



Transcribed from the 1919 Seeley, Sevice & Co edition by David Price,
email ccx074@pglaf.org





THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE


CHAPTER I--REVISITS ISLAND


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




CHAPTER II--INTERVENING HISTORY OF COLONY


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




CHAPTER III--FIGHT WITH CANNIBALS


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




CHAPTER IV--RENEWED INVASION OF SAVAGES


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About three quarters of a year after this separation, a new frolic took
these rogues, which, together with the former villainy they had
committed, brought mischief enough upon them, and had very near been the
ruin of the whole colony.  The three new associates began, it seems, to
be weary of the laborious life they led, and that without hope of
bettering their circumstances: and a whim took them that they would make
a voyage to the continent, from whence the savages came, and would try if
they could seize upon some prisoners among the natives there, and bring
them home, so as to make them do the laborious part of the work for them.

The project was not so preposterous, if they had gone no further.  But
they did nothing, and proposed nothing, but had either mischief in the
design, or mischief in the event.  And if I may give my opinion, they
seemed to be under a blast from Heaven: for if we will not allow a
visible curse to pursue visible crimes, how shall we reconcile the events
of things with the divine justice?  It was certainly an apparent
vengeance on their crime of mutiny and piracy that brought them to the
state they were in; and they showed not the least remorse for the crime,
but added new villanies to it, such as the piece of monstrous cruelty of
wounding a poor slave because he did not, or perhaps could not,
understand to do what he was directed, and to wound him in such a manner
as made him a cripple all his life, and in a place where no surgeon or
medicine could be had for his cure; and, what was still worse, the
intentional murder, for such to be sure it was, as was afterwards the
formed design they all laid to murder the Spaniards in cold blood, and in
their sleep.

The three fellows came down to the Spaniards one morning, and in very
humble terms desired to be admitted to speak with them.  The Spaniards
very readily heard what they had to say, which was this: that they were
tired of living in the manner they did, and that they were not handy
enough to make the necessaries they wanted, and that having no help, they
found they should be starved; but if the Spaniards would give them leave
to take one of the canoes which they came over in, and give them arms and
ammunition proportioned to their defence, they would go over to the main,
and seek their fortunes, and so deliver them from the trouble of
supplying them with any other provisions.

The Spaniards were glad enough to get rid of them, but very honestly
represented to them the certain destruction they were running into; told
them they had suffered such hardships upon that very spot, that they
could, without any spirit of prophecy, tell them they would be starved or
murdered, and bade them consider of it.  The men replied audaciously,
they should be starved if they stayed here, for they could not work, and
would not work, and they could but be starved abroad; and if they were
murdered, there was an end of them; they had no wives or children to cry
after them; and, in short, insisted importunately upon their demand,
declaring they would go, whether they gave them any arms or not.

The Spaniards told them, with great kindness, that if they were resolved
to go they should not go like naked men, and be in no condition to defend
themselves; and that though they could ill spare firearms, not having
enough for themselves, yet they would let them have two muskets, a
pistol, and a cutlass, and each man a hatchet, which they thought was
sufficient for them.  In a word, they accepted the offer; and having
baked bread enough to serve them a month given them, and as much goats'
flesh as they could eat while it was sweet, with a great basket of dried
grapes, a pot of fresh water, and a young kid alive, they boldly set out
in the canoe for a voyage over the sea, where it was at least forty miles
broad.  The boat, indeed, was a large one, and would very well have
carried fifteen or twenty men, and therefore was rather too big for them
to manage; but as they had a fair breeze and flood-tide with them, they
did well enough.  They had made a mast of a long pole, and a sail of four
large goat-skins dried, which they had sewed or laced together; and away
they went merrily together.  The Spaniards called after them "_Bon
voyajo_;" and no man ever thought of seeing them any more.

The Spaniards were often saying to one another, and to the two honest
Englishmen who remained behind, how quietly and comfortably they lived,
now these three turbulent fellows were gone.  As for their coming again,
that was the remotest thing from their thoughts that could be imagined;
when, behold, after two-and-twenty days' absence, one of the Englishmen
being abroad upon his planting work, sees three strange men coming
towards him at a distance, with guns upon their shoulders.

Away runs the Englishman, frightened and amazed, as if he was bewitched,
to the governor Spaniard, and tells him they were all undone, for there
were strangers upon the island, but he could not tell who they were.  The
Spaniard, pausing a while, says to him, "How do you mean--you cannot tell
who?  They are the savages, to be sure."  "No, no," says the Englishman,
"they are men in clothes, with arms."  "Nay, then," says the Spaniard,
"why are you so concerned!  If they are not savages they must be friends;
for there is no Christian nation upon earth but will do us good rather
than harm."  While they were debating thus, came up the three Englishmen,
and standing without the wood, which was new planted, hallooed to them.
They presently knew their voices, and so all the wonder ceased.  But now
the admiration was turned upon another question--What could be the
matter, and what made them come back again?

It was not long before they brought the men in, and inquiring where they
had been, and what they had been doing, they gave them a full account of
their voyage in a few words: that they reached the land in less than two
days, but finding the people alarmed at their coming, and preparing with
bows and arrows to fight them, they durst not go on shore, but sailed on
to the northward six or seven hours, till they came to a great opening,
by which they perceived that the land they saw from our island was not
the main, but an island: that upon entering that opening of the sea they
saw another island on the right hand north, and several more west; and
being resolved to land somewhere, they put over to one of the islands
which lay west, and went boldly on shore; that they found the people very
courteous and friendly to them; and they gave them several roots and some
dried fish, and appeared very sociable; and that the women, as well as
the men, were very forward to supply them with anything they could get
for them to eat, and brought it to them a great way, on their heads.  They
continued here for four days, and inquired as well as they could of them
by signs, what nations were this way, and that way, and were told of
several fierce and terrible people that lived almost every way, who, as
they made known by signs to them, used to eat men; but, as for
themselves, they said they never ate men or women, except only such as
they took in the wars; and then they owned they made a great feast, and
ate their prisoners.

The Englishmen inquired when they had had a feast of that kind; and they
told them about two moons ago, pointing to the moon and to two fingers;
and that their great king had two hundred prisoners now, which he had
taken in his war, and they were feeding them to make them fat for the
next feast.  The Englishmen seemed mighty desirous of seeing those
prisoners; but the others mistaking them, thought they were desirous to
have some of them to carry away for their own eating.  So they beckoned
to them, pointing to the setting of the sun, and then to the rising;
which was to signify that the next morning at sunrising they would bring
some for them; and accordingly the next morning they brought down five
women and eleven men, and gave them to the Englishmen to carry with them
on their voyage, just as we would bring so many cows and oxen down to a
seaport town to victual a ship.

As brutish and barbarous as these fellows were at home, their stomachs
turned at this sight, and they did not know what to do.  To refuse the
prisoners would have been the highest affront to the savage gentry that
could be offered them, and what to do with them they knew not.  However,
after some debate, they resolved to accept of them: and, in return, they
gave the savages that brought them one of their hatchets, an old key, a
knife, and six or seven of their bullets; which, though they did not
understand their use, they seemed particularly pleased with; and then
tying the poor creatures' hands behind them, they dragged the prisoners
into the boat for our men.

The Englishmen were obliged to come away as soon as they had them, or
else they that gave them this noble present would certainly have expected
that they should have gone to work with them, have killed two or three of
them the next morning, and perhaps have invited the donors to dinner.  But
having taken their leave, with all the respect and thanks that could well
pass between people, where on either side they understood not one word
they could say, they put off with their boat, and came back towards the
first island; where, when they arrived, they set eight of their prisoners
at liberty, there being too many of them for their occasion.  In their
voyage they endeavoured to have some communication with their prisoners;
but it was impossible to make them understand anything.  Nothing they
could say to them, or give them, or do for them, but was looked upon as
going to murder them.  They first of all unbound them; but the poor
creatures screamed at that, especially the women, as if they had just
felt the knife at their throats; for they immediately concluded they were
unbound on purpose to be killed.  If they gave them thing to eat, it was
the same thing; they then concluded it was for fear they should sink in
flesh, and so not be fat enough to kill.  If they looked at one of them
more particularly, the party presently concluded it was to see whether he
or she was fattest, and fittest to kill first; nay, after they had
brought them quite over, and began to use them kindly, and treat them
well, still they expected every day to make a dinner or supper for their
new masters.

When the three wanderers had give this unaccountable history or journal
of their voyage, the Spaniard asked them where their new family was; and
being told that they had brought them on shore, and put them into one of
their huts, and were come up to beg some victuals for them, they (the
Spaniards) and the other two Englishmen, that is to say, the whole
colony, resolved to go all down to the place and see them; and did so,
and Friday's father with them.  When they came into the hut, there they
sat, all bound; for when they had brought them on shore they bound their
hands that they might not take the boat and make their escape; there, I
say, they sat, all of them stark naked.  First, there were three comely
fellows, well shaped, with straight limbs, about thirty to thirty-five
years of age; and five women, whereof two might be from thirty to forty,
two more about four or five and twenty; and the fifth, a tall, comely
maiden, about seventeen.  The women were well-favoured, agreeable
persons, both in shape and features, only tawny; and two of them, had
they been perfect white, would have passed for very handsome women, even
in London, having pleasant countenances, and of a very modest behaviour;
especially when they came afterwards to be clothed and dressed, though
that dress was very indifferent, it must be confessed.

The sight, you may be sure, was something uncouth to our Spaniards, who
were, to give them a just character, men of the most calm, sedate
tempers, and perfect good humour, that ever I met with: and, in
particular, of the utmost modesty: I say, the sight was very uncouth, to
see three naked men and five naked women, all together bound, and in the
most miserable circumstances that human nature could be supposed to be,
viz. to be expecting every moment to be dragged out and have their brains
knocked out, and then to be eaten up like a calf that is killed for a
dainty.

The first thing they did was to cause the old Indian, Friday's father, to
go in, and see first if he knew any of them, and then if he understood
any of their speech.  As soon as the old man came in, he looked seriously
at them, but knew none of them; neither could any of them understand a
word he said, or a sign he could make, except one of the women.  However,
this was enough to answer the end, which was to satisfy them that the men
into whose hands they were fallen were Christians; that they abhorred
eating men or women; and that they might be sure they would not be
killed.  As soon as they were assured of this, they discovered such a
joy, and by such awkward gestures, several ways, as is hard to describe;
for it seems they were of several nations.  The woman who was their
interpreter was bid, in the next place, to ask them if they were willing
to be servants, and to work for the men who had brought them away, to
save their lives; at which they all fell a-dancing; and presently one
fell to taking up this, and another that, anything that lay next, to
carry on their shoulders, to intimate they were willing to work.

The governor, who found that the having women among them would presently
be attended with some inconvenience, and might occasion some strife, and
perhaps blood, asked the three men what they intended to do with these
women, and how they intended to use them, whether as servants or as
wives?  One of the Englishmen answered, very boldly and readily, that
they would use them as both; to which the governor said: "I am not going
to restrain you from it--you are your own masters as to that; but this I
think is but just, for avoiding disorders and quarrels among you, and I
desire it of you for that reason only, viz. that you will all engage,
that if any of you take any of these women as a wife, he shall take but
one; and that having taken one, none else shall touch her; for though we
cannot marry any one of you, yet it is but reasonable that, while you
stay here, the woman any of you takes shall be maintained by the man that
takes her, and should be his wife--I mean," says he, "while he continues
here, and that none else shall have anything to do with her."  All this
appeared so just, that every one agreed to it without any difficulty.

Then the Englishmen asked the Spaniards if they designed to take any of
them?  But every one of them answered "No."  Some of them said they had
wives in Spain, and the others did not like women that were not
Christians; and all together declared that they would not touch one of
them, which was an instance of such virtue as I have not met with in all
my travels.  On the other hand, the five Englishmen took them every one a
wife, that is to say, a temporary wife; and so they set up a new form of
living; for the Spaniards and Friday's father lived in my old habitation,
which they had enlarged exceedingly within.  The three servants which
were taken in the last battle of the savages lived with them; and these
carried on the main part of the colony, supplied all the rest with food,
and assisted them in anything as they could, or as they found necessity
required.

But the wonder of the story was, how five such refractory, ill-matched
fellows should agree about these women, and that some two of them should
not choose the same woman, especially seeing two or three of them were,
without comparison, more agreeable than the others; but they took a good
way enough to prevent quarrelling among themselves, for they set the five
women by themselves in one of their huts, and they went all into the
other hut, and drew lots among them who should choose first.

Him that drew to choose first went away by himself to the hut where the
poor naked creatures were, and fetched out her he chose; and it was worth
observing, that he that chose first took her that was reckoned the
homeliest and oldest of the five, which made mirth enough amongst the
rest; and even the Spaniards laughed at it; but the fellow considered
better than any of them, that it was application and business they were
to expect assistance in, as much as in anything else; and she proved the
best wife of all the parcel.

When the poor women saw themselves set in a row thus, and fetched out one
by one, the terrors of their condition returned upon them again, and they
firmly believed they were now going to be devoured.  Accordingly, when
the English sailor came in and fetched out one of them, the rest set up a
most lamentable cry, and hung about her, and took their leave of her with
such agonies and affection as would have grieved the hardest heart in the
world: nor was it possible for the Englishmen to satisfy them that they
were not to be immediately murdered, till they fetched the old man,
Friday's father, who immediately let them know that the five men, who
were to fetch them out one by one, had chosen them for their wives.  When
they had done, and the fright the women were in was a little over, the
men went to work, and the Spaniards came and helped them: and in a few
hours they had built them every one a new hut or tent for their lodging
apart; for those they had already were crowded with their tools,
household stuff, and provisions.  The three wicked ones had pitched
farthest off, and the two honest ones nearer, but both on the north shore
of the island, so that they continued separated as before; and thus my
island was peopled in three places, and, as I might say, three towns were
begun to be built.

And here it is very well worth observing that, as it often happens in the
world (what the wise ends in God's providence are, in such a disposition
of things, I cannot say), the two honest fellows had the two worst wives;
and the three reprobates, that were scarce worth hanging, that were fit
for nothing, and neither seemed born to do themselves good nor any one
else, had three clever, careful, and ingenious wives; not that the first
two were bad wives as to their temper or humour, for all the five were
most willing, quiet, passive, and subjected creatures, rather like slaves
than wives; but my meaning is, they were not alike capable, ingenious, or
industrious, or alike cleanly and neat.  Another observation I must make,
to the honour of a diligent application on one hand, and to the disgrace
of a slothful, negligent, idle temper on the other, that when I came to
the place, and viewed the several improvements, plantings, and management
of the several little colonies, the two men had so far out-gone the
three, that there was no comparison.  They had, indeed, both of them as
much ground laid out for corn as they wanted, and the reason was,
because, according to my rule, nature dictated that it was to no purpose
to sow more corn than they wanted; but the difference of the cultivation,
of the planting, of the fences, and indeed, of everything else, was easy
to be seen at first view.

The two men had innumerable young trees planted about their huts, so
that, when you came to the place, nothing was to be seen but a wood; and
though they had twice had their plantation demolished, once by their own
countrymen, and once by the enemy, as shall be shown in its place, yet
they had restored all again, and everything was thriving and flourishing
about them; they had grapes planted in order, and managed like a
vineyard, though they had themselves never seen anything of that kind;
and by their good ordering their vines, their grapes were as good again
as any of the others.  They had also found themselves out a retreat in
the thickest part of the woods, where, though there was not a natural
cave, as I had found, yet they made one with incessant labour of their
hands, and where, when the mischief which followed happened, they secured
their wives and children so as they could never be found; they having, by
sticking innumerable stakes and poles of the wood which, as I said, grew
so readily, made the grove impassable, except in some places, when they
climbed up to get over the outside part, and then went on by ways of
their own leaving.

As to the three reprobates, as I justly call them, though they were much
civilised by their settlement compared to what they were before, and were
not so quarrelsome, having not the same opportunity; yet one of the
certain companions of a profligate mind never left them, and that was
their idleness.  It is true, they planted corn and made fences; but
Solomon's words were never better verified than in them, "I went by the
vineyard of the slothful, and it was all overgrown with thorns": for when
the Spaniards came to view their crop they could not see it in some
places for weeds, the hedge had several gaps in it, where the wild goats
had got in and eaten up the corn; perhaps here and there a dead bush was
crammed in, to stop them out for the present, but it was only shutting
the stable-door after the steed was stolen.  Whereas, when they looked on
the colony of the other two, there was the very face of industry and
success upon all they did; there was not a weed to be seen in all their
corn, or a gap in any of their hedges; and they, on the other hand,
verified Solomon's words in another place, "that the diligent hand maketh
rich"; for everything grew and thrived, and they had plenty within and
without; they had more tame cattle than the others, more utensils and
necessaries within doors, and yet more pleasure and diversion too.

It is true, the wives of the three were very handy and cleanly within
doors; and having learned the English ways of dressing, and cooking from
one of the other Englishmen, who, as I said, was a cook's mate on board
the ship, they dressed their husbands' victuals very nicely and well;
whereas the others could not be brought to understand it; but then the
husband, who, as I say, had been cook's mate, did it himself.  But as for
the husbands of the three wives, they loitered about, fetched turtles'
eggs, and caught fish and birds: in a word, anything but labour; and they
fared accordingly.  The diligent lived well and comfortably, and the
slothful hard and beggarly; and so, I believe, generally speaking, it is
all over the world.

But I now come to a scene different from all that had happened before,
either to them or to me; and the origin of the story was this: Early one
morning there came on shore five or six canoes of Indians or savages,
call them which you please, and there is no room to doubt they came upon
the old errand of feeding upon their slaves; but that part was now so
familiar to the Spaniards, and to our men too, that they did not concern
themselves about it, as I did: but having been made sensible, by their
experience, that their only business was to lie concealed, and that if
they were not seen by any of the savages they would go off again quietly,
when their business was done, having as yet not the least notion of there
being any inhabitants in the island; I say, having been made sensible of
this, they had nothing to do but to give notice to all the three
plantations to keep within doors, and not show themselves, only placing a
scout in a proper place, to give notice when the boats went to sea again.

This was, without doubt, very right; but a disaster spoiled all these
measures, and made it known among the savages that there were inhabitants
there; which was, in the end, the desolation of almost the whole colony.
After the canoes with the savages were gone off, the Spaniards peeped
abroad again; and some of them had the curiosity to go to the place where
they had been, to see what they had been doing.  Here, to their great
surprise, they found three savages left behind, and lying fast asleep
upon the ground.  It was supposed they had either been so gorged with
their inhuman feast, that, like beasts, they were fallen asleep, and
would not stir when the others went, or they had wandered into the woods,
and did not come back in time to be taken in.

The Spaniards were greatly surprised at this sight and perfectly at a
loss what to do.  The Spaniard governor, as it happened, was with them,
and his advice was asked, but he professed he knew not what to do.  As
for slaves, they had enough already; and as to killing them, there were
none of them inclined to do that: the Spaniard governor told me they
could not think of shedding innocent blood; for as to them, the poor
creatures had done them no wrong, invaded none of their property, and
they thought they had no just quarrel against them, to take away their
lives.  And here I must, in justice to these Spaniards, observe that, let
the accounts of Spanish cruelty in Mexico and Peru be what they will, I
never met with seventeen men of any nation whatsoever, in any foreign
country, who were so universally modest, temperate, virtuous, so very
good-humoured, and so courteous, as these Spaniards: and as to cruelty,
they had nothing of it in their very nature; no inhumanity, no barbarity,
no outrageous passions; and yet all of them men of great courage and
spirit.  Their temper and calmness had appeared in their bearing the
insufferable usage of the three Englishmen; and their justice and
humanity appeared now in the case of the savages above.  After some
consultation they resolved upon this; that they would lie still a while
longer, till, if possible, these three men might be gone.  But then the
governor recollected that the three savages had no boat; and if they were
left to rove about the island, they would certainly discover that there
were inhabitants in it; and so they should be undone that way.  Upon
this, they went back again, and there lay the fellows fast asleep still,
and so they resolved to awaken them, and take them prisoners; and they
did so.  The poor fellows were strangely frightened when they were seized
upon and bound; and afraid, like the women, that they should be murdered
and eaten: for it seems those people think all the world does as they do,
in eating men's flesh; but they were soon made easy as to that, and away
they carried them.

It was very happy for them that they did not carry them home to the
castle, I mean to my palace under the hill; but they carried them first
to the bower, where was the chief of their country work, such as the
keeping the goats, the planting the corn, &c.; and afterward they carried
them to the habitation of the two Englishmen.  Here they were set to
work, though it was not much they had for them to do; and whether it was
by negligence in guarding them, or that they thought the fellows could
not mend themselves, I know not, but one of them ran away, and, taking to
the woods, they could never hear of him any more.  They had good reason
to believe he got home again soon after in some other boats or canoes of
savages who came on shore three or four weeks afterwards, and who,
carrying on their revels as usual, went off in two days' time.  This
thought terrified them exceedingly; for they concluded, and that not
without good cause indeed, that if this fellow came home safe among his
comrades, he would certainly give them an account that there were people
in the island, and also how few and weak they were; for this savage, as
observed before, had never been told, and it was very happy he had not,
how many there were or where they lived; nor had he ever seen or heard
the fire of any of their guns, much less had they shown him any of their
other retired places; such as the cave in the valley, or the new retreat
which the two Englishmen had made, and the like.

The first testimony they had that this fellow had given intelligence of
them was, that about two months after this six canoes of savages, with
about seven, eight, or ten men in a canoe, came rowing along the north
side of the island, where they never used to come before, and landed,
about an hour after sunrise, at a convenient place, about a mile from the
habitation of the two Englishmen, where this escaped man had been kept.
As the chief Spaniard said, had they been all there the damage would not
have been so much, for not a man of them would have escaped; but the case
differed now very much, for two men to fifty was too much odds.  The two
men had the happiness to discover them about a league off, so that it was
above an hour before they landed; and as they landed a mile from their
huts, it was some time before they could come at them.  Now, having great
reason to believe that they were betrayed, the first thing they did was
to bind the two slaves which were left, and cause two of the three men
whom they brought with the women (who, it seems, proved very faithful to
them) to lead them, with their two wives, and whatever they could carry
away with them, to their retired places in the woods, which I have spoken
of above, and there to bind the two fellows hand and foot, till they
heard farther.  In the next place, seeing the savages were all come on
shore, and that they had bent their course directly that way, they opened
the fences where the milch cows were kept, and drove them all out;
leaving their goats to straggle in the woods, whither they pleased, that
the savages might think they were all bred wild; but the rogue who came
with them was too cunning for that, and gave them an account of it all,
for they went directly to the place.

When the two poor frightened men had secured their wives and goods, they
sent the other slave they had of the three who came with the women, and
who was at their place by accident, away to the Spaniards with all speed,
to give them the alarm, and desire speedy help, and, in the meantime,
they took their arms and what ammunition they had, and retreated towards
the place in the wood where their wives were sent; keeping at a distance,
yet so that they might see, if possible, which way the savages took.  They
had not gone far but that from a rising ground they could see the little
army of their enemies come on directly to their habitation, and, in a
moment more, could see all their huts and household stuff flaming up
together, to their great grief and mortification; for this was a great
loss to them, irretrievable, indeed, for some time.  They kept their
station for a while, till they found the savages, like wild beasts,
spread themselves all over the place, rummaging every way, and every
place they could think of, in search of prey; and in particular for the
people, of whom now it plainly appeared they had intelligence.

The two Englishmen seeing this, thinking themselves not secure where they
stood, because it was likely some of the wild people might come that way,
and they might come too many together, thought it proper to make another
retreat about half a mile farther; believing, as it afterwards happened,
that the further they strolled, the fewer would be together.  Their next
halt was at the entrance into a very thick-grown part of the woods, and
where an old trunk of a tree stood, which was hollow and very large; and
in this tree they both took their standing, resolving to see there what
might offer.  They had not stood there long before two of the savages
appeared running directly that way, as if they had already had notice
where they stood, and were coming up to attack them; and a little way
farther they espied three more coming after them, and five more beyond
them, all coming the same way; besides which, they saw seven or eight
more at a distance, running another way; for in a word, they ran every
way, like sportsmen beating for their game.

The poor men were now in great perplexity whether they should stand and
keep their posture or fly; but after a very short debate with themselves,
they considered that if the savages ranged the country thus before help
came, they might perhaps find their retreat in the woods, and then all
would be lost; so they resolved to stand them there, and if they were too
many to deal with, then they would get up to the top of the tree, from
whence they doubted not to defend themselves, fire excepted, as long as
their ammunition lasted, though all the savages that were landed, which
was near fifty, were to attack them.

Having resolved upon this, they next considered whether they should fire
at the first two, or wait for the three, and so take the middle party, by
which the two and the five that followed would be separated; at length
they resolved to let the first two pass by, unless they should spy them
the tree, and come to attack them.  The first two savages confirmed them
also in this resolution, by turning a little from them towards another
part of the wood; but the three, and the five after them, came forward
directly to the tree, as if they had known the Englishmen were there.
Seeing them come so straight towards them, they resolved to take them in
a line as they came: and as they resolved to fire but one at a time,
perhaps the first shot might hit them all three; for which purpose the
man who was to fire put three or four small bullets into his piece; and
having a fair loophole, as it were, from a broken hole in the tree, he
took a sure aim, without being seen, waiting till they were within about
thirty yards of the tree, so that he could not miss.

While they were thus waiting, and the savages came on, they plainly saw
that one of the three was the runaway savage that had escaped from them;
and they both knew him distinctly, and resolved that, if possible, he
should not escape, though they should both fire; so the other stood ready
with his piece, that if he did not drop at the first shot, he should be
sure to have a second.  But the first was too good a marksman to miss his
aim; for as the savages kept near one another, a little behind in a line,
he fired, and hit two of them directly; the foremost was killed outright,
being shot in the head; the second, which was the runaway Indian, was
shot through the body, and fell, but was not quite dead; and the third
had a little scratch in the shoulder, perhaps by the same ball that went
through the body of the second; and being dreadfully frightened, though
not so much hurt, sat down upon the ground, screaming and yelling in a
hideous manner.

The five that were behind, more frightened with the noise than sensible
of the danger, stood still at first; for the woods made the sound a
thousand times bigger than it really was, the echoes rattling from one
side to another, and the fowls rising from all parts, screaming, and
every sort making a different noise, according to their kind; just as it
was when I fired the first gun that perhaps was ever shot off in the
island.

However, all being silent again, and they not knowing what the matter
was, came on unconcerned, till they came to the place where their
companions lay in a condition miserable enough.  Here the poor ignorant
creatures, not sensible that they were within reach of the same mischief,
stood all together over the wounded man, talking, and, as may be
supposed, inquiring of him how he came to be hurt; and who, it is very
rational to believe, told them that a flash of fire first, and
immediately after that thunder from their gods, had killed those two and
wounded him.  This, I say, is rational; for nothing is more certain than
that, as they saw no man near them, so they had never heard a gun in all
their lives, nor so much as heard of a gun; neither knew they anything of
killing and wounding at a distance with fire and bullets: if they had,
one might reasonably believe they would not have stood so unconcerned to
view the fate of their fellows, without some apprehensions of their own.

Our two men, as they confessed to me, were grieved to be obliged to kill
so many poor creatures, who had no notion of their danger; yet, having
them all thus in their power, and the first having loaded his piece
again, resolved to let fly both together among them; and singling out, by
agreement, which to aim at, they shot together, and killed, or very much
wounded, four of them; the fifth, frightened even to death, though not
hurt, fell with the rest; so that our men, seeing them all fall together,
thought they had killed them all.

The belief that the savages were all killed made our two men come boldly
out from the tree before they had charged their guns, which was a wrong
step; and they were under some surprise when they came to the place, and
found no less than four of them alive, and of them two very little hurt,
and one not at all.  This obliged them to fall upon them with the stocks
of their muskets; and first they made sure of the runaway savage, that
had been the cause of all the mischief, and of another that was hurt in
the knee, and put them out of their pain; then the man that was not hurt
at all came and kneeled down to them, with his two hands held up, and
made piteous moans to them, by gestures and signs, for his life, but
could not say one word to them that they could understand.  However, they
made signs to him to sit down at the foot of a tree hard by; and one of
the Englishmen, with a piece of rope-yarn, which he had by great chance
in his pocket, tied his two hands behind him, and there they left him;
and with what speed they could made after the other two, which were gone
before, fearing they, or any more of them, should find way to their
covered place in the woods, where their wives, and the few goods they had
left, lay.  They came once in sight of the two men, but it was at a great
distance; however, they had the satisfaction to see them cross over a
valley towards the sea, quite the contrary way from that which led to
their retreat, which they were afraid of; and being satisfied with that,
they went back to the tree where they left their prisoner, who, as they
supposed, was delivered by his comrades, for he was gone, and the two
pieces of rope-yarn with which they had bound him lay just at the foot of
the tree.

They were now in as great concern as before, not knowing what course to
take, or how near the enemy might be, or in what number; so they resolved
to go away to the place where their wives were, to see if all was well
there, and to make them easy.  These were in fright enough, to be sure;
for though the savages were their own countrymen, yet they were most
terribly afraid of them, and perhaps the more for the knowledge they had
of them.  When they came there, they found the savages had been in the
wood, and very near that place, but had not found it; for it was indeed
inaccessible, from the trees standing so thick, unless the persons
seeking it had been directed by those that knew it, which these did not:
they found, therefore, everything very safe, only the women in a terrible
fright.  While they were here they had the comfort to have seven of the
Spaniards come to their assistance; the other ten, with their servants,
and Friday's father, were gone in a body to defend their bower, and the
corn and cattle that were kept there, in case the savages should have
roved over to that side of the country, but they did not spread so far.
With the seven Spaniards came one of the three savages, who, as I said,
were their prisoners formerly; and with them also came the savage whom
the Englishmen had left bound hand and foot at the tree; for it seems
they came that way, saw the slaughter of the seven men, and unbound the
eighth, and brought him along with them; where, however, they were
obliged to bind again, as they had the two others who were left when the
third ran away.

The prisoners now began to be a burden to them; and they were so afraid
of their escaping, that they were once resolving to kill them all,
believing they were under an absolute necessity to do so for their own
preservation.  However, the chief of the Spaniards would not consent to
it, but ordered, for the present, that they should be sent out of the way
to my old cave in the valley, and be kept there, with two Spaniards to
guard them, and have food for their subsistence, which was done; and they
were bound there hand and foot for that night.

When the Spaniards came, the two Englishmen were so encouraged, that they
could not satisfy themselves to stay any longer there; but taking five of
the Spaniards, and themselves, with four muskets and a pistol among them,
and two stout quarter-staves, away they went in quest of the savages.  And
first they came to the tree where the men lay that had been killed; but
it was easy to see that some more of the savages had been there, for they
had attempted to carry their dead men away, and had dragged two of them a
good way, but had given it over.  From thence they advanced to the first
rising ground, where they had stood and seen their camp destroyed, and
where they had the mortification still to see some of the smoke; but
neither could they here see any of the savages.  They then resolved,
though with all possible caution, to go forward towards their ruined
plantation; but, a little before they came thither, coming in sight of
the sea-shore, they saw plainly the savages all embarked again in their
canoes, in order to be gone.  They seemed sorry at first that there was
no way to come at them, to give them a parting blow; but, upon the whole,
they were very well satisfied to be rid of them.

The poor Englishmen being now twice ruined, and all their improvements
destroyed, the rest all agreed to come and help them to rebuild, and
assist them with needful supplies.  Their three countrymen, who were not
yet noted for having the least inclination to do any good, yet as soon as
they heard of it (for they, living remote eastward, knew nothing of the
matter till all was over), came and offered their help and assistance,
and did, very friendly, work for several days to restore their habitation
and make necessaries for them.  And thus in a little time they were set
upon their legs again.

About two days after this they had the farther satisfaction of seeing
three of the savages' canoes come driving on shore, and, at some distance
from them, two drowned men, by which they had reason to believe that they
had met with a storm at sea, which had overset some of them; for it had
blown very hard the night after they went off.  However, as some might
miscarry, so, on the other hand, enough of them escaped to inform the
rest, as well of what they had done as of what had happened to them; and
to whet them on to another enterprise of the same nature, which they, it
seems, resolved to attempt, with sufficient force to carry all before
them; for except what the first man had told them of inhabitants, they
could say little of it of their own knowledge, for they never saw one
man; and the fellow being killed that had affirmed it, they had no other
witness to confirm it to, them.




CHAPTER V--A GREAT VICTORY


It was five or six months after this before they heard any more of the
savages, in which time our men were in hopes they had either forgot their
former bad luck, or given over hopes of better; when, on a sudden, they
were invaded with a most formidable fleet of no less than
eight-and-twenty canoes, full of savages, armed with bows and arrows,
great clubs, wooden swords, and such like engines of war; and they
brought such numbers with them, that, in short, it put all our people
into the utmost consternation.

As they came on shore in the evening, and at the easternmost side of the
island, our men had that night to consult and consider what to do.  In
the first place, knowing that their being entirely concealed was their
only safety before and would be much more so now, while the number of
their enemies would be so great, they resolved, first of all, to take
down the huts which were built for the two Englishmen, and drive away
their goats to the old cave; because they supposed the savages would go
directly thither, as soon as it was day, to play the old game over again,
though they did not now land within two leagues of it.  In the next
place, they drove away all the flocks of goats they had at the old bower,
as I called it, which belonged to the Spaniards; and, in short, left as
little appearance of inhabitants anywhere as was possible; and the next
morning early they posted themselves, with all their force, at the
plantation of the two men, to wait for their coming.  As they guessed, so
it happened: these new invaders, leaving their canoes at the east end of
the island, came ranging along the shore, directly towards the place, to
the number of two hundred and fifty, as near as our men could judge.  Our
army was but small indeed; but, that which was worse, they had not arms
for all their number.  The whole account, it seems, stood thus: first, as
to men, seventeen Spaniards, five Englishmen, old Friday, the three
slaves taken with the women, who proved very faithful, and three other
slaves, who lived with the Spaniards.  To arm these, they had eleven
muskets, five pistols, three fowling-pieces, five muskets or
fowling-pieces which were taken by me from the mutinous seamen whom I
reduced, two swords, and three old halberds.

To their slaves they did not give either musket or fusee; but they had
each a halberd, or a long staff, like a quarter-staff, with a great spike
of iron fastened into each end of it, and by his side a hatchet; also
every one of our men had a hatchet.  Two of the women could not be
prevailed upon but they would come into the fight, and they had bows and
arrows, which the Spaniards had taken from the savages when the first
action happened, which I have spoken of, where the Indians fought with
one another; and the women had hatchets too.

The chief Spaniard, whom I described so often, commanded the whole; and
Will Atkins, who, though a dreadful fellow for wickedness, was a most
daring, bold fellow, commanded under him.  The savages came forward like
lions; and our men, which was the worst of their fate, had no advantage
in their situation; only that Will Atkins, who now proved a most useful
fellow, with six men, was planted just behind a small thicket of bushes
as an advanced guard, with orders to let the first of them pass by and
then fire into the middle of them, and as soon as he had fired, to make
his retreat as nimbly as he could round a part of the wood, and so come
in behind the Spaniards, where they stood, having a thicket of trees
before them.

When the savages came on, they ran straggling about every way in heaps,
out of all manner of order, and Will Atkins let about fifty of them pass
by him; then seeing the rest come in a very thick throng, he orders three
of his men to fire, having loaded their muskets with six or seven bullets
apiece, about as big as large pistol-bullets.  How many they killed or
wounded they knew not, but the consternation and surprise was
inexpressible among the savages; they were frightened to the last degree
to hear such a dreadful noise, and see their men killed, and others hurt,
but see nobody that did it; when, in the middle of their fright, Will
Atkins and his other three let fly again among the thickest of them; and
in less than a minute the first three, being loaded again, gave them a
third volley.

Had Will Atkins and his men retired immediately, as soon as they had
fired, as they were ordered to do, or had the rest of the body been at
hand to have poured in their shot continually, the savages had been
effectually routed; for the terror that was among them came principally
from this, that they were killed by the gods with thunder and lightning,
and could see nobody that hurt them.  But Will Atkins, staying to load
again, discovered the cheat: some of the savages who were at a distance
spying them, came upon them behind; and though Atkins and his men fired
at them also, two or three times, and killed above twenty, retiring as
fast as they could, yet they wounded Atkins himself, and killed one of
his fellow-Englishmen with their arrows, as they did afterwards one
Spaniard, and one of the Indian slaves who came with the women.  This
slave was a most gallant fellow, and fought most desperately, killing
five of them with his own hand, having no weapon but one of the armed
staves and a hatchet.

Our men being thus hard laid at, Atkins wounded, and two other men
killed, retreated to a rising ground in the wood; and the Spaniards,
after firing three volleys upon them, retreated also; for their number
was so great, and they were so desperate, that though above fifty of them
were killed, and more than as many wounded, yet they came on in the teeth
of our men, fearless of danger, and shot their arrows like a cloud; and
it was observed that their wounded men, who were not quite disabled, were
made outrageous by their wounds, and fought like madmen.

When our men retreated, they left the Spaniard and the Englishman that
were killed behind them: and the savages, when they came up to them,
killed them over again in a wretched manner, breaking their arms, legs,
and heads, with their clubs and wooden swords, like true savages; but
finding our men were gone, they did not seem inclined to pursue them, but
drew themselves up in a ring, which is, it seems, their custom, and
shouted twice, in token of their victory; after which, they had the
mortification to see several of their wounded men fall, dying with the
mere loss of blood.

The Spaniard governor having drawn his little body up together upon a
rising ground, Atkins, though he was wounded, would have had them march
and charge again all together at once: but the Spaniard replied,
"Seignior Atkins, you see how their wounded men fight; let them alone
till morning; all the wounded men will be stiff and sore with their
wounds, and faint with the loss of blood; and so we shall have the fewer
to engage."  This advice was good: but Will Atkins replied merrily, "That
is true, seignior, and so shall I too; and that is the reason I would go
on while I am warm."  "Well, Seignior Atkins," says the Spaniard, "you
have behaved gallantly, and done your part; we will fight for you if you
cannot come on; but I think it best to stay till morning:" so they
waited.

But as it was a clear moonlight night, and they found the savages in
great disorder about their dead and wounded men, and a great noise and
hurry among them where they lay, they afterwards resolved to fall upon
them in the night, especially if they could come to give them but one
volley before they were discovered, which they had a fair opportunity to
do; for one of the Englishmen in whose quarter it was where the fight
began, led them round between the woods and the seaside westward, and
then turning short south, they came so near where the thickest of them
lay, that before they were seen or heard eight of them fired in among
them, and did dreadful execution upon them; in half a minute more eight
others fired after them, pouring in their small shot in such a quantity
that abundance were killed and wounded; and all this while they were not
able to see who hurt them, or which way to fly.

The Spaniards charged again with the utmost expedition, and then divided
themselves into three bodies, and resolved to fall in among them all
together.  They had in each body eight persons, that is to say, twenty-
two men and the two women, who, by the way, fought desperately.  They
divided the firearms equally in each party, as well as the halberds and
staves.  They would have had the women kept back, but they said they were
resolved to die with their husbands.  Having thus formed their little
army, they marched out from among the trees, and came up to the teeth of
the enemy, shouting and hallooing as loud as they could; the savages
stood all together, but were in the utmost confusion, hearing the noise
of our men shouting from three quarters together.  They would have fought
if they had seen us; for as soon as we came near enough to be seen, some
arrows were shot, and poor old Friday was wounded, though not
dangerously.  But our men gave them no time, but running up to them,
fired among them three ways, and then fell in with the butt-ends of their
muskets, their swords, armed staves, and hatchets, and laid about them so
well that, in a word, they set up a dismal screaming and howling, flying
to save their lives which way soever they could.

