WHEN I waked it was broad day,
the weather clear, and the storm
abated, so that the sea did not rage
and swell as before. But that
which surprised me most was, that
the ship was lifted off in the
night from the sand where she lay by
the swelling of the tide, and
was driven up almost as far as the
rock which I at first mentioned,
where I had been so bruised by the
wave dashing me against it.
This being within about a mile from
the shore where I was, and the
ship seeming to stand upright still,
I wished myself on board, that
at least I might save some necessary
things for my use. When I came down from my apartment
in the tree, I looked about me
again, and the first thing I found
was the boat, which lay, as the
wind and the sea had tossed her up,
upon the land, about two miles
on my right hand. I walked as far as
I could upon the shore to
have got to her; but found a neck or
inlet of water between me and
the boat which was about half a mile
broad; so I came back for the
present, being more intent upon
getting at the ship, where I hoped
to find something for my present
subsistence. A little after noon I found the sea
very calm, and the tide ebbed
so far out that I could come within
a quarter of a mile of the
ship. And here I found a fresh
renewing of my grief; for I saw
evidently that if we had kept on
board we had been all safe - that
is to say, we had all got safe on
shore, and I had not been so
miserable as to be left entirety
destitute of all comfort and
company as I now was. This forced
tears to my eyes again; but as
there was little relief in that, I
resolved, if possible, to get to
the ship; so I pulled off my clothes
- for the weather was hot to
extremity - and took the water. But
when I came to the ship my
difficulty was still greater to know
how to get on board; for, as
she lay aground, and high out of the
water, there was nothing
within my reach to lay hold of. I
swam round her twice, and the
second time I spied a small piece of
rope, which I wondered I did
not see at first, hung down by the
fore-chains so low, as that with
great difficulty I got hold of it,
and by the help of that rope I
got up into the forecastle of the
ship. Here I found that the ship
was bulged, and had a great deal of
water in her hold, but that she
lay so on the side of a bank of hard
sand, or, rather earth, that
her stern lay lifted up upon the
bank, and her head low, almost to
the water. By this means all her
quarter was free, and all that
was in that part was dry; for you
may be sure my first work was to
search, and to see what was spoiled
and what was free. And, first,
I found that all the ship's
provisions were dry and untouched by
the water, and being very well
disposed to eat, I went to the bread
room and filled my pockets with
biscuit, and ate it as I went about
other things, for I had no time to
lose. I also found some rum in
the great cabin, of which I took a
large dram, and which I had,
indeed, need enough of to spirit me
for what was before me. Now I
wanted nothing but a boat to furnish
myself with many things which
I foresaw would be very necessary to
me. It was in vain to sit still and wish
for what was not to be had;
and this extremity roused my
application. We had several spare
yards, and two or three large spars
of wood, and a spare topmast or
two in the ship; I resolved to fall
to work with these, and I flung
as many of them overboard as I could
manage for their weight, tying
every one with a rope, that they
might not drive away. When this
was done I went down the ship's
side, and pulling them to me, I
tied four of them together at both
ends as well as I could, in the
form of a raft, and laying two or
three short pieces of plank upon
them crossways, I found I could walk
upon it very well, but that it
was not able to bear any great
weight, the pieces being too light.
So I went to work, and with a
carpenter's saw I cut a spare
topmast
into three lengths, and added them
to my raft, with a great deal of
labour and pains. But the hope of
furnishing myself with
necessaries encouraged me to go
beyond what I should have been able
to have done upon another occasion. My raft was now strong enough to
bear any reasonable weight. My
next care was what to load it with,
and how to preserve what I laid
upon it from the surf of the sea;
but I was not long considering
this. I first laid all the planks or
boards upon it that I could
get, and having considered well what
I most wanted, I got three of
the seamen's chests, which I had
broken open, and emptied, and
lowered them down upon my raft; the
first of these I filled with
provisions - viz. bread, rice, three
Dutch cheeses, five pieces of
dried goat's flesh (which we lived
much upon), and a little
remainder of European corn, which
had been laid by for some fowls
which we brought to sea with us, but
the fowls were killed. There
had been some barley and wheat
together; but, to my great
disappointment, I found afterwards
that the rats had eaten or
spoiled it all. As for liquors, I
found several, cases of bottles
belonging to our skipper, in which
were some cordial waters; and,
in all, about five or six gallons of
rack. These I stowed by
themselves, there being no need to
put them into the chest, nor any
room for them. While I was doing
this, I found the tide begin to
flow, though very calm; and I had
the mortification to see my coat,
shirt, and waistcoat, which I had
left on the shore, upon the sand,
swim away. As for my breeches, which
were only linen, and open-
kneed, I swam on board in them and
my stockings. However, this set
me on rummaging for clothes, of
which I found enough, but took no
more than I wanted for present use,
for I had others things which
my eye was more upon - as, first,
tools to work with on shore. And
it was after long searching that I
found out the carpenter's chest,
which was, indeed, a very useful
prize to me, and much more
valuable than a shipload of gold
would have been at that time. I
got it down to my raft, whole as it
was, without losing time to
look into it, for I knew in general
what it contained. My next care was for some ammunition
and arms. There were two very
good fowling-pieces in the great
cabin, and two pistols. These I
secured first, with some
powder-horns and a small bag of
shot, and
two old rusty swords. I knew there
were three barrels of powder in
the ship, but knew not where our
gunner had stowed them; but with
much search I found them, two of
them dry and good, the third had
taken water. Those two I got to my
raft with the arms. And now I
thought myself pretty well
freighted, and began to think how I
should get to shore with them,
having neither sail, oar, nor
rudder; and the least capful of wind
would have overset all my
navigation. I had three encouragements - 1st, a
smooth, calm sea; 2ndly, the
tide rising, and setting in to the
shore; 3rdly, what little wind
there was blew me towards the land.
