Latest / Classic Adventure Books - Daily / 02 - The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Chapter two, intervening History of Colony. It was in the
- 0:06Speaker 1: latitude of twenty seven degrees five minutes north on the
- 0:09Speaker 1: nineteenth day of March sixteen ninety four and ninety five,
- 0:13Speaker 1: when we spied a sail our course southeast and by south.
- 0:17Speaker 1: We soon perceived it was a large vessel, and that
- 0:20Speaker 1: she bore up to us, but could not at first
- 0:23Speaker 1: know what to make of her, till after coming a
- 0:26Speaker 1: little nearer, we found she had lost her main, topmast,
- 0:29Speaker 1: foremast and bowsprit, and presently she fired a gun as
- 0:33Speaker 1: a signal of distress. The weather was pretty good when
- 0:37Speaker 1: at north northwest a fresh gale, and we soon came
- 0:41Speaker 1: to speak with her. We found her a ship of
- 0:43Speaker 1: Bristol bound home from Barbados, but had been blown out
- 0:47Speaker 1: of the road at Barbados a few days before. She
- 0:50Speaker 1: was ready to sail by a terrible hurricane, while the
- 0:53Speaker 1: captain and chief mate were both gone on shore, so
- 0:56Speaker 1: that besides the terror of the storm, they were in
- 1:00Speaker 1: an indifferent case for good mariners to bring the ship home.
- 1:03Speaker 1: They had been already nine weeks at sea, and had
- 1:07Speaker 1: met with another terrible storm after the hurricane was over,
- 1:10Speaker 1: which had blown them quite out of their knowledge to
- 1:13Speaker 1: the westward, and in which they lost their masts. They
- 1:17Speaker 1: told us they expected to have seen the Bahama Islands,
- 1:20Speaker 1: but were then driven away again to the southeast by
- 1:24Speaker 1: a strong gale of wind at north northwest, the same
- 1:27Speaker 1: that blew now. And having no sails to work the
- 1:30Speaker 1: ship with but a main course and a kind of
- 1:33Speaker 1: square sail upon a jury foremast which they had set up,
- 1:37Speaker 1: they could not lie near the wind, but were endeavoring
- 1:40Speaker 1: to stand away for the canaries. But that which was
- 1:44Speaker 1: worst of all was that they were almost starved for
- 1:47Speaker 1: want of provisions. Besides the fatigues they had undergone, Their
- 1:51Speaker 1: bread and flesh were quite gone. They had not one
- 1:55Speaker 1: ounce left in the ship, and had had none for
- 1:57Speaker 1: eleven days. The only relief if they had was their
- 2:01Speaker 1: water was not all spent, and they had about half
- 2:04Speaker 1: a barrel of flour left. They had sugar enough, some
- 2:08Speaker 1: ciccades or sweetmeats they had at first, but these were
- 2:11Speaker 1: all devoured, and they had seven casks of rum. There
- 2:15Speaker 1: was a youth and his mother and a maid servant
- 2:17Speaker 1: on board, who were passengers, and thinking the ship was
- 2:21Speaker 1: ready to sail, unhappily came on board the evening before
- 2:24Speaker 1: the hurricane began, and having no provisions of their own left,
- 2:28Speaker 1: they were in a more deplorable condition than the rest.
- 2:31Speaker 1: For the seamen, being reduced to such an extreme necessity themselves,
- 2:36Speaker 1: had no compassion, we may be sure, for the poor passengers,
- 2:40Speaker 1: and they were indeed in such a condition that their
- 2:43Speaker 1: misery is very hard to describe. I had perhaps not
- 2:48Speaker 1: known this part, if my curiosity had not led me
- 2:51Speaker 1: the weather being fair and the wind abated to go
- 2:54Speaker 1: on board the ship. The second mate, who upon this
- 2:57Speaker 1: occasion commanded the ship, had been on board our ship,
- 3:01Speaker 1: and he told me they had three passengers in the
- 3:03Speaker 1: great cabin that were in a deplorable condition. Nay, says he,
- 3:08Speaker 1: I believe they are dead, for I have heard nothing
- 3:11Speaker 1: of them for above two days, and I was afraid
- 3:14Speaker 1: to inquire after them, said he, for I had nothing
- 3:17Speaker 1: to relieve them with. We immediately applied ourselves to give
- 3:21Speaker 1: them what relief we could spare. And indeed, I had
- 3:24Speaker 1: so far overruled things with my nephew that I would
- 3:28Speaker 1: have victualled them, though we had gone away to Virginia
- 3:31Speaker 1: or any other part of the coast of America, to
- 3:34Speaker 1: have supplied ourselves, but there was no necessity for that.
- 3:39Speaker 1: But now they were in a new danger, for they
- 3:41Speaker 1: were afraid of eating too much, even of that little
- 3:44Speaker 1: we gave them. The mate, or commander, brought six men
- 3:48Speaker 1: with him in his boat. But these poor wretches looked
- 3:51Speaker 1: like skeletons, and were so weak that they could hardly
- 3:54Speaker 1: sit to their oars. The mate himself was very ill
- 3:58Speaker 1: and half starved, for he did declared he had reserved
- 4:01Speaker 1: nothing from the men, and went share and share alike
- 4:04Speaker 1: with them. In every bit they ate. I cautioned him
- 4:08Speaker 1: to eat sparingly, and set meat before him immediately, But
- 4:12Speaker 1: he had not eaten three mouthfuls before he began to
- 4:15Speaker 1: be sick and out of order. So he stopped awhile,
- 4:18Speaker 1: and our surgeon mixed him up something with some broth,
- 4:21Speaker 1: which he said would be to him both food and
- 4:24Speaker 1: physic and after he had taken it, he grew better.
