HAVING now brought all my things
on shore and secured them, I went
back to my boat, and rowed or
paddled her along the shore to her
old harbour, where I laid her up,
and made the best of my way to my
old habitation, where I found
everything safe and quiet. I began
now to repose myself, live after my
old fashion, and take care of
my family affairs; and for a while I
lived easy enough, only that I
was more vigilant than I used to be,
looked out oftener, and did
not go abroad so much; and if at any
time I did stir with any
freedom, it was always to the east
part of the island, where I was
pretty well satisfied the savages
never came, and where I could go
without so many precautions, and
such a load of arms and ammunition
as I always carried with me if I
went the other way. I lived in
this condition near two years more;
but my unlucky head, that was
always to let me know it was born to
make my body miserable, was
all these two years filled with
projects and designs how, if it
were possible, I might get away from
this island: for sometimes I
was for making another voyage to the
wreck, though my reason told
me that there was nothing left there
worth the hazard of my voyage;
sometimes for a ramble one way,
sometimes another - and I believe
verily, if I had had the boat that I
went from Sallee in, I should
have ventured to sea, bound
anywhere, I knew not whither. I have
been, in all my circumstances, a
memento to those who are touched
with the general plague of mankind,
whence, for aught I know, one
half of their miseries flow: I mean
that of not being satisfied
with the station wherein God and
Nature hath placed them - for, not
to look back upon my primitive
condition, and the excellent advice
of my father, the opposition to
which was, as I may call it, my
ORIGINAL SIN, my subsequent mistakes
of the same kind had been the
means of my coming into this
miserable condition; for had that
Providence which so happily seated
me at the Brazils as a planter
blessed me with confined desires,
and I could have been contented
to have gone on gradually, I might
have been by this time - I mean
in the time of my being in this
island - one of the most
considerable planters in the Brazils
- nay, I am persuaded, that by
the improvements I had made in that
little time I lived there, and
the increase I should probably have
made if I had remained, I might
have been worth a hundred thousand
moidores - and what business had
I to leave a settled fortune, a
well-stocked plantation, improving
and increasing, to turn supercargo
to Guinea to fetch negroes, when
patience and time would have so
increased our stock at home, that
we could have bought them at our own
door from those whose business
it was to fetch them? and though it
had cost us something more, yet
the difference of that price was by
no means worth saving at so
great a hazard. But as this is
usually the fate of young heads, so
reflection upon the folly of it is
as commonly the exercise of more
years, or of the dear-bought
experience of time - so it was with
me
now; and yet so deep had the mistake
taken root in my temper, that
I could not satisfy myself in my
station, but was continually
poring upon the means and
possibility of my escape from this
place;
and that I may, with greater
pleasure to the reader, bring on the
remaining part of my story, it may
not be improper to give some
account of my first conceptions on
the subject of this foolish
scheme for my escape, and how, and
upon what foundation, I acted. I am now to be supposed retired into
my castle, after my late
voyage to the wreck, my frigate laid
up and secured under water, as
usual, and my condition restored to
what it was before: I had more
wealth, indeed, than I had before,
but was not at all the richer;
for I had no more use for it than
the Indians of Peru had before
the Spaniards came there. It was one of the nights in the
rainy season in March, the four-
and-twentieth year of my first
setting foot in this island of
solitude, I was lying in my bed or
hammock, awake, very well in
health, had no pain, no distemper,
no uneasiness of body, nor any
uneasiness of mind more than
ordinary, but could by no means
close
my eyes, that is, so as to sleep;
no, not a wink all night long,
otherwise than as follows: It is
impossible to set down the
innumerable crowd of thoughts that
whirled through that great
thoroughfare of the brain, the
memory, in this night's time. I ran
over the whole history of my life in
miniature, or by abridgment,
as I may call it, to my coming to
this island, and also of that
part of my life since I came to this
island. In my reflections
upon the state of my case since I
came on shore on this island, I
was comparing the happy posture of
my affairs in the first years of
my habitation here, with the life of
anxiety, fear, and care which
I had lived in ever since I had seen
the print of a foot in the
sand. Not that I did not believe the
savages had frequented the
island even all the while, and might
have been several hundreds of
them at times on shore there; but I
had never known it, and was
incapable of any apprehensions about
it; my satisfaction was
perfect, though my danger was the
same, and I was as happy in not
knowing my danger as if I had never
really been exposed to it.