And thus, having found two or
three broken oars belonging to the
boat - and, besides the tools
which were in the chest, I found two
saws, an axe, and a hammer;
with this cargo I put to sea. For a
mile or thereabouts my raft
went very well, only that I found it
drive a little distant from
the place where I had landed before;
by which I perceived that
there was some indraft of the water,
and consequently I hoped to
find some creek or river there,
which I might make use of as a port
to get to land with my cargo. As I imagined, so it was. There
appeared before me a little
opening of the land, and I found a
strong current of the tide set
into it; so I guided my raft as well
as I could, to keep in the
middle of the stream. But here I had like to have suffered
a second shipwreck, which, if
I had, I think verily would have
broken my heart; for, knowing
nothing of the coast, my raft ran
aground at one end of it upon a
shoal, and not being aground at the
other end, it wanted but a
little that all my cargo had slipped
off towards the end that was
afloat, and to fallen into the
water. I did my utmost, by setting
my back against the chests, to keep
them in their places, but could
not thrust off the raft with all my
strength; neither durst I stir
from the posture I was in; but
holding up the chests with all my
might, I stood in that manner near
half-an-hour, in which time the
rising of the water brought me a
little more upon a level; and a
little after, the water
still-rising, my raft floated again,
and I
thrust her off with the oar I had
into the channel, and then
driving up higher, I at length found
myself in the mouth of a
little river, with land on both
sides, and a strong current of tide
running up. I looked on both sides
for a proper place to get to
shore, for I was not willing to be
driven too high up the river:
hoping in time to see some ships at
sea, and therefore resolved to
place myself as near the coast as I
could. At length I spied a little cove on
the right shore of the creek, to
which with great pain and difficulty
I guided my raft, and at last
got so near that, reaching ground
with my oar, I could thrust her
directly in. But here I had like to
have dipped all my cargo into
the sea again; for that shore lying
pretty steep - that is to say
sloping - there was no place to
land, but where one end of my
float, if it ran on shore, would lie
so high, and the other sink
lower, as before, that it would
endanger my cargo again. All that
I could do was to wait till the tide
was at the highest, keeping
the raft with my oar like an anchor,
to hold the side of it fast to
the shore, near a flat piece of
ground, which I expected the water
would flow over; and so it did. As
soon as I found water enough -
for my raft drew about a foot of
water - I thrust her upon that
flat piece of ground, and there
fastened or moored her, by sticking
my two broken oars into the ground,
one on one side near one end,
and one on the other side near the
other end; and thus I lay till
the water ebbed away, and left my
raft and all my cargo safe on
shore. My next work was to view the
country, and seek a proper place for
my habitation, and where to stow my
goods to secure them from
whatever might happen. Where I was,
I yet knew not; whether on the
continent or on an island; whether
inhabited or not inhabited;
whether in danger of wild beasts or
not. There was a hill not
above a mile from me, which rose up
very steep and high, and which
seemed to overtop some other hills,
which lay as in a ridge from it
northward. I took out one of the
fowling-pieces, and one of the
pistols, and a horn of powder; and
thus armed, I travelled for
discovery up to the top of that
hill, where, after I had with great
labour and difficulty got to the
top, I saw any fate, to my great
affliction - viz. that I was in an
island environed every way with
the sea: no land to be seen except
some rocks, which lay a great
way off; and two small islands, less
than this, which lay about
three leagues to the west. I found also that the island I was
in was barren, and, as I saw
good reason to believe, uninhabited
except by wild beasts, of whom,
however, I saw none. Yet I saw
abundance of fowls, but knew not
their kinds; neither when I killed
them could I tell what was fit
for food, and what not. At my coming
back, I shot at a great bird
which I saw sitting upon a tree on
the side of a great wood. I
believe it was the first gun that
had been fired there since the
creation of the world. I had no
sooner fired, than from all parts
of the wood there arose an
innumerable number of fowls, of many
sorts, making a confused screaming
and crying, and every one
according to his usual note, but not
one of them of any kind that I
knew. As for the creature I killed,
I took it to be a kind of
hawk, its colour and beak resembling
it, but it had no talons or
claws more than common. Its flesh
was carrion, and fit for
nothing. Contented with this discovery, I
came back to my raft, and fell to
work to bring my cargo on shore,
which took me up the rest of that
day. What to do with myself at night
I knew not, nor indeed where
to rest, for I was afraid to lie
down on the ground, not knowing
but some wild beast might devour me,
though, as I afterwards found,
there was really no need for those
fears. However, as well as I could, I
barricaded myself round with the
chest and boards that I had brought
on shore, and made a kind of
hut for that night's lodging. As for
food, I yet saw not which way