- 4:27Speaker 1: In the meantime, I forgot not the men. I ordered
- 4:30Speaker 1: victuals to be given them, and the poor creatures rather
- 4:34Speaker 1: devoured than ate it. They were so exceedingly hungry that
- 4:38Speaker 1: they were in a manner ravenous, and had no command
- 4:41Speaker 1: of themselves. And two of them ate with so much
- 4:44Speaker 1: greediness that they were in danger of their lives. The
- 4:47Speaker 1: next morning. The sight of these people's distress was very
- 4:51Speaker 1: moving to me, and brought to mind what I had
- 4:54Speaker 1: a terrible prospect of at my first coming on shore
- 4:57Speaker 1: in my island, where I had not the least men
- 5:00Speaker 1: mouthful of food, or any prospect of procuring any besides
- 5:04Speaker 1: the hourly apprehensions I had of being made the food
- 5:07Speaker 1: of other creatures. But all the while the Mate was
- 5:11Speaker 1: thus relating to me the miserable condition of the ship's company,
- 5:15Speaker 1: I could not put out of my thought the story
- 5:17Speaker 1: he had told me of the three poor creatures in
- 5:20Speaker 1: the great cabin, viz. The mother, her son, and the
- 5:23Speaker 1: maid servant, whom he had heard nothing of for two
- 5:26Speaker 1: or three days, and whom he seemed to confess they
- 5:30Speaker 1: had wholly neglected, their own extremities being so great, by
- 5:34Speaker 1: which I understood that they had really given them no
- 5:37Speaker 1: food at all, and that therefore they must be perished
- 5:41Speaker 1: and be all lying dead, perhaps on the floor or
- 5:44Speaker 1: deck of the cabin. As I therefore kept the mate,
- 5:49Speaker 1: whom we then called Captain, on board with his men
- 5:52Speaker 1: to refresh them so I also forgot not the starving
- 5:56Speaker 1: crew that were left on board, but ordered my own
- 5:58Speaker 1: boat to go on board the ship, and with my
- 6:01Speaker 1: mate and twelve men to carry them a sack of
- 6:04Speaker 1: bread and four or five pieces of beef to boil.
- 6:07Speaker 1: Our surgeon charged the men to cause the meat to
- 6:10Speaker 1: be boiled while they stayed, and to keep guard in
- 6:13Speaker 1: the cook room to prevent the men taking it to
- 6:15Speaker 1: eat raw, or taking it out of the pot before
- 6:18Speaker 1: it was well boiled. And then to give every man
- 6:21Speaker 1: but a very little at a time. And by this
- 6:24Speaker 1: caution he preserved the men who would otherwise have killed
- 6:27Speaker 1: themselves with that very food that was given them on
- 6:30Speaker 1: purpose to save their lives. At the same time, I
- 6:35Speaker 1: ordered the mate to go into the great cabin and
- 6:37Speaker 1: see what condition the poor passengers were in, and if
- 6:41Speaker 1: they were alive, to comfort them and give them what
- 6:44Speaker 1: refreshment was proper. And the surgeon gave him a large
- 6:47Speaker 1: pitcher with some of the prepared broth which he had
- 6:50Speaker 1: given the mate that was on board, and which he
- 6:53Speaker 1: did not question, would restore them gradually. I was not
- 6:56Speaker 1: satisfied with this, but as I said above, having a
- 7:00Speaker 1: great mind to see the scene of misery, which I
- 7:02Speaker 1: knew the ship itself would present me with in a
- 7:05Speaker 1: more lively manner than I could have it by report.
- 7:08Speaker 1: I took the captain of the ship, as we now
- 7:10Speaker 1: called him, with me, and went myself a little after
- 7:14Speaker 1: in their boat. I found the poor men on board
- 7:18Speaker 1: almost in a tumult to get the victuals out of
- 7:21Speaker 1: the boiler before it was ready. But my mate observed
- 7:25Speaker 1: his orders and kept a good guard at the cook
- 7:27Speaker 1: room door, and the man he placed there after, using
- 7:31Speaker 1: all possible persuasion to have patience, kept them off by force. However,
- 7:36Speaker 1: he caused some biscuit cakes to be dipped in the
- 7:39Speaker 1: pot and softened with the liquor of the meat, which
- 7:42Speaker 1: they called brewis, and gave them every one of them
- 7:45Speaker 1: to stay their stomachs, and told them it was for
- 7:48Speaker 1: their own safety that he was obliged to give them
- 7:50Speaker 1: but little at a time. But it was all in vain,
- 7:54Speaker 1: And had I not come on board and their own
- 7:56Speaker 1: commander and officers with me, and with good words and
- 8:00Speaker 1: some threats also of giving them no more, I believe
- 8:03Speaker 1: they would have broken into the cook room by force
- 8:06Speaker 1: and torn the meat out of the furnace. For words
- 8:09Speaker 1: are indeed of very small force next to a hungry belly. However,
- 8:14Speaker 1: we pacified them and fed them gradually and cautiously at first,
- 8:19Speaker 1: and the next time gave them more, and at last
- 8:22Speaker 1: filled their bellies. And the men did well enough. But
- 8:26Speaker 1: the misery of the poor passengers in the cabin was
- 8:30Speaker 1: of another nature, and far beyond the rest. For as
- 8:34Speaker 1: first the ship's company had so little for themselves, it
- 8:38Speaker 1: was but too true that they had at first kept
- 8:41Speaker 1: them very low, and at last totally neglected them, so
- 8:45Speaker 1: that for six or seven days, it might be said,
- 8:47Speaker 1: they had really no food at all, and for several
- 8:50Speaker 1: days before very little. The poor mother, who as the
- 8:54Speaker 1: men reported, was a woman of sense and good breeding,
- 8:58Speaker 1: had spared all she could so affectionately for her son,
- 9:02Speaker 1: that at last she entirely sank under it. And when
- 9:05Speaker 1: the mate of our ship went in, she sat upon
- 9:08Speaker 1: the floor on deck, with her back up against the
- 9:11Speaker 1: sides between two chairs which were lashed fast, and her
- 9:15Speaker 1: head sunk between her shoulders, like a corpse, Though not
- 9:19Speaker 1: quite dead. My mate said all he could to revive
- 9:22Speaker 1: and encourage her, and with a spoon put some broth
- 9:25Speaker 1: into her mouth. She opened her lips and lifted up
- 9:29Speaker 1: one hand, but could not speak. Yet she understood what
- 9:33Speaker 1: he said and made signs to him, intimating that it
- 9:36Speaker 1: was too late for her, but pointed to her child
- 9:39Speaker 1: as if she would have said they should take care
- 9:42Speaker 1: of him. However, the mate, who was exceedingly moved at
- 9:45Speaker 1: the sight, endeavored to get some of the broth into
- 9:48Speaker 1: her mouth, and, as he said, got two or three
- 9:52Speaker 1: spoonfuls down, though I question whether he could be sure
- 9:55Speaker 1: of it or not. But it was too late, and
- 9:58Speaker 1: she died the same night. The youth, who was preserved
- 10:03Speaker 1: at the price of his most affectionate mother's life was
- 10:07Speaker 1: not so far gone yet. He lay in a cabin
- 10:10Speaker 1: bed as one stretched out, with hardly any life left
- 10:13Speaker 1: in him. He had a piece of an old glove
- 10:16Speaker 1: in his mouth, having eaten up the rest of it. However,
- 10:19Speaker 1: being young and having more strength than his mother, the
- 10:23Speaker 1: mate got something down his throat, and he began sensibly
- 10:27Speaker 1: to revive, though by giving him some time after but
- 10:30Speaker 1: two or three spoonfuls extraordinary, he was very sick and
- 10:35Speaker 1: brought it up again. But the next care was the
- 10:38Speaker 1: poor maid. She lay all along upon the deck, hard
- 10:42Speaker 1: by her mistress, and just like one that had fallen
- 10:45Speaker 1: down in a fit of apoplexy and struggled for life.
