by Daniel Defoe
cap, made of a goat's skin, with a flaphanging down behind, as well to keep the sun from me as to shoot therain off from running into my neck: nothing being so hurtful in theseclimates as the rain upon the flesh, under the clothes.
I had a short jacket of goat's skin, the skirts coming down to about themiddle of the thighs, and a pair of open-kneed breeches of the same; thebreeches were made of the skin of an old he-goat, whose hair hung downsuch a length on either side, that, like pantaloons, it reached to themiddle of my legs; stockings and shoes I had none, but had made me apair of somethings, I scarce know what to call them, like buskins, toflap over my legs, and lace on either side like spatterdashes: but of amost barbarous shape, as inded were all the rest of my clothes.
I had on a broad belt of goat's skin dried, which I drew together withtwo thongs of the same, instead of buckles; and in a kind of a frog oneither side of this, instead of a sword and dagger, hung a little sawand a hatchet; one on one side, and one on the other. I had anotherbelt, not so broad, and fastened in the same manner, which hung over myshoulder; and at the end of it, under my left arm, hung two pouches,both made of goat's skin too; in one of which hung my powder, in theother my shot. At my back I carried my basket, and on my shoulder mygun; and over my head a great clumsy ugly goat's skin umbrella, butwhich, after all, was the most necessary thing I had about me, next tomy gun. As for my face, the colour of it was really not so mulatto-likeas one might expect from a man not at all careful of it, and livingwithin nine or ten degrees of the equinox. My beard I had once sufferedto grow till it was about a quarter of a yard long; but as I had bothscissars and razors sufficient, I had cut it pretty short, except whatgrew on my upper lip, which I had trimmed into a large pair of Mahometanwhiskers, such as I had seen worn by some Turks at Sallee; for the Moorsdid not wear such, though the Turks did: of these mustachios orwhiskers, I will not say they were long enough to hang my hat upon them,but they were of a length and shape monstrous enough, and such as, inEngland, would have passed for frightful.
But all this is by the bye; for, as to my figure, I had so few toobserve me that it was of no manner of consequence; so I say no more tothat part. In this kind of figure I went my new journey, and was outfive or six days. I travelled first along the sea-shore, directly to theplace where I first brought my boat to an anchor, to get upon the rocks;and having no boat now to take care of, I went over the land, a nearerway, to the same height that I was upon before; when looking forward tothe point of the rocks which lay out, and which I was obliged to doublewith my boat, as is said above, I was surprised to see the sea allsmooth and quiet; no rippling, no motion, no current, any more therethan in any other places. I was at a strange loss to understand this,and resolved to spend some time in the observing it, to see if nothingfrom the sets of the tide had occasioned it; but I was presentlyconvinced how it was, viz. that the tide of ebb setting from the west,and joining with the current of waters, from some great river on theshore, must be the occasion of this current; and that according as thewind blew more forcibly from the west, or from the north, this currentcame nearer, or went farther from the shore; for waiting thereaboutstill evening, I went up to the rock again, and then the tide of ebbbeing made, I plainly saw the current again as before, only that it ranfarther off, being near half a league from the shore; whereas in mycase, it set close upon the shore, and hurried me and my canoe alongwith it; which, at another time, it would not have done.
This observation convinced me, that I had nothing to do but to observethe ebbing and the flowing of the tide, and I might very easily bring myboat about the island again: but when I began to think of putting it inpractice, I had such a terror upon my spirits at the remembrance of thedanger I had been in, that I could not think of it again with anypatience; but, on the contrary, I took up another resolution, which wasmore safe, though more laborious; and this was, that I would build, orrather make me another periagua or canoe; and so have one for one sideof the island, and one for the other.
You are to understand, that now I had, as I may call it, two plantationsin the island; one, my little fortification or tent, with the wall aboutit, under the rock, with the cave behind me, which, by this time, I hadenlarged into several apartments or caves, one within another. One ofthese, which was the driest and largest, and had a door out beyond mywall or fortification, that is to say, beyond where my wall joined tothe rock, was all filled up with the large earthen pots, of which I havegiven an account, and with fourteen or fifteen great baskets, whichwould hold five or six bushels each, where I laid up my stores ofprovision, especially my corn, some in the ear, cut off short from thestraw, and the other rubbed out with my hand.
