by Daniel Defoe
they decayed,they should make more, as they thought fit. The like for pumps, shoes,stockings, and hats, &c.
I cannot express what pleasure, what satisfaction, sat upon thecountenances of all these poor men when they saw the care I had taken ofthem, and how well I had furnished them; they told me I was a father tothem; and that having such a correspondent as I was, in so remote a partof the world, it would make them forget that they were left in adesolate place; and they all voluntarily engaged to me not to leave theplace without my consent.
Then I presented to them the people I had brought with me, particularlythe tailor, the smith, and the two carpenters, all of them mostnecessary people; but above all, my general artificer, than whom theycould not name any thing that was more needful to them; and the tailor,to shew his concern for them, went to work immediately, and, with myleave, made them every one a shirt the first thing he did; and, whichwas still more, he taught the women not only how to sew and stitch, anduse the needle, but made them assist to make the shirts for theirhusbands and for all the rest.
As for the carpenters, I scarce need mention how useful they were, forthey took in pieces all my clumsy unhandy things, and made them cleverconvenient tables, stools, bedsteads, cupboards, lockers, shelves, andevery thing they wanted of that kind.
But to let them see how nature made artificers at first, I carried thecarpenters to see William Atkins's basket house, as I called it, andthey both owned they never saw an instance of such natural ingenuitybefore, nor any thing so regular and so handily built, at least of itskind; and one of them, when he saw it, after musing a good while,turning about to me, "I am sure," says he, "that man has no need of us;you need do nothing but give him tools."
Then I brought them out all my store of tools, and gave every man adigging spade, a shovel, and a rake, for we had no harrows or ploughs;and to every separate place a pickaxe, a crow, a broadaxe, and a saw;always appointing, that as often as any were broken, or worn out, theyshould be supplied, without grudging, out of the general stores that Ileft behind.
Nails, staples, hinges, hammers, chisels, knives, scissors, and allsorts of tools and iron-work, they had without tale as they required;for no man would care to take more than he wanted, and he must be a foolthat would waste or spoil them on any account whatever. And for the useof the smith I left two tons of unwrought iron for a supply.
My magazine of powder and arms which I brought them, was such, even toprofusion, that they could not but rejoice at them; for now they couldmarch, as I used to do, with a musket upon each shoulder, if there wasoccasion; and were able to fight a thousand savages, if they had butsome little advantages of situation, which also they could not miss ofif they had occasion.
I carried on shore with me the young man whose mother was starved todeath, and the maid also: she was a sober, well-educated, religiousyoung woman, and behaved so inoffensively, that every one gave her agood word. She had, indeed, an unhappy life with us, there being nowoman in the ship but herself; but she bore it with patience. After awhile, seeing things so well ordered, and in so fine a way of thrivingupon my island, and considering that they had neither business noracquaintance in the East Indies, or reason for taking so long a voyage;I say, considering all this, both of them came to me, and desired Iwould give them leave to remain on the island, and be entered among myfamily, as they called it.
I agreed to it readily, and they had a little plot of ground allotted tothem, where they had three tents or houses set up, surrounded with abasket-work, palisaded like Atkins's, and adjoining to his plantation.Their tents were contrived so, that they had each of them a room, a partto lodge in, and a middle tent, like a great storehouse, to lay alltheir goods in, and to eat and drink in. And now the other twoEnglishmen moved their habitation to the same place, and so the islandwas divided into three colonies, and no more; viz. the Spaniards, withold Friday, and the first servants, at my old habitation under the hill,which was, in a word, the capital city, and where they had so enlargedand extended their works, as well under as on the outside of the hill,that they lived, though perfectly concealed, yet full at large. Neverwas there such a little city in a wood, and so hid, I believe, in anypart of the world; for I verily believe a thousand men might have rangedthe island a month, and if they had not known there was such a thing,and looked on purpose for it, they would not have found it; for thetrees stood so thick and so close, and grew so fast matted into oneanother, that nothing but cutting them down first, could discover theplace, except the two narrow entrances where they went in and out, couldbe found, which was not very easy. One of them was just down at thewater's edge, on the side of the creek; and it was afterwards above twohundred yards to the place; and the other was up the ladder at twice, asI have already formerly described it; and they had a large wood, thickplanted, also on the top of the hill, which contained above an acre,which grew apace, and covered the place from all discovery there, withonly one narrow place between two trees, not easy to be discovered, toenter on that side.
