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10 - Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe · Adventure Books Collection

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Chapter ten Thames Goats. I cannot say that after this for five years any
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extraordinary thing happened to me. But I lived on in the same course,
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in the same posture and place as before. The chief things I was employed
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in, besides my yearly labor of planting my barley and rice, and curing
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my raisins of both, which I always kept up just enough to have sufficient
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stock of one year's provisions beforehand, I say, besides this yearly labor and
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my daily pursuit of going out with my gun, I had one labor to
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make a canoe, which at last I finished, so that by digging a
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canal to it of six feet wide and four feet deep, I brought it
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into the creek almost half a mile as for the first, which was so
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vastly big, for I made it without considering beforehand, as I ought to
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have done, how I should be able to launch it. Never being able
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to bring it to the water or bring the water to it, I was
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obliged to let it lie where it was, as a memorandum to teach me
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to be wiser the next time. Indeed, the next time, though I
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could not get a proper tree for it, and was in a place where
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I could not get the water to it at any less distance than, as
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I have said, near half a mile. Yet as I saw it was
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practicable at last, I never gave it over, And though I was near
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two years about it, yet I never grudged my labor in hopes of having
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a boat to go off to sea at last. However, though my little
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periogua was finished, yet the size of it was not at all answerable to
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the design which I had in view when I made the first I mean of
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venturing over to the terra Firma, where it was above forty miles broad Accordingly,
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the smallest on my boat assisted to put an end to that design,
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and now I thought no more of it. As I had a boat.
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My next design was to make a cruise round the island, for as I
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had been on the other side in one place, crossing as I have already
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described it, over the land. So the discoveries I made in that little
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journey made me very eager to see other parts of the coast. And now
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I had a boat, I thought of nothing but sailing round the island for
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this purpose. That I might do everything with discretion and consideration, I fitted
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up a little mast in my boat, and made a sail too, out
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of some of the pieces of the ship's sails which lay in store, and
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of which I had a great stock. By me. Having fitted my mast
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and sail and tried the boat, I found she would sail very well.
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Then I made little lockers or boxes at each end of my boat to put
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provisions, necessaries, ammunition, etc. Into, to be kept dry,
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either from rain or the spray of the sea. And a little long hollow
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place I cut in the inside of the boat where I could lay my gun,
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making a flap to hang down over it to keep it dry. I
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fixed my umbrella, also in the step at the stern, like a mast,
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to stand over my head and keep the heat of the sun off me,
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like an awning. And thus I took every now and then a little
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voyage upon the sea, but never went out far, not far from the
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little creek. At last, being eager to view the circumference of my little
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kingdom, I resolved upon my crewise, and accordingly I victualled my ship for
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the voyage, putting in two dozen of loaves cakes I should call them of
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barley bread, an earthen pot full of parched rice food. I ate a
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good deal of a little bottle of rum, half a goat, and powder
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and shot for killing more, and two large watchcoats, of those which,
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as I mentioned before, I had saved out of the seamen's chests. These
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I took one to lie upon and the other to cover me in the night.
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It was the sixth of November, in the sixth year of my reign
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or my captivity, which you please that I set out on this voyage,
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and I found it much longer than I expected, For though the island itself
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was not very large, yet when I came to the east side of it,
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I found a great ledge of rocks lie out about two leagues into the
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sea, some above water, some under it, and beyond that a shoal
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of sand lying dry half a league. More so that I was obliged to
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go a great way out to sea to double the point when I first discovered
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them. I was going to give over my enterprise and come back again,
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not knowing how far it might oblige me to go out to see, and
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above all doubting how I should get back again. So I came to an
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anchor, for I had made a kind of an anchor with a piece of
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a broken grappling, which I got out of the ship. Having secured my
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boat, I took my gun and went on shore, climbing up a hill
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which seemed to overlook that point, where I saw the full extent of it,
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and resolved to venture in my viewing the sea from that hill where I
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stood, I perceived a strong and indeed a most furious current which ran to
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the east and even came close to the point. And I took the more
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notice of it, because I saw there might be some danger that when I
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came into it, I might be carried out to sea by the strength of
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it, and not able to make the island again. And indeed, had
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I not got first upon this hill, I believe it would have been so,
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for there was the same current on the other side of the island,
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only that it set off at a further distance. And I saw there was
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a strong eddy under the shore. So I had nothing to do but to
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get out of the first current, and I should presently be in an eddy.
