by Daniel Defoe
believe that I wasthus delivered, as I esteemed it, from such a miserable and almosthopeless condition as I was in, and immediately offered all I had to thecaptain of the ship, as a return for my deliverance; but he generouslytold me, he would take nothing from me, but that all I had should bedelivered safe to me when I came to the Brasils; "For," says he, "I havesaved your life on no other terms than I would be glad to be savedmyself; and it may one time or other be my lot to be taken up in thesame condition: Besides," said he, "when I carry you to the Brasils, sogreat a way from your own country, if I should take from you what youhave, you will be starved there, and then I only take away that life Ihave given. No, no, Seignor Inglese," says he, "Mr. Englishman, I willcarry you thither in charity, and those things will help you to buy yoursubsistence there, and your passage home again."
As he was charitable in his proposal, so he was just in the performanceto a tittle; for he ordered the seamen, that none should offer to touchany thing I had: then he took every thing into his own possession, andgave me back an exact inventory of them, that I might have them; even somuch as my three earthen jars.
As to my boat, it was a very good one, and that he saw, and told me hewould buy it of me for the ship's use, and asked me what I would havefor it? I told him, he had been so generous to me in everything, that Icould not offer to make any price of the boat, but left it entirely tohim; upon which he told me he would give me a note of his hand to pay meeighty pieces of eight for it at Brasil; and when it came there, if anyone offered to give more, he would make it up: he offered me also sixtypieces of eight more for my boy Xury, which I was loath to lake; notthat I was not willing to let the captain have him, but I was very loathto sell the poor boy's liberty, who had assisted me so faithfully inprocuring my own. However, when I let him know my reason, he owned it tobe just, and offered me this medium, that he would give the boy anobligation to set him free in ten years, if he turned Christian. Uponthis, and Xury saying he was willing to go to him, I let thecaptain have him.
We had a very good voyage to the Brasils, and arrived in the Bay deTodos los Santos, or All Saints' Bay, in about twenty-two days after.And now I was once more delivered from the most miserable of allconditions of life; and what to do next with myself I was nowto consider.
The generous treatment the captain gave me, I can never enough remember;he would take nothing of me for my passage, gave me twenty ducats forthe leopard's skin, and forty for the lion's skin which I had in myboat, and caused every thing I had in the ship to be punctuallydelivered me; and what I was willing to sell he bought, such as the caseof bottles, two of my guns, and a piece of the lump of bees-wax, for Ihad made candles of the rest; in a word, I made about two hundred andtwenty pieces of eight of all my cargo; and with this stock I went onshore in the Brasils.
I had not been long here, but being recommended to the house of a goodhonest man like himself, who had an _ingeino_ as they call it; that is,a plantation and a sugarhouse; I lived with him some time, andacquainted myself by that means with the manner of their planting andmaking of sugar; and seeing how well the planters lived, and how theygrew rich suddenly, I resolved, if I could get license to settle there,I would turn planter among them, resolving, in the mean time, to findout some way to get my money, which I had left in London, remitted tome. To this purpose, getting a kind of a letter of naturalization, Ipurchased as much land that was uncured as my money would reach, andformed a plan for my plantation and settlement, and such a one as mightbe suitable to the stock which I proposed to myself to receivefrom England.
I had a neighbour, a Portuguese of Lisbon, but born of English parents,whose name was Wells, and in much such circumstances as I was. I callhim neighbour, because his plantation lay next to mine, and we went onvery sociable together. My stock was but low, as well as his: and werather planted for food, than any thing else, for about two years.However, we began to increase, and our land began to come into order; sothat the third year we planted some tobacco, and made each of us a largepiece of ground ready for planting canes in the year to come; but weboth wanted help; and now I found, more than before, I had done wrong inparting with my boy Xury.
