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16 - The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

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Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen, description of an idol which they destroy. Early
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Speaker 1: in the morning, when marching from a little town called Changu,
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Speaker 1: we had a river to pass which we were obliged
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Speaker 1: to ferry, and had the Tartars had any intelligence, then
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Speaker 1: had been the time to have attacked us, when the
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Speaker 1: caravan being over the rear guard was behind, but they
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Speaker 1: did not appear there. About three hours after, when we
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Speaker 1: were entered upon a desert of about fifteen or sixteen
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Speaker 1: miles over, we knew by a cloud of dust they
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Speaker 1: raised that the enemy was at hand, and presently they
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Speaker 1: came upon the spur our. Chinese guards in the front,
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Speaker 1: who had talked so big the day before, began to stagger,
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Speaker 1: and the soldiers frequently looked behind them, a certain sign
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Speaker 1: in a soldier that he is just ready to run away.
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Speaker 1: My old pilot was of my mind, and being near me,
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Speaker 1: called out senoring Glaze. These fellows must be encouraged or
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Speaker 1: they will ruin us all. For if the Tartars come,
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Speaker 1: they will never stand it. I am of your mind,
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Speaker 1: said I. But what must be done done, says he.
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Speaker 1: Let fifty of our men advance and flank them on
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Speaker 1: each wing and encourage them. They will fight like brave
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Speaker 1: fellows in brave company. But without this they will every
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Speaker 1: man turn his back. Immediately, I rode up to our
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Speaker 1: leader and told him who was exactly of our mind. Accordingly,
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Speaker 1: fifty of us marched to the right wing, and fifty
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Speaker 1: to the left, and the rest made a line of rescue.
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Speaker 1: And so we marched, leaving the last two hundred men
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Speaker 1: to make a body of themselves and to guard the camels,
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Speaker 1: only that if need were they should send a hundred
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Speaker 1: men to assist the last fifty. At last the tartars
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Speaker 1: came on, and an innumerable company they were. How many
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Speaker 1: we could not tell, but ten thousand, we thought at
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Speaker 1: the least. A party of them came on first and
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Speaker 1: viewed our posture, traversing the ground in the front of
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Speaker 1: our line, And as we found them within gunshot, our
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Speaker 1: leader ordered the two wings to advance swiftly, and gave
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Speaker 1: them a salvo on each wing with their shot, which
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Speaker 1: was done. They then went off. I suppose to give
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Speaker 1: an account of the reception they were liked to meet with. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: that salute cloyd their stomachs, for they immediately halted, stood
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Speaker 1: awhile to consider of it, and wheeling off to the left.
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Speaker 1: They gave over their design for that time, which was
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Speaker 1: very agreeable to our circumstances. Two days after we came
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Speaker 1: to the city of naun or Naom. We thanked the
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Speaker 1: governor for his care of us, and collected to the
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Speaker 1: value of a hundred crowns or thereabouts, which we gave
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Speaker 1: to the soldiers sent to guard us. And here we
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Speaker 1: rested one day. This is a garrison, indeed, and there
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Speaker 1: were nine hundred soldiers kept here. But the reason of
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Speaker 1: it was that formerly the Muscovite frontiers lay nearer to
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Speaker 1: them than they now do. The Muscovites having abandoned that
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Speaker 1: part of the country which lies from this city west
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Speaker 1: for about two hundred miles, as desolate and unfit for use,
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Speaker 1: and Morris especially being so very remote and so difficult
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Speaker 1: to send troops thither for its defense, for we were
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Speaker 1: yet above two thousand miles from Muscovie, properly so called.
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Speaker 1: After this we passed several great rivers and two dreadful deserts,
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Speaker 1: one of which we were sixteen days passing over, And
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Speaker 1: on the thirteenth of April we came to the frontiers
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Speaker 1: of the Muscovite dominions. I think the first town or fortress,
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Speaker 1: whichever it may be called, that belonged to the Tsar
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Speaker 1: was called Arguna, being on the west side of the
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Speaker 1: river Arguna. I could not but feel great satisfaction that
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Speaker 1: I was arrived in a country governed by Christians. For
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Speaker 1: though the Muscovites do, in my opinion, but just deserve
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Speaker 1: the name of Christians, yet such they pretend to be,
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Speaker 1: and are very devout in their way. It would certainly
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Speaker 1: occur to any reflecting man who travels the world as
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Speaker 1: I have done. What a blessing it is to be
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Speaker 1: brought into the world where the name of God and
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Speaker 1: a Redeemer is known, adored, and worshiped, And not where
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Speaker 1: the peace people, given up to strong delusions, worship the
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Speaker 1: devil and prostrate themselves to monsters, elements, horrid shaped animals
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Speaker 1: and monstrous images. Not a town or city we passed through,
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Speaker 1: but had their pagodas, their idols and their temples, and
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Speaker 1: ignorant people worshiping even the works of their own hands.