This furnished my thoughts with many
very profitable reflections,
and particularly this one: How
infinitely good that Providence is,
which has provided, in its
government of mankind, such narrow
bounds to his sight and knowledge of
things; and though he walks in
the midst of so many thousand
dangers, the sight of which, if
discovered to him, would distract
his mind and sink his spirits, he
is kept serene and calm, by having
the events of things hid from
his eyes, and knowing nothing of the
dangers which surround him. After these thoughts had for some
time entertained me, I came to
reflect seriously upon the real
danger I had been in for so many
years in this very island, and how I
had walked about in the
greatest security, and with all
possible tranquillity, even when
perhaps nothing but the brow of a
hill, a great tree, or the casual
approach of night, had been between
me and the worst kind of
destruction - viz. that of falling
into the hands of cannibals and
savages, who would have seized on me
with the same view as I would
on a goat or turtle; and have
thought it no more crime to kill and
devour me than I did of a pigeon or
a curlew. I would unjustly
slander myself if I should say I was
not sincerely thankful to my
great Preserver, to whose singular
protection I acknowledged, with
great humanity, all these unknown
deliverances were due, and
without which I must inevitably have
fallen into their merciless
hands. When these thoughts were over, my
head was for some time taken up
in considering the nature of these
wretched creatures, I mean the
savages, and how it came to pass in
the world that the wise
Governor of all things should give
up any of His creatures to such
inhumanity - nay, to something so
much below even brutality itself
- as to devour its own kind: but as
this ended in some (at that
time) fruitless speculations, it
occurred to me to inquire what
part of the world these wretches
lived in? how far off the coast
was from whence they came? what they
ventured over so far from home
for? what kind of boats they had?
and why I might not order myself
and my business so that I might be
able to go over thither, as they
were to come to me? I never so much as troubled myself
to consider what I should do
with myself when I went thither;
what would become of me if I fell
into the hands of these savages; or
how I should escape them if
they attacked me; no, nor so much as
how it was possible for me to
reach the coast, and not to be
attacked by some or other of them,
without any possibility of
delivering myself: and if I should
not
fall into their hands, what I should
do for provision, or whither I
should bend my course: none of these
thoughts, I say, so much as
came in my way; but my mind was
wholly bent upon the notion of my
passing over in my boat to the
mainland. I looked upon my present
condition as the most miserable that
could possibly be; that I was
not able to throw myself into
anything but death, that could be
called worse; and if I reached the
shore of the main I might
perhaps meet with relief, or I might
coast along, as I did on the
African shore, till I came to some
inhabited country, and where I
might find some relief; and after
all, perhaps I might fall in with
some Christian ship that might take
me in: and if the worst came to
the worst, I could but die, which
would put an end to all these
miseries at once. Pray note, all
this was the fruit of a disturbed
mind, an impatient temper, made
desperate, as it were, by the long
continuance of my troubles, and the
disappointments I had met in
the wreck I had been on board of,
and where I had been so near
obtaining what I so earnestly longed
for - somebody to speak to,
and to learn some knowledge from
them of the place where I was, and
of the probable means of my
deliverance. I was agitated wholly
by
these thoughts; all my calm of mind,
in my resignation to
Providence, and waiting the issue of
the dispositions of Heaven,
seemed to be suspended; and I had as
it were no power to turn my
thoughts to anything but to the
project of a voyage to the main,
which came upon me with such force,
and such an impetuosity of
desire, that it was not to be
resisted. When this had agitated my thoughts
for two hours or more, with such
violence that it set my very blood
into a ferment, and my pulse
beat as if I had been in a fever,
merely with the extraordinary
fervour of my mind about it, Nature
- as if I had been fatigued and
exhausted with the very thoughts of
it - threw me into a sound
sleep. One would have thought I
should have dreamed of it, but I
did not, nor of anything relating to
it, but I dreamed that as I
was going out in the morning as
usual from my castle, I saw upon
the shore two canoes and eleven
savages coming to land, and that
they brought with them another
savage whom they were going to kill
in order to eat him; when, on a
sudden, the savage that they were
going to kill jumped away, and ran
for his life; and I thought in
my sleep that he came running into
my little thick grove before my
fortification, to hide himself; and
that I seeing him alone, and
not perceiving that the others
sought him that way, showed myself
to him, and smiling upon him,
encouraged him: that he kneeled down
to me, seeming to pray me to assist
him; upon which I showed him my
ladder, made him go up, and carried
him into my cave, and he became
my servant; and that as soon as I
had got this man, I said to
myself, "Now I may certainly venture
to the mainland, for this
fellow will serve me as a pilot, and
will tell me what to do, and
