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 pur-
sued 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, land-
ed, 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, stand-
ing on the other side, he looked at the others, but went no
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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 im-
mediately 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 per-
haps 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 rush-
ing 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
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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 for-
ward 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 beck-
oned 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 to-
ken 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 encour-
aged 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 sav-
age, 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
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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 bet-
ter; 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 after-
wards, 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 ar-
rows, and came back; so I turned to go away, and beckoned
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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
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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 be-
gan 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
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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 immedi-
ately, 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
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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 car-
ried 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 of-
fered 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
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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 con-
venient, 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 out-
side 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 en-
trance; 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 thick-
ness with the rice- straw, which was strong, like reeds; and
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at the hole or place which was left to go in or out by the lad-
der 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 weap-
ons, I took them all into my side every night. But I needed
none of all this precaution; for never man had a more faith-
ful, loving, sincere servant than Friday was to me: without
passions, sullenness, or designs, perfectly obliged and en-
gaged; 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 provi-
dence, 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 affec-
tions, 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 do-
ing 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
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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 de-
lighted 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,
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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.
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CHAPTER XV - FRIDAY’S
EDUCATION
AFTER I had been two or three days returned to my castle,
I thought that, in order to bring Friday off from his horrid
way of feeding, and from the relish of a cannibal’s stom-
ach, I ought to let him taste other flesh; so I took him out
with me one morning to the woods. I went, indeed, intend-
ing to kill a kid out of my own flock; and bring it home
and dress it; but as I was going I saw a she-goat lying down
in the shade, and two young kids sitting by her. I catched
hold of Friday. ‘Hold,’ said I, ‘stand still;’ and made signs
to him not to stir: immediately I presented my piece, shot,
and killed one of the kids. The poor creature, who had at a
distance, indeed, seen me kill the savage, his enemy, but did
not know, nor could imagine how it was done, was sensibly
surprised, trembled, and shook, and looked so amazed that
I thought he would have sunk down. He did not see the kid
I shot at, or perceive I had killed it, but ripped up his waist-
coat to feel whether he was not wounded; and, as I found
presently, thought I was resolved to kill him: for he came
and kneeled down to me, and embracing my knees, said a
great many things I did not understand; but I could easily
see the meaning was to pray me not to kill him.
I soon found a way to convince him that I would do him
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no harm; and taking him up by the hand, laughed at him,
and pointing to the kid which I had killed, beckoned to him
to run and fetch it, which he did: and while he was wonder-
ing, and looking to see how the creature was killed, I loaded
my gun again. By-and-by I saw a great fowl, like a hawk, sit-
ting upon a tree within shot; so, to let Friday understand
a little what I would do, I called him to me again, pointed
at the fowl, which was indeed a parrot, though I thought it
had been a hawk; I say, pointing to the parrot, and to my
gun, and to the ground under the parrot, to let him see I
would make it fall, I made him understand that I would
shoot and kill that bird; accordingly, I fired, and bade him
look, and immediately he saw the parrot fall. He stood like
one frightened again, notwithstanding all I had said to him;
and I found he was the more amazed, because he did not see
me put anything into the gun, but thought that there must
be some wonderful fund of death and destruction in that
thing, able to kill man, beast, bird, or anything near or far
off; and the astonishment this created in him was such as
could not wear off for a long time; and I believe, if I would
have let him, he would have worshipped me and my gun.
As for the gun itself, he would not so much as touch it for
several days after; but he would speak to it and talk to it, as
if it had answered him, when he was by himself; which, as
I afterwards learned of him, was to desire it not to kill him.
Well, after his astonishment was a little over at this, I point-
ed to him to run and fetch the bird I had shot, which he did,
but stayed some time; for the parrot, not being quite dead,
had fluttered away a good distance from the place where
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she fell: however, he found her, took her up, and brought
her to me; and as I had perceived his ignorance about the
gun before, I took this advantage to charge the gun again,
and not to let him see me do it, that I might be ready for any
other mark that might present; but nothing more offered at
that time: so I brought home the kid, and the same evening
I took the skin off, and cut it out as well as I could; and hav-
ing a pot fit for that purpose, I boiled or stewed some of the
flesh, and made some very good broth. After I had begun
to eat some I gave some to my man, who seemed very glad
of it, and liked it very well; but that which was strangest to
him was to see me eat salt with it. He made a sign to me that
the salt was not good to eat; and putting a little into his own
mouth, he seemed to nauseate it, and would spit and sput-
ter at it, washing his mouth with fresh water after it: on the
other hand, I took some meat into my mouth without salt,
and I pretended to spit and sputter for want of salt, as much
as he had done at the salt; but it would not do; he would
never care for salt with meat or in his broth; at least, not for
a great while, and then but a very little.
Having thus fed him with boiled meat and broth, I was
resolved to feast him the next day by roasting a piece of the
kid: this I did by hanging it before the fire on a string, as
I had seen many people do in England, setting two poles
up, one on each side of the fire, and one across the top, and
tying the string to the cross stick, letting the meat turn con-
tinually. This Friday admired very much; but when he came
to taste the flesh, he took so many ways to tell me how well
he liked it, that I could not but understand him: and at last
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he told me, as well as he could, he would never eat man’s
flesh any more, which I was very glad to hear.
The next day I set him to work beating some corn out, and
sifting it in the manner I used to do, as I observed before;
and he soon understood how to do it as well as I, especially
after he had seen what the meaning of it was, and that it was
to make bread of; for after that I let him see me make my
bread, and bake it too; and in a little time Friday was able to
do all the work for me as well as I could do it myself.
I began now to consider, that having two mouths to feed
instead of one, I must provide more ground for my harvest,
and plant a larger quantity of corn than I used to do; so I
marked out a larger piece of land, and began the fence in the
same manner as before, in which Friday worked not only
very willingly and very hard, but did it very cheerfully: and
I told him what it was for; that it was for corn to make more
bread, because he was now with me, and that I might have
enough for him and myself too. He appeared very sensible
of that part, and let me know that he thought I had much
more labour upon me on his account than I had for myself;
and that he would work the harder for me if I would tell him
what to do.
This was the pleasantest year of all the life I led in this
place. Friday began to talk pretty well, and understand the
names of almost everything I had occasion to call for, and
of every place I had to send him to, and talked a great deal
to me; so that, in short, I began now to have some use for
my tongue again, which, indeed, I had very little occasion
for before. Besides the pleasure of talking to him, I had a
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singular satisfaction in the fellow himself: his simple, un-
feigned honesty appeared to me more and more every day,
and I began really to love the creature; and on his side I be-
lieve he loved me more than it was possible for him ever to
love anything before.
I had a mind once to try if he had any inclination for his
own country again; and having taught him English so well
that he could answer me almost any question, I asked him
whether the nation that he belonged to never conquered in
battle? At which he smiled, and said - ‘Yes, yes, we always
fight the better;’ that is, he meant always get the better in
fight; and so we began the following discourse:-
MASTER. - You always fight the better; how came you to
be taken prisoner, then, Friday?
FRIDAY. - My nation beat much for all that.
MASTER. - How beat? If your nation beat them, how
came you to be taken?
FRIDAY. - They more many than my nation, in the place
where me was; they take one, two, three, and me: my nation
over-beat them in the yonder place, where me no was; there
my nation take one, two, great thousand.
MASTER. - But why did not your side recover you from
the hands of your enemies, then?
FRIDAY. - They run, one, two, three, and me, and make
go in the canoe; my nation have no canoe that time.
MASTER. - Well, Friday, and what does your nation do
with the men they take? Do they carry them away and eat
them, as these did?
FRIDAY. - Yes, my nation eat mans too; eat all up.
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MASTER. - Where do they carry them?
FRIDAY. - Go to other place, where they think.
MASTER. - Do they come hither?
FRIDAY. - Yes, yes, they come hither; come other else
place.
MASTER. - Have you been here with them?
FRIDAY. - Yes, I have been here (points to the NW. side
of the island, which, it seems, was their side).
