The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

by Daniel Defoe

scarce power to speak to him for some time; but at last I said to

  him, "How do you know this? are you sure it is true?"--"Yes," says

  he; "I met this morning in the street an old acquaintance of mine,

  an Armenian, who is among them. He came last from Astrakhan, and

  was designed to go to Tonquin, where I formerly knew him, but has

  altered his mind, and is now resolved to go with the caravan to

  Moscow, and so down the river Volga to Astrakhan."--"Well,

  Seignior," says I, "do not be uneasy about being left to go back

  alone; if this be a method for my return to England, it shall be

  your fault if you go back to Macao at all." We then went to

  consult together what was to be done; and I asked my partner what

  he thought of the pilot's news, and whether it would suit with his

  affairs? He told me he would do just as I would; for he had

  settled all his affairs so well at Bengal, and left his effects in

  such good hands, that as we had made a good voyage, if he could

  invest it in China silks, wrought and raw, he would be content to

  go to England, and then make a voyage back to Bengal by the

  Company's ships.

  Having resolved upon this, we agreed that if our Portuguese pilot

  would go with us, we would bear his charges to Moscow, or to

  England, if he pleased; nor, indeed, were we to be esteemed over-

  generous in that either, if we had not rewarded him further, the

  service he had done us being really worth more than that; for he

  had not only been a pilot to us at sea, but he had been like a

  broker for us on shore; and his procuring for us a Japan merchant

  was some hundreds of pounds in our pockets. So, being willing to

  gratify him, which was but doing him justice, and very willing also

  to have him with us besides, for he was a most necessary man on all

  occasions, we agreed to give him a quantity of coined gold, which,

  as I computed it, was worth one hundred and seventy-five pounds

  sterling, between us, and to bear all his charges, both for himself

  and horse, except only a horse to carry his goods. Having settled

  this between ourselves, we called him to let him know what we had

  resolved. I told him he had complained of our being willing to let

  him go back alone, and I was now about to tell him we designed he

  should not go back at all. That as we had resolved to go to Europe

  with the caravan, we were very willing he should go with us; and

  that we called him to know his mind. He shook his head and said it

  was a long journey, and that he had no pecune to carry him thither,

  or to subsist himself when he came there. We told him we believed

  it was so, and therefore we had resolved to do something for him

  that should let him see how sensible we were of the service he had

  done us, and also how agreeable he was to us: and then I told him

  what we had resolved to give him here, which he might lay out as we

  would do our own; and that as for his charges, if he would go with

  us we would set him safe on shore (life and casualties excepted),

  either in Muscovy or England, as he would choose, at our own

  charge, except only the carriage of his goods. He received the

  proposal like a man transported, and told us he would go with us

  over all the whole world; and so we all prepared for our journey.

  However, as it was with us, so it was with the other merchants:

  they had many things to do, and instead of being ready in five

  weeks, it was four months and some days before all things were got

  together.

  CHAPTER XIV--ATTACKED BY TARTARS

  It was the beginning of February, new style, when we set out from

  Pekin. My partner and the old pilot had gone express back to the

  port where we had first put in, to dispose of some goods which we

  had left there; and I, with a Chinese merchant whom I had some

  knowledge of at Nankin, and who came to Pekin on his own affairs,

  went to Nankin, where I bought ninety pieces of fine damasks, with

  about two hundred pieces of other very fine silk of several sorts,

  some mixed with gold, and had all these brought to Pekin against my

  partner's return. Besides this, we bought a large quantity of raw

  silk, and some other goods, our cargo amounting, in these goods

  only, to about three thousand five hundred pounds sterling; which,

  together with tea and some fine calicoes, and three camels' loads

  of nutmegs and cloves, loaded in all eighteen camels for our share,

  besides those we rode upon; these, with two or three spare horses,

  and two horses loaded with provisions, made together twenty-six

  camels and horses in our retinue.

  The company was very great, and, as near as I can remember, made

  between three and four hundred horses, and upwards of one hundred

  and twenty men, very well armed and provided for all events; for as

  the Eastern caravans are subject to be attacked by the Arabs, so

  are these by the Tartars. The company consisted of people of

  several nations, but there were above sixty of them merchants or

  inhabitants of Moscow, though of them some were Livonians; and to

  our particular satisfaction, five of them were Scots, who appeared

  also to be men of great experience in business, and of very good

  substance.

  When we had travelled one day's journey, the guides, who were five

  in number, called all the passengers, except the servants, to a

  great council, as they called it. At this council every one

  deposited a certain quantity of money to a common stock, for the

  necessary expense of buying forage on the way, where it was not

  otherwise to be had, and for satisfying the guides, getting horses,

  and the like. Here, too, they constituted the journey, as they

  call it, viz. they named captains and officers to draw us all up,

  and give the word of command, in case of an attack, and give every

  one their turn of command; nor was this forming us into order any

  more than what we afterwards found needful on the way.

