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CHAPTER XII A CAVE RETREAT
While this was doing, I was not altogether careless of my other affairs; for I had a
great concern upon me for my little herd of goats: they were not only a ready supply to
me on every occasion, and began to be
sufficient for me, without the expense of powder and shot, but also without the
fatigue of hunting after the wild ones; and I was loath to lose the advantage of them,
and to have them all to nurse up over again.
For this purpose, after long consideration, I could think of but two ways to preserve
them: one was, to find another convenient place to dig a cave underground, and to
drive them into it every night; and the
other was to enclose two or three little bits of land, remote from one another, and
as much concealed as I could, where I might keep about half-a-dozen young goats in each
place; so that if any disaster happened to
the flock in general, I might be able to raise them again with little trouble and
time: and this though it would require a good deal of time and labour, I thought was
the most rational design.
Accordingly, I spent some time to find out the most retired parts of the island; and I
pitched upon one, which was as private, indeed, as my heart could wish: it was a
little damp piece of ground in the middle
of the hollow and thick woods, where, as is observed, I almost lost myself once before,
endeavouring to come back that way from the eastern part of the island.
Here I found a clear piece of land, near three acres, so surrounded with woods that
it was almost an enclosure by nature; at least, it did not want near so much labour
to make it so as the other piece of ground I had worked so hard at.
I immediately went to work with this piece of ground; and in less than a month's time
I had so fenced it round that my flock, or herd, call it which you please, which were
not so wild now as at first they might be
supposed to be, were well enough secured in it: so, without any further delay, I
removed ten young she-goats and two he- goats to this piece, and when they were
there I continued to perfect the fence till
I had made it as secure as the other; which, however, I did at more leisure, and
it took me up more time by a great deal.
All this labour I was at the expense of, purely from my apprehensions on account of
the print of a man's foot; for as yet I had never seen any human creature come near the
island; and I had now lived two years under
this uneasiness, which, indeed, made my life much less comfortable than it was
before, as may be well imagined by any who know what it is to live in the constant
snare of the fear of man.
And this I must observe, with grief, too, that the discomposure of my mind had great
impression also upon the religious part of my thoughts; for the dread and terror of
falling into the hands of savages and
cannibals lay so upon my spirits, that I seldom found myself in a due temper for
application to my Maker; at least, not with the sedate calmness and resignation of soul
which I was wont to do: I rather prayed to
God as under great affliction and pressure of mind, surrounded with danger, and in
expectation every night of being murdered and devoured before morning; and I must
testify, from my experience, that a temper
of peace, thankfulness, love, and affection, is much the more proper frame
for prayer than that of terror and discomposure: and that under the dread of
mischief impending, a man is no more fit
for a comforting performance of the duty of praying to God than he is for a repentance
on a sick-bed; for these discomposures affect the mind, as the others do the body;
and the discomposure of the mind must
necessarily be as great a disability as that of the body, and much greater; praying
to God being properly an act of the mind, not of the body.
But to go on.
After I had thus secured one part of my little living stock, I went about the whole
island, searching for another private place to make such another deposit; when,
wandering more to the west point of the
island than I had ever done yet, and looking out to sea, I thought I saw a boat
upon the sea, at a great distance.
I had found a perspective glass or two in one of the ***'s chests, which I saved
out of our ship, but I had it not about me; and this was so remote that I could not
tell what to make of it, though I looked at
it till my eyes were not able to hold to look any longer; whether it was a boat or
not I do not know, but as I descended from the hill I could see no more of it, so I
gave it over; only I resolved to go no more
out without a perspective glass in my pocket.
When I was come down the hill to the end of the island, where, indeed, I had never been
before, I was presently convinced that the seeing the print of a man's foot was not
such a strange thing in the island as I
imagined: and but that it was a special providence that I was cast upon the side of
the island where the savages never came, I should easily have known that nothing was
more frequent than for the canoes from the
main, when they happened to be a little too far out at sea, to shoot over to that side
of the island for harbour: likewise, as they often met and fought in their canoes,
the victors, having taken any prisoners,
would bring them over to this shore, where, according to their dreadful customs, being
all cannibals, they would kill and eat them; of which hereafter.
