would be nothing like the first; but when the master himself came by me, as I
said just now, and said we should be all lost, I was dreadfully frighted.
I got up out of my cabin and looked out; but such a dismal sight I never saw: the
sea ran mountains high, and broke upon us every three or four minutes; when I could
look about, I could see nothing but
distress round us; two ships that rode near us, we found, had cut their masts by the
board, being deep laden; and our men cried out that a ship which rode about a mile
ahead of us was foundered.
Two more ships, being driven from their anchors, were run out of the Roads to sea,
at all adventures, and that with not a mast standing.
The light ships fared the best, as not so much labouring in the sea; but two or three
of them drove, and came close by us, running away with only their spritsail out
before the wind.
Towards evening the mate and boatswain begged the master of our ship to let them
cut away the fore-mast, which he was very unwilling to do; but the boatswain
protesting to him that if he did not the
ship would founder, he consented; and when they had cut away the fore-mast, the main-
mast stood so loose, and shook the ship so much, they were obliged to cut that away
also, and make a clear deck.
Any one may judge what a condition I must be in at all this, who was but a young
sailor, and who had been in such a fright before at but a little.
But if I can express at this distance the thoughts I had about me at that time, I was
in tenfold more horror of mind upon account of my former convictions, and the having
returned from them to the resolutions I had
wickedly taken at first, than I was at death itself; and these, added to the
terror of the storm, put me into such a condition that I can by no words describe
it.
But the worst was not come yet; the storm continued with such fury that the ***
themselves acknowledged they had never seen a worse.
We had a good ship, but she was deep laden, and wallowed in the sea, so that the ***
every now and then cried out she would founder.
It was my advantage in one respect, that I did not know what they meant by founder
till I inquired.
However, the storm was so violent that I saw, what is not often seen, the master,
the boatswain, and some others more sensible than the rest, at their prayers,
and expecting every moment when the ship would go to the bottom.
In the middle of the night, and under all the rest of our distresses, one of the men
that had been down to see cried out we had sprung a leak; another said there was four
feet water in the hold.
Then all hands were called to the pump. At that word, my heart, as I thought, died
within me: and I fell backwards upon the side of my bed where I sat, into the cabin.
However, the men roused me, and told me that I, that was able to do nothing before,
was as well able to pump as another; at which I stirred up and went to the pump,
and worked very heartily.
While this was doing the master, seeing some light colliers, who, not able to ride
out the storm were obliged to slip and run away to sea, and would come near us,
ordered to fire a gun as a signal of distress.
I, who knew nothing what they meant, thought the ship had broken, or some
dreadful thing happened.
In a word, I was so surprised that I fell down in a swoon.
As this was a time when everybody had his own life to think of, nobody minded me, or
what was become of me; but another man stepped up to the pump, and thrusting me
aside with his foot, let me lie, thinking I
had been dead; and it was a great while before I came to myself.
We worked on; but the water increasing in the hold, it was apparent that the ship
would founder; and though the storm began to abate a little, yet it was not possible
she could swim till we might run into any
port; so the master continued firing guns for help; and a light ship, who had rid it
out just ahead of us, ventured a boat out to help us.
It was with the utmost hazard the boat came near us; but it was impossible for us to
get on board, or for the boat to lie near the ship's side, till at last the men
rowing very heartily, and venturing their
lives to save ours, our men cast them a rope over the stern with a buoy to it, and
then veered it out a great length, which they, after much labour and hazard, took
hold of, and we hauled them close under our stern, and got all into their boat.
It was to no purpose for them or us, after we were in the boat, to think of reaching
their own ship; so all agreed to let her drive, and only to pull her in towards
shore as much as we could; and our master
promised them, that if the boat was staved upon shore, he would make it good to their
master: so partly rowing and partly driving, our boat went away to the
northward, sloping towards the shore almost as far as Winterton Ness.
We were not much more than a quarter of an hour out of our ship till we saw her sink,
and then I understood for the first time what was meant by a ship foundering in the
sea.
I must acknowledge I had hardly eyes to look up when the *** told me she was
sinking; for from the moment that they rather put me into the boat than that I
might be said to go in, my heart was, as it
were, dead within me, partly with fright, partly with horror of mind, and the
thoughts of what was yet before me.
While we were in this condition-the men yet labouring at the oar to bring the boat near
the shore-we could see (when, our boat mounting the waves, we were able to see the
shore) a great many people running along
the strand to assist us when we should come near; but we made but slow way towards the
shore; nor were we able to reach the shore till, being past the lighthouse at
Winterton, the shore falls off to the
westward towards Cromer, and so the land broke off a little the violence of the
wind.
Here we got in, and though not without much difficulty, got all safe on shore, and
walked afterwards on foot to Yarmouth, where, as unfortunate men, we were used
with great humanity, as well by the
magistrates of the town, who assigned us good quarters, as by particular merchants
and owners of ships, and had money given us sufficient to carry us either to London or
back to Hull as we thought fit.
Had I now had the sense to have gone back to Hull, and have gone home, I had been
happy, and my father, as in our blessed Saviour's parable, had even killed the
fatted calf for me; for hearing the ship I
went away in was cast away in Yarmouth Roads, it was a great while before he had
any assurances that I was not drowned.
But my ill fate pushed me on now with an obstinacy that nothing could resist; and
though I had several times loud calls from my reason and my more composed judgment to
go home, yet I had no power to do it.
I know not what to call this, nor will I urge that it is a secret overruling decree,
that hurries us on to be the instruments of our own destruction, even though it be
before us, and that we rush upon it with our eyes open.
Certainly, nothing but some such decreed unavoidable misery, which it was impossible
for me to escape, could have pushed me forward against the calm reasonings and
persuasions of my most retired thoughts,
and against two such visible instructions as I had met with in my first attempt.
My comrade, who had helped to harden me before, and who was the master's son, was
now less forward than I.
The first time he spoke to me after we were at Yarmouth, which was not till two or
three days, for we were separated in the town to several quarters; I say, the first
time he saw me, it appeared his tone was
altered; and, looking very melancholy, and shaking his head, he asked me how I did,
and telling his father who I was, and how I had come this voyage only for a trial, in
order to go further abroad, his father,
turning to me with a very grave and concerned tone "Young man," says he, "you
ought never to go to sea any more; you ought to take this for a plain and visible
token that you are not to be a seafaring
man." "Why, sir," said I, "will you go to sea no more?" "That is another case," said
he; "it is my calling, and therefore my duty; but as you made this voyage on trial,
you see what a taste Heaven has given you of what you are to expect if you persist.
Perhaps this has all befallen us on your account, like Jonah in the ship of
Tarshish.
Pray," continues he, "what are you; and on what account did you go to sea?" Upon that
I told him some of my story; at the end of which he burst out into a strange kind of
passion: "What had I done," says he, "that
such an unhappy wretch should come into my ship?
I would not set my foot in the same ship with thee again for a thousand pounds."
This indeed was, as I said, an excursion of his spirits, which were yet agitated by the
sense of his loss, and was farther than he could have authority to go.
However, he afterwards talked very gravely to me, exhorting me to go back to my
father, and not tempt Providence to my ruin, telling me I might see a visible hand
of Heaven against me.
"And, young man," said he, "depend upon it, if you do not go back, wherever you go, you
will meet with nothing but disasters and disappointments, till your father's words
are fulfilled upon you."
We parted soon after; for I made him little answer, and I saw him no more; which way he
went I knew not.
As for me, having some money in my pocket, I travelled to London by land; and there,
as well as on the road, had many struggles with myself what course of life I should
take, and whether I should go home or to sea.
As to going home, shame opposed the best motions that offered to my thoughts, and it
immediately occurred to me how I should be laughed at among the neighbours, and should
be ashamed to see, not my father and mother
only, but even everybody else; from whence I have since often observed, how
incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth,
to that reason which ought to guide them in
such cases-viz. that they are not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; not
ashamed of the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are
ashamed of the returning, which only can make them be esteemed wise men.
In this state of life, however, I remained some time, uncertain what measures to take,
and what course of life to lead.
An irresistible reluctance continued to going home; and as I stayed away a while,
the remembrance of the distress I had been in wore off, and as that abated, the little
motion I had in my desires to return wore
off with it, till at last I quite laid aside the thoughts of it, and looked out
for a voyage.
>
CHAPTER II SLAVERY AND ESCAPE
That evil influence which carried me first away from my father's house-which hurried
me into the wild and indigested notion of raising my fortune, and that impressed
those conceits so forcibly upon me as to
make me deaf to all good advice, and to the entreaties and even the commands of my
father-I say, the same influence, whatever it was, presented the most unfortunate of
all enterprises to my view; and I went on
board a vessel bound to the coast of Africa; or, as our sailors vulgarly called
it, a voyage to Guinea.
It was my great misfortune that in all these adventures I did not ship myself as a
sailor; when, though I might indeed have worked a little harder than ordinary, yet
at the same time I should have learnt the
duty and office of a fore-mast man, and in time might have qualified myself for a mate
or lieutenant, if not for a master.
But as it was always my fate to choose for the worse, so I did here; for having money
in my pocket and good clothes upon my back, I would always go on board in the habit of
a gentleman; and so I neither had any
business in the ship, nor learned to do any.
It was my lot first of all to fall into pretty good company in London, which does
not always happen to such loose and misguided young fellows as I then was; the
devil generally not omitting to lay some
snare for them very early; but it was not so with me.
I first got acquainted with the master of a ship who had been on the coast of Guinea;
and who, having had very good success there, was resolved to go again.
This captain taking a fancy to my conversation, which was not at all
disagreeable at that time, hearing me say I had a mind to see the world, told me if I
would go the voyage with him I should be at
no expense; I should be his messmate and his companion; and if I could carry
anything with me, I should have all the advantage of it that the trade would admit;
and perhaps I might meet with some encouragement.
I embraced the offer; and entering into a strict friendship with this captain, who
was an honest, plain-dealing man, I went the voyage with him, and carried a small
adventure with me, which, by the
disinterested honesty of my friend the captain, I increased very considerably; for
I carried about £40 in such toys and trifles as the captain directed me to buy.
These £40 I had mustered together by the assistance of some of my relations whom I
corresponded with; and who, I believe, got my father, or at least my mother, to
contribute so much as that to my first adventure.
This was the only voyage which I may say was successful in all my adventures, which
I owe to the integrity and honesty of my friend the captain; under whom also I got a
competent knowledge of the mathematics and
the rules of navigation, learned how to keep an account of the ship's course, take
an observation, and, in short, to understand some things that were needful to
be understood by a sailor; for, as he took
delight to instruct me, I took delight to learn; and, in a word, this voyage made me
both a sailor and a merchant; for I brought home five pounds nine ounces of gold-dust
for my adventure, which yielded me in
London, at my return, almost £300; and this filled me with those aspiring thoughts
which have since so completed my ruin.
Yet even in this voyage I had my misfortunes too; particularly, that I was
continually sick, being thrown into a violent calenture by the excessive heat of
the climate; our principal trading being
upon the coast, from latitude of 15 degrees north even to the line itself.
I was now set up for a Guinea trader; and my friend, to my great misfortune, dying
soon after his arrival, I resolved to go the same voyage again, and I embarked in
the same vessel with one who was his mate
in the former voyage, and had now got the command of the ship.
This was the unhappiest voyage that ever man made; for though I did not carry quite
£100 of my new-gained wealth, so that I had £200 left, which I had lodged with my
friend's widow, who was very just to me, yet I fell into terrible misfortunes.
The first was this: our ship making her course towards the Canary Islands, or
rather between those islands and the African shore, was surprised in the grey of
the morning by a Turkish rover of Sallee,
who gave chase to us with all the sail she could make.
We crowded also as much canvas as our yards would spread, or our masts carry, to get
clear; but finding the pirate gained upon us, and would certainly come up with us in
a few hours, we prepared to fight; our ship having twelve guns, and the rogue eighteen.
