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

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Speaker 1: Chapter one revisits Island. That homely proverb used on so
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Speaker 1: many occasions in England viz. That what is bred in
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Speaker 1: the bone will not go out of the flesh, was
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Speaker 1: never more verified than in the story of my life.
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Speaker 1: Any one would think that after thirty five years affliction
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Speaker 1: and a variety of unhappy circumstances which few men, if any,
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Speaker 1: ever went through before, and after near seven years of
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Speaker 1: peace and enjoyment in the fullness of all things grown old,
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Speaker 1: and when, if ever it might be allowed me to
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Speaker 1: have had experience of every state of middle life, and
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Speaker 1: to know which was most adapted to make a man
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Speaker 1: completely happy, I say, after all this, any one would
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Speaker 1: have thought that the native propensity to rambling, which I
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Speaker 1: gave an account of in my first setting out in
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Speaker 1: the world, to have been so predominant in my thoughts
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Speaker 1: should be worn out, and I might, at sixty one
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Speaker 1: years of age, have been a little in inclined to
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Speaker 1: stay at home and have done venturing life and fortune
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Speaker 1: any more. Nay farther, the common motive of foreign adventures
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Speaker 1: was taken away in me, for I had no fortune
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Speaker 1: to make. I had nothing to seek. If I had
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Speaker 1: gained ten thousand pounds. I had been no richer, for
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Speaker 1: I had already sufficient for me and for those I
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Speaker 1: had to leave it to, and what I had was
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Speaker 1: visibly increasing. For having no great family, I could not
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Speaker 1: spend the income of what I had, unless I would
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Speaker 1: set up for an expensive way of living, such as
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Speaker 1: a great family, servants, equipage, gaiety, and the like, which
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Speaker 1: were things I had no notion of or inclination to,
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Speaker 1: so that I had nothing, indeed to do but to
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Speaker 1: sit still and fully enjoy what I had got, and
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Speaker 1: see it increase daily upon my hands. Yet all these
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Speaker 1: things had no effect upon me, or at least not
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Speaker 1: enough to resist the strong inclination I had to go
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Speaker 1: abroad again, with which hung about me like a chronic distemper.
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Speaker 1: In particular, the desire of seeing my new plantation in
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Speaker 1: the island and the colony I left there, ran in
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Speaker 1: my head continually. I dreamed of it all night, and
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Speaker 1: my imagination ran upon it all day. It was uppermost
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Speaker 1: in all my thoughts, and my fancy worked so steadily
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Speaker 1: and strongly upon it that I talked of it in
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Speaker 1: my sleep. In short, nothing could remove it out of
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Speaker 1: my mind. It even broke so violently into all my discourses,
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Speaker 1: that it made my conversation tiresome, for I could talk
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Speaker 1: of nothing else. All my discourse ran into it, even
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Speaker 1: to impertinence, and I saw it myself. I have often
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Speaker 1: heard persons of good judgment say that all the stir
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Speaker 1: that people make in the world about ghosts and apparitions
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Speaker 1: is owing to the strength of imagination and the powerful
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Speaker 1: operation of fancy in their minds, That there is no
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Speaker 1: such thing as a spirit appearing or a ghost walking.
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Speaker 1: That peoples, pouring affectionately upon the past conversation of their
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Speaker 1: deceased friends, so realizes it to them that they are
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Speaker 1: capable of fancying upon some extraordinary circumstances, that they see them,
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Speaker 1: talk to them, and are answered by them, when in
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Speaker 1: truth there is nothing but shadow and vapor in the thing,
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Speaker 1: and they really know nothing of the matter. For my part,
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Speaker 1: I know not to this hour whether there are any
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Speaker 1: such things as real apparitions, specters, or walking of people
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Speaker 1: after they are dead, or whether there is anything in
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Speaker 1: the stories that they tell us of that kind more
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Speaker 1: than the product of vapors, sick minds, and wandering fancies.
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Speaker 1: But this I know that my imagination worked up to
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Speaker 1: such a height and brought me into such excess of vapors,
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Speaker 1: or what else I may call it, that I actually
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Speaker 1: supposed myself often upon the spot at my old castle,
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Speaker 1: behind the trees, saw my old Spaniard, Friday's father, and
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Speaker 1: the reprobate sailors I left upon the island. Ny I fancied.
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Speaker 1: I talked with them and looked at them steadily, though
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Speaker 1: I was broad awake, as at persons just before me,
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Speaker 1: And this I did till I often frightened myself with
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Speaker 1: the images my fancy represented to me. One time, in
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Speaker 1: my sleep I had the villainy of the three pirate
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Speaker 1: sailors so lively related to me by the first Spaniard
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Speaker 1: and Friday's father, that it was surprising. They told me
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Speaker 1: how they barbarously attempted to murder all the Spaniards, and
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Speaker 1: that they set fire to the provisions they had laid
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Speaker 1: up on purpose to distress and starve them, things that
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Speaker 1: I had never heard of, and that indeed were never
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Speaker 1: all of them true in fact. But it was so
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Speaker 1: warm in my imagination and so realized to me that
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Speaker 1: to the hour I saw them, I could not be persuaded,
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Speaker 1: but that it was or would be true. Also, how
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Speaker 1: I resented it when the Spaniard complained to me, and
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Speaker 1: how I brought them to justice, tried them, and ordered
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Speaker 1: them all three to be hanged. What there was really
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Speaker 1: in this shall be seen in its place, For however
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Speaker 1: I came to form such things in my dream, and
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Speaker 1: what secret converse of spirits injected it. Yet there was,
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Speaker 1: I say, much of it true. I own that this
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Speaker 1: dream had nothing in it literally and specifically true. But
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Speaker 1: the general part was so true. The base villainous behavior
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Speaker 1: of these three hardened rogues was such, and had been
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Speaker 1: so much worse than all I can describe. That the
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Speaker 1: dream had too much similitude of the fact, and as
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Speaker 1: I would afterwards have punished them severely. So if I
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Speaker 1: had hanged them all I had been much in the right,
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Speaker 1: and even should have been justified, both by the laws
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Speaker 1: of God and man. But to return to my story,
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Speaker 1: in this kind of temper I lived some years. I
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Speaker 1: had no enjoyment of my life, no pleasant hours, no
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Speaker 1: agreeable diversion. But what had something or other of this
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Speaker 1: in it? So that my wife, who saw my mind
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Speaker 1: wholly bent upon it, told me very seriously one night
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Speaker 1: that she believed there was some secret, powerful impulse of
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Speaker 1: providence upon me which had determined me to go thither again,
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Speaker 1: and that she found nothing hindered me going but my
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Speaker 1: being engaged to a wife and children. She told me
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Speaker 1: that it was true she could not think of parting
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Speaker 1: with me, but as she was assured that if she
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Speaker 1: was dead, it would be the first thing I would do. So,
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Speaker 1: as it seemed to her that the thing was determined above,
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Speaker 1: she would not be the only obstruction, for if I
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Speaker 1: thought fit and resolved to go here. She found me
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Speaker 1: very intent upon her words, and that I looked very
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Speaker 1: earnestly at her, so that it a little disordered her,
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Speaker 1: and she stopped. I asked her why she did not
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Speaker 1: go on and say out what she was going to say.
