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

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Speaker 1: Chapter four. First weeks on the island. When I waked,
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Speaker 1: it was broad day, the weather clear, and the storm abated,
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Speaker 1: so that the sea did not rage and swell as before.
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Speaker 1: But that which surprised me most was that the ship
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Speaker 1: was lifted off in the night from the sand where
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Speaker 1: she lay by the swelling of the tide, and was
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Speaker 1: driven up almost as far as the rock which I
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Speaker 1: had first mentioned where I had been so bruised by
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Speaker 1: the wave dashing me against it. This being within about
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Speaker 1: a mile from the shore where I was, and the
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Speaker 1: ship seeming to stand upright still, I wished myself on
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Speaker 1: board that at least I might save some necessary things
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Speaker 1: for my use. When I came down from my apartment
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Speaker 1: in the tree, I looked about me again, and the
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Speaker 1: first thing I found was the boat, which lay as
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Speaker 1: the wind and the sea had tossed upon the land,
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Speaker 1: about two miles on my right hand. I walked as
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Speaker 1: far as I could upon the shore to have got
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Speaker 1: to her, but found a neck or inlet of water
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Speaker 1: between me and the boat, which was about half a
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Speaker 1: mile broad. So I came back for the present, being
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Speaker 1: more intent upon getting at the ship, where I hoped
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Speaker 1: to find something for my present subsistence. A little afternoon
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Speaker 1: I found the sea very calm, and the tide ebbed
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Speaker 1: so far out that I could come within a quarter
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Speaker 1: of a mile of the ship. And here I found
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Speaker 1: a fresh renewing of my grief, for I saw evidently
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Speaker 1: that if we had kept on board, we had all
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Speaker 1: been safe, that is to say, we had all got
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Speaker 1: safe on shore, and I had not been so miserable
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Speaker 1: as to be left entirely destitute of all comfort and company,
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Speaker 1: as I now was. This forced tears to my eyes again.
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Speaker 1: But as there was little relief in that, I resolved,
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Speaker 1: if possible to get to the ship. So I pulled
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Speaker 1: off my clothes, for the weather was so hot to
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Speaker 1: an extremity, and took the water. But when I came
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Speaker 1: to the ship, my difficulty was still greater to know
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Speaker 1: how to get on board, for as she lay aground
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Speaker 1: and high out of the water, there was nothing within
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Speaker 1: my reach to lay hold of. I swam around her twice,
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Speaker 1: and the second time I spied a small piece of rope,
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Speaker 1: which I wondered I did not see at first, hung
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Speaker 1: down by the fore chains so low as that with
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Speaker 1: great difficulty I got hold of it, and by the
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Speaker 1: help of that rope, I got up into the forecastle
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Speaker 1: of the ship. Here I found that the ship was
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Speaker 1: bulged and had a great deal of water in her hold,
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Speaker 1: but that she lay so on the side of a
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Speaker 1: of hard sand, or rather earth, that her stern lay
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Speaker 1: lifted up upon the bank, and her head low almost
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Speaker 1: to the water. By this means all her quarter was free,
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Speaker 1: and all that was in that part was dry. For
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Speaker 1: you may be sure, my first work was to search
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Speaker 1: and to see what was spoiled and what was free.
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Speaker 1: And first I found that all the ship's provisions were
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Speaker 1: dry and untouched by the water. And being very well
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Speaker 1: disposed to eat, I went to the bread room and
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Speaker 1: filled my pockets with biscuit, and ate it as I
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Speaker 1: went about other things, for I had no time to lose.
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Speaker 1: I also found some rum in the great cabin, of
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Speaker 1: which I took a large dram and which I had
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Speaker 1: indeed need enough to spirit me for what was before me.
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Speaker 1: Now I wanted nothing but a boat to furnish myself
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Speaker 1: with many things, which I foresaw would be very necessary
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Speaker 1: to me. It was in vain to sit still and
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Speaker 1: wish for what was not to be had, And this
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Speaker 1: extremity roused my application. We had several spare yards and
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Speaker 1: two or three large spars of wood, and a spare
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Speaker 1: top mast or two in the ship. I resolved to
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Speaker 1: work to fall with these, and I flung as many
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Speaker 1: of them overboard as I could manage for their weight,
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Speaker 1: tying everyone with a rope that they may not drive away.
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Speaker 1: When this was done, I went down the ship's side,
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Speaker 1: and pulling them to me, I tied four of them
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Speaker 1: together at both ends as well as I could, in
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Speaker 1: the form of a raft, and laying two or three
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Speaker 1: short pieces of plank upon them crossways. I found I
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Speaker 1: could walk upon it very well, but that it was
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Speaker 1: not able to bear any great weight, the pieces being
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Speaker 1: too light. So I went to work, and with the
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Speaker 1: carpenter saw, I cut a spare top mast into three
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Speaker 1: lengths and added them to my raft. With a great
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Speaker 1: deal of labor and pains, but the hope of furnishing
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Speaker 1: myself with necessaries encouraged me to go beyond what I
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Speaker 1: should have been able to have done. Upon another occasion.
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Speaker 1: My raft was now strong enough to bear any reasonable weight.
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Speaker 1: My next care was what to loaded with and how
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Speaker 1: to preserve what I had laid upon it from the
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Speaker 1: surf of the sea. But I was not long considering this.
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Speaker 1: I first laid all the planks or boards upon it
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Speaker 1: that I could get. Having considered well what I most wanted,
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Speaker 1: I got three of the seamen's chests which had been
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Speaker 1: broken open and emptied, and lowered them down upon my raft.
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Speaker 1: The first of these I filled with provisions, that is,
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Speaker 1: bread rice, three Dutch cheeses, five pieces of dried goat's flesh,
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Speaker 1: which we lived much upon, and a little remainder of
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Speaker 1: European corn, which had been laid by for some fowls,
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Speaker 1: which we brought to see with us. But the fowls
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Speaker 1: were killed. There had been some barley and wheat together,
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Speaker 1: but to my great disappointment, I found afterwards that the
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Speaker 1: rats had eaten or spoiled it all. As for liquors,
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Speaker 1: I found several cases of bottles belonging to our skipper,
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Speaker 1: in which were some cordial waters, and in all about
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Speaker 1: five or six gallons of wreck. These I stowed by themselves,
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Speaker 1: there being no need to put them into the chest,
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Speaker 1: nor any room for them. While I was doing this,
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Speaker 1: I found the tide begin to flow, though very calm,
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Speaker 1: and I had the mortification to see my coat, shirt
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Speaker 1: and waistcoat, which I had left on the shore upon
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Speaker 1: the sand swim away. As for my breeches, which were
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Speaker 1: only linen and open kneed, I swam on board in
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Speaker 1: them and my stockings. However, this set me rummaging for clothes,
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Speaker 1: of which I found enough, but took no more than
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Speaker 1: I wanted for present use, for I had other things
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Speaker 1: which my eye was more upon as first tools to
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Speaker 1: work with when on shore. And it was after long
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Speaker 1: searching that I found out the carpenter's chest, which was
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Speaker 1: indeed a very useful prize to me, and much more
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Speaker 1: valuable than a ship load of gold would have been
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Speaker 1: at that time. I got it down to my raft
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Speaker 1: whole as it was, without losing time to look into it,
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Speaker 1: for I knew in general what it contained. My next
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Speaker 1: care was for some ammunition and arms. There were two
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Speaker 1: very good following pieces in the great cabin and two pistols.