When I was come down the hill to the shore, as I said above, being the SW. point of the
island, I was perfectly confounded and amazed; nor is it possible for me to
express the horror of my mind at seeing the
shore spread with skulls, hands, feet, and other bones of human bodies; and
particularly I observed a place where there had been a fire made, and a circle dug in
the earth, like a cockpit, where I supposed
the savage wretches had sat down to their human feastings upon the bodies of their
fellow-creatures.
I was so astonished with the sight of these things, that I entertained no notions of
any danger to myself from it for a long while: all my apprehensions were buried in
the thoughts of such a pitch of inhuman,
hellish brutality, and the horror of the degeneracy of human nature, which, though I
had heard of it often, yet I never had so near a view of before; in short, I turned
away my face from the horrid spectacle; my
stomach grew sick, and I was just at the point of fainting, when nature discharged
the disorder from my stomach; and having vomited with uncommon violence, I was a
little relieved, but could not bear to stay
in the place a moment; so I got up the hill again with all the speed I could, and
walked on towards my own habitation.
When I came a little out of that part of the island I stood still awhile, as amazed,
and then, recovering myself, I looked up with the utmost affection of my soul, and,
with a flood of tears in my eyes, gave God
thanks, that had cast my first lot in a part of the world where I was distinguished
from such dreadful creatures as these; and that, though I had esteemed my present
condition very miserable, had yet given me
so many comforts in it that I had still more to give thanks for than to complain
of: and this, above all, that I had, even in this miserable condition, been comforted
with the knowledge of Himself, and the hope
of His blessing: which was a felicity more than sufficiently equivalent to all the
misery which I had suffered, or could suffer.
In this frame of thankfulness I went home to my castle, and began to be much easier
now, as to the safety of my circumstances, than ever I was before: for I observed that
these wretches never came to this island in
search of what they could get; perhaps not seeking, not wanting, or not expecting
anything here; and having often, no doubt, been up the covered, *** part of it
without finding anything to their purpose.
I knew I had been here now almost eighteen years, and never saw the least footsteps of
human creature there before; and I might be eighteen years more as entirely concealed
as I was now, if I did not discover myself
to them, which I had no manner of occasion to do; it being my only business to keep
myself entirely concealed where I was, unless I found a better sort of creatures
than cannibals to make myself known to.
Yet I entertained such an abhorrence of the savage wretches that I have been speaking
of, and of the wretched, inhuman custom of their devouring and eating one another up,
that I continued pensive and sad, and kept
close within my own circle for almost two years after this: when I say my own circle,
I mean by it my three plantations-viz. my castle, my country seat (which I called my
bower), and my enclosure in the woods: nor
did I look after this for any other use than an enclosure for my goats; for the
aversion which nature gave me to these hellish wretches was such, that I was as
fearful of seeing them as of seeing the devil himself.
I did not so much as go to look after my boat all this time, but began rather to
think of making another; for I could not think of ever making any more attempts to
bring the other boat round the island to
me, lest I should meet with some of these creatures at sea; in which case, if I had
happened to have fallen into their hands, I knew what would have been my lot.
Time, however, and the satisfaction I had that I was in no danger of being discovered
by these people, began to wear off my uneasiness about them; and I began to live
just in the same composed manner as before,
only with this difference, that I used more caution, and kept my eyes more about me
than I did before, lest I should happen to be seen by any of them; and particularly, I
was more cautious of firing my gun, lest
any of them, being on the island, should happen to hear it.
It was, therefore, a very good providence to me that I had furnished myself with a
tame breed of goats, and that I had no need to hunt any more about the woods, or shoot
at them; and if I did catch any of them
after this, it was by traps and snares, as I had done before; so that for two years
after this I believe I never fired my gun once off, though I never went out without
it; and what was more, as I had saved three
pistols out of the ship, I always carried them out with me, or at least two of them,
sticking them in my goat-skin belt.
I also furbished up one of the great cutlasses that I had out of the ship, and
made me a belt to hang it on also; so that I was now a most formidable fellow to look
at when I went abroad, if you add to the
former description of myself the particular of two pistols, and a broadsword hanging at
my side in a belt, but without a scabbard.