About three in the afternoon he came up with us, and bringing to, by mistake, just
athwart our quarter, instead of athwart our stern, as he intended, we brought eight of
our guns to bear on that side, and poured
in a broadside upon him, which made him sheer off again, after returning our fire,
and pouring in also his small shot from near two hundred men which he had on board.
However, we had not a man touched, all our men keeping close.
He prepared to attack us again, and we to defend ourselves.
But laying us on board the next time upon our other quarter, he entered sixty men
upon our decks, who immediately fell to cutting and hacking the sails and rigging.
We plied them with small shot, half-pikes, powder-chests, and such like, and cleared
our deck of them twice.
However, to cut short this melancholy part of our story, our ship being disabled, and
three of our men killed, and eight wounded, we were obliged to yield, and were carried
all prisoners into Sallee, a port belonging to the Moors.
The usage I had there was not so dreadful as at first I apprehended; nor was I
carried up the country to the emperor's court, as the rest of our men were, but was
kept by the captain of the rover as his
proper prize, and made his slave, being young and nimble, and fit for his business.
At this surprising change of my circumstances, from a merchant to a
miserable slave, I was perfectly overwhelmed; and now I looked back upon my
father's prophetic discourse to me, that I
should be miserable and have none to relieve me, which I thought was now so
effectually brought to pass that I could not be worse; for now the hand of Heaven
had overtaken me, and I was undone without
redemption; but, alas! this was but a taste of the misery I was to go through, as will
appear in the sequel of this story.
As my new patron, or master, had taken me home to his house, so I was in hopes that
he would take me with him when he went to sea again, believing that it would some
time or other be his fate to be taken by a
Spanish or Portugal man-of-war; and that then I should be set at liberty.
But this hope of mine was soon taken away; for when he went to sea, he left me on
shore to look after his little garden, and do the common drudgery of slaves about his
house; and when he came home again from his
cruise, he ordered me to lie in the cabin to look after the ship.
Here I meditated nothing but my escape, and what method I might take to effect it, but
found no way that had the least probability in it; nothing presented to make the
supposition of it rational; for I had
nobody to communicate it to that would embark with me-no fellow-slave, no
Englishman, Irishman, or Scotchman there but myself; so that for two years, though I
often pleased myself with the imagination,
yet I never had the least encouraging prospect of putting it in practice.
After about two years, an odd circumstance presented itself, which put the old thought
of making some attempt for my liberty again in my head.
My patron lying at home longer than usual without fitting out his ship, which, as I
heard, was for want of money, he used constantly, once or twice a week, sometimes
oftener if the weather was fair, to take
the ship's pinnace and go out into the road a-fishing; and as he always took me and
young Maresco with him to row the boat, we made him very merry, and I proved very
dexterous in catching fish; insomuch that
sometimes he would send me with a Moor, one of his kinsmen, and the youth-the Maresco,
as they called him-to catch a dish of fish for him.
It happened one time, that going a-fishing in a calm morning, a fog rose so thick
that, though we were not half a league from the shore, we lost sight of it; and rowing
we knew not whither or which way, we
laboured all day, and all the next night; and when the morning came we found we had
pulled off to sea instead of pulling in for the shore; and that we were at least two
leagues from the shore.
However, we got well in again, though with a great deal of labour and some danger; for
the wind began to blow pretty fresh in the morning; but we were all very hungry.
But our patron, warned by this disaster, resolved to take more care of himself for
the future; and having lying by him the longboat of our English ship that he had
taken, he resolved he would not go a-
fishing any more without a compass and some provision; so he ordered the carpenter of
his ship, who also was an English slave, to build a little state-room, or cabin, in the
middle of the long-boat, like that of a
barge, with a place to stand behind it to steer, and haul home the main-sheet; the
room before for a hand or two to stand and work the sails.
She sailed with what we call a shoulder-of- mutton sail; and the boom jibed over the
top of the cabin, which lay very snug and low, and had in it room for him to lie,
with a slave or two, and a table to eat on,
with some small lockers to put in some bottles of such liquor as he thought fit to
drink; and his bread, rice, and coffee.
We went frequently out with this boat a- fishing; and as I was most dexterous to
catch fish for him, he never went without me.
It happened that he had appointed to go out in this boat, either for pleasure or for
fish, with two or three Moors of some distinction in that place, and for whom he
had provided extraordinarily, and had,
therefore, sent on board the boat overnight a larger store of provisions than ordinary;
and had ordered me to get ready three fusees with powder and shot, which were on
board his ship, for that they designed some sport of fowling as well as fishing.
I got all things ready as he had directed, and waited the next morning with the boat
washed clean, her ancient and pendants out, and everything to accommodate his guests;
when by-and-by my patron came on board
alone, and told me his guests had put off going from some business that fell out, and
ordered me, with the man and boy, as usual, to go out with the boat and catch them some
fish, for that his friends were to sup at
his house, and commanded that as soon as I got some fish I should bring it home to his
house; all which I prepared to do.
This moment my former notions of deliverance darted into my thoughts, for
now I found I was likely to have a little ship at my command; and my master being
gone, I prepared to furnish myself, not for
fishing business, but for a voyage; though I knew not, neither did I so much as
consider, whither I should steer-anywhere to get out of that place was my desire.
My first contrivance was to make a pretence to speak to this Moor, to get something for
our subsistence on board; for I told him we must not presume to eat of our patron's
bread.
He said that was true; so he brought a large basket of rusk or biscuit, and three
jars of fresh water, into the boat.
I knew where my patron's case of bottles stood, which it was evident, by the make,
were taken out of some English prize, and I conveyed them into the boat while the Moor
was on shore, as if they had been there before for our master.
I conveyed also a great lump of beeswax into the boat, which weighed about half a
hundred-weight, with a parcel of twine or thread, a hatchet, a saw, and a hammer, all
of which were of great use to us
afterwards, especially the wax, to make candles.
Another trick I tried upon him, which he innocently came into also: his name was
Ismael, which they call Muley, or Moely; so I called to him-"Moely," said I, "our
patron's guns are on board the boat; can you not get a little powder and shot?
It may be we may kill some alcamies (a fowl like our curlews) for ourselves, for I know
he keeps the gunner's stores in the ship." "Yes," says he, "I'll bring some;" and
accordingly he brought a great leather
pouch, which held a pound and a half of powder, or rather more; and another with
shot, that had five or six pounds, with some bullets, and put all into the boat.
At the same time I had found some powder of my master's in the great cabin, with which
I filled one of the large bottles in the case, which was almost empty, pouring what
was in it into another; and thus furnished
with everything needful, we sailed out of the port to fish.
The castle, which is at the entrance of the port, knew who we were, and took no notice
of us; and we were not above a mile out of the port before we hauled in our sail and
set us down to fish.
The wind blew from the N.N.E., which was contrary to my desire, for had it blown
southerly I had been sure to have made the coast of Spain, and at least reached to the
bay of Cadiz; but my resolutions were, blow
which way it would, I would be gone from that horrid place where I was, and leave
the rest to fate.
After we had fished some time and caught nothing-for when I had fish on my hook I
would not pull them up, that he might not see them-I said to the Moor, "This will not
do; our master will not be thus served; we
must stand farther off." He, thinking no harm, agreed, and being in the head of the
boat, set the sails; and, as I had the helm, I ran the boat out near a league
farther, and then brought her to, as if I
would fish; when, giving the boy the helm, I stepped forward to where the Moor was,
and making as if I stooped for something behind him, I took him by surprise with my
arm under his waist, and tossed him clear overboard into the sea.
He rose immediately, for he swam like a cork, and called to me, begged to be taken
in, told me he would go all over the world with me.
He swam so strong after the boat that he would have reached me very quickly, there
being but little wind; upon which I stepped into the cabin, and fetching one of the
fowling-pieces, I presented it at him, and
told him I had done him no hurt, and if he would be quiet I would do him none.
"But," said I, "you swim well enough to reach to the shore, and the sea is calm;
make the best of your way to shore, and I will do you no harm; but if you come near
the boat I'll shoot you through the head,
for I am resolved to have my liberty;" so he turned himself about, and swam for the
shore, and I make no doubt but he reached it with ease, for he was an excellent
swimmer.
I could have been content to have taken this Moor with me, and have drowned the
boy, but there was no venturing to trust him.
When he was gone, I turned to the boy, whom they called Xury, and said to him, "Xury,
if you will be faithful to me, I'll make you a great man; but if you will not stroke
your face to be true to me"-that is, swear
by Mahomet and his father's beard-"I must throw you into the sea too." The boy
smiled in my face, and spoke so innocently that I could not distrust him, and swore to
be faithful to me, and go all over the world with me.
While I was in view of the Moor that was swimming, I stood out directly to sea with
the boat, rather stretching to windward, that they might think me gone towards the
Straits' mouth (as indeed any one that had
been in their wits must have been supposed to do): for who would have supposed we were
sailed on to the southward, to the truly Barbarian coast, where whole nations of
negroes were sure to surround us with their
canoes and destroy us; where we could not go on shore but we should be devoured by
savage beasts, or more merciless savages of human kind.
But as soon as it grew dusk in the evening, I changed my course, and steered directly
south and by east, bending my course a little towards the east, that I might keep
in with the shore; and having a fair, fresh
gale of wind, and a smooth, quiet sea, I made such sail that I believe by the next
day, at three o'clock in the afternoon, when I first made the land, I could not be
less than one hundred and fifty miles south
of Sallee; quite beyond the Emperor of Morocco's dominions, or indeed of any other
king thereabouts, for we saw no people.
Yet such was the fright I had taken of the Moors, and the dreadful apprehensions I had
of falling into their hands, that I would not stop, or go on shore, or come to an
anchor; the wind continuing fair till I had
sailed in that manner five days; and then the wind shifting to the southward, I
concluded also that if any of our vessels were in chase of me, they also would now
give over; so I ventured to make to the
coast, and came to an anchor in the mouth of a little river, I knew not what, nor
where, neither what latitude, what country, what nation, or what river.
I neither saw, nor desired to see any people; the principal thing I wanted was
fresh water.
We came into this creek in the evening, resolving to swim on shore as soon as it
was dark, and discover the country; but as soon as it was quite dark, we heard such
dreadful noises of the barking, roaring,
and howling of wild creatures, of we knew not what kinds, that the poor boy was ready
to die with fear, and begged of me not to go on shore till day.
"Well, Xury," said I, "then I won't; but it may be that we may see men by day, who will
be as bad to us as those lions." "Then we give them the shoot gun," says Xury,
laughing, "make them run wey." Such
English Xury spoke by conversing among us slaves.
However, I was glad to see the boy so cheerful, and I gave him a dram (out of our
patron's case of bottles) to cheer him up.
After all, Xury's advice was good, and I took it; we dropped our little anchor, and
lay still all night; I say still, for we slept none; for in two or three hours we
saw vast great creatures (we knew not what
to call them) of many sorts, come down to the sea-shore and run into the water,
wallowing and washing themselves for the pleasure of cooling themselves; and they
made such hideous howlings and yellings, that I never indeed heard the like.
Xury was dreadfully frighted, and indeed so was I too; but we were both more frighted
when we heard one of these mighty creatures come swimming towards our boat; we could
not see him, but we might hear him by his
blowing to be a monstrous huge and furious beast.
Xury said it was a lion, and it might be so for aught I know; but poor Xury cried to me
to weigh the anchor and row away; "No," says I, "Xury; we can slip our cable, with
the buoy to it, and go off to sea; they
cannot follow us far." I had no sooner said so, but I perceived the creature
(whatever it was) within two oars' length, which something surprised me; however, I
immediately stepped to the cabin door, and
taking up my gun, fired at him; upon which he immediately turned about and swam
towards the shore again.
But it is impossible to describe the horrid noises, and hideous cries and howlings that
were raised, as well upon the edge of the shore as higher within the country, upon
the noise or report of the gun, a thing I
have some reason to believe those creatures had never heard before: this convinced me
that there was no going on shore for us in the night on that coast, and how to venture
on shore in the day was another question
too; for to have fallen into the hands of any of the savages had been as bad as to
have fallen into the hands of the lions and tigers; at least we were equally
apprehensive of the danger of it.
