Latest / Classic Adventure Books - Daily / 05 - Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe

Transcript

05 - Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

0:00
Speaker 1: Chapter five, Builds a House. The Journal, September thirtieth, sixteen
0:09
Speaker 1: fifty nine. I poor miserable Robinson Crusoe, being shipwrecked during
0:16
Speaker 1: a dreadful storm, and the offing came on shore on
0:20
Speaker 1: this dismal, unfortunate island, which I call the Island of despair.
0:27
Speaker 1: All the rest of the ship's company being drowned, and
0:30
Speaker 1: myself almost dead, all the rest of the day I
0:35
Speaker 1: spent in inflicting myself at the dismal circumstances I was
0:40
Speaker 1: brought to. That is, I had neither food, house, clothes, weapon,
0:47
Speaker 1: nor place to fly to, and in despair of any relief,
0:52
Speaker 1: saw nothing but death before me, either that I should
0:56
Speaker 1: be devoured by wild beasts, murdered by savagees, or starved
1:01
Speaker 1: to death for want of food. At the approach of night,
1:06
Speaker 1: I slept in a tree for fear of wild creatures,
1:10
Speaker 1: but slept soundly, though it rained all night October first.
1:18
Speaker 1: In the morning I saw, to my great surprise the
1:21
Speaker 1: ship had floated with the high tide and was driven
1:24
Speaker 1: on shore again, much nearer than island, which, as it was,
1:28
Speaker 1: some comfort on one hand for seeing her set upright
1:33
Speaker 1: and not broken to pieces. I hoped if the wind abated,
1:36
Speaker 1: I might get on board and get some food and
1:39
Speaker 1: necessaries out of her for my relief. So on the
1:43
Speaker 1: other hand, it renewed my grief at the loss of
1:46
Speaker 1: my comrades, who I imagined if we had stayed on board,
1:51
Speaker 1: might have saved the ship, or at least that they
1:55
Speaker 1: would not have been all drowned as they were, And
2:00
Speaker 1: that had the men been saved, we might perhaps have
2:03
Speaker 1: built us a boat out of the ruins of the ship,
2:06
Speaker 1: to have carried us to some other part of the world.
2:10
Speaker 1: I spent great part of this day in perplexing myself
2:13
Speaker 1: on these things, but at length, seeing the ship almost dry,
2:19
Speaker 1: I went upon the sand as near as I could,
2:21
Speaker 1: and then swam on board. This day also it continued raining,
2:26
Speaker 1: though with no wind at all, from the first of
2:32
Speaker 1: October to the twenty fourth. All of these days entirely
2:37
Speaker 1: spent in my several voyages to get all I could
2:42
Speaker 1: out of the ship, which I brought on shore every
2:45
Speaker 1: tide of flood upon rafts. Much rain also in the days,
2:51
Speaker 1: though with some intervals of fair weather, but it seems
2:55
Speaker 1: this was the rainy season. October twentieth I overset my
3:02
Speaker 1: raft and all the goods I had got upon it.
3:05
Speaker 1: But being in shoal water, and the things being chiefly heavy,
3:09
Speaker 1: I recovered many of them when the tide was out
3:15
Speaker 1: October twenty fifth. It rained all night and all day,
3:19
Speaker 1: with some gusts of wind, during which time the ship
3:24
Speaker 1: broke in pieces, the wind blowing a little harder than before,
3:28
Speaker 1: and was no more to be seen except the wreck
3:31
Speaker 1: of her, and that only at low water. I spent
3:35
Speaker 1: this day in covering and securing the goods which I
3:38
Speaker 1: had saved, that the rain might not spoil them. October
3:45
Speaker 1: twenty sixth I walked about the shore almost all day
3:50
Speaker 1: to find out a place to fix my habitation, greatly
3:53
Speaker 1: concerned to secure myself from any attack in the night,
3:58
Speaker 1: either from wild beasts or men. Towards night I fixed
4:03
Speaker 1: upon a proper place under a rock, and marked out
4:06
Speaker 1: a semicircle for my encampment, which I resolved to strengthen
4:11
Speaker 1: with a work wall or fortification made of double piles,
4:16
Speaker 1: lined within with cables and without with turf. From the
4:21
Speaker 1: twenty sixth to the thirtieth I worked very hard in
4:25
Speaker 1: carrying all my goods to my new habitation, though some
4:28
Speaker 1: part of the time, it rained exceedingly hard. The thirty first,
4:34
Speaker 1: in the morning, I went out into the island with
4:37
Speaker 1: my gun to seek for some food and discover the country.