By this I understood that my man Friday had formerly
been among the savages who used to come on shore on the
farther part of the island, on the same man-eating occa-
sions he was now brought for; and some time after, when I
took the courage to carry him to that side, being the same I
formerly mentioned, he presently knew the place, and told
me he was there once, when they ate up twenty men, two
women, and one child; he could not tell twenty in English,
but he numbered them by laying so many stones in a row,
and pointing to me to tell them over.
I have told this passage, because it introduces what fol-
lows: that after this discourse I had with him, I asked him
how far it was from our island to the shore, and whether the
canoes were not often lost. He told me there was no dan-
ger, no canoes ever lost: but that after a little way out to sea,
there was a current and wind, always one way in the morn-
ing, the other in the afternoon. This I understood to be no
more than the sets of the tide, as going out or coming in;
but I afterwards understood it was occasioned by the great
draft and reflux of the mighty river Orinoco, in the mouth
or gulf of which river, as I found afterwards, our island lay;
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and that this land, which I perceived to be W. and NW., was
the great island Trinidad, on the north point of the mouth
of the river. I asked Friday a thousand questions about the
country, the inhabitants, the sea, the coast, and what na-
tions were near; he told me all he knew with the greatest
openness imaginable. I asked him the names of the several
nations of his sort of people, but could get no other name
than Caribs; from whence I easily understood that these
were the Caribbees, which our maps place on the part of
America which reaches from the mouth of the river Orino-
co to Guiana, and onwards to St. Martha. He told me that
up a great way beyond the moon, that was beyond the set-
ting of the moon, which must be west from their country,
there dwelt white bearded men, like me, and pointed to my
great whiskers, which I mentioned before; and that they had
killed much mans, that was his word: by all which I under-
stood he meant the Spaniards, whose cruelties in America
had been spread over the whole country, and were remem-
bered by all the nations from father to son.
I inquired if he could tell me how I might go from this
island, and get among those white men. He told me, ‘Yes,
yes, you may go in two canoe.’ I could not understand what
he meant, or make him describe to me what he meant by
two canoe, till at last, with great difficulty, I found he meant
it must be in a large boat, as big as two canoes. This part
of Friday’s discourse I began to relish very well; and from
this time I entertained some hopes that, one time or other,
I might find an opportunity to make my escape from this
place, and that this poor savage might be a means to help
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me.
During the long time that Friday had now been with me,
and that he began to speak to me, and understand me, I was
not wanting to lay a foundation of religious knowledge in
his mind; particularly I asked him one time, who made him.
The creature did not understand me at all, but thought I had
asked who was his father - but I took it up by another han-
dle, and asked him who made the sea, the ground we walked
on, and the hills and woods. He told me, ‘It was one Bena-
muckee, that lived beyond all;’ he could describe nothing
of this great person, but that he was very old, ‘much older,’
he said, ‘than the sea or land, than the moon or the stars.’ I
asked him then, if this old person had made all things, why
did not all things worship him? He looked very grave, and,
with a perfect look of innocence, said, ‘All things say O to
him.’ I asked him if the people who die in his country went
away anywhere? He said, ‘Yes; they all went to Benamuckee.’
Then I asked him whether those they eat up went thither
too. He said, ‘Yes.’
From these things, I began to instruct him in the knowl-
edge of the true God; I told him that the great Maker of all
things lived up there, pointing up towards heaven; that He
governed the world by the same power and providence by
which He made it; that He was omnipotent, and could do
everything for us, give everything to us, take everything
from us; and thus, by degrees, I opened his eyes. He listened
with great attention, and received with pleasure the notion
of Jesus Christ being sent to redeem us; and of the manner
of making our prayers to God, and His being able to hear us,
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even in heaven. He told me one day, that if our God could
hear us, up beyond the sun, he must needs be a greater God
than their Benamuckee, who lived but a little way off, and
yet could not hear till they went up to the great mountains
where he dwelt to speak to them. I asked him if ever he went
thither to speak to him. He said, ‘No; they never went that
were young men; none went thither but the old men,’ whom
he called their Oowokakee; that is, as I made him explain
to me, their religious, or clergy; and that they went to say O
(so he called saying prayers), and then came back and told
them what Benamuckee said. By this I observed, that there
is priestcraft even among the most blinded, ignorant pagans
in the world; and the policy of making a secret of religion,
in order to preserve the veneration of the people to the cler-
gy, not only to be found in the Roman, but, perhaps, among
all religions in the world, even among the most brutish and
barbarous savages.
I endeavoured to clear up this fraud to my man Friday;
and told him that the pretence of their old men going up
to the mountains to say O to their god Benamuckee was a
cheat; and their bringing word from thence what he said was
much more so; that if they met with any answer, or spake
with any one there, it must be with an evil spirit; and then I
entered into a long discourse with him about the devil, the
origin of him, his rebellion against God, his enmity to man,
the reason of it, his setting himself up in the dark parts of
the world to be worshipped instead of God, and as God, and
the many stratagems he made use of to delude mankind to
their ruin; how he had a secret access to our passions and
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to our affections, and to adapt his snares to our inclinations,
so as to cause us even to be our own tempters, and run upon
our destruction by our own choice.
I found it was not so easy to imprint right notions in his
mind about the devil as it was about the being of a God. Na-
ture assisted all my arguments to evidence to him even the
necessity of a great First Cause, an overruling, governing
Power, a secret directing Providence, and of the equity and
justice of paying homage to Him that made us, and the like;
but there appeared nothing of this kind in the notion of an
evil spirit, of his origin, his being, his nature, and above all,
of his inclination to do evil, and to draw us in to do so too;
and the poor creature puzzled me once in such a manner, by
a question merely natural and innocent, that I scarce knew
what to say to him. I had been talking a great deal to him
of the power of God, His omnipotence, His aversion to sin,
His being a consuming fire to the workers of iniquity; how,
as He had made us all, He could destroy us and all the world
in a moment; and he listened with great seriousness to me
all the while. After this I had been telling him how the devil
was God’s enemy in the hearts of men, and used all his mal-
ice and skill to defeat the good designs of Providence, and
to ruin the kingdom of Christ in the world, and the like.
‘Well,’ says Friday, ‘but you say God is so strong, so great;
is He not much strong, much might as the devil?’ ‘Yes, yes,’
says I, ‘Friday; God is stronger than the devil - God is above
the devil, and therefore we pray to God to tread him down
under our feet, and enable us to resist his temptations and
quench his fiery darts.’ ‘But,’ says he again, ‘if God much
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stronger, much might as the wicked devil, why God no kill
the devil, so make him no more do wicked?’ I was strangely
surprised at this question; and, after all, though I was now
an old man, yet I was but a young doctor, and ill qualified
for a casuist or a solver of difficulties; and at first I could not
tell what to say; so I pretended not to hear him, and asked
him what he said; but he was too earnest for an answer to
forget his question, so that he repeated it in the very same
broken words as above. By this time I had recovered my-
self a little, and I said, ‘God will at last punish him severely;
he is reserved for the judgment, and is to be cast into the
bottomless pit, to dwell with everlasting fire.’ This did not
satisfy Friday; but he returns upon me, repeating my words,
‘RESERVE AT LAST!’ me no understand - but why not kill
the devil now; not kill great ago?’ ‘You may as well ask me,’
said I, ‘why God does not kill you or me, when we do wick-
ed things here that offend Him - we are preserved to repent
and be pardoned.’ He mused some time on this. ‘Well, well,’
says he, mighty affectionately, ‘that well - so you, I, devil, all
wicked, all preserve, repent, God pardon all.’ Here I was run
down again by him to the last degree; and it was a testimo-
ny to me, how the mere notions of nature, though they will
guide reasonable creatures to the knowledge of a God, and
of a worship or homage due to the supreme being of God,
as the consequence of our nature, yet nothing but divine
revelation can form the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and of
redemption purchased for us; of a Mediator of the new cov-
enant, and of an Intercessor at the footstool of God’s throne;
I say, nothing but a revelation from Heaven can form these
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in the soul; and that, therefore, the gospel of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, I mean the Word of God, and the
Spirit of God, promised for the guide and sanctifier of His
people, are the absolutely necessary instructors of the souls
of men in the saving knowledge of God and the means of
salvation.