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Speaker 1: Now we came where at last a face of the
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Speaker 1: Christian worship appeared, where the knee was bowed to Jesus,
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Speaker 1: and whether ignorantly or not. Yet the Christian religion was owned,
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Speaker 1: and the name of the True God was called upon
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Speaker 1: and adored, And it made my soul rejoice to see it.
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Speaker 1: I saluted the brave Scots merchant with my first acknowledgment
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Speaker 1: of this, and taking him by the hand, I said
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Speaker 1: to him, Blessed be God, we are once again amongst Christians.
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Speaker 1: He smiled and answered, do not rejoice too soon, countrymen.
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Speaker 1: These Muscovites a but an odds or are Christians. And
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Speaker 1: but for the name of it you may see very
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Speaker 1: little of the substance for some months further of our journey, well,
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Speaker 1: says I. But still it is better than paganism and
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Speaker 1: worshiping of devils. Why, I will tell you, says he.
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Speaker 1: Except their Russian soldiers in the garrisons, and a few
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Speaker 1: of the inhabitants of the cities upon their road. All
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Speaker 1: the rest of this country, for about a thousand miles farther,
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Speaker 1: is inhabited by the worst and most ignorant of pagans.
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Speaker 1: And so indeed we found it. We now launched into
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Speaker 1: the greatest piece of solid earth that is to be
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Speaker 1: found in any part of the world. We had at
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Speaker 1: least twelve thousand miles to the sea eastward, two thousand
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Speaker 1: to the bottom of the Baltic Sea westward, and above
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Speaker 1: three thousand. If we left that sea and went on
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Speaker 1: west to the British and French channels, we had full
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Speaker 1: five thousand miles to the Indian or Persian Sea south,
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Speaker 1: and about eight hundred to the frozen Sea north. We
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Speaker 1: advanced from the River Arguna by easy and moderate journeys,
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Speaker 1: and were very visibly obliged to the care. The Czar
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Speaker 1: has taken to have cities and towns built in as
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Speaker 1: many places as it is possible to place them where
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Speaker 1: his soldiers keep garrison, something like the stationary soldiers placed
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Speaker 1: by the Romans in the remotest countries of their empire,
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Speaker 1: some of which I had read of, were placed in
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Speaker 1: Britain for the security of commerce and for the lodging
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Speaker 1: of travelers. Thus it was here for wherever we came.
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Speaker 1: Though at these towns and stations the garrisons and governors
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Speaker 1: were Russians and professed Christians, Yet the inhabitants were mere pagans,
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Speaker 1: sacrificing to idols and worshiping the sun, moon and stars,
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Speaker 1: or all the host of heaven. And not only so,
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Speaker 1: but were of all the heathens and pagans that ever
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Speaker 1: I met with the most barbarous, except only that they
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Speaker 1: did not eat men's flesh. Some instances of this we
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Speaker 1: met within the country between Arguna, where we enter the
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Speaker 1: Muscovite dominions, and a city of Tartars and Russians together
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Speaker 1: called Nortzyutsky, in which is a continued desert door forest,
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Speaker 1: which caused us twenty days to travel. In a village
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Speaker 1: near the last of these places, I had the curiosity
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Speaker 1: to go and see their way of living, which is
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Speaker 1: most brutish and unsufferable. They had. I suppose a great
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Speaker 1: sacrifice that day, for there stood out upon an old
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Speaker 1: stump of a tree, a diabolical kind of idol made
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Speaker 1: of wood. It was dressed up, too, in the most
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Speaker 1: filthy manner. Its upper garment was of sheepskins, with the
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Speaker 1: wool outward, a great tartar bonnet on the head with
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Speaker 1: two horns growing through it. It was about eight feet high,
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Speaker 1: yet had no feet or legs, nor any other proportion
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Speaker 1: of parts. This scarecrow was set up at the outer
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Speaker 1: side of the village, and when I came near to it,
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Speaker 1: there were sixteen or seventeen creatures, all lying flat upon
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Speaker 1: the ground round this hideous block of wood. I saw
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Speaker 1: no motion among them, any more than if they had
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Speaker 1: been all logs like the idol, And at first I
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Speaker 1: really thought they had been so. But when I came
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Speaker 1: a little nearer, they started up upon their feet and
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Speaker 1: raised a howl, as if it had been so many
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Speaker 1: deep mouthed hounds, and walked away, as if they were
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Speaker 1: displeased at our disturbing them. A little way off from
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Speaker 1: the idol, and at the door of a hut made
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Speaker 1: of sheep and cowskins dried, stood three men with long
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Speaker 1: knives in their hands, and in the middle of the
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Speaker 1: tent appeared three sheep killed and one young bullock. These,
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Speaker 1: it seems, were sacrifices to that senseless log of an idol.