to supply myself, except that I had
seen two or three creatures
like hares run out of the wood where
I shot the fowl. I now began to consider that I might
yet get a great many things
out of the ship which would be
useful to me, and particularly some
of the rigging and sails, and such
other things as might come to
land; and I resolved to make another
voyage on board the vessel, if
possible. And as I knew that the
first storm that blew must
necessarily break her all in pieces,
I resolved to set all other
things apart till I had got
everything out of the ship that I
could
get. Then I called a council - that
is to say in my thoughts -
whether I should take back the raft;
but this appeared
impracticable: so I resolved to go
as before, when the tide was
down; and I did so, only that I
stripped before I went from my hut,
having nothing on but my chequered
shirt, a pair of linen drawers,
and a pair of pumps on my feet.. I got on board the ship as before,
and prepared a second raft; and,
having had experience of the first,
I neither made this so
unwieldy, nor loaded it so hard, but
yet I brought away several
things very useful to me; as first,
in the carpenters stores I
found two or three bags full of
nails and spikes, a great screw-
jack, a dozen or two of hatchets,
and, above all, that most useful
thing called a grindstone. All these
I secured, together with
several things belonging to the
gunner, particularly two or three
iron crows, and two barrels of
musket bullets, seven muskets,
another fowling-piece, with some
small quantity of powder more; a
large bagful of small shot, and a
great roll of sheet-lead; but
this last was so heavy, I could not
hoist it up to get it over the
ship's side. Besides these things, I took all the
men's clothes that I could
find, and a spare fore-topsail, a
hammock, and some bedding; and
with this I loaded my second raft,
and brought them all safe on
shore, to my very great comfort. I was under some apprehension,
during my absence from the land,
that at least my provisions might be
devoured on shore: but when I
came back I found no sign of any
visitor; only there sat a creature
like a wild cat upon one of the
chests, which, when I came towards
it, ran away a little distance, and
then stood still. She sat very
composed and unconcerned, and looked
full in my face, as if she had
a mind to be acquainted with me. I
presented my gun at her, but,
as she did not understand it, she
was perfectly unconcerned at it,
nor did she offer to stir away; upon
which I tossed her a bit of
biscuit, though by the way, I was
not very free of it, for my store
was not great: however, I spared her
a bit, I say, and she went to
it, smelled at it, and ate it, and
looked (as if pleased) for more;
but I thanked her, and could spare
no more: so she marched off. Having got my second cargo on shore
- though I was fain to open the
barrels of powder, and bring them by
parcels, for they were too
heavy, being large casks - I went to
work to make me a little tent
with the sail and some poles which I
cut for that purpose: and into
this tent I brought everything that
I knew would spoil either with
rain or sun; and I piled all the
empty chests and casks up in a
circle round the tent, to fortify it
from any sudden attempt,
either from man or beast. When I had done this, I blocked up
the door of the tent with some
boards within, and an empty chest
set up on end without; and
spreading one of the beds upon the
ground, laying my two pistols
just at my head, and my gun at
length by me, I went to bed for the
first time, and slept very quietly
all night, for I was very weary
and heavy; for the night before I
had slept little, and had
laboured very hard all day to fetch
all those things from the ship,
and to get them on shore.. I had the biggest magazine of all
kinds now that ever was laid up,
I believe, for one man: but I was
not satisfied still, for while
the ship sat upright in that
posture, I thought I ought to get
everything out of her that I could;
so every day at low water I
went on board, and brought away
something or other; but
particularly the third time I went I
brought away as much of the
rigging as I could, as also all the
small ropes and rope-twine I
could get, with a piece of spare
canvas, which was to mend the
sails upon occasion, and the barrel
of wet gunpowder. In a word, I
brought away all the sails, first
and last; only that I was fain to
cut them in pieces, and bring as
much at a time as I could, for
they were no more useful to be
sails, but as mere canvas only. But that which comforted me more
still, was, that last of all,
after I had made five or six such
voyages as these, and thought I
had nothing more to expect from the
ship that was worth my meddling
with - I say, after all this, I
found a great hogshead of bread,
three large runlets of rum, or
spirits, a box of sugar, and a
barrel of fine flour; this was
surprising to me, because I had
given over expecting any more
provisions, except what was spoiled
by the water. I soon emptied the
hogshead of the bread, and
wrapped it up, parcel by parcel, in
pieces of the sails, which I
cut out; and, in a word, I got all
this safe on shore also. The next day I made another voyage,
and now, having plundered the
ship of what was portable and fit to
hand out, I began with the
cables. Cutting the great cable into
pieces, such as I could move,
I got two cables and a hawser on
shore, with all the ironwork I
could get; and having cut down the
spritsail-yard, and the mizzen-
