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05 - The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe · Thrilling Adventures - Daily

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Speaker 1: Chapter five, a great victory. It was five or six
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Speaker 1: months after this before they heard any more of the savages,
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Speaker 1: in which time our men were in hopes they had
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Speaker 1: either forgot their former bad luck or given over hopes
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Speaker 1: of better, when on a sudden they were invaded with
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Speaker 1: a most formidable fleet of no less than eight and
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Speaker 1: twenty canoes, full of savages, armed with bows and arrows,
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Speaker 1: great clubs, wooden swords, and such like engines of war.
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Speaker 1: And they brought such numbers with them that, in short,
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Speaker 1: it put all our people into the utmost consternation. As
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Speaker 1: they came on shore in the evening, and at the
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Speaker 1: easternmost side of the island. Our men had that night
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Speaker 1: to consult and consider what to do. In the first place,
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Speaker 1: knowing that their being entirely concealed was their only safety before,
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Speaker 1: and would be much more so now, while the number
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Speaker 1: of their enemies would be so great, they resolved first
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Speaker 1: of all to take down the huts which were built
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Speaker 1: for the two Englandish men, and drive away their goats
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Speaker 1: to the old cave, because they supposed the savages would
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Speaker 1: go directly thither as soon as it was day to
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Speaker 1: play the old game over again. Though they did not
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Speaker 1: now land within two leagues of it. In the next place,
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Speaker 1: they drove away all the flocks of goats they had
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Speaker 1: at the old Bower, as I called it, which belonged
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Speaker 1: to the Spaniards, and in short left as little appearance
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Speaker 1: of inhabitants anywhere as was possible. And the next morning
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Speaker 1: early they posted themselves with all their force, at the
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Speaker 1: plantation of the two men, to wait for their coming.
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Speaker 1: As they guessed, so it happened, these new invaders, leaving
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Speaker 1: their canoes at the east end of the island, came
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Speaker 1: ranging along the shore directly towards the place, to the
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Speaker 1: number of two hundred and fifty. As near as our
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Speaker 1: men could judge, our army was but small. Indeed, but
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Speaker 1: that which was worse, they had not arms for all
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Speaker 1: their number. The whole account, it seems, stood thus thus
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Speaker 1: first as two men, seventeen Spaniards, five Englishmen Old Friday,
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Speaker 1: the three slaves taken with the women who proved very faithful,
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Speaker 1: and three other slaves who lived with the Spaniards. To
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Speaker 1: arm these they had eleven muskets, five pistols, three fowling pieces,
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Speaker 1: five muskets or fowling pieces, which were taken by me
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Speaker 1: from the mutinous seamen, whom I reduced two swords and
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Speaker 1: three old halbirds to their slaves. They did not give
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Speaker 1: either musket or fusey, but they had each a halbird
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Speaker 1: or a long staff like a quarter staff, with a
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Speaker 1: great spike of iron fastened into each end of it,
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Speaker 1: and by his side a hatchet. Also, every one of
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Speaker 1: our men had a hatchet. Two of the women could
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Speaker 1: not be prevailed upon, but they would come into the fight,
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Speaker 1: and they had bows and arrows, which the Spaniards had
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Speaker 1: taken from the savages. When the first action happened which
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Speaker 1: I have spoken of, where the Indians fought with one another,
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Speaker 1: and the women had hadad two the chief Spaniard whom
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Speaker 1: I described so often, commanded the whole, and will Atkins,
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Speaker 1: who though a dreadful fellow for wickedness, was a most
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Speaker 1: daring bold fellow, commanded under him. The savages came forward
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Speaker 1: like lions, and our men, which was the worst of
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Speaker 1: their fate, had no advantage in their situation, only that
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Speaker 1: will Atkins, who now proved a most useful fellow with
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Speaker 1: six men, was planted just behind a small thicket of
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Speaker 1: bushes as an advanced guard with orders to let the
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Speaker 1: first of them pass by, and then fire into the
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Speaker 1: middle of them, and as soon as he had fired,
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Speaker 1: to make his retreat as nimbly as he could round
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Speaker 1: a part of the wood, and so come in behind
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Speaker 1: the spaniards where they stood, having a thicket of trees
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Speaker 1: before them. When the savages came on, they ran straggling
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Speaker 1: about every way in heaps, out of all manner of order,
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Speaker 1: and will Atkins let about fifty of them pass by him. Then,
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Speaker 1: seeing the rest come in a very thick throng, he
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Speaker 1: orders three of his men to fire, having loaded their
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Speaker 1: muskets with six or seven bullets apiece, about as big
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Speaker 1: as large pistol bullets. How many they killed or wounded,
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Speaker 1: they knew not, but the consternation and surprise was inexpressible
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Speaker 1: among the savages. They were frightened to the last degree
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Speaker 1: to hear such a dreadful noise and see their men
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Speaker 1: killed and others hurt. But see nobody that did it.