4:41
Speaker 1: When I killed a she goat and her kid followed
4:44
Speaker 1: me home, which I afterwards killed also because it would
4:48
Speaker 1: not feed. November first, I set up my tent under
4:55
Speaker 1: a rock and lay there for the first night, making
4:58
Speaker 1: it as large as I could good with stakes driven
5:01
Speaker 1: in to swing my hammock. Upon November second, I set
5:08
Speaker 1: up all my chests and boards and the pieces of
5:12
Speaker 1: timber which made my rafts, and with them formed a
5:16
Speaker 1: fence round me a little within the place I had
5:19
Speaker 1: marked out for my fortification. November third, I went out
5:24
Speaker 1: with my gun and killed two fowls like ducks, which
5:28
Speaker 1: were very good food, and in the afternoon went to
5:32
Speaker 1: work to make me a table. November fourth, this morning
5:39
Speaker 1: I began to order my times of work, of going
5:41
Speaker 1: out with my gun, time of sleep, and time of diversion.
5:46
Speaker 1: That is, every morning I walked out with my gun
5:49
Speaker 1: for two or three hours if it did not rain,
5:53
Speaker 1: then employed myself to work till about eleven o'clock, then
5:57
Speaker 1: eat what I had to live on, and from twelve two,
6:01
Speaker 1: I lay down to sleep, the weather being excessively hot,
6:04
Speaker 1: and then in the evening to work again. The working
6:09
Speaker 1: part of this day and of the next were wholly
6:11
Speaker 1: employed in making my table, for I was yet but
6:15
Speaker 1: a very sorry workman, though time and necessity made me
6:18
Speaker 1: a complete natural mechanic soon after, as I believe they
6:22
Speaker 1: would do anyone else. November fifth, this day, went abroad
6:31
Speaker 1: with my gun and my dog and killed a wild cat,
6:34
Speaker 1: her skin pretty soft, but her flesh good for nothing.
6:38
Speaker 1: Every creature that I killed I took of the skins
6:41
Speaker 1: and preserved them. Coming back to the seashore, I saw
6:46
Speaker 1: many sorts of sea fowls, which I did not understand,
6:49
Speaker 1: but was surprised and almost frightened with two or three seals, which,
6:54
Speaker 1: while I was gazing at, not well knowing what they were,
6:57
Speaker 1: got into the sea and escaped me for that time.
7:02
Speaker 1: November sixth, after my morning walk, I went to work
7:07
Speaker 1: with my table again and finished it, though not by
7:10
Speaker 1: my liking, nor was it long before I learned to
7:13
Speaker 1: mend it. November seventh, Now it began to be settled
7:19
Speaker 1: fair weather. The seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth, and part
7:23
Speaker 1: of the twelfth and the eleventh was Sunday. I took
7:28
Speaker 1: wholly up to make me a chair, and with much
7:31
Speaker 1: ado brought it to a tolerable shape, but never to
7:34
Speaker 1: please me, and even in the making I pulled it
7:38
Speaker 1: in pieces several times. Note I soon neglected my keeping
7:44
Speaker 1: Sundays for omitting my mark for them on my post.
7:49
Speaker 1: I forgot which was which. November thirteenth. This day it rained,
7:57
Speaker 1: which refreshed me exceedingly and cooled the earth. But it
8:01
Speaker 1: was accompanied with terrible thunder and lightning, which frightened me dreadfully,
8:06
Speaker 1: for fear of my powder. As soon as it was over,
8:09
Speaker 1: I resolved to separate my stock of powder into as
8:12
Speaker 1: many little parcels as possible, that it might not be
8:15
Speaker 1: in danger. November fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth. These three days
8:23
Speaker 1: I spent in making little square chests or boxes, which
8:26
Speaker 1: might hold about a pound or two pounds at most
8:29
Speaker 1: of powder, and so putting the powder in. I stowed
8:34
Speaker 1: it in places as secure and remote from one another
8:37
Speaker 1: as possible. On one of these three days I killed
8:44
Speaker 1: a large bird that was good to eat, but I
8:47
Speaker 1: knew not what to call it. November seventeenth, This day
8:53
Speaker 1: I began to dig behind my tent into the rock
8:56
Speaker 1: to make room for my further conveniency. Note three things
9:03
Speaker 1: I wanted exceedingly for this work, that is, a pickaxe,
9:07
Speaker 1: a shovel, and a wheelbarrow or basket. So I desisted
9:12
Speaker 1: from my work and began to consider how to supply
9:15
Speaker 1: that onet and make me some tools. As for the
9:19
Speaker 1: pick axe, I made use of the iron crows, which
9:23
Speaker 1: were proper enough, though heavy. But the next thing was
9:27
Speaker 1: a shovel or spade. This was so absolutely necessary that
9:31
Speaker 1: indeed I could do nothing effectually without it. But what
9:36
Speaker 1: kind of one to make I knew not November eighteenth,
9:43
Speaker 1: the next day, in searching the woods, I found a
9:45
Speaker 1: tree of that wood or like it, which in the
9:47
Speaker 1: Brazils they call the iron tree for its exceeding hardness.
