The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe [Robinson Crusoe Part 2]
by
Daniel Defoe
Part 1 out of 5
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE
CHAPTER I--REVISITS ISLAND
That homely proverb, used on so many occasions in England, viz.
"That what is bred in the bone will not go out of the flesh," was
never more verified than in the story of my Life. Any one would
think that after thirty-five years' affliction, and a variety of
unhappy circumstances, which few men, if any, ever went through
before, and after near seven years of peace and enjoyment in the
fulness of all things; grown old, and when, if ever, it might be
allowed me to have had experience of every state of middle life,
and to know which was most adapted to make a man completely happy;
I say, after all this, any one would have thought that the native
propensity to rambling which I gave an account of in my first
setting out in the world to have been so predominant in my
thoughts, should be worn out, and I might, at sixty one years of
age, have been a little inclined to stay at home, and have done
venturing life and fortune any more.
Nay, farther, the common motive of foreign adventures was taken
away in me, for I had no fortune to make; I had nothing to seek:
if I had gained ten thousand pounds I had been no richer; for I had
already sufficient for me, and for those I had to leave it to; and
what I had was visibly increasing; for, having no great family, I
could not spend the income of what I had unless I would set up for
an expensive way of living, such as a great family, servants,
equipage, gaiety, and the like, which were things I had no notion
of, or inclination to; so that I had nothing, indeed, to do but to
sit still, and fully enjoy what I had got, and see it increase
daily upon my hands. Yet all these things had no effect upon me,
or at least not enough to resist the strong inclination I had to go
abroad again, which hung about me like a chronic distemper. In
particular, the desire of seeing my new plantation in the island,
and the colony I left there, ran in my head continually. I dreamed
of it all night, and my imagination ran upon it all day: it was
uppermost in all my thoughts, and my fancy worked so steadily and
strongly upon it that I talked of it in my sleep; in short, nothing
could remove it out of my mind: it even broke so violently into
all my discourses that it made my conversation tiresome, for I
could talk of nothing else; all my discourse ran into it, even to
impertinence; and I saw it myself.
I have often heard persons of good judgment say that all the stir
that people make in the world about ghosts and apparitions is owing
to the strength of imagination, and the powerful operation of fancy
in their minds; that there is no such thing as a spirit appearing,
or a ghost walking; that people's poring affectionately upon the
past conversation of their deceased friends so realises it to them
that they are capable of fancying, upon some extraordinary
circumstances, that they see them, talk to them, and are answered
by them, when, in truth, there is nothing but shadow and vapour in
the thing, and they really know nothing of the matter.
For my part, I know not to this hour whether there are any such
things as real apparitions, spectres, or walking of people after
they are dead; or whether there is anything in the stories they
tell us of that kind more than the product of vapours, sick minds,
and wandering fancies: but this I know, that my imagination worked
up to such a height, and brought me into such excess of vapours, or
what else I may call it, that I actually supposed myself often upon
the spot, at my old castle, behind the trees; saw my old Spaniard,
Friday's father, and the reprobate sailors I left upon the island;
nay, I fancied I talked with them, and looked at them steadily,
though I was broad awake, as at persons just before me; and this I
did till I often frightened myself with the images my fancy
represented to me. One time, in my sleep, I had the villainy of
the three pirate sailors so lively related to me by the first
Spaniard, and Friday's father, that it was surprising: they told
me how they barbarously attempted to murder all the Spaniards, and
that they set fire to the provisions they had laid up, on purpose
to distress and starve them; things that I had never heard of, and
that, indeed, were never all of them true in fact: but it was so
warm in my imagination, and so realised to me, that, to the hour I
saw them, I could not be persuaded but that it was or would be
true; also how I resented it, when the Spaniard complained to me;
and how I brought them to justice, tried them, and ordered them all
three to be hanged. What there was really in this shall be seen in
its place; for however I came to form such things in my dream, and
what secret converse of spirits injected it, yet there was, I say,
much of it true. I own that this dream had nothing in it literally
and specifically true; but the general part was so true--the base;
villainous behaviour of these three hardened rogues was such, and
had been so much worse than all I can describe, that the dream had
too much similitude of the fact; and as I would afterwards have
punished them severely, so, if I had hanged them all, I had been
much in the right, and even should have been justified both by the
laws of God and man.
But to return to my story. In this kind of temper I lived some
years; I had no enjoyment of my life, no pleasant hours, no
agreeable diversion but what had something or other of this in it;
so that my wife, who saw my mind wholly bent upon it, told me very
seriously one night that she believed there was some secret,
powerful impulse of Providence upon me, which had determined me to
go thither again; and that she found nothing hindered me going but
my being engaged to a wife and children. She told me that it was
true she could not think of parting with me: but as she was
assured that if she was dead it would be the first thing I would
do, so, as it seemed to her that the thing was determined above,
she would not be the only obstruction; for, if I thought fit and
resolved to go--[Here she found me very intent upon her words, and
that I looked very earnestly at her, so that it a little disordered
her, and she stopped. I asked her why she did not go on, and say
out what she was going to say? But I perceived that her heart was
too full, and some tears stood in her eyes.] "Speak out, my dear,"
said I; "are you willing I should go?"--"No," says she, very
affectionately, "I am far from willing; but if you are resolved to
go," says she, "rather than I would be the only hindrance, I will
go with you: for though I think it a most preposterous thing for
one of your years, and in your condition, yet, if it must be," said
she, again weeping, "I would not leave you; for if it be of Heaven
you must do it, there is no resisting it; and if Heaven make it
your duty to go, He will also make it mine to go with you, or
otherwise dispose of me, that I may not obstruct it."
This affectionate behaviour of my wife's brought me a little out of
the vapours, and I began to consider what I was doing; I corrected
my wandering fancy, and began to argue with myself sedately what
business I had after threescore years, and after such a life of
tedious sufferings and disasters, and closed in so happy and easy a
manner; I, say, what business had I to rush into new hazards, and
put myself upon adventures fit only for youth and poverty to run
into?
With those thoughts I considered my new engagement; that I had a
wife, one child born, and my wife then great with child of another;
that I had all the world could give me, and had no need to seek
hazard for gain; that I was declining in years, and ought to think
rather of leaving what I had gained than of seeking to increase it;
that as to what my wife had said of its being an impulse from
Heaven, and that it should be my duty to go, I had no notion of
that; so, after many of these cogitations, I struggled with the
power of my imagination, reasoned myself out of it, as I believe
people may always do in like cases if they will: in a word, I
conquered it, composed myself with such arguments as occurred to my
thoughts, and which my present condition furnished me plentifully
with; and particularly, as the most effectual method, I resolved to
divert myself with other things, and to engage in some business
that might effectually tie me up from any more excursions of this
kind; for I found that thing return upon me chiefly when I was
idle, and had nothing to do, nor anything of moment immediately
before me. To this purpose, I bought a little farm in the county
of Bedford, and resolved to remove myself thither. I had a little
convenient house upon it, and the land about it, I found, was
capable of great improvement; and it was many ways suited to my
inclination, which delighted in cultivating, managing, planting,
and improving of land; and particularly, being an inland country, I
was removed from conversing among sailors and things relating to
the remote parts of the world. I went down to my farm, settled my
family, bought ploughs, harrows, a cart, waggon-horses, cows, and
sheep, and, setting seriously to work, became in one half-year a
mere country gentleman. My thoughts were entirely taken up in
managing my servants, cultivating the ground, enclosing, planting,
&c.; and I lived, as I thought, the most agreeable life that nature
was capable of directing, or that a man always bred to misfortunes
was capable of retreating to.
I farmed upon my own land; I had no rent to pay, was limited by no
articles; I could pull up or cut down as I pleased; what I planted
was for myself, and what I improved was for my family; and having
thus left off the thoughts of wandering, I had not the least
discomfort in any part of life as to this world. Now I thought,
indeed, that I enjoyed the middle state of life which my father so
earnestly recommended to me, and lived a kind of heavenly life,
something like what is described by the poet, upon the subject of a
country life:-
"Free from vices, free from care,
Age has no pain, and youth no snare."
But in the middle of all this felicity, one blow from unseen
Providence unhinged me at once; and not only made a breach upon me
inevitable and incurable, but drove me, by its consequences, into a
deep relapse of the wandering disposition, which, as I may say,
being born in my very blood, soon recovered its hold of me; and,
like the returns of a violent distemper, came on with an
irresistible force upon me. This blow was the loss of my wife. It
is not my business here to write an elegy upon my wife, give a
character of her particular virtues, and make my court to the sex
by the flattery of a funeral sermon. She was, in a few words, the
stay of all my affairs; the centre of all my enterprises; the
engine that, by her prudence, reduced me to that happy compass I
was in, from the most extravagant and ruinous project that filled
my head, and did more to guide my rambling genius than a mother's
tears, a father's instructions, a friend's counsel, or all my own
reasoning powers could do. I was happy in listening to her, and in
being moved by her entreaties; and to the last degree desolate and
dislocated in the world by the loss of her.
When she was gone, the world looked awkwardly round me. I was as
much a stranger in it, in my thoughts, as I was in the Brazils,
when I first went on shore there; and as much alone, except for the
assistance of servants, as I was in my island. I knew neither what
to think nor what to do. I saw the world busy around me: one part
labouring for bread, another part squandering in vile excesses or
empty pleasures, but equally miserable because the end they
proposed still fled from them; for the men of pleasure every day
surfeited of their vice, and heaped up work for sorrow and
repentance; and the men of labour spent their strength in daily
struggling for bread to maintain the vital strength they laboured
with: so living in a daily circulation of sorrow, living but to
work, and working but to live, as if daily bread were the only end
of wearisome life, and a wearisome life the only occasion of daily
bread.
This put me in mind of the life I lived in my kingdom, the island;
where I suffered no more corn to grow, because I did not want it;
and bred no more goats, because I had no more use for them; where
the money lay in the drawer till it grew mouldy, and had scarce the
favour to be looked upon in twenty years. All these things, had I
improved them as I ought to have done, and as reason and religion
had dictated to me, would have taught me to search farther than
human enjoyments for a full felicity; and that there was something
which certainly was the reason and end of life superior to all
these things, and which was either to be possessed, or at least
hoped for, on this side of the grave.
But my sage counsellor was gone; I was like a ship without a pilot,
that could only run afore the wind. My thoughts ran all away again
into the old affair; my head was quite turned with the whimsies of
foreign adventures; and all the pleasant, innocent amusements of my
farm, my garden, my cattle, and my family, which before entirely
possessed me, were nothing to me, had no relish, and were like
music to one that has no ear, or food to one that has no taste. In
a word, I resolved to leave off housekeeping, let my farm, and
return to London; and in a few months after I did so.
When I came to London, I was still as uneasy as I was before; I had
no relish for the place, no employment in it, nothing to do but to
saunter about like an idle person, of whom it may be said he is
perfectly useless in God's creation, and it is not one farthing's
matter to the rest of his kind whether he be dead or alive. This
also was the thing which, of all circumstances of life, was the
most my aversion, who had been all my days used to an active life;
and I would often say to myself, "A state of idleness is the very
dregs of life;" and, indeed, I thought I was much more suitably
employed when I was twenty-six days making a deal board.
It was now the beginning of the year 1693, when my nephew, whom, as
I have observed before, I had brought up to the sea, and had made
him commander of a ship, was come home from a short voyage to
Bilbao, being the first he had made. He came to me, and told me
that some merchants of his acquaintance had been proposing to him
to go a voyage for them to the East Indies, and to China, as
private traders. "And now, uncle," says he, "if you will go to sea
with me, I will engage to land you upon your old habitation in the
island; for we are to touch at the Brazils."