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I lay there, however, two days, because the wind blowing pretty
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fresh at east southeast, and that being just contrary to the current, made
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a great breach of the sea upon the point, so that it was not
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safe for me to keep too close to the shore for the breach, nor
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to go too far off because of the stream. The third day, in
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the morning, the wind having abated overnight, the sea was calm, and
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I ventured. But I am a warning to all rash and ignorant pilots,
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for no sooner was I come to the point when I was not even my
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boat's linked from the shore. But I found myself in a great depth of
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water and a current like the sluice of a mill. It carried my boat
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along with it with such violence that all I could do could not keep her
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so much as on the edge of it. But I found it hurried me
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farther and farther out from the eddy, which was on my left hand.
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There was no wind stirring to help me, and all I could do with
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my paddles signified nothing. And now I began to give myself over for lost.
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For as the current was on both sides of the island, I knew
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in a few leagues distance they must join again. And then I was irrevocably
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gone. Nor did I see any possibility of avoiding it, so that I
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had no prospect before me, But of perishing, not by the sea,
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for that was common enough, but of starving from hunger. I had indeed
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found a tortoise on the shore, as big, almost as I could lift,
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and had tossed it into the boat. And I had a great jar
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of fresh water, that is to say, one of my earthen pots.
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But what was all this to being driven into the vast ocean, where,
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to be sure, there was no shore, no mainland or island, for
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a thousand leagues at least. And now I saw how easy it was for
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the providence of God to make even the most miserable condition of me, and
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kind worse. Now I looked back upon my desolate, solitary island as the
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most pleasant place in the world, and all the happiness of my heart could
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wish for was to be there. But once again I stretched out my hands
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to it with eager wishes, Oh happy desert, said I, I shall
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never see thee more, Oh miserable creature, Whither am I going? Then
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I reproached myself with my unthankful temper, and that I had repined at my
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solitary condition. And now what would I give to be on shore there again?
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Thus we shall never see the true state of our condition till it is
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illustrated to us by its contraries, nor know how to value what we enjoy,
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but by the want of it. It is scarcely possible to imagine the
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consternation I was now in being driven from my beloved island. For so it
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appeared to me now to be into the wide ocean almost two leagues, and
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in the utmost despair of ever recovering it again. However, I worked hard
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till indeed my strength was almost exhausted, and kept my boat as much as
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to the northward, that is, towards the side of the current which the
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eddy lay on, as possibly I could. When about noon, as the
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sun passed the meridian, I thought I felt a little breeze of wind in
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my face, springing up from the south southeast. This cheered my heart a
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little, and especially in about half an hour more it blew a pretty gentle
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gale. By this time I had got a frightful distance from the island,
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and had the least cloudy or hazy weather intervened, I had been undone another
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way, too, for I had no compass on board, and should never
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have known how to have steered towards the island, if I had but once
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lost sight of it. But the weather continuing clear, I applied myself to
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get up my mast again and spread my sail, standing away to the north
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as much as possible to get out of the current. Just as I had
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set my mast and sail, and the boat began to stretch away, I
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saw, even by the clearness of the water, some alteration of the current
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was near, for where the current was so strong the water was foul.
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But perceiving the water clear, I found the current abate, and presently I
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found to the east, at about half a mile a breach of the sea
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upon some rocks. These rocks I found, caused the current to part again,
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and as the main stress of it ran away more southerly, leaving the
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rocks to the northeast. So the other returned by the repulse of the rocks,
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and made a strong eddy which ran back again to the northwest with a
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very sharp stream. They who know what it is to have a reprieve brought
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to them upon the latter, or to be rescued from thieves just going to
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murder them, or who have been in such extremities, may guess what my
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present surprise of joy was, And how gladly I put my boat into the
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stream of this eddy, and the wind also freshening, how gladly I spread
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my sail to it, running cheerfully before the wind, and with a strong
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tide or eddy underfoot. This eddy carried me about a league on my way
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back, again directly towards the island, but about two leagues more to the
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northward than the current which carried me away at first, so that when I
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came near the island, I found myself open to the northern sh of it,
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that is to say, the other end of the island, opposite to
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that which I went out from. When I had made something more than a
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league of way by the help of this current or eddy, I found it
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was spent and served me no further. However, I found that being between
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two great currents, that is that on the south side, which had hurried
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me away, and that on the north, which lay about a league on
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the other side. I say, between these two in the wake of the
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island, I found the water at least still and running no way, and
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having still a breeze of wind fair for me, I kept on steering directly
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for the island, though not making such fresh way as I did before.