yard, and everything I could, to
make a large raft, I loaded it
with all these heavy goods, and came
away. But my good luck began
now to leave me; for this raft was
so unwieldy, and so overladen,
that, after I had entered the little
cove where I had landed the
rest of my goods, not being able to
guide it so handily as I did
the other, it overset, and threw me
and all my cargo into the
water. As for myself, it was no
great harm, for I was near the
shore; but as to my cargo, it was a
great part of it lost,
especially the iron, which I
expected would have been of great
use
to me; however, when the tide was
out, I got most of the pieces of
the cable ashore, and some of the
iron, though with infinite
labour; for I was fain to dip for it
into the water, a work which
fatigued me very much. After this, I
went every day on board, and
brought away what I could get. I had been now thirteen days on
shore, and had been eleven times on
board the ship, in which time I had
brought away all that one pair
of hands could well be supposed
capable to bring; though I believe
verily, had the calm weather held, I
should have brought away the
whole ship, piece by piece. But
preparing the twelfth time to go
on board, I found the wind began to
rise: however, at low water I
went on board, and though I thought
I had rummaged the cabin so
effectually that nothing more could
be found, yet I discovered a
locker with drawers in it, in one of
which I found two or three
razors, and one pair of large
scissors, with some ten or a dozen
of
good knives and forks: in another I
found about thirty-six pounds
value in money - some European coin,
some Brazil, some pieces of
eight, some gold, and some silver. I smiled to myself at the sight of
this money: "O drug!" said I,
aloud, "what art thou good for? Thou
art not worth to me - no, not
the taking off the ground; one of
those knives is worth all this
heap; I have no manner of use for
thee - e'en remain where thou
art, and go to the bottom as a
creature whose life is not worth
saying." However, upon second
thoughts I took it away; and
wrapping all this in a piece of
canvas, I began to think of making
another raft; but while I was
preparing this, I found the sky
overcast, and the wind began to
rise, and in a quarter of an hour
it blew a fresh gale from the shore.
It presently occurred to me
that it was in vain to pretend to
make a raft with the wind
offshore; and that it was my
business to be gone before the tide
of
flood began, otherwise I might not
be able to reach the shore at
all. Accordingly, I let myself down
into the water, and swam
across the channel, which lay
between the ship and the sands, and
even that with difficulty enough,
partly with the weight of the
things I had about me, and partly
the roughness of the water; for
the wind rose very hastily, and
before it was quite high water it
blew a storm. But I had got home to my little
tent, where I lay, with all my
wealth about me, very secure. It
blew very hard all night, and in
the morning, when I looked out,
behold, no more ship was to be
seen! I was a little surprised, but
recovered myself with the
satisfactory reflection that I had
lost no time, nor abated any
diligence, to get everything out of
her that could be useful to me;
and that, indeed, there was little
left in her that I was able to
bring away, if I had had more time. I now gave over any more thoughts of
the ship, or of anything out
of her, except what might drive on
shore from her wreck; as,
indeed, divers pieces of her
afterwards did; but those things
were
of small use to me. My thoughts were now wholly employed
about securing myself against
either savages, if any should
appear, or wild beasts, if any were
in the island; and I had many
thoughts of the method how to do
this, and what kind of dwelling to
make - whether I should make me
a cave in the earth, or a tent upon
the earth; and, in short, I
resolved upon both; the manner and
description of which, it may not
be improper to give an account of. I soon found the place I was in was
not fit for my settlement,
because it was upon a low, moorish
ground, near the sea, and I
believed it would not be wholesome,
and more particularly because
there was no fresh water near it; so
I resolved to find a more
healthy and more convenient spot of
ground. I consulted several things in my
situation, which I found would he
proper for me: 1st, health and fresh
water, I just now mentioned;
2ndly, shelter from the heat of the
sun; 3rdly, security from
ravenous creatures, whether man or
beast; 4thly, a view to the sea,
that if God sent any ship in sight,
I might not lose any advantage
for my deliverance, of which I was
not willing to banish all my
expectation yet. In search of a place proper for
this, I found a little plain on the
side of a rising hill, whose front
towards this little plain was
steep as a house-side, so that
nothing could come down upon me from
the top. On the one side of the rock
there was a hollow place,
worn a little way in, like the
entrance or door of a cave but there
was not really any cave or way into
the rock at all. On the flat of the green, just
before this hollow place, I resolved
to pitch my tent. This plain was not
above a hundred yards broad,
and about twice as long, and lay
like a green before my door; and,
at the end of it, descended
irregularly every way down into the
low
ground by the seaside. It was on the
N.N.W. side of the hill; so
that it was sheltered from the heat
every day, till it came to a W.