Nothing can be a greater demonstration of a future state, and of
the existence of an invisible world, than the concurrence of second
causes with the idea of things which we form in our minds,
perfectly reserved, and not communicated to any in the world.
My nephew knew nothing how far my distemper of wandering was
returned upon me, and I knew nothing of what he had in his thought
to say, when that very morning, before he came to me, I had, in a
great deal of confusion of thought, and revolving every part of my
circumstances in my mind, come to this resolution, that I would go
to Lisbon, and consult with my old sea-captain; and if it was
rational and practicable, I would go and see the island again, and
what was become of my people there. I had pleased myself with the
thoughts of peopling the place, and carrying inhabitants from
hence, getting a patent for the possession and I know not what;
when, in the middle of all this, in comes my nephew, as I have
said, with his project of carrying me thither in his way to the
East Indies.
I paused a while at his words, and looking steadily at him, "What
devil," said I, "sent you on this unlucky errand?" My nephew
stared as if he had been frightened at first; but perceiving that I
was not much displeased at the proposal, he recovered himself. "I
hope it may not be an unlucky proposal, sir," says he. "I daresay
you would be pleased to see your new colony there, where you once
reigned with more felicity than most of your brother monarchs in
the world." In a word, the scheme hit so exactly with my temper,
that is to say, the prepossession I was under, and of which I have
said so much, that I told him, in a few words, if he agreed with
the merchants, I would go with him; but I told him I would not
promise to go any further than my own island. "Why, sir," says he,
"you don't want to be left there again, I hope?" "But," said I,
"can you not take me up again on your return?" He told me it would
not be possible to do so; that the merchants would never allow him
to come that way with a laden ship of such value, it being a
month's sail out of his way, and might be three or four. "Besides,
sir, if I should miscarry," said he, "and not return at all, then
you would be just reduced to the condition you were in before."
This was very rational; but we both found out a remedy for it,
which was to carry a framed sloop on board the ship, which, being
taken in pieces, might, by the help of some carpenters, whom we
agreed to carry with us, be set up again in the island, and
finished fit to go to sea in a few days. I was not long resolving,
for indeed the importunities of my nephew joined so effectually
with my inclination that nothing could oppose me; on the other
hand, my wife being dead, none concerned themselves so much for me
as to persuade me one way or the other, except my ancient good
friend the widow, who earnestly struggled with me to consider my
years, my easy circumstances, and the needless hazards of a long
voyage; and above all, my young children. But it was all to no
purpose, I had an irresistible desire for the voyage; and I told
her I thought there was something so uncommon in the impressions I
had upon my mind, that it would be a kind of resisting Providence
if I should attempt to stay at home; after which she ceased her
expostulations, and joined with me, not only in making provision
for my voyage, but also in settling my family affairs for my
absence, and providing for the education of my children. In order
to do this, I made my will, and settled the estate I had in such a
manner for my children, and placed in such hands, that I was
perfectly easy and satisfied they would have justice done them,
whatever might befall me; and for their education, I left it wholly
to the widow, with a sufficient maintenance to herself for her
care: all which she richly deserved; for no mother could have
taken more care in their education, or understood it better; and as
she lived till I came home, I also lived to thank her for it.
My nephew was ready to sail about the beginning of January 1694-5;
and I, with my man Friday, went on board, in the Downs, the 8th;
having, besides that sloop which I mentioned above, a very
considerable cargo of all kinds of necessary things for my colony,
which, if I did not find in good condition, I resolved to leave so.
First, I carried with me some servants whom I purposed to place
there as inhabitants, or at least to set on work there upon my
account while I stayed, and either to leave them there or carry
them forward, as they should appear willing; particularly, I
carried two carpenters, a smith, and a very handy, ingenious
fellow, who was a cooper by trade, and was also a general mechanic;
for he was dexterous at making wheels and hand-mills to grind corn,
was a good turner and a good pot-maker; he also made anything that
was proper to make of earth or of wood: in a word, we called him
our Jack-of-all-trades. With these I carried a tailor, who had
offered himself to go a passenger to the East Indies with my
nephew, but afterwards consented to stay on our new plantation, and
who proved a most necessary handy fellow as could be desired in
many other businesses besides that of his trade; for, as I observed
formerly, necessity arms us for all employments.
My cargo, as near as I can recollect, for I have not kept account
of the particulars, consisted of a sufficient quantity of linen,
and some English thin stuffs, for clothing the Spaniards that I
expected to find there; and enough of them, as by my calculation
might comfortably supply them for seven years; if I remember right,
the materials I carried for clothing them, with gloves, hats,
shoes, stockings, and all such things as they could want for
wearing, amounted to about two hundred pounds, including some beds,
bedding, and household stuff, particularly kitchen utensils, with
pots, kettles, pewter, brass, &c.; and near a hundred pounds more
in ironwork, nails, tools of every kind, staples, hooks, hinges,
and every necessary thing I could think of.
I carried also a hundred spare arms, muskets, and fusees; besides
some pistols, a considerable quantity of shot of all sizes, three
or four tons of lead, and two pieces of brass cannon; and, because
I knew not what time and what extremities I was providing for, I
carried a hundred barrels of powder, besides swords, cutlasses, and
the iron part of some pikes and halberds. In short, we had a large
magazine of all sorts of store; and I made my nephew carry two
small quarter-deck guns more than he wanted for his ship, to leave
behind if there was occasion; so that when we came there we might
build a fort and man it against all sorts of enemies. Indeed, I at
first thought there would be need enough for all, and much more, if
we hoped to maintain our possession of the island, as shall be seen
in the course of that story.
I had not such bad luck in this voyage as I had been used to meet
with, and therefore shall have the less occasion to interrupt the
reader, who perhaps may be impatient to hear how matters went with
my colony; yet some odd accidents, cross winds and bad weather
happened on this first setting out, which made the voyage longer
than I expected it at first; and I, who had never made but one
voyage, my first voyage to Guinea, in which I might be said to come
back again, as the voyage was at first designed, began to think the
same ill fate attended me, and that I was born to be never
contented with being on shore, and yet to be always unfortunate at
sea. Contrary winds first put us to the northward, and we were
obliged to put in at Galway, in Ireland, where we lay wind-bound
two-and-twenty days; but we had this satisfaction with the
disaster, that provisions were here exceeding cheap, and in the
utmost plenty; so that while we lay here we never touched the
ship's stores, but rather added to them. Here, also, I took in
several live hogs, and two cows with their calves, which I
resolved, if I had a good passage, to put on shore in my island;
but we found occasion to dispose otherwise of them.
We set out on the 5th of February from Ireland, and had a very fair
gale of wind for some days. As I remember, it might be about the
20th of February in the evening late, when the mate, having the
watch, came into the round-house and told us he saw a flash of
fire, and heard a gun fired; and while he was telling us of it, a
boy came in and told us the boatswain heard another. This made us
all run out upon the quarter-deck, where for a while we heard
nothing; but in a few minutes we saw a very great light, and found
that there was some very terrible fire at a distance; immediately
we had recourse to our reckonings, in which we all agreed that
there could be no land that way in which the fire showed itself,
no, not for five hundred leagues, for it appeared at WNW. Upon
this, we concluded it must be some ship on fire at sea; and as, by
our hearing the noise of guns just before, we concluded that it
could not be far off, we stood directly towards it, and were
presently satisfied we should discover it, because the further we
sailed, the greater the light appeared; though, the weather being
hazy, we could not perceive anything but the light for a while. In
about half-an-hour's sailing, the wind being fair for us, though
not much of it, and the weather clearing up a little, we could
plainly discern that it was a great ship on fire in the middle of
the sea.
I was most sensibly touched with this disaster, though not at all
acquainted with the persons engaged in it; I presently recollected
my former circumstances, and what condition I was in when taken up
by the Portuguese captain; and how much more deplorable the
circumstances of the poor creatures belonging to that ship must be,
if they had no other ship in company with them. Upon this I
immediately ordered that five guns should be fired, one soon after
another, that, if possible, we might give notice to them that there
was help for them at hand and that they might endeavour to save
themselves in their boat; for though we could see the flames of the
ship, yet they, it being night, could see nothing of us.
We lay by some time upon this, only driving as the burning ship
drove, waiting for daylight; when, on a sudden, to our great
terror, though we had reason to expect it, the ship blew up in the
air; and in a few minutes all the fire was out, that is to say, the
rest of the ship sunk. This was a terrible, and indeed an
afflicting sight, for the sake of the poor men, who, I concluded,
must be either all destroyed in the ship, or be in the utmost
distress in their boat, in the middle of the ocean; which, at
present, as it was dark, I could not see. However, to direct them
as well as I could, I caused lights to be hung out in all parts of
the ship where we could, and which we had lanterns for, and kept
firing guns all the night long, letting them know by this that
there was a ship not far off.
About eight o'clock in the morning we discovered the ship's boats
by the help of our perspective glasses, and found there were two of
them, both thronged with people, and deep in the water. We
perceived they rowed, the wind being against them; that they saw
our ship, and did their utmost to make us see them. We immediately
spread our ancient, to let them know we saw them, and hung a waft
out, as a signal for them to come on board, and then made more
sail, standing directly to them. In little more than half-an-hour
we came up with them; and took them all in, being no less than
sixty-four men, women, and children; for there were a great many
passengers.
Upon inquiry we found it was a French merchant ship of three-
hundred tons, home-bound from Quebec. The master gave us a long
account of the distress of his ship; how the fire began in the
steerage by the negligence of the steersman, which, on his crying
out for help, was, as everybody thought, entirely put out; but they
soon found that some sparks of the first fire had got into some
part of the ship so difficult to come at that they could not
effectually quench it; and afterwards getting in between the
timbers, and within the ceiling of the ship, it proceeded into the
hold, and mastered all the skill and all the application they were
able to exert.
They had no more to do then but to get into their boats, which, to
their great comfort, were pretty large; being their long-boat, and
a great shallop, besides a small skiff, which was of no great
service to them, other than to get some fresh water and provisions
into her, after they had secured their lives from the fire. They
had, indeed, small hopes of their lives by getting into these boats
at that distance from any land; only, as they said, that they thus
escaped from the fire, and there was a possibility that some ship
might happen to be at sea, and might take them in. They had sails,
oars, and a compass; and had as much provision and water as, with
sparing it so as to be next door to starving, might support them
about twelve days, in which, if they had no bad weather and no
contrary winds, the captain said he hoped he might get to the banks
of Newfoundland, and might perhaps take some fish, to sustain them
till they might go on shore. But there were so many chances
against them in all these cases, such as storms, to overset and
founder them; rains and cold, to benumb and perish their limbs;
contrary winds, to keep them out and starve them; that it must have
been next to miraculous if they had escaped.
In the midst of their consternation, every one being hopeless and
ready to despair, the captain, with tears in his eyes, told me they
were on a sudden surprised with the joy of hearing a gun fire, and
after that four more: these were the five guns which I caused to
be fired at first seeing the light. This revived their hearts, and
gave them the notice, which, as above, I desired it should, that
there was a ship at hand for their help. It was upon the hearing
of these guns that they took down their masts and sails: the sound
coming from the windward, they resolved to lie by till morning.