Be that as it would, we were obliged to go on shore somewhere or other for water, for
we had not a pint left in the boat; when and where to get to it was the point.
Xury said, if I would let him go on shore with one of the jars, he would find if
there was any water, and bring some to me. I asked him why he would go? why I should
not go, and he stay in the boat?
The boy answered with so much affection as made me love him ever after.
Says he, "If wild mans come, they eat me, you go wey." "Well, Xury," said I, "we
will both go and if the wild mans come, we will kill them, they shall eat neither of
us." So I gave Xury a piece of rusk bread
to eat, and a dram out of our patron's case of bottles which I mentioned before; and we
hauled the boat in as near the shore as we thought was proper, and so waded on shore,
carrying nothing but our arms and two jars for water.
I did not care to go out of sight of the boat, fearing the coming of canoes with
savages down the river; but the boy seeing a low place about a mile up the country,
rambled to it, and by-and-by I saw him come running towards me.
I thought he was pursued by some savage, or frighted with some wild beast, and I ran
forward towards him to help him; but when I came nearer to him I saw something hanging
over his shoulders, which was a creature
that he had shot, like a hare, but different in colour, and longer legs;
however, we were very glad of it, and it was very good meat; but the great joy that
poor Xury came with, was to tell me he had found good water and seen no wild mans.
But we found afterwards that we need not take such pains for water, for a little
higher up the creek where we were we found the water fresh when the tide was out,
which flowed but a little way up; so we
filled our jars, and feasted on the hare he had killed, and prepared to go on our way,
having seen no footsteps of any human creature in that part of the country.
As I had been one voyage to this coast before, I knew very well that the islands
of the Canaries, and the Cape de Verde Islands also, lay not far off from the
coast.
But as I had no instruments to take an observation to know what latitude we were
in, and not exactly knowing, or at least remembering, what latitude they were in, I
knew not where to look for them, or when to
stand off to sea towards them; otherwise I might now easily have found some of these
islands.
But my hope was, that if I stood along this coast till I came to that part where the
English traded, I should find some of their vessels upon their usual design of trade,
that would relieve and take us in.
By the best of my calculation, that place where I now was must be that country which,
lying between the Emperor of Morocco's dominions and the negroes, lies waste and
uninhabited, except by wild beasts; the
negroes having abandoned it and gone farther south for fear of the Moors, and
the Moors not thinking it worth inhabiting by reason of its barrenness; and indeed,
both forsaking it because of the prodigious
number of tigers, lions, leopards, and other furious creatures which harbour
there; so that the Moors use it for their hunting only, where they go like an army,
two or three thousand men at a time; and
indeed for near a hundred miles together upon this coast we saw nothing but a waste,
uninhabited country by day, and heard nothing but howlings and roaring of wild
beasts by night.
Once or twice in the daytime I thought I saw the Pico of Teneriffe, being the high
top of the Mountain Teneriffe in the Canaries, and had a great mind to venture
out, in hopes of reaching thither; but
having tried twice, I was forced in again by contrary winds, the sea also going too
high for my little vessel; so, I resolved to pursue my first design, and keep along
the shore.
Several times I was obliged to land for fresh water, after we had left this place;
and once in particular, being early in morning, we came to an anchor under a
little point of land, which was pretty
high; and the tide beginning to flow, we lay still to go farther in.
Xury, whose eyes were more about him than it seems mine were, calls softly to me, and
tells me that we had best go farther off the shore; "For," says he, "look, yonder
lies a dreadful monster on the side of that
hillock, fast asleep." I looked where he pointed, and saw a dreadful monster indeed,
for it was a terrible, great lion that lay on the side of the shore, under the shade
of a piece of the hill that hung as it were a little over him.
"Xury," says I, "you shall on shore and kill him." Xury, looked frighted, and
said, "Me kill! he eat me at one mouth!"- one mouthful he meant.
However, I said no more to the boy, but bade him lie still, and I took our biggest
gun, which was almost musket-bore, and loaded it with a good charge of powder, and
with two slugs, and laid it down; then I
loaded another gun with two bullets; and the third (for we had three pieces) I
loaded with five smaller bullets.
I took the best aim I could with the first piece to have shot him in the head, but he
lay so with his leg raised a little above his nose, that the slugs hit his leg about
the knee and broke the bone.
He started up, growling at first, but finding his leg broken, fell down again;
and then got upon three legs, and gave the most hideous roar that ever I heard.
I was a little surprised that I had not hit him on the head; however, I took up the
second piece immediately, and though he began to move off, fired again, and shot
him in the head, and had the pleasure to
see him drop and make but little noise, but lie struggling for life.
Then Xury took heart, and would have me let him go on shore.
"Well, go," said I: so the boy jumped into the water and taking a little gun in one
hand, swam to shore with the other hand, and coming close to the creature, put the
muzzle of the piece to his ear, and shot
him in the head again, which despatched him quite.
This was game indeed to us, but this was no food; and I was very sorry to lose three
charges of powder and shot upon a creature that was good for nothing to us.
However, Xury said he would have some of him; so he comes on board, and asked me to
give him the hatchet. "For what, Xury?" said I.
"Me cut off his head," said he.
However, Xury could not cut off his head, but he cut off a foot, and brought it with
him, and it was a monstrous great one.
I bethought myself, however, that, perhaps the skin of him might, one way or other, be
of some value to us; and I resolved to take off his skin if I could.
So Xury and I went to work with him; but Xury was much the better workman at it, for
I knew very ill how to do it.
Indeed, it took us both up the whole day, but at last we got off the hide of him, and
spreading it on the top of our cabin, the sun effectually dried it in two days' time,
and it afterwards served me to lie upon.
>
CHAPTER III WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND
After this stop, we made on to the southward continually for ten or twelve
days, living very sparingly on our provisions, which began to abate very much,
and going no oftener to the shore than we were obliged to for fresh water.
My design in this was to make the river Gambia or Senegal, that is to say anywhere
about the Cape de Verde, where I was in hopes to meet with some European ship; and
if I did not, I knew not what course I had
to take, but to seek for the islands, or perish there among the negroes.
I knew that all the ships from Europe, which sailed either to the coast of Guinea
or to Brazil, or to the East Indies, made this cape, or those islands; and, in a
word, I put the whole of my fortune upon
this single point, either that I must meet with some ship or must perish.
When I had pursued this resolution about ten days longer, as I have said, I began to
see that the land was inhabited; and in two or three places, as we sailed by, we saw
people stand upon the shore to look at us;
we could also perceive they were quite black and naked.
I was once inclined to have gone on shore to them; but Xury was my better counsellor,
and said to me, "No go, no go." However, I hauled in nearer the shore that I might
talk to them, and I found they ran along the shore by me a good way.
I observed they had no weapons in their hand, except one, who had a long slender
stick, which Xury said was a lance, and that they could throw them a great way with
good aim; so I kept at a distance, but
talked with them by signs as well as I could; and particularly made signs for
something to eat: they beckoned to me to stop my boat, and they would fetch me some
meat.
Upon this I lowered the top of my sail and lay by, and two of them ran up into the
country, and in less than half-an-hour came back, and brought with them two pieces of
dried flesh and some corn, such as is the
produce of their country; but we neither knew what the one or the other was;
however, we were willing to accept it, but how to come at it was our next dispute, for
I would not venture on shore to them, and
they were as much afraid of us; but they took a safe way for us all, for they
brought it to the shore and laid it down, and went and stood a great way off till we
fetched it on board, and then came close to us again.
We made signs of thanks to them, for we had nothing to make them amends; but an
opportunity offered that very instant to oblige them wonderfully; for while we were
lying by the shore came two mighty
creatures, one pursuing the other (as we took it) with great fury from the mountains
towards the sea; whether it was the male pursuing the female, or whether they were
in sport or in rage, we could not tell, any
more than we could tell whether it was usual or strange, but I believe it was the
latter; because, in the first place, those ravenous creatures seldom appear but in the
night; and, in the second place, we found
the people terribly frighted, especially the women.
The man that had the lance or dart did not fly from them, but the rest did; however,
as the two creatures ran directly into the water, they did not offer to fall upon any
of the negroes, but plunged themselves into
the sea, and swam about, as if they had come for their diversion; at last one of
them began to come nearer our boat than at first I expected; but I lay ready for him,
for I had loaded my gun with all possible
expedition, and bade Xury load both the others.
As soon as he came fairly within my reach, I fired, and shot him directly in the head;
immediately he sank down into the water, but rose instantly, and plunged up and
down, as if he were struggling for life,
and so indeed he was; he immediately made to the shore; but between the wound, which
was his mortal hurt, and the strangling of the water, he died just before he reached
the shore.
It is impossible to express the astonishment of these poor creatures at the
noise and fire of my gun: some of them were even ready to die for fear, and fell down
as dead with the very terror; but when they
saw the creature dead, and sunk in the water, and that I made signs to them to
come to the shore, they took heart and came, and began to search for the creature.
I found him by his blood staining the water; and by the help of a rope, which I
slung round him, and gave the negroes to haul, they dragged him on shore, and found
that it was a most curious leopard,
spotted, and fine to an admirable degree; and the negroes held up their hands with
admiration, to think what it was I had killed him with.
The other creature, frighted with the flash of fire and the noise of the gun, swam on
shore, and ran up directly to the mountains from whence they came; nor could I, at that
distance, know what it was.
I found quickly the negroes wished to eat the flesh of this creature, so I was
willing to have them take it as a favour from me; which, when I made signs to them
that they might take him, they were very thankful for.
Immediately they fell to work with him; and though they had no knife, yet, with a
sharpened piece of wood, they took off his skin as readily, and much more readily,
than we could have done with a knife.
They offered me some of the flesh, which I declined, pointing out that I would give it
them; but made signs for the skin, which they gave me very freely, and brought me a
great deal more of their provisions, which,
though I did not understand, yet I accepted.
I then made signs to them for some water, and held out one of my jars to them,
turning it bottom upward, to show that it was empty, and that I wanted to have it
filled.
They called immediately to some of their friends, and there came two women, and
brought a great vessel made of earth, and burnt, as I supposed, in the sun, this they
set down to me, as before, and I sent Xury
on shore with my jars, and filled them all three.
The women were as naked as the men.
I was now furnished with roots and corn, such as it was, and water; and leaving my
friendly negroes, I made forward for about eleven days more, without offering to go
near the shore, till I saw the land run out
a great length into the sea, at about the distance of four or five leagues before me;
and the sea being very calm, I kept a large offing to make this point.
At length, doubling the point, at about two leagues from the land, I saw plainly land
on the other side, to seaward; then I concluded, as it was most certain indeed,
that this was the Cape de Verde, and those
the islands called, from thence, Cape de Verde Islands.
However, they were at a great distance, and I could not well tell what I had best to
do; for if I should be taken with a fresh of wind, I might neither reach one or
other.
In this dilemma, as I was very pensive, I stepped into the cabin and sat down, Xury
having the helm; when, on a sudden, the boy cried out, "Master, master, a ship with a
sail!" and the foolish boy was frighted out
of his wits, thinking it must needs be some of his master's ships sent to pursue us,
but I knew we were far enough out of their reach.
I jumped out of the cabin, and immediately saw, not only the ship, but that it was a
Portuguese ship; and, as I thought, was bound to the coast of Guinea, for negroes.
But, when I observed the course she steered, I was soon convinced they were
bound some other way, and did not design to come any nearer to the shore; upon which I
stretched out to sea as much as I could, resolving to speak with them if possible.
With all the sail I could make, I found I should not be able to come in their way,
but that they would be gone by before I could make any signal to them: but after I
had crowded to the utmost, and began to
despair, they, it seems, saw by the help of their glasses that it was some European
boat, which they supposed must belong to some ship that was lost; so they shortened
sail to let me come up.
I was encouraged with this, and as I had my patron's ancient on board, I made a waft of
it to them, for a signal of distress, and fired a gun, both which they saw; for they
told me they saw the smoke, though they did not hear the gun.