whither to go for provisions, and
whither not to go for fear of
being devoured; what places to
venture into, and what to shun." I
waked with this thought; and was
under such inexpressible
impressions of joy at the prospect
of my escape in my dream, that
the disappointments which I felt
upon coming to myself, and finding
that it was no more than a dream,
were equally extravagant the
other way, and threw me into a very
great dejection of spirits. Upon this, however, I made this
conclusion: that my only way to go
about to attempt an escape was, to
endeavour to get a savage into
my possession: and, if possible, it
should be one of their
prisoners, whom they had condemned
to be eaten, and should bring
hither to kill. But these thoughts
still were attended with this
difficulty: that it was impossible
to effect this without attacking
a whole caravan of them, and killing
them all; and this was not
only a very desperate attempt, and
might miscarry, but, on the
other hand, I had greatly scrupled
the lawfulness of it to myself;
and my heart trembled at the
thoughts of shedding so much blood,
though it was for my deliverance. I
need not repeat the arguments
which occurred to me against this,
they being the same mentioned
before; but though I had other
reasons to offer now - viz. that
those men were enemies to my life,
and would devour me if they
could; that it was
self-preservation, in the highest
degree, to
deliver myself from this death of a
life, and was acting in my own
defence as much as if they were
actually assaulting me, and the
like; I say though these things
argued for it, yet the thoughts of
shedding human blood for my
deliverance were very terrible to
me,
and such as I could by no means
reconcile myself to for a great
while. However, at last, after many
secret disputes with myself,
and after great perplexities about
it (for all these arguments, one
way and another, struggled in my
head a long time), the eager
prevailing desire of deliverance at
length mastered all the rest;
and I resolved, if possible, to get
one of these savages into my
hands, cost what it would. My next
thing was to contrive how to do
it, and this, indeed, was very
difficult to resolve on; but as I
could pitch upon no probable means
for it, so I resolved to put
myself upon the watch, to see them
when they came on shore, and
leave the rest to the event; taking
such measures as the
opportunity should present, let what
would be. With these resolutions in my
thoughts, I set myself upon the
scout
as often as possible, and indeed so
often that I was heartily tired
of it; for it was above a year and a
half that I waited; and for
great part of that time went out to
the west end, and to the south-
west corner of the island almost
every day, to look for canoes, but
none appeared. This was very
discouraging, and began to trouble
me
much, though I cannot say that it
did in this case (as it had done
some time before) wear off the edge
of my desire to the thing; but
the longer it seemed to be delayed,
the more eager I was for it: in
a word, I was not at first so
careful to shun the sight of these
savages, and avoid being seen by
them, as I was now eager to be
upon them. Besides, I fancied myself
able to manage one, nay, two
or three savages, if I had them, so
as to make them entirely slaves
to me, to do whatever I should
direct them, and to prevent their
being able at any time to do me any
hurt. It was a great while
that I pleased myself with this
affair; but nothing still presented
itself; all my fancies and schemes
came to nothing, for no savages
came near me for a great while. About a year and a half after I
entertained these notions (and by
long musing had, as it were,
resolved them all into nothing, for
want of an occasion to put them into
execution), I was surprised
one morning by seeing no less than
five canoes all on shore
together on my side the island, and
the people who belonged to them
all landed and out of my sight. The
number of them broke all my
measures; for seeing so many, and
knowing that they always came
four or six, or sometimes more in a
boat, I could not tell what to
think of it, or how to take my
measures to attack twenty or thirty
men single-handed; so lay still in
my castle, perplexed and
discomforted. However, I put myself
into the same position for an
attack that I had formerly provided,
and was just ready for action,
if anything had presented. Having
waited a good while, listening
to hear if they made any noise, at
length, being very impatient, I
set my guns at the foot of my
ladder, and .clambered up to the top
of the hill, by my two stages, as
usual; standing so, however, that
my head did not appear above the
hill, so that they could not
perceive me by any means. Here I
observed, by the help of my
perspective glass, that they were no
less than thirty in number;
that they had a fire kindled, and
that they had meat dressed. How
they had cooked it I knew not, or
what it was; but they were all
dancing, in I know not how many
barbarous gestures and figures,
their own way, round the fire. While I was thus looking on them, I
perceived, by my perspective,
two miserable wretches dragged from
the boats, where, it seems,
they were laid by, and were now
brought out for the slaughter. I
perceived one of them immediately
fall; being knocked down, I
suppose, with a club or wooden
sword, for that was their way; and
two or three others were at work
immediately, cutting him open for
their cookery, while the other
victim was left standing by himself,
till they should be ready for him.