Some time after this, hearing no more guns, they fired three
muskets, one a considerable while after another; but these, the
wind being contrary, we never heard. Some time after that again
they were still more agreeably surprised with seeing our lights,
and hearing the guns, which, as I have said, I caused to be fired
all the rest of the night. This set them to work with their oars,
to keep their boats ahead, at least that we might the sooner come
up with them; and at last, to their inexpressible joy, they found
we saw them.
It is impossible for me to express the several gestures, the
strange ecstasies, the variety of postures which these poor
delivered people ran into, to express the joy of their souls at so
unexpected a deliverance. Grief and fear are easily described:
sighs, tears, groans, and a very few motions of the head and hands,
make up the sum of its variety; but an excess of joy, a surprise of
joy, has a thousand extravagances in it. There were some in tears;
some raging and tearing themselves, as if they had been in the
greatest agonies of sorrow; some stark raving and downright
lunatic; some ran about the ship stamping with their feet, others
wringing their hands; some were dancing, some singing, some
laughing, more crying, many quite dumb, not able to speak a word;
others sick and vomiting; several swooning and ready to faint; and
a few were crossing themselves and giving God thanks.
I would not wrong them either; there might be many that were
thankful afterwards; but the passion was too strong for them at
first, and they were not able to master it: then were thrown into
ecstasies, and a kind of frenzy, and it was but a very few that
were composed and serious in their joy. Perhaps also, the case may
have some addition to it from the particular circumstance of that
nation they belonged to: I mean the French, whose temper is
allowed to be more volatile, more passionate, and more sprightly,
and their spirits more fluid than in other nations. I am not
philosopher enough to determine the cause; but nothing I had ever
seen before came up to it. The ecstasies poor Friday, my trusty
savage, was in when he found his father in the boat came the
nearest to it; and the surprise of the master and his two
companions, whom I delivered from the villains that set them on
shore in the island, came a little way towards it; but nothing was
to compare to this, either that I saw in Friday, or anywhere else
in my life.
It is further observable, that these extravagances did not show
themselves in that different manner I have mentioned, in different
persons only; but all the variety would appear, in a short
succession of moments, in one and the same person. A man that we
saw this minute dumb, and, as it were, stupid and confounded, would
the next minute be dancing and hallooing like an antic; and the
next moment be tearing his hair, or pulling his clothes to pieces,
and stamping them under his feet like a madman; in a few moments
after that we would have him all in tears, then sick, swooning,
and, had not immediate help been had, he would in a few moments
have been dead. Thus it was, not with one or two, or ten or
twenty, but with the greatest part of them; and, if I remember
right, our surgeon was obliged to let blood of about thirty
persons.
There were two priests among them: one an old man, and the other a
young man; and that which was strangest was, the oldest man was the
worst. As soon as he set his foot on board our ship, and saw
himself safe, he dropped down stone dead to all appearance. Not
the least sign of life could be perceived in him; our surgeon
immediately applied proper remedies to recover him, and was the
only man in the ship that believed he was not dead. At length he
opened a vein in his arm, having first chafed and rubbed the part,
so as to warm it as much as possible. Upon this the blood, which
only dropped at first, flowing freely, in three minutes after the
man opened his eyes; a quarter of an hour after that he spoke, grew
better, and after the blood was stopped, he walked about, told us
he was perfectly well, and took a dram of cordial which the surgeon
gave him. About a quarter of an hour after this they came running
into the cabin to the surgeon, who was bleeding a Frenchwoman that
had fainted, and told him the priest was gone stark mad. It seems
he had begun to revolve the change of his circumstances in his
mind, and again this put him into an ecstasy of joy. His spirits
whirled about faster than the vessels could convey them, the blood
grew hot and feverish, and the man was as fit for Bedlam as any
creature that ever was in it. The surgeon would not bleed him
again in that condition, but gave him something to doze and put him
to sleep; which, after some time, operated upon him, and he awoke
next morning perfectly composed and well. The younger priest
behaved with great command of his passions, and was really an
example of a serious, well-governed mind. At his first coming on
board the ship he threw himself flat on his face, prostrating
himself in thankfulness for his deliverance, in which I unhappily
and unseasonably disturbed him, really thinking he had been in a
swoon; but he spoke calmly, thanked me, told me he was giving God
thanks for his deliverance, begged me to leave him a few moments,
and that, next to his Maker, he would give me thanks also. I was
heartily sorry that I disturbed him, and not only left him, but
kept others from interrupting him also. He continued in that
posture about three minutes, or little more, after I left him, then
came to me, as he had said he would, and with a great deal of
seriousness and affection, but with tears in his eyes, thanked me,
that had, under God, given him and so many miserable creatures
their lives. I told him I had no need to tell him to thank God for
it, rather than me, for I had seen that he had done that already;
but I added that it was nothing but what reason and humanity
dictated to all men, and that we had as much reason as he to give
thanks to God, who had blessed us so far as to make us the
instruments of His mercy to so many of His creatures. After this
the young priest applied himself to his countrymen, and laboured to
compose them: he persuaded, entreated, argued, reasoned with them,
and did his utmost to keep them within the exercise of their
reason; and with some he had success, though others were for a time
out of all government of themselves.
I cannot help committing this to writing, as perhaps it may be
useful to those into whose hands it may fall, for guiding
themselves in the extravagances of their passions; for if an excess
of joy can carry men out to such a length beyond the reach of their
reason, what will not the extravagances of anger, rage, and a
provoked mind carry us to? And, indeed, here I saw reason for
keeping an exceeding watch over our passions of every kind, as well
those of joy and satisfaction as those of sorrow and anger.
We were somewhat disordered by these extravagances among our new
guests for the first day; but after they had retired to lodgings
provided for them as well as our ship would allow, and had slept
heartily--as most of them did, being fatigued and frightened--they
were quite another sort of people the next day. Nothing of good
manners, or civil acknowledgments for the kindness shown them, was
wanting; the French, it is known, are naturally apt enough to
exceed that way. The captain and one of the priests came to me the
next day, and desired to speak with me and my nephew; the commander
began to consult with us what should be done with them; and first,
they told us we had saved their lives, so all they had was little
enough for a return to us for that kindness received. The captain
said they had saved some money and some things of value in their
boats, caught hastily out of the flames, and if we would accept it
they were ordered to make an offer of it all to us; they only
desired to be set on shore somewhere in our way, where, if
possible, they might get a passage to France. My nephew wished to
accept their money at first word, and to consider what to do with
them afterwards; but I overruled him in that part, for I knew what
it was to be set on shore in a strange country; and if the
Portuguese captain that took me up at sea had served me so, and
taken all I had for my deliverance, I must have been starved, or
have been as much a slave at the Brazils as I had been at Barbary,
the mere being sold to a Mahometan excepted; and perhaps a
Portuguese is not a much better master than a Turk, if not in some
cases much worse.
I therefore told the French captain that we had taken them up in
their distress, it was true, but that it was our duty to do so, as
we were fellow-creatures; and we would desire to be so delivered if
we were in the like or any other extremity; that we had done
nothing for them but what we believed they would have done for us
if we had been in their case and they in ours; but that we took
them up to save them, not to plunder them; and it would be a most
barbarous thing to take that little from them which they had saved
out of the fire, and then set them on shore and leave them; that
this would be first to save them from death, and then kill them
ourselves: save them from drowning, and abandon them to starving;
and therefore I would not let the least thing be taken from them.
As to setting them on shore, I told them indeed that was an
exceeding difficulty to us, for that the ship was bound to the East
Indies; and though we were driven out of our course to the westward
a very great way, and perhaps were directed by Heaven on purpose
for their deliverance, yet it was impossible for us wilfully to
change our voyage on their particular account; nor could my nephew,
the captain, answer it to the freighters, with whom he was under
charter to pursue his voyage by way of Brazil; and all I knew we
could do for them was to put ourselves in the way of meeting with
other ships homeward bound from the West Indies, and get them a
passage, if possible, to England or France.
The first part of the proposal was so generous and kind they could
not but be very thankful for it; but they were in very great
consternation, especially the passengers, at the notion of being
carried away to the East Indies; they then entreated me that as I
was driven so far to the westward before I met with them, I would
at least keep on the same course to the banks of Newfoundland,
where it was probable I might meet with some ship or sloop that
they might hire to carry them back to Canada.
I thought this was but a reasonable request on their part, and
therefore I inclined to agree to it; for indeed I considered that
to carry this whole company to the East Indies would not only be an
intolerable severity upon the poor people, but would be ruining our
whole voyage by devouring all our provisions; so I thought it no
breach of charter-party, but what an unforeseen accident made
absolutely necessary to us, and in which no one could say we were
to blame; for the laws of God and nature would have forbid that we
should refuse to take up two boats full of people in such a
distressed condition; and the nature of the thing, as well
respecting ourselves as the poor people, obliged us to set them on
shore somewhere or other for their deliverance. So I consented
that we would carry them to Newfoundland, if wind and weather would
permit: and if not, I would carry them to Martinico, in the West
Indies.
The wind continued fresh easterly, but the weather pretty good; and
as the winds had continued in the points between NE. and SE. a long
time, we missed several opportunities of sending them to France;
for we met several ships bound to Europe, whereof two were French,
from St. Christopher's, but they had been so long beating up
against the wind that they durst take in no passengers, for fear of
wanting provisions for the voyage, as well for themselves as for
those they should take in; so we were obliged to go on. It was
about a week after this that we made the banks of Newfoundland;
where, to shorten my story, we put all our French people on board a
bark, which they hired at sea there, to put them on shore, and
afterwards to carry them to France, if they could get provisions to
victual themselves with. When I say all the French went on shore,
I should remember that the young priest I spoke of, hearing we were
bound to the East Indies, desired to go the voyage with us, and to
be set on shore on the coast of Coromandel; which I readily agreed
to, for I wonderfully liked the man, and had very good reason, as
will appear afterwards; also four of the seamen entered themselves
on our ship, and proved very useful fellows.
From hence we directed our course for the West Indies, steering
away S. and S. by E. for about twenty days together, sometimes
little or no wind at all; when we met with another subject for our
humanity to work upon, almost as deplorable as that before.
CHAPTER II-- INTERVENING HISTORY OF COLONY
It was in the latitude of 27 degrees 5 minutes N., on the 19th day
of March 1694-95, when we spied a sail, our course SE. and by S.
We soon perceived it was a large vessel, and that she bore up to
us, but could not at first know what to make of her, till, after
coming a little nearer, we found she had lost her main-topmast,
fore-mast, and bowsprit; and presently she fired a gun as a signal
of distress. The weather was pretty good, wind at NNW. a fresh
gale, and we soon came to speak with her. We found her a ship of
Bristol, bound home from Barbadoes, but had been blown out of the
road at Barbadoes a few days before she was ready to sail, by a
terrible hurricane, while the captain and chief mate were both gone
on shore; so that, besides the terror of the storm, they were in an
indifferent case for good mariners to bring the ship home. They
had been already nine weeks at sea, and had met with another
terrible storm, after the hurricane was over, which had blown them
quite out of their knowledge to the westward, and in which they
lost their masts. They told us they expected to have seen the
Bahama Islands, but were then driven away again to the south-east,
by a strong gale of wind at NNW., the same that blew now: and
having no sails to work the ship with but a main course, and a kind
of square sail upon a jury fore-mast, which they had set up, they
could not lie near the wind, but were endeavouring to stand away
for the Canaries.