Our men were tired with the execution, and killed or mortally wounded in
the two fights about one hundred and eighty of them; the rest, being
frightened out of their wits, scoured through the woods and over the
hills, with all the speed that fear and nimble feet could help them to;
and as we did not trouble ourselves much to pursue them, they got all
together to the seaside, where they landed, and where their canoes lay.
But their disaster was not at an end yet; for it blew a terrible storm of
wind that evening from the sea, so that it was impossible for them to go
off; nay, the storm continuing all night, when the tide came up their
canoes were most of them driven by the surge of the sea so high upon the
shore that it required infinite toil to get them off; and some of them
were even dashed to pieces against the beach.  Our men, though glad of
their victory, yet got little rest that night; but having refreshed
themselves as well as they could, they resolved to march to that part of
the island where the savages were fled, and see what posture they were
in.  This necessarily led them over the place where the fight had been,
and where they found several of the poor creatures not quite dead, and
yet past recovering life; a sight disagreeable enough to generous minds,
for a truly great man though obliged by the law of battle to destroy his
enemy, takes no delight in his misery.  However, there was no need to
give any orders in this case; for their own savages, who were their
servants, despatched these poor creatures with their hatchets.

At length they came in view of the place where the more miserable remains
of the savages' army lay, where there appeared about a hundred still;
their posture was generally sitting upon the ground, with their knees up
towards their mouth, and the head put between the two hands, leaning down
upon the knees.  When our men came within two musket-shots of them, the
Spaniard governor ordered two muskets to be fired without ball, to alarm
them; this he did, that by their countenance he might know what to
expect, whether they were still in heart to fight, or were so heartily
beaten as to be discouraged, and so he might manage accordingly.  This
stratagem took: for as soon as the savages heard the first gun, and saw
the flash of the second, they started up upon their feet in the greatest
consternation imaginable; and as our men advanced swiftly towards them,
they all ran screaming and yelling away, with a kind of howling noise,
which our men did not understand, and had never heard before; and thus
they ran up the hills into the country.

At first our men had much rather the weather had been calm, and they had
all gone away to sea: but they did not then consider that this might
probably have been the occasion of their coming again in such multitudes
as not to be resisted, or, at least, to come so many and so often as
would quite desolate the island, and starve them.  Will Atkins,
therefore, who notwithstanding his wound kept always with them, proved
the best counsellor in this case: his advice was, to take the advantage
that offered, and step in between them and their boats, and so deprive
them of the capacity of ever returning any more to plague the island.
They consulted long about this; and some were against it for fear of
making the wretches fly to the woods and live there desperate, and so
they should have them to hunt like wild beasts, be afraid to stir out
about their business, and have their plantations continually rifled, all
their tame goats destroyed, and, in short, be reduced to a life of
continual distress.

Will Atkins told them they had better have to do with a hundred men than
with a hundred nations; that, as they must destroy their boats, so they
must destroy the men, or be all of them destroyed themselves.  In a word,
he showed them the necessity of it so plainly that they all came into it;
so they went to work immediately with the boats, and getting some dry
wood together from a dead tree, they tried to set some of them on fire,
but they were so wet that they would not burn; however, the fire so
burned the upper part that it soon made them unfit for use at sea.

When the Indians saw what they were about, some of them came running out
of the woods, and coming as near as they could to our men, kneeled down
and cried, "Oa, Oa, Waramokoa," and some other words of their language,
which none of the others understood anything of; but as they made pitiful
gestures and strange noises, it was easy to understand they begged to
have their boats spared, and that they would be gone, and never come
there again.  But our men were now satisfied that they had no way to
preserve themselves, or to save their colony, but effectually to prevent
any of these people from ever going home again; depending upon this, that
if even so much as one of them got back into their country to tell the
story, the colony was undone; so that, letting them know that they should
not have any mercy, they fell to work with their canoes, and destroyed
every one that the storm had not destroyed before; at the sight of which,
the savages raised a hideous cry in the woods, which our people heard
plain enough, after which they ran about the island like distracted men,
so that, in a word, our men did not really know what at first to do with
them.  Nor did the Spaniards, with all their prudence, consider that
while they made those people thus desperate, they ought to have kept a
good guard at the same time upon their plantations; for though it is true
they had driven away their cattle, and the Indians did not find out their
main retreat, I mean my old castle at the hill, nor the cave in the
valley, yet they found out my plantation at the bower, and pulled it all
to pieces, and all the fences and planting about it; trod all the corn
under foot, tore up the vines and grapes, being just then almost ripe,
and did our men inestimable damage, though to themselves not one
farthing's worth of service.

Though our men were able to fight them upon all occasions, yet they were
in no condition to pursue them, or hunt them up and down; for as they
were too nimble of foot for our people when they found them single, so
our men durst not go abroad single, for fear of being surrounded with
their numbers.  The best was they had no weapons; for though they had
bows, they had no arrows left, nor any materials to make any; nor had
they any edge-tool among them.  The extremity and distress they were
reduced to was great, and indeed deplorable; but, at the same time, our
men were also brought to very bad circumstances by them, for though their
retreats were preserved, yet their provision was destroyed, and their
harvest spoiled, and what to do, or which way to turn themselves, they
knew not.  The only refuge they had now was the stock of cattle they had
in the valley by the cave, and some little corn which grew there, and the
plantation of the three Englishmen.  Will Atkins and his comrades were
now reduced to two; one of them being killed by an arrow, which struck
him on the side of his head, just under the temple, so that he never
spoke more; and it was very remarkable that this was the same barbarous
fellow that cut the poor savage slave with his hatchet, and who
afterwards intended to have murdered the Spaniards.

I looked upon their case to have been worse at this time than mine was at
any time, after I first discovered the grains of barley and rice, and got
into the manner of planting and raising my corn, and my tame cattle; for
now they had, as I may say, a hundred wolves upon the island, which would
devour everything they could come at, yet could be hardly come at
themselves.

When they saw what their circumstances were, the first thing they
concluded was, that they would, if possible, drive the savages up to the
farther part of the island, south-west, that if any more came on shore
they might not find one another; then, that they would daily hunt and
harass them, and kill as many of them as they could come at, till they
had reduced their number; and if they could at last tame them, and bring
them to anything, they would give them corn, and teach them how to plant,
and live upon their daily labour.  In order to do this, they so followed
them, and so terrified them with their guns, that in a few days, if any
of them fired a gun at an Indian, if he did not hit him, yet he would
fall down for fear.  So dreadfully frightened were they that they kept
out of sight farther and farther; till at last our men followed them, and
almost every day killing or wounding some of them, they kept up in the
woods or hollow places so much, that it reduced them to the utmost misery
for want of food; and many were afterwards found dead in the woods,
without any hurt, absolutely starved to death.

When our men found this, it made their hearts relent, and pity moved
them, especially the generous-minded Spaniard governor; and he proposed,
if possible, to take one of them alive and bring him to understand what
they meant, so far as to be able to act as interpreter, and go among them
and see if they might be brought to some conditions that might be
depended upon, to save their lives and do us no harm.

It was some while before any of them could be taken; but being weak and
half-starved, one of them was at last surprised and made a prisoner.  He
was sullen at first, and would neither eat nor drink; but finding himself
kindly used, and victuals given to him, and no violence offered him, he
at last grew tractable, and came to himself.  They often brought old
Friday to talk to him, who always told him how kind the others would be
to them all; that they would not only save their lives, but give them
part of the island to live in, provided they would give satisfaction that
they would keep in their own bounds, and not come beyond it to injure or
prejudice others; and that they should have corn given them to plant and
make it grow for their bread, and some bread given them for their present
subsistence; and old Friday bade the fellow go and talk with the rest of
his countrymen, and see what they said to it; assuring them that, if they
did not agree immediately, they should be all destroyed.

The poor wretches, thoroughly humbled, and reduced in number to about
thirty-seven, closed with the proposal at the first offer, and begged to
have some food given them; upon which twelve Spaniards and two
Englishmen, well armed, with three Indian slaves and old Friday, marched
to the place where they were.  The three Indian slaves carried them a
large quantity of bread, some rice boiled up to cakes and dried in the
sun, and three live goats; and they were ordered to go to the side of a
hill, where they sat down, ate their provisions very thankfully, and were
the most faithful fellows to their words that could be thought of; for,
except when they came to beg victuals and directions, they never came out
of their bounds; and there they lived when I came to the island and I
went to see them.  They had taught them both to plant corn, make bread,
breed tame goats, and milk them: they wanted nothing but wives in order
for them soon to become a nation.  They were confined to a neck of land,
surrounded with high rocks behind them, and lying plain towards the sea
before them, on the south-east corner of the island.  They had land
enough, and it was very good and fruitful; about a mile and a half broad,
and three or four miles in length.  Our men taught them to make wooden
spades, such as I made for myself, and gave among them twelve hatchets
and three or four knives; and there they lived, the most subjected,
innocent creatures that ever were heard of.

After this the colony enjoyed a perfect tranquillity with respect to the
savages, till I came to revisit them, which was about two years after;
not but that, now and then, some canoes of savages came on shore for
their triumphal, unnatural feasts; but as they were of several nations,
and perhaps had never heard of those that came before, or the reason of
it, they did not make any search or inquiry after their countrymen; and
if they had, it would have been very hard to have found them out.

Thus, I think, I have given a full account of all that happened to them
till my return, at least that was worth notice.  The Indians were
wonderfully civilised by them, and they frequently went among them; but
they forbid, on pain of death, any one of the Indians coming to them,
because they would not have their settlement betrayed again.  One thing
was very remarkable, viz. that they taught the savages to make wicker-
work, or baskets, but they soon outdid their masters: for they made
abundance of ingenious things in wicker-work, particularly baskets,
sieves, bird-cages, cupboards, &c.; as also chairs, stools, beds,
couches, being very ingenious at such work when they were once put in the
way of it.

My coming was a particular relief to these people, because we furnished
them with knives, scissors, spades, shovels, pick-axes, and all things of
that kind which they could want.  With the help of those tools they were
so very handy that they came at last to build up their huts or houses
very handsomely, raddling or working it up like basket-work all the way
round.  This piece of ingenuity, although it looked very odd, was an
exceeding good fence, as well against heat as against all sorts of
vermin; and our men were so taken with it that they got the Indians to
come and do the like for them; so that when I came to see the two
Englishmen's colonies, they looked at a distance as if they all lived
like bees in a hive.

As for Will Atkins, who was now become a very industrious, useful, and
sober fellow, he had made himself such a tent of basket-work as I believe
was never seen; it was one hundred and twenty paces round on the outside,
as I measured by my steps; the walls were as close worked as a basket, in
panels or squares of thirty-two in number, and very strong, standing
about seven feet high; in the middle was another not above twenty-two
paces round, but built stronger, being octagon in its form, and in the
eight corners stood eight very strong posts; round the top of which he
laid strong pieces, knit together with wooden pins, from which he raised
a pyramid for a handsome roof of eight rafters, joined together very
well, though he had no nails, and only a few iron spikes, which he made
himself, too, out of the old iron that I had left there.  Indeed, this
fellow showed abundance of ingenuity in several things which he had no
knowledge of: he made him a forge, with a pair of wooden bellows to blow
the fire; he made himself charcoal for his work; and he formed out of the
iron crows a middling good anvil to hammer upon: in this manner he made
many things, but especially hooks, staples, and spikes, bolts and hinges.
But to return to the house: after he had pitched the roof of his
innermost tent, he worked it up between the rafters with basket-work, so
firm, and thatched that over again so ingeniously with rice-straw, and
over that a large leaf of a tree, which covered the top, that his house
was as dry as if it had been tiled or slated.  He owned, indeed, that the
savages had made the basket-work for him.  The outer circuit was covered
as a lean-to all round this inner apartment, and long rafters lay from
the thirty-two angles to the top posts of the inner house, being about
twenty feet distant, so that there was a space like a walk within the
outer wicker-wall, and without the inner, near twenty feet wide.

The inner place he partitioned off with the same wickerwork, but much
fairer, and divided into six apartments, so that he had six rooms on a
floor, and out of every one of these there was a door: first into the
entry, or coming into the main tent, another door into the main tent, and
another door into the space or walk that was round it; so that walk was
also divided into six equal parts, which served not only for a retreat,
but to store up any necessaries which the family had occasion for.  These
six spaces not taking up the whole circumference, what other apartments
the outer circle had were thus ordered: As soon as you were in at the
door of the outer circle you had a short passage straight before you to
the door of the inner house; but on either side was a wicker partition
and a door in it, by which you went first into a large room or
storehouse, twenty feet wide and about thirty feet long, and through that
into another not quite so long; so that in the outer circle were ten
handsome rooms, six of which were only to be come at through the
apartments of the inner tent, and served as closets or retiring rooms to
the respective chambers of the inner circle; and four large warehouses,
or barns, or what you please to call them, which went through one
another, two on either hand of the passage, that led through the outer
door to the inner tent.  Such a piece of basket-work, I believe, was
never seen in the world, nor a house or tent so neatly contrived, much
less so built.  In this great bee-hive lived the three families, that is
to say, Will Atkins and his companion; the third was killed, but his wife
remained with three children, and the other two were not at all backward
to give the widow her full share of everything, I mean as to their corn,
milk, grapes, &c., and when they killed a kid, or found a turtle on the
shore; so that they all lived well enough; though it was true they were
not so industrious as the other two, as has been observed already.

One thing, however, cannot be omitted, viz. that as for religion, I do
not know that there was anything of that kind among them; they often,
indeed, put one another in mind that there was a God, by the very common
method of seamen, swearing by His name: nor were their poor ignorant
savage wives much better for having been married to Christians, as we
must call them; for as they knew very little of God themselves, so they
were utterly incapable of entering into any discourse with their wives
about a God, or to talk anything to them concerning religion.

The utmost of all the improvement which I can say the wives had made from
them was, that they had taught them to speak English pretty well; and
most of their children, who were near twenty in all, were taught to speak
English too, from their first learning to speak, though they at first
spoke it in a very broken manner, like their mothers.  None of these
children were above six years old when I came thither, for it was not
much above seven years since they had fetched these five savage ladies
over; they had all children, more or less: the mothers were all a good
sort of well-governed, quiet, laborious women, modest and decent, helpful
to one another, mighty observant, and subject to their masters (I cannot
call them husbands), and lacked nothing but to be well instructed in the
Christian religion, and to be legally married; both of which were happily
brought about afterwards by my means, or at least in consequence of my
coming among them.




CHAPTER VI--THE FRENCH CLERGYMAN'S COUNSEL


Having thus given an account of the colony in general, and pretty much of
my runagate Englishmen, I must say something of the Spaniards, who were
the main body of the family, and in whose story there are some incidents
also remarkable enough.

I had a great many discourses with them about their circumstances when
they were among the savages.  They told me readily that they had no
instances to give of their application or ingenuity in that country; that
they were a poor, miserable, dejected handful of people; that even if
means had been put into their hands, yet they had so abandoned themselves
to despair, and were so sunk under the weight of their misfortune, that
they thought of nothing but starving.  One of them, a grave and sensible
man, told me he was convinced they were in the wrong; that it was not the
part of wise men to give themselves up to their misery, but always to
take hold of the helps which reason offered, as well for present support
as for future deliverance: he told me that grief was the most senseless,
insignificant passion in the world, for that it regarded only things
past, which were generally impossible to be recalled or to be remedied,
but had no views of things to come, and had no share in anything that
looked like deliverance, but rather added to the affliction than proposed
a remedy; and upon this he repeated a Spanish proverb, which, though I
cannot repeat in the same words that he spoke it in, yet I remember I
made it into an English proverb of my own, thus:--

   "In trouble to be troubled,
   Is to have your trouble doubled."

He then ran on in remarks upon all the little improvements I had made in
my solitude: my unwearied application, as he called it; and how I had
made a condition, which in its circumstances was at first much worse than
theirs, a thousand times more happy than theirs was, even now when they
were all together.  He told me it was remarkable that Englishmen had a
greater presence of mind in their distress than any people that ever he
met with; that their unhappy nation and the Portuguese were the worst men
in the world to struggle with misfortunes; for that their first step in
dangers, after the common efforts were over, was to despair, lie down
under it, and die, without rousing their thoughts up to proper remedies
for escape.

I told him their case and mine differed exceedingly; that they were cast
upon the shore without necessaries, without supply of food, or present
sustenance till they could provide for it; that, it was true, I had this
further disadvantage and discomfort, that I was alone; but then the
supplies I had providentially thrown into my hands, by the unexpected
driving of the ship on the shore, was such a help as would have
encouraged any creature in the world to have applied himself as I had
done.  "Seignior," says the Spaniard, "had we poor Spaniards been in your
case, we should never have got half those things out of the ship, as you
did: nay," says he, "we should never have found means to have got a raft
to carry them, or to have got the raft on shore without boat or sail: and
how much less should we have done if any of us had been alone!"  Well, I
desired him to abate his compliments, and go on with the history of their
coming on shore, where they landed.  He told me they unhappily landed at
a place where there were people without provisions; whereas, had they had
the common sense to put off to sea again, and gone to another island a
little further, they had found provisions, though without people: there
being an island that way, as they had been told, where there were
provisions, though no people--that is to say, that the Spaniards of
Trinidad had frequently been there, and had filled the island with goats
and hogs at several times, where they had bred in such multitudes, and
where turtle and sea-fowls were in such plenty, that they could have been
in no want of flesh, though they had found no bread; whereas, here they
were only sustained with a few roots and herbs, which they understood
not, and which had no substance in them, and which the inhabitants gave
them sparingly enough; and they could treat them no better, unless they
would turn cannibals and eat men's flesh.

They gave me an account how many ways they strove to civilise the savages
they were with, and to teach them rational customs in the ordinary way of
living, but in vain; and how they retorted upon them as unjust that they
who came there for assistance and support should attempt to set up for
instructors to those that gave them food; intimating, it seems, that none
should set up for the instructors of others but those who could live
without them.  They gave me dismal accounts of the extremities they were
driven to; how sometimes they were many days without any food at all, the
island they were upon being inhabited by a sort of savages that lived
more indolent, and for that reason were less supplied with the
necessaries of life, than they had reason to believe others were in the
same part of the world; and yet they found that these savages were less
ravenous and voracious than those who had better supplies of food.  Also,
they added, they could not but see with what demonstrations of wisdom and
goodness the governing providence of God directs the events of things in
this world, which, they said, appeared in their circumstances: for if,
pressed by the hardships they were under, and the barrenness of the
country where they were, they had searched after a better to live in,
they had then been out of the way of the relief that happened to them by
my means.

They then gave me an account how the savages whom they lived amongst
expected them to go out with them into their wars; and, it was true, that
as they had firearms with them, had they not had the disaster to lose
their ammunition, they could have been serviceable not only to their
friends, but have made themselves terrible both to friends and enemies;
but being without powder and shot, and yet in a condition that they could
not in reason decline to go out with their landlords to their wars; so
when they came into the field of battle they were in a worse condition
than the savages themselves, for they had neither bows nor arrows, nor
could they use those the savages gave them.  So they could do nothing but
stand still and be wounded with arrows, till they came up to the teeth of
the enemy; and then, indeed, the three halberds they had were of use to
them; and they would often drive a whole little army before them with
those halberds, and sharpened sticks put into the muzzles of their
muskets.  But for all this they were sometimes surrounded with
multitudes, and in great danger from their arrows, till at last they
found the way to make themselves large targets of wood, which they
covered with skins of wild beasts, whose names they knew not, and these
covered them from the arrows of the savages: that, notwithstanding these,
they were sometimes in great danger; and five of them were once knocked
down together with the clubs of the savages, which was the time when one
of them was taken prisoner--that is to say, the Spaniard whom I relieved.
At first they thought he had been killed; but when they afterwards heard
he was taken prisoner, they were under the greatest grief imaginable, and
would willingly have all ventured their lives to have rescued him.

They told me that when they were so knocked down, the rest of their
company rescued them, and stood over them fighting till they were come to
themselves, all but him whom they thought had been dead; and then they
made their way with their halberds and pieces, standing close together in
a line, through a body of above a thousand savages, beating down all that
came in their way, got the victory over their enemies, but to their great
sorrow, because it was with the loss of their friend, whom the other
party finding alive, carried off with some others, as I gave an account
before.  They described, most affectionately, how they were surprised
with joy at the return of their friend and companion in misery, who they
thought had been devoured by wild beasts of the worst kind--wild men; and
yet, how more and more they were surprised with the account he gave them
of his errand, and that there was a Christian in any place near, much
more one that was able, and had humanity enough, to contribute to their
deliverance.

They described how they were astonished at the sight of the relief I sent
them, and at the appearance of loaves of bread--things they had not seen
since their coming to that miserable place; how often they crossed it and
blessed it as bread sent from heaven; and what a reviving cordial it was
to their spirits to taste it, as also the other things I had sent for
their supply; and, after all, they would have told me something of the
joy they were in at the sight of a boat and pilots, to carry them away to
the person and place from whence all these new comforts came.  But it was
impossible to express it by words, for their excessive joy naturally
driving them to unbecoming extravagances, they had no way to describe
them but by telling me they bordered upon lunacy, having no way to give
vent to their passions suitable to the sense that was upon them; that in
some it worked one way and in some another; and that some of them,
through a surprise of joy, would burst into tears, others be stark mad,
and others immediately faint.  This discourse extremely affected me, and
called to my mind Friday's ecstasy when he met his father, and the poor
people's ecstasy when I took them up at sea after their ship was on fire;
the joy of the mate of the ship when he found himself delivered in the
place where he expected to perish; and my own joy, when, after twenty-
eight years' captivity, I found a good ship ready to carry me to my own
country.  All these things made me more sensible of the relation of these
poor men, and more affected with it.

Having thus given a view of the state of things as I found them, I must
relate the heads of what I did for these people, and the condition in
which I left them.  It was their opinion, and mine too, that they would
be troubled no more with the savages, or if they were, they would be able
to cut them off, if they were twice as many as before; so they had no
concern about that.  Then I entered into a serious discourse with the
Spaniard, whom I call governor, about their stay in the island; for as I
was not come to carry any of them off, so it would not be just to carry
off some and leave others, who, perhaps, would be unwilling to stay if
their strength was diminished.  On the other hand, I told them I came to
establish them there, not to remove them; and then I let them know that I
had brought with me relief of sundry kinds for them; that I had been at a
great charge to supply them with all things necessary, as well for their
convenience as their defence; and that I had such and such particular
persons with me, as well to increase and recruit their number, as by the
particular necessary employments which they were bred to, being
artificers, to assist them in those things in which at present they were
in want.

They were all together when I talked thus to them; and before I delivered
to them the stores I had brought, I asked them, one by one, if they had
entirely forgot and buried the first animosities that had been among
them, and would shake hands with one another, and engage in a strict
friendship and union of interest, that so there might be no more
misunderstandings and jealousies.

Will Atkins, with abundance of frankness and good humour, said they had
met with affliction enough to make them all sober, and enemies enough to
make them all friends; that, for his part, he would live and die with
them, and was so far from designing anything against the Spaniards, that
he owned they had done nothing to him but what his own mad humour made
necessary, and what he would have done, and perhaps worse, in their case;
and that he would ask them pardon, if I desired it, for the foolish and
brutish things he had done to them, and was very willing and desirous of
living in terms of entire friendship and union with them, and would do
anything that lay in his power to convince them of it; and as for going
to England, he cared not if he did not go thither these twenty years.

The Spaniards said they had, indeed, at first disarmed and excluded Will
Atkins and his two countrymen for their ill conduct, as they had let me
know, and they appealed to me for the necessity they were under to do so;
but that Will Atkins had behaved himself so bravely in the great fight
they had with the savages, and on several occasions since, and had showed
himself so faithful to, and concerned for, the general interest of them
all, that they had forgotten all that was past, and thought he merited as
much to be trusted with arms and supplied with necessaries as any of
them; that they had testified their satisfaction in him by committing the
command to him next to the governor himself; and as they had entire
confidence in him and all his countrymen, so they acknowledged they had
merited that confidence by all the methods that honest men could merit to
be valued and trusted; and they most heartily embraced the occasion of
giving me this assurance, that they would never have any interest
separate from one another.

Upon these frank and open declarations of friendship, we appointed the
next day to dine all together; and, indeed, we made a splendid feast.  I
caused the ship's cook and his mate to come on shore and dress our
dinner, and the old cook's mate we had on shore assisted.  We brought on
shore six pieces of good beef and four pieces of pork, out of the ship's
provisions, with our punch-bowl and materials to fill it; and in
particular I gave them ten bottles of French claret, and ten bottles of
English beer; things that neither the Spaniards nor the English had
tasted for many years, and which it may be supposed they were very glad
of.  The Spaniards added to our feast five whole kids, which the cooks
roasted; and three of them were sent, covered up close, on board the ship
to the seamen, that they might feast on fresh meat from on shore, as we
did with their salt meat from on board.

After this feast, at which we were very innocently merry, I brought my
cargo of goods; wherein, that there might be no dispute about dividing, I
showed them that there was a sufficiency for them all, desiring that they
might all take an equal quantity, when made up, of the goods that were
for wearing.  As, first, I distributed linen sufficient to make every one
of them four shirts, and, at the Spaniard's request, afterwards made them
up six; these were exceeding comfortable to them, having been what they
had long since forgot the use of, or what it was to wear them.  I
allotted the thin English stuffs, which I mentioned before, to make every
one a light coat, like a frock, which I judged fittest for the heat of
the season, cool and loose; and ordered that whenever they decayed, they
should make more, as they thought fit; the like for pumps, shoes,
stockings, hats, &c.  I cannot express what pleasure sat upon the
countenances of all these poor men when they saw the care I had taken of
them, and how well I had furnished them.  They told me I was a father to
them; and that having such a correspondent as I was in so remote a part
of the world, it would make them forget that they were left in a desolate
place; and they all voluntarily engaged to me not to leave the place
without my consent.

Then I presented to them the people I had brought with me, particularly
the tailor, the smith, and the two carpenters, all of them most necessary
people; but, above all, my general artificer, than whom they could not
name anything that was more useful to them; and the tailor, to show his
concern for them, went to work immediately, and, with my leave, made them
every one a shirt, the first thing he did; and, what was still more, he
taught the women not only how to sew and stitch, and use the needle, but
made them assist to make the shirts for their husbands, and for all the
rest.  As to the carpenters, I scarce need mention how useful they were;
for they took to pieces all my clumsy, unhandy things, and made clever
convenient tables, stools, bedsteads, cupboards, lockers, shelves, and
everything they wanted of that kind.  But to let them see how nature made
artificers at first, I carried the carpenters to see Will Atkins' basket-
house, as I called it; and they both owned they never saw an instance of
such natural ingenuity before, nor anything so regular and so handily
built, at least of its kind; and one of them, when he saw it, after
musing a good while, turning about to me, "I am sure," says he, "that man
has no need of us; you need do nothing but give him tools."

Then I brought them out all my store of tools, and gave every man a
digging-spade, a shovel, and a rake, for we had no barrows or ploughs;
and to every separate place a pickaxe, a crow, a broad axe, and a saw;
always appointing, that as often as any were broken or worn out, they
should be supplied without grudging out of the general stores that I left
behind.  Nails, staples, hinges, hammers, chisels, knives, scissors, and
all sorts of ironwork, they had without reserve, as they required; for no
man would take more than he wanted, and he must be a fool that would
waste or spoil them on any account whatever; and for the use of the smith
I left two tons of unwrought iron for a supply.

My magazine of powder and arms which I brought them was such, even to
profusion, that they could not but rejoice at them; for now they could
march as I used to do, with a musket upon each shoulder, if there was
occasion; and were able to fight a thousand savages, if they had but some
little advantages of situation, which also they could not miss, if they
had occasion.

I carried on shore with me the young man whose mother was starved to
death, and the maid also; she was a sober, well-educated, religious young
woman, and behaved so inoffensively that every one gave her a good word;
she had, indeed, an unhappy life with us, there being no woman in the
ship but herself, but she bore it with patience.  After a while, seeing
things so well ordered, and in so fine a way of thriving upon my island,
and considering that they had neither business nor acquaintance in the
East Indies, or reason for taking so long a voyage, both of them came to
me and desired I would give them leave to remain on the island, and be
entered among my family, as they called it.  I agreed to this readily;
and they had a little plot of ground allotted to them, where they had
three tents or houses set up, surrounded with a basket-work, palisadoed
like Atkins's, adjoining to his plantation.  Their tents were contrived
so that they had each of them a room apart to lodge in, and a middle tent
like a great storehouse to lay their goods in, and to eat and to drink
in.  And now the other two Englishmen removed their habitation to the
same place; and so the island was divided into three colonies, and no
more--viz. the Spaniards, with old Friday and the first servants, at my
habitation under the hill, which was, in a word, the capital city, and
where they had so enlarged and extended their works, as well under as on
the outside of the hill, that they lived, though perfectly concealed, yet
full at large.  Never was there such a little city in a wood, and so hid,
in any part of the world; for I verify believe that a thousand men might
have ranged the island a month, and, if they had not known there was such
a thing, and looked on purpose for it, they would not have found it.
Indeed the trees stood so thick and so close, and grew so fast woven one
into another, that nothing but cutting them down first could discover the
place, except the only two narrow entrances where they went in and out
could be found, which was not very easy; one of them was close down at
the water's edge, on the side of the creek, and it was afterwards above
two hundred yards to the place; and the other was up a ladder at twice,
as I have already described it; and they had also a large wood, thickly
planted, on the top of the hill, containing above an acre, which grew
apace, and concealed the place from all discovery there, with only one
narrow place between two trees, not easily to be discovered, to enter on
that side.

The other colony was that of Will Atkins, where there were four families
of Englishmen, I mean those I had left there, with their wives and
children; three savages that were slaves, the widow and children of the
Englishman that was killed, the young man and the maid, and, by the way,
we made a wife of her before we went away.  There were besides the two
carpenters and the tailor, whom I brought with me for them: also the
smith, who was a very necessary man to them, especially as a gunsmith, to
take care of their arms; and my other man, whom I called
Jack-of-all-trades, who was in himself as good almost as twenty men; for
he was not only a very ingenious fellow, but a very merry fellow, and
before I went away we married him to the honest maid that came with the
youth in the ship I mentioned before.

And now I speak of marrying, it brings me naturally to say something of
the French ecclesiastic that I had brought with me out of the ship's crew
whom I took up at sea.  It is true this man was a Roman, and perhaps it
may give offence to some hereafter if I leave anything extraordinary upon
record of a man whom, before I begin, I must (to set him out in just
colours) represent in terms very much to his disadvantage, in the account
of Protestants; as, first, that he was a Papist; secondly, a Popish
priest; and thirdly, a French Popish priest.  But justice demands of me
to give him a due character; and I must say, he was a grave, sober,
pious, and most religious person; exact in his life, extensive in his
charity, and exemplary in almost everything he did.  What then can any
one say against being very sensible of the value of such a man,
notwithstanding his profession? though it may be my opinion perhaps, as
well as the opinion of others who shall read this, that he was mistaken.

The first hour that I began to converse with him after he had agreed to
go with me to the East Indies, I found reason to delight exceedingly in
his conversation; and he first began with me about religion in the most
obliging manner imaginable.  "Sir," says he, "you have not only under
God" (and at that he crossed his breast) "saved my life, but you have
admitted me to go this voyage in your ship, and by your obliging civility
have taken me into your family, giving me an opportunity of free
conversation.  Now, sir, you see by my habit what my profession is, and I
guess by your nation what yours is; I may think it is my duty, and
doubtless it is so, to use my utmost endeavours, on all occasions, to
bring all the souls I can to the knowledge of the truth, and to embrace
the Catholic doctrine; but as I am here under your permission, and in
your family, I am bound, in justice to your kindness as well as in
decency and good manners, to be under your government; and therefore I
shall not, without your leave, enter into any debate on the points of
religion in which we may not agree, further than you shall give me
leave."

I told him his carriage was so modest that I could not but acknowledge
it; that it was true we were such people as they call heretics, but that
he was not the first Catholic I had conversed with without falling into
inconveniences, or carrying the questions to any height in debate; that
he should not find himself the worse used for being of a different
opinion from us, and if we did not converse without any dislike on either
side, it should be his fault, not ours.

He replied that he thought all our conversation might be easily separated
from disputes; that it was not his business to cap principles with every
man he conversed with; and that he rather desired me to converse with him
as a gentleman than as a religionist; and that, if I would give him leave
at any time to discourse upon religious subjects, he would readily comply
with it, and that he did not doubt but I would allow him also to defend
his own opinions as well as he could; but that without my leave he would
not break in upon me with any such thing.  He told me further, that he
would not cease to do all that became him, in his office as a priest, as
well as a private Christian, to procure the good of the ship, and the
safety of all that was in her; and though, perhaps, we would not join
with him, and he could not pray with us, he hoped he might pray for us,
which he would do upon all occasions.  In this manner we conversed; and
as he was of the most obliging, gentlemanlike behaviour, so he was, if I
may be allowed to say so, a man of good sense, and, as I believe, of
great learning.

He gave me a most diverting account of his life, and of the many
extraordinary events of it; of many adventures which had befallen him in
the few years that he had been abroad in the world; and particularly, it
was very remarkable, that in the voyage he was now engaged in he had had
the misfortune to be five times shipped and unshipped, and never to go to
the place whither any of the ships he was in were at first designed.  That
his first intent was to have gone to Martinico, and that he went on board
a ship bound thither at St. Malo; but being forced into Lisbon by bad
weather, the ship received some damage by running aground in the mouth of
the river Tagus, and was obliged to unload her cargo there; but finding a
Portuguese ship there bound for the Madeiras, and ready to sail, and
supposing he should meet with a ship there bound to Martinico, he went on
board, in order to sail to the Madeiras; but the master of the Portuguese
ship being but an indifferent mariner, had been out of his reckoning, and
they drove to Fayal; where, however, he happened to find a very good
market for his cargo, which was corn, and therefore resolved not to go to
the Madeiras, but to load salt at the Isle of May, and to go away to
Newfoundland.  He had no remedy in this exigence but to go with the ship,
and had a pretty good voyage as far as the Banks (so they call the place
where they catch the fish), where, meeting with a French ship bound from
France to Quebec, and from thence to Martinico, to carry provisions, he
thought he should have an opportunity to complete his first design, but
when he came to Quebec, the master of the ship died, and the vessel
proceeded no further; so the next voyage he shipped himself for France,
in the ship that was burned when we took them up at sea, and then shipped
with us for the East Indies, as I have already said.  Thus he had been
disappointed in five voyages; all, as I may call it, in one voyage,
besides what I shall have occasion to mention further of him.

But I shall not make digression into other men's stories which have no
relation to my own; so I return to what concerns our affair in the
island.  He came to me one morning (for he lodged among us all the while
we were upon the island), and it happened to be just when I was going to
visit the Englishmen's colony, at the furthest part of the island; I say,
he came to me, and told me, with a very grave countenance, that he had
for two or three days desired an opportunity of some discourse with me,
which he hoped would not be displeasing to me, because he thought it
might in some measure correspond with my general design, which was the
prosperity of my new colony, and perhaps might put it, at least more than
he yet thought it was, in the way of God's blessing.

I looked a little surprised at the last of his discourse, and turning a
little short, "How, sir," said I, "can it be said that we are not in the
way of God's blessing, after such visible assistances and deliverances as
we have seen here, and of which I have given you a large account?"  "If
you had pleased, sir," said he, with a world of modesty, and yet great
readiness, "to have heard me, you would have found no room to have been
displeased, much less to think so hard of me, that I should suggest that
you have not had wonderful assistances and deliverances; and I hope, on
your behalf, that you are in the way of God's blessing, and your design
is exceeding good, and will prosper.  But, sir, though it were more so
than is even possible to you, yet there may be some among you that are
not equally right in their actions: and you know that in the story of the
children of Israel, one Achan in the camp removed God's blessing from
them, and turned His hand so against them, that six-and-thirty of them,
though not concerned in the crime, were the objects of divine vengeance,
and bore the weight of that punishment."

I was sensibly touched with this discourse, and told him his inference
was so just, and the whole design seemed so sincere, and was really so
religious in its own nature, that I was very sorry I had interrupted him,
and begged him to go on; and, in the meantime, because it seemed that
what we had both to say might take up some time, I told him I was going
to the Englishmen's plantations, and asked him to go with me, and we
might discourse of it by the way.  He told me he would the more willingly
wait on me thither, because there partly the thing was acted which he
desired to speak to me about; so we walked on, and I pressed him to be
free and plain with me in what he had to say.

"Why, then, sir," said he, "be pleased to give me leave to lay down a few
propositions, as the foundation of what I have to say, that we may not
differ in the general principles, though we may be of some differing
opinions in the practice of particulars.  First, sir, though we differ in
some of the doctrinal articles of religion (and it is very unhappy it is
so, especially in the case before us, as I shall show afterwards), yet
there are some general principles in which we both agree--that there is a
God; and that this God having given us some stated general rules for our
service and obedience, we ought not willingly and knowingly to offend
Him, either by neglecting to do what He has commanded, or by doing what
He has expressly forbidden.  And let our different religions be what they
will, this general principle is readily owned by us all, that the
blessing of God does not ordinarily follow presumptuous sinning against
His command; and every good Christian will be affectionately concerned to
prevent any that are under his care living in a total neglect of God and
His commands.  It is not your men being Protestants, whatever my opinion
may be of such, that discharges me from being concerned for their souls,
and from endeavouring, if it lies before me, that they should live in as
little distance from enmity with their Maker as possible, especially if
you give me leave to meddle so far in your circuit."

I could not yet imagine what he aimed at, and told him I granted all he
had said, and thanked him that he would so far concern himself for us:
and begged he would explain the particulars of what he had observed, that
like Joshua, to take his own parable, I might put away the accursed thing
from us.

"Why, then, sir," says he, "I will take the liberty you give me; and
there are three things, which, if I am right, must stand in the way of
God's blessing upon your endeavours here, and which I should rejoice, for
your sake and their own, to see removed.  And, sir, I promise myself that
you will fully agree with me in them all, as soon as I name them;
especially because I shall convince you, that every one of them may, with
great ease, and very much to your satisfaction, be remedied.  First,
sir," says he, "you have here four Englishmen, who have fetched women
from among the savages, and have taken them as their wives, and have had
many children by them all, and yet are not married to them after any
stated legal manner, as the laws of God and man require.  To this, sir, I
know, you will object that there was no clergyman or priest of any kind
to perform the ceremony; nor any pen and ink, or paper, to write down a
contract of marriage, and have it signed between them.  And I know also,
sir, what the Spaniard governor has told you, I mean of the agreement
that he obliged them to make when they took those women, viz. that they
should choose them out by consent, and keep separately to them; which, by
the way, is nothing of a marriage, no agreement with the women as wives,
but only an agreement among themselves, to keep them from quarrelling.
But, sir, the essence of the sacrament of matrimony" (so he called it,
being a Roman) "consists not only in the mutual consent of the parties to
take one another as man and wife, but in the formal and legal obligation
that there is in the contract to compel the man and woman, at all times,
to own and acknowledge each other; obliging the man to abstain from all
other women, to engage in no other contract while these subsist; and, on
all occasions, as ability allows, to provide honestly for them and their
children; and to oblige the women to the same or like conditions, on
their side.  Now, sir," says he, "these men may, when they please, or
when occasion presents, abandon these women, disown their children, leave
them to perish, and take other women, and marry them while these are
living;" and here he added, with some warmth, "How, sir, is God honoured
in this unlawful liberty?  And how shall a blessing succeed your
endeavours in this place, however good in themselves, and however sincere
in your design, while these men, who at present are your subjects, under
your absolute government and dominion, are allowed by you to live in open
adultery?"