  The road all on this side of the country is very populous, and is

  full of potters and earth-makers--that is to say, people, that

  temper the earth for the China ware. As I was coming along, our

  Portuguese pilot, who had always something or other to say to make

  us merry, told me he would show me the greatest rarity in all the

  country, and that I should have this to say of China, after all the

  ill-humoured things that I had said of it, that I had seen one

  thing which was not to be seen in all the world beside. I was very

  importunate to know what it was; at last he told me it was a

  gentleman's house built with China ware. "Well," says I, "are not

  the materials of their buildings the products of their own country,

  and so it is all China ware, is it not?"--"No, no," says he, "I

  mean it is a house all made of China ware, such as you call it in

  England, or as it is called in our country, porcelain."--"Well,"

  says I, "such a thing may be; how big is it? Can we carry it in a

  box upon a camel? If we can we will buy it."--"Upon a camel!" says

  the old pilot, holding up both his hands; "why, there is a family

  of thirty peopl
e lives in it."

  I was then curious, indeed, to see it; and when I came to it, it

  was nothing but this: it was a timber house, or a house built, as

  we call it in England, with lath and plaster, but all this

  plastering was really China ware--that is to say, it was plastered

  with the earth that makes China ware. The outside, which the sun

  shone hot upon, was glazed, and looked very well, perfectly white,

  and painted with blue figures, as the large China ware in England

  is painted, and hard as if it had been burnt. As to the inside,

  all the walls, instead of wainscot, were lined with hardened and

  painted tiles, like the little square tiles we call galley-tiles in

  England, all made of the finest china, and the figures exceeding

  fine indeed, with extraordinary variety of colours, mixed with

  gold, many tiles making but one figure, but joined so artificially,

  the mortar being made of the same earth, that it was very hard to

  see where the tiles met. The floors of the rooms were of the same

  composition, and as hard as the earthen floors we have in use in

  several parts of England; as hard as stone, and smooth, but not

  burnt and painted, except some smaller rooms, like closets, which

  were all, as it were, paved with the same tile; the ceiling and all

  the plastering work in the whole house were of the same earth; and,

  after all, the roof was covered with tiles of the same, but of a

  deep shining black. This was a China warehouse indeed, truly and

  literally to be called so, and had I not been upon the journey, I

  could have stayed some days to see and examine the particulars of

  it. They told me there were fountains and fishponds in the garden,

  all paved on the bottom and sides with the same; and fine statues

  set up in rows on the walks, entirely formed of the porcelain

  earth, burnt whole.

  As this is one of the singularities of China, so they may be

  allowed to excel in it; but I am very sure they excel in their

  accounts of it; for they told me such incredible things of their

  performance in crockery-ware, for such it is, that I care not to

  relate, as knowing it could not be true. They told me, in

  particular, of one workman that made a ship with all its tackle and

  masts and sails in earthenware, big enough to carry fifty men. If

  they had told me he launched it, and made a voyage to Japan in it,

  I might have said something to it indeed; but as it was, I knew the

  whole of the story, which was, in short, that the fellow lied: so

  I smiled, and said nothing to it. This odd sight kept me two hours

  behind the caravan, for which the leader of it for the day fined me

  about the value of three shillings; and told me if it had been

  three days' journey without the wall, as it was three days' within,

  he must have fined me four times as much, and made me ask pardon

  the next council-day. I promised to be more orderly; and, indeed,

  I found afterwards the orders made for keeping all together were

  absolutely necessary for our common safety.

  In two days more we passed the great China wall, made for a

  fortification against the Tartars: and a very great work it is,

  going over hills and mountains in an endless track, where the rocks

  are impassable, and the precipices such as no enemy could possibly

  enter, or indeed climb up, or where, if they did, no wall could

  hinder them. They tell us its length is near a thousand English

  miles, but that the country is five hundred in a straight measured

  line, which the wall bounds without measuring the windings and

  turnings it takes; it is about four fathoms high, and as many thick

  in some places.

  I stood still an hour or thereabouts without trespassing on our

  orders (for so long the caravan was in passing the gate), to look

  at it on every side, near and far off; I mean what was within my

  view: and the guide, who had been extolling it for the wonder of

  the world, was mighty eager to hear my opinion of it. I told him

  it was a most excellent thing to keep out the Tartars; which he

  happened not to understand as I meant it and so took it for a

  compliment; but the old pilot laughed! "Oh, Seignior Inglese,"

  says he, "you speak in colours."--"In colours!" said I; "what do

  you mean by that?"--"Why, you speak what looks white this way and

  black that way--gay one way and dull another. You tell him it is a

  good wall to keep out Tartars; you tell me by that it is good for

  nothing but to keep out Tartars. I understand you, Seignior

  Inglese, I understand you; but Seignior Chinese understood you his

  own way."--"Well," says I, "do you think it would stand out an army

  of our country people, with a good train of artillery; or our

  engineers, with two companies of miners? Would not they batter it

  down in ten days, that an army might enter in battalia; or blow it

  up in the air, foundation and all, that there should be no sign of

  it left?"--"Ay, ay," says he, "I know that." The Chinese wanted

  mightily to know what I said to the pilot, and I gave him leave to

  tell him a few days after, for we were then almost out of their

  country, and he was to leave us a little time after this; but when

  he knew what I said, he was dumb all the rest of the way, and we

  heard no more of his fine story of the Chinese power and greatness

  while he stayed.

