The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1808)

by Daniel Defoe

they kept theeffects in their hands, before the government claimed theadministration, as being the effects of a person not to be found, whichthey call _civil-death_; and the balance of this, the value ofplantation increasing, amounted to 38892 crusadoes, which made 3241 moidores.

  Thirdly, There was the prior of the Augustines account, who had receivedthe profits for above fourteen years; but not being able to account forwhat was disposed to the hospital, very honestly declared he had 872moidores not distributed, which he acknowledged to my account. As to theking's part, that refunded nothing.

  There was also a letter of my partner's, congratulating me veryaffectionately upon my being alive; giving me an account how the estatewas improved, and what it produced a year, with a particular of thenumber of squares or acres that it contained; how planted, how manyslaves there were upon it, and making two and twenty crosses forblessings, told me he had said so many Ave Marias to thank the BlessedVirgin that I was alive; inviting me very passionately to come over andtake possession of my own; and in the mean time to give him orders towhom he should deliver my effects, if I did not come my self; concludingwith a hearty tender of his friendship, and that of his family, and sentme, as a present, seven fine leopard's skins, which he had it seemsreceived from Africa, by some other ship which he had sent thither, andwho it seems had made a better voyage than I: he sent me also fivechests of excellent sweetmeats, and an hundred pieces of gold uncoined,not quite so large as moidores.

  By the same fleet, my two merchant trustees shipped me 1,200 chests ofsugar, 800 rolls of tobacco, and the rest of the whole Account in gold.

  I might well say, now indeed, that the latter end of Job was better thanthe beginning. It is impossible to express here the flutterings of myvery heart, when I looked over these letters, and especially when Ifound all my wealth about me; for as the Brasil ships come all infleets, the same ships which brought my letters, brought my goods; andthe effects were safe in the river before the letters came to my hand.In a word, I turned pale, and grew sick; and had not the old man run andfetched me a cordial, I believe the sudden surprize of joy had oversetnature, and I had died upon the spot.

  Nay after that, I continued very ill, and was so some hours, 'till aphysician being sent for, and something of the real cause of my illnessbeing known, he ordered me to be let blood; after which, I had relief,and grew well: but I verily believe, if it had not been eased by a ventgiven in that manner, to the spirits, I should have died.

  I was now master, all on a sudden, of above 5000_l_. sterling in money,and had an estate, as I might well call it, in the Brasils, of above athousand pounds a year, as sure as an estate of lands in England: and ina word, I was in a condition which I scarce knew how to understand, orhow to compose my self, for the enjoyment of it.

  The first thing I did, was to recompense my original benefactor, my goodold captain, who had been first charitable to me in my distress, kind tome in my beginning, and honest to me at the end: I shewed him all thatwas sent me, I told him, that next to the Providence of Heaven, whichdisposes all things, it was owing to him; and that it now lay on me toreward him, which I would do a hundred fold: so I first returned to himthe hundred moidores I had received of him, then I sent for a notary,and caused him to draw up a general release or discharge for the 470moidores, which he had acknowledged he owed me in the fullest andfirmest manner possible; after which, I caused a procuration to bedrawn, impowering him to be my receiver of the annual profits of myplantation, and appointing my partner to account to him, and make thereturns by the usual fleets to him in my name; and a clause in the end,being a grant of 100 moidores a year to him, during his life, out of theeffects, and 50 moidores a year to his son after him, for his life: andthus I requited my old man.

  I was now to consider which way to steer my course next, and what to dowith the estate that Providence had thus put into my hands; and indeed Ihad more care upon my head now, than I had in my silent state of life inthe island, where I wanted nothing but what I had, and had nothing butwhat I wanted: whereas I had now a great charge upon me, and my businesswas how to secure it. I had ne'er a cave now to hide my money in, or aplace where it might lie without lock or key, 'till it grew mouldy andtarnished before any body would meddle with it: on the contrary, I knewnot where to put it, or who to trust with it. My old patron, thecaptain, indeed was honest, and that was the only refuge I had.