I confess I was struck with the thing itself, but much more with the
convincing arguments he supported it with; but I thought to have got off
my young priest by telling him that all that part was done when I was not
there: and that they had lived so many years with them now, that if it
was adultery, it was past remedy; nothing could be done in it now.

"Sir," says he, "asking your pardon for such freedom, you are right in
this, that, it being done in your absence, you could not be charged with
that part of the crime; but, I beseech you, flatter not yourself that you
are not, therefore, under an obligation to do your utmost now to put an
end to it.  You should legally and effectually marry them; and as, sir,
my way of marrying may not be easy to reconcile them to, though it will
be effectual, even by your own laws, so your way may be as well before
God, and as valid among men.  I mean by a written contract signed by both
man and woman, and by all the witnesses present, which all the laws of
Europe would decree to be valid."

I was amazed to see so much true piety, and so much sincerity of zeal,
besides the unusual impartiality in his discourse as to his own party or
church, and such true warmth for preserving people that he had no
knowledge of or relation to from transgressing the laws of God.  But
recollecting what he had said of marrying them by a written contract,
which I knew he would stand to, I returned it back upon him, and told him
I granted all that he had said to be just, and on his part very kind;
that I would discourse with the men upon the point now, when I came to
them; and I knew no reason why they should scruple to let him marry them
all, which I knew well enough would be granted to be as authentic and
valid in England as if they were married by one of our own clergymen.

I then pressed him to tell me what was the second complaint which he had
to make, acknowledging that I was very much his debtor for the first, and
thanking him heartily for it.  He told me he would use the same freedom
and plainness in the second, and hoped I would take it as well; and this
was, that notwithstanding these English subjects of mine, as he called
them, had lived with these women almost seven years, had taught them to
speak English, and even to read it, and that they were, as he perceived,
women of tolerable understanding, and capable of instruction, yet they
had not, to this hour, taught them anything of the Christian religion--no,
not so much as to know there was a God, or a worship, or in what manner
God was to be served, or that their own idolatry, and worshipping they
knew not whom, was false and absurd.  This he said was an unaccountable
neglect, and what God would certainly call them to account for, and
perhaps at last take the work out of their hands.  He spoke this very
affectionately and warmly.

"I am persuaded," says he, "had those men lived in the savage country
whence their wives came, the savages would have taken more pains to have
brought them to be idolaters, and to worship the devil, than any of these
men, so far as I can see, have taken with them to teach the knowledge of
the true God.  Now, sir," said he, "though I do not acknowledge your
religion, or you mine, yet we would be glad to see the devil's servants
and the subjects of his kingdom taught to know religion; and that they
might, at least, hear of God and a Redeemer, and the resurrection, and of
a future state--things which we all believe; that they might, at least,
be so much nearer coming into the bosom of the true Church than they are
now in the public profession of idolatry and devil-worship."

I could hold no longer: I took him in my arms and embraced him eagerly.
"How far," said I to him, "have I been from understanding the most
essential part of a Christian, viz. to love the interest of the Christian
Church, and the good of other men's souls!  I scarce have known what
belongs to the being a Christian."--"Oh, sir! do not say so," replied he;
"this thing is not your fault."--"No," said I; "but why did I never lay
it to heart as well as you?"--"It is not too late yet," said he; "be not
too forward to condemn yourself."--"But what can be done now?" said I:
"you see I am going away."--"Will you give me leave to talk with these
poor men about it?"--"Yes, with all my heart," said I: "and oblige them
to give heed to what you say too."--"As to that," said he, "we must leave
them to the mercy of Christ; but it is your business to assist them,
encourage them, and instruct them; and if you give me leave, and God His
blessing, I do not doubt but the poor ignorant souls shall be brought
home to the great circle of Christianity, if not into the particular
faith we all embrace, and that even while you stay here."  Upon this I
said, "I shall not only give you leave, but give you a thousand thanks
for it."

I now pressed him for the third article in which we were to blame.  "Why,
really," says he, "it is of the same nature.  It is about your poor
savages, who are, as I may say, your conquered subjects.  It is a maxim,
sir, that is or ought to be received among all Christians, of what church
or pretended church soever, that the Christian knowledge ought to be
propagated by all possible means and on all possible occasions.  It is on
this principle that our Church sends missionaries into Persia, India, and
China; and that our clergy, even of the superior sort, willingly engage
in the most hazardous voyages, and the most dangerous residence amongst
murderers and barbarians, to teach them the knowledge of the true God,
and to bring them over to embrace the Christian faith.  Now, sir, you
have such an opportunity here to have six or seven and thirty poor
savages brought over from a state of idolatry to the knowledge of God,
their Maker and Redeemer, that I wonder how you can pass such an occasion
of doing good, which is really worth the expense of a man's whole life."

I was now struck dumb indeed, and had not one word to say.  I had here
the spirit of true Christian zeal for God and religion before me.  As for
me, I had not so much as entertained a thought of this in my heart
before, and I believe I should not have thought of it; for I looked upon
these savages as slaves, and people whom, had we not had any work for
them to do, we would have used as such, or would have been glad to have
transported them to any part of the world; for our business was to get
rid of them, and we would all have been satisfied if they had been sent
to any country, so they had never seen their own.  I was confounded at
his discourse, and knew not what answer to make him.

He looked earnestly at me, seeing my confusion.  "Sir," says he, "I shall
be very sorry if what I have said gives you any offence."--"No, no," said
I, "I am offended with nobody but myself; but I am perfectly confounded,
not only to think that I should never take any notice of this before, but
with reflecting what notice I am able to take of it now.  You know, sir,"
said I, "what circumstances I am in; I am bound to the East Indies in a
ship freighted by merchants, and to whom it would be an insufferable
piece of injustice to detain their ship here, the men lying all this
while at victuals and wages on the owners' account.  It is true, I agreed
to be allowed twelve days here, and if I stay more, I must pay three
pounds sterling _per diem_ demurrage; nor can I stay upon demurrage above
eight days more, and I have been here thirteen already; so that I am
perfectly unable to engage in this work unless I would suffer myself to
be left behind here again; in which case, if this single ship should
miscarry in any part of her voyage, I should be just in the same
condition that I was left in here at first, and from which I have been so
wonderfully delivered."  He owned the case was very hard upon me as to my
voyage; but laid it home upon my conscience whether the blessing of
saving thirty-seven souls was not worth venturing all I had in the world
for.  I was not so sensible of that as he was.  I replied to him thus:
"Why, sir, it is a valuable thing, indeed, to be an instrument in God's
hand to convert thirty-seven heathens to the knowledge of Christ: but as
you are an ecclesiastic, and are given over to the work, so it seems so
naturally to fall in the way of your profession; how is it, then, that
you do not rather offer yourself to undertake it than to press me to do
it?"

Upon this he faced about just before me, as he walked along, and putting
me to a full stop, made me a very low bow.  "I most heartily thank God
and you, sir," said he, "for giving me so evident a call to so blessed a
work; and if you think yourself discharged from it, and desire me to
undertake it, I will most readily do it, and think it a happy reward for
all the hazards and difficulties of such a broken, disappointed voyage as
I have met with, that I am dropped at last into so glorious a work."

I discovered a kind of rapture in his face while he spoke this to me; his
eyes sparkled like fire; his face glowed, and his colour came and went;
in a word, he was fired with the joy of being embarked in such a work.  I
paused a considerable while before I could tell what to say to him; for I
was really surprised to find a man of such sincerity, and who seemed
possessed of a zeal beyond the ordinary rate of men.  But after I had
considered it a while, I asked him seriously if he was in earnest, and
that he would venture, on the single consideration of an attempt to
convert those poor people, to be locked up in an unplanted island for
perhaps his life, and at last might not know whether he should be able to
do them good or not?  He turned short upon me, and asked me what I called
a venture?  "Pray, sir," said he, "what do you think I consented to go in
your ship to the East Indies for?"--"ay," said I, "that I know not,
unless it was to preach to the Indians."--"Doubtless it was," said he;
"and do you think, if I can convert these thirty-seven men to the faith
of Jesus Christ, it is not worth my time, though I should never be
fetched off the island again?--nay, is it not infinitely of more worth to
save so many souls than my life is, or the life of twenty more of the
same profession?  Yes, sir," says he, "I would give God thanks all my
days if I could be made the happy instrument of saving the souls of those
poor men, though I were never to get my foot off this island or see my
native country any more.  But since you will honour me with putting me
into this work, for which I will pray for you all the days of my life, I
have one humble petition to you besides."--"What is that?" said I.--"Why,"
says he, "it is, that you will leave your man Friday with me, to be my
interpreter to them, and to assist me; for without some help I cannot
speak to them, or they to me."

I was sensibly touched at his requesting Friday, because I could not
think of parting with him, and that for many reasons: he had been the
companion of my travels; he was not only faithful to me, but sincerely
affectionate to the last degree; and I had resolved to do something
considerable for him if he out-lived me, as it was probable he would.
Then I knew that, as I had bred Friday up to be a Protestant, it would
quite confound him to bring him to embrace another religion; and he would
never, while his eyes were open, believe that his old master was a
heretic, and would be damned; and this might in the end ruin the poor
fellow's principles, and so turn him back again to his first idolatry.
However, a sudden thought relieved me in this strait, and it was this: I
told him I could not say that I was willing to part with Friday on any
account whatever, though a work that to him was of more value than his
life ought to be of much more value than the keeping or parting with a
servant.  On the other hand, I was persuaded that Friday would by no
means agree to part with me; and I could not force him to it without his
consent, without manifest injustice; because I had promised I would never
send him away, and he had promised and engaged that he would never leave
me, unless I sent him away.

He seemed very much concerned at it, for he had no rational access to
these poor people, seeing he did not understand one word of their
language, nor they one of his.  To remove this difficulty, I told him
Friday's father had learned Spanish, which I found he also understood,
and he should serve him as an interpreter.  So he was much better
satisfied, and nothing could persuade him but he would stay and endeavour
to convert them; but Providence gave another very happy turn to all this.

I come back now to the first part of his objections.  When we came to the
Englishmen, I sent for them all together, and after some account given
them of what I had done for them, viz. what necessary things I had
provided for them, and how they were distributed, which they were very
sensible of, and very thankful for, I began to talk to them of the
scandalous life they led, and gave them a full account of the notice the
clergyman had taken of it; and arguing how unchristian and irreligious a
life it was, I first asked them if they were married men or bachelors?
They soon explained their condition to me, and showed that two of them
were widowers, and the other three were single men, or bachelors.  I
asked them with what conscience they could take these women, and call
them their wives, and have so many children by them, and not be lawfully
married to them?  They all gave me the answer I expected, viz. that there
was nobody to marry them; that they agreed before the governor to keep
them as their wives, and to maintain them and own them as their wives;
and they thought, as things stood with them, they were as legally married
as if they had been married by a parson and with all the formalities in
the world.

I told them that no doubt they were married in the sight of God, and were
bound in conscience to keep them as their wives; but that the laws of men
being otherwise, they might desert the poor women and children hereafter;
and that their wives, being poor desolate women, friendless and
moneyless, would have no way to help themselves.  I therefore told them
that unless I was assured of their honest intent, I could do nothing for
them, but would take care that what I did should be for the women and
children without them; and that, unless they would give me some
assurances that they would marry the women, I could not think it was
convenient they should continue together as man and wife; for that it was
both scandalous to men and offensive to God, who they could not think
would bless them if they went on thus.

All this went on as I expected; and they told me, especially Will Atkins,
who now seemed to speak for the rest, that they loved their wives as well
as if they had been born in their own native country, and would not leave
them on any account whatever; and they did verily believe that their
wives were as virtuous and as modest, and did, to the utmost of their
skill, as much for them and for their children, as any woman could
possibly do: and they would not part with them on any account.  Will
Atkins, for his own particular, added that if any man would take him
away, and offer to carry him home to England, and make him captain of the
best man-of-war in the navy, he would not go with him if he might not
carry his wife and children with him; and if there was a clergyman in the
ship, he would be married to her now with all his heart.

This was just as I would have it.  The priest was not with me at that
moment, but he was not far off; so to try him further, I told him I had a
clergyman with me, and, if he was sincere, I would have him married next
morning, and bade him consider of it, and talk with the rest.  He said,
as for himself, he need not consider of it at all, for he was very ready
to do it, and was glad I had a minister with me, and he believed they
would be all willing also.  I then told him that my friend, the minister,
was a Frenchman, and could not speak English, but I would act the clerk
between them.  He never so much as asked me whether he was a Papist or
Protestant, which was, indeed, what I was afraid of.  We then parted, and
I went back to my clergyman, and Will Atkins went in to talk with his
companions.  I desired the French gentleman not to say anything to them
till the business was thoroughly ripe; and I told him what answer the men
had given me.

Before I went from their quarter they all came to me and told me they had
been considering what I had said; that they were glad to hear I had a
clergyman in my company, and they were very willing to give me the
satisfaction I desired, and to be formally married as soon as I pleased;
for they were far from desiring to part with their wives, and that they
meant nothing but what was very honest when they chose them.  So I
appointed them to meet me the next morning; and, in the meantime, they
should let their wives know the meaning of the marriage law; and that it
was not only to prevent any scandal, but also to oblige them that they
should not forsake them, whatever might happen.

The women were easily made sensible of the meaning of the thing, and were
very well satisfied with it, as, indeed, they had reason to be: so they
failed not to attend all together at my apartment next morning, where I
brought out my clergyman; and though he had not on a minister's gown,
after the manner of England, or the habit of a priest, after the manner
of France, yet having a black vest something like a cassock, with a sash
round it, he did not look very unlike a minister; and as for his
language, I was his interpreter.  But the seriousness of his behaviour to
them, and the scruples he made of marrying the women, because they were
not baptized and professed Christians, gave them an exceeding reverence
for his person; and there was no need, after that, to inquire whether he
was a clergyman or not.  Indeed, I was afraid his scruples would have
been carried so far as that he would not have married them at all; nay,
notwithstanding all I was able to say to him, he resisted me, though
modestly, yet very steadily, and at last refused absolutely to marry
them, unless he had first talked with the men and the women too; and
though at first I was a little backward to it, yet at last I agreed to it
with a good will, perceiving the sincerity of his design.

When he came to them he let them know that I had acquainted him with
their circumstances, and with the present design; that he was very
willing to perform that part of his function, and marry them, as I had
desired; but that before he could do it, he must take the liberty to talk
with them.  He told them that in the sight of all indifferent men, and in
the sense of the laws of society, they had lived all this while in a
state of sin; and that it was true that nothing but the consenting to
marry, or effectually separating them from one another, could now put an
end to it; but there was a difficulty in it, too, with respect to the
laws of Christian matrimony, which he was not fully satisfied about, that
of marrying one that is a professed Christian to a savage, an idolater,
and a heathen--one that is not baptized; and yet that he did not see that
there was time left to endeavour to persuade the women to be baptized, or
to profess the name of Christ, whom they had, he doubted, heard nothing
of, and without which they could not be baptized.  He told them he
doubted they were but indifferent Christians themselves; that they had
but little knowledge of God or of His ways, and, therefore, he could not
expect that they had said much to their wives on that head yet; but that
unless they would promise him to use their endeavours with their wives to
persuade them to become Christians, and would, as well as they could,
instruct them in the knowledge and belief of God that made them, and to
worship Jesus Christ that redeemed them, he could not marry them; for he
would have no hand in joining Christians with savages, nor was it
consistent with the principles of the Christian religion, and was,
indeed, expressly forbidden in God's law.

They heard all this very attentively, and I delivered it very faithfully
to them from his mouth, as near his own words as I could; only sometimes
adding something of my own, to convince them how just it was, and that I
was of his mind; and I always very carefully distinguished between what I
said from myself and what were the clergyman's words.  They told me it
was very true what the gentleman said, that they were very indifferent
Christians themselves, and that they had never talked to their wives
about religion.  "Lord, sir," says Will Atkins, "how should we teach them
religion?  Why, we know nothing ourselves; and besides, sir," said he,
"should we talk to them of God and Jesus Christ, and heaven and hell, it
would make them laugh at us, and ask us what we believe ourselves.  And
if we should tell them that we believe all the things we speak of to
them, such as of good people going to heaven, and wicked people to the
devil, they would ask us where we intend to go ourselves, that believe
all this, and are such wicked fellows as we indeed are?  Why, sir; 'tis
enough to give them a surfeit of religion at first hearing; folks must
have some religion themselves before they begin to teach other
people."--"Will Atkins," said I to him, "though I am afraid that what you
say has too much truth in it, yet can you not tell your wife she is in
the wrong; that there is a God and a religion better than her own; that
her gods are idols; that they can neither hear nor speak; that there is a
great Being that made all things, and that can destroy all that He has
made; that He rewards the good and punishes the bad; and that we are to
be judged by Him at last for all we do here?  You are not so ignorant but
even nature itself will teach you that all this is true; and I am
satisfied you know it all to be true, and believe it yourself."--"That is
true, sir," said Atkins; "but with what face can I say anything to my
wife of all this, when she will tell me immediately it cannot be
true?"--"Not true!" said I; "what do you mean by that?"--"Why, sir," said
he, "she will tell me it cannot be true that this God I shall tell her of
can be just, or can punish or reward, since I am not punished and sent to
the devil, that have been such a wicked creature as she knows I have
been, even to her, and to everybody else; and that I should be suffered
to live, that have been always acting so contrary to what I must tell her
is good, and to what I ought to have done."--"Why, truly, Atkins," said
I, "I am afraid thou speakest too much truth;" and with that I informed
the clergyman of what Atkins had said, for he was impatient to know.
"Oh," said the priest, "tell him there is one thing will make him the
best minister in the world to his wife, and that is repentance; for none
teach repentance like true penitents.  He wants nothing but to repent,
and then he will be so much the better qualified to instruct his wife; he
will then be able to tell her that there is not only a God, and that He
is the just rewarder of good and evil, but that He is a merciful Being,
and with infinite goodness and long-suffering forbears to punish those
that offend; waiting to be gracious, and willing not the death of a
sinner, but rather that he should return and live; and even reserves
damnation to the general day of retribution; that it is a clear evidence
of God and of a future state that righteous men receive not their reward,
or wicked men their punishment, till they come into another world; and
this will lead him to teach his wife the doctrine of the resurrection and
of the last judgment.  Let him but repent himself, he will be an
excellent preacher of repentance to his wife."

I repeated all this to Atkins, who looked very serious all the while,
and, as we could easily perceive, was more than ordinarily affected with
it; when being eager, and hardly suffering me to make an end, "I know all
this, master," says he, "and a great deal more; but I have not the
impudence to talk thus to my wife, when God and my conscience know, and
my wife will be an undeniable evidence against me, that I have lived as
if I had never heard of a God or future state, or anything about it; and
to talk of my repenting, alas!" (and with that he fetched a deep sigh,
and I could see that the tears stood in his eyes) "'tis past all that
with me."--"Past it, Atkins?" said I: "what dost thou mean by that?"--"I
know well enough what I mean," says he; "I mean 'tis too late, and that
is too true."

I told the clergyman, word for word, what he said, and this affectionate
man could not refrain from tears; but, recovering himself, said to me,
"Ask him but one question.  Is he easy that it is too late; or is he
troubled, and wishes it were not so?"  I put the question fairly to
Atkins; and he answered with a great deal of passion, "How could any man
be easy in a condition that must certainly end in eternal destruction?
that he was far from being easy; but that, on the contrary, he believed
it would one time or other ruin him."--"What do you mean by that?" said
I.--"Why," he said, "he believed he should one time or other cut his
throat, to put an end to the terror of it."

The clergyman shook his head, with great concern in his face, when I told
him all this; but turning quick to me upon it, says, "If that be his
case, we may assure him it is not too late; Christ will give him
repentance.  But pray," says he, "explain this to him: that as no man is
saved but by Christ, and the merit of His passion procuring divine mercy
for him, how can it be too late for any man to receive mercy?  Does he
think he is able to sin beyond the power or reach of divine mercy?  Pray
tell him there may be a time when provoked mercy will no longer strive,
and when God may refuse to hear, but that it is never too late for men to
ask mercy; and we, that are Christ's servants, are commanded to preach
mercy at all times, in the name of Jesus Christ, to all those that
sincerely repent: so that it is never too late to repent."

I told Atkins all this, and he heard me with great earnestness; but it
seemed as if he turned off the discourse to the rest, for he said to me
he would go and have some talk with his wife; so he went out a while, and
we talked to the rest.  I perceived they were all stupidly ignorant as to
matters of religion, as much as I was when I went rambling away from my
father; yet there were none of them backward to hear what had been said;
and all of them seriously promised that they would talk with their wives
about it, and do their endeavours to persuade them to turn Christians.

The clergyman smiled upon me when I reported what answer they gave, but
said nothing a good while; but at last, shaking his head, "We that are
Christ's servants," says he, "can go no further than to exhort and
instruct: and when men comply, submit to the reproof, and promise what we
ask, 'tis all we can do; we are bound to accept their good words; but
believe me, sir," said he, "whatever you may have known of the life of
that man you call Will Atkin's, I believe he is the only sincere convert
among them: I will not despair of the rest; but that man is apparently
struck with the sense of his past life, and I doubt not, when he comes to
talk of religion to his wife, he will talk himself effectually into it:
for attempting to teach others is sometimes the best way of teaching
ourselves.  If that poor Atkins begins but once to talk seriously of
Jesus Christ to his wife, he will assuredly talk himself into a thorough
convert, make himself a penitent, and who knows what may follow."

Upon this discourse, however, and their promising, as above, to endeavour
to persuade their wives to embrace Christianity, he married the two other
couple; but Will Atkins and his wife were not yet come in.  After this,
my clergyman, waiting a while, was curious to know where Atkins was gone,
and turning to me, said, "I entreat you, sir, let us walk out of your
labyrinth here and look; I daresay we shall find this poor man somewhere
or other talking seriously to his wife, and teaching her already
something of religion."  I began to be of the same mind; so we went out
together, and I carried him a way which none knew but myself, and where
the trees were so very thick that it was not easy to see through the
thicket of leaves, and far harder to see in than to see out: when, coming
to the edge of the wood, I saw Atkins and his tawny wife sitting under
the shade of a bush, very eager in discourse: I stopped short till my
clergyman came up to me, and then having showed him where they were, we
stood and looked very steadily at them a good while.  We observed him
very earnest with her, pointing up to the sun, and to every quarter of
the heavens, and then down to the earth, then out to the sea, then to
himself, then to her, to the woods, to the trees.  "Now," says the
clergyman, "you see my words are made good, the man preaches to her; mark
him now, he is telling her that our God has made him, her, and the
heavens, the earth, the sea, the woods, the trees, &c."--"I believe he
is," said I.  Immediately we perceived Will Atkins start upon his feet,
fall down on his knees, and lift up both his hands.  We supposed he said
something, but we could not hear him; it was too far for that.  He did
not continue kneeling half a minute, but comes and sits down again by his
wife, and talks to her again; we perceived then the woman very attentive,
but whether she said anything to him we could not tell.  While the poor
fellow was upon his knees I could see the tears run plentifully down my
clergyman's cheeks, and I could hardly forbear myself; but it was a great
affliction to us both that we were not near enough to hear anything that
passed between them.  Well, however, we could come no nearer for fear of
disturbing them: so we resolved to see an end of this piece of still
conversation, and it spoke loud enough to us without the help of voice.
He sat down again, as I have said, close by her, and talked again
earnestly to her, and two or three times we could see him embrace her
most passionately; another time we saw him take out his handkerchief and
wipe her eyes, and then kiss her again with a kind of transport very
unusual; and after several of these things, we saw him on a sudden jump
up again, and lend her his hand to help her up, when immediately leading
her by the hand a step or two, they both kneeled down together, and
continued so about two minutes.

My friend could bear it no longer, but cries out aloud, "St. Paul!  St.
Paul! behold he prayeth."  I was afraid Atkins would hear him, therefore
I entreated him to withhold himself a while, that we might see an end of
the scene, which to me, I must confess, was the most affecting that ever
I saw in my life.  Well, he strove with himself for a while, but was in
such raptures to think that the poor heathen woman was become a
Christian, that he was not able to contain himself; he wept several
times, then throwing up his hands and crossing his breast, said over
several things ejaculatory, and by the way of giving God thanks for so
miraculous a testimony of the success of our endeavours.  Some he spoke
softly, and I could not well hear others; some things he said in Latin,
some in French; then two or three times the tears would interrupt him,
that he could not speak at all; but I begged that he would contain
himself, and let us more narrowly and fully observe what was before us,
which he did for a time, the scene not being near ended yet; for after
the poor man and his wife were risen again from their knees, we observed
he stood talking still eagerly to her, and we observed her motion, that
she was greatly affected with what he said, by her frequently lifting up
her hands, laying her hand to her breast, and such other postures as
express the greatest seriousness and attention; this continued about half
a quarter of an hour, and then they walked away, so we could see no more
of them in that situation.

I took this interval to say to the clergyman, first, that I was glad to
see the particulars we had both been witnesses to; that, though I was
hard enough of belief in such cases, yet that I began to think it was all
very sincere here, both in the man and his wife, however ignorant they
might both be, and I hoped such a beginning would yet have a more happy
end.  "But, my friend," added I, "will you give me leave to start one
difficulty here?  I cannot tell how to object the least thing against
that affectionate concern which you show for the turning of the poor
people from their paganism to the Christian religion; but how does this
comfort you, while these people are, in your account, out of the pale of
the Catholic Church, without which you believe there is no salvation? so
that you esteem these but heretics, as effectually lost as the pagans
themselves."

To this he answered, with abundance of candour, thus: "Sir, I am a
Catholic of the Roman Church, and a priest of the order of St. Benedict,
and I embrace all the principles of the Roman faith; but yet, if you will
believe me, and that I do not speak in compliment to you, or in respect
to my circumstances and your civilities; I say nevertheless, I do not
look upon you, who call yourselves reformed, without some charity.  I
dare not say (though I know it is our opinion in general) that you cannot
be saved; I will by no means limit the mercy of Christ so far as think
that He cannot receive you into the bosom of His Church, in a manner to
us unperceivable; and I hope you have the same charity for us: I pray
daily for you being all restored to Christ's Church, by whatsoever method
He, who is all-wise, is pleased to direct.  In the meantime, surely you
will allow it consists with me as a Roman to distinguish far between a
Protestant and a pagan; between one that calls on Jesus Christ, though in
a way which I do not think is according to the true faith, and a savage
or a barbarian, that knows no God, no Christ, no Redeemer; and if you are
not within the pale of the Catholic Church, we hope you are nearer being
restored to it than those who know nothing of God or of His Church: and I
rejoice, therefore, when I see this poor man, who you say has been a
profligate, and almost a murderer kneel down and pray to Jesus Christ, as
we suppose he did, though not fully enlightened; believing that God, from
whom every such work proceeds, will sensibly touch his heart, and bring
him to the further knowledge of that truth in His own time; and if God
shall influence this poor man to convert and instruct the ignorant
savage, his wife, I can never believe that he shall be cast away himself.
And have I not reason, then, to rejoice, the nearer any are brought to
the knowledge of Christ, though they may not be brought quite home into
the bosom of the Catholic Church just at the time when I desire it,
leaving it to the goodness of Christ to perfect His work in His own time,
and in his own way?  Certainly, I would rejoice if all the savages in
America were brought, like this poor woman, to pray to God, though they
were all to be Protestants at first, rather than they should continue
pagans or heathens; firmly believing, that He that had bestowed the first
light on them would farther illuminate them with a beam of His heavenly
grace, and bring them into the pale of His Church when He should see
good."




CHAPTER VII--CONVERSATION BETWIXT WILL ATKINS AND HIS WIFE


I was astonished at the sincerity and temper of this pious Papist, as
much as I was oppressed by the power of his reasoning; and it presently
occurred to my thoughts, that if such a temper was universal, we might be
all Catholic Christians, whatever Church or particular profession we
joined in; that a spirit of charity would soon work us all up into right
principles; and as he thought that the like charity would make us all
Catholics, so I told him I believed, had all the members of his Church
the like moderation, they would soon all be Protestants.  And there we
left that part; for we never disputed at all.  However, I talked to him
another way, and taking him by the hand, "My friend," says I, "I wish all
the clergy of the Romish Church were blessed with such moderation, and
had an equal share of your charity.  I am entirely of your opinion; but I
must tell you that if you should preach such doctrine in Spain or Italy,
they would put you into the Inquisition."--"It may be so," said he; "I
know not what they would do in Spain or Italy; but I will not say they
would be the better Christians for that severity; for I am sure there is
no heresy in abounding with charity."

Well, as Will Atkins and his wife were gone, our business there was over,
so we went back our own way; and when we came back, we found them waiting
to be called in.  Observing this, I asked my clergyman if we should
discover to him that we had seen him under the bush or not; and it was
his opinion we should not, but that we should talk to him first, and hear
what he would say to us; so we called him in alone, nobody being in the
place but ourselves, and I began by asking him some particulars about his
parentage and education.  He told me frankly enough that his father was a
clergyman who would have taught him well, but that he, Will Atkins,
despised all instruction and correction; and by his brutish conduct cut
the thread of all his father's comforts and shortened his days, for that
he broke his heart by the most ungrateful, unnatural return for the most
affectionate treatment a father ever gave.

In what he said there seemed so much sincerity of repentance, that it
painfully affected me.  I could not but reflect that I, too, had
shortened the life of a good, tender father by my bad conduct and
obstinate self-will.  I was, indeed, so surprised with what he had told
me, that I thought, instead of my going about to teach and instruct him,
the man was made a teacher and instructor to me in a most unexpected
manner.

I laid all this before the young clergyman, who was greatly affected with
it, and said to me, "Did I not say, sir, that when this man was converted
he would preach to us all?  I tell you, sir, if this one man be made a
true penitent, there will be no need of me; he will make Christians of
all in the island."--But having a little composed myself, I renewed my
discourse with Will Atkins.  "But, Will," said I, "how comes the sense of
this matter to touch you just now?"

_W.A._--Sir, you have set me about a work that has struck a dart though
my very soul; I have been talking about God and religion to my wife, in
order, as you directed me, to make a Christian of her, and she has
preached such a sermon to me as I shall never forget while I live.

_R.C._--No, no, it is not your wife has preached to you; but when you
were moving religious arguments to her, conscience has flung them back
upon you.

_W.A._--Ay, sir, with such force as is not to be resisted.

_R.C._--Pray, Will, let us know what passed between you and your wife;
for I know something of it already.

_W.A._--Sir, it is impossible to give you a full account of it; I am too
full to hold it, and yet have no tongue to express it; but let her have
said what she will, though I cannot give you an account of it, this I can
tell you, that I have resolved to amend and reform my life.

_R.C._--But tell us some of it: how did you begin, Will?  For this has
been an extraordinary case, that is certain.  She has preached a sermon,
indeed, if she has wrought this upon you.

_W.A._--Why, I first told her the nature of our laws about marriage, and
what the reasons were that men and women were obliged to enter into such
compacts as it was neither in the power of one nor other to break; that
otherwise, order and justice could not be maintained, and men would run
from their wives, and abandon their children, mix confusedly with one
another, and neither families be kept entire, nor inheritances be settled
by legal descent.

_R.C._--You talk like a civilian, Will.  Could you make her understand
what you meant by inheritance and families?  They know no such things
among the savages, but marry anyhow, without regard to relation,
consanguinity, or family; brother and sister, nay, as I have been told,
even the father and the daughter, and the son and the mother.

_W.A._--I believe, sir, you are misinformed, and my wife assures me of
the contrary, and that they abhor it; perhaps, for any further relations,
they may not be so exact as we are; but she tells me never in the near
relationship you speak of.

_R.C._--Well, what did she say to what you told her?

_W.A._--She said she liked it very well, as it was much better than in
her country.

_R.C._--But did you tell her what marriage was?

_W.A._--Ay, ay, there began our dialogue.  I asked her if she would be
married to me our way.  She asked me what way that was; I told her
marriage was appointed by God; and here we had a strange talk together,
indeed, as ever man and wife had, I believe.

N.B.--This dialogue between Will Atkins and his wife, which I took down
in writing just after he told it me, was as follows:--

_Wife_.--Appointed by your God!--Why, have you a God in your country?

_W.A._--Yes, my dear, God is in every country.

_Wife_.--No your God in my country; my country have the great old
Benamuckee God.

_W.A._--Child, I am very unfit to show you who God is; God is in heaven
and made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that in them is.

_Wife_.--No makee de earth; no you God makee all earth; no makee my
country.

[Will Atkins laughed a little at her expression of God not making her
country.]

_Wife_.--No laugh; why laugh me?  This no ting to laugh.

[He was justly reproved by his wife, for she was more serious than he at
first.]

_W.A._--That's true, indeed; I will not laugh any more, my dear.

_Wife_.--Why you say you God makee all?

_W.A._--Yes, child, our God made the whole world, and you, and me, and
all things; for He is the only true God, and there is no God but Him.  He
lives for ever in heaven.

_Wife_.--Why you no tell me long ago?

_W.A._--That's true, indeed; but I have been a wicked wretch, and have
not only forgotten to acquaint thee with anything before, but have lived
without God in the world myself.

_Wife_.--What, have you a great God in your country, you no know Him?  No
say O to Him?  No do good ting for Him?  That no possible.

_W.A._--It is true; though, for all that, we live as if there was no God
in heaven, or that He had no power on earth.

_Wife_.--But why God let you do so?  Why He no makee you good live?

_W.A._--It is all our own fault.

_Wife_.--But you say me He is great, much great, have much great power;
can makee kill when He will: why He no makee kill when you no serve Him?
no say O to Him? no be good mans?

_W.A._--That is true, He might strike me dead; and I ought to expect it,
for I have been a wicked wretch, that is true; but God is merciful, and
does not deal with us as we deserve.

_Wife_.--But then do you not tell God thankee for that too?

_W. A._--No, indeed, I have not thanked God for His mercy, any more than
I have feared God from His power.

_Wife_.--Then you God no God; me no think, believe He be such one, great
much power, strong: no makee kill you, though you make Him much angry.

_W.A._--What, will my wicked life hinder you from believing in God?  What
a dreadful creature am I! and what a sad truth is it, that the horrid
lives of Christians hinder the conversion of heathens!

_Wife_.--How me tink you have great much God up there [she points up to
heaven], and yet no do well, no do good ting?  Can He tell?  Sure He no
tell what you do?

_W.A._--Yes, yes, He knows and sees all things; He hears us speak, sees
what we do, knows what we think though we do not speak.

_Wife_.--What!  He no hear you curse, swear, speak de great damn?

_W.A._--Yes, yes, He hears it all.

_Wife_.--Where be then the much great power strong?

_W.A._--He is merciful, that is all we can say for it; and this proves
Him to be the true God; He is God, and not man, and therefore we are not
consumed.

[Here Will Atkins told us he was struck with horror to think how he could
tell his wife so clearly that God sees, and hears, and knows the secret
thoughts of the heart, and all that we do, and yet that he had dared to
do all the vile things he had done.]

_Wife_.--Merciful!  What you call dat?

_W.A._--He is our Father and Maker, and He pities and spares us.

_Wife_.--So then He never makee kill, never angry when you do wicked;
then He no good Himself, or no great able.

_W.A._--Yes, yes, my dear, He is infinitely good and infinitely great,
and able to punish too; and sometimes, to show His justice and vengeance,
He lets fly His anger to destroy sinners and make examples; many are cut
off in their sins.

_Wife_.--But no makee kill you yet; then He tell you, maybe, that He no
makee you kill: so you makee the bargain with Him, you do bad thing, He
no be angry at you when He be angry at other mans.

_W.A._--No, indeed, my sins are all presumptions upon His goodness; and
He would be infinitely just if He destroyed me, as He has done other men.

_Wife_.--Well, and yet no kill, no makee you dead: what you say to Him
for that?  You no tell Him thankee for all that too?

_W.A._--I am an unthankful, ungrateful dog, that is true.

_Wife_.--Why He no makee you much good better? you say He makee you.

_W.A._--He made me as He made all the world: it is I have deformed myself
and abused His goodness, and made myself an abominable wretch.

_Wife_.--I wish you makee God know me.  I no makee Him angry--I no do bad
wicked thing.

[Here Will Atkins said his heart sunk within him to hear a poor untaught
creature desire to be taught to know God, and he such a wicked wretch,
that he could not say one word to her about God, but what the reproach of
his own carriage would make most irrational to her to believe; nay, that
already she had told him that she could not believe in God, because he,
that was so wicked, was not destroyed.]

_W.A._--My dear, you mean, you wish I could teach you to know God, not
God to know you; for He knows you already, and every thought in your
heart.

_Wife_.--Why, then, He know what I say to you now: He know me wish to
know Him.  How shall me know who makee me?

_W.A._--Poor creature, He must teach thee: I cannot teach thee.  I will
pray to Him to teach thee to know Him, and forgive me, that am unworthy
to teach thee.

[The poor fellow was in such an agony at her desiring him to make her
know God, and her wishing to know Him, that he said he fell down on his
knees before her, and prayed to God to enlighten her mind with the saving
knowledge of Jesus Christ, and to pardon his sins, and accept of his
being the unworthy instrument of instructing her in the principles of
religion: after which he sat down by her again, and their dialogue went
on.  This was the time when we saw him kneel down and hold up his hands.]

_Wife_.--What you put down the knee for?  What you hold up the hand for?
What you say?  Who you speak to?  What is all that?

_W.A._--My dear, I bow my knees in token of my submission to Him that
made me: I said O to Him, as you call it, and as your old men do to their
idol Benamuckee; that is, I prayed to Him.

_Wife_.--What say you O to Him for?

_W.A._--I prayed to Him to open your eyes and your understanding, that
you may know Him, and be accepted by Him.

_Wife_.--Can He do that too?

_W.A._--Yes, He can: He can do all things.

_Wife_.--But now He hear what you say?

_W.A._--Yes, He has bid us pray to Him, and promised to hear us.

_Wife_.--Bid you pray?  When He bid you?  How He bid you?  What you hear
Him speak?

_W.A._--No, we do not hear Him speak; but He has revealed Himself many
ways to us.

[Here he was at a great loss to make her understand that God has revealed
Himself to us by His word, and what His word was; but at last he told it
to her thus.]

_W.A._--God has spoken to some good men in former days, even from heaven,
by plain words; and God has inspired good men by His Spirit; and they
have written all His laws down in a book.

_Wife_.--Me no understand that; where is book?

_W.A._--Alas! my poor creature, I have not this book; but I hope I shall
one time or other get it for you, and help you to read it.

[Here he embraced her with great affection, but with inexpressible grief
that he had not a Bible.]

_Wife_.--But how you makee me know that God teachee them to write that
book?

_W.A._--By the same rule that we know Him to be God.

_Wife_.--What rule?  What way you know Him?

_W.A._--Because He teaches and commands nothing but what is good,
righteous, and holy, and tends to make us perfectly good, as well as
perfectly happy; and because He forbids and commands us to avoid all that
is wicked, that is evil in itself, or evil in its consequence.

_Wife_.--That me would understand, that me fain see; if He teachee all
good thing, He makee all good thing, He give all thing, He hear me when I
say O to Him, as you do just now; He makee me good if I wish to be good;
He spare me, no makee kill me, when I no be good: all this you say He do,
yet He be great God; me take, think, believe Him to be great God; me say
O to Him with you, my dear.