Upon these signals they very kindly brought to, and lay by for me; and in about three
hours; time I came up with them.
They asked me what I was, in Portuguese, and in Spanish, and in French, but I
understood none of them; but at last a Scotch sailor, who was on board, called to
me: and I answered him, and told him I was
an Englishman, that I had made my escape out of slavery from the Moors, at Sallee;
they then bade me come on board, and very kindly took me in, and all my goods.
It was an inexpressible joy to me, which any one will believe, that I was thus
delivered, as I esteemed it, from such a miserable and almost hopeless condition as
I was in; and I immediately offered all I
had to the captain of the ship, as a return for my deliverance; but he generously told
me he would take nothing from me, but that all I had should be delivered safe to me
when I came to the Brazils.
"For," says he, "I have saved your life on no other terms than I would be glad to be
saved myself: and it may, one time or other, be my lot to be taken up in the same
condition.
Besides," said he, "when I carry you to the Brazils, so great a way from your own
country, if I should take from you what you have, you will be starved there, and then I
only take away that life I have given.
No, no," says he: "Seignior Inglese" (Mr. Englishman), "I will carry you thither in
charity, and those things will help to buy your subsistence there, and your passage
home again."
As he was charitable in this proposal, so he was just in the performance to a tittle;
for he ordered the *** that none should touch anything that I had: then he took
everything into his own possession, and
gave me back an exact inventory of them, that I might have them, even to my three
earthen jars.
As to my boat, it was a very good one; and that he saw, and told me he would buy it of
me for his ship's use; and asked me what I would have for it?
I told him he had been so generous to me in everything that I could not offer to make
any price of the boat, but left it entirely to him: upon which he told me he would give
me a note of hand to pay me eighty pieces
of eight for it at Brazil; and when it came there, if any one offered to give more, he
would make it up.
He offered me also sixty pieces of eight more for my boy Xury, which I was loth to
take; not that I was unwilling to let the captain have him, but I was very loth to
sell the poor boy's liberty, who had
assisted me so faithfully in procuring my own.
However, when I let him know my reason, he owned it to be just, and offered me this
medium, that he would give the boy an obligation to set him free in ten years, if
he turned Christian: upon this, and Xury
saying he was willing to go to him, I let the captain have him.
We had a very good voyage to the Brazils, and I arrived in the Bay de Todos los
Santos, or All Saints' Bay, in about twenty-two days after.
And now I was once more delivered from the most miserable of all conditions of life;
and what to do next with myself I was to consider.
The generous treatment the captain gave me I can never enough remember: he would take
nothing of me for my passage, gave me twenty ducats for the leopard's skin, and
forty for the lion's skin, which I had in
my boat, and caused everything I had in the ship to be punctually delivered to me; and
what I was willing to sell he bought of me, such as the case of bottles, two of my
guns, and a piece of the lump of beeswax-
for I had made candles of the rest: in a word, I made about two hundred and twenty
pieces of eight of all my cargo; and with this stock I went on shore in the Brazils.
I had not been long here before I was recommended to the house of a good honest
man like himself, who had an ingenio, as they call it (that is, a plantation and a
sugar-house).
I lived with him some time, and acquainted myself by that means with the manner of
planting and making of sugar; and seeing how well the planters lived, and how they
got rich suddenly, I resolved, if I could
get a licence to settle there, I would turn planter among them: resolving in the
meantime to find out some way to get my money, which I had left in London, remitted
to me.
To this purpose, getting a kind of letter of naturalisation, I purchased as much land
that was uncured as my money would reach, and formed a plan for my plantation and
settlement; such a one as might be suitable
to the stock which I proposed to myself to receive from England.
I had a neighbour, a Portuguese, of Lisbon, but born of English parents, whose name was
Wells, and in much such circumstances as I was.
I call him my neighbour, because his plantation lay next to mine, and we went on
very sociably together.
My stock was but low, as well as his; and we rather planted for food than anything
else, for about two years.
However, we began to increase, and our land began to come into order; so that the third
year we planted some tobacco, and made each of us a large piece of ground ready for
planting canes in the year to come.
But we both wanted help; and now I found, more than before, I had done wrong in
parting with my boy Xury. But, alas! for me to do wrong that never
did right, was no great wonder.
I hail no remedy but to go on: I had got into an employment quite remote to my
genius, and directly contrary to the life I delighted in, and for which I forsook my
father's house, and broke through all his good advice.
Nay, I was coming into the very middle station, or upper degree of low life, which
my father advised me to before, and which, if I resolved to go on with, I might as
well have stayed at home, and never have
fatigued myself in the world as I had done; and I used often to say to myself, I could
have done this as well in England, among my friends, as have gone five thousand miles
off to do it among strangers and savages,
in a wilderness, and at such a distance as never to hear from any part of the world
that had the least knowledge of me. In this manner I used to look upon my
condition with the utmost regret.
I had nobody to converse with, but now and then this neighbour; no work to be done,
but by the labour of my hands; and I used to say, I lived just like a man cast away
upon some desolate island, that had nobody there but himself.
But how just has it been-and how should all men reflect, that when they compare their
present conditions with others that are worse, Heaven may oblige them to make the
exchange, and be convinced of their former
felicity by their experience-I say, how just has it been, that the truly solitary
life I reflected on, in an island of mere desolation, should be my lot, who had so
often unjustly compared it with the life
which I then led, in which, had I continued, I had in all probability been
exceeding prosperous and rich.
I was in some degree settled in my measures for carrying on the plantation before my
kind friend, the captain of the ship that took me up at sea, went back-for the ship
remained there, in providing his lading and
preparing for his voyage, nearly three months-when telling him what little stock I
had left behind me in London, he gave me this friendly and sincere advice:-"Seignior
Inglese," says he (for so he always called
me), "if you will give me letters, and a procuration in form to me, with orders to
the person who has your money in London to send your effects to Lisbon, to such
persons as I shall direct, and in such
goods as are proper for this country, I will bring you the produce of them, God
willing, at my return; but, since human affairs are all subject to changes and
disasters, I would have you give orders but
for one hundred pounds sterling, which, you say, is half your stock, and let the hazard
be run for the first; so that, if it come safe, you may order the rest the same way,
and, if it miscarry, you may have the other half to have recourse to for your supply."
This was so wholesome advice, and looked so friendly, that I could not but be convinced
it was the best course I could take; so I accordingly prepared letters to the
gentlewoman with whom I had left my money,
and a procuration to the Portuguese captain, as he desired.
I wrote the English captain's widow a full account of all my adventures-my slavery,
escape, and how I had met with the Portuguese captain at sea, the humanity of
his behaviour, and what condition I was now
in, with all other necessary directions for my supply; and when this honest captain
came to Lisbon, he found means, by some of the English merchants there, to send over,
not the order only, but a full account of
my story to a merchant in London, who represented it effectually to her;
whereupon she not only delivered the money, but out of her own pocket sent the Portugal
captain a very handsome present for his humanity and charity to me.
The merchant in London, vesting this hundred pounds in English goods, such as
the captain had written for, sent them directly to him at Lisbon, and he brought
them all safe to me to the Brazils; among
which, without my direction (for I was too young in my business to think of them), he
had taken care to have all sorts of tools, ironwork, and utensils necessary for my
plantation, and which were of great use to me.
When this cargo arrived I thought my fortune made, for I was surprised with the
joy of it; and my stood steward, the captain, had laid out the five pounds,
which my friend had sent him for a present
for himself, to purchase and bring me over a servant, under bond for six years'
service, and would not accept of any consideration, except a little tobacco,
which I would have him accept, being of my own produce.
Neither was this all; for my goods being all English manufacture, such as cloths,
stuffs, baize, and things particularly valuable and desirable in the country, I
found means to sell them to a very great
advantage; so that I might say I had more than four times the value of my first
cargo, and was now infinitely beyond my poor neighbour-I mean in the advancement of
my plantation; for the first thing I did, I
bought me a *** slave, and an European servant also-I mean another besides that
which the captain brought me from Lisbon.
But as abused prosperity is oftentimes made the very means of our greatest adversity,
so it was with me.
I went on the next year with great success in my plantation: I raised fifty great
rolls of tobacco on my own ground, more than I had disposed of for necessaries
among my neighbours; and these fifty rolls,
being each of above a hundredweight, were well cured, and laid by against the return
of the fleet from Lisbon: and now increasing in business and wealth, my head
began to be full of projects and
undertakings beyond my reach; such as are, indeed, often the ruin of the best heads in
business.
Had I continued in the station I was now in, I had room for all the happy things to
have yet befallen me for which my father so earnestly recommended a quiet, retired
life, and of which he had so sensibly
described the middle station of life to be full of; but other things attended me, and
I was still to be the wilful agent of all my own miseries; and particularly, to
increase my fault, and double the
reflections upon myself, which in my future sorrows I should have leisure to make, all
these miscarriages were procured by my apparent obstinate adhering to my foolish
inclination of wandering abroad, and
pursuing that inclination, in contradiction to the clearest views of doing myself good
in a fair and plain pursuit of those prospects, and those measures of life,
which nature and Providence concurred to present me with, and to make my duty.
As I had once done thus in my breaking away from my parents, so I could not be content
now, but I must go and leave the happy view I had of being a rich and thriving man in
my new plantation, only to pursue a rash
and immoderate desire of rising faster than the nature of the thing admitted; and thus
I cast myself down again into the deepest gulf of human misery that ever man fell
into, or perhaps could be consistent with life and a state of health in the world.
To come, then, by the just degrees to the particulars of this part of my story.
You may suppose, that having now lived almost four years in the Brazils, and
beginning to thrive and prosper very well upon my plantation, I had not only learned
the language, but had contracted
acquaintance and friendship among my fellow-planters, as well as among the
merchants at St. Salvador, which was our port; and that, in my discourses among
them, I had frequently given them an
account of my two voyages to the coast of Guinea: the manner of trading with the
negroes there, and how easy it was to purchase upon the coast for trifles-such as
beads, toys, knives, scissors, hatchets,
bits of glass, and the like-not only gold- dust, Guinea grains, elephants' teeth, &c.,
but negroes, for the service of the Brazils, in great numbers.
They listened always very attentively to my discourses on these heads, but especially
to that part which related to the buying of negroes, which was a trade at that time,
not only not far entered into, but, as far
as it was, had been carried on by assientos, or permission of the kings of
Spain and Portugal, and engrossed in the public stock: so that few negroes were
bought, and these excessively dear.
It happened, being in company with some merchants and planters of my acquaintance,
and talking of those things very earnestly, three of them came to me next morning, and
told me they had been musing very much upon
what I had discoursed with them of the last night, and they came to make a secret
proposal to me; and, after enjoining me to secrecy, they told me that they had a mind
to fit out a ship to go to Guinea; that
they had all plantations as well as I, and were straitened for nothing so much as
servants; that as it was a trade that could not be carried on, because they could not
publicly sell the negroes when they came
home, so they desired to make but one voyage, to bring the negroes on shore
privately, and divide them among their own plantations; and, in a word, the question
was whether I would go their supercargo in
the ship, to manage the trading part upon the coast of Guinea; and they offered me
that I should have my equal share of the negroes, without providing any part of the
stock.
This was a fair proposal, it must be confessed, had it been made to any one that
had not had a settlement and a plantation of his own to look after, which was in a
fair way of coming to be very considerable,
and with a good stock upon it; but for me, that was thus entered and established, and
had nothing to do but to go on as I had begun, for three or four years more, and to
have sent for the other hundred pounds from
England; and who in that time, and with that little addition, could scarce have
failed of being worth three or four thousand pounds sterling, and that
increasing too-for me to think of such a
voyage was the most preposterous thing that ever man in such circumstances could be
guilty of.
But I, that was born to be my own destroyer, could no more resist the offer
than I could restrain my first rambling designs when my father' good counsel was
lost upon me.
In a word, I told them I would go with all my heart, if they would undertake to look
after my plantation in my absence, and would dispose of it to such as I should
direct, if I miscarried.