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Speaker 1: These I secured first with some powder horns and a
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Speaker 1: small bag of shot, and two old rusty swords. I
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Speaker 1: knew there were three barrels of powder in the ship,
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Speaker 1: but I knew not where our gunner had stowed them.
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Speaker 1: But with much much search, I found them, two of
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Speaker 1: them dry and good, the third had taken water. Those
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Speaker 1: two I got to my raft with my arms, and
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Speaker 1: now I thought myself pretty well freighted, and began to
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Speaker 1: think how I should get on shore with them. Having
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Speaker 1: neither sailor nor rudder, and the least capful of wind
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Speaker 1: would have overset all my navigation. I had three encouragements. First,
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Speaker 1: a smooth, calm sea. Secondly the tide rising and setting
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Speaker 1: in to the shore. Thirdly, what little wind there was
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Speaker 1: blew me towards the land. And thus, having found two
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Speaker 1: or three broken oars belonging to the boat, and besides
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Speaker 1: the tools which were in the chest, I found two saws,
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Speaker 1: and axe and a hammer. With this cargo I put
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Speaker 1: to sea for a mile or there thereabouts. My raft
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Speaker 1: went very well, only that I found it drive a
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Speaker 1: little distant from the place where I had landed before,
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Speaker 1: by which I perceived that there was some in draft
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Speaker 1: of the water. And consequently I hoped to find some
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Speaker 1: creek or river there which I might make use of
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Speaker 1: as a port to get to land with my cargo.
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Speaker 1: As I imagined, so it was, there appeared before me
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Speaker 1: a little opening of the land and I found a
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Speaker 1: strong current of the tide set into it. So I
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Speaker 1: guided my raft as well as I could to keep
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Speaker 1: in the middle of the stream. But here I had
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Speaker 1: liked to have suffered a second shipwreck, which if I had,
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Speaker 1: I think verily, would have broken my heart, For knowing
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Speaker 1: nothing of the coast, my raft ran aground at one
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Speaker 1: end of it upon a shoal, and not being aground
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Speaker 1: at the other end, it wanted but a little that
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Speaker 1: all my cargo had slipped off towards the en, and
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Speaker 1: that was afloat, and to fall into the water. I
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Speaker 1: did my utmost by setting my back against the chests
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Speaker 1: to keep them in their places. But I could not
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Speaker 1: thrust off the raft with all my strength, neither durst
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Speaker 1: I stir from the posture I was in, but holding
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Speaker 1: up the chests with all my might. I stood in
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Speaker 1: that manner near half an hour, in which time the
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Speaker 1: rising of the water brought me a little more upon
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Speaker 1: a level, And a little after the water, still rising,
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Speaker 1: my raft floated again, and I thrust her off with
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Speaker 1: the oar I had into the channel, and then driving
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Speaker 1: up higher, I at length found myself in the mouth
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Speaker 1: of a little river, with land on both sides, and
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Speaker 1: a strong current of tide running up. I looked on
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Speaker 1: both sides for a proper place to get to shore,
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Speaker 1: for I was not willing to be driven too high
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Speaker 1: up the river, hoping in time to see some ships
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Speaker 1: at sea, and therefore resolved to place my sel as
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Speaker 1: near the coast as I could. At length I spied
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Speaker 1: a little cove on the right shore of the creek,
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Speaker 1: to which, with great pain and difficulty, I guided my
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Speaker 1: raft and at last got so near that reaching ground
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Speaker 1: with my oar I could thrust her directly in. But
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Speaker 1: here I had liked to have dipped all my cargo
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Speaker 1: into the sea again, for that shore buying pretty steep,
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Speaker 1: that is to say, sloping, there was no place to land,
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Speaker 1: and where one end of my float, if it ran
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Speaker 1: on shore, would lie so high and the others sink lower.
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Speaker 1: As before that it would endanger my cargo. Once again.
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Speaker 1: All that I could do was to wait till the
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Speaker 1: tide was at the highest, keeping the raft with my
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Speaker 1: oar like an anchor, to hold the side of it
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Speaker 1: fast to the shore near a flat piece of ground
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Speaker 1: which I expected the water would flow over, And so
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Speaker 1: it did. As soon as I found water enough for
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Speaker 1: my raft drew about a foot of water. I thrust
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Speaker 1: her upon that flat piece of ground, and there fastened
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Speaker 1: or moored her by sticking my two broken oars into
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Speaker 1: the ground, one on one side near the end, and
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Speaker 1: one on the other side near the other end. And
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Speaker 1: thus I lay till the water ebbed away, and left
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Speaker 1: my raft and all my cargo safe on shore. My
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Speaker 1: next work was to view the country and seek a
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Speaker 1: proper place for my habitation, and where to stow my goods,
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Speaker 1: to secure them from whatever might happen. Where I was,
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Speaker 1: I yet knew not whether on the continent or on
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Speaker 1: an island, whether inhabited or not inhabited, whether in danger
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Speaker 1: of wild beasts or not. There was a hill not
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Speaker 1: a mile above me, which rose up very steep and high,
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Speaker 1: and which to overtop some other hills which lay as
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Speaker 1: in a ridge from it northward. I took out one
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Speaker 1: of the fowling pieces, and one of the pistols, and
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Speaker 1: a horn of powder, and thus armed, I traveled for
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Speaker 1: discovery up to the top of that hill. Where after
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Speaker 1: I had, with great labor and difficulty, got to the top,
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Speaker 1: I saw my fate to my great affliction, that is,
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Speaker 1: that I was in an island environed every way with
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Speaker 1: the sea, no land, no land to be seen, except
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Speaker 1: some rocks, which lay a great way off, and two
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Speaker 1: small islands less than this, which lay about three leagues
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Speaker 1: to the west. I found also that the island I
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Speaker 1: was in was barren, and as I saw good reason
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Speaker 1: to believe, uninhabited, except by wild beasts, of whom, however,
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Speaker 1: I saw none. Yet I saw abundance of fowls, but
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Speaker 1: knew not their kinds either. When I killed them, could
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Speaker 1: I tell what was fit for food and what not.
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Speaker 1: At my coming back, I shot at a great bird,
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Speaker 1: which I saw sitting upon a tree on the side
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Speaker 1: of a great wood. I believe it was the first
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Speaker 1: gun that had ever been fired there since the creation
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Speaker 1: of the world. I had no sooner fired than from
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Speaker 1: all parts of the wood there arose an innumerable number
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Speaker 1: of fowls of many sorts, making a confused screaming and crying,
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Speaker 1: and every one of them according to his usual note,
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Speaker 1: But not one of them of any kind that I knew.
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Speaker 1: As for the creature I killed, I took it to
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Speaker 1: be a kind of hawk, its color and beak resembling it.
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Speaker 1: But it had no talons or claws more than common.
