by Daniel Defoe
however, he foundher, took her up, and brought her to me; and as I had perceived hisignorance about the gun before, I took this advantage to charge the gunagain, and not to let him see me do it, that I might be ready for anyother mark that might present; but nothing more offered at that time: soI brought home the kid, and the same evening I took the skin off, andcut it out as well as I could; and having a pot fit for that purpose, Iboiled or stewed some of the flesh, and made some very good broth. AfterI had begun to eat some, I gave some to my man, who seemed very glad ofit, and liked it very well; but that which was strangest to him, was tosee me eat salt with it. He made a sign to me that the salt was not goodto eat; and putting a little into his own mouth, he seemed to nauseateit, and would spit and sputter at it, washing his mouth with fresh waterafter it: on the other hand, I took some meat into my mouth withoutsalt, and I pretended to spit and sputter for want of salt, as fast ashe had done at the salt; but it would not do; he would never care forsalt with his meat or in his broth; at least, not for a great while, andthen but a very little.
Having thus fed him with boiled meat and broth, I was resolved to feasthim the next day with roasting a piece of the kid: this I did, byhanging it before the fire on a string, as I had seen many people do inEngland, setting two poles up, one on each side of the fire, and oneacross on the top, and tying the string to the cross stick, letting themeat turn continually. This Friday admired very much; but when he cameto taste the flesh, he took so many ways to tell me how well he likedit, that I could not but understand him: and at last he told me, as wellas he could, he would never eat man's flesh any more, which I was veryglad to hear.
The next day, I set him to work to beating some corn out, and sifting itin the manner I used to do, as I observed before; and he soon understoodhow to do it as well as I, especially after he had seen what themeaning of it was, and that it was to make bread of; for after that Ilet him see me make my bread, and bake it too; and in a little timeFriday was able to do all the work for me, as well as I could doit myself.
I began now to consider, that having two mouths to feed instead of one,I must provide more ground for my harvest, and plant a larger quantityof corn than I used to do; so I marked out a larger piece of land, andbegan the fence in the same manner as before, in which Friday worked notonly very willingly and very hard, but did it very cheerfully: and Itold him what it was for; that it was for corn to make more bread,because he was now with me, and that I might have enough for him andmyself too. He appeared very sensible of that part, and let me know thathe thought I had much more labour upon me on his account, than I had formyself; and that he would work the harder for me, if I would tell himwhat to do.
This was the pleasantest year of all the life I led in this place;Friday began to talk pretty well, and understand the names of almostevery thing I had occasion to call for, and of every place I had to sendhim to, and talked a great deal to me; so that, in short, I began now tohave some use for my tongue again, which, indeed, I had very littleoccasion for before, that is to say, about speech. Besides the pleasureof talking to him, I had a singular satisfaction in the fellow himself:his simple unfeigned honesty appeared to me more and more every day, andI began really to love the creature; and, on his side, I believe heloved me more than it was possible for him ever to love anything before.
I had a mind once to try if he had any hankering inclination to his owncountry again; and having taught him English so well that he couldanswer me almost any question, I asked him whether the nation that hebelonged to never conquered in battle? At which he smiled, and said,"Yes, yes, we always fight the better:" that is, he meant, always getthe better in fight; and so we began the following discourse:
_Master_. You always fight the better; how came you to be taken prisonerthen, Friday?
_Friday_. My nation beat much for all that.
_Master_. How beat? If your nation beat them, how came you to be taken?
_Friday_. They more many than my nation in the place where me was; theytake one, two, three, and me: my nation over-beat them in the yonderplace, where me no was; there my nation take one, two, great thousand.
_Master_. But why did not your side recover you from the hands of yourenemies then?
_Friday_. They run one, two, three, and me, and make go in the canoe; mynation have no canoe that time.
_Master_. Well, Friday, and what does your nation do with the men theytake? Do they carry them away and eat them, as these did?
_Friday_. Yes, my nation eat mans too; eat all up.