Here the poor man could forbear no longer, but raised her up, made her
kneel by him, and he prayed to God aloud to instruct her in the knowledge
of Himself, by His Spirit; and that by some good providence, if possible,
she might, some time or other, come to have a Bible, that she might read
the word of God, and be taught by it to know Him.  This was the time that
we saw him lift her up by the hand, and saw him kneel down by her, as
above.

They had several other discourses, it seems, after this; and particularly
she made him promise that, since he confessed his own life had been a
wicked, abominable course of provocations against God, that he would
reform it, and not make God angry any more, lest He should make him dead,
as she called it, and then she would be left alone, and never be taught
to know this God better; and lest he should be miserable, as he had told
her wicked men would be after death.

This was a strange account, and very affecting to us both, but
particularly to the young clergyman; he was, indeed, wonderfully
surprised with it, but under the greatest affliction imaginable that he
could not talk to her, that he could not speak English to make her
understand him; and as she spoke but very broken English, he could not
understand her; however, he turned himself to me, and told me that he
believed that there must be more to do with this woman than to marry her.
I did not understand him at first; but at length he explained himself,
viz. that she ought to be baptized.  I agreed with him in that part
readily, and wished it to be done presently.  "No, no; hold, sir," says
he; "though I would have her be baptized, by all means, for I must
observe that Will Atkins, her husband, has indeed brought her, in a
wonderful manner, to be willing to embrace a religious life, and has
given her just ideas of the being of a God; of His power, justice, and
mercy: yet I desire to know of him if he has said anything to her of
Jesus Christ, and of the salvation of sinners; of the nature of faith in
Him, and redemption by Him; of the Holy Spirit, the resurrection, the
last judgment, and the future state."

I called Will Atkins again, and asked him; but the poor fellow fell
immediately into tears, and told us he had said something to her of all
those things, but that he was himself so wicked a creature, and his own
conscience so reproached him with his horrid, ungodly life, that he
trembled at the apprehensions that her knowledge of him should lessen the
attention she should give to those things, and make her rather contemn
religion than receive it; but he was assured, he said, that her mind was
so disposed to receive due impressions of all those things, and that if I
would but discourse with her, she would make it appear to my satisfaction
that my labour would not be lost upon her.

Accordingly I called her in, and placing myself as interpreter between my
religious priest and the woman, I entreated him to begin with her; but
sure such a sermon was never preached by a Popish priest in these latter
ages of the world; and as I told him, I thought he had all the zeal, all
the knowledge, all the sincerity of a Christian, without the error of a
Roman Catholic; and that I took him to be such a clergyman as the Roman
bishops were before the Church of Rome assumed spiritual sovereignty over
the consciences of men.  In a word, he brought the poor woman to embrace
the knowledge of Christ, and of redemption by Him, not with wonder and
astonishment only, as she did the first notions of a God, but with joy
and faith; with an affection, and a surprising degree of understanding,
scarce to be imagined, much less to be expressed; and, at her own
request, she was baptized.

When he was preparing to baptize her, I entreated him that he would
perform that office with some caution, that the man might not perceive he
was of the Roman Church, if possible, because of other ill consequences
which might attend a difference among us in that very religion which we
were instructing the other in.  He told me that as he had no consecrated
chapel, nor proper things for the office, I should see he would do it in
a manner that I should not know by it that he was a Roman Catholic
myself, if I had not known it before; and so he did; for saying only some
words over to himself in Latin, which I could not understand, he poured a
whole dishful of water upon the woman's head, pronouncing in French, very
loud, "Mary" (which was the name her husband desired me to give her, for
I was her godfather), "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;" so that none could know anything by it
what religion he was of.  He gave the benediction afterwards in Latin,
but either Will Atkins did not know but it was French, or else did not
take notice of it at that time.

As soon as this was over we married them; and after the marriage was
over, he turned to Will Atkins, and in a very affectionate manner
exhorted him, not only to persevere in that good disposition he was in,
but to support the convictions that were upon him by a resolution to
reform his life: told him it was in vain to say he repented if he did not
forsake his crimes; represented to him how God had honoured him with
being the instrument of bringing his wife to the knowledge of the
Christian religion, and that he should be careful he did not dishonour
the grace of God; and that if he did, he would see the heathen a better
Christian than himself; the savage converted, and the instrument cast
away.  He said a great many good things to them both; and then,
recommending them to God's goodness, gave them the benediction again, I
repeating everything to them in English; and thus ended the ceremony.  I
think it was the most pleasant and agreeable day to me that ever I passed
in my whole life.  But my clergyman had not done yet: his thoughts hung
continually upon the conversion of the thirty-seven savages, and fain be
would have stayed upon the island to have undertaken it; but I convinced
him, first, that his undertaking was impracticable in itself; and,
secondly, that perhaps I would put it into a way of being done in his
absence to his satisfaction.

Having thus brought the affairs of the island to a narrow compass, I was
preparing to go on board the ship, when the young man I had taken out of
the famished ship's company came to me, and told me he understood I had a
clergyman with me, and that I had caused the Englishmen to be married to
the savages; that he had a match too, which he desired might be finished
before I went, between two Christians, which he hoped would not be
disagreeable to me.

I knew this must be the young woman who was his mother's servant, for
there was no other Christian woman on the island: so I began to persuade
him not to do anything of that kind rashly, or because he found himself
in this solitary circumstance.  I represented to him that he had some
considerable substance in the world, and good friends, as I understood by
himself, and the maid also; that the maid was not only poor, and a
servant, but was unequal to him, she being six or seven and twenty years
old, and he not above seventeen or eighteen; that he might very probably,
with my assistance, make a remove from this wilderness, and come into his
own country again; and that then it would be a thousand to one but he
would repent his choice, and the dislike of that circumstance might be
disadvantageous to both.  I was going to say more, but he interrupted me,
smiling, and told me, with a great deal of modesty, that I mistook in my
guesses--that he had nothing of that kind in his thoughts; and he was
very glad to hear that I had an intent of putting them in a way to see
their own country again; and nothing should have made him think of
staying there, but that the voyage I was going was so exceeding long and
hazardous, and would carry him quite out of the reach of all his friends;
that he had nothing to desire of me but that I would settle him in some
little property in the island where he was, give him a servant or two,
and some few necessaries, and he would live here like a planter, waiting
the good time when, if ever I returned to England, I would redeem him.  He
hoped I would not be unmindful of him when I came to England: that he
would give me some letters to his friends in London, to let them know how
good I had been to him, and in what part of the world and what
circumstances I had left him in: and he promised me that whenever I
redeemed him, the plantation, and all the improvements he had made upon
it, let the value be what it would, should be wholly mine.

His discourse was very prettily delivered, considering his youth, and was
the more agreeable to me, because he told me positively the match was not
for himself. I gave him all possible assurances that if I lived to come
safe to England, I would deliver his letters, and do his business
effectually; and that he might depend I should never forget the
circumstances I had left him in.  But still I was impatient to know who
was the person to be married; upon which he told me it was my Jack-of-all-
trades and his maid Susan.  I was most agreeably surprised when he named
the match; for, indeed, I thought it very suitable.  The character of
that man I have given already; and as for the maid, she was a very
honest, modest, sober, and religious young woman: had a very good share
of sense, was agreeable enough in her person, spoke very handsomely and
to the purpose, always with decency and good manners, and was neither too
backward to speak when requisite, nor impertinently forward when it was
not her business; very handy and housewifely, and an excellent manager;
fit, indeed, to have been governess to the whole island; and she knew
very well how to behave in every respect.

The match being proposed in this manner, we married them the same day;
and as I was father at the altar, and gave her away, so I gave her a
portion; for I appointed her and her husband a handsome large space of
ground for their plantation; and indeed this match, and the proposal the
young gentleman made to give him a small property in the island, put me
upon parcelling it out amongst them, that they might not quarrel
afterwards about their situation.

This sharing out the land to them I left to Will Atkins, who was now
grown a sober, grave, managing fellow, perfectly reformed, exceedingly
pious and religious; and, as far as I may be allowed to speak positively
in such a case, I verily believe he was a true penitent.  He divided
things so justly, and so much to every one's satisfaction, that they only
desired one general writing under my hand for the whole, which I caused
to be drawn up, and signed and sealed, setting out the bounds and
situation of every man's plantation, and testifying that I gave them
thereby severally a right to the whole possession and inheritance of the
respective plantations or farms, with their improvements, to them and
their heirs, reserving all the rest of the island as my own property, and
a certain rent for every particular plantation after eleven years, if I,
or any one from me, or in my name, came to demand it, producing an
attested copy of the same writing.  As to the government and laws among
them, I told them I was not capable of giving them better rules than they
were able to give themselves; only I made them promise me to live in love
and good neighbourhood with one another; and so I prepared to leave them.

One thing I must not omit, and that is, that being now settled in a kind
of commonwealth among themselves, and having much business in hand, it
was odd to have seven-and-thirty Indians live in a nook of the island,
independent, and, indeed, unemployed; for except the providing themselves
food, which they had difficulty enough to do sometimes, they had no
manner of business or property to manage.  I proposed, therefore, to the
governor Spaniard that he should go to them, with Friday's father, and
propose to them to remove, and either plant for themselves, or be taken
into their several families as servants to be maintained for their
labour, but without being absolute slaves; for I would not permit them to
make them slaves by force, by any means; because they had their liberty
given them by capitulation, as it were articles of surrender, which they
ought not to break.

They most willingly embraced the proposal, and came all very cheerfully
along with him: so we allotted them land and plantations, which three or
four accepted of, but all the rest chose to be employed as servants in
the several families we had settled.  Thus my colony was in a manner
settled as follows: The Spaniards possessed my original habitation, which
was the capital city, and extended their plantations all along the side
of the brook, which made the creek that I have so often described, as far
as my bower; and as they increased their culture, it went always
eastward.  The English lived in the north-east part, where Will Atkins
and his comrades began, and came on southward and south-west, towards the
back part of the Spaniards; and every plantation had a great addition of
land to take in, if they found occasion, so that they need not jostle one
another for want of room.  All the east end of the island was left
uninhabited, that if any of the savages should come on shore there only
for their customary barbarities, they might come and go; if they
disturbed nobody, nobody would disturb them: and no doubt but they were
often ashore, and went away again; for I never heard that the planters
were ever attacked or disturbed any more.




CHAPTER VIII--SAILS FROM THE ISLAND FOR THE BRAZILS


It now came into my thoughts that I had hinted to my friend the clergyman
that the work of converting the savages might perhaps be set on foot in
his absence to his satisfaction, and I told him that now I thought that
it was put in a fair way; for the savages, being thus divided among the
Christians, if they would but every one of them do their part with those
which came under their hands, I hoped it might have a very good effect.

He agreed presently in that, if they did their part.  "But how," says he,
"shall we obtain that of them?"  I told him we would call them all
together, and leave it in charge with them, or go to them, one by one,
which he thought best; so we divided it--he to speak to the Spaniards,
who were all Papists, and I to speak to the English, who were all
Protestants; and we recommended it earnestly to them, and made them
promise that they would never make any distinction of Papist or
Protestant in their exhorting the savages to turn Christians, but teach
them the general knowledge of the true God, and of their Saviour Jesus
Christ; and they likewise promised us that they would never have any
differences or disputes one with another about religion.

When I came to Will Atkins's house, I found that the young woman I have
mentioned above, and Will Atkins's wife, were become intimates; and this
prudent, religious young woman had perfected the work Will Atkins had
begun; and though it was not above four days after what I have related,
yet the new-baptized savage woman was made such a Christian as I have
seldom heard of in all my observation or conversation in the world.  It
came next into my mind, in the morning before I went to them, that
amongst all the needful things I had to leave with them I had not left
them a Bible, in which I showed myself less considering for them than my
good friend the widow was for me when she sent me the cargo of a hundred
pounds from Lisbon, where she packed up three Bibles and a Prayer-book.
However, the good woman's charity had a greater extent than ever she
imagined, for they were reserved for the comfort and instruction of those
that made much better use of them than I had done.

I took one of the Bibles in my pocket, and when I came to Will Atkins's
tent, or house, and found the young woman and Atkins's baptized wife had
been discoursing of religion together--for Will Atkins told it me with a
great deal of joy--I asked if they were together now, and he said, "Yes";
so I went into the house, and he with me, and we found them together very
earnest in discourse.  "Oh, sir," says Will Atkins, "when God has sinners
to reconcile to Himself, and aliens to bring home, He never wants a
messenger; my wife has got a new instructor: I knew I was unworthy, as I
was incapable of that work; that young woman has been sent hither from
heaven--she is enough to convert a whole island of savages."  The young
woman blushed, and rose up to go away, but I desired her to sit-still; I
told her she had a good work upon her hands, and I hoped God would bless
her in it.

We talked a little, and I did not perceive that they had any book among
them, though I did not ask; but I put my hand into my pocket, and pulled
out my Bible.  "Here," said I to Atkins, "I have brought you an assistant
that perhaps you had not before."  The man was so confounded that he was
not able to speak for some time; but, recovering himself, he takes it
with both his hands, and turning to his wife, "Here, my dear," says he,
"did not I tell you our God, though He lives above, could hear what we
have said?  Here's the book I prayed for when you and I kneeled down
under the bush; now God has heard us and sent it."  When he had said so,
the man fell into such passionate transports, that between the joy of
having it, and giving God thanks for it, the tears ran down his face like
a child that was crying.

The woman was surprised, and was like to have run into a mistake that
none of us were aware of; for she firmly believed God had sent the book
upon her husband's petition.  It is true that providentially it was so,
and might be taken so in a consequent sense; but I believe it would have
been no difficult matter at that time to have persuaded the poor woman to
have believed that an express messenger came from heaven on purpose to
bring that individual book.  But it was too serious a matter to suffer
any delusion to take place, so I turned to the young woman, and told her
we did not desire to impose upon the new convert in her first and more
ignorant understanding of things, and begged her to explain to her that
God may be very properly said to answer our petitions, when, in the
course of His providence, such things are in a particular manner brought
to pass as we petitioned for; but we did not expect returns from heaven
in a miraculous and particular manner, and it is a mercy that it is not
so.

This the young woman did afterwards effectually, so that there was no
priestcraft used here; and I should have thought it one of the most
unjustifiable frauds in the world to have had it so.  But the effect upon
Will Atkins is really not to be expressed; and there, we may be sure, was
no delusion.  Sure no man was ever more thankful in the world for
anything of its kind than he was for the Bible, nor, I believe, never any
man was glad of a Bible from a better principle; and though he had been a
most profligate creature, headstrong, furious, and desperately wicked,
yet this man is a standing rule to us all for the well instructing
children, viz. that parents should never give over to teach and instruct,
nor ever despair of the success of their endeavours, let the children be
ever so refractory, or to appearance insensible to instruction; for if
ever God in His providence touches the conscience of such, the force of
their education turns upon them, and the early instruction of parents is
not lost, though it may have been many years laid asleep, but some time
or other they may find the benefit of it.  Thus it was with this poor
man: however ignorant he was of religion and Christian knowledge, he
found he had some to do with now more ignorant than himself, and that the
least part of the instruction of his good father that now came to his
mind was of use to him.

Among the rest, it occurred to him, he said, how his father used to
insist so much on the inexpressible value of the Bible, and the privilege
and blessing of it to nations, families, and persons; but he never
entertained the least notion of the worth of it till now, when, being to
talk to heathens, savages, and barbarians, he wanted the help of the
written oracle for his assistance.  The young woman was glad of it also
for the present occasion, though she had one, and so had the youth, on
board our ship among their goods, which were not yet brought on shore.
And now, having said so many things of this young woman, I cannot omit
telling one story more of her and myself, which has something in it very
instructive and remarkable.

I have related to what extremity the poor young woman was reduced; how
her mistress was starved to death, and died on board that unhappy ship we
met at sea, and how the whole ship's company was reduced to the last
extremity.  The gentlewoman, and her son, and this maid, were first
hardly used as to provisions, and at last totally neglected and
starved--that is to say, brought to the last extremity of hunger.  One
day, being discoursing with her on the extremities they suffered, I asked
her if she could describe, by what she had felt, what it was to starve,
and how it appeared?  She said she believed she could, and told her tale
very distinctly thus:--

"First, we had for some days fared exceedingly hard, and suffered very
great hunger; but at last we were wholly without food of any kind except
sugar, and a little wine and water.  The first day after I had received
no food at all, I found myself towards evening, empty and sick at the
stomach, and nearer night much inclined to yawning and sleep.  I lay down
on the couch in the great cabin to sleep, and slept about three hours,
and awaked a little refreshed, having taken a glass of wine when I lay
down; after being about three hours awake, it being about five o'clock in
the morning, I found myself empty, and my stomach sickish, and lay down
again, but could not sleep at all, being very faint and ill; and thus I
continued all the second day with a strange variety--first hungry, then
sick again, with retchings to vomit.  The second night, being obliged to
go to bed again without any food more than a draught of fresh water, and
being asleep, I dreamed I was at Barbadoes, and that the market was
mightily stocked with provisions; that I bought some for my mistress, and
went and dined very heartily.  I thought my stomach was full after this,
as it would have been after a good dinner; but when I awaked I was
exceedingly sunk in my spirits to find myself in the extremity of family.
The last glass of wine we had I drank, and put sugar in it, because of
its having some spirit to supply nourishment; but there being no
substance in the stomach for the digesting office to work upon, I found
the only effect of the wine was to raise disagreeable fumes from the
stomach into the head; and I lay, as they told me, stupid and senseless,
as one drunk, for some time.  The third day, in the morning, after a
night of strange, confused, and inconsistent dreams, and rather dozing
than sleeping, I awaked ravenous and furious with hunger; and I question,
had not my understanding returned and conquered it, whether if I had been
a mother, and had had a little child with me, its life would have been
safe or not.  This lasted about three hours, during which time I was
twice raging mad as any creature in Bedlam, as my young master told me,
and as he can now inform you.

"In one of these fits of lunacy or distraction I fell down and struck my
face against the corner of a pallet-bed, in which my mistress lay, and
with the blow the blood gushed out of my nose; and the cabin-boy bringing
me a little basin, I sat down and bled into it a great deal; and as the
blood came from me I came to myself, and the violence of the flame or
fever I was in abated, and so did the ravenous part of the hunger.  Then
I grew sick, and retched to vomit, but could not, for I had nothing in my
stomach to bring up.  After I had bled some time I swooned, and they all
believed I was dead; but I came to myself soon after, and then had a most
dreadful pain in my stomach not to be described--not like the colic, but
a gnawing, eager pain for food; and towards night it went off with a kind
of earnest wishing or longing for food.  I took another draught of water
with sugar in it; but my stomach loathed the sugar and brought it all up
again; then I took a draught of water without sugar, and that stayed with
me; and I laid me down upon the bed, praying most heartily that it would
please God to take me away; and composing my mind in hopes of it, I
slumbered a while, and then waking, thought myself dying, being light
with vapours from an empty stomach.  I recommended my soul then to God,
and then earnestly wished that somebody would throw me into the into the
sea.

"All this while my mistress lay by me, just, as I thought, expiring, but
she bore it with much more patience than I, and gave the last bit of
bread she had left to her child, my young master, who would not have
taken it, but she obliged him to eat it; and I believe it saved his life.
Towards the morning I slept again, and when I awoke I fell into a violent
passion of crying, and after that had a second fit of violent hunger.  I
got up ravenous, and in a most dreadful condition; and once or twice I
was going to bite my own arm.  At last I saw the basin in which was the
blood I had bled at my nose the day before: I ran to it, and swallowed it
with such haste, and such a greedy appetite, as if I wondered nobody had
taken it before, and afraid it should be taken from me now.  After it was
down, though the thoughts of it filled me with horror, yet it checked the
fit of hunger, and I took another draught of water, and was composed and
refreshed for some hours after.  This was the fourth day; and this I kept
up till towards night, when, within the compass of three hours, I had all
the several circumstances over again, one after another, viz. sick,
sleepy, eagerly hungry, pain in the stomach, then ravenous again, then
sick, then lunatic, then crying, then ravenous again, and so every
quarter of an hour, and my strength wasted exceedingly; at night I lay me
down, having no comfort but in the hope that I should die before morning.

"All this night I had no sleep; but the hunger was now turned into a
disease; and I had a terrible colic and griping, by wind instead of food
having found its way into the bowels; and in this condition I lay till
morning, when I was surprised by the cries and lamentations of my young
master, who called out to me that his mother was dead.  I lifted myself
up a little, for I had not strength to rise, but found she was not dead,
though she was able to give very little signs of life.  I had then such
convulsions in my stomach, for want of some sustenance, as I cannot
describe; with such frequent throes and pangs of appetite as nothing but
the tortures of death can imitate; and in this condition I was when I
heard the seamen above cry out, 'A sail! a sail!' and halloo and jump
about as if they were distracted.  I was not able to get off from the
bed, and my mistress much less; and my young master was so sick that I
thought he had been expiring; so we could not open the cabin door, or get
any account what it was that occasioned such confusion; nor had we had
any conversation with the ship's company for twelve days, they having
told us that they had not a mouthful of anything to eat in the ship; and
this they told us afterwards--they thought we had been dead.  It was this
dreadful condition we were in when you were sent to save our lives; and
how you found us, sir, you know as well as I, and better too."

This was her own relation, and is such a distinct account of starving to
death, as, I confess, I never met with, and was exceeding instructive to
me.  I am the rather apt to believe it to be a true account, because the
youth gave me an account of a good part of it; though I must own, not so
distinct and so feeling as the maid; and the rather, because it seems his
mother fed him at the price of her own life: but the poor maid, whose
constitution was stronger than that of her mistress, who was in years,
and a weakly woman too, might struggle harder with it; nevertheless she
might be supposed to feel the extremity something sooner than her
mistress, who might be allowed to keep the last bit something longer than
she parted with any to relieve her maid.  No question, as the case is
here related, if our ship or some other had not so providentially met
them, but a few days more would have ended all their lives.  I now return
to my disposition of things among the people.  And, first, it is to be
observed here, that for many reasons I did not think fit to let them know
anything of the sloop I had framed, and which I thought of setting up
among them; for I found, at least at my first coming, such seeds of
division among them, that I saw plainly, had I set up the sloop, and left
it among them, they would, upon every light disgust, have separated, and
gone away from one another; or perhaps have turned pirates, and so made
the island a den of thieves, instead of a plantation of sober and
religious people, as I intended it; nor did I leave the two pieces of
brass cannon that I had on board, or the extra two quarter-deck guns that
my nephew had provided, for the same reason.  I thought it was enough to
qualify them for a defensive war against any that should invade them, but
not to set them up for an offensive war, or to go abroad to attack
others; which, in the end, would only bring ruin and destruction upon
them.  I reserved the sloop, therefore, and the guns, for their service
another way, as I shall observe in its place.

Having now done with the island, I left them all in good circumstances
and in a flourishing condition, and went on board my ship again on the
6th of May, having been about twenty-five days among them: and as they
were all resolved to stay upon the island till I came to remove them, I
promised to send them further relief from the Brazils, if I could
possibly find an opportunity.  I particularly promised to send them some
cattle, such as sheep, hogs, and cows: as to the two cows and calves
which I brought from England, we had been obliged, by the length of our
voyage, to kill them at sea, for want of hay to feed them.

The next day, giving them a salute of five guns at parting, we set sail,
and arrived at the bay of All Saints in the Brazils in about twenty-two
days, meeting nothing remarkable in our passage but this: that about
three days after we had sailed, being becalmed, and the current setting
strong to the ENE., running, as it were, into a bay or gulf on the land
side, we were driven something out of our course, and once or twice our
men cried out, "Land to the eastward!" but whether it was the continent
or islands we could not tell by any means.  But the third day, towards
evening, the sea smooth, and the weather calm, we saw the sea as it were
covered towards the land with something very black; not being able to
discover what it was till after some time, our chief mate, going up the
main shrouds a little way, and looking at them with a perspective, cried
out it was an army.  I could not imagine what he meant by an army, and
thwarted him a little hastily.  "Nay, sir," says he, "don't be angry, for
'tis an army, and a fleet too: for I believe there are a thousand canoes,
and you may see them paddle along, for they are coming towards us apace."

I was a little surprised then, indeed, and so was my nephew the captain;
for he had heard such terrible stories of them in the island, and having
never been in those seas before, that he could not tell what to think of
it, but said, two or three times, we should all be devoured.  I must
confess, considering we were becalmed, and the current set strong towards
the shore, I liked it the worse; however, I bade them not be afraid, but
bring the ship to an anchor as soon as we came so near as to know that we
must engage them.  The weather continued calm, and they came on apace
towards us, so I gave orders to come to an anchor, and furl all our
sails; as for the savages, I told them they had nothing to fear but fire,
and therefore they should get their boats out, and fasten them, one close
by the head and the other by the stern, and man them both well, and wait
the issue in that posture: this I did, that the men in the boats might he
ready with sheets and buckets to put out any fire these savages might
endeavour to fix to the outside of the ship.

In this posture we lay by for them, and in a little while they came up
with us; but never was such a horrid sight seen by Christians; though my
mate was much mistaken in his calculation of their number, yet when they
came up we reckoned about a hundred and twenty-six canoes; some of them
had sixteen or seventeen men in them, and some more, and the least six or
seven.  When they came nearer to us, they seemed to be struck with wonder
and astonishment, as at a sight which doubtless they had never seen
before; nor could they at first, as we afterwards understood, know what
to make of us; they came boldly up, however, very near to us, and seemed
to go about to row round us; but we called to our men in the boats not to
let them come too near them.  This very order brought us to an engagement
with them, without our designing it; for five or six of the large canoes
came so near our long-boat, that our men beckoned with their hands to
keep them back, which they understood very well, and went back: but at
their retreat about fifty arrows came on board us from those boats, and
one of our men in the long-boat was very much wounded.  However, I called
to them not to fire by any means; but we handed down some deal boards
into the boat, and the carpenter presently set up a kind of fence, like
waste boards, to cover them from the arrows of the savages, if they
should shoot again.

About half-an-hour afterwards they all came up in a body astern of us,
and so near that we could easily discern what they were, though we could
not tell their design; and I easily found they were some of my old
friends, the same sort of savages that I had been used to engage with.  In
a short time more they rowed a little farther out to sea, till they came
directly broadside with us, and then rowed down straight upon us, till
they came so near that they could hear us speak; upon this, I ordered all
my men to keep close, lest they should shoot any more arrows, and made
all our guns ready; but being so near as to be within hearing, I made
Friday go out upon the deck, and call out aloud to them in his language,
to know what they meant.  Whether they understood him or not, that I knew
not; but as soon as he had called to them, six of them, who were in the
foremost or nighest boat to us, turned their canoes from us, and stooping
down, showed us their naked backs; whether this was a defiance or
challenge we knew not, or whether it was done in mere contempt, or as a
signal to the rest; but immediately Friday cried out they were going to
shoot, and, unhappily for him, poor fellow, they let fly about three
hundred of their arrows, and to my inexpressible grief, killed poor
Friday, no other man being in their sight.  The poor fellow was shot with
no less than three arrows, and about three more fell very near him; such
unlucky marksmen they were!

I was so annoyed at the loss of my old trusty servant and companion, that
I immediately ordered five guns to be loaded with small shot, and four
with great, and gave them such a broadside as they had never heard in
their lives before.  They were not above half a cable's length off when
we fired; and our gunners took their aim so well, that three or four of
their canoes were overset, as we had reason to believe, by one shot only.
The ill manners of turning up their bare backs to us gave us no great
offence; neither did I know for certain whether that which would pass for
the greatest contempt among us might be understood so by them or not;
therefore, in return, I had only resolved to have fired four or five guns
at them with powder only, which I knew would frighten them sufficiently:
but when they shot at us directly with all the fury they were capable of,
and especially as they had killed my poor Friday, whom I so entirely
loved and valued, and who, indeed, so well deserved it, I thought myself
not only justifiable before God and man, but would have been very glad if
I could have overset every canoe there, and drowned every one of them.

I can neither tell how many we killed nor how many we wounded at this
broadside, but sure such a fright and hurry never were seen among such a
multitude; there were thirteen or fourteen of their canoes split and
overset in all, and the men all set a-swimming: the rest, frightened out
of their wits, scoured away as fast as they could, taking but little care
to save those whose boats were split or spoiled with our shot; so I
suppose that many of them were lost; and our men took up one poor fellow
swimming for his life, above an hour after they were all gone.  The small
shot from our cannon must needs kill and wound a great many; but, in
short, we never knew how it went with them, for they fled so fast, that
in three hours or thereabouts we could not see above three or four
straggling canoes, nor did we ever see the rest any more; for a breeze of
wind springing up the same evening, we weighed and set sail for the
Brazils.

We had a prisoner, indeed, but the creature was so sullen that he would
neither cat nor speak, and we all fancied he would starve himself to
death.  But I took a way to cure him: for I had made them take him and
turn him into the long-boat, and make him believe they would toss him
into the sea again, and so leave him where they found him, if he would
not speak; nor would that do, but they really did throw him into the sea,
and came away from him.  Then he followed them, for he swam like a cork,
and called to them in his tongue, though they knew not one word of what
he said; however at last they took him in again, and then he began to be
more tractable: nor did I ever design they should drown him.

We were now under sail again, but I was the most disconsolate creature
alive for want of my man Friday, and would have been very glad to have
gone back to the island, to have taken one of the rest from thence for my
occasion, but it could not be: so we went on.  We had one prisoner, as I
have said, and it was a long time before we could make him understand
anything; but in time our men taught him some English, and he began to be
a little tractable.  Afterwards, we inquired what country he came from;
but could make nothing of what he said; for his speech was so odd, all
gutturals, and he spoke in the throat in such a hollow, odd manner, that
we could never form a word after him; and we were all of opinion that
they might speak that language as well if they were gagged as otherwise;
nor could we perceive that they had any occasion either for teeth,
tongue, lips, or palate, but formed their words just as a hunting-horn
forms a tune with an open throat.  He told us, however, some time after,
when we had taught him to speak a little English, that they were going
with their kings to fight a great battle.  When he said kings, we asked
him how many kings?  He said they were five nation (we could not make him
understand the plural 's), and that they all joined to go against two
nation.  We asked him what made them come up to us?  He said, "To makee
te great wonder look."  Here it is to be observed that all those natives,
as also those of Africa when they learn English, always add two e's at
the end of the words where we use one; and they place the accent upon
them, as makee, takee, and the like; nay, I could hardly make Friday
leave it off, though at last he did.

And now I name the poor fellow once more, I must take my last leave of
him.  Poor honest Friday!  We buried him with all the decency and
solemnity possible, by putting him into a coffin, and throwing him into
the sea; and I caused them to fire eleven guns for him.  So ended the
life of the most grateful, faithful, honest, and most affectionate
servant that ever man had.

We went now away with a fair wind for Brazil; and in about twelve days'
time we made land, in the latitude of five degrees south of the line,
being the north-easternmost land of all that part of America.  We kept on
S. by E., in sight of the shore four days, when we made Cape St.
Augustine, and in three days came to an anchor off the bay of All Saints,
the old place of my deliverance, from whence came both my good and evil
fate.  Never ship came to this port that had less business than I had,
and yet it was with great difficulty that we were admitted to hold the
least correspondence on shore: not my partner himself, who was alive, and
made a great figure among them, not my two merchant-trustees, not the
fame of my wonderful preservation in the island, could obtain me that
favour.  My partner, however, remembering that I had given five hundred
moidores to the prior of the monastery of the Augustines, and two hundred
and seventy-two to the poor, went to the monastery, and obliged the prior
that then was to go to the governor, and get leave for me personally,
with the captain and one more, besides eight seamen, to come on shore,
and no more; and this upon condition, absolutely capitulated for, that we
should not offer to land any goods out of the ship, or to carry any
person away without licence.  They were so strict with us as to landing
any goods, that it was with extreme difficulty that I got on shore three
bales of English goods, such as fine broadcloths, stuffs, and some linen,
which I had brought for a present to my partner.

He was a very generous, open-hearted man, although he began, like me,
with little at first.  Though he knew not that I had the least design of
giving him anything, he sent me on board a present of fresh provisions,
wine, and sweetmeats, worth about thirty moidores, including some
tobacco, and three or four fine medals of gold: but I was even with him
in my present, which, as I have said, consisted of fine broadcloth,
English stuffs, lace, and fine holland; also, I delivered him about the
value of one hundred pounds sterling in the same goods, for other uses;
and I obliged him to set up the sloop, which I had brought with me from
England, as I have said, for the use of my colony, in order to send the
refreshments I intended to my plantation.

Accordingly, he got hands, and finished the sloop in a very few days, for
she was already framed; and I gave the master of her such instructions
that he could not miss the place; nor did he, as I had an account from my
partner afterwards.  I got him soon loaded with the small cargo I sent
them; and one of our seamen, that had been on shore with me there,
offered to go with the sloop and settle there, upon my letter to the
governor Spaniard to allot him a sufficient quantity of land for a
plantation, and on my giving him some clothes and tools for his planting
work, which he said he understood, having been an old planter at
Maryland, and a buccaneer into the bargain.  I encouraged the fellow by
granting all he desired; and, as an addition, I gave him the savage whom
we had taken prisoner of war to be his slave, and ordered the governor
Spaniard to give him his share of everything he wanted with the rest.

When we came to fit this man out, my old partner told me there was a
certain very honest fellow, a Brazil planter of his acquaintance, who had
fallen into the displeasure of the Church.  "I know not what the matter
is with him," says he, "but, on my conscience, I think he is a heretic in
his heart, and he has been obliged to conceal himself for fear of the
Inquisition." He then told me that he would be very glad of such an
opportunity to make his escape, with his wife and two daughters; and if I
would let them go to my island, and allot them a plantation, he would
give them a small stock to begin with--for the officers of the
Inquisition had seized all his effects and estate, and he had nothing
left but a little household stuff and two slaves; "and," adds he, "though
I hate his principles, yet I would not have him fall into their hands,
for he will be assuredly burned alive if he does."  I granted this
presently, and joined my Englishman with them; and we concealed the man,
and his wife and daughters, on board our ship, till the sloop put out to
go to sea; and then having put all their goods on board some time before,
we put them on board the sloop after she was got out of the bay.  Our
seaman was mightily pleased with this new partner; and their stocks,
indeed, were much alike, rich in tools, in preparations, and a farm--but
nothing to begin with, except as above: however, they carried over with
them what was worth all the rest, some materials for planting
sugar-canes, with some plants of canes, which he, I mean the Brazil
planter, understood very well.

Among the rest of the supplies sent to my tenants in the island, I sent
them by the sloop three milch cows and five calves; about twenty-two
hogs, among them three sows; two mares, and a stone-horse.  For my
Spaniards, according to my promise, I engaged three Brazil women to go,
and recommended it to them to marry them, and use them kindly.  I could
have procured more women, but I remembered that the poor persecuted man
had two daughters, and that there were but five of the Spaniards that
wanted partners; the rest had wives of their own, though in another
country.  All this cargo arrived safe, and, as you may easily suppose,
was very welcome to my old inhabitants, who were now, with this addition,
between sixty and seventy people, besides little children, of which there
were a great many.  I found letters at London from them all, by way of
Lisbon, when I came back to England.

I have now done with the island, and all manner of discourse about it:
and whoever reads the rest of my memorandums would do well to turn his
thoughts entirely from it, and expect to read of the follies of an old
man, not warned by his own harms, much less by those of other men, to
beware; not cooled by almost forty years' miseries and
disappointments--not satisfied with prosperity beyond expectation, nor
made cautious by afflictions and distress beyond example.




CHAPTER IX--DREADFUL OCCURRENCES IN MADAGASCAR


I had no more business to go to the East Indies than a man at full
liberty has to go to the turnkey at Newgate, and desire him to lock him
up among the prisoners there, and starve him.  Had I taken a small vessel
from England and gone directly to the island; had I loaded her, as I did
the other vessel, with all the necessaries for the plantation and for my
people; taken a patent from the government here to have secured my
property, in subjection only to that of England; had I carried over
cannon and ammunition, servants and people to plant, and taken possession
of the place, fortified and strengthened it in the name of England, and
increased it with people, as I might easily have done; had I then settled
myself there, and sent the ship back laden with good rice, as I might
also have done in six months' time, and ordered my friends to have fitted
her out again for our supply--had I done this, and stayed there myself, I
had at least acted like a man of common sense.  But I was possessed of a
wandering spirit, and scorned all advantages: I pleased myself with being
the patron of the people I placed there, and doing for them in a kind of
haughty, majestic way, like an old patriarchal monarch, providing for
them as if I had been father of the whole family, as well as of the
plantation.  But I never so much as pretended to plant in the name of any
government or nation, or to acknowledge any prince, or to call my people
subjects to any one nation more than another; nay, I never so much as
gave the place a name, but left it as I found it, belonging to nobody,
and the people under no discipline or government but my own, who, though
I had influence over them as a father and benefactor, had no authority or
power to act or command one way or other, further than voluntary consent
moved them to comply.  Yet even this, had I stayed there, would have done
well enough; but as I rambled from them, and came there no more, the last
letters I had from any of them were by my partner's means, who afterwards
sent another sloop to the place, and who sent me word, though I had not
the letter till I got to London, several years after it was written, that
they went on but poorly; were discontented with their long stay there;
that Will Atkins was dead; that five of the Spaniards were come away; and
though they had not been much molested by the savages, yet they had had
some skirmishes with them; and that they begged of him to write to me to
think of the promise I had made to fetch them away, that they might see
their country again before they died.

But I was gone a wildgoose chase indeed, and they that will have any more
of me must be content to follow me into a new variety of follies,
hardships, and wild adventures, wherein the justice of Providence may be
duly observed; and we may see how easily Heaven can gorge us with our own
desires, make the strongest of our wishes be our affliction, and punish
us most severely with those very things which we think it would be our
utmost happiness to be allowed to possess.  Whether I had business or no
business, away I went: it is no time now to enlarge upon the reason or
absurdity of my own conduct, but to come to the history--I was embarked
for the voyage, and the voyage I went.

I shall only add a word or two concerning my honest Popish clergyman, for
let their opinion of us, and all other heretics in general, as they call
us, be as uncharitable as it may, I verily believe this man was very
sincere, and wished the good of all men: yet I believe he used reserve in
many of his expressions, to prevent giving me offence; for I scarce heard
him once call on the Blessed Virgin, or mention St. Jago, or his guardian
angel, though so common with the rest of them.  However, I say I had not
the least doubt of his sincerity and pious intentions; and I am firmly of
opinion, if the rest of the Popish missionaries were like him, they would
strive to visit even the poor Tartars and Laplanders, where they have
nothing to give them, as well as covet to flock to India, Persia, China,
&c., the most wealthy of the heathen countries; for if they expected to
bring no gains to their Church by it, it may well be admired how they
came to admit the Chinese Confucius into the calendar of the Christian
saints.

A ship being ready to sail for Lisbon, my pious priest asked me leave to
go thither; being still, as he observed, bound never to finish any voyage
he began.  How happy it had been for me if I had gone with him.  But it
was too late now; all things Heaven appoints for the best: had I gone
with him I had never had so many things to be thankful for, and the
reader had never heard of the second part of the travels and adventures
of Robinson Crusoe: so I must here leave exclaiming at myself, and go on
with my voyage.  From the Brazils we made directly over the Atlantic Sea
to the Cape of Good Hope, and had a tolerably good voyage, our course
generally south-east, now and then a storm, and some contrary winds; but
my disasters at sea were at an end--my future rubs and cross events were
to befall me on shore, that it might appear the land was as well prepared
to be our scourge as the sea.

