CHAPTER I - REVISITS ISLAND



THAT homely proverb, used on so many occasions in England, viz. 
"That what is bred in the bone will not go out of the flesh," was 
never more verified than in the story of my Life.  Any one would 
think that after thirty-five years' affliction, and a variety of 
unhappy circumstances, which few men, if any, ever went through 
before, and after near seven years of peace and enjoyment in the 
fulness of all things; grown old, and when, if ever, it might be 
allowed me to have had experience of every state of middle life, 
and to know which was most adapted to make a man completely happy; 
I say, after all this, any one would have thought that the native 
propensity to rambling which I gave an account of in my first 
setting out in the world to have been so predominant in my 
thoughts, should be worn out, and I might, at sixty one years of 
age, have been a little inclined to stay at home, and have done 
venturing life and fortune any more.

Nay, farther, the common motive of foreign adventures was taken 
away in me, for I had no fortune to make; I had nothing to seek:  
if I had gained ten thousand pounds I had been no richer; for I had 
already sufficient for me, and for those I had to leave it to; and 
what I had was visibly increasing; for, having no great family, I 
could not spend the income of what I had unless I would set up for 
an expensive way of living, such as a great family, servants, 
equipage, gaiety, and the like, which were things I had no notion 
of, or inclination to; so that I had nothing, indeed, to do but to 
sit still, and fully enjoy what I had got, and see it increase 
daily upon my hands.  Yet all these things had no effect upon me, 
or at least not enough to resist the strong inclination I had to go 
abroad again, which hung about me like a chronic distemper.  In 
particular, the desire of seeing my new plantation in the island, 
and the colony I left there, ran in my head continually.  I dreamed 
of it all night, and my imagination ran upon it all day:  it was 
uppermost in all my thoughts, and my fancy worked so steadily and 
strongly upon it that I talked of it in my sleep; in short, nothing 
could remove it out of my mind:  it even broke so violently into 
all my discourses that it made my conversation tiresome, for I 
could talk of nothing else; all my discourse ran into it, even to 
impertinence; and I saw it myself.

I have often heard persons of good judgment say that all the stir 
that people make in the world about ghosts and apparitions is owing 
to the strength of imagination, and the powerful operation of fancy 
in their minds; that there is no such thing as a spirit appearing, 
or a ghost walking; that people's poring affectionately upon the 
past conversation of their deceased friends so realises it to them 
that they are capable of fancying, upon some extraordinary 
circumstances, that they see them, talk to them, and are answered 
by them, when, in truth, there is nothing but shadow and vapour in 
the thing, and they really know nothing of the matter.

For my part, I know not to this hour whether there are any such 
things as real apparitions, spectres, or walking of people after 
they are dead; or whether there is anything in the stories they 
tell us of that kind more than the product of vapours, sick minds, 
and wandering fancies:  but this I know, that my imagination worked 
up to such a height, and brought me into such excess of vapours, or 
what else I may call it, that I actually supposed myself often upon 
the spot, at my old castle, behind the trees; saw my old Spaniard, 
Friday's father, and the reprobate sailors I left upon the island; 
nay, I fancied I talked with them, and looked at them steadily, 
though I was broad awake, as at persons just before me; and this I 
did till I often frightened myself with the images my fancy 
represented to me.  One time, in my sleep, I had the villainy of 
the three pirate sailors so lively related to me by the first 
Spaniard, and Friday's father, that it was surprising:  they told 
me how they barbarously attempted to murder all the Spaniards, and 
that they set fire to the provisions they had laid up, on purpose 
to distress and starve them; things that I had never heard of, and 
that, indeed, were never all of them true in fact:  but it was so 
warm in my imagination, and so realised to me, that, to the hour I 
saw them, I could not be persuaded but that it was or would be 
true; also how I resented it, when the Spaniard complained to me; 
and how I brought them to justice, tried them, and ordered them all 
three to be hanged.  What there was really in this shall be seen in 
its place; for however I came to form such things in my dream, and 
what secret converse of spirits injected it, yet there was, I say, 
much of it true.  I own that this dream had nothing in it literally 
and specifically true; but the general part was so true - the base; 
villainous behaviour of these three hardened rogues was such, and 
had been so much worse than all I can describe, that the dream had 
too much similitude of the fact; and as I would afterwards have 
punished them severely, so, if I had hanged them all, I had been 
much in the right, and even should have been justified both by the 
laws of God and man.

But to return to my story.  In this kind of temper I lived some 
years; I had no enjoyment of my life, no pleasant hours, no 
agreeable diversion but what had something or other of this in it; 
so that my wife, who saw my mind wholly bent upon it, told me very 
seriously one night that she believed there was some secret, 
powerful impulse of Providence upon me, which had determined me to 
go thither again; and that she found nothing hindered me going but 
my being engaged to a wife and children.  She told me that it was 
true she could not think of parting with me:  but as she was 
assured that if she was dead it would be the first thing I would 
do, so, as it seemed to her that the thing was determined above, 
she would not be the only obstruction; for, if I thought fit and 
resolved to go - [Here she found me very intent upon her words, and 
that I looked very earnestly at her, so that it a little disordered 
her, and she stopped.  I asked her why she did not go on, and say 
out what she was going to say?  But I perceived that her heart was 
too full, and some tears stood in her eyes.]  "Speak out, my dear," 
said I; "are you willing I should go?" - "No," says she, very 
affectionately, "I am far from willing; but if you are resolved to 
go," says she, "rather than I would be the only hindrance, I will 
go with you:  for though I think it a most preposterous thing for 
one of your years, and in your condition, yet, if it must be," said 
she, again weeping, "I would not leave you; for if it be of Heaven 
you must do it, there is no resisting it; and if Heaven make it 
your duty to go, He will also make it mine to go with you, or 
otherwise dispose of me, that I may not obstruct it."

This affectionate behaviour of my wife's brought me a little out of 
the vapours, and I began to consider what I was doing; I corrected 
my wandering fancy, and began to argue with myself sedately what 
business I had after threescore years, and after such a life of 
tedious sufferings and disasters, and closed in so happy and easy a 
manner; I, say, what business had I to rush into new hazards, and 
put myself upon adventures fit only for youth and poverty to run 
into?

With those thoughts I considered my new engagement; that I had a 
wife, one child born, and my wife then great with child of another; 
that I had all the world could give me, and had no need to seek 
hazard for gain; that I was declining in years, and ought to think 
rather of leaving what I had gained than of seeking to increase it; 
that as to what my wife had said of its being an impulse from 
Heaven, and that it should be my duty to go, I had no notion of 
that; so, after many of these cogitations, I struggled with the 
power of my imagination, reasoned myself out of it, as I believe 
people may always do in like cases if they will:  in a word, I 
conquered it, composed myself with such arguments as occurred to my 
thoughts, and which my present condition furnished me plentifully 
with; and particularly, as the most effectual method, I resolved to 
divert myself with other things, and to engage in some business 
that might effectually tie me up from any more excursions of this 
kind; for I found that thing return upon me chiefly when I was 
idle, and had nothing to do, nor anything of moment immediately 
before me.  To this purpose, I bought a little farm in the county 
of Bedford, and resolved to remove myself thither.  I had a little 
convenient house upon it, and the land about it, I found, was 
capable of great improvement; and it was many ways suited to my 
inclination, which delighted in cultivating, managing, planting, 
and improving of land; and particularly, being an inland country, I 
was removed from conversing among sailors and things relating to 
the remote parts of the world.  I went down to my farm, settled my 
family, bought ploughs, harrows, a cart, waggon-horses, cows, and 
sheep, and, setting seriously to work, became in one half-year a 
mere country gentleman.  My thoughts were entirely taken up in 
managing my servants, cultivating the ground, enclosing, planting, 
&c.; and I lived, as I thought, the most agreeable life that nature 
was capable of directing, or that a man always bred to misfortunes 
was capable of retreating to.

I farmed upon my own land; I had no rent to pay, was limited by no 
articles; I could pull up or cut down as I pleased; what I planted 
was for myself, and what I improved was for my family; and having 
thus left off the thoughts of wandering, I had not the least 
discomfort in any part of life as to this world.  Now I thought, 
indeed, that I enjoyed the middle state of life which my father so 
earnestly recommended to me, and lived a kind of heavenly life, 
something like what is described by the poet, upon the subject of a 
country life:-


"Free from vices, free from care,
Age has no pain, and youth no snare."


But in the middle of all this felicity, one blow from unseen 
Providence unhinged me at once; and not only made a breach upon me 
inevitable and incurable, but drove me, by its consequences, into a 
deep relapse of the wandering disposition, which, as I may say, 
being born in my very blood, soon recovered its hold of me; and, 
like the returns of a violent distemper, came on with an 
irresistible force upon me.  This blow was the loss of my wife.  It 
is not my business here to write an elegy upon my wife, give a 
character of her particular virtues, and make my court to the sex 
by the flattery of a funeral sermon.  She was, in a few words, the 
stay of all my affairs; the centre of all my enterprises; the 
engine that, by her prudence, reduced me to that happy compass I 
was in, from the most extravagant and ruinous project that filled 
my head, and did more to guide my rambling genius than a mother's 
tears, a father's instructions, a friend's counsel, or all my own 
reasoning powers could do.  I was happy in listening to her, and in 
being moved by her entreaties; and to the last degree desolate and 
dislocated in the world by the loss of her.

When she was gone, the world looked awkwardly round me.  I was as 
much a stranger in it, in my thoughts, as I was in the Brazils, 
when I first went on shore there; and as much alone, except for the 
assistance of servants, as I was in my island.  I knew neither what 
to think nor what to do.  I saw the world busy around me:  one part 
labouring for bread, another part squandering in vile excesses or 
empty pleasures, but equally miserable because the end they 
proposed still fled from them; for the men of pleasure every day 
surfeited of their vice, and heaped up work for sorrow and 
repentance; and the men of labour spent their strength in daily 
struggling for bread to maintain the vital strength they laboured 
with:  so living in a daily circulation of sorrow, living but to 
work, and working but to live, as if daily bread were the only end 
of wearisome life, and a wearisome life the only occasion of daily 
bread.

This put me in mind of the life I lived in my kingdom, the island; 
where I suffered no more corn to grow, because I did not want it; 
and bred no more goats, because I had no more use for them; where 
the money lay in the drawer till it grew mouldy, and had scarce the 
favour to be looked upon in twenty years.  All these things, had I 
improved them as I ought to have done, and as reason and religion 
had dictated to me, would have taught me to search farther than 
human enjoyments for a full felicity; and that there was something 
which certainly was the reason and end of life superior to all 
these things, and which was either to be possessed, or at least 
hoped for, on this side of the grave.

But my sage counsellor was gone; I was like a ship without a pilot, 
that could only run afore the wind.  My thoughts ran all away again 
into the old affair; my head was quite turned with the whimsies of 
foreign adventures; and all the pleasant, innocent amusements of my 
farm, my garden, my cattle, and my family, which before entirely 
possessed me, were nothing to me, had no relish, and were like 
music to one that has no ear, or food to one that has no taste.  In 
a word, I resolved to leave off housekeeping, let my farm, and 
return to London; and in a few months after I did so.

When I came to London, I was still as uneasy as I was before; I had 
no relish for the place, no employment in it, nothing to do but to 
saunter about like an idle person, of whom it may be said he is 
perfectly useless in God's creation, and it is not one farthing's 
matter to the rest of his kind whether he be dead or alive.  This 
also was the thing which, of all circumstances of life, was the 
most my aversion, who had been all my days used to an active life; 
and I would often say to myself, "A state of idleness is the very 
dregs of life;" and, indeed, I thought I was much more suitably 
employed when I was twenty-six days making a deal board.

It was now the beginning of the year 1693, when my nephew, whom, as 
I have observed before, I had brought up to the sea, and had made 
him commander of a ship, was come home from a short voyage to 
Bilbao, being the first he had made.  He came to me, and told me 
that some merchants of his acquaintance had been proposing to him 
to go a voyage for them to the East Indies, and to China, as 
private traders.  "And now, uncle," says he, "if you will go to sea 
with me, I will engage to land you upon your old habitation in the 
island; for we are to touch at the Brazils."

Nothing can be a greater demonstration of a future state, and of 
the existence of an invisible world, than the concurrence of second 
causes with the idea of things which we form in our minds, 
perfectly reserved, and not communicated to any in the world.