Things going on thus, as I have said, for some time, I seemed, excepting these
cautions, to be reduced to my former calm, sedate way of living.
All these things tended to show me more and more how far my condition was from being
miserable, compared to some others; nay, to many other particulars of life which it
might have pleased God to have made my lot.
It put me upon reflecting how little repining there would be among mankind at
any condition of life if people would rather compare their condition with those
that were worse, in order to be thankful,
than be always comparing them with those which are better, to assist their
murmurings and complainings.
As in my present condition there were not really many things which I wanted, so
indeed I thought that the frights I had been in about these savage wretches, and
the concern I had been in for my own
preservation, had taken off the edge of my invention, for my own conveniences; and I
had dropped a good design, which I had once bent my thoughts upon, and that was to try
if I could not make some of my barley into
malt, and then try to brew myself some beer.
This was really a whimsical thought, and I reproved myself often for the simplicity of
it: for I presently saw there would be the want of several things necessary to the
making my beer that it would be impossible
for me to supply; as, first, casks to preserve it in, which was a thing that, as
I have observed already, I could never compass: no, though I spent not only many
days, but weeks, nay months, in attempting it, but to no purpose.
In the next place, I had no hops to make it keep, no yeast to make it work, no copper
or kettle to make it boil; and yet with all these things wanting, I verily believe, had
not the frights and terrors I was in about
the savages intervened, I had undertaken it, and perhaps brought it to pass too; for
I seldom gave anything over without accomplishing it, when once I had it in my
head to began it.
But my invention now ran quite another way; for night and day I could think of nothing
but how I might destroy some of the monsters in their cruel, bloody
entertainment, and if possible save the victim they should bring hither to destroy.
It would take up a larger volume than this whole work is intended to be to set down
all the contrivances I hatched, or rather brooded upon, in my thoughts, for the
destroying these creatures, or at least
frightening them so as to prevent their coming hither any more: but all this was
abortive; nothing could be possible to take effect, unless I was to be there to do it
myself: and what could one man do among
them, when perhaps there might be twenty or thirty of them together with their darts,
or their bows and arrows, with which they could shoot as true to a mark as I could
with my gun?
Sometimes I thought if digging a hole under the place where they made their fire, and
putting in five or six pounds of gunpowder, which, when they kindled their fire, would
consequently take fire, and blow up all
that was near it: but as, in the first place, I should be unwilling to waste so
much powder upon them, my store being now within the quantity of one barrel, so
neither could I be sure of its going off at
any certain time, when it might surprise them; and, at best, that it would do little
more than just blow the fire about their ears and fright them, but not sufficient to
make them forsake the place: so I laid it
aside; and then proposed that I would place myself in ambush in some convenient place,
with my three guns all double-loaded, and in the middle of their bloody ceremony let
fly at them, when I should be sure to kill
or wound perhaps two or three at every shot; and then falling in upon them with my
three pistols and my sword, I made no doubt but that, if there were twenty, I should
kill them all.
This fancy pleased my thoughts for some weeks, and I was so full of it that I often
dreamed of it, and, sometimes, that I was just going to let fly at them in my sleep.
I went so far with it in my imagination that I employed myself several days to find
out proper places to put myself in ambuscade, as I said, to watch for them,
and I went frequently to the place itself,
which was now grown more familiar to me; but while my mind was thus filled with
thoughts of revenge and a bloody putting twenty or thirty of them to the sword, as I
may call it, the horror I had at the place,
and at the signals of the barbarous wretches devouring one another, abetted my
malice.
Well, at length I found a place in the side of the hill where I was satisfied I might
securely wait till I saw any of their boats coming; and might then, even before they
would be ready to come on shore, convey
myself unseen into some thickets of trees, in one of which there was a hollow large
enough to conceal me entirely; and there I might sit and observe all their bloody
doings, and take my full aim at their
heads, when they were so close together as that it would be next to impossible that I
should miss my shot, or that I could fail wounding three or four of them at the first
shot.
In this place, then, I resolved to fulfil my design; and accordingly I prepared two
muskets and my ordinary fowling-piece.