  After we passed this mighty nothing, called a wall, something like

  the Picts' walls so famous in Northumberland, built by the Romans,

  we began to find the country thinly inhabited, and the people

  rather confined to live in fortified towns, as being subject to the

  inroads and depredations of the Tartars, who rob in great armies,

  and therefore are not to be resisted by the naked inhabitants of an

  open country. And here I began to find the necessity of keeping

  together in a caravan as we travelled, for we saw several troops of

  Tartars roving about; but when I came to see them distinctly, I

  wondered more that the Chinese empire could be conquered by such

  contemptible fellows; for they are a mere horde of wild fellows,

  keeping no order and understanding no discipline or manner of it.

  Their horses are poor lean creatures, taught nothing, and fit for

  nothing; and this we found the first day we saw them, which was

  after we entered the wilder part of the country. Our leader for

  the day gave leave for about sixteen of us to go a hunting as they

  call it; and what was this but a hunting of sheep!--however, it may

  be called hunting too, for these creatures are the wildest and

  swiftest of foot that ever I saw of their kind! only they will not

  run a great way, and you are sure of sport when you begin the

  chase, for they appear generally thirty or forty in a flock, and,

  like true sheep, always keep together when they fly.

  In pursuit of this odd sort of game it was our hap to meet with

  about forty Tartars: whether they were hunting mutton, as we were,

  or whether they looked for another kind of prey, we know not; but

  as soon as they saw us, one of them blew a hideous blast on a kind

  of horn.
This was to call their friends about them, and in less

  than ten minutes a troop of forty or fifty more appeared, at about

  a mile distance; but our work was over first, as it happened.

  One of the Scots merchants of Moscow happened to be amongst us; and

  as soon as he heard the horn, he told us that we had nothing to do

  but to charge them without loss of time; and drawing us up in a

  line, he asked if we were resolved. We told him we were ready to

  follow him; so he rode directly towards them. They stood gazing at

  us like a mere crowd, drawn up in no sort of order at all; but as

  soon as they saw us advance, they let fly their arrows, which

  missed us, very happily. Not that they mistook their aim, but

  their distance; for their arrows all fell a little short of us, but

  with so true an aim, that had we been about twenty yards nearer we

  must have had several men wounded, if not killed.

  Immediately we halted, and though it was at a great distance, we

  fired, and sent them leaden bullets for wooden arrows, following

  our shot full gallop, to fall in among them sword in hand--for so

  our bold Scot that led us directed. He was, indeed, but a

  merchant, but he behaved with such vigour and bravery on this

  occasion, and yet with such cool courage too, that I never saw any

  man in action fitter for command. As soon as we came up to them we

  fired our pistols in their faces and then drew; but they fled in

  the greatest confusion imaginable. The only stand any of them made

  was on our right, where three of them stood, and, by signs, called

  the rest to come back to them, having a kind of scimitar in their

  hands, and their bows hanging to their backs. Our brave commander,

  without asking anybody to follow him, gallops up close to them, and

  with his fusee knocks one of them off his horse, killed the second

  with his pistol, and the third ran away. Thus ended our fight; but

  we had this misfortune attending it, that all our mutton we had in

  chase got away. We had not a man killed or hurt; as for the

  Tartars, there were about five of them killed--how many were

  wounded we knew not; but this we knew, that the other party were so

  frightened with the noise of our guns that they fled, and never

  made any attempt upon us.

  We were all this while in the Chinese dominions, and therefore the

  Tartars were not so bold as afterwards; but in about five days we

  entered a vast wild desert, which held us three days' and nights'

  march; and we were obliged to carry our water with us in great

  leathern bottles, and to encamp all night, just as I have heard

  they do in the desert of Arabia. I asked our guides whose dominion

  this was in, and they told me this was a kind of border that might

  be called no man's land, being a part of Great Karakathy, or Grand

  Tartary: that, however, it was all reckoned as belonging to China,

  but that there was no care taken here to preserve it from the

  inroads of thieves, and therefore it was reckoned the worst desert

  in the whole march, though we were to go over some much larger.

  In passing this frightful wilderness we saw, two or three times,

  little parties of the Tartars, but they seemed to be upon their own

  affairs, and to have no design upon us; and so, like the man who

  met the devil, if they had nothing to say to us, we had nothing to

  say to them: we let them go. Once, however, a party of them came

  so near as to stand and gaze at us. Whether it was to consider if

  they should attack us or not, we knew not; but when we had passed

  at some distance by them, we made a rear-guard of forty men, and

  stood ready for them, letting the caravan pass half a mile or

  thereabouts before us. After a while they marched off, but they

  saluted us with five arrows at their parting, which wounded a horse

  so that it disabled him, and we left him the next day, poor

  creature, in great need of a good farrier. We saw no more arrows

  or Tartars that time.

  We travelled near a month after this, the ways not being so good as

  at first, though still in the dominions of the Emperor of China,