Our ship was on a trading voyage, and had a supercargo on board, who was
to direct all her motions after she arrived at the Cape, only being
limited to a certain number of days for stay, by charter-party, at the
several ports she was to go to.  This was none of my business, neither
did I meddle with it; my nephew, the captain, and the supercargo
adjusting all those things between them as they thought fit.  We stayed
at the Cape no longer than was needful to take in-fresh water, but made
the best of our way for the coast of Coromandel.  We were, indeed,
informed that a French man-of-war, of fifty guns, and two large merchant
ships, were gone for the Indies; and as I knew we were at war with
France, I had some apprehensions of them; but they went their own way,
and we heard no more of them.

I shall not pester the reader with a tedious description of places,
journals of our voyage, variations of the compass, latitudes,
trade-winds, &c.; it is enough to name the ports and places which we
touched at, and what occurred to us upon our passages from one to
another.  We touched first at the island of Madagascar, where, though the
people are fierce and treacherous, and very well armed with lances and
bows, which they use with inconceivable dexterity, yet we fared very well
with them a while.  They treated us very civilly; and for some trifles
which we gave them, such as knives, scissors, &c., they brought us eleven
good fat bullocks, of a middling size, which we took in, partly for fresh
provisions for our present spending, and the rest to salt for the ship's
use.

We were obliged to stay here some time after we had furnished ourselves
with provisions; and I, who was always too curious to look into every
nook of the world wherever I came, went on shore as often as I could.  It
was on the east side of the island that we went on shore one evening: and
the people, who, by the way, are very numerous, came thronging about us,
and stood gazing at us at a distance.  As we had traded freely with them,
and had been kindly used, we thought ourselves in no danger; but when we
saw the people, we cut three boughs out of a tree, and stuck them up at a
distance from us; which, it seems, is a mark in that country not only of
a truce and friendship, but when it is accepted the other side set up
three poles or boughs, which is a signal that they accept the truce too;
but then this is a known condition of the truce, that you are not to pass
beyond their three poles towards them, nor they to come past your three
poles or boughs towards you; so that you are perfectly secure within the
three poles, and all the space between your poles and theirs is allowed
like a market for free converse, traffic, and commerce.  When you go
there you must not carry your weapons with you; and if they come into
that space they stick up their javelins and lances all at the first
poles, and come on unarmed; but if any violence is offered them, and the
truce thereby broken, away they run to the poles, and lay hold of their
weapons, and the truce is at an end.

It happened one evening, when we went on shore, that a greater number of
their people came down than usual, but all very friendly and civil; and
they brought several kinds of provisions, for which we satisfied them
with such toys as we had; the women also brought us milk and roots, and
several things very acceptable to us, and all was quiet; and we made us a
little tent or hut of some boughs or trees, and lay on shore all night.  I
know not what was the occasion, but I was not so well satisfied to lie on
shore as the rest; and the boat riding at an anchor at about a stone's
cast from the land, with two men in her to take care of her, I made one
of them come on shore; and getting some boughs of trees to cover us also
in the boat, I spread the sail on the bottom of the boat, and lay under
the cover of the branches of the trees all night in the boat.

About two o'clock in the morning we heard one of our men making a
terrible noise on the shore, calling out, for God's sake, to bring the
boat in and come and help them, for they were all like to be murdered;
and at the same time I heard the fire of five muskets, which was the
number of guns they had, and that three times over; for it seems the
natives here were not so easily frightened with guns as the savages were
in America, where I had to do with them.  All this while, I knew not what
was the matter, but rousing immediately from sleep with the noise, I
caused the boat to be thrust in, and resolved with three fusees we had on
board to land and assist our men.  We got the boat soon to the shore, but
our men were in too much haste; for being come to the shore, they plunged
into the water, to get to the boat with all the expedition they could,
being pursued by between three and four hundred men.  Our men were but
nine in all, and only five of them had fusees with them; the rest had
pistols and swords, indeed, but they were of small use to them.

We took up seven of our men, and with difficulty enough too, three of
them being very ill wounded; and that which was still worse was, that
while we stood in the boat to take our men in, we were in as much danger
as they were in on shore; for they poured their arrows in upon us so
thick that we were glad to barricade the side of the boat up with the
benches, and two or three loose boards which, to our great satisfaction,
we had by mere accident in the boat.  And yet, had it been daylight, they
are, it seems, such exact marksmen, that if they could have seen but the
least part of any of us, they would have been sure of us.  We had, by the
light of the moon, a little sight of them, as they stood pelting us from
the shore with darts and arrows; and having got ready our firearms, we
gave them a volley that we could hear, by the cries of some of them, had
wounded several; however, they stood thus in battle array on the shore
till break of day, which we supposed was that they might see the better
to take their aim at us.

In this condition we lay, and could not tell how to weigh our anchor, or
set up our sail, because we must needs stand up in the boat, and they
were as sure to hit us as we were to hit a bird in a tree with small
shot.  We made signals of distress to the ship, and though she rode a
league off, yet my nephew, the captain, hearing our firing, and by
glasses perceiving the posture we lay in, and that we fired towards the
shore, pretty well understood us; and weighing anchor with all speed, he
stood as near the shore as he durst with the ship, and then sent another
boat with ten hands in her, to assist us.  We called to them not to come
too near, telling them what condition we were in; however, they stood in
near to us, and one of the men taking the end of a tow-line in his hand,
and keeping our boat between him and the enemy, so that they could not
perfectly see him, swam on board us, and made fast the line to the boat:
upon which we slipped out a little cable, and leaving our anchor behind,
they towed us out of reach of the arrows; we all the while lying close
behind the barricade we had made.  As soon as we were got from between
the ship and the shore, that we could lay her side to the shore, she ran
along just by them, and poured in a broadside among them, loaded with
pieces of iron and lead, small bullets, and such stuff, besides the great
shot, which made a terrible havoc among them.

When we were got on board and out of danger, we had time to examine into
the occasion of this fray; and indeed our supercargo, who had been often
in those parts, put me upon it; for he said he was sure the inhabitants
would not have touched us after we had made a truce, if we had not done
something to provoke them to it.  At length it came out that an old
woman, who had come to sell us some milk, had brought it within our
poles, and a young woman with her, who also brought us some roots or
herbs; and while the old woman (whether she was mother to the young woman
or no they could not tell) was selling us the milk, one of our men
offered some rudeness to the girl that was with her, at which the old
woman made a great noise: however, the seaman would not quit his prize,
but carried her out of the old woman's sight among the trees, it being
almost dark; the old woman went away without her, and, as we may suppose,
made an outcry among the people she came from; who, upon notice, raised
that great army upon us in three or four hours, and it was great odds but
we had all been destroyed.

One of our men was killed with a lance thrown at him just at the
beginning of the attack, as he sallied out of the tent they had made; the
rest came off free, all but the fellow who was the occasion of all the
mischief, who paid dear enough for his brutality, for we could not hear
what became of him for a great while.  We lay upon the shore two days
after, though the wind presented, and made signals for him, and made our
boat sail up shore and down shore several leagues, but in vain; so we
were obliged to give him over; and if he alone had suffered for it, the
loss had been less.  I could not satisfy myself, however, without
venturing on shore once more, to try if I could learn anything of him or
them; it was the third night after the action that I had a great mind to
learn, if I could by any means, what mischief we had done, and how the
game stood on the Indians' side.  I was careful to do it in the dark,
lest we should be attacked again: but I ought indeed to have been sure
that the men I went with had been under my command, before I engaged in a
thing so hazardous and mischievous as I was brought into by it, without
design.

We took twenty as stout fellows with us as any in the ship, besides the
supercargo and myself, and we landed two hours before midnight, at the
same place where the Indians stood drawn up in the evening before.  I
landed here, because my design, as I have said, was chiefly to see if
they had quitted the field, and if they had left any marks behind them of
the mischief we had done them, and I thought if we could surprise one or
two of them, perhaps we might get our man again, by way of exchange.

We landed without any noise, and divided our men into two bodies, whereof
the boatswain commanded one and I the other.  We neither saw nor heard
anybody stir when we landed: and we marched up, one body at a distance
from another, to the place.  At first we could see nothing, it being very
dark; till by-and-by our boatswain, who led the first party, stumbled and
fell over a dead body.  This made them halt a while; for knowing by the
circumstances that they were at the place where the Indians had stood,
they waited for my coming up there.  We concluded to halt till the moon
began to rise, which we knew would be in less than an hour, when we could
easily discern the havoc we had made among them.  We told thirty-two
bodies upon the ground, whereof two were not quite dead; some had an arm
and some a leg shot off, and one his head; those that were wounded, we
supposed, they had carried away.  When we had made, as I thought, a full
discovery of all we could come to the knowledge of, I resolved on going
on board; but the boatswain and his party sent me word that they were
resolved to make a visit to the Indian town, where these dogs, as they
called them, dwelt, and asked me to go along with them; and if they could
find them, as they still fancied they should, they did not doubt of
getting a good booty; and it might be they might find Tom Jeffry there:
that was the man's name we had lost.

Had they sent to ask my leave to go, I knew well enough what answer to
have given them; for I should have commanded them instantly on board,
knowing it was not a hazard fit for us to run, who had a ship and ship-
loading in our charge, and a voyage to make which depended very much upon
the lives of the men; but as they sent me word they were resolved to go,
and only asked me and my company to go along with them, I positively
refused it, and rose up, for I was sitting on the ground, in order to go
to the boat.  One or two of the men began to importune me to go; and when
I refused, began to grumble, and say they were not under my command, and
they would go.  "Come, Jack," says one of the men, "will you go with me?
I'll go for one."  Jack said he would--and then another--and, in a word,
they all left me but one, whom I persuaded to stay, and a boy left in the
boat.  So the supercargo and I, with the third man, went back to the
boat, where we told them we would stay for them, and take care to take in
as many of them as should be left; for I told them it was a mad thing
they were going about, and supposed most of them would have the fate of
Tom Jeffry.

They told me, like seamen, they would warrant it they would come off
again, and they would take care, &c.; so away they went.  I entreated
them to consider the ship and the voyage, that their lives were not their
own, and that they were entrusted with the voyage, in some measure; that
if they miscarried, the ship might be lost for want of their help, and
that they could not answer for it to God or man.  But I might as well
have talked to the mainmast of the ship: they were mad upon their
journey; only they gave me good words, and begged I would not be angry;
that they did not doubt but they would be back again in about an hour at
furthest; for the Indian town, they said, was not above half-a mile off,
though they found it above two miles before they got to it.

Well, they all went away, and though the attempt was desperate, and such
as none but madmen would have gone about, yet, to give them their due,
they went about it as warily as boldly; they were gallantly armed, for
they had every man a fusee or musket, a bayonet, and a pistol; some of
them had broad cutlasses, some of them had hangers, and the boatswain and
two more had poleaxes; besides all which they had among them thirteen
hand grenadoes.  Bolder fellows, and better provided, never went about
any wicked work in the world.  When they went out their chief design was
plunder, and they were in mighty hopes of finding gold there; but a
circumstance which none of them were aware of set them on fire with
revenge, and made devils of them all.

When they came to the few Indian houses which they thought had been the
town, which was not above half a mile off, they were under great
disappointment, for there were not above twelve or thirteen houses, and
where the town was, or how big, they knew not.  They consulted,
therefore, what to do, and were some time before they could resolve; for
if they fell upon these, they must cut all their throats; and it was ten
to one but some of them might escape, it being in the night, though the
moon was up; and if one escaped, he would run and raise all the town, so
they should have a whole army upon them; on the other hand, if they went
away and left those untouched, for the people were all asleep, they could
not tell which way to look for the town; however, the last was the best
advice, so they resolved to leave them, and look for the town as well as
they could.  They went on a little way, and found a cow tied to a tree;
this, they presently concluded, would be a good guide to them; for, they
said, the cow certainly belonged to the town before them, or the town
behind them, and if they untied her, they should see which way she went:
if she went back, they had nothing to say to her; but if she went
forward, they would follow her.  So they cut the cord, which was made of
twisted flags, and the cow went on before them, directly to the town;
which, as they reported, consisted of above two hundred houses or huts,
and in some of these they found several families living together.

Here they found all in silence, as profoundly secure as sleep could make
them: and first, they called another council, to consider what they had
to do; and presently resolved to divide themselves into three bodies, and
so set three houses on fire in three parts of the town; and as the men
came out, to seize them and bind them (if any resisted, they need not be
asked what to do then), and so to search the rest of the houses for
plunder: but they resolved to march silently first through the town, and
see what dimensions it was of, and if they might venture upon it or no.

They did so, and desperately resolved that they would venture upon them:
but while they were animating one another to the work, three of them, who
were a little before the rest, called out aloud to them, and told them
that they had found--Tom Jeffry: they all ran up to the place, where they
found the poor fellow hanging up naked by one arm, and his throat cut.
There was an Indian house just by the tree, where they found sixteen or
seventeen of the principal Indians, who had been concerned in the fray
with us before, and two or three of them wounded with our shot; and our
men found they were awake, and talking one to another in that house, but
knew not their number.

The sight of their poor mangled comrade so enraged them, as before, that
they swore to one another that they would be revenged, and that not an
Indian that came into their hands should have any quarter; and to work
they went immediately, and yet not so madly as might be expected from the
rage and fury they were in.  Their first care was to get something that
would soon take fire, but, after a little search, they found that would
be to no purpose; for most of the houses were low, and thatched with
flags and rushes, of which the country is full; so they presently made
some wildfire, as we call it, by wetting a little powder in the palm of
their hands, and in a quarter of an hour they set the town on fire in
four or five places, and particularly that house where the Indians were
not gone to bed.

As soon as the fire begun to blaze, the poor frightened creatures began
to rush out to save their lives, but met with their fate in the attempt;
and especially at the door, where they drove them back, the boatswain
himself killing one or two with his poleaxe.  The house being large, and
many in it, he did not care to go in, but called for a hand grenado, and
threw it among them, which at first frightened them, but, when it burst,
made such havoc among them that they cried out in a hideous manner.  In
short, most of the Indians who were in the open part of the house were
killed or hurt with the grenado, except two or three more who pressed to
the door, which the boatswain and two more kept, with their bayonets on
the muzzles of their pieces, and despatched all that came in their way;
but there was another apartment in the house, where the prince or king,
or whatever he was, and several others were; and these were kept in till
the house, which was by this time all in a light flame, fell in upon
them, and they were smothered together.

All this while they fired not a gun, because they would not waken the
people faster than they could master them; but the fire began to waken
them fast enough, and our fellows were glad to keep a little together in
bodies; for the fire grew so raging, all the houses being made of light
combustible stuff, that they could hardly bear the street between them.
Their business was to follow the fire, for the surer execution: as fast
as the fire either forced the people out of those houses which were
burning, or frightened them out of others, our people were ready at their
doors to knock them on the head, still calling and hallooing one to
another to remember Tom Jeffry.

While this was doing, I must confess I was very uneasy, and especially
when I saw the flames of the town, which, it being night, seemed to be
close by me.  My nephew, the captain, who was roused by his men seeing
such a fire, was very uneasy, not knowing what the matter was, or what
danger I was in, especially hearing the guns too, for by this time they
began to use their firearms; a thousand thoughts oppressed his mind
concerning me and the supercargo, what would become of us; and at last,
though he could ill spare any more men, yet not knowing what exigence we
might be in, he took another boat, and with thirteen men and himself came
ashore to me.

He was surprised to see me and the supercargo in the boat with no more
than two men; and though he was glad that we were well, yet he was in the
same impatience with us to know what was doing; for the noise continued,
and the flame increased; in short, it was next to an impossibility for
any men in the world to restrain their curiosity to know what had
happened, or their concern for the safety of the men: in a word, the
captain told me he would go and help his men, let what would come.  I
argued with him, as I did before with the men, the safety of the ship,
the danger of the voyage, the interests of the owners and merchants, &c.,
and told him I and the two men would go, and only see if we could at a
distance learn what was likely to be the event, and come back and tell
him.  It was in vain to talk to my nephew, as it was to talk to the rest
before; he would go, he said; and he only wished he had left but ten men
in the ship, for he could not think of having his men lost for want of
help: he had rather lose the ship, the voyage, and his life, and all; and
away he went.

I was no more able to stay behind now than I was to persuade them not to
go; so the captain ordered two men to row back the pinnace, and fetch
twelve men more, leaving the long-boat at an anchor; and that, when they
came back, six men should keep the two boats, and six more come after us;
so that he left only sixteen men in the ship: for the whole ship's
company consisted of sixty-five men, whereof two were lost in the late
quarrel which brought this mischief on.

Being now on the march, we felt little of the ground we trod on; and
being guided by the fire, we kept no path, but went directly to the place
of the flame.  If the noise of the guns was surprising to us before, the
cries of the poor people were now quite of another nature, and filled us
with horror.  I must confess I was never at the sacking a city, or at the
taking a town by storm.  I had heard of Oliver Cromwell taking Drogheda,
in Ireland, and killing man, woman, and child; and I had read of Count
Tilly sacking the city of Magdeburg and cutting the throats of twenty-two
thousand of all sexes; but I never had an idea of the thing itself
before, nor is it possible to describe it, or the horror that was upon
our minds at hearing it.  However, we went on, and at length came to the
town, though there was no entering the streets of it for the fire.  The
first object we met with was the ruins of a hut or house, or rather the
ashes of it, for the house was consumed; and just before it, plainly now
to be seen by the light of the fire, lay four men and three women,
killed, and, as we thought, one or two more lay in the heap among the
fire; in short, there were such instances of rage, altogether barbarous,
and of a fury something beyond what was human, that we thought it
impossible our men could be guilty of it; or, if they were the authors of
it, we thought they ought to be every one of them put to the worst of
deaths.  But this was not all: we saw the fire increase forward, and the
cry went on just as the fire went on; so that we were in the utmost
confusion.  We advanced a little way farther, and behold, to our
astonishment, three naked women, and crying in a most dreadful manner,
came flying as if they had wings, and after them sixteen or seventeen
men, natives, in the same terror and consternation, with three of our
English butchers in the rear, who, when they could not overtake them,
fired in among them, and one that was killed by their shot fell down in
our sight.  When the rest saw us, believing us to be their enemies, and
that we would murder them as well as those that pursued them, they set up
a most dreadful shriek, especially the women; and two of them fell down,
as if already dead, with the fright.

My very soul shrunk within me, and my blood ran chill in my veins, when I
saw this; and, I believe, had the three English sailors that pursued them
come on, I had made our men kill them all; however, we took some means to
let the poor flying creatures know that we would not hurt them; and
immediately they came up to us, and kneeling down, with their hands
lifted up, made piteous lamentation to us to save them, which we let them
know we would: whereupon they crept all together in a huddle close behind
us, as for protection.  I left my men drawn up together, and, charging
them to hurt nobody, but, if possible, to get at some of our people, and
see what devil it was possessed them, and what they intended to do, and
to command them off; assuring them that if they stayed till daylight they
would have a hundred thousand men about their ears: I say I left them,
and went among those flying people, taking only two of our men with me;
and there was, indeed, a piteous spectacle among them.  Some of them had
their feet terribly burned with trampling and running through the fire;
others their hands burned; one of the women had fallen down in the fire,
and was very much burned before she could get out again; and two or three
of the men had cuts in their backs and thighs, from our men pursuing; and
another was shot through the body and died while I was there.

I would fain have learned what the occasion of all this was; but I could
not understand one word they said; though, by signs, I perceived some of
them knew not what was the occasion themselves.  I was so terrified in my
thoughts at this outrageous attempt that I could not stay there, but went
back to my own men, and resolved to go into the middle of the town,
through the fire, or whatever might be in the way, and put an end to it,
cost what it would; accordingly, as I came back to my men, I told them my
resolution, and commanded them to follow me, when, at the very moment,
came four of our men, with the boatswain at their head, roving over heaps
of bodies they had killed, all covered with blood and dust, as if they
wanted more people to massacre, when our men hallooed to them as loud as
they could halloo; and with much ado one of them made them hear, so that
they knew who we were, and came up to us.

As soon as the boatswain saw us, he set up a halloo like a shout of
triumph, for having, as he thought, more help come; and without waiting
to hear me, "Captain," says he, "noble captain!  I am glad you are come;
we have not half done yet.  Villainous hell-hound dogs!  I'll kill as
many of them as poor Tom has hairs upon his head: we have sworn to spare
none of them; we'll root out the very nation of them from the earth;" and
thus he ran on, out of breath, too, with action, and would not give us
leave to speak a word.  At last, raising my voice that I might silence
him a little, "Barbarous dog!" said I, "what are you doing!  I won't have
one creature touched more, upon pain of death; I charge you, upon your
life, to stop your hands, and stand still here, or you are a dead man
this minute."--"Why, sir," says he, "do you know what you do, or what
they have done?  If you want a reason for what we have done, come
hither;" and with that he showed me the poor fellow hanging, with his
throat cut.

I confess I was urged then myself, and at another time would have been
forward enough; but I thought they had carried their rage too far, and
remembered Jacob's words to his sons Simeon and Levi: "Cursed be their
anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel."  But I had
now a new task upon my hands; for when the men I had carried with me saw
the sight, as I had done, I had as much to do to restrain them as I
should have had with the others; nay, my nephew himself fell in with
them, and told me, in their hearing, that he was only concerned for fear
of the men being overpowered; and as to the people, he thought not one of
them ought to live; for they had all glutted themselves with the murder
of the poor man, and that they ought to be used like murderers.  Upon
these words, away ran eight of my men, with the boatswain and his crew,
to complete their bloody work; and I, seeing it quite out of my power to
restrain them, came away pensive and sad; for I could not bear the sight,
much less the horrible noise and cries of the poor wretches that fell
into their hands.

I got nobody to come back with me but the supercargo and two men, and
with these walked back to the boat.  It was a very great piece of folly
in me, I confess, to venture back, as it were, alone; for as it began now
to be almost day, and the alarm had run over the country, there stood
about forty men armed with lances and boughs at the little place where
the twelve or thirteen houses stood, mentioned before: but by accident I
missed the place, and came directly to the seaside, and by the time I got
to the seaside it was broad day: immediately I took the pinnace and went
on board, and sent her back to assist the men in what might happen.  I
observed, about the time that I came to the boat-side, that the fire was
pretty well out, and the noise abated; but in about half-an-hour after I
got on board, I heard a volley of our men's firearms, and saw a great
smoke.  This, as I understood afterwards, was our men falling upon the
men, who, as I said, stood at the few houses on the way, of whom they
killed sixteen or seventeen, and set all the houses on fire, but did not
meddle with the women or children.

By the time the men got to the shore again with the pinnace our men began
to appear; they came dropping in, not in two bodies as they went, but
straggling here and there in such a manner, that a small force of
resolute men might have cut them all off.  But the dread of them was upon
the whole country; and the men were surprised, and so frightened, that I
believe a hundred of them would have fled at the sight of but five of our
men.  Nor in all this terrible action was there a man that made any
considerable defence: they were so surprised between the terror of the
fire and the sudden attack of our men in the dark, that they knew not
which way to turn themselves; for if they fled one way they were met by
one party, if back again by another, so that they were everywhere knocked
down; nor did any of our men receive the least hurt, except one that
sprained his foot, and another that had one of his hands burned.




CHAPTER X--HE IS LEFT ON SHORE


I was very angry with my nephew, the captain, and indeed with all the
men, but with him in particular, as well for his acting so out of his
duty as a commander of the ship, and having the charge of the voyage upon
him, as in his prompting, rather than cooling, the rage of his blind men
in so bloody and cruel an enterprise.  My nephew answered me very
respectfully, but told me that when he saw the body of the poor seaman
whom they had murdered in so cruel and barbarous a manner, he was not
master of himself, neither could he govern his passion; he owned he
should not have done so, as he was commander of the ship; but as he was a
man, and nature moved him, he could not bear it.  As for the rest of the
men, they were not subject to me at all, and they knew it well enough; so
they took no notice of my dislike.  The next day we set sail, so we never
heard any more of it.  Our men differed in the account of the number they
had killed; but according to the best of their accounts, put all
together, they killed or destroyed about one hundred and fifty people,
men, women, and children, and left not a house standing in the town.  As
for the poor fellow Tom Jeffry, as he was quite dead (for his throat was
so cut that his head was half off), it would do him no service to bring
him away; so they only took him down from the tree, where he was hanging
by one hand.

However just our men thought this action, I was against them in it, and I
always, after that time, told them God would blast the voyage; for I
looked upon all the blood they shed that night to be murder in them.  For
though it is true that they had killed Tom Jeffry, yet Jeffry was the
aggressor, had broken the truce, and had ill-used a young woman of
theirs, who came down to them innocently, and on the faith of the public
capitulation.

The boatswain defended this quarrel when we were afterwards on board.  He
said it was true that we seemed to break the truce, but really had not;
and that the war was begun the night before by the natives themselves,
who had shot at us, and killed one of our men without any just
provocation; so that as we were in a capacity to fight them now, we might
also be in a capacity to do ourselves justice upon them in an
extraordinary manner; that though the poor man had taken a little liberty
with the girl, he ought not to have been murdered, and that in such a
villainous manner: and that they did nothing but what was just and what
the laws of God allowed to be done to murderers.  One would think this
should have been enough to have warned us against going on shore amongst
the heathens and barbarians; but it is impossible to make mankind wise
but at their own expense, and their experience seems to be always of most
use to them when it is dearest bought.

We were now bound to the Gulf of Persia, and from thence to the coast of
Coromandel, only to touch at Surat; but the chief of the supercargo's
design lay at the Bay of Bengal, where, if he missed his business outward-
bound, he was to go out to China, and return to the coast as he came
home.  The first disaster that befell us was in the Gulf of Persia, where
five of our men, venturing on shore on the Arabian side of the gulf, were
surrounded by the Arabians, and either all killed or carried away into
slavery; the rest of the boat's crew were not able to rescue them, and
had but just time to get off their boat.  I began to upbraid them with
the just retribution of Heaven in this case; but the boatswain very
warmly told me, he thought I went further in my censures than I could
show any warrant for in Scripture; and referred to Luke xiii. 4, where
our Saviour intimates that those men on whom the Tower of Siloam fell
were not sinners above all the Galileans; but that which put me to
silence in the case was, that not one of these five men who were now lost
were of those who went on shore to the massacre of Madagascar, so I
always called it, though our men could not bear to hear the word
_massacre_ with any patience.

But my frequent preaching to them on this subject had worse consequences
than I expected; and the boatswain, who had been the head of the attempt,
came up boldly to me one time, and told me he found that I brought that
affair continually upon the stage; that I made unjust reflections upon
it, and had used the men very ill on that account, and himself in
particular; that as I was but a passenger, and had no command in the
ship, or concern in the voyage, they were not obliged to bear it; that
they did not know but I might have some ill-design in my head, and
perhaps to call them to an account for it when they came to England; and
that, therefore, unless I would resolve to have done with it, and also
not to concern myself any further with him, or any of his affairs, he
would leave the ship; for he did not think it safe to sail with me among
them.

I heard him patiently enough till he had done, and then told him that I
confessed I had all along opposed the massacre of Madagascar, and that I
had, on all occasions, spoken my mind freely about it, though not more
upon him than any of the rest; that as to having no command in the ship,
that was true; nor did I exercise any authority, only took the liberty of
speaking my mind in things which publicly concerned us all; and what
concern I had in the voyage was none of his business; that I was a
considerable owner in the ship.  In that claim I conceived I had a right
to speak even further than I had done, and would not be accountable to
him or any one else, and began to be a little warm with him.  He made but
little reply to me at that time, and I thought the affair had been over.
We were at this time in the road at Bengal; and being willing to see the
place, I went on shore with the supercargo in the ship's boat to divert
myself; and towards evening was preparing to go on board, when one of the
men came to me, and told me he would not have me trouble myself to come
down to the boat, for they had orders not to carry me on board any more.
Any one may guess what a surprise I was in at so insolent a message; and
I asked the man who bade him deliver that message to me?  He told me the
coxswain.

I immediately found out the supercargo, and told him the story, adding
that I foresaw there would be a mutiny in the ship; and entreated him to
go immediately on board and acquaint the captain of it.  But I might have
spared this intelligence, for before I had spoken to him on shore the
matter was effected on board.  The boatswain, the gunner, the carpenter,
and all the inferior officers, as soon as I was gone off in the boat,
came up, and desired to speak with the captain; and then the boatswain,
making a long harangue, and repeating all he had said to me, told the
captain that as I was now gone peaceably on shore, they were loath to use
any violence with me, which, if I had not gone on shore, they would
otherwise have done, to oblige me to have gone.  They therefore thought
fit to tell him that as they shipped themselves to serve in the ship
under his command, they would perform it well and faithfully; but if I
would not quit the ship, or the captain oblige me to quit it, they would
all leave the ship, and sail no further with him; and at that word _all_
he turned his face towards the main-mast, which was, it seems, a signal
agreed on, when the seamen, being got together there, cried out, "_One
and all_! _one and all_!"

My nephew, the captain, was a man of spirit, and of great presence of
mind; and though he was surprised, yet he told them calmly that he would
consider of the matter, but that he could do nothing in it till he had
spoken to me about it.  He used some arguments with them, to show them
the unreasonableness and injustice of the thing, but it was all in vain;
they swore, and shook hands round before his face, that they would all go
on shore unless he would engage to them not to suffer me to come any more
on board the ship.

This was a hard article upon him, who knew his obligation to me, and did
not know how I might take it.  So he began to talk smartly to them; told
them that I was a very considerable owner of the ship, and that if ever
they came to England again it would cost them very dear; that the ship
was mine, and that he could not put me out of it; and that he would
rather lose the ship, and the voyage too, than disoblige me so much: so
they might do as they pleased.  However, he would go on shore and talk
with me, and invited the boatswain to go with him, and perhaps they might
accommodate the matter with me.  But they all rejected the proposal, and
said they would have nothing to do with me any more; and if I came on
board they would all go on shore.  "Well," said the captain, "if you are
all of this mind, let me go on shore and talk with him."  So away he came
to me with this account, a little after the message had been brought to
me from the coxswain.

I was very glad to see my nephew, I must confess; for I was not without
apprehensions that they would confine him by violence, set sail, and run
away with the ship; and then I had been stripped naked in a remote
country, having nothing to help myself; in short, I had been in a worse
case than when I was alone in the island.  But they had not come to that
length, it seems, to my satisfaction; and when my nephew told me what
they had said to him, and how they had sworn and shook hands that they
would, one and all, leave the ship if I was suffered to come on board, I
told him he should not be concerned at it at all, for I would stay on
shore.  I only desired he would take care and send me all my necessary
things on shore, and leave me a sufficient sum of money, and I would find
my way to England as well as I could.  This was a heavy piece of news to
my nephew, but there was no way to help it but to comply; so, in short,
he went on board the ship again, and satisfied the men that his uncle had
yielded to their importunity, and had sent for his goods from on board
the ship; so that the matter was over in a few hours, the men returned to
their duty, and I began to consider what course I should steer.

I was now alone in a most remote part of the world, for I was near three
thousand leagues by sea farther off from England than I was at my island;
only, it is true, I might travel here by land over the Great Mogul's
country to Surat, might go from thence to Bassora by sea, up the Gulf of
Persia, and take the way of the caravans, over the desert of Arabia, to
Aleppo and Scanderoon; from thence by sea again to Italy, and so overland
into France.  I had another way before me, which was to wait for some
English ships, which were coming to Bengal from Achin, on the island of
Sumatra, and get passage on board them from England.  But as I came
hither without any concern with the East Indian Company, so it would be
difficult to go from hence without their licence, unless with great
favour of the captains of the ships, or the company's factors: and to
both I was an utter stranger.

Here I had the mortification to see the ship set sail without me;
however, my nephew left me two servants, or rather one companion and one
servant; the first was clerk to the purser, whom he engaged to go with
me, and the other was his own servant.  I then took a good lodging in the
house of an Englishwoman, where several merchants lodged, some French,
two Italians, or rather Jews, and one Englishman.  Here I stayed above
nine months, considering what course to take.  I had some English goods
with me of value, and a considerable sum of money; my nephew furnishing
me with a thousand pieces of eight, and a letter of credit for more if I
had occasion, that I might not be straitened, whatever might happen.  I
quickly disposed of my goods to advantage; and, as I originally intended,
I bought here some very good diamonds, which, of all other things, were
the most proper for me in my present circumstances, because I could
always carry my whole estate about me.

During my stay here many proposals were made for my return to England,
but none falling out to my mind, the English merchant who lodged with me,
and whom I had contracted an intimate acquaintance with, came to me one
morning, saying: "Countryman, I have a project to communicate, which, as
it suits with my thoughts, may, for aught I know, suit with yours also,
when you shall have thoroughly considered it.  Here we are posted, you by
accident and I by my own choice, in a part of the world very remote from
our own country; but it is in a country where, by us who understand trade
and business, a great deal of money is to be got.  If you will put one
thousand pounds to my one thousand pounds, we will hire a ship here, the
first we can get to our minds.  You shall be captain, I'll be merchant,
and we'll go a trading voyage to China; for what should we stand still
for?  The whole world is in motion; why should we be idle?"

I liked this proposal very well; and the more so because it seemed to be
expressed with so much goodwill.  In my loose, unhinged circumstances, I
was the fitter to embrace a proposal for trade, or indeed anything else.
I might perhaps say with some truth, that if trade was not my element,
rambling was; and no proposal for seeing any part of the world which I
had never seen before could possibly come amiss to me.  It was, however,
some time before we could get a ship to our minds, and when we had got a
vessel, it was not easy to get English sailors--that is to say, so many
as were necessary to govern the voyage and manage the sailors which we
should pick up there.  After some time we got a mate, a boatswain, and a
gunner, English; a Dutch carpenter, and three foremast men.  With these
we found we could do well enough, having Indian seamen, such as they
were, to make up.

When all was ready we set sail for Achin, in the island of Sumatra, and
from thence to Siam, where we exchanged some of our wares for opium and
some arrack; the first a commodity which bears a great price among the
Chinese, and which at that time was much wanted there.  Then we went up
to Saskan, were eight months out, and on our return to Bengal I was very
well satisfied with my adventure.  Our people in England often admire how
officers, which the company send into India, and the merchants which
generally stay there, get such very great estates as they do, and
sometimes come home worth sixty or seventy thousand pounds at a time; but
it is little matter for wonder, when we consider the innumerable ports
and places where they have a free commerce; indeed, at the ports where
the English ships come there is such great and constant demands for the
growth of all other countries, that there is a certain vent for the
returns, as well as a market abroad for the goods carried out.

I got so much money by my first adventure, and such an insight into the
method of getting more, that had I been twenty years younger, I should
have been tempted to have stayed here, and sought no farther for making
my fortune; but what was all this to a man upwards of threescore, that
was rich enough, and came abroad more in obedience to a restless desire
of seeing the world than a covetous desire of gaining by it?  A restless
desire it really was, for when I was at home I was restless to go abroad;
and when I was abroad I was restless to be at home.  I say, what was this
gain to me?  I was rich enough already, nor had I any uneasy desires
about getting more money; therefore the profit of the voyage to me was of
no great force for the prompting me forward to further undertakings.
Hence, I thought that by this voyage I had made no progress at all,
because I was come back, as I might call it, to the place from whence I
came, as to a home: whereas, my eye, like that which Solomon speaks of,
was never satisfied with seeing.  I was come into a part of the world
which I was never in before, and that part, in particular, which I heard
much of, and was resolved to see as much of it as I could: and then I
thought I might say I had seen all the world that was worth seeing.

But my fellow-traveller and I had different notions: I acknowledge his
were the more suited to the end of a merchant's life: who, when he is
abroad upon adventures, is wise to stick to that, as the best thing for
him, which he is likely to get the most money by.  On the other hand,
mine was the notion of a mad, rambling boy, that never cares to see a
thing twice over.  But this was not all: I had a kind of impatience upon
me to be nearer home, and yet an unsettled resolution which way to go.  In
the interval of these consultations, my friend, who was always upon the
search for business, proposed another voyage among the Spice Islands, to
bring home a loading of cloves from the Manillas, or thereabouts.

We were not long in preparing for this voyage; the chief difficulty was
in bringing me to come into it.  However, at last, nothing else offering,
and as sitting still, to me especially, was the unhappiest part of life,
I resolved on this voyage too, which we made very successfully, touching
at Borneo and several other islands, and came home in about five months,
when we sold our spices, with very great profit, to the Persian
merchants, who carried them away to the Gulf.  My friend, when we made up
this account, smiled at me: "Well, now," said he, with a sort of friendly
rebuke on my indolent temper, "is not this better than walking about
here, like a man with nothing to do, and spending our time in staring at
the nonsense and ignorance of the Pagans?"--"Why, truly," said I, "my
friend, I think it is, and I begin to be a convert to the principles of
merchandising; but I must tell you, by the way, you do not know what I am
doing; for if I once conquer my backwardness, and embark heartily, old as
I am, I shall harass you up and down the world till I tire you; for I
shall pursue it so eagerly, I shall never let you lie still."




CHAPTER XI--WARNED OF DANGER BY A COUNTRYMAN


A little while after this there came in a Dutch ship from Batavia; she
was a coaster, not an European trader, of about two hundred tons burden;
the men, as they pretended, having been so sickly that the captain had
not hands enough to go to sea with, so he lay by at Bengal; and having,
it seems, got money enough, or being willing, for other reasons, to go
for Europe, he gave public notice he would sell his ship.  This came to
my ears before my new partner heard of it, and I had a great mind to buy
it; so I went to him and told him of it.  He considered a while, for he
was no rash man neither; and at last replied, "She is a little too
big--however, we will have her."  Accordingly, we bought the ship, and
agreeing with the master, we paid for her, and took possession.  When we
had done so we resolved to engage the men, if we could, to join with
those we had, for the pursuing our business; but, on a sudden, they
having received not their wages, but their share of the money, as we
afterwards learned, not one of them was to be found; we inquired much
about them, and at length were told that they were all gone together by
land to Agra, the great city of the Mogul's residence, to proceed from
thence to Surat, and then go by sea to the Gulf of Persia.

Nothing had so much troubled me a good while as that I should miss the
opportunity of going with them; for such a ramble, I thought, and in such
company as would both have guarded and diverted me, would have suited
mightily with my great design; and I should have both seen the world and
gone homeward too.  But I was much better satisfied a few days after,
when I came to know what sort of fellows they were; for, in short, their
history was, that this man they called captain was the gunner only, not
the commander; that they had been a trading voyage, in which they had
been attacked on shore by some of the Malays, who had killed the captain
and three of his men; and that after the captain was killed, these men,
eleven in number, having resolved to run away with the ship, brought her
to Bengal, leaving the mate and five men more on shore.

Well, let them get the ship how they would, we came honestly by her, as
we thought, though we did not, I confess, examine into things so exactly
as we ought; for we never inquired anything of the seamen, who would
certainly have faltered in their account, and contradicted one another.
Somehow or other we should have had reason to have suspected, them; but
the man showed us a bill of sale for the ship, to one Emanuel
Clostershoven, or some such name, for I suppose it was all a forgery, and
called himself by that name, and we could not contradict him: and withal,
having no suspicion of the thing, we went through with our bargain.  We
picked up some more English sailors here after this, and some Dutch, and
now we resolved on a second voyage to the south-east for cloves, &c.--that
is to say, among the Philippine and Malacca isles.  In short, not to fill
up this part of my story with trifles when what is to come is so
remarkable, I spent, from first to last, six years in this country,
trading from port to port, backward and forward, and with very good
success, and was now the last year with my new partner, going in the ship
above mentioned, on a voyage to China, but designing first to go to Siam
to buy rice.