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Speaker 1: Its flesh was carrying and fit for nothing. Contented with
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Speaker 1: this discovery, I came back to my raft and fell
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Speaker 1: to work to bring my cargo on shore, which took
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Speaker 1: me up the rest of that day. What to do
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Speaker 1: with myself at night I knew not, nor indeed where
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Speaker 1: to rest, for I was afraid to lie down on
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Speaker 1: the ground, not knowing but some wild beast might devour me,
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Speaker 1: though as I afterwards found, there was really no need
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Speaker 1: for those fears. However, as well as I could, I
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Speaker 1: barricaded myself round with the chests and boards that I
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Speaker 1: had brought on shore, and made a kind of hut
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Speaker 1: for that night's lodging. As for food, I yet saw
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Speaker 1: not which way to supply myself, except that I had
15:45
Speaker 1: seen two or three creatures like hares run out of
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Speaker 1: the wood where I shot the fowl. I now began
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Speaker 1: to consider that I might yet get a great many
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Speaker 1: things out of the ship which would be useful to me,
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Speaker 1: and particularly some of the rigging and sails and such
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Speaker 1: other things as might come to land. And I resolved
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Speaker 1: to make another voyage on board the vessel, if possible,
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Speaker 1: And as I knew that the first storm that blue
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Speaker 1: must necessarily break her all in pieces. I resolved to
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Speaker 1: set all other things apart till I had got everything
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Speaker 1: out of the ship that I could get. Then I
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Speaker 1: called a council, that is to say, in my thoughts,
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Speaker 1: whether I should take back the raft. But this appeared impracticable,
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Speaker 1: so I resolved to go as before when the tide
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Speaker 1: was down. And I did so only that I stripped
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Speaker 1: before I went from my hut, having nothing on but
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Speaker 1: my checkered shirt, a pair of linen drawers, and a
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Speaker 1: pair of pumps on my feet. I got on board
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Speaker 1: the ship as before and prepared a second raft. And
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Speaker 1: having had experience of the first, I neither made this
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Speaker 1: so unwieldy, nor loaded it so hard. But yet I
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Speaker 1: brought away several things very useful to me. As first,
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Speaker 1: in the carpenter stores, I found two or three bags
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Speaker 1: full of nails and spikes, a great screw jack, a
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Speaker 1: dozen or two of hatchets, and above all that most
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Speaker 1: useful thing called a grindstone. All these I secured, together
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Speaker 1: with several things belonging to the gunner, particularly two or
17:30
Speaker 1: three iron crows and two barrels of musket bullets, seven muskets,
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Speaker 1: another following piece with some small quantity of powder, more
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Speaker 1: a large bagful of small shot, and a great roll
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Speaker 1: of sheet lead. But this last was so heavy I
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Speaker 1: could not hoist it up to get it over the
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Speaker 1: ship's side. Besides these things, I took all the men's
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Speaker 1: clothes that I could find, and a spar for a topsail,
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Speaker 1: a hammock, and some bedding, And with this I loaded
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Speaker 1: my second raft and brought them all safe on shore,
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Speaker 1: to my very great comfort. I was under some apprehension
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Speaker 1: during my absence from the land that at least my
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Speaker 1: provisions might be devoured on shore. But when I came back,
18:21
Speaker 1: I found no sign of any visitor. Only there sat
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Speaker 1: a creature like a wild cat upon one of the chests, which,
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Speaker 1: when I came towards it, ran away a little distance
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Speaker 1: and then stood still. She sat very composed and unconcerned,
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Speaker 1: and looked full in my face, as if she had
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Speaker 1: a mind to be acquainted with me. I presented my
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Speaker 1: gun at her, but as she did not understand it,
18:49
Speaker 1: she was perfectly unconcerned at it, nor did she offer
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Speaker 1: to stir away, upon which I tossed her a bit
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Speaker 1: of biscuit, though by the way, I was not very
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Speaker 1: free of it, for my store was not great. However,
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Speaker 1: I spared her a bit, I say, and she went
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Speaker 1: to it, smelled at it, and ate it, and looked
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Speaker 1: as if pleased for more. But I thanked her and
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Speaker 1: could spare no more, so she marched off, Having got
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Speaker 1: my second cargo on shore. Though I was fain to
19:22
Speaker 1: open the barrels of powder and bring them by parcels,
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Speaker 1: for they were too heavy, being large casts, I went
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Speaker 1: to work to make me a little tent with the
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Speaker 1: sale and some poles which I cut for that purpose,
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Speaker 1: and into this tent I brought everything that I knew
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Speaker 1: would spoil either with rain or sun, and I piled
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Speaker 1: all the empty chests in casts up in a circle
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Speaker 1: around the tent to fortify it from any sudden attempt,
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Speaker 1: either from man or beast. When I had done this,
19:55
Speaker 1: I blocked up the door of the tent with some
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Speaker 1: boards within, and an empt chest set up on end without,
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Speaker 1: and spreading one of the beds upon the ground, laying
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Speaker 1: my two pistols just at my head and my gun
20:10
Speaker 1: at length by me. I went to bed for the
20:13
Speaker 1: first time and slept very quietly all night, for I
20:18
Speaker 1: was very weary and heavy, for the night before I
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Speaker 1: had slept little, and had labored very hard all day
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Speaker 1: to fetch all those things from the ship and to
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Speaker 1: get them on shore. I had the biggest magazine of
20:33
Speaker 1: all kinds now that ever was laid up, I believe
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Speaker 1: for one man. But I was not satisfied still. For
20:41
Speaker 1: a while the ship sat upright in that posture. I
20:44
Speaker 1: thought I ought to get everything out of her that
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Speaker 1: I could. So every day at low water I went
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Speaker 1: on board and brought away something or other, But particularly
20:56
Speaker 1: the third time I went, I brought away as much
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Speaker 1: of the rigging as I could, as also all the
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Speaker 1: small ropes and rope twine I could get with a
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Speaker 1: piece of spare canvas, which was to mend the sails
21:10
Speaker 1: upon occasion, and the barrel of wet gunpowder. In a word,
21:16
Speaker 1: I brought away all the sails first and last, only
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Speaker 1: that I was fain to cut them in pieces and
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Speaker 1: bring as much as I at a time as I could,
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Speaker 1: for they were no more useful to be sails but
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Speaker 1: as mere canvas only. But that which comforted me more
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Speaker 1: still was that, last of all, after I had made
21:39
Speaker 1: five or six such voyages as these, and thought I
21:42
Speaker 1: had nothing more to expect from the ship that was
21:45
Speaker 1: worth my meddling with. I say, after all this, I
21:49
Speaker 1: found a great hogshead of bread, three large runlets of
21:54
Speaker 1: rum or spirits, a box of sugar, and a barrel
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Speaker 1: of fine flour. This was surprising to me, because I
22:02
Speaker 1: had given over expecting any more provisions except what was
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Speaker 1: spoiled by the water. I soon emptied the hogshead of
22:10
Speaker 1: the bread and wrapped it up parcel by parcel, and
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Speaker 1: pieces of the sails which I cut out, and in
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Speaker 1: a word, I got all this safe on shore. Also
22:22
Speaker 1: the next day I made another voyage, and now having
22:26
Speaker 1: plundered the ship of what was portable and fit to
22:29
Speaker 1: hand out, I began with the cables, cutting the great
22:33
Speaker 1: cable into pieces such as I could move. I got
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Speaker 1: two cables and a howser on shore with all the
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Speaker 1: ironwork I could get, And having cut down the spirit
22:44
Speaker 1: sail yard and the mizzen yard and everything I could
22:47
Speaker 1: get to make a large raft, I loaded it with
22:51
Speaker 1: these heavy goods and came away. But my good luck
22:56
Speaker 1: began now to leave me, for this raft was so
22:58
Speaker 1: unwieldy and so overladen that after I had entered the
23:03
Speaker 1: little cove where I had landed the rest of my goods.