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Speaker 1: But I perceived that her heart was too full, and
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Speaker 1: some tears stood in her eyes. Speak out, my dear, said,
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Speaker 1: I are you willing I should go? No, says she
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Speaker 1: very affectionately. I am far from willing. But if you
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Speaker 1: are resolved to go, says she, rather than I would
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Speaker 1: be the only hindrance. I will go with you, for
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Speaker 1: though I think it a most preposterous thing for one
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Speaker 1: of your years and in your condition. Yet if it
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Speaker 1: must be said, she again, weeping, I would not leave you,
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Speaker 1: for if it be of Heaven, you must do it.
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Speaker 1: There is no resisting it. And if Heaven make it
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Speaker 1: your duty to go, he will also make it mine
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Speaker 1: to go with you, or otherwise dispose of me, that
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Speaker 1: I may not obstruct it. This affectionate behavior of my
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Speaker 1: wife's brought me a little out of the vapors, and
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Speaker 1: I began to consider what I was doing. I corrected
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Speaker 1: my wandering fancy and began to argue with myself sedately,
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Speaker 1: what business I had, after threescore years, and after such
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Speaker 1: a life of tedious sufferings and disasters, and closed in
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Speaker 1: so happy and easy a manner, I say, what business
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Speaker 1: had I to rush into new hazards and put myself
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Speaker 1: upon adventures fit only for youth and poverty to run into.
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Speaker 1: With those thoughts, I considered my new engagement. That I
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Speaker 1: had a wife, one child born, and my wife then
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Speaker 1: great with child of another. That I had all the
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Speaker 1: world could give me, and had no need to seek
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Speaker 1: hazard for gain. That I was declining in years, and
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Speaker 1: ought to think rather of leaving what I had gained
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Speaker 1: than of seeking to increase it. That as what to
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Speaker 1: my wife had said of its being an impulse from heaven,
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Speaker 1: and that it should be my duty to go. I
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Speaker 1: had no notion of that. So after many of these cogitations,
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Speaker 1: I struggled, with the power of my imagination, reasoned myself
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Speaker 1: out of it, as I believe people may always do
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Speaker 1: in like cases if they will. In a word, I
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Speaker 1: conquered it, composed myself with such arguments as occurred to
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Speaker 1: my thoughts, and which my present condition furnished me plentifully with,
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Speaker 1: and particularly as the most effectual method, I resolved to
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Speaker 1: divert myself with other things, and to an gauge in
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Speaker 1: some business that might effectually tie me up from any
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Speaker 1: more excursions of this kind. For I found that thing
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Speaker 1: return upon me chiefly when I was idle and had
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Speaker 1: nothing to do, nor anything of moment immediately before me.
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Speaker 1: To this purpose, I bought a little farm in the
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Speaker 1: County of Bedford, and resolved to remove myself thither. I
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Speaker 1: had a little convenient house upon it, and the land
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Speaker 1: about it I found was capable of great improvement, and
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Speaker 1: it was many ways suited to my inclination, which delighted
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Speaker 1: in cultivating, managing, planting, and improving of land, and particularly
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Speaker 1: being an inland country, I was removed from conversing among
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Speaker 1: sailors and things relating to the remote parts of the world.
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Speaker 1: I went down to my farm, settled my family, bought plows, harrows,
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Speaker 1: a cart, wagon, horses, cows and sheep, and setting seriously
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Speaker 1: to work, became in one half year a mere country gentleman.
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Speaker 1: My thoughts were entirely taken up in managing my servants,
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Speaker 1: cultivating the ground, inclosing, planting, et cetera. And I lived,
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Speaker 1: as I thought the most agreeable life that nature was
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Speaker 1: capable of directing, or that a man always bred to
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Speaker 1: misfortunes was capable of retreating too. I farmed upon my
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Speaker 1: own land. I had no rent to pay, was limited
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Speaker 1: by no articles. I could pull up or cut down
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Speaker 1: as I pleased. What I planted was for myself, and
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Speaker 1: what I improved was for my family. And having thus left
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Speaker 1: off the thoughts of wandering, I had not the least
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Speaker 1: discomfort in any part of life as to this world. Now,
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Speaker 1: I thought, indeed that I enjoyed the middle state of
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Speaker 1: life which my father so earnestly recommended to me, and
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Speaker 1: lived a kind of heavenly life something like what is
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Speaker 1: described by the poet upon the subject of a country
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Speaker 1: life free from vices, free from care, age has no pain,
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Speaker 1: and youth no snare. But in the middle of all
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Speaker 1: this felicity, one blow from unseen providence unhinged me at once,
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Speaker 1: and not only made a breach upon me inevitable and incurable,
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Speaker 1: but drove me, by its consequences, into a deep relapse
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Speaker 1: of the wandering disposition, which, as I may say, being
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Speaker 1: born in my very blood, soon recovered its hold of me, and,
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Speaker 1: like the returns of a violent distemper, came on with
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Speaker 1: an irresistible force upon me. This blow was the loss
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Speaker 1: of my wife. It is not my business here to
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Speaker 1: write an elegy upon my wife, give a character of
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Speaker 1: her particular virtues, and make my court to the sex
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Speaker 1: by the flattery of a funeral sermon. She was, in
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Speaker 1: a few words, the stay of all my affairs, the
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Speaker 1: center of all my enterprises, the engine that, by her prudence,
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Speaker 1: reduced me to that happy compass I was in from
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Speaker 1: the most extravagant and ruinous project that filled my head
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Speaker 1: and did more to guide my rambling genius than a
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Speaker 1: mother's tears, a father's instructions, a friend's counsel or all
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Speaker 1: my own reasoning powers could do. I was happy in
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Speaker 1: listening to her, and in being moved by her entreaties,
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Speaker 1: and to the last degree, desolate and dislocated in the
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Speaker 1: world by the loss of her. When she was gone,
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Speaker 1: the world looked awkwardly round me. I was as much
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Speaker 1: a stranger in it in my thoughts as I was
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Speaker 1: in the Brazils when I first went on shore there,