This they all engaged to do, and entered into writings or covenants to do so; and I
made a formal will, disposing of my plantation and effects in case of my death,
making the captain of the ship that had
saved my life, as before, my universal heir, but obliging him to dispose of my
effects as I had directed in my will; one half of the produce being to himself, and
the other to be shipped to England.
In short, I took all possible caution to preserve my effects and to keep up my
plantation.
Had I used half as much prudence to have looked into my own interest, and have made
a judgment of what I ought to have done and not to have done, I had certainly never
gone away from so prosperous an
undertaking, leaving all the probable views of a thriving circumstance, and gone upon a
voyage to sea, attended with all its common hazards, to say nothing of the reasons I
had to expect particular misfortunes to myself.
But I was hurried on, and obeyed blindly the dictates of my fancy rather than my
reason; and, accordingly, the ship being fitted out, and the cargo furnished, and
all things done, as by agreement, by my
partners in the voyage, I went on board in an evil hour, the 1st September 1659, being
the same day eight years that I went from my father and mother at Hull, in order to
act the rebel to their authority, and the fool to my own interests.
Our ship was about one hundred and twenty tons burden, carried six guns and fourteen
men, besides the master, his boy, and myself.
We had on board no large cargo of goods, except of such toys as were fit for our
trade with the negroes, such as beads, bits of glass, shells, and other trifles,
especially little looking-glasses, knives, scissors, hatchets, and the like.
The same day I went on board we set sail, standing away to the northward upon our own
coast, with design to stretch over for the African coast when we came about ten or
twelve degrees of northern latitude, which,
it seems, was the manner of course in those days.
We had very good weather, only excessively hot, all the way upon our own coast, till
we came to the height of Cape St. Augustino; from whence, keeping further off
at sea, we lost sight of land, and steered
as if we were bound for the isle Fernando de Noronha, holding our course N.E. by N.,
and leaving those isles on the east.
In this course we passed the line in about twelve days' time, and were, by our last
observation, in seven degrees twenty-two minutes northern latitude, when a violent
tornado, or hurricane, took us quite out of our knowledge.
It began from the south-east, came about to the north-west, and then settled in the
north-east; from whence it blew in such a terrible manner, that for twelve days
together we could do nothing but drive,
and, scudding away before it, let it carry us whither fate and the fury of the winds
directed; and, during these twelve days, I need not say that I expected every day to
be swallowed up; nor, indeed, did any in the ship expect to save their lives.
In this distress we had, besides the terror of the storm, one of our men die of the
calenture, and one man and the boy washed overboard.
About the twelfth day, the weather abating a little, the master made an observation as
well as he could, and found that he was in about eleven degrees north latitude, but
that he was twenty-two degrees of longitude
difference west from Cape St. Augustino; so that he found he was upon the coast of
Guiana, or the north part of Brazil, beyond the river Amazon, toward that of the river
Orinoco, commonly called the Great River;
and began to consult with me what course he should take, for the ship was leaky, and
very much disabled, and he was going directly back to the coast of Brazil.
I was positively against that; and looking over the charts of the sea-coast of America
with him, we concluded there was no inhabited country for us to have recourse
to till we came within the circle of the
Caribbee Islands, and therefore resolved to stand away for Barbadoes; which, by keeping
off at sea, to avoid the indraft of the Bay or Gulf of Mexico, we might easily perform,
as we hoped, in about fifteen days' sail;
whereas we could not possibly make our voyage to the coast of Africa without some
assistance both to our ship and to ourselves.
With this design we changed our course, and steered away N.W. by W., in order to reach
some of our English islands, where I hoped for relief.
But our voyage was otherwise determined; for, being in the latitude of twelve
degrees eighteen minutes, a second storm came upon us, which carried us away with
the same impetuosity westward, and drove us
so out of the way of all human commerce, that, had all our lives been saved as to
the sea, we were rather in danger of being devoured by savages than ever returning to
our own country.
In this distress, the wind still blowing very hard, one of our men early in the
morning cried out, "Land!" and we had no sooner run out of the cabin to look out, in
hopes of seeing whereabouts in the world we
were, than the ship struck upon a sand, and in a moment her motion being so stopped,
the sea broke over her in such a manner that we expected we should all have
perished immediately; and we were
immediately driven into our close quarters, to shelter us from the very foam and spray
of the sea.
It is not easy for any one who has not been in the like condition to describe or
conceive the consternation of men in such circumstances.
We knew nothing where we were, or upon what land it was we were driven-whether an
island or the main, whether inhabited or not inhabited.
As the rage of the wind was still great, though rather less than at first, we could
not so much as hope to have the ship hold many minutes without breaking into pieces,
unless the winds, by a kind of miracle, should turn immediately about.
In a word, we sat looking upon one another, and expecting death every moment, and every
man, accordingly, preparing for another world; for there was little or nothing more
for us to do in this.
That which was our present comfort, and all the comfort we had, was that, contrary to
our expectation, the ship did not break yet, and that the master said the wind
began to abate.
Now, though we thought that the wind did a little abate, yet the ship having thus
struck upon the sand, and sticking too fast for us to expect her getting off, we were
in a dreadful condition indeed, and had
nothing to do but to think of saving our lives as well as we could.
We had a boat at our stern just before the storm, but she was first staved by dashing
against the ship's rudder, and in the next place she broke away, and either sunk or
was driven off to sea; so there was no hope from her.
We had another boat on board, but how to get her off into the sea was a doubtful
thing.
However, there was no time to debate, for we fancied that the ship would break in
pieces every minute, and some told us she was actually broken already.
In this distress the mate of our vessel laid hold of the boat, and with the help of
the rest of the men got her slung over the ship's side; and getting all into her, let
go, and committed ourselves, being eleven
in number, to God's mercy and the wild sea; for though the storm was abated
considerably, yet the sea ran dreadfully high upon the shore, and might be well
called den wild zee, as the Dutch call the sea in a storm.
And now our case was very dismal indeed; for we all saw plainly that the sea went so
high that the boat could not live, and that we should be inevitably drowned.
As to making sail, we had none, nor if we had could we have done anything with it; so
we worked at the oar towards the land, though with heavy hearts, like men going to
execution; for we all knew that when the
boat came near the shore she would be dashed in a thousand pieces by the breach
of the sea.
However, we committed our souls to God in the most earnest manner; and the wind
driving us towards the shore, we hastened our destruction with our own hands, pulling
as well as we could towards land.
What the shore was, whether rock or sand, whether steep or shoal, we knew not.
The only hope that could rationally give us the least shadow of expectation was, if we
might find some bay or gulf, or the mouth of some river, where by great chance we
might have run our boat in, or got under
the lee of the land, and perhaps made smooth water.
But there was nothing like this appeared; but as we made nearer and nearer the shore,
the land looked more frightful than the sea.
After we had rowed, or rather driven about a league and a half, as we reckoned it, a
raging wave, mountain-like, came rolling astern of us, and plainly bade us expect
the coup de grâce.
It took us with such a fury, that it overset the boat at once; and separating us
as well from the boat as from one another, gave us no time to say, "O God!" for we
were all swallowed up in a moment.
Nothing can describe the confusion of thought which I felt when I sank into the
water; for though I swam very well, yet I could not deliver myself from the waves so
as to draw breath, till that wave having
driven me, or rather carried me, a vast way on towards the shore, and having spent
itself, went back, and left me upon the land almost dry, but half dead with the
water I took in.
I had so much presence of mind, as well as breath left, that seeing myself nearer the
mainland than I expected, I got upon my feet, and endeavoured to make on towards
the land as fast as I could before another
wave should return and take me up again; but I soon found it was impossible to avoid
it; for I saw the sea come after me as high as a great hill, and as furious as an
enemy, which I had no means or strength to
contend with: my business was to hold my breath, and raise myself upon the water if
I could; and so, by swimming, to preserve my breathing, and pilot myself towards the
shore, if possible, my greatest concern now
being that the sea, as it would carry me a great way towards the shore when it came
on, might not carry me back again with it when it gave back towards the sea.
The wave that came upon me again buried me at once twenty or thirty feet deep in its
own body, and I could feel myself carried with a mighty force and swiftness towards
the shore-a very great way; but I held my
breath, and assisted myself to swim still forward with all my might.
I was ready to burst with holding my breath, when, as I felt myself rising up,
so, to my immediate relief, I found my head and hands shoot out above the surface of
the water; and though it was not two
seconds of time that I could keep myself so, yet it relieved me greatly, gave me
breath, and new courage.
I was covered again with water a good while, but not so long but I held it out;
and finding the water had spent itself, and began to return, I struck forward against
the return of the waves, and felt ground again with my feet.
I stood still a few moments to recover breath, and till the waters went from me,
and then took to my heels and ran with what strength I had further towards the shore.
But neither would this deliver me from the fury of the sea, which came pouring in
after me again; and twice more I was lifted up by the waves and carried forward as
before, the shore being very flat.
The last time of these two had well-nigh been fatal to me, for the sea having
hurried me along as before, landed me, or rather dashed me, against a piece of rock,
and that with such force, that it left me
senseless, and indeed helpless, as to my own deliverance; for the blow taking my
side and breast, beat the breath as it were quite out of my body; and had it returned
again immediately, I must have been
strangled in the water; but I recovered a little before the return of the waves, and
seeing I should be covered again with the water, I resolved to hold fast by a piece
of the rock, and so to hold my breath, if possible, till the wave went back.
Now, as the waves were not so high as at first, being nearer land, I held my hold
till the wave abated, and then fetched another run, which brought me so near the
shore that the next wave, though it went
over me, yet did not so swallow me up as to carry me away; and the next run I took, I
got to the mainland, where, to my great comfort, I clambered up the cliffs of the
shore and sat me down upon the grass, free
from danger and quite out of the reach of the water.
I was now landed and safe on shore, and began to look up and thank God that my life
was saved, in a case wherein there was some minutes before scarce any room to hope.
I believe it is impossible to express, to the life, what the ecstasies and transports
of the soul are, when it is so saved, as I may say, out of the very grave: and I do
not wonder now at the custom, when a
malefactor, who has the halter about his neck, is tied up, and just going to be
turned off, and has a reprieve brought to him-I say, I do not wonder that they bring
a surgeon with it, to let him blood that
very moment they tell him of it, that the surprise may not drive the animal spirits
from the heart and overwhelm him. "For sudden joys, like griefs, confound at
first."
I walked about on the shore lifting up my hands, and my whole being, as I may say,
wrapped up in a contemplation of my deliverance; making a thousand gestures and
motions, which I cannot describe;
reflecting upon all my comrades that were drowned, and that there should not be one
soul saved but myself; for, as for them, I never saw them afterwards, or any sign of
them, except three of their hats, one cap, and two shoes that were not fellows.
I cast my eye to the stranded vessel, when, the breach and froth of the sea being so
big, I could hardly see it, it lay so far of; and considered, Lord! how was it
possible I could get on shore?
After I had solaced my mind with the comfortable part of my condition, I began
to look round me, to see what kind of place I was in, and what was next to be done; and
I soon found my comforts abate, and that,
in a word, I had a dreadful deliverance; for I was wet, had no clothes to shift me,
nor anything either to eat or drink to comfort me; neither did I see any prospect
before me but that of perishing with hunger
or being devoured by wild beasts; and that which was particularly afflicting to me
was, that I had no weapon, either to hunt and kill any creature for my sustenance, or
to defend myself against any other creature that might desire to kill me for theirs.
In a word, I had nothing about me but a knife, a tobacco-pipe, and a little tobacco
in a box.
This was all my provisions; and this threw me into such terrible agonies of mind, that
for a while I ran about like a madman.
Night coming upon me, I began with a heavy heart to consider what would be my lot if
there were any ravenous beasts in that country, as at night they always come
abroad for their prey.
All the remedy that offered to my thoughts at that time was to get up into a thick
bushy tree like a fir, but thorny, which grew near me, and where I resolved to sit
all night, and consider the next day what
death I should die, for as yet I saw no prospect of life.