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Speaker 1: The three men were priests belonging to it, and the
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Speaker 1: seventeen prostrated wretches were the people who brought the offering
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Speaker 1: and were offering their prayers to that stock. I confess
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Speaker 1: I was more moved at their stupidity and brutish worship
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Speaker 1: of a hobgoblin than ever I was at anything in
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Speaker 1: my life, and overcome with rage I rode up to
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Speaker 1: the hideous idol, and with my sword made a stroke
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Speaker 1: at the bonnet that was on its head and cut
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Speaker 1: it in two. And one of our men that was
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Speaker 1: with me, taking hold of the sheepskin that covered it,
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Speaker 1: pulled at it. When behold a most hideous outcry ran
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Speaker 1: through the village, and two or three hundred people came
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Speaker 1: about my ears, so that I was glad to scour
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Speaker 1: for it, for some had bows and arrows, but I
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Speaker 1: resolved from that moment to visit them again. Our caravan
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Speaker 1: rested three knights at the town, which was about four
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Speaker 1: miles off, in order to provide some horses, which they wanted.
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Speaker 1: Several of the horses having been lamed and jaded with
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Speaker 1: the long march over the last desert, so we had
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Speaker 1: some leisure here to put my design in execution. I
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Speaker 1: communicated it to the Scot's merchant, of whose courage I
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Speaker 1: had sufficient testimony. I told him what I had seen,
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Speaker 1: and with what indignation I had since thought that human
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Speaker 1: nature could be so degenerate. I told him, if I
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Speaker 1: could get but four or five men well armed to
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Speaker 1: go with me, I was resolved to go and destroy
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Speaker 1: that vile abominable idol, and let them see that it
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Speaker 1: had no power to help itself, and consequently could not
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Speaker 1: be an object of worship or to be prayed to,
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Speaker 1: much less help them that offered sacrifices to it. He
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Speaker 1: at first objected to my plan as useless, seeing that
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Speaker 1: owing to the gross ignorance of the people, they could
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Speaker 1: not be brought to profit by the lesson I meant
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Speaker 1: to teach them, and added that from his knowledge of
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Speaker 1: the country and its customs, he feared we should fall
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Speaker 1: into great peril by giving offense to these brutal, idle worshipers.
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Speaker 1: This somewhat stayed my purpose, but I was still uneasy
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Speaker 1: all that day to put my project in execution, and
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Speaker 1: that evening, meeting the Scot's merchant in our walk about
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Speaker 1: the town, I again called upon him to aid me
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Speaker 1: in it. When he found me resolute, he said that
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Speaker 1: on further thoughts he could not but applaud the design,
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Speaker 1: and told me I should not go alone, but he
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Speaker 1: would go with me. But he would go first and
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Speaker 1: bring a stout fellow, one of his countrymen, to go
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Speaker 1: also with us. And one said he as famous for
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Speaker 1: his zeal as you can desire any one to be
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Speaker 1: against such devilish things as these. So we agreed to
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Speaker 1: go only we three and my manservant and resorl to
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Speaker 1: put it in execution the following night about midnight, with
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Speaker 1: all possible secrecy. We thought it better to delay it
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Speaker 1: till the next night, because the caravan being to set
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Speaker 1: forward in the morning, we supposed the governor could not
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Speaker 1: pretend to give them any satisfaction upon us when we
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Speaker 1: were out of his power. The Scot's merchant, as steady
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Speaker 1: in his resolution for the enterprise as bold in executing,
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Speaker 1: brought me a tartar's robe or gown of sheepskins and
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Speaker 1: a bonnet with a bow and arrows, and had provided
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Speaker 1: the same for himself and his countrymen, that the people,
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Speaker 1: if they saw us, should not determine who we were.
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Speaker 1: All the first night we spent in mixing up some
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Speaker 1: combustible matter with aqua vitai, gunpowder, and such other materials
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Speaker 1: as we could get, and having a good quantity of
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Speaker 1: tar in a little pot. About an hour after night,
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Speaker 1: we set out upon our expedition. We came to the
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Speaker 1: place about eleven o'clock at night, and found that the
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Speaker 1: people had not the least suspicion of danger attending their own.
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Speaker 1: The night was cloudy, yet the moon gave us light
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Speaker 1: enough to see that the idol stood just in the
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Speaker 1: same posture and place that it did before. The people
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Speaker 1: seemed to be all at their rest, only that in
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Speaker 1: the great hut where we saw the three priests, we
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Speaker 1: saw a light, and going up close to the door,
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Speaker 1: we heard people talking as if there were five or
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Speaker 1: six of them. We concluded therefore, that if we set
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Speaker 1: wildfire to the idol, those men would come out immediately
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Speaker 1: and run up to the place to rescue it from destruction.
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Speaker 1: And what to do with them we knew not once.
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Speaker 1: We thought of carrying it away and setting fire to
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Speaker 1: it at a distance, but when we came to handle
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Speaker 1: it we found it too bulky for our carriage, so
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Speaker 1: we were at a loss again. The second scotsman was
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Speaker 1: for setting fire to the hut and knocking the creatures
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Speaker 1: that were there on the head when they came out.
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Speaker 1: But I could not join with that. I was against
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Speaker 1: killing them if it were possible to avoid it. Well,
12:54
Speaker 1: then said the Scots merchant, I will tell you what
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Speaker 1: we will do. We will try to make them tie
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Speaker 1: their hands and make them stand and see their idle destroyed.