and by S. sun, or thereabouts,
which, in those countries, is near
the setting. Before I set up my tent I drew a
half-circle before the hollow
place, which took in about ten yards
in its semi-diameter from the
rock, and twenty yards in its
diameter from its beginning and
ending. In this half-circle I pitched two
rows of strong stakes, driving
them into the ground till they stood
very firm like piles, the
biggest end being out of the ground
above five feet and a half, and
sharpened on the top. The two rows
did not stand above six inches
from one another. Then I took the pieces of cable
which I had cut in the ship, and
laid them in rows, one upon another,
within the circle, between
these two rows of stakes, up to the
top, placing other stakes in
the inside, leaning against them,
about two feet and a half high,
like a spur to a post; and this
fence was so strong, that neither
man nor beast could get into it or
over it. This cost me a great
deal of time and labour, especially
to cut the piles in the woods,
bring them to the place, and drive
them into the earth. The entrance into this place I made
to be, not by a door, but by a
short ladder to go over the top;
which ladder, when I was in, I
lifted over after me; and so I was
completely fenced in and
fortified, as I thought, from all
the world, and consequently slept
secure in the night, which otherwise
I could not have done; though,
as it appeared afterwards, there was
no need of all this caution
from the enemies that I apprehended
danger from. Into this fence or fortress, with
infinite labour, I carried all my
riches, all my provisions,
ammunition, and stores, of which you
have the account above; and I made a
large tent, which to preserve
me from the rains that in one part
of the year are very violent
there, I made double - one smaller
tent within, and one larger tent
above it; and covered the uppermost
with a large tarpaulin, which I
had saved among the sails. And now I lay no more for a while in
the bed which I had brought on
shore, but in a hammock, which was
indeed a very good one, and
belonged to the mate of the ship. Into this tent I brought all my
provisions, and everything that
would spoil by the wet; and having
thus enclosed all my goods, I
made up the entrance, which till now
I had left open, and so passed
and repassed, as I said, by a short
ladder. When I had done this, I began to
work my way into the rock, and
bringing all the earth and stones
that I dug down out through my
tent, I laid them up within my
fence, in the nature of a terrace,
so that it raised the ground within
about a foot and a half; and
thus I made me a cave, just behind
my tent, which served me like a
cellar to my house. It cost me much labour and many days
before all these things were
brought to perfection; and therefore
I must go back to some other
things which took up some of my
thoughts. At the same time it
happened, after I had laid my scheme
for the setting up my tent,
and making the cave, that a storm of
rain falling from a thick,
dark cloud, a sudden flash of
lightning happened, and after that a
great clap of thunder, as is
naturally the effect of it. I was
not
so much surprised with the lightning
as I was with the thought
which darted into my mind as swift
as the lightning itself - Oh, my
powder! My very heart sank within me
when I thought that, at one
blast, all my powder might be
destroyed; on which, not my defence
only, but the providing my food, as
I thought, entirely depended.