23:06
Speaker 1: Not being able to guide it so handily as I
23:08
Speaker 1: did the other, it overset and threw me and all
23:12
Speaker 1: my cargo into the water. As for myself it was
23:17
Speaker 1: no great harm, for I was near the shore. But
23:21
Speaker 1: as to my cargo, it was a greater part of
23:23
Speaker 1: it lost, especially the iron, which I expected would have
23:27
Speaker 1: been of great use to me. However, when the tide
23:31
Speaker 1: was out, I got most of the pieces of the
23:34
Speaker 1: cable ashore and some of the iron, though with infinite labor,
23:40
Speaker 1: for I was fain to dip for it into the water,
23:44
Speaker 1: a work which fatigued me very much. After this, I
23:49
Speaker 1: went every day on board and brought away what I
23:51
Speaker 1: could get. I had now been thirteen days on shore,
23:58
Speaker 1: and had been eleven times on board ship, in which
24:01
Speaker 1: time I had brought away all that one pair of
24:04
Speaker 1: hands could well be supposed capable to bring, though I
24:08
Speaker 1: believe verily, had the calm weather held, I should have
24:12
Speaker 1: brought away the whole ship piece by piece. But preparing
24:16
Speaker 1: the twelfth time to go on board, I found the
24:20
Speaker 1: wind began to rise. However, at low water I went
24:24
Speaker 1: on board, and though I thought I had rummaged the
24:27
Speaker 1: cabin so effectually that nothing more could be found, yet
24:31
Speaker 1: I discovered a locker with drawers in it, in one
24:34
Speaker 1: of which I found two or three razors and one
24:37
Speaker 1: pair of large scissors, with some tin, or a dozen
24:41
Speaker 1: of good knives and forks. In another I found about
24:45
Speaker 1: thirty six pounds value of money, some European coins, some
24:50
Speaker 1: brazil some pieces of eight, some gold, and some silver.
24:55
Speaker 1: I smiled to myself at the sight of this money. Oh, drug,
24:59
Speaker 1: said I allowed, what art thou good? For? Thou art
25:04
Speaker 1: not worth to me? No, not the taking off the
25:07
Speaker 1: ground one of those knives is worth all this heap.
25:11
Speaker 1: I have no manner of use for thee e'en remain
25:15
Speaker 1: where thou art, and go to the bottom as a
25:17
Speaker 1: creature whose life is not worth saving. However, upon second thoughts,
25:23
Speaker 1: I took it away, and wrapping all this in a
25:27
Speaker 1: piece of canvas, I began to think of making another raft.
25:30
Speaker 1: But while I was preparing this, I found the sky overcast,
25:34
Speaker 1: and the wind began to rise, and in a quarter
25:38
Speaker 1: of an hour it blew a fresh gale from the shore.
25:42
Speaker 1: It presently occurred to me that it was in vain
25:45
Speaker 1: to pretend to make a raft with the wind offshore,
25:50
Speaker 1: and that it was my business to be gone before
25:52
Speaker 1: the tide of flood began, otherwise I might not be
25:56
Speaker 1: able to reach the shore at all. Accordingly, I left
26:00
Speaker 1: myself down into the water and swam across the channel
26:05
Speaker 1: which lay between the ship and the sands, and even
26:08
Speaker 1: that with difficulty, enough, partly with the weight of the
26:11
Speaker 1: things I had about me, and partly the roughness of
26:14
Speaker 1: the water. For the wind rose very hastily, and before
26:19
Speaker 1: it was quite high water it blew a storm, But
26:24
Speaker 1: I had got home to my little tent, where I lay,
26:28
Speaker 1: with all my wealth about me, very secure. It blew
26:33
Speaker 1: very hard all night, and in the morning, when I
26:35
Speaker 1: looked out, behold no more ship was to be seen.
26:41
Speaker 1: I was a little surprised, but recovered myself with the
26:44
Speaker 1: satisfactory reflection that I had lost no time, nor abated
26:49
Speaker 1: any diligence to get everything out of her that could
26:53
Speaker 1: be useful to me, and that indeed there was little
26:56
Speaker 1: left in her that I was able to bring away
27:00
Speaker 1: if I had had more time. I now gave over
27:04
Speaker 1: any more thoughts of the ship or of anything out
27:07
Speaker 1: of her, except what might drive on shore from her wreck,
27:11
Speaker 1: as indeed divers pieces of her afterwards did. But those
27:16
Speaker 1: things were of small use to me. My thoughts were
27:20
Speaker 1: now wholly employed about securing myself against either savages, if
27:25
Speaker 1: any should appear, or wild beasts, if anywhere in the island.
27:30
Speaker 1: And I had many thoughts of the method how to
27:32
Speaker 1: do this, and what kind of dwelling to make, whether
27:35
Speaker 1: I should make me a cave in the earth or
27:37
Speaker 1: a tent upon the earth. And in short I resolved
27:41
Speaker 1: upon both the manner and description of which it may
27:45
Speaker 1: not be improper to give an account of. I soon
27:48
Speaker 1: found the place I was in not fit for my settlement,
27:53
Speaker 1: because it was upon a low Moorish crown near the sea,
27:57
Speaker 1: and I believed it would not be whole, and more
28:01
Speaker 1: particularly because there was no fresh water near it. So
28:06
Speaker 1: I resolved to find a more healthy and more convenient
28:09
Speaker 1: spot of ground. I consulted several things in my situation
28:13
Speaker 1: which I found would be proper for me. First, health
28:18
Speaker 1: and fresh water I just now mentioned. Secondly, shelter from
28:23
Speaker 1: the heat of the sun. Thirdly security from ravenous creatures,
28:29
Speaker 1: whether man or beast. Fourthly, of view to the sea,
28:34
Speaker 1: that if God sent any ship in my sight, I
28:37
Speaker 1: might not lose any advantage for my deliverance, of which
28:41
Speaker 1: I was not willing to banish all my expectation. Yet,
28:47
Speaker 1: in search of a place proper for this, I found
28:50
Speaker 1: a little plain on the side of a rising hill
28:54
Speaker 1: whose front towards this little plain was steep as a
28:58
Speaker 1: house sign, so that nothing could come down upon me
29:01
Speaker 1: from the top. On the one side of the rock
29:05
Speaker 1: there was a hollow place worn a little way in,
29:08
Speaker 1: like the entrance or door of a cave, but there
29:12
Speaker 1: was not really any cave or any way into the
29:14
Speaker 1: rock at all. On the flat of the green. Just
29:17
Speaker 1: before this hollow place I resolved to pitch my tent.