_Master_. Where do they carry them?
_Friday_. Go to other place, where they think.
_Master_. Do they come hither?
_Friday_. Yes, yes, they come hither; come other else place.
_Master_. Have you been here with them?
_Friday_. Yes, I have been here (points to the N.W. side of the island,which, it seems, was their side.)
By this I understood that my man Friday had formerly been among thesavages who used to come on shore on the farther part of the island, onthe same man-eating occasions he was now brought for; and, some timeafter, when I took the courage to carry him to that side, being the sameI formerly mentioned, he presently knew the place, and told me he wasthere once when they eat up twenty men, two women, and one child: hecould not tell twenty in English, but he numbered them, by laying somany stones in a row, and pointing to me to tell them over.
I have told this passage, because it introduces what follows; that afterI had this discourse with him, I asked him how far it was from ourisland to the shore, and whether the canoes were not often lost. He toldme there was no danger, no canoes ever lost; but that, after a littleway out to sea, there was a current and wind, always one way in themorning, the other in the afternoon. This I understood to be no morethan the sets of the tide, as going out or coming in; but I afterwardsunderstood it was occasioned by the great draft and reflux of the mightyriver Oroonoko, in the mouth or gulf of which river, as I foundafterwards, our island lay; and that this land which I perceived to theW. and N.W. was the great island Trinidad, on the north point of themouth of the river. I asked Friday a thousand questions about thecountry, the inhabitants, the sea, the coast, and what nations werenear: he told me all he knew, with the greatest openness imaginable. Iasked him the names of the several nations of his sort of people, butcould get no other name than Caribs: from whence I easily understood,that these were the Caribbees, which our maps place on the part ofAmerica which reaches from the mouth of the river Oroonoko to Guiana,and onwards to St. Martha. He told me that up a great way beyond themoon, that was, beyond the setting of the moon, which must be west fromtheir country, there dwelt white bearded men, like me, and pointed to mygreat whiskers, which I mentioned before; and that they had killed muchmans, that was his word: by all which I understood, he meant theSpaniards, whose cruelties in America had been spread over the wholecountry, and were remembered by all the nations, from father to son.
I inquired if he could tell me how I might go from this island and getamong those white men; he told me, Yes, yes, you may go in two canoe. Icould not understand what he meant, or make him describe to me what hemeant by two canoe; till, at last, with great difficulty, I found hemeant it must be in a large boat, as big as two canoes. This part ofFriday's discourse began to relish with me very well; and from this timeI entertained some hopes that, one time or other, I might find anopportunity to make my escape from this place, and that this poor savagemight be a means to help me.
During the long time that Friday had now been with me, and that he beganto speak to me, and understand me, I was not wanting to lay a foundationof religious knowledge in his mind: particularly I asked him one time,Who made him? The poor creature did not understand me at all, butthought I had asked him who was his father: but I took it up by anotherhandle, and asked him who made the sea, the ground we walked on, and thehills and woods? He told me, it was one old Benamuckee, that livedbeyond all; he could describe nothing of this great person, but that hewas very old, much ol
der, he said, than the sea or the land, than themoon or the stars. I asked him then, if this old person had made allthings, why did not all things worship him? He looked very grave, andwith a perfect look of innocence said, All things say O to him. I askedhim if the people who die in his country went away any where? He said,Yes; they all went to Benamuckee: then I asked him whether these theyeat up went thither too? He said, Yes.
From these things I began to instruct him in the knowledge of the trueGod: I told him that the great Maker of all things lived up there,pointing up towards heaven; that he governed the world by the same powerand providence by which he made it; that he was omnipotent, and could doevery thing for us, give every thing to us, take every thing from us;and thus, by degrees, I opened his eyes. He listened with greatattention, and received with pleasure the notion of Jesus Christ beingsent to redeem us, and of the manner of making our prayers to God, andhis being able to hear us, even in heaven. He told me one day, that ifour God could hear us up beyond the sun, he must