My nephew knew nothing how far my distemper of wandering was 
returned upon me, and I knew nothing of what he had in his thought 
to say, when that very morning, before he came to me, I had, in a 
great deal of confusion of thought, and revolving every part of my 
circumstances in my mind, come to this resolution, that I would go 
to Lisbon, and consult with my old sea-captain; and if it was 
rational and practicable, I would go and see the island again, and 
what was become of my people there.  I had pleased myself with the 
thoughts of peopling the place, and carrying inhabitants from 
hence, getting a patent for the possession and I know not what; 
when, in the middle of all this, in comes my nephew, as I have 
said, with his project of carrying me thither in his way to the 
East Indies.

I paused a while at his words, and looking steadily at him, "What 
devil," said I, "sent you on this unlucky errand?"  My nephew 
stared as if he had been frightened at first; but perceiving that I 
was not much displeased at the proposal, he recovered himself.  "I 
hope it may not be an unlucky proposal, sir," says he.  "I daresay 
you would be pleased to see your new colony there, where you once 
reigned with more felicity than most of your brother monarchs in 
the world."  In a word, the scheme hit so exactly with my temper, 
that is to say, the prepossession I was under, and of which I have 
said so much, that I told him, in a few words, if he agreed with 
the merchants, I would go with him; but I told him I would not 
promise to go any further than my own island.  "Why, sir," says he, 
"you don't want to be left there again, I hope?"  "But," said I, 
"can you not take me up again on your return?"  He told me it would 
not be possible to do so; that the merchants would never allow him 
to come that way with a laden ship of such value, it being a 
month's sail out of his way, and might be three or four.  "Besides, 
sir, if I should miscarry," said he, "and not return at all, then 
you would be just reduced to the condition you were in before."

This was very rational; but we both found out a remedy for it, 
which was to carry a framed sloop on board the ship, which, being 
taken in pieces, might, by the help of some carpenters, whom we 
agreed to carry with us, be set up again in the island, and 
finished fit to go to sea in a few days.  I was not long resolving, 
for indeed the importunities of my nephew joined so effectually 
with my inclination that nothing could oppose me; on the other 
hand, my wife being dead, none concerned themselves so much for me 
as to persuade me one way or the other, except my ancient good 
friend the widow, who earnestly struggled with me to consider my 
years, my easy circumstances, and the needless hazards of a long 
voyage; and above all, my young children.  But it was all to no 
purpose, I had an irresistible desire for the voyage; and I told 
her I thought there was something so uncommon in the impressions I 
had upon my mind, that it would be a kind of resisting Providence 
if I should attempt to stay at home; after which she ceased her 
expostulations, and joined with me, not only in making provision 
for my voyage, but also in settling my family affairs for my 
absence, and providing for the education of my children.  In order 
to do this, I made my will, and settled the estate I had in such a 
manner for my children, and placed in such hands, that I was 
perfectly easy and satisfied they would have justice done them, 
whatever might befall me; and for their education, I left it wholly 
to the widow, with a sufficient maintenance to herself for her 
care:  all which she richly deserved; for no mother could have 
taken more care in their education, or understood it better; and as 
she lived till I came home, I also lived to thank her for it.

My nephew was ready to sail about the beginning of January 1694-5; 
and I, with my man Friday, went on board, in the Downs, the 8th; 
having, besides that sloop which I mentioned above, a very 
considerable cargo of all kinds of necessary things for my colony, 
which, if I did not find in good condition, I resolved to leave so.

First, I carried with me some servants whom I purposed to place 
there as inhabitants, or at least to set on work there upon my 
account while I stayed, and either to leave them there or carry 
them forward, as they should appear willing; particularly, I 
carried two carpenters, a smith, and a very handy, ingenious 
fellow, who was a cooper by trade, and was also a general mechanic; 
for he was dexterous at making wheels and hand-mills to grind corn, 
was a good turner and a good pot-maker; he also made anything that 
was proper to make of earth or of wood:  in a word, we called him 
our Jack-of-all-trades.  With these I carried a tailor, who had 
offered himself to go a passenger to the East Indies with my 
nephew, but afterwards consented to stay on our new plantation, and 
who proved a most necessary handy fellow as could be desired in 
many other businesses besides that of his trade; for, as I observed 
formerly, necessity arms us for all employments.

My cargo, as near as I can recollect, for I have not kept account 
of the particulars, consisted of a sufficient quantity of linen, 
and some English thin stuffs, for clothing the Spaniards that I 
expected to find there; and enough of them, as by my calculation 
might comfortably supply them for seven years; if I remember right, 
the materials I carried for clothing them, with gloves, hats, 
shoes, stockings, and all such things as they could want for 
wearing, amounted to about two hundred pounds, including some beds, 
bedding, and household stuff, particularly kitchen utensils, with 
pots, kettles, pewter, brass, &c.; and near a hundred pounds more 
in ironwork, nails, tools of every kind, staples, hooks, hinges, 
and every necessary thing I could think of.

I carried also a hundred spare arms, muskets, and fusees; besides 
some pistols, a considerable quantity of shot of all sizes, three 
or four tons of lead, and two pieces of brass cannon; and, because 
I knew not what time and what extremities I was providing for, I 
carried a hundred barrels of powder, besides swords, cutlasses, and 
the iron part of some pikes and halberds.  In short, we had a large 
magazine of all sorts of store; and I made my nephew carry two 
small quarter-deck guns more than he wanted for his ship, to leave 
behind if there was occasion; so that when we came there we might 
build a fort and man it against all sorts of enemies.  Indeed, I at 
first thought there would be need enough for all, and much more, if 
we hoped to maintain our possession of the island, as shall be seen 
in the course of that story.

I had not such bad luck in this voyage as I had been used to meet 
with, and therefore shall have the less occasion to interrupt the 
reader, who perhaps may be impatient to hear how matters went with 
my colony; yet some odd accidents, cross winds and bad weather 
happened on this first setting out, which made the voyage longer 
than I expected it at first; and I, who had never made but one 
voyage, my first voyage to Guinea, in which I might be said to come 
back again, as the voyage was at first designed, began to think the 
same ill fate attended me, and that I was born to be never 
contented with being on shore, and yet to be always unfortunate at 
sea.  Contrary winds first put us to the northward, and we were 
obliged to put in at Galway, in Ireland, where we lay wind-bound 
two-and-twenty days; but we had this satisfaction with the 
disaster, that provisions were here exceeding cheap, and in the 
utmost plenty; so that while we lay here we never touched the 
ship's stores, but rather added to them.  Here, also, I took in 
several live hogs, and two cows with their calves, which I 
resolved, if I had a good passage, to put on shore in my island; 
but we found occasion to dispose otherwise of them.

We set out on the 5th of February from Ireland, and had a very fair 
gale of wind for some days.  As I remember, it might be about the 
20th of February in the evening late, when the mate, having the 
watch, came into the round-house and told us he saw a flash of 
fire, and heard a gun fired; and while he was telling us of it, a 
boy came in and told us the boatswain heard another.  This made us 
all run out upon the quarter-deck, where for a while we heard 
nothing; but in a few minutes we saw a very great light, and found 
that there was some very terrible fire at a distance; immediately 
we had recourse to our reckonings, in which we all agreed that 
there could be no land that way in which the fire showed itself, 
no, not for five hundred leagues, for it appeared at WNW.  Upon 
this, we concluded it must be some ship on fire at sea; and as, by 
our hearing the noise of guns just before, we concluded that it 
could not be far off, we stood directly towards it, and were 
presently satisfied we should discover it, because the further we 
sailed, the greater the light appeared; though, the weather being 
hazy, we could not perceive anything but the light for a while.  In 
about half-an-hour's sailing, the wind being fair for us, though 
not much of it, and the weather clearing up a little, we could 
plainly discern that it was a great ship on fire in the middle of 
the sea.

I was most sensibly touched with this disaster, though not at all 
acquainted with the persons engaged in it; I presently recollected 
my former circumstances, and what condition I was in when taken up 
by the Portuguese captain; and how much more deplorable the 
circumstances of the poor creatures belonging to that ship must be, 
if they had no other ship in company with them.  Upon this I 
immediately ordered that five guns should be fired, one soon after 
another, that, if possible, we might give notice to them that there 
was help for them at hand and that they might endeavour to save 
themselves in their boat; for though we could see the flames of the 
ship, yet they, it being night, could see nothing of us.

We lay by some time upon this, only driving as the burning ship 
drove, waiting for daylight; when, on a sudden, to our great 
terror, though we had reason to expect it, the ship blew up in the 
air; and in a few minutes all the fire was out, that is to say, the 
rest of the ship sunk.  This was a terrible, and indeed an 
afflicting sight, for the sake of the poor men, who, I concluded, 
must be either all destroyed in the ship, or be in the utmost 
distress in their boat, in the middle of the ocean; which, at 
present, as it was dark, I could not see.  However, to direct them 
as well as I could, I caused lights to be hung out in all parts of 
the ship where we could, and which we had lanterns for, and kept 
firing guns all the night long, letting them know by this that 
there was a ship not far off.

About eight o'clock in the morning we discovered the ship's boats 
by the help of our perspective glasses, and found there were two of 
them, both thronged with people, and deep in the water.  We 
perceived they rowed, the wind being against them; that they saw 
our ship, and did their utmost to make us see them.  We immediately 
spread our ancient, to let them know we saw them, and hung a waft 
out, as a signal for them to come on board, and then made more 
sail, standing directly to them.  In little more than half-an-hour 
we came up with them; and took them all in, being no less than 
sixty-four men, women, and children; for there were a great many 
passengers.

Upon inquiry we found it was a French merchant ship of three-
hundred tons, home-bound from Quebec.  The master gave us a long 
account of the distress of his ship; how the fire began in the 
steerage by the negligence of the steersman, which, on his crying 
out for help, was, as everybody thought, entirely put out; but they 
soon found that some sparks of the first fire had got into some 
part of the ship so difficult to come at that they could not 
effectually quench it; and afterwards getting in between the 
timbers, and within the ceiling of the ship, it proceeded into the 
hold, and mastered all the skill and all the application they were 
able to exert.

They had no more to do then but to get into their boats, which, to 
their great comfort, were pretty large; being their long-boat, and 
a great shallop, besides a small skiff, which was of no great 
service to them, other than to get some fresh water and provisions 
into her, after they had secured their lives from the fire.  They 
had, indeed, small hopes of their lives by getting into these boats 
at that distance from any land; only, as they said, that they thus 
escaped from the fire, and there was a possibility that some ship 
might happen to be at sea, and might take them in.  They had sails, 
oars, and a compass; and had as much provision and water as, with 
sparing it so as to be next door to starving, might support them 
about twelve days, in which, if they had no bad weather and no 
contrary winds, the captain said he hoped he might get to the banks 
of Newfoundland, and might perhaps take some fish, to sustain them 
till they might go on shore.  But there were so many chances 
against them in all these cases, such as storms, to overset and 
founder them; rains and cold, to benumb and perish their limbs; 
contrary winds, to keep them out and starve them; that it must have 
been next to miraculous if they had escaped.

In the midst of their consternation, every one being hopeless and 
ready to despair, the captain, with tears in his eyes, told me they 
were on a sudden surprised with the joy of hearing a gun fire, and 
after that four more:  these were the five guns which I caused to 
be fired at first seeing the light.  This revived their hearts, and 
gave them the notice, which, as above, I desired it should, that 
there was a ship at hand for their help.  It was upon the hearing 
of these guns that they took down their masts and sails:  the sound 
coming from the windward, they resolved to lie by till morning.  
Some time after this, hearing no more guns, they fired three 
muskets, one a considerable while after another; but these, the 
wind being contrary, we never heard.  Some time after that again 
they were still more agreeably surprised with seeing our lights, 
and hearing the guns, which, as I have said, I caused to be fired 
all the rest of the night.  This set them to work with their oars, 
to keep their boats ahead, at least that we might the sooner come 
up with them; and at last, to their inexpressible joy, they found 
we saw them.