13:05
Speaker 1: As it happened, we had twine or pack thread enough
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Speaker 1: about us, which we used to tie our firelocks together with.
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Speaker 1: So we resolved to attack these people first, and with
13:15
Speaker 1: as little noise as we could. The first thing we
13:18
Speaker 1: did we knocked at the door. When one of the
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Speaker 1: priests coming to it, we immediately seized upon him, stopped
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Speaker 1: his mouth, and tied his hands behind him, and led
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Speaker 1: him to the idol, where we gagged him that he
13:29
Speaker 1: might not make a noise, tied his feet also together,
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Speaker 1: and left him on the ground. Two of us then
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Speaker 1: waited at the door, expecting that another would come out
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Speaker 1: to see what the matter was. But we waited so
13:42
Speaker 1: long till the third man came back to us, and
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Speaker 1: then nobody coming out. We knocked again gently, and immediately
13:48
Speaker 1: out came two more, and we served them just in
13:51
Speaker 1: the same manner, but were obliged to go all with
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Speaker 1: them and lay them down by the idol some distance
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Speaker 1: from one another. When going back, we found two more
14:00
Speaker 1: were come out of the door, and a third stood
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Speaker 1: behind them within the door. We seized the two and
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Speaker 1: immediately tied them. When the third, stepping back and crying
14:09
Speaker 1: out my Scot's merchant went in after them, and, taking
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Speaker 1: out a composition we had made that would only smoke
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Speaker 1: and stink, he set fire to it and threw it
14:18
Speaker 1: in among them. By that time the other Scotsman and
14:22
Speaker 1: my man, taking charge of the two men already bound
14:25
Speaker 1: and tied together also by the arm, led them away
14:28
Speaker 1: to the idol, and left them there to see if
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Speaker 1: their idol would relieve them, making haste back to us.
14:35
Speaker 1: When the fuse we had thrown in had filled the
14:37
Speaker 1: hut with so much smoke that they were almost suffocated.
14:40
Speaker 1: We threw in a small leather bag of another kind,
14:43
Speaker 1: which flamed like a candle, and following it in we
14:46
Speaker 1: found there were but four people, who, as we supposed,
14:50
Speaker 1: had been about some of their diabolical sacrifices. They appeared,
14:54
Speaker 1: in short frightened to death, at least so as to
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Speaker 1: sit trembling and stupid, and not able to se speak
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Speaker 1: either for the smoke. We quickly took them from the hut,
15:04
Speaker 1: where the smoke soon drove us out bound them as
15:07
Speaker 1: we had done the other, and all without any noise.
15:10
Speaker 1: Then we carried them all together to the idol. When
15:13
Speaker 1: we came there we fell to work with him. First
15:16
Speaker 1: we daubed him all over, and his robes also with
15:19
Speaker 1: tar and tallow mixed with brimstone. Then we stopped his
15:23
Speaker 1: eyes and ears and mouth full of gunpowder, and wrapped
15:26
Speaker 1: up a great piece of wildfire in his bonnet, Then
15:29
Speaker 1: sticking all the combustibles we had brought with us upon him,
15:32
Speaker 1: we looked about to see if we could find anything
15:34
Speaker 1: else to help to burn him. When my scotsmen remembered
15:37
Speaker 1: that by the hut where the men were there lay
15:40
Speaker 1: a heap of dry forage away. He and the other
15:43
Speaker 1: scotsmen ran and fetched their arms full of that. When
15:46
Speaker 1: we had done this, we took all our prisoners and
15:49
Speaker 1: brought them, having untied their feet and UnGagged their mouths,
15:52
Speaker 1: and made them stand up, and set them before their
15:55
Speaker 1: monstrous idol, and then set fire to the hole. We
16:00
Speaker 1: staid by it a quarter of an hour or thereabouts,
16:02
Speaker 1: till the powder in the eyes and mouth and ears
16:05
Speaker 1: of the idol blew up, and as we could perceive,
16:08
Speaker 1: had split all together, and in a word, till we
16:11
Speaker 1: saw it burned, so that it would soon be quite consumed.
16:14
Speaker 1: We then began to think of going away, But the
16:17
Speaker 1: Scotsmen said no, we must not go, for these poor
16:20
Speaker 1: deluded wretches will all throw themselves into the fire and
16:23
Speaker 1: burn themselves with the idol. So we resolved to stay
16:27
Speaker 1: till the forage has burned down two and then came
16:30
Speaker 1: away and left them. After the feat was performed, we
16:33
Speaker 1: appeared in the morning among our fellow travelers, exceedingly busy
16:37
Speaker 1: in getting ready for our journey. Nor could any man
16:40
Speaker 1: suppose that we had been anywhere but in our beds.