The two muskets I loaded with a brace of slugs each, and four or five smaller
bullets, about the size of pistol bullets; and the fowling-piece I loaded with near a
handful of swan-shot of the largest size; I
also loaded my pistols with about four bullets each; and, in this posture, well
provided with ammunition for a second and third charge, I prepared myself for my
expedition.
After I had thus laid the scheme of my design, and in my imagination put it in
practice, I continually made my tour every morning to the top of the hill, which was
from my castle, as I called it, about three
miles or more, to see if I could observe any boats upon the sea, coming near the
island, or standing over towards it; but I began to tire of this hard duty, after I
had for two or three months constantly kept
my watch, but came always back without any discovery; there having not, in all that
time, been the least appearance, not only on or near the shore, but on the whole
ocean, so far as my eye or glass could reach every way.
As long as I kept my daily tour to the hill, to look out, so long also I kept up
the vigour of my design, and my spirits seemed to be all the while in a suitable
frame for so outrageous an execution as the
killing twenty or thirty naked savages, for an offence which I had not at all entered
into any discussion of in my thoughts, any farther than my passions were at first
fired by the horror I conceived at the
unnatural custom of the people of that country, who, it seems, had been suffered
by Providence, in His wise disposition of the world, to have no other guide than that
of their own abominable and vitiated
passions; and consequently were left, and perhaps had been so for some ages, to act
such horrid things, and receive such dreadful customs, as nothing but nature,
entirely abandoned by Heaven, and actuated
by some hellish degeneracy, could have run them into.
But now, when, as I have said, I began to be weary of the fruitless excursion which I
had made so long and so far every morning in vain, so my opinion of the action itself
began to alter; and I began, with cooler
and calmer thoughts, to consider what I was going to engage in; what authority or call
I had to pretend to be judge and executioner upon these men as criminals,
whom Heaven had thought fit for so many
ages to suffer unpunished to go on, and to be as it were the executioners of His
judgments one upon another; how far these people were offenders against me, and what
right I had to engage in the quarrel of
that blood which they shed promiscuously upon one another.
I debated this very often with myself thus: "How do I know what God Himself judges in
this particular case?
It is certain these people do not commit this as a crime; it is not against their
own consciences reproving, or their light reproaching them; they do not know it to be
an offence, and then commit it in defiance
of divine justice, as we do in almost all the sins we commit.
They think it no more a crime to kill a captive taken in war than we do to kill an
ox; or to eat human flesh than we do to eat mutton."
When I considered this a little, it followed necessarily that I was certainly
in the wrong; that these people were not murderers, in the sense that I had before
condemned them in my thoughts, any more
than those Christians were murderers who often put to death the prisoners taken in
battle; or more frequently, upon many occasions, put whole troops of men to the
sword, without giving quarter, though they threw down their arms and submitted.
In the next place, it occurred to me that although the usage they gave one another
was thus brutish and inhuman, yet it was really nothing to me: these people had done
me no injury: that if they attempted, or I
saw it necessary, for my immediate preservation, to fall upon them, something
might be said for it: but that I was yet out of their power, and they really had no
knowledge of me, and consequently no design
upon me; and therefore it could not be just for me to fall upon them; that this would
justify the conduct of the Spaniards in all their barbarities practised in America,
where they destroyed millions of these
people; who, however they were idolators and barbarians, and had several bloody and
barbarous rites in their customs, such as sacrificing human bodies to their idols,
were yet, as to the Spaniards, very
innocent people; and that the rooting them out of the country is spoken of with the
utmost abhorrence and detestation by even the Spaniards themselves at this time, and
by all other Christian nations of Europe,
as a mere butchery, a bloody and unnatural piece of cruelty, unjustifiable either to
God or man; and for which the very name of a Spaniard is reckoned to be frightful and
terrible, to all people of humanity or of
Christian compassion; as if the kingdom of Spain were particularly eminent for the
produce of a race of men who were without principles of tenderness, or the common
bowels of pity to the miserable, which is
reckoned to be a mark of generous temper in the mind.
These considerations really put me to a pause, and to a kind of a full stop; and I
began by little and little to be off my design, and to conclude I had taken wrong
measures in my resolution to attack the
savages; and that it was not my business to meddle with them, unless they first
attacked me; and this it was my business, if possible, to prevent: but that, if I
were discovered and attacked by them, I knew my duty.