I walked about a furlong from the shore, to see if I could find any fresh water to
drink, which I did, to my great joy; and having drank, and put a little tobacco into
my mouth to prevent hunger, I went to the
tree, and getting up into it, endeavoured to place myself so that if I should sleep I
might not fall.
And having cut me a short stick, like a truncheon, for my defence, I took up my
lodging; and having been excessively fatigued, I fell fast asleep, and slept as
comfortably as, I believe, few could have
done in my condition, and found myself more refreshed with it than, I think, I ever was
on such an occasion.
>
CHAPTER IV FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND
When I waked it was broad day, the weather clear, and the storm abated, so that the
sea did not rage and swell as before.
But that which surprised me most was, that the ship was lifted off in the night from
the sand where she lay by the swelling of the tide, and was driven up almost as far
as the rock which I at first mentioned,
where I had been so bruised by the wave dashing me against it.
This being within about a mile from the shore where I was, and the ship seeming to
stand upright still, I wished myself on board, that at least I might save some
necessary things for my use.
When I came down from my apartment in the tree, I looked about me again, and the
first thing I found was the boat, which lay, as the wind and the sea had tossed her
up, upon the land, about two miles on my right hand.
I walked as far as I could upon the shore to have got to her; but found a neck or
inlet of water between me and the boat which was about half a mile broad; so I
came back for the present, being more
intent upon getting at the ship, where I hoped to find something for my present
subsistence.
A little after noon I found the sea very calm, and the tide ebbed so far out that I
could come within a quarter of a mile of the ship.
And here I found a fresh renewing of my grief; for I saw evidently that if we had
kept on board we had been all safe-that is to say, we had all got safe on shore, and I
had not been so miserable as to be left
entirety destitute of all comfort and company as I now was.
This forced tears to my eyes again; but as there was little relief in that, I
resolved, if possible, to get to the ship; so I pulled off my clothes-for the weather
was hot to extremity-and took the water.
But when I came to the ship my difficulty was still greater to know how to get on
board; for, as she lay aground, and high out of the water, there was nothing within
my reach to lay hold of.
I swam round her twice, and the second time I spied a small piece of rope, which I
wondered I did not see at first, hung down by the fore-chains so low, as that with
great difficulty I got hold of it, and by
the help of that rope I got up into the forecastle of the ship.
Here I found that the ship was bulged, and had a great deal of water in her hold, but
that she lay so on the side of a bank of hard sand, or, rather earth, that her stern
lay lifted up upon the bank, and her head low, almost to the water.
By this means all her quarter was free, and all that was in that part was dry; for you
may be sure my first work was to search, and to see what was spoiled and what was
free.
And, first, I found that all the ship's provisions were dry and untouched by the
water, and being very well disposed to eat, I went to the bread room and filled my
pockets with biscuit, and ate it as I went
about other things, for I had no time to lose.
I also found some rum in the great cabin, of which I took a large dram, and which I
had, indeed, need enough of to spirit me for what was before me.
Now I wanted nothing but a boat to furnish myself with many things which I foresaw
would be very necessary to me.
It was in vain to sit still and wish for what was not to be had; and this extremity
roused my application.
We had several spare yards, and two or three large spars of wood, and a spare
topmast or two in the ship; I resolved to fall to work with these, and I flung as
many of them overboard as I could manage
for their weight, tying every one with a rope, that they might not drive away.
When this was done I went down the ship's side, and pulling them to me, I tied four
of them together at both ends as well as I could, in the form of a raft, and laying
two or three short pieces of plank upon
them crossways, I found I could walk upon it very well, but that it was not able to
bear any great weight, the pieces being too light.
So I went to work, and with a carpenter's saw I cut a spare topmast into three
lengths, and added them to my raft, with a great deal of labour and pains.
But the hope of furnishing myself with necessaries encouraged me to go beyond what
I should have been able to have done upon another occasion.
My raft was now strong enough to bear any reasonable weight.
My next care was what to load it with, and how to preserve what I laid upon it from
the surf of the sea; but I was not long considering this.
I first laid all the planks or boards upon it that I could get, and having considered
well what I most wanted, I got three of the ***'s chests, which I had broken open,
and emptied, and lowered them down upon my
raft; the first of these I filled with provisions-viz. bread, rice, three Dutch
cheeses, five pieces of dried goat's flesh (which we lived much upon), and a little
remainder of European corn, which had been
laid by for some fowls which we brought to sea with us, but the fowls were killed.
There had been some barley and wheat together; but, to my great disappointment,
I found afterwards that the rats had eaten or spoiled it all.
As for liquors, I found several, cases of bottles belonging to our skipper, in which
were some cordial waters; and, in all, about five or six gallons of rack.
These I stowed by themselves, there being no need to put them into the chest, nor any
room for them.
While I was doing this, I found the tide begin to flow, though very calm; and I had
the mortification to see my coat, shirt, and waistcoat, which I had left on the
shore, upon the sand, swim away.
As for my breeches, which were only linen, and open-kneed, I swam on board in them and
my stockings.
However, this set me on rummaging for clothes, of which I found enough, but took
no more than I wanted for present use, for I had others things which my eye was more
upon-as, first, tools to work with on shore.
And it was after long searching that I found out the carpenter's chest, which was,
indeed, a very useful prize to me, and much more valuable than a shipload of gold would
have been at that time.
I got it down to my raft, whole as it was, without losing time to look into it, for I
knew in general what it contained. My next care was for some ammunition and
arms.
There were two very good fowling-pieces in the great cabin, and two pistols.
These I secured first, with some powder- horns and a small bag of shot, and two old
rusty swords.
I knew there were three barrels of powder in the ship, but knew not where our gunner
had stowed them; but with much search I found them, two of them dry and good, the
third had taken water.
Those two I got to my raft with the arms.
And now I thought myself pretty well freighted, and began to think how I should
get to shore with them, having neither sail, oar, nor rudder; and the least capful
of wind would have overset all my navigation.
I had three encouragements-1st, a smooth, calm sea; 2ndly, the tide rising, and
setting in to the shore; 3rdly, what little wind there was blew me towards the land.
And thus, having found two or three broken oars belonging to the boat-and, besides the
tools which were in the chest, I found two saws, an axe, and a hammer; with this cargo
I put to sea.
For a mile or thereabouts my raft went very well, only that I found it drive a little
distant from the place where I had landed before; by which I perceived that there was
some indraft of the water, and consequently
I hoped to find some creek or river there, which I might make use of as a port to get
to land with my cargo. As I imagined, so it was.
There appeared before me a little opening of the land, and I found a strong current
of the tide set into it; so I guided my raft as well as I could, to keep in the
middle of the stream.
But here I had like to have suffered a second shipwreck, which, if I had, I think
verily would have broken my heart; for, knowing nothing of the coast, my raft ran
aground at one end of it upon a shoal, and
not being aground at the other end, it wanted but a little that all my cargo had
slipped off towards the end that was afloat, and to fallen into the water.
I did my utmost, by setting my back against the chests, to keep them in their places,
but could not thrust off the raft with all my strength; neither durst I stir from the
posture I was in; but holding up the chests
with all my might, I stood in that manner near half-an-hour, in which time the rising
of the water brought me a little more upon a level; and a little after, the water
still-rising, my raft floated again, and I
thrust her off with the oar I had into the channel, and then driving up higher, I at
length found myself in the mouth of a little river, with land on both sides, and
a strong current of tide running up.
I looked on both sides for a proper place to get to shore, for I was not willing to
be driven too high up the river: hoping in time to see some ships at sea, and
therefore resolved to place myself as near the coast as I could.
At length I spied a little cove on the right shore of the creek, to which with
great pain and difficulty I guided my raft, and at last got so near that, reaching
ground with my oar, I could thrust her directly in.
But here I had like to have dipped all my cargo into the sea again; for that shore
lying pretty steep-that is to say sloping- there was no place to land, but where one
end of my float, if it ran on shore, would
lie so high, and the other sink lower, as before, that it would endanger my cargo
again.
All that I could do was to wait till the tide was at the highest, keeping the raft
with my oar like an anchor, to hold the side of it fast to the shore, near a flat
piece of ground, which I expected the water would flow over; and so it did.
As soon as I found water enough-for my raft drew about a foot of water-I thrust her
upon that flat piece of ground, and there fastened or moored her, by sticking my two
broken oars into the ground, one on one
side near one end, and one on the other side near the other end; and thus I lay
till the water ebbed away, and left my raft and all my cargo safe on shore.
My next work was to view the country, and seek a proper place for my habitation, and
where to stow my goods to secure them from whatever might happen.
Where I was, I yet knew not; whether on the continent or on an island; whether
inhabited or not inhabited; whether in danger of wild beasts or not.
There was a hill not above a mile from me, which rose up very steep and high, and
which seemed to overtop some other hills, which lay as in a ridge from it northward.
I took out one of the fowling-pieces, and one of the pistols, and a horn of powder;
and thus armed, I travelled for discovery up to the top of that hill, where, after I
had with great labour and difficulty got to
the top, I saw my fate, to my great affliction-viz. that I was in an island
environed every way with the sea: no land to be seen except some rocks, which lay a
great way off; and two small islands, less
than this, which lay about three leagues to the west.
I found also that the island I was in was barren, and, as I saw good reason to
believe, uninhabited except by wild beasts, of whom, however, I saw none.
Yet I saw abundance of fowls, but knew not their kinds; neither when I killed them
could I tell what was fit for food, and what not.
At my coming back, I shot at a great bird which I saw sitting upon a tree on the side
of a great wood.
I believe it was the first gun that had been fired there since the creation of the
world.
I had no sooner fired, than from all parts of the wood there arose an innumerable
number of fowls, of many sorts, making a confused screaming and crying, and every
one according to his usual note, but not one of them of any kind that I knew.
As for the creature I killed, I took it to be a kind of hawk, its colour and beak
resembling it, but it had no talons or claws more than common.
Its flesh was carrion, and fit for nothing.
Contented with this discovery, I came back to my raft, and fell to work to bring my
cargo on shore, which took me up the rest of that day.
What to do with myself at night I knew not, nor indeed where to rest, for I was afraid
to lie down on the ground, not knowing but some wild beast might devour me, though, as
I afterwards found, there was really no need for those fears.
However, as well as I could, I barricaded myself round with the chest and boards that
I had brought on shore, and made a kind of hut for that night's lodging.
As for food, I yet saw not which way to supply myself, except that I had seen two
or three creatures like hares run out of the wood where I shot the fowl.
I now began to consider that I might yet get a great many things out of the ship
which would be useful to me, and particularly some of the rigging and sails,
and such other things as might come to
land; and I resolved to make another voyage on board the vessel, if possible.
And as I knew that the first storm that blew must necessarily break her all in
pieces, I resolved to set all other things apart till I had got everything out of the
ship that I could get.
Then I called a council-that is to say in my thoughts-whether I should take back the
raft; but this appeared impracticable: so I resolved to go as before, when the tide was
down; and I did so, only that I stripped
before I went from my hut, having nothing on but my chequered shirt, a pair of linen
drawers, and a pair of pumps on my feet.
I got on board the ship as before, and prepared a second raft; and, having had
experience of the first, I neither made this so unwieldy, nor loaded it so hard,
but yet I brought away several things very
useful to me; as first, in the carpenters stores I found two or three bags full of
nails and spikes, a great screw-jack, a dozen or two of hatchets, and, above all,
that most useful thing called a grindstone.
All these I secured, together with several things belonging to the gunner,
particularly two or three iron crows, and two barrels of musket bullets, seven
muskets, another fowling-piece, with some
small quantity of powder more; a large bagful of small shot, and a great roll of
sheet-lead; but this last was so heavy, I could not hoist it up to get it over the
ship's side.
Besides these things, I took all the men's clothes that I could find, and a spare
fore-topsail, a hammock, and some bedding; and with this I loaded my second raft, and
brought them all safe on shore, to my very great comfort.