It is impossible for me to express the several gestures, the 
strange ecstasies, the variety of postures which these poor 
delivered people ran into, to express the joy of their souls at so 
unexpected a deliverance.  Grief and fear are easily described:  
sighs, tears, groans, and a very few motions of the head and hands, 
make up the sum of its variety; but an excess of joy, a surprise of 
joy, has a thousand extravagances in it.  There were some in tears; 
some raging and tearing themselves, as if they had been in the 
greatest agonies of sorrow; some stark raving and downright 
lunatic; some ran about the ship stamping with their feet, others 
wringing their hands; some were dancing, some singing, some 
laughing, more crying, many quite dumb, not able to speak a word; 
others sick and vomiting; several swooning and ready to faint; and 
a few were crossing themselves and giving God thanks.

I would not wrong them either; there might be many that were 
thankful afterwards; but the passion was too strong for them at 
first, and they were not able to master it:  then were thrown into 
ecstasies, and a kind of frenzy, and it was but a very few that 
were composed and serious in their joy.  Perhaps also, the case may 
have some addition to it from the particular circumstance of that 
nation they belonged to:  I mean the French, whose temper is 
allowed to be more volatile, more passionate, and more sprightly, 
and their spirits more fluid than in other nations.  I am not 
philosopher enough to determine the cause; but nothing I had ever 
seen before came up to it.  The ecstasies poor Friday, my trusty 
savage, was in when he found his father in the boat came the 
nearest to it; and the surprise of the master and his two 
companions, whom I delivered from the villains that set them on 
shore in the island, came a little way towards it; but nothing was 
to compare to this, either that I saw in Friday, or anywhere else 
in my life.

It is further observable, that these extravagances did not show 
themselves in that different manner I have mentioned, in different 
persons only; but all the variety would appear, in a short 
succession of moments, in one and the same person.  A man that we 
saw this minute dumb, and, as it were, stupid and confounded, would 
the next minute be dancing and hallooing like an antic; and the 
next moment be tearing his hair, or pulling his clothes to pieces, 
and stamping them under his feet like a madman; in a few moments 
after that we would have him all in tears, then sick, swooning, 
and, had not immediate help been had, he would in a few moments 
have been dead.  Thus it was, not with one or two, or ten or 
twenty, but with the greatest part of them; and, if I remember 
right, our surgeon was obliged to let blood of about thirty 
persons.

There were two priests among them:  one an old man, and the other a 
young man; and that which was strangest was, the oldest man was the 
worst.  As soon as he set his foot on board our ship, and saw 
himself safe, he dropped down stone dead to all appearance.  Not 
the least sign of life could be perceived in him; our surgeon 
immediately applied proper remedies to recover him, and was the 
only man in the ship that believed he was not dead.  At length he 
opened a vein in his arm, having first chafed and rubbed the part, 
so as to warm it as much as possible.  Upon this the blood, which 
only dropped at first, flowing freely, in three minutes after the 
man opened his eyes; a quarter of an hour after that he spoke, grew 
better, and after the blood was stopped, he walked about, told us 
he was perfectly well, and took a dram of cordial which the surgeon 
gave him.  About a quarter of an hour after this they came running 
into the cabin to the surgeon, who was bleeding a Frenchwoman that 
had fainted, and told him the priest was gone stark mad.  It seems 
he had begun to revolve the change of his circumstances in his 
mind, and again this put him into an ecstasy of joy.  His spirits 
whirled about faster than the vessels could convey them, the blood 
grew hot and feverish, and the man was as fit for Bedlam as any 
creature that ever was in it.  The surgeon would not bleed him 
again in that condition, but gave him something to doze and put him 
to sleep; which, after some time, operated upon him, and he awoke 
next morning perfectly composed and well.  The younger priest 
behaved with great command of his passions, and was really an 
example of a serious, well-governed mind.  At his first coming on 
board the ship he threw himself flat on his face, prostrating 
himself in thankfulness for his deliverance, in which I unhappily 
and unseasonably disturbed him, really thinking he had been in a 
swoon; but he spoke calmly, thanked me, told me he was giving God 
thanks for his deliverance, begged me to leave him a few moments, 
and that, next to his Maker, he would give me thanks also.  I was 
heartily sorry that I disturbed him, and not only left him, but 
kept others from interrupting him also.  He continued in that 
posture about three minutes, or little more, after I left him, then 
came to me, as he had said he would, and with a great deal of 
seriousness and affection, but with tears in his eyes, thanked me, 
that had, under God, given him and so many miserable creatures 
their lives.  I told him I had no need to tell him to thank God for 
it, rather than me, for I had seen that he had done that already; 
but I added that it was nothing but what reason and humanity 
dictated to all men, and that we had as much reason as he to give 
thanks to God, who had blessed us so far as to make us the 
instruments of His mercy to so many of His creatures.  After this 
the young priest applied himself to his countrymen, and laboured to 
compose them:  he persuaded, entreated, argued, reasoned with them, 
and did his utmost to keep them within the exercise of their 
reason; and with some he had success, though others were for a time 
out of all government of themselves.

I cannot help committing this to writing, as perhaps it may be 
useful to those into whose hands it may fall, for guiding 
themselves in the extravagances of their passions; for if an excess 
of joy can carry men out to such a length beyond the reach of their 
reason, what will not the extravagances of anger, rage, and a 
provoked mind carry us to?  And, indeed, here I saw reason for 
keeping an exceeding watch over our passions of every kind, as well 
those of joy and satisfaction as those of sorrow and anger.

We were somewhat disordered by these extravagances among our new 
guests for the first day; but after they had retired to lodgings 
provided for them as well as our ship would allow, and had slept 
heartily - as most of them did, being fatigued and frightened - 
they were quite another sort of people the next day.  Nothing of 
good manners, or civil acknowledgments for the kindness shown them, 
was wanting; the French, it is known, are naturally apt enough to 
exceed that way.  The captain and one of the priests came to me the 
next day, and desired to speak with me and my nephew; the commander 
began to consult with us what should be done with them; and first, 
they told us we had saved their lives, so all they had was little 
enough for a return to us for that kindness received.  The captain 
said they had saved some money and some things of value in their 
boats, caught hastily out of the flames, and if we would accept it 
they were ordered to make an offer of it all to us; they only 
desired to be set on shore somewhere in our way, where, if 
possible, they might get a passage to France.  My nephew wished to 
accept their money at first word, and to consider what to do with 
them afterwards; but I overruled him in that part, for I knew what 
it was to be set on shore in a strange country; and if the 
Portuguese captain that took me up at sea had served me so, and 
taken all I had for my deliverance, I must have been starved, or 
have been as much a slave at the Brazils as I had been at Barbary, 
the mere being sold to a Mahometan excepted; and perhaps a 
Portuguese is not a much better master than a Turk, if not in some 
cases much worse.

I therefore told the French captain that we had taken them up in 
their distress, it was true, but that it was our duty to do so, as 
we were fellow-creatures; and we would desire to be so delivered if 
we were in the like or any other extremity; that we had done 
nothing for them but what we believed they would have done for us 
if we had been in their case and they in ours; but that we took 
them up to save them, not to plunder them; and it would be a most 
barbarous thing to take that little from them which they had saved 
out of the fire, and then set them on shore and leave them; that 
this would be first to save them from death, and then kill them 
ourselves:  save them from drowning, and abandon them to starving; 
and therefore I would not let the least thing be taken from them.  
As to setting them on shore, I told them indeed that was an 
exceeding difficulty to us, for that the ship was bound to the East 
Indies; and though we were driven out of our course to the westward 
a very great way, and perhaps were directed by Heaven on purpose 
for their deliverance, yet it was impossible for us wilfully to 
change our voyage on their particular account; nor could my nephew, 
the captain, answer it to the freighters, with whom he was under 
charter to pursue his voyage by way of Brazil; and all I knew we 
could do for them was to put ourselves in the way of meeting with 
other ships homeward bound from the West Indies, and get them a 
passage, if possible, to England or France.

The first part of the proposal was so generous and kind they could 
not but be very thankful for it; but they were in very great 
consternation, especially the passengers, at the notion of being 
carried away to the East Indies; they then entreated me that as I 
was driven so far to the westward before I met with them, I would 
at least keep on the same course to the banks of Newfoundland, 
where it was probable I might meet with some ship or sloop that 
they might hire to carry them back to Canada.

I thought this was but a reasonable request on their part, and 
therefore I inclined to agree to it; for indeed I considered that 
to carry this whole company to the East Indies would not only be an 
intolerable severity upon the poor people, but would be ruining our 
whole voyage by devouring all our provisions; so I thought it no 
breach of charter-party, but what an unforeseen accident made 
absolutely necessary to us, and in which no one could say we were 
to blame; for the laws of God and nature would have forbid that we 
should refuse to take up two boats full of people in such a 
distressed condition; and the nature of the thing, as well 
respecting ourselves as the poor people, obliged us to set them on 
shore somewhere or other for their deliverance.  So I consented 
that we would carry them to Newfoundland, if wind and weather would 
permit:  and if not, I would carry them to Martinico, in the West 
Indies.

The wind continued fresh easterly, but the weather pretty good; and 
as the winds had continued in the points between NE. and SE. a long 
time, we missed several opportunities of sending them to France; 
for we met several ships bound to Europe, whereof two were French, 
from St. Christopher's, but they had been so long beating up 
against the wind that they durst take in no passengers, for fear of 
wanting provisions for the voyage, as well for themselves as for 
those they should take in; so we were obliged to go on.  It was 
about a week after this that we made the banks of Newfoundland; 
where, to shorten my story, we put all our French people on board a 
bark, which they hired at sea there, to put them on shore, and 
afterwards to carry them to France, if they could get provisions to 
victual themselves with.  When I say all the French went on shore, 
I should remember that the young priest I spoke of, hearing we were 
bound to the East Indies, desired to go the voyage with us, and to 
be set on shore on the coast of Coromandel; which I readily agreed 
to, for I wonderfully liked the man, and had very good reason, as 
will appear afterwards; also four of the seamen entered themselves 
on our ship, and proved very useful fellows.

From hence we directed our course for the West Indies, steering 
away S. and S. by E. for about twenty days together, sometimes 
little or no wind at all; when we met with another subject for our 
humanity to work upon, almost as deplorable as that before.



CHAPTER II -  INTERVENING HISTORY OF COLONY



IT was in the latitude of 27 degrees 5 minutes N., on the 19th day 
of March 1694-95, when we spied a sail, our course SE. and by S.  
We soon perceived it was a large vessel, and that she bore up to 
us, but could not at first know what to make of her, till, after 
coming a little nearer, we found she had lost her main-topmast, 
fore-mast, and bowsprit; and presently she fired a gun as a signal 
of distress.  The weather was pretty good, wind at NNW. a fresh 
gale, and we soon came to speak with her.  We found her a ship of 
Bristol, bound home from Barbadoes, but had been blown out of the 
road at Barbadoes a few days before she was ready to sail, by a 
terrible hurricane, while the captain and chief mate were both gone 
on shore; so that, besides the terror of the storm, they were in an 
indifferent case for good mariners to bring the ship home.  They 
had been already nine weeks at sea, and had met with another 
terrible storm, after the hurricane was over, which had blown them 
quite out of their knowledge to the westward, and in which they 
lost their masts.  They told us they expected to have seen the 
Bahama Islands, but were then driven away again to the south-east, 
by a strong gale of wind at NNW., the same that blew now:  and 
having no sails to work the ship with but a main course, and a kind 
of square sail upon a jury fore-mast, which they had set up, they 
could not lie near the wind, but were endeavouring to stand away 
for the Canaries.

But that which was worst of all was, that they were almost starved 
for want of provisions, besides the fatigues they had undergone; 
their bread and flesh were quite gone - they had not one ounce left 
in the ship, and had had none for eleven days.  The only relief 
they had was, their water was not all spent, and they had about 
half a barrel of flour left; they had sugar enough; some succades, 
or sweetmeats, they had at first, but these were all devoured; and 
they had seven casks of rum.  There was a youth and his mother and 
a maid-servant on board, who were passengers, and thinking the ship 
was ready to sail, unhappily came on board the evening before the 
hurricane began; and having no provisions of their own left, they 
were in a more deplorable condition than the rest:  for the seamen 
being reduced to such an extreme necessity themselves, had no 
compassion, we may be sure, for the poor passengers; and they were, 
indeed, in such a condition that their misery is very hard to 
describe.