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Speaker 1: and as much alone, except for the assistance of servants,
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Speaker 1: as I was in my island. I knew neither what
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Speaker 1: to think nor what to do. I saw the world
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Speaker 1: busy around me, one part laboring for bread, another part
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Speaker 1: squandering in vile excesses or empty pleasures, but equally miserable
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Speaker 1: because the end they proposed still fled from them. For
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Speaker 1: the men of pleasure every day surfeited of their vice
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Speaker 1: and heaped up work for sorrow and repentance. And the
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Speaker 1: men of labor spent their strength in daily struggling for
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Speaker 1: bread to maintain the vital strength they labored with, so
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Speaker 1: living in a daily circulation of sorrow, living but to work,
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Speaker 1: and working, but to live, as if daily bread were
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Speaker 1: the only end of wearisome life. And a wearisome life
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Speaker 1: the only occasion of daily bread. This put me in
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Speaker 1: mind of the life I lived in my kingdom, the
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Speaker 1: island where I suffered no more corn to grow because
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Speaker 1: I did not want it, and bread no more goats
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Speaker 1: because I had no more use for them, where the
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Speaker 1: money lay in the drawer till it grew moldy and
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Speaker 1: had scarce the favor to be looked upon. In twenty
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Speaker 1: years all these things, had I improved them as I
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Speaker 1: ought to have done, and as reason and religion had
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Speaker 1: dictated to me, would have taught me to search farther
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Speaker 1: than human enjoyments for a full felicity, and that there
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Speaker 1: was something which certainly was the reason and end of life,
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Speaker 1: superior to all these things, and which was either to
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Speaker 1: be possessed or at least hoped for, on this side
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Speaker 1: of the grave. But my sage counselor was gone. I
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Speaker 1: was like a ship without a pilot that could only
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Speaker 1: run afore the wind. My thoughts ran all away again
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Speaker 1: into the old affair. My head was quite turned with
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Speaker 1: the whimsies of foreign adventures and all the pleasant innocent
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Speaker 1: amusements of my farm, my garden, my cattle, and my
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Speaker 1: family which before entirely possessed me, were nothing to me,
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Speaker 1: had no relish, and were like music to one who
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Speaker 1: has no ear, or food to one that has no taste.
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Speaker 1: In a word, I resolved to leave off housekeeping, let
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Speaker 1: my farm, and return to London. And in a few
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Speaker 1: months after I did so. When I came to London,
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Speaker 1: I was still as uneasy as I was before. I
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Speaker 1: had no relish for the place, no employment in it,
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Speaker 1: nothing to do but to saunter about like an idle
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Speaker 1: person of whom it may be said, he is perfectly
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Speaker 1: useless in God's creation, and it is not one farthing's
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Speaker 1: matter to the rest of his kind, whether he be
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Speaker 1: dead or alive. This also was the thing which, of
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Speaker 1: all circumstances of life, was the most My aversion, who
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Speaker 1: has been all my days used to an active life,
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Speaker 1: and I would often say to myself, a state of
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Speaker 1: idleness is the very dregs of life. And indeed I
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Speaker 1: thought I was much more suitably employed when I was
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Speaker 1: twenty six days making a deal board. It was now
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Speaker 1: the beginning of the year sixteen ninety three when my nephew, whom,
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Speaker 1: as I have observed before, I had brought up to
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Speaker 1: the sea, and had made him commander of a ship.
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Speaker 1: Was come home from a short voyage to Bilbao, being
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Speaker 1: the first he had made. He came to me and
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Speaker 1: told me that some merchants of his acquaintance had been
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Speaker 1: proposing to him to go a voyage for them to
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Speaker 1: the East Indies and to China as private traders. And
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Speaker 1: now uncle says he, if you will go to sea
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Speaker 1: with me, I will engage to land you upon your
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Speaker 1: old habitation in the island, for we are to touch
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Speaker 1: at the brazils. Nothing can be a greater demonstration of
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Speaker 1: a future state and of the existence of an invisible
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Speaker 1: world than the concurrence of second causes, with the idea
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Speaker 1: of things which we form in our minds, perfectly reserved
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Speaker 1: and not communicated to any in the world. My nephew
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Speaker 1: knew nothing how far my distemper of wandering was returned
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Speaker 1: upon me, and I knew nothing of what he had
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Speaker 1: in his thought to say. When that very morning before
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Speaker 1: he came to me, I had, in a great deal
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Speaker 1: of confusion of thought, and resolving every part of my
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Speaker 1: circumstances in my mind, come to this resolution that I
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Speaker 1: would go to Lisbon and consult with my old sea captain,
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Speaker 1: and if it was rational and practicable, I would go
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Speaker 1: and see the island again, and what was become of
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Speaker 1: my people there. I had pleased myself with the thoughts
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Speaker 1: of peopling the place and carrying inhabitants from hence getting
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Speaker 1: a patent for the possession. And I know not what
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Speaker 1: when in the middle of all this, in comes my nephew,
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Speaker 1: as I have said, with his project of carrying me
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Speaker 1: thither in his way to the East Indies. I paused,
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Speaker 1: awhile at his words, and looking steadily at him, what
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Speaker 1: devil said, I sent you on this unlucky Errand my
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Speaker 1: nephew stared as if he had been frightened at first,
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Speaker 1: but perceiving that I was not much displeased at the proposal,
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Speaker 1: he recovered himself. I hope it may not be an
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Speaker 1: unlucky proposal, sir, says he. I dare say you would
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Speaker 1: be pleased to see your new colony there, where you
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Speaker 1: once reigned with more felicity than most of your brother
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Speaker 1: monarchs in the world. In a word, the scheme hit
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Speaker 1: so exactly with my temper, that is to say, the
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Speaker 1: prepossession I was under, and of which I have said
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Speaker 1: so much that I told him, in a few words,
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Speaker 1: if he agreed with the merchants, I would go with him.