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About four o'clock in the evening, being then within a league of the island,
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I found the point of the rocks which occasioned this disaster, stretching out
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as is described before, to the southward, and casting off the current more
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southerly, had of course made another eddy to the north, and this I
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found very strong, but not directly setting the way my course lay, which
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was due west but almost full north. However, having a fresh gale,
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I stretched across this eddy, slanting north west, and in about an hour
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came within about a mile of the shore, where it, being smooth water,
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I soon got to land. When I was on shore, I fell
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on my knees and gave God thanks for my deliverance. Resolving to lay aside
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all thoughts of my deliverance by my boat, and refreshing myself with such things
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as I had, I brought my boat close to the shore in a little
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cove that I had spied under some trees, and laid me down to sleep.
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Been quite spent with the labor and fatigue of the voyage, I was
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now had a great loss which way to get home with my boat. I
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had run so much hazard, and knew too much of the case to think
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of attempting it. By the way I went out, And what might be
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at the other side, I mean the west side, I knew not,
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nor had I any mind to run any more ventures. So I resolved on
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the next morning to make my way westward along the shore, and to see
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if there was no creek where I might lay up my frigate in safety,
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so as to have her again if I wanted her. In About three miles
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or thereabouts coasting the shore, I came to a very good inlet or bay
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about a mile over, which narrowed till it came to a very little rivulet
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or brook, where I found a convenient harbor for my boat, and where
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she lay as if she had been in a little dock made on purpose for
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her. Here I put in, and, having stowed my boat very safe,
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I went on shore to look about me and see where I was.
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I soon found I had but a little passed by the place where I had
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been before when I traveled on foot to that shore. So, taking nothing
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out of my boat but my gun an umbrella, for it was exceedingly hot,
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I began my march the way was comfortable enough after such a voyage as
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I had been upon, and I reached my old bower in the evening,
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where I found everything standing as I left it, for I always kept it
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in good order, being as I said before my country house. I got
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over the fence and laid me down in the shade to rest my limbs.
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For I was very weary and fell sleep. But judge you if you can
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that read my story, what a surprise I must be in When I was
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awaked out of my sleep by a voice calling me by my name several times,
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Robin, Robin, Robin Grizzo, or Robin Crusoe. Where are you,
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Robin Grusoe? Where are you? Where have you been? I was
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so dead asleep at first, being fatigued with rowing or part of the day
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and with walking the latter part, that I did not wake thoroughly, but
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dozing thought I dreamed that somebody spoke to me. But as the voice continued
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to repeat, Robin Grisso, rob Grizzo, at last I began to wait
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more perfectly, and was at first dreadfully frightened and started up in the utmost
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consternation. But no sooner were my eyes open, But I saw my pal
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sitting on the top of the hedge, and immediately knew that it was he
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that spoke to me, For just in such bemoaning language I had used to
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talk to him and teach him, and he had learned it so perfectly that
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he could sit upon my finger and lay his bill close to my face,
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and cry, for Robin Crusoe, Where are you? Where have you been?
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How came you here? In such things as I had taught him.
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However, even though I knew it was the parrot, and that indeed it
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could be nobody else, it was a good while before I could compose myself.
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First I was amazed how the creature got thither, and then how he
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should just keep about the place and nowhere else. But as I was well
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satisfied it could be nobody but honest Paul, I got over it, and
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holding out my hand and calling him by his name, Paul, the sociable
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creature came to me and sat upon my thumb as he used to do,
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and continued talking to me, for Robin Crusoe, and how did I come
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here? And where had I been? Just as if he had been overjoyed
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to see me again. And so I carried him home along with me.
