by Daniel Defoe
see, they have been so to the rest of theworld. We had the sure guide to heaven, viz. the word of God; and wehad, blessed be God, comfortable views of the Spirit of God teaching andinstructing us by his word, leading us into all truth, and making usboth willing and obedient to the instruction of his word. And I cannotsee the least use that the greatest knowledge of the disputed points ofreligion, which have made such confusions in the world, would have beento us, if we could have obtained it.--But I must go on with thehistorical part of things, and take every part in its order.
After Friday and I became more intimately acquainted, and that he couldunderstand almost all I said to him, and speak pretty fluently, thoughin broken English, to me, I acquainted him with my own history, or atleast so much of it as related to my coming to this place; how I hadlived here, and how long: I let him into the mystery, for such it was tohim, of gunpowder and bullet, and taught him how to shoot. I gave him aknife; which he was wonderfully delighted with; and I made him a belt,with a frog hanging to it, such as in England we wear hangers in; and inthe frog, instead of a hanger, I gave him a hatchet, which was not onlyas good a weapon, in some cases, but much more useful upon otheroccasions.
I described to him the country of Europe, particularly England, which Icame from; how we lived, how we worshipped God, how we behaved to oneanother, and how we traded in ships to all parts of the world. I gavehim an account of the wreck which I had been on board of, and showedhim, as near as I could, the place where she lay; but she was all beatenin pieces before, and gone. I showed him the ruins of our boat, which welost when we escaped, and which I could not stir with my whole strengththen; but was now fallen almost all to pieces. Upon seeing this boat,Friday stood musing a great while, and said nothing. I asked him what itwas he studied upon? At last, says he, "Me see such boat like come toplace at my nation." I did not understand him a good while; but, atlast, when I had examined farther into it, I understood by him, that aboat, such as that had been, came on shore upon the country where helived; that is, as he explained it, was driven thither by stress ofweather. I presently imagined that some European ship must have beencast away upon their coast, and the boat might get loose, and driveashore; but was so dull, that I never once thought of men making theirescape from a wreck thither, much less whence they might come: so I onlyinquired after a description of the boat.
Friday described the boat to me well enough; but brought me better tounderstand him when he added with some warmth, "We save the white mansfrom drown." Then I presently asked him, if there were any white mans,as he called them, in the boat? "Yes," he said; "the boat full of whitemans." I asked him how many? He told upon his fingers seventeen, Iasked him then what became of them? He told me, "They live, they dwellat my nation."
This put new thoughts into my head; for I presently imagined that thesemight be the men belonging to the ship that was cast away in the sightof my island, as I now called it; and who, after the ship was struck onthe rock, and they saw her inevitably lost, had saved themselves intheir boat, and were landed upon that wild shore among the savages. Uponthis, I inquired of him more critically what was become of them; heassured me they lived still there; that they had been there about fouryears; that the savages let them alone, and gave them victuals to liveon. I asked him how it came to pass they did not kill them, and eatthem? He said, "No, they make brother with them;" that is, as Iunderstood him, a truce; and then he added, "They no eat mans but whenmake the war fight;" that is to say, they never eat any men but such ascome to fight with them, and are taken in battle.
It was after this some considerable time, that being upon the top of thehill, at the east side of the island, from whence, as I have said, Ihad, in a clear day, discovered the main or continent of America,Friday, the weather being very serene, looks very earnestly towards themain land, and, in a kind of surprise, fells a jumping and dancing, andcalls out to me, for I was at some distance from him. I asked him whatwas the matter? "O joy!" says he; "O glad! there see my country, theremy nation!" I observed an extraordinary sense of pleasure appeared inhis face, and his eyes sparkled, and his countenance discovered astrange eagerness, as if he had a mind to be in his own country again.This observation of mine put a great many thoughts into me, which mademe at first not so easy about my new man Friday as I was before; and Imade no doubt but that if Friday could get back to his own nation again,he would not only forget all his religion, but all his obligation to me,and would be forward enough to give his countrymen an account of me, andcome back perhaps with a hundred or two of them, and make a feast uponme, at which he might be as merry as he used to be with those of hisenemies, when they were taken in war. But I wronged the poor honestcreature very much, for which I was very sorry afterwards. However, asmy jealousy increased, and held me some weeks, I was a little morecircumspect, and not so familiar and kind to him as before: in which Iwas certainly in the wrong too; the honest, grateful creature, having nothought about it, but what consisted with the best principles, both as areligious Christian, and as a grateful friend; as appeared afterwards,to my full satisfaction.
