The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

by Daniel Defoe

the price of her own life: but the poor maid, whose constitution

  was stronger than that of her mistress, who was in years, and a

  weakly woman too, might struggle harder with it; nevertheless she

  might be supposed to feel the extremity something sooner than her

  mistress, who might be allowed to keep the last bit something

  longer than she parted with any to relieve her maid. No question,

  as the case is here related, if our ship or some other had not so

  providentially met them, but a few days more would have ended all

  their lives. I now return to my disposition of things among the

  people. And, first, it is to be observed here, that for many

  reasons I did not think fit to let them know anything of the sloop

  I had framed, and which I thought of setting up among them; for I

  found, at least at my first coming, such seeds of division among

  them, that I saw plainly, had I set up the sloop, and left it among

  them, they would, upon every light disgust, have separated, and

  gone away from one another; or perhaps have turned pirates, and so

  made the island a den of thieves, instead of a plantation of sober

  and religious people, as I intended it; nor did I leave the two

  pieces of brass cannon that I had on board, or the extra two

  quarter-deck guns that my nephew had provided, for the same reason.

  I thought it was enough to qualify them for a defensive war against

  any that should invade them, but not to set them up for an

  offensive war, or to go abroad to attack others; which, in the end,

  would only bring ruin and destruction upon them. I reserved the

  sloop, therefore, and the guns, for their service another way, as I

  shall observe in its place.

  Having now done with the island, I left them all in good

  circumstances and in a flourishing condition, and went on board my

  ship again on the 6th of May, having been about twenty-five days

  among them: and as they were all resolved to stay upon the island

  till I came to remove them, I promised to send them further relief

  from the Brazils, if I could possibly find an opportunity. I

  particularly promised to send them some cattle, such as sheep,

  hogs, and cows: as to the two cows and calves which I brought from

  England, we had been obliged, by the length of our voyage, to kill

  them at sea, for want of hay to feed them.

  The next day, giving them a salute of five guns at parting, we set

  sail, and arrived at the bay of All Saints in the Brazils in about

  twenty-two days, meeting nothing remarkable in our passage but

  this: that about three days after we had sailed, being becalmed,

  and the current setting strong to the ENE., running, as it were,

  into a bay or gulf on the land side, we were driven something out

  of our course, and once or twice our men cried out, "Land to the

  eastward!" but whether it was the continent or islands we could not

  tell by any means. But the third day, towards evening, the sea

  smooth, and the weather calm, we saw the sea as it were covered

  towards the land with something very black; not being able to

  discover what it was till after some time, our chief mate, going up

  the main shrouds a little way, and looking at them with a

  perspective, cried out it was an army. I could not imagine what he

  meant by an army, and thwarted him a little hastily. "Nay, sir,"

  says he, "don't be angry, for 'tis an army, and a fleet too: for I

  believe there are a thousand canoes, and you may see them paddle

  along, for they are coming towards us apace."

  I was a little surprised then, indeed, and so was my nephew the

  captain; for he had heard such terrible stories of them in the

  island, and having never been in those seas before, that he could

  not tell what to think of it, but said, two or three times, we

  should all be devoured. I must confess, considering we were

  becalmed, and the current set strong towards the shore, I liked it

  the worse; however, I bade them not be afraid, but bring the ship

  to an anchor as soon as we came so near as to know that we must

  engage them. The weather continued calm, and they came on apace

  towards us, so I gave orders to come to an anchor, and furl all our

  sails; as for the savages, I told them they had nothing to fear but

  fire, and therefore they should get their boats out, and fasten

  them, one close by the head and the other by the stern, and man

  them both well, and wait the issue in that posture: this I did,

  that the men in the boats might he ready with sheets and buckets to

  put out any fire these savages might endeavour to fix to the

  outside of the ship.

  In this posture we lay by for them, and in a little while they came

  up with us; but never was such a horrid sight seen by Christians;

  though my mate was much mistaken in his calculation of their

  number, yet when they came up we reckoned about a hundred and

  twenty-six canoes; some of them had sixteen or seventeen men in

  them, and some more, and the least six or seven. When they came

  nearer to us, they seemed to be struck with wonder and

  astonishment, as at a sight which doubtless they had never seen

  before; nor could they at first, as we afterwards understood, know

  what to make of us; they came boldly up, however, very near to us,

  and seemed to go about to row round us; but we called to our men in

  the boats not to let them come too near them. This very order

  brought us to an engagement with them, without our designing it;

  for five or six of the large canoes came so near our long-boat,

  that our men beckoned with their hands to keep them back, which

  they understood very well, and went back: but at their retreat

  about fifty arrows came on board us from those boats, and one of

  our men in the long-boat was very much wounded. However, I called

  to them not to fire by any means; but we handed down some deal

  boards into the boat, and the carpenter presently set up a kind of

  fence, like waste boards, to cover them from the arrows of the

  savages, if they should shoot again.

