by Daniel Defoe
and that littlemoney I had, would not do much for me as to settling in the world.
I met with one piece of gratitude indeed, which I did not expect; andthis was, that the master of the ship, whom I had so happily delivered,and by the same means saved the ship and cargo, having given a veryhandsome account to the owners, of the manner how I had saved the livesof the men, and the ship, they invited me to meet them and some othermerchants concerned, and all together made me a very handsome complimentupon that subject, and a present of almost two hundred pounds sterling.
But after making several reflections upon the circumstances of my life,and how little way this would go towards settling me in the world, Iresolved to go to Lisbon, and see if I might not come by someinformation of the state of my plantation in the Brasils, and what wasbecome of my partner, who, I had reason to suppose, had some years nowgiven me over for dead.
With this view I took shipping for Lisbon, where I arrived in Aprilfollowing; my man Friday accompanying me very honestly in all theseramblings, and proving a most faithful servant upon all occasions.
When I came to Lisbon, I found out, by inquiry, and to my particularsatisfaction, my old friend the captain of the ship, who first took meup at sea, off the shore of Africa: he was now grown old, and had leftoff the sea, having put his son, who was far from a young man, into hisship; and who still used the Brasil trade. The old man did not know me,and, indeed, I hardly knew him; but I soon brought myself to hisremembrance, when I told him who I was.
After some passionate expressions of our old acquaintance, I inquired,you may be sure, after my plantation and my partner; the old man toldme, he had not been in the Brasils for about nine years; but that hecould assure me, that when he came away, my partner was living; but thetrustees, whom I had joined with him, to take cognizance of my part,were both dead; that, however, he believed that I would have a very goodaccount of the improvement of the plantation; for that, upon the generalbelief of my being cast away and drowned, my trustees had given in theaccount of the produce of my part of the plantation, to the procuratorfiscal; who had appropriated it, in case I never came to claim it, onethird to the king, and two thirds to the monastery of St. Augustine, tobe expended for the benefit of the poor, and for the conversion of theIndians to the Catholic faith; but that if I appeared, or any one forme, to claim the inheritance, it would be restored; only that theimprovement, or annual production, being distributed to charitable uses,could not be restored; but he assured me, that the steward of theking's revenue, (from lands) and the provedore, or steward of themonastery, had taken great care all along, that the incumbent, that isto say, my partner, gave every year a faithful account of the produce,of which they received duly my moiety.
I asked him, if he knew to what height of improvement he had brought theplantation; and whether he thought it might be worth looking after; orwhether, on my going thither, I should meet with no obstruction to mypossessing my just right in the moiety.
He told me, he could not tell exactly to what degree the plantation wasimproved; but this he knew, that my partner was growing exceeding richupon the enjoying but one half of it; and that, to the best of hisremembrance, he had heard, that the king's third of my part, which was,it seems, granted away to some other monastery, or religious house,amounted to above two hundred moidores a year; that, as to my beingrestored to a quiet possession of it, there was no question to be madeof that, my partner being alive to witness my title, and my name beingalso enrolled in the register of the county. Also he told me, that thesurvivors of my two trustees were very fair, honest people, and verywealthy, and he believed I would not only have their assistance forputting me in possession, but would find a very considerable sum ofmoney in their hands for my account, being the produce of the farm,while their fathers held the trust, and before it was given up, asabove, which, as he remembered, was about twelve years.
I shewed myself a little concerned and uneasy at this account, andinquired of the old captain, how it came to pass, that the trusteesshould thus dispose of my effects, when he knew that I had made my will,and had made him, the Portuguese captain, my universal heir, &c.
He told me that was true; but that, as there was no proof of my beingdead, he could not act as executor, until some certain account shouldcome of my death; and that, besides, he was not willing to intermeddlewith a thing so remote: that it was true, he had registered my will, andput in his claim; and could he have given any account of my being deador alive, he would have acted by procuration, and taken possession ofthe _ingenio_, (so they called the sugarhouse) and had given his son,who was now at the Brasils, order to do it.
"But," says the old man, "I have one piece of news to tell you, whichperhaps may not be so acceptable to you as the rest; and that is, thatbelieving you were lost, and all the world believing so also, yourpartner and trustees did offer to account to me in your name, for six oreight of the first years of profit, which I received; but there being atthat time," says he, "great disbursements for increasing the works,building an _ingenio_ and buying slaves, it did not amount to near somuch as afterwards it produced: however," says the old man, "I shallgive you a true account of what I have received in all, and how I havedisposed of it."
After a few days farther conference with this ancient friend, he broughtme an account of the six first years income of my plantation, signed bymy partner, and the merchants' trustees, being always delivered ingoods; viz. tobacco in roll, and sugar in chests, besides rum, molasses,&c. which is the consequence of a sugar-work; and I found by thisaccount, that every year the income considerably increased: but, asabove, the disbursement being large, the sum at first was small:however, the old man let me see, that he was debtor to me four hundredand seventy moidores of gold, besides sixty chests of sugar, and fifteendouble rolls of tobacco, which were lost in his ship, he having beenshipwrecked coming home to Lisbon, about eleven years after my leavingthe place.
The good man then began to complain of his misfortunes, and how he hadbeen obliged to make use of my money to recover his losses, and buy hima share in a new ship; "however, my old friend," says he, "you shallnot want a supply in your necessity; and as soon as my son returns, youshall be fully satisfied."
Upon this he pulls out an old pouch, and gives me two hundred Portugalmoidores in gold; and giving me the writings of his title to the shipwhich his son was gone to the Brasils in, of which he was a quarter partowner, and his son another, he puts them both in my hands for securityof the rest.
I was too much moved with the honesty and kindness of the poor man, tobe able to bear this; and remembering what he had done for me, how hehad taken me up at sea, and how generously he had used me on alloccasions, and particularly how sincere a friend he was now to me, Icould hardly refrain weeping at what he said to me: therefore, first Iasked him if his circumstances admitted him to spare so much money atthat time, and if it would not straiten him? He told me he could not saybut it might straiten him a little; but, however, it was my money, and Imight want it more than he.
Every thing the good man said was full of affection, and I could hardlyrefrain from tears while he spake. In short, I took one hundred of themoidores, and called for a pen and ink to give him a receipt for them;then I returned him the rest, and told him, if ever I had possession ofthe plantation, I would return the other to him also, as indeed Iafterwards did; and then, as to the bill of sale of his part in hisson's ship, I would not take it by any means; but that if I wanted themoney, I found he was honest enough to pay me; and if I did not, butcame to receive what he gave me reason to expect, I would never have apenny more from him.
When this was past, the old man began to ask me if he should put me in amethod to make my claim to my plantation. I told him, I thought to goover to it myself. He said, I might do so if I pleased; but that if Idid not, there were ways enough to secure my right, and immediately toappropriate the profits to my use; and as there were ships in the riverof Lisbon, just ready to go away to Brasil, he made me enter my name ina public register, with hi
s affidavit, affirming upon oath that I wasalive, and that I was the same person who took up the land for theplanting the said plantation at first.
This being regularly attested by a notary, and the procuration affixed,he directed me to send it with a letter of his writing, to a merchant ofhis acquaintance at the place; and then proposed my staying with himtill an account came of the return.
Never any thing was more honourable than the proceedings upon thisprocuration; for in less than seven months I received a large packetfrom the survivors of my trustees, the merchants, on whose account Iwent to sea, in which were the following particular letters andpapers enclosed.
First, There was the account current of the produce of my farm, orplantation, from the year when their fathers had balanced with my oldPortugal captain, being for six years; the balance appeared to be 1171moidores in my favour.
Secondly, There was the account of four years more while