I had perhaps not known this part, if my curiosity had not led me, 
the weather being fair and the wind abated, to go on board the 
ship.  The second mate, who upon this occasion commanded the ship, 
had been on board our ship, and he told me they had three 
passengers in the great cabin that were in a deplorable condition.  
"Nay," says he, "I believe they are dead, for I have heard nothing 
of them for above two days; and I was afraid to inquire after 
them," said he, "for I had nothing to relieve them with."  We 
immediately applied ourselves to give them what relief we could 
spare; and indeed I had so far overruled things with my nephew, 
that I would have victualled them though we had gone away to 
Virginia, or any other part of the coast of America, to have 
supplied ourselves; but there was no necessity for that.

But now they were in a new danger; for they were afraid of eating 
too much, even of that little we gave them.  The mate, or 
commander, brought six men with him in his boat; but these poor 
wretches looked like skeletons, and were so weak that they could 
hardly sit to their oars.  The mate himself was very ill, and half 
starved; for he declared he had reserved nothing from the men, and 
went share and share alike with them in every bit they ate.  I 
cautioned him to eat sparingly, and set meat before him 
immediately, but he had not eaten three mouthfuls before he began 
to be sick and out of order; so he stopped a while, and our surgeon 
mixed him up something with some broth, which he said would be to 
him both food and physic; and after he had taken it he grew better.  
In the meantime I forgot not the men.  I ordered victuals to be 
given them, and the poor creatures rather devoured than ate it:  
they were so exceedingly hungry that they were in a manner 
ravenous, and had no command of themselves; and two of them ate 
with so much greediness that they were in danger of their lives the 
next morning.  The sight of these people's distress was very moving 
to me, and brought to mind what I had a terrible prospect of at my 
first coming on shore in my island, where I had not the least 
mouthful of food, or any prospect of procuring any; besides the 
hourly apprehensions I had of being made the food of other 
creatures.  But all the while the mate was thus relating to me the 
miserable condition of the ship's company, I could not put out of 
my thought the story he had told me of the three poor creatures in 
the great cabin, viz. the mother, her son, and the maid-servant, 
whom he had heard nothing of for two or three days, and whom, he 
seemed to confess, they had wholly neglected, their own extremities 
being so great; by which I understood that they had really given 
them no food at all, and that therefore they must be perished, and 
be all lying dead, perhaps, on the floor or deck of the cabin.

As I therefore kept the mate, whom we then called captain, on board 
with his men, to refresh them, so I also forgot not the starving 
crew that were left on board, but ordered my own boat to go on 
board the ship, and, with my mate and twelve men, to carry them a 
sack of bread, and four or five pieces of beef to boil.  Our 
surgeon charged the men to cause the meat to be boiled while they 
stayed, and to keep guard in the cook-room, to prevent the men 
taking it to eat raw, or taking it out of the pot before it was 
well boiled, and then to give every man but a very little at a 
time:  and by this caution he preserved the men, who would 
otherwise have killed themselves with that very food that was given 
them on purpose to save their lives.

At the same time I ordered the mate to go into the great cabin, and 
see what condition the poor passengers were in; and if they were 
alive, to comfort them, and give them what refreshment was proper:  
and the surgeon gave him a large pitcher, with some of the prepared 
broth which he had given the mate that was on board, and which he 
did not question would restore them gradually.  I was not satisfied 
with this; but, as I said above, having a great mind to see the 
scene of misery which I knew the ship itself would present me with, 
in a more lively manner than I could have it by report, I took the 
captain of the ship, as we now called him, with me, and went 
myself, a little after, in their boat.

I found the poor men on board almost in a tumult to get the 
victuals out of the boiler before it was ready; but my mate 
observed his orders, and kept a good guard at the cook-room door, 
and the man he placed there, after using all possible persuasion to 
have patience, kept them off by force; however, he caused some 
biscuit-cakes to be dipped in the pot, and softened with the liquor 
of the meat, which they called brewis, and gave them every one some 
to stay their stomachs, and told them it was for their own safety 
that he was obliged to give them but little at a time.  But it was 
all in vain; and had I not come on board, and their own commander 
and officers with me, and with good words, and some threats also of 
giving them no more, I believe they would have broken into the 
cook-room by force, and torn the meat out of the furnace - for 
words are indeed of very small force to a hungry belly; however, we 
pacified them, and fed them gradually and cautiously at first, and 
the next time gave them more, and at last filled their bellies, and 
the men did well enough.

But the misery of the poor passengers in the cabin was of another 
nature, and far beyond the rest; for as, first, the ship's company 
had so little for themselves, it was but too true that they had at 
first kept them very low, and at last totally neglected them:  so 
that for six or seven days it might be said they had really no food 
at all, and for several days before very little.  The poor mother, 
who, as the men reported, was a woman of sense and good breeding, 
had spared all she could so affectionately for her son, that at 
last she entirely sank under it; and when the mate of our ship went 
in, she sat upon the floor on deck, with her back up against the 
sides, between two chairs, which were lashed fast, and her head 
sunk between her shoulders like a corpse, though not quite dead.  
My mate said all he could to revive and encourage her, and with a 
spoon put some broth into her mouth.  She opened her lips, and 
lifted up one hand, but could not speak:  yet she understood what 
he said, and made signs to him, intimating, that it was too late 
for her, but pointed to her child, as if she would have said they 
should take care of him.  However, the mate, who was exceedingly 
moved at the sight, endeavoured to get some of the broth into her 
mouth, and, as he said, got two or three spoonfuls down - though I 
question whether he could be sure of it or not; but it was too 
late, and she died the same night.

The youth, who was preserved at the price of his most affectionate 
mother's life, was not so far gone; yet he lay in a cabin bed, as 
one stretched out, with hardly any life left in him.  He had a 
piece of an old glove in his mouth, having eaten up the rest of it; 
however, being young, and having more strength than his mother, the 
mate got something down his throat, and he began sensibly to 
revive; though by giving him, some time after, but two or three 
spoonfuls extraordinary, he was very sick, and brought it up again.

But the next care was the poor maid:  she lay all along upon the 
deck, hard by her mistress, and just like one that had fallen down 
in a fit of apoplexy, and struggled for life.  Her limbs were 
distorted; one of her hands was clasped round the frame of the 
chair, and she gripped it so hard that we could not easily make her 
let it go; her other arm lay over her head, and her feet lay both 
together, set fast against the frame of the cabin table:  in short, 
she lay just like one in the agonies of death, and yet she was 
alive too.  The poor creature was not only starved with hunger, and 
terrified with the thoughts of death, but, as the men told us 
afterwards, was broken-hearted for her mistress, whom she saw dying 
for two or three days before, and whom she loved most tenderly.  We 
knew not what to do with this poor girl; for when our surgeon, who 
was a man of very great knowledge and experience, had, with great 
application, recovered her as to life, he had her upon his hands 
still; for she was little less than distracted for a considerable 
time after.

Whoever shall read these memorandums must be desired to consider 
that visits at sea are not like a journey into the country, where 
sometimes people stay a week or a fortnight at a place.  Our 
business was to relieve this distressed ship's crew, but not lie by 
for them; and though they were willing to steer the same course 
with us for some days, yet we could carry no sail to keep pace with 
a ship that had no masts.  However, as their captain begged of us 
to help him to set up a main-topmast, and a kind of a topmast to 
his jury fore-mast, we did, as it were, lie by him for three or 
four days; and then, having given him five barrels of beef, a 
barrel of pork, two hogsheads of biscuit, and a proportion of peas, 
flour, and what other things we could spare; and taking three casks 
of sugar, some rum, and some pieces of eight from them for 
satisfaction, we left them, taking on board with us, at their own 
earnest request, the youth and the maid, and all their goods.

The young lad was about seventeen years of age, a pretty, well-
bred, modest, and sensible youth, greatly dejected with the loss of 
his mother, and also at having lost his father but a few months 
before, at Barbadoes.  He begged of the surgeon to speak to me to 
take him out of the ship; for he said the cruel fellows had 
murdered his mother:  and indeed so they had, that is to say, 
passively; for they might have spared a small sustenance to the 
poor helpless widow, though it had been but just enough to keep her 
alive; but hunger knows no friend, no relation, no justice, no 
right, and therefore is remorseless, and capable of no compassion.

The surgeon told him how far we were going, and that it would carry 
him away from all his friends, and put him, perhaps, in as bad 
circumstances almost as those we found him in, that is to say, 
starving in the world.  He said it mattered not whither he went, if 
he was but delivered from the terrible crew that he was among; that 
the captain (by which he meant me, for he could know nothing of my 
nephew) had saved his life, and he was sure would not hurt him; and 
as for the maid, he was sure, if she came to herself, she would be 
very thankful for it, let us carry them where we would.  The 
surgeon represented the case so affectionately to me that I 
yielded, and we took them both on board, with all their goods, 
except eleven hogsheads of sugar, which could not be removed or 
come at; and as the youth had a bill of lading for them, I made his 
commander sign a writing, obliging himself to go, as soon as he 
came to Bristol, to one Mr. Rogers, a merchant there, to whom the 
youth said he was related, and to deliver a letter which I wrote to 
him, and all the goods he had belonging to the deceased widow; 
which, I suppose, was not done, for I could never learn that the 
ship came to Bristol, but was, as is most probable, lost at sea, 
being in so disabled a condition, and so far from any land, that I 
am of opinion the first storm she met with afterwards she might 
founder, for she was leaky, and had damage in her hold when we met 
with her.

I was now in the latitude of 19 degrees 32 minutes, and had 
hitherto a tolerable voyage as to weather, though at first the 
winds had been contrary.  I shall trouble nobody with the little 
incidents of wind, weather, currents, &c., on the rest of our 
voyage; but to shorten my story, shall observe that I came to my 
old habitation, the island, on the 10th of April 1695.  It was with 
no small difficulty that I found the place; for as I came to it and 
went to it before on the south and east side of the island, coming 
from the Brazils, so now, coming in between the main and the 
island, and having no chart for the coast, nor any landmark, I did 
not know it when I saw it, or, know whether I saw it or not.  We 
beat about a great while, and went on shore on several islands in 
the mouth of the great river Orinoco, but none for my purpose; only 
this I learned by my coasting the shore, that I was under one great 
mistake before, viz. that the continent which I thought I saw from 
the island I lived in was really no continent, but a long island, 
or rather a ridge of islands, reaching from one to the other side 
of the extended mouth of that great river; and that the savages who 
came to my island were not properly those which we call Caribbees, 
but islanders, and other barbarians of the same kind, who inhabited 
nearer to our side than the rest.

In short, I visited several of these islands to no purpose; some I 
found were inhabited, and some were not; on one of them I found 
some Spaniards, and thought they had lived there; but speaking with 
them, found they had a sloop lying in a small creek hard by, and 
came thither to make salt, and to catch some pearl-mussels if they 
could; but that they belonged to the Isle de Trinidad, which lay 
farther north, in the latitude of 10 and 11 degrees.

Thus coasting from one island to another, sometimes with the ship, 
sometimes with the Frenchman's shallop, which we had found a 
convenient boat, and therefore kept her with their very good will, 
at length I came fair on the south side of my island, and presently 
knew the very countenance of the place:  so I brought the ship safe 
to an anchor, broadside with the little creek where my old 
habitation was.  As soon as I saw the place I called for Friday, 
and asked him if he knew where he was?  He looked about a little, 
and presently clapping his hands, cried, "Oh yes, Oh there, Oh yes, 
Oh there!" pointing to our old habitation, and fell dancing and 
capering like a mad fellow; and I had much ado to keep him from 
jumping into the sea to swim ashore to the place.

"Well, Friday," says I, "do you think we shall find anybody here or 
no? and do you think we shall see your father?"  The fellow stood 
mute as a stock a good while; but when I named his father, the poor 
affectionate creature looked dejected, and I could see the tears 
run down his face very plentifully.  "What is the matter, Friday? 
are you troubled because you may see your father?"  "No, no," says 
he, shaking his head, "no see him more:  no, never more see him 
again."  "Why so, Friday? how do you know that?"  "Oh no, Oh no," 
says Friday, "he long ago die, long ago; he much old man."  "Well, 
well, Friday, you don't know; but shall we see any one else, then?"  
The fellow, it seems, had better eyes than I, and he points to the 
hill just above my old house; and though we lay half a league off, 
he cries out, "We see! we see! yes, we see much man there, and 
there, and there."  I looked, but I saw nobody, no, not with a 
perspective glass, which was, I suppose, because I could not hit 
the place:  for the fellow was right, as I found upon inquiry the 
next day; and there were five or six men all together, who stood to 
look at the ship, not knowing what to think of us.