In that very moment this poor
wretch, seeing himself a little at
liberty and unbound, Nature
inspired him with hopes of life, and
he started away from them, and
ran with incredible swiftness along
the sands, directly towards me;
I mean towards that part of the
coast where my habitation was. I
was dreadfully frightened, I must
acknowledge, when I perceived him
run my way; and especially when, as
I thought, I saw him pursued by
the whole body: and now I expected
that part of my dream was coming
to pass, and that he would certainly
take shelter in my grove; but
I could not depend, by any means,
upon my dream, that the other
savages would not pursue him thither
and find him there. However,
I kept my station, and my spirits
began to recover when I found
that there was not above three men
that followed him; and still
more was I encouraged, when I found
that he outstripped them
exceedingly in running, and gained
ground on them; so that, if he
could but hold out for half-an-hour,
I saw easily he would fairly
get away from them all. There was between them and my castle
the creek, which I mentioned
often in the first part of my story,
where I landed my cargoes out
of the ship; and this I saw plainly
he must necessarily swim over,
or the poor wretch would be taken
there; but when the savage
escaping came thither, he made
nothing of it, though the tide was
then up; but plunging in, swam
through in about thirty strokes, or
thereabouts, landed, and ran with
exceeding strength and swiftness.
When the three persons came to the
creek, I found that two of them
could swim, but the third could not,
and that, standing on the
other side, he looked at the others,
but went no farther, and soon
after went softly back again; which,
as it happened, was very well
for him in the end. I observed that
the two who swam were yet more
than twice as strong swimming over
the creek as the fellow was that
fled from them. It came very warmly
upon my thoughts, and indeed
irresistibly, that now was the time
to get me a servant, and,
perhaps, a companion or assistant;
and that I was plainly called by
Providence to save this poor
creature's life. I immediately ran
down the ladders with all possible
expedition, fetched my two guns,
for they were both at the foot of
the ladders, as I observed
before, and getting up again with
the same haste to the top of the
hill, I crossed towards the sea; and
having a very short cut, and
all down hill, placed myself in the
way between the pursuers and
the pursued, hallowing aloud to him
that fled, who, looking back,
was at first perhaps as much
frightened at me as at them; but I
beckoned with my hand to him to come
back; and, in the meantime, I
slowly advanced towards the two that
followed; then rushing at once
upon the foremost, I knocked him
down with the stock of my piece.
I was loath to fire, because I would
not have the rest hear;
though, at that distance, it would
not have been easily heard, and
being out of sight of the smoke,
too, they would not have known
what to make of it. Having knocked
this fellow down, the other who
pursued him stopped, as if he had
been frightened, and I advanced
towards him: but as I came nearer, I
perceived presently he had a
bow and arrow, and was fitting it to
shoot at me: so I was then
obliged to shoot at him first, which
I did, and killed him at the
first shot. The poor savage who
fled, but had stopped, though he
saw both his enemies fallen and
killed, as he thought, yet was so
frightened with the fire and noise
of my piece that he stood stock
still, and neither came forward nor
went backward, though he seemed
rather inclined still to fly than to
come on. I hallooed again to
him, and made signs to come forward,
which he easily understood,
and came a little way; then stopped
again, and then a little
farther, and stopped again; and I
could then perceive that he stood
trembling, as if he had been taken
prisoner, and had just been to
be killed, as his two enemies were.