I was under some apprehension, during my absence from the land, that at least my
provisions might be devoured on shore: but when I came back I found no sign of any
visitor; only there sat a creature like a
wild cat upon one of the chests, which, when I came towards it, ran away a little
distance, and then stood still.
She sat very composed and unconcerned, and looked full in my face, as if she had a
mind to be acquainted with me.
I presented my gun at her, but, as she did not understand it, she was perfectly
unconcerned at it, nor did she offer to stir away; upon which I tossed her a bit of
biscuit, though by the way, I was not very
free of it, for my store was not great: however, I spared her a bit, I say, and she
went to it, smelled at it, and ate it, and looked (as if pleased) for more; but I
thanked her, and could spare no more: so she marched off.
Having got my second cargo on shore-though I was fain to open the barrels of powder,
and bring them by parcels, for they were too heavy, being large casks-I went to work
to make me a little tent with the sail and
some poles which I cut for that purpose: and into this tent I brought everything
that I knew would spoil either with rain or sun; and I piled all the empty chests and
casks up in a circle round the tent, to
fortify it from any sudden attempt, either from man or beast.
When I had done this, I blocked up the door of the tent with some boards within, and an
empty chest set up on end without; and spreading one of the beds upon the ground,
laying my two pistols just at my head, and
my gun at length by me, I went to bed for the first time, and slept very quietly all
night, for I was very weary and heavy; for the night before I had slept little, and
had laboured very hard all day to fetch all
those things from the ship, and to get them on shore.
I had the biggest magazine of all kinds now that ever was laid up, I believe, for one
man: but I was not satisfied still, for while the ship sat upright in that posture,
I thought I ought to get everything out of
her that I could; so every day at low water I went on board, and brought away something
or other; but particularly the third time I went I brought away as much of the rigging
as I could, as also all the small ropes and
rope-twine I could get, with a piece of spare canvas, which was to mend the sails
upon occasion, and the barrel of wet gunpowder.
In a word, I brought away all the sails, first and last; only that I was fain to cut
them in pieces, and bring as much at a time as I could, for they were no more useful to
be sails, but as mere canvas only.
But that which comforted me more still, was, that last of all, after I had made
five or six such voyages as these, and thought I had nothing more to expect from
the ship that was worth my meddling with-I
say, after all this, I found a great hogshead of bread, three large runlets of
rum, or spirits, a box of sugar, and a barrel of fine flour; this was surprising
to me, because I had given over expecting
any more provisions, except what was spoiled by the water.
I soon emptied the hogshead of the bread, and wrapped it up, parcel by parcel, in
pieces of the sails, which I cut out; and, in a word, I got all this safe on shore
also.
The next day I made another voyage, and now, having plundered the ship of what was
portable and fit to hand out, I began with the cables.
Cutting the great cable into pieces, such as I could move, I got two cables and a
hawser on shore, with all the ironwork I could get; and having cut down the
spritsail-yard, and the mizzen-yard, and
everything I could, to make a large raft, I loaded it with all these heavy goods, and
came away.
But my good luck began now to leave me; for this raft was so unwieldy, and so
overladen, that, after I had entered the little cove where I had landed the rest of
my goods, not being able to guide it so
handily as I did the other, it overset, and threw me and all my cargo into the water.
As for myself, it was no great harm, for I was near the shore; but as to my cargo, it
was a great part of it lost, especially the iron, which I expected would have been of
great use to me; however, when the tide was
out, I got most of the pieces of the cable ashore, and some of the iron, though with
infinite labour; for I was fain to dip for it into the water, a work which fatigued me
very much.
After this, I went every day on board, and brought away what I could get.
I had been now thirteen days on shore, and had been eleven times on board the ship, in
which time I had brought away all that one pair of hands could well be supposed
capable to bring; though I believe verily,
had the calm weather held, I should have brought away the whole ship, piece by
piece.
But preparing the twelfth time to go on board, I found the wind began to rise:
however, at low water I went on board, and though I thought I had rummaged the cabin
so effectually that nothing more could be
found, yet I discovered a locker with drawers in it, in one of which I found two
or three razors, and one pair of large scissors, with some ten or a dozen of good
knives and forks: in another I found about
thirty-six pounds value in money-some European coin, some Brazil, some pieces of
eight, some gold, and some silver.
I smiled to myself at the sight of this money: "O drug!" said I, aloud, "what art
thou good for?
Thou art not worth to me-no, not the taking off the ground; one of those knives is
worth all this heap; I have no manner of use for thee-e'en remain where thou art,
and go to the bottom as a creature whose
life is not worth saying." However, upon second thoughts I took it away; and
wrapping all this in a piece of canvas, I began to think of making another raft; but
while I was preparing this, I found the sky
overcast, and the wind began to rise, and in a quarter of an hour it blew a fresh
gale from the shore.
It presently occurred to me that it was in vain to pretend to make a raft with the
wind offshore; and that it was my business to be gone before the tide of flood began,
otherwise I might not be able to reach the shore at all.
Accordingly, I let myself down into the water, and swam across the channel, which
lay between the ship and the sands, and even that with difficulty enough, partly
with the weight of the things I had about
me, and partly the roughness of the water; for the wind rose very hastily, and before
it was quite high water it blew a storm.
But I had got home to my little tent, where I lay, with all my wealth about me, very
secure.
It blew very hard all night, and in the morning, when I looked out, behold, no more
ship was to be seen!
I was a little surprised, but recovered myself with the satisfactory reflection
that I had lost no time, nor abated any diligence, to get everything out of her
that could be useful to me; and that,
indeed, there was little left in her that I was able to bring away, if I had had more
time.
I now gave over any more thoughts of the ship, or of anything out of her, except
what might drive on shore from her wreck; as, indeed, divers pieces of her afterwards
did; but those things were of small use to me.
My thoughts were now wholly employed about securing myself against either savages, if
any should appear, or wild beasts, if any were in the island; and I had many thoughts
of the method how to do this, and what kind
of dwelling to make-whether I should make me a cave in the earth, or a tent upon the
earth; and, in short, I resolved upon both; the manner and description of which, it may
not be improper to give an account of.
I soon found the place I was in was not fit for my settlement, because it was upon a
low, moorish ground, near the sea, and I believed it would not be wholesome, and
more particularly because there was no
fresh water near it; so I resolved to find a more healthy and more convenient spot of
ground.
I consulted several things in my situation, which I found would he proper for me: 1st,
health and fresh water, I just now mentioned; 2ndly, shelter from the heat of
the sun; 3rdly, security from ravenous
creatures, whether man or beast; 4thly, a view to the sea, that if God sent any ship
in sight, I might not lose any advantage for my deliverance, of which I was not
willing to banish all my expectation yet.
In search of a place proper for this, I found a little plain on the side of a
rising hill, whose front towards this little plain was steep as a house-side, so
that nothing could come down upon me from the top.
On the one side of the rock there was a hollow place, worn a little way in, like
the entrance or door of a cave but there was not really any cave or way into the
rock at all.
On the flat of the green, just before this hollow place, I resolved to pitch my tent.
This plain was not above a hundred yards broad, and about twice as long, and lay
like a green before my door; and, at the end of it, descended irregularly every way
down into the low ground by the seaside.
It was on the N.N.W. side of the hill; so that it was sheltered from the heat every
day, till it came to a W. and by S. sun, or thereabouts, which, in those countries, is
near the setting.
Before I set up my tent I drew a half- circle before the hollow place, which took
in about ten yards in its semi-diameter from the rock, and twenty yards in its
diameter from its beginning and ending.
In this half-circle I pitched two rows of strong stakes, driving them into the ground
till they stood very firm like piles, the biggest end being out of the ground above
five feet and a half, and sharpened on the top.
The two rows did not stand above six inches from one another.
Then I took the pieces of cable which I had cut in the ship, and laid them in rows, one
upon another, within the circle, between these two rows of stakes, up to the top,
placing other stakes in the inside, leaning
against them, about two feet and a half high, like a spur to a post; and this fence
was so strong, that neither man nor beast could get into it or over it.
This cost me a great deal of time and labour, especially to cut the piles in the
woods, bring them to the place, and drive them into the earth.
The entrance into this place I made to be, not by a door, but by a short ladder to go
over the top; which ladder, when I was in, I lifted over after me; and so I was
completely fenced in and fortified, as I
thought, from all the world, and consequently slept secure in the night,
which otherwise I could not have done; though, as it appeared afterwards, there
was no need of all this caution from the enemies that I apprehended danger from.
Into this fence or fortress, with infinite labour, I carried all my riches, all my
provisions, ammunition, and stores, of which you have the account above; and I
made a large tent, which to preserve me
from the rains that in one part of the year are very violent there, I made double-one
smaller tent within, and one larger tent above it; and covered the uppermost with a
large tarpaulin, which I had saved among the sails.
And now I lay no more for a while in the bed which I had brought on shore, but in a
hammock, which was indeed a very good one, and belonged to the mate of the ship.
Into this tent I brought all my provisions, and everything that would spoil by the wet;
and having thus enclosed all my goods, I made up the entrance, which till now I had
left open, and so passed and repassed, as I said, by a short ladder.
When I had done this, I began to work my way into the rock, and bringing all the
earth and stones that I dug down out through my tent, I laid them up within my
fence, in the nature of a terrace, so that
it raised the ground within about a foot and a half; and thus I made me a cave, just
behind my tent, which served me like a cellar to my house.
It cost me much labour and many days before all these things were brought to
perfection; and therefore I must go back to some other things which took up some of my
thoughts.
At the same time it happened, after I had laid my scheme for the setting up my tent,
and making the cave, that a storm of rain falling from a thick, dark cloud, a sudden
flash of lightning happened, and after that
a great clap of thunder, as is naturally the effect of it.
I was not so much surprised with the lightning as I was with the thought which
darted into my mind as swift as the lightning itself-Oh, my powder!
My very heart sank within me when I thought that, at one blast, all my powder might be
destroyed; on which, not my defence only, but the providing my food, as I thought,
entirely depended.
I was nothing near so anxious about my own danger, though, had the powder took fire, I
should never have known who had hurt me.
Such impression did this make upon me, that after the storm was over I laid aside all
my works, my building and fortifying, and applied myself to make bags and boxes, to
separate the powder, and to keep it a
little and a little in a parcel, in the hope that, whatever might come, it might
not all take fire at once; and to keep it so apart that it should not be possible to
make one part fire another.
I finished this work in about a fortnight; and I think my powder, which in all was
about two hundred and forty pounds weight, was divided in not less than a hundred
parcels.
As to the barrel that had been wet, I did not apprehend any danger from that; so I
placed it in my new cave, which, in my fancy, I called my kitchen; and the rest I
hid up and down in holes among the rocks,
so that no wet might come to it, marking very carefully where I laid it.
In the interval of time while this was doing, I went out once at least every day
with my gun, as well to divert myself as to see if I could kill anything fit for food;
and, as near as I could, to acquaint myself with what the island produced.
The first time I went out, I presently discovered that there were goats in the
island, which was a great satisfaction to me; but then it was attended with this
misfortune to me-viz. that they were so
shy, so subtle, and so swift of foot, that it was the most difficult thing in the
world to come at them; but I was not discouraged at this, not doubting but I
might now and then shoot one, as it soon
happened; for after I had found their haunts a little, I laid wait in this manner
for them: I observed if they saw me in the valleys, though they were upon the rocks,
they would run away, as in a terrible
fright; but if they were feeding in the valleys, and I was upon the rocks, they
took no notice of me; from whence I concluded that, by the position of their
optics, their sight was so directed
downward that they did not readily see objects that were above them; so afterwards
I took this method-I always climbed the rocks first, to get above them, and then
had frequently a fair mark.
The first shot I made among these creatures, I killed a she-goat, which had a
little kid by her, which she gave suck to, which grieved me heartily; for when the old
one fell, the kid stood stock still by her,
till I came and took her up; and not only so, but when I carried the old one with me,
upon my shoulders, the kid followed me quite to my enclosure; upon which I laid
down the dam, and took the kid in my arms,
and carried it over my pale, in hopes to have bred it up tame; but it would not eat;
so I was forced to kill it and eat it myself.