As soon as Friday told me he saw people, I caused the English 
ancient to be spread, and fired three guns, to give them notice we 
were friends; and in about a quarter of an hour after we perceived 
a smoke arise from the side of the creek; so I immediately ordered 
the boat out, taking Friday with me, and hanging out a white flag, 
I went directly on shore, taking with me the young friar I 
mentioned, to whom I had told the story of my living there, and the 
manner of it, and every particular both of myself and those I left 
there, and who was on that account extremely desirous to go with 
me.  We had, besides, about sixteen men well armed, if we had found 
any new guests there which we did not know of; but we had no need 
of weapons.

As we went on shore upon the tide of flood, near high water, we 
rowed directly into the creek; and the first man I fixed my eye 
upon was the Spaniard whose life I had saved, and whom I knew by 
his face perfectly well:  as to his habit, I shall describe it 
afterwards.  I ordered nobody to go on shore at first but myself; 
but there was no keeping Friday in the boat, for the affectionate 
creature had spied his father at a distance, a good way off the 
Spaniards, where, indeed, I saw nothing of him; and if they had not 
let him go ashore, he would have jumped into the sea.  He was no 
sooner on shore, but he flew away to his father like an arrow out 
of a bow.  It would have made any man shed tears, in spite of the 
firmest resolution, to have seen the first transports of this poor 
fellow's joy when he came to his father:  how he embraced him, 
kissed him, stroked his face, took him up in his arms, set him down 
upon a tree, and lay down by him; then stood and looked at him, as 
any one would look at a strange picture, for a quarter of an hour 
together; then lay down on the ground, and stroked his legs, and 
kissed them, and then got up again and stared at him; one would 
have thought the fellow bewitched.  But it would have made a dog 
laugh the next day to see how his passion ran out another way:  in 
the morning he walked along the shore with his father several 
hours, always leading him by the hand, as if he had been a lady; 
and every now and then he would come to the boat to fetch something 
or other for him, either a lump of sugar, a dram, a biscuit, or 
something or other that was good.  In the afternoon his frolics ran 
another way; for then he would set the old man down upon the 
ground, and dance about him, and make a thousand antic gestures; 
and all the while he did this he would be talking to him, and 
telling him one story or another of his travels, and of what had 
happened to him abroad to divert him.  In short, if the same filial 
affection was to be found in Christians to their parents in our 
part of the world, one would be tempted to say there would hardly 
have been any need of the fifth commandment.

But this is a digression:  I return to my landing.  It would be 
needless to take notice of all the ceremonies and civilities that 
the Spaniards received me with.  The first Spaniard, whom, as I 
said, I knew very well, was he whose life I had saved.  He came 
towards the boat, attended by one more, carrying a flag of truce 
also; and he not only did not know me at first, but he had no 
thoughts, no notion of its being me that was come, till I spoke to 
him.  "Seignior," said I, in Portuguese, "do you not know me?"  At 
which he spoke not a word, but giving his musket to the man that 
was with him, threw his arms abroad, saying something in Spanish 
that I did not perfectly hear, came forward and embraced me, 
telling me he was inexcusable not to know that face again that he 
had once seen, as of an angel from heaven sent to save his life; he 
said abundance of very handsome things, as a well-bred Spaniard 
always knows how, and then, beckoning to the person that attended 
him, bade him go and call out his comrades.  He then asked me if I 
would walk to my old habitation, where he would give me possession 
of my own house again, and where I should see they had made but 
mean improvements.  I walked along with him, but, alas! I could no 
more find the place than if I had never been there; for they had 
planted so many trees, and placed them in such a position, so thick 
and close to one another, and in ten years' time they were grown so 
big, that the place was inaccessible, except by such windings and 
blind ways as they themselves only, who made them, could find.

I asked them what put them upon all these fortifications; he told 
me I would say there was need enough of it when they had given me 
an account how they had passed their time since their arriving in 
the island, especially after they had the misfortune to find that I 
was gone.  He told me he could not but have some pleasure in my 
good fortune, when he heard that I was gone in a good ship, and to 
my satisfaction; and that he had oftentimes a strong persuasion 
that one time or other he should see me again, but nothing that 
ever befell him in his life, he said, was so surprising and 
afflicting to him at first as the disappointment he was under when 
he came back to the island and found I was not there.

As to the three barbarians (so he called them) that were left 
behind, and of whom, he said, he had a long story to tell me, the 
Spaniards all thought themselves much better among the savages, 
only that their number was so small:  "And," says he, "had they 
been strong enough, we had been all long ago in purgatory;" and 
with that he crossed himself on the breast.  "But, sir," says he, 
"I hope you will not be displeased when I shall tell you how, 
forced by necessity, we were obliged for our own preservation to 
disarm them, and make them our subjects, as they would not be 
content with being moderately our masters, but would be our 
murderers."  I answered I was afraid of it when I left them there, 
and nothing troubled me at my parting from the island but that they 
were not come back, that I might have put them in possession of 
everything first, and left the others in a state of subjection, as 
they deserved; but if they had reduced them to it I was very glad, 
and should be very far from finding any fault with it; for I knew 
they were a parcel of refractory, ungoverned villains, and were fit 
for any manner of mischief.

While I was saying this, the man came whom he had sent back, and 
with him eleven more.  In the dress they were in it was impossible 
to guess what nation they were of; but he made all clear, both to 
them and to me.  First, he turned to me, and pointing to them, 
said, "These, sir, are some of the gentlemen who owe their lives to 
you;" and then turning to them, and pointing to me, he let them 
know who I was; upon which they all came up, one by one, not as if 
they had been sailors, and ordinary fellows, and the like, but 
really as if they had been ambassadors or noblemen, and I a monarch 
or great conqueror:  their behaviour was, to the last degree, 
obliging and courteous, and yet mixed with a manly, majestic 
gravity, which very well became them; and, in short, they had so 
much more manners than I, that I scarce knew how to receive their 
civilities, much less how to return them in kind.

The history of their coming to, and conduct in, the island after my 
going away is so very remarkable, and has so many incidents which 
the former part of my relation will help to understand, and which 
will in most of the particulars, refer to the account I have 
already given, that I cannot but commit them, with great delight, 
to the reading of those that come after me.

In order to do this as intelligibly as I can, I must go back to the 
circumstances in which I left the island, and the persons on it, of 
whom I am to speak.  And first, it is necessary to repeat that I 
had sent away Friday's father and the Spaniard (the two whose lives 
I had rescued from the savages) in a large canoe to the main, as I 
then thought it, to fetch over the Spaniard's companions that he 
left behind him, in order to save them from the like calamity that 
he had been in, and in order to succour them for the present; and 
that, if possible, we might together find some way for our 
deliverance afterwards.  When I sent them away I had no visible 
appearance of, or the least room to hope for, my own deliverance, 
any more than I had twenty years before - much less had I any 
foreknowledge of what afterwards happened, I mean, of an English 
ship coming on shore there to fetch me off; and it could not be but 
a very great surprise to them, when they came back, not only to 
find that I was gone, but to find three strangers left on the spot, 
possessed of all that I had left behind me, which would otherwise 
have been their own.

The first thing, however, which I inquired into, that I might begin 
where I left off, was of their own part; and I desired the Spaniard 
would give me a particular account of his voyage back to his 
countrymen with the boat, when I sent him to fetch them over.  He 
told me there was little variety in that part, for nothing 
remarkable happened to them on the way, having had very calm 
weather and a smooth sea.  As for his countrymen, it could not be 
doubted, he said, but that they were overjoyed to see him (it seems 
he was the principal man among them, the captain of the vessel they 
had been shipwrecked in having been dead some time):  they were, he 
said, the more surprised to see him, because they knew that he was 
fallen into the hands of the savages, who, they were satisfied, 
would devour him as they did all the rest of their prisoners; that 
when he told them the story of his deliverance, and in what manner 
he was furnished for carrying them away, it was like a dream to 
them, and their astonishment, he said, was somewhat like that of 
Joseph's brethren when he told them who he was, and the story of 
his exaltation in Pharaoh's court; but when he showed them the 
arms, the powder, the ball, the provisions that he brought them for 
their journey or voyage, they were restored to themselves, took a 
just share of the joy of their deliverance, and immediately 
prepared to come away with him.

Their first business was to get canoes; and in this they were 
obliged not to stick so much upon the honesty of it, but to 
trespass upon their friendly savages, and to borrow two large 
canoes, or periaguas, on pretence of going out a-fishing, or for 
pleasure.  In these they came away the next morning.  It seems they 
wanted no time to get themselves ready; for they had neither 
clothes nor provisions, nor anything in the world but what they had 
on them, and a few roots to eat, of which they used to make their 
bread.  They were in all three weeks absent; and in that time, 
unluckily for them, I had the occasion offered for my escape, as I 
mentioned in the other part, and to get off from the island, 
leaving three of the most impudent, hardened, ungoverned, 
disagreeable villains behind me that any man could desire to meet 
with - to the poor Spaniards' great grief and disappointment.

The only just thing the rogues did was, that when the Spaniards 
came ashore, they gave my letter to them, and gave them provisions, 
and other relief, as I had ordered them to do; also they gave them 
the long paper of directions which I had left with them, containing 
the particular methods which I took for managing every part of my 
life there; the way I baked my bread, bred up tame goats, and 
planted my corn; how I cured my grapes, made my pots, and, in a 
word, everything I did.  All this being written down, they gave to 
the Spaniards (two of them understood English well enough):  nor 
did they refuse to accommodate the Spaniards with anything else, 
for they agreed very well for some time.  They gave them an equal 
admission into the house or cave, and they began to live very 
sociably; and the head Spaniard, who had seen pretty much of my 
methods, together with Friday's father, managed all their affairs; 
but as for the Englishmen, they did nothing but ramble about the 
island, shoot parrots, and catch tortoises; and when they came home 
at night, the Spaniards provided their suppers for them.

The Spaniards would have been satisfied with this had the others 
but let them alone, which, however, they could not find in their 
hearts to do long:  but, like the dog in the manger, they would not 
eat themselves, neither would they let the others eat.  The 
differences, nevertheless, were at first but trivial, and such as 
are not worth relating, but at last it broke out into open war:  
and it began with all the rudeness and insolence that can be 
imagined - without reason, without provocation, contrary to nature, 
and indeed to common sense; and though, it is true, the first 
relation of it came from the Spaniards themselves, whom I may call 
the accusers, yet when I came to examine the fellows they could not 
deny a word of it.

But before I come to the particulars of this part, I must supply a 
defect in my former relation; and this was, I forgot to set down 
among the rest, that just as we were weighing the anchor to set 
sail, there happened a little quarrel on board of our ship, which I 
was once afraid would have turned to a second mutiny; nor was it 
appeased till the captain, rousing up his courage, and taking us 
all to his assistance, parted them by force, and making two of the 
most refractory fellows prisoners, he laid them in irons:  and as 
they had been active in the former disorders, and let fall some 
ugly, dangerous words the second time, he threatened to carry them 
in irons to England, and have them hanged there for mutiny and 
running away with the ship.  This, it seems, though the captain did 
not intend to do it, frightened some other men in the ship; and 
some of them had put it into the head of the rest that the captain 
only gave them good words for the present, till they should come to 
same English port, and that then they should be all put into gaol, 
and tried for their lives.  The mate got intelligence of this, and 
acquainted us with it, upon which it was desired that I, who still 
passed for a great man among them, should go down with the mate and 
satisfy the men, and tell them that they might be assured, if they 
behaved well the rest of the voyage, all they had done for the time 
past should be pardoned.  So I went, and after passing my honour's 
word to them they appeared easy, and the more so when I caused the 
two men that were in irons to be released and forgiven.