16:43
Speaker 1: But the affair did not end. So the next day
16:46
Speaker 1: came a great number of the country people to the
16:48
Speaker 1: town gates, and, in a most outrageous manner, demanded satisfaction
16:52
Speaker 1: of the Russian governor for the insulting their priests and
16:55
Speaker 1: burning their great cham Chiitongo. The people of Nurzingkee were
17:00
Speaker 1: at first in great consternation, for they said the Tartars
17:03
Speaker 1: were already no less than thirty thousand strong. The Russian
17:06
Speaker 1: governor sent out messengers to appease them, assuring them that
17:10
Speaker 1: he knew nothing of it, and that there had not
17:12
Speaker 1: a soul in his garrison been abroad, so that it
17:15
Speaker 1: could not be from anybody there. But if they could
17:18
Speaker 1: let him know who did it, they should be exemplarily punished.
17:22
Speaker 1: They returned haughtily that all the country reverenced the great
17:25
Speaker 1: cham Chitungu, who dwelt in the sun, and no mortal
17:29
Speaker 1: would have dared to offer violence to his image, but
17:32
Speaker 1: some Christian miscreant, and they therefore resolved to denounce war
17:36
Speaker 1: against him and all the Russians, who they said were
17:39
Speaker 1: miscreants and Christians. The governor, unwilling to make a breach
17:44
Speaker 1: or to have any cause of war alleged to be
17:47
Speaker 1: given by him. The Czar, having strictly charged him to
17:50
Speaker 1: treat the conquered country with gentleness, gave them all the
17:53
Speaker 1: good words he could. At last, he told them there
17:56
Speaker 1: was a caravan gone towards Russia that morning, and perhaps
18:00
Speaker 1: it was some of them who had done this injury,
18:02
Speaker 1: and that if they would be satisfied with that, he
18:05
Speaker 1: would send after them to inquire into it. This seemed
18:08
Speaker 1: to appease them a little, and accordingly the Governor sent
18:11
Speaker 1: after us and gave us a particular account how the
18:14
Speaker 1: thing was, intimating withal that if any in our caravan
18:18
Speaker 1: had done it, they should make their escape, but that
18:21
Speaker 1: whether we had done it or no, we should make
18:23
Speaker 1: all the haste forward that was possible, and that in
18:27
Speaker 1: the meantime he would keep them in play as long
18:29
Speaker 1: as he could. This was very friendly in the governor. However,
18:34
Speaker 1: when it came to the caravan, there was nobody knew
18:36
Speaker 1: anything of the matter, And as for us, that we
18:39
Speaker 1: were guilty, we were least of all suspected. However, the
18:43
Speaker 1: captain of the caravan for the time took the hint
18:45
Speaker 1: that the governor gave us, and we traveled two days
18:48
Speaker 1: and two nights without any considerable stop, and then we
18:52
Speaker 1: lay at a village called Plothos. Nor did we make
18:54
Speaker 1: any long stop here, but hastened on towards Jarrowena, another
18:58
Speaker 1: Muscovite colony, and where we expected we should be safe.
19:02
Speaker 1: But upon the second day's march from Plothos, by the
19:05
Speaker 1: clouds of dust behind us at a great distance, it
19:08
Speaker 1: was plain we were pursued. We had entered a vast
19:11
Speaker 1: desert and had passed by a great lake called Shanksoser,
19:15
Speaker 1: when we perceived a large body of horse appear on
19:17
Speaker 1: the other side of the lake to the north. We
19:20
Speaker 1: traveling west. We observed they went away west as we did.
19:24
Speaker 1: But had supposed we would have taken that side of
19:27
Speaker 1: the lake, whereas we very happily took the south side.
19:30
Speaker 1: And in two days more they disappeared again, for they,
19:33
Speaker 1: believing we were still before them, pushed on till they
19:36
Speaker 1: came to the Uda, a very great river when it
19:39
Speaker 1: passes farther north. But when we came to it we
19:42
Speaker 1: found it narrow and fordable. The third day they had
19:46
Speaker 1: either found their mistake or had intelligence of us, and
19:49
Speaker 1: came pouring in upon us towards dusk. We had, to
19:53
Speaker 1: our great satisfaction, just pitched upon a convenient place for
19:56
Speaker 1: our camp, for as we had just entered upon a
19:59
Speaker 1: desert above five one hundred miles over where we had
20:02
Speaker 1: no towns to lodge at, and indeed expected none but
20:05
Speaker 1: the city Jarawena, which we had yet two days march
20:08
Speaker 1: to the desert, however, had some few woods in it
20:12
Speaker 1: on this side, and little rivers which ran all into
20:15
Speaker 1: the great river Udda. It was in a narrow strait
20:18
Speaker 1: between little but very thick woods that we pitched our
20:21
Speaker 1: camp that night, expecting to be attacked before morning. As
20:25
Speaker 1: it was usual for the Mogul Tartars to go about
20:28
Speaker 1: in troops in that desert, so the caravans always fortify
20:32
Speaker 1: themselves every night against them, as against armies of robbers,
20:36
Speaker 1: And it was therefore no new thing to be pursued.
20:39
Speaker 1: But we had this night a most advantageous camp, for
20:42
Speaker 1: as we lay between two woods, with a little rivulet
20:45
Speaker 1: running just before our front, we could not be surrounded
20:49
Speaker 1: or attacked any way. But in our front or rear.