29:21
Speaker 1: This plain was not above one hundred yards broad and
29:25
Speaker 1: about twice as long, and lay like a green before
29:28
Speaker 1: my door, and at the end of it descended irregularly
29:33
Speaker 1: every way down into the low ground by the seaside.
29:38
Speaker 1: It was on the north northwest side of the hill,
29:43
Speaker 1: so that it was sheltered from the heat every day
29:48
Speaker 1: till it came to a west and by south sun
29:51
Speaker 1: or thereabouts, which in those countries is near the setting.
29:56
Speaker 1: Before I set up my tent, I drew a half
29:59
Speaker 1: circle before the hollow place, which took in about ten
30:03
Speaker 1: yards in its semi diameter from the rock, and twenty
30:07
Speaker 1: yards in its diameter from its beginning and ending. In
30:12
Speaker 1: this half circle, I pitched two rows of strong stakes,
30:17
Speaker 1: driving them into the ground till they stood very firm
30:21
Speaker 1: like piles, the biggest end being out of the ground
30:25
Speaker 1: above five feet and a half and sharpened at the top.
30:31
Speaker 1: The two rows did not stand above six inches from
30:34
Speaker 1: one another. Then I took the pieces of cable which
30:38
Speaker 1: I had cut in the ship, and laid them in rows,
30:41
Speaker 1: one upon another within the circle between these two rows
30:45
Speaker 1: of stakes up to the top, placing other steaks in
30:49
Speaker 1: the inside, leaning against them about two feet and a
30:53
Speaker 1: half high, like a spur to a post. And this
30:58
Speaker 1: fence was so strong that neither man nor beast could
31:02
Speaker 1: get into it or over it. This cost me a
31:06
Speaker 1: great deal of time and labor, especially to cut the
31:08
Speaker 1: piles in the woods, bring them to the place, and
31:12
Speaker 1: drive them into the earth. The entrance into this place
31:17
Speaker 1: I made to be not by a door, but by
31:20
Speaker 1: a short ladder to go over the top, which ladder,
31:24
Speaker 1: when I was in I lifted over with me. After me,
31:28
Speaker 1: and so I was completely fenced in and fortified, as
31:32
Speaker 1: I thought, from all the world, and consequently slept secure
31:36
Speaker 1: in the night, which otherwise I could not have done.
31:40
Speaker 1: Though as it appeared afterwards that there was no need for
31:43
Speaker 1: all of this caution from the enemies that I apprehended
31:46
Speaker 1: danger from. Into this fence or fortress. With infinite labor,
31:52
Speaker 1: I carried all my riches, all my provisions, ammunition and
31:56
Speaker 1: stores of which you had the account above. And I
32:00
Speaker 1: made a large tent which to preserve me from the
32:03
Speaker 1: reins that in one part of the year very violent.
32:06
Speaker 1: There I made double, one smaller tent within and one
32:10
Speaker 1: larger tent above it, and covered the uppermost with a
32:15
Speaker 1: large tarpaulin which I had saved among the sails. And
32:20
Speaker 1: now I lay no more for a while in the
32:23
Speaker 1: bed which I had brought on shore, but in a hammock,
32:26
Speaker 1: which was indeed a very good one, and belonged to
32:29
Speaker 1: the mate of the ship. Into this tent I brought
32:34
Speaker 1: all my provisions and everything that would spoil by the wet,
32:38
Speaker 1: And having thus enclosed all my goods, I made up
32:41
Speaker 1: the entrance which till now I had left open, and
32:44
Speaker 1: so passed and repassed, as I said, by a short ladder.
32:51
Speaker 1: When I had done this, I began to work my
32:53
Speaker 1: way into the rock, and, bringing all the earth and
32:56
Speaker 1: stones that I dug down out through my tent, made
33:00
Speaker 1: them up within my fence in the nature of a terrace,
33:03
Speaker 1: so that it raised the ground within about a foot
33:07
Speaker 1: and a half. And thus I made me a cave
33:10
Speaker 1: just behind my tent, which served me like a cellar
33:13
Speaker 1: to my house. It cost me much labor and many
33:18
Speaker 1: days before all these things were brought to perfection, And
33:21
Speaker 1: therefore I must go back to some other things which
33:24
Speaker 1: took up some of my thoughts at the same time.
33:28
Speaker 1: It happened, after I had laid my scheme for the
33:31
Speaker 1: setting up of my tent and making the cave, that
33:34
Speaker 1: a storm of rain falling from a thick dark cloud,
33:38
Speaker 1: A sudden flash of lightning happened, and after that a
33:42
Speaker 1: great clap of thunder, as is naturally the effect of it.
33:48
Speaker 1: I was not so much surprised with the lightning as
33:51
Speaker 1: I was with the thought which darted into my mind
33:53
Speaker 1: as swift as the lightning itself. Oh, my powder, my
33:59
Speaker 1: very heart sank within me when I thought that at
34:02
Speaker 1: one blast, all my powder might be destroyed, on which
34:06
Speaker 1: not my defense only, but the providing my food, as
34:10
Speaker 1: I thought entirely dependent. I was nothing near so anxious
34:15
Speaker 1: about my own danger, though had the powder took fire,
34:18
Speaker 1: I should never have known who had hurt me. Such
34:23
Speaker 1: impression did this make upon me that after the storm
34:26
Speaker 1: was over, I laid aside all my works, my building
34:29
Speaker 1: and for fortifying, and applied myself to making bags and
34:33
Speaker 1: boxes to separate the powder, and to keep it a
34:37
Speaker 1: little and a little in a parcel, and to hope
34:40
Speaker 1: that whatever might come, it might not all take fire
34:43
Speaker 1: at once, and to keep it so apart that it
34:46
Speaker 1: should not be possible to make one part fire another.
34:50
Speaker 1: I finished this work in about a fortnight, and I
34:53
Speaker 1: think my powder, which was in all about two hundred
34:56
Speaker 1: and forty pounds weight, was divided, and not less than
35:00
Speaker 1: a hundred parcels as to the barrel that had been wet.
35:04
Speaker 1: I did not apprehend any danger from that, so I
35:07
Speaker 1: placed it in my new cave, which in my fancy
35:10
Speaker 1: I called my kitchen, and the rest I hid up
35:14
Speaker 1: and down in holes among the rocks, so that no
35:18
Speaker 1: wet might come to it, marking very carefully where I
35:21
Speaker 1: laid it in the interval of time. While this was doing,
35:26
Speaker 1: I went out once at least every day with my
35:29
Speaker 1: gun as well, to divert myself as to see if
35:32
Speaker 1: I could kill anything fit for food, and as near
35:36
Speaker 1: as I could, to acquaint myself with what the island produced.
35:40
Speaker 1: The first time I went out, I presently discovered that
35:44
Speaker 1: there were goats in the island, which was a great
35:47
Speaker 1: satisfaction to me. But then it was attended with this
35:52
Speaker 1: misfortune to me, that is that they were so shy,
35:55
Speaker 1: so subtle, and so swift a foot, that it was
35:58
Speaker 1: the most difficult thing in the world world to come
36:00
Speaker 1: at them. But I was not discouraged at this, not doubting,
36:05
Speaker 1: but I might now and then shoot one, as it
36:08
Speaker 1: soon happened, For after I had found their haunts a little,
36:12
Speaker 1: I laid weight in this manner for them. I observed
36:16
Speaker 1: that they saw me in the valleys. Though they were
36:19
Speaker 1: upon the rocks, they would run away as in a
36:22
Speaker 1: terrible fright. But if they were feeding in the valleys
36:26
Speaker 1: and I was upon the rocks, they took no notice
36:29
Speaker 1: of me. From whence I concluded that by the position
36:33
Speaker 1: of their optics, their sight was so directed downward, that
36:37
Speaker 1: they did not readily see objects that were above them.