9:53
Speaker 1: Of this, with great labor, and almost spoiling my axe,
9:58
Speaker 1: I cut a piece and brought it home, too, with
10:01
Speaker 1: difficulty enough, for it was exceedingly heavy. The excessive hardness
10:06
Speaker 1: of the wood, and my having no other way, made
10:11
Speaker 1: me a long while upon this machine, for I worked
10:14
Speaker 1: it effectually by little and little, into the form of
10:18
Speaker 1: a shovel or spade, the handle exactly shaped like ours
10:22
Speaker 1: in England, only that the board part, having no iron
10:28
Speaker 1: shod upon it at the bottom, it would not last
10:31
Speaker 1: me for so long. However, it served well enough for
10:35
Speaker 1: the uses which I had occasion to put it to.
10:38
Speaker 1: But never was a shovel I believe, made after that fashion,
10:42
Speaker 1: or so long in making I was still deficient, for
10:48
Speaker 1: I wanted a basket or a wheelbarrow. A basket I
10:52
Speaker 1: could not make by any means, having no such things
10:54
Speaker 1: as twigs that would bend to make wickerwear, at least
10:59
Speaker 1: none yet found. And as to a wheelbarrow, I fancied
11:04
Speaker 1: I could make all but the wheel, but that I
11:07
Speaker 1: had no notion of, neither did I know how to
11:10
Speaker 1: go about it. Besides, I had no possible way to
11:14
Speaker 1: make the iron gudgeons for the spindle or axis of
11:19
Speaker 1: the wheel to run in, so I gave it over.
11:22
Speaker 1: And so for carrying away the earth which I dug
11:25
Speaker 1: out of the cave, I made me a thing like
11:28
Speaker 1: a hod which the laborers carry mortar in when they
11:32
Speaker 1: served the brick layers. This is not so difficult to
11:36
Speaker 1: me as the making of the shovel. And yet this
11:40
Speaker 1: and the shovel, and the attempt which I made in
11:42
Speaker 1: vain to make a wheelbarrow took me took me up
11:46
Speaker 1: no less than four days, I mean, always accepting my
11:51
Speaker 1: morning walk with my gun, which I seldom failed and
11:54
Speaker 1: very seldom failed, also bringing home something fit to eat.
12:00
Speaker 1: November twenty third, my other work having now stood still
12:05
Speaker 1: because of my making these tools. When they were finished,
12:08
Speaker 1: I went on and working every day as my strength
12:11
Speaker 1: and time allowed. I spent eighteen days entirely in widening
12:16
Speaker 1: and deepening my cave that it might hold my goods commodiously.
12:22
Speaker 1: Note During all this time I worked to make this
12:26
Speaker 1: room or cave spacious enough to accommodate me as a
12:30
Speaker 1: warehouse or magazine, a kitchen, a dining room, and a
12:35
Speaker 1: cellar as for my lodging. I kept to the tent,
12:39
Speaker 1: except that sometimes in the wet season of the year,
12:42
Speaker 1: it rained so hard that I could not keep myself dry,
12:46
Speaker 1: which caused me afterwards to cover all my place within
12:50
Speaker 1: my pail with long poles in the form of rafters
12:54
Speaker 1: leaning against the rock, and load them with flags and
12:58
Speaker 1: large leaves of trees like a thatch. December tenth I
13:06
Speaker 1: began now to think my cave or vault finished, when
13:10
Speaker 1: on a sudden it seems I had made it too large.
13:15
Speaker 1: A great quantity of earth fell down from the top
13:18
Speaker 1: on one side, so much that, in short itf frightened me,
13:21
Speaker 1: and not without reason too, for if I had been
13:25
Speaker 1: under it, I had never wanted a grave digger. I
13:30
Speaker 1: had now a great deal of work to do over again,
13:32
Speaker 1: for I had the loosed earth all to carry out,
13:36
Speaker 1: and which was of more importance, I had the ceiling
13:39
Speaker 1: to prop up so that I might be sure no
13:43
Speaker 1: more would come down. December eleventh. This day I went
13:49
Speaker 1: to work with it accordingly, and got two shores or
13:52
Speaker 1: posts pitched upright to the top, with two pieces of
13:56
Speaker 1: boards across over each post. This I finished the next day,
14:01
Speaker 1: and setting more posts up with boards. In about a
14:05
Speaker 1: week more. I had the roof secured, and the posts
14:10
Speaker 1: standing in rows served me for partitions to part off
14:14
Speaker 1: the house December seventeenth. From this day to the twentieth
14:21
Speaker 1: I placed shelves and knocked up nails on the posts
14:26
Speaker 1: to hang everything up that could be hung up, And
14:29
Speaker 1: now I began to be in some order within doors.