  In the next place, my interest in the Brasils seemed to summon methither, but now I could not tell, how to think of going thither, 'tillI had settled my affairs, and left my effects in some safe hands behindme. At first I thought of my old friend the widow, who I knew washonest, and would be just to me; but then she was in years, and butpoor, and for ought I knew, might be in debt; so that in a word, I hadno way but to go back to England my self, and take my effects with me.

  It was some months however before I resolved upon this; and therefore,as I had rewarded the old captain fully, and to his satisfaction, whohad been my former benefactor, so I began to think of my poor widow,whose husband had been my first benefactor, and she, while it was in herpower, my faithful steward and instructor. So the first thing I did, Igot a merchant in Lisbon to write to his correspondent in London, notonly to pay a bill, but to go find her out, and carry her in money, anhundred pounds from me, and to talk with her, and comfort her in herpoverty, by telling her she should, if I lived, have a further supply:at the same time I sent my two sisters in the country, each of them anhundred pounds, they being, though not in want, yet not in very goodcircumstances; one having been married, and left a widow; and the otherhaving a husband not so kind to her as he should be.

  But among all my relations, or acquaintances, I could not yet pitch uponone, to whom I durst commit the gross of my stock, that I might go awayto the Brasils, and leave things safe behind me; and this greatlyperplexed me.

  I had once a mind to have gone to the Brasils, and have settled my selfthere; for I was, as it were, naturalized to the place; but I had somelittle scruple in my mind about religion, which insensibly drew me back,of which I shall say more presently. However, it was not religion thatkept me from going thither for the present; and as I had made no scrupleof being openly of the religion of the country, all the while I wasamong them, so neither did I yet; only that now and then having of latethought more of it than formerly, when I began to think of living anddying among them, I began to regret my having professed myself a Papist,and thought it might not be the best religion to die in.

  But, as I have said, this was not the main thing that kept me from goingto the Brasils, but that really I did not know with whom to leave myeffects behind me; so I resolved at last to go to England with them,where if I arrived, I concluded I should make some acquaintance, or findsome relations, that would be faithful to me; and accordingly I preparedto go for England with all my wealth.

  In order to prepare things for my going home, I first (the Brasil fleetbeing just going away) resolved to give answers suitable to the just andfaithful account of things I had from thence; and first to the prior ofSt. Augustine I wrote a letter full of thanks for his just dealings, andthe offer of the eight hundred and seventy-two moidores, which wasundisposed of, which I desired might be given, five hundred to themonastery, and three hundred and seventy-two to the poor, as the priorshould direct, desiring the good Padre's prayers for me, and the like.

  I wrote next a letter of thanks to my two trustees, with all theacknowledgment that so much justice and honesty called for; as forsending them any present, they were far above having any occasion of it.

  Lastly, I wrote to my partner, acknowledging his industry in theimproving the plantation, and his integrity in increasing the stock ofthe works, giving him instructions for his future government of my partaccording to the powers I had left with my old patron, to whom I desiredhim to send whatever became due to me, till he should hear from me moreparticularly; assuring him, that it was my intention, not only to cometo him, but to settle myself there for the remainder of my life. To thisI added a
very handsome present of some Italian silks for his wife andtwo daughters, for such the captain's son informed me he had; with twopieces of fine English broad-cloth, the best I could get in Lisbon, fivepieces of black bays, and some Flanders lace of a good value.

  Having thus settled my affairs, sold my cargo, and turned all my effectsinto good bills of exchange, my next difficulty was, which way to go toEngland. I had been accustomed enough to the sea, and yet I had astrange aversion to go to England by sea at that time; and though Icould give no reason for it, yet the difficulty increased upon me somuch, that though I had once shipped my baggage in order to go, yet Ialtered my mind, and that not once, but two or three times.

  It is true, I had been very unfortunate by sea, and this might be one ofthe reasons. But let no man slight the strong impulses of his ownthoughts in cases of such moment. Two of the ships which I had singledout to go in, I mean more particularly singled out than any other, thatis to say,