I was nothing near so anxious about
my own danger, though, had the
powder took fire, I should never
have known who had hurt me. Such impression did this make upon
me, that after the storm was
over I laid aside all my works, my
building and fortifying, and
applied myself to make bags and
boxes, to separate the powder, and
to keep it a little and a little in
a parcel, in the hope that,
whatever might come, it might not
all take fire at once; and to
keep it so apart that it should not
be possible to make one part
fire another. I finished this work
in about a fortnight; and I
think my powder, which in all was
about two hundred and forty
pounds weight, was divided in not
less than a hundred parcels. As
to the barrel that had been wet, I
did not apprehend any danger
from that; so I placed it in my new
cave, which, in my fancy, I
called my kitchen; and the rest I
hid up and down in holes among
the rocks, so that no wet might come
to it, marking very carefully
where I laid it. In the interval of time while this
was doing, I went out once at
least every day with my gun, as well
to divert myself as to see if
I could kill anything fit for food;
and, as near as I could, to
acquaint myself with what the island
produced. The first time I
went out, I presently discovered
that there were goats in the
island, which was a great
satisfaction to me; but then it was
attended with this misfortune to me
- viz. that they were so shy,
so subtle, and so swift of foot,
that it was the most difficult
thing in the world to come at them;
but I was not discouraged at
this, not doubting but I might now
and then shoot one, as it soon
happened; for after I had found
their haunts a little, I laid wait
in this manner for them: I observed
if they saw me in the valleys,
though they were upon the rocks,
they would run away, as in a
terrible fright; but if they were
feeding in the valleys, and I was
upon the rocks, they took no notice
of me; from whence I concluded
that, by the position of their
optics, their sight was so directed
downward that they did not readily
see objects that were above
them; so afterwards I took this
method - I always climbed the rocks
first, to get above them, and then
had frequently a fair mark. The first shot I made among these
creatures, I killed a she-goat,
which had a little kid by her, which
she gave suck to, which
grieved me heartily; for when the
old one fell, the kid stood stock
still by her, till I came and took
her up; and not only so, but
when I carried the old one with me,
upon my shoulders, the kid
followed me quite to my enclosure;
upon which I laid down the dam,
and took the kid in my arms, and
carried it over my pale, in hopes
to have bred it up tame; but it
would not eat; so I was forced to
kill it and eat it myself. These two
supplied me with flesh a
great while, for I ate sparingly,
and saved my provisions, my bread
especially, as much as possibly I
could. Having now fixed my habitation, I
found it absolutely necessary to
provide a place to make a fire in,
and fuel to burn: and what I did
for that, and also how I enlarged my
cave, and what conveniences I
made, I shall give a full account of
in its place; but I must now
give some little account of myself,
and of my thoughts about
living, which, it may well be
supposed, were not a few. I had a dismal prospect of my
condition; for as I was not cast
away
upon that island without being
driven, as is said, by a violent
storm, quite out of the course of
our intended voyage, and a great
way, viz. some hundreds of leagues,
out of the ordinary course of
the trade of mankind, I had great
reason to consider it as a
determination of Heaven, that in
this desolate place, and in this
desolate manner, I should end my
life. The tears would run
plentifully down my face when I made
these reflections; and
sometimes I would expostulate with
myself why Providence should
thus completely ruin His creatures,
and render them so absolutely
miserable; so without help,
abandoned, so entirely depressed,
that
it could hardly be rational to be
thankful for such a life. But something always returned swift
upon me to check these
thoughts, and to reprove me; and
particularly one day, walking with
my gun in my hand by the seaside, I
was very pensive upon the
subject of my present condition,
when reason, as it were,
expostulated with me the other way,
thus: "Well, you are in a
desolate condition, it is true; but,
pray remember, where are the
rest of you? Did not you come,
eleven of you in the boat? Where
are the ten? Why were they not
saved, and you lost? Why were you
singled out? Is it better to be here
or there?" And then I
pointed to the sea. All evils are to
be considered with the good
that is in them, and with what worse
attends them. Then it occurred to me again, how
well I was furnished for my
subsistence, and what would have
been my case if it had not
happened (which was a hundred
thousand to one) that the ship
floated from the place where she
first struck, and was driven so
near to the shore that I had time to
get all these things out of
her; what would have been my case,
if I had been forced to have
lived in the condition in which I at
first came on shore, without
necessaries of life, or necessaries
to supply and procure them?