14:34
Speaker 1: December twentieth. Now I carried everything into the cave and
14:38
Speaker 1: began to furnish my house and set up some pieces
14:42
Speaker 1: of boards like a dresser to order my victuals upon.
14:46
Speaker 1: But boards began to be very scarce with me. Also,
14:50
Speaker 1: I made me another table. December twenty fourth, much rain
14:56
Speaker 1: all day and all night, no stirring out. December twenty fifth,
15:03
Speaker 1: rain all day. December twenty sixth no rain, and the
15:09
Speaker 1: earth much cooler than before, and pleasanter. December twenty seventh
15:16
Speaker 1: killed a young goat and lamed another, so that I
15:20
Speaker 1: caught it and led it home in a string. And
15:23
Speaker 1: when I had it at home, I bound and splintered
15:25
Speaker 1: up its leg, which was broken not te bene. I
15:32
Speaker 1: took such care of it that it lived, and the
15:34
Speaker 1: leg grew well and as strong as ever. But by
15:38
Speaker 1: my nursing it so long it grew tame and fed
15:41
Speaker 1: upon the little green at my door, and would not
15:43
Speaker 1: go away. This was the first time that I entertained
15:48
Speaker 1: a thought of breeding up some tame creatures that I
15:52
Speaker 1: might have food when my powder and shot was all spent.
15:58
Speaker 1: December twenty eighth, twenty ninth, thirtieth, and thirty first, great
16:04
Speaker 1: heats and no breeze, so that there was no stirring
16:08
Speaker 1: abroad except in the evening for food. This time I
16:11
Speaker 1: spent in putting all my things in order within doors.
16:16
Speaker 1: January first, very hot still, but I went abroad early
16:23
Speaker 1: and late with my gun, and lay still in the
16:26
Speaker 1: middle of the day this evening. Going farther into the
16:30
Speaker 1: valleys which lay towards the center of the island, I
16:34
Speaker 1: found there were plenty of goats, though exceedingly shy and
16:38
Speaker 1: hard to come at. However, I resolved to try if
16:41
Speaker 1: I could not bring my dog to hunt them down.
16:46
Speaker 1: January second. Accordingly, the next day I went out with
16:49
Speaker 1: my dog and set him upon the goats. But I
16:52
Speaker 1: was mistaken, for they all faced about upon the dog,
16:55
Speaker 1: and he knew his danger too well, for he would
16:59
Speaker 1: not come near them. January third, I began my fence
17:05
Speaker 1: or wall, which, being still jealous of my being attacked
17:09
Speaker 1: by somebody, I resolved to make very thick and strong.
17:14
Speaker 1: No te bene this wall. Being described before, I purposely
17:20
Speaker 1: admit what was said in the journal, it is sufficient
17:24
Speaker 1: to observe that I was no less time than from
17:26
Speaker 1: the second of January to the fourteenth of April working
17:30
Speaker 1: finishing and perfecting this wall. Though it was no more
17:34
Speaker 1: than about twenty four yards in length, being a half
17:37
Speaker 1: circle from one place in the rock to another place
17:41
Speaker 1: about eight yards from it, the door of the cave
17:45
Speaker 1: being in the center behind it. All this time I
17:49
Speaker 1: worked very hard, the rains hindering me many days, nay
17:53
Speaker 1: sometimes weeks together, but I thought I should never be
17:58
Speaker 1: perfectly secure till this wall was finished. And it is
18:01
Speaker 1: scarce credible what inexpressible labor everything was done with, especially
18:07
Speaker 1: the bringing of piles out of the woods and driving
18:11
Speaker 1: them into the ground, for I made them much bigger
18:15
Speaker 1: than I needed to have done. When this wall was
18:19
Speaker 1: finished and the outside double fenced with a turf wall
18:23
Speaker 1: raised up close to it, I perceived myself that if
18:27
Speaker 1: any people were to come on shore there, they would
18:31
Speaker 1: not perceive anything like a habitation. And it was very
18:35
Speaker 1: well I did so, as may be observed hereafter upon
18:39
Speaker 1: a very remarkable occasion. During this time, I made my
18:44
Speaker 1: rounds in the woods for game every day when the
18:48
Speaker 1: rain permitted me, and made frequent discoveries in these walks
18:53
Speaker 1: of something or other to my advantage. Particularly, I found
18:59
Speaker 1: a kind of wild pigeons which build not as wood
19:03
Speaker 1: pigeons in a tree, but rather as house pigeons in
19:07
Speaker 1: the holes of the rocks, and taking some young ones
19:11
Speaker 1: I endeavored to bring them up, came and did so.