20:52
Speaker 1: We took care also to make our front as strong
20:54
Speaker 1: as we could, by placing our packs with the camels
20:57
Speaker 1: and horses all in a line on the inside of
21:00
Speaker 1: the river, and felling some trees in our rear. In
21:04
Speaker 1: this posture we encamped for the night, but the enemy
21:08
Speaker 1: was upon us before we had finished. They did not
21:10
Speaker 1: come on like thieves, as we expected, but sent three
21:14
Speaker 1: messengers to us to demand the men to be delivered
21:17
Speaker 1: to them that had abused their priests and burned their idol,
21:20
Speaker 1: that they might burn them with fire. And upon this
21:23
Speaker 1: they said they would go away and do us no
21:26
Speaker 1: further harm, otherwise they would destroy us. All our men
21:29
Speaker 1: looked very blank at this message, and began to stare
21:32
Speaker 1: at one another to see who looked with the most
21:34
Speaker 1: guilt in their faces. But nobody was the word. Nobody
21:38
Speaker 1: did it The leader of the caravan sent word. He
21:41
Speaker 1: was well assured that it was not done by any
21:43
Speaker 1: of our camp, that we were peaceful merchants traveling on
21:47
Speaker 1: our business, that we had done no harm to them
21:49
Speaker 1: or to anyone else, and that therefore they must look
21:53
Speaker 1: further for the enemies who had injured them, for we
21:55
Speaker 1: were not the people. So they desired them not to
21:58
Speaker 1: disturb us. If they did, we should defend ourselves. They
22:03
Speaker 1: were far from being satisfied with this for an answer,
22:06
Speaker 1: and a great crowd of them came running down in
22:08
Speaker 1: the morning by break of day to our camp, But
22:11
Speaker 1: seeing us so well posted, they durst come no farther
22:15
Speaker 1: than the brook in our front, where they stood in
22:17
Speaker 1: such number as to terrify us very much. Indeed some
22:21
Speaker 1: spoke of ten thousand. Here they stood and looked at
22:24
Speaker 1: us awhile, and then, setting up a great howl, let
22:28
Speaker 1: fly a crowd of arrows among us. But we were
22:31
Speaker 1: well enough sheltered under our baggage, and I do not
22:34
Speaker 1: remember that one of us was hurt. Some time after this,
22:38
Speaker 1: we saw them move a little to our right, and
22:40
Speaker 1: expected them on the rear, when a cunning fellow, a
22:43
Speaker 1: cossack of Jarawena, calling to the leader of the caravan,
22:46
Speaker 1: said to him, I will send all these people away
22:49
Speaker 1: to Sibeka. This was a city four or five days
22:52
Speaker 1: journey at least to the right and rather behind us.
22:55
Speaker 1: So he takes his bow and arrows, and getting on horseback,
22:58
Speaker 1: he rides away from air reared, directly as it were,
23:02
Speaker 1: back to Nurzinsky. After this he takes a great circle
23:05
Speaker 1: about and comes directly on the army of the Tartars,
23:08
Speaker 1: as if he had been sent express to tell them
23:10
Speaker 1: a long story, that the people who had burned the
23:13
Speaker 1: cham Chitongu were gone to Sibeilka with a caravan of miscreants,
23:17
Speaker 1: as he called them, that is to say, Christians, and
23:21
Speaker 1: that they had resolved to burn the god Skalisar belonging
23:24
Speaker 1: to the Tonguses. As this fellow was himself a Tartar
23:28
Speaker 1: and perfectly spoke their language, he counterfeited so well that
23:32
Speaker 1: they all believed him, and away they drove in a
23:34
Speaker 1: violent hurry to Sibeilka. In less than three hours. They
23:38
Speaker 1: were entirely out of our sight, and we never heard
23:41
Speaker 1: any more of them, nor whether they went to Sibeilka
23:44
Speaker 1: or no. So we passed away safely on to Jarawena,
23:48
Speaker 1: where there was a Russian garrison, and there we rested.