But, alas! for me to do wrong, that never did right, was no greatwonder: I had no remedy but to go on; I was gotten into an employmentquite remote to my genius, and directly contrary to the life I delightedin, and for which I forsook my father's house, and broke through all hisgood advice; nay, I was coming into the very middle station, or upperdegree of low life, which my father advised me to before; and which if Iresolved to go on with, I might as well have staid at home, and neverhave fatigued myself in the world as I had done; and I used often to sayto myself, I could have done this as well in England among my friends,as have gone five thousand miles off to do it, among strangers andsavages in a wilderness, and at such distance, as never to hear from anypart of the world that had the least knowledge of me.
In this manner I used to look upon my condition with the utmost regret.I had nobody to converse with, but now and then this neighbour; no workto be done, but by the labour of my hands; and I used to say, I livedjust like a man cast away upon some desolate island, that had nobodythere but himself. But how just has it been, and how should all menreflect, that, when they compare their present conditions with othersthat are worse, Heaven may oblige them to make the exchange, and beconvinced of their former felicity, by their experience; I say, how justhas it been, that the truly solitary life I reflected on in, an islandof mere desolation should be my lot, who had so often unjustly comparedit with the life which I then led, in which had I continued, I had inall probability been exceeding prosperous and rich.
I was in some degree settled in my measures for carrying on theplantation, before my kind friend the captain of the ship, that took meup at sea, went back; for the ship remained there, in providing hisloading, and preparing for his voyage, near three months; when, tellinghim what little stock I had left behind me in London, he gave me thisfriendly and sincere advice; "Seignor Inglese," says he, for so healways called me, "if you will give me letters, and a procuration herein form to me, with orders to the person who has your money in London,to send your effects to Lisbon, to such persons as I shall direct, andin such goods as are proper for this country, I will bring you theproduce of them, God willing, at my return; but since human affairs areall subject to changes and disasters, I would have you give orders butfor one hundred pounds sterling, which you say is half your stock, andlet the hazard be run for the first; so that if it come safe, you mayorder the rest the same way; and if it miscarry, you may have the otherhalf to have recourse to for your supply."
This was so wholesome advice, and looked so friendly, that I could notbut be convinced it was the best course I could take; so I accordinglyprepared letters to the gentlewoman with whom I had left my money, and aprocuration to the Portuguese captain, as he desired.
I wrote the English captain's widow a full account of all my adventures,my slavery, escape, and how I had met with the Portugal captain at sea,the humanity of his behaviour, and what condition I was now in, with allother necessary directions for my supply; and when this honest captaincame to Lisbon, he found means, by some of the English merchants there,to send over, not the order only, but a full account of my story, to amerchant at London, who represented it effectually to her; whereupon,she not only delivered the money, but out of her own pocket sent thePortugal captain a very handsome present for his humanity and charityto me.
The merchant in London vesting this hundred pounds in English goods,such as the captain had writ for, sent them directly to him at Lisbon,and he brought them all safe to me to the Brasils; among which, withoutmy direction (for I was too young in my business to think of them) hehad taken care to have all sort of tools, iron work, and utensilsnecessary for my plantation, and which were of great use to me.
When this cargo arrived, I thought my fortune made, for I was surprisedwith joy of it; and my good steward the captain had laid out the fivepounds which my friend had sent him for a present
for himself, topurchase, and bring me over a servant under bond for six years service,and would not accept of any consideration, except a little tobacco,which I would have him accept, being of my own produce.
Neither was this all; but my goods being all English manufactures, suchas cloth, stuffs, baize, and things particularly valuable and desirablein the country, I found means to sell them to a very great advantage; sothat I may say, I had more than four times the value of my first cargo,and was now infinitely beyond my poor neighbour, I mean in theadvancement of my plantation; for the first thing I did, I bought me aNegro slave, and an European servant also; I mean another besides thatwhich the captain brought me from Lisbon.
But as abused prosperity is oftentimes made the very means of ourgreatest adversity, so was it with me. I went on the next year withgreat success in my plantation: I raised fifty great rolls of tobacco onmy own ground,