- 10:49Speaker 1: Her limbs were distorted. One of her hands was clasped
- 10:53Speaker 1: round the frame of the chair, and she gripped it
- 10:55Speaker 1: so hard that we could not easily make her let
- 10:58Speaker 1: it go. Her other arm lay over her head, and
- 11:01Speaker 1: her feet lay both together, set fast against the frame
- 11:05Speaker 1: of the cabin table. In short, she lay just like
- 11:08Speaker 1: one in the agonies of death, and yet she was
- 11:11Speaker 1: alive too. The poor creature was not only starved with
- 11:15Speaker 1: hunger and terrified with the thoughts of death, but, as
- 11:19Speaker 1: the men told us afterward, was broken hearted for her mistress,
- 11:23Speaker 1: whom she saw dying for two or three days before,
- 11:27Speaker 1: and whom she loved most tenderly. We knew not what
- 11:30Speaker 1: to do with this poor girl. For when our surgeon,
- 11:34Speaker 1: who was a man of very great knowledge and experience,
- 11:37Speaker 1: had with great application recovered her as to life, he
- 11:41Speaker 1: had her upon his hands still, for she was little
- 11:45Speaker 1: less than distracted for a considerable time after. Whoever shall
- 11:50Speaker 1: read these memorandums must be desired to consider that visits
- 11:54Speaker 1: at sea are not like a journey into the country,
- 11:57Speaker 1: where sometimes people stay a week or a f fortnight
- 12:00Speaker 1: at a place. Our business was to relieve this distressed
- 12:04Speaker 1: ship's crew, but not lie by for them. And though
- 12:07Speaker 1: they were willing to steer the same course with us
- 12:10Speaker 1: for some days, yet we could carry no sail to
- 12:13Speaker 1: keep pace with a ship that had no masts. However,
- 12:17Speaker 1: as their captain begged of us to help him to
- 12:19Speaker 1: set up a main topmast and a kind of a
- 12:22Speaker 1: topmast to his jury foremast, we did, as it were,
- 12:26Speaker 1: lie by him for three or four days, and then
- 12:29Speaker 1: having given him five barrels of beef, a barrel of pork,
- 12:33Speaker 1: two hogsheads of biscuit, and a proportion of peas, flour,
- 12:37Speaker 1: and what other things we could spare, and taking three
- 12:40Speaker 1: casks of sugar, some rum, and some pieces of eight
- 12:44Speaker 1: from them for satisfaction, we left them, taking on board
- 12:48Speaker 1: with us at their own earnest request, the youth and
- 12:51Speaker 1: the maid and all their goods. The young lad was
- 12:55Speaker 1: about seventeen years of age, a pretty well bred, modest
- 12:59Speaker 1: and sensible youth, greatly dejected with the loss of his
- 13:03Speaker 1: mother and also at having lost his father. But a
- 13:06Speaker 1: few months before at Barbados, he begged of the surgeon
- 13:10Speaker 1: to speak to me to take him out of the ship.
- 13:13Speaker 1: For he said that the cruel fellows had murdered his mother,
- 13:16Speaker 1: And indeed so they had, that is to say, passively,
- 13:20Speaker 1: for they might have spared a small sustenance to the poor,
- 13:23Speaker 1: helpless widow, though it had been but just enough to
- 13:26Speaker 1: keep her alive. But hunger knows no friend, no relation,
- 13:31Speaker 1: no justice, no right, and therefore is remorseless and capable
- 13:35Speaker 1: of no compassion. The surgeon told him how far we
- 13:40Speaker 1: were going, and that it would carry him away from
- 13:42Speaker 1: all his friends, and put him perhaps in as bad
- 13:46Speaker 1: circumstances almost as those we found him in, that is
- 13:49Speaker 1: to say, starving in the world. He said, it mattered
- 13:52Speaker 1: not whither he went, if he was but delivered from
- 13:55Speaker 1: the terrible crew that he was among. That the captain
- 13:59Speaker 1: by which he meant me, for he could know nothing
- 14:01Speaker 1: of my nephew, had saved his life, and he was
- 14:05Speaker 1: sure would not hurt him. And as for the maid,
- 14:07Speaker 1: he was sure if she came to herself, she would
- 14:11Speaker 1: be very thankful for it. And let us carry them
- 14:14Speaker 1: where we would. The surgeon represented the case so affectionately
- 14:18Speaker 1: to me that I yielded, and we took them both
- 14:21Speaker 1: on board with all their goods except eleven hogsheads of sugar,
- 14:25Speaker 1: which could not be removed or come at And as
- 14:28Speaker 1: the youth had a bill of lading for them, I
- 14:31Speaker 1: made his commander sign a writing obliging himself to go
- 14:35Speaker 1: as soon as he came to Bristol to one mister Rogers,
- 14:38Speaker 1: a merchant there, to whom the youth said he was related,
- 14:42Speaker 1: and to deliver a letter which I wrote to him,
- 14:44Speaker 1: and all the goods he had belonging to the deceased widow,
- 14:48Speaker 1: which I suppose was not done, for I could never
- 14:51Speaker 1: learn that the ship came to Bristol, but was, as
- 14:54Speaker 1: is most probable, lost at sea, being in so disabled
- 14:58Speaker 1: a condition and so far from any land that I
- 15:01Speaker 1: am of opinion the first storm she met with afterwards
- 15:04Speaker 1: she might found her, for she was leaky and had
- 15:07Speaker 1: damage in her hold. When we met with her, I
- 15:11Speaker 1: was now in the latitude of nineteen degrees thirty two minutes,
- 15:15Speaker 1: and had hitherto a tolerable voyage as to weather, though
- 15:18Speaker 1: at first the winds had been contrary. I shall trouble
- 15:22Speaker 1: nobody with the little incidents of wind, weather, currents, et cetera.