"Particularly," said I, aloud
(though to myself), "what should I
have done without a gun, without
ammunition, without any tools to
make anything, or to work with,
without clothes, bedding, a tent,
or any manner of covering?" and that
now I had all these to
sufficient quantity, and was in a
fair way to provide myself in
such a manner as to live without my
gun, when my ammunition was
spent: so that I had a tolerable
view of subsisting, without any
want, as long as I lived; for I
considered from the beginning how I
would provide for the accidents that
might happen, and for the time
that was to come, even not only
after my ammunition should be
spent, but even after my health and
strength should decay. I confess I had not entertained any
notion of my ammunition being
destroyed at one blast - I mean my
powder being blown up by
lightning; and this made the
thoughts of it so surprising to me,
when it lightened and thundered, as
I observed just now. And now being about to enter into a
melancholy relation of a scene
of silent life, such, perhaps, as
was never heard of in the world
before, I shall take it from its
beginning, and continue it in its
order. It was by my account the 30th
of September, when, in the
manner as above said, I first set
foot upon this horrid island;
when the sun, being to us in its
autumnal equinox, was almost over
my head; for I reckoned myself, by
observation, to be in the
latitude of nine degrees twenty-two
minutes north of the line. After I had been there about ten or
twelve days, it came into my
thoughts that I should lose my
reckoning of time for want of books,
and pen and ink, and should even
forget the Sabbath days; but to
prevent this, I cut with my knife
upon a large post, in capital
letters - and making it into a great
cross, I set it up on the
shore where I first landed - "I came
on shore here on the 30th
September 1659." Upon the sides of this square post I
cut every day a notch with my
knife, and every seventh notch was
as long again as the rest, and
every first day of the month as long
again as that long one; and
thus I kept my calendar, or weekly,
monthly, and yearly reckoning
of time. In the next place, we are to observe
that among the many things
which I brought out of the ship, in
the several voyages which, as
above mentioned, I made to it, I got
several things of less value,
but not at all less useful to me,
which I omitted setting down
before; as, in particular, pens,
ink, and paper, several parcels in
the captain's, mate's, gunner's and
carpenter's keeping; three or
four compasses, some mathematical
instruments, dials, perspectives,
charts, and books of navigation, all
which I huddled together,
whether I might want them or no;
also, I found three very good
Bibles, which came to me in my cargo
from England, and which I had
packed up among my things; some
Portuguese books also; and among
them two or three Popish
prayer-books, and several other
books, all
which I carefully secured. And I
must not forget that we had in
the ship a dog and two cats, of
whose eminent history I may have
occasion to say something in its
place; for I carried both the cats
with me; and as for the dog, he
jumped out of the ship of himself,
and swam on shore to me the day
after I went on shore with my first
cargo, and was a trusty servant to
me many years; I wanted nothing
that he could fetch me, nor any
company that he could make up to
me; I only wanted to have him talk
to me, but that would not do.
As I observed before, I found pens,
ink, and paper, and I husbanded
them to the utmost; and I shall show
that while my ink lasted, I
kept things very exact, but after
that was gone I could not, for I
could not make any ink by any means
that I could devise. And this put me in mind that I
wanted many things notwithstanding
all that I had amassed together; and
of these, ink was one; as also
a spade, pickaxe, and shovel, to dig
or remove the earth; needles,
pins, and thread; as for linen, I
soon learned to want that without
much difficulty. This want of tools made every work I
did go on heavily; and it was
near a whole year before I had
entirely finished my little pale, or
surrounded my habitation. The piles,
or stakes, which were as
heavy as I could well lift, were a
long time in cutting and
preparing in the woods, and more, by
far, in bringing home; so that
I spent sometimes two days in
cutting and bringing home one of
those posts, and a third day in
driving it into the ground; for
which purpose I got a heavy piece of
wood at first, but at last
bethought myself of one of the iron
crows; which, however, though I
found it, made driving those posts
or piles very laborious and
tedious work. But what need I have
been concerned at the
tediousness of anything I had to do,
seeing I had time enough to do
it in? nor had I any other
employment, if that had been over,
at
least that I could foresee, except
the ranging the island to seek
for food, which I did, more or less,
every day. I now began to consider seriously my
condition, and the
circumstances I was reduced to; and
I drew up the state of my
affairs in writing, not so much to
leave them to any that were to
come after me - for I was likely to
have but few heirs - as to
deliver my thoughts from daily
poring over them, and afflicting my
mind; and as my reason began now to
master my despondency, I began
to comfort myself as well as I
could, and to set the good against
the evil, that I might have
something to distinguish my case
from
worse; and I stated very
impartially, like debtor and
creditor, the
comforts I enjoyed against the
miseries I suffered, thus:-
Evil: I am cast upon a horrible,
desolate island, void of all hope
of recovery. Good: But I am alive; and not
drowned, as all my ship's company
were. Evil: I am singled out and
separated, as it were, from all the
world, to be miserable. Good: But I am singled out, too,
from all the ship's crew, to be
spared from death; and He that
miraculously saved me from death can
deliver me from this condition. Evil: I am divided from mankind - a
solitaire; one banished from
human society. Good: But I am not starved, and
perishing on a barren place,
affording no sustenance. Evil: I have no clothes to cover me. Good: But I am in a hot climate,
where, if I had clothes, I could
hardly wear them. Evil: I am without any defence, or
means to resist any violence of
man or beast. Good: But I am cast on an island
where I see no wild beasts to hurt
me, as I saw on the coast of Africa;
and what if I had been
shipwrecked there? Evil: I have no soul to speak to or
relieve me. Good: But God wonderfully sent the
ship in near enough to the
shore, that I have got out as many
necessary things as will either
supply my wants or enable me to
supply myself, even as long as I
live.