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I had now had enough of rambling to see for some time, and had
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enough to do for many days to sit still and reflect upon the danger I
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had been in. I would have been very glad to have had my boat
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again on my side of the island, but I knew not how it was
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practicable to get it about. As to the east side of the island,
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which I had gone round, I knew well enough there was no venturing that
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way. My very heart would shrink, in my very blood run chill,
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but to think of it. And as to the other side of the island,
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I did not know how it might be there. But supposing the current
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ran with the same force against the shore at the east as it passed by
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it on the the other, I might run the same risk of being driven
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down the stream and carried by the island as I had been before, of
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being carried away from it. So with these thoughts I contented myself to be
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without any boat, though I had been the product of so many months labor
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to make it, and of so many more to get it into the sea.
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In this government of my temper I remained near a year, and lived
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a very sedate retired life, as you may well suppose, and my thoughts
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being very much composed as to my condition, and fully comforted in resigning myself
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to the dispositions of providence, I thought I lived really very happily in all
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things except that of society. I improved myself in this time in all the
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mechanic exercises which my necessities put me upon applying myself to, and I believe
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I should, upon occasion have made a very good carpenter, especially considering how
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few tools I had. Besides this, I arrived at an unexpected perfection in
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my earthenware, and contrived well enough to make them with a wheel, which
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I found infinitely easier and better, because I made things round and shaped,
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which before were filthy things indeed to look on. But I think I was
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never more vain of my own performance or more joyful for anything I found out,
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than for my being able to make a tobacco pipe. And though it
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was a very ugly, clumsy thing when it was done, and only burned
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red like other earthenware, yet as it was hard and firm and would draw
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the smoke, I was exceedingly comforted with it, for I had been always
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used to smoke, and there were pipes in the ship, but I forget
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them at first, not thinking there was tobacco in the island. And afterwards,
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when I searched the ship again, I could not come at any pipes
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in my wicker. Where also I improved much and made abundance of necessary baskets
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as well as my invention showed me. Though not very handsome, yet they
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were such as were very handy and convenient for laying things up in or fetching
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things home. For example, if I killed a goat abroad, I could
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hang it up in a tree, flay it, dress it and cut it
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in pieces, and bring it home in a basket. And the like by
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a turtle, I could cut it up, take out the eggs and a
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piece or two of the flesh which was enough for me, and bring them
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home in a basket, and leave the rest behind me. Also, large
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deep baskets were the receivers of my corn, which I always rubbed out as
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soon as it was dry and cured, and kept it in great baskets.
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I began now to perceive my powder abated considerably. This was a want which
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it was impossible for me to supply, and I began seriously to consider what
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I must do when I should have no more powder, that is to say,
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how I should kill any goats I had. As is observed, in
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my third year of being here, kept a kid and bred her obtain,
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and I was in hopes of getting a he goat, But I could not,
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by any means bring it to pass till my kid grew an old goat,
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and as I could never find in my heart to kill her, she
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died at last of mere age. But being now in the eleventh year of
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my residence, and as I have said, my ammunition growing low, I
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set myself to study some art to trap and snare the goats, to see
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whether I could not catch some of them alive, and particularly I wanted a
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she goat, great with young. For this purpose, I made snares to
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hamper them, and I do believe they were more than once taken in them.
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But my tackle was not good, for I had no wire, and
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I always found them broken, and my bait devoured. At length, I
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resolved to try a pitfall. So I dug several large pits in the earth
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in places where I had observed the goats used to feed, and over these
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pits I placed hurdles of my own making, too, with a great weight
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upon them, and several times I put ears of barley and rice. Without
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setting the trap. I could easily perceive the goats had gone in and eaten
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up the corn, for I could see the marks of their feet at length.
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I set three traps in one night, and going the next morning,
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I found them all standing at the bait, eaten and gone. This was
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very discouraging. However, I altered my traps, and not to trouble you
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with particulars. Going one morning to see my traps, I found in one
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of them a large old he goat, and in one of the others three
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kids, a male and two females. As to the old one, I
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knew not what to do with him, he was so fierce. I durst
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not go into the pit to him, that is to say, to bring
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him away alive, which was what I wanted. I could have killed him,
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but that was not my business, nor would it answer my end.