- 15:26Speaker 1: On the rest of our voyage. But to shorten my story,
- 15:30Speaker 1: shall observe that I came to my old habitation the island,
- 15:34Speaker 1: on the tenth of April sixteen ninety five. It was
- 15:37Speaker 1: with no small difficulty that I found the place, for
- 15:40Speaker 1: as I came to it and went to it before,
- 15:43Speaker 1: on the south and east side of the island coming
- 15:46Speaker 1: from the Brazils, so now coming in between the main
- 15:50Speaker 1: and the island, and having no chart for the coast
- 15:52Speaker 1: nor any landmark, I did not know it when I
- 15:55Speaker 1: saw it, or know whether I saw it or not.
- 15:59Speaker 1: We beat about a great while and went on shore
- 16:02Speaker 1: several islands in the mouth of the great River or Inoco,
- 16:05Speaker 1: but none for my purpose. Only this I learned by
- 16:09Speaker 1: my coasting the shore, that I was under one great
- 16:11Speaker 1: mistake before, viz. That the continent which I thought I
- 16:15Speaker 1: saw from the island I lived in was really no continent,
- 16:19Speaker 1: but a long island, or rather a ridge of islands,
- 16:22Speaker 1: reaching from one to the other side of the extended
- 16:25Speaker 1: mouth of that great river. And that the savages who
- 16:28Speaker 1: came to my island were not properly those which we
- 16:31Speaker 1: call Caribees, but islanders and other barbarians of the same
- 16:36Speaker 1: kind who inhabited nearer to our side than the rest.
- 16:41Speaker 1: In short, I visited several of these islands to no purpose.
- 16:45Speaker 1: Some I found were inhabited, and some were not. On
- 16:48Speaker 1: one of them I found some Spaniards and thought they
- 16:51Speaker 1: had lived there, But speaking with them, found they had
- 16:54Speaker 1: a sloop lying in a small creek hard by, and
- 16:57Speaker 1: came thither to make salt and to catch some pearl
- 17:01Speaker 1: muscles if they could, but that they belonged to the
- 17:04Speaker 1: Isle de Trinidad, which lay farther south in the latitude
- 17:07Speaker 1: of ten and eleven degrees, thus coasting from one island
- 17:12Speaker 1: to another, sometimes with the ship, sometimes with the frenchman's shallop,
- 17:16Speaker 1: which we had found a convenient boat, and therefore kept
- 17:20Speaker 1: her with their very good will. At length I came
- 17:23Speaker 1: fair on the south side of my island, and presently
- 17:26Speaker 1: knew the very countenance of the place. So I brought
- 17:29Speaker 1: the ship safe to an anchor broadside with the little creek,
- 17:33Speaker 1: where my old habitation was. As soon as I saw
- 17:36Speaker 1: the place, I called for Friday and asked him if
- 17:39Speaker 1: he knew where he was. He looked about a little,
- 17:42Speaker 1: and presently, clapping his hands, cried, oh, yes, O, there oh, yes,
- 17:46Speaker 1: o there pointing to our old habitation, and fell dancing
- 17:50Speaker 1: and capering like a mad fellow. And I had much
- 17:53Speaker 1: ado to keep him from jumping into the sea to
- 17:56Speaker 1: swim ashore to the place. Well, Friday, says I, do
- 18:00Speaker 1: you think we shall find anybody here? Or no? And
- 18:03Speaker 1: do you think we shall see your father? The fellow
- 18:06Speaker 1: stood mute as a stalk a good while, But when
- 18:09Speaker 1: I named his father, the poor affectionate creature looked dejected,
- 18:13Speaker 1: and I could see the tears run down his face,
- 18:15Speaker 1: very plentifully. What is the matter, Friday, Are you troubled
- 18:19Speaker 1: because you may see your father? No, no, says he,
- 18:22Speaker 1: shaking his head. No see him more, No, never more
- 18:26Speaker 1: see him again. Why so, Friday, how do you know that?
- 18:30Speaker 1: Oh no, oh no, says Friday. He long ago, die,
- 18:34Speaker 1: long ago, he much old man. Well, well, Friday, you
- 18:37Speaker 1: don't know. But shall we see any one else? Then?
- 18:41Speaker 1: The fellow, it seems, had better eyes than I, and
- 18:44Speaker 1: he points to the hill just above my old house.
- 18:48Speaker 1: And though we lay half a league off, he cries out,
- 18:51Speaker 1: we see we see, yes, we see much man there
- 18:54Speaker 1: and there and there I looked, but I saw nobody, No,
- 18:58Speaker 1: not with a perspective glass, which was I suppose because
- 19:02Speaker 1: I could not hit the place for the fellow was right,
- 19:05Speaker 1: as I found upon inquiry the next day, and there
- 19:08Speaker 1: were five or six men all together who stood to
- 19:11Speaker 1: look at the ship, not knowing what to think of us.
- 19:16Speaker 1: As soon as Friday told me he saw people, I
- 19:18Speaker 1: caused the English ancient to be spread and fired three
- 19:22Speaker 1: guns to give them notice we were friends. And in
- 19:25Speaker 1: about a quarter of an hour after we perceived a
- 19:28Speaker 1: smoke arise from the side of the creek. So I
- 19:31Speaker 1: immediately ordered the boat out, taking Friday with me and
- 19:35Speaker 1: hanging out a white flag, I went directly on shore,
- 19:39Speaker 1: taking with me the young Friar I mentioned to whom
- 19:42Speaker 1: I had told the story of my living there and
- 19:45Speaker 1: the manner of it, and every particular both of myself
- 19:48Speaker 1: and those I left there, and who was on that
- 19:51Speaker 1: account extremely desirous to go with me. We had besides
- 19:56Speaker 1: about sixteen men well armed if we had found any
- 19:59Speaker 1: new gues there, which we did not know of, but
- 20:02Speaker 1: we had no need of weapons. As we went on
- 20:06Speaker 1: shore upon the tide of flood near high water, we
- 20:09Speaker 1: rowed directly into the creek, and the first man I
- 20:12Speaker 1: fixed my eye upon was the Spaniard whose life I
- 20:15Speaker 1: had saved, and whom I knew by his face perfectly.