36:41
Speaker 1: So afterwards I took this method. I always climbed the
36:44
Speaker 1: rocks first to get above them, and then had frequently
36:48
Speaker 1: a fair mark. The first shot I made among these
36:53
Speaker 1: creatures I killed a she goat which had a little
36:56
Speaker 1: kid by her, which she gave suck to me heartily.
37:02
Speaker 1: For when the old one fell, the kid stood stocked
37:05
Speaker 1: still by her till I came and took her up.
37:09
Speaker 1: And not only so, but when I carried the old
37:11
Speaker 1: one with me upon my shoulders, the kid followed me
37:15
Speaker 1: quite to my enclosure, upon which I laid down the dam,
37:19
Speaker 1: and took the kid in my arms and carried it
37:21
Speaker 1: over my pail in hopes to have bread it up tame,
37:25
Speaker 1: but it would not eat, and so I was forced
37:28
Speaker 1: to kill it and eat it myself. These two supplied
37:31
Speaker 1: me with flesh a great while, for I ate sparingly
37:36
Speaker 1: and saved my provisions my bread, especially as much as
37:40
Speaker 1: I possibly could. Having now fixed my habitation, I found
37:46
Speaker 1: it absolutely necessary to provide a place to make a
37:49
Speaker 1: fire in and fuel to burn. And what I did
37:53
Speaker 1: for that, and also how I enlarged my cave, and
37:56
Speaker 1: what conveniences I made. I shall give a full account
38:00
Speaker 1: in its place. But I must now give some little
38:03
Speaker 1: account of myself and of my thoughts about living, which
38:08
Speaker 1: it may well be supposed were not a few. I
38:14
Speaker 1: had a dismal prospect of my condition. For as I
38:18
Speaker 1: was not cast away upon that island without being driven,
38:21
Speaker 1: as is said, by a violent storm, quite out of
38:25
Speaker 1: the course of our intended voyage, in a great way,
38:28
Speaker 1: that is, some hundreds of leagues, out of the ordinary
38:31
Speaker 1: course of the trade of mankind, I had great reason
38:35
Speaker 1: to consider this as a determination of Heaven, that in
38:39
Speaker 1: this desolate place, and in this desolate manner, I should
38:44
Speaker 1: end my life. The tears would run plntively down my
38:48
Speaker 1: face when I made these reflections, and sometimes I would
38:52
Speaker 1: expostulate with myself why Providence should completely ruin his creatures
38:59
Speaker 1: and render them so absolutely miserable, so without help, abandoned,
39:05
Speaker 1: so entirely depressed, that it could hardly be rational to
39:09
Speaker 1: be thankful for such a life. But something always returned
39:15
Speaker 1: swift upon me to check these thoughts and to reprove me.
39:19
Speaker 1: And particularly one day, walking with my gun in my
39:23
Speaker 1: hand by the seaside, I was very pensive upon the
39:26
Speaker 1: subject of my present condition, when reason, as it were,
39:32
Speaker 1: expostulated with me the other way. This, well, you are
39:37
Speaker 1: in a desolate condition, it is true, But pray, remember
39:41
Speaker 1: where are the rest of you? Did you not come
39:45
Speaker 1: eleven of you in the boat? Where are the ten?
39:50
Speaker 1: Why were they not saved and you lost? Why were
39:54
Speaker 1: you singled out? Is it better to be here or there?
40:00
Speaker 1: And then I pointed to the sea. All evils are
40:06
Speaker 1: to be considered with the good that is in them,
40:10
Speaker 1: and with what worse attends them. It occurred to me
40:15
Speaker 1: again how well I was furnished for my subsistence, And
40:20
Speaker 1: what would have been my case if it had not happened,
40:24
Speaker 1: which was one hundred thousand to one, that the ship
40:28
Speaker 1: floated from the place where she first struck, and was
40:31
Speaker 1: driven so near to the shore that I had time
40:34
Speaker 1: to get all these things out of her? What would
40:37
Speaker 1: have been my case if I had been forced to
40:39
Speaker 1: have lived in the condition in which I at first
40:42
Speaker 1: came on shore, without necessaries of life, or necessaries to
40:47
Speaker 1: supply and procure them. Particularly, said I aloud, though to myself,
40:54
Speaker 1: what should I have done without a gun, without ammunition,
40:58
Speaker 1: without any tools to make any or to work with
41:02
Speaker 1: without clothes, betting a tent, or any manner of covering,
41:08
Speaker 1: And that now I had all these things to sufficient quantity,
41:12
Speaker 1: and was in a fair way to provide myself in
41:15
Speaker 1: such a manner as to live without my gun when
41:18
Speaker 1: my ammunition was spent, so that I had a tolerable
41:22
Speaker 1: view of subsisting without any want as long as I lived.
41:28
Speaker 1: For I considered from the beginning I would provide for
41:33
Speaker 1: the accidents that might happen, and for the time that
41:36
Speaker 1: was to come, even not only after my ammunition should
41:40
Speaker 1: be spent, but even after my health and strength should decay.
41:48
Speaker 1: I confess I had not entertained any notion of my
41:51
Speaker 1: ammunition being destroyed at one blast, I mean, my powder
41:55
Speaker 1: being blown up by lightning. And this made the thoughts
41:58
Speaker 1: of it so surprising to me when it lightened and thundered,
42:02
Speaker 1: as I observed just now, and now being about to
42:07
Speaker 1: enter into a melancholy relation of a scene of silent life,
42:12
Speaker 1: such perhaps as was never heard of in the world. Before,
42:17
Speaker 1: I shall take it from its beginning and continue it
42:20
Speaker 1: in its order. It was, by my account the thirtieth
42:24
Speaker 1: of September, when, in the manner as above said, I
42:29
Speaker 1: first set foot upon this horrid island when the sun,
42:33
Speaker 1: being to us in its autumnal equinox, was almost over
42:38
Speaker 1: my head. For I reckoned myself by observation to be
42:42
Speaker 1: in the latitude of nine degrees twenty two minutes north
42:45
Speaker 1: of the line. After I had been there about ten
42:50
Speaker 1: or twelve days, it came to my thoughts that I
42:54
Speaker 1: should lose my reckoning of time for want of books
42:57
Speaker 1: and pen and ink, and should even forget the Sabbath days.
43:02
Speaker 1: But to prevent this, I cut with my knife upon
43:06
Speaker 1: a large post in capital letters, and making it into
43:09
Speaker 1: a great cross, I set it up on the shore
43:12
Speaker 1: where I first landed. I came on shore here on
43:17
Speaker 1: the thirtieth September sixteen fifty nine. Upon the sides of
43:24
Speaker 1: this square post I cut every day a notch with
43:28
Speaker 1: my knife, and every seventh notch was as long again
43:32
Speaker 1: as the rest, and every first day of the month
43:36
Speaker 1: as long again as that long one. And thus I
43:39
Speaker 1: kept my calendar, or weekly, monthly and yearly reckoning of time.