I therefore diverted the present discourse between me
and my man, rising up hastily, as upon some sudden occa-
sion of going out; then sending him for something a good
way off, I seriously prayed to God that He would enable me
to instruct savingly this poor savage; assisting, by His Spirit,
the heart of the poor ignorant creature to receive the light
of the knowledge of God in Christ, reconciling him to Him-
self, and would guide me so to speak to him from the Word
of God that his conscience might be convinced, his eyes
opened, and his soul saved. When he came again to me, I
entered into a long discourse with him upon the subject of
the redemption of man by the Saviour of the world, and of
the doctrine of the gospel preached from Heaven, viz. of re-
pentance towards God, and faith in our blessed Lord Jesus.
I then explained to him as well as I could why our blessed
Redeemer took not on Him the nature of angels but the seed
of Abraham; and how, for that reason, the fallen angels had
no share in the redemption; that He came only to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel, and the like.
I had, God knows, more sincerity than knowledge in all
the methods I took for this poor creature’s instruction, and
must acknowledge, what I believe all that act upon the same
principle will find, that in laying things open to him, I really
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informed and instructed myself in many things that either I
did not know or had not fully considered before, but which
occurred naturally to my mind upon searching into them,
for the information of this poor savage; and I had more af-
fection in my inquiry after things upon this occasion than
ever I felt before: so that, whether this poor wild wretch was
better for me or no, I had great reason to be thankful that
ever he came to me; my grief sat lighter, upon me; my habi-
tation grew comfortable to me beyond measure: and when
I reflected that in this solitary life which I have been con-
fined to, I had not only been moved to look up to heaven
myself, and to seek the Hand that had brought me here, but
was now to be made an instrument, under Providence, to
save the life, and, for aught I knew, the soul of a poor sav-
age, and bring him to the true knowledge of religion and of
the Christian doctrine, that he might know Christ Jesus, in
whom is life eternal; I say, when I reflected upon all these
things, a secret joy ran through every part of My soul, and
I frequently rejoiced that ever I was brought to this place,
which I had so often thought the most dreadful of all afflic-
tions that could possibly have befallen me.
I continued in this thankful frame all the remainder of
my time; and the conversation which employed the hours
between Friday and me was such as made the three years
which we lived there together perfectly and completely hap-
py, if any such thing as complete happiness can be formed
in a sublunary state. This savage was now a good Christian,
a much better than I; though I have reason to hope, and
bless God for it, that we were equally penitent, and com-
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forted, restored penitents. We had here the Word of God to
read, and no farther off from His Spirit to instruct than if
we had been in England. I always applied myself, in reading
the Scripture, to let him know, as well as I could, the mean-
ing of what I read; and he again, by his serious inquiries
and questionings, made me, as I said before, a much better
scholar in the Scripture knowledge than I should ever have
been by my own mere private reading. Another thing I can-
not refrain from observing here also, from experience in
this retired part of my life, viz. how infinite and inexpress-
ible a blessing it is that the knowledge of God, and of the
doctrine of salvation by Christ Jesus, is so plainly laid down
in the Word of God, so easy to be received and understood,
that, as the bare reading the Scripture made me capable of
understanding enough of my duty to carry me directly on to
the great work of sincere repentance for my sins, and laying
hold of a Saviour for life and salvation, to a stated reforma-
tion in practice, and obedience to all God’s commands, and
this without any teacher or instructor, I mean human; so
the same plain instruction sufficiently served to the enlight-
ening this savage creature, and bringing him to be such a
Christian as I have known few equal to him in my life.
As to all the disputes, wrangling, strife, and contention
which have happened in the world about religion, whether
niceties in doctrines or schemes of church government, they
were all perfectly useless to us, and, for aught I can yet see,
they have been so to the rest of the world. We had the sure
guide to heaven, viz. the Word of God; and we had, blessed
be God, comfortable views of the Spirit of God teaching
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and instructing by His word, leading us into all truth, and
making us both willing and obedient to the instruction of
His word. And I cannot see the least use that the greatest
knowledge of the disputed points of religion, which have
made such confusion in the world, would have been to us, if
we could have obtained it. But I must go on with the histori-
cal part of things, and take every part in its order.
After Friday and I became more intimately acquainted,
and that he could understand almost all I said to him, and
speak pretty fluently, though in broken English, to me, I ac-
quainted him with my own history, or at least so much of
it as related to my coming to this place: how I had lived
there, and how long; I let him into the mystery, for such it
was to him, of gunpowder and bullet, and taught him how
to shoot. I gave him a knife, which he was wonderfully de-
lighted with; and I made him a belt, with a frog hanging to
it, such as in England we wear hangers in; and in the frog,
instead of a hanger, I gave him a hatchet, which was not
only as good a weapon in some cases, but much more useful
upon other occasions.
I described to him the country of Europe, particularly
England, which I came from; how we lived, how we wor-
shipped God, how we behaved to one another, and how
we traded in ships to all parts of the world. I gave him an
account of the wreck which I had been on board of, and
showed him, as near as I could, the place where she lay; but
she was all beaten in pieces before, and gone. I showed him
the ruins of our boat, which we lost when we escaped, and
which I could not stir with my whole strength then; but was
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now fallen almost all to pieces. Upon seeing this boat, Fri-
day stood, musing a great while, and said nothing. I asked
him what it was he studied upon. At last says he, ‘Me see
such boat like come to place at my nation.’ I did not under-
stand him a good while; but at last, when I had examined
further into it, I understood by him that a boat, such as
that had been, came on shore upon the country where he
lived: that is, as he explained it, was driven thither by stress
of weather. I presently imagined that some European ship
must have been cast away upon their coast, and the boat
might get loose and drive ashore; but was so dull that I nev-
er once thought of men making their escape from a wreck
thither, much less whence they might come: so I only in-
quired after a description of the boat.
Friday described the boat to me well enough; but brought
me better to understand him when he added with some
warmth, ‘We save the white mans from drown.’ Then I pres-
ently asked if there were any white mans, as he called them,
in the boat. ‘Yes,’ he said; ‘the boat full of white mans.’ I
asked him how many. He told upon his fingers seventeen.
I asked him then what became of them. He told me, ‘They
live, they dwell at my nation.’
This put new thoughts into my head; for I presently imag-
ined that these might be the men belonging to the ship that
was cast away in the sight of my island, as I now called it;
and who, after the ship was struck on the rock, and they saw
her inevitably lost, had saved themselves in their boat, and
were landed upon that wild shore among the savages. Upon
this I inquired of him more critically what was become of
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them. He assured me they lived still there; that they had
been there about four years; that the savages left them alone,
and gave them victuals to live on. I asked him how it came
to pass they did not kill them and eat them. He said, ‘No,
they make brother with them;’ that is, as I understood him,
a truce; and then he added, ‘They no eat mans but when
make the war fight;’ that is to say, they never eat any men
but such as come to fight with them and are taken in battle.
It was after this some considerable time, that being upon
the top of the hill at the east side of the island, from whence,
as I have said, I had, in a clear day, discovered the main or
continent of America, Friday, the weather being very serene,
looks very earnestly towards the mainland, and, in a kind
of surprise, falls a jumping and dancing, and calls out to me,
for I was at some distance from him. I asked him what was
the matter. ‘Oh, joy!’ says he; ‘Oh, glad! there see my coun-
try, there my nation!’ I observed an extraordinary sense of
pleasure appeared in his face, and his eyes sparkled, and his
countenance discovered a strange eagerness, as if he had a
mind to be in his own country again. This observation of
mine put a great many thoughts into me, which made me
at first not so easy about my new man Friday as I was be-
fore; and I made no doubt but that, if Friday could get back
to his own nation again, he would not only forget all his
religion but all his obligation to me, and would be forward
enough to give his countrymen an account of me, and come
back, perhaps with a hundred or two of them, and make a
feast upon me, at which he might be as merry as he used
to be with those of his enemies when they were taken in
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war. But I wronged the poor honest creature very much, for
which I was very sorry afterwards. However, as my jealousy
increased, and held some weeks, I was a little more circum-
spect, and not so familiar and kind to him as before: in
which I was certainly wrong too; the honest, grateful crea-
ture having no thought about it but what consisted with the
best principles, both as a religious Christian and as a grate-
ful friend, as appeared afterwards to my full satisfaction.