- 20:19Speaker 1: Well as to his habit, I shall describe it afterwards.
- 20:23Speaker 1: I ordered nobody to go on shore at first but myself,
- 20:27Speaker 1: But there was no keeping Friday in the boat, for
- 20:30Speaker 1: the affectionate creature had spied his father at a distance,
- 20:33Speaker 1: a good way off the Spaniards, where indeed I saw
- 20:37Speaker 1: nothing of him, And if they had not let him
- 20:39Speaker 1: go ashore, he would have jumped into the sea. He
- 20:42Speaker 1: was no sooner on shore, but he flew away to
- 20:45Speaker 1: his father like an arrow out of a bow. It
- 20:48Speaker 1: would have made any man shed tears in spite of
- 20:51Speaker 1: the firmest resolution, to have seen the first transports of
- 20:55Speaker 1: this poor fellow's joy. When he came to his father,
- 20:58Speaker 1: how he embraced him, kissed him, stroked his face, took
- 21:02Speaker 1: him up in his arms, set him down upon a tree,
- 21:05Speaker 1: and lay down by him. Then stood and looked at
- 21:08Speaker 1: him as any one would look at a strange picture,
- 21:11Speaker 1: for a quarter of an hour together, then lay down
- 21:15Speaker 1: on the ground and stroked his legs and kissed them,
- 21:18Speaker 1: and then got up again and stared at him. One
- 21:21Speaker 1: would have thought the fellow bewitched, but it would have
- 21:23Speaker 1: made a dog laugh the next day to see how
- 21:26Speaker 1: his passion ran out another way. In the morning, he
- 21:29Speaker 1: walked along the shore with his father several hours, always
- 21:32Speaker 1: leading him by the hand, as if he had been
- 21:35Speaker 1: a lady, And every now and then he would come
- 21:38Speaker 1: to the boat to fetch something or other for him,
- 21:40Speaker 1: either a lump of sugar, a dram a biscuit, or
- 21:43Speaker 1: something or other that was good. In the afternoon, his
- 21:47Speaker 1: frolics ran another way, For then he would set the
- 21:50Speaker 1: old man down upon the ground and dance about him,
- 21:53Speaker 1: and make a thousand antique gestures. And all the while
- 21:56Speaker 1: he did this, he would be talking to him and
- 21:59Speaker 1: telling him one story or another of his travels and
- 22:02Speaker 1: of what had happened to him abroad, to divert him.
- 22:05Speaker 1: In short, if the same filial affection was to be
- 22:08Speaker 1: found in Christians to their parents in our part of
- 22:11Speaker 1: the world, one would be tempted to say, there would
- 22:14Speaker 1: hardly have been any need of the Fifth Commandment. But
- 22:18Speaker 1: this is a digression. I returned to my landing. It
- 22:21Speaker 1: would be needless to take notice of all the ceremonies
- 22:24Speaker 1: and civilities that the Spaniards received me. With the first
- 22:28Speaker 1: Spaniard whom, as I said, I knew very well, was
- 22:31Speaker 1: he whose life I had saved. He came towards the boat,
- 22:35Speaker 1: attended by one more carrying a flag of truce also,
- 22:39Speaker 1: and he not only did not know me at first,
- 22:42Speaker 1: but he had no thoughts, no notion of its being
- 22:44Speaker 1: me that was come till I spoke to him signor
- 22:48Speaker 1: said I in Portuguese, do you not know me? At
- 22:51Speaker 1: which he spoke not a word, but giving his musket
- 22:54Speaker 1: to the man that was with him, threw his arms abroad,
- 22:57Speaker 1: saying something in Spanish that I did not perfre came
- 23:01Speaker 1: forward and embraced me, telling me he was inexcusable not
- 23:05Speaker 1: to know that face again that he had once seen
- 23:08Speaker 1: as of an angel from heaven sent to save his life.
- 23:11Speaker 1: He said, abundance of very handsome things, as a well
- 23:15Speaker 1: bred Spaniard always knows how, and then, beckoning to the
- 23:19Speaker 1: person that attended him, bade him go and call out
- 23:22Speaker 1: his comrades. He then asked me if I would walk
- 23:25Speaker 1: to my old habitation, where he would give me possession
- 23:28Speaker 1: of my own house again, and where I should see
- 23:31Speaker 1: they had made but mean improvements. I walked along with him,
- 23:35Speaker 1: but alas I could no more find the place than
- 23:38Speaker 1: if I had never been there. For they had planted
- 23:41Speaker 1: so many trees and placed them in such a position,
- 23:44Speaker 1: so thick and close to one another, and in ten
- 23:47Speaker 1: years time they were grown so big that the place
- 23:51Speaker 1: was inaccessible except by such windings and blind ways as
- 23:55Speaker 1: they themselves only who made them could find. I asked
- 24:00Speaker 1: them what put them upon all these fortifications? He told me,
- 24:04Speaker 1: I would say there was need enough of it. When
- 24:06Speaker 1: they had given me an account how they had passed
- 24:09Speaker 1: their time since their arriving in the island, especially after
- 24:13Speaker 1: they had the misfortune to find that I was gone.
- 24:16Speaker 1: He told me he could not but have some pleasure
- 24:18Speaker 1: in my good fortune when he heard that I was
- 24:21Speaker 1: gone in a good ship and to my satisfaction, and
- 24:25Speaker 1: that he had oftentimes a strong persuasion that one time
- 24:28Speaker 1: or other he should see me again. But nothing that
- 24:31Speaker 1: ever befell him in his life, he said, was so
- 24:35Speaker 1: surprising and afflicting to him at first as the disappointment
- 24:39Speaker 1: he was under when he came back to the island
- 24:41Speaker 1: and found I was not there. As to the three barbarians,
- 24:46Speaker 1: so he called them that were left behind, and of
- 24:49Speaker 1: whom he said he had a long story to tell me.