But that which was worst of all was, that they were almost starved
for want of provisions, besides the fatigues they had undergone;
their bread and flesh were quite gone--they had not one ounce left
in the ship, and had had none for eleven days. The only relief
they had was, their water was not all spent, and they had about
half a barrel of flour left; they had sugar enough; some succades,
or sweetmeats, they had at first, but these were all devoured; and
they had seven casks of rum. There was a youth and his mother and
a maid-servant on board, who were passengers, and thinking the ship
was ready to sail, unhappily came on board the evening before the
hurricane began; and having no provisions of their own left, they
were in a more deplorable condition than the rest: for the seamen
being reduced to such an extreme necessity themselves, had no
compassion, we may be sure, for the poor passengers; and they were,
indeed, in such a condition that their misery is very hard to
describe.
I had perhaps not known this part, if my curiosity had not led me,
the weather being fair and the wind abated, to go on board the
ship. The second mate, who upon this occasion commanded the ship,
had been on board our ship, and he told me they had three
passengers in the great cabin that were in a deplorable condition.
"Nay," says he, "I believe they are dead, for I have heard nothing
of them for above two days; and I was afraid to inquire after
them," said he, "for I had nothing to relieve them with." We
immediately applied ourselves to give them what relief we could
spare; and indeed I had so far overruled things with my nephew,
that I would have victualled them though we had gone away to
Virginia, or any other part of the coast of America, to have
supplied ourselves; but there was no necessity for that.
But now they were in a new danger; for they were afraid of eating
too much, even of that little we gave them. The mate, or
commander, brought six men with him in his boat; but these poor
wretches looked like skeletons, and were so weak that they could
hardly sit to their oars. The mate himself was very ill, and half
starved; for he declared he had reserved nothing from the men, and
went share and share alike with them in every bit they ate. I
cautioned him to eat sparingly, and set meat before him
immediately, but he had not eaten three mouthfuls before he began
to be sick and out of order; so he stopped a while, and our surgeon
mixed him up something with some broth, which he said would be to
him both food and physic; and after he had taken it he grew better.
In the meantime I forgot not the men. I ordered victuals to be
given them, and the poor creatures rather devoured than ate it:
they were so exceedingly hungry that they were in a manner
ravenous, and had no command of themselves; and two of them ate
with so much greediness that they were in danger of their lives the
next morning. The sight of these people's distress was very moving
to me, and brought to mind what I had a terrible prospect of at my
first coming on shore in my island, where I had not the least
mouthful of food, or any prospect of procuring any; besides the
hourly apprehensions I had of being made the food of other
creatures. But all the while the mate was thus relating to me the
miserable condition of the ship's company, I could not put out of
my thought the story he had told me of the three poor creatures in
the great cabin, viz. the mother, her son, and the maid-servant,
whom he had heard nothing of for two or three days, and whom, he
seemed to confess, they had wholly neglected, their own extremities
being so great; by which I understood that they had really given
them no food at all, and that therefore they must be perished, and
be all lying dead, perhaps, on the floor or deck of the cabin.
As I therefore kept the mate, whom we then called captain, on board
with his men, to refresh them, so I also forgot not the starving
crew that were left on board, but ordered my own boat to go on
board the ship, and, with my mate and twelve men, to carry them a
sack of bread, and four or five pieces of beef to boil. Our
surgeon charged the men to cause the meat to be boiled while they
stayed, and to keep guard in the cook-room, to prevent the men
taking it to eat raw, or taking it out of the pot before it was
well boiled, and then to give every man but a very little at a
time: and by this caution he preserved the men, who would
otherwise have killed themselves with that very food that was given
them on purpose to save their lives.
At the same time I ordered the mate to go into the great cabin, and
see what condition the poor passengers were in; and if they were
alive, to comfort them, and give them what refreshment was proper:
and the surgeon gave him a large pitcher, with some of the prepared
broth which he had given the mate that was on board, and which he
did not question would restore them gradually. I was not satisfied
with this; but, as I said above, having a great mind to see the
scene of misery which I knew the ship itself would present me with,
in a more lively manner than I could have it by report, I took the
captain of the ship, as we now called him, with me, and went
myself, a little after, in their boat.
I found the poor men on board almost in a tumult to get the
victuals out of the boiler before it was ready; but my mate
observed his orders, and kept a good guard at the cook-room door,
and the man he placed there, after using all possible persuasion to
have patience, kept them off by force; however, he caused some
biscuit-cakes to be dipped in the pot, and softened with the liquor
of the meat, which they called brewis, and gave them every one some
to stay their stomachs, and told them it was for their own safety
that he was obliged to give them but little at a time. But it was
all in vain; and had I not come on board, and their own commander
and officers with me, and with good words, and some threats also of
giving them no more, I believe they would have broken into the
cook-room by force, and torn the meat out of the furnace--for words
are indeed of very small force to a hungry belly; however, we
pacified them, and fed them gradually and cautiously at first, and
the next time gave them more, and at last filled their bellies, and
the men did well enough.
But the misery of the poor passengers in the cabin was of another
nature, and far beyond the rest; for as, first, the ship's company
had so little for themselves, it was but too true that they had at
first kept them very low, and at last totally neglected them: so
that for six or seven days it might be said they had really no food
at all, and for several days before very little. The poor mother,
who, as the men reported, was a woman of sense and good breeding,
had spared all she could so affectionately for her son, that at
last she entirely sank under it; and when the mate of our ship went
in, she sat upon the floor on deck, with her back up against the
sides, between two chairs, which were lashed fast, and her head
sunk between her shoulders like a corpse, though not quite dead.
My mate said all he could to revive and encourage her, and with a
spoon put some broth into her mouth. She opened her lips, and
lifted up one hand, but could not speak: yet she understood what
he said, and made signs to him, intimating, that it was too late
for her, but pointed to her child, as if she would have said they
should take care of him. However, the mate, who was exceedingly
moved at the sight, endeavoured to get some of the broth into her
mouth, and, as he said, got two or three spoonfuls down--though I
question whether he could be sure of it or not; but it was too
late, and she died the same night.
The youth, who was preserved at the price of his most affectionate
mother's life, was not so far gone; yet he lay in a cabin bed, as
one stretched out, with hardly any life left in him. He had a
piece of an old glove in his mouth, having eaten up the rest of it;
however, being young, and having more strength than his mother, the
mate got something down his throat, and he began sensibly to
revive; though by giving him, some time after, but two or three
spoonfuls extraordinary, he was very sick, and brought it up again.
But the next care was the poor maid: she lay all along upon the
deck, hard by her mistress, and just like one that had fallen down
in a fit of apoplexy, and struggled for life. Her limbs were
distorted; one of her hands was clasped round the frame of the
chair, and she gripped it so hard that we could not easily make her
let it go; her other arm lay over her head, and her feet lay both
together, set fast against the frame of the cabin table: in short,
she lay just like one in the agonies of death, and yet she was
alive too. The poor creature was not only starved with hunger, and
terrified with the thoughts of death, but, as the men told us
afterwards, was broken-hearted for her mistress, whom she saw dying
for two or three days before, and whom she loved most tenderly. We
knew not what to do with this poor girl; for when our surgeon, who
was a man of very great knowledge and experience, had, with great
application, recovered her as to life, he had her upon his hands
still; for she was little less than distracted for a considerable
time after.
Whoever shall read these memorandums must be desired to consider
that visits at sea are not like a journey into the country, where
sometimes people stay a week or a fortnight at a place. Our
business was to relieve this distressed ship's crew, but not lie by
for them; and though they were willing to steer the same course
with us for some days, yet we could carry no sail to keep pace with
a ship that had no masts. However, as their captain begged of us
to help him to set up a main-topmast, and a kind of a topmast to
his jury fore-mast, we did, as it were, lie by him for three or
four days; and then, having given him five barrels of beef, a
barrel of pork, two hogsheads of biscuit, and a proportion of peas,
flour, and what other things we could spare; and taking three casks
of sugar, some rum, and some pieces of eight from them for
satisfaction, we left them, taking on board with us, at their own
earnest request, the youth and the maid, and all their goods.
The young lad was about seventeen years of age, a pretty, well-
bred, modest, and sensible youth, greatly dejected with the loss of
his mother, and also at having lost his father but a few months
before, at Barbadoes. He begged of the surgeon to speak to me to
take him out of the ship; for he said the cruel fellows had
murdered his mother: and indeed so they had, that is to say,
passively; for they might have spared a small sustenance to the
poor helpless widow, though it had been but just enough to keep her
alive; but hunger knows no friend, no relation, no justice, no
right, and therefore is remorseless, and capable of no compassion.
The surgeon told him how far we were going, and that it would carry
him away from all his friends, and put him, perhaps, in as bad
circumstances almost as those we found him in, that is to say,
starving in the world. He said it mattered not whither he went, if
he was but delivered from the terrible crew that he was among; that
the captain (by which he meant me, for he could know nothing of my
nephew) had saved his life, and he was sure would not hurt him; and
as for the maid, he was sure, if she came to herself, she would be
very thankful for it, let us carry them where we would. The
surgeon represented the case so affectionately to me that I
yielded, and we took them both on board, with all their goods,
except eleven hogsheads of sugar, which could not be removed or
come at; and as the youth had a bill of lading for them, I made his
commander sign a writing, obliging himself to go, as soon as he
came to Bristol, to one Mr. Rogers, a merchant there, to whom the
youth said he was related, and to deliver a letter which I wrote to
him, and all the goods he had belonging to the deceased widow;
which, I suppose, was not done, for I could never learn that the
ship came to Bristol, but was, as is most probable, lost at sea,
being in so disabled a condition, and so far from any land, that I
am of opinion the first storm she met with afterwards she might
founder, for she was leaky, and had damage in her hold when we met
with her.
I was now in the latitude of 19 degrees 32 minutes, and had
hitherto a tolerable voyage as to weather, though at first the
winds had been contrary. I shall trouble nobody with the little
incidents of wind, weather, currents, &c., on the rest of our
voyage; but to shorten my story, shall observe that I came to my
old habitation, the island, on the 10th of April 1695. It was with
no small difficulty that I found the place; for as I came to it and
went to it before on the south and east side of the island, coming
from the Brazils, so now, coming in between the main and the
island, and having no chart for the coast, nor any landmark, I did
not know it when I saw it, or, know whether I saw it or not. We
beat about a great while, and went on shore on several islands in
the mouth of the great river Orinoco, but none for my purpose; only
this I learned by my coasting the shore, that I was under one great
mistake before, viz. that the continent which I thought I saw from
the island I lived in was really no continent, but a long island,
or rather a ridge of islands, reaching from one to the other side
of the extended mouth of that great river; and that the savages who
came to my island were not properly those which we call Caribbees,
but islanders, and other barbarians of the same kind, who inhabited
nearer to our side than the rest.
In short, I visited several of these islands to no purpose; some I
found were inhabited, and some were not; on one of them I found
some Spaniards, and thought they had lived there; but speaking with
them, found they had a sloop lying in a small creek hard by, and
came thither to make salt, and to catch some pearl-mussels if they
could; but that they belonged to the Isle de Trinidad, which lay
farther north, in the latitude of 10 and 11 degrees.
Thus coasting from one island to another, sometimes with the ship,
sometimes with the Frenchman's shallop, which we had found a
convenient boat, and therefore kept her with their very good will,
at length I came fair on the south side of my island, and presently
knew the very countenance of the place: so I brought the ship safe
to an anchor, broadside with the little creek where my old
habitation was. As soon as I saw the place I called for Friday,
and asked him if he knew where he was? He looked about a little,
and presently clapping his hands, cried, "Oh yes, Oh there, Oh yes,
Oh there!" pointing to our old habitation, and fell dancing and
capering like a mad fellow; and I had much ado to keep him from
jumping into the sea to swim ashore to the place.