As for my wall, made, as before, with long stakes or piles, those pilesgrew all like trees, and were by this time grown so big, and spread sovery much, that there was not the least appearance, to any one's view,of any habitation behind them.
Near this dwelling of mine, but a little farther within the land, andupon lower ground, lay my two pieces of corn land, which I kept dulycultivated and sowed, and which duly yielded me their harvest in itsseason: and whenever I had occasion for more corn, I had more landadjoining as fit as that.
Besides this, I had my country seat; and I had now a tolerableplantation there also: for, first, I had my little bower, as I calledit, which I kept in repair; that is to say, I kept the hedge whichencircled it in constantly fitted up to its usual height, the ladderstanding always in the inside: I kept the trees, which at first were nomore than my stakes, but were now grown very firm and tall, always cutso, that they might spread and grow thick and wild, and make the moreagreeable shade; which they did effectually to my mind. In the middle ofthis I had my tent always standing, being a piece of a sail spread overpoles, set up for that purpose, and which never wanted any repair orrenewing; and under this I had made me a squab or couch, with the skinsof the creatures I had killed, and with other soft things; and a blanketlaid on them, such as belonged to our sea-bedding, which I had saved,and a great watch-coat to cover me; and here, whenever I had occasion tobe absent from my chief seat, I took up my country habitation.
Adjoining to this I had my enclosures for my cattle, that is to say, mygoats; and as I had taken an inconceivable deal of pains to fence andenclose this ground, I was so anxious to see it kept entire, lest thegoats should break through, that I never left off, till, with infinitelabour, I had stuck the outside of the hedge so full of small stakes,and so near to one another, that it was rather a pale than a hedge, andthere was scarce room to put a hand through between them; whichafterwards, when those stakes grew, as they all did in the next rainyseason, made the enclosure strong like a wall,--indeed, strongerthan any wall.
This will testify for me that I was not idle, and that I spared no painsto bring to pass whatever appeared necessary for my comfortable support;for I considered the keeping up a breed of tame creatures thus at myhand would be a living magazine of flesh, milk, butter, and cheese forme as long as I lived in the place, if it were to be forty years; andthat keeping them in my reach depended entirely upon my perfecting myenclosures to such a degree, that I might be sure of keeping themtogether; which, by this method, indeed, I so effectually secured, thatwhen these little stakes began to grow, I had planted them so verythick, that I was forced to pull some of them up again.
In this place also I had my grapes growing, which I principally dependedon for my winter store of raisins, and which I never failed to preservevery carefully, as the best and most agreeable dainty of my whole diet:and indeed they were not only agreeable, but medicinal, wholesome,nourishing, and refreshing to the last degree.
As this was also about half-way between my other habitation and theplace where I had laid up my boat, I generally stayed and lay here in myway thither; for I used frequently to visit my boat; and I kept allthings about, or belonging to her, in very good order: sometimes I wentout in her to divert myself, but no more hazardous voyages would I go,nor scarce ever above a stone's cast or two from the shore, I was soapprehensive of being h
urried out of my knowledge again by the currentsor winds, or any other accident. But now I come to a new scene ofmy life.
It happened one day, about noon, going towards my boat, I wasexceedingly surprised with the print of a man's naked foot on the shore,which was very plain to be seen in the sand. I stood like onethunder-struck, or as if I had seen an apparition; I listened, I lookedround me, but I could hear nothing, nor see any thing; I went up to arising ground, to look farther; I went up the shore, and down the shore,but it was all one; I could see no other impression but that one. I wentto it again to see if there were any more, and to observe if it mightnot be my fancy; but there was no room for that, for there was exactlythe print of a foot, toes, heel, and every part of a foot: how it camethither I knew not, nor could I in the least imagine; but, afterinnumerable fluttering thoughts, like a man perfectly confused and outof myself, I came home to my fortification, not feeling, as we say,