- 24:52Speaker 1: The Spaniards all thought themselves much better among the savages,
- 24:56Speaker 1: only that their number was so small, and says he,
- 25:00Speaker 1: had they been strong enough, we had been no long
- 25:03Speaker 1: ago in purgatory, And with that he crossed himself on
- 25:06Speaker 1: the breast. But sir, says he, I hope you will
- 25:09Speaker 1: not be displeased when I shall tell you how forced
- 25:12Speaker 1: by necessity we were obliged for our own preservation to
- 25:16Speaker 1: disarm them and make them our subjects, as they would
- 25:19Speaker 1: not be content with being moderately our masters, but would
- 25:23Speaker 1: be our murderers. I answered, I was afraid of it
- 25:27Speaker 1: when I left them there, and nothing troubled me at
- 25:30Speaker 1: my parting from the island, but that they were not
- 25:33Speaker 1: come back, that I might have put them in possession
- 25:35Speaker 1: of everything first, and left the others in a state
- 25:38Speaker 1: of subjection, as they deserved. But if they had reduced
- 25:42Speaker 1: them to it, I was very glad, and should be
- 25:45Speaker 1: very far from finding any fault with it, for I
- 25:48Speaker 1: knew they were a parcel of refractory, ungoverned villains, and
- 25:53Speaker 1: were fit for any manner of mischief. While I was
- 25:56Speaker 1: saying this, the man came whom he had sent back,
- 25:59Speaker 1: and with him eleven more. In the dress they were in,
- 26:03Speaker 1: it was impossible to guess what nation they were of,
- 26:06Speaker 1: but he made all clear, both to them and to me.
- 26:09Speaker 1: First he turned to me, and, pointing to them, said, these, sir,
- 26:13Speaker 1: are some of the gentlemen who owe their lives to you.
- 26:17Speaker 1: And then, turning to them and pointing to me, he
- 26:20Speaker 1: let them know who I was, upon which they all
- 26:23Speaker 1: came up, one by one, not as if they had
- 26:25Speaker 1: been sailors and ordinary fellows and the like, but really
- 26:30Speaker 1: as if they had been ambassadors or noblemen, and I
- 26:33Speaker 1: a monarch or great conqueror. Their behavior was to the
- 26:37Speaker 1: last degree obliging and courteous, and yet mixed with a manly,
- 26:42Speaker 1: majestic gravity, which very well became them. And in short,
- 26:46Speaker 1: they had so much more manners than I that I
- 26:49Speaker 1: scarce knew how to receive their civilities, much less how
- 26:53Speaker 1: to return them in kind. The history of their coming
- 26:57Speaker 1: to and conduct in the island and after my going
- 27:01Speaker 1: away is so very remarkable, and has so many incidents
- 27:05Speaker 1: which the former part of my relation will help to understand,
- 27:08Speaker 1: and which will in most of the particulars refer to
- 27:12Speaker 1: the account I have already given that I cannot but
- 27:15Speaker 1: commit them with great delight to the reading of those
- 27:18Speaker 1: that come after me. In order to do this as
- 27:22Speaker 1: intelligibly as I can, I must go back to the
- 27:25Speaker 1: circumstances in which I left the island and the persons
- 27:28Speaker 1: on it of whom I am to speak. And first
- 27:31Speaker 1: it is necessary to repeat that I had sent away
- 27:34Speaker 1: Friday's father and the Spaniard, the two whose lives I
- 27:38Speaker 1: had rescued from the savages, in a large canoe to
- 27:41Speaker 1: the main as I then thought it to fetch over
- 27:44Speaker 1: the Spaniard's companions, that he left behind them, in order
- 27:48Speaker 1: to save them from the like calamity that he had
- 27:50Speaker 1: been in, and in order to succor them for the present,
- 27:54Speaker 1: and that if possible, we might together find some way
- 27:57Speaker 1: for our deliverance afterwards, when I sent them away, I
- 28:01Speaker 1: had no visible appearance of or the least room to
- 28:04Speaker 1: hope for my own deliverance, any more than I had
- 28:08Speaker 1: twenty years before. Much less had I any foreknowledge of
- 28:12Speaker 1: what afterwards happened. I mean of an English ship coming
- 28:15Speaker 1: on shore there to fetch me off, and it could
- 28:18Speaker 1: not be but a very great surprise to them when
- 28:21Speaker 1: they came back, not only to find that I was gone,
- 28:24Speaker 1: but to find three strangers left on the spot, possessed
- 28:28Speaker 1: of all that I had left behind me, which would
- 28:30Speaker 1: otherwise have been their own. The first thing, however, which
- 28:34Speaker 1: I inquired into that I might begin where I left off,
- 28:38Speaker 1: was of their own part, and I desired the Spaniard
- 28:41Speaker 1: would give me a particular account of his voyage back
- 28:44Speaker 1: to his countrymen with the boat. When I sent him
- 28:47Speaker 1: to fetch them over. He told me there was little
- 28:50Speaker 1: variety in that part, for nothing remarkable happened to them
- 28:54Speaker 1: on the way, having had very calm weather and a
- 28:57Speaker 1: smooth sea. As for his countrymen, it could not be doubted,
- 29:01Speaker 1: he said, but that they were overjoyed to see him.
- 29:04Speaker 1: It seems he was the principal man among them, the
- 29:07Speaker 1: captain of the vessel they had been shipwrecked in, having
- 29:10Speaker 1: been dead some time. They were, he said, the more
- 29:14Speaker 1: surprised to see him, because they knew that he was
- 29:17Speaker 1: fallen into the hands of the savages, who they were
- 29:20Speaker 1: satisfied would devour him as they did all the rest
- 29:23Speaker 1: of their prisoners. That when he told them the story
- 29:26Speaker 1: of his deliverance, and in what manner he was furnished
- 29:30Speaker 1: for carrying them away. It was like a dream to them,
- 29:33Speaker 1: and their astonishment, he said, was somewhat like that of
- 29:37Speaker 1: Joseph's brethren when he told them who he was and
- 29:40Speaker 1: the story of his exultation in Pharaoh's court. But when
- 29:43Speaker 1: he showed them the arms, the powder, the ball, the
- 29:46Speaker 1: provisions that he had brought them for their journey or voyage,
- 29:50Speaker 1: they were restored to themselves, took a just share of
- 29:53Speaker 1: the joy of their deliverance, and immediately prepared to come
- 29:57Speaker 1: away with him. Their first business was to get canoes,
- 30:01Speaker 1: and in this they were obliged not to stick so
- 30:04Speaker 1: much upon the honesty of it, but to trespass upon
- 30:07Speaker 1: their friendly savages, and to borrow two large canoes or periaguas,
- 30:13Speaker 1: on pretense of going out of fishing or for pleasure
- 30:16Speaker 1: in these. They came away the next morning. It seems
- 30:20Speaker 1: they wanted no time to get themselves ready, for they
- 30:23Speaker 1: had neither clothes, nor provisions, nor anything in the world
- 30:26Speaker 1: but what they had on them, and a few roots
- 30:29Speaker 1: to eat, of which they used to make their bread.