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Speaker 1: When in the middle of their fright will Atkins and
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Speaker 1: his other three let fly again among the thickest of them,
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Speaker 1: and in less than a minute the first three, being
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Speaker 1: loaded again, gave them a third volley had will Atkins
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Speaker 1: and his men retired immediately as soon as they had
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Speaker 1: fired as they were ordered to do, or had the
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Speaker 1: rest of the body been at hand, to have poured
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Speaker 1: in their shot continually. The savages had been effectually routed,
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Speaker 1: for the terror that was among them came principally from
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Speaker 1: this that they were killed by the gods with thunder,
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Speaker 1: ag and lightning, and could see nobody that hurt them,
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Speaker 1: but will Atkins, staying to load, again, discovered the cheat.
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Speaker 1: Some of the savages, who were at a distance spying them,
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Speaker 1: came upon them behind, and though Atkins and his men
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Speaker 1: fired at them also two or three times and killed
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Speaker 1: above twenty, retiring as fast as they could, yet they
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Speaker 1: wounded Atkins himself and killed one of his fellow Englishmen
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Speaker 1: with their arrows, as they did afterwards, one Spaniard, and
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Speaker 1: one of the Indian slaves who came with the women.
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Speaker 1: This slave was a most gallant fellow, and fought most desperately,
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Speaker 1: killing five of them with his own hand, having no
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Speaker 1: weapon but one of the armed staves and a hatchet.
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Speaker 1: Our men being thus hard laid, at Atkins wounded and
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Speaker 1: two other men killed, retreated to a rising ground in
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Speaker 1: the wood, and the Spaniards, after firing three volleys upon them,
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Speaker 1: retreated also, for their number was so great and they
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Speaker 1: were so desperate, that though above fifty of them were killed,
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Speaker 1: and more than as many wounded, yet they came on
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Speaker 1: in the teeth of our men, fearless of danger, and
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Speaker 1: shot their arrows like a cloud. And it was observed
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Speaker 1: that their wounded men, who were not quite disabled, were
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Speaker 1: made outrageous by their wounds, and fought like madmen. When
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Speaker 1: our men retreated, they left the Spaniard and the Englishmen
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Speaker 1: that were killed behind them, and the savages, when they
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Speaker 1: came up to them, killed them over again in a
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Speaker 1: wretched manner, breaking their arms, legs and heads with their
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Speaker 1: clubs and wooden swords like true savages. But finding our
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Speaker 1: men were gone, they did not seem inclined to pursue them,
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Speaker 1: but drew themselves up in a ring, which is it
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Speaker 1: seems their custom, and shouted twice in token of their victory,
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Speaker 1: after which they had the mortification to see several of
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Speaker 1: their wounded men fall, dying with the mere loss of blood.
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Speaker 1: The Spaniard governor, having drawn his little body up together
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Speaker 1: upon a rising Atkins, though he was wounded would have
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Speaker 1: had them march and charge again altogether at once. But
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Speaker 1: the Spaniard replied, Signor Atkins, you see how their wounded
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Speaker 1: men fight. Let them alone till morning. All the wounded
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Speaker 1: men will be stiff and sore with their wounds, and
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Speaker 1: faint with the loss of blood, and so we shall
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Speaker 1: have the fewer to engage. This advice was good, but
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Speaker 1: will Atkins replied merrily, that is true, Signor, and so
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Speaker 1: shall I too, And that is the reason I would
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Speaker 1: go on while I am warm. Well, Signor Atkins, says
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Speaker 1: the Spaniard, you have behaved gallantly and done your part.
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Speaker 1: We will fight for you if you cannot come on.