While my jealousy of him lasted, you may be sure I was
every day pumping him to see if he would discover any
of the new thoughts which I suspected were in him; but I
found everything he said was so honest and so innocent,
that I could find nothing to nourish my suspicion; and in
spite of all my uneasiness, he made me at last entirely his
own again; nor did he in the least perceive that I was uneasy,
and therefore I could not suspect him of deceit.
One day, walking up the same hill, but the weather being
hazy at sea, so that we could not see the continent, I called
to him, and said, ‘Friday, do not you wish yourself in your
own country, your own nation?’ ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I be much O
glad to be at my own nation.’ ‘What would you do there?’
said I. ‘Would you turn wild again, eat men’s flesh again,
and be a savage as you were before?’ He looked full of con-
cern, and shaking his head, said, ‘No, no, Friday tell them to
live good; tell them to pray God; tell them to eat corn-bread,
cattle flesh, milk; no eat man again.’ ‘Why, then,’ said I to
him, ‘they will kill you.’ He looked grave at that, and then
said, ‘No, no, they no kill me, they willing love learn.’ He
meant by this, they would be willing to learn. He added,
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they learned much of the bearded mans that came in the
boat. Then I asked him if he would go back to them. He
smiled at that, and told me that he could not swim so far.
I told him I would make a canoe for him. He told me he
would go if I would go with him. ‘I go!’ says I; ‘why, they
will eat me if I come there.’ ‘No, no,’ says he, ‘me make they
no eat you; me make they much love you.’ He meant, he
would tell them how I had killed his enemies, and saved his
life, and so he would make them love me. Then he told me,
as well as he could, how kind they were to seventeen white
men, or bearded men, as he called them who came on shore
there in distress.
From this time, I confess, I had a mind to venture over,
and see if I could possibly join with those bearded men,
who I made no doubt were Spaniards and Portuguese; not
doubting but, if I could, we might find some method to es-
cape from thence, being upon the continent, and a good
company together, better than I could from an island forty
miles off the shore, alone and without help. So, after some
days, I took Friday to work again by way of discourse, and
told him I would give him a boat to go back to his own na-
tion; and, accordingly, I carried him to my frigate, which
lay on the other side of the island, and having cleared it of
water (for I always kept it sunk in water), I brought it out,
showed it him, and we both went into it. I found he was a
most dexterous fellow at managing it, and would make it go
almost as swift again as I could. So when he was in, I said
to him, ‘Well, now, Friday, shall we go to your nation?’ He
looked very dull at my saying so; which it seems was be-
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cause he thought the boat was too small to go so far. I then
told him I had a bigger; so the next day I went to the place
where the first boat lay which I had made, but which I could
not get into the water. He said that was big enough; but then,
as I had taken no care of it, and it had lain two or three and
twenty years there, the sun had so split and dried it, that it
was rotten. Friday told me such a boat would do very well,
and would carry ‘much enough vittle, drink, bread;’ this
was his way of talking.
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CHAPTER XVI - RESCUE
OF PRISONERS FROM
CANNIBALS
UPON the whole, I was by this time so fixed upon my de-
sign of going over with him to the continent that I told him
we would go and make one as big as that, and he should
go home in it. He answered not one word, but looked very
grave and sad. I asked him what was the matter with him.
He asked me again, ‘Why you angry mad with Friday? -
what me done?’ I asked him what he meant. I told him I
was not angry with him at all. ‘No angry!’ says he, repeat-
ing the words several times; ‘why send Friday home away
to my nation?’ ‘Why,’ says I, ‘Friday, did not you say you
wished you were there?’ ‘Yes, yes,’ says he, ‘wish we both
there; no wish Friday there, no master there.’ In a word, he
would not think of going there without me. ‘I go there, Fri-
day?’ says I; ‘what shall I do there?’ He turned very quick
upon me at this. ‘You do great deal much good,’ says he;
‘you teach wild mans be good, sober, tame mans; you tell
them know God, pray God, and live new life.’ ‘Alas, Friday!’
says I, ‘thou knowest not what thou sayest; I am but an ig-
norant man myself.’ ‘Yes, yes,’ says he, ‘you teachee me good,
you teachee them good.’ ‘No, no, Friday,’ says I, ‘you shall go
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without me; leave me here to live by myself, as I did before.’
He looked confused again at that word; and running to one
of the hatchets which he used to wear, he takes it up hastily,
and gives it to me. ‘What must I do with this?’ says I to him.
‘You take kill Friday,’ says he. ‘What must kill you for?’ said
I again. He returns very quick - ‘What you send Friday away
for? Take kill Friday, no send Friday away.’ This he spoke so
earnestly that I saw tears stand in his eyes. In a word, I so
plainly discovered the utmost affection in him to me, and a
firm resolution in him, that I told him then and often after,
that I would never send him away from me if he was willing
to stay with me.
Upon the whole, as I found by all his discourse a set-
tled affection to me, and that nothing could part him from
me, so I found all the foundation of his desire to go to his
own country was laid in his ardent affection to the people,
and his hopes of my doing them good; a thing which, as
I had no notion of myself, so I had not the least thought
or intention, or desire of undertaking it. But still I found a
strong inclination to attempting my escape, founded on the
supposition gathered from the discourse, that there were
seventeen bearded men there; and therefore, without any
more delay, I went to work with Friday to find out a great
tree proper to fell, and make a large periagua, or canoe, to
undertake the voyage. There were trees enough in the is-
land to have built a little fleet, not of periaguas or canoes,
but even of good, large vessels; but the main thing I looked
at was, to get one so near the water that we might launch it
when it was made, to avoid the mistake I committed at first.
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At last Friday pitched upon a tree; for I found he knew much
better than I what kind of wood was fittest for it; nor can I
tell to this day what wood to call the tree we cut down, ex-
cept that it was very like the tree we call fustic, or between
that and the Nicaragua wood, for it was much of the same
colour and smell. Friday wished to burn the hollow or cav-
ity of this tree out, to make it for a boat, but I showed him
how to cut it with tools; which, after I had showed him how
to use, he did very handily; and in about a month’s hard la-
bour we finished it and made it very handsome; especially
when, with our axes, which I showed him how to handle,
we cut and hewed the outside into the true shape of a boat.
After this, however, it cost us near a fortnight’s time to get
her along, as it were inch by inch, upon great rollers into the
water; but when she was in, she would have carried twenty
men with great ease.
When she was in the water, though she was so big, it
amazed me to see with what dexterity and how swift my
man Friday could manage her, turn her, and paddle her
along. So I asked him if he would, and if we might venture
over in her. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘we venture over in her very well,
though great blow wind.’ However I had a further design
that he knew nothing of, and that was, to make a mast and
a sail, and to fit her with an anchor and cable. As to a mast,
that was easy enough to get; so I pitched upon a straight
young cedar-tree, which I found near the place, and which
there were great plenty of in the island, and I set Friday to
work to cut it down, and gave him directions how to shape
and order it. But as to the sail, that was my particular care.
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I knew I had old sails, or rather pieces of old sails, enough;
but as I had had them now six-and-twenty years by me, and
had not been very careful to preserve them, not imagining
that I should ever have this kind of use for them, I did not
doubt but they were all rotten; and, indeed, most of them
were so. However, I found two pieces which appeared pretty
good, and with these I went to work; and with a great deal
of pains, and awkward stitching, you may be sure, for want
of needles, I at length made a three-cornered ugly thing,
like what we call in England a shoulder-of-mutton sail, to
go with a boom at bottom, and a little short sprit at the top,
such as usually our ships’ long-boats sail with, and such as
I best knew how to manage, as it was such a one as I had to
the boat in which I made my escape from Barbary, as relat-
ed in the first part of my story.
I was near two months performing this last work, viz.
rigging and fitting my masts and sails; for I finished them
very complete, making a small stay, and a sail, or foresail, to
it, to assist if we should turn to windward; and, what was
more than all, I fixed a rudder to the stern of her to steer
with. I was but a bungling shipwright, yet as I knew the use-
fulness and even necessity of such a thing, I applied myself
with so much pains to do it, that at last I brought it to pass;
though, considering the many dull contrivances I had for
it that failed, I think it cost me almost as much labour as
making the boat.