I beckoned to him again to
come to me, and gave him all the
signs of encouragement that I
could think of; and he came nearer
and nearer, kneeling down every
ten or twelve steps, in token of
acknowledgment for saving his
life. I smiled at him, and looked
pleasantly, and beckoned to him
to come still nearer; at length he
came close to me; and then he
kneeled down again, kissed the
ground, and laid his head upon the
ground, and taking me by the foot,
set my foot upon his head; this,
it seems, was in token of swearing
to be my slave for ever. I took
him up and made much of him, and
encouraged him all I could. But
there was more work to do yet; for I
perceived the savage whom I
had knocked down was not killed, but
stunned with the blow, and
began to come to himself: so I
pointed to him, and showed him the
savage, that he was not dead; upon
this he spoke some words to me,
and though I could not understand
them, yet I thought they were
pleasant to hear; for they were the
first sound of a man's voice
that I had heard, my own excepted,
for above twenty-five years.
But there was no time for such
reflections now; the savage who was
knocked down recovered himself so
far as to sit up upon the ground,
and I perceived that my savage began
to be afraid; but when I saw
that, I presented my other piece at
the man, as if I would shoot
him: upon this my savage, for so I
call him now, made a motion to
me to lend him my sword, which hung
naked in a belt by my side,
which I did. He no sooner had it,
but he runs to his enemy, and at
one blow cut off his head so
cleverly, no executioner in Germany
could have done it sooner or better;
which I thought very strange
for one who, I had reason to
believe, never saw a sword in his
life
before, except their own wooden
swords: however, it seems, as I
learned afterwards, they make their
wooden swords so sharp, so
heavy, and the wood is so hard, that
they will even cut off heads
with them, ay, and arms, and that at
one blow, too. When he had
done this, he comes laughing to me
in sign of triumph, and brought
me the sword again, and with
abundance of gestures which I did
not
understand, laid it down, with the
head of the savage that he had
killed, just before me. But that
which astonished him most was to
know how I killed the other Indian
so far off; so, pointing to him,
he made signs to me to let him go to
him; and I bade him go, as
well as I could. When he came to
him, he stood like one amazed,
looking at him, turning him first on
one side, then on the other;
looked at the wound the bullet had
made, which it seems was just in
his breast, where it had made a
hole, and no great quantity of
blood had followed; but he had bled
inwardly, for he was quite
dead. He took up his bow and arrows,
and came back; so I turned to
go away, and beckoned him to follow
me, making signs to him that
more might come after them. Upon
this he made signs to me that he
should bury them with sand, that
they might not be seen by the
rest, if they followed; and so I
made signs to him again to do so.
He fell to work; and in an instant
he had scraped a hole in the
sand with his hands big enough to
bury the first in, and then
dragged him into it, and covered
him; and did so by the other also;
I believe he had him buried them
both in a quarter of an hour.
Then, calling away, I carried him,
not to my castle, but quite away
to my cave, on the farther part of
the island: so I did not let my
dream come to pass in that part,
that he came into my grove for
shelter. Here I gave him bread and a
bunch of raisins to eat, and
a draught of water, which I found he
was indeed in great distress
for, from his running: and having
refreshed him, I made signs for
him to go and lie down to sleep,
showing him a place where I had
laid some rice-straw, and a blanket
upon it, which I used to sleep
upon myself sometimes; so the poor
creature lay down, and went to
sleep. He was a comely, handsome fellow,
perfectly well made, with
straight, strong limbs, not too
large; tall, and well-shaped; and,
as I reckon, about twenty-six years
of age. He had a very good
countenance, not a fierce and surly
aspect, but seemed to have
something very manly in his face;
and yet he had all the sweetness
and softness of a European in his
countenance, too, especially when
he smiled. His hair was long and
black, not curled like wool; his
forehead very high and large; and a
great vivacity and sparkling
sharpness in his eyes. The colour of
his skin was not quite black,
but very tawny; and yet not an ugly,
yellow, nauseous tawny, as the
Brazilians and Virginians, and other
natives of America are, but of
a bright kind of a dun olive-colour,
that had in it something very
agreeable, though not very easy to
describe. His face was round
and plump; his nose small, not flat,
like the negroes; a very good
mouth, thin lips, and his fine teeth
well set, and as white as
ivory. After he had slumbered, rather than
slept, about half-an-hour, he
awoke again, and came out of the
cave to me: for I had been milking
my goats which I had in the
enclosure just by: when he espied me
he
came running to me, laying himself
down again upon the ground, with
all the possible signs of an humble,
thankful disposition, making a
great many antic gestures to show
it. At last he lays his head
flat upon the ground, close to my
foot, and sets my other foot upon
his head, as he had done before; and
after this made all the signs
to me of subjection, servitude, and
submission imaginable, to let
me know how he would serve me so
long as he lived. I understood
him in many things, and let him know
I was very well pleased with
him. In a little time I began to
speak to him; and teach him to
speak to me: and first, I let him
know his name should be Friday,
which was the day I saved his life:
I called him so for the memory
of the time. I likewise taught him
to say Master; and then let him
know that was to be my name: I
likewise taught him to say Yes and
No and to know the meaning of them.