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Speaker 1: But I told him I would not promise to go
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Speaker 1: any further than my own island. Why, sir, says he,
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Speaker 1: you don't want to be left there again? I hope,
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Speaker 1: but said I, can you not take me up again
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Speaker 1: on your return? He told me it would not be
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Speaker 1: possible to do so, that the merchants would never allow
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Speaker 1: him to come that way with a laden ship of
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Speaker 1: such value, it being a month's sail out of his way,
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Speaker 1: and might be three or four. Besides, Sir, if I
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Speaker 1: should miscarry, said he, and not return at all, then
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Speaker 1: you would be just reduced to the condition you were
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Speaker 1: in before. This was very rational, But we both found
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Speaker 1: out a remedy for it, which was to carry a
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Speaker 1: framed sloop on board the ship, which, being taken in pieces, might,
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Speaker 1: by the help of some carpenters whom we agreed to
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Speaker 1: carry with us, be set up again in the island
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Speaker 1: and finished fit to go to sea in a few days.
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Speaker 1: I was not long resolving, for indeed, the importunities of
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Speaker 1: my nephew joined so effectually with my inclination that nothing
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Speaker 1: could oppose me. On the other hand, my wife being dead,
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Speaker 1: none concerned themselves so much for me as to persuade
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Speaker 1: me one way or the other, except my ancient good friend,
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Speaker 1: the widow, who earnestly struggled with me to consider my years,
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Speaker 1: my easy circumstances, and the needless hazards of a long voyage,
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Speaker 1: and above all my young children. But it was all
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Speaker 1: to no purpose. I had an irresistible desire for the voyage,
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Speaker 1: and I told her I thought there was something so
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Speaker 1: uncommon in the impressions I had upon my mind that
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Speaker 1: it would be a kind of resisting providence if I
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Speaker 1: should attempt to stay at home, after which she seized
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Speaker 1: her expostulations and joined with me not only in making
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Speaker 1: provision for my voyage, but also in settling my family
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Speaker 1: affairs for my absence and providing for the education of
19:43
Speaker 1: my children. In order to do this, I made my
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Speaker 1: will and settled the estate I had in such a
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Speaker 1: manner for my children, and placed in such hands that
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Speaker 1: I was perfectly easy and satisfied they would have justice
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Speaker 1: done them whatever might befall me, and for them education.
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Speaker 1: I left it wholly to the widow, with a sufficient
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Speaker 1: maintenance to herself for her care, all which she richly deserved,
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Speaker 1: for no mother could have taken more care in their
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Speaker 1: education or understood it better. And as she lived till
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Speaker 1: I came home, I also lived to thank her for it.
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Speaker 1: My nephew was ready to sail about the beginning of
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Speaker 1: January sixteen ninety four and five, and I, with my
20:26
Speaker 1: man Friday, went on board in the Downs the eighth,
20:30
Speaker 1: having besides that sloop which I mentioned above, a very
20:34
Speaker 1: considerable cargo of all kinds of necessary things for my colony,
20:38
Speaker 1: which if I did not find it in good condition,
20:41
Speaker 1: I resolved to leave. So first I carried with me
20:45
Speaker 1: some servants whom I purposed to place there as inhabitants,
20:49
Speaker 1: or at least to set on work there upon my
20:52
Speaker 1: account while I stayed, and either to leave them there
20:55
Speaker 1: or carry them forward as they should appear willing. Particularly,
21:00
Speaker 1: I carried two carpenters, a smith and a very handy,
21:03
Speaker 1: ingenious fellow, who was a cooper by trade, and was
21:07
Speaker 1: also a general mechanic, for he was dexterous at making
21:10
Speaker 1: wheels and hand mills to grind corn, was a good
21:14
Speaker 1: turner and a good pot maker. He also made anything
21:17
Speaker 1: that was proper to make of earth or of wood.
21:20
Speaker 1: In a word, we called him our jack of all trades.
21:23
Speaker 1: With these I carried a tailor who had offered himself
21:26
Speaker 1: to go a passenger to the East Indies with my nephew,
21:30
Speaker 1: but afterwards consented to stay on our new plantation, and
21:34
Speaker 1: who proved a most necessary handy fellow as could be
21:37
Speaker 1: desired in many other businesses besides that of his trade.
21:41
Speaker 1: For as I observed formerly, necessity arms us for all employments.
21:47
Speaker 1: My cargo, as near as I can recollect, For I
21:50
Speaker 1: have not kept account of the particulars consisted of a
21:53
Speaker 1: sufficient quantity of linen and some English thin stuffs for
21:57
Speaker 1: clothing the Spaniards that I expected to find there, and
22:01
Speaker 1: enough of them as, by my calculation, might comfortably supply
22:05
Speaker 1: them for seven years. If I remember right. The materials
22:08
Speaker 1: I carried for clothing them, with gloves, hats, shoes, stockings,
22:13
Speaker 1: and all such things as they could want for wearing,
22:16
Speaker 1: amounted to about two hundred pounds, including some beds, bedding,
22:20
Speaker 1: and household stuff, particularly kitchen utensils with pots, kettles, pewter,
22:26
Speaker 1: brass et cetera. And near one hundred pounds more in ironwork, nails,
22:31
Speaker 1: tools of every kind, staples, hooks, hinges, and every necessary
22:36
Speaker 1: thing I could think of. I carried also one hundred
22:40
Speaker 1: spare arms, muskets, and fuses, besides some pistols, a considerable
22:45
Speaker 1: quantity of shot of all sizes, three or four tons
22:48
Speaker 1: of lead, and two pieces of brass cannon. And because
22:52
Speaker 1: I knew not what time and what extremities I was
22:55
Speaker 1: providing for, I carried a hundred barrels of powder, beside swords, cutlasses,
23:01
Speaker 1: and the iron part of some pikes and halberds. In short,
23:04
Speaker 1: we had a large magazine of all sorts of store.