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Speaker 1: But I think it best to stay till morning. So
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Speaker 1: they waited. But as it was a clear moonlight night,
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Speaker 1: and they found the savages in great disorder about their
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Speaker 1: dead and wounded men, and a great noise and hurry
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Speaker 1: among them where they lay, they afterwards resolved to fall
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Speaker 1: upon them in the night, especially if they could come
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Speaker 1: to give them but one more volley before they were discovered,
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Speaker 1: which they had a fair opportunity to do. For one
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Speaker 1: of the Englishmen in whose quarter it was where the
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Speaker 1: fight began led them round between the woods and the
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Speaker 1: seaside westward, and then turning short south. They came so
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Speaker 1: near where the thickest of them lay, that before they
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Speaker 1: were seen or heard, eight of them fired in among them,
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Speaker 1: and did dreadful execution upon them. In half a minute more,
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Speaker 1: eight others fired after them, pouring in their small shot
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Speaker 1: in such a quantity that abundance were killed and wounded,
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Speaker 1: And all this while they were not able to see
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Speaker 1: who hurt them or which way to fly. The Spaniards
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Speaker 1: charged again with the utmost expedition, and then divided themselves
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Speaker 1: into three bodies, and resolved to fall in among them.
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Speaker 1: All together. They had in each body eight persons, that
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Speaker 1: is to say, twenty two men and the two women, who,
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Speaker 1: by the way, fought desperately. They divided the firearms equally
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Speaker 1: in each party, as well as the halberds and staves.
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Speaker 1: They would have had the women keep back, but they
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Speaker 1: said they were resolved to die with their husbands. Having
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Speaker 1: thus formed their little army, they marched out from among
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Speaker 1: the trees and came up to the teeth of the enemy,
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Speaker 1: shouting and hallooing as loud as they could. The savages
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Speaker 1: stood all together, but were in the utmost confusion, hearing
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Speaker 1: the noise of our men shouting from three quarters together,
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Speaker 1: they would have fought if they had seen us, For
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Speaker 1: as soon as we came near enough to be seen,
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Speaker 1: some arrows were shot, and poor old Friday was wounded,
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Speaker 1: though not dangerously. But our men gave them no time,
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Speaker 1: but running up to them, fired among them three ways,
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Speaker 1: and then fell in with the butt ends of their muskets,
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Speaker 1: their swords, armed staves and hatchets, and laid about them
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Speaker 1: so well that in a word they set up a
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Speaker 1: dismal screaming and howling, flying to save their lives which
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Speaker 1: way soever they could. Our men were tired with the execution,
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Speaker 1: and killed or mortally wounded in the two fights, about
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Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty of them, the rest, being frightened
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Speaker 1: out of their wits, scoured through the woods and over
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Speaker 1: the hills with all the speed that fear and nimble
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Speaker 1: feet could help them to. And as we did not
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Speaker 1: trouble ourselves much to pursue them, they got all together
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Speaker 1: to the seaside, where they landed and where their canoes lay.
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Speaker 1: But their disaster was not at an end yet, for
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Speaker 1: it blew a terrible storm of wind that evening from
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Speaker 1: the sea, so that it was impossible for them to
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Speaker 1: go off, Nay, the storm continuing all night. When the
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Speaker 1: tide came up, their canoes were, most of them driven
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Speaker 1: by the surge of the sea, so high upon the
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Speaker 1: shore that it required infinite toil to get them off,
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Speaker 1: and some of them were even dashed to pieces against
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Speaker 1: the beach. Our men, though glad of their victory, yet
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Speaker 1: got little rest that night. But having refreshed themselves as
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Speaker 1: well as they could, they resolved to march to that
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Speaker 1: part of the island where the savages were fled and
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Speaker 1: see what posture they were in. This necessarily led them
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Speaker 1: over the place where the fight had been, and where
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Speaker 1: they found several of the poor creatures, not quite dead
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Speaker 1: and yet past recovering life, a sight disagreeable enough to
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Speaker 1: generous minds. For a truly great man, though obliged by
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Speaker 1: the law of battle to destroy his enemy, takes no
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Speaker 1: delight in his misery. However, there was no need to
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Speaker 1: give any orders in this case, for their own savages,
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Speaker 1: who were their servants, despatched these poor creatures with their hatchets.