But this mutiny had brought us to an anchor for that night; the 
wind also falling calm next morning, we found that our two men who 
had been laid in irons had stolen each of them a musket and some 
other weapons (what powder or shot they had we knew not), and had 
taken the ship's pinnace, which was not yet hauled up, and run away 
with her to their companions in roguery on shore.  As soon as we 
found this, I ordered the long-boat on shore, with twelve men and 
the mate, and away they went to seek the rogues; but they could 
neither find them nor any of the rest, for they all fled into the 
woods when they saw the boat coming on shore.  The mate was once 
resolved, in justice to their roguery, to have destroyed their 
plantations, burned all their household stuff and furniture, and 
left them to shift without it; but having no orders, he let it all 
alone, left everything as he found it, and bringing the pinnace 
way, came on board without them.  These two men made their number 
five; but the other three villains were so much more wicked than 
they, that after they had been two or three days together they 
turned the two newcomers out of doors to shift for themselves, and 
would have nothing to do with them; nor could they for a good while 
be persuaded to give them any food:  as for the Spaniards, they 
were not yet come.

When the Spaniards came first on shore, the business began to go 
forward:  the Spaniards would have persuaded the three English 
brutes to have taken in their countrymen again, that, as they said, 
they might be all one family; but they would not hear of it, so the 
two poor fellows lived by themselves; and finding nothing but 
industry and application would make them live comfortably, they 
pitched their tents on the north shore of the island, but a little 
more to the west, to be out of danger of the savages, who always 
landed on the east parts of the island.  Here they built them two 
huts, one to lodge in, and the other to lay up their magazines and 
stores in; and the Spaniards having given them some corn for seed, 
and some of the peas which I had left them, they dug, planted, and 
enclosed, after the pattern I had set for them all, and began to 
live pretty well.  Their first crop of corn was on the ground; and 
though it was but a little bit of land which they had dug up at 
first, having had but a little time, yet it was enough to relieve 
them, and find them with bread and other eatables; and one of the 
fellows being the cook's mate of the ship, was very ready at making 
soup, puddings, and such other preparations as the rice and the 
milk, and such little flesh as they got, furnished him to do.

They were going on in this little thriving position when the three 
unnatural rogues, their own countrymen too, in mere humour, and to 
insult them, came and bullied them, and told them the island was 
theirs:  that the governor, meaning me, had given them the 
possession of it, and nobody else had any right to it; and that 
they should build no houses upon their ground unless they would pay 
rent for them.  The two men, thinking they were jesting at first, 
asked them to come in and sit down, and see what fine houses they 
were that they had built, and to tell them what rent they demanded; 
and one of them merrily said if they were the ground-landlords, he 
hoped if they built tenements upon their land, and made 
improvements, they would, according to the custom of landlords, 
grant a long lease:  and desired they would get a scrivener to draw 
the writings.  One of the three, cursing and raging, told them they 
should see they were not in jest; and going to a little place at a 
distance, where the honest men had made a fire to dress their 
victuals, he takes a firebrand, and claps it to the outside of 
their hut, and set it on fire:  indeed, it would have been all 
burned down in a few minutes if one of the two had not run to the 
fellow, thrust him away, and trod the fire out with his feet, and 
that not without some difficulty too.

The fellow was in such a rage at the honest man's thrusting him 
away, that he returned upon him, with a pole he had in his hand, 
and had not the man avoided the blow very nimbly, and run into the 
hut, he had ended his days at once.  His comrade, seeing the danger 
they were both in, ran after him, and immediately they came both 
out with their muskets, and the man that was first struck at with 
the pole knocked the fellow down that began the quarrel with the 
stock of his musket, and that before the other two could come to 
help him; and then, seeing the rest come at them, they stood 
together, and presenting the other ends of their pieces to them, 
bade them stand off.

The others had firearms with them too; but one of the two honest 
men, bolder than his comrade, and made desperate by his danger, 
told them if they offered to move hand or foot they were dead men, 
and boldly commanded them to lay down their arms.  They did not, 
indeed, lay down their arms, but seeing him so resolute, it brought 
them to a parley, and they consented to take their wounded man with 
them and be gone:  and, indeed, it seems the fellow was wounded 
sufficiently with the blow.  However, they were much in the wrong, 
since they had the advantage, that they did not disarm them 
effectually, as they might have done, and have gone immediately to 
the Spaniards, and given them an account how the rogues had treated 
them; for the three villains studied nothing but revenge, and every 
day gave them some intimation that they did so.



CHAPTER III - FIGHT WITH CANNIBALS



BUT not to crowd this part with an account of the lesser part of 
the rogueries with which they plagued them continually, night and 
day, it forced the two men to such a desperation that they resolved 
to fight them all three, the first time they had a fair 
opportunity.  In order to do this they resolved to go to the castle 
(as they called my old dwelling), where the three rogues and the 
Spaniards all lived together at that time, intending to have a fair 
battle, and the Spaniards should stand by to see fair play:  so 
they got up in the morning before day, and came to the place, and 
called the Englishmen by their names telling a Spaniard that 
answered that they wanted to speak with them.

It happened that the day before two of the Spaniards, having been 
in the woods, had seen one of the two Englishmen, whom, for 
distinction, I called the honest men, and he had made a sad 
complaint to the Spaniards of the barbarous usage they had met with 
from their three countrymen, and how they had ruined their 
plantation, and destroyed their corn, that they had laboured so 
hard to bring forward, and killed the milch-goat and their three 
kids, which was all they had provided for their sustenance, and 
that if he and his friends, meaning the Spaniards, did not assist 
them again, they should be starved.  When the Spaniards came home 
at night, and they were all at supper, one of them took the freedom 
to reprove the three Englishmen, though in very gentle and mannerly 
terms, and asked them how they could be so cruel, they being 
harmless, inoffensive fellows:  that they were putting themselves 
in a way to subsist by their labour, and that it had cost them a 
great deal of pains to bring things to such perfection as they were 
then in.

One of the Englishmen returned very briskly, "What had they to do 
there? that they came on shore without leave; and that they should 
not plant or build upon the island; it was none of their ground."  
"Why," says the Spaniard, very calmly, "Seignior Inglese, they must 
not starve."  The Englishman replied, like a rough tarpaulin, "They 
might starve; they should not plant nor build in that place."  "But 
what must they do then, seignior?" said the Spaniard.  Another of 
the brutes returned, "Do? they should be servants, and work for 
them."  "But how can you expect that of them?" says the Spaniard; 
"they are not bought with your money; you have no right to make 
them servants."  The Englishman answered, "The island was theirs; 
the governor had given it to them, and no man had anything to do 
there but themselves;" and with that he swore that he would go and 
burn all their new huts; they should build none upon their land.  
"Why, seignior," says the Spaniard, "by the same rule, we must be 
your servants, too."  "Ay," returned the bold dog, "and so you 
shall, too, before we have done with you;" mixing two or three 
oaths in the proper intervals of his speech.  The Spaniard only 
smiled at that, and made him no answer.  However, this little 
discourse had heated them; and starting up, one says to the other.  
(I think it was he they called Will Atkins), "Come, Jack, let's go 
and have t'other brush with them; we'll demolish their castle, I'll 
warrant you; they shall plant no colony in our dominions."

Upon this they were all trooping away, with every man a gun, a 
pistol, and a sword, and muttered some insolent things among 
themselves of what they would do to the Spaniards, too, when 
opportunity offered; but the Spaniards, it seems, did not so 
perfectly understand them as to know all the particulars, only that 
in general they threatened them hard for taking the two 
Englishmen's part.  Whither they went, or how they bestowed their 
time that evening, the Spaniards said they did not know; but it 
seems they wandered about the country part of the night, and them 
lying down in the place which I used to call my bower, they were 
weary and overslept themselves.  The case was this:  they had 
resolved to stay till midnight, and so take the two poor men when 
they were asleep, and as they acknowledged afterwards, intended to 
set fire to their huts while they were in them, and either burn 
them there or murder them as they came out.  As malice seldom 
sleeps very sound, it was very strange they should not have been 
kept awake.  However, as the two men had also a design upon them, 
as I have said, though a much fairer one than that of burning and 
murdering, it happened, and very luckily for them all, that they 
were up and gone abroad before the bloody-minded rogues came to 
their huts.

When they came there, and found the men gone, Atkins, who it seems 
was the forwardest man, called out to his comrade, "Ha, Jack, 
here's the nest, but the birds are flown."  They mused a while, to 
think what should be the occasion of their being gone abroad so 
soon, and suggested presently that the Spaniards had given them 
notice of it; and with that they shook hands, and swore to one 
another that they would be revenged of the Spaniards.  As soon as 
they had made this bloody bargain they fell to work with the poor 
men's habitation; they did not set fire, indeed, to anything, but 
they pulled down both their houses, and left not the least stick 
standing, or scarce any sign on the ground where they stood; they 
tore all their household stuff in pieces, and threw everything 
about in such a manner, that the poor men afterwards found some of 
their things a mile off.  When they had done this, they pulled up 
all the young trees which the poor men had planted; broke down an 
enclosure they had made to secure their cattle and their corn; and, 
in a word, sacked and plundered everything as completely as a horde 
of Tartars would have done.

The two men were at this juncture gone to find them out, and had 
resolved to fight them wherever they had been, though they were but 
two to three; so that, had they met, there certainly would have 
been blood shed among them, for they were all very stout, resolute 
fellows, to give them their due.

But Providence took more care to keep them asunder than they 
themselves could do to meet; for, as if they had dogged one 
another, when the three were gone thither, the two were here; and 
afterwards, when the two went back to find them, the three were 
come to the old habitation again:  we shall see their different 
conduct presently.  When the three came back like furious 
creatures, flushed with the rage which the work they had been about 
had put them into, they came up to the Spaniards, and told them 
what they had done, by way of scoff and bravado; and one of them 
stepping up to one of the Spaniards, as if they had been a couple 
of boys at play, takes hold of his hat as it was upon his head, and 
giving it a twirl about, fleering in his face, says to him, "And 
you, Seignior Jack Spaniard, shall have the same sauce if you do 
not mend your manners."  The Spaniard, who, though a quiet civil 
man, was as brave a man as could be, and withal a strong, well-made 
man, looked at him for a good while, and then, having no weapon in 
his hand, stepped gravely up to him, and, with one blow of his 
fist, knocked him down, as an ox is felled with a pole-axe; at 
which one of the rogues, as insolent as the first, fired his pistol 
at the Spaniard immediately; he missed his body, indeed, for the 
bullets went through his hair, but one of them touched the tip of 
his ear, and he bled pretty much.  The blood made the Spaniard 
believe he was more hurt than he really was, and that put him into 
some heat, for before he acted all in a perfect calm; but now 
resolving to go through with his work, he stooped, and taking the 
fellow's musket whom he had knocked down, was just going to shoot 
the man who had fired at him, when the rest of the Spaniards, being 
in the cave, came out, and calling to him not to shoot, they 
stepped in, secured the other two, and took their arms from them.

When they were thus disarmed, and found they had made all the 
Spaniards their enemies, as well as their own countrymen, they 
began to cool, and giving the Spaniards better words, would have 
their arms again; but the Spaniards, considering the feud that was 
between them and the other two Englishmen, and that it would be the 
best method they could take to keep them from killing one another, 
told them they would do them no harm, and if they would live 
peaceably, they would be very willing to assist and associate with 
them as they did before; but that they could not think of giving 
them their arms again, while they appeared so resolved to do 
mischief with them to their own countrymen, and had even threatened 
them all to make them their servants.

The rogues were now quite deaf to all reason, and being refused 
their arms, they raved away like madmen, threatening what they 
would do, though they had no firearms.  But the Spaniards, 
despising their threatening, told them they should take care how 
they offered any injury to their plantation or cattle; for if they 
did they would shoot them as they would ravenous beasts, wherever 
they found them; and if they fell into their hands alive, they 
should certainly be hanged.  However, this was far from cooling 
them, but away they went, raging and swearing like furies.  As soon 
as they were gone, the two men came back, in passion and rage 
enough also, though of another kind; for having been at their 
plantation, and finding it all demolished and destroyed, as above 
mentioned, it will easily be supposed they had provocation enough.  
They could scarce have room to tell their tale, the Spaniards were 
so eager to tell them theirs:  and it was strange enough to find 
that three men should thus bully nineteen, and receive no 
punishment at all.