23:07
Speaker 1: And I made my nephew carry two small quarter deck guns,
23:11
Speaker 1: more than he wanted for his ship to leave behind
23:14
Speaker 1: if there was occasion, so that when we came there,
23:17
Speaker 1: we might build a fort and man it against all
23:19
Speaker 1: sorts of enemies. Indeed, I at first thought there would
23:23
Speaker 1: be need enough for all, and much more, if we
23:26
Speaker 1: hoped to maintain our possession of the island. As shall
23:29
Speaker 1: be seen in the course of that story, I had
23:33
Speaker 1: not such bad luck in this voyage as I had
23:35
Speaker 1: been used to meet with, and therefore shall have the
23:38
Speaker 1: less occasion to interrupt the reader who perhaps may be
23:42
Speaker 1: impatient to hear how matters went with my colony. Yet
23:46
Speaker 1: some odd accidents, cross winds, and bad weather happened on
23:49
Speaker 1: this first setting out, which made the voyage longer than
23:52
Speaker 1: I expected it at first. And I, who had never
23:56
Speaker 1: made but one voyage, my first voyage to Guinea, in
23:59
Speaker 1: which I might be said to come back again, as
24:02
Speaker 1: the voyage was at first designed, began to think the
24:05
Speaker 1: same ill fate attended me, and that I was born
24:08
Speaker 1: to be never contented with being on shore, and yet
24:12
Speaker 1: to be always unfortunate at sea. Contrary winds first put
24:16
Speaker 1: us to the northward, and we were obliged to put
24:19
Speaker 1: in at Galway in Ireland, where we lay wind bound
24:23
Speaker 1: two and twenty days. But we had this satisfaction with
24:26
Speaker 1: the disaster, that provisions were here exceeding cheap and in
24:30
Speaker 1: the utmost plenty, so that while we lay here we
24:34
Speaker 1: never touched the ship's stores, but rather added to them. Here. Also,
24:39
Speaker 1: I took in several live hogs and two cows with
24:42
Speaker 1: their calves, which I resolved if I had a good
24:45
Speaker 1: passage to put on shore in my island. But we
24:49
Speaker 1: found occasion to dispose otherwise of them. We set out
24:53
Speaker 1: on the fifth of February from Ireland, and had a
24:56
Speaker 1: very fair gale of wind for some days. As I remember,
25:00
Speaker 1: it might be about the twentieth of February in the
25:03
Speaker 1: evening late when the mate having the watch came into
25:06
Speaker 1: the round house and told us he saw a flash
25:09
Speaker 1: of fire and heard a gun fired. And while he
25:12
Speaker 1: was telling us of it, a boy came in and
25:14
Speaker 1: told us the bosun heard another. This made us all
25:17
Speaker 1: run out upon the quarter deck, where for a while
25:20
Speaker 1: we heard nothing. But in a few minutes we saw
25:23
Speaker 1: a very great light and found that there was some
25:26
Speaker 1: very terrible fire at a distance. Immediately we had recourse
25:30
Speaker 1: to our reckonings, in which we all agreed that there
25:33
Speaker 1: could be no land that way in which the fire
25:35
Speaker 1: showed itself, no not for five hundred leagues, for it
25:39
Speaker 1: appeared at west northwest. Upon this we concluded it must
25:43
Speaker 1: be some ship on fire at sea, and as by
25:47
Speaker 1: our hearing the noise of guns just before, we concluded
25:50
Speaker 1: that it could not be far off, we stood directly
25:53
Speaker 1: towards it, and were presently satisfied we should discover it,
25:57
Speaker 1: because the further we sailed, the greater the light appeared.
26:01
Speaker 1: Though the weather being hazy, we could not perceive anything
26:04
Speaker 1: but the light for a while. In about half an
26:07
Speaker 1: hour's sailing, the wind being fair for us, though not
26:10
Speaker 1: much of it, and the weather clearing up a little,
26:13
Speaker 1: we could plainly discern that it was a great ship
26:16
Speaker 1: on fire in the middle of the sea. I was
26:19
Speaker 1: most sensibly touched with this disaster, though not at all
26:23
Speaker 1: acquainted with the persons engaged in it. I presently recollected
26:27
Speaker 1: my former circumstances, and what condition I was in when
26:31
Speaker 1: taken up by the Portuguese captain, and how much more
26:34
Speaker 1: deplorable the circumstances of the poor creatures belonging to that
26:37
Speaker 1: ship must be, if they had no other ship in
26:40
Speaker 1: company with them. Upon this, I immediately ordered that five
26:44
Speaker 1: guns should be fired, one soon after another, that if possible,
26:49
Speaker 1: we might give notice to them that there was help
26:51
Speaker 1: for them at hand, and that they might endeavor to
26:54
Speaker 1: save themselves in their boat, For though we could see
26:57
Speaker 1: the flames of the ship, yet they, being night, could
27:01
Speaker 1: see nothing of us. We lay by some time upon this,
27:05
Speaker 1: only driving as the burning ship drove, waiting for daylight.
27:09
Speaker 1: When on a sudden to our great terror, though we
27:12
Speaker 1: had reason to expect it. The ship blew up in
27:15
Speaker 1: the air, and in a few minutes all the fire
27:18
Speaker 1: was out, that is to say, the rest of the
27:20
Speaker 1: ship sunk. This was a terrible and indeed an afflicting
27:24
Speaker 1: sight for the sake of the poor men, who I
27:27
Speaker 1: concluded must be either all destroyed in the ship or
27:31
Speaker 1: be in the utmost distress in their boat in the
27:34
Speaker 1: middle of the ocean, which at present, as it was dark,
27:38
Speaker 1: I could not see. However, to direct them as well
27:41
Speaker 1: as I could, I caused lights to be hung out
27:44
Speaker 1: in all parts of the ship where we could, and
27:47
Speaker 1: which we had lanterns for, and kept firing guns all
27:50
Speaker 1: the night long, letting them know by this that there
27:54
Speaker 1: was a ship not far off. About eight o'clock in
27:57
Speaker 1: the morning, we discovered the ship's boats by the help
28:00
Speaker 1: of our perspective glasses, and found there were two of them,
28:03
Speaker 1: both thronged with people and deep in the water. We
28:06
Speaker 1: perceived they rowed the wind being against them, that they
28:10
Speaker 1: saw our ship, and did their utmost to make us
28:13
Speaker 1: see them. We immediately spread our ancient to let them
28:16
Speaker 1: know we saw them, and hung a waft out as
28:19
Speaker 1: a signal for them to come on board. And then
28:22
Speaker 1: made more sail, standing directly to them. In little more
28:26
Speaker 1: than half an hour we came up with them and
28:28
Speaker 1: took them all in, being no less than sixty four men,
28:32
Speaker 1: women and children, for there were a great many passengers.