Upon the whole, here was an
undoubted testimony that there was
scarce any condition in the world so
miserable but there was
something negative or something
positive to be thankful for in it;
and let this stand as a direction
from the experience of the most
miserable of all conditions in this
world: that we may always find
in it something to comfort ourselves
from, and to set, in the
description of good and evil, on the
credit side of the account. Having now brought my mind a little
to relish my condition, and
given over looking out to sea, to
see if I could spy a ship - I
say, giving over these things, I
begun to apply myself to arrange
my way of living, and to make things
as easy to me as I could. I have already described my
habitation, which was a tent under
the
side of a rock, surrounded with a
strong pale of posts and cables:
but I might now rather call it a
wall, for I raised a kind of wall
up against it of turfs, about two
feet thick on the outside; and
after some time (I think it was a
year and a half) I raised rafters
from it, leaning to the rock, and
thatched or covered it with
boughs of trees, and such things as
I could get, to keep out the
rain; which I found at some times of
the year very violent. I have already observed how I
brought all my goods into this pale,
and into the cave which I had made
behind me. But I must observe,
too, that at first this was a
confused heap of goods, which, as
they lay in no order, so they took
up all my place; I had no room
to turn myself: so I set myself to
enlarge my cave, and work
farther into the earth; for it was a
loose sandy rock, which
yielded easily to the labour I
bestowed on it: and so when I found
I was pretty safe as to beasts of
prey, I worked sideways, to the
right hand, into the rock; and then,
turning to the right again,
worked quite out, and made me a door
to come out on the outside of
my pale or fortification. This gave
me not only egress and
regress, as it was a back way to my
tent and to my storehouse, but
gave me room to store my goods. And now I began to apply myself to
make such necessary things as I
found I most wanted, particularly a
chair and a table; for without
these I was not able to enjoy the
few comforts I had in the world;
I could not write or eat, or do
several things, with so much
pleasure without a table: so I went
to work. And here I must needs
observe, that as reason is the
substance and origin of the
mathematics, so by stating and
squaring everything by reason, and
by making the most rational judgment
of things, every man may be,
in time, master of every mechanic
art. I had never handled a tool
in my life; and yet, in time, by
labour, application, and
contrivance, I found at last that I
wanted nothing but I could have
made it, especially if I had had
tools. However, I made abundance
of things, even without tools; and
some with no more tools than an
adze and a hatchet, which perhaps
were never made that way before,
and that with infinite labour. For
example, if I wanted a board, I
had no other way but to cut down a
tree, set it on an edge before
me, and hew it flat on either side
with my axe, till I brought it
to be thin as a plank, and then dub
it smooth with my adze. It is
true, by this method I could make
but one board out of a whole
tree; but this I had no remedy for
but patience, any more than I
had for the prodigious deal of time
and labour which it took me up
to make a plank or board: but my
time or labour was little worth,
and so it was as well employed one
way as another. However, I made me a table and a
chair, as I observed above, in the
first place; and this I did out of
the short pieces of boards that
I brought on my raft from the ship.
But when I had wrought out
some boards as above, I made large
shelves, of the breadth of a
foot and a half, one over another
all along one side of my cave, to
lay all my tools, nails and ironwork
on; and, in a word, to
separate everything at large into
their places, that I might come
easily at them. I knocked pieces
into the wall of the rock to hang
my guns and all things that would
hang up; so that, had my cave
been to be seen, it looked like a
general magazine of all necessary
things; and had everything so ready
at my hand, that it was a great
pleasure to me to see all my goods
in such order, and especially to
find my stock of all necessaries so
great. And now it was that I began to keep
a journal of every day's
employment; for, indeed, at first I
was in too much hurry, and not
only hurry as to labour, but in too
much discomposure of mind; and
my journal would have been full of
many dull things; for example, I
must have said thus: "30TH. - After
I had got to shore, and escaped
drowning, instead of being thankful
to God for my deliverance,
having first vomited, with the great
quantity of salt water which
had got into my stomach, and
recovering myself a little, I ran
about the shore wringing my hands
and beating my head and face,
exclaiming at my misery, and crying
out, 'I was undone, undone!'
till, tired and faint, I was forced
to lie down on the ground to
repose, but durst not sleep for fear
of being devoured." Some days after this, and after I
had been on board the ship, and
got all that I could out of her, yet
I could not forbear getting up
to the top of a little mountain and
looking out to sea, in hopes of
seeing a ship; then fancy at a vast
distance I spied a sail, please
myself with the hopes of it, and
then after looking steadily, till
I was almost blind, lose it quite,
and sit down and weep like a
child, and thus increase my misery
by my folly. But having gotten over these things
in some measure, and having
settled my household staff and
habitation, made me a table and a
chair, and all as handsome about me
as I could, I began to keep my
journal; of which I shall here give
you the copy (though in it will
be told all these particulars over
again) as long as it lasted; for
having no more ink, I was forced to
leave it off. |