19:15
Speaker 1: But when they grew older they flew away, which perhaps
19:19
Speaker 1: was at first for one of feeding them, for I
19:21
Speaker 1: had nothing to give them. However, I frequently found their
19:25
Speaker 1: nests and got their young ones, which were very good meat.
19:30
Speaker 1: And now in the managing of my household affairs, I
19:35
Speaker 1: found myself wanting in many things which I thought at
19:39
Speaker 1: first it was impossible for me to make, as indeed
19:43
Speaker 1: with some of them it was. For instance, I could
19:46
Speaker 1: never make a cask to be whooped. I had a
19:50
Speaker 1: small runlet or two, as I observed before, but I
19:54
Speaker 1: could not ever arrive at the capacity of making one
19:59
Speaker 1: by them, though I spent many weeks about it. I
20:03
Speaker 1: could never put in the heads or join the staves
20:06
Speaker 1: so true to one another as to make them hold water.
20:10
Speaker 1: So I gave that also over In the next place,
20:15
Speaker 1: I was at a great loss for candles, so that
20:18
Speaker 1: as soon as ever it was dark, which was generally
20:21
Speaker 1: by seven o'clock, I was obliged to go to bed.
20:25
Speaker 1: I remembered the lump of beeswax with which I made
20:28
Speaker 1: candles in my African adventure. But I had none of that. Now.
20:33
Speaker 1: The only remedy I had was that when I killed
20:37
Speaker 1: a goat, I saved the tallow, which, with a little
20:41
Speaker 1: dish made of clay, which I baked up in the sun,
20:45
Speaker 1: and to which I added a wick of some oakum,
20:48
Speaker 1: I made me a lamp. And this gave me light,
20:52
Speaker 1: though not a clear, steady light like a candle. In
20:56
Speaker 1: the middle of all my labors, it happened that rummaging
20:59
Speaker 1: my things, I found a little bag, which, as I
21:02
Speaker 1: hinted before, had been filled with corn for the feeding
21:06
Speaker 1: of poultry, not for this voyage, but before, as I suppose,
21:11
Speaker 1: when the ship came from Lisbon, the little remainder of
21:15
Speaker 1: corn that had been in the bag was all devoured
21:18
Speaker 1: by the rats, and I saw nothing in the bag
21:21
Speaker 1: but husts and dust, And, being willing to have the
21:25
Speaker 1: bag for some other use, I think it was to
21:28
Speaker 1: put my powder in. When I divided it for fear
21:31
Speaker 1: of the lightning, or some such use, I shook the
21:35
Speaker 1: husts of corn out of it. On one side of
21:38
Speaker 1: my fortification under the rock. It was a little before
21:43
Speaker 1: the great rains just now mentioned that I threw this
21:46
Speaker 1: stuff away, taking no notice, and not so much as
21:51
Speaker 1: remembering that I had thrown anything there, When about a
21:54
Speaker 1: month after or thereabouts, I saw some few stalks of
21:59
Speaker 1: something green shooting out of the ground, which I fancied
22:03
Speaker 1: might be some plant I had not seen. But I
22:07
Speaker 1: was surprised and perfectly astonished when after a little longer
22:11
Speaker 1: time I saw about ten or twelve years come out
22:16
Speaker 1: which were perfect green barley, of the same kind as
22:20
Speaker 1: our European nay as our English barley. It is impossible
22:27
Speaker 1: to express the astonishment and confusion of my thoughts on
22:30
Speaker 1: this occasion. I had hitherto acted upon no religious foundation
22:35
Speaker 1: at all. Indeed, I had very few notions of religion
22:39
Speaker 1: in my head, nor had entertained any sense of anything
22:43
Speaker 1: that had befallen me otherwise than as chance, or as
22:47
Speaker 1: we lightly say, what pleases God, without so much as
22:51
Speaker 1: inquiring into the end of providence in these things, or
22:56
Speaker 1: his order in governing events for the world. But after
23:00
Speaker 1: I saw barley growing there in a climate which I
23:04
Speaker 1: knew was not proper for corn, and especially that I
23:08
Speaker 1: knew not how it came there, it startled me strangely,
23:14
Speaker 1: and I began to suggest that God had miraculously caused
23:18
Speaker 1: his grain to grow without any help of seed sown,
23:22
Speaker 1: and that it was so directed purely for my sustenance
23:26
Speaker 1: on that wild, miserable place. This touched my heart a
23:31
Speaker 1: little and brought tears out of my eyes, and I
23:34
Speaker 1: began to bless myself that such a prodigy of nature
23:38
Speaker 1: should happen upon my account. And this was the more
23:41
Speaker 1: strange to me, because I saw near it, still, all
23:45
Speaker 1: along by the side of the rock, some other straggling stalks,
23:49
Speaker 1: which proved to be stalks of rice, and which I
23:53
Speaker 1: knew because I had seen it grow in Africa when
23:56
Speaker 1: I was ashore there. Only thought these the pure productions
24:02
Speaker 1: of providence for my support, but not doubting that there
24:06
Speaker 1: was more in the place, I went all over that
24:09
Speaker 1: part of the island where I had been before, peering
24:12
Speaker 1: in every corner and under every rock, to see for
24:15
Speaker 1: more of it, but I could not find any. At
24:19
Speaker 1: last it occurred to my thoughts that I shook a
24:22
Speaker 1: bag of chickens meat out in that place, And then
24:25
Speaker 1: the wonder began to cease, and I must confess my
24:29
Speaker 1: religious thankfulness to God's providence began to abate too. Upon
24:34
Speaker 1: the discovering that all this was nothing but what was common.