While my jealousy of him lasted, you may be sure I was every day pumpinghim, to see if he would discover any of the new thoughts which Isuspected were in him: but I found every thing he said was so honest andso innocent, that I could find nothing to nourish my suspicion; and, inspite of all my uneasiness, he made me at last entirely his own again;nor did he, in the least, perceive that I was uneasy, and therefore Icould not suspect him of deceit.
One day, walking up the same hill, but the weather being hazy at sea, sothat we could not see the continent, I called to him, and said, "Friday,do not you wish yourself in your own country, your own nation?"--"Yes,"he said, "I be much O glad to be at my own nation." "What would you dothere?" said I: "would you turn wild again, eat men's flesh again, andbe a savage as you were before?" He looked full of concern, and shakinghis head, said, "No, no, Friday tell them to live good; tell them topray God; tell them to eat corn-bread, cattle-flesh, milk; no eat managain."--"Why then," said I to him, "they will kill you." He lookedgrave at that, and then said, "No, no; they no kill me, they willinglove learn." He meant by this, they would be willing to learn. He added,they learned much of the bearded mans that came in the boat. Then Iasked him if he would go back to them. He smiled at that, and told methat he could not swim so far. I told him, I would make a canoe for him.He told me he would go, if I would go with him. "I go!" says I, "why,they will eat me if I come there."--"No, no," says he, "me make they noeat you; me make they much love you," He meant, he would tell them how Ihad killed his enemies, and saved his life, and so he would make themlove me. Then he told me, as well as he could, how kind they were toseventeen white men, or bearded men, as he called them, who came onshore there in distress.
From this time, I confess I had a mind to venture over, and see if Icould possibly join with those bearded men, who, I made no doubt, wereSpaniards and Portuguese: not doubting but if I could, we might findsome method to escape from thence, being upon the continent, and a goodcompany together, better than I could from an island forty miles off theshore, and alone, without help. So, after some days, I took Friday towork again, by way of discourse; and told him I would give him a boat togo back to his own nation; and accordingly I carried him to my frigate,which lay on the other side of the island, and having cleared it ofwater (for I always kept it sunk in water,) I brought it out, showed ithim, and we both went into it. I found he was a most dexterous fellow atmanaging it, and would make it go almost as swift again as I could. Sowhen he was in, I said to him, "Well, now, Friday, shall we go to yournation?" He looked very dull at my saying so; which, it seems, wasbecause he thought the boat too small to go so far: I then told him Ihad a bigger; so the next day I went to the place where the first boatlay which I had made, but which I could not get into the water. He saidthat was big enough: but then, as I had taken no care of it, and it hadlain two or three and twenty years there, the sun had split and driedit, that, it was in a manner rotten. Friday told me such
a boat would dovery well, and would carry "much enough vittle, drink, bread;" that washis way of talking.
Upon the whole, I was by this time so fixed upon my design of going overwith him to the continent, that I told him we would go and make one asbig as that, and he should go home in it. He answered not one word, butlooked very grave and sad. I asked him what was the matter with him? Heasked me again, "Why you angry mad with Friday? what me done?" I askedhim what he meant: I told him I was not angry with him at all. "Noangry!" says he, repeating the words several times, "why send Fridayhome away to my nation?"--"Why," says I, "Friday, did not you say youwished you were there?"--"Yes, yes," says he, "wish be both
