by Daniel Defoe
over for more; forthough it was so little a way over, we did not find they had any of themon that side the river.
We did the Indians another piece of service, for, if they gave us meat,we taught them to be cooks, for we showed them how to roast it upon astick or spit before the fire; whereas they ate all their meat before,either stewed in earthen pots over the fire, with herbs, such as we didnot understand, or thrown on burning fuel of green wood, which alwaysmade it taste and stink of the smoke most intolerably.
We had a great deal of opportunity now to converse with the people onboth sides the river; and we found them to be not only differentnations, but of different speech and different customs. These on thesouth side, where I now was, seemed to be the best furnished withprovisions, and to live in the greatest plenty. But those on the northside appeared better clothed, and a more civilized sort of people; andof the two, seemed to have in their countenances something moreagreeable.
However, as they were near neighbours, for the river only parted them,they were not very much unlike each other. That which seemed moststrange to me was, that we found they had little knowledge orcommunication one with another. They had indeed some boats in the river,but they were very small, and rather served to just waft them over, orto fish in them, than for any other use; for we found none that couldcarry above four men, and those very oddly made, partly as a canoe, byhollowing a tree, and partly by skins of beasts, dried and stuck on insuch a manner that they would paddle along at a great rate with them.
For want of understanding their language I could come at no knowledge oftheir religion or worship; nor did I see any idols among them, or anyadoration paid to the sun or moon. But yet, as a confirmation that allnations, however barbarous, have some notion of a God, and some awe of asuperior power, I observed here, that, in making a bargain with one ofthe principal men, (such I perceived him to be by the respect the restshowed him), I say, being making a bargain with him, as well as could bedone between two people who understood not one word of what either said,he had made signs to bring me twelve sheep the next morning, for somethings that I was to deliver him of mine. I am sure the goods were notall of them of value sufficient to give me the least distrust; but whenI gave him the goods without the sheep, being, as I said, to trust himtill the next day, he called two men to him, and pointing to the goodsthat I had put into his hands, he tells upon his fingers twelve, lettingthem know, as I supposed, that he was to give me twelve sheep the nextday in return, and so far it appeared they were to be witnesses of theagreement. He then placed his two hands, one upon each breast, with thefingers turned up towards his face, and holding them thus he lookedtowards heaven, with his face turned upward also, and with the utmostgravity, seriousness, and solemnity in his countenance that ever I sawin any man's face in my life, he moved his lips in the action ofspeaking. When he had continued in this posture about a quarter of aminute, he took the two men, and put them in the same attitude, and thenpointed to me, and next to himself; by which I understood, first, thathe solemnly swore to me that he would bring the sheep punctually andfaithfully to me, and then brought the two men to be bail or securityfor the performance; that is to say, to oblige themselves to perform itif he did not.
Doubtless those people who have any notion of a God must represent himto themselves as something superior, and something that sees, and hears,and knows what they say or do. Whether these people meant the sun, orthe moon, or the stars, or other visible object, or whatever else, I donot pretend to determine, but it is certain they understood it to besomething to swear by; something that could bear witness of theirengagement, and that being called to witness it would resent theirbreach of promise if they made it. As to those whose gods are monsters,and hideous shapes, frightful images, and terrible figures, the motiveof their adoration being that of mere terror, they have certainly grossideas; but these people seem to act upon a more solid foundation, payingtheir reverence in a manner much more rational, and to something whichit was much more reasonable to worship, as appeared in the solemnity oftheir countenances, and their behaviour in making a solemn promise.
We found those people clothed, generally speaking, over their wholebodies, their heads, arms, legs and feet excepted, but not so agreeablyas those we mentioned above; and we found that the clothing of thesewere generally made of the skins of beasts, but very artfully puttogether, so that though they had neither needle nor thread, yet theyhad the same plant as I mentioned before, the stalk of which would sostrongly tie like a thread, that they peeled it off thicker or finer asthey had occasion, and made use of it abundance of ways to tie andtwist, and make their clothes with it, as well for their occasion as ifit had been woven in a loom.
We found several of these people had little bits of gold about them; butwhen we made signs to them to know where they got it, and where it mightbe had, they made signs to us, pointing to the country on the north sideof the river; so that we had, it seems, fallen upon the right goldcoast in our first coming. They pointed indeed likewise to some veryhigh mountains, which we saw at a great distance south-west, so that itseems as if there was gold found that way also; but it appeared thepeople here had not much of it for their share.
The men here had bows and arrows, and they used them so dexterously,that a wild goose flying over our heads, one of the Indians shot itquite through with an arrow. One of our men was so provoked to see them,as it were, to outdo him, that, some time after, seeing a couple ofducks flying fair for a mark, he presented his piece, and shot them bothflying.
I was very angry when I heard the gun; had I been there he had never gotleave to fire; however, when it was done, I was pleased well enough tosee the effect it had upon these poor innocent well-meaning people. Atfirst it frightened them to the last degree, and I may truly say itfrightened them out of their senses, for they that were near it startedso violently, that they fell down and lay speechless for some time;those that were farther off ran away, as if it had been some new kind oflightning and thunder, and came out of the earth instead of out of theclouds; but when they saw the two creatures fall down dead from above,and could see nothing that flew upward to kill them, they were perfectlyastonished, and laid their two hands on their breasts and looked up toheaven, as if they were saying their prayers, in the most solemn mannerimaginable.
However, this accident gave them terrible ideas of us, and I was afraidat first they would run all away from us through fear. I therefore usedthem after it with all the kindness and tenderness imaginable, gave themevery day some trifle or other, which, though of no value to me, theywere exceedingly fond of; and we asked nothing of them in return butprovisions, of which they had great plenty, and gave us enough every dayto satisfy us. As for drink, they had none of the milky liquor which wehad in the other part of the country, but they had a root which theysteeped in water, and made it taste hot, as if pepper had been in it,which made it so strong, that though it would not make our men drunk, itwas worse, for it made them nearly mad.
I was so pleased with these people that I came over to them every otherday, and some of our men lay on shore, under a sail pitched for a tent;and they were so safe, that at last they kept no watch, for the poorpeople neither thought any harm, nor did any; and we never gave them theleast occasion to apprehend anything from us, at least not till our manfired the gun, and that only let them know we were able to hurt them,without giving them the least suspicion that we intended it; on thecontrary, one of our men played an odd prank with a child, and fullysatisfied them that we would do them no harm. This man having seen oneof their children, a little laughing speechless creature, of about twoyears old, the mother having gone from it a little way, on someparticular occasion, the fellow took it and led it home to the tent, andkept it there all night.
The next morning, he dressed it up with beads and jewels wondrous fine,a necklace about its neck, and bracelets of beads about its wrists, andseveral strings of beads wrapped up and tied in its hair, having fed itand laid it to sleep, and made much of it.
In this figure
he carried it up in his arms to the Indian's hut where hehad found it, and where there had been a lamentable outcry for the childall the night, the mother crying and raising her neighbours, and in amost strange concern.
But when some of the women, her neighbours, saw the child brought back,there was a contrary extreme of joy; and the mother of it being fetched,she fell a-jumping and dancing to see her child, but also making so manyodd gestures, as that our men could not well know for awhile whether shewas pleased or not: the reason it seems was, she did not know whether tohope or fear, for she did not know whether the man would give back herchild or take it away again.
But when the man who had the child in his arms had been told by signsthat this was the mother, he beckoned to have her come to him, and shecame, but trembling for fear. Then he took the child, and kissing it twoor three times, gave it her into her arms. But it is impossible toexpress by words the agony the poor woman was in; she took the child,and holding it in