- 30:32Speaker 1: They were in all three weeks absent and in that time,
- 30:36Speaker 1: unluckily for them, I had the occasion offered for my escape,
- 30:40Speaker 1: as I mentioned in the other part, and to get
- 30:43Speaker 1: off from the island, leaving three of the most impudent, hardened, ungoverned,
- 30:47Speaker 1: disagreeable villains behind me that any man could desire to
- 30:51Speaker 1: meet with. To the poor Spaniards great grief and disappointment.
- 30:56Speaker 1: The only just thing the rogues did was that when
- 31:00Speaker 1: the Spaniards came ashore, they gave my letter to them
- 31:03Speaker 1: and gave them provisions and other relief, as I had
- 31:07Speaker 1: ordered them to do. Also, they gave them the long
- 31:10Speaker 1: paper of directions which I had left with them, containing
- 31:13Speaker 1: the particular methods which I took for managing every part
- 31:17Speaker 1: of my life. There the way I baked my bread,
- 31:20Speaker 1: bred up tame goats, and planted my corn, how I
- 31:23Speaker 1: cured my grapes, made my pots, and in a word,
- 31:27Speaker 1: everything I did, all this being written down they gave
- 31:31Speaker 1: to the Spaniards. Two of them understood English well enough.
- 31:35Speaker 1: Nor did they refuse to accommodate the Spaniards with anything else,
- 31:39Speaker 1: for they agreed very well for some time. They gave
- 31:42Speaker 1: them an equal admission into the house or cave and
- 31:45Speaker 1: they began to live very sociably, and the head Spaniard,
- 31:49Speaker 1: who had seen pretty much of my methods, together with
- 31:52Speaker 1: Friday's father, managed all their affairs. But as for the Englishmen,
- 31:58Speaker 1: they did nothing but ramble about the other island, shoot
- 32:01Speaker 1: parrots and catch tortoises, And when they came home at night,
- 32:05Speaker 1: the Spaniards provided their suppers for them. The Spaniards would
- 32:09Speaker 1: have been satisfied with this had the others but let
- 32:12Speaker 1: them alone, which, however, they could not find in their
- 32:16Speaker 1: hearts to do long. But like the dog in the manger,
- 32:19Speaker 1: they would not eat themselves, neither would they let the
- 32:22Speaker 1: others eat. The differences, nevertheless, were at first but trivial,
- 32:27Speaker 1: and such as are not worth relating. But at last
- 32:30Speaker 1: it broke out into open war, and it began with
- 32:33Speaker 1: all the rudeness and insolence that can be imagined without reason,
- 32:37Speaker 1: without provocation, contrary to nature, and indeed to common sense.
- 32:43Speaker 1: And though it is true the first relation of it
- 32:46Speaker 1: came from the Spaniards themselves, whom I may call the accusers.
- 32:50Speaker 1: Yet when I came to examine the fellows, they could
- 32:53Speaker 1: not deny a word of it. But before I come
- 32:57Speaker 1: to the particulars of this part, I must apply a
- 33:00Speaker 1: defect in my former relation, and this was I forgot
- 33:04Speaker 1: to set down among the rest, that just as we
- 33:07Speaker 1: were weighing the anchor to set sail, there happened a
- 33:10Speaker 1: little quarrel on board of our ship, which I was
- 33:13Speaker 1: once afraid would have turned to a second mutiny. Nor
- 33:16Speaker 1: was it appeased till the captain, rousing up his courage
- 33:20Speaker 1: and taking us all to his assistance, parted them by force,
- 33:24Speaker 1: and making two of the most refractory fellows prisoners. He
- 33:27Speaker 1: laid them in irons, and as they had been active
- 33:30Speaker 1: in the former disorders, and let fall some ugly dangerous words.
- 33:35Speaker 1: The second time he threatened to carry them in irons
- 33:38Speaker 1: to England and have them hanged there for mutiny and
- 33:41Speaker 1: running away with the ship. This, it seems, though the
- 33:45Speaker 1: captain did not intend to do, it, frightened some other
- 33:48Speaker 1: men in the ship, and some of them had put
- 33:50Speaker 1: it into the head of the rest that the captain
- 33:53Speaker 1: only gave them good words for the present till they
- 33:55Speaker 1: should come to some English port, and that then they
- 33:58Speaker 1: should be all put into jail and tried for their lives.
- 34:02Speaker 1: The mate got intelligence of this and acquainted us with it,
- 34:06Speaker 1: upon which it was desired that I, who still passed
- 34:09Speaker 1: for a great man among them, should go down with
- 34:12Speaker 1: the Mate and satisfy the men, and tell them that
- 34:15Speaker 1: they might be assured if they behaved well the rest
- 34:18Speaker 1: of the voyage. All they had done for the time
- 34:21Speaker 1: past should be pardoned. So I went, and after passing
- 34:25Speaker 1: my honor's word to them, they appeared easy, and the
- 34:28Speaker 1: more so when I caused the two men that were
- 34:31Speaker 1: in irons to be released and forgiven. But this mutiny
- 34:35Speaker 1: had brought us to anchor for that night, the wind
- 34:38Speaker 1: also falling calm. Next morning we found that our two
- 34:42Speaker 1: men who had been laid in irons had stolen each
- 34:45Speaker 1: of them a musket and some other weapons. What powder
- 34:48Speaker 1: or shot they had we knew not, and had taken
- 34:51Speaker 1: the ship's pinnace, which was not yet hauled up, and
- 34:55Speaker 1: run away with her to their companions in roguery on shore.