24:39
Speaker 1: Though I ought to have been as thankful for so
24:42
Speaker 1: strange and unforeseen a providence as if it had been miraculous.
24:47
Speaker 1: For it was really the work of providence to me
24:51
Speaker 1: that should order, or a point, that ten or twelve
24:54
Speaker 1: grains of corn should remain unspoiled when the rats had
24:59
Speaker 1: destroyed all the rest, as if it had been dropped
25:03
Speaker 1: from heaven. As also that I should throw it out
25:08
Speaker 1: in that particular place, where it, being in the shade
25:11
Speaker 1: of a high rock, it sprang up immediately, whereas if
25:16
Speaker 1: I had thrown it anywhere else at that time it
25:19
Speaker 1: had been burnt up and destroyed. I carefully saved the
25:25
Speaker 1: ears of this corn, you may be sure, in their season,
25:28
Speaker 1: which was about the end of June, and laying up
25:31
Speaker 1: every corn, I resolved to sow them all again, hoping
25:35
Speaker 1: in time to have some quantity sufficient to supply me
25:39
Speaker 1: with bread. But it was not till the fourth year
25:43
Speaker 1: that I could allow myself the least grain of this
25:46
Speaker 1: corn to eat, and even then, but sparingly, as I
25:49
Speaker 1: shall say afterwards, in its order, for I lost all
25:54
Speaker 1: that I sowed the first season by not observing the
25:57
Speaker 1: proper time, for I sowed it just before the dry season,
26:01
Speaker 1: so that it never came up at all, at least
26:04
Speaker 1: not as it would have done. Of which in its place,
26:10
Speaker 1: besides this barley there were as above twenty or thirty
26:15
Speaker 1: stalks of rice, which I preserve with the same care
26:18
Speaker 1: and for the same use, or to the same purpose,
26:21
Speaker 1: to make me bread or rather food, for I found
26:25
Speaker 1: ways to cook it without baking, though I did that
26:29
Speaker 1: also after some time. But to return to my journal,
26:37
Speaker 1: I worked excessive hard these three or four months to
26:40
Speaker 1: get my wall done, and the fourteenth of April I
26:43
Speaker 1: closed it up, contriving to go into it not by
26:47
Speaker 1: a door, but over the wall by a ladder, that
26:50
Speaker 1: there might be no sign on the outside of my habitation.
26:56
Speaker 1: April sixteenth, I finished my life ladder. So I went
27:01
Speaker 1: up the ladder to the top, and then pulled it
27:03
Speaker 1: up after me and let it down. In the inside.
27:07
Speaker 1: This was a complete enclosure to me, for within I
27:10
Speaker 1: had room enough, and nothing could come at me from
27:13
Speaker 1: without unless it could first mount my wall. The very
27:19
Speaker 1: next day, after this wall was finished, I had almost
27:23
Speaker 1: all my labor overthrown at once, and myself killed the
27:27
Speaker 1: case was this. As I was busy in the inside
27:30
Speaker 1: behind my tent, just at the entrance into my cave,
27:34
Speaker 1: I was terribly frighted with the most dreadful, surprising thing. Indeed,
27:39
Speaker 1: for all of a sudden I found the earth come
27:41
Speaker 1: crumbling down from the roof of my cave, and from
27:45
Speaker 1: the edge of the hill over my head. In two
27:47
Speaker 1: of the posts I had set up in the cave
27:50
Speaker 1: cracked in a frightful manner. I was heartily scared, but
27:55
Speaker 1: thought nothing of it, of what was really the cause,
27:59
Speaker 1: only thinking that the top of my cave had fallen in,
28:02
Speaker 1: as some of it had done before, and for fear
28:06
Speaker 1: I should be buried in it, I ran forward to
28:08
Speaker 1: my ladder, and, not thinking myself safe there, neither I
28:12
Speaker 1: got over my wall, for fear of the pieces of
28:15
Speaker 1: the hill which I expected might roll down upon me.