28:37
Speaker 1: Upon inquiry we found it was a French merchant ship
28:40
Speaker 1: of three hundred tons, home bound from Quebec. The master
28:44
Speaker 1: gave us a long account of the distress of his ship,
28:47
Speaker 1: how the fire began in the steerage by the negligence
28:50
Speaker 1: of the steersmen, which, on his crying out for help, was,
28:54
Speaker 1: as everybody thought, entirely put out. But they soon found
28:58
Speaker 1: that some sparks of the first had got into some
29:01
Speaker 1: part of the ship so difficult to come at that
29:03
Speaker 1: they could not effectually quench it. And afterwards, getting in
29:07
Speaker 1: between the timbers and within the ceiling of the ship,
29:10
Speaker 1: it proceeded into the hold and mastered all the skill
29:13
Speaker 1: and all the application they were able to exert. They
29:17
Speaker 1: had no more to do then but to get into
29:19
Speaker 1: their boats, which to their great comfort, were pretty large,
29:23
Speaker 1: being their longboat and a great shallop, besides a small skiff,
29:27
Speaker 1: which was of no great service to them other than
29:30
Speaker 1: to get some fresh water and provisions into her after
29:33
Speaker 1: they had secured their lives from the fire. They had
29:36
Speaker 1: indeed small hopes of their lives by getting into these
29:40
Speaker 1: boats at that distance from any land, only, as they
29:43
Speaker 1: said that they thus escaped from the fire, and there
29:47
Speaker 1: was a possibility that some ship might happen to be
29:49
Speaker 1: at sea and might take them in. They had sails, oars,
29:53
Speaker 1: and a compass, and had as much provision and water
29:57
Speaker 1: as with sparing it so as to be next door
29:59
Speaker 1: to see starving might support them about twelve days, in
30:03
Speaker 1: which if they had no bad weather and no contrary winds,
30:07
Speaker 1: the captain said he hoped he might get to the
30:09
Speaker 1: banks of Newfoundland and might perhaps take some fish to
30:13
Speaker 1: sustain them till they might go on shore. But there
30:16
Speaker 1: were so many chances against them in all these cases,
30:19
Speaker 1: such as storms to overset and founder them, rains and
30:23
Speaker 1: cold to be numb and perish their limbs, contrary winds
30:27
Speaker 1: to keep them out and starve them, that it must
30:30
Speaker 1: have been next to miraculous if they had escaped in
30:34
Speaker 1: the midst of their consternation, every one being hopeless and
30:37
Speaker 1: ready to despair. The captain, with tears in his eyes,
30:41
Speaker 1: told me they were on a sudden surprise with the
30:44
Speaker 1: joy of hearing a gun fire, and after that four more.
30:48
Speaker 1: These were the five guns which I caused to be
30:50
Speaker 1: fired at first seeing the light. This revived their hearts
30:54
Speaker 1: and gave them the notice which, as above I desired
30:57
Speaker 1: it should, that there was a ship at hand and
31:00
Speaker 1: for their help. It was upon the hearing of these
31:03
Speaker 1: guns that they took down their masts and sails, the
31:06
Speaker 1: sound coming from the windward, they resolved to lie by
31:09
Speaker 1: till morning. Some time after this, hearing no more guns,
31:13
Speaker 1: they fired three muskets, one a considerable while after another,
31:18
Speaker 1: but these the wind being contrary, we never heard. Some
31:22
Speaker 1: time after that again they were still more agreeably surprised
31:26
Speaker 1: with seeing our lights and hearing the guns, which, as
31:30
Speaker 1: I have said, I caused to be fired all the
31:32
Speaker 1: rest of the night. This set them to work with
31:35
Speaker 1: their oars to keep their boats ahead, at least that
31:38
Speaker 1: we might the sooner come up with them, and at last,
31:41
Speaker 1: to their inexpressible joy, they found we saw them. It
31:46
Speaker 1: is impossible for me to express the several gestures, the
31:50
Speaker 1: strange ecstasies, the variety of postures which these poor delivered
31:55
Speaker 1: people ran into to express the joy of their souls
31:58
Speaker 1: at so unexpected a deliverance. Grief and fear are easily described. Sighs, tears, groans,
32:05
Speaker 1: and a very few motions of the head and hands
32:08
Speaker 1: make up the sum of its variety. But an excess
32:11
Speaker 1: of joy, a surprise of joy, has a thousand extravagances
32:16
Speaker 1: in it. There were some in tears, some raging and
32:19
Speaker 1: tearing themselves as if they had been in the greatest
32:22
Speaker 1: agonies of sorrow. Some stark, raving and downright lunatic. Some
32:27
Speaker 1: ran about the ships, stamping with their feet, others wringing
32:30
Speaker 1: their hands. Some were dancing, some singing, some laughing, more crying.
32:35
Speaker 1: Many quite dumb, not able to speak a word, others
32:39
Speaker 1: sick and vomiting, several swooning and ready to faint. And
32:43
Speaker 1: a few were crossing themselves and giving God thanks. I
32:47
Speaker 1: would not wrong them either. There might be many that
32:50
Speaker 1: were thankful afterwards, but the passion was too strong for
32:54
Speaker 1: them at first, and they were not able to master it.
32:57
Speaker 1: Then were thrown into ecstasies and a kind of frenzy.
33:01
Speaker 1: And it was but a very few that were composed
33:03
Speaker 1: and serious in their joy. Perhaps also the case may
33:07
Speaker 1: have some addition to it from the particular circumstances of
33:11
Speaker 1: that nation they belonged to. I mean the French, whose
33:15
Speaker 1: temper is allowed to be more volatile, more passionate, and
33:18
Speaker 1: more sprightly, and their spirits more fluid than in other nations.
33:23
Speaker 1: I am not philosopher enough to determine the cause, but
33:26
Speaker 1: nothing I had ever seen before came up to it.
33:30
Speaker 1: The ecstasy's poor Friday, my trusty Savage was in when
33:34
Speaker 1: he found his father in the boat, came the nearest
33:36
Speaker 1: to it. And the surprise of the Master and his
33:39
Speaker 1: two companions, whom I delivered from the villains that set
33:42
Speaker 1: them on shore in the island, came a little way
33:45
Speaker 1: towards it. But nothing was to compare to this, either
33:49
Speaker 1: that I saw in Friday or anywhere else in my life.
33:53
Speaker 1: It is further observable that these extravagances did not show
33:57
Speaker 1: themselves in that different manner. I have mentioned indifferent persons only,
34:02
Speaker 1: but all the variety would appear in a short succession
34:05
Speaker 1: of moments in one and the same person, A man
34:08
Speaker 1: that we saw this minute dumb and as it were,
34:11
Speaker 1: stupid and confounded, would the next minute be dancing and
34:15
Speaker 1: hallooing like an antic and the next moment be tearing
34:19
Speaker 1: his hair, or pulling his clothes to pieces and stamping
34:22
Speaker 1: them under his feet like a madman. In a few
34:25
Speaker 1: moments after that we would have him all in tears,
34:28
Speaker 1: then sick, swooning, and had not immediate help been had,
34:32
Speaker 1: he would in a few moments have been dead. Thus
34:35
Speaker 1: it was not with one or two, or ten or twenty,
34:39
Speaker 1: but with the greatest part of them. And if I
34:41
Speaker 1: remember right, our surgeon was obliged to let blood of
34:45
Speaker 1: about thirty persons. There were two priests among them, one
34:50
Speaker 1: an old man and the other a young man. And
34:52
Speaker 1: that which was strangest was the oldest man, was the worst.