I gave him some milk in an
earthen pot, and let him see me
drink it before him, and sop my
bread in it; and gave him a cake of
bread to do the like, which he
quickly complied with, and made
signs that it was very good for
him. I kept there with him all that
night; but as soon as it was
day I beckoned to him to come with
me, and let him know I would
give him some clothes; at which he
seemed very glad, for he was
stark naked. As we went by the place
where he had buried the two
men, he pointed exactly to the
place, and showed me the marks that
he had made to find them again,
making signs to me that we should
dig them up again and eat them. At
this I appeared very angry,
expressed my abhorrence of it, made
as if I would vomit at the
thoughts of it, and beckoned with my
hand to him to come away,
which he did immediately, with great
submission. I then led him up
to the top of the hill, to see if
his enemies were gone; and
pulling out my glass I looked, and
saw plainly the place where they
had been, but no appearance of them
or their canoes; so that it was
plain they were gone, and had left
their two comrades behind them,
without any search after them. But I was not content with this
discovery; but having now more
courage, and consequently more
curiosity, I took my man Friday with
me, giving him the sword in his
hand, with the bow and arrows at
his back, which I found he could use
very dexterously, making him
carry one gun for me, and I two for
myself; and away we marched to
the place where these creatures had
been; for I had a mind now to
get some further intelligence of
them. When I came to the place my
very blood ran chill in my veins,
and my heart sunk within me, at
the horror of the spectacle; indeed,
it was a dreadful sight, at
least it was so to me, though Friday
made nothing of it. The place
was covered with human bones, the
ground dyed with their blood, and
great pieces of flesh left here and
there, half-eaten, mangled, and
scorched; and, in short, all the
tokens of the triumphant feast
they had been making there, after a
victory over their enemies. I
saw three skulls, five hands, and
the bones of three or four legs
and feet, and abundance of other
parts of the bodies; and Friday,
by his signs, made me understand
that they brought over four
prisoners to feast upon; that three
of them were eaten up, and that
he, pointing to himself, was the
fourth; that there had been a
great battle between them and their
next king, of whose subjects,
it seems, he had been one, and that
they had taken a great number
of prisoners; all which were carried
to several places by those who
had taken them in the fight, in
order to feast upon them, as was
done here by these wretches upon
those they brought hither. I caused Friday to gather all the
skulls, bones, flesh, and
whatever remained, and lay them
together in a heap, and make a
great fire upon it, and burn them
all to ashes. I found Friday had
still a hankering stomach after some
of the flesh, and was still a
cannibal in his nature; but I showed
so much abhorrence at the very
thoughts of it, and at the least
appearance of it, that he durst
not discover it: for I had, by some
means, let him know that I
would kill him if he offered it. When he had done this, we came back
to our castle; and there I fell
to work for my man Friday; and first
of all, I gave him a pair of
linen drawers, which I had out of
the poor gunner's chest I
mentioned, which I found in the
wreck, and which, with a little
alteration, fitted him very well;
and then I made him a jerkin of
goat's skin, as well as my skill
would allow (for I was now grown a
tolerably good tailor); and I gave
him a cap which I made of hare's
skin, very convenient, and
fashionable enough; and thus he was
clothed, for the present, tolerably
well, and was mighty well
pleased to see himself almost as
well clothed as his master. It is
true he went awkwardly in these
clothes at first: wearing the
drawers was very awkward to him, and
the sleeves of the waistcoat
galled his shoulders and the inside
of his arms; but a little
easing them where he complained they
hurt him, and using himself to
them, he took to them at length very
well. The next day, after I came home to
my hutch with him, I began to
consider where I should lodge him:
and that I might do well for him
and yet be perfectly easy myself, I
made a little tent for him in
the vacant place between my two
fortifications, in the inside of