The other colony was that of Will Atkins, where there were four familiesof Englishmen, I mean those I had left there, with their wives andchildren; three savages that were slaves; the widow and children of theEnglishman that was killed; the young man and the maid; and by the way,we made a wife of her also before we went away. There were also the twocarpenters and the tailor, whom I brought with me for them; also thesmith, who was a very necessary man to them, especially as the gunsmith,to take care of their arms; and my other man, whom I called Jack of allTrades, who was himself as good almost as twenty men, for he was notonly a very ingenious fellow, but a very merry fellow; and before I wentaway we married him to the honest maid that came with the youth in theship, whom I mentioned before.
And now I speak of marrying, it brings me naturally to say something ofthe French ecclesiastic that I had brought with me out of the ship'screw whom I took at sea. It is true, this man was a Roman, and perhapsit may give offence to some hereafter, if I leave any thingextraordinary upon record of a man, whom, before I begin, I must (to sethim out in just colours) represent in terms very much to hisdisadvantage in the account of Protestants; as, first, that he was aPapist; secondly, a Popish priest; and thirdly, a French Popish priest.
But justice demands of me to give him a due character; and I must say,he was a grave, sober, pious, and most religious person; exact in hislife, extensive in his charity, and exemplary in almost every thing hedid. What then can any one say against my being very sensible of thevalue of such a man, notwithstanding his profession? though it may be myopinion, perhaps as well as the opinion of others who shall read this,that he was mistaken.
The first hour that I began to converse with him, after he had agreed togo with me to the East Indies, I found reason to delight exceedingly inhis conversation; and he first began with me about religion, in the mostobliging manner imaginable.
"Sir," says he, "you have not only, under God" (and at that he crossedhis breast), "saved my life, but you have admitted me to go this voyagein your ship, and by your obliging civility have taken me into yourfamily, giving me an opportunity of free conversation. Now, Sir," sayshe, "you see by my habit what my profession is, and I guess by yournation what yours is. I may think it is my duty, and doubtless it is so,to use my utmost endeavours on all occasions to bring all the souls thatI can to the knowledge of the truth, and to embrace the Catholicdoctrine; but as I am here under your permission, and in your family, Iam bound in justice to your kindness, as well as in decency and goodmanners, to be under your government; and therefore I shall not, withoutyour leave, enter into any debates on the points of religion, in whichwe may not agree, farther than you shall give me leave."
I told him his carriage was so modest that I could not but acknowledgeit; that it was true, we were such people as they call heretics, butthat he was not the first Catholic that I had conversed with withoutfalling into any inconveniencies, or carrying the questions to anyheight in debate; that he should not find himself the worse used forbeing of a different opinio
n from us; and if we did not converse withoutany dislike on either side, upon that score, it would be his fault,not ours.
He replied, that he thought our conversation might be easily separatedfrom disputes; that it was not his business to cap principles with everyman he discoursed with; and that he rather desired me to converse withhim as a _gentleman_ than as a _religieux_; that if I would give himleave at any time to discourse upon religious subjects, he would readilycomply with it; and that then he did not doubt but I would allow himalso to defend his own opinions as well as he could; but that without myleave he would not break in upon me with any such thing.
He told me farther, that he would not cease to do all that became him inhis office as a priest, as well as a private Christian, to procure thegood of the ship, and the safety of all that was in her; and thoughperhaps we would not join with him, and he could not pray with us, hehoped he might pray for us, which