In this voyage, being by contrary winds obliged to beat up and down a
great while in the Straits of Malacca and among the islands, we were no
sooner got clear of those difficult seas than we found our ship had
sprung a leak, but could not discover where it was.  This forced us to
make some port; and my partner, who knew the country better than I did,
directed the captain to put into the river of Cambodia; for I had made
the English mate, one Mr. Thompson, captain, not being willing to take
the charge of the ship upon myself.  This river lies on the north side of
the great bay or gulf which goes up to Siam.  While we were here, and
going often on shore for refreshment, there comes to me one day an
Englishman, a gunner's mate on board an English East India ship, then
riding in the same river.  "Sir," says he, addressing me, "you are a
stranger to me, and I to you; but I have something to tell you that very
nearly concerns you.  I am moved by the imminent danger you are in, and,
for aught I see, you have no knowledge of it."--"I know no danger I am
in," said I, "but that my ship is leaky, and I cannot find it out; but I
intend to lay her aground to-morrow, to see if I can find it."--"But,
sir," says he, "leaky or not leaky, you will be wiser than to lay your
ship on shore to-morrow when you hear what I have to say to you.  Do you
know, sir," said he, "the town of Cambodia lies about fifteen leagues up
the river; and there are two large English ships about five leagues on
this side, and three Dutch?"--"Well," said I, "and what is that to
me?"--"Why, sir," said be, "is it for a man that is upon such adventures
as you are to come into a port, and not examine first what ships there
are there, and whether he is able to deal with them?  I suppose you do
not think you are a match for them?"  I could not conceive what he meant;
and I turned short upon him, and said: "I wish you would explain
yourself; I cannot imagine what reason I have to be afraid of any of the
company's ships, or Dutch ships.  I am no interloper.  What can they have
to say to me?"--"Well, sir," says he, with a smile, "if you think
yourself secure you must take your chance; but take my advice, if you do
not put to sea immediately, you will the very next tide be attacked by
five longboats full of men, and perhaps if you are taken you will be
hanged for a pirate, and the particulars be examined afterwards.  I
thought, sir," added he, "I should have met with a better reception than
this for doing you a piece of service of such importance."--"I can never
be ungrateful," said I, "for any service, or to any man that offers me
any kindness; but it is past my comprehension what they should have such
a design upon me for: however, since you say there is no time to be lost,
and that there is some villainous design on hand against me, I will go on
board this minute, and put to sea immediately, if my men can stop the
leak; but, sir," said I, "shall I go away ignorant of the cause of all
this?  Can you give me no further light into it?"

"I can tell you but part of the story, sir," says he; "but I have a Dutch
seaman here with me, and I believe I could persuade him to tell you the
rest; but there is scarce time for it.  But the short of the story is
this--the first part of which I suppose you know well enough--that you
were with this ship at Sumatra; that there your captain was murdered by
the Malays, with three of his men; and that you, or some of those that
were on board with you, ran away with the ship, and are since turned
pirates.  This is the sum of the story, and you will all be seized as
pirates, I can assure you, and executed with very little ceremony; for
you know merchant ships show but little law to pirates if they get them
into their power."--"Now you speak plain English," said I, "and I thank
you; and though I know nothing that we have done like what you talk of,
for I am sure we came honestly and fairly by the ship; yet seeing such a
work is doing, as you say, and that you seem to mean honestly, I will be
upon my guard."--"Nay, sir," says he, "do not talk of being upon your
guard; the best defence is to be out of danger.  If you have any regard
for your life and the lives of all your men, put to sea without fail at
high-water; and as you have a whole tide before you, you will be gone too
far out before they can come down; for they will come away at high-water,
and as they have twenty miles to come, you will get near two hours of
them by the difference of the tide, not reckoning the length of the way:
besides, as they are only boats, and not ships, they will not venture to
follow you far out to sea, especially if it blows."--"Well," said I, "you
have been very kind in this: what shall I do to make you amends?"--"Sir,"
says he, "you may not be willing to make me any amends, because you may
not be convinced of the truth of it.  I will make an offer to you: I have
nineteen months' pay due to me on board the ship ---, which I came out of
England in; and the Dutchman that is with me has seven months' pay due to
him.  If you will make good our pay to us we will go along with you; if
you find nothing more in it we will desire no more; but if we do convince
you that we have saved your lives, and the ship, and the lives of all the
men in her, we will leave the rest to you."

I consented to this readily, and went immediately on board, and the two
men with me.  As soon as I came to the ship's side, my partner, who was
on board, came out on the quarter-deck, and called to me, with a great
deal of joy, "We have stopped the leak--we have stopped the leak!"--"Say
you so?" said I; "thank God; but weigh anchor, then,
immediately."--"Weigh!" says he; "what do you mean by that?  What is the
matter?"--"Ask no questions," said I; "but set all hands to work, and
weigh without losing a minute."  He was surprised; however, he called the
captain, and he immediately ordered the anchor to be got up; and though
the tide was not quite down, yet a little land-breeze blowing, we stood
out to sea.  Then I called him into the cabin, and told him the story;
and we called in the men, and they told us the rest of it; but as it took
up a great deal of time, before we had done a seaman comes to the cabin
door, and called out to us that the captain bade him tell us we were
chased by five sloops, or boats, full of men.  "Very well," said I, "then
it is apparent there is something in it."  I then ordered all our men to
be called up, and told them there was a design to seize the ship, and
take us for pirates, and asked them if they would stand by us, and by one
another; the men answered cheerfully, one and all, that they would live
and die with us.  Then I asked the captain what way he thought best for
us to manage a fight with them; for resist them I was resolved we would,
and that to the last drop.  He said readily, that the way was to keep
them off with our great shot as long as we could, and then to use our
small arms, to keep them from boarding us; but when neither of these
would do any longer, we would retire to our close quarters, for perhaps
they had not materials to break open our bulkheads, or get in upon us.

The gunner had in the meantime orders to bring two guns, to bear fore and
aft, out of the steerage, to clear the deck, and load them with musket-
bullets, and small pieces of old iron, and what came next to hand.  Thus
we made ready for fight; but all this while we kept out to sea, with wind
enough, and could see the boats at a distance, being five large
longboats, following us with all the sail they could make.

Two of those boats (which by our glasses we could see were English)
outsailed the rest, were near two leagues ahead of them, and gained upon
us considerably, so that we found they would come up with us; upon which
we fired a gun without ball, to intimate that they should bring to: and
we put out a flag of truce, as a signal for parley: but they came
crowding after us till within shot, when we took in our white flag, they
having made no answer to it, and hung out a red flag, and fired at them
with a shot.  Notwithstanding this, they came on till they were near
enough to call to them with a speaking-trumpet, bidding them keep off at
their peril.

It was all one; they crowded after us, and endeavoured to come under our
stern, so as to board us on our quarter; upon which, seeing they were
resolute for mischief, and depended upon the strength that followed them,
I ordered to bring the ship to, so that they lay upon our broadside; when
immediately we fired five guns at them, one of which had been levelled so
true as to carry away the stern of the hindermost boat, and we then
forced them to take down their sail, and to run all to the head of the
boat, to keep her from sinking; so she lay by, and had enough of it; but
seeing the foremost boat crowd on after us, we made ready to fire at her
in particular.  While this was doing one of the three boats that followed
made up to the boat which we had disabled, to relieve her, and we could
see her take out the men.  We then called again to the foremost boat, and
offered a truce, to parley again, and to know what her business was with
us; but had no answer, only she crowded close under our stern.  Upon
this, our gunner who was a very dexterous fellow ran out his two case-
guns, and fired again at her, but the shot missing, the men in the boat
shouted, waved their caps, and came on.  The gunner, getting quickly
ready again, fired among them a second time, one shot of which, though it
missed the boat itself, yet fell in among the men, and we could easily
see did a great deal of mischief among them.  We now wore the ship again,
and brought our quarter to bear upon them, and firing three guns more, we
found the boat was almost split to pieces; in particular, her rudder and
a piece of her stern were shot quite away; so they handed her sail
immediately, and were in great disorder.  To complete their misfortune,
our gunner let fly two guns at them again; where he hit them we could not
tell, but we found the boat was sinking, and some of the men already in
the water: upon this, I immediately manned out our pinnace, with orders
to pick up some of the men if they could, and save them from drowning,
and immediately come on board ship with them, because we saw the rest of
the boats began to come up.  Our men in the pinnace followed their
orders, and took up three men, one of whom was just drowning, and it was
a good while before we could recover him.  As soon as they were on board
we crowded all the sail we could make, and stood farther out to the sea;
and we found that when the other boats came up to the first, they gave
over their chase.

Being thus delivered from a danger which, though I knew not the reason of
it, yet seemed to be much greater than I apprehended, I resolved that we
should change our course, and not let any one know whither we were going;
so we stood out to sea eastward, quite out of the course of all European
ships, whether they were bound to China or anywhere else, within the
commerce of the European nations.  When we were at sea we began to
consult with the two seamen, and inquire what the meaning of all this
should be; and the Dutchman confirmed the gunner's story about the false
sale of the ship and of the murder of the captain, and also how that he,
this Dutchman, and four more got into the woods, where they wandered
about a great while, till at length he made his escape, and swam off to a
Dutch ship, which was sailing near the shore in its way from China.

He then told us that he went to Batavia, where two of the seamen
belonging to the ship arrived, having deserted the rest in their travels,
and gave an account that the fellow who had run away with the ship, sold
her at Bengal to a set of pirates, who were gone a-cruising in her, and
that they had already taken an English ship and two Dutch ships very
richly laden.  This latter part we found to concern us directly, though
we knew it to be false; yet, as my partner said, very justly, if we had
fallen into their hands, and they had had such a prepossession against us
beforehand, it had been in vain for us to have defended ourselves, or to
hope for any good quarter at their hands; especially considering that our
accusers had been our judges, and that we could have expected nothing
from them but what rage would have dictated, and an ungoverned passion
have executed.  Therefore it was his opinion we should go directly back
to Bengal, from whence we came, without putting in at any port
whatever--because where we could give a good account of ourselves, could
prove where we were when the ship put in, of whom we bought her, and the
like; and what was more than all the rest, if we were put upon the
necessity of bringing it before the proper judges, we should be sure to
have some justice, and not to be hanged first and judged afterwards.

I was some time of my partner's opinion; but after a little more serious
thinking, I told him I thought it was a very great hazard for us to
attempt returning to Bengal, for that we were on the wrong side of the
Straits of Malacca, and that if the alarm was given, we should be sure to
be waylaid on every side--that if we should be taken, as it were, running
away, we should even condemn ourselves, and there would want no more
evidence to destroy us.  I also asked the English sailor's opinion, who
said he was of my mind, and that we certainly should be taken.  This
danger a little startled my partner and all the ship's company, and we
immediately resolved to go away to the coast of Tonquin, and so on to the
coast of China--and pursuing the first design as to trade, find some way
or other to dispose of the ship, and come back in some of the vessels of
the country such as we could get.  This was approved of as the best
method for our security, and accordingly we steered away NNE., keeping
above fifty leagues off from the usual course to the eastward.  This,
however, put us to some inconvenience: for, first, the winds, when we
came that distance from the shore, seemed to be more steadily against us,
blowing almost trade, as we call it, from the E. and ENE., so that we
were a long while upon our voyage, and we were but ill provided with
victuals for so long a run; and what was still worse, there was some
danger that those English and Dutch ships whose boats pursued us, whereof
some were bound that way, might have got in before us, and if not, some
other ship bound to China might have information of us from them, and
pursue us with the same vigour.

I must confess I was now very uneasy, and thought myself, including the
late escape from the longboats, to have been in the most dangerous
condition that ever I was in through my past life; for whatever ill
circumstances I had been in, I was never pursued for a thief before; nor
had I ever done anything that merited the name of dishonest or
fraudulent, much less thievish.  I had chiefly been my own enemy, or, as
I may rightly say, I had been nobody's enemy but my own; but now I was
woefully embarrassed: for though I was perfectly innocent, I was in no
condition to make that innocence appear; and if I had been taken, it had
been under a supposed guilt of the worst kind.  This made me very anxious
to make an escape, though which way to do it I knew not, or what port or
place we could go to.  My partner endeavoured to encourage me by
describing the several ports of that coast, and told me he would put in
on the coast of Cochin China, or the bay of Tonquin, intending afterwards
to go to Macao, where a great many European families resided, and
particularly the missionary priests, who usually went thither in order to
their going forward to China.

Hither then we resolved to go; and, accordingly, though after a tedious
course, and very much straitened for provisions, we came within sight of
the coast very early in the morning; and upon reflection on the past
circumstances of danger we were in, we resolved to put into a small
river, which, however, had depth enough of water for us, and to see if we
could, either overland or by the ship's pinnace, come to know what ships
were in any port thereabouts.  This happy step was, indeed, our
deliverance: for though we did not immediately see any European ships in
the bay of Tonquin, yet the next morning there came into the bay two
Dutch ships; and a third without any colours spread out, but which we
believed to be a Dutchman, passed by at about two leagues' distance,
steering for the coast of China; and in the afternoon went by two English
ships steering the same course; and thus we thought we saw ourselves
beset with enemies both one way and the other.  The place we were in was
wild and barbarous, the people thieves by occupation; and though it is
true we had not much to seek of them, and, except getting a few
provisions, cared not how little we had to do with them, yet it was with
much difficulty that we kept ourselves from being insulted by them
several ways.  We were in a small river of this country, within a few
leagues of its utmost limits northward; and by our boat we coasted north-
east to the point of land which opens the great bay of Tonquin; and it
was in this beating up along the shore that we discovered we were
surrounded with enemies.  The people we were among were the most
barbarous of all the inhabitants of the coast; and among other customs
they have this one: that if any vessel has the misfortune to be
shipwrecked upon their coast, they make the men all prisoners or slaves;
and it was not long before we found a spice of their kindness this way,
on the occasion following.

I have observed above that our ship sprung a leak at sea, and that we
could not find it out; and it happened that, as I have said, it was
stopped unexpectedly, on the eve of our being pursued by the Dutch and
English ships in the bay of Siam; yet, as we did not find the ship so
perfectly tight and sound as we desired, we resolved while we were at
this place to lay her on shore, and clean her bottom, and, if possible,
to find out where the leaks were.  Accordingly, having lightened the
ship, and brought all our guns and other movables to one side, we tried
to bring her down, that we might come at her bottom; but, on second
thoughts, we did not care to lay her on dry ground, neither could we find
out a proper place for it.




CHAPTER XII--THE CARPENTER'S WHIMSICAL CONTRIVANCE


The inhabitants came wondering down the shore to look at us; and seeing
the ship lie down on one side in such a manner, and heeling in towards
the shore, and not seeing our men, who were at work on her bottom with
stages, and with their boats on the off-side, they presently concluded
that the ship was cast away, and lay fast on the ground.  On this
supposition they came about us in two or three hours' time with ten or
twelve large boats, having some of them eight, some ten men in a boat,
intending, no doubt, to have come on board and plundered the ship, and if
they found us there, to have carried us away for slaves.

When they came up to the ship, and began to row round her, they
discovered us all hard at work on the outside of the ship's bottom and
side, washing, and graving, and stopping, as every seafaring man knows
how.  They stood for a while gazing at us, and we, who were a little
surprised, could not imagine what their design was; but being willing to
be sure, we took this opportunity to get some of us into the ship, and
others to hand down arms and ammunition to those that were at work, to
defend themselves with if there should be occasion.  And it was no more
than need: for in less than a quarter of an hour's consultation, they
agreed, it seems, that the ship was really a wreck, and that we were all
at work endeavouring to save her, or to save our lives by the help of our
boats; and when we handed our arms into the boat, they concluded, by that
act, that we were endeavouring to save some of our goods.  Upon this,
they took it for granted we all belonged to them, and away they came
directly upon our men, as if it had been in a line-of-battle.

Our men, seeing so many of them, began to be frightened, for we lay but
in an ill posture to fight, and cried out to us to know what they should
do.  I immediately called to the men that worked upon the stages to slip
them down, and get up the side into the ship, and bade those in the boat
to row round and come on board.  The few who were on board worked with
all the strength and hands we had to bring the ship to rights; however,
neither the men upon the stages nor those in the boats could do as they
were ordered before the Cochin Chinese were upon them, when two of their
boats boarded our longboat, and began to lay hold of the men as their
prisoners.

The first man they laid hold of was an English seaman, a stout, strong
fellow, who having a musket in his hand, never offered to fire it, but
laid it down in the boat, like a fool, as I thought; but he understood
his business better than I could teach him, for he grappled the Pagan,
and dragged him by main force out of their boat into ours, where, taking
him by the ears, he beat his head so against the boat's gunnel that the
fellow died in his hands.  In the meantime, a Dutchman, who stood next,
took up the musket, and with the butt-end of it so laid about him, that
he knocked down five of them who attempted to enter the boat.  But this
was doing little towards resisting thirty or forty men, who, fearless
because ignorant of their danger, began to throw themselves into the
longboat, where we had but five men in all to defend it; but the
following accident, which deserved our laughter, gave our men a complete
victory.

Our carpenter being prepared to grave the outside of the ship, as well as
to pay the seams where he had caulked her to stop the leaks, had got two
kettles just let down into the boat, one filled with boiling pitch, and
the other with rosin, tallow, and oil, and such stuff as the shipwrights
use for that work; and the man that attended the carpenter had a great
iron ladle in his hand, with which he supplied the men that were at work
with the hot stuff.  Two of the enemy's men entered the boat just where
this fellow stood in the foresheets; he immediately saluted them with a
ladle full of the stuff, boiling hot which so burned and scalded them,
being half-naked that they roared out like bulls, and, enraged with the
fire, leaped both into the sea.  The carpenter saw it, and cried out,
"Well done, Jack! give them some more of it!" and stepping forward
himself, takes one of the mops, and dipping it in the pitch-pot, he and
his man threw it among them so plentifully that, in short, of all the men
in the three boats, there was not one that escaped being scalded in a
most frightful manner, and made such a howling and crying that I never
heard a worse noise.

I was never better pleased with a victory in my life; not only as it was
a perfect surprise to me, and that our danger was imminent before, but as
we got this victory without any bloodshed, except of that man the seaman
killed with his naked hands, and which I was very much concerned at.
Although it maybe a just thing, because necessary (for there is no
necessary wickedness in nature), yet I thought it was a sad sort of life,
when we must be always obliged to be killing our fellow-creatures to
preserve ourselves; and, indeed, I think so still; and I would even now
suffer a great deal rather than I would take away the life even of the
worst person injuring me; and I believe all considering people, who know
the value of life, would be of my opinion, if they entered seriously into
the consideration of it.

All the while this was doing, my partner and I, who managed the rest of
the men on board, had with great dexterity brought the ship almost to
rights, and having got the guns into their places again, the gunner
called to me to bid our boat get out of the way, for he would let fly
among them.  I called back again to him, and bid him not offer to fire,
for the carpenter would do the work without him; but bid him heat another
pitch-kettle, which our cook, who was on broad, took care of.  However,
the enemy was so terrified with what they had met with in their first
attack, that they would not come on again; and some of them who were
farthest off, seeing the ship swim, as it were, upright, began, as we
suppose, to see their mistake, and gave over the enterprise, finding it
was not as they expected.  Thus we got clear of this merry fight; and
having got some rice and some roots and bread, with about sixteen hogs,
on board two days before, we resolved to stay here no longer, but go
forward, whatever came of it; for we made no doubt but we should be
surrounded the next day with rogues enough, perhaps more than our pitch-
kettle would dispose of for us.  We therefore got all our things on board
the same evening, and the next morning were ready to sail: in the
meantime, lying at anchor at some distance from the shore, we were not so
much concerned, being now in a fighting posture, as well as in a sailing
posture, if any enemy had presented.  The next day, having finished our
work within board, and finding our ship was perfectly healed of all her
leaks, we set sail.  We would have gone into the bay of Tonquin, for we
wanted to inform ourselves of what was to be known concerning the Dutch
ships that had been there; but we durst not stand in there, because we
had seen several ships go in, as we supposed, but a little before; so we
kept on NE. towards the island of Formosa, as much afraid of being seen
by a Dutch or English merchant ship as a Dutch or English merchant ship
in the Mediterranean is of an Algerine man-of-war.

When we were thus got to sea, we kept on NE., as if we would go to the
Manillas or the Philippine Islands; and this we did that we might not
fall into the way of any of the European ships; and then we steered
north, till we came to the latitude of 22 degrees 30 seconds, by which
means we made the island of Formosa directly, where we came to an anchor,
in order to get water and fresh provisions, which the people there, who
are very courteous in their manners, supplied us with willingly, and
dealt very fairly and punctually with us in all their agreements and
bargains.  This is what we did not find among other people, and may be
owing to the remains of Christianity which was once planted here by a
Dutch missionary of Protestants, and it is a testimony of what I have
often observed, viz. that the Christian religion always civilises the
people, and reforms their manners, where it is received, whether it works
saving effects upon them or no.

From thence we sailed still north, keeping the coast of China at an equal
distance, till we knew we were beyond all the ports of China where our
European ships usually come; being resolved, if possible, not to fall
into any of their hands, especially in this country, where, as our
circumstances were, we could not fail of being entirely ruined.  Being
now come to the latitude of 30 degrees, we resolved to put into the first
trading port we should come at; and standing in for the shore, a boat
came of two leagues to us with an old Portuguese pilot on board, who,
knowing us to be an European ship, came to offer his service, which,
indeed, we were glad of and took him on board; upon which, without asking
us whither we would go, he dismissed the boat he came in, and sent it
back.  I thought it was now so much in our choice to make the old man
carry us whither we would, that I began to talk to him about carrying us
to the Gulf of Nankin, which is the most northern part of the coast of
China.  The old man said he knew the Gulf of Nankin very well; but
smiling, asked us what we would do there?  I told him we would sell our
cargo and purchase China wares, calicoes, raw silks, tea, wrought silks,
&c.; and so we would return by the same course we came.  He told us our
best port would have been to put in at Macao, where we could not have
failed of a market for our opium to our satisfaction, and might for our
money have purchased all sorts of China goods as cheap as we could at
Nankin.

Not being able to put the old man out of his talk, of which he was very
opinionated or conceited, I told him we were gentlemen as well as
merchants, and that we had a mind to go and see the great city of Pekin,
and the famous court of the monarch of China.  "Why, then," says the old
man, "you should go to Ningpo, where, by the river which runs into the
sea there, you may go up within five leagues of the great canal.  This
canal is a navigable stream, which goes through the heart of that vast
empire of China, crosses all the rivers, passes some considerable hills
by the help of sluices and gates, and goes up to the city of Pekin, being
in length near two hundred and seventy leagues."--"Well," said I,
"Seignior Portuguese, but that is not our business now; the great
question is, if you can carry us up to the city of Nankin, from whence we
can travel to Pekin afterwards?"  He said he could do so very well, and
that there was a great Dutch ship gone up that way just before.  This
gave me a little shock, for a Dutch ship was now our terror, and we had
much rather have met the devil, at least if he had not come in too
frightful a figure; and we depended upon it that a Dutch ship would be
our destruction, for we were in no condition to fight them; all the ships
they trade with into those parts being of great burden, and of much
greater force than we were.

The old man found me a little confused, and under some concern when he
named a Dutch ship, and said to me, "Sir, you need be under no
apprehensions of the Dutch; I suppose they are not now at war with your
nation?"--"No," said I, "that's true; but I know not what liberties men
may take when they are out of the reach of the laws of their own
country."--"Why," says he, "you are no pirates; what need you fear?  They
will not meddle with peaceable merchants, sure."  These words put me into
the greatest disorder and confusion imaginable; nor was it possible for
me to conceal it so, but the old man easily perceived it.

"Sir," says he, "I find you are in some disorder in your thoughts at my
talk: pray be pleased to go which way you think fit, and depend upon it,
I'll do you all the service I can."  Upon this we fell into further
discourse, in which, to my alarm and amazement, he spoke of the
villainous doings of a certain pirate ship that had long been the talk of
mariners in those seas; no other, in a word, than the very ship he was
now on board of, and which we had so unluckily purchased.  I presently
saw there was no help for it but to tell him the plain truth, and explain
all the danger and trouble we had suffered through this misadventure,
and, in particular, our earnest wish to be speedily quit of the ship
altogether; for which reason we had resolved to carry her up to Nankin.

The old man was amazed at this relation, and told us we were in the right
to go away to the north; and that, if he might advise us, it should be to
sell the ship in China, which we might well do, and buy, or build another
in the country; adding that I should meet with customers enough for the
ship at Nankin, that a Chinese junk would serve me very well to go back
again, and that he would procure me people both to buy one and sell the
other.  "Well, but, seignior," said I, "as you say they know the ship so
well, I may, perhaps, if I follow your measures, be instrumental to bring
some honest, innocent men into a terrible broil; for wherever they find
the ship they will prove the guilt upon the men, by proving this was the
ship."--"Why," says the old man, "I'll find out a way to prevent that;
for as I know all those commanders you speak of very well, and shall see
them all as they pass by, I will be sure to set them to rights in the
thing, and let them know that they had been so much in the wrong; that
though the people who were on board at first might run away with the
ship, yet it was not true that they had turned pirates; and that, in
particular, these were not the men that first went off with the ship, but
innocently bought her for their trade; and I am persuaded they will so
far believe me as at least to act more cautiously for the time to come."

In about thirteen days' sail we came to an anchor, at the south-west
point of the great Gulf of Nankin; where I learned by accident that two
Dutch ships were gone the length before me, and that I should certainly
fall into their hands.  I consulted my partner again in this exigency,
and he was as much at a loss as I was.  I then asked the old pilot if
there was no creek or harbour which I might put into and pursue my
business with the Chinese privately, and be in no danger of the enemy.  He
told me if I would sail to the southward about forty-two leagues, there
was a little port called Quinchang, where the fathers of the mission
usually landed from Macao, on their progress to teach the Christian
religion to the Chinese, and where no European ships ever put in; and if
I thought to put in there, I might consider what further course to take
when I was on shore.  He confessed, he said, it was not a place for
merchants, except that at some certain times they had a kind of a fair
there, when the merchants from Japan came over thither to buy Chinese
merchandises.  The name of the port I may perhaps spell wrong, having
lost this, together with the names of many other places set down in a
little pocket-book, which was spoiled by the water by an accident; but
this I remember, that the Chinese merchants we corresponded with called
it by a different name from that which our Portuguese pilot gave it, who
pronounced it Quinchang.  As we were unanimous in our resolution to go to
this place, we weighed the next day, having only gone twice on shore
where we were, to get fresh water; on both which occasions the people of
the country were very civil, and brought abundance of provisions to sell
to us; but nothing without money.

We did not come to the other port (the wind being contrary) for five
days; but it was very much to our satisfaction, and I was thankful when I
set my foot on shore, resolving, and my partner too, that if it was
possible to dispose of ourselves and effects any other way, though not
profitably, we would never more set foot on board that unhappy vessel.
Indeed, I must acknowledge, that of all the circumstances of life that
ever I had any experience of, nothing makes mankind so completely
miserable as that of being in constant fear.  Well does the Scripture
say, "The fear of man brings a snare"; it is a life of death, and the
mind is so entirely oppressed by it, that it is capable of no relief.

Nor did it fail of its usual operations upon the fancy, by heightening
every danger; representing the English and Dutch captains to be men
incapable of hearing reason, or of distinguishing between honest men and
rogues; or between a story calculated for our own turn, made out of
nothing, on purpose to deceive, and a true, genuine account of our whole
voyage, progress, and design; for we might many ways have convinced any
reasonable creatures that we were not pirates; the goods we had on board,
the course we steered, our frankly showing ourselves, and entering into
such and such ports; and even our very manner, the force we had, the
number of men, the few arms, the little ammunition, short provisions; all
these would have served to convince any men that we were no pirates.  The
opium and other goods we had on board would make it appear the ship had
been at Bengal.  The Dutchmen, who, it was said, had the names of all the
men that were in the ship, might easily see that we were a mixture of
English, Portuguese, and Indians, and but two Dutchmen on board.  These,
and many other particular circumstances, might have made it evident to
the understanding of any commander, whose hands we might fall into, that
we were no pirates.

But fear, that blind, useless passion, worked another way, and threw us
into the vapours; it bewildered our understandings, and set the
imagination at work to form a thousand terrible things that perhaps might
never happen.  We first supposed, as indeed everybody had related to us,
that the seamen on board the English and Dutch ships, but especially the
Dutch, were so enraged at the name of a pirate, and especially at our
beating off their boats and escaping, that they would not give themselves
leave to inquire whether we were pirates or no, but would execute us off-
hand, without giving us any room for a defence.  We reflected that there
really was so much apparent evidence before them, that they would scarce
inquire after any more; as, first, that the ship was certainly the same,
and that some of the seamen among them knew her, and had been on board
her; and, secondly, that when we had intelligence at the river of
Cambodia that they were coming down to examine us, we fought their boats
and fled.  Therefore we made no doubt but they were as fully satisfied of
our being pirates as we were satisfied of the contrary; and, as I often
said, I know not but I should have been apt to have taken those
circumstances for evidence, if the tables were turned, and my case was
theirs; and have made no scruple of cutting all the crew to pieces,
without believing, or perhaps considering, what they might have to offer
in their defence.

But let that be how it will, these were our apprehensions; and both my
partner and I scarce slept a night without dreaming of halters and yard-
arms; of fighting, and being taken; of killing, and being killed: and one
night I was in such a fury in my dream, fancying the Dutchmen had boarded
us, and I was knocking one of their seamen down, that I struck my doubled
fist against the side of the cabin I lay in with such a force as wounded
my hand grievously, broke my knuckles, and cut and bruised the flesh, so
that it awaked me out of my sleep.  Another apprehension I had was, the
cruel usage we might meet with from them if we fell into their hands;
then the story of Amboyna came into my head, and how the Dutch might
perhaps torture us, as they did our countrymen there, and make some of
our men, by extremity of torture, confess to crimes they never were
guilty of, or own themselves and all of us to be pirates, and so they
would put us to death with a formal appearance of justice; and that they
might be tempted to do this for the gain of our ship and cargo, worth
altogether four or five thousand pounds.  We did not consider that the
captains of ships have no authority to act thus; and if we had
surrendered prisoners to them, they could not answer the destroying us,
or torturing us, but would be accountable for it when they came to their
country.  However, if they were to act thus with us, what advantage would
it be to us that they should be called to an account for it?--or if we
were first to be murdered, what satisfaction would it be to us to have
them punished when they came home?

I cannot refrain taking notice here what reflections I now had upon the
vast variety of my particular circumstances; how hard I thought it that
I, who had spent forty years in a life of continual difficulties, and was
at last come, as it were, to the port or haven which all men drive at,
viz. to have rest and plenty, should be a volunteer in new sorrows by my
own unhappy choice, and that I, who had escaped so many dangers in my
youth, should now come to be hanged in my old age, and in so remote a
place, for a crime which I was not in the least inclined to, much less
guilty of.  After these thoughts something of religion would come in; and
I would be considering that this seemed to me to be a disposition of
immediate Providence, and I ought to look upon it and submit to it as
such.  For, although I was innocent as to men, I was far from being
innocent as to my Maker; and I ought to look in and examine what other
crimes in my life were most obvious to me, and for which Providence might
justly inflict this punishment as a retribution; and thus I ought to
submit to this, just as I would to a shipwreck, if it had pleased God to
have brought such a disaster upon me.

In its turn natural courage would sometimes take its place, and then I
would be talking myself up to vigorous resolutions; that I would not be
taken to be barbarously used by a parcel of merciless wretches in cold
blood; that it were much better to have fallen into the hands of the
savages, though I were sure they would feast upon me when they had taken
me, than those who would perhaps glut their rage upon me by inhuman
tortures and barbarities; that in the case of the savages, I always
resolved to die fighting to the last gasp, and why should I not do so
now?  Whenever these thoughts prevailed, I was sure to put myself into a
kind of fever with the agitation of a supposed fight; my blood would
boil, and my eyes sparkle, as if I was engaged, and I always resolved to
take no quarter at their hands; but even at last, if I could resist no
longer, I would blow up the ship and all that was in her, and leave them
but little booty to boast of.




CHAPTER XIII--ARRIVAL IN CHINA


The greater weight the anxieties and perplexities of these things were to
our thoughts while we were at sea, the greater was our satisfaction when
we saw ourselves on shore; and my partner told me he dreamed that he had
a very heavy load upon his back, which he was to carry up a hill, and
found that he was not able to stand longer under it; but that the
Portuguese pilot came and took it off his back, and the hill disappeared,
the ground before him appearing all smooth and plain: and truly it was
so; they were all like men who had a load taken off their backs.  For my
part I had a weight taken off from my heart that it was not able any
longer to bear; and as I said above we resolved to go no more to sea in
that ship.  When we came on shore, the old pilot, who was now our friend,
got us a lodging, together with a warehouse for our goods; it was a
little hut, with a larger house adjoining to it, built and also
palisadoed round with canes, to keep out pilferers, of which there were
not a few in that country: however, the magistrates allowed us a little
guard, and we had a soldier with a kind of half-pike, who stood sentinel
at our door, to whom we allowed a pint of rice and a piece of money about
the value of three-pence per day, so that our goods were kept very safe.

The fair or mart usually kept at this place had been over some time;
however, we found that there were three or four junks in the river, and
two ships from Japan, with goods which they had bought in China, and were
not gone away, having some Japanese merchants on shore.

The first thing our old Portuguese pilot did for us was to get us
acquainted with three missionary Romish priests who were in the town, and
who had been there some time converting the people to Christianity; but
we thought they made but poor work of it, and made them but sorry
Christians when they had done.  One of these was a Frenchman, whom they
called Father Simon; another was a Portuguese; and a third a Genoese.
Father Simon was courteous, and very agreeable company; but the other two
were more reserved, seemed rigid and austere, and applied seriously to
the work they came about, viz. to talk with and insinuate themselves
among the inhabitants wherever they had opportunity.  We often ate and
drank with those men; and though I must confess the conversion, as they
call it, of the Chinese to Christianity is so far from the true
conversion required to bring heathen people to the faith of Christ, that
it seems to amount to little more than letting them know the name of
Christ, and say some prayers to the Virgin Mary and her Son, in a tongue
which they understood not, and to cross themselves, and the like; yet it
must be confessed that the religionists, whom we call missionaries, have
a firm belief that these people will be saved, and that they are the
instruments of it; and on this account they undergo not only the fatigue
of the voyage, and the hazards of living in such places, but oftentimes
death itself, and the most violent tortures, for the sake of this work.

Father Simon was appointed, it seems, by order of the chief of the
mission, to go up to Pekin, and waited only for another priest, who was
ordered to come to him from Macao, to go along with him.  We scarce ever
met together but he was inviting me to go that journey; telling me how he
would show me all the glorious things of that mighty empire, and, among
the rest, Pekin, the greatest city in the world: "A city," said he, "that
your London and our Paris put together cannot be equal to."  But as I
looked on those things with different eyes from other men, so I shall
give my opinion of them in a few words, when I come in the course of my
travels to speak more particularly of them.

Dining with Father Simon one day, and being very merry together, I showed
some little inclination to go with him; and he pressed me and my partner
very hard to consent.  "Why, father," says my partner, "should you desire
our company so much? you know we are heretics, and you do not love us,
nor cannot keep us company with any pleasure."--"Oh," says he, "you may
perhaps be good Catholics in time; my business here is to convert
heathens, and who knows but I may convert you too?"--"Very well, father,"
said I, "so you will preach to us all the way?"--"I will not be
troublesome to you," says he; "our religion does not divest us of good
manners; besides, we are here like countrymen; and so we are, compared to
the place we are in; and if you are Huguenots, and I a Catholic, we may
all be Christians at last; at least, we are all gentlemen, and we may
converse so, without being uneasy to one another."  I liked this part of
his discourse very well, and it began to put me in mind of my priest that
I had left in the Brazils; but Father Simon did not come up to his
character by a great deal; for though this friar had no appearance of a
criminal levity in him, yet he had not that fund of Christian zeal,
strict piety, and sincere affection to religion that my other good
ecclesiastic had.

But to leave him a little, though he never left us, nor solicited us to
go with him; we had something else before us at first, for we had all
this while our ship and our merchandise to dispose of, and we began to be
very doubtful what we should do, for we were now in a place of very
little business.  Once I was about to venture to sail for the river of
Kilam, and the city of Nankin; but Providence seemed now more visibly, as
I thought, than ever to concern itself in our affairs; and I was
encouraged, from this very time, to think I should, one way or other, get
out of this entangled circumstance, and be brought home to my own country
again, though I had not the least view of the manner.  Providence, I say,
began here to clear up our way a little; and the first thing that offered
was, that our old Portuguese pilot brought a Japan merchant to us, who
inquired what goods we had: and, in the first place, he bought all our
opium, and gave us a very good price for it, paying us in gold by weight,
some in small pieces of their own coin, and some in small wedges, of
about ten or twelves ounces each.  While we were dealing with him for our
opium, it came into my head that he might perhaps deal for the ship too,
and I ordered the interpreter to propose it to him.  He shrunk up his
shoulders at it when it was first proposed to him; but in a few days
after he came to me, with one of the missionary priests for his
interpreter, and told me he had a proposal to make to me, which was this:
he had bought a great quantity of our goods, when he had no thoughts of
proposals made to him of buying the ship; and that, therefore, he had not
money to pay for the ship: but if I would let the same men who were in
the ship navigate her, he would hire the ship to go to Japan; and would
send them from thence to the Philippine Islands with another loading,
which he would pay the freight of before they went from Japan: and that
at their return he would buy the ship.  I began to listen to his
proposal, and so eager did my head still run upon rambling, that I could
not but begin to entertain a notion of going myself with him, and so to
set sail from the Philippine Islands away to the South Seas; accordingly,
I asked the Japanese merchant if he would not hire us to the Philippine
Islands and discharge us there.  He said No, he could not do that, for
then he could not have the return of his cargo; but he would discharge us
in Japan, at the ship's return.  Well, still I was for taking him at that
proposal, and going myself; but my partner, wiser than myself, persuaded
me from it, representing the dangers, as well of the seas as of the
Japanese, who are a false, cruel, and treacherous people; likewise those
of the Spaniards at the Philippines, more false, cruel, and treacherous
than they.

But to bring this long turn of our affairs to a conclusion; the first
thing we had to do was to consult with the captain of the ship, and with
his men, and know if they were willing to go to Japan.  While I was doing
this, the young man whom my nephew had left with me as my companion came
up, and told me that he thought that voyage promised very fair, and that
there was a great prospect of advantage, and he would be very glad if I
undertook it; but that if I would not, and would give him leave, he would
go as a merchant, or as I pleased to order him; that if ever he came to
England, and I was there and alive, he would render me a faithful account
of his success, which should be as much mine as I pleased.  I was loath
to part with him; but considering the prospect of advantage, which really
was considerable, and that he was a young fellow likely to do well in it,
I inclined to let him go; but I told him I would consult my partner, and
give him an answer the next day.  I discoursed about it with my partner,
who thereupon made a most generous offer: "You know it has been an
unlucky ship," said he, "and we both resolve not to go to sea in it
again; if your steward" (so he called my man) "will venture the voyage, I
will leave my share of the vessel to him, and let him make the best of
it; and if we live to meet in England, and he meets with success abroad,
he shall account for one half of the profits of the ship's freight to us;
the other shall be his own."