"Well, Friday," says I, "do you think we shall find anybody here or
no? and do you think we shall see your father?" The fellow stood
mute as a stock a good while; but when I named his father, the poor
affectionate creature looked dejected, and I could see the tears
run down his face very plentifully. "What is the matter, Friday?
are you troubled because you may see your father?" "No, no," says
he, shaking his head, "no see him more: no, never more see him
again." "Why so, Friday? how do you know that?" "Oh no, Oh no,"
says Friday, "he long ago die, long ago; he much old man." "Well,
well, Friday, you don't know; but shall we see any one else, then?"
The fellow, it seems, had better eyes than I, and he points to the
hill just above my old house; and though we lay half a league off,
he cries out, "We see! we see! yes, we see much man there, and
there, and there." I looked, but I saw nobody, no, not with a
perspective glass, which was, I suppose, because I could not hit
the place: for the fellow was right, as I found upon inquiry the
next day; and there were five or six men all together, who stood to
look at the ship, not knowing what to think of us.
As soon as Friday told me he saw people, I caused the English
ancient to be spread, and fired three guns, to give them notice we
were friends; and in about a quarter of an hour after we perceived
a smoke arise from the side of the creek; so I immediately ordered
the boat out, taking Friday with me, and hanging out a white flag,
I went directly on shore, taking with me the young friar I
mentioned, to whom I had told the story of my living there, and the
manner of it, and every particular both of myself and those I left
there, and who was on that account extremely desirous to go with
me. We had, besides, about sixteen men well armed, if we had found
any new guests there which we did not know of; but we had no need
of weapons.
As we went on shore upon the tide of flood, near high water, we
rowed directly into the creek; and the first man I fixed my eye
upon was the Spaniard whose life I had saved, and whom I knew by
his face perfectly well: as to his habit, I shall describe it
afterwards. I ordered nobody to go on shore at first but myself;
but there was no keeping Friday in the boat, for the affectionate
creature had spied his father at a distance, a good way off the
Spaniards, where, indeed, I saw nothing of him; and if they had not
let him go ashore, he would have jumped into the sea. He was no
sooner on shore, but he flew away to his father like an arrow out
of a bow. It would have made any man shed tears, in spite of the
firmest resolution, to have seen the first transports of this poor
fellow's joy when he came to his father: how he embraced him,
kissed him, stroked his face, took him up in his arms, set him down
upon a tree, and lay down by him; then stood and looked at him, as
any one would look at a strange picture, for a quarter of an hour
together; then lay down on the ground, and stroked his legs, and
kissed them, and then got up again and stared at him; one would
have thought the fellow bewitched. But it would have made a dog
laugh the next day to see how his passion ran out another way: in
the morning he walked along the shore with his father several
hours, always leading him by the hand, as if he had been a lady;
and every now and then he would come to the boat to fetch something
or other for him, either a lump of sugar, a dram, a biscuit, or
something or other that was good. In the afternoon his frolics ran
another way; for then he would set the old man down upon the
ground, and dance about him, and make a thousand antic gestures;
and all the while he did this he would be talking to him, and
telling him one story or another of his travels, and of what had
happened to him abroad to divert him. In short, if the same filial
affection was to be found in Christians to their parents in our
part of the world, one would be tempted to say there would hardly
have been any need of the fifth commandment.
But this is a digression: I return to my landing. It would be
needless to take notice of all the ceremonies and civilities that
the Spaniards received me with. The first Spaniard, whom, as I
said, I knew very well, was he whose life I had saved. He came
towards the boat, attended by one more, carrying a flag of truce
also; and he not only did not know me at first, but he had no
thoughts, no notion of its being me that was come, till I spoke to
him. "Seignior," said I, in Portuguese, "do you not know me?" At
which he spoke not a word, but giving his musket to the man that
was with him, threw his arms abroad, saying something in Spanish
that I did not perfectly hear, came forward and embraced me,
telling me he was inexcusable not to know that face again that he
had once seen, as of an angel from heaven sent to save his life; he
said abundance of very handsome things, as a well-bred Spaniard
always knows how, and then, beckoning to the person that attended
him, bade him go and call out his comrades. He then asked me if I
would walk to my old habitation, where he would give me possession
of my own house again, and where I should see they had made but
mean improvements. I walked along with him, but, alas! I could no
more find the place than if I had never been there; for they had
planted so many trees, and placed them in such a position, so thick
and close to one another, and in ten years' time they were grown so
big, that the place was inaccessible, except by such windings and
blind ways as they themselves only, who made them, could find.
I asked them what put them upon all these fortifications; he told
me I would say there was need enough of it when they had given me
an account how they had passed their time since their arriving in
the island, especially after they had the misfortune to find that I
was gone. He told me he could not but have some pleasure in my
good fortune, when he heard that I was gone in a good ship, and to
my satisfaction; and that he had oftentimes a strong persuasion
that one time or other he should see me again, but nothing that
ever befell him in his life, he said, was so surprising and
afflicting to him at first as the disappointment he was under when
he came back to the island and found I was not there.
As to the three barbarians (so he called them) that were left
behind, and of whom, he said, he had a long story to tell me, the
Spaniards all thought themselves much better among the savages,
only that their number was so small: "And," says he, "had they
been strong enough, we had been all long ago in purgatory;" and
with that he crossed himself on the breast. "But, sir," says he,
"I hope you will not be displeased when I shall tell you how,
forced by necessity, we were obliged for our own preservation to
disarm them, and make them our subjects, as they would not be
content with being moderately our masters, but would be our
murderers." I answered I was afraid of it when I left them there,
and nothing troubled me at my parting from the island but that they
were not come back, that I might have put them in possession of
everything first, and left the others in a state of subjection, as
they deserved; but if they had reduced them to it I was very glad,
and should be very far from finding any fault with it; for I knew
they were a parcel of refractory, ungoverned villains, and were fit
for any manner of mischief.
While I was saying this, the man came whom he had sent back, and
with him eleven more. In the dress they were in it was impossible
to guess what nation they were of; but he made all clear, both to
them and to me. First, he turned to me, and pointing to them,
said, "These, sir, are some of the gentlemen who owe their lives to
you;" and then turning to them, and pointing to me, he let them
know who I was; upon which they all came up, one by one, not as if
they had been sailors, and ordinary fellows, and the like, but
really as if they had been ambassadors or noblemen, and I a monarch
or great conqueror: their behaviour was, to the last degree,
obliging and courteous, and yet mixed with a manly, majestic
gravity, which very well became them; and, in short, they had so
much more manners than I, that I scarce knew how to receive their
civilities, much less how to return them in kind.
The history of their coming to, and conduct in, the island after my
going away is so very remarkable, and has so many incidents which
the former part of my relation will help to understand, and which
will in most of the particulars, refer to the account I have
already given, that I cannot but commit them, with great delight,
to the reading of those that come after me.
In order to do this as intelligibly as I can, I must go back to the
circumstances in which I left the island, and the persons on it, of
whom I am to speak. And first, it is necessary to repeat that I
had sent away Friday's father and the Spaniard (the two whose lives
I had rescued from the savages) in a large canoe to the main, as I
then thought it, to fetch over the Spaniard's companions that he
left behind him, in order to save them from the like calamity that
he had been in, and in order to succour them for the present; and
that, if possible, we might together find some way for our
deliverance afterwards. When I sent them away I had no visible
appearance of, or the least room to hope for, my own deliverance,
any more than I had twenty years before--much less had I any
foreknowledge of what afterwards happened, I mean, of an English
ship coming on shore there to fetch me off; and it could not be but
a very great surprise to them, when they came back, not only to
find that I was gone, but to find three strangers left on the spot,
possessed of all that I had left behind me, which would otherwise
have been their own.
The first thing, however, which I inquired into, that I might begin
where I left off, was of their own part; and I desired the Spaniard
would give me a particular account of his voyage back to his
countrymen with the boat, when I sent him to fetch them over. He
told me there was little variety in that part, for nothing
remarkable happened to them on the way, having had very calm
weather and a smooth sea. As for his countrymen, it could not be
doubted, he said, but that they were overjoyed to see him (it seems
he was the principal man among them, the captain of the vessel they
had been shipwrecked in having been dead some time): they were, he
said, the more surprised to see him, because they knew that he was
fallen into the hands of the savages, who, they were satisfied,
would devour him as they did all the rest of their prisoners; that
when he told them the story of his deliverance, and in what manner
he was furnished for carrying them away, it was like a dream to
them, and their astonishment, he said, was somewhat like that of
Joseph's brethren when he told them who he was, and the story of
his exaltation in Pharaoh's court; but when he showed them the
arms, the powder, the ball, the provisions that he brought them for
their journey or voyage, they were restored to themselves, took a
just share of the joy of their deliverance, and immediately
prepared to come away with him.
Their first business was to get canoes; and in this they were
obliged not to stick so much upon the honesty of it, but to
trespass upon their friendly savages, and to borrow two large
canoes, or periaguas, on pretence of going out a-fishing, or for
pleasure. In these they came away the next morning. It seems they
wanted no time to get themselves ready; for they had neither
clothes nor provisions, nor anything in the world but what they had
on them, and a few roots to eat, of which they used to make their
bread. They were in all three weeks absent; and in that time,
unluckily for them, I had the occasion offered for my escape, as I
mentioned in the other part, and to get off from the island,
leaving three of the most impudent, hardened, ungoverned,
disagreeable villains behind me that any man could desire to meet
with--to the poor Spaniards' great grief and disappointment.
The only just thing the rogues did was, that when the Spaniards
came ashore, they gave my letter to them, and gave them provisions,
and other relief, as I had ordered them to do; also they gave them
the long paper of directions which I had left with them, containing
the particular methods which I took for managing every part of my
life there; the way I baked my bread, bred up tame goats, and
planted my corn; how I cured my grapes, made my pots, and, in a
word, everything I did. All this being written down, they gave to
the Spaniards (two of them understood English well enough): nor
did they refuse to accommodate the Spaniards with anything else,
for they agreed very well for some time. They gave them an equal
admission into the house or cave, and they began to live very
sociably; and the head Spaniard, who had seen pretty much of my
methods, together with Friday's father, managed all their affairs;
but as for the Englishmen, they did nothing but ramble about the
island, shoot parrots, and catch tortoises; and when they came home
at night, the Spaniards provided their suppers for them.
The Spaniards would have been satisfied with this had the others
but let them alone, which, however, they could not find in their
hearts to do long: but, like the dog in the manger, they would not
eat themselves, neither would they let the others eat. The
differences, nevertheless, were at first but trivial, and such as
are not worth relating, but at last it broke out into open war:
and it began with all the rudeness and insolence that can be
imagined--without reason, without provocation, contrary to nature,
and indeed to common sense; and though, it is true, the first
relation of it came from the Spaniards themselves, whom I may call
the accusers, yet when I came to examine the fellows they could not
deny a word of it.