28:19
Speaker 1: I had no sooner step to ground than I plainly saw.
28:23
Speaker 1: It was a terrible earthquake, for the ground I stood
28:27
Speaker 1: on shook three times at about eight minutes distance, with
28:32
Speaker 1: three such shocks as would have overturned the strongest building
28:36
Speaker 1: that could be supposed to have stood on the earth,
28:40
Speaker 1: and a great piece of the top of a rock,
28:43
Speaker 1: which stood about half a mile from me, next to
28:45
Speaker 1: the sea, fell down with such a terrible noise as
28:48
Speaker 1: I never heard in all my life. I perceived also
28:53
Speaker 1: the very sea was put into violent motion by it,
28:56
Speaker 1: and I believed the shocks were stronger under the water
29:00
Speaker 1: than on the island. I was so much amazed with
29:04
Speaker 1: the thing itself, having never felt the like, nor discoursed
29:08
Speaker 1: with anyone that had that. I was like one dead
29:12
Speaker 1: or stupefied, and the motion of the earth made my
29:16
Speaker 1: stomach sick, like one that was tossed at sea. But
29:20
Speaker 1: the noise of the falling of the rock awakened me
29:23
Speaker 1: as it were, and rousing me from the stupefied condition
29:27
Speaker 1: I was in filled me with horror, and I thought
29:31
Speaker 1: of nothing then but the hill falling upon my tent
29:35
Speaker 1: and all my household goods, and bearing all at once.
29:40
Speaker 1: And this sunk my very soul within me A second time.
29:46
Speaker 1: After the third chap was over, and I felt no
29:49
Speaker 1: more for some time, I began to take courage, and
29:53
Speaker 1: yet I had not hard enough to go over my
29:55
Speaker 1: wall again, for fear of being buried alive, but sat
30:01
Speaker 1: still upon the ground, greatly cast down and disconsolate, not
30:05
Speaker 1: knowing what to do. All this while I had not
30:09
Speaker 1: the least serious religious thought. Nothing but the common Lord
30:15
Speaker 1: have mercy upon me, And when it was over, that
30:19
Speaker 1: went away too. While I sat thus, I found the
30:25
Speaker 1: air overcast and grow cloudy, and as if it would rain.
30:31
Speaker 1: Soon after that, the wind arose by little and little,
30:34
Speaker 1: so that in less than half an hour it blew
30:36
Speaker 1: a most dreadful hurricane. The sea was all of a
30:40
Speaker 1: sudden covered over with foam and froth. The shore was
30:44
Speaker 1: covered with the breach of the water, the trees were
30:47
Speaker 1: torn up by the roots, and a terrible storm it was.
30:52
Speaker 1: This held about three hours and then began to abate,
30:56
Speaker 1: and in two hours more it was quite calm and
30:59
Speaker 1: began to rain very hard. All this while I sat
31:04
Speaker 1: upon the ground, very much terrified and dejected. When on
31:08
Speaker 1: a sudden it came into my thoughts that these winds
31:11
Speaker 1: and rain being the consequences of the earthquake. The earthquake
31:16
Speaker 1: itself was spent and over, and I might venture into
31:20
Speaker 1: my cave again. With this thought, my spirits began to revive,
31:27
Speaker 1: and the rain also helping to persuade me. I went
31:30
Speaker 1: in and sat down in my tent, but The rain
31:34
Speaker 1: was so violent that my tent was ready to be
31:36
Speaker 1: beaten down with it, and I was forced to go
31:39
Speaker 1: into my cave, though very much afraid and uneasy for
31:42
Speaker 1: fear it would fall in my head. This violent rain
31:46
Speaker 1: forced me to a new work, that is, to cut
31:50
Speaker 1: a hole through my new fortification like a sink, to
31:54
Speaker 1: let the water go out, which would else have flooded
31:58
Speaker 1: my cave. After I had been in my cave for
32:02
Speaker 1: some time and found still no more shocks of the
32:04
Speaker 1: earthquake follow I began to be more composed and now
32:10
Speaker 1: to support my spirits, which indeed wanted it very much,
32:14
Speaker 1: I went to my little store and took a small
32:17
Speaker 1: sup of rum, which however I did then and always
32:21
Speaker 1: very sparingly, knowing I could have no more. When that
32:24
Speaker 1: was gone. It continued raining all that night in great
32:29
Speaker 1: part of the day, so that I could not stir abroad.
32:34
Speaker 1: But my mind, being more composed, I began to think
32:38
Speaker 1: of what I had best do, concluding that if the
32:42
Speaker 1: island was subject to these earthquakes, there would be no
32:45
Speaker 1: living for me in the cave. But I must consider
32:49
Speaker 1: of building a little hut in an open space, which
32:52
Speaker 1: I might surround with a wall, as I had done before,
32:55
Speaker 1: and so make myself secure from wild beasts or men.