After all this was done, I had my man Friday to teach as
to what belonged to the navigation of my boat; though he
knew very well how to paddle a canoe, he knew nothing
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of what belonged to a sail and a rudder; and was the most
amazed when he saw me work the boat to and again in the
sea by the rudder, and how the sail jibed, and filled this way
or that way as the course we sailed changed; I say when he
saw this he stood like one astonished and amazed. Howev-
er, with a little use, I made all these things familiar to him,
and he became an expert sailor, except that of the compass
I could make him understand very little. On the other hand,
as there was very little cloudy weather, and seldom or never
any fogs in those parts, there was the less occasion for a
compass, seeing the stars were always to be seen by night,
and the shore by day, except in the rainy seasons, and then
nobody cared to stir abroad either by land or sea.
I was now entered on the seven-and-twentieth year of
my captivity in this place; though the three last years that I
had this creature with me ought rather to be left out of the
account, my habitation being quite of another kind than in
all the rest of the time. I kept the anniversary of my landing
here with the same thankfulness to God for His mercies as
at first: and if I had such cause of acknowledgment at first,
I had much more so now, having such additional testimo-
nies of the care of Providence over me, and the great hopes
I had of being effectually and speedily delivered; for I had
an invincible impression upon my thoughts that my deliv-
erance was at hand, and that I should not be another year
in this place. I went on, however, with my husbandry; dig-
ging, planting, and fencing as usual. I gathered and cured
my grapes, and did every necessary thing as before.
The rainy season was in the meantime upon me, when I
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kept more within doors than at other times. We had stowed
our new vessel as secure as we could, bringing her up into
the creek, where, as I said in the beginning, I landed my
rafts from the ship; and hauling her up to the shore at high-
water mark, I made my man Friday dig a little dock, just
big enough to hold her, and just deep enough to give her
water enough to float in; and then, when the tide was out,
we made a strong dam across the end of it, to keep the wa-
ter out; and so she lay, dry as to the tide from the sea: and
to keep the rain off we laid a great many boughs of trees,
so thick that she was as well thatched as a house; and thus
we waited for the months of November and December, in
which I designed to make my adventure.
When the settled season began to come in, as the thought
of my design returned with the fair weather, I was prepar-
ing daily for the voyage. And the first thing I did was to lay
by a certain quantity of provisions, being the stores for our
voyage; and intended in a week or a fortnight’s time to open
the dock, and launch out our boat. I was busy one morning
upon something of this kind, when I called to Friday, and
bid him to go to the sea-shore and see if he could find a tur-
tle or a tortoise, a thing which we generally got once a week,
for the sake of the eggs as well as the flesh. Friday had not
been long gone when he came running back, and flew over
my outer wall or fence, like one that felt not the ground or
the steps he set his foot on; and before I had time to speak
to him he cries out to me, ‘O master! O master! O sorrow! O
bad!’ - ‘What’s the matter, Friday?’ says I. ‘O yonder there,’
says he, ‘one, two, three canoes; one, two, three!’ By this
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way of speaking I concluded there were six; but on inqui-
ry I found there were but three. ‘Well, Friday,’ says I, ‘do
not be frightened.’ So I heartened him up as well as I could.
However, I saw the poor fellow was most terribly scared, for
nothing ran in his head but that they were come to look for
him, and would cut him in pieces and eat him; and the poor
fellow trembled so that I scarcely knew what to do with him.
I comforted him as well as I could, and told him I was in as
much danger as he, and that they would eat me as well as
him. ‘But,’ says I, ‘Friday, we must resolve to fight them. Can
you fight, Friday?’ ‘Me shoot,’ says he, ‘but there come many
great number.’ ‘No matter for that,’ said I again; ‘our guns
will fright them that we do not kill.’ So I asked him whether,
if I resolved to defend him, he would defend me, and stand
by me, and do just as I bid him. He said, ‘Me die when you
bid die, master.’ So I went and fetched a good dram of rum
and gave him; for I had been so good a husband of my rum
that I had a great deal left. When we had drunk it, I made
him take the two fowling- pieces, which we always carried,
and loaded them with large swan- shot, as big as small pis-
tol-bullets. Then I took four muskets, and loaded them with
two slugs and five small bullets each; and my two pistols I
loaded with a brace of bullets each. I hung my great sword,
as usual, naked by my side, and gave Friday his hatchet.
When I had thus prepared myself, I took my perspective
glass, and went up to the side of the hill, to see what I could
discover; and I found quickly by my glass that there were
one-and-twenty savages, three prisoners, and three canoes;
and that their whole business seemed to be the triumphant
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banquet upon these three human bodies: a barbarous feast,
indeed! but nothing more than, as I had observed, was usual
with them. I observed also that they had landed, not where
they had done when Friday made his escape, but nearer to
my creek, where the shore was low, and where a thick wood
came almost close down to the sea. This, with the abhor-
rence of the inhuman errand these wretches came about,
filled me with such indignation that I came down again
to Friday, and told him I was resolved to go down to them
and kill them all; and asked him if he would stand by me.
He had now got over his fright, and his spirits being a little
raised with the dram I had given him, he was very cheerful,
and told me, as before, he would die when I bid die.
In this fit of fury I divided the arms which I had charged,
as before, between us; I gave Friday one pistol to stick in his
girdle, and three guns upon his shoulder, and I took one
pistol and the other three guns myself; and in this posture
we marched out. I took a small bottle of rum in my pocket,
and gave Friday a large bag with more powder and bullets;
and as to orders, I charged him to keep close behind me,
and not to stir, or shoot, or do anything till I bid him, and in
the meantime not to speak a word. In this posture I fetched
a compass to my right hand of near a mile, as well to get
over the creek as to get into the wood, so that I could come
within shot of them before I should be discovered, which I
had seen by my glass it was easy to do.
While I was making this march, my former thoughts
returning, I began to abate my resolution: I do not mean
that I entertained any fear of their number, for as they were
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naked, unarmed wretches, it is certain I was superior to
them - nay, though I had been alone. But it occurred to my
thoughts, what call, what occasion, much less what necessi-
ty I was in to go and dip my hands in blood, to attack people
who had neither done or intended me any wrong? who, as
to me, were innocent, and whose barbarous customs were
their own disaster, being in them a token, indeed, of God’s
having left them, with the other nations of that part of the
world, to such stupidity, and to such inhuman courses, but
did not call me to take upon me to be a judge of their actions,
much less an executioner of His justice - that whenever He
thought fit He would take the cause into His own hands,
and by national vengeance punish them as a people for na-
tional crimes, but that, in the meantime, it was none of my
business - that it was true Friday might justify it, because
he was a declared enemy and in a state of war with those
very particular people, and it was lawful for him to attack
them - but I could not say the same with regard to myself.
These things were so warmly pressed upon my thoughts all
the way as I went, that I resolved I would only go and place
myself near them that I might observe their barbarous feast,
and that I would act then as God should direct; but that un-
less something offered that was more a call to me than yet I
knew of, I would not meddle with them.
With this resolution I entered the wood, and, with all
possible wariness and silence, Friday following close at my
heels, I marched till I came to the skirts of the wood on
the side which was next to them, only that one corner of
the wood lay between me and them. Here I called softly to
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Friday, and showing him a great tree which was just at the
corner of the wood, I bade him go to the tree, and bring me
word if he could see there plainly what they were doing. He
did so, and came immediately back to me, and told me they
might be plainly viewed there - that they were all about their
fire, eating the flesh of one of their prisoners, and that an-
other lay bound upon the sand a little from them, whom he
said they would kill next; and this fired the very soul within
me. He told me it was not one of their nation, but one of the
bearded men he had told me of, that came to their country
in the boat. I was filled with horror at the very naming of
the white bearded man; and going to the tree, I saw plainly
by my glass a white man, who lay upon the beach of the sea
with his hands and his feet tied with flags, or things like
rushes, and that he was an European, and had clothes on.