But before I come to the particulars of this part, I must supply a
defect in my former relation; and this was, I forgot to set down
among the rest, that just as we were weighing the anchor to set
sail, there happened a little quarrel on board of our ship, which I
was once afraid would have turned to a second mutiny; nor was it
appeased till the captain, rousing up his courage, and taking us
all to his assistance, parted them by force, and making two of the
most refractory fellows prisoners, he laid them in irons: and as
they had been active in the former disorders, and let fall some
ugly, dangerous words the second time, he threatened to carry them
in irons to England, and have them hanged there for mutiny and
running away with the ship. This, it seems, though the captain did
not intend to do it, frightened some other men in the ship; and
some of them had put it into the head of the rest that the captain
only gave them good words for the present, till they should come to
same English port, and that then they should be all put into gaol,
and tried for their lives. The mate got intelligence of this, and
acquainted us with it, upon which it was desired that I, who still
passed for a great man among them, should go down with the mate and
satisfy the men, and tell them that they might be assured, if they
behaved well the rest of the voyage, all they had done for the time
past should be pardoned. So I went, and after passing my honour's
word to them they appeared easy, and the more so when I caused the
two men that were in irons to be released and forgiven.
But this mutiny had brought us to an anchor for that night; the
wind also falling calm next morning, we found that our two men who
had been laid in irons had stolen each of them a musket and some
other weapons (what powder or shot they had we knew not), and had
taken the ship's pinnace, which was not yet hauled up, and run away
with her to their companions in roguery on shore. As soon as we
found this, I ordered the long-boat on shore, with twelve men and
the mate, and away they went to seek the rogues; but they could
neither find them nor any of the rest, for they all fled into the
woods when they saw the boat coming on shore. The mate was once
resolved, in justice to their roguery, to have destroyed their
plantations, burned all their household stuff and furniture, and
left them to shift without it; but having no orders, he let it all
alone, left everything as he found it, and bringing the pinnace
way, came on board without them. These two men made their number
five; but the other three villains were so much more wicked than
they, that after they had been two or three days together they
turned the two newcomers out of doors to shift for themselves, and
would have nothing to do with them; nor could they for a good while
be persuaded to give them any food: as for the Spaniards, they
were not yet come.
When the Spaniards came first on shore, the business began to go
forward: the Spaniards would have persuaded the three English
brutes to have taken in their countrymen again, that, as they said,
they might be all one family; but they would not hear of it, so the
two poor fellows lived by themselves; and finding nothing but
industry and application would make them live comfortably, they
pitched their tents on the north shore of the island, but a little
more to the west, to be out of danger of the savages, who always
landed on the east parts of the island. Here they built them two
huts, one to lodge in, and the other to lay up their magazines and
stores in; and the Spaniards having given them some corn for seed,
and some of the peas which I had left them, they dug, planted, and
enclosed, after the pattern I had set for them all, and began to
live pretty well. Their first crop of corn was on the ground; and
though it was but a little bit of land which they had dug up at
first, having had but a little time, yet it was enough to relieve
them, and find them with bread and other eatables; and one of the
fellows being the cook's mate of the ship, was very ready at making
soup, puddings, and such other preparations as the rice and the
milk, and such little flesh as they got, furnished him to do.
They were going on in this little thriving position when the three
unnatural rogues, their own countrymen too, in mere humour, and to
insult them, came and bullied them, and told them the island was
theirs: that the governor, meaning me, had given them the
possession of it, and nobody else had any right to it; and that
they should build no houses upon their ground unless they would pay
rent for them. The two men, thinking they were jesting at first,
asked them to come in and sit down, and see what fine houses they
were that they had built, and to tell them what rent they demanded;
and one of them merrily said if they were the ground-landlords, he
hoped if they built tenements upon their land, and made
improvements, they would, according to the custom of landlords,
grant a long lease: and desired they would get a scrivener to draw
the writings. One of the three, cursing and raging, told them they
should see they were not in jest; and going to a little place at a
distance, where the honest men had made a fire to dress their
victuals, he takes a firebrand, and claps it to the outside of
their hut, and set it on fire: indeed, it would have been all
burned down in a few minutes if one of the two had not run to the
fellow, thrust him away, and trod the fire out with his feet, and
that not without some difficulty too.
The fellow was in such a rage at the honest man's thrusting him
away, that he returned upon him, with a pole he had in his hand,
and had not the man avoided the blow very nimbly, and run into the
hut, he had ended his days at once. His comrade, seeing the danger
they were both in, ran after him, and immediately they came both
out with their muskets, and the man that was first struck at with
the pole knocked the fellow down that began the quarrel with the
stock of his musket, and that before the other two could come to
help him; and then, seeing the rest come at them, they stood
together, and presenting the other ends of their pieces to them,
bade them stand off.
The others had firearms with them too; but one of the two honest
men, bolder than his comrade, and made desperate by his danger,
told them if they offered to move hand or foot they were dead men,
and boldly commanded them to lay down their arms. They did not,
indeed, lay down their arms, but seeing him so resolute, it brought
them to a parley, and they consented to take their wounded man with
them and be gone: and, indeed, it seems the fellow was wounded
sufficiently with the blow. However, they were much in the wrong,
since they had the advantage, that they did not disarm them
effectually, as they might have done, and have gone immediately to
the Spaniards, and given them an account how the rogues had treated
them; for the three villains studied nothing but revenge, and every
day gave them some intimation that they did so.
CHAPTER III--FIGHT WITH CANNIBALS
But not to crowd this part with an account of the lesser part of
the rogueries with which they plagued them continually, night and
day, it forced the two men to such a desperation that they resolved
to fight them all three, the first time they had a fair
opportunity. In order to do this they resolved to go to the castle
(as they called my old dwelling), where the three rogues and the
Spaniards all lived together at that time, intending to have a fair
battle, and the Spaniards should stand by to see fair play: so
they got up in the morning before day, and came to the place, and
called the Englishmen by their names telling a Spaniard that
answered that they wanted to speak with them.
It happened that the day before two of the Spaniards, having been
in the woods, had seen one of the two Englishmen, whom, for
distinction, I called the honest men, and he had made a sad
complaint to the Spaniards of the barbarous usage they had met with
from their three countrymen, and how they had ruined their
plantation, and destroyed their corn, that they had laboured so
hard to bring forward, and killed the milch-goat and their three
kids, which was all they had provided for their sustenance, and
that if he and his friends, meaning the Spaniards, did not assist
them again, they should be starved. When the Spaniards came home
at night, and they were all at supper, one of them took the freedom
to reprove the three Englishmen, though in very gentle and mannerly
terms, and asked them how they could be so cruel, they being
harmless, inoffensive fellows: that they were putting themselves
in a way to subsist by their labour, and that it had cost them a
great deal of pains to bring things to such perfection as they were
then in.
One of the Englishmen returned very briskly, "What had they to do
there? that they came on shore without leave; and that they should
not plant or build upon the island; it was none of their ground."
"Why," says the Spaniard, very calmly, "Seignior Inglese, they must
not starve." The Englishman replied, like a rough tarpaulin, "They
might starve; they should not plant nor build in that place." "But
what must they do then, seignior?" said the Spaniard. Another of
the brutes returned, "Do? they should be servants, and work for
them." "But how can you expect that of them?" says the Spaniard;
"they are not bought with your money; you have no right to make
them servants." The Englishman answered, "The island was theirs;
the governor had given it to them, and no man had anything to do
there but themselves;" and with that he swore that he would go and
burn all their new huts; they should build none upon their land.
"Why, seignior," says the Spaniard, "by the same rule, we must be
your servants, too." "Ay," returned the bold dog, "and so you
shall, too, before we have done with you;" mixing two or three
oaths in the proper intervals of his speech. The Spaniard only
smiled at that, and made him no answer. However, this little
discourse had heated them; and starting up, one says to the other.
(I think it was he they called Will Atkins), "Come, Jack, let's go
and have t'other brush with them; we'll demolish their castle, I'll
warrant you; they shall plant no colony in our dominions."
Upon this they were all trooping away, with every man a gun, a
pistol, and a sword, and muttered some insolent things among
themselves of what they would do to the Spaniards, too, when
opportunity offered; but the Spaniards, it seems, did not so
perfectly understand them as to know all the particulars, only that
in general they threatened them hard for taking the two
Englishmen's part. Whither they went, or how they bestowed their
time that evening, the Spaniards said they did not know; but it
seems they wandered about the country part of the night, and them
lying down in the place which I used to call my bower, they were
weary and overslept themselves. The case was this: they had
resolved to stay till midnight, and so take the two poor men when
they were asleep, and as they acknowledged afterwards, intended to
set fire to their huts while they were in them, and either burn
them there or murder them as they came out. As malice seldom
sleeps very sound, it was very strange they should not have been
kept awake. However, as the two men had also a design upon them,
as I have said, though a much fairer one than that of burning and
murdering, it happened, and very luckily for them all, that they
were up and gone abroad before the bloody-minded rogues came to
their huts.
When they came there, and found the men gone, Atkins, who it seems
was the forwardest man, called out to his comrade, "Ha, Jack,
here's the nest, but the birds are flown." They mused a while, to
think what should be the occasion of their being gone abroad so
soon, and suggested presently that the Spaniards had given them
notice of it; and with that they shook hands, and swore to one
another that they would be revenged of the Spaniards. As soon as
they had made this bloody bargain they fell to work with the poor
men's habitation; they did not set fire, indeed, to anything, but
they pulled down both their houses, and left not the least stick
standing, or scarce any sign on the ground where they stood; they
tore all their household stuff in pieces, and threw everything
about in such a manner, that the poor men afterwards found some of
their things a mile off. When they had done this, they pulled up
all the young trees which the poor men had planted; broke down an
enclosure they had made to secure their cattle and their corn; and,
in a word, sacked and plundered everything as completely as a horde
of Tartars would have done.
The two men were at this juncture gone to find them out, and had
resolved to fight them wherever they had been, though they were but
two to three; so that, had they met, there certainly would have
been blood shed among them, for they were all very stout, resolute
fellows, to give them their due.
But Providence took more care to keep them asunder than they
themselves could do to meet; for, as if they had dogged one
another, when the three were gone thither, the two were here; and
afterwards, when the two went back to find them, the three were
come to the old habitation again: we shall see their different
conduct presently. When the three came back like furious
creatures, flushed with the rage which the work they had been about
had put them into, they came up to the Spaniards, and told them
what they had done, by way of scoff and bravado; and one of them
stepping up to one of the Spaniards, as if they had been a couple
of boys at play, takes hold of his hat as it was upon his head, and
giving it a twirl about, fleering in his face, says to him, "And
you, Seignior Jack Spaniard, shall have the same sauce if you do
not mend your manners." The Spaniard, who, though a quiet civil
man, was as brave a man as could be, and withal a strong, well-made
man, looked at him for a good while, and then, having no weapon in
his hand, stepped gravely up to him, and, with one blow of his
fist, knocked him down, as an ox is felled with a pole-axe; at
which one of the rogues, as insolent as the first, fired his pistol
at the Spaniard immediately; he missed his body, indeed, for the
bullets went through his hair, but one of them touched the tip of
his ear, and he bled pretty much. The blood made the Spaniard
believe he was more hurt than he really was, and that put him into
some heat, for before he acted all in a perfect calm; but now
resolving to go through with his work, he stooped, and taking the
fellow's musket whom he had knocked down, was just going to shoot
the man who had fired at him, when the rest of the Spaniards, being
in the cave, came out, and calling to him not to shoot, they
stepped in, secured the other two, and took their arms from them.
When they were thus disarmed, and found they had made all the
Spaniards their enemies, as well as their own countrymen, they
began to cool, and giving the Spaniards better words, would have
their arms again; but the Spaniards, considering the feud that was
between them and the other two Englishmen, and that it would be the
best method they could take to keep them from killing one another,
told them they would do them no harm, and if they would live
peaceably, they would be very willing to assist and associate with
them as they did before; but that they could not think of giving
them their arms again, while they appeared so resolved to do
mischief with them to their own countrymen, and had even threatened
them all to make them their servants.