The Spaniards, indeed, despised them, and especially, having thus 
disarmed them, made light of their threatenings; but the two 
Englishmen resolved to have their remedy against them, what pains 
soever it cost to find them out.  But the Spaniards interposed here 
too, and told them that as they had disarmed them, they could not 
consent that they (the two) should pursue them with firearms, and 
perhaps kill them.  "But," said the grave Spaniard, who was their 
governor, "we will endeavour to make them do you justice, if you 
will leave it to us:  for there is no doubt but they will come to 
us again, when their passion is over, being not able to subsist 
without our assistance.  We promise you to make no peace with them 
without having full satisfaction for you; and upon this condition 
we hope you will promise to use no violence with them, other than 
in your own defence."  The two Englishmen yielded to this very 
awkwardly, and with great reluctance; but the Spaniards protested 
that they did it only to keep them from bloodshed, and to make them 
all easy at last.  "For," said they, "we are not so many of us; 
here is room enough for us all, and it is a great pity that we 
should not be all good friends."  At length they did consent, and 
waited for the issue of the thing, living for some days with the 
Spaniards; for their own habitation was destroyed.

In about five days' time the vagrants, tired with wandering, and 
almost starved with hunger, having chiefly lived on turtles' eggs 
all that while, came back to the grove; and finding my Spaniard, 
who, as I have said, was the governor, and two more with him, 
walking by the side of the creek, they came up in a very 
submissive, humble manner, and begged to be received again into the 
society.  The Spaniards used them civilly, but told them they had 
acted so unnaturally to their countrymen, and so very grossly to 
themselves, that they could not come to any conclusion without 
consulting the two Englishmen and the rest; but, however, they 
would go to them and discourse about it, and they should know in 
half-an-hour.  It may be guessed that they were very hard put to 
it; for, as they were to wait this half-hour for an answer, they 
begged they would send them out some bread in the meantime, which 
they did, sending at the same time a large piece of goat's flesh 
and a boiled parrot, which they ate very eagerly.

After half-an-hour's consultation they were called in, and a long 
debate ensued, their two countrymen charging them with the ruin of 
all their labour, and a design to murder them; all which they owned 
before, and therefore could not deny now.  Upon the whole, the 
Spaniards acted the moderators between them; and as they had 
obliged the two Englishmen not to hurt the three while they were 
naked and unarmed, so they now obliged the three to go and rebuild 
their fellows' two huts, one to be of the same and the other of 
larger dimensions than they were before; to fence their ground 
again, plant trees in the room of those pulled up, dig up the land 
again for planting corn, and, in a word, to restore everything to 
the same state as they found it, that is, as near as they could.

Well, they submitted to all this; and as they had plenty of 
provisions given them all the while, they grew very orderly, and 
the whole society began to live pleasantly and agreeably together 
again; only that these three fellows could never be persuaded to 
work - I mean for themselves - except now and then a little, just 
as they pleased.  However, the Spaniards told them plainly that if 
they would but live sociably and friendly together, and study the 
good of the whole plantation, they would be content to work for 
them, and let them walk about and be as idle as they pleased; and 
thus, having lived pretty well together for a month or two, the 
Spaniards let them have arms again, and gave them liberty to go 
abroad with them as before.

It was not above a week after they had these arms, and went abroad, 
before the ungrateful creatures began to be as insolent and 
troublesome as ever.  However, an accident happened presently upon 
this, which endangered the safety of them all, and they were 
obliged to lay by all private resentments, and look to the 
preservation of their lives.

It happened one night that the governor, the Spaniard whose life I 
had saved, who was now the governor of the rest, found himself very 
uneasy in the night, and could by no means get any sleep:  he was 
perfectly well in body, only found his thoughts tumultuous; his 
mind ran upon men fighting and killing one another; but he was 
broad awake, and could not by any means get any sleep; in short, he 
lay a great while, but growing more and more uneasy, he resolved to 
rise.  As they lay, being so many of them, on goat-skins laid thick 
upon such couches and pads as they made for themselves, so they had 
little to do, when they were willing to rise, but to get upon their 
feet, and perhaps put on a coat, such as it was, and their pumps, 
and they were ready for going any way that their thoughts guided 
them.  Being thus got up, he looked out; but being dark, he could 
see little or nothing, and besides, the trees which I had planted, 
and which were now grown tall, intercepted his sight, so that he 
could only look up, and see that it was a starlight night, and 
hearing no noise, he returned and lay down again; but to no 
purpose; he could not compose himself to anything like rest; but 
his thoughts were to the last degree uneasy, and he knew not for 
what.  Having made some noise with rising and walking about, going 
out and coming in, another of them waked, and asked who it was that 
was up.  The governor told him how it had been with him.  "Say you 
so?" says the other Spaniard; "such things are not to be slighted, 
I assure you; there is certainly some mischief working near us;" 
and presently he asked him, "Where are the Englishmen?"  "They are 
all in their huts," says he, "safe enough."  It seems the Spaniards 
had kept possession of the main apartment, and had made a place for 
the three Englishmen, who, since their last mutiny, were always 
quartered by themselves, and could not come at the rest.  "Well," 
says the Spaniard, "there is something in it, I am persuaded, from 
my own experience.  I am satisfied that our spirits embodied have a 
converse with and receive intelligence from the spirits unembodied, 
and inhabiting the invisible world; and this friendly notice is 
given for our advantage, if we knew how to make use of it.  Come, 
let us go and look abroad; and if we find nothing at all in it to 
justify the trouble, I'll tell you a story to the purpose, that 
shall convince you of the justice of my proposing it."

They went out presently to go up to the top of the hill, where I 
used to go; but they being strong, and a good company, nor alone, 
as I was, used none of my cautions to go up by the ladder, and 
pulling it up after them, to go up a second stage to the top, but 
were going round through the grove unwarily, when they were 
surprised with seeing a light as of fire, a very little way from 
them, and hearing the voices of men, not of one or two, but of a 
great number.

Among the precautions I used to take on the savages landing on the 
island, it was my constant care to prevent them making the least 
discovery of there being any inhabitant upon the place:  and when 
by any occasion they came to know it, they felt it so effectually 
that they that got away were scarce able to give any account of it; 
for we disappeared as soon as possible, nor did ever any that had 
seen me escape to tell any one else, except it was the three 
savages in our last encounter who jumped into the boat; of whom, I 
mentioned, I was afraid they should go home and bring more help.  
Whether it was the consequence of the escape of those men that so 
great a number came now together, or whether they came ignorantly, 
and by accident, on their usual bloody errand, the Spaniards could 
not understand; but whatever it was, it was their business either 
to have concealed themselves or not to have seen them at all, much 
less to have let the savages have seen there were any inhabitants 
in the place; or to have fallen upon them so effectually as not a 
man of them should have escaped, which could only have been by 
getting in between them and their boats; but this presence of mind 
was wanting to them, which was the ruin of their tranquillity for a 
great while.

We need not doubt but that the governor and the man with him, 
surprised with this sight, ran back immediately and raised their 
fellows, giving them an account of the imminent danger they were 
all in, and they again as readily took the alarm; but it was 
impossible to persuade them to stay close within where they were, 
but they must all run out to see how things stood.  While it was 
dark, indeed, they were safe, and they had opportunity enough for 
some hours to view the savages by the light of three fires they had 
made at a distance from one another; what they were doing they knew 
not, neither did they know what to do themselves.  For, first, the 
enemy were too many; and secondly, they did not keep together, but 
were divided into several parties, and were on shore in several 
places.

The Spaniards were in no small consternation at this sight; and, as 
they found that the fellows went straggling all over the shore, 
they made no doubt but, first or last, some of them would chop in 
upon their habitation, or upon some other place where they would 
see the token of inhabitants; and they were in great perplexity 
also for fear of their flock of goats, which, if they should be 
destroyed, would have been little less than starving them.  So the 
first thing they resolved upon was to despatch three men away 
before it was light, two Spaniards and one Englishman, to drive 
away all the goats to the great valley where the cave was, and, if 
need were, to drive them into the very cave itself.  Could they 
have seen the savages all together in one body, and at a distance 
from their canoes, they were resolved, if there had been a hundred 
of them, to attack them; but that could not be done, for they were 
some of them two miles off from the other, and, as it appeared 
afterwards, were of two different nations.

After having mused a great while on the course they should take, 
they resolved at last, while it was still dark, to send the old 
savage, Friday's father, out as a spy, to learn, if possible, 
something concerning them, as what they came for, what they 
intended to do, and the like.  The old man readily undertook it; 
and stripping himself quite naked, as most of the savages were, 
away he went.  After he had been gone an hour or two, he brings 
word that he had been among them undiscovered, that he found they 
were two parties, and of two several nations, who had war with one 
another, and had a great battle in their own country; and that both 
sides having had several prisoners taken in the fight, they were, 
by mere chance, landed all on the same island, for the devouring 
their prisoners and making merry; but their coming so by chance to 
the same place had spoiled all their mirth - that they were in a 
great rage at one another, and were so near that he believed they 
would fight again as soon as daylight began to appear; but he did 
not perceive that they had any notion of anybody being on the 
island but themselves.  He had hardly made an end of telling his 
story, when they could perceive, by the unusual noise they made, 
that the two little armies were engaged in a bloody fight.  
Friday's father used all the arguments he could to persuade our 
people to lie close, and not be seen; he told them their safety 
consisted in it, and that they had nothing to do but lie still, and 
the savages would kill one another to their hands, and then the 
rest would go away; and it was so to a tittle.  But it was 
impossible to prevail, especially upon the Englishmen; their 
curiosity was so importunate that they must run out and see the 
battle.  However, they used some caution too:  they did not go 
openly, just by their own dwelling, but went farther into the 
woods, and placed themselves to advantage, where they might 
securely see them manage the fight, and, as they thought, not be 
seen by them; but the savages did see them, as we shall find 
hereafter.

The battle was very fierce, and, if I might believe the Englishmen, 
one of them said he could perceive that some of them were men of 
great bravery, of invincible spirit, and of great policy in guiding 
the fight.  The battle, they said, held two hours before they could 
guess which party would be beaten; but then that party which was 
nearest our people's habitation began to appear weakest, and after 
some time more some of them began to fly; and this put our men 
again into a great consternation, lest any one of those that fled 
should run into the grove before their dwelling for shelter, and 
thereby involuntarily discover the place; and that, by consequence, 
the pursuers would also do the like in search of them.  Upon this, 
they resolved that they would stand armed within the wall, and 
whoever came into the grove, they resolved to sally out over the 
wall and kill them, so that, if possible, not one should return to 
give an account of it; they ordered also that it should be done 
with their swords, or by knocking them down with the stocks of 
their muskets, but not by shooting them, for fear of raising an 
alarm by the noise.

As they expected it fell out; three of the routed army fled for 
life, and crossing the creek, ran directly into the place, not in 
the least knowing whither they went, but running as into a thick 
wood for shelter.  The scout they kept to look abroad gave notice 
of this within, with this comforting addition, that the conquerors 
had not pursued them, or seen which way they were gone; upon this 
the Spanish governor, a man of humanity, would not suffer them to 
kill the three fugitives, but sending three men out by the top of 
the hill, ordered them to go round, come in behind them, and 
surprise and take them prisoners, which was done.  The residue of 
the conquered people fled to their canoes, and got off to sea; the 
victors retired, made no pursuit, or very little, but drawing 
themselves into a body together, gave two great screaming shouts, 
most likely by way of triumph, and so the fight ended; the same 
day, about three o'clock in the afternoon, they also marched to 
their canoes.  And thus the Spaniards had the island again free to 
themselves, their fright was over, and they saw no savages for 
several years after.

After they were all gone, the Spaniards came out of their den, and 
viewing the field of battle, they found about two-and-thirty men 
dead on the spot; some were killed with long arrows, which were 
found sticking in their bodies; but most of them were killed with 
great wooden swords, sixteen or seventeen of which they found in 
the field of battle, and as many bows, with a great many arrows.  
These swords were strange, unwieldy things, and they must be very 
strong men that used them; most of those that were killed with them 
had their heads smashed to pieces, as we may say, or, as we call it 
in English, their brains knocked out, and several their arms and 
legs broken; so that it is evident they fight with inexpressible 
rage and fury.  We found not one man that was not stone dead; for 
either they stay by their enemy till they have killed him, or they 
carry all the wounded men that are not quite dead away with them.