- 34:59Speaker 1: As soon as we he found this, I ordered the
- 35:01Speaker 1: longboat on shore with twelve men and the mate, and
- 35:05Speaker 1: away they went to seek the rogues, But they could
- 35:08Speaker 1: neither find them, nor any of the rest, for they
- 35:10Speaker 1: all fled into the woods when they saw the boat
- 35:13Speaker 1: coming on shore, the mate was once resolved, in justice
- 35:17Speaker 1: to their roguery, to have destroyed their plantations, burned all
- 35:21Speaker 1: their household stuff and furniture, and left them to shift
- 35:24Speaker 1: without it. But having no orders, he let it all alone,
- 35:28Speaker 1: left everything as he found it, and bringing the pinnace way,
- 35:32Speaker 1: came on board without them. These two men made their
- 35:35Speaker 1: number five. But the other three villains were so much
- 35:38Speaker 1: more wicked than they, that after they had been two
- 35:42Speaker 1: or three days together, they turned the two newcomers out
- 35:45Speaker 1: of doors to shift for themselves, and would have nothing
- 35:48Speaker 1: to do with them, nor could they for a good
- 35:51Speaker 1: while be persuaded to give them any food. As for
- 35:54Speaker 1: the Spaniards, they were not yet come. When the Spaniards
- 35:58Speaker 1: came first on shore, the business began to go forward.
- 36:02Speaker 1: The Spaniards would have persuaded the three English brutes to
- 36:05Speaker 1: have taken in their country men again, that as they said,
- 36:09Speaker 1: they might be all one family, but they would not
- 36:12Speaker 1: hear of it. So the two poor fellows lived by themselves, and,
- 36:16Speaker 1: finding nothing but industry and application would make them live comfortably.
- 36:21Speaker 1: They pitched their tents on the north shore of the island,
- 36:24Speaker 1: but a little more to the west to be out
- 36:26Speaker 1: of danger of the savages who always landed on the
- 36:29Speaker 1: east parts of the island. Here they built them two huts,
- 36:33Speaker 1: one to lodge in and the other to lay up
- 36:36Speaker 1: their magazines and stores in. And the Spaniards, having given
- 36:39Speaker 1: them some corn for seed, and some of the peas
- 36:42Speaker 1: which I had left them, they dug planted and inclosed
- 36:46Speaker 1: after the pattern I had set for them all, and
- 36:49Speaker 1: began to live pretty well. Their first crop of corn
- 36:52Speaker 1: was on the ground, And though it was but a
- 36:54Speaker 1: little bit of land which they had dug up at first,
- 36:58Speaker 1: having had but a little time, yet, it was enough
- 37:01Speaker 1: to relieve them and find them with bread and other eatables.
- 37:05Speaker 1: And one of the fellows, being the cook's mate of
- 37:07Speaker 1: the ship, was very ready at making soup puddings, and
- 37:11Speaker 1: such other preparations as the rice and the milk, and
- 37:15Speaker 1: such little flesh as they got furnished him to do.
- 37:19Speaker 1: They were going on in this little thriving position, when
- 37:22Speaker 1: the three unnatural rogues, their own countrymen, too, in mere
- 37:26Speaker 1: humor and to insult them, came and bullied them and
- 37:30Speaker 1: told them the island was theirs, that the governor, meaning me,
- 37:34Speaker 1: had given them the possession of it, and nobody else
- 37:37Speaker 1: had any right to it, and that they should build
- 37:40Speaker 1: no houses upon their ground unless they would pay rent
- 37:43Speaker 1: for them. The two men, thinking they were jesting, at
- 37:46Speaker 1: first asked them to come in and sit down and
- 37:50Speaker 1: see what fine houses they were that they had built,
- 37:53Speaker 1: and to tell them what rent they demanded. And one
- 37:56Speaker 1: of them merrily said, if they were the ground landlords,
- 37:59Speaker 1: he hoped if they built tenements upon their land and
- 38:02Speaker 1: made improvements, they would, according to the custom of landlords,
- 38:06Speaker 1: grant a long lease, and desired they would get a
- 38:09Speaker 1: scrivener to draw the writings. One of the three, cursing
- 38:13Speaker 1: and raging, told them they should see they were not
- 38:16Speaker 1: in jest, and going to a little place at a distance,
- 38:19Speaker 1: where the honest men had made a fire to dress
- 38:22Speaker 1: their victuals, he takes a firebrand and claps it to
- 38:25Speaker 1: the outside of their hut and set it on fire. Indeed,
- 38:29Speaker 1: it would have been all burned down in a few
- 38:31Speaker 1: minutes if one of the two had not run to
- 38:33Speaker 1: the fellow, thrust him away, and trod the fire out
- 38:37Speaker 1: with his feet, and that not without some difficulty too.
- 38:42Speaker 1: The fellow was in such a rage at the honest
- 38:44Speaker 1: man's thrusting him away, that he returned upon him with
- 38:48Speaker 1: a pole he had in his hand and had not.
- 38:50Speaker 1: The man avoided the blow very nimbly and run into
- 38:54Speaker 1: the hut he had ended his days at once. His comrade,
- 38:58Speaker 1: seeing the danger they were both in, ran after him,
- 39:01Speaker 1: and immediately they came both out with their muskets, and
- 39:05Speaker 1: the man that was first struck at with the pole
- 39:07Speaker 1: knocked the fellow down that began the quarrel with the
- 39:10Speaker 1: stock of his musket, and that before the other two
- 39:14Speaker 1: could come to help him. And then, seeing the rest
- 39:16Speaker 1: come at them, they stood together, and, presenting the other
- 39:20Speaker 1: ends of their pieces to them, bade them stand off.
- 39:24Speaker 1: The others had fire arms with them too, But one
- 39:27Speaker 1: of the two honest men, bolder than his comrade, and
- 39:31Speaker 1: made desperate by his danger, told them if they offered
- 39:34Speaker 1: to move hand or foot, they were dead men, and
- 39:38Speaker 1: boldly commanded them to lay down their arms. They did
- 39:41Speaker 1: not indeed lay down their arms, but seeing him so resolute,
- 39:46Speaker 1: it brought them to a parley, and they consented to
- 39:49Speaker 1: take their wounded man with them and be gone. And
- 39:52Speaker 1: indeed it seems the fellow was wounded sufficiently with the blow. However,
- 39:57Speaker 1: they were much in the wrong, since they had the
- 40:00Speaker 1: advantage that they did not disarm them effectually as they
- 40:04Speaker 1: might have done, and have gone immediately to the Spaniards
- 40:07Speaker 1: and given them an account how the rogues had treated them.
- 40:11Speaker 1: For the three villains studied nothing but revenge, and every
- 40:15Speaker 1: day gave them some intimation that they did so. End
- 40:19Speaker 1: of Chapter two