The rogues were now quite deaf to all reason, and being refused
their arms, they raved away like madmen, threatening what they
would do, though they had no firearms. But the Spaniards,
despising their threatening, told them they should take care how
they offered any injury to their plantation or cattle; for if they
did they would shoot them as they would ravenous beasts, wherever
they found them; and if they fell into their hands alive, they
should certainly be hanged. However, this was far from cooling
them, but away they went, raging and swearing like furies. As soon
as they were gone, the two men came back, in passion and rage
enough also, though of another kind; for having been at their
plantation, and finding it all demolished and destroyed, as above
mentioned, it will easily be supposed they had provocation enough.
They could scarce have room to tell their tale, the Spaniards were
so eager to tell them theirs: and it was strange enough to find
that three men should thus bully nineteen, and receive no
punishment at all.
The Spaniards, indeed, despised them, and especially, having thus
disarmed them, made light of their threatenings; but the two
Englishmen resolved to have their remedy against them, what pains
soever it cost to find them out. But the Spaniards interposed here
too, and told them that as they had disarmed them, they could not
consent that they (the two) should pursue them with firearms, and
perhaps kill them. "But," said the grave Spaniard, who was their
governor, "we will endeavour to make them do you justice, if you
will leave it to us: for there is no doubt but they will come to
us again, when their passion is over, being not able to subsist
without our assistance. We promise you to make no peace with them
without having full satisfaction for you; and upon this condition
we hope you will promise to use no violence with them, other than
in your own defence." The two Englishmen yielded to this very
awkwardly, and with great reluctance; but the Spaniards protested
that they did it only to keep them from bloodshed, and to make them
all easy at last. "For," said they, "we are not so many of us;
here is room enough for us all, and it is a great pity that we
should not be all good friends." At length they did consent, and
waited for the issue of the thing, living for some days with the
Spaniards; for their own habitation was destroyed.
In about five days' time the vagrants, tired with wandering, and
almost starved with hunger, having chiefly lived on turtles' eggs
all that while, came back to the grove; and finding my Spaniard,
who, as I have said, was the governor, and two more with him,
walking by the side of the creek, they came up in a very
submissive, humble manner, and begged to be received again into the
society. The Spaniards used them civilly, but told them they had
acted so unnaturally to their countrymen, and so very grossly to
themselves, that they could not come to any conclusion without
consulting the two Englishmen and the rest; but, however, they
would go to them and discourse about it, and they should know in
half-an-hour. It may be guessed that they were very hard put to
it; for, as they were to wait this half-hour for an answer, they
begged they would send them out some bread in the meantime, which
they did, sending at the same time a large piece of goat's flesh
and a boiled parrot, which they ate very eagerly.
After half-an-hour's consultation they were called in, and a long
debate ensued, their two countrymen charging them with the ruin of
all their labour, and a design to murder them; all which they owned
before, and therefore could not deny now. Upon the whole, the
Spaniards acted the moderators between them; and as they had
obliged the two Englishmen not to hurt the three while they were
naked and unarmed, so they now obliged the three to go and rebuild
their fellows' two huts, one to be of the same and the other of
larger dimensions than they were before; to fence their ground
again, plant trees in the room of those pulled up, dig up the land
again for planting corn, and, in a word, to restore everything to
the same state as they found it, that is, as near as they could.
Well, they submitted to all this; and as they had plenty of
provisions given them all the while, they grew very orderly, and
the whole society began to live pleasantly and agreeably together
again; only that these three fellows could never be persuaded to
work--I mean for themselves--except now and then a little, just as
they pleased. However, the Spaniards told them plainly that if
they would but live sociably and friendly together, and study the
good of the whole plantation, they would be content to work for
them, and let them walk about and be as idle as they pleased; and
thus, having lived pretty well together for a month or two, the
Spaniards let them have arms again, and gave them liberty to go
abroad with them as before.
It was not above a week after they had these arms, and went abroad,
before the ungrateful creatures began to be as insolent and
troublesome as ever. However, an accident happened presently upon
this, which endangered the safety of them all, and they were
obliged to lay by all private resentments, and look to the
preservation of their lives.
It happened one night that the governor, the Spaniard whose life I
had saved, who was now the governor of the rest, found himself very
uneasy in the night, and could by no means get any sleep: he was
perfectly well in body, only found his thoughts tumultuous; his
mind ran upon men fighting and killing one another; but he was
broad awake, and could not by any means get any sleep; in short, he
lay a great while, but growing more and more uneasy, he resolved to
rise. As they lay, being so many of them, on goat-skins laid thick
upon such couches and pads as they made for themselves, so they had
little to do, when they were willing to rise, but to get upon their
feet, and perhaps put on a coat, such as it was, and their pumps,
and they were ready for going any way that their thoughts guided
them. Being thus got up, he looked out; but being dark, he could
see little or nothing, and besides, the trees which I had planted,
and which were now grown tall, intercepted his sight, so that he
could only look up, and see that it was a starlight night, and
hearing no noise, he returned and lay down again; but to no
purpose; he could not compose himself to anything like rest; but
his thoughts were to the last degree uneasy, and he knew not for
what. Having made some noise with rising and walking about, going
out and coming in, another of them waked, and asked who it was that
was up. The governor told him how it had been with him. "Say you
so?" says the other Spaniard; "such things are not to be slighted,
I assure you; there is certainly some mischief working near us;"
and presently he asked him, "Where are the Englishmen?" "They are
all in their huts," says he, "safe enough." It seems the Spaniards
had kept possession of the main apartment, and had made a place for
the three Englishmen, who, since their last mutiny, were always
quartered by themselves, and could not come at the rest. "Well,"
says the Spaniard, "there is something in it, I am persuaded, from
my own experience. I am satisfied that our spirits embodied have a
converse with and receive intelligence from the spirits unembodied,
and inhabiting the invisible world; and this friendly notice is
given for our advantage, if we knew how to make use of it. Come,
let us go and look abroad; and if we find nothing at all in it to
justify the trouble, I'll tell you a story to the purpose, that
shall convince you of the justice of my proposing it."
They went out presently to go up to the top of the hill, where I
used to go; but they being strong, and a good company, nor alone,
as I was, used none of my cautions to go up by the ladder, and
pulling it up after them, to go up a second stage to the top, but
were going round through the grove unwarily, when they were
surprised with seeing a light as of fire, a very little way from
them, and hearing the voices of men, not of one or two, but of a
great number.
Among the precautions I used to take on the savages landing on the
island, it was my constant care to prevent them making the least
discovery of there being any inhabitant upon the place: and when
by any occasion they came to know it, they felt it so effectually
that they that got away were scarce able to give any account of it;
for we disappeared as soon as possible, nor did ever any that had
seen me escape to tell any one else, except it was the three
savages in our last encounter who jumped into the boat; of whom, I
mentioned, I was afraid they should go home and bring more help.
Whether it was the consequence of the escape of those men that so
great a number came now together, or whether they came ignorantly,
and by accident, on their usual bloody errand, the Spaniards could
not understand; but whatever it was, it was their business either
to have concealed themselves or not to have seen them at all, much
less to have let the savages have seen there were any inhabitants
in the place; or to have fallen upon them so effectually as not a
man of them should have escaped, which could only have been by
getting in between them and their boats; but this presence of mind
was wanting to them, which was the ruin of their tranquillity for a
great while.
We need not doubt but that the governor and the man with him,
surprised with this sight, ran back immediately and raised their
fellows, giving them an account of the imminent danger they were
all in, and they again as readily took the alarm; but it was
impossible to persuade them to stay close within where they were,
but they must all run out to see how things stood. While it was
dark, indeed, they were safe, and they had opportunity enough for
some hours to view the savages by the light of three fires they had
made at a distance from one another; what they were doing they knew
not, neither did they know what to do themselves. For, first, the
enemy were too many; and secondly, they did not keep together, but
were divided into several parties, and were on shore in several
places.
The Spaniards were in no small consternation at this sight; and, as
they found that the fellows went straggling all over the shore,
they made no doubt but, first or last, some of them would chop in
upon their habitation, or upon some other place where they would
see the token of inhabitants; and they were in great perplexity
also for fear of their flock of goats, which, if they should be
destroyed, would have been little less than starving them. So the
first thing they resolved upon was to despatch three men away
before it was light, two Spaniards and one Englishman, to drive
away all the goats to the great valley where the cave was, and, if
need were, to drive them into the very cave itself. Could they
have seen the savages all together in one body, and at a distance
from their canoes, they were resolved, if there had been a hundred
of them, to attack them; but that could not be done, for they were
some of them two miles off from the other, and, as it appeared
afterwards, were of two different nations.
After having mused a great while on the course they should take,
they resolved at last, while it was still dark, to send the old
savage, Friday's father, out as a spy, to learn, if possible,
something concerning them, as what they came for, what they
intended to do, and the like. The old man readily undertook it;
and stripping himself quite naked, as most of the savages were,
away he went. After he had been gone an hour or two, he brings
word that he had been among them undiscovered, that he found they
were two parties, and of two several nations, who had war with one
another, and had a great battle in their own country; and that both
sides having had several prisoners taken in the fight, they were,
by mere chance, landed all on the same island, for the devouring
their prisoners and making merry; but their coming so by chance to
the same place had spoiled all their mirth--that they were in a
great rage at one another, and were so near that he believed they
would fight again as soon as daylight began to appear; but he did
not perceive that they had any notion of anybody being on the
island but themselves. He had hardly made an end of telling his
story, when they could perceive, by the unusual noise they made,
that the two little armies were engaged in a bloody fight.
Friday's father used all the arguments he could to persuade our
people to lie close, and not be seen; he told them their safety
consisted in it, and that they had nothing to do but lie still, and
the savages would kill one another to their hands, and then the
rest would go away; and it was so to a tittle. But it was
impossible to prevail, especially upon the Englishmen; their
curiosity was so importunate that they must run out and see the
battle. However, they used some caution too: they did not go
openly, just by their own dwelling, but went farther into the
woods, and placed themselves to advantage, where they might
securely see them manage the fight, and, as they thought, not be
seen by them; but the savages did see them, as we shall find
hereafter.
The battle was very fierce, and, if I might believe the Englishmen,
one of them said he could perceive that some of them were men of
great bravery, of invincible spirit, and of great policy in guiding
the fight. The battle, they said, held two hours before they could
guess which party would be beaten; but then that party which was
nearest our people's habitation began to appear weakest, and after
some time more some of them began to fly; and this put our men
again into a great consternation, lest any one of those that fled
should run into the grove before their dwelling for shelter, and
thereby involuntarily discover the place; and that, by consequence,
the pursuers would also do the like in search of them. Upon this,
they resolved that they would stand armed within the wall, and
whoever came into the grove, they resolved to sally out over the
wall and kill them, so that, if possible, not one should return to
give an account of it; they ordered also that it should be done
with their swords, or by knocking them down with the stocks of
their muskets, but not by shooting them, for fear of raising an
alarm by the noise.
As they expected it fell out; three of the routed army fled for
life, and crossing the creek, ran directly into the place, not in
the least knowing whither they went, but running as into a thick
wood for shelter. The scout they kept to look abroad gave notice
of this within, with this comforting addition, that the conquerors
had not pursued them, or seen which way they were gone; upon this
the Spanish governor, a man of humanity, would not suffer them to
kill the three fugitives, but sending three men out by the top of
the hill, ordered them to go round, come in behind them, and
surprise and take them prisoners, which was done. The residue of
the conquered people fled to their canoes, and got off to sea; the
victors retired, made no pursuit, or very little, but drawing
themselves into a body together, gave two great screaming shouts,
most likely by way of triumph, and so the fight ended; the same
day, about three o'clock in the afternoon, they also marched to
their canoes. And thus the Spaniards had the island again free to
themselves, their fright was over, and they saw no savages for
several years after.