These two supplied me with flesh a great while, for I ate sparingly, and saved my
provisions, my bread especially, as much as possibly I could.
Having now fixed my habitation, I found it absolutely necessary to provide a place to
make a fire in, and fuel to burn: and what I did for that, and also how I enlarged my
cave, and what conveniences I made, I shall
give a full account of in its place; but I must now give some little account of
myself, and of my thoughts about living, which, it may well be supposed, were not a
few.
I had a dismal prospect of my condition; for as I was not cast away upon that island
without being driven, as is said, by a violent storm, quite out of the course of
our intended voyage, and a great way, viz.
some hundreds of leagues, out of the ordinary course of the trade of mankind, I
had great reason to consider it as a determination of Heaven, that in this
desolate place, and in this desolate manner, I should end my life.
The tears would run plentifully down my face when I made these reflections; and
sometimes I would expostulate with myself why Providence should thus completely ruin
His creatures, and render them so
absolutely miserable; so without help, abandoned, so entirely depressed, that it
could hardly be rational to be thankful for such a life.
But something always returned swift upon me to check these thoughts, and to reprove me;
and particularly one day, walking with my gun in my hand by the seaside, I was very
pensive upon the subject of my present
condition, when reason, as it were, expostulated with me the other way, thus:
"Well, you are in a desolate condition, it is true; but, pray remember, where are the
rest of you?
Did not you come, eleven of you in the boat?
Where are the ten? Why were they not saved, and you lost?
Why were you singled out?
Is it better to be here or there?" And then I pointed to the sea.
All evils are to be considered with the good that is in them, and with what worse
attends them.
Then it occurred to me again, how well I was furnished for my subsistence, and what
would have been my case if it had not happened (which was a hundred thousand to
one) that the ship floated from the place
where she first struck, and was driven so near to the shore that I had time to get
all these things out of her; what would have been my case, if I had been forced to
have lived in the condition in which I at
first came on shore, without necessaries of life, or necessaries to supply and procure
them?
"Particularly," said I, aloud (though to myself), "what should I have done without a
gun, without ammunition, without any tools to make anything, or to work with, without
clothes, bedding, a tent, or any manner of
covering?" and that now I had all these to sufficient quantity, and was in a fair way
to provide myself in such a manner as to live without my gun, when my ammunition was
spent: so that I had a tolerable view of
subsisting, without any want, as long as I lived; for I considered from the beginning
how I would provide for the accidents that might happen, and for the time that was to
come, even not only after my ammunition
should be spent, but even after my health and strength should decay.
I confess I had not entertained any notion of my ammunition being destroyed at one
blast-I mean my powder being blown up by lightning; and this made the thoughts of it
so surprising to me, when it lightened and thundered, as I observed just now.
And now being about to enter into a melancholy relation of a scene of silent
life, such, perhaps, as was never heard of in the world before, I shall take it from
its beginning, and continue it in its order.
It was by my account the 30th of September, when, in the manner as above said, I first
set foot upon this horrid island; when the sun, being to us in its autumnal equinox,
was almost over my head; for I reckoned
myself, by observation, to be in the latitude of nine degrees twenty-two minutes
north of the line.
After I had been there about ten or twelve days, it came into my thoughts that I
should lose my reckoning of time for want of books, and pen and ink, and should even
forget the Sabbath days; but to prevent
this, I cut with my knife upon a large post, in capital letters-and making it into
a great cross, I set it up on the shore where I first landed-"I came on shore here
on the 30th September 1659."
Upon the sides of this square post I cut every day a notch with my knife, and every
seventh notch was as long again as the rest, and every first day of the month as
long again as that long one; and thus I
kept my calendar, or weekly, monthly, and yearly reckoning of time.
In the next place, we are to observe that among the many things which I brought out
of the ship, in the several voyages which, as above mentioned, I made to it, I got
several things of less value, but not at
all less useful to me, which I omitted setting down before; as, in particular,
pens, ink, and paper, several parcels in the captain's, mate's, gunner's and
carpenter's keeping; three or four
compasses, some mathematical instruments, dials, perspectives, charts, and books of
navigation, all which I huddled together, whether I might want them or no; also, I
found three very good Bibles, which came to
me in my cargo from England, and which I had packed up among my things; some
Portuguese books also; and among them two or three Popish prayer-books, and several
other books, all which I carefully secured.
And I must not forget that we had in the ship a dog and two cats, of whose eminent
history I may have occasion to say something in its place; for I carried both
the cats with me; and as for the dog, he
jumped out of the ship of himself, and swam on shore to me the day after I went on
shore with my first cargo, and was a trusty servant to me many years; I wanted nothing
that he could fetch me, nor any company
that he could make up to me; I only wanted to have him talk to me, but that would not
do.
As I observed before, I found pens, ink, and paper, and I husbanded them to the
utmost; and I shall show that while my ink lasted, I kept things very exact, but after
that was gone I could not, for I could not
make any ink by any means that I could devise.
And this put me in mind that I wanted many things notwithstanding all that I had
amassed together; and of these, ink was one; as also a spade, pickaxe, and shovel,
to dig or remove the earth; needles, pins,
and thread; as for linen, I soon learned to want that without much difficulty.
This want of tools made every work I did go on heavily; and it was near a whole year
before I had entirely finished my little pale, or surrounded my habitation.
The piles, or stakes, which were as heavy as I could well lift, were a long time in
cutting and preparing in the woods, and more, by far, in bringing home; so that I
spent sometimes two days in cutting and
bringing home one of those posts, and a third day in driving it into the ground;
for which purpose I got a heavy piece of wood at first, but at last bethought myself
of one of the iron crows; which, however,
though I found it, made driving those posts or piles very laborious and tedious work.
But what need I have been concerned at the tediousness of anything I had to do, seeing
I had time enough to do it in? nor had I any other employment, if that had been
over, at least that I could foresee, except
the ranging the island to seek for food, which I did, more or less, every day.
I now began to consider seriously my condition, and the circumstances I was
reduced to; and I drew up the state of my affairs in writing, not so much to leave
them to any that were to come after me-for
I was likely to have but few heirs-as to deliver my thoughts from daily poring over
them, and afflicting my mind; and as my reason began now to master my despondency,
I began to comfort myself as well as I
could, and to set the good against the evil, that I might have something to
distinguish my case from worse; and I stated very impartially, like debtor and
creditor, the comforts I enjoyed against the miseries I suffered, thus:-
On the Evil Side. I am cast upon a horrible, desolate island,
void of all hope of recovery.
On the Good Side. But I am alive; and not drowned, as all my
ship's company were.
Evil I am singled out and separated, as it were, from all the world, to be miserable.
Good But I am singled out, too, from all the ship's crew, to be spared from death;
and He that miraculously saved me from death can deliver me from this condition.
Evil I am divided from mankind-a solitaire; one banished from human society.
Good But I am not starved, and perishing on a barren place, affording no sustenance.
Evil I have no clothes to cover me.
Good But I am in a hot climate, where, if I had clothes, I could hardly wear them.
Evil I am without any defence, or means to resist any violence of man or beast.
Good But I am cast on an island where I see no wild beasts to hurt me, as I saw on the
coast of Africa; and what if I had been shipwrecked there?
Evil I have no soul to speak to or relieve me.
Good But God wonderfully sent the ship in near enough to the shore, that I have got
out as many necessary things as will either supply my wants or enable me to supply
myself, even as long as I live.
Upon the whole, here was an undoubted testimony that there was scarce any
condition in the world so miserable but there was something negative or something
positive to be thankful for in it; and let
this stand as a direction from the experience of the most miserable of all
conditions in this world: that we may always find in it something to comfort
ourselves from, and to set, in the
description of good and evil, on the credit side of the account.
Having now brought my mind a little to relish my condition, and given over looking
out to sea, to see if I could spy a ship-I say, giving over these things, I began to
apply myself to arrange my way of living,
and to make things as easy to me as I could.
I have already described my habitation, which was a tent under the side of a rock,
surrounded with a strong pale of posts and cables: but I might now rather call it a
wall, for I raised a kind of wall up
against it of turfs, about two feet thick on the outside; and after some time (I
think it was a year and a half) I raised rafters from it, leaning to the rock, and
thatched or covered it with boughs of
trees, and such things as I could get, to keep out the rain; which I found at some
times of the year very violent.
I have already observed how I brought all my goods into this pale, and into the cave
which I had made behind me.
But I must observe, too, that at first this was a confused heap of goods, which, as
they lay in no order, so they took up all my place; I had no room to turn myself: so
I set myself to enlarge my cave, and work
farther into the earth; for it was a loose sandy rock, which yielded easily to the
labour I bestowed on it: and so when I found I was pretty safe as to beasts of
prey, I worked sideways, to the right hand,
into the rock; and then, turning to the right again, worked quite out, and made me
a door to come out on the outside of my pale or fortification.
This gave me not only egress and regress, as it was a back way to my tent and to my
storehouse, but gave me room to store my goods.
And now I began to apply myself to make such necessary things as I found I most
wanted, particularly a chair and a table; for without these I was not able to enjoy
the few comforts I had in the world; I
could not write or eat, or do several things, with so much pleasure without a
table: so I went to work.
And here I must needs observe, that as reason is the substance and origin of the
mathematics, so by stating and squaring everything by reason, and by making the
most rational judgment of things, every man
may be, in time, master of every mechanic art.
I had never handled a tool in my life; and yet, in time, by labour, application, and
contrivance, I found at last that I wanted nothing but I could have made it,
especially if I had had tools.
However, I made abundance of things, even without tools; and some with no more tools
than an adze and a hatchet, which perhaps were never made that way before, and that
with infinite labour.
For example, if I wanted a board, I had no other way but to cut down a tree, set it on
an edge before me, and hew it flat on either side with my axe, till I brought it
to be thin as a plank, and then dub it smooth with my adze.
It is true, by this method I could make but one board out of a whole tree; but this I
had no remedy for but patience, any more than I had for the prodigious deal of time
and labour which it took me up to make a
plank or board: but my time or labour was little worth, and so it was as well
employed one way as another.
However, I made me a table and a chair, as I observed above, in the first place; and
this I did out of the short pieces of boards that I brought on my raft from the
But when I had wrought out some boards as above, I made large shelves, of the breadth
of a foot and a half, one over another all along one side of my cave, to lay all my
tools, nails and ironwork on; and, in a
word, to separate everything at large into their places, that I might come easily at
them.
I knocked pieces into the wall of the rock to hang my guns and all things that would
hang up; so that, had my cave been to be seen, it looked like a general magazine of
all necessary things; and had everything so
ready at my hand, that it was a great pleasure to me to see all my goods in such
order, and especially to find my stock of all necessaries so great.
And now it was that I began to keep a journal of every day's employment; for,
indeed, at first I was in too much hurry, and not only hurry as to labour, but in too
much discomposure of mind; and my journal
would have been full of many dull things; for example, I must have said thus: "30th.-
After I had got to shore, and escaped drowning, instead of being thankful to God
for my deliverance, having first vomited,
with the great quantity of salt water which had got into my stomach, and recovering
myself a little, I ran about the shore wringing my hands and beating my head and
face, exclaiming at my misery, and crying
out, 'I was undone, undone!' till, tired and faint, I was forced to lie down on the
ground to repose, but durst not sleep for fear of being devoured."
Some days after this, and after I had been on board the ship, and got all that I could
out of her, yet I could not forbear getting up to the top of a little mountain and
looking out to sea, in hopes of seeing a
ship; then fancy at a vast distance I spied a sail, please myself with the hopes of it,
and then after looking steadily, till I was almost blind, lose it quite, and sit down
and weep like a child, and thus increase my misery by my folly.
But having gotten over these things in some measure, and having settled my household
staff and habitation, made me a table and a chair, and all as handsome about me as I
could, I began to keep my journal; of which
I shall here give you the copy (though in it will be told all these particulars over
again) as long as it lasted; for having no more ink, I was forced to leave it off.
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