  About half-an-hour afterwards they all came up in a body astern of

  us, and so near that we could easily discern what they were, though

  we could not tell their design; and I easily found they were some

  of my old friends, the same sort of savages that I had been used to

  engage with. In a short time more they rowed a little farther out

  to sea, till they came directly broadside with us, and then rowed

  down straight upon us, till they came so near that they could hear

  us speak; upon this, I ordered all my men to keep close, lest they

  should shoot any more arrows, and made all our guns ready; but

  being so near as to be within hearing, I made Friday go out upon

  the deck, and call out aloud to them in his language, to know what

  they meant. Whether they understood him or not, that I knew not;

  but as soon as he had called to them, six of them, who were in the

  foremost or nighest boat to us, turned their canoes from us, and

  stooping down, showed us their naked backs; whether this was a

  defiance or challenge we knew not, or whether it was done in mer
e

  contempt, or as a signal to the rest; but immediately Friday cried

  out they were going to shoot, and, unhappily for him, poor fellow,

  they let fly about three hundred of their arrows, and to my

  inexpressible grief, killed poor Friday, no other man being in

  their sight. The poor fellow was shot with no less than three

  arrows, and about three more fell very near him; such unlucky

  marksmen they were!

  I was so annoyed at the loss of my old trusty servant and

  companion, that I immediately ordered five guns to be loaded with

  small shot, and four with great, and gave them such a broadside as

  they had never heard in their lives before. They were not above

  half a cable's length off when we fired; and our gunners took their

  aim so well, that three or four of their canoes were overset, as we

  had reason to believe, by one shot only. The ill manners of

  turning up their bare backs to us gave us no great offence; neither

  did I know for certain whether that which would pass for the

  greatest contempt among us might be understood so by them or not;

  therefore, in return, I had only resolved to have fired four or

  five guns at them with powder only, which I knew would frighten

  them sufficiently: but when they shot at us directly with all the

  fury they were capable of, and especially as they had killed my

  poor Friday, whom I so entirely loved and valued, and who, indeed,

  so well deserved it, I thought myself not only justifiable before

  God and man, but would have been very glad if I could have overset

  every canoe there, and drowned every one of them.

  I can neither tell how many we killed nor how many we wounded at

  this broadside, but sure such a fright and hurry never were seen

  among such a multitude; there were thirteen or fourteen of their

  canoes split and overset in all, and the men all set a-swimming:

  the rest, frightened out of their wits, scoured away as fast as

  they could, taking but little care to save those whose boats were

  split or spoiled with our shot; so I suppose that many of them were

  lost; and our men took up one poor fellow swimming for his life,

  above an hour after they were all gone. The small shot from our

  cannon must needs kill and wound a great many; but, in short, we

  never knew how it went with them, for they fled so fast, that in

  three hours or thereabouts we could not see above three or four

  straggling canoes, nor did we ever see the rest any more; for a

  breeze of wind springing up the same evening, we weighed and set

  sail for the Brazils.

  We had a prisoner, indeed, but the creature was so sullen that he

  would neither eat nor speak, and we all fancied he would starve

  himself to death. But I took a way to cure him: for I had made

  them take him and turn him into the long-boat, and make him believe

  they would toss him into the sea again, and so leave him where they

  found him, if he would not speak; nor would that do, but they

  really did throw him into the sea, and came away from him. Then he

  followed them, for he swam like a cork, and called to them in his

  tongue, though they knew not one word of what he said; however at

  last they took him in again., and then he began to he more

  tractable: nor did I ever design they should drown him.

  We were now under sail again, but I was the most disconsolate

  creature alive for want of my man Friday, and would have been very

  glad to have gone back to the island, to have taken one of the rest

  from thence for my occasion, but it could not be: so we went on.

  We had one prisoner, as I have said, and it was a long time before

  we could make him understand anything; but in time our men taught

  him some English, and he began to be a little tractable.

  Afterwards, we inquired what country he came from; but could make

  nothing of what he said; for his speech was so odd, all gutturals,

  and he spoke in the throat in such a hollow, odd manner, that we

  could never form a word after him; and we were all of opinion that

  they might speak that language as well if they were gagged as

  otherwise; nor could we perceive that they had any occasion either

  for teeth, tongue, lips, or palate, but formed their words just as

  a hunting-horn forms a tune with an open throat. He told us,

  however, some time after, when we had taught him to speak a little

  English, that they were going with their kings to fight a great

  battle. When he said kings, we asked him how many kings? He said

  they were five nation (we could not make him understand the plural

  's), and that they all joined to go against two nation. We asked

  him what made them come up to us? He said, "To makee te great

  wonder look." Here it is to be observed that all those natives, as

  also those of Africa when they learn English, always add two e's at

  the end of the words where we use one; and they place the accent

  upon them, as makee, takee, and the like; nay, I could hardly make

  Friday leave it off, though at last he did.

  And now I name the poor fellow once more, I must take my last leave

  of him. Poor honest Friday! We buried him with all the decency

  and solemnity possible, by putting him into a coffin, and throwing

  him into the sea; and I caused them to fire eleven guns for him.

