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

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