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Speaker 1: At length, they came in view of the place where
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Speaker 1: the more miserable remains of the savage's army lay, where
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Speaker 1: there appeared about one hundred. Still. Their posture was generally
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Speaker 1: sitting upon the ground, with their knees up towards their mouth,
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Speaker 1: and the head put between the two hands, leaning down
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Speaker 1: upon the knees. When our men came within two musket
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Speaker 1: shots of them, the Spaniard governor ordered two muskets to
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Speaker 1: be fired without ball to alarm them. This he did
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Speaker 1: that by their countenance he might know what to expect,
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Speaker 1: whether they were still in heart to fight, or were
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Speaker 1: so heartily beaten as to be discouraged, and so he
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Speaker 1: might manage accordingly. This stratagem took for as soon as
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Speaker 1: the savages heard the first gun and saw the flash
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Speaker 1: of the second, they started up upon their feet in
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Speaker 1: the greatest consternation imaginable. And as our men advanced swiftly
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Speaker 1: towards them, they all ran, screaming and yelling away, with
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Speaker 1: a kind of howling noise which our men did not
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Speaker 1: understand and had never heard before. And thus they ran
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Speaker 1: up the hills into the country. At first, our men
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Speaker 1: had much rather, the weather had been calm, and they
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Speaker 1: had all gone away to sea. But they did not
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Speaker 1: then consider that this might probably have been the occasion
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Speaker 1: of their coming again in such multitudes as not to
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Speaker 1: be resisted, or at least to come so many and
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Speaker 1: so often as would quite desolate the island and starve them.
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Speaker 1: Will Atkins, therefore, who notwithstanding his wound, kept always with them,
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Speaker 1: proved the best counselor in this case. His advice was
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Speaker 1: to take the advantage that offered and step in between
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Speaker 1: them and their boats, and so deprive them of the
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Speaker 1: capacity of ever returning any more to plague the island.
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Speaker 1: They consulted long about this, and some were against it,
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Speaker 1: for fear of making the wretches fly to the woods
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Speaker 1: and live there desperate. And so they should have them
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Speaker 1: to hunt like wild beasts, be afraid to stir about
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Speaker 1: their business, and have their plantations continually rifled, all their
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Speaker 1: tame goats destroyed, and in short be reduced to a
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Speaker 1: life of continual distress. Will Atkins told them they had
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Speaker 1: better have to do with a hundred men than with
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Speaker 1: a hundred nations. That as they must destroy their boats,
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Speaker 1: so they must destroy the men, or be all of
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Speaker 1: them destroyed themselves. In a word, he showed them the
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Speaker 1: necessity of it so plainly that they all came into it.
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Speaker 1: So they went to work immediately with the boats, and
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Speaker 1: getting some dry wood together from a dead tree. They
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Speaker 1: tried to set some of them on fire, but they
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Speaker 1: were so wet that they would not burn. However, the
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Speaker 1: fire so burned the upper part that it soon made
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Speaker 1: them unfit for use at sea. When the Indians saw
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Speaker 1: what they were about, some of them came running out
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Speaker 1: of the woods, and, coming as near as they could
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Speaker 1: to our men, kneeled down and cried oa, oa, wharamokoa,
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Speaker 1: and some other words of their language, which none of
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Speaker 1: the others understood anything of, But as they made pitiful
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Speaker 1: gestures and strange noises, it was easy to understand. They
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Speaker 1: begged to have their boats spared, and that they would
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Speaker 1: be gone and never come there again. But our men
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Speaker 1: were now satisfied that they had no way to preserve
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Speaker 1: themselves or to save their colony, but effectually to prevent
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Speaker 1: any of these people from ever going home again, depending
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Speaker 1: upon this that if even so much as one of
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Speaker 1: them got back into their country to tell the story,
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Speaker 1: the colony was undone, so that, letting them know that
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Speaker 1: they should not have any mercy, they fell to work
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Speaker 1: with their canoes and destroyed every one that the storm
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Speaker 1: had not destroyed before, at the sight of which the
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Speaker 1: savages raised a hideous cry in the woods, which our
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Speaker 1: people heard plain enough, after which they ran about the
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Speaker 1: island like distracted men, so that, in a word, our
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Speaker 1: men did not really know what at first to do
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Speaker 1: with them. Nor did the Spaniards, with all their prudence,
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Speaker 1: consider that while they made those people thus desperate, they
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Speaker 1: ought to have kept a good guard at the same
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Speaker 1: time upon their plantations. For though it is true they
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Speaker 1: had driven away their cattle and the Indians did not
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Speaker 1: find out their main retreat, I mean my old castle
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Speaker 1: at the hill, nor the cave in the valley, yet
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Speaker 1: they found out my plantation at the bower, and pulled
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Speaker 1: it all to pieces, and all the fences, and planting
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Speaker 1: about it, trod all the corn underfoot, tore up the
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Speaker 1: vines and grapes, being just then almost ripe, and did
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Speaker 1: our men inestimable damage, though to themselves not one farthing's
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Speaker 1: worth of service. Though our men were able to fight
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Speaker 1: them upon all occasions, yet they were in no condition
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Speaker 1: to pursue them or hunt them up and down, for
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Speaker 1: as they were too nimble of foot for our people
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Speaker 1: when they found them single. So our men durst not
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Speaker 1: go abroad single, for fear of being surrounded with their numbers.