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So I even let him out, and he ran away as if he had
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been frightened out of his wits. But I did not then know what I
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afterwards learned that hunger will tame a lion. If I had let him stay
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three or four days without food, and then have carried him some water to
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drink, and then little corn, he would have been as tame as one
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of the kids, for they are mighty, sagacious, tractable creatures where they
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are well used. However, for the present I let him go, knowing
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no better at that time. Then I went to the three kids, and
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taking them one by one, I tied them with strings together, and with
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some difficulty, brought them all home. It was a good while before they
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would feed, but throwing them some sweet corn, it tempted them, and
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they began to be came. And now I found that if I expected to
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supply myself with goat's flesh when I had no powder or shot left, breeding
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some up tame was my only way, when perhaps I might have them about
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my house like a flock of sheep. But then it occurred to me that
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I must keep the tame from the wild, or else they would always run
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wild when they grew up. And the only way for this was to have
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some enclosed piece of ground, well fenced, either with hedge or pail,
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to keep them in so effectually that those within might not break out, or
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those without break in This was a great undertaking for one pair of hands.
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Yet as I saw, there was an absolute necessity for doing it. My
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first work was to find out a proper piece of ground where there was likely
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to be herbage for them to eat, water for them to drink, and
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cover to keep them from the sun. Those who understand such enclosures will think
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I had very little contrivance when I pitched upon a place very proper, for
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all these being a plane open piece of meadowland or savannah as our people call
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it in the western colonies, which had two or three little drills of fresh
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water in it, and at one end was very well. I say they
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will smile at my forecast when I shall tell them that I began by enclosing
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this piece of ground in such a manner that my headge or pale must have
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been at least two miles about. Nor was the madness of it so great
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as to the compass, For if it was ten miles about, I was
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like to have time enough to do it in. But I did not consider
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that my goats would be as wild in so much compass as if they had
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had the whole island. And I should have so much room to chase them
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in that I should never catch them. My hedge was begun and carried on
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I believe about fifty yards when this thought occurred to me, so I presently
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stopped short, and for the beginning I resolved to enclose a piece of about
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one hundred and fifty yards in length and one hundred yards in breadth, which
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as it would maintain as many as I could have in any reasonable time,
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so as my stock increased, I could add more ground to my enclosure.
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This was acting with some prudence, and I went to work with courage.
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I was about three months hedging in the first piece, and till I had
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done, I tethered the three kids and the best part of it, and
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used them to feed as near me as possible to make them familiar, And
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very often I would go and carry them some ears of barley or a handful
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of rice, and feed them out of my hand, so that after my
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enclosure was finished and I let them loose, they would follow me up and
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down, bleeding after me for a handful of corn. This answered my end,
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and in about a year and a half I had a flock of about
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twelve goats, kids and all, and in two years more, I had
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three and forty besides several that I took and killed for my food. After
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that, I enclosed several pieces of ground to feed them in, with little
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pins to drive them, to take them as I wanted, and gates out
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of one piece of ground into another. But this was not all. For
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now I not only had goat's flesh to feed on when I pleased, but
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milk too, a thing which indeed, in the beginning I did not so
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much as think of, and which when it came into my thoughts, was
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really an agreeable surprise. For now I set up my dairy and had sometimes
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a gallon or two of milk in a day, And as nature, who
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gives supplies of food to every creature, dictates even naturally how to make use
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of it, so that I had never milked a cow, much less a
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goat, or seen butter or cheese made only when I was a boy.
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After a great many essays and miscarriages, made both butter and cheese. At
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last, also salt, though I found it partly made to my hand by
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the heat of the sun upon some of the rocks of the sea, and
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never wanted it afterwards. How mercifully can our creator treat his creatures even in
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those conditions in which they seemed to be overwhelmed in destruction. How can he
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sweeten the bitterest providences and give us cause to praise him for dungeons and prisons?
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What a table was here? Spread from me in the wilderness, where
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I saw nothing at first but to perish for hunger, And of Chapter ten,