If my partner, who was no way concerned with my young man, made him such
an offer, I could not do less than offer him the same; and all the ship's
company being willing to go with him, we made over half the ship to him
in property, and took a writing from him, obliging him to account for the
other, and away he went to Japan.  The Japan merchant proved a very
punctual, honest man to him: protected him at Japan, and got him a
licence to come on shore, which the Europeans in general have not lately
obtained.  He paid him his freight very punctually; sent him to the
Philippines loaded with Japan and China wares, and a supercargo of their
own, who, trafficking with the Spaniards, brought back European goods
again, and a great quantity of spices; and there he was not only paid his
freight very well, and at a very good price, but not being willing to
sell the ship, then the merchant furnished him goods on his own account;
and with some money, and some spices of his own which he brought with
him, he went back to the Manillas, where he sold his cargo very well.
Here, having made a good acquaintance at Manilla, he got his ship made a
free ship, and the governor of Manilla hired him to go to Acapulco, on
the coast of America, and gave him a licence to land there, and to travel
to Mexico, and to pass in any Spanish ship to Europe with all his men.  He
made the voyage to Acapulco very happily, and there he sold his ship: and
having there also obtained allowance to travel by land to Porto Bello, he
found means to get to Jamaica, with all his treasure, and about eight
years after came to England exceeding rich.

But to return to our particular affairs, being now to part with the ship
and ship's company, it came before us, of course, to consider what
recompense we should give to the two men that gave us such timely notice
of the design against us in the river Cambodia.  The truth was, they had
done us a very considerable service, and deserved well at our hands;
though, by the way, they were a couple of rogues, too; for, as they
believed the story of our being pirates, and that we had really run away
with the ship, they came down to us, not only to betray the design that
was formed against us, but to go to sea with us as pirates.  One of them
confessed afterwards that nothing else but the hopes of going a-roguing
brought him to do it: however, the service they did us was not the less,
and therefore, as I had promised to be grateful to them, I first ordered
the money to be paid them which they said was due to them on board their
respective ships: over and above that, I gave each of them a small sum of
money in gold, which contented them very well.  I then made the
Englishman gunner in the ship, the gunner being now made second mate and
purser; the Dutchman I made boatswain; so they were both very well
pleased, and proved very serviceable, being both able seamen, and very
stout fellows.

We were now on shore in China; if I thought myself banished, and remote
from my own country at Bengal, where I had many ways to get home for my
money, what could I think of myself now, when I was about a thousand
leagues farther off from home, and destitute of all manner of prospect of
return?  All we had for it was this: that in about four months' time
there was to be another fair at the place where we were, and then we
might be able to purchase various manufactures of the country, and withal
might possibly find some Chinese junks from Tonquin for sail, that would
carry us and our goods whither we pleased.  This I liked very well, and
resolved to wait; besides, as our particular persons were not obnoxious,
so if any English or Dutch ships came thither, perhaps we might have an
opportunity to load our goods, and get passage to some other place in
India nearer home.  Upon these hopes we resolved to continue here; but,
to divert ourselves, we took two or three journeys into the country.

First, we went ten days' journey to Nankin, a city well worth seeing;
they say it has a million of people in it: it is regularly built, and the
streets are all straight, and cross one another in direct lines.  But
when I come to compare the miserable people of these countries with ours,
their fabrics, their manner of living, their government, their religion,
their wealth, and their glory, as some call it, I must confess that I
scarcely think it worth my while to mention them here.  We wonder at the
grandeur, the riches, the pomp, the ceremonies, the government, the
manufactures, the commerce, and conduct of these people; not that there
is really any matter for wonder, but because, having a true notion of the
barbarity of those countries, the rudeness and the ignorance that prevail
there, we do not expect to find any such thing so far off.  Otherwise,
what are their buildings to the palaces and royal buildings of Europe?
What their trade to the universal commerce of England, Holland, France,
and Spain?  What are their cities to ours, for wealth, strength, gaiety
of apparel, rich furniture, and infinite variety?  What are their ports,
supplied with a few junks and barks, to our navigation, our merchant
fleets, our large and powerful navies?  Our city of London has more trade
than half their mighty empire: one English, Dutch, or French man-of-war
of eighty guns would be able to fight almost all the shipping belonging
to China: but the greatness of their wealth, their trade, the power of
their government, and the strength of their armies, may be a little
surprising to us, because, as I have said, considering them as a
barbarous nation of pagans, little better than savages, we did not expect
such things among them.  But all the forces of their empire, though they
were to bring two millions of men into the field together, would be able
to do nothing but ruin the country and starve themselves; a million of
their foot could not stand before one embattled body of our infantry,
posted so as not to be surrounded, though they were not to be one to
twenty in number; nay, I do not boast if I say that thirty thousand
German or English foot, and ten thousand horse, well managed, could
defeat all the forces of China.  Nor is there a fortified town in China
that could hold out one month against the batteries and attacks of an
European army.  They have firearms, it is true, but they are awkward and
uncertain in their going off; and their powder has but little strength.
Their armies are badly disciplined, and want skill to attack, or temper
to retreat; and therefore, I must confess, it seemed strange to me, when
I came home, and heard our people say such fine things of the power,
glory, magnificence, and trade of the Chinese; because, as far as I saw,
they appeared to be a contemptible herd or crowd of ignorant, sordid
slaves, subjected to a government qualified only to rule such a people;
and were not its distance inconceivably, great from Muscovy, and that
empire in a manner as rude, impotent, and ill governed as they, the Czar
of Muscovy might with ease drive them all out of their country, and
conquer them in one campaign; and had the Czar (who is now a growing
prince) fallen this way, instead of attacking the warlike Swedes, and
equally improved himself in the art of war, as they say he has done; and
if none of the powers of Europe had envied or interrupted him, he might
by this time have been Emperor of China, instead of being beaten by the
King of Sweden at Narva, when the latter was not one to six in number.

As their strength and their grandeur, so their navigation, commerce, and
husbandry are very imperfect, compared to the same things in Europe;
also, in their knowledge, their learning, and in their skill in the
sciences, they are either very awkward or defective, though they have
globes or spheres, and a smattering of the mathematics, and think they
know more than all the world besides.  But they know little of the
motions of the heavenly bodies; and so grossly and absurdly ignorant are
their common people, that when the sun is eclipsed, they think a great
dragon has assaulted it, and is going to run away with it; and they fall
a clattering with all the drums and kettles in the country, to fright the
monster away, just as we do to hive a swarm of bees!

As this is the only excursion of the kind which I have made in all the
accounts I have given of my travels, so I shall make no more such.  It is
none of my business, nor any part of my design; but to give an account of
my own adventures through a life of inimitable wanderings, and a long
variety of changes, which, perhaps, few that come after me will have
heard the like of: I shall, therefore, say very little of all the mighty
places, desert countries, and numerous people I have yet to pass through,
more than relates to my own story, and which my concern among them will
make necessary.

I was now, as near as I can compute, in the heart of China, about thirty
degrees north of the line, for we were returned from Nankin.  I had
indeed a mind to see the city of Pekin, which I had heard so much of, and
Father Simon importuned me daily to do it.  At length his time of going
away being set, and the other missionary who was to go with him being
arrived from Macao, it was necessary that we should resolve either to go
or not; so I referred it to my partner, and left it wholly to his choice,
who at length resolved it in the affirmative, and we prepared for our
journey.  We set out with very good advantage as to finding the way; for
we got leave to travel in the retinue of one of their mandarins, a kind
of viceroy or principal magistrate in the province where they reside, and
who take great state upon them, travelling with great attendance, and
great homage from the people, who are sometimes greatly impoverished by
them, being obliged to furnish provisions for them and all their
attendants in their journeys.  I particularly observed in our travelling
with his baggage, that though we received sufficient provisions both for
ourselves and our horses from the country, as belonging to the mandarin,
yet we were obliged to pay for everything we had, after the market price
of the country, and the mandarin's steward collected it duly from us.
Thus our travelling in the retinue of the mandarin, though it was a great
act of kindness, was not such a mighty favour to us, but was a great
advantage to him, considering there were above thirty other people
travelled in the same manner besides us, under the protection of his
retinue; for the country furnished all the provisions for nothing to him,
and yet he took our money for them.

We were twenty-five days travelling to Pekin, through a country exceeding
populous, but I think badly cultivated; the husbandry, the economy, and
the way of living miserable, though they boast so much of the industry of
the people: I say miserable, if compared with our own, but not so to
these poor wretches, who know no other.  The pride of the poor people is
infinitely great, and exceeded by nothing but their poverty, in some
parts, which adds to that which I call their misery; and I must needs
think the savages of America live much more happy than the poorer sort of
these, because as they have nothing, so they desire nothing; whereas
these are proud and insolent and in the main are in many parts mere
beggars and drudges.  Their ostentation is inexpressible; and, if they
can, they love to keep multitudes of servants or slaves, which is to the
last degree ridiculous, as well as their contempt of all the world but
themselves.

I must confess I travelled more pleasantly afterwards in the deserts and
vast wildernesses of Grand Tartary than here, and yet the roads here are
well paved and well kept, and very convenient for travellers; but nothing
was more awkward to me than to see such a haughty, imperious, insolent
people, in the midst of the grossest simplicity and ignorance; and my
friend Father Simon and I used to be very merry upon these occasions, to
see their beggarly pride.  For example, coming by the house of a country
gentleman, as Father Simon called him, about ten leagues off the city of
Nankin, we had first of all the honour to ride with the master of the
house about two miles; the state he rode in was a perfect Don Quixotism,
being a mixture of pomp and poverty.  His habit was very proper for a
merry-andrew, being a dirty calico, with hanging sleeves, tassels, and
cuts and slashes almost on every side: it covered a taffety vest, so
greasy as to testify that his honour must be a most exquisite sloven.  His
horse was a poor, starved, hobbling creature, and two slaves followed him
on foot to drive the poor creature along; he had a whip in his hand, and
he belaboured the beast as fast about the head as his slaves did about
the tail; and thus he rode by us, with about ten or twelve servants,
going from the city to his country seat, about half a league before us.
We travelled on gently, but this figure of a gentleman rode away before
us; and as we stopped at a village about an hour to refresh us, when we
came by the country seat of this great man, we saw him in a little place
before his door, eating a repast.  It was a kind of garden, but he was
easy to be seen; and we were given to understand that the more we looked
at him the better he would be pleased.  He sat under a tree, something
like the palmetto, which effectually shaded him over the head, and on the
south side; but under the tree was placed a large umbrella, which made
that part look well enough.  He sat lolling back in a great elbow-chair,
being a heavy corpulent man, and had his meat brought him by two women
slaves.  He had two more, one of whom fed the squire with a spoon, and
the other held the dish with one hand, and scraped off what he let fall
upon his worship's beard and taffety vest.

Leaving the poor wretch to please himself with our looking at him, as if
we admired his idle pomp, we pursued our journey.  Father Simon had the
curiosity to stay to inform himself what dainties the country justice had
to feed on in all his state, which he had the honour to taste of, and
which was, I think, a mess of boiled rice, with a great piece of garlic
in it, and a little bag filled with green pepper, and another plant which
they have there, something like our ginger, but smelling like musk, and
tasting like mustard; all this was put together, and a small piece of
lean mutton boiled in it, and this was his worship's repast.  Four or
five servants more attended at a distance, who we supposed were to eat of
the same after their master.  As for our mandarin with whom we travelled,
he was respected as a king, surrounded always with his gentlemen, and
attended in all his appearances with such pomp, that I saw little of him
but at a distance.  I observed that there was not a horse in his retinue
but that our carrier's packhorses in England seemed to me to look much
better; though it was hard to judge rightly, for they were so covered
with equipage, mantles, trappings, &c., that we could scarce see anything
but their feet and their heads as they went along.

I was now light-hearted, and all my late trouble and perplexity being
over, I had no anxious thoughts about me, which made this journey the
pleasanter to me; in which no ill accident attended me, only in passing
or fording a small river, my horse fell and made me free of the country,
as they call it--that is to say, threw me in.  The place was not deep,
but it wetted me all over.  I mention it because it spoiled my pocket-
book, wherein I had set down the names of several people and places which
I had occasion to remember, and which not taking due care of, the leaves
rotted, and the words were never after to be read.

At length we arrived at Pekin.  I had nobody with me but the youth whom
my nephew had given me to attend me as a servant and who proved very
trusty and diligent; and my partner had nobody with him but one servant,
who was a kinsman.  As for the Portuguese pilot, he being desirous to see
the court, we bore his charges for his company, and for our use of him as
an interpreter, for he understood the language of the country, and spoke
good French and a little English.  Indeed, this old man was most useful
to us everywhere; for we had not been above a week at Pekin, when he came
laughing.  "Ah, Seignior Inglese," says he, "I have something to tell
will make your heart glad."--"My heart glad," says I; "what can that be?
I don't know anything in this country can either give me joy or grief to
any great degree."--"Yes, yes," said the old man, in broken English,
"make you glad, me sorry."--"Why," said I, "will it make you
sorry?"--"Because," said he, "you have brought me here twenty-five days'
journey, and will leave me to go back alone; and which way shall I get to
my port afterwards, without a ship, without a horse, without _pecune_?"
so he called money, being his broken Latin, of which he had abundance to
make us merry with.  In short, he told us there was a great caravan of
Muscovite and Polish merchants in the city, preparing to set out on their
journey by land to Muscovy, within four or five weeks; and he was sure we
would take the opportunity to go with them, and leave him behind, to go
back alone.

I confess I was greatly surprised with this good news, and had scarce
power to speak to him for some time; but at last I said to him, "How do
you know this? are you sure it is true?"--"Yes," says he; "I met this
morning in the street an old acquaintance of mine, an Armenian, who is
among them.  He came last from Astrakhan, and was designed to go to
Tonquin, where I formerly knew him, but has altered his mind, and is now
resolved to go with the caravan to Moscow, and so down the river Volga to
Astrakhan."--"Well, Seignior," says I, "do not be uneasy about being left
to go back alone; if this be a method for my return to England, it shall
be your fault if you go back to Macao at all."  We then went to consult
together what was to be done; and I asked my partner what he thought of
the pilot's news, and whether it would suit with his affairs?  He told me
he would do just as I would; for he had settled all his affairs so well
at Bengal, and left his effects in such good hands, that as we had made a
good voyage, if he could invest it in China silks, wrought and raw, he
would be content to go to England, and then make a voyage back to Bengal
by the Company's ships.

Having resolved upon this, we agreed that if our Portuguese pilot would
go with us, we would bear his charges to Moscow, or to England, if he
pleased; nor, indeed, were we to be esteemed over-generous in that
either, if we had not rewarded him further, the service he had done us
being really worth more than that; for he had not only been a pilot to us
at sea, but he had been like a broker for us on shore; and his procuring
for us a Japan merchant was some hundreds of pounds in our pockets.  So,
being willing to gratify him, which was but doing him justice, and very
willing also to have him with us besides, for he was a most necessary man
on all occasions, we agreed to give him a quantity of coined gold, which,
as I computed it, was worth one hundred and seventy-five pounds sterling,
between us, and to bear all his charges, both for himself and horse,
except only a horse to carry his goods.  Having settled this between
ourselves, we called him to let him know what we had resolved.  I told
him he had complained of our being willing to let him go back alone, and
I was now about to tell him we designed he should not go back at all.
That as we had resolved to go to Europe with the caravan, we were very
willing he should go with us; and that we called him to know his mind.  He
shook his head and said it was a long journey, and that he had no
_pecune_ to carry him thither, or to subsist himself when he came there.
We told him we believed it was so, and therefore we had resolved to do
something for him that should let him see how sensible we were of the
service he had done us, and also how agreeable he was to us: and then I
told him what we had resolved to give him here, which he might lay out as
we would do our own; and that as for his charges, if he would go with us
we would set him safe on shore (life and casualties excepted), either in
Muscovy or England, as he would choose, at our own charge, except only
the carriage of his goods.  He received the proposal like a man
transported, and told us he would go with us over all the whole world;
and so we all prepared for our journey.  However, as it was with us, so
it was with the other merchants: they had many things to do, and instead
of being ready in five weeks, it was four months and some days before all
things were got together.




CHAPTER XIV--ATTACKED BY TARTARS


It was the beginning of February, new style, when we set out from Pekin.
My partner and the old pilot had gone express back to the port where we
had first put in, to dispose of some goods which we had left there; and
I, with a Chinese merchant whom I had some knowledge of at Nankin, and
who came to Pekin on his own affairs, went to Nankin, where I bought
ninety pieces of fine damasks, with about two hundred pieces of other
very fine silk of several sorts, some mixed with gold, and had all these
brought to Pekin against my partner's return.  Besides this, we bought a
large quantity of raw silk, and some other goods, our cargo amounting, in
these goods only, to about three thousand five hundred pounds sterling;
which, together with tea and some fine calicoes, and three camels' loads
of nutmegs and cloves, loaded in all eighteen camels for our share,
besides those we rode upon; these, with two or three spare horses, and
two horses loaded with provisions, made together twenty-six camels and
horses in our retinue.

The company was very great, and, as near as I can remember, made between
three and four hundred horses, and upwards of one hundred and twenty men,
very well armed and provided for all events; for as the Eastern caravans
are subject to be attacked by the Arabs, so are these by the Tartars.  The
company consisted of people of several nations, but there were above
sixty of them merchants or inhabitants of Moscow, though of them some
were Livonians; and to our particular satisfaction, five of them were
Scots, who appeared also to be men of great experience in business, and
of very good substance.

When we had travelled one day's journey, the guides, who were five in
number, called all the passengers, except the servants, to a great
council, as they called it.  At this council every one deposited a
certain quantity of money to a common stock, for the necessary expense of
buying forage on the way, where it was not otherwise to be had, and for
satisfying the guides, getting horses, and the like.  Here, too, they
constituted the journey, as they call it, viz. they named captains and
officers to draw us all up, and give the word of command, in case of an
attack, and give every one their turn of command; nor was this forming us
into order any more than what we afterwards found needful on the way.

The road all on this side of the country is very populous, and is full of
potters and earth-makers--that is to say, people, that temper the earth
for the China ware.  As I was coming along, our Portuguese pilot, who had
always something or other to say to make us merry, told me he would show
me the greatest rarity in all the country, and that I should have this to
say of China, after all the ill-humoured things that I had said of it,
that I had seen one thing which was not to be seen in all the world
beside.  I was very importunate to know what it was; at last he told me
it was a gentleman's house built with China ware.  "Well," says I, "are
not the materials of their buildings the products of their own country,
and so it is all China ware, is it not?"--"No, no," says he, "I mean it
is a house all made of China ware, such as you call it in England, or as
it is called in our country, porcelain."--"Well," says I, "such a thing
may be; how big is it?  Can we carry it in a box upon a camel?  If we can
we will buy it."--"Upon a camel!" says the old pilot, holding up both his
hands; "why, there is a family of thirty people lives in it."

I was then curious, indeed, to see it; and when I came to it, it was
nothing but this: it was a timber house, or a house built, as we call it
in England, with lath and plaster, but all this plastering was really
China ware--that is to say, it was plastered with the earth that makes
China ware.  The outside, which the sun shone hot upon, was glazed, and
looked very well, perfectly white, and painted with blue figures, as the
large China ware in England is painted, and hard as if it had been burnt.
As to the inside, all the walls, instead of wainscot, were lined with
hardened and painted tiles, like the little square tiles we call galley-
tiles in England, all made of the finest china, and the figures exceeding
fine indeed, with extraordinary variety of colours, mixed with gold, many
tiles making but one figure, but joined so artificially, the mortar being
made of the same earth, that it was very hard to see where the tiles met.
The floors of the rooms were of the same composition, and as hard as the
earthen floors we have in use in several parts of England; as hard as
stone, and smooth, but not burnt and painted, except some smaller rooms,
like closets, which were all, as it were, paved with the same tile; the
ceiling and all the plastering work in the whole house were of the same
earth; and, after all, the roof was covered with tiles of the same, but
of a deep shining black.  This was a China warehouse indeed, truly and
literally to be called so, and had I not been upon the journey, I could
have stayed some days to see and examine the particulars of it.  They
told me there were fountains and fishponds in the garden, all paved on
the bottom and sides with the same; and fine statues set up in rows on
the walks, entirely formed of the porcelain earth, burnt whole.

As this is one of the singularities of China, so they may be allowed to
excel in it; but I am very sure they excel in their accounts of it; for
they told me such incredible things of their performance in
crockery-ware, for such it is, that I care not to relate, as knowing it
could not be true.  They told me, in particular, of one workman that made
a ship with all its tackle and masts and sails in earthenware, big enough
to carry fifty men.  If they had told me he launched it, and made a
voyage to Japan in it, I might have said something to it indeed; but as
it was, I knew the whole of the story, which was, in short, that the
fellow lied: so I smiled, and said nothing to it.  This odd sight kept me
two hours behind the caravan, for which the leader of it for the day
fined me about the value of three shillings; and told me if it had been
three days' journey without the wall, as it was three days' within, he
must have fined me four times as much, and made me ask pardon the next
council-day.  I promised to be more orderly; and, indeed, I found
afterwards the orders made for keeping all together were absolutely
necessary for our common safety.

In two days more we passed the great China wall, made for a fortification
against the Tartars: and a very great work it is, going over hills and
mountains in an endless track, where the rocks are impassable, and the
precipices such as no enemy could possibly enter, or indeed climb up, or
where, if they did, no wall could hinder them.  They tell us its length
is near a thousand English miles, but that the country is five hundred in
a straight measured line, which the wall bounds without measuring the
windings and turnings it takes; it is about four fathoms high, and as
many thick in some places.

I stood still an hour or thereabouts without trespassing on our orders
(for so long the caravan was in passing the gate), to look at it on every
side, near and far off; I mean what was within my view: and the guide,
who had been extolling it for the wonder of the world, was mighty eager
to hear my opinion of it.  I told him it was a most excellent thing to
keep out the Tartars; which he happened not to understand as I meant it
and so took it for a compliment; but the old pilot laughed!  "Oh,
Seignior Inglese," says he, "you speak in colours."--"In colours!" said
I; "what do you mean by that?"--"Why, you speak what looks white this way
and black that way--gay one way and dull another.  You tell him it is a
good wall to keep out Tartars; you tell me by that it is good for nothing
but to keep out Tartars.  I understand you, Seignior Inglese, I
understand you; but Seignior Chinese understood you his own way."--"Well,"
says I, "do you think it would stand out an army of our country people,
with a good train of artillery; or our engineers, with two companies of
miners?  Would not they batter it down in ten days, that an army might
enter in battalia; or blow it up in the air, foundation and all, that
there should be no sign of it left?"--"Ay, ay," says he, "I know that."
The Chinese wanted mightily to know what I said to the pilot, and I gave
him leave to tell him a few days after, for we were then almost out of
their country, and he was to leave us a little time after this; but when
he knew what I said, he was dumb all the rest of the way, and we heard no
more of his fine story of the Chinese power and greatness while he
stayed.

After we passed this mighty nothing, called a wall, something like the
Picts' walls so famous in Northumberland, built by the Romans, we began
to find the country thinly inhabited, and the people rather confined to
live in fortified towns, as being subject to the inroads and depredations
of the Tartars, who rob in great armies, and therefore are not to be
resisted by the naked inhabitants of an open country.  And here I began
to find the necessity of keeping together in a caravan as we travelled,
for we saw several troops of Tartars roving about; but when I came to see
them distinctly, I wondered more that the Chinese empire could be
conquered by such contemptible fellows; for they are a mere horde of wild
fellows, keeping no order and understanding no discipline or manner of
it.  Their horses are poor lean creatures, taught nothing, and fit for
nothing; and this we found the first day we saw them, which was after we
entered the wilder part of the country.  Our leader for the day gave
leave for about sixteen of us to go a hunting as they call it; and what
was this but a hunting of sheep!--however, it may be called hunting too,
for these creatures are the wildest and swiftest of foot that ever I saw
of their kind! only they will not run a great way, and you are sure of
sport when you begin the chase, for they appear generally thirty or forty
in a flock, and, like true sheep, always keep together when they fly.

In pursuit of this odd sort of game it was our hap to meet with about
forty Tartars: whether they were hunting mutton, as we were, or whether
they looked for another kind of prey, we know not; but as soon as they
saw us, one of them blew a hideous blast on a kind of horn.  This was to
call their friends about them, and in less than ten minutes a troop of
forty or fifty more appeared, at about a mile distance; but our work was
over first, as it happened.

One of the Scots merchants of Moscow happened to be amongst us; and as
soon as he heard the horn, he told us that we had nothing to do but to
charge them without loss of time; and drawing us up in a line, he asked
if we were resolved.  We told him we were ready to follow him; so he rode
directly towards them.  They stood gazing at us like a mere crowd, drawn
up in no sort of order at all; but as soon as they saw us advance, they
let fly their arrows, which missed us, very happily.  Not that they
mistook their aim, but their distance; for their arrows all fell a little
short of us, but with so true an aim, that had we been about twenty yards
nearer we must have had several men wounded, if not killed.

Immediately we halted, and though it was at a great distance, we fired,
and sent them leaden bullets for wooden arrows, following our shot full
gallop, to fall in among them sword in hand--for so our bold Scot that
led us directed.  He was, indeed, but a merchant, but he behaved with
such vigour and bravery on this occasion, and yet with such cool courage
too, that I never saw any man in action fitter for command.  As soon as
we came up to them we fired our pistols in their faces and then drew; but
they fled in the greatest confusion imaginable.  The only stand any of
them made was on our right, where three of them stood, and, by signs,
called the rest to come back to them, having a kind of scimitar in their
hands, and their bows hanging to their backs.  Our brave commander,
without asking anybody to follow him, gallops up close to them, and with
his fusee knocks one of them off his horse, killed the second with his
pistol, and the third ran away.  Thus ended our fight; but we had this
misfortune attending it, that all our mutton we had in chase got away.  We
had not a man killed or hurt; as for the Tartars, there were about five
of them killed--how many were wounded we knew not; but this we knew, that
the other party were so frightened with the noise of our guns that they
fled, and never made any attempt upon us.

We were all this while in the Chinese dominions, and therefore the
Tartars were not so bold as afterwards; but in about five days we entered
a vast wild desert, which held us three days' and nights' march; and we
were obliged to carry our water with us in great leathern bottles, and to
encamp all night, just as I have heard they do in the desert of Arabia.  I
asked our guides whose dominion this was in, and they told me this was a
kind of border that might be called no man's land, being a part of Great
Karakathy, or Grand Tartary: that, however, it was all reckoned as
belonging to China, but that there was no care taken here to preserve it
from the inroads of thieves, and therefore it was reckoned the worst
desert in the whole march, though we were to go over some much larger.

In passing this frightful wilderness we saw, two or three times, little
parties of the Tartars, but they seemed to be upon their own affairs, and
to have no design upon us; and so, like the man who met the devil, if
they had nothing to say to us, we had nothing to say to them: we let them
go.  Once, however, a party of them came so near as to stand and gaze at
us.  Whether it was to consider if they should attack us or not, we knew
not; but when we had passed at some distance by them, we made a
rear-guard of forty men, and stood ready for them, letting the caravan
pass half a mile or thereabouts before us.  After a while they marched
off, but they saluted us with five arrows at their parting, which wounded
a horse so that it disabled him, and we left him the next day, poor
creature, in great need of a good farrier.  We saw no more arrows or
Tartars that time.

We travelled near a month after this, the ways not being so good as at
first, though still in the dominions of the Emperor of China, but lay for
the most part in the villages, some of which were fortified, because of
the incursions of the Tartars.  When we were come to one of these towns
(about two days and a half's journey before we came to the city of Naum),
I wanted to buy a camel, of which there are plenty to be sold all the way
upon that road, and horses also, such as they are, because, so many
caravans coming that way, they are often wanted.  The person that I spoke
to to get me a camel would have gone and fetched one for me; but I, like
a fool, must be officious, and go myself along with him; the place was
about two miles out of the village, where it seems they kept the camels
and horses feeding under a guard.

I walked it on foot, with my old pilot and a Chinese, being very desirous
of a little variety.  When we came to the place it was a low, marshy
ground, walled round with stones, piled up dry, without mortar or earth
among them, like a park, with a little guard of Chinese soldiers at the
door.  Having bought a camel, and agreed for the price, I came away, and
the Chinese that went with me led the camel, when on a sudden came up
five Tartars on horseback.  Two of them seized the fellow and took the
camel from him, while the other three stepped up to me and my old pilot,
seeing us, as it were, unarmed, for I had no weapon about me but my
sword, which could but ill defend me against three horsemen.  The first
that came up stopped short upon my drawing my sword, for they are arrant
cowards; but a second, coming upon my left, gave me a blow on the head,
which I never felt till afterwards, and wondered, when I came to myself,
what was the matter, and where I was, for he laid me flat on the ground;
but my never-failing old pilot, the Portuguese, had a pistol in his
pocket, which I knew nothing of, nor the Tartars either: if they had, I
suppose they would not have attacked us, for cowards are always boldest
when there is no danger.  The old man seeing me down, with a bold heart
stepped up to the fellow that had struck me, and laying hold of his arm
with one hand, and pulling him down by main force a little towards him,
with the other shot him into the head, and laid him dead upon the spot.
He then immediately stepped up to him who had stopped us, as I said, and
before he could come forward again, made a blow at him with a scimitar,
which he always wore, but missing the man, struck his horse in the side
of his head, cut one of the ears off by the root, and a great slice down
by the side of his face.  The poor beast, enraged with the wound, was no
more to be governed by his rider, though the fellow sat well enough too,
but away he flew, and carried him quite out of the pilot's reach; and at
some distance, rising upon his hind legs, threw down the Tartar, and fell
upon him.

In this interval the poor Chinese came in who had lost the camel, but he
had no weapon; however, seeing the Tartar down, and his horse fallen upon
him, away he runs to him, and seizing upon an ugly weapon he had by his
side, something like a pole-axe, he wrenched it from him, and made shift
to knock his Tartarian brains out with it.  But my old man had the third
Tartar to deal with still; and seeing he did not fly, as he expected, nor
come on to fight him, as he apprehended, but stood stock still, the old
man stood still too, and fell to work with his tackle to charge his
pistol again: but as soon as the Tartar saw the pistol away he scoured,
and left my pilot, my champion I called him afterwards, a complete
victory.

By this time I was a little recovered.  I thought, when I first began to
wake, that I had been in a sweet sleep; but, as I said above, I wondered
where I was, how I came upon the ground, and what was the matter.  A few
moments after, as sense returned, I felt pain, though I did not know
where; so I clapped my hand to my head, and took it away bloody; then I
felt my head ache: and in a moment memory returned, and everything was
present to me again.  I jumped upon my feet instantly, and got hold of my
sword, but no enemies were in view: I found a Tartar lying dead, and his
horse standing very quietly by him; and, looking further, I saw my
deliverer, who had been to see what the Chinese had done, coming back
with his hanger in his hand.  The old man, seeing me on my feet, came
running to me, and joyfully embraced me, being afraid before that I had
been killed.  Seeing me bloody, he would see how I was hurt; but it was
not much, only what we call a broken head; neither did I afterwards find
any great inconvenience from the blow, for it was well again in two or
three days.

We made no great gain, however, by this victory, for we lost a camel and
gained a horse.  I paid for the lost camel, and sent for another; but I
did not go to fetch it myself: I had had enough of that.

The city of Naum, which we were approaching, is a frontier of the Chinese
empire, and is fortified in their fashion.  We wanted, as I have said,
above two days' journey of this city when messengers were sent express to
every part of the road to tell all travellers and caravans to halt till
they had a guard sent for them; for that an unusual body of Tartars,
making ten thousand in all, had appeared in the way, about thirty miles
beyond the city.

This was very bad news to travellers: however, it was carefully done of
the governor, and we were very glad to hear we should have a guard.
Accordingly, two days after, we had two hundred soldiers sent us from a
garrison of the Chinese on our left, and three hundred more from the city
of Naum, and with these we advanced boldly.  The three hundred soldiers
from Naum marched in our front, the two hundred in our rear, and our men
on each side of our camels, with our baggage and the whole caravan in the
centre; in this order, and well prepared for battle, we thought ourselves
a match for the whole ten thousand Mogul Tartars, if they had appeared;
but the next day, when they did appear, it was quite another thing.




CHAPTER XV--DESCRIPTION OF AN IDOL, WHICH THEY DESTROY


Early in the morning, when marching from a little town called Changu, we
had a river to pass, which we were obliged to ferry; and, had the Tartars
had any intelligence, then had been the time to have attacked us, when
the caravan being over, the rear-guard was behind; but they did not
appear there.  About three hours after, when we were entered upon a
desert of about fifteen or sixteen miles over, we knew by a cloud of dust
they raised, that the enemy was at hand, and presently they came on upon
the spur.

Our Chinese guards in the front, who had talked so big the day before,
began to stagger; and the soldiers frequently looked behind them, a
certain sign in a soldier that he is just ready to run away.  My old
pilot was of my mind; and being near me, called out, "Seignior Inglese,
these fellows must be encouraged, or they will ruin us all; for if the
Tartars come on they will never stand it."--"If am of your mind," said I;
"but what must be done?"--"Done?" says he, "let fifty of our men advance,
and flank them on each wing, and encourage them.  They will fight like
brave fellows in brave company; but without this they will every man turn
his back."  Immediately I rode up to our leader and told him, who was
exactly of our mind; accordingly, fifty of us marched to the right wing,
and fifty to the left, and the rest made a line of rescue; and so we
marched, leaving the last two hundred men to make a body of themselves,
and to guard the camels; only that, if need were, they should send a
hundred men to assist the last fifty.

At last the Tartars came on, and an innumerable company they were; how
many we could not tell, but ten thousand, we thought, at the least.  A
party of them came on first, and viewed our posture, traversing the
ground in the front of our line; and, as we found them within gunshot,
our leader ordered the two wings to advance swiftly, and give them a
salvo on each wing with their shot, which was done.  They then went off,
I suppose to give an account of the reception they were like to meet
with; indeed, that salute cloyed their stomachs, for they immediately
halted, stood a while to consider of it, and wheeling off to the left,
they gave over their design for that time, which was very agreeable to
our circumstances.

Two days after we came to the city of Naun, or Naum; we thanked the
governor for his care of us, and collected to the value of a hundred
crowns, or thereabouts, which we gave to the soldiers sent to guard us;
and here we rested one day.  This is a garrison indeed, and there were
nine hundred soldiers kept here; but the reason of it was, that formerly
the Muscovite frontiers lay nearer to them than they now do, the
Muscovites having abandoned that part of the country, which lies from
this city west for about two hundred miles, as desolate and unfit for
use; and more especially being so very remote, and so difficult to send
troops thither for its defence; for we were yet above two thousand miles
from Muscovy properly so called.  After this we passed several great
rivers, and two dreadful deserts; one of which we were sixteen days
passing over; and on the 13th of April we came to the frontiers of the
Muscovite dominions.  I think the first town or fortress, whichever it
may he called, that belonged to the Czar, was called Arguna, being on the
west side of the river Arguna.

I could not but feel great satisfaction that I was arrived in a country
governed by Christians; for though the Muscovites do, in my opinion, but
just deserve the name of Christians, yet such they pretend to be, and are
very devout in their way.  It would certainly occur to any reflecting man
who travels the world as I have done, what a blessing it is to be brought
into the world where the name of God and a Redeemer is known, adored, and
worshipped; and not where the people, given up to strong delusions,
worship the devil, and prostrate themselves to monsters, elements, horrid-
shaped animals, and monstrous images.  Not a town or city we passed
through but had their pagodas, their idols, and their temples, and
ignorant people worshipping even the works of their own hands.  Now we
came where, at least, a face of the Christian worship appeared; where the
knee was bowed to Jesus: and whether ignorantly or not, yet the Christian
religion was owned, and the name of the true God was called upon and
adored; and it made my soul rejoice to see it.  I saluted the brave Scots
merchant with my first acknowledgment of this; and taking him by the
hand, I said to him, "Blessed be God, we are once again amongst
Christians."  He smiled, and answered, "Do not rejoice too soon,
countryman; these Muscovites are but an odd sort of Christians; and but
for the name of it you may see very little of the substance for some
months further of our journey."--"Well," says I, "but still it is better
than paganism, and worshipping of devils."--"Why, I will tell you," says
he; "except the Russian soldiers in the garrisons, and a few of the
inhabitants of the cities upon the road, all the rest of this country,
for above a thousand miles farther, is inhabited by the worst and most
ignorant of pagans."  And so, indeed, we found it.

We now launched into the greatest piece of solid earth that is to be
found in any part of the world; we had, at least, twelve thousand miles
to the sea eastward; two thousand to the bottom of the Baltic Sea
westward; and above three thousand, if we left that sea, and went on
west, to the British and French channels: we had full five thousand miles
to the Indian or Persian Sea south; and about eight hundred to the Frozen
Sea north.

We advanced from the river Arguna by easy and moderate journeys, and were
very visibly obliged to the care the Czar has taken to have cities and
towns built in as many places as it is possible to place them, where his
soldiers keep garrison, something like the stationary soldiers placed by
the Romans in the remotest countries of their empire; some of which I had
read of were placed in Britain, for the security of commerce, and for the
lodging of travellers.  Thus it was here; for wherever we came, though at
these towns and stations the garrisons and governors were Russians, and
professed Christians, yet the inhabitants were mere pagans, sacrificing
to idols, and worshipping the sun, moon, and stars, or all the host of
heaven; and not only so, but were, of all the heathens and pagans that
ever I met with, the most barbarous, except only that they did not eat
men's flesh.

Some instances of this we met with in the country between Arguna, where
we enter the Muscovite dominions, and a city of Tartars and Russians
together, called Nortziousky, in which is a continued desert or forest,
which cost us twenty days to travel over.  In a village near the last of
these places I had the curiosity to go and see their way of living, which
is most brutish and unsufferable.  They had, I suppose, a great sacrifice
that day; for there stood out, upon an old stump of a tree, a diabolical
kind of idol made of wood; it was dressed up, too, in the most filthy
manner; its upper garment was of sheepskins, with the wool outward; a
great Tartar bonnet on the head, with two horns growing through it; it
was about eight feet high, yet had no feet or legs, nor any other
proportion of parts.

This scarecrow was set up at the outer side of the village; and when I
came near to it there were sixteen or seventeen creatures all lying flat
upon the ground round this hideous block of wood; I saw no motion among
them, any more than if they had been all logs, like the idol, and at
first I really thought they had been so; but, when I came a little
nearer, they started up upon their feet, and raised a howl, as if it had
been so many deep-mouthed hounds, and walked away, as if they were
displeased at our disturbing them.  A little way off from the idol, and
at the door of a hut, made of sheep and cow skins dried, stood three men
with long knives in their hands; and in the middle of the tent appeared
three sheep killed, and one young bullock.  These, it seems, were
sacrifices to that senseless log of an idol; the three men were priests
belonging to it, and the seventeen prostrated wretches were the people
who brought the offering, and were offering their prayers to that stock.