This deliverance tamed our ill-disposed Englishmen for a great 
while; the sight had filled them with horror, and the consequences 
appeared terrible to the last degree, especially upon supposing 
that some time or other they should fall into the hands of those 
creatures, who would not only kill them as enemies, but for food, 
as we kill our cattle; and they professed to me that the thoughts 
of being eaten up like beef and mutton, though it was supposed it 
was not to be till they were dead, had something in it so horrible 
that it nauseated their very stomachs, made them sick when they 
thought of it, and filled their minds with such unusual terror, 
that they were not themselves for some weeks after.  This, as I 
said, tamed even the three English brutes I have been speaking of; 
and for a great while after they were tractable, and went about the 
common business of the whole society well enough - planted, sowed, 
reaped, and began to be all naturalised to the country.  But some 
time after this they fell into such simple measures again as 
brought them into a great deal of trouble.

They had taken three prisoners, as I observed; and these three 
being stout young fellows, they made them servants, and taught them 
to work for them, and as slaves they did well enough; but they did 
not take their measures as I did by my man Friday, viz. to begin 
with them upon the principle of having saved their lives, and then 
instruct them in the rational principles of life; much less did 
they think of teaching them religion, or attempt civilising and 
reducing them by kind usage and affectionate arguments.  As they 
gave them their food every day, so they gave them their work too, 
and kept them fully employed in drudgery enough; but they failed in 
this by it, that they never had them to assist them and fight for 
them as I had my man Friday, who was as true to me as the very 
flesh upon my bones.

But to come to the family part.  Being all now good friends - for 
common danger, as I said above, had effectually reconciled them - 
they began to consider their general circumstances; and the first 
thing that came under consideration was whether, seeing the savages 
particularly haunted that side of the island, and that there were 
more remote and retired parts of it equally adapted to their way of 
living, and manifestly to their advantage, they should not rather 
move their habitation, and plant in some more proper place for 
their safety, and especially for the security of their cattle and 
corn.

Upon this, after long debate, it was concluded that they would not 
remove their habitation; because that, some time or other, they 
thought they might hear from their governor again, meaning me; and 
if I should send any one to seek them, I should be sure to direct 
them to that side, where, if they should find the place demolished, 
they would conclude the savages had killed us all, and we were 
gone, and so our supply would go too.  But as to their corn and 
cattle, they agreed to remove them into the valley where my cave 
was, where the land was as proper for both, and where indeed there 
was land enough.  However, upon second thoughts they altered one 
part of their resolution too, and resolved only to remove part of 
their cattle thither, and part of their corn there; so that if one 
part was destroyed the other might be saved.  And one part of 
prudence they luckily used:  they never trusted those three savages 
which they had taken prisoners with knowing anything of the 
plantation they had made in that valley, or of any cattle they had 
there, much less of the cave at that place, which they kept, in 
case of necessity, as a safe retreat; and thither they carried also 
the two barrels of powder which I had sent them at my coming away.  
They resolved, however, not to change their habitation; yet, as I 
had carefully covered it first with a wall or fortification, and 
then with a grove of trees, and as they were now fully convinced 
their safety consisted entirely in their being concealed, they set 
to work to cover and conceal the place yet more effectually than 
before.  For this purpose, as I planted trees, or rather thrust in 
stakes, which in time all grew up to be trees, for some good 
distance before the entrance into my apartments, they went on in 
the same manner, and filled up the rest of that whole space of 
ground from the trees I had set quite down to the side of the 
creek, where I landed my floats, and even into the very ooze where 
the tide flowed, not so much as leaving any place to land, or any 
sign that there had been any landing thereabouts:  these stakes 
also being of a wood very forward to grow, they took care to have 
them generally much larger and taller than those which I had 
planted.  As they grew apace, they planted them so very thick and 
close together, that when they had been three or four years grown 
there was no piercing with the eye any considerable way into the 
plantation.  As for that part which I had planted, the trees were 
grown as thick as a man's thigh, and among them they had placed so 
many other short ones, and so thick, that it stood like a palisado 
a quarter of a mile thick, and it was next to impossible to 
penetrate it, for a little dog could hardly get between the trees, 
they stood so close.

But this was not all; for they did the same by all the ground to 
the right hand and to the left, and round even to the side of the 
hill, leaving no way, not so much as for themselves, to come out 
but by the ladder placed up to the side of the hill, and then 
lifted up, and placed again from the first stage up to the top:  so 
that when the ladder was taken down, nothing but what had wings or 
witchcraft to assist it could come at them.  This was excellently 
well contrived:  nor was it less than what they afterwards found 
occasion for, which served to convince me, that as human prudence 
has the authority of Providence to justify it, so it has doubtless 
the direction of Providence to set it to work; and if we listened 
carefully to the voice of it, I am persuaded we might prevent many 
of the disasters which our lives are now, by our own negligence, 
subjected to.

They lived two years after this in perfect retirement, and had no 
more visits from the savages.  They had, indeed, an alarm given 
them one morning, which put them into a great consternation; for 
some of the Spaniards being out early one morning on the west side 
or end of the island (which was that end where I never went, for 
fear of being discovered), they were surprised with seeing about 
twenty canoes of Indians just coming on shore.  They made the best 
of their way home in hurry enough; and giving the alarm to their 
comrades, they kept close all that day and the next, going out only 
at night to make their observation:  but they had the good luck to 
be undiscovered, for wherever the savages went, they did not land 
that time on the island, but pursued some other design.



CHAPTER IV - RENEWED INVASION OF SAVAGES



AND now they had another broil with the three Englishmen; one of 
whom, a most turbulent fellow, being in a rage at one of the three 
captive slaves, because the fellow had not done something right 
which he bade him do, and seemed a little untractable in his 
showing him, drew a hatchet out of a frog-belt which he wore by his 
side, and fell upon the poor savage, not to correct him, but to 
kill him.  One of the Spaniards who was by, seeing him give the 
fellow a barbarous cut with the hatchet, which he aimed at his 
head, but stuck into his shoulder, so that he thought he had cut 
the poor creature's arm off, ran to him, and entreating him not to 
murder the poor man, placed himself between him and the savage, to 
prevent the mischief.  The fellow, being enraged the more at this, 
struck at the Spaniard with his hatchet, and swore he would serve 
him as he intended to serve the savage; which the Spaniard 
perceiving, avoided the blow, and with a shovel, which he had in 
his hand (for they were all working in the field about their corn 
land), knocked the brute down.  Another of the Englishmen, running 
up at the same time to help his comrade, knocked the Spaniard down; 
and then two Spaniards more came in to help their man, and a third 
Englishman fell in upon them.  They had none of them any firearms 
or any other weapons but hatchets and other tools, except this 
third Englishman; he had one of my rusty cutlasses, with which he 
made at the two last Spaniards, and wounded them both.  This fray 
set the whole family in an uproar, and more help coming in they 
took the three Englishmen prisoners.  The next question was, what 
should be done with them?  They had been so often mutinous, and 
were so very furious, so desperate, and so idle withal, they knew 
not what course to take with them, for they were mischievous to the 
highest degree, and cared not what hurt they did to any man; so 
that, in short, it was not safe to live with them.

The Spaniard who was governor told them, in so many words, that if 
they had been of his own country he would have hanged them; for all 
laws and all governors were to preserve society, and those who were 
dangerous to the society ought to be expelled out of it; but as 
they were Englishmen, and that it was to the generous kindness of 
an Englishman that they all owed their preservation and 
deliverance, he would use them with all possible lenity, and would 
leave them to the judgment of the other two Englishmen, who were 
their countrymen.  One of the two honest Englishmen stood up, and 
said they desired it might not be left to them.  "For," says he, "I 
am sure we ought to sentence them to the gallows;" and with that he 
gives an account how Will Atkins, one of the three, had proposed to 
have all the five Englishmen join together and murder all the 
Spaniards when they were in their sleep.

When the Spanish governor heard this, he calls to Will Atkins, 
"How, Seignior Atkins, would you murder us all?  What have you to 
say to that?"  The hardened villain was so far from denying it, 
that he said it was true, and swore they would do it still before 
they had done with them.  "Well, but Seignior Atkins," says the 
Spaniard, "what have we done to you that you will kill us?  What 
would you get by killing us?  And what must we do to prevent you 
killing us?  Must we kill you, or you kill us?  Why will you put us 
to the necessity of this, Seignior Atkins?" says the Spaniard very 
calmly, and smiling.  Seignior Atkins was in such a rage at the 
Spaniard's making a jest of it, that, had he not been held by three 
men, and withal had no weapon near him, it was thought he would 
have attempted to kill the Spaniard in the middle of all the 
company.  This hare-brained carriage obliged them to consider 
seriously what was to be done.  The two Englishmen and the Spaniard 
who saved the poor savage were of the opinion that they should hang 
one of the three for an example to the rest, and that particularly 
it should be he that had twice attempted to commit murder with his 
hatchet; indeed, there was some reason to believe he had done it, 
for the poor savage was in such a miserable condition with the 
wound he had received that it was thought he could not live.  But 
the governor Spaniard still said No; it was an Englishman that had 
saved all their lives, and he would never consent to put an 
Englishman to death, though he had murdered half of them; nay, he 
said if he had been killed himself by an Englishman, and had time 
left to speak, it should be that they should pardon him.

This was so positively insisted on by the governor Spaniard, that 
there was no gainsaying it; and as merciful counsels are most apt 
to prevail where they are so earnestly pressed, so they all came 
into it.  But then it was to be considered what should be done to 
keep them from doing the mischief they designed; for all agreed, 
governor and all, that means were to be used for preserving the 
society from danger.  After a long debate, it was agreed that they 
should be disarmed, and not permitted to have either gun, powder, 
shot, sword, or any weapon; that they should be turned out of the 
society, and left to live where they would and how they would, by 
themselves; but that none of the rest, either Spaniards or English, 
should hold any kind of converse with them, or have anything to do 
with them; that they should be forbid to come within a certain 
distance of the place where the rest dwelt; and if they offered to 
commit any disorder, so as to spoil, burn, kill, or destroy any of 
the corn, plantings, buildings, fences, or cattle belonging to the 
society, they should die without mercy, and they would shoot them 
wherever they could find them.

The humane governor, musing upon the sentence, considered a little 
upon it; and turning to the two honest Englishmen, said, "Hold; you 
must reflect that it will be long ere they can raise corn and 
cattle of their own, and they must not starve; we must therefore 
allow them provisions."  So he caused to be added, that they should 
have a proportion of corn given them to last them eight months, and 
for seed to sow, by which time they might be supposed to raise some 
of their own; that they should have six milch-goats, four he-goats, 
and six kids given them, as well for present subsistence as for a 
store; and that they should have tools given them for their work in 
the fields, but they should have none of these tools or provisions 
unless they would swear solemnly that they would not hurt or injure 
any of the Spaniards with them, or of their fellow-Englishmen.

Thus they dismissed them the society, and turned them out to shift 
for themselves.  They went away sullen and refractory, as neither 
content to go away nor to stay:  but, as there was no remedy, they 
went, pretending to go and choose a place where they would settle 
themselves; and some provisions were given them, but no weapons.  
About four or five days after, they came again for some victuals, 
and gave the governor an account where they had pitched their 
tents, and marked themselves out a habitation and plantation; and 
it was a very convenient place indeed, on the remotest part of the 
island, NE., much about the place where I providentially landed in 
my first voyage, when I was driven out to sea in my foolish attempt 
to sail round the island.

Here they built themselves two handsome huts, and contrived them in 
a manner like my first habitation, being close under the side of a 
hill, having some trees already growing on three sides of it, so 
that by planting others it would be very easily covered from the 
sight, unless narrowly searched for.  They desired some dried goat-
skins for beds and covering, which were given them; and upon giving 
their words that they would not disturb the rest, or injure any of 
their plantations, they gave them hatchets, and what other tools 
they could spare; some peas, barley, and rice, for sowing; and, in 
a word, anything they wanted, except arms and ammunition.

They lived in this separate condition about six months, and had got 
in their first harvest, though the quantity was but small, the 
parcel of land they had planted being but little.  Indeed, having 
all their plantation to form, they had a great deal of work upon 
their hands; and when they came to make boards and pots, and such 
things, they were quite out of their element, and could make 
nothing of it; therefore when the rainy season came on, for want of 
a cave in the earth, they could not keep their grain dry, and it 
was in great danger of spoiling.  This humbled them much:  so they 
came and begged the Spaniards to help them, which they very readily 
did; and in four days worked a great hole in the side of the hill 
for them, big enough to secu