34:56
Speaker 1: As soon as he set his foot on board our
34:58
Speaker 1: ship and saw himself, he dropped down stone dead. To
35:02
Speaker 1: all appearance, not the least sign of life could be
35:06
Speaker 1: perceived in him. Our surgeon immediately applied proper remedies to
35:10
Speaker 1: recover him, and was the only man in the ship
35:12
Speaker 1: that believed he was not dead. At length, he opened
35:16
Speaker 1: a vein in his arm, having first chafed and rubbed
35:19
Speaker 1: the part so as to warm it as much as possible.
35:22
Speaker 1: Upon this the blood which only dropped at first flowing
35:26
Speaker 1: freely in three minutes after the man opened his eyes.
35:30
Speaker 1: A quarter of an hour after that, he spoke, grew better,
35:33
Speaker 1: and after the blood was stopped, he walked about, told
35:36
Speaker 1: us he was perfectly well, and took a dram of cordial,
35:40
Speaker 1: which the surgeon gave him. About a quarter of an
35:42
Speaker 1: hour after this, they came running into the cabin to
35:45
Speaker 1: the surgeon, who was bleeding a frenchwoman that had fainted,
35:48
Speaker 1: and told him the priest was gone stark mad. It
35:52
Speaker 1: seems he had begun to resolve the change of his
35:54
Speaker 1: circumstances in his mind, and again this put him in
35:57
Speaker 1: an ecstasy of joy. His spears whirled about faster than
36:01
Speaker 1: the vessels could convey them. The blood grew hot and feverish,
36:05
Speaker 1: and the man was as fit for bedlam as any
36:07
Speaker 1: creature that ever was in it. The surgeon would not
36:10
Speaker 1: bleed him again in that condition, but gave him something
36:14
Speaker 1: to doze and put him to sleep, which after some
36:17
Speaker 1: time operated upon him, and he awoke next morning perfectly
36:21
Speaker 1: composed and well. The younger priest behaved with great command
36:25
Speaker 1: of his passions, and was really an example of a serious,
36:29
Speaker 1: well governed mind. At his first coming on board the ship.
36:33
Speaker 1: He threw himself flat on his face, prostrating himself in
36:36
Speaker 1: thankfulness for his deliverance, in which I unhappily and unseasonably
36:41
Speaker 1: disturbed him, really thinking he had been in a swoon.
36:45
Speaker 1: But he spoke calmly, thanked me, told me he was
36:48
Speaker 1: giving God thanks for his deliverance, begged me to leave
36:52
Speaker 1: him a few moments, and that next to his maker
36:55
Speaker 1: he would give me thanks. Also. I was heartily sorry
36:58
Speaker 1: that I disturbed him, and not only left him, but
37:02
Speaker 1: kept others from interrupting him. Also. He continued in that
37:05
Speaker 1: posture about three minutes or little more after I left him.
37:09
Speaker 1: Then came to me as he had said he would,
37:12
Speaker 1: and with a great deal of seriousness and affection, but
37:15
Speaker 1: with tears in his eyes, thanked me that had under
37:19
Speaker 1: God given him and so many miserable creatures their lives.
37:23
Speaker 1: I told him I had no need to tell him
37:26
Speaker 1: to thank God for it rather than me, for I
37:29
Speaker 1: had seen that he had done that already. But I
37:31
Speaker 1: added that it was nothing but what reason and humanity
37:34
Speaker 1: dictated to all men, and that we had as much
37:37
Speaker 1: reason as he to give thanks to God who had
37:40
Speaker 1: blessed us so far as to make us the instruments
37:43
Speaker 1: of his mercy to so many of his creatures. After this,
37:47
Speaker 1: the young priest applied himself to his countrymen and labored
37:51
Speaker 1: to compose them. He persuaded, entreatied, argued, reasoned with them,
37:56
Speaker 1: and did his utmost to keep them within the exercise
37:59
Speaker 1: of their reason. And with some he had success, though
38:03
Speaker 1: others were for a time out of all government of themselves.
38:08
Speaker 1: I cannot help committing this to writing, as perhaps it
38:11
Speaker 1: may be useful to those into whose hands it may
38:13
Speaker 1: fall for guiding themselves in the extravagances of their passions.
38:18
Speaker 1: For if an excess of joy can carry men out
38:21
Speaker 1: to such a length beyond the reach of their reason,
38:24
Speaker 1: what will not the extravagances of anger, rage, and a
38:28
Speaker 1: provoked mind carry us too? And indeed here I saw
38:32
Speaker 1: reason for keeping an exceeding watch over our passions of
38:35
Speaker 1: every kind, as well those of joy and satisfaction as
38:39
Speaker 1: those of sorrow and anger. We were somewhat disordered by
38:44
Speaker 1: these extravagances among our new guests for the first day,
38:48
Speaker 1: but after they had retired to lodgings, provided for them
38:51
Speaker 1: as well as our ship would allow, and had slept
38:54
Speaker 1: heartily as most of them did, being fatigued and frightened.
38:58
Speaker 1: They were quite another sort of people. The next day,
39:01
Speaker 1: nothing of good manners or civil acknowledgments for the kindness
39:05
Speaker 1: shown them was wanting. The French, it is known, are
39:08
Speaker 1: naturally apt enough to exceed that way. The captain and
39:12
Speaker 1: one of the priests came to me the next day
39:14
Speaker 1: and desired to speak with me and my nephew. The
39:17
Speaker 1: commander began to consult with us what should be done
39:20
Speaker 1: with them, And first they told us we had saved
39:23
Speaker 1: their lives, so all they had was little enough for
39:26
Speaker 1: ever turned to us for that kindness received, the captain
39:30
Speaker 1: said they had saved some money and some things of
39:32
Speaker 1: value in their boats, caught hastily out of the flames,
39:36
Speaker 1: and if we would accept it, they were ordered to
39:38
Speaker 1: make an offer of it all to us. They only
39:41
Speaker 1: desired to be set on shore somewhere in our way, where,
39:45
Speaker 1: if possible, they might get a passage to France. My
39:48
Speaker 1: nephew wished to accept their money at first word, and
39:52
Speaker 1: to consider what to do with them afterwards, but I
39:55
Speaker 1: overruled him in that part, for I knew what it
39:58
Speaker 1: was to be set on shore in a strain country,
40:00
Speaker 1: and if the Portuguese captain that took me up at sea,
40:03
Speaker 1: had served me so and taken all I had for
40:06
Speaker 1: my deliverance. I must have been starved, or have been
40:10
Speaker 1: as much a slave at the Brazils as I had
40:12
Speaker 1: been at Barbary, the mere being sold to a Mohammedan excepted,
40:17
Speaker 1: and perhaps a Portuguese is not a much better master
40:20
Speaker 1: than a Turk, if not in some cases much worse.