I confess I was more moved at their stupidity and brutish worship of a
hobgoblin than ever I was at anything in my life, and, overcome with
rage, I rode up to the hideous idol, and with my sword made a stroke at
the bonnet that was on its head, and cut it in two; and one of our men
that was with me, taking hold of the sheepskin that covered it, pulled at
it, when, behold, a most hideous outcry ran through the village, and two
or three hundred people came about my ears, so that I was glad to scour
for it, for some had bows and arrows; but I resolved from that moment to
visit them again.  Our caravan rested three nights at the town, which was
about four miles off, in order to provide some horses which they wanted,
several of the horses having been lamed and jaded with the long march
over the last desert; so we had some leisure here to put my design in
execution.  I communicated it to the Scots merchant, of whose courage I
had sufficient testimony; I told him what I had seen, and with what
indignation I had since thought that human nature could be so degenerate;
I told him if I could get but four or five men well armed to go with me,
I was resolved to go and destroy that vile, abominable idol, and let them
see that it had no power to help itself, and consequently could not be an
object of worship, or to be prayed to, much less help them that offered
sacrifices to it.

He at first objected to my plan as useless, seeing that, owing to the
gross ignorance of the people, they could not be brought to profit by the
lesson I meant to teach them; and added that, from his knowledge of the
country and its customs, he feared we should fall into great peril by
giving offence to these brutal idol worshippers.  This somewhat stayed my
purpose, but I was still uneasy all that day to put my project in
execution; and that evening, meeting the Scots merchant in our walk about
the town, I again called upon him to aid me in it.  When he found me
resolute he said that, on further thoughts, he could not but applaud the
design, and told me I should not go alone, but he would go with me; but
he would go first and bring a stout fellow, one of his countrymen, to go
also with us; "and one," said he, "as famous for his zeal as you can
desire any one to be against such devilish things as these."  So we
agreed to go, only we three and my man-servant, and resolved to put it in
execution the following night about midnight, with all possible secrecy.

We thought it better to delay it till the next night, because the caravan
being to set forward in the morning, we suppose the governor could not
pretend to give them any satisfaction upon us when we were out of his
power.  The Scots merchant, as steady in his resolution for the
enterprise as bold in executing, brought me a Tartar's robe or gown of
sheepskins, and a bonnet, with a bow and arrows, and had provided the
same for himself and his countryman, that the people, if they saw us,
should not determine who we were.  All the first night we spent in mixing
up some combustible matter, with aqua vitae, gunpowder, and such other
materials as we could get; and having a good quantity of tar in a little
pot, about an hour after night we set out upon our expedition.

We came to the place about eleven o'clock at night, and found that the
people had not the least suspicion of danger attending their idol.  The
night was cloudy: yet the moon gave us light enough to see that the idol
stood just in the same posture and place that it did before.  The people
seemed to be all at their rest; only that in the great hut, where we saw
the three priests, we saw a light, and going up close to the door, we
heard people talking as if there were five or six of them; we concluded,
therefore, that if we set wildfire to the idol, those men would come out
immediately, and run up to the place to rescue it from destruction; and
what to do with them we knew not.  Once we thought of carrying it away,
and setting fire to it at a distance; but when we came to handle it, we
found it too bulky for our carriage, so we were at a loss again.  The
second Scotsman was for setting fire to the hut, and knocking the
creatures that were there on the head when they came out; but I could not
join with that; I was against killing them, if it were possible to avoid
it.  "Well, then," said the Scots merchant, "I will tell you what we will
do: we will try to make them prisoners, tie their hands, and make them
stand and see their idol destroyed."

As it happened, we had twine or packthread enough about us, which we used
to tie our firelocks together with; so we resolved to attack these people
first, and with as little noise as we could.  The first thing we did, we
knocked at the door, when one of the priests coming to it, we immediately
seized upon him, stopped his mouth, and tied his hands behind him, and
led him to the idol, where we gagged him that he might not make a noise,
tied his feet also together, and left him on the ground.

Two of us then waited at the door, expecting that another would come out
to see what the matter was; but we waited so long till the third man came
back to us; and then nobody coming out, we knocked again gently, and
immediately out came two more, and we served them just in the same
manner, but were obliged to go all with them, and lay them down by the
idol some distance from one another; when, going back, we found two more
were come out of the door, and a third stood behind them within the door.
We seized the two, and immediately tied them, when the third, stepping
back and crying out, my Scots merchant went in after them, and taking out
a composition we had made that would only smoke and stink, he set fire to
it, and threw it in among them.  By that time the other Scotsman and my
man, taking charge of the two men already bound, and tied together also
by the arm, led them away to the idol, and left them there, to see if
their idol would relieve them, making haste back to us.

When the fuze we had thrown in had filled the hut with so much smoke that
they were almost suffocated, we threw in a small leather bag of another
kind, which flamed like a candle, and, following it in, we found there
were but four people, who, as we supposed, had been about some of their
diabolical sacrifices.  They appeared, in short, frightened to death, at
least so as to sit trembling and stupid, and not able to speak either,
for the smoke.

We quickly took them from the hut, where the smoke soon drove us out,
bound them as we had done the other, and all without any noise.  Then we
carried them all together to the idol; when we came there, we fell to
work with him.  First, we daubed him all over, and his robes also, with
tar, and tallow mixed with brimstone; then we stopped his eyes and ears
and mouth full of gunpowder, and wrapped up a great piece of wildfire in
his bonnet; then sticking all the combustibles we had brought with us
upon him, we looked about to see if we could find anything else to help
to burn him; when my Scotsman remembered that by the hut, where the men
were, there lay a heap of dry forage; away he and the other Scotsman ran
and fetched their arms full of that.  When we had done this, we took all
our prisoners, and brought them, having untied their feet and ungagged
their mouths, and made them stand up, and set them before their monstrous
idol, and then set fire to the whole.

We stayed by it a quarter of an hour or thereabouts, till the powder in
the eyes and mouth and ears of the idol blew up, and, as we could
perceive, had split altogether; and in a word, till we saw it burned so
that it would soon be quite consumed.  We then began to think of going
away; but the Scotsman said, "No, we must not go, for these poor deluded
wretches will all throw themselves into the fire, and burn themselves
with the idol."  So we resolved to stay till the forage has burned down
too, and then came away and left them.  After the feat was performed, we
appeared in the morning among our fellow-travellers, exceedingly busy in
getting ready for our journey; nor could any man suppose that we had been
anywhere but in our beds.

But the affair did not end so; the next day came a great number of the
country people to the town gates, and in a most outrageous manner
demanded satisfaction of the Russian governor for the insulting their
priests and burning their great Cham Chi-Thaungu.  The people of
Nertsinkay were at first in a great consternation, for they said the
Tartars were already no less than thirty thousand strong.  The Russian
governor sent out messengers to appease them, assuring them that he knew
nothing of it, and that there had not a soul in his garrison been abroad,
so that it could not be from anybody there: but if they could let him
know who did it, they should be exemplarily punished.  They returned
haughtily, that all the country reverenced the great Cham Chi-Thaungu,
who dwelt in the sun, and no mortal would have dared to offer violence to
his image but some Christian miscreant; and they therefore resolved to
denounce war against him and all the Russians, who, they said, were
miscreants and Christians.

The governor, unwilling to make a breach, or to have any cause of war
alleged to be given by him, the Czar having strictly charged him to treat
the conquered country with gentleness, gave them all the good words he
could.  At last he told them there was a caravan gone towards Russia that
morning, and perhaps it was some of them who had done them this injury;
and that if they would be satisfied with that, he would send after them
to inquire into it.  This seemed to appease them a little; and
accordingly the governor sent after us, and gave us a particular account
how the thing was; intimating withal, that if any in our caravan had done
it they should make their escape; but that whether we had done it or no,
we should make all the haste forward that was possible: and that, in the
meantime, he would keep them in play as long as he could.

This was very friendly in the governor; however, when it came to the
caravan, there was nobody knew anything of the matter; and as for us that
were guilty, we were least of all suspected.  However, the captain of the
caravan for the time took the hint that the governor gave us, and we
travelled two days and two nights without any considerable stop, and then
we lay at a village called Plothus: nor did we make any long stop here,
but hastened on towards Jarawena, another Muscovite colony, and where we
expected we should be safe.  But upon the second day's march from
Plothus, by the clouds of dust behind us at a great distance, it was
plain we were pursued.  We had entered a vast desert, and had passed by a
great lake called Schanks Oser, when we perceived a large body of horse
appear on the other side of the lake, to the north, we travelling west.
We observed they went away west, as we did, but had supposed we would
have taken that side of the lake, whereas we very happily took the south
side; and in two days more they disappeared again: for they, believing we
were still before them, pushed on till they came to the Udda, a very
great river when it passes farther north, but when we came to it we found
it narrow and fordable.

The third day they had either found their mistake, or had intelligence of
us, and came pouring in upon us towards dusk.  We had, to our great
satisfaction, just pitched upon a convenient place for our camp; for as
we had just entered upon a desert above five hundred miles over, where we
had no towns to lodge at, and, indeed, expected none but the city
Jarawena, which we had yet two days' march to; the desert, however, had
some few woods in it on this side, and little rivers, which ran all into
the great river Udda; it was in a narrow strait, between little but very
thick woods, that we pitched our camp that night, expecting to be
attacked before morning.  As it was usual for the Mogul Tartars to go
about in troops in that desert, so the caravans always fortify themselves
every night against them, as against armies of robbers; and it was,
therefore, no new thing to be pursued.  But we had this night a most
advantageous camp: for as we lay between two woods, with a little rivulet
running just before our front, we could not be surrounded, or attacked
any way but in our front or rear.  We took care also to make our front as
strong as we could, by placing our packs, with the camels and horses, all
in a line, on the inside of the river, and felling some trees in our
rear.

In this posture we encamped for the night; but the enemy was upon us
before we had finished.  They did not come on like thieves, as we
expected, but sent three messengers to us, to demand the men to be
delivered to them that had abused their priests and burned their idol,
that they might burn them with fire; and upon this, they said, they would
go away, and do us no further harm, otherwise they would destroy us all.
Our men looked very blank at this message, and began to stare at one
another to see who looked with the most guilt in their faces; but nobody
was the word--nobody did it.  The leader of the caravan sent word he was
well assured that it was not done by any of our camp; that we were
peaceful merchants, travelling on our business; that we had done no harm
to them or to any one else; and that, therefore, they must look further
for the enemies who had injured them, for we were not the people; so they
desired them not to disturb us, for if they did we should defend
ourselves.

They were far from being satisfied with this for an answer: and a great
crowd of them came running down in the morning, by break of day, to our
camp; but seeing us so well posted, they durst come no farther than the
brook in our front, where they stood in such number as to terrify us very
much; indeed, some spoke of ten thousand.  Here they stood and looked at
us a while, and then, setting up a great howl, let fly a crowd of arrows
among us; but we were well enough sheltered under our baggage, and I do
not remember that one of us was hurt.

Some time after this we saw them move a little to our right, and expected
them on the rear: when a cunning fellow, a Cossack of Jarawena, calling
to the leader of the caravan, said to him, "I will send all these people
away to Sibeilka."  This was a city four or five days' journey at least
to the right, and rather behind us.  So he takes his bow and arrows, and
getting on horseback, he rides away from our rear directly, as it were
back to Nertsinskay; after this he takes a great circuit about, and comes
directly on the army of the Tartars as if he had been sent express to
tell them a long story that the people who had burned the Cham
Chi-Thaungu were gone to Sibeilka, with a caravan of miscreants, as he
called them--that is to say, Christians; and that they had resolved to
burn the god Scal-Isar, belonging to the Tonguses.  As this fellow was
himself a Tartar, and perfectly spoke their language, he counterfeited so
well that they all believed him, and away they drove in a violent hurry
to Sibeilka.  In less than three hours they were entirely out of our
sight, and we never heard any more of them, nor whether they went to
Sibeilka or no.  So we passed away safely on to Jarawena, where there was
a Russian garrison, and there we rested five days.

From this city we had a frightful desert, which held us twenty-three
days' march.  We furnished ourselves with some tents here, for the better
accommodating ourselves in the night; and the leader of the caravan
procured sixteen waggons of the country, for carrying our water or
provisions, and these carriages were our defence every night round our
little camp; so that had the Tartars appeared, unless they had been very
numerous indeed, they would not have been able to hurt us.  We may well
be supposed to have wanted rest again after this long journey; for in
this desert we neither saw house nor tree, and scarce a bush; though we
saw abundance of the sable-hunters, who are all Tartars of Mogul Tartary;
of which this country is a part; and they frequently attack small
caravans, but we saw no numbers of them together.

After we had passed this desert we came into a country pretty well
inhabited--that is to say, we found towns and castles, settled by the
Czar with garrisons of stationary soldiers, to protect the caravans and
defend the country against the Tartars, who would otherwise make it very
dangerous travelling; and his czarish majesty has given such strict
orders for the well guarding the caravans, that, if there are any Tartars
heard of in the country, detachments of the garrison are always sent to
see the travellers safe from station to station.  Thus the governor of
Adinskoy, whom I had an opportunity to make a visit to, by means of the
Scots merchant, who was acquainted with him, offered us a guard of fifty
men, if we thought there was any danger, to the next station.

I thought, long before this, that as we came nearer to Europe we should
find the country better inhabited, and the people more civilised; but I
found myself mistaken in both: for we had yet the nation of the Tonguses
to pass through, where we saw the same tokens of paganism and barbarity
as before; only, as they were conquered by the Muscovites, they were not
so dangerous, but for rudeness of manners and idolatry no people in the
world ever went beyond them.  They are all clothed in skins of beasts,
and their houses are built of the same; you know not a man from a woman,
neither by the ruggedness of their countenances nor their clothes; and in
the winter, when the ground is covered with snow, they live underground
in vaults, which have cavities going from one to another.  If the Tartars
had their Cham Chi-Thaungu for a whole village or country, these had
idols in every hut and every cave.  This country, I reckon, was, from the
desert I spoke of last, at least four hundred miles, half of it being
another desert, which took us up twelve days' severe travelling, without
house or tree; and we were obliged again to carry our own provisions, as
well water as bread.  After we were out of this desert and had travelled
two days, we came to Janezay, a Muscovite city or station, on the great
river Janezay, which, they told us there, parted Europe from Asia.

All the country between the river Oby and the river Janezay is as
entirely pagan, and the people as barbarous, as the remotest of the
Tartars.  I also found, which I observed to the Muscovite governors whom
I had an opportunity to converse with, that the poor pagans are not much
wiser, or nearer Christianity, for being under the Muscovite government,
which they acknowledged was true enough--but that, as they said, was none
of their business; that if the Czar expected to convert his Siberian,
Tonguse, or Tartar subjects, it should be done by sending clergymen among
them, not soldiers; and they added, with more sincerity than I expected,
that it was not so much the concern of their monarch to make the people
Christians as to make them subjects.

From this river to the Oby we crossed a wild uncultivated country, barren
of people and good management, otherwise it is in itself a pleasant,
fruitful, and agreeable country.  What inhabitants we found in it are all
pagans, except such as are sent among them from Russia; for this is the
country--I mean on both sides the river Oby--whither the Muscovite
criminals that are not put to death are banished, and from whence it is
next to impossible they should ever get away.  I have nothing material to
say of my particular affairs till I came to Tobolski, the capital city of
Siberia, where I continued some time on the following account.

We had now been almost seven months on our journey, and winter began to
come on apace; whereupon my partner and I called a council about our
particular affairs, in which we found it proper, as we were bound for
England, to consider how to dispose of ourselves.  They told us of
sledges and reindeer to carry us over the snow in the winter time, by
which means, indeed, the Russians travel more in winter than they can in
summer, as in these sledges they are able to run night and day: the snow,
being frozen, is one universal covering to nature, by which the hills,
vales, rivers, and lakes are all smooth and hard is a stone, and they run
upon the surface, without any regard to what is underneath.

But I had no occasion to urge a winter journey of this kind.  I was bound
to England, not to Moscow, and my route lay two ways: either I must go on
as the caravan went, till I came to Jarislaw, and then go off west for
Narva and the Gulf of Finland, and so on to Dantzic, where I might
possibly sell my China cargo to good advantage; or I must leave the
caravan at a little town on the Dwina, from whence I had but six days by
water to Archangel, and from thence might be sure of shipping either to
England, Holland, or Hamburg.

Now, to go any one of these journeys in the winter would have been
preposterous; for as to Dantzic, the Baltic would have been frozen up and
I could not get passage; and to go by land in those countries was far
less safe than among the Mogul Tartars; likewise, as to Archangel in
October, all the ships would be gone from thence, and even the merchants
who dwell there in summer retire south to Moscow in the winter, when the
ships are gone; so that I could have nothing but extremity of cold to
encounter, with a scarcity of provisions, and must lie in an empty town
all the winter.  Therefore, upon the whole, I thought it much my better
way to let the caravan go, and make provision to winter where I was, at
Tobolski, in Siberia, in the latitude of about sixty degrees, where I was
sure of three things to wear out a cold winter with, viz. plenty of
provisions, such as the country afforded, a warm house, with fuel enough,
and excellent company.

I was now in quite a different climate from my beloved island, where I
never felt cold, except when I had my ague; on the contrary, I had much
to do to bear any clothes on my back, and never made any fire but without
doors, which was necessary for dressing my food, &c.  Now I had three
good vests, with large robes or gowns over them, to hang down to the
feet, and button close to the wrists; and all these lined with furs, to
make them sufficiently warm.  As to a warm house, I must confess I
greatly dislike our way in England of making fires in every room of the
house in open chimneys, which, when the fire is out, always keeps the air
in the room cold as the climate.  So I took an apartment in a good house
in the town, and ordered a chimney to be built like a furnace, in the
centre of six several rooms, like a stove; the funnel to carry the smoke
went up one way, the door to come at the fire went in another, and all
the rooms were kept equally warm, but no fire seen, just as they heat
baths in England.  By this means we had always the same climate in all
the rooms, and an equal heat was preserved, and yet we saw no fire, nor
were ever incommoded with smoke.

The most wonderful thing of all was, that it should be possible to meet
with good company here, in a country so barbarous as this--one of the
most northerly parts of Europe.  But this being the country where the
state criminals of Muscovy, as I observed before, are all banished, the
city was full of Russian noblemen, gentlemen, soldiers, and courtiers.
Here was the famous Prince Galitzin, the old German Robostiski, and
several other persons of note, and some ladies.  By means of my Scotch
merchant, whom, nevertheless, I parted with here, I made an acquaintance
with several of these gentlemen; and from these, in the long winter
nights in which I stayed here, I received several very agreeable visits.




CHAPTER XVI--SAFE ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND


It was talking one night with a certain prince, one of the banished
ministers of state belonging to the Czar, that the discourse of my
particular case began.  He had been telling me abundance of fine things
of the greatness, the magnificence, the dominions, and the absolute power
of the Emperor of the Russians: I interrupted him, and told him I was a
greater and more powerful prince than ever the Czar was, though my
dominion were not so large, or my people so many.  The Russian grandee
looked a little surprised, and, fixing his eyes steadily upon me, began
to wonder what I meant.  I said his wonder would cease when I had
explained myself, and told him the story at large of my living in the
island; and then how I managed both myself and the people that were under
me, just as I have since minuted it down.  They were exceedingly taken
with the story, and especially the prince, who told me, with a sigh, that
the true greatness of life was to be masters of ourselves; that he would
not have exchanged such a state of life as mine to be Czar of Muscovy;
and that he found more felicity in the retirement he seemed to be
banished to there, than ever he found in the highest authority he enjoyed
in the court of his master the Czar; that the height of human wisdom was
to bring our tempers down to our circumstances, and to make a calm
within, under the weight of the greatest storms without.  When he came
first hither, he said, he used to tear the hair from his head, and the
clothes from his back, as others had done before him; but a little time
and consideration had made him look into himself, as well as round him to
things without; that he found the mind of man, if it was but once brought
to reflect upon the state of universal life, and how little this world
was concerned in its true felicity, was perfectly capable of making a
felicity for itself, fully satisfying to itself, and suitable to its own
best ends and desires, with but very little assistance from the world.
That being now deprived of all the fancied felicity which he enjoyed in
the full exercise of worldly pleasures, he said he was at leisure to look
upon the dark side of them, where he found all manner of deformity; and
was now convinced that virtue only makes a man truly wise, rich, and
great, and preserves him in the way to a superior happiness in a future
state; and in this, he said, they were more happy in their banishment
than all their enemies were, who had the full possession of all the
wealth and power they had left behind them.  "Nor, sir," says he, "do I
bring my mind to this politically, from the necessity of my
circumstances, which some call miserable; but, if I know anything of
myself, I would not now go back, though the Czar my master should call
me, and reinstate me in all my former grandeur."

He spoke this with so much warmth in his temper, so much earnestness and
motion of his spirits, that it was evident it was the true sense of his
soul; there was no room to doubt his sincerity.  I told him I once
thought myself a kind of monarch in my old station, of which I had given
him an account; but that I thought he was not only a monarch, but a great
conqueror; for he that had got a victory over his own exorbitant desires,
and the absolute dominion over himself, he whose reason entirely governs
his will, is certainly greater than he that conquers a city.

I had been here eight months, and a dark, dreadful winter I thought it;
the cold so intense that I could not so much as look abroad without being
wrapped in furs, and a kind of mask of fur before my face, with only a
hole for breath, and two for sight: the little daylight we had was for
three months not above five hours a day, and six at most; only that the
snow lying on the ground continually, and the weather being clear, it was
never quite dark.  Our horses were kept, or rather starved, underground;
and as for our servants, whom we hired here to look after ourselves and
horses, we had, every now and then, their fingers and toes to thaw and
take care of, lest they should mortify and fall off.

It is true, within doors we were warm, the houses being close, the walls
thick, the windows small, and the glass all double.  Our food was chiefly
the flesh of deer, dried and cured in the season; bread good enough, but
baked as biscuits; dried fish of several sorts, and some flesh of mutton,
and of buffaloes, which is pretty good meat.  All the stores of
provisions for the winter are laid up in the summer, and well cured: our
drink was water, mixed with aqua vitae instead of brandy; and for a
treat, mead instead of wine, which, however, they have very good.  The
hunters, who venture abroad all weathers, frequently brought us in fine
venison, and sometimes bear's flesh, but we did not much care for the
last.  We had a good stock of tea, with which we treated our friends, and
we lived cheerfully and well, all things considered.

It was now March, the days grown considerably longer, and the weather at
least tolerable; so the other travellers began to prepare sledges to
carry them over the snow, and to get things ready to be going; but my
measures being fixed, as I have said, for Archangel, and not for Muscovy
or the Baltic, I made no motion; knowing very well that the ships from
the south do not set out for that part of the world till May or June, and
that if I was there by the beginning of August, it would be as soon as
any ships would be ready to sail.  Therefore I made no haste to be gone,
as others did: in a word, I saw a great many people, nay, all the
travellers, go away before me.  It seems every year they go from thence
to Muscovy, for trade, to carry furs, and buy necessaries, which they
bring back with them to furnish their shops: also others went on the same
errand to Archangel.

In the month of May I began to make all ready to pack up; and, as I was
doing this, it occurred to me that, seeing all these people were banished
by the Czar to Siberia, and yet, when they came there, were left at
liberty to go whither they would, why they did not then go away to any
part of the world, wherever they thought fit: and I began to examine what
should hinder them from making such an attempt.  But my wonder was over
when I entered upon that subject with the person I have mentioned, who
answered me thus: "Consider, first, sir," said he, "the place where we
are; and, secondly, the condition we are in; especially the generality of
the people who are banished thither.  We are surrounded with stronger
things than bars or bolts; on the north side, an unnavigable ocean, where
ship never sailed, and boat never swam; every other way we have above a
thousand miles to pass through the Czar's own dominion, and by ways
utterly impassable, except by the roads made by the government, and
through the towns garrisoned by his troops; in short, we could neither
pass undiscovered by the road, nor subsist any other way, so that it is
in vain to attempt it."

I was silenced at once, and found that they were in a prison every jot as
secure as if they had been locked up in the castle at Moscow: however, it
came into my thoughts that I might certainly be made an instrument to
procure the escape of this excellent person; and that, whatever hazard I
ran, I would certainly try if I could carry him off.  Upon this, I took
an occasion one evening to tell him my thoughts.  I represented to him
that it was very easy for me to carry him away, there being no guard over
him in the country; and as I was not going to Moscow, but to Archangel,
and that I went in the retinue of a caravan, by which I was not obliged
to lie in the stationary towns in the desert, but could encamp every
night where I would, we might easily pass uninterrupted to Archangel,
where I would immediately secure him on board an English ship, and carry
him safe along with me; and as to his subsistence and other particulars,
it should be my care till he could better supply himself.

He heard me very attentively, and looked earnestly on me all the while I
spoke; nay, I could see in his very face that what I said put his spirits
into an exceeding ferment; his colour frequently changed, his eyes looked
red, and his heart fluttered, till it might be even perceived in his
countenance; nor could he immediately answer me when I had done, and, as
it were, hesitated what he would say to it; but after he had paused a
little, he embraced me, and said, "How unhappy are we, unguarded
creatures as we are, that even our greatest acts of friendship are made
snares unto us, and we are made tempters of one another!"  He then
heartily thanked me for my offers of service, but withstood resolutely
the arguments I used to urge him to set himself free.  He declared, in
earnest terms, that he was fully bent on remaining where he was rather
than seek to return to his former miserable greatness, as he called it:
where the seeds of pride, ambition, avarice, and luxury might revive,
take root, and again overwhelm him.  "Let me remain, dear sir," he said,
in conclusion--"let me remain in this blessed confinement, banished from
the crimes of life, rather than purchase a show of freedom at the expense
of the liberty of my reason, and at the future happiness which I now have
in my view, but should then, I fear, quickly lose sight of; for I am but
flesh; a man, a mere man; and have passions and affections as likely to
possess and overthrow me as any man: Oh, be not my friend and tempter
both together!"

If I was surprised before, I was quite dumb now, and stood silent,
looking at him, and, indeed, admiring what I saw.  The struggle in his
soul was so great that, though the weather was extremely cold, it put him
into a most violent heat; so I said a word or two, that I would leave him
to consider of it, and wait on him again, and then I withdrew to my own
apartment.

About two hours after I heard somebody at or near the door of my room,
and I was going to open the door, but he had opened it and come in.  "My
dear friend," says he, "you had almost overset me, but I am recovered.  Do
not take it ill that I do not close with your offer.  I assure you it is
not for want of sense of the kindness of it in you; and I came to make
the most sincere acknowledgment of it to you; but I hope I have got the
victory over myself."--"My lord," said I, "I hope you are fully satisfied
that you do not resist the call of Heaven."--"Sir," said he, "if it had
been from Heaven, the same power would have influenced me to have
accepted it; but I hope, and am fully satisfied, that it is from Heaven
that I decline it, and I have infinite satisfaction in the parting, that
you shall leave me an honest man still, though not a free man."

I had nothing to do but to acquiesce, and make professions to him of my
having no end in it but a sincere desire to serve him.  He embraced me
very passionately, and assured me he was sensible of that, and should
always acknowledge it; and with that he offered me a very fine present of
sables--too much, indeed, for me to accept from a man in his
circumstances, and I would have avoided them, but he would not be
refused.  The next morning I sent my servant to his lordship with a small
present of tea, and two pieces of China damask, and four little wedges of
Japan gold, which did not all weigh above six ounces or thereabouts, but
were far short of the value of his sables, which, when I came to England,
I found worth near two hundred pounds.  He accepted the tea, and one
piece of the damask, and one of the pieces of gold, which had a fine
stamp upon it, of the Japan coinage, which I found he took for the rarity
of it, but would not take any more: and he sent word by my servant that
he desired to speak with me.

When I came to him he told me I knew what had passed between us, and
hoped I would not move him any more in that affair; but that, since I had
made such a generous offer to him, he asked me if I had kindness enough
to offer the same to another person that he would name to me, in whom he
had a great share of concern.  In a word, he told me it was his only son;
who, though I had not seen him, was in the same condition with himself,
and above two hundred miles from him, on the other side of the Oby; but
that, if I consented, he would send for him.

I made no hesitation, but told him I would do it.  I made some ceremony
in letting him understand that it was wholly on his account; and that,
seeing I could not prevail on him, I would show my respect to him by my
concern for his son.  He sent the next day for his son; and in about
twenty days he came back with the messenger, bringing six or seven
horses, loaded with very rich furs, which, in the whole, amounted to a
very great value.  His servants brought the horses into the town, but
left the young lord at a distance till night, when he came incognito into
our apartment, and his father presented him to me; and, in short, we
concerted the manner of our travelling, and everything proper for the
journey.

I had bought a considerable quantity of sables, black fox-skins, fine
ermines, and such other furs as are very rich in that city, in exchange
for some of the goods I had brought from China; in particular for the
cloves and nutmegs, of which I sold the greatest part here, and the rest
afterwards at Archangel, for a much better price than I could have got at
London; and my partner, who was sensible of the profit, and whose
business, more particularly than mine, was merchandise, was mightily
pleased with our stay, on account of the traffic we made here.

It was the beginning of June when I left this remote place.  We were now
reduced to a very small caravan, having only thirty-two horses and camels
in all, which passed for mine, though my new guest was proprietor of
eleven of them.  It was natural also that I should take more servants
with me than I had before; and the young lord passed for my steward; what
great man I passed for myself I know not, neither did it concern me to
inquire.  We had here the worst and the largest desert to pass over that
we met with in our whole journey; I call it the worst, because the way
was very deep in some places, and very uneven in others; the best we had
to say for it was, that we thought we had no troops of Tartars or robbers
to fear, as they never came on this side of the river Oby, or at least
very seldom; but we found it otherwise.

My young lord had a faithful Siberian servant, who was perfectly
acquainted with the country, and led us by private roads, so that we
avoided coming into the principal towns and cities upon the great road,
such as Tumen, Soloy Kamaskoy, and several others; because the Muscovite
garrisons which are kept there are very curious and strict in their
observation upon travellers, and searching lest any of the banished
persons of note should make their escape that way into Muscovy; but, by
this means, as we were kept out of the cities, so our whole journey was a
desert, and we were obliged to encamp and lie in our tents, when we might
have had very good accommodation in the cities on the way; this the young
lord was so sensible of, that he would not allow us to lie abroad when we
came to several cities on the way, but lay abroad himself, with his
servant, in the woods, and met us always at the appointed places.

We had just entered Europe, having passed the river Kama, which in these
parts is the boundary between Europe and Asia, and the first city on the
European side was called Soloy Kamaskoy, that is, the great city on the
river Kama.  And here we thought to see some evident alteration in the
people; but we were mistaken, for as we had a vast desert to pass, which
is near seven hundred miles long in some places, but not above two
hundred miles over where we passed it, so, till we came past that
horrible place, we found very little difference between that country and
Mogul Tartary.  The people are mostly pagans; their houses and towns full
of idols; and their way of living wholly barbarous, except in the cities
and villages near them, where they are Christians, as they call
themselves, of the Greek Church: but have their religion mingled with so
many relics of superstition, that it is scarce to be known in some places
from mere sorcery and witchcraft.

In passing this forest (after all our dangers were, to our imagination,
escaped), I thought, indeed, we must have been plundered and robbed, and
perhaps murdered, by a troop of thieves: of what country they were I am
yet at a loss to know; but they were all on horseback, carried bows and
arrows, and were at first about forty-five in number.  They came so near
to us as to be within two musket-shot, and, asking no questions,
surrounded us with their horses, and looked very earnestly upon us twice;
at length, they placed themselves just in our way; upon which we drew up
in a little line, before our camels, being not above sixteen men in all.
Thus drawn up, we halted, and sent out the Siberian servant, who attended
his lord, to see who they were; his master was the more willing to let
him go, because he was not a little apprehensive that they were a
Siberian troop sent out after him.  The man came up near them with a flag
of truce, and called to them; but though he spoke several of their
languages, or dialects of languages rather, he could not understand a
word they said; however, after some signs to him not to come near them at
his peril, the fellow came back no wiser than he went; only that by their
dress, he said, he believed them to be some Tartars of Kalmuck, or of the
Circassian hordes, and that there must be more of them upon the great
desert, though he never heard that any of them were seen so far north
before.

This was small comfort to us; however, we had no remedy: there was on our
left hand, at about a quarter of a mile distance, a little grove, and
very near the road.  I immediately resolved we should advance to those
trees, and fortify ourselves as well as we could there; for, first, I
considered that the trees would in a great measure cover us from their
arrows; and, in the next place, they could not come to charge us in a
body: it was, indeed, my old Portuguese pilot who proposed it, and who
had this excellency attending him, that he was always readiest and most
apt to direct and encourage us in cases of the most danger.  We advanced
immediately, with what speed we could, and gained that little wood; the
Tartars, or thieves, for we knew not what to call them, keeping their
stand, and not attempting to hinder us.  When we came thither, we found,
to our great satisfaction, that it was a swampy piece of ground, and on
the one side a very great spring of water, which, running out in a little
brook, was a little farther joined by another of the like size; and was,
in short, the source of a considerable river, called afterwards the
Wirtska; the trees which grew about this spring were not above two
hundred, but very large, and stood pretty thick, so that as soon as we
got in, we saw ourselves perfectly safe from the enemy unless they
attacked us on foot.

While we stayed here waiting the motion of the enemy some hours, without
perceiving that they made any movement, our Portuguese, with some help,
cut several arms of trees half off, and laid them hanging across from one
tree to another, and in a manner fenced us in.  About two hours before
night they came down directly upon us; and though we had not perceived
it, we found they had been joined by some more, so that they were near
fourscore horse; whereof, however, we fancied some were women.  They came
on till they were within half-shot of our little wood, when we fired one
musket without ball, and called to them in the Russian tongue to know
what they wanted, and bade them keep off; but they came on with a double
fury up to the wood-side, not imagining we were so barricaded that they
could not easily break in.  Our old pilot was our captain as well as our
engineer, and desired us not to fire upon them till they came within
pistol-shot, that we might be sure to kill, and that when we did fire we
should be sure to take good aim; we bade him give the word of command,
which he delayed so long that they were some of them within two pikes'
length of us when we let fly.  We aimed so true that we killed fourteen
of them, and wounded several others, as also several of their horses; for
we had all of us loaded our pieces with two or three bullets apiece at
least.

They were terribly surprised with our fire, and retreated immediately
about one hundred rods from us; in which time we loaded our pieces again,
and seeing them keep that distance, we sallied out, and caught four or
five of their horses, whose riders we supposed were killed; and coming up
to the dead, we judged they were Tartars, but knew not how they came to
make an excursion such an unusual length.

About an hour after they again made a motion to attack us, and rode round
our little wood to see where they might break in; but finding us always
ready to face them, they went off again; and we resolved not to stir for
that night.

We slept little, but spent the most part of the night in strengthening
our situation, and barricading the entrances into the wood, and keeping a
strict watch.  We waited for daylight, and when it came, it gave us a
very unwelcome discovery indeed; for the enemy, who we thought were
discouraged with the reception they met with, were now greatly increased,
and had set up eleven or twelve huts or tents, as if they were resolved
to besiege us; and this little camp they had pitched upon the open plain,
about three-quarters of a mile from us.  I confess I now gave myself over
for lost, and all that I had; the loss of my effects did not lie so near
me, though very considerable, as the thoughts of falling into the hands
of such barbarians at the latter end of my journey, after so many
difficulties and hazards as I had gone through, and even in sight of our
port, where we expected safety and deliverance.  As to my partner, he was
raging, and declared that to lose his goods would be his ruin, and that
he would rather die than be starved, and he was for fighting to the last
drop.

The young lord, a most gallant youth, was for fighting to the last also;
and my old pilot was of opinion that we were able to resist them all in
the situation we were then in.  Thus we spent the day in debates of what
we should do; but towards evening we found that the number of our enemies
still increased, and we did not know but by the morning they might still
be a greater number: so I began to inquire of those people we had brought
from Tobolski if there were no private ways by which we might avoid them
in the night, and perhaps retreat to some town, or get help to guard us
over the desert.  The young lord's Siberian servant told us, if we
designed to avoid them, and not fight, he would engage to carry us off in
the night, to a way that went north, towards the river Petruz, by which
he made no question but we might get away, and the Tartars never discover
it; but, he said, his lord had told him he would not retreat, but would
rather choose to fight.  I told him he mistook his lord: for that he was
too wise a man to love fighting for the sake of it; that I knew he was
brave enough by what he had showed already; but that he knew better than
to desire seventeen or eighteen men to fight five hundred, unless an
unavoidable necessity forced them to it; and that if he thought it
possible for us to escape in the night, we had nothing else to do but to
attempt it.  He answered, if his lordship gave him such orders, he would
lose his life if he did not perform it; we soon brought his lord to give
that order, though privately, and we immediately prepared for putting it
in practice.

And first, as soon as it began to be dark, we kindled a fire in our
little camp, which we kept burning, and prepared so as to make it burn
all night, that the Tartars might conclude we were still there; but as
soon as it was dark, and we could see the stars (for our guide would not
stir before), having all our horses and camels ready loaded, we followed
our new guide, who I soon found steered himself by the north star, the
country being level for a long way.

After we had travelled two hours very hard, it began to be lighter still;
not that it was dark all night, but the moon began to rise, so that, in
short, it was rather lighter than we wished it to be; but by six o'clock
the next morning we had got above thirty miles, having almost spoiled our
horses.  Here we found a Russian village, named Kermazinskoy, where we
rested, and heard nothing of the Kalmuck Tartars that day.  About two
hours before night we set out again, and travelled till eight the next
morning, though not quite so hard as before; and about seven o'clock we
passed a little river, called Kirtza, and came to a good large town
inhabited by Russians, called Ozomys; there we heard that several troops
of Kalmucks had been abroad upon the desert, but that we were now
completely out of danger of them, which was to our great satisfaction.
Here we were obliged to get some fresh horses, and having need enough of
rest, we stayed five days; and my partner and I agreed to give the honest
Siberian who conducted us thither the value of ten pistoles.

In five days more we came to Veussima, upon the river Witzogda, and
running into the Dwina: we were there, very happily, near the end of our
travels by land, that river being navigable, in seven days' passage, to
Archangel.  From hence we came to Lawremskoy, the 3rd of July; and
providing ourselves with two luggage boats, and a barge for our own
convenience, we embarked the 7th, and arrived all safe at Archangel the
18th; having been a year, five months, and three days on the journey,
including our stay of about eight months at Tobolski.

We were obliged to stay at this place six weeks for the arrival of the
ships, and must have tarried longer, had not a Hamburgher come in above a
month sooner than any of the English ships; when, after some
consideration that the city of Hamburgh might happen to be as good a
market for our goods as London, we all took freight with him; and, having
put our goods on board, it was most natural for me to put my steward on
board to take care of them; by which means my young lord had a sufficient
opportunity to conceal himself, never coming on shore again all the time
we stayed there; and this he did that he might not be seen in the city,
where some of the Moscow merchants would certainly have seen and
discovered him.

We then set sail from Archangel the 20th of August, the same year; and,
after no extraordinary bad voyage, arrived safe in the Elbe the 18th of
September.  Here my partner and I found a very good sale for our goods,
as well those of China as the sables, &c., of Siberia: and, dividing the
produce, my share amounted to 3475 pounds, 17s 3d., including about six
hundred pounds' worth of diamonds, which I purchased at Bengal.

Here the young lord took his leave of us, and went up the Elbe, in order
to go to the court of Vienna, where he resolved to seek protection and
could correspond with those of his father's friends who were left alive.
He did not part without testimonials of gratitude for the service I had
done him, and for my kindness to the prince, his father.

To conclude: having stayed near four months in Hamburgh, I came from
thence by land to the Hague, where I embarked in the packet, and arrived
in London the 10th of January 1705, having been absent from England ten
years and nine months.  And here, resolving to harass myself no more, I
am preparing for a longer journey than all these, having lived seventy-
two years a life of infinite variety, and learned sufficiently to know
the value of retirement, and the blessing of ending our days in peace.