After they were all gone, the Spaniards came out of their den, and
viewing the field of battle, they found about two-and-thirty men
dead on the spot; some were killed with long arrows, which were
found sticking in their bodies; but most of them were killed with
great wooden swords, sixteen or seventeen of which they found in
the field of battle, and as many bows, with a great many arrows.
These swords were strange, unwieldy things, and they must be very
strong men that used them; most of those that were killed with them
had their heads smashed to pieces, as we may say, or, as we call it
in English, their brains knocked out, and several their arms and
legs broken; so that it is evident they fight with inexpressible
rage and fury. We found not one man that was not stone dead; for
either they stay by their enemy till they have killed him, or they
carry all the wounded men that are not quite dead away with them.
This deliverance tamed our ill-disposed Englishmen for a great
while; the sight had filled them with horror, and the consequences
appeared terrible to the last degree, especially upon supposing
that some time or other they should fall into the hands of those
creatures, who would not only kill them as enemies, but for food,
as we kill our cattle; and they professed to me that the thoughts
of being eaten up like beef and mutton, though it was supposed it
was not to be till they were dead, had something in it so horrible
that it nauseated their very stomachs, made them sick when they
thought of it, and filled their minds with such unusual terror,
that they were not themselves for some weeks after. This, as I
said, tamed even the three English brutes I have been speaking of;
and for a great while after they were tractable, and went about the
common business of the whole society well enough--planted, sowed,
reaped, and began to be all naturalised to the country. But some
time after this they fell into such simple measures again as
brought them into a great deal of trouble.
They had taken three prisoners, as I observed; and these three
being stout young fellows, they made them servants, and taught them
to work for them, and as slaves they did well enough; but they did
not take their measures as I did by my man Friday, viz. to begin
with them upon the principle of having saved their lives, and then
instruct them in the rational principles of life; much less did
they think of teaching them religion, or attempt civilising and
reducing them by kind usage and affectionate arguments. As they
gave them their food every day, so they gave them their work too,
and kept them fully employed in drudgery enough; but they failed in
this by it, that they never had them to assist them and fight for
them as I had my man Friday, who was as true to me as the very
flesh upon my bones.
But to come to the family part. Being all now good friends--for
common danger, as I said above, had effectually reconciled them--
they began to consider their general circumstances; and the first
thing that came under consideration was whether, seeing the savages
particularly haunted that side of the island, and that there were
more remote and retired parts of it equally adapted to their way of
living, and manifestly to their advantage, they should not rather
move their habitation, and plant in some more proper place for
their safety, and especially for the security of their cattle and
corn.
Upon this, after long debate, it was concluded that they would not
remove their habitation; because that, some time or other, they
thought they might hear from their governor again, meaning me; and
if I should send any one to seek them, I should be sure to direct
them to that side, where, if they should find the place demolished,
they would conclude the savages had killed us all, and we were
gone, and so our supply would go too. But as to their corn and
cattle, they agreed to remove them into the valley where my cave
was, where the land was as proper for both, and where indeed there
was land enough. However, upon second thoughts they altered one
part of their resolution too, and resolved only to remove part of
their cattle thither, and part of their corn there; so that if one
part was destroyed the other might be saved. And one part of
prudence they luckily used: they never trusted those three savages
which they had taken prisoners with knowing anything of the
plantation they had made in that valley, or of any cattle they had
there, much less of the cave at that place, which they kept, in
case of necessity, as a safe retreat; and thither they carried also
the two barrels of powder which I had sent them at my coming away.
They resolved, however, not to change their habitation; yet, as I
had carefully covered it first with a wall or fortification, and
then with a grove of trees, and as they were now fully convinced
their safety consisted entirely in their being concealed, they set
to work to cover and conceal the place yet more effectually than
before. For this purpose, as I planted trees, or rather thrust in
stakes, which in time all grew up to be trees, for some good
distance before the entrance into my apartments, they went on in
the same manner, and filled up the rest of that whole space of
ground from the trees I had set quite down to the side of the
creek, where I landed my floats, and even into the very ooze where
the tide flowed, not so much as leaving any place to land, or any
sign that there had been any landing thereabouts: these stakes
also being of a wood very forward to grow, they took care to have
them generally much larger and taller than those which I had
planted. As they grew apace, they planted them so very thick and
close together, that when they had been three or four years grown
there was no piercing with the eye any considerable way into the
plantation. As for that part which I had planted, the trees were
grown as thick as a man's thigh, and among them they had placed so
many other short ones, and so thick, that it stood like a palisado
a quarter of a mile thick, and it was next to impossible to
penetrate it, for a little dog could hardly get between the trees,
they stood so close.
But this was not all; for they did the same by all the ground to
the right hand and to the left, and round even to the side of the
hill, leaving no way, not so much as for themselves, to come out
but by the ladder placed up to the side of the hill, and then
lifted up, and placed again from the first stage up to the top: so
that when the ladder was taken down, nothing but what had wings or
witchcraft to assist it could come at them. This was excellently
well contrived: nor was it less than what they afterwards found
occasion for, which served to convince me, that as human prudence
has the authority of Providence to justify it, so it has doubtless
the direction of Providence to set it to work; and if we listened
carefully to the voice of it, I am persuaded we might prevent many
of the disasters which our lives are now, by our own negligence,
subjected to.
They lived two years after this in perfect retirement, and had no
more visits from the savages. They had, indeed, an alarm given
them one morning, which put them into a great consternation; for
some of the Spaniards being out early one morning on the west side
or end of the island (which was that end where I never went, for
fear of being discovered), they were surprised with seeing about
twenty canoes of Indians just coming on shore. They made the best
of their way home in hurry enough; and giving the alarm to their
comrades, they kept close all that day and the next, going out only
at night to make their observation: but they had the good luck to
be undiscovered, for wherever the savages went, they did not land
that time on the island, but pursued some other design.
CHAPTER IV--RENEWED INVASION OF SAVAGES
And now they had another broil with the three Englishmen; one of
whom, a most turbulent fellow, being in a rage at one of the three
captive slaves, because the fellow had not done something right
which he bade him do, and seemed a little untractable in his
showing him, drew a hatchet out of a frog-belt which he wore by his
side, and fell upon the poor savage, not to correct him, but to
kill him. One of the Spaniards who was by, seeing him give the
fellow a barbarous cut with the hatchet, which he aimed at his
head, but stuck into his shoulder, so that he thought he had cut
the poor creature's arm off, ran to him, and entreating him not to
murder the poor man, placed himself between him and the savage, to
prevent the mischief. The fellow, being enraged the more at this,
struck at the Spaniard with his hatchet, and swore he would serve
him as he intended to serve the savage; which the Spaniard
perceiving, avoided the blow, and with a shovel, which he had in
his hand (for they were all working in the field about their corn
land), knocked the brute down. Another of the Englishmen, running
up at the same time to help his comrade, knocked the Spaniard down;
and then two Spaniards more came in to help their man, and a third
Englishman fell in upon them. They had none of them any firearms
or any other weapons but hatchets and other tools, except this
third Englishman; he had one of my rusty cutlasses, with which he
made at the two last Spaniards, and wounded them both. This fray
set the whole family in an uproar, and more help coming in they
took the three Englishmen prisoners. The next question was, what
should be done with them? They had been so often mutinous, and
were so very furious, so desperate, and so idle withal, they knew
not what course to take with them, for they were mischievous to the
highest degree, and cared not what hurt they did to any man; so
that, in short, it was not safe to live with them.
The Spaniard who was governor told them, in so many words, that if
they had been of his own country he would have hanged them; for all
laws and all governors were to preserve society, and those who were
dangerous to the society ought to be expelled out of it; but as
they were Englishmen, and that it was to the generous kindness of
an Englishman that they all owed their preservation and
deliverance, he would use them with all possible lenity, and would
leave them to the judgment of the other two Englishmen, who were
their countrymen. One of the two honest Englishmen stood up, and
said they desired it might not be left to them. "For," says he, "I
am sure we ought to sentence them to the gallows;" and with that he
gives an account how Will Atkins, one of the three, had proposed to
have all the five Englishmen join together and murder all the
Spaniards when they were in their sleep.
When the Spanish governor heard this, he calls to Will Atkins,
"How, Seignior Atkins, would you murder us all? What have you to
say to that?" The hardened villain was so far from denying it,
that he said it was true, and swore they would do it still before
they had done with them. "Well, but Seignior Atkins," says the
Spaniard, "what have we done to you that you will kill us? What
would you get by killing us? And what must we do to prevent you
killing us? Must we kill you, or you kill us? Why will you put us
to the necessity of this, Seignior Atkins?" says the Spaniard very
calmly, and smiling. Seignior Atkins was in such a rage at the
Spaniard's making a jest of it, that, had he not been held by three
men, and withal had no weapon near him, it was thought he would
have attempted to kill the Spaniard in the middle of all the
company. This hare-brained carriage obliged them to consider
seriously what was to be done. The two Englishmen and the Spaniard
who saved the poor savage were of the opinion that they should hang
one of the three for an example to the rest, and that particularly
it should be he that had twice attempted to commit murder with his
hatchet; indeed, there was some reason to believe he had done it,
for the poor savage was in such a miserable condition with the
wound he had received that it was thought he could not live. But
the governor Spaniard still said No; it was an Englishman that had
saved all their lives, and he would never consent to put an
Englishman to death, though he had murdered half of them; nay, he
said if he had been killed himself by an Englishman, and had time
left to speak, it should be that they should pardon him.
This was so positively insisted on by the governor Spaniard, that
there was no gainsaying it; and as merciful counsels are most apt
to prevail where they are so earnestly pressed, so they all came
into it. But then it was to be considered what should be done to
keep them from doing the mischief they designed; for all agreed,
governor and all, that means were to be used for preserving the
society from danger. After a long debate, it was agreed that they
should be disarmed, and not permitted to have either gun, powder,
shot, sword, or any weapon; that they should be turned out of the
society, and left to live where they would and how they would, by
themselves; but that none of the rest, either Spaniards or English,
should hold any kind of converse with them, or have anything to do
with them; that they should be forbid to come within a certain
distance of the place where the rest dwelt; and if they offered to
commit any disorder, so as to spoil, burn, kill, or destroy any of
the corn, plantings, buildings, fences, or cattle belonging to the
society, they should die without mercy, and they would shoot them
wherever they could find them.
The humane governor, musing upon the sentence, considered a little
upon it; and turning to the two honest Englishmen, said, "Hold; you
must reflect that it will be long ere they can raise corn and
cattle of their own, and they must not starve; we must therefore
allow them provisions." So he caused to be added, that they should
have a proportion of corn given them to last them eight months, and
for seed to sow, by which time they might be supposed to raise some
of their own; that they should have six milch-goats, four he-goats,
and six kids given them, as well for present subsistence as for a
store; and that they should have tools given them for their work in
the fields, but they should have none of these tools or provisions
unless they would swear solemnly that they would not hurt or injure
any of the Spaniards with them, or of their fellow-Englishmen.
Thus they dismissed them the society, and turned them out to shift
for themselves. They went away sullen and refractory, as neither
content to go away nor to stay: but, as there was no remedy, they
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