33:00
Speaker 1: For I concluded if I stayed where I was, I
33:03
Speaker 1: should certainly, one time or other, be buried alive. With
33:08
Speaker 1: these thoughts, I resolved to remove my tent from the
33:11
Speaker 1: place where it stood, which was just under the hanging
33:15
Speaker 1: precipice of the hill, and which if it should be
33:19
Speaker 1: shaken again, would certainly fall upon my tent. And I
33:23
Speaker 1: spent the next two days, being the nineteenth and twentieth
33:27
Speaker 1: of April, in contriving where and how to remove my habitation.
33:32
Speaker 1: The fear of being swallowed up alive made me that
33:36
Speaker 1: I never slept in quiet, and yet the apprehension of
33:41
Speaker 1: lying abroad without any fence was almost equal to it.
33:45
Speaker 1: But still, when I looked about and saw how everything
33:48
Speaker 1: was put in order, how pleasantly concealed I was, and
33:53
Speaker 1: how safe from danger, it made me very loath to remove.
33:59
Speaker 1: In the meantime, occurred to me that it would require
34:02
Speaker 1: a vast deal of time for me to do this,
34:04
Speaker 1: and that I must be contented to venture where I
34:08
Speaker 1: was till I had formed a camp for myself and
34:12
Speaker 1: had secured it so as to remove to it. So
34:16
Speaker 1: with this resolution I composed myself for a time and
34:20
Speaker 1: resolved that I would go to work with all speed
34:23
Speaker 1: to build me a wall with piles and cables, et cetera,
34:26
Speaker 1: in a circle as before, and set my tent up
34:29
Speaker 1: in it when it was finished, but that I would
34:32
Speaker 1: venture to stay where I was till it was finished
34:36
Speaker 1: and fit to remove. This was the twenty first April
34:43
Speaker 1: twenty second. The next morning I began to consider of
34:48
Speaker 1: means to put this resolve into execution. But I was
34:52
Speaker 1: at a great loss about my tools. I had three
34:56
Speaker 1: large axes and abundance of hatchets where we carried the
35:00
Speaker 1: hatchets for traffic with the Indians. But with much chopping
35:06
Speaker 1: and cutting knotty hard wood, they were all full of
35:10
Speaker 1: notches and dull. And though I had a grindstone, I
35:15
Speaker 1: could not turn it and grind my tools too. This
35:20
Speaker 1: cost me as much thought as a statesman would have
35:23
Speaker 1: bestowed upon a grand point of politics, or a judge
35:27
Speaker 1: upon the life and death of a man. At length,
35:31
Speaker 1: I contrived a wheel with a string to turn it
35:34
Speaker 1: with my foot, that I might have both my hands
35:38
Speaker 1: at liberty. Note I had never seen any such thing
35:43
Speaker 1: in England, or at least not to take notice how
35:46
Speaker 1: it was done, though since I have observed it is
35:50
Speaker 1: very common there. Besides that my grindstone was very heavy
35:55
Speaker 1: and large. This machine cost me a full weeks work
36:00
Speaker 1: to bring it to perfection. April twenty eighth and twenty ninth.
36:07
Speaker 1: These two whole days I took up in grinding my tools,
36:11
Speaker 1: my machine for turning my grindstone, performing very well. April thirtieth,
36:18
Speaker 1: having perceived my bread had been low a great while now,
36:23
Speaker 1: I took a survey of it and reduced myself to
36:25
Speaker 1: one biscuit cake a day, which made my heart very heavy.
36:32
Speaker 1: May first in the morning, looking towards the seaside, the
36:38
Speaker 1: tide being low, I saw something lye on the shore,
36:43
Speaker 1: bigger than ordinary, and it looked like a cask. When
36:48
Speaker 1: I came to it, I found a small barrel and
36:52
Speaker 1: two or three pieces of the wreck of the ship,
36:56
Speaker 1: which were driven on shore by the late hurricane. And
37:00
Speaker 1: looking towards the wreck itself, I thought it seemed to
37:04
Speaker 1: lie higher out of the water than it used to.
37:08
Speaker 1: I examined the barrel which was driven on shore, and
37:11
Speaker 1: soon found that it was a barrel of gunpowder, but
37:15
Speaker 1: it had taken water, and the powder was caked as
37:19
Speaker 1: hard as a stone. However, I rolled it farther on
37:23
Speaker 1: shore for the present, and went on upon the sands
37:28
Speaker 1: as near as I could, to the wreck of the ship,
37:31
Speaker 1: to look for more. End of Chapter five.