43:46
Speaker 1: In the next place, we are to observe that among
43:50
Speaker 1: the many things which I brought out of the ship
43:53
Speaker 1: in several voyages, which as above mentioned, I made to it.
43:57
Speaker 1: I got several things of less value, but not at
44:02
Speaker 1: all less useful to me, which I omitted setting down before,
44:07
Speaker 1: as in particular pens, ink and paper, several parcels in
44:13
Speaker 1: the captain's mates, gunners and carpenters, keeping three or four compasses,
44:19
Speaker 1: some mathematical instruments, dials, perspectives, charts, and books of navigation,
44:25
Speaker 1: all which I huddled together, whether I might want them
44:28
Speaker 1: or no. Also I found three very good bibles, which
44:33
Speaker 1: came to me in my cargo from England, and which
44:37
Speaker 1: I had packed up among my things. Some Portuguese books also,
44:42
Speaker 1: and among them two or three Popish prayer books, and
44:46
Speaker 1: several other books, all which I carefully secured. And I
44:51
Speaker 1: must not forget that we had in the ship a
44:53
Speaker 1: dog and two cats, of whose imminent history I may
44:57
Speaker 1: have occasion to say something in its place, for I
45:00
Speaker 1: carried both the cats with me, And as for the dog,
45:03
Speaker 1: he jumped out of the ship of himself and swam
45:06
Speaker 1: on shore to me the day after I went on
45:09
Speaker 1: shore with my first cargo, and was a trusty servant
45:13
Speaker 1: to me many years. I wanted nothing that he could
45:16
Speaker 1: fetch me, nor any company that he could make up
45:19
Speaker 1: to me. I only wanted to have him talk to me,
45:23
Speaker 1: but that he would not do. As I observed before,
45:29
Speaker 1: I found pens, ink and paper, and I husbanded them
45:34
Speaker 1: to the utmost. And I shall show that while my
45:37
Speaker 1: ink lasted, I kept things very exact. But after that
45:43
Speaker 1: was gone, I could not, for I could not make
45:46
Speaker 1: any ink by any means that I could devise. And
45:50
Speaker 1: this put me in mind that I wanted many things,
45:53
Speaker 1: notwithstanding all that I had amassed together, and of these
45:59
Speaker 1: ink was one, as also a spade, pickaxe, and shovel
46:04
Speaker 1: to dig or remove the earth, needles, pins and thread
46:09
Speaker 1: as for linen. I soon learned to want that without
46:13
Speaker 1: much difficulty. This want of tools made every work I
46:19
Speaker 1: did go so heavily, and it was near a whole
46:21
Speaker 1: year before I had entirely finished my little pail or
46:24
Speaker 1: surrounded my habitation. The piles or steaks, which were as
46:29
Speaker 1: heavy as I could well lift, were a long time
46:32
Speaker 1: in cutting and preparing in the woods, and more by
46:35
Speaker 1: far in bringing home, so that I spent sometimes two
46:40
Speaker 1: days in cutting and bringing home one of these posts,
46:43
Speaker 1: and a third day in driving it into the ground,
46:47
Speaker 1: for which purpose I got a heavy piece of wood
46:49
Speaker 1: at first, but at last bethought myself of one of
46:52
Speaker 1: the iron crows, which, however, though I found it, made
46:57
Speaker 1: driving these posts or piles very laborious and tedious work.
47:03
Speaker 1: But what need I have been concerned at the tediousness
47:08
Speaker 1: of anything I had to do, seeing I had time
47:11
Speaker 1: enough to do it in Nor had I any other
47:15
Speaker 1: employment if that had been over at least that I
47:19
Speaker 1: could foresee, except arranging the island to seek for food,
47:24
Speaker 1: which I did more or less every day. I now
47:29
Speaker 1: began to seriously consider my condition and the circumstances I
47:34
Speaker 1: was reduced to, and I drew up the state of
47:36
Speaker 1: my affairs in writing, not so much to lead them
47:39
Speaker 1: to any that were to come after me, For I
47:43
Speaker 1: was likely to have but few errors as to deliver
47:47
Speaker 1: my thoughts from daily pouring over them and afflicting my mind.
47:53
Speaker 1: And as my reason began now to master my despondency,
47:58
Speaker 1: I began to comfort myself as well as I could,
48:01
Speaker 1: and to set the good against evil, that I might
48:04
Speaker 1: have something to distinguish my case from worse. And I
48:08
Speaker 1: stated very impartially like debtor and creditor, the comforts I
48:13
Speaker 1: enjoyed against the miseries I suffered thus. Evil, I am
48:21
Speaker 1: cast upon a horrible, desolate island, void of all hope
48:25
Speaker 1: of recovery. Good, But I am alive and not drowned
48:31
Speaker 1: as all my ship's company were. Evil. I am singled
48:37
Speaker 1: out and separated, as it were, from all the world
48:41
Speaker 1: to be miserable. Good. But I am singled out too
48:48
Speaker 1: from all the ship's crew to be spared from death.
48:52
Speaker 1: And he that miraculously saved me from death can deliver
48:57
Speaker 1: me from this condition. Evil. I am divided from mankind,
49:04
Speaker 1: a solitaire one banished from human society. Good, But I
49:10
Speaker 1: am not starved and perishing on a barren place affording
49:14
Speaker 1: no sustenance. Evil. I have no clothes to cover me. Good,
49:21
Speaker 1: but I am in a hot climate where if I
49:23
Speaker 1: had clothes, I could hardly wear them. Evil. I am
49:29
Speaker 1: without any defense or means to resist any violence of
49:32
Speaker 1: man or beast. Good, But I am cast on an
49:38
Speaker 1: island where I see no wild beasts to hurt me
49:41
Speaker 1: as I saw on the coast of Africa. And what
49:44
Speaker 1: if I had been shipwrecked there. Evil, I have no
49:49
Speaker 1: soul to speak to or relieve me. Good, But God
49:57
Speaker 1: wonderfully sent the ship in near enough to ashore that
50:01
Speaker 1: I have got out as many necessary things as will
50:05
Speaker 1: either supply my wants or enable me to supply myself,
50:10
Speaker 1: even as long as I live upon the whole. Here
50:15
Speaker 1: was an undoubted testimony that there was scarce any condition
50:19
Speaker 1: in the world so miserable, but there was something negative
50:23
Speaker 1: or something positive to be thankful for in it. And
50:28
Speaker 1: let this stand as a direction from the experience of
50:30
Speaker 1: the most miserable of all conditions in this world, that
50:35
Speaker 1: we may always find in it something to comfort ourselves with,
50:40
Speaker 1: and to set in the description of good and evil
50:44
Speaker 1: on the credit side of the account. Having now brought
50:49
Speaker 1: my mind a little to relish my condition, and given
50:53
Speaker 1: over looking out to see to see if I should
50:57
Speaker 1: spy a ship, I say, giving over these things, I
51:01
Speaker 1: begun to apply myself to arrange my way of living,
51:05
Speaker 1: and to make things as easy to me as I could.