23:51
Speaker 1: Five days. From this city we had a frightful desert
23:55
Speaker 1: which held us twenty three days March. We furnished ourselves
23:58
Speaker 1: with some tents here for the better accommodating ourselves in
24:02
Speaker 1: the night, and the leader of the caravan procured sixteen
24:05
Speaker 1: wagons of the country for carrying our water or provisions,
24:09
Speaker 1: and these carriages were our defense every night round our
24:12
Speaker 1: little camp. So that had the tartars appeared, unless they
24:16
Speaker 1: had been very numerous, indeed, they would not have been
24:18
Speaker 1: able to hurt us. We may well be supposed to
24:21
Speaker 1: have wanted rest again after this long journey, for in
24:24
Speaker 1: this desert we neither saw a house nor tree, and
24:27
Speaker 1: scarce a bush. Though we saw abundance of the sable hunters,
24:31
Speaker 1: who are all tartars of Mogul Tartary, of which this
24:35
Speaker 1: country is a part, and they frequently attack small caravans,
24:39
Speaker 1: but we saw no numbers of them together. After we
24:43
Speaker 1: had passed this desert, we came into a country pretty
24:45
Speaker 1: well inhabited, that is to say, we found towns and
24:49
Speaker 1: castles settled by the tsar, with garrisons of stationary soldiers
24:53
Speaker 1: to protect the caravans and defend the country against the
24:56
Speaker 1: Tartars who would otherwise make it very dangerous traveling. And
25:00
Speaker 1: his Tzarish Majesty has given such strict orders for the
25:03
Speaker 1: well guarding the caravans that if there are any Tartars
25:06
Speaker 1: heard of in the country, detachments of the garrison are
25:09
Speaker 1: always sent to see the travelers safe from station to station. Thus,
25:14
Speaker 1: the Governor of Adinskoy, whom I had an opportunity to
25:17
Speaker 1: make a visit to by means of the Scots merchant
25:19
Speaker 1: who was acquainted with him, offered us a guard of
25:22
Speaker 1: fifty men if we thought there was any danger to
25:25
Speaker 1: the next station. I thought long before this that as
25:29
Speaker 1: we came nearer to Europe, we should find the country
25:32
Speaker 1: better inhabited and the people more civilized. But I found
25:35
Speaker 1: myself mistaken in both, for we had yet the nation
25:39
Speaker 1: of the Tonguses to pass through, where we saw the
25:41
Speaker 1: same tokens of paganism and barbarity as before, only as
25:46
Speaker 1: they were conquered by the Muscovites, they were not so dangerous,
25:49
Speaker 1: but for rudeness of manners and idolatry. No people in
25:52
Speaker 1: the world ever went beyond them. They are all clothed
25:56
Speaker 1: in skins of beasts, and their houses are built of
25:58
Speaker 1: the same. I know not a man from a woman,
26:01
Speaker 1: neither by the ruggedness of their countenance nor their clothes.
26:05
Speaker 1: And in the winter, when the ground is covered with snow,
26:08
Speaker 1: they live underground in vaults which have cavities going from
26:11
Speaker 1: one to another. If the Tartars had their cham Chitongu
26:15
Speaker 1: for a whole village or country, these had idols in
26:18
Speaker 1: every hut and every cave. This country I reckon was
26:22
Speaker 1: from the desert I spoke of last, at least four
26:25
Speaker 1: hundred miles, half of it being another desert, which took
26:28
Speaker 1: us up twelve days severe traveling without house or tree,
26:32
Speaker 1: and we were obliged again to carry our own provisions,
26:35
Speaker 1: as well water as bread. After we were out of
26:38
Speaker 1: this desert and had traveled two days, we came to Janize,
26:42
Speaker 1: a Muscovite city or station on the great River Janize,
26:46
Speaker 1: which they told us there parted Europe from Asia. All
26:50
Speaker 1: the country between the River Obi and the River Janize
26:53
Speaker 1: is entirely pagan, and the people as barbarous as the
26:57
Speaker 1: remotest of the Tartars. I also found, which I observed
27:01
Speaker 1: to the Muscovite governors, whom I had an opportunity to
27:04
Speaker 1: converse with, that the poor Pagans are not much wiser
27:07
Speaker 1: or nearer Christianity for being under the Muscovite government, which
27:12
Speaker 1: they acknowledged was true enough. But that, as they said,
27:15
Speaker 1: was none of their business. That if the Tsar expected
27:18
Speaker 1: to convert his Siberian, Tonguse or Tartar subjects, it should
27:22
Speaker 1: be done by sending clergymen among them, not soldiers. And
27:27
Speaker 1: they added, with more sincerity than I expected, that it
27:30
Speaker 1: was not so much the concern of their monarch to
27:32
Speaker 1: make the people Christians as to make them subjects. From
27:37
Speaker 1: this river to the Obi we crossed a wild, uncultivated country,
27:41
Speaker 1: barren of people and good management. Otherwise, it is in
27:45
Speaker 1: itself a pleasant, fruitful and agreeable country. What inhabitants we
27:49
Speaker 1: found in it are all Pagans, except such as are
27:52
Speaker 1: sent among them from Russia. For this is the country
27:55
Speaker 1: I mean on both sides the River Obi, whither the
27:58
Speaker 1: Muscovite criminals that are not put to death are banished,
28:01
Speaker 1: And from whence it is next to impossible they should
28:04
Speaker 1: ever get away. I have nothing material to say of
28:07
Speaker 1: my particular affairs till I came to Tobolski, the capital city
28:11
Speaker 1: of Siberia, where I continued some time on the following account.
28:16
Speaker 1: We had now been almost seven months on our journey,
28:19
Speaker 1: and winter began to come on apace, whereupon my partner
28:22
Speaker 1: and I called a council about our particular affairs, in
28:26
Speaker 1: which we found it proper as we were bound for England,
28:29
Speaker 1: to consider how to dispose of ourselves. They told us
28:32
Speaker 1: of sledges and reindeer to carry us over the snow
28:35
Speaker 1: in the winter time, by which means indeed the Russians
28:39
Speaker 1: travel more in winter than they can in summer, as
28:42
Speaker 1: in these sledges they are able to run night and day.