On the other hand, I argued with myself that this really was the way not to deliver
myself, but entirely to ruin and destroy myself; for unless I was sure to kill every
one that not only should be on shore at
that time, but that should ever come on shore afterwards, if but one of them
escaped to tell their country-people what had happened, they would come over again by
thousands to revenge the death of their
fellows, and I should only bring upon myself a certain destruction, which, at
present, I had no manner of occasion for.
Upon the whole, I concluded that I ought, neither in principle nor in policy, one way
or other, to concern myself in this affair: that my business was, by all possible means
to conceal myself from them, and not to
leave the least sign for them to guess by that there were any living creatures upon
the island-I mean of human shape.
Religion joined in with this prudential resolution; and I was convinced now, many
ways, that I was perfectly out of my duty when I was laying all my bloody schemes for
the destruction of innocent creatures-I mean innocent as to me.
As to the crimes they were guilty of towards one another, I had nothing to do
with them; they were national, and I ought to leave them to the justice of God, who is
the Governor of nations, and knows how, by
national punishments, to make a just retribution for national offences, and to
bring public judgments upon those who offend in a public manner, by such ways as
best please Him.
This appeared so clear to me now, that nothing was a greater satisfaction to me
than that I had not been suffered to do a thing which I now saw so much reason to
believe would have been no less a sin than
that of wilful *** if I had committed it; and I gave most humble thanks on my
knees to God, that He had thus delivered me from blood-guiltiness; beseeching Him to
grant me the protection of His providence,
that I might not fall into the hands of the barbarians, or that I might not lay my
hands upon them, unless I had a more clear call from Heaven to do it, in defence of my
own life.
In this disposition I continued for near a year after this; and so far was I from
desiring an occasion for falling upon these wretches, that in all that time I never
once went up the hill to see whether there
were any of them in sight, or to know whether any of them had been on shore there
or not, that I might not be tempted to renew any of my contrivances against them,
or be provoked by any advantage that might
present itself to fall upon them; only this I did: I went and removed my boat, which I
had on the other side of the island, and carried it down to the east end of the
whole island, where I ran it into a little
cove, which I found under some high rocks, and where I knew, by reason of the
currents, the savages durst not, at least would not, come with their boats upon any
account whatever.
With my boat I carried away everything that I had left there belonging to her, though
not necessary for the bare going thither- viz. a mast and sail which I had made for
her, and a thing like an anchor, but which,
indeed, could not be called either anchor or grapnel; however, it was the best I
could make of its kind: all these I removed, that there might not be the least
shadow for discovery, or appearance of any
boat, or of any human habitation upon the island.
Besides this, I kept myself, as I said, more retired than ever, and seldom went
from my cell except upon my constant employment, to milk my she-goats, and
manage my little flock in the wood, which,
as it was quite on the other part of the island, was out of danger; for certain, it
is that these savage people, who sometimes haunted this island, never came with any
thoughts of finding anything here, and
consequently never wandered off from the coast, and I doubt not but they might have
been several times on shore after my apprehensions of them had made me cautious,
as well as before.
Indeed, I looked back with some horror upon the thoughts of what my condition would
have been if I had chopped upon them and been discovered before that; when, naked
and unarmed, except with one gun, and that
loaded often only with small shot, I walked everywhere, peeping and peering about the
island, to see what I could get; what a surprise should I have been in if, when I
discovered the print of a man's foot, I
had, instead of that, seen fifteen or twenty savages, and found them pursuing me,
and by the swiftness of their running no possibility of my escaping them!
The thoughts of this sometimes sank my very soul within me, and distressed my mind so
much that I could not soon recover it, to think what I should have done, and how I
should not only have been unable to resist
them, but even should not have had presence of mind enough to do what I might have
done; much less what now, after so much consideration and preparation, I might be
able to do.
Indeed, after serious thinking of these things, I would be melancholy, and
sometimes it would last a great while; but I resolved it all at last into thankfulness
to that Providence which had delivered me
from so many unseen dangers, and had kept me from those mischiefs which I could have
no way been the agent in delivering myself from, because I had not the least notion of
any such thing depending, or the least supposition of its being possible.