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Speaker 1: The best was they had no weapons, for though they
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Speaker 1: had bows, they had no arrows left, nor any materials
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Speaker 1: to make any, nor had they any edge tool among them.
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Speaker 1: The extremity and distress they were reduced to was great,
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Speaker 1: and indeed deplorable. But at the same time our men
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Speaker 1: were also brought to very bad circumstances by them, for
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Speaker 1: though their retreats were preserved, yet their provision was destroyed
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Speaker 1: and their harvest spoiled. And what to do or which
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Speaker 1: way to turn themselves, they knew not. The only refuge
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Speaker 1: they had now was the stock of cattle they had
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Speaker 1: in the valley by the cave, and some little corn
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Speaker 1: which grew there, and the plantation of the three englishmen.
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Speaker 1: Will Atkins and his comrades were now reduced to two,
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Speaker 1: one of them being killed by an arrow which struck
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Speaker 1: him on the side of his head just under the temple,
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Speaker 1: so that he never spoke more. And it was very
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Speaker 1: remarkable that this was the same barbarous fellow that cut
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Speaker 1: the poor savage slave with his hatchet and who afterwards
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Speaker 1: intended to have murdered the Spaniards. I looked upon their
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Speaker 1: case to have been worse at this time than mine
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Speaker 1: was at any time after I first discovered the grains
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Speaker 1: of barley and rice and got into the manner of
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Speaker 1: planting and raising my corn and my tame cattle. For
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Speaker 1: now they had, as I may say, a hundred wolves
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Speaker 1: upon the island, which would devour everything they could come at,
17:42
Speaker 1: yet could be hardly come at themselves. When they saw
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Speaker 1: what their circumstances were, the first thing they concluded was
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Speaker 1: that they would, if possible, drive the savages up to
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Speaker 1: the farther part of the island southwest, that if any
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Speaker 1: more came on shore they might not find one another.
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Speaker 1: Then that they would daily hunt and harass them, and
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Speaker 1: kill as many of them as they could come at,
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Speaker 1: till they had reduced their number. And if they could
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Speaker 1: at last tame them and bring them to anything, they
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Speaker 1: would give them corn and teach them how to plant
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Speaker 1: and live upon their daily labor. In order to do this,
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Speaker 1: they so followed them and so terrified them with their guns,
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Speaker 1: that in a few days, if any of them fired
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Speaker 1: a gun at an Indian, if he did not hit him,
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Speaker 1: yet he would fall down for fear. So dreadfully frightened
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Speaker 1: were they that they kept out of sight farther and
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Speaker 1: farther till at last our men followed them, and almost
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Speaker 1: every day, killing or wounding some of them. They kept
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Speaker 1: up in the woods or hollow places, so much that
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Speaker 1: it reduced them to the utmost misery for want of food,
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Speaker 1: and many were afterwards found dead in the woods without
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Speaker 1: any hurt, absolutely starved to death. When our men found this,
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Speaker 1: it made their hearts relent, and pity moved them, especially
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Speaker 1: the generous minded Spaniard governor, and he proposed, if possible,
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Speaker 1: to take one of them alive, and bring him to
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Speaker 1: understand what they meant, so far as to be able
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Speaker 1: to act as interpreter, and go among them and see
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Speaker 1: if they might be brought to some conditions that might
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Speaker 1: be depended upon to save their lives and do us
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Speaker 1: no harm. It was some while before any of them
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Speaker 1: could be taken, but being weak and half starved, one
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Speaker 1: of them was at last surprised and made a prisoner.