28:45
Speaker 1: The snow being frozen is one universal covering to nature,
28:49
Speaker 1: by which the hills, vales, rivers and lakes are all
28:52
Speaker 1: smooth and hard as a stone, and they run upon
28:55
Speaker 1: the surface without any regard to what is underneath. But
28:59
Speaker 1: I had no occasion to urge a winter journey of
29:01
Speaker 1: this kind. I was bound to England, not to Moscow,
29:05
Speaker 1: and my route lay two ways. Either I must go
29:08
Speaker 1: on as the caravan went till I came to Jarislaw
29:12
Speaker 1: and then go off west for Narva and the Gulf
29:14
Speaker 1: of Finland, and so on to Danzik, where I might
29:18
Speaker 1: possibly sell my China cargo to good advantage. Or I
29:21
Speaker 1: must leave the caravan at a little town on the Dvina,
29:24
Speaker 1: from whence I had but six days by water to Archangel,
29:28
Speaker 1: and from thence must be sure of shipping either to England,
29:31
Speaker 1: Holland or Hamburg. Now, to go any one of these
29:34
Speaker 1: journeys in the winter would have been preposterous, for as
29:37
Speaker 1: to Danzig, the Baltic would have been frozen up and
29:40
Speaker 1: I could not get passage, and to go by land
29:43
Speaker 1: in those countries was far less safe than among the
29:46
Speaker 1: Mogul Tartars. Likewise, as to Archangel in October, all the
29:50
Speaker 1: ships would be gone from thence, and even the merchants
29:53
Speaker 1: who dwell there in summer retire south to Moscow in
29:56
Speaker 1: the winter when the ships are gone, so that I
29:59
Speaker 1: could have nothing but extremity of cold to encounter with
30:02
Speaker 1: a scarcity of provisions, and must lie in an empty
30:05
Speaker 1: town all the winter. Therefore, upon the whole I thought
30:09
Speaker 1: it much my better way to let the caravan go
30:11
Speaker 1: and make provision to winter where I was at Tobolski
30:15
Speaker 1: in Siberia, in the latitude of about sixty degrees, where
30:19
Speaker 1: I was sure of three things to wear out a
30:21
Speaker 1: cold winter, with viz plenty of provisions, such as the
30:24
Speaker 1: country afforded a warm house, with fuel enough and excellent company.
30:30
Speaker 1: I was now in quite a different climate from my
30:32
Speaker 1: beloved island, where I never felt cold, except when I
30:36
Speaker 1: had my egg yew. On the contrary, I had much
30:39
Speaker 1: to do to bear any clothes on my back, and
30:41
Speaker 1: never made any fire, but without doors, which was necessary
30:45
Speaker 1: for dressing my food, et cetera. Now I had three
30:48
Speaker 1: good vests with large robes or gowns over them to
30:51
Speaker 1: hang down to the feet and button close to the wrists,
30:54
Speaker 1: and all these lined with furs to make them sufficiently warm.
30:58
Speaker 1: As to a warm house, I must infest. I greatly
31:00
Speaker 1: dislike our way in England of making fires in every
31:03
Speaker 1: room of the house in open chimneys, which when the
31:07
Speaker 1: fire is out, always keeps the air in the room
31:10
Speaker 1: cold as the climate. So I took an apartment in
31:13
Speaker 1: a good house in the town, and ordered a chimney
31:15
Speaker 1: to be built like a furnace in the center of
31:18
Speaker 1: six several rooms, like a stove the funnel to carry
31:21
Speaker 1: the smoke went up one way, the door to come
31:24
Speaker 1: at the fire went in another, and all the rooms
31:27
Speaker 1: were kept equally warm, but no fire seen, just as
31:30
Speaker 1: they heat baths in England. By this means we had
31:33
Speaker 1: always the same climate in all the rooms, and an
31:36
Speaker 1: equal heat was preserved, And yet we saw no fire,
31:40
Speaker 1: nor were ever incommoded with smoke. The most wonderful thing
31:44
Speaker 1: of all was that it should be possible to meet
31:47
Speaker 1: with good company here in a country so barbarous as this,
31:50
Speaker 1: one of the most northerly parts of Europe, but this
31:53
Speaker 1: being the country where the state criminals of Muscovy, as
31:56
Speaker 1: I observed before, are all banished. The city was full
32:00
Speaker 1: of Russian noblemen, gentlemen, soldiers and courtiers. Here was the
32:04
Speaker 1: famous Prince galitzin the old German Robostiski, and several other
32:08
Speaker 1: persons of note, and some ladies by means of my
32:11
Speaker 1: Scotch merchant, whom nevertheless I parted with. Here I made
32:15
Speaker 1: an acquaintance with several of these gentlemen, and from these,
32:19
Speaker 1: in the long winter nights in which I stayed there,
32:21
Speaker 1: I received several very agreeable visits. End of chapter fifteen,