This renewed a contemplation which often had come into my thoughts in former times,
when first I began to see the merciful dispositions of Heaven, in the dangers we
run through in this life; how wonderfully
we are delivered when we know nothing of it; how, when we are in a quandary as we
call it, a doubt or hesitation whether to go this way or that way, a secret hint
shall direct us this way, when we intended
to go that way: nay, when sense, our own inclination, and perhaps business has
called us to go the other way, yet a strange impression upon the mind, from we
know not what springs, and by we know not
what power, shall overrule us to go this way; and it shall afterwards appear that
had we gone that way, which we should have gone, and even to our imagination ought to
have gone, we should have been ruined and lost.
Upon these and many like reflections I afterwards made it a certain rule with me,
that whenever I found those secret hints or pressings of mind to doing or not doing
anything that presented, or going this way
or that way, I never failed to obey the secret dictate; though I knew no other
reason for it than such a pressure or such a hint hung upon my mind.
I could give many examples of the success of this conduct in the course of my life,
but more especially in the latter part of my inhabiting this unhappy island; besides
many occasions which it is very likely I
might have taken notice of, if I had seen with the same eyes then that I see with
now.
But it is never too late to be wise; and I cannot but advise all considering men,
whose lives are attended with such extraordinary incidents as mine, or even
though not so extraordinary, not to slight
such secret intimations of Providence, let them come from what invisible intelligence
they will.
That I shall not discuss, and perhaps cannot account for; but certainly they are
a proof of the converse of spirits, and a secret communication between those embodied
and those unembodied, and such a proof as
can never be withstood; of which I shall have occasion to give some remarkable
instances in the remainder of my solitary residence in this dismal place.
I believe the reader of this will not think it strange if I confess that these
anxieties, these constant dangers I lived in, and the concern that was now upon me,
put an end to all invention, and to all the
contrivances that I had laid for my future accommodations and conveniences.
I had the care of my safety more now upon my hands than that of my food.
I cared not to drive a nail, or chop a stick of wood now, for fear the noise I
might make should be heard: much less would I fire a gun for the same reason: and above
all I was intolerably uneasy at making any
fire, lest the smoke, which is visible at a great distance in the day, should betray
me.
For this reason, I removed that part of my business which required fire, such as
burning of pots and pipes, &c., into my new apartment in the woods; where, after I had
been some time, I found, to my unspeakable
consolation, a mere natural cave in the earth, which went in a vast way, and where,
I daresay, no savage, had he been at the mouth of it, would be so hardy as to
venture in; nor, indeed, would any man
else, but one who, like me, wanted nothing so much as a safe retreat.
The mouth of this hollow was at the bottom of a great rock, where, by mere accident (I
would say, if I did not see abundant reason to ascribe all such things now to
Providence), I was cutting down some thick
branches of trees to make charcoal; and before I go on I must observe the reason of
my making this charcoal, which was this-I was afraid of making a smoke about my
habitation, as I said before; and yet I
could not live there without baking my bread, cooking my meat, &c.; so I contrived
to burn some wood here, as I had seen done in England, under turf, till it became
chark or dry coal: and then putting the
fire out, I preserved the coal to carry home, and perform the other services for
which fire was wanting, without danger of smoke.
But this is by-the-bye.
While I was cutting down some wood here, I perceived that, behind a very thick branch
of low brushwood or underwood, there was a kind of hollow place: I was curious to look
in it; and getting with difficulty into the
mouth of it, I found it was pretty large, that is to say, sufficient for me to stand
upright in it, and perhaps another with me: but I must confess to you that I made more
haste out than I did in, when looking
farther into the place, and which was perfectly dark, I saw two broad shining
eyes of some creature, whether devil or man I knew not, which twinkled like two stars;
the dim light from the cave's mouth shining directly in, and making the reflection.
However, after some pause I recovered myself, and began to call myself a thousand
fools, and to think that he that was afraid to see the devil was not fit to live twenty
years in an island all alone; and that I
might well think there was nothing in this cave that was more frightful than myself.