  So ended the life of the most grateful, faithful, honest, and most

  affectionate servant that ever man had.

  We went now away with a fair wind for Brazil; and in about twelve

  days' time we made land, in the latitude of five degrees south of

  the line, being the north-easternmost land of all that part of

  America. We kept on S. by E., in sight of the shore four days,

  when we made Cape St. Augustine, and in three days came to an

  anchor off the bay of All Saints, the old place of my deliverance,

  from whence came both my good and evil fate. Never ship came to

  this port that had less business than I had, and yet it was with

  great difficulty that we were admitted to hold the least

  correspondence on shore: not my partner himself, who was alive,

  and made a great figure among them, not my two merchant-trustees,

  not the fame of my wonderful preservation in the island, could

  obtain me that favour. My partner, however, remembering that I had

  given five hundred moidores to the prior of the monastery of the

  Augustines, and two hundred and seventy-two to the poor, went to

  the monastery, and obliged the prior that then was to go to the

  governor, and get leave for me personally, with the captain and one

  more, besides eight seamen, to come on shore, and no more; and this

  upon condition, absolutely capitulated for, that we should not

  offer to land any goods out of the ship, or to carry any person

  away without licence. They were so strict with us as to landing

  any goods, that it was with extreme difficulty that I got on shore

  three bales of English goods, such as fine broadcloths, stuffs, and

  some linen, which I had brought for a present to my partner.

  He was a very generous, open-hearted man, although he began, like

  me, with little at first. Though he knew not that
I had the least

  design of giving him anything, he sent me on board a present of

  fresh provisions, wine, and sweetmeats, worth about thirty

  moidores, including some tobacco, and three or four fine medals of

  gold: but I was even with him in my present, which, as I have

  said, consisted of fine broadcloth, English stuffs, lace, and fine

  holland; also, I delivered him about the value of one hundred

  pounds sterling in the same goods, for other uses; and I obliged

  him to set up the sloop, which I had brought with me from England,

  as I have said, for the use of my colony, in order to send the

  refreshments I intended to my plantation.

  Accordingly, he got hands, and finished the sloop in a very few

  days, for she was already framed; and I gave the master of her such

  instructions that he could not miss the place; nor did he, as I had

  an account from my partner afterwards. I got him soon loaded with

  the small cargo I sent them; and one of our seamen, that had been

  on shore with me there, offered to go with the sloop and settle

  there, upon my letter to the governor Spaniard to allot him a

  sufficient quantity of land for a plantation, and on my giving him

  some clothes and tools for his planting work, which he said he

  understood, having been an old planter at Maryland, and a buccaneer

  into the bargain. I encouraged the fellow by granting all he

  desired; and, as an addition, I gave him the savage whom we had

  taken prisoner of war to be his slave, and ordered the governor

  Spaniard to give him his share of everything he wanted with the

  rest.

  When we came to fit this man out, my old partner told me there was

  a certain very honest fellow, a Brazil planter of his acquaintance,

  who had fallen into the displeasure of the Church. "I know not

  what the matter is with him," says he, "but, on my conscience, I

  think he is a heretic in his heart, and he has been obliged to

  conceal himself for fear of the Inquisition." He then told me that

  he would be very glad of such an opportunity to make his escape,

  with his wife and two daughters; and if I would let them go to my

  island, and allot them a plantation, he would give them a small

  stock to begin with--for the officers of the Inquisition had seized

  all his effects and estate, and he had nothing left but a little

  household stuff and two slaves; "and," adds he, "though I hate his

  principles, yet I would not have him fall into their hands, for he

  will be assuredly burned alive if he does." I granted this

  presently, and joined my Englishman with them: and we concealed

  the man, and his wife and daughters, on board our ship, till the

  sloop put out to go to sea; and then having put all their goods on

  board some time before, we put them on board the sloop after she

  was got out of the bay. Our seaman was mightily pleased with this

  new partner; and their stocks, indeed, were much alike, rich in

  tools, in preparations, and a farm--but nothing to begin with,

  except as above: however, they carried over with them what was

  worth all the rest, some materials for planting sugar-canes, with

  some plants of canes, which he, I mean the Brazil planter,

  understood very well.

  Among the rest of the supplies sent to my tenants in the island, I

  sent them by the sloop three milch cows and five calves; about

  twenty-two hogs, among them three sows; two mares, and a stone-

  horse. For my Spaniards, according to my promise, I engaged three

  Brazil women to go, and recommended it to them to marry them, and

  use them kindly. I could have procured more women, but I

  remembered that the poor persecuted man had two daughters, and that

  there were but five of the Spaniards that wanted partners; the rest

  had wives of their own, though in another country. All this cargo

  arrived safe, and, as you may easily suppose, was very welcome to

  my old inhabitants, who were now, with this addition, between sixty

  and seventy people, besides little children, of which there were a

  great many. I found letters at London from them all, by way of

  Lisbon, when I came back to England.