the last, and in the outside of the
first. As there was a door or
entrance there into my cave, I made
a formal framed door-case, and
a door to it, of boards, and set it
up in the passage, a little
within the entrance; and, causing
the door to open in the inside, I
barred it up in the night, taking in
my ladders, too; so that
Friday could no way come at me in
the inside of my innermost wall,
without making so much noise in
getting over that it must needs
awaken me; for my first wall had now
a complete roof over it of
long poles, covering all my tent,
and leaning up to the side of the
hill; which was again laid across
with smaller sticks, instead of
laths, and then thatched over a
great thickness with the rice-
straw, which was strong, like reeds;
and at the hole or place which
was left to go in or out by the
ladder I had placed a kind of trap-
door, which, if it had been
attempted on the outside, would not
have opened at all, but would have
fallen down and made a great
noise - as to weapons, I took them
all into my side every night.
But I needed none of all this
precaution; for never man had a more
faithful, loving, sincere servant
than Friday was to me: without
passions, sullenness, or designs,
perfectly obliged and engaged;
his very affections were tied to me,
like those of a child to a
father; and I daresay he would have
sacrificed his life to save
mine upon any occasion whatsoever -
the many testimonies he gave me
of this put it out of doubt, and
soon convinced me that I needed to
use no precautions for my safety on
his account. This frequently gave me occasion to
observe, and that with wonder,
that however it had pleased God in
His providence, and in the
government of the works of His
hands, to take from so great a part
of the world of His creatures the
best uses to which their
faculties and the powers of their
souls are adapted, yet that He
has bestowed upon them the same
powers, the same reason, the same
affections, the same sentiments of
kindness and obligation, the
same passions and resentments of
wrongs, the same sense of
gratitude, sincerity, fidelity, and
all the capacities of doing
good and receiving good that He has
given to us; and that when He
pleases to offer them occasions of
exerting these, they are as
ready, nay, more ready, to apply
them to the right uses for which
they were bestowed than we are. This
made me very melancholy
sometimes, in reflecting, as the
several occasions presented, how
mean a use we make of all these,
even though we have these powers
enlightened by the great lamp of
instruction, the Spirit of God,
and by the knowledge of His word
added to our understanding; and
why it has pleased God to hide the
like saving knowledge from so
many millions of souls, who, if I
might judge by this poor savage,
would make a much better use of it
than we did. From hence I
sometimes was led too far, to invade
the sovereignty of Providence,
and, as it were, arraign the justice
of so arbitrary a disposition
of things, that should hide that
sight from some, and reveal it -
to others, and yet expect a like
duty from both; but I shut it up,
and checked my thoughts with this
conclusion: first, that we did
not know by what light and law these
should be condemned; but that
as God was necessarily, and by the
nature of His being, infinitely
holy and just, so it could not be,
but if these creatures were all
sentenced to absence from Himself,
it was on account of sinning
against that light which, as the
Scripture says, was a law to
themselves, and by such rules as
their consciences would
acknowledge to be just, though the
foundation was not discovered to
us; and secondly, that still as we
all are the clay in the hand of
the potter, no vessel could say to
him, "Why hast thou formed me
thus?" But to return to my new companion. I
was greatly delighted with
him, and made it my business to
teach him everything that was
proper to make him useful, handy,
and helpful; but especially to
make him speak, and understand me
when I spoke; and he was the
aptest scholar that ever was; and
particularly was so merry, so
constantly diligent, and so pleased
when he could but understand
me, or make me understand him, that
it was very pleasant for me to
talk to him. Now my life began to be
so easy that I began to say
to myself that could I but have been
safe from more savages, I
cared not if I was never to remove
from the place where I lived. |