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Speaker 1: He was sullen at first and would neither eat nor drink,
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Speaker 1: but finding himself kindly used and victuals given to him,
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Speaker 1: and no violence offered him. He at last grew tractable
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Speaker 1: and came to himself. They often brought Old Friday to
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Speaker 1: talk to him, who always told him how kind the
19:47
Speaker 1: others would be to them all, that they would not
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Speaker 1: only save their lives, but give them part of the
19:52
Speaker 1: island to live in, provided they would give satisfaction, that
19:55
Speaker 1: they would keep in their own bounds and not come
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Speaker 1: beyond it to injure or prejudice others. And that they
20:01
Speaker 1: should have corn given to them to plant and make
20:04
Speaker 1: it grow for their bread, and some bread given them
20:07
Speaker 1: for their present subsistence. And Old Friday bade the fellow
20:11
Speaker 1: go and talk with the rest of his countrymen and
20:13
Speaker 1: see what they said to it, assuring them that if
20:16
Speaker 1: they did not agree immediately, they should be all destroyed.
20:21
Speaker 1: The poor wretches, thoroughly humbled and reduced in number to
20:24
Speaker 1: about thirty seven, closed with the proposal at the first offer,
20:29
Speaker 1: and begged to have some food given them, upon which
20:32
Speaker 1: twelve Spaniards and two Englishmen, well armed with three Indian slaves,
20:36
Speaker 1: and Old Friday, marched to the place where they were.
20:40
Speaker 1: The three Indian slaves carried them a large quantity of bread,
20:44
Speaker 1: some rice boiled up to cakes and dried in the sun,
20:47
Speaker 1: and three live goats. And they were ordered to go
20:50
Speaker 1: to the side of a hill, where they sat down
20:52
Speaker 1: ate their provisions very thankfully, and were the most faithful
20:56
Speaker 1: fellows to their words that could be thought of, For
20:59
Speaker 1: except when they came to beg victuals and directions, they
21:02
Speaker 1: never came out of their bounds. And there they lived.
21:05
Speaker 1: When I came to the island and I went to
21:07
Speaker 1: see them, they had taught them both to plant corn,
21:10
Speaker 1: make bread, breed tame goats, and milk them. They wanted
21:14
Speaker 1: nothing but wives in order for them soon to become
21:17
Speaker 1: a nation. They were confined to a neck of land,
21:20
Speaker 1: surrounded with high rocks behind them, and lying plain towards
21:24
Speaker 1: the sea before them. On the southeast corner of the island.
21:28
Speaker 1: They had land enough, and it was very good and fruitful,
21:32
Speaker 1: about a mile and a half broad and three or
21:34
Speaker 1: four miles in length. Our men taught them to make
21:37
Speaker 1: wooden spades, such as I had made for myself, and
21:40
Speaker 1: gave among them twelve hatchets and three or four knives.
21:44
Speaker 1: And there they lived, the most subjected, innocent creatures that
21:48
Speaker 1: ever were heard of. After this, the colony enjoyed a
21:52
Speaker 1: perfect tranquility with respect to the savages till I came
21:56
Speaker 1: to revisit them, which was about two years after. Not
22:00
Speaker 1: but that now and then some canoes of savages came
22:04
Speaker 1: on shore for their triumphal unnatural feasts. But as they
22:08
Speaker 1: were of several nations, and perhaps had never heard of
22:11
Speaker 1: those that came before, or the reason of it, they
22:14
Speaker 1: did not make any search or inquiry after their countrymen,
22:17
Speaker 1: and if they had, it would have been very hard
22:20
Speaker 1: to have found them out. Thus, I think I have
22:23
Speaker 1: given a full account of all that happened to them
22:26
Speaker 1: till my return. At least that was worth Notice. The
22:29
Speaker 1: Indians were wonderfully civilized by them, and they frequently went
22:34
Speaker 1: among them, but they forbid, on pain of death, any
22:37
Speaker 1: one of the Indians coming to them, because they would
22:40
Speaker 1: not have their settlement betrayed again. One thing was very remarkable, viz.