There was another tree and a little thicket beyond it,
about fifty yards nearer to them than the place where I was,
which, by going a little way about, I saw I might come at
undiscovered, and that then I should be within half a shot
of them; so I withheld my passion, though I was indeed en-
raged to the highest degree; and going back about twenty
paces, I got behind some bushes, which held all the way till
I came to the other tree, and then came to a little rising
ground, which gave me a full view of them at the distance
of about eighty yards.
I had now not a moment to lose, for nineteen of the
dreadful wretches sat upon the ground, all close huddled
together, and had just sent the other two to butcher the poor
Christian, and bring him perhaps limb by limb to their fire,
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and they were stooping down to untie the bands at his feet. I
turned to Friday. ‘Now, Friday,’ said I, ‘do as I bid thee.’ Fri-
day said he would. ‘Then, Friday,’ says I, ‘do exactly as you
see me do; fail in nothing.’ So I set down one of the muskets
and the fowling-piece upon the ground, and Friday did the
like by his, and with the other musket I took my aim at the
savages, bidding him to do the like; then asking him if he
was ready, he said, ‘Yes.’ ‘Then fire at them,’ said I; and at the
same moment I fired also.
Friday took his aim so much better than I, that on the
side that he shot he killed two of them, and wounded three
more; and on my side I killed one, and wounded two. They
were, you may be sure, in a dreadful consternation: and all
of them that were not hurt jumped upon their feet, but did
not immediately know which way to run, or which way to
look, for they knew not from whence their destruction came.
Friday kept his eyes close upon me, that, as I had bid him,
he might observe what I did; so, as soon as the first shot
was made, I threw down the piece, and took up the fowling-
piece, and Friday did the like; he saw me cock and present;
he did the same again. ‘Are you ready, Friday?’ said I. ‘Yes,’
says he. ‘Let fly, then,’ says I, ‘in the name of God!’ and with
that I fired again among the amazed wretches, and so did
Friday; and as our pieces were now loaded with what I call
swan-shot, or small pistol- bullets, we found only two drop;
but so many were wounded that they ran about yelling and
screaming like mad creatures, all bloody, and most of them
miserably wounded; whereof three more fell quickly after,
though not quite dead.
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‘Now, Friday,’ says I, laying down the discharged piec-
es, and taking up the musket which was yet loaded, ‘follow
me,’ which he did with a great deal of courage; upon which
I rushed out of the wood and showed myself, and Friday
close at my foot. As soon as I perceived they saw me, I
shouted as loud as I could, and bade Friday do so too, and
running as fast as I could, which, by the way, was not very
fast, being loaded with arms as I was, I made directly to-
wards the poor victim, who was, as I said, lying upon the
beach or shore, between the place where they sat and the
sea. The two butchers who were just going to work with him
had left him at the surprise of our first fire, and fled in a
terrible fright to the seaside, and had jumped into a canoe,
and three more of the rest made the same way. I turned to
Friday, and bade him step forwards and fire at them; he un-
derstood me immediately, and running about forty yards,
to be nearer them, he shot at them; and I thought he had
killed them all, for I saw them all fall of a heap into the boat,
though I saw two of them up again quickly; however, he
killed two of them, and wounded the third, so that he lay
down in the bottom of the boat as if he had been dead.
While my man Friday fired at them, I pulled out my
knife and cut the flags that bound the poor victim; and
loosing his hands and feet, I lifted him up, and asked him in
the Portuguese tongue what he was. He answered in Latin,
Christianus; but was so weak and faint that he could scarce
stand or speak. I took my bottle out of my pocket and gave it
him, making signs that he should drink, which he did; and
I gave him a piece of bread, which he ate. Then I asked him
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what countryman he was: and he said, Espagniole; and be-
ing a little recovered, let me know, by all the signs he could
possibly make, how much he was in my debt for his deliv-
erance. ‘Seignior,’ said I, with as much Spanish as I could
make up, ‘we will talk afterwards, but we must fight now: if
you have any strength left, take this pistol and sword, and
lay about you.’ He took them very thankfully; and no soon-
er had he the arms in his hands, but, as if they had put new
vigour into him, he flew upon his murderers like a fury, and
had cut two of them in pieces in an instant; for the truth is,
as the whole was a surprise to them, so the poor creatures
were so much frightened with the noise of our pieces that
they fell down for mere amazement and fear, and had no
more power to attempt their own escape than their flesh
had to resist our shot; and that was the case of those five that
Friday shot at in the boat; for as three of them fell with the
hurt they received, so the other two fell with the fright.
I kept my piece in my hand still without firing, being
willing to keep my charge ready, because I had given the
Spaniard my pistol and sword: so I called to Friday, and bade
him run up to the tree from whence we first fired, and fetch
the arms which lay there that had been discharged, which
he did with great swiftness; and then giving him my musket,
I sat down myself to load all the rest again, and bade them
come to me when they wanted. While I was loading these
pieces, there happened a fierce engagement between the
Spaniard and one of the savages, who made at him with one
of their great wooden swords, the weapon that was to have
killed him before, if I had not prevented it. The Spaniard,
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who was as bold and brave as could be imagined, though
weak, had fought the Indian a good while, and had cut two
great wounds on his head; but the savage being a stout, lusty
fellow, closing in with him, had thrown him down, being
faint, and was wringing my sword out of his hand; when
the Spaniard, though undermost, wisely quitting the sword,
drew the pistol from his girdle, shot the savage through the
body, and killed him upon the spot, before I, who was run-
ning to help him, could come near him.
Friday, being now left to his liberty, pursued the flying
wretches, with no weapon in his hand but his hatchet: and
with that he despatched those three who as I said before,
were wounded at first, and fallen, and all the rest he could
come up with: and the Spaniard coming to me for a gun,
I gave him one of the fowling- pieces, with which he pur-
sued two of the savages, and wounded them both; but as he
was not able to run, they both got from him into the wood,
where Friday pursued them, and killed one of them, but the
other was too nimble for him; and though he was wound-
ed, yet had plunged himself into the sea, and swam with
all his might off to those two who were left in the canoe;
which three in the canoe, with one wounded, that we knew
not whether he died or no, were all that escaped our hands
of one-and-twenty. The account of the whole is as follows:
Three killed at our first shot from the tree; two killed at the
next shot; two killed by Friday in the boat; two killed by
Friday of those at first wounded; one killed by Friday in the
wood; three killed by the Spaniard; four killed, being found
dropped here and there, of the wounds, or killed by Friday
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in his chase of them; four escaped in the boat, whereof one
wounded, if not dead - twenty-one in all.
Those that were in the canoe worked hard to get out of
gun-shot, and though Friday made two or three shots at
them, I did not find that he hit any of them. Friday would
fain have had me take one of their canoes, and pursue them;
and indeed I was very anxious about their escape, lest, car-
rying the news home to their people, they should come back
perhaps with two or three hundred of the canoes and de-
vour us by mere multitude; so I consented to pursue them
by sea, and running to one of their canoes, I jumped in and
bade Friday follow me: but when I was in the canoe I was
surprised to find another poor creature lie there, bound
hand and foot, as the Spaniard was, for the slaughter, and
almost dead with fear, not knowing what was the matter;
for he had not been able to look up over the side of the boat,
he was tied so hard neck and heels, and had been tied so
long that he had really but little life in him.
I immediately cut the twisted flags or rushes which they
had bound him with, and would have helped him up; but he
could not stand or speak, but groaned most piteously, be-
lieving, it seems, still, that he was only unbound in order
to be killed. When Friday came to him I bade him speak
to him, and tell him of his deliverance; and pulling out my
bottle, made him give the poor wretch a dram, which, with
the news of his being delivered, revived him, and he sat up
in the boat. But when Friday came to hear him speak, and
look in his face, it would have moved any one to tears to
have seen how Friday kissed him, embraced him, hugged
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him, cried, laughed, hallooed, jumped about, danced, sang;
then cried again, wrung his hands, beat his own face and
head; and then sang and jumped about again like a distract-
ed creature. It was a good while before I could make him
speak to me or tell me what was the matter; but when he
came a little to himself he told me that it was his father.