Upon this, plucking up my courage, I took up a firebrand, and in I rushed again, with
the stick flaming in my hand: I had not gone three steps in before I was almost as
frightened as before; for I heard a very
loud sigh, like that of a man in some pain, and it was followed by a broken noise, as
of words half expressed, and then a deep sigh again.
I stepped back, and was indeed struck with such a surprise that it put me into a cold
sweat, and if I had had a hat on my head, I will not answer for it that my hair might
not have lifted it off.
But still plucking up my spirits as well as I could, and encouraging myself a little
with considering that the power and presence of God was everywhere, and was
able to protect me, I stepped forward
again, and by the light of the firebrand, holding it up a little over my head, I saw
lying on the ground a monstrous, frightful old he-goat, just making his will, as we
say, and gasping for life, and, dying, indeed, of mere old age.
I stirred him a little to see if I could get him out, and he essayed to get up, but
was not able to raise himself; and I thought with myself he might even lie
there-for if he had frightened me, so he
would certainly fright any of the savages, if any of them should be so hardy as to
come in there while he had any life in him.
I was now recovered from my surprise, and began to look round me, when I found the
cave was but very small-that is to say, it might be about twelve feet over, but in no
manner of shape, neither round nor square,
no hands having ever been employed in making it but those of mere Nature.
I observed also that there was a place at the farther side of it that went in
further, but was so low that it required me to creep upon my hands and knees to go into
it, and whither it went I knew not; so,
having no candle, I gave it over for that time, but resolved to go again the next day
provided with candles and a tinder-box, which I had made of the lock of one of the
muskets, with some wildfire in the pan.
Accordingly, the next day I came provided with six large candles of my own making
(for I made very good candles now of goat's tallow, but was hard set for candle-wick,
using sometimes rags or rope-yarn, and
sometimes the dried rind of a weed like nettles); and going into this low place I
was obliged to creep upon all-fours as I have said, almost ten yards-which, by the
way, I thought was a venture bold enough,
considering that I knew not how far it might go, nor what was beyond it.
When I had got through the strait, I found the roof rose higher up, I believe near
twenty feet; but never was such a glorious sight seen in the island, I daresay, as it
was to look round the sides and roof of
this vault or cave-the wall reflected a hundred thousand lights to me from my two
candles.
What it was in the rock-whether diamonds or any other precious stones, or gold which I
rather supposed it to be-I knew not.
The place I was in was a most delightful cavity, or grotto, though perfectly dark;
the floor was dry and level, and had a sort of a small loose gravel upon it, so that
there was no nauseous or venomous creature
to be seen, neither was there any damp or wet on the sides or roof.
The only difficulty in it was the entrance- which, however, as it was a place of
security, and such a retreat as I wanted; I thought was a convenience; so that I was
really rejoiced at the discovery, and
resolved, without any delay, to bring some of those things which I was most anxious
about to this place: particularly, I resolved to bring hither my magazine of
powder, and all my spare arms-viz. two
fowling-pieces-for I had three in all-and three muskets-for of them I had eight in
all; so I kept in my castle only five, which stood ready mounted like pieces of
cannon on my outmost fence, and were ready also to take out upon any expedition.
Upon this occasion of removing my ammunition I happened to open the barrel of
powder which I took up out of the sea, and which had been wet, and I found that the
water had penetrated about three or four
inches into the powder on every side, which caking and growing hard, had preserved the
inside like a kernel in the shell, so that I had near sixty pounds of very good powder
in the centre of the cask.
This was a very agreeable discovery to me at that time; so I carried all away
thither, never keeping above two or three pounds of powder with me in my castle, for
fear of a surprise of any kind; I also
carried thither all the lead I had left for bullets.
I fancied myself now like one of the ancient giants who were said to live in
caves and holes in the rocks, where none could come at them; for I persuaded myself,
while I was here, that if five hundred
savages were to hunt me, they could never find me out-or if they did, they would not
venture to attack me here.
The old goat whom I found expiring died in the mouth of the cave the next day after I
made this discovery; and I found it much easier to dig a great hole there, and throw
him in and cover him with earth, than to
drag him out; so I interred him there, to prevent offence to my nose.