22:45
Speaker 1: That they taught the savages to make wicker work or baskets.
22:49
Speaker 1: But they soon outdid their masters, for they made abundance
22:52
Speaker 1: of ingenious things in wicker work, particularly baskets, sieves, bird cages, cupboards,
22:58
Speaker 1: et cetera. As all also chairs, stools, beds, couches, being
23:03
Speaker 1: very ingenious at such work when they were once put
23:06
Speaker 1: in the way of it. My coming was a particular
23:09
Speaker 1: relief to these people, because we furnished them with knives, scissors, spades, shovels, pickaxes,
23:16
Speaker 1: and all things of that kind which they could want.
23:19
Speaker 1: With the help of those tools, they were so very
23:21
Speaker 1: handy that they came at last to build up their
23:24
Speaker 1: huts or houses, very handsomely, rattling or working it up
23:27
Speaker 1: like basket work all the way round. This piece of ingenuity,
23:31
Speaker 1: although it looked very odd, was an exceeding good fence
23:35
Speaker 1: as well against heat, as against all sorts of vermin.
23:39
Speaker 1: And our men were so taken with it that they
23:41
Speaker 1: got the Indians to come and do the like for them,
23:44
Speaker 1: So that when I came to see the two englishmen's colonies,
23:47
Speaker 1: they looked at a distance as if they all lived
23:49
Speaker 1: like bees in a hive. As for will Atkins, who
23:54
Speaker 1: was now become a very industrious, useful and sober fellow,
23:58
Speaker 1: he had made himself such a tent of basket work,
24:00
Speaker 1: as I believe was never seen. It was one hundred
24:04
Speaker 1: and twenty paces round on the outside, as I measured
24:07
Speaker 1: by my steps. The walls were as close worked as
24:10
Speaker 1: a basket in panels or squares, of thirty two in number,
24:14
Speaker 1: and very strong, standing about seven feet high. In the
24:17
Speaker 1: middle was another not above twenty two paces round, but
24:21
Speaker 1: built stronger, being octagon in its form. And in the
24:25
Speaker 1: eight corners stood eight very strong posts, round the top
24:29
Speaker 1: of which he laid strong pieces knitted together with wooden pins,
24:33
Speaker 1: from which he raised a pyramid for a handsome roof
24:35
Speaker 1: of eight rafters joined together very well, though he had
24:39
Speaker 1: no nails, and only a few iron spikes, which he
24:42
Speaker 1: made himself too, out of the old iron that I
24:45
Speaker 1: had left there. Indeed, this fellow showed abundance of ingenuity
24:49
Speaker 1: in several things which he had no knowledge of. He
24:52
Speaker 1: made him a forge with a pair of wooden bellows
24:55
Speaker 1: to blow the fire. He made himself charcoal for his work,
24:59
Speaker 1: and he formed out a the iron crows a middling
25:01
Speaker 1: good anvil to hammer upon. In this manner he made
25:05
Speaker 1: many things, but especially hooks, staples and spikes, bolts and hinges.
25:10
Speaker 1: But to return to the house, after he had pitched
25:13
Speaker 1: the roof of his innermost tent, he worked it up
25:15
Speaker 1: between the rafters with basket work, so firm, and thatched
25:19
Speaker 1: that over again so ingeniously with rice straw, and over
25:23
Speaker 1: that a large leaf of a tree which covered the top.
25:26
Speaker 1: That his house was as dry as if it had
25:28
Speaker 1: been tiled or slated. He owned indeed that the savages
25:32
Speaker 1: had made the basket work for him. The outer circuit
25:35
Speaker 1: was covered as a lean to all round this inner apartment,
25:39
Speaker 1: and long rafters lay from the thirty two angles to
25:42
Speaker 1: the top posts of the inner house, being about twenty
25:45
Speaker 1: feet distant, so that there was a space like a
25:47
Speaker 1: walk within the outer wicker wall and without the inner
25:51
Speaker 1: near twenty feet wide. The inner place he partitioned off
25:56
Speaker 1: with the same wicker work, but much fairer, and divided
25:59
Speaker 1: into six apartments, so that he had six rooms on
26:02
Speaker 1: a floor, and out of every one of these there
26:05
Speaker 1: was a door, first into the entry or coming into
26:08
Speaker 1: the main tent, another door into the main tent, and
26:11
Speaker 1: another door into the space or walk that was round it.