It is not easy for me to express how it moved me to see
what ecstasy and filial affection had worked in this poor
savage at the sight of his father, and of his being delivered
from death; nor indeed can I describe half the extravaganc-
es of his affection after this: for he went into the boat and
out of the boat a great many times: when he went in to him
he would sit down by him, open his breast, and hold his
father’s head close to his bosom for many minutes togeth-
er, to nourish it; then he took his arms and ankles, which
were numbed and stiff with the binding, and chafed and
rubbed them with his hands; and I, perceiving what the
case was, gave him some rum out of my bottle to rub them
with, which did them a great deal of good.
This affair put an end to our pursuit of the canoe with
the other savages, who were now almost out of sight; and it
was happy for us that we did not, for it blew so hard within
two hours after, and before they could be got a quarter of
their way, and continued blowing so hard all night, and that
from the north-west, which was against them, that I could
not suppose their boat could live, or that they ever reached
their own coast.
But to return to Friday; he was so busy about his father
that I could not find in my heart to take him off for some
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time; but after I thought he could leave him a little, I called
him to me, and he came jumping and laughing, and pleased
to the highest extreme: then I asked him if he had given his
father any bread. He shook his head, and said, ‘None; ugly
dog eat all up self.’ I then gave him a cake of bread out of a
little pouch I carried on purpose; I also gave him a dram
for himself; but he would not taste it, but carried it to his
father. I had in my pocket two or three bunches of raisins,
so I gave him a handful of them for his father. He had no
sooner given his father these raisins but I saw him come out
of the boat, and run away as if he had been bewitched, for
he was the swiftest fellow on his feet that ever I saw: I say, he
ran at such a rate that he was out of sight, as it were, in an
instant; and though I called, and hallooed out too after him,
it was all one - away he went; and in a quarter of an hour I
saw him come back again, though not so fast as he went;
and as he came nearer I found his pace slacker, because he
had something in his hand. When he came up to me I found
he had been quite home for an earthen jug or pot, to bring
his father some fresh water, and that he had got two more
cakes or loaves of bread: the bread he gave me, but the water
he carried to his father; however, as I was very thirsty too,
I took a little of it. The water revived his father more than
all the rum or spirits I had given him, for he was fainting
with thirst.
When his father had drunk, I called to him to know if
there was any water left. He said, ‘Yes”; and I bade him give
it to the poor Spaniard, who was in as much want of it as
his father; and I sent one of the cakes that Friday brought
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to the Spaniard too, who was indeed very weak, and was
reposing himself upon a green place under the shade of a
tree; and whose limbs were also very stiff, and very much
swelled with the rude bandage he had been tied with. When
I saw that upon Friday’s coming to him with the water he
sat up and drank, and took the bread and began to eat, I
went to him and gave him a handful of raisins. He looked
up in my face with all the tokens of gratitude and thankful-
ness that could appear in any countenance; but was so weak,
notwithstanding he had so exerted himself in the fight, that
he could not stand up upon his feet - he tried to do it two
or three times, but was really not able, his ankles were so
swelled and so painful to him; so I bade him sit still, and
caused Friday to rub his ankles, and bathe them with rum,
as he had done his father’s.
I observed the poor affectionate creature, every two min-
utes, or perhaps less, all the while he was here, turn his head
about to see if his father was in the same place and pos-
ture as he left him sitting; and at last he found he was not
to be seen; at which he started up, and, without speaking a
word, flew with that swiftness to him that one could scarce
perceive his feet to touch the ground as he went; but when
he came, he only found he had laid himself down to ease
his limbs, so Friday came back to me presently; and then I
spoke to the Spaniard to let Friday help him up if he could,
and lead him to the boat, and then he should carry him to
our dwelling, where I would take care of him. But Friday, a
lusty, strong fellow, took the Spaniard upon his back, and
carried him away to the boat, and set him down softly upon
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the side or gunnel of the canoe, with his feet in the inside
of it; and then lifting him quite in, he set him close to his
father; and presently stepping out again, launched the boat
off, and paddled it along the shore faster than I could walk,
though the wind blew pretty hard too; so he brought them
both safe into our creek, and leaving them in the boat, ran
away to fetch the other canoe. As he passed me I spoke to
him, and asked him whither he went. He told me, ‘Go fetch
more boat;’ so away he went like the wind, for sure never
man or horse ran like him; and he had the other canoe in
the creek almost as soon as I got to it by land; so he wafted
me over, and then went to help our new guests out of the
boat, which he did; but they were neither of them able to
walk; so that poor Friday knew not what to do.
To remedy this, I went to work in my thought, and call-
ing to Friday to bid them sit down on the bank while he
came to me, I soon made a kind of hand-barrow to lay them
on, and Friday and I carried them both up together upon it
between us.
But when we got them to the outside of our wall, or for-
tification, we were at a worse loss than before, for it was
impossible to get them over, and I was resolved not to break
it down; so I set to work again, and Friday and I, in about
two hours’ time, made a very handsome tent, covered with
old sails, and above that with boughs of trees, being in the
space without our outward fence and between that and
the grove of young wood which I had planted; and here we
made them two beds of such things as I had - viz. of good
rice- straw, with blankets laid upon it to lie on, and another
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to cover them, on each bed.
My island was now peopled, and I thought myself very
rich in subjects; and it was a merry reflection, which I fre-
quently made, how like a king I looked. First of all, the whole
country was my own property, so that I had an undoubted
right of dominion. Secondly, my people were perfectly sub-
jected - I was absolutely lord and lawgiver - they all owed
their lives to me, and were ready to lay down their lives, if
there had been occasion for it, for me. It was remarkable,
too, I had but three subjects, and they were of three differ-
ent religions - my man Friday was a Protestant, his father
was a Pagan and a cannibal, and the Spaniard was a Pa-
pist. However, I allowed liberty of conscience throughout
my dominions. But this is by the way.
As soon as I had secured my two weak, rescued prison-
ers, and given them shelter, and a place to rest them upon,
I began to think of making some provision for them; and
the first thing I did, I ordered Friday to take a yearling goat,
betwixt a kid and a goat, out of my particular flock, to be
killed; when I cut off the hinder-quarter, and chopping it
into small pieces, I set Friday to work to boiling and stew-
ing, and made them a very good dish, I assure you, of flesh
and broth; and as I cooked it without doors, for I made no
fire within my inner wall, so I carried it all into the new tent,
and having set a table there for them, I sat down, and ate my
own dinner also with them, and, as well as I could, cheered
them and encouraged them. Friday was my interpreter, es-
pecially to his father, and, indeed, to the Spaniard too; for
the Spaniard spoke the language of the savages pretty well.
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After we had dined, or rather supped, I ordered Friday to
take one of the canoes, and go and fetch our muskets and
other firearms, which, for want of time, we had left upon
the place of battle; and the next day I ordered him to go and
bury the dead bodies of the savages, which lay open to the
sun, and would presently be offensive. I also ordered him
to bury the horrid remains of their barbarous feast, which I
could not think of doing myself; nay, I could not bear to see
them if I went that way; all which he punctually performed,
and effaced the very appearance of the savages being there;
so that when I went again, I could scarce know where it was,
otherwise than by the corner of the wood pointing to the
place.
I then began to enter into a little conversation with
my two new subjects; and, first, I set Friday to inquire of
his father what he thought of the escape of the savages in
that canoe, and whether we might expect a return of them,
with a power too great for us to resist. His first opinion
was, that the savages in the boat never could live out the
storm which blew that night they went off, but must of ne-
cessity be drowned, or driven south to those other shores,
where they were as sure to be devoured as they were to be
drowned if they were cast away; but, as to what they would
do if they came safe on shore, he said he knew not; but it
was his opinion that they were so dreadfully frightened
with the manner of their being attacked, the noise, and the
fire, that he believed they would tell the people they were
all killed by thunder and lightning, not by the hand of man;
and that the two which appeared - viz. Friday and I - were
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two heavenly spirits, or furies, come down to destroy them,
and not men with weapons. This, he said, he knew; because
he heard them all cry out so, in their language, one to an-
other; for it was impossible for them to conceive that a man
could dart fire, and speak thunder, and kill at a distance,
without lifting up the hand, as was done now: and this old
savage was in the right; for, as I understood since, by other
hands, the savages never attempted to go over to the island
afterwards, they were so terrified with the accounts given
by those four men (for it seems they did escape the sea), that
they believed whoever went to that enchanted island would
be destroyed with fire from the gods. This, however, I knew
not; and therefore was under continual apprehensions for
a good while, and kept always upon my guard, with all my
army: for, as there were now four of us, I would have ven-
tured upon a hundred of them, fairly in the open field, at
any time.