51:09
Speaker 1: I have already described my habitation, which was a tent
51:12
Speaker 1: under the side of a rock, surrounded with a strong
51:14
Speaker 1: pail of posts and cables. But I might now rather
51:19
Speaker 1: call it a wall, for I raised a kind of
51:22
Speaker 1: wall up against it, of turfs, about two feet thick
51:26
Speaker 1: on the outside. And after some time I think it
51:29
Speaker 1: was a year and a half. I raised rafters from it,
51:34
Speaker 1: leaning to the rock, and thatched or covered it with
51:37
Speaker 1: boughs of trees and such things as I could get
51:41
Speaker 1: to keep out the rain, which I found at some
51:44
Speaker 1: times of the year very violent. I have already observed
51:49
Speaker 1: how I brought all my goods into this pail and
51:51
Speaker 1: into the cave which I had made behind me. But
51:55
Speaker 1: I must observe too that at first this was confused
52:00
Speaker 1: heap of goods, which, as they lay in no order,
52:04
Speaker 1: so they took up all my place. I had no
52:07
Speaker 1: room to turn myself. So I set myself to enlarge
52:11
Speaker 1: my cave and work farther into the earth. For it
52:14
Speaker 1: was a loose sandy rock which yielded easily to the
52:18
Speaker 1: labor I bestowed on it. And so when I found
52:21
Speaker 1: I was pretty safe as to beasts of prey. I
52:24
Speaker 1: worked sideways to the right hand into the rock, and
52:28
Speaker 1: then turning again to the right, worked quite out and
52:32
Speaker 1: made me a door to come out on the outside
52:35
Speaker 1: of my pail or fortification. This gave me not only
52:39
Speaker 1: egress and regress, as it was a way back to
52:43
Speaker 1: my tent and to my storehouse, but gave me room
52:47
Speaker 1: to store my goods. And now I began to apply
52:51
Speaker 1: myself to such necessary things as I found I most wanted,
52:56
Speaker 1: particularly a chair and a table. Without these, I was
53:01
Speaker 1: not able to enjoy the few comforts I had in
53:03
Speaker 1: the world. I could not write, or eat, or do
53:07
Speaker 1: several things with so much pleasure without a table. So
53:12
Speaker 1: I went to work. And here I must needs observe
53:16
Speaker 1: that as reason is the substance and origin of the mathematics,
53:21
Speaker 1: so by stating and squaring everything by reason, and by
53:25
Speaker 1: making the most rational judgments of things, every man may
53:29
Speaker 1: be in time master of every mechanic art. I had
53:34
Speaker 1: never handled a tool in my life, and yet in time,
53:38
Speaker 1: by labor, application and contrivance, I found at last that
53:43
Speaker 1: I wanted nothing, but I could have made it, especially
53:46
Speaker 1: if I had tools. However, I made abundance of things
53:52
Speaker 1: even without tools, and some with no tools more than
53:56
Speaker 1: an ads and a hatchet, which perhaps were never made
54:00
Speaker 1: that way before, and that with infinite labor. For example,
54:05
Speaker 1: if I wanted a board, I had no other way
54:08
Speaker 1: but to cut down a tree, set it on an
54:12
Speaker 1: edge before me, and hew it flat on either side
54:15
Speaker 1: with my axe, till I brought it to be thin
54:19
Speaker 1: as a plank, and then dub it smooth with my ads.
54:25
Speaker 1: It is true by this method I could make but
54:27
Speaker 1: one board out of a whole tree. But this I
54:31
Speaker 1: had no remedy for but patience, any more than I
54:35
Speaker 1: had for the prodigious deal of time and labor which
54:39
Speaker 1: it took me up to make a plank or board.
54:42
Speaker 1: But my time or labor was little worth, and so
54:47
Speaker 1: it was as well employed one way as another. However,
54:53
Speaker 1: I made me a table and a chair, as I
54:55
Speaker 1: observed above and in the first place, And this I
54:59
Speaker 1: did out of the short pieces of boards that I
55:03
Speaker 1: brought on my raft from the ship. But when I
55:07
Speaker 1: had wrought out some boards as above, I made large
55:10
Speaker 1: shelves of the breadth of a foot and a half
55:14
Speaker 1: one over another, all along one side of my cave,
55:17
Speaker 1: to lay all my tools, nails, and iron work on,
55:20
Speaker 1: and in a word, to separate everything at large into
55:23
Speaker 1: their places, that I might come easily at them. I
55:28
Speaker 1: knocked pieces into the wall to hang my guns and
55:31
Speaker 1: all things that would hang up, so that had my
55:35
Speaker 1: cave been to be seen, it looked like a great
55:38
Speaker 1: general magazine of all necessary things, And had everything so
55:42
Speaker 1: ready at my hand that it was a great pleasure
55:46
Speaker 1: to me to see all my goods in such order,
55:49
Speaker 1: and especially to find my stock of all necessaries so great.
55:56
Speaker 1: And now it was that I began to keep a
55:57
Speaker 1: journal of every day's employment. Indeed, at first I was
56:02
Speaker 1: in too much hurry, and not only hurry as to labor,
56:05
Speaker 1: but in too much discomposure of mind, and my journal
56:10
Speaker 1: would have been full of many dull things. For example,
56:14
Speaker 1: I must have said thus thirtieth after I had got
56:18
Speaker 1: to shore and escaped drowning, instead of being thankful to
56:21
Speaker 1: God for my deliverance, having first vomited with the great
56:25
Speaker 1: quantity of salt water which had gotten into my stomach,
56:29
Speaker 1: and recovering myself a little, I ran about the shore,
56:32
Speaker 1: wringing my hands and beating my head and face, exclaiming
56:36
Speaker 1: at my misery and crying out. I was undone, undone
56:41
Speaker 1: till tired and faint, I was forced to lie down
56:43
Speaker 1: on the ground to repose, but durst not sleep for
56:47
Speaker 1: fear of being devoured. Some days after this, and after
56:52
Speaker 1: I had been on board the ship and got all
56:55
Speaker 1: I could out of her, yet I could not forbear
56:58
Speaker 1: getting up to the top of a little mountain, and
57:01
Speaker 1: looking out to sea in hopes of seeing a ship.
57:06
Speaker 1: Then fancy at a vast distance, I spy to sail,
57:10
Speaker 1: please myself with the hopes of it. And then, after
57:13
Speaker 1: looking steadily till I was almost blind, lose it quite
57:19
Speaker 1: and sit down and weep like a child, And thus
57:23
Speaker 1: increased my misery by my folly. But having gotten over
57:29
Speaker 1: these things in some measure, and having settled my household,
57:33
Speaker 1: staff and habitation, made me a table and a chair,
57:37
Speaker 1: and all as handsome about me as I could, I
57:41
Speaker 1: began to keep my journal, of which I shall here
57:45
Speaker 1: give you the copy, though in it will be told
57:49
Speaker 1: all the particulars all over again, as long as it lasted,
57:54
Speaker 1: for having no more ink, I was forced to leave
57:57
Speaker 1: it off end of Chapter four