26:15
Speaker 1: So that walk was also divided into six equal parts,
26:18
Speaker 1: which served not only for a retreat, but to store
26:21
Speaker 1: up any necessaries which the family had occasion for these
26:25
Speaker 1: six spaces, not taking up the whole circumference. What other
26:29
Speaker 1: apartments the outer circle had were thus ordered. As soon
26:33
Speaker 1: as you were in at the door of the outer circle,
26:35
Speaker 1: you had a short passage straight before you to the
26:37
Speaker 1: door of the inner house. But on either side was
26:40
Speaker 1: a wicker partition, and a door in it, by which
26:43
Speaker 1: you went first into a large room or storehouse twenty
26:47
Speaker 1: feet wide and about thirty feet long, and through that
26:50
Speaker 1: into another not quite so long, So that in the
26:53
Speaker 1: outer circle were ten handsome rooms, six of which were
26:57
Speaker 1: only to become at through the apartments of the inner tent,
27:00
Speaker 1: and served as closets or retiring rooms to the respective
27:03
Speaker 1: chambers of the inner circle, and four large warehouses or barns,
27:08
Speaker 1: or what you please to call them, which went through
27:10
Speaker 1: one another, two on either hand of the passage that
27:14
Speaker 1: led through the outer door to the inner tent. Such
27:17
Speaker 1: a piece of basket work, I believe was never seen
27:20
Speaker 1: in the world, nor a house or tent so neatly contrived,
27:24
Speaker 1: much less so built. In this great beehive lived the
27:27
Speaker 1: three families, that is to say, will Atkins and his companion.
27:31
Speaker 1: The third was killed, but his wife remained with three children,
27:35
Speaker 1: and the other two were not at all backward. To
27:37
Speaker 1: give the widow her full share of everything. I mean
27:40
Speaker 1: as to their corn, milk, grapes, et cetera, and when
27:44
Speaker 1: they killed a kid or found a turtle on the shore,
27:47
Speaker 1: so that they all lived well enough. Though it was
27:49
Speaker 1: true they were not so industrious as the other two,
27:53
Speaker 1: as has been observed already. One thing, however, cannot be omitted, viz.
27:59
Speaker 1: That as for real religion, I do not know that
28:01
Speaker 1: there was anything of that kind among them. They often
28:04
Speaker 1: indeed put one another in mind that there was a God,
28:08
Speaker 1: by the very common method of seamen swearing by his name.
28:12
Speaker 1: Nor were their poor, ignorant, savage wives much better for
28:15
Speaker 1: having been married two Christians, as we must call them,
28:18
Speaker 1: For as they knew very little of God themselves, so
28:22
Speaker 1: they were utterly incapable of entering into any discourse with
28:25
Speaker 1: their wives about a God, or to talk anything to
28:29
Speaker 1: them concerning religion. The utmost of all the improvement which
28:33
Speaker 1: I can say the wives had made from them was
28:36
Speaker 1: that they had taught them to speak English pretty well.
28:39
Speaker 1: And most of their children, who were near twenty in all,
28:42
Speaker 1: were taught to speak English too, from their first learning
28:45
Speaker 1: to speak, though they at first spoke it in a
28:48
Speaker 1: very broken manner like their mothers, None of these children
28:52
Speaker 1: were above six years old when I came thither, for
28:55
Speaker 1: it was not much above seven years since they had
28:57
Speaker 1: fetched these five savage ladies over. They had all children,
29:01
Speaker 1: more or less. The mothers were all a good sort
29:04
Speaker 1: of well governed, quiet, laborious women, modest and decent, helpful
29:09
Speaker 1: to one another, mighty observant, and subject to their masters.
29:13
Speaker 1: I cannot call them husbands, and lacked nothing but to
29:16
Speaker 1: be well instructed in the Christian religion and to be
29:20
Speaker 1: legally married, both of which were happily brought about afterwards
29:23
Speaker 1: by my means, or at least in consequence of my
29:27
Speaker 1: coming among them. End of Chapter five.