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CHAPTER XVII - VISIT
OF MUTINEERS
IN a little time, however, no more canoes appearing, the
fear of their coming wore off; and I began to take my for-
mer thoughts of a voyage to the main into consideration;
being likewise assured by Friday’s father that I might de-
pend upon good usage from their nation, on his account, if
I would go. But my thoughts were a little suspended when I
had a serious discourse with the Spaniard, and when I un-
derstood that there were sixteen more of his countrymen
and Portuguese, who having been cast away and made their
escape to that side, lived there at peace, indeed, with the sav-
ages, but were very sore put to it for necessaries, and, indeed,
for life. I asked him all the particulars of their voyage, and
found they were a Spanish ship, bound from the Rio de la
Plata to the Havanna, being directed to leave their loading
there, which was chiefly hides and silver, and to bring back
what European goods they could meet with there; that they
had five Portuguese seamen on board, whom they took out
of another wreck; that five of their own men were drowned
when first the ship was lost, and that these escaped through
infinite dangers and hazards, and arrived, almost starved,
on the cannibal coast, where they expected to have been de-
voured every moment. He told me they had some arms with
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them, but they were perfectly useless, for that they had nei-
ther powder nor ball, the washing of the sea having spoiled
all their powder but a little, which they used at their first
landing to provide themselves with some food.
I asked him what he thought would become of them there,
and if they had formed any design of making their escape.
He said they had many consultations about it; but that hav-
ing neither vessel nor tools to build one, nor provisions of
any kind, their councils always ended in tears and despair.
I asked him how he thought they would receive a proposal
from me, which might tend towards an escape; and wheth-
er, if they were all here, it might not be done. I told him
with freedom, I feared mostly their treachery and ill- us-
age of me, if I put my life in their hands; for that gratitude
was no inherent virtue in the nature of man, nor did men
always square their dealings by the obligations they had re-
ceived so much as they did by the advantages they expected.
I told him it would be very hard that I should be made the
instrument of their deliverance, and that they should af-
terwards make me their prisoner in New Spain, where an
Englishman was certain to be made a sacrifice, what neces-
sity or what accident soever brought him thither; and that I
had rather be delivered up to the savages, and be devoured
alive, than fall into the merciless claws of the priests, and be
carried into the Inquisition. I added that, otherwise, I was
persuaded, if they were all here, we might, with so many
hands, build a barque large enough to carry us all away, ei-
ther to the Brazils southward, or to the islands or Spanish
coast northward; but that if, in requital, they should, when I
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had put weapons into their hands, carry me by force among
their own people, I might be ill-used for my kindness to
them, and make my case worse than it was before.
He answered, with a great deal of candour and ingen-
uousness, that their condition was so miserable, and that
they were so sensible of it, that he believed they would abhor
the thought of using any man unkindly that should contrib-
ute to their deliverance; and that, if I pleased, he would go
to them with the old man, and discourse with them about
it, and return again and bring me their answer; that he
would make conditions with them upon their solemn oath,
that they should be absolutely under my direction as their
commander and captain; and they should swear upon the
holy sacraments and gospel to be true to me, and go to such
Christian country as I should agree to, and no other; and
to be directed wholly and absolutely by my orders till they
were landed safely in such country as I intended, and that
he would bring a contract from them, under their hands, for
that purpose. Then he told me he would first swear to me
himself that he would never stir from me as long as he lived
till I gave him orders; and that he would take my side to the
last drop of his blood, if there should happen the least breach
of faith among his countrymen. He told me they were all of
them very civil, honest men, and they were under the great-
est distress imaginable, having neither weapons nor clothes,
nor any food, but at the mercy and discretion of the savag-
es; out of all hopes of ever returning to their own country;
and that he was sure, if I would undertake their relief, they
would live and die by me.
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Upon these assurances, I resolved to venture to relieve
them, if possible, and to send the old savage and this Span-
iard over to them to treat. But when we had got all things
in readiness to go, the Spaniard himself started an objec-
tion, which had so much prudence in it on one hand, and
so much sincerity on the other hand, that I could not but be
very well satisfied in it; and, by his advice, put off the deliv-
erance of his comrades for at least half a year. The case was
thus: he had been with us now about a month, during which
time I had let him see in what manner I had provided, with
the assistance of Providence, for my support; and he saw
evidently what stock of corn and rice I had laid up; which,
though it was more than sufficient for myself, yet it was not
sufficient, without good husbandry, for my family, now it
was increased to four; but much less would it be sufficient
if his countrymen, who were, as he said, sixteen, still alive,
should come over; and least of all would it be sufficient to
victual our vessel, if we should build one, for a voyage to
any of the Christian colonies of America; so he told me he
thought it would be more advisable to let him and the other
two dig and cultivate some more land, as much as I could
spare seed to sow, and that we should wait another harvest,
that we might have a supply of corn for his countrymen,
when they should come; for want might be a temptation to
them to disagree, or not to think themselves delivered, oth-
erwise than out of one difficulty into another. ‘You know,’
says he, ‘the children of Israel, though they rejoiced at first
for their being delivered out of Egypt, yet rebelled even
against God Himself, that delivered them, when they came
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to want bread in the wilderness.’
His caution was so seasonable, and his advice so good,
that I could not but be very well pleased with his propos-
al, as well as I was satisfied with his fidelity; so we fell to
digging, all four of us, as well as the wooden tools we were
furnished with permitted; and in about a month’s time, by
the end of which it was seed-time, we had got as much land
cured and trimmed up as we sowed two-and- twenty bush-
els of barley on, and sixteen jars of rice, which was, in short,
all the seed we had to spare: indeed, we left ourselves barely
sufficient, for our own food for the six months that we had
to expect our crop; that is to say reckoning from the time
we set our seed aside for sowing; for it is not to be supposed
it is six months in the ground in that country.
Having now society enough, and our numbers being suf-
ficient to put us out of fear of the savages, if they had come,
unless their number had been very great, we went freely all
over the island, whenever we found occasion; and as we had
our escape or deliverance upon our thoughts, it was impos-
sible, at least for me, to have the means of it out of mine. For
this purpose I marked out several trees, which I thought
fit for our work, and I set Friday and his father to cut them
down; and then I caused the Spaniard, to whom I imparted
my thoughts on that affair, to oversee and direct their work.
I showed them with what indefatigable pains I had hewed
a large tree into single planks, and I caused them to do the
like, till they made about a dozen large planks, of good oak,
near two feet broad, thirty-five feet long, and from two
inches to four inches thick: what prodigious labour it took
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up any one may imagine.
At the same time I contrived to increase my little flock
of tame goats as much as I could; and for this purpose I
made Friday and the Spaniard go out one day, and myself
with Friday the next day (for we took our turns), and by this
means we got about twenty young kids to breed up with
the rest; for whenever we shot the dam, we saved the kids,
and added them to our flock. But above all, the season for
curing the grapes coming on, I caused such a prodigious
quantity to be hung up in the sun, that, I believe, had we
been at Alicant, where the raisins of the sun are cured, we
could have filled sixty or eighty barrels; and these, with our
bread, formed a great part of our food - very good living too,
I assure you, for they are exceedingly nourishing.
It was now harvest, and our crop in good order: it was
not the most plentiful increase I had seen in the island, but,
however, it was enough to answer our end; for from twenty-
two bushels of barley we brought in and thrashed out above
two hundred and twenty bushels; and the like in proportion
of the rice; which was store enough for our food to the next
harvest, though all the sixteen Spaniards had been on shore
with me; or, if we had been ready for a voyage, it would very
plentifully have victualled our ship to have carried us to any
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