40:25
Speaker 1: I therefore told the French captain that we had taken
40:27
Speaker 1: them up in their distress, it was true, but that
40:31
Speaker 1: it was our duty to do so, as we were
40:33
Speaker 1: fellow creatures, and we would desire to be so delivered
40:37
Speaker 1: if we were in the like or any other extremity.
40:40
Speaker 1: That we had done nothing for them, but what we
40:42
Speaker 1: believed they would have done for us if we had
40:45
Speaker 1: been in their case and they in ours. But that
40:48
Speaker 1: we took them up to save them, not to plunder them.
40:51
Speaker 1: And it would be a most barbarous thing to take
40:53
Speaker 1: that little from them which they had saved out of
40:56
Speaker 1: the fire, and then set them on shore and leave them.
41:00
Speaker 1: That this would be first to save them from death,
41:02
Speaker 1: and then kill them ourselves, save them from drowning, and
41:06
Speaker 1: abandon them to starving, and therefore I would not let
41:09
Speaker 1: the least thing be taken from them. As to setting
41:13
Speaker 1: them on shore, I told them, indeed, that was an
41:16
Speaker 1: exceeding difficulty to us, for that the ship was bound
41:20
Speaker 1: to the East Indies. And though we were driven out
41:23
Speaker 1: of our course to the westward a very great way,
41:25
Speaker 1: and perhaps were directed by Heaven on purpose for their deliverance,
41:30
Speaker 1: yet it was impossible for us wilfully to change our
41:33
Speaker 1: voyage on their particular account, nor could my nephew the
41:37
Speaker 1: captain answer it to the freighters with whom he was
41:40
Speaker 1: under charter to pursue his voyage by way of Brazil.
41:44
Speaker 1: And all I knew we could do for them was
41:46
Speaker 1: to put ourselves in the way of meeting with other
41:48
Speaker 1: ships homeward bound from the West Indies, and get them
41:52
Speaker 1: a passage, if possible, to England or France. The first
41:57
Speaker 1: part of the proposal was so generous and kind they
42:00
Speaker 1: could not but be very thankful for it. But they
42:03
Speaker 1: were in very great consternation, especially the passengers, at the
42:07
Speaker 1: notion of being carried away to the East Indies. They
42:10
Speaker 1: then entreated me that as I was driven so far
42:13
Speaker 1: to the westward, before I met with them, I would
42:16
Speaker 1: at least keep on the same course to the banks
42:18
Speaker 1: of Newfoundland, where it was probable I might meet with
42:22
Speaker 1: some ship or sloop that they might hire to carry
42:25
Speaker 1: them back to Canada. I thought this was but a
42:28
Speaker 1: reasonable request on their part, and therefore I inclined to
42:32
Speaker 1: agree to it. For indeed, I considered that to carry
42:35
Speaker 1: this whole company to the East Indies would not only
42:38
Speaker 1: be an intolerable severity upon the poor people, but would
42:42
Speaker 1: be ruining our whole voyage by devouring all our provisions.
42:46
Speaker 1: So I thought it no breach of charter party. But
42:48
Speaker 1: what an unforeseen accident made absolutely necessary to us, and
42:53
Speaker 1: in which no one could say we were to blame
42:56
Speaker 1: for the laws of God and nature would have forbid
42:58
Speaker 1: that we should refuse to take up two boats full
43:01
Speaker 1: of people in such a distressed condition, And the nature
43:04
Speaker 1: of the thing as well, respecting ourselves as the poor people,
43:09
Speaker 1: obliged us to set them on shore somewhere or other
43:12
Speaker 1: for their deliverance. So I consented that we would carry
43:15
Speaker 1: them to Newfoundland if wind and weather would permit, and
43:19
Speaker 1: if not, I would carry them to Martinico in the
43:23
Speaker 1: West Indies. The wind continued fresh easterly, but the weather
43:27
Speaker 1: pretty good, and as the winds had continued in the
43:30
Speaker 1: points between northeast and southeast a long time, we missed
43:34
Speaker 1: several opportunities of sending them to France. For we met
43:38
Speaker 1: several ships bound to Europe, whereof two were French from
43:42
Speaker 1: Saint Christopher's, but they had been so long beating up
43:45
Speaker 1: against the wind that they durst take in no passengers
43:49
Speaker 1: for fear of wanting provisions for the voyage as well
43:52
Speaker 1: for themselves as for those they should take in. So
43:55
Speaker 1: we were obliged to go on. It was about a
43:58
Speaker 1: week after this that we met and made the banks
44:00
Speaker 1: of Newfoundland, where, to shorten my story, we put all
44:05
Speaker 1: our French people on board of bark which they hired
44:07
Speaker 1: at sea there to put them on shore and afterwards
44:11
Speaker 1: to carry them to France if they could get provisions
44:14
Speaker 1: to victual themselves with. When I say all the French
44:18
Speaker 1: went on shore, I should remember that the young priest
44:21
Speaker 1: I spoke of, hearing we were bound to the East Indies,
44:25
Speaker 1: desired to go the voyage with us and to be
44:28
Speaker 1: set on shore on the coast of Coromandel, which I
44:31
Speaker 1: readily agreed to, for I wonderfully liked the man, and
44:35
Speaker 1: had very good reason, as will appear afterwards. Also four
44:39
Speaker 1: of the seamen entered themselves on our ship, and proved
44:42
Speaker 1: very useful fellows. From hence we directed our course for
44:46
Speaker 1: the West Indies, steering away south and south by east
44:50
Speaker 1: for about twenty days, together, sometimes little or no wind
44:55
Speaker 1: at all, when we met with another subject for our
44:58
Speaker 1: humanity to work upon, almost as deplorable as that before
45:04
Speaker 1: end of Chapter one